Israel hits Iran's naval weapons and ship producer

 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Saturday that it struck the Iranian naval weapons and ship production headquarters, the Maritime Industries Organization, in addition to other arms production sites in Tehran.

"The headquarters is responsible for research, development, and production of a variety of naval weapons, including surface and submarine vessels, manned and unmanned vehicles, as well as engines and weapons. The attack on the headquarters deepens the damage to the Iranian terrorist regime's naval array, primarily severely damaging the ability to produce naval weapons," IDF stated.

The Israeli military also revealed that it attacked several other sites that were used to manufacture different weapons and air defense systems.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Israel-hits-Iran's-naval-weapons-and-ship-producer/65971885

USS Tripoli with 3,500 troops enters CENTCOM

 United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Saturday that the America-class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli entered its area of responsibility carrying about 3,500 sailors and Marines.

According to CENTCOM, the vessel serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and aside from the US troops, it also carries fighter aircraft and amphibious assault and tactical assets.

The ship arrived at its destination on the day when US President Donald Trump's initial deadline for a deal with Iran was set to expire, before he extended it to April 6.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/USS-Tripoli-with-3500-troops-enters-CENTCOM/65971870

'Russia Warns Situation At Bushehr Nuclear Plant Deteriorating After 3rd Airstrike In Ten Days'

 On Friday Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that Bushehr nuclear power plant was struck by US-Israeli attacks for the third time since the start of the war.

At the same time, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom has confirmed that the situation continues to deteriorate; however, there's as yet been no damage to the operating reactor and no release of radiation reported. It was the third strike in just ten days.

The Kremlin has newly accused Washington and Israel of putting the whole region in danger, and further of harming the cause of nuclear non-proliferation globally.

Anadolu Agency

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has issued a fresh statement: "The drama of the situation is aggravated by the fact that countries attacking peaceful nuclear facilities in Iran are effectively undermining the NPT, the IAEA's verification mechanisms, nuclear and physical security conventions, as well as the agency's relevant regulations," according to the ministry's website.

"Carefully crafted and internationally agreed solutions are not taken seriously by these states and can be discarded at any moment in favor of their selfish interests and geopolitical considerations," the spokeswoman added.

Zakharova further communicated that atrocities in Iran must cease, and nuclear sites must be safeguarded, referencing the latest attacks in the past days on the complex in Khondab, the factory in Ardakan, and the strikes near the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

"The aggressors continue to raise the stakes in their war in the Middle East, ignoring all associated risks, including the danger of widespread radioactive contamination," Zakharova said.

She further chastised UN and international bodies for not stepping up to loudly condemn the US-Israeli operation.

Russia has a direct interest in Iran's nuclear sites, given hundreds of Russian experts and technicians have long helped operate them, and support the Islamic Republic's domestic nuclear power generation for its electricity needs. Reuters reported this week:

Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom ​evacuated a further ‌163 of its staff from Iran's Bushehr nuclear ​power plant on ​Wednesday, the state-run RIA ⁠news agency reported.

It ​cited Rosatom chief Alexei ​Likhachev as saying about 300 of the company's staff ​remained at Bushehr, ​but more would be leaving.

Some 500 to 1,000 Russian staff are there during normal operations, and presumably many more are at other sites throughout the country. Russia helped construct many of these very complexes many years ago.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-warns-situation-bushehr-nuclear-plant-deteriorating-after-3rd-airstrike-ten

Police said to thwart bomb attack at BoA building in Paris

 French police prevented an alleged bomb attack outside the building of the Bank of America Corp. in Paris, AFP reported on Saturday, citing a source familiar with the case.

According to the report, the police arrested a man who was preparing to set off a homemade explosive device, made of five liters of liquid, believed to be fuel, and an ignition system. The police officers reportedly grabbed the man just after he placed the device outside the US bank, at approximately 3:30 am CET.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Police-said-to-thwart-bomb-attack-at-BoA-building-in-Paris/65971807

Illegal Immigration Is Way Down, So Naturally The Media Are Freaking Out

 What happens with a secure border?

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau describes a remarkable set of changes happening in the United States. Population growth is slowing or reversing toward decline in many metropolitan areas, and population losses are accelerating in some counties that were already shrinking.

Several things are happening behind those changes, but here’s what the Census Bureau identifies as the biggest cause:

“These shifts were largely due to lower levels of net international migration (NIM), which declined nationwide. Nine out of 10 U.S. counties experienced lower NIM levels between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, compared to the year prior. The one in 10 counties that did not see a drop in international migration did not see an increase either.”

So far fewer people are coming to the United States, which is slowing population growth in the places those immigrants were most likely to go. But we’re not just discussing immigrants, because we’re largely talking about a more specific type of immigration.

In a report last summer, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco identified the leading cause of the increasingly apparent decline in net migration: “Fewer undocumented immigrants arriving at or between ports of entry also led to a significantly lower 2025 NIM projection relative to 2023 and 2024…[as] the inflow of undocumented immigrants declined from a peak of around 1.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to around 180,000 in the second quarter of 2025.” 

So when you see the Census Bureau using the term “net international migration,” a lot of what they’re talking about is illegal immigration.

The Census Bureau adds this interesting fact: “Some of the country’s most populous counties experienced the greatest impacts from lower NIM.”

In other words, Deep Blue cities like Los Angeles and New York City are getting hit the hardest. The New York Times has turned the data into a helpful color-coded map to illustrate this story, and it’s quite something to look at. Net immigration is down 67 percent in LA, 72 percent in the Denver metropolitan area, 62 percent in Chicago, and 65 percent in the New York City metropolitan area. Remember this pattern, because I’ll come back to it in a moment.

The new Census Bureau report develops some themes that have been showing up in official reports for a few months, and you can also take a look at this late January report: “New Population Estimates Show Historic Decline in Net International Migration.” If the trend continues, the Census Bureau says, net international migration into the United States is “projected to further decline to approximately 321,000 in 2026.” That’s a massive decline.

Not every place is experiencing lower rates of population growth, though, as “many of the fastest-growing counties were in states along the southeast coast of the United States in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.” So people are fleeing Los Angeles and Chicago, but pouring into the South. Alongside the decline in international migration, domestic migration is reshaping the country.

If you clicked on the link up above to read that New York Times story, you saw that they’re spinning a sharp decline in immigration (including illegal immigration, though they downplay that part) as an emerging disaster. Birthrates are declining, and America “needs a population of young workers and taxpayers large enough to finance infrastructure like schools, hospitals and health care for older residents.” So less immigration is just loss, because “if immigration remains low for too long, it could lead to problems maintaining a population and a work force.”

But the Times also says this, and here we get to the really interesting part:

Those new immigrants often required a lot of resources and assistance, said Julia Gelatt, an associate director at the Migration Policy Institute, a research center in Washington. “So some cities,” she added, “might be relieved to have a pause in those people who need initial assistance.”

They certainly might be relieved, yes, and the pause in the need for assistance is likely to be much bigger than they want to say. What the Times doesn’t mention is that a massive wave of illegal immigration has produced a dependency crisis, and the massively expensive growth of social services programs, in Democrat-run states and cities. New York City is facing a $12 billion budget deficit, for example, but you can go read Biden-era news to find the source of the problem: “NYC mayor puts $12 billion cost on migrant crisis,” Politico reported in 2023.

Here’s a headline from 2024: “Denver cuts services in response to the migrant crisis that’s costing the city $180 million.”

Here’s a June 2025 headline from Chicago: “Illinois projected to spend $2.5B on migrants by end of 2025, report claims.”

You can find similar stories in Minnesota and California without much effort. As a 2023 headline at NPR defiantly declared: “More states extend health coverage to immigrants even as issue inflames GOP.”

Now, going back a few paragraphs, remember which places are seeing the biggest declines in net immigration? A decline in illegal immigration may just save a bunch of Democrat-run states and cities from insolvency, reducing the size of a large population that depends on government services to live. History has a sense of humor: ICE and the Border Patrol are delivering a massive dose of help to Zohran Mamdani and Gavin Newsom.

Chris Bray is a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army, and has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at "Tell Me How This Ends," here.

https://thefederalist.com/2026/03/26/illegal-immigration-is-way-down-so-naturally-the-media-are-freaking-out/

Can We Trust the Iranians to Uphold a Deal?

 by Roger Simon

The President says we’re negotiating with whoever now represents the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, the Iranians say we’re not, although they insist on talking to Rubio and Vance, not to Kushner and Witkoff. Go figure.

Whatever the case, the New York Times provides some details, claiming the U. S. sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war that Trump says we have won, and that they, the mullahs and their cohorts, are eager to make a deal.

They certainly have suffered under an almost unparalleled attack by the U. S. and Israel, to which their response, though persistent, has not been particularly potent and seems to be dwindling.

So maybe they are, even if the talks are not direct or whatever other tedious propaganda we have to sit through

Most importantly, however, if we do make a deal, can Iran be trusted?

Not on their record. They cheated throughout the nuclear deal, the so-called JCPOA, originally urged on the world in 2013 by Barack Obama and signed in 2015 by multiple nations. The terms of that deal were shaky at best, with Iran largely in control of inspections from the start. Enforcement, from the UN and elsewhere, barely existed.

Are the people we are dealing with now all that different from those who signed that deal?

Without knowing exactly who they are, the chances are they are (titularly, supposedly) Shia Muslims. 90—95% of Iran is. Shia ideology embraces taqiyya, a concept that has been defined in different ways, but has been interpreted by many as justifying lying in defense of the faith or to advance it.

It’s likely that our new interlocutors, like the previous mullahs and Republican Guards, are Shia.

I used the parenthetical above because a great many of the actual Iranian, particularly Persian, citizens, reject Islam, or pretend to observe it only for their personal safety. We have seen this with freedom demonstrators throughout the years, many of whom embrace their original religion, Zoroastrianism, and verbally attack Islam. Despite the regime, the Zoroastrian holiday of Nowruz is widely celebrated. Others prefer Christianity. Some are secular.

It’s hard to imagine that these demonstrators, who, almost all unarmed, dared to protest the brutal mullahs and were shot, sometimes in their hospital beds, will not be at risk from a peace deal. They will be targets now and in the years to come by rulers for whom murder and torture were a way of life. Again, are the new ones different? How do we know? Because they tell us so?

These demonstrators are the very people we applauded and hoped would succeed. They were our heroes. How will they be protected? Are they included in the 15 points of the American proposal?

I would like to think so, but I am skeptical. I’m not sure it can even be done with a “peace deal”. I think it can only happen with regime change. This is not Venezuela. Iran is altogether different.

I hope I’m wrong, but the only road I can see to a decent resolution is for the Americans and the Israelis to finish the job, execute a real, verifiable change to democracy that can be seen and validated by the whole world. In other words, what occurred after the Second World War.

Otherwise, we are likely to be doing this all over again, this time with an Iran armed with ICBMs that can reach Chicago. Europe, as we have seen, is already within range.

Yes, the political and financial pressures on Trump are strong, with a floundering stock market and the midterms looming. Few politicians could withstand it all, but I like to think that Trump can. I worry about some of those around him.

We’re in a civilizational war.

Anyway, this is far from over. I could say “stay tuned,” but I’m pretty sure we all will anyway. Perhaps, in a few days, our Marines will be taking over Kharg Island.

Then we’ll tear everything up like Chico and Groucho in the great contract scene from “A Night at the Opera.”

One thing I would add to the 15 points is it’s not there is absolutely to stop celebrating the “National Day of Fight against Global Arrogance,” aka “Death to America” Day, every November 4. That commemorates the day 49 Americans were kinapped from our embassy in 1979 and held for 444 days. No more of that and no more anti-American/anti-Israeli propaganda all over their streets. If they can’t do that, they’re not serious

https://americanrefugees.substack.com/p/can-we-trust-the-iranians-to-uphold

Protein biomarker detection platform Alamar Biosciences files for a $100 million IPO

 Alamar Biosciences, which provides a protein biomarker detection platform for disease detection research, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.

The company develops and commercializes proteomics technologies designed to detect and analyze protein biomarkers at very low concentrations in biological samples such as blood. Its platform combines proprietary instruments, consumables, and software to provide an end-to-end system for measuring multiple low-abundance proteins across research and potential clinical applications. The company’s technology is used in areas ranging from early-stage discovery to translational research, with an emphasis on enabling more precise and consistent protein detection.

The Fremont, CA-based company was founded in 2018 and booked $74 million in revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2025. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ALMR. Alamar Biosciences filed confidentially on January 9, 2026. J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, TD Cowen, Leerink Partners, and Stifel are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

Relevant Profile: ALMR

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/117952/Protein-biomarker-detection-platform-Alamar-Biosciences-files-for-a-$100-mi