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As Cuba heads into another month of blackouts due to the near-total fuel blockade imposed by the US, many say their lives now revolve around these power outages.

For Ana Rosa Romero, a 70-year-old widow living in a high-rise building, the constant power cuts have transformed her daily life.

BBC’s Will Grant spoke to her about the impact of the blackouts.

Video edited by Blanca Estrada

In what appears to be the first incident of its kind, a Russian kamikaze drone strayed into Romanian airspace before striking a residential building, injuring civilians. While Russian drones flying into NATO airspace, whether accidental or deliberate, have become a feature of the war in Ukraine, this marks a notable milestone, although the nature of the repercussions remains unclear.

The Russian drone was part of a barrage involved in an overnight attack on Ukraine. It strayed into Romanian airspace before crashing into the roof of a residential building in Galați on the River Danube, in eastern Romania. The Romanian Ministry of Defense assesses that the drone was intended to attack one of several Ukrainian targets in the vicinity of the river border with Romania.

A senior NATO official confirmed to TWZ that it had detected and tracked the Russian drone, but it entered Romanian airspace only minutes before striking the apartment building. “To put this in context, you are talking about something that is travelling nearly 200km/h [124 miles per hour] over a populated area less than 15km [nine miles] from the border. Nonetheless, we are assessing what more can be done now to optimize Romania and NATO’s network of sensors and shooters to safely neutralize such threats,” the official added.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Shahed-type drone was involved in Russian strikes on the Odesa region, which borders Romania, targeting civilian container ships. Since the summer of 2023, Russia has embarked on a campaign to attack Ukrainian ports and other facilities on the Danube, with extensive use of drones. Overnight Russian strikes in the wider Black Sea region saw three foreign-flagged merchant vessels attacked, according to Kyiv, one of them being the Turkish-owned Ant, a dry cargo ship that was heading to Turkey from Odesa.

The impact sparked a fire, injured two people, and forced the evacuation of several other residents.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense said the drone had been tracked by radar in Romanian airspace.

In response, two Romanian Air Force F-16 fighters and an armed IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter were scrambled.

There have been some mixed messages as to why the drone was not shot down.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense says that the pilots involved had authorization to engage targets throughout the alert.

President of Romania Nicușor Dan said that the decision not to engage the target was taken “because the conditions did not exist to destroy it without the heightened risk of endangering civilian safety.”

Other reports suggest the interceptors were simply too late on the scene, and others that the chain of command to approve the engagement took too long, although this is clearly at odds with the Romanian Ministry of Defense’s account.

Regardless, Romania summoned Russia’s ambassador today, calling out the “irresponsible escalation” by Moscow.

“We will officially communicate the consequences that this lack of responsibility on the part of the Russian Federation will have for the diplomatic relations between our countries, as well as the next steps at the European level regarding sanctions packages,” the Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu wrote on X.

L-am convocat pe Ambasadorul Federației Ruse la sediul Ministerului Afacerilor Externe.

Siguranța României este prioritatea noastră absolută.

Avem confirmarea MAPN că drona care s-a prăbușit pe o clădire rezidențială din Galați este de proveniență rusească.

Decizia a fost…

— Toiu Oana (@oana_toiu) May 29, 2026

Meanwhile, Romania’s president, Nicușor Dan, said he had instructed the foreign ministry to prepare a package of measures regarding Romania’s relationship with Moscow, “proportionate to this very serious situation.”

Am avut o convorbire cu Secretarul General @NATO, @SecGenNATO , în urma celui mai grav incident de securitate produs pe teritoriul României de la începutul războiului de agresiune al Rusiei împotriva Ucrainei.
Am condamnat ferm această încălcare inacceptabilă a suveranității…

— Nicușor Dan (@NicusorDanRO) May 29, 2026

Condemnation has also come from other NATO allies.

“I want to condemn this irresponsible act by Russia,” France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said, adding that the drone had struck “a country of the European Union and a NATO country.”

A NATO spokesperson condemned “Russia’s recklessness” and said the alliance would strengthen its defences against all threats, including drones.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for greater diplomacy, immediate de-escalation and “a full and unconditional ceasefire,” warning of “unknown and unintended consequences” from the escalation and intensification of Russian drone and missile attacks against Ukraine.

Russia’s war of aggression has crossed yet another line.

A Russian drone incursion struck a densely populated area in Romania, injuring civilians.

On EU territory.

We stand in full solidarity with Romania and its people.

As we continue strengthening our security and…

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 29, 2026

Romania has also called for the beefing up of its counter-drone capabilities to help prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry today said it had asked NATO to accelerate the transfer of anti-drone capabilities in response to the drone strike.

PM @Bolojan: @GuvernulRo strongly condemns Russia’s violation of our airspace. We count on NATO Allies’ support and timely delivery of anti-drone capabilities. We are also focusing on rapid implementation of SAFE.

— Guvernul României (@GuvernulRo) May 29, 2026

Romania already hosts several layers of NATO and NATO-linked air defense infrastructure, but most of these are designed to engage ballistic missiles and conventional aircraft, not large numbers of low, slow Shahed-type drones.

Air defense capabilities in Romania include the Aegis Ashore system at Deveselu, the most important NATO missile-defense installation in the region. It is a U.S.-operated land version of the naval Aegis ballistic missile defense system armed with SM-3 interceptors, integrated into NATO’s missile shield.

Romania also operates Patriot PAC-3 systems, which are effective against aircraft, cruise missiles, and some ballistic missiles, but are an expensive option for routine drone interception.

In addition, the country hosts rotational NATO fighter policing detachments, which provide additional air defense over the Black Sea and provide air policing patrols. Currently, a detachment of U.K. Royal Air Force Typhoons is in Romania as part of Operation Biloxi.

UK heatwave? ☀️

Still not as hot as a Typhoon afterburner on Op BILOXI.🔥✈️

🛫Typhoons from @RoyalAirForce continue to launch on BILOXI, sharpening combat edge alongside allies in support of @NATO enhanced Air Policing mission.

Speed. Power. Precision. 💪 #PhoonFriday pic.twitter.com/mCigKNUTfD

— Defence Operations 🇬🇧 (@DefenceOps) May 29, 2026

It should be pointed out that this is not the first incident in which a Russian drone flying from the Ukrainian side of the border has violated Romanian airspace. Drone wreckage was found in Romania, close to the border with Ukraine, in September and October of 2023, although there was no evidence that the NATO country was deliberately targeted. In December of the same year, NATO fighters deployed in Romania were scrambled to respond to a drone violation, with one of the drones exploding in Romanian territory, although it was not shot down. Since then, there have been multiple other Russian drone incursions, but no reported injuries as a result.

However, the overnight strike in Romania further underscores the potentially lethal risk of the war in Ukraine spilling over from Ukraine and into NATO territory.

It also coincides with Russian threats to step up its sustained assault on Ukraine. Moscow has continued using long-range missiles and drones to target Ukrainian cities and critical energy infrastructure, while Kyiv prepares for further waves of intense attacks.

Earlier this week, Zelensky said he was urging the United States to supply more Patriot systems to help defend against Russian ballistic missile strikes, amid an ongoing shortage of critical air defense systems. Speaking today, the Ukrainian leader said that Ukrainian intelligence has information indicating Russia is preparing a new large-scale attack on Ukraine.

As we have discussed in the past, Russian kamikaze drones heading toward population centers in NATO countries represent an entirely new level of threat to the alliance and one that NATO is currently not well-equipped to deal with.

Considering the intensity of Russian aerial bombardment of Ukraine, and the proximity of NATO borders, it was really only a matter of time until an incident like this occurred.

Already, Romania expanded its no-fly zone along a section of the border with Ukraine to up to 20 miles inside Romania and to a height of 4,000 feet. This was intended as a deterrent against Russian drones from deliberately entering Romanian airspace to reach enemy targets.

TWZ reached out to NATO for details of potential posture changes, and a senior official from the alliance confirmed that a NATO E-3A Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft was launched today to increase air-domain awareness.

The same NATO official told us that one way to avoid similar incidents in the future would be to bring the MEROPS counter-drone system to Romania under NATO command and control.

“Another way is for Romania and other allies to continue the acquisition of more capabilities as part of the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative, which integrates sensing, decision-making and precision effects into a resilient, defense-in-depth concept,” the official added.

As you can read about here, MEROPS counter-drone systems, initially used in Ukraine, have also been deployed to protect U.S. troops from Iranian Shahed-136 munitions. The MEROPS is a small, relatively inexpensive drone built specifically to intercept long-range one-way attack drones.

A new system to identify and take down Russian drones is deployed to NATO’s eastern flank

Now that a Romanian residential building has been hit and people injured, this may push the needle further and lead to the more comprehensive deployment of counter-drone capabilities in this country and elsewhere on NATO’s eastern flank.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

In Colombia’s volatile Catatumbo region, FARC dissidents say they returned to war after a historic peace deal failed to deliver security and social change.

Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo has exclusive access to the group as it fights rivals for control of territory and lucrative drug trafficking routes.

Paris Saint-Germain held their nerve in a cagey Champions League ⁠final to retain the title by beating ⁠Arsenal 4-3 on penalties as Saturday’s nail-biting showdown ended 1-1 after extra time, cementing the French side’s status among Europe’s modern greats.

Arsenal defender Gabriel blasted his spot kick over Matvey Safonov’s crossbar at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, his miss confirming PSG as the first club to retain the trophy since Real Madrid completed their ⁠three-year reign from 2016 to 2018.

Long dismissed as glamorous underachievers despite vast resources, the Ligue 1 champions have now forged a dynasty under Luis Enrique, marrying attacking brilliance with resilience to establish themselves as the dominant force in European football.

“It’s stronger than last year because we knew before the match just how difficult it would be to play against Arsenal,” said Enrique, whose side had ⁠thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 a year ago to claim Europe’s elite trophy for the first time.

“As a club and a city, it’s incredible to win, and I think we deserved it over the course of the season. The final was a real battle,” added the Spanish coach.

The outcome left Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice devastated but proud as his side finished their European campaign without losing a match, aside from the shootout defeat in the final.

“It’s gutting. It’s devastating to lose a Champions League final on penalties,” he said. “But we try to take a lot of perspective from how far we’ve come as a group.

“An incredible season. ‌Given it absolutely everything up until this point. We took the game to penalties. It’s a lottery.”

Eleven days after celebrating their first Premier League title in 22 years, Arsenal looked set for a maiden triumph on Europe’s biggest stage after Kai Havertz’s sixth-minute opener and a first hour spent smothering PSG’s vaunted attack.

However, the final in the Hungarian capital became chaotic, once PSG’s Ousmane Dembele equalised with a penalty in the 65th minute, the pace turning frantic before exhaustion took the match to a shootout.

Under Enrique, PSG have won the six shootouts they have contested, with the 56-year-old winning 12 of the 13 one-off club finals as coach.

After brushing aside Premier League opposition on their way to the final by eliminating Chelsea and Liverpool, PSG were facing a much sterner test against an Arsenal team playing their second Champions League final after losing to Barcelona in 2006.

Mikel Arteta’s side took the ⁠lead when Marquinhos’ clearance bounced off Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard into the path of Havertz, who raced into the box and fired into the roof of ⁠the net.

He is the fourth player to score in two different European Cup or Champions League finals with two different clubs.

It was the nightmare scenario for PSG – trailing so early against the best defence in the competition.

Arsenal lived up to their reputation as the best team without the ball and looked perfectly content with the script, doubling up on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and suffocating the usual danger posed by the Georgian magician on the left flank.

PSG’s Fabian Ruiz was ⁠unable to impose his usual rhythm in midfield and, despite monopolising possession for long spells, the French side struggled to carve out clear-cut chances.

By half-time, PSG had attacked 32 times, Arsenal three.

Arsenal, however, were flirting with the boundaries with their challenges and Cristhian Mosquera brought down Kvaratskhelia in ⁠the area, with Dembele converting the penalty to equalise with his eighth goal in the competition.

The momentum had shifted.

Jurrien ⁠Timber and Viktor Gyokeres replaced Mosquera and Martin Odegaard. Arsenal had a more attacking mindset but were exposed to PSG’s counter attacks and at the end of one of them, Kvaratskhelia sped into the box, only for his left-footed effort to crash onto the outside of David Raya’s post.

After controlling the tempo in the first half, Arsenal played into PSG’s hands as the pace increased significantly, giving too much space to Kvaratskhelia or Bradley Barcola, who replaced the Georgian winger with ‌seven minutes remaining.

In the 89th minute, PSG came close to giving the final an abrupt end as Vitinha’s shot grazed the top of the net. Barcola also shot over the bar after a counter attack, with what would have been the last kick of the game.

With both teams having run out of steam, extra time was a cautious affair and when referee Daniel Siebert blew his ‌whistle, ‌Arsenal had only managed one shot on target.

Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze missed his penalty before Raya saved Nuno Mendes’ attempt. Gabriel had to score to keep the Gunners’ hopes alive but, facing PSG’s end, he fired over.

The French side were left to celebrate being European champions once again, with extra-time substitute Lucas Beraldo’s goal in the shootout proving to be the winner.

Women in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are disproportionately impacted by Ebola as shortages of protective gear amid funding cuts accelerate the spread of disease. Al Jazeera’s Imogen Kimber reports how these caregivers to the living and the dead are most at risk.

Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani has told the Shangri-La Dialogue that his country would oppose a permanent toll for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

He added that Qatar would find a temporary fee negotiable, if it was to be used to help reopen the waterway, by removing sea mines, for example.

At least 22 people have been killed and 36 others injured when a truck carrying recently returned Afghan refugees overturned in eastern Afghanistan’s Laghman Province.

Officials say the driver lost control of the vehicle and authorities have launched an investigation.

A Palestinian doctor has been killed and three people injured in an Israeli attack in central Gaza, as Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes and property in northern and southern parts of the occupied West Bank.

The attacks across Palestine on Saturday, the fourth day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, came amid continued Israeli violations of a United States-backed “ceasefire” implemented in October aimed at halting Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Dr Jamal Abu Aboun, the head of anaesthesia at Al-Yafa Medical Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, was killed in an Israeli strike near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, also in Deir al-Balah on Saturday.

“The body of Jamal Abu Aoun and three injured people, including a child, had arrived at the hospital following an Israeli drone strike that targeted a group of civilians near the hospital,” a medical source at Al-Aqsa hospital told the Anadolu news agency.

Earlier, Israeli artillery shelling targeted areas east and south of Khan Younis city in southern Gaza. Another artillery strike targeted al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

At least 922 Palestinians have been killed and 2,786 others injured in Israeli attacks since the October “ceasefire”, according to the Gaza Media Office.

Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, killing at least 72,000 Palestinians and injuring over 172,000 others, according to Palestinian figures.

In testimonies to The Associated Press news agency, Israeli soldiers described a climate of dehumanisation, permissive rules of engagement and the routine killing of Palestinians during the “ceasefire”.

Reservists who served in Gaza between last October and January said Israeli troops frequently opened fire on Palestinians approaching or crossing the so-called “Yellow Line”, an often poorly marked boundary separating Israeli-occupied areas from the rest of the enclave.

One soldier said that fellow troops celebrated after a strike on a vehicle carrying Palestinians killed everyone inside. “It was a jungle,” the soldier told AP. “After the ceasefire, the order was: If someone crosses the line, you shoot them.”

Another reservist said commanders repeatedly emphasised holding territory at all costs. “There was a general feeling that human lives are not valuable,” he said.

Settler attacks in occupied West Bank

Elsewhere in occupied Palestine, Israeli settlers attacked several homes early on Saturday in the town of Beita, south of the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

They threw stones at houses and smashed several vehicles, Wafa reported.

State-run Voice of Palestine radio reported Israeli forces firing light bombs into the sky over the town.

In the southern West Bank, settlers attacked Palestinian farmland and damaged several trees in Khirbet el-Muraq in Masafer Yatta, activist Osama Makhamra, who follows Israeli violations south of Hebron, told reporters.

Israeli settlers carried out at least 540 attacks in April against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, according to a monthly report by the Palestinian state-run Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.

The attacks ranged from “direct physical violence, uprooting trees, burning fields, preventing farmers from accessing their land, seizing property, as well as demolishing homes and agricultural structures”.

Israeli army raids, arrests and settler attacks have intensified across the West Bank since the start of the genocidal war in Gaza.

According to Palestinian figures, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,168 Palestinians, injured 12,666, displaced about 33,000, and detained nearly 23,000 in the West Bank since October 2023.

Videos show Indonesia’s Mount Merapi spewing a column of ash around 2 kilometres high in West Sumatra’s Tanh Datar District. Authorities have enforced an “exclusion zone” within a 3-kilometre radius around Mount Merapi since an eruption in 2023.

At least 14 people were killed and several others wounded in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Sunday amid continued violations of an ongoing ceasefire, Anadolu reports.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 11 people were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli strike on the town of Seir al-Gharbiyeh in Nabatieh province in southern Lebanon.

A fighter jet struck the town of Bazouriyeh in the Tyre district, killing one person and injuring two others, the state news agency NNA reported.

An Israeli drone strike also killed a young man in the town of Arabsalim in Nabatieh district, the outlet said.

A house was also hit in an Israeli strike in the town of Toura in Tyre, killing a woman and injuring two people.​​​​​​​

The Israeli attacks came despite a US-mediated ceasefire that is supposed to remain in effect until early July.

More than 3,100 people have been killed, over 9,500 injured, and 1.6 million displaced by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon since March 2 amid cross-border attacks with Hezbollah, according to Lebanese officials.

READ: Israel pounds Gaza, Lebanon in daily breaches of ceasefires

Israel’s military has advanced beyond Lebanon’s Litani River for the first time since 2006.

Israel’s military has advanced beyond the Litani River in southern Lebanon for the first time since 2006 and appear poised to encircle the major city of Nabatieh.

Senior Lebanese military sources on Saturday told the Turkish state news agency Anadolu that Israeli forces had crossed the Litani River, which Israel has declared the perimeter of its unofficial buffer zone.

Israeli forces are now on the outskirts of Nabatieh, a city that is key to southern Lebanon’s economy and a cultural hub for the region. If the Shia-majority city were to fall, it would mark a significant development in the war on Lebanon, which began in October 2023 and subsequent official ceasefire.

Nabatieh is viewed by many Lebanese as a symbol of resistance due to its historic role on the frontline of Israeli assaults.

Reporting from the southern city of Tyre, Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto said Israel was expanding its air campaign in southern Lebanon and encircling Nabatieh in preparation for a potential assault on the city.

“It looks like Israel is trying to make this final push to encircle Nabatieh, breaking through the second and third lines of defence of Hezbollah and isolating the western Bekaa Valley from the south of the country,” Hitto said.

Israel has issued evacuation orders for at least 10 villages in southern Lebanon, as it expands its invasion, despite being engaged in ongoing peace talks with Lebanese officials.

The Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, instructed residents in several Lebanese villages to evacuate immediately, warning they could be killed if they remained.

The order came the day after officials from both countries met in Washington to discuss a permanent end to the war. It began in early March when Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

Hitto said people fleeing their homes have few options, with more than 20 percent of the population — around 1.2 million people — displaced by fighting.

“Those options are turning into basically people living with relatives if they have that option, or people living in makeshift camps in public parks and public spaces. I’ve seen many families living in their vehicles for long periods of time,” Hitto said.

“Some of these families have been continuously displaced since 2023,” Hitto added.

The latest forced displacement orders are a further test to the nominal “ceasefire” in place since mid-April and repeatedly violated by Israel. It justifies its actions by saying it is targeting Hezbollah as part of efforts to disarm the group.

On Friday, at least 14 people were killed in Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese officials are working to disarm Hezbollah, but the task has proved extremely difficult.

Lebanese and Israeli officials are currently engaged in negotiations to end the war, marking the first time the two sides have spoken directly in decades.

The talks are being facilitated by the United States, and a new round is expected in Washington next week.

Lebanon’s President, Joseph Aoun, held talks with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday to discuss the security situation and  ongoing negotiations with Israel. According to the state-run National News Agency, they agreed to intensify efforts to end the war, which has triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Aoun also spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and stressed the importance of Israel respecting the current ceasefire.

The US and Iran have agreed in principle to a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, in exchange for Tehran’s commitment to dispose of its highly enriched uranium, a US official said, according to a report by The New York Times on Sunday.

The official said that the agreement has not yet been signed and remains subject to final approval by US President Donald Trump and Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, a process that could take several days, noting that the method for disposing of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is still being negotiated.

The proposed deal does not address Iran’s missile stockpile nor include a moratorium on uranium enrichment, the official said, adding that these issues are expected to be handled in future rounds of talks.

According to a Fox News report on Sunday, the official suggested that the US could consider “significant accommodations” on sanctions relief if Iran agrees to make similar concessions regarding its enriched uranium stockpile.

READ: Iran ready to reassure world it is not pursuing nuclear weapons, president says

“Our plan is to deal with all of their stockpile of the enriched material,” the official said, adding that Washington sees Tehran making “serious accommodations” not previously seen in earlier negotiations, according to the report.

The official also rejected the idea of any “tolling” mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz, saying such an arrangement would not be acceptable and had not been proposed by either side, the report noted.

According to a separate CBS News report, the official said the administration views the emerging agreement as stronger than the 2015 nuclear deal reached under former US President Barack Obama, which allowed uranium enrichment up to certain levels.

As part of the agreement, the US would lift its blockade on vessels entering and leaving Iranian ports. The official said the US Central Command and Gulf partners would coordinate to ensure safe passage, stressing this should not be viewed as a toll system.

The official also said US Vice President JD Vance, Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have been involved in the talks, adding that Washington is seeking to include all regional allies in the process, the report added.

READ: Trump says Iran talks ‘constructive’ but blockade will remain until final deal is reached

The U.S. Space Force has awarded SpaceX a $4.16B deal to help accelerate work on what could be a game-changing space-based air moving-target indicator (AMTI) sensor network. The service says it now hopes to have an “early capability” in orbit by 2028, years ahead of the timelines officials have put forward in the past.

Plans for an AMTI satellite constellation were directly tied to an attempt in the past year to axe purchases of E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft, something the Pentagon has now fully abandoned after Congress intervened. Though the Air Force is moving ahead again with the E-7, which will succeed its aging E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) jets, the end goal remains to eventually push most, if not all, AMTI tasks into space.

“The long-standing method of military airborne platforms to track moving targets faces continued challenges as adversaries develop increasingly sophisticated anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems,” the Space Force said in its press release about the new deal with SpaceX today. “To compliment [sic; complement] traditional airborne sensing, the requirement for a layered, highly resilient tracking architecture is evident. SB-AMTI aims to enhance the Space Force’s capabilities to the Joint Force through the establishment of a persistent, global capability to sense and track airborne targets from space.”

The Space Force has described the $4.16 billion deal with SpaceX for the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (SB-AMTI) program as a “competitive Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement,” rather than a traditional contract. The agreement came via the office of the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Space-Based Sensing & Targeting (PAE SBST).

“This initial award is projected to field a constellation of satellites by 2028, providing the Joint Force with an early capability to eliminate operational blind spots,” according to the Space Force release.

In the past, U.S. officials have generally talked about space-based AMTI becoming a reality sometime in the 2030s. Work is underway to push ground moving-target indicator (GMTI) tasks into orbit, as well.

Some degree of on-orbit prototype AMTI sensor testing has already been ongoing for at least a year, if not much longer, but this work has been heavily classified. In addition to the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, both of which fall under the Department of the Air Force, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NRO, the activities of which are shrouded in heavy secrecy, is a U.S. military organization that serves as America’s main remote sensing intelligence arm.

“The capabilities that are happening in space are far exceeding our expectations,” then-Air Force Maj. Gen. Christopher Niemi said at a hearing earlier this year as part of a response to a question about plans for the E-7. He declined to offer more details publicly. Niemi, who has since been promoted to lieutenant general, is currently Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Force Modernization, and the service’s Chief Modernization Officer

SpaceX has already reportedly been deeply involved in this work, too, as you can read about more in this past TWZ feature. This underscores the company’s ever-growing dominance globally in all aspects of the space industry, which we will come back to later on.

As mentioned, a functional, persistent, and distributed AMTI (and GMTI) sensor network in orbit has the potential to be game-changing. As TWZ wrote back in 2024, talking primarily about the future of space-based GMTI capabilities:

“A larger, distributed constellation would have the ability to monitor huge swathes of the Earth simultaneously, and depending on the size of the constellation, at least far more persistently to seamlessly. This could make it difficult, if not impossible, for an opponent to hide activities of interest. A very low revisit rate, or even eliminating revisit rate altogether, could even open up the possibility of continuous ‘streaming’ coverage of a location from low Earth orbit. This would also be essential for persistent GMTI coverage that tracks ground movements in real time that will actually be high enough in fidelity to guide weapons onto those tracks. It’s possible that aerial tracking could also be a function, as well, even to a more limited degree. The E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) will also be replaced at least partially by space-based capabilities, along with the E-7 Wedgetail.”

“There is also a fair chance that this is another type of system, perhaps to execute broad area optical/infrared imaging with some exotic capabilities to provide tracking. We just don’t know.”

“Regardless, yes, we are talking about the possibility of panoptic or near panoptic targeting and surveillance from space.”

“Greater collaborative capabilities, especially ones enabled by the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, could help to find targets of interest and anomalies far faster than ever before. This could also open a door to more autonomous collection, tasking/retasking, and other capabilities, as well. Areas of interest that need seamless coverage could have extra satellites retasked to the necessary orbit in order to do so automatically, without the need for human deconfliction and even direct operator direction.”

It is not hard to imagine how the satellite constellation being described here would fundamentally change the U.S. military’s ability to not just spot and track targets globally, but also close the kill chains to engage them, even at very long ranges. This has massive implications for future net-centric warfare where all sorts of tangential capabilities will increasingly be networked together. It might impact how tactical aircraft are equipped in the future, including the need for their own radars. There could at least be a reduced need for them to use their own radars to guide missiles, even when no supporting sensor network within the Earth’s atmosphere has relevant data to provide.

Unlike having to rely on a single plane in a single surveillance place, a space-based sensor network made up of a very large number of individual satellites would also be highly resilient to attacks, as well as other attrition just due to technical breakdowns or other factors.

All this being said, U.S. officials have been open about potential challenges when it comes to making space-based AMTI capabilities a reality, even just compared to establishing GMTI networks in orbit.

“So GMTI [ground moving-target indicator capability] and AMTI [air moving-target indicator capability] sound like they’re really close, just because one little letter that is all you changed, [but it] turns out they’re pretty different,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, U.S. Space Force’s top officer, said during a press briefing on the sidelines of a conference in December 2025, according to Breaking Defense. “What it takes to accomplish AMTI is different than what it takes to accomplish GMTI.”

“Things on the ground move slower than things on [sic] the air, so [they] require different levels of fidelity tracks,” he added.

“The [AMTI] data the Intelligence Community and warfighter need presents a multi-phenomenology challenge that requires automated orchestration of the NRO’s collectors, low-latency data transport, and rapid data fusion by the NRO’s unmatched space communications and ground architecture capabilities,” a spokesperson for NRO also told Breaking Defense earlier this year.

It’s worth noting here that satellites with sensors are only one component of the total equation. Robust, resilient, and secure communications networks will be vital to getting the data collected where it needs to go. This is a separate area where SpaceX is already playing an increasingly central role with its Starlink and Starshield networks, as you can read more about here. Laser-based communications relays are set to be another key supporting capability.

Watch SpaceX deploy Starlink satellites into space

In its announcement today, the Space Force did explicitly stress that SpaceX will not be the only company supporting the SB-AMTI effort going forward, and that it has established a larger “vendor pool.”

“By utilizing this multi-vendor framework, we are capitalizing on established industry capacity and continuously evaluating and onboarding the best tech to field this essential capability at speed and scale,” Space Force Col. Ryan Frazier, the acting PAE SBST, said in a statement. “We will not leverage any one single provider; instead, we are partnering with a highly diversified pool of traditional and non-traditional vendors, each bringing various capabilities to support the SB-AMTI architecture, ensuring the Joint Force has access to a strong, competitive industrial base well into the future.”

At the same time, as TWZ has noted in the past, SpaceX’s dominance in the market gives the company a clear advantage for securing further deals. This extends to the additional demands to put all this architecture in space. At least currently, no other company has the same capacity to provide the U.S. military with the kind of reliable access to space at the required cadence, and within budget constraints. SB-AMTI is already a major budget priority, with the Space Force asking for more than $7 billion in additional funds to procure additional elements of the system in its 2027 Fiscal Year budget request.

These are all factors that are also notably set to play into how the Golden Dome missile defense initiative evolves. There has already been talk about Golden Dome leveraging existing work, including programs under the umbrella of PAE SBST, to help accelerate the fielding of at least an initial layer of capability.

It should also be reiterated that the Air Force is now moving ahead again with the E-7 program, and traditional aerial AMTI capabilities look set to remain an important element of U.S. military operations for the foreseeable future.

That being said, the new $4.16 billion agreement with SpaceX makes clear that the Space Force is pressing ahead with its plans for a space-based AMTI sensor network with hopes that at least an early operational capability could be in place within the next two years.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Mourinho was seen speaking with Vinicius after he walked off the pitch following the interaction with Prestianni.

But it was Mourinho’s post-match comments that were the most shocking.

While publicly backing his player Prestianni, Mourinho suggested Vinicius had incited tensions through his celebration in front of the home support.

“You score a goal from another world, why celebrate like that?” Mourinho said.

“The same thing always happens in so many stadiums. In how many states has this happened? In how many stadiums? How many? How many?

“He’s an out of this world player, I love him. Vinicius tells me one thing and Prestianni tells me another. I want to be balanced.”

The remarks sparked widespread criticism, with many accusing Mourinho of shifting attention away from the racism allegations and placing responsibility on the victim instead.

In addition to expressing his belief that Vinicius had been disrespectful with his goal celebration, he pointed to the club’s legendary striker Eusebio as proof that Benfica are not a racist club.

Asked if he felt Vinicius incited the crowd, Mourinho said: “Yes. I believe so.

“It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. Unfortunately [he was] not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way.”

He added: “When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black.

“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be an independent.”

Five Palestinians, including three members of the same family, were killed and five others injured in fresh Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Sunday amid daily violations of an ongoing ceasefire, medical sources said.

One of the Palestinians was killed by Israeli gunfire in the center of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza and his body was transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, the sources told Anadolu.

A couple and their child were also killed, and three others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the sources added.

In a separate incident, the sources said a child died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike that targeted a police headquarters in northwestern Gaza on Saturday.

In northern Gaza, a Palestinian fisherman was moderately injured after Israeli naval forces fired shells and machine-gun fire at fishing boats off the coast of Gaza City, according to the sources.

READ: France bans Israeli Cabinet Minister Ben-Gvir over treatment of Gaza flotilla activists

Another Palestinian was injured by shrapnel from a shell fired by Israeli forces on the beach in the Al-Sudaniya area, northwest of the enclave.

In a related development, the Israeli army carried out demolition operations targeting buildings and facilities in northern Gaza. Local sources reported hearing a large explosion resulting from the demolitions.

In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Israeli forces also carried out similar demolition operations east of the city, accompanied by gunfire and artillery shelling near Bani Suheila roundabout, according to the local sources.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 880 people have been killed and more than 2,645 others injured in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire was announced on Oct. 10, 2025.

The agreement was meant to halt Israel’s two-year war that killed more than 72,000 people, most of them women and children, injured over 172,000 since October 2023, and caused massive destruction affecting 90% of civilian infrastructure.

READ: Israel pounds Gaza, Lebanon in daily breaches of ceasefires

Caracas, May 29, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Russian government has urged Venezuelan authorities to “reject approaches” from the US and allies to transfer military equipment to Ukraine.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu raised the concerns during a meeting with Venezuelan Major General José Ornelas Ferreira, secretary general of the Caribbean nation’s National Defense Council, on Wednesday in Moscow. 

The Venezuelan official was a guest at the First International Security Forum, held from May 26-29 at the Russian capital with the presence of 140 top officials from over 120 countries worldwide.

“We are aware of the activity of Western emissaries who are attempting to involve Latin American countries in various arms supply schemes for the benefit of the Kyiv regime,” Shoigu said in a bilateral meeting with Ornelas. “We expect you to reject such approaches and inform us of any such Western attempts.”

Moscow and Caracas have maintained a longstanding military alliance through which Russia has provided Venezuela with a broad supply of weapons, equipment, and technical assistance for decades, forming the backbone of the Venezuelan arsenal. The cooperation dates back to the 2000s as Hugo Chávez sought to reverse the US dependence of the armed forces.

Though neither US nor Venezuelan officials have commented on weapons transfer proposals, Shoigu’s warning follows publicized efforts by Washington and allies to bolster the beleaguered Ukrainian forces in the war against Russia. Kiev’s backers procure Soviet-era equipment that could be easily integrated into the battlefield.

Apart from securing supplies from Eastern European NATO members, Washington has also turned to Latin America, offering to exchange Russian and Soviet-made hardware for newer US equipment. Brazilian and Colombian leaders rejected the proposal.

In February 2024, Ecuador canceled plans to send or exchange Soviet/Russian-origin weaponry with the US, which intended to reroute them Ukraine. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa backtracked following Russian threats to suspend banana imports from the Andean country.

According to military analysts, Venezuela’s battlefield equipment — including T-72B1V tanks, BMP-3 infantry vehicles, Mi-17 helicopters, and 152 mm artillery systems — would be valuable on the Ukrainian battlefield and help address chronic ammunition shortages.

The recent Moscow security summit also saw Shoigu condemn the US’ “brutal armed invasion” of Venezuela on January 3 that led to the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

“We strongly condemn Washington’s actions on January 3, during which the legitimate head of state, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife were captured, and dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban citizens were killed,” the former Russian defense minister stated.

Shoigu criticized the Trump administration for “violating all fundamental norms of international law” and breaking “the principles governing coexistence among nations and respect for state sovereignty.”

The Russian official went on to reaffirm the Vladimir Putin government’s “unwavering support” for Caracas and the desire to “strengthen cooperation” in order to avoid future acts of aggression.

Shoigu likewise commented on the Venezuelan government, led by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, pursuing a “new modality of relations” with the US and expressed hope that it would protect the Caribbean country’s “sovereignty and national interests.”

Following the January 3 attacks, the Trump White House has exacted major concessions from the acting Rodríguez administration, including seizing control of Venezuelan oil revenues, auditing its Central Bank, pushing pro-business legislative reforms, and securing the handover of former government envoy Alex Saab to face money laundering charges in Florida.

The growing US influence in Venezuela saw the Southern Command hold “rapid response” military exercises on May 23, with Osprey MV-22B aircraft flying over Caracas and landing near the US embassy compound. 

US officials have acknowledged a growing “collaboration” with Caracas. During a press conference on Wednesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth highlighted Washington’s self-declared anti-narcotics operations in the Western hemisphere and the joint work with local governments.

“Just think about the fact that our Southern Command commander landed by helicopter at the US Embassy in Caracas peacefully,” Hegseth said alongside Trump. “He was welcomed by the Venezuelans because we are now partnering with them, hopefully even in our counter-cartel missions.” 

The Trump official referred to Venezuela as “fundamental to securing our energy future and defending the homeland.”

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

Iran is ready to reassure the international community that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons or instability in the region, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.

“Prior to the martyrdom of Ayatollah (Ali) Khamenei, Iran’s late Leader, we declared — and we reiterate now — that we are ready to assure the world we do not seek nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by state-run news agency IRNA.

“It is rather Tel Aviv that is driving regional instability,” he said, accusing Israel of pursuing a vision of “Greater Israel.”

Iranian negotiators will never compromise on the country’s “honor and dignity,” added Pezeshkian.

His remarks came a day after US President Donald Trump on Saturday said an agreement with Iran to end the war was “largely negotiated” and awaited finalization.

Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February. Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation and was later extended by Trump indefinitely.

READ: Iran shoots down Israeli spy drone in country’s south: Report

Workers in eastern DR Congo are rebuilding an Ebola treatment centre that was burned by protesters earlier this month, as health officials warn misinformation is driving families to hide sick relatives. The Congolese government confirmed over 1,000 suspected cases and at least 220 deaths since the outbreak was declared.