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US Squeezes China's Jet Parts Supply As Rare Earth Showdown Escalates

If you want an indication that resource nationalism and Beijing's weaponization of critical material exports to gain leverage over the US in high-stakes trade negotiations are accelerating, a new report Thursday afternoon says the Trump administration is planning to slow shipments of commercial jet parts to China.

Reuters cites several people familiar with the Commerce Department's moves to slow export licensing and limit the quantities of jet parts approved for shipment to China's state-owned planemaker COMAC to prevent stockpiling.

Officials have also explored new licensing requirements covering aviation hydraulic fluid and rules that could make it easier to restrict landing gear and other components.

The report stated:

The slowdown has taken several forms. The Commerce Department slowed export licensing for airplane parts bound for China in recent weeks, two other sources told Reuters.

Officials have also expressed interest in issuing an export regulation that could make it easier to restrict landing gear and other aircraft parts to China, two sources said. A draft version included a new licensing requirement on aviation hydraulic fluid shipped by US suppliers like ExxonMobil, one of the people said.

And the Commerce Department has been ⁠limiting the number of parts licensed to be shipped to China's state-owned planemaker, COMAC, to keep the company from stockpiling, another source said.

What this suggests is that last month's Trump-Xi meeting in Washington produced no resolution on rare earths, only now an increased willingness by Beijing to tighten restrictions on critical material exports to the US and the West even further. 

This has produced shortages of gallium, germanium, tungsten, and other critical materials essential to the looming defense rearmament supercycle, and in return, we've launched our "own the bottlenecks" theme. 

In early 2025, China ramped up restrictions on critical material exports to the US, while the Trump administration sought a level playing field and has choked off China's access to cheap crude, whether from Cuba, Venezuela, or through the Strait of Hormuz.

Tyler Durden Fri, 10/02/2026 - 20:30

The Los Angeles Rams are finally getting a break when it comes to injuries.

Perry's sister, Mia Perry Bowick, and his other close friends open up on his life in the three-part series.

Perry's sister, Mia Perry Bowick, and his other close friends open up on his life in the three-part series.

If high summer energy bills felt painful, brace yourself: Electric rates are set to keep climbing, and home-heating oil prices will surge by 70% this winter.

The operation marks the fourth child rescue effort of its kind in New York. 

Last season, it became clear that the Islanders' home venue had quickly transformed into the Rink That Matthew Schaefer Is Building.

Braelon Allen was honest ahead of the season about how important Year 3 was for him. A potentially significant moment in his young career has arrived.

FBI Made Over 8,900 Arrests, Located 1,410 Child Victims Under Operation Summer Heat 2.0

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has located 1,410 children and arrested 8,927 individuals in around three and a half months under Operation Summer Heat 2.0.

FBI Director Kash Patel speaks at the Nassau County Police Academy David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, N.Y., on Aug. 14, 2026. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Compared to Operation Summer Heat 1.0, which concluded in 2025, arrests are up 3 percent and the number of children located is higher by 34 percent, according to a Sept. 30 post on X by FBI Director Kash Patel. A total of 5,013 weapons have been seized in the current operation, a 120 percent jump from last time.

Operation Summer Heat 2.0 - active between June 1 and Sept. 20 - included the seizure of more than 59,525 pounds of cocaine and more than 1,499 pounds of fentanyl. Six most-wanted fraudsters were caught during this period, while six alleged cybercriminals were extradited.

In an Aug. 29 post on Facebook, FBI Omaha said that under Operation Summer Heat 2.0, they worked with various state, local, tribal, and federal partners in Nebraska and Iowa, resulting in the arrest of around 95 individuals and the seizure of 119 weapons.

The FBI said in a Sept. 14 statement that the operation led to the arrests of 662 individuals across the state of Louisiana, with 315 firearms seized.

"Communities are safer because of our ongoing partnerships and initiatives like Operation Summer Heat 2.0," Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp said in the statement. "Incarcerating a dangerous criminal for one night or even a few hours is 100 percent ineffective at maintaining public safety. However, putting them in prison for years, is a different story."

"This year, the FBI reported the largest year-to-year decrease in violent crime since we started collecting and reporting numbers in 1936," Tapp said.

Last year's Operation Summer Heat, which ran from June 24, 2025, to Sept. 20, 2025, had led to the arrests of 8,629 individuals, with 2,281 firearms being seized. In addition, 1,053 children were identified or located.

A July 2026 report from the think tank Council on Criminal Justice that assessed crime statistics across various U.S. cities found decreases in various crimes.

Homicides were down by 18 percent in the first half of 2026 compared with the first half of last year, according to the report. In addition, aggravated assaults were down 2 percent and gun assaults were down 6 percent.

In a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement, Lauren Bis, assistant secretary at the DHS's Office of Public Affairs, credited the Trump administration's policies for lower crime rates, saying it was no surprise that the decline in crime coincided with the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants.

The Council on Criminal Justice suggested in a July 23 statement that no single factor may be responsible for the declining crime numbers.

"Murder and other crime rates are falling across the map, in cities with different political leadership, housing and economic conditions, policing and prosecution strategies, violence reduction models, and levels of federal enforcement activity," Council on Criminal Justice President Adam Gelb said in the statement.

"Local policies and programs surely matter, but the striking consistency of the decline suggests that macro-level forces are exerting enormous influence as well," Gelb said.

Criminal Illegal Immigrants

Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to crack down against criminal illegal immigrants.

On Sept. 29, the DHS announced that it had recently deported several illegal immigrant gang members, including violent assailants, burglars, and murderers.

Among the deported were a Surenos gang member from Mexico convicted of second-degree murder, a Mexican Mafia gang member with aggravated assault and murder convictions, and an MS-13 gang member with an international warrant for murdering a police officer, the department said.

The DHS also announced on Sept. 30 that it had added 5,000 more illegal immigrants to its Worst of the Worst website. Launched in December, the website allows people to search through a database of dangerous illegal immigrants arrested nationwide.

With the addition of the 5,000, the total number of criminal illegal immigrants displayed on the site is now at over 40,000, according to the agency.

"This is still just a fraction of the total amount that the brave men and women of ICE work every single day to get off our streets and out of our country," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in the statement, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"The Trump Administration is committed to transparency, and that's why this website allows the American people to see for themselves what kind of dangerous illegal aliens ICE is removing from their communities," Mullin said.

Tyler Durden Fri, 10/02/2026 - 20:05

Jurors took only three hours to convict Nicole Linton.

A new report by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) suggest that our roads have become death traps. It is an intolerable situation that demands an urgent response.

Behemoth! under-utilizes the talented Olivia Wilde and Eva Victor.

What a showing by one Post expert in Week 4 college football season.

The luxury flight service runs from November through May.

The luxury flight service runs from November through May.

An Omani co-pilot who tried to hijack a flydubai flight carrying 174 people was previously banned by Oman over radical views, according to reports.

The country icon died on Aug. 25.

The country icon died on Aug. 25.

The ruling allows the prolific pervert and roughly 20,000 other convicted sex offenders' names to be scrubbed from the state police database.

Hochul Yanks Cornell Case From Local DA, Hands It To Letitia James - Who Already Picked A Side

The Cornell fraternity case that was coming apart at the seams this week has a new prosecutor.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Thursday night appointing state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the alleged Cornell sexual assault case, effectively removing Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten from it.

"Tonight, I signed an executive order appointing Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the Cornell sexual assault case," Hochul posted on X. "New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I've lost faith in the Tompkins County DA's ability" to handle it.

Hochul said the newly released information "undercut my faith, and the public's faith" in the DA's ability to investigate and prosecute the case, and went further:

"Who knew what when? What did they do wrong? Why didn't they come forward? How was this woman denied justice?"

Her case against the locals rests on two claims. First, that the woman's own statement that she was raped "never made it into the account that Cornell police sent to prosecutors." Second, that the DA never interviewed her before deciding not to prosecute.

Van Houten had already reopened the investigation earlier this week, according to ABC News. And part of his stated reason pointed in the opposite direction from the governor's: prosecutors said the woman's original statement appeared inconsistent with claims in the civil lawsuit she later filed against members of the Chi Phi fraternity.

CBS New York obtained screenshots of messages sent two days after the alleged 2024 incident, in which one of the accused men apologized for being too intoxicated to "shut it down and kick people out before it got way out of hand," and the woman replied that "none of the sexual stuff was illegal". Her attorney, Thomas Giuffra, acknowledged an exchange took place but could not confirm those specific texts, and said his client was traumatized and in denial at the time and had been intoxicated to the point of incapacity that night. More messages surfaced Thursday that, as Breitbart's John Nolte put it, appear to "unravel" the allegations.

Hours later, the case was taken away from the prosecutor who had just reopened it, and handed to the one whose name is guaranteed to turn it into a national political fight.

James was indicted on federal bank fraud charges in October 2025, but the case was dismissed in November 2025 after a judge ruled that interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was not lawfully serving, and two grand juries then declined to indict her again. In March, FHFA Director Bill Pulte sent new criminal referrals over her homeowner's insurance applications to federal prosecutors in Florida and Illinois. She has not been charged. She has called the effort a vendetta, with her attorney Abbe Lowell accusing the administration of trying to "rename, refile, and repeat baseless allegations."

"Every New Yorker deserves to know that when they report a crime, it will be investigated fully and fairly," James said in a statement. The DA's office did not respond to CBS' request for comment.

Three days before her appointment, James had already weighed in. "What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable," she wrote in a Sept. 28 post, adding, "To her, and to all survivors: you're not alone. We stand with you."

What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I'm holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you're not alone. We stand with you. https://t.co/az4ViQwgy1

— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) September 28, 2026

Asked about the post at a Friday press conference, Hochul sidestepped. "I have every confidence in our attorney general to do what she's always done, look at the facts, examine the record, and draw the proper conclusions," she said, according to The Independent. James was briefer: "I will not comment on a Facebook post."

Reporter: "Attorney General, on your Facebook page three days ago, you wrote, ‘What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I'm holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her and to all survivors, you're not alone. We stand with you.’ Why did… pic.twitter.com/AtHcuaPumE

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) October 2, 2026

No one has been charged. Whatever happened in 2024, the question of whether the case was mishandled is now going to be answered by the most politically exposed prosecutor in the state. Duke lacrosse fans will recognize the script.

    OCTOBER ONLY.$10 OFFYOUR NEXT ORDER.$30 min. Ends Oct 31. One per customer.GET MY $10 OFF →Signs you up for ZeroHedge Store emails. Can't be combined. Every order helps support ZeroHedge. Tyler Durden Fri, 10/02/2026 - 19:40