🇺🇸 US Fighter Jet Downed Over Iran; Crew Member Still Missing
A US F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over southern Iran on Saturday — the first US military aircraft lost to enemy fire in over 20 years. One crew member was rescued; search teams are racing against time to find the second. Iran says it wants the missing airman captured "alive" and has mobilized its public to help locate him. US and Iranian forces are now operating in close proximity in a highly volatile situation. This comes on Day 35+ of the US-Israel campaign against Iran, with strikes continuing on nuclear and energy infrastructure. Trump's national address this week claimed "gains" but gave no timeline for ending the war.
Sources: AP News (live) · BBC News (live) · CBS News
🇭🇺 Orban's 16-Year Grip on Hungary Faces Biggest Test Yet
Hungarians head to the polls in nine days in an election that could finally unseat Viktor Orban — Europe's longest-serving leader. After 16 years of consolidating power, Orban's Fidesz party is facing its toughest electoral challenge amid public frustration over corruption, media control, and the EU's freeze on billions in funding. His government has cultivated close ties with Russia and China while clashing with Brussels. If the opposition wins, it would mark a seismic shift in Central European politics and could fast-track Hungary's EU reintegration.
Source: BBC News
⚡ Europe Turns Back to Nuclear as Iran War Shocks Energy Markets
With the Iran war driving up gas and fuel prices across Europe, governments are revisiting the nuclear option they once shelved. Germany, which shut its last nuclear plants in 2023, is under mounting pressure to reverse course. France — historically nuclear-heavy — is being looked to as a buffer, while countries across the continent scramble to shore up energy supplies. Kuwaiti refineries have been hit in the conflict, adding to oil price volatility. The renewed interest in nuclear marks a striking reversal for a Europe that had declared nuclear energy a transitional technology.
Sources: BBC News · Al Jazeera
🚀 Artemis II Astronauts En Route to Moon — and NASA's Budget Is Being Slashed
Four astronauts launched on NASA's Artemis II mission two days ago, marking the first crewed lunar voyage in over 50 years. The Orion capsule's crew — currently halfway to the Moon — captured a spectacular image of Earth as they departed. But the celebration is shadowed by irony: the White House released its FY2027 budget proposal Friday calling for a 23% cut to NASA. Congress rejected a similar proposal last year and is expected to do so again, but the timing is provocative — astronauts are literally in space while the administration proposes dismantling NASA's budget. Meanwhile, a military archbishop told CBS the Iran war may not meet the criteria for a "just war" under Catholic teaching.
Sources: BBC News · Ars Technica · CBS News
🎲 Ice Age Hunter-Gatherers May Have Invented Probability Theory
A new paper in American Antiquity argues that Native Americans were playing dice games of chance over 12,000 years ago — predating the oldest known dice in the Old World by millennia. The findings challenge the conventional view that probability theory and gambling devices were Old World inventions. Researcher Robert Madden (Colorado State) says the archaeological record shows hunter-gatherer groups "deliberately making objects designed to produce random outcomes" in structured games — essentially an early form of probability reasoning. It rewrites one of the less-examined chapters in the history of mathematics.
Source: Ars Technica
🇨🇺 Cuba Releases 2,000+ Prisoners Under US Pressure
Cuba's government announced the release of 2,010 prisoners as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on the island — including an oil embargo and explicit calls for regime change. The releases appear aimed at easing international condemnation, but analysts say the gestures are unlikely to satisfy Washington. The US has deported eight people "of African origin" to Uganda in a move Uganda's law society called "dehumanising."
Sources: BBC News · CBS News