Syrian reactor could have been used for nuclear weapons if completed, UN says 07. September 2026 (18:37) Chief of nuclear watchdog says secret Assad-era facility would have been able to produce fissile material A nearly complete nuclear reactor built secretly during the rule of the toppled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad would have been able to produce fissile material for possible use in nuclear weapons, the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog has revealed.Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month visited two sites, one in Deir ez-Zor and a second in an undisclosed location identified to them by Syrian authorities. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
No 10 condemns ‘thuggish’ far-right activists after Portsmouth unrest 07. September 2026 (17:34) Hundreds of men, some in balaclavas, try to prevent asylum seekers’ processing, two days after similar scenes in DoverUK politics live – latest updatesDowning Street has condemned the “thuggish and intimidating behaviour” of far-right activists who blocked roads in Portsmouth when a boat carrying asylum seekers arrived in the city, two days after similar scenes in Dover.Hundreds of men, some dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, tried to stop the arrivals from being transported for processing until 3am, when police removed them with threats of arrest. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Europe’s centre fears nationalist wave after far-right AfD wins state in Germany 07. September 2026 (17:32) ‘Historic’ win in Saxony-Anhalt may show voters’ discontent with political centre, but sweeping conclusions cannot yet be drawnEurope live – latest updatesThe numbers speak for themselves: Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a party that dabbles in Nazi imagery, distinguishes between “biological” and “passport” Germans, and is too extreme even for France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen, nearly doubled its score in Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt to 43.8% of the vote.Meanwhile, the centre-right CDU of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, collapsed to 17.2%, less than half its total in the same race five years ago, and the centre-left SPD – Germany’s other main party of government for the past 60-odd years – scraped 9.3%. The least that can be said is that the centre did not hold. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
