Cremations halted over oil shortage from the Iran war: 'Never seen anything like this'

Even the dead aren't immune to the oil shortage sparked by the Iran war. Gas-based cremations are now being halted in parts of several predominantly Buddhist and Hindu countries because of worsening fuel shortages triggered by the ongoing conflict, according to reports. The largest crematorium in India's state of Maharashtra was forced to temporarily stop all gas-fired cremations because of the scarcity of fuel, India Now magazine reported. Vaikunth Dham, located in the city of Pune, relies on three gas-fired furnaces to carry out its sacred funeral services. The facility said it will rely on electric and wood-based cremations moving forward.

Former Air Force missile officer claims UFOs disabled nuclear arsenal at Montana base during Cold War

A retired US Air Force launch officer claims UFOs disabled multiple nuclear missiles when they appeared around the Montana base where he was stationed decades ago. Robert Salas claims a mysterious force paralyzed the military's ability to control 10 Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads at Malmstrom Air Force Base in 1967, the 85-year-old veteran said on the Danny Jones Podcast Saturday. Salas — whose job was to launch and monitor nuclear missiles "if given the order" during the Cold War — was at the controls underground with his partner around 10 p.m. March 24 of that year when panicked guards called from above about another unidentified craft.

Up to 31 inches of snow fell during 48-hour blizzard in Michigan's Upper Peninsula - 52 inches in 3 days (UPDATE)

Blizzard conditions will taper off into Tuesday, March 17, for Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the northern Lower Peninsula. Snowfall reports show 31 inches fell in the central U.P., with additional inches underway. On Monday, March 16, a blizzard warning, ice storm warning, winter storm warning, lakeshore flooding, and a wind advisory are issued for Michigan — ice is forecast to accumulate in the northeast-central Lower Peninsula, and snowbelt areas are expected to see up to 20 inches by Tuesday morning, March 17, per the Probabilistic Precipitation Portal. Statewide, wind gusts will be strong from 45-60 mph. On 6:30 a.m. Monday, March 16, 31 inches of snow was reported in Three Lakes (located in the central U.P) via the National Weather Service's online local snowfall reports — which was a 48-hour accumulation. A nearby city, National Mine, reported 30 inches of snow.

BEST OF THE WEB: Northeast Ohio's frightening meteor fireball boom felt across 3 states on March 17

Residents across Northeast Ohio woke up to something far louder than a St. Patrick's Day celebration this morning. Just before 9 a.m., tens of thousands of people across Northeast Ohio, as well as parts of Pennsylvania and New York, heard and felt what many described as a massive explosion. No one knew immediately what had caused it. Within hours, the National Weather Service office in Cleveland provided an answer. What the National Weather Service confirmed The NWS Cleveland posted on social media that the latest Geostationary Lightning Mapper imagery pointed to a meteor as the source of the boom. The agency shared the imagery alongside its assessment, making clear that the event was natural in origin rather than the result of any industrial or structural incident.

How Iran and China shaped the war chessboard

China's dual-track response to the US-Israeli war on Iran reflects a broader geopolitical and economic strategy that stretches from the battlefield to the global financial system. China is officially responding on two parallel tracks to the Epstein Syndicate - or US-Israeli - war on Iran via a diplomatic spokesman and a military spokesman. Translation: China sees the war both as an extreme political/diplomatic tension and a military threat. China's military spokesman, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) colonel, speaks with metaphors. It was he who said explicitly that the US is "addicted to war", with only 250 years of History and only 16 years of peace. He clearly positions the US as a global threat. And clearly, also as a moral (italics mine) threat. Chinese President Xi Jinping is firmly focused on establishing a long-lasting connection between Marxism and Confucianism. The key contribution of Confucius to political thinking is the precise use of language. Only the one who speaks...

Iran War & Fuel Rationing - are 'Energy Lockdowns' on the way?

The war in Iran is having the impact that most people with any sense knew it would have: The price of oil is going up, and the supply of oil is going down. Of course, whether or not the latter of these is actually true we will never know, and it's beside the point. Oil companies will natural take the slightest excuse to price gouge and contrive scarcity for the basest of profit motives. It also serves a political motive as well, since we know the global political machinery is - against free travel against fossil fuels and against people being able to afford basically anything. Which is of course another reason - we could say the ultimate real reason - why the head of BP is screaming about fuel rationing... UK should brace for fuel rationing over Iran war crisis, former BP chief warns Starmer

FLASHBACK: In 2002, the U.S. Military conducted an Iran war simulation. Iran won

As tensions escalate in the Persian Gulf region, it's worth recalling a 2002 Pentagon war game in which a U.S. Marine Corps played the part of an enemy commander waging a bloody defensive campaign against a much more powerful U.S. force. Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper's own hodgepodge of troops, ships and planes was similar in organization and capability to Iran's actual forces. Van Riper's success in blunting a simulated American assault could reveal how Tehran might fight in the real world. "The exercise was called Millennium Challenge 2002," Blake Stilwell wrote for We Are the Mighty. It was designed by the Joint Forces Command over the course of two years. It had 13,500 participants, numerous live and simulated training sites, and was supposed to pit an Iran-like Middle Eastern country against the U.S. military, which would be fielding advanced technology it didn't plan to implement until five years later. The war game would begin with a forced-entry exercise that included the 82nd...

The Strait of Hormuz and the Nitrogen Trap

The world spent fifty years and hundreds of billions of dollars building Strategic Petroleum Reserves so that no geopolitical rupture could fully sever modern civilization from energy. The United States alone holds just over 400 million barrels of crude oil in salt caverns beneath the Gulf Coast. On March 11, 2026, the International Energy Agency authorized a record 400-million-barrel emergency release from member-country reserves, the largest coordinated drawdown in the Agency's history. Energy insecurity has institutions, stockpiles, and doctrine. Fertilizer insecurity does not. No country appears to maintain a fertilizer reserve system remotely comparable in scale, doctrine, or strategic importance to the petroleum reserve architecture built after the oil shocks of the 1970s. Today's policy response to the Hormuz crisis is not a nutrient reserve release. It is an improvised attempt to rebuild shipping and insurance capacity on the fly. This structural asymmetry, now exposed with...

Chinese scientists construct rare 'hexagonal diamond' that's harder than natural diamond

In physics first, Chinese scientists create rare 'hexagonal diamond' that's harder than natural diamond Researchers in China have made what they claim to be the first samples of pure hexagonal diamond, a theorized rare variant of superstrong diamond found in meteorites from shattered dwarf planets. Natural diamond, also called cubic diamond, has been considered the hardest natural material on Earth for so long that the Mohs hardness scale, which rates minerals' resistance to scratching, uses diamond as the scale's upper limit. It's called cubic diamond for its neat arrangements of carbon atoms in a cubic structure. In contrast, hexagonal diamond organizes carbon atoms in a lattice made of hexagons, like a honeycomb.

The battle for Iran's neighbors: Why Washington's isolation strategy is faltering

Since the start of hostilities against Iran, the United States has employed not only military strikes but political, diplomatic, economic, and informational tactics aimed at strategically weakening and isolating Tehran on the global stage. This approach aligns with Washington's traditional 'multi-layered pressure' model where military action is coupled with efforts to create an unfavorable geopolitical environment for adversaries. Iran is a nation with a population of around 90 million people, a vast territory, a well-developed system of state mobilization, and a complex ethnopolitical structure. In the eyes of the US and Israel, Iran's ethnic diversity - the country is home to Persians, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchis, and other ethnic groups - makes it vulnerable to internal conflicts. However, this very diversity also contributes to a resilient political and cultural system that has been formed after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Consequently, the current military...

In the midst of Iran war, Israel still torments Gaza: Cuts food aid deliveries to 10 percent of required amount

As another famine threatens, Israeli troops killed two Palestinian families on Sunday, including a pregnant mother carrying twins Israel is strangling Gaza, allowing only a fraction of the needed humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to enter the strip amid the ongoing war against Iran, Palestinian officials warned on 16 March. The Israeli military has allowed just 640 aid trucks out of the 6,000 expected under existing arrangements, according to Ismail al-Thawabta, director general of the Government Media Office in Gaza. This amounts to just 10 percent of what Israel had previously committed to allow entry, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the strip created by Israel throughout its two-year genocide of Palestinians and raising the specter of another famine.

SOTT FOCUS: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - February 2026: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

Widespread flooding and landslides across Europe, Asia, and South America, alongside record snowfalls and deadly avalanches in Japan and the Alps, marked this month. Volcanic eruptions occurred at Mount Semeru in Indonesia and Kanlaon in the Philippines, while a powerful cyclone struck Madagascar. Multiple meteor fireball sightings were reported globally, and severe storms caused power outages and disruptions in several regions. Early in the month, solar activity included multiple X-class flares that triggered geomagnetic storms and auroras visible in parts of the U.S. and Europe.

Principled: Trump-appointed counterterrorism director Joe Kent resigns in protest over US war with Iran

In a massive break from President Trump and MAGA, Joe Kent, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), announced his immediate resignation on Tuesday, citing irreconcilable opposition to the ongoing U.S. military operations against Iran. Kent declared he could not "in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran," stating unequivocally that Iran posed "no imminent threat to our nation" and that the conflict was initiated "due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby." The move comes weeks into active strikes targeting Iranian nuclear sites, leadership, and infrastructure, with Iranian retaliation underway and global oil markets feeling the strain.

Lava flows reach ocean on Réunion island for first time in nearly two decades

Lava from the Piton de la Fournaise volcano has reached the ocean on France's Réunion island for the first time in nearly two decades, drawing residents and tourists.

Woman mauled to death by stray dogs in Maharashtra, India: CCTV captures brutal 15-minute attack

A 33-year-old woman died after a pack of stray dogs attacked her near Ambethan Chowk on the Pune-Nashik highway in Chakan early Monday morning. The incident occurred in the city's Chakan area around 2:15 am and was captured on CCTV. The footage shows six to seven dogs surrounding the woman, identified as Shobha Waghmare - who seems to be wearing a white saree. As a couple of dogs ran towards her, she made a gesture of shooing them away. Within a few seconds, at least six to seven dogs surrounded her and started attacking her. The woman can be seen trying to save herself, but failed to do so. At one point, the woman's white saree turned into a blood-soaked red. She died on the spot, officials said. Waghmare's mutilated body was found by passersby in the morning.

BEST OF THE WEB: Long-duration fireball streaks across western Turkey skies, possibly an Earth-grazing meteor on March 15

A bright fireball was observed over western Turkey on the evening of March 15, with residents across Uşak Province reporting a slow-moving luminous object crossing the night sky for more than 20 seconds. Videos recorded by witnesses show a bright white to bluish-green object with a compact head and a narrow glowing tail moving across the sky at a shallow angle before fading from view. The long visible duration and smooth motion distinguish the event from typical meteors, which usually last only a few seconds. Preliminary analysis suggests the object may have been an Earth-grazing meteor, a rare type of fireball that skims the upper atmosphere at very shallow angles. Earth-grazing meteors enter the atmosphere at a shallow trajectory and travel hundreds of kilometers through the upper atmosphere before exiting again into space or continuing along a long atmospheric path. Because they remain at high altitude, they can remain visible for 10 to 40 seconds, significantly longer than most...

Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of killing 400 in attack on Kabul hospital

Afghanistan has accused Pakistan's military of launching an air strike on a hospital treating drug users in the capital, Kabul, killing at least 400 people. Pakistan dismissed the claim as "false and aimed at misleading public opinion", saying it only targeted military installations in Kabul and the province of Nangahar on Monday. The attack on Kabul's Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital took place at about 9pm local time (16:30 GMT), according to Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban government. The hospital is a 2,000-bed facility, and the raid destroyed large sections of the building, he wrote on X. "Unfortunately, the death toll has so far reached 400, while around 250 others have been reported injured. Rescue teams are currently at the scene, working to control the fire and recover the remaining bodies of the victims," he added. Local television stations posted footage showing firefighters struggling to extinguish flames among the ruins of a building.

Earth's magnetic field during solar flare, January 2026

It seems improbable that a satellite designed to monitor polar ice sheets and floating sea ice could accurately measure a disturbance in Earth's magnetic field. But that is just what ESA's CryoSat mission did earlier this year. This is a story of unique innovation in satellite technology. At the end of last year, the CryoSat mission, which has been operating for almost 16 years, was given a remote upgrade of new software for its platform magnetometer. This instrument is installed on the satellite to ensure it orbits at the right altitude and directs its science instruments towards the right part of Earth's surface. The platform magnetometer is therefore an operational instrument and was not designed to produce scientific data about Earth's magnetic environment.

Where is Netanyahu and why are questions spreading online?

Questions about Benjamin Netanyahu's whereabouts are spreading online after Iranian threats and unusual public appearances during the ongoing war. Key Developments Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they would continue pursuing Netanyahu "if the criminal and child-killer Netanyahu is still alive."Netanyahu's last widely noted public appearance appears to date to early March during the ongoing war with Iran.Some recent videos posted on Netanyahu's X account appear to be pre-recorded statements filmed against neutral backgrounds. Iranian Statement Fuels Speculation Questions about the whereabouts of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intensified after a statement by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC said in a statement on Saturday that it would continue pursuing the Israeli leader as part of its retaliation campaign. "If the criminal and child-killer Netanyahu is still alive, we will continue pursuing him until he receives his punishment," the statement...

Ursula's house of cards: The EU can no longer count on the old reliable unwritten rules for me, but not for thee

The 'rules-based order' has failed in its mission - helping the West do whatever it wants When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had to come up with a speech for EU ambassadors, she tried on a punk rock routine similar to the one that scored former central banker and current Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney a standing ovation at Davos. But one key difference made it a tone-deaf flop: she forgot to bring her mirror. Carney's critical point was a confession - that it's the people running Western democracy who are the problem. The same ones the US has been successfully cuckolding for years through their own complicity. "We participated in the rituals, and we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality," Carney said. Queen Ursula instead tried to pawn off blame entirely on the system itself - saying that the "rules-based system that we helped to build with our allies" could no longer be counted on to defend EU interests. And that they all need...