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https://www.space.com/the-universe/scientists-discover-smallest-galaxy-ever-seen-its-like-having-a-perfectly-functional-human-being-thats-the-size-of-a-grain-of-rice
Scientists discover smallest galaxy ever seen: 'It's like having a perfectly functional human being that's the size of a grain of rice'
March 12, 2025
Astronomers have discovered a collection of tiny galaxies located roughly 3 million light-years away that includes the smallest and faintest galaxy ever seen.
This galaxy, designated Andromeda XXXV, and its compatriots orbiting our neighbor galaxy, Andromeda, could change how we think about cosmic evolution.
That's because dwarf galaxies this small should have been destroyed in the hotter and denser conditions of the early universe. Yet somehow, this tiny galaxy survived without being fried.
"These are fully functional galaxies, but they're about a millionth of the size of the Milky Way," team member and University of Michigan professor Eric Bell said in a statement. "It's like having a perfectly functional human being that's the size of a grain of rice."
Dwarf galaxies themselves are nothing new to scientists. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is orbited by dozens of these satellite galaxies caught in the grip of its more immense galaxies.
There is, however, a great deal about dwarf galaxies that scientists don't know. This is because, being smaller, they are much dimmer than major galaxies, making them harder to spot and tougher to study at large distances.
While astronomers have been able to determine many dwarf galaxies in orbit around the Milky Way, identifying dwarf galaxies around our bright galactic neighbors has been incredibly difficult.
This means that the dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way have been our only source of information about small satellite galaxies.
This task is somewhat less challenging around the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way, Andromeda.
Other dwarf galaxies have been spotted around Andromeda before, but these have been large and bright, thus simply confirming the information that astronomers had gathered about dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way.
To discover these paradigm-shifting smaller and dimmer dwarf galaxies, team leader Marcos Arias, an astronomer at the University of Michigan, and his colleagues scoured various massive astronomical datasets.
The team was also able to obtain time with the Hubble Space Telescope to aid their search.
This revealed that not only is Andromeda XXXV a satellite galaxy, but it is also small enough to change theories of how galaxies evolve.
"It was really surprising," Bell said. "It's the faintest thing you find around, so it's just kind of a neat system. But it's also unexpected in a lot of different ways."
A cosmic murder mystery
One of the key aspects of galactic evolution is how long their star-forming periods last. This seemed to be the main difference between the Milky Way's dwarf galaxies and the smaller satellite galaxies of Andromeda.
"Most of the Milky Way satellites have very ancient star populations. They stopped forming stars about 10 billion years ago," Arias explained.
"What we're seeing is that similar satellites in Andromeda can form stars up to a few billion years ago — around 6 billion years."
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Star formation requires a steady supply of gas and dust to collapse and birth stellar bodies. When that gas is gone, star formation halts, and the galaxy "dies."
Thus, Bell described the situation around these small galaxies as a "murder mystery." Did star formation end when dwarf galaxies' gas supplies petered out on their own, or when these gases were gravitationally stripped away by a large galactic host?
In the case of the Milky Way, it appears that the gas for star formation petered out on its own; however, for the smaller galaxies around Andromeda, it appears they were "killed" by their parent galaxy.
"It's a little dark, but it's either did they fall or did they get pushed? These galaxies appear to have been pushed," Bell said. "With that, we've learned something qualitatively new about galaxy formation from them."
What is even more curious is the extended period of star formation experienced by Andromeda XXXV. To understand why, it is necessary to travel back in time to the the birth of the first galaxies.
Why isn't Andromeda XXXV a 'deep fried' galaxy?
The earliest epoch of the universe was marked by incredibly hot and dense conditions. This inflationary period, begun by the Big Bang, continued, and the universe dispersed and cooled.
This allowed the first atoms of hydrogen to take shape, birthing the first stars, which gathered in the first galaxies.
These stars and galaxies blasted out energy as did the first feeding black holes reheating the cosmos.
This signaled the death of very small galaxies, and scientists theorize this heat "cooked off" the gas needed for star formation in such collections of stars.
Yet, somehow, Andromeda XXXV survived!
"We thought they were basically all going to be fried because the entire universe turned into a vat of boiling oil," Bell said.
"We thought that it would completely lose its gas, but apparently that doesn't happen, because this thing is about 20,000 solar masses and yet it was forming stars just fine for a few extra billion years."
Just how Andromeda XXXV resisted being fried is still a mystery.
"I don't have an answer," Bell said. "It is also still true that the universe did heat up; we're just learning the consequences are more complicated than we thought."
NASA and other space agencies are planning missions that could discover further dwarf galaxies around other large galaxies and help solve this mystery.
But there's a good chance that the solution will open up new questions just as the discovery of Andromeda XXXV has. "We still have a lot to discover," Arias said.
"There are so many things that we still need to learn — even about what's near to us — in terms of galaxy formation, evolution, and structure before we can reverse engineer the history of the universe and understand how we came to be where we are today."
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Long March 8 launches Thousand Sails satellites from commercial spaceport
March 11, 2025
A new group of 18 satellites entered orbit Tuesday for the Thousand Sails constellation with the first launch from a new commercial launch pad.
A Long March 8 rocket lifted off at 12:38 p.m. Eastern (1638 UTC) March 11 from launch pad 1 of the Hainan Commercial Launch Site near Wenchang, Hainan island.
The kerosene-liquid oxygen propellant rocket illuminated clouds as it climbed into the night sky.
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), which provided the rocket, announced launch success in a statement just under an hour after liftoff, confirming that 18 satellites for the Thousand Sails constellations had been inserted into their planned orbits.
The Thousand Sails constellation, also known as Qianfan or G60 Starlink, is a broadband satellite constellation spearheaded by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), also known as Spacesail. The project, which aims to deploy 14,000 satellites, seeks to compete in the global satellite internet market.
The launch was the first for Spacesail using the Long March 8. All four previous batch missions, totalling 72 satellites, used the Long March 6A rocket, launching from Taiyuan.
These have been sent into near-polar orbits ranging in altitude from around 800 to 1,070 kilometers.
The satellites have caused concern among astronomers due to their brightness. Spacesail previously stated it aims to have 648 satellites in orbit by the end of 2025.
Spacesail has garnered substantial support, securing approximately $943 million in funding in early 2024, with heavy Shanghai municipal government backing. Genesat, a satellite manufacturing subsidiary of Spacesail, raised $137 million in funding in late December.
Spacesail has received unprecedented financial and regulatory backing from the Shanghai government, Joao Falcao Serra, Research Fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), told SpaceNews, amounting to more than all publicly disclosed Chinese Satcom funding to date.
The development is part of a wider competition among Chinese local governments to attract players and promote the commercial space sector.
“The swift action by the provincial government highlights the strategic importance of securing such industries for regional development and their need to compete internally to attract these new industries,” Serra said via email.
New commercial spaceport, Long March 8 plans
Hainan Commercial Launch Site is located near the coastal national Wenchang spaceport on the island province of Hainan in the South China Sea.
It is the second launch from the facility, following the launch of the first Long March 12 rocket from launch pad 2 in November.
Tuesday’s Long March 8 launch was the inaugural use of launch pad 1, a facility designed specifically for the rocket. The success paves the way for frequent launches of the rocket from the new pad, according to CALT.
“This successful mission signifies that the Long March 8 rocket now has a dedicated new launch site, laying the foundation for a high-frequency launch schedule this year.
It also means that the Long March 8 has officially entered the market, offering customers fast, efficient, and high-quality launch services,” said Xiao Yun, the Long March 8 series chief commander.
Last month the first Long March 8A launched a second group of satellites for Guowang, a state-backed low Earth orbit megaconstellation, lifting off from the nearby national Wenchang spaceport.
Authorities are expanding the commercial spaceport with the ongoing construction of launch pads 3 and 4, with the aim of facilitating an increase in China’s launch capabilities and cadence.
Commercial launch companies are aiming to conduct test flights of new medium-lift, liquid propellant rockets from the spaceport this year.
China launch plans for 2025
Tuesday’s mission was China’s 11th orbital launch of the year and follows the launch of the classified TJS-15 satellite from Xichang spaceport March 9.
China’s launch targets for the year remain unknown. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country’s state-owned main space contractor, typically releases a “blue book” in January or February annually, detailing the previous year’s achievements and the main missions and targets for the year ahead. It has yet to do so publicly so far in 2025.
Last year CASC stated that China aimed to launch around 100 times, but ended with 68 orbital launch attempts, still a new national record.
The country may once again aim for 100 or more launches in 2025, especially with new rockets and new launch facilities coming online.
https://spacenews.com/long-march-8-launches-thousand-sails-satellites-from-commercial-spaceport/
Intelsat secures first customer for communications system aimed at border security
March 12, 2025
Satellite operator Intelsat has signed its first customer for a communications service designed for public safety, first responders and border security, the company announced March 12.
The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona will deploy Intelsat’s Multi-Layer Communication System (MLCS) along the U.S.-Mexico border to support operations in previously unconnected areas.
Intelsat CEO David Wajsgras said the company is making a strategic push into a growing market for mobile connectivity in remote areas. In remarks at the Satellite 2025 Conference, Wajsgras said the Cochise County deal represents a key milestone as the company seeks to expand its footprint in border security.
“We’ve been working on the agreement with Cochise County Sheriff’s Office for quite a while, and we see that as a very good first step into border security more broadly, both in the United States on the southern border and the northern border, and then also around the world,” Wajsgras said.
The Multi-Layer Communication System (MLCS) integrates bandwidth from multiple satellite orbits — geostationary (GEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and low Earth orbit (LEO) — alongside terrestrial and mobile networks to create a seamless communications platform for first responders operating in remote areas.
Starlink satcom and 5G
For Cochise County, the system will combine SpaceX’s Starlink LEO satellite service with 5G cellular networks and a police radio gateway, providing voice and broadband connectivity in previously inaccessible border regions, the company said.
“This integration ensures seamless communication with the Sheriff’s 911 dispatch center, even when officers are up to two miles from their vehicles,” Intelsat said in its announcement.
The Virginia-based company provides MLCS as a fully managed service with end-to-end support.
Ten systems have already been installed in Cochise County police vehicles, with four additional units to be deployed at the 911 dispatch center in Sierra Vista, Arizona.
Beyond communications, the platform supports advanced safety features including GPS-based “officer down” alerts and broadband connectivity in areas where traditional infrastructure is limited or nonexistent.
“In my prior life, I had some experience in border security in different parts of the world, so I know the size of the market, what the opportunity space looks like,” added Wajsgras. “So I think that’s going to be a very big deal for the company.”
Though Intelsat has marketed the technology to military agencies, the company has yet to secure a Department of Defense contract for the system.
A company spokesperson indicated that DoD could potentially utilize MLCS as a backup or replacement for existing two-way radio systems at military installations.
The announcement comes as Intelsat undergoes significant corporate changes. In April 2024, global satellite operator SES announced plans to acquire Intelsat for $3.1 billion, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of 2025.
https://spacenews.com/intelsat-secures-first-customer-for-communications-system-aimed-at-border-security/
Moscow targeted by largest drone strike in war, over 330 UAVs downed across Russia, authorities claim
March 11, 2025 6:50 AM
Seventy-four drones were shot down on approach to Moscow in the early hours of March 11, authorities claimed, marking the largest drone attack against Russia's capital during the full-scale war.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its forces had intercepted a massive strike of 337 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions, including 91 over Moscow Oblast, 126 over Kursk Oblast, 38 over Bryansk Oblast, and others over the Belgorod, Ryazan, Kaluga, Lipetsk, Oryol, Voronezh, and Nizhny Novgorod regions.
This is the largest number of drones launched against Russia in a single attack during the entire full-scale war.
The strike took place as Ukrainian and U.S. delegations are about to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss possible peace terms with Russia.
Ukrainian officials are reportedly planning to propose a partial truce that would extend to aerial strikes and naval operations.
"Emergency services are working at the site of the fallen debris," Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said, reporting minor damage to a building in the city. The mayor attributed the attack to the Ukrainian military.
"Today at 4 a.m., a massive drone attack against Moscow and Moscow Oblast began," Governor Andrey Vorobyov wrote on his Telegram channel.
Drone wreckage damaged warehouses in the Leninsky district, set fire to 20 cars at a parking lot in Domodedovo, and damaged an apartment building in the town of Ramenskoye, according to the official.
Three people were killed in Moscow Oblast as a result of the strike, Vorobyov claimed. This reportedly included a 38-year-old security guard in the town of Domodedovo south of Moscow and two men who died later in the hospital.
Eighteen others, including three children, were injured in the region, the Health Ministry claimed.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims, and Ukraine's military has not yet commented on the attack.
Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky airports in Moscow introduced temporary flight restrictions in response to the drone attack, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) reported.
The Dyagilevo airbase in Ryazan Oblast and an unspecified target in Kursk Oblast were also targeted in overnight drone strikes, claimed Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
Kovalenko suggested that the strike could be seen as an "additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air."
Ukraine regularly strikes military and industrial targets deep within Russian territory.
https://kyivindependent.com/dozens-of-drones-shot-down-over-moscow-mayor-claims/
Abu Dhabi Unveils the World’s Largest Drone Light Show, Revolutionizing Tourism with Cutting-Edge Storytelling and Immersive Entertainment
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
In a major move that could redefine entertainment tourism, Abu Dhabi has announced plans to introduce the world’s largest drone light show.
The ambitious project, which is being spearheaded by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) in collaboration with Nova Sky Stories and Analog, is expected to elevate the emirate’s status as a global hub for immersive storytelling, cultural tourism, and entertainment technology.
The initiative will see 10,000 advanced drones orchestrating large-scale synchronized performances across multiple iconic locations in Abu Dhabi.
The project aims to fuse cutting-edge technology with artistic narratives, bringing heritage, culture, and innovation together in a way never before experienced by visitors.
The announcement was made on March 11, 2025, during a strategic partnership signing, which was personally attended by His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.
The agreement is part of a multi-year collaboration between DCT Abu Dhabi, Nova Sky Stories—a Colorado-based company specializing in drone entertainment—and Analog, an Emirati firm known for its work in physical intelligence and mixed reality.
How This Will Impact the Global Travel Industry
With Abu Dhabi establishing itself as a leader in experiential tourism, the impact of this initiative is expected to be felt across multiple sectors.
The project is being positioned as a major attraction for global travelers, drawing visitors from around the world to witness a spectacle that merges technology, art, and cultural heritage.
https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/abu-dhabi-unveils-the-worlds-largest-drone-light-show-revolutionizing-tourism-with-cutting-edge-storytelling-and-immersive-entertainment-new-report-you-need-to-know/
https://www.twz.com/land/green-berets-looking-for-fpv-drones-to-help-them-clear-hostile-cave-complexes
Green Berets Looking For FPV Drones To Help Them Clear Hostile Cave Complexes
March 12, 2025
The command overseeing U.S. special operations forces in the Middle East wants to buy an unspecified number of first-person view (FPV) drones and associated training to help Green Berets clear caves.
U.S. Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) is seeking these weapons to augment the use of military working dogs (MWDs) because it considers drones safer and more effective.
The concern is of increasing relevance as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran have all utilized caves, tunnels and other underground facilities as attack vectors, weapons and personnel hiding facilities and command and control nodes.
“Currently, the absence of dedicated unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for cave clearing operations forces reliance on Military Working Dogs (MWD) or partner forces, significantly increasing risk to both personnel and mission success,” U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) wrote in a request for a single-source FPV drone contract for SOCCENT posted on the SAM.gov U.S. purchasing portal.
“Caves present confined, complex spaces with limited visibility and unpredictable terrain, increasing the danger to personnel and potentially hindering MWD effectiveness.”
In its justification for the single-source procurement, SOCOM notes that the fast and highly maneuverable FPV drones would provide real-time visual intelligence from inside caves, reducing the risk of having troops inside them when much of the mission can be accomplished by a drone.
In addition, FPV drones with communications relays “enhance coordination between teams inside and outside the cave, facilitating smoother operations and faster response times.”
Operating drones underground, in confined spaces with no line-of-sight, is a challenge the U.S. military has been working to overcome for years.
While the request doesn’t specify what kind of FPV drones are required, SOCOM could very well be looking for a number of options, including those guided by a fiber optic cable, given the difficulties of operating in these areas.
Both Ukraine and Russia have been increasingly using hard-wired fiber optics for control links because the connection cannot be jammed by electronic warfare equipment but also because the link isn’t degraded when flying low over the ground or amongst obstacles and terrain since there is no line-of-sight connectivity requirements.
This allows them to maneuver with full picture and control fidelity inside of buildings and tunnels. You can see examples of this from Ukraine below and in this past story:
There are also small drones that have FPV capability that are tailored to urban environments and can use publicly available cellular data and other wireless networks to provide a connection to its operator.
The introduction to AI will also allow even small drones to be able to navigate at least partially on their own, which could help significantly for operating in tunnels and other areas where the connection can be spotty at best.
Drones with spherical cages around them and other unique alterations also allow them to fly more freely in tight spaces without clipping their propellers. SWAT and other police units have pioneered the use of drones in such circumstances.
In addition to seeking the hardware, SOCOM also wants SOF operators to be trained how to use them, considering how much work it takes to fly them effectively.
You can read about how the Ukrainians, leaders in FPV drone innovations, have trained on them in our story here.
SOCOM redacted the cost of the request but said the “investment will significantly improve the safety and efficiency of cave clearing operations, ultimately contributing to mission success and force protection.”
The funding will come from the command’s Fiscal Year 2025 Operations and Maintenance (O&M) account. We’ve reached out to the command for more details and will update this story with any pertinent information provided.
The command’s pitch has redacted the specific location where the drones would be used and the exact unit that would operate them.
However, it does state that they would be operated by ODAs – Operational Detachment Alphas, or A-Teams, the basic building block of the U.S. Army’s Green Berets.
The request also notes that the redacted unit “has limited UAS capabilities and is reliant upon external agencies to provide specialized assets.
The equipment enables ODAs to gain a visual on the risks present on an obscured objective, prior to engagement.
Without this capability, ODAs accept undue risk to the force by entering an objective without detect and defeat capabilities.”
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Green Berets have already been training with FPV drones largely based on lessons learned in Ukraine.
Last year, the Army announced it had hired private contractor Flymotion to provide drone and non-standard vehicle training services to a Green Beret A Team from the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), or 10th SFG(A), out of Fort Carson, Colorado.
Since Flymotion received a sole-source deal, Army officials had to provide detailed justifications for not using typical competition contracting processes.
That is the type of process SOCOM is seeking for the FPV drones. You can read more about Green Beret FPV drone training in our in-depth story here.
Though SOCOM has redacted the area where these drones will operate, given that the request is being made on behalf of SOCCENT, it most likely involves operations in the U.S. Central Command Area of Operations (AOR).
That covers 21 nations in the Middle East and Central Asia, including Afghanistan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen.
During the so-called war on terror, U.S. and allied troops frequently found themselves battling the Taliban, ISIS and other jihadi groups in caves.
Weaponized FPV drones, which were not in use back then, would be beneficial in any future U.S. SOF underground operation in that region.
The ability to fight underground is such a concern for SOCOM that in 2020 it requested more than $14 million to build a nearly 20,000-square-foot subterranean training site for Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) units like the U.S. Army’s Delta Force and the U.S. Navy’s Naval Special Warfare Development Group, better known as SEAL Team Six.
Israel has gained extensive experience in cave and tunnel fighting against Hamas and Hezbollah. Beyond Gaza and Lebanon, Israel also carried out a raid against an Iranian underground missile facility.
That raid served as a warning to Iran that its underground facilities were not invincible. You can read more about that mission here.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have used FPV drones in Gaza mostly to “survey buildings and underground tunnels, given that this is the most precise method of navigating such spaces,” the Institute for National and Strategic Studies (INSS) noted last year in a report on FPV drone usage.
At the time, however, it was “unknown whether there has been any additional IDF procurement of drones, whether they have been deployed more widely and whether troops have been specially trained in their use for intelligence gathering or attacks, even though the IDF makes widespread use of other kinds of drones,” INSS posited.
However, the Israeli Ministry of Defense Department of Production and Procurement wants to procure thousands of FPV drones from Israeli companies for a wide range of offensive purposes, according to the Israeli Globes media outlet.
The initial solicitation called for 5,000 FPV drones, but that could expand to 20,000, the publication noted.
So far, about 25 Israeli drone suppliers that work with the Ministry of Defense have registered for the tender.
As for SOCOM, the command says only one company is capable of providing the FPV drones and training required.
“After conducting market research and a comprehensive and thorough review of available options,” SOCOM said that it has selected the vendor, but that company’s name is redacted in the SAMs request, which does not state a specific timeline for fulfillment.
Though SOCOM is concerned about the risk of continued reliance on MWDs, it must be noted that no drone has the keen senses of sight and smell like that of a highly trained dog.
These animals have frequently accompanied SOF teams on missions, including the 2019 raid that killed then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in his Syrian compound.
Al-Baghdadi died after running into a dead-end tunnel with three children, chased by an MWD later identified as Conan. The ISIS leader detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and the three children, collapsing the tunnel and injuring Conan.
The U.S. military in general is pushing drones to smaller units, an effort ramped up by lessons from Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere.
However, American forces are still lagging behind in many ways when it comes to the ubiquity of FPV drones on the battlefield, regardless of the domain.
That SOCOM wants to purchase them, as well as the training it will take to make operators proficient, is another way U.S. special operations forces are working to close that gap.
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Nobody ever really asks the question 'how big (or how small) are we' in comparison to everything else?
Holidaying surfer presumed killed in WA shark attack after drone films blood in water
Tue 11 Mar 2025 05.36 EDT
A surfer fatally mauled by a shark at a remote beach in Western Australia was on a six-month holiday with his partner and pet dog.
Victorian man Steven Payne, 37, was attacked on Monday at Wharton beach, east of Esperance, and his remains were yet to be recovered, police said.
Drone footage shot by a witness captured a shark swimming away from a large cloud of blood close to the shore.
A surfboard with bite marks was recovered from the water and emergency services searched for Payne.
“Unfortunately, that search has not recovered the surfer’s body, and I can also confirm that our search is a recovery, not a rescue,” Sen Sgt Christopher Taylor told reporters on Tuesday.
He said Payne, his partner and his “loving dog” were on a six-month travelling holiday when he was attacked.
“I’m led to believe they were four to five weeks into that holiday, which obviously has come to an abrupt end,” Taylor said. “It is heartbreaking.”
Payne’s family were distraught and trying to come to terms with what happened, Taylor said.
“The whole community of Esperance feels the pain,” he said. “We’ve been through this before and it hurts a lot.”
Payne’s presumed death is the fourth fatal shark attack since 2017 in the area, about 800km south of Perth.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/11/holidaying-surfer-presumed-killed-in-wa-shark-attack-after-drone-films-blood-in-water
GUNS DOWN? Horror moment bomb drone blows up enemy truck…but this ISN’T Ukraine: Vid shows warring cartels Trump wants to crush
Updated: 21:07, 11 Mar 2025
THIS is the horror moment an attack drone loaded with a deadly bomb strikes an enemy truck during a clash between two Mexican drug cartels.
Footage shows the drone hovering above the white pickup truck before hitting the vehicle and exploding inside.
The clash seen in the footage is reportedly between Mexico's El Tena group striking an armored vehicle operated by the dangerous Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNC) cartel.
The drones were understood to be loaded with C4, an explosive reserved for military use, with additional ammunition of pellets to cause further damage.
There has been a stark increase in the use of drones to fight rival cartel groups in Mexico.
It comes as the leader of CNJC Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, is said to be "preparing" the cartel to face Trump.
CNJC was founded in 2009, and its ruthless rise to global dominance has left bodies and screams in its wake - ripping out victims' hearts, dissolving their bodies in barrels of acid, and even targeting pregnant women.
The cartel's drug trafficking empire now reaches all corners of the globe, despite ferocious competition from other cartels in Mexico and increasingly desperate efforts from international authorities to hold them back.
The gangsters are now buying high-caliber weapons, according to journalist and podcaster Anabel Hernández as they prepare to face down the US military.
One of the first executive orders that Trump signed included designating gangs from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and El Salvador as foreign terrorist organisations.
It could give his government more powers to go after the criminal organisations with military strikes or to forcefully remove their members from the US.
Hernández said: "After Trump announced his war against the Mexican cartels, it [CJNG] is the organization that is preparing itself the fastest with powerful weapons to fight.
"Although the leader of the CJNG claims to have arrangements with the Government of Mexico, he does not rule out that there may be covert operations by the Trump administration."
Hernández claimed that the CJNG is now monitoring Mexican airports, cities, and even US consulates in the country.
The cartel appears to be worried that US military special forces could be deployed in Mexico as Trump tries to crush the gangs.
There is also a $15 million (£12 million) bounty on the head of El Mencho and legal proceedings open against him in Washington DC.
Security expert Professor Anthony Glees told The Sun that Trump may launch airstrikes in Mexico to "wage a war" against the lethal cartels that pose a threat to his "Fortress America".
The largest cartels are based in Mexico and Colombia and according to a US Congress report, pose the "greatest organized crime threat" to America.
Glees said America's enemies "will tremble at what he is able to do", in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia or El Salvador, where the most prominent gangs conduct far-reaching drug operations.
Previously, footage emerged showing dozens of uniformed gunmen posing with military-grade weapons near armoured pickup trucks emblazoned with the initials of the Jalisco drug cartel.
In the two-minute clip, members of the fearsome CJNG stand in fatigues alongside a seemingly endless procession of armored vehicles
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/33801649/bomb-drone-enemy-attack-mexican-cartel/
HHS, DOJ Move to End Sexual Abuse and Harassment of Unaccompanied Alien Children in Shelters Operated by Southwest Key Programs
March 12, 2025
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that it has stopped placement of unaccompanied alien children in shelters operated by Southwest Key Programs, Inc. (Southwest Key) and has moved all children there to other shelters.
“This administration is working fearlessly to end the tragedy of human trafficking and other abuses of unaccompanied alien children who enter the country illegally,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“For too long, pernicious actors have exploited such children both before and after they enter the United States. Today’s action is a significant step toward ending this appalling abuse of innocents.”
Southwest Key has operated 27 residential shelters that provide temporary living arrangements for unaccompanied alien children in Texas, Arizona, and California, and has been the largest provider for such shelters for unaccompanied alien children in the United States.
Southwest Key operates such shelters through grants from the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Unaccompanied alien children are minors who enter the United States without parents or other legal guardians and without lawful immigration status in the United States.
In July 2024, the Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against Southwest Key, alleging that it had, through its employees, subjected unaccompanied alien children in its care to unlawful sexual harassment and abuse.
Out of continuing concerns relating to these placements, HHS has decided to stop placement of unaccompanied alien children in Southwest Key facilities, and to review its grants with the organization.
In view of HHS’ action, the Department of Justice has dismissed its lawsuit against Southwest Key.
“Securing our border and protecting children from abuse are among the most critical missions of the Department of Justice and the Trump administration,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
“Under the border policies of the previous administration, bad actors were incentivized to exploit children and break our laws: this ends now.”
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/protecting-uacs-from-abuse.html
Physicist maintains “alien” material found on seafloor
March 12, 2025
Loeb has even claimed that the fragments’ unusual chemical makeup could be evidence of an alien civilisation from another stellar system.
A fiery meteor broke up over the South Pacific Ocean on 8 January 2014, tracked by the US Department of Defense. Loeb’s team launched a controversial mission in 2023 to recover it.
But researchers led by John Hopkins University scientists have questioned seismic data linked to the meteorite.
As Cosmos reported yesterday, the John Hopkins-led research says that the seismic signal was not caused by the meteorite at all, but by a truck passing by the seismic station on Manus Island where the signals were detected.
Loeb, however, has responded, pointing Cosmos to a preprint paper, saying that “the expedition to retrieve the materials … was not dictated by the [seismic] data studied by Fernando et al. (2024)”.
He says the expedition’s location is in line with a “location box” determined by an assessment of the meteor’s velocity and trajectory by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) and that the seismometer data was only considered to “test consistency” with the CNEOS location box.
In any case, experts are sceptical that Loeb’s team uncovered material from an interstellar object. They say it is more likely that its composition is the result of pollution from Earth-based materials.
While Loeb says his team’s analysis of the chemistry of the spherules rules this out, other physicists say that proof of interstellar origin would be in dating the material and finding that it is older than the Sun.
https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astrophysics/physicist-alien-meteor-interstellar/
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.07696
Matt Laslo / AskaPol
EXCLUSIVE: UAPs did NOT come up in first Secrets Task Force meeting
Mar 07, 2025
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) — Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets
Ask a Pol asks:
Has the Secrets Task Force had any meetings yet?
Key Mace:
“We have, actually,” Rep. Nancy Mace exclusively tells Ask a Pol.
Did UAPs come up* or is this more JFK-focused initially?
“Initially the focus was, like, Epstein files, JFK, MLK — that kind of stuff.
That’s not to say it won’t include UAP, but it’s only for 6 months,” Mace says. “So we have a limited, finite amount of time.”
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CONFIRMED:
UAPs did NOT come up in first meeting of the Secrets Task Force, according to a leader of the Congressional UAP Caucus.
https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/uaps-excluded-from-secrets-task-force-inagural-meeting
Top Dem on Secrets Task Force Garcia wants UAP disclosure: "public always deserves the truth"
Mar 08, 2025
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) — Ranking Member, Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets
Ask a Pol asks:
What are you Democrats hoping to do with your slots on this new Secrets Task Force?
Key Garcia:
“I’m not interested in going down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories,” Rep. Garcia exclusively tells Ask a Pol.
“I’m interested in serious work based on evidence, facts and our ability to declassify important information. That’s what’s most important.”
Caught our ear:
“The New Jersey delegation is right in being concerned and wanting more information.
I’ve always believed that we’re always better off when we have more transparency and more openness than less,” Garcia tells us.
“The public always deserves the truth, and it’s in no one’s best interest to keep information, you know, hidden, especially if it’s not a national security issue.”
https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/public-always-deserves-truth