Lufthansa Cuts 20,000 Summer Flights as Fuel Prices Surge
April 22nd, 2026Via: BBC:
German airline Lufthansa will cut 20,000 European short-haul flights over the summer, saying soaring fuel prices have made many journeys “unprofitable” for the firm.
Jet fuel has doubled in price since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran as the conflict has slowed its production and transportation across the Middle East.
Several airlines, including KLM-France and Delta, have also temporarily cut some flights while others have raised ticket prices as they pass on expenses to customers.
Analysts have warned that travellers should expect further ticket price rises and more cancelled flights as the conflict continues.
Pentagon Wants $54 Billion for Drones, More than Most Nations’ Military Budgets
April 22nd, 2026Via: Ars Technica:
The US military’s massive $1.5 trillion budget request for the next fiscal year includes what Pentagon officials described as the largest investment in drone warfare and counter-drone technology in US history.
The proposed spending on drone and autonomous warfare technologies within the FY2027 budget proposal for the US Department of Defense would surpass most countries’ defense budgets and rank among the top 10 in the world for military spending, ahead of countries such as Ukraine, South Korea, and Israel.
Specifically, the Pentagon is requesting $53.6 billion to boost US production and procurement of drones, train drone operators, build out a logistics network for sustaining drone deployments, and expand counter-drone systems to defend more US military sites. The funding request is budgeted under the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), an organization established in late 2025 that would see a massive budget increase after receiving about $226 million in the 2026 fiscal year budget.
Coincidence:
Trump Jr-Backed Drone Firm Lands Pentagon Contract
Trump Sons Seek to Buy Ukrainian Drone Technologies for Manufacturing in U.S.
Eric Trump-Backed Robot Startup Lands $24M Pentagon Deal to Compete with China
Related: China Demonstrates Microwave Beam that Recharges Drones in Flight
Meta to Start Capturing Employee Mouse Movements, Keystrokes for AI Training Data
April 22nd, 2026In other news, Meta Tells Staff It Will Cut 10% of Jobs in Push for Efficiency.
Via: Reuters:
Meta is installing new tracking software on U.S.-based employees’ computers to capture mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes for use in training its artificial intelligence models, part of a broad initiative to build AI agents that can perform work tasks autonomously, the company told staffers in internal memos seen ?by Reuters.
The tool, called Model Capability Initiative (MCI), will run on work-related apps and websites and will also take occasional snapshots of the content on employees’ screens, according to one of the ?memos, posted by a staff AI research scientist on Tuesday in a channel for the company’s model-building Meta SuperIntelligence Labs team.
The purpose, according to the memo, was to improve the company’s AI models in areas where they struggle to replicate how humans interact ?with computers, like choosing from dropdown menus and using keyboard shortcuts.
“This is where all Meta employees can help our models get better simply by doing their daily work,” it said.
Iranian Ghost Fleet Ships Bypass U.S. Navy Blockade
April 22nd, 2026Hmm…
Via: Daily Mail:
Donald Trump’s naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is unraveling after dozens of Iranian vessels secretly slipped past US surveillance, even as the regime tightened its grip on the critical oil passageway by attacking three tankers.
Approximately 34 Iranian oil tankers have slipped through the blockade, with 19 vessels exiting the Persian Gulf past Trump’s navy and another 15 ships entering from the Arabian Sea toward Iran, according to the Financial Times.
Six of those tankers were smuggling Iranian crude oil totaling 10.7 million barrels, estimated to be worth approximately $910 million in revenue for the regime.
The report follows Iran’s seizure of two cargo ships on Wednesday morning in the strait, after attacking those vessels and a third, claiming the ships had failed to comply with the regime’s demands.
Trump announced Tuesday he would extend the ceasefire but continue the American naval blockade of Iranian ports, as a way of exerting pressure on the Islamic Republic to reopen the vital waterway.
U.S. Indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on Federal Fraud Charges, Accused of Illegally Paying Informants in White Supremacist and Other Extremist Groups
April 22nd, 2026Via: Las Vegas Sun:
The Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday was indicted by the Justice Department alleging its past use of paid confidential informants to infiltrate extremist groups amounted to defrauding donors. The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama.
The organization was charged for allegedly making payments totaling at least $3 million between 2014 and 2023 to people associated with extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America and the National Socialist Party of America, among others.
More: Democrats Lose A Vital Propaganda Machine With The Fall Of The SPLC
Murders and Disappearances of People Associated with Black World and Space Research
April 22nd, 2026Via: Daily Mail:
The White House has vowed to leave ‘no stone unturned’ in its effort to uncover the truth behind the string of missing scientists.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Friday on X that President Donald Trump has brought the FBI into the investigation.
‘In light of the recent and legitimate questions about these troubling cases, and President Trump’s commitment to the truth, the White House is actively working with all relevant agencies and the FBI to holistically review all of the cases together and identify any potential commonalities that may exist,’ Leavitt said.
Several scientists with ties to NASA, nuclear research, aerospace programs and classified projects have vanished or turned up dead in recent years.
Many of the individuals, including researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory, had access to sensitive information on space missions, nuclear technology or advanced defense systems, prompting speculation about possible connections.
On Thursday, Trump revealed he had been briefed on the mysterious cases that have now reached 11.
More:
See Dark Journalist’s long running X-Series of presentations. X-222 is the latest:
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Background, for those who can withstand UAPGerb’s excruciating knowledge of acronyms:
As Iran Crisis Drags On, Fears of Global Food Catastrophe Grow
April 21st, 2026Via: Al Jazeera:
“Food prices will definitely rise in the coming months, making it more difficult for many people around the world to afford adequate and healthy diets,” Matin Qaim, executive director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn in Germany, told Al Jazeera.
“Poor people in Africa and Asia will be hurt the most because they have to spend a high share of their income on food anyway,” Qaim said.
“Hunger and undernutrition will very likely rise.”
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last week warned that a prolonged crisis in the strait, which Iran has closed in retaliation for the United States and Israel’s war, could lead to a global food “catastrophe”.
India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, and Egypt are among the countries most at risk, according to the FAO.
In an analysis last month, the World Food Programme said nearly 45 million more people could face acute food shortages if the conflict continues into the middle of the year and oil prices remain above $100 a barrel.
Professor Robert Pape: The Collapse Is Now “Ahead of Schedule”
April 20th, 2026Please pay close attention.
Via: Redacted:
Hormuz Traffic Remains At Standstill, U.S. Seizes Iranian Ship
April 20th, 2026Via: ZeroHedge:
Traffic through the strait on Sunday and Monday was reduced to a trickle following a Saturday surge, after Tehran rejected a continuing US naval blockade and moved to seal the waterway again. The reduced movement underscores just how quickly hopes unraveled that cargoes could once again resume.
Insider Trading on Iran War
April 18th, 2026From 2008: They Made a Killing: The Use of Knowledge of Covert Operations in the Stock Market
Via: Guardian:
Sixteen bets made $100,000 each accurately predicting the timing of the US airstrikes against Iran on 27 February. Later, a single user would make over $550,000 after betting that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would topple, just moments before his assassination by Israeli forces. On 7 April, right before Donald Trump announced a temporary ceasefire with Iran, traders bet $950m that oil prices would come down. They did.
These bets and other well-timed wagers accurately predicted the precise timing of major developments in the US-Israel war with Iran, creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers and experts over potential insider trading.
Betting – once largely siloed to sporting events – has now spread to include contracts on news events where insider information could give some traders an advantage.
The proliferation of online betting markets like Polymarket and Kalshi has allowed bets on virtually any news event. It’s also easier than ever to buy commodity derivatives like oil futures, where traders gamble on what the price of oil will be in the future.
