The streaming titan’s shares are down 42% in the last 12 months alone and have been nearly cut in half from their all-time high last summer. It abruptly replaced content chief Bela Bajaria last week just hours after a layoff of 1,000 employees (roughly 6% of the company) – its biggest round of layoffs in four years – that she helped engineer. But it was not the end of jobs cut.

By Monday (Oct 19), film chief Dan Lin lost his job, too. The ousters of two of the company’s top creative executives are signs that the streaming giant’s leaders feel the service needs to overhaul its content offerings. Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a memo that entertaining the world “requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources”.

Behind closed doors, Sarandos had actually complained internally for months that Americans were spending less time watching Netflix and that the service was short on new hit shows. He also has told colleagues that he wants the company, which has experimented with everything from video games to podcasts, to strengthen its core TV and movie offerings.

On Tuesday (October 20), Netflix reported third-quarter earnings that topped analyst estimates and revenue that was in line as Wall Street eyes the company’s engagement and advertising metrics. The company’s revenue was almost 12% higher year over year, boosted by growth in membership and an increase in subscription prices.

Net income for the quarter was US$3.66 billion, or 87 cents (versus 82 cents estimated) per share in terms of EPS (earning per share), compared with US$2.55 billion, or 59 cents a share in the same period last year. However, the company narrowed its 2026 full-year forecast, saying it now expects revenue to reach US$51.1 billion – below Wall Street’s expectations of US$51.2 billion for the year.

As a result, shares of Netflix fell about 6% in extended trading on Tuesday. Central to Netflix’s value offering has been its cheaper, ad-supported tier. Yet, the company on Tuesday lowered its full-year revenue guidance for its ad business. Netflix said it now expects 2026 ad revenue of around US$2.7 billion, down from the roughly US$3 billion the company had previously forecast.

Problems at the company that ushered in Hollywood’s streaming revolution have been building for a year as it has struggled to come up with hits on the level of “Stranger Things” or “Squid Game.” Netflix needs to – desperately – prove that it can produce hit movies and TV series again to stop a slide that has erased more than US$135 billion in market value in 2026.

The stock price is down 26% in 2026, putting Netflix among the 10 worst performers in the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index and on track for its worst year since 2022, and it is coming off a 14% decline in September. In fact, its stock has sagged since its failed US$82.7 billion bid launched last year for Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and TV studios and HBO Max, which investors saw as a sign of weakness.

Although adding HBO Max and the Warner Bros. studio could have given Netflix a boost, investors worried that its leaders had run out of ideas for growth since Netflix hasn’t historically turned to major dealmaking. Besides that narrative, shareholders were concerned about Netflix taking on a massive debt load and going through a complex integration process.

Crucially, like many media companies, it is struggling to attract audiences spending more time watching YouTube and TikTok. User engagement has “stalled” owing to a lack of popular content despite heavy spending driven by a crowded, competitive entertainment landscape. Netflix’s struggles to keep viewers hooked have become increasingly apparent.

As of the end of September, Netflix hadn’t added net subscribers any month this year in the U.S., according to analytics firm Antenna, which tracks U.S. consumer purchases of subscriptions through sources such as credit-card bills. The good news is the rate at which U.S. subscribers cancel the Netflix service remains the lowest in the industry at just 2.1% in September.

Netflix grew global viewing hours by merely 2% year over year to 97 billion in the first half of 2026. Investors are worried that slowing engagement growth could hurt Netflix’s ability to retain customers and persuade them to pay more. Engagement is also “the golden compass for advertisers” since higher usage helps them reach broader audiences.

Worse, Netflix won the fewest Emmy Awards in a decade in 2026, and as admitted by its own co-chief executive officer Ted Sarandos – the company is “not growing” fast enough. “The content’s getting very expensive, and there are just still too many players,” – said Ken Mahoney of Mahoney Asset Management. “I think there are so many better tech stories out there than Netflix that have sticky customers.”

While Netflix is still leading its paid peers in viewership and profits, free streaming services like YouTube, Tubi, and The Roku Channel are gaining popularity, especially among younger audiences. YouTube’s viewership share on US TVs was 14.2% in July – nearly double Netflix’s 7.8% share, according to Nielsen. Roku’s free streamer and Tubi are also formidable competitors with shares of 2.9% and 2%, respectively.

Sure, the company has expanded its content offering to boost engagement. Some newer categories, such as live sports, have been more successful than others, such as video games. But only 3.5% of Netflix’s subscribers play games monthly, according to a recent internal memo. That business is tracking about 10% behind its 2026 reach and engagement goals.

Video podcasts and creator content have allowed Netflix to add hundreds of hours of programming at a fraction of the cost of scripted series. During the company’s last earnings call, Sarandos emphasized that building up these new formats takes time and that they are “evolutionary, not revolutionary.” In short, neither games nor podcasts have been a game changer so far.

Executives have debated behind closed doors whether to change the release cadence of certain shows to improve engagement. Netflix typically drops all the episodes of a season at once, while many competitors release new episodes weekly. Sarandos has resisted the change. Netflix data shows that members prefer an all-at-once binge versus a weekly cadence, according to the company.

In another change, it is starting to bet on major theatrical releases for some films after years of releasing most films directly online and giving a handful a few weeks on a limited number of screens. The company is releasing films including “Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory” and “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” in theaters globally at least 45 days before they will be available to watch at home, the strategy typically used by traditional studios.

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The post $135 Billion Wipe-Out – Netflix Needs Something Big To Beat YouTube first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

It was a calculated tactical move to soften the potential backlash ahead of the Melaka and Sarawak state elections, as well as to pacify angry supporters in the upcoming 16^th General Election. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was supposed to “reject” the secretary-general of Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) resignation, and Ah Loke would then say –“Hey, I had offered to resign, but my boss rejected.”

The comical part was when Anwar and Loke could not meet to discuss the so-called resignation, despite both leaders travelling on the same plane to China and staying in the same hotel – and probably having breakfast together – for a working visit to Shanghai in September. They talked and behaved as if they were living in a different dimension.

The scam would have seen a happy ending – Loke retracting his resignation out of respect for Anwar – if not for the opposition’s mocking of the DAP chief’s hilarious stunt. Kedah Chief Minister Sanusi mocked and laughed at Anthony Loke’s resignation strategy, labeling it as “firecracker politics” and a choreographed political “drama”, ready to backtrack and find excuses to stay in power.

Humiliated, Ah Loke had no choice but to insist on resigning, while Anwar said he was still waiting for the official resignation letter from the transport minister. The bullshit resignation plan has been exposed. Minister can unilaterally resign under Article 43 of the Federal Constitution without waiting for the Prime Minister’s permission. They scrambled to cook up a new excuse.

And the new excuse has become the best invention since sliced bread – Loke’s resignation will officially take effect only on the exact day Najib actually begins his house arrest. Until then, Loke remains active as the Transport Minister. Obviously, the “conditional timeline” was merely a stunt to appease angry grassroots voters while keeping DAP in the ruling government.

It was already bad that DAP under the weak and spineless leadership of Loke chose not to resign en bloc – if indeed the political party was against Najib’s pardon allowing him to serve the rest of his jail term under house arrest. It becomes worse that power-hungry Loke now chose not to resign as promised, but makes a laughable half-baked self-imposed condition to resign at a later date.

The delaying tactic to resign is both pathetic and disgusting. Najib remains in Kajang Prison until he pays his RM50 million fine, making the actual start date of his house arrest – and Loke’s final day in office – completely uncertain. DAP leaders, who had been condemning UMNO leaders in the past 60 years for their refusal to resign out of accountability and responsibility, are now no better than UMNO.

At least UMNO has been honest about their “shameless doctrine” of not resigning even when caught with pants down stealing and plundering. DAP, screaming about CAT (Competency, Accountability, and Transparency) and lecturing about eliminating corruption, enforcing equality, securing justice, upholding the rule of law, fighting for a free and fair Malaysia, and whatnot now looks like a huge hypocrite and liar.

By setting a new condition to resign, Ah Loke hopes to hoodwink supporters that he is still a leader with “principle”. Given a chance, he would not want to quit. But if he doesn’t resign, then he is no different than Akmal Saleh, the notorious UMNO Youth Chief who had also “offered” to resign as a Melaka state executive councillor (Exco) in April 2026, only to stays after his resignation was rejected by Melaka Chief Minister.

When Anwar and Loke discussed behind closed doors how “not to resign”, Akmal Saleh was a benchmark. Loke’s resignation must be engineered and designed to look slightly better than Akmal’s to prevent ridicule and mocking. Loke cannot be on the same level as Akmal. Eventually, the condition was set to resign effective only when Najib pays his RM50 million fine.

Get real – if Anthony Loke was sincere about resigning, he should have resigned the same way former Economic Minister Rafizi Ramli did, and not beat around the bush with some bullshit conditions. If there was no intention to resign in the first place, just don’t offer to resign. After all, Ah Loke has stated that the Democratic Action Party respects the King’s constitutional authority to grant a royal pardon for Najib.

So, if Loke was indeed respecting the King’s authority, why must he at the same time announced his offer to resign as Transport Minister in protest of the conditional pardon for crooked Najib? He has to bloody make up his mind – don’t resign if respects the King, or resign if disagrees with the King. Which is which? That’s the problem when a forked-tongue politician twists and spins till his own tongue got tangled.

Exactly where was Loke, and the entire DAP top leaders for that matter, when the Prime Minister facilitated Najib’s jail sentence reduction from 12 years to 6 years, and a 75% discount to the crook’s RM210 million to RM50 million on February 2, 2024? Yes, Ah Loke kept quiet, pretending as if nothing had happened when Najib was gifted with huge discounts. Why offer to resign now, but not in 2024?

Of course, the 16^th General Election was still far away back in 2024, thus, DAP couldn’t be bothered. The resignation drama may see another U-turn after PM Anwar dropped a hint – Anthony Loke should stay on and continue work as Transport Minister. Anwar – the chief architect of Najib’s royal pardons in exchange for power – said the country needed leaders with principles who cared about the people at the bottom.

Both Anwar and Ah Loke are as hopeless as the corrupt United Malays National Organization (UMNO). This country needs new blood, someone like Ummi Umairah Bakhit of Universiti Malaya, who courageously questioned public donations to former Prime Minister Najib Razak – a convicted crook in the SRC International corruption and money laundering case.

Ummi raised the issue during a dialogue with former minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari and Johor Menteri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur recently. “The stupidest thing I have watched in my entire life is people donating to our former prime minister, Najib Razak, someone who clearly has a worldwide corruption case, 1MDB, and is clearly linked to corruption,” – she said.

Yes, if a young university student like Umni could smell such stupidest donation given by some stupidest people to a billionaire crook called Najib, what type of stupid Prime Minister would go to the extent of defending Najib’s jail and fines discounts? And what type of stupid DAP leaders would continue to stay in a government that rewarded such a crook with luxury mansion arrest?  

Worse, Najib has received the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and terms for his house arrest, but the Prisons Department under Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution – a lawmaker from Anwar’s People’s Justice party PKR – has instructed him not to disclose the details to the public or the press, suggesting special privileges for the despicable ex-Premier.

The criticism of UMNO’s shameless fundraising campaign to help Najib pay his RM50 million fine has seen Ummi being threatened and harassed online instead. Had Ummi been a Chinese ethnicity, you can bet your last dollar that she would have been expelled by University Malaya, and the episode would have been politicized as Malay and Islam were under attack by kafirs.

Crucially, if even an unknown university student like Ummi dares to risk everything to defend her belief, principle and dignity, why are leaders like Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Transport Minister Anthony Loke so cowardly in expressing similar displeasure about Najib’s house arrest? Even a simple decision to resign has to be exploited, manipulated, and backtracked without an ounce of shame.

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The post This Student Has More Principle Than PM Anwar & Ah Loke first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

The unexpected new speed limits were disrupting Ukrainian battlefield missions. The crisis saw how Denys Sienik, the top Ukrainian diplomat in Washington, D.C., sent a frantic message to U.S. lawmakers seeking for help in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Sienik warned it would give Russia an upper hand in the war and make it tougher for Kyiv to intercept strikes against Ukrainian civilians.

By the time Washington’s morning rush hour was under way, it was too late. Russia had already launched deadly attacks against Ukraine that killed several people in Kyiv and hit communications and energy facilities used by Ukraine’s military. At least 600,000 people across the country were left without electricity, and residents said they received no warning of incoming drones before they hit.

Ukrainian officials suspected President Trump had ordered Elon Musk, who owns the company that operates Starlink, to throttle Ukraine’s access to the satellite systems. The crawling speed effectively rendered most of the drones used by Ukraine to strike behind the frontlines inoperable – and, it later emerged, affected the most effective air defence system to stop Russian jet-powered attack drones bombing Kyiv.

However, Musk said that Starshield, the military-grade sister service to Starlink, is controlled by the U.S. government, and “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately the U.S. president”. Musk added that Starlink is for “civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company”.

While both companies are owned by Musk’s SpaceX, Starlink is a civilian service that uses satellites in low Earth orbit to provide internet access, particularly in remote areas, while Starshield is designed for government and military use. The latest episode underscore the extent to which the U.S.-Ukraine relationship has soured in recent weeks as Trump has sought an end to the war.

Recently, Trump has offered to buy Moscow’s oil in a lucrative 300,000 tonnes diesel deal, demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky step down and declared an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. president was upset that his demand for Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries, which he has blamed for the high cost of diesel, was being ignored by Zelensky.

The two leaders fell out in the spring of 2025 during a disastrous visit by Zelensky to the Oval Office, where the US president said – “You don’t have the cards” to win the war. The row was followed by a brief pause in intelligence sharing and a desperate scramble by European allies to calm the row.

The White House declined to answer questions on the Starlink matter. In a statement, the White House said “the President and his team remain committed to continuing to play a constructive role in ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, and he remains optimistic that we’ll ultimately get a peace deal done.”

They said Trump was working first to de-escalate the fighting between Russia and Ukraine, then bring a new offer to Moscow that would grant it access to economic and political benefits if it adheres to a more-lasting ceasefire. Administration officials say Trump remains committed to ending the war and is the only person who can parley with both Putin and Zelensky to forge a viable peace deal.

Administration officials also characterized Trump’s offer to buy Russia’s diesel fuel as a way to both lower U.S. gas prices and dangle an economic incentive in front of Putin to bring him back to the negotiating table. They argued that Donald Trump remained open to a future economic relationship between the U.S. and Russia once the war is resolved.

But Ukrainian officials and European allies are now incensed at Trump. In an interview with the Financial Times, Zelensky said Ukraine would restart strikes on Russia’s oil refineries after a pause prompted by Trump’s declaration of an energy ceasefire. Ukraine’s difficulty in accessing the satellite terminals followed U.S. warnings that Trump could cut off intelligence support or military sales to Kyiv.

The latest tension between Trump and Zelensky started with a meeting in New York. Zelensky flew to the U.S. in mid-September for a United Nations summit – confident that a lot of things were going his way. Ukraine had blunted Russian advances on the battlefield and Zelensky had several positive meetings with Trump under his belt, including a chummy North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in July.

But at the meeting, Trump grilled Zelensky on why Ukraine was striking Russian oil refineries. While hitting such infrastructure is a crucial part of Ukraine’s strategy to hit Moscow where it hurts most, Ukraine’s successful drone campaign against Russia, however, has taken between 40% and 50% of the country’s refining network offline – pushng up energy prices.

Some Republican lawmakers have cheered on Trump’s deal with Russia as a reprieve for American consumers squeezed by high energy prices, while others have rebuked it as a misguided freebie for a Russian leader wholly uninterested in peace. Since Trump’s discussion with Zelensky, the U.S. has asked Ukraine a half dozen times to halt the strikes.

But Ukraine has continued to hit Russian oil refineries as Ukrainian officials argued that Moscow refused to agree to any energy truce. Trump increasingly soured on Zelensky as Ukrainian strikes continued. The president grew annoyed that Ukraine was using U.S. resources to target Russia’s energy exports in a way that he thought could hurt American consumers.

In early October, senior Ukrainian and European officials flew to Miami to meet with two top Trump aides in a bid to revive peace talks. The discussions on October 9, led by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, were aimed at drafting new proposals to end the war that would be acceptable to both Russia and Ukraine.

But when Kushner and Witkoff revealed the president was considering the diesel deal with Russia, the Ukrainian and European officials were shocked. In the six-hour meeting, Kushner and Witkoff pushed the Ukrainians and Europeans to come up with a new package of proposals for Russia to end to the war. That same day, Trump held a 90-minute phone call with Putin, announcing the diesel deal shortly after hanging up.

Several angry Republican lawmakers called the White House after the announcement. They said the deal handed Russia a win without any concessions and went against a 2022 law that bars U.S. importing of Russian energy without prior congressional consultation. Trump declared on social media an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine anyway.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, told reporters – “The energy truce proposed by Trump was not specified in detail, so it cannot be claimed that Russia is failing to observe it.” When Russia carried out a massive strike against Ukrainian energy infrastructure late on Tuesday evening, it launched 39 ballistic missiles and 120 attack drones against Kyiv and Kharkiv. 

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The post How Trump Weaponize Starshield To Punish Disobedient Zelensky first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

In fact, the “drama prince” personally assured Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian back in January 2026 in a phone call that the kingdom respects Iran’s sovereignty and opposes using its territory for strikes. However, Tehran was not born yesterday and knew that the Saudi Crown Prince has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to intensify and continue the war against Iran.

It’s not hard for MBS to see that the U.S.–Israeli military campaign was a “historic opportunity” to dismantle Iran’s hardline government, remove a long-term regional threat, and potentially target critical energy infrastructure like Kharg Island. After all, the modern rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia is a geopolitical and sectarian power struggle that began since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Mohammed bin Salman started the year on a high note. He had just visited the White House where he was embraced by President Trump. Even after the war with Iran kicked off, Saudi Arabia looked relatively well positioned. It could export oil through a pipeline that bypassed the blocked Strait of Hormuz. MBS seriously believed Saudi could escape unscathed whilst watching with popcorn as U.S.–Israeli bombed Iran to oblivion.

But his fantasy was crushed on Saturday (Oct 10) when at least one Houthi missile slammed into the Saudi capital’s international airport, killing at least 13 people and injuring hundreds more, many seriously. It was the single deadliest attack on the U.S. or its Gulf allies in the Iraa War. A 28-year-old Egyptian flight attendant bled to death after her arm was blown off, one of several victims to lose limbs.

Worse, two terminals were struck and their roofs partially collapsed. Video showed passengers rolling suitcases past a trail of blood on the floor as the airport was evacuated. Authorities reported more attacks on the closed airport on Sunday, saying a projectile caused a fire in Terminal 4 and led to one death as well as injuries.

The attacks by the Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group, were the biggest escalation yet in their campaign ⁠against Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in recent weeks. Though the violence might appear at first sight to be restricted to the Arabian Peninsula, it could have global consequences, pushing up fuel prices and so international inflation.

The Houthis initially stayed on the sidelines of the conflict launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran earlier this year. As recently as this summer, Saudi officials briefed journalists that the Houthi situation was under control. But last month, the Islamist militia movement seized control of key territory and gained virtual control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Yemeni government forces and local allies began a major counteroffensive last week to drive back the Houthis from the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which dominates the Red Sea, a critical shipping route for oil and gas exports from the region, whilst also hit other Houthi positions. Saudi Arabia is in the Houthis’ crosshairs because it supports Yemen’s UN-backed government and its forces. 

Before the attacks on Saudi airports, the Houthis have already hit energy facilities – including the kingdom’s main east-west pipeline and refineries – showing the growing threat along the southern border. The Houthis’ timing is partly opportunistic but largely strategic as Iran is using its proxy to attack high-profile targets in the kingdom such as oil infrastructure and the capital’s airport to send a message.

The new threat from the Houthis to the Red Sea and to Saudi Arabia highlights the massive leverage Tehran and its allies can exert on global oil and gas supplies, countering recent US pressure in bold move on the conflict’s chessboard. Not only does it trigger massive disruptions to Saudi civil aviation in years, but it also is forcing airlines across Europe and Asia to suspend services.

Businesses in Riyadh’s financial hub have told employees to work remotely, authorities in Riyadh have asked schools to switch to online classes this week, and top energy executives were ⁠dropped from the schedule of a high-profile conference this week in the capital. The costs of the war have already widened the budget deficit and threaten to push the economy into contraction.

How Prince Mohammed handles this test will have consequences that stretch well beyond the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is a major source of funding for the global tech industry and artificial intelligence projects. It is also a crucial provider of basing and overflight rights to the U.S. military. Trump told reporters over the weekend that the U.S. was in communication with the Houthis, but might join Saudi strikes on the militant group.

Saudi Arabia has invested enormous sums in its military – the kingdom is the world’s eighth biggest spender on weapons – but Houthi attacks are very hard to stop. “Saudi air defences have been able to intercept some Houthi missile and drone attacks, but Saudi Arabia is so large that it’s simply impossible for them to consistently defend themselves,” – said Thomas Juneau, a security analyst at the University of Ottawa.

To make matters worse, Saudi officials said they are running low on interceptors needed to fend off further strikes. Intensifying attacks on Riyadh, which is 500 or more miles from Houthi territory in Yemen, have transformed parts of the Saudi capital into a battle zone, with residents taking cover as explosions ring out across the city.

Reprisals against the Houthis and efforts to pre-emptively destroy the movement’s offensive capabilities are not easy either. The U.S. bombardment in 2025 showed how hard it is to destroy the militia’s capabilities, which have been much enhanced over recent years, in part through Iranian advice and investment. Whether Trump has the appetite to fight the Houthis on behalf of Saudi is a huge question mark.

A month ago, the Saudi Crown Prince called President Trump twice, urging him to launch strikes against the Houthis as the Iran-backed group closed in on a vital Red Sea chokepoint and attacked Saudi tankers there. However, Trump had declined, trying to avoid direct military involvement – even after the Houthis had taken control of a key island in the strait.

Saudi Arabia’s request last month (September) for direct U.S. military action marks a sharp reversal from July, when Riyadh told Washington it could handle the Houthis on its own. When the Saudis failed, it began seeking increasing levels of U.S. support. But Trump’s priority is to keep American forces focused on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz – and avoid opening another front.

Now, the 41-year-old crown prince is shuttling between heavily guarded palaces equipped with bunkers and is guarded by a handpicked security team. The Saudi leader has few good options. Any military response risks getting drawn in deeper to an asymmetric conflict in which the Houthis have shown they have the ability to inflict significant and symbolic damage.

MBS has plowed funds over the past decade into a slate of ambitious mega projects with extraordinarily complex engineering requirements aimed at signaling the kingdom’s modernization and drawing investment and tourism. They include the futuristic city of NEOM, an enormous cube-shaped building in Riyadh, and a desert ski resort. 

The total cost ran to the trillions of dollars, aggressive for a government with an annual budget of around US$350 billion. The costs and economic damage of war with Iran are making that already implausible math impossible to balance. Foreign investment fell in the first two quarters of the year and is running well behind the crown prince’s 2030 target. 

Rising defense and infrastructure costs threaten to siphon away money needed for the economic diversification drive. Even the kingdom’s push to become an AI hub now carries new risks, with data centers emerging as targets. Many of the enormous projects spearheaded by Prince Mohammed are stalled or under review. 

In January, Saudi Arabia gave up on plans to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games. It still has to find a way to fund the World Expo in 2030 and the soccer World Cup four years later. The Saudi Finance Ministry now expects GDP to shrink by 3.6% in 2026. The kingdom was able earlier in the year to pump oil across the desert to the Red Sea to escape Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. 

But in July, the Houthis announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, putting Red Sea shipping at risk. In September, an attack on the East-West pipeline struck at the kingdom’s main escape route from Hormuz. Then the militants took aim at Saudi aviation, putting pressure on another pillar of the economy. The Houthis have hit King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh at least four times.

The new outbreak of violence came as Prince Mohammed was working to contain the confrontation with Iran. While supportive of continued economic pressure on Iran, the crown prince was telling his advisers to keep the diplomatic channel open with Iran and make clear the kingdom’s intentions weren’t confrontational. The kingdom has even called for help from its military ally Pakistan.

Yet, Tehran is quietly using the Houthis to screw MBS, who is now facing an economy weakened by heavy spending and miscalculations of the Houthi threat. So much fortelling President Trump that Washington should pursue diplomatic solutions and avoid massive strikeson Iran that could trigger a wider regional war. He has miscalculated and underestimated both the Houthis and Iran.

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The post Airport Attacks – How Iran-Proxy Houthis Screws Saudi Crown Prince first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

It became so bad that you don’t need David Copperfield to make the iconic Petronas Twin Towers – popularly known asKLCC Twin Towers- disappear the same way the magician made the Statue of Liberty vanished in 1983. In fact, the toxic haze caused at least three iconic Kuala Lumpur landmarks like the KLCC Twin Towers, KL Tower, and TRX to disappear from view.

Johor is the first state in Peninsular Malaysia to announce temporary school closures for two days beginning Thursday after the API in Batu Pahat district reached the “very unhealthy” range on Wednesday. While the closure of all schools in Johor was decreed by the Regent of Johor, Tunku Mahkota Ismail, the decision to close schools in other states was made upon the advice of King Sultan Ibrahim of Johor.

It was only after the King’s decree that Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek came out with guns blazing – “I have asked all state education departments and district education offices to continue to monitor the haze situation and take immediate action if the situation requires it. Moving forward, we will ensure that any decision regarding school closures is announced in advance so that parents have sufficient time to make preparations.”

The blazing question is where exactly was Fadhlina since the weeks of haze invasion? Why must the Regent of Johor and the King do the jobs of the clueless education minister? What special skillset does she lack that requires looking at the Air Pollutant Index (API) before deciding whether to close schools or not? If she is so incompetent, why should taxpayers pay her salary when a donkey can do a better job?

Yes, from the widespread school bullying to school murder cases, and from the lowest score since 2018 in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) 2025 to the impact of haze on the safety and health of the children, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s favourite minister, Fadhlina, does not seem to know what she is doing except firefighting only after every crisis occurred. 

Heck,she was beating around the bush even after the declines in Pisa scores despite the Education Ministry’s budget having increased to RM66.2 billion in 2026 from RM55.2 billion the year before. Even if school crime is too complicated and sophisticated for her to understand, a decision to close schools when air quality drops to unhealthy levels across the country should be an easy task.

It was not a coincidence that the incompetent Fadhlina Sidek was appointed as education minister. She is the daughter of the late Dr Siddiq Fadzil, former president of ABIM, a radical movement co-founded by a young Anwar Ibrahim in the 1970s. As the president of ABIM (Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia) for eight years (1974-1982), Anwar was the same radical Islamist who used Islam as a platform to achieve his political ambition.

PM Anwar’s Islamization agenda saw an episode of racism at a national school in Johor – SMK Infant Jesus Convent – where special SPM workshops held at Hotel Suasana were conducted for only Muslim students. When the “secret class” was exposed and went viral on social media, the school lied that it involved only religious-related subjects. Fadhlina denied that there was discrimination, despite glaring evidence.

As Anwar continued to lose Malay votes, he panicked and was even more determined to prove that he is more Malay than UMNO-Malays and more Islamic than the Islamist party PAS. As a result, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek hastily rolled out “Imam Al-Nawawi’s 40 Hadith” module for national schools without proper consultation with stakeholders.

The new religious syllabus has spooked the non-Muslim community, who were concerned that it would be a matter of time before the government shoves the module down their throat. Anwar-led unity government fails to explain why a new religious syllabus is introduced when Malay students are already overloaded with religious study – both in school and outside of school.

Former PM Mahathir Mohamad once complained that too much time is allotted for religious education, at the expense of subjects like Science and Mathematics – “We believe schools should provide religious education, but it should not encroach on the teaching of other subjects.” More importantly, he revealed that students are being taught to perform rituals instead of the Islam way of life.

Just when everyone thought it was the end of Anwar’s political stunt to impress upon Malay Muslims support, the premier’s favourite girl Fadhlina Sidek unleashed a weeklong program in schools nationwide to support the Palestinian – the “Palestine Solidarity Week” program – under the lame and laughable pretext of teaching students about humanitarian values.

But the program was a disaster. Students, believed to be national-type schools, were seen wearing green bandanas printed with the words “Save Palestine” while also carrying toy guns. It was absolutely horrible to see young students being led into a school assembly by a man armed with protective gear and a mask, along with a fake assault rifle – resembling a terrorist.

Among the teachers, some proudly displayed Palestinian flags or even held toy automatic rifles. National schools, which have become “religious schools” after the curriculum was changed to suit the spread of Islamic extremism, should be the last place for politicians to further radicalize the students. Are we training Jihadists or suicide bombers in schools now?

Under Anwar administration since November 2022, the education ministry has been flip-flopping – from keeping the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) and Form Three Assessment (PT3) examinations abolished, before reviewing the potential revival of the exams, to confirming that these exams are “no longer relevant or suitable for the times” and will not be reinstated – despite some calls for their return to boost academic standards.

There’s a reason why Malaysia now trails behind neighboring ASEAN nations like Vietnam, Brunei, and Thailand in core competencies like Mathematics. Over a ten-year span, Malaysia’s math score has fallen by 49 points (from 446 in 2015 to 397 in 2025). And only 44% of Malaysian students achieved Level 2 proficiency or higher in reading in the PISA 2025 assessment, meaning a majority (56%) fell below the baseline international standard.

Fadhlina is only efficient when it comes to Islamization, apple polishing, and radicalization. She is as clueless as a carrot when it comes to improving the quality of education and handling school safety, bullying, sexual harassment, and high-profile criminal incidents. Except for Anwar Ibrahim, everyone has repeatedly called for her resignation or sacking. Problems she can’t fix would be “swept under the carpet”.

She entered the Ministry of Education promising reform. After close to four years, most of the time sleeping on the job, she doesn’t even have the ability to announce schools’ closure after air quality drops to an unhealthy level. Schools had been “silenced” so that she wouldn’t look bad and incompetent, not to mention spending unnecessarily on unproductive and wasteful program.

Proud of her decision in spending RM8.4 million to purchase Jalur Gemilang pins for 5.14 million students nationwide, she misplaced her priority again when hastily announced a government allocation of RM200,000 for a rich school – Victoria Institution – just because Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, whom she met, said he was also a student of the 132-year-old school during his family’s self-exile in the 1960s.

But who can blame her when Anwar too was playing dumb and dragging his feet for weeks over the haze problems – all because he was afraid of offending fellow brother Indonesia. Only after the King’s decree was Anwar Ibrahim managed to find his balls and said he has personally contacted Prabowo regarding the “alarming” level of transboundary haze affecting Malaysia and the region.

The best part is the arrogant Prime Minister still hasn’t a clue that her girl would cost his party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and Pakatan Harapan coalition a few dozen seats in the next 16th General Election. Hiding behind the monarch to get things done shows not only pathetic incompetency and cowardice, but also poor leadership of both Anwar and Fadhlina.

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The post Schools Closed – King Doing The Job Of A Useless Education Minister first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

When Mark Thewlis went looking for a new family car this summer, he was struck by how much cheaper the Jaecoo 7 was than luxury brands with a similar look and feel. And it’s not hard to notice its presence on the road. It actually outsold popular competitors like the Tesla Model 3 (9,929 units) and the Ford Puma (6,958 units) in September 2026.

The 33-year-old from England’s south coast calculated the upfront cost of his preferred version of the Chinese sport-utility vehicle at the equivalent of around US$50,000, half the price of a visually similar Range Rover model. Its resemblance to the 56-year-old British luxury brand has earned the Jaecoo a double-edged nickname – the “Temu Range Rover”.

 It also helps that Britain lacks the Chinese car tariffs the European Union has. Additionally, the Jaecoo 7 comes as a plug-in hybrid, proving how popular such models have become in the UK. A turbocharged 1.6-litre four cylinder petrol engine mated to a 7-speed auto gearbox, it has 147PS with 275Nm of torque, which provides for leisurely acceleration, 62mph reached in around 8 seconds. 

“My first reaction was: What’s the catch?” he said. A test drive convinced him that buying the Jaecoo was a “no-brainer.” No big industrialized economy has embraced Chinese cars more enthusiastically than the United Kingdom, where Brits like Thewlis are being won over by the combination of affordable prices with status-signaling styling and technology.

The Jaecoo 7, made by China’s Chery Automobile, was Britain’s bestselling vehicle in September, an important sales month in the U.K. In the first half of 2026, almost every sixth car sold in Britain bore a Chinese brand, according to Schmidt Automotive Research, a higher proportion than in any other European country except Norway.

Britain’s vehicle imports from China have almost doubled this year compared with the same period in 2025. Only Russia and Brazil – developing economies that mostly buy cheaper models – have imported more. Plunging sales in China, the world’s largest car market, have encouraged its manufacturers to look for growth overseas.

The U.K., a cradle of the car industry, showcases what could happen in America if Chinese cars were let in. “Range Over!” began a press release trumpeting the Jaecoo’s early sales success, winking at its likeness to the Range Rover Evoque. Sam Luscombe, managing director of a dealership in Leeds, Yorkshire, said the appeal was simple – “It looks expensive, it feels expensive – and then you find out how much it costs.”

For now, Chinese cars are essentially shut out of the large U.S. market by high tariffs and restrictions on Chinese software. President Donald Trump in September repeated his openness to Chinese cars produced in American factories, alarming Detroit. Congress is debating a bill that would permanently ban Chinese cars on U.S. roads.

The spectacular growth of Chinese brands in Britain this year has been led by Chery, China’s top vehicle exporter. Through September, its sales more than tripled compared with the same period last year, putting it ahead of Ford Motor, which for decades led the U.K. market. Overall, Chinese brands captured nearly 23% of the total UK car market share in September 2026.

Britain’s “customer open-mindedness is very good for new brands coming in,” – said Chery U.K. managing director Farrell Hsu. The Jaecoo 7, pitched to suburbia as an adventure-ready SUV, was launched in January 2025 in the ballroom of a fancy hotel off Windsor Great Park, near King Charles III’s historic castle west of London.

Less than two years later, the brand has sold almost 87,000 cars in the U.K., including the smaller Jaecoo 5 launched last fall – a success that took dealers and the company by surprise. Steve Young, managing director of Auto West London, launched his dealership for Jaecoo and its sister brand Omoda in March last year with a plan to sell 350 cars. In the end he sold more than 500, and this year he will sell more than 1,200, he said, with many on wait lists.

Young estimates that around three-fifths of Jaecoo buyers previously owned luxury brands such as BMW, Mercedes and Range Rover, which have become more expensive for customers to finance as interest rates have risen. Jaecoo has lured customers with interest-free loans. “Why not get a car with similar features at a much lower monthly rate?” he said.

Dealers openly lean in to the resemblance to Range Rover, which is owned by Jaguar Land Rover, a subsidiary of India’s Tata Motors. In fact, it features a boxy, upright luxury posture, floating roofs, large imposing grilles, slim LED light signatures, and flush door handles that mimic high-end Land Rover proportions. Chery had an intimate understanding of the Range Rover Evoque before launching the Jaecoo 7.

The heavy design inspiration isn’t purely accidental. Jaecoo’s parent company, Chery, operates a long-standing manufacturing joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in China. And it formed the joint venture with JLR in 2012 to take advantage of China’s then-insatiable appetite for Western luxury cars. Until this summer, the JV churned out local versions of the Evoque at a factory in Changshu, near Shanghai.

JLR moved to cancel the Chinese-built models in 2024 after years of headaches. The JV is pivoting to new products built with Chery’s EV technology and badged with JLR’s historic Freelander brand. At a recent event in Abu Dhabi, the business kicked off a global sales push that could in time undercut JLR’s other brands.

PB Balaji, JLR’s chief executive, said in May that Range Rover’s higher price points didn’t put it in direct competition with the current generation of Chinese imports. The company has previously pursued copycats, in 2019 winning a landmark case in Beijing against a knockoff Evoque called the Landwind X7.

Other European automakers are openly worried about the influx of new rivals. Volkswagen and Stellantis, the region’s two largest players, have warned about the impact of new competition on their profit margins. It is among the reasons Volkswagen has given for needing to cut more than 100,000 jobs.

But there is little doubt buyers are happy. For the year through September, total car sales were up around 10% in the U.K. despite modest economic growth, lifted by the influx of affordable Chinese models. Many, like the Jaecoo 7, are conventional combustion-engine vehicles or hybrids, not the EVs for which China is best known.

“The consumer is benefiting from a lower cost,” said Andy Palmer, a former CEO of Aston Martin. “The only debate is whether it is fair competition or unfair competition.”

For car dealers, too, the expansion of Chinese brands is a boon after a slow postpandemic recovery and showroom closures by Ford and Stellantis. “The U.K. automotive sector is undergoing a generational change,” – said Robert Forrester, chief executive of dealership group Vertu. The first Chinese automaker to crack the U.K. market was SAIC, using the British brand MG that it bought out of bankruptcy in the 2000s.

Originally born in Oxford as Morris Garages, MG had been known for roadsters in postwar Britain and the U.S. – its largest market – before decline set in during the 1970s. Sales took off again when SAIC started putting MG’s well-known octagonal badge on electric vehicles. In the pandemic-era mania for EVs, with few affordable models available, it didn’t seem to matter that the new MG had little to do with the old one.

Early MG buyers often weren’t aware the brand was made by a Chinese company. Now, most Britons don’t mind owning a proudly Chinese brand such as Jaecoo after years of purchasing Chinese electronics, said Luscombe, from the Leeds dealership. “People are looking for value, they’re looking for specifications: What features can I get for my money?” he said. “The fact that they’re not built here, it doesn’t put people off.”

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The post Why This Chinese Look-Alike Range Rover Becomes UK’s Bestselling first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

Banks, fintechs and lenders are therefore facing more than a repayment target. They also need to bring operating costs down, keep customers’ trust and make sure every action can be reviewed later.

AI and advanced analytics make that possible by changing what collections is for. Rather than a pressure-based final stage, it becomes a strategic capability linked to the full credit lifecycle: approval, account management, early risk warning and fair repayment support. That joined-up view is what end-to-end credit management is about.

Why the Traditional Approach to Collections Is Running Out of Road

Older systems rely on lists of people to call, generic reminders and the same steps for everyone. In doing so, they ignore the factors that count: the point in the month when a customer has money available, the channel they actually answer on, their real ability to repay and any early signs of financial strain.

Contact rates stay low, promises to pay prove fragile and complaint risk rises. This is most visible with digital-first customers, who are far more comfortable with apps, messaging and self-service than with taking a call at a bad moment.

A modern debt collection system should help a lender decide who to approach, at what moment, over which channel, with what wording and with which repayment option, and it must be able to explain and evidence each of those choices.

Replacing Pressure With Well-Targeted Communication

With AI, financial institutions can stop broadcasting to everyone and start communicating in context. Machine learning models draw on payment history, the latest account activity, engagement signals and cash-flow patterns to group customers with much greater precision than before.

The same message no longer has to go to all customers. Frequency, tone, channel and payment options can be tailored to each person’s situation.

One customer may react best to an in-app alert containing a one-click payment link. Another may want to look at an instalment plan first. A third may be showing signs of financial difficulty and needs to be passed to an agent who already has the full picture.

This is the gap between a basic debt collection program and a payment collection platform: the latter is built to help customers reach a solution, not to send more notifications.

Using Automation Responsibly in Collections

Debt collection automation is not about removing people from the process. It is about automating tasks that follow a clear pattern and keeping humans involved wherever judgement, understanding and empathy are needed.

Everyday steps such as verifying identity, communicating the amount owed, reminding customers of due dates, exploring payment plan options and confirming payments can be handled through self-service, chatbots or voicebots. If the system picks up a sign of affordability problems, vulnerability, a dispute or a hardship case, the case should go to an agent along with all relevant context.

Keeping a human in the loop lets automated debt collection be efficient and fair at once. Repetitive work is handled by the system and costs per case fall, leaving agents free to concentrate on the complex cases that call for careful negotiation.

Explainability: Why It Cannot Be Optional

Decisions about credit and debt recovery have real consequences for people, so each one needs a clear rationale. Whenever a customer is offered a certain payment arrangement, contacted through a particular channel or placed higher in a queue, the system should be able to show the reason.

In a regulated financial business, the ability to trace decisions, be transparent and provide reason codes is critical. A well-designed system logs the key drivers of each decision, retains communication records and makes internal review and regulatory oversight straightforward.

Viewed like this, a collection system does more than support day-to-day operations. It forms part of the institution’s wider governance framework.

Collections Belong Within the Full Credit Lifecycle

Debt management should not start only after an account has gone into arrears. Lenders that take responsibility seriously are linking collections with the earlier phases of the credit lifecycle.

At onboarding, the customer is given clear repayment terms and a suitable limit. While the account is being managed, early-warning indicators can flag financial stress before arrears build up. And if the customer does miss payments, the same system should guide the choice of communication approach, payment plan and case handover.

That joined-up thinking is the foundation of end-to-end credit management. When underwriting, servicing and recovery share one set of logic and data, the institution has a single view of the customer from the initial credit offer through to the final settlement of the debt.

Loxon’s collection SaaS platform supports this model, keeping customer communication, self-service payment plans, audit trails and human review together in one process.

Taking Friction Out of Paying

In many cases a customer does not pay because the process is too awkward, not because they refuse to. Quick-pay links, digital wallets, instant bank transfers, transparent fee information and reminders sent at the right time are small touches that can make a real difference to payment rates.

An effective payment collection solution, such as a collection SaaS platform, puts customers in control. They can see their payment plan upfront, move a payment date within policy, update their contact details and check how their plan is progressing, all without phoning the contact centre.

Cloud based debt collection and a digital-first collection app make this practical at scale. For lenders with large portfolios, a centralised digital workflow keeps channels, teams and customer segments working in a consistent way.

Governance Has to Be Designed In, Not Added Later

Collections deals with customers who may be vulnerable, which means governance needs to sit inside the workflow from the very beginning. That includes consent, communication preferences, quiet hours, opt-outs, data minimisation and hardship pathways.

The same applies to content governance. Pre-approved messages, version control, permissions based on role and unambiguous escalation rules help ensure that customer communication follows policy and can be audited.

It is not just a question of compliance; it is a question of brand trust too. Approaching debt management with respect for the customer cuts complaints, improves the experience and safeguards the relationship over the long term.

The Outcomes a Good System Should Track

An effective collection system debt strategy shouldn’t stop at the number of customers contacted. It should measure results that are meaningful for the business and for customers alike, for example:

• Improved contact rates and cure rates
• Reduced collection costs
• Firmer promise-to-pay conversion
• A lower volume of complaints
• Quicker resolution of hardship cases
• Greater audit readiness
• Better insight into portfolio risk

For a lender, the system’s value is not limited to operational efficiency; it also strengthens the resilience of the portfolio. Strategies can be adjusted as customer behaviour, the economic climate or the risk signals within a given segment evolve.

Final Thoughts

When it is used responsibly, AI need not make collections colder or more forceful. It can make debt collection more intelligent, more transparent and more focused on the customer.

The most robust model brings together predictive insight, automated outreach, self-service payment tools, explainable decisions and human review of sensitive cases. That combination moves collections away from being a rigid end-of-process tool and makes it part of end-to-end credit management.

For banks, fintechs and lenders, the long-term prize is stronger debt recovery, less operational friction, better compliance and customer relationships founded on trust instead of pressure.

The post How AI Is Reshaping Debt Collection As A Customer-Centred Banking Function first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

Almog Italie was flying home from a vacation in Japan with his wife and two teenagers, casually snapping pictures of irrigated circles of farmland in the desert below, when the plane suddenly went into a steep nosedive. “It started dropping as if there was turbulence, but crazy. Twenty, 30 seconds of a crazy free fall. It then stabilized and then again started falling,” – said Italie, an Israeli e-commerce worker.

What Italie couldn’t see from his seat in Row 20 on Flight 1073 was a desperate fight unfolding in the cockpit. The co-pilot had stabbed the plane’s captain, who fought back and opened the cockpit door. Seeing a commotion, a small group of passengers and crew members rushed to the front to regain control of the plane.

One passenger, Yaniv Hayun, described how he and another man found the door was unlocked but blocked by the fallen pilot, so they shoved it open. Inside, he saw the injured captain on the ground as the attacking pilot hovered over the controls. Hayun put the attacker, who was trying to disable the plane, in a chokehold before other passengers helped pin him down.

Hayoun said he then grabbed the plane’s controls to help bring it back under control, admitting his move was inspired by watching a TV show which reconstructs real-life air disasters. “I watch Air Crash Investigation, Mr. Prime Minister – really. The plane started to level out a bit, and then the pilot told me he was taking over the controls from there,” Hayoun told Israeli PM Netanyahu.

Afterward, the two pilots lay on the floor of the kitchen area receiving medical care, blood smearing their uniforms and the walls. One passenger looked on in shock, a rivulet of blood running down the middle of his forehead. “They attacked us right now, in this plane,” – he said in a video posted on social media. “They tried to murder the pilot, and we took over.”

Two other pilots who were aboard to operate the next flight assumed control of the plane. Flight data shows they fought for five minutes to stabilize the jet as it pitched up and down amid the unsettled situation aboard and the damage done by a rapid dive during which the plane lost 15,000 feet of altitude in less than a minute.

Once they had it under control, they issued a Squawk 7700, a radio signal indicating a general emergency. Seven minutes later, they changed the alert to a code signaling unlawful interference – used to describe attempts to jeopardize the safety of the airplane, like hijacking or hostage taking. The pilots then steered the plane to an emergency landing in the Saudi city of Tabuk.

The attacker, reportedly an “Omani” co-pilot, was arrested in Saudi Arabia and is expected to be transferred to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the plane took off from. The stabbed pilot, Indian national Captain Smit Machchhar, is in hospital in a stable condition, and has been hailed a “true hero” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and India’s leader Narendra Modi.

“Despite being stabbed and seriously injured, he fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker – preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster,” – Netanyahu wrote on X. Modi praised the pilot’s actions, writing on X – “In the face of the gravest danger and despite being seriously injured, he showed immense courage and an unwavering resolve to protect the lives of others.”

Netanyahu told CNN Israel did not have any warning or advance intelligence about the incident on the plane, which was flying 174 people to Israel. However, preliminary findings from a separate Israeli investigation suggest that the attacker intended to crash the plane. The source said the investigation – led by Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad – interviewed passengers after they arrived in Tel Aviv to establish what had happened on the plane.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called it an “attempted jihadist terror attack“, and praised the Indian captain – “There was a huge miracle and huge bravery and we are grateful to the Indian pilot who was such a hero.” Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Netanyahu, and said it seemed as though the attacker was “perhaps a terrorist” or there were other reasons behind the attack.

Saudi authorities had the first crack at interviewing the passengers and crew. They initially assessed that the co-pilot tried to deliberately crash the plane. But they said they don’t yet have a theory about a motive or whether others might have been involved. FlyDubai said it would suspend flights to and from Israel while the investigation into the incident continues.

Interestingly, Oman and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations, and it is not yet clear how the Omani pilot would have obtained clearance to fly to Israel. Foreign airlines must obtain approval from Israel’s Aviation Security Operation Center before they can operate to and from the country’s airports. Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, is supposed to vet all airlines’ personnel flying into Israel from the UAE.

Israel enforces some of the strictest aviation security protocols in the world, after facing a history of hijackings and terminal attacks. Departing passengers are required to undergo pre-screening and questioning, in addition to multiple passport checks, advanced baggage scanning, and, sometimes, full-body screening.

Benjamin Netanyahu said he sees two possible ways in which the attacker in the Flydubai attempted plane hijacking may have obtained the weapon used to attack the pilot. The co-pilot may not have been required to pass through a metal detector before boarding the plane. “Passengers go through a metal detector but I’m not sure that pilots always do. Then he could have carried a knife, or an axe,” – he said.

Alternatively, he may have used an axe that was already on the aircraft. “He might have gotten an axe from the equipment that might be standard on this aeroplane,” – Netanyahu said. He added, “We’re looking into that, we can’t draw conclusions yet.” The Israeli PM said it has been established that the attacker “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination.”

Netanyahu added that it was clear the attacker had been suicidal. After being pinned down by passengers including a plumber who intervened to thwart the co-pilot’s alleged attempts to jam the plane’s instruments, he called out “kill me,” according to Netanyahu. The Omani national had only been working for Flydubai for eight months before carrying out the attack.

The incident hit one of the most robust links between Israel and the outside world. While many Western carriers have repeatedly cut flights to Israel during the years of conflict, the U.A.E., which signed a diplomatic accord with Israel in 2020, has provided steady connections, with several flights each day between Tel Aviv and the international aviation hub of Dubai.

The scenario echoed other air disasters like the crashes of EgyptAir Flight 990 into the Atlantic in 1999 and Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps in 2015, which some regulators attributed to actions by their first officers. The latter led to requirements that two crew members be in the cockpit at all times. 

“The protocols to try to stop these things from happening in general work very efficiently. But when insiders are involved, inherently, the risk of bypassing protocols is there,” – said Matthew Borie, chief intelligence officer and co-founder of Osprey Flight Solutions. “The vast majority of these post-9/11 security measures in the aviation industry are meant to deal with passengers – to stop people from being able to access the cockpit.”

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The post Terror Hijack – Inside Cockpit Stabbing Of FlyDubai Flight 1073 first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

Justice Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin made the order of discharge and acquittal after allowing an application by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Ahmad Akram Gharib, who told the court that the prosecution did not intend to proceed with the case in accordance with Section 254(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The judge said the prosecution did not disclose the reason for withdrawing the case.

Muhyiddin, however, still faces three charges of using his position to obtain an RM25.3 million bribe for his party – Bersatu – from Nepturis, Mamfor, KCJ Engineering and its director, Azman Yusoff. Still, it’s a huge victory after the scope of his corruption charges was reduced from RM200 million to just RM25 million, and a lesser offence of power abuse rather than corruption and money laundering.

And you know Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan coalition is – shamelessly – preparing to re-unite with Muhyiddin-led Bersatu or the Malaysian United Indigenous Party when the Prime Minister denies speculation of such cooperation. Yes, when serial liar Anwar denies working together again with power-hungry Muhyiddin, you know the reverse is true.

In Malay politics, hypocrisy, flip-flopping, double-standards, double-talk, treachery, betrayal, backstabbing, lies, corruption, and whatnot are breakfast in political theatrics for power. For the right price, both Anwar and Muhyiddin have no problems selling wives and daughters. Integrity, accountability, honesty, consistency, principle, and ethics are not in the dictionary of these politicians who lack shame.

It was an insult to the intelligence of the voters that after more than three years since Muhyiddin was first charged, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) suddenly woke up and realized that it cannot proceed with four charges against Muhyiddin Yassin because continuing the case posed litigation risks that could compromise its remaining corruption charges against him.

Even if everyone in the AGC had been sleeping on the job for the past 3 years, surely the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), whose recently retired chief – Azam Baki – was repeatedly praised by PM Anwar for showing so-called extraordinary courage in tackling large-scale corruption, could not be that stupid in his decision to charge Muhyiddin if indeed there was no case to begin with. 

When criminal charges are brought against any individual, the standard expectation is that the prosecution has thoroughly evaluated the evidence and established a strong basis to proceed. Therefore, even if the MACC under Azam Baki was tremendously foolish and corrupted, the prosecution under the AGC cannot and should not be so incompetent and clueless.

But Judge Noor Ruwena, in granting a full acquittal to ex-Prime Minister Muhyiddin, revealed that no witnesses or evidence related to these charges had been presented to the court. In other words, the charges by the prosecution were flawed and defective – conveniently at a time when Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan had lost state elections in Sabah, Johor, and Negeri Sembilan.

It’s not rocket science that Mr Anwar has again interfered – secretly and deliberately – to “free Muhyiddin”, the same way he had freed UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi when kingmaker Barisan Nasional backed Anwar as the 10^th Prime Minister after the November 2022 General Election produced a hung parliament. Zahid received a DNAA (discharge not amounting to an acquittal) for his 47 corruption charges in September 2023.

The only difference this time is Anwar has become slightly smarter. Instead of instructing his appointed Attorney General Dusuki Mokhtar to throw away all charges on Muhyiddin, like how all 47 corruption charges on Zahid were dropped, three charges are being kept to keep Muhyiddin on a leash. Anwar’s mistake saw how Zahid led Barisan Nasional in backstabbing and ending ties with Pakatan Harapan.

Despite Anwar’s denial with chest-thumping statement that Pakatan Harapan (PH) does not believe in a political relationship where parties “divorce and remarry”, hilariously, the same forked-tongue PM also said PH is currently open to discussions with any party ahead of the upcoming Melaka state election, including Bersatu. Muhyiddin was the same man who had previously betrayed the PH government in 2020.

The infamous Sheraton Move in February 2020 caused the collapse of the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government after key factions from Bersatu (led by Muhyiddin Yassin) and a faction from PKR (led by Azmin Ali) withdrew from the coalition. Mr Muhyiddin became the first “backdoor Prime Minister” after officially announced withdrawal from Pakatan Harapan, ending the 22-month-old administration.

Con artist Anwar’s trick now is pretending to maintain a high moral ground by rubbishing a return to a political relationship with traitor Bersatu, but at the same time tasked Amirudin Shari, who is Selangor Menteri Besar, PKR vice-president, as well as PKR election director, to hold “open discussions”. No prize for guessing who Amirudin will discuss with.

Prime Minister Anwar, who is also PH chairman, knew that Amirudin was Azmin’s protégé for over a decade. Traitor Azmin groomed Amirudin within Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and strongly backed his appointment as the 16th Menteri Besar of Selangor in June 2018 when Azmin moved to the federal cabinet under the Mahathir administration.

Make no mistake – the only reason why Amirudin did not follow Azmin in the Sheraton Move was because he was not even a member of Parliament, thus making his defection useless. Despite a change in their relationship – from mentor relationship into a political rivalry following the 2020 Sheraton Move – both have been quietly maintaining their friendship behind the scenes.

And it’s no coincidence that all the three state seats in the Gombak parliamentary seat, currently represented by Amirudin Shari, are controlled by “three good friends” – Gombak Setia (Bersatu – Muhammad Hilman Idham), Sungai Tua (PKR – Amirudin), and Hulu Kelang (Bersatu – Azmin Ali). Hilman was Azmin’s speechwriter who eventually served as his political secretary and right-hand man.

While there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests, it would look very bad on Anwar Ibrahim and his Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR or People’s Justice Party) if he makes a spectacular U-turn and embraces Muhyiddin, what more his former deputy-turned-traitor Azmin Ali. That’s why he is using Amirudin as a scapegoat to discuss with Bersatu about a potential alliance.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Both PH and Bersatu are desperate after their respective partners kicked them out. PM-obssessed Anwar thought that by surrendering all concessions demanded by UMNO, including freeing crooked ex-PM Najib Razak, he could remain PM for another 5-year term with support from UMNO. However, UMNO has a different plan.

Power-crazy Muhyiddin, meanwhile, thought he could continue to extract blind support from Islamist party PAS, only to be betrayed – and kicked out – by PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang from the Perikatan Nasional alliance founded by Muhyiddin himself. Without PAS machinery and grassroots, Bersatu was practically wiped out in Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections.

With UMNO and PAS forming an alliance that is expected to win the next 16^th General Election, most likely capturing all the 112 Malay-majority parliamentary seats, PH and Bersatu would end up as the opposition. While PH lacks the critical Malay votes, Bersatu could tap on PH’s non-Malay votes if both could join forces to give UMNO-PAS alliance a run for their money.

A revival of the previous national cooperation between UMNO and PAS, glorified as “Muafakat Nasional” under the pretext of Malay-unity, would certainly win the next national polls. What is less certain though is whether both Malay-centric parties fighting for the same pool of Malay voters could survive a full 5-year term without breaking up again.

But a PH-Bersatu cooperation isn’t about winning the next general election. They simply can’t form the next federal government because UMNO-PAS would corner at least 80% of Malay votes. The reason why Anwar’s PH is desperate to work with Bersatu is to retain its crown jewel- Selangor. After losing Negeri Sembilan to Barisan Nasional, PKR is left with Selangor as its only power-base.

Yes, not only PH under the arrogant and racist leadership of Anwar would lose power in the federal government, but it could also lose Selangor. In the 2023 Selangor state election, PH won only 34 out of 56 seats, a drop from 45 seats. Azmin led Perikatan Nasional (comprising Bersatu and PAS) to capturing 22 seats, a huge jump from just 5 seats in the 2018 general election. Like it or not, Azmin was still influential.

The Malay votes which Anwar desperately wanted – but fails to win over in the past 4 years – could be delivered by the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu). Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan state election results prove that the Malay community does not trust the chameleon despite Anwar’s endless – and melodrama – whining, crying, and bitching about Palestinians, Malays, Muslims, Islam, and whatnot.

Worse, Selangor PH under the same clueless Amirudin leadership happily shot itself on the foot by demolishing Hindu temples, and cracking down on pig farming at a time when the genius PM Anwar unleashed economic havoc such as new taxes, e-invoice system, delayed tax refunds, scrapping fuel subsidies, mandatory EPF contributions for foreign workers, and the list goes on.

If ethnic Chinese and Indians, the core supporters of PH – stay at home or worse, vote for the rivals as part of a protest vote, Selangor is lost. Therefore, Anwar hopes to combine Bersatu Malay votes with PH non-Malay votes to at least retain power in Malaysia’s most developed state. To do that, he has to cooperate again with the enemies who had once betrayed him.

The burning question is when to officially announce a PH-Bersatu alliance. Both would lose their shirts in the upcoming Melaka state election. It could backfire, with PAS and UMNO mocking the return of Anwar and Azmin together – both tainted with sodomy and gay sex video. Hence, it’s a risky business for PH to test the water in Melaka as it can’t win anyway. For now, both Anwar and Azmin have to pretend there isn’t any cooperation.

With 15 months remaining of his administration, Anwar Ibrahim is running out of time. While he has no problem hugging and kissing Azmin again for the sake of power, it would be interesting to see if the Democratic Action Party (DAP) under the spineless leadership of Anthony Loke Siew Fook would similarly – and shamelessly – embraces traitors Muhyiddin and Azmin. Still, a PH-Bersatu cooperation could do more harm than good to PH.

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The post Saving Selangor – Anwar-led PH To Welcome Bersama & Azmin first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

After officials literally rolled out the 100ft (30m) red carpet, Trump and First Lady Melania shook hands with Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan once the Chinese president descended from his plane at Joint Base Andrews, a US military airfield outside Washington. Trump, wearing a long coat and gloves, and Xi then stood side by side on the tarmac as a military band played national anthems.

Ahead of Xi’s arrival, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the U.S. and China will extend their trade truce, which was set to expire 10 November 2026 to January 2027. Even though the three-day summit is expected to be more about spectacle than substance, it shows desperation on the American side to smooth tensions on everything from AI (Artificial Intelligence) and trade to Iran.

The unusual ceremony at the airport demonstrated how much the U.S. leader is seeking to impress his counterpart. In a normal protocol, Trump would wait for Xi to drive up to the White House. In comparison, Chinese President Xi Jinping did not receive U.S. President Donald Trump as he arrived at Beijing International Airport on May 13. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was there instead. 

It’s not hard to understand why Trump has made it clear he wants to wow Xi, and has very interest in flexing muscles. He has enough on his plate to pick up another round of fights with China. A perfect storm is forming in the financial market – selloff in the U.S. bond market, fighting words from an Iranian official at the U.N., hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve governor and a weak auction of government bonds. 

The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 5.113% on Wednesday (September 23), blowing past the recent highs at levels unseen since 2007. The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield has topped 5.43%, putting it on track for its highest close since 2004. Borrowing costs are surging in Asia and continue to rise in Europe. Oil prices are rising, with the most actively traded Brent contract, for December delivery, trading right around US$100 a barrel.

From an intractable conflict in Iran to a seemingly indestructible U.S. economy, it just “doesn’t make sense to a lot of people to own bonds here,” – said Christopher Sullivan, chief investment officer at the United Nations Federal Credit Union. Even Japan’s 10-year bond yield jumps to highest since August 1996.

Government bond yields, which rise when bond prices fall, have been climbing for months, and their rise is already rippling throughout the economy, impacting everything from mortgage and credit card rates to private-equity firms’ willingness to make debt-fueled acquisitions. At the same time, the uptick in yields still doesn’t seem like it has done enough to broadly slow the economy.

That has only caused yields to rise further, as investors bet that the Fed will have to raise rates even higher than previously anticipated to have any real success in bringing down inflation. Investors now see a 73% chance that the Fed will lift interest rates again next month, according to CME Group data – up from 55% last week and 11% last month.

Looking further out, investors expect hikes to keep coming. Traders see a roughly 50% chance that interest rates will be at least one full percentage point higher around this time next year – a scenario that was barely on their radars just a month ago, thanks to strong economic data, higher oil prices and comments from a Fed governor backing further rate increases.

The bad news for bonds started early on Wednesday, when oil prices spiked in European trading. Traders who had hoped for U.S.-Iran diplomacy during the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York were less than thrilled with comments from Iran’s president, who said his country won’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz as long as sanctions remain in place.

The U.S. 10-year yield drifted higher early. Then, at 9:45 a.m. in New York, a monthly business survey that is rarely known for moving markets turned heads. Izaac Brook, U.S. rates strategist at RBC Capital Markets, was on a plane about to leave from New York to Minnesota when the headlines broke about the survey, known as the S&P Global Flash U.S. Composite PMI.

The report, based on a survey of services and manufacturing firms, showed businesses growing at the quickest pace in more than five years and the fastest job growth in more than four years. Brook got a quick glimpse of the market’s reaction – a sharp jump in yields on short and longer-duration bonds – before turning his phone onto airplane mode. 

When he arrived at his destination a few hours later, the strategist said he had “a million” messages from people asking what was happening. “It just is so hard for people to be constructive right now,” – Brook said. “You can look at the levels and say these are really attractive. But we’ve been playing that game for the past six months, and every time we’ve tried to draw a line in the sand somewhere, it just keeps going.” 

The Fed last week raised interest rates for the first time in three years, and the market is anticipating further hikes. That sentiment got further fuel just after 10 a.m. when remarks by Fed governor Michael Barr hit the newswires. “Inflation is above our 2% target and not clearly trending toward target in a timely way,” Barr said in a speech in Chicago.

He noted that risks that could prevent the Fed from achieving its inflation target have risen. The concern among investors is that “the Fed is willing to hike to constrain inflation despite a lot of the pressures coming from supply shocks, which could mean unrelenting hawkishness,” said Dhiraj Narula, U.S. rates strategist at HSBC. 

Meanwhile, traders were waiting for the Treasury Department to announce the size of its planned bond buyback operation set for Thursday. That announcement came – US$6 billion – but had little effect on the selloff. Then at 1 p.m., the federal government’s auction of fresh 5-year Treasury notes was met with weak demand.

The notes were sold at a yield well above what traders had anticipated, and bond dealers that are required to bid at auctions were forced to take down an unusually large share, pointing to a lack of interest from other potential buyers. Investors had little interest in buying bonds right when their prices were tumbling. The poor result only caused more alarm, driving yields still higher.

All in, it was the worst day in nearly 18 months for U.S. government bonds. Major stock indexes also slipped, but not as far as some traders might have expected on a day when debt benchmarks that affect rates on everything from corporate bonds to mortgages soared. 

Few are denying those were contributing factors. But there was also something else behind the scenes, according to market watchers – traders being forced out of their positions. “The move has the hallmarks of a pain trade and forced selling by investors at these more elevated levels and could have further to run,” – said MUFG Bank’s Derek Halpenny in a note today.

Mohit Kumar, chief European economist at Jefferies, had the same assessment – “The main driver was likely stop outs and position unwinds. There appears to be a lot of pain on the street in fixed income.” In recent weeks, many traders had been making a popular fixed-income bet known as a “steepener”, betting that the gap between short- and long-dated bond yields would widen.

Instead, that gap has narrowed as traders have rapidly adjusted their interest-rate expectations. Active traders “either had steepeners or outright longs at the front end of the curve. Some of the positions had been cleared in the last two weeks, but yesterday saw another round of washouts,” – Kumar said. A new round of U.S.-China tariff war would push up inflation even higher.

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• Financial Crisis – Why 5% Treasury Yield Keeps Investors Up At Night
• Global Bond Yields Hit New Highs As Investors Ready For Rate Hikes
• Market Turmoil – Oil Hit $100, Bond Selloff, Stocks Plunge, Grains Skyrocket 
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The post A Perfect Storm – Something Else Causing Bond Market Havoc first appeared on FinanceTwitter.