TYB
Russia attacks Ukraine's Kharkiv with drone: Strike recorded near residential area
Fri, July 18, 2025 - 18:30
Russian forces attacked Kharkiv with a drone on Friday, July 18.
A strike was recorded near a residential area, according to the Telegram channels of Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov and Head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Syniehubov.
"We have a strike by an unidentified type of UAV in the Kyivskyi district near a residential area. Preliminary reports indicate no casualties or destruction," Terekhov reported.
According to him, the consequences of the strike are currently being clarified. All relevant services are working at the scene.
Syniehubov stated that the crash, believed to be from an FPV drone, was recorded near a destroyed building.
Russian attacks on Ukraine on July 18
On the night of July 18, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine detected drones in the airspace over the Kharkiv region. In particular, explosions were heard in Izium.
Later, the Izium City Military Administration reported that a fire broke out after a drone struck the industrial zone of the community. There were no casualties.
That same night, Russian forces also attacked the Zaporizhzhia district with at least nine Shahed drones. The strikes caused fires, destroyed non-residential buildings, and one person was reported injured.
In addition, Russian forces carried out strikes with guided aerial bombs on the Stepnohirsk community in the Zaporizhzhia region. As a result of the attack, an elderly man was killed.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a man was killed and two others were injured in an overnight drone attack. Enemy drones also damaged a transport company.
In total, Russian forces launched 35 Shahed-type drones and decoy UAVs against Ukraine.
Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 11 drones in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Another six UAVs were either lost or suppressed by electronic warfare systems.
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-attacks-ukraine-s-kharkiv-with-drone-1752852607.html
They should whip us all up some gold as an apology, for starters
Shrapnel drones hit Sumy: Russian attack leaves several injured
Fri, July 18, 2025 - 16:05
Russian troops attacked Sumy with drones today, July 18.
At least one of the drones was equipped with shrapnel to cause more casualties, Acting Sumy Mayor Artem Kobzar and Head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration Oleh Hryhorov report.
"Today, our city was attacked again by a drone. It struck a non-residential building. The drone was equipped with shrapnel to cause maximum harm to people," Kobzar said.
Acting Sumy Mayor specified that at least two people were injured. They are currently hospitalized.
Kobzar added that emergency services are working at the site of the Russian attack. He promised to provide further information separately.
Meanwhile, Hryhorov said there were two strikes. The first drone hit the city around 1:00 p.m. local time, and the second about an hour later. Russian forces targeted civilian infrastructure.
"As a result of one of the strikes, three civilians were injured. All were taken to the hospital and are receiving necessary medical care," the Head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration added.
Russians use shrapnel in drones
On June 10, Yurii Ihnat, Head of the communications department of the Ukrainian Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stated that Russians equip Shahed drones with shrapnel warheads.
Ihnat explained that during the drone explosion, damaging elements spread over a large area, posing a deadly threat to civilians.
He also emphasized that this is why Ukrainians are asked not to go outside or stand near windows during attacks.
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/trump-urges-ukraine-to-go-on-offensive-here-1752842396.html
Restart of Kurdistan’s Oil Export Isn’t Imminent
Jul 18, 2025, 8:00 AM CDT
Despite Baghdad’s assurances that oil exports from Kurdistan will resume immediately after more than two years, the semi-autonomous Iraqi region isn’t prepared to restart exports, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Amid drone attacks on oilfields in Kurdistan this week, which have shut in about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in production, the federal Iraqi government said on Thursday that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would immediately begin delivering at least 230,000 bpd to Iraq’s state oil marketing firm SOMO for export.
The exports would be carried out under a new agreement approved by the federal cabinet, Baghdad said on Thursday.
However, a source close to APIKUR, the association of companies active in Kurdistan, told Reuters that the restart of exports depends on the receipt of written agreements.
Another source at the company operating the pipeline via Turkey to the Mediterranean coast of Ceyhan, KAR Group, told Reuters that there haven’t been any preparations for an imminent resumption of exports.
The federal government in Baghdad and the regional Kurdish government in Erbil have been squabbling for more than two years over who should be responsible for the oil exports and the subsequent revenue distribution.
The federal authorities say Baghdad should have sole discretion in handling oil exports and oil revenues.
Oil exports from Kurdistan have now been halted nearly two and a half years after they were shut in in March 2023 due to a dispute over who should authorize the Kurdish exports.
Despite some breakthroughs in negotiations in recent months, the disagreements apparently continue, and Kurdistan’s oil exports continue to be shut in.
Before the halt to exports, oil supply from Kurdistan averaged more than 400,000 bpd.
The issue with the resumption of exports was raised again this week after foreign companies operating some oilfields in the semi-autonomous region were forced to halt output following attacks with explosive-laden drones on infrastructure at the fields.
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Restart-of-Kurdistans-Oil-Export-Isnt-Imminent.html
Ukraine’s Air Defense downs 11 out of 35 Russian drones overnight
18.07.2025 09:36
Overnight on July 18, Ukrainian Air Defense Forces destroyed 11 out of 35 Russian drones launched, while six others were lost from radar tracking.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook.
"During the night of July 18 (starting at 21:30 on July 17), the enemy launched an attack using 35 strike UAVs of the Shahed type and various types of decoy drones from the areas of Millerovo and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia. Twenty-nine of them were Shaheds," the report states.
The primary targets of the attack were the front-line areas in eastern Ukraine.
Air defense was carried out by anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare (EW) units, drone systems, and mobile fire groups of Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
As of 8:30 on July 18, preliminary data indicate that air defense forces shot down 11 enemy Shahed drones (and other drone types) in the north and east of the country.
In addition, six decoy drones were either lost from radar tracking or suppressed by EW systems.
There were confirmed impacts from 18 UAVs at five locations, and debris from downed drones was recorded at two locations.
Read also: Injuries, damage reported as Russians attack Chuhuiv in Kharkiv region
According to earlier reports, in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Russian forces used four Shahed drones to attack a Nova Poshta facility, also damaging nearby residential buildings.
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4016278-ukraines-air-defense-downs-11-out-of-35-russian-drones-overnight.html
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/world-of-warcraft-20-anniversary-china-content
https://twitter.com/sz_mediagroup/status/1945800647867244753
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW9k-KmAOGg
Watch Blizzard's insane China drone show for World of Warcraft's 20th anniversary==
July 17, 2025
As seen on X (via @sz_mediagroup), a special drone show took place in Shenzhen, China, themed around World of Warcraft to honor the game's 20th anniversary.
It was an epic display with the drones recreating characters from the game like Arthas, Xal'atath, Chen Stormstout, and Alexstrasza, before forming a dragon from the Mists of Pandaria expansion and a logo of World of Warcraft's 20th Anniversary.
Around the same time, the operator of World of Warcraft's Chinese server operators, NetEase, hosted a livestream celebrating the game's 20th anniversary as well.
The stream opened with a ceremony of developers from Blizzard Entertainment thanking the Chinese fanbase for their support before discussing future content updates for the Chinese version of the game.
The first news update is that Chinese players will be able to speed level their characters through the World of Warcraft Classic: Cataclysm expansion, so they will be ready in time for World of Warcraft Classic: Mists of Pandaria.
Chinese players are still playing catch-up in Wrath of the Lich King Classic due to being held up by a brief shutdown of the game's servers as a result of Activision-Blizzard cutting ties with NetEase before renewing them.
While Mists of Pandaria Classic will be released for most of the world on July 21, 2025, China will be getting its hands on it between the Winter of 2025 and early Spring of 2026.
As an added bonus, Chinese players will have an opportunity to earn mounts and experience community events they weren't able to during the shutdown.
Additionally, NetEase has promised that World of Warcraft: Classic will get new "plus-like" content as a replacement for Season of Discovery (as it will not be returning due to time constraints and technical limits) that will be available in China and the rest of the world in the future.
NetEase has also announced that China will be getting a special server exclusive to that country in November 2025 called the Titan Reforged Server.
This server combines the content from vanilla World of Warcraft, The Burning Legion, and Wrath of the Lich King into a single game mode.
It is described as a "raid rush" where players will have accelerated levelling, so they can take on various past raids, which have been rescaled to Lv. 80.
All classic gear, tier sets, and reputations will scale for this server, and all class talents, spells, and abilities will use their Lv. 80 versions to help give players a fighting chance at beating these buffed-up raids.
Blizzard then announced that Chinese players will be able to play the highly anticipated, upcoming Legion Remix event, which is set to release globally sometime this year at an unspecified date.
All that is known about this event so far is that it will function similarly to Mists of Pandaria Remix, where it allows players to relive the Legion expansion with insane new powers and gear.
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However, Blizzard Entertainment has mentioned that Legion Remix will include a Diablo-inspired, new tier of open-world difficulty called "Shattered Timeline".
All we know about this difficulty mode is that players will be taken to an alternate timeline of Legion where "everything went worse".
Considering that the default version of Legion's plot involved a giant Burning Legion invasion, the deaths of several high-profile characters, and Sargeras piercing Azeroth with a mountain-sized sword, I can't imagine how things could get even worse from that.
But we'll have to wait and see to find out.
Blizzard Entertainment also states that Chinese players will get to experience World of Warcraft: The War Within's third major patch update at the same time as the rest of the world on August 14, 2025.
There will be a preview of a new 12-month subscription bundle featuring new mounts and pets (with China getting an expanded version with extra goodies).
The livestream then concluded with Blizzard Entertainment sharing heartwarming stories of several Chinese players and developers, while announcing that proceeds from charity pet sales, plus an additional one million yuan, will be donated to the AiEr Foundation to support children with hearing impairments.
We're less than a month away from the grand reveal for World of Warcraft's next expansion, World of Warcraft: Midnight, which will take place at Gamescom on August 19, 2025.
The reveal show will show off this upcoming PC title's opening cinematic, gameplay details, public demos for player housing, and much more.
I can't wait to see what exciting adventures await us in the next chapter of World of Warcraft's ongoing Worldsoul Saga, as I had a lot of fun with World of Warcraft: The War Within.
It's pretty cool that Chinese players will be able to get their characters in time for Mists of Pandaria Classic, as I'd imagine that expansion is pretty popular in China due to being largely inspired by Chinese myths and culture.
That being said, I am so jealous that Chinese players will be getting exclusive access to this Titan Reforged Server.
The idea of fighting the Lich King, rebalanced to fight Lv. 80 sounds awesome. I missed out on fighting him when Wrath of the Lich King first came out in 2008, so I never got to experience how difficult he was back then.
Hopefully, the Titan Reforged Servers will be made available worldwide in the future so we can all relive World of Warcraft's earliest, classic raid bosses rebalanced so that they'll pose a threat again, even to Lv. 80 players.
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https://mcity.umich.edu/michigans-air-mobility-research-corridor-to-advance-electric-air-travel-and-beyond-line-of-sight-drones/
Michigan’s air mobility research corridor to advance electric air travel and beyond-line-of-sight drones
July 18, 2025
ANN ARBOR—A flight corridor for testing drones and electric aircraft will link the University of Michigan’s one-of-a-kind autonomy research and proving ground facilities in Ann Arbor to Michigan Central’s real-world, urban testbed and innovation district in Detroit.
Announced today by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the roughly 40-mile research skyway will be the centerpiece of M-Air, a new public-private partnership U-M is launching for advanced air mobility.
M-Air is to be part of the existing public-private partnership Mcity, which provides a connected and automated vehicle test facility under the U-M Transportation Research Institute.
The state of Michigan is providing $1 million in anchor support for M-Air as part of a broader advanced air mobility initiative. “The next frontier of mobility is moving from land to sky, where drones and electric aerial vehicles can transform how we move people and goods.
Michigan Engineering’s M-Air partnership will play an important role in propelling the state to national leadership in advanced aviation technology and developing the workforce we need to sustain it,” said Karen Thole, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering and a professor of mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering.
The M-Air public-private partnership
M-Air will enable advanced air mobility researchers and companies to test their technologies in realistic environments, with a particular focus on beyond-line-of-sight operation of autonomous aircraft as well as battery powered aircraft that use vertical take off and landing (VTOLs), like helicopters.
Current regulations restrict most drones to within the range a pilot can see unaided, which limits their usefulness. Both drones and electric VTOLs have been identified as national priorities in a recent White House executive order.
“It is an exciting time in aerospace with the confluence of electric powertrain, distributed-propulsion-enabled new aircraft designs and autonomous operation.
There is an enormous cross-over of talent and technology between electric and automated vehicles and electric aircraft and drones,” said Venkat Viswanathan, the director of M-Air and an associate professor of aerospace engineering.
“Drones are already used in agriculture, insurance and infrastructure management, and as the tech stack matures, drones have the potential to be the cheapest, fastest way of transporting goods.
M-Air will help solve technical problems and help answer regulatory questions that will enable advanced aircraft to fulfill their potential.”
The effort is funded through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), with infrastructure support from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).
It will be an expansion to the Mcity test facility, which provides physical, remote, mixed-reality and fully simulated environments for testing connected and automated vehicles.
In addition to building and managing ground testing facilities, Mcity will manage user access for the flight corridor in partnership with MDOT and Michigan Central.
“MDOT continues to deliver on its mission to connect people and serve communities across all modes of transportation, and we are particularly excited to explore the safe integration of this novel aviation technology as one more mobility option for the citizens of Michigan,” said Bryan Budds, director of the MDOT Office of Aeronautics.
“Additionally, we look forward to working with the University of Michigan and communities along the corridor to ensure the thoughtful deployment of this technology in the region.”
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M-Air corridor and ‘iron bird’
M-Air’s new “iron bird” testbed facilities will enable users to demonstrate the flight performance of new batteries and motors on the ground before trial runs in the air.
The flight corridor will be outfitted with a drone traffic management system that meets national safety standards, enabling drones to share low-altitude airspace even beyond the operator’s line of sight.
It will also support swarm operations testing, with multiple drones working together on a shared objective.
The corridor will run through U-M Dearborn, providing access to the state-of-the-art facility to engineering faculty and students at a second U-M campus.
At its other end point, Michigan Central is a business incubator focused on advanced mobility, supporting start-ups and small businesses that may benefit from easy access to flight testing.
It’s also home to the Advanced Aerial Innovation Region, which focuses on commercial drone development.
“M-Air is Michigan’s launchpad for the next wave of autonomous flight,” said Ben Marchionna, chief innovation ecosystem officer at the MEDC.
“It gives researchers and founders a real-world airspace testbed to safely deploy, learn fast and get hardware ready to power Michigan’s next generation of innovative industries.
That’s the ‘Make It in Michigan’ promise: invent it, build it and grow it—without leaving the state.”
One way that U-M intends to use M-Air is to help advance the Michigan Medicine’s Survival Flight service, which transports patients and organs for transplant.
Already, helicopters could benefit from drone detection systems to prevent collisions in case drones stray into the wrong airspace.
And in the future, Survival Flight may use electric aircraft or smaller, lighter drones to transport organs and medicines.
“As an air medical team, Survival Flight is proud to support the launch of M-Air, which strengthens Michigan’s leadership in advanced mobility and supports a future where every second saved has the power to save a life.
By enabling real-world testing of beyond-line-of-sight and VTOL capabilities, M-Air will help ensure drones are safely and effectively integrated into critical response operations,” said Donna Robinson, director of Survival Flight.
Among its educational initiatives, M-Air will participate in the Perot Jain TechLab series, which enables students to collaborate with entrepreneurs.
That’s just one of the ways it will help incubate, attract and nurture aerospace startups and improve student experiential learning from K-12 to graduate education.
M-Air is currently finalizing its founding industry members. Members of M-Air will help guide the initial research directions as well as the construction of the testing facilities and corridor, identifying use cases and collaborating on grant proposals.
In addition to the $1 million from MEDC’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, U-M will contribute another $1 million.
Previously, the M-Air name belonged to a netted outdoor drone testing space near the aerospace engineering and robotics departments. That facility will now be called M-Air Net.
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https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/military/area-51-veterans-justice-cancer/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGHcyHD9loc
Area 51 veterans seek justice for contamination, cancer
Updated: Jul 17, 2025 / 06:37 PM CDT
Earlier this year, NewsNation brought you the story of a group of veterans who guarded our nation’s deepest secrets. Now they’re telling their own.
These men and women served on a classified military installation that encompassed the infamous Area 51. They now say they’re getting sick and dying without recognition.
Their work so secret, the Department of Defense has yet to acknowledge it; their records remain “Data Masked,” as if they were never there.
They tell NewsNation’s Natasha Zouves, this classification is preventing them from getting the care they need, and their health is deteriorating.
When we first aired our story in February of 2025, their memorial list stood at 446. Now, it is at 491. After our investigation aired, two bills were introduced to help these veterans: the Protect Act and the Forgotten Veterans Act.
They were invited to Washington, D.C. this month, where they laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and brought their fight directly to lawmakers — not just for themselves, but for the widows, children and fellow service members they say have already paid the price.
“If it wasn’t for NewsNation, I wouldn’t have been here today, and I mean that,” said veteran Dave Crete, speaking to us after the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
“It put [our story] in front of so many people, literally, my phone blew up. It was unprecedented. We had never been through something like that. We are all indebted, truly indebted.”
The invisible enemy
The Air Force veterans served in the mid 1980’s through 1990’s on the Nevada Test and Training Range — a classified site that encompasses Area 51 in the Nevada desert.
Dave Crete and the men and women he served alongside were hand-picked and tasked with top-secret work. They couldn’t even tell their spouses what they did every day.
“We couldn’t even tell them the weather,” said Crete.
“We’re just sitting around drinking beers,” recounted Groves. “I said, ‘You guys, I got this this lump on my back. Does anybody else got that?’ And Dave goes, ‘Yeah, I had a big one cut out.’”
Dave Crete says he had, in fact, developed more than 20 lipomas on his body, ranging from his forehead to his arms to his torso; one of them grew so large that it had to be excised from his back.
“I said, ‘Yeah, I had one of those. I had it removed. It was the size of a grapefruit,’” he recalls.
The veterans discovered that out of the eight men sitting around that backyard, six of them had developed tumors. Crete’s stomach dropped when the seventh man said, “I don’t have any, but my son was born with one.”
“It just kind of confirmed it. There was an issue where we were. That’s the one common denominator. We were all there,” said Groves.
“There” was the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). This remote site, known for its nuclear testing since the 1950s, both underground and atmospheric, hosted highly classified military operations.
The veterans still can’t talk about most of their work on the range, but the one declassified mission they can now disclose involves guarding the F-117 Nighthawk, America’s first stealth bomber.
The full scope of their work will likely never be known by the public, but Crete says he takes refuge in a conversation he had with the late Sen. John McCain.
“We never talked about what I had done, but I knew he knew. He was on the Senate Armed Services Committee, so he knew. And he came up to me and he says, ‘Your unit ended the Cold War.’
If you ever wanted a validation what you did was important, that’s just about it,” said Crete.
‘It’s a matter of betrayal‘
Veteran Mike Nemcic had the same tumors as his crewmates at the barbecue, starting around his eye, followed by multiple cancers.
“I was to the point where I felt forsaken. I thought, ‘My God has forsaken me,’” said Nemcic. Nemcic endured four bouts with cancer — throat, salivary gland, bladder and colon — starting at just 38 years old.
He says his biggest fear was leaving his young family behind without a father or provider.
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Nemcic is far from alone. Robert Krouse is a former DOD contractor who worked alongside these vets.
He endured two cancers, having 80% of his tongue removed along with his vocal cords and all of his teeth. He can’t speak and can’t eat. Despite this, he says he feels blessed to be alive.
“I have a feeding tube, but I saw friends who passed away or are paralyzed and can’t walk,” said Krouse. “I’m just blessed I’m functional but not as handy. I feel blessed. I’m much better off than some.”
Krouse says he “assumed it was safe,” as did all of these men and women. Documentation has been unearthed since their service showing what the government knew before deciding to send these Air Force members into the desert.
“It’s like a kick in the gut. It’s just a matter of betrayal,” said Nemcic. “These folks knew, and they purposefully kept it quiet because it was more beneficial to them not to tell us.”
What the government knew: An unearthed 1975 report
Before Pomp Braswell became a pro golfer and a Harlem Globetrotter, he served.
“You’re hand-picked, you know, you’re the top of the top,” said Braswell. “It felt very special, especially at a young age.
My mom knew absolutely zero about what I was doing. She knew there was a phone number if she needed to get ahold of me, that’s it.”
The Air Force vet is now fighting thyroid cancer.
“Our government knew that the area was contaminated. So knowing that, and they willfully put us there, that’s giving somebody a death sentence,” said Braswell.
Hundreds of nuclear weapons tests were conducted in the area of the range from the 1950s to the early 1990s. In the 1970s, the government began exploring the idea of building a military installation there to house classified projects.
A 1975 Environmental Report from the U.S. Energy Research & Development Administration acknowledges nuclear contamination — depleted uranium, beryllium and plutonium — present before these men and women were sent by the government to the range.
But the report adds, “Discontinuing the work done … would be against the national interest.” “It’s one thing to be ignorant or to be naive to not know,” said Dave Crete. “But they’ve understood for a long time.”
The issue is that now, these veterans are telling NewsNation their claims are being denied by Veterans Affairs, their work so top secret that their records from the DOD are what’s called “Data Masked.”
“I feel pushed aside,” said Braswell. “That our government has chosen to use national security as their excuse to not take care of the people who took care of them.” Crete has decided to go public despite the risks he believes could be involved.
He now runs The Invisible Enemy, a nonprofit fighting for government transparency, pushing for legislation that would provide medical treatment and compensation for military personnel and their families who were exposed to contamination at the Nevada Test and Training Range.
When we ran our investigation earlier this year, NewsNation reached out to the Department of Defense for answers.
We asked them about the 1975 Environmental Report and the veterans’ claims that their diseases are linked to contamination on the range.
We also asked why DOE workers received coverage and compensation when working on this identical site often for shorter hours, but these veterans have not.
The DOD said they would not comment and referred us to the Air Force. The Air Force said, “We don’t have any information available from that time frame.”
NewsNation went to Veterans Affairs. The VA told us there is no presumptive exposure for these veterans who served at the range, and these veterans will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to prove their illnesses are related to their service.
The vets tell us this is difficult, if not impossible, when their data is masked.
A ‘never in a lifetime’ moment
These veterans were invited to Washington, D.C., where they gathered for a solemn ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. There, they laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
“It was surreal. There was a banner on the wreath that said ‘The Invisible Enemy,’” Crete said, reflecting on the moment. “And then your thoughts go to all of our buddies that have already passed.
Yeah, you have to honor them. They can’t be there. And you’ve met some of these guys, they’re amazing people, so you have to honor them.”
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He wasn’t the only one moved by the moment.
“During the wreath laying, there was Paul, the guy that was standing next to me. I said, ‘Now tell me, this isn’t a once in a lifetime opportunity.’ He goes, ‘this is never in a lifetime opportunity.’
That’s the way he put it. And it’s true. This is never something that happens. And here we are.”
Crete says it hit him the moment he saw the NewsNation crew arrive: “When I woke up this morning, I was getting pretty nervous.
When I saw the crew walking up from NewsNation, it was a pretty heavy moment. I just stood there by myself because you knew it was happening.
So I just stand off by myself for a while and thought about what I needed to do.”
Taking the fight to Congress
The room was silent as Dave Crete spoke at the House Veterans Committee roundtable that same week. After the NewsNation investigation aired, for the first time, they had a seat at the table.
“I struggle telling our story, we are a proud group of veterans,” Crete said to the lawmakers in the room. “I get the calls from the widows.
They’re terrible phone calls, as they tell me what happened to their spouses. All of the widows experience the same thing. Mine will as well.”
Crete said they are not looking for money, they are looking to not be erased.
“We’re not talking about making somebody rich,” he said. “We’re just talking about making them not forgotten.” The veterans are hopeful that there is a path forward with legislation.
Two bills have now been introduced that has the potential to help them, but the question remains if they will find bipartisan support and the momentum they need to pass.
Ranking Member Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) invited Dave Crete and the Invisible Enemy to the roundtable. After watching the NewsNation investigation, he says he felt compelled to act.
“Frankly I was pissed off. It was infuriating. Heartbreaking,” said Rep. Takano. “Every American who saw the story and the exposé that you all did on Dave Crete and the Area 51 veterans should be angry, it should make them want to demand that our government does something.
I think we need to move more quickly than we are.”
Congressman Takano is now renewing his call for a full congressional hearing on the matter.
“I’m a little frustrated. I called on the chairman to hold hearings on Area 51 and I still reiterate that call for the chairman to do that. I believe this is deserving of a full hearing by the Veterans Affairs Committee,” said Rep. Takano.
Dave Crete hopes political will and presidential action will follow.
Speaking into a microphone in front of the Congressional roundtable, Crete described a litany of serious health issues he faces today, from brain atrophy and a brain cyst to 20 tumors throughout his body, including his thyroid and lungs.
He told NewsNation that mortality is never far from his mind. He is 60 years old now. The average age on the memorial list is 65.
For Crete, this isn’t just a policy issue. It’s a promise to those he served alongside, hunkered down for days in secret in the windswept desert.
“These people I served with are the greatest people I’ve ever known, many of these people are my heroes,” said Crete. “To be able to do something for them is incredible.
It’s the highest honor. In the end, if [these bills] pass, it means I did something that made a difference for somebody other than myself. I was a part of something greater than me. And that leaves a legacy.”
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SCOOP: Burlison & Rounds in talks about adding UAPDA to NDAA
Jul 18, 2025
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) — Member, Congressional UAP Caucus, Oversight Committee & Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets
Ask a Pol asks:
In light of all these Congressional UAP Caucus roadblocks of late — SCIF briefings postponed, fearful whistleblowers and the cancelation of a public July hearing — where do you see the House Oversight Committee’s UAP investigation going from here?
Key Burlison:
“We're building for the disclosure document to be put into the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act]. I'm working with Senator [Mike] Rounds (R-SD).
I think that that will be transformative,” Rep. Eric Burlison exclusively tells Ask a Pol.
And this is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s UAPDA — or UAP Disclosure Act?
“Yeah,” Burlison says.
Are you guys tweaking it?
“I'm open to making changes if people can identify how it can be improved,” Burlison says. “But the Senator has done a lot of work on this, and I'm just trying to do my part in the House.”
SHORT: Burlison not negotiating with Schumer…
David Grusch has met with AARO twice this year
“[David Grusch] and I met with AARO,” Burlison says. “And separately he and AARO had a long conversation.“
Caught our ear:
“It's my hope that now that we have a different Intel chair that we'll have a different outcome,” Burlison tells us. “I've already had conversation with [new House Intel Committee] Chairman [Rick] Crawford. He seems open to help.”
Whereas fmr. Intel Chair Mike Turner wouldn’t even discuss it.
“No,” Burlison says.
So already there it's night and day difference?
“Yes,” Burlison says. “Yes.”
https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/scoop-burlison-and-rounds-in-uapda-talks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsE-26_s5PI
Lewis Capaldi weighs in on viral 'Falkirk Triangle' on US podcast
July 18, 2025
LEWIS Capaldi has weighed in on the UFO phenomenon known as the "Falkirk Triangle" – after being quizzed by a US podcaster on the subject.
Capaldi joined podcast host Theo Von in New York to talk about his return to touring after taking two years off, give an update on his mental health, and "why so many UFOs are showing up in Scotland".
The local sensation – which includes Bonnybridge and Camelon – first began to gain attention in 1992 with the area laying claim to around 300 sightings a year.
Reported sightings became so prolific that councillor Billy Buchanan lobbied several UK prime ministers over the years, asking that an investigation be launched.
A family out for a walk on a March evening in 1992 spoke of witnessing a basketball-sized blue light hovering on the back road from Hallglen to Bonnybridge and claimed to hear a sound similar to a "door opening" followed by a "howl".
A video of an orange oval light above Falkirk, changing shape to becoming a white disc – the classic "flying saucer" shape – then disappearing suddenly was captured in October 1996. The clip went viral worldwide.
Von was astonished that Capaldi was not aware of the accounts, stating: "The Falkirk Triangle is a region in central Scotland renowned as one of the world's most active UFO hotspots.
"You didn't know that?" Von asked. Capaldi responded: "I didn't know that. People haven't like … it's not become a real … it's not as famous as …", while looking lost as to what to say.
The Scots star added: "You'd think you'd be able to catch them. If 300 are happening a year in the area, you'd be able to wait out and be like, OK, they're coming at some point, do you know what I mean? That's mad though. I never knew that."
The pair went on to theorise on what was drawing the supposed UFOs to the area, with Von saying: "I wonder if there's something in Scotland that leads to it. Is it the diet?"
Capaldi laughs, before telling the host about the controversial "Glasgow effect" – a term which refers to the lower life expectancy of residents of Glasgow compared to the rest of the UK – art project.
The project, which sparked a row in 2016 when an artist was awarded £15,000 from Creative Scotland to deliberately stay within the confines of the city while monitoring its impact on her art, was at the time described as "a poverty safari", Capaldi states.
While many of the eerie accounts in the Falkirk area– which range from seeing "big, black and cigar-shaped" objects to "a bright light criss-crossed by stripes of different colours" – are thought to be misidentifications caused by planes, satellites, weather balloons or planets, some simply can't be explained.
One theory posited by ufologists is that the Falkirk Triangle could contain a window into another dimension, other worlds, the past or the future.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25323227.lewis-capldi-weighs-viral-falkirk-triangle-us-podcast/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_B5vful8KQ
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMKU-NAo_T7/
In a cosmic first, astronomers spot a new planet system being born around an alien star
July 18, 2025
For the first time ever, scientists have captured incredible images of an alien star system being born.
The image shows the very earliest moments of planet formation, when hot minerals are just beginning to solidify around a distant star, according to a statement.
The researchers published their findings July 16 in the journal Nature.
Two telescopes worked together to reveal outflows of hot minerals around HOPS-315, which is a baby star like our sun roughly 1,300 light-years from Earth.
Initially, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) spotted "stuff coming from close to the star, but it wasn't in the planet-forming region," study co-author Edwin Bergin, a star formation specialist at the University of Michigan, told Live Science.
His team then used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which is a set of antennas in the Chilean desert, to trace the outflow back to the protoplanetary disk — the dense disk of matter around a young star, where clumps of gas and dust can collapse into larger objects like planets.
"Then that unlocked everything," Bergin said. It's the first time that planet-forming solids have ever been detected, he said – which could help researchers better understand how our own solar system was born.
Our solar system came into existence roughly 4.5 billion years ago in a cloud of gas and dust.
As our sun formed and evolved, other materials gradually condensed into small solids, which grew by colliding and accreting into asteroids and comets, then in some cases, planetesimals and planets.
The very earliest phases of this process are tough to spot in other systems, Bergin said, and the phase lasts just 100,000 to 200,000 years, he noted.
But learning more about what happens in this moment is crucial, because when minerals begin to condense, organics also form.
The new image shows carbon monoxide – represented in orange – blowing away from the star in a butterfly-shaped outflow, with a blue jet of silicon monoxide shining like an alien spine.
A disk of gaseous silicon monoxide surrounding the area was also revealed, just as the gas was solidifying into silicates.
Earth and similar rocky planets like it formed as silicates and carbon came together, Bergin explained.
Other research using ancient meteorites – formed in this same era – show these space rocks are full of crystalline minerals, containing silicon monoxide.
These solids are always moving about in the hot and windy conditions of a young star system, creating a rich environment for rocks to bind to each other.
"The story of planetary formation is the story of motion and movement," Bergin noted. The researchers are hoping to use ALMA again to probe other young star systems that may have similar outflows, he added.
https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/in-a-cosmic-first-astronomers-spot-a-new-planet-system-being-born-around-an-alien-star
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09163-z
Aliens of northern New Mexico: Dead elk and the Dulce base
Fri, July 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM PDT
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Roswell is well-known for its alleged alien activity, but other parts of the state have lesser-known histories of their own.
On this week’s episode of New Mexico Strange, News 13 Host and Anchor Chad Brummett sat down with Author Ben Radford to discuss the unusual death of an entire herd of elk near Las Vegas, New Mexico, and the rumored underground UFO base in Dulce.
While attending a Roswell UFO event, Radford learned about an alleged alien base in Dulce, New Mexico. The theory is that there is a seven-level underground base in the mountains outside of Dulce.
That base is thought to host top-secret government meetings and research, employing thousands. While the concept may sound far-reaching to some, others claim to have seen it in action or even to have worked on its construction.
Taking the conversation east to Las Vegas, New Mexico, Radford and Brummett discuss how, in August 2013, a hunter stumbled upon the remains of more than 100 dead elk.
The animals were not mutilated, nothing toxic was found in their stomachs, and no toxic plants were located nearby, so, with no signs of foul play, what happened to the elk?
Amid theories of UFOs, mutilations, and even chupacabras, the herd’s death was shrouded in mystery. But tissue and water sample testing revealed the true culprit: pond scum.
One particular type of blue-green alga, “Anabaena flos-aquae,” can form in standing water and can eventually produce the neurotoxin “anatoxin-A.”
That toxin blocks receptors in certain types of animals and results in respiratory arrest within minutes to hours. In the case of this herd, the algae formed in three fiberglass livestock watering tanks located near the elk.
On this episode of New Mexico Strange, Radford and Brummett discuss some of the claims and logistics surrounding these alien conspiracy theories.
About New Mexico Strange
New Mexico is perceived worldwide as a mecca for the extraordinary. Whether it’s the healing soil of Chimayo, the haunted trails of the Old West, or visitors from the final frontier, our state is home to countless myths and mysteries.
New Mexico Strange is KRQE News 13’s online exclusive web series, celebrating our unique history and shedding light on the shadows of the unexplained, unexplored, and unknown.
Hosted by Chad Brummett, New Mexico Strange takes viewers through some of the Land of Enchantment’s most mysterious folklore and conspiracies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/aliens-northern-mexico-dead-elk-120000631.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVb_730hPuc
The EVIDENCE that proves the existence of NON-HUMAN bases on the Moon
Jul 17, 2025
In this shocking episode of Interstellar, Jaime Maussan presents new evidence and analysis of unexplained anomalies on the lunar surface.
Is it possible that artificial structures, intelligent lights, or remnants of non-human technology are present on our natural satellite?
Astronaut testimonies, satellite images, and declassified archives intersect to reveal that the Moon holds secrets that could change human history.
🛸 The truth is closer than you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kOwS0zG7CE
Interdimensional Aliens Are Real - Top UFO Disclosure Experts Revelation
Jul 16, 2025
Linda Moulton Howe, Paul Hynek, Thomas Winterton, Stephen Bassett, Daniel Sheehan, and Dan Harary.
Moderated by Serena Wright Taylor, this electrifying panel discussion, features some of the most trusted voices in UFO disclosure, united to unravel the complex web of extraterrestrial contact, multidimensional phenomena, and elite cover-ups.
From Skinwalker Ranch anomalies to the evolution of consciousness, the dialogue cuts deep into forbidden knowledge.
Linda Moulton Howe reveals government involvement in interdimensional research, while Danny Sheehan speaks candidly about the legal walls around disclosure.
Paul Hynek adds historical gravity through his father’s Project Blue Book legacy.
This panel is a convergence of science, spirituality, and shadow politics—where the fight for truth is not just global, but interdimensional.
00:00 Welcome to the Disclosure Frontier
04:20 Skinwalker Ranch Anomalies Unveiled
11:40 Are They Dimensional, Not Extraterrestrial?
18:05 Government Knowledge and Legal Barriers
27:00 Ancient Sites and Frequency Portals
36:45 Project Blue Book—The Hidden Files
46:20 Consciousness as the Real Battlefield
56:00 Shifting Human Perception
1:05:10 Behind the Curtain of Military Tech
1:15:00 The Real Purpose of Disclosure
1:28:50 Final Messages from the Panelists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSmY-Hr4GyE
https://consciouslifeexpo.com/