Happy Republic Day 2026 Wishes Images, WhatsApp Status Video, Stickers Download, Status, GIF Pics, Photos: As India marks its 76th Republic Day, festive messages are finding new expression through digital stickers.
How two podcasters turned a Star Trek side project into a full-time career.
Shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) continues to sell off to the start the new year, losing 5.28% over the last five trading sessions after losing 3.80% the five prior. The damage from a rotation out of AI stocks that began in late 2025 continues, but PLTR remains up 124.81% over the past year. Since ... Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) Price Prediction and Forecast 2026-2030 for January 25The post Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) Price Prediction and Forecast 2026-2030 for January 25 appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is closing in on the $20 million mark in presale funding as it prepares to publish a new round of V1 protocol updates through its official channels next week. The upcoming update is being positioned as the clearest snapshot yet of protocol readiness, rollout sequencing, and the remaining presale window ahead of launch.V1 Progress as Protocol Updates NearIn recent statements, Mutuum Finance confirmed that Halborn Security has completed the independent audit of its V1 lending and borrowing protocol. The team has also said V1 is being prepared for deployment on the Sepolia testnet, with mainnet finalization expected to follow after testing.These updates arrive at a time when delivery progress and presale activity are both in focus. As protocols transition into public testnet stages, visibility tends to increase—especially when the project's rollout is structured around having a working product available as launch timing gets closer.What Mutuum Finance Is BuildingMutuum Finance is a non-custodial DeFi protocol built around lending and borrowing, designed for users who want to earn yield by supplying assets or access liquidity without selling their crypto. The core framework is straightforward: lenders provide liquidity, borrowers post collateral, and the protocol manages interest, repayment, and collateral safety rules on-chain.A central design point ...Full story available on Benzinga.com
Gold and silver have surprised even the most buoyant investor with its bull run for more than a year and is displaying no chance of slowing down. Both precious metals have been enjoying a few tailwinds from global tension to industrial demand to aggressive buying by different central banks to rate cut expectations by the US Fed.
Discover the 10 best Solana wallets for safe and easy crypto storage, covering hot wallets, hardware wallets, and multi-chain options ideal for DeFi, NFTs, staking, and long-term SOL security.
The S&P 500 Index and its top ETFs, like the VOO and SPY, remained in a tight range near their all-time high last week. It was trading at $6,915, a few points below its all-time high of $6,980. This article explores some of the top catalysts for the index next week. S&P 500 Index to [...]
With inflation still bubbling and the job market stagnant, the 11th letter of the alphabet is as popular as it’s ever been. That’s because a “K-shaped”...
Working Americans are struggling with the rising cost of living – and communities like Durango may be hit even harder, according to Fort Lewis College economics professor Nathanael Peach.Grocery pric...
The Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center at Oklahoma State University is launching a major modernization effort following a $6 million investment from the Oklahoma legislature aimed at expanding support for Oklahoma’s growing food and agricultural processing sector.
The AI Factor Behind Trump's Power Play On China's Oil Suppliers Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times,Why is it so important to the Trump administration to take control of Venezuela and encourage the people of Iran to overthrow the Islamic regime?The link between the two is obviously oil.Of course, the strategy in Venezuela involves oil, but also includes restricting China’s influence in the Western Hemisphere, undermining the BRICS currency, and shutting down Venezuelan drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and other nastiness.Same for Iran regarding oil. Both are important energy suppliers to China, but especially Iran.But it’s not the whole picture. President Donald Trump’s broader strategy is about restricting China’s access to cheap, reliable oil at the exact moment it needs that energy to compete with the United States in artificial intelligence (AI).Venezuela Was a Great Deal—For ChinaLooking back, Venezuela was as an unbelievable good deal for China. Sanctioned by the United States and shunned by much of the West, Caracas sold heavily discounted crude to Chinese refiners willing to tolerate risk. It wasn’t glamorous oil—but it was dependable and cheap. Venezuela provided about five percent of China’s annual oil needs; not a huge figure, but enough to matter.Trump’s decision to blockade Venezuelan oil exports and assert control over the country’s oil infrastructure effectively ends that dream deal. With U.S. control, China loses a meaningful slice of supply, about four percent, that helped buffer it from global price swings.That matters more than it sounds.As the world’s largest oil importer, even small disruptions force Beijing to scramble for alternatives—often at higher prices, longer shipping distances, or greater political cost.Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) speaks during a meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza (L) at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing on Jan. 16, 2020. Ng Han Guan-Pool/Getty ImagesIran: The Bigger Pressure PointBut the Venezuelan oil flow to China is small potatoes compared to that of Iran.China is Iran’s largest oil customer, buying the vast majority of Tehran’s exported crude, up to 80 percent, often at steep discounts, and is the life blood to China’s independent refineries, its petrochemical sector, and its power-hungry industrial base. In other words, Iranian oil is critical to China’s continued economic and technological growth.That fact puts Trump’s renewed pressure on the ruling Islamic regime in Iran in a different light. The tariffs, sanctions enforcement, secondary penalties, and encouraging rebellion by the Iranian people is more than just punishment for Tehran. It puts China in an energy bind.Should Beijing keep buying Iranian oil and risk broader economic retaliation, or comply and lose one of the cheapest energy sources available?Either way, Beijing pays more for less reliable oil supplies.Why Oil Still Matters in the AI AgeThere’s a popular myth that AI runs on “clean” digital infrastructure—clouds, algorithms, and software. In reality, AI runs on electricity, and electricity is still largely generated through nuclear power and fossil fuels, i.e., oil, natural gas, and coal. Training large AI models requires staggering amounts of energy, and a single hyperscale data center can consume as much electricity as a mid-sized city. Multiply that by hundreds of facilities, and energy, not chips, becomes the real bottleneck in the AI race.Beijing understands this. That’s why it continues to approve a record number of new coal plants, expand its gas infrastructure, and secure long-term oil contracts—even while leading the world in renewables.What’s more, China knows that oil and gas help stabilize power grids that support data centers. Intermittent renewables alone can’t guarantee the always-on power that AI systems require. Plus, AI hardware depends on petroleum-based products—plastics, resins, coolants, lubricants, and advanced composites used in chips, servers, and cooling systems. Oil is a non-negotiable industrial input.Finally, oil is relatively inexpensive, lowering the cost of training models, which compounds quickly, because whichever nation can train more models faster and cheaper leads the AI race.Cutting China off from discounted oil doesn’t just raise fuel prices, it raises the cost of intelligence itself.A worker rides bicycle at an oil refinery of China’s Sinopec in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei Province on May 10, 2011. STR/AFP/Getty ImagesEnergy as a Hidden AI WeaponThis is where Trump’s strategy becomes clearer.The United States doesn’t need to out-build China in data centers if it can out-price and out-power them. America has abundant domestic oil and gas, expanding LNG exports, and deep capital markets to finance new, energy-hungry infrastructure.China, by contrast, is vulnerable. It imports over 70 percent of its oil. Much of that comes from politically unstable or sanctioned states. Disrupt those flows, and China’s AI ambitions become more expensive, more fragile, and more dependent on geopolitical goodwill.In that sense, oil becomes a second-order AI weapon, in that it is not something that directly attacks technology, but something that quietly determines who can afford to scale it.What This Means for the Global BalanceYes, Russia still matters in this equation—but more as a background variable than the main event. Lower oil prices and tighter markets can squeeze Moscow’s revenues and complicate its war financing. China’s increased reliance on Russian crude also deepens a partnership that carries long-term risks for Beijing.But the real target of Trump’s energy denial strategy isn’t Russia. It’s China’s momentum.Trump’s energy foreign policy is about slowing China’s rise without firing a shot—forcing it to spend more, plan more cautiously, and accept structural disadvantages in the most important technological competition of the century.The Bigger PictureAI dominance won’t be decided by who writes the best code. It will be decided by who can power the most machines, the longest, at the lowest cost.By squeezing Venezuela, pressuring Iran, and reshaping global oil flows, Trump is betting that energy strategy, not algorithms, will decide the winner in the AI-driven economy.And if that bet is right, the future of AI may be decided not in Silicon Valley or Shenzhen, but in oil fields, shipping lanes, and sanctions that most people aren’t paying attention to.Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge. Tyler DurdenSun, 01/25/2026 - 07:00