Wright: Oil tankers still passing through Hormuz

 United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated on Sunday that, despite increased conflict with Iran, oil tankers are still passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking to host Jonathan Karl on ABC's This Week, Wright said: "We're at a little under 14 million barrels a day from the Arabian Gulf region. That's two-thirds of pre-conflict traffic, dramatically up from where we were back in March when I was last on your show. I mean, not 100% yet, but two-thirds of flow right now."

Wright stated that reports suggesting most shipping traffic has ceased in recent days are simply inaccurate.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Wright:-Oil-tankers-still-passing-through-Hormuz/66726205

Zone of Genius: Old but useful

Most people build their careers in their zone of excellence, the area of life in which your skills are proficient.

The problem with the zone of excellence — and the reason why so many people in it are most unhappy — is that it is the mastery of that which already exists. It is building out other people's preexisting needs and ideas. It is a fine line away from the zone of genius, the mental state in which you will actually thrive.

Gay Hendricks identified four different zones of function in his book, The Big Leap. 

1. The zone of incompetence: In this zone, you are engaging in something you inherently do not understand or are not skilled at.

2. The zone of competence: In this zone, you are doing what you are efficient at, but recognize that many people are likewise efficient at it, thus not distinguishing your capabilities in any significant way.

3. The zone of excellence: In this zone, you are doing something you are tremendously skilled at. Often, the zone of excellence is cultivated, it's practiced and established over time.

4. The zone of genius: In this zone, you capitalize on your natural abilities which are innate, rather than learned. This is the state in which you get into "flow," find ceaseless inspiration, and seem to not only come up with work that is distinguished and unique, but also do so in a way that excels far and beyond what anyone else is doing.

As you can imagine, highly successful people function in the lattermost zone. In another interview with Forbes, Hendricks explained: Most successful people are operating in their zone of excellence, in which they are doing things at which they are highly skilled. This zone is ultimately unsatisfying, though, because it does not engage the innate genius of the individual."

He continued:

As with any other kind of lasting, meaningful change, commitment is the gateway to the zone of genius. When I work with busy executives, I start by asking them to make a commitment to blocking out just ten minutes a day in their calendars to devote to cultivating their genius. The ten minutes can involve journaling, meditating or any number of other activities, just as long as you are focusing on your genius for ten uninterrupted minutes. After you have gotten your ten minutes a day you’re your routine, then bump it up to fifteen minutes. Ultimately I want to see people I work with spending 90% of their time in their zone of genius, but you’ve got to start somewhere and my recommendation is to start with ten minutes a day.

 

Your zone of genius is what's most effortless for you. If you are truly able to relax and begin the work, you recognize that you are able to create almost instantaneously, and without too much thought. When you combine this natural talent and skill with hours of practice and repetition, you find yourself among the small percentage of people who can break through and redefine an industry.

But the point is that it begins with you.

The important thing to recognize is that your zone of genius is not just what you're "passionate" about. It's not just what you like the idea of. In fact, it can often be something you may not love a whole lot initially, but it's something you recognize you are naturally gifted at. When you can identify those skills or interests, you can capitalize on them by working on them consistently. The combination is what will help you strike gold.

In Hendricks' book, he asks you to consider the following questions:

• "What work do you do that doesn't seem like work?"
• "In your work, what produces the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to the amount of time spent?"
• "What is your unique ability?"

Ultimately, it's about identifying what comes most naturally to you, and then capitalizing on that, rather than identifying what has come naturally to other people, and trying to teach yourself those skills in order to mimic and recreate their genius. You can absolutely be successful in the zone of excellence. But to take your life to the next level, you cannot keep playing by other people's rules.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/briannawiest/2018/09/26/how-to-get-into-the-zone-of-genius-and-unlock-your-highest-potential/

Anger as UK's Kent water supply misery continues

Thousands of households and businesses in Kent, England, are experiencing water supply issues for a second day.


South East Water (SEW) said on Sunday that up to 7,000 properties face low pressure, no water, or intermittent supply due to a temporary instrument failure at its Tunbridge Wells water treatment works.

The company, which has been heavily criticised for multiple supply failures in recent months, apologised to customers and said two bottled water stations were open in the town for a second day.

Lance Miles, who lives in Tunbridge Wells and is registered disabled, described SEW as "incompetently useless".

"Yet again we are without water," he told the BBC.

"We're not customers, because customers have a choice. We don't have a choice.

"If there was another company, at the drop of a hat I would go with that company."

The company said on Saturday that supplies would not return until Sunday evening "at the earliest", however, previous outages have continued for longer than predicted.

Steven Benton, SEW incident manager, said on Sunday that the water treatment works were "now stable".

He added: "Low storage levels from this disruption and high demand mean we cannot pump water to some areas, particularly on higher ground.

"To ensure a stable, continuous flow, we must allow tanks to replenish."

He added that the company was continuing to deliver bottled water to customers from the priority services register, a free support scheme for people who need extra help.

Two bottled water stations reopened earlier on Sunday at Tesco Superstore on Pembury Road and Tunbridge Wells Rugby Club.

A third opened later at the Odeon cinema car park in Knights Way.

They will stay open until 20:00 BST, SEW said.




The rugby club station closed briefly on Sunday morning while bottled water was restocked, but has since reopened.

Earlier this week, the water company was ordered to spend £30.5m on improvements after investigations by industry watchdog Ofwat.

SEW warned in its annual report this week that it needed to secure fresh financing to stay afloat after taking a £55m hit from outages over the winter.

The water supplier to around 2.3 million customers in the south east of England said it was in discussions with lenders to agree a new loan facility.

SEW has been under intense scrutiny since November, when 24,000 customers lost water supply or pressure in the Tunbridge Wells area.

Customers were then advised to boil their water before consumption for a nine-day period after supply returned.

Weeks later, about 30,000 households in Kent and Sussex faced days of supply issues, which bosses blamed on freezing temperatures and Storm Goretti.

The company announced its chair had departed and its chief executive would also leave following the earlier failures.

Paul Sparrow, another Tunbridge Wells resident, told the BBC: "It's hard to know what to say. We've had years of underinvestment."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3q128kn4qo

French Gambling Regulator Orders ISPs To Block Polymarket

 by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com,

France’s Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), or the National Gambling Authority, has ordered internet service providers to block access to Polymarket.

Prediction websites are considered illegal gambling, the ANJ said in a Friday press release.

The regulator said that Polymarket’s operations are not authorized in France and that advertising unauthorized gambling sites constitutes a criminal offense with fines of up to 100,000 euros ($114,000).

Prediction markets allow users to buy and sell contracts tied to the outcomes of future events, from elections and sporting events to economic data and geopolitical developments. Polymarket has surged in popularity over the past two years, with billions of dollars in trading volume, while drawing scrutiny from regulators over whether its event contracts constitute illegal gambling or unlicensed financial products.

Countries that blocked access to Polymarket include Singapore, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Ukraine, Brazil and Indonesia. At press time, Polymarket said it was geoblocked in 36 regions.

France’s gambling regulator first shared plans to block the platform in November 2024 for failing to comply with national gambling laws.

French gambling authority cites outcome manipulation concerns

France’s gambling authority said Polymarket boasts “addictive features” that are similar to regulated gambling offerings, but “amplified by the absence of the protective mechanisms found in the legal gambling market.”

It also cited potential outcome manipulation tied to some event contracts on Polymarket, adding:

“Some of the bets offered on this platform appeared to be rigged: for example, bets on the weather revealed that weather sensors may have been hacked.”

The cybercrime unit of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into this matter in May 2026 and found a lack of identity verification, such as Know Your Customer checks.

Prediction markets have also drawn scrutiny from US regulators. On June 17, Kentucky sued five prediction market platforms, including Kalshi and Polymarket, accusing them of operating unlicensed sports betting platforms. At least 17 other states have followed suit.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued eight states, arguing they had interfered with the federal regulator’s exclusive authority over federally regulated event contracts. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/french-gambling-regulator-orders-isps-block-polymarket

Kalshi adds 3 million new users as prediction market capitalizes on the World Cup

 The 2026 FIFA World Cup has sent prediction market trading volumes across platforms soaring. And for Kalshi, it has delivered millions of new users. 

Kalshi has brought in 3 million new users over the course of the tournament, the company shared with CNBC. 

More than $1.2 billion has been traded on Kalshi’s contracts that ask traders to predict the winner of the World Cup, a record for a singular market. That market will officially close on Sunday, after Spain and Argentina compete in the final for the title. 

“I don’t think there’s any game like football,” said Vijay Viswanathan, an associate dean of integrated marketing communications at Northwestern University, referring to soccer. “It’s played in about every country in the world … so in just terms of the total addressable market, there’s really nothing that comes close to the FIFA World Cup.”

Across the World Cup, Kalshi has made several moves to boost its brand. Those include a partnership with the official prediction market sponsor of the World Cup, ADI Predictstreet, to feature co-branding advertisements in stadiums. It also partnered with OpenAI last week to feature the company’s contract’s odds when users search about games in the tournament on ChatGPT. 

But it also has featured a slew of advertisements with key faces in the soccer world: Croatian soccer star Luka Modric, longtime Real Madrid coach José Mourinho, and even a partnership with the Argentina national team. That deal got the company a feature in a post by superstar Lionel Messi on Instagram. 

“Our volumes are where the news is at,” said Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, who takes on a lead role in guiding the company’s marketing strategy. “It’s a lot of the approach for the World Cup. … The most important thing is enable creativity based on what’s happening.”

Speed is key, too. One advertisement featuring former professional soccer stars playing a scrimmage with each other released on Friday was conceived, executed and released in 24 hours, Mansour said. 

But Kalshi also launched ads with non-soccer celebrities around the tournament, too. An advertisement with actor Timothee Chalamet was released in June — around when he was garnering attention for his appearances at New York Knicks games during the NBA Finals — while a spot with Colombian singer J Balvin came out this month. 

“This is also a way for them to say, ‘oh, but we’re also relevant to all these other people who might not be that interested in sports, too,’” said Elizabeth Johnson, executive director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. Johnson also teaches a visual marketing class at the university. “They’re seizing this moment to remind people about the ubiquitousness of what these prediction markets are.”

Leaning heavily into the sports event comes with risks, too. Sports event contracts are under scrutiny in a dispute between the federal government and the states. States argue those contracts are equivalent to sports betting, something state governments control. 

Kalshi agrees with the federal government that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — which regulates swaps and derivatives — has the sole power to regulate prediction markets. 

Mansour dismissed those concerns, though, arguing its sports contracts are only under pressure from gambling companies worried about losing their dominant, incumbent positions. 

Brian Sung, a partner in the derivatives and digital assets practice groups at Haynes Boone, doesn’t think the advertising strategies impact how courts may rule in the future, but said it does impact the view of prediction markets. 

“It does kind of weaken their perception, in public or politics,” he said. “They are trying to push against this idea that they’re really only about sports. I mean, that is where the bulk of their activity is.”

Kalshi now moves onto turning those 3 million new users into recurring traders, which could be a challenge: volume on days when World Cup matches haven’t been played has been significantly lower than when the games are on. 

Mansour added this cycle has happened before: a major event that drives volume higher, with a temporary decline after only for it to keep marching higher off of other events.

“You have to believe there’s not going to be any news after Sunday,” he said. “Maybe, … but the more probable thing is that there’s going to be like a bunch of things going on in the world, and Kalshi’s going to be there to service it.”

Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and a minority investment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/19/kalshi-adds-3-million-new-users-as-company-capitalizes-on-world-cup.html

"New Soros" Whose "Street Cred" Could Rise If Spain Blocks Extradition

 The federal government is well underway with a multiagency and multinational effort to combat the alarming rise of far-left revolutionaries. This was most evident on Thursday, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed delegations from 65 countries.

Meanwhile, Jim "Fergie" Chambers, the communist centimillionaire and heir to the Cox media fortune, is apparently "one step closer to extradition" on federal charges linked to "international money laundering... with the intent to provide material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations."

Chambers is a major funder of America's radical Left and has been described by pro-Palestinian activist Laith Marouf as "the new Soros."

Marouf warned that Chambers could gain significantly more influence and "street cred" if Spain refuses to extradite him to the U.S.

City Journal investigative analyst Stu Smith provided additional color on Marouf's recent conversation, offering readers a clearer view of the major financiers and influence networks operating across the radical Left:

Laith Marouf Warns Fergie Chambers Is "the New Soros" and Could Gain More "Street Cred" if Spain Refuses Extradition

As left-wing activists demand "Freedom for Fergie," Laith Marouf is refusing to join them.

Marouf says he opposes Chambers's extradition to the United States but warns that an unsuccessful prosecution could merely give the multimillionaire more "street cred."

Citing conversations he claims to have had with current and former intelligence agents, including Syrian and Spanish sources, Marouf alleges that Chambers has been positioned as "the new Soros" and is using his fortune to capture radical English-language media around the world.

"He basically bought all the landscape of progressive media and is funding all of them," Marouf said, alleging that Chambers's donations allow him to influence those outlets' political positions.

Marouf also accused Chambers of threatening his life and attempting to destroy his reputation. He said he does not wish imprisonment or death on Chambers, but he will not join those demanding his release.

"I will sit on the side as an observer, watching the game of the American white elite beating each other up."

Marouf argues that Chambers is using inherited "blood money" to purchase credibility within the Palestine movement.

"No, I don't want Palestine in his mouth," he said. "I don't want Palestine to be associated with Fergie Cox."

The broader Left has largely rallied behind Chambers, leaving Marouf as a rare dissenting voice. His definition of "progressive media" is unclear, but his broader warning about Chambers buying influence across the radical English-language media sphere rings true. And if Spain refuses extradition, Marouf may be right that the ordeal will only give Chambers more "street cred."

Smith has previously noted, "Chambers is one of the main funders of America's radical Left. His money has flowed to a host of projects in the 'anti-imperialism' organizing space," adding, "Chambers claims that he and Singham are effectively the two primary financiers of the US radical Left." Despite this, the two have apparently been at loggerheads—a conflict that has now gone public."

Following Rubio's “Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism" at the State Department on Thursday, where he addressed delegations from 65 countries on combating far-left extremism, the signal is clear: The Trump administration is positioning for a broader fight against transnational Marxist revolutionary networks, reminiscent of the Western counter-subversion campaigns waged seven decades ago.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/meet-new-soros-whose-street-cred-could-rise-if-spain-blocks-extradition

Kuwait says Iran attacked power and water desalination plant again

 

Kuwait's Electricity Ministry said a power generation and water desalination plant have been attacked for the second time in two days, according to a post on X.

The attack came after Iran launched strikes on several Persian Gulf states on Sunday.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202607186178