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Bio-inspired whiskers enable tiny drones to navigate in darkness using touch EurekAlert!
Cheez-It flexes with protein-loaded cheese cracker Food Dive
The night sky is getting 10% brighter every year. We’re forgetting what darkness feels like The Guardian
A giant illegal fireworks balloon reportedly broke apart over São Paulo, Brazil, creating a surreal scene in the sky. 🎈💥
These unmanned balloons, often launched during festive celebrations, can reach 50+ meters in height and are frequently loaded with fireworks. Brazilian… pic.twitter.com/U1WRMYAjaV
— Kaptan Hindustan™ (@KaptanHindustan) September 29, 2026
Climate/Environment
The Engine in the Shadow: Why the Subpolar Gyre is Europe’s Immediate Climate Wildcard Climate Uncovered
Mass Heat Wave Deaths in Europe Show Climate Extremes Are Outpacing Adaptation Efforts Inside Climate News
‘Explosion of melt rates’: 20% of Swiss glaciers lost in five years The Guardian
Tropical fueled heavy rainfall continues to cause flash flooding in Southwest Balanced Weather
Central Tokyo receives rain for 34 straight days, longest on record The Mainichi
Pandemics
Fifth unvaccinated person dies of measles; CDC still not counting all deaths Ars Technica
Japan
A Weberian bureaucrat in King Donald’s court Observing Japan
China?
One Stone, Three Birds: Beijing’s Quiet World War II Victory in Washington George Chen
China opens training center with Laos, marking third overseas military base Breaking Defense
Africa
US Launches Two More Airstrikes in Somalia as Bombing Campaign Continues Amid Media Blackout Antiwar
Syraqistan
Massacre at Minab: The School That Became a Grave Drop Site
‘We are not armed’: Last conversation of Iranian destroyer Dena before US attack Press TV
Rubio orders Iranian delegation to leave New York, Iran rejects expulsion claim Anadolu Agency
The Iraqi withdrawal: sovereignty, strategic infrastructure, and laying the groundwork for the next confrontation with Iran Julia Kassem
***
How did Omani pilot get clearance to fly to Israel? Unanswered questions after the flydubai hijack scare Firstpost
Iran Says Mossad Planned False-Flag Aviation Attacks to Blame Tehran Fars. In order to intensify aviation-related sanctions.
Last week Netanyahu was in the UAE, at the request of the local brothel madam MBZ. Effectively Arab puppets are begging Israel to strip-search and punish them, and take everything that they have (unlike the heretical Iranian Shia, who remain un-Islamically against any humiliation…
— Alon Mizrahi (@alon_mizrahi) September 30, 2026
Old Blighty
Iran challenges UK over airbase plot: Why release the suspects? TRT World
Netanyahu Gave ISRAEL UK “Intelligence” Linking Iran to RAF Incident
EVERY SINGLE TIME it is NETANYAHU
Netanyahu told Fox News: “We gave the Brits the intel that there was going to be an attack, and it’s an Iranian-sponsored attack.”
There were NO EXPLOSIVES in those vans and… pic.twitter.com/NLRrmTtFrf
— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) October 1, 2026
‘Strong indications’ that Iran played role in RAF Fairford incident, says Burnham The Guardian
Reporting of the RAF Fairford arrests blows the idea of a ‘free press’ out of the water Jonathan Cook
‘Welcome back,’ says Macron, as UK PM opens door to EU return AFP
European Disunion
EU to offer single-market access to candidate countries Politico
Italian inflation up to 4.2% in September, highest level in three years – Istat ANSA
Public workers in France strike over pay as student protests turn violent Al Jazeera
Drastic budget cutbacks essential to fund Europe’s defense, Germany and allies warn CNBC
Closing the EU’s inflation governance gap: the limits of monetary policy and the case for a new policy framework for shockflation Journal of European Public Policy
Remarkable shift in German industry thinking on China. From new BDI paper:
“Even if de-risking entails costs, including in the form of counter-reactions, passivity would in the long term be economically considerably more costly & irresponsible from a security-policy perspective” pic.twitter.com/UCRbEmAJs0
— Finbarr Bermingham (@fbermingham) September 29, 2026
Germany’s far-right AfD party reveals plans for forum with Russia and US to discuss reviving Nord Stream Ukrainska Pravda
Pentagon excludes key allies from NATO meeting Politico
New Not-So-Cold War
👀 Lithuanian PM: “I was addressing the secretary general [Mark Rutte asking,] ‘Is there any proof, real proof intelligence services are providing, something on the table, that Russia is getting ready for something?’ And there is actually none.”
In other words, most of the “OMG!… pic.twitter.com/2UdYUWWKPR
— 1g0r.B0hm (@1g0rB0hm) September 30, 2026
Russia’s New Weapon: Surgical Energy Grid Warfare Marat’s Substack
Russia views European factories producing arms for Kiev as military targets — diplomat TASS
Ukraine’s biggest steel city is switching off. Kryvyi Rih, 600,000 people, lived off mills and ore. Those giants paid for the city. Now they are idle. ArcelorMittal alone employs about 17,000; after four Russian missile strikes in five weeks it may not restart. The main ore… pic.twitter.com/tbI3S5oEBU
— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) September 29, 2026
Ukraine unveils new Mavic alternative, but Chinese dependence persists Kyiv Indepedent
If Russia attacks Sweden, the Swedish Air Force will strike targets deep inside enemy territory rather than limit itself to defense – Colonel Carl Bergqvist, Commandant of the Swedish Air Warfare Centre
“An attack must come at a high cost,” Bergqvist said. According to him,… pic.twitter.com/dzH88EFEVn
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 30, 2026
Ukraine’s finances: everything we don’t know Kyiv independent
CIA’s Ratcliffe Reportedly Warned Kremlin of Soviet-Style Collapse in Moscow Visit Kyiv Post
South of the Border
Cuba Publishes the Most Comprehensive Botanical Work in Its History TeleSur
Trump 2.0
Trump’s Finger Gets Closer to Nuclear Button Ken Klippenstein
Everyone Got Pete Hegseth Wrong Foreign Policy
Why they couldn’t beat Trump—and won’t beat Vance. American Mind
Midterms 2026
Why Meta and Google are focused on obscure local elections Oligarch Watch
Democrats Suck
Democrats Have Created a Consultant-Driven Echo Chamber Jacobin
Jeffrey Soros shares here that he’s known El-Sayed since 2012 when he interviewed him as a finalist for the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, which paid part of his grad school expenses.
(Fun DYK: Know who won one of these the year before? Vivek Ramaswamy) https://t.co/wSoxzPZTHI— Silicon Valley Fodder (@Playerinthgame) September 30, 2026
Realignment and Legitimacy
Useful Shadows. Aurelien
Our Famously Free Press
The death of Euractiv Matthew Karnitschnig
The Disastrous Bari Weiss Experiment May Be Coming To An End At CBS/CNN TechDirt
U.S. Liberal Media Literacy Guide: “This Isn’t Who We Are” Black Agenda Report
Police State Watch
Trump Administration Plans to Add 5,000 New ICE Employees by End of Year Truthout
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
How to Beat Surveillance Pricing Before It Bleeds You Dry Wired
❗️ The Dutch intelligence service AIVD is warning people not to hold confidential conversations in or near their cars, saying the microphones in many modern vehicles can technically be switched on remotely to eavesdrop.
Some state actors can request car data from carmakers and… pic.twitter.com/HHsIL2qhvy
— International Cyber Digest (@IntCyberDigest) September 30, 2026
MAHA
RFK Jr outlines expansive vision for collecting US health data at Maha event The Guardian
RFK Jr: Sam Altman told me it would be malpractice for a doctor to make a diagnosis or prescription without checking AI pic.twitter.com/rRGNJdEspL
— FactPost (@factpostnews) September 29, 2026
Supply Chain
Global Supply Chain Risks: The Sectors and Regions Most Exposed Lori Ann Larocco
Economy
The US Economy “Is Running Hot,” Lots of Consumer Spending Growth, Lots of Inflation. The Bond Market Sees it Too Wolf Street
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Pentagon taps Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to help decide what the military should do next TechCrunch
Boeing’s First Preview of the F/A-XX Sixth Generation Carrier Based Fighter Reveals Very Low Observable Design Military Watch
Why the Pentagon just dropped $450M on tungsten mining Defense News
AI
Trump plan to combat AI risks hinges on Big Tech pals policing themselves Ars Technica
NORTHPOINT OFFERS HAZLE TOWNSHIP HOUSEHOLDS $10,000 EACH, MANY RESIDENTS SAY NO Hoodline
FTC reportedly looking into whether OpenAI, Anthropic violated consumer protection laws Yahoo!finance
Irony alert: OpenAI whines that Chinese model stole its special IP that it stole from everybody else The Register
Class Warfare
Amazon Is Deploying AI to Spy on Its Workers and Bust Unions Before They Form Truthout
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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