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The massive marine animal was seen swimming close to shore, bringing attention to a species that is not commonly seen in New York waters.

A young Florida pilot who crash-landed her plane in the Atlantic Ocean after experiencing a mechanical failure has said she's incredibly fortunate to have been able to swim away from the incident.

King Harald of Norway, who has been on sick leave for several weeks, was admitted to the National Hospital a week ago.

Clean Energy Spending Tracking Toward Record $180 Billion In 2026

Authored by Haley Zaremba via OilPrice.com,

• U.S. utility-scale battery storage has reached 52 GW after three years of 70 percent average annual growth, with 8.3 GW of that added in the first six months of 2026 alone.
• Clean energy capital spending hit $74 billion in the first half and is on pace for a record $180 billion this year, even after the rollback of federal incentives.
• Grid operators have another 54 GW queued through 2028, while China holds roughly half of global capacity and the EU moves to triple its own by 2030.

Donald Trump is accidentally overseeing a massive buildout of the country's renewable energy capacity and infrastructure. Not only are investments in renewable technologies soaring to new highs, the national energy grid is rapidly transforming to accommodate an increasingly solar- and wind-powered energy mix.

Despite massive rollbacks of Biden- and Obama-era clean energy incentives and financial supports, investment in clean energy tech keeps soaring to new heights, buoyed by market forces far outside of the federal government's control. Clean energy capital expenditures already reached $74 billion in the first half of 2026, and they're on track to reach a record $180 billion by the end of the year, according to fintech firm Crux's State of Clean Energy Finance: 2026 Mid-Year Market Intelligence Report.

"The market is proving resilient," Crux CEO and co-founder Alfred Johnson was recently quoted by Politico's E&E News. "We're seeing a significant amount of investment subsequent to the tax law changes of last year."

The insatiable energy demand coming from data center hyperscalers and the artificial intelligence boom has spurred a tidal wave of investment into all kinds of energy projects, and especially renewables due to their noted advantages when it comes to energy security and affordability. These advantages have been underscored in recent months by extreme volatility in fossil fuel markets thanks to the war in Iran and resultant supply chain vulnerabilities. "Renewables and storage continue to be the fastest way to get new electrons on the grid until additional gas-fired generation can be built," NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum was recently quoted by Reuters.

As a result, we are currently "living in what arguably is one of the best periods to invest in renewables in the US over the last 20 years" according to Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, chief executive officer of Portuguese electric utilities company EDP. Accordingly, EDP is directing approximately USD $5.3 billion - more than half of its capital expenditures - toward United States renewables projects over the next three years.

All of that renewable energy buildout is being accompanied by a massive and unprecedented uptick in battery storage buildout, resulting in a rapid transformation of the nation's energy grid. Over the past three years, utility-scale battery storage capacity increased at a blistering rate of 70 percent per year on average to reach 52 gigawatts (GW) today. Nearly 16 percent of that - 8.3 GW - was added in the first half of this year alone.

"This expansion depends mostly on co-locating batteries with solar photovoltaic (PV) plants to capitalize on wholesale price arbitrage across major energy markets," Interesting Engineering reported earlier this week. Connecting battery packs directly to solar farms allows the farms' operators to store excess clean energy at peak production hours until the evening hours, when production wanes, demand rises, and rates reach a premium. "This lucrative business model has sparked a massive construction boom across solar-heavy states, turning temporary energy storage into a primary driver of modern grid infrastructure," Interesting Engineering goes on to report.

As stunning as this year's figures are, the battery storage revolution is just getting started. Grid operators already have plans to add another 54 GW of battery capacity by the end of 2028. That means that the nation's energy storage capacity will double again by 2030, compared to current levels.

And the United States is not alone - the energy storage renaissance is proving to be a global trend. China is leading buildout by a wide margin, controlling more than half of global capacity. But other major global leaders are hurrying to get a foothold into the rapidly expanding market. Just this month, the European Union formalized a plan to triple the bloc's energy storage capacity by 2030. European Leaders are banking on energy storage - alongside renewable energy expansion - to steady the continent's energy markets and protect member states from the next energy crisis.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/24/2026 - 03:30

"We don't arrest people based on the color of their skin. I'm actually an equal opportunity deporter."

Dear Abby gives advice to a reader who is being neglected by her partner because he is up until 5 a.m. on most nights playing video games.

Anti-Social Media

Social media may have been built to connect people, but entertainment and diversion now appear to be its main draws.

As Statista's Felix Richter reports, according to Statista Consumer Insights, nearly half of U.S. respondents say entertainment is an important criterion when it comes to social media, ahead of passing time and communicating with friends and family.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Among young adults aged 18 to 29, the social dimension of social media is even less pronounced: 32 percent cite staying in touch with friends and family as important, compared with 37 percent who value simply passing time.

With only 25 percent naming meeting new people as a priority, the findings illustrate how social platforms increasingly function as an always-on source of content, diversion and passive consumption, as opposed to it original purpose of staying in touch with friends.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/24/2026 - 02:45

A young black bear took a rough tumble from a tree after wildlife officers tranquilized the animal before relocating it to a more suitable habitat.

Israel DM Orders IDF To Escalate Demolitions In Southern Lebanon

Authored by Jason Ditz via Antiwar.com,

A week after ordering the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare for a "long-term stay" in occupied southern Lebanon, Defense Minister Israel Katz has now also ordered them to escalate the rate at which they're destroying what is being framed as "Hezbollah infrastructure" across the south.

The issue with this is the same as it's been throughout the war, that Israel's definition of Hezbollah infrastructure generally boils down to civilian infrastructure at large, with a particular emphasis on the municipalities where Shi'ite Muslims live, but by no means restricting the attacks just to them.

Officials aimed to frame the tiny Shi'ite villages that the IDF already occupies as "Hezbollah fortresses," and presented the ongoing demolition of those villages as "engineering activity." Much of that engineering involves explosions, whether it's heavy artillery fire on the villages or increasingly the deployment of incendiary white phosphorus munitions to set fires in the villages and the surrounding area.

IDF military vehicles seen smashing solar panels in Debel, Lebanon | Image from X

Katz has made clear that a number of the villages in the southernmost parts of Lebanon will simply have to "disappear," and with tens of thousands of homes destroyed in recent months, there are a number of villages which it can be said simply no longer exist.

But Israel has allowed a handful of non-Shi'ite villages to remain in that area, but living under the occupation leaves those villages in a very tenuous situation. Local leaders in Kfar Chouba reported that the IDF warned them that if anyone in the village was armed, the entire village population would be expelled and the buildings destroyed. So far, that hasn't happened.

But obeying the occupiers doesn't mean the villagers can live as they would in peacetime. The village's economy is based heavily around farming and olive orchards, but the Israeli troops regularly restrict villagers' access to those lands. There's no formal rule given to the villagers as to where they're allowed or not allowed at any given time, and even the southernmost parts of the village are "no go" areas, with IDF troops reportedly setting up operations within buildings in that part of the village.

Further north, Israel continues to heavily attack the Ali Taher Ridge, though in the past few days they haven't made any serious attempts to advance on the ground into the area. Israel reportedly sees the ridge as strategically valuable, as it overlooks much of the northern part of Nabatieh District, the northernmost part of Lebanon that Israel intends to occupy, at least at this point.

Tyler Durden Mon, 08/24/2026 - 02:00

Lillian Smart, who health officials believe contracted a brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a northern Louisiana lake, died Saturday from an infection linked to the pathogen.

Malaysian rocker Raja Azreen Raja Talib was on stage with his rock band Meditasi at the Teruntum Rock Festival in Malaysia last month when he suddenly collapsed mid-performance.

The Scottish-American actor is getting roasted online for his rant about a recent business class experience, with many labeling the clip “ridiculous”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he believes actions taken by dismissed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov were misguided, as he publicly detailed their dispute for the first time.

Seahawks rookie Bud Clark suffered a broken ankle vs. the Titans.

The homicide suspect, identified as Benjamin Charles Parker, 36, was found dead of apparent suicide inside a car in Enumclaw.

The next stop on the pop-punk powerhouse festival is The Great White North.

The next stop on the pop-punk powerhouse festival is The Great White North.

Phoenix police Officers Antonio Felix and Luis Vasquez were arrested on charges including aggravated assault and kidnapping.

"Iran Is Losing Its Grip On Hormuz": Strait Traffic Explodes Nearly 400%

Summary:

• Nearly 200 Ships Navigated Strait Last Week, Up From 150 the Previous Week
• Trump Views Hormuz As "an American Territory" 
• Axios: 40 Tankers Transited Hormuz Friday Night, But Real Crisis Is Diesel

Hormuz Commercial Traffic Surges 

Shortly after President Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz "an American territory" on Friday evening, the New York Post published a new report citing UK Maritime Trade Operations data showing that commercial traffic through the critical waterway has rebounded sharply as more vessels use a US-backed route along Oman's coast. This suggests that the US military presence and offensive operations in the region have degraded Tehran's ability to fully control the waterway.

Nearly 200 ships navigated the strait last week, up from about 150 the previous week and just 40 two weeks earlier, according to UKMTO data. Traffic has recovered to roughly 20% of prewar levels, when the waterway carried about one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.

"It increasingly looks like Iran has at least partially lost control of the strait," Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil analysis at Kpler, told CNN.

"The Oman route absolutely makes the most sense," added Dan Pickering, founder of Pickering Energy Partners, noting that it allows vessels to avoid the possibility of paying a toll to Tehran.

President Trump told a crowd in South Carolina late Friday, "We don't even know if we won, because I view the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now."

BREAKING: Trump says he view Strait of Hormuz as an American territory pic.twitter.com/NBKGGBgvWu

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) August 21, 2026

Let's revisit a mid-March note from Ex Uno Plures' Zoltan Pozsar, who explained at the time that Trump was "methodically building a portfolio of assets" to pressure China, centered on strategic energy-supply nodes and maritime chokepoints that have historically supported Beijing's access to cheap crude imports. His note highlighted the Panama Canal, Venezuelan oil flows, and the broader significance of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

Axios: 40 Tankers Transited Hormuz Friday Night, But Real Crisis Is Diesel

Axios political reporter and Middle East correspondent Barak Ravid reported early Saturday that 40 tankers transited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday night, citing three unnamed US officials.

"Around 16 million barrels of oil moved out of the strait through the southern channel on Friday night," Ravid wrote on X.

🚨🚢🛢️Around 40 tankers transited in and out of the Strait of Hormuz through the southern deep channel on Friday night. Around 16 million barrels of oil moved out of the strait through the southern channel on Friday night, three U.S. officials told me

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) August 22, 2026

The latest Bloomberg vessel-tracking data show that 13 ships transited the critical waterway on Saturday, with seven traveling east to west and six moving west to east. Traffic remains well below the levels recorded during the brief memorandum-of-understanding period from June 15 through mid-July.

On Friday, President Trump called the Hormuz chokepoint "an American territory"...

"We don't even know if we won, because I view the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now," Trump said, addressing a crowd in South Carolina.

Trump joked about bombing Iran during the speech, saying, "It's a Friday night. We have plenty of time... and what the hell do I have to do? Go back and bomb Iran a little bit more?"

Axios reported Wednesday that the US military had established a shipping corridor in the critical waterway, which carries millions of barrels of oil each day. There was no word from Ravid on whether the 40 tankers sailed through the new shipping corridor.

Even with these transits, the emerging energy crisis is not centered on crude availability, as SPRs around the world are being tapped to offset lost production in the Gulf region. Instead, the real crisis is materializing in the refined-products market.

The focus emerged at the start of the week when Bloomberg's front-month US diesel crack spread (HOCL1 Index) topped $100 a barrel, as we warned: "Industrial economy either grinds to a halt or consumers about to be hit with the biggest energy pass-through in history."

Diesel crack hits record $102. This is absolutely unprecedented.

Industrial economy either grinds to a halt or consumers about to be hit with the biggest energy pass through in history pic.twitter.com/OtAdgrCvb3

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 17, 2026

Then, by Wednesday, Jeff Currie, the former Goldman Sachs commodities chief and now co-chair of Abaxx Markets, appeared on CNBC to explain that the real crisis is not in crude but in diesel markets.

"Nobody on the planet Earth consumes crude oil," Currie told CNBC. "Refineries do. Everyone else consumes gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and those markets look considerably uglier."

By Thursday, Currie explained that the convergence of tight physical markets, currency debasement and policy intervention represents the hallmark of a structural commodity bull cycle.

"Stop looking at crude. Nobody consumes it but refineries. The economy runs on gasoline and diesel, and that consumption-weighted basket costs $165 against $85 WTI," Currie wrote on X. Read the report.

Related:

• Diesel Crack Spread Madness Deepens As Jefferies Finds No Easy Exit From Russia's Refining Crisis

The US diesel crack spread closed below $100 on Friday, but the Hormuz disruption, compounded by Ukraine's decimation of Russia's refining capabilities, is creating a perfect storm for global diesel markets ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter.

Tyler Durden Sun, 08/23/2026 - 23:55

US Open fan week surges with revamped mixed doubles, free events and star pairings like Serena Williams-Carlos Alcaraz.