These tiny snakes cartwheel to flee hazard Science Information (Micael T)
Pink dolphin sighted off Oman’s coast; know what causes its uncommon color Indian Specific (Micael T)
Thomas Dambo: TROLLMAKER (Artist Studio Tour) YouTube (resilc)
Fairly or spiritually stunning, what’s the distinction? Hilary White (Micael T)
John Van Reenen on Innovation Coverage Matthew Esche (Micael T)
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Africa faces ‘advanced’ Ebola outbreak after unfold to Nigeria, WHO warns Japan Instances
What to Know About Shamonda Virus Following the First Reported Human An infection WIRED (resilc)
Local weather/Setting
Big ‘warmth storms’ are scorching the Earth. That is the story of the most important one on file CNBC Africa
The Amazon in flames: Brazil’s rainforest burns amid El Niño and election tensions El Pais
In Photos: ‘Armageddon’ at Europe’s Swim Spots Linked to Local weather Change and Manufacturing facility Farm Air pollution DeSmog
La France, au niveau nationwide, est toujours en sécheresse. Les sols ne sont remplis qu’à 28% (seuil “sécheresse” à 40%, graphique 1)
La sécheresse 2026 fait donc toujours course en tête, seule (graphique 2). Elle est de très loin la sécheresse la plus importante jamais observée en France depuis le début des mesures.
La state of affairs s’améliore (en moyenne) mais cache de fortes disparités régionales (carte 3). Les récents déluges dans le sud font remonter la moyenne nationale. Mais nous restons fréquemment au niveau désertique à 0% d’eau de la Vendée à l’Alsace (alors que nous sommes fin octobre !).
Dans certains cash de l’Hérault, nous vivons l’un des années les plus humides depuis le début de mesure. Au sein de cette année, nous avons vécu la sécheresse la plus importante (graphique 4). La sécheresse estivale a été encadrée par des déluges en hiver et à l’automne : il n’y a pas eu de demi-mesures !
Toutes ces données seront prochainement disponibles gratuitement sur tous les factors de France sur https://t.co/c4WA7fbZRJ.
— Dr. Serge Zaka (Dr. Zarge) (@SergeZaka) October 21, 2026
Pakistan’s manufacturing unit employees swelter in excessive warmth as world manufacturers fail on security pledges AOL
Water
The hidden water disaster beneath the American west Monetary Instances
China?
Rich Chinese language transfer offshore cash to U.S. banks as Beijing’s tax web widens CNBC
China steps up ‘gray zone’ ways to isolate Taiwan and punish its allies Monetary Instances
Philippines Eyes Nearer Taiwan Ties to Defend Important Undersea Cables Trendy Diplomacy
Chinese language state media takes purpose at Japanese agency KDDI over Mongolia wildfire South China Morning Put up
South Asia
Indian Face-off with China continues at a number of areas alongside Arunachal border The Hindu
India No Longer Sees the US as Benign Bloomberg
Pakistan says water is ‘purple line’ as India retains Indus treaty in abeyance Arab Information
Africa
800,000 Somalis threatened by flooding displacement: UN Arab Information
Tons of of Ethiopians cross into Kenya to flee regional preventing Aljazeera
South of the Border
‘Day by day wrestle’: Cubans dig wells in the hunt for water France24
Cuba’s public transport plunges to all-time low amid US gasoline blockade, minister says Reuters
European Disunion
EU mulls sanctions reprieve for Chinese language fabric-maker accused of aiding Russia South China Morning Put up (guurst)
France bolsters safety as companies brace for renewed protests Euronews
From a reader with an residence within the sixth, which has been considerably faraway from the protests. Certainly one of a number of photographs of boarded-up retailer fronts:
Macron bans ‘illegitimate’ protests in France as he tries to get a grip on unrest Guardian
Europe’s riots unfold to Spain as protests spiral uncontrolled Unbiased
Trucker blockades in southern Italy ramp up stress on Meloni Politico
French borrowing prices overtake US amid funds turmoil Guardian
New German laws would require that social media platforms massively increase “diversity-promoting” content material eugyppius (Micael T)
Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest retreat catches hearth, police say DW (Micael T)
Outdated Blighty
‘Relentless’ value of residing pressures behind collapse in UK shopper confidence Monetary Instances
Nationwide Farmers Union requires Finances motion amid hovering diesel costs Famers Information
The British public is being urged to arrange for meals shortages and widespread disruption from cyber assaults and emergencies below a brand new nationwide initiative Unbiased
Financial institution Price by the Barrel Sovereign Cash (Colonel Smithers)
UK’s local weather ambition ‘in tatters’ as Jackdaw gasfield will get go forward Oceanographic Journal
Israel v. the Neighborhood
Israeli military continues Hebron siege for 2nd day, arrests 19 Palestinians in West Financial institution Anadolu Company
Israeli assaults kill 4 as famine threat looms in Gaza Aljazeera
Syria sends troops to Sweida entrance line as Israel strikes {hardware} into space Nationwide Information
Netanyahu says finish to US navy help to Israel ‘solely a matter of time’ Anadolu Company
Iran Battle
‘Escalation is coming’: Center East on edge as new Israeli-US assault on Iran looms Center East Eye
The Hormuz Disinformation Battle: Contained in the Newest Tanker Assaults Sal Mercogliana, YouTube. A should watch.
Iran is not going to permit ‘rusty’ US navy vessels to re-enter Persian Gulf: High commander PressTV
What Is One other Spherical of Bombing in Iran Really Going to Obtain? American Conservative (resilc)
Why the US is going through a second strategic defeat Coverage Tensor (Chuck L)
Report Oil, Empty Tanks: The UAE’s Miracle Restoration Larry Johnson. The Dubai airport was tremendous busy on each my journeys by means of earlier this month, however that would have been primarily transits, significantly on condition that Emirates doesn’t appear to have elevated its costs. A reader with UAE connections stated tourism was down however not by an enormous quantity. Opposite to reader considerations, Iran has not been focusing on business airports. Even within the worst of the battle, it might solely often ship a drone close to the Dubai airport, presumably as a warning that it might make the UAE’s extra depressing with out an excessive amount of issue. Two assaults have been close to however not on passenger terminals
Iran’s Balochistan border area sees rising unrest DW
* * *
BREAKING: Large Explosions Reported Throughout Western Saudi Arabia!
Highly effective explosions have rocked Jeddah, Taif and Yanbu, amid escalating missile and drone assaults by Yemen’s Ansarallah motion.
Yanbu is important as a serious Saudi oil-export hub on the Pink Sea, related to the dominion’s jap oil fields by the East-West Pipeline.
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) October 24, 2026
As Chuck L stated, “Wants affirmation”:
أنباء عن مقتل وزير الدفاع السعودي الأمير خالد بن سلمان بعد استهداف مبنى وزارة الدفاع السعودية في الرياض بعدد من صواريخ الحوثيين
الإعتداء الأخير علي مبنى وزارة الدفاع السعوديه لم يكن إعتداء عادي إنما خلف وراءه حسب ما هو متداول كارثه كبيره ستكون إن صحت سببا في قلب الأمور رأسا على عقب
هناك أنباء متداولة اعلاميا فى الداخل الأمريكي ان وزير الدفاع السعودي خالد بن سلمان كان موجود داخل مقر وزارة الدفاع لحظة الهجوم و هناك أيضاً انباء غير مؤكده عن وفاته
و هناك تسريبات من داخل الديوان الملكى عن مقتل رئيس هيئة الاركان السعودية الفريق اول ركن
فياض بن حامد الرويلي ومعه مجموعه كبيره من القيادات التي تم استهدافها اليوم داخل مقر وزارة الدفاع السعوديه
و ذكرت ان الاستهداف تم بعدد كبير من المسيرات و اربع صواريخ بالستيه ..
#الرياض_الآن #صوت_الإنذار #جدة_الأن
— Mohamed Srag (@mohamed_srag1) October 23, 2026
New Not-So-Chilly Battle
Chas Freeman: European Leaders Are Sabotaging Peace But Once more Glenn Diesen, YouTube
Division of “huh”?:
BREAKING:
Ursula von der Leyen says that Russia and Belarus have weaponized immigration into Europe.
She said that the EU will proceed to simply accept refugees from battle zones. https://t.co/o0KLuekFmD
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) October 23, 2026
Putin Defined Russia’s Rationale For Relying On Nukes To Defend Kaliningrad From NATO Andrew Korybko
Russia guidelines out ‘palliative’ fixes for Black Sea safety as Türkiye pushes plan Turkiye Right this moment
Romania blames Russia for brand spanking new lethal assault on ship Agence France-Presse
Imperial Collapse Watch
Pentagon, Lockheed comply with 10-year deal for 850 F-35 jets Army Instances (resilc)
Trump admin cuts to satellites will set again US climate forecasting by a decade, specialists say CNN
Slavoj Žižek is getting higher and higher as a public mental. This could scare us. Right here’s why.
Žižek’s previous downside is that he critiques aimless consumerism whereas himself being a stupendous consumerist product. Previously, his radicalism has too typically been vacuous.
Pulling himself out of a swamp by his personal hair, Žižek’s commentary has change into extra incisive. However this isn’t the principle motive he’s getting higher.
As a civilisation that’s caught, in Gramsci’s phrases, between an previous world that’s dying and a brand new world that may’t be born, we’re inarticulate about our personal predicament. We discover it scary to speak in regards to the causes of the disaster of belief and alienation from politics we see throughout us.
Sadly, our public intellectuals are in the identical predicament. Many liberal intellectuals have change into entrepreneurs for normalisation – they’re inarticulate about how Reagan, Clinton, and Obama inadvertently helped trigger Trump. Many left intellectuals have change into entrepreneurs for slim identification politics. Many proper intellectuals have change into entrepreneurs for authoritarian politics.
In the meantime, Žižek has joined a small minority of public intellectuals who can nonetheless acknowledge fundamental truths about our predicament.
In a BBC Newsnight interview this month, Žižek argued that –
(1) Trump is a symptom, not the underlying downside.
(2) The left has deserted its dedication to a common political imaginative and prescient.
(3) The breakdown of democracy and the worldwide order shouldn’t be non permanent.
(4) Trump and Putin collectively signify a brand new political-economic ideology.
(5) We lack the capability for collective motion to deal with three nice challenges: environmental disaster, world battle, and synthetic intelligence.
(6) We’re needlessly making a nasty state of affairs worse by failing to behave boldly and snap out of denial.
These ideas will not be extraordinary. They’re routine. It’s genuinely surprising that Žižek can sound radical by naming realities any educated grownup ought to be capable to recognise. Žižek’s rising usefulness is a disturbing function of our occasions. Above all, it reminds us {that a} central issue of our historic predicament is that it has brought about us to be unable to speak about it.
— Vlad Vexler (@VladVexler) October 23, 2026
Trump 2.0
Trump’s Destruction of America Goes Approach Additional Than You Ever Realised Pyotr Kurzin, YouTube. It’s important to tune out the orthodoxy on Russia and China, so combined however fascinating.
They Fled Trump’s America. Now They Remorse It Wired (resilc)
ICE’s Roundup Of Employees Has a Tragically Rising Physique Rely Actual Clear Markets
Democrat Demise Watch
How the Consulting Class Is Consuming the Democratic Occasion New Republic (resilc)
Financial system
Gulf’s worst oil shock will go away lasting scars, says IMF AGBI
The world economic system on borrowed time The Cradle
Mr. Market is Having A number of Sads
Dow tumbles greater than 600 factors as oil costs rise and market sell-off hits most sectors CNBC
Oil costs soar to five-month excessive as assaults threaten world provide Guardian
AI
Spotify Removes Extra Than 50 Million ‘AI Slop’ Songs Steel Injection (Micael T)
Don’t be fooled—LLMs don’t motive MIT Know-how Evaluate (resilc)
AI Hacks Are Coming Thick and Quick and Overwhelming the Web Wall Avenue Journal
Premium: The Hater’s Information To Blackstone Ed Zitron
Michigan residents battle potential $6.4bn datacenter invoice: ‘That’s madness’ Guardian (resilc)
Guillotine Watch
There Aren’t Really A Lot Of Locations For Billionaires To Run Ian Welsh (Micael T). Not effectively knowledgeable re low/no tax jurisdictions. Has he not heard of Singapore? Monaco? The BVI? Hungary? Cyprus?
A Blue Wave Gained’t Wash Away Our Oligarchy Downside New Republic (resilc)
Class Warfare
In San Francisco, a Household Incomes $325,000 Qualifies for Authorities Help New York Instances (resilc)
When financial assumptions change into coverage Nick Wade
Towards Laying Marx’s Capital Gently on Its Deathbed: Evaluate of the Princeton Translation of Marx’s Capital ScienceOpen (Chuck L)
Antidote du jour. Right this moment is Worldwide Snow Leopard Day!
One other chilly climate cat. Have a look at how a lot fur it has resulting from its small dimension, which = worse floor to mass ratio:
Pallas cats’ fur is almost twice as lengthy on their stomach/tail as on their prime and sides. Standing on their tails helps maintain the cats heat as they hunt on snow or frozen floor
[ Roman Paulov] https://t.co/AIJlPuIqE9
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 19, 2026
A second bonus:
The feminine leopard known as for her cub – rising more and more anxious. Her contact calls became a deep, pressing rasp. Moments later, the cub got here dashing in, and the emotion in her response was unmistakable. A robust glimpse into the bond between a mom and her cub. https://t.co/EIUixi3FRp
— All In regards to the nature (@about_thenature) October 20, 2026
And a 3rd:
Child goats and sheep https://t.co/zty5kQ1agg
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 20, 2026
A distinct kind of bonus:
His bike was stolen. His solely solution to work.
The store homeowners and clients didn’t simply really feel unhealthy they purchased him a brand new one https://t.co/kgVy4fPNq3
— Wolf of X (@WolfofX) October 20, 2026
See yesterday’s Hyperlinks and Antidote du Jour right here.
