How US Military Funding Propelled China’s Robot Dogs

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China’s Unitree Robotics — among the world’s biggest producers of humanoid and quadruped robots — based designs for its most successful robot dogs on innovations funded by the U.S. military, according to a former U.S. defense technology official and three top researchers involved in the project.

Unitree’s $1,600 Go2 model, launched in 2023, helped the company rapidly dominate the global quadruped robot market — its Shanghai IPO has drawn frenzied demand. Another Unitree robot has been shown on Chinese state television, armed and accompanying People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops on an exercise.

These robots draw on breakthroughs in quadruped movement financed by the U.S. DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and other military programs, the researchers and the former official told Reuters.

The Army-funded project turned into, “basically, the first Unitree robot that had any kind of scale,” said Gavin Kenneally, a former University of Pennsylvania researcher involved in the program.

Ben Katz, who worked at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Biomimetic Robotics Lab, among a consortium of universities financed by the military programs, said the dimensions of Unitree’s popular Go series were “to the millimeter” almost identical to a groundbreaking robot he helped develop called Mini Cheetah. (Read more from “How US Military Funding Propelled China’s Robot Dogs” HERE)

Trump Doubles Down on Declaring Strait of Hormuz U.S. Territory as Iran Threatens to Break U.S. Blockade

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President Donald Trump doubled down Monday on declaring the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory, asserting that Washington has “total control” of the strategic waterway as Tehran threatened a military attack to break the U.S. naval blockade and declared a shift toward a more offensive posture.

“I just think it’s a great idea,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked to elaborate on his suggestion last week that the strait could be declared U.S. territory.

Trump repeatedly pointed to the blockade as the basis for American control.

“We control it. We control it with the blockade,” he said. “And I like the idea of declaring it a territory. We could do that. We have total control over the strait.”

Trump said Iran could still prove a “nuisance” by placing mines in the water, but described the blockade as “very effective” and touted the amount of oil now moving through the waterway. (Read more from “Trump Doubles Down on Declaring Strait of Hormuz U.S. Territory as Iran Threatens to Break U.S. Blockade” HERE)

Iran Army Chief Offers $30,000 Bounty for Killing or Capturing U.S. Soldiers

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Iran’s army chief announced a $30,000 bounty Sunday for anyone who kills or captures an American service member, as Tehran’s armed forces escalated threats against U.S. personnel and separately vowed to continue confronting the United States until its enemies are “completely” defeated and forced to “surrender.”

“Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army,” Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami said at a ceremony honoring journalists.

“Courageous Iranian women who carry out such an action will receive double the reward,” he added.

Hatami said the initiative was created following a “large number of requests” from Iranians seeking to financially support attacks against American forces. Under the plan, he said, the weapon used to kill an American would also be purchased at twice its value, replaced with a new weapon, and preserved in a museum.

The army chief did not specify where or under what circumstances Americans were expected to be targeted. No U.S. ground forces are known to be deployed inside Iran, outside of combat search-and-rescue operations in April after an American F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iranian territory. (Read more from “Iran Army Chief Offers $30,000 Bounty for Killing or Capturing U.S. Soldiers” HERE)

Israeli Army Surrounds Last Christian Town in West Bank

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The Israeli army (IDF) has declared the Christian town of Taybeh – the last entirely Christian community in the occupied West Bank – a ‘closed military zone’ – prohibiting Israelis, foreign nationals, and journalists from entering. The army says this is to protect Taybeh from the illegal settlers that have been attacking the town for months.

Taybeh Mayor Suleiman Khoury said that restricting foreign visitors will have a serious economic impact because Taybeh is a popular religious and tourist destination with hotels, restaurants and other businesses relying heavily on visitors.

But the ban also means international activists, human rights observers, and journalists will no longer be able to enter the village to document or respond to the daily attacks by Israeli settlers. Many observers have noted that the IDF has tended to stand by and watch while ‘settlers’ have rampaged through Christian land and homes in Taybeh.

Ihab Hassan, a Palestinian Christian human rights advocate wrote: “This is a deeply alarming new measure and another step by the Israeli government and army toward the ethnic cleansing of the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank. They want to do it in silence – without witnesses, without journalists, and without the world noticing.

“Instead of arresting the settler terrorists responsible for these attacks, the authorities are banning the journalists and activists who document them from entering the village. (Read more from “Israeli Army Surrounds Last Christian Town in West Bank” HERE)

Iran Shuffles Military Leaders, Prepares for ‘Prolonged Confrontation’

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Iran’s elusive Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed six new military commanders on Monday, most notably replacing Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) secretary Mohammad Baqer Zolqard with Mohsen Rezaei, a veteran commander of the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Radio Free Europe (RFE) noted on Monday that Iranian media had speculated for several days about the fate of Zolqard, who was rumored to have tendered his resignation to the chief executive of the secular wing of the Iranian regime, President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“The president formally chairs the SNSC, but in practice it’s the secretary who wields the greater operational influence, shaping the council’s actions more than the president himself. Even so, neither holds final say since every SNSC decision only becomes binding once the supreme leader signs off,” RFE explained.

Pezeshkian was evasive when asked about the rumors of Zolqard’s resignation, saying on Friday, “there are some differences that we are trying to resolve.”

According to Iranian media reports, Pezeshkian refused to accept Zolqard’s resignation, but the SNSC chief was nevertheless replaced on Monday. His final public act on Sunday was a belligerent declaration that Iran will not negotiate with the United States, or reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international traffic, unless the U.S. met a long list of Iranian demands, including an end to sanctions and paying war reparations. (Read more from “Iran Shuffles Military Leaders, Prepares for ‘Prolonged Confrontation’” HERE)

Mount Everest’s Peak has Ancient Sea Fossils, as Some Hope it Proves Bible Story of Noah’s Ark

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The rock sitting atop the world’s tallest mountain is loaded with ancient sea creature fossils — which some are now claiming proves the Bible story of the floods and Noah’s Ark were real events.

The rocks making up Mount Everest’s summit contain the fossilized remains of ancient marine creatures, proof that the highest point on the planet was once sitting at the bottom of the ocean, according to a 2005 finding by the International Union of Geological Sciences.

Geologists believe the summit’s limestone formed on an ancient seafloor and was later thrust upward to form the massive mountain when two gigantic tectonic plates collided with each other around 55 million years ago.

But a now-viral post has brought the old finding back into the spotlight — and has many pointing to it as proof that the Great Flood described in the Book of Genesis really happened.

“Mount Everest contains marine rocks, proving that the highest point on Earth was once at the bottom of the ocean — doesn’t the Bible mention something about that?” David J. Harris, a right-wing news host for Newsmax, wrote on X in a post that has now garnered over 500,000 views.

(Read more from “Mount Everest’s Peak has Ancient Sea Fossils, as Some Hope it Proves Bible Story of Noah’s Ark” HERE)

Trump Rejects Iran’s Six-Point Ultimatum, Says He Is ‘Now Demanding Compensation’ in ‘All Future Negotiations’

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President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s sweeping demands for fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, turning Tehran’s call for war reparations back on the regime by declaring that the United States is “now demanding compensation” from Iran in all future negotiations.

“I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“But it is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous, as led initially by General Soleimani,” he continued.

Trump cited the families of those killed in the 2000 terrorist bombing of the USS Cole and “thousands of others killed in combat,” while also demanding compensation for the families of Iranians brutally killed by the regime.

“Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months,” Trump wrote.

(Read more from “Trump Rejects Iran’s Six-Point Ultimatum, Says He Is ‘Now Demanding Compensation’ in ‘All Future Negotiations’” HERE)

UN Rips ‘Deeply Troubling’ Iran for Executing at Least 56 People Since Start of War: ‘Has no place in our world’

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The bloodthirsty Iranian regime has executed at least 56 people on dubious national security charges since March, according to the United Nations — which blasted Iran for the “deeply troubling” practice.

Twenty-seven of the 56 were linked to the widespread January protests against the country’s despotic regime and brutal treatment of its citizens.

Another roughly 100 people are believed to currently be awaiting execution on similar charges, according to the BBC.

The barbaric executions — which are often carried out in public — are part of a widespread tactic “to instill fear among the population and suppress dissent,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk said in a recent scathing statement.

“Such punishment has no place in our world,” Türk said. (Read more from “UN Rips ‘Deeply Troubling’ Iran for Executing at Least 56 People Since Start of War: ‘Has no place in our world’” HERE)

Jerusalem’s most Important Muslim Religious Site Facing ‘Imminent’ Threat of Israeli Takeover

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Jordan is convening an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the Arab and Islamic world over what it says is an “imminent” threat of an Israeli takeover of the most important Muslim site in Jerusalem, with the potential to “trigger a religious conflict”.

The meeting on Wednesday – and the Jordanian warning – follow an escalating pattern of government-backed incursions by Jewish religious extremists on the compound around al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock, in violation of a status quo treaty overseen by Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy, by which only Muslims can pray at the site.

On 23 July, more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right – mostly settlers led by the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir – stormed the area, known to Jews as the Temple Mount. They prayed and performed rituals all around the compound in what Jordanian officials said was the worst violation in modern history.

The Temple Mount is also the holiest site in Judaism, the site of two temples which were built and then destroyed by invaders in ancient times. Under the status quo agreement, the Western Wall – which was a retaining wall that survived the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE – is reserved for Jewish prayer.

Amman has also been alarmed at a recent recruitment drive for religious Jews for a special Temple Mount police unit, and is braced for more direct challenges to traditional Jordanian custodianship by extremist Israeli leaders in the major Jewish holidays in September. This year, those holidays will come amid an intense election campaign, in which the far-right coalition of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be fighting for survival. (Read more from “Jerusalem’s most Important Muslim Religious Site Facing ‘Imminent’ Threat of Israeli Takeover” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Iran President Met Supreme Leader in Darkness — and isn’t Convinced it was Him: Report

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Iran’s mysterious, “probably gay” supreme leader is so elusive that even his own president isn’t convinced he met him in a bizarre one-on-one in the back of a dark car.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was whisked to a secret location in Tehran, shoved into the back seat of a dark car with blacked-out windows and told he was sitting next to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei — except he never actually saw the man, according to a bombshell report from Iran International.

The bizarre cloak-and-dagger meeting reportedly lasted just a few minutes, not the cozy two-and-a-half-hour sit-down Pezeshkian bragged about publicly in May. . .

Sources told Iran International that Khamenei’s office agreed to the meeting only after Pezeshkian repeatedly begged for one and threatened to quit. Even then, the supreme leader refused to meet at his official residence, as is custom.

Instead, the president was driven to a secret location in Tehran, pulled from his own security convoy and placed in the back of a commercial vehicle. (Read more from “Iran President Met Supreme Leader in Darkness — and isn’t Convinced it was Him: Report” HERE)