Monday☕️

Monday☕️

Trending:

  • Yesterday, September 21, 2025, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal formally recognized the State of Palestine in a coordinated diplomatic move amid the ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict, which has intensified since the Gaza war began nearly two years ago. These nations framed their decisions as efforts to revive a two-state solution, with leaders like UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasizing hope for peace, while Canada imposed conditions such as hostage releases and Hamas disarmament that remain unmet. Israel sharply condemned the announcements as rewarding terrorism and undermining negotiations, threatening retaliation, while Palestinian leaders celebrated them as a step toward justice. Additional countries like Belgium, France, and New Zealand are reportedly considering similar actions soon, signaling a potential wave during the UN General Assembly.
Clickable image @MarkJCarney
Clickable image @Keir_Starmer
  • This shift highlights a deepening global divide, with 151 out of 193 UN member states—about 78%—now recognizing Palestine, primarily from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, leaving holdouts like the United States, Israel, Germany, Japan, and South Korea aligned against it. Traditional U.S. allies breaking ranks isolates America's longstanding policy of conditioning recognition on direct talks, exposing fractures in Western unity as much of the world sides with Palestinian statehood amid accusations of occupation, while critics argue it ignores security threats and empowers militants without addressing violence or governance issues.
Clickable image @Pestine_UN

Economics & Markets:

  • Yesterday’s commodity market:
TradingView @11:22 PM EST
  • Yesterday’s crypto market:
TradingView @11:23 PM EST

Geopolitics & Military Activity:

  • On September 21, 2025, the Israel Defense Forces announced the deployment of the 36th Division to Gaza City as part of an expanding ground offensive against Hamas, marking the third division committed to the operation. This armored unit, recently withdrawn from Khan Younis and prepared over two weeks, joined the 98th and 162nd Divisions in Operation "Gideon's Chariots II," which began on September 15 with airstrikes and ground incursions aimed at dismantling remaining militant infrastructure.
Clickable image @theinformant_x
  • The IDF reported striking dozens of targets in recent days to isolate combat zones and facilitate troop entry, alongside evacuating over 550,000 civilians to minimize casualties, though this has raised concerns about further displacement in the densely populated area. Initial reports noted clashes resulting in the deaths of several Hamas fighters and two rockets fired toward southern Israel, highlighting the intensification of fighting amid a nearly two-year conflict triggered by the October 7, 2023, attacks.

Environment & Weather:

  • On September 21, 2025, Super Typhoon Nando, also known internationally as Ragasa, made landfall with its eye passing directly over the Babuyan Islands, located off the northern coast of Luzon in the Philippines. This marked the 14th tropical cyclone of the 2025 Pacific typhoon season, having rapidly intensified to super typhoon strength with sustained winds of up to 215 km/h (133.6 mph), gusts reaching 265 km/h (164.7 mph), and a central pressure of 905 mbar. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) issued the highest alert, Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 5, for the Babuyan Islands and portions of Cagayan province, alerting residents to severe risks including destructive winds, storm surges up to 3 meters, heavy rainfall, potential flooding, and landslides.
Clickable image @WeatherMonitors
  • The storm's large 65 km-wide eye created a brief period of calm lasting one to two hours, while surrounding areas like Camiguin Island experienced intense rains and erratic winds, leading to the evacuation of hundreds of families to designated shelters amid enhanced effects from the southwest monsoon. The Babuyan Islands, with a population of around 19,000, bore the initial brunt, with the typhoon's path projected to affect Batanes province, parts of Taiwan, and eventually southern China and Vietnam as it moves westward. Government agencies coordinated response efforts, including debris clearance and ongoing monitoring for secondary hazards such as flash floods, while no casualties were immediately reported.

Science & Technology:

  • On September 21, 2025, Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works division unveiled Vectis, a new uncrewed aerial vehicle described as survivable, lethal, and autonomous, designed as a Group 5 collaborative combat aircraft to operate alongside 5th-generation fighters like the F-35 and future platforms. The aircraft features a stealthy flying-wing configuration with internal weapons bays and radar-absorbing materials to enhance its ability to operate in contested environments.
Clickable image @LockheedMartin
  • It supports multiple missions, including air-to-air combat, air-to-surface strikes, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare, powered by a single engine for extended range and endurance. Lockheed Martin plans for the first flight by 2027, positioning it as a cost-effective and rapidly producible option to meet evolving military needs. This development is part of the U.S. Air Force's collaborative combat aircraft program, where Lockheed competes with companies like Boeing, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman to provide affordable uncrewed systems that augment manned operations.

Statistic:

  • Largest assets on Earth by market capitalization:
  1. 🥇 Gold: $24.885T
  2. 🇺🇸 NVIDIA: $4.299T
  3. 🇺🇸 Microsoft: $3.849T
  4. 🇺🇸 Apple: $3.643T
  5. 🇺🇸 Alphabet (Google): $3.083T
  6. 🇺🇸 Amazon: $2.468T
  7. 🥈 Silver: $2.417T
  8. ₿ Bitcoin: $2.279T
  9. 🇺🇸 Meta Platforms: $1.955T
  10. 🇺🇸 Broadcom: $1.628T
  11. 🇸🇦 Saudi Aramco: $1.607T
  12. 🇺🇸 Tesla: $1.416T
  13. 🇹🇼 TSMC: $1.373T
  14. 🇺🇸 Berkshire Hathaway: $1.063T
  15. 🇺🇸 Oracle: $877.12B
  16. 🇺🇸 JPMorgan Chase: $865.56B
  17. 🇺🇸 Walmart: $815.86B
  18. 🇨🇳 Tencent: $749.41B
  19. 🇺🇸 Eli Lilly: $674.12B
  20. 🇺🇸 Visa: $663.04B
  21. 📊 SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust: $609.13B
  22. 🇺🇸 Mastercard: $528.08B
  23. 🇺🇸 Netflix: $521.37B
  24. Ethereum: $519.33B
  25. 🇺🇸 Exxon Mobil: $480.97B
  26. 🇺🇸 Palantir: $432.69B

History:

  • Lockheed Martin’s origins begin with two separate entities: the Glenn L. Martin Company, founded in 1912 in California (later relocated to Baltimore), and the Lockheed Aircraft Company, founded in 1926 by Allan and Malcolm Loughead (later renamed Lockheed). During World War II, both companies played major roles in aircraft production for the U.S. military. Lockheed’s P-38 Lightning became a key fighter aircraft, while Martin produced the B-26 Marauder medium bomber. In 1943, Lockheed established its Advanced Development Projects (ADP) division—later known as Skunk Works—to rapidly develop cutting-edge aircraft in secret. The first product was the XP-80 (P-80 Shooting Star), America’s first operational jet fighter, developed in just 143 days.
  • Skunk Works continued to push boundaries through the Cold War. In the late 1950s and 1960s, it delivered the U-2 spy plane, followed by the SR-71 Blackbird in 1966, which still holds the record as the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft. During this period, Lockheed also developed the C-130 Hercules (1954), a highly versatile transport aircraft still in use today. Glenn L. Martin, meanwhile, was building nuclear delivery systems and space systems, eventually merging with American-Marietta to become Martin Marietta in 1961. Martin Marietta led development on missiles like the Titan ICBM, and later contributed to NASA programs including the Viking Mars landers. In the 1970s–80s, Lockheed produced the F-117 Nighthawk, the world’s first operational stealth aircraft, developed in secrecy by Skunk Works and unveiled in 1988.
  • In 1995, Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta merged to form Lockheed Martin, combining their extensive aerospace, defense, and space portfolios. The new company became a global defense giant. Skunk Works continued to innovate with programs like the F-22 Raptor (first flown in 1997, entered service in 2005), a stealth air superiority fighter, and the F-35 Lightning II, a fifth-generation multirole fighter developed under the Joint Strike Fighter program. Lockheed Martin also expanded into space, partnering with Boeing in United Launch Alliance (ULA) and later developing the Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis missions to return humans to the Moon. Today, Lockheed Martin is a dominant force in global defense and aerospace innovation, with Skunk Works still operating as its elite innovation division, responsible for classified projects and next-generation systems in air, space, and autonomous domains.

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