News Desk

The Army is accelerating procurement of 30x113mm XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) rounds for its fleet of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The move comes as the service is looking to enhance the aircraft’s burgeoning role as a counter-drone platform, something The War Zone has covered frequently. These shells, fired by the Apache’s chin-mounted M230 cannon, will add to its drone-killing arsenal, giving it a cheaper and more plentiful engagement option than some of the alternatives. You can read all about the XM1225 APEX round in our previous coverage here.

Seeing a growing need for these rounds, the Army went to Northrop Grumman, which makes them, and asked them to boost production, said Maj. Gen. Clair A. Gill, commander of the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He was speaking during the Army Aviation Association of America’s Army Aviation Warfighting Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, which TWZ was in attendance.

“We had had 600 rounds total,” Gill explained. “They produced 1,000 already this month and can produce another 1,000 and will ramp their rate up to probably five times that.”

The company could not immediately comment about this effort.

The specialized APEX ammunition works by detonating only when it is close to an object, then it explodes in a spray of shrapnel. This is critical to shooting down drones, which are small, independently moving targets. These rounds could also be used against surface targets like personnel, soft-skinned vehicles, and small boats, where they would provide unique area effects compared to the Apache’s standard impact-detonating, high-explosive ammunition.

Earlier this year, we reported that Apaches live-fire tested the ammo last December at the service’s sprawling Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) in southern Arizona. 

“The Apache Attack Helicopter AH-64 has reached a new milestone in battlefield capability with the successful live fire test” of the APEX ammunition, the Army said in a February news release. “In December 2025, the Apache demonstrated its first-ever air-to-air engagement using 30mm proximity ammunition against unmanned aircraft systems targets at various ranges, showcasing the precision, versatility, and lethality of this advanced ammunition.”

The Army added that the Apex cartridge “is designed to counter modern threats, including UAS, exposed personnel and small boats, without requiring modifications to the Apache’s M230 Area Weapon System or fire control system.”

The M230LF Bushmaster Chain Gun | XM914

As we have pointed out in the past, these rounds require little additional training for Apache crews, because their ballistic properties are nearly identical to the M789 high-explosive dual-purpose (HEDP) rounds already fielded, which use an impact/grazing fuze to command detonation.

An additional benefit is that self-destructing proximity fuzed rounds mitigate some of the dangers of attacking drones with ammunition that will keep traveling for long distances if it doesn’t hit a target. This is a frequent occurrence with standard high-explosive or incendiary cannon rounds.

While the Israeli Air Force pioneered the counter-drone role for the AH-64 for years, the U.S. Army has formally codified it and added new capabilities in the process. A five-fold boost in procurement is a strong indication that the Army sees the value of the APEX rounds for these missions.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com.

Subscribers to the recently new service have a new title to check out but it is not for everyone

Fans are going to love this new dark romantic comedy-drama film.

The movie Pillion only hit cinemas last year, but it has already been released on at least two platforms. Not only is it available to those with a standalone subscription to the latest service, HBO Max, but it can also be accessed by those with Sky Cinema or a Movies Pass on the NOW platform.

According to its synopsis, the film follows Colin, a timid man who meets Ray, an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker who sweeps him off his feet. He soon initiates him into a submissive relationship.

This challenges Colin’s mundane existence and prompts personal growth through their unconventional dynamic. Harry Melling, best known for playing Dudley Dursley in the original Harry Potter films, takes on the role of Colin, while True Blood, Succession, and Murderbot actor Alexander Skarsgård plays Ray.

Upon its initial release, the film was a big hit with critics, earning a near-perfect 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. One review claimed: “Pillion is a bold, bawdy film told through small looks and big feelings. It broke my heart and put it back together again.”

Although another warned, “Pillion isn’t a film for everyone. But those who know what it means to grovel for their beloved…will find in a subject for analysis in Pillion’s erratic relationship and outlandish romance.”

Another agreed but also highlighted how it handles its subject matter. The reviewer penned: “While the cringe is strong (and deliberate) in many scenes of Pillion, Lighton makes it clear that kink isn’t an embarrassing detour for Colin — it’s how he comes to know himself. For him, in a very real sense, submission becomes empowering.”

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Fans who have already seen the film have been left just as impressed. One person shared their views online, saying: “Unforgettable film in so many ways. Yes, it’s explicit, but that isn’t the lasting footprint of this film. I left the cinema having been enlightened, embarrassed, happy, and so very sad.

“It’s a masterclass in the subtlety of truly great acting where so few words are needed to elicit such emotion from an audience. There won’t be Oscar nominations as it’s a small, independent film with a small budget, but there really, really should be.”

While someone else commented, “A beautiful, unflinching look at queer BDSM life. While it might not be for some (the faint-hearted), it is soulful enough to warrant consideration of anyone capable of empathetic, non-discriminatory understanding of joy in all relationships, and ultimately how fleeting and precious it is.”

One person added their verdict and posted: “It is a rare film, dealing with a theme seldom explored in cinema and, above all, very raw. I have seen some opinions suggesting that the ending was unpleasant. For me, the ending was one of the best parts.”

Pillion is streaming on HBO Max, Sky Cinema and NOW for those with a movies pass.

Frenchman Herve Renard, who won AFCON with Zambia and Ivory Coast, departs Saudi role despite World Cup qualification.

Frenchman Herve Renard has been relieved of his duties as Saudi Arabia coach, less than two months before the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in North America.

The 57-year-old had returned for a second spell as Saudi coach at the end of 2024, having led them at the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar.

“That’s football … Saudi Arabia have qualified for the World Cup seven times, including twice with me,” Renard told the news agency AFP on Friday.

“And there’s only one coach who has led them through both the qualifiers and the World Cup; that’s me, in 2022. At least there will be that sense of pride.”

Renard, a two-time Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner with Zambia and the Ivory Coast, was in charge of Saudi Arabia from 2019 to 2023 before being replaced by Italian coach Roberto Mancini.

From 2023 to 2024, he served as coach of the France women’s team and reached the quarterfinals of both the 2023 Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Ex-Morocco coach Renard was later brought back by Saudi Arabia to succeed Mancini, as the Italian left his role after an underwhelming 14-month stint.

Former Greece international Georgios Donis is reportedly being lined up as the man to take over from Renard. A source close to the negotiations told AFP that talks are under way between the federation and Saudi club Al Khaleej, where Donis has been in charge since 2024.

Saudi Arabia are in Group H at the 2026 World Cup, alongside two former champions, Spain and Uruguay, and debutants Cape Verde. All their group games are scheduled to be played across the United States.

The Arab nation has made six World Cup appearances, with a round of 16 finish in 1994 in the US their best result thus far.

The Saudi team suffered a group-stage exit in the last World Cup in 2022, but made headlines worldwide with a shock 2-1 group win over eventual champions Argentina.

Saudi Arabia is also due to host the 2034 World Cup.

⁠Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola ⁠has called Sunday’s Premier League clash with leaders Arsenal a final, saying defeat would end his side’s title hopes before the much-anticipated showdown at the Etihad Stadium.

City trail Arsenal by six points but have a game in hand, ⁠and victory would cut the gap while ramping up the pressure as the race enters its decisive phase.

Guardiola, however, said there was little room for error, acknowledging that anything less than three points would leave his team facing too steep a climb.

“Yes, obviously,” the Spaniard added on whether he sees ⁠the game as a final. “If we lose, it is over.”

Despite the fine margins, Guardiola said City are confident, stressing that belief is crucial at this stage of the season.

“If you could buy confidence in a supermarket, we would buy it immediately. It is one of the most important aspects,” he told a news conference. (Our confidence) is good. We are ready,” he added.

“A month ago, because we dropped points in moments, I thought we would not be here. (But) we ‌saw the calendar and said, ‘OK, we play Arsenal at home for a chance. It is six points. It is not a short distance, but we have a chance to do it.’

“That is the situation we are in. It depends on our behaviour, and everything will be said on Sunday. Our fans have sold out. Everything is perfect to play a game.”

Guardiola said Nico O’Reilly, who scored twice in City’s 2-0 League Cup final win over Arsenal, is fit after he left last weekend’s game at Chelsea clutching his left hamstring.

Solid Man City form sows unease among Arsenal fans

That thrilling victory was part of a solid City run of form, including a 4-0 throttling of Liverpool in the FA Cup ⁠quarterfinals. They have not lost a league game since mid-January.

City’s results have begun to sow unease among Arsenal ⁠fans.

“If we play like the second half (of the League Cup final) during 95 minutes and they play like the second half, we are going to win. Well, maybe not, because football is unpredictable,” Guardiola said.

“I know (Arsenal manager) Mikel (Arteta). They are going to adjust something, and we have to prepare to do it. In the end, it is more simple. It ⁠is how your players individually win the me-against-you.”

Guardiola insisted City must still raise their level if they are to sustain a title push through the final weeks.

“We need to get even better,” he said. “The first half against ⁠Chelsea (a 3-0 win on Sunday) was not bad but not great. The first 30 minutes ⁠against Liverpool was not good either. The first 30 minutes against Arsenal in the final, they were better.

“You cannot pretend that these kind of teams will be 90 or 95 minutes perfect, but this one aspect is not about the future, present or past, it’s about confidence, which is an incredible aspect.”

Asked if City are underdogs, Guardiola played down the label. “I understand ‌your message, but maybe we’re not,” he said. “They have been the best so far, but we want to challenge them.

“I said today to the players, it is just a football game, and we have to approach it like a football game. If you get distracted by emotions, that is ‌how ‌you lose focus.”

Guardiola said City remain proud to still be challenging on multiple fronts, even if Sunday’s result could prove decisive.

“We will see what happens,” he said. “But it is never over until it’s over, and we are still here. I am proud to be there, still challenging them.”

There’s a couple somewhere in Los Angeles who unknowingly inspired the second season of “Beef.”

Lee Sung Jin, the creator of Netflix’s anthology drama that swirls in the consequences of class struggles, resentment and the absurdity of life’s curveballs, once again found himself inspired by a tense interaction playing out before him. A road rage incident at a stoplight in Hollywood a few years ago, triggered by Lee’s delayed response to a green light, became the catalyst for the first season. An early idea to write about a men’s doubles partnership gone awry lost its luster after “Challengers,” Luca Guadagnino’s drama about a love triangle between tennis pros, came out. But a heated argument coming from a house in Lee’s neighborhood became the next spark that lit a narrative fuse.

“I told the story to people — it caused a little stir in the neighborhood,” he says. “And what I found fascinating was the different reactions. When I told younger folks, I’d get, ‘Did you call the police? Should you go check on them again?’ Very concerned, having an ideological view on relationships. When I told the story to older friends and couples, they were just kind of like, ‘Who among us hasn’t?’ I thought the idea of juxtaposing these couples at different stages felt like ripe ground.”

The overheard in L.A. moment inspired the eight-episode season,

Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac square off with Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny in Season 2 of “Beef.”

(Netflix)

The twist-filled, darkly comic thriller kicks off when a young couple, Ashley and Austin (Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton), who work at a Montecito country club, witness the explosive altercation between their boss Josh (Oscar Isaac) and his wife, Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), an interior designer, the night before the club’s new Korean billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), takes over. She has her own mess to tend to involving her husband (Song Kang-ho), a doctor whose health is affecting his work on patients. The calamities each couple faces spin out into a web of favors and coercion in this tale of broken systems and characters going to great lengths to get what they want.

“The idea of cycles felt interesting,” he says. “A lot of shows and movies cover marriage through the lens of one couple, you don’t really see that multigenerational juxtaposition.”

Speaking from his office on the Raleigh Studios lot in Hollywood, Lee discussed the season’s Montecito setting, the financial anxiety that drives the story and the four-legged breakout star of the show. These are edited excerpts from the conversation, which includes many spoilers.

Why did you want to set this season in Montecito?

Just writing what I know. My goddaughters — their parents are my best friends. They live in Montecito. The dad is my oldest friend in LA. He has a membership to Montecito Club, which is where we shot the exterior of our show. I was house-sitting for him during the writing of all this. He let me use his membership. I remember when he told me about the membership, I was like, “You pay how much? That’s insane, dude.” But then you start using the membership. This idea of hedonic adaptation — how humans so quickly adapt to this new comfort, this new stimulus — it felt like an interesting thing. I was observing how all the members seemed to be mostly boomers and Silent Gen; then all the workers were Gen Z and millennial. I thought: What a perfect metaphor for society right now. No matter how hard the Gen Z and millennials work, they’re never going to get to be members of this club because, as Austin says, “everyone grabbed the bag before they could.” That’s what made me want to set it at a Montecito country club.

Oscar Isaac as Josh Martin and Carey Mulligan as Lindsay Crane-Martin. Cailee Spaeny as Ashley Miller and Charles Melton as Austin Davis. The second season of “Beef,” follows the two California couples from different socioeconomic backgrounds — though both are struggling — as they spiral into a high-stakes feud. (Netflix)

That feeling of survival and resentment and entitlement really looms over this season. There’s speeches about love, but also capitalism. The anxiety about finances is so prevalent right now.

We certainly didn’t set out to make a season about capitalism. But if you’re constantly trying to chase truth as writers, I don’t know how you say anything in the modern era, in 2026, and not have capitalism be a huge variable because it permeates every aspect of life. It’s like going to get gas. Gas is almost $7 right now. You have to fill your tank and there goes $140? That’s crazy. And relationships face so much stress — everyone is being hit by all these curveballs and trying to keep your head above water — how can you enjoy each other?

It became very obvious to us that if you’re going to write a season about marriage and love to these two couples, financial implications have to be a big factor. There’s a lot of talk about the disappearance of the American dream right now. Birth rates are declining. No one’s owning homes anymore. But then you also see headlines about everyone’s scamming. CVS has everything locked down. You’re like, “Yeah, no wonder.” Everything’s connected. We wanted to really show how that survival instinct, the desperation, is starting to come for everyone. I don’t think it’s going to get easier, especially with AI moving on the horizon, and with leaders who refuse to put checks and balances in place.

Part of Ashley’s story is using the video of the fight between Josh and Lindsay as blackmail to get health insurance so she can afford treatment for her endometriosis. And that moment where she’s waiting in the ER for hours and it’s not until she collapses that they realize she needs emergency surgery — her big concern is whether she has to pay the deductible.

I wrote that episode in a literal day because it was based on an experience I had in an ER with my daughter’s mother. She had this illness fall upon her. We spent 12 hours at the ER and, the whole time, I had my Notes app out and was just writing down everything I saw. Almost everything in that scene is stuff that happened in real life. Our healthcare system is absolutely insane. It’s, again, unhinged capitalism and … felt like it really unlocked so much of the season.

There’s a moment where Josh has to sell some of his prized possessions to pay a gambling debt. Have you been there, needing to sell things to cover your financial obligations?

I’ve been there multiple times. I obviously struggled to find my way for a long time, even after becoming a writer. If you’re in a writing partnership, in a staff job on a show — first of all, this is what the guild has been fighting, trying to get these longer-term employment windows because these jobs sometimes are only … maybe eight to 12 weeks. You’re splitting a staff salary in two [if you’re in a partnership], and you probably haven’t qualified for health insurance by the end of that run. Sure, you’re a working writer, but I remember [by the time I landed at] “Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” my first real writing job, I had amassed so much debt, half of which were from parking tickets. I just didn’t have the money to pay these tickets, and so I just let them run rampant. So, yeah, I’ve been there. There’s this one guitar that I loved; it was the first guitar I bought with my own money after college — it was a Fender Telecaster. I think I bought it for $1,200. I ended up selling it for $300. I’ve sold collectibles. I’ve sold anything that had gold in it. I’ve scrapped to just find anything because you’re desperate.

Song Kang-ho as Dr. Kim, Youn Yuh-jung as Chairwoman Park in “Beef.” Recalling the opportunity to direct the pair, Lee says: “It just makes me feel like a little kid again. It stops feeling like work and starts feeling like play.”

(Netflix)

You directed this season. Is there a moment that stands out with this cast?

A peak of my career that I think about daily is the moment in Korea where we were shooting at Amorepacific. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings in Seoul. I’m shooting the scene between the great Youn Yuh-jung and the great Song Kang-ho — two of not only my favorite Korean actors, but favorite actors period. They have never been in a scene together in any Korean film ever. They’ve been in a movie together, but never acted together. And here we are making Korean history by having them shoot that breakfast scene and, while I’m in the middle of shooting that scene, director Bong Joon Ho surprises us on set. He comes over laughing, pulls up to me, looks at my monitor, gives me stage fright, then elbows me and says, “You sure you want to frame it like that?” He was teasing. Then we started shooting the scene, it’s all in Korean, and I look back at video village and Bong’s just doubled over in laughter. He is just cracking up. Younger me, and present me, is looking around like: Here I am in Korea, in this building I’ve always wanted to shoot in, two of the greatest living actors and the greatest living director — what is happening? What a crazy sentence to say. It just makes me feel like a little kid again. It stops feeling like work and starts feeling like play.

How did you want race and identity to figure into this season, particularly through Austin?

Charles was the first piece of the whole thing. After Season 1, I got to go to Korea multiple times. I shot a music video for one of the members of BTS. I was experiencing Austin’s journey of being courted by this level of Korea that I’d never been exposed to before and feeling warm and allured by it — I’m having dinners with K-pop idols, like what is happening? So, I knew I wanted to have that element of elite Korea involved. The writers and I discussed a lot whether it should be a Korean American that’s being pulled. We had covered a lot of Korean American ground in Season 1, [but] one of the things we didn’t get to cover is the half-Korean experience. Several of the writers on staff are either half-Asian or half-Korean. We don’t want to repeat things, but let’s do explore a half-Korean character who is about to have a child suddenly get this pull toward Korea.

Carey Mulligan as Lindsay acting alongside Jones, the dog who plays Burberry, in “Beef.” “Jones is the best dog actor I’ve ever worked with,” Lee says. “A24 is making Burberry merch. There’s going to be a Burberry shirt.”

(Netflix)

There are some pretty gross, petty and violent acts of revenge. One is Ashley swirling her period blood in Josh and Lindsay’s pitcher of orange juice. The other takes place during a flight — Lindsay wiping gunk from the toilet seat and transferring it to the rim of the cup Ashley drinks from. Please explain how you arrived at these acts. Were there any left on the cutting room floor?

Episode 4 was pouring out of me. And I remember I got to the point where Ashley snooping through the house [where Lindsay and Josh live]. Initially, I had her scratching up the trophy. She opened Josh’s pomade and blew a snot booger into it. I was thinking of juvenile things. But I had the thought of her going to the kitchen and having the thing that happened to her being the expression of her revenge. I remember I was so nervous to show the [writers’] room. The way I wrote it, I had her crouching over the pitcher and Anna Moench, as the main female writer on the show, was like, “Sonny, I don’t think you know this works.” So, we revised it. That’s how the OJ one happened. With Episode 7 [and the toilet seat], we wanted to have a bodily episode on a plane, and there’s just such limited ways to get revenge on a plane. But given the OJ drink — there’s so many mirrors between the two couples, we thought it’d be fun to mirror that with a drink from Lindsay to Ashley. The only place to do that on a plane is bathroom. We shot it on stage with a fake toilet and Carey was almost vomiting. She came to me after that scene, and she goes, “Sonny, in all my years in this business, that is the most vile, disgusting thing I’ve ever had to do.”

The final moments of the finale jumps eight years. Did you always know you wanted a time jump? And did you always know Ashley and Austin were going to repeat the cycle?

The Ashley and Austin side, I knew the inverse graph for both characters would be very satisfying — to me, at least. I didn’t know whether that happened in a time jump or not. That’s something we discovered later. There was great debate in the room. I had a couple writers plead with me, “Why aren’t you ending with the kiss? It’s so sweet. It’s so good. I feel so good at the kiss. Can we just end it at the kiss?” I took it very seriously, but then it felt very similar to Season 1’s ending. Taking two people who start apart and they finally discover that connection but too late. I didn’t want to leave with the same feeling. How we can make it different is the “what happens next?” Life comes at you fast. He’s [Josh] still in prison. She’s [Lindsay] got to move on. Once I started heading down that thought experiment, I’m like, “Whoa, you could do a whole coda showing the literal theme of the show, the cycles, that’s where we can show Ashley and Austin becoming Josh and Lindsay.” That’s where we show, even though they found a connection, it’s lost between Josh and Lindsay — even if they’re still hanging on to the past a little bit. You show Troy and Ava still together [laughs] — they have it all figured out. Then you show the billionaire who, even with all the money in the world, is crying at the graveside of her first love, filled with regret.

We didn’t see where Eunice (Seoyeon Jang) ends up.

I wanted to leave it open. I’m very curious what people think. She really put her neck out there. Austin burned her bad. I don’t know where Eunice is at but it’s probably not good.

Charles Melton as Austin Davis in “Beef.”

(Netflix)

We can’t talk about “Beef” without discussing the needle drops. When you have Austin listening to Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” it was over for me.

The needle drops are usually pre-picked even before we shoot. The source music that’s playing diegetically, usually we discover in the edit. Before, as scripted, it had him scrolling Instagram and it was [the song playing on] his Instagram feed — you know how those Reels have music overlayed on a POV? It just wasn’t that funny to me in the edit. He’s so down and out and I wanted to find different source music in there. One day, I told my editor, “Can you rip ‘What Was I Made For?’ And can you just temporarily do it where, as she opens the door, he’s like, pressing the volume up, being like ‘sh— … sh— …’ [intending to make the volume go down]?” Our AE [assistant editor] did the ADR temporarily of the “sh—, sh—,” filmed it on my phone and I texted it to Finneas [O’Connell, the show’s composer, who is Eilish’s brother and collaborator] being like, “Hey, is it cool if we do this?” And he was dying laughing. [O’Connell also makes a cameo in the season.]

Ahead of Season 1, you gifted the writers “The Sopranos Sessions” and also assembled a Letterboxd list of films that served as reference points. What guidance did you provide for Season 2?

I sent another Letterboxd playlist. For inspo, we got “Handmaiden,” “Phantom Thread,” “Force Majeure,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “The Informant.” For some reason, I have “Margaret” on there, the [Kenneth] Lonergan film. I also had “Michael Clayton,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” “Burn After Reading,” and lastly, it’s a deep cut, there’s this movie called “Like Crazy,” starring Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin.

Also, can we take a moment for Burberry’s acting?

Oh my god, Jones! Jones is the best dog actor I’ve ever worked with. He would hit his mark. He would listen. He would look at people when he’s supposed to be looking. It was his first time acting. Crushed it. A24 is making Burberry merch. There’s going to be a Burberry shirt.

Iran says ‘passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz’ open during the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.

The Strait of Hormuz is “completely open” for all commercial vessels and will remain so during the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, Iran’s foreign minister has said.

“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire,” Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X on Friday.

A 10-day ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Lebanon late on Thursday.

The passage of ⁠vessels through the ⁠strait will be on the coordinated route as ⁠already announced by ⁠Ports and ⁠Maritime Organisation of Iran, Araghchi added.

United States President Donald Trump confirmed in a social media post that the strait was “completely open and ready for business and full passage”.

More to come…

JACK Fincham was spotted leaving casting for a new reality TV show just days after opening up about his rebab and homelessness.

The former Love Island star, 34, flashed a big smile as he emerged from a studio in Soho wearing a retro tracksuit.

Jack looked pleased with himself after he met with producers for a big project for a Channel 5 show.

He sported a retro look in an 1980s Sergio Tacchini tracksuit which caught the attention of a few passer by who stopped to take selfies with Jack.

Jack added a pair of aviator sunglasses to his look and black trainers.

He looked in a high spirits after spending the afternoon with bosses for a secret new telly appearance, which is yet to be announced.

READ MORE ON JACK FINCHAM

HOME HELL

Jack Fincham leaves hotel to walk ‘life-saving’ dog after revealing he’s homeless

STAR IN DOCK

Jack Fincham in court for failing to carry out unpaid work after rehab battle

Jack has had a rough time lately and credited his pet dog Elvis for helping him get through his darkest times.

The reality star confessed he’s struggling with life after rehab as he told fans he’s homeless and living in a hotel with his dog.

Earlier this year, Jack relapsed into drinking and drugs and had just £20 to his name.

He then spent two months receiving £32,000 of treatment at Rainford Hall, Merseyside.

Jack opened up on life post rehab as he took to Instagram.

He admitted that he’s currently homeless and is not sure where to go moving forward as there’s nothing “much left” for him in England.

He said: “In case anyone is wondering where I am, I’m staying a hotel with the dog. I’m just gonna reset and work out what to do and where I wanna live.

“Got my beautiful dog Elvis, without him I probably wouldn’t even be here to be honest.”

Jack has owned his black Cane Corso dog, named Elvis, since at least September 2022, when the dog was involved in a biting incident.

Despite legal trouble regarding the dog being “dangerously out of control” in 2022 and June 2024, Jack has expressed his attachment to the pet.

The second incident that occurred in June 2024 led to a suspended sentence for Jack in 2025.

Meanwhile, Jack’s relationship with his family hasn’t been the same since he returned home.

Jack added: “One thing they told me in rehab and it’s true, you’re not gonna walk out of rehab to a red carpet rolled out for you because it’s stuff you should have been doing anyway.”

He also thanked the staff from his rehab, saying “that level of kindness I wasn’t used to for a while, I found it quite alien.”

Jack remains optimistic and hopes to get back into TV, saying: “I’m gonna do my acting and get back into TV work, I’m gonna do all the things I said I was gonna do.”

Jack previously did a stint in rehab back in 2021, but relapsed before Christmas last year.

He spoke of the spiral back in January, he explained: “Since then I have done drugs, I have done laughing gas.

“I have been so drunk that I’ve kissed a woman over Christmas and don’t even remember doing it. I’m embarrassed, mortified. I feel like an idiot.

“I am a 33-year-old man. I should be settled down, married. Instead I need help.”

Jack first shot to fame on Love Island, where he won over the nation with his charm and went on to win the series.

He won the show alongside Dani Dyer in 2018.

They were paired together on day one and chose to split the £50,000 prize.

But their relationship didn’t last long once they left the villa.

Hungary’s newly elected leader, Peter Magyar, stormed to power last weekend after campaigning to, among other things, take a step back from Russia.

Instead, Magyar has promised voters he will steer Hungary back towards the European Union, following the 16-year rule of far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who went to great lengths to deepen ties with Russia.

Under Orban, Hungary opposed most of the European Union’s stances against Russia and  blocked sanctions and obstructed military aid for Ukraine.

Above all, he and his Fidesz party entrenched Hungary’s reliance on Russian oil.

Now, following a massive electoral turnout and a landslide victory, Magyar – once a devotee of Orban and now leader of the centre-right Tisza party – has promised to end Russian oil imports by 2035. But how realistic a goal is that? And can he achieve it?

How much does Hungary depend on Russia for energy?

Hungary has been central to keeping Russian oil and gas flowing into the EU, even as Europe and the US banned some imports and imposed sanctions on anyone paying more than $60 a barrel for Russian oil.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU banned seaborne imports of Russian oil but kept land flows legal. That allowed Hungary to continue importing most of its crude by pipeline via Ukraine.

The EU first announced plans to phase out Russian energy imports in May 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In December 2025, a binding agreement was made for member nations to completely phase out Russian oil and gas imports by late 2027. But, instead of diversifying from Moscow, Hungary increased its dependency.

According to a 2026 report by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), Hungary had expanded its reliance on Russian crude from 61 percent in 2021 to 93 percent by 2025.

Much of the crude oil Hungary imports from Russia comes via the Druzhba pipeline. It is one of the key pipelines that ensures the continued flow of Russian crude to both Hungary and Slovakia. At 5,500 km (3,420 miles) long, it begins in Almetyevsk in western Russia and runs into Belarus. It splits at Mozyr, with one branch going to Poland and Germany and the southern branch goes through Ukraine into Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia.

In January, the section of the pipeline running through Ukraine suffered significant damage. Ukraine blamed a Russian airstrike – Moscow denies that.

Hungary and Slovakia have complained that Ukraine has been deliberately slow to repair the damage. As a result, in March, Orban vetoed a 90 billion euro ($106bn) loan from the EU to Ukraine until the pipeline reopens.

On Tuesday this week, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said oil will flow again through the conduit by the end of April as he expects the new Hungarian leadership to lift its veto on the loan by then.

As for gas, Hungary remains one of the most dependent EU member states on Russian natural gas, accounting for roughly three-quarters of its annual imports, the CSD report shows.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion, Hungary has imported an estimated 15.6 billion euros ($18.4bn) worth of Russian gas. Long-term contracts with Russia’s state-owned Gazprom, the continued reliance on TurkStream – a natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Turkiye – and “the weak use of alternative interconnectors have locked the country into Russia’s reconfigured gas export system”, the CSD report states.

Nuclear energy dependency is yet another issue. Hungary granted Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation, the construction contract for the expansion of its Paks atomic plant, 100km (62 miles) southwest of Budapest on the Danube River. Russia, in turn, provided Hungary with a state loan to finance most of the development of new reactors. The European Commission approved the plan in 2017 and construction started in February.

Now, Magyar says he intends to reassess the project’s financing. But the Paks plant provides 40 to 50 percent of all electricity generated in Hungary. The expansion plans will increase that to between 60 and 70 percent, which would cut reliance on imported energy, but keep Hungary tied to Russia. 

According to a 2025 joint research paper by the Center for the Study of Democracy and the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Hungary could potentially diversify its energy supply by importing non-Russian oil via alternative sources such as the Adria pipeline. It transports crude from the Adriatic Sea to refineries in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia. Their refiners, which are controlled by Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, are capable of processing non-Russian crude, the research paper said.

Russian oil has been coming in at a discounted rate as a result of Western sanctions, so any diversification will likely be more expensive.

Can Hungary wean itself off its dependence on Russian oil?

It won’t be easy, and Magyar knows it. “The geographical position of neither Russia nor Hungary will change. Our energy exposure will also be here for a while,” he said before last weekend’s election. And in an interview with the Financial Times, Magyar insisted that Russian imports should remain an option. “This does not mean that by ending dependence on someone you no longer continue to buy from them,” he said.

Magyar will seek to strike a balance between respecting current contracts with Moscow to ensure Hungary’s energy security, while establishing political distance, said Pawel Zerka, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“I would expect this government not to be pro-Russia in the sense of going to Moscow and keeping ties with the Russian government, but they don’t have easy options to replace Russian fuel with something else, especially considering the international situation with the Middle East,” Zerka said, referring to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf which has blocked the shipping of 20 percent of the world’s oil and LNG supplies.

Zerka added that the newly elected leader will not have political room to be particularly cordial with Russian President Vladimir Putin, considering the disapproval of Russia by his electoral base. A recent poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations shows that a majority of Tisza’s voters see Russia as an adversary or rival to compete with.

“It will be interesting to see how he combines this with energy needs,” Zerka said.

How does the EU view Hungary’s energy ties to Russia?

The strong energy ties between Russia and Hungary have long caused friction with the EU. Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European bloc has worked to cut imports of Russian oil and gas. Budapest has done the opposite.

In January, the EU passed legislation to completely phase out Russian gas and LNG imports by late 2027.

Orban’s government had called for all restrictions on Russian oil to be lifted as a result of the global energy crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East. While Trump has made some concessions on Russian oil already loaded on tankers at sea – causing several heading for China to head to India instead – EU leaders have maintained they will hold firm on sanctions.

In the lead-up to last weekend’s election, Magyar’s manifesto called the dependence on Russian energy a “systemic risk” and he would wean Hungary off its reliance by 2035. But whether he can do that in time to beat the EU’s 2027 deadline is likely to provoke discussion in Brussels.

Gogglebox legend and former jungle queen Scarlett Moffatt will beg David Haye to “stop it” on tonight’s I’m A Celeb as the boxer causes tensions in the camp to rise even further

Scarlett Moffatt is seen begging David Haye to “stop it” as a huge row breaks out on tonight’s episode of I’m A Celebrity…South Africa. The TV star, 35, who became Queen of the Jungle on the regular edition of Ant and Dec’s reality survival show just two years after she found fame on Gogglebox in 2014, is back on the All Stars version of the programme and can be seen trying to keep the peace during tense scenes set to air on Friday night.

Already at the centre of controversy thanks to sexist comments he made earlier this week, boxer David will be seen trying to bully Emmerdale star Adam Thomas into taking part in the Termite Terror, unable to accept that the former soap actor just isn’t feeling up to it.

Trying to sleep, Adam admits it would be hard to get through it today because he is feeling dehydrated, but David is seen raging: “Dehydrated?! We’ve all got the same amount of water! Adam is doing it and that’s it!”

READ MORE: I’m A Celebrity’s David Haye under fire for nasty comments to Adam ThomasREAD MORE: I’m A Celebrity fans fume at ‘ungrateful’ David Haye after Adam Thomas’ risky move

Adam has arthritis, which he has been open about. Explaining how it affects him, he said previously: “It is an autoimmune disease. Basically means my immune system is attacking my own body. It causes a s**t-load of pain.”

Some days he will need help doing simple day-to-day tasks and his mental health has been affected, but ultimately, it’s made him stronger. He can experience pain in his fingers and knees on some days, but others, he can be in pain all over his body

David’s co-stars continually try to remind him that their campmate isn’t feeling well enough to get through it, but he becomes hellbent on trying to force Adam into it. He continues: “When is your top form gonna come? Why aren’t we forcing this dude to go and do it? Coincidentally, every time there’s something to do, he’s not feeling well!”

It is at that point that Scarlett, clearly in despair at the situation developing, says: “Stop it David, he’s not well!” David has already caused a major stir during his All Stars stint, when early on in the series, he made comments about his girlfriend Sian. When talking about his partner cooking for them all, he then added: “She’s like tall, blue eyes. She’s lovely. She’s got the personality of a proper ugly bird.”

Despite Scarlett’s suggestion he should stop there, he continued his tirade as he added: “She has. Most ugly girls realise they don’t they’re not pretty enough to… they gotta have a personality to banter and to tell jokes and s**t, so people overlook the fact that they’re not aesthetically amazing, straight away.

“Which is what’s called Ugly Duckling syndrome, where girls are ugly, when they start off, and then they and then they kind of they, they get pretty as they get older. But they still got the personality of when they’re ugly. Does that make sense?”

In the rant, which left angry viewers fuming, he added: “You get a girl who’s pretty from day one, you get a girl who’s different day one. Everyone goes ‘You’re so beautiful. You’re amazing’. She grows up thinking, I’m amazing. Everyone loves me. I can open any door. I can go anywhere I want.

“They don’t have to have a personality, because most super pretty girls are just idiots. But then their ugly friend, they’ve got work a bit harder, be more personable. They got to be nicer to everyone. Gonna get you a drink.”

It was recently claimed that David made those comments because he could not rely on AI to tell him that they were “safe” to say out loud. The source insisted there was “no malice” but added he would use AI to “check he’s not offending someone before he comments”.

“His focus inside camp has always been the game, survival decisions and camp dynamics rather than trying to offend anyone. Those who know him best understand there was no malice behind the remark,” a source told The Sun.

“When AI started he started using it all the time to check he’s not offending someone before he comments. It’s a bit of a comfort blanket for him – but he didn’t have that in the jungle.”

* I’m A Celebrity…South Africa airs weekdays at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.

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Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi discusses the prospect that the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon could lead to a comprehensive deal between the US and Iran to end regional hostilities.

The U.S. Army is considering configuring at least a portion of its new MV-75A Cheyenne II tiltrotors to be able to refuel in flight using the probe-and-drogue method. This, in turn, has raised the question of how the service will ensure there is adequate tanker capacity to support that capability. Army officials and the MV-75A’s prime contractor, Bell, have both now pointed to a future where tanker drones like the U.S. Navy’s forthcoming MQ-25 Stingray could help extend the Cheyenne II’s reach.

Army Maj. Gen. Clair Gill discussed aerial refueling capability for the MV-75A, as well as other aspects of the Cheyenne II, during a talk yesterday at the Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) 2026 Warfighting Summit, at which TWZ is in attendance. Gill is currently the service’s Program Acquisition Executive for Maneuver Air. The Army plans to replace a substantial portion of its H-60 Black Hawk helicopters with the MV-75A in the coming years.

“Our last chief used to talk to me all the time about aerial refueling. We think that’s something. Maybe we don’t get all of them [the MV-75As] configured for that, but they’ll have the capability,” the Army’s top aviation acquisition officer added. “For industry, I want you to think about how are we going to refuel ourselves, right? One of the challenges, even the Regiment will tell you, and make it top priority – their challenge isn’t you know how good they are on par, their challenge is getting somebody to give them the gas.”

The “Regiment” that Gill refers to here is the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), also commonly known as the Night Stalkers. The 160th is expecting to eventually receive a special operations-specific configuration of the MV-75, which will include in-flight refueling capability by default, as you can read more about here. Existing Night Stalker MH-60M Black Hawk and MH-47G Chinook special operations helicopters also have the ability to refuel in flight via probe-and-drogue. However, Army Black Hawks and Chinooks assigned to conventional units do not have this capability.

“The Navy’s got some pretty good unmanned ideas there if you want to kind of follow where we’re going,” Gill noted yesterday.

Gill did not specifically name Boeing’s MQ-25, but this is the only uncrewed tanker the Navy is currently pursuing, at least that we know about. Furthermore, Bell released a new computer-generated MV-75 promotional video yesterday around the AAAA conference, seen below, wherein a Cheyenne II is clearly depicted linking up with a Stingray, or an extremely similar-looking variant or derivative thereof.

Meet the Cheyenne II

The MQ-25 is in development now primarily as a carrier-based platform, but there is no reason why it could not also operate from bases on land. Boeing has itself previously presented a concept for an enlarged, land-based derivative of the design that could help meet future U.S. Air Force tanking needs.

The MQ-25 by itself promised to offer very long endurance and extreme range, which could make it attractive in the land-based role, as well as when operating from carriers. TWZ has previously explored how those capabilities open the door to the Stingray being utilized as much more than a tanker, as well.

Currently, the U.S. Air Force provides probe-and-drogue aerial refueling capacity using KC-135 and KC-46 tankers, as well as HC-130J Combat King II combat search and rescue aircraft and MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker/transports. The U.S. Marine Corps and Navy also have C-130 variants that can be employed as tankers, as well as transports. Navy carrier air wings currently rely on F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters carrying buddy refueling stores and drop tanks to provide organic aerial refueling support.

Shortfalls in aerial refueling capacity, even to meet peacetime demands, have been an increasingly concerning issue for years now. The Air Force just recently developed a system that allows A-10 Warthog attack jets to refuel via probe-and-drogue to create new operational flexibility for those aircraft, as you can read more about here. The A-10 was originally designed to refuel in flight using the boom method, which the Air Force prefers for fixed-wing aircraft.

On top of all this, the Army has no organic tanker capacity at present, at all. Furthermore, the formal division of roles and missions with the Air Force means that the service does not operate fleets of larger fixed-wing aircraft like the C-130 that could be readily adapted to this role. All of this would point to an uncrewed platform like MQ-25 as the most viable path to establishing an Army tanker force, which could also align better with its expeditionary air assault concepts of operations.

Army MV-75As could still make use of other tankers during joint operations, as well. There could be other organic air refueling options available to the service, too, including the possibility of adapting MV-75 itself to act as a buddy tanker.

The Army is separately advancing plans to acquire fleets of uncrewed aircraft capable of performing a variety of missions in close collaboration with the MV-75A and its existing fleets of crewed helicopters.

For the Army, demands for greater range and ability that cover those distances faster were key factors in the decision to acquire the MV-75A in the first place. The service sees these capabilities as particularly critical in the context of any future fight against China across the sprawling expanses of the Pacific.

“MV-75, as I mentioned, that’s our signature system,” Gen. Gill said yesterday. “Unmatched range, unmatched speed, unmatched mission flexibility.”

During a separate talk at the AAAA conference yesterday, Army Maj. Gen. David Gardner, head of the 101st Airborne Division, the service’s premier air assault formation, also highlighted a recent training exercise that included Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors. He said that was done specifically “to help our Division understand the operational reach that it will possess with the MV-75 Cheyenne.”

Units within the 101st are set to be the first to receive operational MV-75As, with or without aerial refueling capability. The Army had previously said that fielding would begin next year as part of a major acceleration of the program. However, it has now stepped back from any fixed timeline for the first flight of the Cheyenne, let alone when Bell will begin delivering production examples.

“It’s going to happen when it’s going to happen. So we are moving as fast as we can,” Gen. Gill told TWZ and other outlets ahead of the AAAA conference this week. “If I was king, and I had all the money in the world and all the engineers, and there were no limits, we probably would be able to do it in a matter of months.”

As an aside, integrating aerial refueling capability onto the MV-75A, and working to pair it with tanker drones like MQ-25, could make the Cheyenne II, or variants thereof, attractive to other potential operators. The Marine Corps is now early in the process of refining requirements for a successor to the MV-22. The Navy has also said it is leveraging work the Army has done on the MV-75A to inform its plans for a Future Vertical Lift-Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) family of systems to succeed its MH-60R and MH-60S Seahawks, as well as the MQ-8C Fire Scout drone helicopter. Bell has presented concepts for variations of its V-280 Valor tiltrotor, on which the MV-75A is based, optimized for supporting amphibious assault and other naval missions in the past.

As it stands now, the Army does not appear to have made a final decision on the extent to which it expects to integrate in-flight refueling capability in its future MV-75A fleet. That will have a direct impact on any pursuit of an organic tanker capability.

Still, the Army and Bell are already pointing to the MQ-25 as an example of what could be on the horizon to help further extend the reach of the Cheyenne II.

UPDATE: 5:08 PM EDT –

Maj. Gen. Clair Gill has now offered some additional comments on aerial refueling support for the MV-75A to TWZ and other outlets at a roundtable today on the sidelines of the AAAA conference.

“We’re also thinking creatively about if we put aerial refueling – which you’re gonna see on the SOCOM [U.S. Special Operations Command] variants – if we put that on a conventional variant, then how do we refuel it?” he explained. “So we’re thinking through, do we need to develop a requirement for aerial refueling for ourselves now that we have really enhanced our capability?”

“One of the things that our special operations aviators – one of their most challenging tasks is helicopter aerial refueling. A lot of times people say, you’re telling me the challenge is the training of that, because it’s a pretty hard task,” he added later on in response to a direct follow-up question on this topic from our Jamie Hunter, who also called attention to what was seen in Bell’s video. “And I would say yes, but it’s actually the asset, the availability [of the] asset, to do the training. And we don’t have those organic to the Army. So I think we need to solve our own problems, and think about how do we do our own, let’s call it logistical resupply in the air, of an MV-75. So that’s where that concept photo or video was pointing.”

“We don’t have a requirement written right now, but I’ve talked with Army leaders,” Gill also noted.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

I’m A Celebrity… South Africa star Ashley Roberts is marking her birthday with her new campmates

Viewers of I’m A Celebrity… South Africa will see one of the campmates celebrate their birthday in a unique way during the latest episode.

Pussycat Dolls star Ashley Roberts can be seen volunteering for a trial during the episode to be aired on Friday, April 17 – despite it being her birthday. But her co-stars feel she should put her feet up on her special day.

Instead it’s Mo Farah taking on Termite Terror where Ant McPartlin instructs: “You need to make your way into the termite mound and down into the nest below. Once you’re down there, your mission is simple: you must dig, crawl and scramble through the tunnels, collecting stars as you go.”

Meanwhile, birthday girl Ashley has another announcement as she tells everyone they need to leave camp immediately for the day’s challenge – Balance of Power.

She tells them: “Celebrities, in front of you are two pits and eleven balance paddles. You must each take hold of a paddle and keep it steady to prevent your ball from falling into the pit. When you drop your ball, you are eliminated. The last person standing wins.”

The celebrities position themselves behind their paddles and the challenge begins. While some adopt peculiar techniques, they quickly realise it’s an endurance challenge rather than one of skill.

As night falls, most celebrities are still standing, balancing balls on their paddles with focus as the eliminated campmates try to distract them from the sidelines.

The group makes a unanimous decision to throw the game by dropping their paddles and letting one person win. But will Ashley be given that chance as the birthday gift?

How old is Ashley Roberts?

Ashley Roberts is 44 years old. While the I’m a Celebrity episode featuring her birthday airs on April 17, her actual birthday is on September 14.

Episodes of the original series of I’m a Celebrity, which airs in November and December, are broadcast live from Australia but the current all stars series was pre-recorded in South Africa and the latest scenes were filmed seven months ago.

However, the series finale will be broadcast live from London in two parts on Friday 24 April. It will run on ITV1 and ITVX from 7.30pm until 9pm. The winner’s announcement will then air at 10pm.

The entire celebrity cast will gather and the public will get the chance to vote for this year’s I’m a Celebrity legend.

I’m A Celebrity… South Africa is on ITV1 and ITVX

President Lee Jae Myung on Friday shared a news report that a South Korean oil tanker exited the Red Sea, marking the first shipment of crude oil to the nation since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier in the day, the nation’s fisheries ministry reported that the tanker carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia exited the Red Sea, as the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed amid the prolonged war in the Middle East.

“It is good news that our vessel is transporting crude oil via the Red Sea for the first time since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz,” Lee wrote in his social media post.

He described the safe passage as a “valuable achievement” made possible through close coordination among relevant ministries and the dedication of seafarers under difficult circumstances.

“The government is mobilizing all available resources to address the crisis stemming from the war in the Middle East,” Lee said, pledging to safeguard people’s livelihoods and national interests.

South Korea has been exploring ways to ship crude oil via the Red Sea, an alternative route, as the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint, has been effectively closed amid the Middle East conflict.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

Hezbollah warns it has its ‘finger on the trigger’ in case of Israeli violations of the temporary ceasefire.

Displaced Lebanese have begun cautiously returning to their homes in the south after Lebanon and Israel agreed to a 10-day truce, even as the Lebanese army calls on residents to delay their return and Hezbollah warns it has its “finger on the trigger” in case of Israeli violations.

Tens of thousands of people poured into areas of southern Lebanon on Friday morning hours after the truce went into effect, many heading back to homes and villages battered by more than a month of Israeli attacks.

“People just couldn’t wait,” reported Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr from Nabatieh, one of the hardest hit areas.

“Even if it’s 10 days, they want to return to their homes. Some of them are just coming to see what remains of their homes, what remains of their lives.

“They want to show that they don’t want to give up their lands,” added Khodr.

While the ceasefire largely appeared to hold, Lebanon’s army accused Israel of several early violations on Friday, including intermittent shelling of ‌southern Lebanese villages.

Lebanon’s National News Agency also reported that unexploded ordnance killed a boy in the town of Majdal Selem, while rescuers uncovered the bodies of at least a dozen people killed in earlier attacks in Tyre.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the ceasefire “may already be undermined by ongoing military operations” and called for “the safety of civilians on both sides of the border”.

Hezbollah said its fighters “will keep their finger on the trigger because they are wary of the enemy’s treachery”.

Israeli air strikes and a ground invasion of parts of southern Lebanon have killed more than 2,100 people and displaced some 1.2 million in the latest round of fighting, according to Lebanese authorities.

Hezbollah attacks, meanwhile, killed two Israeli civilians, while 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in Lebanon, according to Israel.

Israeli officials have said they intend to maintain control over Lebanese territory extending to the Litani River as a “buffer zone” against Hezbollah.

‘Unliveable’

As residents assessed the damage to their hometowns, some pledged to stay, while others – finding nothing to return to or fearing the fragile truce could collapse – said they would leave again.

“There’s destruction and it’s unliveable. Unliveable. We’re taking our things and leaving again,” said Fadel Badreddine, who returned to Nabatieh with his young son and wife. “May God grant us relief and end this whole thing permanently – not temporarily – so we can return to our homes and lands.”

Al Jazeera’s Khodr said “wherever you look you see damage, destruction” in Nabatieh. “So much has been lost in this conflict in the past 46 days.”

If the ceasefire holds, it could ease one of the main points of tension in US-Iran negotiations. Iran and mediator Pakistan had maintained that Lebanon should be covered in a separate US-Iran ceasefire framework, while Israel claimed it was not part of that deal and continued its attacks.

Ali Akbar Dareini, a researcher at Iran’s Center for Strategic Studies, said the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire had removed one obstacle to wider negotiations between the US and Iran because Tehran views the regional conflict as interconnected, describing this as a “unity of fronts”.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country hosted last week’s ceasefire talks between the US and Iran, welcomed the Israel-Lebanon truce on Friday and expressed “hope that it will pave the way for sustainable peace”.

He also praised the mediation role of US President Donald Trump, who has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to the White House for “meaningful talks”.

“Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon, and will continue to support all efforts aimed at lasting peace in the region,” Sharif said on X.

Film buffs understand that nearly every movie is, at heart, a travelogue — even if it occurs in your neighboring town — and that most travelogues can come across like love stories, whether anyone ends up together or not. That’s the whimsical, charged appeal of the Charli XCX-starring “Erupcja,” a mélange of romance, escape and disruptive coincidence in modern Warsaw from American micro-auteur Pete Ohs.

If you put footage of a smoke-spewing volcano under that Polish title, you’ll gather what the word means, which is exactly what Ohs does at the beginning, color-tinting his boxy frame ’60s-arthouse-style and adding a vintage Mancini-esque track from a Polish chanteuse. All the better to seed the belief that we’re about to experience something dreamy and convulsive.

That said, a volcano isn’t why British couple Bethany (Charli XCX) and Rob (Will Madden) have arrived in Warsaw. That rumbling you hear could also just be suitcases rolled over ancient streets. Besotted Rob’s surprise plan was to propose to Bethany in Paris — as revealed to us in omnipotent voice-over (by Jacek Zubiel) that fills in the feelings and backstories of our protagonists.

Bethany chose Warsaw, however, because she has a rekindling in mind, in the form of her longtime friend Nel (Lena Góra), a florist for whom Bethany’s unprompted arrival under her balcony one night — stealing away from her Airbnb with Rob — is complicated and exciting. With the news breaking that Italy’s Mount Etna has just erupted, grounding planes across Europe, a mighty passion they forged as teenagers, fueled by drugs, clubbing, heart-to-hearts and poetry, has once more been unleashed. It’s just their thing: Whenever Bethany and Nel connect, a volcano announces itself somewhere in the world. Woe be to the moony boyfriend or, in Nel’s case, exasperated girlfriend (Agata Trzebuchowska), left behind to dust off the ash.

“Erupcja,” which Ohs also photographed and edited with impressionistic verve, unfolds as if Jacques Rivette’s playful air of mystery and Roberto Rossellini’s earthy melancholia had somehow come together to form a zillennial with a restless heart. Ohs makes movies with the in-the-moment creative participation of his cast — he, Charli, Madden, Góra and playwright Jeremy O. Harris, who portrays a friendly American artist, are the credited writers and the whole enterprise goes down like a cocktail of ruminations and swerves invented on the spot, but not haphazardly.

You get the buzz (music by Charlie Watson and Isabella Summers plays a big part), the hangover, but also an aura of remedy and renewal. It’s all very human, evident in the pop star’s subtly frisky portrait of someone drawn to abandon (Charli should definitely continue acting), but also in Madden’s unshowy, mature hurt and in how Góra suggests the more grounded half of a self-mythologizing duo. Ohs works in evocative details: inserted frames of color, like mood flashes, or a shot of a lonely phone ringing, never getting picked up.

He leaves it up to you to wonder if Bethany and Nel have ever been more than friends — “It’s not Romeo and Juliet,” Nel coolly declaims from her balcony upon glimpsing Bethany waiting below — but what’s fun is how that’s ultimately beside the point. The edgy appeal of “Erupcja” is in the way it maps humans as molecules and electrons, fizzed by location, inspired by connection, driven to hover, fuse and release. The characters may get bounced around a bit and some will feel stranded, but you’ll know you’ve been taken somewhere new by this charming indie.

The International Monetary Fund has downgraded its global growth forecast for 2026 from 3.3 to 3.1 percent, citing the impact of the United States-Israeli war on Iran and the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz on the world economy.

The war has damaged energy infrastructure across the Gulf, while critical exports like oil, gas, chemicals and fertiliser remain largely stranded by Iran’s shutdown of the strait and the subsequent US naval blockade of Iranian ports.

In the worst-case scenario of a prolonged war, the IMF said global growth could fall to 2.5 percent in 2026, with low-income and developing economies hit the hardest by soaring commodity and energy prices. The global shipping and logistics industry is facing a separate crisis.

But every economic crisis also has beneficiaries: despite the dire macroeconomic outlook, some corners of the global economy are thriving on the uncertainty.

Here’s a look at five industries that are doing well either despite – or because of – the darkening economic outlook.

Wall Street investment banks

Global investors have been on a rollercoaster since the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term last year. The president’s erratic decision-making, where he often issues an ultimatum one day and then changes it the next, has led traders to coin the term “TACO trade”, where TACO stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”.

The recent volatility has made some investors anxious, but it’s been a boon to investment banks, which make millions in commissions and revenue from the surging volume of trade, according to Sean Dunlap, a director of equity research at Morningstar Research Services.

“Clients want to reposition, so they trade frequently,” he told Al Jazeera. “Spreads tend to increase, which increases the profitability for trade intermediaries like banks.”

First-quarter results for 2026 – released this week – showed that Morgan Stanley reported a profit of $5.57bn, up 29 percent year on year, while Goldman Sachs reported a profit of $5.63bn, up 19 percent year on year.

JP Morgan Chase also reported major gains, with first-quarter earnings of $16.49bn, up 13 percent year on year. The banks all cited high levels of trading, deal-making, and “robust client engagement” as the reasons behind surging profits.

The boomtime for banks could reverse course, however, if volatility persists for too long, Dunlap warned, because investors may become increasingly cautious and less willing to borrow money to make trades.

Prediction markets

As mainstream Wall Street banks reap profits, the crypto-based prediction platform Polymarket has been earning upwards of $1m a day since the start of the month by letting users make peer-to-peer bets on everything from sports tournaments to elections.

Polymarket has been doing well since the start of the war, but it revised its fee structure on March 30 to cash in even more on its popularity.

Rival platforms like Kalshi, Novig and Robinhood also follow the same business model, but Polymarket has been the standout winner of 2026 because it controversially allows users to bet on the outcome of conflicts like the Iran war.

Polymarket revised its fee structure on March 30 to cash in on its popularity. The change has already netted the platform more than $21m in fees since April 1, up from $11.6m for all of March and $6.23m for all of February, according to DefiLlama, a website that provides data analysis for decentralised finance platforms.

If the current trend continues, Polymarket could make $342m in fees this year alone, according to DefiLlama’s analysis.

Anonymous users have also made millions correctly predicting the dates of major events like the US-Iran ceasefire, but the outcomes for rank-and-file users are typically less impressive.

Researchers found that the top 1 percent of Polymarket users captured 84 percent of all trading gains, according to a new report released this month analysing 70 million trades from 2022 to 2025. The returns are so high that US federal regulators have pledged to crack down on insider trading in prediction markets following suspiciously well-timed bets on Iran war outcomes.

Aerospace and defence

Unsurprisingly, the aerospace and defence industries are booming this year due to major conflicts in Ukraine, Iran, Sudan, Gaza and Lebanon and a surge in global defence spending.

About half of the world’s countries have increased their military budgets over the past five years, according to an April report from the IMF, which means they are also buying everything from drones to missiles — more than ever before. Demand is growing particularly fast in Europe, where NATO countries have committed to raising defence spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.

The defence industry has, in turn, seen major gains on the stock market. The MSCI World Aerospace and Defence Index – which tracks aerospace and defence stocks across 23 global markets – reported net returns of 32 percent year on year at the end of March.

The defence index outpaced the MSCI World Index, which tracks 1,300 large and mid-cap companies across the same 23 markets. The index, which gives a broader overview of global stock markets, reported net returns of 18.9 percent over the same period.

Artificial intelligence

Last year, the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) office predicted that the AI industry would grow from $189bn in 2023 to $4.8 trillion by 2033, and the Iran war does not seem to have dented the outlook.

“Despite the shocks from the Iran war, we’re still seeing resilience in a lot of sectors like artificial intelligence and renewable energy,” said Nick Marro, lead analyst for global trade at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

One metric for the AI boom has been the high volume of semiconductor chips still being exported out of East Asia, he said. At the top of the chart is chipmaking powerhouse Taiwan, which reported record-breaking merchandise exports of $80.2bn in March, up 61.8 percent year on year, according to EIU analysis.

The surge was led by exports to the US, which grew by 124 percent year on year, the EIU said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s top chipmaker better known by its acronym “TSMC,” on Thursday posted a net income of 572.8 billion New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) ($18.1bn) for the first three months of 2026 – up 58 percent year on year in NTD.

Another metric, initial public offerings or “IPOs,” also shows that the industry is confident for the moment, with industry leaders Anthropic and OpenAI both planning to go public this year.

Renewable energy

The Iran war has highlighted the need to transition from fossil fuels not only for environmental reasons, but also for reasons of energy security. The war marks the third major energy shock this decade, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Iran war has “boosted” renewable energy “given the urgency to switch away from fossil fuels and diversify towards renewable sources,” Marro of the EIU said.

Even before the Iran war began, the International Energy Agency reported that global governments were already taking active measures to invest in renewable energy for geopolitical reasons.

According to an IEA report released this month, “150 countries have active policies to advance renewable and nuclear deployment, 130 have energy efficiency and electrification policies, and 32 have policies to incentivise supply chain resilience and diversification across critical minerals and clean energy technologies.”

The Iran war has triggered another flurry of policymaking in Asia, which typically buys 80 to 90 percent of the oil and gas that transits through the Strait of Hormuz. Since the shutdown, the region has been struggling to find alternative sources of energy, forcing governments to deploy emergency measures like fuel rationing and price caps.

South Korea, Thailand, India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines have all announced a variety of measures from tax breaks for at-home solar panels to commissioning new renewable energy projects – and even restarting nuclear reactors.

The surge in policymaking has been good for the renewable industry. The S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index, which tracks 100 companies that produce solar, wind, hydro, biomass and other renewable energy across emerging and developed markets, is up 70.92 percent year on year.

Arrest comes after police found the body of Celeste Rivas in a car registered to the musician last year.

American rapper David Anthony Burke, known by his stage name d4vd, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in a car registered to him.

Los Angeles police took the 21-year-old singer into custody on Thursday “for the murder of Celeste Rivas”, the city’s police department said in a statement. He is being held without bail.

Burke’s arrest comes seven months after police uncovered Rivas’s badly decomposed body in the trunk of an impounded Tesla registered in his name.

Investigators found two black bags in the vehicle – one holding a decomposed head and torso and the other containing other body parts, according to a court filing. An autopsy revealed that Rivas “appeared to have been deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time before being found”. The discovery occurred one day before Rivas would have turned 15.

The LA County District Attorney’s office will review the case against Burke on Monday for formal charges, according to police.

Burke’s lawyers issued a statement saying they would “vigorously defend” his “innocence”.

“Let us be clear – the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” lawyers Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter said in a statement quoted by NBC News.

Burke, from Queens, New York, shot to internet fame in 2022 when his Romantic Homicide became a breakout hit on TikTok.

Last year, the musician cancelled the last part of his US and European tours amid growing fallout from the investigation into Rivas’s death.

Back when late-night TV sets were still the primary route for a comedian to reach a mainstream audience, Ari Shaffir found a different way to make his mark. It started with creating a show where comics could tell completely uncensored, unhinged real-life stories. What started as a live show grew into “This Is Not Happening” on Comedy Central, and later, into “Ari Shaffir’s Renamed Storytelling Show,” building a loyal fan base along the way, with clips still making the rounds 15 years later.

Supporting shows leads to new opportunities, and while Shaffir’s latest chapter may close the book on his storytelling run, his final offering is certainly a strong one. Aptly titled “The End,” and taped live at the Box NYC, this seven-part series will be released and available for purchase through YMH Studios on Thursday , and it’s jam-packed with comedians that quite literally might kill you. Especially one.

The lineup is too stacked to leave anyone out, so buckle up for wild, unforgettable stories from Shaffir, Tom Segura, Ali Siddiq, Nate Bargatze, Tony Hinchcliffe, Ms. Pat, Shane Gillis, Sam Tallent, Steph Tolev, Jim Breuer, Robert Kelly, Chris Distefano, Big Jay Oakerson, Jordan Jensen, Joe List, Steve Simeone, Mark Normand, Duncan Trussell, Roy Wood Jr., Jessa Reed, Sarah Tollemache, Dan Soder and Colum Tyrrell.

Dan Soder, left, and Shane Gillis appear in Chapter 6.

(Troy Conrad)

Everyone’s stories are so next–level, and I almost choke-laughed and died during Ms. Pat’s. It also looks incredible, tell me everything about the room.

Ari Shaffir: The room is called the Box, and it’s this burlesque place. Or maybe you call it modern burlesque because it’s not just those feathers. I really don’t know, but I feel like burlesque has evolved and that’s what this place is. It’s kinda crazy, and it’s definitely a night out. Dave Chappelle used to have these “comedian balls,” which were so cool because he would just invite comics. Like, all of the comics. He’d invite everyone out and pretty much without saying it was like, talk to each other and trade ideas about the industry. It was just so cool in there, and we scouted a bunch of places, but the look of this place, it was just right.

It makes so much sense that the room is called the Box now, visually.

What you saw wasn’t even color-corrected, so I appreciate it. I went to test the sound because we put the stage in a different place. It moves around and we just thought it looked better with all the red, but I wanted to hear what the sound was like when they were not on the stage too. They were like, oh the emcee will have a cordless as they move around, and I watched it, and it was great. But man, I was so f— up on molly that I was grinding my teeth so hard that I cracked a molar, so yeah, that place rules!

Ali Siddiq appears in Chapter 7.

(Troy Conrad)

Well, the room took my breath away, kinda like the lord took your solid tooth away. It’ll make sense to fans of your podcast You Be Trippin’ that ‘The End’ is produced by YMH Studios, but how did this series even end up happening?

Tom [Segura] and I have a relationship, we were openers for Rogan together, and we were kinda broke together, so we just talk about things. He’s so funny and prolific and I like talking things out with him. I talked to him about doing my special “Jew” too, but they were busy with the show, and you know back then, people weren’t jumping on getting into YouTube specials. So I had a chance to think about doing this show over the pandemic and finally was like, alright, let’s start working on this, and they said, “Come talk to us about it because we can help you now.” They have a great infrastructure there, and a streaming service too, so it’s like they already have everything built in, and Tom was like, “Dude, this show meant a lot to me, and we should make it again.” It’s not going to be a huge moneymaker for Tom, you know, it’s like pro bono work for lawyers, so it’s really cool of them. Another cool thing about this is the way the staff kicked in too. They’re all super talented, and kind of wasting their time on podcasts because they’re more talented than that, but it’s cool to work with a family and I liked the way they really took ownership of the work they did.

They’re a well-oiled machine of fun over there! With so many wild stories in the mix, is there anyone you are especially excited for people to see?

I’m excited to show some people new people. Even with the live shows, it’s always like, let me show you two headliners you know, a mid-level guy you’ll know and let me show you two people that you just don’t know. That’s what stand-up is in New York, L.A. and even Austin. There are some killers no one has ever heard of, and they’re destroyers. So I’m excited to show people Colum Tyrrell because he rules, he’s so funny, and his story is great. Tony Hinchcliffe’s story was really good, he’s just a monster storyteller in every sense of the word now. I just rewatched all of these a few times in a row for sound, and Roy Wood Jr. is so smooth it makes me feel like I’m needy and insecure on the stage. He’s just so calm and so good you’re like, “Damn, I’ve never been this smooth.” Sam Tallent is going to be one people talk about, Jim Breuer is so great, Steph Tolev crushed it with something fun and interesting and wow, this is really tough. Every time I’m doing a promo for this show it’s like, but what about this person, and this one?

It was also nice to see past killers on, definitely love to see the classics doing something new.

Yeah, having Big Jay [Oakerson] back was a key because he’s on the Mount Rushmore of this show, and we have three of those on “The End.” Jay, Ms. Pat and Ali Siddiq. We couldn’t get Sean Patton out because he was shooting something, and Bert [Kreischer] had a movie or something with his daughter moving or maybe it was a graduation…

Ms. Pat, from left, Ari Shaffir, Dan Soder, Duncan Trussell, Shane Gillis and Colum Tyrrell.

(Troy Conrad)

What a funny world, though, if Bert Kreischer paid to have a graduation moved so he could do your show.

Yes! Just pay the school to move the graduation for a week! Don’t you make like $50 million a year? It’s so funny how it used to be crazy to think of someone making $100 million and now there are like 10 comics who make at least half of that. And without doing press! It is really cool, though, I haven’t paid for lunch in so long. And Ali Siddiq has become so huge, he’s like the success story of this storytelling show in its entirety. Everyone got helped a little bit, but Ali kind of broke off of these stories and to see him so successful and still so smooth, it’s really cool. You can’t be “niche” doing arenas, and there’s this independent boom that’s not going to wait for anybody. So it’s another big win for us, it’s our turn in the whole story of this.

So then is this really “The End” or could it be a new start?

There is a very, very small percentage of a chance that it comes back. The plan is that this is it, and that’s why we called it that. I’m just glad you liked the show. I’m glad you liked the look and the intimacy, and that you picked up on all of that. It feels so long ago that you forget, but that’s so awesome to hear because it was a lot of fun. I think comedy fans that knew about the show before will want to see more of it because it’s just this funny televised storytelling, and they missed it. And everything turns over every five years anyway, so new people can now be like, actual stories being told like this in front of an audience? What is this cool new thing?

April 17 (UPI) — All above-ground construction of the White House ballroom must be stopped amid litigation, a federal judge ordered Thursday, reprimanding the Trump administration for trying to justify continued work on the building as necessary for national and presidential security concerns.

“National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said.

The ruling comes almost three weeks after Leon issued a preliminary injunction against the $400 million project, finding that construction at the White House requires congressional approval. While ordering the construction halt amid appeal, Leon carved out an exception for the government to continue underground work deemed necessary for the White House’s safety and security.

That prompted litigation over the scope of the carve-out and the Trump administration argue that construction of the ballroom above ground was needed as security elements ran through the entire facility.

“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated. That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my order!” Leon said Thursday.

“It is, to say the least, incredible, if not disingenuous, that defendants now argue that my order does not stop ballroom construction because of the safety-and-security exception!”

The federal government has filed an appeal against the Thursday ruling.

“We are pleased the court upheld the preliminary injunction and halted above-ground construction of the White House ballroom until Congress approves the project,” Carol Quillen, CEO and president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which filed the initial lawsuit, said in a statement.

Trump has said building a White House ballroom has been his dream since before he was president, and has said its price tag, which has ballooned from an initial $200 million, is to be covered by private donors.

In December, as construction was underway following the October demolition of the East Wing, the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to stop the project, arguing U.S. law mandates the project be authorized by Congress, resulting in the March 31 injunction and the Trump administration filing an appeal.

After the Thursday ruling, Trump chastised Leon in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, calling him an “out of control Trump hating” judge whose ruling “severely jeopardizes the lives and welfare of the people who work, and will be working, at the White House.”

“The underground doesn’t work, isn’t necessary and would indeed be useless without the above-ground section,” he said in a Truth Social post.

“This highly political Judge, and his illegal overreach, is out of control, and costing our Nation greatly,” he said in another statement.

“This is a mockery of our Court System! The Ballroom is deeply important to our National Security, and no judge can be allowed to stop this Historic and Militarily Imperative Project.”

AeroVironment has unveiled a new entrant in the rapidly evolving launched effects space, introducing the Mayhem 10 system as a further evolution of its combat-proven Switchblade family. While pitching Mayhem 10 toward U.S. Army requirements, the manufacturer anticipates considerable demand and has already started to develop a production line that will be able to push out as many as 2,000 examples of the vehicle annually. The price of a Mayhem 10 has not been disclosed.

Revealed yesterday at the Army Aviation Association of America’s Army Aviation Warfighting Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, the Mayhem 10 is intended to equip air, ground, and maritime platforms and to be capable of being rapidly deployed and reconfigured in the field.

Mayhem 10 Launched Effects | One System. Multiple Effects.

At its core, Mayhem 10 is an autonomous launched effects system with a heavy focus on modularity. Its payload architecture allows operators to swap between lethal and non-lethal configurations depending on mission needs. That includes intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), electronic warfare, communications relay, deception/decoy, and precision strike roles. As such, commanders can rely on a single platform that can pivot as conditions evolve.

According to company leadership, the focus is on compressing the sensor-to-shooter timeline while reducing risk to personnel and high-value assets. “Mayhem 10 sets a new standard for operational versatility and survivability on the modern battlefield,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s chairman, president, and CEO, emphasizing its ability to operate effectively even in heavily contested environments.

The system draws heavily on the lineage of AeroVironment’s Switchblade family, but is intended to push beyond traditional loitering munitions in terms of scale and flexibility. The Mayhem 10 name reflects the fact that it can carry a payload of up to 10 pounds. It has a range of roughly 62 miles and can remain airborne for up to 50 minutes. Notably, it is designed for rapid deployment, with assembly and launch said to be achievable in under five minutes.

Speaking to TWZ at the summit, Austin Johnson, AeroVironment’s business development director for U.S. Army programs, stressed that, while Mayhem is an evolution of Switchblade, “it’s not a Switchblade.”

A video showing the Switchblade 600 loitering munition being used in combat in Ukraine:

Ukraine’s Best Weapon? The Switchblade 600

“Mayhem is not just leave-the-tube, find-the-armor, kill-the-armor, kill-the-enemy. Mayhem is any mission, anywhere, anytime. So right now, we launch out of a Common Launch Tube. We can air and ground launch,” Johnson added.

Physically, the system incorporates a removable forward section — seen in the video embedded below — to speed up integration of new payloads. More than eight different payloads have been integrated so far, Johnson said. Its launcher is self-contained and adaptable, so it can be used by dismounted troops as well as from vehicles, aircraft, and other mobile platforms. In terms of aircraft, the same promotional video shows the Mayhem 10 being launched from tubes carried on the stub wings of an H-60 Black Hawk series helicopter.

Another difference with Switchblade is Mayhem 10’s use of rocket-assisted takeoff, rather than using a gas generator. This reflects the Army’s pivot toward rocket-assisted launch, the company told us.

Kevin Williams, the chief engineer for Mayhem, told TWZ another way in which Mayhem 10 differs from Switchblade.

“Mayhem 10 is highly optimized; this is purpose-built for the launched effects mission, as opposed to a Switchblade, which is very much purpose-built for a singular anti-tank, anti-armor mission,” Williams explained. “Modularity is at its very core.”

Thanks to its modular open systems approach (MOSA), Mayhem 10 can receive upgrades and have third-party payloads integrated without major redesign.

“The modularity is really the main point here,” Johnson said. “We held a payload conference about a year and a half ago. We brought multiple vendors in, from across the spectrum, with different payloads. We shared our ICD, our interface control document, and then they came back. We wanted to make this as open architecture as we could for the Army, and it shares a lot of that same open architecture design that we’ve already incorporated with our P550,” — AeroVironment’s autonomous Group 2 eVTOL uncrewed air system, which is already in service.

A video showing the AeroVironment P550 UAS:

AeroVironment’s P550 eVTOL: Rapid Deployment and Enhanced Situational Awareness

Among the payload options, Johnson brought attention to one that “effectively can act as a HARM missile, meaning that we can identify, detect, and kill an emitter.”

Williams described one real-life scenario in which the company ran a hackathon to prove the payload modularity. The result was payload designers getting access to the interface control model, which can even be done via QR code, to get a full understanding of electrical, mechanical, and data interfaces. In at least one instance, the resulting payload was then physically integrated within 90 minutes of the supplier showing up at the AeroVironment facility.

Meanwhile, operators interface with the system through AeroVironment’s Tomahawk Grip and the AV_Halo Command environment, which are optimized for networked and distributed operations.

Perhaps most significantly, the AV_Halo Command architecture allows Mayhem 10 to operate in collaborative swarms. By networking multiple systems together, units can expand coverage, saturate defenses, and execute coordinated effects across a wide area. Brian Young, the company’s senior vice president for loitering munitions, framed this as a shift in how combat power is generated, scaling effects without concentrating forces or increasing platform risk.

The @USArmy @usarmyrccto has selected Kinesis – part of our AV_Halo Command open, modular software ecosystem – as the lead command and control software for the Human-Machine Integrated Formations (HMIF) program. Kinesis will give warfighters a unified interface to field and… pic.twitter.com/04wxsGlPHJ

— AV (@aerovironment) October 20, 2025

“We can complete multiple missions in one swarm,” Johnson continued. “They can communicate with each other and complete it. They can jam the enemy with EW payloads. We have multiple kinetic payloads, so we can run a full mission profile with multiple Mayhems.”

On the autonomy side, Mayhem 10 leverages an AI-driven processor, which the manufacturer says ensures operations in denied or degraded environments. It is designed to have resilience against jamming, spoofing, and loss of traditional navigation signals. Secure positioning and communications are enabled through M-Code GPS and a Silvus datalink, while a MANET-based mesh network provides command-and-control connectivity at ranges of roughly 16-25 miles.

At this point, AeroVironment has conducted over 50 internally funded flight tests with Mayhem 10. These have included live ordnance, EW, and Link relay flight tests, with various payloads.

“We’re approaching TRL 8 [Technology Readiness Level 8, meaning it has been tested and flight qualified] with this system this summer and entering low-rate initial production later this year,” Williams explained.

Considering that the Army is yet to place a contract, that might seem like jumping the gun, but AeroVironment says they wanted to go fast, to have a reliable product ready for when the service started to look to buy them.

“We’re entering the competitions,” Williams said. “We wanted to go fast, reliably, though. We didn’t want to come in and have a lesser product. We’re delivering a weapon system, not an experimental system.”

Currently, the company is mainly using Mayhem 10 to target the U.S. Army’s Launched Effects-Short Range (LE-SR) program, but stresses that this is part of a new family of products, so additional variants will likely appear in the future.

Should the Army choose Mayhem 10, the company has already made preparations to ramp up production. While low-rate initial production is being handled at a production line in Simi Valley, California, the company is establishing a new manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. This will have the capacity to scale production up to between 1,000 and 2,000 units annually.

Taken together, Mayhem 10 reflects a clear trajectory in modern warfare: smaller, smarter, and more networked systems that can be fielded quickly, easily adapted, and employed in large numbers to overwhelm an adversary. At the same time, it is entering the market that is fast becoming saturated with similar products, and there will be no shortage of rivals for future Army orders.

Jamie Hunter contributed to this story.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com