🇨🇱 — Santiago, Chile's capital, suffers a massive power outage

🇨🇱🗳📊 — Polymarket betting market places 70% of chances for José Antonio Kast (Republican Party of Chile), the Far Right Neo-Pinochetist Candidate, to win the Presidential elections of Chile

🇧🇷🤡❌🇺🇸 — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) provokes U.S. President Donald Trump and says he offended Brazil:

“We didn’t bow our heads because, even though we’re not as big as they are, we have character—something they often don’t realize we have.”

🇧🇴🤝🇻🇪 — Rodrigo Paz, president-elect of Bolivia held a call with María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuelan opposition

During the call Paz commited himself as an ally to the cause for the Liberation of Venezuela from the Chavista Regime and as a Christian-democratic partner for Machado, inviting her to his inauguration.

🔵❌💸🧲 — 📰 ZeroHedge | Rare Earth Miner Stocks Slammed After U.S. Defense Department Cancels Cobalt Purchase | October 16, 2025:

"Rare earth and battery metal stocks are tumbling today after the U.S. Defense Department abruptly canceled a high-profile tender to buy cobalt - at least for now - cutting short a torrid rally that had lifted the sector over the past several months.

However, it looks as though the cancellation may only be temporary, which if true the market is certainly overlooking…

Cobalt producers and related mining stocks had surged as prices more than doubled since February, fueled by export restrictions in the Democratic Republic of Congo — which supplies about three-quarters of global output — and renewed optimism over Western efforts to secure critical minerals.

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🇭🇺💬🇷🇺❝🤝🇺🇸❞ — 📰 ZeroHedge | Hungary Informs Putin "Preparations Are In Full Swing" To Host Summit With Trump | October 17, 2025:

"Hungary has announced that "preparations are in full swing" for a big anticipated near-future summit between Presidents Trump and Putin, following their Thursday lengthy 'positive' phone call.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Budapest is ready and willing to host the meeting, which would be the second of Trump's administration since the Alaska bilateral summit, calling it "great news for the peace-loving people of the world” and describing Hungary as an "island of peace."

No date was given, but it was concluded in the phone call that the aim of a future Budapest meeting would be to "bring this 'inglorious' War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end," according to Trump's words on Truth Social."

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😳🇨🇳🤖⚙️🏭 — 🇬🇧 The Telegraph | Western executives who visit China are coming back terrified | Robotics has catapulted Beijing into a dominant position in many industries | October 12, 2025:

"“It’s the most humbling thing I’ve ever seen,” said Ford’s chief executive about his recent trip to China.

After visiting a string of factories, Jim Farley was left astonished by the technical innovations being packed into Chinese cars – from self-driving software to facial recognition.

“Their cost and the quality of their vehicles is far superior to what I see in the West,” Farley warned in July.

“We are in a global competition with China, and it’s not just EVs. And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford.”

The car industry boss is not the only Western executive to have returned shaken following a visit to the Far East.

Andrew Forrest, the Australian billionaire behind mining giant Fortescue – which is investing massively in green energy – says his trips to China convinced him to abandon his company’s attempts to manufacture electric vehicle powertrains in-house.

“I can take you to factories [in China] now, where you’ll basically be alongside a big conveyor and the machines come out of the floor and begin to assemble parts,” he says."

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🇪🇺❌🇨🇳🧠© — 📰 ZeroHedge | EU Ratchets Up China Pressure, May Force Beijing To Transfer Tech | October 14, 2025:

"(...)

The new rules, which would be on the table for November, would apply to all non-EU firms, with the goal of keeping China's manufacturing from overwhelming European industry.

"We are welcoming foreign direct investment under the conditions that they are real investment," said EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in a Tuesday statement to reporters, following an EU trade ministers' meeting in Horsens, Denmark, adding that the move would mean job creation in Europe, value added to Europe, and technology transfers to Europe, "as European companies have been doing when they’ve been investing in China."

The potential move comes at a key moment in Europe - as the Chinese government's subsidized wares have been dominating EU industries, while Beijing's looming restrictions on rare earth minerals threaten to further hamstring the bloc's manufacturers."

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🇨🇳🚫🧪➡️🗺🇺🇸 — 📰 ZeroHedge | China Bristles As Rare Earths 'Retaliatory' Curbs Foment G7 Backlash: 'US Stirring Up Panic' | October 16, 2025:

"China's major expansion control measures on its rare earth minerals appear to be backfiring, as on Thursday Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato called for the Group of Seven nations to "unite and respond" to China's actions from last week. This after the Trump administration slammed the "global power grab" efforts by China as it seeks to have a "chokehold on the world of rare earth and rare earth materials."

Germany’s finance minister has as a result signaled that a coordinated response from the bloc is likely coming, and Australia’s Prime Minister is expected to hammer out an agreement on critical mineral supply chains during an upcoming trip to Washington. China's 'retaliation' is fast alienating those Beijing thought it could rally to its corner after Trump first unveiled steep tariffs, marking a sharp reversal from the global mood of six months ago.

(...)

Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yongqian told a press conference: "The U.S.' interpretation seriously distorts and exaggerates China's (rare earths export control) measures, deliberately stirring up unnecessary misunderstanding and panic."

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🇨🇳🧪‼️🇪🇺🇩🇪👷‍♂️ — 📰 ZeroHedge | Europe In The Rare Earth Trap: Up To 4 Million German Jobs At Risk As Beijing Tightens | October 16, 2025:

"Rare earth elements have become geopolitical dynamite. According to a new analysis by consultancy McKinsey & Company, up to four million jobs in Germany are on the line if top supplier China imposes a permanent export ban.

These critical minerals are indispensable to Germany’s high-tech economy: they’re used in precision sensors, specialized magnets, and control systems essential to engineering, defense, communications, and aerospace. Without them, a significant share of the country’s industrial value creation would grind to a halt.

McKinsey’s analysis, cited by Handelsblatt, puts the risk in stark numbers: one million jobs in core technology sectors could be directly threatened if supply lines collapse. These industries generate about €150 billion in annual value added — the beating heart of German innovation and manufacturing."

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🇨🇳😎❌🇬🇧 — 📰 ZeroHedge | China Caught In 'Large Scale Espionage' Against UK... Yet Case Collapses Over Beijing Appeasement: Officials | October 17, 2025:

"China's intelligence service conducted "large scale espionage operations" against the UK - accessing classified government computer systems for over a decade - a senior British government official told prosecutors in a case against two Brits allegedly involved - which collapsed in court.

And why did said case collapse? Because the left-wing Labour government failed to refer to China as a threat to national security, so prosecutors could not produce evidence to bolster that claim, the UK's director of public prosecutions - as well as opposition conservatives who say Labour has been "too weak to stand up to Beijing on a crucial matter of national security."

Starmer has been criticized by conservative politicians for pursuing a thaw in relations with Beijing, despite a mountain of evidence that China is behind various cyber-attacks and espionage attacks in the UK. He also faces pressure from members of his own cabinet not to approve China's new mega-embassy in London."

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🇨🇳❌🏠🔫 — 📰 ZeroHedge | China Expels 9 Top Generals, Including Two From Communist Party Leadership, In Sweeping Purge | October 18, 2025:

"In another major purge likely based on loyalty, China's President Xi Jinping has embarked on another significant series of top level military firings, with the Communist Party having expelled nine senior generals in one of the most sweeping such moves in decades.

A Defense Ministry statement indicated the nine officers are under investigation for "serious financial misconduct." Also unusual is that most of them were three-star generals and formed part of the party's powerful Central Committee."

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