Leon de Winter

The King at Balmoral Castle with the Queen’s rescue dog, Moley, sends a message to Sir David Attenborough in celebration of his 100th birthday.

On this day 15 years ago, US Navy SEALs from DEVGRU’s Red Squadron killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Here's how it went down: The mission was codenamed Operation Neptune Spear, named after the trident on the US Navy Special Warfare insignia. It came nearly 10 years to the day after the September 11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans. Vice Admiral William H. McRaven, then commander of Joint Special Operations Command, hand picked Red Squadron for the mission. They were one of four DEVGRU assault squadrons, and they had just rotated home from Afghanistan, meaning they could train without raising suspicion. Nearly all of them had ten or more combat tours. Starting in early April 2011, 24 Red Squadron operators rehearsed the raid at a 1:1 mock up of the compound built at Harvey Point, North Carolina, and again at altitude in Nevada to test how the helicopters would handle Pakistani conditions. On the night of May 1, 2011, two stealth modified MH-60 Black Hawks of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the legendary Night Stalkers, lifted off from Jalalabad, Afghanistan and flew approximately 120 miles into Pakistani airspace below radar. With them flew 23 SEALs, an interpreter, and a Belgian Malinois named Cairo. As they reached the compound just before 1 AM Pakistan Standard Time on May 2, one helicopter clipped the compound wall in a vortex ring stall and was forced into a hard landing. No one was injured. The mission continued. Inside the compound, the SEALs cleared the guesthouse and the main building, killing bin Laden’s primary courier, his brother, his son Khalid, and one woman. They climbed to the third floor of the main building and there, in his bedroom, killed Osama bin Laden, the founder of al Qaeda and the architect of 9/11. The entire operation lasted 38 minutes. The downed helicopter was destroyed before exfil to protect its stealth technology. Bin Laden’s body was flown to the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea, identified through facial recognition and a near 100% DNA match against family samples, and buried at sea. Half a world away, the families of every American killed on 9/11 finally got the news so many had stopped believing they would ever hear. 15 years ago today. Justice does not always come fast. But for the men of Red Squadron, the Night Stalkers, the CIA, and the entire intelligence apparatus that hunted him for nearly a decade, it came. Geronimo. EKIA. Never forget.

More than 10,000 U.S. Sailors, Marines, and Airmen along with over a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft are executing the mission to blockade ships entering and departing Iranian ports. During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade and 6 merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. U.S. forces are supporting freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.

Don Tzu: Break an enemy blockade by blockading their blockade.

The results are in. List of all U.N. General Assembly 2025 resolutions that criticized countries: 🇰🇵 North Korea 1 🇻🇪 Venezuela 0 🇲🇲 Myanmar 1 🇵🇰 Pakistan 0 🏴‍☠️ Hamas 0 🇹🇷 Turkey 0 🇷🇺 Russia 6 🇨🇳 China 0 🇶🇦 Qatar 0 🇸🇦 Saudi 0 🇮🇱 Israel 15 🇨🇺 Cuba 0 🇸🇾 Syria 1 🇺🇸 U.S. 2 🇮🇷 Iran 1

Schandalig. Concertgebouw verklaart cantor Shai Abramson, de ster van het komende Chanoekaconcert, tot persona non grata. De organisatie van het concert heeft te horen gekregen dat hem de toegang wordt geweigerd. De organisatie beraadt zich op juridische stappen.