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Why Oil Prices Could Spike Soon & Is Daylight Savings Done For?

The Explosive Diarrhea Outbreak & Election Interference In Germany

Author

Marcus Gee-Lim
July 16, 2026

Hi readers, happy Thursday! Today we’re covering the U.S.-Iran war and its impact on global oil reserves, China’s flagging economy, election interference in Germany, a new daylight savings time bill, Hegseth’s plan for low testosterone, and the U.S.’s explosive diarrhea outbreak.

“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.” ― Ludwig van Beethoven

Patience (And Oil Reserves) Are Running Low

“U.S. Navy Warships and Aircraft Transit Arabian Sea” (U.S. Navy photo)

“Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime.” That’s a quote from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, which he delivered after Trump threatened to bomb civilian infrastructure across Iran earlier this year. On Tuesday, Trump again threatened to strike civilian infrastructure.“We're going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate,” he said, adding, “I'll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we'll hit energy targets.” Attacks on civilian infrastructure constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

That announcement came just before the U.S. kicked off a multi-hour bombing campaign across Iran, which it followed up on Wednesday by striking “command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities.” Yesterday’s attacks marked the fifth straight day of U.S. strikes on Iran, and its ninth wave of attacks since July 7. Iran has responded with its own strikes on U.S. bases in the Middle East, especially in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

Last Friday, the International Energy Agency announced that its member nations had disbursed more than 300 million of the 400 million barrels they planned to release as an emergency stock, which was designed to cushion oil markets from the shock of losing the roughly 20% of oil exported via the Strait of Hormuz under normal circumstances. “We’ve burned through all of the buffers we had. Everything,” said one oil trader. “All of that’s now gone.” 

Over the course of the war, oil peaked at $126 a barrel, well below its historic peak of $147.50 (reached in 2008). That’s because the industry knew that governments across the globe were willing to put their reserves onto the market, meaning traders could tough it out as long as the conflict ended relatively quickly. But now, those reserves are running out. “Ultimately, the market was pricing an optimistic flow trajectory that now is clearly not on the table, at least . . . not until we get another round of diplomacy,” said one oil expert. “Now we have close to nothing,” said another. “Market complacency around Hormuz flows is being severely tested.”

A Bad Quarter In Beijing

“Skyline of Beijing CBD” by N509FZ via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • Last quarter, China’s economy grew at its slowest pace over the past three years. Over the period spanning from April to June, the economy expanded just 4.3%, well below the 5% growth it saw from January to March, and also below the 4.5%-5% growth rate that Beijing is targeting for 2026.

  • While exports rose 17.6% over the first half of the year compared to 2025, China’s domestic economy has lagged behind, with retail sales growing just 1.7% and housing prices continuing to fall. “China’s growth model has become increasingly imbalanced,” said one economics professor, with the economy increasingly reliant on exports to maintain its growth.

  • “Apart from necessary spending on food, I save on anything I can,” said one Chinese business owner. “I ​haven't bought a single piece of clothing in six months.” Analysts say the data will increase pressure on Beijing to implement economic stimulus measures, but big policy changes remain unlikely for now.

Hands Off Of Hamburg

  • German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned the U.S. against interfering in his country’s state elections, which are scheduled for September. The statement was a response to a new U.S. initiative offering grants of up to $3 million to European non-profit organizations, individuals, and educational institutions working to “address national sovereignty, migration, censorship, and lawfare challenges in line with shared political philosophy, law, and our common western civilizational heritage.”

  • On its webpage, the initiative states that “For centuries, the transatlantic partnership has been rooted in a common understanding of natural law, virtue, and national sovereignty. However, European governments are increasingly drifting from these foundations through supranational bureaucratic overreach and partisan weaponization that concentrates power in technocratic institutions less accountable to democratic choices.”

  • Merz stated that the funding initiative seems an awful lot like the U.S. attempting to influence elections in Europe. “For ‌our ‌part, we do ‌not interfere in American elections,” he said. “Conversely, I do not ‌want the American government or institutions close to the government to interfere in German ⁠elections.” AfD, a far-right German party linked with the MAGA movement, seems poised to win its first regional election this year, with a solid polling lead in Germany’s eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Additional World News

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A New Light For America

  • On Tuesday, the House passed a bill which could change how time works. Kind of. The bill, if passed by the Senate and approved by Trump, would make daylight saving time permanent. That change would make the mornings darker, but would grant more hours of sunlight in the evening. Florida Representative Vern Buchanan and Anna Paulina Luna are the sponsor and co-sponsor of the bill – they argue that the change would grant Americans more daylight during winter, and that the switch between daylight saving and standard time causes unnecessary disruption in people’s lives.

  • Opponents of the plan argue that the legislation would make the cold winter mornings even darker. “Millions of Americans will wake up during the winter months in complete darkness with the sun not rising until long after people get up and travel to school or work or have to go about their days,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, a Democrat. “For folks getting crushed by rent, groceries, utility bills and healthcare costs, is this really the best the majority can do?” said Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts. “Is this really the most pressing issue before the American people at this moment?” A poll from 2025 showed that a slim majority of Americans (56%) are in favor of making daylight saving time permanent, while roughly 40% prefer standard time.

The Department Of Low T

  • Yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the military plans to implement a testosterone deficiency screening initiative for its soldiers over age 30. “I’m authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best,” Hegseth said in a Twitter video announcing the new policy.

  • “Warfighters” over the age of 30 will be subjected to annual testosterone tests as part of their normal health assessments, and servicemembers under 30 are also able to opt in to testing if they want to. If they’re found to have low testosterone levels, soldiers will be offered a variety of treatments aimed at “restoring and optimizing,” including testosterone replacement therapy – TRT for short. TRT involves injecting small amounts of synthetic testosterone into individuals with low testosterone levels to restore them to an age-appropriate level – sometimes, those same chemicals are abused (at higher doses) as steroids by athletes or bodybuilders looking to build abnormal amounts of muscle.

Additional USA News

 

Is That Salad Really Healthy?

  • Over the past week, the U.S. has faced a growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by cyclospora (a parasite that infects people through feces-contaminated food or water). 843 cases of cyclosporiasis were confirmed by the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last Friday, and that number almost doubled to 1,645 on Tuesday – those figures are likely a steep undercount of actual cases, as Michigan alone reported 2,640 cases and 44 hospitalizations on Monday.

  • Symptoms of cyclosporiasis include watery diarrhea, “explosive” poops, cramping, bloating, nausea, and fatigue. While it’s not clear why, exactly, the parasite is spreading like wildfire now, but Michigan health officials have stated that “current results point to lettuce or salad greens as a potential source for this outbreak,” though a definite source hasn’t been identified as of yet. 

  • Lettuce, salad mixes, raspberries, basil, cilantro, fruit mixes, snow peas, and snap peas have all been linked to past cyclospora outbreaks. In order to stay safe, health officials recommend washing lettuce under running water and removing the outer two to three layers of each head. For other produce, they recommend removing the skin and cooking to at least 158°F in order to kill the parasite.

Additional Reads

Peanut For Your Thoughts

What a crazy game from Argentina. This weekend’s final is going to be an all-time classic. 

Editor + Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

Designer: Joe Stella