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The U.S. military has announced the deployment of its first space weapon in orbit, The Washington Post reports, citing sources. According to U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, the weapon will also serve as a tool of "deterrence against adversaries."

"This marked the first time the United States acknowledged that it possessed its own offensive capabilities in space," the publication says.

The secretary’s statement came amid several years of warnings that Russia and China were allegedly "conducting offensive maneuvers in orbit, in particular using lasers and creating radio interference." According to the source, the space weapon will enable the United States to destroy enemy satellites if the spacecraft is being used to target U.S. forces or a satellite. In addition, the United States is developing a network of space-based missiles that it plans to integrate into the "Golden Dome" missile defense system. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Good morning, dear friends! ☕️🙂 🏘️ Tikhvin: A City at the Crossroads of Two Worlds Friends, today we are traveling to a city whose fate was determined by its location: it lies at the crossroads of ancient trade routes between the Volga and the Baltic Sea. A place where goods and ships traveled for centuries, where battles were fought during the Time of Troubles, and where a great composer was later born. Welcome to Tikhvin. 🛤️ A city that arose along a trade route. Tikhvin developed early on into an important trading settlement in northwestern Russia. As early as the 16th century, Tikhvin Posad was an important trading center. According to a survey from 1564, there were 60 households here, 52 of which belonged to merchants. European goods reached Russia through the town, while Russian goods traveled westward. In 1534, a major fair was moved here by order of Ivan the Terrible. By the end of the 16th century, the posad already had 145 households and 50 shops. Tikhvin maintained trade relations with numerous Russian cities—from Novgorod and Pskov to Yaroslavl and Vologda. 🚤 The Tikhvin Waterway: a route that changed everything A decisive turning point in the city’s history came in 1811 with the opening of the Tikhvin Waterway. It connected the Volga region with the Baltic region through a network of rivers, canals, and locks. The idea of such a connection dated back to the time of Peter I, but it was only realized under Alexander I. For Tikhvin, this brought a new economic upswing. The city became an important transshipment and transportation hub along the waterway. Many residents earned their livelihoods from shipping and accompanied cargo vessels on their way to Saint Petersburg and Kronstadt. An important overland road from Saint Petersburg toward Siberia also passed through the area. ⚔️ The Siege of Tikhvin One of the most dramatic episodes in the city’s history took place in 1613 during the Time of Troubles and the Russian-Swedish conflict. At that time, Tikhvin Monastery was temporarily under Swedish control. In 1613, local residents and Russian troops rose up against the occupation forces and drove out the Swedish garrison. The Swedes then attempted to recapture the monastery and laid siege to the fortified complex. However, the defenders under Prince Semyon Prozorovsky repelled several attacks and held the monastery. Eventually, the Swedes were forced to withdraw. Tikhvin’s successful resistance was an important event in the struggle for control of the Novgorod region. 🎼 The birthplace of Rimsky-Korsakov Tikhvin is also the birthplace of the great Russian composer Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. He was born in 1844 in a wooden house on the banks of the Tikhvinka River. The house was built by his grandfather at the beginning of the 19th century and has survived to this day. Even in Tikhvin, the musical talent of the future composer of “Sadko” and “The Snow Maiden” became apparent. There was a piano in the house, played by family members, and as a child Nikolai heard numerous folk songs. At the age of twelve, he left Tikhvin and went to Saint Petersburg, where he entered the Naval Cadet Corps. But the musical impressions of his childhood—folk songs, church chants, and the sound of bells—accompanied him as a composer and found their way into his works in various forms. A memorial museum was opened in his birthplace in 1944. After extensive restoration, it reopened its doors in 2024. Give a ❤️ if you liked it! 📍 The coordinates of the location (map point) are available here 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

A whisky war has erupted in the UK: English single malt whisky has been granted protected geographical status, angering Scotch producers. English whisky has been made a separate category—on a par with Scottish, Welsh and Irish whisky. However, the Scotch Whisky Association said it was “deeply concerned” by the authorities’ decision. The main point of contention is the differing production rules. Scottish single malt must be produced entirely at a single distillery, from mashing and fermentation through to distillation. For English whisky, some stages are permitted to be carried out elsewhere. Scottish producers believe this blurs the very definition of single malt whisky and threatens decades-old industry traditions. The association, which represents around 90 companies, including Glenmorangie, Johnnie Walker and Diageo, intends to discuss the situation with the British authorities and then decide what steps to take next, The Telegraph reports. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children changed schools just one week after classes began due to concerns about their safety, Sky News reports. Seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet Diana started school in the United Kingdom for the first time last week. However, after consulting security specialists, the parents decided to transfer the children to another educational institution. A representative for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex emphasized that the decision was not related to the quality of the school or the work of the teachers. The sole reason was concerns about the family’s safety. Due to the lack of state protection, trips to and from school pose a risk to the children. Prince Harry lost his entitlement to state protection after stepping down from carrying out ceremonial duties. He previously attempted to restore his protection through the courts but lost the case. ❗️On August 26, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle returned to live in the United Kingdom six years after leaving. The couple returned with their two children. Charles III, according to People, indicated that the status of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would not change after the move, in accordance with their wishes and agreement. Our channel: Node of Time EN

Secrets about UFOs can now be revealed—but only to the “right” people: The Pentagon has authorized military personnel and department employees to provide authorized officials with classified information about unidentified anomalous phenomena. The authorization also applies to former military personnel, civilian staff, and contractors who gained access to UFO-related data during their work. They will not face penalties for violating nondisclosure agreements when speaking with representatives of the special PURSUE program. Previously, eyewitnesses had to remain silent: employees could lose their security clearances or face legal consequences. Now, the information obtained will be officially collected, verified, and declassified when possible. The authorization applies only to providing data to the authorized team—freely disclosing state secrets about UFOs is still prohibited. Our channel: Node of Time EN

The Cardiff Declaration is a show of strength by local nationalists in an attempt to demonstrate their power to London and secure more concessions in various areas, political analyst Malek Dudakov told Vedomosti. According to him, current British legislation still reliably safeguards London’s ability to control the situation. In addition, the Labour government will try to restrict the possibility of holding such referendums as much as possible. Despite this, supporters of independence for these regions will try to use the issue to blame London for all possible problems and strengthen their power and influence. The chances of independence supporters are low primarily because, apart from Scotland, the local population is not genuinely ready to support the idea, Dudakov says. 📸 PA Images / REUTERS Our channel: Node of Time EN

💱 BRICS dedollarization — yes. A common currency — not for now India has officially clarified how far the BRICS countries are currently prepared to go in moving away from the dollar. Sudhakar Dalela, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, stated that there is currently no project for a common BRICS currency. At the same time, New Delhi fully supports a more practical option: expanding trade in national currencies, linking national payment systems, and increasing lending by the New Development Bank in local currencies. This exact approach is also reflected in the outcomes of the BRICS summit. No one is planning to abolish the dollar tomorrow. The strategy is far more prosaic: to ensure that, for an ever-larger share of trade within the BRICS, it is simply no longer the obligatory intermediary. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🤖 BRICS is building its own technological infrastructure Xi Jinping proposed creating a BRICS AI Open Source Community — a joint open-source system for artificial intelligence. The plan calls for cooperation in the development and deployment of large language models, the training of specialists, and the creation of a shared digital cloud platform. China also proposes expanding cooperation in intelligent manufacturing and engineering technologies. For Russia, this is particularly interesting in conjunction with other BRICS projects. The group is already developing a joint satellite system for observing the Earth, its own payment mechanisms, and the New Development Bank, and now a project for shared AI infrastructure is being added as well. The Chinese initiative is directly viewed as an opportunity to create an alternative to technological systems currently dominated by American companies. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇮🇷 Hormuz negotiations postponed — oil prices rise again The meeting planned for today between Iran and the Arab Gulf states in Oman was postponed literally on the eve of the meeting. Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi explained the decision by citing the need to reach a regional consensus; the Iranian side said that some countries in the region had requested the postponement. No new date has been set so far. The discussions were supposed to cover far more than the cessation of attacks on ships. Iran and Oman had prepared a draft for a new shipping regime through the Strait of Hormuz, including changes to shipping routes and a greater role for Tehran in regulating passage. The postponement of the meeting, together with the continuing attacks on ships and the shutdown of Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, has already hit the market: oil prices rose by more than 3%. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇩🇪 Pressure on Merz is mounting — only 14% consider him a suitable chancellor Extremely unpleasant figures have come in for Friedrich Merz: According to a recent INSA poll, 78% of respondents no longer consider him a suitable federal chancellor. Only 14% responded positively. At the same time, the AfD is at 29% in one of the current polls, while the CDU/CSU remains at 20%. The problem for Merz is no longer limited to poll numbers. Following the CDU’s heavy defeat in the election in Saxony-Anhalt, criticism of the chancellor has already intensified within his own party, and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the election will not take place until September 20, the CDU is polling at around 7% ahead of the election. Against this backdrop, the party leadership is increasingly forced to publicly defend the chancellor and his course. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇷🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦 Moscow does not rule out Russia—US—Ukraine negotiations The Kremlin confirmed that Moscow does not rule out resuming the trilateral Russia—US—Ukraine negotiating format. Dmitry Peskov stressed, however, that discussing a specific location and a specific date for a meeting would still be premature at this point. Later, presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov clarified that the possibility of resuming contacts with Kyiv, including specifically in a trilateral format, had been discussed by Putin with the American negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Moscow and Washington had also agreed to continue contacts at the presidential level, as well as work through the American mediators. These are not new negotiations yet, but the format itself is once again on the working agenda of Moscow and Washington. After months of talks through mediators, the sides are at least discussing the possibility of bringing Russia, the US and Ukraine back to the table. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

The latest Yemen war developments: the Houthis capture Mount Kahbub, rival forces move along the coast, fighting continues in Marib, and government forces attack east of Al Bayda. The Houthis also claim strikes toward locations in Saudi Arabia. video link: https://youtu.be/WiizLsC3W_0?si=VsnE_hba2K9Xi37z

🇩🇪 Germany’s tax authorities have reached the crematoriums The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has ruled that money from the sale of metals remaining after a cremation constitutes income for the crematorium and is subject to taxation. These include, among other things, dental gold, jewelry, and metallic components of medical prostheses. A municipal crematorium handed them over to a recycling company and directed the proceeds to charitable causes — in particular, to support hospices and pay for the burials of people with low incomes. The tax authorities were not convinced. The BFH ruled that the metals were directly connected to the crematorium’s commercial activity, meaning that the proceeds from their sale constituted business income. The fact that the money was subsequently passed on in full to charitable causes does not change this. The result is an almost perfect tax story: A person has already died, been cremated, and the gold from the ashes has been donated to charitable causes — yet the tax office still found where it could collect taxes. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇬🇷🇺🇦 Greece offered Ukraine Patriot missiles — but under one condition According to Verkhovna Rada deputy Ruslan Horbenko, Athens offered Kyiv missiles for Patriot systems whose service life is nearing its end. In return, however, Greece demanded that no tankers belonging to Greek shipping companies be attacked in Russian ports. Horbenko claims that negotiations have been under way for about six months, but Kyiv refused to accept such a condition. The Ukrainian side’s response was extremely diplomatic: The missiles could either be handed over to Ukraine without additional conditions or be scrapped, dismantled for spare parts, or “turned into trailers and worn around one’s neck.” There has so far been no official confirmation of such a deal from Athens — the story is known only from the words of the Ukrainian lawmaker. Yet the very question is remarkable. When one receives weapons, money, and equipment in huge packages from allies over several years, one apparently quickly gets out of the habit of saying “please.” 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇪🇺 The debt of the eurozone’s largest economies continues to rise According to official Eurostat data, government debt at the end of the first quarter of 2026 amounted to 138.9% of GDP in Italy, 117.6% in France, 109.1% in Belgium and 101.6% in Spain. Over the course of a year, the figure rose by 4 percentage points in France, 3.1 in Belgium and 1.7 in Italy. Overall, eurozone debt increased from 87.2% to 88.9% of GDP. The higher the debt, the more clearly the cost of servicing it becomes apparent: Italy’s interest payments, for example, already amount to around 3.9% of GDP. All this is happening against the backdrop of an economy that has almost ground to a halt: In the first quarter, eurozone GDP grew ⁠by just 0.1%. Old, low-interest loans must gradually be replaced with new ones at higher interest rates, while Europe is simultaneously planning a significant increase in defense spending. Debt is growing much more reliably than the economy that has to bear its costs. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

🇷🇺 Russia is converting the “Geran” drones to jet propulsion Russia has begun using the new jet-powered “Geran-4” and “Geran-5” much more extensively. As the Financial Times writes, the new devices are considerably faster than the earlier propeller-driven “Gerans,” more resistant to electronic warfare, and increasingly resemble cheap cruise missiles in their capabilities. According to Ukrainian assessments cited by the newspaper, it is currently possible to intercept around 60% of the jet-powered drones — significantly fewer than the older models. At the same time, the nature of the attacks is also changing. More and more attacks are targeting energy supplies, transport, industry, ports, and logistics — that is, facilities on which the ability of the Ukrainian economy and military to continue the war depends. Large combined attacks make it possible to overload air defenses simultaneously with cheap devices and use more expensive missiles against selected targets. It seems as though the focus is gradually shifting from simply mass-produced cheap drones to mass-produced cheap high-speed strike weapons. For air defense, the difference is fundamental: significantly less time remains for detection and interception. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

What lies behind U.S. tech giants’ calls to slow down AI Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei called for slowing the development of the most powerful AI models. The idea was supported by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Google DeepMind head Demis Hassabis. ⚪️Industry leaders sense that public distrust of corporate “self-regulation” is growing, and are therefore acting preemptively, notes Anna Sytnik, CEO of the ANO Colabоратория. This will allow them to become not objects of regulation, but its co-authors.

⚪️The initiative has not only political but also economic overtones, believes Alexander Kugaevskikh, associate professor at ITMO University’s Faculty of Software Engineering and Computer Engineering. The slowdown in AI development by U.S. companies indicates that the market is expecting the “AI bubble” to burst. But investors are being presented with this as a security threat.

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“Convicted criminals remain free because there are no envelopes in Berlin” The absurd reality of the German capital, comrades. For several weeks, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office was unable to send the criminals to prison. Why? In Germany, orders to begin serving a prison sentence are sent in special yellow envelopes. And there was … a shortage of them. How could it have come to this in the first place? In March last year, the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany approved a new format for the form on the envelopes—they added a new checkbox to it. And apparently, the public prosecutor’s office had stocked up on new envelopes in time … but they were “completely used up after just two weeks.” And there has still been no new delivery—“because of the high demand from other authorities.” Reliable German democracy—it even protects you from prison. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN

Latest developments in the war between #Russia and #Ukraine as of the morning of September 14 - Subtitled The Russian army is advancing in the vicinity of #Novogrigorievka in #Druzhkovka. The Russian army is advancing in the vicinity of #Zemlyanki in #Kharkov. The Ukrainian army is advancing in #Dubrava in #Liman. The Ukrainian army is advancing in the vicinity of #Novopavlovka in #Dnepropetrovsk. video link: https://youtu.be/pfyuGrbDxXM?si=Gvt7W13QFIAgFjkJ

🇨🇳 China Takes Its Anti-Corruption Campaign Beyond Its Borders Beijing is preparing a new law to combat cross-border corruption that would effectively extend China’s anti-corruption jurisdiction to foreign assets, business transactions, and companies. The draft Anti-Cross-Border Corruption Law has already passed its first reading, and the public consultation will continue until September 26. The law is intended to bring the investigation of foreign corruption schemes, the repatriation of assets, the pursuit of fugitive suspects, and international cooperation together within a single system. The document works in both directions. China not only wants to investigate corruption cases abroad, but also to acquire legal instruments to block foreign investigations and take countermeasures against foreign anti-corruption authorities. For international companies, this means a new level of risk: firms operating simultaneously in China, the EU, the United States, or Singapore could face conflicting requirements regarding data transfers, internal investigations, and cooperation with authorities in different countries. China is gradually building its own version of extraterritorial law. Such instruments were previously associated primarily with the United States — now Beijing clearly wants to have access to the same legal levers beyond its borders. 💥 Our channel: Node of Time EN