Hello, Tuesday! It’s October 13, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: DEA proposes strict drug controls on kratom-linked products, Anthropic admits Houthis used Claude AI instead of weapons engineers to make rockets and ballistic missiles that correct themselves after missing targets, China sanctions Paraguay and Belize officials over ties with Taiwan, How L.A. became a turtle smuggling hot spot, and much more…

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🎯 FEATURED STORY

DEA proposes strictest drug controls on kratom-linked products exceeding certain thresholds. Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act is reserved for drugs with a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use in the United States. Reuters

🔥 TOP STORIES

Anthropic admits Houthis used Claude AI instead of weapons engineers to make rockets and ballistic missiles that correct themselves after missing targets Daily Mail

China sanctions Paraguay and Belize officials over ties with Taiwan Associated Press

How L.A. became a turtle smuggling hot spot, pushing this rescue group to the brink Los Angeles Times

Deloitte’s Cyprus Office Helped Abramovich Firms Relocate Billions in Assets in Apparent Bid to Sidestep Tax and Transparency OCCRP

EU imposes sanctions on 1,600 Russians and companies linked to arms industry Associated Press

Super Micro contractor pleads guilty in $2.5B AI server smuggling case Quartz

U.S. arrests Colombian with Maduro ties on money laundering charges UPI

British PM says Iran’s IRGC ‘highly likely’ behind RAF Fairford incident Iran International

Tether freezes $10 million in USDT linked to $93 million CryptoBilis Ledger exploit CoinDesk

NY rejects 16,000 Trump ICE detainers for illegal migrants accused or convicted in over 52,000 crimes New York Post

Jefferies Point Bonita fund alleges $900M iron ore fraud Quartz

Lebanese investigate smuggled, Hezbollah-linked explosives UPI

US Drops Sanctions on Daughter of Prominent Myanmar Businessman Thein Win Zaw Diplomat

A Chinese Auto Giant Sponsors Portugal’s National Football Team. Its Trucks Are Used by Russia to Attack Ukraine. OCCRP

Cuba denies involvement with island-bound fuel shipments seized by US Reuters

🚩 RUSSIA & CHINA

Replacing equipment at Yandex data centers damaged by Ukrainian drones could take months as cloud services remain in emergency mode Insider

Finance chief of £46billion Chinese ‘romance scam’ syndicate has his £9million London penthouse and £10m of watches and jewelry frozen by UK authorities Daily Mail

US threatening to cut off intel, weapons to Ukraine Hill

Founder of pro-war propaganda project Rybar returns to Russia after being expelled from Montenegro Insider

DPRK: Council adds three individuals and four entities to sanctions lists over nuclear, missile programmes and Russia ties Council of the EU

The ice cream shop that makes money when it's cold

28 Wishes sells ice cream in Los Angeles. Below 70°F, sales fall about 20%. The weather is out of their hands. Rent isn't.

So the owners started putting about $20 a day into Kalshi weather markets, taking the cold side. The days that keep customers away now pay something back.

This is hedging. Big companies have done it for decades, buying protection against bad weather, fuel spikes and rising rates. It used to take a broker, a trading desk, and an order size no corner shop could meet.

Kalshi opens it up. Contracts on weather, fuel prices, inflation, tariffs and regulation, starting at a few dollars. Take a position on the outcome that would hurt you. If it hits, the payout softens it. If it doesn't, the contract expires and the good month was the point.

See how other owners are doing it at Kalshi.com/hedging

🚀 SANCTIONS & TERROR

What Washington Got Wrong About the Houthis—and What It Must Do Now Lawfare

U.S. becomes main fuel supplier to Cuba amid surge in exports to private sector Miami Herald

Financial sanctions and the global payments network CEPR

Supermarket worker admits penning plans for terror attacks on police and army Daily Mail

Hezbollah prepares for next war: Upgraded drones, fortified positions, new recruits L’Orient Today

Defectors detail Iran’s protest crackdowns and alleged overseas plots Iran International

💸 CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

Agents search Rep. Omar’s Washington home in criminal probe as she vows she won’t ‘be silenced’ Associated Press

The Crew of Virtually Unknown Donors Powering the Rise of the New Left Wall Street Journal

Justice Department Announces Charges Involving 16 Individuals for Election Crimes DOJ

A Trump Loyalist, a Turkish Investor and a Battle for Wealth and Influence New York Times

UK proposes rewards for whistleblowers who report economic crimes Reuters

🔐 CRYPTO & CYBER

Cyber attackers defrost freezers in hundreds of supermarkets across France, costing them millions Daily Mail

XRP Ledger’s Payment Engine Had a Counterfeiting Bug Hiding Since 2015 Decrypt

FTX’s Old Bitcoin-Mining Assets Are Now Part of the AI Boom Wall Street Journal

CyberXero Uses Claude Code in Campaign That Stole Over 628,000 Ukrainian Records Hacker News

Retail giant Ahold Delhaize takes systems offline after cyberattack BleepingComputer

AI minister warns it is ‘likely’ UK’s cyber defences will be breached BBC

🚚 TRAFFICKING

How Iraqi Kurdistan is being used as a frontier for drug smuggling Sky News

Southeast Asia Has a Serious Drug Problem Diplomat

The Dirty Secret Behind the Farmed Fish You Eat New York Times

Man arrested in Manchester over £400k illicit cigarette haul BBC

“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” — Benjamin Franklin

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