Authored by Brett Wilkins

While media coverage of Israel’s war on Lebanon mainly focuses on the slaughter of hundreds of Lebanese civilians and destruction of entire villages, Israel Defense Forces commanders are tacitly condoning widespread looting by their troops in Lebanon, according to reporting Thursday.

Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, interviewed a number of IDF personnel who described routine theft of items including motorcycles, televisions, paintings, sofas, and rugs from the homes and businesses of some of the more than 1 million Lebanese forcibly displaced by Israel’s assault on its northern neighbor.

Israel has seized control of more than 50 villages in southern Lebanon as part of its expanding so-called “Yellow Line,” with residents who cross it risking their lives. Their absence offers IDF troops the opportunity to loot with no Lebanese resistance.

The looting of civilian homes and businesses is formally known as “pillage” and is strictly prohibited under numerous Israeli and international laws and conventions. However, according to the IDF soldiers and officers interviewed by Haaretz, senior and junior commanders know about the pillaging but are not punishing offending soldiers.

“It’s on a crazy scale,” one soldier said. “Anyone who takes something – televisions, cigarettes, tools, whatever – immediately puts it in their vehicle or leaves it off to the side, not inside the army base, but it’s not hidden. Everyone sees it and understands.”

Soldiers interviewed said commanders’ responses range from turning a blind eye to prohibiting looting but not punishing offenders. “In our unit, they don’t even comment or get angry,” one soldier claimed. “The battalion and brigade commanders know everything.”

Another said that “battalion and brigade commanders do speak up and get angry, but without action, those are empty words.” Some IDF soldiers have even posted videos of their looting on social media – usually with no consequences.

Responding to the Haartez report, the IDF claimed:

The military views any harm to civilian property and acts of looting with utmost severity and unequivocally prohibits them. Any allegation or suspicion of such acts is thoroughly examined and addressed with the full weight of the law. In cases where sufficient evidence is established, disciplinary and criminal measures are taken, including prosecution. The Military Police Corps conducts inspections at the northern border crossing as forces exit Lebanon.

However, some military police checkpoints along the border have been removed, and in some locations there have never been any checkpoints at all.

🇮🇱🇱🇧IDF soldiers reportedly filmed looting homes in southern Lebanon.

The video shows troops taking belongings from civilian houses during the ground operations.

Israel’s campaign has displaced over 1 million Lebanese in under three weeks…pic.twitter.com/RRgjX8T9Rb https://t.co/iGcjA9NbXt

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 20, 2026

Widespread looting by IDF soldiers has previously been documented in Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank, sometimes by the perpetrators themselves.

IDF looting has also been reported in Syria, where Israel has seized as many as 200 square miles of additional territory in 2024, including dozens of border villages, under cover of the Gaza genocide. Israel already conquered and occupied much of the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967.

Israeli forces also allegedly backed Palestinians who looted Gaza aid convoys in order to boost the narrative that it’s Hamas, not Israel, thatof is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching starving Gazans.

Looting of Palestinian property was particularly rampant during the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when more than 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were ethnically cleansed to make way for the establishment of Israel.

The systematic theft of Palestinian land, homes, and property – which continued with the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan Heights in 1967 – is accelerating today, and can be witnessed in videos of settler pogroms in the West Bank and infamous footage of an American-born settler colonist telling a Palestinian family whose home he’s trying to steal that “if I don’t steal it, someone else is going to.”

Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanon town of Deir Aames.

The IDF warned residents of the town earlier to evacuate after it said Hezbollah had launched rockets from the area. pic.twitter.com/FQVwrwwmPh

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 24, 2026

Such unchecked usurpation emboldens further thievery. One soldier interviewed by Haaretz for Thursday’s article said the pillage would effectively end if there were serious consequences for offenders, pointing to units in which commanders took a tough stance against looting, resulting in negligible levels of the crime.

“Lenient enforcement sends a clear message. If someone were dismissed or jailed, or if military police were stationed at the border, it would stop almost immediately,” they said. “But when there is no punishment, the message is obvious.”

Authored by Lawrence Kadish via The Gatestone Institute,

For decades, fusion energy has been the great scientific pursuit – clean, limitless power drawn from the same physics that powers the sun. Enormous progress has been made in the technology required to harness nuclear fusion and significant investment is now being made by private companies and President Donald J. Trump’s White House.

As we advance on fusion success, however, there is a danger of progress being halted by an enormous challenge: the supply chain. Without an American-based industrial infrastructure to source, manufacture, and deliver the materials fusion energy requires, our nation’s dominance in this crucial field is at risk.

Consider the “shopping list” needed to create a viable fusion reactor.

Start with its fuel, tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope. There are not a lot of tritium supplies anywhere in the world.

Accordingly, you need to manufacture them – an enormous challenge before you even get to sustaining the actual fusion reaction.

The same issue applies to magnets needed to keep the fusion reaction contained and running.

The list goes on.

It is not a secret for those advancing our nation’s energy independence through fusion.

David Kirtley, CEO of Helion Energy, a major leader in the field, has stated that supply chain challenges could put fusion’s future here in America at risk.

As a result, they have moved some key technology manufacturing in-house.

In testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Jackie Siebens, Helion Energy’s Director of Public Affairs, stated that building the supply chain and infrastructure necessary to scale fusion is “chief among” the company’s challenges.

She warned that fusion power plants will rely on key components including semiconductors, capacitors, high-quality metals, and magnets —and that the manufacturing of those key items is currently concentrated in a few countries, chiefly China. Why are we not surprised?

The geopolitical stakes could not be higher. Helion Energy correctly argues that without a strong domestic supply chain, the U.S. risks losing its strategic energy dominance even as it advances on fusion energy success

Our nation’s leaders must treat protecting the supply chain with the same urgency as research funding to achieve fusion energy breakthroughs.

Washington needs to recognize the challenge and encourage the creation of an “American made” network of fusion technology suppliers that will protect our future.

It is a race where second best will leave a nation in the dark.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is facing fresh accusations after Republicans flagged her reported push to direct more than $1 million in federal taxpayer funds to a small Somali-led nonprofit whose listed project address matches a Minneapolis restaurant.

The nonprofit, Generation Hope MN, describes itself as providing addiction recovery services, peer support, job training, and mental health support for the East African community. The address tied to Omar’s earmark request – 326 Cedar Ave S / 411 Cedar Ave S – matches Sagal Restaurant and Coffee, a Somali eatery. Conservative investigator Angela Rose documented the site in a video, using Google Street View archives and on-site footage to show minimal or no clinic signage over years, with the building primarily operating as a restaurant. The owner has confirmed Generation Hope uses upstairs space in the multi-tenant property, but critics highlighted the optics amid Minnesota’s fraud history.

Minnesota Rep Ilhan Omar attempted to send $1.46 million dollars in funding to an address for a nonprofit called “Generation Hope”

The address to receive the money isn’t a treatment facility, it’s a restaurant

After this was discovered House Republicans stripped the earmarked… pic.twitter.com/iwwSZMi75H

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) April 24, 2026

Omar, joined by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, had requested approximately $1.031 million (with some reports citing up to $1.46 million in initial figures) through the Department of Justice’s Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program for the group’s “Justice Empowerment Initiative.” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and other Republicans flagged multiple concerns: the restaurant address, three directors listing the same residential home address in filings, and the organization’s limited demonstrated capacity for large-scale treatment services. House Republicans stripped the earmark from a FY2026 spending package in January 2026. GOP senators later requested a formal DOJ fraud investigation into Generation Hope MN.

This development coincides with a separate but related state-level investigation. On April 22, 2026, Minnesota State Rep. Kristin Robbins (R), chair of the House Fraud Prevention & State Oversight Committee, publicly released a formal data request letter to Omar after the congresswoman reportedly declined multiple invitations to testify about her MEALS Act (H.R. 6187, 116th Congress). That 2020 legislation, incorporated into the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, expanded child nutrition programs and loosened some eligibility requirements during the pandemic—changes critics say contributed to conditions enabling the massive Feeding Our Future scandal, which allegedly defrauded taxpayers of more than $250 million. Court records and trials have implicated numerous individuals in Omar’s district, many from the Somali-American community, with some having ties to her orbit (including a former staffer who pled guilty and associates at sites like Safari Restaurant, where Omar appeared in a 2020 promotional video). Omar has distanced herself from the defend ants and called the fraud “reprehensible,” while urging the public not to broadly blame the Somali community.

Robbins’ letter demands detailed records of Omar’s communications with key players, her office staff, and the Minnesota Department of Education by May 5. Omar has not publicly responded to the latest demand.

Additional layer of recent scrutiny: Omar’s amended financial disclosures and dissolved winery Compounding questions about oversight of public funds, Omar is also facing intense Republican-led scrutiny over her personal finances. In her 2024 disclosure (filed in 2025), she and husband Tim Mynett reported combined assets valued between $6 million and $30 million – a dramatic increase from prior years – largely tied to two companies Mynett co-owns: eStCru LLC (a California winery) and Rose Lake Capital (a venture capital firm). After inquiries from the Office of Congressional Conduct and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who requested records citing “serious public concerns,” Omar amended the filing in mid-April 2026. The new version lists joint assets at just $18,004 to $95,000, with the companies now valued at “none.” Her office blamed an “accounting error” in which liabilities were not properly subtracted and stated she is “not a millionaire.”

Notably, the eStCru winery LLC was officially terminated (dissolved) on April 4, 2026 – days before the amendment became public. Independent investigator Angela Rose (who also produced the Generation Hope video) previously visited the listed address and described the operation as a “phantom” or shell business: no active wine production, no tastings, no product available for purchase, and a facility sign confirming it had “ceased operation.” ZeroHedge and other outlets have reported on suspicions of inflated valuations and potential shell-company activity.

No criminal charges have been filed against Omar personally in any of these matters. Her office has defended the MEALS Act as emergency pandemic aid, distanced her from Feeding Our Future defendants, and called the disclosure revisions voluntary and accurate. Generation Hope’s supporters maintain it is a legitimate community organization operating within available space. Rose Lake Capital and eStCru have faced prior investor disputes, but Mynett has denied wrongdoing.

Still, the overlapping controversies – the earmark red flags, the state records demand, deep ties to individuals later implicated in fraud schemes, and the sudden financial disclosure swing followed by a business dissolution – have fueled outrage among critics who argue they reflect insufficient transparency around public funds and personal finances in Omar’s district. With the May 5 deadline approaching, lawmakers, watchdogs, and taxpayers are watching closely for any response.

We can’t wait for absolutely nothing to happen to her. 

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Federal regulators on Thursday approved the first gene therapy to restore hearing, just two months after the therapy’s maker formally requested a license.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the Regeneron therapy, Otarmeni, for children and adults with severe or profound hearing loss associated with OTOF gene variants.

The approval came 61 days after Regeneron filed for a biologics license, under a new effort known as the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher Program that emphasizes quickly reviewing applications for products that address unmet needs.

“Today’s approval is a significant milestone in the treatment of genetic hearing loss,” Dr. Marty Makary, the FDA’s commissioner, said in a statement.

“Through the national priority voucher pilot program, the agency is accelerating therapies for rare diseases with unmet medical needs while proving we can successfully review even the most complex submissions—such as novel dual vector gene therapies and combination products requiring coordination across multiple offices and centers—in significantly shortened timeframes.”

Genetic mutations account for about half of cases of inherited hearing loss. Variants in the OTOF gene account for 2 to 8 percent of those cases.

To treat deafness, Otarmeni is administered to each ear using a syringe and catheter provided in the accompanying kit.

Regulators approved Regeneron’s therapy after reviewing data from a clinical trial involving 24 patients aged 10 months to 16 years. Of the 20 patients included in the efficacy analysis, 80 percent experienced improvement in hearing after receiving Otarmeni.

Common side effects of the drug included ear infection, nausea, and dizziness.

Dr. A. Eliot Shearer, an otolaryngologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an investigator in the trial, said in a statement released by Regeneron that the one-time therapy provides “remarkable hearing improvements.”

“I’ve witnessed firsthand my trial participant responding to their mother’s voice, dancing to music and interacting with the world, and these moments are now possible for more children born with this specific form of hearing loss,” he said.

Regeneron said it will provide the therapy free of charge to patients in the United States as part of a deal struck with President Donald Trump and announced on Thursday.

Dr. George D. Yancopoulos, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron, said in a statement that Otarmeni was an “unprecedented breakthrough” in gene therapy.

“Otarmeni is a huge scientific leap and is representative of Regeneron’s approaches to continually push the boundaries of science to benefit humanity,” he said.

“This unprecedented breakthrough in gene therapy has already proven to be life-changing for many of the children in our clinical trial and their families. We are honored to be in the position to be the first company to ever offer such a gene therapy advance for free to those in the U.S. and serves to highlight our belief that the biopharmaceutical industry can be a genuine force for good in the world.”

The U.S. military’s 55-day war with Iran has alarmingly drawn down several categories of high-end air-delivered munitions, forcing the Department of War to draw from critical stockpiles in Asia and Europe. The drawdown of these weapons only suggests a possible readiness problem and helps explain why President Trump’s war economy is set to accelerate, with expected increases in munitions production. 

The New York Times has released a report that says since the US-Iran conflict began in late February, the US military has burned through roughly 1,100 JASSM-ER long-range stealth cruise missiles, more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, over 1,200 Patriot interceptors, and more than 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS missiles.

“The Iran war has significantly drained much of the U.S. military’s global supply of munitions, and forced the Pentagon to rush bombs, missiles and other hardware to the Middle East from commands in Asia and Europe,” the outlet said, citing internal Defense Department estimates and congressional officials.

The report continued, “The drawdowns have left these regional commands less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, and it has forced the United States to find ways to scale up production to address the depletions, Trump administration and congressional officials say.” 

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, stated earlier this week, “At current production rates, reconstituting what we have expended could take years.” 

One of the first major signals that the DoW was set to call on private industry to begin ramping up Trump’s war economy was a report earlier this month that said the Trump administration was exploring whether U.S. manufacturers, including GM, Ford, GE Aerospace, and Oshkosh, could convert civilian industrial capacity into weapons production as multiple conflict areas across Eurasia drag on and deplete critical weapons stockpiles.

The historical precedent is that America converted its automotive base during World War II to produce record numbers of main battle tanks, bombers, and fighter planes to win the war.

“The United States has many munitions with adequate inventories, but some critical ground-attack and missile-defense munitions were short before the war and are even shorter now,” Mark F. Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the outlet. He recently published a study estimating US weapons stockpiles.

Evidence of converting underused civilian industrial capacity has recently emerged, with the German automaker Volkswagen set to transform its Lower Saxony factory from producing T-Roc Cabriolets to manufacturing parts for the Iron Dome missile interceptor system.

The important signal we are gathering here is that the US may have to convert underutilized civilian industrial capacity, including truck and auto production lines, to weapons output.

To be frank, this is no longer peacetime procurement. It is wartime industrial mobilization, with Washington now being forced to confront the gap between the weapons it burns in the Middle East and the weapons its defense base can actually replace.

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demanded that states across the nation take action to crack down on fraud in Medicaid, one of the federal government’s health insurance programs.

In letters to state Medicaid directors, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said they should develop and file with his agency a comprehensive strategy to ensure that Medicaid providers are legitimate.

“Corrupt individuals and organizations masquerading as health care providers are defrauding Medicaid, and American taxpayers, of billions of dollars each year, placing valuable resources out of reach for those the program was intended to serve: low-income senior citizens, children, and disabled individuals,” Oz wrote.

Oz had recently previewed the effort, saying it would involve proving whether the providers “actually exist.”

“I love Medicaid; I cannot say that more fervently,” Oz said at a summit held by Politico. “If you love something, you protect it. You don’t let it get defrauded. You don’t let it get taken advantage of.”

If states do not take action, then audits may be an option, he said.

CMS has been investigating Medicaid and Medicare, and officials have said they have identified billions in fraudulent or potentially fraudulent spending, leading to actions such as deferring $259 million in payments to Minnesota. They have had to clarify some claims, including acknowledging an error in calculations regarding New York.

The new letters said CMS is acting under its responsibilities outlined in federal law, including the Social Security Act, and that CMS understands that states face challenges administering the complex Medicaid program. Oz said in the letters that CMS analyses are suggesting “a persistent and growing Medicaid threat posed by sophisticated actors knowingly exploiting these complex systems for financial gains.”

“A foundational element of Medicaid program integrity is ensuring that only legitimate, qualified providers are enrolled and participating in the program,” Oz said. “Confirming that each state maintains accurate and regularly updated provider enrollment information is a critical foundation of CMS’ efforts to safeguard Medicaid program integrity, as it supports effective screening, monitoring, and oversight of participating providers.”

States were instructed to notify CMS of revalidation plans within 10 days and to follow up within 30 days with the strategy to make sure that providers are valid. It did not include any audit threats for noncompliance.

CMS declined to comment on the letters.

Oz added in a video statement that criminals are costing billions in taxpayer funds each year, and taking resources away from the needy.

“Here’s the bottom line: It’s time to make sure that providers of high-risk services are valid and meet all the requirements to deliver care to Medicaid beneficiaries,” Oz said in the video.

States have the ability to define which providers are high-risk, which might include providers without national identifiers, according to Oz.

“These are the gaps that criminals, including foreign nationals, exploit,” he said. “Revalidation works. It forces accountability, it removes bad actors, and it sends a clear message that the Medicaid system is not an unguarded piggy bank.”

Hard red winter wheat climbed to a two-year high by the end of the week, as our coverage of the drought shock now hitting America’s Breadbasket raises serious alarm bells on commodity desks.

The concern is not just reduced crop yields and quality. It is colliding with fertilizer shortages and elevated diesel prices, creating a broader inflationary transmission channel that could work its way through the food supply and translate into higher supermarket prices down the road.

Hard red winter wheat rose another 1% on Friday, with gains for the week approaching 6%. Active futures contracts in Chicago are now at their highest level since June 2024. Contracts are up 28% on the year.

On Thursday, UBS analysts, led by Jonathan Pingle, told clients that the drought conditions impacting the U.S. agricultural belt rank among the worst in more than 130 years:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Palmer Drought Severity Index hit its highest level for March since records started in 1895, and March was the third-driest month recorded, regardless of time of year, behind only the famed 1930s Dust Bowl: July and August 1934. Water levels on the Mississippi look fine, as the seasonal lows are typically in the fall, but river levels in Memphis sit 24 feet below this time last year.

Pingle warned clients, “All eyes have been focused on the Middle East, but another supply shock may be unfolding in U.S. agricultural production.”

Summary

• Avalanche of Friday morning headlines speculating on Iran FM travel to Pakistan, and potential US delegating arriving too, but much appears speculation.

• Third US aircraft carrier, the George HW Bush, has finally arrived in Mideast regional waters after taking the long way around Africa.

• Hegseth in presser renews call, highlighting main issue, for Iran: “All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways…“; Warns Iranians over continued mine-laying.

• Iran FM unveils diplomatic tour which could include Islamabad in order to prepare for 2nd round dialogue with Washington, as each side’s finger remains on the trigger.

*  *  *

More Speculation on Ghalibaf Resigning Negotiations Team

Tehran on Thursday rejected widespread reports that Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf as resigned from leadership of Iran’s negotiating team. But these reports have persisted into Friday, with Saudi-funded, London-based Iran International ‘newly’ reporting:

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, head of Iran’s negotiating team with the United States, has stepped down amid internal disagreements, Iran International has learned.

According to information obtained by Iran International, Ghalibaf was reprimanded for attempting to include the nuclear issue in talks with Washington and was forced to resign.

Hardline figure Saeed Jalili could replace him, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is also seeking to take over the negotiations.

And yet the fact remains that no talks are as yet scheduled, with regional media now saying Iran FM Araghchi is about to tour different countries, including Oman and even will make a stop in Russia – and that this may include Islamabad. If so, reports say it could just be part of a preparatory phase to engage Washington directly again.

‘Breakthrough’ on 2nd Round Pakistan Talks(?)

After signaling all day yesterday that it has not decided to engage the United States in a second round of peace talks, Friday morning has seen a flurry of headlines out of Saudi and regional media speculating that today is different. “Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi may arrive tonight accompanied by a small delegation,” Pakistani government source has told Al Arabiya’s correspondent.

Also Bloomberg too is reporting that Iran’s FM Araghchi is expected to arrive in Islamabad tonight. Additionally sources out of Pakistan say the country may announce today the resumption of negotiations between Iran and America. Of course, we’ve seen many such “second round of US-Iran talks expected” headlines before which didn’t materialize, and at the moment there’s no signs of movement out of the US side.

However, some of these same sources and headlines are cautioning that it is unclear if there will be Washington engagement. But if a second round of talks actually materializes, it will lend credence to the recent White House insistence that Tehran’s private stance is much more compromising and conciliatory than its public stance. Latest:

IRAN’S FOREIGN MINISTER ABBAS ARAGHCHI IS EXPECTED TO REACH ISLAMABAD AT AROUND 10 PM LOCAL TIME, ACCORDING TO AN IRANIAN SOURCE.

And Al Jazeera freshly reports on a flurry of phone calls, which suggests some kind of potential “breakthrough” in getting back to the negotiating table:

Government sources have confirmed there is a “high likelihood of a breakthrough” in US-Iran talks in Islamabad, as a delegation led by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to arrive in the Pakistani capital tonight. Earlier today, Iran’s foreign minister held a telephone conversation with Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, confirmed by both sides.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides exchanged views on regional developments, the ceasefire, and ongoing diplomatic efforts in the context of US-Iran engagement. Dar underscored the importance of sustained dialogue, while Araghchi appreciated Pakistan’s “consistent and constructive facilitation role”, the ministry said.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA also reported that Araghchi held a separate telephone conversation with Pakistan’s Army chief Asim Munir.

Third US Carrier Finally Arrives in Region

US Central Command (CENTCOM) is flashing the big stick, as there are now three US aircraft carrier groups total in the region. Some pundits have speculated that the whole Islamabad second round talks back-and-forth has just been a delay tactic for each side to regroup, replenish missiles, and position forces in the region.

After all, Israel’s defense ministry on Thursday stated bluntly it is preparing for a new round of warfare with Iran, and Iranian forces too say they are ready for anything that comes, and have continued to preview that America’s Gulf allies would also face renewed attack for hosting US forces.

For the first time in decades, three aircraft carriers are operating in the Middle East at the same time. Accompanied by their carrier air wings, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) include over 200 aircraft and 15,000… pic.twitter.com/fbMdz1IYn8

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 24, 2026

More Geopolitical Overnight & Latest

According to more of some of the latest from Al Jazeera:

• US President Donald Trump says he hopes to host Israeli and Lebanese leaders “in the near future”, after announcing a three-week extension to the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon, which was due to expire on Sunday.
• President Trump said he is under no pressure to end his war with Iran, though time is limited for Tehran. “I have all the time in the World, but Iran doesn’t – The clock is ticking!” Trump wrote on social media.
• A third US aircraft carrier has arrived in the Middle East. The USS George HW Bush joined the USS Gerald R Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln in a massive buildup of naval firepower.
• Trump gives orders to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boats placing sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, as the US naval siege of Iran’s ports continues, and officials in Tehran say talks will not resume until the blockade is lifted.

And via Newsquawk: 

• Iran Foreign Minister to Visit Islamabad Friday, Pakistan Says; Oil Dips After Pakistan Says US-Iran Peace Talks Are Expected: BBG
• US President Trump posted that the meeting between Israel and Lebanon went well, the US is to work with Lebanon to protect itself from Hezbollah and that the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire is to be extended by three weeks: RTRS
• Israeli media: A limited operation against Iran may be carried out to avoid a prolonged war: Al Arabiya 
• An Iranian Ship Tried to Slip Past the Blockade. A U.S. Destroyer Chased It Down: WSJ
• Tanker Helga arrives at Iraq’s Basra offshore terminal to load 2mln BPD of crude, sources say; Helga is the second tanker to reach Basra terminals since the Hormuz closure.
• U.S. Soldier Charged With Using Classified Information to Bet on Maduro’s Ouster: WSJ
• Pentagon email floats suspending Spain from NATO, other steps over Iran rift: RTRS
• China to Curb US Investment in Tech Companies After Meta Deal: BBG
• Intel Shares Set to Eclipse Dot-Com Peak on Sales Forecast
• Conservative super PAC threatens to unseat Republicans over immigration bill: RTRS
• Hedge Fund at Center of Avis Squeeze Added to Stake Before Rout: BBG
• Citadel Sends Warning Shot to NYC After Mamdani Jabs Griffin: WSJ
• Meta Signs Multibillion-Dollar Deal With Amazon to Use Its CPU Chips for AI: WSJ
• Lilly’s New Obesity Pill Off to Slow Start in Race With Novo: BBG
• Oracle’s Deluge of AI Debt Pushes Wall Street to the Limit: WSJ
• Orban’s Son-in-Law Waits Out Hungarian Wealth Probe in New York: BBG
• Chinese Securities Regulator said that China is to allow qualified foreign investors to trade treasury futures from April 24, 2026, for hedging purposes only.
• US official said Russia is to be included in G20 summit invitations

* * *

China has newly placed a slew of EU defense and aerospace firms on a control list, or effectively a new blacklist, reportedly with an eye on Taiwan tensions. It has barred its exporters from supplying dual-use items to seven EU firms, including FN Herstal and Omnipol a.s., according to a statement from the Chinese commerce ministry.

The ministry said the measure targets European defense companies that previously sold arms to Taiwan or maintained links with it, and stated the restrictions will not affect normal economic and trade exchanges with the European Union.

Beijing said it will continue working with other countries to safeguard peace and maintain a stable global supply chain, in its usual boilerplate rhetoric directed at the West regarding Taiwan, which China sees as its own.

Other firms named include Hensoldt AG, Excalibur Army, SpaceKnow Inc., VZLU Aerospace, and FN Browning. The companies are mostly based in Czech Republic, Belgium, and Germany.

“The MOFCOM spokesperson emphasized that the legally mandated export control measures target only a small number of EU entities involved in military affairs, entities that have participated in arms sales to Taiwan island or colluded with Taiwan authorities, and the measures only target dual-use items,” state-run Global Times described further, in reference to China’s Ministry of Commerce. 

“They will not affect normal trade and economic exchanges between China and the EU, and law-abiding EU entities have absolutely nothing to worry about,” it added, citing the Commerce spokesperson.

All the while, Beijing has kept up its fiery denunciations, making clear there’s “no space” for ambiguity on what China sees as its territory (Taiwan).

Earlier this month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping had welcomed the leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party for a rare direct meeting in the Chinese capital.

The symbolism of the timing couldn’t be missed, as Xi invited Nationalist Party Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun to China ahead of the planned big mid-May summit with President Trump in which the Chinese leader could continue a push to dilute Washington’s support for Taiwan.

However, the Trump-Xi meeting is still anything but assured as moving forward, given the ongoing Iran war and very uneasy ceasefire with little evidence of an offramp in sight. 

Also, Washington has suddenly this week charged Beijing with stealing US artificial ​intelligence labs’ intellectual property on an “industrial scale”.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Taiwan:

There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.

No one can stop the eventual reunification of China.

Reunification is presented as a matter of inevitability, not possibility.

Separatist attempts… pic.twitter.com/e0Xdz4bRyh

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 22, 2026

The formal memo could upend the May summit before it even gets off the ground: “The US government has information indicating that foreign entities, principally based in China, are engaged in deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns to distil ​US frontier AI systems,” Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science ​and Technology Policy, wrote in a memo shared on social media on ⁠Thursday, per Reuters and FT.

Shares of Eli Lilly & Co. fell in New York premarket trading after new industry prescription data for the drugmaker’s blockbuster obesity shot Zepbound and recently approved oral weight-loss pill Foundayo disappointed Wall Street analysts.

Foundayo generated 3,707 prescriptions in its second week, according to new prescription-tracking data from IQVIA cited by RBC Capital Markets analysts. That compares with 18,410 prescriptions for Novo’s oral version of Wegovy during its second week after launch, suggesting Lilly’s weight-loss drugs are falling behind in the GLP-1 race.

“While we believe comparisons early into launch should be considered immaterial, Foundayo’s uptake this week is likely to be received negatively,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh wrote in a note to clients earlier.

In a separate note citing the IQVIA data, Cantor analyst Carter Gould said, “We see slower TRx (total prescriptions) growth continuing in the injectable segment across diabetes and obesity, though injectable Wegovy notably grew by 7% week over week.“

Gould noted, “While we are cautious to make definitive claims off of one week of launch data from IQVIA, we acknowledge that investors will be scrutinizing the numbers, and believe that Foundayo scripts totaling just 20% of what oral Wegovy achieved during their first full week could cause the stock to be weak today.”

Shares of Eli Lilly fell as much as 4% in premarket trading. Through Thursday’s close, the stock was down 14.6% for the year.

Danske Bank analysts wrote earlier that Novo might hold the lead in obesity pills because Wegovy is a much better product than competitors.