Mario Nawfal

🇺🇸🇻🇦 Silicon Valley has so far survived regulators, lawsuits and angry senators. Now it's got a new opponent, and this one comes armed with a Bible. In South Carolina, 74-year-old Baptist pastor Joseph Hutchinson opened a recent sermon with the Book of Revelation and warned his congregation that "AI wants to be God." He's been preaching for 50 years and says nothing has unsettled his flock quite like AI, not wars and not the economy. Apparently, chatbots are where things get biblical. And he's hardly preaching alone. Pope Leo XIV has compared AI to the Tower of Babel in an encyclical, America's evangelicals have issued an official statement, and the Presbyterians even held a summit. To be fair, the tech crowd kind of walked into this one. When you go around talking about creating a new form of consciousness, you shouldn’t be too surprised when believers hear “playing God.” Source: WSJ / Writer: Julie

🚨🇸🇦 The CEOs of 5 of the world's largest oil companies have DISAPPEARED from a Saudi energy summit's schedule... The heads of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and TotalEnergies were removed from the agenda after deadly Houthi attacks on Riyadh. The conference was set to take place just 6 miles from an airport repeatedly targeted by missiles. BP cited travel disruptions, while Saudi's Minister of Energy acknowledged that danger remains... The kingdom is trying to showcase itself as a global investment hub, but its capital has come under attack... Source: Reuters / Writer: Samuel

🚨🇸🇦 A Saudi Pro League match between Abha and Al-Faisaly has been POSTPONED until Oct 27, after flight disruptions prevented the visiting team from coming. The Houthi attacks on Saudi airports have been relentless, including Saturday's strike on Riyadh's airport that killed 13 people and injured 300+. Authorities in Riyadh have even ordered schools to switch to remote learning for a week as security concerns grow more serious... The attacks are affecting everything from international travel to education and sports in Saudi Arabia, which had been one of the region's most stable countries. Source: Reuters, Dailysports / Writer: Mhedi

🇳🇵 Ok guys, who the hell is playing Jumanji in Nepal? Writer: Sol t.co/zTpuld66D6

🇪🇺🇷🇺 The EU has approved nearly 1,600 NEW sanctions listings targeting Russia... And more than half are linked to ballistic missile production. European FMs have formally adopted the measures, targeting Russia's military-industrial complex. EU FM chief Kallas confirmed the decision, which follows an agreement reached by European diplomats last week. Brussels is stepping up pressure on the industries supplying Russia's war effort. Writer: Samuel t.co/Lx2ySBbm4s

The amount of people trying to silence me is wild

🇷🇺🇺🇦 NATO's SACEUR Gen. Grynkewich on his cause for optimism in the Ukraine war: "The Ukrainians are taking casualties too, but the Russians are taking many, many MORE casualties killed in action every single month. That has long-term impacts on what Russia's future viability is and what kind of prosperity they could have at some point in the future, long after this conflict is over." For both of these countries, and for the world, this war has been a complete fking disaster!! Writers: Mhedi, Michael t.co/MWZvDW1ykI

🇺🇦🇷🇺🇺🇸 Russia hit a power plant in Kharkiv the same evening Trump announced his energy ceasefire, and Zelensky had a pretty dry explanation for why. "It's clear that Putin does not read Truth Social." Zelensky says the strikes didn't stop there either, with Russian glide bombs and drones still hitting Ukraine's energy grid after the announcement. The Kremlin hasn't responded. Kyiv says it backs the ceasefire, but Moscow needs to show it's actually on board, and if it doesn't, Ukraine will respond this winter. All eyes are on the Kremlin now, with everyone wondering if the Kharkiv strike was Putin’s RSVP. Sources: Al Jazeera, The Hill / Writer: Julie t.co/FdlfYV5nep

🚨🇸🇦🇾🇪 BREAKING: The Saudi coalition is bracing for a NEW round of Houthi strikes, involving drones and cruise missiles. It comes right as Riyadh extends the emergency shutdown at its main airport, after at least 4 strikes. If struck again, the Kingdom has promised a response “equally serious.” Writers: Bri, Michael t.co/hblpVgCO7Y

🇸🇦🇾🇪 Saudi is facing a DANGEROUS dilemma after the deadly Houthi attack on Riyadh's airport... And Trump may be about to get involved. The strike killed at least 13 people, including an American citizen, leaving Saudi weighing a major military response. But a ground invasion of Yemen could drag Riyadh into another costly war against the Iran-backed Houthis. Asked whether the U.S. might join strikes against the group, Trump replied: “We may.” 😏 Source: CNN / Writer: Samuel

🇺🇸🇷🇺 Trump's Russian diesel deal could be the first step toward something extraordinary: America abandoning its longstanding alliance with Europe in favor of closer ties with Moscow. While such a dramatic reversal may seem unlikely under present circumstances, the economic and geopolitical incentives driving Washington are beginning to change. The terms of the diesel agreement offers an early example of this shift. Washington has authorized Russian diesel transactions until April 2027, easing sanctions originally designed to deprive Moscow of revenue for its war in Ukraine. The immediate motivation is lowering fuel prices, but the decision also demonstrates how economic interests can begin to outweigh longstanding geopolitical commitments. For decades, Europe was an indispensable economic and strategic partner for America. Today, its value proposition is becoming increasingly difficult to defend. Once a dominant engine of global economic growth, mainland Europe now struggles with industrial decline, expensive energy, sluggish growth and mounting defense costs. And unlike Russia, it lacks the enormous oil and gas reserves that could compensate for those weaknesses. This changes the strategic calculation for Washington. Supporting Ukraine means spending billions confronting Russia, while rebuilding economic relations with Moscow offers access to vast natural resources, potentially cheaper energy and opportunities for trade. One relationship demands enormous financial commitments. The other increasingly promises economic returns. And as America's strategic priorities shift toward Asia, maintaining Europe's security becomes an increasingly difficult expense to justify. The consequences could extend far beyond energy markets. A stronger Russia emerging from the Ukraine war, combined with continued conservative leadership in Washington, could accelerate America's withdrawal from European security commitments and eventually bring NATO's future into question. A complete American break with Europe remains a distant prospect, but the incentives that once held the transatlantic alliance together are changing. We're now looking at the prospect of America gradually replacing its alliance with Europe with a strategic partnership with Russia. Writer: Mhedi t.co/DLtjsNtERa

🚨🇮🇷🇸🇦🇾🇪 Iran's Baghaei on the Saudi-Houthi conflict: "We are deeply concerned by the events that are unfolding in the Arabian Peninsula. We have repeatedly expressed our willingness to assist in dialogue between the parties. We believe the escalation of tensions will only benefit the Zionist regime in the region. We absolutely do NOT approve of the continuation of conflict and war between two Islamic countries." Writer: Michael t.co/W22qdjKjiD

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦 Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on much, but 6 senators just teamed up to tell Trump to DITCH his Russian diesel deal. 4 Republicans, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and John Curtis, joined Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal in slamming the deal, arguing the U.S. shouldn’t be throwing Putin a financial lifeline while Russia keeps killing Ukrainian civilians. They also say it breaks the 2022 law banning Russian energy imports, and that the White House never ran it by Congress as required. The timing doesn’t help either, with the deal landing just weeks after Congress passed a law pushing tariffs on Russia’s biggest oil and gas customers. The deal suspends sanctions on Russian fuel exports for 6 months so Moscow can sell at market prices, while analysts doubt it’ll even make much of a dent in diesel prices. Trump’s camp is selling the deal as cheaper diesel and leverage over Putin, but nobody’s ever seen Putin let anyone have their cake and eat it too. Sources: AP, CNN / Writer: Julie

🚨🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iranian FM spox. Baghaei: "The exchange of messages through intermediaries is ongoing between Iran and the United States. Iran's 7-day plan was a demand for Iran's legitimate rights. These 7 points include lifting the naval blockade, halting the war on all fronts, and releasing Iran's assets. To summarize it for you, everything we had agreed upon in the memorandum of understanding. The conditions haven't changed for us..." Baghaei went on to note the "contradiction" between U.S. prioritization of Iran's nuclear program, while also claiming to have dismantled it several times. "Our position is that we must prioritize ending America's interventionist and aggressive actions." Writer: Michael t.co/iJDe42TUz4

🇮🇳 Police detained hundreds of protesters in Delhi for the second consecutive day as demonstrators demanded the resignation of India's Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar. The protests are driven by allegations of electoral fraud and vote manipulation in the 2024 general election and subsequent Bihar elections. The controversy has now spilled onto the streets, with repeated mass detentions doing little to quell demands for greater electoral transparency. Writer: Mhedi t.co/9QyD6QTjqF

🚨🇺🇸 Democrat James Talarico, who's in a tight race for U.S. Senate in Texas, was asked about claims he spent the past week in a mental health facility: “That's not true. Uh, I just had the flu and I feel much better…” ARE YOU GUYS BUYING THIS?? Writer: Michael t.co/mrn3QUgeaz

🇦🇫🇪🇺 Europe says it can't recognize the Taliban because of how they treat women, but it's happy to sit down with them when there are Afghans to send home. In June, more than 20 European officials quietly met 5 Taliban reps at an airport hotel in Brussels to talk deportations, the first meeting like it on EU soil. Human rights never even came up. Germany is leading the way, with direct deportation flights to Kabul and Taliban officials now working out of Afghan missions in Berlin and Bonn. France is thinking about doing the same. And the Taliban know they've got Europe over a barrel. They want control of more Afghan embassies across Europe, plus cash and economic aid. Their ambassador to Qatar is even warning that otherwise “Afghans will go like a flood to Europe.” So Europe gets to pick its poison, cozy up to the Taliban and bin the human rights speeches, or risk the “flood” Kabul is threatening. Source: NYT / Writer: Julie

🇺🇸 Rapper Bhad Bhabie, the infamous “Cash Me Outside” girl, just had another MASSIVE meltdown after catching a stranger filming her in public. Ten years after Dr. Phil, she's still giving people exactly the kind of chaos that made her famous. Staged or just another day in the life of Bhad Bhabie? Writer: Sol t.co/N2KK541zfM

🇫🇷🇨🇳🇲🇾 Around $90 million is gone from bugged Ledger wallets, and the reseller that sold them had a new owner nobody was allowed to talk about. Some of the wallets, sold through CryptoBilis, Ledger's authorized reseller for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, had a tiny implant hidden behind the screen. It grabs the recovery phrase during setup and beams it out over a cellular connection. The devices still pass Ledger's own authenticity check because the original security chip is left untouched. Ledger has confirmed the implant in at least one device. CryptoBilis was sold in March, and by August, 100% of its shares belonged to a single individual with an address in China's Heilongjiang province. The original co-founders say they walked away from the business after the sale, and confidentiality terms kept them from announcing it. Nobody has linked the mystery owner officially to the implants yet, and Ledger is staying quiet on the ownership change. That's a big silence for a company whose whole pitch is "don't trust, verify." Ledger hasn't said whether it knew its authorized reseller for 3 countries had been secretly sold to an unknown buyer, and either answer looks bad for a brand that sells trust for a living. Its line so far is that only a "limited" number of devices were hit and its own systems are safe. Posts are also circulating claiming a tampered device turned up in Europe, allegedly bought at MediaMarkt, but Ledger hasn't confirmed any cases outside CryptoBilis. Between this and the Magic Eden exploit that saw thousands of NFTs stolen from wallets just weeks ago, it's been a rough month for holders. Turns out cold storage doesn't help much when the wallet phones home. Sources: Ledger, The Verge, Bloomberg, Gizmodo, Bitcoin News, BitPinas, eGamers / Writer: Julie

Nobody told them this was a bad idea? Or did they just ignore every single person who did? Writer: Daniyal t.co/Kjqb0lrWhu

The Houthis will stop bombing Saudi as soon as Saudi stops bombing Yemen

You've gotta hand it to the Israeli police... They know how to deal with protesters 😂 Writer: Ian t.co/6b98C2twjF

Finally, proof that gyms are trying to kill you Best to stay away if you ask me Writer: Ian t.co/69gzXWuMZd

🇵🇸🇮🇱🇺🇸 Gaza’s homes are rubble, their deeds are buried with them, and now Gazans have to prove they ever lived there at all. Most of Gaza's physical archives are gone, lawyers' offices and the bar association were destroyed, and people sheltering near the bombed land registry ended up burning Ottoman-era records just to cook and keep warm. So lawyers are piecing cases together from electricity bills, old videos and the word of former neighbors, many of whom have been killed in the war. There's a reason they're racing the clock. Israel holds more than half of Gaza, and a U.S. military map seen by the FT marked a "US Planned Community Area" over private Palestinian land, next to a planned UAE housing complex, all inside a "Rafah Clearance Zone." When planners were told they’d have to check who owned the land before building on it, they reportedly reacted with dismay, as if the 2 million people who lived there were a paperwork problem. Source: FT / Writer: Julie t.co/AEZRCLnbZv

Criticizing Israel for the genocide in Gaza does not mean you need to blame them for every single war in the Middle East

🇬🇧 They went to Brighton to promote what used to be thought of as ordinary non-woke British values. What came next shows you how COOKED the UK is. Writer: Mhedi t.co/GAU2YRgY69

🇮🇱 The fake Rabbi softened him up with flattery and then got him to admit he wanted to KILL KIDS in Gaza. The (apparent) IDF soldier said, "I'm with you, but there are leaders bigger than me, and I can't do whatever I want." Officially, that is... Writer: Mhedi t.co/kIMBdhLG7N

🇷🇺🇦🇷 A Russian guy in Buenos Aires offered a homeless man 20,000 Argentine pesos (around $13) if he could do 20 PUSH-UPS. The man accepted the challenge, managed exactly ONE push-up, and then just stayed there COMPLETELY MOTIONLESS. The Russian had absolutely no idea what the hell was happening. He eventually handed over the money anyway and walked off. Did the Russian just get played, or did that ONE push-up nearly finish the poor guy? Writer: Sol t.co/8XbIiXKUVU

Maybe it wasn't the best time for that joke 😬 Writer: Ian t.co/4S3kZDa5nM

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇸🇦 Oil prices slipped after Trump announced a Russia-Ukraine "energy ceasefire," and traders started betting on more Russian fuel flowing into the market. U.S. crude dropped to around $90 a barrel and Brent to around $104, even with the Houthis still pounding Saudi Arabia and tankers getting hit in the Gulf over the weekend. The catch is that the last time Trump announced an energy ceasefire, Zelensky said no deal had actually been finalized, so it's far from clear this one will hold. Wall Street is brushing it all off for now, with stock futures up. But oil is still about 50% pricier than it was in January, and that's showing up at the pump and in inflation, with fresh U.S. numbers due this week. However, for now, even a shaky ceasefire is buying markets a breather. Sources: Bloomberg, FXStreet / Writer: Julie