Catalogue
Scenario archive
Open feed of trigger events. Click a card to see the chain, A/B/C probabilities and the fact-check after the horizon resolves.
Hong Kong, UAE hubs could act as global early warning system for pandemics: study
Targeted viral surveillance of transit passengers at just two major aviation hubs, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, could speed global detection of new variants by about three days, a university study has found. Professor Leo Poon Lit-man, chair of public health virology at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said on Wednesday that the approach would help authorities stay ahead of emerging threats. “Strengthening local surveillance in all regions remains the foundation of global health...
August 1, 2026
Wetherspoons issues fourth profit warning this year
Pub chain hit by weak sales and cost rises
August 1, 2026
India opposition leader Gandhi freed after detention at student-led protest
Demands from young people and Cockroach Janta Party pose one of the biggest challenges to PM Modi's government.
August 1, 2026
Algeria: Toxic colonisation
The French army’s illegal use of chemical weapons in Algeria’s war of independence, as revealed by testimony and documents.
August 1, 2026
Air defences activate in Iran and flames rise from US attacks
Explosions could be heard over Tehran as the US army said it had completed its 11th consecutive day of strikes on Iran.
August 1, 2026
Brunello: The Gracious Visionary review – fawning portrait of the king of cashmere
Giuseppe Tornatore traces Italian fashion designer Brunello Cucinelli’s life from poor farming family to billion-dollar empire in a sentimental vanity project Brunello Cucinelli is the Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur who built a billion-dollar empire. He’s known as the “king of cashmere”, which would have been a good title for this two-hour-long film, commissioned by Cucinelli about himself, directed by Oscar winning film-maker Giuseppe Tornatore. Instead, “The Gracious Visionary” gives an inkling as to the kind of film we’re dealing with – a vanity project with a capital “V”, capital “A”, “N” and all the other letters. Not that you would begrudge Cucinelli a film about his extraordinary life. He was born into a poor hard-working farming family, shown here in scenes reconstructed with sugary sentimentalism as a simple time of innocent pleasures. Cucinelli as a boy is played as a cheeky lad who grows into a teenager more interested in playing cards at the local bar than studying. (Though his attempts to set the town’s prostitute on the right path are included to show his moral compass.) After Cucinelli meets his future wife, he knuckles down, does some modelling, has the brainwave to produce cashmere jumpers for the women’s market in eye-popping colours (they were previously only made in boring grey and beige). Today he is the owner of a brand synonymous with understated luxury, available to those with £2,500 to spend on a jumper. Continue reading...
August 1, 2026
On the Sea review – tender fishermen’s boat-based tale of forbidden love far from prying eyes
Away from the disapproval of their Welsh fishing community, two men embark on a passionate affair in Helen Walsh’s poignant drama Barry Ward brings sincerity and force to this well-intended, well-acted Brokeback drama of forbidden love in a remote north Wales fishing community. It comes from writer-director Helen Walsh, who is that rare and valuable figure in the arts world: a novelist who is of equal status as an original film-maker. (Her debut feature The Violators came out 11 years ago.) Ward plays Jack, a middle-aged man beset with cares. He is getting too old for the hard physical labour of raking mussel beds; he co-owns this business jointly with his quarrelsome, boorish brother Dyfan (Celyn Jones), who resents the time Jack has spent away from work receiving treatment for cancer which is now in remission. Jack has been with his wife Maggie (Liz White) since they were 16; they are both concerned about their son Tom (Henry Lawfull) getting into bad company and failing to help with the mussel business – although they both like Tom’s smart, level-headed girlfriend Lois (a small role for Leisa Gwenllian, the star of the recent Welsh-language drama Effi o Blaenau ). Continue reading...
August 1, 2026
My advice to Claudia Winkleman: it’s not you, it’s the giant sofa –try a different kind of chatshow | Fiona Sturges
The popular presenter is by no means the first to have come a cropper hosting a talkshow. But new formats provide new opportunities You might think the TV chatshow is an easy format to get right. Hire a well-liked host with comic chops and some successful shows under their belt. Build a cheerful set with a big sofa in the middle. Book some A-list celebs plus the obligatory comedian, invite a live audience et voilà! A prime-time hit is surely born. Except that time and time again, it has proved not to be that simple. Just ask Claudia Winkleman, who revealed last week that she won’t be returning to do a second season of The Claudia Winkleman Show on the BBC. The series, which launched in March, filling the gap while The Graham Norton Show was on hiatus, was received with lukewarm reviews and so-so ratings. The decision to call time on it is reported to be Winkleman’s – “I was just too nervous to enjoy it,” she admitted – though, given the cuts rippling through the corporation, she may have opted to jump before being pushed. Continue reading...
August 1, 2026
The Undeclared War review – Simon Pegg’s cyber-attack thriller fails to push any of the right buttons
The rebooted GCHQ digital warfare series has more zip than its predecessor – but people bashing away on computers in a bunker near Cheltenham is inherently unsexy If the espionage battles of the future are going to be fought online, TV thrillers will have to reflect that fact, much as they might not want to. Cyber-attacks, cross-border malware and digital misinformation just aren’t especially televisual: whatever you do, you always end up with a speed-typing nerd muttering “Shit!” as gobbledegook scrolls across a monitor and red lights flash in the distance. In 2022, Channel 4’s missable drama The Undeclared War tried to crack the problem by throwing heavyweight film-making pedigree at it. Peter Kosminsky, the esteemed director behind Wolf Hall and The Government Inspector, had evidently researched the back end out of the subject, presenting the details of an imagined campaign of Russian interference in Britain’s daily digital functionality – and, from there, the democratic process of an election – in a way that real-life sleepless nerds said was credible enough. Continue reading...
August 1, 2026
On Thin Ice by Charlie Walker review – a Siberian adventure goes off the rails
Moments of beauty and horror punctuate this account of an ill-timed sub-zero camping trip In late February 2022, Charlie Walker set off on a hiking holiday in northern Siberia. In temperatures as low as -50C, he intended to trek a thousand miles north along the frozen surface of the river Lena, then out across the solid Laptev Sea to the port town of Tiksi, before finally flying home to London. “The plan,” he writes, “was simple in concept.” A sub-zero camping trip through a region populated by wolves and bears and scarred by centuries of historical trauma, in a country that was about to invade one of its neighbours: what could possibly go wrong? On Thin Ice is Walker’s third travelogue. Previous excursions have included a 43,000-mile bicycle ride across three continents, a 1,000-mile solo walk through the Gobi desert, and a river trip down the Congo in a leaky canoe. When not performing incredible feats of forward motion, according to his website, he gives talks to business leaders on subjects such as “risk taking” and “the line between courage and recklessness”. Reading his latest, it’s clear he’s familiar with the terrain on both sides of that line. Continue reading...
August 1, 2026
‘The door slid open and my jaw dropped’: the astonishing sculptures only ever seen by 20 people
Ray Exworth spent his life filling Cornish sheds with breathtaking sculptures – but wouldn’t let anyone in to view them. Now, after his death, his secret body of work has been revealed Ray Exworth spent six decades creating one of Britain’s most extraordinary bodies of sculpture – and almost nobody has seen it. Hidden inside a labyrinth of sheds on a remote Cornish smallholding, his vast, obsessive constructions have remained locked away from the world, visited only by a fortunate few. Even his wife Susie, 92, was largely kept out. “I could not visit without an invitation!” she recalls. Exworth, who died in 2015 aged 84, had just one major exhibition in his lifetime, at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1975. Since then, the man who might belong among Britain’s most notable artists has disappeared almost entirely. His works – sprawling, intricate and wildly ambitious, assembled from an array of salvaged materials – have remained exactly where he left them: filling seven studio sheds and a scattering of shipping containers, unseen. Continue reading...
August 1, 2026
Blasts in Iran's Bushehr province, US attacks in Hormozgan damage infrastructure
Blasts in Iran's Bushehr province, US attacks in Hormozgan damage infrastructure The deputy political and security governor of Bushehr said that three explosions occurred in the Iranian province. Elsewhere in Hormozgan, recent US attacks reportedly damaged some of the province's communication routes, electricity grid, and water supply facilities, according to state media.
August 1, 2026
Morning recap
Morning recap Good morning Middle East Eye readers, The US Central Comand said it unleashed new strikes against Iran for the 11th consecutive night, targeting military operations centres and logistics infrastructure, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars and drone storage facilities. Iran's top joint military command threatened it would target the interests of the US and its allies if Washington targeted Iranian nuclear sites, Iran's state media reported. Here are the latest developments: In Iran's Hormozgan, state media reported that recent US attacks damaged some of the province's communication routes, electricity grid and water supply facilities. Nearly 100 American service members have sustained some degree of injury since 7 July, in the latest wave of fighting between the US and Iran, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the Iran war has cost Washington $37.5bn so far, up from a previous estimate of nearly $29 billion in mid-May. Donald Trump has officially approved a landmark agreement with Saudi Arabia that will provide the Gulf country with a civilian nuclear program, The Wall Street Journal reported citing US officials. The new deal, which would last 30 years, could potentially make way for uranium enrichment in the kingdom's territory. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "war criminal", urging the US government to enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him if he enters the country.
August 1, 2026
The founders of the ICC must not let it be destroyed
The founders of the ICC must not let it be destroyed Submitted by Sergey Vasiliev on Mon, 07/20/2026 - 21:20 The Court's viability and future depend on whether States Parties stand up for it and for their sovereign rights in the face of hostile US attacks The International Criminal Court in The Hague is pictured on 28 March 2026 (John Thys/AFP) On Twenty-eight years ago, 120 states voted to adopt the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Every year, International Justice Day is celebrated on 17 July, providing an occasion for states, civil society groups and other stakeholders to reflect on the gravity of the court’s mission, and to reaffirm their support for the values underpinning the statute. But this year, it was hardly a festive occasion. The customary statements marking the day ring hollow. Under President Donald Trump, the United States has subjected the ICC to a sustained assault , while its States Parties have been either lukewarm in countering such abuses or powerless to devise a meaningful response. This passivity, along with subversive rhetoric and deliberate failures to support the court’s work when it has mattered most, is hard to take as anything but a betrayal of their commitments. To witness this coming from the very states and organisations in Europe, notably the EU, that have long presented themselves as the court’s steadfast champions - when it suited them - is profoundly disappointing. Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced “a sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat” allegedly posed to US sovereignty by the ICC. He said this would entail “a whole-of-government response to systematically disable the ICC’s ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials, or otherwise threaten American sovereignty”. Rubio further assured the public that the US would use every tool at the government’s disposal to “dismantle the ICC - brick by brick, if necessary”. These are no empty threats, but a rhetorical - and, as we will likely see in the future, organisational - escalation of the coercive measures previously deployed against the ICC. Dangerous and ill-conceived campaign Last year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on 11 ICC officials pursuant to Executive Order 14203, including eight judges (almost half of its bench), the chief prosecutor and two deputy prosecutors . UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and three Palestinian human rights NGOs have been punished under the same executive order for their accountability work on the widely documented international crimes by Israeli forces in Palestine . The US anti-ICC campaign is as dangerous as it is ill-conceived. These measures must receive unequivocal condemnation and a firm response from other states, going beyond mere rhetoric. Diplomatic statements expressing concern and pointing out the unacceptability of such measures would have been timely in January 2025; they are no longer sufficient. States Parties have been either oblivious or unwilling to admit that this open season on the ICC is an indirect attack on their own sovereignty The real purpose behind the US attacks on the ICC is to beat the court and its States Parties into submission, and to entrench impunity for past and future core crimes committed on their territories by US or allied (notably Israeli) forces. The law is on the ICC’s side. The court is taking heat for applying it equally - something Rubio, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin never mention in their diatribes. Paradoxically, Rubio’s proclamation of the ICC’s dismantlement only attests to the institution’s relevance, despite its current challenges. That the ICC continues to be perceived as a threat by serial violators of international law is in itself a badge of honour - one that speaks volumes about its role in the world. Even in theory, let alone in practice, the ICC poses no threat to the sovereignty of the US or any other state. Outside UN Security Council referrals, the ICC only has jurisdiction over crimes committed by nationals or on the territory of States Parties (such as Afghanistan and Palestine) or countries accepting its jurisdiction, which are free in their decision on whether to engage the court. Moreover, no case is admissible before the ICC if a state with jurisdiction takes genuine action to ensure accountability - an area where neither the US nor Israel can boast a strong track record. US interference By denying the ICC’s competence to address crimes falling within States Parties’ territorial jurisdiction when committed by US or Israeli nationals, the US is effectively denying those states their sovereign right to grant the ICC jurisdiction in such cases. This position runs counter to the territoriality principle and the uncontroversial proposition that a state possessing jurisdiction may confer its exercise on an international court. Rooted in exceptionalism, the US stance effectively interferes with the sovereignty of the ICC’s 125 States Parties . The sanctions the US has imposed on ICC judges and prosecutors are manifestly unlawful. Firstly, their unbridled extraterritorial effects encroach upon other states’ jurisdiction; and secondly, they constitute interference with the ICC’s judicial and prosecutorial independence, and are unbecoming of a country that claims to respect the rule of law. Even as a non-party, the US must respect the international legal principle of the independence of international courts and tribunals. As a party to, or sponsor of, a host of international and special courts whose constituent instruments codify this principle, it has never claimed that the principle of international judicial independence is invalid. The US cannot be regarded as a persistent objector to that principle in relation to one specific international court that it has chosen not to join. The right of states to become and remain party to an ICC whose judges, prosecutors and other staff are free from harassment and coercion is an attribute of their sovereignty - and the US is bound to respect that independence as a matter of non-interference. Attacks on the ICC’s independence constitute attacks on judicial and prosecutorial independence everywhere, particularly in participating states. It is therefore not US sovereignty that is being endangered by the ICC - Rubio’s purported “ unaccountable global arbiter ” - but rather the sovereignty of the ICC States Parties that are under attack from the hegemon that arrogates that very role to itself. Averting the worst So far, States Parties have been either oblivious or unwilling to admit that this open season on the ICC is an indirect attack on their own sovereignty. They have done too little to reinforce the court’s independence and to shield its officials from intimidation and retaliation - conduct amounting to offences against the administration of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute - to which they would have reacted sooner and more vigorously had a hostile power targeted their own domestic justice systems. The EU has also failed, for more than a year and a half, to amend its blocking statute to protect commercial actors from US secondary sanctions, for reasons that remain incomprehensible. ICC arrest warrants: The US must distance itself from an increasingly toxic Israel Read More » The strategy of appeasing Trump has predictably backfired on all fronts. It has also left the ICC vulnerable to further virulent attacks, carried out with total impunity. As a result, it is now facing the gravest crisis in its quarter-century history, brought about by States Parties’ dwindling commitment and their failure to defend the court from an erstwhile allied country, now ruled by a rogue regime. The ICC must be saved now, before it is too late. If it has not gone over the brink yet, this is owing to its dedicated and courageous staff, who keep carrying on in extremely challenging circumstances. Its resilience should not be tested indefinitely, however; this is a judicial institution, not a crash-test vehicle. By standing up for their court, States Parties would be upholding their own sovereignty as well. It is no longer possible to imagine the international justice landscape without the ICC. There is still hope that the worst can be averted. After all, States Parties have invested enormous resources in, and staked their rule-of-law credentials on, sustaining it over the past 24 years. But its viability and future depend on whether they choose to stand by its side, rather than sacrifice it for short-sighted political expediency. There are no doubt enough reasons for states to ensure the ICC’s survival in one form or another. Yet it is the quality of that survival that matters. The ICC must emerge from this existential ordeal with its integrity and independence intact. Otherwise, it would become a project that the States Parties allowed to fail. In that case, there would be nothing left to celebrate on 17 July in the years to come - not a prospect one could wish for on International Justice Day. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. International law Opinion Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0
August 1, 2026
FACTBOX: Latest update on Russia's strikes on Ukrainian ports
The Russian Armed Forces continued to strike Ukrainian ports used in the interests of supplying cargoes for the Ukrainian military, and military facilities in the Odessa Region
August 1, 2026
Mamdani says New York City can't arrest Netanyahu for war crimes but federal government should
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that his administration did not have the legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he had planned, and called on US federal authorities to do so. The Democratic mayor had said earlier this month that he was exploring the legal possibility of executing the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against the Israeli leader if he were to attend the UN General Assembly in September.
August 1, 2026
More warehouses of Russian online retailer Wildberries hit by Ukraine, officials say
Logistics hubs belonging to Wildberries in Krasnodar and Stavropol were struck overnight on Tuesday.
August 1, 2026
Wildberries halts warehouse operations in Krasnodar, Nevinnomyssk in southern Russia
Deliveries scheduled for these warehouses can be cancelled or redirected to any other facility
August 1, 2026
Oil depot in southern Russia’s Armavir catches fire following massive drone attack
The fire area reached 800 square meters
August 1, 2026
World Cup, Ballon d’Or, Champions League, Euros … has Rodri completed football? | The Knowledge
Plus: the most World Cup assists, Ballon d’Or winners with fewest caps and what happens to World Cup balls? Mail us with your all of your questions and answers “Adding the World Cup to his résumé means Rodri has now won the World Cup, the European Championship, the Champions League, and the Ballon d’Or,” writes Owen Bagnall. “Has anyone else ‘completed football’ like this?” They have but it’s a small, elite list. Continue reading...
August 1, 2026
All you need to know about the All-Ireland SFC final
As we build towards Sunday's All-Ireland SFC final, BBC Sport NI takes a look at some of the talking points.
August 1, 2026
Louvre gallery where jewellery heist took place to reopen to public
The Apollo Gallery at Paris's Louvre Museum, the site of the jewelry heist of October 2025, is set to reopen to the public on Wednesday without any jewelry on display, an informed source told AFP.
August 1, 2026
Ukrainian air defences down three missiles and over 200 drones overnight, Iskander strike confirmed
Ukraine's air defences intercepted 204 drones and three guided missiles during an overnight Russian assault, although an Iskander ballistic missile struck near Kyiv.
August 1, 2026
Key Oil Chokepoints in Mideast Face Disruption as Threats Mount
Shipping disruptions in key Middle East chokepoints intensified as the US-Iran war grinds on, with vessels in the Red Sea making unusual maneuvers, while visible traffic through the Strait of Hormuz sank.
August 1, 2026