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  4.    <title>ZeroHedge News</title>
  5.    <link>https://www.zerohedge.com</link>
  6.    <description/>
  7.    <language>en</language>
  8.    
  9.    <item>
  10.  <title>Slovak PM Claims EU Tried To Sabotage Canceled Trump–Putin Peace Summit In Budapest</title>
  11.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/slovak-pm-claims-eu-tried-sabotage-canceled-trump-putin-peace-summit-budapest</link>
  12.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Slovak PM Claims EU Tried To Sabotage Canceled Trump–Putin Peace Summit In Budapest&lt;/span&gt;
  13.  
  14.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://rmx.news/article/fico-claims-eu-tried-to-sabotage-canceled-trump-putin-peace-summit-in-budapest/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  15.  
  16. &lt;p&gt;Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused some within the European Union of attempting to sabotage peace by disrupting the now-canceled meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Budapest.&lt;/p&gt;
  17.  
  18. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  19. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“The foreign minister of a European Union member state says that Russian President V. Putin could be detained during a flight over this country, and the European Commission’s media environment is warning Hungary that it should implement an international arrest warrant,”&lt;/strong&gt; Fico said in a statement released by the Slovak Government Office.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  20.  
  21. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“I have always maintained that the EU has turned into a war cabinet, that a significant part of EU member states support the war in Ukraine in the naive belief that this way Russia can be weakened and even defeated,” he added, calling attempts to derail peace talks a “sad sight.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  22. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  23.  
  24. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fico criticized what he called a paradox, where “some leaders are pushing for the Budapest summit” while others are undermining it. &lt;/strong&gt;He said there were also efforts to include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, describing this as “throwing pitchforks into a possible agreement.”&lt;/p&gt;
  25.  
  26. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/GettyImages-2232743736.jpg?itok=O497mtCU" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GettyImages-2232743736.jpg?itok=O497mtCU"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="005e3294-681f-491c-9537-88d7ed1b23b2" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/GettyImages-2232743736.jpg?itok=O497mtCU" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  27.  
  28. &lt;p&gt;The foreign minister referred to by Fico is Poland’s Radoslaw Sikorski, who warned that his government could not guarantee Putin’s safe passage through Polish airspace, citing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Russian leader over alleged war crimes. “I cannot guarantee that an independent Polish court won’t order the government to escort such an aircraft down to hand the suspect to the court in The Hague,” Sikorski told Radio Rodzina.&lt;/p&gt;
  29.  
  30. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sikorski said Poland, as a member of the ICC, is obliged to act if Putin enters its jurisdiction.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  31.  
  32. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  33. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“I think the Russian side is aware of this,” he added.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  34.  
  35. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“And, therefore, if this summit is to take place, hopefully with the participation of the victim of the aggression, the aircraft will use a different route.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  36. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  37.  
  38. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fico had urged the European Union to do everything in its power to ensure that the Trump-Putin peace summit in Hungary goes ahead “as quickly as possible and without obstacles.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  39.  
  40. &lt;p&gt;He declared:&lt;/p&gt;
  41.  
  42. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  43. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“The Trump-Putin summit in Budapest as soon as possible, without any obstacles and with the full support of the EU—that is my official position.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  44. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  45.  
  46. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prospects for such a summit now appear to have dimmed.&lt;/strong&gt; President Trump said on Tuesday that he did not want a “wasted meeting,” and the White House confirmed that there were “no plans” for a Trump-Putin meeting “in the immediate future,” following earlier suggestions that the two leaders would meet in Budapest within two weeks.&lt;/p&gt;
  47.  
  48. &lt;p&gt;Trump said the sticking point was Moscow’s refusal to halt fighting along the current front line, noting, “Let it be cut the way it is. I said: cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.”&lt;/p&gt;
  49.  
  50. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow’s position “doesn’t change,” insisting that Russia would only accept a “long-term, sustainable peace.” &lt;/strong&gt;Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the current proposal floated by Ukraine and the United States amounted merely to a temporary ceasefire and that “the root causes of the conflict” had to be addressed.&lt;/p&gt;
  51.  
  52. &lt;p&gt;A preparatory meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week, but the White House said the two had had a “productive” call and that a meeting was no longer “necessary.”&lt;/p&gt;
  53.  
  54. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has previously stated that “Budapest is the only suitable place in Europe for a USA-Russia peace summit.&lt;/strong&gt; With long-standing pro-peace leadership and trusted partnerships, we provide a reliable, secure, and politically stable setting. There was no other option. Simply put: They can count on us.”&lt;/p&gt;
  55.  
  56. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://rmx.news/article/fico-claims-eu-tried-to-sabotage-canceled-trump-putin-peace-summit-in-budapest/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Read more here...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  57. &lt;/div&gt;
  58.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  59. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T12:45:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 08:45&lt;/span&gt;
  60. </description>
  61.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
  62.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  63.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077234 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  64.    </item>
  65. <item>
  66.  <title>Futures Flat As Gold Selloff Extends</title>
  67.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/futures-flat-gold-selloff-extends</link>
  68.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Futures Flat As Gold Selloff Extends&lt;/span&gt;
  69.  
  70.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;US equity futures are flat again, with tech and small caps lagging as traders parsed the latest earnings reports and corporate news amid worries over trade, the US government shutdown and geopolitical risks. Gold and silver extended declines after Tuesday’s slump. As of 8:00am, S&amp;P futures were unchanged while Nasdaq futures dropped 0.2% after a rally on Wall Street lost steam. Pre-market, Mag7 names are mostly weaker ex-GOOG on its cloud deal. Netflix tumbled 6.8% in premarket trading after the streaming-video company reported third-quarter results that missed across the board despite stronger forecasts. Texas Instruments also plunged about 8% on an underwhelming outlook. Meme stocks are back, with Krispy Kreme among those joining Beyond Meat in the retail trader frenzy today. Mining stocks are weaker pre-market though gold and silver are bouncing off their overnight lows; both are underperforming platinum / palladium.  The yield curve shifts lower and the USD continues its recent move higher. USD is +2.5% since making a 52-wk low on Sep 16. The balance of the commodity complex is bid with WTI +1.7% the standout on report &lt;span&gt;that US and India are nearing an accord that could lead India to reduce imports of Russian crude. &lt;/span&gt;US / China situation still has aides talking behind closed doors as Trump / Xi remain likely to meet next week. There is no macro today .&lt;/p&gt;
  71.  
  72. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/ES%202025-10-22_8-18-13.jpg?itok=yfNwbd-s" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/ES%202025-10-22_8-18-13.jpg?itok=yfNwbd-s"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f924e75d-3659-4cbf-a713-1a8cfffc2682" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="295" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/ES%202025-10-22_8-18-13.jpg?itok=yfNwbd-s" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  73.  
  74. &lt;p&gt;In premarket trading, Netflix and Texas Instruments shares are both lower after disappointing results, with Tesla and IBM among the big names to watch later. The EV maker is expected to post a 25% drop in quarterly profits — but traders may not care. The shares have more than doubled in the past year on AI hopes.&lt;/p&gt;
  75.  
  76. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mag 7 stocks are mostly lower. Alphabet (GOOGL) rises 1.8% as Anthropic is in discussions with Google about a deal that would provide the artificial intelligence company with additional computing power valued in the high tens of billions of dollars, according to people familiar with the matter (Tesla -0.2%, Nvidia +0.06%, Meta -0.1%, Microsoft +0.2%, Apple -0.6%, Amazon -1.3%).&lt;/li&gt;
  77. &lt;li&gt;Alector (ALEC) tumbles 50% after the drug developer said a late-stage trial of its lead asset as an investigative treatment for dementia failed to meet a primary endpoint.&lt;/li&gt;
  78. &lt;li&gt;AT&amp;T Inc. (T) rises 1.4% after the company added more mobile-phone and home internet subscribers this summer than analysts expected.&lt;/li&gt;
  79. &lt;li&gt;Avadel Pharmaceuticals (AVDL) gains 4% after Alkermes agreed to buy the company for up to $20 per share.&lt;/li&gt;
  80. &lt;li&gt;Beyond Meat Inc. (BYND) soars 85%, boosting its four-day rally to almost 1,300%, in an echo of the meme-stock frenzies that periodically roil the market.&lt;/li&gt;
  81. &lt;li&gt;DraftKings (DKNG) climbs 3% after the sports betting company said it acquired predictions platform Railbird for an undisclosed amount.&lt;/li&gt;
  82. &lt;li&gt;Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) rallies 16% after the robotic-surgery company boosted its worldwide da Vinci procedure growth forecast for the full year.&lt;/li&gt;
  83. &lt;li&gt;Manhattan Associates (MANH) falls 7% after the supply-chain software company posted a key metric — “remaining performance obligations” — for the third quarter that fell short of estimates.&lt;/li&gt;
  84. &lt;li&gt;Mattel Inc. (MAT) is down 5% after the company reported third-quarter sales and earnings that missed analysts’ estimates as US retailers delayed orders due to uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.&lt;/li&gt;
  85. &lt;li&gt;Netflix (NFLX) falls 7% after the streaming-video company reported third-quarter results it said were hurt by a tax dispute with Brazil.&lt;/li&gt;
  86. &lt;li&gt;Texas Instruments (TXN) drops 7% after the chipmaker gave an outlook that is weaker than expected. The outlook indicates that some customers are slowing orders as they navigate mounting trade tensions.&lt;/li&gt;
  87. &lt;li&gt;Vertiv Holdings (VRT) is up 6% after the company boosted its adjusted earnings per share guidance for the full year; the guidance beat the average analyst estimate.&lt;/li&gt;
  88. &lt;li&gt;Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD) gains 2% after saying it’s considering a possible sale of the company after receiving unsolicited interest from multiple parties. Netflix Inc. and Comcast Corp. are weighing bids for parts of the media and entertainment company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.&lt;/li&gt;
  89. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;In other company news, Anthropic PBC is said to be in talks with Alphabet’s Google about a deal that would provide the AI company with additional computing power valued in the high tens of billions of dollars. Apple’s iPhone Air got a subdued response from consumers in China. &lt;/p&gt;
  90.  
  91. &lt;p&gt;Early US earnings point to the best corporate results in four years, with 85% of companies reporting beats. Despite recent de-risking amid concerns over trade and credit, stock exposure among global macro hedge funds and long-only strategies remains at the highest in over a year, according to Barclays Plc. Drawdowns have been short-lived as investors see them as opportunities to add risk to their portfolios.&lt;/p&gt;
  92.  
  93. &lt;p&gt;Earnings will “play a decisive role in determining whether the rally can be sustained,” said Linh Tran, a market analyst at XS.com. “Profit expectations for major tech companies have been revised upward, while consumer and financial sectors may benefit from resilient demand and higher interest margins. If corporate results continue to outperform forecasts, this could help the S&amp;P 500 extend its gains into Q4.”&lt;/p&gt;
  94.  
  95. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-22_8-32-57.jpg?itok=q7tlaldI" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-22_8-32-57.jpg?itok=q7tlaldI"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="415a61b2-118a-4160-9551-a1ba1e53b048" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="363" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-22_8-32-57.jpg?itok=q7tlaldI" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  96.  
  97. &lt;p&gt;Markets are also keeping one eye on trade news ahead of the resumption of US-China talks. Six months into Trump’s trade war, the resilience of Chinese exports is proving just how essential many of its products remain even after US levies of 55%.&lt;/p&gt;
  98.  
  99. &lt;p&gt;Gold fell more than 2%, closing in on $4,000 an ounce and deepening its worst intraday drop in more than a dozen years in the previous session, amid concerns its rally had run too far, too fast. Silver also declined following Tuesday’s 7.1% fall. Gold's drop on Tuesday drove the VanEck Gold Miners ETF down 9.4% in its biggest drop since 2020. Still, gold mining stocks are still on track for their biggest ever annual gain over the S&amp;P 500.&lt;/p&gt;
  100.  
  101. &lt;p&gt;Bond traders are preparing for yields to drop further even as the 30-year sank to its lowest in six months on Tuesday. The cost of protection against a bigger decline in yields across the curve is rapidly rising, according to pricing of options wagers. Traders are piling into some risk-off assets as the US government shutdown becomes the second longest on record and amid renewed concerns over the credit market. Meanwhile, dollar trading has become unusually subdued, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index remaining within one standard deviation of its average for about 80% of the time over the past 60 trading days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.&lt;/p&gt;
  102.  
  103. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/dollar%20moves%20contained.jpg?itok=UodgB_Qc" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/dollar%20moves%20contained.jpg?itok=UodgB_Qc"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4f71f8ae-df5f-483c-be31-02417dc22260" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="277" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/dollar%20moves%20contained.jpg?itok=UodgB_Qc" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  104.  
  105. &lt;p&gt;In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index dipped, with consumer products and services leading declines after results from L’Oreal SA, Hermes International SCA and Adidas AG failed to meet lofty expectations. Energy stocks led gains as crude oil rose. UK stocks got a boost with the FTSE 100 rising 0.7% after UK CPI surprised to the downside as traders ramp up bets on an interest-rate cut by the Bank of England before year end. Among companies reporting in Europe on Wednesday, Barclays Plc gained after raising its earnings guidance and unveiling a £500 million buyback. Akzo Nobel NV slumped after the paintmaker lowered its earnings outlook, with customers more hesitant to spend amid rising global tariffs and softer economic conditions. Here are the biggest movers Wednesday: &lt;/p&gt;
  106.  
  107. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Precious metals miners in South Africa and Europe rose on Wednesday as gold and silver prices steadied, after suffering their steepest selloffs in years.&lt;/li&gt;
  108. &lt;li&gt;Barclays shares rise as much as 4.1% after the UK lender increased its 2025 guidance and announced a £500 million share buyback, with investors looking beyond an increased provision for motor finance&lt;/li&gt;
  109. &lt;li&gt;Heineken shares rise 2.3% as analysts say a soft quarterly print was no worse than expected. The company’s move of Ebit growth guidance to the lower end of the range had been foreseen, according to consensus views&lt;/li&gt;
  110. &lt;li&gt;Handelsbanken gains as much as 2.1% after posting a slight beat to net interest income (NII) in its third-quarter report. Lower-than-expected costs also contributed to a solid showing from the Swedish lender&lt;/li&gt;
  111. &lt;li&gt;European chipmakers slip on Wednesday after US peer Texas Instruments forecast 4Q sales below estimates, signaling a delay in the rebound of the automotive and industrial chip sector&lt;/li&gt;
  112. &lt;li&gt;ITV shares plummet as much as 12% after the broadcaster’s largest shareholder Liberty Global cut its stake in half after offering shares at a discount&lt;/li&gt;
  113. &lt;li&gt;L’Oreal shares fall as much as 8%, the steepest drop in a year, after the cosmetics company reported third-quarter like-for-like sales that fell short of elevated market expectations&lt;/li&gt;
  114. &lt;li&gt;Hermes falls as much as 5% after sales at constant exchange rates for the third quarter showed double-digit growth in most regions, but key division leather goods slightly missed estimates, while valuation premium is stretched, according to analysts&lt;/li&gt;
  115. &lt;li&gt;DNB Bank shares drop as much as 4.3%, the most since July, after the Norwegian lender posted a disappointing third-quarter report, according to analysts, who flagged misses on net interest income (NII) and fee&lt;/li&gt;
  116. &lt;li&gt;Adidas shares dip as analysts say the sportswear maker’s increased full-year earnings forecast was only in-line with consensus and note a slight miss in third-quarter sales&lt;/li&gt;
  117. &lt;li&gt;TeamViewer shares slump as much as 24% to a record low after the software maker reduced its annual recurring revenue guidance for this year and sales outlook for next year&lt;/li&gt;
  118. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Asian stocks fell, weighed down by technology shares as investors rushed to lock in gains amid doubts about the sector’s staying power.  The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped as much as 0.6% before paring some losses, with TSMC, SoftBank Group and Alibaba among the biggest drags. Shares in Hong Kong and Vietnam declined, while South Korea’s Kospi rose.  Chipmakers and other AI-related stocks in Asia, including SoftBank, declined after Texas Instruments presented a disappointing outlook, which added to concerns that the sectors’ shares may have been running too hot. Precious-metal stocks also tumbled after gold and silver posted their steepest selloffs in years. The slide in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stocks came despite a bullish long-term call from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which predicted key stock gauges may gain 30% by the end of 2027. The strategists argued the upside will be supported by pro-market policies, rising profits and strong capital flows. Here Are the Most Notable Movers&lt;/p&gt;
  119.  
  120. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Bangkok Bank shares advance after the lender’s third-quarter net income rose 11% on year, beating the average analyst estimate, partly driven by investments.&lt;/li&gt;
  121. &lt;li&gt;LG Chem Ltd. shares surged by the most in five years after Palliser Capital UK disclosed a stake in the firm and urged changes, in a sign that overseas activists are starting to wade back into South Korea.&lt;/li&gt;
  122. &lt;li&gt;IHI shares climb as much as 5.5% to ¥2,995 after Mizuho Securities raised its target price to ¥3,300 from ¥1,071, saying it expects growth in the civil aero engines business and expansion of defense-related operations.&lt;/li&gt;
  123. &lt;li&gt;Laopu Gold shares fall as much as 8.1%, the most since Sept. 10, after the Chinese jewelry seller agreed to issue about 3.71 million new H shares at HK$732.49 apiece in a placement.&lt;/li&gt;
  124. &lt;li&gt;Pop Mart shares rise as much as 7.9% after the toymaker’s third quarter sales growth of as much as 250% year-on-year came amid investor worries over the possible fading popularity of its collectible toys.&lt;/li&gt;
  125. &lt;li&gt;Innovent Biologics shares rise as much as 9.9% in Hong Kong after the company said it will receive a $1.2 billion upfront payment, including an equity investment, as part of a strategic collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical to develop cancer therapies.&lt;/li&gt;
  126. &lt;li&gt;Meituan shares drop 0.5% as JPMorgan cuts its target price, saying the company may face worst-than-expected pressure in its 3Q and 4Q results due to competition in China’s food delivery market and its expansion overseas.&lt;/li&gt;
  127. &lt;li&gt;Taiheiyo Cement shares gain as much as 6% in early Tokyo trading, the most since April 10, following a report in Nikkei that Palliser Capital has taken a stake of over 3%.&lt;/li&gt;
  128. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%, taking gains into a fourth straight day; the index’s thin gains were led by the US currency’s advance versus the pound, which stumbled after data showing steady UK inflation raises speculation of an interest-rate cut in December. A 1% slide in gold prices also supported the greenback, suggesting that investors still see the currency as a viable haven. The pound fell 0.4% against the dollar and is the clear G-10 underperformer.&lt;/p&gt;
  129.  
  130. &lt;p&gt;In rates, treasury yields sliding again, dropping more than 4bps with 10-year around 3.93%, near Tuesday’s low. They trail steep gains for gilts, where 2-year yields fell more than 10bp to 14-month low after UK headline, core and services CPIs fell short of estimates. UK yield curve is notably steeper as market prices in an increased 70% chance Bank of England cuts rates a quarter-point by December. The US session includes 20-year bond reopening: the $13 billion 20-year bond reopening, first coupon auction in more than a week, has WI yield near 4.510%, about 10bp richer than last month’s 20-year sale, which stopped through by 0.2bp &lt;/p&gt;
  131.  
  132. &lt;p&gt;In commodities, WTI crude oil futures are up about 2%, which along with the 20-year auction creates resistance to lower Treasury yields. Oil is higher on report that US and India are nearing an accord that could lead India to reduce imports of Russian crude. Spot gold is down $50, having recovered from an earlier nosedive toward $4,000/oz. Silver dips 0.7% while Bitcoin is down 2.4%.&lt;/p&gt;
  133.  
  134. &lt;p&gt;The US economic calendar calendar is blank, and Fed’s external communications blackout ahead of the Oct. 29 Fed policy decision began Saturday. Earnings after the close include Tesla and IBM.&lt;/p&gt;
  135.  
  136. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Market Snapshot&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  137.  
  138. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;S&amp;P 500 mini little changed&lt;/li&gt;
  139. &lt;li&gt;Nasdaq 100 mini -0.2%&lt;/li&gt;
  140. &lt;li&gt;Russell 2000 mini -0.2%&lt;/li&gt;
  141. &lt;li&gt;Stoxx Europe 600 -0.2%&lt;/li&gt;
  142. &lt;li&gt;DAX -0.3%, CAC 40 -0.6%&lt;/li&gt;
  143. &lt;li&gt;10-year Treasury yield -1 basis point at 3.96%&lt;/li&gt;
  144. &lt;li&gt;VIX +0.1 points at 17.96&lt;/li&gt;
  145. &lt;li&gt;Bloomberg Dollar Index little changed at 1212.96&lt;/li&gt;
  146. &lt;li&gt;euro little changed at $1.1596&lt;/li&gt;
  147. &lt;li&gt;WTI crude +1.7% at $58.19/barrel&lt;/li&gt;
  148. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Top Overnight News&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  149.  
  150. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The US government shutdown is now the second-longest in history, and with Trump expected to head to Asia later this week, lawmakers and congressional aides see a real possibility of the closure extending into November. BBG&lt;/li&gt;
  151. &lt;li&gt;US companies are beating earnings expectations at the highest rate in over four years, with 85% surpassing profit estimates in the third quarter so far. BBG&lt;/li&gt;
  152. &lt;li&gt;Trump said he won't meet with Democratic leaders unless the government is reopened.&lt;/li&gt;
  153. &lt;li&gt;Trump's administration plans to release over USD 3bln in aid to US farmers previously frozen due to government shutdown: WSJ.&lt;/li&gt;
  154. &lt;li&gt;US has offered energy companies access to nuclear waste that they can convert into fuel for advanced reactors in an attempt to break Russia’s stranglehold over uranium supply chains: FT.&lt;/li&gt;
  155. &lt;li&gt;Bessent is facing mounting pressure to justify Washington’s multibillion dollar rescue of Argentina as a political backlash builds over the administration’s efforts to support Milei. The Treasury secretary has taken the lead in managing Trump’s effort to provide financial support for Milei’s libertarian government, which the US sees as a crucial Latin American ally, through a package of measures designed to prop up its economy and its currency, the peso. FT&lt;/li&gt;
  156. &lt;li&gt;China is demanding some US semiconductor firms submit sensitive information about their sales in the world’s largest chips market as part of its probe of American suppliers. BBG&lt;/li&gt;
  157. &lt;li&gt;As Japan's new premier Sanae Takaichi got to work on Wednesday, her government began finalising a purchase package, including U.S. pickups, soybeans and gas, to present to President Donald Trump in trade and security talks next week, two sources said. RTRS&lt;/li&gt;
  158. &lt;li&gt;Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is preparing an economic stimulus package that is likely to exceed last year's $92 billion to help households tackle inflation, government sources familiar with the plan said on Wednesday. RTRS&lt;/li&gt;
  159. &lt;li&gt;Indonesia unexpectedly leaves rates unchanged at 4.75% (the Street was anticipating a cut to 4.5%). BBG&lt;/li&gt;
  160. &lt;li&gt;India and the United States are nearing a long-stalled trade agreement that would reduce U.S. tariffs on Indian imports to 15% to 16% from 50%, India's Mint reported on Wednesday citing three people aware of the matter. The deal, which hinges on energy and agriculture, may see India gradually scale back its imports of Russian crude oil. RTRS&lt;/li&gt;
  161. &lt;li&gt;The U.K.’s annual rate of inflation in September unexpectedly held at the pace of the previous month, raising the chance that Bank of England policymakers could cut interest rates later this year, despite price rises remaining at a level still well above the central bank’s target. CPI comes in cooler than anticipated at +3.8% Y/Y on the headline (vs. the Street +4%), +3.5% on core (vs. the Street +3.7%), and +4.7% on services (vs. the Street +4.8%). WSJ&lt;/li&gt;
  162. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trade/Tariffs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  163.  
  164. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;US President Trump reiterated that the November 1st tariffs on China will be about 155% and that higher tariffs on China won't be sustainable for them, while Trump also said he spoke with India's PM Modi on Tuesday and talked about trade.&lt;/li&gt;
  165. &lt;li&gt;South Korean chief presidential policy aide said South Korea and the US stand apart on a couple of matters in tariff talks.&lt;/li&gt;
  166. &lt;li&gt;South Korea Minister for Trade Yeo expressed concern in a call with China's Li Chenggang regarding Beijing's shipbuilding curbs, while he asked Li to swiftly lift sanctions on South Korea shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean and discussed China’s rare earths export restrictions.&lt;/li&gt;
  167. &lt;li&gt;India and the US are closing in on a long-pending trade deal that could slash current tariffs from Indian exports to between 15-16% from 50%, according to Mint citing three people aware of the matter.&lt;/li&gt;
  168. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  169.  
  170. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;APAC stocks were mostly subdued following the mixed handover from the US, where participants digested a mixed bag of earnings releases, &lt;/strong&gt;and precious metals slumped, with a historic drop seen in gold following the recent record-setting rally. ASX 200 retreated with heavy losses in the mining sector after gold prices fell by the most since 2013 and which was its largest one-day dollar value drop on record. Nikkei 225 briefly dipped beneath the 49,000 level with early pressure seen following mixed trade data, although the index gradually pared its early losses as participants also reflected on the new Takaichi-led government, with the PM instructing the cabinet to compile a package of steps to cushion the blow from the rising cost of living. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were subdued following a slew of recent trade-related rhetoric, including from US President Trump, who reiterated 155% tariffs on China from November 1st and that he will meet with Chinese President Xi in two weeks, but then also commented that maybe that meeting won't happen.&lt;/p&gt;
  171.  
  172. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Top Asian News&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  173.  
  174. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Japanese PM Takaichi is preparing economic stimulus expected to exceed last year's JPY 13.9tln, with the package to be built around three main pillars which are measures to counter inflation, investment in growth industries and national security, according to sources cited by Reuters.&lt;/li&gt;
  175. &lt;li&gt;Japanese PM Takaichi is to meet with US President Trump on October 28th and will discuss national defence. It was later reported that Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara said US President Trump is to visit Japan from October 27th to 29th and is to meet Japan’s Emperor and PM Takaichi during the visit.&lt;/li&gt;
  176. &lt;li&gt;Japanese Minister for Economic Security Kiuchi says it is important that the government and the BoJ continue to cooperate and carry out responsible macroeconomic policies, while he hopes the BoJ will closely coordinate with the government to achieve the 2% inflation target, and stated that the economy needs to be supported until strong real wage growth is achieved.&lt;/li&gt;
  177. &lt;li&gt;Japan's Finance Minister Katayama announces that Prime Minister Takaichi will proceed with fiscal reform both in terms of spending and revenue. Says weak JPY boosts food costs, so there needs to be a quick measurement to cushion impact. "Takaichi Trade" has somewhat calmed down.&lt;/li&gt;
  178. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;European equities (STOXX 600 -0.2%) are mostly lower today, but with outperformance in the FTSE 100 (+0.4%) after the UK's inflation report, which has boosted bets around a cut in December. &lt;/strong&gt;European sectors hold a negative bias. Energy and Utilities lead the pile, with the former benefiting from strength in oil prices today. To the downside, Consumer Products is pressured by post-earning losses in L'Oreal (-6.2%), Hermes (-4.4%) and Adidas (-2%). Beauty name L'Oreal is pressured after a notable quarterly sales miss, Hermes was more-or-less in-line, yet still disappointed investors after recent resilience; Adidas is seemingly swept away with the sectoral losses, given it reported a beat on its headline metrics, and lifted guidance. US equity futures are modestly incrementally lower today, continuing similar price action seen in the prior session. Key pre-market movers today include; Netflix (-7.1%, Q3 profit miss, hit by a Brazilian tax dispute, but sales were in line), Texas Instruments (-8%, co. issued a soft forecast for the next quarter). Apple (AAPL) is reportedly drastically cutting iPhone Air production orders but boosting other 17 models, via Nikkei citing sources; reflecting lukewarm Air demand ex-China and unexpectedly robust 17 &amp; 17 Pro demand.&lt;/p&gt;
  179.  
  180. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Top European News&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  181.  
  182. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;UK Chancellor Reeves targets tax partnerships in crackdown on UK’s wealthy with Reeves preparing a crackdown on lawyers, accountants, doctors and other professionals who use tax partnerships, according to FT.&lt;/li&gt;
  183. &lt;li&gt;Politico reports that a decision on whether to postpone the French Social Affairs Committee's examination of the Social Security Budget will be taken this morning; in the context of a "rectifying letter" re. pensions likely being adopted on Thursday.&lt;/li&gt;
  184. &lt;li&gt;SNB's Schlegel says inflation is expected to rise slightly in the coming quarters Planned US tariffs on some pharma products could increase downside risk for the economy. Uncertainty in the economy remains high. Will continue to observe the situation and adj. monetary policy where necessary.&lt;/li&gt;
  185. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FX&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  186.  
  187. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;USD is mildly firmer/flat. Nothing really driving things at the moment, but traders are mindful of trade/shutdown developments, and as some begin to position themselves ahead of Friday’s inflation report. For context, some of the recent upside seen in the dollar has been attributed to; a) reversal of debasement trade, b) steep correction in gold, c) easing credit concerns. DXY is currently trading at the upper end of the day’s 98.84-99.05 range&lt;/li&gt;
  188. &lt;li&gt;EUR is essentially flat and trades in an incredibly tight 1.1590-1.1615 range; nonetheless, the bias for today’s price action has been mildly downward. Lacklustre price action, which comes amidst a lack of pertinent newsflow. Some focus on reports that several EU leaders have called for the bloc to review, reduce and restrain legislation to reduce the burden on business, via Reuters.&lt;/li&gt;
  189. &lt;li&gt;JPY is essentially flat/mildly lower vs USD, and currently trades in a 151.48-151.95 range, just shy of the 152.00 mark. On trade, Reuters reported that PM Takaichi is to tell US President Trump that the country will buy US soybeans, pickups and LNG, though may not commit to a new defence spending target. As a reminder, the POTUS will visit Japan from October 27-29. On economic policy, Takaichi is reportedly readying an economic stimulus which is set to top JPY 13.9tln; Reuters suggested measures are to counter inflation, investment in growth industries and national security. Elsewhere, Japan’s Finance Minister Katayama echoed her PM’s recent remarks, pushing back on the government’s involvement with the BoJ. Katayama said it is up to BoJ on specifics on monetary policy but should work together to have effective economic policies.&lt;/li&gt;
  190. &lt;li&gt;GBP is the clear underperformer vs USD today, following the region’s soft inflation report. In detail, headline Y/Y was unchanged from the prior at 3.8% (exp. 4%), with the Services components also softer-than-expected. In an immediate reaction, GBP/USD fell from 1.3384 to 1.3343, before extending to a trough of 1.3314 where the pair currently resides. Further levels to the downside include the low from October 15th and then last week's worst at 1.3248. Following the release, market pricing has shifted dovishly, with markets now assigning a 74% chance of a cut by year-end vs 44% pre-release; the first full 25bps cut is priced in by Feb 2026.&lt;/li&gt;
  191. &lt;li&gt;Antipodeans are the marginal G10 performers today, benefiting from a recent bounce back in metals prices as spot gold and base metals clamber off from the hefty pressure seen in the prior session.&lt;/li&gt;
  192. &lt;li&gt;PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0954 vs exp. 7.1225 (Prev. 7.0930)&lt;/li&gt;
  193. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fixed Income&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  194.  
  195. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;USTs are flat. In a very thin 113-21 to 113-25 band. Focus thus far has been on the mixed trade rhetoric out of the US yesterday with Trump previewing his potential meeting with China’s Xi saying he expects the negotiation to be good. However, he then added that maybe the meeting will not occur. Otherwise, the US docket is limited owing to the shutdown and Fed blackout; note, Barr is scheduled. On the shutdown, Trump overnight poured some cold water on the situation by saying he won’t be meeting with Dem. leaders until the gov’t reopens.&lt;/li&gt;
  196. &lt;li&gt;Bunds are contained, but has experienced a slightly choppy morning. Picked up to a 130.38 peak with gains of c. 15 ticks on the discussed UK inflation report before paring and falling back to a 130.16 low, with downside of around five ticks at most. Ahead, ECB’s de Guindos and Lagarde due, though recent comments from officials have not changed the narrative into the end-October meeting. A weak German auction (b/c 1.2x) sparked some very marginal pressure in Bunds.&lt;/li&gt;
  197. &lt;li&gt;OATs trade broadly in-line with EGB peers in a 123.19 to 123.44 band while the OAT-Bund 10yr yield spread remains steady around the 80bps mark. For OATs, Amova’s Williams spoke to Bloomberg and outlined that they added to their overweight position on French debt in September, and believes OATs are still at attractive levels despite recent sovereign downgrades. On the spread, he believes a move above 100bps would cause the ECB to step in.&lt;/li&gt;
  198. &lt;li&gt;Gilts are the clear outperformer today following the region's inflation report. CPI for September remained at 3.8% Y/Y, cooler than the market and BoE forecast of 4.0%; pertinently, September represented the peak in the BoE’s inflation forecast horizon. Accompanying measures were also cooler-than-expected and while there were some slightly more mixed internals behind the headline figure and somewhat unusual moves in some subset components, the overall narrative is clearly a dovish one vs. consensus. As such, Gilts gapped higher by 54 ticks to 93.45 and then extended further to a 93.78 peak, notching a contract high. Action that pushed the UK 2yr yield down to 3.77% and below the 3.80% mark that desks have been attentive to recently, the 10yr also moderated to 4.4%, convincingly taking out 4.45%.&lt;/li&gt;
  199. &lt;li&gt;Germany sells EUR 2.284bln vs exp. EUR 3.0bln 2.50% 2032 Bund: b/c 1.2x (prev. 1.5x), average yield 2.33% (prev. 2.52%), retention 23.87% (prev. 23.88%)&lt;/li&gt;
  200. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Commodities&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  201.  
  202. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Crude benchmarks extended on Tuesday’s high during the APAC session as Mint citing sources reported that a US-India trade deal is near, that could see India cut Russian oil imports for a lower export tariff to 15-16% from 50%. WTI and Brent peaked at USD 58.50/bbl and USD 62.62/bbl respectively following the trade news but are currently trading slightly off best levels at USD 58.20/bbl and USD 62.30/bbl.&lt;/li&gt;
  203. &lt;li&gt;Spot XAU began the European morning firmer, bouncing back from Tuesday’s 5% selloff, which was its biggest selloff since November 2020. Although, XAU was then pressured once again to currently trade around USD 4,065/oz - trough for today's session was made overnight at USD 4,005.98/oz.&lt;/li&gt;
  204. &lt;li&gt;Base metals have rebounded from Tuesday’s selloff following a trade deal near its completion between India and the US. 3M LME Copper dipped to a low of USD 10.54k/t before reversing a trending back through Tuesday’s range and is currently trading near session highs at USD 10.66k/t.&lt;/li&gt;
  205. &lt;li&gt;US Private Inventory Data (bbls): Crude -3.0mln (exp. +1.2mln), Distillate -1.0mln (exp. -1.9mln), Gasoline -0.2mln (exp. -0.8mln).&lt;/li&gt;
  206. &lt;li&gt;Russian overnight attack on Ukraine's Poltava region damaged oil and gas industry facilities.&lt;/li&gt;
  207. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Geopolitics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  208.  
  209. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Russia obtained security guarantees from Ukraine to restore power to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, according to RIA.&lt;/li&gt;
  210. &lt;li&gt;US President Trump said he has not made a determination yet regarding a meeting with Russian President Putin and doesn't want to have a wasted meeting, while he still sees a chance for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.&lt;/li&gt;
  211. &lt;li&gt;Russia's Special Economic Envoy said 'preparations continue' for a Trump-Putin meeting.&lt;/li&gt;
  212. &lt;li&gt;Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov says preparations for a Russia-US summit is ongoing and there has been no agreement on a Lavrov-Rubio meeting; sees no major obstacles for a Trump-Putin meeting via RIA.&lt;/li&gt;
  213. &lt;li&gt;Russia's Kremlin says their position is well known with nothing else to add in regard to reports of a non-paper passed to USA on Ukraine. Preparation is necessary for Putin-Trump summit.&lt;/li&gt;
  214. &lt;li&gt;Ukraine's President Zelensky calls US President Trumps' idea a good compromise in regards to the concept of stopping at the current lines.&lt;/li&gt;
  215. &lt;li&gt;North Korea fired a missile, which the South Korean military said was a ballistic missile, while Japanese PM Takaichi later confirmed there was no damage to Japan's exclusive economic zone and waters from the North Korean missile.&lt;/li&gt;
  216. &lt;li&gt;US is reportedly trying to drive a wedge between Argentina and China with the Trump administration pushing officials in Argentina to limit China’s influence over the distressed South American nation, according to WSJ.&lt;/li&gt;
  217. &lt;li&gt;China's Defence Ministry said it is strongly dissatisfied with Australia's statement about military aircraft around the Paracel Islands, while it added that organised troops are to resolutely block and drive away Australian military aircraft that 'invaded' China's airspace.&lt;/li&gt;
  218. &lt;li&gt;"Israel's Channel 12: The security establishment warns that accelerating the implementation of the Trump plan may harm Israel's security interests", via Sky News Arabia&lt;/li&gt;
  219. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;US Event Calendar &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  220.  
  221. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;7:00 am: Oct 17 MBA Mortgage Applications -0.3%, prior -1.8%&lt;/li&gt;
  222. &lt;li&gt;Fed’s External Communications Blackout (October 18 - October 30)&lt;/li&gt;
  223. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  224.  
  225. &lt;p&gt;Most markets put in another steady performance yesterday, with the S&amp;P 500 (+0.003%) and the STOXX 600 (+0.21%) closing just below their record highs from a couple of weeks ago, whilst the 10yr Treasury yield (-1.7bps) hit a one-year low of 3.96%. Several factors contributed, including some positive noises on the trade outlook, alongside decent earnings releases. But even as bonds and equities were mostly rallying, it was a completely different story for commodities, with several posting very sharp falls. Indeed, gold prices (-5.30%) posted their biggest decline since August 2020, whilst silver (-7.12%) saw its biggest decline since the Liberation Day market turmoil in April.&lt;/p&gt;
  226.  
  227. &lt;p&gt;That sudden selloff for precious metals really captured the market headlines, but to be honest there wasn’t a single catalyst that sparked the declines, and the big multi-year moves weren’t happening in other asset classes or commodities either. Moreover, the slump happened despite a decline in nominal and real bond yields, which usually help to support gold prices given it’s relatively more attractive to hold a zero-interest asset like gold when bonds aren’t yielding as much. So in many respects, it looked like a classic pullback after a relentless bull run over recent weeks, and it's worth noting that the rolling two-month gain of more than +30% on Monday was already the strongest since the GFC. Indeed, last month saw real-terms gold prices move above their inflation-adjusted peak in January 1980, so it had never been more expensive. And even with yesterday’s moves, its gains of +57% since the start of the year would still make it the strongest annual performance since 1979, back when gold prices more than doubled after that year’s oil shock triggered a huge wave of inflation.&lt;/p&gt;
  228.  
  229. &lt;p&gt;Whilst gold saw the biggest headline moves, there was plenty going on for US Treasuries, with a decent rally that pushed longer-dated yields to their lowest in some time. That was partly driven by a weak survey print from the Philadelphia Fed, as their non-manufacturing activity index came in at -22.2 in October, which is its lowest level in 4 months. To be fair, that isn’t a release that normally gets too much attention, but given the government shutdown, investors are more focused on the data that’s still coming out. So the print added to speculation that the Fed would cut rates rapidly in the months ahead if the economy weakened, particularly given the ongoing government shutdown. And in turn, 10yr Treasury yields (-1.7bps) closed at 3.96%, which is their lowest level since October 2024, whilst the 30yr Treasury yield (-2.6bps) fell to 4.54%, its lowest level since the Liberation Day turmoil in April.&lt;/p&gt;
  230.  
  231. &lt;p&gt;Sentiment got a bit of a boost yesterday from various trade headlines, which added to investor optimism that a tariff escalation would be avoided. For instance, Trump said at the White House that he would see President Xi in South Korea, and that “I expect to be able to make a good deal with him”. However, Trump also floated that the meeting might not happen, saying “Maybe it won’t happen. Things can happen where, for instance, maybe somebody will say, I don’t want to meet”, so that briefly pushed the S&amp;P 500 into negative territory again. And separately, Canadian PM Mark Carney said that they were in “intensive negotiations” with the US, and it was “possible” that a trade deal could be reached ahead of the APEC summit in South Korea next week.  &lt;/p&gt;
  232.  
  233. &lt;p&gt;The S&amp;P 500 had traded slightly in the green for most of the day, before closing virtually unchanged (+0.003%), leaving the index just over a quarter of a percent from its record high two weeks ago. The equity moves were pretty mixed, with nearly 60% of the S&amp;P 500 higher on the day, but the NASDAQ (-0.16%), Mag-7 (-0.31%) and the Russell 2000 (-0.49%) all fell back as value stocks outperformed. Bank stocks were among the underperformers, with the KBW Bank index (-0.37%) losing ground after rebounding the previous two sessions. And after the close, we heard from Western Alliance Bancorp, who saw a -10.81% fall in their share price last Thursday as the concerns around regional banks and private credit gathered pace. The banking group delivered an earnings and revenue beat even as it raised credit loss provisions to $80m (vs. $42.4m est.), and its share price was up +2.85% in after-hours trading. So that offered reassurance to markets after last week’s jitters, particularly after the smooth reaction to Zions Bancorp’s earnings the previous day, and S&amp;P 500 futures are up +0.16% this morning.&lt;/p&gt;
  234.  
  235. &lt;p&gt;In the meantime, the US government shutdown is entering day 22, which now makes this the second-longest shutdown, behind the 2018-19 shutdown that lasted for 35 days. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said yesterday that Republican lawmakers were “hopeful that this will be the week we break out of this”, but there’s still no obvious sign of a compromise emerging between Republicans and Democrats. Indeed, the Polymarket odds for the end of the shutdown have continued to drift into the distance, with the chances of the shutdown lasting beyond November 16 up from 29% this time yesterday to 40% now. So that’s still impacting the usual flow of data, although we will get a delayed CPI report for September this Friday.&lt;/p&gt;
  236.  
  237. &lt;p&gt;Over in Europe, markets put in a strong performance, and France’s CAC 40 (+0.64%) finally exceeded its record high from May 2024. That came alongside fairly broad-based gains, and the STOXX 600 (+0.21%) closed less than -0.1% beneath its own record high. Likewise, sovereign bonds rallied across the continent, with yields on 10yr bunds (-2.5bps), OATs (-2.0bps) and BTPs (-2.2bps) all moving lower. And for 10yr bunds, that took them down to 2.55%, their lowest level since June.&lt;/p&gt;
  238.  
  239. &lt;p&gt;One exception to the global pattern of lower yields was in Canada, after their latest inflation report surprised on the upside. It showed headline CPI rising to +2.4% in September (vs +2.2% expected), whilst both the trim core and the median core measures tracked by the Bank of Canada also moved higher. So that led investors to dial back the likelihood of a rate cut next week, with markets pricing in a 73% chance by the close, down from 77% the previous day. And in turn, Canada’s 10yr government bond yield moved up +2.4bps to 3.08%, making it the only G7 country where yields moved higher yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;
  240.  
  241. &lt;p&gt;Elsewhere, Brent crude oil prices (+0.51%) rebounded from their 5-month low on Monday to $61.32/bbl, on news that the US administration would begin refilling its Strategic Oil Reserve, starting with 1 million barrels. The oil move was also supported by more negative noise between the US and Russia, with Bloomberg reporting that the White House has no immediate plans for a Trump-Putin meeting given differences between the sides on potential ceasefire terms in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump himself said he did not want to have “a wasted meeting” with Putin.&lt;/p&gt;
  242.  
  243. &lt;p&gt;Over in Japan, Sanae Takaichi became the new PM yesterday after winning a parliamentary vote. On monetary policy, she said that “I believe the BOJ should retain discretion over the tools of monetary policy”, and that she didn’t see a need to review the 2013 accord between the BOJ and the government. Against that backdrop, the yen weakened by -0.78% against the US Dollar yesterday, making it the weakest-performing G10 currency, although it’s stabilised again this morning. The Nikkei is also up +0.13% currently, leaving the index on track for another record high. And elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s KOSPI (+0.77%) is also at a record high, although Chinese equities are struggling this morning, with the CSI 300 (-0.70%) and the Shanghai Comp (-0.44%) both losing ground.&lt;/p&gt;
  244.  
  245. &lt;p&gt;To the day ahead now, and data releases include the UK CPI print for September, whilst central bank speakers include ECB President Lagarde and Vice President de Guindos. Otherwise, earnings releases include Tesla and IBM.&lt;/p&gt;
  246. &lt;/div&gt;
  247.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  248. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T12:34:25+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 08:34&lt;/span&gt;
  249. </description>
  250.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:34:25 +0000</pubDate>
  251.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  252.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077237 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  253.    </item>
  254. <item>
  255.  <title>India-US Trade Deal "Likely Soon," Could Be Announced At ASEAN Summit: Mint</title>
  256.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/india-us-trade-deal-likely-soon-could-be-announced-asean-summit-mint</link>
  257.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;India-US Trade Deal "Likely Soon," Could Be Announced At ASEAN Summit: Mint&lt;/span&gt;
  258.  
  259.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;The U.S. and India are close to a possible trade deal that would reduce tariffs on Indian exports to about 15% to 16% from the current 50%, according to the &lt;a href="https://www.livemint.com/economy/india-us-trade-deal-likely-soon-huge-tariff-cuts-on-the-horizon-11761046733288.html"&gt;Mint&lt;/a&gt;. In return, India may reduce imports of Russian oil and open its market to non-genetically modified American corn and soymeal products. The bilateral trade agreement could be announced when President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet at the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia between Oct. 26 and 28.&lt;/p&gt;
  260.  
  261. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-22_07-30-50.png?itok=eoN6HplA" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-22_07-30-50.png?itok=eoN6HplA"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3e04797d-ab7d-41ac-8553-0f9ee5a803a5" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="160" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-22_07-30-50.png?itok=eoN6HplA" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  262.  
  263. &lt;p&gt;The Indian financial daily newspaper cited three unidentified people who were familiar with the deal. Here's what they said:&lt;/p&gt;
  264.  
  265. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  266. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;India and the U.S. are closing in on a long-pending trade deal that could slash the current tariffs for Indian exports to 15–16% from a punishing 50%, according to three people aware of the matter.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  267.  
  268. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;With energy and agriculture emerging as key cards at the negotiating table, India may agree to gradually reduce its imports of Russian oil, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The purchases had prompted a punitive levy of 25% on Indian exports, which is over and above the 25% reciprocal tariffs announced in April.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  269.  
  270. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;India may also allow more non-genetically modified (GM) American corn and soymeal into its markets. Further, it is pushing for a mechanism to revisit tariffs and market access over time in the agreement.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  271. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  272.  
  273. &lt;p&gt;Mint said the bilateral trade agreement may be announced when Modi and Trump meet at the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia.&lt;/p&gt;
  274.  
  275. &lt;p&gt;Late Tuesday, Modi wrote on X:&lt;/p&gt;
  276.  
  277. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  278. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thank you, President Trump, for your phone call and warm Diwali greetings. On this festival of lights, may our two great democracies continue to illuminate the world with hope and stand united against terrorism in all its forms.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  279. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  280.  
  281. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  282. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;Thank you, President Trump, for your phone call and warm Diwali greetings. On this festival of lights, may our two great democracies continue to illuminate the world with hope and stand united against terrorism in all its forms.&lt;a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@realDonaldTrump&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@POTUS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  283. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1980826742379184347?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 22, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  284. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;Russian crude remains a major flashpoint. India is the world's second-largest buyer of Russian oil after China, importing around 1.6 million barrels per day, up sharply from 50,000 bpd in 2020. Trump previously hiked tariffs by 25% as a penalty for India's continued purchases.&lt;/p&gt;
  285.  
  286. &lt;p&gt;Earlier this year, the U.S. and India agreed to target $500 billion in trade by 2030, but those talks broke down after U.S. trade officials demanded greater access to India's agricultural and dairy sectors. According to Mint sources, the new deal stated that "broad contours of the agreement are in place, but sensitive areas such as agriculture and energy need political clearance before the deal can be announced."&lt;/p&gt;
  287.  
  288. &lt;p&gt;What may overshadow any trade deal between the U.S. and India is what Trump described on Tuesday about a &lt;a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/uncertainty-around-trump-xi-meeting-and-european-equity-futures-lower-newsquawk-european"&gt;potential "fantastic" trade deal with China&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  289. &lt;/div&gt;
  290.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  291. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T12:25:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 08:25&lt;/span&gt;
  292. </description>
  293.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:25:00 +0000</pubDate>
  294.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  295.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077207 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  296.    </item>
  297. <item>
  298.  <title>Riot Erupts At Irish Migrant Hotel After 10-Year-Old Allegedly Sexually-Assaulted</title>
  299.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/riot-erupts-irish-migrant-hotel-after-10-year-old-allegedly-sex-assaulted</link>
  300.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Riot Erupts At Irish Migrant Hotel After 10-Year-Old Allegedly Sexually-Assaulted&lt;/span&gt;
  301.  
  302.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Outraged by accusations that an asylum-seeker had sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl, thousands of flag-waving, bottle-throwing, firework-wielding Irish citizens surrounded a migrant hotel in southwest Dublin,&lt;/strong&gt; Ireland on Tuesday night, setting fire to a police vehicle. &lt;/p&gt;
  303.  
  304. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  305. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;This is what happens when the citizens who are fed up with illegal invaders are ignored.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  306. Thousands have turned up at CityWest migrant hotel in Ireland, where a 10 year old girl was raped by an illegal migrant who evaded deportation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  307. The vast majority of residents in Dublin… &lt;a href="https://t.co/ePuNg6ITmC"&gt;pic.twitter.com/ePuNg6ITmC&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  308. — LΞIGH (@LeighStewy) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/LeighStewy/status/1980725576219402609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 21, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  309. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;Six people were arrested from a furious crowd estimated to have numbered approximately 2,000.  The Irish police force -- or "Gardai" -- say they were on the receiving end of &lt;strong&gt;"sustained violence" that included glass bottles, bricks and fireworks&lt;/strong&gt;. Despite the onslaught, a line of Gardai in riot gear were able to prevent the mob from reaching the hotel. &lt;strong&gt;Bringing the "torches and pitchforks" metaphor to life&lt;/strong&gt;, the fed-up citizens brandished pitchforks and other garden tools, along with fireworks and handheld lasers, and chanted "GET THEM OUT!" Some 300 Gardai mounted the defense, employing a water cannon. &lt;/p&gt;
  310.  
  311. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  312. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“This was &lt;a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/21/police-car-set-on-fire-in-protests-outside-dublin-hotel-housing-asylum-seekers"&gt;obviously not a peaceful protest,&lt;/a&gt;” said police commissioner Justin Kelly. “The actions this evening can only be described as thuggery. &lt;strong&gt;This was a mob intent on violence against gardai. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;I utterly condemn the attacks on gardaí who did their jobs professionally and with great courage to keep people safe."&lt;/p&gt;
  313. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  314.  
  315. &lt;p&gt;The violence erupted at the Citywest hotel in Saggart. At 764 beds, it's &lt;a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/09/03/citywest-hotel-sold-to-state-at-148m-for-asylum-seeker-accommodation/"&gt;the largest hotel in all of Ireland,&lt;/a&gt; and last month &lt;strong&gt;the government&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;bought it for €148 million&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;so it could be converted to a permanent facility for housing migrants&lt;/strong&gt;, euphemistically calling it an "international protection accommodation centre." &lt;a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/09/03/citywest-hotel-sold-to-state-at-148m-for-asylum-seeker-accommodation/"&gt;The purchase came over the objection of locals&lt;/a&gt;, who'd organized several protests over the summer and amassed more than 8,000 signatures on a petition against the permanent conversion. The hotel's leisure center has 3,000 local members. The government plans to keep it open, though we'd imagine fewer locals will want to put themselves in reach of the hive of migrants. &lt;/p&gt;
  316.  
  317. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  318. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;🇮🇪 A young girl was assaulted near the Citywest asylum hotel in Dublin.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  319. Just 3 days ago, locals posted footage of migrants drinking outside a nearby primary school.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  320. Now a child’s been attacked.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  321. This was entirely preventable, our politicians created this. &lt;a href="https://t.co/o2jSLwm8LH"&gt;pic.twitter.com/o2jSLwm8LH&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  322. — Michael McCarthy (@punishablepress) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/punishablepress/status/1980314120613425305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 20, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  323. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;That's especially true after the latest of so many sexual assaults perpetrated by migrants throughout Europe. This one was especially sick: &lt;a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/21/police-car-set-on-fire-in-protests-outside-dublin-hotel-housing-asylum-seekers"&gt;According&lt;/a&gt; to local media, &lt;strong&gt;a 26-year-old migrant was charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl&lt;/strong&gt; on the hotel grounds between 11pm Sunday and 1:30am Monday. Reportedly, the girl has been in state care after her family struggled with her behavioral problems, but she'd given the slip to her minders on a recreational trip to downtown Dublin, only to fall prey to the 26-year-old migrant. &lt;/p&gt;
  324.  
  325. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  326. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;In Dublin, police cars are on fire outside a hotel housing fake asylum seekers. The Irish aren't joking. &lt;a href="https://t.co/Y537TkG47B"&gt;pic.twitter.com/Y537TkG47B&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  327. — RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/RadioGenoa/status/1980740124116717626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 21, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  328. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consistent with Irish regulations on sex-assault cases, &lt;strong&gt;authorities haven't named the alleged perpetrator&lt;/strong&gt;, who told arresting officers, "I have nothing to say." He's been granted legal aid since he's (shocker!) unemployed. While officials haven't described his origins, &lt;strong&gt;his lawyer quickly asked for an &lt;a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3x0yqgek0o"&gt;Arabic&lt;/a&gt; interpreter&lt;/strong&gt;. The &lt;em&gt;Irish Times&lt;/em&gt; says their sources indicate he's from an African country and came to Ireland six years ago. &lt;a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2025/10/21/man-held-over-alleged-dublin-child-attack-remains-in-custody/"&gt;His asylum application was rejected last year&lt;/a&gt;, and earlier this year was given a deportation order -- yet he has remained in the country. &lt;/p&gt;
  329.  
  330. &lt;p&gt;Monday saw a mild protest at the hotel, with an orderly crowd of a mere 60 or 70. &lt;strong&gt;After word of the assault became widespread, local anger exploded on Tuesday&lt;/strong&gt;, spurring thousands of Irish citizens to set upon the hotel, ready to unleash violence on the hotel and the Gardai protecting it.  &lt;/p&gt;
  331.  
  332. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  333. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;Police in riot gear clashed with at least 1,000 protesters in southwest Dublin on Tuesday outside an asylum seeker hotel, following allegations that a 10-year- old Irish girl has allegedly been Raped by an African Migrant.&lt;br /&gt;
  334. The Irish ☘️ have had enough with these immigrants. &lt;a href="https://t.co/CSuhtTeglg"&gt;pic.twitter.com/CSuhtTeglg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  335. — 🦅 Eagle Wings 🦅 (@CRRJA5) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/CRRJA5/status/1980785817128956374?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 21, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  336. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;Irish Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan condemned the uprising, and &lt;a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c629zg8v8jpo"&gt;attempted to portray the actions of the mob as unrepresentative&lt;/a&gt; of how local citizens feel about the mass infusion of supposed "asylum-seekers": &lt;/p&gt;
  337.  
  338. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  339. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;"This is unacceptable and will result in a forceful response from the gardaí. Those involved will be brought to justice. &lt;strong&gt;It is clear to me from talking to colleagues that this violence does not reflect the people of Saggart.&lt;/strong&gt; They are not the people participating in this criminality, but rather the people sitting at home in fear of it."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  340. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  341.  
  342. &lt;p&gt;In a pathetic move, &lt;strong&gt;O'Callaghan suggested the crowd wasn't sincere in its outrage&lt;/strong&gt; over the latest example of a sex crime perpetrated by a migrant who's contributing nothing to Irish society, accusing the locals of opportunistically "weaponising....a crime...to sow dissent in our society." &lt;em&gt;Next he'll tell us it has all the hallmarks of a Russian interference campaign.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  343. &lt;/div&gt;
  344.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  345. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T11:45:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 07:45&lt;/span&gt;
  346. </description>
  347.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
  348.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  349.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077123 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  350.    </item>
  351. <item>
  352.  <title>Oxford Union President-Elect Who Celebrated Charlie Kirk Shooting Ousted</title>
  353.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/oxford-union-president-elect-who-celebrated-charlie-kirk-shooting-ousted</link>
  354.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Oxford Union President-Elect Who Celebrated Charlie Kirk Shooting Ousted&lt;/span&gt;
  355.  
  356.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/oxford-union-president-elect-who-celebrated-charlie-kirk-shooting-ousted-5932609?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge"&gt;Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times&lt;/a&gt; (emphasis ours),&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  357.  
  358. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The president-elect of the Oxford Union has been voted out of the role following comments he made celebrating the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  359. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28285%29_0.jpg?itok=fO3b2M5f" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28285%29_0.jpg?itok=fO3b2M5f"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="40738162-f9fe-4b1b-8f97-9c67a9aa8f3f" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28285%29_0.jpg?itok=fO3b2M5f" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Oxford union library, Oxford, UK, on June 2, 2021. IR Stone, Shutterstock&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  360.  
  361. &lt;p&gt;In a &lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/student-who-celebrated-kirk-shooting-may-be-ousted-as-leader-of-top-debate-group-5931230"&gt;leaked message&lt;/a&gt; in a WhatsApp chat, 20-year-old G&lt;strong&gt;eorge Abaraonye wrote, “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s (expletive) go,” while a story he shared on his Instagram account read, “Charlie Kirk got shot loool.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  362.  
  363. &lt;p&gt;Members of the influential student union &lt;a href="https://x.com/OxfordUnion/status/1980545715098341879"&gt;voted&lt;/a&gt; in person on Saturday in a motion of no confidence in the incoming president, who will not be allowed to take up the highly prestigious position.&lt;/p&gt;
  364.  
  365. &lt;p&gt;The Oxford Union posted on X on Tuesday morning, “The Motion of No Confidence against Mr. Abaraonye has met the required two-thirds threshold and has therefore passed.”&lt;/p&gt;
  366.  
  367. &lt;p&gt;A total of 1,228 members voted for the motion, while 501 members voted against it. The union shared a letter stating that in accordance with its rules, Abaraonye is now “deemed to have resigned.”&lt;/p&gt;
  368.  
  369. &lt;h2&gt;Racism Claim Following Criticism&lt;/h2&gt;
  370.  
  371. &lt;p&gt;In May, Abaraonye participated in an Oxford Union &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlh_GfHmwts"&gt;debate&lt;/a&gt; with Kirk, who founded conservative youth organization Turning Point USA. Kirk thanked the student after the exchange, which touched on a range of subjects from “toxic masculinity” to the causes of suicide among men.&lt;/p&gt;
  372.  
  373. &lt;p&gt;Kirk was shot and killed at a Utah Valley University event four months later, on Sept. 10, with authorities calling it a political assassination. A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, is charged with his murder.&lt;/p&gt;
  374.  
  375. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abaraonye, who was elected president of the union in June, claimed he was a victim of harassment, racism, and the “far right” after he received widespread criticism for his comments following Kirk’s death.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  376.  
  377. &lt;p&gt;On an Oct. 14 episode of the podcast “&lt;a href="https://youtu.be/FQS7mptBKrc"&gt;What’s Left&lt;/a&gt;,” Abaraonye said his statements and actions had been misrepresented in the media, but acknowledged the Instagram post and group chat comment were genuine.&lt;/p&gt;
  378.  
  379. &lt;p&gt;The student said he had “reacted instantly” when he sent the messages and claimed not to have seen the widely circulated footage of the shooting at the time. He said that while he apologized for the offence caused, he had made the comments because of the “political climate,” which he said was stoked by Kirk. &lt;/p&gt;
  380.  
  381. &lt;p&gt;The third-year student deleted the WhatsApp message after learning of Kirk’s death, and admitted he “acted poorly” in sending it.&lt;/p&gt;
  382. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28286%29_0.jpg?itok=qJ_ivIef" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28286%29_0.jpg?itok=qJ_ivIef"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5bd17e08-e523-4015-88bd-c54efae648ec" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28286%29_0.jpg?itok=qJ_ivIef" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Supporters of Charlie Kirk rally outside the School District Welcome Center as a school board meeting takes place in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Oct. 15, 2025. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  383.  
  384. &lt;h2&gt;‘Last Bastion of Free Speech’&lt;/h2&gt;
  385.  
  386. &lt;p&gt;Following the president-elect’s comments, a number of wealthy donors indicated they would withdraw their support of Oxford Union, which describes itself as “the last bastion of free speech,” while some invited speakers said they would decline to debate there.&lt;/p&gt;
  387.  
  388. &lt;p&gt;Venture capitalist Josh Wolfe publicly withdrew from an expected speaking engagement at the union, &lt;a href="https://x.com/wolfejosh/status/1966209752494387237"&gt;citing&lt;/a&gt; Abaraonye’s comments. &lt;a href="https://x.com/marcolonghi4dn/status/1966998323354570771"&gt;Others&lt;/a&gt; have withdrawn or declined to participate in events there on similar grounds.&lt;/p&gt;
  389.  
  390. &lt;p&gt;An &lt;a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IzWAjHvdaeMEA3G2t5kSL4tPbklbh4q6ujVBbtDRT8U/edit?tab=t.0"&gt;open letter&lt;/a&gt; from former presidents and other leaders of the Oxford Union urged Abaraonye to resign.&lt;/p&gt;
  391.  
  392. &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;We do not question your right to speak your mind about Charlie Kirk’s murder&lt;/strong&gt;,” the letter said. “However, your public reaction to a fatal shooting displayed a callousness inconsistent with the Union President’s duty to safeguard free and open debate, rendering it untenable for you to accede to the Office of President.”&lt;/p&gt;
  393.  
  394. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The letter also questioned Abaraonye’s unwillingness to offer “an explicit and unqualified apology for your celebration of Mr. Kirk’s murder.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  395.  
  396. &lt;p&gt;In an Instagram post that is no longer public, Abaraonye said he had submitted a motion of confidence in himself in an attempt to reclaim “true accountability and (reaffirm) that the Oxford Union must remain a place where students can make mistakes, apologize sincerely, and learn from them.”&lt;/p&gt;
  397.  
  398. &lt;p&gt;The voting process was marred by &lt;a href="https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2025/10/20/breaking-vote-of-no-confidence-count-against-george-abaraonye-suspended-indefinitely"&gt;accusations of intimidation&lt;/a&gt; against the returning officer, who Oxford Union said in a statement was subjected to “obstruction, intimidation, and unwarranted hostility by a number of representatives.”&lt;/p&gt;
  399. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28287%29_0.jpg?itok=JbVdOkso" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28287%29_0.jpg?itok=JbVdOkso"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ea1ad115-dfd9-4a92-bf27-14cbea8c02e7" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="251" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28287%29_0.jpg?itok=JbVdOkso" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Radcliffe Camera (L) and All Souls College, Oxford University. Shutterstock&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  400.  
  401. &lt;h2&gt;Prestigious Position&lt;/h2&gt;
  402.  
  403. &lt;p&gt;The position of president of the Oxford Union—with Oxford University being an ancient seat of learning that dates back to the 11th century—is highly coveted. The privately funded union is independent of Oxford University’s student union, but in practice, almost all of its members are drawn from the student body and alumni. &lt;/p&gt;
  404.  
  405. &lt;p&gt;The Oxford Union was founded in 1823, and holding a prominent role within it can be a ticket into positions of power and influence in the UK and around the world.&lt;/p&gt;
  406.  
  407. &lt;p&gt;The Oxford Union has counted among its officers numerous future leaders, including British Conservative Prime Ministers Edward Heath, Harold Macmillan, and Boris Johnson, and former UK Labour Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair.&lt;/p&gt;
  408.  
  409. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Its celebrated debating society has hosted countless famous speakers over the years, including Queen Elizabeth II, U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and Nobel prize winners and scientists such as Albert Einstein.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  410.  
  411. &lt;p&gt;Abaraonye &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DQD6ZVrCL2R/"&gt;posted&lt;/a&gt; a statement on his Instagram account on Tuesday to deny that he or his supporters had engaged in any intimidatory tactics and said that the poll was “compromised.”&lt;/p&gt;
  412.  
  413. &lt;p&gt;The statement added, “George Abaraonye is and remains the President-Elect per the Oxford Union rules.”&lt;/p&gt;
  414.  
  415. &lt;p&gt;Oxford University’s student newspaper, &lt;a href="https://www.cherwell.org/2025/10/21/george-abaraonye-no-confidence-vote-at-oxford-union/"&gt;Cherwell&lt;/a&gt;, said it “understands” that Abaraonve has submitted a complaint about the outcome of the ballot.&lt;/p&gt;
  416. &lt;/div&gt;
  417.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  418. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T11:20:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 07:20&lt;/span&gt;
  419. </description>
  420.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
  421.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  422.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077053 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  423.    </item>
  424. <item>
  425.  <title>"Going Nuclear": Reddit Army Squeezes Beyond Meat Again, Up Another 100%</title>
  426.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/heavily-shorted-beyond-meat-soars-walmart-expansion-week-after-debt-swap-dilution-plan</link>
  427.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;"Going Nuclear": Reddit Army Squeezes Beyond Meat Again, Up Another 100%&lt;/span&gt;
  428.  
  429.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update (Wednesday):&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  430.  
  431. &lt;p&gt;Heavily shorted fake food company Beyond Meat jumped again in premarket trading as the &lt;strong&gt;Reddit army of day traders squeezed hedge funds&lt;/strong&gt;. The only problem is, and we've seen how this party ends, the struggling company's &lt;strong&gt;debt-for-equity swap will, at some point, substantially dilute shareholders&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  432.  
  433. &lt;p&gt;In premarket trading, shares touched as high as $8.55, representing about a 1,222% increase since last Thursday. Around 06:30 ET, shares were up 100%, trading near $7.14.&lt;/p&gt;
  434.  
  435. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-22_06-43-42.png?itok=R0W3oYJ1" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-22_06-43-42.png?itok=R0W3oYJ1"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="7d17a2ef-75e2-4299-bdb6-bff30081d809" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="306" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-22_06-43-42.png?itok=R0W3oYJ1" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  436.  
  437. &lt;p&gt;While Tuesday's Walmart news about expanded distribution was viewed as a catalyst, Reddit's r/WallStreetBets had already been strategizing how to make the heavily shorted stock (with the latest data showing more than 50% of the float short) &lt;strong&gt;go "nuclear" to "fight the evil short sellers."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  438.  
  439. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-13_11-23-58.png?itok=HtGuMhug" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-13_11-23-58.png?itok=HtGuMhug"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0f9f2441-4097-4c92-a31b-fcd4bc877bb0" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="287" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-13_11-23-58.png?itok=HtGuMhug" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  440.  
  441. &lt;p&gt;Latest comments on &lt;a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/WalllStreetBets/"&gt;r/WallStreetBets&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;
  442.  
  443. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-22_06-44-06.png?itok=8tpA3gTZ" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-22_06-44-06.png?itok=8tpA3gTZ"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d0c11495-f67c-4589-9143-266e9261a41e" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="489" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-22_06-44-06.png?itok=8tpA3gTZ" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  444.  
  445. &lt;p&gt;Also fueling the fire:&lt;/p&gt;
  446.  
  447. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  448. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Shares of Beyond Meat jumped 127% on Monday and 146% on Tuesday after Roundhill Investments included the stock in its &lt;strong&gt;newly revamped Roundhill Meme Stock ETF (NYSE:MEME). The addition set off a gargantuan short squeeze, as over 63% of the firm's tradable shares were shorted prior to the announcement, based on FactSet data cited by CNBC. Roundhill's move to re-launch the MEME ETF in early October, after earlier closing it because of lack of interest, seems to have caught up with a re-emergence of speculative trading.&lt;/strong&gt; -Benzinga Newswire&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  449. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  450.  
  451. &lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, rest of Meme stock world...&lt;/p&gt;
  452.  
  453. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_20e5a299.png?itok=HYx4-SZu" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_20e5a299.png?itok=HYx4-SZu"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="91647751-14fb-4ab0-911a-bd4c70cf68c0" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="274" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Snag_20e5a299.png?itok=HYx4-SZu" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  454.  
  455. &lt;p&gt;But as we noted on Tuesday, &lt;strong&gt;caveat emptor&lt;/strong&gt;. We've seen how this story ends. &lt;/p&gt;
  456.  
  457. &lt;p&gt;In recent weeks, &lt;strong&gt;BYND completed a debt for equity swap involving the exchange of over $1.1 billion in convertible notes for new debt and more than 326 million shares of common stock&lt;/strong&gt;.At the expense of Redditors, the creditors who completed the debt-for-equity swap were handed a massive liquidity event.&lt;/p&gt;
  458.  
  459. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/jeff-daniels-toilet.jpg?itok=PgUIdbqu" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/jeff-daniels-toilet.jpg?itok=PgUIdbqu"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="996b3e68-fc41-4ac3-9ef3-04da90a25713" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="272" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/jeff-daniels-toilet.jpg?itok=PgUIdbqu" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  460.  
  461. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thanks for playing.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  462.  
  463. &lt;p&gt;*   *   * &lt;/p&gt;
  464.  
  465. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fake food company Beyond Meat&lt;/strong&gt;, once endlessly promoted by globalist corporate media trying to convince the nation that cow farts are bad and fake meat is good, has been locked in a near five-year bear market. It seems that Redditors and the company's press release are &lt;strong&gt;squeezing&lt;/strong&gt; shares higher. However, a &lt;strong&gt;recent debt swap for equity&lt;/strong&gt; will substantially dilute shareholders. &lt;em&gt;We've seen this story before, and it never ends well.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  466.  
  467. &lt;p&gt;News this morning that Beyond Meat plans to expand its fake food products to over &lt;strong&gt;2,000 Walmart stores nationwide sent shares up 60% in premarket trading&lt;/strong&gt;. The surge is likely due to a combination of the Reddit army of day traders catching on that hedge funds have been heavily shorting the stock.&lt;/p&gt;
  468.  
  469. &lt;p&gt;Beyond Meat's latest short interest data show that &lt;strong&gt;54% of the company's publicly available shares are short&lt;/strong&gt;, or about &lt;strong&gt;39.59 million shares&lt;/strong&gt;. Based on the average daily volume of around &lt;strong&gt;9 million shares traded per day&lt;/strong&gt;, it would take &lt;strong&gt;4.44 days for shorts to cover&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  470.  
  471. &lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, day traders on Reddit's WallStreetBets page are all about BYND...&lt;/p&gt;
  472.  
  473. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-46-07.png?itok=zuIrcHaA" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-46-07.png?itok=zuIrcHaA"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a184adaf-cf74-4a71-8e56-f51bc9200c46" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="419" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-46-07.png?itok=zuIrcHaA" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  474.  
  475. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-47-39.png?itok=fHRQx3b8" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-47-39.png?itok=fHRQx3b8"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5024bf07-f569-43e1-ac54-91f0d76a1060" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="554" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-47-39.png?itok=fHRQx3b8" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  476.  
  477. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-48-01.png?itok=yV_03qg6" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-48-01.png?itok=yV_03qg6"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b8bf1fa0-5248-444d-b9ab-6e1941f73cc5" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="398" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-48-01.png?itok=yV_03qg6" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  478.  
  479. &lt;p&gt;Hmm.&lt;/p&gt;
  480.  
  481. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-48-32.png?itok=CF1rpMtq" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-48-32.png?itok=CF1rpMtq"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4d0a4a5a-ff41-48a8-8340-4021b75c5b07" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="152" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-21_09-48-32.png?itok=CF1rpMtq" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  482.  
  483. &lt;h2&gt;Caveat emptor:&lt;/h2&gt;
  484.  
  485. &lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;surge comes one week after nearly all creditors agreed to a debt-swap deal that massively dilutes equity shareholders&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
  486.  
  487. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/jeff-daniels-toilet.jpg?itok=PgUIdbqu" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/jeff-daniels-toilet.jpg?itok=PgUIdbqu"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="996b3e68-fc41-4ac3-9ef3-04da90a25713" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="272" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/jeff-daniels-toilet.jpg?itok=PgUIdbqu" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  488.  
  489. &lt;p&gt;BYND wrote in a recent press release (&lt;a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/beyond-meat-crashes-debt-swap-plan-fake-food-trend-goes-bust"&gt;read report&lt;/a&gt;) that 96.92% of holders of its 0% Convertible Senior Notes due 2027 agreed to participate in the debt-equity swap offer, clearing the 85% threshold required for the deal to proceed. &lt;/p&gt;
  490.  
  491. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-13_11-24-25.png?itok=hPMdLuYu" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-13_11-24-25.png?itok=hPMdLuYu"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5b2100ce-0411-4a56-b11e-b47df3ed5ce6" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="128" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-13_11-24-25.png?itok=hPMdLuYu" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  492.  
  493. &lt;p&gt;Under the terms, BYND will issue up to $202.5 million of new 7% Convertible Senior Secured Second Lien PIK Toggle Notes due 2030 and up to &lt;strong&gt;326.2 million new shares of common stock&lt;/strong&gt;. The exchange aims to reduce leverage and extend debt maturities. &lt;/p&gt;
  494.  
  495. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;And now you understand why there's a squeeze and pump. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  496.  
  497. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_1c6a81cd_1.png?itok=VtXuJ2xy" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Snag_1c6a81cd_1.png?itok=VtXuJ2xy"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="bf1b2b37-a7c2-4a73-9606-75a444b81e0f" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="278" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Snag_1c6a81cd_1.png?itok=VtXuJ2xy" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  498.  
  499. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Liquidity is needed. Reddit kids are that liquidity. Never ends well. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  500.  
  501. &lt;p&gt;*  *  * &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Don't Drink Carcinogens&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  502.  
  503. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/6-stage-countertop-ro-water-filter-with-uv-sterilization/?c_id=33&amp;m=category&amp;c=Water%20Filters"&gt;Countertop RO System&lt;/a&gt; (can buy with additional filters)&lt;/li&gt;
  504. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/waterdrop-reverse-osmosis-water-filtration-system-for-home-g2p600/?c_id=33&amp;m=category&amp;c=Water%20Filters"&gt;Medium-Flow RO System&lt;/a&gt; (7-stage filtration)&lt;/li&gt;
  505. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/high-flow-x12-alkaline-ro-system-with-11-stage-filtration-faucet-extra-filters-2-year-supply/?c_id=33&amp;m=category&amp;c=Water%20Filters"&gt;High-Flow RO System&lt;/a&gt; (11-stage filtration, comes with 2-year filter supply)&lt;/li&gt;
  506. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/waterdrop-2-25-gallon-king-tank-gravity-water-filter-system-with-stand/?c_id=33&amp;m=category&amp;c=Water%20Filters"&gt;Countertop Gravity Water Filter&lt;/a&gt; (2.25 gallon)&lt;/li&gt;
  507. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/camping-gravity-filter-kit-includes-water-straw/?c_id=33&amp;m=category&amp;c=Water%20Filters"&gt;Camping Gravity Filter Kit&lt;/a&gt; (add to your emergency supplies)&lt;/li&gt;
  508. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/1-micron-water-filter-straw-removes-99-99-of-bacteria-6-pack/?c_id=33&amp;m=category&amp;c=Water%20Filters"&gt;6-Pack Water Straws&lt;/a&gt; (removes 99.9% of bacteria)&lt;/li&gt;
  509. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  510.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  511. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T10:56:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 06:56&lt;/span&gt;
  512. </description>
  513.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 10:56:00 +0000</pubDate>
  514.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  515.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076875 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  516.    </item>
  517. <item>
  518.  <title>Pivotal Research On Creatine Finds Foundational Applications Way Beyond The Gym - Including Brain, Bone, And Healthy Aging</title>
  519.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/pivotal-research-creatine-finds-foundational-applications-way-beyond-gym-including-brain</link>
  520.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Pivotal Research On Creatine Finds Foundational Applications Way Beyond The Gym - Including Brain, Bone, And Healthy Aging&lt;/span&gt;
  521.  
  522.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;There's new science out on creatine monohydrate that reveals &lt;strong&gt;it's way more than just a performance enhancer for athletes&lt;/strong&gt;. In fact, it's pretty amazing for a wide variety of applications throughout all stages of life. If you already take creatine, you know it's great for increasing muscle strength, size and performance. But did you know &lt;strong&gt;it even helps maintain lean tissue strength &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;without exercise?&lt;/strong&gt; It's also powerful when it comes to &lt;strong&gt;cognition and memory&lt;/strong&gt; - including&lt;strong&gt; early-stage Alzheimer's&lt;/strong&gt; and sleep-deprived college students. &lt;/p&gt;
  523.  
  524. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/creatine.jpg?itok=fxSaneLZ" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/creatine.jpg?itok=fxSaneLZ"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5053a232-4924-46f0-9909-a5fa3f47da44" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="286" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/creatine.jpg?itok=fxSaneLZ" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  525.  
  526. &lt;h2&gt;The Short Version&lt;/h2&gt;
  527.  
  528. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The new studies (linked directly below) found Creatine to: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  529.  
  530. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;
  531. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Support muscle and function &lt;em&gt;&lt;u&gt;even without exercise&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/strong&gt;In studies of older adults and immobilized limbs, creatine users maintained more lean tissue and strength than non-users. One trial found older adults taking creatine for 32 weeks preserved leg-press and chest-press strength despite periods of reduced activity.&lt;/p&gt;
  532. &lt;/li&gt;
  533. &lt;li&gt;
  534. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Enhance &lt;u&gt;&lt;em&gt;bone strength and density&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/u&gt;. &lt;/strong&gt;Research in aging populations shows creatine combined with resistance training can increase bone area and estimated strength, helping counter osteoporosis risk. These effects have been reported in older adults over 6–12 months of supplementation and training.&lt;/p&gt;
  535. &lt;/li&gt;
  536. &lt;li&gt;
  537. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improve &lt;em&gt;&lt;u&gt;cognition and memory&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/strong&gt;Studies in healthy older adults and early-stage Alzheimer’s patients show modest improvements in memory and mental fatigue resistance after creatine loading. Other trials report better cognitive performance during sleep deprivation in young adults, suggesting creatine helps stabilize brain energy when under stress.&lt;/p&gt;
  538. &lt;/li&gt;
  539. &lt;li&gt;
  540. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Promote &lt;u&gt;&lt;em&gt;healthy aging&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/u&gt;. &lt;/strong&gt;A 2025 review concluded creatine supplementation&lt;strong&gt; increases lean mass, regional muscle size, and functional ability in older adults&lt;/strong&gt; - particularly when paired with exercise. It also improves glucose kinetics in some studies, suggesting a role in preventing age-related metabolic decline.&lt;/p&gt;
  541. &lt;/li&gt;
  542. &lt;li&gt;
  543. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Support &lt;u&gt;&lt;em&gt;women’s health&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/u&gt; across life stages. &lt;/strong&gt;New research highlights benefits for exercise performance and fatigue resistance across the menstrual cycle. Early human studies are now investigating pregnancy applications, while postmenopausal trials indicate gains in muscle and bone similar to those seen in men.&lt;/p&gt;
  544. &lt;/li&gt;
  545. &lt;li&gt;
  546. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aid &lt;em&gt;&lt;u&gt;recovery and tissue repair&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/strong&gt;In trials of patients recovering from injury or surgery, creatine supplementation reduced muscle loss and improved functional recovery. Animal and pediatric studies also suggest creatine may shorten recovery time and lessen brain damage after traumatic brain injury.&lt;/p&gt;
  547. &lt;/li&gt;
  548. &lt;li&gt;
  549. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increase &lt;em&gt;&lt;u&gt;muscle strength, size, and performance&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/em&gt; -  &lt;/strong&gt;You probably already knew this, but the new studies found that &lt;strong&gt;adults supplementing with 3–5 grams of creatine daily&lt;/strong&gt; while resistance training&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;gained&lt;strong&gt; significantly more strength&lt;/strong&gt; and lean mass than placebo groups - improvements often ranging from 5–15% greater increases in performance metrics after 8–12 weeks of training.&lt;/p&gt;
  550. &lt;/li&gt;
  551. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;In short, &lt;strong&gt;creatine is very good for you and has an outstanding safety record. &lt;/strong&gt;(you can find the studies &lt;a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15502783.2025.2534130?src=recsys"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15502783.2024.2441760?src=recsys"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/15502783.2024.2441760?needAccess=true"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
  552.  
  553. &lt;p&gt;And here it is: if you read us regularly, you know &lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/creatine-monohydrate/"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;we sell creatine&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which makes this report an ad - &lt;strong&gt;however two things:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;one - the findings here are legit,&lt;/strong&gt; so please absorb the information regardless of whether you buy some, and two - the &lt;em&gt;reason&lt;/em&gt; we sell creatine is because one of the Tylers has been taking it for decades (guess which one?) and got the rest of us hooked.&lt;/p&gt;
  554.  
  555. &lt;p&gt;Long story short, it works well, we use it, and the stuff we sell is high-grade, Walter White-tier pure creatine at a reasonable price. The jar it comes in is pretty big and it lasts a while. Support yourself &amp; support the site - &lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/creatine-monohydrate/"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;buy some here&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;And if you don't buy ours, just check it out. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  556.  
  557. &lt;p&gt;Actual product (no CGI): &lt;/p&gt;
  558.  
  559. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/creatine-monohydrate/" data-image-href="https://store.zerohedge.com/creatine-monohydrate/" data-link-option="2" href="https://store.zerohedge.com/creatine-monohydrate/"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1dfb0ee3-2b98-4f1b-a8e7-d2386df737ed" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="224" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/creatine%20front%20back.jpg?itok=gMFsFP_9" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  560.  
  561. &lt;h2&gt;The Long Version&lt;/h2&gt;
  562.  
  563. &lt;p&gt;For decades, creatine monohydrate was considered the domain of weightlifters and athletes chasing power gains - with research confirming what most gym-goers have long observed firsthand: &lt;strong&gt;creatine increases strength, muscle mass, and training capacity by rapidly regenerating the body’s cellular fuel, ATP.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  564.  
  565. &lt;p&gt;But a trio of new studies published in the last year (two in 2025, one in 2024) are transforming how scientists view this simple compound. Once relegated to sports nutrition,&lt;strong&gt; creatine is now emerging as a potential ally in healthy aging, women’s health, cognition, and disease resilience. &lt;/strong&gt;The latest research suggests that this molecule may be less a niche performance enhancer and more a universal energy buffer for human life.&lt;/p&gt;
  566.  
  567. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What We’ve Long Known&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  568.  
  569. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine serves as a backup power source.&lt;/strong&gt; Stored in muscle as phosphocreatine, it helps recycle ATP - the molecule that fuels every muscular contraction and countless cellular reactions. Supplementing with about 3–5 grams daily increases these stores, allowing for greater energy output during intense or repeated activity.&lt;/p&gt;
  570.  
  571. &lt;p&gt;Hundreds of clinical trials confirm that &lt;strong&gt;creatine monohydrate boosts muscle size, strength, and recovery, particularly when combined with resistance training&lt;/strong&gt;. It’s also among the safest supplements ever studied, earning “Generally Recognized As Safe” status from the FDA. Long-term data show no evidence of kidney or liver harm when taken at standard doses.&lt;/p&gt;
  572.  
  573. &lt;p&gt;Timing, often debated, turns out to matter very little. Whether taken before or after exercise, creatine produces the same benefits over time. What counts most is consistency.&lt;/p&gt;
  574.  
  575. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Myth-Busting the Basics&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  576.  
  577. &lt;p&gt;A 2025 review titled &lt;em&gt;Common Questions and Misconceptions about Creatine Supplementation&lt;/em&gt; reexamined a wide range of public claims—and dispelled nearly all of them. Among its findings:&lt;/p&gt;
  578.  
  579. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;
  580. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine works even without exercise&lt;/strong&gt;, though results are stronger when training is included.&lt;/p&gt;
  581. &lt;/li&gt;
  582. &lt;li&gt;
  583. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Timing is unimportant&lt;/strong&gt;—a steady daily dose is what maintains muscle saturation.&lt;/p&gt;
  584. &lt;/li&gt;
  585. &lt;li&gt;
  586. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Taking creatine with carbs or protein&lt;/strong&gt; can slightly speed up uptake, but long-term outcomes are the same.&lt;/p&gt;
  587. &lt;/li&gt;
  588. &lt;li&gt;
  589. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Caffeine doesn’t cancel creatine’s effects.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  590. &lt;/li&gt;
  591. &lt;li&gt;
  592. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It doesn’t raise blood pressure, cause dehydration, or harm fertility.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  593. &lt;/li&gt;
  594. &lt;li&gt;
  595. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It may even aid recovery&lt;/strong&gt; after surgery, injury, or concussion.&lt;/p&gt;
  596. &lt;/li&gt;
  597. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;The same paper notes emerging evidence that creatine supports mental sharpness under sleep deprivation, hinting at a role for brain as well as muscle energy.&lt;/p&gt;
  598.  
  599. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine and Women’s Health: Filling the Research Gap&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  600.  
  601. &lt;p&gt;Until recently, most creatine research involved men, despite women being equally - if not more - frequent supplement users. A landmark review titled &lt;em&gt;Creatine in Women’s Health&lt;/em&gt; set out to correct that imbalance.&lt;/p&gt;
  602.  
  603. &lt;p&gt;It found that &lt;strong&gt;women, on average, have about 20 percent lower creatine synthesis and 30–40 percent lower dietary intake than men.&lt;/strong&gt; Hormonal changes across the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause also affect how creatine is stored and used in tissues.&lt;/p&gt;
  604.  
  605. &lt;p&gt;Studies now show that women experience the same strength and endurance improvements as men, but new data point to wider effects:&lt;/p&gt;
  606.  
  607. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;
  608. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mood and cognition:&lt;/strong&gt; Because brain cells also depend on phosphocreatine, supplementation may buffer the mood swings and fatigue associated with hormonal fluctuations.&lt;/p&gt;
  609. &lt;/li&gt;
  610. &lt;li&gt;
  611. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pregnancy:&lt;/strong&gt; Early research suggests creatine could help protect both mother and fetus from low-oxygen stress, though human trials remain preliminary.&lt;/p&gt;
  612. &lt;/li&gt;
  613. &lt;li&gt;
  614. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Menopause and perimenopause:&lt;/strong&gt; As estrogen declines, women face loss of muscle, bone density, and energy. These are precisely the systems that creatine supports, making midlife women a promising- yet under-studied - group.&lt;/p&gt;
  615. &lt;/li&gt;
  616. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;The review urges more work on perimenopausal women, calling it one of the most neglected areas in exercise and nutritional science.&lt;/p&gt;
  617.  
  618. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Creatine and Healthy Aging&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  619.  
  620. &lt;p&gt;The third new paper, &lt;em&gt;Creatine Supplementation for Older Adults and Clinical Populations&lt;/em&gt;, focuses on the intersection of muscle, bone, and cognitive health. Its conclusion is striking: creatine may be one of the simplest, safest, and most effective interventions for age-related decline.&lt;/p&gt;
  621.  
  622. &lt;p&gt;Older adults who combined creatine with resistance training&lt;strong&gt; consistently gained more lean mass, strength, and functional mobility than those who exercised without it.&lt;/strong&gt; Some studies even showed modest improvements in bone structure and density.&lt;/p&gt;
  623.  
  624. &lt;p&gt;Creatine’s potential extends beyond the musculoskeletal system. Evidence suggests possible benefits for glucose regulation and memory, and a neuroprotective effect is being explored in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. One challenge is that standard oral doses don’t always raise brain creatine levels in older adults, implying that higher or longer-term regimens - or new delivery methods - may be necessary.&lt;/p&gt;
  625.  
  626. &lt;p&gt;Importantly, the supplement’s safety record holds up even in complex medical populations. Researchers advise cautious monitoring when multiple medications are involved, as creatine can influence how the body handles certain drugs, but serious adverse events remain rare.&lt;/p&gt;
  627.  
  628. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A Universal Energy Buffer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  629.  
  630. &lt;p&gt;Across all three studies, a single theme emerges: energy. Creatine’s ability to rapidly restore ATP makes it critical for tissues with high energy demands—muscle, brain, bone, and even the heart. It’s increasingly viewed as a molecular “reserve tank” that keeps these systems running smoothly under stress, aging, or disease.&lt;/p&gt;
  631.  
  632. &lt;p&gt;Researchers are now exploring creatine as a tool for improving recovery from trauma, supporting mitochondrial health, and enhancing cellular resilience across the lifespan.&lt;/p&gt;
  633.  
  634. &lt;h2&gt;Practical Takeaways&lt;/h2&gt;
  635.  
  636. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;
  637. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dose:&lt;/strong&gt; 3–5 grams of creatine monohydrate daily. A short loading phase (about 20 grams per day for a week) can speed saturation but isn’t required.&lt;/p&gt;
  638. &lt;/li&gt;
  639. &lt;li&gt;
  640. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Timing:&lt;/strong&gt; Take it any time of day; consistency is what matters.&lt;/p&gt;
  641. &lt;/li&gt;
  642. &lt;li&gt;
  643. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Synergy:&lt;/strong&gt; Combine with resistance training for the greatest effect on muscle and bone.&lt;/p&gt;
  644. &lt;/li&gt;
  645. &lt;li&gt;
  646. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who benefits most:&lt;/strong&gt; Vegetarians, older adults, and women at any life stage - especially during pregnancy or menopause - are often the lowest in baseline creatine.&lt;/p&gt;
  647. &lt;/li&gt;
  648. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;What’s clear is that creatine monohydrate - cheap, safe, and widely available - has evolved from an athlete’s secret weapon into a candidate for whole-body vitality.&lt;/p&gt;
  649.  
  650. &lt;p&gt;After thirty years of study, the story of creatine is no longer just about lifting weights. It’s about lifting the limits of human energy itself.&lt;/p&gt;
  651.  
  652. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Pick up some creatine &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/creatine-monohydrate/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;... &lt;/strong&gt;and thank you for your support. You can get close to 20% off if you buy 3 at once and subscribe. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  653. &lt;/div&gt;
  654.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  655. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T10:55:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 06:55&lt;/span&gt;
  656. </description>
  657.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 10:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
  658.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  659.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077042 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  660.    </item>
  661. <item>
  662.  <title>The Bering Strait Tunnel Will Likely Remain A Pipe Dream</title>
  663.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bering-strait-tunnel-will-likely-remain-pipe-dream</link>
  664.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;The Bering Strait Tunnel Will Likely Remain A Pipe Dream&lt;/span&gt;
  665.  
  666.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-bering-strait-tunnel-will-likely"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  667.  
  668. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Russia might still fund some less ambitious infrastructure projects in its Far East-Arctic region to keep the economy hot after the war ends, help veterans find work, and encourage settlement there...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  669.  
  670. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2886%29_3.jpg?itok=marOWKeW" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2886%29_3.jpg?itok=marOWKeW"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="cff5422c-a72c-483e-8916-5e52f46f5913" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="375" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/httpssubstack-post-media.s3.amaz%20%2886%29_3.jpg?itok=marOWKeW" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  671.  
  672. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trump &lt;a href="https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-responds-to-idea-of-tunnel-connecting-russia-and-us-13452151"&gt;reacted positively&lt;/a&gt; to the proposal by Kirill Dmitriev,&lt;/strong&gt; chief of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and envoy in ongoing negotiations with the US, to build a tunnel beneath the Bering Strait. The idea isn’t new but has recently been revived as a means of physically embodying the &lt;a href="https://korybko.substack.com/p/korybko-to-newsweek-a-russian-us"&gt;New Détente&lt;/a&gt; that their leaders aim to achieve if they’re first able to end the &lt;a href="https://thealtworld.com/andrew_korybko/heres-what-i-learned-from-analyzing-the-new-cold-war-every-day-for-three-years-straight"&gt;Ukrainian Conflict&lt;/a&gt;. Given its &lt;a href="https://x.com/kadmitriev/status/1978917512285687902"&gt;$8-65 billion cost&lt;/a&gt; as estimated by Dmitriev himself, however, this megaproject would have to be profitable if it’s to be built.&lt;/p&gt;
  673.  
  674. &lt;p&gt;Therein lies the problem since &lt;strong&gt;Russian-US trade has always been low even before the unprecedented sanctions&lt;/strong&gt; that were imposed after the start of the &lt;a href="https://korybko.substack.com/p/korybko-to-azerbaijani-media-all"&gt;special&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://korybko.substack.com/p/20-constructive-critiques-about-russias"&gt;operation&lt;/a&gt;. Energy and raw materials comprise the vast majority of Russian exports, but the US doesn’t need them since it already has enough of pretty much everything apart from rare earth minerals. About that, while Russia has some untapped rare earth deposits, their yields could easily be exported to the US by sea in the event of a New Détente.&lt;/p&gt;
  675.  
  676. &lt;p&gt;Two Russian experts recently interviewed by publicly financed &lt;a href="https://tass.com/economy/2031671"&gt;TASS&lt;/a&gt; are of a similar opinion.&lt;/p&gt;
  677.  
  678. &lt;p&gt;According to Dmitry Zavyalov, head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Logistics and dean of the Higher School of Economics faculty at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;China might be interested in this megaproject, but “the scale of the costs, their distribution among the project participants, and geopolitical risks reduce the potential benefits.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  679.  
  680. &lt;p&gt;Alexander Firanchuk, a leading researcher at the Presidential Academy’s International Laboratory for Foreign Trade Research, pointed out that &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“Alaska is cut off from the main US rail network&lt;/strong&gt;, while Chukotka is thousands of kilometers of permafrost and mountains from the nearest Russian rails. Any ‘saving’ of a couple of days’ travel compared to the sea instantly vanishes against the monstrous costs of building thousands of kilometers of new tracks, bridges, and tunnels in the harshest climates on the planet.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  681.  
  682. &lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, the aforesaid infrastructure projects might also be what Dmitriev has in mind, perhaps envisaged as &lt;strong&gt;a Russian version of FDR’s “New Deal” for keeping the economy hot and helping veterans find work once the &lt;a href="https://korybko.substack.com/p/analyzing-the-kremlin-spokesmans"&gt;war&lt;/a&gt; ends. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  683.  
  684. &lt;p&gt;Putin &lt;a href="https://www.intellinews.com/russia-to-build-large-scale-high-speed-train-network-401935/"&gt;recently approved&lt;/a&gt; high-speed rail projects for connecting Moscow with major cities in European Russia, which could be employed to this end, but the tunnel proposal would help develop and settle the Far East-Arctic region &lt;a href="https://korybko.substack.com/p/putins-master-plan-for-the-russian"&gt;per the vision&lt;/a&gt; that he shared in September.&lt;/p&gt;
  685.  
  686. &lt;p&gt;Putin also proposed &lt;a href="https://korybko.substack.com/p/putin-envisages-building-a-new-veteran"&gt;building a new veteran-led Russian elite&lt;/a&gt; last year, and some of its most aspirational members could cut their political teeth by working on these projects and then running in regional elections, after which they might rise to national renown. Among the comparatively less aspirational majority, they might be content to live out their lives in the rural Far East-Arctic region after working on projects there, especially if they were traumatized by the war and struggle to reintegrate into society.&lt;/p&gt;
  687.  
  688. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;With this insight in mind, the Bering Strait tunnel idea that Dmitriev just revived would actually be quite beneficial to Russia, but not for the reasons that many might have assumed.&lt;/strong&gt; Even so, the total costs of this megaproject and all the associated infrastructure that would have to be built in the Far East-Arctic region would be enormous and arguably beyond the national budget’s means to fund in full, and foreign investors might not consider any of this to be profitable. The tunnel might thus remain a pipe dream.&lt;/p&gt;
  689. &lt;/div&gt;
  690.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  691. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T10:30:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 06:30&lt;/span&gt;
  692. </description>
  693.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 10:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
  694.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  695.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076975 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  696.    </item>
  697. <item>
  698.  <title>Trump Winning Shutdown Fight As Public Opinion Shifts In His Favor</title>
  699.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-winning-shutdown-fight-public-opinion-shifts-his-favor</link>
  700.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Trump Winning Shutdown Fight As Public Opinion Shifts In His Favor&lt;/span&gt;
  701.  
  702.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;During the 2018-2019 government shutdown (the longest federal shutdown in US history lasting 35 days), Donald Trump's first term administration was ill prepared for the tactics used by the establishment media, Democrats and even saboteurs within his own cabinet.  The narrative spin was highly effective in painting Trump as the villain, subverting his efforts to achieve lasting security at the southern border.&lt;/p&gt;
  703.  
  704. &lt;p&gt;The 2018 shutdown hinged largely on the fight between Republicans and Democrats over funding for a border wall that would ensure far lower illegal immigration numbers well after Trump left office.  The construction cost of $5.7 billion seems like a pittance compared to the projected cost of $350 billion to deport alien migrants over four years. &lt;/p&gt;
  705.  
  706. &lt;p&gt;Currently, the US is enjoying the lowest immigration numbers in over 60 years as border encounters plummet, but this is largely contingent on Trump's presence in the White House and cuts to subsides for illegals.  His original wall proposal remains a necessary measure to help prevent future mass migrations.   &lt;/p&gt;
  707.  
  708. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/JeffSchumer1.jpeg?itok=469s8iFS" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/JeffSchumer1.jpeg?itok=469s8iFS"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4f462ad1-998e-4198-a7c0-24a7f8406f29" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="375" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/JeffSchumer1.jpeg?itok=469s8iFS" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  709.  
  710. &lt;p&gt;The President lost enough popular support during the 2018 event that it threatened to drag down his overall chances of reelection.  At that time, the American public was more inclined to care about the plight of federal workers who faced financial uncertainty.  Ultimately, Trump had to abandon his border wall project.  Today, circumstances have changed dramatically.&lt;/p&gt;
  711.  
  712. &lt;p&gt;Even CNN admits that this time is different, with polling numbers shifting far more in Trump's favor during the current shutdown fight.  Trump has learned to anticipate Democrat disinformation methods (their denials about healthcare subsidies for illegals have been effectively exposed), and with far fewer insiders in a position to undermine his policies, the administration is less likely to fold and give Dems what they want.&lt;/p&gt;
  713.  
  714. &lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kdf9IDNsCrQ" width="640"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  715.  
  716. &lt;p&gt;The Democrat position on the shutdown is untenable.  They demand that Trump undo provisions of the "Big Beautiful Bill" that cut ACA (Affordable Care Act) subsidies to millions of illegal migrant who qualify under asylum provisions.  They also want the White House to rehire thousands of federal workers fired during the shutdown, they want funding returned to PBS and NPR, and they want a repeal of work requirements for food stamp recipients.  &lt;/p&gt;
  717.  
  718. &lt;p&gt;Both chambers of Congress and the White House have passed a "clean" CR in the House that extends funding at current levels without policy riders. Democrats in the Senate have repeatedly blocked it (now 12 times), insisting on attaching concessions.&lt;/p&gt;
  719.  
  720. &lt;p&gt;The Democrat focus, for reasons that are not immediately clear, seems to be healthcare subsidies for illegals.  Progressives are banking on the public's lack of knowledge on the details of ACA, but a single meme posted by Trump blew up their messaging.   &lt;/p&gt;
  721.  
  722. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  723. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;Hakeem Jefferies is having a horrible week.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  724. President Trump just posted ANOTHER meme 🤣&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  725. Just wait for it… &lt;a href="https://t.co/k3DIq5ZhoR"&gt;pic.twitter.com/k3DIq5ZhoR&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  726. — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1973192013911929249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 1, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  727. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;The question is, will increasing support for the White House position outweigh the craziness of Democrats?  Or, will Democrats decide to "go for broke" in the hopes that an economic crisis develops and damages Trump's optics.  There is little to nothing in the progressive list of demands that makes sense - The Dems would have to hope that they don't catch public blowback if extended instability in government is their strategy.       &lt;/p&gt;
  728.  
  729. &lt;p&gt;*  *  * &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;LIVE LONGER&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  730.  
  731. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/iq-smart-protein-collagen-peptides/"&gt;Smart Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Collagen Peptides&lt;/strong&gt; - blend of 3 peptides: Joints / Skin / Muscle Recovery&lt;/li&gt;
  732. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/iq-green-boost/?c_id=24&amp;m=category&amp;c=Supplements"&gt;Green Boost&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - powerful blend of organic greens, superfoods, and probiotics.&lt;/li&gt;
  733. &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/iq-colostrum"&gt;Colostrum&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;- Grass-fed, 1000mg IgG per serving + Lactoferrin and Proline-Rich Peptides (anti-inflammatory / immune)&lt;/li&gt;
  734. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  735.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  736. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T10:11:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 06:11&lt;/span&gt;
  737. </description>
  738.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 10:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
  739.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  740.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076797 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  741.    </item>
  742. <item>
  743.  <title>These Are The US Cities Where Young Americans Can Still Afford A Home</title>
  744.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/these-are-us-cities-where-young-americans-can-still-afford-home</link>
  745.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;These Are The US Cities Where Young Americans Can Still Afford A Home&lt;/span&gt;
  746.  
  747.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-cities-where-young-americans-can-still-afford-a-home/#google_vignette"&gt;Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao &lt;/a&gt;ranks the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas by the &lt;strong&gt;share of adults under 30&lt;/strong&gt; who have a mortgage, painting a clear picture of where today’s twentysomethings can realistically afford a home.&lt;/p&gt;
  748.  
  749. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/Young-Americans-Buying-Homes_WEB.jpg?itok=VcmZzlf5" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Young-Americans-Buying-Homes_WEB.jpg?itok=VcmZzlf5"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="81c8ceb6-bad9-44ba-bef2-38ac93013eb1" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="652" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Young-Americans-Buying-Homes_WEB.jpg?itok=VcmZzlf5" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  750.  
  751. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Data for this visualization comes from &lt;a href="https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/under-30-homeowners-study/"&gt;LendingTree&lt;/a&gt;. They analyzed 32,000 anonymized fourth-quarter 2024 credit reports of adults under 30 in the 50 largest U.S. metros to create this ranking. Please see their methodology section for more details.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  752.  
  753. &lt;h2&gt;The American Dream is Still Within Reach In These Cities&lt;/h2&gt;
  754.  
  755. &lt;p&gt;At 9.4%, &lt;strong&gt;Nashville&lt;/strong&gt; claims the highest share of under-30 mortgage holders in the country.&lt;/p&gt;
  756.  
  757. &lt;table class="tablepress tablepress-id-6414" id="tablepress-6414"&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr class="row-1"&gt;&lt;th class="column-1"&gt;Rank&lt;/th&gt;
  758. &lt;th class="column-2"&gt;City&lt;/th&gt;
  759. &lt;th class="column-3"&gt;State&lt;/th&gt;
  760. &lt;th class="column-4"&gt;Share of Americans Under 30 With Mortgages&lt;/th&gt;
  761. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody class="row-striping row-hover"&gt;&lt;tr class="row-2"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
  762. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Nashville&lt;/td&gt;
  763. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Tennessee&lt;/td&gt;
  764. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;9.4%&lt;/td&gt;
  765. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-3"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
  766. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Indianapolis&lt;/td&gt;
  767. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Indiana&lt;/td&gt;
  768. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;8.4%&lt;/td&gt;
  769. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-4"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
  770. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Pittsburgh&lt;/td&gt;
  771. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Pennsylvania&lt;/td&gt;
  772. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;7.0%&lt;/td&gt;
  773. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-5"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
  774. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Cincinnati&lt;/td&gt;
  775. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Ohio&lt;/td&gt;
  776. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;6.5%&lt;/td&gt;
  777. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-6"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
  778. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Louisville&lt;/td&gt;
  779. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Kentucky&lt;/td&gt;
  780. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;5.8%&lt;/td&gt;
  781. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-7"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
  782. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Oklahoma City&lt;/td&gt;
  783. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Oklahoma&lt;/td&gt;
  784. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;5.7%&lt;/td&gt;
  785. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-8"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;7&lt;/td&gt;
  786. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;San Antonio&lt;/td&gt;
  787. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Texas&lt;/td&gt;
  788. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;5.3%&lt;/td&gt;
  789. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-9"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
  790. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Hartford&lt;/td&gt;
  791. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Connecticut&lt;/td&gt;
  792. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;5.0%&lt;/td&gt;
  793. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-10"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;9&lt;/td&gt;
  794. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Virginia Beach&lt;/td&gt;
  795. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Virginia&lt;/td&gt;
  796. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.9%&lt;/td&gt;
  797. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-11"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
  798. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Buffalo&lt;/td&gt;
  799. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;New York&lt;/td&gt;
  800. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.7%&lt;/td&gt;
  801. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-12"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
  802. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Salt Lake City&lt;/td&gt;
  803. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Utah&lt;/td&gt;
  804. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.7%&lt;/td&gt;
  805. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-13"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;12&lt;/td&gt;
  806. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Raleigh&lt;/td&gt;
  807. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;North Carolina&lt;/td&gt;
  808. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.6%&lt;/td&gt;
  809. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-14"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;13&lt;/td&gt;
  810. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Detroit&lt;/td&gt;
  811. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Michigan&lt;/td&gt;
  812. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.5%&lt;/td&gt;
  813. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-15"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;14&lt;/td&gt;
  814. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Minneapolis&lt;/td&gt;
  815. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Minnesota&lt;/td&gt;
  816. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.3%&lt;/td&gt;
  817. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-16"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;14&lt;/td&gt;
  818. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Phoenix&lt;/td&gt;
  819. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Arizona&lt;/td&gt;
  820. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.3%&lt;/td&gt;
  821. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-17"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;14&lt;/td&gt;
  822. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Providence&lt;/td&gt;
  823. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Rhode Island&lt;/td&gt;
  824. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.3%&lt;/td&gt;
  825. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-18"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;17&lt;/td&gt;
  826. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Birmingham&lt;/td&gt;
  827. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Alabama&lt;/td&gt;
  828. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.1%&lt;/td&gt;
  829. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-19"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;18&lt;/td&gt;
  830. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Memphis&lt;/td&gt;
  831. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Tennessee&lt;/td&gt;
  832. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;4.0%&lt;/td&gt;
  833. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-20"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;19&lt;/td&gt;
  834. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Denver&lt;/td&gt;
  835. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Colorado&lt;/td&gt;
  836. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.7%&lt;/td&gt;
  837. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-21"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;19&lt;/td&gt;
  838. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Las Vegas&lt;/td&gt;
  839. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Nevada&lt;/td&gt;
  840. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.7%&lt;/td&gt;
  841. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-22"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;21&lt;/td&gt;
  842. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;New Orleans&lt;/td&gt;
  843. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Louisiana&lt;/td&gt;
  844. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.5%&lt;/td&gt;
  845. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-23"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;21&lt;/td&gt;
  846. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Riverside&lt;/td&gt;
  847. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;California&lt;/td&gt;
  848. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.5%&lt;/td&gt;
  849. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-24"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;23&lt;/td&gt;
  850. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Houston&lt;/td&gt;
  851. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Texas&lt;/td&gt;
  852. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.4%&lt;/td&gt;
  853. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-25"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;24&lt;/td&gt;
  854. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Cleveland&lt;/td&gt;
  855. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Ohio&lt;/td&gt;
  856. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.3%&lt;/td&gt;
  857. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-26"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;25&lt;/td&gt;
  858. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Baltimore&lt;/td&gt;
  859. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Maryland&lt;/td&gt;
  860. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.2%&lt;/td&gt;
  861. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-27"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;25&lt;/td&gt;
  862. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Dallas&lt;/td&gt;
  863. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Texas&lt;/td&gt;
  864. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.2%&lt;/td&gt;
  865. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-28"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;25&lt;/td&gt;
  866. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Tampa&lt;/td&gt;
  867. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Florida&lt;/td&gt;
  868. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.2%&lt;/td&gt;
  869. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-29"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;28&lt;/td&gt;
  870. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Charlotte&lt;/td&gt;
  871. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;North Carolina&lt;/td&gt;
  872. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.1%&lt;/td&gt;
  873. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-30"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;28&lt;/td&gt;
  874. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Chicago&lt;/td&gt;
  875. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Illinois&lt;/td&gt;
  876. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.1%&lt;/td&gt;
  877. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-31"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;28&lt;/td&gt;
  878. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Philadelphia&lt;/td&gt;
  879. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Pennsylvania&lt;/td&gt;
  880. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.1%&lt;/td&gt;
  881. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-32"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;31&lt;/td&gt;
  882. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Miami&lt;/td&gt;
  883. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Florida&lt;/td&gt;
  884. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.0%&lt;/td&gt;
  885. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-33"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;31&lt;/td&gt;
  886. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;St. Louis&lt;/td&gt;
  887. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Missouri&lt;/td&gt;
  888. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;3.0%&lt;/td&gt;
  889. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-34"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;33&lt;/td&gt;
  890. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Kansas City&lt;/td&gt;
  891. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Missouri&lt;/td&gt;
  892. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.9%&lt;/td&gt;
  893. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-35"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;34&lt;/td&gt;
  894. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Austin&lt;/td&gt;
  895. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Texas&lt;/td&gt;
  896. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.8%&lt;/td&gt;
  897. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-36"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;34&lt;/td&gt;
  898. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Columbus&lt;/td&gt;
  899. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Ohio&lt;/td&gt;
  900. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.8%&lt;/td&gt;
  901. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-37"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;36&lt;/td&gt;
  902. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Orlando&lt;/td&gt;
  903. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Florida&lt;/td&gt;
  904. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.6%&lt;/td&gt;
  905. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-38"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;36&lt;/td&gt;
  906. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Seattle&lt;/td&gt;
  907. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Washington&lt;/td&gt;
  908. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.6%&lt;/td&gt;
  909. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-39"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;38&lt;/td&gt;
  910. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Jacksonville&lt;/td&gt;
  911. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Florida&lt;/td&gt;
  912. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.5%&lt;/td&gt;
  913. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-40"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;38&lt;/td&gt;
  914. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Milwaukee&lt;/td&gt;
  915. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Wisconsin&lt;/td&gt;
  916. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.5%&lt;/td&gt;
  917. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-41"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;40&lt;/td&gt;
  918. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Washington, D.C.&lt;/td&gt;
  919. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;District of Columbia&lt;/td&gt;
  920. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.4%&lt;/td&gt;
  921. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-42"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;41&lt;/td&gt;
  922. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Atlanta&lt;/td&gt;
  923. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Georgia&lt;/td&gt;
  924. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.3%&lt;/td&gt;
  925. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-43"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;42&lt;/td&gt;
  926. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Portland&lt;/td&gt;
  927. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Oregon&lt;/td&gt;
  928. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.2%&lt;/td&gt;
  929. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-44"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;43&lt;/td&gt;
  930. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Richmond&lt;/td&gt;
  931. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Virginia&lt;/td&gt;
  932. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.1%&lt;/td&gt;
  933. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-45"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;44&lt;/td&gt;
  934. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;San Francisco&lt;/td&gt;
  935. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;California&lt;/td&gt;
  936. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;2.0%&lt;/td&gt;
  937. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-46"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;45&lt;/td&gt;
  938. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;San Diego&lt;/td&gt;
  939. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;California&lt;/td&gt;
  940. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;1.7%&lt;/td&gt;
  941. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-47"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;46&lt;/td&gt;
  942. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Sacramento&lt;/td&gt;
  943. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;California&lt;/td&gt;
  944. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;1.6%&lt;/td&gt;
  945. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-48"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;47&lt;/td&gt;
  946. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Boston&lt;/td&gt;
  947. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;Massachusetts&lt;/td&gt;
  948. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;1.4%&lt;/td&gt;
  949. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-49"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;48&lt;/td&gt;
  950. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;Los Angeles&lt;/td&gt;
  951. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;California&lt;/td&gt;
  952. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;1.3%&lt;/td&gt;
  953. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-50"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;49&lt;/td&gt;
  954. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;New York&lt;/td&gt;
  955. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;New York&lt;/td&gt;
  956. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;1.2%&lt;/td&gt;
  957. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr class="row-51"&gt;&lt;td class="column-1"&gt;50&lt;/td&gt;
  958. &lt;td class="column-2"&gt;San Jose&lt;/td&gt;
  959. &lt;td class="column-3"&gt;California&lt;/td&gt;
  960. &lt;td class="column-4"&gt;0.8%&lt;/td&gt;
  961. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Music City’s housing-price growth has slowed from &lt;a href="https://www.redfin.com/city/13415/TN/Nashville/housing-market"&gt;its pandemic peak&lt;/a&gt;, and a steady influx of jobs in healthcare, tech, and entertainment is giving young workers both stable incomes and loan approval power.&lt;/p&gt;
  962.  
  963. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Indianapolis&lt;/strong&gt; (8.4%) and &lt;strong&gt;Pittsburgh&lt;/strong&gt; (7.0%) follow, proof that mid-sized metros with diversified economies and moderate price tags remain happy hunting grounds for first-time buyers.&lt;/p&gt;
  964.  
  965. &lt;p&gt;These leaders share several traits: median home prices well below the national average, shorter commute times that widen the geographic radius of affordable neighborhoods, and state-level programs that reduce down-payment hurdles.&lt;/p&gt;
  966.  
  967. &lt;p&gt;ℹ️ Related: Here’s the latest &lt;a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-average-house-prices-by-u-s-state/"&gt;median home prices&lt;/a&gt; by state.&lt;/p&gt;
  968.  
  969. &lt;h2&gt;Midwest Cities and South Dominate Home Affordability&lt;/h2&gt;
  970.  
  971. &lt;p&gt;Beyond the top three, the next dozen cities are heavily concentrated in the &lt;strong&gt;Midwest and South&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  972.  
  973. &lt;p&gt;Cincinnati, Louisville, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio all break the 5% threshold.&lt;/p&gt;
  974.  
  975. &lt;p&gt;Lower land costs and more flexible zoning keep construction pipelines open, while relatively low student-debt balances reduce the debt-to-income ratios that lenders scrutinize.&lt;/p&gt;
  976.  
  977. &lt;p&gt;ℹ️ Related: See how Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, and Oklahoma perform on &lt;a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-average-student-loan-debt-by-state/"&gt;average student debt&lt;/a&gt; by state.&lt;/p&gt;
  978.  
  979. &lt;p&gt;Even mid-tier &lt;strong&gt;Rust Belt metros&lt;/strong&gt; such as Detroit (4.5%) and Minneapolis (4.3%) do better than larger coastal cities.&lt;/p&gt;
  980.  
  981. &lt;p&gt;Their affordable starter-home inventories help offset slower wage growth. This illustrates that absolute price matters more than headline salary figures when it comes to qualifying for a mortgage before age 30.&lt;/p&gt;
  982.  
  983. &lt;h2&gt;Coastal State Economies Are Punishing for Home Ownership&lt;/h2&gt;
  984.  
  985. &lt;p&gt;At the other end of the spectrum stand San Jose (0.8%), New York City (1.2%), and Los Angeles (1.3%).&lt;/p&gt;
  986.  
  987. &lt;p&gt;Sky-high property values inflate required down payments to six figures, while stricter land-use rules limit new supply and keep entry-level stock scarce.&lt;/p&gt;
  988.  
  989. &lt;p&gt;Even Boston (1.4%) and Seattle (2.6%), cities with strong job markets, show that surging demand can overwhelm wage gains. This can and push homeownership beyond the reach of many young professionals.&lt;/p&gt;
  990.  
  991. &lt;p&gt;ℹ️ Related: The median age of &lt;a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/ter01-the-rising-age-of-first-time-home-buyers/"&gt;first-time home buyers&lt;/a&gt; in the U.S. is now 38, the oldest ever recorded.&lt;/p&gt;
  992.  
  993. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;For a broarder perspective, check out: &lt;a href="https://www.voronoiapp.com/real-estate/Where-Homes-Are-Least-Affordable-in-2025--6443"&gt;Where Homes are Affordable in North America&lt;/a&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Voronoi&lt;/strong&gt;, the new app from Visual Capitalist.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  994. &lt;/div&gt;
  995.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  996. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T09:45:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 05:45&lt;/span&gt;
  997. </description>
  998.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 09:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
  999.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1000.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076915 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1001.    </item>
  1002. <item>
  1003.  <title>How The Louvre 'Heist Of The Century' Unfolded</title>
  1004.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/how-louvre-heist-century-unfolded</link>
  1005.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;How The Louvre 'Heist Of The Century' Unfolded&lt;/span&gt;
  1006.  
  1007.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/how-the-louvre-heist-of-the-century-unfolded-5932049?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge"&gt;Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times&lt;/a&gt; (emphasis ours),&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1008.  
  1009. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The audacious theft of priceless jewels from the Louvre in Paris on Oct. 19 was called “the heist of the century” by several local &lt;a href="https://www.lesoir.be/705845/article/2025-10-19/comment-le-louvre-ete-victime-du-casse-du-siecle"&gt;newspapers&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/strong&gt;and commentators quickly drew parallels to similar headline-grabbing crimes over the years.&lt;/p&gt;
  1010. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28278%29_0.jpg?itok=QfRZT6CY" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28278%29_0.jpg?itok=QfRZT6CY"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c6831e8d-b177-4dfc-a76f-01006784d90e" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="246" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28278%29_0.jpg?itok=QfRZT6CY" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Illustration by The Epoch Times, Google Earth&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1011.  
  1012. &lt;p&gt;Questions about security arrangements at the world’s most visited museum, which attracts close to 9 million visitors per year, have been raised in the aftermath of the broad-daylight theft, along with speculation about who could be behind the crime.&lt;/p&gt;
  1013.  
  1014. &lt;p&gt;As special investigators scramble to catch those involved, here’s what to know about how the heist was pulled off in mere minutes, what was stolen—and why experts fear the jewels may never be recovered.&lt;/p&gt;
  1015.  
  1016. &lt;h2&gt;How It Happened&lt;/h2&gt;
  1017.  
  1018. &lt;p&gt;Thieves wearing balaclavas broke into an upstairs gallery on the morning of Oct. 19 &lt;strong&gt;using a truck-mounted basket lift known as a “cherry picker”&lt;/strong&gt; to smash an upstairs window before looting precious objects from an area that houses the French crown jewels.&lt;/p&gt;
  1019.  
  1020. &lt;p&gt;The robbers struck at 9.30 a.m. local time, just half an hour after the museum opened its doors to the public, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told French TV.&lt;/p&gt;
  1021.  
  1022. &lt;p&gt;They pulled up on a road along the Seine River and climbed an extendable ladder on the cherry picker to break into a window of the Galerie d'Apollon building. Although the thieves didn’t carry conventional weapons, they threatened the museum’s guards with the angle grinders they used to slice through the museum’s window, according to Beccuau.&lt;/p&gt;
  1023.  
  1024. &lt;p&gt;Le Monde and other French media outlets &lt;a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/10/20/spectacular-louvre-heist-highlights-security-flaws-at-world-s-largest-museum_6746591_7.html"&gt;reported&lt;/a&gt; that&lt;strong&gt; there were four thieves, two of whom wore reflective yellow vests intended to make them look like construction workers.&lt;/strong&gt; Two rode in the truck, while two were on scooters.&lt;/p&gt;
  1025.  
  1026. &lt;p&gt;The gang tried unsuccessfully to set fire to the crane as they fled the scene of the crime on motorbikes.&lt;/p&gt;
  1027.  
  1028. &lt;p&gt;The museum was evacuated as the alarm sounded following the smash and grab, remaining closed through Oct. 20.&lt;/p&gt;
  1029. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28279%29_0.jpg?itok=FSjLqn6o" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28279%29_0.jpg?itok=FSjLqn6o"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="209a0da7-2239-4cdb-ba65-380bc341c415" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28279%29_0.jpg?itok=FSjLqn6o" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;French police officers stand next to an extendable ladder used by the thieves to enter the Louvre museum in Paris on Oct. 19, 2025. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1030.  
  1031. &lt;h2&gt;What Was Stolen?&lt;/h2&gt;
  1032.  
  1033. &lt;p&gt;While nine objects were targeted, eight were successfully stolen. The thieves dropped the ninth, the crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, during their escape, the prosecutor said.&lt;strong&gt; The piece is adorned with 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the museum’s &lt;a href="https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark%3A/53355/cl010101145"&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1034.  
  1035. &lt;p&gt;Drouot auction house President Alexandre Giquello &lt;a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/FRANCE-CRIME/LOUVRE/byprezooove/"&gt;told&lt;/a&gt; Reuters that the auction house would value the crown at “several tens of millions of euros,” noting that in his opinion, it was “not the most important item” in the targeted haul.&lt;/p&gt;
  1036.  
  1037. &lt;p&gt;The Culture Ministry said the eight stolen items include:&lt;/p&gt;
  1038.  
  1039. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;A tiara from a sapphire jewelry set belonging to Queen Marie‑Amélie and Queen Hortense&lt;/li&gt;
  1040. &lt;li&gt;A necklace from the same sapphire set&lt;/li&gt;
  1041. &lt;li&gt;A single earring (one half of a pair) from that sapphire set&lt;/li&gt;
  1042. &lt;li&gt;An emerald necklace from the jewelry set of Empress Marie‑Louise (Napoleon I’s second wife)&lt;/li&gt;
  1043. &lt;li&gt;A pair of emerald earrings from the Marie-Louise set&lt;/li&gt;
  1044. &lt;li&gt;A brooch known as the “reliquary brooch”&lt;/li&gt;
  1045. &lt;li&gt;A tiara belonging to Empress Eugénie (wife of Napoleon III)&lt;/li&gt;
  1046. &lt;li&gt;A large bodice-knot brooch (corsage bow brooch) belonging to Empress Eugénie&lt;/li&gt;
  1047. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mystery surrounds why the thieves did not also steal the Regent diamond, which is housed in the Galerie d'Apollon and has an estimated value of more than $60 million, according to Sotheby’s.&lt;/p&gt;
  1048. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28280%29_0.jpg?itok=XGhoVahy" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28280%29_0.jpg?itok=XGhoVahy"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9a72d712-2c3e-40bb-8ca3-010fb9c57fef" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28280%29_0.jpg?itok=XGhoVahy" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Clockwise From Top L) A tiara, a necklace, and a single earring from the sapphire jewelery set of Queen Marie‑Amélie and Queen Hortense. An emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the jewelry set of Empress Marie‑Louise. A brooch known as the “reliquary brooch.” A large bodice-knot brooch of Empress Eugénie. A tiara of Empress Eugénie. The crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie. Stéphane Maréchalle/Musée du Louvre&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1049.  
  1050. &lt;h2&gt;Who Could Be Behind It?&lt;/h2&gt;
  1051.  
  1052. &lt;p&gt;Beccuau said in the immediate aftermath of the crime that nothing was being ruled out and that all lines of inquiry were open—although foreign interference was not among investigators’ main hypotheses.&lt;/p&gt;
  1053.  
  1054. &lt;p&gt;She said it was likely that the robbery was either commissioned by a collector—in which case there was a chance of recovering the pieces in a good state—or carried out by thieves interested only in the monetary value of the jewels and precious metals.&lt;/p&gt;
  1055.  
  1056. &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;We’re looking at the hypothesis of organized crime&lt;/strong&gt;,” the prosecutor said, noting that the culprits could be thieves working on spec for a buyer or seeking jewels that could be used to launder criminal proceeds.&lt;/p&gt;
  1057.  
  1058. &lt;p&gt;“Nowadays, anything can be linked to drug trafficking, given the significant sums of money obtained from [this crime].”&lt;/p&gt;
  1059.  
  1060. &lt;p&gt;The probe is being led by a specialized police unit with a high success rate in solving high-profile robberies, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.&lt;/p&gt;
  1061. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28281%29_0.jpg?itok=3krPNPy6" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28281%29_0.jpg?itok=3krPNPy6"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8cf146b3-f8bd-4187-9316-8b1acc56e674" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="334" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28281%29_0.jpg?itok=3krPNPy6" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;A French forensics officer examines the broken window on the balcony of the crime scene at the Louvre in Paris on Oct. 19, 2025. Kiran Ridley/Getty Images&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1062.  
  1063. &lt;h2&gt;Why Wasn’t Security Tighter?&lt;/h2&gt;
  1064.  
  1065. &lt;p&gt;The heist has reignited a debate around funding for museums, which are far less secure than banks, despite being increasingly targeted by thieves.&lt;/p&gt;
  1066.  
  1067. &lt;p&gt;Earlier this year, officials at the Louvre urgently requested funding from the French government to restore and renovate the museum’s aging exhibition halls and better protect its countless works of art.&lt;/p&gt;
  1068.  
  1069. &lt;p&gt;French President Emmanuel Macron &lt;a href="https://x.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1884334093296607659"&gt;said&lt;/a&gt; on X that &lt;strong&gt;a new government plan for the Louvre announced in January “provides for strengthened security.” &lt;/strong&gt;Despite the French president’s promise of a 700 million euro refurbishment, museum staff went on strike in June over what they said was dangerous overcrowding.&lt;/p&gt;
  1070.  
  1071. &lt;p&gt;Culture Minister Rachida Dati said on a visit on Oct. 20 to the scene of the crime that the issue of museum security is not new.&lt;/p&gt;
  1072.  
  1073. &lt;p&gt;“For 40 years, there was little focus on securing these major museums, and two years ago, the president of the Louvre requested a security audit from the police prefect. Why? Because museums must adapt to new forms of crime,” she said. “Today, it’s organized crime—professionals.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1074. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28282%29_0.jpg?itok=T5wWLIHU" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28282%29_0.jpg?itok=T5wWLIHU"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3aafb7dc-2d39-4453-8cf9-9de849e51104" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28282%29_0.jpg?itok=T5wWLIHU" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;People visit the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre in Paris on Oct. 14, 2020. The famous Parisian museum has been targeted by thieves many times in history. Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1075.  
  1076. &lt;p&gt;Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said the crime cast France in a “deplorable” light. Opposition politicians criticized the government for what they branded a national humiliation at a time when the country is already &lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/french-prime-minister-survives-2-no-confidence-votes-5930449"&gt;deep&lt;/a&gt; in political crisis.&lt;/p&gt;
  1077.  
  1078. &lt;p&gt;Christopher Marinello, founder of Art Recovery International, an organization that specializes in recovering stolen art, said, “The Louvre is one of the most well funded museums in the world. And if they’re going to be hit, every museum is vulnerable.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1079.  
  1080. &lt;p&gt;France will review the protection of cultural sites across the country and beef up security if needed, officials said on Oct. 20.&lt;/p&gt;
  1081.  
  1082. &lt;h2&gt;Does the Theft Surpass Previous Heists?&lt;/h2&gt;
  1083.  
  1084. &lt;p&gt;This is far from the first theft from the famous Parisian museum, which has been targeted many times, with some of those headline-hitting heists being made into films.&lt;/p&gt;
  1085.  
  1086. &lt;p&gt;In one of the most famous and daring art thefts in history, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum in a 1911 theft carried out by a former employee who had knowledge of the layout and security of the building.&lt;/p&gt;
  1087.  
  1088. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Read the rest &lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/how-the-louvre-heist-of-the-century-unfolded-5932049?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;here...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1089. &lt;/div&gt;
  1090.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1091. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T09:00:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 05:00&lt;/span&gt;
  1092. </description>
  1093.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 09:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1094.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1095.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077048 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1096.    </item>
  1097. <item>
  1098.  <title>Simple Hair-Test Identifies Children At Highest Risk For Depression And Anxiety</title>
  1099.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/simple-hair-test-identifies-children-highest-risk-depression-and-anxiety</link>
  1100.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Simple Hair-Test Identifies Children At Highest Risk For Depression And Anxiety&lt;/span&gt;
  1101.  
  1102.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Measuring stress levels through hair samples could provide important clues about mental health risks in children living with chronic physical illnesses&lt;/strong&gt;, research suggests.&lt;/p&gt;
  1103. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28258%29_0.jpg?itok=bjqnaUTq" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28258%29_0.jpg?itok=bjqnaUTq"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="cc288da5-b5f9-466b-bf09-8a7399bbce04" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28258%29_0.jpg?itok=bjqnaUTq" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Anusorn Nakdee/Shutterstock&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1104.  
  1105. &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;Hair cortisol offers a non-invasive, easy-to-collect biomarker that could one day be used to screen children and track whether treatments or support programs are helping to reduce stress&lt;/strong&gt;,” study co-author Mark Ferro, a professor in the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences, said in a &lt;a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1098149"&gt;press statement&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  1106.  
  1107. &lt;p&gt;An estimated 40 percent of children in Canada live with chronic physical illnesses (CPI)—a number that has been increasing over the past decades.&lt;/p&gt;
  1108.  
  1109. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/simple-hair-test-identifies-children-at-highest-risk-for-depression-and-anxiety-5918560?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&amp;src_src=partner&amp;src_cmp=ZeroHedge"&gt;As George Citroner details below for The Epoch Times&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/em&gt; those with higher cortisol levels are more likely to develop mental health problems at rates ranging from 20 percent to 50 percent, significantly higher than the prevalence in healthy children, researchers noted.&lt;/p&gt;
  1110.  
  1111. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;These conditions can lead to lower quality of life, suicidal thoughts, and greater use of health care services.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1112.  
  1113. &lt;h2&gt;Chronic Illness Linked to Mental Health Difficulties&lt;/h2&gt;
  1114.  
  1115. &lt;p&gt;Published this year in &lt;a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smi.70087?af=R"&gt;Stress and Health&lt;/a&gt;, the study tracked 244 Canadian children with chronic physical illnesses over four years. Researchers used hair cortisol, a biological marker that reflects stress over time, to measure stress levels.&lt;/p&gt;
  1116.  
  1117. &lt;p&gt;The results showed that &lt;strong&gt;more than two-thirds of the children had consistently high cortisol levels.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1118.  
  1119. &lt;p&gt;When comparing these stress patterns to reports of emotional and behavioral difficulties, scientists saw that children whose cortisol levels declined showed fewer symptoms of anxiety, depression, and behavior problems than those whose levels remained high.&lt;/p&gt;
  1120.  
  1121. &lt;h2&gt;Why Hair Testing Matters&lt;/h2&gt;
  1122.  
  1123. &lt;p&gt;Unlike current screening methods that rely on behavioral assessments after problems emerge, hair cortisol testing could identify at-risk children years earlier. The hormone cortisol accumulates in hair over months, providing a long-term picture of stress levels that blood or saliva tests cannot capture.&lt;/p&gt;
  1124.  
  1125. &lt;p&gt;According to researchers, this discovery could help guide prevention and treatment strategies to better support children’s well-being.&lt;/p&gt;
  1126.  
  1127. &lt;p&gt;“Our findings suggest that &lt;strong&gt;chronically high stress, measured through hair samples, could help identify children with CPI at the highest risk for developing mental health problems.&lt;/strong&gt; This opens the door to earlier and more targeted support,” lead study author Emma Littler, a University of Waterloo doctoral candidate in public health sciences, said in the press statement.&lt;/p&gt;
  1128.  
  1129. &lt;p&gt;As hair develops, cortisol from the bloodstream and from secretions of sweat and sebaceous glands becomes embedded within the hair shaft.&lt;/p&gt;
  1130.  
  1131. &lt;p&gt;Human scalp hair typically grows at a fairly consistent rate of about 1 centimeter per month, which allows a 1 centimeter segment of hair to serve as a reliable indicator of the average stress level during that month.&lt;/p&gt;
  1132.  
  1133. &lt;p&gt;To create a historical record of cortisol exposure, hair is often sectioned into segments; for instance, a 3-centimeter sample can be divided into three 1-centimeter segments, each representing a separate month. In laboratory analysis, the hair sample undergoes washing to eliminate external contaminants, followed by pulverization and incubation in a solvent such as methanol to extract the cortisol.&lt;/p&gt;
  1134.  
  1135. &lt;p&gt;The extracted hormone is then measured using highly sensitive techniques such as enzyme-linked immunoassay or liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The resulting measurement is expressed as the amount of cortisol per milligram of hair, typically in picograms per milligram.&lt;/p&gt;
  1136.  
  1137. &lt;p&gt;Dr. Molly McVoy, an associate professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, noted that anxiety and mood disorders such as depression are most commonly associated with chronic medical conditions. She pointed out that &lt;strong&gt;in these conditions, changes in cortisol are signs that a child is more at risk for an anxiety or mood disorder.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1138.  
  1139. &lt;h2&gt;Warning Signs Parents Should Watch For&lt;/h2&gt;
  1140.  
  1141. &lt;p&gt;McVoy listed specific signs or symptoms parents should watch for in children that might indicate they’re experiencing high stress or they have mental health concerns.&lt;/p&gt;
  1142.  
  1143. &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;I recommend parents think about what their [kids are] supposed to [be] doing at that age&lt;/strong&gt;,” she added. “Are they able to do it? If not, we wonder what’s getting in the way.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1144.  
  1145. &lt;p&gt;For example, school-aged children who struggle to learn, make friends, or enjoy those activities—and teenagers who are not engaged with peers—may be showing warning signs of stress or mental health concerns, McVoy said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1146.  
  1147. &lt;p&gt;Other warning signs include disrupted sleep patterns in children without access to devices that could keep them awake, and the inability to engage in age-appropriate activities.&lt;/p&gt;
  1148.  
  1149. &lt;h2&gt;How to Reduce Stress in Children&lt;/h2&gt;
  1150.  
  1151. &lt;p&gt;McVoy emphasized that children with chronic diseases need their lives kept as “typical” as possible, while acknowledging their different needs.&lt;/p&gt;
  1152.  
  1153. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1154.  
  1155. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;
  1156. &lt;p&gt;Help them attend school regularly when possible&lt;/p&gt;
  1157. &lt;/li&gt;
  1158. &lt;li&gt;
  1159. &lt;p&gt;Encourage participation in sports and activities they can manage&lt;/p&gt;
  1160. &lt;/li&gt;
  1161. &lt;li&gt;
  1162. &lt;p&gt;Facilitate time with friends&lt;/p&gt;
  1163. &lt;/li&gt;
  1164. &lt;li&gt;
  1165. &lt;p&gt;Maintain healthy sleep and physical activity routines&lt;/p&gt;
  1166. &lt;/li&gt;
  1167. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don’t:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1168.  
  1169. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;
  1170. &lt;p&gt;Remove all expectations you would have for healthy children&lt;/p&gt;
  1171. &lt;/li&gt;
  1172. &lt;li&gt;
  1173. &lt;p&gt;“Overcompensate” by making life too easy&lt;/p&gt;
  1174. &lt;/li&gt;
  1175. &lt;li&gt;
  1176. &lt;p&gt;Treat them so differently that they feel socially separated from their peers&lt;/p&gt;
  1177. &lt;/li&gt;
  1178. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Parents often overcompensate in how they treat their chronically ill children, by removing all expectations they would have for a healthy child, McVoy said. However, this can make kids feel more stressed and increase feelings of social separation.&lt;/p&gt;
  1179. &lt;/div&gt;
  1180.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1181. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T08:15:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 04:15&lt;/span&gt;
  1182. </description>
  1183.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 08:15:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1184.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1185.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076036 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1186.    </item>
  1187. <item>
  1188.  <title>"If You Don't Like It, Catch A Flight Home"; Chega Leader Tells Muslims As Portugal Moves To Ban The Burqa</title>
  1189.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/if-you-dont-it-catch-flight-home-chega-leader-tells-muslims-portugal-moves-ban-burqa</link>
  1190.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;"If You Don't Like It, Catch A Flight Home"; Chega Leader Tells Muslims As Portugal Moves To Ban The Burqa&lt;/span&gt;
  1191.  
  1192.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="https://rmx.news/article/if-you-dont-like-it-catch-a-flight-home-chega-leader-tells-muslims-as-portugal-moves-to-ban-the-burqa/"&gt;Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1193.  
  1194. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Portugal’s parliament has approved a proposal to ban the wearing of burqas and niqabs in public spaces, with right-wing party Chega leading the initiative and its leader, André Ventura, telling those who disagree to “catch a flight back” to their countries of origin.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1195.  
  1196. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/GettyImages-1474400405.jpg?itok=QpjUMsiz" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/GettyImages-1474400405.jpg?itok=QpjUMsiz"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4b7b1c41-f12a-45ff-9919-7b1420752fcb" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="353" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/GettyImages-1474400405.jpg?itok=QpjUMsiz" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1197.  
  1198. &lt;p&gt;The bill, supported by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Iniciativa Liberal, and CDS, passed its first reading on Thursday despite opposition from the Socialist Party (PS), Livre, the Communist Party (PCP), and the Left Bloc.&lt;/p&gt;
  1199.  
  1200. &lt;p&gt;It will now be examined by the parliamentary committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, and must receive presidential sign-off before becoming law.&lt;/p&gt;
  1201.  
  1202. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The proposal states that “the use of clothing designed to conceal or obstruct the display of the face in public spaces” will be prohibited, with exceptions for health reasons, places of worship, and diplomatic or consular facilities. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1203.  
  1204. &lt;p&gt;Penalties for violating the ban would range from €200 to €4,000.&lt;/p&gt;
  1205.  
  1206. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ventura argued that a woman “forced to wear a burqa” ceases to be “free and independent” and instead “becomes an object.” &lt;/strong&gt;He accused the left of hypocrisy for defending women’s rights while “accepting a culture that oppresses them.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1207.  
  1208. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  1209. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;"If you want to wear a burqa, there's a good solution. Catch a flight and go back to your country. It's easy to get to Portela Airport and buy a ticket back to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, wherever you want."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1210. Chega leader &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/AndreCVentura?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@AndreCVentura&lt;/a&gt; speaks after the Portuguese… &lt;a href="https://t.co/DdyBUCnOBF"&gt;pic.twitter.com/DdyBUCnOBF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1211. — Remix News &amp; Views (@RMXnews) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/RMXnews/status/1980202843643469909?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 20, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1212. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;Speaking to journalists after the vote, Ventura addressed immigrants directly.&lt;/p&gt;
  1213.  
  1214. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1215. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“If you want to wear a burqa, there’s a good solution. Catch a flight and go back to your country. It’s easy to get to Portela Airport and buy a ticket back to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco — wherever you want. You’re not needed here, sorry, but that’s the way it is.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1216. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1217.  
  1218. &lt;p&gt;Chega lawmaker Madalena Cordeiro echoed the party’s stance, telling parliament:&lt;/p&gt;
  1219.  
  1220. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1221. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“This isn’t Bangladesh, where everything is done as they please,” and declaring, &lt;strong&gt;“Enough of pretending that all cultures are equal.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1222. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1223.  
  1224. &lt;p&gt;Ventura also noted that several European countries, including France, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, have already enacted full or partial bans on face coverings, citing a European Court of Human Rights ruling that upheld France’s law as compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.&lt;/p&gt;
  1225.  
  1226. &lt;p&gt;The bill still requires the approval of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who could sign it into law, veto it, or refer it to the Constitutional Court for review.&lt;/p&gt;
  1227.  
  1228. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The debate in Portugal comes amid a broader European push to limit Islamic dress in public spaces. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1229.  
  1230. &lt;p&gt;In Denmark, the Danish People’s Party last week pledged to ban the hijab — a headscarf that does not cover the face — in all public places. “We must have Denmark back. A Denmark where there are no scarves in schools, where Danish is spoken in nursing homes, where the Danes are masters of their own house again,” party leader Morten Messerschmidt said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1231.  
  1232. &lt;p&gt;In the Netherlands, both Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) and Caroline van der Plas’s Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) have promised to extend the current partial burqa ban across all public institutions ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections.&lt;/p&gt;
  1233.  
  1234. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://rmx.news/article/if-you-dont-like-it-catch-a-flight-home-chega-leader-tells-muslims-as-portugal-moves-to-ban-the-burqa/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Read more here...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1235. &lt;/div&gt;
  1236.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1237. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T07:30:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 03:30&lt;/span&gt;
  1238. </description>
  1239.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1240.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1241.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077034 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1242.    </item>
  1243. <item>
  1244.  <title>Global Corporate Tax Levels Continue To Slide, But France Remains Highest</title>
  1245.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/global-corporate-tax-levels-continue-slide-france-remains-highest</link>
  1246.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Global Corporate Tax Levels Continue To Slide, But France Remains Highest&lt;/span&gt;
  1247.  
  1248.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Since the turn of this century, OECD countries have experienced a marked trend of declining corporate tax rates.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1249.  
  1250. &lt;p&gt;The average corporate income tax rate applied by OECD members fell from about 33 percent in 2000 to between 24 and 25 percent in recent years (24.2 in 2025).&lt;/p&gt;
  1251.  
  1252. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/5594/maximum-corporate-income-tax-rate-in-oecd-countries/"&gt;As Statista's Tristan Gaudiant details below,&lt;/a&gt; using the &lt;a href="https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis/?fs[0]=Topic%2C1%7CTaxation%23TAX%23%7CCorporate%20tax%23TAX_CPT%23&amp;pg=0&amp;fc=Topic&amp;bp=true&amp;snb=16&amp;df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&amp;df[id]=DSD_TAX_CIT%40DF_CIT_DIVD_INCOME&amp;df[ag]=OECD.CTP.TPS&amp;df[vs]=1.0&amp;dq=.A......&amp;lom=LASTNPERIODS&amp;lo=1&amp;to[TIME_PERIOD]=false&amp;vw=tb"&gt;organization's data&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;France maintains the highest combined corporate tax rate in the OECD, at 36.1 percent in 2025, followed by Colombia&lt;/strong&gt; (35 percent), while the lowest marginal corporate tax rate is found in Hungary, at 9 percent, followed by Ireland (12.5 percent).&lt;/p&gt;
  1253.  
  1254. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/5594/maximum-corporate-income-tax-rate-in-oecd-countries/" title="Infographic: Global Corporation Tax Levels In Perspective | Statista"&gt;&lt;img alt="Infographic: Global Corporation Tax Levels In Perspective | Statista" height="501" src="https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/5594.jpeg" style="max-width: 960px;" width="501" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1255.  
  1256. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;You will find more infographics at &lt;a href="https://www.statista.com/chartoftheday/"&gt;Statista&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1257.  
  1258. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In 2021, a major international agreement was reached under the guidance of the OECD to establish a minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent&lt;/strong&gt; on the profits of multinational companies, aimed at reducing tax inequalities and preventing profit shifting to low-tax territories.&lt;/p&gt;
  1259.  
  1260. &lt;p&gt;Since then, many jurisdictions have taken steps towards the implementation of these rules into their domestic law, with the global minimum tax starting to apply from the beginning of 2024, although &lt;strong&gt;two countries (Hungary and Ireland) are yet to meet this requirement.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1261.  
  1262. &lt;p&gt;The challenge for OECD countries remains to strike a balance between economic attractiveness and tax fairness, while minimizing competitive distortions.&lt;/p&gt;
  1263.  
  1264. &lt;p&gt;Advocates of low tax rates argue that they&lt;strong&gt; attract foreign investment and boost competitiveness&lt;/strong&gt;, whereas critics point out that such rates can &lt;strong&gt;reduce useful public revenue (public services, social policies funding) and exacerbate inequality&lt;/strong&gt;, particularly when large corporations benefit from preferential regime and aggressive tax optimization.&lt;/p&gt;
  1265. &lt;/div&gt;
  1266.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1267. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T06:45:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 02:45&lt;/span&gt;
  1268. </description>
  1269.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 06:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1270.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1271.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077033 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1272.    </item>
  1273. <item>
  1274.  <title>Hungary 'Safest Country In Europe' Thanks To Viktor Orbán, Says Foreign Minister Ahead Of Peace Talks</title>
  1275.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hungary-safest-country-europe-thanks-viktor-orban-says-foreign-minister-ahead-peace</link>
  1276.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Hungary 'Safest Country In Europe' Thanks To Viktor Orbán, Says Foreign Minister Ahead Of Peace Talks&lt;/span&gt;
  1277.  
  1278.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://rmx.news/article/hungary-safest-country-in-europe-thanks-to-viktor-orban-says-foreign-minister-ahead-of-peace-talks/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1279.  
  1280. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hungary is now the safest country in Europe because of Viktor Orbán’s leadership and its commitment to diplomacy over war, &lt;/strong&gt;Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó declared on Sunday, announcing that Budapest is preparing to host a peace summit agreed by the American and Russian presidents.&lt;/p&gt;
  1281.  
  1282. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/AP19133672196837-534x300.jpg?itok=X7vB3Cpk" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/AP19133672196837-534x300.jpg?itok=X7vB3Cpk"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="95195cab-0585-4e2f-9ebe-3d97fc8fda23" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="281" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/AP19133672196837-534x300.jpg?itok=X7vB3Cpk" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1283.  
  1284. &lt;p&gt;Szijjártó said &lt;strong&gt;Hungary is “the most vocal European member of the international peace camp”&lt;/strong&gt; and praised Orbán as the only European leader who has maintained “mutual respect” and cooperation with both Washington and Moscow through the war in Ukraine.&lt;/p&gt;
  1285.  
  1286. &lt;p&gt;He said that from the very beginning of the Russian invasion, Hungary had offered to act as a mediator and is now ready to host a summit aimed at ending the conflict.&lt;/p&gt;
  1287.  
  1288. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“We have just reached the point where the American and Russian presidents have agreed that the peace summit will be held in Budapest,” &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;Szijjártó said. He echoed Orbán’s description of Hungary as “an island of peace,” contrasting this with what he described as “war policies” pursued by almost all other EU member states except Slovakia and Hungary.&lt;/p&gt;
  1289.  
  1290. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“Brussels is preparing for war; it wants to arm Ukraine, wants to finance Ukraine with the money of the European people, while Hungary is organizing a peace summit. That is the difference,”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; he added.&lt;/p&gt;
  1291.  
  1292. &lt;p&gt;The minister said Budapest had already been mentioned as a possible venue during preparations for a previous summit in Alaska. Orbán recently spoke with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and Hungarian officials have held talks with U.S. and Russian diplomats. Preparatory meetings will now be organized, after which the summit’s agenda and date will be finalized, Szijjártó said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1293.  
  1294. &lt;p&gt;Rejecting accusations that Hungary had isolated itself, he argued the opposite was true:&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt; "The European Union has isolated itself from the world’s most powerful political players.” &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1295.  
  1296. &lt;p&gt;He accused Brussels of alienating itself from the United States through hostility toward Trump, from China by calling it a “systemic rival” and imposing tariffs on Chinese electric cars, from Russia through sanctions and soaring energy costs, and from Africa by attaching “gender-mad conditions” to trade cooperation.&lt;/p&gt;
  1297.  
  1298. &lt;p&gt;Szijjártó also accused European politicians of trying to block peace efforts.&lt;/p&gt;
  1299.  
  1300. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“We can be sure that &lt;strong&gt;the vast majority of European Union politicians will do everything in the coming weeks or days to prevent this summit from taking place&lt;/strong&gt;, because if the summit takes place, it offers a chance for peace, and they are interested in prolonging the war,” he said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1301.  
  1302. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://rmx.news/article/hungary-safest-country-in-europe-thanks-to-viktor-orban-says-foreign-minister-ahead-of-peace-talks/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Read more here...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1303. &lt;/div&gt;
  1304.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1305. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T06:00:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Wed, 10/22/2025 - 02:00&lt;/span&gt;
  1306. </description>
  1307.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1308.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1309.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1077032 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1310.    </item>
  1311. <item>
  1312.  <title>1997–2025: When The West Is Distracted, China Advances</title>
  1313.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/1997-2025-when-west-distracted-china-advances</link>
  1314.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;1997–2025: When The West Is Distracted, China Advances&lt;/span&gt;
  1315.  
  1316.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/1997-2025-when-the-west-is-distracted-china-advances-5919755?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Authored by Tamuz Itai via The Epoch Times,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1317.  
  1318. &lt;p&gt;For nearly three decades, the Western world has hardly had a calm time—terrorist attacks, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, financial meltdowns, pandemics, and deepening political fractures. Each has seized the headlines, drained treasuries, and monopolized the attention of policymakers from Washington to Brussels.&lt;/p&gt;
  1319.  
  1320. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The result? A fractured focus, where urgent fires crowd out long-term threats.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1321.  
  1322. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T123940.796.jpg?itok=SKLEFw1r" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T123940.796.jpg?itok=SKLEFw1r"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="da75675d-9067-435d-9731-c76c120612ef" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T123940.796.jpg?itok=SKLEFw1r" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1323.  
  1324. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But when aligning these moments of Western disarray against Beijing’s calendar, a pattern emerges. For whatever reason, many of China’s most pivotal advances—territorial, economic, institutional—have landed precisely during, or just ahead of, the West’s moments of distraction.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1325.  
  1326. &lt;h2&gt;A Chronicle of Overlaps&lt;/h2&gt;
  1327.  
  1328. &lt;p&gt;It begins in the &lt;strong&gt;summer of 1997&lt;/strong&gt;, on July 2. Thailand devalues its baht, unleashing the Asian Financial Crisis—that would engulf markets from Seoul to Jakarta, wiping out trillions in value and exposing the fragility of emerging “Asian Tiger” economies. Markets convulsed, currencies plummeted, and lenders scrambled.&lt;/p&gt;
  1329.  
  1330. &lt;p&gt;Yet on July 1—just one day prior—Britain handed Hong Kong back to Beijing after 156 years of colonial rule. At the very moment Asia’s financial markets crashed, China assumed sovereignty over one of the world’s premier financial hubs: a gateway to global capital that would soon fuel its export machine.&lt;/p&gt;
  1331.  
  1332. &lt;p&gt;Fast-forward to &lt;strong&gt;May 1999&lt;/strong&gt; during NATO’s Kosovo campaign. On May 7, U.S. warplanes, in a tragic error, bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three and wounding dozens. Fury erupts. Days of protests surge outside American missions in Beijing and beyond, a raw wound that would fester in U.S.–China relations for years.&lt;/p&gt;
  1333.  
  1334. &lt;p&gt;It’s worth noting that in China, demonstrations of this scale are almost always state-managed. That embassy strike seems to have etched a scar, eroding trust at a moment when the West was consumed by the moral and military imperatives of intervention. In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched its persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual group, which continues to this day.&lt;/p&gt;
  1335.  
  1336. &lt;p&gt;The turn of the millennium brought &lt;strong&gt;Sept. 11, 2001&lt;/strong&gt;: Al-Qaeda’s hijackers struck the World Trade Center, claiming nearly 3,000 lives in the deadliest assault on U.S. soil. Washington, reeling, pivots to a global war on terror, reshaping alliances, budgets, and intelligence priorities.&lt;/p&gt;
  1337.  
  1338. &lt;p&gt;Three months later that year, China formally joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), capping 15 years of negotiations and thrusting itself into the rules-based global economy, only to eventually flout most of them. While America mourned and mobilized, Beijing integrated, gaining access to markets that would fuel its manufacturing ascent.&lt;/p&gt;
  1339.  
  1340. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By March 20, 2003&lt;/strong&gt;, U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, toppling Saddam Hussein in a campaign that would entangle the West for two decades. That same month, whispers of a new threat came from China: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) began spreading internationally, prompting the WTO to issue its first global alert on March 12 for clusters of atypical pneumonia in Guangdong and Hanoi. As Washington’s bandwidth vanished into the sands of the Middle East, the first modern pandemic came from the East, with Beijing initially denying it and later clamping down on reporting its true scale—basically punishing officials who reported the numbers, an early warning.&lt;/p&gt;
  1341.  
  1342. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130742.477.jpg?itok=oEIJ-OXi" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130742.477.jpg?itok=oEIJ-OXi"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5545cd03-e33c-43a4-af93-43a3d79a631b" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="335" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130742.477.jpg?itok=oEIJ-OXi" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1343.  
  1344. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Migrant workers wearing protective face masks make their way to the train station as they leave the city over worries about SARS in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China, on May 2, 2003. Christian Keenan/Getty Images&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1345.  
  1346. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On July 7, 2005,&lt;/strong&gt; suicide bombers shattered London’s transit system, killing 52 in a coordinated assault that, per the UK government’s inquiry, exposed gaping holes in counterterrorism readiness. Europe was alarmed, tightening borders and redoubling intelligence-sharing.&lt;/p&gt;
  1347.  
  1348. &lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, Beijing, undeterred, accelerated its outbound investments through eased merger-and-acquisition rules and launched the inaugural U.S.–China Senior Dialogue in August that year—a forum for economic and security talks that would evolve into deeper bilateral ties. As Europe focused on anti-terrorism, China wove itself more tightly into Western financial webs.&lt;/p&gt;
  1349.  
  1350. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;August 2008&lt;/strong&gt; brought the Beijing Olympics, a dazzling showcase of China’s having “arrived.” By Sept. 15, Lehman Brothers’ collapse ignited the Global Financial Crisis, plunging the West into recession and prompting bailouts from Wall Street to London to Frankfurt. By November, Beijing unveiled a staggering $586 billion stimulus package—a lifeline that not only stabilized its own economy but propped up global commodity demand, from iron ore to oil. As Western banks teetered, China’s fiscal firepower accelerated its trajectory from factory floor to a creditor nation.&lt;/p&gt;
  1351.  
  1352. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130754.804.jpg?itok=MnT9olLT" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130754.804.jpg?itok=MnT9olLT"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="073a21f2-8368-4fdf-b9bf-3898f78b539e" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130754.804.jpg?itok=MnT9olLT" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1353.  
  1354. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Protesters hold signs outside the White House during a demonstration organized by Amnesty International calling on China to respect human rights ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, in Washington on Feb. 11, 2008. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1355.  
  1356. &lt;p&gt;Europe’s sovereign debt implosion followed in &lt;strong&gt;May 2010,&lt;/strong&gt; with Greece’s first bailout exposing fissures in the eurozone. Beijing responded by ramping up overseas lending through state banks and, in September, imposing restrictions on rare-earth mineral exports. Massive investments and loans from Beijing began to buy European nations’ silence and acquiescence.&lt;/p&gt;
  1357.  
  1358. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The early 2010s&lt;/strong&gt; had multiple events: the Arab Spring protests of 2011 and 2012; Libya’s NATO-backed civil war; and persistent eurozone tremors. Western capitals juggled regime change, refugee flows, and austerity. In the shadows, Beijing methodically prepared its own transition of leadership: Xi Jinping’s elevation as heir apparent at the 2012 Party Congress, locking in a leadership transition primed for a more assertive posture. Global chaos provided the perfect cover for internal stealing and less scrutiny.&lt;/p&gt;
  1359.  
  1360. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In March 2014&lt;/strong&gt;, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea, defying current international norms and drawing Western sanctions. Then, in October, 21 nations—including several U.S. allies—signed the memorandum to found the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Beijing’s rival to the World Bank. As the West isolated Moscow, China was building a parallel financial architecture.&lt;/p&gt;
  1361.  
  1362. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In 2015&lt;/strong&gt;, in Europe, ISIS’s rampage culminated on Nov. 13 in the Paris attacks, killing 130 in gunfire and bombs that sent the continent into mourning and heightened alerts. That summer, China’s stock market had already cratered, erasing trillions in value by July; Beijing responded with capital controls in August, throttling outflows to stem the bleed. The EU’s gaze was on the jihadists, while Beijing fortified its financial ramparts.&lt;/p&gt;
  1363.  
  1364. &lt;p&gt;The Brexit vote on&lt;strong&gt; June 23, 2016,&lt;/strong&gt; fractured the façade of the European project, ushering in years of negotiation and uncertainty. Mere weeks later, on July 12, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled against the CCP’s expansive South China Sea claims, invalidating its “nine-dash line.” Beijing dismissed it outright, doubling down on island-building and patrols. The EU disarray mirrored—and perhaps muted—any unified Western rebuke.&lt;/p&gt;
  1365.  
  1366. &lt;p&gt;By&lt;strong&gt; June 2019,&lt;/strong&gt; Hong Kong’s streets ignited over an extradition bill, with mass protests that tested the CCP’s grip. This overlapped with escalating U.S. scrutiny: indictments against Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, unsealed in January but roiling through the year with arrest and extradition battles. Tech security emerged as the new fault line in great-power rivalry.&lt;/p&gt;
  1367.  
  1368. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130831.305.jpg?itok=WpGmEHl2" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130831.305.jpg?itok=WpGmEHl2"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5ef4b4ac-b8d3-409e-8ac1-83ee09295e39" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-20T130831.305.jpg?itok=WpGmEHl2" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1369.  
  1370. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;An "anti-extradition" parade with a million people packed the entire street in Hong Kong on June 9, 2019. Sung Pi-Lung/The Epoch Times&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1371.  
  1372. &lt;p&gt;The pandemic arrived in late 2019, and in March 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a global emergency, with a reaction that overwhelmed hospitals and economies. Three months later, on June 30, Beijing imposed its National Security Law on Hong Kong, criminalizing dissent and drastically eroding the “one country, two systems” promise. Health crises drowned out major criticism.&lt;/p&gt;
  1373.  
  1374. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;August 2021&lt;/strong&gt; marked the United States’ exit from Afghanistan, which many have described as dismal, stranding allies and degrading U.S. credibility. Beijing wasted no time, hosting Taliban delegations in July and August to signal budding ties and position itself to fill the power vacuum in Central Asia.&lt;/p&gt;
  1375.  
  1376. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;On Feb. 24, 2022, &lt;/strong&gt;Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leading to a protracted war of attrition. Just three weeks earlier, on Feb. 4, Xi and Putin had inked their “no-limits” partnership, a pact that would deepen military and economic bonds as missiles rained on Kyiv.&lt;/p&gt;
  1377.  
  1378. &lt;p&gt;Hamas’s assault on Israel on &lt;strong&gt;Oct. 7, 2023,&lt;/strong&gt; unleashed the Gaza war, polarizing allies and straining Western unity. Earlier that year, in March, Beijing had brokered a surprise détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia. As the West navigated the renewed focus on the Middle East, China hedged, courting all energy-rich states while supporting Hamas.&lt;/p&gt;
  1379.  
  1380. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And now, in 2025, the cycle spins on&lt;/strong&gt;. The Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs—up to 60 percent on Chinese imports—face mounting court challenges, including a U.S. Supreme Court review set for its September term following the Federal Circuit’s Aug. 29 strike-down of IEEPA-based duties. Beijing adapts by rerouting supply chains through new trade blocs and circumvention paths, as global commerce hardens into rival spheres—a new name for the much-denied decoupling.&lt;/p&gt;
  1381.  
  1382. &lt;h2&gt;Emerging Patterns &lt;/h2&gt;
  1383.  
  1384. &lt;p&gt;We can identify six tendencies when looking at the above ledger of corresponding events:&lt;/p&gt;
  1385.  
  1386. &lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;
  1387. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Distraction windows&lt;/em&gt;: China’s boldest strokes cluster amid Western crises, from territorial grabs to institutional launches.&lt;/p&gt;
  1388. &lt;/li&gt;
  1389. &lt;li&gt;
  1390. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Counter-cyclical advantage&lt;/em&gt;: When Western economies falter—think 2008 or 2010—Beijing expands, lending abroad or hoarding resources.&lt;/p&gt;
  1391. &lt;/li&gt;
  1392. &lt;li&gt;
  1393. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Institutional stress tests&lt;/em&gt;: As Wall Street wobbles or NATO strains, China erects alternatives, such as the AIIB, or defies rulings, such as those of The Hague.&lt;/p&gt;
  1394. &lt;/li&gt;
  1395. &lt;li&gt;
  1396. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Domestic consolidation&lt;/em&gt;: Global uproar muffles internal clampdowns, from Xi’s elevation to Hong Kong’s National Security Law.&lt;/p&gt;
  1397. &lt;/li&gt;
  1398. &lt;li&gt;
  1399. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hedging and broker posture&lt;/em&gt;: In Gaza or Ukraine, Beijing plays the seemingly neutral broker, as with the Iran–Saudi Arabia deal.&lt;/p&gt;
  1400. &lt;/li&gt;
  1401. &lt;li&gt;
  1402. &lt;p&gt;A &lt;em&gt;rhythm of 6 to 12 months&lt;/em&gt;: Moves happen within crisis windows, not dragging into years.&lt;/p&gt;
  1403. &lt;/li&gt;
  1404. &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, China acts just before the storm—the Olympics pre-Lehman, the Xi–Putin pact pre-Ukraine—and the distraction mutes retaliation. Did Beijing foresee these events, or worse? Perhaps. We have no proof either way. But the CCP’s ceaseless boundary-probing pays off when the West is otherwise occupied.&lt;/p&gt;
  1405.  
  1406. &lt;h2&gt;Addressing the Skeptics&lt;/h2&gt;
  1407.  
  1408. &lt;p&gt;To be clear, this pattern is far from flawless. But reality often is. For example, the Hong Kong handover was planned decades prior; the WTO accession was in the works for 15 years. Some moves, such as the 2008 stimulus, seemed to stem from China’s export problems. More generally, it is known that great powers act ceaselessly in many directions, so overlaps are inevitable.&lt;/p&gt;
  1409.  
  1410. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However, so far, we’ve been pointing to a correlation, not a causation.&lt;/strong&gt; The pattern does hold as a tendency. It is a signal, not noise. For whatever reasons, around the time distractions happen, Beijing pushes—and often prevails. &lt;/p&gt;
  1411.  
  1412. &lt;p&gt;We can see that the War on Terror devoured trillions—$8 trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan alone, per Brown University’s Costs of War project—diverting the executive branch, Congress, and alliances’ energy from China strategy. The Obama administration’s 2011 “pivot to Asia” was under-resourced and hampered by ongoing Middle Eastern quagmires.&lt;/p&gt;
  1413.  
  1414. &lt;p&gt;The same goes for internal drivers—for example, the Chinese 2008 stimulus. One might say that it was to salvage China’s export economy, not to exploit the Western crisis. However, those domestic imperatives do gain extra runway when rivals are suddenly sidelined.&lt;/p&gt;
  1415.  
  1416. &lt;p&gt;When it comes to criticizing China’s conduct, even in the Iraq era, American diplomacy still hammered human rights violations and undervaluation. But try to imagine the alternative: undivided focus yielding sharper sanctions, faster alliances, and bolder industrial policies. Distraction didn’t completely erase a response—it greatly diluted it.&lt;/p&gt;
  1417.  
  1418. &lt;p&gt;It is important to note here that the CCP is extremely sensitive about public human rights criticism. This could be a huge leverage point for the West, which sadly it rarely uses.&lt;/p&gt;
  1419.  
  1420. &lt;h2&gt;Interpretation and Implications&lt;/h2&gt;
  1421.  
  1422. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;All of the above does indicate &lt;em&gt;strategic timing&lt;/em&gt;: opportunism, at minimum. &lt;/strong&gt;Distractions slash the price of audacity, whether post-facto or preemptive. It’s also a &lt;em&gt;dual-track advance&lt;/em&gt;: outwardly, institutions such as AIIB court the Global South; inwardly, controls tighten from Xinjiang to Hong Kong. Gains are then baked in before resistance forms.&lt;/p&gt;
  1423.  
  1424. &lt;p&gt;This pattern reveals as much about Western vulnerabilities as it does about Chinese strategy, and perhaps a lack of a bird’s-eye view of the true picture of geopolitics. Our responses have been either too little or too much—and decidedly too late—creating gaps for the CCP to fill. &lt;/p&gt;
  1425.  
  1426. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As Mark Twain reputedly said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Here, the verse is unmistakable: When the West averts its gaze, China steps forward. It is up to us to be attuned to the rhyming and be ready to act.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1427.  
  1428. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1429. &lt;/div&gt;
  1430.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1431. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T03:25:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 23:25&lt;/span&gt;
  1432. </description>
  1433.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 03:25:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1434.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1435.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076595 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1436.    </item>
  1437. <item>
  1438.  <title>From Tokyo To Tennessee: Japan's Love Of Country Music</title>
  1439.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tokyo-tennessee-japans-love-country-music</link>
  1440.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;From Tokyo To Tennessee: Japan's Love Of Country Music&lt;/span&gt;
  1441.  
  1442.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/from-tokyo-to-tennessee-japans-love-of-country-music-5911432"&gt;Authored by Rebecca Day via The Epoch Times&lt;/a&gt; (emphasis ours),&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1443.  
  1444. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As country music grew in popularity in America throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the roots of the genre also took hold in an unlikely place: Japan.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1445. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28270%29_0.jpg?itok=JI83Jbow" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28270%29_0.jpg?itok=JI83Jbow"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9c1eea16-9d30-4746-8dd5-7a31e988970d" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28270%29_0.jpg?itok=JI83Jbow" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;A detail from the 1971 album of The Bluegrass 45, a legendary bluegrass band from Kobe, Japan. Rebel Records&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1446.  
  1447. &lt;p&gt;During World War II, the Armed Forces Radio Service provided entertainment for American troops stationed in Japan. But in the days after the war ended in 1945, the United States established a more permanent, far-reaching band of stations for its servicemembers remaining on bases in the rebuilding country. Until it was disbanded in 1997, this was known as the Far East Network.&lt;/p&gt;
  1448.  
  1449. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Despite the ban on American music in Japan at the time, there was a local demand for it&lt;/strong&gt;. Japanese people found ways to tune into Far East Network radio stations to hear singing cowboys and Appalachian banjo pickers. By listening in, they got a formal introduction to country music—to the art of the fiddle and Western twang.&lt;/p&gt;
  1450.  
  1451. &lt;h2&gt;Music Inspires ‘Cultural Exchange’&lt;/h2&gt;
  1452.  
  1453. &lt;p&gt;Japanese culture became increasingly acquainted with American culture during WWII, and country music’s themes resonated far beyond those listening to it in the United States.&lt;/p&gt;
  1454. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28271%29_0.jpg?itok=8aj8s2y_" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28271%29_0.jpg?itok=8aj8s2y_"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="33f4b8b4-a9c1-4b90-9eb8-ecb05a174c54" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="648" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28271%29_0.jpg?itok=8aj8s2y_" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;A poster for the 2016 documentary "Far Western," which tells the story of the transplant of American country music to post-World War II Japan. This Land Films&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1455.  
  1456. &lt;p&gt;Toru Mitsui, author of “Popular Music in Japan: Transformation Inspired by the West,” is featured in “Far Western,” a documentary covering the rise of country music in Japan. &lt;a href="https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2025/08/01/yes-country-music-is-thriving-in-japan-its-been-that-way-for-decades/"&gt;According&lt;/a&gt; to music site Whiskey Riff,  “Mitsui explains how the Western ideals of freedom, individuality, and personal storytelling began to resonate through the music itself.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1457.  
  1458. &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;It wasn’t just music anymore. It was a cultural exchange&lt;/strong&gt;.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1459.  
  1460. &lt;h2&gt;A Good Story&lt;/h2&gt;
  1461.  
  1462. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;One of Japan’s longstanding musical forms, the Enka genre, is sometimes described as “Japanese blues.” &lt;/strong&gt;The narrative style focuses on lyrical themes like those found in American country music—love, loss, hardship, and triumph—and this helped pave the way for Japanese people to relate to the music of a culture so seemingly different from theirs.&lt;/p&gt;
  1463.  
  1464. &lt;p&gt;In other words, like America, Japan loves a good story. It is through that love of story that a bridge was built between the two cultures.&lt;/p&gt;
  1465.  
  1466. &lt;p&gt;Japanese listeners of country music were enthralled by the genre’s artistic tradition of emotive storytelling. They embraced singing cowboys like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, as well as pioneering artists like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.  &lt;/p&gt;
  1467.  
  1468. &lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UatP53m3_kc?si=7s6C5658h9E8iFlW&amp;start=105" title="YouTube video player" width="560"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1469.  
  1470. &lt;p&gt;In September 1945, the first radio station for the Far East Network went live in Tokyo: &lt;a href="https://www.radioheritage.com/radio-tokyo-wvtr/"&gt;WVTR&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;The station aired a cowboy-themed radio show called “Chuck Wagon Time” featuring country music&lt;/strong&gt;. By the late 1940s, the show had grown significantly in popularity. Today, some of Japan’s most well-known singing cowboys were first inspired by the program.&lt;/p&gt;
  1471. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28272%29_0.jpg?itok=Qke2MMzy" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28272%29_0.jpg?itok=Qke2MMzy"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1523fcf2-d5c8-4db6-be71-1c4969e53361" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="500" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28272%29_0.jpg?itok=Qke2MMzy" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jimmie Tokita, who adopted his name in homage to American country singer Jimmie Rogers, was a pioneering Japanese country musician who taught himself guitar after listening the Far East Network (FEN). King Records Co.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1472.  
  1473. &lt;p&gt;The influential radio program became a “catalyst for the development of a western or cowboy band movement in the capital city, a function duplicated by WVTQ in the Kansai area (western Japan),” &lt;a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235737714_American_Country_Music_in_Japan_Lost_Piece_in_the_Popular_Music_History_Puzzle"&gt;wrote &lt;/a&gt;Michael Furmanovsky, professor at Kyoto’s Ryukoku University.&lt;/p&gt;
  1474.  
  1475. &lt;p&gt;In his paper, “American Country Music in Japan: Lost Piece in the Popular Music History Puzzle,” Furmanovsky &lt;a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235737714_American_Country_Music_in_Japan_Lost_Piece_in_the_Popular_Music_History_Puzzle"&gt;noted&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
  1476.  
  1477. &lt;p&gt;“According to Mitsui, the first ever ‘cowboy’ group was the Western Melodians, formed in 1947 by Toyama Takehiko. … A year later Toyama formed the Western Ramblers and recruited vocalist ‘Teddy’ Hara, a 17-year-old high-school student from a wealthy family who had first encountered cowboy songs on a short morning-time western music show broadcast by WVTR.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1478.  
  1479. &lt;h2&gt;‘Country Gold’&lt;/h2&gt;
  1480. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28276%29_0.jpg?itok=pbSfNheg" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28276%29_0.jpg?itok=pbSfNheg"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6368ae0c-c998-4159-980e-9557e063b12a" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="321" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28276%29_0.jpg?itok=pbSfNheg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;A detail from the front and back cover of Charlie Nagatani's 1992 studio album "Charlie Nagatani Sings Country Gold," which features Emmylou Harris, Bill Monroe, the Osborne Brothers, and Porter Wagoner. termite/Fuji Music&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1481.  
  1482. &lt;p&gt;One of Japan’s most popular singing cowboys from the 1950s is musician Charlie Nagatani. Born in 1936, he discovered the genre when he was 20 years old while taking in a night of live music to celebrate his birthday. He quickly fell in love with the genre and began performing with a series of bands, ultimately heading up his own band, The Cannonballs. In 1989, he organized Japan’s first country music festival, Country Gold, held in his birthplace of Kumamoto. The inaugural event drew around 8,000 people, sparking a movement that made it a yearly festival.&lt;/p&gt;
  1483.  
  1484. &lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y97L3Qc-luQ?si=w35MUwgr1Us6qoiy&amp;start=223" title="YouTube video player" width="560"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1485.  
  1486. &lt;p&gt;In 2013, the international country event celebrated its 25th anniversary and featured contemporary artists who have popularized some of country’s modern classic hits, including Aaron Tippin and the late Daryle Singletary. The 2013 show garnered a &lt;a href="https://aristopr.com/japans-country-gold-festival-celebrates-25th-anniversary/"&gt;25 percent&lt;/a&gt; increase in festival attendance compared to the previous year. Over its tenure, country stars like Dierks Bentley and the Charlie Daniels Band took the stage.&lt;/p&gt;
  1487.  
  1488. &lt;p&gt;In 2019, the festival opened its gates for the final time after running for 31 years.&lt;/p&gt;
  1489.  
  1490. &lt;p&gt;But Nagatani hasn’t slowed down. He remains a pioneering figure of country music in both his home country of Japan and in America. He makes the long trek to Nashville on a regular basis, where he has performed many times at the Grand Ole Opry. His Opry performance in May 2025 marked his 30th appearance on the iconic country stage.&lt;/p&gt;
  1491. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28274%29_0.jpg?itok=hSESzFg7" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28274%29_0.jpg?itok=hSESzFg7"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="dff75041-1880-477d-99ff-adc682242e79" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="749" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28274%29_0.jpg?itok=hSESzFg7" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Charlie Nagatani during the Academy of Country Music Awards at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on May 17, 2005. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1492.  
  1493. &lt;h2&gt;‘Rich Musical Culture’&lt;/h2&gt;
  1494.  
  1495. &lt;p&gt;Over time, America and Japan have developed a symbiotic relationship, with music-lovers of both cultures embracing each other’s tastes and styles.&lt;/p&gt;
  1496.  
  1497. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Today, Rocky Top is a frequented live music venue in the Ginza district of Tokyo&lt;/strong&gt;. It features country, bluegrass, and Americana performers. The musical hub is named after one of country music’s classic hits made famous in 1967 by the a bluegrass band called the Osborne Brothers.&lt;/p&gt;
  1498. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28275%29_0.jpg?itok=0HdenIaH" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image_80%28275%29_0.jpg?itok=0HdenIaH"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="910962f5-3209-46e7-a466-26dcf65609ec" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="375" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image_80%28275%29_0.jpg?itok=0HdenIaH" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Bluegrass musicians performing at Rocky Top in Giza, Tokyo. &lt;a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathancharles/"&gt;Jonathan Haynes&lt;/a&gt;/&lt;a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en"&gt;CC BY-SA 2.0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1499.  
  1500. &lt;p&gt;Like America, the bluegrass genre also has a significant following with our neighbors in the Pacific. The annual Takarazuka Bluegrass Festival features Japanese performers each year who honor the genre. The festival first took place in 1972, and it is &lt;a href="https://www.bluegrassinjapan.com/events"&gt;considered&lt;/a&gt; to be “the third longest-running bluegrass festival in the world.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1501.  
  1502. &lt;p&gt;The 2023 Chigasaki Jamboree festival featuring bluegrass music was in part inspired by the father of the genre, Bill Monroe, and his band, the Blue Grass Boys.&lt;/p&gt;
  1503.  
  1504. &lt;p&gt;Western classical music remains an active part of Japanese culture, and America has since embraced pop stylings emanating from the country.&lt;/p&gt;
  1505.  
  1506. &lt;p&gt;Lasse Lehtonen from the Finnish Music Quarterly &lt;a href="https://www.fmq.fi/articles/western-art-music-japan"&gt;notes&lt;/a&gt; the delicate balance that Japan fosters to maintain their cultural autonomy.&lt;/p&gt;
  1507.  
  1508. &lt;p&gt;“The country has a rich musical culture that today is closely aligned with the West yet continues to explore its own unique pathways.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1509. &lt;/div&gt;
  1510.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1511. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T02:35:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 22:35&lt;/span&gt;
  1512. </description>
  1513.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 02:35:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1514.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1515.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076652 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1516.    </item>
  1517. <item>
  1518.  <title>Stop 'Rooting For Failure' In Gaza: Vance In Israel Lambasts Western Media</title>
  1519.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/stop-rooting-failure-gaza-vance-israel-lambasts-western-media</link>
  1520.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Stop 'Rooting For Failure' In Gaza: Vance In Israel Lambasts Western Media&lt;/span&gt;
  1521.  
  1522.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Vice President JD Vance was in Israel Tuesday, where expressed confidence that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip would hold, despite a brief flare-up in fighting on Sunday which saw Israeli forces launch dozens of new airstrikes.&lt;/p&gt;
  1523.  
  1524. &lt;p&gt;During visit to the newly established US-Israel ceasefire coordination center in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel, Vance emphasized he's optimistic the truce will hold, but &lt;strong&gt;also that Hamas must be fully disarmed&lt;/strong&gt;. He was joined by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior adviser and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner.&lt;/p&gt;
  1525. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/vanceinisrael.jpg?itok=oH9qQcJW" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/vanceinisrael.jpg?itok=oH9qQcJW"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="28c12bb8-d4fb-4e72-9f9b-65c3ee300ffc" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="313" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/vanceinisrael.jpg?itok=oH9qQcJW" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Via AP&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1526.  
  1527. &lt;p&gt;Trump on Tuesday had warned from Washington that he &lt;strong&gt;could deploy international forces to fight Hamas&lt;/strong&gt;, but that he will give the group a chance to honor the ceasefire, and return more bodies of hostages.&lt;/p&gt;
  1528.  
  1529. &lt;p&gt;The president posted the following to Truth Social on &lt;a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-hamas-israel-gaza-troops-war-10913043"&gt;Tuesday morning&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
  1530.  
  1531. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1532. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;"Numerous of our NOW GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, &lt;strong&gt;informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into GAZA with a heavy force and 'straighten our Hamas' &lt;/strong&gt;if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1533. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1534.  
  1535. &lt;p&gt;However, he didn't name any specific countries. But he did praise Indonesia, interestingly, for its humanitarian response related to the crisis.&lt;/p&gt;
  1536.  
  1537. &lt;p&gt;In southern Israel, Vance's most interesting statement involved denunciation of the mainstream press, which he accused of rooting for failure as another opportunity to trash the &lt;a href="https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/peace-hamas-gaza/2025/10/21/id/1231232/"&gt;Trump White House&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
  1538.  
  1539. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1540. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday denounced what he called &lt;strong&gt;"a weird attitude" in the American and Western press&lt;/strong&gt;, accusing some in the media of &lt;strong&gt;"rooting for failure" &lt;/strong&gt;as a historic Middle East peace plan moves forward.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1541.  
  1542. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"Things are going, frankly, better than I expected that they were," &lt;/strong&gt;Vance said at a news conference in southern Israel, announcing the opening of the new Civilian-Military Cooperation Center. "This is a very, very tough situation. You have two peoples, two enemies who fought a very tough conflict against each other.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1543. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1544.  
  1545. &lt;p&gt;He took the opportunity to also praise Israel for defending itself against terrorism - a common refrain among US officials. "You have a terrorist organization on one hand that murdered a lot of innocent people," he said. "You've got an Israeli army that was defending itself on the other, that has learned a lot over the past couple of years."&lt;/p&gt;
  1546.  
  1547. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Vance also took the opportunity to reiterate there will be &lt;strong&gt;"no American boots on the ground" inside Gaza&lt;/strong&gt;...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1548.  
  1549. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  1550. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;🇺🇸VP Vance praises President Trump's historic peacemaking in Israel:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1551. “The only real mediators are the United States of America...I think the American people should be proud of it, but they should know that there are going to be no American boots on the ground in Gaza.” &lt;a href="https://t.co/bQlzWJgQFp"&gt;pic.twitter.com/bQlzWJgQFp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1552. — Vice President JD Vance (@VP) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/VP/status/1980671986691887446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 21, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1553. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p data-end="1068" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="" data-start="700"&gt;As for the coordination center in Kiryat Gat’s industrial zone, which was established as part of the comprehensive Trump peace plan, it hosts Israeli and American troops along with civilian contractors.&lt;/p&gt;
  1554.  
  1555. &lt;p data-end="1068" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="" data-start="700"&gt;Further there are military personnel from the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Denmark, and Jordan. Flags from each participating nation are displayed inside the large facility, according to Israeli media descriptions.&lt;/p&gt;
  1556. &lt;/div&gt;
  1557.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1558. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T02:10:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 22:10&lt;/span&gt;
  1559. </description>
  1560.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 02:10:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1561.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1562.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076999 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1563.    </item>
  1564. <item>
  1565.  <title>If It's Worse Than Watergate, Why The Silence?</title>
  1566.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/if-its-worse-watergate-why-silence</link>
  1567.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;If It's Worse Than Watergate, Why The Silence?&lt;/span&gt;
  1568.  
  1569.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/10/20/if_its_worse_than_watergate_why_silence_153421.html"&gt;Authored by Franke Miele via RealClearPolitics&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1570.  
  1571. &lt;p&gt;In a sense, it’s old news. &lt;strong&gt;In December 2021, &lt;a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/07/politics/january-6-committee-phone-records"&gt;CNN reported&lt;/a&gt; that the House’s select January 6 Committee had subpoenaed phone records of more than 100 people.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1572.  
  1573. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/521691_80%283%29.jpg?itok=TBNBaz6B" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/521691_80%283%29.jpg?itok=TBNBaz6B"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6c5ac239-08b9-4089-b2da-3e3a3a4061fc" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="359" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/521691_80%283%29.jpg?itok=TBNBaz6B" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1574.  
  1575. &lt;p&gt;But that was mostly Trump officials, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. No surprise there. After all, &lt;strong&gt;the January 6 Committee was empaneled for the specific purpose of turning President Trump into a criminal&lt;/strong&gt; for supposedly aiding and abetting the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol.&lt;/p&gt;
  1576.  
  1577. &lt;p&gt;But when this story resurfaced earlier this month, there was something new, too. For one thing,&lt;strong&gt; the scope of the investigation was almost unbelievable – it turns out those subpoenaed phone records consisted of a staggering &lt;a href="https://justthenews.com/government/congress/congress-collected-30-million-lines-phone-data-trump-j6-probe-raising-civil"&gt;30 million lines of phone data&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1578.  
  1579. &lt;p&gt;And when the select committee’s investigation went nowhere, one of the members – &lt;strong&gt;GOP malcontent &lt;a href="https://justthenews.com/government/congress/congress-collected-30-million-lines-phone-data-trump-j6-probe-raising-civil"&gt;Adam Kinzinger&lt;/a&gt; of Illinois – informed the FBI about the phone data&lt;/strong&gt; in December 2023 when it was becoming apparent that former President Trump was the favorite to win the Republican nomination in 2024.&lt;/p&gt;
  1580.  
  1581. &lt;p&gt;More revelatory than the size of the phone records hauled in by the J6 Committee was the news that &lt;strong&gt;the FBI had gone after these same records – and possibly more – in an effort to target Trump and his conservative allies. &lt;/strong&gt;Not only did the agency have its eyes on Trump, it also went after nine Republican members of Congress – eight senators and a stray congressman, in an obvious effort to sweep up accomplices in the coup that never was.&lt;/p&gt;
  1582.  
  1583. &lt;p&gt;Whether the FBI obtained the same phone records as the J6 Committee is unclear. Kinzinger’s tip may have been moot, because an FBI memo released by Sen. Chuck Grassley shows that by September 2023, the agency had already “conducted preliminary … analysis” on the call data of several members of Congress, including Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Ron Johnson and Marsha Blackburn.&lt;/p&gt;
  1584.  
  1585. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/politics/jack-smith-january-6-gop-lawmakers-phone-records"&gt;According to CNN,&lt;/a&gt; “the FBI, as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 investigation, used court orders in 2023 to obtain the phone records of nine GOP lawmakers.” These were not actual phone calls or text messages, but rather information about who called or texted whom, and when.&lt;/p&gt;
  1586.  
  1587. &lt;p&gt;Grassley posted the memo to his &lt;a href="https://x.com/ChuckGrassley/status/1975297712712262100"&gt;X account&lt;/a&gt;, with the message,&lt;/p&gt;
  1588.  
  1589. &lt;p&gt;“&lt;strong&gt;This document shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into ‘election conspiracy&lt;/strong&gt;.’ Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith's elector case against Trump.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1590.  
  1591. &lt;p&gt;He concluded, in all caps: “BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = &lt;strong&gt;WORSE THAN WATERGATE.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1592.  
  1593. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Which brings up the question, why did the story turn out to be a one-day wonder? &lt;/strong&gt;Here, we have the discovery of a partisan investigation seeking to uncover dirt on fellow members of Congress (if the records did indeed start with the January 6 Committee), or at the very least a rogue element of the executive branch targeting political enemies in the legislative branch.&lt;/p&gt;
  1594.  
  1595. &lt;p&gt;As Sen. Johnson said, “&lt;strong&gt;They’re casting this net, this fishing expedition against members of the Senate and the House&lt;/strong&gt;. There is no predicate. There’s no reason for this other than a fishing expedition, which, again, should outrage and shock every American.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1596.  
  1597. &lt;p&gt;There is that suggestion once more that we are witness to a political scandal (one of many in the Biden administration) that is among the worst in our history. Yet when you do a Google search for stories related to phone toll records being subpoenaed by either the J6 Committee or the FBI, virtually nothing comes up beyond Oct. 7, the day after Grassley released the memo.&lt;/p&gt;
  1598.  
  1599. &lt;p&gt;A few news outlets reported in the following days that Kash Patel had &lt;a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-fires-special-agents-worked-jack-smiths-probe-trump-rcna236415"&gt;fired agents&lt;/a&gt; involved in the Arctic Frost investigation. In addition, &lt;strong&gt;there were scattered reports on Sen. Hagerty questioning why Verizon released his phone records without informing him. &lt;/strong&gt;Verizon told &lt;a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/hagerty-presses-verizon-over-fbi-174137389.html"&gt;Fox News Digital&lt;/a&gt;: “Federal law requires companies like Verizon to respond to grand jury subpoenas. We received a valid subpoena and a court order to keep it confidential. We weren't told why the information was requested or what the investigation was about.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1600.  
  1601. &lt;p&gt;Grassley and Johnson followed up with &lt;a href="https://www.kennedy.senate.gov/public/press-releases?ID=EFC612D9-3F7F-4EB1-B010-EB02F564DE23"&gt;their own letter&lt;/a&gt; to Verizon and three other telecommunication companies demanding to be supplied with the same data that was provided to the FBI or Special Counsel Jack Smith. In addition, the senators expressed their belief that the records should have been privileged because they concerned the official constitutional duties of certifying the 2020 presidential election.&lt;/p&gt;
  1602.  
  1603. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It seems like a real story – one that deserves the full attention of the press – but where are the special investigation teams at the New York Times and the Washington Post?&lt;/strong&gt; What have you heard about this story on CBS, NBC, and ABC newscasts? Very little if anything. Certainly nothing in comparison to the coverage provided to Watergate.&lt;/p&gt;
  1604.  
  1605. &lt;p&gt;Most recently, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, &lt;a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2025-10-14-jdj-to-smith-re-ti-request.pdf"&gt;sent a letter to Smith&lt;/a&gt; demanding a transcribed interview and documents and communications related to the special counsel’s investigation of Trump. Well and good, but that interview will be conducted in secret, as were the interviews of Smith’s subordinates – one of whom, according to Jordan, “invoked the Fifth Amendment approximately 75 times.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1606.  
  1607. &lt;p&gt;It is well past time for the Republican Congress to fulfill its promise to hold accountable those who weaponized the federal government against Trump and his allies. Press releases and secret interviews won’t do the job. We need public televised hearings, with witnesses ranging from members of the J6 Committee like Kinzinger, former Rep. Liz Cheney, and now-Sen. Adam Schiff to former FBI director Chris Wray and former Special Counsel Smith.&lt;/p&gt;
  1608.  
  1609. &lt;p&gt;Would the legacy media networks cover it? &lt;strong&gt;Probably not, because as we all know by now, those outfits are still after Trump’s scalp&lt;/strong&gt;, and they will only seek to discredit Jordan and the other congressional investigators who want to know the truth. But that doesn’t mean Republicans should give up.&lt;/p&gt;
  1610.  
  1611. &lt;p&gt;Watergate started as a one-day story about a botched break-in. But even without Woodward and Bernstein, the famous team of reporters from the Washington Post, the story would never have been kept quiet unless Democrat senators and congressmen didn’t do their job.&lt;/p&gt;
  1612.  
  1613. &lt;p&gt;Now it’s time for Jordan, Grassley, and Patel to do theirs.&lt;/p&gt;
  1614. &lt;/div&gt;
  1615.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1616. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T01:45:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 21:45&lt;/span&gt;
  1617. </description>
  1618.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 01:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1619.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1620.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076649 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1621.    </item>
  1622. <item>
  1623.  <title>FBI Has Arrested 28,000 Violent Criminals Since Jan. 20: Trump</title>
  1624.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-has-arrested-28000-violent-criminals-jan-20-trump</link>
  1625.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;FBI Has Arrested 28,000 Violent Criminals Since Jan. 20: Trump&lt;/span&gt;
  1626.  
  1627.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;President Donald Trump commended the FBI in an Oct. 20 Truth Social &lt;a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115408925114284473"&gt;post&lt;/a&gt;, saying that &lt;strong&gt;the agency is doing an “incredible job,” having arrested thousands of criminals and disrupting criminal activity across the nation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1628.  
  1629. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1630. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Since January 20th, more than 28,000 Violent Criminals have been arrested (RECORD BREAKING!), with over 6,000 illegal weapons seized, more than 1,700 child predators and 300 human traffickers taken off the streets, 5,000 innocent children rescued, 2,000 Criminal Enterprises disrupted, 1,900 kilos of Fentanyl (Enough to kill 125 Million people!) taken out—HISTORIC RESULTS,” Trump wrote.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1631.  
  1632. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“We are bringing LAW AND ORDER back to America. Kash, Dan, Andrew, and the men and women of the FBI, are doing a tremendous job, MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” he said, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and Co-deputy Director Andrew Bailey.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1633. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1634.  
  1635. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-21T093404.918.jpg?itok=i1NnVb_d" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-21T093404.918.jpg?itok=i1NnVb_d"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="31058e54-d420-405c-a15c-0e26518c6a9e" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="333" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202025-10-21T093404.918.jpg?itok=i1NnVb_d" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1636.  
  1637. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/fbi-arrests-record-breaking-28000-violent-criminals-trump-5932605?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge"&gt;As Naveen Athrappully details below for The Epoch Times,&lt;/a&gt; a key part of the FBI’s crackdown against violent criminals has been the agency’s &lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/operation-summer-heat-what-to-know-about-the-fbi-campaign-targeting-violent-crime-5930810"&gt;Operation&lt;/a&gt; Summer Heat, which ran from June to September and targeted such individuals.&lt;/p&gt;
  1638.  
  1639. &lt;p&gt;On Oct. 15, Trump and Patel announced that more than 8,700 violent criminals were arrested from major U.S. cities during the operation. &lt;strong&gt;Around 11,000 murderers were arrested, with around half of them wanted for more than one homicide.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1640.  
  1641. &lt;p&gt;Some places, such as Nashville and New Orleans, saw a 250 percent jump in arrests of people Trump described as the most violent offenders.&lt;/p&gt;
  1642.  
  1643. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nationwide, crime fell 20 percent from the same period last year, with Trump calling the recent summer the “safest and most peaceful summer in two decades.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1644.  
  1645. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“There’s still much more work to be done, which is why the FBI continues to work alongside the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of War to defend law and order and combat violent crime, arrest illegal aliens, and make American cities the safest in the world,” Trump said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1646.  
  1647. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted, or shot.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1648.  
  1649. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“And that’s exactly what our administration is working to deliver.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1650.  
  1651. &lt;p&gt;Multiple FBI offices have released stats related to Operation Summer Heat, touting its success in cracking down on violent crime.&lt;/p&gt;
  1652.  
  1653. &lt;p&gt;In an Oct. 8 &lt;a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/baltimore/news/fbi-baltimore-releases-summer-heat-results"&gt;statement&lt;/a&gt;, the FBI’s Baltimore office announced 224 arrests during the operation, including making 62 drug seizures and recovering 17 weapons.&lt;/p&gt;
  1654.  
  1655. &lt;p&gt;FBI Houston &lt;a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/houston/news/fbi-houstons-operation-summer-heat-unleashed-on-violent-criminals"&gt;announced&lt;/a&gt; the arrest of 64 individuals, recovering 65 weapons and seizing more than 85 kilos of cocaine and 28 kilos of fentanyl. The agency’s Cleveland office &lt;a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/cleveland/news/fbi-cleveland-announces-results-of-operation-summer-heat"&gt;revealed&lt;/a&gt; it has made 125 arrests during Summer Heat.&lt;/p&gt;
  1656.  
  1657. &lt;h2&gt;Democrat Opposition, Arresting Criminal Illegals&lt;/h2&gt;
  1658.  
  1659. &lt;p&gt;Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in cities has faced criticism from Democratic lawmakers.&lt;/p&gt;
  1660.  
  1661. &lt;p&gt;Earlier this month, a group of Democratic senators issued a joint statement warning against what they called “illegal deployments,” according to an Oct. 7 &lt;a href="https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-schiff-illinois-oregon-senators-warn-against-trumps-illegal-deployments-of-national-guard-troops-to-their-states/"&gt;statement&lt;/a&gt; from Sen. Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) office.&lt;/p&gt;
  1662.  
  1663. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;They accused Trump of “stretching the limits” of presidential authority beyond its breaking point and pushing the country closer to authoritarianism.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1664.  
  1665. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Whether in Los Angeles, Chicago, or Portland, the Trump Administration continues fabricating claims of chaos and crime on American streets to justify his false assertions that there is a ‘need’ to deploy troops into our cities—all while literally defunding our police by cutting funding that helps local law enforcement make our cities safer,” the lawmakers said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1666.  
  1667. &lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s drive has led to more than 480,000 criminal illegal aliens being arrested over a nine-month period, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in an Oct. 20 &lt;a href="https://x.com/Sec_Noem/status/1980383076136988700"&gt;post&lt;/a&gt; on X.&lt;/p&gt;
  1668.  
  1669. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;She said that 70 percent of these arrested individuals have either been convicted or have pending charges.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1670.  
  1671. &lt;p&gt;What law enforcement has achieved under Trump is “nothing short of extraordinary,” Noem said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1672.  
  1673. &lt;p&gt;In an Oct. 20 &lt;a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/10/20/secretary-noem-announces-operation-river-wall-bolster-southern-border-security"&gt;statement&lt;/a&gt;, DHS detailed a new measure at the southern border to deter illegal immigration into the United States.&lt;/p&gt;
  1674.  
  1675. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Operation River Wall is aimed at securing the Rio Grande region against illegals, narco-terrorists, and other criminal activity at the border, the department said.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1676.  
  1677. &lt;p&gt;The Coast Guard will mobilize more than 100 boats and numerous personnel to secure the roughly 260 miles of the Rio Grande Valley.&lt;/p&gt;
  1678.  
  1679. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“President Trump delivered the most secure southern border in U.S. history in record time, and now, our goal is to make sure it stays that way for the long run,” &lt;/strong&gt;Noem said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1680.  
  1681. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“The men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard are experts at defending America’s maritime borders--they have been doing that with honor, respect, and devotion to duty since 1790. Now, Coast Guard Forces Rio Grande and Operation River Wall will be a force multiplier in defending against illegal immigration.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1682.  
  1683. &lt;p&gt;DHS said that for five straight months, no illegal immigrant has been released into the United States.&lt;/p&gt;
  1684. &lt;/div&gt;
  1685.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1686. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T01:20:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 21:20&lt;/span&gt;
  1687. </description>
  1688.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 01:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1689.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1690.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076923 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1691.    </item>
  1692. <item>
  1693.  <title>Trump Says China Doesn't Want To Invade Taiwan</title>
  1694.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-says-china-doesnt-want-invade-taiwan</link>
  1695.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Trump Says China Doesn't Want To Invade Taiwan&lt;/span&gt;
  1696.  
  1697.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2025/10/20/trump-says-china-doesnt-want-to-invade-taiwan/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1698.  
  1699. &lt;p&gt;President Trump said on Monday that he doesn’t think China wants to invade Taiwan and expressed optimism about reaching a trade deal with Beijing despite his recent threat to increase tariffs in response to China’s rare earth export restrictions.&lt;/p&gt;
  1700.  
  1701. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that," &lt;/strong&gt;Trump told reporters in response to a question about China invading Taiwan, &lt;a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/20/trump-claims-china-doesnt-want-to-invade-taiwan-00615508"&gt;according&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;em&gt;Politico&lt;/em&gt;. "As it pertains to Taiwan, and that doesn’t mean it’s not the apple of his eye, because probably it is, but I don’t see anything happening."&lt;/p&gt;
  1702. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/trumptwn.jpg?itok=U-JYGNBf" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/trumptwn.jpg?itok=U-JYGNBf"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e1831074-a9c4-460a-ab26-566847415346" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="281" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/trumptwn.jpg?itok=U-JYGNBf" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Image: Firstpost&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1703.  
  1704. &lt;p&gt;The president’s comments &lt;a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2025/06/01/hegseth-says-us-ready-to-fight-and-win-a-war-with-china-over-taiwan/"&gt;contradict claims from US War Secretary Pete Hegseth&lt;/a&gt;, who &lt;strong&gt;said earlier this year that the threat China poses to Taiwan could be "imminent."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1705.  
  1706. &lt;p&gt;For years, the Pentagon has been claiming that China was preparing to be ready to invade by 2027, but the claim has never been confirmed by Beijing.&lt;/p&gt;
  1707.  
  1708. &lt;p&gt;Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in South Korea, and he believes he can work out a deal before 100% tariffs on Chinese goods are supposed to take effect in November.&lt;/p&gt;
  1709.  
  1710. &lt;p&gt;"I think when we finish our meetings in South Korea, China and I will have a really fair and really great trade deal together," Trump said. He &lt;a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/20/trump-says-he-will-visit-china-early-next-year"&gt;also said&lt;/a&gt; that he was planning to visit China in early 2026 after receiving an invitation from Beijing.&lt;/p&gt;
  1711.  
  1712. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Watch rare moment that President Trump suggests to reporters that China had no designs on invading Taiwan:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1713.  
  1714. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"&gt;
  1715. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;US President Trump suggested to reporters that China had no designs on invading Taiwan but acknowledged he expected the issue to be on the agenda at a planned meeting with Xi on the sidelines of an economic conference in South Korea next week &lt;a href="https://t.co/UmDWYHGzWr"&gt;https://t.co/UmDWYHGzWr&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://t.co/yPWqqk5dk1"&gt;pic.twitter.com/yPWqqk5dk1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1716. — Reuters (@Reuters) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1980382264543371674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 20, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1717. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;Trump made the comments on Monday while hosting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House. While downplaying the threat of China, Trump also &lt;a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/20/trump-support-aukus-submarine-deal-00615306"&gt;endorsed AUKUS&lt;/a&gt;, a military pact between the US, the UK, and Australia meant to counter Beijing that focuses on technology sharing and will arm Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines.&lt;/p&gt;
  1718. &lt;/div&gt;
  1719.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1720. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T00:55:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 20:55&lt;/span&gt;
  1721. </description>
  1722.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1723.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1724.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076823 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1725.    </item>
  1726. <item>
  1727.  <title>UN Condemns Trump's 'Extrajudicial Executions, Covert Action' Against Venezuela</title>
  1728.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/un-condemns-trumps-extrajudicial-killings-covert-action-against-venezuela</link>
  1729.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;UN Condemns Trump's 'Extrajudicial Executions, Covert Action' Against Venezuela&lt;/span&gt;
  1730.  
  1731.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;A United Nations panel on Tuesday condemned the Trump-ordered military build-up in the south Caribbean as well as what it &lt;strong&gt;called covert action which threatens the South American country's sovereignty&lt;/strong&gt;. It did this while invoking past 20th century history of CIA interventions in the region.&lt;/p&gt;
  1732.  
  1733. &lt;p&gt;"These actions also violate the fundamental international obligations not to intervene in the domestic affairs or threaten to use armed force against another country," the UN panel of independent rights experts &lt;a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/world/americas/us-violating-venezuelas-sovereignty-with-covert-actions-un-experts"&gt;said&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  1734. &lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/maduromil.jpg?itok=JiiHHUxP" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/maduromil.jpg?itok=JiiHHUxP"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;figure role="group" class="caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images"&gt;&lt;img alt="" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="06f15dca-eaee-4058-92ce-0c308f607f13" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="328" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/maduromil.jpg?itok=JiiHHUxP" typeof="foaf:Image" width="500" /&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;em&gt;Via Reuters&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
  1735.  
  1736. &lt;p&gt;President Trump has repeatedly stated the aim is choke the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States - but has also framed it as a war on 'terrorism' as well as mass migration of criminal elements.&lt;/p&gt;
  1737.  
  1738. &lt;p&gt;"These moves are an extremely dangerous escalation with grave implications for peace and security in the Caribbean region," the rights experts continued.&lt;/p&gt;
  1739.  
  1740. &lt;p&gt;The panel then went so far as to accuse the US of engaging in &lt;strong&gt;extrajudicial killings on the high seas&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
  1741.  
  1742. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1743. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;"Even if such allegations were substantiated, the use of lethal force in international waters without proper legal basis violates the international law of the sea and &lt;strong&gt;amounts to extrajudicial executions&lt;/strong&gt;."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1744. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1745.  
  1746. &lt;p&gt;"&lt;strong&gt;Preparations for covert or direct military action &lt;/strong&gt;against another sovereign State constitute an even graver breach of the UN Charter," the panel said, which included the special rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions and on protecting human rights while countering terrorism.&lt;/p&gt;
  1747.  
  1748. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"The long history of external interventions in Latin America must not be repeated,"&lt;/strong&gt; the stated added. "The international community must stand firm in defending the rule of law, dialogue, and the peaceful settlement of disputes."&lt;/p&gt;
  1749.  
  1750. &lt;p&gt;At least 27 people have been killed in about a half-dozen drone strikes. The US has labeled them 'narco-terrorists' - but little is known as to their identifies. War Secretary Hegseth and Secretary of State Rubio have positively cheered the military action - often posting videos of the boats being blown up.&lt;/p&gt;
  1751.  
  1752. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Below: President Nicolas Maduro blasts the Trump Admin for approving CIA operations in Venezuela to attack his government, and lists just a few examples of US-backed coups in Latin America...&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1753.  
  1754. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"&gt;
  1755. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;A speech they won’t show you on US corporate media:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1756. Venezuela’s🇻🇪 President Nicolas Maduro blasts the Trump Administration for approving CIA operations in Venezuela to attack his government, and lists just a few examples of US-backed coups in Latin America &lt;a href="https://t.co/X5Vxak9jef"&gt;pic.twitter.com/X5Vxak9jef&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1757. — Going Underground (@GUnderground_TV) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/GUnderground_TV/status/1979185747761541290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 17, 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1758. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;It at least a couple of cases, they were Colombian or Ecuadorean nationals, but Washington has still said it is ultimately the Maduro government overseeing and facilitating this illegal trade.&lt;/p&gt;
  1759.  
  1760. &lt;p&gt;Venezuela has put its military on high alert, and has even organized citizen militias, but the armed forces' strength and weaponry is miniscule compared to that of the Pentagon - and it's even weak by comparison to other global south countries.&lt;/p&gt;
  1761. &lt;/div&gt;
  1762.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1763. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T00:30:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 20:30&lt;/span&gt;
  1764. </description>
  1765.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1766.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1767.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076989 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1768.    </item>
  1769. <item>
  1770.  <title>China's Battery Giants Flood Overseas Markets As Exports Surge 220%</title>
  1771.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/chinas-battery-giants-flood-overseas-markets-exports-surge-220</link>
  1772.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;China's Battery Giants Flood Overseas Markets As Exports Surge 220%&lt;/span&gt;
  1773.  
  1774.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;By Alex Kimani of &lt;a href="https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Chinas-Battery-Giants-Flood-Overseas-Markets-As-Exports-Surge-220.html"&gt;Oilprice.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1775.  
  1776. &lt;p&gt;Last year, China's battery industry average utilization rate cratered to just a third of maximum capacity amid severe overcapacity following years of massive investment and expansion. This put smaller manufacturers under severe pressure and fueled further industry consolidation, while also forcing producers to increasingly seek overseas markets. Luckily, these efforts appear to be paying off: China Energy Storage Alliance &lt;a href="https://www.mk.co.kr/en/business/11445892"&gt;has reported&lt;/a&gt; that Chinese battery storage forms secured ~200 overseas orders totalling 186 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the first half of this year, good for a more than 220% year-over-year surge. Not surprisingly, just 5.34 GWh– less than 3% of the total--came from the United States amid hefty tariffs by the Trump administration compared to nearly 60% that came from the Middle East, Europe and Australia.&lt;/p&gt;
  1777.  
  1778. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_07-41-25.jpg?itok=gZUv1JSP" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2025-10-21_07-41-25.jpg?itok=gZUv1JSP"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="dfc61785-abec-4e47-9c54-cf6803255451" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="207" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2025-10-21_07-41-25.jpg?itok=gZUv1JSP" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1779.  
  1780. &lt;p&gt;Back in April, the Trump administration imposed duties of up to 3,521% on solar imports from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand, with the &lt;a href="https://www.trade.gov/final-affirmative-determinations-antidumping-and-countervailing-duty-investigations-crystalline"&gt;finalized tariffs&lt;/a&gt; applying to shipments from China’s solar heavyweights, including JinkoSolar and Trina Solar. Further, Chinese firms are increasingly diversifying their production bases in a bid to mitigate growing tariff risks from Washington. Currently, Chinese solar manufacturers have installed ~80% of overseas capacity including solar wafers, solar cells and modules in Southeast Asia.&lt;/p&gt;
  1781.  
  1782. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1783. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“&lt;em&gt;The industry used to say that you either go overseas or exit the game&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;,”&lt;/strong&gt; said Gao Jifan, chairman of Trina Solar.&lt;/p&gt;
  1784.  
  1785. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“&lt;em&gt;Now, due to tariffs, simply exporting isn’t enough; you must also localise production abroad&lt;/em&gt;.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1786. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1787.  
  1788. &lt;p&gt;China’s battery storage sector is also benefiting from a rebound by the local markets thanks to policy support by Beijing. China’s National Energy Administration recently &lt;a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3325610/china-supercharge-energy-storage-tech-world-leading-advancements-2027?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article"&gt;unveiled a plan&lt;/a&gt; to mobilize 250 billion yuan (~$32 billion) in new investment to build 180 gigawatts of new energy storage capacity by 2027. Lately, Chinese companies that operate in the energy storage space have been posting robust growth as fundamentals continue to improve. During the first half of 2025, 47 of 55 listed companies in the Chinese energy storage sector were profitable. China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., one of the largest li-ion battery manufacturers in the world, reported H1 2025 operating revenue of RMB178.886 billion ($25.15 billion), good for a 7.3% increase year over year while net profit attributable to shareholders clocked in at RMB30.485 billion, up 33.33%. In its interim report, CATL revealed that sustained rapid growth in demand for energy storage cells driven by the global clean energy transition has been driving its impressive performance.&lt;/p&gt;
  1789.  
  1790. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;That said, battery storage expansion is expected to be a global trend: &lt;/strong&gt;energy research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie has &lt;a href="https://www.ess-news.com/2025/07/02/woodmac-world-needs-1-4-tw-of-grid-forming-batteries-by-2034/"&gt;projected&lt;/a&gt; that global investment in battery storage will reach approximately $1.2 trillion by 2034. This investment will be needed to support the installation of over 5,900 GW of new wind and solar capacity during that period. The report emphasizes that advanced, grid-forming battery technology is crucial for maintaining grid stability as renewable energy sources become more prevalent.&lt;/p&gt;
  1791.  
  1792. &lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;U.S. Battery Storage Explodes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
  1793.  
  1794. &lt;p&gt;For years, battery systems have only played a marginal role in U.S. electricity networks, with power utilities focusing more on building out capacity from natural gas plants and renewable energy sources. According to energy data portal Cleanview, five years ago, &lt;strong&gt;the United States had 74 times more wind farm capacity and 30 times more solar capacity than battery capacity within its power generation system.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1795.  
  1796. &lt;p&gt;However, steady cost declines coupled with rising energy density levels have encouraged utilities to ramp up their battery installations, with battery storage output now exceeding other power sources in certain power markets. And, it’s boom time for the U.S. utility-scale battery storage market: currently, there are only around 5 times more solar and wind capacity in the country compared to battery capacity, thanks in large part to a &lt;a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ev-costs-on-track-to-match-gas-guzzlers-as-early-as-next-year-as-battery-prices-drop-dramatically-140056938.html"&gt;40% decline in battery prices&lt;/a&gt; since 2022. Currently, 19 states have installed 100 MW or more of utility-scale battery storage. According to Cleanview, there are just under 30,000 megawatts (MW) of utility battery capacity across the U.S., good for a massive 15-fold increase since 2020.  For some context, the U.S. solar sector has added 84,200 MW over the timeframe, while the wind sector has increased its capacity by just 7,000 MW. Falling costs is the biggest reason for the surge in U.S. battery deployments: according to financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard the &lt;a href="https://www.lazard.com/media/uounhon4/lazards-lcoeplus-june-2025.pdf"&gt;levelized cost of electricity  (LCOE)&lt;/a&gt; for utility-scale solar farms paired with batteries ranges from $50-$131 per megawatt hour (MWh). This makes the pair competitive with new natural gas peaking plants (LCOE of $47 to $170 per MWh) and even new coal-fired plants with LCOE of $114 per MWh.&lt;/p&gt;
  1797.  
  1798. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;According to Lazard's 2025 LCOE+ report, new-build renewable energy power plants are the most competitive form of power generation on an unsubsidized basis (i.e., without tax subsidies). &lt;/strong&gt;This is highly significant in the current era of unprecedented power demand growth in large part due to the AI boom and clean energy manufacturing. Renewables also stand out as the quickest-to-deploy generation resource, with the solar plus battery combination often boasting far shorter deployment times compared to constructing new natural gas power plants. California is, by far, the national leader in utility-scale battery storage, accounting for ~13,000 MW or about 42% of the national total.  According to the California Energy Commission, the California Independent System Operator has installed ~21,000 MW of solar capacity and ~12,400 MW of battery capacity, allowing the state to rely heavily on batteries during peak demand periods.&lt;/p&gt;
  1799. &lt;/div&gt;
  1800.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1801. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-22T00:05:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 20:05&lt;/span&gt;
  1802. </description>
  1803.  <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:05:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1804.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1805.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076867 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1806.    </item>
  1807. <item>
  1808.  <title>FDA Confirms Highest-Risk Level For Recall Of 6.7 Million Eggs</title>
  1809.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fda-confirms-highest-risk-level-recall-67-million-eggs</link>
  1810.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;FDA Confirms Highest-Risk Level For Recall Of 6.7 Million Eggs&lt;/span&gt;
  1811.  
  1812.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are egg prices about to soar again?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1813.  
  1814. &lt;p&gt;The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall of more than 6 million eggs across at least six states due to &lt;strong&gt;Salmonella contamination&lt;/strong&gt;, according to a recently issued recall notice.&lt;/p&gt;
  1815.  
  1816. &lt;p&gt;The FDA &lt;a href="https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/?Event=97655"&gt;labeled&lt;/a&gt; the &lt;strong&gt;recall as Class I,&lt;/strong&gt; the most &lt;a href="https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/postmarket-requirements-devices/recalls-corrections-and-removals-devices"&gt;severe&lt;/a&gt; under the agency’s rules, meaning it is a dangerous or defective product that&lt;strong&gt; could cause serious injury or death&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  1817.  
  1818. &lt;p&gt;The recall was &lt;a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-advises-consumers-retailers-and-distributors-not-eat-sell-or-serve-recalled-black-sheep-egg"&gt;announced&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;strong&gt;Arkansas-based Black Sheep Egg Company&lt;/strong&gt; earlier this month, the FDA said in a news release updated on Oct. 20&lt;/p&gt;
  1819.  
  1820. &lt;p&gt;The impacted products include Black Sheep Egg Company-branded Free Range Large Grade A Brown Eggs with best by dates of Aug. 22, 2025, to Oct. 31, 2025, on the side of the carton, the FDA said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1821.  
  1822. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Products may have been further distributed to other states, and additional products will be added to this advisory as information becomes available,” the FDA said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1823.  
  1824. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/ar-eggs-recall-4x3-a4cddf826eb24.jpg?itok=pkd1_nyv" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/ar-eggs-recall-4x3-a4cddf826eb24.jpg?itok=pkd1_nyv"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="47dc2c7d-4513-404b-9479-b597aa3cf963" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="375" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/ar-eggs-recall-4x3-a4cddf826eb24.jpg?itok=pkd1_nyv" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1825.  
  1826. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/fda-confirms-highest-risk-level-for-recall-of-6-7-million-eggs-5932705?utm_source=partner&amp;utm_campaign=ZeroHedge"&gt;The Epoch Times' Jack Phillips reports&lt;/a&gt; that the FDA recall &lt;a href="https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/?Event=97655"&gt;notice&lt;/a&gt; said that &lt;strong&gt;the eggs were sent to retail and wholesale locations in Arkansas and Missouri,&lt;/strong&gt; and the products were also sent to broker locations in Mississippi, Texas, California, and Indiana.&lt;/p&gt;
  1827.  
  1828. &lt;p&gt;An Epoch Times review of the notice shows that 522,915 dozen eggs were recalled in all, meaning that more than 6.27 million eggs are under recall.&lt;/p&gt;
  1829.  
  1830. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“FDA is aware that recalled product could still be in people’s homes. More information about the distribution of this product will be provided as it becomes available,” the news release stated.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1831.  
  1832. &lt;p&gt;One of the companies that received the eggs, Texas-based Kenz Henz, on Oct. 16 recalled 12-count packages of Kenz Henz brand of Grade AA Large Pasture Raised eggs that were received from Black Sheep. The eggs were sold at stores in Houston, Texas, the FDA said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1833.  
  1834. &lt;p&gt;For the Black Sheep recall, the products include Free Range Grade A Large Brown Eggs, Free Range Grade AA Large Brown Eggs, Free Range Grade AA Medium Brown Eggs, Free Range Grade AA Large White Eggs, and Free Range Grade AA Medium White Eggs.&lt;/p&gt;
  1835.  
  1836. &lt;p&gt;The recalled products have UPC codes of either 860010568507 or 860010568538, the FDA said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1837.  
  1838. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In a separate &lt;a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/kenz-henz-recalls-pastured-raised-eggs-because-possible-health-risk"&gt;announcement&lt;/a&gt; from the FDA on Oct. 17,  no illnesses have been reported to date in connection with that specific recall. &lt;/strong&gt;However, it’s not clear if any illnesses were reported to the agency in connection with the broader Black Sheep Egg Company recall.&lt;/p&gt;
  1839.  
  1840. &lt;p&gt;The recalled Kenz Henz eggs are packaged in a 12-count carton that has a UPC code of 86949400030, with a best by date of Oct. 11 to Oct. 14, and Oct. 16 to Oct. 17 stamped on the side of the carton, according to the agency.&lt;/p&gt;
  1841.  
  1842. &lt;p&gt;The FDA has warned consumers, retailers, and distributors not to eat, sell, or serve the recalled Black Sheep Egg Company eggs.&lt;/p&gt;
  1843.  
  1844. &lt;p&gt;The health agency added that people should check their refrigerator for the recalled eggs and should throw them out or return them to the point of purchase. Consumers are also advised to clean and sanitize any areas or containers that the eggs may have touched.&lt;/p&gt;
  1845.  
  1846. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People who may have been exposed to the eggs should look out for Salmonella symptoms, including diarrhea, fever, vomiting, dehydration, and abdominal cramps, among others. If symptoms develop, the FDA recommends that the person contact a health care provider.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1847.  
  1848. &lt;p&gt;Symptoms generally begin between six hours and six days after exposure and last up to a week, health officials &lt;a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/signs-symptoms/index.html"&gt;say&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  1849.  
  1850. &lt;p&gt;Although most people recover without medical treatment, &lt;strong&gt;the illness can be severe, especially for young children&lt;/strong&gt;, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems.&lt;/p&gt;
  1851.  
  1852. &lt;p&gt;*  *  * &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;LIVE LONGER&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1853.  
  1854. &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/iq-smart-protein-collagen-peptides/"&gt;Smart Protein&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Collagen Peptides&lt;/strong&gt; - blend of 3 peptides: Joints / Skin / Muscle Recovery&lt;/li&gt;
  1855. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/iq-green-boost/?c_id=24&amp;m=category&amp;c=Supplements"&gt;Green Boost&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - powerful blend of organic greens, superfoods, and probiotics.&lt;/li&gt;
  1856. &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://store.zerohedge.com/iq-colostrum"&gt;Colostrum&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;- Grass-fed, 1000mg IgG per serving + Lactoferrin and Proline-Rich Peptides (anti-inflammatory / immune)&lt;/li&gt;
  1857. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1858.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1859. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-21T23:40:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 19:40&lt;/span&gt;
  1860. </description>
  1861.  <pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2025 23:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1862.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1863.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076963 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1864.    </item>
  1865. <item>
  1866.  <title>Rep. Dan Goldman Calls For ICE Agents To Be Arrested</title>
  1867.  <link>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rep-dan-goldman-calls-ice-agents-be-arrested</link>
  1868.  <description>&lt;span property="schema:name" class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"&gt;Rep. Dan Goldman Calls For ICE Agents To Be Arrested&lt;/span&gt;
  1869.  
  1870.            &lt;div property="schema:text" class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Authored by Chris Wade via &lt;a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/new_york/article_d7d67226-93bb-4fa6-aea0-0440ffe0faa9.html"&gt;The Center Square&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1871.  
  1872. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A Democratic New York congressman is calling on the NYPD to arrest and prosecute ICE agents who engage in “unlawful actions” during federal immigration crackdowns in the city.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1873.  
  1874. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a data-image-external-href="" data-image-href="/s3/files/inline-images/1000-1-4-e1647038527322-696x351.jpg?itok=ZPJZL00_" data-link-option="0" href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/1000-1-4-e1647038527322-696x351.jpg?itok=ZPJZL00_"&gt;&lt;picture&gt;&lt;img data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9c90356d-ac2e-429a-8bba-32df17ba16f2" data-responsive-image-style="inline_images" height="252" width="500" class="inline-images image-style-inline-images" src="https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/1000-1-4-e1647038527322-696x351.jpg?itok=ZPJZL00_" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1875.  
  1876. &lt;p&gt;In a letter to NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch, U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman rips U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers’ “outrageous and unlawful conduct” in cities around the country, saying they have been “violently and improperly” arresting U.S. citizens.&lt;/p&gt;
  1877.  
  1878. &lt;p&gt;Goldman said with the “likely possibility” that the Department of Homeland Security will “send armies of agents into New York City for civil immigration purposes” he &lt;strong&gt;urged the NYPD to be “prepared to strictly enforce state and local laws in order to hold federal agents accountable for any unlawful actions they engage in, including potentially through arrest and prosecution for felony violations.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1879.  
  1880. &lt;p&gt;“When immigration officials make warrantless arrests of U.S. citizens or lawful residents without reasonable suspicion to believe they have violated immigration law, they are acting outside the scope of their legal authority,” he wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
  1881.  
  1882. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Goldman, a lawyer&lt;/strong&gt; who as a House counsel participated in Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment inquiry, cited ICE’s policy barring civil immigration enforcement authority against U.S. citizens.&lt;/p&gt;
  1883.  
  1884. &lt;p&gt; He said news outlets have reported that federal agents “have repeatedly detained or deported American citizens in clear violation of their constitutional rights.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1885.  
  1886. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“No person, regardless of their badge, should be permitted to assault or unlawfully detain any New Yorker without facing consequences,”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; he wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
  1887.  
  1888. &lt;p&gt;“In light of this failure of federal oversight, it is the responsibility of the city to uphold the rule of law and protect the public.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1889.  
  1890. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There was no immediate response from the NYPD or ICE’s press office to the congressman’s letter.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1891.  
  1892. &lt;p&gt;New York City has been a flashpoint in the national immigration debate with more than 230,000 migrants arriving in the city between 2022 and 2024 following a surge of immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border under the previous Biden administration. ICE operations in the city have arrested nearly 29,000 undocumented immigrants, many with criminal histories, according to the agency’s website.&lt;/p&gt;
  1893.  
  1894. &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In July, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against New York City over its “sanctuary” policies that restrict cooperation with federal immigration crackdowns, accusing the city of shielding wanted criminals from deportation.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1895.  
  1896. &lt;p&gt;But federal immigration officials have faced criticism for aggressive immigration enforcement tactics — including violent arrests, and the use of tear gas to disperse crowds — as they detain and arrest migrants living in the United States who don’t have legal status to stay in the country.&lt;/p&gt;
  1897.  
  1898. &lt;p&gt;Amid the crackdown, ICE has reported a dramatic increase in threats and acts of violence against its agents. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week that Mexican drug cartels have offered bounties from $2,000 to $50,000 for doxxing, kidnapping or killing ICE agents. Over the weekend, a New York man was arrested for threatening to firebomb ICE agents during a “No Kings” protest.&lt;/p&gt;
  1899.  
  1900. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“Our agents are facing ambushes, drone surveillance, and death threats, all because they dare to enforce the laws passed by Congress,” &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;Noem said last week in a statement. &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“We will not back down from these threats, and every criminal, terrorist, and illegal alien will face American justice.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1901. &lt;/div&gt;
  1902.      &lt;span rel="schema:author" class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" lang="" about="https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username" xml:lang=""&gt;Tyler Durden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1903. &lt;span property="schema:dateCreated" content="2025-10-21T23:15:00+00:00" class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"&gt;Tue, 10/21/2025 - 19:15&lt;/span&gt;
  1904. </description>
  1905.  <pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2025 23:15:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1906.    <dc:creator>Tyler Durden</dc:creator>
  1907.    <guid isPermaLink="false">1076917 at https://www.zerohedge.com</guid>
  1908.    </item>
  1909.  
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