CMR is the leading provider
of funding and management
support for small to
medium-sized businesses and
entrepreneurs
Established 1984 C MR
is the leading venture
capital, management
support and business
services provider for
small to medium-sized
businesses - linking
excellent management
skills with the
substantial financial
resources of a global bank
of private investors.
CMR has over 450 senior
executives, operating
in the UK, USA, Europe, Asia,
Australasia and
globally,
providing both funding and
specialist help for
entrepreneurial
businesses .
For Businesses
CMR provides excellent
resources:
CMR FundEX Business Exchange - gives all companies & entrepreneurs direct access to CMR's global investor base.
CMR Catalyst Group
Programme -
transform
profitability through
merging.
CMR Company Sales Division helps owners to exit
at the best price.
CMR Corporate Recovery
Division -
experts in rescue and
turnaround.
CMR Technology Licensing
Division -
commercialising
innovation.
CMR Executive
Professionals - management support
and consultancy.
CMR Executives-on-Demandâ„¢ Fully experienced
senior executives
available quickly and
cost effectively.
We always welcome
contact with new
business clients- please get in touch
- we will do our
best to match
your needs and exceed
your expectations.
For Investors
Preferential access to new opportunities for investment and/or acquisition
P re-vets
propositions and
provides a
personalised service
to our investors
Syndication service
enabling investors to
link together as desired
Executive and
management support for
investments as needed
CMR's services to
our investors are not
only fast & efficient
but also free
W e
always appreciate new
members- you are welcome
to join as an investor
or as a CMR Executive.
When you
join us as a Senior
Executive:
CMR's strength is in the
skills and experience of
our executive members -
all senior, director level
people with years of
successfully running and
managing companies.
Because the demand for
CMR's support and services
is ever-increasing,
especially as we enter
recessionary times, we
have a growing need for
more high calibre
executives to join us from
every industry and
discipline.
You will be using your
considerable experience to
help smaller businesses
and entrepreneurs to grow
profitably.
We offer full training
and mentoring support to
help maximise potential.
We are
always keen to find more
high calibre senior
executives in all areas-
skills and location.
Make contact with us today
and maximise your
opportunities.
HEAD
OFFICE
124 City Road
London EC1 2NX
Tel: +44 (0)207-636-1744
Fax:+44 (0)207-636-5639
Email: cmr@cmruk.com
Registered Office:
124 City Road ,
London EC1 2NX
Also Glasgow,
Dublin, Switzerland, Europe, USA/Canada
Privacy Statement: CMR only
retains personal details
supplied directly by executives
joining CMR themselves either as
Full Executive Members or
Interim Management Members or
Investors. Those details are
only used within CMR and not
disclosed to any third parties
without that person’s
agreement. We will keep that
data until requested by the
person to be removed – at that
point it will be deleted.
Personal data is never sold or
used for purposes outside of
CMR’s normal operations. Any
correspondence should be
directed to the Managing
Director, CMR,
Kemp House,
152-160 City Road, London EC1V
2N
Senior Executives
CMR is a worldwide network of senior executives. Join us to expand your career and business horizons.
Business Entrepreneurs
CMR has a complete range of resources & services provided by experts to help all businesses to grow and prosper.
Investors & Venturers
CMR has a continuous stream of business and funding propositions, which are matched to investor preferences. Join us - it's FREE!
FundEX
FundEX is CMR's worldwide stock market for small to medium sized companies and entrepreneurs to raise new capital.
Interim & Permanent Management
Many of CMR's executives can be recruited on an interim, permanent or NED basis.
Login
Main CMR Intranet members only
Regional Intranets
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 04:25:00 +0000 Indian Christians Facing Rising Persecution Look To America For Help
Indian Christians Facing Rising Persecution Look To America For Help
Indian Christians Facing Rising Persecution Look To America For Help
Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Amit recounted a familiar story for Christians in his region of India: pastors jailed; parishioners afraid to worship in public.
The situation, Amit said, is getting worse “day by day.”
Nuns from Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity community hold signs as they listen to a speaker during a demonstration against the tabling of the Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion bill in Bengaluru, India, on Dec. 22, 2021.Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images
Almost two millennia after St. Thomas the Apostle brought Christianity to the subcontinent, believers in northern India bear witness to a rise in persecution . Laws on religious conversion and physical attacks, including during the 2025 Christmas season, have driven fear into sanctuaries of love and faith.
Deepak, another Christian in northern India, said “there’s a lot of intimidation and harassment going on.”
He said Hindu radicals regularly “attack or disrupt [Christian] gatherings or go to mob violence.”
As a condition of speaking with The Epoch Times, both Amit, who has worked in Uttarakhand, and Deepak, who is based in Delhi, requested that their names and the details of their activities be anonymized out of fear of reprisal.
Statistics from the United Christian Forum, published on local website, The Wire, reflect an increase in violence against Christians in India in recent years. They documented 734 attacks targeting Christians in 2023. In 2024, that figure climbed to 834.
Genocide Watch, the Voice of the Martyrs, and other organizations have also chronicled anti-Christian trends in the country, in line with a similar pattern of growing violence against Muslims and other non-Hindu Indians.
Amit, Deepak, and others who spoke to The Epoch Times linked what is happening to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political party that has ruled India since 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They decried the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a street-level Hindu nationalist group associated with the BJP.
Much of the organized, sometimes violent opposition to Christianity is concentrated in northern India, a BJP stronghold.
Nigel Barrett of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, the episcopal conference for India’s Latin Catholic bishops, told The Epoch Times in an email that “the persecution is not confined to northern India,” citing attacks in the western state of Rajasthan after it passed a conversion law, in the southern state of Karnataka, and elsewhere across the country.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the crowd after filing his nomination from the temple town of Varanasi, India, on May 14, 2024. Rights groups report that much of the organized, sometimes violent opposition to Christianity is concentrated in northern India. Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images
Henry Hiinii, another Indian Christian in Delhi, told The Epoch Times that “the governments are not doing much to help the Christian community” as it comes under attack.
The BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh did not respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times.
Some Indian Christians and close observers hope President Donald Trump —the man who has pledged to save Christians worldwide—will respond.
Commissioner Stephen Schneck of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom told The Epoch Times that the U.S. government should “issue targeted sanctions against Indian government officials and entities who participate in or tolerate egregious religious persecution of Christians, Muslims, and others.”
Escalating Hostility
Scott Bledsoe, who served as a pastor for 28 years, has visited India twice, cultivating relationships with Christians there. He said his latest visa to visit this past summer was denied.
Bledsoe told The Epoch Times he started to hear about anti-Christian persecution “in the last 10 years,” describing local mob violence against groups attempting to build churches.
Over the same period, major Christian nonprofits operating in the country faced setbacks and scrutiny, often tied to their receipt of money from abroad, including from the United States.
In 2017, Compassion International, a humanitarian organization headquartered in Colorado Springs, said it left India under pressure from the government.
The Missionaries of Charity, the group founded by Mother Teresa, sustained a serious blow in 2021, when it was barred from receiving foreign funding.
Deepak said these incidents are a bad sign for the homegrown Christian missionaries planting and nurturing small churches, including in unfriendly parts of the country.
“If you can go after them, then smaller organizations don’t have any chance,” he said.
A man moves chairs outside a small church in Kandhamal, India, on Sept. 19, 2018. In recent years, states across India have passed laws against forced conversion. Numerous Christians, accused of coercing people into accepting their faith, have been jailed under the statutes. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times
In recent years, states across India have passed laws against forced conversion and numerous Christians, accused of coercing people into accepting their faith, have been jailed under the statutes.
Some Christians believe the opposition even extends to a kind of low-level surveillance enforced by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and similar groups. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh alone is estimated to have 4 million members nationwide.
“There are spies and people that are always watching what you’re doing, ” Deepak said.
He said some believers worry that singing a religious song in their own home could draw scrutiny from neighbors, leading to arrests and prosecution under forced conversion laws.
Deepak recounted a visit to a church where that fear meant services were kept very quiet.
“I did a small devotion with them from the Bible and how the church was persecuted ,” he said.
A wave of attacks on Christmas celebrations in late 2025, linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and similar groups, renewed concerns about the safety and freedom of Christians in India.
Devotees light candles outside a church during Christmas Day celebrations in Amritsar, India, on Dec. 25, 2022. The plight of Indian Christians has drawn attention from U.S. political leaders, who cite controversial conversion laws and related mob violence. Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty Images
“Christians are actually afraid to celebrate Christmas openly now,” Deepak said.
Amit said Christmas services were restricted in many parts of northern India.
Schneck described “a sharp increase in targeted attacks against religious minorities” over Christmas 2025.
“Similar attacks have continued into the new year ,” he said.
Amid rising tensions late last year, Modi attended a Christmas service at New Delhi’s Cathedral Church of the Redemption.
The Indian Christians who spoke with The Epoch Times, however, were skeptical of the sincerity of that gesture, attributing it to concerns over votes.
“It is disturbing to see limited official condemnation from the political authorities,” Barrett said.
However, a recent judicial decision on a conversion law drew praise from them.
In December 2025, judges on the Allahabad High Court ruled that merely preaching Christianity and distributing Bibles does not run afoul of a forced conversion statute in Uttar Pradesh, a heavily Hindu state in northern India.
Hiinii described the ruling as “good news” but said many people do not yet know about it.
A general view of the deserted Allahabad High Court in Allahabad, India, on March 22, 2020. In December 2025, judges on the court ruled that merely preaching Christianity and distributing Bibles does not run afoul of a forced conversion statute in Uttar Pradesh, a heavily Hindu state in northern India. Sanjay Kanojia/AFP via Getty Images
American Response
The plight of Indian Christians has started to attract the attention of American political leaders.
In a Dec. 19, 2025, op-ed in The Hill, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom leaders asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern, a designation outlined in the International Religious Freedom Act. They cited its controversial conversion laws and the resultant mob violence.
A 2023 State Department report on religious freedom in India noted Christians’ concerns about those laws and their reports of harassment.
That same year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom held a forum on religious freedom in India.
Read the rest here ...
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 23:25 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 04:00:00 +0000 Thai Police Track Down 3 Children Suspected Of Lighting Homeless Man On Fire
Thai Police Track Down 3 Children Suspected Of Lighting Homeless Man On Fire
Authorities in Thailand have located three children, ages nine to 15, who are suspected of setting a homeless man on fire un
Read more.....
Thai Police Track Down 3 Children Suspected Of Lighting Homeless Man On Fire
Authorities in Thailand have located three children, ages nine to 15, who are suspected of setting a homeless man on fire under a bridge in Bangkok and recording the attack.
The victim, a 51-year-old man known as Karn, lives beneath the Ban Ma Bridge in the Prawet district, where he earns money by collecting recyclable materials. He said the incident happened while he was asleep, according to SCMP .
“I was sleeping under the bridge when I felt cold liquid being poured on me before flames erupted on my body,” Karn told reporters.
Witnesses in the area said the attack appeared unprovoked, supporting Karn’s claim that he had no connection to the suspects.
SCMP writes that police confirmed Thursday that the three minors have been identified, but their identities are being kept confidential under child protection laws. Investigators said the children could face charges including attempted murder and destruction of public property, after nearby infrastructure was damaged during the fire.
Video footage of the incident quickly spread online, drawing intense backlash. Many users demanded tougher punishment, with some calling for the suspects to be tried as adults or for their parents to be held legally responsible.
The case has renewed attention on violent incidents involving young people in Thailand. In August last year, three teenagers in Lampang were arrested for killing a disabled dog by setting it on fire in an abandoned building, though authorities never revealed the outcome.
That same month, a separate attack in Bangkok made international headlines when a Malaysian tourist couple was set ablaze by an unemployed man near a major shopping center.
The government later pledged to cover their medical expenses and provide compensation.
As investigators continue their work, the latest incident has sparked wider debate about youth behavior, accountability, and public safety in Thailand.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 23:00 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 03:35:00 +0000 Seven Reasons Not To Bomb Iran
Seven Reasons Not To Bomb Iran
Seven Reasons Not To Bomb Iran
Authored by Josiah Lippincott via American Greatness ,
By the time this piece publishes, the United States military might already have launched air strikes on Iran. Indeed, planes could be launching while I write this. Nevertheless, here is a list of seven reasons why our government should not intervene in the Middle East.
1) It has never gone well. That is unlikely to change now. In 1953, the CIA overthrew the elected government of Iran to help the British more easily extract oil. We then installed the Shah, whom lots of Persians didn’t like. That problem came to a head in 1979 with the Shah being deposed and the religious fundamentalists, led by the Ayatollah, coming to power. That was not a success story for the United States.
Then there are the horrific boondoggles in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lies that drew us into the First Gulf War (babies stabbed in incubators!), the Syrian civil war, the disastrous collapse of Libya after Obama’s airstrikes, the Arab Spring nonsense, and the intervention in Lebanon that led to 200 Marines getting killed. I could go on.
The American government has a long pattern of failure in the Middle East.
2) Iran is not a military threat to America. This will cause the DC establishment types to be upset, but it is true. Iran’s anger with America stems from the coup we staged there and the meddling in Iran’s near abroad. This relationship can be easily fixed by simply stopping our current policy of hostility to the regime in Iran and adopting a policy of simply ignoring the region.
This is the right policy towards Iran because the country is not a threat to us. Iran cannot militarily attack America. The Revolutionary Guard is not going to stage an amphibious landing on the Potomac. Iranian agents of subterfuge on American soil have been hapless fools, easily foiled.
Even if Iran develops nuclear weapons, nothing changes. Iran cannot nuke America without getting obliterated in return. Therefore, there is no incentive to use those nuclear weapons in an offensive fashion.
Pakistan, North Korea, Russia, and China are all “bad” powers that have nuclear weapons. They’ve never used these weapons for a reason—the price isn’t worth the gain. Nukes are an ace in the hole for national defense, but they don’t have offensive utility in a world of atomic parity.
3) Iran’s relationship to Israel is not our problem . Iran and Israel despise each other for reasons that are complex and not worth getting into here. Needless to say, this is not a problem for Americans. Lots of people on earth don’t like each other. This isn’t new. The best thing to do in these cases is to simply stay out. We ought not borrow trouble that has no bearing on our national interests.
Israel is a big boy country. The Israelis can solve their own problems. There is no need for the American taxpayer to be involved.
Much is made of the anti-Semitism of the Iranian regime, with the implication being that the Ayatollah will use nuclear weapons against Israel if he gets the bomb. This is fearmongering with no basis in reality. Israel, like America, has nuclear weapons. If Tel Aviv gets annihilated, then so will Tehran. There is simply no gain for the Iranians in that case. Moreover, there is absolutely zero reason for the United States to get mixed up in a potential nuclear standoff between any countries anywhere on earth.
To be frank, the leadership of Iran is no more insane, moralistic, or fanatical than the Israeli or American ruling classes. In fact, they seem to be less expansionist than our own DC meddlers, mostly due to the aged character of the Iranian ruling element. The American military-industrial complex is more ferocious about spreading gay sex, feminism, and “democracy” abroad than Iran is in spreading Shia Islam.
4) The Iranian struggle for freedom is not a concern of the American government. The Declaration of Independence says that the purpose of government is to secure the rights “to life, liberty, and happiness” of the American people.
The Iranian people, however we may feel at a personal level about their cause, are not Americans. They don’t pay taxes, don’t owe us loyalty, haven’t consented to being ruled by us, and we have not agreed to rule over them in turn.
Their problems are their problems . The American government serves the American people. The Iranians are not Americans. They don’t get to ask American taxpayers to give them money, weapons, and support.
If Americans privately want to support women’s liberation or whatever in Iran, they are welcome to do so, but that isn’t what tax money is for.
5) Tax money spent on bombing Iran would be more useful here at home . Let’s take a hard-headed view of the costs at stake here: every dollar we spend monkeying with the desert drama queens is a dollar we didn’t spend on something else here at home.
War does not “boost the economy” because all of the weapons used and all of the soldiers’ paychecks have to come from taxing the economy. Everything in life comes with tradeoffs. War is no different.
Americans shouldn’t pay for weapons to be used on causes that don’t serve their interests, and our primary interest is protection. Our government is supposed to protect our bodies and our property. We have real problems with this right now here at home. Much more needs to be done to make American communities safe and peaceful.
I care far more about violence and criminal mischief in Hillsdale, Michigan, than in Tehran. Lots of bad things happen every day all over the world. Our tax dollars should be used to solve problems here.
6) Intervention backfires. Wars for human rights and far-flung geostrategic “interests” are always boondoggles. The long-term effects are bad: we stoke resentment among the natives, offend local power players, get sucked into unintelligible complex regional problems, and bear the long-term costs of dealing with the fallout.
There is, thankfully, an easy way to avoid all these issues: just stay away. If individual Americans care about the Middle East, then they can choose to spend their own money and time messing around in the region.
Surely, if Americans really thought bombing Iran was a good idea, then they would be eagerly offering up money to mercenaries and resistance fighters to go in there and spread freedom. Since most Americans are not doing this willingly, why should they be forced to support these measures unwillingly with tax dollars? It doesn’t make sense.
7) The American government should adopt the golden rule out of self-interest. Americans would not like it if a foreign government decided to meddle in our internal affairs. If China or Russia announced that they were going to launch military operations against the American homeland because of police “brutality” waged by ICE against illegal migrants, there would be an enormous backlash. Even leftists might view this as going too far.
We expect other countries to mind their own business and to stay out of ours. We should do the same abroad. Our real interests are right here on our own soil.
Instead of going abroad in search of monsters to destroy, the American government should worry about problems here. The easiest way is to simply stay out of unnecessary conflicts. The opportunities for problems abroad are simply too great. The Middle East is a mess and one the American government has done more, over its history, to create than to solve.
Time to take a step back.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 22:35 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 03:10:00 +0000 "Leader Turned Follower": Lululemon's See-Through Legging Fiasco Exposes Brand Drift
"Leader Turned Follower": Lululemon's See-Through Legging Fiasco Exposes Brand Drift
Lululemon Athletica has drifted from its core strength in premium, high-quality yoga pants, chasing trends and fast product cycles. Competitors su
Read more.....
"Leader Turned Follower": Lululemon's See-Through Legging Fiasco Exposes Brand Drift
Lululemon Athletica has drifted from its core strength in premium, high-quality yoga pants, chasing trends and fast product cycles. Competitors such as Alo Yoga and Vuori are quickly taking market share, while Lululemon has seen quality lapses, culminating in the botched launch of its "Get Low" tights earlier this month.
Bloomberg reports that Chief Brand and Product Activation Officer Nikki Neuburger told hundreds of employees at a meeting last week and in a video shared with staff worldwide that customers were not wearing the new $108 Get Low tights correctly.
Neuburger said that customers who bought the new controversial leggings, which some customers claim were see-through and "not squat proof," must size up and wear skin-toned underwear before putting on Get Low tights.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that Neuburger's memo to staff blaming customers for the see-through tights fiasco must "honestly be a joke."
"You are selling a premium product, you shouldn't have to issue instructions to women on how to wear leggings because your product is defective ," Saunders said.
Earlier this month, Lululemon pulled its new tights from its North America e-commerce website just days after launch, following an uproar on social media over claims that the leggings were see-through. But it re-introduced the tights to the online store about a week ago.
In response to the epic failure, founder Chip Wilson felt compelled enough to blast the Board in a social media post:
This is a new low for lululemon . Pulling back the "Get Low" product line after three days is clearly a total operational failure. This comes just 17 months after the failed launch of the "Breezethrough" leggings, a product line also discontinued for similar product flaws. I've believed that lululemon has lost its cool for some time, but it is now evident to me that the Company has completely lost its way as a leader in technical apparel. For years, lululemon's results (particularly in North America) have shown how the Company has struggled to deliver products that are compelling and beloved; now it is unable to simply deliver products that work.
Despite any finger pointing internally following this mishap, this is not the fault of any hard-working employees. This is the fault of the Board. It is clear that persistent failures like this are born out of this Board's lack of experience in creative businesses, disinterest in product development and quality, and focus on short-term, self-interested priorities. How could anyone reach a conclusion other than the Board continues to make decisions that are destroying the brand and the stock price?
What product quality testing did the Board review? How often does the Board review the product pipeline? Are leaders empowered to make the best product decision or simply pushed to the lowest cost decision?
I believe a leading Board would have a Brand Product Committee and have asked these questions.
For memory's sake, let's take another look at the Get Low line.
And one last time.
Meanwhile, Alo Yoga and Vuori are winning influencers and younger customers; Lululemon's attempts to follow that playbook have epically backfired. Year-to-date, shares are down 17%, below Covid lows.
Saunders said, "They've gone from being the leader in the category to, honestly, a bit of a follower."
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 22:10 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 02:45:00 +0000 Texas Governor Issues Disaster Declaration Over Spread Of Parasitic Screwworm
Texas Governor Issues Disaster Declaration Over Spread Of Parasitic Screwworm
Texas Governor Issues Disaster Declaration Over Spread Of Parasitic Screwworm
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday said he imposed a statewide disaster declaration to prevent the spread of a type of parasitic fly in his state.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to the media at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 22, 2025. AP Photo/Eric Gay
The New World screwworm isn’t yet present in the United States or Texas, although officials say it has been spreading toward the U.S.–Mexico border. Abbot said it can cause potential problems for the U.S. livestock industry if it spreads northward across the border.
“State law authorizes me to act to prevent a threat of infestation that could cause severe damage to Texas property, and I will not wait for such harm to reach our livestock and wildlife,” he said in a statement .
The disaster declaration allows him to mobilize the Texas New World Screwworm Response Team to “fully utilize all state government prevention and response resources to prevent the re-emergence of this destructive parasite” and that “Texas is prepared to fully eradicate this pest if need be,” he said.
The governor added that the order directs the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Animal Health Commission to create the response team and partner with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to respond to the parasite.
Screwworms can infect livestock, wildlife, and people, health and agriculture authorities have said. The insect’s maggots can burrow into the skin, inflicting serious and, in some cases, fatal damage to an organism.
In a notice on its website, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is usually found in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and South America. People are at a higher risk of contracting the infection if they travel to such areas or are around livestock in rural places where the screwworm flies are located and if they also have an open wound, according to the agency.
“NWS infestations are very painful,” the CDC says on its website, using an acronym for the New World screwworm. “If you have an NWS infestation, you may see maggots (larvae) around or in an open wound. They could also be in your nose, eyes, or mouth.”
The declaration from Abbott comes as the USDA said that, as of Jan. 22, the screwworm has not yet been detected in the United States.
Larvae of the screwworm fly, collected from infected cows, at the COPEG sterile fly production plant, which fights the spread of the cattle screwworm, in Pacora, Panama, on June 11, 2025. Enea Lebrun/Reuters
Screwworms were previously found in the United States but were eradicated in 1966, the USDA said. Officials also eliminated a small outbreak reported in the Florida Keys in 2017, it said.
In August, officials said the first human case of a New World screwworm was detected in a person in Maryland who had at the time recently traveled to El Salvador. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told The Epoch Times at the time that the risk to the public posed by the infection was “very low.”
That same month, the USDA said it would launch an initiative to combat the spread of the parasite in the United States, describing it as a national security threat. The plan includes bolstering funding to technologies that will bolster U.S. sterile fly production that it said would prevent its spread as well as the construction of a “domestic sterile screwworm production facility” in Texas, it added.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 21:45 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 02:20:00 +0000 Russia's Lukoil To Sell Bulk Of International Portfolio To US Carlyle Group
Russia's Lukoil To Sell Bulk Of International Portfolio To US Carlyle Group
Russia's Lukoil To Sell Bulk Of International Portfolio To US Carlyle Group
Russia's second-largest oil producer, Lukoil, has agreed to sell the bulk of its international assets - initially valued at $22 billion by analysts - to private equity heavyweight Carlyle, as Western sanctions continue to force a fire sale of Russian energy holdings abroad.
This sanctions-induced fire sale was expected, as the company had first unveiled in late October: "Lukoil informs that owing to introduction of restrictive measures against the Company and its subsidiaries by some states the Company announces its intention to sell its international assets."
Via Harici
The US sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft represented the first major round of economic penalties imposed on Moscow following Trump's return to his second term in the White House.
"I just felt it was time," Trump had told reporters on Oct. 22 while hosting NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. "These are tremendous sanctions. We hope they won’t be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled ."
It was seen as a way to pressure the Kremlin to the negotiating table - something with 'teeth' - but the reality has remained that the Zelensky government and its Western backers are unwilling to give up territory, which is a Moscow main sticking point.
The oil sanctions were imposed "as a result of Russia's lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine" - and that forced Lukoil into a formal bidding process.
The Carlyle deal notably excludes Lukoil's assets in Kazakhstan , which will remain under Lukoil Group ownership and continue operating under existing licenses.
The agreement is non-exclusive and remains contingent on multiple conditions, including regulatory approvals and explicit authorization from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for the transaction with Carlyle, according to various industry reports.
Discussions and negotiations with other potential buyers are still ongoing, Lukoil has said in the meantime.
Previously Chevron and ExxonMobil, as well as Abu Dhabi's International Holding Company (IHC), had expressed official interest to the U.S. Treasury in acquiring Lukoil's international portfolio.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 21:20 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 01:55:00 +0000 US Judge Grants Asylum To Chinese National Who Filmed China's Uyghur Prison Camps
US Judge Grants Asylum To Chinese National Who Filmed China's Uyghur Prison Camps
US Judge Grants Asylum To Chinese National Who Filmed China's Uyghur Prison Camps
Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A pro-democracy activist who fled China after documenting what he described as concentration camps in the Xinjiang region was granted asylum on Jan. 28 by a New York state immigration judge , amid widespread concern about the risks he would face if deported.
Guan Heng speaks in a YouTube video that documents his trip to China’s Xinjiang region in October 2020. Screenshot/The Epoch Times
Guan Heng, 38, applied for asylum after arriving in the United States illegally in 2021. He was living in New York state before he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August 2025.
The case attracted international scrutiny in December 2025, with lawmakers in two dozen countries, including the United States, urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to abandon its plan to deport him to Uganda. The agency subsequently canceled the plan.
During the Jan. 28 hearing in Napanoch, New York, Judge Charles Ouslander said that because Guan had filmed a video of the Xinjiang region, Guan had a “well-founded fear” of being persecuted if he were sent back to China.
Guan was asked whether he filmed the detention camps and released the video shortly before arriving in the United States to support his asylum case. He said that was not his intent.
“I sympathized with the Uyghurs who were persecuted ,” Guan, speaking by video link from the Broome County Correctional Facility in Binghamton, New York, told the court through a translator.
Human Rights in China (HRIC), a New York City-based advocacy group that has advocated for Guan’s release, has detailed Guan’s journey from China to the United States. In 2020, he read a BuzzFeed News report on detention centers in the Xinjiang region and decided to verify it, HRIC said.
In October 2020, Guan traveled to the Xinjiang region alone. He released most of his video footage on YouTube in October 2021 , the same month he arrived in Florida by boat after sailing from the Bahamas, to which he had traveled from Ecuador after fleeing China, according to the advocacy group.
HRIC characterized Guan’s video footage as an “extremely rare, first-person, on-the-ground video from a Chinese citizen.”
A month after Guan released his video, Chinese authorities, led by state security officials, began systematically targeting Guan’s relatives in China in what HRIC called “collective punishment.”
Guan told the judge that Chinese police had questioned his father three times since he released the video.
Guan’s attorney, Chen Chuangchuang, argued in his closing statement that his client’s case represents a “textbook example of why asylum should exist” and said that the United States has both a “moral and legal responsibility” to grant Guan asylum.
In December, before the DHS shelved its plan to deport Guan to Uganda, Chen spoke to NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times, about how the Ugandan government “has a troubling record of cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party in making arrests in Uganda.”
“Sending a well-known dissident like Mr. Guan to Uganda would be unsafe ,” Chen told NTD, according to a translation of his remarks in Chinese.
The judge said in his ruling that Guan had proven his legal eligibility for asylum, describing him as a credible witness. He said Guan faced a real risk of retaliation if returned to China, noting that Chinese authorities had questioned his family members and asked about his whereabouts and previous activities.
Guan was not released immediately, as a DHS lawyer said the agency reserves the right to appeal within 30 days. The judge urged the department to make a swift decision, noting that Guan has been detained for about five months.
Rights groups and activists have welcomed the judge’s decision.
Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders North America, applauded the court for recognizing “Guan Heng’s courageous work and the risks he would have faced if deported,” according to his statement .
“His footage of Uyghur concentration camps was invaluable to journalism that helped expose the horrors in Xinjiang, a region where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has committed crimes against humanity and genocide, according to the US State Department,“ Weimers said in the statement. ”Guan’s asylum is a rare win for press freedom under the current administration.”
Both the Trump and Biden administrations have formally declared the Chinese regime’s treatment of Uyghurs as “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.”
Rayhan Asat, a human rights lawyer of Uyghur heritage at the Atlantic Council, said “the American people stood up to defend Guan Heng’s rights and American values,” according to a post on X .
“The rule of law prevailed,“ Asat wrote. ”America will be better today because Guan Heng will be part of the American dream.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 20:55 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 01:30:00 +0000 Trump Sues US Treasury For $10 Billion Over Tax-Returns Leak
Trump Sues US Treasury For $10 Billion Over Tax-Returns Leak
In the latest sign that we're living in unusual times, the sitting president of the United States is suing the US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service -- both hou
Read more.....
Trump Sues US Treasury For $10 Billion Over Tax-Returns Leak
In the latest sign that we're living in unusual times, the sitting president of the United States is suing the US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service -- both housed in his executive branch -- and asking to be paid at least $10 billion in compensation for "reputational and financial harm," according to a complaint first publicized Thursday.
We're printing money willy-nilly -- so what's another $10 billion for Trump & Sons?
The suit springs from the IRS's failure to maintain the confidentiality of President Trump's tax returns. Between 2018 and 2020, then-IRS consultant Charles E. Littlejohn stole Trump's tax files and handed them over to The New York Times and ProPublica , which reported extensively on them. In 2024, Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing not only Trump's files, but also those of thousands more wealthy Americans, and giving them to the two news outlets. Prosecutors said he sought a role at the IRS with the intention of gaining access to Trump's information. He found such a role via Booz Allen Hamilton, which had a contract with the IRS. Citing the breach, Treasury killed all its remaining contracts with the firm earlier this week.
The Trump lawsuit makes for some strange dynamics within the executive branch: Trump-chosen Scott Bessent is both Treasury Secretary and acting IRS commissioner, and he'll have to figure out how to respond to a $10 billion demand presented by his own boss. Trump is joined in the suit by his two eldest sons, Donald and Eric, both executive VPs at the Trump Organization. In a 27-page complaint filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Trumps allege:
"[Treasury and the IRS] have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing."
According to the complaint, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration had warned the IRS about its insufficient protections for confidential taxpayer information -- not just once, but every year from 2010 to 2020. The uncorrected deficiencies enabled Littlejohn to steal Trump's information, upload it to a website and then share it, the Trumps allege: "Defendants were obligated to have appropriate technical, employee screening, security, and monitoring systems to prevent Littlejohn’s unlawful conduct. Defendants failed to take such mandatory precautions."
Trump says the US government owes him $10 billion for failing to prevent Charles Littlejohn from stealing his sensitive tax files
In late September 2020 -- about five weeks before that year's presidential election pitting Trump against Joe Biden -- the Times published a sprawling, multi-article analysis of Trump's tax filings, determining that he'd only paid $750 in taxes in 2016, and no taxes in 10 out of the previous 15 years . "His reports to the IRS portray a businessman who takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year yet racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes," reported the Times . (In a telling indicator that leftist media's relentless obsession with Russia scaremongering was still going strong in 2020, the Times laughably had to acknowledge that the documents failed to "reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia.")
Trump was clearly done wrong by having his tax files exposed to public view without his consent. However, Trump's lawsuit underscores an exasperating aspect of man's relationship to the state: When governments do wrong and are compelled to pay damages, the cost is always passed on to the citizenry, whether through taxation or inflation .
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 20:30 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 01:05:00 +0000 Cold Weather Delays NASA Moon Launch At Least Two Days
Cold Weather Delays NASA Moon Launch At Least Two Days
Cold Weather Delays NASA Moon Launch At Least Two Days
Authored by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Humanity’s return to the Moon’s orbit will have to wait at least another two days.
NASA’s Space Launch System Moon rocket prepares for launch ahead of Artemis II at Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Jan. 30, 2026 (T.J. Muscaro/The Epoch Times).
NASA said on Jan. 30 that the earliest launch date for the Artemis II mission —the first crewed mission to fly around the Moon in more than 50 years—was pushed back from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8 due to the unusually cold weather disrupting critical pre-launch operations.
“Managers have assessed hardware capabilities against the projected forecast, given the rare arctic outbreak affecting the state, and decided to change the timeline,” the space agency said in a press release .
“Teams and preparations at the launch pad remain ready for the wet dress rehearsal.
“However, adjusting the timeline for the test will position NASA for success during the rehearsal, as the expected weather this weekend would violate launch conditions.”
Before the behemoth Moon rocket called the Space Launch System can be cleared for launch, it needs to undergo a “wet dress rehearsal,” which is a run-through of launch day operations.
They include fully loading and unloading the rocket, powering up, powering down, and recycling critical systems.
It is at this time that any lingering problems with the spacecraft, such as fuel leaks, reveal themselves, as was the case for Artemis I.
Artemis II’s wet dress rehearsal was scheduled for Jan. 31.
However, mission managers decided the day before that it would be too cold and they are now targeting Feb. 2, with the simulated launch window beginning at 9 p.m. (ET).
While the space agency rules out a launch on the first two days of the February window—Feb. 6 and Feb. 7—a finalized launch date won’t be announced until after teams have reviewed the outcomes of the wet dress rehearsal.
According to NASA’s weather criteria for the Space Launch System, fueling cannot be initiated if the 24-hour average temperature at key points of the rocket is below 41.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
The National Weather Service office in Melbourne, Florida , warned of an extreme cold and freeze watch for Cape Canaveral, and several other counties across Central Florida for Jan. 31 through Feb. 1.
Temperatures could drop as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit, with a cold wind chill possibly hitting as low as seven degrees Fahrenheit.
Strong gusts reaching 45 mph were also possible for the morning of Jan. 31, which would also violate launch conditions.
Now, NASA plans to keep the Moon rocket and Orion crew capsule out on Launch Complex 39B in the meantime, as engineers take precautions to maintain the vehicle through the cold.
Those include keeping the Orion capsule powered up and configuring purges to ensure proper environmental conditions for certain elements of the boosters and spacecraft are maintained.
Meanwhile, the Artemis II crew remains in their pre-flight quarantine in Houston.
Mission managers were still assessing when the crew would arrive at Kennedy Space Center ahead of the launch.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 20:05 Close
Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:40:00 +0000 Americans Have Limited Trust In AI Search Results
Americans Have Limited Trust In AI Search Results
Using a search engine nowadays will inevitably render AI-generated results towards the top of the page.
This means that not only the many people going straig
Read more.....
Americans Have Limited Trust In AI Search Results
Using a search engine nowadays will inevitably render AI-generated results towards the top of the page.
This means that not only the many people going straight to ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini for their queries, but everybody else as well, is seeing the conclusions of Large Language Model in their online searches.
While most people are aware that LLM results can be wrong , tedious double-checking might be skipped when in a hurry or when the results are just what one was looking for and enthusiasm prevails.
But how trustworthy is the average American of AI search results and does trust vary by search category?
Katharina Buchholz reports that results from a Statista Consumer Insights survey show that only around one third of Americans have a high level of trust in these search results (giving eight to 10 points on a 10-point scale), while around a quarter indicated only one to three points, with one being zero trust.
You will find more infographics at Statista
This leaves close to 40 percent of Americans in the middle, trusting AI results somewhat.
Depending on the topic, there was a slight variation in trust, with Americans trusting AI a little more on health or wellness topics (35 percent showing a high level of trust and only 19 percent showing a low level of trust).
Finance and news topics elicited a little less trust, with only around 29 percent of respondents picking the upper end of the scale for finances and a high 27 percent saying the had little trust in regards to news coverage.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 - 19:40 Close