Zero Rss

Prospective Homebuyers Face Another Year Without Affordability Relief

Goldman economist Ronnie Walker has some bad news for prospective homebuyers: while the housing market appears soft but broadly stabilizing, affordability pressures are unlikely to abate anytime soon.

Walker expects mortgage rates to remain elevated through next year, while national home prices are still forecasted to rise modestly. That means buyers waiting for a price correction or lower rates may be disappointed, as the market remains locked in an ultra-low-turnover environment where high borrowing costs, limited affordability, and sticky prices keep many folks on the sidelines. 

"We expect housing demand to remain tepid," Walker wrote in the note. He pointed out that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate is likely to fall marginally to 6.43% by year's end and hover around 6.3% for 2027.

Here's more context from Walker about the US housing market and his mid-year outlook into next year:

Residential investment faltered in the first half of the year on the back of particularly poor weather and a sharp rebound in mortgage rates: after declining 8% annualized in Q1, residential fixed investment fell 5% annualized in Q2, we estimate. In this Analyst, we review our key forecasts for the housing market for the rest of the year.

No Keys for Golden Handcuffs

The outlook for the economy's most interest rate sensitive sector is largely a function of the outlook for mortgage rates. Exhibit 2 shows that mortgage rates rebounded in March in response to the Iran War, higher oil prices, and the prospect of Fed hikes. Our strategists expect mortgage rates to remain elevated for the foreseeable future, remaining around current levels (6.43%) through yearend before moderating slightly next year (6.3%), reflecting our dovish forecast for the Fed.

Sustained higher mortgage rates will continue to have their most pronounced impact on housing turnover. The left panel of Exhibit 3 shows that almost 80% of mortgage borrowers have interest rates below current market rates, and almost 60% have rates more than 2pp below market rates. The combination of mortgage borrowers refinancing at low rates en masse in 2020 and 2021 and the high current level of mortgage rates has created a significant financial cost to moving, as buying a new home would require homebuyers to prepay their current mortgage and take out a new mortgage at a significantly higher rate. As a result of this "lock-in" effect, we expect existing home sales to total just 4.2mn in 2026, 22% below 2019 levels but a touch above the pace of the last two years. Next year, we expect existing home sales to edge up to roughly 4.3mn, reflecting both modestly lower mortgage rates and the natural decay of the lock-in effect that comes from, for example, borrowers paying down their mortgage.

While a modest rebound in the pace of existing home sales would boost the gross supply of available homes, it would have limited implications for net housing supply and the longstanding—but moderating, as discussed below—nationwide housing shortage, as households are often simply switching between housing units and no housing units are created or destroyed. Still, turnover has meaningful implications for GDP, as more existing home sales boost residential fixed investment via brokers' commissions (which hold a 15% weight in RFI).

Single-family Homebuilding: Slightly Less Support From the Shortage

The longstanding housing shortage has kept single-family homebuilding extremely resistant to higher interest rates. The elevated pace of homebuilding in recent years has improved supply-demand balances, albeit they remain at levels that are still historically tight (Exhibit 4).

That improvement, along with the corresponding compression of margins for homebuilders back to pre-pandemic levels (Exhibit 5), has contributed to a moderate slowdown in single-family housing starts. Single-family starts have declined by 2% so far this year compared to last year but because of the still-tight housing market have averaged 4% above 2019 levels despite 3pp higher mortgage rates today. Looking ahead, we expect single-family housing starts to total 0.92mn this year (vs. 0.94mn in 2025) and to end the year around a 0.93mn annualized pace. This view is similar to the signal from equity analyst expectations, a proxy for corporate guidance, for units delivered by homebuilders this year.

We expect housing demand to remain tepid. On the positive side, domestic demographic trends remain supportive and survey-based measures of purchase intentions (such as the measure from Conference Board that asks respondents whether they plan on purchasing a home within six months) have improved over the last year.

But on the negative side, income growth is poor and reduced immigration will continue to weigh on household formation. Exhibit 6 shows our model of household formation that combines projections of headship rates (the share of people who are heads of a household) by age group with Census projections of population growth by age group that we have then adjusted for reduced immigration. This approach yields an estimated rate of household formation of about 1.0mn per year for the next few years, below the recent trend.

The combination of still-elevated supply growth and slightly weaker demand should continue to push the homeowner vacancy rate higher, we estimate from 1.1% in 2026Q1 to 1.2% in 2026Q4 and 1.3% in 2027. Against the backdrop of an easing housing market, we expect national home prices to rise just 0.8% December-over-December this year and 2.3% next year.

What impact has the slowdown in immigration since 2025 had on housing supply, housing demand, and their balance

Combining our state-level estimates of unauthorized immigration based on court case data with state-level housing outcomes, we find that the states that experienced greater slowdowns in unauthorized immigration between 2024 and 2025 have had both weaker home sales and homebuilding (Exhibit 7, top panels). We also find that home price growth has been weaker in states with a greater immigration slowdown (bottom panel), suggesting a slightly greater hit to demand than supply. However, the relationship with home prices has only borderline statistical significance, and we did not find a meaningful relationship between slowdowns in immigration and changes in vacancy rates.

Separately, a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas report adds another pressure point for many Americans already priced out of the housing market. The report suggests that the Biden-Harris regime's open-border policies helped fuel a surge in illegal aliens, creating a housing-demand shock that contributed to faster home-price and rent growth nationwide.

Taken together, the message for prospective homebuyers is not encouraging. Goldman sees the housing market as soft but broadly stabilizing, yet mortgage rates and home prices are expected to remain elevated into next year. Meanwhile, the Dallas Fed's findings suggest immigration-driven demand may have worsened affordability pressures.

All in, 2027 is shaping up to be another year in which affordability concerns keep millions of would-be buyers on the sidelines, delaying or denying participation in the American dream of homeownership.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 06:55

US Bitcoin Reserve Stalls As Treasury And Commerce Vie For Control: Report

Authored by Micah Zimmerman via BitcoinMagazine.com,

Sixteen months after President Donald Trump ordered his administration to build a federal bitcoin reserve, the White House says it is still working out how the fund should be structured, and a dispute between two departments has slowed the effort, according to recent reporting from Bloomberg.

Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 to create what he called a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, along with a separate U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile for other cryptocurrencies. 

The order directed the Treasury and Commerce departments to develop budget-neutral methods for acquiring bitcoin, ones that would not draw on taxpayer money. 

The reserve was to be funded in large part with bitcoin the government already holds through criminal and civil forfeitures.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve obstacles

According to Bloomberg, the plan has run into two obstacles. Treasury and Commerce are each making a case to run the reserve, and questions have arisen over whether Treasury has the legal authority to manage the holdings. 

People familiar with the matter, who were not authorized to speak in public, said housing the reserve inside the Commerce Department is one option under review.

The Justice Department said its Office of Legal Counsel “is working closely with both the Treasury and Commerce departments to determine legally available options to accomplish the president’s policy.” 

A further concern is whether the government can hold bitcoin for an indefinite period, as the order intended, given the currency’s price swings.

“President Trump campaigned on a vision of cementing America as the global capital of cryptocurrency and other cutting-edge technologies,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement. “To deliver on the president’s vision, the Trump administration continues to evaluate the best structure for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile.”

The administration’s chief crypto adviser, Patrick Witt, said in April that he expected a major announcement within weeks. That announcement has not come.

Officials have said a presidential order alone cannot complete the project. The order does not carry the force of law, and Congress has not passed legislation to authorize the reserve. 

Yesterday, while speaking on the newly introduced Trump Accounts, President Trump said bitcoin could eventually be added to the accounts, saying “something could happen” when asked about the asset. Trump also said he’s “a big fan of crypto.” 

BREAKING: 🇺🇸 President Trump says "a lot of people" are using Bitcoin 👀

"I don't think anybody realizes how powerful (it is)" 💥 pic.twitter.com/CkVrvHUE3q

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) July 6, 2026 New Bitcoin legislation introduced

A bill from Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, would codify the order and set a target of acquiring 1 million bitcoin over five years through budget-neutral strategies. No such measure has advanced. If Republicans lose their House majority in this year’s midterm elections, the prospect of passage could dim.

The government’s bitcoin position ranks among the largest in the world. Estimates put it above 300,000 coins, worth more than $20 billion at current prices, according to Arkham Intelligence. The White House has said premature sales of seized bitcoin cost taxpayers about $17 billion over the years, and that a single reserve holding the asset for the long term would give the country a strategic advantage.

Timing has also worked against the plan as an investment. Bitcoin reached a record in October, a rally the administration tied in part to enthusiasm about Trump, then fell close to 50% from that peak. When Trump first called for the reserve, bitcoin traded near $93,000; it now sits above $64,000, a drop of about a third.

While the structure remains unresolved, Trump has built a personal bitcoin position of more than $50 million, according to his recent financial disclosure. 

The reserve, described by the administration as strategic, differs from a conventional strategic reserve because it is meant to be held for the long term rather than tapped during market emergencies.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 06:30

How America's Wealth Distribution Has Changed Over The Last 40 Years

Wealth reflects the value of everything households own, including homes, stocks, businesses, and savings, minus what they owe.

Because different wealth groups own very different mixes of assets, long-term market trends can reshape how the nation’s wealth is divided.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Boyan Girginov, tracks how U.S. household wealth has shifted across wealth groups from Q3 1989 to Q4 2025 using data from the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts.

Wealth of the Top 1% vs. the Bottom 90%

The table below shows how the wealth distribution has changed over the last 35 years:

The top 1% built its wealth primarily through stocks and businesses, assets that have soared in value for decades. In fact, every group below the top 1% has lost share since 1989: even the next 9% of households, from the 90th to 99th percentiles, slipped from 38.0% to 36.4%.

Wealth further down the ladder is tied mostly to the family home, which appreciates far more slowly than the stock market. Much of the bottom 50%’s net worth is home equity, and many households in that group have little or no net worth at all. That’s why the gap between the top and the bottom has widened over the last 36 years.

How Markets Move Each Group’s Share

Market swings move each group’s share differently, depending on the assets its households own.

Every boom rewards whoever holds financial assets, and those gains compound: between 1989 and 2025, the top 0.1% increased its share of household wealth from 8.6% to 14.5%, while the top 1% as a whole climbed from 22.8% to 31.9%.

Busts fall hardest on those with the least cushion. The 2008 housing crash crushed the value of ordinary households’ main asset, and the bottom 50%’s share eventually fell to a record low of 0.4% before recovering to 2.5% today.

Over the full period, no group lost more ground than the upper-middle 40%, households between the 50th and 90th percentiles, whose share slid from 35.7% to 29.2% as home values trailed the stock market.

Wealth Distribution by Income Segment (1989-2025)

See all the data for the last 36 years below:

Time Period Top 0.1% Top 1%
(excl. top 0.1%) Top 10%
(excl. top 1%) Upper-Middle 40%
(excl. top 10%) Bottom 50% Q3 1989 8.6% 14.2% 38.0% 35.7% 3.5% Q4 1989 8.7% 14.2% 37.9% 35.7% 3.4% Q1 1990 8.6% 14.1% 37.7% 36.1% 3.5% Q2 1990 8.7% 14.2% 37.6% 36.1% 3.4% Q3 1990 8.5% 14.0% 37.3% 36.7% 3.5% Q4 1990 8.7% 14.1% 37.2% 36.4% 3.6% Q1 1991 8.9% 14.2% 37.0% 36.3% 3.5% Q2 1991 8.8% 14.2% 36.9% 36.5% 3.5% Q3 1991 8.8% 14.3% 36.6% 36.6% 3.7% Q4 1991 9.1% 14.4% 36.5% 36.3% 3.7% Q1 1992 9.0% 14.4% 36.3% 36.5% 3.8% Q2 1992 8.9% 14.3% 36.3% 36.7% 3.8% Q3 1992 8.9% 14.1% 36.2% 36.7% 4.1% Q4 1992 9.2% 14.3% 36.1% 36.4% 4.0% Q1 1993 9.5% 14.5% 36.1% 36.1% 3.8% Q2 1993 9.6% 14.5% 36.0% 36.1% 3.8% Q3 1993 9.8% 14.7% 35.7% 36.0% 3.8% Q4 1993 10.1% 14.8% 35.6% 35.8% 3.7% Q1 1994 10.2% 14.9% 35.5% 35.9% 3.5% Q2 1994 10.3% 15.0% 35.3% 35.9% 3.4% Q3 1994 10.5% 15.1% 35.0% 35.9% 3.5% Q4 1994 10.8% 15.2% 34.8% 35.7% 3.5% Q1 1995 10.9% 15.4% 34.7% 35.5% 3.5% Q2 1995 11.1% 15.6% 34.2% 35.5% 3.6% Q3 1995 11.4% 15.9% 33.9% 35.1% 3.7% Q4 1995 11.5% 15.9% 34.0% 34.9% 3.6% Q1 1996 11.5% 15.9% 34.2% 35.0% 3.5% Q2 1996 11.4% 15.9% 34.2% 35.1% 3.4% Q3 1996 11.3% 15.8% 34.3% 35.2% 3.4% Q4 1996 11.4% 15.8% 34.5% 35.0% 3.4% Q1 1997 11.2% 15.7% 34.6% 35.0% 3.4% Q2 1997 11.4% 15.9% 34.7% 34.6% 3.4% Q3 1997 11.4% 15.9% 34.8% 34.4% 3.4% Q4 1997 11.5% 16.0% 35.0% 34.2% 3.3% Q1 1998 11.7% 16.1% 35.1% 33.8% 3.3% Q2 1998 11.7% 16.1% 35.2% 33.8% 3.2% Q3 1998 11.2% 15.9% 35.1% 34.3% 3.5% Q4 1998 11.5% 16.2% 35.4% 33.6% 3.3% Q1 1999 11.2% 16.2% 35.5% 33.7% 3.4% Q2 1999 11.3% 16.4% 35.6% 33.5% 3.2% Q3 1999 11.0% 16.3% 35.6% 33.8% 3.3% Q4 1999 11.3% 16.6% 35.9% 32.9% 3.2% Q1 2000 11.2% 16.7% 35.9% 33.0% 3.2% Q2 2000 10.9% 16.6% 35.9% 33.4% 3.2% Q3 2000 10.7% 16.6% 35.8% 33.6% 3.3% Q4 2000 10.4% 16.4% 35.8% 34.2% 3.2% Q1 2001 9.9% 16.2% 35.7% 35.0% 3.2% Q2 2001 9.9% 16.3% 35.8% 34.9% 3.1% Q3 2001 9.6% 16.0% 35.8% 35.6% 3.1% Q4 2001 9.7% 16.2% 35.9% 35.3% 3.0% Q1 2002 9.6% 16.2% 36.0% 35.3% 3.0% Q2 2002 9.4% 16.2% 36.0% 35.5% 2.9% Q3 2002 9.0% 16.0% 36.0% 36.0% 3.0% Q4 2002 9.0% 16.1% 36.0% 36.0% 2.9% Q1 2003 8.8% 16.0% 36.2% 36.1% 2.8% Q2 2003 9.2% 16.2% 36.5% 35.5% 2.6% Q3 2003 9.2% 16.3% 36.5% 35.3% 2.6% Q4 2003 9.5% 16.5% 36.6% 34.8% 2.6% Q1 2004 9.9% 16.7% 36.5% 34.4% 2.5% Q2 2004 9.9% 16.7% 36.5% 34.3% 2.6% Q3 2004 10.0% 16.8% 36.5% 34.2% 2.5% Q4 2004 10.2% 16.8% 36.6% 33.9% 2.5% Q1 2005 10.2% 16.7% 36.7% 33.9% 2.5% Q2 2005 10.4% 16.8% 36.9% 33.6% 2.4% Q3 2005 10.5% 16.8% 36.9% 33.3% 2.5% Q4 2005 10.5% 16.7% 36.9% 33.3% 2.5% Q1 2006 11.0% 16.9% 37.1% 32.6% 2.4% Q2 2006 11.0% 16.8% 37.2% 32.6% 2.4% Q3 2006 11.1% 16.9% 37.3% 32.4% 2.4% Q4 2006 11.3% 16.9% 37.4% 32.0% 2.3% Q1 2007 11.6% 17.0% 37.6% 31.6% 2.2% Q2 2007 11.7% 17.0% 37.8% 31.3% 2.1% Q3 2007 11.9% 17.1% 38.0% 31.0% 2.0% Q4 2007 11.8% 17.0% 38.3% 31.2% 1.7% Q1 2008 11.6% 16.9% 38.5% 31.5% 1.5% Q2 2008 11.4% 17.0% 38.6% 31.5% 1.5% Q3 2008 11.2% 17.0% 38.9% 31.9% 1.2% Q4 2008 10.6% 17.1% 38.8% 32.5% 1.0% Q1 2009 10.3% 17.1% 39.0% 32.9% 0.7% Q2 2009 10.3% 17.3% 39.2% 32.5% 0.7% Q3 2009 10.6% 17.5% 39.4% 31.9% 0.7% Q4 2009 10.5% 17.6% 39.6% 31.8% 0.6% Q1 2010 10.6% 17.6% 39.7% 31.6% 0.5% Q2 2010 10.5% 17.6% 39.9% 31.5% 0.5% Q3 2010 10.8% 17.7% 40.0% 31.0% 0.5% Q4 2010 11.0% 17.8% 40.1% 30.7% 0.4% Q1 2011 11.3% 17.9% 40.0% 30.5% 0.4% Q2 2011 11.3% 17.8% 39.9% 30.5% 0.4% Q3 2011 11.1% 17.7% 39.8% 31.0% 0.4% Q4 2011 11.3% 17.7% 39.8% 30.8% 0.4% Q1 2012 11.5% 17.9% 39.7% 30.4% 0.4% Q2 2012 11.6% 17.8% 39.6% 30.5% 0.6% Q3 2012 11.8% 17.8% 39.5% 30.3% 0.6% Q4 2012 11.8% 17.8% 39.4% 30.3% 0.7% Q1 2013 12.0% 17.8% 39.4% 30.2% 0.7% Q2 2013 12.0% 17.6% 39.4% 30.2% 0.8% Q3 2013 12.1% 17.6% 39.3% 30.1% 0.9% Q4 2013 12.2% 17.6% 39.4% 30.0% 0.9% Q1 2014 12.3% 17.7% 39.4% 29.7% 0.9% Q2 2014 12.5% 17.9% 39.3% 29.3% 1.0% Q3 2014 12.5% 17.9% 39.3% 29.3% 1.0% Q4 2014 12.6% 18.0% 39.4% 29.1% 1.0% Q1 2015 12.6% 18.0% 39.3% 28.9% 1.0% Q2 2015 12.7% 18.1% 39.4% 28.8% 1.1% Q3 2015 12.5% 18.0% 39.4% 29.0% 1.1% Q4 2015 12.5% 18.1% 39.3% 28.9% 1.2% Q1 2016 12.5% 18.1% 39.3% 28.9% 1.2% Q2 2016 12.6% 18.2% 39.4% 28.7% 1.2% Q3 2016 12.6% 18.2% 39.2% 28.7% 1.3% Q4 2016 12.5% 18.2% 39.2% 28.8% 1.3% Q1 2017 12.5% 18.2% 39.3% 28.7% 1.3% Q2 2017 12.5% 18.2% 39.3% 28.6% 1.4% Q3 2017 12.5% 18.2% 39.3% 28.6% 1.4% Q4 2017 12.5% 18.3% 39.3% 28.4% 1.4% Q1 2018 12.4% 18.2% 39.3% 28.6% 1.5% Q2 2018 12.3% 18.2% 39.4% 28.5% 1.6% Q3 2018 12.4% 18.3% 39.5% 28.4% 1.5% Q4 2018 11.9% 18.1% 39.6% 28.8% 1.6% Q1 2019 12.3% 18.3% 39.7% 28.1% 1.6% Q2 2019 12.3% 18.3% 39.7% 28.2% 1.6% Q3 2019 12.1% 18.3% 39.7% 28.2% 1.7% Q4 2019 12.4% 18.2% 39.5% 28.2% 1.7% Q1 2020 11.7% 17.5% 39.3% 29.6% 1.8% Q2 2020 12.3% 17.6% 38.9% 29.3% 2.0% Q3 2020 12.5% 17.5% 38.6% 29.3% 2.1% Q4 2020 13.0% 17.6% 38.3% 29.0% 2.2% Q1 2021 13.2% 17.5% 37.9% 29.1% 2.3% Q2 2021 13.4% 17.4% 37.6% 29.2% 2.3% Q3 2021 13.5% 17.3% 37.4% 29.4% 2.4% Q4 2021 13.7% 17.2% 37.2% 29.4% 2.4% Q1 2022 13.6% 16.9% 36.9% 30.1% 2.5% Q2 2022 13.1% 16.3% 36.5% 31.3% 2.7% Q3 2022 13.2% 16.3% 36.4% 31.4% 2.7% Q4 2022 13.4% 16.5% 36.5% 31.0% 2.6% Q1 2023 13.5% 16.6% 36.5% 30.8% 2.6% Q2 2023 13.5% 16.6% 36.4% 30.9% 2.6% Q3 2023 13.4% 16.5% 36.4% 31.1% 2.5% Q4 2023 13.6% 16.7% 36.5% 30.7% 2.5% Q1 2024 13.7% 16.8% 36.5% 30.5% 2.5% Q2 2024 13.7% 16.8% 36.4% 30.6% 2.5% Q3 2024 14.0% 16.9% 36.5% 30.2% 2.4% Q4 2024 14.0% 17.0% 36.4% 30.1% 2.5% Q1 2025 13.9% 16.9% 36.4% 30.3% 2.5% Q2 2025 14.1% 17.1% 36.4% 30.1% 2.5% Q3 2025 14.4% 17.3% 36.4% 29.4% 2.5% Q4 2025 14.5% 17.4% 36.4% 29.2% 2.5%

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The Global Wealth Pyramid in 2025 on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 05:45

New Strikes On Iran Significantly Stronger Than Earlier Attacks, As IRGC Targets US Navy Warships

Summary: 

• US strikes on Iran announced, as 'heavy costs' for earlier targeting of multiple commercial vessels
• Oil rises as Treasury revokes June 21 Iran oil waiver
• Hormuz Threat Level Raised To "Severe" 
• Three maritime incidents reported on Hormuz in last 24 hours 
• Another unidentified vessel hit by a Drone
• IRGC forces hit a Saudi Tanker 
• IRGC forces hit a Qatari LNG tanker

*  *  *

'Four to Five Times Larger' Than Earlier Strikes

US officials are vowing bigger, more sustained and prolonged strikes against Iran tonight, according to the latest being reported in CNN and Axios:

The U.S. has launched a significantly expanded wave of airstrikes on Iran that is four to five times larger than the strikes carried out 10 days ago, a U.S. official told Axios. The official said the operation is expected to continue for hours.

Iran state media is meanwhile reporting on an initial retaliation by its forces (though not initially confirmed in other international sources):

Iran fires several anti-ship missiles and drones towards US Navy warships in the Sea of Oman, Fars reports 

More from state media on what could be mounting civilian casualties:

The state broadcaster reports that “most of the attacks” by the US in southern Iran have “targeted civilian areas”. This comes as the US claims its military hit Iranian missile and defence systems in its latest attacks.

A US official told CNN the strikes on Iran are "punishment, not proportional" and "won't be over for a while." https://t.co/zDsHySZyuA

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) July 7, 2026

Iran's president is hastily traveling back to the Islamic Republic, cutting short funeral observances for Khamenei among Shia communities in Iraq:

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has left the Iraqi city of Najaf to return to Tehran, according to the IRIB broadcaster, following the US’s latest strikes.

Pezeshkian had been in Iraq to attend funeral rites for Khamenei, whose body had arrived in Najaf on Tuesday night. According to Press TV, Pezeshkian had also planned to hold high-level talks with Iraqi government officials.

#BREAKING: Footage shows massive explosions in Hormozgan Province after U.S. strikes in Iran pic.twitter.com/FC4c3WyPCV

— Insider Wire (@InsiderWire) July 7, 2026 US Launches New Iran Strikes, In First Since Ayatollah's Funeral

The US military has announced it has commenced fresh strikes against Iran in the wake of projectiles striking multiple international tankers in the Strait of Hormuz earlier on Tuesday. US Central Command (CENTCOM) in a public X post says its "forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway."

"The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire," it added. These will mark the first US strikes against the Islamic Republic since last Friday's start of week-long funeral ceremonies for the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump had indicated a pause in both strikes and diplomacy was on in order for the burial to take place. The new US military escalation began around or just after midnight Tehran time.

Just before the start of the fresh Pentagon action, Mohsen Rezaei, adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Iranian state TV that American attempts to forge an alternative route in the Strait of Hormuz will lead to the failure of negotiations between the two states.

⁠"It ⁠is quite clear that the ⁠United States will lead the ⁠negotiations with Iran to failure," Rezaei said. He also demanded the "the withdrawal of the United States from the region" - which can ensure lasting peace, he asserted. And now there could be a return to full war in Lebanon as well. Per breaking newswires:

• Israeli fighter jets carried out attacks in Barachit and Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon
• US Strikes Targeted Air Defense Systems, Drone Sites: Axios
• Several explosions have been heard near Sirik and Qeshm in southern Iran, according to Iran’s Fars news agency: Al Jazeera

🚨A U.S. official told me the targets included Iranian air defense systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missile sites, drone launch sites and port facilities https://t.co/II5TyO3seP

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) July 7, 2026

As expected, Tehran has condemned the new attacks as a severe US violation of the MoU. Early reports suggest bombing raids on strategically situated small Iranian islands just off the Strait of Hormuz:

According to state TV, six explosions have been heard on the island of Qeshm which is the largest island in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, with very geostrategic significance when it comes to Iran’s control and authority over the Strait of Hormuz.

The state TV also says that at least seven explosions have been heard in the areas close to Sirik Port which is very important because it oversees the Strait of Hormuz, another strategic point from which Iran imposes its control and authority over the Strait of Hormuz.

Treasury Revokes Iran Oil Waiver 

In a surprise move on Tuesday, the Trump admin revoked a license allowing Iran to sell oil on the open market, eliminating the primary economic benefit for Tehran as part of the interim peace deal/MOU with the US and threatening to unravel the agreement after days of skirmishes in the Strait of Hormuz. 

The Treasury Department said the June 21 license granted to Iran after several months of war would no longer apply, an announcement that came hours after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired missiles and drones at ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz. The Treasury allowed for a grace period until July 17 for transactions already authorized under the license.

The price of oil rose sharply after the news, even as President Trump has boasted that his efforts to wind down the war with Iran have lowered the price of gas and other products. The price of a barrel of Brent Crude oil was almost $76.00 after the announcement, up about 5% on Monday’s closing price.

As the WSJ notes, since signing the MOU with Iran last month, which reopened the strait and ended the U.S. blockade on Iran, the US said it would only provide Tehran with financial incentives for abiding by the agreement. Allowing Iran to sell oil and to repatriate dollar-denominated revenue into the Iranian banking system was the most important incentive in convincing Tehran to enter a 60-day diplomatic process aimed at ultimately dismantling its nuclear program. 

The waiver was supposed to be in place for two months and could then have been extended. However, a US official told the WSJ that Iran’s actions in the strait were considered unacceptable and deserved a stern response. The U.S. would continue to negotiate with Iran toward a final agreement, the official said and Bloomberg added that "US official says negotiators continue to work in good faith towards a final and Iran's actions in the Strait were wholly unacceptable to the US and will be met with consequences." An initial salvo perhaps, preparing for more direct action to come?

According to the Journal, US officials were surprised by Iran’s attacks on commercial ships amid ongoing negotiations and the funeral of the former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Trump administration has sought to set up a backchannel between the U.S. military and the IRGC, a powerful military and political force in Iran, but the IRGC has been slow to engage. 

The US has continued to coordinate with commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz using a route that it cleared near the coast of Oman. Over the weekend, the IRGC warned ships that it was prepared to target them if they used the route promoted by the US and Oman. Early Tuesday, Iran fired antiship cruise missiles and one-way attack drones at vessels seeking to cross the southern route. Three ships were struck, including an LNG tanker, and the US downed some of drones. 

Meanwhile, American warships remain on standby to restart the blockade of Iranian ports should Trump choose to reimpose it.

In summary, the two most critical elements of the interim deal are now under threat: the oil sanctions relief and safe passage for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. In effect, the entire ceasefire is now in question. 

Other critical elements of the interim deal included the lifting of the US blockade on Iranian ports and commerce, as well as an agreement by Tehran to maintain “the status quo” on its nuclear program and for the U.S. to do likewise on sanctions against Iran. Tehran was also negotiating for the release of some of its frozen funds trapped by U.S. sanctions.

Perhaps worst of all, people close to the talks say there has been no substantive progress made yet by the U.S. and Iranian teams on a final nuclear agreement, with technical talks on the issue barely commencing.

Nate Swanson, former National Security Council director for Iran and currently at the Atlantic Council, said the Treasury Department’s action establishes a direct link between the reopening of the strait and the oil sanctions waiver. For the interim deal to be stabilized, Washington and Tehran would have to work through issues left open by the interim deal, he said.

“Iran wants money and the U.S. wants the free flow of energy. The MoU is too volatile to survive without some follow-on deal as neither side is getting what they want with the current status quo,” he said.

One wonders if the decision means Washington has reverted to in effect giving the US Navy carte blanche to seize Iranian tankers, also as the Gulf region awaits likely American retaliation for the earlier Tuesday Iranian attacks (see below) on several international vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

As a reminder, exactly a week ago we wrote the following: "Iran was euphoric when as part of the Trump MOU, it got permission to flood the world with its oil after Trump effectively eliminate sanctions that had been in place for multiple decades. However, it has quickly run into another, potentially far bigger problem: as the armada of Iranian oil tankers exits the Persian Gulf, it is now struggling to find buyers before the expiry of a 60-day window granted by Washington."

* * * 

Hormuz Threat Level Raised To "Severe" 

The Joint Maritime Information Center has upgraded the Hormuz chokepoint threat level to "Severe" after several tankers were targeted in the critical waterway.

Eurasia Group analyst Gregory Brew warned that at least three vessels were attacked in the Hormuz over the last 24 hours, with the possibility that as many as five ships were struck in the strait. "Traffic is continuing but has gone dark, with ships switching off AIS."

Brew noted, "Hard to see how US can let this stand--reckon some kind of kinetic response is coming."

At least three, possibly as many as 5 ships struck in the strait. Traffic is continuing but has gone dark, ships switching off AIS.

Hard to see how US can let this stand--reckon some kind of kinetic response is coming.

— Gregory Brew (@gbrew24) July 7, 2026

Bloomberg commodities expert Javier Blas noted that while Iran attacked at least three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz today, it was simultaneously loading its own tankers at Kharg Island, the country's key energy export hub.

While Iran attacked today at least 3 oil and LNG tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, it was rather busy loading its own tankers at Kharg Island. Activity in the major Iranian oil terminal has picked up significantly from previous weeks. 📷 @CopernicusEU Sentinel-2 🛰️ pic.twitter.com/UVMaAPli48

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) July 7, 2026

"This just shows me that the Omani Route isn't viable. Iran can still strike vessels. It's really as simple as that. It's not a solution," Brett Erickson of Obsidian Risk Advisors wrote on X. 

I mean… this just shows me that the Omani Route isn’t viable. Iran can still strike vessels. It’s really as simple as that. It’s not a solution.

— Brett Erickson (@BrettErickson28) July 7, 2026

The latest Bloomberg ship-tracking data show vessel traffic through the Hormuz is declining today.

This could suggest that shipowners are refusing to transit the waterway amid the latest flare-up in IRGC drone and missile attacks. Another possibility is that more ships are going dark by switching off transponders before crossing, meaning the decline in visible traffic may understate actual flows through the chokepoint.

3rd Ship Attack Reignites Hormuz Crisis

IRGC forces hit a Qatari LNG tanker, a Saudi crude tanker, and an unidentified vessel in the Hormuz shipping channel in the last 24 hours.

Earlier, we reported that a fully loaded Qatari LNG tanker was struck by a projectile near the Omani coast while exiting the Strait of Hormuz. Bloomberg later reported that a Saudi oil tanker suffered damage after being hit by IRGC projectiles.

Now, UKMTO is reporting a third incident:

UKMTO has received a report of a further incident involving a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The tanker was struck by an unknown Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and has sustained minor structural damage. No casualties or environmental impact reported, and vessel is continuing to its next port of call.

Three attacks on the Hormuz shipping channel today will create significant unease among shipping companies and seriously test the US-Iran interim peace deal, which halted attacks several weeks ago and ended the US naval blockade on the critical waterway, allowing the normalization process to begin.

🚢 Hormuz traffic is moving, but the rebound is rolling over.

Latest 24h commercial crossings: 16 total — 4 E→W / 12 W→E. That is down from 25 yesterday, well below the 57 seen at the June 24 rebound high, and only ~14% of the Jan-Feb run-rate.

Brent at $72.58 says the oil… https://t.co/73s4AEcT40 pic.twitter.com/f0CnhYwcym

— Michael McDonough (@M_McDonough) July 7, 2026

BREAKING: 🇮🇷🇺🇸 A convoy of ships, escorted by the U.S. Navy, is attempting to pass the Strait of Hormuz by using the Omani route

Iran will most likely strike them pic.twitter.com/Z4tImUADpo

— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) July 7, 2026

These attacks could deter shipowners from transiting the Hormuz chokepoint - slowing the normalization process - and may also derail UK and French plans to begin immediate naval mine-clearing operations.

Qatari LNG Tanker Hit By Iranian Missile In Hormuz Chokepoint

A fully loaded Qatari LNG tanker was struck by a projectile near the Omani coast while exiting the Strait of Hormuz, raising fresh concerns that disruptions across the key energy maritime chokepoint could persist longer than traders had expected. Brent crude rose more than 1% to $72.76 a barrel as traders reassessed the war-risk premium in the Gulf area.

The Al Rekayyat, owned by Qatar's state shipping company Nakilat, was struck early Tuesday about 8 nautical miles east of Limah, Oman, according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter and an alert from EOS Risk Group.

EOS said the maritime incident involved either an Iranian suicide drone or a missile strike that resulted in a fire on the Al Rekayyat. No casualties were reported.

Al Rekayyat was fully loaded at Qatar's Ras Laffan export terminal, making it the first Qatari LNG carrier targeted since the US-Iran conflict began in late February. The tanker appeared to be transiting part of the Hormuz chokepoint with its transponder off, indicating it was not on an Iranian-approved shipping route.

Following the attack, another Qatari-loaded LNG carrier, Al Areesh, made an abrupt U-turn before entering the strait and began circling, Bloomberg ship tracking data showed. Other tankers continued to sail through the highly contested chokepoint, including oil tankers and LPG carriers, using both Iran-approved and US-managed routes.

Later today, President Trump heads to a NATO summit in Ankara, where the Iran conflict is expected to be the center of discussion among world leaders.

US-Iran talks remain suspended while Tehran holds funeral ceremonies for late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Qatar has said negotiations will resume after the ceremonies.

UBS analyst Justinus Steinhorst commented on market reaction:

Energy {UBXEENER} is among the best sectors on Tuesday after an LNG tanker was hit at Hormuz, rekindling fears around longer term disruption. Progress to normalise flows through strait appears to be stalling slightly with crossings still well below pre-conflict levels.

UBS analyst Aditi Samajpati noted:

Oil prices may remain under pressure in the near term as additional barrels from previously stranded ships in the Strait of Hormuz reach the market. UBS Wealth Management CIO however believes the current price level overestimates how quickly traffic through the waterway will normalize as it takes time for shipping confidence to be fully restored and for tankers to return to the Persian Gulf to load oil for export. The Strait is now accommodating fewer ships than before the conflict began, and the recovery of shut-in production is likely to be slower than expected, CIO says, adding that broad commodity exposure continues to offer diversification benefits in a portfolio.

Vessel flows on the Hormuz chokepoint (transponders on) remain elevated but well below pre-war levels. This may only suggest the normalization process will take longer than expected.

Kpler analyst Muyu Xu said:

The continued use of different shipping lanes suggests that traffic through the strait remains operational, but is fragmented as shipowners adopt different routing strategies based on their individual risk assessments.

Latest Iran and Hormuz headlines (courtesy of Bloomberg):

Strait of Hormuz Attacks

• Iran reportedly fired at least two missiles at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night, with both vessels suffering significant damage but no casualties

• A Qatari LNG carrier, Al Rekayyat, was struck by a projectile near the Omani coast on Tuesday morning as it exited the Strait of Hormuz

• Another loaded LNG tanker, Al Areesh, appears to have U-turned in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday following the strikes

• The attacks are testing a late-June US-Iran deal intended to halt attacks in the waterway as the two sides work toward a peace agreement

Diplomatic Developments

• Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Tuesday that negotiations on a final deal will not commence if threats continue, referencing a memorandum of understanding with the US

• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Iraq on Tuesday to attend funeral processions for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, scheduled for Wednesday in Najaf and Karbala

Market Impact

• European natural gas prices surged as much as 6% on Tuesday, the most in a month, following the attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz

• Oil prices climbed on Tuesday, with Brent trading near $73 a barrel, as the attacks highlighted continued risks to vessels in the critical waterway

• Gold fell for a second day on Tuesday, dropping as much as 1.2% to below $4,120 an ounce, as the Hormuz attacks rekindled inflation concerns

• France lowered its 2026 GDP growth forecast to 0.7% from 0.9%, citing the Middle East conflict as a factor holding back output

Oil Trade Developments

• India's state-run refiners are in talks with traders marketing Iranian crude and preparing to buy barrels if the US extends waivers beyond August or eases restrictions

• Two supertankers hauling Saudi crude are heading to the US for the first time since February, following the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz

• Russia's Urals crude price averaged $41.66 a barrel at western ports in early July, falling to pre-Iran war levels and less than half the level during the height of oil market turmoil in April

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 05:26

Spain: 70% Of Tested 'Unaccompanied Minor' Immigrants Are Actually Adults

Via Remix News,

The Spanish city of Madrid has delivered a stark confirmation of long-standing suspicions about unaccompanied foreign immigrants claiming to be minors. When this group undergoes rigorous medical age verification, 70 percent turn out to be adults over 18.

This is not a handful of isolated incidents but a systemic pattern that has become the norm in Spain’s capital. The findings, detailed in official data and reported by Spanish outlet El Debate, underscore a growing “farce” in the handling of unaccompanied minor claims across the country.

In 2024, authorities in the Madrid region opened 848 age-determination proceedings for individuals claiming to be unaccompanied foreign minors — a sharp increase from 482 the previous year. More than half of these cases were archived because the claimants abandoned the process before completing the key medical test, which is a wrist X-ray for bone age assessment.

Of the 378 individuals who underwent the test, only 112 were confirmed as minors, while 266 were determined to be adults — approximately 70 percent.

The number of detected frauds tripled compared to the prior year. Since 2018, Madrid has handled more than 11,000 unaccompanied foreign minors in its protection system. In 2024 alone, 2,442 new young people entered the system. The regional government has already filed 29 police complaints after its own checks revealed adults improperly placed in minor-protection facilities.

Nationally, the Fiscalía General del Estado reported 7,562 pre-procedural age-determination cases in 2024. Of these, 2,457 concluded the individuals were adults, while many others either abandoned proceedings or received the benefit of the doubt.

Real benefits for fraud

As Remix News has reported in the past, claiming minor status grants significant advantages under Spanish and EU rules, including placement in specialized protection centers with housing, education, healthcare, and legal safeguards.

There is also significantly greater difficulty in deportation; and, in many cases, pathways to family reunification or residence permits unavailable to adults. Many claimants disappear from centers once age verification begins, avoiding confirmation of their true age.

Similar fraud seen across Europe

This Madrid revelation is far from unique. Remix News has extensively covered parallel cases of age fraud by migrants claiming unaccompanied minor status throughout Europe, often involving the same nationalities, notably Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians, and Afghans.

France has seen some of the starkest figures. In the Marne department, bone analyses of 240 individuals claiming to be unaccompanied minors found that 80 percent (192 people) were actually adults.

French MP Charles de Courson highlighted the financial burden in a parliamentary speech, “Eighty percent of unaccompanied migrants in France’s northeast Marne department who declared themselves thus are not minors, with the cost of caring for these 160 false minors costing €5,000 per month, which equals for €60,000 per year for each one.”

A separate 2019 experiment by the Paris prosecutor’s office examined 154 formally identified “minors” and found 91.6 percent (141) were adults via medical exams. Prosecutors noted that adults were systematically exploiting the protective regime established for minors under a 1945 law.

Belgium reported comparable results. A study of data from Justice Minister Koen Geens showed that of 4,563 migrants declaring themselves minors, authorities doubted 2,546 claims. Age tests on a sample revealed that 73.7 percent were over 18. Flemish MP Tom Van Grieken stated bluntly: “Asylum seekers guilty of age fraud should be denied the right to asylum.”

Sweden recorded an even higher rate: health authorities found 84 percent of tested “child migrants” were actually 18 or older. In Germany, forensic examinations in Münster showed around 40 percent of examined “unaccompanied minor refugees” were demonstrably adults, with many sharing suspicious January 1 birthdates — a common indicator of fabricated identities.

Remix News has also documented specific incidents in Spain itself that align with this pattern. In one Madrid case reported in October 2025, a Moroccan man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl claimed to be 17; age verification determined he was likely 23, with 14 prior convictions, leading to his case being transferred to adult court.

A European Parliament fact-finding mission to Spain’s Canary Islands similarly found that roughly half of unaccompanied minors there were actually adults, highlighting failures in age assessment amid high illegal arrivals.

An issue across Europe

Across Europe, the incentive structure remains largely unchanged, with minor status providing immediate protection and resources while adult status often leads to faster removal proceedings. Medical tests, such as bone density, dental, or wrist X-rays, are imperfect but consistently reveal high fraud rates when applied. Some countries are reacting with stricter testing, but often left-wing parties want to ban such tests altogether.

The Madrid Fiscalía’s 2024 data adds Spain to the growing list of European jurisdictions where official statistics confirm that the “unaccompanied minor” category is being heavily exploited. With over 11,000 cases handled in Madrid alone since 2018 and frauds tripling in a single year, the scale suggests the problem is not anecdotal but structural.

As European governments grapple with migration pressures, these consistent findings from across Europe show a reality that is not going away. Without adequate and robust testing age verification and meaningful consequences for fraud, the EU system will continue to reward deception from Europe’s rapidly growing illegal migrant population.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 05:00

Trump Signals Willingness To Sell Turkey F-35 Jets Despite Loud Netanyahu Protests

Israel and Turkey are in a bit of a tug-of-war with President Trump and potential major arms deals hanging in the balance. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vehemently complained to Trump in a Friday call about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's escalating anti-Israel rhetoric, officials cited in Axios said.

Netanyahu specifically pressed Trump block sales of weapons systems to Turkey, especially those that would help Turkey modernize its air force. Of central issue remains potential F-35 transfer, which if carried through would outrage Israeli leaders. Turkey was blocked from the program in 2019 after the NATO member state went through with acquiring Russia's S-400 air defense system on fears that the US advanced fighter jets classified systems could be compromised.

via Associated Press

Also central to current negotiations with Washington is a $700 million deal for new engines for Turkey's fighter jets. Turkey's welcome ceremony for Trump and his entourage was expectedly lavish, complete with honor guards and military bands, and even cannons firing.

Erdogan has said that Trump is adding "might and strength" to the summit. Trump has in turn said of the Turkish president, "We are great friends" - and extolled the beauty of Turkey's modernized infrastructure. Turkey is a country to be "reckoned" with, Trump said soon after touching down, "and the nice part is that because of the relationship that we have, it’s all gone very well."

Most importantly, Trump, signaled his intent to sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets, per CNN:

US President Donald Trump said he would soon decide whether to sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets despite a Congressional ban as he praised the country as more loyal than other recipients of the plane.

"We have a better relationship with Turkey, and Turkey has been in many ways much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal," Trump said, arguing many believe the country should be able to purchase the F-35s, despite its purchase of a Russian air defense system.

Trump said the sales are "something certainly we consider."

"It’s a great plane, it’s the best, currently the best plane by far, and certainly something we will consider," he said.

This is after prior reporting indicated that "US officials told CNN earlier that Trump is expected to signal this week that he is willing to sell the country F-35s, reversing a ban he put in place during his first term that has since been ratified into law." Erdogan has newly stated that Turkey has been promised five F-35 jets.

Reporter: Mr. President, are you going to sell F-35s to Türkiye, and what about the legal restrictions?

Trump: We're going to make a decision. I would think that many people — I can tell, many people sitting right here — would say, why wouldn't we do that?

We have a better… pic.twitter.com/VkFnKWorxk

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 7, 2026

However, getting around the congressional ban remains to be seen. But Trump said enough in Ankara on Tuesday to put the Israelis on edge. 

Netanyahu told Fox News on Monday that "Turkey is a great country, but it's governed by a man who calls openly for the annihilation of Israel" - in reference to Erdogan. "He occupies half of Cyprus, a NATO country. He's threatening Greece, another NATO country, and he talks openly about conquering Jerusalem."

The Israeli leader also said that giving Ankara F-35s or fighter jet engines would "upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America's posture in the Middle East."

“This is a battle of freedom versus fanaticism… the ones that have been fighting it is Israel and the United States.”@netanyahu speaks ahead of the NATO summit: pic.twitter.com/ncnqCaMoDo

— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) July 6, 2026

Turkey is also seen as supportive of the new Sharaa government in Damascus, at a moment Israeli forces are occupying portions of southern Syria. The two rival powers have nearly directly clashed at times over their competing Syria policies.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 04:15

Watch: MEP Forces EU To Address Wave Of Savage Migrant Attacks Throughout Europe

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

In a decisive move highlighting the growing crisis of migrant violence across Europe, Sweden Democrats MEP Charlie Weimers has successfully pushed the European Parliament to debate recent fatal attacks on native Europeans, and their direct implications for public security on the streets.

Weimers' intervention comes in the immediate wake of the savage beating death of 32-year-old Swedish father Christian Zedig, ensuring the tragedy cannot be swept aside as just another "isolated incident" by those invested in open borders policies.

Weimers delivered a stark address to the chamber, laying bare the human cost:

SD begärde idag en debatt i EU-parlamentet om mordet på Christian Zedig.

Förslaget bifölls. Debatten äger rum 19.45 ikväll.

Jag kan inte begripa varför de SVENSKA socialdemokraterna röstade nej.

Jag ser fram emot kritiska frågor från media.

Debattens titel: "Parliament... pic.twitter.com/GTlXiz98fI

— Charlie Weimers MEP ?? (@weimers) July 6, 2026

"In recent days, Europe has once again been reminded of the very real threats to public security on our streets. In Copenhagen, Swedish police officer Christian Zedig, a 32-year-old father of two, was brutally beaten to death at a world cup fan zone," Weimers urged.

He continued, "He was off duty, simply watching a match with friends, when he tried to calm a situation, he was attacked and stomped to death. In Milan Italy, a Gambian migrant stabbed an innocent man 20 times. He said it was for fun, and that he would do it again when he gets out. These are not isolated incidents, they are part of a broader pattern that is undermining the safety of ordinary Europeans."

His words cut through the usual parliamentary fog, naming the pattern that too many officials prefer to obscure. The debate, later today will addresses the urgent need to confront how unchecked migration is eroding safety in European cities and public spaces.

Weimers expressed astonishment that Swedish Social Democrats voted against even holding the discussion, posting the voting record as evidence. This reluctance speaks volumes about priorities: shielding failed migration policies over acknowledging the suffering of ordinary citizens and their families.

The Zedig family's nightmare began at a seemingly ordinary World Cup fan zone in Copenhagen's Islands Brygge area. Christian had traveled with friends to watch Norway face Ivory Coast before Sweden's own match. Wearing his national team shirt, he was enjoying the atmosphere when violence erupted.

A group of seven or eight young African men, according to eyewitnesses speaking to Danish media, arrived not to watch football but to provoke. They taunted supporters, threw beer and objects after Norway's late winning goal by Erling Haaland, then rushed a table of Scandinavian fans.

Zedig was punched in the head, collapsed immediately, and was then repeatedly stomped by multiple attackers while lying defenseless on the ground. The assailants fled the scene. Despite medical efforts, Zedig succumbed to his catastrophic injuries, leaving behind a devastated wife and two young daughters who will grow up without their father. Swedish police confirmed the death of their colleague, with local officers holding a memorial gathering.

His sister's emotional tribute captured the family's anguish: "My beautiful and thoroughly good-hearted brother. How will we make it without you with us? Who gave them the right to take you away from us? The grief is never-ending." Friends and colleagues described him as a dedicated officer and family man, making the senseless loss even more painful.

The main suspect, identified as an African migrant with a history of prior assaults and criminal convictions, eventually turned himself in to Danish police after authorities publicly released his photograph. He was arrested and remanded in custody for up to 26 days. While the formal charge had not yet been upgraded to murder at the time of initial proceedings, the facts of the mob attack speak for themselves.

This horror is the latest in a string of incidents that Weimers and like-minded MEPs have been warning about for years.

Media handling of the tragedy has only added fuel to public anger. Danish broadcaster TV2 aired live footage of a minute of silence held for Zedig before the later Norway-Brazil match at the same fan zone. The clip reportedly captured migrants ignoring the tribute or even laughing.

When the segment re-aired in a news broadcast, those seconds were conveniently edited out, shielding viewers from the disrespect.

Danish state TV channel has shortened yesterday's viral video of migrants ignoring the minute of silence for the Swedish football supporter Christian.

The minute of silence was held before the Norway-Brazil match at the fan zone in Copenhagen where Christian was beaten to death...

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 6, 2026

Weimers has consistently exposed the consequences of mass immigration and demographic shifts. In March, alongside other lawmakers, he helped spotlight the spread of no-go zones tied to rapid Islamization and uncontrolled inflows.

A New Direction report analyzed high-crime neighborhoods across Europe, ranking areas like Franc Moisin in France and Rosengård in Malmö by metrics of violence, parallel societies, unemployment, school failure, and emergency service breakdowns. These zones show strong correlations with high shares of foreign-born and Muslim populations, where state authority recedes and other rules prevail.

French MEP Marion Maréchal emphasized the data: France alone has hundreds of sensitive urban areas disproportionately linked to these dynamics. The report serves as a documented indictment of policies that have allowed parallel societies to flourish.

At a Warsaw conference around the same time, experts warned bluntly that Europeans are committing demographic suicide. Low native birth rates combined with high migration from younger, culturally distant populations create unsustainable pressures.

Outdated tools like the Geneva Convention were called "sacred cows" in need of reform, with calls to renationalize asylum and migration policy to restore national control. Speakers contrasted thriving, cohesive Polish cities with decaying Western European examples overwhelmed by crime and social breakdown.

Despite institutional resistance, conservative and sovereignist forces have scored tangible victories. The European Parliament backed major updates to the Returns Regulation, a breakthrough expanding deportation powers, mutual recognition of orders across member states, longer detention periods, extended entry bans, and possibilities for return hubs outside EU territory.

Weimers described stricter return rules as one of the Sweden Democrats' biggest negotiating successes, declaring "the era of deportations has begun."

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni welcomed the changes as validation of her government's approach. Other leaders from the right celebrated the shift toward enforcement and national sovereignty over Brussels dictates.

Leftist reactions included chants of "shame" met with counter-chants of "send them back," followed by complaints about conservatives celebrating the win with a rooftop gathering - moments of dark comedy amid the stakes.

These advances prove that persistent advocacy can shift policy, even if implementation lags and globalist pushback - from the UN and others - continues. Yet incidents like Zedig's murder demonstrate why speed matters. Return rates remain abysmal under old rules, allowing repeat offenders and unintegrated migrants to remain threats.

Zedig's death is tragically familiar. From stabbings to grooming scandals, rioting, and everyday street violence, the data on overrepresentation in crime statistics across Western Europe is inescapable for those willing to examine it. Fan zones, once symbols of shared celebration, now risk becoming flashpoints due to imported rivalries and lack of respect for host societies.

Weimers' Rule 164 initiative forces the Parliament to address implications head-on: rising insecurity, strained police resources, cultural fragmentation, and the demographic trajectory that amplifies risks. Ignoring it invites more tragedy and deeper societal division.

Europe stands at a crossroads. Decades of elite-driven mass immigration without regard for compatibility, numbers, or enforcement have produced predictable results: overburdened welfare systems, no-go areas, terror threats, and innocent victims. Families torn apart, communities on edge, and taxpayers funding the consequences.

The successes on remigration tools offer hope, but only if national governments wield them aggressively. Weimers and allies are dragging the conversation toward reality - prioritizing citizens' safety, cultural cohesion, and sovereignty. The votes against even debating the matter reveals who still clings to denial.

As the Parliament convenes, the message is clear: enough is enough. Europeans deserve leaders who secure borders, enforce returns, and put their own people first. The era of looking the other way must end.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 03:30

Rutte Touts 'Literally Billions' Invested To Drastically Ramp Up NATO's Drone Capabilities

NATO leadership has this week made clear where it plans to invest a bulk of defense and tech-related funds in the coming years, while making express reference to lessons learned from the Russia-Ukraine battlefield.

The alliance's Secretary General Mark Rutte said Tuesday that drone warfare is the next great expanse in NATO capabilities. He touted that member states are unveiling "major new projects" worth "literally billions of dollars" at the Ankara summit. "These are billions that are invested in our security, boosting our economies and supporting hundreds of thousands of new jobs," Rutte stated. "It’s money well spent."

Anadolu Agency

He unveiled that among the projects include the NATO future procurement of five "high-end, high-altitude and long-endurance uncrewed aircraft" from Northrop Grumman.

Defense News reviews:

Built by Northrop Grumman, the MQ-4C Triton is a high-altitude, long-endurance UAV specifically designed for maritime surveillance over vast stretches of sea.

According to Rutte, the aircraft will help NATO detect threats early, protect sea lines of communication, and support operations in demanding regions, such as the High North. "These aircraft can fly for long periods at high altitude and cover large areas, including over open water, more efficiently than most other aircraft can," he said at the event, organized to coincide with the NATO summit this week.

Rutte stressed that intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) is a vital capability for the alliance, as it provides the situational awareness needed to make the right decisions and stay ahead of threats. "Today, allies are taking a concrete step to strengthen this capability," he added.

An additional project area outlined by Rutte involves 40 billion dollars' worth of investment in "counter-drone capabilities over the next five years," the alliance additionally said in a statement.

Another drone-focused initiative is a goal for allies to "train five times as many drone operators by the end of 2027." This is where the Ukraine experience seems to have deeply informed NATO doctrine and direction. 

"Drones have fundamentally altered the character of modern warfare and become a decisive factor on the battlefield," the alliance said in its statement. "These initiatives will be essential to increase both Alliance readiness and resilience."

Western backers of the Zelensky government have of late been hailing the effectiveness of Ukraine forces' long-range drone strikes, which have often devastated major Russian refineries and energy infrastructure.

NATO's Rutte in Ankara:

We will launch a counter-drone marketplace.

The aim is to help procure counter-drone capabilities at scale and speed. pic.twitter.com/F6hfHkox6L

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 7, 2026

At the same time NATO officials are seeking to make a positive impression on President Trump, after he's long demanded the alliance collectively raise the bar much higher on defense investment and spending. All of this could kick the can further in terms of needless escalation with Russia - especially the ongoing support to Ukraine's long-range drones and missiles, which are being sent deeper and deeper into Russian territory.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 02:45

What Future Awaits Ukrainian Military-Aged Male Refugees In The EU?

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

Recent moves at the European and national levels bode ill for them...

The European Commission proposed to exclude new military-aged Ukrainian men from the bloc’s special refugee protection scheme per Ukraine’s request to help replenish its lost forces. For background, new Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov shockingly revealed in January that 200,000 men have already deserted thus far and ten times more (2 million) are actively dodging the draft. Moreover, adult men comprise 26% of the 4.3 million Ukrainians in the EU for another one million potential conscripts.

The forcible conscription policy known as “busification”, which refers to capturing military-aged men off the street and throwing them into minibuses that then take them straight to local training centers and finally the frontlines, is wildly unpopular and increasingly being resisted by the population. It’s therefore much easier for the EU to deport ineligible military-aged men that flee to the bloc going forward, but the ideal solution from Ukraine’s perspective is for all those that are already there to be deported as well.

Denmark is planning to do precisely that. According to RT, “The Danish authorities want to amend a special law passed in 2022 to make Ukrainian men aged 23 to 60 ineligible for temporary residence permits unless they have been granted an exemption from military service. Ukrainian men under 23 would only be granted residence permits until they reach draft age.” Less than 50,000 Ukrainians have residence permits under this law, and maybe one-quarter are adult males, but it would still be symbolic.

Other countries could potentially follow Denmark’s lead on the basis that they too, as explained by the Danish Immigration Minister, “never intended for our residence rules to be used to avoid mobilization into the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Doing so undermines Ukraine’s war effort and weakens the country’s ability to defend itself against Russian attacks.” Amidst the spiraling Polish-Ukrainian dispute over Zelensky’s state glorification of the Volhynia Genocide’s OUN-UPA culprits, all eyes are on Warsaw.

The ruling liberal coalition, like the conservative government that it replaced in late 2023, appears to be in favor of retaining special privileges for adult Ukrainian males for alleged economic reasons. Be that as it may, the conservatives have recently soured on Ukraine and its refugees, nowadays signaling that they might be open to deporting some of them. While that would help Ukraine against Russia like Poland has always sought to do, it would also be doing Zelensky’s bidding, so they might reconsider their support.

Likewise, the Ukrainophilic liberal coalition might sacrifice the alleged economic benefits that Poland receives from adult Ukrainian male refugees by deporting them, albeit with the purpose of pleasing Zelensky and perhaps as an “olive branch” amidst the conservative president’s feud with him. It’s too early to tell what this group’s future in Poland might be, but the scenario of at least some of them being deported can’t be ruled out, which could help the liberals ahead of fall 2027’s next Sejm elections.

As Ukraine continues to lose ground along the front, which the dramatic visuals from its recent spree of strikes against Russia is aimed in part at distracting the global public from, Kiev is expected to ramp up its pressure campaign against the EU – and particularly Poland – to obtain more meat for the grinder.

Trump’s plans of “escalating to de-escalate” with Russia through an intense “war of attrition” require the replenishment of Ukraine’s forces, so if “busification” doesn’t suffice, then this is the only fallback plan.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/08/2026 - 02:00

"F**k The USA": Professor Delights Chicago Crowd With Anti-American And Anti-Border Rant

Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org,

I have previously written about the "radical chic" in higher education of faculty members who espouse extremist views in departments purged of conservative, libertarian, or moderate voices. While it is virtually impossible to get departments to seriously consider a mainstream conservative or libertarian, schools like Princeton eagerly hire professors such as Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, who recently delighted a Chicago audience with an unhinged rant against the United States and the concept of a nation-state.

Bill Ayers and Princeton's Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor appeared at a July 4th event and denounced the country and its anniversary.

Taylor thrilled the crowd by recounting her disgust that a woman gave her child an American flag at the airport. She credited herself by not instantly burning it, but went on to denounce the country and credited the audience for its "F**k the U.S." attitude.

Notably, Taylor suggested that only fools rally behind the flag or the notion of a nation-state. She clearly believes not just in open borders but rejects the very concept of borders. She repeatedly declared that "borders kill" and suggested that patriotic people are simply dupes.

Bill Ayers is a former professor and one of the founders of the domestic terrorist organization, the Weather Underground. His wife, Bernardine Dohrn, was also a member of the group, and both were fugitives for several years. Dohrn is also a professor who has taught at Northwestern University School of Law.

Taylor is a Professor in the Department of African-American Studies at Princeton University. She writes for the New Yorker.

In the Chicago event, Taylor called on others to reject "the idea of loving a nation state, which is what patriotism is." She repeatedly returned to the theme that borders are "deadly" and "borders kill people." She explained that we have to erase any borders because they are "a tool of death and destruction."

Furthermore, she emphasized that the very concept of a nation-state should be the "object of political struggle."

This reflects the level of intellectual rigor in departments like the one at Princeton. Her writings have been honored by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Group Health Foundation, the Organization of American Historians, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (which gave her a fellowship).

On one level, the erasure of borders could be viewed as the "withering away of the state" espoused by Friedrich Engels and later by Vladimir Lenin. However, it reads more like the jargonistic narrative common in higher education, where radicals espouse such views without serious challenge from their colleagues.

Even European states that once allowed expanded undocumented migration are now struggling to reverse course due to the high social and security costs. However, academics such as Taylor tell students that we can eradicate any nation-states and live without borders. While most people would expect such views to be espoused by raving lunatics on the subway, Princeton made her a chair professor as the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies.

Her writings are celebrated for her combination of socialism and identity politics. The gushing articles even include praise for her use of emojis. ("All those cry-laughing yellow orbs betrayed a critic with a sense of humor.").

Few colleagues or critics feel comfortable noting that views like the eradication of the nation-state or erasure of borders are little more than unsupported, jargon-saturated tripe. There is no effort to push her on what happens to an economy without borders where the country (or whatever will replace the nation-state) is responsible for supporting millions of immigrants.

When you hear young socialists in the Mamdani Administration (including Mamdani himself) speaking of "seizing the means of production," it is the result of college classes taught by figures like Taylor, who offer little more than shallow sound bites and slogans. They have been told that socialism is a successful economic model despite its utter failure historically. It is a fable told by the uninformed to the unquestioning: unicorn economics, eagerly embraced like a bedtime story.

The alternative is what I have called the "liberty-enhancing economy" that the Framers embraced. The combination of political and economic freedom made this republic the greatest engine of prosperity and human rights in history. That does not mean that we do not have difficult economic and social problems. However, the suggestion that we should embrace socialism and erase borders is properly viewed as perfectly bonkers ... outside of higher education.

Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of "Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution."

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 23:25

Bill Clinton Insider Warns Of Socialist Takeover, Calls For Probe Into Possible DSA Foreign Ties

Mark Penn, the former chief White House pollster and strategic advisor to President Bill Clinton for six years, used a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled "The Socialist Threat Is Real" to warn that far-left radicals are hijacking the Democratic Party.

The problem for Democrats is that years of letting socialists and Marxists into their DEI kingdom have only now produced dire consequences. Status quo Democrats are watching their power evaporate as Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates defeat mainstream Democrats in primaries across New York, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and other states.

Penn's warning was blunt: "America will be in serious trouble if Democrats fail to defend their party."

"This 'revolution' is driven not by the working class but by the urban professional class that is willing to support candidates who celebrate 9/11, cheer at the massacre of 1,000 Israeli and American kids, would defund the police, abolish prisons, end private property and open the borders," Penn explained.

Penn and his fellow status quo party members are watching in real time as their party transforms almost overnight from one once built around labor, civil rights and working-class citizens into one increasingly defined by anti-American rhetoric, hostility toward capitalism, support for foreign adversaries, calls to abolish jails, race-based politics and, of course, utter disdain for the Constitution.

What DSA stands for:

Our latest profiling of the new Democratic Party appears to show how DSA-ers are far detached from traditional American values and openly hostile to the country's founding institutions:

• Meet The New Democratic Party: Socialists Say The Quiet Part Out Loud, Want To "Destroy America From Within"

Meet the new Democratic Party:

Frank, Aaron, Hank and Sam are Communist insurgents, radicalized marxist revolutionaries hiding behind personal ideologies to justfy their 1A expressions of the right to promote the insurrection of the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/XLzzjisOqd

— AnimalFarm1945 (Moshe) (@Farm1945A) July 6, 2026

Meet the unofficial DSA spokesman:

Hasan Piker calls on his followers to kill capitalists:

“Yeah kill them! KiII those motherfuckers and murder those motherfuckers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their fucking red capitalist blood, dude.”

Democrats are campaigning with him. pic.twitter.com/YiZxGgRkgc

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) April 9, 2026

Penn's op-ed then called for immediate investigations into the DSA to determine whether the socialists are "being funded by foreign governments and interests."

He said, "Lawmakers, law-enforcement agencies and journalists should investigate the DSA to see if it is being funded by foreign governments and interests."

It only appears as if Penn reads ZeroHedge:

• Is There A "Cuba Connection" Behind The Radicalization Of America's Nonprofit Left

Or perhaps Penn sees the writing on the wall:

• Feds Nab Alleged Member Of "Sprawling" Cuban Communist Subversion Network Linked To Hasan Piker's Havana Trip
• DOJ Grand Jury Probes Neville Roy Singham's Marxist NGO Empire: Report
• "No Longer Tolerate Radical Marxists": Rubio Sanctions Revolutionary Cuban Influence Network Tied To U.S. Left-Wing NGOs

Penn explains that if the DSA is not properly handled, then "New York and other cities will decay further."

Penn's call for investigations into the DSA, including whether the group is funded or supported by foreign governments or foreign interests, may not have come out of nowhere.

The broader concern is that federal officials are investigating whether elements of the far-left activist NGO sphere have been influenced by foreign-linked networks. Investigations are focused on China and Cuba.

Penn's decision to write an op-ed attacking the socialists only highlights the growing alarm inside the Democratic Party.

The question now is whether traditional Democrats begin looking across the political aisle to counter the socialist wing before it gains even more ground in low-turnout primaries and deep-blue districts. A bipartisan anti-socialist push would have been unthinkable not long ago, but if the DSA keeps toppling incumbents and reshaping the party from within, that may be exactly where this fight is headed.

President Trump has been gearing up for the political fight against the radical left, in which he said on Truth Social last month: "The Communists are finally making their move. I've been waiting and preparing for this for a long time."

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 23:00

How Interceptor Missiles Work: The Technology Behind Stopping Missiles In Mid-Air

Authored by Kaif Shaikh via Interesting Engineering,

Intercepting a missile sounds straightforward. Launch another missile at it before it reaches its target. In reality, it is one of the most technically demanding challenges of defense.

Here's how modern interceptor missiles protect against aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic threats.Getty Images

Unlike offensive missiles, interceptor missiles must detect, track, calculate, and collide with a target that may be traveling several times the speed of sound, often within a matter of minutes. Some even destroy their targets without carrying an explosive warhead, relying instead on the sheer force of impact. Here's how interceptor missiles work.

It Starts With Detection

An interceptor missile is only as effective as the network supporting it. Long before an interceptor launches, satellites equipped with infrared sensors detect the intense heat generated by a missile launch. Ground- and sea-based radars then begin tracking the missile's trajectory, calculating where it is likely to travel and, more importantly, where it can be intercepted.

This information is continuously shared across a command-and-control network that decides whether an engagement is necessary, selects the most suitable interceptor, and determines the optimal launch time.

Predicting Where A Missile Will Be

One of the biggest misconceptions is that interceptor missiles simply "chase" incoming threats. Instead, fire-control computers predict the future position of the target based on its speed, altitude, direction, and expected flight path. The interceptor is launched toward that predicted intercept point rather than directly at the missile's current location.

As both missiles continue moving, onboard guidance systems receive updated tracking data and constantly adjust the interceptor's course until it reaches the target. The entire process, from detection to interception, may take only a few minutes for short-range ballistic missiles.

Three Opportunities To Intercept

Ballistic missiles travel through three distinct flight phases, each offering different interception opportunities. The boost phase begins immediately after launch while the rocket motors are still burning. During this stage, the missile is highly visible due to its intense infrared signature, but interception is extremely difficult because defensive systems must already be positioned near the launch site.

The midcourse phase is the longest portion of flight, when the warhead travels through space after booster separation. Systems such as the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense using SM-3 interceptors and the U.S. Ground-based Midcourse Defense are designed to engage threats during this stage.

Finally comes the terminal phase, when the warhead re-enters the atmosphere and descends toward its target. Systems such as THAAD and Patriot PAC-3 operate in this phase, providing the final opportunity to stop an incoming missile before impact.

Hit-To-Kill Versus Explosive Interception

Not every interceptor destroys its target in the same way. Many older interceptor missiles use blast-fragmentation warheads, detonating near the incoming missile and destroying it with high-speed metal fragments.

Modern systems increasingly rely on hit-to-kill technology. Rather than exploding nearby, these interceptors collide directly with the incoming missile at extremely high speed. The enormous kinetic energy generated by the impact is sufficient to destroy or disable the target without carrying a large explosive payload. Systems including THAAD, SM-3, and Patriot PAC-3 employ hit-to-kill interception for many ballistic missile defense missions.

Why Is Interception So Difficult?

Intercepting a missile is often compared to "hitting a bullet with another bullet," but the reality is even more challenging. Incoming ballistic missiles can travel at several kilometers per second, leaving defenders with only a narrow engagement window. Modern missiles may also deploy decoys, maneuver during flight, or fly at lower altitudes to complicate tracking.

Weather, electronic warfare, radar coverage, and terrain can further reduce the time available to detect and engage a threat. For this reason, countries increasingly rely on layered missile defense, where multiple interceptor systems operate at different ranges and altitudes. If one layer fails, another still has an opportunity to intercept the incoming missile.

Examples Of Interceptor Missiles

Different interceptor missiles are optimized for different threats. The Patriot PAC-3 focuses on defending military bases and cities against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft during the terminal phase.

THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) intercepts short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles at much higher altitudes, including outside Earth's atmosphere. The naval SM-3 interceptor protects ships and allied territories by engaging ballistic missiles during their midcourse phase, while SM-6 provides additional terminal defense against aircraft, cruise missiles, and some ballistic threats.

Other countries operate systems such as Israel's Arrow-3, David's Sling, and Iron Dome, each designed for different ranges and threat types.

The Future Of Missile Interception

As hypersonic glide vehicles and maneuverable ballistic missiles become more common, traditional interception methods are becoming increasingly challenging. Future systems are expected to combine more capable sensors, artificial intelligence-assisted tracking, and new interceptors, such as the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI), currently under development, to engage hypersonic threats before they begin their final descent.

While no missile defense system offers perfect protection, modern layered architectures have significantly improved the ability to detect, track, and intercept increasingly sophisticated threats. Success ultimately depends not on a single interceptor missile but on the seamless integration of satellites, radars, command networks, and multiple defensive layers that work together within seconds.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 22:35

Revolutionary War Cannons Hidden For 240 Years Go On Display

A remarkable collection of Revolutionary War artifacts that lay hidden beneath the Savannah River for nearly 240 years is now on public display in Georgia's oldest city as the nation marks America's 250th anniversary, according to Fox News.

The Savannah History Museum officially unveiled 19 cannons recovered from the river as part of its new Loyalists & Liberty: Savannah in the American Revolution exhibit. Historians say the discovery represents the largest cache of 18th-century artillery ever recovered from a single Revolutionary War naval event.

Fox News wrote that the cannons were discovered unexpectedly in 2021 after crews with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uncovered them while dredging the Savannah River to deepen the shipping channel for larger cargo vessels.

"When they were recovered, the cannons were heavily encrusted with oyster shells and marine growth after centuries underwater," said Nora Fleming Lee, CEO of the Coastal Heritage Society. In addition to the artillery pieces, crews also found smaller artifacts, and several of the cannons still contained cannonballs and their original gunpowder charges.

Following their recovery, most of the cannons were transported to a preservation laboratory at Texas A&M University, where conservators spent several years removing salt from the iron through a specialized electrolysis process before stabilizing and protecting the metal for long-term display.

Seventeen of the cannons underwent full restoration, while two were intentionally left in their original condition so visitors can compare how they looked when first pulled from the river. All 19 are now permanently exhibited at the museum.

Researchers believe the weapons came from British ships that were deliberately scuttled in 1779 to create a blockade across the narrowest section of the Savannah River. The barrier was intended to prevent French naval forces from sailing upriver and helping American troops retake Savannah, which was then under British control.

The ships are believed to have been sunk only weeks before the Battle of Savannah, one of the deadliest engagements of the Revolutionary War, where more than 800 casualties were recorded in less than an hour. The battle took place on the same grounds where the Savannah History Museum stands today.

Museum officials say the exhibit goes beyond showcasing military artifacts. Through the stories of Indigenous people, enslaved and free Black residents, women, children and other overlooked figures, it explores Savannah's role in the American Revolution from multiple perspectives, using the recovered cannons as a centerpiece to tell a broader and more inclusive story of the nation's founding.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 22:10

Condomnation: WaPo Hits Platner With Fresh 'Sneaky Stealthing' Accusation

Update: Just when you thought the media couldn't try harder to force Graham Platner out of the race for Senator from Maine, WaPo is out with a new one: that 'sneaky' oysterman was secretly shucking his condoms off during sex - or so an ex-girlfriend told the deep state's favorite paper of record. 

"He would pull condoms off," claims Lyndsey Fifield, who says she dated Platner from 2013-2015 in Washington DC - and previously accused him of physical abuse. "He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me."

And just like how the NY Times withheld key details until the dam broke thanks to Politico (read below), WaPo knew about this accusation since June 20.

Fifield initially told The Post about the alleged condom removal during a June 20 interview that was off the record. She said she decided to speak publicly about it Tuesday in part because, she said, she wanted to show that Racicot was not alone in experiencing issues with Platner involving sexual consent. -WaPo

In other words, this was 'off the record' until she 'decided to speak publicly about it Tuesday' in order to support a fellow accuser. WaPo then writes:

"Removing a condom during sex without consent, known as “stealthing,” is classified as a form of sexual assault in several countries, including Britain, Canada and parts of Australia. In the United States, Maine, California and Washington state have laws that address the nonconsensual removal of condoms during sex."

...

She estimated that Platner removed condoms without her consent at least six times when they had sex at both of their residences in D.C. during their two-year, on-and-off relationship. She said she told him that she was upset about it but that he would make light of the situation.

So - he stealthed Fifield an alleged six times - and she continued letting him inside of her vagina after said stealthing was an established maneuver, your honor. 

"I confronted him both during and after [sex] because he knew that I was not on birth control and how dangerous that was," she told the Post, which waited until now to tell the world. "He would act like cute about it, like ‘Oh sneaky me.’"

Sneaky indeud. But not sneaky enough to save his 2026 run for Senate a decade later, it would seem. 

Platner's campaign has denied Fifield's allegation, calling her claim "categorically false and politically motivated."

A Platner campaign official fires back at @MaineDems, telling NBC News: “The Platner campaign has reached out to the party to try and understand what this process would look like. At no point has the campaign tried to ‘put its finger on the scale.’ Over 150,000 Mainers voted for… https://t.co/l9CbmYkCE6

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 8, 2026

Now it's over...

Q: How much more gross can P-Hustle get before the end?

A: pic.twitter.com/nt7rrvvYB5

— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) July 7, 2026

* * * BEFORE YOU GO - If you want amazing meat, pick up some of this BMS 7+ Wagyu from veteran-owned KC Cattle Co. Salt & pepper, pan sear / oven finish, and it needs nothing else. NO stringy meat, each bite is seriously packed with flavor, and the fat just melts as you chew. This happened not 6 days ago at house Durden. And yes the dogs got some too.

Earlier: Graham Platner's Senate campaign is imploding after Politico published a detailed account on Monday from Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Democrat from Maine, who accuses the progressive darling of rape. Donors are heading for the exits, Democrats are withdrawing endorsements, and calling for Platner to drop out.

But there's another scandal hiding in plain sight, and it involves the New York Times, which published an exposé last month featuring three women who dated Platner, who had each accused him of domestic abuse.

Racicot also appeared in the New York Times' story on Platner last month. The paper interviewed her and spoke with another anonymous woman as well. Yet when the Times published its June report, it omitted the sexual assault allegations from Racicot and the anonymous Democratic woman who had dated Platner. Instead, the story centered on another accuser, Lyndsey Fifield, a Republican operative whose partisan resume became a central focus of the article.

"After the story went up, I began to ask them... wait, where are the stories from the other women? Where are their accusations of sexual assault? Why am I the focus? Why are there 11 paragraphs dedicated to detailing my work history (more than has been published about Graham's by far)?" Fifield asked after the story was published.

According to Fifield, reporters contacted her in early April and pressured her past her initial refusal. They told her there were other women and they needed to "band together." They also promised to protect her. She eventually relented. "I bucked all advice from my friends (and resisted my conservative bias) and decided to fully trust the Times journalists," she wrote on X, turning down other outlets and sitting quiet through weeks of delays.

Then she handed them everything a reporter could want: five friends who could corroborate her story, former roommates who watched Platner stalk her row house from five doors away, screenshots, landlord emails documenting the lease she broke to escape him, and time-stamped diary entries. Reporters called just the two friends who could confirm the relationship timeline rather than the abuse, and told her they saw no need to contact the ex-fiance she confided in during pre-marital counseling since the diary covered it.

The published story claimed nobody could corroborate her account. "Why does it say 'nobody could corroborate' when I offered them sources that COULD corroborate?" Fifield asked. Friends had confirmed to the Times that she disclosed the abuse years before Platner announced a run for anything. That corroboration never made print.

Three women who had never met, Fifield, Racicot, and the third anonymous accuser, described the same cycle of intimate partner violence, coercive control, and love-bombing. The Times had all of it but gave readers mostly a deep dive on the Republican woman's employment record instead. "It dawned on me that this really was a set up all along," Fifield wrote. "The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign. Violating the trust of his victims. Shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life."

I bucked all advice from my friends (and resisted my conservative bias) and decided to fully trust the Times journalists. As they left my home they asked that I not talk to any other outlets and I insisted then and repeatedly over the following weeks that I would keep my word and only share this story with them.

— Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) June 5, 2026

Politico's Adam Wren appeared on MSNOW's "Morning Joe" to walk Mika Brzezinski through the vetting of Racicot's story. Brzezinski noted the absence of any police report and asked, "Given the very high standards Politico has before they write something like this and publish it, what aspects of this story brought it to the level of publishable?" Wren explained how Racicot "had confided into a number of people, including her therapist, in almost real time." The corroboration consisted of "email exchanges between she and her therapist" and conversations with people she confided in during the months that followed.

When Brzezinski pressed Wren on what tied Platner to the act itself, he cited an Instagram message Racicot sent the next day, as well as messages to others afterward. Therapist emails and secondhand descriptions of unrecovered messages cleared Politico's bar, but eyewitness roommates, screenshots, landlord emails, timestamped diaries, and friends confirming contemporaneous disclosures fell short at the New York Times, which lied to America by claiming nobody could corroborate Fifield's story, and completely omitting Racicot's claims of sexual assault.

Morning Joe spends 5 minutes grilling Politico's @adamwren for running a story on Platner's ex accusing him of rape. "Given the very high standards Politico has before they write something like this and publish it, what aspects of this story brought it to the level of… pic.twitter.com/JgLW17ZF4y

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 7, 2026

Platner's campaign will likely die in the coming days, but the New York Times' credibility went first.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 22:01

Elon Musk's Answer To Mortality

Authored by David DeMay via AmericanThinker.com,

Ask most Silicon Valley billionaires what they think about death, and you’ll get some version of a declaration of war. Peter Thiel has funded life-extension research for years and has spoken openly about wanting to “fight death.” Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and a growing circle of biotech-backed investors have likewise poured billions into companies pursuing not merely longer life, but the possibility of radically slowing or even ending human aging.

Elon Musk - the wealthiest of them all and arguably the most publicly concerned with humanity’s long-term survival - has consistently argued almost the opposite.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in conversation with Larry Fink, Musk remarked, “There is some benefit to death.”

He warned that dramatically extending human lifespans could lead to “an ossification of society,” leaving institutions increasingly rigid and ideas “stultifying” as the same generation remained in power indefinitely.

His reasoning is straightforward. Most people form their core worldview relatively early in adulthood and rarely change it fundamentally. If those individuals never leave positions of influence, society risks locking one generation’s assumptions permanently into its political, economic, and cultural institutions. In Musk’s view, mortality is not merely a biological limitation; it is one of the mechanisms by which civilizations renew themselves.

What makes his position especially interesting is that it is not rooted in scientific pessimism. During the same discussion, Musk suggested the opposite: Aging is probably a solvable scientific problem. He noted that virtually every tissue in the body appears to age in parallel.

“You’ve never seen someone with an old left arm and a young right arm,” he observed, arguing that such synchronized aging hints at a common biological mechanism. Once that mechanism is understood, he speculated, the solution may appear surprisingly obvious.

The tension is striking. Musk appears to believe that aging is likely to become an engineering problem with an engineering solution. Yet he has shown remarkably little interest in dedicating his own fortune to solving it. His hesitation is philosophical rather than technological: He questions whether dramatically extending individual lifespans would ultimately strengthen or weaken civilization.

That places him in sharp contrast with many of his peers. For much of Silicon Valley, mortality has become the next great engineering challenge—a problem to be solved through biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and unprecedented capital investment. Musk has instead argued that society should be at least as concerned with preserving its capacity for renewal as with extending individual lives.

A second priority reinforces that distinction. Rather than focusing primarily on longevity, Musk has repeatedly argued that declining birth rates pose the more immediate civilizational threat. A society may someday conquer aging entirely, he has suggested, yet still decline if it ceases to produce enough children to replace itself. Extending the lives of existing people cannot compensate indefinitely for a shrinking number of new ones.

Taken together, his views form a coherent hierarchy of priorities. Aging is real and probably solvable, but not necessarily the most urgent problem. Indefinite life extension carries the risk of social stagnation. Declining fertility, by contrast, threatens the long-term continuity of civilization itself.

Whether one agrees with that hierarchy is another question. What is difficult to ignore, however, is that Musk’s own life reflects the priorities he describes. While many technology leaders have invested extraordinary sums in extending the human lifespan, Musk has become the father of fourteen children and has consistently argued that building the next generation matters more than indefinitely prolonging the current one.

That does not prove his family is a deliberate philosophical statement, nor does it reveal his private motivations. But it does reveal a notable alignment between his public arguments and his personal choices. Rather than devoting his fortune primarily to extending his own life, he has devoted a remarkable part of it to creating the generation that will outlive him.

Silicon Valley’s prevailing instinct has been to treat mortality as an engineering problem: extend the individual life for as long as possible. Musk has consistently offered a different answer. He sees death as one of the mechanisms by which societies remain capable of renewal, while viewing falling birth rates as the more immediate threat to humanity’s future. Whether that philosophy ultimately proves correct remains to be seen. What is already clear is that his actions are unusually consistent with his words. In that sense, Musk’s answer to mortality is not another decade of life. It is another child.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 21:45

At Least 19 Suspected Heat-Related Deaths Reported In New Jersey

At least 19 people died of suspected heat-related deaths in New Jersey over the 4th of July holiday weekend, after a nasty heat wave blanked parts of the central and eastern United States. 

People try to stay cool during a heat wave in Bryant Park in New York City on July 1, 2026. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

In a statement to reporters, New Jersey Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington said that people started dying as early as July 2, with most reported in the central and northern areas of the state - many of whom were found in homes without air conditioning. 

"A few were outside their residences, some on the street, and some even in parked cars," Washington said, adding that most of the dead were elderly people and young adults. 

"It's also important to note that these are just suspected and are being investigated. These numbers won't be final until after medical examiners have had a chance to complete their investigations."

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said at the press briefing that temperatures across the state reached 90 degrees to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on July 4, with the heat index nearing 110 degrees because of the humidity.

As the Epoch Times notes further, the governor described the hot weather as "the hottest stretch ... in over 14 years."

"The heat's hitting all of us, not just seniors, not just those with underlying health conditions, people of all ages," Sherrill said at a press briefing.

While the heat wave began to ease in New Jersey on July 5, hot and humid conditions were expected to persist. Sherrill said that showers and thunderstorms could occur through July 6.

The National Weather Service issued a warning on X about considerable flooding across portions of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast from July 5 through July 6.

"Numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected to impact the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast today and Monday," it stated. "Very high levels of atmospheric moisture will support heavy rainfall rates that could result in locally significant flash flooding."

Central and northern New Jersey remain under a flood watch, as rainfall rates are expected to exceed 2 inches per hour in those areas, according to the governor.

"Some storms may bring heavy downpours, frequent lightning, and damaging wind gusts. Localized flooding is possible, especially in low-lying and poor drainage areas," Sherrill said in a post on X.

"Never drive through flooded roadways, and head indoors if you hear thunder. Stay informed, stay cool, and stay hydrated. Limit time outdoors during the hottest part of the day."

Flash flood warnings and flood watches were in effect across New York on July 5. The state division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services warned that storms capable of producing torrential rain were moving into the Mid-Hudson region, which could trigger flash flooding in southeastern New York.

More than 95,000 households were left without power on July 5 because of the storms, primarily concentrated in the Mid-Hudson and Long Island regions, according to the division.

"Last night's storms brought down trees and knocked out power across parts of the Hudson Valley and Long Island," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an update on X.

"We're tracking an estimated 82,000 outages statewide and working with utility companies to restore power as quickly and safely as possible."

The weather service added in an overnight update that heat advisories were in force through to the evening of July 6 for parts of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Meanwhile, hot, dry, and windy conditions in the west has contributed to fire restrictions in states such as Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 21:20

World's First Fully Robotic Pharmacy Automates Prescription Dispensing

Authored by Jijo Malayil via Interesting Engineering,

Queue, a California-based robotics startup, has unveiled the world's first fully autonomous robotic pharmacy, designed to automate prescription dispensing, verification, and delivery.

Queue has deployed its robotic pharmacy with a major US pharmacy chain for early commercial use.Queue

The platform accepts sealed wholesale medication bottles and produces filled, verified prescriptions with minimal human intervention.

Queue says the technology aims to reduce pharmacy operating costs, improve dispensing accuracy, and expand access to prescription services by enabling automated pharmacy operations closer to where patients need them.

The company also announced it has raised $12.6 million in funding to accelerate development and deployment of the system.

Automating Prescription Fulfillment

The system is designed to automate the entire prescription fulfillment process, from handling sealed wholesale medication bottles to producing filled and verified prescription vials with minimal human intervention.

Unlike conventional pharmacy automation, which typically assists individual tasks, Queue's platform integrates dispensing, verification, and fulfillment into a single autonomous workflow. Medications enter the system in sealed manufacturer bottles, where robotics, computer vision, and automated handling mechanisms manage storage, counting, dispensing, and verification before generating patient-ready prescription containers.

The platform currently supports 250 of the most commonly prescribed medications in the U.S., covering a large share of routine prescriptions. Built with multiple automated safety and verification steps, the system is designed to reduce dispensing errors and maintain consistent prescription accuracy throughout the fulfillment process.

Addressing Workforce Shortages

Queue's robotic pharmacy enters the market as the U.S. pharmacy sector faces mounting operational challenges. Industry reports have highlighted growing pharmacist workloads, staffing shortages, and declining numbers of pharmacy graduates entering the workforce. Pharmacy technician vacancy rates have also remained high, increasing operational pressure on existing staff while raising concerns about the potential for human error during prescription fulfillment.

At the same time, many pharmacies continue to face financial strain from declining reimbursement rates, making it increasingly difficult to sustain traditional operating models. Researchers from the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley, have found that nearly one-third of U.S. pharmacies have closed since 2010, contributing to the growth of pharmacy deserts where access to prescription services is limited.

Queue aims to address these structural challenges by replacing labor-intensive prescription fulfillment with autonomous robotic infrastructure. By automating the physical dispensing process while maintaining built-in verification protocols, the company seeks to improve efficiency, reduce operating costs, and expand access to pharmacy services in underserved communities.

Rather than serving only as a pharmacy automation tool, it positions the platform as a new infrastructure layer for prescription fulfillment, enabling healthcare providers to establish smaller, automated pharmacy operations in locations where conventional pharmacies may no longer be economically viable. The company believes this approach could help reshape prescription delivery while improving scalability, consistency, and accessibility across the U.S. healthcare system.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 20:55

The Push For A Robotic Workforce: Chris Murphy Introduces Bill For Massive Minimum Wage Hike

Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org,

Sen. Chris Murphy has finally found a constituency that truly gets him. Robots and automated systems around the country likely whirled and beeped with approval as he introduced the Senate version of the Living Wage for All Act. At a time when workers are being replaced at record numbers due to the cheaper labor of automated systems and AI programs, Murphy moved to price out millions of more workers by increasing their costs.

The bill would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $25 per hour - a 245 percent increase - over 12 years. The far-left senator is following the lead of states like California, where Democrats dramatically cut jobs through such wage increases.

Murphy went on NBC to insist that he is "not a democratic socialist" but then attacked capitalism:

"[T]he Democratic Party has been historically way too timid in taking on corporate power. I think we have to understand that people do not believe that this version of capitalism has worked. And frankly, it hasn't worked. ... This version of capitalism isn't working. Now, I make the argument in the book that we should embrace, you know, what I call a common good capitalism."

He then added:

"And by the way, we can afford it. It's not like we can't pay a $25 minimum wage; we just choose not to because we've become okay with dozens and dozens of people in this country making hundreds of billions of dollars."

It is not clear who the "we" is. While securing a law degree, Murphy has never run a business and has spent his life as a politician, spending other people's money.

I previously wrote about wage hikes and the predictable loss of jobs that followed.

Democratic politicians from New York to California are pushing for a $30 minimum hourly wage for workers. Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and Democratic legislators in California herald their mandatory increases as providing a "living wage" for workers. In Los Angeles, a law requires hourly wages in the hotel and airport industries to rise by $2.50 each year until they reach $30 in 2028.

There is no question that workers are struggling with the high cost of living in California. But blindly raising taxes and minimum wages will exacerbate these problems, not eliminate them.

A recent report by researchers at the University of California-Santa Cruz found evidence of precisely what many economists had warned about in the state's mandatory wage floors. Stephen Owen, an economics lecturer, explained that they found "a plethora of negative outcomes, such as higher menu prices for consumers, reductions in employee working hours, widespread elimination of overtime, and loss of benefits for employees."

In other words, faced with mandated higher labor costs, businesses shrank their labor forces and raised their prices.

None of this is a surprise. Yet even amid such findings, Democrats are doubling down. They believe that because they claim to be the champions of the working class, it does not matter how many people they put out of work.

It is not just workers feeling the brunt of such economically ill-considered measures. In California, a two-person meal can run about $30 due to higher labor costs being passed on to consumers. It is only a matter of time before robots replace these workers.

What is ironic is that the Democrats are hitting the most vulnerable members of the labor force with these minimum wage increases. In my book, "Rage and the Republic," I discussed not only the economic changes unfolding due to AI and robotics but also the expected political miscalculations that are most likely to fuel job losses and wasteful spending. This is one of them.

As discussed in the book, certain industries are already likely to convert to automation due to increasing labor costs:

"For any wealth-maximizing, rational actor in the marketplace, the choice is obvious and inescapable. There is little reason for a restaurant to employ workers to make Happy Meals when they can be done by robotics without healthcare, wage issues, or scheduling conflicts. The very premise of McDonald's is to produce the same meals in the exactly the same way from restaurant to restaurant. That is precisely what robotics do. They will make fries in exactly the same fashion over and over again without variation."

Faced with this threat to the labor force, Murphy and others are moving to do the one thing to accelerate and expand the job losses by increasing the cost of human labor.

Ironically, giving the advantage to the robotic workforce could still work in favor of the growing socialist movement in the party. With more workers out of jobs, more will look to the government for support and a guaranteed income. That will further increase the role of the state. Of course, to expand what Zohran Mamdani called "the warmth of collectivism," millions of human workers will have to be put out in the cold as an overpriced labor force. Citizens will then become what I have called a "kept population," which could have a disastrous impact on the role of citizens in our unique Republic.

What is clear is that Murphy will prove to be the greatest friend a robot has ever had in Congress.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 20:05

These Are The Countries With Lower GDP Than Elon Musk's Net Worth

Elon Musk recently became the world’s first trillionaire following SpaceX’s IPO earlier this month. At roughly $1 trillion, his personal fortune now exceeds the annual economic output of most countries around the world.

This map, via Visual Capitalist's Jeffe Desjardins, highlights the countries with nominal GDP below Musk’s estimated net worth, using 2026 projections from the IMF World Economic Outlook (April 2026) and Forbes real-time estimates of Musk’s wealth.

Countries With Less Than $1 Trillion in GDP

Below is a list of countries with nominal GDP under $1 trillion, based on the IMF’s latest projections for 2026:

Country 2026 GDP ($B) 🇹🇼 Taiwan 977 🇮🇪 Ireland 779 🇧🇪 Belgium 777 🇸🇪 Sweden 760 🇮🇱 Israel 720 🇦🇷 Argentina 688 🇸🇬 Singapore 660 🇦🇹 Austria 624 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates 622 🇳🇴 Norway 599 🇹🇭 Thailand 580 🇨🇴 Colombia 540 🇻🇳 Vietnam 527 🇲🇾 Malaysia 516 🇵🇭 Philippines 512 🇧🇩 Bangladesh 511 🇩🇰 Denmark 504 🇷🇴 Romania 481 🇿🇦 South Africa 480 🇭🇰 Hong Kong 450 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 433 🇪🇬 Egypt 430 🇨🇱 Chile 408 🇵🇰 Pakistan 408 🇵🇪 Peru 381 🇵🇹 Portugal 381 🇳🇬 Nigeria 377 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan 360 🇫🇮 Finland 338 🇩🇿 Algeria 317 🇬🇷 Greece 308 🇮🇷 Iran 300 🇳🇿 New Zealand 279 🇭🇺 Hungary 271 🇮🇶 Iraq 265 🇺🇦 Ukraine 225 🇶🇦 Qatar 217 🇲🇦 Morocco 194 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 182 🇰🇼 Kuwait 173 🇸🇰 Slovakia 169 🇦🇴 Angola 152 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 148 🇰🇪 Kenya 147 🇪🇨 Ecuador 138 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 136 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico 129 🇬🇹 Guatemala 129 🇨🇩 Congo (DRC) 123 🇪🇹 Ethiopia 122 🇬🇭 Ghana 118 🇴🇲 Oman 117 🇭🇷 Croatia 117 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire 112 🇷🇸 Serbia 112 🇻🇪 Venezuela 111 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 110 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 110 🇱🇹 Lithuania 106 🇧🇾 Belarus 102 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 99 🇺🇾 Uruguay 96 🇵🇦 Panama 95 🇹🇿 Tanzania 95 🇸🇮 Slovenia 87 🇲🇲 Myanmar 84 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan 83 🇧🇴 Bolivia 81 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan 78 🇺🇬 Uganda 73 🇨🇲 Cameroon 65 🇯🇴 Jordan 65 🇹🇳 Tunisia 61 🇵🇾 Paraguay 61 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 57 🇲🇴 Macao 54 🇱🇻 Latvia 54 🇱🇾 Libya 52 🇰🇭 Cambodia 52 🇪🇪 Estonia 52 🇧🇭 Bahrain 49 🇳🇵 Nepal 46 🇨🇾 Cyprus 45 🇸🇩 Sudan 45 🇮🇸 Iceland 44 🇬🇪 Georgia 43 🇭🇳 Honduras 42 🇿🇲 Zambia 41 🇸🇳 Senegal 40 🇸🇻 El Salvador 40 🇭🇹 Haiti 39 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 37 🇱🇧 Lebanon 34 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea 34 🇬🇾 Guyana 34 🇲🇱 Mali 34 🇦🇱 Albania 33 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 33 🇦🇲 Armenia 32 🇲🇹 Malta 31 🇬🇳 Guinea 30 🇲🇳 Mongolia 28 🇧🇯 Benin 28 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago 27 🇹🇩 Chad 26 🇳🇪 Niger 25 🇳🇮 Nicaragua 24 🇰🇬 Kyrgyz Republic 24 🇬🇦 Gabon 23 🇲🇿 Mozambique 23 🇯🇲 Jamaica 23 🇧🇼 Botswana 22 🇲🇩 Moldova 22 🇲🇰 North Macedonia 22 🇲🇬 Madagascar 21 🇹🇯 Tajikistan 20 🇦🇫 Afghanistan 20 🇱🇦 Laos 19 🇲🇼 Malawi 18 🇷🇼 Rwanda 17 🇳🇦 Namibia 17 🇲🇺 Mauritius 17 🇧🇸 Bahamas, The 17 🇨🇬 Congo, Rep. of the 17 🇧🇳 Brunei 17 🇵🇸 West Bank and Gaza 16 🇲🇷 Mauritania 14 🇸🇴 Somalia 14 🇽🇰 Kosovo 14 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 14 🇹🇬 Togo 13 🇲🇪 Montenegro 10 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein 9.4 🇧🇧 Barbados 8.5 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 8.3 🇧🇮 Burundi 8.1 🇲🇻 Maldives 8.1 🇾🇪 Yemen 7.4 🇫🇯 Fiji 6.4 🇸🇸 South Sudan 6.1 🇸🇷 Suriname 5.9 🇸🇿 Eswatini 5.8 🇱🇷 Liberia 5.6 🇦🇩 Andorra 4.9 🇩🇯 Djibouti 4.7 🇦🇼 Aruba 4.7 🇧🇹 Bhutan 3.9 🇨🇫 Central African Republic 3.5 🇧🇿 Belize 3.5 🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 3.4 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 3.0 🇱🇸 Lesotho 3.0 🇬🇲 Gambia, The 2.8 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 2.8 🇸🇲 San Marino 2.4 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 2.4 🇸🇨 Seychelles 2.3 🇹🇱 Timor-Leste 2.2 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands 1.8 🇰🇲 Comoros 1.8 🇬🇩 Grenada 1.5 🇻🇺 Vanuatu 1.4 🇼🇸 Samoa 1.4 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1.2 🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe 1.2 🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis 1.1 🇩🇲 Dominica 0.8 🇹🇴 Tonga 0.7 🇫🇲 Micronesia 0.5 🇰🇮 Kiribati 0.4 🇵🇼 Palau 0.4 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands 0.3 🇳🇷 Nauru 0.2 🇹🇻 Tuvalu 0.1

Of the IMF’s 195 tracked economies, 174 are projected to produce less than $1 trillion in GDP during 2026.

Taiwan comes closest to the threshold at an estimated $977 billion, illustrating just how exclusive the trillion-dollar club has become.

The 21 Trillion-Dollar Economies

Just 21 countries are projected to generate more than $1 trillion in nominal GDP during 2026.

Rank City Family Income Needed to Live Comfortably (2026) 1 San Francisco, CA $407,597 2 San Jose, CA $402,771 3 Oakland, CA $371,488 4 Boston, MA $368,742 5 Arlington, VA $368,326 6 New York, NY $337,875 7 Seattle, WA $334,131 8 Irvine, CA $327,226 9 Honolulu, HI $321,069 10 Washington, DC $319,405 11 Portland, OR $313,747 12 San Diego, CA $312,915 13 Denver, CO $303,514 14 Jersey City, NJ $297,606 15 Minneapolis, MN $288,787 16 Anchorage, AK $285,210 17 Los Angeles, CA $281,466 18 Sacramento, CA $279,802 19 Newark, NJ $278,221 20 St. Paul, MN $278,221 21 Riverside, CA $270,566 22 Colorado Springs, CO $270,566 23 Tacoma, WA $264,742 24 Madison, WI $263,245 25 Philadelphia, PA $252,845 26 Reno, NV $251,264 27 Boise, ID $251,181 28 Raleigh, NC $249,434 29 Buffalo, NY $247,853 30 Indianapolis, IN $247,021 31 Phoenix, AZ $245,523 32 Chicago, IL $242,278 33 Charlotte, NC $241,446 34 Pittsburgh, PA $238,534 35 Columbus, OH $238,534 36 Durham, NC $237,619 37 Virginia Beach, VA $237,702 38 Atlanta, GA $232,378 39 Omaha, NE $232,294 40 Miami, FL $231,130 41 Kansas City, MO $230,131 42 Plano, TX $230,464 43 Austin, TX $229,050 44 Tampa, FL $226,720 45 Baltimore, MD $224,224 46 Richmond, VA $223,974 47 Fort Worth, TX $217,235 48 Tulsa, OK $215,238 49 Dallas, TX $214,490 50 Orlando, FL $214,157 51 Nashville, TN $213,408 52 Jacksonville, FL $211,578 53 Houston, TX $204,672 54 New Orleans, LA $197,766 55 Memphis, TN $193,939 56 San Antonio, TX $192,608

Switzerland and Poland round out the list at roughly $1.1 trillion, making them the smallest trillion-dollar economies Musk could pass next.

GDP vs. Wealth

Comparing GDP with personal wealth isn’t an apples-to-apples exercise. GDP measures the total value of goods and services produced within a country over a single year, while net worth reflects the accumulated value of assets after liabilities.

Even so, the comparison offers a striking sense of scale. Rather than suggesting Musk is “worth more than” a country, it shows that his estimated fortune now exceeds the value of everything many nations are expected to produce over the course of one year.

What is Elon Musk’s Fortune?

Elon Musk became a trillionaire with the SpaceX IPO earlier this month.

However, since the IPO, SpaceX’s stock price has been volatile. This means Musk’s net worth also fluctuates considerably, roughly within the range of $950 billion to $1.4 trillion. For this visualization, we used $1 trillion as the threshold for comparison purposes.

Learn about the biggest IPOs in history and where SpaceX fits in, in this infographic on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 19:40

Super El Niño Could Trigger Major Coal Boom In India

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

The super El Niño weather phenomenon this year will significantly boost India's demand for coal-fired power generation over the next 12 months, as a generation gap could occur with higher temperatures, the Finland-based think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a report on Monday.

The El Niño, the recurrent weather pattern driving global temperatures higher, would affect most energy systems globally, but none would be as affected as India's, according to CREA.

The El Niño, typically associated with lower wind speeds and less rainfall, could reduce India's power generation from wind and hydropower. This will open a gap in generation, CREA warns, adding that the gap will be mostly bridged by a surge in coal power generation.

"Combine the lost output from renewables and the increased demand for power, and India could face a generation gap of nearly 18 TWh," CREA's analysts said in the report.

"Super El Niño Could Trigger Major Coal Boom In India, which would release an estimated 17 million tonnes of CO2."

India, the world's second-biggest coal importer and user after China, continues to rely on coal despite a booming renewable energy sector. The Super El Niño could vindicate India's approach not to give up on coal.

Overall, coal-fired power generation and capacity installations in India continue to rise, and coal remains a key pillar of India's electricity mix, with about a 60% share of total power output.

Despite booming renewable capacity additions, India continues to rely on coal to meet most of its power demand as authorities also look to avoid blackouts in cases of severe heat waves.

Coal will still be a key part of India's power system for the next two decades, Rajnath Ram, adviser for energy at the government policy think tank, NITI Aayog, said at the end of last year.

"We cannot be subjective about coal. The question is how sustainably we can use it," the official noted.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 19:15