Headlines

• This is a civilian target far away from the front lines.

Dnipro, Nov.18.— A city of 1.1 million, Dnipro (also known as Dnipropetrovs'k) sits on the banks of the Dnieper River in Eastern Ukraine. It’s 650 miles from the Polish border at Chelm. On the northwest approaches to this city, which is the country’s fourth largest and a six-hour drive from the capital, Kyiv, a car can speed down a road which in many ways is more pleasant than I-95 between Washington and New York. From this modern, divided highway, huge fields of plowed black earth alternate with even more massive fields of wheat alongside tidy farmhouses. Until you reach the little town of Tsybulivka in Poltava Oblast, it all looks remarkably like the flat steppes of eastern Kansas.

At that point, however, you turn right and south off the main road and into a landscape every bit as agriculturally rich but more visibly post-Soviet. The road becomes potholed and rough (though perhaps not as rough as some of the country roads back home in Oklahoma), and the developed highway and periodic truck stops that could pass for a Wawa give way to little towns and villages of houses built of painted cinderblock and tin roofs and workshops made of corrugated iron. 

Tel Aviv, Nov. 2 (DPnet).– Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel’s Ministry of Defense completed development of the Iron Beam high-power laser air defense system following a series of tests in southern Israel, the company announced last October in a statement.

The trials, conducted in collaboration with the Israeli Air Force and facilitated by Elbit Systems, aimed to demonstrate the system's capacity to effectively intercept projectiles, including rockets, mortars, uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), and manned aircraft across various operational scenarios, as outlined in the statement. This testing phase represents the final stage prior to the delivery of initial units to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), with operational deployment anticipated by the end of the year, as reported by the company.

Iron Beam is designed as a ground-based system to complement existing layered defenses that include Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow. Regarding USA air defenses, the US DoD seeks out contract bids for its ambitious, yet controversial Golden Dome aerial defense shield, and the Israeli defense firm Rafael CEO Yoav Turgeman thinks his company’s “Iron Beam” would make a great addition. 

San Juan, PR. Nov.1 (DPnet).– In late August 2025, the United States initiated a naval buildup in the southern Caribbean, citing the intention to address the issue of drug trafficking. US President Donald Trump authorized the United States Armed Forces to employ military force against specific Latin American drug cartels, labeling these smugglers as narcoterrorists. The Trump administration has accused Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, of facilitating the trafficking of drugs into the United States. Earlier in August, the administration also increased the bounty for Maduro's arrest to $50 million, alleging his involvement in drug trafficking activities.

On 30 September, President Trump told reporters his administration would "look very seriously at cartels coming by land" and he formally declared to Congress on 1 October that the US was in a "non-international armed conflict" with "unlawful combatants" regarding drug cartels operating in the Caribbean. Trump said on 22 October that he planned to also order strikes on land targets.

The Trump administration announced in October 27 that the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group (CSG) will deploy to the Caribbean to help “dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland.” The CSG had been in the Mediterranean for exercises with allies and to respond to potential hostilities around Israel, Gaza, and the Red Sea. This task force includes 1 Carrier, 2 Cruisers, 7 Destroyers, 3 amphibious ships and one submarine.

The elected President advocates a unified Cyprus under United Nations supervision to establish a federated bi-communal republic with the Greek Cypriots

Nicosia, Oct. 19.– Casting his vote earlier, Tufan Erhürman, leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), said, "This election is about our children. That’s the consciousness we’ve acted with. The decision made here will impact our future." He secured a decisive victory in the presidential elections of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), by a wide margin according to preliminary results announced by the Supreme Election Board.

Voter turnout stood at 62.83% in the election, which featured seven candidates, including five independents.  As of 7:40 p.m. local time (GMT+3), results from 753 of the 777 ballot boxes had been counted. Erhürman achieved 62.80% of the vote, while incumbent President Ersin Tatar, who ran as an independent candidate, garnered 35.77%. The remaining votes were distributed among five other candidates, including independents. Voter turnout stood at 62.83%.

Under Northern Cyprus’s electoral system, a candidate who obtains 50% plus one vote in the first round is declared the winner, meaning Erhürman’s victory is secured without the need for a runoff.