European Union

For centuries the prized sculptures, central to national identity, have been kept outside Zimbabwe's borders.

A new sequel will see Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s return in Top Gun 3, with producer Jerry Bruckheimer saying Tom Cruise had liked a proposed storyline for the new film.

After reports said that a third installation in the Top Gun saga is in the works, following 2022’s hugely successful Top Gun: Maverick, that project is now confirmed, along with Tom Cruise returning as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, Variety reported along with other publications. Paramount studios made the official announcement during the annual CinemaCon presentation, with Jerry Bruckheimer also back as producer.

Bruckheimer previously said in 2024 that Tom Cruise liked the storyline that was being prepared for the next one. “We pitched Tom a story he liked. But he’s a very in-demand actor and he’s got a lot of movies lined up, so we have to wait and see,” said Bruckheimer.  

Top Gun: Maverick also featured among the new characters Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) and best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw. In the story, Maverick had returned to the famous Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island to school a bunch of young fighter pilots for a daring mission.

‘Top Gun 3’ Officially in the Works With Tom Cruise Returning https://t.co/0sTeLBQMZ3

— Variety (@Variety) April 16, 2026

These pilots are training for an upcoming mission to destroy a Uranium enrichment plant in a foreign country, defended by “fifth gen fighters” represented by Su-57s. Top Gun: Maverick grossed $1.5 billion at the global box office, against a $170 million budget for the production.

Top Gun’s realism

U.S. and Western war movies are largely realistic in terms of equipment, setting and art direction, primarily owing to the close ties between the military, industry and movie makers. This allows permissions to shoot on and use actual military equipment like jets, tanks, warships, military bases and aircraft carriers to be acquired easily.

Second is the lead in graphic design, computer technology and overall financial resources, bringing them closer to real-world military affairs. However, as is the norm about symbiotic relationship between a film industry and national politics, both the Top Gun movies had their share of propaganda, and invariably some technical errors/inauthencies, which one might not expect in a film created in cooperation with the U.S. Navy.

A still from Top Gun: Maverick showing F/A-18 Super Hornet flying at low altitude. | Source: Paramount

Some of the inaccuracies were listed in a 2019 article titled “79 Cringeworthy Errors in ‘Top Gun’” for Military.com by former F-14 RIO and journalist Ward Carrol. Among them was the famous fly-by with Maverick buzzing the air traffic control tower, which in real life would have likely resulted in immediate revocation of his flight status.

Another major one was using F-5 Tigers to represent Russian MiGs, which can however be justified as access to the legendary fighters was not possible with the Cold War still three years away from ending. It’s a different matter that the U.S. military got Su-27s and MiG-29s from former Soviet countries, Ukraine being one of them.

Other technical flaws ranged from rank insignia on uniforms inconsistent with officers’ billets and class to instrumentation and cockpit layout in the pilot and RIO seats. Some maneuvers were also not accurate, particularly the inverted photo of the MiG as the design of the F-14 wouldn’t have allowed that in the first place. For instance, its vertical stabilizers would have stabbed into the MiG’s top fuselage, given how close the cockpits were.

The F-14 Tomcat and the 5th gen fighter, the Su-57, in Top Gun: Maverick. | Source: Paramount Top Gun: Maverick and Top Gun 3

Top Gun: Maverick was a box office hit, resoundingly receiving the stamp of approval from fans of the original film. Particularly, the makers incorporated the late Val Kilmer’s real-life cancer into his character Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, and his relationship with Maverick evolving into mutual respect, professional and personal, hit closer to home.

The biggest fictional element was the Darkstar Hypersonic Aircraft, which was specifically designed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division for the film. As the original one, this movie too could not escape some technical inaccuracies. 

Among them is the final strike mission, showing the site defended by Cold War-era S125 Neva/Pechora (SA-3 Goa) missiles despite the presence of 5th gen fighters. A location like that would have a layered integrated air defense, like S-300s and Buk-M1s (for medium range) and S-400s as a long-range theater-level anti-air battery.

Film director Joseph Kosinski poses with the Darkstar mockup, with Tom Cruise inside the cockpit. | Source: Lockheed Martin

We are far from knowing what real-world adversary aircraft will be incorporated in Top Gun 3. Inaccuracies aside, the movie is sure to be an exciting watch, for pilots, audiences, and aviation nerds alike.

Lt. Pete Mitchell was a Navy Captain in Top Gun: Maverick. Time will tell which new role he will assume in the new film, maybe finally getting promoted to a Rear Admiral and passing the torch to “Rooster.” 

Willkommen an Bord der MS Europa 2, Ihrem Wegbegleiter auf einer unvergesslichen Kreuzfahrt durch bemerkenswerte Städte und atemberaubende Landschaften. Diese Reise beginnt in der beeindruckenden Hafenstadt Hamburg und führt Sie zu einigen der faszinierendsten Destinationen Europas.

Erkunden Sie die malerischen Grachten von Amsterdam, erleben Sie die historische Kulisse Antwerpens und genießen Sie den einzigartigen Charme von Paris. Ihr Abenteuer wird durch einen Besuch in London, Dublin und Reykjavik bereichert, bevor es schließlich im farbenfrohen Kopenhagen endet.

Das Wichtigste in Kürze

• Die MS Europa 2 startet ihre Reise in Hamburg und besucht faszinierende Städte Europas.
• Highlights der Reise sind Amsterdam, Antwerpen, Paris, London, Dublin, Reykjavik und Kopenhagen.
• Jede Stadt bietet einzigartige Erlebnisse, von Grachtenfahrten bis hin zu königlichen Erlebnissen.
• Vielfältige Kabinenkategorien, Verpflegungsoptionen und Kinderunterhaltung an Bord verfügbar.
• Inklusivleistungen umfassen Unterkunft, die meisten Mahlzeiten und Bordunterhaltungsprogramme.

Start in Hamburg: Ihre Kreuzfahrt beginnt

Ihre Kreuzfahrt beginnt in Hamburg, einer Stadt, die reich an maritimer Geschichte und Kultur ist. Das beeindruckende Panorama des Hafens, der auch als Tor zur Welt bekannt ist, bietet den perfekten Einstieg in Ihr Abenteuer. Von hier aus setzen Sie die Segel auf der MS Europa 2 aktuelle Route und genießen die ersten magischen Augenblicke Ihrer Reise.

Weiterführende Informationen: Das größte Einkaufszentrum Europas: Ein Highlight

Besuch von Amsterdam: Grachten und Kultur

MS Europa 2 aktuelle Route: Ihr Schiffsabenteuer

Willkommen in Amsterdam, einer Stadt voller Charme und Geschichte. Erleben Sie die malerischen Grachten, die sich durch das Herz der Stadt schlängeln, und entdecken Sie zahlreiche historische Gebäude und Kunstwerke. Tauchen Sie ein in die reiche Kultur Amsterdams, wo Museen wie das Rijksmuseum und das Van Gogh Museum einzigartige Schätze beherbergen. Bummeln Sie durch lebhafte Viertel wie Jordaan und genießen Sie die kulinarischen Genüsse dieser einzigartigen Stadt. Das bunte Treiben und die kreative Atmosphäre machen Ihren Besuch zu einem unvergesslichen Erlebnis.

Amsterdam ist eine Stadt, in der Geschichte und Modernität harmonisch verschmelzen und die Inspiration in jeder Ecke lauert. – Geert Mak

Weiter nach Antwerpen: Historische Sehenswürdigkeiten erkunden

Besuchen Sie Antwerpen und entdecken Sie seine zahlreichen historischen Sehenswürdigkeiten. Die Stadt beeindruckt mit ihrer reichen Geschichte und kulturellen Vielfalt. Bewundern Sie den faszinierenden Grote Markt und die prächtige Kathedrale unserer Lieben Frau, wo großartige Kunstwerke zu sehen sind.

Paris: Romantische Atmosphäre genießen

Paris ist zweifellos einer der Höhepunkte Ihrer Reise mit der MS Europa 2 aktuelle Route. Wenn Sie erstmal die Stadt betreten, werden Sie von ihrer unvergleichlichen Atmosphäre überwältigt sein. Nehmen Sie sich Zeit, um den Eiffelturm zu bestaunen und durch den Louvre zu schlendern. Ein Spaziergang entlang der Seine bietet Ihnen die perfekte Möglichkeit, die romantische Seite von Paris zu erleben. Besonders bekannt sind auch die charmanten Straßencafés, in denen Sie bei einem Kaffee das französische Flair genießen können.

Verpassen Sie nicht die Gelegenheit, ein Abendessen in einem der exquisiten Restaurants zu buchen. Das französische Essen wird Ihre Sinne verwöhnen und Ihren Aufenthalt unvergesslich machen. Schließen Sie den Tag mit einem Besuch im Künstlerviertel Montmartre ab, wo Sie die magischen Sonnenuntergänge über der Stadt bewundern können.

Dazu mehr: Schnorcheln Europa: Die besten Spots

.table-responsiv {width: 100%;padding: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;overflow-y: hidden;border: 1px solid #DDD;overflow-x: auto;min-height: 0.01%;} Halt Hauptattraktion Besondere Aktivität Hamburg Hafenstadt Panoramaschifffahrt Amsterdam Grachten Museumsbesuch Antwerpen Grote Markt Kathedralenbesuch Paris Eiffelturm Flussspaziergang London Buckingham Palace Königliche Wachablösung Dublin Temple Bar Pub-Tour Reykjavik Blaue Lagune Nordlichterjagd Kopenhagen Nyhavn Kanalfahrt Halt in London: Königliche Erlebnisse

Halt in London: Königliche Erlebnisse – MS Europa 2 aktuelle Route: Ihr Schiffsabenteuer

Ein Halt in London, der belebten Hauptstadt Großbritanniens, bietet Ihnen zahlreiche königliche Erlebnisse. Besuchen Sie den Buckingham Palace und erleben Sie die Wachablösung live oder machen Sie einen Spaziergang durch den prächtigen Hyde Park. Eine Tour durch den Tower of London darf auf Ihrer Reiseroute nicht fehlen. Genießen Sie ein einmaliges Erlebnis auf dem berühmten Riesenrad London Eye, das Ihnen einen atemberaubenden Blick über die Stadt ermöglicht.

Verwandte Themen: Ted Europa: Entertainment vom Feinsten

Dublin: Irische Gastfreundschaft erfahren

In Dublin haben Sie die Gelegenheit, irische Gastfreundschaft hautnah zu erleben. Die Stadt ist bekannt für Ihre freundlichen Einheimischen und lebhafte Kultur. Bummeln Sie durch die charmanten Straßen, entdecken Sie urige Pubs und genießen Sie traditionelle irische Musik.

Reykjavik: Atemberaubende Landschaften erleben

In Reykjavik erwartet Sie ein Abenteuer wie kein anderes. Erleben Sie die beeindruckenden Geysire und atemberaubende Wasserfälle, die Sie nirgendwo anders finden. Lassen Sie sich von der Natur Islands verzaubern, während Sie durch die Raue Vulkanlandschaft wandern oder entspannen Sie in den berühmten heißen Quellen.

Abschluss in Kopenhagen: Bunte Hafenstadt entdecken

Erleben Sie den wunderbaren Abschluss Ihrer Reise in der farbenfrohen Stadt Kopenhagen. Genießen Sie einen Spaziergang durch das historische Viertel Nyhavn, wo die bunten Häuser und malerischen Cafés eine bezaubernde Atmosphäre schaffen. Besuchen Sie den berühmten Vergnügungspark Tivoli und tauchen Sie ein in eine Welt voller Spaß und Unterhaltung. Abschließend sollten Sie sich Zeit nehmen, um einige der herausragenden Museen und Kunstgalerien zu erkunden, wie zum Beispiel das Nationalmuseum oder das Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Kopenhagen bietet Ihnen eine perfekte Mischung aus Geschichte, Kultur und modernem Lifestyle, die Ihre Reise unvergesslich macht.

FAQ: Antworten auf häufig gestellte Fragen Welche Kabinenkategorien gibt es auf der MS Europa 2? Die MS Europa 2 bietet eine Vielzahl von Kabinenkategorien, von luxuriösen Suiten bis hin zu komfortablen Balkonkabinen. Zu den Kategorien gehören unter anderem Veranda Suiten, Ocean Suiten, Grand Penthouse Suiten und Spa Suiten. Welche Verpflegungsoptionen sind an Bord verfügbar? An Bord der MS Europa 2 gibt es mehrere Restaurants, die eine Vielzahl von Speisen anbieten, darunter internationale Küche, lokale Spezialitäten, und vegetarische Optionen. Es gibt Büffet-Restaurants, À-la-carte-Restaurants sowie exklusive Gourmet-Dining-Erlebnisse. Gibt es Unterhaltungsmöglichkeiten für Kinder an Bord? Ja, die MS Europa 2 bietet spezielle Programme und Aktivitäten für Kinder und Jugendliche, darunter ein Kids Club und Teens Club, die altersgerechte Unterhaltung und Betreuung bieten. Was ist im Preis der Kreuzfahrt inbegriffen? Im Preis der Kreuzfahrt sind die Unterbringung in der gewählten Kabinenkategorie, die meisten Mahlzeiten, Nutzung der Bordangebote und Einrichtungen sowie zahlreiche Unterhaltungsprogramme und Aktivitäten inbegriffen. Landausflüge und spezielle Dienstleistungen können zusätzliche Kosten verursachen. Kann ich während der Kreuzfahrt Fitness- und Wellnessangebote nutzen? Ja, die MS Europa 2 verfügt über ein modernes Fitnesscenter, einen Wellnessbereich mit Sauna und Dampfbad sowie zahlreiche Kursangebote wie Yoga und Pilates. Darüber hinaus gibt es einen Spa, der verschiedene Behandlungen und Massagen anbietet. Welche Zahlungsmethoden werden an Bord akzeptiert? An Bord der MS Europa 2 werden gängige Zahlungsmethoden wie Kreditkarten (Visa, MasterCard), EC-Karten sowie eine spezielle Bordkarte akzeptiert, die Sie während der Kreuzfahrt zur bargeldlosen Zahlung verwenden können. Wie kann ich eine Kreuzfahrt auf der MS Europa 2 buchen? Eine Kreuzfahrt auf der MS Europa 2 können Sie entweder über die offizielle Website der Reederei, bei einem Reisebüro oder über spezialisierte Kreuzfahrtportale buchen. Es wird empfohlen, frühzeitig zu buchen, um die besten Kabinen und Reisezeiten zu sichern. Welche Sprachen werden an Bord gesprochen? An Bord der MS Europa 2 werden hauptsächlich Deutsch und Englisch gesprochen. Das Personal ist in der Regel mehrsprachig und kann den Gästen bei den meisten Anliegen in diesen Sprachen weiterhelfen. Gibt es WLAN an Bord der MS Europa 2? Ja, auf der MS Europa 2 steht den Gästen WLAN zur Verfügung. Es gibt verschiedene Internetpakete, die je nach Bedarf gebucht werden können. Beachten Sie, dass die Verbindungsgeschwindigkeit und -verfügbarkeit je nach geografischer Lage variieren kann. Welche Sicherheitsmaßnahmen gibt es an Bord? Die MS Europa 2 ist mit modernen Sicherheitssystemen ausgestattet und das Personal ist gut geschult, um in Notfällen schnell und effektiv zu reagieren. Es gibt regelmäßige Sicherheitsübungen und eine detaillierte Einweisung für alle Passagiere zu Beginn der Kreuzfahrt.

Der Beitrag MS Europa 2 aktuelle Route: Ihr Schiffsabenteuer erschien zuerst auf Neurope.eu - News aus Europa.

Choc dans le monde de l'édition en France, avec le limogeage d'Olivier Nora de la maison Grasset, par l'actionnaire Vincent Bolloré. Un étape de plus vers une mainmise du milliardaire sur le monde de la culture et des idées, avec la volonté d'en faire un outil au service de sa bataille idéologique. En signe de protestation, quelques 170 auteurs ont annoncé quitter l'éditeur. L'écrivain et patron de presse Éric Fottorino, co-fondateur de l'hebdo "Le 1", était l'Invité d'"Au Cœur de l'Info".

A view of the rubble in Jabalia, northern Gaza, after heavy Israeli bombardment. Credit: UNICEF/Rawan Eleyan

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 17 2026 (IPS)

Roughly six months after the ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territory went into effect, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains precariously fragile, despite a relative decline in hostilities. The crisis, marked by ongoing Israeli airstrikes and shelling, continued blockades on humanitarian aid, and widespread displacement, has pushed the majority of Palestinians in Gaza to the brink. Amid the vast scale of needs, basic services are increasingly strained, and humanitarian experts warn that the situation could deteriorate further in the coming months unless sustained aid and funding are secured.

A new report from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians in the Near East (UNRWA) on the current conditions in Gaza confirmed a continuation of airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire across multiple areas, including Beit Lahia, Jabalia, Deir al Balah, Khan Younis, Rafah, and Bureij. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that since the eruption of hostilities on October 7, 2023, approximately 72,315 Gazans have been killed and another 172,137 injured.

“The scale and pattern of these actions, occurring alongside mass displacement of Palestinians from their homes and land in Gaza shows once again the ongoing broader policy of ethnic cleansing across the occupied Palestinian territory,” said a group of United Nations (UN) experts on April 13. “This cycle of displacement, terror, and targeted attacks serves an ultimate purpose: to make life unbearable for Palestinians and permanently force them from their land…Targeting areas known to shelter displaced civilians is a grave breach of international humanitarian law and is a grim reminder of the urgent need for international action and accountability.”

According to Palestine’s Ministry of Health, at least 32 Gazans have been killed by Israeli forces in early April alone. Airstrikes, gunfire, and shelling are daily occurrences, with women, children, disabled persons, humanitarian workers, and journalists being routinely targeted. On April 9, a young girl was killed by Israeli gunfire in a crowded classroom-turned-makeshift encampment.

“For the past 10 days, Palestinians are still being killed and injured in what is left of their homes, shelters, and tents of displaced families, on the streets, in vehicles, at a medical facility and in a classroom,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “Movement itself has become a life-threatening activity. Incidents of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces while walking, driving, or standing outside are recorded nearly every day.”

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) also confirmed that there have been increasing cases of Israeli forces killing Palestinians based on their proximity to the “yellow line”, a line of demarcation that divides the Palestinian-controlled areas of Gaza and the Israeli-controlled areas. “Targeting civilians not taking direct part in hostilities is a war crime, regardless of their proximity to deployment lines,” said Türk

On April 6, Israeli forces shot at vehicles from the World Health Organization (WHO), killing a driver. Two days later, Israeli drone strikes killed Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Washah in Gaza City, marking the 294th Palestinian journalist to be killed by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023. Additionally, Israel has continued to ban international journalists from accessing Gaza, further compounding the regional decline of journalistic freedom.

“The number of journalists and humanitarian personnel killed in Gaza is unprecedented, and further compounds civilian harm as it makes reporting on the situation and responding to its humanitarian implications life-threatening,” added Türk.

Internal displacement is particularly rampant, with OCHA estimating that routine evacuation orders and bombardment have affected roughly 92 percent of all housing across the enclave, with the vast majority of affected communities having been displaced multiple times. Civilians residing in overcrowded, makeshift encampments are disproportionately affected by insecurity, freezing temperatures, building collapse, and a severe shortage of humanitarian aid and basic services.

Humanitarian movement remains severely constrained, with all UNRWA staff banned from accessing the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory since March 2025. The agency, which has long acted as a critical lifeline for Palestinians, has pre-positioned food parcels, flour, and shelter supplies at Gaza’s borders, which could help hundreds of thousands of Gazans.

Thousands of Palestinians across the enclave are in urgent need of medical care as Gaza’s health system nears the brink of collapse, facing severe shortages of supplies amid an influx of injured and ill patients. Medications are critically short in supply, and UNRWA has reported a sharp uptick in cases of ectoparasitic infections such as scabies and fleas, as well as chickenpox and other skin diseases, which have been linked to disrupted water and hygiene (WASH) services, overcrowding, and pests.

Despite these challenges, humanitarian experts have expressed optimism that the situation in Gaza could improve as access constraints begin to fade. Following nearly 40 days of closure, the critical Zikim crossing reopened in early April, allowing nutritional and health supplies to reach northern Gaza directly. UNRWA is currently supporting over 67,000 displaced individuals across 83 collective emergency shelters, with over 11,000 personnel providing lifesaving care.

UNRWA, in collaboration with WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Palestine’s Ministry of Health, reached almost 2,100 children under three years of age with vaccinations between April 5 and 9. WHO and its partners have also been facilitating dozens of medical evacuations through the Rafah border crossing and providing access to medical care, food, water, and psychosocial services to returning Gazans.

The UN experts stressed that a definitive end to hostilities, an expansion of protection services, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid are crucial in coordinating an effective return to stability in Gaza. Additionally, the experts called on Israeli authorities to ensure a safe and dignified return to Gaza for displaced individuals, as well as the lifting of restrictions for UNRWA operations.

“We reiterate our call on States to bring Israel’s unlawful occupation to an end and ensure the immediate protection of civilians sheltering in displacement sites across the Gaza Strip, including by scaling up vital humanitarian assistance,” the experts said. “States must comply with their legal obligations. They must bring Israel’s unlawful occupation to an end, refrain from recognising it and withhold assistance to it, and take effective measures to ensure investigations and accountability for grave violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian Territory.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Le conflit au Moyen-Orient a des répercussions dans les Outre-mer. Les prix des billets d'avion s'envolent en raison de l'augmentation du cours du kérosène. Une mission gouvernementale a été confiée à un député ultramarin pour freiner la hausse des prix.

Le Burkina Faso annonce la dissolution d'une centaine d'organisations de défense des droits de l'homme. Amnesty International se dit ''alarmée'' et ''préoccupée par cette ''atteinte flagrante au droit à la liberté d'association''.

The sentence raises huge questions marks over the political future of one of South Africa's most controversial politicians.

Pourquoi la France était-elle le seul autre pays au monde où Jeffrey Epstein possédait une propriété immobilière en dehors des États-Unis ? Était-ce par amour du pays… Ou parce qu'il y trouvait de quoi servir ses intérêts ? Dans les années 90, Paris est la capitale de la mode, et celle des agences de mannequins. Elles recrutent de très jeunes filles venues du monde entier, parfois mineures, souvent isolées… Des proies faciles pour le criminel sexuel américain.

Dans un précédent article, j'examinais comment le régime d'Aleksandar Vučić avait fait du droit pénal un instrument de pression politique, en visant l'avocat Čedomir Stojković. Ce cas constituait déjà un signal préoccupant pour les défenseurs des droits humains. Pourtant, les événements du printemps 2026 révèlent une évolution plus profonde — et, dans un sens presque kafkaïen, plus subtile — du dispositif répressif serbe.
Ce que les médias proches du pouvoir présentent comme une « mesure (…)

- Notes et racines. Le blog de Valentin Smoliak / Serbie, Blogs - Diaporama

Despite being one of the oldest aircraft still flying in U.S. service, the U-2 remains relevant enough for Skunk Works to seek a qualified pilot in Palmdale.

Skunk Works, the legendary Lockheed Martin’s secretive advanced projects division, is hiring a U-2 pilot in Palmdale, California.

The job posting, that you can find here, calls for an onsite, full-time, first-shift position in Test Engineering for an experienced professional pilot, with a 4x10h schedule and possible relocation, and it is clearly framed as a test-oriented role rather than routine operational flying: according to the listing, the pilot would conduct engineering flight tests, production-acceptance flights, and flight-test support, help verify aircraft compliance and operational suitability, coordinate flight-operations efforts, approve cockpit configuration, and, if needed, perform demonstration flights for customers and government officials.

The ad, published on Apr. 6, 2026, says applicants must be no more than two years outside qualification on the U-2S Dragon Lady, hold a current FAA Class I or II medical, and possess either a suitable FAA Commercial Pilot certificate for multi-engine land and instrument airplane or an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot), while also being willing to travel, holding a valid U.S. passport, and arriving with an active Top Secret clearance.

Among the desired qualifications are 1,000 flight hours, graduation from a formal Test Pilot School, background in flight-test disciplines such as weapons, avionics and flight sciences, as well as instructor/training, communication, organizational and leadership or program-integration experience.

The posted compensation is a California salary range of $156,400 to $275,655 outside most major metro areas and $179,800 to $311,650 in most major metro areas, although the final offer depends on factors such as experience, training, skills, scope and business considerations; listed benefits include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, flexible spending accounts, parental leave, paid time off, holidays, education assistance, and incentive-plan eligibility.

U-2 pilot. | Source: USAF

The emergence of the job posting is quite interesting, considering the iconic Dragon Lady was slated for retirement from U.S. Air Force service this year. However, while some U-2s have already been withdrawn from active service, the aircraft’s retirement date is far from settled, and the sundown of the type remains under intense congressional scrutiny.

In fact, U-2s are still flying active intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions on a daily basis from forward operating locations, and there is little sign of that activity slowing down at least for now. USAF U-2s are home based at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, California, but are rotated to operational detachments worldwide, including RAF Fairford, UK; Osan Air Base, South Korea, and RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. The latter sustained damage from an Iranian kamikaze drone launched in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli air strikes, last month.

In line with such continuous postponement of its retirement, in 2023 Lockheed Martin announced the first flight of the U-2 Avionics Tech Refresh (ATR), carried out by Skunk Works in partnership with the U.S. Air Force. The company said the flight tested an updated avionics suite, new cockpit displays and a mission computer designed to the Air Force’s open mission systems standard, with further testing planned to mature the software baseline before more mission systems were added. 

More recently, BAE Systems was awarded a contract to support and sustain the U-2’s AN/ALQ-221 Advanced Defensive System (ADS), another sign that the aircraft is still receiving updates and meaningful attention rather than simply being allowed to age out quietly. 

As for Palmdale, Plant 42 remains a hub for major activity involving the type, and the job posting seems to suggest Lockheed Martin expects the Dragon Lady to continue generating the kind of work that may require highly specialized pilot support for quite some time.

A U-2 Dragon Lady takes off for the first flight of the Avionics Tech Refresh program in Palmdale, California. | Source: Lockheed Martin

Eventually, it should not be forgotten that, beyond its operational role, the U-2 is still valued as a high-altitude testbed. Testing campaigns conducted over the last five years have leveraged the aircraft’s open architecture and its ability to integrate new technology quickly. The U-2 has been involved in containers and AI/ML experimentation, open-mission-systems integration, and gateway or data-sharing roles between different platforms. A Skunk Works pilot current on the U-2 would be useful if Lockheed is using the aircraft to trial payloads, communications systems, sensors, or battle-management concepts that may feed current and future programs.

Another (even more speculative) possibility is that Lockheed could employ a U-2 pilot as part of work on or around future classified ISR aircraft, using the Dragon Lady as a surrogate, a risk-reduction platform, or a bridge capability. With the RQ-180 spy drone slowly beginning to emerge from the shadows of black programs, there is a chance Skunk Works is maturing new manned or unmanned ISR concepts. In that context, having a U-2 pilot with a test background could make sense for comparative flying, sensor work, or manned-ISR experimentation. 

Whatever, if you are interested and your profile fits the requirements, you’d better hurry: you have less than a month to apply, as the deadline is May 15, 2026.

Le procès en appel de l'affaire du financement libyen de la campagne présidentielle de Nicolas Sarkozy de 2007 se tient à Paris depuis le 16 mars. Condamné en première instance à 5 ans de prison, il avait été détenu 20 jours à l'automne. Résumé de la cinquième semaine d'audience, au cours de laquelle Claude Guéant, représenté par son avocat, a mis en difficulté la défense de l'ancien président.

If you are reading commodity price movements as evidence that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has been absorbed without consequence, you are reading the right data for the wrong time horizon. Credit: Mauricio Ramos/IPS

By Máximo Torero
ROME, Apr 17 2026 (IPS)

The headlines are wrong about food prices — but right to be afraid, very afraid. Walk into a supermarket in Chicago, Berlin, or Mumbai today, and you will not find the shelves stripped bare or the prices dramatically higher than last month. Despite weeks of alarming headlines about commodity markets, food inflation in most major economies has risen only marginally — a tenth or two-tenths of a percentage point between February and March of this year. In the United States, food inflation moved from roughly 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent. In Germany, from 0.8 to 0.9. In India, from 7.8 to 8.0.

This is not a crisis at the checkout counter. Not yet.

But here is what the headlines are getting wrong, and what they are getting terrifyingly right at the same time: the stability you see today is real, and it is also beside the point. What is coming — if the world does not act quickly and the cease fire does not continue— is a food price shock of a different order, arriving not in March but in the harvests of late 2026 and the markets of 2027.

To understand why, you first have to understand what commodity price indexes actually measure, and what they do not. The FAO Food Price Index — which did rise slightly in March, driven largely by vegetable oils and sugar amid higher crude oil costs — tracks the international price of raw agricultural commodities: wheat, maize, rice, oilseeds, dairy.

It does not track what you pay for a baguette or a box of pasta. By the time wheat becomes bread, the grain itself represents only 10 to 15 percent of the final retail price. The rest is energy, labor, processing, packaging, logistics, and retail margins.

This cost structure is precisely why grocery bills do not lurch upward the moment commodity markets move. It is also why the current calm is not a reliable indicator of future stability specially because of the significant share of energy costs.

Short-term stability is not medium or long-term security. The time between a fertilizer shock and a harvest failure is measured in months. The time between a harvest failure and a food price surge is measured in months more. We are already inside that window

The markets for major cereals are, for now, sending reassuring signals. Wheat and maize prices have held steady. Rice prices actually declined. Global cereal stocks remain high, and the market is correctly reflecting sufficient near-term availability. If you are reading commodity price movements as evidence that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has been absorbed without consequence, you are reading the right data for the wrong time horizon.

The Strait carries roughly 35% of crude oil exports — but its disruption reaches agrifood systems through a less obvious channel, logistics and energy costs for food processing. In addition, the Strait carries 20% of natural gas which can’t be replaced by any other source, and which is essential for nitrogen fertilizer ( specifically urea), 20-30% of fertilizers export depending on the specific type and about 50% of Sulfur exports a key input to produce phosphate fertilizer. All this is still  not showing up in this month’s price indexes. 

According to FAO analysis, the Strait of Hormuz closure has choked off 30 to 35 percent of global urea trade. Urea prices have already jumped between 40 and 60 percent. The feedstock that makes nitrogen fertilizer possible — natural gas — has risen 70 to 90 percent in price. Brent crude is up 60 percent just before the cease of fire.

These are not abstract figures. They are the inputs that farmers in the United States, Europe, South Asia, and across the Northern Hemisphere are confronting right now, as planting season either begins or approaches.

The decision they face is not a comfortable one: pay double for fertilizer when commodity prices are already low, and hope prices recover, or cut application rates and accept lower yields. Some will shift toward nitrogen-fixing crops like soybeans. Others will pivot toward crops destined for biofuel production, reducing the food supply further still.

The consequences of those decisions will not appear on store shelves until the harvest comes in, or the markets decides to incorporate them in future prices. When they do, the combination of constrained yields, elevated energy costs running through every link of the supply chain, and ongoing trade disruptions will drive commodity prices higher, and food prices even higher because of the additional energy cost increases — not by a tenth of a point per month, but meaningfully, in ways that will be felt most acutely by the households that can least afford it.

Short-term stability is not medium or long-term security. The time between a fertilizer shock and a harvest failure is measured in months. The time between a harvest failure and a food price surge is measured in months more. We are already inside that window.

The world’s response cannot wait for the price indexes to confirm what the agronomic and economic data already make clear.

Governments, development institutions, and the private sector must act now on three fronts: ensuring fertilizer access for smallholder farmers and input and food import-dependent nations before their planting decisions become irreversible; protecting and diversifying trade routes so that disruption in one chokepoint does not become a global supply crisis; avoid export restrictions of fertilizers and energy products and pursuing with urgency the diplomatic solutions that remain, for now, within reach.

The supermarket and retail store shelves are stocked. The silos are full. And the window to keep them that way is closing. 

Keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is therefore not just about preventing food inflation — it is about averting a broader surge in overall inflation that would directly undermine economic growth, while also shielding every other sector dependent on the energy and input prices that flow through this strategic chokepoint.

 

Excerpt:

Máximo Torero Cullen is Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Accusé d'avoir agressé sexuellement l'actrice française Adèle Haenel lorsqu'elle était âgée de 12 à 14 ans, le cinéaste Christophe Ruggia, qui avait fait appel de sa condamnation en première instance, a été condamné, vendredi, à cinq ans de prison, dont deux sous bracelet électronique.

Il y a plus de 10 ans, nous pensons que nous avons un tel préjudice ou notre son. Mais la lumière émise par le téléphone portable est loin d’être une véritable raison qui nous amène à mal dormir.

Une perquisition a été menée jeudi dans les locaux du groupe énergétique Engie, dans le cadre d’une enquête visant Rachida Dati, a indiqué vendredi le Parquet national financier. Cette information judiciaire porte sur des soupçons de rémunération perçue par l’ex-eurodéputée. L’enquête s’intéresse également à d’éventuels liens d’intérêts avec l’Azerbaïdjan et le Qatar.

Frank McCourt, founder of Project Liberty, speaking with Foreign Policy CEO Andrew Sollinger at the Geoeconomics Forum. Credit: IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India, Apr 17 2026 (IPS)

As war in the Middle East ripples through global markets, policymakers, economists, and industry leaders gathered in Washington this week to agree that economics is no longer separate from geopolitics. It is now its core instrument.

At the Geoeconomics Forum hosted by Foreign Policy alongside the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, speakers repeatedly pointed to a world shaped by shocks, where supply chains, energy flows, and technology have become tools of power.

“Geoeconomics is no longer a backdrop to global politics. It is the key and critical element,” said Foreign Policy CEO Andrew Sollinger in his opening remarks.

The urgency of that shift is tied closely to the ongoing conflict in the Gulf, which has disrupted energy markets and exposed vulnerabilities in global trade systems. The war has made the world understand how quickly regional crises can cascade into worldwide economic instability, affecting everything from fuel prices to industrial production.

Participants at the forum described a transformed global order where governments increasingly deploy economic tools once considered neutral or technical.

Trade policy, capital flows, and supply chains now serve strategic goals. Critical minerals, essential for semiconductors and artificial intelligence systems, have become geopolitical leverage points. Energy routes such as the Strait of Hormuz have turned into potential choke points with global consequences instead of just transit corridors.

“Geopolitics and economics have always been linked. We are going back to a school of thought that sees them as inextricable,” Jacob Helberg, U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, said in his address.

Helberg pointed to growing competition over rare earth minerals, where China dominates processing and has begun using export controls as a strategic tool. At the same time, logistics corridors and manufacturing hubs have emerged as additional pressure points in the global system.

“The stack is totally interlinked,” he said, referring to the chain from raw materials to finished technology. “There are choke points at every layer.”

The forum repeatedly returned to a central theme: fragmentation.

Countries are adapting to a “shock-prone” world marked by conflict, pandemics, and financial instability. This has led to a shift away from global integration toward more regional and strategic economic blocs.

Middle powers, in particular, face difficult choices. As competition intensifies between the United States and China, many nations are weighing how to align their economic and technological futures.

Dr Pedro Abramovay, Vice President, Programs, Open Society Foundations, argued that the moment offers both risk and opportunity for these countries.

“We need to make sure that middle powers act as middle powers and not just middlemen,” he said, stressing that democracy can shape their role in a changing order.

Abramovay said the current moment has exposed long-standing imbalances in the global system.

“It unveils the reality that existed before,” he said, referring to earlier global arrangements that often did not serve the interests of the Global South.

He noted that domestic political pressure is now reshaping how countries engage globally. Leaders can no longer align externally without responding to internal constituencies.

“That internal pressure can empower those middle powers to assert their sovereignty and negotiate effectively,” Abramovay said.

The forum highlighted growing calls for a reworked international order grounded in sovereignty and public interest rather than narrow economic gain.

“We need to have clear clarity of agenda. We need to have commitment of those leaders expressing that they are there, not representing big corporations or, again, interests and organisations that speak for themselves, but exactly speaking in the name and representing the majority of the world,” Abramovay added.

Frank McCourt, founder of Project Liberty, warned against framing the future as a binary choice between U.S. private-sector dominance and Chinese state-led models.

“This is a false dichotomy,” he said, arguing for a third path that aligns technology with democratic values.

He highlighted growing unease among countries that feel caught between competing systems, noting that many are exploring alternative frameworks for digital governance and economic cooperation.

Human Impact Behind the Strategy
While much of the discussion focused on high-level strategy, speakers acknowledged the human consequences of geoeconomic shifts.

Energy shocks translate into higher costs for households. Supply chain disruptions affect jobs and access to goods. Decisions made in boardrooms and ministries ripple outward to communities worldwide.

“The best-laid plans can be interrupted by unforeseen circumstances. You have to pivot, adapt, and build better,” Sollinger said.

That message echoed throughout the event.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Committee and political group meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

A small meeting room in the European External Action Service is an unlikely place to get goosebumps. Yet, this happened time and time again as I spoke to European Union (EU) officials about the ground-breaking decision to deploy the European Peace Facility (EPF) to support Ukraine’s military response against Russia’s full-scale invasion during a cold February weekend in 2022. They all recall the gravitas of the moment: High Representative Borrell’s famous “Just add a zero” line that allowed the EPF budget to be multiplied by ten, the ground-breaking decision to deploy it to provide lethal equipment, and the momentous feeling of unity between Member States – a Union that, for once, rose up to the stakes of the moment.

Yet, the goosebumps are a momentary experience, and quickly go away as the conversation shifts to the months and years that followed. The tone gets more sour and frustrated. From a powerful innovation signifying European resolve, since 2024, the EPF has been completely blocked by the assertiveness of Hungarian vetoes. The officials I interview often use this as an example to show me that, although we tend to see the EU’s reaction to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as an ideal case of unity, consensus is not part of the equation at all.

How and why, then, has internal disagreement not impeded a common response in support of Ukraine? The conventional wisdom – that EU foreign policy action requires unanimity – cannot explain this.

My PhD starts from a different premise. Full agreement is a lot to ask of a group of twenty-seven Member States bound together by a sprawling institutional architecture and a multiplicity of tools, but torn apart by diverging interests and strategic cultures. In a decision-making machinery still dominated by unanimity, collective action does not require the elimination of disagreement by channelling twenty-seven voices into one. It requires organising twenty-seven voices into patterns of complementarity rather than contradiction.

These are the theoretical propositions I carried with me back and forth in my Eurostar journeys from London to Brussels since January 2026, when I began my fieldwork, generously supported by the UACES PhD Fieldwork Scholarship.

What I Am Finding: Complementarity, Not Unity 

The central conceptual move emerging from my research is a shift away from thinking about EU unity as the enabling factor of common external action to thinking about complementarity.

The dominant framing treats EU unity and consensus as necessary conditions for EU presence on the global stage: either it ‘speaks with one voice’ or it fragments into competing national positions. A holistic analysis of those cases that are considered closest to ideal types in this binary – Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the Gaza conflict – reveals something this dichotomy cannot capture.

By taking into account the multiplicity of actions across the Union’s multi-actor, multi-method, multi-level system of foreign policy, one starts seeing a different picture. It is the management of conflict and disagreement – not consensus – that enables EU external action, which can exist in multiple forms short of unity. What matters is not whether agreement can be found in the Council, but whether EU institutions and Member States act, in practice, to fill the gaps left by one another.

The EU’s multi-centred architecture – its multiple voices – does not merely constrain action, but provides avenues through which action can be routed around blockages at any given level. The European Peace Facility is a particularly successful and evident example of this: where disagreement existed, and common competencies lacked to support the provision of lethal equipment to Ukraine, the Commission provided EU financing through off-budget mechanisms, Member States delivered weapons bilaterally, and the EEAS coordinated. Each maintained its distinctive organisational approach, but these were structured to complement each other. No preference convergence or further integration occurred, but institutional innovations and procedural flexibility organised these differences productively.

I propose complementarity as the concept to capture this: the degree to which EU institutions and Member States reinforce rather than contradict each other at political, strategic, and operational levels. Complementarity is not coherence or uniformity: it allows for differentiated contributions, sequenced actions, and division of labour across a spectrum. What matters is not the institutional design of decision-making, but its outcome in practice, and whether actors reinforce, supplement, or contradict one another.

What Complementarity Reveals

 This concept helps to start theorising three more and more explicit developments in EU foreign policy into a single framework. These are typically analysed in isolation or misread as signs of dysfunction. Rather, I argue that they are all part of the same phenomenon whereby the EU assumes different patterns of complementarity as the outcome of internal conflict management.

The first concerns the simultaneous rise of Commission assertiveness and Member State coalitions. The European Commission increasingly deploys its own instruments – SAFE, Readiness 2030 – to provide frameworks for action in areas where unanimity in CFSP/CSDP cannot be reached. At the same time, Member States form informal ‘coalitions of the willing’ to tackle urgent problems outside the constraints of unanimity. These are usually analysed as two distinct trends, and the latter is often read as a sign of fragmentation. Yet, I argue that they are symptoms of complementarity in action: efforts of separate actors to enable or strengthen the collective effort.

The second development concerns the increasing visibility of Commission instruments in the making and shaping of EU external action. The existing debate has long equated EU foreign policy with its most visible intergovernmental surface – Council conclusions, statements, declarations. These are either voted on by unanimity or fail to come into existence. But a more holistic view that understands Community and Member State instruments and external competencies as part of the same system of foreign policy, a different picture emerges. Political, strategic, and operational coordination do not always move in tandem: Community tools can be effectively deployed at the operational level even when political consensus is absent. What appears as “disunity” at one level does not necessarily mean the EU is failing to act, or vice versa. It is precisely in these intermediate configurations – visible through a complementary view – that some of the most undertheorised dynamics of EU foreign policy reside.

Third, these configurations are not static. Complementarity is better understood as a process than a state – something that is constructed, sustained, and that can erode. The EU’s response to Ukraine illustrates this vividly: the rapid construction of a coherent response in the weeks following February 2022 gradually became more pluralistic over time – regardless of the sustained existential threat to European security. Changes external configuration of the EU – whether it speaks with one voice or it is characterised by coalitions of the willing and Commission-led workarounds – are often read as predictive signs of the trajectory of EU foreign policy integration. My argument is that this is the wrong frame entirely. These are not steps forward, backwards, or sideways on an integration spectrum that can tell us whether the EU is advancing unevenly, retreating, or finding a differentiated middle path. They are pragmatic, adaptive responses to the specific configuration of external constraints and internal costs the EU faces at a given moment. The EU is not on a linear trajectory; rather, a kaleidoscopic, shape-shifting polity in which coalitions form and reform around specific issues, and where the relevant question is not the degree of integration but the pattern of alignment.

Bridging Theory and Practice: Fieldwork in the Brussels Bubble

The core of my fieldwork consists of elite interviews with practitioners across the EU’s foreign policy ecosystem: officials from the EEAS, the Commission, the Council Secretariat, and Member States. The interviews seek to unveil not the achievement of unanimity as described by the treaties, but the daily, often improvised work of finding éscamotages, creative solutions, and producing collective action under pressure.

Brussels is a bubble that rewards presence. Many of these conversations would not have happened over Zoom. The willingness to speak candidly about politically charged dynamics – particularly about why coordination breaks down and how dissent is absorbed rather than resolved – depends enormously on trust built face to face. The informal chats after the recorded interview, the run-ins around Schuman or To Meli, the introductions passed along by a colleague: these are the understated elements that make research beyond the diplomatic narrative possible. I still have much to do: the human component of interviews requires time – digging into the EUWhoIsWho to identify interlocutors, waiting for answers (which often never come), and finding an appropriate time in the interviewees’ busy schedules. This means: I am still deeply in the process – widening my reach to Member State officials in Permanent Representations and select national capitals.

The UACES PhD Fieldwork Scholarship is essential to sustaining this presence. The scholarship supported my travel and living costs, allowing me to conduct a far richer set of interviews than would otherwise have been feasible. I am deeply grateful to UACES for this support, and for the broader role the association plays in enabling early-career researchers to undertake empirically grounded work.

Looking Ahead

The broader ambition is to equip scholars and practitioners with a framework that makes sense of recent developments in EU foreign policy while relieving them of the unrealistic expectation of consistent unity and the frustration of apparent weakness. The EU is not a unitary state. It cannot always ‘speak with one voice’. But it can and does act – sometimes with remarkable coordination, sometimes in productive pluralism, and sometimes in disarray. Understanding why it takes these different forms can offer insights into how this adaptive quality could become a strength rather than a source of anxiety in an increasingly volatile international order.

The post Conflict Is Underrated: From Unity to Complementarity in EU Foreign Policy appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

ÄNDERUNGSANTRÄGE 1 - 305 - Entwurf eines Berichts Bericht 2025 der Kommission über Georgien
Ausschuss für auswärtige Angelegenheiten
Rasa Juknevičienė

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP