60.4 F
Chicago
Sunday, November 1, 2026
type here...
Home Blog Page 82

Aramco Cuts Asia Oil Prices To Six-Year Low, Warns Global Oil Supply Buffer “Scarily Thin”

survivalnomics
-
0
Aramco Cuts Asia Oil Prices To Six-Year Low, Warns Global Oil Supply Buffer “Scarily Thin”
Aramco Cuts Asia Oil Prices To Six-Year Low, Warns Global Oil Supply Buffer “Scarily Thin”

Saudi Aramco has raised oil prices for European-bound cargoes in November but has cut prices for Asian buyers to the lowest in six years as Persian Gulf producers race for market share with flows through the Strait of Hormuz increasing. 

The state-owned firm will offer Arab Light crude to buyers in Asia to $5 a barrel less than the Dubai/Oman benchmark for November, according to Bloomberg citing a list from the producer. That compared with a discount of $2 a barrel for this month. Traders and refiners had expected a $5 increase from October, a Bloomberg survey shows. 

The unexpected cut amounted to $3 per barrel – which is the lowest since June 2020, not long after crude hit negative prices for the first and only time in history – is a signal the world’s largest oil exporter may be trying to boost sales to Asia, along with other Persian Gulf producers. Aramco raised November prices to Europe by $3 a barrel, and left those to the US unchanged from this month.

For European buyers, on the other hand, the November oil price will be $3 per barrel higher than it was for this month, across all grades. The prices for Saudi oil grades sold to the United States remained unchanged from  October. 

The discount for Asian buyers is likely a response to a surge in shipping costs for the Hormuz route, where Saudi Arabia is using ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman to reduce the risk of Iranian attacks on vessels carrying its crude. The STS involves sending smaller vessels to pick up crude from the Persian Gulf, pass through Hormuz, and offload the crude onto VLCCs waiting off Oman. This oil-shuttling has boosted the cost of transporting crude from the Persian Gulf to other parts of the world, mostly Asia.

The freight cost for a very large crude carrier has soared to an all-time high of $1.3 million per day because of the Hormuz situation. This is up 43 times from January this year, when the rate for a VLCC stood at some $30,000 per day, according to Bloomberg.

Because of these price developments, freight costs now add some $33 to the price of a barrel of oil getting shipped out of the Persian Gulf. This compares to $1.73 per barrel in January. In percentage terms, freight costs now represent 27% of the delivered cost for a VLCC cargo, versus 3% in January, the Poten & Partners data also showed.

Meanwhile, at roughly the same time as it was slashing prices to capture some of the UAE’s market share, the head of Saudi Arabia’s state producer said that oil stockpiles that cushion the world from supply shocks have become “scarily thin,” putting markets at risk of worsening unless the Strait of Hormuz reopens.

The head of the world’s single biggest crude exporting company was speaking just days after governments in the world’s biggest economies announced plans to release as much as 100 million barrels of emergency oil and diesel stocks to ease rising fuel costs.

“Until Hormuz fully re-opens and confidence returns, the crude reality is that pressure at both ends of the barrel will intensify,” Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, said at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Monday. “While the squeeze on crude is serious, refined fuel prices have risen even more sharply.”

Consumption of crude is still rising and countries will require even more supply for at least the next two years while rebuilding their inventories, Nasser said. That could mean additional demand of at least 2 million barrels a day, or even more if governments decide to increase the amount of oil they hold in stockpiles, he said. 

Commenting on the latest emergency release, Rabobank’s Michael Every writes that the 50 million barrels of oil that Europe agreed to release (following US demands) are not from a government-owned facility but private stocks and were reportedly already available for sale, “but Europe is instead opting to buy cheaper US flows. So, the EU move was serious, showing who still asks, ‘How many barrels?’ when the White House asks for a jump in output, yet performative in that truly cheap diesel will remain in short supply.”

When the US-Iran war began, the world had about 10 billion barrels of oil stocks, Nasser said. That has fallen to less than 6 billion, of which only 10% of which is practically available due to various technical restrictions, he said, echoing what JPM‘s Natasha Kaneva warned about back in May.

Source: JPMorgan

Releasing part of what’s left in global stockpiles will buy economies some time but won’t fix the imbalances between supply and demand, Nasser said. Gulf producers are working to ramp up production and exports and have succeeded in boosting crude flows to near prewar levels.

Saudi Arabia and neighbors like the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have been using their own tankers to ship crude through Hormuz, which has been at least partly obstructed since the US and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, kicking off a regional war.

The higher flows have provided scant relief for oil markets, which are still pricing in security risks to supply in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Brent crude, the international benchmark, has traded around $100 a barrel over the past month, even as more tankers transited Hormuz. Those vessels have had to run the risk of heightened attacks, while Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly targeted over the last month.

Still, all of Aramco’s upstream capacity remains intact, Nasser said. That has allowed the company to continue covering its supply contracts with buyers in Europe and Asia. The company has used various export routes, shifted supply between its different crude grades and pressed its own tankers into operation to supply customers, he said.

Over the past month, Aramco boosted crude shipments from its main export terminal at Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf. The company reacted quickly to a temporary halt to its main cross-country pipeline after an attack last month, and has since brought flows back to about 80% of capacity, although earlier today we got reports of another massive explosion on the East-West pipeline which likely halted shipments again. 

Aramco is looking for alternative crude export routes to avoid relying too much on any single method of reaching global buyers, Nasser said, without providing specifics. The company is studying plans that would double or triple the capacity of its storage facilities, he said.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 11:40

Saudi East-West Pipeline Hit By New Attack, But Still Flowing As Normal

survivalnomics
-
0
Saudi East-West Pipeline Hit By New Attack, But Still Flowing As Normal
Saudi East-West Pipeline Hit By New Attack, But Still Flowing As Normal

“The East-West pipeline was attacked again yesterday,” a source working in the kingdom’s energy sector told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday. “A pumping station east of Riyadh in Khurais. It wasn’t targeted before. There was big damage and the pipeline stopped again.”

However, follow-up reports were quick to note that the some 745-mile pipeline between Saudi Arabia’s main oil fields in the east and the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea are already back to  operating normally and that flows are continuing.

AFP Image

Bloomberg reports Monday, “Oil continues to flow through the East-West link, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information” – while confirming that the conduit was briefly halted over the weekend due to attack.

The East-West pipeline has been targeted several times after renewed Houthi-Saudi fighting over prior weeks, and such attacks could continue given that fighting has only intensified in neighboring Yemen.

The Saudi-backed government there over the weekend announced a “new phase in the battle to restore the state.“ Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani wrote on X that the Saudi-backed military operation aims to “extend authority … over every inch of Yemen’s land.”

“The recovery of land, islands, and strategic positions in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait … directly contributes to safeguarding one of the world’s most vital maritime passages and securing international trade and navigation, after the Houthi militia turned it into a tool for extortion and threats,” he said of the anti-Houthi fight.

But amid optimistic pro-Riyadh headlines of counter-Houthi progress, the Ansar Allah movement is saying these reports are exagerrated.

Houthi official Hizam al-Assad has been cited in Nour News on Monday as saying that the Saudi coalition’ mercenaries are fleeing and that headlines of “victory” do not capture the reality on the ground but something only being floated for inaccurate media reports. Per the regional report:

  • Hizam al-Assad, a member of the political bureau of Yemen’s Ansarullah, pointed out that Saudi Arabia’s mercenaries continue to spread lies and stated: Their alleged “victories” do not go beyond the media and social networks.
  • This member of the Ansarullah office emphasized: In the real field, Saudi Arabia’s mercenaries are constantly fleeing; from “Ras al-Aara” on the coast of the Gulf of Aden to the “Al-Muwasit” area and the location of the traitor Al-Ulaymi in “Ta’iz”.

Meanwhile the chief executive of the world’s biggest oil company, Saudi Aramco, offered some negative news on global crude supplies Monday.

He doesn’t see the current situation as “normalizing” anytime soon, and so squeeze on crude oil and refined fuels is set to tighten.

“Until Hormuz fully re-opens and confidence returns, the crude reality is that pressure at both ends of the barrel will intensify. ‌Even ​then, replenishing inventories while meeting demand could take up to two years,” ⁠Amin Nasser told the Energy Intelligence Forum ⁠in London.

“The system is already straining,” he said in what importantly marked his first in-person speech since the launch of the Iran war. According to more from the Aramco chief: “Brent crude prices would have reached up to $200 per barrel if Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline did not exist,” he said.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 08:20

Navarro: The Jobs Report Reveals Federal Reserve Election Interference

survivalnomics
-
0
Navarro: The Jobs Report Reveals Federal Reserve Election Interference
Navarro: The Jobs Report Reveals Federal Reserve Election Interference

Authored by Peter Navarro via RealClearMarkets,

CNBC and Yahoo Finance called the jobs report a miss. Fox said it was lower than expected. More bad analysis from a Keynesian financial press that has shown extraordinary supply-side ignorance throughout the Trump 47 term.

The deeper story is indeed more complicated – and considerably more reassuring.

Start with the unemployment rate. It rose a tenth not because people lost jobs but because people came looking for them. The labor force participation rate jumped two tenths to 61.8 percent, well above expectations.

Behind the curtain, the share of prime-age Americans holding a job rose three tenths to 80.7 percent; for prime-age men, four tenths to 86.2 percent. When more people enter the labor force than the economy can hire in a single month, the unemployment rate rises. That is not weakness. That is Americans coming off the sidelines.

Now the headline number itself. Wall Street still reads payrolls through a Biden-era lens, when open borders swelled the labor force and the economy had to create well over 100,000 jobs a month just to stand still.

That world is gone. With the border secured and the population aging, the breakeven pace of job creation – the number that holds unemployment steady – has fallen to roughly 40,000 a month by most estimates, and the Dallas Fed puts it near zero. This month’s 29,000 is well within the neighborhood of breakeven.

Now consider the composition: private employers added 46,000 jobs in September while government shed 17,000. Under Biden Wokenomics, government hiring padded the headline month after month. Under Trumpnomics, the private sector carries the load and the public payroll shrinks. That is exactly the right direction.

Then there is the industrial turn, which the headline – and the anti-Trump media – hides every month and which matters most. Manufacturing added 9,000 jobs in September, bringing this year’s gain to roughly 72,000, after the sector lost more than 200,000 jobs in the last two years of the Biden administration.

Ahead of those production jobs comes the construction that makes them possible. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors, the electricians, pipefitters and concrete crews who build factories, added 12,300 jobs in September and are up nearly 112,000 since January 2025.

The factory-construction numbers of 2025 and 2026 are the manufacturing payrolls of 2027 and 2028. Real fixed private investment, up 2.3 percent in 2024 and 3.8 percent in 2025, is running at a 6.9 percent annual rate this year.

And a MAGA White House – built on blue-collar America – loves this: the unemployment rate for Americans without a high school diploma has fallen two and a half points over the year to 4.3 percent, the lowest on record.

Moreover, initial jobless claims, measured against the size of the workforce, are the lowest since the data began in 1967. Employers are holding on to the workers they have.

Nominal weekly earnings for manufacturing workers are up 5 percent, too, over the year, nearly 6 percent for production and nonsupervisory workers, while construction workers’ earnings are up 4.7 percent.

Against the latest CPI – 3.4 percent headline, 2.4 percent core – those gains are comfortably positive in real terms, roughly 1 to 2½ percent after inflation. Solid, and no sign of a wage-price spiral.

Yet the newly minted Warsh Fed hiked rates in September into the teeth of an oil shock, breaking the Greenspan-Bernanke-Navarro rule: watch the second-round effects of an energy spike before you attack the first round.

This jobs report is the second-round evidence. There is no demand-side inflation for a rate hike to cure, and NOTHING in Friday’s report offers a reason to tighten again in October.

Which raises the question: who is really running the Fed? The Trump-appointed chairman, who certainly must know better than to hike rates now? Or is Warsh leading from behind, appeasing a group of partisan anti-Trump Fed governors?

Remember that on September 18, 2024 – 48 days before Election Day – the Fed cut the federal-funds target by 50 basis points, from 5.25-5.50 percent to 4.75-5.00 percent. It was the first rate cut since March 2020. It was larger than the quarter-point move most forecasters expected, and it was a blatant attempt to help a hapless Kamala Harris beat Donald John Trump.

Now the Fed is interfering again, this time in the midterm elections. The September 16 hike has come again 48 days before Election Day – the same 48 days as in 2024. How other than politics do you explain a Fed rate hike on the eve of an election unsupported by the data and in flagrant violation of the Greenspan-Bernanke-Navarro rule?

There, I said it. And it damn well needs to be said.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 07:45

Left Under Pressure: Bolsonaro Leads Socialist Lula In Brazil As Spain’s Sanchez Calls Snap Elections Amid Turmoil

survivalnomics
-
0
Left Under Pressure: Bolsonaro Leads Socialist Lula In Brazil As Spain’s Sanchez Calls Snap Elections Amid Turmoil
Left Under Pressure: Bolsonaro Leads Socialist Lula In Brazil As Spain’s Sanchez Calls Snap Elections Amid Turmoil

Political developments in Brazil and Spain overnight are adding volatility to certain overseas markets, highlighting mounting pressure on failing left-wing regimes. 

In Brazil, right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s first-round lead over socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva significantly strengthens his position heading into the Oct. 25 runoff. A Bolsonaro victory would shift Latin America’s largest GDP to the right, reinforcing a broader regional once-in-a-generation realignment from unhinged leftist regimes to common-sense right-wing governments.

Brazil’s political pendulum is swinging right after years of toxic socialism, and investors are cheering on Monday morning: 

BANKS, FINANCIAL FIRMS

  • Banco Bradesco: +10%
  • Itau Unibanco Holding: +11%
  • NU Holdings: +9.5%
  • Inter & Co.: +11%
  • Banco Santander (Brasil): +3.5%
  • PagSeguro Digital: +14%
  • StoneCo: +12%
  • PicS: +6.2%

STEEL, METAL & MINING

  • Companhia Siderurgica Nacional: +9.5%
  • Vale: +6.5%
  • Gerdau S.A.: +7.0%

AERO, OIL & GAS AND OTHER SECTORS

  • XP Inc.: +15%
  • Ambev: +8.4%
  • Embraer: +6.3%
  • MercadoLibre: +7.0%
  • Telefonica Brasil: +8.1%
  • Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais: +7.0%
  • Companhia Paranaense de Energia: +5.8%
  • Petroleo Brasileiro: +7.0%
  • Ultrapar Participacoes: +7.2%
  • Cia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (SABESP): +9.7%
  • TIM S.A.: +6.8%

Bolsonaro captured 47% of the vote against Lula’s 45.2%, with counting completed, as conservative allies dominated races across the country.

Via Bloomberg:

Polymarket:

“The magnitude of the first-round win by Flávio will come as a surprise to financial markets, and given the light positioning by foreigners, I would expect a meaningful rally in the near term as investors begin to price in a change in government, a shift in policy direction, a potential reform agenda and a reduction in fiscal risk. From a stock perspective, watch SOEs, beta and rate-sensitive names as the market starts to price in a faster reduction of interest rates in 2027,” UBS analyst Justin Wensek wrote, adding, “Market reaction: Risk-on, blue-sky scenario starting Monday.”

Goldman Sachs one-delta desk head Rich Privorotsky noted, “Flávio Bolsonaro 47.0%, Lula 45.2%… substantially better for the market than expected. Brazil should be up a lot today and the market will now front-load the second round. Worth looking through the 2nd-order Brazil plays across Europe. At least initially this should be supportive for BRL, domestic equities and risk assets across the geography.”

A Bolsonaro victory later this month would cement Latin America’s largest economy’s rightward shift and politically transform the entire continent in just a few short years. It’s fascinating to watch this shift unfold as USAID funding has dried up.

Then, in Spain, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap election for Nov. 29 after parliament rejected an emergency housing package, deepening a political crisis fueled by anti-left sentiment, the migrant invasion of Ceuta, and corruption scandals.

Spain’s 10-year government bond yield was little changed at 4.08%, while its spread over German debt widened three basis points to 65 basis points. The euro fell 50bps to $1.1197 amid broader concerns over fiscal and political risks in the currency bloc.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating has collapsed amid unrest involving far-left groups and migrants, adding to his political vulnerability and strengthening Marine Le Pen ahead of next year’s presidential election.

From Brazil to Spain and France, the common understanding here is mounting voter anger at the socialist and left-wing regimes that have been nothing but disastours for the West. With USAID funding curtailed and progressive policies facing a growing backlash, the right has taken advantage of an open window to gain political ground and turn frustration into electoral gains. 

Taken altogether, the West is pushing back against socialist and pro-China governments. Latin America’s full rightward shift hinges on Brazil’s runoff results later this month, while Europe has seen right-wing political movements gain ground, especially in Germany with AfD’s rise. Nomura expects that Europe “lurches” right over the next year or so of elections. 

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 07:20

Hey Coders, ‘Learn To Nurse’

survivalnomics
-
0
Hey Coders, ‘Learn To Nurse’
Hey Coders, ‘Learn To Nurse’

The U.S. labor market is projected to add nearly 5.9 million jobs between 2025 and 2035 and with AI replacing coders left and right, maybe it’s time for a career transition?

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, ranks 30 occupations by their projected increase in employment over the decade.

The data for this visualization comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, using employment projections for 2025 to 2035.

The figures measure the net increase in employment for each occupation rather than total job openings, which can also include positions created when existing workers retire or change careers.

Home Care Dominates U.S. Job Growth

Home health and personal care aides stand far above every other occupation, with 847,300 new jobs projected by 2035. That represents about 14% of all net new jobs expected across the U.S. economy over the decade.

Rank Occupation New jobs by 2035P Median wage, 2025
1 Home & Personal Care Aides 847K $35,800
2 Stockers & Order Fillers 251K $37,330
3 Fast Food Workers 223K $31,200
4 Registered Nurses 195K $97,550
5 Operations Managers 181K $105,770
6 Software Developers 175K $135,980
7 Restaurant Cooks 171K $37,390
8 Health Services Managers 155K $123,860
9 Nurse Practitioners 138K $132,300
10 Construction Laborers 109K $47,120
11 Management Analysts 109K $101,860
12 IT Managers 108K $175,140
13 Medical Assistants 108K $45,690
14 Mental Health Counselors 98K $59,350
15 Data Scientists 95K $120,230
16 Financial Managers 85K $166,570
17 Heavy Truck Drivers 84K $58,640
18 Industrial Mechanics 80K $64,520
19 Accountants & Auditors 79K $83,680
20 Electricians 76K $63,190
21 Project Managers 73K $102,320
22 Maintenance Workers 69K $49,590
23 Light Truck Drivers 68K $44,860
24 Food Service Supervisors 67K $44,080
25 Market Research Analysts 66K $78,760
26 Other Managers 66K $141,900
27 HR Specialists 60K $75,940
28 Landscaping Workers 56K $39,150
29 Construction Managers 55K $114,990
30 Janitors & Cleaners 54K $36,840

Demand is being fueled in part by America’s aging population and a shift toward providing long-term care in home and community settings. The Census Bureau projects that adults age 65 and older will outnumber children under 18 by 2029.

Healthcare and Tech Roles Are Growing Quickly

Healthcare occupations appear throughout the ranking, including registered nurses, medical assistants, nurse practitioners, and medical and health services managers.

Nurse practitioners are projected to grow 41% between 2025 and 2035, the fastest percentage increase among the occupations shown, while adding nearly 138,000 jobs.

Technology also remains a major source of higher-paying employment, with software developers projected to add about 175,000 jobs and data scientists another 95,000. Both occupations had median annual wages above $120,000 in 2025.

Job Growth Spans the Wage Spectrum

Some of the country’s biggest sources of new jobs are relatively low-paying service occupations.

Eleven of the 30 occupations shown have median annual wages below the overall U.S. median of $50,980, including home health and personal care aides, fast food workers, restaurant cooks, and light truck drivers.

At the other end of the spectrum, the ranking includes IT managers, financial managers, software developers, and nurse practitioners, all with median wages above $130,000.

The Skills Shaping the Jobs of the Future

Looking ahead, the skills needed in the labor market are also expected to shift.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, nearly 40% of skills required on the job are expected to change by 2030.

While demand for AI, big data, and cybersecurity skills is rising quickly, employers also continue to prioritize human capabilities such as analytical thinking, creative thinking, resilience, leadership, and collaboration.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Every U.S. State’s Most Common Job, 25 Years Apart on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 05:45

As French Riots Escalate, ‘Wild Horde’ Beats Police Commander Unconscious, Stomps His Head

survivalnomics
-
0
As French Riots Escalate, ‘Wild Horde’ Beats Police Commander Unconscious, Stomps His Head
As French Riots Escalate, ‘Wild Horde’ Beats Police Commander Unconscious, Stomps His Head

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A French police commander in his sixties was chased, knocked down and kicked in the head until he blacked out outside a Belfort high school on Friday morning. Prosecutors have opened an investigation for attempted murder of a public official.

The officer is the local chief of territorial intelligence. He was in plain clothes, trying to arrest a youth suspected of starting a fire.

This is not a scuffle on the edge of a school complaint. It is the second mob hunt of a lone officer in two days, filmed, shared, and dressed up by parts of the press as a student protest about classrooms.

Posting several clips in the event some are removed by X:

The attack happened at about 9:15 a.m. on Friday, October 2, on the grass near Lycée Gustave-Courbet. Belfort prosecutor Paul-Édouard Lallois said the commander “was set upon by a wild horde of young people who knocked him to the ground and beat him with punches and kicks, particularly to the head.” Most of the attackers had hoods up or faces covered. Reinforcements scattered them. The officer had already lost consciousness.

Lallois called it “a scene of unheard-of violence” and said “we came within two fingers of a tragedy.” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez wrote that the images were of “a rare violence” and “unbearable,” that the officer had been “deliberately targeted,” and that “everything will be done to identify the authors of this abject act.”

Nuñez added that the commander was hospitalized after losing consciousness, and that his condition “fortunately no longer inspires major concern.” On Saturday, police sources told France Télévisions the first exams were reassuring and the injuries were superficial trauma.

He was treated at Trévenans hospital with bruises and open wounds to the face, and Lallois said he was “particularly shocked, marked by the savagery of the assault,” with “very visible marks of blows on his face.”

The Alliance police union posted the footage with a blunt line: a cop “hunted like prey, caught, thrown to the ground and struck in the face several times, several against one.” The union’s verdict: “This is no longer anti-cop hatred. IT IS A HUNT FOR COPS.“

The commander heads the departmental territorial intelligence service for the Territoire de Belfort. He was not standing in a cordon. He had just tried to arrest a youth suspected of starting a fire on the grass around the school and of throwing a projectile at officers. The prefecture said that youth was carrying a bag containing hydrochloric acid and protective equipment. The youth got away when the pack closed in.

A separate clip of the arrest, shot in a stream beside the school, was then waved around as proof the officer had tried to drown a teenager. Lallois shut that down on Saturday. “It is the individual who deliberately goes into the water” while trying to escape, he said. Both of them fell. “The youth cannot be immersed in the water, there is not enough water to be immersed.” The commander was on his knees in the stream. The suspect was then cuffed on the bank.

That same suspect is now one of the people investigators want. Lallois said several people have been identified as likely principal authors, and that he was “fairly optimistic” they could be arrested within 24 hours. The youth the commander had handcuffed is “clearly identified as coming to deliver two violent kicks to the head of the police officer,” recognizable on the video by the cuff still on his wrist.

Friday’s beating landed on top of Thursday’s hunt in Paris. A trainee lieutenant with the Paris police prefecture was chased on foot near Avenue Gambetta, in the 20th arrondissement, during a lycée gathering. Voices on the recording call her a “bitch” and scream “Kill her.”

Someone trips her. Others kick her on the ground, including to the head. She filed a complaint. Nuñez called the attack intolerable and said a young trainee lieutenant “was pursued, thrown to the ground and assaulted by several individuals.”

Marine Le Pen wrote: “The image of this young policewoman, pursued by a pack howling its hatred, thrown to the ground and assaulted, is unbearable. These acts deserve exemplary sentences. Let her know that tonight, millions of French people offer her warm support.”

The official story is still that this is a pupil movement about absent teachers, overcrowded rooms and late buses. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said the movement had been “taken hostage by ultra-violent small groups.”

On Thursday alone the Interior Ministry counted 1,949 arrests and 305 injured officers. Geffray said 235 people in the education sector had been hurt, including 65 school staff. About 400 schools were closed on Friday. Nuñez sent the BRAV-M motorcycle units into Paris and said that when police use force on his orders, “they are not facing demonstrators but rioters.”

Footage shows burning classrooms, buses and fire engines set alight, shops looted, and packs going after female officers. The media is adamant that this is not about race or demographics, while those on the receiving end in virtually every single instance are white native French people.

French politician Éric Zemmour urged “This has nothing to do with bad school conditions. Plain and simple. These are ethnic riots and demographics is destiny. Without remigration, this is the fate of all Western European nations.”

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 05:00

Cowen: “Early Stages Of Looming EV Comeback”

survivalnomics
-
0
Cowen: “Early Stages Of Looming EV Comeback”
Cowen: “Early Stages Of Looming EV Comeback”

Cowen analysts led by Itay Michaeli say the EV market has entered the early stages of stabilization as a combination of more self-driving capabilities and elevated gas and diesel prices has shifted consumers toward these vehicles.

“We are still in the early stages of this looming EV comeback,” Michaeli told Bloomberg in an interview on Friday. “EV market coverage, by our estimation, will grow substantially in the next couple of years by existing players.”

A welcome sign of stabilization came as Tesla and Rivian reported third-quarter deliveries above Wall Street expectations.

Tesla reported deliveries of 486,532 EVs in the most recent quarter, a decline of just 2.1% and well ahead of the roughly 464,000 average analyst estimate, while Rivian delivered 19,248 vehicles in the third quarter, well above the roughly 17,600 expected.

Cox Automotive reports that US EV market share has settled near 6% this year, well below the 11% reached during the rush to buy EVs before the federal tax credit expired.

Another signal of stabilization comes from Randy Parker, chief executive officer of Hyundai’s North America business, who said, “Because of the war, because of gas prices, we’ve also seen a rise and a recovery in EV sales,” adding, “I’ve got more and more dealers now asking for EV product.”

Google Trends searches for “used EV for sale near me” skyrocketed this year as gasoline and diesel prices stayed elevated.

Barclays autos analyst Dan Levy recently noted that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving capabilities have become an increasingly important selling point and are driving sales (read note here).

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 04:15

Trump’s Diesel Threat Worked: G7 Dumps 100 Million Barrels As Europe’s Energy Dependence Laid Bare

survivalnomics
-
0
Trump’s Diesel Threat Worked: G7 Dumps 100 Million Barrels As Europe’s Energy Dependence Laid Bare
Trump’s Diesel Threat Worked: G7 Dumps 100 Million Barrels As Europe’s Energy Dependence Laid Bare

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

In the end, Donald Trump’s threat to prohibit diesel exports apparently proved credible after all.

Faced with rapidly rising prices at the pump and an emerging acute shortage of middle distillates, from diesel and heating oil to aviation kerosene, the G7 heads of government decided on Friday, under pressure from the US president, to release their own oil reserves.

For the EU, the perfect storm is brewing: a rising dollar price, the visible control of the Strait of Hormuz by the US military, as well as rising interest rates in the bond markets amid the threat of a sovereign debt crisis, have made the pressure particularly tangible for the EU states: further rising energy prices will hit the fragile eurozone industrial economy considerably harder than the essentially energy-autonomous United States.

The problems of the EU Europeans are homegrown and not the result of American special interests: completely overstretched welfare states, a self-inflicted migration crisis that can no longer simply be wished away, an economy in an atmosphere of departure – though not at home, but fleeing EU regulation, excessive energy costs and the political raid of the Green Deal. They have laid a fuse to the fragile structure of the EU, lit it and are no longer willing to recognize that this powder keg could explode at any moment.

One miscalculation is piling on top of another. In Brussels, Berlin and Paris, they had counted on the Americans shouldering the lion’s share of forcing a regime change in Moscow – cheap access to the country’s energy and resources, possibly bargaining and pricing power, have by now become indispensable to keeping the EU’s economic model alive. Energy costs have to come down, as quickly as possible. From Washington to Brussels, from Moscow to Beijing, they all understand the EU Europeans’ strategic hopelessness. In the case of Russia, instead of a triumph, the result has recently been the destruction of Russian refinery capacity, ironically by partner Ukraine – the next setback in view of the EU’s energy problems.

So now comes the first step toward alleviating the energy price crisis, merely a fight against symptoms that will solve none of the EU’s structural problems.

French President Emmanuel Macron explained the strategy, which essentially consists of three steps:

  1. First, 100 million barrels will be released from strategic reserves in a coordinated manner over a period of four months. A substantial quantity of diesel is supposed to reach the market within the first 20 days.
  2. Second, the maintenance schedules of the refineries in the participating states are to be better coordinated. The aim is to prevent several facilities from being shut down at the same time – the throughput is above all intended to help reduce the diesel shortage. Where possible, refineries are to temporarily increase their utilization rates. Obviously, this does not resolve the contradiction of how, in the face of destructive climate policy, new refinery capacity could possibly be conjured up in Europe. These projects take long periods of time and, given CO2 certificates and climate regulation, are simply no longer profitable. In the CO2 frenzy, more than 20 percent of refinery capacity had already been destroyed in recent years. This madness is now coming back to haunt them.
  3. As a third measure, the G7 states committed themselves not to impose any export restrictions on energy and petroleum products among themselves. This is precisely where the geopolitical background to the release of these reserves becomes apparent: the conflict between Washington and the EU had recently shifted from trade policy issues to the energy market and has now reached a temporary climax with the release of the reserves.

In addition to the measures mentioned above, the International Energy Agency is to monitor their implementation and propose a further package of measures within 20 days.

All in all, the action was an act of desperation that is likely to lose its effect in the markets after a few weeks.

These weeks are exposing the economic-policy sins of a policy that was, on the one hand, driven by the understandable desire to achieve an energy-autonomous situation – Europe still obtains around 60 percent of its energy requirements from abroad. Added to the desire for autonomy were eco-socialist forces that saw their opportunity in the fight against fossil fuels not only to eliminate parts of refinery capacity and fossil energy production, but also to establish their own political center of power with the help of climate policy.

With overregulation, a CO2 extraction economy and a green patronage economy designed to enrich political friends, greater damage is being left behind than anyone is currently willing to admit.

Ultimately, it was trillions spent on the green transformation, on von der Leyen’s Green Deal, that were simply burned and produced no positive effect whatsoever.

A few have made themselves rich, while what remains are industrial wastelands and a slowly rotting continent in unchecked decline.

What awaits the EU Europeans who are still dreaming green is a brutally hard emptiness, delivered straight to their door by reality: The global economy still operates to 87 percent on the rails of fossil fuels and the resurgent power of nuclear energy. Everything else is propaganda.

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 03:30

How Crowded Has Mount Everest Become?

survivalnomics
-
0
How Crowded Has Mount Everest Become?
How Crowded Has Mount Everest Become?

Mount Everest is seeing more human traffic than at any point in the last three decades of available data, according to Visual Capitalist’s Sofie Gilbert.

Successful climbs are now overwhelmingly concentrated in the spring, when favorable weather can funnel hundreds of climbers toward the summit within a matter of days. Meanwhile, the workforce supporting expeditions has grown alongside the number of people attempting the mountain.

The data comes from The Himalayan Database, which tracks registered expeditions across the Nepal Himalaya. It shows how the scale, timing, and composition of Everest climbing have transformed since the 1990s.

Everest’s Climbing Boom

The number of people recorded on Everest has surged alongside the number reaching the summit.

In 2025, The Himalayan Database recorded 585 visitors and 934 hired workers on the mountain, for a total of 1,519 people. That’s nearly four times the 395 people recorded in 1995.

Year Visitors on the mountain Workers on the mountain Total
1995 247 148 395
1996 338 194 532
1997 337 198 535
1998 271 160 431
1999 221 131 352
2000 406 247 653
2001 371 230 601
2002 237 192 429
2003 491 352 843
2004 394 269 663
2005 480 394 874
2006 492 392 884
2007 595 505 1,100
2008 402 314 716
2009 492 404 896
2010 466 444 910
2011 458 491 949
2012 521 513 1,034
2013 492 554 1,046
2014 403 300 703
2015 519 444 963
2016 454 481 935
2017 545 557 1,102
2018 573 664 1,237
2019 584 682 1,266
2020 32 28 60
2021 458 588 1,046
2022 395 636 1,031
2023 513 737 1,250
2024 493 789 1,282
2025 585 934 1,519

Visitors include clients and independent climbers, while workers are hired expedition staff, most of whom are Nepali Sherpas.

Of those on the mountain in 2025, 878 reached the summit. Across 2021-2025, Everest averaged about 720 summits per year, more than seven times the annual average of roughly 100 in 1995-1999.

Everest Has Become a Spring Mountain

Decades ago, successful Everest climbs were spread much more widely across the calendar. In the 1980s, The Himalayan Database recorded 87 spring summits and 77 autumn summits, along with successful climbs in both winter and summer. That pattern has almost completely disappeared.

Period Spring Autumn Winter Summer
1980-1989 87 77 9 9
1990-1999 739 135 6 0
2000-2009 3,346 30 0 0
2010-2019 5,561 6 0 0
2020-2025 3,634 14 0 0

From 2000 through 2009, more than 99% of recorded summits occurred in spring. The concentration became even more extreme in the 2010s, when the database recorded 5,561 spring summits compared with just six in autumn and none in winter or summer.

Since 2020, the pattern has remained virtually unchanged.

Hundreds Can Summit on the Same Day

Even within the spring season, summit attempts cluster around short periods of favorable weather, particularly in May.

This can create extraordinary spikes in traffic near the top of the mountain.

Year Total summits
1995 82
1996 98
1997 85
1998 119
1999 116
2000 145
2001 182
2002 158
2003 264
2004 335
2005 307
2006 483
2007 611
2008 428
2009 463
2010 532
2011 541
2012 574
2013 680
2014 133
2015 0
2016 678
2017 680
2018 850
2019 899
2020 49
2021 462
2022 704
2023 685
2024 870
2025 878

On May 23, 2019, 354 people reached Everest’s summit from Nepal and Tibet combined, the highest single-day total in the dataset.

These traffic spikes are largely driven by Everest’s extreme weather. Summit attempts typically occur when the jet stream shifts away from the mountain, creating periods of lower winds before the summer monsoon arrives.

As a result, hundreds of climbers who have spent weeks acclimatizing can converge on the upper mountain during the same handful of favorable days.

The Workforce Behind Everest’s Climbing Boom

The growth of Everest climbing has also transformed who is on the mountain. In 1995, The Himalayan Database recorded about three hired workers for every five visitors.

By 2025, there were roughly eight hired workers for every five visitors, with hired workers accounting for more than 60% of all people recorded on Everest that year.

Long before most clients attempt the summit, high-altitude workers carry supplies, stock camps, and help prepare the route. Commercial expeditions also rely on guides and other staff to support climbers during weeks of acclimatization and the final summit push.

The risks faced by that workforce became especially visible during two catastrophic seasons. In 2014, all 17 deaths recorded in the database were hired workers. In 2015, when the Nepal earthquake triggered a deadly avalanche at Everest Base Camp, workers accounted for 11 of the 14 deaths recorded on registered expeditions.

Year Total deaths Visitor deaths Worker deaths
1995 4 1 3
1996 15 12 3
1997 9 6 3
1998 4 4 0
1999 4 4 0
2000 2 2 0
2001 5 4 1
2002 3 3 0
2003 4 3 1
2004 7 7 0
2005 6 6 0
2006 11 7 4
2007 7 6 1
2008 1 1 0
2009 5 3 2
2010 3 3 0
2011 4 4 0
2012 10 7 3
2013 8 4 4
2014 17 0 17
2015 14 3 11
2016 5 5 0
2017 6 5 1
2018 5 2 3
2019 11 10 1
2020 0 0 0
2021 5 2 3
2022 3 2 1
2023 18 12 6
2024 8 6 2
2025 4 2 2

These were exceptional disaster years rather than typical seasons, but they underscore the occupational hazards faced by the workforce supporting Everest expeditions.

The Growing Human Footprint

More people on Everest also means more waste to manage. Nepal requires expeditions to remove waste, but doing so at extreme altitude is difficult and expensive.

In spring 2024, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee collected 85 tonnes of waste from Everest Base Camp and higher camps, including 27.53 tonnes of human waste.

Everest’s Crowds Are Also Big Business

Everest is also a major source of income for Nepal. In 2025, the country increased the spring climbing permit fee for foreign climbers from $11,000 to $15,000, with the new rate taking effect in September.

Climbers also support guides, porters, lodges, and other local businesses, making Everest an important source of income alongside the pressures created by growing traffic.

As the highest mountain on Earth, Everest remains uniquely appealing to climbers. Three decades of data show just how much the human presence surrounding that pursuit has grown.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 02:45

UK Taxpayers (Unknowingly) Funding Free Hijabs For Illegal Immigrants

survivalnomics
-
0
UK Taxpayers (Unknowingly) Funding Free Hijabs For Illegal Immigrants
UK Taxpayers (Unknowingly) Funding Free Hijabs For Illegal Immigrants

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The British government has been handing out thousands of hijabs to illegal migrants washing up on the shores of the country in boats, while Home Office staff have been spending time in Calais cooking meals for them.

Internal figures show 974 hijabs issued to small-boat arrivals between January and June, at a rate of 162 a month. Run that rate forward and the year’s total is already past 1,000 and heading for 1,500.

The same clothing data also proves that the vast majority of those arriving are fighting age males, with more than 10,000 male packs being provided against 2,670 for women, while children’s packs number just 773 for boys and 829 for girls.

This isn’t a deterrent, it’s an open armed welcome.

Home Office documents show the scarves are part of the dry-clothing pack issued at short-term holding sites such as Manston in Kent. A Home Office source told the Mail the department has a legal duty, under the Short-term Holding Facility Rules, to provide basic clothing, including cultural and religious items, and that migrants’ cultural and religious needs “must be catered for so far as is practicable.”

A spokesman added: “All arrivals receive a basic dry clothing pack where required. The items available form part of standard welfare arrangements.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Mail: “The Government must stop handing out hijabs to illegal immigrants immediately. It’s an insult to hard-working British taxpayers that they’re funding religious items for people who have broken into our country. It should not be for us to fund someone else’s religious practices.”

He went on: “Many illegal immigrants actually hate our values. Many come here for free accommodation and a life on benefits at our expense. Illegal immigrants crossing the channel are breaking into our country. They have no legitimate reason to flee France, which is clearly safe. That’s why we must leave the European Convention on Human Rights so we can deport all illegal immigrants immediately upon arrival.”

Reform UK MP Andrew Rosindell told GB News: “I don’t know why we should be giving these people anything. They’re coming in illegally, and if they’re coming in illegally, we shouldn’t be incentivising people by making them feel like they’re getting everything given to them on a plate. You couldn’t make it up.”

GB News presenter Ben Leo put the same point in plainer language: “Don’t act surprised when Britain no longer looks like the Britain you grew up in.” His argument was that the country has to stop looking like it “comes with a welcome pack.”

Campaigning journalist David Atherton also asked the question, “what is the Home Office doing in promoting a backward practice that suppresses women?”

Nearly 20,000 people have reached Britain by dinghy this year alone. The Home Office is keen to note that is down 42 per cent on the same point in 2025, and that summer 2026 produced the fewest summer arrivals since 2020.

A spokesman said: “We have made progress tackling the small boats. Crossings are down significantly.” GB News reported that Sunday morning alone had already put more than 200 arrivals into Dover, with close to 500 since Friday, and a further dinghy heading north from a beach near Cherbourg, part of a westward shift in launch points away from Dunkirk and Calais. A bit lower than last year’s chaos is not the same thing as a border.

The hijab figures landed on the same weekend as a Telegraph investigation into who, inside the system, is spending their spare time on the French side of the water.

Around eight members of the Public and Commercial Services Union, including Home Office staff, spent two days in February at a migrant camp in Calais with Care4Calais. They cooked meals and handed out fleeces. The trip was organised by PCS, which has worked with the charity since about 2022, including joint opposition to the Rwanda plan.

Full-time union officials on the visit included general secretary Fran Heathcote and Mike Jones, group secretary for Home Office members. Among the Home Office contingent were Passport Office worker and union representative Karen Alderson, Keith Hannant and Jordan David.

Alderson said: “It’s important that we have a presence here. A lot of our members work in asylum and the way we hear it reported in the media, it’s all about numbers [but these are] people.” Hannant said: “And then you come and see [Calais], and they’re just people like you and me.” David said they talk about the asylum situation in meetings “but none of us have that real hands-on experience of what it’s like to work with refugees.”

Care4Calais’s Charlotte Khan was open about the point of the relationship: “We have people who work in the Home Office.” Jones’s remedy was not removal. It was “proper plans that can deal with the safe crossing to make sure that people can come to the country safely.”

A PCS spokesman said the visit was so representatives “working within the Home Office, including those representing PCS members working in the asylum and immigration system,” could “gain a better understanding of the realities facing refugees.” The Home Office, asked about its own staff, said only that it expected “all employees to meet the highest standards expected of them.“

The charity is not a neutral soup kitchen in this story. A separate Telegraph investigation found Care4Calais had backed asylum seekers disputing official age assessments, including a Sudanese man in his 20s placed in children’s accommodation after the charity referred him to a council. Immigration courts later rejected the claim.

Home Office figures for the year ending March show 6,255 age-dispute cases closed, with 43 per cent found to be adults despite claiming to be children. The charity’s response was that “the real scandal” was children wrongly judged to be adults, and that it is “a humanitarian charity that distributes aid to people who have fled war, torture and persecution.”

Home Office figures put small-boat arrivals since Labour took office on 4 July 2024 at 83,279.

That figure is more than the regular British Army of about 83,000. Since records began in December 2018 the cumulative total is past 200,000, larger than the Army, Navy and RAF combined. About 90 per cent have been male. Two-thirds have been aged 18 to 39.

Meanwhile, this weekend Kent Police ran what Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Brookes called a “substantial” operation around a planned anti-migrant protest in Dover, after masked demonstrators previously blocked the port on 5 September. A face-covering ban was in force from 8am to 9pm under the Crime and Policing Act 2026. Protesters who reached the port were dispersed under a Section 14 notice. Processing of arrivals has repeatedly been linked to the cruise terminal.

Accounts on the ground went further. UK Dispatch reported that Kent Police had put signal blockers near the cruise terminal to stop people live-streaming.

A state that issues religious clothing to illegal arrivals, sends its own immigration staff to volunteer with NGOs on the beach, and polices the cameras at the terminal is not failing to stop the boats.

It is managing the intake, dressing it, and telling the public the numbers are down. France is a safe country. The dinghies are still launching from Normandy. The welcome pack is still waiting at Manston.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 10/05/2026 – 02:00

1...818283...4,580Page 82 of 4,580

About Us

Popular Category

Editor Picks