Thieves steal 8 objects from the Louvre in daring daytime heist France24
Cooperative meerkats, guide ants, and dining-room monitor hens: Animals can teach, too El Pais
Climate/Environment
World’s oceans losing their greenness through global heating, study finds The Guardian
Trump’s planned Fannie and Freddie IPO and the climate elephant in the room Moving Day
‘It’s effectively a bailout’: Edison benefits from fine print in Newsom’s last-minute utility legislation Los Angeles Times
Pandemics
COVID-19 is “Airborne AIDS”: provocative oversimplification, emerging science, or something in between? AJPM Focus
As the Flu Surges in Asia, Could Getting Sick Year-Round Be the New Normal? TIME
Water
Water reveals superpowers hidden at the nanoscale University of Manchester
Water Level of Armenia’s Lake Sevan Falling Rapidly Threatening Economy and Population Window on Eurasia
China?
China’s emerging export control regime High Capacity
TACO, Nexperia, and what exactly does Europe want from China? China Translated
China Is Already Winning the Trade War America Wanted Bloomberg
Chinese tech giants pause stablecoin plans after Beijing steps in FT
Why Xi’s Military Purges Are Really Happening And Why They Always Happen This Way
What’s unfolding in China right now, the expulsion of top generals and a sweeping military purge is part of a recurring pattern in Chinese power politics, when the leadership feels internal… https://t.co/A2sGhQGETZ pic.twitter.com/pwHqdXLhRq
— EndGame Macro (@onechancefreedm) October 18, 2025
Support for government in China: is the data accurate? Jason Hickel
Pakistan-Afghanistan
Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Qatar talks Channel News Asia
Friends Or Foes: The Conflict Of Interests Between Pakistan And The Taliban In Containing Tehrik-I-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – Analysis Eurasia Review
Syraqistan
Israel heavily bombs Gaza in major ceasefire violation Middle East Eye
Soon after the explosion in Rafah, I’m told by a source familiar, the White House and Pentagon knew that the incident was caused by an Israeli settler bulldozer running over unexploded ordnance — contradicting Netanyahu’s claim that Hamas had popped up from tunnels.
After… https://t.co/Xwy63sEL3M
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) October 19, 2025
Israeli army says Gaza ceasefire back on after day of deadly attacks Al Jazeera
Risk of famine hasn’t left Gaza: Israel’s aid cuts reflect insistence on using starvation as a tool of genocide Euro-Med
🚨Israel’s plan for Gaza: divide it with a Berlin-wall like deadly line; symbolic & limited PR “reconstruction” only in areas fully controlled by the IDF & run by criminal gangs & collaborators; rest of Gaza will be kept a wasteland regularly bombed by Israel & raided by gangs… pic.twitter.com/l8jzr8ZYWG
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) October 17, 2025
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October 19, 2025. On the first day of the olive harvest in Turmus’ayyer, the Israeli Defense Force leads a group of farmers directly into a brutal ambush by armed settlers. These people need to be in prison by tomorrow, and the people of this village, and all across Palestine,… https://t.co/i4PbG9jn4j pic.twitter.com/i67CjLB2gg
— jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) October 19, 2025
Zionism’s Cultivation of a Closed Heart Countercurrents
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LNG tanker on fire off Yemen coast after explosion Al Jazeera
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US envoy says Syria ‘back to our side’ after joint raid with extremist-led govt forces The Cradle
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Iran, China, Russia Declare UNSCR 2231 Expired Tasnim
‘Strategic regret’ about avoiding nukes puts top Khamenei aide in spotlight Amwaj
Old Blighty
UK calls up Armed Forces veterans for digital ID soft launch The Register
Boris Johnson confesses: He’s fallen for ChatGPT The Register
Labour is betting on bubble economics Counterfire
European Disunion
New EU members could join without full voting rights Politico
German Federal Office of Civil Protection publishes guide removing war as an ‘unlikely’ possibility Euronews
New Not-So-Cold War
Trump urged Zelenskyy to accept Putin’s terms or be ‘destroyed’ by Russia FT
Is Trump Attempting A Regime Change Op Against Putin? Mark Wauck
TPP STANDS FOR TRUMP-PUTIN PEACE AND THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING –ANTICIPATING THE MENU AT THE BUDAPEST SUMMIT John Helmer
The American superweapon that scared Putin so much he may make peace in Budapest Daily News Hungary. Lol.
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Giant Russian Gas Plant Suspends Intake After Ukrainian Drone Strike Reuters
EU countries set to agree 2028 deadline for Russian gas ban Euractiv
EU Seeks Maritime Declaration To Inspect Russia’s ‘Shadow Fleet’ Reuters
China Joins Russia’s Shadow Fleet with First-Ever Dark LNG Ship-to-Ship Transfer gCaptain
“I did not blow up Nord Stream,” says suspect in first interview after extradition ruling Notes from Poland
The Caucasus
Analysis: Mehdiyev arrest points to lingering Azerbaijani-Russian tension Eurasianet
L’affaire Epstein
Prince Andrew is first royal to be caught up in criminal probe in more than 20 years as Met Police ‘actively’ investigates claims he asked personal protection officer to dig up dirt on Virginia Giuffre Daily Mail
South of the Border
Exclusive: US returning Caribbean strike survivors to Colombia and Ecuador, Trump says Reuters. Wait, I thought these were dangerous narco-terrorists who required summary execution.
Rubio promised to betray U.S. informants to get Trump’s El Salvador prison deal WaPo
Trump Baselessly Calls Colombia’s Petro ‘Drug Dealer’ as US Bombs Another Boat Common Dreams
Rodrigo Paz to take power as Bolivia grapples with deep economic crisis Anadolu Agency
Trump 2.0
“No Kings” Protest (and Arrests) Have Begun Ken Klippenstein. “NSPM-7 is already being used to detain protesters over speech.”
A No Kings Related Note Karl Sanchez
Unfettered and Unaccountable: How Trump is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force ProPublica
Trump isn’t sending troops to cities with highest crime rates, data shows Kansas Reflector
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Secret Service finds hunting stand with line of sight to Trump’s Air Force One in Florida Axios
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Federal agency overseeing US nuclear stockpile will furlough most of its workforce starting Monday CNN
Democrats en déshabillé
The Congressional Black Caucus’s Silent Partnership With AIPAC The Nation
Police State Watch
Exclusive: Report Finds Systemic Atrocities in Colorado Immigrant Jail Migrant Insider
Writer Who Survived ADX Supermax Prison Describes How It “Entombs” People Truthout
Imperial Collapse Watch
Hitlerism, Trumpism, Netanyahuism, Le Penism, Macronism Emmanuel Todd
Groves of Academe
Abbott: ‘Texas is targeting professors’ over ‘leftist ideologies’ The Hill
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: Does the Left Have Trouble with Making Things in America? BIG by Matt Stoller
How I Became a Populist The New Republic
Healthcare?
Downcoding is Back From the Dead: Insurers Resurrected a Scheme to Pay Doctors Less That the Courts Banned HEALTH CARE un-covered
“Liberation Day”
The Auto Industry’s Bruising Year of Back-to-Back Supply-Chain Snafus WSJ
Crapification?
Windows 11’s October update just broke the Windows Recovery Environment — USB keyboards and mice unusable in Windows RE after latest bug hits Tom’s Hardware
The Zipper Is Getting Its First Major Upgrade in 100 Years Wired
Qualcomm Buys Arduino, and the Open-Source Community Is SkepticalIEEE Spectrum
Tech Workers Versus Enshittification Communications of the ACM
Class Warfare
The AI revolution’s next casualty could be the gig economy Business Insider
New York City Nurses Confront an Austerity Avalanche Dollars & Sense
Dollar Store Workers Fight to Improve Jobs, Even Without a Union Capital & Main
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
