This is amongst the best reported stories about the current state of ICE Air. Must read.

ICE plans to 6x its current budget for immigrant transportation and deportations. The money offers a potential windfall for a few contractors and charter airlines — some with close ties to the Trump campaign. Yet the system is already under strain, with significant concerns for detainees' safety: 🧵

ICE plans to 6x its current budget for immigrant transportation and deportations. The money offers a potential windfall for a few contractors and charter airlines — some with close ties to the Trump campaign. Yet the system is already under strain, with significant concerns for detainees' safety: 🧵

When Ollie writes about spies and puzzles, you know it’ll be a must-read. This is one to enjoy with your coffee this weekend:

Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley has died aged 91. She is the subject of I think, one of the best ever FT lunches, which you can read here (registration or subscription required, will post a first 300 clicks free link in the replies):

Brilliant gonzo journalism by @jemima.bsky.social in today’s paper: inside the most insufferable garden party of the summer. 🎁🔗: on.ft.com/4op28kt

FT exposes Russian cooperation with Iran in pursuit of dual-use nuclear technology. Essential reading to understand Iranian efforts to acquire the tools, expertise and material to make and amplify the power of nuclear bombs. Ace reporting by @miles-johnson.bsky.social and @maxseddon.bsky.social

I'm biased, but I think the FT Edit is the best value in news: for the same price as a Substack ($5/£5), you get EIGHT stories every single day from the FT's hundreds of brilliant writers. Give it a follow and subscribe:

Important reporting from Gaza:

This is a brilliant, thoughtful interview with a truly remarkable man - a must-read.

Who built a system where someone can export a list of Taliban murder targets into excel on a computer with internet access.

New: Inside America’s booming immigration detention industry. The largest domestic deportation operation in US history has seen detention companies’ market value surge. But FT analysis has identified facilities housing 100s more people than they are designed to hold. 👉 ft.com/us-detention-industry

🚨 🚨 🚨 UK govt set up a secret multibillion-pound scheme to relocate thousands of Afghans to Britain after a data leak put them at risk of murder and torture by the Taliban... Then gagged the media with a super-injunction for almost two years www.ft.com/content/f6b4...

New: Inside Gaza’s 'death traps'. A US-backed scheme forces hungry Palestinians to trek kilometres for food aid. First-hand testimony, satellite imagery and verified video shed light on the dangerous journey from which many never return. on.ft.com/4lKG6Go

Made the *critical* mistake of checking the news before bed after getting home late on a Saturday night… and uh oh

Saw this tonight and my hottest take is that “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” *needs* this layer of artifice to work. It’s not meant to be sympathetic! (The production has some flaws, but the live video isn’t one.)

GPS has become critical infrastructure with both military and civil applications. What happens when it's a casualty of war? @claradoodle.bsky.social, Aditi Bhandari and I took a visual look at the rising anxieties for the shipping industry in the Straight of Hormuz:

New analysis of the outbreak of GPS warfare in the Strait of Hormuz & whether it could have played a role in the collision between two oil tankers on Monday - with @peter.andringa.me and Aditi Bhandari 🛰️⛴️ on.ft.com/3SWmsLl

Radar satellite imagery from Umbra shows several damaged and destroyed structures at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran, following Israeli strikes this morning More maps and videos of the multiple attacks in our story here: on.ft.com/445zvPR

NEW - Mexico’s cartels have been setting up shop in a new business: smuggled fuel. Using satellite, customs, and maritime data, we identified misdeclared shipments of millions of barrels per year in a lucrative web that evades taxes and stretches across the country. ig.ft.com/mexico-fuel-...

A very big day in Malta - the bomb-makers involved in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia have been sentenced to whole-life terms. The first time the state has had to make its case before a jury -- and they managed to make it stick. www.ft.com/content/1896... @daphne.foundation

That noise you hear? The sound of thousands of PR professionals scrambling to bury their bad news tomorrow. If this beef continues, it’ll be absolute peak conditions for a Friday news dump

Alphaville x Weekend FT on.ft.com/3H2aWLC

Among other gems, you'll learn that Sam understands the secret to a good pasta sauce: lots of garlic.

@tinanguyen.bsky.social found the pope's facebook and feels kind of bad about it and is not sharing

2025: Scrolling through the timeline of the new Supreme Pontiff and apostolic successor of St. Peter, to see if he mostly sent Good or Bad Tweets.

Who had “deepfake Martin Wolf” on their bingo cards? on.ft.com/3RwFiIn

This impressive, systematic investigation into claims about the 238 migrants deported to El Salvador is a must-read. (It also confirms our FT scoop from last month — that many were instead told they were headed to Venezuela.)

Come hang out with our @journalismfestival.com panel on Saturday to chat about protests, eyewitness news, and shitposting on Bluesky!

will be in perugia for @journalismfestival.com next week to talk about breaking news on bluesky w @peter.andringa.me @fadahjassem.bsky.social @sarahjeong.bsky.social! pls drop me a note if your org is hosting any side events there, would love to attend :)

"Economists also attacked Trump’s obsession with reducing bilateral trade deficits to zero as economically illiterate, since there will always be items that it is impossible or economically unviable for countries to grow or make themselves ... the US cannot grow its own bananas." on.ft.com/3Egz8c9

We're hiring a new FT data journalist in DC or New York! Check out the posting/apply here: job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/financialtim...

This is the first time Bluesky has truly felt like old Twitter, in that my entire feed is just increasingly esoteric jokes about a single news event (new phone, houthis?)

Attorneys have just filed a declaration from a woman on one of the flights, who was sent to El Salvador and returned when its government only accepted the male deportees. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... She also says she was told they were headed to Venezuela: (highlights my own)

The US and Venezuela reached a deal to resume direct deportation flights yesterday, after the agreement broke down last weekend. Two planes met for a handover at Soto Cano air base in Honduras — the same place the three flights to El Salvador mysteriously stopped last week.

Tom also noticed a detail which didn’t fit in the piece: the first 2 flights filed plans direct to SAL, then amended w/ a stop. #3 was always scheduled for Honduras. This is particularly curious since the gov claims only the first 2 planes were AEA deportees. Were those on #3 planned for Venezuela?

For those following the court proceedings closely, we start to probe some of the details: When exactly did the flights leave? Why stop in Honduras? (And why would these details need to be a state secret?) @tomcartwright.bsky.social suggests some possibilities:

One week ago, 238 Venezuelan immigrants were put on planes in Texas and deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador. Some believed they were heading not to prison, but back to Venezuela — and told their families they had signed documents agreeing to go home.

NEW: Some Venezuelans now in a prison in El Salvador signed docs believing they would be sent home, per families and an activist. Flight records and gov statements suggest plans for a direct deportation flight may have been scrapped amid rising tensions btw the US and Venezuela. on.ft.com/4bNdwRa

This is an extremely important win for *real* open government, which requires an independent civil society — unlike the facade of transparency on doge dot gov

Inside Russia's shadow war in the Baltic Sea - a series of suspected sabotage incidents has exposed the vulnerability of Europe’s undersea infrastructure ig.ft.com/baltic-sea/

New: Three decades after China liberalised its property market and ushered in a historic era of urbanisation, the state is back in force. Our latest visual investigation uses residential land sales to show that state-owned developers are propping up China’s housing sector. ig.ft.com/china-proper...

NEW: Russian executions of Ukrainian POWs are not isolated incidents, but seem to be part of a broader pattern that suggests a systematic policy. By @christopherjm.ft.com @joesinft.ft.com @peter.andringa.me @digitalcampbell.ft.com @samjoiner.bsky.social and me. on.ft.com/4i6Yzve

You’ll be shocked - shocked! - that the memecoin world is full of absolute chancers. (By @olihawkins.com, @eadehemingway.bsky.social and @nikasgari.bsky.social)

My story in the FT Weekend Magazine today - The Fugitive Prince: how a man with a claim to a royal title and a vast fortune made a deal with a notorious businessman that cost him more than he could have imagined. www.ft.com/content/51f8...

New The coming battle between social media and the state Behind the alignment of X and Meta with Trump is a cold business logic — and a position of weakness rather than strength By me, in todays @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/917c...

2024 was the hottest year on record and the first to breach 1.5C above pre-industrial levels 2015 to 2024 were the 10 warmest years on record while this year is expected to be cooler, partly because of the diminished el niño impact, it will likely still rank among the 3 hottest on.ft.com/3PwbnPC

Another detail in the piece: in addition to the $18mn in daily prizes, filings show Musk's group distributed over $40mn in smaller payments ($47/$100) to swing state voters who signed or referred others to the petition.

Remember Musk’s $1mn prizes ahead of the US election? It turns out the final winner worked for the Trump campaign — and was already traveling to its election-night party in West Palm Beach when he won. Scoop, w/ Alex Rogers: on.ft.com/40tFSvu

including replies, Musk has posted more than 1180 times in seven days www.ft.com/content/8e91...