Curious Timing: Ukraine Declares Druzhba Pipeline Repaired After New Hungarian PM Elected Ukraine announced Tuesday it completed repairs to the damaged Druzhba oil pipeline and stands ready to resume pumping Russian oil to Europe, a step Ukrainian officials expect will unlock a long-delayed EU aid package. The timing is quite interesting and surely not coincidental given that Hungary’s newly elected PM Péter Magyar and his […]

Newly Elected Hungarian PM Vows To Arrest Netanyahu If He Enters Country Via The Cradle Hungary’s incoming Prime Minister, Peter Magyar, stated on April earlier this week that his government will arrest Israeli Prime Minister and ‘wanted war criminal’ Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits, as Budapest reconsiders the previous government’s plan to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC). “I made myself clear to the […]

Oil Conundrum: Record Inventory Draws And Stable Crude Prices Something strange is taking place in oil. Crude prices have been remarkably stable over the last week, with Brent mostly trading in the high 90s on mixed prospects for the resolution of the over 7-week conflict in the Persian Gulf, despite signs to the contrary: the second round of talks between the US and Iran has been postponed indefinitely following Iran’s decision […]

From Gaza To BRICS: The Revolt Against The Dollar Order Authored by Freddie Ponton via 21stCenturyWire.com, Washington spent decades marketing the dollar as the natural language of world trade, a neutral vessel carrying commerce across borders. In practice, it became the armed currency of an imperial system that bombed states into ruin, sanctioned whole societies, and reserved the right to strangle any country that refused […]

US Drains Half Its Patriot Arsenal During Iran War, New Military Study Finds The seven-week Iran war, currently on pause due to an extended ceasefire, has raised alarm in Washington over the question of how fast the US has burned through its missile interceptor stockpile. The two-week ceasefire, having just been extended, provided an opportunity for both sides to restock and regroup. A fresh analysis from the Washington-based […]

China Tests Directed Energy Beam That Recharges Drones Mid-Flight Authored by Bojan Stojkovski via Interesting Engineering, A Chinese research team has successfully tested a wireless power transfer system that beams energy from the ground to a drone in flight using microwaves.  The setup relies on a mobile emitter that directs energy to an antenna array mounted beneath the aircraft, enabling continuous power delivery without […]

US Treasury Secretary Presses Senate To Pass Crypto Market Structure Legislation Authored by Micah Zimmerman via BitcoinMagazine.com, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a Senate panel Wednesday that passing comprehensive crypto legislation is essential to securing U.S. financial leadership and protecting the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, using an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee […]

U.S. Deploys Ukrainian Acoustic Sensors, Interceptor Drones At Prince Sultan Air Base Last month’s Iranian drone strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia appears to have inflicted a costly toll on U.S. forces in the region. The attack destroyed a U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and damaged multiple KC-135 refueling tankers, highlighting a major gap in U.S. air defenses against cheap […]

Dr. Oz Says Anti-Fraud Effort Coming To ‘All 50 States’ Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the agency overseeing Medicaid and Medicare, announced Tuesday that his agency’s anti-fraud effort will come to every state. During an interview at a Politico-hosted event, Oz said that every U.S. state can expect anti-fraud activities involving funds received through the Centers for […]

US Blocks Regular $500 Million Cash Pallets Flown To Iraq, Over Pro-Iran Militias In confirmation of some early reporting we featured at the start of this week, The Wall Street Journal has verified something that Iraqi officials themselves were denying just days ago: the US is blocking Iraq’s regular dollar shipments in order to pressure it’s Iran-backed militias. “The Trump administration has suspended U.S. dollar shipments to […]

Tit-For-Tat Assaults On Shipping Widen: US Intercepts 3 More ‘Illicit’ Tankers In Asian Waters, Iran Seizes Additional 2 In Hormuz Summary At least two fully laden Iranian tankers slip past US naval blockade, amid reports of more going dark, BBG reports, but Pentagon denies. Reports of three more Iranian tankers being seized by US in Asian waters. Iran in turn seizes 2 more ships in Hormuz, citing “dangerous navigation”. […]

Federal Appeals Court Rules In Favor Of Ten Commandments In Texas Classrooms Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, A federal appeals court ruled April 21 that the state of Texas may order every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments, marking a victory to supporters of the law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which voted 9–8, upheld Texas Senate Bill 10, overturning a lower-court […]

Navy Secretary John Phelan Abruptly Departs Trump Admin With No Explanation, “Effective Immediately” In a terse, one-paragraph statement released this afternoon, the Pentagon announced the immediate departure of Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan, effective immediately. Navy Secretary John Phelan speaks at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Alex Brandon/AP) Undersecretary of the […]

After The Bombing, Tehran Confronts Widespread Ruin After more than a month of conflict, a fragile ceasefire has allowed people in Tehran to begin assessing the scale of destruction, according to a new Bloomberg report. The city, home to around nine million people, now bears widespread signs of damage, from shattered buildings to entire blocks reduced to rubble. Although the truce has been extended for now, talks between the US […]

Watch: Jon Stewart Gives Trump Rare Credit Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, President Trump’s executive order to slash red tape and accelerate psychedelic therapies for America’s veterans is drawing praise from an unlikely source: Jon Stewart. In a segment on his show, the longtime Trump critic paused his usual routine to acknowledge the move, calling it a genuine win for those who served.  The order, signed […]

China’s “National Team” Dumped ETFs In Q1 To Cool Overheating Market For years, and especially after the local stock bubble burst in spectacular fashion a little over a decade ago, China’s “National Team” – a polite euphemism for the country’s Plunge Protection Team – could be relied upon to step in and provide a lending hand – or rather buying hand – to stabilize stocks in the nick of time. Well, it may be time to rename it to the […]

Tesla Slides After Unexpectedly Raising 2026 CapEx Guidance To $25BN Update: In our original review of the Tesla earnings, which were solid enough to push the stock over $400 ahead of the earnings call, we said that something about the CapEx seemed off, namely that at just $2.5 billion in Q1 (and the reason why free cash flow was positive), Tesla’s run-rate was about half behind its $20 billion full year capex projection. TSLA […]

Voting Rights Groups Sue To Stop DOJ From Collecting State Voter Lists Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, Voting rights groups filed a lawsuit on April 21 seeking to block the Department of Justice (DOJ) from collecting, compiling, and analyzing state voter registration lists. As of April 1, the DOJ has sued 30 states, including Washington, for failing to turn over voter rolls. The department has said the U.S. […]

Not So Fast: Virginia Judge Blocks Redistricting Referendum Update (1835ET): A Virginia judge ruled on Wednesday that the state’s redistricting referendum approved by voters a day earlier was invalid, nullifying the election results. “Virginia voters have spoken, and an activist judge should not have veto power over the People’s vote,” said Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, adding that the state would appeal.  […]

Aaaand It’s Gone… PE Shop Thoma Bravo Writes Off Over $5BN From 2021 SaaS Firm Acquisition Not a great night for SaaS… Given the eight straight days of gains for Software stocks, one could argue that the death of code-base companies was greatly exaggerated (cough -dead-cat bounce – cough), but not every boat is being lifted by this massive short-squeeze rebound JPMorgan Trader Brian Heavey said earlier that it “seems we are […]

Harvard Creates Robot Ants That Work Like Real Insects To Build And Dismantle Complex Structures Authored by Mrigakshi Dixit via Interesting Engineering, Researchers at Harvard have developed a fleet of robotic ants that mimic the self-organizing behavior of social insects to build and dismantle structures without blueprints or central leadership. An illustration of how the collective, decentralized behavior of ants has inspired […]

Embassy Tells Americans Still In Lebanon Depart Now While Flights Available As Ceasefire Collapsing The US-mediated Lebanon ceasefire is unraveling fast amid intensified fighting between Israel and Hezbollah on Thursday. This has resulted in the US embassy in Beirut issuing an urgent renewed security alert, urging US citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial flight options are still available. via AFP The statement explained […]

Here’s How Trump Can Nuke Virginia’s New Gerrymandered Map… Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com, Virginia used to be a model of fair redistricting. That reputation is now gone. On Tuesday, Virginia Democrats passed a redistricting plan that transforms one of the most fairly apportioned states in the country into one of the most blatantly gerrymandered. Keep in mind that Virginia only narrowly backed Kamala Harris over […]

SaaS Stocks Slammed As ServiceNow Disappoints, Blames MidEast War Perhaps indicative of the fragility of the current rebound – as Software stocks have recently ripped higher for 8 straight days – SaaS stocks are all deeply in the red after-hours as ServiceNow – the potential poster-child for AI disruption – cut its margin outlook amid lackluster results, sending shares reeling. At first glance, it was a good print – the provider of […]

California Exposes Amazon’s Alleged ‘Retail Price Fixing’ In Unredacted Court Filing California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday released a largely unredacted court filing packed with internal emails that allege Amazon strong-armed brands like Levi Strauss and Hanes into pressuring Walmart, Target and other rivals to raise prices – all to protect Amazon’s $2.66 trillion empire. The 19-page memorandum, filed in support of a […]