Jordan, Germany back UN mandate for Gaza force

 Jordan and Germany called for a United Nations mandate to legitimize a proposed international stabilization force in Gaza.

The comments came during the IISS Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain, as world leaders discussed the implementation of US President Donald Trump's postwar governance plan for the war-torn territory. The force, envisioned under a US-brokered ceasefire, would train and support Palestinian police, secure Gaza's borders, and prevent arms smuggling.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said, "It has to have a Security Council mandate," though he clarified that Jordan would not deploy troops itself due to regional sensitivities. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul echoed the call, saying any deployment "would need a clear basis in international law."

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Jordan-Germany-back-UN-mandate-for-Gaza-force/65099356

Hamas seeks local committee to govern Gaza

 Hamas called on Saturday for the formation of a "community‑endorsed committee of agreed‑upon figures" to govern the Gaza Strip, stating this body should manage administration while a broader political process unfolds.

The group said Al‑Qassam Brigades teams are also prepared to recover the bodies of hostages inside the so‑called "yellow line" zone, provided mediators and the International Committee of the Red Cross supply the necessary equipment and personnel.

Hamas accused Israel of promoting "lies to delay entry into the second phase of the agreement". It maintained that its delivery of three unidentified bodies was intended to "cut off the enemy's claims". Israeli media, however, said these remains did not belong to any listed hostages, and Israel continues to link further negotiations to a complete handover.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Hamas-seeks-local-committee-to-govern-Gaza/65099540

Iran rules out US talks, defends uranium program

 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared in an interview on Saturday that Tehran has "no desire" to engage in direct negotiations with the United States over its nuclear or missile programmes.

He asserted that Iran cannot stop enriching uranium and will never negotiate its missile capabilities, adding that "what cannot be achieved by war cannot be achieved through politics."

Araghchi said Iran is open to indirect talks via mediators but only under "fair" conditions, which he claimed Washington has not proposed.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Iran-rules-out-US-talks-defends-uranium-program/65099519

US Power Bill Crisis Rages In Democrat-Run States

 The epicenter of America's power bill inflation crisis stretches across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, where far-left state and city leaders have swallowed the globalist "climate crisis" pill, which even Bill Gates admitted last week that the climate crisis narrative was fake news.

The result of these leftist extremist "green" policies has been the systematic degradation of regional power grids in Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, as reliable fossil-fuel generation was prematurely retired in favor of unreliable, intermittent solar and wind. These nation-destroying green policies have gutted spare grid capacity (read here) just as demand surges from data centers, onshoring, and the broader electrification push (read here), culminating in today's power bill crisis. 

A recent Goldman Sachs report by analyst Carly Davenport found that "higher power bill inflation has been the most pronounced in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and California in the past three years."

It's no secret that the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and California are governed primarily by Democratic leaders who have pushed at least a decade of climate crisis hoax narratives to justify massive "green" funding, some of which was funneled into NGOs, and to advance the progressive utopia narrative that solar and wind power would deliver clean skies and save, most importantly, planet Earth from immient climate catastrophe. Yet this fantasy was far from reality. There was never going to be a green utopia, only what millions of Americans across these states are now realizing: unaccountable Democrats have left them with a power bill crisis.

Davenport told clients:

Residential utility bill inflation has accelerated in certain regions, raising concerns about customer affordability. A few states in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic such as MD, CT, DE and DC, as well as California, have seen accumulated bill inflation of 29% in the past three years (20pp above CPI), while other states such as MI, ND, AR, SD and LA had bill growth of only 5% in the same period (Exhibit 2). Interestingly, the states with higher bill inflation during this period have deregulated or competitive power markets, and those with lower inflation are in traditional regulated markets. We provide more details on power market fundamentals and utility bills within.

Northeast/Mid-Atlantic States Hit Hardest by Power Bill Crisis 

The topic of power bills is beginning to dominate local political discussions across these states. In the New Jersey governor's race, power bill ads seen by Republicans were criticizing the Democratic Party's failed green energy policies. And the Maryland Freedom Caucus of lawmakers joined forces with other conservatives in surrounding states to combat and break the far-left's stranglehold on the region.

"Politicians and special interest groups have traded energy independence for a delusional climate cultist ideology, and every Maryland family is paying the price with skyrocketing bills and a rapidly dwindling energy supply," Maryland Delegate Brian Chisholm told local TV station Fox Baltimore.

Chisholm continued, "We stand firmly united with our colleagues in neighboring states to deliver real, adult solutions and finally put an end to the childish nonsense impacting our state."

We've told readers. 

Related:

•  Power-Bill Crisis Spreads From Maryland To New Jersey, May Doom Democrats As 'Green' Implodes

• MSM Finally Understands Power Bill Crisis "Now A Major Political Issue"

What's entirely clear is that the power bill crisis began with green policies that have now backfired in an epic way, and it will continue to drive power bills higher. Ahead of the Midterms, Republicans are likely to seize on this topic as they seek to break the Democratic Party's stranglehold over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, which have been transformed into unaffordable living, elevated violent crime, and illegal alien safe havens.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/americas-power-bill-crisis-raging-democrat-run-states

EU's Two-Tier Encryption Vision Is Digital Feudalism

 by Bill Laboon via CoinTelegraph.com,

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently showed a moment of humanity in a tech world that often promises too much, too fast. He urged users not to share anything with ChatGPT that they wouldn’t want a human to see. The Department of Homeland Security in the United States has already started to take notice. 

His caution strikes at a more profound truth that underpins our entire digital world. In a realm where we can no longer be certain whether we’re dealing with a person, it is clear that software is often the agent communicating, not people. This growing uncertainty is more than just a technical challenge. It strikes at the very foundation of trust that holds society together. 

This should cause us to reflect not just on AI, but on something even more fundamental, far older, quieter and more critical in the digital realm: encryption.

In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and autonomous systems, trust is more important than ever. 

Encryption is our foundation

Encryption isn’t just a technical layer; it is the foundation of our digital lives. It protects everything from private conversations to global financial systems, authenticates identity and enables trust to scale across borders and institutions.

Crucially, it’s not something that can be recreated through regulation or substituted with policy. When trust breaks down, when institutions fail or power is misused, encryption is what remains. It’s the safety net that ensures our most private information stays protected, even in the absence of trust.

A cryptographic system isn’t like a house with doors and windows. It is a mathematical contract; precise, strict and meant to be unbreakable. Here, a “backdoor” is not just a secret entry but a flaw embedded in the logic of the contract, and one flaw is all it takes to destroy the entire agreement. Any weakness introduced for one purpose could become an opening for everyone, from cybercriminals to authoritarian regimes. Built entirely on trust through strong, unbreakable code, the entire structure begins to collapse once that trust is broken. And right now, that trust is under threat. 

A blueprint for digital feudalism

The European Commission’s ProtectEU initiative proposes a mechanism that compels service providers to scan private communications directly on users’ devices before encryption is applied. This effectively turns personal devices into surveillance tools and breaks the integrity of end-to-end encryption. While state actors would never permit such a vulnerability in their own secure systems, this mandate creates a separate, weaker standard of security for the public.

On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable compromise: stronger encryption for governments, with so-called “lawful access” to citizens’ data. However, what it proposes is a hardcoded imbalance, one in which the state encrypts, and the public is decrypted.

This isn’t a security policy. It’s a blueprint for digital feudalism — a future where privacy becomes a privilege reserved for the powerful, not a right guaranteed to everyone. Two-tier encryption shifts the balance of trust from democratic accountability and cements a structure of control no free society should accept. Make no mistake: This debate isn’t about safety. It’s about control. 

We shouldn’t live in a world where only the powerful get to be private.

In an age of ubiquitous AI, state-sponsored hacking and mass digital surveillance, weakening encryption isn’t just shortsighted but a systemic recklessness. For those of us in the decentralized world, this is not an abstract debate; it is a matter of practical concern. Strong, unbreakable encryption is far more than a technical feature; it’s the foundation upon which everything else rests.

Truth by verification

This is why the mission of Web3 must stay rooted in its core promise: truth. Not truth by authority, but truth by verification. This principle of a self-enforcing contract is why true decentralized systems are built with no key master or institution that holds the keys. Introducing a backdoor is a contradiction; it re-establishes a central point of failure, violating the very premise of a trustless system. Security is a binary state: it is either present for everyone, or it is guaranteed for no one.

Fortunately, these principles are not just theoretical. The cryptographic primitives emerging from this space — zero-knowledge proofs that can confirm facts without exposing data, and proof-of-personhood systems that resist Sybil attacks without compromising privacy — offer a real, working alternative, showing that we don’t have to choose between security and freedom.

The irony is stark: The same field now under threat holds the tools we need to build a more secure, more open digital future. One based not on surveillance or gatekeeping, but on permissionless innovation, cryptographic trust and individual dignity.

If we want a digital world that is safe, inclusive and resilient, then encryption must remain strong and universally standardized for everyone.

Not because we have something to hide, but because we all have something to protect.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/eus-two-tier-encryption-vision-digital-feudalism

Starbucks Can't Get Customers to Stay, Despite Costly Cafe Makeovers

 Starbucks is struggling to keep customers in its cafes, even after spending heavily to make stores more inviting. New data from Placer.ai shows the share of visits lasting more than 10 minutes has dropped from over 40% in 2023 to roughly one-third today, according to Bloomberg.

CEO Brian Niccol made longer in-store visits a core piece of his turnaround plan when he took over in September 2024, promising better service, faster drinks and a return to the “warm, cozy, comfortable environment” Starbucks once championed.

Yet foot traffic has fallen for four straight quarters, while profits have slid by double digits over the last four and same-store sales have declined for six. Shares are down 6.4% this year.

“They’ve trained their customer to use this brand as a convenience channel, not as a place where you sit down and linger,” said Citi analyst Jon Tower. Still, he noted that if shops look and feel better, customers may at least come in more often: “They just want more people to come in and walk in and say, ‘wow, this feels like a great place.’”

Bloomberg writes that Starbucks has been adding seating, more electrical outlets and ceramic mugs, effectively reversing years of redesigns that prioritized speed over comfort.

The company says remodeled locations are seeing visitors stay longer and return more frequently. “Early results from uplifted coffeehouses in New York City and Southern California are already showing promise,” a spokesperson said. “Customers are staying longer, visiting more often, and sharing positive feedback.”

Renovations have also gotten cheaper, with some now costing about $150,000 instead of up to $1 million. Starbucks plans to refresh 1,000 North American stores in fiscal 2026. The chain has also sped up service — 80% of drinks are now served in under four minutes — and simplified the menu by 25%, cutting back on seasonal excesses. “We streamlined our menu to clear the way for innovation and focus on what customers love most,” the company said.

But the company is also closing older and to-go-focused locations as part of a $1 billion restructuring meant to align operations with Niccol’s more café-centric vision.

Some customers say the shops still aren’t conducive to lingering. At a Manhattan location, Dennis O’Leary noticed design updates but complained the music was too “tinny” and loud to make him stick around. Most seats were filled with customers waiting for orders rather than relaxing or working.

Analysts expect Starbucks to report flat same-store sales in North America when it announces earnings Wednesday — signaling the company’s push to make Starbucks a place to stay, not just stop, still has a long way to go.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/starbucks-cant-get-customers-stay-despite-costly-cafe-makeovers

Bicycle Therapeutics (BCYC) Downgraded by RBC Capital on Delays

 RBC Capital Markets has downgraded Bicycle Therapeutics (BCYC) from "outperform" to "sector perform," citing delays in its pipeline programs. The bank reduced its price target for the stock to $11 from $27, reflecting a potential 36% upside from the October 31 closing price. Analyst Leonid Timashev highlighted setbacks in the development of zelenectide pevedotin, which is in phase 2/3 trials for metastatic urothelial cancer, with dose selection now deferred to Q1 2026. Peak sales projections for the drug have been lowered to $800 million from $1.1 billion.

https://www.gurufocus.com/news/3176301/bicycle-therapeutics-bcyc-downgraded-by-rbc-capital-on-delays