Thinking of this piece I wrote a year ago (tomorrow): France's President Macron says Europe must "wake up" to defend itself as Trump returns www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-n...

A recap of the main on the ground developments since midday January 18th, including the situations around various IS fighter prisons and reported war crimes akmckeever.substack.com/p/january-20...

One of the Bellingcat Discord members has made Wordle, but for identifying warships keel-fawn.vercel.app

The SDF say they've left al Hol

DAANES's Ilham Ahmed now: "Since there is no ceasefire for the time being, since Damascus continues to attack our regions, and since they refuse to engage in dialogue, the agreement has no validity at the moment."

COW TOOLS COW TOOLS COW TOOLS

Can we just not

There’s nothing public yet from Mazloum Abdi, but the RIC, which is close to the SDF, say the statement is ‘official’ and there’s another meeting reported to happen tomorrow. This could be the end of Rojava.

Might as well blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

SDF is in the process of losing all of Deir ez-Zour, seemingly withdrawing from large portions (if not all) of the river bank in the face of large tribal insurgency, with reports now of the Syrian army crossing the river to fill the vacuum. reported number of key mil/pol defections in DeZ and Raqqa

No man has ever looked more French

Macron covered a lot in his New Year's address of the troops, but this seems a big one, warning local defense firms that France may buy more European. Mere signaling or was GlobalEye a first step? Macron puts local defense firms on notice France may buy European www.defensenews.com/global/europ...

We were first to report this story yesterday. Right now it's not clear if 26-year-old Erfan Soltani is still alive or if he was hanged in Karaj this morning www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-pr...

I don’t usually comment on uninformed criticism from people who don’t understand how journalism works, but dismissing the work of career reporters trying to determine how bad a massacre was is beyond the pale. I have been doing this job for nearly 17 years. My ‘agenda’ is the truth and nothing more.

Currently in the middle of counting bodies posted in fresh footage from Iran today that's come in the middle of a days-long internet blackout. One expert told me Iran is using military jamming technology like Russia used to block Starlink in Ukraine. www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-pr...

I need a physicist to explain why, once nothing started happening, the happening has accelerated so quickly www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

It is far too early in the week (8 am on a Monday) for me to be this worn out

The lesson for the EU, which has spent months waffling over a way for its coast guards to start detaining dodgy Russian shadow fleet boats, is: you can just do things

I'm sure this is nothing

Greenland: new statement from France, Germany, Spain, UK, Poland, Denmark.

Time is a flat circle

Josef Veselsky, Holocaust survivor, Ireland's oldest man, has died aged 107. He witnessed his parents being pushed into a cattle truck. They were among some 263,000 Jews of Czechoslovakia murdered by Nazis and collaborators. May his memory be a blessing. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

Knew a guy whose password was rumania1942 because that's the last time the US declared war on anyone

Ships aren’t really meant to change flags whilst at sea but we’re in all kinds of unprecedented territory here anyway so go on

The runaway tanker BELLA 1 has officially rebranded as MARINERA in Russia’s shipping registry. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/u...

We are so back poliisi.fi/en/-/police-...

The message I woke up to from a friend in southern Yemen this morning was just one word: “War” It looks like the gloves are off

Two hours in and have determined already that WFH Twixmas is by far the worst possible way to spend this week

Syrian church marks Christmas and reaffirms faith months after deadly attack apnews.com/article/syri...

I hadn’t realised exactly why Stephen Rea agreed to voice Gerry Adams back when the government censored the BBC www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb3Z...

Now we’re cooking with gas

for too long our southern neighbours have stolen the sun. but this ends today

One of the many many things that makes Ireland special is the government will tell you how you can watch the sun come up on your phone www.gov.ie/en/office-of...

I’m spending Christmas in London this year and can play cheesy Christmas music as much as I want but always love sharing this playlist, which I made a few years ago based on a thread @annetheriault.bsky.social started: Maudlin Christmas, songs in a minor chord open.spotify.com/playlist/1LC...

Cecilia Vega journeys to the Himalayas, trekking to Everest Base Camp. Guiding her is 19-year-old Nima Rinji Sherpa, the youngest person to summit all 14 of the world’s highest peaks. He’s part of a new generation of Nepali climbers demanding global recognition. Sunday.

US defence contractors write like normal people challenge: impossible

“Why is she talking about Finland?” Oh god yes. I am the biggest @trufelman.bsky.social fangirl anyway but this is going to be good castro.fm/episode/IBauUN

Sorry not sorry to beat a dead horse but if you're reporting on the shadow fleet or the Venezuela tankers or dodgy boats in general please for the love of God learn to use IMO numbers. I know they look icky in copy but sus ships change their names of purpose and IMO numbers are enduring.

It is, quite literally, the least they can do

It's v helpful to have at least one person in your newsroom who has refused to stop trawling ISIS chat rooms for the last seven years I guess

A senior Russian politician has warned that a Co Tyrone town is on a ‘strike list’ should war break out between Russia and European states.

Woke up to so much boat news

New from me: Ukraine targets Russia's shadow fleet in foreign waters as sanctions fail to sink Putin's oil sales www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine...

Stage 4 Sanctions Evasion: Russia will provide a flag for your ship. IMO 9293002, the artist previously known as JAGUAR, ARGENT or BLINT now has a new name and flag: NASLEDIE of Russia. IMO 9321706 also recently switched to team Russia.

"Ireland’s neutrality does not make it immune to hostile actions" 👀 From the website of the European Commission's representation in Ireland - a page explaining Ireland's participation in EU defence projects, added to the site December 4. The office told me they began writing the page in September.

Ireland is military neutral, which is fine (good, even) but the Navy not being able to protect the plane of a visiting president because the boat doesn't have jamming equipment is just a bit shameful.

Five sophisticated drones flew in the route of Ukrainian President Zelenskiy’s flight path as he arrived in Ireland; had he not arrived slightly early, they would have passed close. EU and Irish officials are treating it as a Russian hybrid attack www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...