For nine years, almost nobody in Japan has looked at my neighbor's daughter. Not because they're cruel. Because they're polite. Sana is nine. She uses a wheelchair. In Japan, when people see a child like her, they do the kind thing. The thing we're taught. They look away. They don't stare. They give her space. So for nine years, Sana has gone everywhere being carefully not seen. And her mother, Megumi, learned to help. At school events, at festivals, at the park, she always sat them in the same place. The very edge. The very back. Where they wouldn't be in anyone's way. Last summer, Megumi's husband had to work for two weeks at a plant in a small town in Iowa. The whole family went. Megumi told me she dreaded it. New country. New stares. Or worse, new ways of not being looked at. On the first morning, they went to a diner. The waitress came over, looked at the table, and did something nobody in Japan had ever done. She crouched down next to the wheelchair, eye level with Sana, and asked her what she wanted. Not her mother. Her. In Japan, waiters ask Megumi what Sana wants. Sana is nine. She knows what she wants. She wanted pancakes. The waitress said, "Pancakes for the boss," and wrote it down. When the pancakes came, there was a mountain of whipped cream on top. The waitress pointed at the wheelchair and winked. "Extra for the driver." Sana laughed so hard she got syrup in her hair. Megumi tried to pay. An old man at the counter had already paid. She tried to pay the next day. A different old man. By the third day, she was sneaking up to the register before they even sat down, and the waitress just shook her head and said, "Honey, you're not gonna win this one." A lady from the church down the road showed up at the motel with a whole pie. Megumi asked why. The lady said, "Y'all looked tired." They had been in town for three days. Nobody had told her they existed. And then there was Tucker. Tucker was seven. He lived next to the motel. On the fourth day, he walked straight up to Sana in the parking lot, looked at the wheelchair, and said, loudly: "Why do you have wheels?" Megumi froze. In Japan, a parent would have grabbed that boy and apologized for ten minutes. Sana looked at him and said, in the English she'd learned at school, "My legs don't work." Tucker thought about this for one second. "Cool. Can I push?" And then they were gone. Down the sidewalk. Way too fast. Tucker's mom was yelling, "TUCKER, SLOW DOWN!" Tucker was yelling, "SHE SAID FASTER!" Sana was screaming in Japanese, "もっと速く! もっと速く!" Faster. Faster. Tucker didn't speak a word of Japanese. He understood perfectly. That night, after Sana fell asleep, Megumi locked herself in the motel bathroom and cried for an hour. She told me it took her a long time to understand why. It was because for nine years, without ever deciding to, she had been apologizing. For the wheelchair. For the ramp. For the space they took up. For being there at all. And in four days, a whole town had made it very clear that nobody needed her to. On the Fourth of July, there was a parade down Main Street. Out of habit, Megumi found them a spot at the very edge. At the very back. Behind everybody. A fire truck came down the street. Red, shining, lights going, kids running alongside it. It stopped. Right in front of them. A firefighter climbed down. A huge man with a gray mustache and forearms like fence posts. Everyone in town called him Bud. Nobody, possibly including Bud, knew his real name. He walked over, knelt down on the asphalt in front of Sana, and said: "Ma'am, we're short a co-pilot today. You interested?" Sana looked at her mother. Megumi couldn't say a word. She just nodded. Bud lifted Sana into the front seat like she weighed nothing. Two other firefighters lifted her chair onto the back of the truck. Bud took off his own helmet and put it on her head. It came down over her whole face. She pushed it up with both hands so she could see. Then he leaned out the window and asked her name. And he shouted it. "EVERYBODY SAY HI TO SANA!" And they did. All the way down Main Street. People on both sides. Grandmas in lawn chairs. Teenagers on the curb. Men holding babies on their shoulders. Strangers who had never seen her before in their lives. "HI, SANA!" "HI, SANA!" Sana waved with both arms. The helmet kept falling down. She kept pushing it back up. She did not stop waving for one second. And running next to the truck, the entire length of Main Street, red in the face, out of breath, was a seven-year-old boy screaming at the top of his lungs: "THAT'S MY FRIEND! THAT'S MY FRIEND!" Megumi was standing at the back of the crowd, crying so hard she couldn't see. An old woman next to her, a complete stranger, handed her a tissue. Then she squeezed her arm and said: "Honey. That girl belongs up there." They've been home in Japan for over a year now. Some things changed. This fall, at Sana's school sports day, Megumi did something she had never done in nine years. She pushed Sana's chair all the way to the very front row. A few parents looked away, the polite way. Sana waved at them anyway. With both arms. Megumi told me something I keep thinking about. "In Japan, I was taught that kindness means not looking. A little town in Iowa taught my daughter that kindness means looking right at her, and saying her name." On a shelf in Sana's room, there's a plastic firefighter helmet. The kind you get at a dollar store. Bud sent it a week after they got home. On the back, in black marker, it says: "CO-PILOT. ANYTIME."

New Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori inherits a country that has seen nine presidents in the last decade. Peru's level of political corruption has reached a point where the nation has its own prison for former presidents. Fujimori's father, Alberto Fujimori, was the facility's first resident.

Tried being a QUEEN for a day 😘👑✨ Ming Dynasty Xiaoduan Empress 孝端皇后 Nine-Dragon Nine-Phoenix Crown is truly on another level—48.5 cm tall, inlaid with 115 uncut natural rubies and 4,414 pearls💎🐉A peak expression of Ming court aesthetics~😌✨ But the headband version isn’t bad either!😁🎀👑 #ICIF#

Conviction 2026 has officially been elevated to a National-Level Digital Assets & AI Forum, dedicated to redefining Vietnam’s position on the global economic map. This is more than just an event; it is a strategic cornerstone for building the next-generation International Financial Center (IFC). This digital-age financial hub will serve as the convergence point for smart capital flows and the world's most disruptive technologies, including AI and Blockchain. Conviction 2026 stands as a bold testament to a proactive and resilient Vietnam, ready to lead the digital asset wave in the region. Notably, the forum is honored to welcome the participation and guidance of Government Leadership, affirming a powerful commitment to propelling Vietnam firmly into a new era of national ascension. ⚖️ Backed by Prestigious National Authorities: - Executive Direction: Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee. - Leadership: HCMC Department of Culture and Sports, in coordination with the HCMC Department of Science and Technology. - Policy Consultant: Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). - Organizers: HCMC Electronic Communications Association (EIC) and HCMC Blockchain Association (HBA). - Host: Ninety Eight. 🚀 The gateway to the Vietnamese market is more open than ever. Do not miss your chance to stand alongside major financial institutions, policymakers, and the visionaries shaping Vietnam’s prosperous future. Register for Conviction 2026 today! __________________________ 👉 Secure your Early Bird tickets now to gain "invaluable" insights from our lineup of world-class speakers: Conviction 2026 - The Largest National Digital Assets & AI Event in Vietnam 📍 Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 📅 Date: August 14–15, 2026. 🌐 Stay updated on speakers & forum content at:

$CRWV | Earnings call Large customer prepayments expected; limited parent-level funding through 2027 Management expects to collect approximately nine billion in prepayments and deposits from signed contracts over the next three months, including more than three billion from re-contracting existing infrastructure. It also expects EBITDA less interest, excluding prepayments, to more than double in 2027, and expects its funding sources to cover the significant majority of capital needs through 2027, with only limited funding raised at the parent company. These expected receipts and internally generated funds materially reduce the anticipated need for parent-level financing.

Russia shipped a RECORD 165 metric tons of gold to Hong Kong in the first nine months of 2026. That is more than triple the amount shipped during the same period last year. Russian gold is increasingly flowing east as new trade routes emerge... Meanwhile, China's domestic gold market is seeing significant activity. In late October, trading in the Shanghai Gold Exchange's Au99.99 contract reached its highest weekly level since April. The global gold trade is changing before our eyes.

$SSNLF | Samsung Electronics Q3 2026 Earnings Samsung delivered another extraordinary quarter, with operating profit approaching nine times last year's level. More importantly, management's comments on HBM demand, memory supply constraints and long-term agreements provide further support for the memory supercycle extending into 2028 and potentially beyond. Q3 earnings highlights: 🟢 Revenue: ₩195.3T, +127% YoY and +14% QoQ. 🟢 Operating profit: ₩107.4T, +783% YoY and +20% QoQ. 🟢 Net profit: ₩75.1T, +515% YoY. 🟢 Semiconductor revenue: ₩147.1T, with operating profit of ₩106.5T. 🟢 Semiconductor operations accounted for approximately 99% of consolidated operating profit. 🟢 HBM4 revenue more than tripled QoQ, reaching approximately 60% of total HBM revenue. 🟢 Management says its entire planned HBM supply for 2027 is already sold out, with major customers requesting additional volumes. 🟢 Long-term memory supply agreements signed with 10 major customers, with another 10 under negotiation. 🟢 Targeting long-term agreements covering 60–70% of memory production capacity by 2030. 🟢 Management expects AI-driven memory demand to significantly exceed available industry supply in 2027. 🔴 Device eXperience division recorded a ₩0.8T operating loss as higher component costs pressured profitability. 🔴 Semiconductor operating profit slightly missed the ₩107.3T analyst estimate. 🔴 Shares closed down 4.13%, with investors disappointed by the lack of new shareholder-return commitments. The most important takeaway: Memory supply visibility. Samsung expects memory demand to remain strong, driven by AI infrastructure investment, HBM, server DRAM and enterprise SSDs. Management expects supply constraints to persist through 2028 and is increasingly securing multi-year commitments from major customers. Samsung has already completed agreements with 10 major customers and is negotiating with another 10. Its long-term ambition is to have 60–70% of production capacity covered by LTAs by 2030. Why is Samsung falling despite record earnings? Much of the quarterly performance was already known following the October 8 preliminary announcement. Investors were also expecting stronger commitments to shareholder returns, particularly following SK hynix's exceptionally bullish earnings presentation yesterday. Samsung's guidance was more conservative, with visibility into HBM supply through 2027 versus SK hynix's longer-term supply commentary. At today's ₩232,000 closing price, Samsung trades at approximately: • 4.9x FY2026 expected adjusted EPS of ₩47,724. • 3.2x FY2027 expected adjusted EPS of ₩72,280. These multiples are exceptionally low on the surface, although the market is clearly discounting the possibility that extraordinary memory pricing and profitability cannot be sustained indefinitely. The principal risks remain future supply additions, the sustainability of memory ASPs, substantial capital expenditure and whether AI infrastructure spending can continue supporting current demand expectations. For now, the operating evidence continues to support a very strong memory market heading into 2027. $MU $SKHY

U.S. steel prices just hit their highest level in more than four years, per Bloomberg. Benchmark hot-rolled coil has jumped 52% over the past year to $1,255 a ton, a level last seen in May 2022. The reason: Trump’s tariffs are squeezing foreign supply. Steel imports fell 14% in the first nine months of 2026.

YZi Labs-backed BounceBit to permanently shut down its L1 after 286.5M BB exploit BounceBit said an attacker exploited a protocol-level authorization flaw in its Evmos-based chain, moving approximately 286.5 million BB from nine mainnet accounts without authorization. The project raised $6 million in a 2024 seed round co-led by Blockchain Capital and Breyer Capital, with participation from OKX Ventures and HTX Ventures, and later received a separate investment from Binance Labs (now YZi Labs). BounceBit will permanently sunset BounceBit Chain and reissue BB as a BEP-20 token on BNB Chain based on a pre-exploit snapshot. The 286.5 million BB moved by the attacker will not carry over to the new token. No private keys or wallets were compromised, and its CeDeFi, Prime and RWA products were unaffected.

BounceBit shuts down its blockchain for good and moves BB to BNB Chain after exploit BounceBit (@bouncebit) will permanently sunset its Layer 1 after an attacker exploited an authorization flaw in a protocol-level module, moving roughly 286.5 million $BB from nine accounts before block production halted on August 20. The token will be reissued as a BEP-20 on @BNBCHAIN from a pre-theft snapshot, excluding all attacker funds. BounceBit said no private keys were compromised and its CeDeFi products are unaffected.