In fulfilling those promises, The New York Times reported the US has sent Ukraine so many stockpiled Stinger missiles that it would take 13 years of production at recent capacity levels to replace them. The Times added that Raytheon, the company that helps make Javeline missile systems, said it would take five years at last year's production rates to replace the number of missiles sent to Ukraine in the last ten months.

Currently, the US produces just over 14,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition every month — and Ukrainian forces have previously fired that many rounds in the span of 48 hours, The Washington Post reported last month. US officials in January proposed a production increase up to 90,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition each month to keep up with demand.

In his prime-time address, Netanyahu, who had previously rejected calls to delay the legislation, took a more conciliatory tone than in recent speeches. He acknowledged the deep divisions in the country and said he was hitting the pause button 'to prevent a rift in the nation.'

'When there's an opportunity to avoid civil war through dialogue, I, as prime minister, am taking a timeout for dialogue,' he said. He vowed to reach a 'broad consensus' during the summer session of parliament, which begins on April 30.

Netanyahu and his religious and ultranationalist allies presented the overhaul in January just days after forming their government, the most right-wing in Israel's history. The proposal has plunged Israel into its worst domestic crisis in decades. Business leaders, top economists and former security chiefs have all come out against the plan, saying it is pushing the country toward an autocracy. Fighter pilots and military reservists have threatened not to report for duty, and the country's currency, the shekel, has tumbled in value.

As a result, drones, robots and other unmanned vehicles have become increasingly important. The combination of these factors created the “perfect storm” for the dramatic rise and adoption of unmanned systems by most militaries around the world. Perhaps the best proof of this has been the mass usage of drones by both sides of the Ukrainian conflict. Ranging from commercial quadcopters to HALE (high-altitude, long-endurance) military drones, these weapons are changing the face of warfare in a manner no less revolutionary than airplanes and tanks did during the First World War.

Interestingly, as both the Russian military and the Kiev regime forces deploy advanced long-range air defenses (particularly the former), the role of larger drones has subsided, leaving smaller platforms as the more cost-effective alternative, while also providing significant tactical advantages.

The strike began at midnight and is set to end at midnight on Tuesday. Eight major German airports were affected, with the German Airports Association estimating that around 380,000 travelers were left stranded. Munich Airport shut down entirely from Sunday onwards, with all flights canceled and its terminal deserted. Freight trains were halted too, as was shipping traffic in and out of Hamburg, Germany’s largest port and Europe’s third-busiest.

Roughly 400,000 workers took part in the strike, Verdi chief Frank Werneke told German media. Newspapers in Germany described the walkout as a “mega strike,” calling it the largest such disruption in decades. Werneke told the German newspaper Bild that securing a pay rise is “a matter of survival for many thousands of employees” struggling to cope with the rising cost of living.

“MI5 has increased the threat to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism from ‘substantial’ (an attack is likely) to ‘severe’ (an attack is highly likely),” Heaton-Hayes wrote in a statement to parliament. “The public should remain vigilant, but not be alarmed, and continue to report any concerns they have to the Police Service of Northern Ireland,” he added.

“As immigrants of this country who knew barely a word of English, they could not have imagined in their wildest dreams that their grandson would one day be on the cusp of being the next First Minister of Scotland,” Yousaf said of his grandparents at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on Monday. “We should all take pride in the fact that today we have sent a clear message that your color of skin or indeed your faith is not a barrier to leading the country that we all call home.”

The other day, I asked my readers to “imagine what our country will look like if the banking system implodes and the economy plunges into a depression”, because if our banks continue to collapse that is precisely where we are headed.

Unfortunately, the recent banking panic has greatly accelerated matters. In fact, a whopping 98.4 billion dollars was pulled out of US banks during the week ending March 15th… The readout, released shortly after the market closed Friday, came around the same time as new Fed data showed that bank customers collectively pulled $98.4 billion from accounts for the week ended March 15.

That would have covered the period when the sudden failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank rocked the industry. Just think about that. Nearly 100 billion dollars in deposits evaporated in just one week. Overall, JPMorgan Chase is telling us that the “most vulnerable” banks in this country have “lost a total of about $1 trillion in deposits since last year”…

Israel's research universities and medical facilities also canceled their strikes, according to statements from the Israeli Medical Association and the heads of research universities.

This follows the announcement on Monday morning that the Histadrut would coordinate a far-reaching labor strike in order to prevent the government's judicial overhaul from being enacted. The Histadrut will be joined by the nation’s health care providers, according to the Medical Association.

All this happened the day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who had called for a halt to the legal reform legislation. Netanyahu’s decision sparked massive unrest among the Israeli populace, who took to the streets in historic numbers in order to protest the seemingly dictatorial move.

The top general published an open letter in the aftermath of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for criticizing the reform. Israel “has never known such days of external threats combining with an internal storm,” Halevi wrote, urging the military to refrain from taking part in the protests. “Our enemies must know that we are standing guard and nobody is deserting,” he said.

A rally to support Netanyahu's plan is expected to take place in Jerusalem later in the day, with multiple right-wing politicians urging people to take to the streets to support both the controversial overhaul and the government. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline Zionist, urged the public to back the changes, as scrapping it would jeopardize Israeli democracy.

MEP Guy Verhofstadt, a Euro-fantasist and former prime minister of Belgium, jeered on Twitter, “Putin's appalling legacy now includes turning Russia more and more into a Chinese vassal state,” oblivious to the irony of his own words. As the United States took the lead in denouncing China’s peace plan for the Ukraine conflict, publicly setting out the conditions on which it should end, the European Union was nowhere to be seen, or at least had nothing original to say.

This makes Verhofstadt’s comments a damning display of lacking self-awareness. Russia and China are setting out their vision for a new multipolar world, while the US struggles against them in seeking to maintain its hegemonic position. Meanwhile, the European Union has been reduced to the status of a mere bench player in it all, and has become effectively irrelevant.

These are no ordinary cows: they are red heifers, and as such any one of them might be the final missing ingredient needed for the coming of the Messiah — at least if you ask the rabbis who came to greet them. All of the rabbis are part of the Temple Mount movement, a loose coalition of groups and individuals working to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem where the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque currently stand, and in so doing usher in the messianic age.

The Temple Mount movement, for all its ambition, long languished in one of the most ideologically idiosyncratic corners of Israeli society. They faced opposition from the Israeli public, mainstream rabbinical authorities, the government, and the police — in addition to Muslims worldwide, for whom the Temple Mount compound is Al-Haram Al-Sharif (“the Noble Sanctuary”), the third holiest site in Islam, and who regard attempts at reviving Jewish Temple worship as a threat to the sanctity of the mosques, and to the political fate of the holy city.

But over the last few years, the movement has been extraordinarily successful at pushing past each of these sources of opposition. In what may be its greatest achievement yet, a striking number of Temple Mount activists now make up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, the most famous of whom is Itamar Ben Gvir, the Kahanist star of the last election who is now national security minister. With the surging movement at his back, Ben Gvir has returned the Temple Mount to the Israeli zeitgeist, inflaming tensions that have been steadily rising for years.

The two nations are preparing to reopen their respective embassies after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in April, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a “source aligned with Damascus.” A second Syria-linked source told the agency that the breakthrough came after talks in Saudi Arabia involving a senior Syrian intelligence official.

Saudi sources appeared to confirm the news later on Thursday night, with a foreign-ministry official telling state TV that “discussions are underway with officials in Syria to resume consular services.”

Boris Pistorius’s zeal for his new role has catapulted him to the top of the public popularity rankings and drew admiration from allies, in stark contrast to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose reputation took a hit in international circles due to his reluctance to approve military aid for Ukraine. Pistorius, meanwhile, has impressed opposition lawmakers, diplomats and defence industry executives.

Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of parliament with the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) and a former colonel, said Pistorius “has shown a heart for the troops and his communication is excellent. As a former army guy, I must say in comparison to 13 or 14 defence ministers I’ve experienced since [joining the military in] 1982, he could become a really excellent one.”

Pistorius’s enthusiasm and direct style have made him a hit with the public, with polling by broadcaster ZDF naming him the country’s most popular politician in both February and March.

The failure to report for weekly training sessions has serious implications because pilots who miss them are not certified to fly operational missions. The protesters included pilots from different branches of the IAF including those who fly combat missions, helicopters and transport planes, Channel 12 reported.

Increasingly, reservists — who are a key part of the army’s routine activities, including in top units — have warned they will not be able to serve in an undemocratic Israel, which they charge the country will become under the government’s plan.

It came as all flights were grounded at Ben Gurion Airport, the nation's main international hub, after the head of the Israel Airports Authority workers' committee announced a strike. President Isaac Herzog said 'the eyes of the whole world are on you' following Netanyahu's dismissal of Yoav Gallant on Sunday.

Herzog said: 'I am addressing the prime minister, the members of the government and the companies and members of the coalition: the feelings are difficult and painful. Deep concern surrounds the entire nation.'