Zero Hedge

White House Says Cuban Regime Is "Bound To Fall"

White House Says Cuban Regime Is "Bound To Fall"

Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times,

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the situation in Cuba, where the population of nearly 10 million are impacted by rolling blackouts and instability, during a press briefing April 8.

She further clarified President Donald Trump’s recent statement that “Cuba is next,” after the U.S. military successfully detained former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores Maduro before striking Iran in coordination with Israel.

“I think when President Trump said that and he later clarified after making that statement that he meant the Cuban regime is bound to fall,” Leavitt said in response to a question from The Epoch Times.

“The country is very weak. They’re in a very weak position economically, obviously, and financially.”

Cuba relied on Venezuela for much of its energy resources, but that supply dried up after the United States took control of the region’s oil industry following Maduro’s capture. A fuel crisis is threatening the nation, with scarce resources available, and nationwide power outages affecting homes and businesses.

Outdated energy infrastructure and a failure to maintain electricity grids are contributing to hardships, according to the U.S. State Department.

“The Cuban people are fed up with their government, as they should be,” Leavitt said.

She offered no policy updates but said administration officials are collaborating across departments to identify diplomatic solutions.

“These talks and discussions continue to happen at the highest level of our government,” Leavitt said.

Cuba has faced embargos and economic pressure from the United States since Fidel Castro led a communist revolution in 1959 toppled Fulgencio Batista, who led the island nation with U.S. support after taking power through a coup in 1952.

President Barack Obama eased some sanctions in a normalization process, but Trump began reversing those policies during his first term.

Since taking office for a second time, Trump has ramped up criticism against the Cuban regime.

Trump told an audience at the Future Investment Initiative Institute in Miami on March 27 that his peace through strength approach is built on a “great military,” while economic leverage and tough negotiating strategies can facilitate change without the use of force.

“I said, you'll never have to use it, but sometimes you have to use it, and Cuba’s next, by the way,” Trump said, while adding the line might be a joke. “But, pretend I didn’t say that please. ... Please, please, please media, please disregard that statement. Thank you very much. Cuba’s next.”

In an executive order signed Jan. 29, 2026, the president described the Cuban government’s actions as constituting an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”

The order cites Cuba’s support for and alignment with hostile nations, including China, Iran, and Russia, along with the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, as evidence of the threat.

“Cuba has long provided defense, intelligence, and security assistance to adversaries in the Western Hemisphere, attempting to thwart United States and international sanctions designed to enforce the stability of the region, uphold the rule of law, and safeguard the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” the order reads.

Furthermore, the executive order states the Cuban government is spreading communist ideology across the Western Hemisphere, “threatening the foreign policy of the United States.”

“The communist regime persecutes and tortures its political opponents; denies the Cuban people free speech and press; corruptly profits from their misery; and commits other human-rights violations,” the order states.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for regime change in Cuba while reiterating concerns about communism during remarks to the media on March 27.

“The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent communist,” Rubio said. “So, their system of government has to change, because they will never be able to develop economically without those changes.”

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/09/2026 - 12:25

New Jersey Governor Sherrill Lifts 40-Year Nuclear Moratorium

New Jersey Governor Sherrill Lifts 40-Year Nuclear Moratorium

Governor Mikie Sherrill signed legislation that scraps New Jersey’s 40-year de facto moratorium on new nuclear power plants, clearing the way for expanded baseload generation in a state long plagued by some of the nation’s highest utility bills. 

The bill, S3870/A4528, amends the Coastal Area Facility Review Act to remove an outdated permitting roadblock tied to Nuclear Regulatory Commission waste-disposal rules that no modern project could satisfy.

The NJ Department of Environmental Protection can now approve permits based on proven, NRC-compliant storage methods that have maintained a 100% safety record.

Speaking after a tour of the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, Sherrill launched the state’s new Nuclear Task Force by executive order.

The group, which includes officials from PSEG Nuclear, labor unions, business groups, and environmental stakeholders, will focus on five priorities: financing, supply chains and technology, workforce development, regulatory streamlining, and public trust. 

“For costs to come down, we need more energy supply,” Gov Sherrill said.

“By lifting outdated barriers and bringing together leaders across government, industry, and labor, we’re setting the stage for our state to pursue new advanced nuclear power.”

Existing reactors at Salem and Hope Creek already supply more than 40 percent of the state’s electricity and roughly 80 percent of its pollution-free power.

A 2020 Brattle Group analysis found those plants save ratepayers more than $400 million annually while running at 90-95 percent capacity on just 740 combined acres.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/09/2026 - 12:05

FBI Arrests Former Army Contractor For Allegedly Leaking Top Secret Details About Special Forces To Media

FBI Arrests Former Army Contractor For Allegedly Leaking Top Secret Details About Special Forces To Media

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

The FBI arrested a former Fort Bragg civilian contractor April 7 for allegedly providing top secret details about the Delta Force special forces unit to a journalist who later published the information in an article and book.

Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with violating the Espionage Act in connection to the alleged transmission of classified national defense information to the journalist in violation of federal law.

“Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: we’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests,” FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X.

“This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way.”

Officials say Williams worked for a Special Military Unit from 2010 to 2016 supporting top-level military warfighters. During that time, she held a top secret, sensitive compartmented information security clearance, according to prosecutors.

Williams allegedly had daily access to a wide range of classified information, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

As a clearance holder, Williams was trained to know about proper handling, safeguarding, and storage of classified information, prosecutors said. She also allegedly signed a nondisclosure agreement that confirmed she understood that disclosing it could constitute a criminal offense.

Investigators allege Williams repeatedly communicated with a journalist by phone and through text messages between 2022 and 2025. The two had over 10 hours of phone calls and exchanged more than 180 messages, according to prosecutors.

In one message, the reporter identified himself as a journalist and said he was seeking information about the unit to support an upcoming article and book, according to prosecutors.

After the communications, the journalist published a book and article that named Williams as a source and attributed specific statements to her, per court documents.

Prosecutors didn’t name the journalist in the complaint, but Seth Harp, an investigative reporter and foreign correspondent, published a Politico article on Williams on Aug. 12, 2025.

The article was an excerpt from his New York Times best-selling book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces.”

Harp didn’t immediately return a request for comment about Williams’s arrest but posted statements about it on X.

“The FBI is incapable of solving real crimes, like all the murders on Fort Bragg involving elite soldiers trafficking drugs, so they settle for retaliating against courageous whistleblowers like Courtney Williams, whose only ‘crime’ was telling the truth about Delta Force,” Harp wrote.

The article names Williams and describes her decision to take a job as a contractor at Fort Bragg after ending a four-year enlistment in the Army, where she had served as an interrogator and Arabic linguist.

Her position in Southern Pines, North Carolina, was in mission support and was run by former members of Delta Force, the Army’s component of Joint Special Operations Command. Williams told Harp the job was to create and maintain fictitious cover identities for Delta Force operators to use on clandestine missions.

She also described her grievances about the unit, claiming she was discriminated against and sexually harassed. She lost her security clearance after a dispute with leadership in 2016, according to the article.

Williams and her husband allegedly burned through their savings defending herself in the dispute before settling with the unit’s lawyers and retiring from the position, she told Harp.

FBI Special Agent in Charge of the North Carolina Field Office Reid Davis said Williams faced serious charges.

“The tradecraft, tactics, and techniques used by the U.S. military unit in this case are classified and should be shared only with those with proper clearances and a need to know in order to protect American lives and safeguard classified National Defense information,” Davis said in a press release.

“These are serious accusations. Anyone divulging information they vowed to protect to a reporter for publication is reckless, self-serving and damages our nation’s security.”

Williams was not reachable for comment.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/09/2026 - 11:45

South Beirut Sees Mass Exodus Amid Diplomatic Scramble To Ward Off Israeli Raids

South Beirut Sees Mass Exodus Amid Diplomatic Scramble To Ward Off Israeli Raids

Israel has on Thursday warned civilians in south Beirut to evacuate their homes and neighborhoods, amid fears of a fresh impending aerial assault, after IDF strikes across Lebanon and the capital the day prior led to at least 250 Lebanese deaths and over 1,400 people wounded. These were the heaviest strikes of the war.

"Just a short while ago, the Israeli military issued new forced evacuation orders, warning of air strikes this time for the southern suburbs, expanding the area where it says strikes may be conducted, including the Jnah neighborhood, which is south of a previously evacuated area," Al Jazeera reports. Panic and a mass exodus is being reported:

The effected area is densely populated with civilians and lies adjacent to Beirut's lone international airport. People who fled Wednesday's strikes on central Beirut in some places came to the Jnah area.

If Israeli bombs on Lebanon start flying again, this could re-trigger Iranian attacks on Israel. The Houthis in Yemen have also threatened to act, and all of this could collapse the fragile US-Iran ceasefire, amid impending talks expected to begin in Pakistan on Saturday.

Hezbollah now says it is engaged in ground clashes with the Israeli military in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil area, per Al Jazeera, which lies a mere 3 miles from the Israeli border. Israel is seeking to de facto annex the area, Lebanon believes.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz has meanwhile stated the operations have dealt a "very strong blow to Hezbollah's face, leaving it stunned and confused by the depth of the penetration and the scope of the blow." Meanwhile:

TRUMP ASKED NETANYAHU TO REDUCE BOMBING IN LEBANON TO AID SUCCESSFUL IRAN NEGOTIATIONS, ACCORDING TO NBC REPORTS.

Referencing hundreds of ballistic missiles which were sent on Israel in the last weeks, Katz said the IDF is "prepared and ready to act forcefully if Iran fires at Israel." Hezbollah had also by mid-March joined the fight.

via UPI

Currently, Lebanese hospitals are said to be overwhelmed while treating victims of the latest Israeli air raids, and are said to be in short supply, also seeking blood donations.

Reuters details, "Some of Lebanon's hospitals could run out of life-saving trauma medical kits within days ​as supplies near depletion following mass casualties from large-scale Israeli strikes over ‌the past day, the World Health Organization said on Thursday." The WHO outlined that "The life-saving trauma kits include bandages, antibiotics and anaesthetics to treat patients who sustained war-related injuries."

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/09/2026 - 11:35

CoreWeave Expands Meta AI Deal To $21 Billion, Issues $4.25 Billion In New Convertible & Junk Debt

CoreWeave Expands Meta AI Deal To $21 Billion, Issues $4.25 Billion In New Convertible & Junk Debt

CoreWeave has expanded its agreement to supply Meta with AI computing capacity, lifting the total value of the deal to $21 billion, as reported by Bloomberg. The updated terms extend AI cloud services through December 2032.

This means that circular financing circle jerk we've been tracking since last year continues.

This builds directly on the $14.2 billion pact the companies struck last September, which originally ran through 2031 with an option for extension. The additional capacity will come from multiple data centers equipped in part with Nvidia's next-generation Rubin AI chip systems.

The move gives Meta more assured access to specialized GPU clusters as it scales training and inference workloads for its expanding lineup of large language models.

It also means that CoreWeave now holds $35 billion in contracts with Meta, a firm that has made SPV private credit financing into an art form, making the tech firm one of Coreweave's largest customers.

CoreWeave will provide AI cloud capacity to Meta from multiple data centers powered in part by the Rubin systems of chips, through December 2032, the company said in a statement Thursday. 

As billion-dollar commitments have become almost routine, this latest expansion offers another glimpse into the staggering sums being funneled into AI infrastructure. Meta and the rest of the hyperscalers continue to chase AI dominance, committing vast resources even as it pours money into its own massive data center buildout. The numbers keep climbing with seemingly no ceiling in sight.

CoreWeave, a cash-incinerating provider of GPU-accelerated cloud computing and a longtime Nvidia investment darling, has carved out a lucrative niche in the frenzy. The company - part of a group of “neoclouds” or  businesses that, among other things, rent out access to leading AI chips - has landed nearly every big ticket name from Microsoft to OpenAI, positioning itself as an alternative to the traditional hyperscalers for the most demanding AI jobs. Its backlog of long-term contracts continues to swell, supporting rapid expansion even as the broader market watches the leverage closely. Nebius and Nscale are some of its smaller rivals.

CoreWeave has dramatically ramped up borrowing in recent years to finance deals in which it rents access to high-end artificial intelligence processors, joining an industrywide debt binge that has unsettled some investors. CoreWeave has turned to multiple financing channels to fund the capital-intensive expansion needed to keep pace with the AI boom.

And just in case its already massive debt load - at last check around $30 billion, triple what it was a year earlier - wasn't enough, CoreWeave separately said it plans to offer $3 billion in convertible senior notes due 2032 and $1.25 billion in senior notes due 2031 to cover general business including the repayment of outstanding debt.

The company is offering a 1.5% to 2% coupon on the latest $3 billion in bonds that investors can choose to convert into stock later at a premium, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation. Coreweave is also tapping the junk-bond market for the $1.25 billion in notes, offering just above 10% on the deal that may be sold as soon as Thursday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

In February, the company was seeking to raise about $8.5 billion from banks including Morgan Stanley and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. to help finance its buildout of cloud computing capacity for Meta, Bloomberg reported at the time. 

Meanwhile, Meta has emerged as one of the top spenders on AI infrastructure. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning to drop hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few years on the energy, computing power and talent needed to build, train and run AI models. In its latest earnings call, Meta raised its 2026 capex projections to $115-$135 billion, nearly doubling its 2025 capex spend. 

Earlier this year we noted Nvidia's additional $2 billion investment in the firm to speed construction of new AI factories, and the company's revenue forecast adjustments last fall amid shifting contract timing. CoreWeave also carries roughly $21 billion in debt, a figure that coincidentally matches the scale of its enlarged Meta pact.

The deal underscores a broader truth in the current cycle: hyperscalers are willing to lock in enormous, multi-year contracts to guarantee scarce high-performance computing resources. Nvidia itself has repeatedly highlighted the exponential growth in demand, and contracts of this size keep materializing to feed it. 
 

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/09/2026 - 11:25

Iran To Allow No More Than 15 Vessels Per Day Through Hormuz: Russian Media

Iran To Allow No More Than 15 Vessels Per Day Through Hormuz: Russian Media

Despite the positive development of a shaky US-Iran ceasefire holding, the reality is that Tehran still maintains de facto control over the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway. A mere few vessels passed without incident on Wednesday, before Iran's military closed the strait again, citing Israel's massive attacks on Lebanon.

The Associated Press has emphasized Thursday, "Iran's approval system for ships granted safe passage - after vetting by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps - remains unchanged despite US President Donald Trump’s demand for the strait to be reopened."

"Last week was the busiest week since the start of the war with 72 passages, still 90% below normal volumes, Lloyd’s said," the AP report continues. "Most of the vessels allowed through are connected to Iran, although some Indian vessels have gotten through with diplomatic intervention by the Indian government."

There are currently few indicators revealing Iran's intent for what comes next, and it could be that much gets determined on whether Israel will cease its attacks on Lebanon. Tehran has threatened to renew its ballistic missile attacks of Israel's anti-Hezbollah actions and massive airstrikes on Beirut persist.

Russia, which is an ally of Iran, has in its media published sources saying that Iran will allow no more than 15 vessels per day through Hormuz.

via abc.net

While this has not been confirmed officially by the Islamic Republic or IRGC, the following comes via TASS on Thursday:

Under the ceasefire agreement, Iran will allow no more than 15 vessels per day to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian source told TASS ahead of talks in Islamabad.

"Under the current ceasefire, fewer than 15 ships per day are permitted to transit the Strait of Hormuz. This movement is strictly contingent upon Iran's approval and the enforcement of a specific protocol. This new regulatory framework, operating under the supervision of the IRGC, has been officially communicated to regional parties. There will be no return to the pre-war status quo," the source said.

The same source additionally indicated that "the unfreezing of Iran's blocked assets is a critical executive guarantee that must be realized within this two-week timeframe."

Also, Iran is demanding that the end of the war must be formalized in a resolution of the United Nations Security Council: "If the termination of the war is not codified into a UN Security Council resolution based on our stipulated terms, we are fully prepared to resume combat against the US and the Zionist regim —just as we have over the past 40 days, and with even greater intensity," the source told TASS. Iran is further saying the US cannot build up more forces in the region during the two week ceasefire interim.

As for Iran's protocol for allowing passage, which reportedly could include up to a $2 million fee per vessel payable in cryptocurrency, Lloyd's list outlines the following on where things stand:

  • Vessels transiting the chokepoint must coordinate with the IRGC Navy
  • Iran's latest guidance explicitly warns of anti-ship mines in the main traffic zone of the strait
  • IRGC Navy continues to vet all traffic passing through the strait on the basis of geopolitical affiliation

All of this means that the Iranian delegation in Pakistan will possess real leverage when it meets with the US side led by Vice President JD Vance this weekend. The White House has said talks are set to begin Saturday.

Tyler Durden Thu, 04/09/2026 - 10:45

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