“NATO announced a roughly $4.5 billion plan on Tuesday to buy up to 10 Saab GlobalEye surveillance planes to replace ageing AWACS early warning aircraft, backing a Swedish system over a rival solution from U.S. planemaker Boeing. Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the replacement of Cold War-era Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes, best known for their rotating radomes, with a new system based on smaller business jets would tackle threats like drone swarms. … With U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly pressing allies to spend more on defence and buy more U.S. equipment, Rutte took pains to underline the international pedigree of the system which is mounted on top of Bombardier Global 6500 business jets. … GlobalEye competes with Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail, an early warning and command-and-control aircraft based on the 737 jetliner and designed to oversee and direct battle.” (07/07/26)
“After decades of reliable bipartisan backing for Israel, a new AP-NORC poll reveals a dramatic erosion of support for the longtime U.S. ally, with rising opposition from Democrats and signs of division among Republicans. The survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research arrives at a moment when a once-consensus foreign policy issue is increasingly polarizing Americans along partisan and generational lines, driven by criticism for Israel’s conduct nearly three years after the outbreak of its latest war with Hamas in Gaza. About one-third of U.S. adults — including roughly half of Democrats — believe that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza …. About 58% of Democrats now say the U.S. is ‘too supportive’ of the Israelis, up from 45% in an AP-NORC poll from January 2024 when former President Joe Biden was in office. That includes 51% of Jewish Democrats in the new poll.” (07/07/26)
“South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics says it expects to post a 19-fold jump in its profits, driven by global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips. The company forecast that it made 89.4tn won (£43.6bn; $58.4bn) between the start of April and the end of June, marking its third record quarterly operating profits in a row. Major South Korean firms like Samsung release forecasts of their earnings ahead of official detailed reports to help guide investors.” (07/07/26)
“The body of a Ukrainian woman suspected of carrying out a bomb attack that targeted a wealthy Ukrainian-born businessman in Monaco last week was found near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, Ukrainska Pravda reported on Tuesday. Citing sources in law enforcement, the Ukrainian news outlet said the woman had been shot and her body was found close to 11 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Monday. Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, was named as the chief suspect in an Interpol Red Notice, which said she was Ukrainian, spoke German and was wanted by authorities in Monaco for attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy. … Ukrainian-born Vadym Yermolaiev, his partner and son were wounded in the attack on Monday last week, sources said.” (07/07/26)
“During the San Jose State University (SJSU) volleyball team’s scandal-ridden 2024 season, the athletic department received a letter from one of head coach Todd Kress’[s] former players. The letter included allegations that Kress attacked her in a hotel room in 1998. Emails show that SJSU officials acknowledged the receipt of the allegations, thanked the former player for coming forward and apologized for her experiences. Despite this, Kress was never suspended and has continued to serve as the head coach of the women’s volleyball team. Fox News Digital was given copies of the emails exchanged between SJSU and the former Fairfield player, from an independently verified source. Fox News Digital has independently verified she played at Fairfield under Kress in the 1998 season, but is not disclosing her name.” (07/07/26)
“When Quinn Brown, 19, first laid eyes on basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain’s 1972 Los Angeles Lakers warmup jacket, it was in somebody else’s hands. The Portland, Ore., teen was picking through bins of new arrivals at a local Goodwill store in January when he saw another shopper pick up a massive, bright yellow jacket with Chamberlain’s name etched on the back. The shopper eyed it indecisively, then tossed it back. Brown snatched it up. As an avid thrifter, he says he knew right away it was a good find. He bought it for $3.07 US ($4.36 Cdn), figuring he could sell it online for a couple hundred bucks. Now it’s on the auction block at Sotheby’s, where it’s expected to fetch as much as $250,000 US ($355,150 Cdn). … it wasn’t until he started looking up photos online that he began to suspect it might actually have been worn by Chamberlain himself.” (07/07/26)
“As calls mounted on Monday evening for US Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop out of the race in Maine following sexual assault allegations, progressive organizers emphasized that primary voters in the state have made clear their demand for a candidate who prioritizes the needs of working people. Should Platner be replaced as the Democratic nominee, said the political action organization Our Revolution, the new candidate must be ‘one who has actually lived the fight Graham Platner ran on: a record with working people, with unions, against corporate money’. ‘To the Democratic establishment: This is not your opening,’ said Joseph Geevarghese, the group’s executive director. ‘Mainers did not vote by an overwhelming margin against Janet Mills and the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]’s handpicked pick just to be handed another status-quo candidate anyway.'” [editor’s note: Newsflash for these idiots, “what they voted for” was no more Gov Mills in a position of power! Platner was just what they considered “the lesser evil” – SAT] (07/07/26)
“At least two explosive devices have gone off in the Syrian capital, Damascus, as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the country. Syria’s Interior Ministry said at least 18 people, including four police officers, were wounded in the blasts, the state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday. Television footage showed plumes of smoke rising over the city and other footage shared online and verified by Al Jazeera showed a vehicle on fire. An Al Jazeera correspondent said that the blasts occurred near the Ministry of Tourism and a hotel where Macron was meant to be staying during a visit to the capital for talks with his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa.” (07/07/26)
“The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt by a conservative activist to obtain guardianship records in an effort to find ineligible voters in the presidential battleground state. The case has been winding its way through the courts for years and stems from attempts by conservatives to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin over President Donald Trump in 2020. The case tested the line between protecting personal privacy rights and ensuring that ineligible people can’t vote. Former travel executive Ron Heuer and a group he leads, the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, brought the lawsuit in 2022 alleging that the number of ineligible voters doesn’t match the count on Wisconsin’s voter registration list. The lawsuit doesn’t specify how many people could be affected.” (07/07/26)
“The daughter of Senator Mitch McConnell has deleted her X account amid widespread speculation over the former Senate majority leader’s health, following a sudden June hospitalization. It is unclear when or why Porter McConnell, a progressive-leaning political activist who previously directed the Take On Wall Street campaign, deleted her account. … McConnell was found unconscious on June 14 and received CPR after suffering an apparent heart attack in his Washington, D.C., home, according to emergency records obtained by a variety of news outlets. Little else is known about his current condition.” (07/06/26)
