VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention

IF YOU were wondering where the Neanderthal branch of our species ended up, the answer lies in those populating the recent Republican National Convention, on stage and off.
Watching the line-up of stiff, make-up-caked, too perfectly coiffed speakers was like seeing what would happen if Mattel went bad. This was Ken and Barbie controlled by evil AI puppetmasters.
Amid all the disbelief-inducing, teleprompt-recited false rhetoric, the most risible was the drumbeat of doom that a Democratic government led by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would plunge us into Marxist mayhem.

The crew of the Freedom Flotilla boat, Handala, warned Israel to obey international law but are now in captivity, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Waves of protesters are refusing to comply with the latest crackdowns on dissent, but the penalties are higher in Starmer’s Labour Britain than in Trump’s autocratic United States, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Funds are being raised to bring the bombed al-Shifa hospital back from the ashes, reports Linda Pentz Gunter

From Labour’s panic over the Corbyn-Sultana formation to Democratic Party grandees distancing themselves from Zohran Mamdani, centrist cliques on both sides of the Atlantic are quick to throw the same old insult, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER