Representatives for US President Donald Trump'sBoard of Peacehave discussed supply chains and other infrastructure projects in Gaza with Dubai-based DP World, a state-owned logistics firm, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the matter.
According to the outlet, the talks involve strategies for the Emirati corporation to manage logistics related to the distribution of humanitarian aid and other goods entering the Gaza territory.
The board, which originated from Trump's Gaza plan following an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, was established to oversee the enclave's postwar redevelopment, securing over $7 billion from members for reconstruction funds and $10 billion from the US separately.
This might be the US’ final warning before it takes drastic action to punish those who continue to reject Trump’s demands.
Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby gave an important speech at mid-April’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group in which he urged the Europeans to step up their transition to something that he described earlier this year as “NATO 3.0”.
As was explained here, “The idea is that NATO should return to focusing on defending itself instead of overextending itself in the Indo-Pacific, West Asia, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere”, and the preceding hyperlinked analysis explains how it aligns with Trump 2.0’s policies.
Circling back to Colby’s speech, he demanded that “Europe must accelerate its assumption of primary responsibility for the conventional defense of the continent”, including arming Ukraine through the “Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List” (PURL) program in which the US plays the most significant role.
To that end, “The need to quickly rebuild European munitions stocks is paramount, as is the need to remove protectionist trade barriers that stifle the continent’s industrial potential.”
He added that “Developing a robust, capable, and integrated European defense industrial base cannot simply be an aspiration, but an absolute pre-requisite for credible deterrence and defense.”
Knowing how obsessed they are with Ukraine, Colby then threw in that “This will be critical to achieving an end to the war in Ukraine, on terms that support an enduring peace.”
He then called for more “deeds and a fundamental change in attitude” from them to “accelerate this transition to a ‘NATO 3.0’”.
Colby concluded that “If Europe rises to this moment – truly embracing primary responsibility for the defense of the continent in line with our vision of a rebalanced ‘NATO 3.0’ – we will all be stronger and more credible in defending our people and our national interests.”
He also ominously warned them midway through his speech that “I underline the criticality of [NATO stepping up to help secure the Strait of Hormuz per Trump’s expectation] for our relationship going forward.”
As was assessed here last month and was just implicitly reaffirmed by Colby, the US might speed up its planned military reprioritization away from Europe to the Americas and the Indo-Pacific if they reject Trump’s request by ending its significant PURL contributions before NATO can replace them. That would facilitate a full Russian victory in Ukraine, or at least spook the Europeans into fearing that this is inevitable if they don’t step up right after he cuts off arms again, thus getting them to do what he wants.
If some members of the bloc refuse to contribute while others do, then Trump might impose his reportedly considered pay-to-play model that was described here, which would remove “dissidents” from decision-making processes and withdraw the US’ Article 5 support from them. These punishments could also be imposed for refusing to spend 5% of GDP on defense. It’s very likely that Colby conveyed these punitive plans to his counterparts on the sidelines of the event even if he only hinted at them.
His urging of them to step up their transition to “NATO 3.0”, which is his brainchild, can therefore be considered the US’ final warning before it takes drastic action to punish those who continue to reject Trump’s demands.
Imposing the pay-to-play model is one form that this could take while cutting off arms to Ukraine once again could be another.
Both could also happen together.
It’s unclear what NATO as a whole will do, let alone its individual members, but it’s obvious that Trump is losing patience with them.
The US has suspended all funding and security coordination with Iraq, and shipments of dollars the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), until a new Baghdad government acceptable to Washington is formed, Saudi state-owned Al-Hadath reported Monday.
The US is also conditioning continued security cooperation on the disclosure of those involved in the bombing of its embassy, the news channel added.
Nevertheless, on Monday, the CBI released a statement rejecting the Al-Hadath report. Since 2003, a decision issued by Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) head Paul Bremer has required that all Iraqi oil revenues be paid into an account at the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York, giving the US the ability to control how many US dollars are returned to the CBI.
From that point until today, the Iraqi Ministry of Finance has had to submit funding requests to the US Treasury, which then approves or denies them based on its own criteria.
This monthly transfer of US dollars, flown into Baghdad in pallets of hard cash, determines Iraq's ability to pay for basic needs such as salaries, food, and medicine.
Whenever Washington believes that Iraq is not aligned with US regional goals, including enforcing economic sanctions on Iran, Baghdad's major trading partner and a source of natural gas for electricity production, these fund transfers can be delayed or reduced.
The Coordination Framework (CF), the largest parliamentary bloc of Shia parties, has not yet selected a prime minister nearly five months after securing a plurality in the latest elections.
Former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, viewed by the US as "close" to Iran, was initially chosen to replace incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
However, while Washington wants to replace Sudani, it also opposes Maliki's return to power.
"Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos. That should not be allowed to happen again," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after Maliki emerged as a candidate for prime minister in January.
"Because of his insane policies and ideologies, if elected, the United States of America will no longer help Iraq," he said. If we are not there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom. MAKE IRAQ GREAT AGAIN!"
Maliki was the prime minister in 2014 when ISIS conquered large swathes of Iraq, including the country's second-largest city, Mosul.
Maliki received much of the blame for the loss of nearly one-third of the country's territory to ISIS, which enjoyed covert support from the US military and Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani.
The CF, which won 185 of 329 seats in the last election, must nominate a prime minister by April 26.
Well before Mark Carney was elected as Canada's Prime Minister in the wake of numerous scandals surrounding Justin Trudeau, critics noted that the candidate represented a far greater threat to Canada's freedom largely because he is far more devious than Trudeau ever was.
Carney is a central banker and high level World Economic Forum globalist well acquainted with the liberal "Reset" agenda, and it is no mistake that he has taken control of Canada at a time when European elites are pushing for an economic and geopolitical separation from the US. The plan is obvious - To isolate the US in an effort to stop the spread of conservative and nationalist movements throughout the west.
In other words, the globalists/leftists are trying to build a new empire in a last-ditched scramble to prevent their liberal order from fading away. Carney pretends as if they are breaking from the old system and starting something new by "calling out" the US. In reality, it was the US that broke from the liberal system and refused to "go along to get along".
It was the US that refused to conform to the multicultural agenda, open borders, ESG and DEI politics, the transgender cult and the indoctrination of children with socialist and LGBT ideology, not to mention the fact that so many foreign nations have been feeding off US taxpayer dollars for decades through institutions like USAID.
Vast numbers of their own citizens are rebelling against liberal governments. Movements to stop the multicultural agenda and mass immigration are gaining momentum. Right-wing political parties are quickly growing, inspired by conservative success against the woke cult in the US.
The liberals are circling the wagons, and it would seem that Canada is meant to play a key role in this "new order". Prime Minister Mark Carney has been escalating his anti-US rhetoric since he entered office while threatening to build closer economic partnerships with hostile foreign entities like the CCP in China.
As we asked after the Liberal Convention in Montreal, are Canadians being primed for an open conflict with the US? The rhetoric coming from the nation's liberal government is sounding increasingly aggressive, and not just in terms of economic separation. In his latest "address to The nation", Carney doubled down on his militant position, citing the history of Canada (including the War of 1812) as an ongoing battle against a "predatory" US.
It's fascinating to see a globalist like Carney try to paint the US defense against European influences as if it this was an act of war against Canada (which did not become a country until 1867). The war of 1812 was instigated by the British Empire after their Royal Navy interfered with US trade, stopping American merchant vessels on the high seas and kidnapping men they claimed were British subjects. They then forced these American citizens to fight in their war against the French.
Estimates of kidnapped Americans range from 9,000–15,000 between 1793 and 1812. The 1807 Chesapeake-Leopard affair, where a British warship fired on a U.S. Navy frigate and seized sailors, nearly sparked war at the time and became a major flashpoint. Finally, the British engaged in arming and instigating an insurgency among the native Indians in the Great Lakes region in order to terrorize US settlements.
Canada was a controlled region of the elitist empire back then, just as it is today.
There is no US invasion of Canada today, but Carney is painting a narrative as if this is an imminent threat. US tariffs have shaken Canada to its core. Over 75% of the country's exports are sold in US markets. Their trade proximity made Canada one of the wealthiest nations in the world per capita and gave them one of the richest middle class populations in 2014-2015. However, extreme-left wing policies have ruined Canada's economic advantage.
This was not the Trump Administration's doing, it was their own doing. Trump's opposition to Canada is partly economic (Trump wants more trade parity), but it is also predominantly ideological. They are, essentially, a woke/globalist enclave looming on the US border and it is clear that they intend to act as a foothold for the elites in North America.
Carney's rhetoric only reinforces the suspicion that there is an agenda afoot to isolate the US. The problem is that Canada is already suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis, with inflation, high taxes and housing shortages crushing their middle class. The threat is so great that provinces like Alberta are seriously considering secession. Furthermore, there is no trade network on Earth that can possibly replace the highly lucrative arrangement Canada has had with the US.
The Prime Minister's efforts to stoke "national unity" among Canadians by painting the US as the "big bad wolf" is actually setting them up for disaster.
Seasonally lower demand ahead of the peak summer driving season and the continued turbulence in the Middle East could extend the violent oil price swings for months ahead, the top executive of oil trader Gunvor has told the Financial Times.
“It is a little bit of a more challenging, softer period that we need to be careful of,” Gary Pedersen, chairman and CEO of Gunvor Group, told FT in an interview published on Monday.
“Frankly, it could be very choppy,” commented on the oil market Pedersen, who took over the top job at one of the world’s biggest physical oil trading groups after a management buy-out in December 2025.
Before the big shake-up at the group, Gunvor was accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of being a Kremlin puppet and was denied a license to take over the international operations of Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil, which the United States sanctioned last autumn.
The recent violent swings in oil futures prices were partly due to what Gunvor’s new head Pedersen attributed in the FT interview to a “masterclass” in political messaging from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Oil futures prices have sold off sharply several times in recent weeks following various comments from President Trump that a deal with Iran is imminent or the war is “very close to over”.
But oil futures markets haven’t fully priced in the major disruption to physical supply that has crashed with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the severely constrained Middle Eastern crude and fuel supply.
Physical crude supplies remain very tight as buyers across the world scramble for replacement of the oil from the Middle East, Gunvor’s Pedersen told FT.
In a sign that buyers are rushing to lock in supply, empty supertankers have left Asia en route to the U.S. via the Cape of Good Hope in one of the biggest queues of vessels ever seen at sea—ships sent to load U.S. crude.
A pink military-style vehicle moves through a street rally in Iran, carrying several women dressed in black chadors and hijabs.
Pink missiles, pink drones and pink firearms. Women with uncovered hair—braids, ponytails, short bobs—stood beside weapons, waved flags and smiled for cameras in scenes broadcast across Iranian media. Tehran appears willing to try almost anything to preserve power.
Critics say the imagery forms part of a new Islamic Republic campaign that pairs missiles with fashion, war with pop culture and force with softness.
Liora Hendelman-Baavur, author of Creating the Modern Iranian Woman, told Iran International the visuals resemble Japan’s “kawaii” culture — imagery built around cuteness — but applied here to rockets and war.
“I think it is trying to make violence look cute,” Hendelman-Baavur said. “It is trying to appeal to the youth, to Gen Z.”
She said the campaign appears aimed at a generation that has filled streets, campuses and online spaces during years of unrest.
“We hear a lot of very aggressive and violent language coming from officials,” she said.
“And we also see it in many of the posters and murals being displayed in Iran. Violence and missiles — with red as the central color — are meant to show they are invincible and victorious. And on the other hand, we have this very light, pinkish, idyllic way of presenting a different reality … to demonstrate a whole different picture of what is really going on.”
A pink-painted missile bearing Persian script sits on display, turning a weapon of war into a piece of stylized propaganda.
The result, she said, is two messages at once: murals, rockets and threats for one audience; pink colors, uncovered hair and festival scenes for another — a duality.
The campaign comes just over 100 days after one of the deadliest crackdowns in modern history, when at least 36,500 people were killed during the bloodiest days of the uprising on January 8 and 9 alone. The Islamic Republic continues to execute political dissidents linked to the January protests.
Any publicity — even negative — is good
For Iranian pop culture expert Siavash Rokni, the scenes are less about change than circulation.
He called the imagery a public relations stunt meant to fill feeds, group chats, broadcasts and headlines with new pictures after months of funeral processions, executions, arrests and mourning.
“With PR stunts, it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad — what matters is that it circulates,” Rokni said.
He said many Iranians know the difference between staged images and daily life, but viewers abroad may not.
“What worries me isn’t Iranians — it’s people outside Iran who might see this and think everything is normal. That’s where it becomes dangerous.”
Others say the campaign also keeps state control over women at the center of public life. Even without hijab, women’s faces, hair and bodies remain tools in official messaging.
Pink missiles, pink drones, pink firearms — and women without hijab front and centre. The Islamic Republic has overhauled its propaganda playbook amid ceasefire negotiations with the US, just as Iran's clerical establishment faces its most uncertain moment in decades. pic.twitter.com/ujxi73mNpe
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 20, 2026
Retreat — for now — on Islamist ideology
It may also point to pressure inside the system itself.
Arash Azizi, author of What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom, told Iran International the Islamic Republic was founded on the goal of building a uniformly Islamist society. If it now loosens one of its core social codes, he said, that carries meaning beyond style.
“They understand that they have to give up on this Islamist ideology,” Azizi said.
He also rejected claims that the war has produced a broad wave of new support for the state.
“There’s no evidence that tons of people were anti-regime before the war and are pro-regime now,” he said.
For now, the pink paint may soften the image, but it does not erase the prisons, the executions, the graves or the anger that still runs beneath the surface of Iran.
Last week, Goldman analysts led by Mark Delaney laid out a detailed roadmap for clients on how autonomous vehicles could reshape America's highways through the 2030s, with a particular focus on "the impact of AI on profit pools."
In a separate report, Goldman analysts led by Allen Chang covered the rapid expansion of China's robotaxi fleet, highlighting how both superpowers now appear to be locked in a race to automate roads and highways.
"We expect a strong ramp up of robotaxis in China, with the robotaxi fleet in China growing from 5k in 2025 to 14k in 2026E (+195% YoY)," Chang began the note.
He pointed out that this update on China's robotaxi and robotruck fleet indicates that "Commercialization is speeding up, with several players achieving city-level break-even."
"We are raising our robotaxi forecasts for 2025-2035E by 7%-25%. By 2035E, robotaxis should account for 36% of all ride-sharing vehicles," Chang said.
The report also introduces forecasts for overseas robotaxi and robotruck markets, highlighting international expansion as an increasingly important revenue driver for Chinese companies, including WeRide, Pony AI, and Baidu.
Chang forecasts that robotrucks could emerge as a long-term growth market, with China's fleet rising from 8,000 in 2026 to 760,000 by 2035.
The overall outlook for AV fleets in China suggests rapid deployment, growing fleet density, and broader global scaling. The analyst noted their stock plays on this emerging trend: robotaxi and robotruck players include WeRide (Initiation), Pony AI, Didi, and Baidu.
Circling back to Goldman analyst Delaney's report on the U.S. robotaxi market last week. He noted that the market is set to top $19 billion by 2030, up from a prior forecast of $7 billion, and continue rising to $48 billion by 2035.
Taken together, the two reports suggest the AI race is no longer confined to data centers and chip stacks. It is now moving into the physical world, where autonomous vehicles, robotaxis, and AI-powered freight networks are emerging as the next major frontier between the two superpowers. On a side note, these AI-powered vehicles can be dual-use and will eventually end up on modern battlefields.
