#geopolitical-tension

#geopolitical-tension

Never to be mistaken for a "smaller" version of its summer cousin, the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off with a characteristically bombastic opening ceremony that featured, among other things, bobble-headed representations of Italian composers, a '90s-core DJ spinning on an ice block, supersized golden rings that couldn't help but evoke Sonic the Hedgehog, and an extended Sabrina Impacciatore-anchored sequence that started on a verrrry low note with a seemingly generative-AI-produced animation, and eventually ended on a veerrry high note with Impacciatore doing of a full-on clown routine. The whole spectrum of the human experience, indeed.

At the outset of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, a singer bemoans his separation from a beloved friend who grew up beside him. Today, the friends rarely meet "näillä raukoilla rajoilla, poloisilla Pohjan mailla" - lines which translator Keith Bosley renders "on these poor borders, the luckless lands of the North." The Kalevala, a poetic masterpiece of nearly 23,000 lines, first appeared in 1835. Now, nearly 200 years later, those "luckless lands of the North" are an increasingly tense border zone.

A series integrating border politics, accessibility, secrecy, and the complexities of human nature by New York-based photographer Michael Valiquette. Valiquette is a multidisciplinary artist, photographer, book maker, and graphic designer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Siena College and has worked as a Graphic Designer and Photographer at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For the last two years, Valiquette has been making images in "places that divide"-barriers (real and imagined) across Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

Analysts at Scotiabank have just raised their price target on the XOM stock by $10 to $125 per share, with a sector perform rating.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other key members of the OPEC+ alliance announced on Saturday their decision to increase oil output in August by 548,000 barrels per day.

The US Dollar index remained near multi-year lows as geopolitical tensions eased and investor sentiment improved, indicating a shift in safe-haven demand.

Oil prices saw a sharp decline following Iran's restrained response to the US strikes, demonstrating that the Strait of Hormuz will remain operational for now.

"Defence tech startups need a clear pathway from proof of value to adoption," she said.