In a crackdown against unregulated tourist accomidation, the Spanish government have removed over 50,000 flats on booking platforms, and are turning them into residental properties instead
According to the Spanish government, 53,000 tourist flats have breached the national Single Register of Tourist and Seasonal Accommodations and will now turned into permanent housing instead.
The illegal tourist flats failed to comply with regulations that have been in place since July 1, and crackdowns on accomodation platforms such as Booking.com and Airbnb have been asked to remove adverts for rule-breaking properties by the Spanish housing ministry.
For Brits who own holiday homes in Spain, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez shared a post on X on Sunday that read: “We will demand that platforms remove 53,000 tourist flats for failing to comply with regulations. So that they can become permanent rentals for young people and families in this country.”
As of July 2025, the Spanish government introduced the nationwide system for regulating temporary rentals and The Single Rental Register requires all properties rented for short-term stays to be officially listed, ensuring compliance with local regulations. If a property is not on the register, it is not permitted to be advertised for temporary rental.
According to Travel and Tour World, this regulation aims to curb the growing number of unlicensed properties being offered through online platforms, which have become a source of tension in cities where housing shortages are particularly acute. The new law is seen as an effort to restore balance between the tourism industry and the need for affordable housing.
It means if a property is not on the register, it cannot legally be advertised online and Airbnb and the Spanish Ministry of Housing identified that less than 10 per cent of the listings that were turned down by the registry were on Airbnb. The crackdown comes as an aim to boost the housing sector by reclaiming properties previously used as temporary rentals.
The decision comes after months of scrutiny over the booming short-term rental market, which has seen platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com become a staple of Spanish tourism.
With this new move, Spain is effectively reclaiming valuable residential properties, thereby addressing the housing shortage in several cities, including Seville, Barcelona, and Marbella.
An Airbnb spokesperson said: “The vast majority of non-compliant listings are not on Airbnb. So we are calling on other platforms to join Airbnb’s ongoing enforcement effort with local authorities,” according to The Independent. The rental platform added that 70,000 more Airbnb listings have shown a registration number since January and will no longer be allowed to function as short-term rentals.
Airbnb said: “Those listings (that show a registration number) are the ones that our customers love, leaving us with no significant business impact. We are setting the ground for a new and resilient business model in Spain.”
The Independent further reported that from the withdrawn tourist flats, 16,740 were discovered in Andalusia, 8,698 in the Canary Islands and 7,499 in the Valencian Community and for Spanish cities, Seville saw 2,289 cancelled registrations, Marbella 1,802, Barcelona 1,564 and 1,471 in Malaga.
At the 80th UNGA, Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye condemned the war in Gaza, calling it a “humanitarian catastrophe” and urging immediate global action. He demanded justice for Palestinians and fairer governance that respects sovereignty worldwide.
DRIVERS have been urged to make changes to their car’s air con that will save them thousands of pounds.
Experts have warned that not using your motor’s air con this winter could see drivers dealing with costly repairs or even fines of up to £1,000.
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Not using your motor’s AC this winter could see you slapped with a whopping fineCredit: Getty
Air conditioning isn’t just for cooling off in those hot summer months.
Many drivers may think switching off their air con in the winter will help save money – but the opposite is true.
It also works as a dehumidifier, preventing mould, odours, and health risks but only if it is used regularly.
If you don’t use it for a period of time it can lead to moisture build up, bacteria thriving and repairs can become costly.
And a misted windscreen can prove more than just a nuisance – it could land you with a £1,000 fine and three points on your license.
Using your air con is the quickest way to clear it and it will also regulate your heating and cooling to keep the motor’s cabin comfortable.
Car maintenance experts at Fixter have shared six expert tips on how to properly use your air con system during the colder months as well as maintenance tips.
Run your AC regularly
Their first tip is to run your air con regularly, even on cooler settings, a small habit that can save you from those costly long-term repairs.
Experts at Fixter recommend to use your air-con for 10 to 15 minutes once a week and occasionally on a colder setting.
This will keep seals lubricated, prevents mould growth and stops the compressor from seizing.
Watch moment new world’s fastest car – Yangwang U9 Xtreme – hit 308mph & break record
Demist your windscreen
They also advise that you demist your windscreen fast to stay legal and avoid that hefty £1,000 fine.
They say that the quickest and safest way to clear fog or frost is by combining warm air with your air con.
This will reduce humidity while the heat will speed up defogging.
You should direct airflow at the glass and avoid using your recirculation mode.
Don’t skip your winter service
Even if you’re not blasting cold air, your air con is still working hard behind the scenes, experts at Fixter say.
A regular servicing will keep the air con system efficient and will prevent bacteria building up.
It will also reduce the risk of breakdowns when you need it most, they added.
Check your cabin filter and airflow
If your filters are clogged, your air con is going to have to do more work to demist your windscreen.
Fixter says a clogged pollen or cabin filter will restrict airflow, make your demisting slower and get your air con working harder.
And if your vents feel weak, it could also men your refrigerant is low – both are quick fixes if caught early but are expensive if ignored.
Don’t ignore unpleasant smells
If there are some unpleasant smells in your cabin, it may be a sign of a bigger problem.
Musty odours when you turn on your air con are usually caused by mould or bacteria, Fixter says.
This will affect cabin air quality as well as your health and can be fixed with a clean or filter replacement.
Clear your vents before driving
Fixter says that clearing your vents before driving is also crucial.
Snow or ice blocking your cars external vents can stop your air con from circulating air properly, forcing the fan to overwork.
You should always brush them clear before setting off.
More on motors
Whether it’s a weird noise or a check engine light, every driver knows the dreaded feeling of another costly trip to the mechanic.
Thankfully, a new middle aisle buy fromLidlcan help to save you money by ensuring one part of yourcaris always in perfect shape.
What should be in your winter car kit?
By Jacob Jaffa, Motors Reporter
Here’s what should be included in your winter car kit, according to the RAC:
Rescuers worked through the night to evacuate residents in the northern Philippines as Super Typhoon Ragasa triggered flooding and landslides in the region. Thousands have been displaced by the strongest storm of the year.
Watch: Key moments from Charlie Kirk’s memorial service
US President Donald Trump hailed the conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a “great American hero” and “martyr” during a speech to tens of thousands of mourners at a memorial service in Arizona.
Trump was the headline speaker at the packed event on Sunday, which saw top officials from his administration, including Vice-President JD Vance, praise Kirk’s political legacy after he was shot dead on 10 September.
“He was assassinated because he lived bravely, he lived boldly and he argued brilliantly,” Trump told the crowd at the State Farm Stadium near Phoenix.
Kirk’s wife, Erika, also delivered a tearful speech in which she said she had forgiven her husband’s alleged killer.
“My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,” she said, adding: “I forgive him because it is what Christ did. The answer to hate is not hate.”
Tens of thousands of people queued for hours outside the stadium before the event, with some even camping out the night before to secure their spot. Many wore Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats, other Trump-branded items and red, white and blue outfits.
Inside the stadium, the mood and atmosphere resembled a raucous political rally or megachurch service with music beforehand from Christian bands who prompted singalongs and prayer from the crowd of almost 100,000.
The list of speakers included members of Kirk’s organisation, Turning Point USA, which focuses on conservative activism on college campuses, well-known figures in the conservative movement, Trump administration officials and those who said they had been shaped by Kirk’s work and right-wing Christian worldview.
They stressed the need to continue the 31-year-old’s activism and emphasised his deep faith throughout the five-hour service. Kirk, who was debating students at a university in Utah when he was shot dead, was repeatedly described as a martyr and cast as a historic figure for the conservative movement.
EPA
Tens of thousands gathered inside the stadium for the memorial to Kirk
Several speakers said they believed his death would further revitalise the conservative moment in America, which is already in a powerful position given Trump’s hold of the White House and the Republican control of Congress.
“The day that Charlie died, angels wept, but those tears have been turned into fire in our hearts,” said Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff. “Our enemies cannot comprehend our strength.”
At one stage, Elon Musk, who had a bitter and public falling out with Trump earlier this year, sat next to the president and the pair shook hands and chatted.
Within the stands and on stage at the State Farm Stadium, Kirk was revered as an activist for free speech and a mobiliser of the youth vote for Trump. “Charlie didn’t just help, he made the winning difference, I promise you that,” White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said.
“We wouldn’t be here without him,” Vice-President JD Vance told the crowd, who at times erupted into an extended chant of “U-S-A, U-S-A”.
“We’ve got it from here,” he added, while discussing Kirk’s political legacy.
Vance was one of several key figures from the Trump administration who spoke on stage, with others including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Heath Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
‘I forgive him’
They were followed by Kirk’s wife, Erika, who was tearful at times as she described her relationship and vowed to continue her husband’s work. She was named the new CEO of Turning Point USA after his death.
“I saw the wound that ended his life,” she said. “I felt everything he would expect to feel. I felt shock. I felt horror, and a level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed.
“These past 10 days after Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence. We didn’t see rioting. We didn’t see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country, we saw revival,” Kirk told the crowd.
She then said she had forgiven her husband’s alleged killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. “That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did and it is what Charlie would do,” Kirk said.
Watch: Is America divided? Charlie Kirk supporters weigh in
There was a raucous reception when President Trump took the stage after Erika Kirk. He repeatedly praised Charlie Kirk, while at times turning to his usual political talking points including crime in American cities and mocking his predecessor Joe Biden.
“He’s a martyr now for America’s freedom,” Trump said of Kirk. “I know I speak for everyone here today when I say that none of us will ever forget Charlie. And neither now will history.”
The president then said he disagreed with Kirk on one thing. “He did not hate his opponents, he wanted the best for them,” he said, prompting some laughs. “That’s where I disagree with Charlie. I hate my opponents and I don’t want what’s best for them.”
Trump also attacked what he called the “radical left” and blamed the left for violence in the country.
At the end of his address, in which he described Kirk as a “great of his generation”, Trump was joined on stage by Erika Kirk and the pair hugged as the crowd applauded.
Reuters
Trump and Erika Kirk hugged at the end of the memorial service and thanked the crowd of thousands
The deeply partisan event was reflective of how Kirk’s death has laid bare the extreme political divisions in America, with many on the right casting blame on the left for stoking political violence.
The Trump administration is seeking a crackdown on what it calls the “radical left”, which in turn has prompted accusations of government overreach and claims Kirk’s death is being used as a pretext to intrude on civil liberties.
Robinson, who has been charged with Kirk’s murder, is facing the death penalty but a motive for the killing is yet to be revealed by officials.
Kirk was 18 when he co-founded Turning Point USA, a student organisation focused on spreading conservative ideas on college campuses.
He would hold debates on campuses and became known for his combative style, inviting students to step up to the microphone and challenge his right-wing Christian worldview in front of a baying audience.
Clips of these exchanges built him a huge following – more than 5m followers on X and 7m on TikTok – that helped him mobilise the youth vote for President Trump.
While he energised young conservatives, his remarks on issues such as race and crime also routinely prompted an angry liberal backlash. He was a strong supporter of gun rights, vehemently opposed abortion, was critical of transgender rights and promoted false claims about Covid-19.
US President Donald Trump to address Arizona service for assassinated ally.
Published On 21 Sep 202521 Sep 2025
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Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a memorial service in Arizona for Charlie Kirk, the right-wing United States activist and founder of Turning Point USA who was shot dead this month.
The event will take place on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, which seats more than 63,000 people. Organisers said additional space has been arranged nearby to accommodate overflow crowds.
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President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several other Republicans will address the gathering, which Turning Point USA has called Building a Legacy: Remembering Charlie Kirk. Kirk’s widow, Erika, who recently became the organisation’s chief executive, is also expected to speak.
The Department of Homeland Security has classified the service as an event of “the highest national significance”, a designation usually reserved for occasions such as the Super Bowl. Officials said tight security measures are in place due to Trump’s attendance and the political tension surrounding Kirk’s killing.
Kirk, 31, was killed on September 10 during a university event in Utah. Police charged a 22-year-old suspect with murder, saying he carried out the attack alone and killed Kirk because he had “enough of his hate”.
Kirk was a polarising figure who called for the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and whips against immigrants at the US-Mexico border; suggested Islam is a danger to American society; and claimed there was “no factual data to back up global warming”.
The US right-wing viewed Kirk as a major figure in the Trump movement who played a pivotal role in building support for the US president and conservative causes among young people.
Trump has been accused of exploiting Kirk’s murder for political gain by linking the killing to what he calls “left-wing extremism” despite law enforcement dismissing claims of a wider alleged assassination plot. His remarks have drawn criticism from opponents who accused him of inflaming political divisions.
Kirk established Turning Point USA in 2012 at the age of 18. The organisation has grown into one of the largest right-wing groups in the US with influence across high schools, universities and social media platforms.
Santa Monica easily sits among the pantheon of iconic Southern California communities due to its combination of weather, beach backdrop, energy and friendliness.
Yet, that lore has been chipped away by sexual scandal, stagnation and, more recently, by another bubbling calamity.
How Santa Monica fell into this predicament and the measures it may take, including cutbacks, to remedy this situation are the focal points of their article.
Let’s take a look at their reporting.
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One man’s rampage
The city still faces 180 claims of sexual abuse by a former Santa Monica police dispatcher, a scandal that has already cost $229 million in settlement payouts.
Uller had been hired and continued to work with children despite a 1991 background check that revealed he had been arrested as a teen for molesting a toddler he baby-sat, according to a report reviewed by The Times.
On Tuesday, the city declared that it is in fiscal distress, a move that raised concerns among city workers that cuts, and perhaps layoffs, were coming.
“The financial situation the city is dealing with is certainly serious,” City Manager Oliver Chi said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
The worries among city workers reached such a peak that before Tuesday’s meeting Chi sent out an email to all city employees, trying to reassure them no layoffs were being planned.
Santa Monica’s recently approved budget for 2025-26 expects $473.5 million in revenue, but $484.3 million in costs, and city officials worry that the sexual abuse scandal could continue to put a drain on city coffers that are already reeling from an economic downturn.
More than just sex scandals
Current and former officials said the current financial woes were taking shape years ago.
“Santa Monica has failed to reign in unnecessary spending for a number of years, and we’ve known this financial crisis has been looming for a while,” said former Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock, who lost his seat in the November election.
The city has faced a steep downturn in tourism and retail revenues, Brock said, along with several businesses that have left downtown and the promenade.
“You might have to right-side services, and look at areas where [the city] might be overstaffed,” he said. “I recommend we go back to basics.”
But the declaration voted on Tuesday instead called for a declaration of “fiscal distress,” which Chi said was meant more for the city to communicate its financial situation with other agencies, get help in seeking grants and other funding, and as a tool to work on a “realignment of city operations.”
One city official, who asked not to be named because they weren’t cleared to speak on the record, said employees remained skeptical of what steps the city would take, and whether it could mean cuts to their pay or benefits.
What steps exactly the city is set to take remain unclear.
Whatever happens next in Santa Monica, our reporters will be there to document. As for now, check out the full article.
The week’s biggest stories
(Julie Leopo/Julie Leopo / For The Times)
Trump administration policies and their reactions
Jimmy Kimmel suspension and protest
Crime, courts and policing
Infrastructure needs and upgrades
More big stories
This week’s must-reads
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For your weekend
(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Saul Lopez)
Going out
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Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff writer Andrew J. Campa, reporter Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
President Marcos said in July there were anomalies in 9,855 flood-control projects worth more than $9.5 bn.
Published On 21 Sep 202521 Sep 2025
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Thousands of protesters have gathered in the Philippine capital, Manila, angered over a corruption scandal involving flood control projects that are believed to have cost billions of dollars.
With organisers hoping to draw one of the largest turnouts of anticorruption protests in the country on Sunday, police and troops were put on alert to prevent any possible outbreak of violence.
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There has been deadly violence in another Southeast nation, Indonesia, recently, where protesters, infuriated by police violence, parliamentarians’ wages and soaring inflation, have been staging nationwide demonstrations.
Protesters in Manila waved Philippine flags and held a banner that read “No more, too much, jail them”, as they marched, demanding the prosecution of all those involved.
“I feel bad that we wallow in poverty and we lose our homes, our lives and our future while they rake in a big fortune from our taxes that pay for their luxury cars, foreign trips and bigger corporate transactions,” student activist Althea Trinidad told The Associated Press news agency.
“We want to shift to a system where people will no longer be abused.”
According to the AFP news agency, an estimated 13,000 people gathered in Manila’s Luneta Park by Sunday morning.
Protesters hold signs during a rally against corruption at the historic EDSA Shrine in suburban Mandaluyong, east of Manila, Philippines [Basilio Sepe/AP Photo]
Anger has been mounting over the so-called ghost infrastructure projects since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr highlighted the scandal in July during his annual State of the Nation speech.
Marcos later established an independent commission to investigate what he referred to as anomalies in many of the 9,855 flood-control projects that were worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5bn).
Outrage from the public worsened after a wealthy couple, Sarah and Pacifico Discaya, who operated several construction companies, won flood control contracts that showed dozens of European and US luxury cars and SUVs they owned.
Marcos said on Monday that he did not blame people for protesting against the scandal “one bit” and called for the demonstrations to be peaceful. The president added that the army was on “red alert” as a precaution.
A protester waves a Philippine flag beside a burning truck in Manila, Philippines [Aaron Favila/AP Photo]
Reporting from Manila, Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo said the protest was being led by Christian churches of all denominations, but the Catholic Church has “historically” been able to “galvanise the Filipino people”.
“It’s not a coincidence that these protests are happening on September 21, which is the anniversary of the declaration of martial law by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr and is taking place on the very highway where two people power revolutions took place,” Lo said.
Lo added that protesters want the president to institute “lasting reforms” that would “eradicate any opportunity for corruption at any level of government”.
Aly Villahermosa, a 23-year-old nursing student, told AFP that she had waded through floods in the storm-prone country.
“If there’s a budget for ghost projects, then why is there no budget for the health sector?” she said, adding that the theft of public funds was “truly shameful”.
Sept. 17 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump‘s visit to England with King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Wednesday has sparked large protests in London and at Windsor.
Police estimated there were about 5,000 protesters at Parliament Square in London, and a smaller protest gathered outside of Windsor Castle.
Trump is unlikely to see the protests since most of his day and evening will be spent inside Windsor Castle. On Wednesday evening, the king and Queen Camilla will host a banquet, at which Charles and Trump are expected to give speeches. The king’s speech was written on the advice of the United Kingdom government, BBC’s Chris Mason reported.
The protests were organized by the Stop Trump Coalition, a group of more than 50 unions and charities.
Some protesters carried signs with slogans written across them, including “no to racism,” “no to Trump” and “stop arming Israel,” BBC reported. The 20-foot-tall Trump Baby blimp that greeted the president during his visit in 2019 has been made into smaller balloons that some protestors carried.
Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Louise Puddefoot said police had been in close contact with the organizers and had asked them to be “considerate to the local community” and keep disruption to a minimum.
Before the march, a spokesperson for the coalition said: “A government that will bow down to Trump and to racism is one that will open the door to fascism.”
The protest groups said they would demonstrate to “defeat the politics of Trumpism” and to promote “an alternative, democratic vision of the world based on peace, social justice and international cooperation.”
The march ended at Parliament Square, and several people spoke on a stage. There was a performance by singer Billy Bragg, and speakers included former Labour Party members of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, comedian Nish Kumar and Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
Zoe Gardner, a political commentator and one of the organizers of the protest, said that the president “represents everything that we hate.”
“We want our government to show some backbone, and have a little bit of pride and represent that huge feeling of disgust at Donald Trump’s politics in the U.K.,” she said.
Auriel Dowty Glanville, a climate activist from Wimbledon, said she was demonstrating because climate change was “the biggest threat facing us on Earth.”
She said the government giving him a second state visit was “appalling,” saying, “It’s all about the trade deal.”
On Tuesday, four men were arrested for projecting large images and videos of Trump and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on the walls of a turret at Windsor Castle. On Wednesday, as Trump toured the grounds and visited with the king, a van with a similar image was being driven around the castle, with the words, “Welcome to the U.K., Donald.” Police stopped the man and sent him on his way. He wasn’t arrested.
As the Trumps arrived via Marine One Wednesday morning, they were greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales — William and Kate — and then by Charles and Camilla.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense described the ceremonial welcome as “unprecedented.”
The delegation was then taken on a carriage ride around the grounds of the castle. Trump and Charles rode in the gilded Irish Stage Coach. It’s the coach that Queen Elizabeth II used to travel to the State Opening of Parliament. The queen and first lady followed behind in the Scottish State Coach, which was built in 1830.
After the ride around the castle grounds, they went to the Quadrangle at the Castle to inspect the British Army Guard of Honor. The group of royals and American visitors then went inside for a private lunch.
The unprecedented nature of the visit is that second-term presidents don’t usually get state visits. Instead, they are invited for lunch or tea with the monarch. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were treated to the usual protocol.
“This is really special. This has never happened before. Unprecedented,” said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the White House in February. “I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us.”
British officials understand that Trump admires the royal family, so “if you have those assets, that opportunity, then why not absolutely make the most of it,” Matthew Doyle, a former communications director and adviser for Starmer, told CNN.
The president will travel on Thursday to Chequers, the prime minister’s country house in Buckinghamshire, where talks will begin. Agreements on “tech and trade” are expected to be discussed, Doyle said. Trump and Starmer will also meet with tech CEOs.
Doyle said Britain also wants to hear that Trump has a “plan to get Russia to the table,” adding that “Ukraine is clearly the biggest issue on the foreign agenda” for this meeting.
Thousands of anti-Trump protestors march through the streets of London to protest against President Donald Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom on September 17, 2025. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo
The Israeli army has subjected Gaza City to its most punishing attacks in two years of war, sending thousands of residents fleeing under bombs and bullets amid fears they might never return, with the United Nations chief calling the offensive “horrendous”.
“Gaza is burning,” Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz said on X, as columns of vans and donkey carts laden with furniture, and people on foot carrying the last of their worldly possessions, steamed down the coastal al-Rashid Street against a backdrop of black smoke rising from the destroyed city.
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Many had pledged to stay in the early days of Israel’s takeover plan. But as the military accelerated the pace of its deadly bombing campaign, turning high-rises, homes and civilian infrastructure to rubble, those able to afford the journey are heading south, with no guarantees of a safe zone for shelter.
On Tuesday, the army killed at least 91 people in the city, with health authorities reporting that one of its bombs hit a vehicle carrying people about to escape on the coastal road.
At least 17 of the city’s residential buildings were destroyed, including Aybaki Mosque in the Tuffah neighbourhood to the east, which was targeted by an Israeli warplane.
As the bombs rained down, the Israeli army continued to destroy areas in the north, south and east of the city with explosive-laden robots.
Earlier this month, the rights group Euro-Med Monitor said the army had deployed 15 of these machines, each one capable of destroying up to 20 housing units.
Tanks push into the city
About 1 million Palestinians are known to have returned to Gaza City to live among the ruins after the initial phase of the two-year war, but reports on how many remain vary.
An Israeli army official estimated on Tuesday that approximately 350,000 had fled. But Gaza’s Government Media Office said 350,000 had been displaced to the centre and the west of the city, with 190,000 leaving it altogether.
Either way, those who left faced a bleak future in the south, where the already cramped al-Mawasi camp, filled with people forcibly displaced from the eastern parts of Rafah and Khan Younis, has itself been hit by Israeli strikes.
The Government Media Office noted a trend of reverse displacement, saying on Tuesday that 15,000 had returned to Gaza City after witnessing the dire conditions at al-Mawasi.
As people fled, the Israeli military released aerial footage showing a large number of tanks and other armoured vehicles pushing further into Gaza City.
The Israeli army admitted on Tuesday that it would take “several months” to control Gaza City.
“No matter how long it takes, we will operate in Gaza,” army spokesman Effie Defrin said, as fighting raged in the enclave’s largest urban hub.
At least 106 people were killed across Gaza since dawn on Tuesday, according to medical sources.
‘Specific intent’ to destroy Palestinians
Amid the brutal offensive, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday concluded that Israel’s war on Gaza is a genocide, a landmark moment after nearly two years of war that has killed at least 64,964 people.
Among its findings, it drew on the public statements of Israeli officials to show that Israel had the “dolus specialis” of genocide, or the “specific intent” to destroy Palestinians as a people.
Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the report. “The situation in Gaza today portends a humanitarian catastrophe that cannot tolerate any leniency or delay,” it said on X.
International criticism of Israel is growing, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday calling the war morally, politically and legally intolerable.
France’s Foreign Ministry urged Israel to stop its “destructive campaign, which no longer has any military logic, and to resume negotiations as soon as possible”.
Irish President Michael D Higgins condemned “those who are practising genocide, and those who are supporting genocide with armaments”.
“We must look at their exclusion from the United Nations itself, and we should have no hesitation any longer in relation to ending trade with people who are inflicting this on our fellow human beings,” he said.
When the thought of truly delicious pancakes bubbles up, various trips and experiences flood my mind and activate my hunger receptors.
I’m transported back aboard the Amtrak booze train heading to San Diego for a Chargers game, where I have to make time for Richard Walker’s Pancake House. Their famed, often still sizzling and flaky, gigantic baked apple pancake is the embodiment of flapjack largesse.
There’s the homespun goodness of a sweet cream pancake volcano at the Black Bear Diner, a common haunt when I visit family in the Inland Empire. And can you visit The Grove for breakfast without trying Du-Par’s heavenly and buttery pancakes?
Pancakes own a special place in many of our hearts, partly because they are comforting, filling and customizable.
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We’ll dip into that grouping and pull out some favorites where new memories can be created.
Breakfast by Salt’s Cure (Santa Monica)
The oatmeal griddle cakes from Breakfast by Salt’s Cure.
(Andrea D’Agosto)
I almost hesitate to call these pancakes, and in fact, the official name on the menu is “Oatmeal Griddle Cakes.”
Made from a base of oat flour and cinnamon sugar, these thin-yet-hearty griddle cakes taste like a deeply gooey, slightly underbaked oatmeal cookie. There is absolutely no maple syrup or syrup of any kind available, but you won’t need any if you are careful to get the scoops of cinnamon molasses butter into every nook and cranny.
Café Telegrama (Hollywood)
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
What sets the pancakes at Café Telegrama apart from the rest of the pancakes in Los Angeles are their iconic crispy edges.
Perfectly caramelized, they are the result of cooking the pancakes for at least seven minutes in a generous pool of nutty brown butter. The edges are in sharp contrast to the rest of the pancake, which is quite tender thanks to the ricotta in the batter.
They arrive stacked two to a plate, swimming in maple syrup, and topped with a generous amount of house-made blueberry compote.
The Griddle Cafe (Hollywood Hills West)
Bigger isn’t always better, but it’s impossible not to be delighted by the truly massive, dinner plate-sized pancakes that show up either two or three to a stack at this legendary Sunset Boulevard breakfast spot.
While the classic buttermilk pancakes are solid, this is not the place to hold back — you might as well really go for it with one of the diner’s over-the-top novelty options.
The best?
Either the Golden Ticket, pancakes stuffed with brown sugar-baked bananas, caramel, walnuts and streusel; or the Black Magic, a stack of pancakes brimming with crispy yet soft crushed Oreo cookies and a mountain of whipped cream. Just be ready to nap afterward.
Yang’s Kitchen (Alhambra)
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
It’s worth braving the weekend brunch lines at this beloved Alhambra institution for the giant cornmeal pancakes.
The team at Yang’s whips together cornmeal from Grist & Toll with mochiko rice flour from Koda Farms to create a pancake that is gently chewy with deep savory notes from the cornmeal.
There is no maple syrup: Instead, they come topped with fresh whipped cream, seasonal fruit and condensed milk for drizzling. They might not be traditional by any means, but it’s always worth ordering a stack for the table.
(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP)
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Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in London on Saturday for an anti-immigration rally called ‘Unite the Kingdom’, organised by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson. Anti-racism campaigners also marched in counterprotests.
Daniel SandfordUK correspondent, central London and
Maia Davies
Aerial video shows scale of ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest
More than 100,000 people have joined a march in central London organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with a counter-protest by anti-racism campaigners also taking place.
Protesters forming the “Unite the Kingdom” rally have gathered in Whitehall where they are hearing a series of speeches from people including Donald Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon.
The Metropolitan Police said some officers had been “attacked with projectiles” and had had to use force to avoid a cordon being breached.
Meanwhile, the Met estimates about 5,000 people have joined a nearby counter-protest, dubbed March Against Fascism, organised by Stand Up To Racism (SUTR).
Around 1,000 Met Police officers have been deployed in London, with barriers in place to create a “sterile area” between the two groups.
The Met said it had borrowed 500 officers from other forces for the day, with police vans from Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Devon and Cornwall.
Just after 15:00 BST, the two separate demonstrations were divided in Whitehall by a line of police officers.
One side waved placards that said “refugees welcome. Stop the far right” and the other Unite the Kingdom group flew Union and St George’s flags.
The Met said some officers had been attacked while trying to keep the two groups apart.
“Officers are having to intervene in multiple locations to stop Unite the Kingdom protesters trying to access sterile areas, breach police cordons or get to opposing groups,” the Met said on X.
“A number of officers have been assaulted.”
Huge crowds massed near Waterloo Station with people wearing and waving union flags and the St George cross
At a stage set up on Whitehall, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, addressed the crowds who had gathered.
He claimed that UK courts had found that the rights of undocumented migrants superseded those of the “local community”.
Robinson was referring to a Court of Appeal decision to overturn an injunction blocking asylum seekers being housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.
TV presenter Katie Hopkins also spoke on the stage after earlier appearing alongside Robinson, Lawrence Fox and Ant Middleton at the front of the march.
EPA
At the other Stand Up To Racism rally, speeches were expected by MPs Diane Abbott and MP Zarah Sultana.
Ahead of the march, the Met confirmed it would not be using live facial recognition – which captures people’s faces in real-time CCTV cameras – in its policing of the Unite the Kingdom march.
It also said there were “particular concerns” amongsome in London’s Muslim communities ahead of Robinson’s protest, citing a “record of anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents of offensive chanting by a minority at previous marches”.
EPA
Counter protesters were also set to march through central London, ending up near Robinson’s demonstration
Cdr Clair Haynes urged Muslim Londoners not to change their plans or avoid central London, but to approach a police officer should they feel concerned while out in public.
She said: “Officers will take a firm line on behaviour that is discriminatory or that crosses the line from protest into hate crime.”
She added that police would act “without fear or favour” and asked demonstrators to “be considerate of the communities they are passing through”.
The Met said that it had ordered the Unite the Kingdom rally to end by 18:00 and the counter-protest to end by 16:00, in line with when the organisers told the force they expected speeches to end.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
For many years, I have highlighted in detail the threat posed by lower-end drones, ranging from off-the-shelf and standard remote-controlled types to short-range First Person View (FPV) types to much longer-range, but comparatively inexpensive one-way attack munitions that blur the lines between cruise missiles and unmanned aerial systems. Combined, these weapons represent a vast and truly game-changing asymmetric threat that the Pentagon has long overlooked. Now the Department of Defense (DoD) is desperately trying to play catch-up at a time when the evolution of these systems is fast outpacing countermeasures to them. This massive failure in vision could be heavily paid for in blood if a major conflict were to erupt between the U.S. and a capable adversary.
At the same time, the Pentagon has also been bizarrely slow at widely adopting lower-end drones for its own offensive operations. This is glaring for short-range types, especially after all the lessons learned in Ukraine. Thankfully, we are finally seeing some much-needed change in this regard. But what’s arguably even more frustrating is the DoD’s lack of urgency when it comes to producing massive numbers of long-range one-way attack drones, even now, when the need for these weapons, which have transformed modern warfare, isn’t just clear, it’s absolutely critical for deterring and, if all else fails, winning a conflict.
Defense Secretary Hegseth examines the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) at the Pentagon on July 16, 2025. (Army Contracting Command’s Facebook page)
For our regular readers, what you are going to read isn’t exactly new. It is something we have been harping on for many years. In recent times, the lack of movement on doing everything reasonably possible to produce as many relatively inexpensive long-range attack and decoy drones borders on downright negligence when it comes to ensuring America’s national security. That being said, I have hopes the Trump administration will reverse this wrong, and there are indications from the very top that it will, but the Pentagon cannot approach it like it has done with any other weapon system in the recent past. This urgent challenge requires a more aggressive and streamlined approach that looks at the procurement of these weapons differently. There simply isn’t the time left to obtain this critical combat mass using the DoD’s ‘business as usual’ procurement playbook.
We are talking about putting in place the means to sustain rapid production of tens of thousands of these weapons a year, not hundreds or a few thousand. If the U.S. fails to do this, it hands a massive advantage to our near-peer adversaries, China and Russia, which are in far more advantageous positions to supply these capabilities in very large numbers today.
To put it bluntly, this post is not just a prediction of things to come, it is a plea for urgent action.
Attack of the clones
The drones that are so desperately needed are not complex. They are not expensive. They are anything but exquisite. They are also not innovative in any way. In fact, they take a play right out of our adversary’s playbook. They are clones of a long line of clones — that’s a huge feature, not a bug. And as a result of these attributes, they are intrinsically repulsive to the Pentagon’s legacy vision for America’s dominance in future wars.
Those making the decisions for the DoD have been dreaming up how to fight wars of the past — ones dominated by qualitative advantage. The last decade and a half or so has seen a stunted force transformation that was designed in denial of what’s on the horizon, specifically when it comes to unmanned technologies.
The same exact flavor of apathy and lack of vision within the DoD that has been occurring toward long-range one-way attack munitions was present in the last decade with the much higher-end, opposite end of the future unmanned air war. You can read about this bizarre reality in our 2016 exposé on a capability — unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) — that remains an obvious hole in America’s aerial force mix as our adversaries and some allies alike pursue it with urgency.
The Pentagon bizarrely rejecting and then burying the very concept that by many indications was the biggest revolution in modern air combat since stealth technology — the UCAV — echoes what has happened with long-range one-way attack drones today. (NASA image of Boeing X-47C)
Not surprisingly, these polar opposites in terms of deferred unmanned aircraft capabilities have one thing in common — a massive premium put on range. The decision not to aggressively procure high-end unmanned combat aircraft in the last decade was a luxury that no longer exists, but doing so with the lower end of the drone spectrum is arguably even a bigger mistake today.
This weapon was ‘designed’ by Iran, who loosely cloned it from Israel, which largely originated the development and operational use of this type of capability decades ago, a reality which you can read all about here. Today, Russia is producing thousands of ever-improving variants and derivatives of the Shahed-136 per month. That production is set to expand drastically in the near term. It is very possible that 2026 could see Russia build over 50,000 of these drones annually. The basic Shahed concept has also been copied by other countries in recent years, from China to North Korea, as well as some U.S. allies.
Russia has had its variant of the Shahed-136 in mass production for years now and is scaling output to thousands of drones a month. (Russian Media)
The Shahed-136 is an efficient delta planform, modified flying-wing-like design. It can carry plenty of fuel to get to its destination, roughly around 1,000 miles away, give or take a couple of hundred miles, as the range varies quite dramatically depending on the sub-variant. It measures around eight feet wide by 11 feet long. It delivers a roughly 50-to-100-pound warhead. It does this at plodding light aircraft speeds with the use of a small and simple internal combustion engine. The basic engine/airframe combination is intrinsically adaptable. While primarily a ‘kamikaze drone,’ it can be viewed simply as a platform. Development of improved configurations and ones capable of tackling emerging mission sets is done in a low-cost and high-risk, rapid iterative manner, not over years of development and prolonged procurement processes. The Russians have been steadily evolving their Shahed variants in exactly this way.
In case you didn’t know, this is the real size of the Russian-Iranian Shahed drones, which attacked Poland tonight and had been attacking Ukraine in thousands for three years now. pic.twitter.com/9u5LCRADE7
As noted earlier, the Shahed-136, and many other types with a similar mission, blur the line between cruise missiles and drones. This often frustrates those who obsess over definitions and designations. The fact is, you can look at these weapons as slow, low-cost cruise missiles or long-range drones that are designed, at least primarily, to fly a single, one-way suicidal mission. It is worth noting that some variants can be reused under various circumstances when used for non-strike missions.
A Russian Shahed over Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
While there are many drone configurations that could do this job, from traditional fuselage-and-wing combinations to more exotic ones, the delta planform design has proven itself as something of a sweet spot for similar drone performance capabilities dating back many decades. That being said, any airframe design that can be built as cheaply as possible and can achieve very basic range and payload objectives will work.
When it comes to this class of drone, speed and advanced guidance concepts do not define its utility. Range and cost do. Survivability comes in numbers, and due to their smaller size, use of composite materials, and small internal combustion engine, as well as their slow speed. These attributes, along with their low-altitude flight profile, mean they possess a reduced signature and general level of detectability that can be a challenge for traditionally configured ground-based radars. Despite their smaller signature, the fact that they are still somewhat vulnerable to interception is actually a positive, but we will get to that in a moment.
Above all else, the Shahed-136 and other long-range one-way attack drones exist to put a relevantly-sized warhead on a target far from their launch position at the lowest possible cost. It was previously estimated that the Russian Shahed-136 variant costs around $50,000 per copy, with some estimates being far lower. This cost has also likely declined significantly since Russia has mastered the design and drastically ramped up serial production. By comparison, traditional cruise missiles with similar range have costs in the millions of dollars per round, so the price differential is very dramatic. The Shaheds are also just far easier to build and can be produced in much less time than a typical cruise missile.
A Tomahawk cruise missile possesses the same range as the Shahed-136. Although it is far more capable and survivable, and packs a much larger warhead, it also costs between 30 and 40 times more per round. These weapons are not meant to compete for relevance, they are both critical to have in America’s standoff weapons magazines. (USN)
Go big or choose to lose
Before we continue, it’s absolutely crucial that if you take away anything from this piece, it’s that the U.S. military needs to acquire many long-range one-way attack munitions very fast. The basic framework for doing so that I lay out below is not the only way to realize that goal, although I believe it is, by far, the best way to do so. Regardless, the DoD must act now, and at dramatic scale, to stockpile as many of these weapons as possible in the near term.
The Shahed-136 was developed by Iran with, ironically considering its roots, Israel in mind as a primary target. Russia has tweaked their versions for range and payload optimization dictated by the conflict it is in with Ukraine — and for a potential future broader European fight by default. The U.S. military needs a drone to meet similar requirements, but it also needs another, less numerous type that is better suited for the extreme challenges of the Pacific. Critical to the latter design would be the objective of having the range to reach from the Second Island Chain to the Chinese mainland — this is roughly 2,000 miles one-way.
Having two variants, one that can reach around 1,000 miles and one that can reach over 2,000 miles, provides maximum tactical unpredictability and theater optimization. This addresses the extreme challenges of a Pacific contingency while also providing a more prevalent and efficient type for potential wars anywhere, including the Pacific.
Considering the shorter-range variant can be launched from any ship that can hold a shipping container, or that those containers can be placed on any landmass and even be activated remotely, the enemy has no way of targeting them at scale. These drones can also be launched by a small catapult or even from a moving truck bed. Air launch is also an interesting concept to ponder. Because they can be launched from pretty much anywhere, the drones can approach the enemy from every vector accessible to the launching force.
The smaller, cheaper, far more prevalent of the two ‘U.S. Shahed’ configurations can be just as useful for posing a threat to China virtually everywhere within the First Island Chain and out to 1,000 miles from Chinese shores as it would be in Europe. The larger, more expensive 2,000-plus-mile configuration is less flexible, but it’s so important because it provides an even greater targeting problem to the adversary, and extra ‘left of launch’ survivability via the sheer distance it can attack from. Its utility would be highly important in a scenario where accessing anywhere within 1,000 miles of the Chinese mainland becomes highly dangerous after the opening shots of a conflict, making resupply and distribution of additional shorter-ranged one-way attack munitions to areas within that bubble very problematic.
It’s also worth noting that the range of these drones can be consumed by flying circuitous routes to maximize survivability or to assist in coordinated attack operations with other standoff munitions and crewed platforms. Regardless, the existence of many thousands of these drones packed in non-assuming containers ready to fire, or in ships’ holds, or storehouses with a catapult nearby, and forward positioned across a vast battlespace, will demand that the enemy’s available defenses be distributed beyond their capacity to defend.
The First and Second Island Chains. The proposed longer range drone variant would be able to strike the Chinese mainland from Guam. The shorter-range ‘U.S. Shahed” would be able to flood China with one-way attack munitions from any vessel or land mass within and even beyond the First Island Chain. (DoD)
So, to sum this up, the U.S. military needs two classes of long-range one-way attack munitions and, for at least by far the most prevalent one, cloning the Shahed-136 will do. While an infinite number of configurations from different suppliers could fill those two requirements, going that route only lessens the ability to produce, stockpile, maintain, and employ the extreme quantities required. This is why two standardized configurations are absolutely key. Making such weapons is easy and by no means requires the expertise of huge defense contractors. Quite the opposite. Producing them and stockpiling them in bulk is where the biggest opportunities and challenges lie for the United States.
A new way
When I say stockpile, I don’t think it’s intuitive to visualize the scale of such an operation that is required. While the Pentagon is now slowly trying to pivot to a high-low mix of some classes of standoff munitions, with the lower end of that spectrum also being focused on the ability to rapidly produce them on demand, it is very debatable that this concept will meet expectations. This is especially true during a wartime scenario when the possibility of massive disruptions in global supply chains and even within the homeland will be part of a near-peer enemy’s battle strategy.
Yes, in a major all-out fight in the Pacific, the war will come home to the United States, too.
This could manifest in the form of some very concerning cyber weaponry China has amassed, as well as potential sabotage and kinetic operations targeted at degrading America’s ability to respond militarily and its citizens’ will to support such a response. Defense production will be among the top targets, as well as military assets. Transportation, energy, and financial infrastructure are also likely to be in the crosshairs.
Just look at what happened in Russia and Iran when it comes to near-field attacks inside their countries with adversaries using relatively basic drones and other short-ranged guided weaponry. These were precisely the kind of potential attacks we have been predicting for many years, right down to the very details. As it sits now, there are no robust domestic defenses in the United States against these kinds of enemy actions. This is another byproduct of the U.S. government’s massive lapse in not taking the drone threat seriously. This appears to be changing now, hopefully. Regardless, these are just one set of tactics, but China has clearly dreamed up many. While we can hope the words I am writing here prove to be hyperbolic and that things don’t actually occur this way should a U.S.-China fight come to pass, that is a massive ‘divorced from the facts’ gamble that nobody should be willing to take at this point.
China is also the industrial production powerhouse of the globe. It can produce things at truly massive scales to a degree the United States can’t really replicate. This is especially true when it comes to relatively long-range one-way attack drones. Famously, the first time Ukraine used such systems on Russia, they were drone airframes available on Alibaba converted into weapons. The possibility of how many of these systems China could pump out on short order presents a very dark picture when compared with America’s industrial capacity, as well as its available air defense capabilities to counter throngs of Chinese drones.
So yeah, we are far behind in the rapid production capacity realm, and especially when it comes to cheap composite airframes, basic flight control systems, and small and relatively crude internal combustion engines. So instead of living in denial, let’s work around the problem while growing production capacity in the United States. We can do this by building many of these airframes and their basic subsystem components now, in peacetime, so we have a deep, widely distributed, and resilient magazine to rapidly draw from in wartime. This, paired with the ability to scale up production during a time of crisis to counter the massive use rate of these weapons in the early days and weeks of the conflict, will be key. Initially obtaining a shallow stockpile with the hopes that production can be scaled to deal with a crisis is a very risky and foolish strategy for such a critical capability.
What the U.S. needs to do right now is an industrial push to use many contractors to mass produce the same two basic airframe designs, and the flight control systems and powerplants needed to make them fly. It is critical that the U.S. government owns the rights to the basic designs so that it isn’t ‘vendor locked’ to a single contractor. This way, the Pentagon can openly compete every component of the common designs in perpetuity, as well as assembly, payload integration, and sustainment of the stockpile, all without being held hostage by a single contractor and lopsided licensing agreements.
A small number of U.S. firms are already working on Shahed-136 clones, but the DoD has not officially shown intent to procure them for offensive roles. (Griffon Aerospace)
Once again, these drones are just simple platforms, crude ‘open architecture’ ones by default due to their inherent simplicity. As noted earlier, Russia is taking advantage of this reality with its rapid evolution of its Shahed derivatives. What we need as fast as possible is a large stockpile of the basic components that make up a completed airframe, then we can insert payload advancements as they make sense and as tactics, countermeasures, and general technology evolve. This will allow us to achieve a proper capabilities mix that can fluctuate elastically over time.
Two standardized designs also mean launch systems and backend mission planning components can also be standardized, mass produced, trained on, distributed, and sustained at the cheapest cost.
It’s critical to note that there are a small but growing number of firms that are now actively pitching U.S.-built Shahed-like clones to the U.S. military. Spektreworks and Griffon Aerospace, for example. So far, beyond some financial assistance in prototype development, the DoD has mainly only shown interest in procuring them as threat representative targets for testing and training purposes. It’s possible that there have been orders for offensive configured types, but not at anywhere the scale needed as outlined in this post. While Shahed-like target drones are certainly badly needed, it’s a bit ironic that they want them for this use alone, because they represent a new threat that is vexing and asymmetric, but they aren’t rushing to actually obtain the same class of weapon in huge quantities for offensive use. Regardless, these firms are exactly the ones that can play a major part in bringing these two designs into service, along with other manufacturers, big and small.
Another Group 3 threat system (target) broadly similar to the FLM 136 G3 ‘reverse-engineered Shahed’ threat system.
“The MQM-172 Arrowhead is designed as a high-speed, maneuverable one-way-attack and target drone platform—perfect for realistic threat emulation, training, and… https://t.co/qaEanNEC8Tpic.twitter.com/DwxlGypV4E
The American version of the “Shahed-136” — the “Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Aerial System” (LUCAS) — its production facility, although currently still at the CGI animation stage. via the second 2025 Technology Readiness Experimentation event (T-REX 25-2). https://t.co/y64Xd1B9QApic.twitter.com/x4qwVvfTBx
With all this in mind, the plan of action needs to include finding a slew of firms with the capability and the will to produce the basic standardized airframe, propulsion, and flight controls, and build these U.S.-Shaheds as fast and as cheaply as possible. Again, this cannot be the domain of one primary manufacturer. It requires many companies. This is how the United States can achieve a highly resilient supply chain, immediate scale, and rampant competition to drive the price of each drone down over time and increase capability while piling on our combat mass. With every dollar saved via this strategy, we can buy more drones. Once we have stockpiled tens of thousands of these weapons, we can taper production strategically to keep production lines warm and work to export them to our allies.
Other companies can produce insertion payloads — anti-radiation and optical seekers, electronic warfare payloads, swarm networking communications, warheads, hardened GPS and PNT capabilities, and especially revolutionary AI infusion that will allow the use of these common airframes in innovative and outright new ways. This includes taking on missions well beyond striking static targets or acting as decoys. Cooperative swarming capabilities and mesh network deployments could all be ported into these airframes as needed.
In summary, the DoD needs to consolidate around two long-range kamikaze drone designs that it owns the intellectual property to and stockpile them very rapidly.
Striking on the cheap
The most obvious drivers for an Americanized Shahed-136, and a bigger brother to it, are the ability to hit a target at great distance cheaply and having enough weapons that can do so to sustain a fight against a major foe.
The DoD’s rush to build cheaper cruise missiles, alongside far more expensive and capable models, is one intended measure to address this reality. The fact is that in even a limited conflict with China, the target sets will be measured in the tens of thousands. A much wider conflict will see that number balloon. So the U.S. military needs weapons that can put many thousands of targets at risk without rapidly consuming all of its multi-million-dollar cruise and ballistic missiles or putting its aircraft at much higher risk by requiring them to make closer proximity or even direct attacks because stockpiles of long-range standoff weapons are depleted. The fact that these weapons require a small logistical footprint with small groups of minimally-trained personnel able to deploy them, and that they don’t depend on a host delivery system, such as an aircraft or ship, to get them to their launch points are massive added bonuses.
As we noted earlier, as it sits now, the DoD’s hope for less expensive and faster-to-produce cruise missile options is palpable, but still unproven. These weapons will still cost hundreds of thousands of dollars — far cheaper than current options, but still not exactly dirt cheap, even when built at scale. We need a much lower-end option for the standoff munitions arsenal to complement these new lower-cost missiles, and that’s where the two classes of standardized one-way attack munitions come in. Additionally, they will possess far greater range than these lower-cost cruise missiles. They can also be stockpiled with far less sustainment demands and can be produced much faster and easier during an actual crisis. Just their forward presence by the thousands in a theater would act as a major deterrent against aggression.
It seems that the U.S. military has bet on any future war being quick and very violent, but that line of strategic thinking is extremely optimistic at this point, and it borders on outright hubris. Some would argue that it is unlikely in the China scenario. So we must prepare for much longer, sustained operations. Procuring the cheapest and easiest to build long-range strike weapons and stockpiling them en masse is a critical hedge against less convenient conflict timelines.
Effector depletion — a modern battle of attrition
The massive need for this critical capability goes beyond just putting tens of thousands of targets at risk over great distances on the cheap. That is the baseline threat the drones provide to the adversary. The byproduct of it is that, to the enemy, these weapons, whether they are decoys or armed with high-explosive warheads, need to be shot down before they reach a potential target. As a result, the attritable combat mass they provide gives them a secondary role — or it can even be considered a primary one, depending on the circumstances — to consume massive amounts of expensive and hard to quickly replace counter-air weapons. These include surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles primarily, as well as counter-drone loitering munitions.
Each combatant’s stockpile of kinetic counter-air effectors is relatively finite in the short term. These weapons are generally very costly, filled with complex proprietary components, and take a long time to procure. The faster you degrade the enemy’s stockpile of these effectors, the better off you are. This impacts everything, from the enemy’s resource allocation in peacetime to the downstream effects of enhancing the survivability of friendly platforms participating in an air war to making potential targets more vulnerable to attack. Being on the right side of the cost ‘exchange rate’ is critical here. The enemy using multi-million-dollar hard-to-replace interceptors to down $50,000 easy-to-replace drones is a win in many circumstances.
The cold, hard truth of America’s and its allies’ stockpiles of advanced interceptors has been all too clearly highlighted by the war in Ukraine. The U.S. and its NATO allies are scrambling to produce more interceptors, not just to replace those Ukraine has consumed, and for the U.S., those used up in actions in the Middle East, but also because it’s clear they do not have enough stockpiled for future fights. These contingencies will include facing thousands of enemy drones just like the Shahed-136, which will chew through effector reserves at an alarming rate.
China is not immune to this issue either, although they have a far larger industrial capacity and more government control over it to stockpile weapons and replenish them quickly, if needed. Still, during major conflict, especially a fast-developing and extremely violent one, the consumption rate will vastly outpace any production rate.
The supply of Patriot interceptors has become a major concern and it will still take years for very large new orders, paired with new production facilities, to materialize. (DoD)
So, for examples of American Shaheds that never make it to their targets, if they are even intended to hit targets at all, their deaths at the hand of anything but a specific set of very short-range enemy point defense systems, could be considered a win — one that, collectively, could very well be critical to succeeding in a conflict over the long term.
Let’s talk about that short-range air defense caveat for a moment. The mainstream media has painted a picture that directed energy weapons — lasers and high-power microwave systems specifically — are the antidote to low-cost, but effective aerial attack drones. Today, these directed energy systems are still in their infancy, and delays in development and fielding have put many predictions of them dominating the battlefield in the near term in check. Regardless, these are very short-range systems with major operational limitations, even when they work as advertised. They are meant to protect a small area or a large facility at short distances measured in single miles, at best. The same can be said for gun and guided rocket counter-drone systems.
For high-value targets, these short-range protection measures can play a major defensive role, but they are far too costly to deploy over large areas. Even when used to defend high-value targets, they are a last line of defense, not a panacea for long-range one-way attack drones and other standoff munitions. In order to rely on them solely, the party being attacked has to be willing to let very dangerous weapons get within extremely close proximity of their most valued assets — ones that could be attacked en masse in an attempt to overwhelm these kinds of point defenses. So yes, they are a critical layer of defense under certain circumstances, and their role will grow as their capabilities do, but they are in no way an antidote for the long-range one-way attack drone threat.
Electronic warfare has its own limitations, including its reach, depending on the tactic being deployed. In order to act as an effector-consuming target, a one-way attack drone could rely on nothing that could be impacted by traditional electronic warfare. This includes just flying on a heading once entering into GPS-disrupted areas or working off of onboard inertial navigation system (INS) guidance alone, if it’s so equipped. Remember, the drone doesn’t even have to end up at a specific target for it to consume an effector. The enemy doesn’t know if it has a warhead or an advanced navigation system or not, nor what its target is. For basic missions, they do not need to be equipped to communicate, so jamming communications is not a viable vector of electronic attack, either.
Modern positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technologies will only improve upon this resilience to electronic warfare, even for those drones configured to strike with precision. Basic infusion of artificial intelligence (AI) is fast approaching over the horizon for lower-end drones, which will enable adaptive autonomous navigation without GPS and strikes even on mobile targets of opportunity. Again, you can read all about this in our previous feature linked here. Electronic warfare will not be able to impact these systems.
The key takeaway is that having tens of thousands of real threats that cost a fraction of the price of a standard cruise or ballistic missile, ready to gobble up precious air defense effectors, will be an absolutely critical factor in any major future conflict.
The enemy is also fully aware of this vulnerability and tactical opportunity, too, but that’s another post entirely.
Starting tomorrow is too late
Rapidly amassing a fleet of two types of relatively crude long-range, expendable drones seems remarkably simple for a country that builds stealth bombers and reusable rockets. The good news is that this isn’t technically wrong. What’s missing is the strategic vision and the urgency to actually do it. The fact that I am even having to write this about a weapon that has already changed modern warfare and is being used by the thousands every month in an active war in Europe certainly is as troubling as it is outright strange.
There is absolutely nothing sexy or innovative about any of this. This is borrowing and scaling, not innovating and slowly iterating. In simple terms, it is everything the Pentagon isn’t known for, regardless of its leadership’s constant messaging on needing to change the way they do procurement and ‘move fast.’ You can look at the scope of the Biden administration’s Replicator initiative to get an idea of just how out of touch the powers that be were when it comes to needing a huge infusion of combat mass ‘yesterday.’
Then again, we are at an inflection point. The picture isn’t pretty when it comes to the United States facing off with China, especially at the same time Russia’s war machine is being spun into high gear and poses an increasing threat to Europe, and other hot spots around the globe burn ever brighter. The good news is that we are seeing some promising signs within the DoD that this reality is sinking in that the need for change isn’t some nebulous goal for generals to pine about in future tenses.
Two types of relatively simple and adaptable long-range, expendable drones, built at scale by multiple companies, big and small. No, it’s not that much of an ask, is it?
Roughly 200,000 Palestinians have fled besieged Gaza City in recent weeks, according to Israeli military estimates reported by Israeli media, with tens of thousands departing in recent days as military operations intensify.
Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have denounced Israel’s escalating offensive in northern Gaza, warning of “catastrophic and irreversible consequences” for Palestinian civilians.
Israel has issued renewed forced evacuation directives for approximately one million people to evacuate Gaza City, where it has stepped up bombardment of high-rise buildings while preparing for the next phase of military action in what it claims is Hamas’s final stronghold. On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced imminent increases in targeted strikes near Gaza City.
Palestinians are being forced to move southward, where hundreds of thousands already endure overcrowded tent settlements that Israel periodically strikes.
Many residents decline to leave, citing exhaustion and a lack of resources.
“There is no safe zone in the Gaza Strip,” said Fawzi Muftah, as people travelled with vehicles loaded with possessions. “Danger is everywhere.”
Amal Sobh, displaced with 30 family members, including 13 orphans, recounted being stranded after their vehicle broke down without fuel.
“We do not have good blankets or good bedding, and winter is coming. What do we do for our children? We do not even have a proper tent to shelter us,” said Sobh, whose husband was arrested during the conflict.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 126 Palestinians, including 26 children, have died from malnutrition-related conditions since famine was declared in Gaza City on August 22. Throughout the war, 404 people, including 141 children, have perished from malnutrition.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 64,656 people and wounded 163,503 since October 2023, with tens of thousands more believed to be trapped beneath rubble.
AFTER a lifetime spent trying to keep her curly locks in check, Hilary Freeman, 53, from London, sees if the new Airwrap makes styling them fuss-free.
When I was 12 and puberty kicked in, my previously smooth curls turned, almost overnight, into an uncontrollable mop of frizz.
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Hilary Freeman, 53, from London, sees if the new Airwrap makes styling curly locks them fuss-freeCredit: Lorna Roach
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Hilary after using the £579 Dyson toolCredit: Lorna Roach
Ever since, I’ve spent thousands on styling products and tools, for a daily battle to tame my locks.
My hair is like candy floss: fine in texture, soft and big. Humidity and rain are its mortal enemies.
Yes, I am that woman you see with an umbrella in the slightest drizzle.
That’s because the merest hint of moisture turns me into Art Garfunkel. Or worse, Phil Spector.
Like them, I have what some affectionately call a “Jewfro”.
As a teen, I begged my mother to allow me to have my hair chemically straightened.
The foul-smelling treatment, in effect a reverse perm — this was well before the days of Brazilian blow dries — didn’t work, and just damaged my locks, making them even more frizzy.
In the Nineties, when poker-straight locks became almost compulsory, I bought hair straighteners.
But I didn’t have the patience or expertise to use them properly.
I ended up with a half-straight, half-curly do — and a second- degree burn on my neck.
Watch the moment woman leaves passengers stunned as she dyes her hair on the TRAIN, and insists she’s ‘not embarrassed’ about it either
Since then, I’ve avoided trying new gadgets, partly out of fear of damaging my hair and partly because, as a mum with a busy job as a writer, I simply don’t have the time.
Instead, I’ve resigned myself to wearing my hair long and curly.
I tend to half diffuse it and half air-dry it, depending on the time I have.
Over the years, hair dye to stem the ever-increasing tide of grey has conspired with my changing hormones to alter my curl pattern from tight curls to looser ones.
But the frizz has remained.
Bushy mess
Mousses and gels keep my hair defined for a day or so, but the curls quickly drop out and become lank and fluffy.
On a good day, it falls into ringlets; on a bad one, it’s a bushy mess.
Curly hair has a mind of its own, you see.
So, I was keen to test the brand new Dyson Airwrap Co-anda 2x.
The latest version of this heated styler, the Curly and Coily model (there’s also a Straight/Wavy one), promises effortless, long-lasting, sleek waves.
Like all Dyson products, it looks and feels a quality, luxury item.
But, at £579, I’ll admit, I am expecting some sort of miracle.
Could it work for me, or is it just a lot of hot air?
According to Dyson, the Co-anda 2x has twice as many attachments as its predecessor and can be used to dry, curl, wave, straighten, smooth and volumise your hair.
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Like all Dyson products, it looks and feels a quality, luxury itemCredit: Dyson
These attachments, they say, are “intelligent” — I wonder if they can help with Wordle.
The Airwrap claims to provide “supercharged styling with a stronger Coanda airflow”.
It is 30 per cent more powerful than the previous model, has two times the air pressure and — most intriguingly — senses movement, automatically wrapping your hair and adapting heat, airflow and timings to your hair type, via the MyDyson app.
Faced with a box of attachments, I have no idea where to start.
Setting up the app is simple, after answering some questions on it my device is tailored to my hair type.
However, as a novice, I find navigating the app confusing.
Its video guides — I counted 37 ways to style your curly hair — are helpful but I can’t figure out how to watch tutorials while holding my switched-on Airwrap.
It doesn’t help that the Bluetooth keeps disconnecting.
The power cord is also surprisingly short, meaning I have to sit right next to the plug socket.
On the plus side, the motor is extremely powerful.
I’m impressed with how the barrel curl attachment intuitively collects the right amount of hair — as if slurping noodles.
‘Friends say I look glam’
And I’m reassured that once the Airwrap reaches a certain heat, it starts to cool, so it dries my hair but doesn’t burn it.
I also like the fact there’s a diffuser attachment among the options, so I can choose whether I want to dry my hair curly, wavy or straight with just one device.
But I do find the Airwrap heavier than my usual hairdryer.
Holding it in one position for any length of time made my arm ache.
But it’s much easier than holding both a brush and a dryer.
The results speak for themselves. My hair feels so smooth and light that I can’t help swishing it around. The colour also looks more refined and glossy.
While people usually compliment my hair, now they’re commenting on my overall look.
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Hilary Freeman demonstrates the new Dyson Air WrapCredit: Lorna Roach
Everyone says I look “glamorous” and “airbrushed” — not words they’ve used before. I can see I appear more tidy and professional, and less boho. However, I do think my usual curly style makes me look more youthful.
The night after my trial, I barely sleep for worrying I’ll ruin my new do.
But I wake to find it almost as smooth as before.
By the end of the day, my hair is starting to frizz at the edges and some rogue curls are appearing.
I decide to wash it again, and try the diffuser option, so I can compare it with my own high street dryer.
When I link the Airwrap up to the app, it automatically sets it to the right heat and speed settings for the diffuser attachment.
It dries quickly and efficiently, creating nice curls and achieving better root volume than my own model. It’s a good diffuser.
But I can’t say the result is £600 better.
The Airwrap Co-anda 2x is not for novices. If I’m honest, I would probably only use the diffuser option unless I have a special event, and a day off.
It is a big investment and not a must-have.
But as an alternative to professional blowouts, it’s a great option.
CUTTING THE HAIR COSTS
LILY ENGLAND DELUXE HOT BRUSH, £32.99
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The Lily England Heated Dryer is perfect for giving your hair a quick zhuzhCredit: supplied
WHILE it can’t dry and style simultaneously like the Airwrap, it is perfect for giving your hair a quick zhuzh, and its simple design is easy to get the hang of.
The large barrel is ideal for adding volume and lifting hair.
BELLISSIMA ITALIA AIR WONDER 8-IN-1 HAIR STYLER, £129.99
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This budget styler curls, volumises and wavesCredit: supplied
WITH eight attachment heads, this budget styler curls, volumises and waves.
Hit its coolshot button after styling to lock in your look for longer.
Also doubles up as a traditional hairdryer.
REVLON ONE-STEP BLOW-DRY MULTI STYLER 3-IN-1 TOOL, £80
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Revlon One-Step Blow-Dry Multi Styler takes hair from wet to perfectly styledCredit: supplied
HAILED as the ultimate Dyson dupe, this takes hair from wet to perfectly styled.
Has a curling wand, an oval brush for volumised locks and a concentrator head for drying your roots.
The security of former Vice President Kamala Harris, once the duty of the U.S. Secret Service, has been thrown into flux, again, days after President Trump canceled her federal protection.
My colleague Richard Winton broke the news Saturday morning that the Los Angeles Police Department, which was assisting the California Highway Patrol in providing security for Harris, has been pulled off the detail after internal criticism of the arrangement.
Let’s jump into what Winton wrote about this quickly-evolving story.
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What happened to Harris’ Secret Service protection?
Former vice presidents usually get Secret Service protection for six months after leaving office, while former presidents are given protection for life.
But before his term ended in January, President Joe Biden signed an order to extend Harris’ protection to July 2026.
Aides to Harris had asked Biden for the extension. Without it, her security detail would have ended last month, according to sources.
Trump ended that arrangement as of Monday.
How did the CHP and LAPD get involved?
Winton wrote Aug. 29 that California officials planned to utilize the CHP as her security detail. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was required to sign off on such CHP protection, would not confirm the arrangement. “Our office does not comment on security arrangements,” said Izzy Gordon, a spokesperson for Newsom. “The safety of our public officials should never be subject to erratic, vindictive political impulses.”
Fox 11 broke the story of the use of LAPD officers earlier this week and got footage of the security detail outside Harris’ Brentwood home from one of its news helicopters.
The effort was described as “temporary” by Jennifer Forkish, L.A. police communications director.
Roughly a dozen or more officers have begun working to protect Harris.
Sources not authorized to discuss the details of the plan said the city would fund the security while Harris was hiring her own security in the near future.
Controversy ensued
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers, lambasted the move.
The union did not address Harris as a former vice president, nor as California senator or state attorney general, in its official rebuke.
“Pulling police officers from protecting everyday Angelenos to protect a failed presidential candidate who also happens to be a multi-millionaire, with multiple homes and who can easily afford to pay for her own security, is nuts,” its board of directors said.
The statement continued: Mayor Karen Bass “should tell Governor Newsom that if he wants to curry favor with Ms. Harris and her donor base, then he should open up his own wallet because LA taxpayers should not be footing the bill for this ridiculousness.”
What’s next?
The CHP has not indicated how the LAPD’s move would alter its arrangement with the former vice president or said how long it will continue.
The curtailing of Secret Service protection comes as Harris is going to begin a book tour next month for her memoir, “107 Days.” The tour has 15 stops, which include visits to London and Toronto. The book title references the short length of her presidential campaign.
(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Hannah Pilkes)
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Jason Arunn Murugesu & Catherine LeeBBC News, North East and Cumbria
North News
About 60,00 runners have entered, according to organisers
Thousands of runners have descended on Tyneside and are taking part in the Great North Run – one of the biggest half marathons in the world.
It is the 44th staging of the race, which starts in Newcastle, heads through Gateshead and South Tyneside before finishing in South Shields.
About 60,00 runners have entered, and will be cheered on by more than 200,000 supporters lining the 13.1-mile (21km) route.
As is traditional, there are famous faces at the start line to see off the runners – this year it is Newcastle United’s Jacob Murphy and Nick Pope.
The Great North Run’s founder, Sir Brendan Foster, said the event was “more popular, more famous, more in demand…the whole dimension of the thing is much bigger.
“Interestingly, the age group is changing slightly, with more young people now taking up running,” he said.
“The first Great North Run there were 8% of women running, last year 49% of the runners were women.
“I’m just so happy it’s taking place here in the North East, it has become iconic.”
PA Media
The Red Arrows are set for a flyover at the start of the race, and a display at the finish
Broadcaster and fitness coach Joe Wicks is among those taking part.
He was also one of the starters at Saturday’s Junior Great North Run, which saw more than 12,000 children race.
North News
Joe Wicks sounded the horn for the start of the Junior Great North Run event
WASHINGTON — Thousands of protesters marched across Washington, D.C., on Saturday in one of the largest demonstrations against President Trump’s federal takeover of policing in the nation’s capital.
Behind a bright red banner reading, “END THE D.C. OCCUPATION,” in English and Spanish, protesters marched more than two miles from Meridian Hill Park to Freedom Plaza near the White House to rail against the fourth week of National Guard troops and federal agents patrolling D.C.’s streets.
The “We Are All D.C.” protest — put together by local advocates of Home Rule and the American Civil Liberties Union — was perhaps the most organized demonstration yet against Trump’s federal intervention in Washington. The president justified the action last month as a way to address crime and homelessness in the city, even though city officials have noted that violent crime is lower than it was during Trump’s first term in office.
Trump targeted D.C. after deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this year as the administration ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts and attempted to quell protests. The White House then turned to Washington, which presented a unique opportunity for Trump to push his tough-on-crime agenda because of its subservient legal status to the federal government.
The presence of armed military officers in the streets has put Washington on edge and spurred weeks of demonstrations, particularly in D.C. neighborhoods. Trump’s emergency declaration taking charge of D.C. police is set to expire on Wednesday.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. diplomat who has been a D.C. resident for about a decade, told the Associated Press on Saturday that he’s worried about the “authoritarian nature” in which the administration is treating his city.
“Federal agents, national guards patrolling our streets, that’s really an affront to the democracy of our city,” he said, adding that it’s worse for D.C. residents due to their lack of federal representation. “We don’t have our own senators or members of the House of Representatives, so we’re at the mercy of a dictator like this, a wannabe dictator.”
Among the protesters Saturday were also former D.C. residents like Tammy Price, who called the Trump administration’s takeover “evil” and “not for the people.”
Jun Lee, an artist living in Washington, showed up with a “Free DC” sign that she made on a woodcut block. She said she came to the protest because she was “saddened and heartbroken” about the effect of the federal intervention on her city.
“This is my home, and I never, ever thought all the stuff that I watched in a history documentary that I’m actually living in person, and this is why this is important for everyone. This is our home, we need to fight, we need to resist,” she said.
Also Saturday, Trump repeated threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democratic-led cities he wants to target for expanded federal enforcement. His administration is set to step up immigration enforcement in Chicago, similar to what took place in Los Angeles, and deploy National Guard troops. Like the District of Columbia, Chicago’s recent crime data do not reflect the war zones Trump has repeatedly compared it to.
Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. Shootings are down 37%, and homicides have dropped by 32%, while total violent crime dropped by over 22%.
In response to Trump’s threats, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called the president a “wannabe dictator” who is “threatening to go to war with an American city.”
“This is not a joke,” Pritzker wrote on X. “This is not normal.”
Pesoli and Amiri write for the Associated Press and reported from Washington and New York, respectively.
In a couple of months, California voters will have the opportunity to reshape our state’s political map and, perhaps, tilt the balance of power nationally from red to blue.
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Methodology behind the analysis
To get a sense of how the proposed maps might alter the balance of power in Congress, The Times used results from the 2024 presidential election to calculate the margin of victory between Democrats and Republicans in the redrawn districts.
In some cases, districts were split apart and stitched together with more liberal areas. In one area, lines have been redrawn with no overlap at all with their current boundary.
As a result, four formerly Republican-leaning swing districts would tilt slightly Democratic, and two others would shift more heavily toward the left. Four out of the five remaining Republican strongholds would become even darker red under the proposed map.
All told, the new maps could help Democrats earn six seats.
We’ll examine two Southern California districts from their list.
41st District: Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona)
Rep. Ken Calvert’s 41st District, long centered in the competitive western Inland Empire, would be eliminated and completely redrawn in Los Angeles County. The district would transform from a swinging GOP-leaning seat into one where Democrats would hold a 14-point advantage.
Parts of the new 41st would be carved out of the current 38th District, represented by Democrat Linda Sánchez. That change shifts some of Sánchez’s Democratic base into the new 41st district, making it more favorable to Democrats while leaving the 38th slightly less blue.
At the same time, the Latino share of the population would rise, further bolstering the Democrat‘s strength in the proposed district. The new 41st seat would become a majority-minority district. The redistricting proposal includes 16 majority-minority districts; the same number as the current map.
A section of the current 41st district would be added to Anaheim Hills’ Republican Young Kim’s 40th District. The reshaped 40th District would move 9.7 points to the right — the biggest rightward shift among Republican-held districts.
48th District: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall)
In 2024, voters in the 48th District reelected Republican representative Darrel Issa by 19 points, while his district swung to Trump by 15 points.
But the proposed lines would shift Republican voters into a neighboring district in favor of bluer voters from the Coachella Valley, giving Democrats a new edge.
The district’s demographics would also change, with a larger share of Latino voters. As a result, a safe Republican seat would become a swing district, where Democrats would hold a narrow 3-point advantage.
The proposed 48th District includes Palm Springs, a liberal patch that was previously in the 41st District.
What the changes could mean
The analysis found the redistricting effort, which will go to voters on Nov. 4, could turn 41 Democratic-leaning congressional districts into 47.
Democrats currently hold 215 seats in the House, and Republicans have 220. The shift could be enough to threaten the GOP’s narrow majority.
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Jim Rainey, staff writer Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Andrew J. Campa, reporter Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
