The Obscure Bank Collapse That Could Bring Down Iran's Regime

Iranian bank collapse

Pentagon’s “Havana Syndrome” weapon

UK scraps mandatory digital ID plan

Ayandeh Bank, run by regime insiders, went bust with nearly $5 billion in bad loans and was absorbed into state-owned Bank Melli, with the government printing massive funds to cover the shortfall.

The bank’s collapse revealed widespread self-dealing, including heavy investment in the opulent Iran Mall, tying up over 90% of its assets in elite projects.

Five other banks reportedly share similar vulnerabilities, highlighting systemic fragility in Iran’s banking sector.

The rial lost 84% of its value in 2025, while food prices rose 72%, devastating wages and the middle class.

Years of sanctions, energy shortages, and military pressure compounded the economic crisis.

Protests erupted nationwide, with thousands defying internet blackouts and violent government crackdowns to demand relief and accountability.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) denounced a proposed one-time 5% wealth tax on residents worth more than $1 billion as "really damaging" to the state. (FBN)

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the Fed ignored her office's outreach on headquarters renovation cost overruns and Powell's testimony, necessitating grand jury subpoenas. (NYP)

Argentina logged its lowest year-end annual inflation in eight years at 31.5% for 2025, amid Milei's austerity measures. (BAR)

Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin called December's inflation data "encouraging" after consumer prices rose 2.7% year-over-year. (RTS)

Trump declared the “Trump economic boom” officially underway during a speech at the Detroit Economic Club, citing U.S. growth at three to four times that of other nations. (WSJ)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Morningstar highlighted three undervalued dividend stocks for January 2026: Comcast yielding 4.7%, Campbell’s offering nearly 6.0% yield and UPS at 6.2% yield. (MS)

Deutsche Bank analysts upgraded select lithium mining stocks—Albemarle, SQM, and Lithium Americas—betting on a 2026 rebound in prices and demand driven by accelerating energy storage growth. (BAR)

The Motley Fool recommended Mirum Pharmaceuticals for multiple 2026 catalysts including 56% sales growth for Livmarli, phase 3 data for voloxibat, and contributions from the pending Bluejay Therapeutics acquisition. (MF)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: A Ford autoworker was suspended pending investigation after heckling Trump as a "pedophile protector" during a tour of the River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan. (FBN)

The New York Times gained rare access to Shunda Park, a massive Chinese-run cyberscam complex in Myanmar that employed over 3,000 workers targeting victims worldwide, including Americans. (NYT)

Saks Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, overwhelmed by heavy debt from its $2.7 billion Neiman Marcus acquisition. (WSJ)

Netflix is poised to amend its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery's studios and streaming businesses to an all-cash offer from the prior 85-15 cash-stock structure at $27.75 per share. (NYP)

Starbucks fired a barista at its Norwalk, California, store after an employee handed a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy a coffee cup featuring a pig illustration. (KTLA)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: The U.S. forecasts electricity consumption will climb to new highs of 4,256 billion kWh in 2026 and 4,364 billion kWh in 2027, propelled by AI-driven data centers. (RTS)

Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA reversed production cuts imposed by prior U.S. embargo restrictions, reopening wells and resuming crude exports. (RTS)

Spot gold rose more than 1% to a record high of $4,640.13 per ounce, while silver surged to a fresh peak at $91.56 per ounce. (INV)

U.S. oil producers signaled readiness to serve as a stabilizing force in Iran's oil sector if the regime collapses amid widespread protests. (POL)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest single-day net inflows in three months—$754 million—led by Fidelity and Bitwise. (TB)

The Senate Agriculture panel scheduled a Jan. 27 markup for its bipartisan crypto market-structure legislation, with text to be released Jan. 21. (CT)

Crypto custody firm BitGo filed for a NYSE IPO targeting a valuation of nearly $2 billion, aiming to raise up to $201 million. (DEC)

Ukraine blocked access to Polymarket, citing concerns over “war bets” tied to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. (CN)

The device was acquired in an undercover operation by Homeland Security Investigations, using Defense Department funding, at a cost described by sources as “eight figures.”

It can fit inside a backpack and contains Russian components, renewing questions about whether directed energy weapons could plausibly cause the symptoms reported by U.S. diplomats, spies, and troops.

Havana Syndrome cases date back to 2016 and include vertigo, severe headaches, and cognitive issues; dozens remain officially unexplained.

Intelligence agencies have publicly said it is unlikely the incidents were caused by a foreign adversary, though some assessments have acknowledged pulsed electromagnetic energy as a plausible cause in certain cases.

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Chinese customs authorities informed agents that Nvidia's H200 AI chips are not permitted to enter the country, blocking imports of the U.S.-approved processor. (TIA)

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Defiance Act, granting victims of nonconsensual sexually explicit AI-generated deepfakes a federal civil right to sue creators and distributors for damages. (POL)

Chinese AI startup Zhipu released GLM-Image, an open-source image-generation model it claims is China's first state-of-the-art version fully trained end-to-end on domestic Huawei chips. (BBG)

Anthropic restructured its C-suite, with chief product officer Mike Krieger shifting to co-lead the experimental-products team, while head of product Ami Vora will take over product scaling for Claude with CTO Rahul Patil. (VER)

McKinsey & Company disclosed that the firm's total workforce stands at 60,000—including 40,000 human employees and 25,000 AI agents. (BI)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Tuya unveiled Aura, a robotic "pet butler" that feeds and plays with pets, and sends smartphone mood alerts to fight loneliness. (DM)

Norwegian robotics firm 1X released its 1X World Model, an AI that lets robots understand real-world physics, pick up new tasks from instructions or videos, and carry out spoken commands autonomously. (TC)

Dubai unveiled remote-controlled firefighting robot dogs, aimed at assisting crews in tackling hard-to-reach blazes in high-rise buildings. (CS)

⭐ Editor’s Pick: WithCoverage, an AI-driven insurtech startup replacing traditional brokers with a flat-fee risk-management model, raised $42 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures. (AX)

Defense Unicorns, a provider of software tailored for the Pentagon, raised $136 million in Series B funding led by Bain Capital, pushing its valuation above $1 billion. (RTS)

AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems is in advanced talks to raise approximately $1 billion in new funding at a pre-money valuation of $22 billion. (IT)

Workers will no longer be required to sign up for a standalone digital ID to prove their right to work, reversing last year’s proposal that made enrollment mandatory.

Right-to-work checks will still go fully digital by 2029, using tools like biometric passports and existing online verification systems.

The government says the change preserves enforcement against illegal working while avoiding a compulsory ID scheme that sparked public backlash.

Public opposition was intense: support collapsed in polls, nearly three million people signed a petition against digital IDs, and MPs across parties raised concerns about privacy and overreach.

Nigel Farage firmly opposed the plan and argued it “will make no difference to illegal immigration, but it will be used to control and penalize the rest of us.”

⭐ Editor’s Pick: Trump lauded the late Dilbert creator Scott Adams as a “great influencer” and “fantastic guy” after the 68-year-old’s death from cancer. (FOX)

Pope Leo warned in a stark Vatican address that Western democracies are eroding free speech and freedom of conscience under “Orwellian-style” pressures and ideological conformity. (TEL)

A Wall Street Journal analysis details how Biden-era DEI policies alienated white male military recruits, driving enlistments down sharply and fueling the broader recruitment crisis. (WSJ)