Russia is poised to reap the benefits of soaring oil prices and a possible return of Indian buyers for its crude after hostilities in the Middle East effectively halted shipment of supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
Cargoes of Russia’s Urals crude floating in the Arabian Sea offer a tempting alternative to short-haul Middle Eastern barrels shut in by the effective closure of Hormuz, the strategically vital waterway that handles about a fifth of the world’s oil. Renewed Indian interest may narrow deep discounts that Moscow has been forced to offer to Asian buyers, while Russian crude prices are also set to get a boost from soaring global benchmarks.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) premises in Riyadh were hit by an alleged Iranian drone, The Washington Post (WAPO) reported on Tuesday, citing two of its reporters onsite.
According to the outlet's reporter John Hudson, the attack could be just a "minor setback" for the agency's operations in Saudi Arabia; however, Iran could use it as a "significant symbolic victory" against the US and Israel.
Earlier, it was reported that Iran targeted a number of US embassies and consulates across the Middle East. Most recently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that a parking lot adjacent to the country's consulate in Dubai was hit.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Iranian-drone-may-have-hit-CIA's-premises-in-Riyadh/65793837
China has called on all sides of the Iran war to ensure the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the most direct call to date from the Islamic Republic’s top economic partner for continued trade through the waterway.
Tanker traffic through the energy chokepoint effectively halted after the US and Israel began a bombing campaign over the weekend that has prompted Iran to respond with strikes across the region.
“Spain and the United States have had an amazing relationship forever, you know, centuries,” Botin said Tuesday in a Bloomberg TV interview from New York. “And I’m sure that’s going to happen again very soon.”
by Gabrielle Temaat via The College Fix,
The U.S. Department of Defense announced the cancellation of its military education fellowships at 13 top universities on Friday, citing “toxic indoctrination.”
“We are eliminating certain Senior Service College (SSC) Fellowship programs for the 2026-2027 academic year and beyond. I am also directing the compilation of a revised list of elite institutions offering equivalent programs to replace those eliminated,” the agency wrote in a memo to Pentagon leadership.
It said this change will give leaders “a more rigorous and relevant education.”
Further, in a video posted on X, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said, “For decades, the Ivy League and similar institutions have gorged themselves on a trust fund of American taxpayer dollars only to become factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain.”
“They’ve replaced the study of victory and pragmatic realism with the promotion of wokeness and weakness,” he said.
For too long, the Ivy League and similar institutions have been subjecting our warriors to woke indoctrination—those days are over. pic.twitter.com/0xMC6BArDd
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 27, 2026
“We cannot and will not continue to send our most capable officers, senior officers, into graduate programs that undermine the very values they have sworn to uphold,” Hegseth said.
He also said “so-called elite universities” have “poisoned” the U.S. military education system and “abused their privilege and access to this department and utterly betrayed their purpose.”
The 13 universities include Tufts, Georgetown, Brown, Columbia, Princeton, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Yale, among others, according to the memo.
Department personnel currently attending these schools will be allowed to finish their studies.
The department is also cutting ties with seven non-profit institutions, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, The Brookings Institution, Center for a New American Security, and Council on Foreign Relations.
The memo names potential new partners such as Liberty University, Hillsdale College, Arizona State University, Pepperdine University, Baylor University, and The University of Tennessee.
Last month, Hegseth ordered evaluations of programs at all Ivy League schools and others with “significant adversary involvement,” according to another department memo.
“The goal is to determine whether or not they actually deliver cost-effective strategic education for future senior leaders when compared to, say, public universities and our military graduate programs,” Hegseth stated.
This comes amid the Department of War’s recent decision to officially sever major ties with Harvard University, as previously reported by The College Fix.
Last month, it announced the military will no longer send active-duty officers to Harvard for fellowships, certificate programs, or graduate-level Professional Military Education.
“Harvard is woke. The War Department is not,” Hegseth stated on X.
