The West has been calling Russia’s ever-tightening internet regulations on its citizenry a “digital Iron Curtain”. Already over a period of months and years of the Ukraine war, various popular US-based social media apps have been throttled and even banned, but this week things have escalated with YouTube and WhatsApp being blocked in Russia:

Russia’s internet regulator Roskomnadzor has removed“youtube.com” from its DNS (Domain Name System) servers. If a user tries to access the site directly without a VPN (Virtual Private Network), their router can no longer assign the address to its IP address.

This means that You Tube is no longer accessible in Russia. The WhatsApp domain has also disappeared from Roskomnadzor’s servers. The Russian government has also launched a campaign against the messenger app Telegram, leading analysts to say Roskomnadzor is cracking down on platforms beyond its control.

But perhaps even more impactful – in terms of Russians quickly getting news, information, and public statements (even from their own government channels) – is the new move to throttle and block Telegram.

An interesting theory, especially in the wake of the shocking Wagner mutiny of 2023…

I still say the Russian MoD is killing Telegram use in Russia because Putin is afraid Telegram will be used as a means to organize a Russian Army Coup attempt. https://t.co/2NvJmKfGOR

— Trent Telenko (@TrentTelenko) February 13, 2026

Russia’s state media watchdog Roskomnadzor has tightened the screws on Telegram, accusing the messaging giant of failing to curb fraud and safeguard user data, which ironically is similar to what the French government accused the company of when it famously detained billionaire Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov.

The platform has an estimated over 93 million Russian users, which is more than 60% of the total population, but the Kremlin hopes to replicate with its state-backed messenger, Max. The all-in-one ‘super-app’ has been described in the following:

Max, a state-backed messenger developed by VK, is being positioned as a patriotic alternative to WhatsApp and Telegram — platforms that in recent weeks have suffered complete or partial disruptions to voice and video calls across the country.

Max is further being dubbed a “state app”:

Beyond the glitzy marketing, Max is built to serve a political purpose. Officials want it integrated with the state services portal Gosuslugi via the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA). That would allow citizens to log into government platforms, pay utility bills or sign documents directly through the app, in effect making Max a digital gateway to basic civil services.

But at a government commission meeting in early August, the Federal Security Service (FSB) initially blocked Max’s immediate connection to ESIA, citing the risk of personal data leaks. According to IT industry sources cited by Russian media, the FSB submitted a multi-page list of requirements ranging from certified encryption systems to source code audits. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, who oversees the project, voiced similar concerns.

BBC has pointed out: “Moscow has made extensive efforts to push Russians to its state-developed Max app, which critics say lacks end-to-end encryption.”

As for Telegram, it’s loss will be huge for Russians, given that for starters every major Russian media outlet operates a Telegram channel, some even publishing there exclusively.

Major state and legacy outlets including RIA Novosti, TASS, RBC, Interfax, and Kommersant maintain large, highly active channels. In border regions like Belgorod, battered by power outages and municipal disruptions from Ukrainian strikes, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov uses Telegram to deliver updates directly to residents.

The same goes for many oblasts across Russia’s south which have remained a frontline of sorts when it comes to cross-border attacks out of Ukraine.

The other problem in getting rid of Telegram is that Russia’s Defense Ministry pushes near-daily battlefield briefings, combat footage, and soldier interviews to its several hundreds of thousands of followers. So clearly any kind of major ‘transition’ – as is now apparently being forced on the population, won’t come easy.

The Kremlin has long warned against Western intelligence infiltration and data exploitation especially via US-based platforms. It has also long battled what it deems ‘propaganda’ via content on these apps. But to some degree they are also mediums where Russian and Ukrainian officials can directly address the other side, serving the cause of public diplomacy, or at least clarifying each’s position.

Authored by Glenn Greenwald via Substack,

That the U.S. Surveillance State is rapidly growing to the point of ubiquity has been demonstrated over the past week by seemingly benign events. While the picture that emerges is grim, to put it mildly, at least Americans are again confronted with crystal clarity over how severe this has become.

The latest round of valid panic over privacy began during the Super Bowl held on Sunday. During the game, Amazon ran a commercial for its Ring camera security system. The ad manipulatively exploited people’s love of dogs to induce them to ignore the consequences of what Amazon was touting. It seems that trick did not work.

The ad highlighted what the company calls its “Search Party” feature, whereby one can upload a picture, for example, of a lost dog. Doing so will activate multiple other Amazon Ring cameras in the neighborhood, which will, in turn, use AI programs to scan all dogs, it seems, and identify the one that is lost. The 30-second commercial was full of heart-tugging scenes of young children and elderly people being reunited with their lost dogs.

But the graphic Amazon used seems to have unwittingly depicted how invasive this technology can be. That this capability now exists in a product that has long been pitched as nothing more than a simple tool for homeowners to monitor their own homes created, it seems, an unavoidable contract between public understanding of Ring and what Amazon was now boasting it could do.

Many people were not just surprised but quite shocked and alarmed to learn that what they thought was merely their own personal security system now has the ability to link with countless other Ring cameras to form a neighborhood-wide (or city-wide, or state-wide) surveillance dragnet. That Amazon emphasized that this feature is available (for now) only to those who “opt-in” did not assuage concerns.

Numerous media outlets sounded the alarm. The online privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) condemned Ring’s program as previewing “a world where biometric identification could be unleashed from consumer devices to identify, track, and locate anything — human, pet, and otherwise.”

Many private citizens who previously used Ring also reacted negatively. “Viral videos online show people removing or destroying their cameras over privacy concerns,” reported USA Today. The backlash became so severe that, just days later, Amazon — seeking to assuage public anger — announced the termination of a partnership between Ring and Flock Safety, a police surveillance tech company (while Flock is unrelated to Search Party, public backlash made it impossible, at least for now, for Amazon to send Ring’s user data to a police surveillance firm).

The Amazon ad seems to have triggered a long-overdue spotlight on how the combination of ubiquitous cameras, AI, and rapidly advancing facial recognition software will render the term “privacy” little more than a quaint concept from the past. As EFF put it, Ring’s program “could already run afoul of biometric privacy laws in some states, which require explicit, informed consent from individuals before a company can just run face recognition on someone.”

Those concerns escalated just a few days later in the context of the Tucson disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, mother of long-time TODAY Show host Savannah Guthrie. At the home where she lives, Nancy Guthrie used Google’s Nest camera for security, a product similar to Amazon’s Ring.

Guthrie, however, did not pay Google for a subscription for those cameras, instead solely using the cameras for real-time monitoring. As CBS News explained, “with a free Google Nest plan, the video should have been deleted within 3 to 6 hours — long after Guthrie was reported missing.” Even professional privacy advocates have understood that customers who use Nest without a subscription will not have their cameras connected to Google’s data servers, meaning that no recordings will be stored or available for any period beyond a few hours.

For that reason, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos announced early on “that there was no video available in part because Guthrie didn’t have an active subscription to the company.” Many people, for obvious reasons, prefer to avoid permanently storing comprehensive daily video reports with Google of when they leave and return to their own home, or who visits them at their home, when, and for how long.

Despite all this, FBI investigators on the case were somehow magically able to “recover” this video from Guthrie’s camera many days later. FBI Director Kash Patel was essentially forced to admit this when he released still images of what appears to be the masked perpetrator who broke into Guthrie’s home. (The Google user agreement, which few users read, does protect the company by stating that images may be stored even in the absence of a subscription.)

While the “discovery” of footage from this home camera by Google engineers is obviously of great value to the Guthrie family and law enforcement agents searching for Guthrie, it raises obvious yet serious questions about why Google, contrary to common understanding, was storing the video footage of unsubscribed users. A former NSA data researcher and CEO of a cybersecurity firm, Patrick Johnson, told CBS: “There’s kind of this old saying that data is never deleted, it’s just renamed.”

It is rather remarkable that Americans are being led, more or less willingly, into a state-corporate, Panopticon-like domestic surveillance state with relatively little resistance, though the widespread reaction to Amazon’s Ring ad is encouraging. Much of that muted reaction may be due to a lack of realization about the severity of the evolving privacy threat. Beyond that, privacy and other core rights can seem abstract and less of a priority than more material concerns, at least until they are gone.

It is always the case that there are benefits available from relinquishing core civil liberties: allowing infringements on free speech may reduce false claims and hateful ideas; allowing searches and seizures without warrants will likely help the police catch more criminals, and do so more quickly; giving up privacy may, in fact, enhance security.

But the core premise of the West generally, and the U.S. in particular, is that those trade-offs are never worthwhile. Americans still all learn and are taught to admire the iconic (if not apocryphal) 1775 words of Patrick Henry, which came to define the core ethos of the Revolutionary War and American Founding: “Give me liberty or give me death.” It is hard to express in more definitive terms on which side of that liberty-versus-security trade-off the U.S. was intended to fall.

Read the rest here…

Last month, President Donald Trump sent Homan to Minnesota to personally oversee immigration enforcement operations and end the chaos, after ICE and CBP officers shot two protesters and the situation began to spiral out of control. Soon after, Homan successfully convinced Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to allow local law enforcement to coordinate with federal agents, prompting an initial drawdown of 700 agents.

“Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration, and as a result of the need for less law enforcement officers to do this work in a safer environment, I have announced effective immediately, we will draw down seven hundred people effective today. Seven hundred law enforcement personnel,” Homan said at the time.

TOM HOMAN: “Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration and as a result of the need for less law enforcement officers to do this work in a safer environment, I have announced effective immediately, we’ll draw down 700 people effective today.” pic.twitter.com/uKPt9LPT4p

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) February 4, 2026

On Thursday, Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, declaring it a successful mission accomplished. The operation, which began in early December with approximately 3,000 immigration enforcement officers deployed to the sanctuary state, achieved thousands of arrests.

Border Czar Tom Homan said this morning in Minneapolis that the federal immigration enforcement surge operation for Minnesota is coming to an end.

He also said that fraud investigations will continue.

“With that, and success that has been made arresting public safety threats… pic.twitter.com/H8phRav8Ih

— Paul Villarreal (AKA Vince Manfeld) (@AureliusStoic1) February 12, 2026

Despite the operation’s obvious success, Gov. Tim Walz spun the news as a victory for the agitators and thanked Minnesotans for driving federal agents out. 

“Minnesota, on behalf of not just this state but the country, thank you. That same energy now needs to be directed towards recovery, to finding ways that people have done during these challenging months to go forward,” he said.

Walz then promptly pivoted to pushing the narrative that Minnesota needs to recover from immigration enforcement efforts that took place.

“So, I want to say, this damage is still being assessed, but we do know … we’re going to be proposing a reinstitution of our small business emergency fund. It’s what we use very successfully during COVID in the recovery, the economic recovery that we saw in Minnesota that outpaced most of the rest of the country. We’re going to be proposing a first-time $10 million one-time targeted loans, forgivable loans that we know, and I want to be very clear, is a very small piece of this.”

And Walz wants the federal government to pay for it.

“But what I am going to challenge, as we get ready to start here in a few days the legislative session, this legislative session needs to be about recovery of the damage that’s been done to us,” Walz continued. “I am also asking our team—and I’m going to make appeals to our federal delegation—the federal government needs to pay for what they broke here.”

According to a report, the city of Minneapolis spent $1 million in rental assistance for those impacted by the raids, and burned through $4.3 million in police overtime during the anti-ICE riots and protests, and that figure is still climbing. The department had only 600 officers trying to manage the chaos created by anti-ICE rioters destroying property.

“They are going to be accountability [sic] on the things that happen, but one of the things is the incredible and immense costs that were born by the people of this state,” Walz continued. “The federal government needs to be responsible. You don’t get to break things and then just leave without doing something about it.”

While Walz talks tough about demanding that the federal government pay for the mess he and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey created, he appeared to concede that the effort to get the federal government to fund this “recovery” plan would fail.

“So the changes that need to be made, the investments that need to come back, they need to show—they being the federal government and they being this administration—they need to do more. But I’m not going to hold my breath that the federal government is going to do the right thing.”

Authored by Drago Bosni

Mere days after the US-backed government in Taipei launched the so-called Joint Firepower Coordination Center (JFCC), defined as “an enhanced firepower coordination effort in close cooperation with the United States”, multirole sources have confirmed that the Chinese breakaway island province of Taiwan is deploying the overhyped and exorbitantly overpriced M142 HIMARS MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) to the islands of Penghu and Dongyin.

The US-made system is also equipped with ATACMS missiles, extending its reach to 300 km. Taipei insists that this will “strengthen the effectiveness of the kill chain”, while its Ministry of Defense (MoD) stressed that the increase in HIMARS orders to 111 units was undertaken specifically to forward-deploy them to the islands closest to China’s mainland.

Dongyin, the northernmost island of the Matsu archipelago in the East China Sea, (see Map) is located around 10 km from mainland China. Deploying missiles such as the ATACMS there puts virtually the entire Fujian province within range, including key cities like Fuzhou, Ningde and Quanzhou.

However, the situation is even worse, given that the US controls those missiles through the JFCC. Its establishment and the permanent deployment of American personnel at command and control facilities in Taipei to oversee planning and potential use of ATACMS missiles in case of yet another US/NATO-orchestrated escalation are deeply troubling and concerning for Beijing.

However, Taipei is still trying to present it as “harmless assistance in coordination and supervision”. They’re just not saying for what.

Obviously, China is not buying it and for good reason. Namely, the JFCC allows Washington DC to select targets and finalize attack plans.Formally, this is done jointly with local forces, but we all know how the Pentagon uses vassals and satellite states, especially when it comes to striking strategic assets such as critical industrial and scientific infrastructure, both of which are found in abundance across mainland China.

Taiwanese Defense Minister Koo Li-hsiung says these concerns are “incorrect and misleading”, insisting that US troops on the island are “not acting as supervisors or monitors”. Koo claims that “the presence of US staff reflects longstanding, institutionalized cooperation mechanisms focused on strengthening Taiwan’s defensive and combat capabilities rather than any form of foreign oversight”.

However, empirical evidence makes it very difficult to take such claims seriously. Namely, the Pentagon effectively launched hundreds of strikes on Russia in the last four years, using the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict as a way to test and probe the Russian military, as well as the Kremlin’s strategic reactions and posturing. Many of these attacks were launched at purely civilian targets, the most notorious of which was on June 23, 2024. On that day, at least four US-made ATACMS missiles were shot down by Russian air and missile defenses above Sevastopol, Crimea. The banned cluster submunitions (primarily used against infantry) of at least one missile exploded above the crowded beaches at Uchkuyevka and Lyubimovka on the northern outskirts of Sevastopol.

The attack, nearly coinciding with the anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Russia, killed four civilians and injured over 150 others. At the time of this act of terrorism, US/NATO ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets were present above the Black Sea, prompting Moscow’s direct response.

The US, aided by its numerous vassals and satellite states, could easily use a similar scenario in a potential confrontation with China, particularly if the warmongers and war criminals in Washington DC manage to escalate yet another conflict, just this time over Taiwan. Beijing is certainly aware that the JFCC can facilitate such escalation and understands the political West’s terrorist nature and tendency to target civilians all across the globe in an attempt to provoke a violent response.

This is then unmistakably framed as Russian, Chinese, Serbian, Iranian or anyone else’s supposed “aggression”, while the populace is galvanized for “defensive” wars that are somehow always tens of thousands of kilometers away from America’s shores. Worse yet, the fact that the Taipei regime is using virtually identical weapons as the Neo-Nazi junta is also very telling, particularly platforms such as HIMARS.

It should be noted that the ATACMS missiles were provided to the Taiwanese military years ago and even tested during 2025 live-fire drills, all coordinated (or should we say commanded) by the Pentagon. This includes the first publicly reported use of the HIMARS, pointing to Taipei’s intent to integrate these systems into its broader military architecture, all under American supervision.

Obviously, the ATACMS is by no means a match to China’s hypersonic weapons, as the US is decades behind in such technologies. In addition, the Chinese military uses some of the most advanced ABM (anti-ballistic missile) defenses on the planet, most notably the HQ-19 and HQ-29. However, Beijing is still concerned that the HIMARS and its munitions (particularly the ATACMS) could be used against Chinese civilians in the neighboring Fujian province. Naturally, this is most definitely not in the interest of Taiwan or its people, as it could trigger China’s direct response, one that would obliterate virtually any target on the island.

However, the US might reckon this is an ideal opportunity to not only undermine Chinese efforts to peacefully resolve the Taiwan crisis, but also to cement hatred and enmity between Beijing and Taipei.

Sadly, this is precisely what happened in NATO-occupied Ukraine, where tens of millions of ethnic Russians were not only brainwashed into becoming “Ukrainians”, but also galvanized into pathological hatred toward other ethnic Russians. Moscow still tried to localize the resulting conflict and prevent it from spreading beyond the Donbass.

However, it was precisely Washington DC’s ability to direct violence virtually everywhere in NATO-occupied Ukraine that eventually forced the Kremlin to respond. Although nearly four years have passed and millions have died thanks to the political West’s obsession with wars, death and destruction (among other things, such as its pedophile-cannibalistic tendencies), the conflict’s end is still not in sight. The US/NATO sees this strategy of “controlled chaos” as an ideal way to destabilize virtually the entire world.

The CIA rolled out a new recruitment video Thursday aimed squarely at prying open cracks inside China’s military establishment – already as a Xi CCP purge of top military officials has been underway, according to Reuters. This latest video features a “disillusioned mid-level Chinese military officer” pitching other officers in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the idea of quietly switching sides and feeding US intelligence – which seems a bit on the nose.

Reuters described the release as the “latest U.S. step in a campaign to ramp up human intelligence gathering on Washington’s strategic rival” – though clearly there’s a psychological operations element to it, given the obviously ‘public’ nature of a video pushed directly by the CIA.

In the video, the fictional PLA officer declares: “Anyone with leadership qualities is bound to be subject to suspicion and ruthlessly eliminated” – an unmistakable nod to Beijing’s ongoing purge of senior military brass.

The new video follows a similar CIA campaign launched last year targeting senior Chinese Communist Party officials, complete with detailed Mandarin-language instructions on how to securely contact US intelligence.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe has boasted that those earlier efforts penetrated China’s censorship firewall and offered officials an “opportunity to work toward a brighter future together.”

“Our past videos reached millions of people and inspired new sources,” an anonymous CIA official told Reuters. One wonders, given the mass nature of the ‘outreach’, how many of these ‘new sources’ might actually be double agents dangled as bait by Chinese intelligence.

According to some of the dialogue featured in this new video release (machine translated):

“I pledged loyalty to the motherland and China’s national security. But the leadership is corrupt. I once thought our leaders cared for the people, but they only pursue their own interests. They abuse power for personal wealth, sacrificing the nation.

My conscience can no longer bear it. I must act – for China, for justice. I contacted the CIA. They protected me and provided safety. Now I’m free to speak the truth. If you have info on high-level Chinese leaders, contact us. We’ll protect you.”

Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping belatedly acknowledged in public the sweeping crackdown, calling the past year “unusual and extraordinary” and claiming the military had “undergone revolutionary tempering in the fight against corruption.”

Late last month, China’s most senior military officer – Gen. Zhang Youxia – who is second only to Xi Jinping, was abruptly put under investigation over alleged “grave violations of discipline and the law.” He had served as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, the Communist Party body that controls the armed forces, and the news was a major shock as he was widely regarded as President Xi’s closest ally within the military.

Another member of the commission, Gen. Liu Zhenli, was also been placed under investigation, according to the Defense Ministry on the same day. He’s in charge of the PLA military’s Joint Staff Department. There were rumors of leaking nuclear secrets and highly classified defense tech, but these reports appeared based in speculation.

Looming heavy over Washington is Beijing’s widely reported dismantling of the CIA spy network in China more than a decade ago. Authorities killed or imprisoned over a dozen CIA assets beginning in 2010 as a result.

🇨🇳🇺🇸China warns CIA over recruitment video targeting Chinese troops

China will take “all necessary measures” to counter foreign spying, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said after the CIA posted a Chinese-language recruitment video aimed at Chinese military personnel.

The… pic.twitter.com/WOSsE9COGg

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) February 13, 2026

The NY Times reported of the internal US intelligence confusion and deliberations in the aftermath: “Some were convinced that a mole within the CIA had betrayed the United States. Others believed that the Chinese had hacked the covert system the CIA used to communicate with its foreign sources.”

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com,

India considers boosting the run rates of its gas-fired power plants during evening peak hours to support the grid amid the surge in renewable power generation, India’s Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal said on Friday.  

“For the last three years we have been studying whether gas plants can run for eight hours in the evening and remain shut during the rest of the day,” Agarwal said at a meeting with power plant executives, as carried by Reuters. 

India has reduced in recent years its gas-fired power fleet from 25 gigawatts to 20 GW, due to idled plants for years that are now unfit to operate. 

However, the country, where coal remains king but renewables rapidly expand, looks to keep the 20 GW gas-fired capacity to provide flexible baseload capacity to offset the intermittency of solar and wind power. 

India is expected to import about 29 million tons of LNG this year, while its goal to almost double the share of gas in the energy mix to 15% will need import capacity of around 100 million tons, Kumar Singh, chief executive at Petronet Ltd, the biggest Indian LNG importer, said at the India Energy Week conference last month.

India, however, needs liquefied natural gas prices in Asia to nearly halve from current levels in order to significantly raise LNG imports and consumption, the executive added. 

India is in no hurry to sign long-term LNG delivery deals as the country’s price-sensitive buyers stall talks and wait for the coming supply glut to pressure sellers into agreeing to lower prices.

But later this year, the LNG market is expected to tilt into oversupply and in a buyer’s market, in which India – and other price-sensitive buyers in Asia – could have the upper hand in negotiations with long-term LNG sellers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the Indian government, said this week that India’s coal demand could more than double by 2050 from current levels under current policies.  

Continuing our coverage of privately owned nuclear bunkers for sale, we generally find Cold War-era underground sites clustered in the Midwest. However, a recently listed bunker in the hills of central Pennsylvania sits roughly a three-hour drive from Washington, D.C., and New York City, offering a rare Mid-Atlantic bug-out option.

Coldwell Banker real estate agents Blain Berrier and Greg Rothman listed the Cold War-era underground nuclear bunker, originally constructed in the late 1960s as part of what they describe as the AT&T Long Lines project. It was engineered for durability, redundancy, and long-term self-sufficiency.

The 4,800-square-foot, below-grade, reinforced-concrete bunker was renovated 15 years ago and used to secure a data and communications site.

“Power infrastructure includes commercial electric service with automatic transfer capability and a 150 kVA diesel generator supported by on-site fuel storage designed for extended runtime,” the agents said.

And there is more:

Here’s what’s special about the bunker on Weikert Road in Millmont, central Pennsylvania: its proximity to major cities across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

The amenities get even better:

4,800+ square foot below-grade reinforced concrete bunker, configured with multiple secured rooms, hardened corridors, and support areas. Several rooms include private bathrooms, and the layout was designed for both manned and unmanned operations.

. . .

Mechanical systems include multiple heat pumps utilizing a closed-loop well water system for heating and cooling, originally engineered to operate continuously and efficiently. Environmental systems incorporate multi-stage air filtration and water purification components, designed for long-duration occupancy. The facility also includes specialized mechanical rooms, utility areas, and hardened support spaces typical of secure infrastructure installations.

This is important:

The site benefits from controlled access, substantial setbacks, and a low-profile footprint.

And did we mention price??

Is this a near-perfect bug-out nuclear bunker for the Mid-Atlantic corridor?

Whether the brief shutdown of El Paso airspace was driven by a reported U.S. military directed-energy counter-drone weapon or what senior U.S. officials characterized as a Mexican cartel drone incursion remains unresolved at the moment.

Our assessment is that, with FIFA World Cup matches just months away, the Trump administration is racing to deploy counter-drone systems. After all, President Donald Trump signed last year’s “Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty” executive order, which set the stage for accelerating counter-UAS and airspace security technology.

On Tuesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that, through the federal Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) Grant Program, four New York public safety agencies will use $17.2 million to fund equipment and systems that “detect, identify, track, monitor and/or mitigate unmanned aircraft systems” during the FIFA World Cup matches.

“With the evolution of technology comes new ways it can be used to harm others,” Governor Hochul said. “This funding will go a long way to keep New Yorkers safe while allowing historic events like the 2026 World Cup and our nation’s 250th birthday to be celebrated safely and securely.”

Earlier this morning, defense tech firm Fortem Technologies announced it had received a multimillion-dollar contract to deploy its net-equipped DroneHunter at U.S. venues during soccer games this summer.

Last month, U.S. military, federal agencies, and local authorities gathered for a two-day summit near U.S. Northern Command headquarters, bringing together federal agencies, 11 U.S. host committees, and FIFA’s security heads to prepare for matches across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

“We’re never going to not worry about a dirty bomb,” Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosanna Cordero-Stutz, who participated in the planning session, told Politico. “But we also recognize that there’s a lot of other things that we need to worry about as well.”

“You can’t just give counter-UAS mitigation equipment to law enforcement that hasn’t learned how to use it yet,” said White House FIFA World Cup Task Force Coordinator Andrew Giuliani, who coordinated the federal government’s role in tournament preparations and addressed the drone threat at the summit.

To FIFA officials and U.S. government leaders, the fastest-growing threat to the host cities across North America will be drones.

Last month, we outlined the theme that the rise of “Next-Gen Counter-Drone Security” was certainly upon us, but our focus was on securing data centers.

We pointed out that Wall Street analysts largely end their analysis at the financing and construction of next-generation data centers, with limited discussion regarding the modern security architecture required once these facilities are built and become instant high-value targets for non-state actors or foreign adversaries (read this); traditional perimeter measures such as metal chain-link fencing and standard surveillance systems are rendered utterly useless in the world of emerging AI threats, including coordinated autonomous drone or swarm-based attacks.

Our view is that the counter-drone industry is set to see a rush of investment in companies developing and deploying detect-and-identify systems, as well as defeat systems such as soft-kill or hard-kill options that could include kinetic sentry systems.

If you’re wondering what a hard-kill option looks like … 

… Allen Control Systems has that covered. 

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Love is in the air, but it might be too good to be true for some hopeful romantics searching for love online, according to the FBI.

The FBI warned dating app surfers ahead of Valentine’s Day to beware of criminals using romance scams.

“The criminals who carry out romance scams are experts at what they do and will seem genuine, caring, and believable,” the FBI said in a statement on Feb. 11. “Con artists are present on most dating and social media sites.”

Scammers want to establish a relationship as quickly as possible, endearing themselves to their victims to gain trust, according to the FBI.

The scammers may propose marriage and make plans to meet in person, but that never happens. Then, they ask for money, the FBI said.

The con artists often claim they work in the building-and-construction industry and are based outside the United States.

“That makes it easier to avoid meeting in person—and more plausible when they ask for money for a medical emergency or unexpected legal fee,” the FBI stated.

If someone asks to meet online and needs bank account information or asks to deposit money, they are most likely using the account information to carry out theft or fraud schemes, the FBI warned.

In one case, Glenda, 81, fell for an online romance scam and landed in custody charged with federal crimes, according to a video on the FBI’s YouTube channel.

Glenda, whose last name was withheld, said in 2014 she met someone online who worked in Nigeria. The scammer said he needed money to leave the country and sent her electronics to pawn and send him the money. She said she eventually fell in love with the scammer and became a money mule.

In 2021, she pled guilty to two federal felonies, according to the video posted by the FBI.

Romance scams are a huge problem, according to AARP.

Reported losses totaled $1.12 billion in 2023, with median losses per person of $2,000. This is the highest reported form of any imposter scam loss, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

A survey in 2023 by the FTC shows the most commonly used lies that romance scammers adopted were:

·      “I or someone close to me is sick, hurt, or in jail.”

·      “I can teach you how to invest.”

·      “I’m in the military or far away.”

·      “I need help with an important delivery.”

·      “We’ve never met … but let’s talk about marriage.”

·      “I’ve come into some money or gold.”

·      “I’m on an oil rig or ship.”

·      “You can trust me with your private pictures.”

The FBI advises people to search for photos and profiles online to see whether the image, names, and details appear elsewhere.

The agency also suggests asking many questions, being suspicious, and never sending money to anyone without meeting them in person.

The Hamptons is once again in the spotlight as one of the country’s hottest luxury real estate markets.

Known for its beaches, upscale villages, and sprawling estates, this stretch of Long Island has seen home prices climb to record levels.

At the same time, summer rentals for 2026 are being booked far earlier than usual, showing that demand for the area remains as strong as ever, according to Vocal.Media. 

By the end of 2025, home values in the Hamptons had reached new highs.

The median price rose to about $2.3 million, while average luxury sales approached $3.8 million. Properties priced above $5 million are selling in greater numbers than before, and even homes in the lower luxury range are commanding steep premiums. Limited inventory and steady interest from high-income buyers have made competition especially intense.

Several factors are fueling this surge. There are simply fewer homes available than buyers want, which keeps pressure on prices. At the same time, wealthy buyers from finance, technology, and entertainment continue to view the Hamptons as both a lifestyle destination and a long-term investment. Its proximity to New York City, along with ocean views, privacy, and prestige, adds to its appeal.

The report says the rental market is just as competitive. Many properties for the summer of 2026 have already been leased months in advance.

Seasonal rates vary widely, with entry-level homes starting around $50,000, mid-range properties reaching well over $150,000, and top-tier oceanfront estates climbing toward $1 million or more.

Homes with pools, modern interiors, and prime locations tend to rent the fastest.

Rental patterns are also shifting.

July has become more popular than August, and renters are planning further ahead than in the past.

While some landlords adjust pricing closer to the season to fill remaining vacancies, the most desirable homes rarely remain available for long.

For buyers, the current market means facing stiff competition and historically high prices.

Acting quickly and working with experienced local agents can make a significant difference. Renters, meanwhile, need to secure properties well in advance and remain flexible about timing or location to improve their chances of finding good options.

Looking ahead, there are few signs that the Hamptons market is slowing down.

With strong demand, limited supply, and growing interest from affluent buyers and renters, the area continues to stand out as a place where luxury living, investment potential, and coastal lifestyle come together.