🇦🇱🇺🇸 An Albanian gangster may have lied to Jared Kushner about the feasibility of his and Ivanka Trump's planned holiday resort on the Albanian coast embroiling Kushner in his biggest controversy to date.

Residents of Zvërnec were shocked two years ago when Jared Kushner posted renderings of a planned Mediterranean resort on a slim peninsula sandwiched by the azure sea and a lagoon where flamingoes flock. 

The images were of a spit of land where their parents and grandparents once raised potatoes. The villagers contended the property was stolen from them in the 2000s by Artur Shehu—a suspected gangster who fled to Miami after a gunfight at his bar.

So they wrote a letter to Kushner saying they were locked in nearly two decades of court disputes with Shehu, urging the developers not to proceed. The site, they wrote, is “owned by the village and its residents.”

Instead, a Kushner-backed development group pressed ahead and paid Shehu over $120 million for the land earlier this year. Two months later, Albanian prosecutors sought Shehu’s arrest for allegedly playing a lead role in a sweeping international drug-smuggling operation that brought cocaine from South America to Europe in shipments of charcoal and fruit paste.

Shehu laundered money through property —including the peninsula in Zvërnec — that was stolen using techniques such as forged Ottoman-era land records, prosecutors said.

The controversy is the latest black eye for Kushner’s foreign real-estate ambitions—one piece of the post-2020 business career he launched after the first Trump administration. While most of his investing has been out of his $6 billion private-equity fund backed by Gulf wealth funds, Kushner also turned back to his real-estate roots. He talked of getting in front of the investment curve by developing in the Balkans, where tourism and property prices are rising, targeting Serbia and Albania

He struck a no-bid deal with Serbia’s government to develop state-owned land in central Belgrade—drawing local criticism that Serbia’s government was trying to cozy up to Trump, a charge the government denied. The Serbia plans fell apart after weeks of protests and the indictment of a cabinet minister who pushed through project approvals. Kushner pulled out in December.
 
The Albania project in Zvërnec has drawn a larger popular backlash. A video showing the Kushner-backed group’s private guards punching a local villager and dragging him across a beach sparked large daily protests in Tirana. They have continued for over two months, with protesters expanding their criticisms to endemic corruption and rampant development in a movement they call the Flamingo Revolution.

🔗 https://unwall.app/www.wsj.com/world/europe/jared-kushner-albania-shehu-drug-investigation-95391263

🇸🇴🇬🇼🇸🇿🇸🇸 Somaliland was reportedly close to securing recognition from Guinea-Bissau before Somalia intervened with support from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Hargeisa had also been lobbying Eswatini, South Sudan and other African states, with backing from the UAE and Israel, according to Mada Masr.

🔗 Faytuks Network

🇯🇵 Japan's 4 biggest life insurers incurred $96 billion worth of losses on Japanese govt bonds

On their own, the losses are largely an accounting issue. However, they also highlight a broader challenge facing the Bank of Japan (BOJ). Every additional rate hike helps stabilize the yen and curb inflation, yet it also pushes bond prices lower, deepening losses across insurers, banks, and pension funds.

Japan's four largest life insurers, Nippon Life, Dai-ichi Life, Sumitomo Life, and Meiji Yasuda, reported combined unrealized losses of ¥15.13 trillion ($96 billion) on domestic government bonds as of the end of June 2026, up roughly 7% from the previous quarter.

Bond prices move inversely to yields. As rates rise, the market value of older bonds paying lower coupons falls. Much of the insurers' portfolios were accumulated during the BOJ's years of aggressive monetary easing, leaving them exposed to today's higher-rate environment.

Despite the eye-catching figure, the losses remain largely unrealized because insurers generally intend to hold these bonds until maturity to match long-term policy obligations.

📝 For context, when Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in 2023, they had $15 billion worth of losses on US treasuries.

🔗 https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/96-billion-japan-bond-losses-190236239.html

🇯🇵🇺🇸 Despite a massive intervention by the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Treasury, the Yen continues to weaken and is close to surpassing, again, the 159 Yen for 1 USD exchange rate.

The intervention by the BOJ and the U.S. Treasury reportedly cost $87 billion, with somewhere between $5-10 billion being spent by the U.S. strengthening the yen from the 163-164 range to the 155-157 range.

At the rate the Yen is weakening, the U.S. Treasury and BOJ will have to intervene once 1-2 months to keep the currency stable.

@CIG_telegram

📢 🇬🇧 🗳 Rupert Lowe on X: Reform and Nigel Farage have finally made a response to our offer in the Daily Telegraph - I will go through their four conditions…

The Reform Chairman, Lee Anderson, has said Reform will not step aside in any constituencies. Reform should ‘always’ be on the ballot paper.

Meaning that Reform plan to run in every seat, even if there is an arrangement. This is not a constructive start.

I have been realistic. Clearly, the whole point of any arrangement would be not to divide the electoral force. That would mean certain Restore Britain candidates standing aside to ensure a sensible and pragmatic approach to our voting system.

If Reform are not willing to reciprocate in any constituencies, any at all, the offer I have made is entirely redundant.

They have also said we must endorse Farage to be Prime Minister, and allow the failed Conservative ministers to again be part of a future cabinet.

Contrary to reports, I have never said that Reform must dump anybody. That is not my place to do so. It is their party, it is entirely Reform’s choice who they run to be MPs or employ - it is putting these same ministers who failed Britain into a future cabinet which Restore Britain has helped to empower that I take issue with. Restore Britain will not be responsible for handing Nadhim Zahawi, Nadine Dorries and others some of the most powerful jobs in the country.

Farage and Reform have also said that Restore Britain must outright sack Charlie Downes - putting a young Christian man out of work, just as he is looking to build his life and start a family.

That is simply not how I operate.

But I want to be clear - if a sensible reciprocal arrangement can be found on our proposed policy platform, we would be willing to stand our Restore Britain candidates aside in certain seats in order to defeat the left-wing alliance. For any political party, that is a big step to make - country before party.

Reform have just outright rejected doing the same. If that position continues, then this whole exercise is futile.

A deal will mean give and take on both sides. I’ve been in business long enough to know that.

Our original offer was focused on policy, their response is about personality.

After all of the bad blood, if we focus on personality and ego, we will get nowhere. That much is obvious from the last seven days.

Our papers on economics, energy, deportations, policing and much more show exactly what can be delivered - properly considered policy must be central to everything.

The place to start this negotiation is on policy. Find common ground, sort out the clear differences, build on that and go from there.

Restore Britain remains open to good faith talks where both parties understand the brutal electoral reality we are facing.

📎 Rupert Lowe

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 Situation south of the city of Druzhkovka: Gruzskoe-Raiskoe-Nikolaevka area

Satellite images of the Donetsk region, taken on August 7, 2026, by the Sentinel satellite—under cloudless weather conditions—enabled analysis of multiple front-line sections for visible craters from FAB bombs. In the area of the settlements Gruzskoe - Raiskoe - Nikolaevka, the analysis—though carrying a significant risk of error—indicates a greater territorial advance by Russian forces than shown by most OSINT maps. Offensive operations in this sector are being conducted by the 150th Motorized Rifle Division as part of the broader "Center" Military Grouping offensive toward Dobropolye, launched in mid-July 2026.

Analysis of Sentinel imagery indicates that the Russians currently control most of the former Ukrainian screening belt on the approaches to their main defensive line, which in this front section runs along the left bank of the Gruzka River, in the area: Gruzskoe - Novonikolaevka - Novogrigorovka - Raiskoe. The areas on the right bank of this river, bounded to the west by the fortifications of the New Donbas Line and to the east by the course of the Kazenny Torets River, served as its forward field. Despite this, Ukrainian forces defended this area fiercely for nearly a year, holding many advanced strongpoints in the screening belt.

Although the command of the Russian 150th Motorized Rifle Division—through the activity of DRG units infiltrating villages along the Kazenny Torets River—suggests that the main offensive actions are being directed toward Novogrigorovka, the Russians appear more interested in capturing the area of the village of Novonikolaevka, along with Hill 183 there and the adjacent garden plot settlement. Seizing a bridgehead on the left bank of the Gruzka River in this sector would enable the 150th Division's command to launch a strike toward the area: Novoandreevka - Andreevka and sever the important frontline road for the Ukrainians from Dobropolye to Kramatorsk. This would significantly complicate the defense of Dobropolye by the 1st "Azov" Corps, which remains the primary target of the "Center" Military Grouping's offensive.

With Russian troops present in the village of Toretskoe, this puts them 5 miles (8 km) southwest of the city of Druzhkovka.

🔗 Thorkill

🇾🇪⚔️🇾🇪 Yemen's Ansarallah targeted Bayhan this morning, killing at least two Saudi-backed soldiers.

Some of the locations targeted with drones and missiles in the past days:

🔗 MenchOSINT

🇨🇳🤖 China has a 97% market share in the humanoid robot market

China’s humanoid robot makers commanded more than 97% of global shipments in the first half of 2026, according to new industry data affirming the country’s early lead against US rivals in the burgeoning field.

Global humanoid robot shipments totaled roughly 19,100 units in the first half of 2026, more than triple the 5,100 units shipped in the same period last year, according to data from Smart Analytics Global. The California-based research firm expects shipments to rise to around 60,000 units this year and reach half a million by 2030.

Shanghai-based Agibot overtook Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics to claim the top spot in market share, capturing 44% of global shipments with 8,400 units in the six-month period, compared with Unitree’s 5,900 units. Their volumes dwarf shipments from top US companies such as Tesla Inc., Figure AI Inc. and Agility Robotics Inc., underscoring the pace of development within China.

In late July, the US banned imports of new Chinese humanoid and quadruped robots, along with certain components, citing national security and cybersecurity risks to critical US artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Although the number of humanoid robots actually deployed in commercially productive roles remains small, China’s policy support and funding from various levels of governments are helping accelerate their path into the mainstream. The prioritization of such robotics was on full display at the World AI Conference in Shanghai last month, where dozens of robot makers unveiled advances in dexterity, speed and capabilities.

🔗 https://archive.ph/32Ewf

🇨🇴🤝🇮🇱 Colombia recognised Israel's claims over the Golan Heights.

@CIG_telegram

🇨🇴🇲🇦🇪🇭⚡️ — Colombia announced a change in its posture regarding the Western Sahara, freezing relations with the Polisario-led Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory.

🛢 US SPR crude inventories fell by ~6.1mb w/w to a multi year low of 298.7mb last week

Sour down ~2.0mb to 193.4mb
Sweet down ~4.1mb to 105.3mb

@CIG_telegram

👨‍💻 🇮🇶 🇮🇶 Iraq establishes database for six million weapons and shuts down 71 unauthorized PMU-linked offices
——
The Iraqi Interior Ministry announced on Monday the creation of a comprehensive national database aimed at registering an estimated six million weapons nationwide, as reported by Anadolu Agency.

Alongside the database initiative, authorities shuttered 71 unauthorized offices falsely claiming affiliation with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

According to statements carried by the Iraqi News Agency, the move follows the opening of official firearms registration and licensing centers across the country last Friday.

The systematic push to centralize armaments began in earnest after military spokesman Sabah al-Numan announced a specialized implementation committee on 3 June.

Unregulated weaponry continues to pose a domestic security challenge for Iraq, which seeks to reinforce state authority and bring all armed factions under government oversight.

📎 The Cradle