World, US, Culture, Market, and Sci-Tech News Aggregation from MSM and Independent News
A big NASA satellite will crash back to Earth on Tuesday (March 10) after nearly 14 years in orbit, experts say.
The spacecraft in question is the 1,323-pound (600-kilogram) Van Allen Probe A, which launched in August 2012 along with its twin, Van Allen Probe B, to study the radiation belts around Earth for which they’re named.
Both spacecraft were deactivated in 2019, and Van Allen Probe A’s time off Earth is now nearly up. As of Monday afternoon (March 9), the U.S. Space Force predicted that the satellite will reenter Earth’s atmosphere on Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. EDT (2345 GMT), plus or minus 24 hours.
GYEONGJU, SOUTH KOREA – NOVEMBER 1: South Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks during an international press conference after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was concluded, in Gyeongju, South Korea, on November 1, 2025.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
South Korea is opposed to the U.S. moving air defense assets out of the country, but it is not in a position to make demands, President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday.
Lee briefed the cabinet that “The USFK may dispatch some air defense systems abroad in accordance with its own military needs. While we have expressed opposition, the reality is that we cannot fully push through our position.”
The skies in northern Iran were dark with smoke on 8 March as the US and Israeli bombing campaign against the country continued, and black rain even fell on the capital Tehran.
The catastrophic scenes have raised concerns about threats to civilian health in Iran and other countries.
Overnight on 7 and 8 March, US-Israeli strikes hit Iran’s oil facilities for the first time since the war started a little over a week ago, igniting large fires in four oil storage facilities and an oil transfer centre in Tehran and the nearby Alborz province.
Flames loomed over Tehran in the night, and black smoke billowed over the city during the day. Soot covered the streets and cars and filled up people’s balconies. Most alarmingly, thick black raindrops fell onto roofs and streets in the capital, which until recently was experiencing a long drought.
WOLFSBURG, Germany: Volkswagen said Tuesday (Mar 10) that it would cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030 as its profit slid to its lowest level since 2016.
“In total, around 50,000 jobs are due to be cut by 2030 across the Volkswagen Group in Germany,” Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said in a letter to shareholders in the firm’s annual report.
The 10-brand group had already struck a deal with unions at the end of 2024 to cut 35,000 jobs by 2030, mostly at its namesake brand, as part of plans to save 15 billion euros a year.
The additional cuts would come from premium brands Audi and Porsche as well as Volkswagen’s software subsidiary Cariad, Blume added.
The open-source AI agent framework OpenClaw has recently gone viral worldwide, drawing significant attention from the tech industry. By enabling AI to move beyond generating content to actually executing tasks, the framework is widely seen as a key step toward the AI agent era. A growing number of Chinese technology companies are actively exploring similar approaches and rolling out related products.
Moonshot AI was among the first to launch Kimi Claw, a native integration with OpenClaw. The product emphasizes zero-code deployment and one-click setup, while also offering free computing power subsidies for OpenClaw calls, lowering the barrier for users. The move has attracted a large influx of users and helped accelerate the company’s overseas expansion, with the number of paying international users surging and overseas revenue surpassing domestic revenue for the first time.
Two suspects accused of throwing an improvised explosive device near New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence were “trained” by the Islamic terrorist group ISIS, law enforcement has confirmed.
They have been charged after authorities said the device contained a highly volatile terrorist explosive known as the “Mother of Satan.”
Ibraham Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18, were arrested Saturday following a violent protest outside Gracie Mansion.
Authorities say the pair allegedly hurled a homemade explosive device during clashes between demonstrators and counterprotesters.
Suspects Allegedly Radicalized and Traveled Abroad
On Monday, a USA Today reporter asked Donald Trump about the fact that he recently said Cuba wants to make a deal. She said, “What would the United States get in return for that, and why should Americans trust Marco Rubio to negotiate it?”
(Why should we trust Marco Rubio? Girl, please. Where have you been the last year… Oops, sorry, my inner monologue escaped and got the best of me. Back to the president.)
Trump laid it out like this:
Well, Marco Rubio is doing a great job. I think he’s going to go down as the greatest secretary of State in history. Look at what we’ve done as a presidency. Look at what we’ve done as an administration. They trust Marco, and so do the American people… He’s been successful no matter where he’s been. He also speaks the language, which is always nice and always helpful.
Khuzestan is Iran’s most oil-rich and ethnically diverse province — and the Arabs there have finally had it up to here with the theocrats who run things in Tehran. Whoever they are today, that is.
In a daring new statement, the Khuzestan Arab Tribes Assembly this week calling for “a free, democratic, and federal Iran,” and that they “firmly believe that the Islamic Republic’s system has violated the rights of the people of Iran.”
While Khuzestan borders Iraq and is roughly one-third Arab, the assembly called the province the “beating heart of Iran” and emphasized “the protection of Iran’s territorial integrity and reject any separatist or divisive project that harms the homeland of Iran.”
“We see ourselves in the transitional phase from the current repressive regime toward a free, democratic, and federal Iran. We can play a constructive role alongside other compatriots in building a prosperous and united Iran.”
A chilling new signal believed to be tied to Iran has begun appearing across the radio spectrum in Europe, with shortwave listeners in the United Kingdom reporting mysterious encrypted broadcasts shortly after the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Amateur radio enthusiasts say the transmissions resemble a classic “numbers station,” a type of coded broadcast historically associated with espionage and covert intelligence operations.
The signal has been designated “V32” by the monitoring group ENIGMA2000, which tracks suspected intelligence transmissions around the world.
Shortwave listeners say the station broadcasts strings of encrypted numbers late at night and early in the evening.
The transmissions have reportedly been heard clearly across the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, with signals bouncing off the ionosphere and appearing on the frequency 7910 kHz (7.910 MHz) in Upper Sideband mode.
Monitors have described the broadcast as a male voice, possibly synthetic, speaking in Farsi while reading out sequences of numbers.
Murderous Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s son has succeeded his father, and we can only hope fervently that he will soon follow his father to eternal punishment.
The news that Iran’s Assembly of Experts named Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader of Iran appeared on Iranian state media Sunday afternoon, as relayed by the Jerusalem Post. Mojtaba was only a mid-ranking Islamic cleric before now, according to the Israeli outlet, but as the son of the decades-long dictator of the nation he had many powerful ties, including to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the terrorist group that acts as the government’s enforcers and helps orchestrate overseas terrorism. Israel has vowed to eliminate any supreme leader of Iran going forward.
Notably, it was the IRGC that slaughtered 40,000+ protesters in Iran during the recent mass protests against the Islamic regime. The new boss is the same as the old boss.
The Jerusalem Post explained:
Although Iran’s ruling ideology frowns on the principle of hereditary succession, he has a powerful following within the IRGC, including close ties to IRGC chief Ahmad Vahidi, former head of IRGC intelligence Hossein Taeb, and political figures, including Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as well as his dead father’s still-influential office.
Russia has reportedly provided Iran with information that could help the regime target U.S. military assets across the Middle East, a development that adds a dangerous new layer to a war that is already widening by the day.
U.S. intelligence officials believe Moscow passed along information that could be used against American warships, aircraft and other military positions in the region. The officials told The Associated Press there is no indication Russia is directly ordering Tehran how to use the information, but the disclosure still marks the clearest sign yet that Moscow may be trying to assist Iran as the conflict intensifies.
The report lands as U.S. and Israeli forces continue pounding Iranian targets and as Tehran keeps launching retaliatory attacks against American positions and U.S. partners in the Gulf.
The White House believes the United States is “well on its way” toward controlling Iranian airspace and expects its core military objectives could be completed within four to six weeks. President Donald Trump has also taken a harder public line, demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender” as the campaign moves deeper into its second week.
As “assisted suicide” laws rapidly expand across the United States, a prominent medical ethicist is sounding the alarm that policies promoted as “compassionate” solutions to suffering may unleash serious unintended consequences.
Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a physician and ethicist at Columbia University Medical Center, is warning that normalizing euthanasia risks fundamentally reshaping how society views life, suffering, and the care of vulnerable people.
Dugdale warns that euthanasia has “exploded” around the world as people increasingly accept suicide as an “easy” way to relieve the burden of caring for the sick and vulnerable.
“I can completely empathize with the sense that this is a very effective and efficient way to end suffering,” Dugdale told Fox News Digital.
Degala, Iraq — A rusted metal gate and a wind-torn flag mark the entrance to the Kurdistan Freedom Party’s base outside the northern Iraqi city of Erbil.
An anti-aircraft gun sits on the plateau behind the encampment, which consists of rows of cinder-block buildings that back onto scrubland hills.
A Kurdish fighter dressed in camo fatigues, scarf and running shoes, Ali Mahmoud Awara was nervous about being there, given the war next door in Iran.
“All of our bases have been targeted by the Iranians,” he said.
Mexican cartels have begun avoiding direct attacks on Americans in Mexico because President Donald Trump has made clear that violent drug trafficking organizations now face the possibility of U.S. military action. Trump’s harder regional strategy raises the stakes for cartel violence against American citizens and businesses operating south of the border.
Trump’s intentions were driven home during his remarks at the Shield of the Americas summit in Doral, Fla., where he told regional leaders the United States won’t hesitate to use lethal military force against cartel operations if necessary, specifically stating that missiles and other military tools remain on the table if cartels continue threatening American lives and U.S. national security.
Trump encouraged regional leaders gathered at his Miami-area golf club to take military action against drug trafficking cartels and transnational gangs that he says pose an “unacceptable threat” to the hemisphere’s national security.
“The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries,” Trump said. “We have to use our military. You have to use your military.” Citing the U.S.-led coalition that confronted the Islamic State group in the Middle East, the Republican president said that “we must now do the same thing to eradicate the cartels at home.”
Since 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has haunted the U.S. with its hostage-taking, support of terrorism around the globe, threats to acquire nuclear weapons and vaporize Israel, and attempts to assassinate Donald Trump.
Despite decades of presidential talking, the current commander in chief is the first one to really make a serious move to neutralize the threat posed by Iran, and Operation Epic Fury has wiped out virtually their entire leadership structure. The final outcome is as yet unknown, but I think it’s safe to say that “action has been taken.”
But there’s another country that’s bedeviled us even longer: the República de Cuba.
Sitting just 90 miles off our shores, the communist regime was birthed by the late dictator Fidel Castro in 1959 following a revolution, and it almost brought us a nuclear-infused World War 3 with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1980, meanwhile, Castro sent some of the Caribbean country’s most violent, depraved criminals to Florida in the Mariel Boatlift.
The Israeli Air Force is relentlessly destroying the Islamic Republic’s critical and organizational infrastructure. Creating the conditions for the courageous Iranian people to overthrow the current murderous regime.
BREAKING: Israel strikes the Shahr Rey oil refinery in Tehran for the first time.
Direct pressure on the Iranian regime that funds terrorism and threatens Israel. pic.twitter.com/8l9CAhNhuH
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) March 7, 2026
The Israeli Air Force is striking Iranian oil infrastructure in Tehran, footage posted to social media shows.
It apparently marks the first time since the start of the current war that Israel is striking national infrastructure in Iran.
The IDF said a short while ago that it… pic.twitter.com/NKqFUQdqQ7
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 7, 2026
President Donald Trump is refusing to rule out the possibility of deploying U.S. ground forces in Iran as the ongoing military operation against the regime enters its second week.
The question of ground troops comes amid ongoing airstrikes that have significantly degraded Iran’s military capabilities, though Tehran continues to launch retaliatory attacks. The conflict, dubbed Operation Epic Fury by the U.S. and Operation Lion’s Roar by Israel, began on February 28, 2026, with coordinated strikes aimed at destroying Iran’s military infrastructure and prompting regime change.
Administration officials have stated that Tehran continued to enrich uranium and threatened to build upwards of 11 nuclear weapons, which prompted the military action. President Trump has stated that completely eliminating Iran’s nuclear program is a stated goal of the operation.
While speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump was asked about the possibility of deploying ground troops as part of the operation. After emphasizing the success of current aerial operations, Trump did not rule out boots on the ground in the future. “I would say if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight at the ground level,” he said.
Earlier in the week, the Pentagon identified six service members who died in a drone strike by Iran over the weekend in Kuwait.
A US service member has died from injuries sustained during the Iranian regime’s attacks across the Middle East, CENTCOM reported Sunday. The service member was critically wounded on March 1 during an attack on US troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This marks the seventh American killed in action during Operation Epic Fury.
Earlier in the week, the Pentagon identified six service members who died in a drone strike by Iran over the weekend in Kuwait. They were Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of Des Moines, Iowa; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Waukee, Iowa; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California.
China said that Iran’s decision to name Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader following the killing of his father was a domestic matter, and it opposed any attempt to target him. The conflict has threatened global energy security and trade, as well as China’s oil supplies. An instability that the economic giant does not see fit to its interests, as FRANCE 24’s Yena Lee reports from Beijing.
from www.france24.com
President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela and Iran are the first time that any president has made any progress against China’s decades old effort to peacefully subvert the U.S.
It is no secret that China has two goals: to seize control of Taiwan and to become the lone global superpower by 2049, the centennial of the communist control over the country. China is our primary geopolitical rival, if not our mortal enemy.
Over the past few decades, China has successfully subverted the U.S. through globalization. The U.S. now depends on China for antibiotics, energy, technology hardware and vital rare earth minerals and their processing. China could shut off exports of these and other goods, and our economy, society and security would be crippled.
Yes, China would hurt itself by doing these things, but China is an iron-fisted totalitarian state where any social unrest would be much more easily (read brutally) addressed than in the U.S.
370,000 People Leave China’s Wealthy Jiangsu–Zhejiang–Shanghai Region in 30 Days Vision Times
from news.google.com
US China rivalry: Iran war pushes Beijing to harden military strategy shift Deccan Herald
from news.google.com
Xi’s Silence on Iran Raises Questions About China’s Global Loyalty Sri Lanka Guardian
from news.google.com
They reportedly have had bad experiences acting as Washington’s proxy in past conflicts
Iraq’s Kurds are against joining the US attacks on Iran, and have voiced concerns about being left facing Iranian retaliation with no ground or air defense support, Axios reported on Saturday.
The CIA began working to arm Kurdish forces hostile to the Islamic Republic after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran last Saturday, according to CNN. While US President Donald Trump initially voiced support for Kurds getting involved in the conflict, he backpedaled on the idea on Saturday.
“The Kurds must not be the tip of the spear in this conflict,” Axios wrote, citing a senior official from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Iraq.
… One in three people now believe the world will end within their lifetime, according to new research. The study shows apocalyptic beliefs are no longer confined to the fringes of society – and they’re shaping how people respond to global threats, say scientists.
Study lead author said Dr Matthew Billet said: “Belief in the end of the world is surprisingly common.” He added: “It’s significantly influencing how people interpret and respond to the most pressing threats facing humanity.”
The research team surveyed more than 3,400 people in the United States and Canada. In the American sample of 1,409 respondents, nearly a third said they believe the world will end within their lifetime.
Tencent Is Said to Be Back On Paramount-Warner Bros Deal With Fresh Funding Bloomberg.com
from news.google.com
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani has described Iran’s strikes on Gulf countries as a “dangerous miscalculation” – warning the escalation risks destabilising the region and sending shockwaves through the global economy.
Speaking to the media for the first time since Qatar has come under repeated missile and drone attacks, the prime minister told Sky News that the country had entered what he called “a very difficult period” – but praised the professionalism of its defence and security forces.
For a man who has mediated some of the world’s most complex crises, what stood out to me was how angry he was about Iran’s actions.
“It is a big sense of betrayal,” he told me. “Just an hour after the start of the war, Qatar and other Gulf countries have been attacked. We made clear that we were not going to take part in any wars against our neighbours.”
Sweden and China Strengthen Ties as China Eastern Airlines Resumes Direct Flights Between Stockholm and Shanghai with A330 Travel And Tour World
from news.google.com
… Keir Starmer is expected to promise to protect the British public from the economic impact of the war after oil prices surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022.
“No matter the headwinds, supporting working people and their families with the cost of living is always top of my mind,” the prime minister said ahead of a visit on Monday to a community centre in London.
Starmer added:
People are also rightly worrying what this means for life at home – their bills, their jobs, their communities.
I want to address those concerns head on. I will always be guided by what is best for the British public. And no matter the headwinds, supporting working people and their families with the cost of living is always top of my mind.
Vladimir Putin has congratulated the new Supreme Leader of Iran with a statement that risks infuriating Donald Trump. The Russian leader sent a congratulatory message to Iran’s Supreme Leader-elect Mojtaba Khamenei, reaffirming his continued support and solidarity with Tehran.
A statement posted on the Kremlin’s website on Monday read: “Please accept my sincere congratulations on your election as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At a time when Iran is confronting armed aggression, your tenure in this high position will undoubtedly require great courage and dedication. I am confident that you will honorably continue your father’s work and unite the Iranian people in the face of severe trials.” The statement, signed off by Putin himself, also reiterated Russia‘s “unwavering support” for Tehran and expressed solidarity with its “Iranian friends”. The leader confirmed that Russia has been and will remain a “reliable partner of the Islamic Republic”.
He has strong ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which pressured the Assembly of Experts to select him, Iran International reported.
Despite the connection to the military branch, he is not a high-ranking cleric and has never held an official role in the regime. He did, however, serve in the Iranian armed forces during the war with Israel.