In early April — after a month of disruption around one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints — US President Donald Trump wrote that with “a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.” Three weeks on, transiting through the Strait of Hormuz has instead become virtually impossible for the first time in history. Trump has imposed a US blocka...
In early April — after a month of disruption around one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints — US President Donald Trump wrote that with “a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.” Three weeks on, transiting through the Strait of Hormuz has instead become virtually impossible for the first time in history. Trump has imposed a US blockade of Iran-linked ships, Tehran is using its “mosquito fleet” of gunboats to close down the waterway in response — and shipowners say a return to normal shipments is months away, at best. Daily transits, already limited since the start of US and Israeli strikes on Iran, are now near zero . That compares to a peacetime average of around 135. For weeks, vessel owners and crews had to deal with one major hurdle to attempt an exit: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as Tehran tightened control of the strait. They now have US warships interdicting vessels — some far from the Persian Gulf — and increasingly unpredictable Iranian gunboats, reacting. Several shipping officials in the region said the US blockade has had the effect of making the area more volatile, as Iran redoubles efforts to keep the strait shut. “What the US is doing, with its blockade, looks to be expanding the area” of risk for ships, said Rajalingam Subramaniam, chief executive officer at Fleet Management Limited, which has more than 400 seafarers trapped inside the gulf. “There’s this posturing going on, and it has actually created more uncertainty.” Read More: The Billion-Barrel Hormuz Oil Shock Is About to Crash Demand A narrow maritime corridor connecting oil and gas producers in the gulf with the world, Hormuz has become the key flashpoint in the eight-week war with Iran — a daily reminder of the country’s asymmetric ability to impose global economic pain, and a symbol of the intractable nature of the conflict, as both sides dig in. “Hormuz is definitely a tool of leverage and a metric of whether Irani...
An explosive device killed 13 people travelling on a bus in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, an attack the country’s army chief described as a “terrorist act” that also left at least 38 injured as violence linked to drug trafficking in the region escalates. Octavio Guzman, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on social media that the device was set off while the bus was travelling along the...
An explosive device killed 13 people travelling on a bus in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, an attack the country’s army chief described as a “terrorist act” that also left at least 38 injured as violence linked to drug trafficking in the region escalates. Octavio Guzman, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on social media that the device was set off while the bus was travelling along the Panamerican Highway in the municipality of Cajibio. Five children were among the injured, Cauca...
War on Iran has changed many things, not least of which is the tenor of nuclear debate in two of America’s closest Asian allies: countries that have long defined themselves by the weapons they do not possess. For decades, the question of whether South Korea and Japan might one day build their own nuclear arsenal was treated as fringe speculation – the preserve of hawks and provocateurs. No longer....
War on Iran has changed many things, not least of which is the tenor of nuclear debate in two of America’s closest Asian allies: countries that have long defined themselves by the weapons they do not possess. For decades, the question of whether South Korea and Japan might one day build their own nuclear arsenal was treated as fringe speculation – the preserve of hawks and provocateurs. No longer. The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has sounded the alarm....
President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip to Pakistan by his top envoys for negotiations over the Iran conflict, raising questions about the durability of the current ceasefire. (Source: Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip to Pakistan by his top envoys for negotiations over the Iran conflict, raising questions about the durability of the current ceasefire. (Source: Bloomberg)
The iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT:SLV) and the Global X - Silver Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:SIL) both target the silver market, but they do so in distinct ways: SLV reflects silver’s spot price, while SIL holds a basket of global silver miners. This comparison examines how those differences play out in terms of cost, performance, risk, and portfolio makeup. Beta measures price volatility relative to the ...
The iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT:SLV) and the Global X - Silver Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:SIL) both target the silver market, but they do so in distinct ways: SLV reflects silver’s spot price, while SIL holds a basket of global silver miners. This comparison examines how those differences play out in terms of cost, performance, risk, and portfolio makeup. Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Continue reading
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) reported its earnings results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2026 on Thursday before markets opened, a period that included one full month of U.S. combat operations in and around Iran. The results were not what you'd expect. Lockheed missed analyst forecasts for Q1 revenue of $18.3 billion, reporting only $18 billion in sales. Earnings were an even bigger miss...
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) reported its earnings results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2026 on Thursday before markets opened, a period that included one full month of U.S. combat operations in and around Iran. The results were not what you'd expect. Lockheed missed analyst forecasts for Q1 revenue of $18.3 billion, reporting only $18 billion in sales. Earnings were an even bigger miss for the defense giant , with profit per share of only $6.44, versus analysts' forecast of $6.74. By the time trading closed for the day Thursday, investors had sold off Lockheed stock by nearly 5%, and the stock continued to fall on Friday. But here's the biggest surprise: Despite the miss, Lockheed stock might actually be a buy. Continue reading
The Final Battle For Your Mind Authored by Casey Fleming via The Epoch Times, Your phone buzzes. A notification lights up your screen—an article, a meme, a fun video, a flash sale, or the latest trend. It feels harmless, even entertaining. Just another moment in the endless rhythm of digital life. But beneath the surface lies something far more sinister. The seemingly trivial event is part of a qu...
The Final Battle For Your Mind Authored by Casey Fleming via The Epoch Times, Your phone buzzes. A notification lights up your screen—an article, a meme, a fun video, a flash sale, or the latest trend. It feels harmless, even entertaining. Just another moment in the endless rhythm of digital life. But beneath the surface lies something far more sinister. The seemingly trivial event is part of a quiet, persistent system designed to influence something deeply personal: your mind. U.S. intelligence agencies have made the scope of this issue increasingly clear. Certain foreign-developed applications, particularly those linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), don’t simply collect user data in the limited way most people imagine. They gather extensive streams of information continuously—pulling from users, their contacts, and broader networks, sometimes extending to people who never installed the app. That data may be stored or accessed under legal frameworks that grant government authorities broad reach. What looks like ordinary app functionality can function as a large-scale intelligence collection system with strategic value. This is no longer just about privacy. It intersects directly with national security. The nature of conflict is evolving. Where adversaries once focused on stealing classified files or disrupting infrastructure, the modern battlefield includes the shaping of perception. Data is now a weapon of war —it is insight. It reveals behaviors, preferences, emotional triggers, and decision-making patterns. Aggregated at scale, it enables detailed behavioral models and psychological profiles that predict how individuals and groups will respond to specific messages or events. When paired with artificial intelligence, this data becomes a precision weapon. Patterns are analyzed rapidly. Content is tailored, timed, framed, and repeated to maximize impact. Casual scrolling gradually shifts into structured influence, guiding users subtly rather than through ov...