As a frightening storm Melissa pounds Jamaica and moves agonisingly slowly toward poverty stricken Cuba, we know we are all responsible for the cause of these increasingly more common nightmare scenarios:
Why Hurricane Melissa is one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever
The monster hurricane pummelling Jamaica is powered by abnormal sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean, which were made at least 500 times more likely by global warming
Figure 1: Top: Daily sea surface temperatures averaged for the global ocean between 1991-2020 using ESA’s Climate Change Initiative (gray shades), and between 2021-2025 (colored shades). Bottom: Jan to Jun 2025 Mean SST Anomaly relative to a 30-year climatology (1993-2022), calculated using daily data from Mercator Ocean International’s GLO12 analysis for 2024 and from GLORYS12 reanalysis for the climatological mean.
Weakening Gulf Stream System Could Unleash Global Chaos
By Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)September 13, 2025
The AMOC, Earth’s ocean “conveyor belt,” may collapse after 2100 under high-emission scenarios, according to new simulations. Triggered by failing deep convection in the North Atlantic, the breakdown would lock in feedback loops that lead to extreme European winters and global weather disruption.
As of June 30, 2025, Amazon employs approximately 1,546,000 people. This number reflects a slight decrease from the previous year, indicating ongoing adjustments in their workforce. stockanalysis.com GeekWire
It will now employ 30,000 less:
Exclusive: Amazon targets as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts, sources say
Historical automation of the automotive industry hit employment dramatically:
The automation of car plants in the U.S. began in earnest in the early 1960s, with the introduction of the first industrial robot system, Unimate, at a General Motors assembly line in 1961. This marked the start of significant advancements in robotics and automation within the automotive industry. junair-spraybooths.co.uk automate.org
See also:
A short history of jobs and automation
Sep 3, 2020
Robotics and automation have come to play in a part in many aspects of modern life. Image: REUTERS/Christian Charisius
One-third of all jobs could be at risk of automation in the next decade.
People with low educational attainment are most at risk.
Previous waves of mechanization have caused difficulty and anxiety too.
Technology could create millions more jobs than it displaces.
Millions of people across the globe have lost their jobs to the COVID-19 crisis. In major economies like the US, some of those jobs have already been recovered, although “there is a long road ahead,” as Bank of America economist Michelle Meyer told The New York Times.
But for many people, the job they used to do might not be coming back. And increasingly, as employers battle with the challenges of the pandemic, this could be due to automation.
Summary: AI is transforming the workforce, eliminating various jobs while creating new ones. Jobs in customer service, programming and writing are at risk, but AI is also spurring demand for roles like machine learning engineers and AI specialists. Experts suggest upskilling for the evolving job market.
Back in 2023, journalists were warned of the AI threat to their jobs:
AI and journalism: What’s next?
Expert David Caswell on why generative AI may transform the news ecosystem and how journalists and news companies should adapt
Illustration generated by the Midjourney 5.2 text-to-image model, using the prompt “An abstract image representing the uncertain future of digital journalism in the age of artificial intelligence.”
In Ronen Bergman’s book Rise and Kill First, we find many mentions of Ehud Barak. We can start in 1986 working in the West Bank operations:
Back in 1986, Major General Ehud Barak, then the head of the IDF Central Command, together with the head of the operations department of the General Staff, Major General Meir Dagan, set up a highly secretive unit, Duvdevan (Hebrew for “Cherry”), to combat terrorists in the West Bank. The unit was now put into action. Its fighters were Mistaravim who would work undercover, generally posing as Arabs, deep inside Palestinian territory, and hit the people on the wanted list. The nucleus of Duvdevan comprised graduates of elite IDF units, particularly the naval commandos. The Cherry troops exhibited exceptional operational capabilities, thanks to the long and grueling training they underwent, which included special instruction to become familiar with the Arab territories, dress, and disguise techniques. They were uniquely capable of blending in when they were in crowded and hostile Palestinian environments, even in small villages where strangers attracted immediate attention. It was Cherry that had posed as an ABC crew and abducted Nizar Dakdouk in Salfit.
In 1991:
The upgrades to the drones were part of a larger technological push in the IDF, which in the late 1980s invested significant resources to acquire and develop precision ordnance—“smart bombs” that could hit their targets more accurately, making them more effective and less likely to inflict collateral damage. This process was accelerated when technology buff Ehud Barak, who wanted to build “a small, smart army,” became chief of staff in 1991, in effect shaping the Israeli war machine for the coming decades. Under his direction, the IAF’s Apache attack helicopters were equipped with laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
And here in 1992:
In the end, it was decided to strike at Saddam at the only place outside of prohibitively well-guarded Baghdad where everyone could be sure that he himself, and not one of his doubles, would be: his family’s plot in the cemetery at Tikrit, for the funeral of someone very close to him. That someone would be his uncle, Khairallah Tulfah, the man who had raised him, who was very ill. The Israelis closely followed the treatment Tulfah was receiving in Jordan and waited for news of his death. But he kept clinging to life, so an alternative plan was decided upon. Instead of Tulfah, the Mossad would eliminate Barzan al-Tikriti, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations. Sayeret Matkal commandos would be flown to Tikrit in helicopters that would land some distance away and then proceed to the cemetery in jeeps that looked exactly like the ones the Iraqi army used but were in fact equipped with a special system that turned the roof of the car upside down and pulled out guided missiles. When Saddam came to attend the funeral, they would launch the missiles and kill him. If this plan succeeded, many of those involved believed, chief of staff Ehud Barak would go into politics and become a candidate with a good chance of becoming prime minister. This would be only natural for a man who was marked for greatness from the time he was a young lieutenant. At the huge Tze’elim training camp, in Israel’s Negev Desert, Sayeret Matkal built a model of the Hussein family’s cemetery and practiced the operation. When they were ready, on November 5, 1992, the IDF’s top brass came to watch a dress rehearsal. The hit team with the missiles took up positions, with members of the unit’s intelligence and administrative staffs playing Saddam and his entourage.
Then
The SLA troops were also dissatisfied, feeling like cannon fodder, restrained from fighting back. Aql al-Hashem, the deputy commander of the militia, had for years pleaded with Israel to at least target Hezbollah officers. These calls didn’t fall on deaf ears. On January 1, 1995, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak succeeded Ehud Barak as chief of staff. Determined to escape the shadow of his predecessor, he decided to change the policy in Lebanon. From now on, it would be a war, and Hezbollah would be treated as a full-fledged enemy. He needed resources: personnel who could gather intelligence and special-operations squads skilled in sabotage and assassination.
And
As for then–chief of staff Ehud Barak, he admitted the facts, but not the error. “The question,” he said, “is how did things look at the time of the act? We had identified Mussawi as a threat, and we thought it was right to strike at him. This was correct thinking for that moment. It was very difficult to foresee then that he would be replaced by Nasrallah, who seemed less significant then and less influential, and that he would become a leader with such great power. It was also difficult to know that Mughniyeh would come to be his number two, who turned out to be super-talented at operations.” By 1995, he remained alive, and he was now only one of Israel’s antagonists.
Further
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU DID NOT wait for the final results of the elections. On May 17, 1999, shortly after the TV exit polls began indicating a clear victory for the Labor Party and its leader, Ehud Barak, Netanyahu announced his retirement from political life. Netanyahu had been elected because of Hamas suicide bombings, but his years as prime minister had been marked by a series of political scandals, coalition crises, security debacles like the Mashal affair, and a diplomatic dead end with the Palestinians. Barak was perceived by the electorate as Netanyahu’s exact opposite—the IDF’s most decorated soldier, a disciple of and successor to Yitzhak Rabin who had promised to get the army out of Lebanon and to bring peace. In his victory speech, Barak said that it was “the dawn of a new day” as he stood before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Tel Aviv’s central plaza, now called Rabin Square, after the prime minister who’d been assassinated there four years earlier. “Peace is a common interest, and it bears within it enormous benefits for both peoples,” Barak told the Knesset a few months later, declaring, “True peace with Syria and the Palestinians is the peak of the realization of the Zionist vision.” With his tremendous energy, decisiveness, and sense of purpose, Barak set about implementing his policies. Once the master of special ops, he was imbued with self-confidence, and sure that he could plan diplomatic maneuvers the same way he had planned targeted killing operations behind enemy lines—with strict attention to detail, careful planning to anticipate all possible contingencies, and aggressive action when necessary. But it turned out that although these methods worked well on a small scale, they did not always work with complex international processes. And Barak seldom listened to the advice of his aides. Under America’s aegis, Israel engaged in negotiations with Syria. Acting as Barak’s emissary, President Clinton met with President Hafez al-Assad in Geneva on March 26, 2000. Clinton told Assad that Barak was willing to withdraw from the entire Golan Heights, except for some very minor border adjustments, in exchange for peace, though Clinton’s language was somewhat less enthusiastic and alluring than might have been expected. Assad, who came to the meeting suffering from a variety of ailments, including incipient dementia and exhaustion, was more obdurate than ever about getting every inch back. The encounter blew up only a few minutes after the two presidents had finished initial formalities and begun discussing the substance of the dispute. Barak had to keep his promise and pull out of Lebanon, but without any agreement with either Syria or Lebanon. In order to prevent Hezbollah from exploiting the retreat to kill a large number of IDF troops, however, it had to be carried out overnight and kept a complete surprise. Shortly before the pullout, AMAN managed to locate Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s military chief and number one on Israel’s wanted list, as he conducted tours of inspection along the confrontation lines in southern Lebanon to see whether Barak was about to keep his promise and pull out, and to prepare his militia for the day after. They planned to have him assassinated. But Barak, who came to the northern border and met with top military officials there on May 22 for an urgent consultation, ordered them only “to continue intelligence surveillance of the object M,” and not to strike him, in effect liquidating the entire project. Barak’s first priority was to make sure the retreat was carried out without any casualties, and he feared that assassinating Mughniyeh would provoke Hezbollah into bombarding Israeli communities or launching major attacks against Israeli targets abroad, which would require an Israeli response and make a quiet, surprise retreat all but impossible. Barak was right, at least in the short term. The day after the meeting at the northern border, he ordered the immediate withdrawal of the IDF from Lebanon. The entire withdrawal was carried out without any casualties. But Nasrallah celebrated the withdrawal as a complete victory for his side, depicting the Israelis as cowardly and fearful, running away from Mughniyeh’s army. “Israel is feebler than a spider’s web,” he crowed. “A spirit of defeatism is prevalent in Israeli society … the Jews are a lot of financiers and not a people capable of sacrifice.” In retrospect, the end of the Israeli occupation in Lebanon came at the worst possible moment for Barak. He saw that he couldn’t reach a deal with the Syrians, so he decided to speed up the handling of the Palestinian situation. But there were many Palestinians who saw the retreat from Lebanon as proof that guerrilla tactics and terrorism could defeat the strongest military and intelligence forces in the Middle East, and they began contemplating the possibility of applying these methods to their own arena. Clinton invited Barak and Arafat to Camp David in July 2000, in order to hold marathon negotiations and, hopefully, reach a peace agreement. “I knew that such an agreement had to include a Palestinian state and a compromise in Jerusalem,” Barak said, “and I was ready for that. I was sure I would be able to persuade the public in Israel that it was to our advantage, that there was no other option.” Arafat, for his part, did not want to come, and he agreed only after Clinton promised him that he would not be blamed if the talks failed. During this time, Israeli intelligence indicated that ferment among the Palestinians had reached new heights. The Palestinian Authority was reported to be making preparations for an armed confrontation with Israel in order to pressure it into making far-reaching concessions. “We were not preparing, and we did not intend to start, a confrontation with Israel, but ‘hope is by nature an expensive commodity,’” said Jibril Rajoub, quoting Thucydides. Barak told his associates, “We’re on a giant ship that’s about to collide with an iceberg, and we will manage to divert it only if we succeed at Camp David.” The atmosphere at the meetings was festive. Barak was ready for concessions that left the American participants “open-mouthed and overjoyed,” including a major compromise that would have given the Palestinians parts of East Jerusalem and international rule over the Temple Mount, the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. No Israeli leader had ever agreed to give away so much, or to make compromises on matters that until then had been considered taboo. But Barak hadn’t done enough in advance to prepare the ground for the meeting; he hadn’t tried to get the broader Arab world to press Arafat to compromise on Palestinian principles like the right of return of refugees. He also behaved in a manner that was perceived as bossy and conducted the negotiations with Arafat via emissaries, even though his cabin was no more than a few hundred yards away. Arafat refused to sign, perhaps because he thought he would get better terms from Israel if he held out, or perhaps because he simply didn’t see any Arab leader ever backing a compromise with the great enemy. Clinton blew up in anger. He ended the summit and broke his promise to Arafat not to blame him for the failure. “If Clinton had adopted Carter’s strategy and knocked their heads together until they agreed to a compromise, history would have been different,” said Itamar Rabinovich, one of Israel’s top Middle East scholars and diplomats. In the ensuing two months, attempts were made to bridge the gaps. But by now the tension and suspicion between the two sides had passed the point of no return. “We were living with the feeling that we were breathing gunpowder,” said one of Barak’s close associates. And wherever there is gunpowder, there’ll be a pyromaniac to set it alight. This time the pyromaniac was Ariel Sharon.
Ehud Barak was working toward a 2 state solution with President Clinton whilst he was Prime Minister. They must have talked and met many times before the summit meeting:
The 2000 Camp David Summit was a summit meeting at Camp David between United States president Bill Clinton, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit took place between 11 and 25 July 2000 and was an effort to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Wikipedia
Barak was visiting Jeffrey Epstein after the Epstein sweetheart deal:
The “sweetheart deal” refers to a controversial non-prosecution agreement negotiated in 2008 by then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, which allowed Jeffrey Epstein to serve only 13 months in jail for serious sex crimes, effectively shutting down a federal investigation into his activities. This deal has faced significant criticism for being lenient and for not consulting Epstein’s victims. Axios PBS
Since 2013:
Epstein’s diary reveals 36 meetings with former Israeli PM Ehud Barak
Newly revealed documents from the Wall Street Journal show that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at least 36 times between 2013 and 2017.
Did he visit Little St James Island in 2002, or was another PM the mystery rapist? We do not know the answer to this yet……he was a former Prime Minister by then.
Jeffrey Epstein’s Survivor Was Raped By “Well-Known Prime Minister”: Memoir
According to the memoir, Virginia Giuffre met the “Prime Minister” on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands in 2002, when she was 18.
And since the Hamas atrocities occured on October 7th 2023, his reaction was:
Former Israeli Prime Minister: Israel’s Endgame in Gaza Should be a Palestinian State
14 minute read
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak speaks during a rally to protest the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul plan, in Tel Aviv on June 24, 2023Jack Guez—AFP via Getty Images
Is someone wanting to link him to the abhorrent rape of Virginia Guiffre to protect another Prime Minister, and/ or to ruin his reputation as he has disagreed with the Netanyahu’s government?
More mystery…….or does the timeline seem to fit the opportunities for his presence at the time the crime was committed?
CAIRO (AP) — Under Gaza’s ceasefire deal, Israel freed dozens of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical personnel seized during raids on hospitals. But more than 100 remain in Israeli prisons, including Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, a hospital director who became the face of the struggle to keep treating patients under Israeli siege and bombardment.
Despite widespread calls for his release, Abu Safiya was not among the hundreds of Palestinian detainees and prisoners freed Monday in exchange for 20 hostages held by Hamas. Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has been imprisoned without charge by Israel for nearly 10 months.
Health Workers Watch, which documents detentions from Gaza, said 55 medical workers — including 31 doctors and nurses — were on lists of detainees from Gaza being freed Monday, though it could not immediately be confirmed all were released. The group said at least 115 medical workers remain in custody, as well as the remains of four who died while in Israeli prisons, where rights groups and witnesses have reported frequent abuse.
West Bank Palestinians continue to be attacked, often fatally, by gangs of roaming aggressive Israeli settlers. The land generations of Palestinians call home is being stolen and built on by settlers:
Attacks by Israeli army, illegal settlers injure 36 in occupied West Bank
Journalists among the dozens of Palestinians wounded amid escalation in Israeli violence during olive harvest season.
Palestinians stand next to a burned vehicle after illegal Israeli settlers attacked olive pickers in the village of Beita, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
By Farah Najjar and News Agencies Published On 10 Oct 202510 Oct 2025
At least 36 people, including journalists, were injured in attacks by Israeli military forces and illegal settlers in towns near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. In a statement on Friday, the ministry said two people were wounded by live fire, while many others were injured as a result of beatings and physical assaults.
Protections for Palestinians in the West Bank must surely be a priority, not an after thought.
The biggest impediment to peace between Israelis and Palestinians has little to do with Gaza
While the IDF regularly kills children in the West Bank, any kind of stabilization will be impossible
The mother of 10-year-old Mohammed Bahjat Al-Hallaq sits surrounded by relatives in the family home in the village of Al-Rihiyah, south of Hebron, on Oct. 16, after her son was killed by the Israeli army, according to local sources. Photo by Mosab Shawer/Middle East Images via AFP/Getty Images
The Gaza war may finally be over, and the idea of a Palestinian state has returned to the center of global discourse. But before it can become a reality, Palestinians will need to carry less suspicion and hatred toward Israel — which means Israel must give them fewer reasons to cultivate those reactions.
An investigation from last week by my former colleagues at The Associated Press helps show how distant we are from that outcome — not just in Gaza, but also in the West Bank.
The investigation found that, according to United Nations data that Israel does not dispute, live Israeli fire has killed at least 18 children under the age of 15 in the West Bank this year. It killed 29 children in 2023, and 23 in 2024.
Some were killed during Israeli military raids in crowded neighborhoods, others by sniper fire in calm areas. The army told the AP that its open-fire regulations prohibit deliberate targeting and that it had launched some investigations. But it did not say whether anyone had been punished. The families of the deceased children report receiving little information from the army about the circumstances of their deaths, or any consequences meted out in reaction to them.
UN rights office sounds alarm over ‘skyrocketing’ Israeli settler violence during olive harvest
Israeli settler violence and access restrictions prevented many olive farmers from harvesting their land. Two weeks into the start of the 2025 harvest, we have already seen severe attacks by armed settlers against Palestinians men, women, children, and foreign solidarity activists… Direct land destruction is escalating… New Israeli checkpoints and iron gates separated farmers from their farms, sometimes keeping farmers away until their crops failed.” – Ajith Sunghay, Head of @OHCHR_Palestine
Scott Borgerson’s net worth is estimated to be around $20 million to $25 million as of 2025, primarily derived from his role as the co-founder and former CEO of CargoMetrics, a Boston-based data analytics company focused on maritime trade and shipping. Founded in 2010, CargoMetrics was valued at approximately $100 million in 2020, reflecting its innovative approach to leveraging big data for global shipping insights. Borgerson’s wealth was bolstered by his leadership in securing high-profile investors, including Google’s Eric Schmidt and billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, connections reportedly facilitated through Maxwell’s elite social network. His financial portfolio also includes significant real estate holdings, such as a $2.4 million oceanfront mansion in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, and a $1 million property in Bradford, New Hampshire, purchased in 2019 under a shell company, where Maxwell was later arrested.
Borgerson’s financial dealings with Maxwell further complicate his net worth. In 2016, Maxwell reportedly transferred the majority of her estimated $20.2 million fortune into a trust controlled by Borgerson, a move that surfaced during her 2020 bail application. This trust, combined with their joint assets, was cited in a $22.5 million bail package, including $8 million in property and $500,000 in cash, underscoring their intertwined finances. Borgerson stepped down as CEO of CargoMetrics in October 2020, citing the need to avoid distracting from the company’s mission amid Maxwell’s legal troubles. While his current professional endeavors are less publicized, his strategic investments and past leadership suggest a sustained financial foundation, though his association with Maxwell has likely impacted his business prospects.
EXCLUSIVE: Ghislaine Maxwell’s husband finds new girlfriend as shamed wife spends Christmas in jail
Ghislaine Maxwell’s husband Scott Borgerson, 47, is dating Kris McGinn, a 50-year-old journalist from Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts – his relationship with the sex trafficker ended in jail
Ghislaine Maxwell’s mysterious hubby Scott Borgerson, once seduced by her power, now MIA
By
Kerry J. Byrne
Published Dec. 11, 2021
Updated Dec. 13, 2021, 9:53 a.m. ET
………….
Now Scott Borgerson, who secretly married Maxwell in 2016, has left her to face the glare of international incrimination alone — while he jaunts around his exclusive coastal New England town in sports cars, often in the company of an attractive new female friend.
Scott Borgerson is the Chief Executive of CargoMetrics and has participated in discussions alongside Senator Lisa Murkowski, particularly on topics related to the Arctic and national security. Their collaborations often focus on the strategic and environmental challenges facing the Arctic region. institutenorth.org Council on Foreign Relations
And Lisa Murkowski voted:
lease of Epstein files
Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan joined 49 other Republicans in blocking a vote aimed at forcing the Department of Justice to release its files on child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Tara Palmeri has spoken to survivor, Alaskan Marijke Chartouni:
Part one of the series zeroes in on Epstein survivor and Alaskan Marijke Chartouni, who has turned her attention to Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the deciding vote on September 10 to block the release of the Epstein files. Chartouni uncovered Murkowski’s longstanding ties to Ghislaine Maxwell’s husband, Scott Borgerson, and the many occasions Murkowski appeared on stage with Maxwell at ocean-advocacy conferences. They were appearances that, intentionally or not, helped launder Maxwell’s name even as she was publicly linked to Epstein.
And this is another event in the news of a past lives possible link to Epstein and survivors:
BNY Mellon sued over alleged financial ties to Jeffrey Epstein
By Reuters
October 15, 20258:03 PM GMT+1Updated October 15, 2025
NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) – A woman who says she was abused by the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sued Bank of New York Mellon (BK.N), opens new tab on Wednesday, alleging the bank processed $378 million in payments to victims of his sex trafficking.
The Mellon name is current as Timothy Mellon has donated 130 million dollars to Trump’s Pentagon, toward the 2 billion per month cost of paying troops whilst the government is shutdown:
Reclusive Billionaire Mellon Gave $130M to Pay Troops
And Virginia Guiffre’s book, No ones Girl has sold out, one reader on Substack discussed the following:
Giuffre stated that in 2002, when she was about 18 years old, Jeffrey Epstein flew her out to Little St. James (known later as “Epstein’s Island”), where hundreds of underaged girls would be trafficked in and out from all over the world for Epstein and his friends. On this occasion, however, he brought in a “well-known Prime Minister,” who “raped [Virginia] more savagely than anyone had before.” The man choked her until she passed out, then let go until she came to, over and over again. “He wanted violence,” she remembered, and laughed at her when she pleaded with him to stop, taking “pleasure in seeing [her] in fear for [her] life.” She says she came away bleeding from her mouth, and everywhere below, front and back, and for days struggled to breathe and swallow. When she begged Epstein never to see the man again, he said coldly, “You’ll get that sometimes.”
Virginia Giuffre in 1999 or 2000, as printed in her book
Do not forget Virginia, she symbolises wronged young women the world over.
An article about tge ‘common thread of abuse’:
From grooming gangs to Virginia Giuffre, this is the common thread in abuse
Datacenters, as I have pointed out in my earlier blogs, demand too much energy and water for this planet to sustain. Now the International Monetary Fund has been monitoring the global impact for sometime, purely on an economic basis:
Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a stark warning to executives: financial uncertainty has become an inalienable feature of the modern economy.
Speaking in advance of the IMF’s annual gathering in Washington, D.C. next week, Kristalina Georgieva, the organisation’s MD, told audiences to “buckle up”.
“Uncertainty is the new normal and it is here to stay,” she added.
Her comments at the Milken Institute on 8 October arrive during a period of elevated market prices, especially with regards to AI.
Wanting to show support for Palestinians by sailing toward Gaza is not a crime.
Harming peaceful protestors is.
Greta Thunberg alleges torture in Israeli detention after Gaza flotilla arrest
By Reuters
October 8, 20258:06 AM GMT+1Updated October 8, 2025
STOCKHOLM, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Swedish activist Greta Thunberg alleged on Tuesday that she and other detainees of the Gaza flotilla were subjected to torture in the Israeli prison they were held.
Thunberg told a news conference in Stockholm that she and others were “kidnapped and tortured” by the Israeli military.
When she was about 11 years old, Greta Thunberg was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which is now considered an autism spectrum disorder. It is characterized by abnormalities in social interactions (as in classic autism) but with normal intelligence and language development. People with Asperger syndrome tend to focus deeply on one idea or interest, and Thunberg’s cause became climate change. While acknowledging that Asperger had hampered her in some ways, Thunberg also noted its advantages, at one point tweeting: “I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And—given the right circumstances—being different is a superpower.”
On July 20, 2025, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard ordered all intelligence related to Russia-Ukraine peace talks compartmentalized as “NOFORN” (no foreign dissemination), cutting America’s closest intelligence partners out of information sharing that had operated seamlessly for decades, leading Western officials to conclude of the Five Eyes alliance: “I don’t think that’s reliable anymore.”
See Christopher Armitage List of Actions by Trump regime, Substack.
China no longer purchases soya beans from American farmers due to the current trade war between the US and China.
American farmers feel cheated:
American Soybean Farmers Sold Out by Trump While Argentina Gets Bailed Out
“The farm economy is suffering,” says the head of the American Soybean Association, “while our competitors supplant the United States in the biggest soybean import market in the world.”
Treasury Scott Bessent announced that the U.S. is DOUBLING its bailout of Argentina to $40 billion.
The bonding:
From Villa Urquiza to Washington: The tale behind Milei’s chainsaw gift for Elon Musk
President Javier Milei presents billionaire Elon Musk with a replica of the chainsaw he keeps at the Casa Rosada — how a tool manufacturer found a niche in the libertarian marketplace.
President Javier Milei gifts Elon Musk a chainsaw. | SOCIAL MEDIA
During his visit to the United States, Javier Milei surprised Elon Musk with an usual gift: a customised chainsaw.
The object was not chosen at random. For Milei, the chainsaw is the symbol of his libertarian agenda, representing the slashing of bureaucracy and shrinking the state. In the United States, Musk has been entrusted with the same task by President Donald Trump via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Milei-Musk was swiftly shared on government channels. First came images, then a video of the exchange. Accompanied by the song ‘Bad to the Bone’ by George Thorogood & The Destroyers, Argentina’s President strides in, his sister Karina Milei in tow, and declares: “I have a gift for you,” unveiling a sleek black box with a gleaming chainsaw inside.
Milei sees Musk as an ally in his war on red tape. He claims DOGE, which the billionaire leads, was inspired by his own Deregulation & State Transformation Ministry, headed by Federico Sturzenegger.
Then we follow Milei’s success then plummeting lows
Here is an analysis:
Despite impressive macroeconomic gains, Milei’s project proved fragile. The austerity measures that balanced the budget and tamed inflation created severe social consequences. Poverty levels surpassed 50% at one point during the year, and the economy contracted sharply in 2024.
A core vulnerability emerged from the government’s anti-inflation strategy: an increasingly overvalued Argentine peso. To stabilize prices, the government slowed the peso’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar. But with domestic inflation still running high, the real value of the peso soared, making it one of its strongest in decades when adjusted for inflation.
This policy had damaging side effects. It made Argentine exports expensive and uncompetitive, widened the trade deficit, and created a critical shortage of U.S. dollars needed to pay for imports and service foreign debt.
The situation came to a head in mid-2025. A series of political setbacks shattered investor confidence. Milei’s coalition suffered a major electoral defeat in Buenos Aires province. Corruption scandals involving his sister and close advisor, Karina Milei, began to surface. The opposition-dominated Congress overturned key elements of the government’s fiscal consolidation plan.
This combination triggered a classic run on the peso, a crash in the Merval stock index, and rapid depletion of the central bank’s dollar reserves as it desperately tried to defend the currency.
Milei did improve life for the poor briefly, but this is what improvement looked like:
“The path of economic freedom and fiscal responsibility is the way to reduce poverty in the long term,” the government said in a statement after the poverty data was published.
There are still some 11.3 million people in poverty, INDEC said, with 2.5 million of those in severe poverty.
Some Argentines said that despite the slide in the headline figure, they still felt the pain,with some having to find thrown-away food to get by or taking informal low-salary jobs.
“There are more and more people rummaging through dumpsters here, foraging,” said Jorge Silvero, a Buenos Aires resident who survives by scavenging in the suburb of Tapiales.
“People coming to look and take a small bag of bagallo, as we say, some vegetables home. They have enough to eat, at least to take home. But there is a terrible hunger.”
There is hope that the worst hardship might be over.
“Now we have price stability, or at least macroeconomic stability and much lower inflation,” Agustin Salvia, director of the Argentina Social Debt Observatory at the Catholic University of Argentina, told Reuters.
He warned, however, that income levels for workers, retirees, and pensioners remained below what they were at the end of 2023, and that many people were taking on “more precarious, subsistence jobs, and informal work.”
Argentine real estate market has traditionally been a safe haven in times of economic instability. Investing in properties, whether for residential, commercial, or tourist use, offers the possibility of earning income in dollars or generating long-term appreciation.
One of the recent trends in the sector is the investment in Small apartments or studios in central areas of large cities such as Buenos Aires, Córdoba or RosarioThese properties are in demand for both temporary and long-term rentals, allowing for additional income generation. Furthermore, the supply of mortgage loans is limited, which maintains high demand for rentals.
For those looking for a medium or long-term investment, the purchase of land or early-stage developments It can result in significant profits upon project completion. However, it’s important to consider associated costs, such as taxes, maintenance, and real estate commissions, which can affect net profitability.
6. Investments in Precious Metals
Precious metals, such as gold and silver, are considered safe havens in times of economic crisis or high inflation. Gold, in particular, tends to maintain its value over the long term and is an effective hedge against currency devaluation. In Argentina, where the peso has steadily depreciated against the dollar, investing in gold has been a popular option.
Gold ingots or coins can be purchased through specialized houses, or invested in investment funds that replicate the price of the metalAlthough investing in gold doesn’t generate returns like financial assets, its ability to maintain purchasing power makes it an attractive option in highly uncertain scenarios.
7. Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies have gained popularity in Argentina as an investment alternative and protection against inflation. Bitcoin, for example, has been used both as a store of value and as a form of speculation. The volatility of cryptocurrencies can generate significant returns in a short period of time, but they also carry a high level of risk.
For those who wish to invest in cryptocurrencies, it is advisable to allocate a limited part of the total capital, as the risk is high. It’s also important to learn about the characteristics of each cryptocurrency and the exchange platforms to avoid scams or losses.
A strategy that has become popular is the dollar-cost averaging (DCA), which involves investing a fixed amount of money at regular intervals, regardless of the asset’s price. This helps soften the impact of volatility and reduce risk.
8. Startups and Private Equity
Investing in startups or small emerging companies can be very profitable, although it is also one of the riskiest options. The startup ecosystem in Argentina has grown significantly in recent years., with technology, fintech, and agribusiness companies leading the way.
Investing in startups can provide very high returns if the company manages to grow and scale its business model. However, it is important to consider that many startups do not survive the first few years, so Investing in several companies at once can be a way to diversify risk.
Some platforms allow you to invest in private equity or equity crowdfunding, making this type of investment accessible to people who don’t have large sums of money.
9. Dollar Accounts and External Debt Securities
Another way to protect your savings in Argentina is Keep a portion of your capital in dollar accounts or invest in sovereign bonds in foreign currency.Foreign debt securities, although volatile, can offer significant returns for investors willing to assume the risks associated with Argentine debt.
The Global Bonds 2030 or 2035 These are examples of dollar-denominated securities that can be purchased at significant discounts relative to their face value, allowing for high returns if the country achieves economic recovery. However, it’s important to be aware of the credit risk and the possibility of debt restructuring.
10. Knowledge Economy and Agroindustry
Argentina has highly competitive sectors that offer profitable investment opportunities. The knowledge economy, including software, IT services, and biotechnology, has shown significant growth in exports and foreign exchange earnings. Investing in companies linked to this sector can result in returns above the market average.
After the October elections:
Javier Milei’s victory in Argentina’s midterm elections is also a win for Trump
But as repayments mount, the burden will strain developing economies and divert resources from priorities such as health care, education and poverty reduction, the Lowy Institute wrote.
…………
What To Know
China accounted for about 5 percent, or $441.8 billion, of the $8.8 trillion in public external debt owed by all low- and middle-income countries, according to data from the World Bank’s 2024 report on International Debt Statistics.
The U.S. national debt is primarily owned by two groups: domestic investors, including private individuals and institutions, and foreign investors. As of recent estimates, about 75% of the debt is held domestically, while approximately 25% is owned by foreign entities, with countries like Japan and China being the largest foreign holders. Library of Congress nationalpriorities.org
The relationship between the US and Latin America has a long history, and China and the US interact in numerous ways, for example, the trade in Fentanyl:
How They Did It: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Series Exposing Fentanyl’s Global Supply Routes
The diversity in delivery locations was intentional. “There has been — and continues to be, to some extent — a fairly simplistic narrative from some areas of government and law enforcement, that this stuff all just comes in and is produced in Mexico and is then consumed in the US, a very kind of binary narrative,” Eisenhammer said. “We really wanted to show that it’s not as simple as that, that these supply chains are incredibly complicated and actually the US plays a pretty important role.”
The Reuters team’s reporting showed that the US plays a key link in the supply chain of providing fentanyl precursors to illegal drug manufacturers in Mexico. Image: Screenshot, Reuters
We might all think locally, and base our perceptions of government decisions based on how they impact us, or members of our community.
There are many issues we have the option to look into more deeply, since investigative and reliable journalists are working hard to explain the global interactions which flow around us.
Some of these may pose threats we do not expect to arise from covert activities.
Instead we may be lazy and guided by rumour or misinformation. We can all look beyond social media or glib AI answers. Locating reliable information helps us protect ourselves and our communities.
Whilst Trump visits China and gets a deal which restores status quo to before tariffs, look what happened to US farmers since the start of the trade war:
Farm bankruptcies are soaring amid low crop prices, while Trump considers bailout of up to $14 billion
Historic Fox News settlementThe network has agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million for its role in spreading lies…Show more
Dominion Voting Systems — the voting machine company at the center of false 2020 election fraud conspiracy theories — has been sold to a seemingly new election company run by a former Republican election official, according to a person familiar with the sale.
John Poulos, the former Dominion CEO, confirmed the sale in a statement.
“Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion Voting Systems,” Poulos said.
Voting rights advocates are sounding the alarm after Trump and House Republicans roll out sweeping changes to how elections are run, Alex Woodward reports
DOJ sues 6 states for private voter data, voting rolls
The abnormal request has previously been opposed by election officials in both parties.
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to reporters as President Donald Trump listens, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP
The Department of Justice is suing six additional states to compel them to share their statewide voter registration lists with the federal government, an unusual request that has drawn pushback from election officials in both parties in the past.
DOJ’s Civil Rights Division filed federal lawsuits Thursday against election officials in California, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Hampshire claiming the states violated federal law by refusing to share voter rolls with the Trump administration.
Access to voting rolls varies state by state, but the rolls are generally released to the public and government agencies with voters’ private data — like driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of Social Security numbers — redacted.
The DOJ’s lawsuits demand the rolls with that data included. Similar requests have been rebuffed by election officials across the country, both recently and in past years, out of privacy concerns and opposition to federal encroachment in state elections. Some officials have also tied the effort to President Donald Trump’s long history of spreading election misinformation, including falsely accusing states of allowing noncitizen immigrants to vote en masse.
Last week, the DOJ filed similar lawsuits against election officials in Maine and Oregon, prompting sharp rebukes from each state’s top elections official.
“This is not normal,” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said in a statement last week. “Trump’s DOJ is using its immense federal power to try to intimidate us into turning over protected voter data and changing our voting processes to fit President Trump’s whims.”
Reuters and others suggest there is so much misinformatiom around, we should Fact Check using reliable sources. They produced this example in February 2025:
February 27, 20255:54 PM GMTUpdated February 27, 2025
A video with actors pretending to be U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting a man inside a California barbershop is being shared on social media as authentic.
The video, opens new tab was shared online in February with the caption, “A criminal illegal alien was getting his haircut at this California barbershop when suddenly ICE showed up out of nowhere and detained him.”
U.S. President Donald Trump took office, promising to deport millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country.
However, the video shared on social media does not show a real arrest by immigration agents at the Hk Barbers, opens new tab in Perris, California.
The vests worn by the individuals read “Border Patrol Los Santos.” “Los Santos” is a fictional city featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto.
In response to an Instagram message, he said that he was the creator and that “the video is not real,” explaining it was created as “viral” content.
When asked about the @ggrockz1 video, an ICE spokesperson said the agency “strongly condemns the impersonation of its officers or agents. This action is not only dangerous but also illegal.”
ICE arrests spiked to around 800-1,200 per day during Trump’s first week in office, then fell off as detention centers filled up and officers sent to target cities returned home, Reuters reported.
VERDICT
False. A video appearing to show a man being detained by ICE agents in a California barbershop was staged, its creator confirmed.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts.
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world’s media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.
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