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Americas:
Caribbean
Haiti
10 March 2026 10:32 (UTC +04:00) Haitian security forces, with support from Vectus Global, have carried out anti-gang operations using quadcopter drones strapped with explosives, often in densely populated parts of the capital Port-au-Prince. Since last March, explosive drone strikes by Haitian security forces targeting gangs have killed 1,243 people, Human Rights Watch said in a report today. The strikes also injured 738 people. Vectus Global is a private U.S.-based military company led by Blackwater founder Prince. The operations have ramped up in recent months - from November to January there were nearly double the number of drone operations compared with the prior three months. The drones can maneuver between buildings and moving vehicles while their controllers track suspects using live video feeds. The U.S. charge d'affaires in Haiti told a Senate committee last month that the State Department had licensed Vectus to export its services to Haiti. A spokesperson for the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force in Haiti declined to comment. Despite Kenyan, U.S. and U.N. support, armed gangs have expanded well beyond the capital and security forces have yet to capture a major gang leader. The gangs have killed thousands, displaced over a million and crippled the economy. The U.N.'s human rights chief said last October the drone strikes were disproportionate and likely unlawful. Last month, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said it had no indications the deaths and injuries were being investigated. HRW said there was no evidence drones were being used widely by gangs. (Source: APA - Azerbaijan „citing Reuters” – United Kingdom)
North America
United States
March 11, 2026 ' A summary of the Iran war, so far. As it stands now, the United States and Israel are conducting an air war that appears bent on destroying Iran’s nuclear program. Both see a nuclear weapon as dangerous to themselves, regardless of how it’s delivered. It’s unclear whether Iran can build a deliverable nuclear weapon, but even if there’s a small possibility, it could lead to catastrophic consequences. The first U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear development program having only partially succeeded, the U.S. and Israel then mounted a far broader aerial assault to bring about a second objective: to force regime change or, failing that, inflict enough damage to elongate the recovery time, during which perhaps a more prudent government might emerge. The anti-regime demonstrations that had filled the streets and resulted in many deaths made regime change appear a possible outcome of a military attack ending Iran’s nuclear program (as the primary goal) and creating an Iran that would be less destabilizing to the region. A new supreme leader has since been appointed to head the government, of the same demeanor as the last one. But he is perhaps less powerful because he seems to be sharing decision-making with the head of the Supreme National Security Council and does not seem to have full control over Iran’s primary military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Given the destruction of much of the governing system, including its leadership, and national infrastructure – meaning, a loss of command and control and a semi-functional government – it seems as though the IRGC is executing operations under decisions made by its own commanders by default, perhaps according to its own preference. This is evident in the fact that the Iranian president – considered weak because he is a reformist – apologized to countries in the region that were attacked by drones and missiles in the opening stages of the conflict. It seems likely that the IRGC acted as a military force without political guidance, striking long and deep at all threats, that the first strike left it playing the roles of both military force and decision-maker. The government’s apologies were designed to limit the degree to which the attacked nations would join the Western-led hostilities. It follows from this that the primary goal of the U.S and Israel is to cripple or systematically destroy the IRGC before the new government becomes effective, putting it militarily impotent, in a vulnerable and even desperate situation. The IRGC is a well-armed and trained organization with both ground forces and sophisticated weapons, including drones and missiles. It is widely dispersed throughout Iran, where it is responsible for internal security as well as conventional ground warfare. The group’s drone and missile systems would need to be resupplied with new weapons from storage areas. The primary mission for the U.S. and Israel is to identify the logistical system supplying these dispersed forces and destroy them. These logistics networks are identifiable by satellite, immobile and located far from major population centers. Much of the combat between U.S. and Israeli forces on one hand and the IRGC on the other would take place in remote locations, rather than in cities. Only a few Western aircraft have been shot down, which means either that Iranian air defense systems are ineffective or destroyed, or that the information coming out of Iran is limited. Another vital dimension to this war: oil. In the long run, it is likely that the IRGC will be crippled and that other oil producers will increase production, or that Russian oil, under U.S. pressure now, will flow more readily. This is the war’s shelf life for the U.S. and Israel. They need to end it before prices, particularly in the U.S., rise dramatically - Iran is a less important issue than the cost of living. Iran has attempted to close the Strait of Hormuz. If this creates enough sensitivity to, say, energy prices, it would be a fundamental problem for the U.S. and, as such, would undermine the war effort. „The Strait of Hormuz seems to me to be the critical place where the war will be largely decided”. Sending troops into Iran to occupy it, even with limited opposition, would be difficult and tremendously expensive. A war in Iran would likely be very long and unsuccessful. The key to the war will be the battle to keep Hormuz open as air power shatters the IRGC – something that could potentially be done in months, not decades. The IRGC has not completely halted its attacks on other oil-producing states in the region. Increasing production in other parts of the world can be difficult and time-consuming. If the new Iranian government is unwilling or unable to rein in the IRGC, and it intensifies attacks on regional oil facilities, what could follow would be a significant decline in global oil capability and a dramatic uptick in prices, threatening the global economy. If the IRGC is able to renew its attacks on regional oil producers, simply keeping the strait open would not by itself eliminate the threat of a global economic crisis. This leaves the U.S. and other oil consumers in an extreme economic crisis that will take time to recover from, even after production is resumed. This scenario would leave Trump facing a political crisis in the United States. Washington, then, has three options. The first is to try to cripple the IRGC’s missile and drone capabilities quickly. ’The second is to create’ a new regime that is able and willing to take control over the IRGC. The third is to battle it out in the Strait of Hormuz. It could also pursue a combination of the three, with each facing severe challenges. This brings us to Russia and China. Russia’s army is fighting in Ukraine, and it stands to benefit greatly from the destruction of oil production in the Middle East – which would give Moscow much-needed money and political leverage. China even has diversified its sources of energy, high oil prices would still hurt its economy, dependent as it still is on exports. The Chinese foreign minister has condemned the attacks, even as he confirmed that Trump would meet with President Xi in late March (earlier than the original date). Given China’s exposure, and given the ongoing negotiations between Washington and Beijing, ’China is unlikely' to provide military assistance to Iran. The consequences of the war come down to whether Tehran can or will control the IRGC, or whether the U.S. and Israel will risk launching an even greater attack. The stakes are now getting higher globally, with the most likely option being that the U.S. will destroy the IRGC. From a military standpoint, the fundamental question is whether these goals can be reached primarily from manned and unmanned air power, given that a ground war would likely be long and costly in terms of both lives and money, due to Iran’s size. If airstrikes cannot achieve the goal, the unknown is whether in the end the U.S. would follow with a ground war, which has been since World War II very costly and in many cases a failure. ' (Source: Geopolitical Futures - U.S.)
By Dr. Friedman, an internationally recognized geopolitical forecaster and strategist on international affairs and the founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures. He holds a doctorate in government from Cornell University. His book, THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM: America’s Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond, published February 25, 2020 describes how ’the United States periodically reaches a point of crisis in which it appears to be at war with itself, yet after an extended period it reinvents itself, in a form both faithful to its founding and radically different from what it had been.” The decade 2020-2030 is such a period which will bring dramatic upheaval and reshaping of American government, foreign policy, economics, and culture. His most popular book, The Next 100 Years, is kept alive by the prescience of its predictions. Other best-selling books include Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, The Next Decade, America’s Secret War, The Future of War and The Intelligence Edge. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages. For almost 20 years before resigning in May 2015, Dr. Friedman was CEO and then chairman of Stratfor, a company he founded in 1996.
(March 10, 2026) 7:35 PM CET About 140 US troops have been wounded in the Iran war, including 8 severely. “The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 108 service members have already returned to duty,” Pentagon spokesman Parnell said. Eight U.S. service members are currently 'severely injured,' Parnell added. Retaliatory rocket and drone strikes from Iran have also claimed the lives of seven soldiers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. (Source: AP - U.S.)
(March 10, 2026) 4:41 PM CET First 2 days of Iran war cost the US $5 billion in munitions alone. An estimate the Pentagon sent to Congress does not appear to include other war-related expenses besides munitions. The war is currently in its 11th day. (Source: AP - U.S.)
14:08, 10 Mar 2026 To date, the US has a total of six unaccounted-for nuclear warheads from 32 documented Broken Arrow accidents. One incident in 1958 involved a fully-armed B-47 carrying a Mark 15 hydrogen bomb, which dropped its nuclear bomb following a mid-air collision. The weapon was never retrieved despite initial assertions it was a dummy. The B-47 was transporting a 7,600-pound Mark 15 hydrogen thermonuclear bomb. The Mark 15 possessed an explosive yield of 3.8 megatons, 190 times more devastating than the Fat Man bomb, which flattened Nagasaki. The B-47 sustained damage, the pilot worried the bomb might explode and released the Mark 15 into the waters of Wassaw Sound, near Tybee Island. Over 100 Navy personnel searched for the jettisoned Mark 15. The search continued for two months, and they discovered nothing. The Air Force informed the public that the bomb's plutonium warhead had been removed before the flight and replaced with a lead substitute. Decades later, in 1994, documents released from a 1966 Congressional testimony revealed the Tybee Mark 15 was actually an intact nuclear weapon. In 1966, a B-28 thermonuclear bomb was lost in the Mediterranean Sea following a collision between two U.S. military aircraft, and its warhead remains missing. One Spanish shrimp fisherman witnessed the misshapen white package descend. It was one of four B28 thermonuclear bombs that had been dispersed after two US military aircraft collided over the Mediterranean. Three of the B-28s were recovered on land but the warhead has never been located. (Source: Mirror - United Kingdom)
(11.03.2026) US President Trump said yesterday that the United States will build its first new oil refinery in five decades with investment from Indian billionaire Ambani’s Reliance Industries. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump described the project as a historic $300 billion deal, the biggest in US history, thanking India’s largest private energy company, Reliance Industries, for the investment. Reliance Industries, which operates the world’s largest refinery complex in Jamnagar, India, has a market capitalisation of about $206 billion. „The cleanest refinery in the world” will be built at the port of Brownsville, Texas, and is expected to process 100 percent American shale oil. The refinery is being developed by America First Refining. The company said it received a nine-figure investment from a global energy major at a 10-figure valuation but did not disclose the investor. America First Refining also said the same investor has signed a 20-year agreement to purchase, process and distribute US-produced shale oil. According to the company, the facility will process about 1.2 billion barrels of US light shale oil valued at $125 billion and produce roughly 50 billion gallons of refined products worth around $175 billion. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)
10.03.2026 The Trump administration is mulling a ground operation to retrieve Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, believed to be sitting in a storage facility deep underground, according to military officials who spoke to CNN. They said that the move would require a significant number of US ground troops, not just a special forces operation - mark of ’the first major commitment of US ground forces to the war.’ Much of the uranium is believed to be at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site. The military escalation would put a large number of troops in danger, as it would require a complex mission to safely recover and transport a large amount of highly radioactive material. US intelligence agencies believe the Iranians who have been working to clear the debris from damage to Isfahan facility’s above ground facilities caused by US military air strikes in June last year, have access to the underground tunnels where the uranium was hidden. Officials believe that 200 kilograms of uranium is probably still at the Isfahan site. Iran’s uranium is currently enriched at around 60%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Additional radioactive material also believed to be stored at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Iran has claimed that it uses the uranium only for peaceful energy purposes. Experts said enriching the material above a certain threshold - around 90% - means it can be used to create nuclear weapons. Trump has repeatedly said that Iran can never be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program. ’One thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon’, the president said last month. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
(Tuesday), March 10, 2026 9:51 AM (= 02:51 CET) Trump, Putin talk of war and peace as US weighs easing Russian oil sanctions. US President Trump and Russian counterpart discussed on Monday the war in Iran and prospects for peace in Ukraine, just hours after the Kremlin chief warned that a global energy crisis threatened the world economy, cautioning that oil production dependent on transport through the Strait of Hormuz could soon come to a halt. The Kremlin said Trump called Putin, in the leaders' first telephone call this year, and they discussed Russian ideas for a speedy end to the conflict in Iran, the military situation in Ukraine and the impact of Venezuela on the global oil market. The US and Israeli attack on Iran triggered the biggest spike in oil prices since the turmoil following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Gulf producers reduce output after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. "I had a very good call with President Putin," Trump told a press conference at his Florida golf club, adding that Putin wanted to be helpful on Iran. "I said, 'You could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That will be more helpful." Putin said Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter and holder of its biggest natural gas reserves, was ready to work again with European customers if they wanted to return to long-term co-operation. Amid the turmoil on global energy markets, Trump's administration is considering reducing oil sanctions on Russia, with an announcement possible as soon as Monday, according to three sources familiar with the planning. The move would be intended to boost world supplies of oil following massive disruptions to Middle East shipments from the expanding conflict. It could also complicate US efforts to deprive Russia of revenue for its war in Ukraine. Talks could cover broad sanctions relief as well as more targeted options for certain countries, such as India, to buy Russian oil without fear of US penalties, including tariffs. "We're also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices. So we have sanctions on some countries. We're going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out," Trump told reporters, without identifying the countries. "Then who knows, maybe we won't have to put them on; there'll be so much peace. But when the time comes, the US Navy and its partners will escort tankers through the Strait if needed." Last week, the United States allowed India to temporarily buy Russian crude oil already on tankers at sea, to help it cope with the cuts to Middle East supply. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Bessent said the United States could free more Russian oil from sanctions. Russia's special presidential envoy on investment, Dmitriev, said on Saturday he was discussing the issue with Washington. Kremlin foreign policy aide Ushakov said the discussion with Trump was "very substantial" and "likely to have practical significance for further work between the two countries". Ushakov said Trump believed it was in the US interest to see a "rapid end to the conflict in Ukraine with a ceasefire and a long-term settlement". (Source: AsiaOne Singapore / Reuters - United Kingdom)
Space
March 10, 2026 / 10:35 AM EDT A 1,300-pound NASA probe is set to re-enter Earth's atmosphere today, nearly 14 years after it was launched. The Van Allen Probe A, which was launched in August 2012, is likely to reenter Earth's atmosphere around 7:45 p.m. ET today. There is a 24-hour margin of uncertainty. Most of the probe is expected to burn up as it reenters the atmosphere, NASA said, although some components are expected to survive re-entry. 'There is a 1 in 4,200 chance of anyone on Earth being harmed', NASA said, noting that the risk is low. The probe and a twin spacecraft, Van Allen Probe B, were sent to explore Earth's permanent radiation belts and determine how particles within them are gained and lost. (Source: CBS News - U.S.)
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