KYIV, Ukraine — Senior White House officials publicly placed Ukraine’s military ahead of allied counterparts in Europe across four venues last week, and in some respects ranked Kyiv ahead of the United States itself, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has continued to dismiss Ukraine’s military strength.The Ukrainian armed forces are “the strongest, most powerful armed forces in all of Europe,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week, citing a five-to-one Russian-to-Ukrainian casualty rate and four years of battlefield adaptation.The necessity of fighting the war, Rubio said, has pushed Ukrainians to develop “new tactics, new techniques, new equipment, new technology that is creating a sort of hybrid asymmetrical warfare.”U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told the Senate Armed Services Committee the same week that Ukraine has fused drones, sensors and weapons into a single command network running across the front, while U.S. Army systems remain “compartmentalized, isolated and ineffective against modern threats.”“Ukraine’s Delta common operating system, their modular open system architecture command and control system, is absolutely incredible,” Driscoll testified.“It fully integrates every single drone, every sensor and every shooting platform into just one single network. Ours does not.”The shift in tone comes as allied partners press Kyiv for help…

A new slipjoint from Civivi is getting prepped to roll out this year. It’s called the Almeris, and it is a fully modern slipjoint, slick and polished. While it’s not completely unheard of for a non-locking knife to be large, it’s not especially common – and the Almeris isn’t bucking that trend. In fact, it’s a tad on the smaller side compared to your average 2026 EDC: many fresh models, from Civivi and many other manufacturers, are rolling out with blades in the 3.3-3.5 inch range, but the Almeris dips beneath the 3-inch mark entirely, with a blade that measures 2.95 inches. There’s a blacked out version if you want something…edgier The blade shape is a handsomely streamlined drop point, with minimal falalerie outside of the requisite long pull nail mark for two-hand opening. The shape is a bonafide, no arguin’ classic for everyday carry, with a sensible geometry that we don’t even need to spend much ink explaining; even your un-knife trend conscious friends could intuit how to the use the Almeris merely by looking at it. And while they may never have heard of Nitro-V, even these unenlightened folks will be able to maintain this amenable modern nitrogen…

This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge.  Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, has summed up where things stand: “Since the ceasefire came into effect, both Washington and Tehran appear to be operating under the illusion that time is on their side,” he said. “Each seems to believe that the blockade and counter-blockade in the Strait of Hormuz impose greater costs on the other, while offering a breathing space to regroup for a possible resumption of hostilities,” Vaez told Al Jazeera. On Wednesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards issued a fresh warning amid this ongoing standoff, warning that the Middle East war will extend beyond the region if the United States and Israel resume their attacks. via Shutterstock “If the aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will this time spread far beyond the region, and our devastating blows will crush you,” the IRGC says in the statement published on their website, Sepah News. The warring sides are no closer to getting back to the negotiating table, after President Trump has given just a few ‘days’ to comply on the nuclear issue, which so far, Tehran has not budged on. But in the meantime, Iran still…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Ella Langley gave her fans an inside look at her time at the Academy of Country Music Awards.In an Instagram reel shared on Wednesday, the 27-year-old country music superstar let fans in on how she spent her day at the ACM Awards, including clips of her arriving to the venue, getting her hair and makeup done and getting carried out to the car when the night was over.”Welcome to today,” she says at the start of the video. She can be heard telling the camera later in the video that “this job is not something that you can kind of half a–. You just have to full force. Don’t be afraid of embarrassing yourself.”The video also showed her entourage’s reaction to her award win and watching her accept the award on a TV backstage. While celebrating, her friends can be heard yelling at the TV for her to cry and “get vulnerable.” COUNTRY MUSIC STAR ELLA LANGLEY JOINS SYDNEY SWEENEY AS AMERICAN EAGLE’S NEW ‘DENIM DARLING'”Y’all I’ve never cried when I won an award,” she told the camera, while getting ready. “For all of you who get upset when I don’t cry,…

Less than two months after U.S. forces rescued two crew members behind enemy lines after their aircraft was shot down over Iran, filmmaker Michael Bay has confirmed he will be helming a movie based on the mission.Backed by Universal Pictures, the “Transformers” director is slated to shepherd the speed-of-light-turnaround project based on the April 3 shoot down of a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle and subsequent rescue of its crew during U.S.-led operations against the Islamic Republic, Deadline reported. The untitled movie is expected to be based on a book by author Mitchell Zuckoff, which will be released in 2027, according to Deadline. Bay previously worked with Zuckoff on the film adaptation of 13 Hours, which chronicled the 2012 attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya. On April 3, the F-15, call sign Dude 44, was downed by Iranian air defenses at approximately 4:40 a.m. local time, becoming the first manned aircraft to be lost to hostile anti-aircraft fire since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28. Both crew members ejected and landed miles apart. Though the pilot was located within hours and rescued — after an intense fight — the aircraft’s weapons systems officer remained on the…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Two Americans have died in the Philippines during a military engagement that the government said involved communist-linked groups.Lyle Prijoles, 40, and transgender woman Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, 26, were among the 19 people killed last month during a firefight between the Philippine Army and suspected members of a communist insurgency.The U.S.-born Filipino Americans are now at the center of a disputed encounter, with critics alleging the two were active combatants for the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Human rights groups and the NPA, however, reportedly maintain that the pair were civilian activists who posed no military threat.According to the City Journal, the two Americans were first exposed to left-wing ideology through college-linked institutions that critics say helped pave the way to involvement with groups the Philippine government has long argued serve as fronts for the CPP.FAMILIAR PROTEST GROUPS MOBILIZE IMMEDIATELY AFTER ICE SHOOTING OF MINNESOTA PROTESTER “This brings to two (2) the number of U.S. citizens—Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem—who died in the same incident, a development that highlights…

The U.S. military services are planning to ask for exceptions to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to allow military personnel to decide whether to get an annual flu vaccine, after years of requiring the shot. Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata told senators Wednesday the department has solicited input from the services, which are now coming back “with a robust set of exception” requests. Tata said the exceptions are “draft pre-decisional” and will be gathered by the department, reviewed and sent to Hegseth for final decisions. “We are talking submarines, we are talking about ships, we are talking about basic training, we are talking about Ranger School,” Tata said. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on military personnel policy, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, raised concerns over military readiness of the U.S. armed forces as a result of the change. Noting that the U.S. Army developed the flu vaccine to halt the spread of disease, she asked whether the DoD reviewed any studies that influenced the change. “There’s such a thing as leadership that would say to the service members, ‘This is for your health protection. It’s science based,’” Hirono said. RELATEDTata said Hegseth made the…

A popular TikTok influencer, I’ll take the internet’s word on that, and her Florida lawyer father were both arrested for conspiring to hire a hitman to kill her ex-boyfriend and father of her 7-year-old daughter.TikTok influencer Gabriela Lauren Gonzalez, 25, was arrested in California for an alleged conspiracy to kill her ex, Jack Avery, a former member of the boy band Why Don’t We, reports FOX 13.Her dad, Francisco Gonzalez, a 59-year-old civil lawyer, was also arrested in Central Florida. Her then-boyfriend, Kai Faron Codrey, was also charged.The love story gone wrong produced a 7-year-old daughter who became the center of a custody battle described as “heated and tense.”EX-GIRLFRIEND, 3 OTHERS NABBED IN KILLING TIED TO ALLEGED MURDER-FOR-HIRE PLOT IN ‘UNUSUAL’ CASE: POLICEAccording to detectives, Avery and Gabriela have been in the middle of a “longstanding custody and visitation” fight. One that her dad reportedly got involved in.The report says dad allegedly hired a private investigator at one point to gather evidence that could be used against Avery in the custody battle. At the height of the custody battle, between 2020 and 2021, Gabriela is accused of seeking help from Codrey, who was her boyfriend at the time. She allegedly…

While the risk of Ebola and hantavirus to Americans is low, the World Health Organization, along with other experts, says that both are still a concern. However, health officials state that the Ebola outbreak is a far more serious epidemic than the hanatavirus. “I am deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the World Health Assembly on May 19th, according to a report by TODAY.com.  The Ebola Scare Begins: The Worst Outbreak Of Bundibugyo Virus Disease In World History The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced an entry ban for foreign travelers who’ve visited DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan in the last 21 days, and said it plans to ramp up screenings for anyone returning from Ebola-affected countries. There have been only a couple of previous Bundibugyo outbreaks: one in Uganda in 2007 and one in Congo in 2012. The fatality rate during those incidents ranged from 30% to 50%, according to the WHO. The reason health officials are more concerned about the Ebola virus than the hantavirus is twofold. “This outbreak was already quite large when it was detected, which is concerning because the virus has had weeks…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The next logical question on everyone’s mind after Aaron Rodgers agreed to return for another NFL season last week is: Would he continue deciding year-to-year on how long he’d play, or would this be his final year?Well, we have an answer from Rodgers himself.”Yes,” Rodgers told reporters on Wednesday when asked if he’s retiring after this year.”This is it, yeah.”AARON RODGERS SET TO BEGIN 22ND NFL SEASON WITH PITTSBURGH STEELERSSo, Rodgers intends to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers in what is his 22nd season and call it a career after that.Now comes the part where some people will think this is a good thing, a fitting end because Rodgers is 42-years-old and will be 43 in December, and obviously old enough to know his own mind and how much he has left in the proverbial tank.Some people will think this is terrible, because what if he’s really good this season? What if he surprises himself? What are we going to do without Aaron Rodgers quarterbacksplaining to his teammates exactly how to run the plays they may or may not have practiced the previous week?And some people, well, won’t believe a word Rodgers…