
Trump officials met group pushing Alberta independence from Canada
Read More »Ukraine is nearing a deal to grant the U.S. access to its rare minerals in exchange for continued political and, perhaps, military support, though negotiations face challenges since 40% of these resources are in Russian-occupied territory. With Trump pushing for access to these minerals while also engaging in talks with Russia, Ukraine faces uncertainty over its strategic partnerships as it navigates its war effort and economic future.
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That being said, information about what materials Ukraine has and where they are located presents snags for negotiations. Namely, Ukraine can’t promise access to all its materials when a reported 40% of the minerals are under land currently occupied by Russia.
On top of that, the main motivation for Zelensky agreeing to swap minerals is likely to be in return for military aid from America—which Ukrainian officials say has not been explicitly penciled into the draft.
Despite this, yesterday sources in Kyiv confirmed the terms to share materials—including oil and gas—are almost agreed after months of negotiation.
Related:
Read More »Most readers will know the news by now. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, released an AI model called R1 that is comparable in ability to the best models from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, but was trained at a radically lower cost and using less than state-of-the art GPU chips. DeepSeek also made public enough of the details of the model that others can run it on their own computers without charge.
Previously:
Interview with Deepseek Founder: We’re Done Following. It’s Time to Lead
The Philippine military opened two weeks of combat drills Monday that would include seizing an island in the disputed South China Sea and likely be frowned upon by China.
Philippine military drills to seize an island in the South China Sea
Previously:
China looks to Indonesia for diplomatic resolution after coastguards’ Natuna encounters + More
China looks to Indonesia for diplomatic resolution after coastguards’ Natuna encounters

Related:
[10-23-2024] Indonesian Coast Guard “Drives Out” Chinese Vessel Shadowing Seismic Ship (archived)
Read More »On Monday, Indonesia’s coast guard “drove out” a China Coast Guard cutter that was shadowing a survey vessel in Indonesian waters of the South China Sea. On Tuesday, the Chinese vessel was back again in the same spot, according to maritime security expert Ray Powell.
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Geo Coral is a Norwegian-owned geophysical vessel flagged in Norway. She is operating under charter to PT Pertamina, Indonesia’s state-owned oil company, to conduct a 3D seismic survey off the Natuna Islands. “Pertamina East Natuna is focusing on oil and gas exploration activities in the East Natuna Working Area [East Natuna gas field], which has great potential to contribute to national energy security,” said a Pertamina spokesman on Tuesday.

The Hershey Company gets into dairy-free chocolate in a big way with the nationwide launch of Reese’s Plant-Based and Hershey’s Plant-Based Extra Creamy with Almonds and Sea Salt.
How Hershey’s Made Its First Vegan Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Chocolate Bars
I tried one of these earlier. It’s too much chocolate for me. I’ve noticed that there’s Reese’s Plant-Based Miniature Peanut Butter Cups but haven’t seen them at the local Walmart. It’s probably for the best, as they’re around the same calories as the regular ones.

The Final Curtain For Incandescent Light Bulbs
The use of incandescent light bulbs is not banned, only the sale and manufacturing of less than 45 lumens per watt lights. The de facto ban exempts appliance lights, Christmas lights, flood lights, and infrared lights, among others.
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