Saudi Arabia recorded its widest quarterly budget deficit in five years in the final three months of 2025, as lower crude oil prices weigh down the kingdom’s finances, Bloomberg is reporting.
Data released by the Saudi Ministry of Finance shows the government posted a deficit of 94.9 billion riyals ($25.3 billion) in the fourth quarter, which brought the total shortfall for 2025 to nearly 276.6 billion riyals ($73.73 billion), more than double the previous year’s 115.6 billion riyals ($30.82 billion) deficit in 2024.
The full-year deficit amounted to roughly 5.5 percent of gross domestic product.
Non-oil revenue reached about 122.6 billion riyals ($32.68 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2025, while oil revenue fell to around 154.2 billion riyals ($41.10 billion), down from 170.8 billion riyals ($45.53 billion) in the same period a year earlier, according to Finance Ministry data.
Saudi Arabia has been running budget deficits since late 2022, with Bloomberg Economics noting that the kingdom would need oil prices to average about $97 per barrel in 2025 to balance its budget.
That figure rises to roughly $114 per barrel when domestic spending by the sovereign wealth fund is included. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, is currently trading at around $71.
This gap has prompted heavier borrowing on international bond markets, as well as major delays and downscaling of the Kingdom’s large-scale megaprojects tied to the Saudi Vision 2030 program, championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
Bloomberg reported in late January that Saudi authorities had begun pressing some of the kingdom’s wealthiest families to inject additional capital into domestic ventures, as Vision 2030 megaprojects face scaling back or suspension.
In the same month, Reuters reported that the construction of the Mukaab, the towering cube-shaped centerpiece of Riyadh’s New Murabba development, was suspended beyond initial groundwork, as the Public Investment Fund (PIF) reassessed financing and feasibility.
The Financial Times had also reported that Saudi Arabia’s $1.5 trillion NEOM development is set to be significantly “downscaled and redesigned,” with its flagship component, The Line, being “radically scaled back.”
These scale-backs and delays come as capital is redirected toward priority projects tied to Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup, as well as sectors expected to deliver quicker returns, including logistics, mining, and AI.
Saudi officials expect the fiscal deficit this year to narrow to 3.3 percent of GDP; however, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. project a higher figure in the range of five to six percent.
As it’s always done, Russia is expected to ensure its sovereignty, security, and thus its survival through the creative interplay between its political, military, intelligence, diplomatic, expert, and civil society communities.
Russia’s specialoperation against NATO-backed Ukraine just entered its fifth year.
The last three anniversaries were reflected upon here, here, and here, and keeping with tradition, the present piece will review what happened over the past year and forecast what might be come in the next one.
Generally speaking, Russia now faces five geostrategic challenges that are expected to shape its approach towards the US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine and its grand strategy overall, namely:
* NATO Influence Is Poised To Expand Along Russia’s Entire Southern Periphery
Last August’s “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) along Armenia’s southern Syunik Province has the dual function of a NATO military-logistics corridor through the South Caucasus to Central Asia. Spearheaded by member state Turkiye with allied Azerbaijan serving as the launchpad across the Caspian, TRIPP threatens to revolutionize Russia’s regional security situation for the worse if these threats aren’t contained, especially if it emboldensKazakhstan to follow in Ukraine’s footsteps.
* The US Supports The Revival Of Poland’s Long-Lost Great Power Status
* India Seems To Be Undergoing A US-Friendly Grand Strategic Recalibration
India began aligning with some of the US’ interests after their trade deal as explained here, which could eliminate tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Russian budgetary revenue if India does indeed reduce its import of Russian oil like the US claimed that it agreed to. The same goes for India possibly eschewing new big-ticket military-technical purposes from Russia too. This US-friendly grand strategic recalibration might also put more pressure on Russia’s top Chinese partner and therefore reshape Asian geopolitics.
* Poland Now Wants Nukes & Turkiye Might Soon Declare The Same Intent
The US’ decision to let the New START lapse risks a global nuclear arms race. Poland was emboldened to declare its nuclear intentions while RT published a detailed report about how Turkiye might go down this route too. Both are historical Russian rivals, and seeing as how Poland envisages carving out a sphere of influence in Central & Eastern Europe and Turkiye envisages one in Central Asia as was noted above, them obtaining nukes would pose a huge threat to Russia and raise the likelihood of its containment.
The five geostrategic challenges confronting Russia in the fifth year of its special operation are formidable but not insurmountable.
As it’s always done, Russia is expected to ensure its sovereignty, security, and thus its survival through the creative interplay between its political, military, intelligence, diplomatic, expert, and civil society communities.
They might opt to cut a deal with the US over Ukraine so as to focus more on tackling these challenges, but not at any cost, ergo why that hasn’t yet happened.
“Supporting the gut microbiome can help reduce colorectal cancer risk and may even enhance prevention and treatment,” Sachin Aryal, gut microbiome researcher at the University of Toledo, told The Epoch Times.
The microbiome has been linked to many aspects of health and has been shown to also play a key role in colorectal cancer.
The good news is that the microbiome is not fixed and that it can be influenced by everyday habits and choices.
How Gut Bacteria Influence Colorectal Cancer
“We’re learning that the bacteria in the gut matter more than we used to think,” Dr. Cedrek McFadden, colorectal surgeon and medical advisor to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, told The Epoch Times.
Gut bacteria are not just sitting there as bystanders. They interact directly with the lining of the colon, the immune system, and inflammatory processes over time. When the microbial balance is off—a condition called dysbiosis—some bacteria can create a low-level inflammatory state or produce substances that irritate the colon lining. Over many years, that kind of environment can contribute to cancer, McFadden said.
Because the colon is directly exposed to gut bacteria and their by-products, colorectal cancer appears to be more strongly influenced by the microbiome than many other types of tumors, although the microbiome can also affect other cancers indirectly.
“It’s not that one bacterium causes cancer,” McFadden said. “It’s more about the overall balance and what the colon is being exposed to day after day.”
When dysbiosis continues, it can further damage the gut barrier—a condition sometimes referred to as “leaky gut.” The tight connections between gut cells loosen, allowing bacteria and their by-products to move deeper into the gut wall. This keeps the immune system in a constant state of activation and inflammation, Raz Abdulqadir, researcher in microbiome and colorectal cancer at Penn State College of Medicine, told The Epoch Times.
“As a result, inflammatory cells release molecules that increase oxidative stress and can damage DNA in colon cells, raising the risk of abnormal cell growth,” he said.
It’s now clear that gut bacteria influence not only inflammation linked to tumor formation, but also how well the immune system recognizes and attacks cancer cell. This explains why patients with different gut microbiomes can respond very differently to the same cancer treatments.
Bacterial Culprits Identified
Several microbes have been consistently associated with colorectal cancer, including Fusobacterium nucleatum, enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, Enterococcus faecalis, and certain strains of E. coli, Aryal said.
Fusobacterium nucleatum, for example, is found in much higher amounts in people with colorectal cancer compared to healthy people and is particularly abundant in tumor tissue. Higher levels of this bacterium are also linked to stronger inflammatory signals in the gut and can attach directly to the gut lining using a specialized protein, which helps kick-start cancer-related changes.
“However, we still need well-designed intervention studies to determine whether these microbial changes are true drivers of cancer or simply a consequence of the tumor environment,” Aryal said.
The microbiome’s impact is not only about which bacteria are present, but also what they are doing. Microbial by-products—substances produced by microorganisms such as bacteria as a result of breaking down—and toxins—such as chemicals made by bacteria that can irritate the gut or damage cells—either protect the colon or increase inflammation and DNA damage.
“This is why the microbiome is becoming an increasingly important part of conversations around early detection, prevention, and personalized cancer therapy,” Aryal said.
What You Can Do
Maintaining a healthy gut microbiome is a key factor in preventing colorectal cancer.
Dietary fiber, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics—products combining probiotics and prebiotics—and even fecal microbiota transplantation can help rebuild microbial balance and regulate immune and inflammatory pathways, Abdulqadir said.
Focus on Fiber and Whole Foods
From a dietary perspective, the most important step is to consistently follow an eating pattern that supports microbial diversity, especially one rich in dietary fiber. A high-fiber diet that includes fruits, vegetables, fermented foods, and prebiotic or probiotic sources helps maintain a healthier microbial balance and creates a gut environment less supportive of tumor development, Aryal said.
“Incorporating Mediterranean-style eating patterns is especially helpful because they emphasize whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and healthy fats that support microbial diversity,” he added.
Consider Targeted Supplements
Probiotics may help lower the risk of colorectal cancer. One well-studied strain, Faecalibacterium, has been shown in animal research to reduce gut inflammation and protect against colitis.
Other probiotics, including certain Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, help strengthen the gut lining and support healthy cell growth—especially in people with a history of polyps—small growths on the lining of the bowel that can sometimes turn into cancer.
“When probiotics and prebiotics are used together as synbiotics, they help reduce inflammatory mediators and create a gut environment less favorable for tumor development,” Aryal said.
Doses and specific types can vary, so it’s best to talk to a doctor before trying them.
Stay Active
Regular physical activity also plays an important role in optimizing the gut microbiome and lowering colorectal cancer risk, Aryal said.
“Exercise increases microbial diversity, enhances short-chain fatty acid production, and reduces inflammation, all of which help keep the colon healthy.”
Keep It Simple
Gut health doesn’t need to be complicated, McFadden said. His top advice is not to overthink it.
“Eat real food more often. Get fiber in your diet. Cut back on heavily processed foods when you can and don’t chase supplements or trends,” he said.
In his own life, McFadden keeps things simple. He tries to eat balanced meals, stay active, and get decent sleep. He pays attention to stress because of his awareness of its effects on the body, including the gut.
“I’m not perfect, and I don’t expect my patients to be either. I just try to be consistent most of the time.”
CIA Tells Iranians: ‘We Want To Help You’ – As US Bombers Loom
The US Central Intelligence Agency has never been shy about letting it be known it is seeking to recruit informants from places like China, North Korea and Iran.
The agency has in the recent past released messages in Mandarin, Korean, and Farsi. As a CIA spokesman once said during a prior recruitment effort, “We want to make sure individuals in other authoritarian regimes know that we’re open for business.”
On Tuesday the CIA issued a special message once again for Iranians in particular, but now the timing is more interesting, given the Trump administration stands on the precipice of deciding on pursuing war or diplomacy with Tehran. He’s also gearing up to give his State of the Union Address, and Iran will be high on the agenda.
The CIA posted to X, Instagram, and other officially verified platforms a video in Farsi which encourages Iranians to contact the agency, while featuring instructions for using Tor and other encrypted methods to ensure anonymity, and so local Iranian authorities can’t uncover the communications.
The CIA in the message while addressing Iranians in the context of the recent anti-government protests stressed the agency “can hear your voice” and “wants to help you”.
The video walks viewers through several steps that should be taken to ensure that any contact with the CIA from within Iran will be kept private and to ensure that the identity of the dissident cannot be found out.
It suggests that anyone wishing to contact the CIA should do so from a burner device and using the most up-to-date version of their internet browser of choice.
The person should also use the browser’s incognito mode and clear the browser and device history after making contact, it says.
It also strongly encourages anyone who contacts the agency from Iran to use Tor or a VPN to encrypt the communication, and provides instructions on how to use Tor, warning that without doing so, a visit to the CIA website will be visible to others.
Such outreach efforts, in search of potential future spies, isn’t going to help relations between Iran and the US, given Iranian leaders are already on edge about the biggest Pentagon build-up in the region since the 2003 Iraq war.
Tehran has already accused the protesters of being in league with the US, Israel, and foreign intelligence. This fresh CIA recruitment effort is only going to fuel these suspicions and paranoia further.
Israel has all the while been even more boastful that it had agents “on the ground” during January’s deadly unrest, which saw thousands of protesters killed, but also resulted a reported couple hundred police and security personnel killed.
Watch Live: President Trump Delivers (Lengthy) State Of The Union Address
In what some have reported could be the longest presidential address in history, President Trump is set to deliver his first State of the Union address of his second term tonight, when he is expected to highlight his administration’s accomplishments and seize the moment to shore up support for Republicans ahead of the critical 2026 elections.
At last count, there were 72 Democrats who had decided to boycott the President’s address.
Historically, the president’s party almost always suffers midterm losses, and the House appears especially vulnerable this year.
Trump, eager to reverse the trend, is set to deliver a lengthy speech promoting the policy wins over the past year (reportedly over two hours).
“It’s going to be a long speech, because we have so much to talk about,” the president said during an event at the White House on Feb. 23.
In fact, as Polymarket odds show, his speech is expected to last 95 minutes…
This will be Trump’s second speech to Congress since returning to office. He previously spoke to a joint session of Congress on March 4 last year.
While it was not an official State of the Union address, the speech was the longest on record, lasting nearly 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Watch Live (due to start at 9pmET):
* * *
President Trump is reportedly planning to outline an unconventional idea for personal and corporate tax cuts that he could implement without Congress.
Bloomberg reports that media figures, including Fox News’ Bret Baier and MSNOW’s Stephanie Ruhle, outlined the details of the closed-door discussion in broadcast appearances, but said they did not have additional details about how the president’s proposal would work. The US Constitution grants Congress sole authority to levy taxes.
Trump has previously floated rebate checks for Americans that would be funded by tariff revenue, but administration officials had said that would require congressional action. Further complicating the proposal, the Supreme Court’s decision striking down his global tariffs could open the door to refunding billions of dollars collected from the duties.
The president is expected to highlight lower gasoline prices and other metrics showing economic gains — as well as the expanded tax cuts he signed into law last year and his Trump Accounts investment program for children. He’ll also point to beneficiaries of his TrumpRx website that allows Americans to directly buy some medicines at a discount, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Tuesday.
“The president is, of course, going to tout his administration’s record-setting accomplishments over the past year while laying out an ambitious agenda to continue making the American dream more attainable and affordable for working-class people across the country,” Leavitt said on Fox News early Tuesday.
He’ll also be “making a few new policy announcements as well to continue tackling the affordability crisis that Joe Biden created one year ago.”
Trump could emphasize plans his administration has teased to lower housing costs by barring institutional investors from snapping up single-family homes, and reduce upward pressure on electricity prices by asking technology companies to foot the bill for energy-hungry data centers.
Trump also could unveil plans to create retirement savings plans for adults that don’t already have employer-sponsored 401(k)s, Semafor reported.
Trump on Friday delivered a scathing dressing down of the justices who ruled against his tariff strategy.
A repeat of those criticisms could play out with the Supreme Court justices present. They historically attend the speech and sit feet away from the rostrum where the president delivers his speech.
That’s happened before.
Former President Barack Obama used his 2010 State of the Union speech to criticize the high court’s days-old decision striking down regulations limiting political spending by unions and corporations. But while Obama criticized the ruling — saying it would “open the floodgates for special interests” — he steered clear of personal attacks on the justices themselves, including the six sitting before him that night.
Chief Justice John Roberts later called the episode “very troubling,” and lamented that the annual addresses had “degenerated into a political pep rally,” with members of the president’s party cheering raucously even as stoic justices sit expressionless, upholding a tradition of protocol and decorum.
Separately, the anchors indicated that Trump was likely to address Iran during the speech.
They said the president expressed optimism over the prospect of continued talks – as well as frustration that Tehran has apparently been unwilling to unequivocally rule out building nuclear weapons.
The speech will also mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The address “will celebrate 250 glorious years of our nation’s independence and excellence, highlighting incredible stories of American heroes,” Leavitt said in a statement.
In case you cared, newly elected Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger is slated to deliver the Democratic response to Trump’s speech.
Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, who was handcuffed at a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, will provide a Spanish-language rebuttal.
With eight months until the midterms, Republicans are working to win voters, especially independents who backed Trump in 2024. The majority of voters are still anxious about the high cost of living, according to recent polls. Trump is likely to prioritize the economy in his speech and talk about what he has done to lower gas, housing, and health care costs for American families.
Luke Nichter, professor of presidential studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, believes that Trump’s primary message will be about the midterms.
“He wants to make sure those enthusiastic supporters are still enthusiastic, they still support him, and continue to turn out this fall,” Nichter told The Epoch Times.
The speech comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision last week that struck down tariffs imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience before delivering his State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Feb. 4, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Trump sharply criticized the justices who supported the ruling and has since pledged to raise global tariffs to 15 percent using other statutory authorities. During a Feb. 20 press conference, Trump said he was “ashamed of certain members of the court.” Hence, his tone and remarks toward the justices in the room will be closely watched during the address.
Trump is expected to make the case for high tariffs, even as some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about their economic impact.
Immigration will also be a key topic, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains shut down due to ongoing disagreement between the White House and congressional Democrats. Trump is expected to defend his administration’s policies while adopting a more measured tone in light of two recent fatal shootings by immigration agents in Minneapolis.
Aaron Dusso, a political science professor at Indiana University, believes that Trump will try to shift the narrative during his speech, especially given recent criticism of the domestic immigration crackdown and declining approval ratings.
“This is going to be an opportunity for him to command attention across the entire country,” Dusso told The Epoch Times.
Foreign Policy Questions
Foreign policy is typically not a major focus in the State of the Union addresses, as presidents usually prioritize domestic issues. Trump’s address may be an exception, Nichter said.
In recent weeks, the administration has stepped up the U.S. military presence in the Middle East to exert pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program. The Pentagon has dispatched another large aircraft carrier to the region. Amid tensions, another round of talks with Tehran is set for Feb. 26 in Geneva. Lawmakers will be closely watching for any new announcements regarding Iran.
Mexican soldiers patrol in armored vehicles in Acapulco in the aftermath of a military operation in which Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” was killed in Jalisco state, in Acapulco, Mexico, on Feb. 22, 2026. Henry Romero/Reuters
In Mexico, a U.S.-aided operation killed Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, a powerful drug cartel leader, on Feb. 22. Lawmakers and foreign policy analysts will be listening for clarity on the extent of the U.S. involvement in the Mexican military’s operation.
Trump is also expected to highlight his broader efforts to broker peace around the world, crediting himself for ending eight wars.
According to Nichter, Trump may also address unresolved foreign policy issues, including Greenland, Cuba, Venezuela, and the golden dome missile defense system.
Guests in the Gallery
The White House and lawmakers will invite special guests to the State of the Union to highlight their political messages.
Over the weekend, Trump invited the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Olympic Hockey teams following their gold medal victories over Canada.
The women’s team declined the invitation, citing scheduling issues. The men’s team is expected to attend.
Jake Guentzel #59, Tage Thompson #72, Jaccob Slavin #74, Kyle Connor #81 and Jake Sanderson #85 of Team United States listen to the national anthem during the medal ceremony for Men’s Ice Hockey following their gold-medal win over Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 22, 2026. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Democratic lawmakers have invited several people who say they were victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including Jess Michaels and the family of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, to demand legal consequences for those named in the files.
Some Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), will bring constituents to raise concerns about the impact of rising tariffs and health care costs.
Some Republicans are focusing on human rights issues in China. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will host the daughter of Gulshan Abbas, a Uyghur doctor detained in China since 2018. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) will host Claire Lai, daughter of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Reaction
There have been dramatic moments at past State of the Union addresses, most notably in February 2020, when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up a copy of Trump’s speech after he finished speaking.
This time, the setting will be different. Seated behind Trump will be Johnson and Vice President JD Vance.
Reactions from Democrats in the chamber will be closely watched. As with previous years, some lawmakers are expected to stage symbolic protests, wearing coordinated colors or displaying signs.
Vice President Mike Pence claps as Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi rips a copy of President Donald Trump’s speech after he delivers the State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 4, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The official response from the Democratic Party will be delivered by Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who won a landslide victory last November and became the state’s first female governor. Her response will air immediately after Trump’s speech.
Yemisi Egbewole, a Democratic strategist and former Biden White House adviser, said that Spanberger’s selection shows the party is changing its strategy by focusing on affordability and moving away from identity issues.
The response is expected to be measured and aimed at voters who are uneasy about Trump as president, even if they sometimes support Republicans, Egbewole told The Epoch Times.
“That is really where Democrats need to hit,” she said.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs executive orders after being sworn into office at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 17, 2026. Win McNamee/Getty Images
More than a dozen Democrats plan to skip the speech and attend an alternative event, the “People’s State of the Union” rally at the National Mall in Washington.
Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), as well as Reps. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) are expected to skip the address.
Defending the Record
Trump is expected to defend his record and outline his legislative goals in another lengthy address.
He will tout economic milestones, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassing 50,000 points. He will argue that crime is falling nationwide.
He will also likely highlight reductions in immigration flows at the southern border with Mexico. Trump has previously said that illegal immigration along that border has reached near-zero levels.
A banner showing President Donald Trump at the Department of Justice in Washington on Feb. 21, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
The address is also considered a prime opportunity for the president to lay out his legislative proposals. This year, Trump is expected to encourage the passage of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote.
He will also tout his other policies, such as banning male athletes with gender dysphoria from competing in women’s sports.
According to David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University in Minnesota, Trump will have to keep his base energized while deciding whether to adjust his tone and message to win back the independent voters who helped elect him in 2024.
Republicans’ chances of holding Congress depend on retaining those swing voters, he told The Epoch Times.
“His base is still mostly with him,” Schultz said. “The question becomes, does he only pitch to the base, or does he try to alter his language and approach to appeal to the swing voters?”
A Dozen US F-22 Stealth Jets Land In Israel As Iran Tensions Soar
On Tuesday, TOIand other Israeli media featured some photos of American F-22 Raptors taking off from England’s Royal Air Force Lakenheath, which were expected to then fly to southern Israel…
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN has reported that at least 12 US F-22 fighter jets landed at an Israeli air base in the south of the country, connected with the ongoing Pentagon build-up threatening anti-Tehran action.
“Twelve US F-22 fighter jets landed this afternoon at one of the Israeli Air Force bases in the south of the country, as part of the American deployment in the Middle East,” KAN said.
The publication added of what is the world’s most sophisticated and high-tech stealth jet, that it is capable of “penetrating enemy territory and disabling air defense systems and radar installations.”
Local media further described the fighter jets’ presence as in anticipation of potential new attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen. The Houthis had previously, in solidarity with Gaza and Iran, pummeled Israel with long-range drones and ballistic missiles.
These projectiles have at times even reached international airports in Israel, but the launches out of Yemen have quieted down of late, especially once a Gaza ceasefire was finally cemented.
Over in Iran, there are reports of some sporadic protests at universities, but nothing yet near in size to what January witnessed:
The Iranian government has emphasised that protesting students must adhere to the theocratic establishment’s “red lines” as violent clashes took place inside universities for a fourth day.
Iranian students “have wounds in their hearts” and are angry, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani acknowledged to reporters during a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday, in an apparent reference to thousands killed during nationwide protests in January.
The Iranians are meanwhile still hoping for diplomatic resolution to the standoff, and by week’s close another round of nuclear and peace talks are expected.
Are the F-22s already active in skies over Gaza and the region?
Breaking | A squadron of U.S. F-22 fighter jets is flying over the skies of the Gaza Strip, deploying thermal flares. pic.twitter.com/zjJu90jylA
Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, accused three of China’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies of creating more than 24,000 fraudulent accounts to tap into its system and train their own models.
The three companies—DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax—allegedly used those accounts to send more than 16 million prompts to Claude, siphoning off output to refine their own products, Anthropic said in a Feb. 23 blog post.
“These campaigns are growing in intensity and sophistication,” the San Francisco-based company said.
The tactic, known as “distillation,” involves training a smaller, less powerful “student” model on the outputs, behavior, and knowledge of a much larger, more advanced “teacher” model. This allows the student system to imitate the teacher’s capabilities without the time and money required to develop them independently.
Anthropic said the scale of the three companies’ alleged distillation activities varied. DeepSeek alone generated about 150,000 interactions with Claude, while Moonshot and MiniMax logged more than 3.4 million and 13 million, respectively, according to Anthropic.
Since many China-based models such as DeepSeek’s R1 do not charge a monthly subscription fee, widespread distillation could make it harder for American providers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, to monetize products they have spent billions of dollars to build and maintain. That imbalance, the company said, risks eroding the United States’ competitive advantage in AI that export controls are designed to preserve.
Anthropic, which emphasizes its focus on AI safety, further warned that it and other U.S. companies build safeguards to prevent bad actors from using AI to, for example, develop biological weapons or carry out cyber attacks. Illicitly distilled models, by contrast, may lack such guardrails.
“Foreign labs that distill American models can then feed these unprotected capabilities into military, intelligence, and surveillance systems—enabling authoritarian governments to deploy frontier AI for offensive cyber operations, disinformation campaigns, and mass surveillance,” the company warned.
If distilled models are later open-sourced, it added, the risk multiplies as those capabilities “spread freely beyond any single government’s control.”
DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
DeepSeek leaped into the top ranks of AI makers last year with the release of its R1 chatbot, which it says was built at a fraction of the cost of leading U.S. alternatives. The launch sparked a tech stock selloff of more than $1 trillion, as investors fretted that a low-cost made-in-China model could undercut Silicon Valley’s AI lead.
Since then, China-based firms have flooded the market with relatively affordable text, image, and video models. Moonshot last month released a new open source model, Kimi K2.5, and is seeking a valuation of about $10 billion in a new funding round, while MiniMax also made its public market debut at about $6.5 billion.
Anthropic alleged that the three firms used “fraudulent accounts and proxy services to access Claude at scale while evading detection.” Proxy networks can obscure a user’s true location and allow them to bypass regional restrictions to open large numbers of accounts.
The Claude maker said it identified the actors with “high confidence” based on internet protocol addresses, metadata, and “corroboration from industry partners who observed the same actors and behaviors on their platforms.” MiniMax, for instance, was seen in action as the company allegedly redirected nearly half its traffic to siphon capabilities from the latest Claude model when it was launched, Anthropic stated.
The allegations come as U.S. chip exports to China attract debate over national security concerns.
In January, the Trump administration published a new regulation that loosened restrictions on the export of Nvidia’s H200 chips, a move that federal officials said is justified to foster China’s reliance on lower-tier U.S. chips rather than the most advanced ones. Critics, however, say that any potential boost to China’s AI computing capacity is a risk too big to accept.
Anthropic, which has consistently called for tighter controls on advanced chips to China, did not explicitly blame the U.S. policy for enabling the alleged extraction, but cited such attacks as further justification for stricter export controls.
“Executing this extraction at scale requires access to advanced chips,” the company wrote in its blog post, stating that restricted chip access would limit “both direct model training and the scale of illicit distillation.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the U.S. Department of Commerce for comments regarding Anthropic’s concerns.
Leftist Media Outraged After USA Olympic Hockey Team Goes Pro-MAGA
Perhaps it’s destiny – The last time the USA Men’s Olympic Hockey Team won the gold in 1980 they had to first defeat the communist Soviet Union. It was not the final game of the Olympics, it was the second to final game, but it was the only game that was treated as an epic battle of cultural and political ideals and not just a sports competition. In 2026, the Team USA finally won again, this time against the increasingly communistic country of Canada.
Maybe this time around the global audience was not as aware of the political nature of the event, but the woke left was certainly spellbound, poised to exploit the outcome as symbolic of an ideological victory over American conservative principles. In other words, they expected the Canadians to win, and they planned to gloat about the downfall of the US image at the feet of a far-left country. Obviously, it didn’t work out that way.
To pour salt on their wounded progressive egos, the men’s team is largely pro-MAGA and says they are excited to attend Trump’s State of the Union Address. Leftist activists have been pressuring American athletes throughout the Olympics to denounce the Trump Administration. Particularly, they have called on American representatives to speak against ICE and the mass deportation of illegal immigrants.
The USA Women’s Hockey team capitulated and chose to snub Trump’s invitation after their gold medal win. Leftists expected the men to do the same. Instead, they invited FBI Director Kash Patel and partied with him after the win. Patel is an avid hockey player and was already present in Milan to oversee security for the proceedings. Donald Trump also made a locker room call to the team to congratulate them.
You can hear the genuine pride in Donald Trumps voice when he called the Team USA Hockey Team pic.twitter.com/ch6GbXShwh
It all seems like good, clean American patriotism, but that’s the problem. Now, the establishment media is running a blitz against the men’s team, attacking them in a series of hit pieces and denouncing their support of the President.
The Nation calls it the “Ugly Underbelly Of The US Men’s Hockey Victory”, asserting that:
“Trump holds incredible nostalgia for the “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey team of 1980. This was the squad that, in one of the great Olympic upsets of all time, defeated the USSR in the semifinals before winning the gold. Pundits turned the victory into a right-wing symbol. It showed that the country had moved away from the social struggles of the 1960s and ’70s and embraced the crypto-fascist variant of patriotism best exemplified in the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan…”
In other words, leftists despair over the loss of the communists and their eventual downfall. They see the victory of capitalism as “crypto-fascist”. The Nation attacks the men’s team as if they work for Trump. This is what leftists do when people don’t submit to their demands and refuse to virtue signal for the woke agenda.
“Unlike other US Olympians speaking out against this regime, men’s hockey players chose to be lickspittles…”
“…The real Olympic heroes were the athletes who stood up for each other – and against Trump.”
They go on to list the handful of Olympic athletes who decided to pull a “Kaepernick” and politicize their sport with activism instead of simply competing and representing their country.
Slate raged over Kash Patel’s celebration with the team, suggesting he had no reason or right to be at the event (even though he was invited to be there). The cope and seethe was readily apparent in SBNation’s screeching diatribe in which they argued that:
“Instead of trying to carve off football and basketball viewers, the NHL has been marketing itself to non-sports fans, emphasizing women, supporting the LGBTQ+ community with Pride Nights, and making substantial inroads with Gen Z as a result…”
Yes, and this is a detrimental error because hockey fans generally do not like woke nonsense and mentally ill, sexually degenerate activists. The LGBT agenda has been forced on hockey fans, they never asked for it. And, just because Gen Z is more inclined to watch hockey does not mean those particular viewers are more inclined to be gay or woke. They continue:
“We’re left with a sport that’s at odds with itself, during a time of momentous change. A new generation of young, diverse fans running headfirst into a sport that has often held a reputation for being insular, tribal, exclusionary, and prejudiced. Team USA’s celebration was everything the NHL has been trying to push against, now it’s on full display…”
The Guardian played to the deportation angle and the idea that players might receive “backlash” (backlash that the leftist media often generates and fabricates) if they attend Trump’s State of the Union, suggesting that they avoid political entanglements.
“Some players will face pressure to be “team players” and go along with the propaganda-driven Capitol Hill invitation. But perhaps some will recognize that they are being asked to give tacit approval to an administration that is denying many US residents and citizens a chance to be a part of Team USA writ large…”
No legal American citizens are being denied their citizenship. Around 10 anchor babies have been deported along with their illegal parents, but this is not necessarily a denial of their citizen’s status. Regardless, no foreigner is entitled to access the US for any reason.
Open immigration is a fabrication of the political left, even the “melting pot” narrative was a creation of early socialists. It is not an integral part of the American tradition. Migrants have to earn the right to come to the US. They are not owed anything.
At bottom, hockey has been targeted for co-option by the political left since the early 2020s and they thought they had taken full control of the platform. This is why they are outraged by the behavior of the men’s Olympic team. The leftists assumed that they owned these guys.
Beyond that, the media was hoping for a Canadian win as a springboard to bag on the US and Trump. Instead, they lost, and now journalists are accusing Trump and the men’s hockey team of politicizing the victory that leftists were planning to politicize. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Robert De Niro, the actor whose unhinged rants against President Trump have become a staple of leftist media, took his Trump Derangement Syndrome to new heights by bursting into tears during an MSNBC appearance.
De Niro sobbed while discussing Trump’s alleged “division,” prompting host Nicolle Wallace to tear up as well in a display of peak propaganda.
De Niro spluttered “You have to lift people up. You can’t divide people… this thing (Trump) they’re destroying, attempting to destroy this country and maybe not even understanding why. It’s up to us to protect the country.”
?? Robert De Niro breaks down crying about Trump:
“You have to lift people up. You can’t divide people. This thing [Trump] is destroying the country.”
Wallace responded: “You’re always about lifting up everybody around you,” and added “You weren’t supposed to make me cry.”
De Niro’s tears underscore the desperation among Hollywood elites as Trump’s America First policies continue to reshape the nation, exposing the hypocrisy of those who claim to champion unity while sowing division themselves.
Robert De Niro crying about “lifting people up” & saying “you can’t divide people”, after for years, calling Trump and his supporters racists, Hitler, fascists, Nazis….is BEYOND INSANE!!
No actor has been more divisive and disparaging to conservative voters than Robert Deniro over the last 10 years so spare me the crocodile tears BS. He is a state propagandists bc that’s what’s required to be a working actor. Especially when you owe millions in taxes.
This latest meltdown comes just months after De Niro’s explosive tirade where he labeled the Trump administration “Nazis” and urged leftists to “fight it out” with them, insisting the President would refuse to leave the White House.
In that earlier outburst, platformed on MSNBC, De Niro blathered, “We see it we see it we see it all the time, he will not want to leave,” adding “He set it up with, I guess he’s the Goebbels of the cabinet, Stephen Miller.”
“He’s a Nazi. Yes, he is, and he’s Jewish and he should be ashamed of himself,” De Niro asserted about Miller.
He continued, “It’s all nonsense. It’s, we know it’s all racist. It’s all, I mean, that’s what he appeals to that’s what Trump is. Everything is what you see is what you get. It’s not going to change with him.”
“Everything, the point is we have to keep fighting and pushing until he is out, period. There’s no other way. He’s not going to want to leave the White House,” De Niro blurted.
“What is he facing? He’s facing certain things no matter what the Supreme Court, they’re going to find a way to go after him for what he’s done, all the awful, monstrous things that he’s done,” he garbled, without specifics.
“You know, I don’t see anyway, he’s not going to want to leave,” De Niro reiterated, adding “We cannot let up on him because he is not going to leave the White House. He does not want to leave the White House. He will not leave the White House.”
“The Republicans, most of all, because they know, but they’re going along with it. It’s a classic bully situation. We see it, and there’s no other way to face a bully. You have to face him and fight it out and back them off and back him down. That’s the only way this is going to work,” De Niro ranted.
He also claimed Americans outside elite metropolitan areas side with Trump because they lack access to truthful media—said on MSNBC, of all places.
De Niro has peddled the “Trump is a Nazi dictator” line for nearly a decade.
He once declared Trump worse than psychopath killers he’s portrayed, and said he’d disown his children if they resembled Trump’s family.
“I don’t want my kids to take this the wrong way, but if my kids did what [Trump’s] kids did, I wouldn’t want to be related to them. I would disown them.” De Niro raged on The View.
“I would have a serious talk with them.” he continued, adding ”if I disagreed with them on things of principle, I would say, and they felt it, and we do now.” he added.
Ironically, one of De Niro’s sons declared himself transgender, citing influence from Black women: “I think a big part of [my transition] is also the influence Black women have had on me… I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”
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Pope Allegedly Labels “Far Right” His Greatest Concern In Private Meeting
Recent reports claim that in November of 2025 during a private meeting with Spanish Bishops, Pope Leo XIV asserted that the “rise of ultra-right ideology” was his greatest concern. The comments allegedly came in response to widespread criticism of the church by conservatives against its weak response to militant LGBT ideology and its continuing defense of mass immigration.
The initial claims were published by the Spanish newspaper El País, known as a far-left platform. The paper says it interviewed some of the Bishops involved in the meeting, and they assert that they were given a directive to “be aware of the intentions of extreme right-wing groups.”
Skeptics suggest that El País may be fabricating or exaggerating the context of the meeting to serve the purposes of the political left, however, it’s hard to deny that the recent positions of the Vatican have been decidedly left wing.
Critics of the church argue that the Vatican “cut a deal” with the Spanish Government for compensation of victims involved in clergy pedophilia cases (the cases were resolved this year in a landmark agreement). They say part of the agreement requires the Vatican to publicly support Spain’s new program giving worker rights to at least 500,000 third world immigrants that entered Spain through open borders over the past several years.
Spanish conservatives believe that this is the first step towards the inevitable creation of a fast-track program (or amnesty) giving all migrants citizenship and legal voting status (which leftist politicians have already called for).
Spain has suffered a suffocating spike in sexual crime in the past decade, including a 150% increase in assaults since the beginning of the immigration surge. Spanish citizens assert that the leftist government has attempted to suppress crime data involving migrants in order to push their multicultural agenda forward. Tensions have triggered a number of riots in the past year.
The Papacy has a long history of working in tandem with progressive and globalist institutions. Under Pope John Paul the II and Benedict XVI, globalism became the Catholic Church’s driving political mantra. They consistently defended mass immigration from the third world into the west. They also spread the lie that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were migrant “refugees” (They were actually subjects of the Roman Empire and Egypt was a Roman province. They were not refugees crossing borders illegally).
The majority of modern Church policies and statements have leaned in support of the leftist, breaking substantially from Christian teachings of the past and putting the western world at risk of erasure. One has to wonder, whose side are they really on?
In 2021, the Vatican joined with top globalists, world leaders and corporations to announce the Rothschild founded Council For Inclusive Capitalism. The organization was devised as, essentially, a proto-global government which linked the United Nations, religious institutions, corporation elites and political elites into one body promoting a new global socialism. With the failure of the covid lockdown plan, they have tried to bury the memory of the council.
A key agenda of the UN and Inclusive Capitalism is open borders, allowing for the easy movement of large groups in and out of otherwise self contained nations. This is sometimes referred to as the “Immigrant Rights Movement”, an effort which the UN funds and supports, causing chaos in Europe and the US.
Anyone who opposes this agenda in the name of cultural security is accused of being a “right wing extremist”, and it would seem that the Vatican has joined with the people promoting the narrative.
