Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

A video calling for the assassination of First Lady Melania Trump has been published by a media outlet linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with the U.S. Secret Service saying it is aware of the material and investigating anything perceived as a threat.

Tasnim, an IRGC-affiliated news outlet, released the video on its Telegram channel on July 28. The video offered specific suggestions for carrying out an attack against the first lady.

The video, titled “Where to Kill Melania?!,” claims to have information about how her security detail operates and points to possible vulnerabilities and locations where she might be found by would-be assassins. The Epoch Times has reviewed the video but is not reproducing it or detailing its instructions.

Besides encouraging lethal “operations by global freedom fighters” targeting the first lady, the video contains a direct threat against President Donald Trump’s youngest son.

“This is just the beginning,” a voice says near the end of the video. “Barron Trump, wait for us.”

Secret Service Responds

The Secret Service told The Epoch Times that it is aware of the video and reviews material that could pose a threat.

“The Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees,” Nate Herring, a lead public affairs specialist with the agency’s Communications and Media Relations office, said in an emailed statement.

“Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence.”

While Herring confirmed that the video was being examined, he did not indicate whether the agency had identified a specific or credible threat.

Calls for Trump’s Death

The video is the latest Iran-linked material to target the president and his family as military tensions between Washington and Tehran continue.

Billboards have appeared in the Iranian capital in recent weeks calling for Trump’s death.

During the funeral procession for slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this month, mourners also carried banners calling for the president’s assassination.

As crowds jostled in Mashhad awaiting Khamenei’s funeral cortege, mourners chanted slogans demanding revenge.

“I swear by the blood of the supreme leader, Trump, we will kill you!” they shouted, while some women held placards reading “Kill Trump.”

Trump has said he has long been at the top of Iran’s target list.

“I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with,” Trump told The New York Post on July 10. “The only thing is, I’ve left instructions—if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”

A day later, Trump said 1,000 U.S. missiles were “locked and loaded” and aimed at Iran, with thousands more ready to follow if the regime assassinated him.

“Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

History of Iranian Plots

Threats against Trump from Iran predate the latest conflict.

Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to avenge the January 2020 killing of IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani, who died in a Trump-ordered U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.

Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qasem Soleimani (C) attends a meeting in Tehran on Sept. 18, 2016. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP

In November 2024, federal prosecutors charged Iranian national Farhad Shakeri over what they described as an IRGC-directed murder-for-hire network targeting people in the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Shakeri told investigators that an IRGC official had instructed him to submit a plan to surveil and kill Trump.

Shakeri, who immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported around 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction, was also accused of using criminal associates to support Iranian surveillance and assassination operations.

Having declined for three straight months, US home prices in America’s 20 largest cities was expected to rise very marginally (+0.1% MoM) in May (according to the latest data from S&P Cotality Case-Shiller).

Instead, home prices accelerated 0.3% MoM (better than expected), lifting the annual appreciation to +1.63% YoY – the fastest annual price gain since July 2025…

“Monthly price appreciation continues to reflect the seasonal strength often associated with the spring homebuying season,” Rebecca Kaufman, Associate Director of Commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indice observed.

“On a non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) basis, the National Index rose 0.6% in May from April, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites each advanced 0.9%.”

After adjusting for seasonality, the National Index declined 0.05% month over month, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites posted modest gains of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

“The gap between the NSA and seasonally adjusted results underscores the extent to which seasonal factors are supporting headline price growth,” added Kaufman.

“Even where prices increased on a seasonally adjusted basis, gains remained modest and were negative in real terms.

The geographic dispersion of home price trends continues to persist.

Kaufman noted that while major metropolitan areas in the Northeast and Midwest recorded year-over-year gains exceeding the national average, many metropolitan areas in the West and Sunbelt regions remain under pressure.

“For the third consecutive month, Chicago led all metros with a 6.9% annual increase in May, followed by New York (4.2%) and Cleveland (3.1%).

In contrast, Las Vegas posted the largest decline, falling 1.9% year over year, with Seattle (-1.8%), Denver (-1.8%), and Tampa (-1.6%) also registering notable losses.”

Given the lag in Case-Shiller data, mortgage rates could argue that prices should be starting to rise here…

“Affordability remains a significant headwind for the housing market,” Kaufman concluded.

“Thirty-year mortgage rates increased to 6.5% in May, leaving the ultra-low 3% borrowing costs a distant memory. At the same time, stubbornly high inflation rates are keeping both the cost of home financing and the cost of living high for prospective buyers.

“Against this backdrop, housing demand remains constrained, elevated borrowing costs continue to discourage potential homebuyers, and housing values decline in real terms for existing homeowners.”

But the oddly tight coupling with Fed Reserves suggests the path is lower…

Interestingly, for the 12th consecutive month, inflation outpaced national home price appreciation, with CPI running well above the 1.6% annual gain, extending the streak of negative real home price returns.

Is this Trump’s ‘affordability’ plan kicking in? Or just lagged rates finally impacting reality.

US-Iran attacks have remained paused, and oil prices have extended their declines, as President Trump has claimed Tehran and Washington are now having “very friendly talks” while at the same time suggesting negotiations might not be prolonged.

“We are in very deep talks with Iran. If they don’t work out, we will go back to very strong military action,” Trump told Axios, as we highlighted previously. But possibly the most promising development in terms of an off-ramp is that Oman has presented Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz.

This would reportedly include including collecting voluntary fees for using it, ​according to sources who spoke to Reuters Tuesday. The report notes that “The plan could serve as a basis to end the disruption to trade through the strait caused by the ‌U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.”

However, this also to some degree represents the stalemated situation going back to square one, given the United States has consistently and vehemently opposed any fees being collected that would go to Iran. An immediate response from Tehran on the proposal has not been forthcoming, and talks could drag on for days related to the Oman plan. Already Tehran is adding some strict conditions regarding frozen or seized Iranian assets abroad, per Bloomberg citing state media:

“Any company or country that receives funds from Iranian assets will not be allowed to pass through the strait,” semi-official Tasnim news agency cites a spokesman for Iran’s central military command as saying in response to recent US proposal.

Reuters provides more detail in the following: “The system would be analogous to one in place on Asia’s Strait of Malacca, where Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore ask ships to pay voluntary contributions to fund navigation, environmental protection and search-and-rescue operations.”

“The Western diplomat compared it to a voluntary carbon tax for flights, where anyone buying a plane ticket can choose to tick a box if they want to pay to offset their emissions,” the report adds.

The Wall Street Journal has said this represents a “glimmer of hope” as fighting has halted since last Friday:

A U.S. official and mediators said Iran and Oman were still far apart on some issues, including whether to charge fees for transit. But both sides said there was progress, marking the first glimmer of hope for diplomacy since President Trump ordered a new round of military strikes on Iran more than two weeks ago in response to Tehran firing on commercial vessels in the strait. 

…The goal of the Iran-Oman talks is to agree on which route vessels can take through the 22-mile-wide strait. Conflict erupted earlier this month after the U.S. began guiding ships through the strait by hugging the Omani coast, while Iran wants vessels to cross through its territory. 

In the meantime President Trump had laid out Monday while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One his view that there’s “plenty of time” to deal with Iran and that “we are talking right now..” He laid out that while “there’s a good chance that something could happen,” it remains that If not, “we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago.”

Trump has on Tuesday reiterated to Fox News that Iran understands it will never have a nuclear, and reaffirmed that the two sides are talking.

.@POTUS on Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain: “We have the greatest cameras in the world focused on [it]… I know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe, it’s not a big problem. We took out their nuclear sites, and we’ll have to take out Pickaxe if we don’t make a deal. If we don’t make a… pic.twitter.com/PMdXaBkDvu

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 28, 2026

Over in Saudi Arabia, where missile and drone attacks out of Yemen (and possibly Iraq) over past days have damaged Aramco facilities, one regional media source says that “Saudi Aramco has shut down its Jazan oil refinery after a Houthi missile and drone attack damaged key facilities at the site, according to reports.”

“The refinery, which processes 400,000 barrels of crude per day, suffered damage to its Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) complex and tank farm area. Repairs are expected to be completed and operations to resume by Aug. 15, according to a note from consultancy IIR,” Turkiye Today adds.

Satellite imagery also shows damage to gas storage tanks at Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq facility, most recently to be hit targeted likely by the Houthis:

🔥 Satellite imagery shows damage to multiple gas storage tanks at Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq (Buqayq) refinery. White and black cooling covers are also visible over two storage tanks to prevent spread.

Explore and Compare: https://t.co/TrYreAAiGB#SaudiArabia #Gas #Oil pic.twitter.com/qxwdaNKaBc

— Soar (@SoarAtlas) July 28, 2026

As for the possibility of where things go from here, amid potential escalation which could see the Houthis further target Saudi oil complexes, President Trump had also warned in the aforementioned Fox interview that the US will “take out” Pickaxe Mountain if it doesn’t reach a deal with Iran.

He noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the US to stay involved in the Iran war, and the two leaders will meet Tuesday in the late morning hours at the White House.

In October 2025, while the world and his pet rabbit was buying anything-AI with both hands and feet, we were the first to warn that “AI Is Now A Debt Bubble Too, Quietly Surpassing All Banks To Become The Largest Sector In The Market”…

…as the world began to wake up to the negative free cash flow implications of the unprecedented CapEx spend required to achieve AI-Utopia… and therefore the need to fund that via debt (and equity)…

The poster-child at the time was Oracle, which had seen its stock explode higher on the back of the latest circular-financing deal involving OpenAI and NVDA, “The dissonance between ORCL equity dreamers and credit realists is dramatic to say the least.“

With the interconnected web of reacharound deals growing more and more complex… to keep the dream alive.

Following our exposé, several in the mainstream media started picking up on this – including CNBC’s David Faber – but as AI stocks reaccelerated off the Iran-ceasefire-dip lows, momentum-chasers dominated any fundamental (real world economics) threat.

But, that reality was still there, getting worse, growing larger, and being recognized by more and more credit market professionals as “an issue”, and we continued to document…

• 6/13: Massive AI Debt Issuance Main Driver Behind Jump In Global Credit Impulse

• 6/14: The $1.8 Trillion Off-Balance Sheet Time Bomb At The Heart Of The AI Supercycle

• 6/15: Nvidia To Raise $20BN In Debt From First Bond Sale Since 2021, As AI Debt Frenzy Goes Parabolic

• 7/07: Amazon Sells Another $25BN Bonds As Goldman Urges Clients To Start Hedging AI Debt Bubble

• 7/14: “Carnage” In The Hyperscaler Bond Market: Did Goldman Just Pop The AI Debt Bubble

• 7/22: “Generational Transfer Is Taking Place”: The Cash Crunch Is Coming For AI Hyperscalers

• 7/22: AI’s Off-Balance-Sheet Time-Bomb Goes Mainstream: Leverage Might Be Much Worse Than It Looks

And most recently, just this week: “Goldman’s One-Delta Desk Weighs ‘High Degree Of Policy Reflexivity’ Versus Hyperscaler Debt Doubts“

And now even Fitch Ratings is realizing, just 10 months after us, that the real bubble is in AI Debt.

Simply put, as Goldman’s Rich Privorotsky noted this week: the cracks around hyperscaler financing continue to widen as the market struggles to find the appropriate clearing price for companies that have historically run under levered balance sheets but now have enormous capital ambitions. 

All of which brings us to Nvidia…

The last week or so has seen questions about hyperscalers’ ability to fund the massive CapEx required to keep the AI dream alive with the explosion in hyperscaler credit risk finally starting to weigh on the stocks of those companies (GOOGL didn’t help with no credible visibility on ROI to ease those fears)…

The cost of protecting against default is rising across all the hyperscalers (with ORCL and CRWV most worrisome)…

But, it is NVDA’s credit risk that has surged by the most on record after reports of the chipmaker being in conversations on hundreds of billions of artificial intelligence infrastructure deals stoked fears about the company’s obligations.

July 24: Nvidia announced a $500 billion partnership with SK Group, the parent company of South Korean chipmaking giant SK Hynix

July 24: Nvidia announced a $1 billion investment in Naver as part of a partnership to help build South Korea’s sovereign AI infrastructure.

July 26: The WSJ reported that Nvidia is helping back roughly $250 billion in financing for OpenAI’s planned 10-gigawatt AI data center in Ohio

July 26: The WSJ also reported that Nvidia is discussing up to $350 billion in financing to help OpenAI purchase its AI chips

July 27: Nvidia deepened its partnership with Safe Superintelligence, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever

The increasingly interconnected web of dependencies between technology manufacturers and AI startups continues to stir unease. The risk of these “circular” deals was highlighted last year here, and although markets forgot all about it, they are now once again freaking out.

For JonesTrading chief strategist Mike O’Rourke, investors can “talk about the compute storage all they want and the fundamental demand, but it is clear that a significant portion of Nvidia’s sales come from an ecosystem that Nvidia is artificially creating.”

The result is that the “only certainty one can have is the high degree of uncertainty in the AI environment,” he said. 

All of which snapped NVDA’s 5Y CDS spread up to 82bps (intraday) – almost double what it was a week ago…

The level of borrowing across the AI infrastructure likely requires investment-grade ratings, which are difficult for the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic PBC to currently support given they are rapidly burning cash to grow their businesses.

So, backing from big (better-rated) firms can help debt that funds AI infrastructure spending win high-grade ratings.

“The amount of capex needed to build out the AI infrastructure is massive, and debt markets are being inundated with supply,” said Sal Naro, chief investment officer of Coherence Credit Strategies.

“There’s a fear of financial alchemy driven by opaqueness, off-balance-sheet transactions and intercompany relationships, which could result in credit rating downgrades.”

Credit-market signals are a more relevant short term gauge than EPS valuations for hyperscalers, notes Manish Kabra at Societe Generale.

When there is a peak in CDS spreads, it should signal the market beginning to price in an improvement in hyperscalers’ free cash flow and an end to a derating.

But an inflection in FCF is not expected until the second half of 2027, Kabra adds.

And, like everything, there is a limit to what the market will take before those ‘better-rated’ companies face the same leverage test that the startups do.

All of which brings us to the chart that we are sure Jensen Huang would not want to see emblazened across trading desks.

One of these things is not like the other.

From the inception of NVDA CDS last November until the end of March (ceasefire lows), the two markets were well-synced, as you would expect…

But since then, the divergence has been dramatic (and NVDA’s share price is starting to show it)…

While NVDA’s stock is ‘off the highs’ NVDA’s credit risk is signaling something considerably worse and there are big tests ahead this week for Nvidia and the broader AI trade.

Hyperscalers Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are set to report earnings across a two-day period. Investors will be closely watching their CapEx guidance, having proven sensitive to heavy spending in recent months. (Just ask Alphabet how their capex forecast was received last week.)

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

The comment section under Al Jazeera’s Facebook coverage of the Berlin Pride attack has laid bare a reality Western elites still refuse to face.

Hundreds of users with Arab and Muslim names flooded the post with open celebration of the Islamist vehicle-ramming that killed one woman and injured 29 others.

Laughing emojis made up roughly a third of the reactions. Comments praising the attacker with “Alhamdulillah,” “Jihad,” and “Thank God” stacked up without shame.

The comment section of Al Jazeera on Facebook has become controversial after hundreds of Islamists openly expressed support for the recent car ramming attack against an LGBT parade in Berlin.

Around a third of the reactions to the post are laughing emojis.

Comments from users… pic.twitter.com/j4DAmxj7FC

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 27, 2026

The Al Jazeera English Facebook post in question is this one:

There is also an earlier “BREAKING” post about the parade being called off that drew similar reactions:

Laughing emojis made up a conspicuous portion of the reaction totals. These were not isolated trolls. They formed a consistent chorus of approval for the deliberate targeting of people at a Pride event.

The responses also include:

• “Alhamdu lillah”
• “Jihad”
• “Thank God”
• “Good news indeed”
• “god is great”
• “that’s good news”
• “why only one?”
• “14 idiots injured”
• “I hope the driver is ok”
• “please make a gofundme for that driver’s future”
• “The driver deserves a medal ?”
• “Not all heroes wear capes”
• “9ice work” / “nice work”
• “Salute”

These comments sat in plain view under an official Al Jazeera English post, making the ideological incompatibility impossible for anyone still paying attention to ignore.

This is the predictable product of importing large numbers of people whose core religious and cultural worldview treats homosexuality as an abomination worthy of death.

The same ideology that drove 21-year-old Abdul Ballout – German-born of Lebanese origin – to plow a white van into a crowd near Berlin’s Christopher Street Day celebrations on Saturday night, then continue the assault with a blade.

Ballout’s history is insane. He had already tried to join Islamic State in 2025, traveling to Lebanon to make contact with the group. He was arrested there, served a short sentence, and was flown back to Germany.

In May 2026 a Berlin juvenile court convicted him of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state and of publishing Islamic State propaganda. He received a suspended sentence, was ordered into deradicalization counseling he barely attended, and walked free. By the weekend he was driving a rental van into Pride revelers in Tiergarten park.

Holy shit. It gets even crazier.

Abdul Ballout had already planned a terrorist attack once before. He then fled to his homeland Lebanon. Germany brought him back.

Abdul was reportedly scheduled to attend a “deradicalisation course” TOMORROW.

What in the Suicidal Empathy is… pic.twitter.com/4UGFkwNLRa

— ???? ???? ?? ?? (@NiohBerg) July 26, 2026

Police tracked him down the following evening in a Spandau garden allotment. When he charged officers with a sharp instrument they shot him dead. The manhunt was over. The policy failure was not.

BREAKING:

The Lebanese Islamist terrorist Abdul Ballout has been shot and killed by the German police in Berlin moments ago after attacking them with a knife.

He carried out a truck-ramming attack against the Berlin Gay Pride parade yesterday, killing 1 and wounding 29 pic.twitter.com/aC2i4Pj3C3

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 26, 2026

Ballout’s record was no secret. He had prior convictions for assault and robbery. Prosecutors had sought a longer non-suspended sentence. The justice system released him anyway under the soft logic of juvenile law and “deradicalization.”

Germany’s police officers’ association head Dirk Peglow later called the approach too lax: “With people who pose such a threat, the end of their time in detention must not be the end of state supervision.”

This is the logical end point. https://t.co/jaWP8rWZFG

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) July 26, 2026

While the blood was still fresh, Berlin Pride organizers issued a statement warning against using the attack “for political ends.”

“People are trying to divide our society and set some people against others. As the CSD in Berlin, we will not allow this,” they said. A speaker at a related vigil went further, admitting the first thought after hearing of the car attack was “Hopefully it’s not a Kanake… hopefully it’s a Christian white person.” When it turned out otherwise, the response was more intersectionality.

The organisers of Berlin Pride say yesterday’s attack must not be used “for political ends”. A terrorist attack is the very essence of political ends. What do they want people to do? Sing ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ and then forget about it? Enough with the suicidal empathy. https://t.co/Q77z0R5TQA

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) July 26, 2026

An Islamist with a documented terrorism history is released, attacks a Pride event, and the institutional left pivots immediately to protect the ideology and the migration system that enabled him.

The same voices that lecture endlessly about “queer safety” suddenly discover that naming the ideology is the real danger. “Queers for Palestine” marched in solidarity with the very ideology that produces these attackers, only for leftists to blame conservatives, GB News, or “whiteness” once the van hit the crowd.

The Al Jazeera comment section simply removed the filter. When the attacker is one of their own, celebration replaces condemnation.

Western societies have spent decades pretending that mass migration from cultures that explicitly reject core liberal freedoms – especially sexual freedom – can be managed with counseling sessions and rainbow flags. The body count and the Facebook reactions say otherwise.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the attack “abhorrent” and an assault on openness and freedom. Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner described it as “an attack on our way of life and coexistence.” Fine words. They do not change the fact that Ballout was known, convicted, released, and free to act. Nor do they erase the public cheering that followed.

Europe continues to import populations whose stated beliefs and demonstrated behavior are incompatible with the societies that host them.

The results are written in blood on the streets of Berlin and in the laughing emojis under an Al Jazeera post. The refusal to confront that incompatibility is no longer a policy disagreement. It is a death wish.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

South Korean stocks plunged on Tuesday as concerns over circular AI financing and China’s expanding DUV lithography capabilities (read here) were top of mind among investors. Adding to the pressure, chipmakers may not have found a floor just yet because Silicon Data’s LLM Token Expenditure Index continues to slide, suggesting that companies are shifting toward cheaper models, particularly open-source alternatives from China.

Top Overnight News

The Kospi index follows a weak US session lower, falling as much as 10.7% heading for the worst session since early March as both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix slid more than 12%. Korea Exchange triggered a circuit breaker for the benchmark, marking its…

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 28, 2026

The Kospi tumbled nearly 11%, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix dropping more than 13% each, prompting the Korea Exchange to temporarily halt both cash and program trading for 20 minutes.

South Korea’s main equity index has now lost nearly 34% from its peak one month ago, reversing a rally into a vicious bear market. Concerns over AI profitability, Chinese semiconductor competition, forced deleveraging and evaporating liquidity have accelerated the selloff.

Notably, eight of the Kospi’s 14 circuit-breaker halts since the Dot-Com era have occurred this year.

Beyond circular AI financing and China potentially catching up in the chip race, weakening AI demand indicators via Silicon Data’s LLM Token Expenditure Index only suggest a bottom for chip stocks has yet to materialize.

London-based UBS analyst Joe Dickinson commented on the chip stock selloff, saying it “drives sharp risk-off moves across global markets.”

Dickinson added more color:

The KOSPI is down 11% following a weak US handover, dragging the MSCI APAC down 3%, led largely by semiconductors and supply chain proxies. The move was catalyzed by weakness in ASML following reports that China has begun domestic DUV tool production.

Ha SeokKeun, chief investment officer at Eugene Asset Management, said, “Sentiment toward Korean semiconductor stocks is extremely weak. Broad risk-off sentiment, forced deleveraging, widening hyperscaler CDS spreads, and deteriorating retail investor sentiment are all adding to the selling pressure.”

One day the hyperscaler bond meltdown will end, but not yet…. not yet.

Unprecedented carnage in AI IG CDS continues, matched by another 3bps sweep wider (to a new record) in the hyperscaler CDS basket. pic.twitter.com/7xxTsJ7fty

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 27, 2026

The selloff is also driven by doubts about whether hyperscalers can justify their massive Capex plans, and the token index continuing to slump lower may only suggest a sustained migration toward lower-cost models (read here) could undermine forecasted demand for computing and threaten the investment boom cycle that fueled gains in Samsung, SK Hynix, TSMC and other chipmakers.

Authored by Nate Kostar via CoinTelegraph.com,

Tether’s gold-backed token XAUt has received Shariah certification from Amanah Advisors, a move that could expand access to the token among Islamic financial institutions and investors seeking Shariah-compliant exposure to physical gold.

The certification found XAUt’s structure complies with key Islamic finance principles, including full backing by physical gold, the absence of interest and leverage, and transparent reserves.

Each XAUt token represents one troy ounce of physical gold stored in Swiss vaults, according to Tether.

The designation gives Tether a clearer pathway to market XAUt to Islamic financial institutions and investors that require Shariah-compliant investment products.

Tether said it expects the certification to support adoption across markets where Islamic finance is widely used, including the Gulf Cooperation Council, South Asia and parts of Africa.

XAUt is one of the largest tokenized gold products in the crypto market. Tether’s latest reserves report showed the token was backed by more than 707,000 troy ounces of physical gold worth over $3.3 billion as of March 31.

According to RWA.xyz data, the token’s onchain asset value has climbed from about $700 million in July 2025 to roughly $2.5 billion.

Tether tokenized gold. Source: RWA.xyz

Shariah-compliant crypto products gain traction

Cryptocurrencies have long divided Islamic scholars, with debates centering on whether digital assets comply with Shariah principles that prohibit excessive uncertainty, speculation and interest. As companies seek to address those concerns, Shariah-compliant digital assets have begun to emerge.

One early example came in 2025, when Bahrain-based AlAbraaj Restaurants Group adopted a Bitcoin (BTC) treasury strategy and said it planned to develop Shariah-compliant financial instruments to broaden access to Bitcoin across the Islamic world.

More recently, in April, Palm Azgar Finance expanded its Shariah-compliant PUSD stablecoin to ADI Chain, targeting the more than $3 trillion Islamic finance market. PUSD became the second stablecoin available on the network, allowing institutions to settle transactions using either a dollar-linked asset or a dirham-denominated token on the same infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Dubai has emerged as a leading crypto hub in the Middle East, continuing to expand its regulated digital asset market. Earlier this month, the emirate’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) issued its 50th virtual asset service provider license, surpassing the number of licensed crypto firms in Hong Kong and Singapore.

A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Japan on Tuesday afternoon, injuring dozens, sparking fires, and damaging buildings.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has since called off a tsunami alert for the coasts of the Ariake Sea and the Yatsushiro Sea. The quake struck Kyushu Island, in Kumamoto Prefecture, shortly before 4:30 p.m. local time.

NHK footage showed severe damage to the Kyushu Expressway, smoke rising from homes, and a partially collapsed wall at Kumamoto Castle.

熊本 宇城市と氷川町で震度7 被害相次ぐhttps://t.co/fAoIlTGbTd pic.twitter.com/XUUqaauCBg

— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) July 28, 2026

【速報 JUST IN 】【地震】熊本 八代 橋の一部が崩れる 上空からの映像https://t.co/5yeg6MbbQN #nhk_news

— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) July 28, 2026

【地震】熊本 イオンモール熊本で爆発https://t.co/cc3ru0syKJ pic.twitter.com/aI4j4ELEv5

— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) July 28, 2026

イオンモール熊本で爆発音 多数が閉じ込めか けが人もhttps://t.co/cc3ru0syKJ#nhk_video pic.twitter.com/KTraNyJ1mR

— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) July 28, 2026

There were no reported abnormalities at the nearby Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters.

Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times,

Newly appointed British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said on July 26 that Europe will one day thank U.S. President Donald Trump for “shaking us out of our complacency” on defense spending.

Speaking to British broadcaster Sky News, Streeting said that he genuinely believes “when this period of history is written, Europe will thank President Trump for shaking us out of our complacency and forcing us to stand on our own two feet and end the period of overreliance on the United States for defense.”

Former Health Secretary Streeting was appointed to the defense role on July 20 by the new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham after he reshuffled the Cabinet following the resignation of his predecessor Keir Starmer.

“What he’s said about Europe isn’t unique to President Trump, the MAGA movement or the Republican Party. This has been a long-standing grain of U.S. frustration with Europe under Democratic and Republican presidents,” Streeting said, adding that “in the world we live in, it is right that we can act to secure ourselves.”

Trump has repeatedly called on the UK and other European countries to spend more on ​defense and become less reliant on the United States for the continent’s security.

The push for NATO allies to do more to secure their own defenses came as the United States reoriented its defense and security priorities.

Asked if he trusts Trump, Streeting said, “I don’t know him, but I do trust the United States,” adding that in his first week in the role he has had “a unique insight into just how close and integral that relationship [between the UK and the United States] is when it comes to defense and security.”

Discussing his conversation with U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Streeting said he was “clear that we’ve not supported offensive action in Iran and we won’t support offensive action [in] Iran,” but added that there are “plenty of things that we can and should do together when it comes to securing the Strait of Hormuz.”

Streeting’s predecessor but one, John Healey, who now has the role of chancellor of the exchequer, the UK’s equivalent to treasury secretary, resigned his post last month in protest over the previous government’s reluctance to adequately fund defense spending, in a move that contributed to Starmer’s eventual downfall.

Healey announced his resignation in a highly critical public letter posted on X, in which he accused Starmer and the Treasury of being “unable” and “unwilling” to “commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”

Burnham, in one of his first interviews since becoming prime minister, told the BBC he was “absolutely committed” to what was promised to NATO partners.

The UK has pledged to spend 3.5 percent of GDP on defense by 2035, in line with a new NATO target.

Burnham said that when he appointed Healey to be chancellor he was “very aware of what he had said about the critical importance of defense spending and the position that he had taken about that.”

“The first challenge facing us both is to ensure that the defense investment plan is fully funded and that’s the thing that’s right in front of us and we need to work that through as we go towards the budget later this year.”

Burnham also stated that he would be prepared to publicly disagree with Trump if British and American interests didn’t align but added that he had had a good first exchange with the president, finding him to be “really warm.”

Trump, discussing his phone call with Burnham in a July 20 post on Truth Social, said he had a “very good conversation” with the new British prime minister.

“We discussed many subjects, including the outstanding relationship we have had with the UK. We will be meeting in the not too distant future for topics of mutual interest,” Trump said, adding that Burnham “has got a big job ahead of him, but he will be able to do it and, of course, the U.S.A. will be there to help!”

He added that they discussed “North Sea Oil, Trade, the Military Alliance, Demining of the Hormuz Strait, and many other topics,” and said the call “went very well.”