Author: Stephanie Gauthier

Two fighter jets, an F/A-18F Super Hornet and an F/A-18E Super Hornet, were recently lost in the Red Sea while operating from the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, as part of a series of worrying incidents on the heels of operations against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

A Navy fighter jet failed to land on an aircraft carrier and plummeted into the Red Sea on Tuesday, marking the fourth major mishap involving the vessel and the third loss of a fighter jet deployed with it since the warship left home last year.

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) 2025-05-07T12:09:20.918Z

On April 28, an F/A-18E Super Hornet was lost at sea while being towed onto the deck of the aircraft carrier.

While the USS Harry S. Truman was the target of a Houthi missile and drone attack, a sudden evasive maneuver by the tractor towing the fighter caused the aircraft and vehicle to fall into the sea, causing minor injuries to a crew member.

On May 6, just a few days later, another fighter jet fell into the sea from the aircraft carrier, this time due to a failure of undetermined origin that prevented the arresting system from functioning properly during the landing of an F/A-18F Super Hornet.

This second incident also resulted in minor injuries, as both pilots had to eject before the aircraft hit the water.

In December, an F/A-18F was accidentally hit by an SM-2 missile fired from the cruiser USS Gettysburg, a member of the same battle group as the Truman. Both pilots survived. In February, the USS Truman collided with a freighter near the Suez Canal, causing a breach above the waterline. The ship’s captain was relieved of his command.

The loss of three fighter jets in less than six months, combined with a collision at sea and a fratricidal firing incident, raises questions about the safety of operations aboard the Truman. These events come against a backdrop of heightened tensions in the Red Sea, where US forces are engaged in complex and dangerous operations.

Donald Trump recently sprang a surprise when he withdrew the nomination of Janette Nesheiwat, former Fox News medical contributor and sister-in-law of ex-national security advisor Mike Waltz, who was tipped to become chief medical officer. She was reportedly passed over after Trump discovered she had criticized the January 6 rioters and promoted the COVID vaccine, before being quickly replaced by a health influencer.

Casey Means, President Trump's new pick for U.S. surgeon general faces questions about her medical qualifications. And despite RFK Jr's support, some in the MAHA movement are lobbying against her.

— NPR (@npr.org) 2025-05-09T16:20:34.910Z

Means is an RFK Jr. campaign insider and self-proclaimed wellness guru who gave up her surgical residency before turning to a “wellness” influencer.

Donald Trump announced on Truth Social the nomination of Dr. Casey Means, touting her “impeccable MAHA credentials” a reinvented acronym for “Make America Healthy Again” by emphasizing her academic achievements.

Yet, according to PBS, she reportedly left her surgical residency after medical school to open a health technology company and repurpose herself as an Instagram influencer. She then played a key role as an advisor to RFK Jr.’s 2024 presidential campaign, before he threw his support behind Trump.

On Instagram, Means, praised by controversial ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, promotes creatine in women, discusses with ChatGPT on the future of health, and highlights a glucose sensor she developed for non-diabetics.

She blames ultra-processed foods for Alzheimer’s and many chronic diseases, while promoting numerous sponsored products and dietary supplements.

According to PBS, Means expressed concerns about vaccines and the childhood vaccination schedule, while accusing the government, and the FDA in particular, of “corruption”.

As Trump has stated, she would be the ideal candidate to collaborate with RFK Jr. on their joint “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

But as NPR reported, Means does not have a medical license, a fact other physicians have openly criticized, starting with former US Surgeon General (under George W. Bush) Richard Carmona.

Newark airport has once again been hit by a serious radar failure, similar to the one that occurred the previous week, plunging several air traffic controllers into a state of severe distress and causing work stoppages, delays and disruption at Newark airport.

Breaking News: An air traffic control facility at Newark Airport suffered another radar outage, the latest disruption at one of the nation’s busiest airports.

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-05-09T16:04:55.157Z

More worryingly, this new failure could have led to incidents with potentially catastrophic consequences for aircraft operating in the vicinity of the airport.

According to the New York Times, this second incident occurred on Thursday night at around 4 a.m., when the radar, as on the previous occasion, stopped working completely for around 90 seconds.

According to the FAA, cited by ABC News, the airport was the victim of a “telecommunications failure that affected communications and radar display in Zone C of the Philadelphia TRACON control center”.

This second incident forced the FAA to temporarily suspend all departures to the airport, as controllers were no longer able to communicate with aircraft during the short duration of the outage.

Transport Secretary Sean Duffy announced this week the deployment of a new “state-of-the-art” air traffic control system to replace the current infrastructure, described as “obsolete”. But its commissioning is not expected for another three to four years, raising serious concerns among air traffic controllers, especially as the Trump administration, backed by Elon Musk and the DOGE movement, has imposed major budget cuts on the FAA.

These incidents rekindle deep concerns about aviation safety in the United States, while several major disasters have marked the start of Trump’s term in office. Among them: the deadly collision on January 29 between a PSA Airlines regional jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac, which killed 67 people; the crash of a medical jet in Philadelphia on January 31, resulting in eight deaths; the crash of a Bering Air flight in Alaska on February 6, with ten fatalities; and the collision on the tarmac at Scottsdale airport, Arizona, on February 10, which left one person dead.

After unsuccessfully imploring Putin on Truth Social to halt his forwards against Ukraine in the midst of talks, Trump is now adopting a new stance, in the hope of convincing the Russian president to end the war triggered by his 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

This bizarre proposal from the President of the United States comes as he has been desperately trying for several weeks to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

With pressure mounting around one of his campaign promises to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in the White House, Trump is now suggesting that Vladimir Putin might consider stopping his bloody forwards if Russia were to secure a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The country had in fact been suspended from competitions by FIFA and UEFA after its illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

While Donald Trump was, according to the New York Times, in discussion with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, he was reportedly surprised to learn that Russia was excluded from the World Cup and could not be reinstated until it ended its senseless aggression against Ukraine.

The President of the United States seems to be desperately looking for any leverage he can think of to bend Vladimir Putin, while all the Trump administration’s initiatives on this issue have so far ended in failure.

Vice President JD Vance has acknowledged that Russia is “asking too much” to end the war with Ukraine.

A form of frustration is now spreading through the ranks of the administration, which, after initially blaming Ukraine at the start of the talks, is beginning to admit that Moscow may bear a heavier share of responsibility for prolonging the conflict.

As he celebrates the 25th anniversary of the foundation he co-founded with his ex-wife in 2000, Bill Gates announces his intention to close the organization by 2045 and donate almost his entire fortune by then.

In an interview with the New York Times, Bill Gates reveals that he has recently revised his plans to accelerate the donation of almost his entire fortune through the Gates Foundation. By accelerating the liquidation of his fortune, Bill Gates plans to add $3 billion a year to his humanitarian aid budget, bringing it to a total of $9 billion annually for the next 20 years.

He points out that this decision is motivated by the major budget cuts implemented by Elon Musk and Donald Trump since they recently came to power, particularly those targeting the US agency USAID, even though humanitarian aid had already been severely weakened in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The billionaire describes the massive cuts imposed on USAID as “stunning”, well beyond the expected 20%, with an estimate as high as 80%. He argues that these cuts affect programs of crucial global importance, and that the resulting damage risks dramatically undoing the progress made over the past 25 years in humanitarian aid and research, particularly in relation to child mortality.

The billionaire points out that, in his view, the massive humanitarian aid of the last 25 years has reduced the number of child deaths worldwide from 10 million to 5 million a year.

He estimates that this figure could have fallen to 4 million this year. However, with the drastic cuts imposed by the DOGE program, headed by Elon Musk in accordance with the wishes of Donald Trump and his administration, the number of deaths could now rise again to 6 million a year.

Bill Gates has some harsh words for Elon Musk, saying that while he might become a great philanthropist one day, for now he’s “the world’s richest man involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children”.

After renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, now the President of the United States wants to rename the Persian Gulf.

Iran Warns Trump Renaming Persian Gulf Will ‘Bring The Wrath Of All Iranians’

— Forbes (@forbes.com) 2025-05-07T19:28:38.679Z

As Trump prepares for his first trip away to the Middle East, he appears to be siding with Saudi Arabia by adopting their unofficial designation of “Arabian Gulf”.

This announcement immediately angered Iran, which sees it as a direct provocation and a challenge to its historical heritage.

Present in Greek and Roman texts since antiquity, the name “Persian Gulf” refers to the Persian Empire, which once controlled the territory corresponding to present-day Iran. From the 16th century onwards, the name was used in European cartography.

Since the 1960s, some Arab countries, notably Saudi Arabia, have argued for the use of the term “Arabian Gulf”.

Despite these tensions, however, the UN and the majority of international organizations continue to officially recognize the name “Persian Gulf” as the only correct designation.

According to Forbes, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a stern message on X in reaction to Trump’s announcement, declaring, “This will only bring the wrath of all Iranians from all walks of life”.

While Meta is mired in antitrust proceedings threatening to lead to its dismantling, Mark Zuckerberg is desperately tightening his ties with the Trump administration, which he has been trying to seduce for several months in the hope of securing highly lucrative military contracts.

New: Meta is recruiting former national security officials to bolster its military ambitions, months after allowing its Llama AI model to be used for military use.www.forbes.com/sites/davidj…

— David Jeans (@davidjeans.bsky.social) 2025-05-07T15:47:51.450Z

Mark Zuckerberg has made one strategic rapprochement gesture after another towards Donald Trump, combining financial initiatives, internal decisions and political signals: a million-dollar donation at his inauguration in January, a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, the dismantling of Facebook’s fact-checking program, the removal of Meta’s diversity team, the appointment of people close to Trump to the board of directors, and the purchase of a house in Washington D.C.

All the indications are that he is now focusing all his efforts on winning military contracts to promote his own artificial intelligence technologies, in direct competition with those of OpenAI.

According to Forbes, Meta has recently recruited former Pentagon officials to support Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitions: to win lucrative government contracts by directing Llama artificial intelligence towards military intelligence uses.

Meta, which is leading this sustained recruitment campaign, is banking in particular on its Llama artificial intelligence model, initially designed for civilian use, but now oriented towards military applications in order to appeal to defense and intelligence agencies.

Clearly in seduction mode, Meta is also looking to recruit policy experts linked to national security, including a position specifically designed to manage relations with the White House. The company would preferably target profiles with security clearance and Pentagon experience.

Meta recently hired Francis Brennan, a former advisor to Donald Trump, to head up its strategic communications in Washington.

Kashmir, a region already marked by more than seven decades of tension, plunged back into conflict.

Kashmir crisis live: Pakistan PM authorises armed forces to undertake ‘corresponding action’ after India strikes kill 26

— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) 2025-05-07T10:51:34Z

In just two weeks, the deadly April 22 attack on a tourist bus in Pahalgam, a popular tourist resort in India’s Kashmir region, has rekindled historic tensions between India and Pakistan.

New Delhi’s reaction was swift: India launched the military operation “Sindoor”, targeting so-called “terrorist” sites in Pakistan and Islamabad-controlled Kashmir.

This series of strikes, described as “targeted and non-escalatory” by the Indian authorities, was perceived by Pakistan as outright aggression.

Since then, firefights, casualties and threatening rhetoric have intensified on both sides of the Line of Control. According to Islamabad, Pakistan deplores 26 dead and 46 wounded. India, for its part, claims that 15 civilians were killed and 43 wounded by Pakistani artillery fire.

While, according to The Guardian, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh hailed the operation as “Victory to Mother India”, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the strikes as an “act of war”. Faced with this rise in tensions, the international community fears a rapid deterioration in the situation that could lead to a major crisis.

According to many observers, the fear of a major military confrontation between these two nuclear powers has never been greater.