World

In Washington, the NATO argument is no longer about deterrence or doctrine, it is about the bar tab, and the guy holding the bottle is starting to ask why he is the only one paying.

Yaël Sion does not survive the apocalypse by hoping harder; she survives it the way a cutting tool survives steel, by biting down and refusing to let go.

From an ambush that wounded three Rochester police officers, to the killing of UN peacekeepers overseas, to US forces seizing sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela, a series of escalating incidents highlights growing risks for security forces operating in unstable and increasingly contested environments.

After a deadly ambush near Palmyra, US forces hit more than 70 ISIS targets across central Syria in a heavy retaliation strike meant to keep ISIS cells from regrouping. Russia is pounding Odesa while massing forces near Pokrovsk, and back home a Bellevue officer-involved shooting is under review by King County’s independent investigators as both the officer and suspect recover.

War has always had a myth side, and today’s “tactical glam” pin-up imagery sells that fantasy with real kit and lethal swagger, drawing civilians in while vets instinctively spot the gaps between the poster and the patrol.

Federal regulators are moving to let massive AI data centers connect closer to power plants, a fast-track grid shift that could bring reliability. Norway is also stocking the shelves with consequences, funding F-16 munitions and air-defense weapons for Ukraine while tightening security rules on Jan Mayen as the Arctic heats up.

Rubio defends Venezuela pressure as Syria sanctions lift and Russia blamed in EU hacks. Here’s what’s making headlines this Friday evening.

Brown suspect found dead as DOJ readies Epstein files and EU approves Ukraine aid. Here’s your Friday morning brief, December 19, 2025.

Navy tests new attack drone as Trump eyes cannabis shift and EU wrangles Ukraine aid. Here’s what’s making headlines this Thursday evening.

Out on the dark water where the rules get thin and the trigger gets heavy, Southern Spear is less a drug bust than a deliberate message: if you run narco-terror cargo under a cartel flag, the United States will hunt you down and end the problem at sea, not in court.

Liberal democracies did not fail because they defended themselves after 9/11, but because they spent the next two decades pretending that ideology, borders, and integration no longer mattered in a world where all three still kill people.

Pentagon hosts first Christmas service as China’s Fujian transit Taiwan Strait. Here’s your Thursday morning brief, December 18, 2025.