Putin To Visit China Just Days After Trump’s Beijing, Demonstrating ‘No Limits’ Partnership Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Chinese President Xi Jinping from May 19 to 20, just days after US President Donald Trump concluded his state visit to Beijing, the Kremlin has announced. In a Telegram statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry unveiled that Putin would travel to China “at the invitation” of Xi Jinping, marking the 25th […]

Pakistan Uses Diplomacy To Secure LNG Supply from Hormuz Submitted by Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com Pakistan has negotiated the passage of vessels laden with Qatari LNG out of the Strait of Hormuz in a diplomatic feat that no other energy buyer has managed so far in the Iran war. Pakistan, which was the mediator of the U.S.-Iran talks and is passing messages from one to the other, appears to have used well its close ties with […]

“You Should Be Preparing Your Criminal Defense”: Becerra Feels The Heat In Final California Governor’s Debate Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics, Seven candidates vying for California’s governorship squared off Thursday in their fifth and final debate, with frontrunner Xavier Becerra facing down an onslaught of attacks from the right and the left over his policy record, a campaign fraud scandal, and what rivals […]

Tehran Claims US Faces Escalating Economic Fallout From ‘War Of Choice’ As Hardship Mounts Inside Iran Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Saturday that the United States would face mounting economic fallout from its “war of choice” against Iran, as both sides appear settled into a long game of waiting to inflict the most severe economic and political damage on the other. In a post on X, Araghchi said Americans would […]

New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s Job Is Impossible Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance Congratulations to Kevin Warsh on officially becoming the next Federal Reserve chair. Unfortunately for him, he may have just accepted the worst job in global finance at the worst possible moment. Warsh was narrowly confirmed this week in the most partisan Fed chair vote in modern history, inheriting a central bank that has spent years under political […]

50 Empty Waymos Invade Upscale Tiny Atlanta Neighborhood With Waymo robotaxis now operating in 11 major U.S. markets, these fully autonomous Jaguar I-PACE SUVs are becoming increasingly visible to everyday folks. This wider rollout means more public encounters and more viral footage capturing robotaxis in the wild. One such incident occurred in a northwest Atlanta neighborhood this week, where residents told local media outlet […]

Persian Gulf Countries ‘Refused’ UAE Call For Joint Attack On Iran Via The Cradle The UAE tried but failed to persuade neighboring states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to take part in a coordinated military attack on Iran, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ) spoke by phone with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) and other regional leaders to […]

One Of Russia’s Largest Fuel Facilities Spews ‘Black Rain’ Over Ryazan After Deadly Ukrainian Drone Strike An early Friday drone strike triggered a major fire at the Ryazan Oil Refinery, one of Russia’s largest fuel production facilities, according to local residents and Russian monitoring channels. Residents reported multiple loud explosions after drones were seen flying over the city, with videos circulating online showing flames […]

Democrats Devastated After Supreme Court Rejects Attempt To Revive Virginia Congressional Map Hammering the last nail in the coffin of what could have been a significant midterm factor, the US Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia Democrats’ request to use a new congressional district map, which was drawn to flip four House seats into Democratic control. 🚨 IT’S OFFICIAL, WE WIN! “The US Supreme Court moments ago has ruled […]

Lefty Union Paralyzes Long Island Rail Road As Strike Sets Commuter Chaos Countdown For Monday Yet another reason for privatizing mass transportation emerged Saturday morning, after a left-wing rail union launched a strike set to snarl the nation’s busiest commuter railroad network. The labor action threatens to paralyze the Long Island Rail Road, a critical transportation artery spanning the New York City-to-Long Island corridor […]

Bonds Are Screaming “Something’s Wrong” Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance Bond yields are doing exactly what I warned about yesterday: forcing reality back into a market that had become increasingly detached from it. Heading into Friday’s cash open, U.S. equity futures are under pressure, with S&P 500 futures down roughly 1% and Nasdaq futures off even more sharply as global bond markets sold off overnight. CNBC reported […]

Samsung, South Korean Union Resume Talks As Strike Threat Risks Disrupting Memory Chip Fabs Heavy selling swept across Asian markets on Friday, with South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI plunging 6% as traders aggressively reduced exposure to the country’s semiconductor sector. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the decline. The catalyst for the sell-off was labor action risk headlines at Samsung, where the company’s union threatened a […]

UK Moves To Ban New North Sea Oil & Gas Licenses Permanently Via City AM, The UK government will introduce legislation banning new North Sea oil and gas exploration licences as part of its Energy Independence Bill. Critics argue the policy will increase Britain’s reliance on imported fossil fuels while damaging Scotland’s oil and gas industry. Rising oil prices and disruptions tied to the Iran conflict have […]

China Confirms Boeing Jet Deal, Agrees To Cut Select Levies & Expand Agri Trade Summary:  China, U.S. Agree To Cut Levies On Select Products, Expand Agricultural Trade China, U.S. Reach Boeing Jet Purchase Agreement U.S. And China Agree To Establish Trade And Investment Boards Trump-Xi Summit Delivers Modest Trade Wins China Responds With Agreements To Purchase Jets, Cut Levies, Expand Trade  One day […]

Pentagon ‘Blindsided’ As Hegseth Pulls Plug On 4,000-Troop Deployment To Poland President Trump’s earlier previewed controversial troop cuts for the European continent may already be in progress, and could happen more rapidly than previously thought.  The US Army has canceled the deployment of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division to Poland, NBC reports this week. The deployment would have involved over […]

41% Of Muslim Youth In Vienna Believe Their Religious Laws Take Precedence Via Remix News, A recent study conducted on behalf of the city of Vienna highlights a concerning trend among young Muslims regarding their religious and political views. This follows the recent announcement that Muslim children now comprise nearly 41 percent of the population in Vienna’s compulsory schools, making them the largest religious group. The […]

Deadlocked At Square Zero: Very First Line Of Iran’s Latest Proposal ‘Unacceptable,’ Trump Says Tehran and Washington are truly not just back to square one, but it’s as if no rounds of dialogue – direct or indirect – have even taken place. It’s more like being back at square zero – and the US President has just acknowledged it. President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday while departing Beijing that even the very […]

Turkey Proposes $1.2B Fuel Pipeline To Reboot NATO’s Eastern Flank Logistics Just when it seemed as if the European energy landscape couldn’t get any more fractured, Ankara is stepping up with a massive, off-grid proposal. Bloomberg reports Friday that Turkey has “proposed building a $1.2 billion (€1 billion) fuel pipeline for military use to help meet the energy needs of allies on NATO’s eastern European flank, according to […]

UK’s Telegraph Claims Attractive Young Women Are Now The New Face Of The ‘Far-Right’ Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, The Telegraph has published a piece so tone-deaf it reads like self-parody. According to the outlet, the “far-right” is no longer the domain of bald men in boots and tattoos. No, it’s now being led by “strikingly telegenic young women” who dare to look good on camera while warning about mass […]

BRICS Summit Can’t Muster Joint Statement On Iran War Amid Deepening Division Via The Cradle The two-day meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in New Delhi ended on Friday without a joint statement due to “differing views” on the US-Israeli war against Iran and the current situation in West Asia, the Indian government said in a statement.  Representatives expressed “their respective national positions and shared a range of […]

Beijing Showcased Future War Machines While Trump Was In Town The 11th China Military Intelligent Technology Expo opened Thursday at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, showcasing a lineup of drones, robotic war dogs, grenade launchers, wheeled unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and other modern battlefield technologies. The key takeaway is that many of these once-futuristic war machines have moved well beyond […]

Waste Of The Day: Seattle’s Homelessness Fiasco Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClear Politics, Topline: The homelessness agency in King County, Wash., has a $45 million deficit, but auditors can’t fully figure out why, according to a state audit publicly released this April. Its accounting records are so poor that it’s impossible to track where portions of its money are being spent. Key facts: The King County Regional […]

Here’s Where Wealth Is Moving In America Americans aren’t just moving, they’re bringing billions in wealth with them. This map, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, visualizes net wealth migration by state in 2023, based on Realtor.com’s analysis of the latest data from the Internal Revenue Service. Florida alone gained tens of billions in income from out-of-state residents. Meanwhile, states like California and New […]

AI Bots Placed In Virtual Town For 2 Weeks Go Apesh*t, Prompting Concerns Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, A new experiment left 10 AI agents alone in a virtual town for 15 days and found they exhibited bizarre behaviour. The agents drafted their own laws — then promptly violated them. Two formed what researchers called a romantic partnership, only to torch buildings across the town as order collapsed. One […]

Gun Control Advocates Turn Their Sights On Regulating Muskets? It’s always interesting when gun control activists and the media discover something about the firearms world that gun enthusiasts have known for decades.  It shows that the people desperately clamoring to erase the 2nd Amendment often know nothing about the weapons they want to regulate.  The act of “gun control” has nothing to do with understanding firearms, their […]