Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

By RFE/RL May 10, 2026 The war in Iran and the wider Middle East appeared to be in a holding pattern late on May 9 as Washington awaited Iran’s response to its latest peace proposal, while Tehran, which has not yet offered a formal reply, did maintain its belligerent stance toward the US. Iran’s had-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps angrily responded to the continuation of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, threatening that “any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centers in the region and enemy ships.”…

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org A yearslong effort to find an affordable way to turn cargo planes into strike platforms is now an official program with anticipated fielding in 2027. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center recently announced the establishment of “Dragon Cart,” the program of record to arm mobility aircraft such as the C-17 and C-130 with so-called palletized munitions. The palletized munitions concept involves putting a specialized container loaded with cruise missiles on…

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has admitted that he had doubts heading into the UFC 328 title fight last night. On Saturday, Sean Strickland defeated Khamzat Chimaev to become a two-time UFC middleweight champion. It was a pretty huge upset in the eyes of many fans, and while Sean himself may not care too much about the actual belt, it’s an incredible accomplishment for someone who has often been overlooked by the mixed martial arts community. RELATED: Sean Strickland calls UFC “boring” when discussing why he sold his fight with Khamzat Chimaev so hard Of course, Strickland was not expected…

UFC 328 went down last night (Sat., May 9, 2026) inside Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., featuring a Middleweight title fight that saw Sean Strickland upset Khamzat Chimaev via split-decision to reclaim the crown (scorecards here). In the co-main event of the evening, Flyweight champion Joshua Van defeated Tatsuro Taira via fifth-round TKO in what proved to be a back-and-forth brawl (see it again here).Who He Should Face Next: Nassourdine Imavov rematchNow that Strickland has sent the Boogeyman back to the closet, the new Middleweight champion of the world has his sights set on a rematch against Imavov, who has…

When we look back on these years, we’ll regard them as a turning point for governments. Jennifer Robinson   May 8, 2026 4:33 pm 4 min read In federal government operations, timing is everything. Whether it’s detecting emerging cyber threats, responding to natural disasters or monitoring critical infrastructure across vast geographic areas, the ability to make decisions in real-time — sometimes within milliseconds — can mean the difference between success and failure. Traditionally, these decisions have relied on centralized systems dependent on humans. But as artificial intelligence technology improves, a new paradigm is emerging: the “agentic edge.” Agentic edge is…

Plans to build portions of the border wall in Big Bend National Park are off after bipartisan backlash over the proposed construction, a top U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official told the Washington Examiner.CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the Trump administration was no longer planning to construct the wall within the national park following pushback from residents, the Examiner reported this week.“Big Bend National Park has some just, like, unbelievably huge granite cliffs. It would be kind of silly to put like a 30-foot border wall on top of a 90-foot granite cliff,” Scott said in an interview with the…

Achilles Heel Tactical has officially launched the AHT Podcast, a long-form conversational platform hosted by AHT instructor David Acosta Jr., intended to extend many of the discussions that naturally happen around its training programs. The debut episode, “The Genesis of AHT,” features founder Rick Crawley discussing the origins of Achilles Heel Tactical, the philosophy behind the company, and the standards that continue to shape its direction today. For those who have trained with AHT, the format will feel familiar. Some of the most meaningful conversations don’t happen while standing on the firing line. They happen during lunch, after class, or…

Outside of Sean Strickland, nobody may be happier about his win over Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 than former middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.The South African fighter claimed the 185-pound belt with a win over Strickland and then put on an even more dominant showcase to beat him again in their rematch. But du Plessis’ fortune changed dramatically after Chimaev took him down repeatedly and just drained the life out of him when they met this past August.The win crowned Chimaev as champion but now his reign is already over and Strickland is once again sitting atop the middleweight division.…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has sent its response to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal via Pakistani mediators and wants negotiations to focus on permanently ending the war, Iran’s state-run media said Sunday. Pakistan confirmed receiving it. Iran seeks to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and to ensure the security of shipping, its state TV said. Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear program, an issue that Tehran would rather discuss later.…

The global economy is currently experiencing a systemic shock of unusual magnitude. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption and about a quarter of seaborne oil trade normally flows, has disrupted a critical artery of the international energy system. Combined with escalating confrontation with Iran, the disruption has driven prices sharply upward and heightened the risk of a prolonged global downturn. However, this is not a “black swan.” It is the materialization of a “grey rhino”: a high-probability, high-impact threat that policymakers repeatedly identified but failed to address. The central question, therefore,…