World
AI Summary
- Geopolitical instability is intensifying worldwide, evidenced by escalating regional conflicts, a global rush for strategic assets like gold, and increasing friction impacting international alliances and energy supply chains.
- The electric vehicle market is at a crossroads, with safety concerns prompting major recalls, while a burgeoning used EV market addresses affordability issues amidst a rollback of clean-car regulations in the United States.
- The pervasive influence of Artificial Intelligence is reshaping industries, sparking debates on its long-term societal and economic impacts, including concerns over job displacement, creative copyright, and its growing integration into defense and security applications.
- Demographic and social changes, including evolving family structures and youth engagement patterns, are creating new challenges and opportunities for consumer-facing industries, while mass migration continues to exert pressure on public resources and social cohesion in several nations.
- Global resource security and trade dynamics are experiencing significant shifts, with central banks accumulating gold as a strategic hedge, the US nuclear energy sector facing a potential fuel crunch, and new regional hubs like the UAE emerging to challenge established centers of global commerce.
ZeroHedge
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Germany's Elites Demand "Location Patriotism" As Green Industrial Policy Unravels
an hour ago
by Tyler Durden
Germany's Elites Demand "Location Patriotism" As Green Industrial Policy Unravels Submitted by Thomas Kolbe As social glue and as a bond tying the individual to a higher purpose of existence, patriotism has acquired a dubious reputation in Germany after decades of culture war. The United Left has succeeded in amalgamating this binding and integrating cultural ferment with the historical catastrophes of National Socialism, imperialism, and chauvinism, ultimately banishing it from the nation’s self-understanding. Today, the patriot is regarded as a social outsider, a contrarian, an intolerant antagonist of humanistic values. The mills of that socialist cultural revolution set in motion in the late 1960s
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These Are The Countries Buying (And Selling) The Most Gold Since 2020
2 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
These Are The Countries Buying (And Selling) The Most Gold Since 2020 As gold prices surged more than 230% since 2020, central banks around the world launched one of the largest gold-buying waves in modern history. For many countries, bullion became more than just a hedge—it became a strategic reserve asset amid rising geopolitical tensions, currency volatility, and growing efforts to diversify away from the U.S. dollar. Yet not every nation followed the same playbook: some were accumulating gold aggressively, while others were trimming reserves. This chart, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, ranks the countries that made the biggest net additions and the largest reductions in
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India Might Soon Replace Russian Oil With Venezuelan At Scale After All
2 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
India Might Soon Replace Russian Oil With Venezuelan At Scale After All Authored by Andrew Korybko, A new US license is being interpreted as prohibiting Venezuelan energy companies from transactions with China among other countries, which if true, could lead to India purchasing the 642,000 barrels of oil per day that China imported on average last year and thus halving its import of Russian oil. RT drew attention on social media to the Department of the Treasury’s newly issued “Venezuela General License 48” allowing US companies to provide “goods, technology, software, or services for the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas in Venezuela”
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Mercedes-Benz Recalls Nearly 12,000 Electric Vehicles, Says Battery Packs Could Ignite
3 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
Mercedes-Benz Recalls Nearly 12,000 Electric Vehicles, Says Battery Packs Could Ignite What happens when spending $70,000 to signal virtue with your fancy EV goes wrong? FIRE! Mercedes-Benz USA has announced a recall of 11,895 electric vehicles due to potentially faulty cells in the automobiles’ high-voltage battery packs that could lead to a fire, like what happened in front of a MBZ dealer in Malaysia in 2024 - though that one was in the middle of charging, while this recall says they can 'spontaneously catch fire' either while parked or while driving. The move comes after the NHTSA issued a safety recall notice posted on X on Feb. 12 announcing
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'No Prospect' Of European Governments Preventing Civil War, Warns British Army Colonel
3 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
'No Prospect' Of European Governments Preventing Civil War, Warns British Army Colonel Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Major unrest looms as political leaders kick the can down the road on immigration and integration failures, according to a seasoned military expert. Retired Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, has issued a stark warning about the trajectory of social cohesion in Europe and Britain. Speaking to Israeli broadcaster i24News, Kemp highlighted how integration breakdowns have worsened over the past two decades, paving the way for inevitable conflict. “Things have been getting worse, getting bad, for many years, and they are only
The Guardian
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How an undercover cop foiled an IS plot to massacre Britain’s Jews – podcast
10 hours ago
by Presented by Helen Pidd with Chris Osuh; produced by Ivor Manley and Brian McNamara; executive producer Sami Kent
Antisemitism, UK security and counter-terrorism, UK news, Manchester, Islamic State, World news, Greater Manchester, Judaism, Religion, Islam, Police, Tunisia, Africa, Middle East and north AfricaThe Guardian’s community affairs correspondent, Chris Osuh, reports on the plot by two IS terrorists to massacre Jews in Manchester, and how it was thwarted by an undercover sting Walid Saadaoui had once worked as a holiday entertainer, organising dance shows and quizzes at a resort in his native Tunisia. After moving to the UK and marrying a British woman, he became a restaurateur and an avid keeper of birds. All the while, however – as the Guardian’s community affairs correspondent, Chris Osuh, explains – he was hiding a secret: he had pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Continue reading...
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Assailants kill at least 32 in north-west Nigerian villages, residents say
a day ago
by Guardian staff and agencies
Nigeria, Africa, World newsResidents who escaped violence tell of bandits riding in on motorbikes and shooting indiscriminately Armed assailants on motorbikes killed at least 32 people and burned houses and shops during raids on three villages in north-west Nigeria’s Niger state early on Saturday, local officials and residents who escaped the violence said. The dawn raids targeted the communities of Tunga-Makeri, Konkoso, and Pissa. Continue reading...
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53 people dead or missing after migrant boat capsizes in Mediterranean
7 days ago
by Agence France-Presse in Geneva
Migration, Libya, World news, Africa, Refugees, Middle East and north AfricaOnly two survivors rescued after boat overturned off Libyan coast, UN migration agency says Fifty-three people are dead or missing after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, the UN migration agency said on Monday. Only two survivors were rescued. The International Organization for Migration said the boat overturned north of Zuwara on Friday, in the latest disaster involving people attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing in the hope of reaching Europe. Continue reading...
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Ebo Taylor, Ghanaian highlife pioneer and guitarist, dies age 90
7 days ago
by Laura Snapes
Music, Culture, Ghana, Fela Kuti, AfricaTaylor, who did for Ghanaian music what his friend Fela Kuti did for Nigeria, has been called the greatest rhythm guitarist in history Ghanaian musician Ebo Taylor, a definitive force behind the highlife genre, has died age 90. His son Kweku Taylor announced the news on Sunday: “The world has lost a giant. A colossus of African music. Ebo Taylor passed away yesterday; a day after the launch of Ebo Taylor music festival and exactly a month after his 90th birthday, leaving behind an unmatched artistry legacy. Dad, your light will never fade.” Continue reading...
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Weather tracker: Spain and Portugal hit by third deadly storm in two weeks
7 days ago
by Alice Fowl, Claire Jones and Morgan Thomas for MetDesk
Flooding, Extreme weather, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Africa, Environment, Japan, South KoreaStorm Marta sweeps Iberian peninsula just days after Storms Kristin and Leonardo brought deadly flooding and major damage Spain and Portugal have endured another storm over the weekend, just days after the deadly flooding and major damage caused by Storm Kristin and Storm Leonardo last week. Storm Marta passed over the Iberian peninsula on Saturday, bringing fresh torrential rain and killing two people. Storm Kristin killed at least five people after it made landfall on 28 January with Storm Leonardo claiming another victim last Wednesday. The outlook for this week is for more rain across Spain, Portugal and France, especially across north-west
South China Morning Post
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US lawmakers push for VPN funding so Iranians can access internet
an hour ago
by Bloomberg
US agencies are struggling to find the best method to fund additional software for millions of Iranian civilians to get around their government’s strict internet censors, amid a surge in demand over weeks of domestic unrest. The State Department, US senators from both parties, and other US agencies have advocated for funding virtual private networks and anticensorship technology programmes that would allow about a quarter of the people in Iran to access the internet without the Islamic...
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Starmer urges Europe to deepen interdependence amid Trump threats
4 hours ago
by Bloomberg
After a year of refusing to choose between Washington and Brussels, Keir Starmer shifted tone in Munich by edging Britain closer to the European Union and calling for an end to over-reliance on American military support. In a speech to the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, the UK Prime Minister urged Europe to deepen its interdependence and sovereign deterrence in light of less support from across the Atlantic since Donald Trump returned to the White House. British officials told reporters...
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Are aliens real? Obama says yes but rules out long-running conspiracy
8 hours ago
by Tribune News Service
Former US president Barack Obama said in a podcast interview on the weekend that aliens are real, but they aren’t at Nevada’s Area 51. During an appearance on YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen’s show, Obama said he hadn’t seen extraterrestrials but that they existed. “They’re not being kept in Area 51, there’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,” Obama said during a rapid-fire round of questions at the end of the...
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China goes visa-free for UK, Canada; Rubio, Wang Yi in Munich: 5 weekend reads you missed
9 hours ago
by SCMP
We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China allows visa-free entry to British, Canadian nationals 2. Rubio, Wang Yi manage US-China great power rivalry in Munich even as core tensions linger 3. Star Cruises ‘fully prepared’ for next sailing after anger over axed trip 4. Public fury as China mental hospitals recruit fake patients for...
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Epstein donated to Harvard student group for years after sex conviction
14 hours ago
by Bloomberg
Long after Jeffrey Epstein was known as a convicted sex offender, he was also a top contributor to an elite cluster of groups founded by Harvard University students. For years, he was able to fill a table with “girls” at an annual gala that featured celebrities, billionaires and cultural luminaries. Annual donations of at least US$50,000 to the Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 – a non-profit umbrella for a social club, theatre troupe and a cappella singers – qualified him as a “Guardian of the...
New York Times
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With Latest Rollback, the U.S. Essentially Has No Clean-Car Rules
3 hours ago
by Hiroko Tabuchi
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry, Global Warming, Fuel Efficiency, Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Automobiles, Air Pollution, Fuel Emissions (Transportation), Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline, Environmental Protection AgencyThe E.P.A.’s killing of the “endangerment finding” caps a year of deregulation that is likely to make cars thirstier for gas and less competitive globally, experts say.
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Teddy Roosevelt’s Family Urges G.O.P. to Protect Public Lands
3 hours ago
by Maxine Joselow
Roosevelt, Theodore, Trump, Donald J, Stauber, Peter (1966- ), United States Politics and Government, Federal Lands, National Parks, Monuments and Seashores, Wilderness Areas, Conservation of Resources, Mines and Mining, Conservatism (US Politics), Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, Antofagasta PLC, Roosevelt, Theodore, Presidential Library, Minnesota, Boundary Waters Canoe Area (Minn)In a rare letter to Republican senators, four descendants of the former president oppose mining near a wilderness area in Minnesota.
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What to Know About the Homeland Security Shutdown
13 hours ago
by The New York Times
United States Politics and Government, Airport Security, Immigration and Emigration, Air Traffic Control, Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection (US), Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US), Transportation Department (US), Trump, Donald J, Homan, Thomas D, MinnesotaFunding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on Saturday amid a standoff over restrictions that Democrats have demanded for federal immigration agents. But much of its work continues.
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D.H.S. Pushes Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accounts, and U.S. Troops Land in Nigeria
2 hours ago
by Tracy Mumford, Will Jarvis, Ian Stewart and Ruth Maclean
Homeland Security DepartmentPlus, the Super Bowl ad that prompted a backlash.
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Epstein’s Ties With Academics Show the Seedy Side of College Fund-Raising
3 hours ago
by Alan Blinder
Colleges and Universities, Philanthropy, Harvard University, Columbia University, Bard College, Epstein, Jeffrey E (1953- ), Summers, Lawrence H, Zeppos, Nicholas SProfessors and presidents are often eager to raise outside cash. Some are now facing blowback after connecting with Jeffrey Epstein.