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DeepSeek Developing In-House AI Chip In Bid To Cut Nvidia Reliance

DeepSeek is developing its own artificial intelligence chip, a move that could reduce its reliance on both US-based Nvidia and China-based Huawei.

Leading model developers are increasingly seeking to control more of their compute stacks, particularly for inference, as AI models move from training labs into the mass market.

DeepSeek is the latest company to pursue this strategy by developing a new in-house inference chip, Reuters reports.

If successful, this effort would mark a major shift for the Chinese AI chatbot company and add new pressure on Nvidia's long-term dominance across the AI compute market. It would also add pressure on Huawei, which has benefited from US export controls that blocked Chinese firms from buying Nvidia's most advanced AI chips.

US companies such as Meta Platforms, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic are also increasingly turning to in-house chips to reduce AI infrastructure costs.

According to the report, DeepSeek's effort to design a new inference chip is in the "early stages," suggesting that developing a competitive AI chip could take a few years.

A new Bloomberg Intelligence survey found that an increasing number of Chinese companies are shifting away from Nvidia's advanced AI chips.

Chinese executives expect to allocate 46% of their AI accelerator budgets to domestic AI infrastructure over the next 12 months, up from 30% today, according to the survey.

The findings point to growing momentum behind Beijing's push to replace Nvidia in domestic chip stacks.

"China's drive to substitute locally made AI semiconductors for foreign ones is making progress, which is likely to benefit domestic markers such as Huawei and Hygon," said the report, which surveyed dozens of executives at Chinese software, finance, manufacturing and retail companies.

For Nvidia, the risk is not an immediate loss of market share, but a longer-term shift in which Chinese companies and AI chatbot startups increasingly seek in-house or domestically produced chips, suggesting mounting headwinds for Nvidia.

Meanwhile, the token-maxxing fiasco appears to have accelerated a global shift toward low-cost models, a trend that may favor Chinese AI chatbots.

Bloomberg cited OpenRouter data showing that Chinese models are capturing a growing share of developer usage, suggesting that China's AI firms are becoming more competitive in global model adoption.

Magnificent Seven stocks were mixed Tuesday morning, with Nvidia down about 2%.

Nvidia remains up roughly 5% year-to-date, but the stock is still about 17% below its May peak, as investors reassess the longer-term risk of AI model developers building more of their own compute stacks and China seeking to source domestic AI chips.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 09:55

Ukrainian Drone Swarm Attack Hits Eight Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Tankers

Beyond Ukraine's increasing kamikaze drone attacks on key Russian energy infrastructure, which appear to be fueling a domestic fuel crisis, Kyiv has now widened the pressure campaign of drone swarm attacks on Russia's shadow fleet of tankers.

Reuters cites a statement from Ukraine's drone forces that said a swarm of loitering munitions struck eight Russian shadow fleet tankers with a deadweight of around 7,000 tons in the Sea of Azov.

The drone swarm attack came a day after Ukraine's special forces hit two other shadow-fleet tankers in the same area.

Ukraine said it was targeting Russia's naval supply chain to induce fuel shortages and a broader push to isolate Crimea. The peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014 and serves as a staging ground for Moscow’s war effort.

"Striking the enemy's naval logistics complicates the supply of fuel and ammunition necessary ‌to support the activities of Russian troops, primarily in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea," the drone forces said.

Ukraine stated that it struck 8 tankers of the Russian shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov.

All the tankers are under international sanctions. pic.twitter.com/ESVpXGdh3k

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 7, 2026

A new Financial Times report, citing data from Rochan Consulting, showed that recent Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries hit a record monthly high of 16 in May. 

Source: Financial Times 

Since the start of this year, refineries have been hit at least 194 times, an 11-fold increase from the same period one year ago.

Source: Financial Times 

Russia is now intercepting an average of roughly 600 Ukrainian drones per day, highlighting the scale of Kyiv’s ability to mass-produce low-cost drones.

Source: Financial Times 

Ukraine has sharply increased attacks on Russia’s critical energy infrastructure over the past year, with refineries and fuel logistics emerging as core targets.

Source: Financial Times 

That pressure campaign expanded again in June, as Kyiv simultaneously ramped up strikes on Russian military production sites.

Source: Financial Times 

Moscow, meanwhile, has been escalating its own drone swarm attacks on Ukrainian cities, infrastructure and military targets.

Source: Financial Times 

The takeaway here is very clear as both sides are moving deeper into massive drone warfare, and neither appears prepared to de-escalate.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 09:40

Alleged Jan. 6 Pipe Bomber Not Covered By Trump's Blanket Pardon: Judge

Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,

The man accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington prior to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, is not covered by President Donald Trump’s blanket pardon for individuals convicted of crimes over their participation in the Capitol breach, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

Suspect Brian Cole Jr. had requested that all his charges, including transporting explosives, malicious attempt to use explosives, attempt to use weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism, be dismissed because Trump’s day-one pardon covered his conduct. The judge denied that request.

“The pardon, by its terms, does not apply to Cole,” Judge Amir Ali, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said in his Monday decision.

On Trump’s first day back in office, he commuted the sentences of about 1,500 “individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” when Congress was certifying the 2020 presidential election.

Cole argued this proclamation applied to him because he was charged with planting two pipe bombs near the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021.

“The pardon applies to Mr. Cole because his alleged conduct is inextricably tethered to the events at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” Cole’s lawyers wrote in their March 16 motion for dismissal of his charges.

But the judge disagreed, writing that the wording of the president’s pardon prevented Cole from being granted clemency because he has not been convicted of any crimes.

“Even assuming that the conduct Cole is charged with is ‘related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,’ the pardon is expressly limited to people who had been ‘convicted of offenses’ related to those events,” Ali said.

Cole and his attorneys failed to explain how Trump’s pardon for those found guilty of crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, applied to him, the judge continued.

Cole’s motion for dismissal mentioned another section of the president’s proclamation that directed the U.S. attorney general to “pursue dismissal with prejudice to the government of all pending indictments,” arguing this required his charges to be dropped as well.

“But this argument does not work either,” Ali said in his decision.

“Cole was first charged in December 2025 - months after the President’s proclamation... He therefore did not have ‘pending indictments’ at the time of the President’s directive.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had presented similar points in an April 10 filing in opposition to Cole’s motion for dismissal. At the time of Trump’s proclamation, the suspect belonged to neither category of those convicted of offenses related to Jan. 6, 2021, nor of those with a pending indictment.

“And even if the proclamation somehow could apply to this case, the Department of Justice’s contrary position is entitled to deference as a reasonable interpretation taken by the Executive Branch agency expressly charged with administering the proclamation,” the DOJ said in its filing.

Cole was arrested in early December, nearly five years after bombs were discovered and defused near the Democratic and Republican National Committee buildings. The bombs consisted of a pipe, endcaps, electrical wire, a battery, and other materials.

An affidavit alleged he purchased pipe and kitchen timers in 2019 and 2020 to use to build the devices.

Cellphone records placed Cole around the buildings on Jan. 5, 2021, the affidavit showed, and his Nissan Sentra was spotted in the area that evening.

Cole made his first appearance in court on Dec. 5, 2025. At the time, he only faced charges of transporting and attempting to use an explosive device.

Later in December, federal prosecutors said in a court filing that Cole had confessed during a post-arrest interview to building and planting the bombs.

He told authorities that “something just snapped” in him after “watching everything, just everything getting worse,” the filing said.

Cole’s attorneys had asked for his release, citing his lack of criminal history and diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and autism spectrum disorder, Level 1.

One of the character reference letters submitted along with the request by a business associate of Cole’s father described the man’s “peaceful nature.”

“Over the years of my interactions with him, I have never seen him emotionally angry, upset, or even frustrated,” one of the letters read.

A judge denied Cole’s request for release on Jan. 2, saying the evidence pointed to him being too great a danger to the public.

About a week later, Cole pleaded not guilty to the charges of transporting and attempting to use explosives.

The DOJ brought the additional charges in April, which Cole has also pleaded not guilty to. If convicted, he could face decades in prison.

Cole’s attorneys could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 09:20

Monaco Bombing Attack Suspect Shot Dead In Ukraine, Intelligence Officer In Custody

The saga of the Monaco package bomb attack carried out last week against an exiled Ukrainian oligarch just got even wilder and more mysterious, as the prime suspect has been found shot dead near Kiev.

The Guardian reports that "Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer."

Anastasiia Berezovska

The gunshot victim is reported to be Anastasiia Berezovska, 39-year old Ukrainian national who speaks German - and who has been on the run, and especially since the Friday issuance of a 'red notice' by Interpol for her immediate apprehension. There are reports that the would-be assassin had disguised herself as a man while carrying out the parcel bombing.

The victims of the June 29 bombing were Vadym Iermolaiev and his family, which all survived the bombing that took place at the entrance of his luxury Monaco apartment building (however, he and is girlfriend were very seriously injured). The suspected would-be assassin was seen fleeing to the French border, after which a massive police and security search, along with helicopters, ensued across Monaco, France, and even in Italy. Per Euronews:

After the explosion, she is believed to have walked to the nearby French town of Beausoleil, where she retrieved her rental car and drove through Italy to Germany, her last known country of residence, Morgan Raymond, Monaco's deputy public prosecutor, told reporters.

"The relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi appear to indicate that the person who planted the device did not act alone," the prosecutor said, confirming that the individual was "a woman posing as a man."

Given that Ukrainian businessman Iermolaiev had long ago been declared an enemy of the Ukrainian state, and has been under sanctions for years for his extensive business dealings in Crimea, Ukrainian intelligence has come under the spotlight for possible involvement in the Monaco bomb attack - a first of its kind in the small, wealthy principality.

Le Figaro reported that the investigation focuses on Zelensky's secret police (SBU) in the Monaco bomb attack: "According to several concurring sources at Le Figaro, investigators are focusing on the possibility that the attack was orchestrated by the SBU, the Ukrainian intelligence service."

Telegraph: Vadim Irmolaev was seriously injured and his partner is believed to have lost both her feet in the parcel bomb explosion in Monaco

It certainly looks curious that Berezovska fled strait to the Ukrainian capital. According to more details from The Guardian:

Prosecutors said in a statement that Berezovska received cryptocurrency payments from the two men who were later arrested, leading investigators to treat them as “individuals potentially involved in the attempted murder in Monaco”. They added that the serving HUR officer was “acting on his own initiative” and did not inform his superiors about his contacts with Berezovska.

Prosecutors also released footage showing a blood-stained “torture chamber”, containing hammers and other equipment, which they said was discovered during searches of the men’s properties.

So already the Zelensky government is desperately trying to distance itself from the ordeal, claiming that Ukraine's own intelligence officer was merely "acting on his own". More details are as follows:

Ukrainian authorities said they detained two men on suspicion of murdering Berezovska "by prior conspiracy."

Police said that one of the men – a current employee of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate – confessed to the murder of Berezovska and claimed that the second suspect, who is a former law enforcement officer, was an accomplice.

Prince Albert II of Monaco had condemned the bombing as "an odious act" - and this was widely reported to be the first such terror bombing incident on the small, wealthy principality's soil in history.

❗️🇺🇦 The suspects in the murder of Anastasia Berezovska are a former law enforcement officer and a current employee of State Security Service.

They are also suspected of involvement in the assassination attempt on Yermolaev.

During a search of the former law enforcement… pic.twitter.com/Jp1qObmR6e

— The Ukrainian Review (@UkrReview) July 7, 2026

While Russia has long been accused of deploying intelligence-linked assassin squads in Europe to hunt down political enemies, there's lately been increasingly acknowledgement that Ukraine has been engaged in its own 'dirty war' of assassination hits, both within and outside of Russia.

There has already been an ideological and propaganda campaign to do something about the group of wealthy Ukrainian businessmen and politicians living in exile in Monaco. Government-aligned and independent Ukrainian media has long labelled this group the "Monaco battalion".

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 09:00

French Bond Yields Rise After Le Pen Cleared To Run In 2027 Presidential Election

Marine Le Pen can enter the race to become France's next president after judges confirmed her embezzlement conviction on appeal but handed her a reprieve on an election ban.

Presiding Judge Michèle Agi confirmed Le Pen’s conviction, saying that she and several others at the National Rally party misused European Union funds earmarked to pay for aides.

But the appellate judges reduced her ban to 15 months, thus paving the way for her to lead her party into the next election.

“The court found that the enforcement of this penalty since March 31, 2025, has already remedied the breach of integrity to an extent compatible with the fundamental guarantees afforded to citizens, and that disregarding this would undermine the principle of freedom of candidacy, an essential condition for the democratic exercise of universal suffrage,” Judge Agi said in court.

Le Pen was initially convicted in March 2025 by first-instance judges, who gave her an election ban lasting five years and a two-year jail term that’s on hold while she appeals.

Her party was quick to react, with Bardella quipping on TV against what he described as the “tyranny of judges.”

Jordan Bardella, whom she has groomed as her chosen successor for years, is ready to take her spot as the lead candidate for the National Rally.

The 30-year-old would offer voters a somewhat different profile to Le Pen who has gained ground among voters in three successive presidential campaigns.

A recent poll suggested that either would lead the French election after a first round vote.

French bond yields are up modestly after the news, but were already higher before the decision...

For now, prediction markets show Le Pen's odds of victory improving modestly from an admittedly low level, while Bardella, has consolidated his position as favorite to win...

While Le Pen can still lodge a top court challenge, she has promised to announce whether she’ll run or not after this ruling.

Still, the court gave Le Pen a one-year jail sentence that it indicated she would likely serve with an electronic tag, for at least a portion of the term, and she has indicated she would likely withdraw if she was forced to wear the bracelet during the campaign.

The decision now rests with Len Pen as to her future - she is scheduled to speak in a television interview at 8 p.m. local time.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 08:34

Futures Fall, Chipmakers Tumble After Samsung Rout; Oil Climbs

Stocks fell as freash volatility hit chipmakers after blowout earnings from Samsung Electronics were still not good enough (the company missed some buyside estimates) and left investors wanting even more, and sent its stock tumbling as much as 11%, forcing another 20 minute halt of the Kospi. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures were down 0.2% and Nasdaq futures fall 1%, with chip stocks sliding in premarket trading (both Micron and Sandisk dropped more than 5%), following a tech led selloff in Asia, while SpaceX is joining the index today, potentially leading to positioning adjustments across global tech. European stocks are little changed. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures rise 1.5% and are back above $73 a barrel following another Iran attack on a Qatari LNG ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz near Oman. European natural gas futures are up around 4%. Bonds trade heavy as a result with a decline in Treasuries pushing US 10-year yields up 3 basis points to 4.50%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index inches higher with modest moves across the G-10 complex. Precious metals fall as does Bitcoin. US economic data calendar includes ADP weekly employment change (8:15am), May trade balance (8:30am) and June New York Fed 1-year inflation expectations (11am).

In premarket trading, Magnificent Seven are mixed: Nvidia slips 2.2% afters Reuters reported that China’s DeepSeek is developing its own chip to help power artificial intelligence systems (Amazon +1%, Microsoft +1.5%, Meta +1%, Alphabet +0.4%, Apple +0.6%, Tesla -0.4%)

• Chipmakers, neo-cloud firms and AI infrastructure names are under pressure after Samsung Electronics reported preliminary results that failed to meet high investor expectations.
  • Marvell Technology (-3.2%), Qualcomm (-1.9%), Intel (-3.4%), AMD (-3.1%) and Broadcom (-2.0%) are all lower
  • Storage and memory stocks are weaker, including Sandisk (-5.3%), Western Digital (-5.6%), Seagate (-4.4%) and Micron (-5.1%)
    Broadcom (AVGO) falls 3% after Erste Group downgraded the chipmaker to hold, noting the stock’s high valuation.
• Cloudflare Inc. (NET) rises 3% as Scotiabank raised its recommendation on the technology company to sector outperform, anticipating upside from artificial intelligence.
• Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (CRNX) surges 99% after Vertex Pharmaceuticals entered a definitive agreement to buy the company for $85 per share in cash, for a total equity value of approximately $10 billion.
• Fiserv (FISV) is up 5.6% after the Wall Street Journal reported that big Wall Street banks have held preliminary discussions about a deal to acquire a debit network owned by the financial-technology company.
• Plug Power (PLUG) climbs 2.3% after receiving an electrolyzer order to power a hydrogen project in Australia.

In other corporate news, Vertex Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy Crinetics Pharmaceuticals for $10 billion in cash — its largest deal ever — to expand into endocrinology. Investors in a KKR retail private credit fund got back all of their requested cash in the second quarter, a sign that individual investors’ skittishness over the asset class may be easing

As reported earlier, Samsung - the world’s biggest memory maker - tumbled as much as 11% in Seoul after its quarterly report failed to wow traders even after profit surged 19-fold. Peers such as Micron Technology and Sandisk tumbled more than 5% in US premarket trading. Nasdaq futures were down more than 1% with SpaceX set to join the index, potentially leading to positioning adjustments across global tech. 

“Overnight was ugly, despite a monster Samsung operating profit beat,” said Rich Privorotsky, head of European One Delta trading at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “Classic ‘travel then arrive’ price action.”

The sell-side is jumping on board Elon Musk’s rocket, with at least six brokers, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and UBS, initiating on the stock with buy-equivalent ratings. While investors expect SpaceX’s inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 to trigger some mild swings, the rocket and AI company is winning a clear buy consensus. At least six brokers, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS Group AG, have initiated coverage of the stock with buy-equivalent ratings.

“The SpaceX inclusion will undoubtedly cause some volatility today, but ultimately it should benefit shareholders through improved liquidity,” said Michael Field, chief equity strategist at Morningstar. “Short-term pain, long-term gain.”

For Marija Veitmane, head of equity research at State Street Global Markets, the latest tech selloff in tech again creates a buying opportunity. “Samsung earnings confirmed the insatiable demand for everything IT that the AI revolution has created,” she said. “There is no other sector that has similar earnings power.”

Elsewhere, WTI oil is rallying, back above $69 a barrel, after a Qatari ship was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. Defense is back on traders’ radars as the two-day NATO summit starts in Turkey. Trump meets Zelenskyy there on Wednesday.

European stocks are little changed. Europe’s Stoxx 600 saw a majority of its members rise even though the index was 0.1% lower, as declines in mining and tech sectors fail to offset gains in personal care shares. Here are some of the biggest movers on Tuesday:

• Saab shares rise as much as 7.2% after Morgan Stanley double-upgraded the Swedish defense firm to overweight, citing an attractive valuation and strong order momentum.
• Carrefour shares rise as much as 4.3% after being named as RBC’s top pick among European food retailers, based on the French grocer’s more focused approach.
• Shell shares gain 3.4% after a trading update from the oil major showed strong oil and gas trading profits amid the turmoil caused by the Middle East conflict.
• Kion shares rise as much as 5.9% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the industrial firm and upped its price target by a third, pointing to an attractive entry point and scope for a re-rating.
• Victrex shares surge as much as 18% after the British thermoplastic company reported revenue growth in the third quarter.
• NCC rises as much as 7.5% after the cybersecurity business said it plans to return cash through a tender offer priced at a premium to Monday’s closing price.
• Keller Group shares rally as much as 19% as the ground engineering specialist raised its outlook for the year on strength in North America.
• European semiconductor stocks are falling across the board after Samsung Electronics, the South Korean memory chipmaker at the heart of the AI trade in the past few months, reported preliminary results that failed to meet higher investor expectations.
• Siemens Energy shares fall as much as 6.9% on a broadly weak day for so-called AI winners after Barclays downgraded its recommendation to underweight, seeing limited upside to consensus through 2030.
• ITV shares fall as much as 6.4% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight, saying terms of the Sky deal failed to meet higher expectations.
• DiaSorin falls as much as 3.1% after BNP Paribas cuts the stock to underperform from neutral, saying initial epidemiology data doesn’t support the Italian healthcare company’s guidance for the year.
• PolyPeptide drops as much as 8.3% after RBC Capital Markets cut the stock to sector perform from outperform, saying it’s moving to the sidelines following the Swiss company’s recent share outperformance.

Asian stocks fell, led by technology shares as investors rotated into other sectors after earnings from leading memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped more than 1%, with Samsung among the biggest drags along with peers SK Hynix and Kioxia. South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 4.9%, leading declines among regional benchmarks. Stocks rose in Singapore and the Philippines. Samsung’s 19-fold quarterly profit surge underwhelmed the market, sending investors flocking to more defensive sectors. Non-memory AI plays also benefited, with shares of Japanese banks and a gauge of Chinese technology stocks advancing. “Buy side expectations sat well above consensus” for Samsung, said Billy Leung an investment strategist at Global X Management. “My view is this is a positioning reset within a structural story, not the end of it.” The market is also looking ahead to the US trading debut of SK Hynix on Friday. Outside of tech, other key events this week include earnings from heavyweights Fast Retailing and Tata Consultancy Services. Here Are the Most Notable Movers

• Kuaishou shares fall in Hong Kong after Tencent’s move to trim its stake in the firm and cease to be a substantial shareholder. Chinese robotics supplier stocks rise as investors’ sentiment is boosted by Shanghai bourse’s approval of Unitree’s IPO registration.
• LG Energy shares closed 6.4% lower on the Korean Exchange after the company reported preliminary second-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates, as lackluster US support for electric vehicles failed to offset surging demand for energy-storage systems.
• Sapporo shares gained the most since August 2024 after the firm unveiled a strategic joint venture with Carlsberg.
• Shares of Zhipu, which trades as Knowledge Atlas Technology, gained in Hong Kong as investors’ concerns over lockup expiry eased.
• Trent shares tumble after first-quarter standalone revenue growth misses some analysts’ estimates.
• Meituan shares rose 4.5% in Hong Kong, after its investee Unitree Robotics’ IPO plan was approved by the regulators.

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index inches higher with modest moves across the G-10 complex.  The yen was a touch stronger around 161.90 per dollar even as positioning data showed hedge funds turned the most negative on the currency since 2007.

In rates, bonds traded heavy as a result with a decline in Treasuries pushing US 10-year yields up 3 basis points to 4.50%. Treasuries hold small front-end-led losses, lifting 2- to 5-year yields by about 3bp and flattening the curve. US yields are 2bp to 3.5bp cheaper across the curve with 2s10s and 5s30s spreads flatter by 0.5bp and 1.5bp; 10-year, higher by about 2bp near 4.49%, slightly underperforms bunds and gilts in the sector. European bonds are also under pressure from rising oil prices after attacks on shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. European government bonds nurse similar sized losses. A major bond issuance announcement from Amazon, which is kicking off an 8-part IG bond deal added further pressure to US yields. IG dollar issuance slate includes a few names already, headed by Italy’s benchmark 5Y/10Y/30Y borrowing. Seven issuers priced nearly $12b of new US investment-grade bonds Monday, paying about 3bps in concessions on deals that were 2.9 times covered. Here is the main event that was just announced:

• *AMAZON.COM SEEKS TO RAISE AT LEAST $25B IN US DOLLAR BOND SALE
• *AMAZON.COM KICKS OFF EIGHT-PART US INVESTMENT GRADE BOND SALE

July Treasury auctions kick off with $58 billion 3-year new issue, to be followed by $39 billion 10-year and $22 billion 30-year reopenings Wednesday and Thursday. WI 3-year yield near 4.175% is ~2bp richer than last month’s, which tailed by 0.3bp.

In commodities, Brent crude headed for the biggest gain in more than a week., rising 1.5% and are back above $73 a barrel following attacks on shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. WTI crude oil futures rose about 1% after reports of vessels being hit around the Strait of Hormuz. European natural gas futures are up around 4%. Precious metals fall as does Bitcoin. Gold slipped to around $4,145 an ounce.

US economic data calendar includes ADP weekly employment change (8:15am), May trade balance (8:30am) and June New York Fed 1-year inflation expectations (11am). Fed speaker slate includes unscripted opening remarks by Governor Bowman at a Financial Stability Board Virtual Outreach Event (7am).

Market Snapshot

Top Overnight News

• Samsung’s record profit failed to meet the lofty expectations fueled by the AI chip boom sending Nasdaq futures lower. The company’s shares sank 9%, leading a plunge in the Kospi that triggered a circuit-breaker suspension. BBG
• AI giants OpenAI, Anthropic, and others are offering extremely aggressive discounts in computing power to win business from startups. WSJ
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired missiles at two commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, according to a senior U.S. official, marking an escalation that threatens to complicate negotiations to end the U.S.-Iran war. WSJ
• The boss of the world’s biggest freight forwarder has said using land routes to transport goods into the Gulf is not a sustainable alternative to voyages through the Strait of Hormuz because of extra costs and delays. FT
• China has stepped up its purchases of oil from producers in the Middle East in recent days, with deep discounts offered by its main supplier Saudi Arabia on Monday seen as likely to boost its buying. FT
• Japan’s 30-year bond sale drew its strongest demand since 2019. BBG
• Belarus’s president Alexander Lukashenko has said his army will not take part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, seemingly dismissing Kyiv’s fears that Moscow was pressuring Minsk to join its war effort. FT
• SpaceX won bullish ratings from at least six Wall Street brokers after its IPO quiet period ended. BBG
• Airlines are finally getting some relief at the jet-fuel pump. Fliers may not share in the savings, though. Jet-fuel prices doubled in the weeks after the Iran war started, and carriers raised fares to keep up. Now fuel prices are down 40% from their peak in April, but analysts say fares aren’t likely to follow because travelers keep paying up. WSJ
• Trump posted on Truth Social, calling on senators to pass Reconciliation 3.0.

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

Asia-Pac stocks traded entirely in the red, failing to follow on from the positive sentiment seen stateside, as Samsung's Q2 preliminary earnings seemingly disappoint despite beating estimates. ASX 200 fared better vs peers, though still traded with mild losses. IT topped the sector pile while Metals & Mining was the sector underperformer, as precious metals gave back some of last week’s gains. Nikkei 225 traded with losses in excess of 2%, as Kioxia was weighed on by losses in Samsung. KOSPI slumped, with circuit breakers triggered twice, following losses in Samsung. Samsung reported Q2 prelim. figures, in which operating profit beat estimates while revenue printed mid-range of analyst’s expectations (KRW 171tln vs exp. KRW 169-173.9tln). The outlook also included the provisions for employee bonuses, after the Co. agreed to give bonuses equivalent to 10.5% of business performance earnings. Despite the recent selloff, investors are still quite bullish, with analysts citing the increased volatility due to leveraged ETFs as a main reason for the extended selloff, with profit-taking also a key reason. Elsewhere, Hanwha Ocean fell after Canada preferred TKMS (TKMS GY) for its submarine project. Shanghai Comp.and Hang Seng were softer, but to a lesser extent than the Nikkei and KOSPI. Key movers were Tencent and Kuaishou Technology, after the former sold part of its stake in the latter.

Top Asian News

• China State Council approved in principle the 15th Five-Year Plan for building China into a tourism power.
• Japanese top FX diplomat Mimura said have been in close contact with South Korean FX authorities on FX movement.
• China smartphone sales fell 13% Y/Y during the 618 shopping festival as brands raised prices to offset higher memory costs, according to Counterpoint Research. All major Chinese brands except Huawei posted double-digit drops.
• HKMA's Chief Exec. said they are to study 7-day offshore CNY tender mechanism. HKMA's securities regulator said that China and Hong Kong is to build a new electronic trading platform for bond and forex trading in Hong Kong.
• Japanese PM Takaichi is to hold talks with Ishin leader Yoshimura this evening, according to Kyodo.
• Japan's Economy Minister Kiuchi rejects reported that the government is pushing the BoJ to lower rates; said the government blueprint's reference to monetary policy is no different from its previous approach. Japan is not loosening fiscal discipline but rather showing in verifiable form in the economic blueprint.

European bourses (STOXX 600 +0.1%) opened on a modestly firmer footing after losses on Monday. European Tech is in focus after Samsung Electronics shares fell 9.5% as earnings, which topped most analysts' expectations, failed to convince investors of its valuation. European sectors opened with a positive bias, with tech the underperformer as chip names slump following Samsung (STMicroelectronics -5% and ASML -4.6%). Optimised Personal Care is the leader (Unilever +2.5%, makes up 30% of the sector) Autos also does well, Renault +2% was said to have been approached by BYD on two separate occasions in recent years to propose acquiring a stake.

Top European News

• BoE FSR: Proposes the easing of some bank capital rules; the leverage ratio proposal would reduce the requirement by 20bps.
• The EU is set to delay the launch of its European Travel Information and Authorisation system until next year following technical issues and border congestion, the FT reported.
• Andy Burnham has decided not to split the treasury as part of a radical drive to boost Britain's growth, according to FT sources.

FX

• G10s are mostly weaker against the Buck, which attempts to return to levels made on Monday above 101 in DXY. Carry continues to be a theme today as it was on Monday, with high-yielders NOK, GBP flat against the Buck and low yielders underperforming, ex-JPY. On that front, the currency appears to be benefiting from commentary via Japan's Economy Minister who rejected reports that the government is pushing for lower rates.
• GBP is flat against the EUR and Buck with the absence of catalysts giving no bias to the currency today. Some political news overnight incl. reports that likely incoming PM Burnham is considering delaying the announcement of his chancellor until the day he is expected to become PM (potentially 20th July).
• Elsewhere on politics, EUR looks to the Paris Appeals Court ruling on Le Pen’s misappropriation scandal where she is expected to announce at 19:00BST whether she or Jordan Bardella will run in the 2027 French Presidential election as the candidate for National Rally (RN). To recap stances, POLITICO writes “Bardella appears more of a traditional economic right-winger”. While Le Pen has a “mix of right-wing nationalism on migration and left-wing social policies”. Despite the implications for French policy ING writes “we doubt this event has great market potential". EUR/USD -0.1% at 1.1428.
• Antipodeans are weaker against the Buck. Kiwi looks to the RBNZ tomorrow, where analysts and markets are divided on whether the Bank will hike, or keep rates unchanged (expectations biased to tightening). Westpac’s note this morning opined a relatively market-neutral scenario would be one where the OCR is unchanged and a tightening bias is retained. Meanwhile, Aussie is lacklustre and lacks direction.

Fixed Income

• A bearish session for fixed income thus far. The space has been driven lower by renewed energy upside, and while there was some relief from the very strong 30yr Japanese auction, benchmarks have since reverted back to session lows.
• USTs lower by 3+ ticks in 109-13+ to 109-22+ confines. Further downside brings into play 109-12+ and 109-12 from last week, before a handful of levels on the way to the figure and then 108-27 from June 11th. The US docket today begins with commentary from Fed’s Bowman before we turn to RCM/TIPP, the SCE and a 3yr auction, while on the lookout for commentary from President Trump.
• Bunds on the backfoot, lower by around 30 ticks and the marginal underperformer. Specifics include potential updates to the draft parental savings reform, according to Politico sources. Reforms aim to save around EUR 1.6bln/yr, though it will take several years for that figure to be seen.
• OATs await their own political updates, heading into the Paris Appeals Court ruling on Le Pen’s misappropriation scandal. Following the ruling, Le Pen is expected to announce at 19:00BST whether she or Jordan Bardella will run in the 2027 French Presidential election as the candidate for National Rally (RN). Irrespective of the court ruling or the candidate, polling has RN leading into the 2027 campaign.
• Gilts opened relatively contained, but saw some choppiness after the BoE FSR. Gilts spiked higher by around 10 ticks, as the BoE is looking at easing some capital rules. However, as the release does not point to a carve-out or similar for Gilts, the move has unwound with Gilts a tick or two beneath pre-FSR levels. Currently down by c. 25 ticks, and holds within a 88.42 to 88.87 range.
• UK sold GBP 4bln 4.125% 2033 Treasury Gilt: b/c 3.16x (prev. 3.38x), average yield 4.519% (prev. 4.550%), tail 0.2bps (prev. 0.2bps).
• Japan sold JPY 454.9bln 30-yr JGBs; b/c 4.55x (prev. 2.94x, strongest demand since 2019), and average yield 3.993% (prev. 3.860%).
• Germany sold EUR 1.318bln vs exp. EUR 1.5bln 1.30% 2027 Green Bobl & 2.60% 2041 Green Bund.

Crude Benchmarks

• Crude benchmarks are firmer this morning, having gradually moved higher throughout the APAC session. Action which has been facilitated by reports that Iran’s IRGC fired at least two missiles at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, with one said to be a Qatari LNG tanker another reportedly Saudi-flagged. Fars clarified that the Qatari tanker attempted to pass through the Omani route and ignored repeated warnings.
• As it stands, for as long as ships continue to sail through the Strait, the crude complex can remain towards recent lows. Therefore, the mild upward bias seen in the complex this morning appears to be some pricing in of some risk of a wider-escalation, but not another long-term disruption. Brent Sept’26 (+1.2%) currently holds just off the day’s highs, and within a USD 72.04-73.1/bbl range.
• Spot gold (-0.9%) is on the backfoot this morning, and trades at the lower end of a USD 4,116-4,168/oz range; the trough today marks the WTD low. Pressure today appears to be a bit of unwind of the strength seen in the prior week, and amidst the slightly firmer USD/firmer yields. For gold specifically, China extended gold purchases for the 20th straight month. China’s gold reserves at the end of June 2026 were 75.44 million troy ounces. Elsewhere, base metals are mixed vs broadly lower overnight. 3M LME Copper is currently flat and trades within a USD 13,325.13-13,427.2/t range.
• Saudi Arabia is said to be planning to expand East-West crude oil pipeline capacity by up to 2mln BPD to increase exports via the Red Sea, according to sources. Project aims to reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.
• Kazakhstan Energy Ministry said it is trying to fulfil its OPEC+ obligations, while hoping to maintain production plans for 2026.
• China has reportedly purchased more soybeans from the US, Bloomberg reported; Cofco has booked at least 6 cargoes for loading between Sep-Oct.
• Germany plans emergency gas reserve for up to EUR 1.5bln plus operating costs, according to sources.
• Hong Kong chief executive confirms the launch of central clearing system for gold.
• Data shows that two Japanese-owned supertankers carrying Saudi crude are transiting through the Strait of Hormuz to exit the Gulf region.
• Shanghai Gold Exchange has agreed to admit Hong Kong Precious Metal Central Clearing System as an international member.
• Syrian President Shala said the government has signed energy-sector contracts to add around 5k MW of generation capacity and rebuild power plants and is drafting plans to rebuild and modernise state institutions.

Trade/Tariffs

• Democratic State AGs object to US President Trump's plan to impose tariffs of up to 12.5% on 60 countries over forced labour concerns.

Central Banks

• ECB said it gives Euro Zone banks until October 31 to draw up plans against AI-powered attacks.
• ECB's Panetta said the latest energy shock does not compare to 2022.
• PBoC injected CNY 10bln via 7-day reverse repos with rate maintained at 1.40%.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.8054 vs exp. 6.7838 (prev. 6.8066).
• PBoC Governor Pan said monetary policy maintains a supportive stance, will be increasing the southbound bond connect quota to CNY 800bln from CNY 500bln. To support more good companies to list in Hong Kong. Will keep increasing China's FX reserves allocation in Hong Kong. China will support Hong Kong to launch CNY-denominated commodities futures trading.

Geopolitics: Russia-Ukraine

• Russia's Defence Ministry said 452 Ukrainian drones have been shot down over the regions since Monday evening.
• A Russian governor said a fire has broken out at an industrial enterprise in the Kaluga region after a UAV attack.
• Russia's Moscow Mayor said a drone attack on Moscow has been repelled and emergency services are responding to debris, Interfax reported.

Geopolitics: Middle East

• UKMTO received a report of an incident 8NM East of Limah, Oman, with the tanker reportedly hit by an unknown projectile and causing a fire.
• Iran’s IRGC fired missiles at two commercial ships near the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, according to the WSJ citing a senior U.S. official. One of the vessels was an LNG tanker owned by the shipping arm of Qatar's LNG industry.
• Iran's IRGC fired at least two missiles at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a US official tells Axios' Ravid; Two commercial ships were hit and suffered significant damages but no casualties.
• A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker was reportedly damaged near Oman around the Strait of Hormuz after another LNG tanker was struck in the same area.
• The Qatari oil tanker was planning to pass through the Omani route in the Strait of Hormuz with the support of the US Navy and was attacked after ignoring repeated warnings, Fars reported citing sources.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said negotiations on a final deal will not commence if threats continue.
• The European Aviation Safety Agency have extended the validity of the warning regarding flights over the airspace of the conflict areas in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf until July 8th.
• Lebanese President Aoun is preparing a visit to the White House to meet US President Trump before the end of July, according to Al-Nahar.

Geopolitics: Syria

• A series of explosive devices have detonated in proximity to the hotel in Damascus where French President Macron is staying, Reuters reported citing sources.
• "Al Arabiya correspondent: Macron's convoy left his residence in Damascus shortly before the explosion", Al Arabiya reported.
• French President Macron's motorcade left the hotel in Damascus around one hour before the explosions took place.

Geopolitics: Other

• China's coastguard said it lawfully expelled a Japanese vessel near Senkaku Islands.
• US State Department said China launched a nuclear-capable ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean, urges China to engage in meaningful arms control discussions.
• Japan's military build-up and overseas aggression are a reality, not hypothetical and they are rapidly expanding pre-emptive strike and long-range attack capabilities, KNCA reported.

US Event Calendar

• 8:30 am: United States May Trade Balance, est. -78.4b, prior -55.9b
• 11:00 am: NY Fed Inflation expectations, 

DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

This year’s “Charts to make you go WOW!” pack returned yesterday for a 2026 edition. The chartbook is designed to surprise, challenge, and reframe the big macro and market stories of the moment. It’s become my favourite pack of the year to produce, and I hope you’ll enjoy and go “WOW!” at least once, and preferably a number of times. You can see it here at the Deutsche Bank Research Institute.
One theme in the pack is how astonishing moves in the South Korean equity market have been over the last year. This morning the extreme volatility continues with the KOSPI down -8.03%, with Samsung Electronics -9.3% lower, despite reporting a 19-fold increase in quarterly profit. Results were "only" 6% ahead of estimates and it seems to have brought in a bout of profit taking. The other KOSPI heavyweight SK Hynix is down -10.0% following the official launch of the marketing process for its planned US listing. Other tech heavy Asian markets are also lower with the Nikkei down -1.84%. Nasdaq futures are -1.03%, dragging the S&P equivalent -0.30% lower too. Elsewhere, the CSI and the Shanghai Composite are -0.83% and -1.04% respectively. Additionally, the Hang Seng (-0.42%) and the S&P/ASX 200 (-0.44%) are trading moderately lower.

In other corners of the market, Japan’s 30-year government bond auction saw its strongest demand since 2019, with a bid-to-cover ratio of 4.55, up from 2.94 previously and above the 12-month average of 3.41, as higher yields ahead of the auction attracted investors. JGBs are fairly flat on the day now.  

Before all that, markets put in a decent performance yesterday, with a generally quiet session as the US reopened after the holiday. On paper the headlines were pretty decent, with the S&P 500 (+0.72%) hitting a 3-week high thanks to a rebound in chip stocks, closing back within 1% of its record high. But under the surface, things weren’t quite as robust as they seemed. For instance, most of the S&P’s constituents actually fell on the day, as it was primarily the chip rally that lifted the index higher. Moreover, some of that US strength was just a post holiday catch-up to last Friday’s global performance. So over in Europe (which was open on Friday), the STOXX 600 fell -0.35% instead, and the 10yr bund yield (+1.3bps) rose as well.  

In the meantime, US Treasuries also saw a modest rally yesterday as they returned after the holiday, with the 2yr yield (-2.7bps) down to 4.11%, whilst the 10yr yield (-1.4bps) also fell modestly to 4.47%. That came as we heard from Fed Governor Waller later in the session, who argued that the risks facing policymakers have “completely flipped around” over the last year. Previously those concerns were focused on labour market weakness, but he said that employment conditions now appear to be stabilising whilst inflation has been “taking off”. As such, Waller made clear that the Fed's commitment to its 2% inflation target was unwavering, describing it as both credible and non-negotiable. And interestingly, market pricing for a July rate hike continued to creep back up again (after slumping on Thursday following the jobs report), with futures now pricing the chance at 25%. Meanwhile, Waller also stressed that the Fed would not keep rates artificially low to help finance growing US fiscal deficits, a timely comment given ongoing concerns around the US debt trajectory and the prospect of persistent budget shortfalls.

Waller's comments also fed into the increasingly lively debate on central bank communication. He said he’d personally prefer an inflation target range rather than a precise point target, but he acknowledged that adjusting the framework now would risk undermining credibility. And on forward guidance, he argued that if the Fed's reaction function is clearly understood, policymakers shouldn’t need to say very much about the future policy path. Interestingly, he interpreted recent comments from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh at Sintra about the demise of forward guidance as a reaffirmation of the primacy of the 2% inflation target rather than a shift in regime.

Whilst rates were subdued, things were a bit more eventful on the equity side, with the Philly semiconductor index (+2.17%) recovering after last week’s decline. That included a decent gain for Broadcom (+3.73%), which followed the news that they’d be partnering with Apple (+1.31%) on developing new custom chips, with an expanded partnership that will now go through 2031. So that helped to lift the S&P 500 (+0.72%), which closed back within 1% of its record high. With the tech sell-off in Asia we'll see how much of this reverses today.  

Looking forward, one of the main highlights this week will be the NATO leaders’ summit, which is taking place today and tomorrow. Given President Trump’s recent criticisms of NATO, particularly around the Iran conflict, it could be an eventful one, and this summit is expected to advance the emerging “NATO 3.0” agenda, under which European NATO members take on more responsibility for their own conventional defence. 

Earlier in Europe, markets struggled by comparison, with equities and bonds both selling off. In part, that followed hawkish comments from the ECB’s Schnabel, who said that the peace deal didn’t mean they were back to the pre-war situation, pointing out that gas prices “are still around 40% higher than before the war.” So investors grew more confident that the ECB would still hike rates this year, with markets now pricing in an 89% chance of a hike by the December meeting up from around 70% last Thursday after Sintra. And in turn, yields moved higher on the day, with those on 10yr bunds (+1.3bps), OATs (+1.1bps) and BTPs (+0.9bps) all rising. Equities lost ground too, with the STOXX 600 down -0.35%, although Germany’s DAX (+0.15%) outperformed modestly yesterday. There appears to be growing optimism that Germany’s recent reform announcements may finally translate into something meaningful, particularly when combined with the significant fiscal stimulus unveiled last year. Enthusiasm for the German trade faded towards the end last year, with the Iran conflict adding another layer of uncertainty. However, some green shoots of optimism now seem to be re-emerging.

Staying in Europe, today is the day we find out, via a key court ruling, whether Marine Le Pen will be eligible to stand in next year’s French presidential election. 

Amidst everything else, we did get a few data releases yesterday, but they didn’t provide much excitement. Indeed, the ISM services index for June was exactly in line with consensus at 54.0. And there wasn’t much of a story to write from the subcomponents either, as the prices paid reading was also broadly as expected at 67.7 (vs. 67.5 expected). So the direct market reaction was pretty limited, although there was some relief after the employment component (51.2) was back in expansionary territory for the first time since February.

Looking at the day ahead now, data releases include German industrial production and the US trade balance for May. From central banks, speakers include the ECB’s Panetta and Kocher, whilst the BoE will release their Financial Stability Report. Otherwise, the NATO leaders’ summit begins today.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 08:31

Double-Tap Bombing Rips Through Damascus Near French President Macron's Hotel

Major explosions ripped through an area in of the Syrian capital near the hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron had been staying, during an official visit of the French leader to Nusrah Front (Syrian AQ) founder and now self-appointed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Macron is said to be safe, after talks with Sharaa at the presidential palace, but at least 18 people were injured when explosive devices went off - an attack which was captured on video from various angles.

It appeared a double-tap explosion, leading some pundits to speculate that it could have been a drone attack. It also happened near the Ministry of Tourism in central Damascus, home to some high-end hotels as well as government buildings.

According to one eyewitness speaking to the BBC:

They said that while security forces were searching for suspicious objects after the first bomb detonated, "a second explosion occurred approximately 20 meters from the site of the first blast".

"The first explosion caused material damage but no casualties. The second explosion, however, caused injuries to several members of the public security forces and the traffic police," the eyewitness told the BBC.

Security forces later indicated one bomb had been detonated from inside a parked vehicle while another had been in a bin on the street.

#BREAKING: Syria explosion caught on camera during French President Macron visit. 18 people injured including four police officers. Macron is still in Syria. pic.twitter.com/BWen6oJbrd

— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) July 7, 2026

The Associated Press notes that "It was the second blast to rock the capital in a few days, and a setback for the country’s new president as he welcomed his first visit from a western leader since ousting longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. Syria’s new rulers have wrestled with outbreaks of violence as they work to assert control, but the capital has been been largely peaceful."

And specifically of the French leader's whereabouts during the attack, "Emmanuel Macron was inside the presidential palace when the explosions happened."

⚡️Reuters: A group of explosive devices detonated near a hotel where Macron is staying in Damascus. pic.twitter.com/PrF84XBqao

— Global News Monitor (@GlobalNewsMontr) July 7, 2026

"An official from the Elysee Palace said he was safe and that the meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa continued, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss Macron’s whereabouts and security," the report continued.

No group has initially claimed responsibility for the attack. In the wake of Assad's overthrow by Western/Gulf sponsored jihadist groups, various foreign fighters as well as Syrian al-Qaeda and ISIS groups have pretty much had free reign in Syria. 

Developing: Visuals of the Multiple Explosions in Damascus, Syria during the visit French President Macron. Macron had left the hotel for meeting with President of Syria when the blasts were reported near his hotel. pic.twitter.com/iRsktZkNeC

— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) July 7, 2026

President Macron will head to Ankara, Turkey next for the NATO summit and there are reports that even Sharaa is expected to be there.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 08:20

As NATO Summit Braces For Trump, Ambassador Warns Allies: 'We're Not Going Away, Just Doing Less'

Just on the eve of the annual NATO summit, and as President Trump is en route to attend the Ankara-hosted meeting, Washington has reaffirmed its vision of withdrawing from NATO leadership in order to allow other countries to shoulder the collective defense burden.

America's ambassador to the alliance told CNBC on Monday that pressuring allies to spend more - which has created tension among some European allies - reflects necessary "growing pains" rather than a crisis, 

"The target is that Europe takes over the conventional defense of the European continent," Ambassador Matthew Whitaker stated. That's when he emphasized: "We’re not going away, we’re just doing less."

via Associated Press

"I see these as just the challenges that we've worked through before," he continued, while commenting that there are still "laggards" which still have to reach higher and higher commitments to catch up.

At last year's summit President Trump laid out before allies the bold new defense spending target of 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) for each member country, more than doubling the prior 2% benchmark.

Leading NATO members are reportedly ready to tout a success story when it comes to a higher defense spending bar:

European NATO allies are heading into this week’s summit in Ankara convinced they have a compelling case to present to Donald Trump on defense spending, industrial cooperation and aid for Ukraine, but diplomats privately acknowledge the president remains the biggest source of uncertainty.

Speaking in the run-up to the annual summit in the Turkish capital, diplomats said the two-day gathering should showcase allies’ increased defense spending and include a string of defense industry announcements, including new letters of intent, joint projects and more transatlantic co-production. 

“There is a good story to tell,” one NATO diplomat said, pointing to a sustained shift in the alliance’s burden-sharing. “The numbers don’t lie.” 

The same publication writes that "According to figures compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, military outlay by European countries that are also members of NATO rose more quickly than at any time since 1953 through last year, with Germany and Spain – two countries often singled out by Trump as laggards – seeing booms in defense spending."

Hudson Institute think tank senior fellow Can Kasapoğlu has described of the view from Washington and Brussels, "When the alliance is back to its Cold War default, the question of what you are bringing to the table is getting more important."

Rutte preps a positive narrative ahead of Trump's arrival...

NATO's Rutte in Ankara:

European allies and Canada are now on a trajectory to equalize their defense spending with the U.S. pic.twitter.com/cmtp3jR7nm

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 6, 2026

He added in comments to Fox: "The nations bringing hard-power capability to NATO are going to get VIP treatment." They see Russia as a major looming threat to long-term European security, as the Ukraine war only shows signs of likely escalation, now it its fifth year.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 08:05

Manslaughter Charges Filed Following Fatal Tesla FSD Crash

A fatal crash involving Tesla's driver-assistance technology has resulted in manslaughter charges against a Texas man after his vehicle slammed into a home near Houston, killing a 76-year-old woman inside, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Prosecutors say 44-year-old Michael David Butler told first responders he had been using Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature while making a DoorDash delivery on June 19. Butler claimed he changed the music on the touchscreen before losing consciousness. Authorities said he was the only person in the car and that toxicology tests found no evidence of alcohol or drugs.

However, data recovered from the vehicle paints a different picture. Investigators said Butler repeatedly overrode the FSD system by pressing the accelerator, with the Tesla reportedly reaching speeds as high as 73 mph in a residential neighborhood. Officials also said there was no braking in the final moments before the vehicle crashed into the home. Investigators further uncovered Google searches indicating Butler had been frustrated that the software was not driving aggressively enough.

The WSJ reported that Tesla has pushed back on Butler's version of events, stating that vehicle data shows the accelerator was held down by the driver both before and after the collision. The crash is now also under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of its ongoing scrutiny of advanced driver-assistance systems.

The crash is likely to intensify the long-running debate surrounding Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology. Although the software is marketed as capable of handling steering, braking, and acceleration in many driving situations, Tesla has consistently maintained that the system requires a fully attentive driver who is prepared to take control at any moment. Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not an autonomous driving system.

Critics have argued for years that the branding has created confusion among some drivers, leading them to place more trust in the technology than Tesla's own warnings recommend. Regulators have repeatedly examined whether drivers are using the system as intended, while safety advocates have questioned whether the software encourages a false sense of security behind the wheel.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened numerous investigations into crashes involving Tesla's advanced driver-assistance features over the past several years, including several fatal incidents. Those investigations have fueled ongoing scrutiny of the company's autonomous driving ambitions as Tesla continues to make artificial intelligence and self-driving technology central to its long-term strategy.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 06:55

Britain Vs America: 1976 Vs 2026

Authored by John Perry via AmericanThinker.com,

July 4, 1976, the American bicentennial.  

Along with other American students at University College, Oxford, I attended a grand banquet celebrating the occasion.  In the high-vaulted dining hall, our familiar, plain wooden tables and benches were awash in linen, china, fresh flowers, silver, silver, and more silver: candlesticks, ewers, wine coolers, chargers, and items a young man from Spring Branch, Texas could not readily identify.  We feasted heartily, drank really good wine, heard speeches, and toasted President Gerald Ford.  It was a great night to be an American.

Looking back at that celebration fifty years on, it’s clear that the U.S. and Britain have gone in very different directions since then.  

Britain in 1976 seemed to this novice traveler like a downtrodden older cousin, tired and worn around the edges yet with a sense of history and purpose, a proud past, a charming personality, and the notion that “there will always be an England.”

Unfortunately, immigration, lawlessness, blind obedience to the global warming hoax, and a fading confidence in their own brilliant history have rendered Great Britain a shadow of its former self.

Britain today seems to have lost its way, given up, and virtually turned itself over to third-world invaders.  Great Britain resolutely held off foreign invasion through two world wars.  But over the past fifty years, in an era of relative peace and prosperity, they have turned one of history’s truly great and accomplished cultures over to gate-crashers who have diluted it almost beyond recognition and possibly beyond saving.

Fortunately, history has shown America a different way, though millions of illegals flooded in before our leaders saw the light.  With its ruinous and indefensible open borders policy, the U.S. nearly went down the same dark path as our British friends.  Only a change of command and a resurgence of common sense saved us in the nick of time.  For now.

In another unfortunate misstep, Britain has spent years destroying itself before the false god of climate change.  Their people freeze and roast while vast and easily extracted stores of coal sit unused.  Their North Sea oil and gas riches wait offshore, largely ignored and untapped today after an initial bonanza of energy production.  Windmills, solar panels, and electric car mandates will do still further damage.  Yes, the climate is changing.  It has always changed.  (Ask the Vikings who lived in Greenland until it got too cold in the 1400s.)  But fossil fuels don’t cause climate change.  And nothing the world does — or doesn’t do — will stop it.

Thank goodness America’s current leadership has the sense to throw out decades of junk science and embrace energy development that keeps Americans comfortable, healthy, and safe.  And gives us freedom to choose.  If you want an electric car, Elon Musk makes the best in the world.  If you can’t resist a scorching V-8, America has some brand-new ones that will make your eyes bug out.  

Even in 1976, the British seemed different from people back home.  Americans appeared more prosperous, ambitious, hopeful, independent, curious, and confident.  They had more sparkle and optimism.  On the train one morning in Oxford, I struck up a conversation with a passenger who was about my age.  Hearing my accent, he pumped me for information about the American West — Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas.  He dreamed of going there to work on a ranch and have his own place one day, he said, because in Britain the land was all bought up and no one had any way to improve his prospects.  No one expected to get ahead.  To him, America was the shining New World of opportunity.

I wrote in my journal that summer about crowds in the street seeming gray and listless, shuffling through the day in a joyless, inevitable sort of way.  I didn’t know exactly how to describe what I felt, but it centered on what my fellow passenger had said about how Americans seemed to have optimism about the future, a sense they could change their lives for the better, while the British were shunted onto a path somehow and that was it.  No New World for them.

Fifty years after my bicentennial celebration abroad, despite all the slings and arrows arraigned against it, the United States is still the United States.  Still the freest, most prosperous country in world history.  Still maintaining the highest per capita income and standard of living in the world (not counting Monaco, Liechtenstein, etc., which have no Democrats).  Still defending its founding principles anywhere and everywhere. 

On the other hand, the Britain of 1976 has disappeared, a victim of irresponsible and short-sighted leadership whose immigration and energy policies have driven the country to its knees.  A nation that was once quirky and a little past its prime, yet still solid at its core and capable of renewal, has devolved into one that is morally and culturally spent, bereft of an identity, embarrassed at its past triumphs, and imprisoned by forces determined to bring it down.

Many noteworthy comparisons between ’76 and today are in the little things.  In 1976, the mail in Oxford came twice a day.  This was of course so one could get a letter in the morning and, like any civilized correspondent, answer it the same afternoon.  Twice-a-day mail delivery is history now.  In fact, unless you pay a premium, routine mail is delivered only every other day and not on weekends.

British trains in ’76 looked as though Hercule Poirot might step off onto the platform at any moment.  Each car had individual compartments connected by an interior corridor along one side.  They were quiet, plush, and easy to get in and out of.  They had plenty of storage, and they lent a degree of British elegance to even the most routine train journey.  It’s all gone today.

Table service in ’76 was a dream for anyone who enjoys the experience and spectacle of dining.  The most mundane meals were enhanced by traditional tea service (strainer, stand, sugar cubes and tongs, milk pitcher), toast racks, fish knives, and an array of spoons from coffee (doll-like, half the size of a teaspoon) to soup (massive; don’t put the whole thing in your mouth).  Even expensive restaurants hardly make the effort now.

At the opera, excellent binoculars were provided in racks on the seat backs.  Those are long gone, I suspect, because they started disappearing.

But the biggest disappearance since 1976 is that in ’76, Britain was full of British people, and in ’26, they have disappeared.  During the course of a day, a visitor can interact with dozens of cashiers, shopkeepers, drivers, clerks, waiters, guards, officials, and strangers at the bus stop without encountering a single native English speaker.  What happened to them?  And why would any business hire employees who cannot clearly speak the local language when it’s the language of the world?

The British today seem embarrassed by their Britishness.  Swamped by a tidal wave of political correctness, they’ve been cowed into submission for even thinking about defending one of the great cultures of the world.

By any reasonable measure, Britain is better than any immigrant homeland.  Their courts, schools, hospitals, law enforcement, business environment, and other institutions are better.  Otherwise, why would hordes of people from Africa, Asia, and elsewhere clamor to get to the British Isles?

Britain has been diluted beyond recognition by foreigners who come not to build a career, but to mooch off the British welfare system.  Rather than compel them to pull their own weight and contribute to the greater good of the Commonwealth, the government allows them to fester, holding on to their third-world ways and customs — sharia courts, Islamic schools — chipping away at all the institutions that shaped Britain, brought it to life, and sustain it today. 

England’s laws are the bedrock of modern jurisprudence.  Its industry has been the template for the modern world.  Its culture and civilization led the way into the industrial age.  Its language is the first international language in history.  Yet somehow the English have allowed themselves to feel inferior to a host of invading cultures and civilizations.  Let us hope that the Spirit of ’26 — or ’76 — will inspire them anew.

After following Great Britain up the ladder to prosperity and influence, America came too close to following it back down these past fifty years.  Yet by God’s grace, our history has led us along a different path, upward to an ever stronger, safer, more prosperous nation — a shining New World of opportunity for all. 

On this glorious occasion of America 250, that’s truly worth celebrating.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 06:30

Priced Beyond Perfection: Samsung Electronics Tumbles As Soaring Profit Not Good Enough

The memory bubble appears to be rapidly deflating.

After the semiconductor/memory sector was walloped in Monday US trading without any clear negative catalyst, the semiconductor-chasing world was eagerly waiting to hear what Samsung - the world’s largest memory maker - would report in its preliminary Q2 earnings report as investors sought to justify sky-high investments and valuations around AI. In the end, it was not good enough, and the stock is down 5% at last check. 

Samsung Electronics’s quarterly profit surged 19-fold due to relentless demand for memory chips needed in AI data centers. For the 3 months ended June 30, the company reported preliminary operating income of 89.4 trillion won ($58 billion) not only beating the median analyst estimate of 84.2 trillion won, but dwarfing its performance for all of 2025. Revenue more than doubled to 171 trillion won, also modestly beating expectations (Samsung will release a full financial statement, including net income and divisional breakdowns, around the end of the month).

Yet while the historicals were clearly strong, they were not strong enough for a company that had been priced beyond perfection, and where it didn't take much to disappoint investors just looking for a hint to take profit. And they go it:

• *SAMSUNG DROPS 4.5% IN PRE-MARKET ON NEXTRADE AFTER 2Q GUIDANCE

Indeed, investors had harbored extremely high hopes for Samsung, its peer SK Hynic and other chipmakers that are posting unprecedented profit margins thanks to a historic buildout of AI infrastructure worldwide. Yet that capex buildout is likely ending, after META lobbed the first shot across the bow of unlimited capital spending last week and sparked the biggest 2-day selloff of high beta momentum stocks since covid. 

“We will be looking for signs that this represents a sustainable step change in the company’s annual free cash generation,” said Brian Cho, a portfolio manager at Causeway Capital Management, adding that he would also be looking at management’s shareholder return policy.

A shortage in memory chips has become a key bottleneck for AI development, executives including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap have warned. Manufacturers are giving priority to high-end memory development to meet data centers’ needs, leading to inadequate volumes of conventional memory as well. Analysts expect shortages to last through 2027 at least, giving Samsung and rivals SK Hynix and Micron enormous pricing power. Meanwhile, China's own DRAM giant, CXMT, is rapidly catching up to its Korean peers, and rapidly taking market share, sparking concerns that China may soon do to commodity memory chips as it has done to, well, pretty much every other product it has competed against: sparked a deflationary tsunami. 

But not yet: the average operating profit margin for the big three chipmakers is projected to trend around 75% to 80% in the June quarter, according to market research firm Counterpoint. Some argue that such margins constitutes excessive profiteering, it said in a report. “There can be regulatory pressure on memory players if this situation continues,” it said.

Shares of Samsung, which has broad portfolio of chips and consumer electronic, have underperformed cross-town rival SK Hynix’s, which is more focused on high-end memory geared for AI’s computation needs. Samsung’s shares, which were hurt by a selloff in the five days to Friday, are up 165% this year, compared with SK Hynix’s roughly 260% gain.

Korea is hoping that the cartel pricing of Samsung and SK Hynix ends up creating an impenetrable moat which benefits the entire country: the two chipmakers are central to South Korea’s ambitions to pull ahead of other countries to take leadership in AI. Samsung Group and SK Group plan to build two chipmaking plants apiece in the nation’s southwest for a total of 800 trillion won to expand capacity quickly. The country aims to double its memory production capacity within five years. For 2026, Samsung has announced plans to spend over $70 billion in production capacity expansion and research. However, as we reported last night, one thing Seoul apparently forgot is the Chinese threat, and contrary to conventional wisdom that Chinese memory tech is far behind, Korean experts have warned that CXMT is closing the gap with Korea "far faster than expected."

And with Korea opening for trading, it's not surprising that Samsung stock, which was priced beyond perfection, is down as much as 5% in early trading

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 06:19

Coffee Shorts Get Roasted As Arabica Stages Biggest Jump Since Dot-Com

Arabica coffee futures jumped the most since the Dot Com era as worsening weather in Brazil and shrinking exchange-managed warehouses intensified concerns about near-term supply. This comes as El Niño threats rise across critical agricultural belts worldwide.

New York prices jumped as much as 18.5% on Monday to $3.57 a pound, the highest since January. This was the largest single-session gain since July 18, 2000.

Context on the squeeze: Traders had been expecting a large Brazilian crop, but rains have slowed the harvest, and growers are holding back sales in hopes of better prices.

Bloomberg noted: 

Technical factors also were at play. The Intercontinental Exchange last week raised margin requirements as prices increased, making it costlier for traders to maintain positions and potentially pushing some out of the market, said Judy Ganes, president at J. Ganes Consulting.

"This move is just one of those fear days and people covering," Ganes said. But it's hard to justify it fundamentally."

Bloomberg quoted Rural Clima meteorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos as saying that rain is forecast for a large part of Brazil in mid-July, which will be "detrimental" to crops, including coffee. "This is directly linked to El Niño, which has been gaining strength week after week," he added.

The rally adds to a broader El Niño-driven surge across soft commodities, with sugar, rice, and cocoa also rising.

Latest El Niño coverage:

• El Niño Heat Wave Fuels HVAC Boom: Goldman Maps The Trade
• Super El Niño: Famine Follows War?

Arabica inventories in exchange-monitored warehouses are at their lowest levels since March 2024.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 05:45

Russia's Oil Windfall Vanishes As Urals Crashes To $42 A Barrel

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

Russian crude oil prices have fallen back to where they were before the Middle East war, with its flagship Urals averaging just $41.66 a barrel during the first three days of July.

The drop wipes out the revenue boost Moscow received from the conflict and pressures a federal budget that assumes oil prices of about $59 a barrel. 

Urals had averaged more than $59 a barrel every month since March and climbed to $60.92 in June after the U.S. and Iran reached an agreement to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Higher prices gave the Kremlin room to replenish its reserve fund for the first time in nearly a year and delay planned spending cuts. With Urals now back near $42 a barrel, that relief could be short-lived. Oil and gas account for roughly one-third of Russia’s federal budget revenues. 

Reuters reported Monday that a European intelligence assessment warned the country’s banking sector is becoming increasingly vulnerable after years of war-driven lending, with rising bad loans and deteriorating asset quality risking a wider financial crisis.

According to the assessment, Russian banks have absorbed much of the financial burden of the war by extending subsidized loans to defense contractors, state-backed companies and households. The report estimates that roughly 10% of corporate loans are now considered doubtful, while some major lenders have retail non-performing loan ratios as high as 15%. It also cites more than 500,000 personal bankruptcies in 2025.

Ukraine also continues with campaigns targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure. Bloomberg reported Monday that drones were intercepted near the Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, two of Russia’s key crude export hubs. There were no reports of damage or disruptions to oil exports. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 05:00

Hamas Announces Dissolution Of Gaza Government, But Israel Warns It's A Sham

Hamas formally announced Monday the final dissolution of its government in Gaza amid preparations to hand power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of a Trump-brokered ceasefire deal.

The hardline Islamist group, which has fought Israel in a war for survival - especially since its brutal Oct.7 2023 terror attacks on southern Israel - has not indicated whether it will fully disarm, however. There's as yet no indication it will comply with handing over security to an international force. A fragile truce has remained in force, but there has been sporadic flare-ups in fighting over the last months, which has also at times seen renewed Israeli aerial assaults.

via The Arab Weekly

For this reason, the development has been met with mixed reactions, with Israeli officials asserting this is a deceptive PR stunt with no real significance. 

"The alleged resignation of the Hamas government, where all of the Hamas members stay in their positions, is a spin that has no significance," an Israeli official told the Times of Israel.

The response came on the heels of Ismail al-Thawabta, general director of the Hamas-run Government Media Office, having announced that "only technical and professional staff" would remain in their positions to run the Gaza Strip's daily administrative affairs.

"All employees working in service provision are 'state employees' and are fully prepared to work under the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza," he said at the press event held in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Additionally, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem touted that it marks "a positive step forward on the path to implement the ceasefire deal."

At the start of this year, back in January, special envoy Steve Witkoff said the second phase of the ceasefire plan would move the Palestinian enclave into a period that will see the demilitarization of Hamas and the establishment of a technocratic governance model.

This phase, now being implemented, is expected to also mark the start of reconstruction for the war-torn territory.

The Board of Peace, which is led by President Trump himself, issued a fresh statement linking any legitimate handover of power with a handover of weapons. "The core principle remains one authority, one law and one weapon," the board said on X. "This means the consolidation of all weapons under the control of the NCAG as provided for in the Comprehensive Gaza Peace Plan and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803," it continues.

We have taken note of the announcement today regarding the dissolution of the “Emergency Committee” in Gaza. Ultimately, our assessment will be guided by actions, not promises, to meet the critical needs of the people of Gaza. Decisions must be comprehensive with respect to the…

— Board of Peace (@BoardOfPeace) July 6, 2026

"A genuine transfer of authority must enable the NCAG to exercise its mandate independently, including taking the administrative and governance decisions entrusted to it," the statement says, which strongly suggests the Board of Peace itself is also skeptical of the Hamas announcement.

As for the committee which is to assume responsibility in the interim, the Associated Press describes that "The committee of technocrats, which is based in Cairo, is chaired by Ali Shaath, a Gaza-born engineer and former official with the Palestinian Authority. It has a mandate to restore essential services and oversee civilian affairs under the supervision of the U.N. and Board of Peace." At this point Hamas militants probably worry they will be massacred if they give up their arms. For this reason not all armed members are likely to agree even if they are ordered to lay down their weapons by commanders.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 04:15

Cuba's Entire Power Grid Collapses As Castro's Grandson Seeks Talks With Trump

Summary:

• Cuba's Power Grid Collapses 
• Castro's Grandson Ready To Talk With Trump 

Cuba Goes Dark

Hours after USA Today published an interview between one of its journalists and Cuban President Castro's grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the communist-run island experienced an island-wide power grid collapse.

The electrical workers' union said the entire power grid went offline and that officials were investigating the cause. Cuba's energy ministry confirmed the blackout and said crews were working to restore service.

"A total disconnection of the National Electric Power System is occurring. The causes are being investigated," the electrical workers' union wrote on X.

🔴 #AHORA || Ocurre una desconexión total del Sistema Electroenergético Nacional. Se investigan las causas.

Se continuará informando al respecto. pic.twitter.com/F7ksTBTakO

— Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (@OSDE_UNE) July 6, 2026

Time is ticking for the communists in Havana to make a deal with Trump or face further economic collapse, as Havana is a case study in the failure of communism and how that economic system has never succeeded. Yet the Democratic Party is trying to convince people otherwise as it embraces the far left.

"I Can Negotiate": Castro's Grandson Says He's Ready To Discuss Cuba's Future With President Trump 

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, former Cuban president Castro's grandson and one of the more important shadow figures inside Cuba's communist ruling circle, told USA Today in an exclusive interview that he is prepared to speak directly with President Trump, signaling publicly a potential back-channel opening as the Trump administration intensifies economic pressure on Havana.

"I've never been interested in politics. It's never been a calling of mine," Rodríguez Castro told the outlet over the course of several days in June in Havana. "But if at some point the revolution needs me to step up, I will do it." He said that he would never abandon the principles of Cuba's 1959 revolution or the nation's sovereignty.

Rodríguez Castro is a lesser-known figure outside Havana's communist circles. He holds no formal government position, rarely appears on state television and has never spoken to a US news outlet before.

But the Castro family name gives him unique status inside Havana's opaque power structure and the ability to act as a back-channel liaison with access to the island's communist elite.

Now, the younger Castro is signaling he is ready to negotiate Cuba's future, saying he wants to deal directly with President Trump.

"I can negotiate with anyone designated by the U.S.," Rodríguez Castro said. "If given the opportunity, claro que con Trump." Of course, with Trump.

Why would Rodríguez Castro want to negotiate now and not earlier this year? Well, that's because Trump's gunboat diplomacy has unleashed an economic stranglehold on the communist-run island, and it continues to work, with pressure now crushing the already poorly managed economy and collapsing its tourism sector.

The island drew just 360,000 tourists in the first five months of 2026, down 58% from a year earlier, according to Cuban government data. The neighboring Dominican Republic attracted more than 10 times that number over the same period.

The Trump administration says the pressure campaign is aimed at forcing the communist government to open its political system after generations of economic misery under failed communism.

Havana can't turn to help from the socialists in Venezuela because the Maduro regime was taken out by US Delta Force operators. The Chinese and Russians won't dare send their militaries to the island en masse because of the US naval presence in the region.

For Havana, the regime's external lifelines have been disappearing one by one over the last six months.

Recall that CIA Director John Ratcliffe was recently in Havana meeting with communist officials. Now, Rodríguez Castro speaking with a US media outlet is another promising signal, suggesting that back-channel talks are likely already underway as pressure builds on the island's ruling elite.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 04:00

UK Police Crack Down On Dangerous New Threat – People Standing Around Doing Nothing

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

British policing has reached new depths of absurdity and authoritarianism. Officers are inventing pre-crimes, harassing citizens for lawful filming or standing in public, and deploying to pubs to warn people off tweeting about councillors.

All while the same forces stand guard over brand-new taxpayer-funded houses handed to migrants and turn a blind eye to patterns of two-tier enforcement that have defined recent years.

In one widely shared incident, a female officer was caught on camera confronting a man peacefully filming in a public space.

?UK Police Threaten Arrest for "Future Crime" – Minority Report Comes to Britain

UK police officer threatens to arrest a man for peacefully filming in public, because his presence "might" wind people up and cause someone else to lose their temper.

This is straight-up Minority... pic.twitter.com/ODGxUvNYTm

— Skint Eastwood (@Skint_Eastwood1) July 2, 2026

In the footage she claims his mere presence "might" wind people up and lead someone else to lose their temper, threatening arrest to "prevent a breach of the peace."

No actual crime had occurred. No law was being broken. As the man pointed out, the logic is straight out of the dystopian story Minority Report: punish the law-abiding person in case an offence is later committed.

The man was simply exercising his right to record in public. The response is to treat him as the threat.

This is far from an isolated incident.

Another viral video shows a male officer with wild, agitated behaviour confronting a citizen for filming. He threatens arrest for a "technically public order offence," then pivots to demands for details, ultimately detaining the man.

Observers note the officer appears erratic, with exaggerated facial expressions and eye movements that have sparked widespread comment about his fitness for duty. The citizen was going about lawful business. The officer escalated without clear legal basis.

There's something seriously wrong with British policing. pic.twitter.com/lbezgwy6mP

— Or I'll just!! (@OrIlljust1) July 2, 2026

In Birmingham, police harassed a citizen journalist for filming in public, repeatedly citing "breach of the peace" while one officer grew visibly agitated and another followed the filmer continuing the same vague threat. The man being targeted remained calm and pointed out he was doing nothing illegal. The officers created the tension.

Calm down! Officer! ????????????

"I'll defend myself if you step out of line officer" ?????????????

Birmingham ???????

Out of control....
...Police Harass @AyAudits_c4n for filming in a public place and say he is creating a "breach of the peace" yet it is the Police officer that is clearly the... pic.twitter.com/ZBIiKdbuoU

— ANDY PUBLIC U.K (@Andypublicuk) June 21, 2026

Sheffield saw similar overreach. After police used significant force on a 17-year-old boy during a protest, slamming him into a metal bollard, officers then turned on a journalist filming the aftermath. They put hands on him solely for recording the incident up close. The pattern is consistent: document police actions and you become the problem.

?POLICE OVERREACH IN SHEFFIELD!

This is complete abuse of power by the police putting hands on someone just for filming!

This happened shortly after a 17 year old lad was slammed into a bollard by police protesting in Sheffield. https://t.co/A0Pahfwevg pic.twitter.com/DaR62xN0oj

— Gauci Reports (@GauciReports) June 18, 2026

Even standing still draws attention. London officers moved in on people simply standing around in a public square doing nothing.

London Police cracking down on the scourge of people standing around in a public square doing nothing. Meanwhile, violent barbaric migrants are stabbing people to death practically every day. pic.twitter.com/9oadZrUcA6

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) June 14, 2026

A female Merseyside officer was caught on camera calling a man legally filming in public a "nonce." Public filming remains lawful. The verbal abuse was not. Calls for her dismissal followed, but the incident fits the broader climate where officers feel empowered to insult citizens exercising basic rights.

??? WATCH: FEMALE POLICE OFFICER CALLS MAN A "NONCE" FOR FILMING IN PUBLIC

Outrage as Officer 8614 of Merseyside Police is caught on camera verbally abusing a member of the public who was legally filming.

? Public filming is not a crime
? The officer's conduct is completely... pic.twitter.com/nMI2TuFsKP

— British Intel (@TheBritishIntel) October 26, 2025

Another citizen journalist was arrested at a Chesterfield hotel protest for alleged breach of Section 14. Critics argue the application was selective and aimed at silencing documentation of events authorities prefer not to highlight.

?BREAKING: AY AUDITS HAS JUST BEEN ARRESTED AT CHESTERFIELD HOTEL PROTEST ??

THEY HAVE ARRESTED HIM FOR 'BREACH OF SECTION 14'??

THE BRITISH POLICE ARE ARRESTING AUDITORS FOR FILMING ?? @AyAudits_c4n pic.twitter.com/iJvwCBpYeg

— BRITAIN IS BROKEN ?? (@BROKENBRITAIN0) November 30, 2025

When the situation is inverted and police are standing around or filming the public, complaints have ironically led to further harassment of the public.

Officers have grabbed people and demanded details for the "offence" of shielding their features on the street from facial recognition cameras. Covering your face while walking is not a crime. Yet compliance with mass surveillance is apparently now enforced with physical intervention.

UK Police are now grabbing and harassing people and even fining them for covering up their faces while walking down the street where their 'facial recognition camera' vans are. https://t.co/S8211DEs3V

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) April 18, 2026

When not targeting cameras or idle citizens, officers turn to social media. In Chiswick, two policemen entered a pub, asked a man to step outside, and threatened him over a tweet criticising a councillor's plan to ban outdoor seating at pubs.

The officers admitted on camera that he had broken no law. Their visit was pure intimidation - a warning to watch what he posted about local officials. This is modern Britain: police resources deployed to police tweets rather than actual crime.

I am having a drink this evening with a friend in a Chiswick pub. Two policemen have just come into the pub and asked me to step outside. I have stepped outside and they have threatened me because I tweeted about a councillor banning seating outside pubs in Chiswick. They admit... pic.twitter.com/r7MDIIdgvc

— Alastair Hilton (@London_W4) July 2, 2026

Similar visits and warnings over "insults" or critical posts have been reported repeatedly. The message is clear: lawful criticism of those in power can bring uniformed officers to your door or local pub for a "chat."

?A man has been arrested in the UK for calling someone a 'muppet'

The Police are out of control.

I wish this was a joke.
It isn't.

Absolute insanity. pic.twitter.com/yHTXPtKFBL

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) September 8, 2025

?ANOTHER MAN ARRESTED FOR CALLING SOMEONE A 'MUPPET'

An altercation about who is blocking the highway results in the man walking away while saying the Policeman was 'an absolute muppet'

Next thing:??ARRESTED??

The Police in the UK are out of control https://t.co/X9XTLW5i6M pic.twitter.com/uBt0CkSRsW

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) September 9, 2025

?Man ARRESTED for RE-POSTING somebody else's post

Apparently this caused someone 'anxiety'

The man asks why am I being arrested when he posted it first?

The Police couldn't answer

The UK is a dystopia pic.twitter.com/Q0U6niqIGR

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) September 22, 2025

SEVERELY ILL MAN ARRESTED FOR COMMENTS ?

He's forcibly searched and handcuffed for making 'Offensive comments' online

They can't even tell him what the comments are for before saying they need to bring his medication with him.

The British Police are drunk on power. pic.twitter.com/oLXSbZqnlw

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) October 2, 2025

These developments arrive against a backdrop of documented two-tier policing. In Birmingham, three black individuals assaulted a white British teenager. Footage shows a female officer shielding the aggressors and directing aggression toward the white victim.

The attackers walked away. Multiple officers then swarmed the victim, used foul language, shoved him into a police car the wrong way, dragged him out after the botched attempt, and restrained him forcefully. A bystander trying to explain that the white lad was the victim was ignored.

West Midlands Police have been accused of trying to limit circulation of the footage rather than addressing conduct. When pressed, they reportedly reviewed material and found nothing wrong.

UK police are trying to cover up for arresting a White victim while letting his attackers go free

Thank God for Community Notes pic.twitter.com/PMqQP6SCMo

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 3, 2026

The same pattern appears in Rotherham, where South Yorkshire Police used aggressive force against teenage girls at a school leavers' event - shoves, batons swung, girls knocked down, a punch, Tasers pointed. Rotherham carries the heavy legacy of grooming gang failures that saw an estimated 1,400 young victims, mostly native British girls, betrayed by authorities terrified of racism accusations. Now the same forces apply heavy hands to the daughters of those communities.

While officers invent reasons to arrest or intimidate native Britons for filming, standing, or tweeting, other resources are visibly committed elsewhere. Police have been filmed providing 24-hour guard for empty £250,000 new-build homes prepared for migrants.

Police on 24hr guard for empty 250k homes ready for migrants to live in.. crazy how they don't protect our own like this pic.twitter.com/EtDGS7bAfm

— Dpaudits (@dpaudits) July 2, 2026

?NEW: Footage of "asylum seekers" moving into their taxpayer-funded £250,000 houses in the quiet village of Stoke Heath, Shropshire.pic.twitter.com/d1C5fRItZn

— The Mercian (@TheMercianNews) July 2, 2026

This is not policing in any traditional sense. It is selective enforcement that protects certain groups and narratives while treating ordinary citizens exercising their liberties as the threat. Pre-crime logic, facial recognition enforcement, pub visits over tweets, and aggressive handling of native Britons in disputes all point to the same direction: a state that has lost sight of its duty to the people it serves and has instead become an instrument for managing dissent and demographic change.

The public is noticing. Trust is eroding. When officers spend time threatening people for holding cameras or posting opinions rather than confronting real violence, the social contract frays.

Britain deserves police who protect lawful behaviour, not invent crimes to justify targeting it. Until that changes, the dangerous new trend will remain the one the authorities have embraced: treating the governed as the problem.

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 Tue, 07/07/2026 - 03:30

Lithuania To Lift Ban On Nuclear Weapons, Following Finland

First it was Finland which lifted its ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons, declaring its willingness to host NATO's arsenal (which is largely provided by the US), and now Lithuania has become the latest European country to move to do the same.

Lithuania, which has been a NATO member state since 2004, has newly declared its willingness to be part of the alliance's nuclear sharing program. "We would like to be the integral part of this nuclear deterrence," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said at a conference in Berlin on Friday, according to AFP.

Source: Baltic Defence College

"A few days ago, I initiated a constitutional amendment to remove the existing restriction on the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Lithuania," Nauseda added.

Soon on the heels of this speech, a group of 50 Lithuanian lawmakers submitted an amendment, but which is still expected to be formally presented before parliament.

Nauseda touted that there is "practically unanimous" support among lawmakers for repealing the ban outlined in Article 137 of Lithuania's Constitution.

“Almost all parliamentary faction leaders expressed the view that Article 137 has become obsolete and should not merely be amended but removed,” Nauseda said.

As for the current constitutional prohibition in question: 

Article 137 of Lithuania’s Constitution currently states that weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases may not be located on Lithuanian territory.

Finland's parliament has already voted on its own reversal last month, after which Russia moved to secure more border areas with NATO countries.

This is expected to further severely impact trade and worsen official relations with these countries:

Russia has closed seven railway border checkpoints with Finland, Estonia and Latvia, according to a government decree published Tuesday.

The suspension, which takes effect July 1, halts the movement of individuals, vehicles and cargo through the designated rail crossings. Five of the shuttered checkpoints are located on the Finnish border, while Estonia and Latvia each have one crossing affected.

Officials have not disclosed the reasons for the closures or when the checkpoints might reopen.

In Estonia, the Ivangorod freight and passenger crossing will remain open, and in Latvia, the Sebezh crossing will also stay open. However, the closures leave Finland with no open railway crossings with Russia, which normally exports fertilizer to Finland by rail.

Finland shut its eastern vehicle and pedestrian border crossings with Russia indefinitely in December 2023 following an influx of asylum seekers.

Since the Ukraine war began, and in context of ratcheting tensions with NATO over its military support to Kiev, Moscow has steadily militarized its border regions with Baltic and Scandinavian states.

via BBC

The most significant source of NATO's nuclear-sharing program remains the United States. But lately France has expressed a desire to station some of its atomic arsenal in partner countries, and this could include in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and others.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 02:45

EU Parliament Banning The ESN Party Alliance Is A 'Realistic Scenario' Warns German MEP

Via Remix News,

For the first time in European history, an EU party alliance could be outright banned in the European Parliament, which would mark a major blow to democracy and rule of law.

The Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN), which includes nine right-wing European parties, has been relentlessly attacked by the EU establishment since its founding in 2024. The ESN’s largest party member, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has also been the target of efforts for an outright ban at the national level in Germany. While left-wing and establishment parties are struggling to implement a ban on the AfD in Germany, at the European federal level, democratic checks and balances and the rule of law are far weaker.

Now, the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF) is seeking to de-register the ESN, which would strip it of all its funding and de facto lead to the end of the party.

German MEP Alexander Sell of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is a founding member of the ESN and has since become the president of the Sovereignty Foundation (SF), the foundation formally associated with the ESN. He said he is speaking as the president of the SF and discussed the efforts his party is taking to fight this de-registration, how much of the APPF’s actions are an extension of the political warfare being waged against the AfD at the national level, and even touches on his own personal motivations for participating in politics as an AfD member despite the massive degree of personal attacks and even physical threats.

There is a lot of discussion about your party facing a potential ban from this European watchdog [Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF)], but how realistic is it that your party will actually be banned in the near future?

It’s a realistic scenario because the authority — the European Authority for Political Parties and Foundations (APPF) — has the power to de-register parties. They register European parties and they also have the authority to de-register a European party, and that is what they are planning to do.They have a couple of accusations against us. They have a 300-page dossier on our party.

So they will start the investigation, but they will give us the chance to answer the accusations. And then they have the authority to ban our party.

And do you have any idea of what the political leanings of the people in this watchdog are? Does your party view a negative outcome as already a foregone conclusion?

Well, there are some indications that this is a political maneuver, because the director of this authority, [Pascal Schonard,] is German and he used to work for the CDU.  He was a member of Klaus Welle’s cabinet. For almost a decade, Klaus Welle was Secretary-General of the European People’s Party and the EPP–ED group in the European Parliament.

So I think there are political intentions behind this attempt to de-register our party. But still, I don’t think it is 100% guaranteed, because in the end you have to acknowledge that on the European level there are many parties like ours. There is a shift to the right all over Europe.You have governments — for example in Italy, the Czech Republic or Slovakia — that are led by patriotic forces. So I don’t think it will be that easy.

The majorities in the European Parliament are also shifting to the right because that is what voters want.They want patriotic, realistic and more free-market-oriented policies, and that is what we are seeing on the European level. We want to get rid of bureaucracy, we want to get rid of climate policy, we want to secure our borders — and we have majorities for that.

So I think this attempt to ban our party will not be easy, because European voters are demanding something else.I mean, you have to take into account that the AfD is the strongest political party in Germany, polling at around 29%, which is a large margin ahead of the CDU. So I think it will be very controversial to ban our European party.

But what real checks and balances are there if they move forward with a ban? Would you appeal?

Yes, we will appeal the decision by the authority. Definitely. And I think we have good reasons to appeal, because what they are accusing us of is that we are not respecting European values. Well, I don’t agree with that. We are very democratic — the AfD is very democratic. Our partner parties from other countries are very democratic. We would never come up with the idea of banning political competition. That is not how we work. We are working for democratic majorities.

So I think we are respecting European values of democracy in a more serious manner than other parties. Also, talking about the rule of law: we have always criticised the European Union for breaking its own laws. For example, in the attempt to rescue the euro and in the migration crisis, they violated the laws that the EU itself had decided on — and that is what we have criticised from the beginning.

So I would say that we are actually the defenders of the rule of law within the European Union, and those are the arguments we will bring forward in court if we have to appeal the decision by the European authorities.

So, during this appeal process, would your grouping be banned right away or would it continue to exist during the appeal?

The authority has the right to ban or de-register a party. So from the moment the authority takes a decision, our party is banned.

The efforts at EU level almost seem to mirror what is happening in Germany itself. Do you feel that this is simply an extension of what is already happening in Germany?

Yes, definitely. I think this is the easier route for them than banning the AfD at national level. There is less attention on the European political party, and in Germany they would need a decision by the Constitutional Court, which is harder to obtain than a decision by the APPF. So I think they chose to attack us at the European level.

There is also still no money for an AfD political foundation, even though this is normally standard for any political party of our size in the Bundestag, right?

Talking about the political foundations, just to give you an idea of the amounts involved: around 700 million euros per year is distributed to the political foundations of the CDU, SPD, the Greens, the liberals and the Communist party (editor’s note: Left Party).

These are incredible figures. They use that money, for example, to recruit in the universities. That is something we are not able to do, because they are denying us those funds and they keep changing the rules on how to obtain the money. It used to be available after two terms in parliament, and they changed it. They are still denying us that money, which puts us at a huge disadvantage, because we would have access to 60 to 70 million euros that we could use for scholarships in universities or to fund research.It is a really important instrument in the political debate, and we are being denied it on an unlawful basis.

That is the situation. You have to understand: they are still talking about banning the most successful party in Germany, according to the polls. We are the strongest party in the polls by a large margin, and the losing parties are seriously considering prohibiting our party and calling it “protecting democracy” while actually prohibiting democracy. That is the situation in Germany.

I think it is an unprecedented case, and it shows that true democracy is still not very well established in Germany, unfortunately.

[Chancellor Friedrich] Merz has already said that he did not want to ban the AfD because it “stinks of attacking a political rival.” There would also be electoral consequences for the CDU, since knocking out the AfD could create a huge vacuum that the left would fill. The CDU could then be sidelined. Do you think it is realistic that the CDU will go along with this?

I think at national level they will not, because there is also international attention on this case. The Americans and others around the world are watching what is happening in Germany. It would be a huge scandal, and I think it would seriously weaken Friedrich Merz’s position internationally if he ended up abolishing democracy in Germany. So I don’t think they will go that far.

But at European level it is a different story. I think the CDU itself — or at least a majority within the CDU delegation in the European Parliament — would very much go along with it. On the other hand, I see that the EPP is not united on this.

You have to remember that some members of the EPP, such as Forza Italia and the Partido Popular in Spain, are already in coalition with right-wing parties — members of the Patriots for Europe or the ECR. So the so-called cordon sanitaire, the firewall as it is called in Germany, is not working at European level.

I think the same will apply to this decision to ban us: they will not have all their EPP members on side. Many of them, especially outside Germany, realize that voters want different policies and that we are driving these new policies. They understand that cooperation will eventually be necessary — and they are already seeing this in Italy, Spain and France.

You had the deportation regulation, where a French MEP worked together with one of our MEPs. So to go so far as to prohibit, for the first time in history, a European political party would create tensions inside the EPP — and rightly so. I hope there are still some democrats left within the EPP.

The APPF even cited the term “remigration” as a basis for this ban. But this term is also being used by the Patriots for Europe grouping. How long before that party is targeted in the same way?

Well, we could talk about a lot of comments. If you look at the left, the way they talk about Israel and the right of the state of Israel to exist, you could also argue that this goes against the idea of human dignity. The same applies to slogans like “From the river to the sea.” It is not as if accusations could not also be made against other parties.

These terms are so vague that you could find something against almost any party. They researched statements by members of our national member parties long before we even founded the ESN. So they are holding us responsible for comments made years ago, when the ESN did not even exist.It is the same for all the other European parties — including the EPP and the Social Democrats.

You will always find some member somewhere, perhaps in Spain or Slovakia, who has said something that could be argued to go against “European values.” It is simply a question of resources. This authority has the resources to produce a 300-page dossier, and we do not. But it would be easy to produce a similar report on any other European political party.

I understand that your grouping wants to give its members freedom of speech and that there are probably differing views among the parties in your grouping. But how much can this watchdog punish the entire party for comments made in the past by individual politicians?

Well, that is exactly what we are doing. I do accept that, as a European political party — and this is also in our statutes — we have to ensure that our national member parties adhere to so-called European values. I also share these values: the rule of law, democracy and respect for human dignity.I think we need better methods to ensure we can sanction members who contradict these values, so that our national parties respect them.

That is what we are doing. We changed our statutes last Friday at a general assembly. For example, we expanded the board. Until now we did not have a representative from each member party on the board. Now we will have representatives of every national member party on the ESN board. So if something controversial is said or published in one of our member states, we will have a contact person we can talk to — someone who is also responsible for taking corrective measures.

We have implemented these changes because we recognize our responsibility for all our national member parties, and the new structure will allow us to intervene more effectively when necessary.

Just a personal question. AfD members and politicians face a constant stream of attacks, and this potential ban could be seen as an extension of that. In Eastern Europe, even parties considered more right-wing operate in a more right-leaning environment without a large Antifa scene that wants to set your car on fire. As an AfD politician, how do you deal with the psychological pressure of facing extremely high levels of personal attacks and even the threat of physical attacks on an almost constant basis?

One of the main characteristics of the German mindset is conformism — a conformism that can even extend to violence against non-conformists. That is what we are seeing now. They burn our cars, they attack our houses. They try to debank us. We are still looking for a bank account for the foundation.

For foreigners it is sometimes hard to understand how this can happen in Germany. Germany is a very conformist society: you are not supposed to step out of line. The AfD is stepping out of line because too many things are going wrong in Germany. It started with migration, well, actually it started with the euro crisis, I recently saw figures from UBS in Switzerland on average wealth distribution in Europe. Germany is behind Greece and far behind Spain, Italy and France — yet we remain the biggest net contributor to the European Union, even though we are significantly poorer than those countries.

If you travel to Italy, Spain or France, you can see there is more wealth there. But people are not allowed to say this.

The same applies to migration. The problems are obvious if you look at German cities, but we are not allowed to point them out. This is due to the very strong conformism in Germany. You are supposed to support the European Union, open borders and migration. You are supposed to support Ukraine against Russia. It is very hard for Germans to object to any of this.

This differentiates us from countries like France, which has a history of revolution, or the Anglo-Saxon world, which has a tradition of healthy mistrust towards government. Germans have very high trust in their government. They do not dare to criticize those in power.

That is one of the reasons I can live with the attacks and the social ostracism. I am convinced that we have the better arguments. People are suffering, and eventually the suffering will become so great that they will realize they have been betrayed by their government. They will understand that we were right from the beginning — and we are already seeing this in the polls.

In some eastern German states we are polling at around 42%, at least above 40%.This is also because East Germans have already experienced one government collapsing. They saw socialism fail and they saw that all the propaganda produced by the socialist regime was a lie. That is why they do not believe the propaganda of the current German government, and they are voting for the opposition — which is us.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/07/2026 - 02:00

CIA Investigated Officers For Espionage Over Not Taking COVID-19 Vaccine: Lawsuit

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The CIA has investigated thousands of personnel and contractors for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new lawsuit.

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden imposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal employees and contractors. Shortly after, the CIA’s chief operating officer directed the CIA’s Counter Espionage Department to investigate all unvaccinated contractors and workers within the agency, plaintiffs said in the suit, which was filed on June 30 in federal court in Virginia.

“Any employee or contractor who refused the vaccine was treated by the Agency as a threat to the United States government and ordered to be investigated as the same,” the suit reads.

A cross-agency group established by former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard learned in 2025 from a whistleblower of the order and asked for confirmation from the CIA. The CIA responded by confirming the investigation of thousands of employees and contractors, according to the legal complaint. The CIA declined to cite an authority for the investigation order.

James Erdman III, one of the unvaccinated employees, formally asked the CIA to remove all material from the investigations and information in employee files that stemmed from the probes, lawyers representing unvaccinated CIA employees said. The agency never responded, leading to the lawsuit.

Erdman, who worked with Gabbard’s group, recently testified to the Senate about the CIA spying on the group as it worked on a number of matters, including the CIA’s change in its assessment of the origins of COVID-19.

The suit seeks certification of a class of employees who did not take a vaccine and were investigated. Plaintiffs also want the court to declare the order from the chief operating officer illegal and force the CIA to remove any information yielded from the investigation from employee and contractor files.

The CIA did not respond to a request for comment.

None of the workers affected by the investigations has been fired.

“The fact that the investigation occurred in the first instance, and the fact that there has been no assurances that anything stemming from that investigation has been essentially wiped clean, it does, unfortunately, set conditions—precedent—for where if there is any reason or need to investigate any of these individuals at any future date, this could be used as a basis to do so,” Carol Thompson, one of the lawyers representing the officers, told The Epoch Times.

“So it kind of unfortunately puts them in—the employees and contractors—in a precarious situation where they otherwise never should have been.”

Feds for Freedom, a group cofounded by Erdman, is supporting the lawsuit.

“Federal employees serving at the highest levels of our national security apparatus should never face counterespionage investigations simply for exercising a personal medical choice,” said Olivia Degenkolb, vice president of the organization, in a statement.

“These officers were targeted solely for their vaccination status. That is unacceptable. We are seeking justice in federal court to protect their rights and ensure our government upholds the rule of law.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 07/06/2026 - 23:25

Zelensky Touts "Battle In The Sky" As Key To Winning Asymmetric Fight With Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that the decisive phase of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shifted from land and sea to the air, making the battle in the sky the determining factor of the war - at a moment Russia has begun to experience a fuel shortage crisis in many locales due to vital energy infrastructure having been struck again and again by inbound suicide drones.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Zelensky emphasized that the question of seizing territory now holds far less significance because Ukraine has entered the aerial sphere and has unleashed serious damage on Russian territory. The Kremlin has all the while maintained that its forces are advancing in the east, but Zelensky is suggesting this doesn't matter anymore as Ukraine has pivoted to asymmetric warfare.

"Today I believe victory in this war belongs to whoever is smarter. If you stop the enemy on the battlefield, if you stop the war on land, and if you deny him dominance at sea – as we did with our naval drones, driving the Russian fleet away – then the next battlefield becomes the sky," he said in the FT interview, published Monday.

Ukraine Defense Ministry

Zelensky described that "it matters far less whose territory is larger" and that "we have moved into the air domain. And in the air, we are already competitive." Russia is in the meantime close to achieving its goal of pacifying the four eastern annexed territories.

The remarks are clearly timed to appeal to Ukraine's 'successes' against Russia during the same week the major annual NATO summit kicks off in Turkey, with President Trump and other world leaders expected.

Zelensky, who will also be on the ground in Ankara, further told FT:

"If our partners do not abandon Ukraine financially, if our soldiers continue holding the front, if every kilometer of Russian advance continues to cost them tens of thousands – and sometimes hundreds of thousands – of personnel, then the decisive struggle will take place in the skies.

Because the skies will determine the outcome of this war."

President Trump has meanwhile newly claimed that that the end of the Ukraine war is closer than most people think. However, the two sides are not even close to getting representatives at the same table.

The president was questioned Monday on why Russia's Putin doesn't feel more pressure when the two talk, to which Trump replied: "I think he really feels pressure... he wants to put an end to this, and Ukraine wants to put an end to this. We are negotiating and we'll see if we can put an end to it."

Another record strike by Ukraine's long-range drone arsenal:

Record-distance strike: Ukraine hit Omsk oil refinery — the largest in Russia — located 2,700 km from Ukrainian territory. pic.twitter.com/HiicAABzos

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 6, 2026

"I think we are much closer than people think," Trump continued. "President Putin wants this to end. I’ll tell you that very firmly. And President Zelensky really wants this to end now." He added: "We will succeed" - while affirming that this will be high on the agenda at the NATO summit.

The White House has been signaling a possible pivot back to a head-on diplomatic push to find an end to the conflict in Ukraine, which is now it its fifth year. The Iran ceasefire in the meantime appears to be holding, for now.

Tyler Durden Mon, 07/06/2026 - 23:00