Saudi Arabia’s big plan to move beyond oil is running straight into Houthi missiles…
The kingdom wants $100 billion a year from foreign investors by 2030, but the attacks are making that a MUCH harder sell.
This week, the bosses of ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, and others were dropped from a major energy summit in Riyadh. The city’s main airport, hit 4x in a week, is shut until at least Oct 17.
Investors don’t need a country to collapse to get nervous. A closed airport and kids staying home from school are enough.
And there’s no quick fix. Saudi’s own allies in Yemen are split, and Trump still hasn’t decided whether to help.
The longer this drags on, the harder it gets to sell Saudi Arabia as the Middle East’s safest place to do business.
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Over Sunday night, some spoilsport hackers hijacked the fridge systems of hundreds of supermarkets across France and cranked up their thermostats to temperatures as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit, ruining incalculable stores of groceries and even causing fires.
As Reuters reports, the Paris prosecutor’s office described it as a “large-scale” attack that affected “several major food retailers across France.”
The numbers are incredible. The chain Carrefour said that 80 of its supermarkets were attacked. The owner of Intermarche said that fridges at 150 stores were heated up to 122 degrees for six hours overnight. And Monoprix, which has 490 stores in France, said that about five percent of its locations were affected.
Intermarche CEO Thierry Cotillard, in comments to BFM TV quoted by Reuters, estimated that the attack has caused losses amounting to “tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day,” calling it “unprecedented.”
Cooperative U CEO Dominique Schelcher, who says 80 of his supermarket locations were also affected, echoed those comments.
“Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is of extreme gravity and is unprecedented,” he wrote in a statement on X.
Supermarket fridges and freezers are designed to be accessible over the internet so organizations can monitor their temperatures and remotely adjust them as needed. But evidently these setups weren’t as secure as they should have been. France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) is reportedly investigating the attack and has identified a vulnerability in the software supplied by the Danish firm Danfoss.
Danfoss told Reuters it was “aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems,” and said that the affected units “were running outdated firmware.” Recent software updates patched a series of vulnerabilities found by the cybersecurity firm Team82 in August which could allow attackers to bypass authentication controls and remotely execute code, the reporting noted.
The attack may not be limited to France. The Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize, which also owns supermarket chains like Food Lion and Giant in the US, said it was dealing with a “security issue” on its end and took some of its systems offline as a precaution. It insisted, though, that there was no reason to draw a link with the French incidents.
Given the recent noise around AI’s role in hacking sprees, it’s difficult not wonder if this was yet another example. A CrowdStrike report published February found that there was a nearly 90 percent year over year increase in AI-enabled cyberattacks.
I’m a tech and science correspondent for Futurism, where I’m particularly interested in astrophysics, the business and ethics of artificial intelligence and automation, and the environment.
Death has a way of teaching us about living — if only life wouldn’t get in the way.
Why it matters: Losing someone can bring sudden clarity to what actually matters. But making that change in perspective stick is hard.
My mother-in-law recently passed away, and almost immediately I wanted to bottle up everything our relationship and her death taught me.
These lessons — like making time for what matters, saying how you feel while you have the chance and taking more videos — are so obvious that they’re easy to ignore until death makes them impossible to
The big picture: Death brings the fragility of life into sharp focus.
I suddenly wanted to hug everyone in my family as tightly as possible and somehow make all of us understand, right now, that we need to ensure we’re making the most of our time together.
Reality check: Intellectually understanding that life is finite doesn’t mean we can permanently feel the urgency of that fact. Yes, there’s a temporary bump in togetherness, but then something maddening happens: Life goes on.
Jobs consume most of our waking hours during the week.
Trips and other life obligations compete for our time.
Sometimes we’re simply tired and want to watch dumb TV shows.The profound realization that life is short somehow has to coexist with needing to unload the dishwasher.
What I’m learning: Maybe I can’t bottle up that feeling of urgency forever. But I don’t have to preserve it at full strength for the experience to change me.
I want more videos and audio recordings of the people I love, particularly parents who may come second or third on the camera roll after children and pets. I recently asked my mother to leave me a happy birthday voice message. Now I’ll have it forever.
I want to keep showing up for the big moments while appreciating more of the utterly unremarkable ones: a grocery store trip, a random lunch, a phone conversation about nothing.
Yes, but: I want to be kinder to myself about the moments I will inevitably miss.
I’ve caught myself regretting time I didn’t spend with loved ones, but I can’t possibly be everywhere or do everything. The moments I miss don’t diminish the ones I can make time for.
The bottom line: Death reminds us to live to the fullest. Life reminds us we can’t always do that.
Almost half of workers helping families care for children, older people, and people with disabilities, who provide vital domestic support in Europe, have considered quitting due to low pay and bad working conditions, a labour-union report found on Tuesday (13 October).
The 2026 personal and household services (PHS) employment monitor drew on more than 8,000 responses from workers, service users, and employers in 36 countries.
Around one in four respondents worked between 35 and 40 hours per week.
Meanwhile, six in 10 workers reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders, including back pain and tendon inflammation.
One in four also said they had experienced or witnessed verbal abuse, while nearly 15 percent had experienced either sexual harassment, physical, and/or sexual violence.
Care poviders’ mental health is impacted, with around six out of 10 reporting sleeping issues.
But these same workers play “an essential role in providing a dignified life for everybody in our ageing European societies,” Oliver Roethig, regional secretary of UNI Europa said in a statement.
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A Hamburg court opens the trial of Ukrainian Serhii K. (identified as Serhiy Kuznetsov) on 14 October on charges of being an accomplice to a war crime in the September 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, with German prosecutors alleging the operation was ordered by Ukrainian state authorities.
Six other Ukrainian suspects remain at large or fight extradition; media reports claim Kuznetsov told his wife the attack was an “official military operation,” though both he and his alleged commander deny involvement and Kyiv continues to reject any role.
The proceedings are expected to intensify German political debate over military aid to Ukraine, with the AfD poised to exploit any evidence of Kyiv’s involvement while the government signals it will maintain support regardless of the verdict.
After four years of speculation, leaks, and briefings by anonymous sources, the world is finally about to hear evidence given publicly under oath in a German courtroom about how the Nord Stream gas pipelines were blown up — in a case that could prove politically explosive.
German prosecutors have identified seven Ukrainian suspects, but just one of them is in the dock in the trial beginning on October 14. He is named as Serhii K. in court documents that say he is suspected of a being an accomplice to a war crime.
That classification has caused outrage. But German prosecutors have further raised the stakes by stating the suspects were operating “on behalf of state authorities in Ukraine.”
Kyiv has always strictly denied any involvement in the attack, which damaged crucial energy infrastructure serving Germany — one of its most important military backers in its fight since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Serhii K., who has been identified elsewhere as Serhiy Kuznetsov, says he is innocent.
‘Two Crazy Military Men’
Nord Stream is majority-owned by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom and co-financed by major European energy companies. It was constructed to deliver Russian gas directly to Germany, bypassing transit states such as Ukraine and Poland, which had tense relations with Moscow.
The suspected sabotage and subsequent gas leaks happened in September 2022, rendering the pipelines as inoperable.
Western governments originally accused Russia of carrying out the blasts, but German investigators started forming a case that said a group of Ukrainian divers hired a yacht and planted explosives on the seabed.
They say Kuznetsov, a former military officer, was the ringleader.
“At the end of February 2022, he and other military personnel, on behalf of state authorities in Ukraine, developed the plan,” says a summary of the indictment released by prosecutors. “The aim was to permanently halt gas deliveries via the pipelines and prevent Russia from using the revenue from the natural gas trade to finance its war efforts.”
The prosecutors have not stated publicly the full extent of the alleged conspiracy.
The full indictment contains some further details, according to three German media outlets that say they have seen it: public-service TV station ARD and two print-era heavyweights, Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit.
They all reported that, while in custody in Italy, Kuznetsov had phoned his wife in Kyiv and investigators were secretly listening in as he said he’d been advised by a lawyer that it was time to admit this had been “an official military operation.” His commander should state that they were not just “two crazy military men.”
Kuznetsov’s Italian lawyer, Nicola Canestrini, has played down the importance of this evidence, saying there was “no smoking gun” in the case.
“It is hard to believe that, after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, a German court should hold a war crimes trial against a Ukrainian serviceman,” he added in comments to RFE/RL.
The three German media outlets named Roman Chervinskiy as Serhii K.’s commander, and his name also appeared in multiple earlier media reports citing intelligence sources. Chervinskiy told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service in July that “the Germans actually have no evidence whatsoever that Serhii took part in this operation, if it even took place.”
Another suspect, identified by Germany as Vladimir Z., is currently in custody in Croatia, where he is fighting extradition. He was previously detained in Poland but was freed when a Polish judge ruled that if Ukraine were responsible for the Nord Stream attack, it was a “just” act.
A professional diver identified by his Polish lawyers as Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, he was working in Croatia as an adviser on a Hollywood movie about Nord Stream.
During the trial, the prosecution will have to lay out its evidence for a conspiracy and the full extent of it.
“That is the crucial question: How much came from the top of the Ukrainian political system or how much was prepared by some insiders in the intelligence service?” Stefan Meister, a specialist on Russia and Eastern Europe at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told RFE/RL.
“The key political question is the role of Zelenskyy and the presidential administration. And there we still have no proof that they were really involved,” he added.
Kuznetsov’s German lawyer, Jes Meyer-Lohkamp, said prosecutors “have not provided any direct, conclusive evidence of our client’s involvement” and that the German court will have to determine whether Nord Stream was actually a legitimate military target.
The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg has scheduled two hearings every week until at least February, with no specified end date yet.
German Support For Ukraine
As the case unfolds, it will also feed into bitter disputes in Germany about ongoing support for Ukraine. The main opposition party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), is highly critical of this support and calls for close ties to Russia instead.
Evidence of Ukrainian involvement in the Nord Stream attack “would strengthen the AfD’s argumentation against this support for Ukraine,” said Meister. “They have all these narratives about Ukrainian corruption, a failed state…. It would resonate also in parts of German society.”
The AfD has recently won key regional elections and is piling the pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government over Ukraine, immigration, and economic concerns.
Merz’s response has been to double-down on his current policies, including on Ukraine. Most recently, he was in Kyiv on October 4 with a new aid package including joint production of interceptors to shoot down Russian jet-powered drones.
Mikhaylo Honchar, head of the Kyiv-based Strategy XXI Global Studies Center, told RFE/RL this would likely continue regardless of what comes out at the trial.
“If you take into consideration real Russian policy, which is directed against the EU and NATO, and Russia’s anti-German rhetoric, I think the government of Germany will avoid steps which would undermine the bilateral relationship” with Ukraine, he said.
He added that the prosecution case was “absurd,” citing German media reports that the attack may have been a Russian false-flag operation.
But in any case, Honchar said, a guilty verdict would be met with a clear response in Ukraine. “Many people will say: ‘If our guys did it, they are heroes.’”
Ray Furlong is a Senior International Correspondent for RFE/RL. He has reported for RFE/RL from the Balkans, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and elsewhere since joining the company in 2014. He previously worked for 17 years for the BBC as a foreign correspondent in Prague and Berlin, and as a roving international reporter across Europe and the former Soviet Union.
RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service has seen its audience grow significantly since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 and is among the most cited media outlets in the country. Its bold, in-depth reporting from the front lines has won many accolades and awards. Its comprehensive coverage also includes award-winning reporting by the Donbas.Realities and Crimea.Realities projects and the Schemes investigative unit.
About RFE RL
RFE/RL journalists report the news in 21 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established.
Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg and Gavriil Grigorov/pool/AFP, via Getty Images
President Trump is indulging his fondness for Vladimir Putin at a moment of acute political peril, forcing Republicans in the midterms to take cover as he showers Moscow with one-sided concessions, Axios’ Zachary Basu writes.
Why it matters: With just three weeks until the election, Trump is rekindling a decade-long, scandal-scarred relationship with a dictator reviled by most Americans — including his own supporters.
Zoom in: Since speaking with Putin on Friday, Trump has embarked on a remarkable five-day campaign of diplomatic concessions and cover for Russia — sparking bipartisan blowback just as voters prepare to cast their ballots.
On Friday, Trump announced a deal to unleash millions of tons of Russian diesel onto global markets, easing sanctions designed to starve Moscow’s war revenues.
On Saturday, Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for striking Russian refineries and demanded that Kyiv replace its leader.
On Sunday, Trump blindsided Zelensky by declaring an immediate “energy ceasefire.” Russia has continued attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure, with no apparent consequences from Washington.
On Monday, Trump dismissed months of intelligence-based reports that Russia was enabling Iran’s war effort by supplying information about U.S. military assets.
Yesterday, Trump doubled down on the diesel deal and brushed off concerns that the proceeds could finance Russia’s war machine, even as GOP senators labeled it a “betrayal” and “a gift to our adversary.”President Trump walks out of the White House with new press secretary Katie Zacharia yesterday en route to a campaign rally in Alaska. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Between the lines: The benefits to Russia are clear. Far less apparent is what Trump’s concessions accomplish for American security, European allies or his own political fortunes.
For America: Energy analysts doubt the diesel deal will meaningfully ease fuel prices sent soaring by the Iran war.
For Europe: Washington is breaking ranks with a NATO alliance confronting a historic threat environment, as Russia escalates its hybrid campaign of sabotage, cyberattacks and drone incursions.
For Republicans: With control of Congress hanging in the balance, Trump is embracing a dictator viewed unfavorably by 81% of his own 2024 voters, according to a January YouGov poll
The big picture: Trump’s warm relationship with Putin has haunted his political career since 2016, when Russia interfered in the presidential election to help him defeat Hillary Clinton.
A decade of investigations, scandals and Washington outrage has done little to shake that affinity. If anything, the scrutiny appears to have hardened Trump’s determination to defy the foreign-policy consensus.
HOUTHIS NAME THREE SAUDI TARGETS FOR RETALIATION Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree has threatened a major response if the Saudi-led coalition strikes the oil facility in Sanaa. He specifically named: • Saudi Aramco headquarters in Dammam • King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh • Saudi Aramco’s Riyadh refinery
In this Quick Take, Ian Bremmer explains why President Donald Trump is pressuring Ukraine over strikes on Russian refineries, and what his new deal to buy Russian diesel means for the war.
Trump warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky against hitting Russian refineries, first privately and then publicly. He said the strikes help push up diesel prices. Zelenskyy refused to back off. Trump then announced a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to buy diesel directly and let Russia export it more widely.
The Tragic Story of Lucia Joyce – Schizophrenia & Half a Century Locked Away James Joyce’s daughter Lucia was a gifted dancer in 1920s Paris, until schizophrenia took her into psychiatric care for almost half a century. In 1929, Lucia Joyce danced in a silver fish-scale costume she had sewn herself, and the crowd at Bal Bullier booed the judges for not giving her the prize. Three years later, her mind began to break. Her father refused to accept that she was ill. He spent a fortune on doctors and clinics, and even took her to Carl Jung. Nothing could bring her back. This is one of the most tragic stories in literary history: a daughter left behind in wartime France, a family that stopped visiting, and a man who once broke her heart, Samuel Beckett, who kept coming to see her until the end. After her death, most of her letters were destroyed.
Undertold brings you the tragic stories of real people whose lives were told wrong, told halfway, or never told at all. Subscribe for the next story. Full Series: • Tragic Stories Timestamp: 00:00 The Dancer of Paris 07:40 The First Cracks 11:20 The Father Who Refused to Believe 16:46 Left Behind for Fifty Years 24:15 Silenced a Second Time Sources:
Carol Loeb Shloss, Lucia Joyce: To Dance in the Wake (2003)
Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (Oxford University Press, revised edition 1982)
“Lucia Joyce’s Mental Illness in Finnegans Wake”, American Journal of Psychiatry (2012)
Build or ban? Here’s what every citizen should know before a giant AI data center gets built in their community. Debating the benefits and dangers of developing AI data centers in this episode of “Can We Agree?”: Brian O’Neill, a Pennsylvania developer aiming to build $18 billion of data centers in the suburbs. He says one of his projects will pay over $30 million a year to the township’s school district. That’s $109,000 per teacher and $8,827 per student. He also makes the case for improved technology and providing high-paying community jobs that don’t even require a high school degree.Abre’ Conner is director of the NAACP’s Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and is leading its federal lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI over the gas turbines powering a massive data center near Memphis. She says jobs cannot justify harm.
What can they agree on? Is there a “right” way to build a data center? How reliable are claims about emissions and closed loop systems? What is the actual impact on communities, both environmentally and financially? Nobody leaves until they agree. “Can We Agree?” is the program that asks whether two brilliant minds from opposite corners of an argument can find any common ground on the questions that matter most to Americans today.
Subscribe to the Smerconish YouTube channel to never miss an episode: / @michaelsmerconish Watch more “Can We Agree?” https://www.youtube.com/show/VLPLArM1…00:00 AI Data Centers: What’s at stake? 04:50 Is this just what change looks like? 07:25 How to AI data centers impact communities? 09:07 Counter-arguments for AI data centers 09:48 What if data centers met all emission standards? 12:42 Data center emissions in focus 14:42 Are there developers who build data centers “right”? 22:19 How does America win the AI race without data centers? 22:38 Defining community and who represents them 24:44 Are arguments against data centers “anti-business”? 29:05 Listeners share their views on data centers 32:58 What about the revenue? 34:12 How much money can data centers bring to communities? 37:56 Jobs and data centers 52:15 Will activists take “yes” for an answer if developers meet objectives? 53:37 Can We Agree?
The big picture: Death brings the fragility of life into sharp focus.
Yes, but: I want to be kinder to myself about the moments I will inevitably miss.
Zoom in: Since speaking with Putin on Friday, Trump has embarked on a remarkable five-day campaign of diplomatic concessions and cover for Russia — sparking bipartisan blowback just as voters prepare to cast their ballots.
President Trump walks out of the White House with new press secretary Katie Zacharia yesterday en route to a campaign rally in Alaska. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
The big picture: Trump’s warm relationship with Putin has haunted his political career since 2016, when Russia interfered in the presidential election to help him defeat Hillary Clinton.
• Tragic Stories 
