Hurricane Polo weakened to a Category 4 storm early Wednesday after strengthening into an "extremely dangerous" Category 5 storm and churning 210 miles south of Zihuatanejo, Mexico, in the Pacific Ocean. The storm risks disrupting critical maritime shipping lanes along Mexico's Pacific coast.
FreightWaves reports that Mexico's Navy restricted major container port Manzanillo to ships of at least 500 gross tonnage beginning Tuesday morning, allowing container ships to continue operating while barring smaller craft. Ships already docked at the container port were advised to reinforce mooring lines as winds, rainfall and waves intensified.
Polo's slow track up the western Mexican coast is complicating complex global maritime supply chains as navigation restrictions continue to broaden.
According to local outlet La Jornada, smaller vessels have so far been restricted at Acapulco, Puerto Marqués, Zihuatanejo and Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacán.
Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas are two major cargo ports on Mexico's Pacific coast and are considered major maritime gateways into North American markets. Both connect ocean shipping with inland road and rail networks. Disruptions can delay imported manufacturing components and consumer goods.
Bloomberg forecast data shows Polo tracking north toward Cabo San Lucas early next week, potentially adding further supply chain complications at ports such as nearby Puerto San Carlos, where disruptions could affect regional fuel deliveries, seafood operations and agricultural shipments.
Supply chain risk hinges on how long restrictions last and whether they expand to larger vessels. With Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas connecting Asian cargo flows to Mexico's industrial base, a prolonged shutdown could delay components, slow factory output, and raise logistics costs for the region.
Tyler Durden Wed, 09/23/2026 - 22:10Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,
China has added more chemicals to its export control list for drug precursor substances ahead of a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington.
Fentanyl precursors are displayed at Reuters' office in Mexico City on Oct. 4, 2023. Claudia Daut/ReutersThe Chinese commerce ministry announced on Sept. 22 that it added two new substances to the list of chemicals subject to export controls, requiring exporters to obtain licenses to ship to the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The move comes ahead of Xi's state visit to the United States. Xi is due to meet with Trump at the White House on Sept. 24, marking their second meeting this year.
The two leaders last met during Trump's visit to Beijing in May, when they agreed to build a "constructive relationship of strategic stability on the basis of fairness and reciprocity," according to the White House.
Following the meeting in Beijing, China expanded its drug precursor export control list by adding three more chemical substances. Its National Narcotics Control Commission also issued a notice warning of eight chemicals that could be used to make synthetic drugs.
The Trump administration has repeatedly urged Beijing to do more to stem the flow of precursor chemicals for synthesizing the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States.
China is a major source of precursor chemicals used to produce illicit fentanyl. After returning to the White House for a second term last year, Trump imposed fentanyl-related tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada over their alleged failure to stem the flow of illicit drugs into the United States. The tariffs were subsequently struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in February.
Fentanyl deaths in the United States rose steeply around 2016. Then deaths skyrocketed from 2021 to 2023 along with a record surge of border crossings, and at its peak, the fentanyl crisis was linked to 76,226 deaths in 2022, more than quadruple the figure from 2016. The United States started seeing a reversal in 2024, coinciding with changed border policies, and fentanyl-linked deaths in 2024 were estimated to be 48,422.
The United States has also been engaging Chinese officials to counter the fentanyl crisis since the mid-2010s, resulting in the restriction of several chemicals over the years.
Notably, Beijing broke off all major engagement with the United States in 2022, citing then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) visit to Taiwan, including ceasing cooperation on curbing fentanyl-related exports. It resumed engagement in November 2023 after the United States removed sanctions on the Chinese Ministry of Public Security's Institute of Forensic Science for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
In November 2025, Beijing imposed export restrictions on 13 fentanyl precursor chemicals to the United States, Mexico, and Canada after Trump met with Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea.
It remains unclear whether the upcoming meeting in Washington will address the flow of precursor chemicals into the United States, as neither Beijing nor Washington has specified which issues will be on the leaders' agenda.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Manila, Philippines, on July 22 that he expects Xi to have a positive visit.
Rubio acknowledged the major differences between Washington and Beijing and emphasized that it is their job to manage them to ensure "they never get out of control."
"We're, obviously, always going to defend our national interest," he said at the time. "And I expect they'll do the same, as they define it. But I think there are some areas of potential cooperation."
Michael Zhuang, Catherine Yang, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Tyler Durden Wed, 09/23/2026 - 21:45The Democratic Socialists of America's unofficial cheerleader, far-left streamer Hasan Piker, has stated an inconvenient truth for the Democratic Party: its far-left fringe will eat the party alive, quite literally.
Listen to Piker in his own words: "I will throw you in prison. I want Chinese-style communism to happen inside of the Democratic Party right now. I want to do cultural revolution shit."
Anti-communist Spencer Pratt, who really should be the anti-communist czar for the Trump administration if Trump's team sets up a messaging task force, wrote on X, "Hamas Piker just flat out admits he wants to imprison and kill Democrats in a literal communist revolution. These are animals."
"I will throw you in prison. I want Chinese style communism to happen inside of the democratic party right now. I want to do cultural revolution shit."
Hamas Piker just flat out admits he wants to imprison and kill democrats in a literal communist revolution. These are animals. pic.twitter.com/izogonoalg
Fox News reports that a majority of registered voters view the DSA unfavorably, as Republicans have unleashed an information operation to outline to voters that this far-left group - really reformist socialists - in fact, are hellbent on demolishing the nation from within.
The beauty of the GOP's messaging is that DSA leaders state their destructive intentions in their own words.
The national survey found 55% held an unfavorable opinion of the DSA, compared with 30% who viewed it favorably. Another 13% had never heard of the DSA, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The findings were little changed from July, when favorable and unfavorable views stood at 31% and 56%, respectively.
One major problem for Democrats is that they can't disband the DSA and start a civil war within the party before the midterms, as was shown by Democratic Party leaders using talking points that describe their party as a "big tent party."
Related:
DSA is far-left:
On Tuesday, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Trump said that Cuba spent decades coordinating activities with far-left revolutionaries and subversion networks in the U.S. Trump said the State Department has worked to uncover Havana's ties to subversive and radical groups such as the Communist Party USA, Antifa, and the DSA.
.@POTUS: The Cuban regime has also spent decades coordinating with left-wing radicals and Communist networks here in the United States. As our State Department has detailed, they have cultivated ties to subversive and radical groups such as the Communist Party USA, Antifa, and… pic.twitter.com/Bopz3W6sXz
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 22, 2026Hasan's comments offer what can only be seen as a preview of what awaits Democratic Party leaders when they try to disband their radicals. It won't be pretty.
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