German Authorities Discover Massive Fraud In Naturalization Language Tests, Iraqi Ringleader Arrested

Via Remix News,

Authorities in Germany have uncovered a sophisticated fraud network that allegedly deployed paid operatives to take language and naturalization exams on behalf of migrants, with the fraud taking place on a nationwide scale.

The investigation, centered in Nuremberg, suggests a coordinated effort to bypass residency and citizenship requirements. Notably, potential applicants for citizenship must display a basic understanding of the German language.

Prosecutors say the network functioned by providing substitute test-takers who possessed a high command of the German language. According to investigators, candidates used forged identification documents that displayed the substitute’s photo but contained the personal data of the actual applicant, according to Welt.

Applicants reportedly paid between €2,500 and €6,000 per examination. Since the documents appeared legitimate, “the examiners were thus unable to detect the fraud,” resulting in the issuance of genuine certificates used to obtain residence permits or citizenship.

The Middle Franconia Police Headquarters announced on Monday that two individuals are currently in custody, including a 39-year-old Iraqi man, identified as the primary mediator, who is in pre-trial detention.

Additionally, a 22-year-old German man was arrested in January while actively “trying to take such a language examination.”

Furthermore, the scale of the network was highlighted in December when “10 people were also identified as operatives at a language school in North Rhine-Westphalia while they were taking exams for other schools.”

While the current arrests were made in Bavaria, the “investigations concern the entire federal territory.”

Police noted that while “proceedings for forged language certificates have already been underway in the past,” this specific method of using look-alike deputies represents a significant escalation. Following an initial review of the evidence, Bavarian investigators “assumed that there will be a high double-digit number of further investigations.”

Concerns about the mass naturalization of foreigners have already been raised, with potentially thousands or even theoretically tens of thousands of foreigners using fraud to obtain their citizenship.

In one case, hundreds of forged certificates were found by just one official, who found that these certificates were being sold on a huge scale on TikTok.

Furthermore, many of the fraud cases have likely gone undetected.

The language test required for German citizenship, which must show proficiency in only B1, hardly proves a strong command of the German language either. Nonetheless, there are numerous cases involving migrants paying thousands of euros for a forged certificate or for test takers to take the test for them.

Already, there have been broad concerns about foreign workers in Germany who lack an adequate level of German for their roles as doctors and police officers.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/11/2026 - 03:30

Ambitious France-Germany Next-Gen Fighter Faces Crash Landing Amid EU Infighting

Europe's flagship sixth-generation fighter project is unraveling fast. Politico Europe days ago observed that the Franco-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (FCAS) is now "on the verge of collapse" after Dassault and Airbus failed to meet critical deadlines for agreeing on work-sharing arrangements.

The warnings have been building for months, with loud public signaling coming from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who already conceded that the project is stalled, bluntly admitting there is "no progress" - while French officials also sound increasingly pessimistic, with some privately warning that the manned fighter element of FCAS may already be "dead".

Some of the key quotes in the Politico piece attempt to strike hopeful note, but sound anything but reassuring: "We are doing everything we can to try and save this program. We'll see how we can land," the head of the French arms procurement agency, Patrick Pailloux, was cited in the report as telling the press.

via en.defence-ua.com

Prior understandings have already broken down, with the report explaining: "The manned fighter has been at the core of the bitter industrial disputes between Dassault and Airbus over leadership, technology, and work-sharing, with little sign of a resolution. Dassault is looking for more control over the development of the Next Generation Fighter (NGF), a key component of the FCAS project."

And a December deadline to resolve the dispute has come and gone with no resolution. "In Berlin, German officials insist Germany still wants to preserve parts of the project - particularly the joint combat cloud and other shared systems - even if the fighter itself splits into two separate jets," the Politico report added. 

So the ultra-ambitious project could all ultimately break down over control and intellectual property questions - and shared workflow issues - given Paris is accusing Berlin of trying to "steal know-how" while German officials have grumbled about the project being little more than a costly bailout for France's defense industry. 

Last year Merz acknowledged, "We are not making any progress with this project. Things cannot continue as they are." But nothing appears to have changed since then till now.

Most recently, Bloomberg has reported that "FCAS is meant to be operational around 2040, but that deadline may be hard to meet."

The same report noted another blackeye for EU and inter-NATO unity and cooperation: "The program's difficulties call into question Europe’s broader ability to form wartime alliances as the region comes under increasing US pressure to spend more on defense and become more self-reliant."

US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker referenced this theme of the Trump administration, namely European disunity, in comments in Germany just ahead of the annual Munich Security Conference. Europe must grow up, he explained, and Washington can't provide the unity and self-reliance it needs. "When your kids are young, they’re dependent on you. But eventually you expect them to get a job. And so to me, that’s where we are. We still love them. You’re still allies," Amb. Whitaker said.

The FCAS story so far…
Left: plucky France with Macron and Dassault just trying to build a European fighter jet that can launch from an aircraft carrier.
Right: cold-hearted, untrustworthy Germans with their insistence on shared workloads and design decisions destroying FCAS. pic.twitter.com/i80fLUSGUp

— Georg ‘Dr. Maverick’ Löfflmann (@gloefflmann) February 10, 2026

While praising allies' willingness boost military spending to 5%, he assessed that they are being too sluggish in turning this extra defense investment and expenditure into actual military capabilities.

"One of the things that I’ve noticed in my time here in Europe is there is a lot of discussion and not a lot of action," he emphasized. The faltering FCAS sixth-generation fighter project could in the end prove yet another costly example of bickering that doesn't produce tangible results.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/11/2026 - 02:45

New German Law Could Force Green Energy Developers To Fund Grid Links

Authored by Michael Kern via OilPrice.com,

Germany is proposing that renewable energy developers pay for connecting to the grid in new regulations that would replace the current system of first-come, first-served, Reuters reported on Monday, citing a new draft law it has seen.  

The current congestion in the queue for grid connections and the regulations allowing the first applications to be connected is slowing renewables expansion.  

“Connecting generation, storage, and consumption facilities to the electricity grid is facing ever greater challenges,” says the bill proposed by Germany’s economy and energy ministry, as carried by Reuters. 

“In particular, the ongoing flood of applications from large-scale battery storage systems is overloading grid operators and blocking other grid connection applicants,” according to the bill.  

Apart from having renewable energy developers pay for connecting to the grid, the new regulations would aim to encourage the construction of wind, solar, and battery capacity in areas with easier connections for the grid.  

Despite soaring wind and solar installations in recent years, Germany needs to accelerate capacity additions to meet its own renewable energy targets. 

Europe’s biggest economy has a target to have renewables account for 80% of its electricity generation in 2030.    

In solar, Germany is halfway through reaching its 2030 solar power targets, the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) said in June last year.

The association, however, warned that solar power expansion has slowed and while Germany is halfway there on its solar goals, the next stage to reaching the 2030 targets cannot be taken for granted.

Germany saw the highest number of onshore wind turbines commissioned in the first half of 2025 for eight years, but the rebound in installations is still off track to reach the official targets, the German wind energy association, Bundesverband WindEnergie (BWE), said in the middle of 2025. 

Despite the jump in wind power installations, Germany still has a gap between the rate of capacity expansion and the legally mandated goals in the Renewable Energy Sources Act, the so-called EEG, BWE president Bärbel Heidebroek said in July.   

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/11/2026 - 02:00

Panic Ensues After Trump Orders CIA To Give 2020 Election Intel To 'Stop The Steal' Lawyer

President Donald Trump has instructed the CIA and other spy agencies to hand over intelligence related to the 2020 election, a bunch of (presumably panicked) US intelligence officials told Politico and NBC News. 

The records are to be handed over to Kurt Olsen - now a temporary government employee in the White House - who four years ago was involved in the "Stop the Steal" campaign to determine whether Joe Biden won the 2020 election via cheating. 

Attorney Kurt Olsen during his opening statement in Kari Lake's election challenge trial on May 17, 2023, in Mesa, Ariz.Mark Henle / USA Today Network via Imagn

And you know they're freaking out by the way they tell us this...

"The administration last year hired Kurt Olsen, who more than five years ago took part in the “Stop the Steal” campaign that promoted baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, to investigate the 2020 election." -NBC News

...

President Donald Trump has directed top U.S. spy agencies to share sensitive intelligence about the 2020 election with his former campaign lawyer, known for pushing debunked theories of electoral fraud, according to four people with knowledge of the effort. -Politico

Indeed:

"The president has asked Mr. Olsen to look at intelligence related to the 2020 election and the agency is ensuring that he has the access necessary to do his work," a CIA official told NBC in an emailed statement (probably right after hanging up with the reporter). 

When asked about Olsen's role, the White House told the outlet "President Trump has the authority to provide access to classified material to individuals as he deems necessary. The entire Trump administration is working together to ensure the integrity of U.S. elections." 

BREAKING: Georgia election watchdog Garland Favorito of Atlanta-based https://t.co/BZRhuEVOLG just told me that the FBI raid of Fulton County's ballot warehouse will show that "Fulton certified [mostly Biden] votes for which they have no ballots. There are 17,852 certified votes…

— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) February 11, 2026

The admin did not specifically respond to questions about whether Olsen was focusing only on the 2020 election, or possible security threats to future elections. 

The freakout comes after the FBI's recent search of an elections center in Fulton County, Georgia - where they seized ballots from the 2020 election. 

Now check out the tone over at Politico:

The decision to provide some of the government’s most sensitive spy material to Olsen is unusual, given that he has no known experience working with the U.S. spy community and only joined the Trump administration as a short-term special government employee in October 2025. Special government employees are supposed to work no more than 130 days during any period of 365 days, suggesting his time at the White House could end soon.

The first person said that Olsen has passed a background check and a polygraph exam. It is not clear how close Olsen is to completing his report on the 2020 elections.

Intelligence analysis is supposed to be nonpartisan, and it appears Olsen’s views on electoral fraud in prior U.S. elections are so deeply held that even some people close to the president question his ability to evaluate the material shared with him.

“This guy has no background” in intelligence, said the second person, a close Trump ally. Olsen “will find some super classified report, say it’s evidence of fraud, but really it’s just completely out of context.”

...

Olsen rose to prominence by working closely with Trump to undermine the results of the 2020 election under the slogan “Stop the Steal.” He urged several DOJ officials that year to file a complaint to the Supreme Court scrutinizing Trump’s loss, and even called the president multiple times during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol

Wow!

About That Raid

As we noted earlier Tuesday, an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Hugh Raymond Evans last month, which was unsealed Tuesday, lays out five categories of confirmed problems in Fulton County's handling of ballots, raising questions that have simmered for over five years since Trump and his allies raised questions about the election in Georgia and other states where irregularities were alleged.

According to a report from Just the News, Evans filed the affidavit last month to establish probable cause for a raid that seized around 700 boxes of ballots from an Atlanta-area storage warehouse. The investigation stemmed from a referral by Kurt Olsen, President Trump's election integrity czar. Evans interviewed roughly a dozen unnamed witnesses about allegations tied to the contested Georgia race, where Joe Biden edged out Trump by less than 12,000 votes in the official results.

"This warrant application is part of an FBI criminal investigation into whether any of the improprieties were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws."

Fulton County admitted it lacks scanned images of all 528,777 ballots counted during the initial count and of the 527,925 ballots tallied during the state's first recount.

County officials also confirmed that during the recount, some ballots were scanned multiple times. Ballot images obtained through public records requests show identical markings appearing on duplicated images.

During the Risk Limiting Audit, hand counters reported vote totals for batches that didn't match the actual votes inside those batches.

According to the affidavit, "The State’s Performance Review Board reported that Secretary of State investigators confirmed inaccurate batch tallies from the Risk Limiting Audit.” 

More on that here...

And please consider supporting ZeroHedge with the purchase of some pure colostrum.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 23:25

Man Detained For Questioning In Nancy Guthrie Disappearance

Update (1030ET): A man was detained for questioning in the apparent abduction of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, from her home outside of Tucson, Arizona over two weeks ago, several major outlets are reporting tonight.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department shared photos of an "armed individual" in relation to the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case.(Pima County Sheriff's Department)

The man was taken into custody after law enforcement circulated photos of a masked individual outside the 84-year-old Guthrie's front door the morning she disappeared. Several outlets are also reporting that there was a supposed ransom note received last week demanding payment to a Bitcoin wallet. According to outlet KGUN, a local TV station, the wallet had received a payment from someone for less than $300. 

*  *  *

The FBI on Tuesday released surveillance footage from a Nest camera showing an armed person at the southern Arizona home of Nancy Guthrie, mother of network TV news anchor Savannah Guthrie. 

Video shared by FBI Director Kash Patel shows a masked person wearing a jacket, gloves, pants and carrying a backpack. The person can be seen obstructing the camera, before walking into the front yard. They then return to the front door with a small flashlight in their mouth before attempting to cover the camera with what appears to be foliage, AZ Family reports.

New images in the search for Nancy Guthrie:

Over the last eight days, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home that may have been lost,… pic.twitter.com/z5WLgPtZpT

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) February 10, 2026

Investigators say the person was armed, as images show what appears to be a holstered firearm on the person's waistband.

"Over the last eight days, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home that may have been lost, corrupted or inaccessible due to a variety of factors, including the removal of recording devices. The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems," the Pima County Sheriff's Department posted in a statement. 

"Working with our partners - as of this [Tuesday] morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance," they added. 

Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31 after she was dropped off at her home in the Catalina Foothills, and was reported missing the next day after she failed to show up for church. 

According to AZ Family, "In the early morning hours of Feb. 1, her doorbell camera disconnected and her software detected a person on the camera. Her pacemaker app also showed it disconnected from her phone."

Reported ransom notes concerning Guthrie were sent to several Arizona news stations, including Arizona’s Family sister station, KOLD 13 News. The first note reportedly demanded a “large sum of money” with a deadline set for last Thursday. The second note allegedly contained a Monday deadline at 5 p.m.

A new video plea from Savannah was released hours before the 5 p.m. Monday deadline. The video didn’t mention the alleged ransom; instead, Savannah shared her family still believes their mom is out there and is hearing everyone’s prayers.

A $50,000 reward has been offered for information in the case. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 23:15

China Inches Ahead Of US In Humanoid Robot Startups

The market for humanoid robots has been growing significantly recently.

In 2025, $2.65 billion was invested in humanoid robotics startups, more than in the years 2018 to 2024 combined, according to data published by the market research platform Tracxn.

This development indicates that investors now view humanoid robotics as a more mature and commercially attractive technology.

As Statista's Tristan Gaudiat reveals in the chart below, China currently leads the field with 23 startups specialized in humanoid robotics, just ahead of the 22 U.S.-based companies.

You will find more infographics at Statista

While China and the United States are the clear epicenters for humanoid-robotics entrepreneurship, a second tier is led by India (12), ahead of several European countries: the U.K. (6) and Germany (5) stand out, followed by France (3).

Beyond these hubs, Statista's chart also shows clusters in Australia (3), Japan (3), Austria (2) and Canada (2), suggesting that while interest is global, the densest startup ecosystems remain concentrated in a handful of markets.

The Chinese and American startup ecosystem is particularly notable in this field.

Chinese companies such as Unitree Robotics and Agibot are currently producing more humanoid robot models than any other country in the world (more than 5,000 each in 2025), while some of the best-known U.S. names, like Boston Dynamics and Tesla, are aiming to ramp up their production of robots for industrial and consumer applications in 2026 (Atlas and Optimus, respectively).

In Europe, current key players include Engineered Arts (U.K.) and Neura Robotics (Germany).

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 23:00

Your Body Clocks Could Predict Dementia Decades Later

Authored by George Citroner via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A December study suggested that disruptions in the body’s natural 24-hour cycle, known as circadian rhythm, may increase the risk of developing dementia.

kanyanat wongsa/Shutterstock

The study, published in Neurology, tracked more than 2,000 adults, with a mean age of 79, using wearable heart monitors, and found that people with irregular sleep-wake patterns faced up to a 50 percent higher risk of developing dementia than those with consistent daily rhythms. Of the participants, 176 were later diagnosed with dementia.

“Changes in circadian rhythms happen with aging, and evidence suggests that circadian rhythm disturbances may be a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases like dementia,” study author Wendy Wang, of the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health at UT Southwestern Medical Center, said in a statement.

3 Types of Unhealthy Sleep Rhythms

Circadian rhythm helps regulate sleep, hormones, body temperature, and digestion. People with a strong, well-aligned circadian rhythm tend to follow consistent sleep and activity patterns, despite seasonal changes or schedule disruptions. Conversely, those with a weaker, fragmented, and delayed rhythm often experience irregular sleep and activity times.

A weaker circadian rhythm means that there is less of a difference between active daytime and restful nighttime. A person with a weaker circadian rhythm may not feel fully awake during the daytime and not sleepy at night.

People with fragmented circadian rhythms may have fragmented wakefulness and sleepiness. They may experience daytime wakefulness and fragmented sleep at night.

Beyond rhythm strength, the researchers found that timing also played a role.

Most people experience their peak circadian activity at midday, but those whose peak activity occurred later in the day—from 2:15 p.m. onward, faced a 45 percent higher risk of dementia than those whose activity peaked earlier, between 1:11 p.m. and 2:14 p.m.

A delayed circadian rhythm peak typically causes being most alert and active late at night, feeling sleepy or waking up late, and having difficulty aligning with conventional daytime schedules.

Seven percent of participants with early activity peaks developed dementia, compared to 10 percent of those with later peaks.

The researchers believe that a later activity peak may indicate a misalignment between the body’s internal clock and environmental cues such as exposure to darkness.

Why Circadian Rhythm Matters for Brain Health

The study found that certain changes in sleep or activity patterns were associated with increased risk of developing dementia. Disruptions and changes to circadian rhythm increased the risk of developing dementia by roughly 19 to 54 percent, according to the findings.

Circadian rhythm disruption can affect health in many ways that could impact cognition, and influences multiple organ systems simultaneously, not just the brain, Dr. Rebecca Spiegel, director of Sleep Neurology at Stony Brook Medicine in New York, and not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times.

“It has been linked to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity, mood disorders, poor immunity, and increased mortality risk,” she noted. “In the elderly, weaker circadian rhythms have also been linked to falls, reduced physical function, and poorer quality of life.”

Wang noted that disruptions in circadian rhythms may alter processes such as inflammation and interfere with sleep, possibly increasing amyloid plaques linked to dementia or reducing amyloid clearance from the brain.

However, it’s important to note that the study did not account for sleep disorders, which could influence the results, and the research shows correlation rather than direct causation.

What Disrupts Your Circadian Rhythm

Dr. William Lu, sleep medicine specialist and medical director at Dreem Health, and not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times that some common factors that can weaken or disrupt a person’s circadian rhythm include:

• Going to bed and waking up at different times each day
• Spending too much time on screens at night
• Not getting enough sunlight in the morning
• Being under consistent stress
• Late-night eating, or caffeine/alcohol intake

“Consistency matters most for maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm. That means going to bed and waking up around the same time every day, even on weekends.”

Limiting screen time and caffeine intake while increasing exposure to natural light is also important, he said. “Additionally, physical activity throughout the day can help.”

Dementia Cases Expected to Spike

Dementia cases are expected to increase sharply in the coming decades, with projections reaching 1 million new cases annually by 2060 if no significant interventions are made.

A “strong association” exists between reduced deep sleep and an increased risk of dementia. “Deep sleep is crucial for the clearing of toxins and memory consolidation, Lu said. “It is unsurprising that a disruption to the circadian rhythm can, in turn, disrupt both metabolic and neurological processes.”

While the connection between sleep and cognitive function is well understood, research into the role of circadian rhythm in dementia is still emerging. Earlier studies have linked sleep patterns and cognitive decline, such as one last year that found night owls may experience faster decline than early risers.

Other research suggests that sleep habits influence dementia risk, such as a 2022 study that found that seniors who nap more than an hour daily have a 40 percent higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Hope for Prevention

Wang expressed optimism about the findings and said they could lead to new preventive strategies. “Future studies should examine the potential role of circadian rhythm interventions, such as light therapy or lifestyle changes, to determine if they may help lower a person’s risk of dementia.”

The UT Southwestern study is important because it linked real-world activity patterns, measured through wearable devices, to future dementia risk in a diverse group of older adults, Spiegel said.

“Although causality cannot be determined from this study, the findings encourage further research into circadian regulation as a potentially modifiable factor in brain health,” she said.

*  *  * 

Please consider supporting ZeroHedge with the purchase of IQ Sleep Formula - which has Tryptophan, Lycium, L-Taurine, L-Theanine, Chinese Skullcap, 5-HTP, Ashwagandha, Chamomile and more. It really does work!

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 22:35

10 Dead, 25 Injured After School Shooting In Canada

At least 10 people are dead and 25 injured after a mass shooting in northeastern British Columbia, according to police.

Six people were found dead inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, one died on the way to the hospital and two more were found dead in a residence.

Police said the suspect was also found dead inside the school from "a self-inflicted injury."

Police believe they have identified the shooter, but would not be releasing details at this time for privacy reasons, and to protect the integrity of the investigation.

"This was a rapidly evolving and dynamic situation, and the swift co-operation from the school, first responders, and the community played a critical role in our response,” North District Chief Supt. Ken Floyd wrote in a statement.

Tumbler Ridge is one of the most distinct communities in B.C. and is extremely remote: more than 1,100 kilometers (683 miles) northeast of Vancouver by road.

In the late 1970s the population rapidly boomed with the discovery of coal deposits in the area and it became a classic company town throughout the 1980s. A near-collapse followed in the 2000s when those mines shut down.

It was during this time that the community pivoted to tourism, marketing itself as the land of dinosaurs and waterfalls — a place where you can hike to see ancient footprints in the wilderness.

In a statement, the District of Tumbler Ridge said its community experienced a "deeply distressing incident" today and asked residents to rely on official updates from the RCMP and other authorities.

It added that the situation was still unfolding and said additional supports were on their way to assist.

"In the days ahead, we know this will be difficult for many to process," the statement reads.

"Please check in on one another, lean on available supports, and know that Tumbler Ridge is a strong and caring community. We will get through this together."

Police said they don’t believe there are any other suspects, or any ongoing risk to the public.

They said they are searching other homes and properties in the community to find anyone else who may be injured or linked to today’s incident, which appears to rank as one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 22:03

California Refinery Closures Spell Trouble For Fuel Prices, Supply: Experts

Authored by Rob Sabo via The Epoch Times,

Several energy companies have announced the closure of some of their refineries in California in recent months, citing the regulatory environment and operational losses.

Multiple experts in the state’s oil and gas industry recently spoke with The Epoch Times about the closures and their potential impacts on fuel prices and fuel availability in the Golden State.

Refinery Closures

Valero Energy Corporation announced in April 2025 that it would shutter its refinery operations in Benicia, in the San Francisco Bay area. The company also said that it had evaluated the refinery assets in Benicia and Wilmington, near the Port of Long Beach, and concluded that the carrying values of both assets were not recoverable.

Valero said it would continue serving the Golden State’s oil needs through existing inventories and oil imports.

The Wilmington refinery produced 15 percent of the asphalt supply for the entire Southern California region and had a capacity of 135,000 barrels per day. The Benicia refinery on the Carquinez Straits of San Francisco Bay, meanwhile, produced as much as 170,000 barrels per day and employed more than 400.

While the Benicia refinery was originally slated to cease production in April 2026, it actually ceased production in late January. The closure comes on the heels of Phillips 66 ending operations at its Los Angeles refineries in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Phillips 66 operated refineries in Wilmington and Carson that distributed fuel throughout California, as well as to Nevada and Arizona. The dual sites spanned 650 acres and employed about 600.

Chevron, meanwhile, announced in August 2024 that it was relocating its headquarters from San Ramon to Houston, Texas. The company had operated in the Golden State since 1879 and employed more than 2,000 people in San Ramon. Its refineries in Richmond and El Segundo supply more than 1,800 retail locations in the state.

Key factors

Michael Mische, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, told Siyamak Khorrami, host of The Epoch Times’s “California Insider,” that Valero’s and Chevron had incurred heavy asset write-offs before they made those decisions.

Valero said in the April 2025 announcement that it had written off a combined $1.1 billion of assets in Benicia and Wilmington in the first quarter of the year.

Chevron revealed in a January Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had recorded after-tax charges of $3.5 billion to $4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, including asset write-offs and impairment charges, primarily in California.

“Of course, they vacated California. Their corporate headquarters is now in Houston,” Mische said, referring to Chevron.

In responding to the company’s Benicia refinery-closure decision during an April 2025 earnings call, Valero CEO Lane Riggs cited California’s regulatory environment as the primary reason.

“California has been pursuing policies to move away from fossil fuels for the past 20 years,” he said.

“The consequence is that the regulatory and enforcement environment is the most stringent and difficult in North America.”

Phillips 66 also cited “changes in governmental policies or laws that relate to our operations, including regulations that seek to limit or restrict refining” as a reason for its decision to cease operations in its announcement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill AB X2-1 on Oct. 14, 2024, which became effective on Jan. 13, 2025. The bill allows the California Energy Commission to regulate refiners by enforcing minimum inventory levels to prevent spikes in price, effectively capping their profit margins.

“That piece of legislation (was) one of the primary last factors that went into decisions to close these refineries down,” Mische said.

Additional regulations enacted in the state have led to increased production and operating costs for oil refiners.

In 2020, Newsom issued an executive order requiring all new passenger vehicles to have zero emissions by 2035. In 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted new regulations to pave the way for the state’s zero-emission standards.

The state’s Cap-and-Invest Program, meanwhile, has a goal of carbon neutrality by 2045 and requires increasingly stricter standards for carbon emissions.

Mische said that without a significant change in policy and stance toward the oil industry, the state may lose another one or two refineries by 2032.

Potential Impact

Mike Ariza, former senior refinery technician and control board supervisor at the Benicia refinery, told Khorrami that Valero’s refinery operations in Benicia were the most complex and efficient in the state.

The refinery produced between 4.5 million and 4.7 million gallons of gasoline per day, as well as about 600,000–700,000 gallons of jet fuel and diesel fuel, he said.

A bad storm or major problem at one of California’s ports could have huge ripple effects across the state’s fuel supply, Ariza said.

“If something like that happens, we will very quickly run out of gasoline,” he said.

“We don’t have a lot of inventory—14 days, we will run out of supplies. Not only will prices go through the roof, but you will end up having shortages.”

Mische said that 85 percent of all light-duty vehicles in California use gasoline or diesel fuel, and airplanes require “jet fuel”—gasoline or diesel fuel specially refined for jet engines.

“These refineries, as they’re shutting down, place greater and greater pressure, not only on prices but on the supply chains themselves,” he said. “It’s quite possible that you'll have supply disruptions.”

Californians pay the second-highest average gas prices in the United States, behind Hawaii. Gasoline averaged $4.38 a gallon on Jan. 4, the American Automobile Association reported. The national average was $2.88 per gallon. Fuel prices in remote Mono County along the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains averaged $5.56 per gallon.

Meanwhile, California Assembly member Stan Ellis, a Republican representing Kern and Tulare counties, expressed concerns about the impact of Valero’s refinery closure on the U.S. military installations in the state.

“Forty-some bases, counting National Guard and ... the Marines, and all the bases, naval stations, in California. Where are they going to get their fuel?” he said.

A November 2025 Institute for Energy Research (IER) report warned that several U.S. military installations in California could face jet fuel supply challenges if the state’s refinery capacity declines due to closures.

The state has the nation’s largest concentration of military personnel and national security activity.

According to a 2022 California Research Bureau report, California had more than 30 military installations, including facilities for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and National Guard.

Ellis said India is a supplier of California’s imported crude, but there are few options to refine it outside of the state.

“This is serious business, and these are facts,” he said. “We’re simply trying to bring awareness to the fact that we have an issue and we need to address it.”

He calls for existing oil fields to be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), passed in 1970, which requires environmental review and public disclosure for projects that could significantly impact the environment, including refineries, roads, and large buildings.

Separately, Mische is calling on Congress to repeal or modify California’s restrictive policies through the legislative process to support refiners.

“That probably won’t be very successful, but nonetheless, we’re going to give it a good shot this legislative session,” he said.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 21:45

Colombia's Left-Wing President Says He Survived Assassination Attempt As Elections Near

Colombia's democratic socialist president claimed Tuesday afternoon that he escaped an assassination attempt on Monday night, after years of warning about assassination plots against him.

AFP News reports that Colombian President Gustavo Petro narrowly escaped an assassination attempt after his helicopter reportedly could not land at a location on the South American country's Caribbean coast because gunmen were allegedly ready to open fire upon landing.

"We headed out to open sea for four hours, and I arrived somewhere we weren't supposed to go, escaping from being killed," Petro stated in a cabinet meeting on live television.

He warned that the incident is part of a longer-running assassination plot by drug traffickers that he says has targeted him since he took office in August 2022.

Petro suggested in 2024 that the commander of the Estado Mayor Central rebel group had planned to assassinate him with snipers.

For some context, EMC is a dissident group of the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that rejected a 2016 peace deal with the government.

Petro's latest assassination plot claim comes ahead of presidential elections, with Petro barred by the constitution from seeking a second term. 

According to Bloomberg, Colombia's two top presidential candidates - conservative lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and leftist senator Iván Cepeda - are neck and neck in the latest poll data ahead of the election on May 31.

De la Espriella has about 32.1% support, compared to Cepeda's 31.4%, in the AtlasIntel poll for Semana newspaper. Former Antioquia governor Sergio Fajardo trails with about 7.6%.

Meanwhile, South American politics has shifted sharply in President Trump's second term, with right-wing movements gaining traction across the continent, from Argentina to Chile, after years of failed socialist and communist governments.

The Maduro regime's fall last month may shape the Colombian elections this spring towards a right-wing.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 21:20

Musk Offers Legal Fees For Anyone Sued Who 'Speaks The Truth' About Epstein

Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Tech billionaire Elon Musk said he will pay the legal fees of anyone who speaks out about alleged perpetrators whose names have been redacted from the Jeffrey Epstein files and is sued as a result.

Elon Musk attends a dinner hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, on Nov. 18, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

The Tesla CEO made the offer in response to a public service announcement played on Super Bowl Sunday that featured women alleging abuse by Epstein and his associates.

The 40-second video clip notes that 3 million files related to the late sex offender have not yet been released. The women are depicted holding photographs of their younger selves, with black boxes to symbolize redactions over their mouths. The accusers then reiterate their commitment to standing together to demand the full truth about Epstein’s criminal network. They then urge Attorney General Pam Bondi, “It’s time for the truth.”

Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh questioned on Musk’s platform, X, why the women had not publicly named their alleged abusers, and suggested they could do so safely through congressional advocates.

Walsh wrote on Sunday, “For those claiming that they can’t name names because they’ll be sued: they could simply give the names to any of their many (and mostly very recent) advocates in congress, who could read the names out loud from the floor, insulating themselves and these women from any litigation. But they refuse to do that. Why?”

Redactions

Musk posted in response to Walsh: “I will pay for the defense of anyone who speaks the truth about this and is sued for doing so.”

The offer could potentially give financial protection to victims who fear legal retaliation for naming individuals linked to Epstein, who died in custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on multiple charges of trafficking minors. His death was ruled a suicide.

Musk’s own name is one of many mentioned in the latest release of more than 3 million Epstein-related files into the public domain on January 31, although he has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Documents show Musk and Epstein exchanged messages between 2012 and 2014, discussing possible visits to Epstein’s private island, Little St James. One email from November 2012 includes Musk asking, “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”

Musk has denied ever visiting the island, stating in a post on X that he “refused” Epstein’s repeated invitations and declined to fly on the financier’s private jet, nicknamed the “Lolita Express.” He added that when he called for the release of the files, he was aware that his correspondence with Epstein could be misinterpreted and used to smear his reputation.

“I don’t care about that, but what I do care about is that we at least attempt to prosecute those who committed serious crimes with Epstein, especially regarding heinous exploitation of underage girls,” he wrote on X following the release of the files on Jan. 31.

Marina Lacerda, an accuser in the Jeffrey Epstein case, speaks during a press conference and rally in support of the victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 3, 2025. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

The documents released include flight lists, financial ledgers, and email correspondence, with the Justice Department saying many were redacted to protect victims.

The latest tranche of files referenced several high profile names from the world of tech and big business, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, as well as high-profile politicians, including former United States President Bill Clinton and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Lawmakers Allowed

Musk made his offer prior to the Department of Justice announcing on Monday it will allow members of Congress to review unredacted files, according to a letter sent to lawmakers.

The letter said that lawmakers, but not members of the public, will be able to review unredacted versions of files that the government has released to comply with a law passed by Congress last year.

There are several terms and conditions imposed on lawmakers, who will need to give 24 hours’ notice before being granted access to the files. They will only be able to review the files on computers at the Department of Justice. Only lawmakers, not their staff, may view the files, and while note-taking is allowed, they will not be permitted to make copies.

Among the many high-profile names in the latest files is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, whose revealed association with Epstein had already caused him to be stripped of his royal title by his brother, British monarch King Charles III.

Buckingham Palace Statement

Police in the UK are assessing claims that the former duke shared confidential reports from his role as the UK’s trade envoy with Epstein.

Buckingham Palace said on Monday it was ready to support any police investigation into Charles’s brother after emails suggested Mountbatten-Windsor might have shared confidential British trade documents with Epstein in his capacity as trade envoy in late 2010.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct.

“While the specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.

“As was previously stated, Their Majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.”

Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied any wrongdoing over his Epstein links, which are known to have continued after Epstein was convicted for soliciting a minor in 2008.

Thames Valley Police said last week said it was assessing allegations that a 26-year-old woman was sent to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with the former duke in 2010.

The then-Prince of Wales (L) and with the then-Duke of York on Christmas Day in 2017. Joe Giddens/PA

Charles stripped his younger brother of his titles following the posthumous release of a book by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, when she was a teenager.

In 2022, the duke settled a lawsuit with Giuffre, who accused him of having sex with her when she was 17, after they were introduced by Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor said he has no recollection of ever meeting Giuffre, who was the most high-profile campaigner for Epstein’s victims before her sudden death in Western Australia in April 2025, and was involved in multiple lawsuits against those she accused of exploiting her.

Authorities said Giuffre’s death was not suspicious, although some members of her family have expressed doubts that she took her own life, and a full inquest has yet to take place.

Lauren Hersh, national director of World Without Exploitation, which produced the public information film released on Feb. 8, said in an emailed statement: “Moving forward, the Department of Justice must take every effort to prioritize the privacy and safety of the survivors, who have bravely come forward with their stories over the past decades. We will not stop until survivors get the transparency and accountability they deserve.”

PA Media and Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 20:55

When Government Subsidies Stopped, Doritos Got 15% Cheaper

Authored by James Hickman via SchiffSovereign.com,

PepsiCo spent $2.8 million last year lobbying to keep junk food eligible for food stamps.

But last week - after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got 18 states to ban SNAP purchases of products like soda, candy, and processed snacks - PepsiCo announced price cuts of up to 15% on Doritos, Lay’s, Tostitos, and other Frito-Lay products.

The company’s official explanation was “affordability.” CEO Ramon Laguarta cited low-income consumers are switching to store brands.

But the timing tells the real story.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program— food stamps— is a $100 billion per year program serving roughly 42 million Americans. And according to the USDA’s own data, about 20 cents of every SNAP dollar goes to sweetened beverages, candy, salty snacks, and sugar.

In fact soft drinks alone are the single largest category of SNAP purchases.

And, until last week, products from Pepsi’s Frito-Lay division were in 7.2% of all shopping trips paid for with SNAP (i.e. taxpayer-funded) benefits.

So when the government stopped subsidizing demand for their products, PepsiCo had to do something they hadn’t needed to do in years: compete.

This is what the free market does— it forces companies to be more efficient, cut prices, and pass savings on to their customers.

But here’s the thing— this is one company, one product line, one government program.

Zoom out and you can see just how much of price inflation in our daily lives is due directly to government spending— before we even get into monetary policy like printing money.

When a guaranteed buyer shows up with a bottomless wallet, prices go up.

Just look at college tuition. In 1965, Congress passed the Higher Education Act and began backing student loans with federal dollars.

Since then, tuition has risen roughly three times faster than inflation. A year at a private university that cost $2,800 in 1963 now costs over $85,000.

The New York Federal Reserve studied this directly and found that for every dollar increase in subsidized student loans, tuition rose by up to 60 cents.

The mechanism is simple: when the government guarantees the tuition money, universities raise prices… simply because they can.

Healthcare is even worse.

Before Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965, the government’s share of healthcare spending was about 31%. Today it’s roughly 64%. Medicaid spending alone has grown from $13 billion in 1975 to over $900 billion today.

And— shocker— healthcare prices have risen dramatically over the same period. The US now spends nearly $5 trillion per year on healthcare, far more per capita than any other developed country, with outcomes that are often worse.

The pattern is the same everywhere you look: the government shows up with money. Prices rise to absorb it. The subsidy becomes permanent. The industry restructures itself around the guaranteed revenue. And then anyone who suggests pulling back the money is accused of “cutting” a vital service.

Now consider the scale of this in America today.

Federal spending has risen from about 18% of GDP in the 1990s to nearly 24% today. That means almost a quarter of the entire American economy is government money.

Of this, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has publicly estimated that 10% of the federal budget— roughly $600 billion per year— is lost to outright fraud of the Somali daycare type in Minnesota.

Then there’s the legal graft. California alone received roughly $100 billion in federal grants over the past few years for DEI initiatives that produced nothing except more government jobs and campaign contributions.

So how much of America’s economic output is actually real?

How much is just government money making a round trip— borrow more debt, hand it out through some boondoggle program where it is spent at a PepsiCo subsidiary, counted as “economic activity,” making people obese… then more money spent on healthcare to keep them alive and paying enough taxes for the government to be able to pay interest on the debt…

It’s absurd when you think about it. We don’t have a precise answer. But the Pepsi story gives us a clue. The moment the government stopped subsidizing one small corner of the economy, prices dropped by 15% within a week.

RFK didn’t regulate PepsiCo. He didn’t cap prices. He didn’t launch an antitrust investigation. He simply stopped the government from funneling taxpayer dollars into unhealthy food… and the market corrected overnight.

Now imagine what would happen if the government stopped subsidizing entire industries— the defense contractors billing $10,000 for a toilet seat, the universities charging $85,000 for a degree in gender studies, the healthcare system where nobody can tell you what anything costs.

We might finally find out how much of this economy is real.

And that, frankly, is what makes it so hard to fix. Because so many peoples’ livelihoods now depend on the government gravy train.

But this trajectory has an expiration date. The federal government borrows $2 trillion a year to keep it all going. Interest on that debt already exceeds $1 trillion annually— more than the entire military budget— and it’s growing faster than any other line item.

If rates stay elevated because inflation won’t come down, the cost of servicing the debt crowds out everything else.

If the government responds by printing money to cover the gap, inflation gets worse.

And it makes sense to have a Plan B that doesn’t depend on Washington finding fiscal discipline before the math catches up with them.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 20:05

FBI Confirms Vote-Counting Irregularities In Georgia 2020 Election

Last month, FBI agents executed a search warrant in Union City, Georgia, marking a sharp escalation in scrutiny surrounding Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 election. The FBI has now reportedly substantiated major irregularities in vote counting from Fulton County, Georgia, during the 2020 election and is now investigating whether those errors were deliberate violations of federal law. 

An affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Hugh Raymond Evans last month, which was unsealed Tuesday, lays out five categories of confirmed problems in Fulton County's handling of ballots, raising questions that have simmered for over five years since Trump and his allies raised questions about the election in Georgia and other states where irregularities were alleged.

According to a report from Just the News, Evans filed the affidavit last month to establish probable cause for a raid that seized around 700 boxes of ballots from an Atlanta-area storage warehouse. The investigation stemmed from a referral by Kurt Olsen, President Trump's election integrity czar. Evans interviewed roughly a dozen unnamed witnesses about allegations tied to the contested Georgia race, where Joe Biden edged out Trump by less than 12,000 votes in the official results.

"Some of those allegations have been disproven while some of those allegations have been substantiated, including through admissions by Fulton County," Evans wrote.

"This warrant application is part of an FBI criminal investigation into whether any of the improprieties were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws."

Fulton County admitted it lacks scanned images of all 528,777 ballots counted during the initial count and of the 527,925 ballots tallied during the state's first recount.

County officials also confirmed that during the recount, some ballots were scanned multiple times. Ballot images obtained through public records requests show identical markings appearing on duplicated images.

During the Risk Limiting Audit, hand counters reported vote totals for batches that didn't match the actual votes inside those batches.

According to the affidavit, "The State’s Performance Review Board reported that Secretary of State investigators confirmed inaccurate batch tallies from the Risk Limiting Audit.” 

Then there's the matter of the pristine absentee ballots.

Auditors assisting in the Risk Limiting Audit reported counting supposed absentee ballots that had "never been creased or folded, as would be required for the ballot to be mailed to the voter and for the ballot to be returned in the sealed envelope requiring the voter's signature for authentication." 

The timeline adds another wrinkle. 

On the deadline day to report recount results, Fulton County initially declared a total of 511,343 ballots—17,434 fewer than the original count. By the next day, that number had jumped to 527,925. Thousands of ballots, more than Joe Biden’s margin of victory, had simply appeared overnight.

"If these deficiencies were the result of intentional action, it would be a violation of federal law regardless of whether the failure to retain records or the deprivation of a fair tabulation of a vote was outcome determinative for any particular election or race," Evans said.

“Many of the claims made in the affidavits were previously vetted by the Georgia State Election Board and through litigation,” reports Fox News Digital. “Trump and his lawyers at the time lost all of their cases after judges found they either did not have standing to bring the lawsuits or that the allegations lacked merit.”

For years, officials insisted the 2020 process was sound, dismissing concerns as conspiracy theories.

What remains unclear is whether the problems resulted from incompetence, chaos, or intent.

That's the question the FBI is now trying to answer. For those who spent the last five years arguing that Georgia's election administration deserved scrutiny, the affidavit offers a measure of vindication. 

 

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 19:40

The post Jobs Day Eve appeared first on CEPR.

Congress Suspects ATF Has Gun Registry With 1.1 Billion Records

Authored by Aidan Johnston, Federal Affairs Director for Gun Owners of America,

A group of 27 members of Congress, led by Representative Michael Cloud of Texas are sounding the alarm on the expansion of ATF’s illegal registry of guns and gun owners.

According to a recently released letter, addressed to ATF Deputy Director Robert Cedaka, ATF has not responded to a previous inquiry regarding the expansion of the registry. These Congressmen are concerned that ATF may now have over a billion records in their registry.

Thank you to all who signed onto this letter to hold ATF accountable! pic.twitter.com/BMOG2k86mP

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 4, 2026

Originally, in 2021, Gun Owners of America revealed that the ATF was “processing” over 54.7 million “out-of-business records” per year.

Following this revelation, a Congressional investigation was started. This investigation uncovered the shocking reality that ATF had over 920 million gun registration records in a centralized, searchable, digital database- in total violation of federal law.

In 1986, Congress passed the Firearm Owners Protection Act, or FOPA. A portion of this act bans the federal government from ever keeping a searchable database of gun owners.

The exact text of the law reads like this:

No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or dispositions be established.

Every tyrannical government on earth has first disarmed its population before committing terrible atrocities upon them.

From Nazi Germany to Communist Russia, to even as recent as Venezuela under Hugo Chavez, once populations are disarmed the Government is free to do as it pleases, often at the great peril to its own citizens.

Knowing this, a provision banning the US Government from creating a centralized registry was placed into the Firearm Owners Protection Act.

But the bureaucrats at ATF didn’t like that and decided to go around the law and create a registry anyway.

And during the Biden Administration, the conditions were created for further expansion of this registry.

For example, President Biden directed his ATF to modify a regulation that allowed dealers to destroy firearms transfer records after 20 years. Instead, he mandated that these forms could no longer be destroyed.

What reason would the federal government have such an interest in firearms transaction records, unless it was to create a gun registry?

But there was one problem; the registry could not be expanded without gun dealers (FFLs) going out of business.

President Biden had a solution for that, he proclaimed a new policy for ATF, “zero tolerance.”

With this policy, dealers could have their federal firearms license revoked, and therefore would be put out of business, allowing the ATF to capture more of those out-of-business records for its registry.

And that’s exactly what ATF did.

In the years of zero tolerance, FFL license revocations skyrocketed. ATF broke records, revoking more licenses during the Biden-era than it had in over 20 years.

Finally, thanks to President Trump and FBI Director (then ATF Director as well) Kash Patel, the zero-tolerance policy is no more.

But ATF’s illegal registry still exists and is still growing. To make matters worse, ATF is currently refusing to respond to congressional inquiry about the registry.

In Rep. Cloud’s letter, he writes:

“[W]e are also troubled by ATF’s lack of a response to our investigative inquiry. Your continued refusal to provide basic information raises serious questions about whether the ATF—despite changes in leadership and stated priorities—remains in compliance with several congressional appropriations restrictions, a federal statute, and the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.”

ATF must respond to Rep. Cloud’s letter. In addition, we’re calling on the Trump Administration to work with us at Gun Owners of America and our allies in Congress to completely destroy ATF’s illegal registry once and for all.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 19:15

Hegseth Makes Clear: 'Trump Favors Negotiated Deal With Iran'

Despite Trump's threats about sending a second Carrier Group to the MidEast, Secretary of War (Defense Dept) Pete Hegseth said this week at an event in Maine that "President Trump has been clear to Iran, he wants a negotiated settlement. I think it would be a wise choice for them to take him up on that deal. The world saw America's capabilities, peace through strength deterrence in action."

But to be expected, he hyped American military capabilities in the Middle East. "...Peace through strength, deterrence in action. We were out of Iran before Iran even knew we were there. No other country can do that" - in reference to the June war in which US bombers hit three Iranian nuclear sites with bunker-busting bombs.

This has been met with an Iranian military warning that US assets in the region will be targeted in such a 'next round scenario'. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official Aziz Ghazanfari, a deputy head of the Guard’s political department, has reviewed that in the context of Oman-based indirect negotiations with the US, Iran was presented with four demands that went beyond the nuclear issue.

The key sticking point is Iran's conventional ballistic missile arsenal. Israel wants complete disarmament or at least a monitored reduction in range. So far, Israel is represents the hard line position, which has clearly influenced some officials in the Trump administration.

The AFP has newly published the below infographic:

But amid the military and political pressure, Iran is not going to give up the one thing it considers its first line of defense: the ability to hit back in the event of an Israel-US attack.

Hegseth in his latest comment on the issue warned Tehran it would be a "wise choice" to accept Trump's offer. All of this makes an attack in the next couple days unlikely - however, there are clear signs of a continued Pentagon build-up in the region.

As for where diplomacy stands, Iranian analyst and long time observer of Iran’s nuclear dossier, Hassan Beheshti-Pour, says that the real substance "lies in the technical options quietly circulating, not in public rhetoric". Among these options:

• a temporary and voluntary suspension of enrichment, not dismantlement;
• a freeze-for-freeze mechanism pairing enrichment pauses with sanctions suspension and even the idea of a multinational nuclear fuel bank (Russia, Kazakhstan, or elsewhere) to guarantee supply while addressing proliferation concerns.
• Beheshti-Pour also points to broader confidence building frameworks, including regional security arrangements aimed at reducing the rationale for external military pressure.

As we detailed earlier, Iran is offering to dilute its enriched uranium if Washington agrees to remove all sanctions on the country.

This week the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, is strongly signaling Tehran is ready to play ball, even if it is on Washington's terms - and after a history of the US side breaking its word (starting with the first Trump admin's unilateral pullout from the JCPOA nuclear deal).

"The possibility of diluting 60% enriched uranium... depends on whether, in return, all sanctions are lifted or not," Eslami made clear.

All of this stems from last month's very bloody protests and riots inside Iran, largely the result of the stranglehold that US sanctions have on the population. The White House since then has threatened regime change and dialed up the sanctions. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 18:50

Nuclear Heavyweight Holtec Files For IPO

Submitted by Steffan Szumowski from The Nuclear Review

Holtec International filed confidentially for an IPO recently with the SEC. The company alluded to the possibility of going public in 2026 earlier last year, as the nuclear renaissance has reignited investor interest in the almost forgotten nuclear industry. While the public market has only seen junior companies so far, Holtec is coming to market after being in the game for decades.

A Barron's article from June of last year estimates Holtec could be worth more than $10 billion on over $500 million of annual revenue, as the company attempts to pull off the first reactor restart in American history at the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. The reactor restart, which has inspired multiple other restarts across the country, is one of the few things the company is known for. Yet, after decades of industry involvement, Holtec is involved in a lot more than just resurrecting nuclear reactors:

• Nuclear plant decommissioning
• Reactor restart
• Small modular reactor development
• Used nuclear fuel management
• Heat transfer equipment manufacturing
• Non-nuclear technologies

Nuclear plant decommissioning

Holtec Decommissioning International (HDI), a subsidiary of Holtec International, is responsible for taking a reactor plant with single or multiple reactor units on site from shutdown to as close to greenfield as possible. This involves handling the used nuclear fuel and dismantlement of radioactive systems and facilities.

HDI currently has three projects: Oyster Creek Generating Station in New Jersey, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, and Indian Point Energy Center in New York. Decommissioning is further along and well past the point of no return at Oyster Creek and Pilgrim, but Indian Point was noted as a potential restart candidate by Holtec last year. Governor Hochul, even with her 5 GW new nuclear capacity target, has already come out as being against the idea of restarting Indian Point in favor of new construction projects in upstate instead.

Reactor restart

Initially announced in September of 2022, the Palisades are the first of many reactor restart efforts in the United States. Holtec purchased Palisades from Entergy in June of 2022. The DOE issued a $1.5 billion loan commitment in 2024 to support the effort and has already issued several tranches of the loan through 2025. The NRC has also created multiple novel regulatory pathways to enable the reissuance of an operator's license for the plant, along with multiple exceptions for system restorations.

Originally targeted for the end of 2025, multiple material issues, most notably with the steam generators, have pushed the restart completion out several months. Completion is now anticipated in the middle of 2026. After the plant is restored to operations, there is no indication of Holtec looking to sell the plant to a utility, so the company will own and operate the plant through its subsidiary, Holtec Palisades. 

Small modular reactor development

Holtec has been developing a small modular reactor for over ten years, initially called the SMR-160 and rated to about 160 MWe. Since then, the design was upgraded in 2023 to the SMR-300, now with a capacity of 320 MWe. The reactor is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) designed to operate with commercially available low enriched uranium (LEU). The development of their small reactor program is controlled by their wholly-owned subsidiary SMR LLC.

SMR LLC is actively pursuing deployment of their first two SMR-300s at the Palisades in Michigan, co-located with the reactor being restarted by HDI. The company has submitted a construction application to the NRC for what they call Pioneer Units 1 and 2. In addition to asking for permission to construct the new small reactors, Holtec is also requesting permission to begin construction on some non-nuclear systems at the site through a Limited Work Authorization. The initial deployment of the first two reactors in Michigan has also received government support in the form of a $400 million from the Department of Energy. 

SMR LLC has additionally led the charge for America's expansion in India. In early 2025, Holtec received permission from the US government to export the SMR-300 design to one of the biggest potential nuclear power markets outside of China. Holtec’s CEO has been quoted multiple times citing India as a major potential opportunity for them in the years ahead.

Used nuclear fuel management

Holtec is the international leader in the safe transportation and storage of used nuclear fuel. They utilize their HI-STORM and HI-STAR dry cask systems throughout the world with the highest market share compared to their competitors. As good as they are though, there are still those in politics that use baseless fear-mongering to push back against the safe handling and storage of used nuclear fuel.

New Mexico lawmakers and executives, along with the support of the oil and gas industries, threw every wrench in their toolbox at Holtec in an effort to prevent the company from establishing the HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF). The CISF was an attempt by Holtec to consolidate some of the nation's more temporary dry cask storage facilities into one location. Regardless of how safe the science proves these casks are, New Mexico locals and activists acted as if they were fighting against a company dumping scary green nuclear waste all over their backyards. Even after arguing one of the wrenches from New Mexico all the way up to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Holtec's favor, the company ended up canceling the entire project in 2025 due to exhaustion and lack of will to continue what would likely be another several years of absurd lawfare.

Heat transfer equipment manufacturing

If you have energy in one system and need to get it to another system without the two energy carriers touching each other, Holtec is there to help. Unlike a lot of their competitors that make components for just the primary system or just the secondary system, Holtec works on both sides of the radiation boundary. The company designs and fabricates water-cooled condensers, feedwater heaters, steam generators, and a variety of auxiliary plant heat exchangers.

Non-nuclear technologies

Holtec is also involved in non-nuclear systems such as solar, geothermal, and fossil fuels. Their Green Boiler is designed to replace coal plants that are being phased out. The Green Boiler is essentially a giant tank of engineered salts that are used to store energy from other production facilities such as solar farms or SMR-300 plants. The energy stored within the engineered salts can then be dispatched to the grid or other industrial processes on demand.

In summary…

Holtec is not just some brand new reactor developer walking in with a PowerPoint and a dream. The company has been around for over 40 years and is well diversified throughout the nuclear industry. One of their best features is that an extremely small amount of their business depends on the success of the nuclear renaissance.

Most of their work will remain relatively constant as the world's existing fleet of over 400 reactors continues to operate and age. These facilities will require constant attention, upgrades, and refits as the years go on. In particular, used nuclear fuel transportation, handling, and storage services will be in demand for at least the next century.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 18:25

"Botched Surgeries And Misidentified Body Parts": AI Is Off To An Ugly Start In The Operating Room

Artificial intelligence is spreading quickly through modern healthcare, promising to make medical treatment faster, more accurate, and more personalized. But as hospitals and manufacturers adopt the technology, safety records, lawsuits, and regulatory struggles suggest that the transition has not been smooth, a new investigation by Reuters shows.

One example involves Acclarent, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which added machine-learning software to its TruDi Navigation System in 2021. The company described the update as “a leap forward,” saying it would help ear, nose, and throat surgeons better guide their instruments during sinus procedures.

Before the AI upgrade, the device had generated only a handful of malfunction reports. In the years that followed, however, federal regulators received more than 100 reports involving technical failures or patient injuries. At least 10 patients were reported harmed between late 2021 and 2025, many in cases where the system allegedly gave incorrect information about where surgical tools were located inside the skull.

Some of these incidents were severe. Reports described leaking spinal fluid, punctured skull bases, and strokes caused by damaged arteries. Several patients filed lawsuits, arguing that the device “was arguably safer before integrating” artificial intelligence. Manufacturers and distributors rejected those claims, insisting there is “no credible evidence” linking the AI software to the injuries.

Two Texas cases illustrate how these disputes have played out. In 2022, Erin Ralph suffered a stroke after sinus surgery in which her surgeon relied on TruDi. Her lawsuit claims the system “misled and misdirected” the doctor, who “had no idea he was anywhere near the carotid artery.” A year later, another patient, Donna Fernihough, experienced a similar injury. Her complaint alleges that Acclarent rushed the technology to market and accepted “only 80% accuracy” for some features.

Both cases remain in court, and the company has denied wrongdoing. Court records also show that one surgeon involved had financial ties to Acclarent, though the firm and the doctor’s representatives say those payments were unrelated to patient outcomes.

The Reuters piece notes that concerns about TruDi are part of a broader pattern. By 2025, the FDA had authorized more than 1,300 medical devices that use artificial intelligence, roughly twice as many as just a few years earlier. A review by researchers found that many of these products were later recalled, often within a year of approval. The recall rate for AI-based devices was about double that of similar technologies without machine learning.

Federal safety databases contain hundreds of reports involving these products. Some describe prenatal ultrasound software that “wrongly labels fetal structures,” while others involve heart monitors that allegedly failed to detect abnormal rhythms. Manufacturers have said most of these incidents did not lead to patient harm and were sometimes caused by user error or data-display problems.

Regulators warn that such reports are incomplete and cannot prove that a device caused an injury. Still, former FDA employees say the volume of AI products has strained the agency’s ability to monitor risks. Staffing cuts and recruitment difficulties have reduced the number of specialists available to evaluate complex algorithms. As one former reviewer put it, “If you don’t have the resources, things are more likely to be missed.”

Unlike pharmaceutical drugs, most medical devices are not required to undergo large clinical trials before reaching patients. Companies can often secure approval by showing that a new product resembles an older one, even if the update includes artificial intelligence. Critics argue that this system was designed for simpler technologies and may not adequately address the uncertainties introduced by machine learning.

“I think the FDA’s traditional approach to regulating medical devices is not up to the task,” said Dr. Alexander Everhart. “We’re relying on manufacturers to do a good job… I don’t know what’s in place at the FDA represents meaningful guardrails.”

At the same time, AI is moving beyond hardware into everyday medical practice. Doctors increasingly use automated tools to draft notes and manage records, while patients turn to chatbots for health advice. Physicians say these systems can save time, but they also create new risks when people rely on them instead of professional guidance.

Supporters of medical AI argue that the technology will eventually lead to better diagnoses, safer surgeries, and faster drug discovery. Critics counter that the pace of adoption has outstripped oversight.

Taken together, safety reports, legal disputes, and regulatory challenges suggest that artificial intelligence is reshaping medicine faster than institutions can adapt. While the technology offers significant potential benefits, recent experience shows that errors, oversight gaps, and unanswered questions remain part of its rapid expansion.

You can read the full piece by Reuters here.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 18:00

The College Calculation Has Flipped

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Buried in new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a bearish sign for a college education, the first time we’ve seen this in 50 years. Trade workers without a college education are gaining new advantages in employment stability and even in earnings. On paper, a college degree still earns more but that edge is slipping too.

W. Scott McGill/Shutterstock

The Cleveland Fed explains: “For decades, college graduates have typically faced lower unemployment rates, found jobs faster, and experienced more stable employment than high school graduates without college experience. Combined with higher expected wages, these advantages reinforced higher education as a pathway to economic security. However, some of the long-standing job market advantages offered by having a college degree may be eroding.”

The BLS data is extremely revealing. The unemployment rate for people with no college education has dropped dramatically to 4.0 percent, while those with some college rose just as dramatically to 3.8 percent.

The trend line here is what is instructive. The obvious edge from holding a college degree seems to be slipping while those without such a degree are gaining steam. This is the first time we’ve seen this trend in half a century.

The income advantages are still there for a college education but even here, we are seeing a generational shift. The pace at which income is rising for those who choose trades has more upward energy than those without. The gap is there but narrowing.

The Washington Post explains: “The unemployment gap between workers with bachelor’s degrees and those with occupational associate’s degrees—such as plumbers, electricians and pipe fitters—flipped in 2025, leaving trade workers with a slight edge for six months out of the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s the first time trade workers have had a leg up since the BLS started tracking this data in the 1990s.”

It’s a bit ironic that this story was posted just days before the Post itself laid off fully one-third of its workers, a gutting of the staff of a major paper that we’ve never seen before. No question that Artificial Intelligence has something to do with it, but, then again, AI is a convenient excuse for what these institutions knew they had to do to regain something approaching profitability.

There are two additional factors at play here.

First, everyone employed in a high-end professional setting knows with absolute certainty that all major corporations are wildly overstaffed and have been for many years, even decades dating back to the advent of artificially cheap credit in 2000. After that point, the banking system subsidized leverage over real capital and earnings. The consequence was a professional hiring boom like we’ve never seen.

Over several days, I spoke to many friends who are employed in these large institutions and asked for their estimates of how much in the way of overstaffing they face. I got estimates that range from 50 to 90 percent. In other words, in their own experience, at least half the workers in large institutions do not actually add value, if they do anything at all.

This is a remarkable testimony. Recall that the “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams recently died. The main import of his column was all about satirizing the sheer waste in corporate America. The amount of bureaucracy is appalling as are the endless demands for meetings, committees, compliance teams, training, and absolute make-work programs that do nothing for the consumer or the profitability of the company.

We’ve seen what has happened to high-end management over the last three years. Most corporations are laying off workers—not those who face the customer but the managerial layers. The lockdown pandemic period essentially proved that these companies might actually perform better if this layer of worker stays home and goofs off. That period essentially convinced owners (stockholders) that vast numbers of people needed to be permanently terminated.

Recall that when Elon Musk took over Twitter, his first actions concerned personnel. He ended up firing an astonishing four-fifths of the legacy employees. He just did not see the need for them. Almost immediately, the platform became better. It is a private company so we don’t have a fix on profitability metrics today but it is easily the number one news app for the world today.

That example sent a signal to the whole of the corporate world. Layoffs were just a matter of time.

The second factor concerns earnings potential of college vs. no college. There has always been a basic fallacy at work in interpreting the data. The fallacy is called Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, Latin for: after this therefore because of this.

To be sure, a college degree is associated with higher earnings, but is that because of the degree or because of the kind of person who hangs around long enough to earn a degree, can afford a degree, or is in a profession that requires a degree? Once you correct for all these confounding issues, it is not at all clear that the data are telling the truth. Certainly it is far from the case that a degree causes one to make a high income.

Consider the costs of college beyond the outrageous financial expense. We are taking people who are at the height of their learning potential, the very time of life when becoming an adult and a great worker is at a premium, and sticking them in childish environments. College encourages terrible lifestyle choices, finding shortcuts, drugs, drinking too much, and otherwise experimenting with dangerous choices.

And the student does this for fully four years, during the most impressionable early years of adulthood, leaving graduates with no work ethic and a wildly distorted view of what life is all about. It seems nearly unfair to throw such people into professional life. They are ill-equipped.

Compare this reality with someone who leaves high school to learn a trade, whether that is welding, construction, or coding. After four years, such people already have a gigantic advantage over their peers in college. They know what it is to get to work on time, do what the boss says, achieve things, manage money, and so on, essentially skills that kids matriculating in college do not have.

Hence the real cost of college is not even the out-of-pocket expense or the debt. The actual cost is four years lost during the most important years of one’s life. And as for the actual education one receives, times have dramatically changed. You have free access to all the professors and teaching you want. With some discipline, a person with a job can obtain a PhD-level education in any field on nights and weekends with zero financial expenditure.

Looked at this way, it was only a matter of time before the advantages of declining college would become obvious. Believe me, parents are paying close attention. The main reason they spend a quarter of a million to send kids to college is to guarantee a better income in the future.

When that promise is revealed to be a false one, everything changes. Then we are only left with the social and marital advantages of college—which might be enough to keep them open for another 10 years or longer. But the shine is fading fast and the edge is getting ever more dull. The trendline in the data these days is favoring the trades over the dorm room.

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 17:40

"Largest Act Of Deregulation In US History": Trump Admin To Repeal Obama-Era Greenhouse Gas Finding

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is about to pull the rug from underneath climate regulation...

The EPA, under Lee Zeldin, plans to revoke the 2009 "endangerment finding", an Obama-era determination that six greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations” and that has anchored federal climate regulation under the Clean Air Act, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.

Bloomberg reported that the repeal could be announced as soon as Wednesday, citing an unnamed source.

Repealing the Obama-era climate finding would strip away the legal foundation for federal greenhouse gas regulation, which has been nothing more than toxic and degrowth for the economy, while China and India expanded coal-fired generation to power manufacturing hubs.

"This amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," EPA head Zeldin said in an interview.

Officials say it does not directly apply to emissions rules for oil-and-gas power plants and other stationary sources, but repealing the finding could make it easier to challenge or roll back those regulations at a later date.

The rollback would be a major win for the economy, which has been burdened by years of Democrats' "climate crisis" policies, which have epically backfired as electricity rates have soared amid terrible bets on unreliable solar and wind generation and the retirement of fossil-fuel plants.

This has all collided with grid strain in the data center era, triggering a power bill crisis across Maryland and other Mid-Atlantic states.

Also, this brutally cold winter has only underscored one very important point for 'team fossil fuels': coal and natural gas have helped keep the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast power grids from collapsing in recent weeks.

Related:

• "Sleep Tight, America. We Got This": NatGas And Coal Power Plants Prevented Grid Collapse During Historic Winter Blast

Since taking office, President Trump has pursued deregulation and pushed for reliable fossil fuels, telling supporters during the campaign trail, "drill, baby, drill." The goal, the president has stated over and over, is to reverse the worst inflation storm in a generation, which he blames on Democrats and their nation-killing green agenda.

On President Trump's first day of office last year, he signed an executive order directing the EPA to submit an assessment on the endangerment finding. Then by July, he received the proposal to rescind the finding.

Now, the rollback that would equal upwards of $1 trillion in cuts is set to be announced this week, along with several other energy- and climate-related announcements that will help drive down the cost of living.

"More energy drives human flourishing," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in an interview. "Energy abundance is the thing that we have to focus on, not regulating certain forms of energy out."

The U.S. economy has spent two decades under "climate crisis" regulations, and it has backfired spectacularly. Time to get back to basics. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 02/10/2026 - 17:20