BREAKING: The US is selling Saudi Arabia 48 x F-35 fighter jets in a deal worth up to $24.3 billion, Saudi Arabia's first-ever F-35 purchase.

The State Department notified Congress today and called it essential for "improving the security of a major non-NATO ally."

Serbian President Vučić inaugurated a new Israeli-designed combat drone assembly factory today, a partnership between Israel's Elbit Systems and Serbia's Yugoimport SDPR.

The plant employs ~100 people and will produce drones for Serbia's army plus export.

Vučić said the drones "go through windows and chase the opponent" and announced plans for at least three more factories.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

It was overdue that we now take more responsibility for ourselves.

Let’s be honest with each other. We felt comfortable with this division of labor.

Cheap products from China, highly developed products to the whole world, cheap oil from Russia and gas, and security through the United States of America.

This time, this business model of the Federal Republic of Germany is over and it will not come back.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

We agreed at the NATO summit last year on 3.5% of GDP for our defense.

We will achieve this goal. The German federal government will achieve this goal earlier than many other countries in Europe.

We show that we are ready to defend our freedom.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

Two-thirds of young people in this country say yes to the Bundeswehr, say yes also to a social compulsory year.

We should actively lead this discussion in our society.

Let’s simply tell young people: this state offers you as much as no generation before.

But we also expect from you that you help ensure that our country remains free and peaceful.

So do something for it, participate on this path into the future.

Germany's defense minister Pistorius visited the Pentagon with a paradox.

Berlin wants European military self-reliance but keeps buying American.

Germany hiked defense spending to $147 billion this year, but most of it flows to US companies.

F-35 jets (35 ordered, possibly 15 more), Chinook helicopters, P-8 patrol aircraft, Patriot systems.

They signed a defense-industrial cooperation statement but with no concrete projects, timelines, or investment commitments.

Germany desperately wants Tomahawk cruise missiles for Russia deterrence — its first-ever deep-strike capability — but the US is prioritizing its own restocking after the Iran war, delaying German deliveries.

Pistorius said he made "very clear" the timelines are too slow.

Source: Politico

French Presidential Candidate Gabriel Attal:

I do not want my generation to see Europe become the 51st state of America or the 24th province of China.

The time of happy vassalization is over. We have a role to play, a destiny to accomplish.

I consider that the great mission of my generation is to accomplish the European dream and to bring about the birth of the United States of Europe.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang are expected to attend a White House state dinner next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Source: ABC News

The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned Iranian digital asset venture BitBank, its developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three associates of financier Babak Zanjani over alleged sanctions evasion and illicit financial activity.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

Germany is an immigration country and we remain an immigration country.

But we do not want immigration into the social security systems; we want immigration into our labor market.

We need these people in Germany who are already indispensable in our labor market today.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

No hospital, no retirement home, no construction site, no restaurant, no hotel — nothing would function anymore if we did not have immigrants in Germany who have lived here for decades, who work here, who are integrated here.

And we want these people, ladies and gentlemen, and that is why hostility toward foreigners has no place in our country. It has no place in our country.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

Anyone who today believes we should give up Ukraine in its fight for freedom has given up freedom throughout Europe tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen.

And this path — this path — I will not take under any circumstances. Whoever wants to take it may do so, but I will not.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

We live in a fantastic country, one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and a country where, above all, young people are seeking their future.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

We are on the way out of the crisis.

We are out of this economic crisis. We are out of this valley of a shrinking or stagnating economy.

The first signs indicate that we are on the right path.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

The German export economy is booming, demand is increasing.

The number of people employed and wages are growing faster than the inflation rate, and that means, all in all, we are on a very good path.

Germany’s Chancellor Merz:

The most perfidious form of xenophobia for Germany and our history is antisemitism.

I would not have thought it possible that something like this could happen in Germany:

That German citizens, that Jews, Israeli citizens, people from all over the world of Jewish faith suddenly become targets of attacks from parts of our society.

We must not tolerate foreign criminality and antisemitic hatred in Germany or Berlin.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. troops must prepare for future warfare beyond Earth — including around the moon.

Speaking at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Caine said the military must be ready to “fight, endure and win ... from the seabed to cislunar space.”