Republican Greg Abbott says datacenters must help ‘protect’ drought-prone state and disclose water use
Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, has directed state regulators to penalize datacenters that fail to comply with state laws requiring them to disclose their water use.
“Data centers must share the duty to protect Texas water,” the Republican governor said on Monday. “The Texas Water Code requires a complete and accurate water use survey. I direct the Texas Water Development Board to use its enforcement authority to penalize past failures and to impose legal consequences for any future failure to comply,” he added.
Ukraine's battlefield-tested drone makers and Europe's arms firms have sat down together for the first time to build drones and the systems to shoot drones down as a single industry. Eighteen companies, nine Ukrainian and nine European, held the opening meeting of the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance in Brussels, Defender Media reported.
The alliance answers a threat both sides now share. Russia is scaling up its own drone production. Its drone war has spilled past Ukraine, with its drones crossing repeatedly into NATO airspace this summer and showing Europe how unready it is for the fighting Ukraine has learned the hard way.
The Alliance will support Ukraine's capabilities it needs on the battlefield, while strengthening Europe's defense readiness for the future.
The alliance sets up shop
The first job is organizational, said Roman Tkachenko, a co-founder of the Ukrainian firm Tencore: form the governing bodies and set the priorities. The 18 members were chosen from about 400 applicants, Kubilius said, and the alliance is designed as a decision-making body, according to UA News.
On the Ukrainian side, it includes Tencore, Athlon Avia, and Vyriy Industry. On the European side, Germany's Quantum Systems, Italy's Fincantieri, and Denmark's Terma.
Kubilius, who opened the session and called it historic, said the first tangible results should come by the end of the year. He named accelerating joint ventures and counter-drone projects as the top tasks.
Europe wants Ukraine's combat edge
Kubilius was blunt about what Europe hopes to learn: how to adapt a product in days, shorten development cycles, and scale a production line from a peacetime trickle to full output within weeks. In return, he said, the EU offers Ukraine cutting-edge technology and continent-wide manufacturing.
The Alliance will bring together companies, start-ups, researchers, armed forces, and other users from EU countries and Ukraine.
The Alliance is a result of the Drone Deal, announced by President Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv on 15 July, according to the EU Commission.
Belarus' Defense Ministry said a command-staff exercise will run from 14 to 16 September in the Cherven and Berezino districts of Minsk Oblast. It closes a reservist training camp that began there on 25 August, part of a wider round that also took in the Vawkavysk district of Hrodna Oblast from 26 August, the ministry announced.
Under Alyaksandr Lukashenka's rule, Belarus remains Russia's closest ally in the war against Ukraine, supplying weapons, intelligence, and industrial capacity while Moscow fights. That alliance is what makes drills inside Belarus a question for its neighbors: Russia may again use Belarus to launch an attack on Ukraine or a NATO member state.
The Belarusian army is "preparing for war so that there will be no war," Belarusian ruler Lukashenka said during a visit to a military training ground in Brest Oblast on 11 September. He said the whole armed forces would be checked, up to mobilization, with some units deployed to wartime norms, while denying any intention to attack, since Belarus could not win a war against its neighbors.
Belarus prepares reservists for military missions
The exercise is meant to sharpen officers' command of subordinate territorial defense forces and drill personnel in coordinated action, and the deputy chairman of the Minsk oblast executive committee will lead it.
"Particular attention will be paid to the interaction of territorial troops with internal affairs bodies, internal troops, as well as people's militia units in the protection of important facilities, ensuring martial law and fighting enemy sabotage groups," the ministry said.
The people's militia is a volunteer reserve, and the internal troops are the Interior Ministry's own armed formations rather than part of the army.
Belarusian reservists take part in military exercises during a training camp for territorial defense command staff in Malaryta District, Brest Oblast, Belarus, in July 2026. Photo: Belarusian Defense Ministry / Telegram
Minsk steps up territorial defense training as Lithuania launches military drills
Since late March 2026, Belarus' Defense Ministry has announced at least 11 events involving territorial troops, Poland-based Belarusian broadcaster Belsat reported. Most of them were training camps, but command-and-staff exercises and drills were also held, the media outlet said.
Uladzimir Zhyhar, a representative of BELPOL, an association of former Belarusian security officers opposing Lukashenka's regime, highlighted in comments to Belsat the exercises conducted for Belarus' Interior Ministry. The Interior Ministry is preparing to suppress internal protests, while the Defense Ministry wants to conduct exercises that would, among other things, practice responding to saboteurs entering Belarus and breaches of the state border, he said.
"Why can this happen? BELPOL representatives have repeatedly said that there is currently no threat from either NATO countries or Ukraine to Belarus. Therefore, something must change around the country as a whole," Zhyhar said, adding: "And that change would bring both possible destabilization inside Belarus, meaning a threat to the regime, and the likelihood of a breach of the state border."
One scenario he sees is Belarus being drawn into a war against Ukraine or NATO countries, which would prompt a response. The skills currently being practiced by the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry could then be needed, the expert said.
On 14 September, military exercises began in 12 municipalities in Lithuania and run until 18 September, LRT reported. The NATO member shares a 679-kilometer border with Belarus, and its troops are training to act together against military threats of various kinds, using drones, boats, and weapons.
Belarus has been militarizing steadily since 2022, holding exercises almost without pause, including joint drills with Russian forces.
Le tsunami de boue et de glace qui a ravagé le nord du Népal le 26 août dernier dépasse l'imaginable. Le bilan, qui s'alourdit de jour en jour, atteint désormais près de 1 400 morts et 5 130 disparus, dont environ 600 ressortissants étrangers originaires de 35 pays.
Workers should start with a moratorium against building until our livelihoods and communities are protected
For the surging number of Americans who now live alongside constantly humming computer-filled mega-warehouses, it is clear AI datacenters come with significant drawbacks.
Opposition to datacenters grows on both sides of the political aisle as developers plan to invest $8tn to build them in the coming years. The bet is massive – roughly a quarter of our country’s entire GDP – but AI CEOs think it will pay off because they believe this technology will allow businesses across industries to rake in profits by cutting out their largest expense: labor. If all goes according to their plan, AI data centers will enable corporations to redistribute workers’ salaries to themselves.
Some of the everyday struggles animating voters have a climate link lurking in the background
When Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a law erasing the words “climate change” from state statutes in May 2024 – colloquially known as the “don’t say climate change” law – Democrats were outraged. Just six months later, many liberal politicians began to go quiet on the issue themselves. After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, mentions of the climate crisis started to disappear from Democrats’ rhetoric. As the 2026 midterms approach, that retreat is still shaping how some candidates talk about climate on the campaign trail.
The trend, known as “climate-hushing”, may reflect the limitations of Joe Biden’s climate policies, said Daniel Aldana Cohen, assistant sociology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies climate politics and inequality. Green jobs and housing investments fell short of the climate movement’s desires, consumer incentives disproportionately benefited wealthier households, and Democrats struggled to effectively communicate their accomplishments. The president has since rolled back many Biden-era clean energy incentives and regulations.
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