China says it has dramatically improved its ability to chart the ocean floor, producing detailed seabed maps that outperform widely used global models in both resolution and accuracy, according to the South China Morning Post.

The advance is the product of more than two decades of work by a research group led by Professor Wu Ziyin at the Second Institute of Oceanography. Rather than relying on a single new survey, the scientists found ways to reconcile huge amounts of older information collected by different vessels, instruments and mapping systems. The result is a much sharper digital picture of the underwater landscape around China, including parts of the contested South China Sea.

Researchers say their maps offer roughly double the resolution of leading global alternatives and can be two to five times more accurate. That improvement can reveal smaller underwater formations and pinpoint their locations more precisely…information with applications ranging from offshore energy and earthquake research to navigation, resource exploration and military operations.

The strategic importance of knowing what lies beneath the surface became particularly clear in 2021, when the USS Connecticut struck an underwater mountain while operating submerged in the South China Sea. Eleven sailors were injured and the nuclear-powered submarine suffered significant damage. While a US Navy investigation faulted the crew’s voyage planning, the incident also illustrated the dangers posed by gaps in existing seabed charts.

SCMP writes that China has meanwhile worked to reduce its dependence on foreign ocean-survey technology. The program produced domestically designed multi-beam sonar equipment along with autonomous underwater vehicles capable of surveying at depths approaching 6,000 metres. Wu said China had once depended heavily on imported systems but now produces comparable equipment at a fraction of the cost.

“Our equipment breaks the monopoly of Western countries, with leading performance,” Wu said.

The broader project has also catalogued 769 underwater geographic features, many given names inspired by Chinese history, mythology and literature. China plans to publish an English-language version of its seabed atlas, while its marine surveying technology has already found commercial and government applications and has reportedly been exported to Russia, Japan and Singapore.

Wu characterized the transition from foreign dependence to domestic production as “a true qualitative leap.”

The achievement comes as much of the ocean floor remains surprisingly poorly documented. Less than 30% of the world’s oceans have been surveyed in detail, meaning the majority of Earth’s underwater terrain is still inadequately mapped.

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com

Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuba’s top diplomat in the US, has told Bloomberg that the Trump administration is unwilling to continue talks with the island nation and described the ramped-up US oil embargo, which has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis in the country, as a “war without bombs.”

“The channel for dialogue is at a complete standstill,” Torres Rivera told the outlet, adding that the two sides are unable to set a basic agenda.

Since the US attack on Venezuela to abduct President Nicolas Maduro, the US has cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and pressured Mexico to also end its energy exports to the island, causing severe fuel shortages and bringing Cuba’s healthcare system to the brink of collapse.

President Trump has been clear that he wants Cuba to be his next military intervention, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is leading the policy, has rejected the idea of a “peaceful agreement” with the Cuban government.

POLITICO reported last month that the CIA has ramped up its presence in Cuba, something the agency also did preceding the attack on Venezuela.

The report said that the administration doesn’t believe it needs to end its war with Iran before taking military action against Cuba.

Despite the US hostility, Torres Rivera said that Havana sought good relations with Washington:

“Cuba is not a threat to the United States,” she said. “Cuba wants a relationship of respect with the United States where we can talk about our shared priorities.”

Discussing the oil embargo, Torres Rivera said, “What country can function normally when they’ve only received one fuel shipment in 200 days? This is collective punishment. This is a war without bombs.”

Torres Rivera made similar comments in a post on X on August 21, where she also said the “current US oil siege increased the infant mortality rate per 1000 live births to more than double.”

A routine arrest in North Austin developed into a much broader investigation after police said they discovered a large collection of mail, payment cards, checks and postal keys believed to have been stolen, according to Yahoo.

Austin police arrested 42-year-old Elizabeth Rozo on Aug. 25 after officers tracked her to an apartment complex near Tech Ridge Boulevard. Authorities were looking for Rozo because she was wanted on a warrant stemming from a credit or bank card abuse investigation.

Officers with the department’s North Metro Tactical Unit reportedly watched Rozo leave the apartment complex and enter a vehicle. They followed her before initiating a traffic stop.

The investigation expanded significantly when officers searched the vehicle. Police said they recovered roughly 400 bank cards believed to have been stolen, along with nearly 300 gift cards. Investigators suspect at least some of the gift cards had been purchased using compromised bank cards.

Officers also discovered two counterfeit Arrow Keys, a type of master key associated with U.S. Postal Service mail equipment. Such keys can potentially be used to open certain shared mailboxes and other postal receptacles, making them particularly valuable to people seeking access to mail belonging to multiple households.

Evidence from the vehicle led investigators to secure a warrant for Rozo’s apartment. The second search produced considerably more material, according to police.

By the time officers finished searching the vehicle and residence, authorities said they had collected thousands of pieces of suspected stolen mail and hundreds of checks. They also recovered about two dozen identification documents that police believe were either stolen or fraudulently produced.

Investigators reported finding 17 stolen postal keys in addition to the two counterfeit keys discovered during the investigation. Authorities have not publicly explained how the postal keys were allegedly obtained or identified how many mailboxes could have been accessed with them. Police also have not announced an estimate of how many people may ultimately be connected to the recovered mail and financial documents.

Yahoo writes that approximately two ounces of suspected methamphetamine was also recovered during the investigation, according to reports.

The volume and variety of the seized material could make determining the full scope of the case a lengthy process. Investigators must examine the mail, checks, cards and identification documents to determine where they came from and whether they are connected to additional offenses or victims.

Postal master keys have become a concern for law enforcement because one compromised key can potentially expose mail belonging to numerous residents. Once mail is taken, checks can be altered or fraudulently deposited, while bank cards and personal information can be used in financial fraud or identity theft schemes.

The Austin Police Department has dealt with similar cases recently. In July, police announced the results of a separate investigation involving counterfeit Arrow Keys. That case led authorities to recover hundreds of pieces of mail, thousands of checks, payment cards, identification documents and equipment that investigators said was associated with counterfeiting.

APD Arrests Suspect in Investigation Involving Thousands of Pieces of Stolen Mail, Hundreds of Bank Cards – https://t.co/rp3jgk0hvZ pic.twitter.com/q5xS2sGTso

— Austin Police Department (@Austin_Police) September 1, 2026

Rozo was initially booked on the outstanding warrant involving alleged credit or bank card abuse. Police also charged her with unlawful conduct involving a mail receptacle or lock and manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance involving methamphetamine.

Authorities said the investigation remains active and additional charges could follow as detectives work through the material that was seized. Rozo has been arrested and charged, but the accusations against her remain allegations unless proven in court.

Police say missing mail can sometimes provide an early indication that personal or financial information has been compromised. Residents who are expecting checks, replacement credit or debit cards, tax documents or other sensitive correspondence may want to contact the sender if those items fail to arrive.

Authorities also recommend retrieving mail soon after delivery and using USPS Hold Mail when away from home for an extended period. Informed Delivery can provide digital previews of many incoming mail pieces, which may help residents notice when expected correspondence disappears.

Checks can present an additional risk because information on a stolen check may be altered before it is deposited or cashed. Police recommend using permanent ink, avoiding unnecessary blank spaces when writing checks and periodically examining images of processed checks for unexpected changes to the recipient or amount.

Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,

Chinese refiners are paying a hefty premium for Russia’s ESPO crude to replace Iranian crude that independent refiners were importing before the U.S. installed its naval blockade on the country.

East Siberia-Pacific Ocean crude, or ESPO, for delivery in November is trading at a premium of over $7 per barrel, with offers reaching as high as $10 per barrel over Brent crude, Bloomberg reported today, citing traders. The blend is loaded from Russia’s Far East coast and can reach the buyers in China in less than a week, the publication noted.

China is the biggest buyer of ESPO crude, with a market share of 83% for the first seven months of the year. However, this share is down from 88% a year earlier. The change came amid stronger ESPO buying from Indian refiners, whose market share for the Far Eastern Russian crude blend went up from 12% to 16% for the first seven months of the year, according to data from Kpler and Vortexa. Total oil exports from Russia’s Far Eastern port of Kozmino ticked up by 6% over the first seven months of the year.

India raised its ESPO imports due to the slump in overall Chinese oil imports between May and June, and the supply disruptions in the Middle East, which delayed many term cargoes Indian refiners were expecting in the early summer.

Normally, Indian refiners prefer the Urals blend but have now warmed up to ESPO even though it takes longer to reach its destinations in India and is costlier than Urals. However, the Far Eastern blend is a good backup option for Indian buyers in times of disruption, according to energy analysts.

Meanwhile, India’s crude oil imports from Russia are estimated to have eased in August from July’s record high, as Ukrainian attacks on Russian export infrastructure and competition from China for Russia’s barrels have dented Indian intake of Moscow’s oil.

The Trump White House is reportedly looking to try and keep things ‘quiet’ related to the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz leading into the November midterms, after an intense flare-up in fighting this week.

“Top aides to President Donald Trump are pushing to keep the Iran war from escalating before November’s midterm elections to staunch Republican electoral losses, four people familiar with the discussions said, a strategy already under strain as the U.S. and Iran exchanged back-and-forth attacks overnight,” Reuters reports.

However, over in Israel the war rhetoric is still cranked to a ten. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it crystal clear in fresh Thursday remarks that total ‘regime collapse’ remains his ‘central’ goal.

He declared that the “central mission” is to topple the Iranian regime, asserting that the goal is “within reach,” during a Rosh Hashanah event attended by the IDF General Staff Forum in Tel Aviv.

“The regime is now faltering. It is weaker than ever. It is fighting for its survival,” he claimed. He also described this was partly due to Israel’s successful Gaza campaign going back to Oct.7, 2023, and the anti-Hezbollah mission.

“I am confident in our ability to remove this threat once and for all – in other words, to topple this regime,” Netanyahu said.

“That is the central mission that still lies ahead of us, but it is close. It is not impossible. It is within reach,” he emphasized. 

“It is no coincidence that they are not attacking us. They are attacking everyone except us. They know our strength, the force of our blows and our determination,” he continued.

Israel’s defense ministry has lately made clear it will unleash militarily on Iran if the Islamic Republic dares to attack Israel, even if it’s some kind of ‘limited’ assault on Israeli assets and interests.

Netanyahu also warned, “Don’t mess with us. If you have learned anything, don’t mess with us. We have the strength, the determination and the internal unity to defeat you.”

But Israel clearly wants the United States to continue to do the heavy lifting. Typically its leadership gets louder in making the case for anti-Tehran escalation anytime Washington seems to back off the military pressure.

And so it’s no coincidence that this week…

The Jerusalem Post runs an op-ed suggesting using indebted Americans to invade Iran…words fail me. pic.twitter.com/h7qISeAdOg

— Marcus Stanley (@MarcusMStanley) September 3, 2026

Israeli officials have all the while continued to tout that Mossad assets have been in place inside the Islamic Republic, hinting that some kind of ‘uprising’ could take place.

And yet after six months of war, there really hasn’t been much in the way of a groundswell of protest action in the streets. It remains a martial law situation, and the fact that the Iranian population itself is under the US bombs has naturally translated into citizens not wanting to be seen rooting for the enemy. The whole war-time situation also essentially grants authorities more ‘power’ to crack down, as it typically goes.

Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times,

A China-linked cyberespionage group compromised Cisco routers and hid its activity from the network administrators who managed them, cybersecurity firm Sygnia said in an Aug. 27 report.

The group also recorded traffic moving through the devices and used them to probe other high-value networks, according to the report.

The hackers compromised systems that verify whether network administrators are authorized to log in to routers and other equipment, allowing them to capture administrator credentials, Sygnia said.

Sygnia tracks the group as Fire Ant and describes it as China-nexus. The firm has not publicly tied the hackers to a specific Chinese government agency, nor have they disclosed the affected organizations or countries, and no U.S. victim has been publicly identified.

Cisco on Sept. 2 separately issued a critical security-hardening update for IOS XR, the router operating system involved in Sygnia’s investigation. Cisco said the update addresses seven groups of vulnerabilities discovered through internal testing and not known to be actively exploited.

Cisco’s advisory does not mention Fire Ant or Sygnia’s investigation, and Sygnia did not identify a Cisco vulnerability used in the attacks.

Hackers Hid Activity on Routers

Sygnia began investigating after researchers found a hidden network tunnel operating through a Cisco router but absent from the device’s normal configuration records. Investigators later found malware designed specifically for IOS XR.

Routers direct data between networks. Controlling one can allow an intruder to watch traffic passing through it or use the device as a path toward other systems.

Sygnia said Fire Ant hid activity by suppressing some router logs and changing the information administrators received when they checked the equipment, leaving them with an incomplete picture of what was running on the device.

Fire Ant also recorded network traffic from several Cisco routers and sent the files to outside servers, Sygnia said. Some of that collection was carried out through a legitimate administrator account.

Investigators traced one hidden connection to another compromised computer. From there, Sygnia said, Fire Ant tested connections to other high-value systems, including systems associated with critical infrastructure.

Sygnia documented scanning and connection attempts, but did not report that those downstream systems were successfully breached.

The firm described the approach as going after a “target behind the target”-first taking control of trusted network equipment and then looking for paths into other organizations.

Administrator Logins Targeted

Fire Ant also compromised systems that verify whether network administrators are authorized to log in to routers and other equipment. Those login verification systems use a protocol known as TACACS.

Sygnia found malware embedded in that login verification process that could capture administrator credentials as administrators signed in.

The firm named the tool TacTap and said it was unaware of that particular technique having been publicly documented before.

Sygnia said Fire Ant’s methods strongly overlap with those of UNC3886, another China-linked cyberespionage group previously investigated by Google-owned Mandiant. The firm stopped short of identifying the two as the same actor.

Similar techniques have been documented in other Chinese state-sponsored hacking campaigns, according to the United States and allied governments. Those campaigns were separate from Fire Ant.

A 2025 joint advisory from U.S. and allied cyber agencies described Chinese state-sponsored hackers targeting major telecommunications routers and other devices at the edges of networks.

The advisory described hidden tunnels, traffic collection, efforts to obtain administrator credentials, and use of compromised routers to reach additional networks. The agencies said much of the traffic collection they observed involved Cisco IOS devices.

The advisory did not identify Fire Ant.

Cisco’s Long Record in China

Separate from the Fire Ant investigation, Cisco has a decades-long record in China involving networking equipment, technical cooperation, and a large training program.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission wrote in 2008 that Cisco routers and switches had become “cornerstones” of Golden Shield, a Ministry of Public Security project used for police networking, internet monitoring, censorship, and surveillance.

An internal Cisco presentation from 2002 described Golden Shield as a business opportunity and listed planning, construction, technical training, and operations maintenance among areas in which Cisco could participate.

The presentation cited Chinese authorities’ goal of using the system against Falun Gong and other groups they viewed as threats to Communist Party rule.

Cisco also developed a broad networking training program in China.

The company opened its first Networking Academy in mainland China at Fudan University in September 1998 and later expanded the program to universities across the country.

Cisco sued Huawei in 2003, alleging that the Chinese telecommunications company copied portions of Cisco’s networking software, technical documentation, and other intellectual property.

By April 2004, Cisco said it had 198 academies in China, with 17,370 students enrolled and 20,520 graduates.

That year, Cisco signed a $37.7 million agreement with China’s Ministry of Education covering networking courses, professional certifications, and instructor training at 35 national software colleges.

In October 2004, Cisco and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications established a network-security training center that Cisco said would train high level telecommunications security personnel and provide practical instruction to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students.

By 2009, Cisco said more than 100,000 students in China had received training through more than 250 networking academies.

California-based cybersecurity firm SentinelOne reported in 2025 that two people associated with companies named in the Salt Typhoon advisory appeared in Chinese university records as participants in a 2012 Cisco Networking Academy competition.

SentinelOne said corporate, patent, education, and employment records made it highly likely that the competitors were the same people later associated with the companies named in the Salt Typhoon advisory.

Those records do not connect either person to Fire Ant or establish that Cisco training was connected to their later cyber activity.

Initial Access Remains Unknown

Sygnia has not disclosed how Fire Ant first obtained the privileged access needed to compromise the Cisco routers.

Its report does not identify a Cisco vulnerability used in the attack. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency declined to comment on Sygnia’s report.

Sygnia, Cisco, and Google’s Mandiant did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

The Department of Homeland Security opened a coordinated voter fraud investigation across nine states this week, and Democratic election officials are not taking the news well…

CNN reported that internal federal guidance directs Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to build criminal cases against people suspected of illegally registering or voting. The effort is described as a “coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative” and will run from early September through mid-October.

Agents began work Tuesday in Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York and Connecticut.

The operation targets noncitizens who registered or cast ballots, including immigrants accused of voting before they naturalized. DHS has directed investigators to coordinate with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which means a noncitizen caught voting faces more than a fine. Criminal charges, a denied citizenship application and deportation are all on the table.

The enforcement push runs through DHS’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, which lets states cross-check voter rolls against federal citizenship and immigration records. Mullin announced in July that states seeking DHS election-related grants must run their rolls through SAVE as a condition of funding.

“Working with Secretary Lutnick, we are going to make our security enhancements mandatory,” Mullin said.

“The machines have to be secured, and your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed. We need to make sure that individuals that are legally able to vote are voting.”

Skeptics might ask whether any of this produces actual prosecutions. It has. Recent federal cases include a Honduran illegal alien arrested for voting in seven federal elections dating back to 2008, a Mexican national who pleaded guilty after falsely claiming citizenship, an Australian national arrested for voting in multiple federal elections, a Chinese national facing voter fraud charges and an illegal alien sentenced for voting under a stolen identity for more than two decades.

While Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office said it would comply with the investigation, officials in the targeted Democratic-run states denounced the operation almost immediately.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office called the operation part of “a broader effort to intimidate Californians” and dismissed DHS’s findings as “seemingly baseless.”

Connecticut Democratic Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas struck a more careful tone, saying she welcomed “any investigation into election malfeasance” while hoping the intent was to find wrongdoing rather than “create chaos.” 

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said he learned about the probe from media reports and complained DHS never contacted his office. “It’s troubling that Homeland Security is wasting taxpayer dollars investigating a phenomenon we know to be false,” Hobbs said, calling the operation “another attempt by the federal government to cause chaos and confusion ahead of the midterms.” 

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called the probe “a joke” and told Trump to “stay out of it because voting is a state issue and not a federal issue.” 

New Jersey offers the cleanest test case of the whole fight. The Trump administration identified at least 35,000 potential noncitizen registered voters in the state. In July, Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill tried to get ahead of the story by admitting the state had 6,600 registered noncitizen voters herself. But then she refused to hand voter data over to the Trump administration. 

 “While ICE Homeland Security Investigations is not able to comment on any active investigations, HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “Our message to aliens who vote in American elections is clear: we will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences—including criminal charges and deportation.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has turned his department into the tip of the spear for President Trump’s election integrity push, and he has done it with numbers Democrats would prefer nobody repeat. DHS has flagged more than 24,000 potential noncitizens on voter rolls nationwide since April of last year, and Mullin said an audit of four states alone, California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada, turned up more than 250,000 potential noncitizen registrations.

“One thing that I love about numbers, and I love about facts, is they don’t lie,” Mullin told reporters, warning that election officials who fail to secure the midterms could face fines or jail time.

Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,

Spot LNG prices for Asian buyers went up to almost $26 per million British thermal units yesterday for a 5% weekly gain following the resumption of strikes between the United States and Iran.

Spot LNG for Asia traded at $25.908 per mmBtu late on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed traders, after President Donald Trump said “We took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the Strait of Hormuz – some defensive, some offensive … It was a very heavy attack last night, and we’re prepared to do another one any time we want.”

Prices in both Asia and Europe had jumped at the end of last week after Qatar’s state-owned firm QatarEnergy extended the force majeure on its LNG deliveries into November amid still-blocked transits through the Strait of Hormuz.

Prices in Asia were driven by South Asian buyers, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, seeking spot supply to replace term supply from Qatar that cannot leave the Persian Gulf. Per tender documents seen by Bloomberg, utilities in South Korea, India, Taiwan, and Bangladesh are looking to buy spot cargoes for October and November.

Pakistan, on the other hand, rejected an LNG offer to its last prompt tender earlier this week, as it was priced at over $27 per mmBtu, which the state-owned gas trading company considered too high a price. The cargo was offered by BP.

Recent developments in the Middle East suggest the resumption of normal LNG flows out of the Persian Gulf is nowhere in sight. In light of a seasonal pick-up in demand for gas, chances are that LNG prices will go higher still, likely pricing out some buyers. Gas prices are surging in Europe as well, making it more difficult for gas buyers there to start buying ahead of the winter season.

Authored by Michael Talbot via BondVigilantes.com,

One thousand days is a long time in politics…

When I wrote about Javier Milei’s first 100 days in office, Argentina was embarking on yet another attempt to break free from a cycle that had become painfully familiar: fiscal excess, monetary financing, inflation, capital controls and, eventually, crisis. Markets were optimistic, but they had been optimistic before. Argentina has a habit of disappointing even its most enthusiastic supporters.

At the time, Milei inherited an economy in severe distress alongside a reform agenda that many viewed as politically impossible to implement. Today, as Argentina approaches the 1,000-day mark of his presidency, investors can point to something far more tangible: results.

That does not mean the story has been flawless. Economic recovery has come with significant social costs, political controversy remains a constant feature of Milei’s presidency, and accusations surrounding the LIBRA cryptocurrency scandal have created an unwelcome distraction. Yet, taken as a whole, the last 1,000 days arguably represent one of the most successful periods of macroeconomic stabilisation Argentina has experienced in decades.

The road from crisis to reform

When Milei took office in December 2023, Argentina’s economy was under significant strain.

Argentina’s inflation surge into 2024 was largely the consequence of years of fiscal deficits financed by money printing, chronic peso depreciation, capital controls and repeated losses of confidence in economic policy. Global post-pandemic inflation and commodity shocks added to the pressure, but the underlying problem was domestic: too many pesos chasing too few goods in an economy where households had little faith in the currency.

By the time Milei took office, annual inflation had reached 211%, later peaking at almost 290%, while monthly inflation exceeded 25%.

Source: M&G, Bloomberg. 30 June 2026

Since then, inflation has fallen to around 33.5% year-on-year, driven primarily by an aggressive fiscal adjustment, the elimination of monetary financing of government spending, exchange-rate liberalisation and a broader restoration of policy discipline. While favourable factors such as stronger exports, rising energy production and statistical base effects have also helped, the scale of the disinflation suggests that most of the improvement can be attributed to Milei’s economic programme.

Argentina’s experience provides a powerful example that when inflation stems from deep structural fiscal and monetary imbalances, politically painful reform can sometimes prove more effective than gradual adjustment. The diagnosis was hardly controversial. Argentina had spent years attempting to solve fiscal problems through increasingly creative monetary solutions. The outcome was predictable.

Milei rejected gradualism entirely. Instead, he pursued one of the most aggressive fiscal consolidation programmes seen in any major economy in recent history. Subsidies were cut, public spending reduced, government departments streamlined and fiscal balance elevated to a near-sacred policy objective.

The approach was described by supporters as shock therapy and by critics as economic extremism. The reality, however, lies somewhere in between.

Shock therapy is rarely popular because it forces adjustment immediately rather than deferring it into the future. It creates visible short-term pain in exchange for the possibility of long-term gain. However, where fiscal and monetary dysfunction have become deeply embedded, gradual approaches can make the road to recovery longer and more uncertain.

Markets have rewarded policy credibility

Perhaps the clearest indication of progress can be found in financial markets.

Back in March 2024, Argentine sovereign spreads remained firmly within distressed territory. Investors were willing to believe the reform story, but they wanted evidence that the government could deliver. And, looking at economic fundamentals, they have.

Source: M&G, IMF. 30 June 2026

That evidence has increasingly emerged, with all three major rating agencies upgrading Argentina’s sovereign credit profile during Milei’s presidency. Fitch upgraded Argentina to B- in May 2026, citing improved fiscal and external balances, progress on reforms and stronger prospects for reserve accumulation. S&P subsequently upgraded the country to B-, highlighting improved access to financing and reduced macroeconomic imbalances. Moody’s has similarly moved Argentina out of the highly distressed category, pointing to falling default risk and improving economic fundamentals.

Sovereign ratings influence the pool of investors able to allocate capital. Argentina remains firmly below investment grade, but moving away from the distressed end of the spectrum expands the universe of potential buyers and gradually lowers financing costs.

Spreads remain elevated relative to most emerging markets, reflecting Argentina’s history and lingering vulnerabilities. The more notable development, however, is how much this premium has narrowed. With sovereign spreads now hovering around 100bps wider than the broader single-B universe, markets appear to be assigning a significantly higher probability to continued normalisation than was the case just a few years ago.

Source: M&G, Bloomberg, JP Morgan. 30 June 2026

That represents a remarkable shift from where the country stood less than three years ago.

Investment is beginning to follow

One of Milei’s most important achievements may ultimately be the restoration of predictability.

Countries rarely grow sustainably without access to capital. Investors do not require perfection, but they do require a degree of confidence that economic policy will remain broadly consistent. For many years, Argentina offered neither.

The combination of fiscal surpluses, declining inflation and exchange-rate liberalisation has helped strengthen relationships with multilateral lenders and private investors alike. While international market access is still developing, the country’s financing options have broadened considerably compared with the near isolation that characterised previous years.

The IMF relationship has also evolved. Historically, Argentina and the IMF often appeared trapped in a cycle of support packages, missed targets and renewed crises. This period feels different. Rather than financing an unreformed economic model, the IMF has effectively become a partner in a broader stabilisation programme. Whether one agrees with every policy decision or not, this increasingly resembles a reform story rather than another rescue operation.

Economic stabilisation matters because it creates the conditions for investment. Argentina’s natural advantages have never been in doubt. The country possesses world-class agricultural exports, significant mining potential and one of the most important unconventional energy resources anywhere in the world through Vaca Muerta. The challenge has always been converting potential into realised investment.

Encouragingly, foreign direct investment has begun moving in the right direction. Energy and mining projects have attracted growing international interest, supported by regulatory reforms and greater macroeconomic stability. Rating agencies have specifically highlighted improving investment pipelines and stronger prospects for FDI inflows as part of the rationale behind recent upgrades.

This highlights an important point. Fiscal discipline alone does not create growth. Rather, it creates an environment in which private capital becomes willing to invest.

A presidency without blemishes?

None of this should be interpreted as an argument that Milei’s government has been beyond criticism.

The economic adjustment has imposed genuine hardship on many Argentinians. Real incomes initially fell sharply; poverty increased during the adjustment phase and social tensions remain elevated. Even supporters would acknowledge that the benefits have not been distributed evenly.

More recently, controversies surrounding Milei’s association with the LIBRA cryptocurrency project have raised questions around judgement and governance. While the economic reform programme and the scandal are separate issues, governance matters. Investors can overlook many things, but sustained improvements in institutional credibility require high standards of political conduct.

It would therefore be wrong to suggest that the last 1,000 days have been an unqualified success. Public support has proven more resilient than many expected, but the politics remain polarising and the social costs remain real.

Argentina’s history also serves as a reminder that credibility can be lost much faster than it is earned.

Breaking the cycle

Ultimately, the significance of Milei’s first 1,000 days extends beyond lower inflation, tighter fiscal policy or stronger sovereign credit ratings.

Argentina has delivered periods of improvement before, only for policy discipline to fade and old vulnerabilities to re-emerge. The country’s economic history is littered with false dawns. Understandably, many investors remain cautious about declaring victory too early.

The real test will be whether today’s gains prove durable.

What has changed, however, is that investors are no longer debating whether stabilisation is possible. Instead, they are increasingly debating how far the recovery can go. That is a very different conversation from the one that existed in late 2023.

Argentina may not yet be fully repaired. Significant economic, political and social challenges remain. However, after decades of recurring crises, policy reversals and disappointed expectations, the country appears to be moving on to a more sustainable path than many believed possible just a few years ago.

For a country that has spent much of its modern history disappointing even its most optimistic supporters, that alone represents meaningful progress.

Two months after the Supreme Court gutted President Trump’s first-day order ending automatic citizenship for children of illegal aliens and temporary visitors, a Maryland federal judge has now blocked the narrower follow-up that targeted the actual business model: birth tourism.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman (Biden), who already enjoined the 2025 order, issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday against the August 6 executive order titled “Ending Birth Tourism and Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.”

Boardman wrote that the new order is “almost certainly unconstitutional as applied to the certified class” because the Supreme Court in Barbara v. Trump already declared those children “citizens at birth.”

“The Supreme Court has spoken,” she said. “Barbara is the law of the land. The President must follow it.”

No executive order, she added, “can undo what the Supreme Court has done.”

The injunction covers children born after February 19, 2025 – the class Boardman certified last year – including future births. State, DHS, and Social Security are barred from denying or refusing to recognize citizenship papers for that group. Children born before that date are outside this order. Agencies can still write implementation guidance. The administration had told the court that guidance was due around September 5 and that any lawsuit was premature. Boardman was not interested.

What Trump Actually Signed.

After the June 30, 2026, 6-3 loss, the White House did not try to relitigate the entire 14th Amendment in one stroke. Instead, it tried to exploit what it called leftover exceptions: children of “alien enemies,” members of foreign terrorist organizations, people acting on behalf of foreign governments, and anyone who entered the United States in a “commercial transaction” to deliver a citizen.

Stephen Miller, at the Oval Office signing, called birth tourism “a fraud on the American system” and said the practice was “hereby banned.” Trump said citizenship had been “made into a joke” and that “wealthy people are building businesses around it.” A Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force followed. Hundreds of visas were yanked.

Boardman treated those carve-outs as a “distorted interpretation” of Barbara. The Justice Department argued the new text sat in the gaps the justices left open. She said the text was “crystal clear and ripe for challenge” and already commanded agencies to deny documents to broad categories of newborns.
This is the same court, same plaintiffs, same playbook.

CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project – the groups that won the first Maryland injunction – supplemented the old case after Boardman refused a temporary restraining order on August 28 because the complaint had not even mentioned the new order. She let them amend, set a compressed briefing schedule, and then shut the policy down for the class.

White House and DOJ had not commented as of Thursday midday. An appeal to the Fourth Circuit is the next obvious move. From there the case is built to go back to the same nine justices who already told the administration the Citizenship Clause is not a policy preference.

The Underlying Fight

The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to persons “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” For 150 years the live question has been what “jurisdiction” means – diplomats, occupying armies, and, in the administration’s view, people who owe no allegiance and are here in violation of law or on a tourist visa to manufacture a citizen. Wong Kim Ark (1898) and now Barbara (2026) read it broadly. Justice Thomas, dissenting in June, said the majority “devalues” citizenship by treating it as a prize for “foreign birth tourists and illegal aliens.”

Congress could still legislate. It has not. A House Judiciary panel held a hearing on the June decision the same day Boardman ruled. That is the political track. The judicial track, for now, runs through Greenbelt, Maryland.

The injunction is temporary. The class is not. Until a higher court says otherwise, the United States remains one of the last large countries where showing up pregnant on a tourist visa is still a path to a passport – unless the parents happen to fall outside Boardman’s certified class, in which case the paperwork fight is just getting started.