Inflation up modestly in September; Fed on track for cut - Key insight: Inflation cooled slightly but continued upward in September, climbing 0.3% after August's 0.4% gain. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest Consumer Price Index reading Friday morning, showing inflation rose by 0.3% in September, slightly below August's pace. The report also found core inflation steady at 3.0%, even as shelter costs eased and gasoline prices spiked.
Trump faces backlash on economy as inflation rises --President Trump is facing growing pressure over his handling of the economy as inflation rises, the job market weakens and American exporters suffer backlash from his trade agenda. Federal data set to be released Friday is expected to show annual inflation hitting 3 percent for the first time since the Biden administration — a full percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target. Economists are projecting the consumer price index (CPI) report to show higher inflation in September largely due to climbing energy and food prices — two of the hardest areas for Americans to cut costs. Despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, prices have risen steadily since the second half of the year, largely in line with when the president cemented his tariff agenda. Annual inflation as measured by the CPI dropped from 3 percent in January to 2.4 percent in March, but spiked back up to 2.9 percent by August. Businesses are also hiring far fewer workers than in recent years, pushing the unemployment rate higher and millions of Americans into deeper financial pain. The combination has brought Trump’s ratings on the economy down to historic lows, according to a poll released Wednesday. Just 38 percent of voters approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, according to the Quinnipiac University survey, the lowest level he’s received since February 2017. Fifty-seven percent of voters said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy. “With a nearly 20-point gap between approval and disapproval on President Trump’s handling of the economy, it’s a low watermark for a president who promised a vibrant and muscular economy,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said. In a statement to The Hill, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said “President Trump’s economic agenda has tamed Joe Biden’s inflation crisis, delivered real wage growth, and secured trillions in investments to make and hire in America. This same policy agenda unleashed historic job, wage, and economic growth in President Trump’s first term, and Americans can rest assured that as this agenda continues to take effect in President Trump’s second term, the best is yet to come.”
Speaker ‘Mad Mike’ Johnson becomes voice of GOP shutdown strategy - Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is showing his anger as he becomes perhaps the most prominent Republican figure in the GOP’s stubborn, uncompromising government shutdown fight. It’s a demeanor that marks a notable shift for the famously even-tempered Speaker, reflecting how the party is digging in on their refusals to negotiate with Democrats to re-open the government. In near-daily press conferences and dozens of media appearances in the two-and-a-half weeks since the shutdown started, Johnson has reiterated the Republican position: No negotiations with Democrats on their health care demands until they stop holding the government “hostage” and vote to re-open. On Thursday, the 16th day of the government shutdown, Johnson raised his voice at the end of one of those press conferences before stopping himself. “To get everybody together and build that consensus is not possible until we get the government operating again. We stop holding — I’m sorry, I get very upset about it,” Johnson said. “We stop holding the American people hostage for these ridiculous political games.” “I don’t like being mad Mike. I want to be happy Mike. I want to be the happy warrior. But I am so upset about this. God Bless America,” he added, before stepping away from the podium. Even though he is just the leader of one chamber, Johnson has dominated the conversation about the Republican strategy in the government shutdown. In a CNN town hall on Wednesday about the shutdown featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Johnson was mentioned 20 times — while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) was mentioned just three. The Speaker has, more than other congressional leaders, flooded the zone in TV and other news appearances during the shutdown. In addition to the daily press conferences in the Capitol, Johnson has participated in around 50 media interviews since the shutdown started, according to his office. This include the first time a sitting Speaker has taken calls from C-SPAN callers since 2001. But it’s not just his willingness to go on TV and natural talent on the screen that’s turned Johnson into the dominant Republican figure in the shutdown fight. With President Trump more engaged with international affairs like the Israel-Gaza ceasefire and meetings with Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky, leadership in the shutdown fight has been left to Congress. And between Johnson and Thune, the Speaker is not only more outspoken but has made the most controversial, hardline moves. As he’s taken a hardline stance and kept the House on extended recess in a bid to put pressure on Senate Democrats — and refused to swear in Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (Ariz.) until the House is back — the Speaker has grown visibly frustrated in some of those recent appearances. Those moves have infuriated Democrats, making Johnson the target of their ire and the topic of conversation. “It’s shameful that she has not been sworn in because Speaker Johnson and House Republicans apparently want to continue to hide the Jeffrey Epstein files from the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Friday, referring to the fact that Grijalva would be the last signature needed to force GOP leaders to take action on a bill to release the Epstein Files. Johnson, who has denied the delay has anything to do with the Epstein Files, reiterated his position on Friday: “We love that we’re going to administer the oath to her as soon as we get back to our regular legislative session, as I’ve said a thousand times.” Since being thrust from relative obscurity into the Speakership after the chaos that followed the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Johnson’s patience with his fractious conference — and its outspoken members — has been a defining feature of his Speakership.
Senate Republican ‘open’ to conversations about extending ACA subsidies --Republican Sen. Katie Britt (Ala.) said Sunday she is “open” to conversations on extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies amid the government shutdown. “I’m absolutely open to having [a] conversation, but we’re not going to extend a program that is wrought with fraud, waste and abuse,” Britt told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “There would have to be adjustments to this program to make it make sense for the American people.” According to health policy research group KFF, the majority of alleged fraud in ACA enrollment stems from agents, brokers, web brokers and other third parties. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told MSNBC on Wednesday that he offered Democratic leaders a vote on the subsidies, but called for income caps to qualify for them. Britt also called for income caps to qualify for the subsidies, despite her belief that the health care program needs a “total overhaul.” But the Alabama Republican only wants to have those discussions once the shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, ends. “I am absolutely willing to have a conversation, but we have got to open the government first,” Britt added. The credits, first offered during the COVID-19 pandemic and extended via the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, expire at the end of this year. Premiums will increase by more than twofold next year if the subsidies expire, according to KFF. Democrats in Congress have called for a permanent extension of the credits. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC last Thursday that the GOP’s support for extending the subsidies must be “ironclad” for negotiations to occur.
Trump administration puts 1,400 nuclear staffers on furlough --The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) furloughed more than three-quarters of its staff Monday as the government nears its fourth week of a shutdown. A Department of Energy spokesperson told The Hill that 1,400 NNSA employees will be furloughed by the end of Monday, leaving fewer than 400 working at the agency, which is in charge of overseeing the nation’s nuclear stockpile. “Due to the Democrat shutdown, approximately 1,400 NNSA federal employees will be furloughed as of today, October 20th and nearly 400 NNSA federal employees will continue to work to support the protection of property and the safety of human life,” the spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson said NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation will be funded for another week, through Oct. 27. Energy Department spokesperson Ben Dietderich told CNN that this is the first time in NNSA’s 25-year history that it has furloughed employees during the shutdown. “We are left with no choice this time. We’ve extended funding as long as we could,” Dietderich said. “While the Energy Department and NNSA remain committed to ensuring the safety and security of America’s nuclear deterrent, the longer the shutdown lasts, the more damaging and dire the consequences will be for workforce retention and weapons modernization efforts critical to national security,” Dietderich added in the statement to CNN.
Hunting continues at wildlife refuges, but field trips are canceled - Hunting continues at the nation’s wildlife refuges despite the federal government shutdown, under a Trump administration’s policy that has drawn mixed reactions. The Interior Department casts the open-for-hunting policy as both appropriate and allowable under the rules governing federal shutdowns. “The Department of the Interior is committed to keeping public lands as open and accessible as possible. Specific staff members are available to ensure public safety and to provide permitting, access to hunt areas, and the protection of life and property,” spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said Monday. Peace added that “staff supporting hunts are working under previously appropriated funds to ensure these activities occur safely and in an orderly manner.” GE
Sen. John Thune: Time to think about House returning to DC amid shutdown -- Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday said the government shutdown has dragged on for so long that it’s time to start thinking about bringing the GOP-controlled House back to Washington to pass a new stopgap funding bill. The House last voted on Sept. 19, when it passed H.R. 5371, a “clean” continuing resolution funding the government until Nov. 21, and sent the bill to the Senate. Since then, Thune has brought the measure to the Senate floor 10 times and Senate Democrats have blocked it 10 times. Thune on Monday acknowledged the House may need to come back soon to pass a new government funding stopgap since the Nov. 21 end date of the pending continuing resolution is now a month away. Asked by a reporter whether it’s time “to start thinking about the House coming back and extending” the funding period covered by the continuing resolution, Thune replied affirmatively. “Yup, for sure,” he said. “Every day that passes, we’ve got less time to fund the government.” Thune reiterated that his goal is to fund the federal government through the regular appropriations process, which means bringing the 12 annual discretionary spending bills to the floor individually or in small packages so that lawmakers have enough time to vet and debate the legislation. He wants to avoid piling all of the annual spending bills into an enormous omnibus package, which forces lawmakers to vote on spending decisions without fully knowing the detailed substance of the legislation. “If you’re somebody who actually does care about the normal appropriations process, and I think there are a lot of Democrats who do, every week that drags by it gets harder and harder to actually have an appropriations process,” he warned. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said repeatedly that he does not plan to reconvene the House until Senate Democrats agree to reopen the government by passing the 24-page funding measure the House approved in September. Monday marked the 20th day of the shutdown, the third-longest government shutdown in history.
Chip Roy floats nuclear option on Senate filibuster to end shutdown - Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on Monday floated the use of the “nuclear option” to end the shutdown and get around Senate filibuster rules that require a 60-vote majority to reopen the government. “We need to be taking a look at the 60 vote threshold. We really do,” Roy told reporters Monday. Senate rules that require support from 60 senators to end debate to overcome a filibuster proceed to an underlying vote on most legislation — and it is the reason why dissent from Democrats have prevented the Republican majority from reopening the government. Republican leaders in the Senate triggered that “nuclear option” to bypass the need to get Democratic support to confirm a slate of President Trump’s nominees last month, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has said he won’t use the same tactic on the continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government. Roy, though, said it should be under consideration. “At a minimum, why don’t we take a look at it for CRs?” Roy said. “Why don’t we just say, look, I mean, we have a 50-vote threshold for the budget, we have a 50-vote threshold for reconciliation, why shouldn’t we have a 50-vote threshold to be able to fund the government?” Roy said. The 60-vote threshold has long been hailed by Republicans as a way to be a check on Democrats when they have the majority, and Thune said at the start of this year that preserving the filibuster would be one of his top priorities. “Look, I like being able to block bad things with 60 votes, don’t get me wrong. But I feel like it’s a one way ratchet, but for basically, [former Sen. Kyrsten] Sinema [I-Ariz.] and [former Sen. Joe] Manchin [I-W.Va.], they would have blown up the 60-vote threshold to advance their agenda,” Roy said. “I think Republicans ought to take a long, hard look at the 60-vote threshold, because I think we’re just being beholden to a broken system right now,” Roy said. Roy is not the only Republican calling for a reconsideration of the filibuster. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has also suggested that Republicans to use the “nuclear option” to end the government shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), on the other hand, has cautioned against that approach. “Is it wise? You can have a lot of people who would tell you it’s not,” Johnson said in a press conference earlier this month. ”I would be deeply concerned if the Democrats had a bare majority in the Senate right now, Marxist ideology taking over the Democrat Party. Do I want them to have no safegaurds and no stumbling blocks or hurdles at all in the way of turning us into a communist country? I don’t think that’s a great idea.”
Democratic senators fear getting ‘hammered’ post-No Kings for ending shutdown - Some Democrats skeptical about their leadership’s hard-line stance against reopening the federal government privately acknowledge that they fear getting “hammered” by their liberal base if they vote for a Republican funding bill. Grassroots Democrats frustrated with the Trump administration have been demanding a fight, and on Saturday millions showed up at “No Kings” demonstrations across the country to protest the president’s government. In that context, Democrats know they will get hit hard by a number of voices on the left if they do not get something for opening the government. “People are going to get hammered” if they vote for the House-passed bill to reopen the government and keep it funded through Nov. 21, said one Democratic senator who requested anonymity to talk candidly about their party. A second person familiar with the political dynamics within the Senate Democratic caucus, who spoke with The Hill ahead of the “No Kings” protests, said centrist senators are fearful of breaking with leaders while party activists are planning the anti-Trump rallies. “We would have enough votes” to reopen the government “if people were not terrified of getting the guillotine,” the second person said. Only three members of the Democratic caucus have voted to reopen the government: Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Angus King (Maine), an Independent who caucuses with Democrats. On Thursday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) became the fourth Democrat to signal unease with the party’s staunch opposition to what in normal times would be relatively uncontroversial funding bills when she voted Thursday to advance an $852 billion defense funding bill. Liberal activists called the votes to fund the Department of Defense and to reopen the government without Republican concessions on health care “baffling” and a “mistake.” “Sens. Shaheen, Cortez Masto, and Fetterman voting with Republicans today is baffling,” said Andrew O’Neill, the national advocacy director at Indivisible, a progressive group. “This was not a good faith effort from Republicans to end the shutdown with bipartisan negotiations,” he added. “It was GOP political theater, and these three Democrats joined right in.” Fetterman pushed back against that criticism and defended his vote for the defense spending bill as motivated by concern for military families who might have to rely on food banks if they stop getting paychecks. “I voted yes to pay our service members. That’s service members over party. That’s not baffling to me,” he said. All of this is music to the ears of Republicans, who want centrist Democrats to feel the pain.
Democrats block bill to end government shutdown for 11th time -- The Senate on Monday voted against reopening the federal government for the 11th time, pushing the shutdown to the three-week mark with both sides at loggerheads and unable to break the impasse. The chamber voted 50-43 on the House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government through late November. It needed 60 votes to pass. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine) once again crossed party lines and sided with Republicans. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who had previously voted in favor of the measure, did not vote on Monday. Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) was the lone Senate GOP “no” vote. The tally came days after the “No Kings” rallies in Washington and across the country, with Republicans hopeful that a deal could come together with those events in the rearview mirror. However, there remain precious few signs that the stalemate will dissolve in the near term, likely ensuring that it will extend into a fourth week and potentially into November. In remarks on the floor Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the Democratic position “remains the same.” “We enter another week of Donald Trump’s government shutdown, and Republicans seem happy not to work, happy not to negotiate, and happy to let health care premiums spike for over 20 million working- and middle-class Americans,” Schumer said. “Our country is staring down the barrel of a health care catastrophe, and Republicans will spend this week either vacationing or holding pep rallies at the White House,” Schumer said, referring to the House staying out of session and President Trump’s planned luncheon with the Senate GOP. “Government workers must work without getting paid, but House Republicans get paid without working.” The dispute has centered on a Democratic insistence for action to extend the expiring enhanced health care subsidies as a condition for reopening the government, with Republicans unwilling and unable to make any such promises. Top Republicans have maintained that no conversation can happen on the tax credits until the shutdown ends. “It is truly amazing how a program Democrats created and tax credits that they chose to sunset have now become the Republicans’ crisis,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in floor remarks. “Republicans, in fact, never had anything to do with it.” “Democrats created ObamaCare — alone. They implemented the enhanced tax credits — alone. And they chose a sunset date for those tax credits — alone,” he continued. “Democrats are solely — solely — responsible for the ObamaCare tax credit cliff, and yet they’re trying to pin this disaster on Republicans while at the very same time they’re asking Republicans to bail them out.”
Will SNAP benefits be paid in November?– As the federal government shutdown endures for a third week, states have started to issue concerning warnings: Funding for food assistance is about to dry up.“SNAP benefits for November won’t be issued if the federal government shutdown continues past Oct. 27,” warned Texas’ Health and Human Services Department.Officials in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia all issued similar warnings, saying the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP, for short) is poised to run out of money in a matter of days.“We’re going to run out of money in two weeks,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday.SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program, helps people living near or below the poverty line afford groceries. The program is funded by federal dollars but administered by state and local agencies. The United States Department of Agriculture started notifying states last week that it was seeking alternative sources of funding, but in the meantime states should pause issuing benefits approved after Oct. 16. The disruption of funds could impact 42 million people, or 1 in 8 Americans, who rely on SNAP to buy food.The USDA’s shutdown contingency plan allows the agency to tap into reserve funding to keep SNAP operating if the federal government remains shut for longer than a month. But it would cost about $8 billion to keep benefits flowing for everyone in November, which makes scraping together funds challenging.The size of the contingency fund is closer to $6 billion, according to CNN.States could scrape the money together themselves to keep the benefits flowing, but they shouldn’t be expected to be reimbursed, said Peter Hadler, the deputy commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Social Services.Benefits could also come late or only to some families. The USDA has a plan that would allow it to prioritize November funds to the highest-need recipients, The New York Times reports.It’s also not clear how serious the USDA is about cutting off benefits, or if the warnings of the past week are to add political pressure on reopening the government. Messages on the USDA website blame the “Radical Left” Democrats for the shutdown, while leaders of states like Pennsylvania and New York are blaming Republicans.
Government shutdown now 2nd longest in U.S. history -The U.S. government shutdown on Wednesday entered its 22nd day, becoming the second-longest federal funding lapse ever, with no end in sight.The milestone means that the two longest shutdowns have both occurred while President Donald Trump was in office. The longest shutdown began in December 2018, in Trump's first term, and dragged on for nearly five weeks. That shutdown stemmed from a dispute about funding Trump's contentious immigration policy.The current shutdown resulted from Senate Democrats refusing to vote for a short-term government funding bill sponsored by Republicans, because it lacks additional spending on health care and other provisions.That GOP-backed stopgap bill, which would resume funding at current levels until Nov. 21, failed to pass in the Senate for a 12th time Wednesday evening. The 54-46 vote fell mostly along party lines. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. But 60 votes are needed to pass any funding bill.
Senate GOP Mull Filibuster Reform To End Shutdown -As Democrats continue to dig in their heels over Obamacare, Senate Republicans are now considering changing the filibuster's rules to end the shutdown. "Nobody talked about filibuster two weeks ago. Now that we see that the Democrats are just not going to agree to anything, then that’s probably a viable option," Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told The Hill. "I don’t know the answer to this. I don’t think anybody does because they’re not going to give; we’re not going to give. So it’s going to be a stalemate, and the loser is going to be the American people." Tuberville notably defended keeping the filibuster after Republicans won control of the Senate in last year's election, while other GOP senators are predicting that President Trump will start pressuring Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to change the Senate rules if the shutdown continues into next month - a move Thune has explicitly said he opposes. "I think the pressure from the White House will become pretty enormous," one GOP senator told the outlet. "We’re reaching a point here where the SNAP benefits start going down, the military - pretty soon [the president] isn’t going to have enough money to pay them. We’re going to reach a point where people are literally not able to buy food," the senator continued, referring to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) winding down, along with the military eventually going without pay. "We’re going to reach a point where people are literally not able to buy food," the senator continued, adding "There’s going to come a breaking point. Filibuster reform means all kinds of different things. It could be a talking filibuster." "The longer this goes on and the more intransigent the Democrats are, I think they’re inviting a conversation about, ‘Are there steps we can take here?" "If this goes past Nov. 1, I think the mood is really going to turn in the country in a big way," they continued. According to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Republicans want to preserve the 60-vote threshold for passing legislation, but admitted they were looking into the "possibility" of a carve-out to end the shutdown. "It’s something Republicans don’t want to do," he said. That said, "There’s a certain comity here, there’s a way of getting along. That’s just been busted by the Democrats, time and time again," Johnson argued - accusing Democrats of trying to undermine Trump. Thune, as noted, is opposed to weakening or eliminating the filibuster - something he vowed to maintain when he ran against Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL) for majority leader in November - telling reporters that getting rid of the rule to end the shutdown would be a "bad idea." Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she's opposed to changing the rule, but will review any plan to reopen the government even if it includes reforms. Asked about this 'nuclear option,' Collins replied: "I know that that is being discussed," adding "I am a strong supporter of the filibuster, but obviously I’ll look at any plan that anyone puts out in order to reopen government." Sen. Josh Hawley (R-O) said all “options” need to be on the table if the shutdown drags on for weeks longer. He noted Senate Republicans changed the Senate rules to confirm lower-level executive branch nominees en bloc after Democrats slow-walked more than 140 of Trump’s nominees, refusing to confirm a single civilian nominee by voice vote or unanimous consent to save time. “I’d just say to the Democrats, ‘Listen, you saw what happened when we had to change the nominations rule to overcome their unprecedented obstruction,’” he said. “At a certain point, the pain becomes so severe on working people that all options may be on the table,” he warned. “At a certain point, people have to be able to go to the VA and get health care. They have to. People have to be able to get their food stamp benefits. They won’t be able to live.” -The Hill Meanwhile, the Senate is slated to vote today on the House-passed funding bill. The vote is likely to fail (again), while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will once again each host pressers to call each other unreasonable.
Democrats block bill to pay military, essential workers during government shutdown-- Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-sponsored bill Thursday to pay active-duty members of the military and other essential federal employees who have been required to work during the government shutdown. Democrats blocked the Shutdown Fairness Act of 2025, sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), in a mostly party-line 54-45 vote. It needed 60 votes to advance. Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) crossed party lines to vote in favor of the measure. Fetterman — along with Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine) — has also been voting with Republicans to reopen the government. The two Georgia Democrats have been voting against that stopgap funding bill. The legislation would pay service members as well as employees who are determined by agency heads to be “excepted” from the shutdown or who are “performing emergency work.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said that would have included more than 300 congressional employees, including U.S. Capitol Police, who worked overnight Tuesday and Wednesday morning to keep the Senate floor open while Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) spoke for 22 hours and 37 minutes in protest of President Trump. Johnson’s bill would also have guaranteed pay for federal workers who are on duty throughout the shutdown, including air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration agents, park rangers, federal law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, Thune said. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) blasted the Republican bill as a “ruse” that would give White House budget director Russell Vought broad authority to pick and choose which federal departments and agencies to reopen and which to keep closed. “It’s nothing more than another tool for Trump to hurt federal workers and American families and to keep this shutdown going for as long as he wants,” Schumer said on the floor. “We will not give Donald Trump a license to play politics with people’s livelihoods. That’s why we oppose this.” Johnson, the bill’s sponsor, accused Democrats of mischaracterizing his bill, asserting that federal law states clearly what federal employees are essential during a shutdown. The vote was the latest effort by Republicans to force Democrats to take tough votes during the shutdown, which has dragged for 23 days. Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Gary Peters (Mich.), meanwhile, have introduced an alternative bill to pay all federal employees and contractors during the shutdown. Van Hollen’s True Shutdown Fairness Act would pay all federal employees during the shutdown, including military service members, and prevent the Trump administration from attempting “reductions in force” or mass layoffs. Van Hollen asked for unanimous consent to approve his bill on the Senate floor Thursday, but Johnson objected.
ObamaCare price jump hits Idaho first as shutdown deal remains elusive Idaho consumers are getting the nation’s first look at price increases hitting Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans as the federal tax credits that helped to trigger a government shutdown expire. Idaho’s marketplace open enrollment began Oct. 15, as the future of enhanced premium tax credits remains in limbo. Marketplace customers will see markedly higher premiums than last year if the credits are not extended. “On average, gross premiums, or the overall cost of the premium, has gone up about 10 percent. And the net premium, or the amount the consumer pays after the tax credit has been applied, has increased about 75 percent,” Pat Kelly, executive director of Your Health Idaho, told The Hill. “So, those are averages across all of our enrollees, but it does give an indication of overall increase and then increase to what the consumer actually pays.” The enhanced premium tax credits were created through the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extended to the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act, enabling households with incomes higher than 400 percent of the federal poverty level to benefit from lowered premiums. Kelly estimates that about 13,000 of the roughly 135,000 enrollees in Idaho’s marketplace earn more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level. If Congress takes no action, those people will no longer be able to receive credits, though projections indicate that the vast majority of this cohort will remain insured if that does occur. Many Idahoans will be automatically reenrolled into their plans under their new rates, potentially leaving some people unaware of the upcoming spike in their monthly costs. Access to tax credits won’t be affected by income alone — age and residency also factor into eligibility. Premium tax credits are based on the second-lowest cost Silver plan in a customer’s area. Because younger customers typically pay less than older customers, they are more likely to be ineligible for the credits even if they make below 400 percent of the federal poverty level. According to Gideon Lukens, director of research and data analysis on the health policy team for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the difference that Idahoans will see does not “stand out as particularly large.” Giving the example of a 60-year-old couple in Idaho, Lukens noted they could expect an increase in their annual premium by $18,000, which is close to the expected average. “There’s been about a dozen [state-based marketplace] states that have started window shopping, and the average increase for that same example couple is typically over $20,000 annually,” Lukens said.
Trump calls for Ukraine to be carved up with Russia after tense meeting with Zelenskyy -U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled a shift in support toward Russia's Vladimir Putin as he looks for a quick end to the war in Ukraine, likely striking fear into Ukrainian officials. Trump held a tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, with the potential supply of U.S. long-range cruise missiles, Tomahawks, on the agenda. Zelenskyy walked away from the meeting not only empty-handed, but apparently upbraided by Trump, who said Ukraine should accept Russia's terms for ending the war — by handing over the entire eastern territory of Donbas, the epicenter of ongoing fighting in Ukraine. Speaking to reporters this weekend, Trump said for Donbas to be "cut the way it is." "It's cut up right now, I think 78% of the land is already taken by Russia," he said on Air Force One on Sunday. "They should stop right now at the battle lines. ... Go home, stop killing people and be done." In the meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump also warned the Ukrainian leader that Putin had told him — in a lengthy phone call on Thursday in which they agreed to hold in-person talks in Hungary — that Russia would "destroy" Ukraine if it did not agree to the demand.The meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy descended into a "shouting match," the Financial Times reported, with Trump "cursing all the time," according to unnamed people familiar with the matter cited by the FT.In a Truth Social post, Trump described the meeting as "very interesting, and cordial," but said he had "strongly suggested" to both leaders that it was time to end the war."Let both claim Victory, let History decide!" he said in the post Friday.Zelenskyy put on a brave face, telling NBC News' "Meet the Press," in an interview recorded Friday after the meeting with Trump, that "we are not losing this war, and Putin is not winning." He also remained optimistic despite leaving the White House without the Tomahawk missiles he was coveting."It's good that President Trump didn't say 'no,' but for today, didn't say 'yes,'" Zelenskyy told "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker in the interview, which aired Sunday.He also said he was ready to join Putin and Trump's upcoming summit in Budapest, which could take place in the next few weeks. Whether Zelenskyy will be invited to Hungary remains to be seen, however.As well as declining to provide Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine,which Trump had previously mooted in an apparent bid to bring Russia to the negotiating table, Trump also mused about giving security guarantees to both Kyiv and Moscow, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the talks.. The White House declined to comment further to CNBC on Monday. As for Moscow, Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told CNBC on Monday in emailed comments that the Kremlin welcomes "Trump's efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement in Ukraine."
Report: Trump Urged Zelensky To Accept Russia's Terms for a Peace Deal - During a meeting at the White House on Friday, President Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia’s terms for a peace deal, warning Russian President Vladimir Putin could “destroy” the Ukrainian leader if he didn’t make the concessions, the Financial Timesreported on Sunday. People familiar with the matter told the outlet that the meeting descended into a “shouting match” multiple times and that Trump was telling Zelensky to give up control of territory in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. The president also tossed aside a map of the Ukrainian frontlines, saying he was “sick” of seeing it. “This red line, I don’t even know where this is. I’ve never been there,” Trump reportedly said. The report said that Putin made a new offer to Trump when they spoke on the phone on Thursday by proposing that Ukraine cede the Donbas in exchange for Russia ceding small parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The position marks a concession from Moscow as its previous offer involved Ukraine ceding the Donbas and freezing the lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.Trump also told Zelensky during the meeting that Ukraine was losing the war and that the Russian economy was doing “great,” contradicting recent public comments he made about the conflict. A European official told the FT that Zelensky was feeling “very negative” after the meeting. Despite the reported tensions, Trump and Zelensky kept things cordial in their public comments, and Trump appeared to endorse the idea of freezing the current battle lines in a post on Truth Social.“The meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was very interesting, and cordial, but I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL! Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts,” Trump wrote.“They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide! No more shooting, no more Death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent,” the president added.Zelensky also left the meeting on Sunday without getting Trump to pledge to provide Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, which are nuclear-capable and have a range of over 1,000 miles. When speaking to reporters after the meeting, Zelensky said that he wouldn’t comment on the possibility of the US providing long-range weapons because “the United States does not want an escalation.”
Ukraine, US finalizing deal for 25 Patriot systems, Zelensky says - Ukraine and the U.S. are finalizing a deal for Kyiv to secure 25 Patriot air defense systems, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, a push that would boost the Ukrainian military’s ability to defend against Russian aerial attacks. “The difficulty lies in the production queue — a line of countries that have signed relevant contracts. We will be receiving these 25 systems over the years, with different quantities each year,” Zelensky said during a meeting with reporters in Kyiv, according to multiple news outlets. The Patriot system, which includes launchers, missiles and radar, can cost around $1 billion, and is one of the rare weapons that can intercept Moscow’s ballistic missiles, a necessary component as Russia continues to hammer Ukraine with aerial attacks. Ukraine will not receive the systems all at once, as it will have to wait for other nations to get the defense system that is in high demand. Zelensky said on Monday that Ukraine is working with the U.S. to “ensure that Ukraine still can receive the necessary number of Patriot systems. This is not an easy task, but it is one of the security guarantees for Ukraine — and it will work in the long term.”
Thune: Russia sanctions bill on hold for now - Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday that legislation slapping new sanctions on Russia and its trading partners is on hold until after an upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I think they’re thinking that — see how this meeting goes in a couple of weeks with Putin,” Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters, adding that he is in close contact with the Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is coordinating the sanctions efforts with the White House. “I think at least right now [Graham] is working with the White House trying to determine whether or not that meeting that happens in a couple of weeks will be a fruitful one,” Thune added. A second person granted anonymity to disclose internal discussions confirmed that the bill is effectively on ice until after the Trump-Putin meeting. Trump announced last week the meeting would happen in Budapest, Hungary, but he did not set a date.
Trump Again Says India PM Agreed to Ease Russian Energy Buys | Rigzone -- President Donald Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him during a phone call Tuesday that India would wind down purchases of Russian oil, a possible reprieve to their trade impasse. Trump said at the White House during a Diwali celebration that the two leaders had “talked about a lot of things, but mostly the world of trade — he’s very interested in that.” Modi acknowledged the call in a social media post on Wednesday, without mentioning the content of the discussion. Trump hit India with 50% tariffs on its exports to the US in part to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil and to counter what the US has cast as high levies and other barriers on American goods. The US president said last week that he had received assurances from Modi that India would stop buying oil from Russia, transactions seen by Ukraine’s allies as buoying the Kremlin’s economy and war effort. New Delhi hasn’t confirmed whether it would comply and the Ministry of External Affairs said it wasn’t aware of a call between Trump and Modi last week. On Tuesday, Trump appeared to signal that India would curb rather than halt purchases of Russian energy. “He’s not going to buy much oil from Russia,” Trump said. “He wants to see that war end as much as I do. He wants to see the war end with Russia, Ukraine, and as you know, they’re not going to be buying too much oil.” In a post on X, Modi thanked Trump for the “warm Diwali greetings.” The Indian embassy didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the call. The White House also did not immediately respond to a request for more details. Trump has softened his rhetoric on India in recent weeks as the two nations carry out talks to clinch a trade deal and lower tariffs. Any effort to scale back Russian energy buys would be a gradual process, and Modi’s government has previously indicated that the country would continue to make those purchases if it is economically viable. The two sides are narrowing their differences over trade and are working toward an agreement that could see the tariff rate on Indian goods lowered to 15-16%, Mint newspaper reported Wednesday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Trade negotiators from New Delhi made solid progress in their talks in the US last week, an official said on the weekend. India became a major importer of Russian crude after the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, buying oil at a discount. Russian oil makes up about a third of India’s overall imports despite the US push to curb flows. Trump and Modi have been at odds over the US president’s claims that he used trade as leverage to broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May. While Pakistan has embraced that assertion — and nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize — Modi and Indian officials have bristled at the notion that the US pressured them into a ceasefire.
India May Reduce Russian Oil Imports for Trade Deal - The United States and India are nearing a trade deal that could slash U.S. tariffs on Indian imports from the massive 50% to 15-16% and possibly entail India agreeing to gradually reduce Russian oil imports, Indian newspaper Mint reported on Wednesday, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the talks. A potential deal could be announced as early as at next week’s summit of the ASEAN Southeast Asian bloc in Malaysia, according to the report. Indian officials did not respond to Mint’s request to comment on the report. The United States and India have been locked in difficult trade talks for months, with the Trump Administration looking to slash its massive trade deficit with Asia’s second-biggest economy. Amid these difficult talks, U.S. President Donald Trump has singled out India as a target to punish for buying large volumes of Russian crude oil and supporting the Kremlin’s energy revenues. President Trump doubled the 25% tariff on India to 50% as of August, to punish it for continued purchase of Russian oil. In an X message on Wednesday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked President Trump for a recent phone call, but did not reference either trade talks or India’s purchases of Russian oil. “May our two great democracies continue to illuminate the world with hope and stand united against terrorism in all its forms,” Modi wrote. President Trump on Sunday reiterated his threat to make India pay “massive” tariffs unless it stops buying Russian oil, repeating that Modi had assured him those purchases would stop. Last week, India neither confirmed nor denied that it would indeed cut or halt imports of Russian crude and said its key energy policy driver is “to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer.” Randhir Jaiswal, an official spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said “India is a significant importer of oil and gas. It has been our consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario. Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective.”
US Adds Sanctions on Russian Oil Companies, Demands End To Ukraine War - The US Treasury Department on Wednesday announced sanctions targeting Russian oil companies and demanded that Moscow end its war in Ukraine, marking the first US sanctions targeting Moscow over the conflict of this Trump administration.The sanctions targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, and their subsidiaries, but the measures will likely have little impact on Moscow’s decision-making related to the war, as its oil industry has been under heavy Western sanctions for years. In a statement on the sanctions, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened further sanctions. “Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” he said. “Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions,” Bessent added. President Trump described the sanctions as “tremendous” and said he hoped they wouldn’t be on for long. “We hope that the war will be settled,” he said, according to the White House.The sanctions come after the US called off a summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that was expected to happen in Budapest, Hungary, within the next two weeks. A US official told NBC News that the new sanctions were related to the meeting falling through, which appears to have happened because Russia hasn’t changed its stance on its conditions to end the war.On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pushed back against the calls in the US for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, reaffirming Moscow’s position that it wants a peace deal before a truce. President Trump has reportedly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia’s terms for an agreement, which includes Ukraine ceding the Donbas, but there’s no sign he’s putting real pressure on the Ukrainian leader to do so.
US hits top Russian oil companies with sanctions, EU bans Russian LNG - (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft as his frustration grows with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war. The move came after EU countries on Wednesday approved a 19th package of sanctions on Moscow for its war against Ukraine that included a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas imports. Trump's measures also followed Britain's sanctioning last week of Rosneft and Lukoil. The U.S. Treasury Department said it was prepared to take further action as it called on Moscow to agree immediately to a ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022. "Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. "We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions." Oil prices jumped more than $2 a barrel after the U.S. measures, with Brent crude futures extending gains after settlement, rising to about $64. The sanctions are a major policy shift for Trump, who had not put sanctions on Russia over the war and instead relied on trade measures. Trump earlier this year imposed additional 25% tariffs on goods from India in retaliation for its purchasing discounted Russian oil. The U.S. has not imposed the tariffs on China, another major buyer of Russian oil. A $60 price cap on Russian oil imposed by Western countries after Russia's invasion has shifted Russia's oil customers in recent years from Europe to Asia. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday he had canceled a planned summit in Hungary with Putin because it didn't feel like it was the right time. Trump also said he hopes the sanctions on Russian oil companies will not need to be in place for a long time. Trump said last year that he likes to remove sanctions quickly because of the risks to the dominance of the dollar in global transactions that the measures can bring. Russia has often asked for payments for oil in other currencies. ' Analysts said the measures were a big step and long overdue. "This can't just be one and done," said Edward Fishman, a former U.S. official who is now a senior research scholar at Columbia University. He said the question was whether the U.S. now threatens sanctions on anyone doing business with Rosneft and Lukoil. Jeremy Paner, a former sanctions investigator at the Treasury Department and now a partner at law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, said the absence of banks and Indian or Chinese oil purchasers in Wednesday's sanctions means they "will not get Putin’s attention." A senior Ukrainian official, however, said the step was “great news” and that the two Russian energy companies were among U.S. sanctions targets proposed by Kyiv in the past. The Treasury also sanctioned dozens of Rosneft and Lukoil subsidiaries. The measures block U.S. assets of those designated and prevent Americans from doing business with them. The EU's LNG ban will take effect in two stages: short-term contracts will end after six months and long-term contracts from January 1, 2027. The full ban comes a year earlier than the Commission's proposed roadmap to end the bloc's reliance on Russian fossil fuels. The new EU package also adds new travel restrictions on Russian diplomats and lists 117 more vessels from Moscow's shadow fleet, mostly tankers, bringing the total to 558. The listings include banks in Kazakhstan and Belarus, the presidency said. EU diplomatic sources told Reuters that four entities linked to China's oil industry will be listed but the names will not be made public until the official adoption on Thursday. These include two oil refineries, a trading company and an entity which helps in the circumvention in oil and other sectors.
Putin Brushes Off New US Sanctions, Issues Warning on Tomahawk Missiles - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday brushed off the new sanctions imposed by the US targeting two Russian oil companies and issued a new warning against the potential US supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. “Regarding the new sanctions, first of all, there is nothing new about it. Yes, they are serious for us and may have certain consequences, but they will not significantly impact our economic health,” Putin said, according to the Russian news agency TASS.The Trump administration called on Russia to end its war in Ukraine when it issued the sanctions and threatened more would be coming if the conflict continued. But the measures are unlikely to have much impact, since Russia has been under heavy Western sanctions for years and is prepared to face more. Putin also said that the sanctions harm US-Russia relations. “Speaking about the political part, then, certainly, this is an unfriendly act against Russia. It is an obvious thing and it does not strengthen Russia-US relations that have just started recovering. Certainly, the US administration harms Russia-US relations by such actions,” he said. Discussing the possibility of the US providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, Putin said any Ukrainian Tomahawk strikes would be met with an “overwhelming” response. “If Russian territory is hit… with such a weapon, the response will be very serious if not outright overwhelming,” he said. President Trump appears to have cooled on the idea of supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks, which are nuclear-capable and have a range of over 1,000 miles. “The problem with the Tomahawk is — a lot of people don’t know — It’ll take a minimum of six months, usually a year, to learn how to use,”he told reporters on Wednesday. “The only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we shot it.”
Trump Says China Doesn't Want to Invade Taiwan - 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. “I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that,” Trump told reporters in response to a question about China invading Taiwan, according to POLITICO. “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.” The president’s comments contradict claims from US War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said earlier this year that the threat China poses to Taiwan could be “imminent.” 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. 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. “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 also said that he was planning to visit China in early 2026 after receiving an invitation from Beijing.
Iran, Russia, China Send Letter to UN To Mark Official End of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal - --On Saturday, Iran, Russia, and China sent a letter to the UN Security Council declaring that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, has officially expired.The official termination of the JCPOA comes seven years after the US unilaterally quit the deal during the first Trump administration in 2018.In the letter, the three countries condemned France, the UK, and Germany, known as the E3, for triggering the snapback mechanism of the JCPOA, which re-imposed UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted back in 2015. Russia and China’s opposition to the move signals they will not follow the sanctions, which include an arms embargo.“The attempt by the E3 to trigger the so-called ‘snapback’ is by default legally and procedurally flawed,” Iran, Russia, and China said, adding that the E3 “ceased to perform their commitments” under the JCPOA and UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the agreement and created the snapback mechanism.The ability to snap back the sanctions would have expired with the JCPOA, which is why the E3 countries ensured they were reimposed beforehand, a step they likely took at the behest of the US. The sanctions came just a few months after the 12-day US-Israeli war against Iran, which involved the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.Iran, Russia, and China told the Security Council that the end of the JCPOA and the “conclusion of Resolution 2231 marks the end of the Security Council’s consideration of the Iranian nuclear issue and contributes to strengthening the authority of the Council and the credibility of multilateral diplomacy.”Iran’s Foreign Ministry also released a statement that said all of the “provisions (of the deal), including the restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program and the related mechanisms, are considered terminated.” The Foreign Ministry reiterated that Tehran was still open to diplomacy over its nuclear program, though any diplomatic progress with the US is unlikely due to the Trump administration’s demands. Iran remains a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and its leadership has reaffirmed in recent months that Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons and is still bound by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s fatwa that prohibits the development of nuclear weapons.Israel, which is always accusing Iran of moving toward nuclear weapons, is not a signatory to the NPT and has a secret nuclear weapons stockpile, making it the only nuclear-armed country in the Middle East.
Khamenei tells Trump to 'keep dreaming' with Iran nuclear strike claims - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday countered President Trump’s claims that a U.S. strike in June destroyed Iranian nuclear facilities. “The US President boasts that they’ve bombed and destroyed Iran’s nuclear industry. Very well, in your dreams!” Khamenei said in a post on social platform X. Posts on Khamenei’s account also criticized Trump’s brokering of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and rejected talks with the U.S. over Iran’s nuclear program. “The US President says that he makes deals and wants to make a deal with Iran. ‘Dealing’ where the outcome is predetermined using coercion isn’t a way of dealing. It’s a way of imposing something, and the Iranian nation will never submit to such impositions,” he said in the post. Trump has boasted about obliterating Iran’s nuclear capabilities with strikes against three of its facilities in June — Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz — joining an Israeli military operation against the country that lasted 12 days. Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview published Sunday that while those three sites are “massively damaged,” Iran still possesses 400 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium, a worrying amount because it can be scaled up to 90 percent enrichment for use in a weapon. “According to our information, the majority of this uranium remains in the nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Fordow, and some in Natanz. However, the facilities there were bombed, they are massively damaged, and some are underground,” Grossi said in an interview with the Swiss outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Witkoff Reveals the CIA Was Telling Him Hamas Didn't Want Ceasefire Deal - US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff revealed in a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday that the CIA was telling him Hamas didn’t want to agree to the Gaza ceasefire deal in the days leading up to the group accepting the US proposal. Witkoff, who was interviewed alongside President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said the Arab countries mediating the negotiations were telling him Hamas would respond positively, while the CIA was saying the opposite.“[W]e were getting word from the mediators that they were gonna come out positive, but with a couple of conditions and different things that they wanted to see modified in any final agreement. But the vibe we were getting was quite positive,” Witkoff said.“And we were hearing that Hamas was positive on the deal, and yet I was reading intelligence reports every day and getting briefings from the CIA three times a day. And those intelligence briefings were suggesting that Hamas was going to say no,” he added.Witkoff said that despite the US intelligence reports, he and Kushner thought the talks were going in a positive direction. “We really felt that this was going in a positive way, and sure enough Hamas came out and said– you know, ‘We accept the president’s plan.’ And that allowed us to get into the next gear,” he said.While there are many uncertainties about the prospects for a long-term deal and not all the details have been worked out, Kushner said that Hamas was clear that they “were on board with releasing the hostages, they wanted to end the war.”Hamas’s long-standing position was that it was willing to release all remaining Israeli captives in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and a permanent ceasefire. The group made a significant concession by agreeing to release the hostages without a full withdrawal, as the IDF remains in control of more than 50% of Gaza’s territory and has continued to kill Palestinians despite the ceasefire.
In Israel, Vance Says It Will Take Time for Hamas To Recover All Israeli Hostage Bodies - Vice President JD Vance visited Israel on Tuesday and said it would take time to recover all of the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages under the rubble in Gaza, contradicting previous Israeli claims that Hamas was violating the ceasefire deal by not handing over all of the remains. “A lot of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are,” Vance told reporters at the new US-led Civilian Military Cooperation Center (CMCC) in southern Israel, from where the US military will oversee the Gaza ceasefire. Israel initially accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement by not immediately handing over all 28 of the bodies, but Israeli officials were aware that not all of the remains would be released right away, and the deal created a mechanism for sharing information on recovering the bodies. Israel received two more bodies on Tuesday, and if they are confirmed to be Israelis, that means 13 bodies remain in Gaza.When asked to set a deadline for Hamas to find all the bodies, Vance declined. “I’m not going to do what the President of the United States has thus far refused to do, which is put an explicit deadline on it. Because a lot of this stuff is difficult,” he said. Hamas’s political leader, Khalil al-Hayya, who is based in Qatar, said on Tuesday that Hamas was ready to continue recovering the bodies of Israeli captives if given more time and heavy equipment to dig through the rubble. “We are ready to recover and hand over all the bodies according to the agreement; we have no desire to keep anyone with us — let them return to their relatives, and our martyrs will also return and be buried with dignity,” he said.Israel has been releasing 15 bodies of deceased Palestinians for every one Israeli body that it receives. So far, Israel has sent 165 bodies into Gaza, and some have shown signs of torture and execution.
Trump Threatens Hamas With 'Eradication' If it Doesn't 'Behave' - President Trump said on Monday that Hamas must “behave” in Gaza or the Palestinian group would be “eradicated,” echoing similar threats he has made since the ceasefire deal was signed.“We made a deal with Hamas that they’re going to be very good, they’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice, and if not, we’re going to eradicate them if we have to,” the president told reporters at the White House.Trump suggested that Israel was eager to restart its genocidal war if he gave the word. “Israel would go in in two minutes if I asked them. I could tell them, ‘Go in and take care of it.’ But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance,” he said.His comments came a day after Israel unleashed heavy airstrikes across Gaza, killing at least 45 Palestinians, after claiming IDF troops came under attack in Rafah, though some reports say the blast was caused by an Israeli vehicle running over an unexploded ordnance.Discussing the alleged attack on Sunday, Trump suggested that if it was a Hamas operation, it was not carried out under the direction of leadership. He made similar comments on Monday, saying, “I don’t believe it was the leadership, but they have some rebellion in there among themselves.”While Trump has not addressed Israel’s repeated attacks on Gaza, which have killed at least 80 Palestinians since the truce went into effect, he accused Hamas of being in violation of the ceasefire and warned it will “be taken care of really quickly” if Hamas does not “straighten it out themselves.”
Trump Claims Middle East Countries Want To Send Troops Into Gaza To Fight Hamas - President Trump claimed on Tuesday that many of the US’s allies in the Middle East are willing to send a force into Gaza to fight Hamas, a claim that came as The New York Times reported that regional countries are hesitant to be part of a peacekeeping force in Gaza over fears of potential clashes with Hamas.“Numerous of our NOW GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, informed me that they would welcome the opportunity, at my request, to go into GAZA with a heavy force and “straighten our Hamas” if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us,” the president wrote on Truth Social.While Trump claims Hamas has been violating the ceasefire, he has been silent on Israeli violations, which include continued attacks in Gaza and restrictions on aid entering the Strip.“The love and spirit for the Middle East has not been seen like this in a thousand years! It is a beautiful thing to behold! I told these countries, and Israel, “NOT YET!” There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right. If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!” Trump said in his post.The president didn’t mention any countries that were willing to send troops to fight Hamas, but thanked Indonesia in his post for its willingness to be involved in the ceasefire process. “Also, I would like to thank the great and powerful country of Indonesia, and its wonderful leader, for all of the help they have shown and given to the Middle East, and to the U.S.A. TO EVERYONE, thank you for your attention to this matter!” he said. The New York Times report said that representatives of countries that are expected to be a part of a future peacekeeping force in Gaza have said privately that they will not commit troops until there is more clarity on what they’re expected to do. Their main concern is that they don’t want their troops to be expected to fight Hamas on Israel’s behalf.
US Considering a Plan To Split Gaza into Two With One Zone Controlled by Israel and the Other by Hamas - The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the US and Israel are considering a plan for Gaza that would divide the Palestinian territory into two, with one area controlled by Hamas and the other controlled by the Israeli military.Under the plan, reconstruction could only take place in the Israeli-occupied area until Hamas disarms. “No reconstruction funds will be going into areas that Hamas still controls,” Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law who has been deeply involved in Gaza negotiations, told reporters in Israel on Tuesday.“There are considerations happening now in the area that the IDF controls, as long as that can be secured, to start the construction as a new Gaza in order to give the Palestinians living in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs, a place to live,” Kushner said.The Journal report said Arab mediators are alarmed by the plan because they fear dividing Gaza could lead to a zone of permanent Israeli control inside the Palestinian territory, and they are unlikely to commit to deploying troops as part of a peacekeeping force if the US and Israel move forward with the idea.
Israeli Knesset Advances Bill To Annex the West Bank During Vance Visit - The Israeli Knesset on Wednesday advanced a bill to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Vice President JD Vance is visiting Israel.According to Haaretz, the bill to annex the Palestinian territory passed a preliminary vote in a vote of 25-24 and still needs to go through three more votes to become law. The effort was opposed by most members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, which condemned the vote as a “stunt by the opposition aimed at harming our relations with the United States.”The bill was introduced and supported by far-right parties, including Jewish Power and Religious Zionism, which are both in Netanyahu’s coalition government. Just one Likud MK, Yuli Edelstein, broke with his party to support the bill, and he has reportedly been removed from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for the vote. While Netanyahu and his Likud party are staunch supporters of expanding illegal Jewish settlements and hope to eventually annex the West Bank, they’re also working to maintain good relations with the Trump administration. President Trump recently said he would “not allow” Israel to annex the West Bank.The sponsor of the bill, Israeli MK Avi Maoz of the Noam party, which holds just one seat in the Knesset, was part of Netanyahu’s government before he left earlier this year.“The Holy One, blessed be He, gave the people of Israel the Land of Israel. Settlement in the Land of Israel is the redemption and national revival, settlement is what makes the Land of Israel flourish after two thousand years of exile,” he told other MKs before the vote, according to The Times of Israel.“In applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), we are making a correction that is long overdue. Since the government has been procrastinating, our job as members of Knesset is to do this,” Maoz added.
Vance and Netanyahu Deny That Israel Is a 'Protectorate State' of the US - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday denied that Israel was a “protectorate state” or a “vassal” of the US after being questioned about the growing criticism of the US-Israel relationship and Israel’s reliance on US military aid.“Well, I want to put it very clearly, you know, one week they say that Israel controls the United States. A week later, they say that the United States controls Israel. This is hogwash,” Netanyahutold reporters at his office in Jerusalem before holding a meeting with Vance.“We have a partnership, an alliance of partners who share common values and common goals. We can have discussions, we can have disagreements here and there, but on the whole, I have to say that over the past year we have had agreement,” the Israeli leader added.Addressing the question, Vance said, “We don’t want a client state, and that’s not what Israel is. We want a partnership. We want an ally here.”The US vice president also appeared to respond to the criticism of the US monitoring of the Gaza ceasefire and the slew of high-level US officials visiting Israel this week. US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his advisor, Jared Kushner, were also in Israel this week, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the trip on Friday.“It’s not about monitoring in the sense of, you know, you monitor a toddler. It’s about monitoring in the sense that there’s a lot of work, a lot of good people who are doing that work, and it’s important for the principals in the administration to keep on ensuring that our people are doing what we need them to do,” Vance said.The New York Times reported on Wednesday that, according to several Trump officials, there is concern within the administration that Netanyahu may vacate the ceasefire deal and that the strategy is for Vance, Kushner, and Witkoff to prevent him from restarting the full-scale bombing campaign in Gaza.
Marco Rubio Is the Latest US Official To Arrive in Israel for 'Bibi-Sitting' - Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel on Thursday, making him the fourth Trump administration official to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week and push for Israel to comply with the Gaza ceasefire deal, which Israeli media is referring to as “Bibi-sitting.”“[T]he President has made this a top priority, I think as evidenced by the fact that both Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were here for much of the week … and the Vice President just left,” Rubiotold reporters after meeting with Netanyahu.“I’m here now today because this is a priority. It’s a very important achievement, but there’s more work to be done and bigger achievements that lie ahead. And so we’re here to work on that, and we feel very positive and confident that we’re going to get there despite substantial obstacles,” he added.The New York Times reported on Wednesday that, according to several Trump officials, there is concern within the administration that Netanyahu may quit the ceasefire deal and that the strategy is for senior US officials to prevent him from restarting the full-scale bombing campaign in Gaza.Israel has been violating the deal by not allowing a sufficient number of aid trucks to enter Gaza, and it has continued attacks on Palestinians, killing at least 89 since the ceasefire went into effect, including one over the past day, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The US appears to be tolerating the current situation but wants to prevent Israel from launching major airstrikes on Gaza, like the attacks that were seen this past Sunday.The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Thursday that the US expects to be notified in advance before the IDF “conducts any exceptional military strikes in the Gaza Strip, including airstrikes.”The report said: “Israeli defense sources say that the Americans are not yet presenting this as a demand for a green light from them before any military action. But, in practice, they are making it very clear that they will not tolerate any more Israeli surprises that would jeopardize the cease-fire.”
US To Keep Troops at Ain al-Asad Air Base in Western Iraq, Reversing Withdrawal Plan - US troops will remain at the Ain al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq, reversing plans to withdraw from the military installation, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said on Monday.According to Stars and Stripes, al-Sudani said about 250 to 350 US military personnel will remain at Ain al-Asad, as well as at the al-Hahrir Air Base in the Erbil Governorate in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region.A US War Department official said earlier this month that the US was in the process of withdrawing from Ain al-Asad and that the US planned to keep the majority of its troops in Erbil and was leaving some military personnel in Baghdad. The official also said that the US was bringing its overall troop numbers in Iraq from 2,500 to below 2,000 under a drawdown deal signed with the Iraqi government last year.Al-Sudani said the US troops will stay at Ain al-Asad to help forces fighting ISIS in Syria. “These personnel will assist in surveillance and coordination with US forces at the al-Tanf base in Syria to ensure that IS does not exploit the security vacuum,” he said.While the deal the US and Iraq signed last year was framed as a withdrawal agreement, the US has been clear since it was signed that it would not lead to a full US withdrawal from Iraq. The agreement outlines a formal end to the US-led anti-ISIS coalition’s mission in Iraq, but US troops will remain in the country under a “bilateral security partnership.”Washington and Baghdad began negotiations on the deal after al-Sudani called for an end to the foreign coalition’s mission in Iraq following a series of US airstrikes against the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of Iraqi Shia militias that are part of Iraq’s security forces.
Barrack Threatens ‘Major’ Israeli War If Lebanon Fails to Disarm Hezbollah - US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack is once again threatening Lebanon with war, this time from Israel, if they fail to meet US demands to fully disarm Hezbollah. He suggested that even hesitation would “inevitably” lead to a major war with Israel, and dire consequences.This isn’t the first time Barrack has threatened Lebanon with war. Back in July he suggested that both Israel and Syria would conquer them outright and annex Lebanon if they didn’t give in, later threatening to withdraw the Lebanon file from US diplomatic priorities entirely. He also gave Lebanon a 90 day deadline to disarm Hezbollah, and claimed Israel made up that deadline.Underpinning the threat of an Israeli attack on Lebanon is that Israel is already actively attacking Lebanon on a virtually daily basis, and indeed has been since the ceasefire was signed in November of last year. At least three strikes were reported Monday.In recent days, the attacks are increasingly focused on preventing southern Lebanon from repairing damage inflicted on it by Israeli strikes in last year’s war and this year’s “ceasefire.” This has included attacking construction vehicles and a major asphalt factory.The incentive for disarming Hezbollah isn’t apparent either, as last month Barrack declared in an interview that “peace is an illusion” and there would probably always be war in the area. Though Israel has threatened to escalate attacks on Lebanon, they are constantly doing so irrespective of the Lebanese government’s actions, so presenting capitulation as an incentive is probably a major challenge.
US Bombs Somalia for 83rd Time This Year - US Africa Command said in a press release on Wednesday that its forces carried out an airstrike in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region on October 20, marking at least the 83rd time the US has bombed Somalia this year.AFRICOM offered no details about the strike besides saying that it targeted the ISIS affiliate in the area and was launched in a remote mountain region about 52 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso. “Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” the command said.Since April, AFRICOM has stopped sharing information about casualties and assessments of potential civilian harm in its airstrikes. The US-backed Puntland forces did not release a statement on any fighting that may have occurred the day of the latest strike, but did claim progress in the fight against ISIS militants in comments to Garowe Online a day later.
Civilian Casualties Reported in Suspected US Drone Strike in Somalia's Lower Shabelle Region - A drone strike that hit southern Somalia on Tuesday may have caused civilian casualties, according to Somali media reports.Garowe Online reported that the strike hit the Lower Shabelle Region, which neighbors Mogadishu, in an area controlled by al-Shabaab militants. The report did not say how many civilian casualties were caused by the strike, which was likely carried out by US Africa Command.So far, AFRICOM hasn’t said it launched an airstrike in the area that day, but the command typically reports airstrikes a few days after they occur. Turkish drones are also known to carry out strikes against al-Shabaab in Somalia, but on a much less frequent basis.Garowe Online also reported that the US-backed Somali government claimed it killed seven al-Shabaab fighters in an operation with support from AFRICOM, though it was conducted further north in the central Hiraan Region.If the drone strike in Lower Shabelle is confirmed to have been carried out by the US, it would mark at least the 84th US airstrike launched in Somalia this year, as the Trump administration has been bombing the country at a record pace. The current administration has shattered the record for total US airstrikes in Somalia in a single year, which President Trump previously set at 63 during his first term in 2019.Last month, AFRICOM took credit for an airstrike in the northern Sanag region that killed a prominent clan elder. AFRICOM claimed he was an al-Shabaab weapons dealer, but that was strongly denied by family members and locals who say the victim, Abdullahi Omar Abdi, was known as a peacemaker.
Trump labels Colombian president ‘illegal drug leader,’ cuts subsidies - President Trump on Sunday ripped Colombian President Gustavo Petro, saying he “is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over” while cutting subsidies to the nation. “It has become the biggest business in Columbia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America. AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLUMBIA,” Trump added in a post on Truth Social. “The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc,” the president said. “Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.” The president’s post came after Petro on Saturday accused the U.S. of “murder” after a September strike against what Trump said were “confirmed narcoterrorists.” “US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing,” Petro said in a Spanish post on the social platform X, according to the artificial intelligence tool Grok. “The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure. We await explanations from the US government,” he added. Trump said on Sept. 15 the U.S. had undertaken a military strike aimed at what he said were “confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela” in international waters. “This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump posted on Truth Social, alongside video of a military strike targeting a boat floating on the water.
Colombia Recalls Ambassador to US as Tensions Flare With Donald Trump --Colombia has recalled its ambassador to the United States following an escalating diplomatic clash with President Donald Trump, who accused Colombian President Gustavo Petro of being an "illegal drug leader" and threatened to cut aid and impose new tariffs.Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Ambassador Daniel Garcia-Peña had returned to Bogotá for consultations. The ministry said that decisions regarding next steps would be announced shortly.Tensions between Washington and Bogotá have escalated after a series of U.S. military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean that U.S. officials say were transporting drugs. The Trump administration argues the campaign, which has included at least seven strikes and more than 30 deaths since early September, is intended to pressure Venezuela and its president, Nicolás Maduro.Two of those killed were reportedly Colombian fishermen, according to RTVC, the country’s state media. In a forceful response, Petro denounced the strike on social media, accusing the U.S. of violating Colombia’s sovereignty and committing what he described as "an act of murder."
Trump Ends Aid to Colombia After President Petro Accuses US of Murder Over Boat Strikes - President Trump has issued a statement attacking Colombian President Gustavo Petro after the Latin American leader accused the US of “murder” for bombing a boat in Colombian waters.On Saturday, Petro said that a US strike on a boat in September killed a Colombian fisherman. “US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Petro wrote on X. “Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing. The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure. We await explanations from the US government.”The Trump administration has offered no evidence to back up its claims about who it has been bombing in the Caribbean. A day after Petro’s comments, Trump accused Petro of being a “drug leader” and vowed that he would cut aid to Colombia, a longtime close partner and ally of the US. “President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia. It has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA.”Trump added that Petro “better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.” In response to Trump’s comments, Colombia withdrew its ambassador from Washington, and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said the US president’s remarks were a “threat of invasion or military action against Colombia.” In another post on X, Petro blamed the cocaine trafficking in Colombia on “consumption” in the US and said his government had taken a lot of action against the Cocaine trade.“During the years of my government, when the greatest effort was made against drug traffickers, halting the expansion of coca leaf cultivation—which now only grew by 3% in 2024—and half of the crops, for the past three years, have been abandoned in the jungle, as the UN report states, and we have seized more than 2,800 tons of cocaine as never before in history,” Petro said.The left-wing leader has previously clashed with Trump about military deportation flights and has been very critical of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, going as far as calling for an international armed force to stop it. While in New York for the UN General Assembly last month, Petro addressed pro-Palestine protesters and called on US troops to “disobey” orders from Trump, prompting the Trump administration to revoke his visa. Petro has also rejected the US push toward an attempt at regime change in Venezuela. “The Venezuelan people do not want invasions, blockades, or threats against them, no matter who they come from,” he said on Monday.
Hegseth Announces 7th US Bombing of Boat in the Caribbean - US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Sunday that the US military bombed another boat in the Caribbean and killed three “terrorists,” marking the seventh known US strike on a vessel in the region since the bombing campaign began on September 2.As usual, Hegseth claimed the vessel was carrying drugs but provided no evidence to back up the claim. He also claimed the boat was affiliated with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), or the National Liberation Army, a Marxist-Leninist insurgent group that operates on the Colombia-Venezuela border and has a presence in both countries. The US has listed ELN as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” since 1997.“There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike—which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed and no US forces were harmed in this strike,” Hegseth wrote on X. “These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people.” (Video of the strike released by Hegseth.) Most US strikes on boats in the region have targeted boats that departed Venezuela, as US officials have made clear that the real goal of the US military campaign in the region is to pursue regime change in the country, but Hegseth didn’t specify where the boat had departed from. He just said in the post that it was struck in US Southern Command’s area of responsibility, which includes all of South America.On Saturday, President Trump confirmed that the US struck a vessel last Thursday that left two survivors, an Ecuadorian and a Colombian. The president said they were being sent to their home countries “for detention and prosecution.” He claimed the strike targeted a “submarine,” and the video he posted of the strike appears to show a submersible being hit with a missile.Based on the numbers released by the Trump administration, the US has extrajudicially executed at least 32 people in strikes at sea. The Pentagon has not provided any evidence to Congress to back up its claims about who it is bombing and what the boats were carrying.
Hegseth announces another US strike on alleged drug trafficking boat, killing three - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday announced there had been another U.S. strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat days prior.“On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Hegseth said in a post on the social platform X.“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” he added. According to Hegseth, the strike happened in international waters and the three passengers who were on the vessel were killed. Hegseth’s post also featured video of a boat moving through water, with an explosion occurring shortly after. The U.S. military has conducted multiple strikes aimed at alleged narcotrafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea in recent months, killing dozens of people in the process. The president recently declared the U.S. is now involved in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels that the White House calls terrorist groups, providing legal rationale for the military actions. Ejército de Liberación Nacional is a Colombian armed group. On Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that recent strikes “go against all our tradition” in the U.S.“When you kill someone, you should know, if you’re not at war, not in a declared war, you really need to know someone’s name at least,” Paul said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”“You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all of these people have been blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime,” he added.
Top admiral’s retirement sets off alarm bells over Caribbean boat strikes -- The abrupt retirement of the four-star Navy admiral overseeing the U.S. military’s strikes against boats in the Caribbean is raising alarms as to the validity of the attacks and the Trump administration’s broader plans in the region. In a surprise move, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday announced that U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) head Adm. Alvin Holsey would step down at the end of the year, two years ahead of schedule. Southcom oversees all operations in Central and South America, and multiple outlets have reported that Holsey and Hegseth were at odds over the U.S. mission in the Caribbean. Holsey’s unexpected departure, set for Dec. 12, means Southcom is without its top military commander at a time when the Trump administration is building up U.S. forces in the Caribbean and increasingly targeting vessels off the Venezuelan coast it says are transporting drugs — most recently on Thursday — escalating a standoff with the government of President Nicolás Maduro. “Everything we’re seeing is setting off alarm bells,” said Brian Finucane, a national security lawyer with the International Crisis Group, an organization focused on conflict resolution. “The military buildup in the Caribbean, these lawless strikes on vessels there … the administration talking about potential action in Venezuela. None of this is being undertaken with congressional authorization.” Holsey’s retirement announcement comes as the Trump administration has steadily escalated its actions and rhetoric toward the Venezuelan government, quietly shifting roughly 10,000 troops in addition to warships, fighter jets and a nuclear submarine to the Caribbean in support of what officials say are counternarcotics operations. The majority of the service members are based in Puerto Rico, with eight Navy ships and one submarine in the region.
Trump says declaration of war not needed for strikes on alleged cartel boats -President Trump on Thursday dismissed the need to ask Congress for a declaration of war as the U.S. military continuously launches strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. “I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Trump told reporters. “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re going to kill them.” Since September, the president has authorized multiple strikes on alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela, killing at least 32 people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also said Wednesday that a total of five “narco-terrorists” were killed in Tuesday and Wednesday strikes on two separate alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Eastern Pacific. The administration has not provided evidence of its claims that the boats are smuggling drugs. Trump also confirmed last week that he authorized the CIA to conduct operations in Venezuela, and the administration has boosted the U.S. military presence in the region, deploying Navy ships and Marines. The moves are part of a pressure campaign against Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. On Wednesday, Trump said the administration may go to Congress for authorization to strike alleged cartel members that are smuggling narcotics on land. According to Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war. However, former Presidents George W. Bush, Obama and Biden bypassed the legislative branch in authorizing drone strikes against alleged adversaries during their terms. Obama and Trump, during his first term, both oversaw numerous drone strikes. The strikes have garnered pushback from Democrats on Capitol Hill and libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who have argued that the administration needs congressional authorization to conduct the strikes. “We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when [they] come to the land,” the president told reporters while sitting alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Earlier this month, a resolution sponsored by Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Tim Kaine (Va.) to stop the strikes failed via a 48-51 vote. Paul and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski were the lone Republicans to back the motion, while Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman was the lone Democrat to vote against.
Bipartisan Bill in the Senate Would Block Trump From Going to War With Venezuela - A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a War Powers Resolution that would block President Trump from attacking Venezuela amid a US bombing campaign against boats in the Caribbean and reports that the administration is preparing to strike Venezuelan territory.The legislation was introduced by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Adam Schiff (D-CA) and would require congressional authorization before the US went to war with Venezuela. “I’m extremely troubled that the Trump Administration is considering launching illegal military strikes inside Venezuela without a specific authorization by Congress,” Kaine said in a statement on the bill. “Americans don’t want to send their sons and daughters into more wars—especially wars that carry a serious risk of significant destabilization and massive new waves of migration in our hemisphere.”Paul said the “American people do not want to be dragged into endless war with Venezuela without public debate or a vote. We ought to defend what the Constitution demands: deliberation before war.”The resolution was introduced on October 17 and will force a vote within 10 days, meaning it could happen as early as next week. Americans can contact their senators and urge them to support S.J.Res.90.The bill comes as the US continues escalating its military campaign in the Caribbean by bombing more alleged drug-running boats, and US officials have been clear that the real goal of the military campaign in the Caribbean is the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. President Trump recently confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and that his administration was considering striking Venezuela “by land.”Earlier this month, the Senate voted on a bill that would have prevented more US strikes on boats without congressional approval, but it failed in a vote of 48-51. Paul was one of only two Republicans who supported the measure, as he has been very critical of the bombing campaign.Paul said this week that the extrajudicial executions at sea “go against all of our tradition,” arguing that when the US kills someone, “you really need to know someone’s name, at least, you have to accuse them of something.”
US Bombs Boat It Claims Was Carrying Drugs in the Pacific Ocean, Marking Expansion of Campaign - The US military has carried out its eighth known strike on a boat it claimed, without providing evidence, was carrying drugs, but this time the vessel was bombed in the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to US War Secretary Pete Hegseth.The previous seven boats were targeted in the Caribbean, and striking one in the Pacific marks an expansion of the US military campaign. US War Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the strike killed two “narco-terrorists,” a term the administration uses to justify the extrajudicial executions at sea for an alleged crime that does not receive the death penalty in the US.“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” Hegseth wrote on X.Video of the strike released by Hegseth.“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics. There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed and no US forces were harmed in this strike,” he added.Hegseth didn’t say where exactly the boat was targeted, but a US official speaking to The New York Times said it was hit while off the coast of Colombia.At least 34 people have been killed in the US bombing campaign since it started on September 2, according to numbers released by the administration. In several cases, family members have insisted that the victims were not drug traffickers, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the US of murder over a strike that killed a Colombian fisherman, he said had “no ties to the drug trade.”Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been very critical of the US bombing campaign, saying earlier this week that the strikes “go against all of our tradition.”“When you kill someone, you should know, if you’re not at war, not in a declared war, you really need to know someone’s name at least,” Paul said. “You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all of these people have been blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime.”
Trump Suggests US Strikes on Alleged Drug Shipments on 'Land' Are Coming Soon - President Trump on Wednesday suggested that US strikes on alleged drug shipments “on land” could be coming soon amid the US bombing campaign targeting boats in Latin America. Trump has made similar comments before, and according to multiple media reports, the US is preparing to bomb Venezuela with the goal of ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and is using cracking down on drug trafficking as a pretext. The president claimed to reporters at the White House that he had “legal authority” to launch the strikes, but Congress hasn’t authorized the bombing campaign, which the Constitution requires for launching a war. Trump said he may notify Congress of the plans to launch strikes on land targets, but didn’t say he would seek authorization.“We will hit them very hard when they come in by land. And they haven’t experienced that yet, but now we’re totally prepared to do that. We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when [they] come to the land,” the president said.The president previously told Congress that he believes the US is now in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. Trump has framed the airstrikes as self-defense, pointing to the large numbers of drug overdoses in the US, but they are primarily caused by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, which don’t come from Venezuela, something Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has been very critical of the campaign, has pointed out. “There is no fentanyl made in Venezuela. Not just a little bit, there’s none being made. These are outboard boats that, in order for them to get to Miami, would have to stop and refuel 20 times,” Paul told British journalist Piers Morgan this week.“It’s all likely going to Trinidad and Tobago. There are a lot of reasons to be worried about this. Number one is the broader principle of when can you kill people indiscriminately when there’s war. That’s why when we declare war is supposed to be done by Congress. It’s not supposed to be done willy nilly. When there’s war you just kill people in the war zone, there are rules of engagement,” Paul added.Since September 2, the US has bombed at least seven boats in the Caribbean and one in the eastern Pacific near Colombia, extrajudicially executing 34 people at sea, according to numbers released by the Trump administration, without providing evidence to back up its claims about the targets. Sources told The Washington Post on Wednesday that any US airstrikes in Venezuela would likely first target alleged trafficker encampments or clandestine airstrips, but regime change remains the ultimate goal.“There really is no turning back unless Maduro is essentially not in power,” a person familiar with the administration’s deliberations told the Post.The US has built up a significant force in the Caribbean and has flown heavy bombers and special operations forces helicopters near Venezuela, which officials say is part of a psychological campaign against Maduro. Leaks about the US preparing to launch airstrikes in Venezuela and Trump signing off on covert CIA operations inside the country are also part of the psyops aimed at Maduro and the Venezuelan people. The US is hoping that by raising the bounty on Maduro’s head to $50 million and increasing the military pressure, someone in his inner circle will turn on him or he will step down voluntarily. But that is unlikely to happen, and the US continues to move toward a full-blown war with Venezuela.
US Flies B-1 Bombers Near Caribbean in Latest Provocation Aimed at Venezuela - The US flew two US Air Force B-1B bombers over the Caribbean on Thursday in the latest US provocation in the region aimed at Venezuela, as the Trump administration is moving toward war with the country and seeking the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.A US official told The Wall Street Journal that the bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew near Venezuela. When asked about the report, President Trump said it was “false,” but the bombers were spotted on flight trackers, and other US officials confirmed the flight took place.Last week, the US flew three B-52 bombers near Venezuela, in what the US Air Force called a“bomber attack demonstration mission.” US special operations helicopters have also flown within 90 miles of Venezuela as part of a major US military buildup in the region, which has involved the deployment of eight Navy warships.The provocations come amid reports that the US is preparing to bomb Venezuela, and as President Trump is threatening to launch strikes against alleged drug shipments “on land.” While drug trafficking is the pretext for the military campaign, US officials have been clear that the real goal is regime change in Venezuela.The US has also bombed at least seven alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and two in the Eastern Pacific Ocean near Colombia. The US War Department has provided no evidence to back up its claims about what the vessels were carrying or to back up its assertion that the people it has been killing are “narco-terrorists,” a term the administration has been using to justify extrajudicial executions at sea.nst it.
US Bombs 9th Alleged Drug Boat in Latin America - The US has bombed yet another boat that it claimed, without providing evidence, was carrying drugs in the waters of Latin America, according to a statement from US War Secretary Pete Hegseth.Hegseth announced the strike on Wednesday night and said that the vessel was targeted in the eastern Pacific, marking the second such strike in the area. Earlier in the day, he announced the first known US bombing in the area, as the seven previous strikes targeted boats in the Caribbean.Hegseth claimed that the boat was being operated by a “Designated Terrorist Organization” and killed three “narco-terrorists,” but provided nothing to back up his claims. The latest strike brings the total number of people extrajudicially executed by the US military at sea to 37. (Video of the strike released by Hegseth)The Trump administration has used the term “narco-terrorist” to justify killing people for an alleged crime that is not punishable by death in the US. Hegseth has also made clear that the bombing campaign is an extension of the US War on Terror.“These strikes will continue, day after day. These are not simply drug runners—these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities. These DTOs are the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere and will not escape justice. We will find them and kill them, until the threat to the American people is extinguished,” he said. In several cases, family members have insisted that the victims were not drug traffickers, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the US of murder over a strike that killed a Colombian fisherman, he said had “no ties to the drug trade.” In one strike, two survivors were found, including an Ecuadorian who was returned to his country and released by his governmentbecause there was no evidence he had committed a crime.
Newsom hits ‘reckless’ military display after highway patrol vehicle hit by shrapnel -California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called Saturday’s Marine Corps live-fire training demonstration in his state “reckless” after a California Highway Patrol (CHP) vehicle was damaged. The CHP said Sunday that one of its vehicles on Interstate 5 was damaged by metal shrapnel from an explosive artillery shell fired during the demonstration at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were at the base for a celebration of the Marines’ 250th birthday, which is Nov. 10. “We love our Marines and owe a debt of to gratitude to Camp Pendleton, but next time, the Vice President and the White House shouldn’t be so reckless with people’s lives for their vanity projects,” Newsom said Sunday on the social platform X. The CHP said no injuries were reported, while Tony Coronado, its border division chief, called the incident “unusual and concerning” in the patrol’s release. Coronado added that it was “highly uncommon for any live-fire or explosive training activity to occur over an active freeway.” Prior to the demonstration, Newsom temporarily closed the highway due to safety concerns. In a statement before the event, he said the Trump administration is “using our military to intimidate people [they] disagree with,” and added that he closed the highway at the recommendation of CHP traffic safety experts. When reached for comment, the I Marine Expeditionary Force (IMEF), which conducted the demonstration alongside the Navy’s Third Fleet, said it is “aware” of the incident. It added that live-firing trainings occur “year-round” at Camp Pendleton,” and Saturday’s demonstration “went through a rigorous safety evaluation, and deliberate layers of redundancy, to ensure the safety of fellow citizens.” After the incident, firing was suspended and an investigation into its “root cause” began, the IMEF said.
Federal court lifts block on Donald Trump's Portland troop deployment - A federal appeals court on Monday said President Trump may deploy the National Guard across Oregon for now, a boon to his efforts to send troops into several Democratic-led cities.The 2-1 ruling from a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit lifts a lower court order halting Trump’s deployment of National Guard members while the administration’s appeal is resolved. The court previously let Trump resume control of Oregon’s National Guard. “Rather than reviewing the President’s determination with great deference, the district court substituted its own determination of the relevant facts and circumstances,” the unsigned order read. Oregon and Portland officials sued over Trump’s National Guard takeover last month after the president vowed to protect the “war-ravaged” city and its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices he said were “under siege.” At Trump’s direction, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo on Sept. 28 authorizing the federalization and deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard members, despite Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s (D) objection. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, blocked the administration from taking over the state’s National Guard, but the administration attempted to sidestep the order by calling in troops from other states. Immergut then blocked deployment of any National Guard troops across the state in a second order.
'Worst Of The Worst' Illegal Immigrants Arrested In Memphis, DHS Says --Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested multiple “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” in Memphis, Tennessee, as part of President Donald Trump’s push to crack down on violent crime and make the city safe, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an Oct. 20 statement. Arrested individuals include alleged pedophiles, gang members, drug traffickers, domestic abusers, and rapists, according to the agency. Among the arrested are a Honduran national who allegedly committed “the sex offense of fondling a child,” an alleged Mexican Sureno 13 gang member with convictions of assault and possession of narcotic equipment, and a Guatemalan national who allegedly committed domestic violence. “Memphis has suffered from historic levels of violent crime including a murder rate that is four times higher than Mexico City. No American should be afraid to walk down the streets in their own neighborhoods,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said. “In Memphis, DHS law enforcement is working hand in glove with Attorney General [Pam] Bondi to enhance public safety, fight crime, and provide much-needed support to our law enforcement partners at the local, state, and federal level. The Trump administration WILL make America safe again.” Trump issued a presidential memorandum on Sept. 15 to establish a Memphis Safe Task Force and make National Guard personnel available to support public safety and law enforcement operations in Memphis. “The city of Memphis, Tennessee, is suffering from tremendous levels of violent crime that have overwhelmed its local government’s ability to respond effectively,” the memorandum states. The National Guard started patrolling in Memphis on Oct. 10. Memphis has the highest violent crime rate among U.S. cities at 2,501 per 100,000 residents in 2024, much higher than second-ranked Detroit at 1,781 violent crimes. Memphis’ violent crime rate last year was around six times higher than the national average.
"You're Not The Only One With Guns": Anti-ICE Organizer Issues Viral Threat After US Marshal Wounded In Ramming Incident - Los Angeles schoolteacher and prominent anti-ICE activist Ron Gochez has suggested that if the Trump administration continues to round up illegal aliens, they may wind up on the receiving end of a bullet. "This is South Central Los Angeles," Gochez told a crowd at a Tuesday evening anti-ICE protest. "They are not the only ones with guns in this city. They're not the only ones and don't forget that." "I don't say that because we're calling for violence," he continued. "I'm saying that because the people have every right to defend themselves against masked, unidentified gunmen with AR-15s and other military rifles." Citizens do, but anyway... His comments followed a shooting incident earlier Tuesday during an ICE enforcement operation, where a U.S. marshal was wounded in the hand by a ricochet bullet and the suspect, Carlitos Ricardo Parias (a TikTok influencer also known as "Richard L.A."), was shot in the elbow after allegedly ramming federal vehicles. Gochez has made headlines this year as a founder of the Los Angeles Chapter of Unión del Barrio - an activist group known for 'patrolling' Los Angeles to look for signs of ICE agents setting up to conduct immigration raids and then posting about them to their Instagram following of nearly 150,000. Gochez is heading north from Florence to Martin Luther King Boulevard, weaving through every street while looking for signs of ICE agents and talking to me.That past Sunday morning, Union del Barrio’s Instagram posted a photo to its nearly 100,000 followers, exposing 200 ICE agents staged in an industrial area of Bell.“We think that an ICE agent leaked their meet-up to us, where they set up a depot to plan their day,” Gochez says, a hint of pride in his voice. “We disrupted their operation, and they retreated to their main depot in Terminal Island, San Pedro. Our eyes are on their stations day and night, tracking when they leave and return.”Gochez founded L.A.’s Union del Barrio chapter in 2004. Amid recent ICE raids across Southern California, his organization's page has become the top source for real-time, verified ICE sightings in Los Angeles. -L.A. Taco
Kristi Noem defends $170M purchase of Gulfstream jets for DHS leaders - Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended a contract to spend more than $170 million on new jets for the U.S. Coast Guard, including one that will be used for the secretary’s travel. The Department of Homeland Security has faced criticism from congressional Democrats for entering into a contract to build the jets amid the government shutdown.Noem brushed that aside Monday, noting the funding was previously appropriated.“These aircraft are Coast Guard aircraft to replace 25-year-old airplanes that are necessary for the mission of the Coast Guard. Congress appropriated the dollars and paid for them in the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ and we’re grateful that we’re able to move forward,” she said during a press conference. The funding for the jets came from a last-minute line item inserted into congressional appropriations in May, sparking scrutiny from Democrats given that Noem already had a plane — one both Noem and the Coast Guard have said is part of an aging fleet.House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) on Sunday requested additional information on the purchase.“It has come to our attention that, in the midst of a government shutdown, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) entered into a sole source contract with Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation to procure two new G700 luxury jets to support travel for you and the Deputy Secretary, at a cost to the taxpayer of $200 million,” DeLauro and Underwood wrote in a letter.“It appears you are routinely prioritizing yourself and those closest to you over the needs of the USCG servicemembers who protect this nation.”The letter appeared to nod to Noem’s stay in Coast Guard housing after she received death threats, with the secretary staying in housing traditionally reserved for the Coast Guard commandant.The jet order greatly surpassed the initial request made by DHS, which asked for $50 million for a new plane.Democrats also faulted Noem for moving ahead with the order amid the shutdown.“The more than $170 million Sec. Noem is using to buy jets for her luxury travel would help fund a lot of pay checks for TSA & air traffic controllers,” Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote on X.“She should pay essential workers & stop putting herself before dedicated public servants.”
Trump suggests US will buy Argentinian beef to bring down prices for American consumers (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States could purchase Argentinian beef in an attempt to bring down prices for American consumers. “We would buy some beef from Argentina,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One during a flight from Florida to Washington. “If we do that, that will bring our beef prices down.” Trump promised earlier this week to address the issue as part of his efforts to keep inflation in check. U.S. beef prices have been stubbornly high for a variety of reasons, including drought and reduced imports from Mexico due to a flesh-eating pest in cattle herds there. Trump has been working to help Argentina bolster its collapsing currency with a $20 billion credit swap line and additional financing from sovereign funds and the private sector ahead of midterm elections for his close ally, President Javier Milei.
Trump's new beef plan just hit a wall in Texas -- Texas ranchers are pushing back against President Donald Trump's proposal for the United States to purchase beef from Argentina in an effort to lower prices for American consumers. "We would buy some beef from Argentina," Trump said Sunday aboard Air Force One, during a flight from Florida to Washington. "If we do that, that will bring our beef prices down." Earlier in the week, Trump promised to address rising food costs as part of broader efforts to curb inflation. U.S. beef prices have surged due to a combination of drought, herd reductions, and a sharp drop in Mexican imports following outbreaks of screwworm-a flesh-eating pest that has devastated cattle herds. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the beef and veal index rose 13.9 percent in the 12 months leading up to August. Prices for uncooked beef steaks jumped 16.6 percent over the same period. Industry experts say high beef prices are unlikely to ease soon due to the long timeline required to rebuild cattle herds, along with import restrictions and tariffs on key suppliers such as Brazil. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), the national affiliate of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, issued a statement criticizing the proposal. CEO Colin Woodall said the plan unfairly benefits foreign producers at the expense of American ranchers. "NCBA's family farmers and ranchers have numerous concerns with importing more Argentinian beef to lower prices for consumers," Woodall said. "This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices." Woodall also pointed to trade imbalances and disease concerns. "In the past five years Argentina has sold more than $801 million of beef into the U.S. market," he said. "By comparison, the U.S. has sold just over $7 million worth of American beef to Argentina. Argentina also has a history of foot-and-mouth disease, which if brought to the United States, could decimate our domestic livestock production." Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also voiced opposition to the proposal, calling on the federal government to invest in domestic production instead of foreign imports. "Instead of offshoring our beef production by buying Argentinian beef, which would increase our already substantial $50 billion agricultural trade deficit, we should consider importing breeding stock to increase our own U.S. beef production capacity," Miller said in a statement to Chron. "Other opportunities to consider include opening federal lands to grazing and offering tax incentives to increase U.S. beef production," Miller added. "That would encourage more breeding stock and increased herds. All of these options would benefit both U.S. families and the American rancher, and I hope the White House will carefully consider them." The Beef Initiative Association Council (TBIAC), a Texas-based beef industry advocacy group led by ranchers Texas Slim and Justin Trammel, echoed the criticism. In a series of posts on X, the group accused the federal government of prioritizing foreign nations over American producers. "In 67 years we lose the last U.S. rancher!" one post read. "The feds have again chosen a foreign nation over our own family farmers! America's ranchers are ready to feed this nation. Are you going to stand with them? Buy rancher direct beef." "Buying Argentina beef to 'lower prices' is a band-aid that buries the American rancher," TBIAC wrote. "Family farmers are finally clawing back to breakeven after years of losses. Don't let the White House hand corporate packers another win!"
Trump: Ranchers don't understand tariffs amid Argentine beef row --President Donald Trump on Wednesday said U.S. cattle ranchers "don't understand" how they have benefitted from histariffs, adding that they "have to get their prices down." The admonition came after some ranchers have openly criticized Trump's proposal to import beef from Argentina in order to bring down prices for American consumers. Trump claimed that those ranchers "don't understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States." He highlighted the 50% tariff he imposed in early August on imports from Brazil, one of the top sellers of beef to the U.S. "If it weren't for me, they would be doing just as they've done for the past 20 years — Terrible!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Watch CNBC's full interview with Agriculture Secretary Brooke RollinsWAT "It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!" he added. Beef prices in the U.S. have generally risen since last year, and some products, such as boneless sirloin steaks, have shot up by double-digit percentages, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.. Trump told reporters on Sunday that his administration is "thinking about doing" a deal with Argentina in which "we would buy some beef" from the South American nation. "If we do that, that will bring our beef prices down," he said. The comments drew swift rebukes from U.S. cattle ranchers. "This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices," National Cattlemen's Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall said in a statement on Monday. In response to Trump's Truth Social post on Wednesday, Woodall said that his organization "cannot stand behind the President while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef in an attempt to influence prices." "It is imperative that President Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins let the cattle markets work," Woodall said. At least one Republican senator, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, has openly pushed back on Trump's proposal. "Government intervention in the beef market will hurt our cattle ranchers," she wrote in an X post Tuesday. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said Tuesday that "a lot" of Republican senators have told Trump that they do not want Argentine beef imported to the U.S.
Trump Begins Tackling Cattle Shortage, Urges U.S. Ranchers To Lower Prices - U.S. cattle futures are no longer on track for their largest year-to-date gain since 1978. Instead, selling pressure has eroded gains to about 25%, yet it still marks the strongest annual increase since 2010. The pullback comes as President Trump and White House officials confront yet another challenge in the fight against sticky food inflation: a nationwide cattle shortage (years in the making) that has pushed cattle futures to record highs and sent supermarket beef prices to unaffordable levels for working-poor households. On Wednesday, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that "The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don't understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil." Trump continued, "If it weren't for me, they would be doing just as they've done for the past 20 years — Terrible!"The president concluded his Truth Social post by saying that ranchers need "to get their prices down," noting that "the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking as well."Last Friday, Trump told reporters, "We are working on beef, and I think we have a deal on beef that's going to bring the price" down, adding, "That would be the one product that we would say is a little bit higher than we want it, maybe higher than we want it, and that's going to be coming down pretty soon too. We did something, we worked our magic."At the time, we noted (read here) that a U.S.-Argentina beef deal was highly likely, given that early last week, President Trump hosted Argentinian President Javier Milei at the White House to discuss trade and funding aimed at bolstering the country's sinking bond and currency market.By Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins joined CNBC and announced that the Trump administration intends to make a big deal with the South American country for beef, in return, these fresh supplies will help arrest out-of-control prices.Ranchers are not happy with the prospect of new supplies. "This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices," Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association industry group, told Reuters. * If you want to buy grass-fed, clean, AMERICAN beef and not enrich Argentinian billionaires - for about what you'd pay at Whole Foods (without wading through a sea of liberals), click here.
Trump signs critical minerals agreement with Australia - President Trump signed an agreement Monday to heighten cooperation with Australia on rare earth materials and critical minerals. Trump signed the agreement alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who visited the White House. “We are discussing critical minerals and rare earths, and we’re going to be signing an agreement that’s been negotiated over a period of four or five months,” Trump said. The full text of the agreement was not immediately available. Albanese said the deal calls for a $1 billion contribution each from Australia and the United States over the next six months. It includes investments in joint projects between the two countries on rare earths, as well as U.S. investments in Australia to boost processing of critical minerals. It also includes planned projects among the U.S., Australia and other allies, such as Japan, Albanese said. While the agreement was in the works for some time, the announcement came after China announced new restrictions on exporting critical minerals. Rare earths and critical minerals are used in numerous products, including cars, semiconductors and electronics like laptops. Trump administration officials announced plans this week to take a more active role in ensuring access to rare earths in response to the new Chinese export restrictions. China earlier this month announced foreign entities must obtain a license in order to export any products containing more than 0.1 percent of rare earths that are either sourced in China or manufactured using China’s extraction process. China plays an outsized role in the sector, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the world’s rare earth mining as of 2024, according to Oxford Economics. Trump told reporters that he was set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month at a summit in South Korea. Trump last week suggested the meeting may not happen in light of China’s export moves.
India-US Trade Deal "Likely Soon," Could Be Announced At ASEAN Summit: Mint -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 Mint. 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.The Indian financial daily newspaper cited three unidentified people who were familiar with the deal. Here's what they said: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.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.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.
Donald Trump halts trade talks with Canada over Reagan tariff ad dispute -President Trump said Thursday he was cutting off trade negotiations with Canada, citing an ad campaign that used former President Ronald Reagan’s warnings about the long-term risks of tariffs amid the trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada.Trump in a post on Truth Social accused Canada of using the ad to “interfere” with a pending Supreme Court case to determine Trump’s authority to impose sweeping tariffs on other countries. “Tariffs are very important to the national security, and economy, of the U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump posted. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has clashed with Trump repeatedly, announced the ad campaign earlier this month. The ad features a clip of a 1987 address by Reagan in which he spoke about tariffs imposed on Japanese imports at the time, while warning that long-term trade disputes hurt consumers. “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens,” Reagan says in the ad. “Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs.” Trump in August announced a 35 percent tariff on all Canadian goods, though products covered under the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement were exempt. Canada is one of the United States’ top trading partners, and their economies are heavily intertwined when it comes to certain products. But Trump has repeatedly argued the U.S. does not need Canadian goods, and that Canada is far more reliant on America for its economy. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the White House earlier this month, where he and Trump discussed trade. “There’s still great love between the two countries, but you know American people want product here, they want to make it here,” Trump said during the meeting. “We are competing for the same business. That’s the problem.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will double its non-US exports as Canadians can’t rely on US - (AP) — Prime Minister Mark Carney set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment. Carney, who will release his government’s budget on Nov. 4, said Wednesday many of Canada’s former strengths — based on close ties to America — have become vulnerabilities. “The jobs of workers in our industries most affected by U.S. tariffs — autos, steel, lumber — are under threat. Our businesses are holding back investments, restrained by the pall of uncertainty that is hanging over all of us,” Carney said. U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty with tariffs, most offensively by claiming Canada could be “the 51st state.” Carney reiterated in an evening address to Canadians that the decades-long process of an ever-closer economic relationship between the Canadian and U.S. economies is now over. “The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” Carney said. “We have to take care of ourselves because we can’t rely on one foreign partner.” Tensions between the neighbors and longtime allies have eased slightly in recent months as Carney tries to get a trade deal with Trump, but tariffs are taking a toll, particularly in the aluminum, steel, auto and lumber sectors. More than 75% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. “We are re-engaging with the global giants India and China,” he said. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border daily. Canada’s free trade deal with the U.S. is up for review in 2026. Carney called Canada an “energy superpower” and said the country has third largest reserves of oil and the fourth largest reserves of natural gas in the world. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports are from Canada. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.
US seeks 1 million barrels of oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve(Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday it is looking to buy 1 million barrels of crude oil for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as it seeks to take advantage of relatively low oil prices to help replenish the stockpile. The previous administration of former President Joe Biden sold record amounts of oil from the SPR, including a 180-million-barrel sale after Russia, one of the world's top oil producers, invaded Ukraine in 2022. The reserve, which has about a 700-million-barrel capacity, is now holding nearly 409 million barrels. President Donald Trump's administration has been looking to replenish the SPR, but has been limited by a lack of funds and by ongoing maintenance at the reserve, held in a series of hollowed-out salt caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Pumps, pipes and other above-ground SPR infrastructure are constantly exposed to corrosive, salty air. Trump's tax and spending bill included about $171 million for the SPR oil purchases and maintenance, much less than the $1.3 billion that had originally been in the legislation. Buying more oil for the SPR will likely require the passage of new legislation. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Trump is trying to replenish the SPR with the help of Congress. "While this process won't be complete overnight, these actions are an important step in strengthening our energy security and reversing the costly and irresponsible energy policies of the last administration," Wright said. Both the international oil benchmark Brent and the U.S. benchmark WTI had hit their lowest levels since early May on Monday, as record U.S. oil production and a decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies to press ahead with planned supply hikes raised expectations of oversupply. WTI crude futures on Tuesday closed up 30 cents at $57.82 a barrel. Bids for the SPR solicitation close on October 28.
Trump To Buy Tiny 1 Million Barrels For SPR As China Unleashes Record Oil Stockpiling Spree --Badly beating down oil jumped, if only briefly, on a Bloomberg report that the Trump administration plans to buy 1 million barrels for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, taking advantage of low oil prices to begin filing the depleted stockpile. The Energy Department intends to announce Tuesday that it’s seeking oil for delivery in December and January, using a portion of the $171 million from President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending law that provided for crude purchases, according to an agency official. West Texas Intermediate, which is down about 30% since its peak in mid-January and traded at about $58 a barrel on Tuesday, near the lowest since 2021, staged a modest bounce, only to sink after the kneejerk reaction was processed. Trump has vowed to refill the oil reserve, which has a maximum capacity of about 700 million barrels. It currently has about 408 million barrels, but the administration has limited funds to buy more. Unfortunately just 1 million here and there won't do anything in the grand scheme of things; meanwhile China has been aggressively adding millions of barrels every month to its SPR, and according to many analysts has been the main reason preventing far lower oil prices. Here is Reuters on the topic:China is building oil reserve sites at a rapid clip as part of a campaign to boost crude stockpiles that increased in urgency after Russia's Ukraine invasion upended global energy flows and has accelerated this year, according to public data, traders and industry experts. State oil companies including Sinopec and CNOOC will add at least 169 million barrels of storage across 11 sites during 2025 and 2026, according to public sources including domestic news reports, government reports and company websites.Of that, 37 million barrels of capacity has been built, the sources show. Once completed, the new sites will be able to store two weeks of China's net crude imports, according to Reuters calculations based on Chinese trade data, a significant volume as China is by far the world's biggest oil importer.Beijing's reserve-building - S&P Global Commodity Insight last month estimated China had stockpiled an average of 530,000 barrels per day thus far in 2025 - is soaking up surplus global supply and supporting prices under pressure as the OPEC+ producers group winds down production cuts. Traders and consultancies say they expect the stockpiling, fuelled by prices recently below $70 per barrel, to continue at least through the first quarter of 2026.
Trump builds himself a Versailles on the Potomac - On Monday, excavators began tearing through the East Wing of the White House, beginning the construction of a monstrosity that symbolizes the fascist presidency of Donald Trump: a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot “White House Ballroom,” financed by Trump’s billionaire donors. The demolition of the East Wing of the White House marks a grotesque milestone in the decay of American democracy. The seat of the American presidency is being physically transformed into the architectural embodiment of oligarchic rule. According to renderings released by the administration, the new hall will be drenched in gold: chandeliers, gilded Corinthian columns, coffered ceilings, marble floors—a monument to wealth, greed and cultural vulgarity. The East Wing has been, since its construction during the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the most “popular” aspect of the residence of the American president. For decades it was open to public tours for which visitors, frequently school children, could queue up without making a reservation. After the 9/11 attacks, new security measures restricted the number of visitors and required pre-registration, but it is still the case that half-a-million visitors toured the East Wing last year. Now what had been the most accessible part of the White House complex will be turned over to the financial oligarchy. The new ballroom, Trump boasted Tuesday, will accommodate 1,000 people—five times the East Room’s capacity—allowing for even larger banquets for the super-rich. Trump reportedly complained that the current space was too “small” for the fundraising dinners he holds for his billionaire friends, the gangsters and oligarchs whose fortunes finance both the Republican Party and Trump personally. The White House, while built in part by slave labor, has been occupied by Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, Grant—figures identified with the democratic traditions of the American Revolution and the fight against slavery and reaction in the Civil War. Now, its East Wing is being rebuilt as part of Trump’s Versailles—a palace for the oligarchy erected atop the ruins of American democracy. In the decades before the French Revolution, Versailles became synonymous with corruption, aristocratic luxury and decay. Trump’s project evokes the same spirit: the attempt by a dying social order to immortalize its power through gilded excess. The “Versailles on the Potomac” will serve as the venue for high society galas, meetings with billionaires, and celebrations of military power. It is the physical manifestation of a government of, by and for the rich. The administration’s defenders have insisted that “private donations” absolve the project of any scandal, but that is the essence of corruption: the purchasing of access to public power by private interests. Trump boasted this week that there were “no zoning conditions” and that he could “do anything” he wanted. “This is the White House,” he said he was told. “You’re the president of the United States, you can do anything you want.” Trump, like Louis XIV, the builder of Versailles, embraces the credo, “L’etat, c’est moi.” (“I am the state”), although in the bureaucratic jargon of the 2025 Project, this is translated into English as the “unitary executive.” The original planners of the US capital, however, having passed through the furnace of the American Revolution, deliberately located the Capitol, the seat of the legislature, on the highest available hill, where it would tower over the residence of the executive. There are other elements of fascist grandiosity in Trump’s plans for Washington DC. He is reportedly planning to build a huge arch near Arlington National Cemetery, also to be funded by donations from oligarchs and corporations. At a meeting last week with several dozen billionaire supporters, he held up a model of the arch topped with a gold statue of Liberty. “It’s going to be very beautiful, I think it will be fantastic,” he declared. There are, of course, elements of dementia and self-glorification in such plans. The arch is already being described, sarcastically, as the “Arc de Trump,” playing off its resemblance to the Arc de Triomphe built in Paris on the orders of Napoleon. But Hitler too had such notions. He worked with Albert Speer on plans to build a Triumphal Arch in Berlin set to be more than twice the height of the French monument. The collapse of the Third Reich ended that endeavor.
Trump to demolish White House East Wing for ballroom - The entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished to make room for the massive ballroom that President Donald Trump is building, a senior White House official said Wednesday.. The disclosure came three months after Trump promised that the East Wing's structure would not be touched to build the $250 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom. Images showing the demolition of part of the East Wing triggered public anger this week. "Plans changed," the White House official told CNBC on Wednesday. That official cited "structural reasons" for the decision to knock down the entire East Wing. "The East Wing will be more modern and beautiful than ever before," the official said, adding that it will be enjoyed by presidents and first ladies for years to come. It will include a "big beautiful ballroom," the official said. The New York Times first reported the decision to demolish the entire wing of the White House. The demolition work should be completed by this weekend, an official told the Times. In July, Trump said the ballroom would be built next to the East Wing. "It'll be near it but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of," Trump said at the time. The White House on Tuesday dismissed the furor over the demolition as "manufactured outrage" and called the ballroom "a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of improvements and additions" by prior presidents. The Treasury Department this week banned its staff from sharing photos of the East Wing, calling it a potential security risk. The department is located next to the White House with a clear view of the demolition work. Trump has said that he and private donors will cover the costs of the ballroom. But it is still unclear who all the contributors are and how much they have agreed to pay for the project. "The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly," the president said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday. Tech giant Alphabet is contributing $22 million to help build the ballroom under a legal settlement reached with Trump last month over his being banned from the company's YouTube platform after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by his supporters. The Google parent Alphabet's contribution in the form of the settlement, which was recorded in Oakland, California, federal court, represents nearly 10% of the estimated construction costs. The settlement notes that the $22 million will be contributed on Trump's behalf "to the Trust for the National Mall, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity dedicated to restoring, preserving, and elevating the National Mall, to support the construction of the White House State Ballroom."
Interior Department reveals plans to fire hundreds of National Park Service employees - The Interior Department plans to lay off more than 2,000 employees, including hundreds of National Parks Service (NPS) workers, according to a Monday court filing.The declaration, filed in the Northern District of California’s San Francisco Division, says the department intends to lay off 2,050 workers across 89 units.Rachel Borra, the agency’s chief human capital officer as of Sept. 29, said the layoff plans “predated” the government shutdown and are not related to guidance on layoffs issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Personnel Management prior to the shutdown starting on Oct. 1. According to the court filing, Interior plans to lay off more than 470 employees from the Bureau of Labor Management and more than 140 from the Fish and Wildlife Service. It also plans to let go more than 270 employees at NPS, including more than 180 from parks in the Southeast, Northeast and Pacific West regions.During the shutdown, most national parks have remained open, albeit with limited staffing. For instance, as of Thursday, Yosemite National Park in California reported that NPS visitor centers, ranger-led programs and most nonessential maintenance are paused.On Wednesday, the court granted a host of federal employee unions a temporary restraining order in their efforts to halt OMB-directed layoffs. In the order, Judge Susan Illston said the Trump administration is attempting “to fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party.” Illston, appointed by former President Clinton, added that “the harms suffered by federal employees affected by [layoffs] are having drastic and imminent public consequences.”
McMahon: Shutdown confirms ‘Department of Education is unnecessary’ - Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Wednesday the federal shutdown is proof that her department should be eliminated, as the Trump administration is trying to do. “The Democrat government shutdown has forced agencies to evaluate what federal responsibilities are truly critical for the American people. Two weeks in, millions of American students are still going to school, teachers are getting paid, and schools are operating as normal. It confirms what the President has said: the federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states,” McMahon posted on the social platform X. While schools have said they are fine in the short term in the shutdown, a longer-term government closure raises concerns for administrators about where funding will come from and whom to contact for certain issues or questions.Schools on tax-exempt land such as military bases or Native American reservations had their Impact Aid immediately affected. While many of these institutions have some reserves, it won’t last forever. And the 95 percent of furloughed staff at the department is delaying certain programs such as investigations at the Office for Civil Rights.Even when the shutdown ends, the recent reduction in force laying off 466 more workers at the federal agency raises even bigger questions about what the department will look like in the coming weeks as the agency goes from more than 4,000 employees at the start of President Trump’s term to less than 2,000.But McMahon argues the reductions will not burden schools or students and that these initiatives should be the responsibility of the states.
Trump administration uses shutdown to push Education Department elimination - The Education Department is trying to use the government shutdown to further push for its own elimination. From an effort to layoff almost 500 more employees to messaging from Secretary Linda McMahon herself, the federal department, which President Trump has long sought to shutter, is seeking ways to make changes during the shutdown more permanent, alarming its defenders.“It’s nonsensical to think that the Trump administration … has an interest in preserving the Department of Education and preserving civil rights enforcement at the federal level,” said David Hinojosa, co-director of litigation at the National Center for Youth Law. Trump, who has told McMahon he wants her to put herself out of a job, had previously signed an executive order to shrink the agency and laid off half its workforce. But the shutdown, which has lasted for more than three weeks with no end in sight, seems to be another window McMahon thinks she can use to further these efforts. “The Democrat government shutdown has forced agencies to evaluate what federal responsibilities are truly critical for the American people. Two weeks in, millions of American students are still going to school, teachers are getting paid, and schools are operating as normal. It confirms what the President has said: the federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states,” McMahon said in a statement on X. “The Department has taken additional steps to better reach American students and families and root out the education bureaucracy that has burdened states and educators with unnecessary oversight,” she added. Some 95 percent of department workers have been furloughed, pausing civil rights investigations and cutting funding for some schools, such as those that rely on Impact Aid. But it will take time for further consequences to be obvious to the education sector, as most of the federal funding was already distributed to K-12 schools for the year. Federal dollars make up about 10 percent of the average district’s budget. Opponents say it is a slight of hand to say a government shutdown is similar to if the agency didn’t exist all together. “I think that is very disingenuous,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute. “What it shows is that the federal government is not running and has not ever run schools directly. We heard a lot of rhetoric at the beginning of this administration about how they were going to return control of education to the states, and that the federal government was kind of running everything in schools, and that was just never the case.”
Colleges stand firm against Trump's compact funding terms - President Trump’s college compact offer has fallen flat. As of Monday’s deadline to get back to the administration, at least six prominent universities have publicly rejected the deal, which offers favorable federal funding status in exchange for institutional changes, while none have accepted it. The general theme of the rejections has centered on the schools’ beliefs the demands violated academic freedoms and their values. Experts say they don’t expect any universities to take the deal, though they are doubtful this will be the last pressure attempt from Trump, who has repeatedly targeted the finances and standing of colleges that defy him. “I think they did underestimate the resistance that they would get and the willingness of institutions across the country to stand together in support of our core values,” said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. So far, most of the original nine universities that were offered the compact have rejected it: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia (UVA), the University of Arizona and Dartmouth College. Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said his school has provided feedback on the deal without officially saying yes or no. “Last Friday, Vanderbilt participated in a discussion with members of the administration and other university leaders about shaping a productive process for providing such comments. We expect to share our input with the administration through that process,” the statement reads. The University of Texas at Austin has not yet issued a public response. It is possible UT could try to walk the line of agreeing to some of the deal’s principles without actually signing on. The Hill has reached out to the university for comment. The Trump administration said the offer would be expanded, but that these schools were the initial picks because they were seen as “highly reasonable” institutions. A second round of offers might target schools that are more amenable to Trump’s goals in general, potentially allowing him to funnel funds to friendlier colleges. The document “includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution,” MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone,” she added.
Student loan forgiveness update: Trump Admin cancels debt for millions --The Trump administration has confirmed its agreement to cancel student loan debt for eligible borrowers under certain plans, following a legal agreement between the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Department of Education. Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Department of Education and the AFT via email for comment. Amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, Newsweek received an automated response from the department which said: “We will respond to emails once government functions resume.” The AFT directed Newsweek to its press release when approached for comment. The latest decision marks a major policy pivot for the Trump administration, which previously paused or restricted student debt relief through federal income-driven repayment programs. Around 2 to 2.5 million borrowers are either directly enrolled in qualifying plans or were affected by policy shifts in 2025, and the resumption of debt cancellation offers financial relief and legal clarity to Americans who have spent decades making payments on federal student loans. Earlier this year, the Trump administration removed the application to enroll in Income-Based Repayment (IDR) plans from government websites and issued an order to government student loan contractors to halt all IDR enrollment and processing, which it said followed court orders. The AFT then sued the administration in March 2025 for failing to provide Congressionally mandated debt relief, and after the lawsuit was filed, the government then resumed forgiving loans for borrowers enrolled in two Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plans: the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plans. To qualify for these plans, borrowers typically must have made 20 to 25 years of consecutive qualifying payments, depending on loan origination date and plan enrollment. As of October 2025, these plans account for more than 2 million borrowers. The recent legal settlement, filed on October 17, between the Department of Education and AFT confirms that the administration will now resume loan cancellations for the two IDR plans, grant payment refunds to eligible borrowers, and provide regular status updates to ensure transparency and compliance with federal law. The agreement also recognizes that borrowers who are eligible to have debts canceled in 2025 will not be forced to pay a tax penalty, due to changes in tax law, as a result of government processing delays and ongoing litigation. Borrowers eligible for relief began receiving Department of Education notifications in October. The emails outlined options to accept forgiveness or opt out.
Federal judge strikes Biden-era ban on transgender care discrimination - A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a former President Biden-era rule that extended federal health antidiscrimination protections to transgender health care. Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ruled in favor of a coalition of 15 GOP-led states that sued over the rule, which broadened sex discrimination by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected characteristics in certain health programs and activities. The Department of Health and Human Services “exceeded its authority by implementing regulations redefining sex discrimination and prohibiting gender identity discrimination,” Guirola ruled. The decision is a significant loss for the transgender community, which is has faced a wave of state and federal policies and court decisions rolling back previously established rights. The complaint centered on provisions in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which the Biden administration interpreted to bolster health care protections against discrimination for LGBTQ people. The rule prevented covered entities from discriminating against certain protected groups in providing health care services, insurance coverage and program participation. The challenged provision added gender identity to Title IX’s definition of discrimination “on the basis of sex,” which previously included discrimination based on sex characteristics, pregnancy and sex stereotypes.
RFK Jr. to unveil new guidance encouraging more saturated fats — U.S. dietary guidelines could soon undergo another overhaul under the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, and the proposal has already drawn criticism. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to unveil new guidance encouraging the consumption of more foods previously considered unhealthy, including those high in saturated fats. Kennedy has argued that Americans need more trans and saturated fats, not less, saying foods like butter, cheese, milk and red meat have been unfairly demonized for decades. The updated guidance could be released as soon as this month.“New dietary guidelines that are common sense, that stress the need to eat saturated fats of dairy, of good meat, of fresh meat and vegetables … when we release those, it will give everybody the rationale for driving it into our schools,” Kennedy said. Kennedy has long argued that refined carbohydrates and ultraprocessed foods are the main culprits of an unhealthy diet and that they have largely been ignored in conversations surrounding obesity and inflammation.Currently, U.S. dietary guidelines, which are updated every five years, suggest Americans limit saturated fats to 10 percent of their daily calorie intake. However, the American Heart Association advises keeping that intake under 6 percent.Kennedy’s shift from the decades-long consensus has already generated concern from some medical professionals, who argue that the science is clear: more saturated fats will make Americans less healthy.
DOE climate report colored by past views of its authors, critics say -- Steve Koonin has spent years battling mainstream climate science. So it’s little surprise that Energy Secretary Chris Wright chose the conservative academic to help write a government-backed report — released in July — that called into question the severity of global warming. Wright himself has disputed the risks of climate change, and the five authors he handpicked to write the report align with that perspective. But a review by POLITICO’s E&E News has found another common thread. Four of the five authors that Wright selected to write the July report have spoken out against the endangerment finding, a 2009 EPA decision that underpins many federal climate regulations. That includes Koonin, who in February urged the administration to begin the process of rolling back the endangerment finding “as soon as possible.” Announced during the first Obama administration, the 2009 determination asserts that six greenhouse gases are driving climate change and that EPA has the authority to regulate these gases in the interest of public health.The federal government has used the endangerment finding to implement a wide swath of climate regulations, including those intended to reduce greenhouse emissions from vehicles and power plants. For that reason, conservatives have long sought to overturn the endangerment finding — which they say has been used to drive up prices and create unnecessary regulation. The criticism from Koonin and his co-authors is significant because the report they co-wrote is being used as evidence by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to eliminate the endangerment finding, which Zeldin once called the “holy grail” of climate science. EPA’s plan to undo the endangerment finding cites the Wright climate report no less than 16 times, E&E News has found. Climate scientists, environmental groups and Democrats have seized on the revelation and said it’s further proof the Wright climate report is little more than a political document — written with the express purpose of helping the Trump administration unravel climate rules made possible by the endangerment finding. The goal of the report is “to basically develop enough soundbite-worthy quotes that policymakers could use … to try to cast doubt on the science” of global warming, said Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University who organized an academic response to the Wright climate report. Wright has defended the report as an attempt to counter the narrative of mainstream climate science, which has made clear in thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers that humanity’s burning of fossil fuels is heating the planet, with dangerous repercussions for people and other living things.“Hydrocarbon-based fuels, the argument goes, must be rapidly abandoned or else we risk planetary ruin,” Wright wrote in a forward to the report. “That view demands scrutiny,” he continued. “That’s why I commissioned this report: to encourage a more thoughtful and science-based conversation about climate change and energy.” The writers themselves have defended the report too, with author Judith Curry, a former climatologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, telling E&E News that it was a “red herring” to question their independence.“This issue of ‘independence’ is never raised about scientists employed by, or affiliated with or otherwise supporting, environmental advocacy groups,” she said. But one climate law expert argued that the authors’ past criticism of the endangerment finding — coupled with their ties to groups that have advocated for its elimination — call into question the Wright report’s credibility. “It’s the furthest thing from an independent review, it’s a preordained review,” said Michael Gerrard, founder and faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “It’s an additional brick in an already high wall of facts discrediting the report.”The courts have also shown skepticism toward Wright’s framing of the report as an independent review. Environmental groups have sued over the Wright report — largely because they don’t want it included in EPA’s review of the endangerment finding. Last month, a federal judge denied the green groups’ attempts to bar its inclusion. But in doing so, Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts — a Reagan appointee — threw cold water on Wright’s claims about its intentions.“The conclusion of the report itself shows that it is no mere ‘review’ of the literature. To suggest otherwise borders on sophistry,” Young wrote. “No reasonable jury could find that these words, arranged as they are, do not constitute advice or recommendations for a renewed approach to climate policy.”
Burgum declares offshore wind ‘bad for everybody’ - Interior Secretary Doug Burgum painted a dim picture of offshore wind Monday, asserting that passage of the Republican megalaw was the end of an industry that “makes no sense.” At a panel hosted by the American Petroleum Institute, Burgum ticked through a litany of complaints about the besieged industry, repeating claims about its impacts on whales and interference with military radar. “Intermittent, highly expensive wind is bad for everybody,” Burgum said. Diatribes against wind from President Donald Trump and his Cabinet members have become common, and Burgum’s comments were no exception. The Trump administration’s attack on the industry has included preventing new projects, trying to halt ones under construction and trying to rescind permits. At the event in Washington, Burgum rejected the possibility of allowing offshore wind projects to move ahead in exchange for Democratic support on a deal to streamline permitting. “I hadn’t thought about the idea of trading something that makes sense for everybody in America for something that makes no sense,” Burgum said Monday in response to a reporter’s question. “And that’s sort of how I view offshore wind.” Burgum asserted that “this offshore thing” only exists because of subsidies — which are being phased out by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “If anybody is continuing to build, their only argument is, ‘Oh, we’ve already started, and you should let us finish,’” Burgum said. Researchers at NOAA have found no connection between offshore wind construction and operations and whale deaths. While some studies have found wind turbines could impair radar, proponents argue that those effects can be mitigated and point out that the Department of Defense plays a role in identifying offshore wind development areas. Offshore wind proponents lambasted Burgum’s comments, calling them “baseless rhetoric.” “The federal administration’s false charges and continued assault against offshore wind prevents shovel-ready, baseload power generation from reaching the grid while driving up electricity costs for ratepayers, stifling good-paying American jobs, and threatening to strand billions of dollars in U.S. investments,” Liz Burdock, the CEO of Oceantic Network, a group of offshore wind businesses, said in an emailed statement. She called the efforts to halt wind “shortsighted, detrimental energy policy.”
White House halts $11B for water projects in blue states - The Trump administration is “pausing” more than $11 billion in water infrastructure projects to 12 Democrat-controlled states, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said Friday. The Army Corps of Engineers projects in California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware and Colorado are now “under review,” according to the Office of Management and Budget. About $7 billion of the funds were set to go to New York. The administration is considering canceling the projects because of Democrats’ alleged role in the government shutdown, which has “drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” Vought wrote on X. It’s the latest in a slew of federal funding threats and cuts from the White House targeting states that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris since the shutdown began. Vought said more information would be coming from the Army Corps. But the agency did not provide details, citing a Defense Department media policy. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently following Department of War media guidance, and we are unable to respond to queries during the lapse in appropriations as it does not relate to life, health, safety or national security,” Army Corps Spokesperson Doug Garman said in an email. “Further information can be made available after the lapse in appropriations ends.” An Office of Management and Budget spokesperson also did not provide a full list of projects affected and did not respond to a question about what the new review of the projects would entail. One project would restore aquatic habitat for salmon and steelhead trout in California, while another involves the construction of wastewater treatment and water supply systems in Queens, New York, the spokesperson said. The Trump administration, they continued, wants to “reorient how the federal government prioritizes Army Corps projects.” “The Army Corps shouldn’t be funding bike lanes in Cape Cod, billion-dollar fish ladders, and municipal sewage systems,” they said in an email. “Several notable projects under review are New York Harbor, Port of Long Beach, Baltimore Harbor, and projects in the San Francisco Bay Area.” The OMB spokesperson also accused the states affected of being “sanctuary” communities, a term used for state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Army Corps of Engineers carries out projects at the direction of Congress, typically through Water Resource Development Acts enacted every two years. The agency’s varied mission includes flood control, river navigation, ecosystem restoration and hydropower dam management. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, slammed Vought’s actions in a post on X on Friday. “An administration run by crooks and cowards is ONCE AGAIN illegally and punitively blocking funds for JUST blue states,” Murray wrote. “I’m not intimidated by miserable thugs like Russ Vought, and you shouldn’t be either.”
GOP senators balk at Trump targeting blue states - Republican senators are balking at the Trump administration’s decision to cut off transportation funding to Democratic-leaning states such as New York and Massachusetts during the government shutdown, warning that freezing funds as an apparent act of political retaliation is not appropriate. Republican senators are unified in the view that Democrats are wrong to hold government funding hostage in order to win major health policy concessions, but they feel uncomfortable about halting transportation funding to certain states because they are represented by Democrats in Washington. Republican members of the Appropriations Committee, in particular, argue that funding decisions should be made on the basis of merit. They think quashing projects to extract political vengeance, even during the partisan shutdown fight, is a bad idea. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said targeting blue states such as New York by threatening to cut off funding for projects that have been already approved and funded, such as the construction of a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River to facilitate travel and commerce between Manhattan and New Jersey, will hurt people in those states regardless of their own political views. “You show me one blue state in America where you don’t have pockets, maybe even big pockets, of Republicans, of conservatives, of MAGA people, of pro-Trump. Do we not care about them?” she said. “Are we just saying, ‘If you don’t like it, you should move to a place where you’ve got a Republican governor?’” she added. “It makes no sense. Why are we being punitive? It’s hard enough when the government is not operating as it should be. Let’s not be punitive to Americans just to score political points.” Murkowski made her comments after President Trump said last week that his administration had “terminated” the rail tunnel under the Hudson, a massive $16 billion construction job known as the Gateway Project. White House budget director Russell Vought followed Trump’s threat by announcing the administration will be “immediately pausing over $11 billion” in projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore and other Democratic enclaves. Vought warned that “lower-priority projects” in those states would be considered for cancellation” and explained that the “Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers” of its ability to manage them. Asked if Trump’s threat to “terminate” funding for projects such as Gateway in blue states is appropriate, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) replied: “No.”
Trump targets Atlantic and Pacific coasts for new oil drilling - The Trump administration plans to propose opening federal waters in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to offshore drilling, two people familiar with the plan said Wednesday, a move that is likely to antagonize coastal states governors — and make a direct jab at California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Full details of the plan were not yet known, but a push to bring drilling rigs to untouched sections of the U.S. coastline brought bipartisan opposition when Trump tried to carry out a similar plan during his first administration. The proposal would be part of the Interior Department’s upcoming five-year plan on offshore oil lease sales, said the people who were granted anonymity because the plan wasn’t yet public. The administration is expected to offer acres off the southern coast of California and “at least a small sliver” of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, one of the people said. It was unclear if that would include waters off Florida, where elected leaders of both parties have opposed drilling along their shoreline for decades because of the risk to the state’s tourism-based economy. Interior’s plan, a framework used to schedule offshore lease sales in federal waters for a five-year period, could change by the time the initial proposal becomes a finished product, this person said.
Trump offshore drilling plan faces fierce opposition in Congress -Lawmakers are girding for a fight against President Donald Trump’s apparent plans to open up the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines to offshore drilling. In interviews Thursday, Democrats called the idea “not lawful,” a “huge mistake” and “absolutely ridiculous.” Coastal Republicans, for their part, said they would also oppose any offshore drilling, though at least one East Coast Republican was open to the idea — albeit with a caveat. Trump faced bipartisan opposition when he attempted a similar move in 2020, during his first term. He eventually backed down following widespread outcry amid his reelection effort. It’s unclear this time around whether lawmakers, especially coastal Republicans, will be able to stop him as intraparty opposition has largely evaporated in his second term. Moreover, any new drilling effort is likely to be met with multiple lawsuits. Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said on Thursday he was opposed to new drilling off the coast of his state. Trump’s plan, which POLITICO reported is expected to offer acres off the southern coast of California and “at least a small sliver” of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, is likely to be wildly unpopular in Florida. The plans have not yet been finalized.“I haven’t supported drilling in the eastern Gulf of America,” Scott said, using Trump’s preferred name. “It’s important to Florida.” The Houston Chronicle, which first reported on the plans, said that Florida would continue to enjoy a drilling ban. Coastal Republicans in the past have mounted stiff opposition to drilling off their coastlines, especially in states like Florida and South Carolina, where tourism is a major draw. Opposition only grew after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, which spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf. The Atlantic coast currently has no offshore oil and gas, while the Pacific has greatly scaled back its production in part due to state and federal laws to phase out or ban new offshore drilling. Trump, in his last term, banned new drilling off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida until 2032 following pressure from allies in those states and to shore up his own environmental standing as he faced off with future President Joe Biden. He could reverse those plans now.Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), a Trump ally who is running for governor, said that the moratorium still stands and that she continues to oppose offshore drilling in South Carolina.“President Trump put protections in place to prevent offshore drilling off South Carolina’s coast, and those remain in effect through 2032,” Mace’s communications director, Sydney Long, said in a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News. “Congresswoman Mace continues to oppose offshore drilling in South Carolina to protect our coastline, economy, and way of life.”
Lummis floats bill to make Trump coal orders permanent - -Senate Republicans from fossil-heavy Wyoming on Thursday introduced legislation at the height of “coal week” to codify President Donald Trump’s orders aimed at reviving the sagging industry. Sens. Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso introduced the “Combating Obstruction Against Leasing (COAL) Act of 2025,” which would make permanent an executive order Trump signed in April and require the Interior Department to issue final lease approvals without delay. Republican Rep. Harriett Hageman of Wyoming is pushing a companion bill.Under the proposal, Interior also would be required to complete all steps needed to approve leases, finalize fair market valuations of coal tracts, publish environmental assessments and implement regulations for all pending applications. The bill would permanently scrap an Obama-era order that halted coal leasing while the government considered the climate and economic effects of digging up fossil fuels.Santos avoids fines, restitution after Trump's clemency -Former Rep. George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) will not be required to pay any additional fines or restitution related to his criminal conviction, according to his clemency order, which was made public on Monday. Santos was released from prison Friday after President Trump announced that he signed a sentence commutation for the former lawmaker, who reported to prison three months ago to begin his 87-month sentence. The clemency order grants Santos “an immediate commutation of his entire sentence to time served with no further fines, restitution, probation, supervised release, or other conditions.” Santos — who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a plea deal last summer — had also been sentenced to two years of supervised released and ordered to pay more than $370,000 in restitution. In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, host Dana Bash pressed Santos on whether he would still have to pay restitution ordered by the court, and he indicated he did not know but would do “whatever the law requires” of him. “This is about a fine, and this is about paying money back,” Bash said in the interview. “And whether you describe them as victims or just donors to the NRCC, what the court said is that they should get their money back. Will you work to try to do that?” “Well, look, I can do my best to do whatever the law requires of me, so, I don’t know what that is. I’ve been out of prison for two days. I agreed to come here to speak with you candidly and openly and not to obfuscate,” Santos replied. “If it’s required of me by the law, yes. If it’s not, then, no. I will do whatever the law requires me to do,” he added.Santos was originally sentenced to a seven-year prison term after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was expelled from Congress after reports revealed he fabricated much of his resume and lied on campaign finance reports. “George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated,” Trump wrote Friday in a statement on Truth Social. “Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!” Trump added.
Trump calls ‘No Kings’ protests a ‘joke’: ‘I work my ass off’ --President Trump on Sunday called this weekend’s “No Kings” demonstrations against him a “joke” and rejected suggestions that he is acting like a monarch. “I’m not a king. I work my ass off to make our country great. That’s all it is. I’m not a king at all,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One while flying back to Washington, D.C. from Florida. Millions of Americans gathered at “No Kings” events across the country on Saturday, protesting Trump and his administration. Roughly 2,600 demonstrations took place in all 50 states, with massive events in cities including Washington, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Trump dismissed the significance of the protests on Sunday and suggested they were backed by wealthy Democratic donors. “I think it’s a joke,” Trump told reporters, when asked Sunday about the “No Kings” protests. “I looked at the people — they’re not representative of this country. And I looked at all the brand new signs… I guess it was paid for by [George] Soros and other radical left lunatics,” Trump continued. “It looks like it was. We’re checking it out.” “The demonstrations were very small, very ineffective, and the people were whacked out. When you look at those people, those are not representative of the people of our country,” he added.
Donald Trump shares AI video targeting 'No Kings' protesters --President Trump late Saturday shared an AI-generated video of himself wearing a crown while piloting a fighter jet and dumping brown liquid on “No Kings” demonstrators.As Kenny Loggins’s song “Danger Zone” plays in the background, the jet, emblazoned with “King Trump,” flies over Time Square in New York City and drops what appears to be feces over protesters.Trump on his Truth Social platform also shared another AI-generated video, originally posted by Vice President Vance’s Bluesky account, of the president wearing a crown before a cape forms over his shoulders and he unsheathes a sword. That video ends with a clip of Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), kneeling to honor George Floyd in 2020. Schumer, meanwhile, posted photos on the social platform X of himself with demonstrators in New York City, adding that “we won’t allow Trump to keep eroding our democracy.”
US Politics Is Just Nonstop Fake Revolutions Now - Caitlin Johnstone -- It’s so silly how American politics is just nonstop fake revolutions now.Millions flooded the US streets for the “No Kings” protests over the weekend to oppose a monarchy which does not exist without making a single tangible demand. Power was not challenged in any meaningful way. The status quo wasn’t disrupted in the slightest. People held up some signs saying the president is orange and that if Kamala were president they would be at brunch, and then went home. The whole thing was just one big pep rally for the Democratic Party, designed to accomplish nothing beyond getting American liberals excited about the prospect of someday voting for Gavin Newsom. A bunch of boomers showed up to dance around and hold signs and feel as though they are fighting the power in their feely bits, while drumming up support for the same status quo which gave rise to Trump in the first place. You see the same fake revolutionary astroturf zeitgeist on the Republican side. American rightists are constantly pretending they’re fighting some kind of populist rebellion against an oppressive establishment even while their party controls every branch of the US government. They act like Trump is ending the wars and fighting the Deep State even as he stomps out free speech on behalf of Israel, rolls out a Palantir surveillance system, pours weapons into facilitating Israel’s genocidal atrocities, bombs Iran and Yemen, ramps up for war with Venezuela, and perpetuates the horrific proxy war in Ukraine.It’s two plutocrat-owned warmongering imperialist parties whipping their respective bases into the mass delusion that they are participating in a heroic act of revolutionary defiance by voting Democrat or Republican. They get everyone fighting a fake revolution so that nobody thinks about fighting a real one.It didn’t used to be this way, for the record. The US has been a murderous and tyrannical oligarchic bloodbath for its entire existence as a nation, but up until fairly recently its politics looked more or less like the politics of other western nations. Politicians had campaigns where they’d try to argue that they have the best policies, there’d be an election, and then they’d spend their time in office philandering and pretending to make themselves useful. There wasn’t this constant LARPing about how voting for one of the two mainstream parties is participating some kind of a courageous insurgency against monarchy or communism or the Deep State or whatever.That’s changing because public discontent with the status quo is soaring to all-time highs as Americans get poorer and everything gets shittier. The establishment order is no longer accepted and people are starting to push for real change, so their outrage needs to be harnessed and corralled into politically safe directions.Donald Trump’s entire political career has been all about this. He introduced a new WWE-style kayfabe theatrics into American politics where both Democrats and Republicans feel as though they are fighting the power in a very important and relevant way — Republicans because they believe Trump is a populist rebel and Democrats because they believe Trump is an unprecedented threat to freedom and democracy. Really his whole thing is about protecting the status quo of the US empire, but both mainstream factions are duped into seeing the exact opposite.Now you’ve got the two main strands of American political thought falling all over themselves to be the first in line to support the establishment, all while being told that they are fighting the power. They remain mollified because they think they are doing something, and the powerful get to keep everything they’ve stolen. It’s truly a brilliant scam. Evil, destructive and tyrannical, to be sure, but you’ve got to admire the skill with which this psyop has been pulled off.
Trump dined with Rupert Murdoch despite Epstein letter lawsuit -- Why let a $10 billion lawsuit get in the way of old friends having some chicken and gravy for dinner? President Donald Trump last week dined at the White Housewith Rupert Murdoch and that media baron's key lieutenants, despite Trump's ongoing defamation lawsuit over Murdoch'sWall Street Journal reporting that he sent a "bawdy" 50th birthday letter to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to anew report. Breaker Media on Tuesday night reported that Trump hosted his fellow billionaire Murdoch and company at the White Houselast Thursday. Guests included Murdoch's wife, Elena Zhukova, New York Posteditor Keith Poole and Post columnists Miranda Devine and Douglas Murray, News UK CEO Rebekah Brooks, The Suneditor-at-large Harry Cole, as well as Vice President JD Vanceand White House Susie Wiles, Breaker reported. Murdoch'sNews Corp owns The Post, The Sun, and News UK, along with the Journal. The outlet said the group ate chicken and gravy.Three months before the dinner, Trump, in a social media post, wrote, "I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his 'pile of garbage' newspaper, the WSJ.""That will be an interesting experience!!!" the president wrote.CNBC has requested comment on the report from News Corp and the White House. A spokesman for Trump's legal team declined to comment.The reported dinner came five days before Trump's legal team filed a blistering response to a request by Murdoch's lawyers that a federal judge in Miami dismiss the president's defamation lawsuit. That suit is a glaring exception to the often cozy relationship Trump has with Murdoch's conservative media empire, which includes Fox News. The Post and Fox have acted as cheerleaders for Trump and his policies for years, and Trump, for decades, has been an avid reader of and fixture in The Post's tabloid pages. The current dispute stems from a July 17 report by the Journal, which said that a risqué letter bearing Trump's signature was included in an album of letters that Epstein was given for his 50th birthday party in 2003.At the time of the party, Trump was a friend of Epstein. The two later had a falling out; Epstein died from a jailhouse suicide in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
BankThink: The next Epstein is probably already here, hidden in plain sight - Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein continued to receive privileged access to financial services well after his crimes were revealed. This exposes a troubling side of the U.S. banking industry that deserves examination, writes Mikhail Karataev. Summer 2025 once again brought Jeffrey Epstein's name to the front pages of leading financial outlets. His 50th birthday album resurfaced, containing letters from prominent figures, and former Barclays Chief Jes Staley saw his career finally unravel over the extent of his relationship with Epstein. Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein continued to receive privileged access to financial services well after his crimes were revealed. This exposes a troubling side of the U.S. banking industry that deserves closer examination.
Trump demanding $230 million from Justice Department over past investigations - In a mafia-style shakedown, President Donald Trump is demanding that his hand-picked Justice Department appointees approve some $230 million, paid for by taxpayers, in compensation for investigations conducted during and after his first term in office. The news, first reported Tuesday by the New York Times, comes in the midst of a government shutdown that is depriving hundreds of thousands of government workers of paychecks and threatening to close down food assistance programs on which millions rely. Such damage claims by a sitting president are unprecedented, raising glaring conflict of interest issues. In Trump’s case they are compounded by the fact that the Department of Justice officials tasked with ruling on his demands, known as administrative claims, are Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal defense lawyer, and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr., who represented Trump’s co-defendant in one of the cases for which Trump is demanding compensation. The Times quoted Bennett L. Gershman, an ethics professor at Pace University, as saying, “What a travesty. The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it.” Gershman added: “And then to have people in the Justice Department decide whether his claim should be successful or not, and these are the people who serve him deciding whether he wins or loses. It’s bizarre and almost too outlandish to believe.” Trump confirmed the Times story on Tuesday when asked about it by a reporter in the Oval Office. He said, “It could be,” and went on to say, “I don’t know about the numbers. I don’t even talk about it. All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money.” He continued: “With the country, it’s interesting, because I’m the one that makes the decision. It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m the one paying myself.” Trump has lodged two administrative claims. The first, submitted in late 2023, seeks damages over the FBI and special counsel investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible connections to the Trump campaign. The second complaint, filed in the summer of 2024, accuses the FBI of violating Trump’s privacy by searching his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 for classified documents. It also accuses the Justice Department of malicious prosecution in charging him with mishandling classified records after he left office. Administrative claims are submitted first to the Justice Department to see if a settlement can be reached. If the DOJ rejects such a claim or declines to act on it, the claimant can then sue in court. “Still, that is an unlikely outcome in this instance,” the Times wrote, “given that Trump is already negotiating, in essence, with his subordinates.” Deputy Attorney General Blanche said at his confirmation hearing in February that his attorney-client relationship with the president continued. He represented Trump in both the classified documents case and the case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith over Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump’s fascist supporters. Associate Attorney General Woodward, who heads the DOJ’s civil division, represented Trump’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta, in the classified documents case. He has also represented a number of other Trump aides, including current FBI Director Kash Patel, in investigations related to Trump or the January 6 insurrection. If and when a cash settlement of Trump’s claims is awarded, neither the Justice Department nor the White House is under any legal requirement to inform the public. DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin is responding to all press inquiries on conflicts of interest with the same one-sentence statement: “In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials.” In fact, the Trump Justice Department fired its ethics chief in July, part of a purge of at least a dozen employees who had worked with the special counsel who brought the federal indictments against Trump.
New study shows AI chatbots systematically violate mental health ethics standards --As more people turn to ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) for mental health advice, a new study details how these chatbots—even when prompted to use evidence-based psychotherapy techniques—systematically violate ethical standards of practice established by organizations like the American Psychological Association.The research, led by Brown University computer scientists working side-by-side withmental health practitioners, showed that chatbots are prone to a variety of ethical violations. Those include inappropriately navigating crisis situations, providing misleading responses that reinforce users' negative beliefs about themselves and others, and creating a false sense of empathy with users."In this work, we present a practitioner-informed framework of 15 ethical risks to demonstrate how LLM counselors violate ethical standards in mental health practice by mapping the model's behavior to specific ethical violations," the researchers wrote in their study. "We call on future work to create ethical, educational and legal standards for LLM counselors—standards that are reflective of the quality and rigor of care required for human-facilitated psychotherapy." The research will be presented on October 22, 2025 at the AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Society. . Zainab Iftikhar, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Brown who led the work, was interested in how different prompts might impact the output of LLMs in mental health settings. Specifically, she aimed to determine whether such strategies could help models adhere to ethical principles for real-world deployment. Individual users chatting directly with LLMs like ChatGPT can use such prompts and often do. Iftikhar says that users often share the prompts they use on TikTok and Instagram, and there are long Reddit threads dedicated to discussing prompt strategies. But the problem potentially goes beyond individual users. Essentially, all the mental health chatbots marketed to consumers are prompted versions of more general LLMs. So understanding how prompts specific to mental health affect the output of LLMs is critical. For the study, Iftikhar and her colleagues observed a group of peer counselors working with an online mental health support platform. The researchers first observed seven peer counselors, all of whom were trained in cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, as they conducted self-counseling chats with CBT-prompted LLMs, including various versions of OpenAI's GPT Series, Anthropic's Claude and Meta's Llama. Next, a subset of simulated chats based on original human counseling chats were evaluated by three licensed clinical psychologists who helped to identify potential ethics violations in the chat logs.The study revealed 15 ethical risks falling into five general categories:
- Lack of contextual adaptation: Ignoring people's lived experiences and recommending one-size-fits-all interventions.
- Poor therapeutic collaboration: Dominating the conversation and occasionally reinforcing a user's false beliefs.
- Deceptive empathy: Using phrases like "I see you" or "I understand" to create a false connection between the user and the bot.
- Unfair discrimination: Exhibiting gender, cultural or religious bias.
- Lack of safety and crisis management: Denying service on sensitive topics, failing to refer users to appropriate resources or responding indifferently to crisis situations including suicide ideation.
Iftikhar acknowledges that while human therapists are also susceptible to these ethical risks, the key difference is accountability. "For human therapists, there are governing boards and mechanisms for providers to be held professionally liable for mistreatment and malpractice," Iftikhar said. "But when LLM counselors make these violations, there are no established regulatory frameworks."
AI Deepfakes Fueling Digitally-Enabled Crime-Wave In The Freight Industry Cargo theft across North America is rapidly evolving from traditional trailer break-ins to sophisticated digital fraud schemes that use artificial intelligence, social engineering and marketplace reselling to move stolen goods faster than ever before, experts told FreightWaves.“Criminals have realized they can commit theft without ever touching the freight,” Danny Ramon, director of intelligence and response at supply chain risk firm Overhaul told FreightWaves.“They’re lowering their physical risk and scaling operations digitally — sometimes pulling off multiple thefts a day.” Ramon said organized cargo networks are increasingly adopting AI-generated voices and synthetic identities to bypass verification calls or create fake carrier profiles. “AI, just like it is in the business world, is a force multiplier in the criminal world as well,” Ramon said.“Unfortunately, it’s adding efficiency, it’s sometimes the appearance of legitimacy, especially to social engineering and phishing attacks. AI now is making these things messages … not only grammatically perfect, if need be, but maybe just imperfect enough to sound like a person.”The digital shift mirrors a broader trend noted by Descartes’ account executive Danielle Spinelli, who is known in the freight industry as the “Fraud Girl” and hosts the Tell Me Everything podcast.“I’ve heard of brokerages getting phone calls from AI bots on the carrier side — they’re trying not to sound Middle Eastern or raise red flags, just to sound like a typical call,” Spinelli said.
Meta lays off 600 from 'bloated' AI unit as Wang cements leadership --Meta will lay off roughly 600 employees within its artificial intelligence unit as the company looks to reduce layers and operate more nimbly, a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday.The company announced the cuts in a memo from its chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, who was hired in June as part of Meta's$14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. Workers across Meta's AI infrastructure units, Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit (FAIR) and other product-related positions will be impacted.However, the cuts did not impact employees within TBD Labs, which includes many of the top-tier AI hires brought into the social media company this summer, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. Those employees, overseen by Wang, were spared by the layoffs, underscoring Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's bet on his expensive hires versus the legacy employees, the people said.Within Meta, the AI unit was considered to be bloated, with teams like FAIR and more product-oriented groups often vying for computing resources, the people said. When the company's new hires joined the company to create Superintelligence Labs, it inherited the oversized Meta AI unit, they said. The layoffs are an attempt by Meta to continue trim the department and further cement Wang's role in steering the company's AI strategy.Meta has been aggressively overhauling its approach to AI in recent months as it works to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI and Google, pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure projects and recruitment.Following the cuts, Meta's Superintelligence Labs' workforce now sits at just under 3,000, the people said.Meta notified at least some employees on Wednesday that Nov. 21 is their termination date and, until then, they're in a "non-working notice period.""During this time, your internal access will be removed and you do not need to do any additional work for Meta," said the message, which was viewed by CNBC. "You may use this time to search for another role at Meta."The company also said it's paying 16 weeks of severance plus two weeks for every completed year of service, "minus your notice period."
OpenAI launches web browser ChatGPT Atlas: How to start using it – OpenAI announced Tuesday it is launching a ChatGPT-powered web browser called Atlas that will compete directly with widely-used Google Chrome.The news appeared to ripple into the stock market, as the share price of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, sank on the announcement.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it a “rare, once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about and how to use one.”ChatGPT itself has surpassed 800 million users, according to OpenAI, but the tool is free. If OpenAI’s browser sees the same mass adoption, the world’s most valuable startup could start generating revenue from digital advertising.OpenAI’s browser is coming out just a few months after one of its executives testified that the company would be interested in buying Google’s industry-leading Chrome browser if a federal judge had required it to be sold to prevent the abuses that resulted in Google’s ubiquitous search engine being declared an illegal monopoly.But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last month issued a decision that rejected the Chrome sale sought by the U.S. Justice Department in the monopoly case, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape.OpenAI made ChatGPT Atlas available worldwide on macOS Tuesday, and versions for Windows iOS and Android are coming soon, according to the company’s announcement. Mac users can download Atlas and drag it into the Applications folder. To launch the browser, open Atlas and sign in with one’s ChatGPT account information. Users will then see prompts asking if they would like to import data from other browsers, allow keychain access, enable “browser memories,” or make Atlas the default browser.Enabling browser memories lets ChatGPT recall pages that a user has visited before and use that context to personalize future searches, or quickly pull up something you saw before.
What Americans think about the environmental impact of AI, according to a new poll (AP) — As the United States rapidly builds massive data centers for the development of artificial intelligence, many Americans are concerned about the environmental impact. Worries about how AI will affect the environment surpass concerns about other industries that worsen climate change, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. The results of the poll, conducted in September, suggest that as AI reshapes work, communication and culture, it’s also sparking anxieties about how the growing energy demands could further harm the environment. It takes massive amounts of electricity to power AI. Electricity consumption from data centers is set to more than double globally by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. The United States accounts for by far the largest share of the projected increase, followed by China. In many places, the electricity for data centers will come from power plants that burn coal, oil and natural gas. Burning these fossil fuels for electricity emits carbon dioxide, trapping heat in the atmosphere and warming the planet. The energy needs are so large that major technology companies are investing in next-generation nuclear technology, which can produce electricity without emissions, and quietly scaling back their own goals to cut carbon pollution. Aidan Collins, a 26-year-old Democrat in New York, said in his view, AI uses an “absurd amount” of energy. “Using all this energy and contributing to climate change in a bad way, it all just seems very awful to me,” he said. More worries about AI’s environmental impact than meat and aviation President Donald Trump unveiled a plan this summer for America’s “global dominance” in artificial intelligence, which included cutting back environmental regulations to speed up the construction of AI supercomputers. The U.S. Department of Energy has identified federal sites where tech companies could build data centers to power AI. Trump, a Republican, has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels for electricity generation and hinder renewable energy projects. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the environmental impacts of AI. That’s higher than the share of Americans who are highly concerned about the environmental impact of the cryptocurrency, meat production and air travel industries, all of which contribute to climate change and cause environmental harm. Bitcoin mining uses enormous amounts of electricity. Livestock produce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. And when airplanes burn jet fuel, it releases carbon dioxide. Like Collins, several Americans said in follow-up interviews that they are worried about the energy and water required to power AI. Data centers need a tremendous amount of water to keep cool. Some communities strongly oppose data centers because they demand so much energy and water.Crypto market bill hits roadblocks in Senate - Legislation to create clear rules for the cryptocurrency industry has hit a roadblock in the Senate after bipartisan negotiations broke down, leaving the bill’s path forward increasingly uncertain. Crypto market structure legislation, which aims to establish which financial regulator will oversee different portions of the industry, seemed to be inching forward in the upper chamber. However, progress screeched to a halt this month after a Democratic proposal for a portion of the bill was leaked, provoking sharp industry backlash and derailing talks between Republicans and crypto-friendly Democrats. Negotiations are at a standstill with Capitol Hill preoccupied with the government shutdown, threatening the chances of passing the bill by the end of the year. Senate Democrats and Republicans are poised to separately meet with crypto executives Wednesday in what appears to be an effort to get the ball rolling again. “I think there are a few very strong champions that are working really hard to try to get this done,” Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, told reporters last week. “I’m not sure the rest of Congress is there, so I think it’s an uphill battle in the short term.” Lawmakers have struggled for nearly a decade to figure out how to regulate cryptocurrencies, which often straddle the lines between several types of financial products overseen by different agencies. The crypto industry has long sought legislation to draw lines between oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The House passed its version of the market structure bill, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, in July. In the following months, the Senate has sought to forge ahead with its own legislation. Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee released a discussion draft of their portion of the bill shortly after the Clarity Act cleared the lower chamber. In early September, a group of crypto-friendly Senate Democrats offered up a framework laying out their views on key issues, teeing up negotiations. Talks hit a snag in early October, when Senate Democrats sent over what a staffer described as a “starting position” on decentralized finance regulations. The proposal, which was leaked to the press, faced swift backlash from the crypto industry. “The disappointing proposal outlined by Senate Democrats would effectively ban decentralized finance, wallet development, and other applications in the United States — an outcome that’s neither workable nor consistent with American innovation,” Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger said in a statement. “The language as written is impossible to comply with and would drive responsible development overseas,” she added. The leak came amid tensions over setting a date for a markup of the legislation. GOP senators, who initially hoped to bring the bill before the Senate Banking Committee in September, had been pushing their Democratic counterparts to agree to a date. After Senate Democrats sent over the decentralized finance proposal, Republicans said they would not continue negotiations until they were able to finalize a date, a Democratic staffer told The Hill. “They asked for paper and substance, and we delivered,” Jacques Petit, communications director for Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), said in a statement. “They then turned around and leaked our proposal and pretend to be surprised that our parties have policy differences.” Gallego is part of a group of 12 crypto-friendly Democrats, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Mark Warner (Va.) and Cory Booker (N.J.), who have been negotiating crypto legislation. “Their demand to set a markup date before text is agreed to is like setting a wedding date before the first date,” he continued. “It’s nonsensical. But this is likely the best they can do to distract from the fact that their caucus is not unified on this issue.” A spokesperson for Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said the chair and his fellow GOP members had delayed a planned Sept. 30 markup to “give Democrat colleagues additional time to come to the table and substantively engage on legislative text.” “Despite repeated requests for edits and redlines from Democrats, they have yet to provide formal feedback or agree to a markup date,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in bid to end ‘war on crypto’ President Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, the White House said Thursday. Zhao, who previously served as CEO of Binance, pleaded guilty to charges in 2023 for violating anti-money laundering laws. He was sentenced to four months in prison. “President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” she continued. “The Biden Administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside Sentencing Guidelines that the even the Judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career.” “These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation,” Leavitt added. “The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over.” Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance following his guilty plea. The exchange also paid more than $4 billion to settle the case with the Justice Department. He served out his prison sentence and was released from U.S. custody last September. The Binance founder has reportedly been pressing the White House for a pardon in recent months, as the crypto industry has found a key ally in Trump and his administration. The crypto exchange has also engaged with the president’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. In May, the Emirati firm MGX invested $2 billion in Binance using World Liberty Financial’s stablecoins.
US cybersecurity progress is 'slipping,' report warns -A think tank report details setbacks in U.S. cyber strategy, from shuttered partnerships and staff cuts to the expiration of key info-sharing laws.
- Key insight: U.S. cybersecurity progress has seen a "substantial reversal," with a new report finding nearly 25% of implemented recommendations have "lost their implemented status."
- What's at stake: The expiration of the CISA 2015 law leaves banks and critical infrastructure without liability protections, chilling their ability to share vital threat intelligence.
- Forward look: The report's authors implore the federal government to "send a clear signal ... to its adversaries," starting with the reauthorization of CISA 2015.
Overview bullets generated by AI with editorial review
BNY sees blockchain as future of finance infrastructure - Global financial markets are currently shifting to a 24/7, "always-on" operating system assisted by digital assets and blockchain infrastructure, according to the Bank of New York Mellon's Chief Product and Innovation Officer Carolyn Weinberg. Weinberg believes blockchain technology could be the key to an always-on operating system for the New York-based custody bank.
- Key Insight: Distributed ledger blockchains can help banks like BNY process transactions in real-time.
- What's At Stake: BNY processes trillions of dollars of payments and transactions every day around the globe that blockchain could improve.
- Expert Quote: Carolyn Weinberg, BNY: "The blockchain will enable this future state where we can have 24/7, always-on, immutable recordkeeping."
BankThink Stablecoins are expanding the definition of what we call 'money' --A widespread misconception is that stablecoins are fungible, which means that they are all equal in value and utility and can be seamlessly swapped for each other. Stablecoins aren't fungible, and yet they're considered an on-chain substitute for money. Noelle Acheson argues that this is about more than a shift in definitions.
Why some banks are saying yes to stablecoins, and others are saying no -- Banks and credit unions are steering away from stablecoins chiefly due to lack of customer demand, per new American Banker research. As regulators continue to iron out the governing framework for banks and credit unions to engage with stablecoins, executives are asking when, if ever, to jump in. American Banker's On-Chain Finance survey was fielded online during August and September, 2025, among 142 employees of banks, credit unions or payments companies. All respondents are knowledgeable about their institution's plans for digital currencies, including cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Top findings from the report:
- Improving payments speed was key to issuing a stablecoin at financial institutions.
- Corporate clients are the main audience today for stablecoins.
- Pegging stablecoins to fiat currency is the top method for price security.
- The market for stablecoin networks is vast, with early leaders.
- Lack of consumer demand, not risk, is the top reason for not issuing a coin.
Policy uncertainty still looms for bankers and investors — Banking industry experts say that trade policy swings under the Trump administration continue to hinder investment decisions, but are encouraged by the new push to ease the regulatory structure — so long as it's done thoughtfully.Panelists speaking at American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking conference said they appreciate the deregulatory efforts underway under Trump, but said clarity on tariffs and rules of the road for emerging technologies would unlock future growth.
- Key insight: Policy uncertainty continues to hamstring decision making amongst financial professionals.
- Supporting data: Amanda Allexon, a partner with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, said she's encountered banks whose regulatory examination staff has been reduced by over 30%.
- Forward look: Despite uncertainty around trade and technology, deregulatory efforts like reductions in minimum capital levels are a notable boon to the banking industry.
Waller proposes creation of 'skinny' master account -- Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller has directed central bank staff to explore the concept of a limited payment account, which would give nonbank entities in the payments space — including crypto firms — access to traditional payment systems.
Warren calls on FDIC to again pause ILC approvals -- Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is urging the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. not to approve new Industrial Loan Company charters until Congress passes a law subjecting ILCs to bank holding company rules.
- Key insight: Two Senate Democrats are calling for a moratorium on Industrial Loan Company charter approvals until Congress can pass a law defining ILCs as banks under the Bank Holding Company Act, which would subject their parent companies to supervisory oversight.
- Expert quote: "A moratorium would provide Congress with an opportunity to address a longstanding crack in the wall separating banking and commerce before it becomes a chasm," wrote Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Andy Kim, D-N.J.
- Forward look: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which approves ILC charters, is unlikely to heed the call, but the move suggests ILCs may be a target for Democrats if they regain power in future elections.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and committee member Andy Kim, D-N.J., are calling on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to halt Industrial Loan Company charter approvals until Congress can pass a law defining ILCs as banks under the Bank Holding Company Act.
Senate Republicans propose raising SAR threshold to $30K --Senate Banking Committee Republicans, led by committee chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., introduced a bill that would raise the mandatory reporting threshold for certain currency transactions, a move meant to ease banks' anti-money laundering compliance obligations.
- Key insight: The Senate Banking Committee's Republican leadership is offering a bill to raise mandatory reporting thresholds in the fight against money laundering, including raising the currency transaction threshold from $10,000 to $30,000.
- Expert quote: "By increasing the reporting thresholds for currency transaction reports and suspicious activity reports, we are bringing much-needed modernization to a law that should root out financial crimes, not get in the way of everyday Americans." — Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C.
- Forward look: The bill comes as the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has issued new guidance to banks aimed at easing their SAR compliance burden.
Senate Banking Committee Republicans, led by committee chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., have introduced a bill that would raise the mandatory reporting thresholds for filing a suspicious activity report, or SAR, for currency transactions, a move aimed at simplifying banks anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act compliance obligations.
OCC settles its last remaining Wells Fargo case for $0 -- U.S. regulators have reached a rock-bottom settlement deal with a former Wells executive accused of wrongdoing in the phony-accounts scandal. The OCC had sought to recover $10 million from Claudia Russ Anderson, a onetime risk executive at the bank.
- Key insight: The OCC's effort to hold former Wells Fargo executives accountable for the bank's fake-accounts scandal — which relied on charges brought in the administrative law system — has ended with barely a whimper.
- What's at stake: The $0 settlement wraps up the U.S. government's decade-long response to the momentous scandal.
- Forward look: It comes as court decisions and the policies of the Trump administration cast doubt on the future of the administrative law system.
UPDATE: This story now includes comments from an OCC spokesperson.
Fed proposal would publish full stress test models --The Federal Reserve Friday issued a set of proposed changes to its stress testing program for the largest banks that would disclose the central bank's back-end stress testing models, a move that the Fed had long opposed out of fear of making the tests easier for banks to pass.
NCUA moves to strip reputational risk from examinations - Following the lead of banking regulators, the National Credit Union Administration has proposed a rule that would eliminate references to reputational risk from its examination manuals and would forbid debanking based on political views.
- Key insight: The National Credit Union Administration is proposing a rule that would prohibit its examiners from considering reputational risk in its exams or facilitating debanking based on political or religious beliefs.
- Expert quote: "Examining for reputation risk diverts resources that could be better spent on other risks that have been shown to present significant, tangible threats to institutions." — NCUA proposed rule
- Forward Look: The NCUA joins the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in promulgating rules aimed at rooting out debanking, an issue that President Trump has taken a personal interest in.
The National Credit Union Administration is proposing a new rule that would eliminate reputational risk from its supervisory process and prohibit its examiners from encouraging or effectuating debanking based on religious or political views.
Banks weigh 'contradictory' orders on antifa, debanking --The Trump administration has ordered banking agencies to root out and identify instances of politically motivated debanking while at the same time raising pressure on banks to scrutinize or potentially sever their ties with liberal nonprofit clients. That dynamic creates a compliance puzzle with no obvious answers, experts say. Key insight: The Trump administration's directive to target antifa-aligned groups sits uncomfortably alongside its push to prevent politicized bank account closures.
BankThink: Raising the deposit insurance cap would benefit Main Street America -A proposal before Congress to raise the federal deposit insurance cap to $10 million for non-interest-bearing business accounts would help community banks continue recycling deposits into local lending, write Randy Chesler, D. Bryan Jordan, and Jim Ryan. For most small and midsize business owners, "liquidity management" doesn't mean treasury models or risk curves. It means making sure every paycheck clears on Friday, every supplier gets paid on Monday and every family can count on the job that depends on both. Their working capital isn't theoretical — it's the cash that keeps Main Street alive. Yet today, those funds — payroll, payables and operating cash — are only insured up to $250,000, leaving millions in ordinary business deposits exposed. A proposal before Congress to raise the federal deposit insurance cap to $10 million for non-interest-bearing business accounts would help community banks continue recycling deposits into local lending.
DOJ opposes CFPB union's request for rehearing on firings -- The Department of Justice has filed a motion opposing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employee union's appeal of an August D.C. Circuit ruling allowing the administration to fire up to 90% of the agency's workforce.
Banks urge Trump admin to restore CDFI Fund staff, funding -- Six trade groups warned the administration layoffs and funding freezes could dampen lending, threatening the administration's goal of economic growth. Key insight: The trade association letter urges the White House to reverse cuts to the congressionally mandated program.
105 Republicans urge administration to save CDFI Fund - A cohort of more than 100 Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging the administration to protect and fund a community lending program that has been gutted despite its legal mandate and Bessent's backing.
- Key insight: Over 100 Republicans, including senior Banking Committee members, signed a letter supporting the CDFI Fund after the Trump administration fired the entire staff.
- What's at stake: Trump ordered the fund dissolved via executive order despite statutory mandate and Treasury Secretary Bessent's stated support for the program.
- Forward look: Staff layoffs threaten community development lending nationwide, even as the Treasury acknowledged the fund's legal basis to the budget office.
ICE First Look at September Mortgage Performance: "Delinquencies remain well below pre-pandemic norms" - From Intercontinental Exchange: ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: Mortgage Performance Remains Strong as FHA Foreclosures EmergeIntercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) ... today released the September 2025 ICE First Look at mortgage delinquency, foreclosure and prepayment trends. The data shows that overall mortgage performance remains historically strong, with both delinquencies and foreclosure activity remaining below long-term averages. While some shifts are emerging among government-backed loan segments, these trends largely represent a normalization of market dynamics rather than broad-based weakness.“The mortgage market remains remarkably resilient, with mortgage performance continuing to hold up well,” said Andy Walden, Head of Mortgage and Housing Market Research at ICE. “Delinquency rates improved in September, and even as we see increases in activity among FHA loans, we’re largely returning to more typical levels following several years of artificially low foreclosure volumes.”Key takeaways from this month’s findings include:
• Delinquencies remain well below pre-pandemic norms: The national delinquency rate fell by 2 basis points (bps) in September to 3.42%, down 6 bps from the same time last year and 58 bps below its September 2019 pre-pandemic level.
• Strength across delinquency bands in September: Both early-stage (30-day) and late-stage (90+ day) delinquencies improved month-over-month, as the vast majority of borrowers remain current on their mortgage payments.
• Non-current rates improved for most investors: The non-current rate (delinquencies plus active foreclosures) declined year-over-year among GSE (-3 bps), VA (-4 bps) and portfolio-held loans (-17 bps). FHA loans were the notable exception, rising by 44 bps from last year’s levels.
• Foreclosure activity is returning to normal ranges: There were 103,000 foreclosure starts in Q3 2025, a 23% increase from the same period last year, but 18% below Q3 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.
• Improving efficiency in resolution: The number of loans in active foreclosure rose modestly year-over-year (18%), yet overall foreclosure volume remains historically low, with Q3 foreclosure sales (21,000) at roughly half of 2019 levels. FHA loans account for the majority of that rise, making up 38% of active foreclosures, roughly half of the annual rise in foreclosure starts and 80% of the rise in active foreclosures. The resumption of VA foreclosure activity following last year’s moratorium is largely responsible for the remainder.
• Prepayments are edging higher: Prepayments rose by 8 bps in September to a 0.74% single month mortality (SMM) rate, a 15% increase from the prior year, as interest rates began to ease in August.
Here is a table from ICE.
Another Boring Day With Mortgage Rates Near 3-Year Lows --Mortgage rates ended last week at the lowest levels in just over a month. It was the 3rd best day in over a year and the 24th best day in over 3 years. The other 23 days weren't too much lower either. The only difference today is a microscopic improvement that makes it the 2nd best day in over a year. In other words, we're hanging out near 3 year lows with minimal volatility. In order to see sharper, more sustained momentum, we'd likely need the government shutdown to end. That would allow the most consequential economic reports (like the jobs report) to be released. It would also allow data collection to resume for future jobs reports. Between now and then, there is other data to guide the rate market, but it's just not as heavy hitting. This week is particularly light in that regard, but there's one exception. The BLS received an exception to compile September's CPI inflation data, to be released this Friday. It's not quite on par with the jobs report, but it can certainly get rates moving (for better or worse, depending on the details).
Housing October 20th Weekly Update: Inventory Up 0.3% Week-over-week -Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 0.3% week-over-week. Inventory usually starts to decline in the fall and then declines sharply during the holiday season.The first graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015.The red line is for 2025. The black line is for 2019. Inventory was up 16.1% compared to the same week in 2024 (last week it was up 17.0%), and down 8.1% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week it was down 9.5%). Inventory started 2025 down 22% compared to 2019. Inventory has closed more than half of that gap, but it appears inventory will still be below 2019 levels at the end of 2025.This second inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of October 17th, inventory was at 859 thousand (7-day average), compared to 857 thousand the prior week. Mike Simonsen discusses this data and much more regularly on YouTube
NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 4.06 million SAAR in September - From the NAR: NAR Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 1.5% Increase in September:
Month-over-month
• 1.5% increase in existing-home sales – seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million in September
• 1.3% increase in unsold inventory – 1.55 million units equal to 4.6 months' supply
Year-over-year
• 4.1% increase in existing-home sales
• 2.1% increase in median existing-home sales price to $415,200
This graph shows existing home sales, on a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) basis since 1994.
Sales in September (4.06 million SAAR) were up 1.5% from the previous month and were up 4.1% compared to the September 2024 sales rate. The second graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes.According to the NAR, inventory increased to 1.55 million in September from 1.53 million the previous month. Headline inventory is not seasonally adjusted, and inventory usually decreases to the seasonal lows in December and January, and peaks in mid-to-late summer.The last graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in reported existing home inventory and months-of-supply. Since inventory is not seasonally adjusted, it really helps to look at the YoY change. Note: Months-of-supply is based on the seasonally adjusted sales and not seasonally adjusted inventory. Inventory was up 14.0% year-over-year (blue) in September compared to September 2024. Months of supply (red) was unchanged at 4.6 months in September from 4.6 months the previous month.
Newsletter: NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 4.06 million SAAR in September - Today, in the CalculatedRisk Real Estate Newsletter: NAR: Existing-Home Sales Increased to 4.06 million SAAR in September Excerpt: The fourth graph shows existing home sales by month for 2024 and 2025. Sales were up 4.1% year-over-year compared to September 2024. This was the easiest year-over-year comparison. ... On an NSA basis for the month of September, this was 11% above the low for housing bust for the month of September that happened in September 2010. Year-to-date, sales are down 0.2% NSA. There is much more in the article.
NAHB: Builder Confidence Increased in October, Negative territory for 18 consecutive months --The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported the housing market index (HMI) was at 37, up from 32 last month. Any number below 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as poor than good. From the NAHB: Amid Market Challenges, Builder Expectations Rise in October Even as builders continue to grapple with market and macroeconomic uncertainty, sentiment levels posted a solid gain in October as future sales expectations surpassed the 50-point breakeven mark for the first time since last January. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 37 in October, up five points from September and the highest reading since April, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. “The housing market has some areas with firm demand, including smaller builders shifting to remodeling and ongoing solid conditions for the luxury market. However, most home buyers are still on the sidelines, waiting for mortgage rates to move lower.” “The HMI gain in October is a positive signal for 2026 as our forecast is for single-family housing starts to gain ground next year,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell from just above 6.5% at the start of September to 6.3% in early October. Combined with anticipated further easing by the Fed, builders expect a slightly improving sales environment, albeit one in which persistent supply-side cost factors remain a challenge.” With the government shutdown continuing and an expectation of no Census housing construction data for September being published this week, Dietz noted the following: “Based on modeling of historical data, the October increase for the HMI suggests an approximate 3% increase for the September single-family permit data on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis. Our model suggests a 2% to 4% range for the increase based on the statistical relationship.” In a sign of ongoing challenges for the housing market, the latest HMI survey also revealed that 38% of builders reported cutting prices in October. This share has alternated between 37% and 39% since June. Meanwhile, the average price reduction rose to 6% in October after averaging 5% for several months previously. The last time builders reduced prices by 6% was a year ago in October 2024. The use of sales incentives was 65% in October, unchanged from September. ... All the HMI subindices rose in October. The component measuring current sales conditions increased four points to 38, the index gauging future sales jumped nine points to 54 and the gauge charting traffic of prospective buyers posted a four-point gain to 25. Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, the Northeast rose two points to 46, the Midwest was unchanged at 42, the South increased two points to 31 and the West gained two points to 28. This graph shows the NAHB index since Jan 1985. The index has been below 50 for eighteen consecutive months.
Hotels: Occupancy Rate Decreased 2.4% Year-over-year - Hotel occupancy was weak over the summer months, due to less international tourism. The fall months are mostly domestic travel and occupancy is still under pressure!From STR: U.S. hotel results for week ending 18 October - The U.S. hotel industry reported mixed year-over-year comparisons, according to CoStar’s latest data through 18 October. ... 12-18 October 2025 (percentage change from comparable week in 2024):
• Occupancy: 68.5% (-2.4%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$173.14 (+1.7%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$118.65 (-0.7%)
The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average.
The red line is for 2025, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2024. Dashed black is for 2018, the record year for hotel occupancy. The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is tracking behind both last year and the median rate for the period 2000 through 2024 (Blue). The 4-week average will decrease seasonally until early next year.On a year-to-date basis, the only worse years for occupancy over the last 25 years were pandemic or recession years. Here are some Hotel executive comments from a recent conference: 'Uncertainty is bad for business': Hotel executives express discontent with unpredictability “What's tough on our industry always is uncertainty," said Joe Berger, president and CEO of BRE Hotels & Resorts. "It's been a tough year to navigate."Leeny Oberg, chief financial officer and executive vice president of development at Marriott International, said there's frequently a new tariff announcement or comment made toward another country that is affecting the planning process. That process is very sequential, so the timing of some of these announcements can really throw off the execution of hotel projects midway through, she said."You've got all these people trying to make plans about their cutbacks and what they're trying to do with their properties, and it's literally every week or every day there's a new announcement. 'Oh, it's furniture today,' or, 'Oh, it's this country today.' From a planning perspective, it makes it extremely difficult," she said.One of the larger subplots of the year has been the decline in Canadian travel to the U.S., due in large part to comments made from President Donald Trump on America's neighboring country. In August, Tourism Economics projected a 20.2% decline in Canadian travel to the U.S. on the year.
LA Ports: Imports and Exports Down YoY in September -Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported - and usually some hints about the trade report since LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation's container port traffic.The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container). The first graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports). Usually imports peak in the July to October period as retailers import goods for the Christmas holiday and then decline sharply and bottom in the Winter depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year. Imports were down 7% YoY in September, and exports were down 2% YoY. To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the second graph shows the rolling 12-month average. On a rolling 12-month basis, inbound traffic decreased 0.6% in September compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month. Outbound traffic decreased 0.1% compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month.This is the 10th consecutive month with exports down YoY.
BLS: CPI Increased 0.3% in September; Core CPI increased 0.2% -- From the BLS: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in September, after rising 0.4 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.0 percent before seasonal adjustment. Note that September CPI data collection was completed before the lapse in appropriations.The index for gasoline rose 4.1 percent in September and was the largest factor in the all items monthly increase, as the index for energy rose 1.5 percent over the month. The food index increased 0.2 percent over the month as the food at home index rose 0.3 percent and the food away from home index increased 0.1 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in September, after rising 0.3 percent in each of the 2 preceding months. Indexes that increased over the month include shelter, airline fares, recreation, household furnishings and operations, and apparel. The indexes for motor vehicle insurance, used cars and trucks, and communication were among the few major indexes that decreased in September.The all items index rose 3.0 percent for the 12 months ending September, after rising 2.9 percent over the 12 months ending August. The all items less food and energy index also rose 3.0 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index increased 2.8 percent for the 12 months ending September. The food index increased 3.1 percent over the last year. The change in CPI was slightly below expectations. I'll post a graph later today after the Cleveland Fed releases the median and trimmed-mean CPI.
Massive Outlier in Owner’s Equivalent of Rent Pushed Down CPI, Core CPI, Core Services CPI: Something Went Awry at the BLS by Wolf Richter - The delayed release of the Consumer Price Index today, cobbled together with perhaps not all the staff and means that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has normally available due to the government shutdown, was perhaps the best that could be done under the circumstances. But there were a few things that were off, the most important of which was Owner’s Equivalent of Rent (OER), a huge component in CPI, accounting for 26% of overall CPI, for 33% of core CPI, and for 44% of core services CPI: It was a massive historic outlier. OER rose by only 0.13% in September from August (blue line in the chart), according to the BLS today, compared to 0.38% in the prior month, and compared to the 12-month range between +0.27% (May) and +0.41% (July). Something went wrong there, and given its huge weight, OER significantly pushed down the month-to-month readings of overall CPI, core CPI, and core services CPI. If this situation with OER hadn’t happened, the inflation readings today would have been a lot hotter than they were, particularly core services CPI where OER weighs 44% and core CPI where OER weighs 33%. OER is not a measure of rent. The measure of rent is the Rent CPI. OER is a stand-in for the costs of homeownership. OER indirectly reflects the expenses of homeownership such as homeowners’ insurance, HOA fees, property taxes, and maintenance. It’s the only measure for those expenses in the CPI. It is based on what a large group of homeowners estimates their home would rent for, with the assumption that homeowners would try to recoup their cost increases by raising the rent. Overall CPI rose by 0.31% (+3.8% annualized) in September from August. So not a benign inflation reading, but the second worst since January. And yet it was pushed down by the OER outlier situation (blue in the chart below). Year-over-year, overall CPI rose by 3.01%, the worst increase since May 2024, and the sixth acceleration in a row. It would have risen more without the OER outlier (red). “Core” CPI, which excludes food and energy components to track underlying inflation, clearly showed the massive push-down from the OER outlier. It rose by only 0.23% (2.8% annualized) in September from August (blue) which caused the year-over-year increase to decelerate to +3.0% (red). Core services CPI, where OER weighs about 44%, was heavily impacted by the OER outlier: It rose by only 0.24% in September from August (+2.9% annualized). Core services are about 60% of the overall CPI. They include many of the essentials that consumers cannot do without – housing (OER!), medical care, health insurance, auto insurance, tenant’s insurance, subscriptions; telephone, internet, and wireless services; lodging, rental cars, airline fares, education, movies, sports events, club memberships, water, sewer, trash collection, motor vehicle maintenance and repair, etc. But with 44% of it gone haywire in some way, it doesn’t really indicate anything for September.
Cost of Living Adjustment increases 2.8% in 2026, Contribution Base increased to $184,500 -- With the release of the CPI report this morning, we now know the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), and the contribution base for 2026. From Social Security: Social Security Announces 2.8 Percent Benefit Increase for 2026 - The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced today that Social Security benefits, including Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for 75 million Americans will increase 2.8 percent in 2026. On average, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by about $56 per month starting in January.... Other adjustments that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) is slated to increase to $184,500 from $176,100. Currently CPI-W is the index that is used to calculate the Cost-Of-Living Adjustments (COLA). Here is a discussion from Social Security on the current calculation (2.8% increase) and a list of previous Cost-of-Living Adjustments.The contribution and benefit base will be $184,500 in 2026. The National Average Wage Index increased to $69,846.57 in 2024, up 4.84% from $66,621.80 in 2023 (used to calculate contribution base).
As Auto Loan Delinquencies Soar, Repossessions On Track To Break Record -- On Friday we noted that auto loan delinquencies among low-tier consumers have surged 50% since 2010, as new vehicle prices have spiked over 25% since 2019 and 20% of borrowers forking over at least $1,000 per month for their depreciating asset (at 9% APR, no less). And so it makes perfect sense that with over 100 million auto loans in America, the number of cars being repossessed is approaching records.According to data from the Recovery Database Network (RDN), there have been over 7.5 million repossession assignments in the United States so far this year - meaning, authorizations given to an agency to recover a vehicle on behalf of a lender. This figure is on track to exceed 10.5 million by the end of the year. Of note, an assignment =/= a repossession, as repo men aren't always successful.Yet despite recovery ratios having fallen in recent years, over three million cars could be repossessed this year, a level not seen since 2009. According to a Goldman survey published earlier this month, around 40% of Americans under the age of boomer report living paycheck to paycheck as inflation continues to erode purchasing power. For those living primarily paycheck to paycheck, the top issue cited by 87% of those asked was "Too many monthly financial expenses" - like an auto loan. In second place is financial hardship (81%) such as home repairs, followed by credit card debt (77%). Meanwhile, Fitch reports that 6.43 percent of subprime auto loans were at least 60 days past due in August, while Cox Automotive reported last week that the average transaction price for a new vehicle hit $50,000 last month - the highest level eva. "Auto finance is at a breaking point, as Americans owe over $1.66 trillion in auto debt. Delinquencies, defaults, and repossessions have shot up in recent years and look alarmingly similar to trends that were apparent before the Great Recession," wrote the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit advocacy group. "Cars are more expensive than ever, due in part to economic factors, but also due to the fraught experience of buying and financing a car. Dealers and lenders have long engaged in deceptive and predatory practices that jack up prices for car buyers in order to line their pockets."
Demand for afterschool programs outpaces supply as cost becomes growing barrier - The supply of afterschool programs cannot keep up with the demand from parents, according to a recent report, leaving schools and students in a precarious spot that advocates and officials say will take a community effort to solve. The report from Afterschool Alliance found the parents of almost 30 million children nationwide want access to afterschool programs, but only 7 million are currently enrolled. While 95 percent of parents who can enroll their students in an afterschool program are satisfied with their experience, school officials and advocates say cost is the biggest barrier to making these initiatives available to every student who needs it. Rahsheem Hollis, a high school assistant principal of a vocational technical high school in Delaware, said the cost of afterschool programs often comes from other parts of the budget, making it a challenge for the much-needed sports and other curricula given to students after hours. “We have to have materials for the kids. If we pull from our regular budget to provide for afterschool programming, it takes away from the other aspect of education that needs to be taken care of as well. So, I think the thing about it is, right now, we just need more support, funding wise, for after school programming,” Hollis said. His school offers a variety of afterschool activities, which he says is imperative to keeping students from engaging in discouraged activities after hours. “If we want to see students and people excel, we have to make the investment,” Hollis said. Four in 10 parents say their community lacks afterschool programs, according to the report, and 56 percent cite cost as a reason their child is not enrolled in a program if it is available. Afterschool programs have always been popular but received a particular boost during the pandemic and have kept elevated interest levels since. “Great news, these programs are doing exactly what they’re meant to do. The bad news is, and this didn’t really surprise us, is that demand continues to grow, and that for many parents … we always knew this was a struggle for some of our low income parents, but as costs have continued to rise, it’s a bigger struggle for our middle income parents,” said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance. “This gap that’s grown, where parents that can afford it are now spending nine times as much on out of school time activities for their kids as low income parents. It is really startling and scary,” Grant added. Her group says urban students are more likely to have unmet afterschool needs, compared to their suburban or rural counterparts. More than half of Black, Hispanic, Asian American and Native American children not in an afterschool program would be if they had access to one, compared to 43 percent of white students. Advocates and officials say only a combination of federal, state and local support can bridge the gap. Over the summer, a pause in federal support under the Trump administration showed how quickly that absence would be felt, when the Education Department froze $6 billion in afterschool funds. Though the pause lasted less than a month, many programs had to limit services or shut down, drawing rare bipartisan criticism. But even when paid on time, the current federal budget for afterschool programs is not sufficient and has not kept up with inflation, advocates say. The Department of Education did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. “The bad news is that, when you look across inflation, this funding hasn’t increased since 2022,” Grant said, adding money from the federal government is not likely to completely close the gap.
New York City schools sue over federal grant cuts tied to transgender policies - New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) sued the Education Department Wednesday for pulling funding after the district refused to change its policies around transgender students. The Education Department had said it would pull funding if New York City schools and other localities did not comply with the department’s directives to force students to use bathrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their sex assigned at birth. After NYCPS missed the deadline, $47 million in promised grants were put on hold for the district’s magnet schools. “The immediate effect of the Department’s actions is the complete disruption of the Schools’ ability to carry out their specialized programming during the school year,” the lawsuit reads, adding the funds gave critical support for a variety of subjects. The district is accusing the Education Department of misrepresenting Title IX and contends it is completely in line with all federal laws. It also says the department did not give proper notification of termination of funds. “Moreover, the Department actions are a clear attempted end run around the Congressional directive that school funding not be pulled on a whim: the Department’s purported discontinuation of NYCPS’ MSAP [Magnet Schools Assistance Program] grants is being carried out unlawfully, without observance of procedures required both by Title IX itself, and by the federal regulations governing the operation of MSAP grants,” the lawsuit said. “The Department sees no merit in this lawsuit,” a spokesperson for the federal agency told The Hill. “The MSAP program requires certification of civil rights compliance, which we could obviously not do in the face of NYC’s continued determination to violate the rights of female students under Title IX.”
McMahon: Shutdown confirms ‘Department of Education is unnecessary’ - Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Wednesday the federal shutdown is proof that her department should be eliminated, as the Trump administration is trying to do. “The Democrat government shutdown has forced agencies to evaluate what federal responsibilities are truly critical for the American people. Two weeks in, millions of American students are still going to school, teachers are getting paid, and schools are operating as normal. It confirms what the President has said: the federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states,” McMahon posted on the social platform X. While schools have said they are fine in the short term in the shutdown, a longer-term government closure raises concerns for administrators about where funding will come from and whom to contact for certain issues or questions.Schools on tax-exempt land such as military bases or Native American reservations had their Impact Aid immediately affected. While many of these institutions have some reserves, it won’t last forever. And the 95 percent of furloughed staff at the department is delaying certain programs such as investigations at the Office for Civil Rights.Even when the shutdown ends, the recent reduction in force laying off 466 more workers at the federal agency raises even bigger questions about what the department will look like in the coming weeks as the agency goes from more than 4,000 employees at the start of President Trump’s term to less than 2,000.But McMahon argues the reductions will not burden schools or students and that these initiatives should be the responsibility of the states.
Trump administration uses shutdown to push Education Department elimination - The Education Department is trying to use the government shutdown to further push for its own elimination. From an effort to layoff almost 500 more employees to messaging from Secretary Linda McMahon herself, the federal department, which President Trump has long sought to shutter, is seeking ways to make changes during the shutdown more permanent, alarming its defenders.“It’s nonsensical to think that the Trump administration … has an interest in preserving the Department of Education and preserving civil rights enforcement at the federal level,” said David Hinojosa, co-director of litigation at the National Center for Youth Law. Trump, who has told McMahon he wants her to put herself out of a job, had previously signed an executive order to shrink the agency and laid off half its workforce. But the shutdown, which has lasted for more than three weeks with no end in sight, seems to be another window McMahon thinks she can use to further these efforts. “The Democrat government shutdown has forced agencies to evaluate what federal responsibilities are truly critical for the American people. Two weeks in, millions of American students are still going to school, teachers are getting paid, and schools are operating as normal. It confirms what the President has said: the federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states,” McMahon said in a statement on X. “The Department has taken additional steps to better reach American students and families and root out the education bureaucracy that has burdened states and educators with unnecessary oversight,” she added. Some 95 percent of department workers have been furloughed, pausing civil rights investigations and cutting funding for some schools, such as those that rely on Impact Aid. But it will take time for further consequences to be obvious to the education sector, as most of the federal funding was already distributed to K-12 schools for the year. Federal dollars make up about 10 percent of the average district’s budget. Opponents say it is a slight of hand to say a government shutdown is similar to if the agency didn’t exist all together. “I think that is very disingenuous,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute. “What it shows is that the federal government is not running and has not ever run schools directly. We heard a lot of rhetoric at the beginning of this administration about how they were going to return control of education to the states, and that the federal government was kind of running everything in schools, and that was just never the case.”
Making math relevant: A key to college completion - Across the country this fall, millions of college students are walking into math classrooms worried about their future — perhaps with good reason. For decades, mathematics — particularly college algebra — has functioned less as a bridge to opportunity than as a barrier to completion. Nationally, college algebra is one of the most common stumbling blocks to degree completion, with high failure and withdrawal rates that disproportionately affect first-generation and non-white students. For many students, the challenge is made all the more frustrating because they are unconvinced of math’s relevance. A new Gallup survey found that while older adults overwhelmingly view math as essential to their daily lives and careers, young adults ages 18-24 are far more skeptical. Mathematical thinking is valuable for everyone, but for many students, it is taught in ways that appear abstract and disconnected from real-world applications and divorced from their aspirations. That disconnect has real consequences not just for persistence, graduation, and career readiness, but also for informed citizenship. Math has never been more relevant, with mathematical thinking and reasoning not only shaping how we navigate personal finances and other everyday tasks, but also how we make sense of the growing flood of data and information around us and harness the power of artificial intelligence. Yet educators continue to present math as something external that students must reach to connect with. Redesigning college math experiences — from instruction to internships — means ensuring that what students learn actually equips them with the reasoning and problem-solving skills their lives and careers will demand. Over the last decade, states and institutions have begun moving in that direction. A growing number of institutions now offer math pathways that are more tightly aligned with the students’ programs of study and career goals. Quantitative reasoning courses, for example, focus on applying math to everyday problems and decisions, like calculating inventory for a business, the right medication dosage, or the best layout for planting crops on farmland. Statistical reasoning pathways help students analyze data, interpret uncertainty and make informed decisions in real-world contexts. “STEM-Prep Pathways,” meanwhile, helps students build strong algebra and calculus skills that are directly relevant for fields like science, technology and engineering. Colleges now face a choice: redesign math courses to become gateways to success, or cling to outdated models that act as gatekeepers. The stakes are high. At a moment when automation, AI and data literacy are reshaping the workforce, mathematical reasoning is more critical than ever.Colleges need a future-approach approach to teaching math that offers math learning experiences that respect students’ ambitions, honor their futures, and equip them with the skills our economy needs. The question has never been whether math is relevant, but whether we can teach it in ways that make its relevance clear to today’s students.
Colleges stand firm against Trump's compact funding terms - President Trump’s college compact offer has fallen flat. As of Monday’s deadline to get back to the administration, at least six prominent universities have publicly rejected the deal, which offers favorable federal funding status in exchange for institutional changes, while none have accepted it. The general theme of the rejections has centered on the schools’ beliefs the demands violated academic freedoms and their values. Experts say they don’t expect any universities to take the deal, though they are doubtful this will be the last pressure attempt from Trump, who has repeatedly targeted the finances and standing of colleges that defy him. “I think they did underestimate the resistance that they would get and the willingness of institutions across the country to stand together in support of our core values,” said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. So far, most of the original nine universities that were offered the compact have rejected it: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia (UVA), the University of Arizona and Dartmouth College. Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said his school has provided feedback on the deal without officially saying yes or no. “Last Friday, Vanderbilt participated in a discussion with members of the administration and other university leaders about shaping a productive process for providing such comments. We expect to share our input with the administration through that process,” the statement reads. The University of Texas at Austin has not yet issued a public response. It is possible UT could try to walk the line of agreeing to some of the deal’s principles without actually signing on. The Hill has reached out to the university for comment. The Trump administration said the offer would be expanded, but that these schools were the initial picks because they were seen as “highly reasonable” institutions. A second round of offers might target schools that are more amenable to Trump’s goals in general, potentially allowing him to funnel funds to friendlier colleges. The document “includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution,” MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone,” she added.
Student loan forgiveness update: Trump Admin cancels debt for millions --The Trump administration has confirmed its agreement to cancel student loan debt for eligible borrowers under certain plans, following a legal agreement between the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Department of Education. Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Department of Education and the AFT via email for comment. Amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, Newsweek received an automated response from the department which said: “We will respond to emails once government functions resume.” The AFT directed Newsweek to its press release when approached for comment. The latest decision marks a major policy pivot for the Trump administration, which previously paused or restricted student debt relief through federal income-driven repayment programs. Around 2 to 2.5 million borrowers are either directly enrolled in qualifying plans or were affected by policy shifts in 2025, and the resumption of debt cancellation offers financial relief and legal clarity to Americans who have spent decades making payments on federal student loans. Earlier this year, the Trump administration removed the application to enroll in Income-Based Repayment (IDR) plans from government websites and issued an order to government student loan contractors to halt all IDR enrollment and processing, which it said followed court orders. The AFT then sued the administration in March 2025 for failing to provide Congressionally mandated debt relief, and after the lawsuit was filed, the government then resumed forgiving loans for borrowers enrolled in two Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plans: the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plans. To qualify for these plans, borrowers typically must have made 20 to 25 years of consecutive qualifying payments, depending on loan origination date and plan enrollment. As of October 2025, these plans account for more than 2 million borrowers. The recent legal settlement, filed on October 17, between the Department of Education and AFT confirms that the administration will now resume loan cancellations for the two IDR plans, grant payment refunds to eligible borrowers, and provide regular status updates to ensure transparency and compliance with federal law. The agreement also recognizes that borrowers who are eligible to have debts canceled in 2025 will not be forced to pay a tax penalty, due to changes in tax law, as a result of government processing delays and ongoing litigation. Borrowers eligible for relief began receiving Department of Education notifications in October. The emails outlined options to accept forgiveness or opt out.
School disengagement increased during pandemic years -School disengagement (SD) rates were higher during the pandemic years, especially for children with mental health conditions (MHCs), according to a study published online Oct. 15 in Pediatrics.Fiorella B. Castillo, M.D., from The Children's Hospital at Montefiore in Bronx, New York, and colleagues examined temporal changes in SD and SD rates among children with MHCs in a representative sample of U.S. children aged 6 to 17 years from 2018 to 2022. Cross-sectional National Survey of Children's Health data were included from 136,576 participants from 2018 and 2019 (prepandemic), 2020 (lockdown), and 2021 and 2022 (intrapandemic).The researchers found that the rates of SD were higher during pandemic years versus 2018, especially for children with MHCs. Higher odds of SD were seen in 2020, 2021, and 2022 versus 2018 (adjusted odds ratios, 1.30, 1.27, and 1.28, respectively); there were no differences between 2018 and 2019. Higher SD odds were seen in children with MHCs, overall health status that was very good or lower, food insecurity, a total of four or more lifetime moves, a special education plan, and incidence of repeating a grade."The sustained rise in SD rates, especially among children with MHCs, presents a key public health concern with clinical and policy implications," the authors write.
Spiritual experiences in adolescence linked to adult loneliness and civic engagement - University of North Carolina at Charlotte's School of Nursing, collaborating with Harvard's Human Flourishing Program, reports that adolescents who report transformative religious or spiritual experiences show both greater volunteering and voting in early adulthood alongside elevated loneliness and PTSD. Large national surveys have linked religious or spiritual involvement with health, yet longitudinal evidence on life-changing experiences remains sparse. Previous research has associated religious or spiritual involvement with positive health indicators and lower stress, while qualitative and clinical literature has described both self-destabilizing elements and intensified civic engagement and social connectedness. In the study, "Between Vulnerability and Connection: Longitudinal Evidence on the Impact of Transformative Religious/Spiritual Experiences," published in Stress and Health, researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine associations between transformative religious or spiritual experiences in late adolescence and a range of outcomes across physical, mental, behavioral, and social domains in early adulthood.Outcomes covered 38 indicators across physical health, behavioral health, mental health and well-being, and social engagement assessed at early adulthood.Approximately 17% of adolescents reported a transformative religious or spiritual experience during late adolescence. Childhood patterns included household financial strain, strained parent-child dynamics, lower academic indicators, elevated depressive symptoms, and greater religious practice.Reporting a transformative experience in late adolescence aligned with greater volunteering in early adulthood. Civic participation also rose, as rated by higher voting.Loneliness increased in early adulthood among those who reported a transformative experience. Signals for PTSD diagnosis, lower self-rated health, more depressive symptoms, functional limitations, diabetes, and prescription drug misuse appeared but were less consistent. The authors conclude that transformative experiences function as a double-edged phenomenon linking adolescent vulnerability with later civic and prosocial engagement.
New study shows AI chatbots systematically violate mental health ethics standards --As more people turn to ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) for mental health advice, a new study details how these chatbots—even when prompted to use evidence-based psychotherapy techniques—systematically violate ethical standards of practice established by organizations like the American Psychological Association.The research, led by Brown University computer scientists working side-by-side withmental health practitioners, showed that chatbots are prone to a variety of ethical violations. Those include inappropriately navigating crisis situations, providing misleading responses that reinforce users' negative beliefs about themselves and others, and creating a false sense of empathy with users."In this work, we present a practitioner-informed framework of 15 ethical risks to demonstrate how LLM counselors violate ethical standards in mental health practice by mapping the model's behavior to specific ethical violations," the researchers wrote in their study. "We call on future work to create ethical, educational and legal standards for LLM counselors—standards that are reflective of the quality and rigor of care required for human-facilitated psychotherapy." The research will be presented on October 22, 2025 at the AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Society. . Zainab Iftikhar, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Brown who led the work, was interested in how different prompts might impact the output of LLMs in mental health settings. Specifically, she aimed to determine whether such strategies could help models adhere to ethical principles for real-world deployment. Individual users chatting directly with LLMs like ChatGPT can use such prompts and often do. Iftikhar says that users often share the prompts they use on TikTok and Instagram, and there are long Reddit threads dedicated to discussing prompt strategies. But the problem potentially goes beyond individual users. Essentially, all the mental health chatbots marketed to consumers are prompted versions of more general LLMs. So understanding how prompts specific to mental health affect the output of LLMs is critical. For the study, Iftikhar and her colleagues observed a group of peer counselors working with an online mental health support platform. The researchers first observed seven peer counselors, all of whom were trained in cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, as they conducted self-counseling chats with CBT-prompted LLMs, including various versions of OpenAI's GPT Series, Anthropic's Claude and Meta's Llama. Next, a subset of simulated chats based on original human counseling chats were evaluated by three licensed clinical psychologists who helped to identify potential ethics violations in the chat logs.The study revealed 15 ethical risks falling into five general categories:
- Lack of contextual adaptation: Ignoring people's lived experiences and recommending one-size-fits-all interventions.
- Poor therapeutic collaboration: Dominating the conversation and occasionally reinforcing a user's false beliefs.
- Deceptive empathy: Using phrases like "I see you" or "I understand" to create a false connection between the user and the bot.
- Unfair discrimination: Exhibiting gender, cultural or religious bias.
- Lack of safety and crisis management: Denying service on sensitive topics, failing to refer users to appropriate resources or responding indifferently to crisis situations including suicide ideation.
Iftikhar acknowledges that while human therapists are also susceptible to these ethical risks, the key difference is accountability. "For human therapists, there are governing boards and mechanisms for providers to be held professionally liable for mistreatment and malpractice," Iftikhar said. "But when LLM counselors make these violations, there are no established regulatory frameworks."
RFK Jr. to unveil new guidance encouraging more saturated fats — U.S. dietary guidelines could soon undergo another overhaul under the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, and the proposal has already drawn criticism. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to unveil new guidance encouraging the consumption of more foods previously considered unhealthy, including those high in saturated fats. Kennedy has argued that Americans need more trans and saturated fats, not less, saying foods like butter, cheese, milk and red meat have been unfairly demonized for decades. The updated guidance could be released as soon as this month.“New dietary guidelines that are common sense, that stress the need to eat saturated fats of dairy, of good meat, of fresh meat and vegetables … when we release those, it will give everybody the rationale for driving it into our schools,” Kennedy said. Kennedy has long argued that refined carbohydrates and ultraprocessed foods are the main culprits of an unhealthy diet and that they have largely been ignored in conversations surrounding obesity and inflammation.Currently, U.S. dietary guidelines, which are updated every five years, suggest Americans limit saturated fats to 10 percent of their daily calorie intake. However, the American Heart Association advises keeping that intake under 6 percent.Kennedy’s shift from the decades-long consensus has already generated concern from some medical professionals, who argue that the science is clear: more saturated fats will make Americans less healthy.
Average cost of a family health insurance plan now nearly $27,000- The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance rose for the third year in a row in 2025, approaching an average of almost $27,000 for a family plan, according to an annual survey from KFF released Wednesday. Family premiums are up 6 percent, or $1,408, from last year, more than double the rate of inflation and similar to the 7 percent increase recorded in each of the previous two years. On average, workers contributed $6,850 annually to the cost of family coverage, with employers paying the rest. The annual survey of more than 1,800 small and large employers offers a snapshot of workplace-sponsored health insurance across the country. Nearly half the U.S. population — about 154 million people younger than 65 years — receive health care coverage through their job. The large increase in premiums is being driven primarily by increased spending on health care. According to the survey, employers are singling out drug prices as a factor contributing to higher premiums in recent years. Significant shares of firms also cited the prevalence of chronic disease, higher utilization of services and hospital prices. Among firms with more than 200 employees, more than a third said prescription drug prices contributed “a great deal” to higher premiums in recent years. Chief among them are the popular GLP-1 drugs, which include the weight-loss treatments Wegovy and Zepbound. Among the biggest firms — those with at least 5,000 workers — 43 percent said they cover GLP-1 drugs for weight loss in their largest plan, up from 28 percent in 2024. “There is a quiet alarm bell going off. With GLP-1s, increases in hospital prices, tariffs and other factors, we expect employer premiums to rise more sharply next year,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement. But the cost of health insurance is more than just premiums. The average deductible for an individual plan is now almost $1,900, compared to $1,773 last year. On average, workers at small firms face deductibles almost $1,000 higher than workers at larger firms. More than half of covered workers at small firms now face a deductible of at least $2,000, and more than a third face an average single deductible of at least $3,000, the survey found. KFF said it expects deductibles and other forms of cost-sharing may climb as companies look to push more costs of medical care onto employees. “Employers have nothing new in their arsenal that can address most of the drivers of their cost increases, and that could well result in an increase in deductibles and other forms of employee cost sharing again, a strategy that neither employers nor employees like but companies resort to in a pinch to hold down premium increases,” Altman said.
ObamaCare price jump hits Idaho first as shutdown deal remains elusive Idaho consumers are getting the nation’s first look at price increases hitting Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans as the federal tax credits that helped to trigger a government shutdown expire. Idaho’s marketplace open enrollment began Oct. 15, as the future of enhanced premium tax credits remains in limbo. Marketplace customers will see markedly higher premiums than last year if the credits are not extended. “On average, gross premiums, or the overall cost of the premium, has gone up about 10 percent. And the net premium, or the amount the consumer pays after the tax credit has been applied, has increased about 75 percent,” Pat Kelly, executive director of Your Health Idaho, told The Hill. “So, those are averages across all of our enrollees, but it does give an indication of overall increase and then increase to what the consumer actually pays.” The enhanced premium tax credits were created through the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extended to the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act, enabling households with incomes higher than 400 percent of the federal poverty level to benefit from lowered premiums. Kelly estimates that about 13,000 of the roughly 135,000 enrollees in Idaho’s marketplace earn more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level. If Congress takes no action, those people will no longer be able to receive credits, though projections indicate that the vast majority of this cohort will remain insured if that does occur. Many Idahoans will be automatically reenrolled into their plans under their new rates, potentially leaving some people unaware of the upcoming spike in their monthly costs. Access to tax credits won’t be affected by income alone — age and residency also factor into eligibility. Premium tax credits are based on the second-lowest cost Silver plan in a customer’s area. Because younger customers typically pay less than older customers, they are more likely to be ineligible for the credits even if they make below 400 percent of the federal poverty level. According to Gideon Lukens, director of research and data analysis on the health policy team for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the difference that Idahoans will see does not “stand out as particularly large.” Giving the example of a 60-year-old couple in Idaho, Lukens noted they could expect an increase in their annual premium by $18,000, which is close to the expected average. “There’s been about a dozen [state-based marketplace] states that have started window shopping, and the average increase for that same example couple is typically over $20,000 annually,” Lukens said.
Shingles vaccine tied to significant reductions in risk of dementia, heart disease, and death -Vaccination against herpes zoster (shingles) may reduce the risk of heart disease, dementia, and death in adults aged 50 and older, according to Case Western University research presented yesterday at IDWeek 2025 in Atlanta. For the matched cohort study, the researchers analyzed electronic health record data from more than 174,000 patients at 107 US health systems. Follow-up was 3 months to 7 years after vaccination. The study has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Caused by reactivation of the varicella-zoster (chickenpox) virus, shingles causes a painful, itchy rash that follows a nerve, often accompanied by fever, headache, fatigue, and light sensitivity. While the infection isn't life-threatening, it can lead to postherpetic neuralgia (long-term shingles pain), neurologic conditions, skin infections, and vision loss. Older people are at higher risk for shingles and its complications. Vaccination with the Shingrix vaccine, approved in 2017, is recommended for people aged 50 years and older, regardless of shingles history or previous receipt of the now-discontinued Zostavax vaccine. Relative to pneumococcal vaccination, shingles vaccination was tied to a lower risk of vascular dementia (50%), blood clots (27%), heart attack or stroke (25%), and death (21%). The study authors said that the findings suggest that the shingles vaccine can prevent both infection and its complications. "Shingles is more than just a rash—it can raise the risk of serious problems for the heart and brain," presenting author Ali Dehghani, DO, doctor of internal medicine, said in the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) news release. "Our study findings show that the shingles vaccine may help lower those risks, especially in people already at higher risk for heart attack or stroke."
New coronavirus wave: “Frankenstein” variant spreading rapidly Largely ignored by governments and trade unions, a new SARS-CoV-2 variant is spreading at great speed: the “Stratus” or “Frankenstein” variant, XFG. It is causing high levels of sickness absence in nurseries, schools and care facilities and will further increase the number of long-COVID patients. Meanwhile, the government is pressing ahead unperturbed with its cuts to the healthcare system. In a short time, the “Stratus” variant has become the dominant strain worldwide and is showing “substantial” growth across all WHO regions (Western Pacific, North and South America, Europe). In Germany, it already accounted for 84 percent of identified SARS-CoV-2 variants at the beginning of October 2025. The XFG variant is also dominant in Austria and Switzerland, where it makes up as much as 80 percent of viral load in wastewater. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has reported a marked rise in acute respiratory illnesses since September, affecting all age groups. Apart from rhinoviruses, SARS-CoV-2 viruses were the second most frequently detected pathogen. According to RKI data, the estimated COVID-19 incidence rate in the second week of October was around 600 infections per 100,000 inhabitants—up from about 400 the previous week. The true number of cases is far higher, since testing is now extremely limited and unsystematic. The term “Frankenstein” variant is no exaggeration, but an accurate description of a genetic monster. XFG is a recombinant variant formed from the Omicron lineages LF.7 and LP.8.1.2—a genetic fusion of components from different virus types, creating a new, more resistant and “fitter” strain. The number of long-COVID patients will undoubtedly continue to rise. By the end of 2024, Germany had already registered more than 1.5 million people with long COVID or ME/CFS, with a blurred line between the two: the severe chronic multi-system illness ME/CFS, which also affects very young patients, is frequently the result of a COVID-19 infection. It often leads to complete and permanent incapacity for work, as the recovery rate is only about 5 percent per year. But institutions such as the RKI and the government are downplaying the danger. There is a lack of systematic testing and studies on the clinical effects, and reporting on severe cases (for example, in intensive care units) has been “significantly reduced.” The system is deliberately flying blind. The RKI and the Ministry of Health are advising senior citizens, vulnerable people and care workers to arrange vaccinations on their own initiative. Beyond the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO)’s recommendation for risk groups, there are no emergency plans, protective measures or public addresses concerning the XFG wave. The governing coalition in Berlin is deliberately ignoring the spread and treating COVID-19 as a private illness, comparable to influenza, where everyone is responsible for themselves. The Standing Conference of the State Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) has decided to maintain compulsory classroom attendance in schools. Despite rising XFG numbers in autumn 2025, it is ruling out the reintroduction of nationwide masking or testing requirements. Health Minister Nina Warken (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) is stubbornly sticking to her plan to cut €1.8 billion from hospitals alone. The healthcare budget has been slashed from €64 billion (2022) to €20 billion (2025)—less than one-third of its previous level. The trivialisation of the pandemic has long since become systematic, both across Europe and worldwide. The WHO currently classifies the risk, despite the alarming spread of XFG, as “low,” claiming there is “currently no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness or more deaths than other circulating variants.” This risk assessment is cynical, not least given that, according to WHO estimates, around 36 million people in Europe are suffering from long COVID.
IDSA releases COVID vaccine guidance for people with weakened immune systems -- New guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recommend that adults and children with weakened immune systems (immunocompromise) receive an age-appropriate COVID-19 vaccine dose as soon as possible for the upcoming respiratory virus season. The organization also urges household members and those in close contact with immunocompromised people to stay current with COVID-19 vaccinations to provide further protection. It said that patients may receive COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines at the same time. People may have an impaired immune system due to a disease such as cancer or HIV or to drugs they must take to treat conditions such as organ transplant. Patients with chronic organ dysfunction such as end-stage kidney disease and cirrhosis aren't considered in the guidance. "Vaccines are one of the most powerful tools to prevent respiratory viral illnesses, and this protection is especially important for individuals in our communities who have impaired immune systems," Lindsey Robert Baden, MD, vice president of clinical research at Mass General Brigham and chair of the IDSA guideline panel, said in a news release. "IDSA's guideline for COVID vaccination for individuals who are immunocompromised helps protect people who often suffer the most severe associated illnesses," he added. The society said it will release recommendations on vaccination against flu and RSV in the coming weeks. The guidance is based on a systematic literature review conducted by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy's (CIDRAP's) Vaccine Integrity Project and supplementary searches and evidence reviews from IDSA's guideline panel of experts. The Vaccine Integrity Project aims to safeguard US vaccine use so that it remains grounded in the best science, free from external influence.
COVID mRNA vaccines may be able to train immune system to attack cancer cells, boost survival COVID-19 mRNA vaccination significantly improves survival in patients with advanced lung or melanoma skin cancer who had started taking immunotherapy drugs within the past 100 days, suggests data presented yesterday at the 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin. Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center led the study, which was based on the clinical data of more than 1,000 patients with stage 3 or 4 non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or melanoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) from 2019 to 2023. The study included 180 lung-cancer patients who received a COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days before or after starting immunotherapy drugs and 704 given the same drugs who weren't vaccinated. Of the melanoma patients, 43 received a vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy, and 167 patients didn't receive a vaccine. Among vaccine recipients, median survival rose from 26.7 months to a range of 30 to 40 months. Physicians often use ICIs to "train" the immune system of patients with lung and skin cancers to more effectively recognize and attack cancer cells. But patients with advanced disease usually don't respond well to this therapy. "mRNA cancer vaccines sensitize tumors to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in part by stimulating a surge in inflammatory cytokines," the study authors wrote. "We hypothesized that mRNA vaccines targeting non-tumor antigens, such as those targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, would also sensitize tumors to ICIs." Compared with vaccine non-receipt, COVID-19 mRNA vaccination within 100 days of starting an ICI was linked to a near-doubling of overall survival (OS) among NSCLC patients (median OS, 20.6 vs 37.3 months; 3-year OS, 30.6% vs 55.8%; adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.51) and those with metastatic melanoma (median, 26.67 vs unmet; 3-year OS, 44.1% vs 67.5%; aHR, 0.34). At the time of data collection, some patients were still alive, indicating that the vaccine effects could be even stronger.
COVID-19: Vitamin D levels fell during pandemic for older women and urban dwellers - Routine data from laboratories reveal a decline in vitamin D levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in older women and urban dwellers. The COVID-19 pandemic had effects on human health well beyond the infections themselves. A research team led by LMU epidemiologist Professor Eva Grill has demonstrated for the first time at the population level that vitamin D levels were significantly lower during the pandemic than before.For their study, which was published in Nature Communications, the researchers analyzed anonymized routine data from 292,187 patients from all over Bavaria, covering both inpatients and outpatients. The data came from laboratory information systems which form part of a data-protection-compliant research platform.The scientists compared laboratory values from the two years immediately prior to the pandemic (March 2018 to February 2020) and two years during the pandemic (March 2020 to February 2022). Their results show that the mean serum level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D fell from 26.7 µg/l to 26.0 µg/l over this period. At the same time, the proportion of people with vitamin D deficiency (below 20 µg/l) increased from 31.2 to 35.2%.These differences were statistically significant (p 0.001) and remained even after adjusting for age, gender, and season."A possible explanation is that lockdowns, home office working, and changed leisure habits reduced the exposure of many people to sunlight," explains Grill.To validate the results, the scientists employed three different statistical methods—classical descriptive analyses, propensity score matching, and machine learning. All methods independently confirmed the reduction in mean vitamin D levels and the increase in deficiency rates.Moreover, the evaluation revealed significant differences between population groups. Older women over the age of 60 were particularly affected by a decrease in vitamin D levels during the pandemic. Meanwhile, young adults aged 18 to 39 also exhibited a strong increase in vitamin D deficiency—their deficiency rate rose from 34.6 to 37.8%. Vitamin D is vitally important not only for bone health, but also has an immunomodulatory effect. Lack of the vitamin can increase the risk of infections, autoimmune diseases, and bone fractures. In addition, there is an urban-rural divide: In urban regions, deficiency rates were consistently higher than in rural areas. "Urban living conditions—less sunlight as a result of building density, limited green areas, higher air pollution—further impair vitamin D synthesis," notes Grill. The researchers also interpreted their data against the background of gender-specific behavioral differences. While women on average take vitamin D supplements more often than men, they also experienced stronger falls in vitamin D levels during the pandemic. According to Grill, this could be "an indicator that social and psychological factors like additional burdens, stress, and limited access to health care offers played a role for women."
Once-promising anti-inflammatory drug fails to improve long-COVID functional outcomes in trial -A randomized clinical trial finds that the anti-inflammatory drug colchicine, once thought promising for treating COVID-19, is no better than placebo in terms of functional capacity, respiratory function, symptoms such as depression or fatigue, or inflammation in long-COVID patients 1 year after infection.The double-blind trial, led by researchers at the George Institute for Global Health India in Delhi, randomly assigned 346 adult long-COVID patients to 28 weeks of colchicine therapy (162 patients) or placebo (157) at eight hospitals in six states in India from January 2022 to July 2023.Participants, who had functional limitations and/or elevated inflammatory markers, were evaluated 12, 26, and 52 weeks after randomization. Of the 346 participants, 60.4% were women, and the average age was 46 years. Colchicine is often used to reduce inflammation and pain in patients with gout, a buildup of uric-acid crystals in the joints, and is approved in the United States to treat inflammation in heart disease. The findings were published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Wastewater Treatment Fails To Remove Pharmaceuticals In Poland - Residues of medicines from households, hospitals, and veterinary use are increasingly contaminating Poland’s waterways, with conventional wastewater treatment plants failing to remove them effectively, according to a recent study. Research conducted by the Institute of Environmental Protection – National Research Institute (IOS-PIB) and published in PLOS One reveals that pharmaceutical pollution in treated wastewater poses risks to aquatic organisms and could potentially impact drinking water sources. The study examined samples from 30 wastewater treatment plants across Poland and detected drugs including ibuprofen, diclofenac, ketoprofen, carbamazepine, and fluoxetine. Alarmingly, concentrations of certain compounds, such as fluoxetine and carbamazepine, were higher after treatment than before. Only a few substances, including naproxen and salicylic acid, were effectively removed. “The presence of pharmaceuticals in water is particularly significant for drinking water quality,” said Professor Barbara Gworek, Head of the Department of Environmental Chemistry and Risk Assessment at IOS-PIB, who led the study. “Annual drug sales in Poland reach roughly 25,800 tons, much of which ultimately ends up in surface waters near drinking water intakes.” The research also revealed elevated levels of pharmaceuticals in sewage sludge, with fluoxetine, carbamazepine, and metoprolol among the most concentrated. Treatment plants serving more than 200,000 residents were estimated to discharge about 40 kilograms of active pharmaceutical ingredients into rivers annually—roughly 191 grams per 1,000 inhabitants per year. Ketoprofen, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, and fluoxetine contributed most to these emissions. An ecological risk assessment highlighted fluoxetine and loratadine as posing the greatest threat to aquatic life, particularly algae, daphnia, and fish. Ibuprofen and sulfamethoxazole were also found to negatively impact certain species. “Conventional mechanical-biological treatment plants cannot completely protect the environment from pharmaceuticals,” the study concluded. “Drugs still enter rivers and lakes, accumulating in the food chain. Their persistence and biological activity heighten the risk of long-term effects on aquatic ecosystems.” IOS-PIB experts are now testing both raw and treated wastewater, as well as sewage sludge at 30 treatment plants—including six large facilities serving over 200,000 people—to assess pharmaceutical removal efficiency. The researchers emphasize the urgent need for modern wastewater treatment technologies and preventive measures at the source, including improved pharmaceutical management in healthcare and agriculture.
Another Company Recalls Frozen Shrimp Due to Radioactive Contamination - Seattle-based company Aquastar (USA) Corp initiated a voluntary recall of frozen shrimp sold under several brand names across the United States after concerns about possible exposure to low levels of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 Friday. The company, working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said no illnesses had been reported in connection with the recalled products, but urged customers to return or dispose of the shrimp as a precaution. The recall extends to shrimp imported from Indonesia and distributed through major retailers nationwide. The Aquastar recall marks the latest in a series of seafood safety scares involving potential radioactive contamination. Cesium-137 is a radioactive byproduct of nuclear fission and, while not detected in the current Aquastar shrimp lots, exposure to the substance over time can increase cancer risk and cause cellular damage. Previous recalls of shrimp products due to similar concerns have raised new questions about imported foods and prompted federal scrutiny of overseas seafood processors and suppliers. Aquastar (USA) Corp recalled several frozen raw shrimp products, marketed under the AquaStar, Best Yet, Waterfront Bistro, and Publix brand names, according to the official FDA announcement. The recall specifically involves shrimp imported from Indonesia, and covered products may have been prepared, packed, or held in conditions potentially exposing them to low levels of cesium-137. Importantly, none of the recalled shrimp tested positive for cesium-137, but the recall proceeded on a precautionary basis to prevent even theoretical risk. No symptoms or illnesses associated with radiation exposure from these products have been reported as of mid-October 2025. The recall affects bags of shrimp sold from June 12 to September 17, 2025, at multiple retail chains including Kroger, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, and more. FDA officials said consumers should not eat any of the recalled products. Instead, shrimp packages should be returned to the place of purchase for a full refund, or disposed of safely. Consumers with questions can contact AquaStar at 1-800-331-3440. The Aquastar recall follows several other similar warnings in recent months. In August and September 2025, the FDA announced and expanded recalls for shrimp distributed by Southwind Foods LLC and Lawrence Wholesale LLC after tests found the radioactive chemical cesium-137 in select shipments from Indonesian supplier PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS Foods). Those recalls impacted shrimp sold under brands including Sand Bar, Arctic Shores, Best Yet, Great American, First Street, and some Kroger-branded products. Distribution was widespread, covering retailers such as Walmart, Kroger, and others in dozens of states. Although no illnesses have been directly tied to consumption of these shrimp products, the FDA and U.S. Customs & Border Protection have increased screening and monitoring of seafood imports from implicated suppliers. Cesium-137 is a radioactive metal commonly released as a byproduct in nuclear reactors or weapon tests. The substance can pollute the environment after nuclear accidents and can persist in soil or water. When exposure occurs through food or drinking water, cesium-137 can accumulate in the body and increase the risk of cancer due to its DNA-damaging properties. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), high doses of cesium-137 can cause burns, acute radiation sickness, and even death. Lower, repeated exposures may raise long-term health risks without causing immediate symptoms. Authorities emphasize that while background levels of cesium can occur naturally, added levels from contaminated food are a serious public health concern.
Chernobyl’s Dogs Are Mutating Faster Than Anyone Expected: What Radiation Is Really Doing to Their DNA -- Decades after the world’s worst nuclear disaster, hundreds of free-roaming dogs are thriving around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP). Now, scientists have revealed that these animals are not only surviving—they’re thriving. Some sleep under rusting machinery. Others scavenge near cracked concrete cooling towers. Many are born within walking distance of the infamous Reactor No. 4. In recent years, these animals have attracted more than tourists with snacks. Scientists are now turning their attention to the dogs of Chernobyl as a living study in long-term radiation exposure. Their DNA is changing in ways never seen before in wild mammals. The findings suggest these dogs may be evolving—fast—and in direct response to the chronic, low-dose radiation that surrounds them. In the months following the explosion at Chernobyl, the Soviet government evacuated more than 100,000 people and ordered the mass killing of abandoned pets to prevent the spread of contamination. Still, some dogs escaped. Over the years, as nature crept back into abandoned towns like Pripyat and Chernobyl City, their descendants multiplied. By 2017, scientists estimated there were over 800 free-roaming dogs within the 1,000-square-mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). A team of researchers collected blood samples from 302 of these dogs, dividing them into groups based on proximity to the reactor: those inside the CNPP complex, those in nearby Chernobyl City, and others 45 kilometers away in Slavutych. Using over 129,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), they mapped the genetic differences across these populations. The results were startling. Dogs closest to the reactor showed marked genetic divergence, suggesting isolation, inbreeding, and adaptation to environmental stress. They were not just strays surviving by chance. Their DNA told the story of animals that may be evolving to live with radiation.Several key genes stood out. Dogs living in the most contaminated areas had genetic variants linked to DNA repair, immune system function, and cellular metabolism—all systems affected by radiation exposure. Notably, variations were found in ATM, TP53, and XRCC4, genes that help fix DNA breaks and are often studied in cancer research. Dogs with these mutations may be better equipped to withstand chronic low-dose radiation, which bombards cells with oxidative stress. The researchers also identified changes in pigmentation-related genes such as MC1R, which could explain why some dogs are developing darker coats—a possible defense against radiation-induced oxidative damage, as seen in local frog populations near the reactor.Further analysis revealed these genetic changes are not random drift. Instead, they point toward natural selection—a process amplified by the unique pressures of the CEZ. And while the dogs are more inbred than their urban counterparts, this may be reinforcing radiation-resistant traits within the population.Another surprising insight: many Chernobyl dogs share ancestry with German shepherds, Eastern European shepherds, and Russian hounds—working breeds likely abandoned by evacuees. Unlike dogs in nearby towns, which showed recent genetic input from pets and purebreds, the CNPP dogs appear to have been genetically isolated for decades. These populations form distinct genetic clusters, with limited migration between groups, likely due to physical barriers like fences and contamination zones. By tracing haplotypes—segments of DNA inherited together—the researchers identified ancient breed signatures that have persisted in the CNPP dogs for generations. These may act as genomic baselines for future studies aiming to pinpoint radiation-induced mutations versus inherited traits. The study published in Science Advances by researchers from the University of South Carolina and the National Human Genome Research Institute has opened a new window into how mammals respond to long-term radiation exposure. The broader goal isn’t just understanding how dogs survive in contaminated environments—it’s what their resilience might teach us.“The same genes under pressure in these dogs—those that manage DNA repair or oxidative stress—are also vital in human health, particularly in cancer resistance,” said Dr. Timothy Mousseau, a biologist who has studied Chernobyl wildlife for over a decade.As more researchers explore the long-term health effects of low-dose radiation on humans—from nuclear workers to cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy—the dogs of Chernobyl offer a rare, real-world control group. Their genomes may hold clues about mutation accumulation, biological resilience, or even genetic scarring from chronic exposure. Plans are already underway for deeper genetic mapping, comparing the Chernobyl dogs’ mutated DNA segments to those of unexposed shepherd populations, in hopes of isolating what makes them tick—and what makes them survive. Whether their mutations will lead to long-term health consequences or mark the first step in a radiation-tolerant lineage remains to be seen.
Egg recall expands over salmonella concerns -A recall has widened for eggs sold under Black Sheep Egg Company and Kenz Henz labels, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an updated advisory to consumers. The eggs sold by Arkansas-based Black Sheep and repackaged under the Kenz Henz brand in the Houston, Texas, area may contain the bacteria salmonella, federal regulators said. Published reports say the recall may affect more than 6 million eggs that had been shipped.. The recalled Black Sheep Egg Company product is in 12- and 18-count cartons. These “Free Range Large Grade A Brown Eggs” have “best by” dates between Aug. 22 and Oct. 31 on the sides of the cartons, the FDA said. “Products may have been further distributed to other states, and additional products will be added to this advisory as information becomes available,” a news release said. Earlier this month, Kenz Henz recalled 12-count packages of “Grade AA Large Pasture Raised eggs” the Texas company received from Black Sheep Egg Company, agency officials said. Tucker Carlson confronted by student over Trump 2020 election texts, net worth | RISING+ Consumers, restaurants and retailers should not eat, sell or serve recalled eggs. In addition, they should “carefully clean and sanitize any surfaces or containers that the recalled eggs touched,” the FDA emphasized. The egg recall stems from an FDA inspection at a Black Sheep Egg Company egg processing facility earlier this year, officials said. Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever, and stomach pains and can be harmful or potentially deadly to young children, the elderly and people with deficient immune systems or other medical conditions.
C difficile deaths more common among Whites, people in large urban areas --New research presented at IDWeek 2025 shows a stark racial divide in deaths from Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).In a review of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a team led by researchers from AdventHealth Sebring in Florida found that White people accounted for 83.9% of the 216,311 reported US deaths associated with CDI from 1999 through 2023, while Black Americans accounted from 8.1% and Hispanic people 5.5%.The percentage of those groups among the total US population, according to 2020 census data, is 57.8% White, 12.1% Black, and 18.7% Hispanic or Latino. The data also showed notable geographic differences in CDI deaths, with 83.8% occurring in and around large urban areas and 16.2% in non-metropolitan areas. More than 70% of CDI deaths occurred in hospital inpatients, while 20% occurred in nursing home, long-term acute care, and hospice patients. The study has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. CDI causes inflammation of the colon and severe diarrhea and is responsible for estimated 500,000 illnesses and 30,000 deaths in the United States each year. Antibiotic use, which can disturb the balance of bacteria in the gut microbiome and enable the C difficile bacterium to flourish, is a primary risk factor. According to the CDC, people are 7 to 10 times more likely to get CDI while taking an antibiotic or during the following months Muhammad Asghar, MBBS, MD, lead study author and a resident physician at AdventHealth Sebring, said the findings were surprising, because healthcare-related infections typically have social determinants, and the people who get them—and die from them—tend to be from minority populations, have fewer resources, and have less access to healthcare. "However, with C diff it's actually the opposite," Asghar said. "It's the White population. They have more resources, more access to healthcare utilization, and they are more prone to be exposed to antibiotics or all the other risk factors." Other notable trends were that CDI-associated deaths were higher in women than men (58.2% vs 41.9% in men) and that 33.0% of deaths occurred in the South census region, followed by 24.4% in the Midwest, 22.2% in the Northeast, and 20.3% in the West. Rhode Island has the highest crude mortality rate, at 6.55 per 100,000. Asghar and his colleagues also noted a marked increase in CDI-associated deaths starting in 2006 and lasting until 2015. In 1999, he said, the CDI death rate was only 0.5 for every 100,000 patients. But in 2006 that number climbed 3.6 per 100,000 patients and stayed at that level through 2015. Asghar said that trend coincides with the arrival of hypervirulent strains of C difficile and rising resistance to standard CDI treatments. The trend was "especially profound" in White people, he said.
Europe, Australia report low flu vaccine uptake as flu activity soars Down Under -- Today the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said European nations must work to increase their seasonal influenza vaccine uptake as the respiratory infection season approaches, especially among healthcare workers and vulnerable groups, while Australia reports low vaccine coverage as flu cases skyrocket. Across the continent, vaccination levels are targeted toward 75%, but during the 2024-25 season most countries reported flu vaccination coverage well below 50%, the ECDC said. “Only Denmark (76%), Ireland (75%), Portugal (71%) and Sweden (68%) reached or approached the 75% EU coverage target. Among healthcare workers, this level was even lower, with a median of 32%,” ECDC wrote. Only 1 in 4 young Australian kids have been vaccinated Australian health officials also said seasonal influenza vaccine uptake has been low during a record-breaking flu season. More than 410,000 lab-confirmed cases of have been reported, but only 25.7% of children aged 6 months to 5 years were vaccinated so far in 2025. The previous high for cases, set last year, was 365,000. Overall flu cases are 10.8% higher than last year across Australia. As of yesterday, there were 17,600 lab-confirmed cases in October, more than double the 7,201 cases seen in the same month last year. Vaccine uptake in people older than 65 years is at 60.5%, the lowest since 2020.
US measles cases top 1,600 as South Carolina outbreak grows - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today the country has seen 1,618 confirmed measles cases so far in 2025, 22 more than last week. And in South Carolina, a measles outbreak linked to two schools with low student vaccination rates has grown by 4 cases. The total represents the most US infections since 1992, when the CDC reported 2,237 measles cases. The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) said in a press release yesterday there were 4 more confirmed cases in Spartanburg County, raising the state's total number of measles cases this year to 23. Twenty of the 23 cases, including the 4 most recent, are part of the current Upstate outbreak that is focused in Spartanburg County. Two of the recent patients are close contacts to known cases who have been quarantining at home, and two are associated with a business in Spartanburg with no public exposures.“Some cases are travel-related exposures or close contacts of known cases. Other cases have no identified source, suggesting that measles is circulating in the community and could spread further,”DPH said. "We have seen measles spread quickly in unvaccinated households here in South Carolina. We also know that it can spread quickly in unvaccinated communities based on outbreaks in other states."
- In what is now the second-largest US measles outbreak this year, measles cases have topped 120 in northwestern Arizona and southwestern Utah, with most cases linked to a tight-knit community in Colorado City, Arizona, and neighboring Hildale, Utah. The former town is in Mohave County, Arizona, which has recorded 80 cases, and the latter is in Washington County, Utah, with 44 cases. The Utah Department of Health & Human Services noted 1 new case in Washington County yesterday, so the outbreak has now reached 124 cases. Within the past few weeks, there have been three cases in nearby larger towns, such as Hurricane and St. George, Utah, NBC News reports. The largest outbreak so far this year was in West Texas, with 762 confirmed cases when it was declared over on August 18.
- On World Polio Day and as officials confirm four new infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that polio vaccine uptake in Europe is at its lowest since 2017, leaving more than 450,000 babies unprotected. "Gaps in immunization coverage leave children vulnerable and present a health security risk to our Region and beyond," said Ihor Perehinets, MPH, regional emergency director for the WHO's European office. The warning comes as Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea confirm new polio cases, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The two patients in Afghanistan were infected by wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and had paralysis onset on October 2 and 3, increasing the country's 2025 WPV1 total to nine. Two cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) were reported this week in Papua New Guinea, in Central and Enga provinces, with onsets of paralysis in August. The country has confirmed three cVDPV2 cases so far this year.
- The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) today confirmed that a prolonged multi-country outbreak of Salmonella Strathcona has resulted in 437 confirmed cases in 17 European countries from January 1, 2023, to September 30, 2025. Italy, Germany, and Austria are the European nations most affected, but 24 cases have been reported in the United States, and 10 in Canada. "Recent investigations carried out in Austria in 2025 also identified small tomatoes from Sicily, Italy, as the source of infection, which is consistent with findings from earlier outbreaks in Italy (2024) and Austria (2023)," the ECDC said.
With 3rd case of locally acquired clade 1 mpox in California, officials warn of community spread --Officials with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and local health departments have confirmed a third case in Los Angeles County of the more severe clade 1 mpox infection that was locally acquired, according to a CDPH news release.Officials say the three recent cases are unrelated. But the fact that all three people had not traveled internationally indicates that local person-to-person spread is likely. The New York Times reports that one patient is from Long Beach and the others are from Los Angeles, which is about 20 miles north. All three patients required hospital care and are recovering. "Local health departments and CDPH are conducting enhanced surveillance and contact tracing to identify any additional cases and prevent further transmission," the CDPH said. "At this time, the risk to the general public remains low."The agency added, "These cases indicate that person-to-person community spread of clade I mpox is occurring in California, primarily impacting communities of gay and bisexual men, and other men who have sex with men, as well as their social networks. Prior cases of clade I mpox in the United States have been associated with international travel to areas where clade I mpox is circulating." State officials urge people to get both doses of Jynneos mpox vaccine if they or their sex partners may be at risk for mpox. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that six previous US cases of clade 1 mpox involved people who traveled to countries in Central and East Africa that were experiencing clade 1 outbreaks. Those regions have recorded more than 40,000 clade 1 cases.
Europe calls for vigilance in face of local clade 1b mpox transmission -The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is urging the use of targeted prevention measures after four countries documented five cases of locally acquired clade 1b mpox, indicating community transmission.In a news release and threat assessmenttoday, the ECDC described the cases, which were reported by Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, and Portugal. Symptoms began from September 16 to October 7, and the disease courses were mild. Two of three patients with available information were men who have sex with men (MSM)."While the immediate risk to the general population of acquiring the disease is low, the overall risk of infection is moderate for men who have sex with men," the ECDC said. "The risk of severe disease may be higher for those living with untreated HIV."The previous clade 1b cases reported beginning in August 2024 were among travelers returning from mpox-endemic areas outside of the European Union and their contacts.Clade 1b disease is thought to be more severe than that caused by clade 2b, which has caused outbreaks around the world since 2022, but uncertainties remain. "Among 29 clade Ib cases reported to ECDC before the current cases, seven were hospitalised for treatment, although with such a small number of cases, any estimation of severity in comparison to clade IIb is uncertain," the release said. Outside of Europe, three unrelated cases of non–travel-related clade 1 mpox were also recently reported in California among MSM and their social networks.
Last Ebola patient in DR Congo discharged; countdown to end of outbreak starts -Yesterday the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed thatlast patient being treated for Ebola virus disease in an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was released from the hospital."The recovery kicks off a 42-day countdown to declaring the outbreak over if no further cases are confirmed," the WHO said. Forty-two days is two 21-day periods, or twice the maximum incubation period of the deadly hemorrhagic virus.The DRC has not reported any new cases since September 25. Overall, 64 cases (53 confirmed and 11 probable) have been reported since the outbreak was declared on September 4 in Bulape health zone in Kasai province. Nineteen people have recovered from the virus, and 43 people have died. The estimated case-fatality rate for this outbreak is 67.2%, and five cases involved healthcare workers (four nurses and one laboratory technician), three of whom died. The DRC Ebola outbreak is the second Ebola outbreak in 2025; earlier this spring Uganda saw an Ebola outbreak that sickened 14 people, including 4 fatally.
Cholera outbreak in DR Congo is intensifying, MSF warns - An intensifying cholera outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is raising alarms, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) warned this week.According to the DRC Ministry of Health, more than 58,000 cholera cases have been reported over the past 9 months, with 1,700 deaths. Twenty of the country's 26 provinces have been affected. Twenty-three countries in Africa have battled outbreaks of the highly contagious bacterial infection this year, reporting more than 172,000 cases since January 1, according to the most recent disease outbreak update from the World Health Organization (WHO). DRC, Sudan, and South Sudan have been the hardest hit, accounting for 75% of the region's cases and deaths, officials with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said last month. MSF officials say the outbreak in the DRC has been fueled by floods, conflicts, and displacements, as well inadequate sanitation and water supply systems, while the response has been hampered by insufficient funding from the government, limited presence of humanitarian organizations, and a lack of medical supplies and vaccines. They also warn that the outbreak is likely to get worse as the rainy season approaches."The rapid spread of the epidemic across the country this year is of particular concern to us, especially during the rainy season," Jean-Gilbert Ndong, MSF physician and medical coordinator in DRC, said in an MSF press release. "We fear further outbreaks if urgent measures aren't taken."Cholera spreads through water and food contaminated by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, causing severe diarrhea and dehydration. The disease is easily treatable with antibiotics, oral rehydration solution, and intravenous fluids, but it can quickly become life-threatening if it goes untreated.
- Moderna said its cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine candidate, mRNA-1647, failed to meet the outcomes of preventing CMV infections in seronegative women of childbearing age in a phase 3 study. "Today's announcement is disappointing for families and healthcare professionals who have been eagerly awaiting a CMV vaccine to prevent congenital CMV, a leading infectious cause of birth defects," said Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, MBA, MEng, in a company press release. The company will discontinue its congenital CMV clinical development program.
- The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is urging attendees of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil to get vaccinated or check their vaccination status for both measles and yellow fever. More than 60,000 expected attendees from 198 countries will travel to Belem, Para state, Brazil, for the conference , which runs from November 10 through 21. While Belem has not seen measles or yellow fever activity so far this year, high activity of both diseases in the Americas puts attendees at risk, PAHO said.
- Rift Valley fever activity continues in Senegal, per today's weekly briefing from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. So far there have been 277 confirmed cases and 22 deaths, for a case-fatality rate of 7.9% in this outbreak. RVF is a viral hemorrhagic fever that mainly affects livestock but can also infect people.
Rare virus transmitted by rats infects woman in Germany: Study links it to private pet rat breeding facility - Doctors and scientists reported a case of Seoul virus infection in a woman. The Seoul virus belongs to the hantavirus family and can be transmitted by rats. In theirpublication of the case in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the experts recommend better screening and improved hygiene practices in private rat breeding facilities. They also advocate for raising public awareness of zoonoses, which are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. In March 2024, a 44-year-old woman from central Germany was admitted to the hospital with a fever, extreme fatigue, diarrhea, and acute kidney failure. She required temporary dialysis, but she eventually made a full recovery. Laboratory tests revealed that she had been infected with the Seoul virus, which she most likely acquired during a visit to a private pet rat breeding facility several weeks before her symptoms began. A joint investigation by local health authorities, the FLI, and the BNITM revealed that the virus was present in several rats from the breeding facility. Genetic analyses showed a high degree of similarity between the virus sequences from the facility and those from the patient. Although the Seoul virus is found worldwide, human infections in Germany have been reported extremely rare thus far. The virus spreads mainly through inhaling tiny particles contaminated with infectious rat urine, feces, or saliva. Human-to-human transmission has not been reported."Many people are unaware that pet rats can carry pathogens that cause serious diseases," says Prof. Rainer Ulrich, a DZIF scientist at the FLI and one of the study's authors. "Responsible ownership and breeding, good animal hygiene, and public education—especially among pet rat owners—are crucial to preventing further infections in the future."The researchers are calling for increased monitoring of rat breeding and husbandry, improved hygiene in breeding facilities, and public education about the health risks associated with keeping rats as pets. Immunocompromised individuals and other vulnerable groups should avoid keeping rats as pets.
Ecologists report spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes and their hybrids in North America - West Nile Virus was once a nominal concern for Utahns but since August 2003, when it was first detected in the Beehive State, infections in Utah residents have steadily risen."West Nile Virus or WNV is mainly spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito," says Utah State University ecologist Norah Saarman. "Unfortunately, populations of mosquitoes capable of spreading the virus are increasing in our state and throughout the United States." Saarman and her students, along with colleagues at VecTech, Inc. and the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Research Station, recently published findings about the expanding range of the Southern House Mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, also known as "Quinx," along with hybrids resulting from interbreeding among Quinx and the Northern House Mosquito, Culex pipiens, across mid-latitudes of North America, including Utah, in the journal One Health. "Both of these species spread West Nile Virus, but Quinx, which is newer to Utah, is better at it," With AI-fueled identification tools, coupled with DNA technology, Saarman and her team are improving the ability to identify mosquito species and monitor their range. They report Quinx is not just spreading into new areas; an advanced guard of its hybrids, also capable of spreading diseases, are moving ahead of Quinx in hybrid zone boundaries. "Essentially, disease-carrying genes from Quinx, within hybrid mosquitoes, can spread ahead of the actual species like outriders or scouts, especially if they provide a selective advantage to the mosquitoes carrying them," she says. "Mosquitoes need at least two things for survival and those are blood from vertebrate hosts and water," Saarman says. "As Utah's population grows and our state becomes increasingly urbanized, mosquitoes flock to welcoming habitats, including watered lawns, storm drains and households with pets, unintentionally created by human development." In Utah, WNV is the most prevalent human illness spread by mosquitoes. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 47 people in the state have become seriously ill from the virus in 2025, including three Utah residents who died from the viral infection. "It's well known that West Nile Virus is highly underreported, with only one in more than 112 infections detected in case counts," Saarman says. "This means the 2025 case estimate in Utah could be well over 5,000." "Despite our state's dry summers, we think mosquitoes are finding the water they need from human sources," Saarman says. "We think the timing of the spike is because it takes from around May to August for the virus to amplify in the bird-to-mosquito and mosquito-to-bird transmission cycle to a high enough rate to cause spillover to humans and human companion mammals, including dogs, cats and horses."
Scientists Confirm First Mosquitoes Found in Iceland -Three mosquitoes have been found in West Iceland, the first confirmed discovery of mosquitoes on Icelandic soil, according to the Icelandic Institute of Natural History.As reported by RÚV, the insects were identified earlier this month by Björn Hjaltason, who reported the find in the Facebook group Insects in Iceland.“At dusk on October 16, I caught sight of a strange fly on a red wine ribbon,” Björn said, referring to the trap he uses to attract insects. “I immediately suspected what was going on and quickly collected the fly. It was a female.”Björn later captured two more specimens and sent them to the Institute of Natural History, where entomologist Matthías Alfreðsson confirmed they were mosquitoes, specifically the species Culiseta annulata. Matthías described the find as significant, noting that this cold-resistant species can survive Icelandic conditions by sheltering through winter in basements and barns. “This is the first time mosquitoes have been found in Iceland,” Matthías said, adding that while individual flies have occasionally been found on aircraft arriving in the country, none had previously been discovered outdoors. Scientists have long predicted mosquitoes could establish themselves in Iceland, particularly after the louse fly (Hippoboscidae) became established in 2015.
Mosquito saliva may hold clues to fighting chikungunya inflammation --Scientists from the A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs (A*STAR IDL) have uncovered a surprising mechanism showing how mosquito saliva can alter the human body's immune response during chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection, contributing to Singapore's broader efforts to strengthen infectious disease preparedness.The research, published in Nature Communications, reveals that sialokinin, a bioactive peptide in Aedes mosquito saliva, binds to neurokinin receptors on immune cells and suppresses monocyte activation, thereby reducing inflammation and facilitating early viral dissemination. These findings offer new insight into how mosquito bites shape disease outcomes.CHIKV is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and causes painful joint swelling that can persist for months. As global temperatures rise, mosquito populations are expanding, heightening the risk of CHIKV and other mosquito-borne diseases in tropical regions such as Singapore. The A*STAR team identified sialokinin, a protein in mosquito saliva, as a key factor that shapes how the body responds to infection. The study found that sialokinin binds to neurokinin receptors in the immune system, temporarily suppressing inflammation in the early stages of infection. Laboratory and pre-clinical studies revealed that this early dampening of the immune response allows the virus to spread more easily to other tissues, which may in turn contribute to severe symptoms later on. Consistent with this, patients with more severe chikungunya symptoms were found to have higher levels of antibodies against sialokinin, indicating a stronger immune reaction to the peptide, which may contribute to disease severity. "This study provides compelling evidence that mosquito salivary proteins are not just passive carriers of viruses but active modulators of host immunity," While this research focused specifically on CHIKV, further investigations will be needed to understand whether similar immune mechanisms occur in other mosquito-borne infections such as dengue or Zika.
Cambodia tracks H5N1 avain flu in young girl, as China sees more H9N2 cases -Today Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) noted a second case of human avian influenza A(H5N1) from Cambodia in a 14-year-old girl who is hospitalized for her infection. The girl is from Takeo province, and no background information on her illness or exposure has been provided. Last week, a 3-year-old girl from Kampong Speu province was receiving intensive care for her H5N1 infection. A statement from the Cambodia Ministry of Health said birds in the patient's home and in neighboring houses had been sick and dying for roughly a week when the child became ill.The latest human cases in Cambodia have involved a reassortant (2.3.2.1e) between an older H5N1 clade that has circulated in Cambodia since 2014 and the newer clade 2.3.4.4b virus that is circulating globally. The recent cases bring the total number of human H5N1 cases in Cambodia this year to 17. Also in this week's update from the CHP, officials note four H9N2 cases in mainland China that were retrospectively recorded. The cases include a person in Guangdong province who had illness onset in February 2025. In that same month two ill people in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region were also reported, as was one case-patient in Tianjin municipality. In 2025 there have been 25 H9N2 cases reported from mainland China. In 2024, the country reported 11 total cases. In US avian flu news, Idaho has reported a new backyard poultry H5N1 outbreak in 90 birds in Canyon County, according to the latest update from the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). In the past 30 days, APHIS said there have been 53 confirmed flocks with highly pathogenic avian influenza in commercial and backyard flocks in the United States, with 6.37 million birds affected during that period.
More avian flu on Minnesota turkey farm, backyard flocks in multiple states In the past 2 days the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has reported several new detections of highly pathogenic avian flu in both commercial poultry and backyard birds. Notably, a commercial turkey farm in Swift County, Minnesota, that houses 34,000 birds is the site of the latest outbreak to hit the top turkey-producing state in the nation. In Indiana, an outbreak on a commercial egg-layer farm with 19,600 birds was reported in Lagrange County. Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County has noted two outbreaks of 1,200, and 2,800 birds, respectively. In Cascade and Yellowstone counties in Montana, two small backyard flocks were affected. And Idaho also reported detections on a farm in Payette County (11,600 birds) and in a 90-bird backyard flock in Canyon County. Avian flu activity is increasing across the county after relatively few detections this summer. In the past 30 days, confirmations have been made in 62 flocks, including 34 commercial flocks and 28 backyard flocks, with 6.46 million birds affected in the outbreaks. Minnesota has seen the highest jump in activity, with 17 commercial flocks, 2 backyard flocks, and almost 600,000 birds affected.
Avian flu detections in wild birds, including waterfowl, spike across US -- The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced another flurry of highly pathogenic avian flu detections in waterfowland other wild birds from across the country.APHIS also reported that a black bear in Larimer County, Colorado, was infected with a Eurasian H5 avian flu strain.Six Canada geese in Campaign County, Illinois, died from H5N1, as did six Canada geese found in Kent County, Michigan. A swan in Shelby County, Missouri, was also recorded.New York’s Genesee County had 10 H5 detections, in mallards, wood ducks, and green-winged teal. All New York birds were hunter harvested.In Colorado, four counties, including Rio Grande and Alamosa, reported H5 identifications in ducks. South Dakota confirmed H5N1 in a gull in Minnehaha County and in a Canada goose in Codington County.A late-fall surge in avian flu activity has become seasonal in North America, as migratory waterfowl fly south for the winter. But several scientists are worried that the current government shutdown will only make surveillance that much more difficult in the coming weeks. The New York Times reported yesterday that the National Animal Laboratory Health Network, which is coordinated by the USDA, has a suspended its weekly calls during the shutdown. Those calls had allowed labs to share information.Last week visitors to the Butterfield Acres Petting Farm in Alberta, Canada, were told to watch for symptoms of avian flu after nine poultry at the farm contracted the virus.Now the Alberta Health Services (AHS) Agency has confirmed it has invited 17 people, including 10 children, to get tested for avian flu and to watch for symptoms including conjunctivitis (pink eye), fever, and body aches.
Suspected H5 virus detected after elephant seal die-off on Heard Island - Australian scientists aboard RSV Nuyina reported unusual elephant seal deaths on sub-Antarctic Heard Island, showing signs consistent with H5 avian influenza. If confirmed, it would be the first recorded H5 detection in an Australian sub-Antarctic territory. The suspected outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 has been reported on sub-Antarctic Heard Island, located about 4 000 km (2 485 miles) southwest of Perth and 1 700 km (1 056 miles) north of the Antarctic mainland. Researchers aboard the Australian Antarctic Division’s RSV Nuyina reported abnormally high mortality of Southern elephant seals during a management and research voyage on October 23. Samples were collected and transferred to Australian laboratories for diagnostic testing. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) confirmed that the clinical signs were consistent with H5-type infection, but clarified that confirmation is pending until mid-November 2025. Heard Island and the McDonald Islands are uninhabited Australian territories in the Southern Ocean. They support dense populations of seals, penguins, and seabirds. Some of these creatures may have been exposed to the pathogen earlier and introduced it into the ecosystem. The density of colonies makes rapid virus transmission almost inevitable, leading to high mortality rates in infected birds and mammals. If confirmed, the detection would be the first recorded H5 event in an Australian sub-Antarctic territory. Australia remains the only continent free from the HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b strain. The HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b variant was first detected in the Netherlands in late 2020 and has since spread to every continent except Australia and Antarctica. It has adapted to infect a wide range of hosts, including poultry and numerous mammalian species, such as seals, minks, and cattle. Key genetic features, such as the G226L/N224K substitutions in the HA protein and a long NA gene stalk, add to its increased potential for mammalian adaptation and human-to-human transmission. This is the same virus that caused mass deaths of brown skuas (Stercorarius antarcticus), kelp gulls (Larus dominicanus), and elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, and the Antarctic Peninsula during 2023-24. Earlier detections occurred in South Georgia (2022) and Falkland Islands (2023), both linked to the 2.3.4.4b variant. This shows the virus’s capacity to survive in extreme polar ecosystems carried by migratory seabirds such as skuas and petrels.
Wyoming notes first CWD detection in Elk Hunt Area 61 -Wyoming Elk Hunt Area 61 is now positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) after a cow elk was found dead from the fatal neurodegenerative illness near Cody, according to a news release yesterday from the state game and fish department. Part of the Cody Elk Herd, in which CWD was first identified in 2018, Hunt Area 61 is located in the northwestern part of Wyoming. Cody is about 52 miles south of the Montana border, near the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The hunt area abuts CWD-positive elk hunt areas 58 (disease detected in 2023), 59 (2022), 52 (2025), and 66 (2018). "Hunters can assist in data collection by submitting samples for free CWD testing, especially when hunting in priority or mandatory CWD testing areas," the release said. CWD is a disease caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions that infects cervids such as deer, elk, and moose. Prions spread from cervid to cervid and through environmental contamination. While no cases have been identified in people, health officials advise against eating the meat of sick or infected animals and urge precautions when handling their carcasses.
Hunting continues at wildlife refuges, but field trips are canceled - Hunting continues at the nation’s wildlife refuges despite the federal government shutdown, under a Trump administration’s policy that has drawn mixed reactions. The Interior Department casts the open-for-hunting policy as both appropriate and allowable under the rules governing federal shutdowns. “The Department of the Interior is committed to keeping public lands as open and accessible as possible. Specific staff members are available to ensure public safety and to provide permitting, access to hunt areas, and the protection of life and property,” spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said Monday. Peace added that “staff supporting hunts are working under previously appropriated funds to ensure these activities occur safely and in an orderly manner.” GE
New study reveals how illegal wildlife trade intersects with organized crime in Canada - When most people hear terms like poaching, wildlife trafficking or illegal wildlife trade, they probably think of threatened species such as elephants, rhinos, tigers or sharks. Geographically, wildlife crime may feel like a problem confined to southern Africa or southeast and East Asia.Of course, these species have long been heavily trafficked, and those regions are major hotspots for the trade. However, illegal wildlife trade affects thousands of species of wild plants, animals and fungi, and has been reported in 162 countries, including Canada, which is far from a passive bystander. Illegal wildlife trade is one of the largest criminal activities in the world and some black markets are growing each year. The immense scale of the problem, coupled with a changing climate and a widening gap between organized crime and countries' capacities to respond, poses a mounting global concern. Yet one of the biggest gaps in our understanding has been the nature of organized crime connections to illegal wildlife trade, hardly surprising given how difficult criminal networks are to study. In recent years, experts have increasingly stated illegal wildlife trade converges with other forms of serious and organized crime, such as drug and human trafficking.Though reported in the media, empirical evidence has been lacking. Much of what we knew about these convergences came from anecdotal reports and reviews. In response, research by our team in 2021 and 2022 reviewed existing knowledge and theorized how these criminal convergences work, laying the groundwork for new empirical research.Our latest study documents those connections directly through more than 100 interviews with investigators on the ground in Canada, South Africa and Hong Kong. This study mapped how illegal wildlife trade intersects with other organized criminal activities.Our findings confirm that wildlife trafficking is rarely isolated. Whether in South Africa's rhino reserves, Hong Kong's shipping terminals or Canada's coastal towns, the same pattern repeats: the people and networks trading in wildlife are often involved in other illicit activities. Our research shows that illegal wildlife trade converges with drug, sex and human trafficking, child abuse, trade in human body parts, forced and bonded labor, arms trafficking, vehicle theft and trafficking, counterfeit and pirated goods trade, and illegal trade in metals and minerals. The list goes on. In Canada, interviewees described wildlife being bartered like currency. In several provinces, fish and animal parts, such as sturgeon, have been exchanged directly for illegal drugs. One officer recalled raiding a trafficker's house and finding grizzly bear and polar bear hides that had been exchanged for high-value narcotics.Similar stories came from other provinces, where guns are often illegally exchanged for wildlife, or where migrant workers are illegally exploited in illegal wildlife processing facilities. Some cases were small-scale, localized operations, while others linked local poachers to sophisticated international organized crime networks.Still other cases connected wildlife to the murkier "oddities" trade: human bones, preserved reptiles, bird parts and other macabre collectables. In these circles, even the line between wildlife trafficking and the illegal sale of human remains can blur. The Canadian examples mirrored experiences reported by law enforcement in other countries. In South Africa, rhino horn trafficking networks have also run child exploitation rings; in Hong Kong, shark fins and endangered turtles are trafficked alongside counterfeit and pirated goods. Across all three jurisdictions, convergence of these crimes follows the same logic: shared infrastructure and the pursuit of profit from illegal sources. Despite these convergences, Canada's response remains siloed, inadequately prioritized and under-resourced. Wildlife crime cases are generally handled by conservation or environment authorities, while narcotics, arms and human trafficking cases fall to police or border agencies, each constrained within geographically defined jurisdictions. This siloed system creates blind spots that sophisticated networks exploit. Without mechanisms for joint intelligence-sharing and prosecution, each agency sees only pieces of the puzzle.
China's rising meat demand drives Brazilian soybean farming and resource use --Behind a steak served in China, there is often a soybean cultivation in Brazil. A new study, published in Nature Food, presents a snapshot of an increasingly interconnected and fragile food system.The research shows that China's growing demand for meat and other animal proteins considerably depends on Brazilian agricultural resources, with direct effects on land use, water resources and deforestation.Between 2004 and 2020, soybean imported to China rose from 6 million to 60 million tons, recording a peak at 68 million in 2018, marking a more than ten-fold increase. In 2020, this required 17.8 million hectares of land, an area the size of Uruguay, and over 86 km3 of rainwater, in addition to 0.29 km3 of irrigation water. These soybeans—largely intended for feeding pigs, poultry and farmed fish—support almost a third of the animal protein consumed in China, accounting for 29% of animal protein and 10% of the total protein content of the national diet. "Understanding that a significant part of the nutritional intake of a population of over a billion depends on agricultural resources located on the other side of the world prompts us to question the future of our food systems," "If we want to make these food systems resilient, we need to focus not only on the protein supply, but also on their sustainable and equitable distribution, reducing pressure on ecosystems while safeguarding global food security." "Brazil is historically a country with few critical water issues, but deforestation, land use changes, agricultural over-exploitation and climate change could induce pressure, leading to stress and water scarcity," says Rulli. "Agricultural expansion linked to soya does not only impact land-related ecosystems. It also involves a global redistribution of water resources in the form of virtually exported water."
Nutrition of honey bees: How they navigate late summer food scarcity - Plants produce large quantities of nutrient-rich pollen in their flowers—a real powerhouse for many insects, including honey bees: They mix pollen that is rich in protein and fat into the food they use to nourish their larvae. Younger bees also consume the pollen themselves to build up their strength. A lack of pollen can delay their development, make them more vulnerable to pathogens and more sensitive to pesticides. Scientific studies also show that a more diverse pollen mix improves the health and winter survival of bee colonies. Late summer should therefore be a particularly difficult time for honey bees. At this time of the year, few plants are in bloom and the food supply is dwindling. In addition, the pollen that is still available may contain residues of pesticides used in agriculture. This double burden could be particularly hard on the bees, particularly during a season that is already critical for them: In late summer, the long-lived winter bees develop in the hives. Their vitality determines whether the colony will survive the cold season unscathed. So what is the nutritional situation of honey bees in late summer—particularly in agricultural regions? Researchers placed 36 honey bee colonies at nine different locations in Lower Franconia. The proportion of annual cropland varied significantly around each beehive, ranging from 43 to 97% within a radius of two kilometers. From the beginning of July to mid-August, the researchers took samples from the pollen traps in front of the beehives every third day. They analyzed which plant species were visited by the bees and studied pollen diversity and pesticide residues. The results have been published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. The results surprised the team led by Professors Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter and Ricarda Scheiner: The diversity of the pollen collected was always similar, regardless of whether there was a large or small amount of annual cropland surrounding the beehives. Equally unexpected: The pollen contained only small amounts of pesticides. "Our results should not be overgeneralized. In our study, landscapes with a high proportion of annual cropland still contained many different fields. These can provide flowering resources along field edges as well as a range of pollen-producing weeds within the various crops." In other countries with significantly larger areas of arable land, such as the U.S., the landscape may offer significantly less food. Furthermore, different countries have different regulations on pesticide use, which can lead to varying levels of pesticide contamination. "DNA metabarcoding revealed 140 different pollen species in our 540 pollen samples," says doctoral student Manzer. The bees most frequently collected pollen from clover species, followed by cornflower pollen and sunflower pollen. On average, bees carried pollen from 10 different plants into the hive over a period of three days. Similar values have been reported in other studies. The bees may compensate for the scarcity of flowers in late summer by flying greater distances in search of food.
On iconic Pikes Peak, climate change is shifting the timing between flowers and pollinators --Warming temperatures and earlier snowmelt are disrupting the long-running relationship between wildflowers and their pollinators on Colorado's Pikes Peak. In a study published in the American Naturalist, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder found many of the region's plants and pollinators are now emerging earlier in the spring than they did a century ago. But some species are falling out of sync, potentially adding challenges for pollinators already under threat. "Pollinators are so important to our ecosystem, supporting everything from wildflowers to the food we eat," "Having data from 100 years ago gave us a unique opportunity to take a glimpse of these long-term trends under a changing climate." Starting in 1910, ecologist Frederic Clements and his student Frances Long began documenting the interactions between local plants and their pollinators at the now-closed Carnegie Institution's Alpine Laboratory on the slope of the 14,115-foot Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs Over the past century, Colorado has warmed by an average of 2.9°F, with the average winter temperature rising even faster, by 3.3°F. Climate change has also decreased the amount of snow accumulating on top of the mountains, or snowpack, in the western United States, reducing the amount of water available for mountain species in spring and summer. Warming temperature and snowmelt are vital environmental cues for plants and insects to emerge from their winter inactive state. As the climate warms and snow melts earlier, plants may begin flowering sooner and pollinators may start flying earlier. Resasco, Zoller and their team returned to Clements and Long's study area to see if the interactions between plants and pollinators have shifted over the past century. Because Pikes Peak is a protected wilderness area, its environment has remained largely undisturbed. This allowed the team to study the impact of climate change without other influences such as land use change. Between 2019 and 2022, the research team analyzed 25 wild pollinator species, including bumblebees, wasps and flies, as well as 11 flowering plants the insects interact with, forming 149 pairs of interactions. Of the species that could be compared between the historical and contemporary datasets, they found that wildflowers were blooming about 17 days sooner than a century ago, and pollinators started to fly 11 days earlier. Out of the 149 pairs of plant-pollinator comparable interactions, nearly 80% have more overlap in their active periods than before. While this trend appears beneficial for pollinators now, the advantage may be short-lived. Historically, pollinators were active earlier than plants started flowering. "In our study system, plants have advanced more rapidly than pollinators. If the trends continue, we may see plants flower before pollinators become active in the future," "Mismatches may occur among these currently overlapping pairs as plants and pollinators continue to respond differently to changing conditions," she added. The western bumblebee, for example, is emerging 12 days later than a century ago, which could leave it struggling to find enough food. Once common and widespread in the western United States and Canada, this species has sharply declined by at least 57% since 1998 due to a mix of disease, habitat loss and pesticides."This mismatch in the schedules of western bumblebees and the plants they historically fed on could add another stressor on top of everything else this species is facing," Resasco said.Pollinators, including domestic honeybees and wild species, contribute to the reproduction of 75% of the world's flowering plants and about 35% of the world's food crops. Their decline could have far-reaching effects on both natural landscapes and agriculture.
Invisible poison: Airborne mercury from gold mining is contaminating African food crops, study warns - In a recent study published in the journal Biogeosciences, scientists have confirmed that mercury pollution from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is contaminating food crops not through the soil, as previously believed, but directly from the air. Driven by the surging price of gold, which has increased by more than tenfold since 2000, the rapid expansion of unregulated mining in these regions raises urgent questions about food security, human health, and environmental justice. The study focused on a farming community in Nigeria situated near an artisanal and small-scale gold mining site. The researchers compared crops from a field located 500 meters from the ASGM site with those grown 8 kilometers away. The contrast was striking: mercury concentrations in leaves and grains were approximately 10–50 times higher in the farm closer to the mining site. For decades, scientists have assumed that mercury enters food crops primarily via the roots, after leaching into the soil or water. But this new research, using sophisticated mercury stable isotope analyses, reveals a very different mechanism at work. Most of the mercury found in plant tissues came from the atmosphere, taken up through leaves during photosynthesis. In short: plants are breathing in mercury. "Mercury uptake by plants from air represents the largest sink of mercury from air to terrestrial [land and freshwater] systems. While this critical ecosystem service helps reduce the amount of mercury being distributed globally through the atmosphere, it raises human health concerns when it isstaple crops that are the mechanism stripping the air of mercury." The research team found that leafy plant parts, which are often consumed by humans and livestock, retained the highest mercury concentrations. Edible, non-leafy parts of the plants, like cassava roots or maize kernels, had lower concentrations yet still showed significant contamination. While levels remained below international mercury consumption thresholds, the authors warn that there could still be health concerns when consuming mercury-contaminated crops near ASGM sites, as international standards employed conservative crop consumption rates, and that even greater contamination of air, soils, and crops have been observed in other studies. This is especially relevant in communities dependent on local agriculture for survival. Used to extract gold from raw ore, mercury is a powerful neurotoxin. Long-term exposure, even at low levels, can damage the nervous system, impair cognitive development in children, and cause serious cardiovascular and reproductive problems. Due to its frequent use in artisanal and small-scale mining operations, vulnerable populations in low-income rural areas are at higher risk. "Miners will not stop using mercury for gold extraction unless they get a readily available alternative that is also cost-effective,"
Toxic Salton Sea dust triggers changes in lung microbiome after just one week - Dust from California's drying Salton Sea doesn't just smell bad. Scientists from UC Riverside found that breathing the dust can quickly re-shape the microscopic world inside the lungs. Genetic or bacterial diseases have previously been shown to have an effect on lung microbes. However, this discovery marks the first time scientists have observed such changes from environmental exposure rather than a disease.Published in the journal mSphere, the study shows that inhalation of airborne dust collected close to the shallow, landlocked lake alters both the microbial landscape and immune responses in mice that were otherwise healthy. "Even Salton Sea dust filtered to remove live bacteria or fungi is altering what microbes survive in the lungs," said Mia Maltz, UCR mycologist and lead study author. "It is causing deep changes to our internal environment." "Our lab studies discovered that the dust generated at the Salton Sea can have significant health effects especially in the lung, and it is likely a major factor in the high incidence of asthma in the nearby communities," The team collected dust samples both closer to and farther from the Salton Sea, then exposed mice to the aerosolized particles during a series of one-week trials. "Salton Sea residents have ongoing suspicions that the environment is linked to respiratory illness, and our lab has definitely felt the effects of the heat, dustiness, and pungent air while out there on field work," "The dust also just doesn't smell good," . "When we were processing it in the lab, it could be stinky." Among the bacterial species that proliferated among mice exposed to the sea dust were Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus, both linked to respiratory inflammation. The most affected samples were rich in bacteria that produce LPS, a molecular residue on their outer membranes known to trigger immune responses. "We think microbial products like LPS are part of what's causing the inflammation," Maltz said. "It's like breathing in a chemical fingerprint of dead bacteria." Some dust samples were especially potent. In one case, up to 60% of lung immune cells contained markers of neutrophil activation, showing aggressive inflammation. In mice breathing filtered air, levels of neutrophils were only 10% to 15%.
Excess fine sediment in rivers starves fish habitats of oxygen, study finds -- A build-up of ultra-fine sediment in riverbeds is creating oxygen-starved conditions that threaten fish spawning grounds and freshwater invertebrates, new research on the River Taw in Devon has revealed. The study is published in the journal River Research and Applications. A team of Rothamsted scientists found that the smallest sediment particles trapped in riverbed gravel can exert a disproportionately high "oxygen demand" as organic material within them decomposes, depriving eggs and larvae of vital oxygen. The problem appeared to be most acutely related to the very smallest particles in the <25μm fraction of sediment—fine material that settles into riverbed pores and is difficult to flush out. The study, which analyzed sediment oxygen demand (SOD) across nine sites on the Taw, from upland grassland to lowland farmland receiving wastewater discharges, showed consistently higher oxygen demand in riverbed sediments than in their upstream sources. Researchers concluded that trapped algal material within these ultra-fine particles was the likely culprit. These fine deposits both block natural pore spaces in the gravel and fuel oxygen depletion, creating a double threat to aquatic life. One key finding of the study was that oxygen demand of the sediment did not vary when moving downstream to more intensively farmed land. Therefore, increased oxygen demand in channel bed sediments couldn't be clearly linked to the sediment sources present within the catchment. Catchment management therefore has to reduce the nutrient concentrations within the streams to limit algal growth or limit the amount of coarser sediment on the bed which forms a matrix in which the ultra-fine fraction can be trapped. The findings suggest that current approaches to catchment management may not deliver the best results unless they target both sediment and nutrient sources on land, and in-channel processes that allow riverbeds to "breathe."
Commercially important fish found congregating at methane seep off Chile - A team of scientists from Chile and the United States discovered dozens of red cusk-eels, fish prized in Chilean seafood markets and celebrated in a poem by renowned Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, embedded in a bushy thicket of tubeworms at a methane seep off the coast of central Chile. This is the first time this commercially important species has been documented using methane seeps as habitat. It's not yet clear what drew the fish to the methane seep, but some evidence suggests the fish may have been receiving a parasite cleaning from resident spider crabs. "Methane seeps are important places for deep-sea biodiversity," "Our findings show these seeps are not just home to communities of obscure creatures that are cut off from the rest of the deep sea. They are also important for commercially fished species and may be much more connected to the rest of the ocean than one might expect." The study is published in the journal Ecology. Red cusk-eels (Genypterus chilensis) can reach lengths of 1.6 meters (five feet) and are usually found near the bottom at depths up to 350 meters (1,100 feet) from northern Peru to southern Chile. They are not true eels but their long slender body shape and undulating swimming style make it easy to understand how they got their name.In 2022, Chilean fishers hauled up roughly 2,000 tons of red cusk-eel (known locally as "congrio colorado"), and the fish features prominently on coastal restaurant menus. Research suggests the species is being overfished, with a 2003 study finding that 75% of the catch had not yet reached sexual maturity.Methane seeps are where methane and hydrogen sulfide emerge from the seafloor. Thousands of these seeps have been discovered around the world, typically near continental margins. The seeps provide food for microbes that specialize in converting the leaking chemicals into energy through a process called chemosynthesis. These microbes form the base of thriving ecosystems that exist largely apart from the sun. Methane seeps have gained recognition as critical habitats for some species targeted by commercial fishing fleets, including thornyhead rockfish, Chilean seabass (also known as Patagonian toothfish) and deep-sea snow crabs.
Lake-effect rain event soaks Great Lakes metro areas, including I-90 corridor – A low-pressure system over the Great Lakes region continues to fuel lake-effect rain bands on the eastern sides of lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario and the southern side of Lake Superior. The National Weather Service offices in Buffalo, New York, and Cleveland described the setup as a "long-duration" and "prolonged" lake-effect rain event, respectively. A widespread 1-2 inches of rain, with locally up to 3 inches, along the Interstate 90 corridor between Buffalo and Cleveland through the end of the week. Buffalo recorded 1.81 inches of rain on Wednesday, breaking a 113-year-old daily rainfall record. Bands of heavy rain were seen on time-lapse video from Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo on Wednesday. Tuesday's storms even produced frozen water droplets known as graupel in Finleyville, Pennsylvania. Social media video showed cars driving through flooded roads in Erie, Pa., on Thursday as the lake-effect rainfall impacted the region. Heavy lake-effect rainfall inundated roads in parts of northwest Pennsylvania on Thursday, Oct. 23. Lake-effect rain refers to a phenomenon that generally occurs during the fall when cold air moves over the warmer Great Lakes, creating instability in the atmosphere, causing rain and potentially severe storms to develop. That precipitation is currently being driven to the east by westerly winds. Water temperatures are more than 4 degrees above average across all the Great Lakes.
Colorado Loses 390 More Homes as 6 Day Record Flood Triggers $30M Housing Collapse –(16 photos)- Record rainfall brought on by tropical moisture from Hurricane Priscilla and Tropical Storm Raymond remnants caused a devastating six-day flood event in southwestern Colorado in October 2025. About 390 homes in La Plata County were evacuated due to this extraordinary flood, especially those near Vallecito Creek. River and reservoir levels reached historic highs not seen since 1970 as a result of the intense rain, which locally accumulated between 1.5 and 4 inches per day and totaled over 10 inches in some San Juan mountain areas. About 100 homes north of Vallecito Reservoir were damaged by flooding, and two losses were considered total.
Severe storms produce tornadoes near De Roche, Arkansas, and southwest of Yazoo City, Mississippi - Several tornadoes were reported across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi on the evening of October 18, 2025, including a radar-confirmed tornadic debris signature 3 km (2 miles) southwest of Yazoo City, Mississippi, at 21:34 LT. Earlier, a tornado caused structural damage in Hot Spring County, Arkansas, near De Roche, while another debris signature was detected near Warsaw, Louisiana, as supercells moved east across the Lower Mississippi Valley. The Storm Prediction Center’s preliminary storm reports list a tornadic debris signature detected on radar at 21:34 LT on October 18 (02:34 UTC, October 19), approximately 3 km (2 miles) southwest of Yazoo City in Yazoo County, Mississippi. The signature was associated with a strong, likely long-track supercell moving northeast across Yazoo County. At this stage, no official information on path length, width, or damage assessment has been released by the NWS. Preliminary radar analysis indicates debris was lofted several kilometers into the atmosphere, consistent with a strong tornado. Yazoo City and its surroundings have a well-documented history of violent tornadoes, most notably the EF-4 event of April 24, 2010, that caused catastrophic damage and multiple fatalities. The October 2025 circulation tracked in close proximity to that historical path, but any overlap or comparative intensity will remain unconfirmed until post-storm surveys are completed. Earlier in the outbreak sequence, the SPC received multiple reports of a tornado on the ground in Hot Spring County, Arkansas, near Highway 128 and Hickory Grove in the New De Roche area at 15:57 LT (20:57 UTC). Images posted by storm chasers show damaged homes and downed trees south of De Roche.
Rare tornado hits Paris, France, killing one and causing major structural damage - A deadly tornado struck the Val-d’Oise department, north-east of Paris, France, at around 17:45 LT (15:45 UTC) on October 20, 2025, killing one person and injuring nine, four critically. The violent, short-lived storm collapsed several construction cranes in Ermont, caused widespread roof damage, and uprooted trees across neighbouring municipalities. The rare and powerful tornado hit parts of the Île-de-France region at 17:45 local time on Monday, October 20, producing severe local damage in the Val-d’Oise department, about 20 km (13 miles) north-east of Paris. The phenomenon lasted only a few minutes but was described by authorities as an event of “sudden and rare intensity.” According to the Val-d’Oise prefecture and emergency services, one person was killed, a 23-year-old construction worker who was on site when several cranes collapsed. Nine others were injured, four of them in critical condition and five with lighter injuries. The tornado caused significant destruction across several communes, including Ermont, Eaubonne, Franconville, and Sannois. At least three large cranes toppled at a construction site, crushing vehicles and damaging nearby buildings. Several vehicles were overturned, numerous roofs were torn off, trees were uprooted, and power lines were brought down, obstructing several local roads. Meteorologists from Météo-France noted that strong convective activity was present across the Paris region that day, with local wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h (62 mph) likely within the tornado’s core. The French severe-weather observatory Keraunos confirmed the tornado, though its final assessment, including path length, width, and wind speed, remains pending. Preliminary analysis indicates that the event was associated with a low-topped supercell, developing along a convergence line of humid air in unstable conditions over northern France. Keraunos meteorologists reported a second tornado probably hit the Chaumont-en-Vexin area in Oise at the same time, with significantly less damage nonetheless.
Torrential rain and floods in Honduras leave 16 dead, over 34 000 affected - 2 videos - Heavy rain since late September triggered destructive floods and landslides across Honduras, killing at least 16 people and affecting over 34 000, as October 22, 2025. National and local authorities declared states of emergency in the departments of Francisco Morazán, La Paz, Intibucá and Lempira, as well as in the capital district of Tegucigalpa. Heavy mid-October rainfall triggered widespread floods and landslides across western and central Honduras. At least 16 fatalities have been reported and over 34 000 people affected by flooding since late September through mid-October. Around 2 033 houses have been damaged, and 76 have been destroyed. Comisión Permanente de Contingencias (COPECO) reported that around 83 communities were cut off by landslides and flooded roads. The worst hit regions include departments of Francisco Morazán, La Paz, Intibucá, and Lempira, while the Distrito Central (Tegucigalpa) was placed under a separate emergency declaration. Rainfall totals from October 16 to 33 reached 75 to 200 mm (3 to 8 inches) in many western and central regions, with local anomalies exceeding 100 mm to more than 500 mm (4 to 20 inches) above normal over the past 30 days. The capital registered about 352 mm (13.9 inches) of rain in October. The Distrito Central was also placed under a state of emergency after rivers overflowed and urban landslides damaged infrastructure. COPECO warned that saturated soils and unstable slopes continue to pose a risk of further collapses and flooding. The severe weather was attributed to a slow-moving low-pressure system drawing moisture from the Pacific and Caribbean. Above-average precipitation is forecast to persist through late October, maintaining elevated flood and landslide risk across western Honduras.
Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to become a hurricane. Its track is unclear, but it’s bringing a dangerous threat --Tropical Storm Melissa has formed in the Caribbean Sea, proving this year’s Atlantic hurricane season won’t be wrapping up quietly. The storm could slam the northern Caribbean with pouring rain and strong winds as it strengthens over extremely warm water this week. Melissa’s worst impacts could center on Hispaniola, where significant flooding and dangerous mudslides are possible for parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti through the weekend. Melissa was churning about 300 miles south of Haiti with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph as of late Tuesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is expected to hit hurricane status by Saturday, according to the center, but it’s still tough to pin down exactly how strong it will become from there.A hurricane watch has been issued for parts of Haiti and a tropical storm watch is in effect for Jamaica.There’s a low, but non-zero chance Melissa directly impacts the mainland United States, though details are still coming into focus. Puerto Rico is much more likely to experience some of the storm’s rain. Melissa’s exact track is still tricky to pin down, but there are two main scenarios forecasters have been monitoring for days. The one looking most likely at this point could spell disaster for parts of Hispaniola; the other could eventually take Melissa close to Central America. Both involve Melissa first loitering out over the Caribbean Sea for multiple days this week, churning up seas and bringing nasty weather to islands within the storm’s reach. From there, Melissa could take a turn to the north by late week and potentially move close to Hispaniola through the weekend, strengthening into a Category 1 hurricane by Saturday morning. This is the scenario the hurricane center’s track for the system reflects. Melissa is the 13th named storm of the season but is the first to churn in the Caribbean Sea. The lack of storms allowed the Caribbean to become so extremely warm that its water is now basically rocket fuel for storms. If Melissa taps into that energy, it could explode in strength – something that’s happening more often as the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution. Just this year, three of the four Atlantic hurricanes to date underwent extreme rapid intensification: Erin, Gabrielle and Humberto. Melissa could bring more than a foot of rain to parts of Hispaniola. It’s still unclear exactly what parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti would be subject to the heaviest rain, but the combination of torrential rain and mountainous terrain is a recipe for dangerous flash flooding and mudslides. One forecast model shows Melissa dumping a dangerous amount of rain over portions of the Caribbean through the weekend. Melissa could also deliver a considerable amount of rain to Jamaica and Puerto Rico in this scenario, with flash flooding and mudslides possible. Alternately, there’s still a chance that Melissa misses its window to take a northward turn and instead just creeps west over the Caribbean until it nears Central America — potentially Nicaragua or Honduras — next week. It could make landfall there or take a very late turn to the north and head for Cuba. It’s unlikely — though not entirely impossible — Melissa will deliver a direct hit to the mainland US. At this time, the storm’s most likely impact to the US could be in the form of some rough surf and rip currents along the East Coast next week.Florida could be in play if Melissa remains a weaker storm for longer and takes a turn to the north later than currently expected. In that case, Cuba and parts of the Bahamas could also be hit with Melissa’s wind and rain.
Hurricane Watches issued for Jamaica and Haiti, heavy rains and life-threatening flooding forecast - A Hurricane Watch was issued on October 23, 2025, as Tropical Storm Melissa approached Hispaniola and Jamaica, bringing the threat of heavy rainfall and life-threatening flooding. The storm is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane by the weekend and possibly a major hurricane early next week, producing heavy rain, flash flooding, and landslides across Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and parts of Cuba. Satellite image of Tropical Storm Melissa as of 13:20 UTC on October 23, 2025.
- Melissa is expected to meander over the central Caribbean Sea for several days and become a major hurricane by late this weekend or early next week. Due to its slow motion, the risk of a prolonged multi-day period of potentially damaging winds, heavy rainfall resulting in life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides, and coastal flooding continues to increase for Jamaica. Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion, since strong winds and flooding rains could begin in Jamaica by Friday or Saturday.
- Strong winds could also persist for a day or more across the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti. Interests in Cuba and the remainder of Haiti are advised to continue monitoring official forecasts and updates regarding Melissa.
- In addition to Jamaica, Melissa is expected to produce heavy rainfall across parts of the southern Dominican Republic and southern Haiti through this weekend and into next week. This rainfall is likely to cause significant, life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides.
At 11:00 EDT (15:00 UTC) on October 23, the center of Tropical Storm Melissa was located roughly 355 km (220 miles) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and 450 km (280 miles) southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Maximum sustained winds (averaged over 1 minute) reached 75 km/h (45 mph), and the system had a minimum central pressure of 1 003 hPa. Melissa was moving northwest at 7 km/h (5 mph). The Government of Jamaica has issued a Hurricane Watch and upgraded the existing Tropical Storm Watch to a warning. A Hurricane Watch is also in effect for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti, from the border with the Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince. Melissa is forecast to strengthen significantly by late Friday and through the weekend and become a hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). On the forecast track, Melissa is expected to move closer to Jamaica and the southwestern portion of Haiti during the next couple of days. Approximately 125–250 mm (5–10 inches) of rainfall is forecast across the southern Dominican Republic, southern Haiti, and eastern Jamaica through Sunday. The heavy rain could cause life-threatening flash floods and landslides, especially in areas with steep terrain and saturated soils. Additional totals of 50–100 mm (2–4 inches) are expected across Puerto Rico, northern Hispaniola, and western Jamaica.
Tropical Storm Fengshen kills at least five, leaves two missing in the Philippines - Tropical Storm Fengshen (locally named Ramil in the Philippines) crossed Luzon on October 18 and 19, 2025, producing torrential rain, flooding, and landslides. At least five people were killed in Quezon Province, while two others remain missing in Bukidnon after a landslide. Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) bulletins described the storm as a low-intensity system in terms of wind but high in rainfall potential, capable of triggering flash floods, landslides, and localized storm surge along exposed coasts. PAGASA’s reported cumulative rainfall totals of 150–250 mm (6–10 inches) across southern Luzon and Visayas on October 18 and 19, with isolated totals of over 300 mm (12 inches). Satellite loop of Tropical Storm Fengshen (Ramil). Credit: JMA/Himwari-9, RAMMB/CIRA, The Watchers Heavy rainfall and onshore winds caused rivers to rise rapidly in Quezon, Camarines Sur, and Capiz Provinces. Authorities maintained flood and landslide alerts for Region 4A (Calabarzon) and Region 5 (Bicol) through October 20. Casualties were reported in Pitogo municipality, Quezon Province, where a large tree fell on a bamboo house during the early hours of October 19, killing five members of a single family– including two children–and leaving one survivor. Elsewhere, at least two people were reported missing in Bukidnon Province after a motorised three-wheeler was swept off a highway by a landslide triggered by continuous rainfall. A separate fatality occurred in Roxas City, Capiz Province, where a person drowned in floodwaters during the height of the rainfall. Emergency teams also reported widespread inundation of low-lying barangays and multiple incidents of road blockage due to fallen trees and minor slope collapses.
Two coral species driven nearly to extinction in Florida - - Elkhorn and staghorn coral have dominated the Caribbean’s coral reef systems for more than 250,000 years. But after a scalding marine heat wave struck the region in 2023, these historically critical species are now functionally extinct in Florida, scientists say. New research has found that these iconic branching species — members of the Acropora genus — have all but vanished from much of the Florida reef tract. The few remaining survivors are clustered mainly in the northernmost reaches of the reef — and they probably can’t repopulate the rest of the ecosystem on their own. That means aggressive human interventions might be the only hope for preserving the Florida reef’s most famous species, including restoration projects and efforts to introduce genetic diversity using corals from other parts of the world. Even then, the researchers warn, successful restoration projects will “likely be limited to localized areas” — and they’ll still be at the mercy of future marine heat waves. They may also find themselves facing the whims of the U.S. government. President Donald Trump’s budget request for the upcoming fiscal year would slash funding for NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program. Whether those proposed cuts will be upheld by lawmakers remains to be seen. Congress is still sparring over the 2026 budget as a weekslong government shutdown continues with no end in sight. GET FULL ACCESS
'Bigger, hotter, faster': Extreme blazes drive rise in CO₂fire emissions --Rampant wildfires in the Americas drove a jump in global greenhouse gas emissions from fires in the year to February, new research found Thursday, warning that climate change was fanning the flames. Infernos that ravaged huge areas of Canada's boreal forest and swept through the dry forests and vulnerable wetlands in South America drove global fire CO2 emissions 10% above the 20-year average, the State of Wildfires report found. That is despite a below-average total of areas burned across the world, the international team of researchers said. The report found that heat, drought and human activities helped intensify blazes in particularly carbon-rich forests and ecosystems. "It's the scale and frequency of these extreme events that I find most staggering," He said satellite monitoring has shown that fires are becoming more intense across the world, expanding in key ecosystems and burning more material than in the past. "During these extreme wildfire years, we see more fires, bigger fires, hotter fires and faster fires and these properties all aggregate up to extreme extent and destructive impacts on people and nature," Jones told AFP. Climate change is one key factor, helping to create the optimal hot, dry conditions for fire to spread and burn. The report, which looked at extreme wildfires from March 2024 to February 2025, found that devastating infernos in Los Angeles and parts of South America were two to three times more likely due to climate change. Warming also made the area burned during those events 25 to 35 times larger, the authors said. Global temperatures in 2024 were the hottest on record, going above 1.5C relative to the pre-industrial period for the first time. Flames engulfed millions of hectares of forests and farmland last year in Canada, western parts of the United States and the Amazon, as well as in the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland, which is shared by Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. Across the world, the authors said wildfires killed 100 people in Nepal, 34 in South Africa and 31 in Los Angeles during the report period, with smoke drifting across continents and causing dangerous levels of air pollution far from the heat of the flames. Globally, the report said fires emitted over eight billion tons of CO2 in the 2024-2025 period—about 10% above average since 2003. It comes after the World Meteorological Organization on Wednesday warned that the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere last year was the biggest ever recorded. The WMO voiced "significant concern" that the land and oceans were becoming unable to soak up CO2, leaving the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. It warned that the planet could be witnessing a so-called "vicious cycle" of climate feedback—whereby increasing greenhouse gas emissions fuel rising temperatures that help stoke wildfires that release more CO2, while warmer oceans cannot absorb as much CO2 from the air.
Fire in the sky: Strong summer storms in the Midwest send wildfire smoke into the previously pristine stratosphere - Summer in the Midwest isn't summer without strong, sudden storms with towering clouds. While the Indian subcontinent is famous for its monsoon season, what many people don't know is that the midwestern United States has its own monsoon season, very nearly as strong. And those Midwest monsoons, increasingly, are breaking through the ceiling of the sky and into the stratosphere, a typically undisturbed layer of the atmosphere, introducing burning biomass and aerosols from western wildfires with potentially concerning consequences for the ozone layer and the climate. Like a hole in the hull of a boat leaking in dirty seawater, these storms allow aerosols and particles in from the lower atmosphere, new research shows. The research was conducted in partnership with NASA using a high-altitude research aircraft taking measurements in the remote reaches of the stratosphere. The paper was published in Nature Geoscience. "In the summer, here in the Midwest particularly, we get all these air quality warnings from wildfires because the climate is getting warmer and the land is getting drier," C "That's becoming more common, but that's all close to the planet's surface, where we thought it was staying. We flew this research aircraft up into the stratosphere, the next layer up of the atmosphere, which should be separate. Stratosphere means stratified; it should be separate. But what we found is that during these big wildfire seasons, the lower part of the stratosphere is just littered with these biomass particles." Cziczo and his team study the mechanics of the atmosphere, especially how, why, when and where clouds and storms form. They are especially interested in the way that warm, wet air moves up from the Gulf of Mexico, crashes against the Rocky Mountains and forms severe summer storms and rain, much like the summer monsoon in India forms when warm, wet winds collide with the Himalayas. Big storms and clouds typically can't expand beyond the layer of pressure and wind that marks the change between the troposphere, the layer of the atmosphere closest to the ground, and the stratosphere—it's why so many clouds look like buttes or mesas with flat tops. But that's not always true. Like a titan punching up through the cloud layer, the top of the storm can become too powerful to be contained and erupt into the stratosphere itself in a formation called an overshooting top. It is a fountain of cloud, a geyser of storm that erupts into the peaceful protective layer of the stratosphere. As it gushes up, it brings with it a burst of air, along with currents of aerosol, and anything in the air below it—including pollutants, aerosols and burning biomass. Earth's atmosphere is the sheer bubble that protects our planet like a snow globe. The stratosphere is the realm of the ozone layer, the buffer that absorbs so much of the sun's radiation and helps keep Earth from turning into a Venusian hothouse. Typically, the only particles that make it up into the stratosphere come from rare, globally notable and dramatic events—violent volcanoes and massive meteors. The incursions scientists found in this study aren't necessarily chinks in the planet's armor—yet. But they might be microfractures. And scientists aren't sure yet what kind of effects these alterations might have. "This could be a really big deal for a number of reasons," Cziczo said. "For one thing, for so long, we've assumed the stratosphere is a pristine area. But what this shows is that human impacts through a changing climate can affect the chemistry and the radiative ability of the stratosphere. These particles can interact with sunlight and heat up, warm the stratosphere. It could affect its stability—which is vital to the planet." It's not just the summer storms, either. Sometimes the wildfires themselves get so large that they create their own weather—directly generating their own storm clouds, called pyrocumulus, so strong that they catapult their own burning ash and biomass directly into the stratosphere above the fire. Cziczo notes that they observed this in the fires over Australia in the 2019 bush fire season, but that, as storm season warms, dries and increases in severity, this effect is becoming more frequent. "There are actually two ways for this stratosphere puncture to happen," Cziczo said. "It can be the one severe fire, but it can also be a bunch of little fires that are just constantly perturbing the stratosphere in a way that we didn't recognize before." To study the stratosphere, NASA built a variant of the Lockheed Martin U-2 aircraft—dubbed ER-2 for Earth Resources 2. Equipped to sniff out aerosols, particles, and shifts in pressure, temperature, humidity and wind rather than adversarial forces and resources, the plane can reach altitudes of 70,000 feet—higher than 95% of Earth's atmosphere with an effective horizon of 300 miles. (In comparison, the reduced gravity aircraft—also called "vomit comets"—which frequently help train astronauts and conduct low-gravity science experiments, only reach altitudes of about 35,000 feet.) "Most of us have heard about the Asian monsoon over the Indian subcontinent; these powerful storms that crash up against the Himalayas and drop all this rain. The Midwest has something analogous to that, and it is called the North American monsoon. Warm, wet air from the Gulf of Mexico comes up and gets hung up on the Rockies. "That's what creates a lot of those powerful thunderstorms over the Midwest and through the Great Plains area. That's why we wanted to be in Kansas during the summertime; you can reach all these different systems from there. We flew up into Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Upper Midwest, Great Plains and all over. I think we even got as far as Texas." The ER-2, which has been active since the 1980s, is equipped to measure minute changes in air quality and chemistry, allowing Cziczo and his team to track the footprints of the summer storms and fires through the stratosphere. "Using these very sophisticated tools, we were able to tell that it's not that we're just throwing a bunch of tropospheric air and putting it in the stratosphere," Cziczo said. "Putting this particulate matter in the stratosphere changes the dynamics; it changes the chemistry, and it changes the way that part of the atmosphere works. It changes the way it handles heat—it heats it up faster. And that's what we're worried about. That's what we really need to investigate, to understand. We went to all this trouble to save the ozone layer."
Record-breaking carbon dioxide rise shows the Amazon is faltering, but satellite that spotted this may soon be shut down -Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) rose faster in 2024 than in any year since records began—far faster than scientists expected.Our new satellite analysis shows that the Amazon rainforest, which has long been a huge absorber of carbon, is struggling to keep up. And worryingly, the satellite that made this discovery could soon be switched off.Systematic measurements of CO₂ in the atmosphere began in the late 1950s, when the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii (chosen for its remoteness and untainted air) registered about 315 parts per million (ppm). Today, it's more than 420 ppm.But just as important is the rate of change. The annual rise in global CO₂ has gone from below 1ppm in the 1960s to more than 2 ppm a year in the 2010s. Every extra ppm represents about 2 billion tons of carbon—roughly four times the combined mass of every human alive today.Across six decades of measurements, atmospheric CO₂ has gradually increased. There have been some large but temporary departures, typically associated with unusual weather caused by an El Niño in the Pacific. But the long-term trend is clear.In 2023, CO₂ in the atmosphere grew by about 2.70ppm. That's a large step up, but not too unusual. Yet in 2024, it was an unprecedented 3.73 ppm.Until recently, we could only monitor CO₂ through stations on the ground like the one in Hawaii. That changed with satellites such as NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2), launched in 2014.The OCO-2 satellite analyzes sunlight reflected from Earth. Carbon dioxide acts like a filter, absorbing specific wavelengths of light. By observing how much of that specific light is missing or dimmed when it reaches the satellite, scientists can accurately calculate how much CO₂ is in the atmosphere. But air is always on the move. The CO₂above any one point can come from many sources—local emissions, nearby forests, or air carried from far away. To untangle this mix, scientists use computer models that simulate how winds move CO₂around the globe. They then adjust these models until they match what the satellite sees. This gives us the most accurate estimate possible of where carbon is being released and where it's being absorbed. The decade-long data record from OCO-2 allows us to put 2023 and 2024 into historical context.From the satellite data, we infer that the largest changes in CO₂emissions and absorption during 2023 and 2024, compared with the baseline year of 2022, were over tropical land. The largest change was over the Amazon, where much less CO₂is being absorbed. Similar slowdowns also appeared over southern Africa and southeast Asia, parts of Australia, the eastern US, Alaska and western Russia. Conversely, we detected more carbon being absorbed over western Europe, the US and central Canada.In many ways, these years resembled previous El Niño years such as 2015–16, when drought and heat led to less carbon absorption and more wildfires. But what's interesting about 2023–24 is that the responsible El Niño event was comparatively weak.Something else must be amplifying the effect. The most likely culprit is the extensive, record-breaking drought that has gripped much of the Amazon basin. When plants are already stressed by a lack of water, even modest warming can push them beyond their tolerance, reducing their ability to absorb carbon.It's not yet clear whether 2023–24 is a short-term blip or an early sign of a long-term shift. But evidence points to an increasingly fragile situation, as tropical forests are stressed by hot and dry conditions. Understanding exactly how and where these ecosystems are changing is essential if we want to know their future role in the climate, and whether drought will delay their recovery. One step is to urgently send scientists to tropical ecosystems to document recent changes in person. That's also where satellites like OCO-2 come in. They offer global and almost real-time coverage of how carbon dioxide is moving between the land, oceans and atmosphere, helping us separate temporary effects like El Niño from deeper changes. Yet, despite being fit and healthy and having enough fuel to keep it going until 2040, OCO-2 is at risk of being shut down due to proposed NASA budget cuts. We wouldn't be blind without it—but we'd be seeing far less clearly. Losing OCO-2 would mean losing our best tool for monitoring changes in the carbon cycle, and we will all be scientifically poorer for it.The Amazon is sending us a warning. We must keep watching—while we still can.
Increasing heat is super-charging Arctic climate and weather extremes - By evaluating historical climate records, observational and projection data, an international team of researchers found a "pushing and triggering" mechanism that has driven the Arctic climate system to a new state, which will likely see consistently increased frequency and intensity of extreme events across all system components—the atmosphere, ocean and cryosphere—this century. "We know that mean temperatures are rising, and the Arctic is commonly considered an indicator of global changes due to its higher sensitivity to any perturbation of external and internal forcings," says Xiangdong Zhang, senior scientist at the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies. "The annual mean warming rate of the Arctic is more than three times the global average—this is known as Arctic amplification," Zhang says. "But no systematic review has been done about the interplay of warmer temperatures with the dynamics of atmosphere, ocean and sea ice in weather and climate extremes around the Arctic." Zhang is the lead author of the study. The team looked at historical temperature data and the records of extreme events in the Arctic system components, as well as CMIP6 model projections that covered a period from the present-day to the end of the century. Overall, they saw that extreme events—atmosphere and ocean heat waves, heavy precipitation, sea ice loss and ice sheet melt—have consistently occurred across the Arctic climate system with an increased frequency and intensity since the year 2000. The findings are published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment."We usually think about warming as a gradual, quasi-linear change of temperature over time—it slowly gets warmer everywhere," Zhang says. "But nonlinear changes occur across the entire system. The interplay between warming and the changes in atmospheric, oceanic and sea ice dynamics creates 'pushing and triggering' mechanisms that result in a tipping point for the climate system." According to the researchers, since the year 2000, these pushing and triggering mechanisms have forced a step change, or sudden shift, in the baseline of the Arctic climate system.The mechanisms in question include changes in large-scale atmosphere and ocean circulation that enhance poleward atmospheric heat and moisture transport and ocean heat transport into the Arctic. Intense cyclones and blocking high-pressure systems that obstruct the movement of other systems through the upper atmosphere further enhance warming, increasing sea ice and ice sheet temperatures and pushing the Arctic climate system to a tipping point, triggering more extremes."Once there is a baseline state change in climate, we also see a change in extreme events," Zhang says.According to the researchers' analysis, since the year 2000, the probability of atmospheric heat waves has increased by 20%; Atlantic Ocean layer warm events have increased by 76%; sea ice loss events have increased by 83%; and Greenland Ice Sheet melt extent has increased by 68%. "Prior to the 21st century, these events were rare," Zhang says. "But with continued warming they will become the new norm, and we could see ice-free summers in the Arctic by mid-century.
La Niña is here. What kind of winter will D.C. get? - The Washington Post --With winter fast approaching, the recent declaration that La Niña has officially arrived may leave Washingtonians wondering what the climate pattern will mean locally. The answer may not thrill snow lovers. With winter fast approaching, the recent declaration that La Niña has officially arrived may leave Washingtonians wondering what the climate pattern will mean locally. The answer may not thrill snow lovers. During La Niñas, the prevailing storm track usually runs north of Washington. That tends to pull in milder air during storms, leading to more wintry mixes or rain instead of snow. Storms on that track also typically produce less precipitation than those that come up from the south. On balance, the typical La Niña pattern — marked by colder-than-normal water in the tropical Pacific — produces less snow and winter weather than its counterpart, El Niño, which is associated with warm water in the tropical Pacific. But not all La Niñas are alike. Let’s dig into what’s happened in the past as a guide to possibilities for the upcoming winter. La Niña can benefit winter lovers in the D.C. area by tilting odds toward slightly cooler winters, mainly when the event is weak. But that tendency is running headlong into a steadily warming climate, which is one reason forecasters at the Weather Service still lean toward above-normal temperatures this winter. Over the past 50 years, weak La Niñas have coincided with winter temperatures about 0.2 degrees below the current seasonal average of 39.7 degrees. By contrast, moderate La Niñas have been notably warmer — about 1.7 degrees above average — while strong events have been more of a mixed bag, trending just a bit warmer overall. A big driver of this warmth is the pattern La Niña often sets up: a stubborn high-pressure area off the southeast coast. This tends to funnel mild southerly winds into the Mid-Atlantic and push the primary storm track to the north, keeping our region in the “warm sector” more often than not. That said, La Niña doesn’t shut the door on cold. It often allows frequent bursts of Arctic air into the north-central United States, some of which spill east into the Mid-Atlantic — occasionally giving D.C. a sharp taste of winter. Looking at the past 50 years — a useful period for understanding snowfall patterns in today’s climate — there have been 20 La Niñas and 18 El Niños. When it comes to snow in Washington, El Niño is typically king, while La Niña winters bring up the rear, even trailing neutral winters that have neither climate pattern. On average, La Niña has delivered about 80 percent of typical seasonal snowfall. With D.C.’s normal at 13.7 inches, that works out to roughly 11 inches during La Niña winters. By contrast, El Niño events have averaged around 130 percent of normal — or about 17.8 inches. But those averages don’t tell the full story. Snowfall can swing dramatically depending on the strength of the event. Weaker La Niñas have historically favored more snow than stronger ones. And even during moderate La Niñas, snowy winters can happen — like in 1995-1996, when D.C. picked up a whopping 46 inches, tied for the city’s fifth-snowiest winter on record. Last winter is a good reminder of how messy real-world outcomes can be. Although it began as a weak La Niña, the event weakened enough before winter ended that it didn’t meet the official definition of La Niña. The region logged 14.9 inches of snow — about an inch above normal — and winter temperatures averaged 0.7 degrees below normal.When La Niña (or El Niño) is weak or fading away, other climate patterns — which are difficult to predict more than two weeks in advance — become more important in shaping winter weather. For example, forecasters pay close attention to whether a pattern known as the North Atlantic Oscillation is positive or negative. When it’s negative, it increases the chances of a dip in the jet stream over the eastern United States that is associated with cold, stormy weather.They also monitor conditions in the north Pacific Ocean. When pressures are low there, it also favors a dip in the jet stream in the East.Finally, there’s the polar vortex. When this zone of frigid air over the Arctic weakens, it can unleash blasts of cold deep into the United States. Our most severe winter weather occurs when the polar vortex is disturbed and the patterns in the Atlantic and Pacific are configured to transport the frigid air unleashed southward. Whether those patterns align to deliver a real winter punch is still an open question.
DOE climate report colored by past views of its authors, critics say - -- Steve Koonin has spent years battling mainstream climate science. So it’s little surprise that Energy Secretary Chris Wright chose the conservative academic to help write a government-backed report — released in July — that called into question the severity of global warming. Wright himself has disputed the risks of climate change, and the five authors he handpicked to write the report align with that perspective. But a review by POLITICO’s E&E News has found another common thread. Four of the five authors that Wright selected to write the July report have spoken out against the endangerment finding, a 2009 EPA decision that underpins many federal climate regulations. That includes Koonin, who in February urged the administration to begin the process of rolling back the endangerment finding “as soon as possible.” Announced during the first Obama administration, the 2009 determination asserts that six greenhouse gases are driving climate change and that EPA has the authority to regulate these gases in the interest of public health.The federal government has used the endangerment finding to implement a wide swath of climate regulations, including those intended to reduce greenhouse emissions from vehicles and power plants. For that reason, conservatives have long sought to overturn the endangerment finding — which they say has been used to drive up prices and create unnecessary regulation. The criticism from Koonin and his co-authors is significant because the report they co-wrote is being used as evidence by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to eliminate the endangerment finding, which Zeldin once called the “holy grail” of climate science. EPA’s plan to undo the endangerment finding cites the Wright climate report no less than 16 times, E&E News has found. Climate scientists, environmental groups and Democrats have seized on the revelation and said it’s further proof the Wright climate report is little more than a political document — written with the express purpose of helping the Trump administration unravel climate rules made possible by the endangerment finding. The goal of the report is “to basically develop enough soundbite-worthy quotes that policymakers could use … to try to cast doubt on the science” of global warming, said Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University who organized an academic response to the Wright climate report. Wright has defended the report as an attempt to counter the narrative of mainstream climate science, which has made clear in thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers that humanity’s burning of fossil fuels is heating the planet, with dangerous repercussions for people and other living things.“Hydrocarbon-based fuels, the argument goes, must be rapidly abandoned or else we risk planetary ruin,” Wright wrote in a forward to the report. “That view demands scrutiny,” he continued. “That’s why I commissioned this report: to encourage a more thoughtful and science-based conversation about climate change and energy.” The writers themselves have defended the report too, with author Judith Curry, a former climatologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, telling E&E News that it was a “red herring” to question their independence.“This issue of ‘independence’ is never raised about scientists employed by, or affiliated with or otherwise supporting, environmental advocacy groups,” she said. But one climate law expert argued that the authors’ past criticism of the endangerment finding — coupled with their ties to groups that have advocated for its elimination — call into question the Wright report’s credibility. “It’s the furthest thing from an independent review, it’s a preordained review,” said Michael Gerrard, founder and faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “It’s an additional brick in an already high wall of facts discrediting the report.”The courts have also shown skepticism toward Wright’s framing of the report as an independent review. Environmental groups have sued over the Wright report — largely because they don’t want it included in EPA’s review of the endangerment finding. Last month, a federal judge denied the green groups’ attempts to bar its inclusion. But in doing so, Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts — a Reagan appointee — threw cold water on Wright’s claims about its intentions.“The conclusion of the report itself shows that it is no mere ‘review’ of the literature. To suggest otherwise borders on sophistry,” Young wrote. “No reasonable jury could find that these words, arranged as they are, do not constitute advice or recommendations for a renewed approach to climate policy.”
Green groups gird for life in Trump’s crosshairs - - Bring burner phones on overseas trips. Use encrypted apps for communication. Don’t cross international borders with laptops. Beef up office security. Hire more lawyers. These are just some of the precautions that environmental groups have taken following threats by the Trump administration to investigate them — all under the auspices that organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity are part of an anti-fascist network that’s fomenting political violence. Every environmental group contacted by POLITICO’s E&E News denounced the use of political violence in all its forms. But at least three organizations said they felt compelled to take additional safeguards in response to moves by the Trump administration against its ideological rivals and perceived political opponents. None of the green groups would speak on the record about these steps, for fear of either provoking the White House or revealing too much about their plans. Yet they defended them as necessary — even as they put faith in the rule of law. “These misguided and dangerous attacks on our First Amendment rights will ultimately fail and backfire,” said Denae Ávila-Dickson, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement. The added safeguards come as the Trump administration increasingly has gone after its perceived enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Those efforts have accelerated since the Sept. 10 murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. President Donald Trump recently encouraged the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to probe groups it perceives as anti-fascist, including environmental groups. That desire was codified in a Sept. 25 memo issued by Trump that directed the National Joint Terrorism Task Force to “disband and uproot networks, entities, and organizations that promote organized violence.” The memo — known as NSPM-7 — creates a broad definition of political violence, which critics say gives the administration wide latitude to pursue its opponents.According to the memo, the “common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”The White House took it one step further this month when Trump convened an Oct. 8 roundtable to discuss anti-fascist or “Antifa” organizations, which he said were helping to drive a “very serious left-wing terror threat in our country.”At the event, Trump directed the nation’s top law enforcement agencies to review accusations by two conservative groups. The groups claimed in two separate reports that several left-leaning movements and organizations — including climate activism, homeless advocacy, the American Civil Liberties Union and the organizers of the No Kings demonstrations — are part of a larger Antifa network.
Earth’s electrical rings released rare energy leak during recent G2 geomagnetic storm - The A G2 – Moderate geomagnetic storm on October 18, 2025, produced an extremely bright red SAR arc visible from the United States to northern Europe. The event showed an unusually efficient release of energy from Earth’s ring current system, challenging current understanding of how the planet’s magnetic field interacts with the atmosphere. A deep red band of light stretched across the night sky on October 18, seen from Maine to Sweden and Finland. The phenomenon followed a moderate G2-class geomagnetic storm caused by a coronal mass ejection grazing Earth’s magnetosphere. While the storm’s strength was typical, the optical display was not. “My son and I were surprised by this red bow in the south,” said P-M Hedén, who photographed the emission from Norrtälje, Sweden. “It was so bright, I could see its reflection in a local pond.” Observers in southern Öland, Sweden; Searsport, Maine; and southern Finland captured similar images, confirming that the arc extended across the Atlantic sector. “Only a few times in a solar cycle do we get an SAR arc this bright,” said Jeff Baumgardner of Boston University’s Center for Space Physics, who has studied the phenomenon for decades. “It nearly saturated our detectors.” He estimated the arc was 10 to 30 times brighter than a G2 storm would normally produce, a figure still awaiting calibrated data. SAR arcs, or Stable Auroral Red arcs, occur when thermal energy from Earth’s ring current leaks into the upper atmosphere. The ring current is a torus-shaped flow of charged particles encircling Earth between about three and eight Earth radii, carrying electrical currents of millions of amperes. During geomagnetic storms, part of this energy escapes along magnetic field lines and heats dense plasma near the boundary of the plasmasphere. Excited atomic oxygen then emits red light at a wavelength of 630 nanometers, producing the characteristic glow.
Scientists Say Dimming the Sun Could Spark Global Chaos - An idea once dismissed as science fiction -- cooling Earth by scattering sunlight-reflecting particles into the upper atmosphere -- is now being taken seriously by researchers. This proposed technique, called stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), aims to offset global warming by mimicking the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions. Hundreds of scientific models have explored how it might work. Yet researchers at Columbia University caution that those models overlook how complex, uncertain, and potentially risky such an effort would be. "Even when simulations of SAI in climate models are sophisticated, they're necessarily going to be idealized. Researchers model the perfect particles that are the perfect size. And in the simulation, they put exactly how much of them they want, where they want them. But when you start to consider where we actually are, compared to that idealized situation, it reveals a lot of the uncertainty in those predictions," says V. Faye McNeill, an atmospheric chemist and aerosol scientist at Columbia's Climate School and Columbia Engineering. "There are a range of things that might happen if you try to do this -- and we're arguing that the range of possible outcomes is a lot wider than anybody has appreciated until now." In a study published in Scientific Reports, McNeill and her team examined the physical, political, and economic barriers that make SAI far more complicated in reality than in theory. They reviewed existing studies to understand how the results of SAI would depend on the details of how and where it is deployed. Key factors include the altitude and latitude of particle release, the time of year, and the total amount of material injected into the atmosphere. Among these variables, latitude appears to have the greatest influence. SAI efforts concentrated near the poles, for example, could disrupt tropical monsoons, while releases near the equator might alter jet streams and interfere with global air circulation. "It isn't just a matter of getting five teragrams of sulfur into the atmosphere. It matters where and when you do it," says McNeill. These variabilities suggest that, if SAI takes place, it should be done in a centralized, coordinated fashion. Given geopolitical realities, however, the researchers say that is unlikely. Most climate models studying SAI assume the use of sulfate aerosols, similar to the compounds produced by volcanic eruptions. When Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, for instance, global temperatures dropped by nearly one degree Celsius for several years. That event is often cited as evidence that SAI could temporarily cool the planet. But volcanic activity also highlights the risks. Pinatubo's eruption disrupted the Indian monsoon system, reduced rainfall across South Asia, and contributed to ozone depletion. Similar side effects could result from artificial sulfate releases, including acid rain and soil contamination. These concerns have pushed scientists to investigate other, potentially safer materials. Proposed alternatives include minerals such as calcium carbonate, alpha alumina, rutile and anatase titania, cubic zirconia, and even diamond. While much attention has been paid to how well these materials might scatter sunlight, other essential questions -- such as their availability and practicality -- have been less explored. "Scientists have discussed the use of aerosol candidates with little consideration of how practical limitations might limit your ability to actually inject massive amounts of them yearly," says Miranda Hack, an aerosol scientist at Columbia University and the new paper's lead author. "A lot of the materials that have been proposed are not particularly abundant." Diamond, for instance, would perform well optically but is far too scarce and expensive to use. Cubic zirconia and rutile titania could meet demand in theory, but economic modeling by the Columbia team suggests production costs would skyrocket with increased demand. Only calcium carbonate and alpha alumina are abundant enough to be feasible at scale, yet both face serious technical problems during dispersion. For SAI to work, particles must remain extremely small -- less than one micron in size. However, the mineral alternatives tend to clump together into larger aggregates. These larger clusters scatter sunlight less effectively and behave unpredictably in the atmosphere. "Instead of having these perfect optical properties, you have something much worse. In comparison to sulfate, I don't think we would necessarily see the types of climate benefits that have been discussed," says Hack. According to the researchers, the many unknowns surrounding SAI -- from deployment logistics to material performance -- make the technique even more uncertain than previously believed. These challenges should be clearly acknowledged when policymakers and scientists discuss the future of solar geoengineering. "It's all about risk trade-offs when you look at solar geoengineering," says Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at the Columbia Business School and a close collaborator with the Climate School. Given the messy realities of SAI, he says, "it isn't going to happen the way that 99 percent of these papers model." The study also lists Daniel Steingart, co-director of the Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center, as a coauthor. Together, the team emphasizes that while SAI may seem like an attractive quick fix for global warming, the path to actually cooling the planet could be far more perilous and unpredictable than it appears.
Solar radiation management is gaining traction as a climate intervention, but how hard is it to dim the sun? - Once considered a fringe idea, the prospect of offsetting global warming by releasing massive quantities of sunlight-reflecting particles into Earth's atmosphere is now a matter of serious scientific consideration. Hundreds of studies have modeled how this form of solar geoengineering, known as stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), might work. There is a real possibility that nations or even individuals seeking a stopgap solution to climate change may try SAI—but the proponents dramatically underestimate just how difficult and complicated it will be, say researchers from Columbia University. "Even when simulations of SAI in climate models are sophisticated, they're necessarily going to be idealized. Researchers model the perfect particles that are the perfect size. And in the simulation, they put exactly how much of them they want, where they want them. But when you start to consider where we actually are, compared to that idealized situation, it reveals a lot of the uncertainty in those predictions," "There are a range of things that might happen if you try to do this—and we're arguing that the range of possible outcomes is a lot wider than anybody has appreciated until now. In a paper published in Scientific Reports, McNeill and her colleagues reckon with the physical, geopolitical and economic limitations of SAI. They begin by collecting the scattered scientific literature on how SAI's impacts would be shaped by the nuances of its deployment. Many factors affect how aerosols interact with Earth systems: the altitude and longitude at which they are released, the time of year when this takes place, and, of course, the sheer number of particles involved. "The most significant variable, though, appears to be latitude. For example, SAI concentrated in polar regions would likely disrupt tropical monsoon systems. Releases concentrated in equatorial regions could affect the jet stream and disrupt atmospheric circulation patterns that conduct heat toward Earth's poles. "It isn't just a matter of getting five teragrams of sulfur into the atmosphere. It matters where and when you do it," says McNeill. Model studies to date have focused almost entirely on SAI approaches that would use sulfate-rich gases analogous to those formed when volcanic plumes oxidize and condense in the stratosphere. Volcanic eruptions have cooled Earth in the past. When Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, for example, planetary temperatures dropped by nearly one degree Celsius for several years afterward. That event is often cited as a proof-of-principle for how SAI could work. Beside cooling at ground level, SAI also poses undesirable consequences, both expected and unexpected. For example, Pinatubo's eruption also disrupted the Indian monsoon system, leading to decreased rainfall across South Asia, and caused warming in the stratosphere and depletion of the ozone layer. The use of sulfates for SAI could pose similar risks, or additional environmental concerns, including acid rain and soil pollution. These concerns have led to a search for other aerosol ingredients for SAI. Proposed mineral alternatives include calcium carbonate, alpha alumina, rutile and anatase titania, cubic zirconia and diamond. Consideration of alternatives has focused on their optical qualities, but other factors have been neglected. "A lot of the materials that have been proposed are not particularly abundant." Diamond is optically well-suited to the task, but there simply isn't enough of it. As for cubic zirconia and rutile titania, supply might conceivably meet demand, but the Columbia team's economic modeling suggests that increased demand would strain supply chains and make them much more expensive. Sufficient supplies of alpha alumina and calcium carbonate exist to absorb demand without driving prices to prohibitive levels—but, along with the other candidates, there are serious technical challenges involved with dispersing them. At the minuscule, sub-micron particle size necessary for SAI, the mineral alternatives all tend to clump into larger aggregates. According to the researchers' calculations, these aggregates are less effective at reducing sunlight than are particles, and their climate impacts are even less understood. "Instead of having these perfect optical properties, you have something much worse. In comparison to sulfate, I don't think we would necessarily see the types of climate benefits that have been discussed," says Hack. All these practical considerations—in deployment strategies, governance, availability and material properties—made SAI even more uncertain than it already is, say the researchers. "Given the messy realities of SAI, he says, "it isn't going to happen the way that 99% of these papers model."
Global cooling startup raises $60M to test sun-reflecting technology - A once-outlandish idea for reversing global warming took a major step toward reality Friday when Israeli-U.S. startup Stardust Solutions announced the largest-ever fundraising round for any company that aims to cool the Earth by spraying particles into the atmosphere. Its plan to limit the sun’s heat raised $60 million from a broad coalition of investors that included Silicon Valley luminaries and the Agnelli family, an Italian industrial dynasty. The disclosure, critics said, raises questions about involvement of venture capital firms in driving forward a largely untested, thinly researched and mostly unregulated technology that could disrupt global weather patterns and trigger geopolitical conflict. The investors were “putting their trust in the concept of, we need a safe and responsible and controlled option for sunlight reflection, which for me is [a] very important step forward in the evolution of this field,” Stardust CEO Yanai Yedvab said during an interview this week in POLITICO’s London office. He and co-founder Amyad Spector, who also flew in for the interview, are both nuclear physicists who formerly worked for the Israeli government.
Von der Leyen tries to appease EU climate target skeptics - — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to adjust key green laws to secure support for a new climate target. In a letter to national leaders circulated Monday, von der Leyen outlined plans to change the EU’s carbon pricing and existing climate targets for forests, among others.The Commission president’s unusual intervention comes days before leaders are set to debate the EU’s new overarching emissions-reduction target for 2040 at their European Council summit.Governments have been unable to agree on the new target, with several EU countries expressing concern about the economic impact of the bloc’s new and existing climate measures. Leaders will discuss the link between competitiveness and climate on Thursday in Brussels.
U.S. And Qatar Warn EU CSDDD Could Disrupt Energy Supply Chain - The United States and Qatar have jointly expressed “deep concern” over the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), warning that the law could disrupt trade and energy supplies if it is not repealed or significantly amended. The message was conveyed in an open letter addressed to leaders of EU member states. The CSDDD, which requires companies to address negative impacts on human rights and the environment across their value chains, has already faced revisions under the EU’s Omnibus initiative. Proposed changes would narrow the law’s scope to the largest companies and relax requirements around climate transition plans. However, U.S. and Qatari officials argued in the letter that these adjustments “fall grossly short” of addressing their concerns and could still “cause considerable harm to the EU and its citizens.” Signed by Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, and U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, the letter emphasized that the CSDDD could undermine the ability of American, Qatari, and other international energy partners to operate within Europe. The U.S. and Qatar are significant energy suppliers to the EU, providing over 16% and 4% of its gas, and 45% and 12% of its LNG, respectively, in 2024. The letter specifically cited potential impacts on LNG export competitiveness and the reliability and affordability of energy for European consumers. Originally proposed by the European Commission in February 2022, the CSDDD obliges companies to identify, assess, prevent, mitigate, and remedy social and environmental harms in their supply chains, covering issues from child labor and slavery to pollution, emissions, deforestation, and ecosystem damage. Although the legislation was formally adopted in May 2024, revisions during the process significantly scaled back the number of companies affected and extended the implementation timeline. The EU Commission’s Omnibus initiative, launched in February 2025 to reduce the sustainability reporting burden, proposed delaying the law’s application and focusing it on direct suppliers. Negotiations in the EU Parliament and Council have suggested further reductions, raising the threshold to companies with at least 5,000 employees and over €1.5 billion in revenue, up from 1,000 employees, while retaining the obligation to adopt and report on climate transition plans but removing implementation requirements. Despite these changes, the U.S. and Qatar urged EU leaders to repeal key provisions of the CSDDD, including its application to non-EU entities, climate transition plan obligations, and penalties. The letter also referenced concerns expressed by European companies, though some firms reportedly denied participation in a recent protest letter and reiterated their support for the CSDDD. The U.S. and Qatar warned that enforcing the CSDDD could threaten EU energy security, trade relationships, existing and future investments, employment, and compliance with recent trade agreements, highlighting the high stakes involved in the directive’s implementation.
White House halts $11B for water projects in blue states - The Trump administration is “pausing” more than $11 billion in water infrastructure projects to 12 Democrat-controlled states, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said Friday. The Army Corps of Engineers projects in California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware and Colorado are now “under review,” according to the Office of Management and Budget. About $7 billion of the funds were set to go to New York. The administration is considering canceling the projects because of Democrats’ alleged role in the government shutdown, which has “drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” Vought wrote on X. It’s the latest in a slew of federal funding threats and cuts from the White House targeting states that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris since the shutdown began. Vought said more information would be coming from the Army Corps. But the agency did not provide details, citing a Defense Department media policy. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently following Department of War media guidance, and we are unable to respond to queries during the lapse in appropriations as it does not relate to life, health, safety or national security,” Army Corps Spokesperson Doug Garman said in an email. “Further information can be made available after the lapse in appropriations ends.” An Office of Management and Budget spokesperson also did not provide a full list of projects affected and did not respond to a question about what the new review of the projects would entail. One project would restore aquatic habitat for salmon and steelhead trout in California, while another involves the construction of wastewater treatment and water supply systems in Queens, New York, the spokesperson said. The Trump administration, they continued, wants to “reorient how the federal government prioritizes Army Corps projects.” “The Army Corps shouldn’t be funding bike lanes in Cape Cod, billion-dollar fish ladders, and municipal sewage systems,” they said in an email. “Several notable projects under review are New York Harbor, Port of Long Beach, Baltimore Harbor, and projects in the San Francisco Bay Area.” The OMB spokesperson also accused the states affected of being “sanctuary” communities, a term used for state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Army Corps of Engineers carries out projects at the direction of Congress, typically through Water Resource Development Acts enacted every two years. The agency’s varied mission includes flood control, river navigation, ecosystem restoration and hydropower dam management. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, slammed Vought’s actions in a post on X on Friday. “An administration run by crooks and cowards is ONCE AGAIN illegally and punitively blocking funds for JUST blue states,” Murray wrote. “I’m not intimidated by miserable thugs like Russ Vought, and you shouldn’t be either.”
FEMA rejects western Maryland flood aid request - Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied his state’s appeal for federal disaster relief for flooding in May. Moore, in a Thursday release, called the move “deeply frustrating” and said it “leaves Marylanders on their own.” “FEMA has a responsibility to weigh the merits of each emergency request objectively,” Moore added. “Instead, President Trump and his Administration have politicized disaster relief, and our communities are the ones who will pay the price.” The floods occurred over two days, impacting Garrett and Allegany counties in western Maryland. They resulted in $33.7 million in damages, with homes, schools, libraries and other community buildings impacted, according to a letter Moore sent to Trump in August. The president did not issue a major disaster declaration, which would have made FEMA assistance available, following the floods. In July, the administration denied disaster assistance to Maryland. Moore appealed the decision in August, noting that the damages were nearly triple Maryland’s federal threshold for assistance.“Maryland has met long-standing criteria for FEMA support in the wake of historic floods across Mountain Maryland. And this appeal isn’t simply justified, it’s necessary,” Moore said at the time. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Hill that the president “provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him” and responds to disaster relief requests “with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement—not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”
EPA nixed this Alaskan village’s flood protection grant. Then a typhoon hit. -Rayna Paul warned a federal court earlier this year that EPA’s decision to nix a $20 million climate grant could leave her tiny Alaskan village vulnerable to “catastrophe.” Much of that village was swept away Oct. 12. Typhoon Halong was strengthened by abnormally warm sea-surface temperatures when it hit western Alaska. Its remnants lifted homes in Kipnuk, Alaska, off of their foundations and carried them away, according to the website for Paul’s GoFundMe campaign. “The wooden boardwalks that connect our community are shattered,” wrote Paul, who serves as environmental director for the high-poverty Alaska Native village. “Power lines are down. The land itself has changed; it’s heartbreaking to see.” Kipnuk was awarded a $20 million grant last year to defend itself against climate change-driven erosion and flooding. It was one of nine Alaskan communities and 105 communities nationwide to receive grants under EPA’s Community Change Grant program — a $1.6 billion climate law initiative that aimed to help low-income and disadvantaged communities address long-standing environmental and climate risks. The Trump administration canceled the grants in May, months after EPA had issued award agreements. Grantees are now fighting an increasingly uphill battle in federal court to challenge those terminations. It’s hard to say whether the grant would have saved Kipnuk. The award was for three years beginning in March 2025, and the work may have continued for that entire time. Typhoon Halong was also a uniquely powerful storm, with wind speeds of 113 miles per hour measured in Alaska. Asked about the connection between the disaster in Kipnuk and EPA’s grant termination — which was first revealed in a New York Times article last week — EPA press secretary Brigit Hirsch said the flooding showed that EPA funds would have been wasted. “To be brutally candid, due to the proactive cancellation of this grant, $20 million of hardworking U.S. tax dollars are currently sitting in the U.S. treasury instead of swept into the Kuskokwim River,” she said in a response to POLITICO’s E&E News. The village is located at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. “The ‘environmental justice’ funding cancelled by EPA would not have prevented or safeguarded the community from the mass destruction and tragedy caused by such a large and devastating typhoon,” she added, pointing out that the project’s construction timeline had it breaking ground in 2026.
PA Senators Tell PJM to Reject Prioritizing Unreliable Wind & Solar- Marcellus Drilling News - On September 29, some 105 Democrat state legislators from 10 states across the PJM Interconnection region released a joint letter urging PJM to take immediate action to accelerate the deployment of unreliable renewable energy projects—to favor unreliable renewables over fossil fuels. The letter, organized by the partisan left-wing National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL), highlights urgent concerns about grid reliability, rising energy costs, and recent federal actions against renewable energy. A group of Pennsylvania Republican legislators responded with their own letter asking PJM to disregard the lunatic letter from NCEL.
Burgum declares offshore wind ‘bad for everybody’ - Interior Secretary Doug Burgum painted a dim picture of offshore wind Monday, asserting that passage of the Republican megalaw was the end of an industry that “makes no sense.” At a panel hosted by the American Petroleum Institute, Burgum ticked through a litany of complaints about the besieged industry, repeating claims about its impacts on whales and interference with military radar. “Intermittent, highly expensive wind is bad for everybody,” Burgum said. Diatribes against wind from President Donald Trump and his Cabinet members have become common, and Burgum’s comments were no exception. The Trump administration’s attack on the industry has included preventing new projects, trying to halt ones under construction and trying to rescind permits. At the event in Washington, Burgum rejected the possibility of allowing offshore wind projects to move ahead in exchange for Democratic support on a deal to streamline permitting. “I hadn’t thought about the idea of trading something that makes sense for everybody in America for something that makes no sense,” Burgum said Monday in response to a reporter’s question. “And that’s sort of how I view offshore wind.” Burgum asserted that “this offshore thing” only exists because of subsidies — which are being phased out by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “If anybody is continuing to build, their only argument is, ‘Oh, we’ve already started, and you should let us finish,’” Burgum said. Researchers at NOAA have found no connection between offshore wind construction and operations and whale deaths. While some studies have found wind turbines could impair radar, proponents argue that those effects can be mitigated and point out that the Department of Defense plays a role in identifying offshore wind development areas. Offshore wind proponents lambasted Burgum’s comments, calling them “baseless rhetoric.” “The federal administration’s false charges and continued assault against offshore wind prevents shovel-ready, baseload power generation from reaching the grid while driving up electricity costs for ratepayers, stifling good-paying American jobs, and threatening to strand billions of dollars in U.S. investments,” Liz Burdock, the CEO of Oceantic Network, a group of offshore wind businesses, said in an emailed statement. She called the efforts to halt wind “shortsighted, detrimental energy policy.”
Whitehouse threatens to blow up permitting talks - A Senate Democrat key to a bipartisan permitting accord Wednesday decried the Trump administration’s sustained attacks against wind and solar power as “gangster ‘Gong Show’ stuff” that was destroying any glimmer of trust on Capitol Hill.The outburst from Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse comes at a time when Republicans have been talking about wooing Democrats on a permitting deal and behind-the-scenes discussions have been ongoing. But Whitehouse seemed to throw cold water on such talks, absent assurances from the White House that they would honor mandates passed by Congress. He even threatened to oppose typical bipartisan bills dealing with water infrastructure and surface transportation.“Why would we want to do bipartisan permitting reform during an administration that won’t faithfully execute that law?” Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said during a hearing.He called out Republicans, asking them to buck President Donald Trump.“Where are my Senate Republican colleagues?” he asked.“The Republican Party has long claimed to be the party of free market capitalism, yet you seem fine with this level of government interference in free enterprise.”Whitehouse specifically pointed to the Interior Department’s orders to stop work at Revolution Wind, the Energy Department’s kill list of projects in many blue states and the rescinded approval for what would have been the nation’s largest solar project in Nevada.“This is kind of bureaucratic, Al Capone-quality stuff, so it’s very hard to find a glimmer of good faith.”After the hearing, he suggested he would need to see “personnel changes” at the White House, saying that “some people are just too horrible to be trusted, ever.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
EU takes aim at plastic pellets to prevent their nightmare cleanup - At first glance, the tiny plastic pellets appear relatively harmless. No bigger than a lentil, these "nurdles" are destined to be melted down to make everything from car bumpers to salad bowls. But when tens of millions of them spill from trucks or cargo ships they are devilish to clean up, blighting landscapes and washing up around the world for years to come. On Thursday, the European Parliament could approve tougher new rules aimed at preventing such disastrous spills, and reducing their pollution impact. If approved, they will require companies in the European Union to adopt safeguards in handling and transporting nurdles, which are produced by petrochemical giants from fossil fuels. Anywhere between 52,140 tons and 184,290 tons of pellets entered the environment in the EU in 2019, according to the European Commission, which proposed the regulations. "This is equivalent to between 2,100 and 7,300 trucks full of pellets per year," the Commission said. Light, buoyant and insoluble, these tiny pellets present an almost insurmountable challenge once scattered in nature. Recovery is "a physically intense and time-consuming task" mostly done by hand, said Kevin Tallec from Cedre, a French non-profit organization that specializes in water contamination and cleanup. "We can be 100% sure that if there's pellet pollution, we won't be able to recover all of them," Tallec, a marine biologist, told AFP in Brest, where Cedre is headquartered.One of the worst spills occurred off Sri Lanka in 2021 when thousands of tons of plastic pellets were lost from a stricken cargo ship. Nurdles coated an 80-kilometre (50-mile) stretch of beach on the island's western coast, and fishing was prohibited for months. In northwest Spain, volunteers used strainers to sift nurdles from sand along the Atlantic coast after containers full of pellets fell off a cargo vessel in late 2023. "When I was little, I used to pick them up on the beaches, just a few at the time. But the pollution has become chronic," said Amandine Le Moan, co-founder of the French coastal conservation group Ystopia. They are ingested by marine life, particularly sea birds and turtles, while the chemicals in microplastics also present a potential risk to human health, the Commission said. The spills also hurt tourism and fishing, it added. Nurdle spills often occur when an ill-placed shipping container tumbles overboard, "These containers must be identified, declared, and treated in a specific way, like chemicals and hazardous materials placed below deck," Laurent Martens, general delegate of Armateurs de France, told AFP.
An open-source tool to measure microplastic sinking rates in water -Microplastics have become an invisible but persistent threat in rivers, lakes, oceans, and even in the water we drink. These tiny plastic fragments can drift for miles, settle on the seafloor, or remain suspended for years, harming ecosystems and human health.Scientists still lack a standard way to measure how microplastics move through water. Clarkson University researchers are helping change that with a new, open-source method that uses computer vision to track how fast these particles sink—a crucial step toward understanding, predicting, and ultimately reducing the spread of plastic pollution in aquatic environments.Using cameras and artificial intelligence, the system tracks and calculates microplastic movement with high accuracy, within about 6% of manual measurements. This new, open-source technique, now published inMicroplastics, provides a consistent and reliable way to study microplastic behavior, helping scientists predict where pollution will accumulate and design better strategies to reduce its environmental impact. The team plans to expand this work to include real-time, AI-powered detection of microplastics in future studies.
'Reduce, reuse, recycle' is corporate gaslighting—the real change must come from the fossil fuel industry -"Reduce, reuse, recycle." For more than 50 years, those three Rs have been the world's go-to environmental mantra.On the face of it, the three Rs sound like an empowering call for each of us to play our part for the planet. However, the individualist approach behind the slogan has come in for increasing criticism by climate change activists. I am one of them. As a scholar-activist who has spent over 16 years working with climate justice movements, I have studied how movements are challenging the individualistic focus to climate change—an approach that isheavily promoted by corporate public relations campaigns. Fossil fuel corporations have worked with public relations firms to convince the public that environmental problems are the fault of consumer behavior. One of the main aims of these campaigns is to shift attention and blame away from the main actors responsible for ecological destruction—wealthy corporations, polluting industries and the captured governments that enable them. Individual emissions within the average person's direct control account for less than 20% of total emissions. The vast majority come from industrial systems and infrastructure beyond people's control. The fossil fuel industry's public relations campaigns also want individuals to focus on their own environmental footprint so that they are distracted from pushing for more structural and policy-driven changes. Those structural changes would threaten the profits of the fossil fuel industry. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's leading authority on climate change, has said that "rapid and far-reaching transitions across all sectors and systems are necessary to achieve deep and sustained emissions reductions."Compared to the scale of change we need, "reduce, reuse, recycle" falls short. Building on that evidence, climate ethics literature, and discourse analysis, ina newly published book chapter I argue that it's past time to go deeper than just the old "Three Rs." In addition, environmental education should embrace new, more radical mantras that tackle the root causes of our ecological crises, such as Regulation, Redistribution, and Reparations.These more radical Rs focus on the structural and economic factors that drive ecological crises, working to reorient societies towards more socially and ecologically just ends. Social movements are increasingly realizing that we need to focus on such systemic factors, which is part of why the slogan "Systems Change, Not Climate Change" has become such a key rallying call for climate justice movements across the world.
What Americans think about the environmental impact of AI, according to a new poll (AP) — As the United States rapidly builds massive data centers for the development of artificial intelligence, many Americans are concerned about the environmental impact. Worries about how AI will affect the environment surpass concerns about other industries that worsen climate change, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. The results of the poll, conducted in September, suggest that as AI reshapes work, communication and culture, it’s also sparking anxieties about how the growing energy demands could further harm the environment. It takes massive amounts of electricity to power AI. Electricity consumption from data centers is set to more than double globally by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. The United States accounts for by far the largest share of the projected increase, followed by China. In many places, the electricity for data centers will come from power plants that burn coal, oil and natural gas. Burning these fossil fuels for electricity emits carbon dioxide, trapping heat in the atmosphere and warming the planet. The energy needs are so large that major technology companies are investing in next-generation nuclear technology, which can produce electricity without emissions, and quietly scaling back their own goals to cut carbon pollution. Aidan Collins, a 26-year-old Democrat in New York, said in his view, AI uses an “absurd amount” of energy. “Using all this energy and contributing to climate change in a bad way, it all just seems very awful to me,” he said. More worries about AI’s environmental impact than meat and aviation President Donald Trump unveiled a plan this summer for America’s “global dominance” in artificial intelligence, which included cutting back environmental regulations to speed up the construction of AI supercomputers. The U.S. Department of Energy has identified federal sites where tech companies could build data centers to power AI. Trump, a Republican, has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels for electricity generation and hinder renewable energy projects. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the environmental impacts of AI. That’s higher than the share of Americans who are highly concerned about the environmental impact of the cryptocurrency, meat production and air travel industries, all of which contribute to climate change and cause environmental harm. Bitcoin mining uses enormous amounts of electricity. Livestock produce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. And when airplanes burn jet fuel, it releases carbon dioxide. Like Collins, several Americans said in follow-up interviews that they are worried about the energy and water required to power AI. Data centers need a tremendous amount of water to keep cool. Some communities strongly oppose data centers because they demand so much energy and water.Data center growth a ‘five-alarm fire’ for electric reliability - Energy regulators and executives are warning that the build-out of artificial intelligence data centers has significantly increased the risk of electricity disruptions and blackouts. Panelists at a Tuesday conference hosted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission emphasized that the large-scale energy consumption of AI data centers presents challenges to supply and demand and to technical engineering requirements. The meeting featured representatives from utilities, grid operators and technology companies.“The reliability of the power grid remains extremely high, but paradoxically, the risks to reliability continue to mount,” said Jim Robb, president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., the continent’s grid monitor. “In fact, we’re seeing an increasing number of small-scale events and near misses that continue to reinforce what we can’t call anything but a five-alarm fire when it comes to reliability.”The conference comes as the country faces rapidly growing forecasts for electricity demand, with one consulting firm projecting a 25 percent rise in demand by 2030 that would require the U.S. to double the pace of new electricity generation. The surge is driven largely by the soaring popularity of generative artificial intelligence, which typically requires roughly 10 times the power of traditional search engines per query.
Wright calls on FERC to ‘reform’ grid regulations - Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday to launch a rulemaking aimed at slashing the time it takes for data centers and U.S. manufacturers to connect to the power grid. Wright’s proposal also addresses “co-location” — the effort to develop data centers and power generation together. FERC has struggled to get a handle on electric reliability and cost issues that come with the huge amounts of power that could come onto the grid or be pulled off the grid as a result of co-locating facilities. “To usher in a new era of American prosperity, we must ensure all Americans and domestic industries have access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity,” Wright wrote in a letter to the commission. “To do this, large loads, including AI data centers, served by public utilities must be able to connect to the transmission system in a timely, orderly, and non-discriminatory manner.” Since February, FERC has been grappling with the details of a potential rule as America’s technology giants race to build energy-hungry data centers for artificial intelligence. Chair David Rosner in September commented only briefly on the commission’s progress and closed-door deliberations, telling reporters that it has elicited different opinions. The commission, he said, is still working on it.
Toxic haze chokes Indian capital - India's capital New Delhi was shrouded in a thick, toxic haze on Monday as air pollution levels soared to more than 16 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum. New Delhi and its sprawling metropolitan region—home to more than 30 million people—are regularly ranked among the world's most polluted capitals, with acrid smog blanketing the skyline each winter. Cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground, creating a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic. But pollution has also spiked due to days of fireworks set off to mark Diwali, the major Hindu festival of lights, which culminates on Monday night. The Supreme Court relaxed this month a blanket ban on fireworks over Diwali to allow the use of the less-polluting "green firecrackers"—designed to emit fewer particulates. The ban was widely ignored in past years. On Monday, levels of PM2.5—cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream—hit 248 micrograms per cubic meter in parts of the city, according to monitoring organization IQAir.The government's Commission of Air Quality Management said air quality is expected to further deteriorate in the coming days. It also implemented a set of measures to curb pollution levels, including asking authorities to ensure uninterrupted power supply to reduce the use of diesel generators. City authorities have also said they will trial cloud seeding by airplanes for the first time over Delhi this month, the practice of firing salt or other chemicals into clouds to induce rain to clear the air.A study in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.The UN children's agency warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections.
Lummis floats bill to make Trump coal orders permanent - -Senate Republicans from fossil-heavy Wyoming on Thursday introduced legislation at the height of “coal week” to codify President Donald Trump’s orders aimed at reviving the sagging industry. Sens. Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso introduced the “Combating Obstruction Against Leasing (COAL) Act of 2025,” which would make permanent an executive order Trump signed in April and require the Interior Department to issue final lease approvals without delay. Republican Rep. Harriett Hageman of Wyoming is pushing a companion bill.Under the proposal, Interior also would be required to complete all steps needed to approve leases, finalize fair market valuations of coal tracts, publish environmental assessments and implement regulations for all pending applications. The bill would permanently scrap an Obama-era order that halted coal leasing while the government considered the climate and economic effects of digging up fossil fuels.
When coal smoke choked St. Louis, residents fought back, but it took time and money It was a morning unlike anything St. Louis had ever seen. Automobile traffic crawled as drivers struggled to peer through murky air. Buses, streetcars and trains ran an hour behind schedule. Downtown parking attendants used flashlights to guide vehicles into their lots. Streetlamps were ignited, and storefront windows blaze with light.Residents called Nov. 28, 1939, "Black Tuesday." Day turned to night as thick, acrid clouds blackened the sky. Even at street level, visibility was just a few feet. The air pollution was caused by homes, businesses and factories, which burned soft, sulfur-rich coal for heat and power. The soft coal was cheap and burned easily but produced vast amounts of smoke.The murky morning was an extreme version of a problem St. Louis and dozens of other American cities had been experiencing for decades. Strict federal air pollution regulations were still 30 years away, and state and local efforts to limit coal smoke had failed miserably.Today, as the Trump administration works to roll back air pollution limits on coal, the events in St. Louis more than 80 years ago serve as a reminder of how bad a situation can become before people's objections finally force the government to act. And as I discuss in my book "Black Gold: The Rise, Reign and Fall of American Coal," those events also highlight how successful that action can be.
CNX Shops Land Over Former Coal Mine in SWPA for AI Data Center - Marcellus Drilling News - CNX Resources is partnering with Chicago real estate giant JLL to market and lease the 1,500-acre Zediker Station site in South Strabane Township, about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh. The property offers 400 buildable acres, access to natural gas reserves and ample water, and features a unique, carbon-neutral power solution. The companies are pitching Remediated Mine Gas (RMG)—methane captured from coal mine ventilation systems—which, when blended with traditional natural gas, can achieve carbon-neutral power generation for a potential data center
Army Corps Expediting Permits for Fossil Fuel Projects in OH, WV - Marcellus Drilling News - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed new permitting processes in West Virginia and Ohio that would allow certain fossil fuel projects to be built through wetlands and streams without a public comment opportunity. The proposals would allow mines, natural gas pipelines, hydropower dams, and other energy infrastructure projects in WV and OH to proceed using two simplified permits: “letters of permission” and “regional general permits.” For these projects, water pollution impacts must be limited to 2 acres or less for a letter of permission and 1 acre or less for a regional general permit. This action has the potential to speed up new natural gas pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica region.
Tell the Commission: Fracking hands off Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area -by Save Ohio Parks -An unnamed oil and gas company has submitted a “nomination” to the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to frack 1,460 acres of Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area in Harrison County. If approved, it would be the third-largest tract of Ohio public land for oil and gas extraction. But before that can happen, we the people who pay for and use this land have a chance to comment. Tell the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission: Don’t approve fracking at Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area. Visit the Nomination Comment Form, choose Nomination 25-DNR-0002, and submit your comment by November 13, 2025.Jockey Hollow is a 3,469-acre wildlife area six miles southwest of Cadiz in Harrison County. It received its name in the 1940s from locals who raced horses there.The area went through a decade of surface mining from 1958 to 1968, when 200,000 tons of coal were removed. Mining left deep scars on the land. "Over 10,000 feet of exposed highwall was left behind, as well as ungraded spoil, barren areas, water filled pits, exposed toxics and little or no topsoil,” according to the Ohio Biological Survey.In 2004, Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area was established through an agreement with Consolidation Coal Company, and extensive efforts began to repair the land. Over 80,000 trees were planted, along with shrubs and grasslands to provide living space for wildlife. The wildlife area was opened to the public in 2012, and is popular for hunters, fishers, hikers, and wildlife watchers.Tell the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission: Don’t approve fracking at Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area. Visit the Nomination Comment Form, choose Nomination 25-DNR-0002, and submit your comment by November 13, 2025. You can draw from our sample letter below — but please personalize to explain why preserving our wildlife areas is important to you:
Marietta, OH, Passes 3 Resolutions Against Injection Wells - Marcellus Drilling News -In August, Marietta, OH, officials, including the city’s Republican mayor, law director, water superintendent, and a majority of city council members, asked the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Oil and Gas to deny a permit application from DeepRock Disposal Solutions for the Stephan #1 injection well, which would be the company’s fifth injection well in the area (seeMarietta, OH Officials Ask ODNR to Deny Permit for Injection Well). In September, the ODNR rejected Marietta’s appeal and went ahead and issued a permit for the well (see ODNR Rejects Marietta Hearing Request, Issues Injection Well Permit). Earlier this month, the Marietta City Council passed three resolutions to block new injection wells in the area. One resolution asks the state to block new injection wells statewide!
Judge Won’t Dismiss OH Case re EQT, Gulfport Tapping Pt Pleasant - Marcellus Drilling News -- We happened across a lawsuit we didn’t know about, involving an issue we’ve seen before. A landowner in Belmont County, Ohio, filed a lawsuit in June 2024 alleging that Gulfport Energy, in a joint development agreement with EQT (the lease owner), drilled three wells under the landowner’s property that tapped into the Point Pleasant formation, which sits immediately below the Utica. The landowner said the lease only allows drilling in the Utica and Marcellus and NOT in the Point Pleasant.
CenterPoint to Sell Ohio Natural Gas Business for $2.6 Billion (Reuters) - CenterPoint Energy (CNP.N), opens new tab will sell its natural gas distribution unit in Ohio to National Fuel Gas (NFG.N), opens new tab for $2.62 billion, as the U.S. utility focuses on its core regulated electric and gas operations in other states. Shares of distribution company National Fuel fell 4.7% in morning trade on Tuesday and that of CenterPoint were down marginally. Assets being sold include about 5,900 miles of transmission and distribution pipeline in Ohio serving about 335,000 metered customers, CenterPoint said. The deal is the latest in a slew of sales by U.S. utilities refocusing on higher-growth, regulated markets in response to surging power demand. It will allow CenterPoint to recycle more than $2 billion into other electric and natural gas businesses, CEO Jason Wells said. Analysts at Scotiabank said the deal shows CenterPoint's progress toward a profit growth of nearly 9%, which would be among the fastest in the industry. Being one of the few utilities with the ability to turn demand into earnings should make CenterPoint attractive to investors, they said. The deal will boost CenterPoint's balance sheet and free up capital to expand in Texas, Indiana and Minnesota. The utility in late September said it was planning $65 billion in capital spending from 2026 through 2035. For National Fuel, the unit provides a stronger foothold in Ohio, broadening its regulated gas utility services. The deal value represents roughly 1.9 times the unit's 2024 rate base, CenterPoint said, adding that the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. CenterPoint expects $1.42 billion in proceeds in 2026 and the rest in 2027. The company delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 7 million customers across Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas.
CenterPoint Sells 5,900 Miles of Ohio Gas Pipelines to National Fuel for $2.6 Billion - CenterPoint Energy will sell its Ohio natural gas business, including 5,900 miles of pipeline and 335,000 customers, to National Fuel Gas Company for $2.62 billion. (P&GJ) — CenterPoint Energy has agreed to sell its Ohio natural gas local distribution company (LDC), Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio, to National Fuel Gas Company for $2.62 billion, marking a significant divestiture in its multi-state utility portfolio. The deal includes about 5,900 miles of transmission and distribution pipelines that serve roughly 335,000 metered customers across West Central Ohio. The sale price represents about 1.9 times the company’s 2024 Ohio LDC rate base. The transaction, subject to regulatory reviews by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, is expected to close in late 2026. CenterPoint anticipates receiving $1.42 billion in proceeds in 2026 and the remaining $1.2 billion in 2027 under a seller note. “Our Ohio natural gas business is a strong and growing enterprise supported by a deeply committed local team focused on safety, excellence in execution, and delivering positive outcomes for customers,” said Jason Wells, Chair and CEO of CenterPoint Energy. “Together with National Fuel, we will be focused on delivering a seamless transition for the approximately 335,000 customers in West Central Ohio.” Wells added that the transaction aligns with CenterPoint’s 10-year, $65 billion capital plan, enabling it to “efficiently recycle more than $2 billion back into our other electric and natural gas businesses” to support long-term earnings growth. While the Ohio divestiture continues CenterPoint’s trend of refining its gas portfolio, Wells emphasized that natural gas remains central to the company’s strategy in Texas, Indiana, and Minnesota, where it operates larger service territories. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Guggenheim Securities, LLC advised CenterPoint on the deal, while Gibson Dunn, Barnes & Thornburg, Bricker Graydon, and Whitt Sturtevant served as legal counsel.
DEP Extends Temporary Air Quality Permits For Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County; No Schedule Yet For Public Review Of Full Title V Air Quality Permit Accepted July 2024 [PaEN] The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the October 25 PA Bulletin extending the three Air Quality Permits needed for the continued temporary operation of the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Potter Township, Beaver County until a full Title V Air Quality permit can be put in place. (PA Bulletin, page 7459)The new expiration date is April 28, 2026. This is the third extension of these temporary permits by DEP.Shell submitted the Title V Air Quality permit application for the petrochemical plant on June 19, 2024 and DEP accepted the application as administratively complete on July 2, 2024. Read more here.On December 18, 2024 DEP said the agency will review the Shell Petrochemical Plant Title V Air Quality Permit application under the “enhanced public participation process” established in its Interim Final Environmental Justice Policy holding local stakeholder meetings, one or more public meetings and a hearing. Read more here.Visit DEP’s Shell Petrochemical Plant webpage for more information.For more information on environmental programs in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s website. Submit Environmental Complaints; Click Here to sign up for DEP’s newsletter; sign up for DEP’s eNotice; Like DEP on Facebook, Follow DEP on Twitter and visit DEP’s YouTube Channel.(Photo: Explosion and fire at Shell plant on June 4, 2025.) Resource Links - Shell Petrochemical:
- -- DEP: Shell Petrochemical Plant Fire Resulted In Possible Release Of An Unknown Quantity Of 1,3-Butadiene And Benzene Into The Atmosphere In Beaver County [PaEN]
- -- DEP To Review Shell Petrochemical Plant Title V Air Quality Permit Under Environmental Justice Policy Enhanced Public Participation Process [PaEN]
- -- Environmental Groups File Notice Of Intent To Sue The Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County For Air Pollution Violations: Similar Action In 2023 Resulted In $10 Million Settlement [PaEN]
- -- DEP Extends Air Quality Permits For Temporary Operation Of Shell Petrochemical Plant; No Schedule Posted Yet For Considering Full Title V Air Quality Permit [PaEN]
DEP: Contaminated Water From EQM Gathering (EQT) Double Pipeline Construction Site Traveled Nearly 2 Football Fields From Site Of Spill In Nottingham Twp., Washington County On October 17, 2025, the Department of Environmental Protection was notified by EQM Gathering OPCO LLC (EQT) of a contaminated water spill at the NINFS004 Pipeline construction site for two pipelines-- natural gas and water-- in Nottingham Township, Washington County. During its October 20 inspection, DEP found water contaminated with bentonite and sediment being pumped out of a pipeline drilling entrance pit was discharged from a storage tank at the Mingo shale gas well pad as a result of a “miscommunication.”The discharge collapsed the secondary contaminment around the tanks and traveled some 700 feet off the pipeline permit area into a drainage channel.EQM constructed a temporary dam and collection point in the channel to stop the spill flow and pump out the contaminated water. Remediation efforts were ongoing during the inspection.In separate problems, DEP said a temporary access road to the pipeline construction site was “overwhelmed” with sediment after a rain event and secondary containment around fracking wastewater tanks also collapsed on the Mingo shale gas well pad.Violations were issued. Response requested by Nov. 10. DEP inspection report.On the same day, DEP inspected another drilling site along the NINFS004 Pipeline construction route in Union Township, Washington County and found activities appeared to be in compliance with the Erosion and Sedimentation Control permit. The owner had just finished drilling the borehole for the water pipeline under two streams and two roads and was preparing to start drilling for the natural gas pipeline the following week.DEP did recommend that water levels in at least two sump areas be reduced. DEP inspection report.To report oil and gas violations or any environmental emergency or complaint, visit DEP’s Environmental Complaint webpage.Text photos and the location of abandoned wells to 717-788-8990.Visit DEP’s Compliance Reporting Database and Inspection Reports Viewer webpages to search their compliance records by date and owner. Use DEP’s Oil and Gas Mapping Tool to find if there are oil and gas wells near or on your property and to find wells using latitude and longitude on well inspection reports. (Photos: Top- Double pipeline drilling bore pit; Tank where discharge began; Bottom- Drainage channel with contaminated water; Temporary dam and contaminated water pumping area.)
DEP: Day 155 - Contaminated Water Still Flowing From Seneca Resources Vandergrift Shale Gas Wells, Well Pad; Cleanup Continues In Charleston Twp., Tioga County [PaEN] On October 15, 2025, the Department of Environmental Protection did a follow-up inspection of the Seneca Resources Vandergrift shale gas well pad and found multiple areas where contaminated water was still flowing from wells and the well pad fill slop in Charleston Township, Tioga County.The spill was discovered during a complaint inspection on May 13, 2025.While significant cleanup efforts have been undertaken, this inspection found work crews installing permanent, eight foot deep drainage trenches around the shale gas well cellars to collect contaminated wastewater from the wells for monitoring and disposal.The inspection also found contaminated liquid flowing down and from the east fill slope of the well pad and into a sump. The water was then pumped into a fracking wastewater tank on the pad for later disposal. DEP continued to recommend Seneca monitor for contamination, remediate areas as necessary and continue collecting and disposing of contaminated fluid. DEP continued the violations from May 13.Click Here for the October 15 inspection report with photos. The May inspection found two large areas of distressed vegetation with evidence of a wastewater release in one area 50 feet wide extending down the well pad slope about 120 feet and another area 20 feet wide and stretching 65-70 feet down slope as a result of what Seneca said were leaking valves and wastewater flowing from an open pipe during well plugging operations. Read more here. You can chart the progress in cleaning up this wastewater spill through DEP’s inspection reports: July 17, 2025; July 24, 2025, August 6, 2025; August 20, 2025; August 26, 2025; and September 18, 2025.
Status Report on 4 Key NatGas Pipeline Projects in New York State -- Marcellus Drilling News -- An article appearing in the Peekskill (NY) Herald has this headline: “Natural Gas Pipelines: A Path to Renewable Energy?” The subhead reads, “Several projects propose solutions that address the threat of statewide energy shortages in the near future.” The article highlights four active pipeline projects in the Empire State that we have covered multiple times. These pipelines would flow more Marcellus gas from Pennsylvania (perhaps beyond) into New York and New England. They include Enbridge’s Project Maple, Williams’ Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE), Williams’ Constitution Pipeline, and Iroquois Gas Transmission’s Iroquois Enhancement by Compression (ExC). Where does each project stand?
MVP Asks FERC to Approve Expanded Capacity by Extra 600 MMcf/d- Marcellus Drilling News - In July 2024, EQT announced a plan to expand capacity along the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from 2.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) to 2.5 Bcf/d (see EQT’s Game Plan Changed – Keep MVP & Expand Extra 0.5 Bcf/d). In July of this year, the company said it had concluded an open season (where new customers may claim the expanded capacity) and was already preordering equipment for the expansion, ahead of an official filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see EQT Ordering Equipment to Expand MVP from 2.0 to 2.5 Bcf/d). Yesterday, EQT announced that it had finally submitted its official request to FERC. However, the company upped the requested capacity from 500 to 600 MMcf/d (or 0.6 Bcf/d). Cool!
Anti-Fossil Fuel NGOs Gear Up to Oppose Elba Pipe in South Carolina -- Marcellus Drilling News --In April, MDN told you about a new greenfield expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Elba Express pipeline into South Carolina to serve growing demand for natural gas in the state (see KM Pipes Update: Expand Elba to SC; SSE4 Survey Work Done). The $431 million Elba Express Bridge project is designed to provide 325 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of firm transportation capacity to a new gas-fired power plant in Colleton County, SC (see SC PSC Approves Gas-Fired Power Plant Proposed for Edisto River). Earlier this month, we reported that letters have been sent to 185 landowners in South Carolina along the proposed route, requesting permission to survey their land for the project (see SC Landowners Receive Notice of Survey Work for Elba Express Pipe). It took a while, but with this project now getting real, anti-fossil fuel Big Green NGOs are flooding the zone with lies about the pipeline, stirring up the locals in the process.
Japan's top power generator JERA to buy US shale gas assets for $1.5 billion (Reuters) - Japan's top power generator JERA said on Thursday it will acquire natural gas production assets in the United States for $1.5 billion, in its first foray into shale gas production. JERA said it has reached an agreement with pipeline operator Williams and GEP Haynesville II to acquire 100% of their interests in the South Mansfield gas field in western Louisiana's Haynesville Shale basin. GEP Haynesville II is a joint venture between GeoSouthern Energy, backed by Blackstone and Williams. Williams separately announced a $1.9 billion investment in Woodside Energy's liquefied natural gas production and export terminal under construction in Louisiana. JERA, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power has been boosting its exposure to the U.S. LNG sector this year, including signing a letter of intent last month to potentially take supplies from Alaska's $44 billion LNG export project. The latest U.S. investment would give JERA more control of its supply chain as Japan prepares for a surge in power demand from data centres critical to the artificial intelligence boom.
Williams Buys Driftwood Pipe, 10% Stake in Woodside Louisiana LNG -- Marcellus Drilling News - Williams engaged in some LNG jiu-jitsu yesterday, announcing several transactions related to LNG exports. It’s somewhat complicated, but we’ll break it down. First, Williams sold its interest in the Haynesville’s South Mansfield upstream (drilling) venture to JERA, Japan’s top power generator, for $398 million. Williams will continue to operate the gathering system for the South Mansfield wells. Second, Williams is buying 80% (becoming the operator) of the Driftwood Pipeline LLC, which includes the construction of Line 200, a fully permitted greenfield pipeline connecting Woodside’s Louisiana LNG facility to multiple pipelines, including Transco and Louisiana Energy Gateway (LEG). Third, Williams is buying a 10% stake in the Louisiana LNG export facility. Williams will pay $378 million for the Driftwood Pipeline and the 10% stake in Louisiana LNG. However, Williams will contribute another $1.9 billion for its share of capital expenditures for the LNG facility and pipeline. Williams’ total investment will be roughly $2.3 billion. And yes, there is a connection to the Marcellus/Utica.
Williams, Woodside and Jera Deals Signal New Phase in Asian Demand for U.S. LNG -- Woodside Energy Group Ltd. took a major step closer to its equity goal for the $17.5 billion Louisiana LNG project and related pipeline as Williams hones in on export infrastructure investments. Map showing Williams Cos. natural gas portfolio across the United States, highlighting major transmission and gathering pipelines, gas plants, fractionators, storage sites, and operational hubs. Key assets such as Transco, Gulfstream, MountainWest, Overland Pass, Northwest, and Bluestem are labeled, illustrating Williams’ extensive midstream network spanning from the Gulf Coast and Rockies to the Northeast and Pacific Northwest. At A Glance:
Williams takes 10% stake in terminal, 80% in Line 200
Midstreamer commits to $1.9B in capital contribution
Jera buys Williams, GeoSouthern western Haynesville assets
LNG exports throw lifeline to coal plants - American coal and renewable generation surged through the first three quarters of 2025, largely thanks to the rising cost of natural gas. The chief culprit for the higher gas prices is a lack of pipeline capacity, limiting how much gas can be moved from productive regions like West Texas to a slew of new liquefied natural gas terminals along the Gulf Coast. That has pushed gas prices up from the rock-bottom levels they hit last year, tempering the use of natural gas for electricity production, analysts say. “There is a disconnect between what is going on upstream and what is going on downstream,” said Ira Joseph, an analyst who tracks gas and power markets at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. While domestic gas production is keeping up with demand — hovering around record levels — pipelines are not. The result is a lifeline for coal, threatening to stall decreases in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
Venture Global gets permission to introduce natural gas into final LNG block at Plaquemines plant (Reuters) - Venture Global (VG.N), opens new tab received permission to introduce natural gas into the final block of its Plaquemines LNG export facility in Louisiana on Tuesday, according to a filing from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The FERC approval means Venture Global could be producing liquefied natural gas from its entire Plaquemines export facility by the end of the week, more than a year before the company is expected to provide its first set of long-term customers with their contracted amounts of gas. Venture Global, the second largest LNG exporter in the U.S., has aimed to quickly construct and ramp up production at its plants to make money from spot market sales at higher prices during the commissioning phase. The practice has drawn attention from some customers after an arbitration loss earlier this month related to delayed commercial sales at a different facility. Federal regulators last week approved a separate request from Venture Global to extend the commissioning phase at Plaquemines until December 31, 2027. The company has said that the planned start of commercial, long-term sales would not be affected. Completion of the Plaquemines export facility will bring it to its full capacity of 27.2 million metric tons per annum. In September, Plaquemines, the second largest plant in the country, was already responsible for more than 17% of total U.S. exports, according to data from financial firm LSEG.
VG Getting Heat from Contracted Customers re Plaquemines LNG Startup - Marcellus Drilling News - BP recently won a victory in an arbitration lawsuit against Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass (CP) LNG for not selling contracted LNG deliveries in a timely fashion (see Venture Global’s CP LNG Loses Arbitration to BP, Owes Big Money). Venture Global is attempting to repeat the same delivery delay tactic with another new LNG export facility located in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Except this time, contracted customers are already pushing back (seeChevron Complains that VG’s Plaquemines LNG to Delay Startup). Typically, a new LNG facility will load and ship several (maybe two or three) cargoes to “work out the kinks” and ensure everything is working as advertised. Venture Global, using loopholes in its signed contracts, maintained that they were working out the kinks long after it began shipping. Venture Global’s CP LNG liquefied and shipped *over 400 cargoes* from March 1, 2022, through April 2025 before it announced it was “commercially ready” to begin operations.
FERC Grants VG Request to Delay Official Start of Plaquemines LNG -- Marcellus Drilling News -- Venture Global is building a new LNG export facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, approximately 20 miles south of New Orleans. When fully complete, Plaquemines LNG’s nominal capacity will be 2.6 Bcf/d (3.2 Bcf/d peak). The first portion of the new plant came online in December when it officially shipped its first cargo to Germany. Venture Global said that it would (as it did with the Calcasieu Pass facility it previously built) pretend that Plaquemines LNG is not “commercially ready” while shipping all sorts of LNG cargoes around the world. The practice allows the company to cream the market and make more money for the first couple of years (see Plaquemines LNG Coming Online, Will Hose Customers for 2 Years). But that’s not enough for Venture Global! In September, the company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to extend the deadline for declaring the facility commercially ready by another 15 months, from September 30, 2026, to December 31, 2027 (see VG Wants an Extra 15 Months for Commissioning Plaquemines LNG). FERC fell for the ruse and agreed.
Venture Global Secures NFTA Permit for CP2 LNG — The Offtake --A look at the global natural gas and LNG markets by the numbers
- 3.2 Bcf/d: Venture Global Inc. is seeking authorization to commission its last remaining liquefaction block at Plaquemines LNG. FERC gave the company permission at the beginning of the month to introduce nitrogen to the block, starting the clock on when all 36 trains could begin producing LNG. The facility has a nameplate capacity of more than 27 million tons/year (Mt/y), allowing it to pull up to 3.2 Bcf/d in feed gas. However, natural gas nominations to Plaquemines LNG have already exceeded that level over prolonged periods during commissioning.
- 800 MMcf/d: A fourth midscale train at the Corpus Christi LNG Stage 3 expansion project is ready for significant testing and could begin pulling feed gas within the next several weeks. FERC has granted Cheniere Energy Inc. permission to introduce hazardous materials to the warm end of the train. In August, Federal Energy Regulatory staff granted permission to start liquefaction at Train 3, roughly one month after gas was introduced to the warm end. Once all four trains are producing,the expansion could pull up to 800 MMcf/d in additional feed gas demand to South Texas.
- 28 Mt/y: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has finalized a permit allowing Venture to export up to 3.96 Bcf/d from its CP2 LNG project to non-free trade agreement (NFTA) countries. The agency granted a conditional permit earlier in the year, allowing the company to reach a final investment decision on the first phase of the 28 Mt/y capacity project in July. So far, DOE under the Trump administration has granted NFTA permits for more than 13.8 Bcf/d in LNG exports. Those permits account for a roughly 92% increase over current U.S. exports if all projects are built.
- 15.2%: The Title Transfer Facility (TTF) saw the largest price drop among global benchmarks last year as supply balances reached an inflection point, according to Eni SpA’s latest World Energy Review. TTF prices dropped an average of 15.2% year/year in 2024, followed by Henry Hub at 13.8% and the Japan-Korea Marker at 11.8%. LNG demand in Europe also cooled due to record high storage, pushing imports down 6% compared to 2023’s high point levels.
Pipeline operator Williams pumps $1.9 billion into Woodside's Louisiana LNG venture(Reuters) -U.S.-based gas pipeline operator Williams will invest $1.9 billion in Woodside Energy's $17.5 billion liquefied natural gas production and export terminal under construction in Louisiana, the companies said. Under the agreement, Williams will own a 10% stake in the project's infrastructure company and 80% of the Driftwood pipeline that will supply natural gas to the Louisiana LNG project. Woodside's ownership of the Louisiana LNG project will be reduced to 50%, as the Australian energy company sold a 40% stake to U.S. investor Stonepeak for $5.7 billion in April. Woodside said it expected total proceeds of $378 million from the latest deal, cutting its total capital spending on the project to $9.9 billion from a previous estimate of $11.8 billion. Shares in the Australian company gained as much as 4.1% to A$24.11 in Sydney on Thursday, hitting their highest level since September 17. Williams will receive a 1.5 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) share of production from Louisiana LNG as well as 10% of a 1 mtpa offtake deal Woodside previously signed with Uniper, the companies said. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has looked to boost oil and gas production and exports. Since Trump returned to office in January, more than 65 mtpa of additional U.S. LNG capacity has gotten the financial go-ahead. Louisiana LNG, which is expected to have a capacity of 16.5 mtpa when it produces first LNG in 2029, was the first export project to get to a final investment decision in the U.S. in 2025. Trump has urged trade partners to boost imports of American energy and has issued a flurry of executive orders to accelerate domestic oil and gas production.
Kinder Morgan Profit Rises on Stronger Natural Gas Demand, $9.3 Billion Project Backlog - Kinder Morgan posted higher third-quarter profit as natural gas demand surged, boosting pipeline volumes and supporting its $9.3 billion project backlog amid rising U.S. LNG exports and power generation growth. (Reuters) — U.S. pipeline operator Kinder Morgan posted a rise in third-quarter profit on Oct. 22, helped by higher volumes of natural gas transported through its pipelines. The U.S. LNG sector is witnessing a resurgence in commercial activity driven by expectations of rising exports as new terminals come online following President Donald Trump's January decision to lift a pause on new permits. "Total demand for natural gas is expected to grow ... We are also actively exploring more than 10 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of opportunities to serve the natural gas power generation sector," CEO Kim Dang said. "Our internal projections estimate 28 Bcf/d increase in natural gas demand by 2030," which will be driven primarily by growth in LNG exports, as well as power demand and exports to Mexico, Dang added during a post-earnings call. The company, which moves roughly 40% of the country's total natural gas output, said the project backlog stood at $9.3 billion, with about $500 million of projects placed in service during the quarter offset by a roughly equivalent amount of projects added. The company said it transported about 47,461 billion British thermal units of natural gas per day in the quarter, compared with 44,827 billion Btu per day last year. However, its total delivery volumes, which also include refined products such as jet fuel and diesel fuel, fell to 2.11 thousand barrels per day during the quarter ended September 30, from 2.15 thousand barrels per day last year. Kinder Morgan's CO2 segment, which includes enhanced oil recovery operations and renewable natural gas projects, saw weaker results due to lower CO2 and D3 RIN (renewable fuel credit) prices. The Houston, Texas-based company said its net income came in at $628 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with $625 million a year earlier.
Kinder Morgan Eyes Steady $9.3B Natural Gas Project Backlog -Mounting constraints across key U.S. natural gas corridors — driven by rising LNG exports and power demand — are opening expansion opportunities for Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) beyond the slate of natural gas projects that make up the bulk of its $9.3 billion backlog, executives said Wednesday. Map and table showing Kinder Morgan Inc.’s $8.6 billion natural gas project backlog across the United States. The table lists 10 major projects with details on capital costs, capacity in Bcf/d, in-service dates, and permitting or construction status. A U.S. map highlights pipeline routes and basins including the Permian, Haynesville, Bakken, and Powder River, with markers for gas storage sites and LNG terminals. At A Glance:
$10 billion in potential projects beyond backlog
Haynesville throughput near record highs
Southwest expansions still on table
NextDecade Announces Positive FID on Rio Grande Train 5 LNG Project - Marcellus Drilling News - In September, NextDecade Corporation announced it had reached a final investment decision (FID) to move forward with construction of Train 4 at its Rio Grande LNG export facility in Brownsville, Texas, within the Port of Brownsville (see NextDecade Announces Positive FID on Rio Grande Train 4 LNG Project). The expected LNG production capacity of Train 4 is 6 MTPA (million tonnes per annum, which translates to roughly 0.8 Bcf of natural gas used per day). Last week, one month after the Train 4 announcement, NextDecade announced an FID for Train 5, which will add another 6 MTPA to the total, bringing the total expected LNG production capacity under construction at Rio Grande LNG to approximately 30 MTPA. Read More
‘This Is the Age of Gas,’ Says Baker Hughes CEO, as LNG and Power Projects Surge - Houston-based oilfield services giant Baker Hughes Co. is betting big on North American natural gas and power markets, with future growth fueled by a wave of LNG expansions and surging demand for reliable electricity across data centers, Lower 48 operations and industrial hubs.Chart titled “LNG Capacity Outlook” showing global LNG capacity growth from 2024 through 2035. Data from Baker Hughes indicates about 500 Mt/y of global capacity in 2024, rising to roughly 532 Mt/y in 2025. Around 245 Mt/y is under construction, and an additional 175 Mt/y could be added through potential LNG projects reaching final investment decisions between 2025 and 2031. Total capacity could approach 950 Mt/y by 2035, with about 100 Mt/y of new capacity expected between 2024 and 2026. At A Glance:
U.S. LNG projects drive growth
Power generation demand surges
Data centers boost turbine orders
‘Irrational Exuberance’ for FID Risking Prolonged LNG Supply Glut, Says Gulfstream CEO --The race toward a final investment decision (FID) for U.S. LNG export projects this year is likely to exacerbate an expected supply glut later this decade, which could jeopardize some projects that have already crossed the finish line, said Gulfstream LNG CEO Vivek Chandra. Chart showing North America’s operational and sanctioned LNG facility peak export capacity from March 2016 through September 2033, measured in billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). The graph visualizes growth from early projects like Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi to future expansions such as Plaquemines, Golden Pass, Rio Grande LNG, and Port Arthur LNG. The cumulative capacity surpasses 40 Bcf/d by the early 2030s, illustrating rapid LNG export growth across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Source: NGI, U.S. DOE, and EIA. At A Glance:
Gulfstream targeting FERC authorization in 2026
Timing FID for stronger demand
Few U.S. LNG sites left in crowded market
NYMEX NatGas Price Soars, Up 39 Cents (+12.9%) at $3.397/MMBtu - Marcellus Drilling News --The front-month NYMEX natural gas futures price soared yesterday (the biggest one-day increase in more than three months), closing up +0.389 (+12.93%) at $3.397/MMBtu. Why? In a word, weather. The price jumped based on forecasts for much colder weather and higher heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected. Also playing a role is a decline in natural gas output this month and near-record flows of gas to LNG export plants. LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) said average gas output in the Lower 48 states fell to 106.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) so far in October, down from 107.4 Bcf/d in September and a record monthly high of 108.0 Bcf/d in August.
NatGas Posts Biggest Single Day Gain Since 2022 | Rigzone - In an EBW Analytics Group report sent to Rigzone by the EBW team on Tuesday, Eli Rubin, an energy analyst at the company, highlighted that natural gas posted the largest single day gain since 2022 on Monday. The report pointed out that the November natural gas contract closed at $3.397 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) yesterday. This marked a 38.9 cent, or 12.9 percent, increase from Friday’s close, the report outlined. “Yesterday’s 38.9¢/MMBtu price spike was the largest single-session gain for a NYMEX natural gas front-month contract since the rampant price volatility of 2022,” Rubin said in the report. “The initial price surge was due to de-risking of severe early-November price weakness, with cooler weather lessening chances of an early-November supply glut,” he added. “After clearing key technical resistance at $3.22-3.24/MMBtu, however, continued short-covering - catalyzed by cooler weather - led to further gains,” he continued. In the report, Rubin said supportive weather added 23 billion cubic feet of demand in 24 hours for the last week of October and first week of November. He pointed out, however, that “forecasts are ‘less bearish’ rather than outright supportive”. “Early-cycle production nominations dropped sharply this morning but will likely be revised higher,” Rubin noted in the report. “Weekly average LNG demand continues to flirt with all-time highs. Prices could retest the double-top from earlier this month at $3.55-3.58/MMBtu - but shorts pushed to the sidelines during yesterday’s move higher could reenter the market later this week,” he added. In an EBW report sent to Rigzone by the EBW team on Monday, Rubin, noted that a “bullish weather shift spark[ed]… [a] natural gas revival”. “After testing as low as $2.893 per MMBtu intraday Friday - and with weekend Henry Hub spot prices falling to $2.66 [per MMBtu] - a cooler weekend weather shift has revived bullish fortunes for the November contract,” Rubin said in that report. “Further, weekly average LNG was at a record high over the weekend and natural gas production readings slumped in the Permian and Marcellus,” Rubin added. In an exclusive interview with Rigzone on Tuesday, Art Hogan, Chief Market Strategist at B. Riley Wealth, highlighted a “perfect trifecta of catalysts to move gas prices higher”. “The big move in natural gas yesterday came on the heels of forecasts for much colder weather and higher heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected,” Hogan told Rigzone. “There has also been a decline in output so far this month and near-record flows of gas to liquefied natural gas export plants,” he added. In another exclusive interview with Rigzone on Tuesday, Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at the PRICE Futures Group, told Rigzone that natural gas “turned up as forecasts for temperatures turned down”. “On top of that we are seeing increased tropical weather activity and increasing hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal,” he added. “In the meantime, LNG export expectations are rising, and add a bit of winter [and] you could see inventories deplete a bit faster than expected,” he continued.
Colder outlook, robust LNG flows lift US natgas to two-week high — U.S. natural gas futures hit a two-week high on Tuesday, underpinned by sharply colder 1–2 week forecasts that are lifting heating demand expectations, a month-to-date dip in output and strong LNG feedgas demand. Front-month gas futures for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 7.7 cents, or 2.3%, to settle at $3.474 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) and hit the highest level since October 8. Prices rose as much as 13% in the previous session. "Further revisions to the 11-15 day outlooks, which are shifting much less "mild" and more temperate with some early season heating demand creeping onto the eastern portion of the maps" were supporting prices, said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. In the tropics, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said a tropical wave in the Caribbean had a near-100% chance of becoming a cyclone, with heavy rain and gusty winds possible over the ABC Islands within a day or two. "The bulk of this week's strong price pop appears to be fueled by a shift in the short-term temperature views in the direction of colder patterns," analysts at energy advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note. LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 states fell to 106.5 billion cubic feet per day so far in October, down from 107.4 bcfd in September and a record monthly high of 108.0 bcfd in August. Record output earlier this year allowed energy companies to inject more gas into storage than usual. There is currently about 4% more gas in storage than normal for this time of year. LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would rise from 100.3 bcfd this week to 103.6 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG's outlook on Friday. The average amount of gas flowing to the eight big U.S. LNG export plants rose to 16.5 bcfd so far in October, up from 15.7 bcfd in September and a monthly record high of 16.0 bcfd in April. Gas was trading over $11 per mmBtu at both the Dutch Title Transfer Facility benchmark in Europe and the Japan Korea Marker benchmark in Asia. Dutch and British gas prices traded in a narrow range on Tuesday morning, as stable temperatures support lower heating demand and as supply from Norway and from liquefied natural gas (LNG) remains stable. Meanwhile, oil majors, including Chevron and Shell , have reduced oil and gas output at a top Kazakhstan field after a Ukrainian drone strike damaged a gas processing plant in Russia that supports their operations, the companies said on Tuesday.
U.S. natural gas futures dip after 18% surge hits technical resistance — U.S. natural gas futures eased on Wednesday as the contract hit technical resistance after soaring about 18% over the past few days. Front-month gas futures for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 2.4 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $3.450 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). On Tuesday the contract closed at its highest level since October 7. "Nearby gas futures are falling slightly following a test of resistance at this month’s $3.58 high that appears to be prompting some profit taking following this week’s strong ... advance," analysts at energy advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note. Prices soared earlier this week on forecasts for more demand over the next two weeks than previously expected, a drop in output so far this month and near-record flows of gas to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants. In the tropics, the U.S. National Hurricane Center projected Tropical Storm Melissa would strengthen into a hurricane on Saturday as it slowly heads northwest across the Caribbean Sea toward Jamaica. The system is not expected to reach the U.S. mainland during that time. Even though storms can boost U.S. gas prices by cutting output along the U.S. Gulf Coast, they are more likely to reduce prices by shutting LNG export plants and knocking out power to homes and businesses. About 40% of the power generated in the U.S. comes from gas-fired plants. Meteorologists forecast temperatures across the country would remain mostly near-normal through November 6. With the weather turning seasonally colder, LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would rise from 101.1 bcfd this week to 105.9 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG's outlook on Tuesday. The average amount of gas flowing to the eight big U.S. LNG export plants rose to 16.5 bcfd so far in October, up from 15.7 bcfd in September and a monthly record high of 16.0 bcfd in April. Gas was trading around $11 per mmBtu at both the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TRNLTTFMc1) benchmark in Europe and the Japan Korea Marker (JKMc1) benchmark in Asia.
US natural gas prices ease to one-week low as storage remains high -- U.S. natural gas futures eased about 1% to a one-week low on Friday on a small output increase in recent days and ample amounts of fuel in storage. Forecasts for more demand over the next two weeks than previously expected and near-record flows of gas to liquefied natural gas export plants supported prices. Front-month gas futures for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 4.0 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $3.304 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their lowest close since October 17. Despite the daily decline, the contract was still up about 10% for the week after sliding about 3% last week and 7% two weeks ago. The U.S. National Hurricane Center projected Tropical Storm Melissa would strengthen into a hurricane on Saturday as it slowly heads north and then west across the Caribbean Sea near Jamaica before continuing north toward Cuba by the middle of next week. The system is not currently expected to reach the U.S. mainland during that time. LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 states has fallen to 106.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in October, down from 107.4 bcfd in September and a record monthly high of 108.0 bcfd in August. Record output earlier this year allowed energy companies to inject more gas into storage than usual. There is currently about 5% more gas in storage than normal for this time of year. Meteorologists forecast temperatures across the country will remain mostly near-normal through November 8. With the weather turning seasonally colder, LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would rise from 101.7 bcfd this week to 107.8 bcfd next week and 108.5 bcfd in two weeks. The forecast for next week was higher than LSEG's outlook on Thursday. The average amount of gas flowing to the eight big U.S. LNG export plants has risen to 16.5 bcfd so far in October, up from 15.7 bcfd in September and a monthly record high of 16.0 bcfd in April. On a daily basis, LNG export feedgas hit an all-time high of 17.29 bcfd on Thursday, topping the prior record of 17.28 bcfd on April 9, with flows to Venture Global LNG's VG.N 3.2-bcfd Plaquemines plant in Louisiana at a record 3.7 bcfd. LNG plants can pull in more gas than they can turn into LNG because they use some of the fuel to power equipment.
Texas Natural Gas Prices Rise Amid Pipeline Work, but LNG Terminals Maintain Supplies (Line chart showing daily natural gas prices at Agua Dulce and Houston Ship Channel from August through October 2025. Both price hubs trend closely between $2.50 and $3.25/MMBtu, with mild fluctuations and a late-October uptick. Source: NGI’s Daily GPI.)
- Natural gas prices in Texas have seen considerable gains over the past two days amid pipeline work in the region that has curtailed flows. NGI’s Agua Dulce and Houston Ship Channel prices have jumped by 70.0 cents and 67.5 cents/MMBtu, respectively, since Monday (Oct. 20), NGI’s Daily Historical Data shows. This is slightly higher than their regional averages.
- The price jump has come on the heels of increasing pipeline flow curtailments along the Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) Tejas Pipeline LLC (KM Tejas). KMI on Tuesday said capacity from south to north through the Station 2 Compressor Station would be limited by about 75% until further notice, requiring reductions to nominations. KMI has been performing emergency repairs at Station 2 since Oct. 15, though flow was initially restricted by only 12.5%, and prices appeared to soften at Agua Dulce and Houston Ship Channel in response.
- Scheduled receipts on KM Tejas from interstate pipelines have averaged around 317,600 MMBtu/d since the start of the pipeline work, representing a cut of about 242,000 MMBtu/d compared to the past 30-day maximum of about 560,000 MMBtu/d, per Wood Mackenzie. The main impact has been on receipts from KMI’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC. Similarly, KM Tejas deliveries to interstate pipelines have since averaged around 823,600 MMBtu/d, representing a cut of about 262,000 MMBtu/d versus the 30-day maximum.
- There have been no significant dips in delivered feed gas to LNG facilities in Texas because of the KM Tejas pipeline constraints so far. The total day/day change in U.S. LNG feed gas deliveries was a reduction of 80,089 MMBtu from 16,899,016 MMBtu on Tuesday. Both Corpus Christi and Freeport LNG have multiple feed gas delivery pipelines in service now, each interconnecting with various interstate and Texas intrastate pipelines for daily supplies.
- As such, neither terminal had meaningful reductions in daily feed gas deliveries. Once Golden Pass LNG’s export facility is online, it would also have a similar network of feed gas delivery pipelines to ensure supply availability during times of pipeline maintenance events.
EQT Expects Global Natural Gas Demand to ‘Far Outpace’ Domestic Market -- EQT Corp. management said Wednesday it has no immediate plans to purchase more LNG after signing three agreements in the last two months for offtake from Gulf Coast projects under development. Natural Gas Intelligence's (NGI) spot Appalachia Regional Avg. daily natural gas price graph showing historical market volatility. At A Glance:
Company lining up overseas LNG buyers
Working to secure regasification
Expanding MVP Boost project
BP Whiting Refinery outage has started to raise gas prices across the Midwest - Gasoline prices are starting to jump across the Midwest as a result of the BP Whiting Refinery fire last week.
Ten Michigan Tribal Nations ask U.S. Supreme Court to send Line 5 pipeline case back to state court • Ten Tribal Nations in Michigan have filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court urging them to reject an attempt by Canadian oil pipeline company Enbridge Energy to have a federal court settle a lawsuit first brought by Attorney General Dana Nessel in 2019, asking instead to have the case remain in state court. “For many years, Tribal Amici have called on the State to uphold its public-trust obligation to protect the Straits of Mackinac and the Great Lakes, including the fisheries, from these known dangers of the aging Straits Pipelines,” the Tribal Nations wrote in their brief. “Michigan’s suit against Enbridge is a long-overdue course correction.” The brief cites the leak of a different pipeline, Enbridge’s Line 6B, into the Kalamazoo River in 2010, and the environmental harms that resulted from that. Nessel is seeking to close the pair of pipelines that run through the Straits of Mackinac as the pipes were aging, looking to prevent a leak that could substantially contaminate the Great Lakes. While the suit was initially filed in state court, it has bounced between state and federal court in a question of who has jurisdiction. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals last year sent the case back to state court, which was a win for Nessel, but in June, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take up the case on an appeal from Enbridge. While the case had been in the federal appellate court, 63 tribal nations — again led by the Bay Mills Indian Community — filed a similar brief seeking to have the case return to state court. The decision from the Sixth Circuit came down to a 30-day deadline to request the case move to federal court, which the court determined Enbridge missed. The Supreme Court took up the case in June, and will decide whether Enbridge should be granted an exemption to that 30-day deadline. “No part of Section 1446 allows a defendant to escape the 30-day deadline by asserting that it only recently discovered that a federal court might be more sympathetic to its arguments,” the amicus brief reads. “But at bottom, that is Enbridge’s explanation for what it attempted here.”“Enbridge missed a court deadline by more than two years, without excuse, and now they want to change the rules,” Caroline Flynn, a lawyer at Earthjustice who is representing the Tribes, added in a press release. “The Supreme Court should see through Enbridge’s transparent attempt at gamesmanship.”The Tribal Nations also argued that federal courts should not “encroach” on state court jurisdictions.“If it were not for Enbridge’s procedural gamesmanship, the merits of this state public-trust dispute may well have been settled long ago — and the risks to Tribal Amici’s critical treaty-protected resources addressed,” the brief continues.
All At Once – Producers Ramp Up Simultaneous Fracking, Triple Fracking to Increase Efficiency - E&Ps and oilfield service companies are constantly chasing the latest techniques to extract oil and gas faster and easier. Hydraulic fracturing was, of course, a game-changer, but now producers are using simultaneous fracking and even triple fracking, relatively newer approaches that use more resources but boost efficiency. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll break down these strategies, explore when they make sense for operators, and highlight the biggest challenges. In Part 1 of this blog series, we discussed how the Shale Era was made possible by unprecedented advancements in drilling-and-completion technology, especially in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The combination of the two, along with other basin-specific techniques, has significantly increased the efficiency of oil and gas recovery, as evidenced by the higher initial production (IP) rates within the first 60 days, as shown in Figure 1 below for the Permian Basin. We also detailed how the industry has increasingly utilized much longer laterals and how the choice of well tubing — coiled or stick pipe — plays an important role. In Part 2, we talked about new well designs that companies are rolling out, such as the U-turn (aka “horseshoe”) and J-hook wells, which use dramatic 180-degree underground turns to access more oil and gas from each location. In today’s blog, we’ll discuss some of the newer completion techniques, including simultaneous fracking and triple fracking. Fracking is a well-stimulation technique where a high-pressure mix of fluid that can include water, sand and chemicals is injected into a horizontal well to boost recovery.Simultaneous fracturing, often dubbed in the industry as SimulFrac, means fracturing two wells at the same time using the same pumps and crews. Each stage is treated in tandem, which cuts the time required at each site and maximizes equipment use. This process is part of the completion stage and occurs after the wells have been drilled and cased. The SimulFrac method started gaining traction around 2020 when operators began using advanced drilling technology. One issue is that, with two wells being completed at once, it requires double the amount of fracking fluid. Accessing that much water isn’t easy. To solve this, producers in the Permian and other shale formations have built large-scale water pipelines and recycling systems to treat and reuse produced water to boost supply. (For more, see our series on produced water, Shake, Rattle and Roll.) A single well can require about 750 Mbbl of water, double that for simultaneous fracturing, and up to 2.3 MMbbl for triple-fractured wells (more on that below). The same goes for sand. A 10,000-foot lateral typically requires around 25 million pounds (12,500 tons) of sand, so two wells would need about 50 million pounds (25,000 tons) and three wells would need about 75 million pounds (37,500 tons). Operators without access to that much water or sand simply can’t execute these wells. (But like with produced water, efforts have been made to ease the delivery of fracking sand and improve logistics; see Enter Sandman.) Since 2020, simultaneous fracturing has grown from being utilized at less than 1% of wells in the U.S. to now being used by nearly all major operators, according to our friends at Novi Labs, which specializes in upstream oil and gas data and analytics. According to Spears Research, it’s the dominant completion choice in the Permian, with up to 50% of completions using simultaneous fracturing. It is used in other shale areas, too, and as we said, the biggest issue is that operators must be able to access massive amounts of sand and water at each drilling location. Simultaneous fracking has greatly improved efficiency by allowing operators to pump multiple wells at once. This keeps pumps and crews working instead of sitting idle between stages. The first step toward this was the technique known as the Zipper Frac, shown in the far-left column of Figure 2 below. Here, one well (A) is actively pumped, shown by the solid line, while the adjacent well (B) is being prepared for the next stage, shown by the dashed line. Only one well is fracked at a time, but alternating between the two reduces downtime and boosts pump utilization. Another popular technique, a cousin of SimulFrac, is called triple fracking or TrimulFrac, which is an advanced version of SimulFrac, where three wells are fractured simultaneously. This approach can increase the benefits significantly, but it requires even more sophisticated logistics, real-time monitoring and effective equipment management. As shown in the far right column in Figure 2 above, the three solid lines show a pump to three wellbores labeled A, for simultaneous fracturing, while dashed lines indicate prepping for the next set of wellbores (B group), so three wells receive stimulation at once for maximum efficiency. The two strategies are very similar. As with SimulFrac, TrimulFrac involves a massive amount of materials up front. A challenge with both approaches is that these operations create identical “cookie-cutter” wells because they are completed simultaneously. This means operators cannot customize completions for specific formations, which could impact performance. Operators believe the reduced drilling and completion time outweighs the minor loss in completion precision. TrimulFrac only adds to the challenges that come with simultaneous fracturing, as working on three wells at once requires more horsepower, resulting in higher fuel consumption and increased maintenance costs. For instance, using 40 barrels of fracking fluid per minute per well across three wells requires 120 barrels per minute, which can strain equipment and operations. And as we noted earlier, a TrimulFrac pad can require up to 2.3 MMbbl of water. Like SimulFrac, TrimulFrac is a strategy that can only be managed by large operators due to its significant water and infrastructure requirements. Most smaller operators don’t have the resources to pull it off. Chevron had success with SimulFrac in 2024, stating that its Permian pilots required 25% fewer pump hours and pad costs were reduced by 8% compared to traditional operations. This type of fracking cut friction by 31%, saving energy and cutting well completion time by 30%. (Friction refers to the resistance the fracturing fluid encounters as it moves through the wellbore, pipes and fractures in the rock.) Chevron began using TrimulFrac in the Permian for the first time last year and said it plans to use the technique on 50% to 60% of its wells in the basin. The company said its initial results showed 25% faster completion times and 12% lower cost per well compared to traditional operations, but also faced significantly ramped-up logistical requirements (such as 60% more water and sand used per day and over 10 sand trucks per hour at the site). Matador Resources stated in its 2024 filings that it reduced the drilling-and-completion cost per completed lateral foot in 2024 from $1,010 to $910, representing an 11% improvement. The company credited most of this gain to operational efficiencies, including U-turn wells (which we discussed in Part 2) as well as SimulFrac and TrimulFrac. The company expects that SimulFrac and TrimulFrac techniques will account for more than 80% of its completions in 2025.
Oil and Gas Industry Layoffs Accelerate with Lower Prices -Oil and gas producers and oilfield services providers are slashing workforce numbers as the mergers wave in the sector gives way to reorganization and restructuring. Over the past few months, the U.S. and European supermajors, as well as large independent producers, smaller players, and the world’s top services providers, have announced – either publicly or via internal memos – that they begin processes to eliminate roles, office-based jobs, and contractor numbers. Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, BP, Shell, Equinor, Harbour Energy, APA Corp, OMV, Exxon’s Canadian affiliate Imperial Oil, Halliburton, and SLB have all began layoffs in certain geographies and markets, according to a snapshot of the job cuts in the oil and gas sector compiled by Reuters. Behind the thousands of layoffs announced in the industry lie two major driving forces—lower international crude oil prices compared to last year, and the many mergers and acquisitions that the companies completed in the past two years. Efforts to cut more costs amid lower prices and strategy readjustments – as is the case with BP’s “fundamental reset” to focus on the core oil and gas business – are also driving companies to reduce workforce numbers. ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP have announced thousands of job cuts, with some planning to reduce their workforce by as much as 25% by the end of 2027. BP has already reduced contractor numbers by 3,200, and expects a further 1,200 contractors to exit by the end of 2025, BP’s chief financial officer Kate Thomson said on the Q2 earnings call in August. Moreover, BP expects its ongoing organizational transformation to see 6,200 roles impacted by the end of 2025, out of an office-based workforce of 40,000 employees. Chevron, which bought Hess Corporation for $53 billion, has said it would reduce its workforce by 20% by the end of 2026 as part of wide cost cuts. This includes 800 jobs in the Permian. ConocoPhillips, which acquired Marathon Oil Corporation last year, plans to slash workforce numbers by up to 25% across functions and geographies to simplify the organization and cut costs. SLB is said to be reducing job numbers in wider reorganization, while Halliburton is also reportedly cutting roles in recent weeks, after laying off nearly 300 employees in Argentina earlier this year, Reuters notes.
U.S. Upstream Oil & Gas Dealmaking Falls Again Amid Low Oil Prices - Mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. upstream oil and gas sector fell for a third straight quarter, marking an end to blockbuster takeovers seen in recent years amid persistently low energy prices. According to Enverus Intelligence Research, deals worth $9.7 billion were closed in the third quarter, marking a 28% drop from the second quarter and putting the current year far below the record $192 billion recorded in 2023. U.S. crude futures averaged ~ $65 a barrel during the third quarter, around the level most U.S. oil producers require to break even but $10 per barrel below oil prices a year ago."Crude prices in the mid-$60s or worse have made it tough for sellers, especially private equity firms with oil-weighted assets," said Andrew Dittmar, principal analyst at Enverus. "Most remaining shale M&A opportunities need stronger pricing to justify public companies paying for the undeveloped locations," he added.The slowdown in the U.S. dealmaking has also been attributed to a lack of opportunities in the Permian Basin, North America's leading M&A hotspot. E&P companies have increasingly been turning elsewhere as asset values skyrocket and the Permian cools. Earlier in the year, EOG Resources acquired Encino Energy for $5.6 billion a company that specializes in the Utica Shale; Diversified Energy bought Anadarko Basin giant Maverick Natural Resources for nearly $1.3 billion while Citadelpaid $1.2 billion for Paloma Natural Gas. Paloma Natural Gas primarily operates in the Haynesville Shale region, which spans the Louisiana and Texas border, with its assets concentrated on the Louisiana side. The company manages a significant number of mineral acres in this area and focuses on developing and producing natural gas there. In contrast, Canada's hot M&A streak has continued in the current year, with upstream M&A deal value totaling nearly $12 billion in the first half of the current year, almost equal to the full-year average over the past five years. Top takeovers included Whitecap Resources acquisition of Veren for $15 billion; Strathcona Resources divested its Montney assets while CNRL purchased Shell Plc's stake in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project. However, Strathcona recently terminated its takeover bid for MEG after Cenovus Energy made a revised, higher offer for MEG. Canada's Oil Sands have a significantly lower breakeven point, and can still eke out a profit at oil prices that would make the majority of U.S. Shale Patch companies print red.
US seeks 1 million barrels of oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve(Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday it is looking to buy 1 million barrels of crude oil for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as it seeks to take advantage of relatively low oil prices to help replenish the stockpile. The previous administration of former President Joe Biden sold record amounts of oil from the SPR, including a 180-million-barrel sale after Russia, one of the world's top oil producers, invaded Ukraine in 2022. The reserve, which has about a 700-million-barrel capacity, is now holding nearly 409 million barrels. President Donald Trump's administration has been looking to replenish the SPR, but has been limited by a lack of funds and by ongoing maintenance at the reserve, held in a series of hollowed-out salt caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Pumps, pipes and other above-ground SPR infrastructure are constantly exposed to corrosive, salty air. Trump's tax and spending bill included about $171 million for the SPR oil purchases and maintenance, much less than the $1.3 billion that had originally been in the legislation. Buying more oil for the SPR will likely require the passage of new legislation. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Trump is trying to replenish the SPR with the help of Congress. "While this process won't be complete overnight, these actions are an important step in strengthening our energy security and reversing the costly and irresponsible energy policies of the last administration," Wright said. Both the international oil benchmark Brent and the U.S. benchmark WTI had hit their lowest levels since early May on Monday, as record U.S. oil production and a decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies to press ahead with planned supply hikes raised expectations of oversupply. WTI crude futures on Tuesday closed up 30 cents at $57.82 a barrel. Bids for the SPR solicitation close on October 28.
Valero exec: ‘Nothing has materialized’ to stave off Calif. refinery closure - California officials’ attempts to work with one of the state’s primary gasoline producers to prevent the closure of a Bay Area refinery have failed to move the needle, an oil executive said Thursday. Valero Energy still plans to cease refining operations at its Benicia oil refinery by the end of April 2026, the company reaffirmed in its third quarter earnings report, released Thursday.A financial analyst noted the state’s desire to keep the refinery open and asked the Valero executive team during its Thursday earnings call when the company would reach a “point of no return” on closing the Benicia facility.“We have been in discussion with California, but nothing has materialized out of that, so as a result, nothing’s changed,” said Valero general counsel Rich Walsh. “Our plans are still moving forward as we’ve shared and as we’ve informed the state. So I don’t see anything changing on that.”
Trump To Buy Tiny 1 Million Barrels For SPR As China Unleashes Record Oil Stockpiling Spree --Badly beating down oil jumped, if only briefly, on a Bloomberg report that the Trump administration plans to buy 1 million barrels for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, taking advantage of low oil prices to begin filing the depleted stockpile. The Energy Department intends to announce Tuesday that it’s seeking oil for delivery in December and January, using a portion of the $171 million from President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending law that provided for crude purchases, according to an agency official. West Texas Intermediate, which is down about 30% since its peak in mid-January and traded at about $58 a barrel on Tuesday, near the lowest since 2021, staged a modest bounce, only to sink after the kneejerk reaction was processed. Trump has vowed to refill the oil reserve, which has a maximum capacity of about 700 million barrels. It currently has about 408 million barrels, but the administration has limited funds to buy more. Unfortunately just 1 million here and there won't do anything in the grand scheme of things; meanwhile China has been aggressively adding millions of barrels every month to its SPR, and according to many analysts has been the main reason preventing far lower oil prices. Here is Reuters on the topic:China is building oil reserve sites at a rapid clip as part of a campaign to boost crude stockpiles that increased in urgency after Russia's Ukraine invasion upended global energy flows and has accelerated this year, according to public data, traders and industry experts. State oil companies including Sinopec and CNOOC will add at least 169 million barrels of storage across 11 sites during 2025 and 2026, according to public sources including domestic news reports, government reports and company websites.Of that, 37 million barrels of capacity has been built, the sources show. Once completed, the new sites will be able to store two weeks of China's net crude imports, according to Reuters calculations based on Chinese trade data, a significant volume as China is by far the world's biggest oil importer.Beijing's reserve-building - S&P Global Commodity Insight last month estimated China had stockpiled an average of 530,000 barrels per day thus far in 2025 - is soaking up surplus global supply and supporting prices under pressure as the OPEC+ producers group winds down production cuts. Traders and consultancies say they expect the stockpiling, fuelled by prices recently below $70 per barrel, to continue at least through the first quarter of 2026.
Trump targets Atlantic and Pacific coasts for new oil drilling - The Trump administration plans to propose opening federal waters in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to offshore drilling, two people familiar with the plan said Wednesday, a move that is likely to antagonize coastal states governors — and make a direct jab at California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Full details of the plan were not yet known, but a push to bring drilling rigs to untouched sections of the U.S. coastline brought bipartisan opposition when Trump tried to carry out a similar plan during his first administration. The proposal would be part of the Interior Department’s upcoming five-year plan on offshore oil lease sales, said the people who were granted anonymity because the plan wasn’t yet public. The administration is expected to offer acres off the southern coast of California and “at least a small sliver” of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, one of the people said. It was unclear if that would include waters off Florida, where elected leaders of both parties have opposed drilling along their shoreline for decades because of the risk to the state’s tourism-based economy. Interior’s plan, a framework used to schedule offshore lease sales in federal waters for a five-year period, could change by the time the initial proposal becomes a finished product, this person said.
Trump offshore drilling plan faces fierce opposition in Congress -Lawmakers are girding for a fight against President Donald Trump’s apparent plans to open up the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines to offshore drilling. In interviews Thursday, Democrats called the idea “not lawful,” a “huge mistake” and “absolutely ridiculous.” Coastal Republicans, for their part, said they would also oppose any offshore drilling, though at least one East Coast Republican was open to the idea — albeit with a caveat. Trump faced bipartisan opposition when he attempted a similar move in 2020, during his first term. He eventually backed down following widespread outcry amid his reelection effort. It’s unclear this time around whether lawmakers, especially coastal Republicans, will be able to stop him as intraparty opposition has largely evaporated in his second term. Moreover, any new drilling effort is likely to be met with multiple lawsuits. Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said on Thursday he was opposed to new drilling off the coast of his state. Trump’s plan, which POLITICO reported is expected to offer acres off the southern coast of California and “at least a small sliver” of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, is likely to be wildly unpopular in Florida. The plans have not yet been finalized.“I haven’t supported drilling in the eastern Gulf of America,” Scott said, using Trump’s preferred name. “It’s important to Florida.” The Houston Chronicle, which first reported on the plans, said that Florida would continue to enjoy a drilling ban. Coastal Republicans in the past have mounted stiff opposition to drilling off their coastlines, especially in states like Florida and South Carolina, where tourism is a major draw. Opposition only grew after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, which spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf. The Atlantic coast currently has no offshore oil and gas, while the Pacific has greatly scaled back its production in part due to state and federal laws to phase out or ban new offshore drilling. Trump, in his last term, banned new drilling off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida until 2032 following pressure from allies in those states and to shore up his own environmental standing as he faced off with future President Joe Biden. He could reverse those plans now.Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), a Trump ally who is running for governor, said that the moratorium still stands and that she continues to oppose offshore drilling in South Carolina.“President Trump put protections in place to prevent offshore drilling off South Carolina’s coast, and those remain in effect through 2032,” Mace’s communications director, Sydney Long, said in a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News. “Congresswoman Mace continues to oppose offshore drilling in South Carolina to protect our coastline, economy, and way of life.”
Burgum advances Alaska drilling, mining and wildlife refuge road - Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the approval Thursday of a suite of new policy directives in Alaska aimed at opening large swaths of federal lands in the state to energy development and mining, as well as moving forward with a long-sought-after road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Among the policy measures Burgum announced is the signing of an order to reopen the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas drilling, reversing a Biden administration decision that had halted development in the area along Alaska’s north coast. Burgum as part of his decision reinstated seven oil and gas leases purchased by the state of Alaska for drilling in the coastal plain. The Biden administration had canceled the leases in 2023, but a federal court in March ordered the leases to be reinstated. Burgum also announced the agency is taking the decisive action to advance construction of the Ambler mining road, a 211-mile-long gravel road slated to dissect swaths of pristine wilderness in Alaska to provide access to a remote mining district in northwestern Alaska.
Trump Reopens Alaska's Arctic Refuge to Oil and Gas Drilling -- The Trump administration has moved to reopen the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas drilling, reversing one of President Biden’s signature environmental restrictions and cementing Alaska’s return to the energy map. The Interior Department said Thursday it will restore the full 1.5-million-acre Coastal Plain to leasing, along with reinstating previously canceled leases held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. The decision marks the most aggressive push yet to expand exploration in Alaska’s far north since the original Trump-era lease sale in 2021. The announcement forms part of a broader energy package: the administration is also pursuing new lease opportunities across 82% of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), a 23-million-acre expanse that Biden had restricted last year. Combined, the twin rollbacks could re-open more than 12 million acres to development, a move cheered by Alaska’s leadership and long sought by industry. “From day one, President Trump directed us to unlock Alaska’s energy and resource potential,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “By reopening the Coastal Plain and advancing key infrastructure, we are strengthening energy independence and supporting Alaska’s communities.” Environmental groups called it a direct assault on one of North America’s last untouched ecosystems and warned that the move could reignite decades-old legal battles over wildlife and Indigenous rights. Still, Alaska’s economic case is hard to ignore. Oil production there peaked at 2 million barrels per day in 1988 and now accounts for barely 3% of U.S. output. High costs, aging fields, and limited leasing have stalled investment for decades. With the U.S. chasing energy security and Asian buyers showing renewed interest in long-term crude and LNG supply, Washington appears ready to bet once again on Alaska’s North Slope. The new policy is as much political as geological—a reminder that America’s oil frontier never really closed. It just waited for a friendlier administration.
Trump approves contentious drilling, mining in Alaska wildlife refuge -The Trump administration is opening up more drilling in a contentious Alaskan wildlife refuge that was restricted under the Biden administration. It’s also approving two other contentious projects in Alaska: Ambler Road, which will enable copper and cobalt mining; and Izembek Road, which will cut through a wildlife refuge to give a remote community airport access. The Interior Department said in a press release that it was issuing a final approval of a plan to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s (ANWR) 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain for oil and gas development. The Biden administration had limited the lands available to the 400,000 acres required by law. The Trump administration also said that this coming winter, it will plan to auction off drilling rights there. Opponents of such drilling have raised concerns about impacts to wildlife and tribal resources as the refuge is home to grizzly bears, polar bears, gray wolves, caribou and more than 200 species of birds and contains land considered sacred by the Gwich’in people. However, drilling also has native proponents, who argue that oil and gas could help support the local economy. “Developing ANWR’s Coastal Plain is vital for Kaktovik’s future,” Nathan Gordon Jr., mayor of the village of Kaktovik, said in a written statement. “Taxation of development infrastructure in our region funds essential services across the North Slope, including water and sewer systems to clinics, roads, and first responders. Today’s actions by the federal government create the conditions for these services to remain available and for continued progress for our communities.” In addition, the Trump administration said it reissued the necessary permits to approve the Ambler Road project, which would provide mining access to an area with deposits of minerals including copper, cobalt, gallium and germanium. The White House has described the project as being “in the public interest” because of the need for “domestic critical minerals.” The Biden administration had blocked the project, saying it was doing so to protect wildlife including the Western Arctic caribou herd. The Trump administration also reapproved another road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that would connect the remote community of King Cove to an airport — which supporters argue could be important for medical evacuations. It was first approved by the Trump administration in 2019 but later rescinded by the Biden administration, which cited “procedural flaws.” The move was met with pushback by environmental advocates and others. “I worry every day about what’s going to happen to the brant and emperor geese if there’s a road in Izembek,” Chief Edgar Tall Sr. of the Native Village of Hooper Bay said in a written statement. “We need the brant and emperor geese because they’re nutritious and fatty from feeding in Izembek. … If the birds disappear because of the Izembek road, our community could disappear too.”
Pemex pipeline spill contaminates Mexican river after torrential rains - (AP) — Mexico’s state-run oil company said Tuesday that the torrential rains that left dozens dead and missing in east-central Mexico also damaged a pipeline, leading to a 5-mile (8-kilometer) spill along the Pantepec River. Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, said in a statement that its crews had reacted “immediately” to stop and contain the spill around the town of Alamo, one of the communities hit hardest by the recent flooding. The company did not say when the spill occurred or exactly what spilled. But Alamo resident Arturo de Luna said locals became aware of it over the weekend. “Sincerely, we’re very worried,” he said. At least 76 people died in heavy rains from Oct. 6 to 11 across several states in central and eastern Mexico. Some three dozen remain missing and more than 100 communities remain inaccessible by road. Alamo, along with Poza Rica, were the most affected communities in northern Veracruz state. Residents in part of Poza Rica found their homes' walls streaked with oil after waters from the Cazones River receded, though no spill was confirmed there. The Pantepec River crosses northern Veracruz and supplies water for a number of communities, including the city of Tuxpan near where the river dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. Tuxpan Mayor Jesús Fomperoza said on Facebook on Tuesday that Pemex, the navy, security forces and energy and environmental agency personnel were working with local and state officials to keep the spill from reaching municipal water systems. He said private businesses, fishermen and others had helped to install containment barriers. But the spill was affecting lives along the river. De Luna, the Alamo resident, said boat services that locals use to move across and up and down the river were suspended, cutting off some river communities. Alejandra Jiménez, an activist with Foundation Chalchi, a nongovernmental organization focused on protecting water resources, said it was too early to determine the spill’s environmental impact but that recovery of the ecosystem could take years. “The prevention phase didn’t happen, so now they have to keep it from spreading,” she said.
Tidewater Midstream Sells Sylvan Lake Gas Plant to Parallax Energy for $5.5 Million --Tidewater Midstream has sold its Sylvan Lake gas processing facility and related gathering system to Parallax Energy for $5.5 million. The non-core asset sale will help the Calgary-based company reduce debt and focus on core midstream operations. (P&GJ) — Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure Ltd. has completed the sale of its Sylvan Lake gas processing facility and associated gathering infrastructure to Parallax Energy Operating Inc. for $5.5 million in cash, the company said Oct. 21. The Alberta-based midstream operator said the Sylvan Lake Gas Processing Facility is a non-core asset and the transaction will have an immaterial impact on its 2025 financial results. Proceeds will be used to repay amounts outstanding on Tidewater’s senior credit facility. “The sale supports our ongoing focus on core operations and disciplined balance sheet management,” the company said in its announcement. Tidewater, traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TWM, operates a portfolio of natural gas processing, storage, and NGL infrastructure across North America, along with downstream and renewable energy assets. The company also holds a majority stake in Tidewater Renewables. The sale marks another step in Tidewater’s efforts to streamline its asset base and focus on higher-return segments of its business.
European Imports Surge Amid Weak Competition from Asia – LNG Recap -- European LNG imports are on track to reach some of their highest levels of the year this week despite persistently weak prices as Asian demand remains soft. Chart showing U.S. Gulf Coast LNG netback prices for a 12-month strip as of October 17, 2025, compiled by NGI. The table compares LNG futures settlements, estimated shipping costs, Gulf Coast netbacks, and Henry Hub differentials for destinations including Japan/Korea, NBP, and TTF. December 2025 netbacks range near $10.0-10.6/MMBtu, with average netback margins of around $6.8/MMBtu over Henry Hub. Data sourced from CSI, Fearnleys, and NGI calculations. At A Glance:Asian spot deals at a standstill
European LNG arrivals near 2025 high
Global gas prices rangebound
EU Bans Russian LNG Imports in Long-awaited Move Targeting Kremlin’s ‘War Economy’ - The European Union (EU) has agreed to ban Russian LNG imports as part of a landmark sanctions package against the country for its war against Ukraine. Bar chart titled “Europe LNG Imports” showing annual liquefied natural gas import volumes by source region from 2020 through 2024. The United States dominates European LNG supply, exceeding 175 million metric tons in 2024, followed by Qatar and the Russian Federation. Imports from North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East show moderate volumes, while Asia and Other regions contribute minimal amounts. Data compiled by NGI using Kpler data. At A Glance:
Russian LNG imports would be phased out
Some cargoes to be banned in six months
Move comes as U.S. LNG exports surge
Gazprom chief warns of possible gas market troubles in Europe amid cold winter --Europe's energy market is entering a challenging period and could face difficulties if the continent experiences a harsh winter, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Monday. The outlook for the coming months remains uncertain, but a severe drop in temperatures could disrupt Europe's natural gas market, Miller told the state-run Rossiya-24 TV channel. He added that the available data already indicates potential volatility. Miller said Russia plans to deliver more than 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China this year through the Power of Siberia 1 pipeline. He emphasized that Russia and China are emerging as the key players shaping the future architecture of the global gas market, with Russia as the largest producer and China as the largest consumer. Commenting on Europe's energy transition, Miller said the EU had invested heavily in renewable energy and, in some cases, achieved full reliance on renewables for electricity generation. However, he argued that natural factors had exposed vulnerabilities in this strategy. According to Miller, an Arctic anticyclone brought conditions with little sun and wind, causing renewable output to fall sharply. As a result, he said, Europe’s dependence on traditional hydrocarbons reemerged, marking a setback in its transition efforts. Miller's remarks came as the European Union has moved to further reduce its reliance on Russian energy, with EU governments agreeing on new rules to phase out imports of Russian natural gas under the bloc's "REPowerEU" strategy. The proposed regulation would introduce a legally binding, step-by-step ban on both pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas from Russia, with a full prohibition set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2028.
Global LNG Exports Hit a Record High in September - Exports of liquefied natural gas globally increased to 34.59 million tons last month, which was the highest on record, the Gas Exporting Countries Forum reported. The increase was driven by a boost in imports, at an annual 3.7%, which in turn was driven by a surge in demand in the European Union. That was up by a sizable 40% in September amid lower pipeline flows and the start of storage refill season ahead of peak demand season in the winter. The biggest rise came from non-members of the organization, whose total hit 19.36 million tons. This was up by 14% on the year. GECF LNG exports, for their part, fell by 6.3% on the year to 15.17 million tons. The change was a reversal of four consecutive months of export rises, the forum also said. Within the GEFC, LNG exports fell sharply from Russia, Algeria, Nigeria, and Peru, while LNG exports from Qatar jumped. Outside the organization, the drivers of LNG exports included the United States, Canada, and Papua New Guinea. These three offset a decline in Australian LNG shipments abroad, resulting from maintenance work at two producing facilities—APLNG and Ichthys. Over the first nine months of the year, GECF exports of liquefied natural gas ticked up modestly by 0.1% while non-GECF exports added a more robust 8.7%. The GECF total for January to September stood at 143.79 million tons, while the non-GECF total stood at 173.21 million tons. The U.S. Energy Information Administration earlier this month forecast that LNG capacity in North America could surge by more than 100% between now and 2029, to a total of 20 billion cubic feet daily, from 14 billion cubic feet daily at the moment. The projected increase will come mainly from the United States, where there are seven large LNG facilities under construction, including the Golden Pass LNG plant, Driftwood LNG, and Plaquemines LNG, which is already operating, although it has not yet been officially commissioned.
Santos Narrows Production, Keeps Year-end LNG Start in Sight Amid Steadying Global Gas Prices -- Despite technical issues that winnowed its production outlook, Santos Ltd. continues to target sending additional LNG volumes to Asia by the end of the year as global natural gas price volatility cools. Map of Australia highlighting major natural gas liquefaction facilities and market hubs, including Gorgon, Wheatstone, Pluto, North West Shelf, Prelude, Ichthys, Darwin, Gladstone, Australia Pacific, and Queensland Curtis LNG projects, with Wallumbilla marked as the key gas market hub. Source: Energy Information Administration. At A Glance:
First Barossa gas exported on Oct. 12
Santos LNG sales declined to $11.05 average
Company plans to boost production 30% by 2027
Egypt Seeks to Free Up Gas for Export - Egypt is embarking on a plan to buy more oil products for power generation as the cash-strapped North African nation frees up gas for LNG exports, as part of efforts to repay money it owes to foreign operators. State-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. plans to buy more than a million tons of diesel, gasoline and butane gas for delivery in November, up 60 percent from the same period last year, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak to the media. Egypt's energy ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment. Egypt is seeking to encourage renewed investment by foreign energy companies, which have reduced financing in the country after years of waiting for the government to repay money it owes them. Declining domestic gas output amid surging local demand led Egypt to become a net importer of liquefied natural gas last year in order to avoid blackouts. That has added new financing strains on the government which is emerging from its worst economic crisis in decades. To break this cycle, Cairo decided to allow foreign energy operators to export their share of local gas production as LNG as a way to get their arrears paid and to go ahead with investments in Egypt's gas output. Three LNG cargoes have been exported since September, including one that the government said was shipped from Egypt’s Idku terminal on behalf of Shell Plc. The government is now in talks with the foreign energy companies to allow them to produce volumes for two shipments every month for loading between November and March from Idku, according to the people. Egypt’s production of crude oil and condensate fell to 486,000 barrels a day in July, the lowest in decades, according to data from Joint Oil Data Initiative. In contrast, the country’s import expenses for petroleum products and LNG are projected to rise to about $20 billion this year from $12.5 billion in 2024, according to official data.
Türkiye paves way for Black Sea gas exports as LNG with regulatory overhaul - Türkiye has cleared the legal path for exporting natural gas from its Black Sea fields as liquefied natural gas (LNG) following a regulatory change by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA). The amendment to the Natural Gas Market Law formally defines gas liquefaction and allows production from the Sakarya field to be converted and sold to international markets. Industry representatives say the move marks a milestone in Türkiye’s plan to commercialize domestic gas and reduce import dependence by attracting private investment into LNG infrastructure and trade. “This is a turning point that creates the legal basis for converting Black Sea gas into LNG and exporting it,” said Petroleum and Natural Gas Platform Association (PETFORM) Chairman Cagatay Beydogan. “It gives Türkiye flexibility in both supply and trade and enables it to enter the global LNG market with its own resources.” The regulation also enables floating LNG terminals to operate across multiple regions, allowing investors to relocate assets according to market conditions. “Floating terminals offer the speed and flexibility we need,” Beydogan said, adding that such facilities can respond faster to demand shifts than traditional onshore terminals. Industry experts say this flexibility will strengthen Türkiye’s hand in managing its gas balance and expand export opportunities while supporting domestic supply security. Floating LNG infrastructure can serve both as a domestic buffer and as an export tool. The amendment also provides incentives for gas storage projects by exempting certain facilities from mandatory third-party access during their early stages. This measure is designed to lower the financial burden on investors in capital-intensive projects. According to Beydogan, easing access requirements will “encourage new investments in storage capacity and improve the financial sustainability of large-scale projects.” The development of additional storage facilities is expected to help balance seasonal fluctuations and expand liquidity in Türkiye’s spot gas market. Another key feature of the reform is a simplified export licensing system that allows companies to operate with a single license for multiple countries. This change is aimed at reducing bureaucracy and accelerating the entry of private operators into foreign markets. The regulation also enhances system efficiency by optimizing transmission capacity and introducing a mechanism to temporarily suspend underperforming operators. These steps, according to sector observers, will help improve reliability and transparency in Türkiye’s growing gas market.
Libya's Zueitina oil company contains 'limited' pipeline leak, statement says (Reuters) - Libya's Zueitina Oil Company has contained a 'limited' leak on a 16-inch line connecting the Sabah and Zella oilfields, with no environmental impact reported, Libya's state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) said in a statement on Monday. "Technical teams repaired the leak site without recording any environmental impact or damage to nearby agricultural areas", the statement added. The NOC posted a video showing a stream of leaked oil in the desert, while a bulldozer digging in the area of the leaking oil. Oil flow was being gradually restored to the line between the two fields, while field teams continue on-site monitoring to ensure the integrity of the pipeline and prevent any future leaks, NOC said. Libya is one of Africa's biggest oil producers but output has been disrupted repeatedly in the chaotic decade since 2014, when the country split between rival authorities in the east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
Sanctions Halt Oil Flows to Serbia as Russian-Owned NIS Faces Refinery Shutdown - Russia-owned Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) has halted crude processing as U.S. sanctions choke oil flows to Serbia, triggering fears of a fuel shortage ahead of winter. A shipment of roughly one million barrels of Kazakh KEBCO crude that arrived at Croatia’s Omisalj terminal on 9 October remains blocked after deliveries through the JANAF pipeline were suspended on 8 October, according to multiple industry sources cited by Reuters on Friday. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control allowed a sanctions waiver on NIS to expire on 9 October, formally cutting the company off from international crude purchases. NIS, 56 percent owned by Gazprom Neft, runs Serbia’s only refinery at Pan?evo, which processes about 4.8 million tonnes of crude per year and supplies over 80 percent of the country’s gasoline and diesel demand. Without new cargoes, refining operations could stop by early November, officials and traders said.Serbia’s government has downplayed the immediate risk. President Aleksandar Vu?i? said current inventories are sufficient through the end of the year, but analysts warned that prolonged disruption would force the country to depend on product imports through neighboring EU states.The JANAF pipeline from Croatia had been Serbia’s primary supply line for Russian and Kazakh crude since 2022. Its closure underscores the limited flexibility of Balkan energy logistics, where few alternative routes exist and domestic storage capacity remains constrained.Earlier this month, regional analysts said the U.S. measures were likely to hit Serbia’s downstream sector hard, calling NIS’s exposure “a critical vulnerability” for the Balkan state. Serbia is now seeking replacement cargoes via Hungary and exploring temporary swaps through regional refiners. Whether those can arrive fast enough to keep Pan?evo running will determine if Serbia avoids a full-blown fuel crunch.
India May Reduce Russian Oil Imports for Trade Deal - The United States and India are nearing a trade deal that could slash U.S. tariffs on Indian imports from the massive 50% to 15-16% and possibly entail India agreeing to gradually reduce Russian oil imports, Indian newspaper Mint reported on Wednesday, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the talks. A potential deal could be announced as early as at next week’s summit of the ASEAN Southeast Asian bloc in Malaysia, according to the report. Indian officials did not respond to Mint’s request to comment on the report. The United States and India have been locked in difficult trade talks for months, with the Trump Administration looking to slash its massive trade deficit with Asia’s second-biggest economy. Amid these difficult talks, U.S. President Donald Trump has singled out India as a target to punish for buying large volumes of Russian crude oil and supporting the Kremlin’s energy revenues. President Trump doubled the 25% tariff on India to 50% as of August, to punish it for continued purchase of Russian oil. In an X message on Wednesday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked President Trump for a recent phone call, but did not reference either trade talks or India’s purchases of Russian oil. “May our two great democracies continue to illuminate the world with hope and stand united against terrorism in all its forms,” Modi wrote. President Trump on Sunday reiterated his threat to make India pay “massive” tariffs unless it stops buying Russian oil, repeating that Modi had assured him those purchases would stop. Last week, India neither confirmed nor denied that it would indeed cut or halt imports of Russian crude and said its key energy policy driver is “to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer.” Randhir Jaiswal, an official spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said “India is a significant importer of oil and gas. It has been our consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario. Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective.”
Supply and Demand Fears Continue to Drag Oil Prices Lower -- Oil prices slipped in early Asian trade on Monday, as a combination of burgeoning supply concerns and escalating U.S.–China trade tensions weighed on sentiment. At the time of writing, Brent crude futures had dropped 0.29% to $61.11 while WTI was down 0.35% at $57.34. The continued drop comes on the heels of a third consecutive weekly decline for both benchmarks, with more than a 2% fall in each last week. Concerns about demand softening and a looming supply overhang are the key factors dragging prices lower, with easing geopolitical risk also weighing on oil. The International Energy Agency recently raised its forecast for global oil supply growth and warned of a supply surplus in 2026. At the same time, OPEC+ has been unwinding its output cuts and the Gaza ceasefire has reduced concerns of a major supply disruption in the Middle East. One Tokyo-based analyst, Toshitaka Tazawa of Fujitomi Securities, summed up the situation saying, “Concerns about oversupply from increased production by oil-producing nations, coupled with fears of an economic slowdown stemming from escalating U.S.–China trade tensions, are fuelling selling pressure.”. Tensions between the U.S. and China have flared recently, with each side imposing extra port fees on cargo shipments - moves that could slow freight flows and undermine global growth. A prolonged decoupling of the two largest energy consumers could sharply reduce oil demand. At the same time, U.S. oil output ticked up last week to hit another record high, showing even more supply coming online. While U.S. pressure on countries buying Russian crude could push prices lower, there is plenty of uncertainty over whether that buying will slow down or not.
The Market Was Weighed Down by the Prospects of a Surplus -- The oil market posted an outside trading day after the market erased its overnight gains as the market was weighed down by the prospects of a market surplus. The U.S.-China trade tensions are adding to concerns about an economic slowdown and weaker energy demand. Meanwhile, uncertainty remains over what may happen to Russian oil supply, with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday reiterating a warning that Washington would maintain “massive” tariffs on India unless it stopped buying Russian oil. The oil market rallied to a high of $57.81 in overnight trading before it erased its gains and sold off to a low of $56.35 by mid-morning. The market continued to lose ground following three consecutive weeks of losses. Last week, the IEA increased its estimates for a market surplus and oil stocks on the water are near levels last seen during the pandemic. The market later bounced off its low and settled in a sideways trading pattern during the remainder of the session. The November WTI contract ended the session down 2 cents at $57.52, while the December Brent contract settled down 28 cents at $61.01. The product markets ended the session lower, with the heating oil market settling up 1.21 cents at $2.1921 and the RB market settling down 75 points at $1.8302. On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him India will stop buying Russian oil, while warning that India would continue paying “massive” tariffs if it did not do so. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Andrey Rudenko, said that Russian oil companies continue to ship oil to India. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that any peace deal for Ukraine should address the root causes of the conflict to ensure a fundamental and long-term peace. U.S. President Donald Trump said that he expects to work out a fair trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping and plans to expedite the delivery of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, signaling both a willingness to ease tensions with Beijing and a push to strengthen defense ties with a key ally in the Indo-Pacific. He made the comments ahead of bilateral talks in Washington with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected an offer of renewed talks from U.S. President Donald Trump and denied his assertion that the United States has destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Vortexa reported today that crude oil stored on tankers that have been stationary for at least seven days fell by -12% w/w to 78.44 million bbl in the week ended October 17th. IIR Energy said U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in about 1.1 million bpd of capacity in the week ending October 24th, increasing available refining capacity by 196,000 bpd. Offline capacity is expected to fall to 981,000 bpd in the week ending October 31st.
Oil settles at 5-month low as supply glut fears mount (Reuters) - Oil prices settled at their lowest since early May on Monday as investors weighed a potential global glut, with U.S.-China trade tensions adding to concerns about an economic slowdown and weaker energy demand. Brent crude futures settled down 28 cents, or 0.46%, at $61.01 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures settled down 2 cents, or 0.03%, to $57.52. Both benchmarks fell more than $1 earlier in the session, and both closed at their weakest levels since early May. Oil traders' concerns have shifted from under-supply to over-supply, the futures contract structure of the global benchmark Brent showed. The six-month spreads for Brent and U.S. crude futures both show contracts for earlier loading are trading below those for later loading, a structure known as contango, which encourages traders to pay for storing oil so it can be sold at higher prices when supplies are expected to have shrunk in the future. The Brent contango, which emerged on Thursday for the first time since a brief appearance in May, was trading at its widest since December 2023. The U.S. crude futures contango emerged on Friday for the first time since January 2024. "These glut fears are now descending onto the market, particularly looking forward into 2026. We will start to see floating storage pick up and inland tanks get filled," "This is a real bearish narrative that we have not seen in some time," Both benchmarks declined more than 2% last week, marking their third consecutive weekly decline, partly due to the International Energy Agency's outlook for a growing supply glut in 2026. Both futures contracts spent much of the year in the opposite structure, called backwardation, where prompt prices trade at a premium to later supply. That reflects a perception of tight near-term supply and solid demand. The two top oil consumers, the United States and China, have renewed their trade war, imposing additional port fees on ships carrying cargo between them - tit-for-tat moves that could disrupt global freight flows. Last week, the head of the World Trade Organization said she had urged the United States and China to de-escalate trade tensions, warning that a decoupling by the world's two largest economies could reduce global economic output by 7% over the longer term. Curbing some of oil's losses on Monday was news that a lobbying group whose board includes U.S. firms such as Oracle, Amazon.com, and Exxon Mobil is urging President Donald Trump's administration to immediately suspend a rule it says halted billions of dollars' worth of U.S. exports and will prompt China and other countries to drop U.S. firms from their supply chains. Uncertainty remains over what may happen with Russian oil supply, with Trump saying again on Sunday that the United States would maintain "massive" tariffs on India unless it stops buying Russian oil. On the supply side, U.S. energy firms last week added rigs for the first time in three weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said. "Near term, the market is sitting in a classic shoulder-season mix of refinery maintenance, softer product cracks and a watchful eye on weekly U.S. inventory data," analysts at energy consulting firm Gelber and Associates said in a note. Adding further pressure, U.S. crude oil stockpiles were expected to have risen last week, a preliminary Reuters poll on Monday showed. Five analysts polled by Reuters ahead of weekly inventory data estimated on average that crude inventories rose by about 1.5 million barrels in the week to October 17.
Oil rises in choppy trade as investors focus on supply signals --Brent crude futures rose 23 cents, or 0.4%, to $61.24 a barrel at 11:38 a.m. ET (1538 GMT). The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude contract for November delivery, set to expire on Tuesday, was up 22 cents, or also 0.4%, to $57.74. Both contracts had hit their lowest since early May on Monday, as record U.S. oil production and the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies to press ahead with planned supply hikes raised expectations of oversupply. The U.S.-China trade dispute has also increased anticipation that a slowdown of global economic growth will curb demand for oil. Both sides have, however, made some efforts to downplay the disagreement. U.S. President Donald Trump, who is set to meet China’s Xi Jinping in South Korea next week, said on Monday he expects to reach a fair trade deal with his counterpart. The structure of both WTI and Brent futures curves has started to shift to a contango, where prices for immediate supply are lower than for later delivery. That typically indicates that near-term supply is abundant and demand is declining. Market participants are debating how deep that contango is likely to be. The International Energy Agency earlier this month forecast that a surplus next year would lead to a strongly upward-sloped futures curve, called super contango. However, that has not emerged so far, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said in a note. “While supply concerns have increased in recent weeks again, we believe the oil market is oversupplied but not in a glut,” Staunovo noted. “We expect oil prices to stabilize around current levels,” he said, adding that prices could come under pressure if trade tensions escalate. A preliminary Reuters poll released on Monday showed that U.S. crude oil stockpiles likely rose last week. “The reality of stock builds appears to be finally here and prices should head lower to put a deeper contango in the market,” said Scott Shelton, energy specialist at TP ICAP Group.
Easing Concerns About an Oversupplied Market and Slowed Economic Growth -- The oil market retraced some of its previous losses and ended the session higher, with the November WTI contract going off the board at the close. The market traded higher on easing concerns about an oversupplied market and slowing economic growth resulting from an escalation in the U.S.-China trade dispute. The crude market traded mostly sideways in overnight trading before some short covering pushed the market to $58.27, where it held some resistance before it erased its gains and sold off to a low of $56.99 by mid-morning. The market later bounced off its low and traded back over the $58.00 level and posted a high of $58.28. The oil market later erased some of its gains and traded sideways ahead of the close. The November WTI contract settled up 30 cents at $57.82, while the December WTI contract settled up 22 cents at $57.24. The December Brent contract settled up 31 cents at $61.32. The product markets ended the session in mixed territory, with the heating oil market settling up 1.37 cents at $2.2058 and the RB market settling down 49 points at $1.8253. The U.S. Department of Energy said it is looking to buy 1 million barrels of crude oil for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as it seeks to take advantage of relatively low oil prices to help replenish the stockpile. Bloomberg News reported European nations are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war along current battle lines. The report said a peace board chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump would oversee the implementation of the proposed plan. The Kremlin said that the timing of a potential summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was unclear and that no dates had been mentioned. Earlier, CNN reported that U.S. President Donald Trump’s hopes for a quick summit in Budapest with Russian President Vladimir Putin may be stalled after a preparatory session between the leaders’ top foreign-policy aides this week was put on hold. S&P Global Commodities at Sea estimates that for the week ending October 19th some 688,200 mt of gasoil/diesel was exported from India, up 42% from the previous week. Some 35% of these exports were headed to Europe. Goldman Sachs expects Brent crude prices to decline further next year, reaching $52/barrel in the fourth quarter. It said the next substantial decline in prices may take time to materialize for two reasons. It said first, larger than seasonal OECD commercial builds in November are likely already priced in and it expects January to be the next month with accelerating OECD commercial stocks builds of 1.7 million bpd and second, continuing strength in diesel refining margins supports refining runs and crude demand. Goldman Sachs said they still see more downside risks to Russian production from internal challenges and from Ukraine attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure than from increasing pressure on global demand for Russian oil. UBS expects oil prices to stabilize around current levels. However, it added that prices could come under pressure if trade tensions escalate further. It believes the oil market is oversupplied but not to the extreme that IEA is currently forecasting.
Oil rises more than 1% on supply risk, US-China trade talks -- Oil prices pushed higher for a second day on Wednesday, by more than 1%, buoyed by sanctions-related supply risk and hope of a US-China trade deal while investors also digested news of the U.S. seeking oil for delivery to its strategic reserves. Brent crude futures rose 94 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $62.26 a barrel as of 0400 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 92 cents, or 1.6 per cent, to $58.16. Oil has bounced off a five-month low that was hit on Monday as producers pumped more supply while trade tension blunted demand. Supply risk arose from news overnight that a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was put on hold as well as disruption fear fuelled by Western pressure on Asian buying of Russian oil. “Despite the overall bearish sentiment driven by an oil supply glut and weak demand, the risk of supply disruption in hotspots like Russia, Venezuela, Colombia and the Middle East remains in place and prevents oil price staying below the $60 handle,” said Mukesh Sahdev, founder and CEO of energy market consultancy XAnalysts. Investors also monitored tension between the U.S. and Venezuela, a key oil producer. US strikes against Venezuela in international waters are a dangerous escalation and amount to “extrajudicial executions,” a group of independent United Nations experts said on Tuesday. In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered strikes on at least six vessels in the Caribbean that the U.S. suspected of transporting narcotics, as part of a campaign against a “narcoterrorist” threat emanating from Venezuela. Investors are also closely watching the progress of U.S.-China trade talks as officials from both countries are set to meet this week in Malaysia. Trump said on Monday he expects to work out a fair trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he plans to meet in South Korea next week. “Trump’s trade negotiation comments are likely providing some support to the market. Further support is likely coming from the cancellation of the Trump-Putin summit,” said ING commodities strategists on Wednesday. US crude, gasoline and distillate stocks fell last week, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Oil also found support on a U.S. plan to refill strategic reserves, ANZ research analysts said in a client note on Wednesday. The US Department of Energy said on Tuesday it aims to buy 1 million barrels of crude oil for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as it seeks to take advantage of relatively low oil prices to help replenish its stockpile.
India poised to sharply cut Russian oil purchases after sanctions, sources say(Reuters) - Indian refiners are poised to sharply curtail imports of Russian oil, industry sources said on Thursday, following new U.S. sanctions on two major Russian producers aimed at squeezing Moscow's revenue to fund its war in Ukraine. India has become the biggest buyer of discounted seaborne Russian crude in the aftermath of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, importing about 1.7 million barrels per day in the first nine months of this year. Russian oil is a main irritant for U.S. President Donald Trump in prolonged trade talks with India. Half of his 50% tariffs on Indian goods are in retaliation for those purchases. Privately-owned Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab, the top Indian buyer of Russian crude, plans to reduce or halt completely its import of Russian oil, according to two sources familiar with the matter. "Recalibration of Russian oil imports is ongoing and Reliance will be fully aligned to GOI (Government of India) guidelines," a Reliance spokesman said in response to a query on whether the company plans to cut its crude imports from Russia. India's oil ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Indian state refiners are also reviewing their Russian oil trade documents to ensure no supply will be coming directly from Rosneft and Lukoil after the U.S. sanctioned the oil companies, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. President Trump on Wednesday imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting Lukoil and Rosneft as his frustration grows with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. Treasury has given companies until November 21 to wind down their transactions with the Russian oil producers, according to a release on the sanctions on Wednesday. "There will be massive cut. We don't anticipate it will go to zero immediately as there will be some barrels coming into market" before the deadline, a refinery source said. State refiners including Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals are reviewing bills of lading for Russian crude arriving after November 21 to make sure it is not coming directly from Rosneft or Lukoil, one of the sources said. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Indian state refiners rarely buy Russian oil directly from Rosneft and Lukoil as their purchases are typically done through intermediaries, trade sources said. Reliance, which operates the world's biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in western Gujarat state, has a long-term deal to buy nearly 500,000 bpd of crude oil from Russian oil major Rosneft. The refiner also buys Russian oil from intermediaries. Nayara Energy, whose biggest shareholder is Rosneft, also buys oil from the company. Nayara did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"They've Cut It Way Back" - WTI Holds Gains After Trump Comments On Indian Imports, Record US Crude Production Oil prices are higher this morning (extending yesterday's gains) on a report the US and India are nearing a trade deal that could see the South Asian nation gradually reduce imports of Russian crude, which would boost demand for alternative supplies. President Trump said on Oct. 21 that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to scale back India’s imports of Russian oil in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.As Aldgra Fredly reports for The Epoch Times, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he spoke with Modi about the matter during a phone call on Tuesday. He said that their conversation primarily focused on U.S.–India trade relations.“We just have a good relationship, and he’s not going to buy much oil from Russia. He wants to see that war end as much as I do. He wants to see the war end with Russia–Ukraine,” he said.“And, as you know, they’re not going to be buying too much oil. So they’ve cut it way back and they’re continuing to cut it way back.” Modi took to social media to thank Trump for his warm Diwali greetings and the phone call, but provided no details about what was discussed during their call.“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,” Modi stated in a post on X.Trump said last week that he had received assurances from Modi that India would stop purchasing oil from Russia.“That’s a big stop,” he told reporters in the Oval Office during a press conference on Oct. 15.“Now [I’ve] got to get China to do the same thing.”Experts at the Observer Research Foundation think tank estimate that India accounts for more than one-third of Russia’s crude exports, behind China’s 50 percent share. Meanwhile, European Union leaders are expected to greenlight a 19th Russia sanctions package at a summit on Thursday, after Slovakia dropped its objections. Crude inventories fell (and gasoline stocks dipped) according to a report from API overnight. Traders will now focus on the official data. API”
- Crude -2.98mm
- Cushing
- Gasoline -236k
- Distillates -974k
DOE:
- Crude -961k
- Cushing -770k
- Gasoline -2.147mm
- Distillates -1.479mm
Official inventory data confirmed the trend of API overnight with across the board drawdowns (though smaller than API). This is the3rd straight week of drawdowns for products and at the Cushing hub...Graphics Source: Bloomberg As we detailed yesterday, the Trump administration announced plans to buy 1 million barrels of crude to add to the SPR. As the chart below shows, that's not exactly 'unprecedented' as weekly additions have been around 500k barrels all year. The 819k barrel addition last week was not quite enough to offset the961k barrel decline from DOE... US crude production hovered near record highs (as the rig count started to decline again)...
Oil Rises as EIA Reports Across the Board Inventory Draw - Crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 1 million barrels during the week ending October 17, after gaining 3.5 million barrels in the week prior, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 422.8 million barrels according to government data, which is still 4% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil inventories saw a surprise decline in inventory of 2.980 million barrels. Crude prices were trading up on Wednesday morning in the run-up to the EIA data release. At 10:12 a.m. in New York, Brent was trading at $62.74 per barrel—up $1.42 (+2.32%) on the day and a roughly $1.20 per barrel increase over last week’s level. WTI was also trading up, by $1.41 per barrel (+2.46%) in mid-morning trade. For total motor gasoline, the EIA reported that inventories had contracted by 2.1 million barrels, after the week prior’s 300,000-barrel decrease. The most recent figures showed average daily gasoline production increasing to 9.6 million barrels. For middle distillates, inventories decreased by another 1.5 million barrels, despite production increasing by 40,000 barrels daily to an average of 4.6 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories drew down by 4.5 million barrels in the week prior and are now 7% below the five-year average for this time of year. Total products supplied over the last four weeks slipped to 20.5 million barrels per day, down 0.1% compared to the same period last year. Gasoline demand averaged 8.6 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, while the distillate four-week average supplied hovered 4.0 million barrels—up 0.2 percent year over year.
Oil rises about 2% on higher U.S. demand - Oil prices pushed higher for a second day on Wednesday, rising about 2%, buoyed by growing U.S. energy consumption and hopes of progress for a U.S. trade deal with and India. Brent crude futures rose $1.27, or 2%, to $62.59 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed $1.26, or 2.2%, to $58.50. U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week as refining activity and demand strengthened, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude stocks fell by 961,000 barrels to 422.8 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.2 million-barrel rise. "Very impressive for shoulder season," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group. "It shows the demand side of the equation of oil is robust, and the supply numbers are not suggesting this oil glut, at least here in the U.S." Investors were also closely watching the progress of U.S.-China trade talks as officials from both countries are set to meet this week in Malaysia. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he expected to work out a fair trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he was due to meet in South Korea next week. On Tuesday, however, Trump again added to uncertainty over the meeting, saying it might not happen. Supply concerns flared on news that a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had been put on hold, and on disruption fears as Western governments pressured Asian buyers to reduce their purchases of Russian oil. Trump said he spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, adding that Modi assured him India would be limiting its oil purchases from Russia. "Oil prices climbed after reports suggested the U.S. and India are close to finalising a trade deal that could see India gradually cut imports of Russian crude, potentially lifting demand for other grades," MUFG analyst Soojin Kim said. India's Mint newspaper reported on Wednesday that the two countries were nearing a long-stalled trade agreement that would reduce U.S. tariffs on Indian imports to 15-16% from 50%.
US hits top Russian oil companies with sanctions, EU bans Russian LNG - (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft as his frustration grows with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war. The move came after EU countries on Wednesday approved a 19th package of sanctions on Moscow for its war against Ukraine that included a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas imports. Trump's measures also followed Britain's sanctioning last week of Rosneft and Lukoil. The U.S. Treasury Department said it was prepared to take further action as it called on Moscow to agree immediately to a ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022. "Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. "We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions." Oil prices jumped more than $2 a barrel after the U.S. measures, with Brent crude futures extending gains after settlement, rising to about $64. The sanctions are a major policy shift for Trump, who had not put sanctions on Russia over the war and instead relied on trade measures. Trump earlier this year imposed additional 25% tariffs on goods from India in retaliation for its purchasing discounted Russian oil. The U.S. has not imposed the tariffs on China, another major buyer of Russian oil. A $60 price cap on Russian oil imposed by Western countries after Russia's invasion has shifted Russia's oil customers in recent years from Europe to Asia. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday he had canceled a planned summit in Hungary with Putin because it didn't feel like it was the right time. Trump also said he hopes the sanctions on Russian oil companies will not need to be in place for a long time. Trump said last year that he likes to remove sanctions quickly because of the risks to the dominance of the dollar in global transactions that the measures can bring. Russia has often asked for payments for oil in other currencies. ' Analysts said the measures were a big step and long overdue. "This can't just be one and done," said Edward Fishman, a former U.S. official who is now a senior research scholar at Columbia University. He said the question was whether the U.S. now threatens sanctions on anyone doing business with Rosneft and Lukoil. Jeremy Paner, a former sanctions investigator at the Treasury Department and now a partner at law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, said the absence of banks and Indian or Chinese oil purchasers in Wednesday's sanctions means they "will not get Putin’s attention." A senior Ukrainian official, however, said the step was “great news” and that the two Russian energy companies were among U.S. sanctions targets proposed by Kyiv in the past. The Treasury also sanctioned dozens of Rosneft and Lukoil subsidiaries. The measures block U.S. assets of those designated and prevent Americans from doing business with them. The EU's LNG ban will take effect in two stages: short-term contracts will end after six months and long-term contracts from January 1, 2027. The full ban comes a year earlier than the Commission's proposed roadmap to end the bloc's reliance on Russian fossil fuels. The new EU package also adds new travel restrictions on Russian diplomats and lists 117 more vessels from Moscow's shadow fleet, mostly tankers, bringing the total to 558. The listings include banks in Kazakhstan and Belarus, the presidency said. EU diplomatic sources told Reuters that four entities linked to China's oil industry will be listed but the names will not be made public until the official adoption on Thursday. These include two oil refineries, a trading company and an entity which helps in the circumvention in oil and other sectors.
Oil Prices Rally Over 2% After US Sanctions Hit Russia’s Energy Giants -- Global oil prices climbed sharply on Thursday, rising more than 2% in early trading as new US sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil producers — Rosneft and Lukoil — fueled fresh concerns about supply disruptions. Brent crude surged 2.12% to trade at $64.29 per barrel, up from $62.95 in the previous session. Similarly, the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), gained 2.3% to reach $60.53 per barrel, compared to $59.15 a day earlier. The United States Treasury Department announced sanctions against Rosneft, Lukoil, and several of their subsidiaries, citing Moscow’s continued lack of commitment to peace talks aimed at ending the ongoing war in Ukraine. The sanctions are designed to restrict Russia’s ability to generate oil revenue that funds its military operations. In a statement, the Treasury reiterated that Washington remains committed to promoting peace and will continue to use all available tools to pressure Russia into constructive negotiations. The latest sanctions target dozens of subsidiaries involved in exploration, refining, and natural gas operations, including Rosneft units such as Bashneft Dobycha, RN Tuapse Oil Refinery, and Yuganskneftegaz, as well as Lukoil’s Perm and Kaliningradmorneft divisions. Under the measures enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), all assets of these entities under US jurisdiction are frozen, and American individuals or businesses are prohibited from conducting transactions with them. Any company in which sanctioned entities hold a 50% or greater interest will automatically fall under the restrictions. OFAC clarified that the sanctions are intended to influence Russia’s actions, not to punish ordinary citizens, emphasizing that the ultimate goal is to drive behavioral change within Moscow’s leadership. Market analysts have warned that the sanctions could tighten global oil supply, particularly if major buyers like India reduce imports from Russia under diplomatic pressure. Such a shift could redirect demand toward US and Middle Eastern crude, pushing prices higher in the Atlantic basin. Indian refiners have reportedly begun reviewing their procurement plans to avoid potential exposure to sanctioned entities. Meanwhile, new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed declining inventories, further supporting the upward trend in prices. According to the EIA, US commercial crude stockpiles dropped by 1 million barrels last week to 422.8 million, contrary to market expectations of a 2.2 million-barrel increase. Gasoline inventories also fell by 2.1 million barrels to 216.7 million, while domestic oil output slipped by 7,000 barrels per day to 13.62 million bpd. The combined impact of tightening supply, falling inventories, and geopolitical tensions has reinforced bullish sentiment in the oil market, keeping investors on alert for further price volatility.
New Sanctions on Russia’s Two Largest Oil Companies - The oil market on Thursday added to its sharp gains posted on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump introduced new sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil over Russia’s war in Ukraine. The U.S. also threatened to take further action if Russia did not agree immediately to a ceasefire in Ukraine. The European Union sanctioned the two Russian oil companies last week as well. The crude market surged higher as the sanctions are leading India and China to stop buying Russian oil and seek alternative supplies. The crude market gapped higher on the opening from $59.83 to $59.94 but quickly backfilled that gap as it posted a low of $59.64. However, the market continued to rally higher on reports that Indian refiners plan to reduce or completely halt its import of Russian oil. The market extended its gains to over $3.60 as it posted a high of $62.20 by mid-day in light of the news that Chinese state oil majors are suspending their Russian oil purchases due to concerns over the sanctions. The market’s gains seemed to have been limited by comments made by Kuwait’s Oil Minister that OPEC is ready to offset any shortage in the market by rolling back their output cuts further. The market later settled in a sideways trading range. The December WTI contract settled up $3.29 at $61.79 and the December Brent contract settled up $3.40 at $65.99. The product markets ended the session sharply higher, led by the heating oil market, which settled up 15.34 cents at $2.4030, while the RB market settled up 6.19 cents at $1.9269. Industry sources said Indian refiners are poised to sharply curtail imports of Russian oil to comply with new U.S. sanctions on Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil, potentially removing a major hurdle to a trade deal with the United States. Privately-owned Reliance Industries, the top Indian buyer of Russian crude, plans to reduce or halt completely its import of Russian oil. Indian state refiners including Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp are also reviewing their Russian oil trade documents to ensure no supply will be coming directly from Rosneft and Lukoil after the U.S. sanctioned the oil companies. Trade sources said Chinese state oil majors have suspended purchases of seaborne Russian oil after the United States imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil. Chinese national oil companies PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC and Zhenhua Oil will refrain from dealing in seaborne Russian oil at least in the short-term due to concern over sanctions. White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt said a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is not completely off the table. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he canceled a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing a lack of progress in diplomatic efforts and a sense that the timing was off. President Trump expressed frustration with the stalled negotiations. The Trump administration announced a series of steps to open up Alaskan wilderness to energy and infrastructure development, including by resuming oil and gas leasing in the remote Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Oil surges 5% after US sanctions Russian firms Rosneft, Lukoil (Reuters) - Oil prices surged around 5% to a two-week high on Thursday after the U.S. imposed sanctions on major Russian suppliers Rosneft and Lukoil over Moscow's war in Ukraine, prompting energy firms in China and India to consider cutting Russian imports. Brent futures rose $3.40, or 5.4%, to settle at $65.99 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $3.29, or 5.6%, to settle at $61.79. Those were the biggest daily percentage gains for both crude contracts since mid-June and their highest closes since October 8. "The announcement of sanctions by the U.S. on Rosneft and Lukoil is a major escalation in the targeting of Russia’s energy sector and could be a big enough shock to flip the global oil market into a deficit next year," Russia was the world's second-biggest crude oil producer in 2024 after the U.S., according to U.S. energy data. In addition to soaring crude prices, U.S. diesel futures jumped almost 7%, boosting the diesel crack spread to its highest since February 2024. Crack spreads measure refining profit margins. The U.S. sanctions mean refineries in China and India, major buyers of Russian oil, will need to seek alternative suppliers to avoid exclusion from the Western banking system, said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen. Multiple trade sources told Reuters that Chinese state oil majors have suspended purchases of seaborne Russian oil from the two companies now under U.S. sanctions, providing a further boost to prices. Kuwait's oil minister said that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would be ready to offset any shortage in the market by rolling back output cuts. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, said it will take time for the global market to replace Russian oil. "This is, of course, an attempt to put pressure on Russia," Putin added. "But no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure. The U.S. said it was prepared to take further action as it called on Moscow to agree immediately to a ceasefire in Ukraine. "The various U.S. and EU sanctions thus far have had essentially no effect on Russia’s ability to export oil, so we doubt that this latest round will be game-changing. That said, the Kremlin may need to use more intricate methods to ship its oil covertly, thereby increasing costs," Molchanov noted the U.S. investment bank would "continue keeping an eye on this issue" since Russian exports account for about 7% of global oil supply. Britain sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil last week and the European Union has approved a 19th package of sanctions against Russia that includes a ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas.The EU also added two Chinese refiners with combined capacity of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), as well as Chinaoil Hong Kong, a trading arm of PetroChina to its Russia sanctions list, its Official Journal showed on Thursday. The impact of sanctions on oil markets will depend on how India reacts and whether Russia finds alternative buyers. Refiners in India, which became the largest buyer of discounted seaborne Russian crude in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, were poised to sharply curtail imports of Russian oil to comply with new U.S. sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, industry sources said on Thursday, potentially removing a major hurdle to a trade deal with the U.S. Privately owned Reliance Industries, the top Indian buyer of Russian crude, plans to reduce or halt such imports completely, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
EU Imposes Fresh Russian Sanctions, Sending Oil Prices Higher - The European Union (EU) has imposed fresh sanctions against Russia, targeting its energy, finance, and military industrial base to put pressure on Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.The 19th package of sanctions puts in place complete transaction ban on Russian energy producers Rosneft Oil Co. and Gazprom Neft. The new measures eliminated the exemption for Rosneft's and Gazprom Neft's oil and gas imports into the EU.Brussels will implement a total ban on Russian Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from January 2027. It clamped down on its "shadow fleet" of 557 tankers, the European Commission (EC) said on Thursday.The new sanctions have targeted "enablers and profiteers of its war of aggression," the commission said. EC President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc's sanctions kept "the pressure high on the aggressor" of the war. "For the first time we are hitting Russia's gas sector — the heart of its war economy," von der Leyen said on Thursday. "We will not relent until the people of Ukraine have a just and lasting peace." The EU also took measures against third-country operators enabling Russia's revenue streams.These included sanctions against two Chinese refineries and an oil trader. Oil from third countries and the transport of oil compliant with the Oil Price Cap to third countries are exempted."The sanctions are fairly strong against two of Russia's major energy companies, and their subsidiaries," Theodore Karasik, a Non-Resident Fellow, Jamestown Foundation, Washington, DC, told European Capital Insights. "The key here is the subsidiaries, and how quickly Moscow and its black market partners can adjust to enforcement measures."Brent crude gained about 3.1% to $64.54, and WTI surged around 5.6% to $60.43. Both hit two‑week highs, as traders priced in risks of disruptions to Russian oil exports and LNG flows.Brent looks set to close about 9% higher for the week.The EU aligned its policies with the US after Washington announced additional sanctions against Moscow. The Trump administration imposed on Wednesday restrictions on Russian energy majors for the first time. It cited Moscow's "lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war." The US Treasury Department targeted Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil OAO, and their subsidiaries.."US sanctions aim to squeeze Russia's export revenues, which still provide ≈ 35% of its federal budget," Velina Tchakarova, a Geopolitical Strategist, wrote on X on Thursday. "Washington is signaling a total-energy pressure strategy, cutting Russia off from Western capital, insurance, and maritime services next to squeezing a major lifeline for its war economy."The US wants the Kremlin to accept an immediate ceasefire to end the Ukraine war. President Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday to establish a truce along the current line of fighting. EU leaders have backed the plan.Trump made the proposal after speaking with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin by phone and meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. After meeting Zelenskyy on October 17, Trump said, "It is time to stop the killing, and make a deal.”Zelenskyy failed to convince Trump to supply Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine during the talks.In the meantime, Russia's top economic envoy arrived in Washington for "official" talks today, CNN reported, citing sources with knowledge of the visit.Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund and a Kremlin special envoy, will meet Trump officials "to continue discussions about the US-Russia relationship," CNN reported the sources as saying.Before Dmitriev’s visit, Putin said on Thursday that "no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decide anything under pressure. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has also dismissed appeals for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, arguing it would "preserve the Nazi regime."For the EU, the new round of sanctions aims to hit Moscow where it hurts.Kaja Kallas, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said on X that the sanctions made it "increasingly harder for Putin to fund this war." She told CNBC that the new US measures against Russia were a "signal of strength." The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the country had developed "immunity" to Western sanctions.However, Russia's gross domestic product has steadily declined since the first quarter of 2024, according to data from Trading Economics.The International Monetary Fund downgraded its forecast for Russia's gross domestic product growth in 2025 to 0.6% from 0.9%.The Russian economy will slow sharply from 4.3% growth in 2024, Reuters reported on October 14."So we downgraded growth in Russia for 2025 and 2026, and growth has been significantly slowing since last year," Alfred Kammer, Director, European Department, International Monetary Fund, said on October 17."We are forecasting very low growth rates for Russia in the medium-term, reflecting the impact of sanctions and the war."
Oil prices dip after surge, remain on track for weekly gain amid supply fears - U.S. crude futures eased in early trade on Friday, trimming part of the previous day's surge but remaining on track for a weekly gain, as fresh U.S. sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies over the war in Ukraine fuelled supply concerns.Brent crude futures fell 17 cents, or 0.3%, to $65.82 by 0024 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 17 cents, or 0.3%, at $61.62.Both benchmarks jumped more than 5% on Thursday and were set for about a 7% weekly gain, the biggest since mid-June. Russian President Vladimir Putin remained defiant on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump hit Russia's Rosneft and Lukoil with sanctions to pressure the Kremlin leader to end the war in Ukraine. Rosneft and Lukoil together account for more than 5% of global oil output. The U.S. sanctions prompted Chinese state oil majors to suspend Russian oil purchases in the short term, trade sources told Reuters. Refiners in India, the largest buyer of seaborne Russian oil, are set to sharply cut their crude imports, according to industry sources."Buying driven by supply tightness concerns over U.S. sanctions on Russia has subsided," said Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst with Rakuten Securities."With OPEC holding spare capacity, a one-sided rally is unlikely," he said, predicting that WTI is expected to trade within about $5 above or below $65. Kuwait's oil minister said that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would be ready to offset any shortage in the market by rolling back output cuts.The U.S. said it was prepared to take further action, while Putin derided the sanctions as an unfriendly act, saying they would not significantly affect the Russian economy and talked up Russia's importance to the global market.European Union countries also approved a 19th package of sanctions on Moscow that included a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas imports, while Britain hit Rosneft and Lukoil with sanctions last week.Russia was the world's second-biggest crude oil producer in 2024 after the U.S., according to U.S. energy data. Investors are also focusing on a planned meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week.Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing have been escalating, marked by tit-for-tat retaliatory measures announced by both sides. Confirmation that the two leaders would meet next week appeared to ease those tensions.
Oil slips on skepticism about US commitment to Russian oil sanctions (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday as skepticism crept into the market about the Trump administration's commitment to sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies over the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures settled 5 cents, or 0.1%, lower at $65.94 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures finished at $61.50 a barrel, down 29 cents, or 0.5%. Both benchmarks had risen earlier in the session, extending gains of more than 5% made on Thursday after the sanctions were announced, but retreated in the last two hours of trading. They still ended the week over 7% higher, the biggest weekly rise since mid-June."There is renewed skepticism these sanctions will be as harsh as they are said to be," U.S. President Donald Trump hit Russia's Rosneft and Lukoil with sanctions to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war.The two companies together account for more than 5% of global oil output, and Russia was the world's second-biggest crude oil producer in 2024 after the U.S.The sanctions prompted Chinese state oil majors to suspend Russian oil purchases in the short term, trade sources told Reuters. Refiners in India, the largest buyer of seaborne Russian oil, were set to sharply cut Russian crude imports, industry sources said."Flows to India are at risk in particular," Janiv Shah, a vice president of oil markets analysis at Rystad Energy, said in a client note. "Challenges to Chinese refiners would be more muted, considering the diversification of crude sources and stock availability."Kuwait's oil minister said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would be ready to offset any shortage in the market by raising production.The U.S. said it was prepared to take further action, while Putin derided the sanctions as an unfriendly act, saying they would not significantly affect the Russian economy and talking up Russia's importance to the global market.Britain imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil last week and the European Union approved a 19th package of sanctions against Russia that includes a ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas.The EU also added two Chinese refiners with a combined capacity of 600,000 barrels per day, as well as Chinaoil Hong Kong, a trading arm of PetroChina to its Russian sanctions list, its official journal showed on Thursday.Looking ahead, investors were also focusing on a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week as the pair work to defuse long-standing trade tensions and end a spate of tit-for-tat retaliatory measures.
Israel Launches Wave of Heavy Airstrikes Across Gaza, Killing at Least 45 - The Israeli military launched heavy airstrikes across Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 45 Palestinians, marking the deadliest day of Israeli attacks in the Strip since the ceasefire went into effect on October 10. The IDF stepped up its attacks on Gaza after alleging its troops were attacked by Palestinian militants in Rafah, southern Gaza, though some reports indicate an explosion was caused by an Israeli vehicle running over an unexploded bomb. Hamas denied responsibility for the incident in Rafah on Sunday, saying it hasn’t been in contact with its fighters in the area. “We confirm our full commitment to carrying out everything that was agreed, first and foremost the ceasefire in all areas of the Gaza Strip,” Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement. “We have no knowledge of any incidents or clashes taking place in the Rafah area, since these are red zones under occupation control, and contact with what remains of our groups there has been cut off since the war resumed in March of this year. We have no information on whether they have been killed or are still alive since that date,” al-Qassam added. Israeli officials said later in the day that two IDF soldiers were killed in the attack. According toHaaretz, Israeli military officials said they thought militants fired on Israeli troops after exiting a tunnel, but other reports contradict the claim.
Gaza Health Ministry Says at Least 80 Palestinians Killed by the IDF Since Ceasefire Went Into Effect - Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Monday that Israeli forces have killed at least 80 Palestinians and wounded 303 since October 11, the day after the ceasefire went into effect.The Health Ministry said that a total of 45 bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks were brought to hospitals over the previous 24-hour period.The IDF unleashed a heavy wave of airstrikes across Gaza on Sunday after alleging its troops in Rafah came under attack by Palestinian militants, though a White House official told The American Conservative that Hamas didn’t violate the truce and that an Israeli “tank hit an unexploded IED that has probably been there for months.” A man carries the body of a Palestinian child killed in Sunday’s Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza Strip, October 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud IssaThe IDF announced on Sunday night that the heavy bombardment was over, but it killed at leasttwo more Palestinians on Monday. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, they were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City. The IDF claimed its forces fired on two “terrorists” who allegedly crossed the “yellow line,” referring to the line Israeli troops withdrew to when the ceasefire went into effect, but the statement didn’t allege the Palestinians were armed.There have been several incidents of the IDF firing on Palestinians who allegedly crossed the yellow line, which has not been marked, meaning people on the ground are unaware they’re crossing it. The Israeli military said on Monday that it had started marking the boundary by placing large yellow concrete blocks along the line every 200 meters.In one attack on Friday, the IDF massacred 11 people, including seven young children and three women, who were traveling in a vehicle that allegedly crossed the yellow line. “The family could have been warned or dealt with in a way that did not lead to murder,” said Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense. “What happened confirms that the occupation remains thirsty for blood and determined to commit crimes against innocent civilians.”Palestinians in Gaza have also been working to recover bodies that are under the rubble, as around 10,000 people have been reported missing. The Health Ministry said that since October 11, 426 bodies have been recovered. The ministry’s violent death toll since October 7, 2023, has climbed to 68,216, and the number of wounded has reached 170,361. Studies have found that the ministry’s numbers are likely a significant undercount.
Israel Has Allowed Only a Fraction of the Agreed Upon Aid To Enter Gaza - Israel has allowed just a fraction of the agreed-upon number of aid trucks to enter Gaza under the ceasefire deal, according to officials in the Strip.Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel pledged to immediately allow the “commencement of full entry of humanitarian aid and relief” at a minimum consistent with the January 2025 ceasefire deal, under which Israel agreed to allow 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza per day. According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, Israel has allowed just 15% of the trucks to enter Gaza. “We confirm that the total number of humanitarian aid trucks that have entered the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began has reached 986 trucks out of 6,600 trucks that were supposed to enter until Monday evening, October 20, 2025, according to what was agreed upon in the text of the resolution,” the Media Office said in a post on Telegram.Data from the UN2720 Monitoring and Tracking Dashboard, a mechanism created in 2024 to monitor aid shipments into Gaza, shows that from October 10 to October 21, only 853 aid truckshave reached their intended destination in Gaza.The Media Office added that, on average, 89 trucks were entering Gaza per day, saying it reflected “the continued policy of strangulation, starvation and humanitarian blackmail practiced by the occupation.”The UN’s World Food Program has also said that food supplies to Gaza have ramped up since the ceasefire, but are still well below the target. The WFP said its target was for 2,000 tonnes of food to enter Gaza per day, but only 750 tonnes are entering daily.“To be able to get to this scale-up, we have to use every border crossing point right now,” said WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa, according to Al Jazeera. She said just two of the Israeli-controlled border crossings were operational, one in central Gaza and one in the south, and Israel still has yet to open the Rafah border crossing that connects Gaza and Egypt. Etefa added that the food supplies that have entered Gaza are enough to feed half a million people, or about a quarter of Gaza’s population, for two weeks, and that many people are rationing because they fear the supplies will be cut off. “They eat part of it, and they ration and keep some of the supplies for an emergency, because they are not very confident how long the ceasefire will last and what will happen next,” she said.
Video Shows Israeli Settler Clubbing Elderly Palestinian Woman Harvesting Olives - A video of a Jewish settler attack on Palestinian farmers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday shows a masked settler using a large club to beat an elderly Palestinian woman who was attempting to harvest olives.Jasper Nathaniel, an American journalist who recorded the attack, said the IDF led him and a group of Palestinian farmers into a settler ambush in the village of Turmus Ayya near the central West Bank City of Ramallah, on the first day of olive harvesting season.Nathaniel said the woman who was hit with the club was struck multiple times and beaten unconscious. According to Ihab Hassan, a Palestinian activist with the Agora Initiative, the woman “has been moved to the intensive care unit (ICU) after suffering a brain hemorrhage caused by the attack.”The same settler also used the club to attack activists who were in the village to provide protection for the Palestinian farmers, injuring at least two of them.A horrifying video shows masked Israeli settler terrorists assaulting an elderly Palestinian woman during the olive harvest season in Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah. They beat her with clubs; she lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital. pic.twitter.com/CTB0Ggyte5 Nathaniel said that the US embassy said they could do nothing when he asked for help. “If I am killed in the West Bank, please know that I blame you personally,” he wrote on X in a post addressed to US Ambassador Mike Huckabee.“I was set up by the IDF to be attacked by 100 armed settlers. When I sent the embassy the video and asked for protection for me and everyone else in Turmus’ayya, they literally said no,” Nathaniel added. His full video report also shows settlers lighting cars on fire.Jewish settlers also carried out attacks against olive harvesters in the nearby town of Taybeh, the last remaining West Bank village with an entirely Christian population. Sources told the Palestinian news agency WAFA that Israeli settlers severely beat at least one farmer in Taybeh.
VW Halts Golf Production In Wolfsburg As Chip Shortage Worsens - In 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union address bragged about "toughest sanctions the world has ever seen" against Russia which she claimed at the time, "Russia's financial sector is on life-support. We have cut off three quarters of Russia's banking sector from international markets" and "The Russian military is taking chips from dishwashers and refrigerators to fix their military hardware, because they ran out of semiconductors. Russia's industry is in tatters." Give von der Leyen's speech a quick listen. In true meme fashion, the best way to mock left-wing Brussels elites might be with a classic "How it started vs. How it's going" - only this time, it's not Russia in trouble, but rather von der Leyen may have spoken a little too soon. Memes are still legal in the U.S... German tabloid newspaper Bild reports that Volkswagen is preparing to suspend production of one of its most popular models, the Golf, at its Wolfsburg factory today. The Tiguan and other models will follow this, as the worsening semiconductor shortage begins to send shockwaves across the European auto sector. As explained by the German media outlet, the missing Chinese chips are due to the "supply stoppage of Nexperia chips." Here is more color on the situation: In addition to the Golf and Tiguan, the Touran and Tayron are also manufactured in Wolfsburg. The reason for the production suspension: a supply stoppage of Nexperia chips. The Nijmegen-based semiconductor manufacturer is at the center of a dispute between China and the United States. Under pressure from the US government, the Dutch government took control of Nexperia; in response, Beijing banned the export of Nexperia chips from the People's Republic. Nexperia also produces in Europe, but the majority of its chips come from China. VW apparently has no alternative at the moment. Semiconductors from other manufacturers would first have to be tested and certified, company sources said. The chip crisis could affect not only VW but also the entire automotive industry and even other sectors. Spokespersons for BMW, Mercedes, and Daimler emphasized that the situation is being analyzed. Production at the companies is currently still running.
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