Euro Adoption Unlikely In Czechia As Elections Favorites & Public Opinion Align Against Common Currency

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

Andrej Babiš's ANO, SPD, STAČILO! and others vow to protect the Czech crown, while business leaders and government coalition partners push for the adoption of the euro...

Czechia’s possible adoption of the euro in the future may emerge as an issue in the upcoming parliamentary elections this October.

While most parties in the current governing coalition have expressed support for adopting the common European currency, the opposition ANO movement — widely expected to win the largest share of the vote — remains firmly opposed.

ANO leader Andrej Babiš has repeatedly dismissed the euro as economically dangerous and politically unwise. “I do not support it,” he said bluntly, warning that if the current coalition retained power, “they will introduce the euro.”

He argued that adopting the euro would lead to higher prices and force Czechia to take on the financial liabilities of heavily indebted eurozone members. Instead, he advocates keeping the Czech crown, following the example of wealthy non-euro EU states such as Denmark and Sweden.

Czechia committed to adopting the euro when it joined the European Union in 2004, but remains one of only three countries from that enlargement round — alongside Poland and Hungary — that have yet to join.

Other opposition parties are similarly critical. Kateřina Konečná of the far-left STAČILO! movement said, “The euro means higher prices,” citing Croatia’s experience. “I am against giving up the Czech crown, which would, among other things, give up another part of our sovereignty.” Her party has called for any future decision to be made by referendum.

The populist Motorists, led by Petr Macinka, and the right-wing SPD under Tomio Okamura also reject euro adoption.

“We would be giving up another part of our sovereignty and submitting even more to Brussels,” said Macinka. Okamura’s SPD warned of a forced sharing of debt burdens with large Western states and added, “The Czech crown is also a national symbol.”

The fledgling Motorists are seen as a possible coalition partner for Babiš’s ANO should the parliamentary arithmetic not allow it to govern on its own; however, such an alliance would be subject to the party reaching the threshold to enter parliament. Okamura’s SPD is less likely to be seen as a viable partner, given its more hardline approach, but it is not impossible.

While political resistance remains strong among right-leaning and nationalist parties, much of the current government coalition takes the opposite view.

STAN leader and Deputy Prime Minister Vít Rakušan has declared, “The Czech Republic should adopt the euro as soon as possible,” calling for a parallel public education campaign to dispel what he termed myths about the currency.

Pirates vice-chairman Zdeněk Hřib also supports swift adoption, claiming it would boost economic stability, strengthen Europe, and save the state up to 30 billion crowns annually in debt servicing costs.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala has struck a more cautious tone, acknowledging that the Czech Republic now meets key Maastricht criteria but warning that public opposition remains too high.

“Majority public support is key to the decision to launch the process of adopting the euro,” he said.

“This condition has not yet been met.”

A Median poll from early 2024 found that more than two-thirds of Czechs believed adopting the euro would not be beneficial, with three in five wanting a referendum on the issue. Students and entrepreneurs were somewhat more supportive, with 45 percent and 40 percent backing the euro, respectively.

This heavily contrasts with support among businesses, with a PwC survey showing nearly 70 percent of CEOs see euro adoption as beneficial to their companies, citing savings on transaction costs, elimination of exchange rate risks, and greater investor confidence. “Seven out of ten bosses convinced of the positive impact of the euro on their company is already a very strong signal sent to the new government,” said PwC partner Jan Brázda.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/16/2025 - 03:30

The 28 Biggest Global Risks, According To The UN

As the world confronts overlapping crises, from accelerating climate change to the unchecked spread of misinformation, global risks are increasingly interconnected, compounding one another in ways that could overwhelm current institutions and systems.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Kayla Zhu, shows the top 28 most important global risk as outlined in the United Nations Global Risk Report 2024.

Risk importance combines the likelihood and severity of a risk, with top risks seen as most likely to occur with severe impacts if or when they manifest.

Rankings are based on a survey of 1,100 stakeholders across 136 countries which includes representatives of government, industry, civil society, and academia.

What is the Most Important Risk the World is Facing?

Below, we show the top 28 most important global risks and their importance scores, according to the United Nations.

Rank Risk Importance Score Category 1 Climate Change Inaction 37.2 Environmental 2 Large-Scale Pollution 36.0 Environmental 3 Mis- and Disinformation 35.4 Political 4 Natural Hazard Risks 35.0 Environmental 5 Rise in Inequalities 34.7 Societal 6 Biodiversity Decline 34.6 Environmental 7 Geopolitical Tensions 34.5 Political 8 Natural Resource Shortages 34.3 Environmental 9 Mass Movement of People 33.2 Societal 10 Large-Scale War 32.6 Political 11 Biorisks 32.3 Societal 12 New Pandemic 32.1 Societal 13 Rule of Law Collapse 32.0 Political 14 Cybersecurity Breakdown 31.7 Technological 15 Global Financial Crisis 31.6 Economic 16 Weapons of Mass Destruction 31.1 Political 17 AI and Frontier Tech 31.0 Technological 18 Proliferation of Non-State Actors 30.8 Societal 19 Tech-Driven Power Concentration 30.8 Technological 20 Social Cohesion Collapse 30.4 Societal 21 Widespread Debt Crisis 30.2 Economic 22 Economic Fragmentation 29.1 Economic 23 State Sovereignty Erosion 28.5 Political 24 Global Economic Stagnation 27.9 Economic 25 Supply Chain Collapse 27.8 Economic 26 Geoengineering Disasters 27.5 Technological 27 Multilateral Institution Collapse 26.3 Political 28 Space-Based Event 23.4 Environmental

Across all regions, environmental risks emerged as the highest priority, with climate change inaction and large-scale pollution both seen as highly likely and highly severe.

Climate change inaction was the most important risk overall, ranking as the most pressing issue in three of the seven regions.

In total, 84% of respondents said mis- and disinformation is already occurring, making it the most immediate risk today, according to the UN.

Mis- and disinformation also ranked as the top risk in the next two years, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report.

While environmental concerns were top of mind for all regions, other perceptions varied by region. For example, in North Africa and Asia, concerns about cybersecurity breakdowns and artificial intelligence (AI) were among the top 10 risks, unlike in other regions.

Cybersecurity breakdowns were among the least prepared-for risks, with a preparedness score of just 3.9 out of 7. The only risk the world is less prepared for is a potential space-based event.

To learn more about risks the world is facing in the near and long term, check out this graphic that visualizes the top global risks, as ranked by the World Economic Forum.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 22:10

The 28 Biggest Global Risks, According To The UN

As the world confronts overlapping crises, from accelerating climate change to the unchecked spread of misinformation, global risks are increasingly interconnected, compounding one another in ways that could overwhelm current institutions and systems.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Kayla Zhu, shows the top 28 most important global risk as outlined in the United Nations Global Risk Report 2024.

Risk importance combines the likelihood and severity of a risk, with top risks seen as most likely to occur with severe impacts if or when they manifest.

Rankings are based on a survey of 1,100 stakeholders across 136 countries which includes representatives of government, industry, civil society, and academia.

What is the Most Important Risk the World is Facing?

Below, we show the top 28 most important global risks and their importance scores, according to the United Nations.

Rank Risk Importance Score Category 1 Climate Change Inaction 37.2 Environmental 2 Large-Scale Pollution 36.0 Environmental 3 Mis- and Disinformation 35.4 Political 4 Natural Hazard Risks 35.0 Environmental 5 Rise in Inequalities 34.7 Societal 6 Biodiversity Decline 34.6 Environmental 7 Geopolitical Tensions 34.5 Political 8 Natural Resource Shortages 34.3 Environmental 9 Mass Movement of People 33.2 Societal 10 Large-Scale War 32.6 Political 11 Biorisks 32.3 Societal 12 New Pandemic 32.1 Societal 13 Rule of Law Collapse 32.0 Political 14 Cybersecurity Breakdown 31.7 Technological 15 Global Financial Crisis 31.6 Economic 16 Weapons of Mass Destruction 31.1 Political 17 AI and Frontier Tech 31.0 Technological 18 Proliferation of Non-State Actors 30.8 Societal 19 Tech-Driven Power Concentration 30.8 Technological 20 Social Cohesion Collapse 30.4 Societal 21 Widespread Debt Crisis 30.2 Economic 22 Economic Fragmentation 29.1 Economic 23 State Sovereignty Erosion 28.5 Political 24 Global Economic Stagnation 27.9 Economic 25 Supply Chain Collapse 27.8 Economic 26 Geoengineering Disasters 27.5 Technological 27 Multilateral Institution Collapse 26.3 Political 28 Space-Based Event 23.4 Environmental

Across all regions, environmental risks emerged as the highest priority, with climate change inaction and large-scale pollution both seen as highly likely and highly severe.

Climate change inaction was the most important risk overall, ranking as the most pressing issue in three of the seven regions.

In total, 84% of respondents said mis- and disinformation is already occurring, making it the most immediate risk today, according to the UN.

Mis- and disinformation also ranked as the top risk in the next two years, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report.

While environmental concerns were top of mind for all regions, other perceptions varied by region. For example, in North Africa and Asia, concerns about cybersecurity breakdowns and artificial intelligence (AI) were among the top 10 risks, unlike in other regions.

Cybersecurity breakdowns were among the least prepared-for risks, with a preparedness score of just 3.9 out of 7. The only risk the world is less prepared for is a potential space-based event.

To learn more about risks the world is facing in the near and long term, check out this graphic that visualizes the top global risks, as ranked by the World Economic Forum.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 22:10

A Washington–New Delhi Alliance Is a Perfect Storm Against China, For India

Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,

Beijing’s Jitters: A Shifting Trade Landscape

As China’s trade with the United States continues to diminish, Beijing is anxious to stabilize trade relations with Washington—and has done so, at least for a while. But how long will any trade agreement last if the Chinese regime continues to violate it?

The harsh reality is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is aware of its precarious position. On the one hand, China desperately needs to stabilize its trading relationship with the United States. On the other hand, it can’t live up to agreements because it has to cheat on trading terms, as structural weaknesses prevail in driving the economy downward. As a result, the trust level between Washington and Beijing is low.

Lack of trust isn’t the only factor against China, of course. The Trump administration’s antipathy toward the Chinese regime as a strategic rival is well understood, and that’s unlikely to change. Furthermore, direct foreign investment is dwindling, and foreign companies are exiting China as quickly as possible.

Many of them are relocating to India. The list of companies choosing India over China is significant and has been steadily growing, even before U.S. President Donald Trump won a second term in office. In 2024, dozens of major companies, including Dell, HP, Intel, Samsung, LG Electronics, Nike, Hasbro, Blizzard Entertainment, Stanley Black & Decker, and many more, have already relocated their factories to India or plan to do so in the near future.

That trend isn’t likely to change, either. According to a 2024 survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China, 45 percent of U.S. companies in China have initiated plans to diversify their suppliers outside of China, while 38 percent are considering doing so. The writing is on the Great Wall of China: the trade gap is widening, not narrowing. Their days of leading the world in manufacturing and the strategic clout that comes with it are on their way out.

India’s Big Opportunity With the US

In the meantime, to Beijing’s great concern, India is strategically pivoting to fill that widening gap by expanding its trading relationships with the United States. The United States is equally intentional in steering trade away from China and toward India.

India’s intentions are aligned with those of the United States. In April this year, U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited India to establish a broader bilateral trade agreement between the two countries. The goal is to increase the current trade of $190 billion to $500 billion by 2030.

The growing U.S.–India relationship extends beyond trade. Prior to Vance’s visit, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was in India for a geopolitical conference. Perhaps even more telling, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first world leaders to visit with Trump after he returned to the White House. At the time, Modi mentioned a “mega partnership” with the United States and began negotiations to address Trump’s tariffs on Indian products.

Notably, Modi had already reduced tariffs on some U.S. goods before he met with Trump. That may help explain why Indian officials have described trade negotiations as “very active” and “intense,” supporting the perception of a fast-track trade deal being worked out between the United States and India.

The Strategic Ripple Effects

China may be unaware of these developments and can already see several strategic ripple effects unfolding. As noted, the United States is keen on “friend-shoring” or restructuring global supply chains out of China and into India. One additional impact may be diminishing Beijing’s ability to support Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Although a trade reset of sorts appears to be in place between Washington and Beijing, the trend of businesses leaving China en masse remains undeniable. Apple has announced that it will relocate up to 25 percent of its iPhone production from China to India by 2025, and a significant portion of its U.S. phone production will also be moved out of China.

But other ripples are occurring as well.

A closely related issue is China’s dominance of the rare earths market. Like the United States, India is dependent on China’s rare earth monopoly. One of Modi’s policy shifts is to focus on India’s potential to increase its rare earth production capacity and potentially become a key supplier to the United States. That would be a huge blow to China and a big win for both India and the United States.

Another significant issue is India’s increasing involvement in U.S. defense planning in the region. India will play a growing role in U.S. security arrangements in the Indo-Pacific region.

Beijing’s Double-Edged Response

In response to these developments, the CCP is getting creative. For example, in contrast to the trade barriers it put up after the Galwan incident involving military exchanges, Chinese state media has floated the possibility of reducing trade restrictions and encouraging engagement between China and India. That’s a direct result of India’s rising profile in the region and engagement with the United States.

Perhaps more importantly, China’s ambassador to India recently pledged to stop dumping Chinese products into Indian markets, ease trade deficits, and possibly even remove tariff and non-tariff barriers on Indian imports. This announcement comes alongside resumed diplomatic dialogue, high-level engagement, direct flights, and even the potential for enhanced access to rare earths for India.

On the flip side, in an effort to counter the friend-shoring trend, China is restricting machinery exports and equipment transfers to India in order to minimize its ability to handle incoming manufacturing demands. Beijing is also warning New Delhi that its deeper engagement with Washington—both in trade and in strategic alliances such as the Quad, as well as significant cooperation in evolving U.S.-led defense postures—could threaten its cordial relationship with China.

Another card for the CCP to play would be to increase support for Pakistan, India’s nuclear-armed regional rival. That’s a threat with a very thin veil, but unlikely to work because both Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed nations. Beijing’s support doesn’t fundamentally alter the status quo.

Will any or all of these potential countermeasures by Beijing be enough to sway New Delhi away from its tilt toward Washington? Will the Chinese regime be able to thwart India’s rise, even as its economy continues to collapse?

Not likely.

China is facing a multi-front storm, mainly of its own making through the CCP’s policies, and that storm is only getting worse. To carry the metaphor, it’s a perfect storm against China and for India.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 21:45

Lyme Disease Is Most Prevalent In The Northeast

This year is a bad year for ticks...

Statista's Anna Fleck reports that new research has found that ticks are becoming more widespread due to changes in the climate, land use and human-animal interactions. The biggest risk areas are in warm-temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, such as China, the United States and parts of Europe, with some of the areas most at risk of future tick expansion are France, Spain, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania and the UK.

One of the species of ticks increasing in number across the U.S. is the lone star tick, which has been found to cause allergic reactions to red meat, also known as the alpha-gal syndrome (AGS). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that around 110,000 cases of AGS have been documented since 2010, but that the actual figure could be closer to 450,000. According to a 2023 CDC survey among healthcare providers, awareness around the tick-borne disease is still lacking, with 42 percent of respondents having not heard of AGS, and another 35 percent having reported that they were “not too confident” about their ability to diagnose or manage patients with the syndrome.

A better known disease caused by infected ticks is Lyme disease. In the U.S., this is caused mostly by blacklegged ticks, which are commonly found in forested areas in the northeastern, north-central, and mid-Atlantic states and in smaller areas within Pacific Coast states. While a vaccine against Lyme disease is currently being worked on, it is still unavailable.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Untreated Lyme disease can cause an array of symptoms, including extreme fatigue, a rash, a fever and arthritis. It usually takes more than 24 hours before the infection is passed from a tick that is attached to a human and so removing the tick quickly can prevent transmission of the disease.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a record high of 62,551 cases of Lyme disease were reported in 2022 (latest available data). Nationwide, this equated to an incidence rate of around 18.77 per 100,000 people.

Lyme disease is believed to be becoming more prevalent, with data published by the Environmental Protection Agency showing an increase in cases in 2022. However, it is difficult to measure the true extent of the increase due to a change in the data classification systems between 2022 and earlier, as well as the increase in awareness and testing.

As the chart above shows, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and West Virginia recorded the highest incidence rates of Lyme disease across the U.S. in 2022, ranging between 137.7 and 212 cases per 100,000 people.

The CDC advises preventative measures to be taken by those in high risk areas, such as long grasses in known tick regions, including wearing protective clothing and insect repellant, as well as immediate tick removal using fine-tipped tweezers, followed by cleaning the bite area. In some cases, a single dose of doxycycline might be needed to be administered.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 21:20

The Threat From Far-Right Extremists Pales In Comparison To Jihadi Terrorist

Authored by Phil Gurski via The Epoch Times,

Remember Chicken Little (a.k.a. Henny Penny)? She was the one running around warning that the sky was falling and spreading panic all around. In the end, the heavens were not, in fact, plummeting, and we now use the phrase “Chicken Little” to describe those who spread myths about danger that are ill-founded.

Last week, Canadians learned of an “imminent” plot by four men in Quebec, including two members of the Armed Forces, that probably came as a bombshell (no pun intended) to those tuning in.

This “anti-authoritarian militia” had weapons, planned to seize land, had engaged in “training,” and appeared to be recruiting like-minded people online.

The self-styled “national security experts” consulted by print, radio, and television media - I did nine interviews in three days on this issue, but generally eschew the moniker “expert” -  all saw this as the end of civilization as we know it and that we in Canada had dodged a bullet (!) at the 11th hour.

Except that very little of this “analysis” was accurate.

In fact, the RCMP had seized the weaponry in the possession of this “militia” - 80 firearms, 11,000 bullets, and 16 explosive devices - in January, of 2024! A full 18 months before they made the arrests. Yes, these amateurs could very well have obtained more guns, but there is nothing in the open media to suggest they did. Furthermore, that the RCMP knew about these guys a year and a half ago means they had a good idea of who they were and what they were up to.

Many were confused as to the time lag.

Why wait so long between weapon confiscation and arrests/charges? Simple: what else could the Mounties learn about this gang?

Were there others involved? Did their “plot” ever get more plausible? Was there really a “plot” in the end?

As an RCMP spokesperson noted, there was never a threat to the public.

This demonstrates, to me, that the force had everything they needed, possibly through surveillance, federal court wiretaps, and human agent penetration.

This was actually a huge investigative success, not a potential disaster. In other words, they had the whole thing under control at all times.

In addition, the incompetence of the “militia” was made clear when Canadians learned that they were recruiting on social media (Instagram).

This weakness underscores a terribly unprofessional comsec (communications security) practice and demonstrates the very ridiculousness of their venture.

These were not the sharpest pencils in anyone’s box. It is fortunate that most extremists, in my experience, are that stupid.

Yes, far right extremism, including “anti-authoritarianism” and ‘”accelerationism” (those with the belief that the existing state of society is irreparable and that the only solution is the destruction and collapse of the “system”), appears to be on the rise in the West.

A number of Canada’s allies, including the United States and Germany, are seeing a link between these ideologues and their serving armed forces.

The main takeaway, however, is that the law enforcement and security intelligence agencies are up to speed on this threat and I am confident they are monitoring it to the best of their ability given their finite resources.

We also need to stop suggesting that our armies, navies, and air forces are rife with neo-Nazis, fascists, and their ilk.

What is not acceptable, nevertheless, is the conviction that this particular form of terrorist threat has risen to the top in the world.

Jihadis still kill and maim at scales orders of magnitude larger than any other extremist movement and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

No one seems to want to say that, maybe for fear of being labelled an Islamophobe or a “racist” (I have been called both on many occasions).

The RCMP has rightly charged these individuals with planning an act of terrorism as defined under section 83.01 of the Canadian Criminal Code—even if their chances of actually doing something were only slightly above zero. The far right has risen over the past decade, although, again, jihadis still rule the terrorist roost, and our protectors are looking at all these actors, as they should.

The average citizen, however, needs to be assured that the threat they pose is neither imminent nor existential. It would be unfortunate if a group got lucky and was able to carry out an attack despite the best efforts of our police officers and spies, although that is probably inevitable given the number of investigative priorities and finite resources.  Many more will be stopped, thankfully, due to the former’s efforts.

Pushing the panic button is neither necessary nor useful.  We should leave the running around and shouting to the birds of children’s tales, not the front pages of our media.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 20:55

Is There Enough Water To Quench The Thirst Of AI Super Data Centers?

Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times,

While artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the way America does business, the number of data centers being built to meet its expanding computational demands has kicked off a construction boom.

Millions of gallons of water are needed for cooling these new data centers, a demand that has risen in lockstep with the expansion of AI support facilities.

The amount of water needed to power the data center building bonanza has triggered concerns about water supplies and groundwater safety in arid and water-stressed cities, where many of the complexes are being built.

Sergio Toro, CEO of market intelligence group Aterio, shared research with The Epoch Times that showed there are 1,827 active data centers in the United States, with another 1,726 announced and 419 currently under construction.

Hundreds of the new centers are being planned or built in areas suffering from water scarcity or prolonged drought, prompting alarm from those working in sustainable urban development and environmentalism.

Based on the findings Toro shared, 1,082 data centers are being planned or built across 10 states that are experiencing some degree of water stress.

In states grappling with acute water stress, such as Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah, California, and Colorado, 437 data centers are planned or are currently under construction.

The amount of water used in data centers depends on the facility type, which generally fall under one of two categories.

Hyperscale data centers are large facilities used by cloud service providers and internet companies, demanding huge amounts of electricity and sometimes spanning millions of square feet.

Non-hyperscale data centers—also known as co-location data centers—are facilities where equipment, space, and bandwidth are rented to either wholesale or retail customers.

On average, non-hyperscale facilities use roughly 6.57 million gallons of water per year. By comparison, hyperscale centers—the kind required to power AI—use an estimated 200 million gallons per year.

However, it’s not just the volume of water that’s causing concern, but also the risk of contamination from cooling system additives leaching into groundwater, Steve Rosas, president and project director at Omega Environmental Services, told The Epoch Times.

“We’ve remediated sites where industrial cooling operations contaminated soil and groundwater with biocides, corrosion inhibitors, and scale preventers [which are] chemicals that persist in the environment long after facilities close,” he said.

Water cooling pump and pipes at Intergate.Manhattan, a data center owned by Sabey Data Center Properties, in New York City on March 20, 2013. As new data centers are built to meet the rising demand from artificial intelligence, communities are raising concerns about the massive water consumption. Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images

Quenching the Thirst

Rosas said that data centers need to undergo comprehensive environmental impact assessments before construction, not “reactive remediation,” which he said can cost millions to perform and decades to complete.

He explained that contamination from per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS—better known as “forever chemicals” because they are persistent in the environment—is at the top of his list of concerns with data center expansion.

“Many cooling system components and fire suppression foams contain PFAS chemicals that we’re now investigating at over 600 California water sites,” Rosas said. “These ‘forever chemicals’ bioaccumulate and cause hormonal effects even at extremely low concentrations, making remediation extremely expensive and technically challenging.”

Rosas said regulatory compliance often gets overlooked until it’s too late.

Because of their non-flammability and their ability to be used across a wide temperature spectrum, forever chemicals are added to certain types of cooling systems as refrigerants. Most two-phase cooling systems used in data centers contain PFAS, according to Data Center Frontier.

Steffen Lehmann, professor of architecture and urbanism at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, shares Rosas’ concern about the growing number of data centers and their potential impact on local water supplies.

“In areas like the outskirts of Las Vegas, where land is relatively affordable, several large data centers are planned or under construction,” Lehmann said.

“These facilities will require substantial energy and water for cooling. Conventional large-scale data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, equivalent to the daily water use of a town with 20,000 to 50,000 residents.”

Even relatively simple AI workloads require a lot of water for cooling. For example, AI platform ChatGPT consumes the equivalent of a 500ml bottle of water for between 10 to 50 medium-length responses, according to joint research from the University of California Riverside and the University of Texas at Arlington.

ChatGPT is visited approximately 5.24 billion times each month, according to May data by Semrush.

Data complexes use water in cooling systems, but also indirectly through non-renewable electricity generation.

A 2021 report on data center water usage noted that the volume of water consumed for cooling that came from a potable water source—not recycled or reclaimed—accounted for as much as 57 percent in some instances.

An illustration shows the ChatGPT artificial intelligence software in Lierde, Belgium, on Feb. 3, 2023. AI workloads require significant water for cooling. Research shows that generating 10 to 50 medium-length responses uses about the same amount of water as a 500ml bottle. ChatGPT had about 5.24 billion visits in May, according to Semrush. Nicolas Maeterlinck/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how many data centers are being built exclusively to support AI’s growing demands.

A 2024 McKinsey & Company analysis predicted that the need for AI-capable support locations will increase at a rate of 33 percent per year until 2030.

This factor is a key driver of concern for people such as Lehmann, who’s watching data center expansion occur in a highly water-stressed portion of southern Nevada. Despite being America’s driest state, the Silver State is experiencing massive growth in data centers.

Toro’s research indicates there are 44 new facilities in Nevada that have been announced or are under construction.

“The rapid expansion of data centers has created a competitive tension between population growth, suburban development, and the construction of these energy and water-intensive facilities,” Lehmann said.

He believes that transparency from the developers building the facilities and the companies that own them is crucial to address mounting concerns over water usage.

Some tech insiders share his concerns.

“One issue people don’t always think about is the impact on local infrastructure. Pulling large volumes of water can lower groundwater levels, harm local wildlife, and even cause competition with agriculture,” Arnold Pinkhasov, a software engineer at tech accelerator OSLabs, told The Epoch Times.

Pinkhasov said increased water usage by data centers can have effects such as increasing wear and tear on municipal water systems that weren’t designed for such high-volume industrial usage.

“Another overlooked issue is thermal pollution, where water used for cooling is returned to the environment at a higher temperature, which can affect ecosystems in rivers and lakes,” he said.

Regulation

Many working on the front lines of data center expansion are trying to address the intersection of growth and water usage before it becomes critical.

“Local factors including water availability, humidity, and climate are key considerations in the cooling systems and strategies that data centers employ to maximize efficiencies and minimize their water footprint,” Jon Hukill, communications director at the Data Center Coalition, told The Epoch Times. The coalition is the trade association for the data center sector.

Hukill said that overall, the industry is committed to responsible water use, in a legislative environment where regulations vary widely from state to state.

An Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center is seen near single-family homes in Stone Ridge, Va., on July 17, 2024. Northern Virginia is the world’s largest data center market, a recent report shows. Data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water daily—about the same as a town of 20,000 to 50,000 people—and AWS says it is working to use more sustainable sources such as recycled or harvested rainwater. Nathan Howard/Getty Images

In Virginia—home of the world’s largest data center market, there is currently no statewide regulation on water usage at data centers. The state, which is home to more than 150 data centers in Northern Virginia alone, illustrates the tension between the need for regulation and the push for progress.

Localities are making their own decisions to determine what, if any, rules or inspections will apply to data center water usage.

Virginia state’s House Bill 1601 would have mandated environmental impact assessments on surface and groundwater at proposed data center facilities, but the measure was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in May.

Youngkin said the legislation would limit local discretion and create “unnecessary red tape” for new data centers.

“While well-intentioned, the legislation imposes a one-size-fits-all approach on communities that are best positioned to make their own decisions,” Youngkin stated when he vetoed it.

Moreover, Hukill said that data centers are actively investing and deploying technologies to help reduce their water footprint. Some of those innovations include waterless cooling, closed-loop systems, and using recycled or reclaimed water.

“Many Data Center Coalition members are adopting water-positive commitments alongside these significant investments,” Hukill said.

“In fact, 83 percent of data centers in Virginia use the same amount of water or less than the average larger office building,” he said.

Preserving Resources

Amazon Web Services (AWS) says it’s “doubling down on preserving freshwater resources,” as it works to reduce data center water consumption.

AWS is the biggest name in cloud computing, with a vast global network of data centers. The retail and tech giant also has extensive facilities and support dedicated to AI and machine learning workloads. The company has committed to the goal of being “water positive” by 2030 in its data centers, meaning it intends to return more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations.

“AWS is focusing on using more sustainable sources of water, such as water recycling or rainwater harvesting, wherever possible,” a spokesperson for AWS told The Epoch Times.

Wastewater is treated in the preliminary stage of recycling at the West Basin Municipal Water District facility in El Segundo, Calif., on Sept. 14, 2015. Hundreds of data centers are planned or under construction in water-stressed states such as Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah, California, and Colorado, raising concerns among sustainability and environmental experts. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

AWS has previously invested in water recycling infrastructure in the western United States, including California, and is expanding those water recycling efforts, the spokesperson said.

“Moving forward, we’ll continue to pursue new opportunities … to enable recycled water use for our data centers where feasible.”

While the implementation of these methods depends on local infrastructure availability, regulations, and water quality standards, the AWS spokesperson said the cloud giant’s teams conduct thorough assessments at each location to determine sustainable water management strategies.

“These assessments consider, among other things, source water conditions, existing infrastructure capacity, and projected community needs,” the spokesperson said.

Other big tech players have announced efforts to reduce water consumption at their sprawling data center complexes. Google uses reclaimed or non-potable water at more than 25 percent of its data centers. Last August, Microsoft launched a new design that doesn’t require water for cooling AI-related workloads at its facilities.

When asked about progress toward the company’s goal of being water positive by 2030, the AWS spokesperson said the company’s data centers were 53 percent of the way there, up from 41 percent in 2023.

“In the Americas, our current fleet of data centers use no water for cooling for 90 percent of the year. In addition, our water replenishment projects across the U.S. and globally are expected to help replenish over 9 billion liters of water each year to the environment and our communities once every project is completed,” the spokesperson said.

In June, AWS announced plans to expand water recycling efforts at data centers in more than 120 of its locations throughout the United States.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 20:05

Goldman Warns of "Accelerated Property Price Declines" Across Chinese Cities 

The latest 70-city house price data from China's National Bureau of Statistics indicate that the property market remains in decline as of June, despite ongoing policy easing measures and recent rumors that Beijing may revive its 2015 stimulus playbook. Overnight, China reported 5.2% year-over-year growth for Q2, just fractionally above expectations (does anyone actually believe these numbers?). 

A team of Goldman analysts, led by Andrew Tilton, penned a note on Tuesday for clients, warning that China's housing market is continuing to accelerate to the downside. 

• NBS' 70-city primary-market weighted average property price change in June: -2.5% mom annualized (seasonally adjusted by GS), -3.1% yoy. May: -2.3% mom annualized, -3.5% yoy.

Tilton said new data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows new home prices across 70 cities fell 2.5% month-over-month annualized in June—despite ongoing easing efforts. The downturn isn't limited to Tier 1 cities—it's widespread. Translation: The "floor" Beijnng continues to promise looks more like a trapdoor every time. 

The five main points from the data:

After seasonal adjustments, weighted average house prices in the primary market fell by 2.5% mom annualized in June (vs. -2.3% in May; Exhibit 1), despite ongoing easing policies.

The number of cities that experienced sequentially higher property prices ticked up in the primary market but continued to fall in the secondary market in June (Exhibit 3).

Year-on-year change in the weighted average new home prices fell by 3.1% in June, compared to -3.5% in May. We emphasize the 70-city data are for primary market transactions (new home sales) only; secondary market data by NBS and some third-party platforms suggest price declines of 5%-15% over the past year (Exhibit 4).

By city tiers[2], house prices of Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities declined sequentially by 1.3% and 2.1% mom annualized in June (vs. -0.7% and -1.9% in May), respectively (Exhibit 2). For Tier-3 cities, house prices declined sequentially by 3.5% mom annualized (vs. -3.5% in May). Despite more local housing easing measures in recent months, we believe the property markets in lower-tier cities still face strong headwinds from weaker growth fundamentals than top-tier cities, including the more severe oversupply problems.

Our high frequency tracker suggests that the 30-city new home transaction volume declined by 4% yoy in June. Major cities' inventory months (sellable gross floor area divided by 12-month rolling gross floor area sold) increased slightly to 26.0 in July from 25.5 in June, with the increase mostly led by Tier-2 cities.

Since the September policy pivot last year, policymakers have aimed to provide a floor to the property market. In the recent State Council meeting, the government stated to construct a new real estate development model (房地产发展新模式) and advance the "good housing initiative" (好房子建设). We expect incremental housing easing measures to stabilize home prices and contain the left-tail risk in the property sector, including further cuts to mortgage rates, faster implementation of local government purchases of raw land and existing housing inventory, and more policy support for cash-backed urban village renovation programs (with 1mn units already announced). However, we believe a repeat of the 2015-18 shantytown redevelopment program is unlikely.

Related: 

• China Property Stocks Erupt On Rumors Beijing May Revive 2015 Stimulus Playbook

• China's Big Housing Stimulus Rescue Is Wishful Thinking

Overnight News:

• China Q2 GDP Drops To 5.2% But Beats Expectations Thanks To Subsidies And Tariff Frontrunning

The larger question is whether another shantytown redevelopment stimulus package will have the same effect as it did a decade ago. Beijing needs to fire the stimulus bazooka here. ​​​​​​​

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 19:40

Why Are Taxpayers Still Funding These Injection Mandates?

Authored by Lucia Sinatra via The Brownstone Institute,

It was nerve wracking, to say the least; having a high school student who had gotten into his dream college in mid-December 2020 but was uncertain if he could attend the following fall due to Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Those harrowing days and nights we spent focusing on little else as we scoured college websites to eventually find what we pretty much expected would come to pass. 

It started in April of 2021 when Rutgers University and then Harvard University announced their students would be required to take Covid-19 vaccines prior to enrollment. In these early days, I remember thinking that surely, they will reveal some scientific data showing these vaccines could prevent transmission and severe illness or death to justify the mandates, but alas, the wait was in vain. 

Living up to their cult behavior reputation, by the summer of 2021, over 1,000 colleges announced the exact same fear-fueled narrative and implemented some of the world’s most oppressive mandate policies. By August, millions of college students would be mandated to take primary series Covid-19 vaccines prior to enrollment, many without enough notice to get their deposits back, transfer colleges, or even file for an exemption. The directive was clear: take these novel medical treatments with zero scientific evidence to show you need them, or don’t bother showing up. 

The best and brightest minds in academia never demanded to see the scientific data to justify their colleges’ strict mandate policies and never demanded the reasoning behind their administrations summoning a 100% compliance rate, but instead elevated the propaganda in lockstep fashion. To this day, it is astounding to think of what transpired and that so few questioned the lack of supporting science either because they were aghast to consider that our federal government was responsible for perpetrating the greatest crime against humanity the world has ever seen, or just because it was easier to comply and convince others to do the same. 

Some of us could see the writing on the wall. We knew colleges and universities were going to take this global pandemic opportunity to manipulate and control their vulnerable and young healthy adult populations into compliance, and that is exactly what they did. I kept hoping I was wrong, and once more data was released, these institutions would reverse course, but I was wrong then, and I still am now.

Health science students are still being coerced to take Covid-19 vaccines either prior to enrollment in their institutional program or prior to the start of their practical training at hospitals and clinical partner programs. In fact, they are the only college students still being coerced to take Covid-19 vaccines, and most of the time, it feels as though there is no end in sight.

When President Trump signed Executive Order 14214, he promised to end federal funding to colleges that still mandate Covid-19 vaccines. However, that has not happened yet, and who knows if it ever will? For example, the majority of health science degrees in our country are conferred by colleges and universities, and health science students at some institutions are still required to take Covid-19 vaccines. Why haven’t these institutions been defunded in accordance with EO 14214? 

To be clear, it is not new that health science students have different vaccination requirements than students who are not health care majors.

However, regarding Covid-19 vaccines in particular, the faculty and staff who teach these students at the college program or at the hospital or clinical facility where they are required to complete practicums are often no longer required to take these vaccines. 

In sum, we have a number of institutions that have yet to be defunded as promised by President Trump, and we have students at those institutions who are subject to unjustifiable disparate treatment.

So, what gives? 

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea other than these colleges have not been held accountable for their unscientific continuation of Covid-19 vaccine mandates for health science students. Non-healthcare students at all US colleges are no longer required to comply with Covid-19 vaccine mandates to enroll, yet health science majors who share the same classrooms, dining halls, and residence halls are still subject to mandates to either enroll or complete practicums or both. 

It is our position that these blatantly discriminatory policies persist because explicit action has not been taken to end them. 

On April 5, 2024, Representative Mark Messmer (R-IN) introduced H.R. 3044, and it has gained widespread support. This newly introduced legislation proposes to codify EO 14214 by promising to “withhold federal funds for any college or university that continues to mandate a required COVID-19 vaccination.” It is a good start as it is generally harder for a future administration to reverse a bill that has become law rather than an Executive Order, but our position is that the bill is incomplete. No College Mandates, which has led the fight to end all college student Covid-19 vaccine mandates, along with several signatories, has formally requested that before the bill becomes law, it must be amended. 

For H.R. 3044 to definitively end all Covid-19 vaccine mandates in higher education, it must be amended to explicitly include all teaching programs required for health science students to complete their degree. To clarify, not only must federal funding be removed from all colleges, universities, and any other institutions that continue to mandate Covid-19 vaccines, but also all teaching programs at hospitals and clinical partners with whom these institutions contract to provide practical training so that students can freely apply to and enter practicums, clinical rotations, internships, and residencies which all degree-granting institutions have made a requirement for graduation. 

A few weeks ago, we mailed this letter to all the Representatives who are supporting this bill, requesting explicit amendments including those outlined in the previous paragraph. We have also emailed the letter to each of the senior staff members and have followed up with several phone calls making our case. From the positive feedback we continue to receive, we are hopeful that the Representatives are willing to consider and incorporate our proposed amendments to H.R. 3044.

However, I have one simple ask. We cannot get the Representatives to devote proper attention to these amendments without your help.

Please take a few minutes to print a copy of our letter and mail or email it to the Representatives, encouraging them to amend the bill, as well as to your own Representative and Senators.

Together, we might just put an end to health science student Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

If you’ve never taken any action to end college student Covid-19 vaccine mandates, this is a wonderful opportunity, and it may just make all the difference.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 19:15

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios.

Wednesday:
• At 7:00 AM ET, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 8:30 AM, The Producer Price Index for June from the BLS. The consensus is for a 0.2% increase in PPI, and a 0.2% increase in core PPI.

• At 9:15 AM, The Fed will release Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for June. The consensus is for a 0.1% increase in Industrial Production, and for Capacity Utilization to be unchanged at 77.4%.

• At 2:00 PM, the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

AI: Are Americans Worrying About The Wrong Jobs?

The rapid adoption of AI has stirred up worry - or at least apprehension - among many workers, as it is still unknown exactly what the impacts of the technology will be.

However, as Statista's Anna Fleck reports, some of this worry could be misaligned, as new survey data from Pew Recenter Right shows, with a gap in understanding over which jobs are most at risk having grown between the general public and AI experts.

According to the poll, conducted between August and October 2024, U.S. adults underestimate the impacts of AI on jobs for lawyers and truck drivers. By contrast, the U.S. public was more likely than experts to think medical doctors, teachers and musicians are at risk of AI-related job cuts over the next 20 years - although half of U.S. adults and experts say there will be job loss in each of these areas. A majority in both groups thought that AI will lead to fewer jobs for cashiers and journalists.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Another key takeaway however is the general climate of uncertainty that exists among the public, with between 13-26 percent of U.S. adults saying they are unsure whether or not there will be job losses per polled job.

The survey also found that while AI experts tend to be more positive than the public about the potential of AI, a majority in both groups were concerned that government regulation of AI will not go far enough. Pew researchers also reported that more men were optimistic about AI than women and that respondents generally agreed that men’s views, as well as white adults’ views, are most represented in AI design than other groups.

The ‘AI experts’ interviewed by Pew are all based in the U.S. and were selected based on their ability to demonstrate expertise via their work or research in artificial intelligence or related fields. They include authors and presenters of 21 AI-focused conferences from 2023 and 2024.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 18:50

"Tough, But Necessary": Nissan To Shutter Flagship Japanese Plant By March 2028

Nissan Motor will cease vehicle production at its flagship Oppama plant in Kanagawa by March 2028, a move CEO Ivan Espinosa called "a tough but necessary decision" and one of "significant pain," according to Nikkei

Production of current and upcoming models will shift to Nissan Motor Kyushu in Fukuoka, cutting manufacturing costs by an estimated 15%. Espinosa explained, "We are aiming to reduce fixed costs while increasing plant utilization rates to 100%."

The company also plans to end production at the Shonan plant, operated by its subsidiary Nissan Shatai, following the discontinuation of NV200 orders by March 2027.

Nikkei reports that Oppama’s 2,400 employees will remain employed until the closure. Nissan pledged to communicate employment plans clearly and work with unions once decisions are finalized.

The Oppama site’s future remains undecided. Espinosa stated, “We are discussing with several partners,” and considering "different scenarios and alternatives for repurposing of the assets," but ruled out joint ventures or contract manufacturing for now.

Espinosa acknowledged supplier concerns, saying, “We are going to discuss individually with each of them.”

The closure is part of Nissan’s broader Re:Nissan restructuring plan, announced in May, which includes reducing global assembly plants from 17 to 10 and cutting 20,000 jobs by March 2028. The company plans to lower non-China production capacity from 3.5 million to 2.5 million vehicles annually.

He confirmed no further plant closures in Japan beyond Oppama and Shonan, with any international changes to be announced later.

The Oppama plant, opened in 1961, produces Note and Note Aura models, with a capacity of 240,000 vehicles per year. Other local facilities, including Nissan’s research center and crash test site, will continue operating.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 18:00

The Cryptographic Fix For US Elections Is Still Sitting On The Shelf

Authored by Jason Nelson via Decrypt.co,

In brief

• A former voting machine auditor says U.S. election systems still lack basic cryptographic safeguards to detect ballot tampering or duplication.

• He proposes adding end-to-end cryptographic proofs - without blockchain - to secure future elections and restore public trust.

• Despite identifying vulnerabilities as early as 2006, he says vendors won’t act without legal pressure or updated election laws.

In 2006, software engineer Michal Pospieszalski uncovered dangerous flaws in U.S. voting machines—flaws he says still threaten American elections today.

Hired by the Election Science Institute, where he served as Chief Technology Officer, Pospieszalski was flown to the headquarters of election vendor Election Systems & Software (ES&S) in Omaha, Nebraska. His task was to analyze the company’s iVotronic voting system.

For over a week, Pospieszalski uncovered a wide range of issues, including “bad code practices, backdoors, static passwords,” and most importantly, what he described as a complete lack of “end-to-end cryptographic proofs.”

“The biggest thing that wasn’t there was end-to-end cryptographic proofs,” Pospieszalski told Decrypt in an interview. “Meaning there’s no way the machine, even with perfect external security, could know if a ballot is legitimate, or if it’s been counted twice, three times, 10 times, or 1,000 times.”

What’s missing from today’s voting machines

The CEO of blockchain security and identity software company MatterFi, Pospieszalski, said that vulnerability isn’t hypothetical; it’s easily exploitable by anyone with access to voting machines and voter registration systems.

“You could just run the same ballot through 10 times—and that’s still true today—and it’ll just count as 10 votes,” he explained. “And the scanner doesn’t know any better, and neither does the tabulator. The tabulator in the central precinct is like, ‘Oh, it was 10 votes.’”

Pospieszalski said the separation of ballot and voter record systems often makes reconciliation impossible without referring to original paper records.

“There’s no anonymous serialization of each ballot that would allow the system to know that each serialized ballot has to be counted only once,” he said.

The solution, according to Pospieszalski, involves software—not hardware—and builds on cryptographic techniques first developed in the 1980s by David Chaum, a cryptographer who pioneered digital cash and introduced blind signatures, allowing transactions to be verified without revealing their contents.

Chaum later founded DigiCash, an early digital currency, and proposed cryptographic voting systems that preserve anonymity while enabling public verification. His work laid key foundations for both secure e-voting and modern cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

“What you want is the machine at the end—the central count tabulator or election management system—gets a vote definition, and you have a Chaumian-blinded serialization on every ballot,” Pospieszalski said. “So, like in LA County, that output ballot that’s printed has a serial number. That serial number doesn’t identify the voter, but it tells the tabulator in the central precinct, ‘Hey, this is a unique ballot.’”

“If I see two of them, then somebody cheated,” he added. “Especially if I see 50 of them.”

In Pospieszalski's proposed model, there would be three counts: the paper ballots, the conventional digital tally, and a third cryptographic count.

“The way you see cheating is the digital count says there are 100 votes, and the cryptographic count says there should only be 90,” Pospieszalski said. “Now you know someone injected 10 votes.”

Lessons from Antrim County

In 2020, Pospieszalski was hired to conduct forensic analysis in Antrim County, Michigan, after a brief vote-counting error triggered widespread speculation.

“There was a vote flip in Antrim County by, like, roughly 2,000 votes, where, like, one day it was 2,000 for Biden, and the next day it was 2,000 for Trump,” he recalled. “What really happened is the ballot definition was misconfigured so that the system thought that the votes for Trump were for Biden.”

He said that when the ballots were rescanned with the corrected definition file, “Everything went back to normal.”

Pospieszalski emphasized that while the error was technical, the optics of the situation fed public suspicion.

“There wasn’t a huge, hostile attack. But as a voter being riled up by the media—particularly right-wing media—people are going to want answers,” he said, adding that such confusion is exactly what end-to-end, off-chain cryptographic proofs are designed to prevent.

But while he found no evidence of remote hacking or software backdoors, Pospieszalski did say he encountered signs of possible ballot injection during his analysis.

“If you have a ballot with 42 choices, and in the analysis you see 100 ballots with all 42 filled out the exact same way, you’re like: Um, probably not real,” he said. “That’s the stuff I found some evidence of in Antrim County.”

Asked why cryptographic ballot serialization hasn’t been implemented, Pospieszalski pointed to entrenched systems and corporate reluctance to make changes, adding that proposals for secure voting often failed to gain traction because they were too complicated.

“They’re suggesting all sorts of really, really difficult-to-use schemes... stuff that people are just like, if you’re a voting machine manufacturer, this isn’t going to make any sense," he said.

Several technologies aim to improve election security and trust. In April, New York Assemblyman Clyde Vanel introduced a bill that would use blockchain technology to secure voter records and election results. While blockchain has been promoted as a solution for secure voting, Pospieszalski argued that the core issue doesn’t require that level of complexity.

“All you're trying to do is solve a simple problem: get an accurate count of legitimate votes,” he said. “Extra complexity is unnecessary. A lot of people push blockchain because it's popular, but you don't actually need it.”

By contrast, Pospieszalski says his solution works with current machines.

“I’m just saying: Look, make it a software upgrade to the existing system and work with Dominion, work with ES&S, and you can just turn it on or off," he said.

Asked how adoption might happen, Pospieszalski suggested legislation or mandates from jurisdictions that oversee elections.

“Voting manufacturers and their customers—counties—need big precincts to push for change,” he explained. “If a law said that by 2028 or 2032, voting systems must include end-to-end crypto proofs, we’d be in business.”

The advantage, according to him, would be clarity in future elections, especially in heated contests where trust is fragile.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 17:40

Chinese Biotech Companies Are Catching Up To U.S. Big Pharma

China's biotechnology sector is rapidly transforming from a follower into a global leader in pharmaceutical innovation, challenging the long-standing dominance of the United States and Europe, according to a new longform writeup by Bloomberg. 

Since regulatory reforms began in 2015, the number of innovative drugs originating from China has surged from just 160 to over 1,250 in 2024, nearly matching the U.S.'s 1,440. Once known for low-cost generics and quality issues, Chinese drugmakers are now producing cutting-edge therapies that are drawing global recognition and investment.

“The scale itself is not something we’ve seen before,” said Helen Chen, managing partner at LEK Consulting. “The products are here, they’re attractive and they’re fast.”

China’s progress is not only in volume but also in quality. Regulators such as the U.S. FDA and the European Medicines Agency are increasingly awarding Chinese drugs designations like priority review and breakthrough therapy, once reserved for top-tier Western innovations.

While the absolute number of approvals still trails behind the U.S., the growth trend is unmistakable. “It wouldn’t be sensationalist to suggest that China will overtake the US in the next few years purely in terms of numbers,” said Daniel Chancellor of Norstella.

A notable example is a blood cancer cell therapy developed by Legend Biotech in China, now marketed globally with Johnson & Johnson, and seen as superior to a U.S.-developed rival.

Bloomberg writes that global pharmaceutical companies are taking notice. Deals involving Chinese biotech firms are increasing in size and frequency. Summit Therapeutics paid $500 million upfront for rights to a Chinese cancer drug that outperformed Merck’s Keytruda in a local trial.

Pfizer recently set a record with a $1.2 billion upfront payment to 3SBio for a similar therapy. “They can leapfrog competitors in other countries,” said Andy Liu of Novotech, a clinical research firm.

China’s edge comes from its ability to conduct drug research faster and more cheaply, thanks to its centralized hospital system and large patient base. Early-stage cancer and obesity trials in China can enroll patients in half the time it takes in the U.S. Still, Chinese firms must show their results hold up across diverse populations to gain regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe.

The innovation surge is being led by both foreign-educated startup founders and legacy firms like Jiangsu Hengrui, which pivoted from generics to R&D after domestic policy changes. From 2020 to 2024, 20 of the world’s top 50 companies for new drug candidates were Chinese, up from just five in the previous five years.

“As we move forward, the fact that there’s high quality innovation in China... will no longer be a novelty,” said Ali Pashazadeh of Treehill Partners. “It’ll just be an accepted part of the norm.”

Still, the U.S. sees biotech as part of a broader strategic rivalry. “Biotech is one of the forefronts of the US-China tech rivalry,” said Jack Burnham from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 17:20

Jeffrey Epstein Hired Private Goons To Harass FBI Agents: Report

Authored by Ken Silva via HeadlineUSA,

Rolling Stone reported Monday that notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein hired private investigators to follow, intimidate and spy on FBI agents who were investigating him in the mid- to late-2000s.

Jeffrey Epstein/New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP

“They put surveillance on them, they tailed them, pulled their trash, they hired private PIs to investigate the investigators,” one official, who wasn’t named, told the magazine. The official added that a special agent eventually moved to a gated community in an effort to reduce the constant harassment.

The tactics described by the official were similar to what happened to Palm Beach police officers.

Exclusive: Jeffrey Epstein hired private investigators to follow, intimidate, and surveil FBI agents who were investigating him two decades ago, law enforcement officials tell Rolling Stonehttps://t.co/xg9P6WEBkRhttps://t.co/xg9P6WEBkR

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) July 15, 2025

“Police reports show that Epstein’s private investigators attempted to conduct interviews while posing as cops; that they picked through Reiter’s trash in search of dirt to discredit him; and that the private investigators were accused of following the girls and their families,” the Herald reported in 2018. “In one case, the father of one girl claimed he had been run off the road by a private investigator, police and court reports show.”

The Rolling Stone report follows last week’s two-page statement from the Justice Department and the FBI, which concluded that Epstein had no clients. The conclusion has outraged Trump supporters, who pointed to past statements from several administration officials that the list ought to be revealed.

Attorney General Pam Bondi had suggested in February that Epstein’s “client list” was sitting on her desk waiting for review, though last week she said she had been referring generally to the Epstein case file and not a specific client list.

Conservative influencers have since demanded to see all the files related to Epstein’s crimes, even as Trump has tried to put the issue to bed.

Over a decade after the FBI’s first investigation, Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.

Epstein’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging after he was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019. But his lawyers contested that claim. Skeptics point to malfunctioning surveillance cameras, sleeping guards, and broken bones in Epstein’s neck as indications that his death was something other than suicide.

Because of Epstein’s extensive fraternization with high-profile politicians and celebrities such as Bill Clinton, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak, Prince Andrew and Bill Gates and many more, some claim that Epstein’s death was actually a hit job to silence him. Proponents of that theory include Maxwell, who’s serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.

“I believe that he was murdered. I was shocked, and I wondered, ‘How did this happen?’ Because I was sure he was going to appeal, and I was sure he was covered by the non-prosecution agreement,” Maxwell told British reporter Jeremy Kyle of TalkTV in 2023.

The non-prosecution agreement referenced by Maxwell was a sweetheart deal Epstein signed with the Department of Justice in 2008, in which he pleaded guilty to a state charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18. Epstein was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade, and was reportedly allowed to leave the jail on “work release” for up to 12 hours a day.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 17:00

Tropical Threat Brewing Off Florida, Gulf Of America Offshore Oil & Gas Rigs In Crosshairs

Meteorologists are closely monitoring Invest 93-L, a disorganized area of low pressure situated off Florida's east coast on Tuesday morning. Conditions appear increasingly favorable for gradual development, and there is a growing likelihood that the system could strengthen into a tropical depression—or potentially a tropical storm—later this week.

"East of the Florida Peninsula into the Northeastern Gulf (AL93): Satellite and radar data indicate that the shower and thunderstorm activity associated with the low pressure located just offshore of the east coast of Florida remains disorganized," the National Hurricane Center wrote in an update. 

NHC expects the system to "move westward across the Florida Peninsula today and then reach the northeastern Gulf by Wednesday," adding that "conditions appear generally favorable for additional development, and a tropical depression could form while the system moves across the northeastern and north-central Gulf."

As AL93 tracks over Central Florida towards the Gulf of America, spaghetti models provide a snapshot of agreement among various forecasts that show the storm's track towards the coastal area of Louisiana, which is home to one of the highest concentrations of offshore oil and gas platforms in the world.

Spaghetti Models

Oil/Gas Assets in Gulf of America

All eyes are on AL93 heading into Wednesday, with growing concern over potential operational risks for offshore oil and gas platforms in the Gulf. 

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 16:40

The BLS reported earlier today:

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) increased 2.6 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 315.945 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased 0.4 percent prior to seasonal adjustment.

CPI-W is the index that is used to calculate the Cost-Of-Living Adjustments (COLA). The calculation dates have changed over time (see Cost-of-Living Adjustments), but the current calculation uses the average CPI-W for the three months in Q3 (July, August, September) and compares to the average for the highest previous average of Q3 months. Note: this is not the headline CPI-U and is not seasonally adjusted (NSA).

• In 2024, the Q3 average of CPI-W was 308.729.

The 2024 Q3 average was the highest Q3 average, so we only have to compare Q3 this year to last year.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows CPI-W since January 2000. The red lines are the Q3 average of CPI-W for each year.

Note: The year labeled is for the calculation, and the adjustment is effective for December of that year (received by beneficiaries in January of the following year).

CPI-W was up 2.6% year-over-year in June (up from 2.2% YoY in May), and although this is very early - we need the data for July, August and September - my early guess is COLA will probably be in 3% range this year, up from 2.5% in 2025.
Contribution and Benefit Base

The contribution base will be adjusted using the National Average Wage Index. This is based on a one-year lag. The National Average Wage Index is not available for 2024 yet, although we know wages increased solidly in 2024. If wages increased 5% in 2024, then the contribution base next year will increase to around $185,000 in 2026, from the current $176,100.

Remember - this is a very early look. What matters is average CPI-W, NSA, for all three months in Q3 (July, August and September).

'Crypto Week' Stalls On Failed Procedural Vote As Stablecoins Dominate Bitcoin Banter

Update (1500ET): In a blow for Republicans' 'crypto week', a House procedural vote on the crypto measures failed to pass.

The House voted 196-222 against taking a step needed to begin consideration of three industry-backed bills including one on stablecoin regulation.

House conservatives have previously blocked procedural steps to show discontent.

Republican “no” votes included Reps. Ann Paulina Luna (Fla.), Scott Perry (Pa.), Chip Roy (Texas), Victoria Spartz (Ind.), Michael Cloud (Texas), Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Andy Harris (Md.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.).

It wasn’t immediately clear what impact the vote would have on the legislation, which still could be considered if leaders muster sufficient support.

Johnson told reporters after the vote that the hardline critics want to link the cryptocurrency bills into one product, which is why they torpedoed the procedural vote:

“Some members who really, really want to emphasize the House‘s product, as you know, Clarity Act, and the Anti-CBDC Act,” Johnson said.

“We have our bills as well, they want to push that and merge that together. We’re trying to work with the White House and with our Senate partners on this. I think everybody is insistent that we’re gonna do all three, but some of these guys insist that it needs to be all in one package.”

The House can take up the procedural vote again, but the timing is now unclear.

*  *  *

Standard Chartered's Global head of digital assets research, Geoffrey Kendricks, was surprised last week that, after meeting with a combination of crypto-natives, Bitcoin miners, leveraged and real money funds, digital asset tokenisers and policy makers; despite fresh all-time highs in bitcoin, 90% of the conversations were spent talking about stablecoins.

Interest in stablecoins in the US is surging ahead of the GENIUS Act passing into law (possibly as soon as this week).

As such, discussion centered on implications for UST issuance and eventually curve shape, USD direction, US policy surrounding payments networks, and the potential for stablecoin adoption to lead to financial-stability concerns in selected emerging markets.

In terms of how large the stablecoin market needs to be to unleash those second-order effects, discussions homed in on USD 750bn (current market size: USD 240bn).

That would likely be towards end-2026, by which time clients think that stablecoin issuance will have broadened significantly (in the wake of the GENIUS Act) to include relatively large offerings by banks and perhaps even small offerings by local municipalities.

On the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the consensus seems to be that it will pass by late September/early October, which is sooner than I had expected. This act may have implications for decentralised finance and the tokenisation of real-world assets.

Implications for emerging markets

Stablecoin discussions focused mostly on practical considerations surrounding stablecoin adoption, including both planned and unintentional outcomes of such, as well as potential feedback loops to existing traditional finance (TradFi) assets. The starting point of such discussions was that currently, large wallets and centralised exchanges (CEXs) together account for 90% of all stablecoins. Wallets greater than USD 10mn account for 28%, wallets of USD 500k to USD 10mn account for 23% and wallets of USD 10k to USD 500k account for 15%. CEXs account for a further 25% (Figure 1).

Further, the dominance of large wallets has increased during the last three years. During the decentralised finance (DeFi) boom of 2021, CEX holdings dominated, followed by decentralised exchanges (DEXs) and DeFi. While trading on/off ramp remains important for digital assets – albeit more in CEXs than DEXs and DeFi at present – other uses for stablecoins are now becoming much more important.

‘Other uses’ of stablecoins can be split into store of wealth and transactional purposes. So far, store of wealth dominates (there is no widespread need to hold such large amounts in a wallet for transactional purposes). This store-of-wealth rationale is that savings that seek access to a USD bank account (presumably in emerging markets) do so via stablecoins. Indeed, individuals who need to protect their assets in a liquid, trustworthy form are using stablecoins as a secure store of wealth. The requirement for such individuals is return of capital, not return on capital.

The immediate implication of using stablecoins in this way is that the total assumed size of emerging-market demand for stablecoins (across both store of value and transactional uses) may be higher than I had previously assumed.

The next implication is that if large amounts of savings are leaving emerging markets (note: it is impossible to tell exactly where the money is coming from) then those emerging markets that need USD liquidity to maintain fixed exchange rates, capital controls and assist the local banking sector may at some stage find each of these more difficult to manage.

Financial stability issues may ensue.

Implications for developed markets

In developed markets, a useful starting point is that after GENIUS passes, the initial use case will likely be transactional by both developed market corporate treasury functions as well as semi-financial firms that would benefit from the core benefits of stablecoins – they are becoming faster, cheaper and more secure than traditional payments methods.

While the emerging markets’ use of stablecoins may be greater than I had expected (all of which should create new demand for stablecoin reserves, i.e., T-bills), there was some discussion about the amount of reserves required for developed markets’ stablecoin use.

Specifically, the uncertainty centres on two points.

• First, to what degree will corporates’ stablecoin use (stablecoin require 100% reserve backing) replace their current cash holdings that are parked in off-chain money market funds (i.e., T-bills)? This question requires further analysis. My initial view is that at a minimum, the overall financial payments system will transition from one of bank credit creation (which requires low asset backing) to one of stablecoin use (which requires 100% backing). This implies a large amount of fresh T-bill demand from developed markets, but the exact amount is unknown.

• The second uncertainty, which also applies to emerging market transactional use cases, has to do with velocity of stablecoins. As more transactional uses emerge, velocity will increase; the question is by how much? The answer will determine how many stablecoins are ultimately needed and, therefore, the extent of fresh T-bill demand.

To sum up my view on these points, in my previous report I estimated USD 1.6tn of fresh T-bill demand by the end of 2028; but the confidence interval in both directions (more or less T-bill demand) is, by definition, wide.

Another developed market point that was discussed was how prolific new stablecoin issuers would be after GENIUS passes.

Some argued that the incumbents (USDT and USDC) would likely be most prolific, at least for a while. However, others believed that the issue size of new issuers (banks) may become larger than I thought and that even municipalities may issue their own stablecoins (implying broader issuance than I thought).

How big do stablecoins need to be to have TradFi implications?

At some point the stablecoin market will likely become so large that it starts to have implications for TradFi assets and policies.

In the US, once the stablecoin market gets to a certain size, the amount of T-bills required to back stablecoins will likely require a shift in planned issuance across the curve towards more T-bill issuance, less longer-tenor issuance.

This potentially has implications for the shape of the US Treasury yield curve and demand for USD assets (and hence the USD).

Discussions tended to focus on a level where USD 1tn is in sight, somewhere around USD 750bn. Figure 2 implies that this will be towards the end of 2026.

In terms of broader US policies around financial stability, the same level came up a number of times as being when the stablecoin sector would become systemically important and hence in need of macro-prudential measures. Discussions then also focused on regulatory challenges of non-banks having some control over the payments system as a whole. Questions around money supply control and hence transmission of monetary policy were also raised.

Clarity Act

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act was introduced in the US House of Representatives in May 2025. It aims to create a regulatory framework for digital assets and digital commodities. My impression is that the administration is focused on late September/early October for the Clarity Act to pass into law. This is earlier than I had previously assumed (year-end) and would be a positive surprise for the asset class.

There will also be specific implications for the tokenisation market. I had previously argued that the initial winners in the tokenisation space would be those that generate on-chain liquidity for assets which are illiquid off-chain (see RWA tokenisation – A growth opportunity). However, meetings on this suggested that if DeFi can be unleashed following the Clarity Act (specifically if tokenised assets can be deposited on AAVE) then tokenised assets expansion may be broader, and might include tokenised public equities, for example (as DeFi leverage capabilities of such assets would be significant).

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 15:00

Cal State Prof Arrested, Accused Of Assaulting ICE Agents During Cannabis Farm Raid

Authored by Emily Sturge via Campus Reform,

A California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) professor was arrested July 10 after allegedly assaulting law enforcement agents during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation targeting illegal labor at marijuana farms. 

Jonathan Anthony Caravello, a math and philosophy lecturer, is among four U.S. citizens “being criminally processed for assaulting or resisting officers” during coordinated ICE raids at Glass House Farms cannabis grow sites in Camarillo and Carpinteria, California, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Caravello is accused of throwing a tear gas canister at ICE agents during the protest, which occurred near the CSUCI campus.

Protesters reportedly “attempted to intercept” officers by “throwing rocks” at federal vehicles, “shattering windows and windshields,” CBS News reports.

One protester allegedly fired a pistol at officers. 

The California Faculty Association (CFA), an “anti-racism, social justice” labor union comprised of 29,000 California State University faculty members, is defending Caravello, claiming he was peacefully protesting and accusing federal agents of kidnapping him.

⚠️ MISSING PERSON ⚠️

Jonathan Anthony Caravello
DOB: 02/16/1988
Professor at CSU Channel Islands

Kidnapped by unidentified ICE agents at 2:33pm, Thursday July 10th at Las Posas Rd/Laguna Rd community ICE defense protest.

— California Faculty Association (@CFA_United) July 12, 2025

The CFA doubled down in a press release, calling Caravello’s arrest an “abduction.”

“We strongly condemn the abduction of California Faculty Association professor, member and activist Jonathan A. Caravello, Ph.D. and other community members terrorized and arrested by federal immigration authorities while exercising their constitutional rights to protest peacefully,” the CFA wrote. 

U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli debunked the “kidnapped” allegation and said Caravello will appear in court on Monday. 

Professor Jonathan Caravello was not “kidnapped” by federal agents. He was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement. He is charged with a violation of 18 USC 111 and will have a court appearance tomorrow. https://t.co/QrIivjrthd

— U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) July 13, 2025

Federal law states that a violation of 18 USC 111 means “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees,” according to Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.

CSUCI defended Caravello in a written statement:

“At this time, it is our understanding that Professor Caravello was peacefully participating in a protest – an act protected under the First Amendment and a right guaranteed to all Americans,” the statement reads. 

“If confirmed, we stand with elected officials and community leaders calling for his immediate release,” it continues. 

An important notification from CSUCI: Statement about Professor Jonathan Caravello being taken into federal custody during a protest. https://t.co/7knmXShvwH pic.twitter.com/aHlRGmYS26

— CSU Channel Islands (@csuci) July 12, 2025

Meanwhile, the California Faculty Association is urging supporters to contribute monetary donations for bail and legal fees for Caravello.

The association is also asking individuals to write “Character Reference” letters that will “go before the judge when setting bail” and encouraging individuals to “sign up for a jail support shift so John has someone waiting when he is released.”

Screenshots of social media posts shared by @cfa_united on Instagram.

Members of the CFA held a candlelight vigil Sunday night for the individuals “abducted in the Camarillo farm raids.” 

During the cannabis farm raids, law enforcement reportedly arrested at least 361 illegal aliens from both sites and rescued at least 14 children from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking, DHS confirmed in a press release. 

The group advertised the vigil on Instagram with the hashtag “#FreeJohnCaravello.”

Screenshots of social media posts shared by @cfa_crew on Instagram.

Campus Reform reviewed Caravello’s student evaluations on the website RateMyProfessors.com.

One anonymous student warned: “If you want a professor that tries to bring his political commentary or agenda into absolutely every possible situation, then this professor is for you. Don’t bother trying to debate politics with him because any retort you bring up will immediately be shut down.”

Screenshot obtained from RateMyProfessors.com.

Campus Reform is monitoring updates to this story and has contacted Jonathan Anthony Caravello, California State University Channel Islands, and the California Faculty Association for further updates and comment. This article will be updated accordingly. 

As of July 14, spokespeople from the California State University Channel Islands and California Faculty Association told Campus Reform there are no updates or additional information to share at this time.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 14:40

These Are The 10 Least Livable Cities In The World

While some cities are celebrated for their high quality of life, others are plagued by deep-rooted challenges that make daily life difficult and dangerous in many cases.

From ongoing wars and political instability to inadequate infrastructure, this map, via Visual Capitalist's Kayla Zhu, shows the 10 least livable cities in the world, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index 2025.

The index ranks cities on over 30 factors across five categories to determine their overall livability. Factors include:

• Stability: Prevalence of crime, terror, military conflict, civil unrest/conflict

• Healthcare: Availability and quality of private and public healthcare, general healthcare indicators

• Culture and environment: Humidity/temperature rating, cultural and sporting availability, social or religious restrictions

• Education: Availability and quality of private education, public education indicators

• Infrastructure: Quality of road network, public transport, international links, availability of good housing

What is the Least Livable City in the World?

Below, we show the 10 least livable cities in the world according to The Economist, and their livability scores.

Damascus, the capital of Syria, remains the world’s least livable city in 2025.

Despite a dramatic regime change in Syria in late 2024, the effects of over a decade of civil war have left the capital with shattered infrastructure, limited access to health care and low levels of public safety.

The overall score for Damascus is nearly 10 points lower than that of the next-worst city, Tripoli, Libya.

Tripoli, Libya’s capital, continues to struggle with political instability, factional fighting, and collapsed public services. Like Damascus, it showed no improvement over previous years.

Kyiv continues to rank near the bottom amid Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, which has severely impacted its infrastructure and safety.

Overall, the bottom of The Economist’s livability rankings is largely filled by cities from the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

The average score for livability in 2025 was 76.1 out of 100, the same as 2024. However, scores in the stability category have continue to decline amid widespread geopolitical tension and civil unrest around the world.

To see which cities ranked as the most livable cities of 2025, check out this graphic on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden Tue, 07/15/2025 - 14:20