A sanctions reversal in Washington, a demographic shift in Czechia, and an industry that can't keep up with the money being thrown at it.

Washington's Russia pivot

  • Trump waived sweeping Graham Act sanctions and tariffs on Russia days before they took effect, citing US national interest — more.
  • The waiver follows an earlier shadow-fleet relief signal and opens the door to a diesel deal that analysts say may benefit Putin more than Washington — more.
  • It lands as Ukraine's government publicly breaks with the US over the war, while Russian strikes killed at least eight people and cut power to a million — more.

Czechia

  • One in eleven babies born in Czechia last year had no Czech citizenship, up from one in thirty a decade ago — more.
  • Births to two foreign parents have doubled to 7,249 a year, with almost a quarter of Prague's births now to foreign parents — more.

Defense economy

  • Governments are raising defense budgets faster than industry can expand: Turkey has proposed a 229 percent jump in 2027 procurement spending — more.
  • Germany's Renk Group already has a transmission backlog running to 2032, and India's production surge is generating corruption cases — more.
  • In the US, new drone makers and commercial real-estate firms are being pulled in to supply capacity traditional primes can't absorb — more.