The rise of the military-technology complex

The AI Power Trip

How Silicon Valley tech firms remade US defense contracting. And then opened the Pentagon’s checkbook—wide.
By Bernice Yeung
July 23, 2026

The tale of how the Pentagon lost its spirit of innovation often begins with an incident known as “the Last Supper.”

It was the fall of 1993. About two dozen executives from leading defense contractors had received an unexpected invitation to dinner at the Pentagon. After the meal, the group was ushered into a briefing room where William Perry, then the deputy secretary of defense (and soon, the defense secretary), gave a presentation that startled the room.

Suspect in deadly Berlin Pride attack is killed in a confrontation with police

By GEIR MOULSON, KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and STEFANIE DAZIO
Associated Press
Updated 10:46 AM PDT, July 26, 2026

BERLIN (AP) — The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said. 

Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.

Israel and the cost paradox of the Iran war

Opinion
US-Israel war on Iran
Israel instigated the war on Iran, and yet it has borne few of its costs.
By Abdulla Banndar Al-Etaibi
Published On 26 Jul 2026

Since the outbreak of war on February 28, the US-Israeli conflict with Iran has been framed as an existential threat for Tel Aviv and Tehran. Yet a calm, structural reading of the past five months of fighting and faltering truces reveals a striking paradox: the party that incited this war has become the one least exposed to its fire and the one collecting most of its returns.

Like father, Like Son: Lula leads Jair's son, Flavio Bolsonaro in Brazil election poll

July 24, 2026

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva continues to hold a lead over opposition Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, according to a new Datafolha poll released on Friday, ahead of Brazil's presidential election scheduled for October.

Why is Mister T Pushing Data Centers for the Military?

July 25, 2026

Written by Yiannis Damellos

On a Saturday evening, after two beers and a statin

I picked up this story at Mother Jones, and I said to myself, this is a good story for a lazy Sunday afternoon, so there you go, this is it. The original was written by a good woman, Sophie Hurwitz, a reporter for Mother Jones covering breaking news, politics, and social movements. 

Well, if you live anywhere near a military base, says Sophie, you may soon notice something new popping up in the neighborhood: a privately owned data center moving in right alongside the fences and runways. You know data centers, cause everybody hates them. They are built to serve cloud computing and AI, but they are as dirty as a stinky baby's diaper and as dangerous as Dr. Kevorkian.

Donald Trump Is Very, Very Angry

Iran is destined to become the signature failure of his second term. There’s almost nothing he can do about it.

BY JIM NEWELL July 25, 2026, 5:45 AM
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Surge, which figures we must be living in truly dark times if even a trip to Taco Bell can make you feel gross afterward.

This week: Maine Democrats have a new Senate nominee; just be sure to wear a helmet if you get near him. We have a brief couple of weeks to make jokes about the candidates in South Carolina’s quickie Republican Senate primary, and we intend to use them. Ukraine has picked up a powerful new ally in an internet weirdo who has Donald Trump’s ear. Seriously, though.

Berlin: 1 dead after vehicle drives into CSD Pride event

Karl Sexton | Louis Oelofse with AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters

Published 2 hours agoPublished 2 hours agolast updated 1 hour agolast updated 1 hour ago

Police said around 15 people were injured, some seriously, after a white van struck several people in central Berlin during Pride celebrations, known locally as Christopher Street Day (CSD). A manhunt is underway.

Here's why Nolan Wells' death is more than just a mystery

N'dea Yancey-Bragg
USA TODAY
July 25, 2026, 6:03 a.m. ET

The death of Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells, whose body was found after a July 4 boat trip to Horn Island, remains unresolved with conflicting witness accounts, an indeterminate autopsy, and concerns about racial bias influencing the investigation.

If another advanced civilization lived on Earth before us, would we know?

By Laura Paddison
7 hr ago

When astrobiologist Adam Frank walked into the office of NASA's Gavin Schmidt, he had what he believed was the weirdest question: do aliens experience climate change? It took just moments for Schmidt to out-weird him.

Defense tech investors thought the war in Iran could make them millionaires. Instead, they faced a Wall Street bloodbath

By Preston Fore

Success Reporter

July 25, 2026, 5:54 AM ET

The U.S. has racked up a $37.5 billion tab on the war in Iran following President Donald Trump’s launch of Operation Epic Fury in late February. Yet despite continued conflict and historic levels of defense spending requested by the Pentagon, investors betting on a defense windfall have watched many top contractors lose value.

Oops. These people accidentally went to the 4DX version of 'The Odyssey'

By Katie Notopoulos 

Senior Correspondent covering technology and culture
Jul 24, 2026, 2:05 PM PT

In "The Odyssey," Odysseus and his men arrive on a beach in search of provisions and find an unpleasant surprise in the form of angry giants, who proceed to kill a bunch of the men.

Much like the Greeks' deadly surprise, a handful of unfortunate moviegoers are sailing blindly into treacherous waters with fateful consequences. Some people accidentally went to see "The Odyssey" in 4DX, not realizing that the chairs shake and water sprays at them throughout the nearly 3-hour film.

I became aware that people were suffering through this mistaken adventure when a friend of mine told me it happened to him. This friend (who requested to remain anonymous due to a desire to conceal his recreational drug use as an otherwise respectable adult with a job and family) took a small dose of weed gummies and some magic mushrooms and went to see the movie by himself — and ended up begging Zeus for mercy.

There’s only one way out of Trump’s reckless war

Pay off Iran to open Hormuz and freeze its nuclear program
July 24, 2026 at 5:42 a.m. EDT
By Philip H. Gordon, Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy is a global affairs magazine offering diverse perspectives on issues shaping nations and the world.

Thinking about how to get out of the dire strategic predicament that U.S. President Donald Trump has created with his ill-considered war in Iran brings to mind the old joke about the lost traveler who asks in a remote Scottish pub how to get from there to Aberdeen, to which the bartender replies: “Well, sir, if I were trying to get to Aberdeen, I would not start from here.”

Democrats nominate Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner in must-win Maine Senate race

Jackson was selected as the party’s nominee at Saturday’s state party convention, running as a staunch progressive against GOP Sen. Susan Collins

July 25, 2026

By Bridget Bowman and Sahil Kapur

BANGOR, Maine — Former state Senate President Troy Jackson officially became Democrats’ Senate nominee in Maine, starting a 101-day sprint to Election Day in a nationally watched, must-win race for his party.

France and Spain battle wildfires as more than 250,000 people forced to flee homes

BY MARK CARLSON, EMMA DA SILVA AND JOHN LEICESTER
Updated 8:20 AM PDT, July 25, 2026
Leer en español

LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — France cut the length of the Tour de France’s final stage on Saturday to redeploy officers to battle raging wildfires that forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, including from some of the suburbs of the wine region city of Bordeaux.

Houthis vow retaliation after Saudi Arabia strikes Yemen in widening of Middle East war

Saudi-led coalition said it hit Houthi sites and destroyed targets that were threatening Red Sea ships

Guardian staff and agencies

Sat 25 Jul 2026 03.43 BST

Iran-backed Houthi rebels vowed to retaliate against Saudi Arabia on Saturday after they accused the kingdom of targeting civilian infrastructure, as the Middle East war widens across the region.

Madison police shooting sparks protests as Wisconsin launches independent investigation into deadly incident

"Any officer-involved shooting needs to be rigorously investigated," Madison's mayor said. "And this one will be."
Mike Bebernes
Updated Fri, July 24, 2026 at 3:11 PM PDT

A police officer in Madison, Wis., shot and killed a man during an attempted arrest on Wednesday, sparking protests after bystander video of the deadly encounter spread online.

Netanyahu says Israel to expand West Bank settlements amid deadly clashes between settlers and Palestinians

July 24, 2026, 12:11 PM EDT 

CBS/AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government would establish new settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and legalize more existing ones, after a deadly clash left two Israelis and four Palestinians dead.

Trump sued hours after new tariffs took effect, as experts say they may not hold up

Politics
Published Fri, Jul 24, 2026
Kevin Breuninger
Key Points

• The Trump administration imposed new tariffs on goods from more than 80 countries, alleging they have failed to effectively prohibit the use of forced labor practices.
• The new tariffs were brought under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which has been used extensively — but some experts say Trump’s use of the law could be blocked in court.
• Two small businesses sued Trump and his administration hours after the new tariffs took effect.