The Export-Import Bank of the United States recently issued letters of interest supporting up to $4.2 billion in financing for enriched uranium sales by General Matter to utilities in Japan and South Korea. This includes up to $2.4 billion for Japanese operators and $1.8 billion for South Korean ones over the coming decade. 

As we reported, the deal advances American energy dominance and reduces allied dependence on adversarial fuel suppliers.

This transaction arrives as the United States, and much of the world, pursues a nuclear renaissance. Surging electricity demand from data centers and industry, combined with policy support for clean baseload power, requires reliable domestic fuel supplies. 

With Russian enriched uranium imports facing a full ban by 2028, expanding US enrichment capacity is essential to avoid bottlenecks for both existing reactors and new advanced designs.

Yet the strategic case extends beyond energy security. Nuclear proliferation remains a core concern. Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissile material, and weapons-related nuclear technology and information to additional states. A civilian nuclear power program, though intended for electricity generation, can serve as a foundation for weapons development. 

Uranium enrichment technology used to produce low-enriched uranium at 3 to 5 percent U-235 for reactor fuel employs the same centrifuges and processes that can be adjusted to achieve highly enriched uranium above 90 percent, the level needed for nuclear weapons. A facility sized to fuel one reactor can produce material for roughly 20 bombs per year. Once a nation masters enrichment at commercial scale, the leap to weapons-grade material becomes significantly shorter and less detectable.

These risks apply even to close US allies, not just adversarial states. Saudi Arabia has pushed for domestic enrichment rights in ongoing nuclear cooperation talks with Washington, while Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also stated the kingdom would pursue a bomb if Iran does.

South Korea has expressed interest in developing its own enrichment capability. A serious concern there is the potential for the technology to find its way to their northern neighbors. 

In contrast, the United Arab Emirates accepted the so-called gold standard, forgoing enrichment and reprocessing in its civil nuclear program.

By building sufficient domestic capacity, the United States can become the preferred supplier of safeguarded enriched uranium to partners. This approach maintains oversight of the fuel cycle, discourages allies from developing independent programs, and limits technology diffusion.

Via Remix News,

The debate over violence in German society and schools has reached a boiling point in the Bundestag, pitting Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his supporters against critics who accuse him of racism, including a Left Party politician who published a photo of herself on Instagram giving him the middle finger.

The controversy intensified following a session where Merz addressed the issue of digital and analog violence, particularly against women.

“We have exploding violence in our society, both in the analog and digital space, and we must do something about it together,” said Merz.

However, he said that one must then also talk about where this violence comes from, he said to applause from members of the CDU/CSU and the AfD.

“And then we must also address the fact that a considerable proportion of this violence comes to the Federal Republic of Germany from immigrant groups,” he added.

🇩🇪🔴German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is under fire from the left for tying exploding violence with mass immigration.

“We have an explosion of violence in our society…Then we also need to talk about where this violence comes from. And then we must also address the fact that a… pic.twitter.com/ZPDuI4eHnv

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) March 27, 2026

These remarks drew sharp condemnation from the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Left Party. SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch argued that violence against women should be viewed broadly rather than being reduced to a single population group. Miersch stated, “I don’t think that was an adequate response from the chancellor.”

He added that “violence against women has no origin or religion, it is a problem of society and must be addressed clearly. It is about protecting victims, regardless of who the perpetrator is.”

Data on violence against women and foreigners

However, statistics tell another story from what Miersch asserted. Foreigners commit 65 percent of all sexual crimes on German trains and in train stations despite making up approximately 15 percent of the population. It must be noted that German citizens with a migration background are not included in this 65 percent figure.

As data from North Rhine-Westphalia showed, foreigners commit half of all gang rapes. However, when the first names of gang rape suspects are analyzed, it shows that at least half of the German citizens clearly had names from a foreign background, such as Mohammad. In total, that means 75 percent of all gang rapes are committed by a foreigner or someone with a foreign background.

Data presented by the German government last year shows that 63,977 women were victims of sexual violence in 2024 alone, and the perpetrators were disproportionately foreigners, making up 35 percent of all perpetrators, according to government data released as a result of an inquiry from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Bundestag.

German government data also shows there were 135,000 crimes by Syrian suspects against Germans since 2015 — one every 39 minutes.

The data, obtained by Freilich magazine, also shows large numbers of victims of crimes committed by suspects from other countries of origin, including 82,960 linked to Afghanistan, 69,946 to Iraq, 39,918 to Morocco, and 32,383 to Algeria. Altogether, more than 460,000 crimes were recorded in a 10-year period involving suspects from the 10 main countries of origin: Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, and Eritrea.

The Left says migrants should not be blamed

In the educational sector, Saskia Esken, chairwoman of the parliament’s Education and Family Committee, also raised concerns about school-related crimes. While acknowledging that the number of violent crimes recorded by the police in schools has increased significantly in all federal states, she firmly rejected the migration narrative, despite clear statistical evidence showing there is a serious problem with violence from Germany’s foreign population.

“Migration is not the problem in our schools,” Esken asserted, arguing that violence arises where children neither at home nor at school learn other ways to regulate their feelings and resolve conflicts. She described school as a motley, quasi-forced community where social workers and psychologists are desperately needed to address underlying issues like poverty and lack of prospects.

Again, the data contradicts her, showing that 40 percent of all violent crime suspects in German schools are foreigners. This data shows that there were 4,254 foreign suspects and 7,309 suspects with German citizenship, the German government announced in response to a parliamentary inquiry from Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Martin Hess.

Of the 11,558 suspects in total, 1,236 had Syrian passports, representing one in ten violent incidents, according to the data, which was provided to Welt newspaper.

It must also be noted that a likely significant number of these suspects are German citizens with a migration background who are only counted as German in the statistics. Researchers, police, and society do not have a clear picture regarding the integration of previous generations of migrants and their role in crime due to this data reporting failure.

Middle finger for Merz

The Left Party member of the Bundestag, Cansin Köktürk, took a more provocative approach by posting a photo of her middle finger directed at Merz on Instagram.

She accused the chancellor of a “hysterical, constant whining” about migrants and suggested that he was serving a racist agenda.

“Hey Merz, I almost think you’d like to be part of us yourself. You’re so obsessed with talking about us,” she wrote.

Köktürk claimed that Merz instrumentalizes specific cases while ignoring the perspectives of those affected, describing his rhetoric as aggressive and hurtful.

Read more here…

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A British Liberal Democrat MP has openly admitted what the political class really fears about Elon Musk’s X: it lets ordinary Britons speak freely about the disaster of mass immigration.

In a clip that exploded across the platform on Monday, Cheltenham MP Max Wilkinson described X as a “massive problem” precisely because it gives critics of unchecked migration a voice.

“It’s a really easy [way] to get some content out about how you think immigration is too high, or immigration is the big thing that’s tearing the country apart… X is now making sure that you can have your voice heard in a really easy way that you couldn’t in the past,” he complained.

This is not some fringe rant. Wilkinson, the Lib Dems’ Home Office spokesperson, simply said the quiet part out loud. While the establishment lectures the public about “tolerance” and “diversity,” it seethes at the idea that native Brits can now push back online without gatekeepers filtering their concerns.

The backlash was instant and brutal. Toby Young of the Free Speech Union fired back: “Labour MP Max Wilkinson says the quiet part out loud: He doesn’t like X because it enables people who think immigration is too high to have their voices heard.”

Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson was even sharper: “God forbid people should be able to say on X that immigration is far too high. Or that it is causing problems for our way of life. Lib Dem MP Max Wilkinson thinks those opinions should be silenced. How dare he!”

This admission lands at the perfect moment to expose the broader pattern of suppression. It confirms exactly why the government has been so desperate to rein in platforms like X.

As we have highlighted, the UK’s relentless and ongoing push to ban or restrict X has been predicated on protecting children, yet is clearly about narrative control:

The same government that lectures about “hate” has already banned a teacher for the crime of saying migrants should respect our laws or leave:

Samuel Everett’s posts – “If you don’t respect our laws, culture and way of life you should leave, nobody is forcing you to stay” and “deploy the navy” on small boats – earned him an indefinite professional ban even, despite an independent panel clearing him of ‘racism’.

The government has also jailed a man for 18 months over two spicy anti-immigration tweets viewed just 33 times.

Last year alone Britain’s speech gulag saw 10,000 people arrested for social media posts.

The crackdown reaches into schools too. The Green Party wants to teach children radical ideology regarding immigration.

While the current Labour government urges schools to snitch on “anti-Muslim hostility” in an Orwellian dragnet.

It even produced a video game that brands kids “terrorists” for questioning mass migration:

Counter-terror police ran an advert warning teens that sharing “funny content” could be terrorism.

Meanwhile the demographic transformation accelerates. Migrants are set to swallow 40 percent of new UK homes by 2030.

A recent caller to Talk TV perfectly captured how most British people feel about it all:

And the hypocrisy never stops. The same regime is introducing an “anti-Muslim hate” definition while branding the Union Flag a tool of hate in leaked strategy documents.

Wilkinson’s outburst is the clearest proof yet: the real “threat” to the establishment isn’t hate, it’s democracy. They cannot win the argument on open borders, so they attack the platform that lets the public make it.

Britain does not need more speech restrictions. It needs politicians who listen instead of silencing the people they are supposed to serve. X is working exactly as intended – giving a voice to the voiceless. That is why the elites hate it, and why millions of us will keep using it, by hook or by crook.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

We outlined the early signs of global demand destruction and worsening energy chaos in a note earlier on Monday, mapping the regional dominoes and the order in which they are likely to fall. Turning to the UK, the last known jet fuel shipment from the Middle East is due to arrive later this week, a major warning that aviation disruptions could soon materialize.

The Financial Times reports that the Libyan-flagged Maetiga vessel, loaded with jet fuel from Saudi Arabia, is set to dock in the UK on Thursday.

Maetiga is currently transiting off the coast of Portugal.

“No other UK-bound cargoes from the region are visible on the water, given the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz,” the FT noted.

The UK has heavily relied on jet fuel transiting the Hormuz chokepoint for several years after phasing out Russian supplies. Analysts warn that airlines may begin to feel the supply crunch in late April if disruptions in Hormuz persist. 

As of Monday, northwest European jet fuel prices were roughly double prewar levels. In Asia, Singapore kerosene is trading at more than $200 a barrel, more than double the level at the start of the year.

“Market understanding is that fuel shortages are not far away in some countries,” and “higher prices are to trickle through the entire supply chain and will be felt by all,” Janiv Shah, vice-president of oil markets at consultancy Rystad Energy, told the outlet.

According to UBS, a shortage of jet fuel in Asia, along with very high prices for what is available, is now leading to more flight cancellations.

As we noted in “Global Demand Destruction: Subsidies, Empty Gas Stations, Rationing, Flight Cancelations, Export Limits, Price Controls,” the regional order in which the energy chaos unfolds is Asia first, then Africa and Europe, before reaching the US, mostly California.

Via JPMorgan:

Source

Europe sources a shocking amount of jet fuel through the Hormuz chokepoint, upwards of 40%, and the UK is especially exposed, both directly and through imports routed via the Netherlands and Belgium.

Lars van Wageningen, research and consultancy manager at data provider Insights Global, pointed out that supply chains are not broken just yet but are being reshuffled, indicating that European buyers will seek additional jet fuel supplies from refineries in West Africa and the US.

Two weeks ago:

Oil is bad. Products are worse pic.twitter.com/rxvlhDNFsv

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 19, 2026

Deutsche Bank and UBS have warned for weeks:

U.S. Airlines “Nearly 100% Unhedged” Against Energy Shock

The UK government has told travelers not to worry yet, which is usually the moment to start worrying. Energy shocks do not hit everywhere at once. As we point out, first through Asia, then into Africa, Europe, and eventually onto the US West Coast.

Via Remix News,

Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-chair Tino Chrupalla spoke out in favor of withdrawing American troops from Germany. During a party congress in Saxony, he stressed that, if AfD comes to power, this should be the first step in implementing the party’s program, which calls for the removal of all allied forces from Germany and a withdrawal from NATO’s nuclear weapons sharing system.

“Let’s start implementing this program by withdrawing U.S. troops,” he said, as reported by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, cited by Do Rzeczy.

The proposal received loud applause by the audience.

Chrupalla also argued that Germany should not be involved in international military operations, praising Spain for opposing U.S. use of its bases for its conflict with Iran.

“And that is exactly right. Spain is not interfering in this war,” he said.

His criticism of American troops on German soil comes after his sharp criticism of Trump’s decision to launch a war against Iran.

“I am extremely disappointed in Donald Trump when it comes to his campaign promises,” Chrupalla during an appearance on Markus Lanz earlier this month.

“During the election campaign, he also accused Kamala Harris, that she would start World War III. And now we are on the cusp of having probably started the Third World War with Donald Trump. And that’s a breach of his word, which I really resent and which the American people also resent, who incidentally reject this war in Iran at a much higher rate than Germans. So, 70 percent of Americans do not want this war and do not support it.

Chrupalla also stated it was clear the United States was dragged into the war by Israel.

“And I think the Americans, as you can really see now if you look at all the events, were dragged into this war by Israel. There were serious negotiations where Oman, as a peacemaker, came to an agreement with Israel together with the USA, and they basically started bombing Iran on the same day. The Omani Foreign Minister has described this as a huge mistake. The entire Arab world has labeled it a mistake. The Norwegian Foreign Minister has described it as a mistake. It has also been labelled a mistake by Turkey. You can’t ignore all that. These are all countries in this region that are naturally extremely worried that this will escalate into a conflagration. And that’s what we’re seeing now. It’s a huge wildfire.”

In his most recent speech, Chrupalla also addressed Russia’s war against Ukraine. He announced that the AfD would “bring about peace” and that after the conflict ends, Ukrainians in Germany should return to their home country, criticizing the current refugee benefits system.

“This is exactly what must end. All Ukrainians must go back,” he said

Chrupalla’s speech made it clear that the AfD aims to take power in Germany, at both the state and national levels. “We must develop, moving from an opposition party to a governing party,” he said during the party convention in Löbau, as quoted by Deutsche Welle.

Germany’s next federal elections will take place only in March 2029. At that time, Chrupalla plans for the AfD to have a prime minister in Saxony and an AfD chancellor as the leader of Germany. Chrupalla also admitted that this requires further capacity-building and preparing party structures for governance.

Noting that AfD must no longer be perceived as a single-issue party, presumably referring to its focus on implementing mass deportations, and must demonstrate concrete results in government going forward.

“At some point, we will have to present our voters with successes,” he emphasized.

According to Bild reports, the party has already begun organizational preparations to take over the government by establishing a special working group for participation in the government.

Read more here…

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

The last time global energy markets witnessed a shock similar to what we might see this year was during the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo. Tensions were escalating in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War when the Arab Coalition launched a surprise attack against Israel. OPEC nations joined forces to cut off oil to Israeli allies including the US. This froze around 15% of oil exports to America, triggering market speculation, hording and price inflation.

The infection spread to Asian markets long dependent on the Middle East for energy resources. This slowed industrial capacity and many governments imposed rationing and price controls.

Images of long lines of cars at gas stations and people filling up extra containers remain burned into the collective memory of anyone who lived through that era. However, the real threat to the US was not supply shortages; rather, it was the prospect of a market cascade.

Stagflation coupled with supply chain vulnerabilities were exacerbated by public panic. Stock markets also plunged into recession territory in the expectation of an industrial slowdown. The embargo lasted only five months, but the damage was extensive.

Things have changed quite dramatically since the 1970s. The US is far less dependent on energy resources from the Middle East, though, any shocks to the global oil trade have the ability to ripple out and affect American markets. Furthermore, Arab oil producers are now largely allied with the US, which means there’s less risk of a prolonged shutdown due to conflict.

In the case of the Strait of Hormuz, any direct damage to America is minimal. Only 7% of all oil shipments to the US actually travel through the Hormuz, and, Venezuelan oil is helping to fill that gap. The greater danger is rooted in globalism and the interdependent trade system.

For example, US allies like Australia, India, Japan, and the Philippines are heavily exposed to the Hormuz shutdown. Australia is currently one month away from supply shortages and the country has little to no backup. The Philippines has already declared a state of emergency and established ration policies; they have perhaps 2 months of emergency supplies. Japan is currently tapping into strategic oil reserves and they are boosting coal fired power.

China, is facing significant exposure, with 15% of their oil supplies coming directly from Iranian wells and around 35% of their total oil supply traveling through the Hormuz. China has around 4 months of reserves before crisis hits them like a freight train.

Most Asian countries that are reliant on oil and natural gas passing through the Hormuz have around two months before they start to see public panic and long lines at gas stations similar to 1973.

Iran claims that they intend to let “non-hostile ships” pass the strait, but they’ve stopped multiple Chinese ships this week after this announcement was made. It is likely that war conditions will continue for at least another month, and, in the worst case scenario, the Hormuz could remain closed well beyond the cutoff date for many at-risk countries. The longer the war goes on, the greater the chance of a market cascade.

I’ve noticed that there are some bought-and-paid-for “prognosticators” out there adding their own propaganda spin to these events, including the notion that the west is on the verge of collapse because of the Hormuz closure. In reality, the east is far more economically exposed than the west is to this war. That said, there are risks to the US, and they are reliant on how long the conflict lingers.

Energy Crisis, Election Dangers And Global Economic Warfare

As I noted in October of 2024 in my article “The Atlantic Council Has Big Plans For A War Between The US And Iran”, there has been a concerted effort among globalists to lure Americans and Europeans into long term conflicts with Iran and with Russia. As I noted in 2024:

“The establishment media reports that Iran hacked the Trump campaign’s election strategies and gave them to the Harris camp. There are also rumors spread by US intelligence agencies that Iran was working to have Trump assassinated. Are these claims true? There’s little public evidence available to prove it.

Maybe Iran really wants to take Trump down. Or, maybe this is part of a plot to ensure that Trump backs a full blown war with Iran should he win the election. Trump has said repeatedly that he intends to end the war in Ukraine upon his return to the White House. This would ruin over a decade of planning by the Atlantic Council. But what if they can sink the US into a different conflict with the same potential for a world war? That’s what Iran is – Another linchpin…”

I would note that “world war” can take many forms. It could be a war using economic weapons rather than nukes. It could be a series of proxy wars that spiral and spread.

The Ukraine theater serves as a proxy war in which Russia indirectly engages with NATO and Russia is now forced to sustain its military posture for far longer than it expected at a much higher cost. Iran has the potential to become another Ukraine, but one in which the US is trapped into expending military and economic assets while Russia and China drag out the costs.

In my June 2025 article, “The Iran Trap: Everyone Wants Americans To Fight Their Wars For Them”, I predicted:

“Iran will receive ample weaponry and intel from Russian sources, prolonging the conflict….”

The Kremlin has essentially admitted that this is already happening. Iran has shown uncharacteristic precision with some missile strikes exactly because they have access to Russian satellite intel and targeting. The Russians could very well be running Iran’s strategic operations, for all we know. I also argued that:

“On the political front there will be a deep divide between pro-Israel conservatives and anti-war conservatives. Trump will lose a large percentage of his base if the US deploys troops. Americans might hate leftists enough that this won’t matter in 2026, but they’re not going to give Neo-Cons a free pass, either.”

In other words, one of the biggest disasters that could happen for the US as a result of this war is that ideologically deranged Democrats and leftists regain enough political leverage post-midterms to disrupt any practical reforms and eventually bring back the woke nightmare we witnessed under the Biden Administration. If this happens, mass violent unrest in America is inevitable. Not to mention, war with Russia in Ukraine will be back on the table.

For large swaths of Asia, the disaster will be immediately visceral, including economic implosion, rationing and probably civil unrest. And, thanks to globalism, economic crisis in Asia has the ability to spread into western economies.

The BRIC nations have lost much of their leverage over the US Dollar that they had 10 years ago (China’s dollar and treasury holdings have been cut in half and exports from China to the US have dropped significantly), but they can still engage in enough economic warfare through trade disruptions to wreak havoc on US markets.

As I mentioned in recent articles, any disruption to the Yen-Carry trade is perhaps the biggest threat to the US economy right now, and this could be triggered through high energy prices in Japan; not as an attack, but as a basic consequence of market interdependency. All of this depends on the true objectives behind US operations in Iran.

Is the goal an occupation and complete regime change? Well, this is clearly what the Neo-Cons and Israel want. That kind of project could take years to complete and it would require a maximum US ground commitment. However, if Trump intended to pursue an occupation I think he would have committed tens of thousands of troops on day one.

Is the goal to simply destroy the Iranian ability to project military power outside of their country, or take control of the Strait of Hormuz? Walking away is not an option at this stage (the Hormuz cannot be left in the hands of the Iranians without leverage against them). So, this would be the easiest objective to complete with minimal US ground operations, bringing us to our best case scenario…

The Key To Ending The Iran War In Five Weeks

We constantly hear about international exposure to the Hormuz shutdown, but the media rarely mentions that Iran is the MOST exposed economy of all. For now, Iranian oil ships continue to pass through the strait and these vessels are Iran’s economic lifeline. Strategic estimates suggest that without the steady passage of these oil tankers, the Iranian economy would completely collapse within five weeks.

In fact, there is already information leaking out from Iran which suggests that an economic crash is happening right now. This will accelerate the Islamic regime’s willingness to negotiate.

If they don’t, Trump’s strategy will be a ground invasion of Kharg Island along with several other Islands that Iran uses to help secure the Hormuz. Kharg Island handles approximately 96% of Iran’s crude oil exports, making it the single greatest weakness of the regime.

But what if Kharg represents too much risk? The American public abhors even minimal military casualties, which is why we are politically ill equipped to weather a long term war. There is another way, and it’s much safer…

Iranian cargo ships can be targeted for seizure by a US blockade of the Persian Gulf well away from the narrow waters of the Hormuz. The ships could be destroyed, but I suspect the Department of Defense will try to avoid oil spills and ecological disasters. Instead, the best option is to capture Iran’s tankers and then redirect the oil to countries in danger of shortages. Iran has the option of shutting off GPS tracking for their vessels (shadow fleet), but this would not help them maneuver past a comprehensive US blockade.

In other words, I argue that the US could turn the tables on Iran and use their reliance on the Hormuz against them. With Iran’s economy in shambles, they will no longer be able to purchase missiles or drones for resupply from Russia and China. They won’t be able to pay for logistic resources for their military and they won’t be able to contain public unrest.

The Iranians would be forced to negotiate and the war would be over quickly with minimal risk to US troops. It’s the only option I see for returning energy markets to normal operations within a couple months while preventing a global crisis. Trump should treat any calls for long term ground occupation with suspicion; there is no need for this kind of military commitment. The war can be decided quickly through economic means.

Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed by Israeli authorities earlier this month after Iranian missile fragments hit Jerusalem, with restrictions also being placed on who can enter the walled old city – home to all of the most sacred religious sites.

This has resulted in outrage among Christians, however, Israeli officials have said that Al Aqsa Mosque was also closed, and limitations were placed numbers of people visiting the Western Wall – and claimed that all of this was being done as a safety precaution.

Source: BiblePlaces.com

But closure of the Holy Sepulchre for Lent and Easter is basically unprecedented in recent history, and Church leaders say it violates the church’s historic autonomy under an arrangement called the ‘status quo’.

Things have come to a head after on Palm Sunday, two Catholic leaders were prevented from praying at the Holy Sepulchre by Israeli police. The Vatican was quick to rebuke the police decision as “a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure.”

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa was the top official kept from entering the church, and his name has previously been in the news over the course of the Gaza war, where he called out Israel’s military for shelling Christian sites, including a couple of deadly airstrikes on Palestinian churches.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Trump White House has gotten involved, exerting some rare direct pressure on the Israeli government over the church closure.

“We did express our concerns with Israel with respect to these holy sites being shut down,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says during a briefing – as cited in Israeli press reports.

“We want worshipers to be able to access these holy sites. Of course, safety is a top priority, but we understand Israel is working on the security measures to reopen the sites throughout Holy Week, and that’s something that we’re appreciative of,” she added.

It seems the White House intervention may have worked, with Times of Israel reporting that “Catholic officials in Jerusalem announced that prayer arrangements for Holy Week, which culminates with Easter on Sunday, April 5, had been resolved with Israeli authorities, ending a diplomatic spat over the issue.”

The majority local church in the Holy Land, among Palestinians and Greeks, is the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem – part of the worldwide Eastern Orthodox communion. There are typically large throngs of Orthodox Christians descending on Jerusalem during this period. While the Western confessions – or rather the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches – will celebrate Easter on April 5, Orthodox Easter, also known as Pascha, takes place on April 16 this year. 

JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities announced on March 29, 2026, a special plan allowing Christian leaders to resume services at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, following international backlash over the obstruction of Catholic clergy on Palm Sunday.

The decision by the office of… pic.twitter.com/iW0G6ZgtuX

— UOJ – America (@UOJ_America) March 30, 2026

It’s as yet unclear the degree to which Israeli police and military will actually allow Christians to access the Church of the Holy Sephulchre before and during these dates. And the reality is that it is unlikely that the crowds will be huge or overwhelming this year, given the ongoing war and current difficulty of travel in the region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging for an Easter holiday ceasefire with Russia, at a moment each side has sent daily and nightly drones and missiles across the border.

“We’re ready for a ceasefire during the Easter holidays,” Zelensky told reporters, describing that “normal people who respect life” would seek a permanent ceasefire. “But we’re ready for any compromises, except those involving our dignity and sovereignty,” he added.

The vast majority of both the Russian & Ukrainian populations are Orthodox Christians.

Both countries have predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian populations, and Orthodox Easter, also known as Pascha, takes place on April 16 this year. The West, or rather the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, will celebrate on April 5.

While full ceasefires, even short ones, have not had much success in the past more than four years of war, the two sides have previously agreed to days or even weeks of pauses on attacking energy sites. This limited truce does hold some potential.

“If Russia is ready to stop hitting Ukrainian energy facilities, we will not respond against their energy sector,” Zelensky said.

Last year saw an effort to put in place a Pascha ceasefire, called for by President Putin – however, there were widespread accusations of violations.

Putin himself attends the long Orthodox Pascha vigil each year, while Zelensky is Jewish. He became the first Jewish president of Ukraine after being elected in 2019, and has since faced accusations of persecuting Ukrainian Orthodox who maintain spiritual ties with the Moscow patriarchate. 

Currently, drone attacks on mutual energy sites are continuing at rapid pace. We detailed that last week Russia set a record for the largest single-day drone assault on Ukraine of the war.

At least seven people were killed in Ukraine last Tuesday after Russia launched the truly massive drone. Counting both drones and cruise missiles, 979 warheads poured into Ukrainian airspace as diplomatic efforts at ending the war remain stalled and the world’s attention focused almost entirely on the US-Israeli war on Iran.  

If some kind of Easter truce could actually hold later next month, it would constitute a significant breakthrough regarding broader diplomatic efforts toward peace, at a moment the US-mediated talks have stalled amid the Iran war in the Middle East, and removal of some sanctions on Russian oil.

Authored by Prabhat Ranjan Mishra via Interesting Engineering,

A Florida-based company is accelerating production of powerful systems that can counter small drone threats. VAMPIRE counter-unmanned systems (C-UxS) deliver precision strike capabilities against drones.

The system has proved its efficacy on the frontline.

Developed by L3Harris Technologies, the system is a self-contained platform that delivers advanced reconnaissance and can conduct operations against remotely piloted aircraft.

VAMPIRE counter-unmanned system installed on vehicle

L3Harris Technologies recently installed its VAMPIRE counter-unmanned system aboard a GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), demonstrating a mobile solution to take out drone threats. 

The facility features a flexible assembly, testing and installation area to integrate VAMPIRE onto ground vehicles and containerized weapon systems. The production line can adjust and increase volume as demand evolves.

“Deploying VAMPIRE on GM Defense’s ISV is a great example of how quickly and seamlessly this system can be used by our Army customer to defeat the rapidly growing threat of small, hostile drones,” said Tom Kirkland, vice president and general manager, Targeting and Sensor Systems, L3Harris.

“Working together, we have swiftly responded to the urgent need to defeat small unmanned autonomous systems accurately and affordably while allowing ground forces to stay tactically mobile.”

Highly adaptable to meet diverse mission

The company claims that the GM Defense ISV is uniquely engineered to fulfill U.S. Army requirements for rapid deployment. With robust off-road capabilities, the ISV significantly improves tactical mobility across a range of military operations. The vehicle is easily maintainable and highly adaptable to meet diverse mission and operational needs, according to a press release.

GM Defense partners with companies like L3Harris to design and produce diverse kits to support the broad range of mission requirements for a variety of general purpose and special operations forces. Incorporating a Counter-small UAS system like VAMPIRE adds new capability to protect operators from hostile drone attacks, as per the release.

“The versatility of the ISV is one of its core strengths, and integrating a critical counter-UAS capability like VAMPIRE showcases our ability to rapidly adapt the vehicle to meet evolving threats,” said John ‘JD’ Johnson, Vice President of Government Solutions and Strategy, GM Defense.

“This successful integration highlights how the ISV’s modular design and commercial-based architecture can quickly incorporate next-generation technologies to deliver immediate value and enhanced protection to our warfighters.”

The company also highlighted that the completely self-contained, low-cost, multi-mission, precision-guided weapons platform effectively engaged in combat operations since 2023, safeguarding personnel and critical infrastructure against hostile unmanned systems and ground threats.

The affordable, compact ISR and counter-unmanned weapons system designed to deploy on nearly any platform, vehicle or vessel, according to L3 Harris. This all-in-one system excels in Counter-small Unmanned Airborne System (C-sUAS) operations, delivering precision strike capabilities with customizable sensors and weapons, significantly reducing the cost-per-effect and overall cost of ownership, according to the company.

With an $80.6 million domestic opening weekend, a 95% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 96% audience score, Project Hail Mary is an undeniable blockbuster hit. By its second weekend, the movie crossed $300 million worldwide and dethroned Avatar: Fire and Ash as the top-grossing Hollywood film of 2026 in North America. It’s become the second-biggest non-franchise opening over the past decade, after Oppenheimer.

The Hollywood Reporter published a piece titled “Project Hail Mary: 4 Lessons Hollywood Won’t Learn From Its Success,” pointing to smart storytelling, sincerity, patience, and practical effects as the pillars behind the film’s blockbuster performance. That’s a solid four. But, it predictably missed the fifth, and arguably most important point: Don’t go woke.

In the movie, Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a science teacher and biologist who wakes up alone on a deep-space mission to figure out how to stop a microorganism from dimming the sun. He eventually makes contact with an alien on the same mission, and the two team up to save their respective worlds from extinction. The premise could have easily become a vehicle for climate allegory and geopolitical moralizing, but it didn’t.

Andy Weir, the author of the novel, sat down with Will Jordan – better known online as The Critical Drinker – on Jordan’s YouTube channel shortly after the film’s release. 

“For me, it’s a great example of what you can do now with movies,” Jordan said. “If you’re faithful to the source material and you don’t insult the intelligence of your audience, and give them something really interesting to grapple with, and you know, dare I say it, [don’t] try and shove, like, crappy identity politics into it, you end up with a goddam good movie at the end of it that the people just want to watch.“

Weir’s response was immediate and unambiguous. “I think you and me are kind of on the same wavelength there when it comes to fiction writing,” he said. “I never put any politics or messaging in any of my stories at all. There’s no deeper meaning; there isn’t even any symbolism, even non-political. There’s just no symbolism at all. My books are just purely to entertain.”

Weir added. “You don’t have to worry about the message.” 

This is why Andy Weir will always be one of my favorite authors. His goal is to entertain, not lecture. pic.twitter.com/5KmvOvf8c4

— Lily* (@300mirrors) March 24, 2026

That’s a best-selling author of two major Hollywood adaptations – The Martian and now Project Hail Mary – telling an audience of millions that the secret ingredient is the absence of an agenda. Not diversity hires. Not carefully calibrated representation metrics. Not a third-act monologue about social justice. Just a story, told well, about humans trying to survive.

The contrast with HBO Max’s upcoming Harry Potter series couldn’t be clearer. Last week, the teaser trailer for the first season dropped, and the internet promptly caught fire over the casting of Paapa Essiedu – a black actor – as Severus Snape. The show had been pitched as a more faithful adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s novels than the original eight films were able to be. But upon the announcement of Essiedu’s casting, fans quickly pointed to original illustrations and decades of book descriptions of Snape, and realized this was not going to be a faithful adaptation of the novels.

Following the release of the trailer, social media has been flooded with “Black Snape” memes, AI-generated edits, and videos, many lamenting how certain Harry Potter storylines and character dynamics will land differently because of the race swap. The conversation about the new series has become almost entirely about casting politics and DEI, rather than storytelling.

That’s exactly what Project Hail Mary avoided. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and a production that respected its source material, delivered a film people actually wanted to see.

Hollywood has a template now. It’s not complicated. Serve the audience, not the agenda. The question isn’t whether the lesson is available. It’s whether Hollywood is willing to hear it.