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Ostapenko went over to shake Joint’s and Chan’s hands after the match, but the latter made no effort to shake Hsieh’s hand. 

A collapse of scaffolding and display screens at “Star Wars” director George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in Northern California left five men injured, one seriously, on Monday. The incident happened during setup Monday morning for an event at Summit Skywalker Ranch in Nicasio, Marin County, NBC Bay Area reported. One patient suffered a head injury and...

Suddenly, there’s an uncomfortable irony to Shohei Ohtani’s walk-up music. Every time the dulcet tones of Michael Buble singing “…and I’m feeling good” come on, the Dodgers have to hope their two-way star does too. For the first time in almost a week on Monday, Ohtani was feeling good enough to return to the Dodgers’...

Asia Leads Global Value Rotation On Chip Woes

By Abishek Vishnoi, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist

A rotation from growth to value stocks is more pronounced in Asia than anywhere else globally, as doubts grow over the chip rally’s staying power.

MSCI’s gauge for value stocks in Asia Pacific has risen about 6% this quarter, compared with a 2% drop in its growth counterpart, on track for its biggest outperformance since January-March 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gap is wider than the swings in the US and Europe over the period.

The divergence shows how Asia’s growth trade had come to rely on a handful of chip stocks, with their reversal now prompting investors to look for cheaper options. Asian value stocks remain inexpensive relative to both growth shares and global peers. A nearly 20% weighting of financials in the regional gauge offers another potential tailwind from higher yields.

“The value rotation in Asia is set to expand and extend as semiconductor’s downtrend is not yet finished,” said Hao Hong, chief investment officer at hedge fund Lotus Asset Management in Hong Kong. “The market has clearly entered a new phase as funds will favor those names with solid growth and track records.”

Value stocks in Asia are trading at 10.8 times their one-year forward earnings estimates, compared with 17.9 times for the US and 12.3 times for Europe, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The multiple for Asian growth stocks is 13.

A rise in bond yields across major markets can potentially support bank earnings by widening lending spreads. That gives the region’s value trade an additional earnings lever at a time when higher yields and Federal Reserve rate-hike bets are putting pressure on long-duration growth stocks.

MSCI’s financials gauge has climbed 12% in Asia this quarter, while information technology, which comprises about a third of the regional index, is down 5.6%. It was dragged by a recent selloff in some of the global best performers of the past year, including SK Hynix Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Among value stocks, Genscript Biotech Corp. has surged more than 150% this quarter in Hong Kong.

More recently, value has been Asia’s best-performing investment style even on a long-short basis. The strategy buying cheap stocks and shorting expensive ones returned about 1% over one week ending Sept. 5, while growth was the worst performer with a negative return of -1.3%.

“The encouraging story is the valuation gap and regional stickiness as Asian value stocks remain cheap relative to global peers, giving investors both a defensive buffer today and a coiled spring for when risk appetite rebuilds,” said Hebe Chen, a senior market analyst at Vantage Global Prime in Sydney. “And in Asia, when the tide turns, it rarely walks — it runs.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 09/07/2026 - 23:34

The Giants' defense can breathe a small sigh of relief.

Prolific Recruiter Of Teenage Suicide Bombers Earns US Sanctions Relief, Days Before 9/11 Anniversary

Authored by Max Blumenthal via The GrayZone

As the US prepares to mark 25 years since Sept. 11, 2001, Donald Trump has removed top Al Qaeda figures from the US list of designated terrorists. Among those he delisted was Abdullah Muhaysini, a Saudi cleric who recruited child fighters and teen suicide bombers to wreak havoc across Syria.

The Trump administration has removed the names of some of the world’s most notorious commanders, recruiters and financiers for the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda from its list of specially designated terrorists. Among those relieved of US sanctions this August was Abdullah Muhaysini, a Salafi-jihadi cleric from Saudi Arabia who participated in videotaped massacres of captive soldiers and recruited droves of foreign youth to carry out suicide bombings throughout Syria over the past decade.

The delisting of the jihadist recruiters came as part of the Trump administration’s removal of the government of Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa as a State Sponsor of Terrorists. “These actions represent another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a path to prosperity,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on August 24, 2026.

Formerly known as Abu Mohammad Al-Jolani, Al-Sharaa is the co-founder of ISIS and founder of Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. Under the guidance of Western advisors, Al-Sharaa rebranded Al-Nusra as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, before he toppled the government of President Bashar Al-Assad in December 2024.

By the time he seized power, Al-Sharaa had been groomed by his NATO handlers as a reliable local enforcer. When Trump hosted Al-Sharaa in the Oval Office in November 2025, playfully misting him with Trump Cologne and asking how many wives he had, it was clear the US was ready to lift the sanctions that had devastated Syria’s economy. Two months later, Trump pitched a half-baked plan for the Syrian military to attack Iran. Washington had finally found its man in Damascus.

This August, the Trump administration went a step further, lifting sanctions on Al Qaeda propagandists, funders and fighters responsible for gruesome atrocities during the dirty war on Syria. These figures include Abu Sulayman al-Muhajir, a top Al Qaeda recruiter in Australia who fled to Syria; Shafi Sultan Mohammed al-Ajmi, a major Kuwaiti financier of Al-Nusra; and Abdul Samrez Jashari, an Albanian foreign fighter who has taken on a senior role in Syria’s military under Al-Sharaa.

Here's President Trump spraying Al-Sharaa with his cologne, asking him how many wives he has..at the Oval Office. pic.twitter.com/ojFHEIZmmT

— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress) November 12, 2025

Perhaps none of the Al Qaeda bandits who received sanctions relief from the Trump administration oversaw as many acts of sadistic violence as the Saudi-born, Turkish-backed cleric Abdullah Muhaysini.

Prolific recruiter of teenage suicide bombers earns sanctions relief from Trump

In 2015, Muhaysini was filmed in camouflaged battle dress uniform, glowering over a group of blindfolded, exhausted Syrian army regulars taken captive at an airbase in Syria’s Idlib province. In a videotaped message, he justified massacring them in cold blood because, despite being Sunni Muslims, they had fought for Syria’s secular government.

“I don’t like to call them Sunni,” Muhaysini declared. “They were once Sunni but became apostatized once they enlisted in the Alawites’ regime.” Moments later, the 56 men were lined up and riddled with bullets.

Office of Foreign Assets Control

Muhaysini studied under Sulayman Al-Alwan, the Wahhabi cleric who oversaw what his Muslim critics have called a “terrorist factory” in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Qassim Province. Al-Alwan also happened to be the instructor of the 9/11 hijacker Abdulaziz Alomari.

As The Grayzone reported, Muhaysini recruited thousands of young men as fighters and suicide bombers, promising them heavenly deliverance for sacrificing their lives in attacks on government targets. The foreign demagogue managed to find time for televised sermons counseling followers on when it was appropriate to beat their wives, while urging them to kill Shias and members of other minority groups wherever they found them across Syria.

Abdullah Muhaysini blessing the massacre of 56 captive Syrian soldiers at Abu-Dhuhur Air Base, 2015

After moving to Syria in 2014, Muhaysini embedded himself among the rebels’ most powerful factions and worked to unite them under a single banner. At first, he helped cobble together the coalition known as Jaish al-Fatah, or the Army of Conquest. (The Trump administration has lifted sanctions on a successor group to Jaish al-Fatah as part of its delisting of Al-Sharaa’s HTS).

Through his connections with wealthy Salafis in the Gulf states, Muhaysini organized the “wage jihad with your money” fundraising effort that raised some $5 million for the armed opposition’s push to take the northern Idlib governate from the Syrian army in 2015.

In an online interview, Muhaysini thanked “a group of brothers in Islam from Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), some from our brother Abu Ahmed from Kuwait, some from our brother Abu Joud from Qatar.”

Muhaysni congratulates mother of a boy he is about to send on a suicide mission in #Aleppo & assures her he will get his virgins 😂 #Syria pic.twitter.com/p4XQKsphSy

— Ibn Walid (@walid970721) October 29, 2016

In 2018, Muhaysini’s Jihad Caller’s Network recruited child fighters inside the Atmeh Refugee Camp on the Syrian-Turkish border, a squalid redoubt for some 30,000 war victims, handing the adolescent volunteers rifles before trucking them off to Idlib and elsewhere. (Video of the child soldier recruitment drive has been removed from the internet). Earlier programs on the cleric’s network featured small children training for combat.

On December 12, 2024, days after Al-Sharaa’s forces stormed into Damascus following the collapse of Assad’s government, Muhaysini materialized again in Damascus. From inside the Umayyad Mosque, the Al Qaeda propagandist proclaimed, “I truly believe that in Paradise there are entire villages for the people of the Levant.”

A young boy trains for combat on Muhaysini’s Jihad Caller's Center

Almost two years later, Muhaysini received another blessing. One day after Trump announced plans to skip the ceremony memorializing the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at New York City’s Ground Zero, his administration lifted sanctions on Muhaysini and his closest partners in crime.

They might have once been designated terrorists who joined the organization credited with bringing down the Twin Towers. But now, they’re officially our terrorists.

Tyler Durden Mon, 09/07/2026 - 23:25

The sick Sept. 10 competition was reportedly promoted on the anonymous social media platform Fizz and garnered support from thousands in the form of "upvotes."

Sean McVay’s wife, Veronika, traveled elsewhere before the Los Angeles Rams head to Australia for their season opener.

Rise Of The Machines: China's Military Prepares Humanoid Robots For Combat

At the start of the year, we warned about the prospect of humanoid robots moving beyond factory floors and into military operations.

China's World Humanoid Robot Games last month showcased advances in robotic speed and mobility, while reports of Beijing's expanding military research suggest preparations for eventual battlefield deployment are gathering pace. The prospect of humanoids operating alongside troops and one-way attack drones presents an unsettling new view of warfare's next phase: the rise of the machines.

China’s humanoid robots are crashing, falling—and pushing the future forward.

At this year’s robot games, some humanoids have slammed into walls or fallen halfway through races, leaving many asking: Are these robots disposable? And what’s the point of making them run so fast?…

— China pulse 🇨🇳 (@Eng_china5) August 23, 2026

Reuters published a new report on Monday that said:

China's defense establishment is accelerating research into humanoids' military uses and planning for their eventual wartime deployment, according to a Reuters review of more than 100 Chinese military procurement notices, academic studies, patents, official publications, government records and defense-company materials.

While the world marveled at China's World Humanoid Robot Games, which showcased robots sprinting, jumping, dancing, and participating in sporting events, the Chinese military urged researchers to accelerate the transfer of advanced technologies from laboratories to military training grounds for robotic "combatants."

China is testing humanoid robots for jobs far beyond factories.

At the World Robot Conference in Beijing China Ordnance is showing its Fuxi humanoid robotdesigned for security and emergency response tasks. https://t.co/8YptW2f50R pic.twitter.com/zv3PzBNtCa

— Techniahqrobot | humanoid robots (@techniahqrobot) August 18, 2026

China's largest robotics company, Unitree, published a video on X on Monday morning showcasing "Fully Autonomous Humanoid Robot Combat."

Unitree Breakthrough: The World’s First Real-Time World Model-Driven Fully Autonomous Humanoid Robot Combat🥊
UnifoLM-X2-1.0 breaks through world-action foundation models' bottlenecks in instant planning, decision-making, and dynamic interactive execution, achieve high dynamics,… pic.twitter.com/xqAodjuD1m

— Unitree (@UnitreeRobotics) September 7, 2026

We reported on February 2 that "humanoid warfare nears," and a TIME magazine article in early March later confirmed our report about the American humanoid robotics company Foundation testing its robots for war.

Then, in July, we reported:

• Ukraine Plans To Hyper-Innovate Humanoid Robot Soldiers

And in mid-August:

• Humanoid War Robots Could Soon Patrol US Southern Border To Combat Weaponized Migrant Flows

The prospect of "Skynet-like" warfare is becoming more real by the week as humanoid robotics advances alongside one-way attack drones, unmanned ground vehicles, and increasingly automated kill chains. If integrated at scale, these robots could further accelerate the shift to an automated modern battlefield.  

Tyler Durden Mon, 09/07/2026 - 22:50

There is a first time for everything and there may be no better time than now. 

LAPD mariachi band Los Servidores, stars of 'America's Got Talent,' played to a muted, sparse crowd at Dodger Stadium's First Responders Night.

Central Asia Is Escaping The 'Backyard' Label

Authored by Ziaulhaq Tanin via RealClearWorld,

Three decades after their independence, Central Asia is still often viewed through outdated geopolitical lenses - a region once called "Russia's backyard" and more recently as an arena of competition among Russia, China, and the West. Yet this familiar narrative no longer captures the region's strategic reality. Central Asian states are increasingly using great-power rivalry not simply to navigate external pressure, but to expand their own choices and strategic room for maneuver.

This transformation is driven not by a single event but by the convergence of several trends: the war in Ukraine, new connectivity corridors, China's growing role, deeper engagement of Europe, Türkiye, and the Gulf states, and regional efforts to reduce dependence on a single power. Together, these developments are reshaping the traditional framework of regional politics and creating new space for Central Asia to redefine its position.

The central question is no longer who will dominate Central Asia, but whether its states can turn this changing geopolitical environment into greater strategic autonomy. This article argues that the region is moving from the logic of "backyard" toward that of a "crossroads" - a transition shaped not by the departure of major powers, but by the growing agency of Central Asia itself.

The Ukraine War and the End of Geopolitical Monopoly

For decades, Central Asia was viewed largely through the lens of Russian influence. The legacy of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union created deep security, economic, and cultural ties between Moscow and the region - ties that endured after independence through institutions such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Yet today's transformation does not reflect the collapse of these connections; it marks the end of an era in which a single power could define Central Asia's strategic trajectory.

The war in Ukraine did not initiate this shift, but it accelerated existing trends. Even before 2022, regional states were diversifying foreign relations, reducing traditional dependencies, and seeking alternative routes of connectivity. The war exposed more clearly the risks of relying on a single partner or corridor, prompting governments to reshape their security, trade, and connectivity policies around a wider range of options.

For years, Central Asia faced a geopolitical paradox: despite its central position in Eurasia, access to the global economy depended largely on Soviet-era networks. These historical, infrastructural, economic, and security links reinforced Russia's position as the region's dominant external actor.

The war did not dismantle this structure, but it revealed the costs of dependence on traditional routes. Western sanctions on Russia and disruptions to established trade corridors pushed regional governments to pursue alternatives. The central question became whether its geography would remain a historical constraint or become a source of strategic choice.

This shift is most visible in the growing importance of the Middle Corridor, linking China and Europe through Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus, and Türkiye. More than a trade route, it offers alternative to Soviet-era connectivity and allows Central Asian states to turn geography into a strategic asset. Kazakhstan, with its location and natural resources, stands at the center of this transformation, illustrating how the region is increasingly using great-power competition to expand its own choices.

At the same time, competition around Central Asia has broadened. China has expanded its presence through investment and infrastructure, Russia remains a security actor, while the West, Türkiye, and Gulf states have strengthened their roles in energy, trade, and strategic resources. The wider external engagement has increased regional room for maneuver, but it has also made balancing competing interests more demanding.

From Balance of Power to Balance of Options

In Central Asia, independence has never meant complete freedom from great-power influence. Geography, history, and economic ties have made such separation unrealistic. The challenge has therefore not been to sever these ties, but to prevent any single partnership from becoming source of decisive dependency. In this context, independence is increasingly defined not by distance from any power, but by the ability to preserve multiple options and manage competing relationships.

This shift is evident in the foreign policy of Central Asian states. Rather than choosing between major powers, they are using the simultaneous presence of different actors to expand their strategic room for maneuver. This is a form of practical autonomy: not on isolation from great powers, but the ability to engage with several partners at once.

The region's transformation also extends beyond the traditional Russia - China - West triangle. Gulf states have become increasingly active in Central Asia through investments in energy, infrastructure, transport, mining, and trade, with the United Arab Emirates emerging as an important partner in renewable energy, logistics, and infrastructure projects. For the Central Asian states, these ties offer opportunities to diversify economic partnerships and attract new investment; for Gulf countries, the region's strategic location and role in the emerging Eurasian connectivity routes have made it increasingly important.

Kazakhstan is a prominent example of this approach. Despite its long border with Russia and deep historical ties to Moscow, Astana has expanded its economic ties with China while strengthening cooperation with Europe and other partners. Its goal is not to replace one partner with another, but to maintain diversified relationships to increase strategic flexibility and reduces overdependence on any single power.

Uzbekistan has followed a similar path since 2016, gradually opening its economy and pursuing a more active regional diplomacy. Tashkent's has sought to broaden cooperation with multiple partners including Russia, China, Europe, and the United States while increasing its strategic flexibility.

The experience of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan shows that Central Asia's transformation is not only a result of changing great-power behavior. It also depends on whether regional states can turn this evolving geopolitical space into bargaining power.

Beyond Geopolitics: The Return of Identity

For decades, Central Asia was largely defined by narratives shaped outside the region itself - from the legacy of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union to contemporary perspectives based on great-power competition. Today, however, regional states are increasingly seeking to define their history and place in the world beyond the lens of external powers. This shift shows that the struggle over Central Asia's position is not taking place only through trade routes and security calculations; it is also unfolding at the level of the historical and political identity.

Central Asia's departure from the logic of "backyard" is visible not only in the change in its foreign ties, but also in efforts by regional states to redefine their historical standing. Since independence - and especially in recent years - the Central Asian states have gradually tried to adjust their national narratives beyond the frameworks left over from the Soviet era.

From Tajikistan's emphasis on its Persian heritage, to strengthening cultural ties among Turkic-speaking states, and Uzbekistan's renewed engagement with its historical past, this trend shows that the competition over the region's future is not limited to economics and security. It is also a competition over narratives, and identity. Ultimately, it shows that Central Asian states are trying to define their status based on historical experience and their own interests.

Central Asia's Future: Sphere of Influence or Hub of Connectivity?

For decades, Central Asia's geography was seen as a constraint - a region caught between great powers, whit its security, economic, and connectivity shaped largely by external interests. Today, that same geography is becoming a strategic asset, expanding the region's choices and influence.

Central Asian governments are no longer merely adapting to geopolitical changes; they are using it to widen their strategic options. More diverse partnerships and new connectivity corridors have expanded their diplomatic flexibility.

Great-power competition has not disappeared. Russia remains the principal security actor, China the leading economic partner, while west, Türkiye and the Gulf states continue expanding their presence. What has changed is that no single relationship can define the region's future. Geography alone is insufficient; without stronger institutions and independent decision-making, new routes of connectivity could simply produce new form of dependence.

Ultimately, Central Asia's transformation is not about replacing one dominant power with another, but about expanding regional agency. Russia, China, and other actors will remain influential, yet no single power is likely to define the region's future alone. The region's states are turning geography into leverage - not to escape power competition, but to shape the conditions in which they have more choices.

Ziaulhaq Tanin is a University lecturer, researcher, and analyst specializing in international security, regionalism, and foreign policy.

Tyler Durden Mon, 09/07/2026 - 22:15

The Grammy winner and retired NFL quarterback are expecting their fourth child together.

The Grammy winner and retired NFL quarterback are expecting their fourth child together.

It’s like the would-be date who declines, citing a need to wash her hair. Karen Bass has told a powerful congressional panel that she can’t testify next week about homelessness failures in her city, because, well, she’s busy. The mayor spurned a request to appear Sept. 15 before the House subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency;...

The Nashville Predators’ 2023 sixth-round draft pick described Okabe as the “strongest person” that he knows.

The imported ready-to-eat pork recall is classified as a "Class I" recall — the USDA’s highest warning level involving “high or medium risk."

LAPD said that when officers arrived, the suspect was holding a large tree trimmer that had a really sharp blade.

Aaron Judge celebrated his return to the Bronx Bombers with a trip to Queens.

“If that cross guard didn’t jump in front of that car, something bad would have definitely happened," Mom Kae’la Leon Guerrero said.