Zero Rss

Logic Of Violence: We Are Nowhere Near The Endgame In Drone Wars

Our warning at the start of the year, well before the U.S.-Iran conflict erupted, rested on one very simple theme that much of Wall Street missed, perhaps because analysts were still wearing their 'green' glasses and focusing on the wrong crises or actually non-existent crises.

The more immediate threat to data centers was never about climate change or soaking up the world's resources. It was the very real threat of a data center being hit by a low-cost Shahed-style one-way attack drone, exposing the missing layer in cheap, scalable counter-drone defenses at nearly every data center worldwide.

Even we were surprised by how quickly that theme was validated. One month later, Iranian drone swarms targeted data centers across the Gulf, taking some hubs offline and forcing Wall Street, hyperscalers, insurers, and the defense community to confront an uncomfortable new reality.

Expanding on this theme, about three months into the ongoing U.S.-Iran war, counter-drone company Allen Control Systems CEO Steven Simoni warned on X that drones are in the very early stages of reshaping modern warfare and physical security, with the Russia-Ukraine war serving as the warning shot.

Simoni pointed out that in just four years, drones have become responsible for roughly 80% of casualties in that war, surpassing traditional battlefield systems such as artillery, aircraft, helicopters, rockets, and landmines. The result is that low-cost drones are becoming the dominant weapons platform on the modern battlefield.

"But an acute threat, because instead of the effect of these new fires being widespread and chaotic (which actually gives defenders a chance), they will be ultra-targeted and precise. Think more like, specific structural points of infrastructure from skyscrapers to nuclear power plants and particular faces from leaders to dissidents being recognized and targeted," he said.

Simoni added, "Another example: think about the capex that is going to be just datacenter buildout across the world over the next ten years. Imagine what kind of insurance (and the insurer's) reinsurance is involved in protecting all of that compute, all of that data, and all of those people. It's enormous."

"Drones, among other things, will be part of the threat model facing their physical security, their power infrastructure, and their personnel. All of that investment will be at risk, in part, from drones," he continued, adding, "The problem is so enormous, it's bigger than you think, and it's going to get more global and more acute."

Which way, Western man? pic.twitter.com/PwkL4xT6bF

— Quantum Daddy (@LegalPrimes) May 13, 2026

He cited a video from the Naval Podcast and told his followers, "Everyone should watch this."

Naval Podcast states in the video that drone warfare will fundamentally change the structure of violence in society - and therefore how militaries and entire states are architected. It said the historical parallels are similar to the rise of the modern state, in which a rifle enabled a former peasant to take down a feudal knight on the battlefield.

New:

The Logic of Violence
A podcast film pic.twitter.com/HsRZqFeEUt

— Naval Podcast (@navalpodcast) May 12, 2026

Being one step ahead, we see a boom in the counter drone defense space - not with million-dollar interceptor missiles - but cheap, scalable solutions:

• Micro AI Sentry Guns May Be Next Layer Of Defense For Data Centers Against Kamikaze Drones

• Interceptor-Drone Arms-Race Emerges

• U.S. Deploys Ukrainian Acoustic Sensors, Interceptor Drones At Prince Sultan Air Base

And just wait until micro jet engines become standard on suicide drones ...

Jet-powered drones are becoming a new phase of modern warfare.

The article below highlights the growing Czech-Ukrainian partnership in the development and production of compact turbojet engines for next-generation UAV and defense platforms, with PBS expanding its manufacturing… pic.twitter.com/lWly7lhw8f

— PBS GROUP (@PBS_GRP) May 21, 2026

Welcome to 2030s warfare. The world only gets more dangerous from here as the innovation curve for ground robots, autonomous drone swarms, AI kill chains, and eventually humanoid soldiers accelerates.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 22:10

Putin Vows Heavy Revenge After Deadly Ukrainian Strikes On Luhansk School Dormitory 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of intentionally targeting civilians after a "terrorist" overnight drone attack on a school that left six dead and scores of young people wounded. 

At least 39 were injured and counting, amid ongoing rescue efforts after a school complex was torn apart on the multi-drone strike attack. It happened at a school dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region. Over a dozen victims are still missing, including children, reports say.

via Reuters

Putin blasted the mass casualty incident as a "terrorist attack by the neo-Nazi regime" while vowing swift revenge. 

"The Russian Foreign Ministry has been instructed to inform international organizations and the international community about this crime," Putin said. "In such cases, statements from the Foreign Ministry alone would not suffice. Therefore, the Russian Defense Ministry has been ordered to submit its proposals."

Large-scale destruction was observed at the academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College, which teaches students aged 14 to 18. Over 80 students were at the complex at the time of the attack.

Additionally, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said those responsible needed to be brought to justice, calling it "a monstrous crime" - given the "attack on an educational institution where children and young people ⁠are present."

"The most important thing now ​is to take measures to clear the rubble ​and provide assistance to those who are still ​trapped beneath it," Peskov added.

Britain's Sky News has noted that the Ukrainian government has yet to acknowledge the attack:

Severely damaged buildings could also be seen, one of which appeared to have partially collapsed, as well as fires still burning.

Ukraine has yet to comment. Its forces are fighting to try to recapture Luhansk, one of four regions Russia unilaterally claimed as its own in 2022, in what Kyiv considers an illegal land grab.

Russia's human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, said 86 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18 had been asleep inside the hostel belonging to Luhansk Pedagogical University's Starobilsk school when Ukrainian drones attacked during the night.

via Reuters

Earlier this month, Russia and Ukraine observed a 3-day US-backed ceasefire for Russia's V-Day; however, after that Russia unleashed several consecutive days of heavy aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities, especially the capital.

Last week, Ukraine 'answered' with a large-scale, long range drone attack on the Moscow area. Currently, these tit-for-tack strikes are ramping up, with increasingly deadly consequences for innocent bystanders on both sides.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 21:20

US Sanctions Sinaloa Cartel-Linked Ethereum Addresses

Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com,

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned six Ethereum addresses tied to a Sinaloa Cartel-linked money laundering network that allegedly converted drug proceeds into cryptocurrency.

OFAC added the addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals list (a US sanctions list of people, entities and assets subject to blocking restrictions) on Wednesday as part of sanctions against 11 individuals and two entities connected to two Sinaloa Cartel financial networks.

Treasury said one network, led by Armando de Jesus Ojeda Aviles, collected bulk cash in the US from fentanyl and other drug sales before allegedly converting the money into cryptocurrency for transfer to the cartel in Mexico.

The action highlights how cartel-linked money laundering networks are using digital assets alongside cash couriers and front businesses, raising sanctions compliance risks for crypto exchanges and other virtual asset service providers.

OFAC adds six new Ethereum addresses to sanctions list. Source: OFAC

Cartel cash moved into crypto

The Sinaloa Cartel is allegedly using blockchain technology to launder its illicit fiat money proceeds, according to OFAC.

Cointelegraph contacted OFAC for more details surrounding the Sinaloa Cartel’s money laundering operations.

Treasury did not identify which crypto platforms or protocols were allegedly used by the network.

The listed Ethereum addresses, however, create sanctions exposure for exchanges, wallet providers and other crypto firms that screen blockchain transactions.

Looking at some of the biggest cryptocurrency hacks, attackers laundered the majority of the $1.4 billion stolen during the Bybit hack, or about $1.2 billion, through THORChain, swapping funds from Ether to Bitcoin, according to Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou. 

Attackers behind the recent $293 million Kelp DAO hack also primarily used THORChain to swap the Ether for Bitcoin, generating about $910,000 in fee revenue for the protocol, Cointelegraph reported on April 23.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 20:55

Atlanta Continues To Dominate Among World's Busiest Airports

In 2025, the world’s busiest airport was not in Dubai, London, or Tokyo.

It was Atlanta.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport handled 106.3 million passengers, making it the only airport in the world to cross the 100 million mark.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Gabriel Cohen, ranks the world’s busiest airports by total passengers boarded and deplaned in 2025, using new data from the Airports Council International. Transit passengers are counted once.

Why Atlanta Still Ranks #1

The Atlanta airport, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2026, has been the world’s busiest airport every year since 1998, except for 2020 during pandemic-era travel restrictions.

This table lists the world’s busiest airports by 2025 passenger count.

Named after two former mayors, Hartsfield-Jackson serves as the main hub and headquarters for Delta Air Lines, the world’s top airline by both revenue and brand value.

Smaller airlines like Frontier and Southwest also maintain operating bases at the airport. Consequently, more than 1,000 flights depart from Hartsfield-Jackson each day.

The U.S. Big Four Airports

Atlanta is not the only U.S. airport near the top. The U.S. accounts for four of the 10 busiest airports worldwide, more than any other country in the ranking.

Dallas Fort Worth (85.7 million), which anchors two of the country’s largest cities, ranks fourth worldwide in passenger traffic, while Denver’s sprawling airport lands in the 10th position with 82.4 million passengers in 2025.

Sixth-ranked Chicago O’Hare (84.8 million) held the title of world’s busiest airport for a quarter-century before losing it to Atlanta in 1998. It continues to be the airport with the most takeoffs and landings, recording more than 860,000 aircraft movements in 2025.

Eurasia’s Biggest Airports

No African or South American airport cracks the world’s 10 busiest airports, which are instead dominated by East Asian and Middle Eastern hubs like Tokyo Haneda (91.7 million), Shanghai Pudong (85 million), and Istanbul (84.4 million).

London Heathrow is Europe’s busiest airport, handling 84.5 million passengers in 2025.

Meanwhile, Dubai (95.2 million) has become the world’s second-busiest airport, while remaining the busiest for international passengers. This reflects the United Arab Emirates’ strategy of positioning Dubai as a global aviation hub connecting Asia, Europe, and the West.

Curious how size factors in? Check out World’s Busiest Single Runway Airports on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 20:30

India Explores Alternative Energy Sources After Oil Supply Shock

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the government to urgently explore an increase in the use of alternative energy sources, including biogas as a substitute for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), as the Middle East crisis is choking oil and gas supply to the world’s third-largest crude importer.

Modi also urged ministers to move faster with implementing reforms to turn India into a developed nation by 2047, the goal for its 100th independence anniversary.

India has been grappling with the energy crisis that the Iran war created. Oil supply from the Middle East was severely constrained, forcing India to boost Russian oil imports – with a U.S. blessing in the form of waivers for Russian crude on tankers – and seek alternative crude and LPG supply from regions other than the Middle East.

Earlier this week, reports emerged that India plans to send empty tankers into the Strait of Hormuz to load oil supplies from the Gulf producers.

This would be a first such Indian move west of the chokepoint for loading crude and LPG since the Iran war began, sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

India has boosted imports of oil and LPG from places that don’t need the Strait of Hormuz, but costs are usually higher, and the journey times are much longer compared to the shorter routes from the Persian Gulf to India.

At any rate, India will likely need approval from the U.S. to move through the U.S. blockade in the Gulf of Oman first, and then from Iran for clearance in the Strait of Hormuz en route to the export ports in the Persian Gulf.  

Two and a half months after the Middle East conflict began, one of the highest-performing emerging markets in recent years is scrambling to contain the oil shock that is spreading to consumer prices, foreign exchange reserves, and economic growth.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 20:05

Disney's Marvel Comics Faces Mass Layoffs And New Woke Leadership

The saga of woke comics is the saga of woke America.  Much like video games, comics and superhero movies were ignored by conservative movements as "meaningless kids stuff" until recently, which is part of the reason why those industries were so easily invaded by leftists and used to indoctrinate millions of children and teens a decade ago.

Culture is more important than politics.  This is obvious.  It's a fact that leftists have understood for generations and one that conservatives have foolishly dismissed.  Only in the past few years has there been a shift; at least, the progressive rampage through America's various media institutions has been stalled and slightly reversed. 

But, the most captured platforms are not going to change anytime soon, even in the face of financial decline and mass layoffs. 

Disney and Marvel have recently announced a shake-up of the comics division, with over a thousand layoffs this year (after moderate layoffs over the past few years), and new executive leadership.  Far-left DEI advocate Dan Buckley is on the way out.  This change is being presented as a retirement, though some skeptics argue he is being forced out as part of the company's restructuring.  

Buckley replacement is not much better, however.  TV Chief Brad Winderbaum is taking over as Marvel President and his track record on Marvel TV series includes some of the biggest woke failures in streaming history - Ms. Marvel (Muslim Pakistani representation), She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (feminist/meta take, which he defends as a strong performer despite critical failure), Ironheart (feminism and BLM propaganda), Echo, Agatha All Along, Wonder Man (prominent LGBT elements).

In other words, superhero fans hoping that the company changes will result in a renewed respect for the source materials are probably going to be disappointed.  Marvel's direction is unlikely to improve.  

Marvel Comics, a subsidiary of Disney, has been at the forefront of far-left propaganda in content for many years, and their woke concepts are usually ported directly into Disney's movies and streaming series.  Everything from gay and trans X-Men to black Spider-Man, to female gender swaps of popular male characters have become the norm.  And, books sales have flatlined in response.

Marvel's market share has plunged from highs of 40%-45% to around 29% today.  Direct market US comics make up around 15% of total sales in the medium, while Japanese Manga dominates with 50% of the market.  US comics continue to lose ground exactly because no one likes woke superheros.       

Only ten years ago the business of superheroes was big.  Theater goers could not get enough of the comic book genre.  Comic studios from industry titans to indies were scrambling to turn every property they had into a movie deal.  Nerd culture went fully mainstream and every kid and suburban wine-mom was geeking out in a way that used to get people beat up in middle school. 

The problem is that nerd culture became a platform that the woke movement lusted after.  And, as they do with everything they touch, their efforts to hijack comic book media and exploit it as a vehicle for DEI ended up destroying popular sentiment. 

Top companies like Marvel and DC no longer publish exact sales data and unit numbers are proprietary.  The reason was because sales collapsed according to evidence accumulating across bookstores and newsstands.  There are estimates of around 2500 comic stores closed since 2016, many of them were stores that had been open for decades.  Neighborhood favorites that used to do decent business folded.  

The stores that survived were those that diversified into video games, board games and other products.  Store owners reported that comic fans were buying older back issues and often avoided new woke books. 

In 2026, the superhero trend is dead.  The audience has dried up and no one cares.  It's sad to see, but completely predictable.  Marvel's pretentious obstinance led them to believe that the audience exists to serve their products, rather than their products existing to serve the audience.  The thing is, they can force woke cultism into any IP they like, but they can't force people to pay for it. 

For now they a protected by Disney's vast corporate umbrella.  But, this might not be the case for long if they continue to lose money.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 19:40

The Trillion-Dollar Man

Authored by Noel Williams via AmericanThinker.com,

If he had any, Bernie would be pulling his hair out at the prospect of Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire.

Socialist imbeciles spurn success, preferring downtrodden masses who wallow in government dependence rather than exerting individual independence. As is well known, socialists portray billionaires as a "policy mistake."

Extrapolating from that, they must consider the potential coming of trillionaires as a policy catastrophe.

The first man likely to reach that lofty target -- if his companies meet stringent performance objectives -- is Elon Musk.

At first blush, that seems exorbitant, but let’s run some numbers.

Musk heads several remarkable companies, but for this exercise, we’ll focus on Tesla, which was founded in 2003. 

Tesla’s current headcount is about 125,000 (give or take). 

Average headcount (hard to calculate due to extreme scaling) over its lifespan is approximately 51,000. 

Average salary (excluding bonuses and benefits) is also approximate, at about $100,000 per annum.

So, 23 (years in existence) * 51000 (average headcount) * 100,000 (estimated avg. salary, per above link) equals $117,300,000,000.

That’s over 117 billion dollars paid to direct Tesla employees over its lifespan -- again, that excludes all the other benefits that may accrue.

Remember, this is before ramping up production of Tesla’s Optimus robots that will become the predominant contributor to revenue (and productivity gains that will benefit society at large).

It is estimated that Tesla alone supports over 600,000 jobs (think supply chain and contractor jobs).

So let’s consider their larger impact on growing societal wealth.

It’s tricky to determine the average salary of such positions, but let’s go with a conservative $60,000 per annum.

Here’s the calculation: 23 (years in business) * 600,000 (jobs tied to Tesla) * 60,000 (approx. salary) equals $828,000,000,000.

That’s over eight hundred billion, by golly (combine that with the above, and you're teetering on one trillion).

Admittedly, these are imprecise estimates (maybe underestimates), but the point is clear: Tesla alone has generated enormous payrolls for direct and indirect employees combined, and the future looks brighter still.

In fact, Tesla is inexorably becoming much more than a car company: there are all-important data repositories, AI, energy, autonomous driving, and robots. Indeed, if Musk hits the pay targets that may catapult him to trillionaire status, the estimated market cap of Tesla will be around 8.5 trillion dollars.

That’s Tesla, but there’s also Neuralink, the Boring Company (tunneling, etc.), X, and xAI. Oh yeah… then there is SpaceX, which currently employs thousands of dedicated full-time workers worldwide.

Its Initial Public Offering is gearing up, with an anticipated value of well over $1 trillion.

The socialist politicians propagating envy will have hysterical fits over that.

Speaking of whom, Obama once mused that at some point a businessman has “earned enough,” and that is well below a billion dollars. Well, given all the societal wealth (not to mention philanthropic aid and services to hapless victims of natural and man-made disasters throughout the world) that Musk has generated, maybe one trillion dollars is about enough.

Who would you rather have access to those resources: a creative, market-driven entrepreneur (albeit one who occasionally benefits from industrial policy), or a fuddy-duddy, central-planning socialist sequestered from the dynamism of consumer-oriented markets?

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 19:15

China To Impose Mining Controls On Strategic Minerals

The Trump-Xi meeting is now history, so Beijing can go back to doing what it does best: squeezing US supply chains with its near chokehold on most strategic and rare-earth supply chains.

China plans to impose mining controls on certain strategic minerals to ensure supply security and protect the finite resources, Beijing revealed in a government notification published by the official Xinhua News Agency. 

The new rules will take effect from June 15 and allow Beijing to control total output, restrict mining entities and run security reviews on foreign investments in mining that could pose a risk to national security.

Xinhua didn’t specify which minerals will be impacted. Any adjustment to the list of strategic mineral resources will assess factors like economic importance, national security, domestic requirements and supply chain resilience, according to the regulation.

China currently has similar controls on production of rare earths, critical materials vital for high-tech manufacturing, through annual production quotas to a few licensed domestic companies. 

 

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 18:50

Pentagon Concedes That US Provided Most Of Israel's Missile Defense During Iran War

Via The Libertarian Institute

The US fired hundreds of its most advanced interceptors to protect Israel from Iranian missiles during the first five weeks of the war. 

According to a Department of War assessment described to The Washington Post, the US used 200 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors and over 100 SM-3 and SM-6 missiles in defense of Israel.

Image source: DoD/Department of War

In comparison, Israel only used 100 Arrow interceptors and 90 David’s Sling missiles. 

Speaking about the imbalance, an administration official told The Post, "In total, the U.S. shot around 120 more interceptors and engaged twice as many Iranian missiles." The official added that "The imbalance will likely be exacerbated if fighting restarts."

The imbalance occurs because Washington and Tel Aviv developed a strategy for the defense of Israel, where the US advanced interceptors handled the bulk of the Iranian missiles. The official said that the policy resulted in a significant "drawdown" of the US interceptor stockpile. 

During the conflict, the US used about half of its stockpile of advanced interceptors, including Patriots, SM-3, SM-6, and THAAD interceptors. WaPo further quotes the following analyst who said—

"The numbers are striking," said Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center. "The United States absorbed most of the missile defense mission while Israel conserved its own magazines. Even if the operational logic was sound, the United States is left with roughly 200 THAAD interceptors and a production line that can’t keep pace with demand."

The US intelligence community says Iran has over 70% of its pre-war launchers and missiles. Additionally, Tehran has resumed drone production, and it’s rebuilding its military production at a surprising rate. 

A US official also told The Post that Israel's offensive capabilities were slowing down. They explained that by the end of March, Israel was conducting 50% fewer strikes against Iran because its air force was exhausted by operations against Lebanon and Yemen. 

In recent days, President Donald Trump has threatened to restart the war against Iran if Tehran does not comply with his demands. However, the President had made similar threats throughout the six-week-long ceasefire and has always backed down. 

The Post reports that the US has positioned additional naval assets near Israel to assist with missile defense in the war restarts.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 18:25

CEO Saves His Failing Company By Firing Entire HR Department

When Elon Musk purchased Twitter and took the company over in 2022, he proceeded to fire approximately 80% of the social media company's bloated 7500 person workforce.  This included almost all HR related employees.  The company roster was pared down to a lean 1500 people.  Everyone in the establishment media claimed that Twitter (now called "X") was going to collapse. 

The political left and their corporate allies did everything in their power to make this happen, including advertising cancellations and even government intervention, but they failed.  X's monthly active user (MAU) count has grown over the past 5 years - rising from roughly 360 million in 2021 to over 550 million by early 2026.  Part of the reason for this success despite the constant attacks was Musk's removal of internal saboteurs. 

The majority of corporations today have inflated their teams with people who do not add value - Rather, they create problems from thin air and drag the company down.  The primary vehicle that facilitates this sabotage is the Human Resources department. 

HR departments were originally created as a means of monitoring compliance with state and federal laws to avoid liability.  In many cases this revolved around "sexual harassment" or "discrimination" in the workplace, but it ended up becoming a progressive crusade to make women, LGBT and minority groups a protected class of workers that are difficult to fire because HR is more concerned with lawsuits. 

This lack of accountability based on gender and minority privilege reached its peak during the height of the woke era and DEI.  Companies were rife with useless employees who did little work while raking in six-figure salaries. 

Today, the situation is changing rapidly.  A wave of layoffs has hit the white collar sector since 2025.  The end of DEI is leading to mass cuts which are largely affecting women, with minority women making up the bulk of the job losses. 

One company CEO, Ryan Breslow of Bolt, saved his company from implosion by a simple change which allowed him to more easily make a number of other changes:  He fired his entire HR department. 

Breslow, who stepped down as CEO in 2022 but returned in 2025, cut 30% of the workforce in April and replaced HR with a smaller “people operations” team focused on training.  “They were creating problems that didn’t exist,” Breslow, 31, said at Fortune’s Workforce Innovation Summit. “Those problems disappeared when I let them go.”

Bolt was founded in 2014 and makes checkout payments technology. The company saw a whopping valuation collapse from $11 billion in 2022 to $300 million in 2025.

But HR wasn’t the only group to lose their jobs. Breslow said employees had grown complacent during the boom years. He gave workers 60 days to adapt to a leaner culture but said 99% couldn’t make the shift. “There’s a sense of entitlement that had festered across the company,” he said.

He fired nearly the entire leadership team and eliminated four-day workweeks and unlimited PTO.  Bolt now operates with about 100 employees, down from thousands. “We have a team a quarter of the size, who are much more junior, who work a lot harder, who have better energy,” Breslow says.

The CEO's observations echo across the corporate world in the US and in Europe, and it's the reason why many DEI related jobs are disappearing and why so many college graduates with psychology and communications related degrees can't get hired to save their lives.

It makes sense; Human Resource employees are 75% to 80% women and 18% LGBT, far above the averages in most white collar fields.  These demographics commonly lead to a grievance-based work environment and an entitlement culture.  These are the groups who often create problems from thin air as a means to manipulate the policy courses of companies and they are difficult to eject because of liability fears. 

Placing them in a position of power with the ability to drum up internal conflicts is a detrimental mistake. 

Time, however, is healing.  The era of easy salaries for low value employees is quickly coming to an end.  Numerous tech companies and venture capital companies that expanded during the last decade are cutting the dead weight.  The viral TikToks of women spending most of their workday in corporate cafeterias and yoga rooms are disappearing.  The free ride is over, and soon there may not be any HR department's left to protect the barnacles from being scraped off the ship.      

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 18:00

Japan To Welcome First Crude Cargo Via Hormuz Since War Began

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

A supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude is set to arrive in Japan early next week after clearing the Strait of Hormuz in late April, in the first shipment of Middle East crude to Japan via the chokepoint since the Iran war began on February 28.

The Idemitsu Maru very large crude tanker; Photo: MarineTraffic

The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Idemitsu Maru, which had departed from Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura port in the Persian Gulf in mid-March, is expected to arrive in Nagoya on May 25, data on MarineTraffic showed. As of early Friday, the supertanker was close to the coasts of Japan.

The cargo is destined for the Aichi refinery of local refiner Idemitsu Kosan, according to a briefing document of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry cited by Bloomberg.

The imminent shipment will mark the first cargo from the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz to have made it to Japan since the conflict erupted at the end of February and halted most energy supplies via the strait, which is blocked by Iran and separately blockaded by the U.S. in the Gulf of Oman to prevent Iranian oil exports.

Another Japan-bound tanker, Eneos Endeavor, cleared the Strait of Hormuz last week. The Eneos Endeavor, currently in the Malacca Strait, is expected to arrive in Kiire, Japan, on May 30, per data on MarineTraffic. It departed from Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait on February 28, the day on which hostilities began.

Meanwhile, Japan in April imported the lowest volume of crude oil from the Middle East on record dating back to 1979 as the Iran war and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz choked supply from the region.

Japan’s crude imports from the Middle East plummeted by 67.2% in April compared to the same month of 2025, provisional trade data from Japan’s Finance Ministry showed on Thursday.

Since the war in the Middle East began, Japan has scrambled to secure crude oil supply from alternative sources and released stocks from reserves as its dependence on crude from the Middle East passing through Hormuz was more than 90% of all crude imports

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 17:40

China Restricts Fentanyl Precursor Chemical Exports To North America After Trump-Xi Talks

One week after President Donald Trump's China summit with President Xi Jinping, where the two superpower leaders focused on issues ranging from bilateral trade to the Hormuz chokepoint, there appears to be measurable progress on one key 'MAGA' issue: the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals into North America.

Bloomberg reports Friday morning that China imposed new export controls on three chemical compounds shipped to the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, targeting key precursor ingredients used to make fentanyl.

Beijing's announcement now requires special export licenses for the restricted chemicals and signals growing cooperation between Xi and Trump on narcotics enforcement.

"The Presidents also highlighted the need to build on progress in ending the flow of fentanyl precursors into the United States, as well as increasing Chinese purchases of American agricultural products," the White House wrote in a readout of the summit last week.

The Trump team continues to maintain a 10% tariff on Chinese imports tied to Beijing's years of failure to stop the flow of fentanyl precursor exports into North America.

Beijing has dismissed Washington's accusations over the opioid epidemic that, at one point, was killing 100,000 Americans every year.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated early in Trump's second term that Beijing may be "deliberately" flooding America with fentanyl in a "reverse" form of the mid-1800s Opium Wars that weakened China's international standing.

Ahead of Trump's trip last week, New York Post columnist Miranda Devine spoke with White House Counterterrorism Director Sebastian Gorka about how China weaponized fentanyl to weaken America from within.

"They see our 'city on a hill' as the newest version of the British Empire, and it is now payback time for the Opium Wars," Gorka said. "Many have said that, and I think there is something to that.

Here's the fentanyl supply chain: Chinese chemical suppliers → Mexican cartels → fentanyl production in Mexico → smuggling into the U.S.

Between 2015 and 2024, the U.S. recorded about 815,100 drug overdose deaths, a death toll larger than many U.S. wars combined. And, in fact, China didn't even have to fire a shot.

Simultaneously, while the drug epidemic fueled by cartels and China-sourced precursor chemicals ravaged communities and cities nationwide, Democratic-led cities accelerated the crisis by pushing forward with nation-killing progressive policies that enabled open-air drug markets, weakened enforcement, and allowed the public-health emergency to spread. Why?

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 17:20

House Democrats Unanimously Vote Against Women's History Museum... Can You Guess Why?

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

House Democrats unanimously voted this week against legislation to build a new women’s history museum on the National Mall.

The reason was an amendment that limited the exhibits to biological women to the exclusion of transgender figures.

The museum failed 204-216 as House Democrats hoped that they could still secure a museum including transgender figures once they retake power after the midterm elections.

The amendment drafted by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., states in part, “The Museum shall be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements and lived experiences of biological women in the United States.”

It further mandated that the museum would not depict “any biological male as female.”

The vote was notable after the release of the DNC “autopsy” report that flagged how transgender and identity politics contributed to the defeat in the last election.

The report specifically noted the success of Trump’s “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you” ad.

The report noted that “If the Vice President would not change her position — and she did not — then there was nothing which would have worked as a response.”

The fact that this was a unanimous vote among Democratic members is particularly notable and suggests that transgender issues will remain a rallying point for the Democrats.

Democratic members called the exclusion a “poison pill” amendment.

In the meantime, transgender issues continue to occupy the courts with a major decision by the Colorado Supreme Court this week that ordered Colorado’s largest provider of gender-affirming care for young people to resume medical treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

That puts  Children’s Hospital Colorado in direct conflict with the Department of Health and Human Services, which has moved to block federal support for institutions providing such care.

Justice William Wood III wrote that “We conclude that the actual immediate and irreparable harm to petitioners outweighs the speculative harm CHC may face if the federal government further acts against it.”

In his dissent, Justice Brian Boatright said that this was hardly a speculative matter, but “a decision driven by the direct threat to the viability of the entire hospital.”

Here is the opinion: Boe v. Child.’s Hosp. Colo.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 17:00

Iconic American Beer Brand Discontinued After 177 Years

Schlitz Premium, the storied lager once billed as “the beer that made Milwaukee famous,” is heading into retirement. Pabst Brewing Co. confirmed this week it is placing the brand on indefinite hiatus, ending production of the nearly two-century-old beer label founded in Milwaukee in 1849 that grew into one of America’s most iconic brews.

The decision, driven by rising storage and shipping costs amid softening demand for the value-priced brand, marks the latest chapter in a turbulent corporate saga. Wisconsin Brewing Co. in Verona will produce a final 80-barrel batch on May 23, with limited release scheduled for June 27. Pre-orders open this week.

"Unfortunately, we have seen continued increases in our costs to store and ship certain products and have had to make the tough choice to place Schlitz Premium on hiatus," Pabst brand manager Zac Nadile told Milwaukee Magazine. "Any brand or packaging configuration that is put on hiatus is still a cherished part of our history and hopefully our future. We continually look for opportunities to bring back beloved brands, and customer feedback is important in shaping those discussions."

Brewmaster Kirby Nelson of Wisconsin Brewing Co. said the brewery was intent on providing the brand with a proper goodbye.

"We decided that, Schlitz being what Schlitz was, it deserved a proper sendoff. One with dignity and respect," Nelson said.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 16:40

The Coup Abides

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

"Leftists can’t name & blame specific individuals for the 2024 loss because they’re an undifferentiated blob who function unconsciously according to enmeshed group think."

- Aimee Therese on X

In all the chatter about the Democratic Party’s 2024 election “autopsy” report you might have missed one little important detail: autopsies are generally performed on the dead. Stephen Colbert’s final week on CBS’s Late Night Show was the funeral. It was like the zombies’ ball. Poster-boy old Bruce Springsteen plugged a self-parody song about “King Trump” that might have been a rare case of career suicide on live TV.

Kings, indeed. These showbiz cretins actually have it better than kings — they have all the money, glitz, and adoration, but none of the onerous duties of real royalty. They amount to a weird court of effete elitists endlessly congratulating each other on their moral superiority, and that’s where it begins and ends: a Cluster-B hall of mirrors.

Of the common good, the know absolutely nothing. Nobody believes their tired buzzwords anymore: “Our democracy” . . . “conspiracy theories” . . . “baseless” this and that. . . their foolish vaccine worship. . . their avatars, the guffawing baboon Kamala Harris, the erstwhile phantom “Joe Biden,” and, most of all, their good sportsmanship trophy, Barack Obama, last seen confabbing with Canada’s Mark Carney, Globalism’s paladin of the last resort.

The Lefty-left’s heroes are on-the-run, but tripping over each other badly as they scatter into the thickets to re-group for the midterm elections — which they are suddenly and seemingly likely to lose now that SCOTUS erased about a dozen race-based congressional districts . . . and then Virginia’s Supreme Court tossed Governor Spanberger’s ballot ploy to make the Old Dominion a one-party state (like back in slavery days).

The corpse of the Democratic Party might be dead, but not a few of its agents, cells, and parasitical organisms are ‘out there’ still twitching and plotting. The decade-long coup abides. The lawfare ninjas — Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, Marc Elias, et al. — still plot tirelessly behind the scenes, rigging up evermore legalistic chicanery disguised as legality, and they are rolling in dough from Soros, the Tides Foundation, Neville Roy Singham, and countless NGOs dedicated to overthrowing the republic.

The coup abides for two reasons:

1) its players are desperate to evade prosecution for their vast and various crimes of the past ten years (and prosecution is coming at them down the track like the old Union Pacific US-4 “Daylight” locomotive); and

2) the Democratic Party is desperate to preserve the revenue flows that support all its racketeering operations. Without its rackets, the money funnel to pay off its countless “oppressed” client-constituent-victims, there is no party. That’s all it was in its final stage of life.

Minnesota, of course, is the case-study for that kind of corruption and now the DOJ is going after the place hard, announcing fifteen new prosecutions this week for $90-million in Medicaid fraud, “just the beginning,” the lead US attorney, Colin McDonald, said. California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and many more states await the same treatment under the president’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division. The Democrats will go into the midterms revealed to be nothing more than a looting operation.

It’s happening in real time. Just yesterday, one particular public benefits entrepreneur, Aimee Bock, was sentenced to forty years in prison for running a Minneapolis scam called Feeding Our Future that made off with $243-million in taxpayer money. At sentencing, Aimee Bock was ordered to pay roughly $243 million in restitution. That’s a hoot, isn’t it? Federal inmates (Bureau of Prisons) are paid from 12-cents to $1.15 per hour wages for assigned work, depending on the type of job. Forty years might not be enough to git’er done.

Many more will be going down in the months ahead for similar shenanigans, and the voting public might notice as it rolls out. But fraudsters such as Aimee Bock are mere lumpen foot-soldiers in the regime. The more spectacular action will be the Democratic Party’s field marshals getting nailed, and that’s hardly begun. Coup Central is the Southern District of Florida where a “grand conspiracy” case, or possibly many cases and sub-cases, are already in the grand jury stage — meaning probable cause has been established en route to indictments. Many political celebrities labored hard since 2017 to overthrow the executive branch of the government. Hair is on fire everywhere you look.

One small fish was reeled in this week: one Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, a senior supervisory US attorney, indicted on two felony counts of mishandling evidence from “special prosecutor” Jack Smith’s botched Mar-a-Lago documents case. She labeled the purloined docs in her personal computer as dessert recipes (e.g., “bundt cake”) en route to leaking them. Lineberger has pleaded innocent. Don’t doubt that a negotiated plea deal is in play with her, and that Jack Smith will be sweating the outcome of that as Lineberger flips and talks.

But the odious Jack Smith will only be one of many bigger fish turning up in the Fort Pierce dragnet, probably including the whale, Barack Obama, the president who foolishly tried to destroy his successor-in-office. You may know that the DOJ observes an unwritten custom of not issuing indictments inside sixty days of an election (a custom that Jack Smith violated in 2024 when he issued a superseding indictment against candidate Donald Trump). So, there are 105 days remaining within the current window before the 2026 midterms for formal charges to be lodged against the coupsters.

So, now everyone’s expecting a hairy-scary summer of Democratic Party inspired mayhem, a ratcheted-up “No Kings” orgy of riots, the last remaining gambit to goad Mr. Trump into emergency action so they can holler, “Look: king!”

It’s only a question of what might spark it off. I’ll venture to predict that spark will be the indictment of Barack Obama. If you think the Lefty-left is crazy now, wait until that happens.

At least Stephen Colbert won’t be around to turn it into a song-and-dance act.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 16:20

Singham Network Mobilizes To Defend Raúl Castro After DOJ Indictment

Via American Greatness,

Key organizations and activists tied to the CCP-linked Singham Network rapidly moved to defend former Cuban dictator Raúl Castro following this week’s Justice Department indictment tied to the 1996 shootdown of civilian aircraft flown by Brothers to the Rescue.

The indictment, unveiled by the United States Department of Justice, charges Castro and others in connection with the deaths of four men after Cuban MiG fighter jets destroyed two civilian planes over international waters near Cuba nearly three decades ago. Prosecutors said the aircraft were outside Cuban territory and heading away from the island when they were attacked.

In response, a collection of far-left organizations linked to Marxist businessman Neville Roy Singham quickly launched a coordinated public campaign condemning the indictment and echoing talking points from the Cuban Communist government.

Among the groups defending Castro were Party for Socialism and Liberation, The People’s Forum, Code Pink, and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

Code Pink, co-founded by Singham’s wife Jodie Evans, accused the Trump administration of fabricating the case to justify military action against Cuba.

“They’re not seeking justice for a downed flight. The Trump administration is fabricating a pretext for military intervention,” the group said after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictment.

Code Pink later called the indictment a “sham” and defended Cuba’s actions in shooting down the civilian aircraft. The group argued that “International law guarantees any country, including Cuba, the right to respond to airspace violations after exhausting diplomatic means to do so.”

The DOJ indictment, however, alleges the planes were flying over international waters and that the pilots received no warning before being destroyed by the Cuban military.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation similarly condemned the charges, describing them as “a transparent pretext for escalating aggression against a sovereign nation.”

Its affiliated media outlet, Liberation News, argued Castro acted lawfully under international law and claimed Cuba had the right to defend its territory against “US-based terrorist groups like Brothers to the Rescue.”

Manolo De Los Santos, a top leader within the Singham-linked activist ecosystem, also praised Castro and accused the United States of hypocrisy.

“The world stands with Raul Castro, hero of the Cuban Revolution,” declared Vijay Prashad, another senior Singham Network figure who also holds a position at a Chinese Communist Party-linked think tank associated with Beijing’s United Front influence apparatus.

De Los Santos described Castro as an “incredibly courageous and revolutionary hero” and defended Cuba’s socialist system in multiple public statements.

The Singham-linked media outlet BreakThrough News also promoted interviews with Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel attacking President Donald Trump and the U.S. government while framing the indictment as an attempt to justify aggression against Cuba.

The defense of Castro is part of an alliance between the Singham Network and the Cuban regime.

Earlier this year, leaders from the People’s Forum and allied groups traveled to Havana for meetings with Díaz-Canel and publicly pledged solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.

President Trump defended the administration’s crackdown on Cuba Wednesday, accusing the regime’s leadership of enriching itself while ordinary Cubans suffer.

“While the people suffer, the regime’s kleptocratic elite have hoarded the island’s remaining resources for themselves and their lavish lifestyle,” Trump said.

“Its military leaders have demonstrated zero care for ensuring the prosperity of the Cuban people.”

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 15:40

Chinese Refining Rates Unexpectedly Plunge To All-Time Lows As Economy Falls Off A Cliff

Two weeks ago, when discussing the market "mystery" of sliding physical crude oil prices, we said that the most likely culprit were Chinese refiners, whose refining margins had just collapsed to the most negative on record.

The reason for the margin collapse was China’s domestic fuel policy: it has long been Beijing's policy to soften price hikes to help shield consumers and avoid social unrest; which while beneficial to end, consumers is catastrophic to refiners and processors who are prohibited from passing on rising costs. In other words, Chna’s "energy security" was the dominant theme, and if it meant an entire industry has to suffer huge losses if it continues to purchase oil and process it into various product grades, so be it.

Ordered to process as much available inventory as possible, that's what the refiners have done, and refining rates in Shandong province, China's hub for smaller refineries known as teapots, ramped up over April to the highest level in almost two years, as processing margins cratered to record negative levels meaning refiners are losing record amounts on every barrel they process. 

“I would not be surprised if the teapots are prioritizing politics over economics with an eye to their long-term survival,” said Erica Downs, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “They may be calculating that if they do their part to help China weather the energy crisis, then maybe they will build up some goodwill in Beijing.”

While Downs is right, and teapots are prioritizing politics, they are also certainly keeping an eye on economics to the extent they can avoid Beijing's wrath, and predictably the logical consequence of this centrally-planned policy to force "independent" refiners (who are not really independent if they have to do whatever Beijing instructs them) to make fuel at record losses to ensure energy security, is for them to slash purchases of Iranian crude.

Sure enough, as we reported two weeks ago, Chinese crude oil imports cratered: China's April imports plunged to a multi-year low of just 8.2 million barrels a day, down by about a quarter from a prewar level of around 11.7 million. The 3.5-million barrels a day swing almost matches the total consumption of Japan and is double the amount supplied by the United Arab Emirates pipeline that circumvents Hormuz. 

Meanwhile, as imports collapsed, inventories at sea soared: Kpler reported that as of the start of May, there were about 16 million barrels on ships anchored in the Yellow Sea off the Chinese coast, almost 40% higher than the level prior to a US blockade of Iran’s ports in mid-April as oil that was ordered previously remains unused. 

Amid this collapse in Chinese imports and aggressive stockpiling at sea, industry executives have noticed something odd: Chinese state-owned oil companies have been reselling some of their oil cargoes to European and Asian rivals. The behavior suggests surpluses, which is "odd" to say the least during a supply shortage. Where is this excess oil coming from?

The shift has not only capped benchmark oil prices, but also helped to trigger a collapse in the premia that traders pay above them to secure physical crude. The immediate outcome has been a very beneficial one: physical barrels that in early April went for $30 above benchmark prices were recently changing hands at premiums as low as $1. Talk of discounts has even started to emerge.

Underscoring this point, North Sea oil traders were no longer desperate for crude for immediate delivery anymore, compared to the panic buying of late March and early April

While the collapse in refining margins was a clear clue to the plunging oil imports, other questions remain: chief among them how is China importing far less crude than before without running down stocks? In the past, the country clearly bought more oil than it needed, building a huge emergency stockpile. Today, China has nearly 1.4 billion barrels in its reserves according to media reports, well above the 400 million of the US and Japan’s 260 million. As we reported in late 2025, China probably bought one million barrels a day more than it needed last year. By simply stopping beefing up the reserve, China can cut imports a lot without affecting its underlying oil needs.

The shift can explain, perhaps, a third of the import cut. But the rest? Here’s where oil traders speculate with different theories. The most likely argument is that Chinese economic activity is far weaker than previously thought, and thus oil consumption growth is also lower. That's precisely what we learned earlier this week, when we discussed that  "Shockingly Bad" Chinese Econ Data Stuns Wall Street, Sparks Hard Landing Concerns; in a nutshell virtually every component of China's economy printed below the lowest economist estimate, and in many cases the data was as bad as when Beijing was emerging from the covid closure.

What is shocking is that it is common knowledge that Beijing traditionally massages its economic data to present itself in the rosiest possible light: the fact that it allowed data this ugly would suggest that the picture on the ground is much uglier. 

Goldman's Delta One head Rich Privorotsky captured this sentiment well, writing this morning that "overnight news from China showed economic data materially below expectations. Industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment all missed meaningfully. It’s hard to tell whether this reflects genuine demand destruction but perhaps it helps explain how the oil market has managed to balance despite ongoing supply concerns. I genuinely can’t remember a period when Chinese data, which tends to be heavily massaged, missed by anything close to this magnitude. Negative read through for consumption related categories."

What’s the catalyst for that slowdown? Perhaps the impact of the war on several of China’s clients in the region, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand (just don't look for validation in Chinese economic "data" - like everything else, it took is centrally planned and Beijing would never confirm its economy is being hit due to the Iran war as that would mean reduced political leverage).

Whatever the cause may be, the result is the same and we got the final confirmation that China's petroleum industry is in a tailspin overnight when Mysteel OilChem reported that China’s state refineries cut run rates below 67% of capacity in the week to May 21, the lowest on record. Specifically, state runs edged lower to 66.9% of capacity over the week, while independent refiners in Shandong cut runs to 52.54% of capacity, lowest since Feb. 27.

This was the missing link in the Chinese oil picture, because while one can debate whether China was filling the product pipeline with strategic reserve oil instead of imported, or was merely draining offshore stock, the fact that suddenly Chinese refining has absolutely cratered, indicated that far from thriving, demand for China's product - both domestically and internationally - has fallen off a cliff, suggests that China and/or the broader Asian region is now at or near recession, something China's all important credit impulse strongly hinted at (for a great discussion of China's slowdown through the lens of credit impulse, see the following note from TS Lombard).

The good news: the tangent to a recession is widespread demand destruction, and since China suddenly needs far less oil, the price of physical will stay where it is until something changes. Of course, if Chinese demand falls even more, oil prices will slide, but then the question becomes how long can the US and the rest of the world avoid recession if Asia is already in it?

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 15:20

Iran Says 35 Ships Exited Strait Of Hormuz As Rubio Condemns Tolls

The US blockade of the Iranian blockade is looking increasingly more porous.

Iran said 35 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours in coordination with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian state broadcaster reported on Friday. The navy had already reported on Wednesday that 26 ships had passed through the strait within 24 hours. On Friday, the data provider Kpler confirmed only 10 passages on Wednesday. This represented an increase from the four passages recorded the previous day.

Strait of Hormuz | Vessel Crossings

Confirmed Strait of Hormuz transits rose to 10 on 20 May from four the previous day, while the IRGC Navy stated that 26 vessels were underway following coordination and approval procedures with Iranian authorities.

Most movements involved… pic.twitter.com/xivkr61r14

— Kpler (@Kpler) May 22, 2026

The armed forces said the vessels included oil tankers, cargo ships and other merchant ships.

Tehran has repeatedly stressed that the Strait of Hormuz is not blocked. In practice, however, shipping companies must coordinate with Iranian contact points and are then only allowed to pass through a corridor near the Iranian coast. Then they have to also obtain permission to cross the US blockade located further out in the Arabian Gulf.

Iran's leadership charges high fees (paid in bitcoin) for this. International law experts said such fees violate the right of transit.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Sweden for a NATO foreign ministers meeting, condemned Iran's attempts at creating a tolling system for the strait. "I don't know of a country in the world that's in favor of it except Iran, but there's no country in the world that should accept it," he said.

Rubio confirmed a previous report from Bloomberg, saying Iran was trying to convince Oman to join the tolling system "in an international waterway."

He said there is a UN resolution sponsored by Bahrain and "the highest number of co-sponsors of any resolution ever before" in front of the UN Security Council, but admitted that "a couple of countries" are "thinking about vetoing it" which Rubio called "lamentable."

The United States is doing all it can to prevent an Iranian toll system from being established in the strait. Such a system is "just not acceptable. It can't happen," he said. He assumed all NATO countries had backed the resolution or would do so soon.

Rubio warned that if the Iranians are successful in pushing the toll system through it could happen elsewhere.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 14:05

India's Power Demand Hits Record High As Heat Drives Coal Use

Submitted by Irina Slav of OilPrice.com

India’s power generation rose to a new all-time high amid hot weather that drove air-conditioning demand up, with thermal generation, most of its coming from coal power plants, covering 62% of demand.

Power demand on Thursday hit 271 GW, on the “fourth consecutive day when the peak power demand (solar hours) reached a new all-time high,” India’s power ministry said, as quoted by AFP.

After milder temperatures tempered demand growth in the fiscal year to March 2026 to the lowest level in six years, demand is now beating peak consumption records amid heat waves at the start of this year’s summer.

India’s coal demand from power plants is set to rise by 11.5% in the April to June quarter amid the peak electricity demand season in the country in May and June, sources with knowledge of the matter told the Economic Times in April.

Besides coal, which dominated India’s grid this week, solar power covered 22% of demand, the power ministry also said, while hydro and wind provided another 5% each. India has been putting a lot of effort into diversifying its sources of electricity to reduce its reliance on imported fuels and cut emissions, of which it is the third-largest generator in the world.

India expects to nearly quadruple its solar power capacity and triple wind power-generating assets within ten years, according to the new Generation Adequacy Plan published by the country’s Central Electricity Authority earlier this year.

Challenges, however, remain, mostly in transmission, reflecting the broader global picture, where grid upgrades lag behind wind and solar installations, prompting so-called curtailment, which in the first quarter of the year reached 300 GWh. Coal-fired power generation and capacity installations, meanwhile, continue to rise, and coal remains a key pillar of India’s electricity mix, with about 60% share of total power output.

 

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 13:45

Crowd Burns Ebola Treatment Center In Congo Amid Dispute Over Body

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo on May 21 after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, witnesses and police said.

“The police intervened to try to calm the situation, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful,” Alexis Burata, a local student who said he was in the area, told The Associated Press.

“The young people ended up setting fire to the center. That’s the situation.”

An Associated Press journalist saw people break into the center at Rwampara Hospital and set fire to objects inside, and also to what appeared to be the body of at least one suspected Ebola victim that was being stored there. Aid workers fled the treatment center in vehicles.

The crowd set fire to two tents fitted with eight beds run by a medical charity called The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA), said Deputy Senior Commissioner Jean-Claude Mukendi, head of the public security department in Ituri Province.

Mukendi said the youths had not understood the protocols for burying a suspected Ebola victim.

“His family, friends, and other young people wanted to take his body home for a funeral even though the instructions from the authorities during this Ebola virus outbreak are clear,” Mukendi said. “All bodies must be buried according to the regulations.”

Mother Speaks Out

Family members of a man who died, soccer player Eli Munongo Wangu, wanted to bury their loved one themselves.

Munongo had played for several local teams and was a well-known figure in his neighborhood. He had been admitted to the hospital days earlier. A doctor said he was a suspected Ebola case, and the hospital had taken samples to run tests.

His mother told Reuters she believes her son had died of typhoid fever, not Ebola.

Authorities buried Munongo safely on Friday.

Calm Restored

Army and police reinforcements arrived to bring the situation under control, according to Mukendi.

Patrick Muyaya, Congo’s communication minister, said on X that “calm has been restored and care is continuing normally” at the center in Rwampara.

Muyaya and ALIMA said that six patients were being treated in the part of the facility set on fire.

They have all been located and are being cared for at a hospital. Security measures have been strengthened, Muyaya said.

Charred hospital beds stand in a smoldering Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, on May 21, 2026. Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne/AP Photo

Condemnation

Mukendi told reporters that “this is precisely a misunderstanding due to young people who do not understand the reality of this disease.”

ALIMA condemned in a May 21 statement what it called “the endangerment of human lives and the destruction of medical equipment essential for the safe care of patients, in the context of a particularly critical epidemic.”

It also warned against “the spread of incorrect or unconfirmed information on social media and the internet, which is likely to fuel fear, misinformation and mistrust towards health facilities and the teams involved in the Ebola response.”

Congo Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told a briefing on May 19 that the first known Ebola patient in the current outbreak was placed in a coffin after dying, but that the coffin was damaged.

Family members of the patient put the person in a different coffin, “thus spreading the infection,” Kamba said.

He said that the virus that causes Ebola is mainly spread through touching and improperly handling dead bodies.

“It was from this first case, from this funeral ceremony, that the virus exploded,” he said. “Everyone who was around, of course, was probably infected, and many developed the illness, and everyone thought it was the coffin that was causing it.”

Latest Figures

As of May 20, there have been 64 confirmed cases, 671 suspected cases, six confirmed deaths, and 160 suspected deaths linked to the outbreak, according to the Congolese government.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, and multiple other countries have barred some or all flights from Congo, including Uganda and the United States.

Congo’s government said that the cases and deaths have all been in Ituri province or neighboring North Kivu province.

Rebels holding South Kivu province, though, said Thursday that an Ebola case has been confirmed there. Local officials said there were two suspected cases, including one who died.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/22/2026 - 13:05