Saudis plan assault on Houthis to break Red Sea chokehold

RIYADH, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with options being considered including a coastal push to secure the Red Sea shipping route or an assault on multiple fronts, regional and Western officials told Reuters.

The operation, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will by led by Yemeni forces on the ground, which are overseen by Riyadh, and supported by Saudi air strikes, according to ‌six people with knowledge of the preparations.

While the US is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh's operations in Yemen, and some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, the Saudi allies aren't expected to play a ‌direct role in combat operations, said the people who requested anonymity to discuss security matters.

Saudi Arabia entered neighboring Yemen's civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the internationally recognised government, which the Houthis had driven out of the capital Sanaa. A truce agreed between the warring parties in 2022 largely held until ​this year when the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure in a spillover from the Iran war.

A key objective of the planned Saudi offensive, which hasn't been previously reported, is aimed at reversing the rapid gains made by the Houthis last month when they advanced down the coast and seized control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, according to the people with knowledge of the plans who include Gulf and Yemeni officials and Western diplomats.

The Saudis are considering two possible options for the assault, the Gulf and Yemeni officials said: Either a narrowly focused attack on the area around Bab el-Mandeb or a broader offensive that also includes other synchronized attacks on multiple fronts around Yemen, in the governorates of Al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz and Al-Jawf.

More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could be mobilized in the offensive, depending on the scale, the officials all said.

Spokespeople for the Saudi and Yemeni governments, ‌the Houthi group and the US military didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about the ⁠Saudi plans.

Bab el-Mandeb is the southern exit passage of the Red Sea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia that's assumed even more importance this year as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by the Iran conflict.

Riyadh has concluded it cannot enter new Yemeni peace negotiations with the Houthis while the militants remain in control of Bab el-Mandeb, giving them significant global leverage, the Western diplomats and ⁠Gulf official said.

The six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations couldn't give a precise timing for the launch of the offensive, with their estimates ranging from within a week to until after the US midterm elections in early November.

Michael Ratney, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said he expected an offensive to be narrowly focused and certainly more modest in scope than the Saudi-led operation in 2015 that sought to rout the militants.

"As much they want to vanquish the Houthis completely, they also need to get back to status quo ante before Houthis controlled territory along Bab el-Mandeb," he added. "Ideally, it would be a fairly ​limited ​operation to retake coastal areas and get back to normal maritime traffic."

The Houthis have become Iran's most formidable ally in the Middle East since Israel's degradation of Hezbollah ​in Lebanon over the past three years.

A Saudi-directed offensive against the group would mark a new flashpoint ‌in a region engulfed by conflict since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent US-Israeli war on Iran.

TRUMP, TURKEY AND PAKISTAN

Washington, Saudi Arabia's most powerful ally, is providing military advisers and intelligence including targeting information to support Saudi air operations in Yemen, according to one of the Western diplomats.

However, the extent of support may be limited. Reuters has previously reported that US President Donald Trump rebuffed requests by the de facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman for direct military support such as air strikes.

Turkey and Pakistan, with whom Saudi Arabia signed a joint defence agreement last month, have provided military equipment that the kingdom is using in Yemen, Pakistani and regional officials said.

Last month, Pakistan sent four cargo planes with equipment including air defence systems, light artillery, drones and anti-drone systems to Aden, the seat of Yemen's Saudi-backed government, a Pakistani government official said.

Pakistani military advisers are also on the ground with Saudi counterparts to support Yemeni forces, according to a second Pakistani official, the Gulf official and a Western diplomat. Turkish drones, bought by Saudi Arabia before the current war, have also been deployed over Yemen, they added.

One of ‌the kingdom's key concerns in launching a new offensive in Yemen is how to protect its oil facilities and other infrastructure from Houthi drone and missile attacks, ​according to regional officials who said Riyadh has asked several allies for help with defensive systems.

Pakistan has deployed between 30,000 and 40,000 troops to Saudi Arabia to help ​defend the kingdom's land borders and help with drone and missile interceptions, according to the second Pakistani official, who said the troops ​arrived in waves beginning last year but also after the recent escalation. Islamabad hasn't made any decision to send troops into Yemen in a fighting capacity, the official said.

The Pakistani and Turkish defence ministries didn't respond to requests ‌for comment on their military support for Riyadh.

France, meanwhile, has announced it will send defensive systems and ​troops to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Red Sea port city of ​Yanbu.

Any ground operation inside Yemen will rely on the disparate coalition of Yemeni fighting factions that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates armed and trained at earlier stages of the civil war when the conflict ground to a bloody stalemate.

"Many anti-Houthi forces are still not organised or prepared for the kind of sustained offensive required to push back a disciplined Houthi military force. And they are being tested right now, as the Houthis apply pressure across several fronts at once," said Yemen analyst Mohammed ​Albasha.

Yemeni forces were further fractured last winter when southern fighters backed by the UAE tried to take territory ‌in the east and announce secession plans, leading to their defeat by Saudi-backed fighters after a series of clashes.

Ali Shihabi, a Saudi political analyst close to government thinking, cautioned the outcome of any offensive by the Saudis against the Houthis ​would depend on how ground forces perform.

"The priority so far has been to defend the positions on the ground and stabilize the front, but certainly they will be going on the offensive," he said. "Success greatly depends on the quality of ​the performance of the local forces."

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/saudis-plan-assault-houthis-break-160352911.html

Brazil Election this week: Lula vs. Bolsonaro

-The race: Brazilians vote on Oct. 4 in the first round of a closely watched presidential election, with incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro dominating the polls.

-Why it matters globally: The result could influence Brazil’s relationships with the U.S. and China, including over trade and access to critical minerals, as Bolsonaro emphasizes alignment with Washington while Lula stresses Brazilian sovereignty.

-The economic stakes: Whoever wins will inherit pressure to address Brazil’s public finances, with high government debt, a large budget deficit and elevated borrowing costs putting fiscal policy at the center of investor attention.

Brazil will hold a knife-edge vote on Sunday as its presidential race kicks off — but the election’s outcome is likely to be felt far beyond the country’s borders.

Voters will head to the polls to decide whether incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — known colloquially as Lula — should remain in office or be replaced by one of 12 alternative candidates.

If no ​candidate wins more than 50% of votes ​in Sunday’s first round, the two candidates with the most support ⁠will progress to a final runoff vote on Oct. 25.

Polls point to a tight race, with frontrunners Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro effectively tied for support among voters.

A win for left-leaning Lula would mark his fourth presidential term, while victory for Bolsonaro is expected to mark a shift back to his father’s right-wing movement.

Lula’s center-left Workers Party (PT) has been a pioneer of social programs aimed at lifting millions of people out of poverty — but it has been stained by corruption scandals. Lula himself spent 18 months in prison after receiving a coastal property from an engineering firm involved in the so-called Car Wash corruption investigation. Former president Dilma Rousseff, who succeeded Lula in 2010, was impeached in 2016, having been accused of budget manipulation.

Flávio Bolsonaro is a senator and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently under house arrest. Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula.

Bolsonaro is widely viewed as the political heir to his father, with his policy mix favoring privatization, spending cuts and close alignment with the U.S. — policies that have had recent successes across Latin America, with Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru all inaugurating conservative leaders in the last 12 months.

Lula, meanwhile, has put Brazilian sovereignty at the center of his campaign. He has also pledged to reduce Brazil’s traditional six-day work week, cut income tax for low-earners and enact policing reforms.

The president has endured a rocky relationship with the Trump administration, which treated Jair Bolsonaro – dubbed colloquially the “Trump of the Tropics” – as a close ally. U.S. President Donald Trump announced 50% tariffs on Brazil in July 2025 in response to what he labeled a “witch-hunt” trial against Jair Bolsonaro.

Otaviano Canuto, a nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and a former executive director at the Board of the International Monetary Fund for Brazil, told CNBC that the upcoming vote was a “hinge election” for the broader region with respect to the U.S. and the so-called “Donroe Doctrine” that has seen the Trump administration take a greater interest in Latin America.

“Brazil is the largest economy in the region and if you take the region as a whole, 20 republics [in Latin America] are now are ruled by right-wing leaders,” he said. “And of course, if a victory by Flavio Bolsonaro happens, that would deepen the strategic alignment of the region with President Donald Trump’s plan for America. By contrast, if Lula obtains a fourth term, that will frustrate Washington’s bid to dominate the neighborhood, and squeeze out the Chinese influence.”

Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr., a Brazilian economist and former vice president of the BRICS New Development Bank, told CNBC that the outcome of the election will have “a substantial effect on all parts of Brazilian life” because the two leading candidates are “radically different.”

“Flavio Bolsonaro has declared to be closely aligned to Donald Trump, and this might affect Brazilian-Chinese relations — [and] China is our main trade partner,” he explained. “The geopolitical situation of Brazil that will change enormously if Bolsonaro wins, and will continue more or less like it has been in recent years if Lula wins his re-election bid.”

According to Canuto, part of Brazil’s appeal to the U.S. administration is the country’s abundance of critical minerals.

“Trump has been very proactive in trying to guarantee the access to critical minerals, and Brazil is the second source rare earth reserves on the planet, [behind] China,” he said.

“So, the U.S.-China rivalry spills over to access to critical minerals and rare earths, and as we all know, all signals coming from Washington point in the direction of demanding the countries in the region establish restrictions to the Chinese access and so on.”

read moar:

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/02/brazil-election-bolsonaro-lula-china-trump.html

Treasury Sec. Bessent, IRS crack down on ETF strategy the wealthy are using to avoid capital gains taxes

-The U.S. Treasury and IRS issued warnings this week targeting wealthy investors as well as financial, tax and investment advisors who have been using an ETF strategy to avoid capital gains income taxes.

-Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the tax authorities are “serious about cracking down on transactions designed to dodge taxes or exploit our federal tax code.”

-Section 351 of the tax code generally lets investors transfer property to a corporation in exchange for its stock without recognizing a capital gain, with limitations, and the transfer of a portfolio of securities to a newly formed ETF has become a clever way for gains to be avoided among the rich.

One of the selling points of ETFs is that they can be highly tax-efficient for managing capital gains and losses, but wealthy investors may have to rethink certain ETF tax-deferral strategies following recent communications from the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury.

At issue are certain use cases of Section 351 exchanges, in which wealthy individuals, through an intermediary, create new ETFs with a basket of highly appreciated stocks. The intent is to defer capital gains taxes — which remains a legitimate strategy, but with additional qualifications, according to new guidance from tax authorities.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an X post earlier this week that the guidance, “makes clear Treasury is serious about cracking down on transactions designed to dodge taxes or exploit our federal tax code.”

He added of a companion IRS revenue ruling related to Section 351 ETF conversions designed to avoid tax, “Our message on these conversions is clear: they don’t work under existing law.”

The combined effort covers instances that tax authorities find troubling, including when an ETF is “merely a conduit” for transferring securities in an attempt to avoid taxes. A revenue ruling is an official interpretation of a specific set of facts by the IRS, in relation to the tax code and regulations, useful for anticipating tax treatment by the agency. A notice, meanwhile, sets out more general guidance for broader circumstances.

Section 351 of the tax code generally lets investors transfer property to a corporation in exchange for its stock without recognizing a capital gain, under certain conditions. For example, no one asset can exceed 25% of the portfolio’s value, and the top five holdings cannot exceed 50% of the overall value, according to Kitces.com. This is still generally accepted practice.

“The IRS and Treasury are focused on tax strategies that they consider abusive practices,” said Jeffrey Colon, professor of law at Fordham Law, who focuses on tax law and policy.

According to tax authorities, by inappropriately avoiding gains, investors are subverting the intention of the rules.

For wealthy investors, as well as their investment and tax advisors, who have turned to ETFs as a tax shield, the landscape is expected to change in the wake of the new guidance from tax authorities.

The IRS’s revenue ruling related to a transfer of a portfolio of securities to a newly formed ETF. As part of the planned transactions, the ETF distributed the contributed securities soon after, and the investor ended up with a “materially different” portfolio, without recognizing any built-in gains in the original securities.

“This is really about getting diversification without paying tax,” said Brian Gray, tax partner at Gursey Schneider.

Tax authorities said this is a problem, but the issue did not come out of nowhere.

A Bloomberg analysis from last July found that a total of $22 billion in ETFs had been created for this purpose, deferring as much as $6.5 billion in capital gains, with the activity accelerating significantly since 2024.

“Tax rules should reward investment, not abusive financial engineering,” Bessent had said in a July 22 post on X, adding that regulators “will not turn a blind eye to abusive Wall Street tax dodges or tolerate products designed to exploit our federal tax code. If a tax pitch sounds too good to be true, then it probably is and investors should think twice.”

He referenced that July warning in his post this week.

Officials from the IRS and Treasury had met in July with members of the Wall Street Tax Association to discuss the kinds of transactions the government has taken an interest in, including questionable Section 351 exchanges.

The notice addresses many of the strategies discussed.

Generally, only higher-income individuals are using Section 351 exchanges.

Fees are one reason. It can cost $200,000-$300,000 to create an ETF, said John Pantekidis, managing partner and general counsel at TwinFocus in Boston. Some firms suggest investors should have at least $25 million of appreciated stocks to include in the ETF for it to be a viable option, but Pantekidis sets the bar even higher, saying it doesn’t make sense for anyone with less than $100 million of stocks to include.

The notice does not imply all Section 351 transactions are suspect.

“This notice does not address, and expresses no view regarding, transactions in which a Section 351 transaction is used to seed a newly established ETF with assets that are consistent with the ETF’s investment thesis and that are intended and expected to be retained by the ETF absent a substantial change in circumstances,” the notice reads.

Indeed, there can be valid reasons for high-net-worth individuals and families to do a Section 351 exchange, said Joshua Norman, principal in the Bardstown, Kentucky, office of Cerity Partners. For example, a wealthy person might want to gift shares of an ETF to another individual who doesn’t want individual shares of stock. Also, converting separately managed accounts into ETFs can lessen the ongoing tax burden for wealthy individuals, enhancing after-tax returns.

Some ETF experts took the position that this language in the notice might lead to even more use of the strategy. “Non consensus view: Regulators opened the door this week for well designed 351s to hit the mainstream,” wrote Mel Faber, founder of ETF manager Cambria Funds, which has provided an overview of the strategy to investors.

Tax regulators are placing additional restrictions in order for the transfer to be considered tax-deferred.

“The timing behind it is also key,” Norman said.

The notice from tax regulators makes it clear that transactions that occur “shortly after” appreciated securities are contributed are suspect.

But the IRS did not elaborate on what this means, and that has left tax practitioners and legal professionals to expect further guidance.

How long “shortly thereafter” is will remain a gray area until tax regulators release additional guidance, Norman said.

Other tax experts agreed with this view.

“Regarding Treasury’s Rev. Rul. on §351 for seeding ETFs, I’m looking at 3 things as evidence of aggressive planning… 1) evidence of a plan 2) quick redemption following seed 3) a very different portfolio from the contribution. This leaves a lot of gray area and I think we’ll see many ‘facts and circumstances’ analyses in the coming months/years,” Brent Sullivan, a tax analyst who runs Tax Alpha Insider, a blog devoted to taxes and portfolio strategies, wrote on X.

The IRS and Treasury are requesting comments on the notice by October 28.

One thing regulators are not going to do is kill the idea of exchanging securities for shares, because all the big ETFs rely on redeeming and creating units that aren’t taxable as part of their daily operations. “It’s a multi-trillion-dollar industry,” Pantekidis said.

However, they will probably provide more guardrails for smaller ETFs that are creating units and immediately diversifying portfolios for tax advantages, he added.

Tax authorities are also looking more closely at additional strategies, according to the notice. These include transfers to partnerships in connection with Section 351 conversions and ETFs that use “box spread” strategies, which involve options and allow investors to defer capital gains.

“Tax practitioners must understand these highlighted strategies to advise clients on emerging audit exposures,” Ed Zollars, tax partner at accounting firm Thomas, Zollars & Lynch, wrote in a blog.

Congress could also decide to step in to make some changes to existing ETF regulations. For example, they could narrow how ETFs benefit by distributing appreciated securities, said Colon.

Gray suggests investors looking to manage capital gains taxes consider an exchange fund instead. It’s a private investment vehicle, typically structured as a limited partnership, that allows investors with concentrated, appreciated stock positions to pool their shares into a diversified portfolio, while deferring capital gains taxes. One disadvantage is the seven-year holding period for participants to redeem their units.

Investors can also use a charitable remainder trust to manage capital gains and losses, he said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/02/treasury-irs-capital-gains-income-tax-section-351-warning.html

>>25100130

I dunno what do you like. Post your best meme.

We go where the anons and bakers take us via the notables and memes. Most of us are savants at at whatever this particular thing is.

>>25100230

Also the prayers and shitposting.

>>25100235

But mostly the notables.

>>25100247

I'm above average IQ but I have acquired certain skills, wisdom, and hidden knowledge. Also those IQ tests are shit, it's always the same questions so you know what to do from the previous times you've taken them. I don't see matrix code but I'll rip your dimension in half with words alone.

>>25100265

>I'm something of a genius myself

I dunno, you're quite the shitty shill imho.

Jesse Watters

@JesseBWatters

🚨 JUST IN: SCHUMER JUST ADMITTED REPUBLICANS MIGHT KEEP THE SENATE… "IT'S 50/50" 🤯

BERNIE'S PHONE is RINGING… with Democrats BEGGING him to do SOMETHING ☎️

CHARLES BARKLEY is FUMING at the Party: "Some of the STUPIDEST shit I've ever heard" 🔥

https://x.com/JesseBWatters/status/2105817003478995243

Why are we trusting Trump to rename everything but he pronounces Kazakhstan has Kazakistan, and Vegan, as Vey-gan?

>>25100438

The Liberals are better at naming things then but they still can't meme. Might be undercover wagecuck autists.

>>25100493

Shills don't contemplate as I do. Spot the difference, Waldo.