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Chinese soldiers march in Beijing. (Jimmy Budiman Pictures / Shutterstock)

SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES

China Sentences Ex-Defense Ministers to Death over Graft Charges

China sentenced foreign defense ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu to death with a two-year reprieve after convictions on graft charges, marking the latest escalation in Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign targeting the People’s Liberation Army leadership.

Wei was convicted of accepting bribes, while Li was convicted of both accepting and offering bribes. Both were stripped of political rights for life and had all assets confiscated. (Read More)

U.S. Strikes Iranian Targets Near Strait of Hormuz After Iran Attacks U.S. Warships

U.S. forces struck Iranian sites in Qeshm and Bandar Abbas after Iran fired missiles at U.S. warships USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason while they were transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran confirmed it had targeted U.S. naval units and claimed damage to American assets, though Washington denied any losses. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran remains in effect despite the strikes. (Read More)

Navy F/A-18 Disables Iranian Tanker With 20mm Cannon Fire

A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fired its 20mm cannon at the Iranian-flagged tanker Hasna in the Gulf of Oman after the vessel failed to comply with repeated warnings from American forces enforcing a naval blockade.

CENTCOM said the aircraft targeted the ship’s rudder, rendering the tanker unable to continue its voyage. The strike marked the first confirmed use of aircraft cannon fire by CENTCOM to disable a vessel during blockade enforcement. (Read More)

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QUICK UPDATES

CONFLICT UPDATES

➤ The Navy has barred aviators from commanding amphibious warships, reserving all 32 ships for Surface Warfare Officers, after data showed only 45 percent of the amphibious fleet was combat-surge ready. The change takes full effect in FY 2028. (Read More)

➤ The Israeli military is investigating a soldier photographed placing a cigarette in a statue of the Virgin Mary. The image was taken in the Christian village of Debel in southern Lebanon, where another soldier was previously photographed striking a statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer. (Read More)

➤ An Israeli aircraft struck the Dahiyeh neighborhood in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, killing Radwan Force commander Ahmad Ghaleb Balout. The strike marked the first Israeli attack on Beirut since the April 16 Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. (Read More)

SECURITY UPDATES

➤ A man used camera-equipped smart glasses to secretly film a conversation with a woman in a London shopping centre, then demanded payment after being asked to delete the footage from social media. TikTok later banned his account. The incident has renewed calls to regulate recording-capable wearable devices. (Read More)

➤ Three Australian women linked to the extremist group Islamic State were arrested on arrival at airports in Melbourne and Sydney on suspicion of slavery and terrorism-related offenses. They were among 13 Australians, four women and nine children, repatriated from Roj Camp in Syria. (Read More)

➤ The White House counterterrorism strategy described Europe as an “incubator” for terrorism, arguing that its open-border policies allow hostile groups to expand. The 16-page document follows the Trump administration’s earlier national security strategy, which stated that Europe faces “civilizational erasure” due to immigration. (Read More)

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES

➤ The Senate unanimously passed the “Maverick Act,” which would transfer three retired F-14 Tomcats currently stored at an Air Force base in Arizona to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Alabama and potentially pave the way for one aircraft to be restored to flight. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is widely known as the fighter jet featured in the 1986 film “Top Gun.” (Read More)

➤ The Air Force has completed the restoration of a B-1B Lancer, concluding a nearly two-year effort to return the bomber to active duty. The aircraft, now operating as “Apocalypse II,” serves as the new flagship of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas. (Read More)

➤ Turkey unveiled its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the SAHA defense exhibition in Istanbul on Wednesday, a prototype with a range of 3,700 miles and speed of Mach 25. The ICBM, named Yildirimhan, has not been flight-tested and remains in development. (Read More)

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SPECIAL CATEGORY

➤ Health authorities across four continents are tracing passengers who left the MV Hondius before a hantavirus outbreak was detected. About 30 passengers disembarked in St. Helena on April 24 without contact tracing, 10 days before the first confirmed case. Three people have died and at least five have tested positive for the virus.

➤ Researchers have found a giant squid in deep underwater canyons off Western Australia’s Ningaloo coast, marking the first confirmed record in the region in more than 25 years. The team also documented 226 species across 126 families in the canyons, including several not previously recorded in the area, such as sleeper sharks and faceless cusk eels.

➤ OpenAI published a postmortem explaining why ChatGPT began obsessively referencing goblins in unrelated responses. A reinforcement learning reward signal in the "Nerdy" personality profile drove a 3,881 percent increase in goblin mentions. OpenAI retired the personality and filtered the training data.

On this day in history: On May 8th, 1972, President Nixon ordered the mining of North Vietnam's Haiphong Harbor in Operation Pocket Money, the first mining of a major enemy port since World War II. Navy A-6 Intruders from USS Coral Sea laid the initial mines, closing the port to Soviet and Chinese resupply for months.

SENTIMENT COLLECTION

Trump announces the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is lifted by...?

Yesterday’s Results:

Will the US take control of any part of Greenland?

No, not happening (49.1%)
Yes, Before 2029 (28.1%)
Yes, Before 2027 (11.6%)
Unsure (11.2%)

n=656

Have a question you would like polled? Email us at editor@sofx.com

70,000+ daily readers trust The SOFX Report for independent coverage of global conflict and defense technology. Over 11 years of consistent publication has built an engaged audience of defense professionals and decision-makers.

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About SOFX: We are an independent media and communications technology company reporting on the conflicts, security, and technology issues impacting your lives and businesses. SOFX was founded by former special operations & intelligence professionals, not career journalists or Big Tech / Big Media.

Have feedback for us? We want to hear any and all comments you may have. Contact us at editor@sofx.com.

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