"America's Big Five defense contractors, namely Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, appeared to be ready for the boon before Russia's special military operation was launched. CBS News published the results of a six-month investigation into "what can only be described as price gouging by US defense contractors." The media outlet revealed that the Pentagon has been overpaying for almost everything from radar, missiles, and helicopters down to the nuts and bolts. To complicate matters further, the share of these windfall profits flow back to US politicians through the arms manufacturers lobby groups. As per OpenSecrets, the Big Five spent nearly $140 million on lobbying the federal government in 2023." Sputnik
"The Russians have established a foothold in part of the village of Ocheretyne in Donetsk Oblast. Meanwhile, DeepState analysts have reported that the village of Berdychi in Ocheretyne hromada has been captured [a hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories – ed.]." Pravada
"Ukraine has once again targeted the Slavyansk oil refinery in Krasnodar, Russia, marking the second strike on this facility within two months. This aggressive maneuver is part of a broader pattern of attacks on energy and military infrastructures in the region....the air defense forces successfully intercepted 66 drone-type aircraft over the region during the nighttime raid." MS
"A small 2.9 magnitude earthquake rattled New Jersey just three weeks after a more forceful 4.8 quake hit the Garden State and surrounding regions. The natural phenomenon hit near Tewksbury this morning at around 9:49 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tewksbury is located in Hunterdon County, which is about 35 miles west of New York City. " FOX
"71 combat engagements occurred on the front lines....Russian army carried out 31 missile strikes, 46 air strikes and 23 MLRS attacks on the positions of Ukrainian defenders and populated areas." Ukrin
"Hamas released new undated video footage of two men— including an American citizen — held hostage in Gaza. The video shows the two men alive and was released on the Palestinian militant group's social media channel, which is regularly used by the group to publish propaganda videos. The hostages seen on the video were identified as Omri Miran and Keith Siegel by the campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Both men were abducted by militants during the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. In the statement, the campaign group said the video shows the hostages "for the first time after 204 days in captivity." ABC
"In a surprising turn, The Wall Street Journal has issued a new weekend report saying that US intelligence agencies do not believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned or ordered the death of opposition activist and politician Alexei Navalny. "U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Putin likely didn’t order Navalny to be killed at the notoriously brutal prison camp in February, people familiar with the matter said, a finding that deepens the mystery about the circumstances of his death," writes the Journal." ZH
"The FDIC just seized the troubled Philadelphia bank, Republic First Bancorp and and struck an agreement for the lender’s deposits and the majority of its assets to be bought by Fulton Bank. The FDIC estimated the failure will cost the deposit insurance fund $667 million." ZeroHedge
