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Zero Rss

Afghan Asylum Seeker Sentenced For Raping Goats And 6-Month-Old Lamb

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Afghan Asylum Seeker Sentenced For Raping Goats And 6-Month-Old Lamb

Via Remix News,

A 19-year-old Afghan man, Massoud S., was tried Monday at the Aix-en-Provence court for sexual assault against six goats, one of which died, and a 6-month-old lamb at an educational farm. He has been convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison and a ban from French territory.

Afghan migrant Massoud S. was initially charged with “serious abuse or act of cruelty against a domestic, tame, or captive animal.” He continued to deny the rapes in this case despite DNA evidence and being caught redhanded raping a goat. He even told a court psychologist that anyone who did rape the animals only did it to “not rape a woman” since “a goat could not identify him afterward.”

The sexual assaults occurred between February and April and on top of the DNA evidence, his phone location also had him pinged to the crime scene.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” he told the magistrates regarding the ample evidence against him.

Massoud S. reportedly repeatedly raped the animals, which all belonged to an animal shelter and educational farm “Un moment” in Les Pennes-Mirabeau, near Marseille.

Cassandra Sortino, the owner of the establishment, remains deeply traumatized by the mass rape of her animals by the Afghan man.

“We set up this association to do good, and the animals were in danger in our own structure. We cannot explain it morally,” she testified. “We feel like we failed.”

According to Swiss outlet 20 Minutes, “Representing herself without a lawyer, she searched in vain for an answer to her central question: why?”

The incident began in February when she noticed that there were ligature marks on some of the animals’ legs. A veterinarian discovered injuries to the animals’ genitals and traces of blood.

This was enough evidence for Sortino to install a surveillance camera, where she saw a man sneaking into her property and raping animals. She remained in contact with police, and in April, the Afghan man was finally arrested. At the moment he was apprehended, police discovered the man in the middle of the act of raping the goat, wearing latex gloves, and with his pants down.

Massoud S. claimed that he was in the barn because he missed his train on the night he was arrested to Marseille, where he lives in an asylum seeker center in the city’s 3rd arrondissement.

Massoud S. required a translator during his trial but said he felt “full of shame” when describing his strict religious upbringing. He arrived in France in November 2025 and claims he lost his family during a bombing raid in his home country.

A psychiatrist reported the man suffers from no mental disorders, however, he reportedly said while talking about the rapes: “We make a big deal out of it when they’re just animals,”

“I’m a normal person,” he said when confronted with these statements in court.

He has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for charges reclassified as “abuse leading to death.” He is also banned from French territory and must register into a database for sexual offenders.

Sortino is not done with the Afghan and plans to appeal the sentence.

“I would have liked to understand,” Sortino said.

Previous cases

Last year in Germany, a shocking case has emerged from the beautiful town of Oberneufnach in Bavaria, which involved a 52-year-old Turkish asylum seeker allegedly breaking into a stable and sexually abusing ponies.

The man, who is from a refugee shelter in the nearby town of Anhofen, was arrested after he was caught on surveillance video.

The man broke into the horse farm at 6:45 p.m. while the family was having dinner. They heard the dog barking and then looked on surveillance monitors, where they saw the man in the stable with his pants down on top of one of the animals.

The boyfriend then ran to the stables to chase down the man, but he had already fled the scene. He continued his pursuit of the suspect though and eventually caught him. Police arrived and placed the man under arrest.

In 2023, a 27-year-old suspect was arrested after he was caught on a surveillance camera raping a pony at a stable south of Hamburg. The 18-year-old pony, which is named “Carrie,” was abused by the man at 1 a.m., with footage showing the man calmly walking onto the property and starting to attack the defenseless animal.

Steffi B. released the footage to German newspaper Bild, which posted stills of the perpetrator on its web publication.

The attack happened in Birkenmoor, which is in Harburg, just a few kilometers from the Hamburg city center.

Even the petting zoo at the park has not been safe. In 2017, a Syrian migrant raped a pony there in front of children.

“My babysitter was out with our son in Görlitzer Park. They witnessed the man sexually assault the pony,” one woman told Berliner Morgenpost at the time. The babysitter took a photo of the man as he raped the pony and provided it to police. The migrant was banned from the petting zoo in response, but it is unclear if he was ever charged by police.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 09:15
Tyler Durden

Trump Requests $88 Billion Supplemental Funding Package Focused On Iran War Funds, Farm Aid, And Ebola Response

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Trump Requests $88 Billion Supplemental Funding Package Focused On Iran War Funds, Farm Aid, And Ebola Response

President Donald Trump formally asked Congress on Wednesday for $87.6 billion in supplemental appropriations - your tax dollars (for our American readers) - to cover urgent needs stemming from the U.S. military campaign against Iran, provide economic relief to American farmers, and respond to the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa.

The request, sent in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, comes as the administration seeks to replenish military stocks and address operational expenses from Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.-Israeli military effort launched on February 28, 2026.

Breakdown of the Funding Request

According to the White House letter and reporting from multiple outlets, the package allocates funds across several priorities:

  • Department of War (Pentagon): $67.146 billion - the largest share. This includes approximately $21 billion for munitions to rebuild stockpiles, substantial funding for operations and readiness, $2.4 billion for drones, $5.1 billion for cybersecurity and autonomy, fuel costs, and $12.1 billion for classified programs.
  • American Farmers (USDA): $11.1 billion - $10 billion in temporary economic assistance for row and specialty crops in 2026, plus $1.1 billion to help Florida agricultural producers recover from winter storm damage.
  • Ebola Outbreak Response: $1.4 billion - focused on detection, contact tracing, surveillance, humanitarian assistance in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Kenya, plus medical evacuation and departure support for U.S. citizens.
  • Infrastructure and Other: $500 million for restoration and capital projects in Washington, D.C.; $1 billion toward modernizing Penn Station in New York City; plus smaller amounts for the Department of Energy and other items.

The administration described most of the request as addressing “urgent needs related to Operation Epic Fury” while also tackling other critical domestic and international priorities.

Background: Operation Epic Fury

Operation Epic Fury - the Israeli-US (Master-Blaster) war on Iran which has split the Republican party in exchange for no obvious benefit to Americans who are on the hook for tens of billions of dollars - saw four months of intense fighting from late February to early May 2026. The goal was to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, missile and drone production facilities, navy, air defenses, and efforts to develop or acquire nuclear weapons and related technology.

Diplomatic efforts continue, including a June 2026 memorandum of understanding signed in Islamabad aimed at formally ending the conflict within a 60-day window, though disputes remain over issues such as IAEA access to damaged nuclear sites.

The Trump administration has characterized the campaign as a decisive success achieved through “peace through strength,” while critics have raised questions about costs, civilian casualties in some strikes, and broader strategic outcomes.

Political Reactions and Congressional Outlook

The supplemental faces a challenging path in Congress. It requires bipartisan support to advance in the Senate, where 60 votes are typically needed to overcome procedural hurdles.

  • Democrats have largely opposed funding what many describe as an unnecessary or illegal war and are expected to resist the package.
  • Republicans show divisions: Many support replenishing military capabilities and providing farm aid, but some express skepticism about the war’s handling and costs. Farm-state lawmakers are already signaling they may seek to increase the agricultural assistance beyond the proposed $11.1 billion.

House Republican leaders have indicated they will review the details carefully, citing Congress’s constitutional role in funding national defense. The request arrives amid broader debates over the administration’s push for a significantly larger Pentagon budget.

The package also includes regulatory updates favored by some farm-state Republicans, such as measures related to hemp-derived products and year-round sales of E15 ethanol-blended fuel. These provisions aim to support agricultural interests but have drawn opposition from other sectors.

Bundling military, humanitarian, agricultural, and infrastructure spending in one supplemental is a common legislative tactic but often draws criticism for obscuring priorities or adding unrelated items.

What Happens Next?

Congressional appropriators will now examine the request. Passage is far from guaranteed given partisan divides over the Iran conflict and competing budget priorities. The administration has urged swift action, emphasizing the need to restore military readiness and address other urgent matters.

This supplemental represents one of the largest emergency funding requests in recent years, reflecting both the scale of the military operation against Iran and the administration’s efforts to address domestic economic pressures on farmers and global health risks.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 09:00
Tyler Durden

Continuing Jobless Claims At 3-Month-Highs, Initial Claims Tumble Back To 2021 Levels

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Continuing Jobless Claims At 3-Month-Highs, Initial Claims Tumble Back To 2021 Levels

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell last week to 215k (after hitting four month highs last week), well below the 225k expectations and back to the same levels it was at in 2021...

New Jersey and Oregon saw the biggest WoW rise in initial jobless claims while Minnesota and Pennsylvania saw the biggest decline...

At the same time, continuing jobless claims picked up to 1.821 million Americans - the highest in 3 months...

The bottom line is that initial claims remain low by historical standards and continue to run below year-ago levels, reinforcing the more hawkish 'labor market is resilient' framework introduced last week.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 08:55
Tyler Durden

Services Costs Drag Fed's Favorite Inflation Signal To 3-Year Highs, Savings Rate Holds Near Lows

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Services Costs Drag Fed's Favorite Inflation Signal To 3-Year Highs, Savings Rate Holds Near Lows

After accelerating in March and April, The Fed's favorite inflation indicator - Core PCE (a measure of price changes in consumer goods and services that excludes volatile food and energy costs) - was expected to rise once again in May.

And it did with the crucial inflation signal up 0.3% MoM (as expected) and up 3.4% YoY (as expected) and at the highest level since Nov 2023...

Services costs picked up again with Durable goods flat and non-durable goods inflation decelerating...

The headline PCE jumped 0.4% MoM (slightly less than the 0.5% exp) and up 4.1% YoY (as expected) - highest since April 2023...

The impact of the war is evident in crude prices and the PCE's energy index, but arguably, this is as bad as it gets in terms of inflation...

But PCE signals that the soaring cost of semiconductors (the software and accessories component receives about 30 times the weight in PCE as it does in CPI) - has stalled...

Higher prices were met with higher spending (+0.7% MoM notional) and higher income growth (+0.7% MoM)...

While Spending has been accelerating, income growth HAD been slowing but accelerated markedly last month...

...with both private sector and government workers seeing wage growth acceleration...

Spending continues to run well ahead of inflation (real personal spending up 2.1% YoY)...

Despite an upward revision to the personal savings rate every month of 2026, May was 3.0%, still lowest since 2022

With the savings rate barely above record lows, it seems that Americans are digging into their savings to keep up with inflation. No wonder sentiment is so low...

Howver, as Goldman's Rich Privorotsky notes, the challenge is that most inflation data now feels inherently backward looking, predating the collapse in oil back toward pre-conflict levels.

Given Warsh's new mantra of no forward guidance we probably should have more volatility around these releases than we have seen historically.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 08:45
Tyler Durden

Futures Jump As Micron Revives AI Euphoria, Oil Erases War Gains

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Futures Jump As Micron Revives AI Euphoria, Oil Erases War Gains

Global stocks and S&P futures are higher while Nasdaq futures are on a tear after Micron’s sales forecast blew the lights out, brushing aside fears over a near-term pullback in the AI trade, while Qualcomm set aggressive targets at its investor day in New York. As of 8:00am ET, a revival of the AI demand theme is sending contracts on the Nasdaq 100 up 2.1% while S&P 500 futures are up a more modest 0.7%. MU is +18% pre-market, pushing Semis higher (SOXX +5%, DRAM +12%) while Mag7 - the companies which enable all this chip spending - are mostly lower. As Goldman's Delta 1 desks asks, how much longer will they be willing to see their stock languish while funding semiconductor outperformance? Korea's KOSPI rallied 5.5% overnight (closing well off the highs) and remains ~2.4% below pre-Flash Crash levels. While the AI theme is bid pre-market, this is not an ‘Everything Rally’ with Cyclicals seeing a mixed performance with Banks flat, Regional Banks lower, Energy down with crude, Discretionary mixed, and Materials flat. Within Defensives, Staples are weaker, HC mixed, and AI-related Utils names are higher. Brent crude dropped 1.4% to below $73 a barrel, erasing all Iran war gains, on fears of a supply glut following a ramp-up in flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Bond yields are flat to +2bp as the yield curve steepens, but the USD starts the session lower for the first time in 6 sessions. US economic data calendar includes May personal income/spending, 1Q GDP revision, May durable goods orders, weekly jobless claims and May Chicago Fed national activity index (8:30am) and June Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity (11am). Fed speaker slate includes Bowman (8:45am), Goolsbee (2pm, 6:30pm) and Williams (3:40pm).

In premarket trading, Micron is 16% higher premarket after its quarterly sales forecast blew past estimates; Qualcomm is up 12% after it estimated more than $15 billion of annual revenues by fiscal 2029 from AI components in data centers. Both look set to challenge all-time highs today. Meanwhile, as semiconductor stocks surge after Micron’s update, the Mag 7 hyperscalers who fund them are all down: Microsoft (MSFT) -0.4%, Amazon (AMZN) -0.5%, Meta Platforms (META) -0.2%, Apple (AAPL) -0.5%, Alphabet (GOOGL) -1.2%

  • ARS Pharmaceuticals (SPRY) sinks 20% after the biotech company said there has been no new commercial formulary additions or coverage decisions for its epinephrine nasal spray, neffy, in the July 1 cycle.
  • Bio-Techne (TECH) climbs 20% after Merck agreed to acquire the company for $73 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of around $11.3 billion.
  • BlackBerry’s (BB) US-listed shares rise 8% after the software company boosted its revenue forecast for the full year.
  • Dollar Tree (DLTR) falls 5% after saying Mantle Ridge and another stockholder sold 12.8 million shares to JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.
  • HB Fuller (FUL) slips 8% after agreeing to acquire Advanced Medical Solutions Group Plc, a British maker of tissue-healing medical products, for $868 million.
  • IBM (IBM) gains 3% after the technology giant unveiled the world’s first sub-1 nanometer chip technology.
  • Jefferies Financial (JEF) inches about 1% lower after posting second-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates as the bank pulled in less fees from Point Bonita, which bet on the embattled auto-parts supplier First Brands Group.
  • Micron Technology (MU) jumps 18% after its quarterly sales forecast exceeded Wall Street estimates, signaling that an AI-fueled growth run remains strong.
  • Trip.com ADRs (TCOM) fall 13% after the company reported adjusted earnings for the first quarter that missed analyst estimates. The online travel agency also expects slower 2Q revenue growth.
  • Qualcomm (QCOM) gains 10% after the chipmaker forecast sales of more than $15 billion a year by fiscal 2029 in the market for AI components in data centers.
  • Wendy’s (WEN) climbs 13%, on track to extend gains after rallying 26% on Wednesday, as the meme-stock crowd rallies behind the fast-food chain

In other corporate news, Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract worth as much as $35 billion from the Defense Department to quadruple production of missile-defense interceptors as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to bolster munitions output.
ARS Pharmaceuticals is down 23% premarket after the biotech provided updates on payer access for neffy, its FDA-approved epinephrine nasal spray, and an updated financial outlook for 2026 and 2027.

Nasdaq futs have erupted, following earnings by Micron and an update from Qualcomm. For Micron (+18.4% pre-market), its Q3 adj. EPS and revenue beat estimates while its Q4 guidance also beat consensus. In terms of commentary, they said that tight conditions are expected to persist beyond FY27, and it has no line of sight on when supply can catch up with demand. For Qualcomm (+12% pre-market), the Co. raised its FY29 non-handset revenue target to USD 40bln, while announcing a strategic relationship with Hugging Face to advance open, developer-driven AI from devices to cloud infrastructure.

The US optimism was palpable in other regions too. A benchmark for Asian stocks advanced 1.4%, with Micron peers SK Hynix Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. rallying in South Korea. The technology sector far outperformed a 0.6% gain in Europe’s Stoxx 600.

The four most dangerous words in finance are now a daily occurrence, especially by people who should know better. Barclays’ global chair of research, recalling the 82% collapse in semiconductor stocks that burst the dotcom bubble, says this time is different. Addressing concerns about a cyclical bust in semis after their meteoric rise was followed by a pullback in early June, Barclays’ Ajay Rajadhyaksha says: “At the risk of using the four most dangerous words in finance, this time is different. Earnings have exploded, order books are full into 2027, and forward multiples are eminently reasonable.”

He says there may eventually come a boom-bust cycle, but not in 2026. “Despite recent equity wobbles, the semiconductor story is real, it is massive, and it is not going away anytime soon,” he adds.

“In a tech sector with strong growth and high expectations, we think investors will continue to look for signals that the AI adoption theme is playing out as expected,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm. “Micron’s strong results are another data point that supports that positive thesis.”

The pre-market indication for Micron is set to comfortably exceed the roughly 10% absolute move implied by the options market. If these gains hold, it will be another example from the AI complex of seemingly expensive pre-earnings options ultimately proving justified by realized price action.

WTI crude is back below $70 a barrel as oil prices for easier global supply. At 8:30 a.m. ET, Bloomberg Economists expects a hot PCE reading will likely reinforce the hawkish tilt by the Fed at its meeting earlier this month. Meanwhile, the dollar is drifting lower ahead of the print.

Attention now turns Thursday to the release of May’s PCE index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Forecasters expect the data to show acceleration on both a monthly and year-over-year basis. Such a reading is unlikely to challenge a growing consensus at the Fed around the need for interest-rate hikes this year. While investors have dialed back bets on the scale of rate increases over the coming year as oil prices shed their war-driven premium, markets continue to see a hike as soon as September.

“If that comes in near expectations or higher, then we see the dollar drive further north,” said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at AT Global Markets. “We could also see a dent in the positive risk sentiment.”

Markets will also follow remarks from New York Fed President John Williams, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Austan Goolsbee of the Chicago Fed later today. Given Chair Kevin Warsh’s refusal last week to offer any clues about his own outlook for rates, traders will likely put a premium on commentary from colleagues. 

Meanwhile, China kicked off marketing up to €5 billion ($5.7 billion) of sovereign bonds in what could be its largest-ever such deal in euros. Separately, the nation’s central bank is introducing an overnight tenor into its open-market operations, a key step toward reshaping how it steers short-term borrowing costs.

In less notable news, on Wednesday, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley were among the big banks to boost their dividends after passing the latest Fed fluff stress tests. Separately, Jefferies second-quarter earnings came in light as it pulled in less fees from Point Bonita, which bet on the embattled auto-parts supplier First Brands Group.

Europe's tech-light Stoxx 600 has only engineered a 0.5% gain even as oil prices continue to tumble. Technology and utilities shares leading gains, while the biggest laggards are media and energy equities. Here are the biggest movers Thursday:

  • 3i Group shares jump as much as 11% after the investment company revealed like-for-like growth at discount retailer Action, the single largest holding in its portfolio, accelerated over the last six weeks
  • Barratt Redrow shares rise as much as 4.9%, outperforming UK homebuilder peers, after shareholder Phoenix Asset Management Partners said the company should be materially increasing its share buybacks
  • EasyJet shares rise as much as 6.6% to the highest level in a year after the UK budget airline rejected a fourth takeover bid from US investment firm Castlelake
  • NCAB shares rise as much as 7.5% after SEB Bank set a Street-high price target for the electronics retailer on “sustainably elevated” PCB prices
  • Heidelberger Druckmaschinen gains as much as 8.2% following an acquisition by the printing company that spurred an upgrade at MP Capital Markets
  • Halfords shares rise as much as 17% to their highest level in over two years after the UK vehicle parts and bicycle retailer’s earnings beat estimates and management flagged a strong start to FY27
  • Moonpig shares rise as much as 12% after the giftcard retailer slightly beat consensus estimates for profit. Analysts at Panmure Liberum flag Moonpig’s “crazy cheap” valuation and strong cash returns
  • H&M slips as much as 5.2% after reporting second-quarter earnings and saying sales in June are expected to be on par with the same month the previous year

Earlier in the session, Asian stocks rose, led by tech gains in South Korea and Japan after a bullish outlook from Micron Technology and Asian chipmakers’ US-listing plans revived confidence in the artificial intelligence trade. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1.5%, with SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and Advantest providing the biggest boost to the gauge. Korea’s benchmark rose 5.4%, while the tech-heavy Nikkei 225 Stock Average in Japan climbed 4.6%.  Renewed optimism followed US-based Micron’s better-than-expected sales forecast, reinforcing confidence that AI‑driven growth remains strong. The role of Asian chipmakers in the global AI supply chain was underscored as Korea’s SK Hynix and Japan’s Kioxia unveiled further details of plans to list in the US. Shares of SK Hynix surged after disclosing plans for a $29 billion US listing, a move that analysts viewed as boosting valuations through capacity expansion and greater foreign investor access. Kioxia climbed as its CFO said it intends to offer US depositary receipts in the spring of 2027. Here Are the Most Notable Movers

  • Trip.com ADRs drop 14% in US premarket trading after the company reported adjusted earnings for the first quarter that missed analyst estimates. The online travel agency also expects slower 2Q revenue growth.
  • Two founder group firms of Lodha Developers sold 19.88 million shares, or a 1.99% stake, in block deals to raise 18.65 billion rupees ($197.4 million), according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News.
  • Topix rose 1.3% to 4,016.47 with electric appliances and information technology sector higher. Nikkei 225 advanced 4.6% to 72,366.34.
  • Chip stocks including Advantest and Tokyo Electron were some of the biggest gainers on the Nikkei 225 after Micron Technology forecast stronger-than-expected revenue.
  • Evergrande Property Services shares tumble as much as 27% in HK, the most in nearly three years, after the firm said discussions between potential sellers and a purchaser ended.
  • Chinese chip-related stocks climb after Micron Technology forecast stronger-than-expected revenue and reported third-quarter earnings that topped estimates. Shares of Alibaba drop in Hong Kong after Anthropic accused the company of waging a large-scale effort to “illicitly” access its Claude artificial intelligence model.
  • Sunny Optical shares fall as much as 12%, the most in more than a year, after co. holds investor day. Citi’s note said co.’s optical interconnect commercialization remains at an early stage, with validation ongoing.
  • Frasers Property shares rise as much as 4.7% after the Singapore real estate developer said its on-balance sheet hospitality assets are expected to decrease from about S$3.7b to S$2.5b, while keeping AUM at S$4.2b.
  • Techtronic Industries’ shares surge as much as 8.1% to a four-year high after the company repurchased nearly 1% of its shares.

MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings shares fell as much as 5.1%, the most since Mar. 30, following a large discounted block trade.

In FX, the greenback has halted its recent ascent with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index lower by 0.1% but still at levels not seen since November last year. USDJPY trades near a record high just shy of 162, with the BOJ on intervecntion watch. 

In rates, the recent rally in Treasuries is pausing for breath with the US 10-year yield up 2bps. Treasuries are slightly cheaper across the curve, unwinding a small portion of Wednesday’s aggressive rally as stock futures advance following Micron’s blowout forecast. Nasdaq 100 futures lead gains as bull case for the artificial-intelligence trade is reaffirmed. US long-end yields are nearly 2bp higher on the day with front-end tenors outperforming, steepening 2s10s curve by 1.5bp from near flattest level in more than a year; 10-year, higher by 1bp near 4.405%, trails bunds and gilts in the sector by 2bp and 1bp. Treasury auction cycle concludes with $44 billion 7-year notes sale at 1pm New York time, following uneventful 2- and 5-year notes over past two days. Focal points of US session include May personal income and spending data, which contain PCE price indexes, and a 7-year note auction. 

In commodities, Brent crude futures are down a further 1.4%, having erased their gains since the conflict in Iran began, while WTI crude oil futures are down more than 1% as Middle East exports via the Strait of Hormuz ramp up. The notable downside in energy markets also changes the context in which traders will receive today’s backward-looking US PCE data for May.  Spot gold has lost a further 0.2%, having slipped below the $4,000/oz threshold. Bitcoin is rising 1.3%. 

Looking at today's calendar, US economic data calendar includes May personal income/spending, 1Q GDP revision, May durable goods orders, weekly jobless claims and May Chicago Fed national activity index (8:30am) and June Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity (11am). Fed speaker slate includes Bowman (8:45am), Goolsbee (2pm, 6:30pm) and Williams (3:40pm)

Market Snapshot

Top Overnight News

  • Brent erased its wartime gains as flows through the Strait of Hormuz accelerated. But tensions remained as Donald Trump warned that tolls in the waterway are a red line issue in negotiations with Iran. BBG
  • Iraq will consider all available options if its OPEC quota is ‌not significantly increased and has weighed leaving the producer group, sources with knowledge of Iraqi oil policy told Reuters. The prospect of OPEC's second-largest producer considering an exit would be a further blow to the group after the departure this year of the United Arab Emirates. Iraq is one of the five founding members of OPEC, which was formed in the Iraqi capital. RTRS
  • China started marketing up to €5 billion of sovereign bonds in what would become its largest-ever such deal in euros.
  • The BOJ needs to raise interest rates every few months toward a neutral level of around 2%, board member Naoki Tamura said. BBG
  • Japan’s 20-year bond auction drew the weakest demand since the market upheaval just over a year ago as worries about inflation and fiscal policy came back to the fore. BBG
  • The EU’s trade deal with the US is set to go into effect after the bloc gave its final sign-off ahead of Trump’s deadline. BBG
  • Colombian electoral authorities confirmed conservative Abelardo de la Espriella as the winner of the presidential election. He’ll take office on Aug. 7. BBG
  • Meta is racing to replace human moderation with generative artificial intelligence, as it undergoes a broader cost-cutting drive to offset chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s vast spending on AI. FT
  • Qualcomm shares jumped premarket (QCOM +12% premkt) after forecasting more than $15 billion in annual AI chip sales by fiscal 2029. BBG
  • Fed said 32 large banks are well positioned to weather a severe recession and continue lending under the latest stress test, while the banks tested absorbed more than $700bln in hypothetical losses and saw capital decline only 1.6%, to remain above minimum requirements. Furthermore, the Fed reaffirmed its plan to maintain capital levels steady as it adjusts the testing process and will set new stress capital buffers following the 2027 test. The banks promptly revealed plans to return hundreds of billions in capital to investors through dividends and buybacks. 

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks traded mixed, albeit with a mostly positive bias and with the KOSPI leading the gains as tech and Nasdaq futures rebounded from the prior day's lows following strong earnings from Micron. ASX 200 was dragged lower by weakness in mining, materials, resources and energy stocks, while better-than-expected headline Australian jobs data failed to inspire and was mostly driven by part-time jobs. Nikkei 225 rallied back above the 72,000 level amid a resurgence in tech and lower oil prices, while markets were unfazed by comments from BoJ hawk Tamura, who called for hiking rates every few months. KOSPI outperformed amid a rally in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, with the latter sitting on double-digit percentage gains amid its US IPO plans. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mixed in the absence of any major fresh drivers and with the Hong Kong benchmark dragged lower by losses in miners and further weakness in hyperscalers, including Alibaba, after Anthropic accused the Co. of illicitly accessing AI models in a letter to US officials.

Top Asian News

  • USGS reported a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Venezuela and that a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the same area, while it warned of a potential massive catastrophe from the Venezuela quake, and estimated the quake death toll could exceed 1000, according to NYT.
  • Earthquake reportedly hit Japan off the Iwate prefecture with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9, while NHK said Japan quake shaking intensity was 6+ on a scale of 7, while no tsunami warning was issued.- Japan's LDP is facing internal friction, with lawmaker Obuchi reportedly offering to resign if consumption tax is cut to 0%, NTV reported.

European bourses (STOXX 600 +0.6%) begin Thursday's trade with broad gains, with tech-heavy indices leading following positive Micron earnings (AEX +0.8%, DAX 40 +0.6%). As the Iran conflict fades, with energy prices now reversing the wartime gains, equities in Europe can begin to catch up to their peers in the US and Asia. Investors are also seeing Europe as a safer place to place money due to its lack of tech giants, protecting themselves from any AI-related selloff. European sectors highlight the positive bias. Technology (+2.6%), unsurprisingly, is the clear outperformer. Utilities (+1.5%) and Financial Services (+0.8%) complete the top 3 sectors. To the downside is Media (-0.9%), Food, Beverages & Tobacco (-0.4%) and Chemicals (-0.3%).

Top European News

  • UK Chancellor Reeves reiterated her backing for MP Andy Burnham, and stated that it is clear he is committed to the fiscal rules. On borrowing more for defence spending, she said the DIP will involve more money. Will not maintain current level of economic growth due to Middle-East conflict and decisions to be make on Jackdaw and Rosebank soon.
  • Two of the UK's largest trade unions are increasing pressure on Andy Burnham not to pick Ed Miliband as the Chancellor, arguing that his North Sea oil policy has damaged jobs in the sector, according to FT.
  • German Deputy Defence Minister Schmid said they are well underway on reaching the 3.5% defence spend target and that different options to be discussed on the subject of the Eurofighter.

FX

  • G10s are mixed but mostly stronger against the Buck with breadth narrow as the Buck rally loses steam and fails to provide a bias to peers.
  • USD benefitted this week from the risk-on mood into Micron earnings, which were released after US markets closed on Wednesday. Given the stellar report from the memory maker, risk-on trade has resumed, with equities (specifically tech–heavy indices) bid. DXY a touch lower on the day given the risk tone, trades at the lower end of its 101.44-101.66 range; now looking to PCE.
  • Antipodeans lacklustre against the Buck despite the heightened sentiment. Aussie digested better-than-expected headline employment change, which failed to spark a meaningful reaction following on from the mixed inflation report in the prior session, with much of the change driven by temporary activity. AUD/USD +0.1% found buyers below 0.69, AUD/NZD +0.1% lifted from just below the 1.22 mark.
  • USD/JPY continues to lack a bias as it hovers around levels not seen since July 2024. BoJ’s Tamura spoke overnight, sticking to the hawkish bias, advocating for tightening “once every few months” to a terminal of 2%. Despite the remarks initially helping the Yen, the move failed to stick, with the pair flat and approaching 162 to the upside.
  • GBP remains focused on the Fiscal/Chancellor situation. Current Chancellor Reeves on the wires this morning, not providing too much new but seemingly teeing herself up to keep the role at no. 11. Prior to this, The Times reported that Miliband has been developing key economic policies for the new government, with particular reference to fiscal implications, a point potentially unwelcome by UK investors given his track record as Energy Secretary. GBP has not taken the skew from Gilts which underperform peers today amid the continued Miliband reporting, GBP/USD +0.1% after bouncing off 1.3150.

Fixed income

  • Global fixed benchmarks are softer across the board, albeit only modestly. This does come after the benchmarks surged in Wednesday's session, causing yields to break key markers, as energy prices continued to fall.
  • USTs (-3 ticks) have pulled back from Wednesday's and Today's peak of 110-01, with 10yr yields slipping below the support level of 4.422%. Despite the positive 2-year auction on Tuesday, it failed to feed through to the 5-year tap. A busy data docket is ahead, with Core PCE Price Index (the Fed's preferred inflation gauge) expected to hold steady at 3.3% Y/Y. Final Q1 GDP is also expected to remain unchanged at 1.6%. Initial jobless claims, durable goods orders, Atlanta Fed GDP and a 7-year auction are also on the docket.
  • Bunds (+3 ticks) and Gilts (-9 ticks) are also softer, but off worst levels. For German debt, its Q3 issuance plan was left unchanged, looking to raise EUR 138bln in the quarter. Bunds were unreactive following the announcement. ECB's Schnabel was on the wires this morning, reiterating her stance that the ECB will need to raise rates further to bring back inflation to 2%, while stating that although the short-term situation looks better than expected, the ceasefire is no reason for policymakers to let their guard down. For Gilts, although they were unreactive, the Guardian reported that some senior officials are pushing incoming-PM Burnham to issue GBP 20bln of "war bonds" to pay for higher defence spending. We are now attentive to specifics around the duration and magnitude of any theoretical issuance.
  • JGBs (+5 ticks) consolidated, with a poor 20-year auction capping the upside. The b/c ratio dropped to 2.97, below the prior 4.01x and 12-month average. No significant move seen to hawkish BoJ speak overnight.
  • German Q3 debt issuance plan unchanged, as expected: to raise EUR 138bln in Q3, set to issue EUR 512bln in 2026.
  • UK sells GBP 1.5bln 0.50% 2029 Gilt via tender: b/c 3.61x (prev. 3.86x), average yield 4.062% (prev. 3.841%).
  • Japan sells JPY 530.4bln 20-year JGBs; b/c 2.97x (prev. 4.01), average yield 3.542% (prev. 3.711%)

Commodities

  • Attention today has been on a recent route dispute on the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC rejected a newly formed shipping lane, which traverses towards Omani waters, with the Group stating that it only accepts passage through it own routes. The IRGC warned that any attempts to pass through the Strait, outside of their own route, will be dealt with accordingly.
  • Focus also on the Lebanon situation. Initially a US official stated that Israel had pulled back from parts of its buffer zone in Lebanon, which was then pushed back by Lebanese sources; it was then later confirmed by the Israelis that it had not received any instructions to pull back. This spurred some mild strength in the crude complex at the time.
  • WTI and Brent are once again on a weak footing this morning, trading lower by c. 1.2% and 1.3% respectively. Markets continue to cheer the reopening of the Strait, with dozens of ships continuing to pass through daily. It is unclear how long this exuberance will last, given the risks surrounding the new Strait route and conflicting remarks and the volatile Lebanon-Israel situation.
  • Also interesting was comments made by a senior Iraqi Oil Ministry official, who said the nation will consider all available options if its OPEC quota is not significantly increased and have considered the idea of leaving OPEC
  • Spot gold trades shy of the USD 4k/oz mark, and holds within a USD 3,962-4,018/oz range, which is towards the bottom end of Wednesday’s trading bands. Analysts highlight several factors for the recent move lower in gold, which includes: 1) loss of safe-haven appeal, 2) stronger USD, 3) hawkish shift at the Fed, spurred following Warsh’s debut. On the latter point, Warsh ultimately highlighted the importance of price stability, which helped to push back on traders eyeing a debasement trade.
  • Elsewhere, for the yellow metal, Bloomberg reported that major Chinese banks are reportedly shutting services supporting retail precious metals trading after gold and silver volatility. Elsewhere, 3M LME copper is firmer this morning, and trades within a USD 13,056.5-13,242.13/t range.
  • US President Trump said he spoke with oil companies and that oil companies are not reducing gas prices enough, adding they will be in trouble if they are gouging.
  • Saudi Arabia is reportedly set to restart Ras Tanura (550k BPD) oil exports as Gulf flows rise.
  • Senior Iraqi Oil Ministry official said the nation will consider all available options if its OPEC quota is not significantly increased and have considered the idea of leaving OPEC. The current plan is to remain and gain higher quota.
  • Iraqi Government spokesperson said the nation is working to restore full oil export capacity and aims to raise production to 7mln BPD over the coming years.
  • China is reportedly raising its refined fuel export allowance for July, according to reports.
  • Early reports suggest oil export and production were unaffected by the Venezuela earthquakes, according to Bloomberg's Blas.
  • Chevron (CVX) CFO said gas prices will normalise, following pressure from President Trump on big oil companies, CNBC reported.
  • Major Chinese banks are reportedly shutting services supporting retail precious-metals trading after gold and silver volatility, Bloomberg reported.

Trade/Tariffs

  • The EU has given the US trade deal final approval, according to Bloomberg.
  • UK Government announced new steel trade measures, effective July 1st. It will reduce the overall quota volumes by 51% and that any imports above would have a 50% tariff.

Central Banks

  • ECB's Schnabel said the short term situation now looks better than had been expected but the ceasefire is no reason for policymakers to let their guard down. We will need to raise interest rates further in order to bring inflation back to the two percent target over the medium term.
  • BoJ Board Member Tamura said it is important to push the BoJ’s policy rate closer to neutral to avoid being forced to hike rates sharply later, and his view is for the BoJ to raise its policy rate once every few months towards a neutral level of around 2%. Tamura also stated that if upside price risks become more likely to materialise, the BoJ should not hesitate to speed up rate hikes or raise rates by a larger amount, while he voted against the decision to pause tapering from next fiscal year, as the BoJ should normalise the balance of its bond holdings as soon as possible.

Geopolitics

  • US President Trump reiterated that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, while he adds that we will have peace in the Middle East. Trump separately commented that it is unacceptable to have fees on the Strait of Hormuz and they are doing great in negotiations with Iran, while he added that the Iran war powers vote is meaningless.
  • US Secretary of State Rubio said we hope to reach a final agreement with Iran, but not at any price, and are now entering a new phase that hopefully leads to peace. Will not accept that Hormuz belongs to any nation-state. US President Trump has been fundamentally clear about the tolling issue. It can be a toll or a fee, but it is all semantics.
  • US Senate Republicans defeated a war powers resolution regarding Iran in a 50-47 vote, to appease President Trump following a heated lunch meeting, according to NYT
  • A US State Department official said Israel has pulled back from part of its buffer zone in southern Lebanon as an act of good faith. However, this was later refuted, with a Lebanese military source telling Al-Araby that the Israeli army has not withdrawn from any point in the areas it occupies in southern Lebanon. This was also denied by a senior Israel official.
  • "Lebanese media outlets are reporting that an Israeli drone attacked the village of Tabit, in the Nabatia region in southern Lebanon", via Kan's Kais.
  • Five South Korean ships were said to have exited the Strait of Hormuz, although the time frame is uncertain.
  • Ukraine President Zelensky confirmed its military hit an oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar region and two oil refineries in the Ufa region.

US Event Calendar

  • 8:30 am: May Personal Income, est. 0.4%, prior 0%
  • 8:30 am: May Personal Spending, est. 0.6%, prior 0.5%
  • 8:30 am: May PCE Price Index YoY, est. 4.1%, prior 3.77%
  • 8:30 am: May Core PCE Price Index MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.2%
  • 8:30 am: May Core PCE Price Index YoY, est. 3.4%, prior 3.29%
  • 8:30 am: 1Q T GDP Annualized QoQ, est. 1.6%, prior 1.6%
  • 8:30 am: 1Q T Personal Consumption, est. 1.4%, prior 1.4%
  • 8:30 am: 1Q T GDP Price Index, est. 3.5%, prior 3.5%
  • 8:30 am: 1Q T Core PCE Price Index QoQ, est. 4.4%, prior 4.4%
  • 8:30 am: Jun 20 Initial Jobless Claims, est. 225k, prior 226k
  • 8:30 am: Jun 13 Continuing Claims, est. 1801.5k, prior 1810k
  • 8:30 am: May P Durable Goods Orders, est. -5%, prior 8%
  • 8:30 am: May P Durables Ex Transportation, est. 0.6%, prior 1.1%
  • 8:30 am: May Chicago Fed Nat Activity Index, est. 0.15, prior 0.14

Central Bank Speakers

  • 8:45 am: Fed’s Bowman Speaks on Small Bank Supervision
  • 2:00 pm: Fed’s Goolsbee on CNBC
  • 3:40 pm: Fed’s Williams Gives Keynote Remarks
  • 6:30 pm: Fed’s Goolsbee in Moderated Discussion

DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Markets are in a buoyant mood this morning, with Brent crude oil prices finally back at their pre-conflict levels. They’ve fallen another -1.70% overnight to $72.49/bbl, which is almost exactly in line with their $72.48/bbl level immediately before the US and Israel began their strikes on Iran on February 28. It comes as flows through the Strait of Hormuz have continued to ramp up, with the number of vessels getting through at its highest since the conflict started. And more broadly, the oil price decline has eased fears about a stagflationary shock and aggressive rate hikes to deal with any inflation.

Alongside the oil price declines, the other positive story overnight came from Micron’s earnings after the US close. Their revenue outlook was at $50bn for the fiscal fourth quarter running through August, well above the $43.2bn analyst consensus. So that reignited hopes about AI-fuelled growth and helped to push back against fears we were in some kind of bubble. And in turn, Micron’s shares surged nearly 16% in after-hours trading, and futures on the NASDAQ 100 have also surged +1.77% overnight. So that tech strength has helped to lift US equities more broadly, with S&P 500 futures up +0.53%, finally pointing to a recovery after 3 consecutive losses for the index.
This positivity has been clear in Asian markets overnight, with the Nikkei (+4.10%) and the KOSPI (+5.73%) both surging, alongside a strong gain for the CSI 300 (+1.61%). The main exception to that pattern has been the Hang Seng (-1.38%), which is currently on course for a one-year low. But otherwise, sentiment has been very positive, and the Japanese Yen has also stabilised overnight, up +0.03% to 161.73 per US Dollar. For reference, it closed at its weakest since 1986 yesterday, at 161.78 per US Dollar, although it hasn’t quite got to the intraday low in that time, as it briefly traded at 161.95 back in July 2024.

Ahead of that overnight positivity, oil prices had already seen a decent decline, with Brent crude falling -4.33% to $73.74/bbl. In part, that was thanks to growing signs of more traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. Moreover, multiple US officials were sounding negative over the prospect of tolls in the Strait of Hormuz. For instance, Trump posted that Iran had informed the US there would be no tolls or charges in the Strait of Hormuz, and that “If this is false information, negotiations would end, immediately!” Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rubio said that “No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway”. So the newsflow led to growing optimism about a normalisation in the energy market, which would help to avoid any lasting inflationary consequences.

This backdrop helped equities to stabilise after their losses on Monday and Tuesday, with the S&P 500 (-0.10%) only posting a modest decline. That came as the Mag 7 (-0.82%) fell further into correction territory, having now fallen -11.6% since its May 28 peak, whilst the S&P 500’s energy sector (-1.73%) also struggled amid the decline in oil prices. But there was some positivity more broadly, with almost two-thirds of the S&P constituents higher on the day, leaving the equal-weighted S&P 500 up +0.71%. And over in Europe, the STOXX 600 (+0.08%) posted a marginal gain as well.

Whilst equities were stabilising, there were much bigger milestones for sovereign bonds, as lower oil prices helped to ease concerns about inflation. In fact, the 1yr US inflation swap (-12.3bps) fell to just 2.16%, marking its lowest level since October 2024. And over in the Euro Area, the 1yr inflation swap (-14.0bps) fell to a 3-month low of 2.31%. So in turn, that meant investors priced out the chance of rate hikes for the months ahead. For instance, just 35bps of Fed hikes are now priced in by December, down -2.9bps on the day. And similarly for the ECB, just 29bps more hikes are priced in by December, down -2.5bps on the day.

For sovereign bonds, that combination of easing inflation fears and more dovish central bank pricing was a strong one. So yields saw very large falls on both sides of the Atlantic, and the 10yr Treasury yield (-10.5bps) fell back to 4.39%. That was echoed in Europe too, where yields on 10yr bunds (-5.5bps) reached a 3-month low of 2.86%, whilst yields on 10yr OATs (-5.2bps) and BTPs (-5.5bps) also moved lower. There was also a decent round of yield curve flattening, as longer-dated yields posted bigger falls than the front-end. So the 2s10s Treasury curve (-5.4bps) fell to just 24bps by the close, its flattest since March 2025. And over in Germany, the 2s10s curve (-2.1bps) fell to 32bps, its flattest since February 2025.

Otherwise in Europe, those yield declines saw a modest pullback after hawkish comments from the ECB’s Schnabel. It wasn’t enough to outweigh the effect of lower oil prices, but she pointed to more hikes ahead, saying the ECB “will need to continue raising interest rates in order to bring inflation back to our target of 2% in the medium term”. Moreover, she also said that “the ceasefire is no reason for monetary policy to let its guard down”. So those comments re-affirmed Schnabel’s position at the hawkish end of the ECB Governing Council.

Here in the UK, gilts continued to outperform their European counterparts, reflecting how they’ve seen some of the biggest moves in either direction since the Iran conflict began. So the 10yr gilt yield fell -7.2bps yesterday to 4.68%, its lowest level in 3 months.

Meanwhile on the political side, Chief Secretary to the PM Darren Jones ruled himself out of succeeding Keir Starmer as Labour leader. So that meant expectations continued to rise that Andy Burnham could win without a contest, and the Polymarket probability of him becoming PM in 2026 is now at 98%. Speaking of the UK, the Deutsche Bank Research Institute piece on the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum can be found here, and to those who’ve signed up to the event today, it’s still going ahead.

Elsewhere, there were a few other notable market moves yesterday. The dollar index (+0.20%) continued its recent rise, reaching its highest level since May last year. Then on the opposite end, gold fell below the $4,000 level for the first time since November (-2.86% to $3,999/oz) and is now more than -25% below its January peak. Meanwhile, yesterday saw Bitcoin reach its lowest intraday level since October 2024, at $59,023, although it’s since recovered this morning to $60,956.

Finally, there were a couple of other data releases yesterday, including the Ifo Institute’s business climate indicator from Germany. That rose to 85.6 in June (vs. 85.5 expected), marking a second monthly gain after falling back in March and April. Interestingly, the current assessment indicator was up to 87.0, its highest since July 2024, but the expectations indicator only rose to 84.1, still clearly beneath its levels before the Iran conflict. Over in the US, we also got new home sales for May, which unexpectedly fell to an annualised rate of 580k in May (vs. 640k expected).

Looking at the day ahead now, US data releases include the PCE inflation reading for May, the third estimate of Q1 GDP, the weekly initial jobless claims, and preliminary durable goods orders for May. Otherwise from central banks, we’ll hear from the ECB’s Moulin, Lane, Cipollone, and the Fed’s Bowman, Williams and Goolsbee. Meanwhile, the ECB will also publish their Economic Bulletin.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 08:22
Tyler Durden

Another OPEC Exit? Iraq Warns It Could Abandon Oil Cartel If Quota Hike Rejected

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Another OPEC Exit? Iraq Warns It Could Abandon Oil Cartel If Quota Hike Rejected

Iraq is sending a warning shot to OPEC: raise Baghdad's oil production quota to better reflect its capacity and fiscal needs, or risk yet another defection from the oil-producing cartel.

"The ministry currently has no intention of withdrawing from OPEC, and we remain committed to operating within the organization's framework and mechanisms," Oil Ministry spokesman Salim Al-Rikabi told Bloomberg via a text message.

Al-Rikabi warned, "Of course, taking into consideration that the Ministry is moving forward with increasing its production to align with its capabilities and needs, the organization should raise Iraq's production level. Otherwise, a decision will have to be made regarding whether to remain in or withdraw from OPEC."

Iraq's threat to leave OPEC comes two months after the UAE formally left the oil cartel, which now comprises 11 members, including Algeria, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

The UAE ranks among the top producers in OPEC (4.05 million bpd) and left the group due to its growing capacity ambitions (targeting 5 million bpd by 2027).

We noted at the time...

OPEC finished https://t.co/RtxJdZQeQh

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 28, 2026

On a normal, pre-disruption OPEC basis, Iraq and the UAE were huge:

A possible exodus of Iraq, on top of the UAE's recent exit, would only further weaken OPEC's ability to defend price floors, especially during periods of glut.

However, a separate Bloombreg report said Iraq walked back its threat to leave... 

"The reports suggesting that Iraq is considering ending its membership in OPEC do not reflect the official position of the Iraqi Government. Neither the Prime Minister nor the Government of Iraq has proposed withdrawing from the Organization," the Oil Ministry said in a statement.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 07:45
Tyler Durden

The AI Race Will Be Won Or Lost On Power Infrastructure

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
The AI Race Will Be Won Or Lost On Power Infrastructure

By Amanda Simonian, chief marketing officer at TerraFlow Energy, first published in UtilityDive

Over the past several months, moving between conversations on Capitol Hill, industry conferences, and meetings with operators, developers and policymakers, I have been struck by how often very different discussions keep circling back to the same underlying concern: power. In congressional offices, it comes up through the language of energy security, industrial policy and what it will take to keep infrastructure ahead of rising electricity demand. Across the industry, it surfaces through a more operational vocabulary: interconnection bottlenecks, volatile load growth, transmission constraints and the practical question of where the next gigawatt comes from.

Data centers in Stutsman County, N.D. 

What made those conversations interesting wasn’t simply that policymakers and operators were focused on the same issue. It was that many of the proposed answers still seemed rooted in an assumption that deserves more scrutiny. Much of today’s discussion treats AI-driven load growth primarily as a supply challenge. Demand is rising sharply, so the answer must be to build more generation.

That’s true, but only partially.

I’ve come away increasingly convinced the sector may be treating what is fundamentally an infrastructure performance challenge as though it were only a generation problem. Those aren’t the same thing, and the distinction matters. In many places, the strain emerging around rapid load growth isn’t just about whether enough electrons can be produced. It’s about whether the systems carrying, balancing and responding to that power can perform reliably as loads become denser, more dynamic and far less predictable than the grid was originally designed to support.

There are signs of that pressure showing up across the country already. Recent warnings from the PJM Interconnection around reserve margins, rising demand scenarios in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and analysis from the Electric Power Research Institute projecting major increases in data center electricity consumption all point toward a common reality: this isn’t a regional anomaly, and it isn’t a problem sitting comfortably on the horizon. It is beginning to surface now in ways that challenge longstanding planning assumptions.

That is part of why the “just build more generation” framing feels incomplete. More supply matters, but supply alone doesn’t resolve congestion at constrained nodes, instability caused by volatile load behavior, or the local system stress created when large loads concentrate faster than infrastructure can adapt. In some cases, responding to those pressures primarily through generation additions risks solving for scarcity while leaving unresolved, or even exacerbating, the performance challenges underneath.

That isn’t simply a fuel problem, but a systems problem, and systems problems tend to get harder when they’re diagnosed too narrowly.

Even actions like Executive Order 14156 and subsequent federal actions on grid infrastructure suggest growing recognition that energy systems are becoming a strategic competitiveness issue. But the more important question may not be how quickly infrastructure can be deployed, but whether the infrastructure being prioritized is designed for the character of demand now emerging. Speed matters, but architecture matters too.

If infrastructure performance is becoming a limiting factor, then planning, procurement and policy frameworks need to start valuing flexibility and operational capability alongside megawatts. Resource adequacy models should account not only for how much capacity a resource provides, but also for how effectively it responds to rapid load variability. Interconnection and permitting processes should encourage architectures that reduce stress on local infrastructure rather than simply adding demand. Utilities, regulators and large-load customers should be evaluating infrastructure based on its ability to improve system resilience, absorb volatility and support grid performance under real operating conditions.

As the character of demand changes, the metrics used to evaluate infrastructure likely need to change with it. The question is no longer only whether new resources can produce electricity. It’s whether they help the system operate more reliably as load growth accelerates. That matters because the public debate is still asking a narrower question than the moment demands. We often ask whether the U.S. can build enough electricity to support AI growth. A harder and more consequential question is whether we can build power systems capable of supporting that growth reliably. One is fundamentally about supply. The other is about whether the system itself can hold under stress.

Those are not the same challenge.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 07:20
Tyler Durden

Heat Dome Sends European Power Prices Soaring

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Heat Dome Sends European Power Prices Soaring

An intense heat wave continues to bake France and parts of Europe, with temperatures surging well above the 30-year average for this time of year.

Welcome to summer. 

They think we are stupid, that our memories cannot stretch back to when life was normal, and when our lives were not based on fear...

Summer, it gets hot, Winter it gets cold...

It's NORMAL. https://t.co/hYHvZ3dI2w

— 🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇭© (@InsideLucysHead) June 24, 2026

In France, the average daily temperature reached 85.6F on Tuesday, according to Météo-France, while Pissos in southwest France hit 111.7F.

The heat dome parked over Western Europe is set to fade by the end of the week, but temperatures will remain well above the 30-year seasonal average.

French evening power prices on Tuesday soared to their highest level since the 2022 energy crisis, while German power prices hit two-year highs. In Belgium, peak-hour power prices for Wednesday evening jumped to 933.28 euros per megawatt-hour on EPEX Spot.

French grid operator RTE is preparing for possible heat-related disruptions, including de-energizing power lines.

The heat is also straining climate-friendly power grids because of low wind generation, while heat-related restrictions at French nuclear plants have created a perfect storm of tight power supply just as millions of residential and commercial buildings crank up their air conditioning.

Red heat warnings have also been issued across Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the UK through Thursday.

Bloomberg noted, "France is at the epicenter of this month’s heat wave, as a high-pressure heat dome is reinforced by atmospheric shifts linked to a developing El Niño." 

Latest El Niño coverage:

  • Super El Nino: Famine Follows War?
  • Trader's Guide To Navigating The "Super El Niño"
  • First Major Weather Organization Declares El Nino Onset As Food Inflation Risks Intensify

Meanwhile, it's quite nice in Washington, DC, right now, with average temperatures holding below 30-year averages. 

When Democrats are not ramming through radical de-growth climate bills, their climate propaganda machine goes quiet. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 06:55
Tyler Durden

Chinese Humanoids Take On Penalty Challenge As Messi, Ronaldo Light Up FIFA World Cup

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Chinese Humanoids Take On Penalty Challenge As Messi, Ronaldo Light Up FIFA World Cup

Authored by Jijo Malayil via Interesting Engineering,

As the World Cup fever grows around stars like Messi and Ronaldo, Shanghai hosts a unique penalty shootout featuring humanoid robots.

Humanoid robots are stepping up for a penalty shootout.Boston Dynamics/YouTube

At MWC Shanghai 2026, humanoid robots are stepping up to the spot in the Humanoid Robot Football Penalties Challenge, testing the limits of robotics, AI, machine vision, and real-time motion control.

According to Chinese media outlets, the event showcases how embodied AI performs under pressure, highlighting next-generation autonomous technology through football-inspired challenges.

Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Hyundai Motor recently launched a football-themed campaign featuring Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid robot.

Humanoid football test

On its opening day at MWC Shanghai 2026 on June 24, the spotlight quickly shifted from keynote speeches to a live demonstration of embodied AI in action: the Humanoid Robot Football Penalties Challenge.

Held within the Mobile AI Innovation Frontiers Zone at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, the event is designed as a controlled stress test for real-time autonomous decision-making, where humanoid robots must read the goal, judge angles, and execute penalty kicks without pre-programmed sequences, external control, or resets, reported CGTN.

While official details of the participating humanoid robots remain limited, videos circulating online suggest models from Booster Robotics and Unitree Robotics taking part in the challenge.

In the penalties challenge itself, participating humanoids are evaluated on perception accuracy, balance control, motion planning, and adaptive response under game-like pressure. Each robot must independently interpret ball position and goalkeeper movement before committing to a strike, making split-second corrections based on sensor feedback.

The format escalates through semi-finals and a final scheduled for June 25, intensifying constraints to simulate high-pressure competitive conditions. By turning a universally understood sports moment - the penalty kick - into a robotics benchmark, the showcase highlights how far embodied AI has progressed toward coordinated, human-like physical intelligence in unpredictable environments.

Atlas soccer showcase

In a recent football demonstration by Boston Dynamics, an Atlas robot is shown standing before a large display screen, closely tracking player movements, body positioning, and in-game reactions across football footage. After each clip ends, Atlas moves into a practice zone where it immediately attempts to reproduce the actions it has just observed, effectively linking visual perception with physical execution in real time.

The footage highlights a series of football-inspired motions. In one sequence, the robot shifts its weight, swings a leg forward, and smoothly guides a ball across the floor with controlled contact. It then progresses through rapid training drills focused on balance, coordination, and timing. As the session continues, Atlas's movements appear increasingly fluid, suggesting the system is being evaluated not only for strength but also for agility, reflex response, and adaptive motor control.

Some of the most notable moments show Atlas imitating human emotional reactions. After completing a drill, it raises its arms in celebration, mirroring a footballer's goal celebration. In another instance, it drops to one knee and pauses, recreating an injury response seen in match footage it had just observed.

Hyundai Motor Company, parent of Boston Dynamics, described the demonstration as Atlas's first exposure to football under its "School of Football" initiative. The company has also indicated potential plans to showcase Atlas and the quadruped robot Spot at the FIFA World Cup, though their exact roles remain undisclosed.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 06:30
Tyler Durden

European Rearmament Efforts Snuffed By Chinese Control Of Critical Materials

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
European Rearmament Efforts Snuffed By Chinese Control Of Critical Materials

Yesterday we reported that, in a tit-for-tat move, China announced it is targeting US rare earths firms in response to a Pentagon list of Chinese firms: this, as Rabobank noted, is largely a symbolic move, but it still underlines the tensions in this area. So does the Nikkei reporting that ‘China minerals control threatens EU rearmament, as bloc seeks new sources’: because, as Rabo's Michael Every notes, even if you can afford a dagger, you can’t make it without rare earths, and Europe still hasn’t secured enough supply. 

Taking a closer look at the report, Nikkei writes that the European Union's aggressive plans to boost defense capabilities are hampered by China's export controls and sales restrictions on critical raw materials, with the bloc's leaders now calling on countries to accelerate the diversification of their supply chains.

The European Commission last week said that it will propose a new law that will require companies in the bloc to expand their suppliers to address economic imbalances, although it did not name China.

Russia's war in Ukraine and growing uncertainty over Washington's security guarantees have pushed governments in Europe to increase military spending and production. But for 17 of the 34 materials classified as critical by the EU, China accounts for at least 70% of global mining or refining, a report published by Teer in May shows. Eight of those 34 materials are subject to Chinese export controls.

"China is in the process of pulling the rug out from under Europe's rearmament efforts," said Joris Teer, a policy analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), the bloc's agency for foreign, security and defense policy analysis.

"By just deploying this weapon, China has already increased its leverage, signaling both its capacity and willingness to squeeze supply at any moment of its choosing," Teer wrote.

Escalating geopolitical developments and intensifying global competition for critical raw materials underline the growing need to strengthen Europe's supply chains, said the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe. The organization represents over 4,000 companies including the U.K.'s BAE Systems, France's Thales and Germany's Rheinmetall.

European defense manufacturers are pursuing several strategies including vertical integration, recycling, diversification and stockpiling. Rheinmetall told Nikkei Asia it had "no dependencies" and was "well prepared with regard to critical minerals."

"Rheinmetall has stored key raw materials, enough to last for several years," a spokesperson said. "We have implemented IT systems that enable us to centrally monitor and control raw material consumption across the group with precision."

Rheinmetall's FV-014 loitering munition drone on exhibition at a recent aerospace trade show in Berlin. The German multinational company is repurposing two plants that make automotive parts into weapons manufacturers

But analysts warn that stockpiling alone will not be enough.

"Stockpiling is an important buffer against immediate disruptions, but on its own it is unlikely to reduce structural damage over the long term," said Maria Shagina, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. She said it would take years for alternative sources to replace either the volumes or the range of critical minerals that Beijing controls.

In 2024, the EU introduced the European Critical Raw Materials Act, aimed at rebuilding domestic supply chains for such minerals. It sets 2030 targets for domestic extraction, processing and recycling, while capping reliance on any single third-country supplier at 65%. A 3 billion-euro ($3.5 billion) fund was launched last year to accelerate strategic projects.

But the European Court of Auditors notes that the 2030 targets are nonbinding and that the bloc remains far from achieving them. Industry groups say policy inconsistencies could slow progress further.

The Cobalt Institute, representing an industry vital to jet engines, advanced batteries and defense alloys, said proposed EU rules involving chemicals risk hollowing out the sector.

"Europe is one foot in, one foot out," said Michael Blakeney, head of government and public affairs at the London-based institute. "It is saying all the right things, but what it is doing is incoherent."

Europe's efforts coincide with an aggressive approach by the U.S. to secure critical mineral supply chains.

"The U.S. is deploying more capital, taking larger financial risks and in some cases acquiring equity stakes to secure and build capacity," Shagina said. "By contrast, Europe has generally been more cautious ... leaving [it] at a relative disadvantage in competing for critical minerals."

In April, the EU signed an agreement with the U.S. to coordinate critical mineral supplies. Following initial resistance over fears it could dilute the bloc's strategic autonomy, member states authorized the commission earlier in June to sign up to the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative, which coordinates investment and export-control policies.

Teer urged the European bloc to use ongoing U.S.-EU-Japan negotiations as the "nucleus" of a wider coalition to make non-Chinese critical mineral production financially viable, backed by state support, price floors and procurement rules.

"Particularly important are raw material producers, or deposit holders, like Malaysia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil and Indonesia, as well as countries with vast skilled-workforce potential like India," he wrote in the paper.

To deter further Chinese restrictions, he said the EU also should activate its anti-coercion instrument, which allows it to impose tariffs and restrictions as a response to economic coercion by countries outside of the bloc.

A European Commission spokesperson said the bloc had "long recognized the risks linked to the EU's dependencies on critical raw materials."

"The objective is clear: Anticipate disruptions early and reduce the EU's vulnerabilities as we scale up our industrial and defense capacities," the spokesperson said.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 05:45
Tyler Durden

EU Commissioner Claims That Ukraine Is Gaining The Upper Hand On The Battlefield, In the Air, And At Sea

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
EU Commissioner Claims That Ukraine Is Gaining The Upper Hand On The Battlefield, In the Air, And At Sea

Via Remix News,

Ukraine is gaining the upper hand on the battlefield, in the air and at sea, while Ukrainian drones have stopped Russia’s ground advance and are causing serious disruptions to Russian logistics, EU Commissioner for Defense and Space Policy Andrius Kubilius said on Tuesday in Brussels.

In his speech launching the European defense and security summit, the commissioner pointed out that Ukrainian drones can paralyze the supply of the Russian army up to 300 kilometers from the front lines.

According to the EU commissioner, Ukraine is no longer just a beneficiary of international subsidies, but also contributes to the protection of other countries.

Kubilius said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is reacting to Ukrainian successes with increasingly desperate attacks. He cited last week’s attack on the Kyiv monastery as an example, which he called an attack on culture, religion and civilization.

According to the commissioner, Russia continues to pose a threat to Europe’s security, and Moscow may be able to test NATO’s Article 5, which establishes collective defense. At the same time, he emphasized that Ukraine’s successes do not mean the end of the war, nor do they mean that Russia is weak.

As he said, Russia is still able to produce weapons and drones in large quantities, so Europe must prepare to strengthen its own defense capabilities.

According to Kubilius, the United States is increasingly encouraging Europe to take greater responsibility for its own security. He emphasized: “Europe must be prepared for the fact that some capabilities of the American forces may be regrouped in other regions, so European defense capacities must be urgently strengthened.”

Kubilius warned that without replenishing American strategic capabilities, Europe’s defenses and deterrent power could be weakened.

“If European countries do not fill these gaps in ability, it could be an open invitation for Russia to test the West’s resolve,” he said.

He added that the necessary resources for this can be available primarily at the national level. He reminded that based on their commitments to NATO, the member states can spend a total of around €7 trillion for defense purposes over the next ten years.

At the same time, the Commissioner stressed the need for these resources to be utilized in a coordinated manner and within a European framework.

He also emphasized that the EU should integrate Ukraine within the framework of a future defense union.

“It would be difficult to understand if we Europeans did not see it as a vital interest to integrate Ukraine’s military power into the European defence system,” he said.

He also noted that the European Commission is expected to present the first proposals for the further integration of the European defense market as early as next week, which include a detailed analysis and ideas for further steps.

Kubilius added that even this year they will propose amendments to defense procurement rules and other market regulations.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 05:00
Tyler Durden

India's Imports Of Russian Oil Set For New Record High

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
India's Imports Of Russian Oil Set For New Record High

India is set to import a record-high volume of Russian crude in June as the Hormuz crisis and the U.S. waivers on Russia’s barrels have pushed the world’s third-largest crude importer to gorge on Moscow’s oil again, OilPrice reported.

India has imported 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude oil so far in June, according to preliminary vessel-tracking data from commodity analytics firm Kpler cited by Indian media.

So far this month, Russian crude has accounted for as much as 53.5% of all Indian oil imports, per the data.   

Russian crude now makes up HALF of India’s oil imports in June!
India is importing 2.66 million barrels per day of Russian oil — which is nearly 40% higher than May.
This has strengthened Russia’s position as India’s largest oil supplier.
Key Points:
• Russian oil share has… pic.twitter.com/A5zWie3U4B

— Dr. Rakesh Bansal (@iamrakeshbansal) June 22, 2026

India’s full-month imports of Russian crude are set for a record-high of 2.35 million bpd in June for any month ever, Kpler has estimated. This would exceed the previous record of 2.2 million bpd from May 2023. 

Going forward, Russian crude will remain a key source of supply for India even if the U.S. does not extend the waiver for Russian crude already loaded on tankers, analysts say. Which is odd because when viewed from the other side, the picture is a mirror image: as shown in the chart below, Russian crude oil exports to India have reportedly plunged to just 555kb/d in the last week, the lowest volume in 4 years.

In other words, there is a disconnect in the data. 

In any case, last week, as it announced the memorandum of understanding with Iran, the U.S. quietly let the waiver on Russian oil sales expire without renewing it.

“India’s imports remained strong through June, supported by continued discounts and steady refinery demand,” Sumit Ritolia, manager, modelling and refining at Kpler, told Financial Express.

“Regardless of whether the US waiver is extended, we expect India’s imports of Russian crude to remain robust, even if not at record-high levels.”

India turned en masse to Russian oil in 2022, when the U.S. and the EU imposed sanctions on Moscow due to the invasion of Ukraine. Four years later, India is a major buyer of Russia’s crude, and Russia is India’s single-largest oil supplier.

As supply from the Middle East crashes, India is also buying growing volumes of crude from West African producers Nigeria and Angola, as well as from South American producers Brazil and Venezuela.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 04:15
Tyler Durden

London's West End To Be Blanketed With AI Facial Recognition Cameras

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
London's West End To Be Blanketed With AI Facial Recognition Cameras

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

In the latest dystopian lunge toward a total surveillance state, the London Metropolitan Police has confirmed plans to deploy static live facial recognition cameras in the West End, including Soho and areas around major theatres and retail spots, with installation targeted for the end of this year.

Six additional areas are slated for rollout in 2027. The fixed cameras, mounted on lampposts and street furniture, will operate continuously and can be repositioned based on shifting crime patterns.

Privacy campaigners warn the move creates "digital police lineups" for innocent theatregoers and shoppers in one of Britain's busiest tourist zones, escalating a technology already used to scan millions of faces.

Police expand live facial recognition to one of Britain's most touristic areas and key crime hotspothttps://t.co/cp14lziQ1C

— GB News (@GBNEWS) June 23, 2026

The expansion fits a clear pattern of UK authorities layering physical biometric surveillance onto existing efforts to shape online narratives, restrict speech, and monitor public discourse under pretexts of safety and disinformation control.

During a six-month pilot in South London earlier this year, static cameras scanned approximately 470,000 faces, resulting in over 170 arrests, and they claim recording just one false alert. Police claim that non-matches have their biometric data deleted immediately.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the technology as "one of the most revolutionary technology advances in policing in recent years," adding "Public confidence in this is clear - around 80 per cent of Londoners support its use.

Rowley also stated the force wants "to build on our success by introducing this capability to the West End and Soho by December. The use of static cameras will help us continue cutting crime in high-footfall areas in central London."

Policing Minister Sarah Jones has backed nationwide expansion with record investment. Dee Corsi of the New West End Company welcomed a potential West End pilot, saying it offers "a significant opportunity" to tackle crime and boost public confidence.

Millions face having their faces scanned as Met Police expand the use of facial recognition to London's West End https://t.co/f8oCnM6y25

— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) June 23, 2026

Critics see something far more intrusive. Big Brother Watch's Silkie Carlo called the fixed-camera expansion "an alarming escalation of an intrusive technology which has already scanned the faces of millions of innocent Londoners."

She further stated: "Forcing people to enter a digital police lineup in the capital's busiest and most popular destinations is an affront to the idea that you should not have to identify yourself to the police if you have done nothing wrong. To see a play, you must now pay with your privacy."

?Breaking: Met Police to expand Orwellian FIXED live facial recognition cameras into London's West End by Christmas & six other areas in 2027

"Expanding the use of live facial recognition to static cameras is an alarming escalation of an intrusive technology which has already... pic.twitter.com/pSaMkJCh3D

— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) June 23, 2026

Jack Coulson, Head of Advocacy at Big Brother Watch, echoed the concern: "Legislation to regulate the police's use of facial recognition is expected in the Autumn. Yet the police are rushing ahead with AI monitoring of the public under their own rules. We are calling on the Met to stop this experiment until, at least, Parliament has spoken. Policing by consent is a cultural inheritance we must protect. Permanent biometric surveillance of the public square is incompatible with that ideal."

??The Government is expanding the use of Orwellian facial recognition surveillance

Here's why YOU should be worried & join the fight to #StopFacialRecognition

??Take action: https://t.co/KIFHRGsYLj pic.twitter.com/qz6a3G4EF9

— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) June 13, 2026

Liberty director Akiko Hart described the West End move as a "major escalation" and urged the Met to pause expansion until proper legal safeguards exist. A joint civil society push, including Article 19 and Big Brother Watch, has already written to the Home Office demanding future facial recognition laws protect privacy rather than enable unchecked state power.

?Stop the uncontrolled use of facial recognition

Together with leading rights groups, we've just delivered this message to the @ukhomeoffice calling on the Government to rein in this Orwellian tech

Read the joint statement??https://t.co/SueHOsuwcH pic.twitter.com/KydCl6e7rW

— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) June 10, 2026

Previous deployments underscore the rapid creep. Big Brother Watch highlighted live facial recognition operations in Waltham Forest and Islington in mid-June, labeling them an "enormous expansion of the surveillance state" that sets a dangerous precedent.

??Police are deploying Orwellian live facial recognition in #WalthamForest and #Islington today.

This tech is an enormous expansion of the surveillance state & it sets a dangerous precedent worldwide.

Sign our petition to #StopFacialRecognition??https://t.co/9do8SIF81t

— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) June 18, 2026

Earlier warnings detailed government moves to broaden the technology's use nationwide and documented cases of innocent people wrongly targeted, including shoppers ejected from stores via facial recognition systems.

??An innocent man was WRONGLY kicked out of a Sainsbury's shop using facial recognition

This dangerously authoritarian surveillance is a threat to our privacy and freedoms — it has no place on the streets of Britain.#StopFacialRecognition pic.twitter.com/ACnmZE8GrB

— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) June 19, 2026

This street-level biometric dragnet does not exist in isolation. It forms part of a wider architecture of control.

The facial recognition technology is presented as essential because root problems - including crime linked to failed integration and lax border policies - remain unaddressed. London's West End, long a symbol of British openness and culture, now risks becoming a permanent testing ground for mass biometric monitoring of ordinary citizens who have committed no offense.

Permanent AI enhanced surveillance infrastructure in public spaces undermines the principle that the state must justify intrusion, not assume it. Real security comes from competent policing, secure borders, and addressing the policy failures that create high-crime environments in the first place - not from turning every street corner into a digital checkpoint.

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 Thu, 06/25/2026 - 03:30
Tyler Durden

Albanian PM Pooh-Poohs 'Pink Flamingo' Protesters Opposing Jared Kushner Resorts

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Albanian PM Pooh-Poohs 'Pink Flamingo' Protesters Opposing Jared Kushner Resorts

After weeks of daily protests, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is digging in to defend two luxury resort projects backed by Jared Kushner's investment company that have resulted in thousands of people protesting in the streets of the capital Tirana and on the southern coast, where one of the resorts is slated to be built. 

Protesters opposed to two planned resorts in ecologically sensitive areas, in Tirana, on June 12.Photographer: Atdhe Mulla/Bloomberg

The opposition has dubbed itself the "Flamingo Revolution" due to the impact on a protected wetland home to flamingoes, seals, and sea turtle nesting sites - with protesters hoisting inflatable pink birds and signs opposing the projects.The demonstrations began late last month as site preparations began on the Zuvernec peninsula - while Kushner's wife, Ivanka Trump, went on a podcast and discussed plans to develop the island of Sazan. 

The resort development he champions is the brainchild of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, who described falling in love with Albania a few years ago while visiting on a boat. Rama met them on that trip and found ​them to be "very nice, humble...humanly good people."

Now, ​Kushner's investment firm Affinity Partners is ⁠involved in the €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) project near the Vjosa-Narta protected area, and another one on nearby Sazan Island.

Together the projects are worth up to €5 billion, Rama said. -Reuters

According to Rama, the protesters are not engaging in genuine demonstrations - rather, it's "political theater," he told Bloomberg on Tuesday - claiming that the protests are backed by "an enormous digital amplification ecosystem that is clearly not organic," and has blamed Iran and others due to the fact that Albania is home to 3,000 members of an exiled Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (REUTERS/Florion Goga)

"Neither a loud minority, joined by every opposition force, nor a wave of digitally amplified outrage fueled by the global fascination with the Trump name attached to what I believe is an extraordinary opportunity for Albania (and further amplified by the interference of malign foreign actors) will divert us from implementing our Albania 2030 Vision," he told the outlet. 

Abandoned former military housing on Sazan island, Albania.Photographer: Atdhe Mulla/Bloomberg

"Our standard is clear: law, science, transparency and European obligations - not hysteria," Rama told Bloomberg. "We are opening the country, protecting its natural assets, attracting serious investment and moving steadily toward EU membership."

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 02:45
Tyler Durden

So, How's Spain's Mass Migrant Amnesty Working Out?

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
So, How's Spain's Mass Migrant Amnesty Working Out?

Authored by Aaron Hanscom via PJMedia.com,

Half a million.

That's the number that made headlines in April when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialist government approved plans to grant legal status to 500,000 illegal migrants.

But a leaked police report warned that the true number could be much higher, estimating that between 750,000 and 1 million illegal migrants living in Spain could apply for amnesty, in addition to 250,000 to 350,000 asylum seekers.

The report described the amnesty plan's "very intense media impact, especially in Latin America" and warned of a "highly relevant pull factor," which we will return to in a moment.

The conservative Popular Party (PP) also disputed the government's estimates, saying the true number could be double and calling the plan an "outrage." Sánchez, whom The Economist has called the leader of Europe’s anti-Trump resistance, anticipating such criticism, wrote in a New York Times op-ed in January that "MAGA-style leaders may say that our country can’t handle taking in so many migrants — that this is a suicidal move, the desperate act of a collapsing country."

Well, the numbers are starting to come in and, just as Joe Biden's weak border enforcement in the U.S. created a "pull factor" that led to average monthly border crossings of over 100,000, Sánchez’s policies are having a similar magnet effect, far exceeding his government’s estimates. 

Even though the asylum application window remains open until June 30, 900,000 applications have already been submitted, a record number for Spain. The European Conservative reports that "approximately 350,000 additional applications have been submitted since the start of June, a surge that has caught authorities off guard." The publication notes that these numbers are much higher than the last time mass amnesty was tried in Spain, in 2005 under the Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who these days spends his time in court as the subject of a graft probe. Zapatero's program granted 576,000 residence permits from 691,000 applications received.

Sánchez, of course, looks at every new immigrant as a potential future voter who won't care about the mind-boggling corruption within his Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). As increasing numbers of Spaniards take to the streets to demand the prime minister's resignation, Muslim migrants are among his most loyal supporters. In the video below, we meet a Muslim store owner a minute in, with a poster of Sánchez on his shop wall, who says Muslims are “100%" going to vote for  the prime minister if they become citizens. Why? Because he "stands with Iran and Palestine." Indeed he does.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a poster of Santiago Abascal, the leader of the rising populist/conservative Vox party, in any Muslim-owned shops in Spain. Abascal, who has said that it is "inhumane to tell all of Africa and all of America that they can fit into Spain," warned in April that mass amnesty will increase crime in the streets of Spain and accelerate the country's housing and public healthcare crises.

And it's not just Spanish politicians who are criticizing Sánchez's policies.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told Sánchez in a closed-door meeting in Brussels last week that his amnesty plan negatively affects all EU countries. It was at that EU leaders' meeting in Brussels that Sánchez opposed, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, plans for offshore migrant deportation hubs. Politico reports:

The disagreement comes days after the EU approved legislation allowing members to establish deportation hubs in third countries as part of a push to ensure failed asylum-seekers leave the bloc. While it’s still unclear how many capitals could take advantage of the rule change, 19 of the EU 27 signed up to a joint Danish-Italian letter, first reported by POLITICO, calling for swift action on deportations.

“Countries are now working … to implement the new possibilities, including hubs in third countries. We will personally lead the way to make sure our visions are brought to life,” the letter circulated Friday morning reads.

Spain opposes EU plans for offshore deportation hubs, arguing they raise legal and humanitarian concerns, while other countries including Italy and Denmark view the hubs as a key tool to deter irregular migration and speed up removals.

What Sánchez calls a humanitarian immigration policy, an increasing number of European politicians, including Abascal and Meloni, see as an invitation to invasion.

Watch the video below and decide for yourself:

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/25/2026 - 02:00
Tyler Durden

National Insecurity: America's Continuing Reliance On Critical Chinese Materials

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
National Insecurity: America's Continuing Reliance On Critical Chinese Materials

Authored by Benjamin Weingarten via RealClearWire,

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 - with face masks, gloves, and other basic protections in high demand - Chinese leaders threatened to plunge America into the "mighty sea of coronavirus" by withholding essential medical supplies in retaliation for measures such as the U.S. travel ban on visitors from China.

The threat, issued through a Chinese Communist Party organ, brought into stark relief China's strategy to subdue would-be foes by rendering them reliant on its exports for life's necessities - prompting a pledge from U.S. policymakers to address supply chain issues that made the country vulnerable to a hostile power.

Six years later, despite a raft of initiatives - including tariffs, made-in-America requirements, and the makings of a responsive U.S. industrial policy embraced by the Biden and Trump administrations - America's effort to reduce dependence on China in pivotal sectors has been slow and faces a slew of challenges.

Headlines heralding the decline in U.S. imports from China to levels not seen since the depths of the pandemic mask the fact that America's chief rival continues to control chokepoints in supply chains that provide urgent military assets, key technologies, and important medicines.

The Chinese government recently demonstrated its ability to weaponize critical sectors when it responded to U.S. tariffs by restricting exports of rare earth materials and magnets that are critical to American defense systems and weapons. War-gamers have indicated that the control over those supply chains may become paramount should China invade Taiwan or engage in other hostilities that might draw an American military response. Some estimates have indicated that such a struggle could wipe out 10% of global GDP - albeit damaging China and the U.S. alike.

Some experts say the major stumbling block is the private sector, which remains at odds with policymakers in tilting away from China, and has long relished its large market and cheap labor pool. Isaac Stone Fish, the CEO of Strategy Risks, a China-focused business risk analysis firm, told RealClearInvestigations that "Despite all the tough talk," and economic and geopolitical tensions, his firm's analysis shows that dozens of major U.S. companies have increased their engagement with China during 2026.

To treat supply chain threats as an economic problem and leave it to be addressed by free enterprise - rather than as a national security challenge requiring whole-of-society mobilization - is a fatal error, according to Leland Miller, a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission member.

"[A]s long as you allow market dynamics to dictate what the U.S. is doing...you're going to lose," Miller said.

China's Commanding Position

The Trump and Biden administrations have both highlighted the significance of the supply chain challenge to our national security, economic security, and public health. These include China's commanding positions in:

  • Global rare earth materials, where China controls more than 60% of production and nearly 90% of refining capacity, giving it a chokehold on inputs vital to the manufacturing of everything from automobiles and medical equipment to defense products and spacecrafts;
  • Components or materials key to U.S. military hardware, ranging from U.S. aircraft carriers to missile defense systems and tanks, which are produced in or sourced from China;
  • Foundational semiconductors, used in practically all applications that include advanced chips from vehicles to medical devices and military systems, where China is the global production leader;
  • Printed circuit board fabrication, a core component in modern electronics, from telecommunications satellites to ventilators and smartphones, where Chinese firms control more than two-thirds of the global market;
  • Medicine, a field in which China controls approximately 90% of the global supply of key starting materials in active pharmaceutical ingredients in generic drugs, with over 60% of U.S. drugs containing key inputs from China and India.

To attain these positions, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission wrote in its 2025 annual report, "China has deliberately pursued a strategy of expanding production and deepening global dependence on Chinese exports while reducing its own reliance on imports. This strategy builds on decades of industrial policy that led to a concentration of supply chains in China and undercut competitors by flooding global markets with subsidized, underpriced goods."

China's tactics in pursuit of this strategy have ranged from government subsidies and currency manipulation to intellectual property theft and industrial espionage, forced labor, and product "dumping at artificially low prices - and, as it has increasingly been met with resistance, export controls."

Tariffs and Stockpiles

The tariff regime, enacted during the first Trump administration and mostly continued under the Biden administration, is one key tactic the U.S. government has used to counter China's playbook. Other policies have included directly stockpiling critical resources; securing strategic sectors through fostering international alliances and public-private partnerships; permitting reform; trade enforcement actions; incentives for re-shoring; and export controls.

"This is a whole-of-government effort across key industry sectors including critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, autos, steel, aluminum, and copper," White House spokesman Kush Desai told RCI. "Hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment commitments across these sectors reflects how the administration's long-term agenda continues to bear fruit."

Still, experts remain concerned that the U.S. is ill-equipped to solve the complex problem.

Ideally, experts say, the U.S. government would comprehensively map the supply chain risks and work with all relevant stakeholders to mitigate them. The Trump administration has focused in particular on rare earth minerals and artificial intelligence technologies. Similarly, the Biden administration laid out a number of areas of concern from batteries to biotech as detailed in its Quadrennial Supply Chain Review. And, to varying degrees, both administrations attempted to coordinate their risk-mitigation efforts with foreign governments and the private sector.

Yet experts lamented that the government lacks the information necessary to comprehensively identify and attack supply chain vulnerabilities - rendering policies to date "ad hoc," according to Meg Reiss, a former national security staffer on Capitol Hill and founder of SolidIntel, which uses AI to identify supply chain risks.

Leland Miller, who was appointed to the USCC by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, told RCI that the U.S. still has to do a lot of foundational work to to "map the [various] supply chains" and to identify "the vulnerabilities."

Miller pins the slow progress to the lack of data from an often resistant private sector.

USCC Vice Chair Mike Kukien, an appointee of Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, concurred, asserting that "anytime Congress has attempted to wade into this space of...pulling information out of the supply chain, the first people to come and bang on your door and say, 'Don't do it,' is industry."

Pushback From Business

Companies argue that identifying areas where they are reliant on China and transitioning operations elsewhere would threaten their business models. They also claim it is costly and onerous to collect information on the multiple tiers of suppliers on whom they rely, and in some cases, they lack the wherewithal to do so. For its part, China has sought to impose costs - including ending market access - on companies that cooperate with supply chain transparency efforts.

Miles Yu, who served as principal China policy planner on strategy at the State Department during the first Trump administration, identified "Wall Street and Silicon Valley globalists" as influential opponents of Washington's efforts to combat China's supply chain chokepoints more broadly.

The task is further complicated by China's efforts to avoid Trump's tariffs by routing their products through more U.S.-friendly countries as a workaround.

"China's ability to sort of hide its hand from a manufacturing perspective, unless there's a real attempt to do country of origin work, is pretty strong," Joshua Hodges, a former senior director at the National Security Council, told RCI. "And you're seeing that in the defense industrial complex. You're seeing it in cell phones. You're seeing it really in any place where there are parts of a supply chain that have become commodities."

Miles Yu concurs. "[T]oo many opportunistic allies and partners in EU and Asia [are] not in sync with Washington," as well, making grappling with the global nature of the problem even harder, he said.

On the U.S. side, basic problems of coordination within the government threaten even the most comprehensive effort to take on the supply chain challenge. The National Defense Authorization Act is perhaps the seminal bill aligning the executive and legislative branches on China policy. Reiss notes that "the way...the legislative cycle works," when it comes to mitigating supply chain risk, "everything's based on NDAA timing."

Should one NDAA cycle pass in which vulnerabilities go unaddressed, then remedies will not be included for the next "year and a half for beginning implementation, much less being fully implemented. So the timelines start becoming significant if we don't have movement."

Bright Spots

Despite their bearish conclusions, experts did note some bright spots. Stone Fish called tariffs "the biggest forcing mechanism yet - high enough costs might finally do what politics couldn't. But China controls critical minerals that American factories can't do without, so escalation cuts both ways."

Miller noted that tariffs may be an effective defensive tool for protecting industries under attack from a China that often floods the market with goods to undercut foreign competitors. Tariffs, he says, should be used to ringfence critical sectors as their participants shift to alternative suppliers and rebuild their domestic production capacities. "But you can't just throw around a tariff wall and expect industry to miraculously develop domestically as a result of that," he says.

Miles Yu has a more sanguine view. He said that in the areas of defense, automobiles, and telecommunications services, the U.S. has been making progress on mitigating supply chain risk from China. And he believes that prohibitive tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, automobiles, including electronic vehicles, green products, and "enhanced SEC scrutiny" on publicly traded Chinese companies in the U.S. have borne fruit. Conversely, he argued that pharma and bio product restrictions remain wanting.

While concerned about the lack of strategic coherence in America's risk mitigation efforts to date, Reiss hopes that efforts from the Defense Department reflect increasing strategic discipline. She cites, for example, initiatives out of the Office of Strategic Capital - which has backed domestic processing of rare earth minerals - as positives.

In the long term, Miller says, the U.S. only has to modify, not reinvent, the supply chain. "It's not that we have to go back and figure out where every single input to every single supply chain is," he says. "We have to make sure that enough of it comes from outside of China... so that China doesn't have a stranglehold over any particular supply chain no matter what happens."

In the interim, in the wake of the May 2026 summit between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the American side touted China's stated commitment to "address U.S. concerns regarding supply chain shortages related to rare earths and other critical minerals," as well as "prohibitions or restrictions on the sale of rare earth production and processing equipment and technologies."

Still, the conflict between the two nations continues. Earlier this month, the Department of War added nearly two dozen Chinese companies to its blacklist. In apparent response, Chinese authorities imposed trade restrictions on dozens of U.S. defense companies, including barring exports to two American rare earth producers.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/24/2026 - 23:40
Tyler Durden

Troubling Pattern Of Left-Wing Revolutionaries Targeting "Capitalists" Raises Alarm Over Youth Radicalization

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Troubling Pattern Of Left-Wing Revolutionaries Targeting "Capitalists" Raises Alarm Over Youth Radicalization

A troubling pattern appears to be emerging.

In a recent foiled terror plot targeting UFC Freedom 250 at the White House, authorities said the suspect of an underground network, led by an illegal alien ringleader, planned to use suicide drones and a sniper team against "capitalist elites." Separately, Rebel News described the Montreal shooter earlier this week as an "antisemitic Communist."

While the cases appear separate, both point to a broader concern: revolutionary and radical-left rhetoric is increasingly bleeding into real-world violence, with younger and younger extremists resorting to violence targeting wealthy individuals or even right-leaning political figures.

Earlier this week, Rebel News released the full 104-page manifesto of the "antisemitic Communist" shooter, who was killed after shooting and killing a Montreal police officer in a Jewish neighborhood, killing a local suit seller, and leaving behind a manifesto railing against capitalism and law enforcement, among other things.

"Be unflinching, go forth, and KILL THEM ALL!" Seth Hatfield, the shooter, wrote in the manifesto.

Rebel News pointed out, "He was an antisemitic Communist."

He was an antisemitic Communist.

Read the Montreal murderer’s full, 104-page MANIFESTO here:https://t.co/Msvx6IvaUz

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) June 23, 2026

Why is that important? Just days earlier, news broke in the US that Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, an illegal alien, was the ringleader of a foiled terror attack targeting "billionaires" and "capitalist elites" at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.

Both incidents, whether an actual attack or a plot, appear anti-government, anti-elite, anti-capitalist, and revolutionary in nature. None other than Hasan Piker, a prominent figure around the Democratic Socialists of America, has echoed revolutionary rhetoric to millions of his online followers: kill capitalists.

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

Hasan Piker calls on his followers to kill capitalists:

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

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

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) April 9, 2026

The radical pattern of behavior emanating from the left appears to be fostered in the far-left NGO sphere, with possible linkages abroad, as we have detailed in Cuba, China, and Europe.

🚨🧵 MAJOR BREAKING: German government has been grooming DSA leaders for over a decade, and nobody noticed? 🇩🇪

Last night, Darializa Avila Chevalier — endorsed by NYC-DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) — beat a five-term incumbent to win New York's 13th congressional… pic.twitter.com/UtXDQRSDJf

— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) June 24, 2026

These revolutionary movements seek to destroy the West from within, throw wrenches into the capitalist machine, and, more importantly, as we have seen play out time and again, resort to violence.

The FBI failed to address the rise of the revolutionary left, the NGO sphere, and foreign connections because, under the Biden-Harris administration, the agency was preoccupied with investigating white Catholic families.

Latest reporting to catch up to speed:

  • How Bad Is Foreign Influence In America's Nonprofit Universe?
  • Is There A "Cuba Connection" Behind The Radicalization Of America's Nonprofit Left
  • "No Longer Tolerate Radical Marxists": Rubio Sanctions Revolutionary Cuban Influence Network Tied To U.S. Left-Wing NGOs
  • Hasan Piker Says Quiet Part Out Loud, Maps Radical Left NGO Network To China-Based Marxist Financier
  • Bessent Signals Crackdown On Dark-Money Funded NGOs In "Weeks, Months Ahead"

Democrats are facing a watershed moment as parts of the party descend on a new political framework: anti-capitalist, anti-West, and anti-America.  

 Even the globalist at The Atlantic had to admit...  

In low-turnout elections, far-left DSA-aligned candidates are gaining power city by city, raising the risk that the Democratic Party has been hijacked.

BREAKING: Rep. Espaillat concedes. Mamdani-backed socialists have officially gone 3/3 and won all of their respective Democratic primaries for U.S. House in New York tonight. Their positions are some of the most extreme & far left Dems have seen:

Darializa Avila Chevalier… pic.twitter.com/Fal1lHmair

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 24, 2026

In just a few decades, the "old-school Democratic Party" has partially shifted from a party rooted in working-class economics, labor, and Main Street concerns ... 

...  into one increasingly shaped by anti-capitalist rhetoric, pro-globalist, pro-illegal-alien, Islamists, and a growing revolutionary socialist-Marxist presence.

On CNN NewsNight, Brad Todd bluntly says the Democrat Party has become the "Democratic Socialist Party of America," embracing antisemitism, confiscation, and anti-capitalism — while noting Hakeem Jeffries is a big loser.@BradOnMessage: “The Democratic Party now is the… pic.twitter.com/KUJ0sfW7k8

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 24, 2026

Hakeem Jeffries has a problem. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/24/2026 - 23:15
Tyler Durden

US Escalates Crackdown On Overseas Scam Network Targeting Americans

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
US Escalates Crackdown On Overseas Scam Network Targeting Americans

Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times,

The United States has taken coordinated action against a Southeast Asia-based scam and money-laundering network that officials say used forced-labor compounds and online investment fraud to steal billions of dollars from Americans.

Scam center workers and victims from China arrive at the border checkpoint with Thailand, in Myawaddy, Burma, on Feb. 20, 2025. Hundreds of Chinese workers were heading home after being freed from online scam centers. STR/AFP via Getty Images

The Treasury Department on June 23 sanctioned 35 individuals and entities linked to the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization, a Cambodia-based network that U.S. authorities say operated scam compounds and laundered illicit proceeds through shell companies and financial channels.

Huione Group is a Cambodia-based conglomerate that U.S. authorities say provided laundering services for scam proceeds, including through Huione Guarantee, also known as Haowang Guarantee.

The Justice Department separately announced the seizure of a cloud-computing account it says helped run Huione-linked laundering services used by scam operations.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, also proposed extending a section 311 anti-money-laundering measure against Huione Group to H-Pay Service PLC and successor entities.

Together, the actions target three parts of a scam-and-laundering ecosystem: the Prince Group network, accused of running scam compounds; Huione-linked services, accused of moving illicit proceeds; and online infrastructure, allegedly used to support laundering services.

Treasury said U.S. authorities estimate that Americans lost at least $10 billion in 2024 to Southeast Asia-based scam operations, a 66 percent increase from the prior year.

"Scam centers in Southeast Asia steal billions of dollars from American victims each year," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the announcement. "Treasury will continue using its tools to disrupt the networks behind this egregious fraud and protect Americans."

Prince Group Network

Prince Group is a Cambodia-based conglomerate led by Chen Zhi, also known as Vincent, whom U.S. authorities have accused of directing forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment against Chen in October 2025, charging him with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Prosecutors alleged that people held against their will in Prince Group-linked compounds were forced to carry out cryptocurrency investment scams. Chen remains at large, according to the DOJ.

Concurrently with the DOJ indictment, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, FinCEN, and the UK Foreign Office imposed coordinated sanctions on 146 targets tied to the Prince Group network. It alleged at the time that Prince Group operated online investment scams targeting Americans and others worldwide and used a web of businesses and shell companies to launder illicit proceeds.

The June 23 action expands that pressure. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned nine individuals and 26 entities linked to Prince Group, including people it described as leaders, scam-compound investors, and front companies.

The Treasury said the new targets include Hu Xiaowei, whom it described as Prince Group TCO's "second-in-command," as well as several people it said were involved in investment, management, payment-gateway, or company-director roles tied to the network.

The Epoch Times could not contact Prince Group for comment.

DOJ Seizes Cloud Account

In a concurrent action, the DOJ said it seized a cloud computing account used by Huione Group's subsidiaries that allegedly facilitated the movement of proceeds from cryptocurrency investment fraud, cyber scams, and other criminal activity across blockchains and into the banking system.

Huione Guarantee allegedly operated Telegram channels that included discussions about stolen credit card and identity information, malware-enabled theft proceeds, the procurement of individuals for human trafficking schemes, and the laundering of proceeds from romance and investment scams.

The department said the seizure is part of Operation Riptide, an FBI campaign targeting the actors, infrastructure, and financial networks behind cybercrime, cyber-enabled crime, and fraud against Americans.

"The FBI is committed to disrupting the infrastructure and services that cybercriminals rely on to profit from their illegal activity," said Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, according to the DOJ's June 23 press release. "Today's action targets a key enabler of cyber-enabled fraud and money laundering schemes."

DOJ said the FBI's San Francisco Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation are investigating the seizure case.

FinCEN Moves Against H-Pay

FinCEN's notice of proposed rulemaking says Huione Group remains a foreign financial institution of primary money-laundering concern and that the existing section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act targeting Huione Group remains in effect.

The proposed amendment would add H-Pay Service PLC and any successor entity to the Huione Group definition.

FinCEN said the proposal is intended to address what it described as Huione Group's effort to circumvent the earlier measure by continuing to operate under a different name. The agency said H-Pay has effectively assumed Huione Pay PLC's business role within Huione Group.

The proposal is not final. Written comments on the H-Pay proposal must be submitted within 30 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register.

Scam Operations Target Americans

The Treasury said one common scheme involves digital-asset investment fraud. Citing FinCEN's 2023 alert, Treasury said perpetrators often contact targets by text message, build trust through claims of friendship or romance, and steer victims into purported digital-asset investments on websites controlled by scammers.

Southeast Asia-based criminal organizations often recruit workers under false pretenses, including fake technology or customer-service jobs tied to casinos, resorts, and front companies. Once workers arrive at the compounds, operators confiscate passports and use debt bondage, physical violence, threats of forced prostitution, and other methods to coerce them into scamming people online, the Treasury said.

The Justice Department said reports of cyber-enabled fraud involving cryptocurrency continue to rise, with complainants reporting more than $7.2 billion in losses to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025 from cryptocurrency investment fraud alone.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/24/2026 - 22:50
Tyler Durden

Tennessee Considers Up To 26 GW Of Gas-Fired Generation

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Tennessee Considers Up To 26 GW Of Gas-Fired Generation

By Diana DiGangi of UtilityDive

The Tennessee Valley Authority released its preliminary 2026 integrated resource plan on Monday, saying load growth in its footprint is already outpacing the reference case forecast in its draft IRP, and that it has incremental capacity needs for between 7 GW and 26 GW of natural gas between now and 2040.

“TVA’s actual and forecasted electricity demand has increased relative to the draft IRP’s Reference scenario and is approaching the Higher Growth Economy scenario primarily due to data center growth (e.g., artificial intelligence, hyperscaler, etc.),” the IRP said. The higher growth scenario “evaluates a higher gas price environment driven by substantial economic growth.”

The federally-owned utility also plans to add up to 5 GW of nuclear, 1-5 GW of storage, 2-5 GW of renewables (1-8 GW nameplate) and 2-3 GW of energy efficiency and demand response additions.

“New capacity is needed in all scenarios to support load growth or replace expiring and end of life capacity,” the IRP said.

TVA said that gas expansion is necessary to provide “firm, dispatchable capacity,” while new nuclear technologies “support load growth and reduce fuel volatility and regulatory risks” and solar expansion can play a “complementary role, meeting customer needs and providing economic energy.”

“Storage expansion continues, driven by both battery storage and the potential for additional pumped storage,” TVA said. “Energy efficiency deployment reduces energy needs, particularly between now and 2040, and demand response programs grow with the system and the use of smart technologies.”

TVA will take public comment on the preliminary final IRP until July 22, and will hold a public webinar on July 2 to discuss the plan. Final recommendations will be shared at the TVA Board meeting in August.

The IRP noted that the region has “recently experienced extreme winter temperatures in each of the last few years,” with a new winter peak record of 35,319 MW being set in January 2025, and for the 2026 IRP the utility used a 26% planning reserve margin target for winter, compared to its 18% planning reserve margin target for summer.

TVA established three potential strategies in the IRP: Strategy A, which sticks with TVA’s baseline and relies heavily on natural gas generation; Strategy B, which embraces technological innovation and nuclear expansion in particular; and Strategy C, which focuses on distributed energy and would increase renewables and storage.

Strategy A’s higher reliance on natural gas means it has a “higher financial risk exposure than alternative strategies,” while Strategy B is the most expensive overall, and Strategy C “increases the risk of unserved energy or energy curtailment,” TVA said.

The IRP recommends the utility “pursue solar to reduce total system costs or meet customer needs,” but “suspend wind additions given cost and portfolio fit challenges.” It also recommends investment in TVA’s hydro and nuclear fleets and pursuing “nuclear license extensions to maintain low-cost generation.”

In the IRP’s high growth forecast, the scenario which the region is edging closer to, nuclear capacity growth is the highest due in part to increases in the natural gas price forecast.

TVA noted changes in U.S. energy policy since its 2025 IRP, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s curtailment of the investment tax credits available to renewable projects, and the Trump administration’s focus on coal and gas generation.

President Donald Trump has pushed for TVA to turn back toward coal, and fired three Biden appointees from the TVA board in July after the board authorized the retirement of coal units at TVA’s Cumberland and Kingston power plants so natural gas could be developed there. After Trump appointed three replacements to the board, the board voted to operate Cumberland and Kingston’s coal plants past their retirement dates.

In the IRP, TVA’s forecast for coal involves the “continuing operation of [its] coal fleet, subject to regulatory requirements, as an immediate, cost-effective option to reduce total system cost and system reliability risk.” Through 2040, TVA will “evaluate [the] existing fleet, as needed, considering material condition, system reliability, system cost, regulatory requirements, and replacement generation.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/24/2026 - 22:00
Tyler Durden

Medvedev Calls For International Law Mechanism Banning Western Military Bases Abroad

Zero Rss
1 month 1 week ago
Medvedev Calls For International Law Mechanism Banning Western Military Bases Abroad

In a hard-hitting Wednesday address at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (SPILF), Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, didn't mince words regarding the sprawling global footprint of Western military power.

The former Russian president called for the immediate creation of aggressive "legal mechanisms" to counter and dismantle Western military bases stationed on foreign soil, framing them as a direct threat to global stability. Russia has long accused both Washington and NATO of being hegemonic powers - whose policies sparked the Ukraine conflict.

Image source: United Russia

According to Medvedev, the unchecked deployment of these foreign outposts has evolved into a primary driver destroying what remains of the collective security system, while simultaneously eroding the sovereignty of independent nations.

"They are, frankly, provoking international and regional tensions," Medvedev warned.

The Kremlin top official signaled that Moscow is looking to weaponize international law to push back against Western geopolitical encirclement, arguing that the current status quo is unsustainable and manufactured by Washington and its allies.

"This is why it is necessary to develop specific legal mechanisms aimed at dismantling the existing system of foreign military presence that the West is imposing on other countries," Medvedev concluded.

The timing is important, and no doubt related to Ukraine's stepped-up drone attacks especially on the Moscow region, which has put key oil refineries out of commission for several months.

Russia has accused Western intelligence agencies of providing targeting data for Ukrainian forces in a 'hand and glove' kind of way.

As the proxy conflict between NATO and Russia continues to heat up, Medvedev’s remarks signal a new diplomatic and legal push by the Kremlin to also rally the Global South against Western military hegemony.

Common estimate say the United States operates approximately 750 to 800 military base sites across roughly 80 foreign countries and territories...

Source: Kelly Martin Designs

However, the so-called international community is not likely enforce such "dismantling" given global institutions are dominated by Western - and specifically - Washington interests.

Russia has long advocated for a multi-polar order, and this has remained a key theme of Putin speeches, but this theme has fallen on deaf ears especially among European and American hawkish officials.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/24/2026 - 21:40
Tyler Durden

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