On a bright Hawaiian morning in May 2020, a small drone buzzed over the Pacific, likely unaware it was about to become a tiny piece of history. Off the coast near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, the USS Portland—a U.S. Navy amphibious ship—shot that drone out of the sky. But it did so without a single conventional round, without a missile, without loud gunfire. Instead, an invisible beam of concentrated light did the job. That beam came from the Solid State Laser – Technology Maturation Laser Weapons System Demonstrator, a mouthful of a name that the Navy shortens to the LWSD…

Manila is no stranger to political storms, but even by its standards, the latest chapter involving Vice President Sara Duterte feels like a plot twist. On Monday, Duterte confirmed that she had received a copy of a sworn affidavit from the National Bureau of Investigation—a document prepared by Rodulfo “Rody” Gracioso Jr., a former official of the Office of the Vice President. The affidavit, she said, contains a long list of accusations against her. But Duterte was not about to let it stand. With the calm precision of someone who has spent time preparing a defense, she announced that she…