In leaked audio from a mid-may Zoom meeting of Democratic National Committee officers, DNC National Chairman Ken Martin nearly breaks into tears as he confesses to having doubts about carrying on in the role, and zeroes in on Vice Chair David Hogg, telling him he’s destroying Martin’s chance to demonstrate leadership. The unauthorized release of the audio to Politico comes as the Democratic Party is still reeling from its across-the-board defeat in the 2024 general election, and it confirms the DNC leadership is still as fractured and dysfunctional as it was in the aftermath of balloting that saw the GOP achieve command of the White House, Senate and House.

At the leadership level, much of the dysfunction can be attributed to 25-year-old gun-control-fiend and DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, who was voted in back in February. Two months later, Hogg announced that he plans to help his progressive outside organization spend $20 million to knock incumbent Democrats out of office in 2026. With a stated goal of ridding the Democratic Party of a “culture of seniority politics” that’s enabled ineffective legislators to linger, Hogg said Leaders We Deserve will only go after incumbents in “safe” districts where Republicans don’t have a chance.

As you might expect, having a senior party official gunning for the party’s own incumbents ignited a firestorm that’s had establishment Dems scheming about how they might eject Hogg from his vice-chair role. Indeed, the meeting that captures Martin’s frustration came a few days after the DNC proposed having a new round of voting for the seats held by Hogg and another vice chair — a move that would have to be approved by DNC members. 

This is Ken Martin. He’s just been elected chair of DNC

He’s ready to take on Donald Trump. Do you think he stands a chance? pic.twitter.com/LsXAGW340A

— RT (@RT_com) February 1, 2025

In the roughly 2-minute audio from the May 15 meeting, an emotional Martin says the infighting is thwarting the party’s ability to combat the resurgent GOP. “The longer we continue this fight, the harder it is for us to actually do what we all want to do, which is make a difference in this country again.” Martin then addresses Hogg directly, and struggles to control his emotions: 

“I deeply respect you, David. I, too, was looking forward to working with you, but this has created a situation, and — I’ll be very honest with you — for the first time in my 100 days on this job [chokes back tears] the other night I said to myself for the first time, I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore.…

I’m just quite frustrated to be in this position because what you’ve done, whether you like it or not, or know it or not, David… No one knows who the hell I am, right? I’m trying to get my sea legs underneath of me and actually develop any amount of credibility so I can go out there and raise the money and do the job I need to, to put ourselves in a position to win. And again, I don’t think you intended this, but you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to. So it’s really frustrating.” 

With that, Martin goes awkwardly silent until — with his voice cracking — he yields the floor to another speaker. In the Politico story, Associate Chair Shasti Conrad — using the kind of cringy, woke leftist blather that’s helped devastate Democrats’ standing among men — said Martin “showed vulnerability in a private conversation.”  

When Politico sent a request to interview Martin about his emotional remarks, a spokesman sent a statement quoting him as saying, “I’m not going anywhere.” An unintended double entendre — at the moment, the Democratic Party isn’t going anywhere either.  

Check out the full audio: 

DNC Chair Ken Martin just told Democrat Party elites “I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore” because of infighting with DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, who is challenging incumbent House Democrats. Sad! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/z2tAD0K6UV

— NRCC (@NRCC) June 8, 2025

David Hogg: we should try winning elections?

DNC Chair Ken Martin: https://t.co/6qrdLdBJQt pic.twitter.com/GAT4JK5NPI

— Maybe: Brendan Bergen (@carpetislava) June 8, 2025

Martin after two months of having to deal with the DNC https://t.co/ZZCzZ5QiqC pic.twitter.com/km8jwcGWyK

— Nikolaj🇺🇦🇵🇸 (@nikicaga) June 8, 2025

Ken Martin after working with David Hogg for a few months https://t.co/fs6rihb4Cm pic.twitter.com/lVU1POKmXB

— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) June 8, 2025

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 5 ruled unanimously that Wisconsin violated the First Amendment by not granting a Catholic charity an exemption from paying unemployment tax.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the 9–0 opinion in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission.

Catholic Charities Bureau is a nonprofit organization that functions as an arm of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin. The bureau oversees several other entities that render charitable services to communities across the state.

Wisconsin law excuses religious organizations that are “operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches” from paying state unemployment tax.

The petitioner, Catholic Charities, argued that it is unconstitutional to allow the state to decide what work is religious in nature.

“The First Amendment mandates government neutrality between religions and subjects any state-sponsored denominational preference to strict scrutiny. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s application of [the state statute] imposed a denominational preference by differentiating between religions based on theological lines. Because the law’s application does not survive strict scrutiny, it cannot stand,” the justice wrote.

Strict scrutiny is the highest level of review used by the courts. Under it, the government has to show that a law is narrowly tailored to advance a compelling governmental interest and that the law is the least restrictive way to serve that interest.

Sotomayor wrote that Wisconsin is not the only jurisdiction that exempts religious organizations from paying taxes to cover unemployment compensation programs. Since Congress in 1970 approved the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, which contains language similar to that found in the Wisconsin law, more than 40 states have adopted similarly worded tax exemptions.

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin held 4–3 in March 2024 that Catholic Charities and its four related organizations that serve the developmentally disabled are not “operated primarily for religious purposes,” so they fail to meet the requirements for a tax exemption.

That court held that the activities of Catholic Charities do not qualify as “typical” religious activities because the organization does not “attempt to imbue program participants with the Catholic faith” and because the help it provides to those with mental and developmental disabilities could be carried out by secular organizations.

Sotomayor wrote that this means that the state court held that the organization could only qualify for the tax exemption if, when providing charitable services, it “engaged in proselytization or limited their … services to fellow Catholics.”

The organization’s Catholic faith prevents it from using charity to proselytize, while many other religious organizations take a different approach, she wrote. This means that Wisconsin’s law on tax exemptions expresses a preference for some religious denominations over others “based on theological choices.”

Because the Wisconsin law distinguishes among religions on the basis of theological distinctions, it imposed “a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny.”

“Because Wisconsin has transgressed that principle without the tailoring necessary to survive such scrutiny,” the lower court’s decision must be overturned, she wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ruling of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin and sent the case back to that court “for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.”

The attorney for Catholic Charities, Eric Rassbach, hailed the new ruling.

“It was always absurd to claim that Catholic Charities wasn’t religious because it helps everyone, no matter their religion,” Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told The Epoch Times.

“Today, the Court resoundingly reaffirmed a fundamental truth of our constitutional order: The First Amendment protects all religious beliefs, not just those the government favors.”

The Epoch Times reached out for comment to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which represents the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission. No reply was received by publication time.

Overnight China published its latest inflation/trade data dump. It showed that, as expected, China is still unable to kickstart its economy as it remains mired in deflation, with May CPI printing -0.1% (the last time CPI was positive was in January) while PPI is going from bad to worse, printing -3.3% YoY, and negative since February 2023! 

Meanwhile, China’s trade growth moderated in May – after the April surge – despite the substantial tariff rollback between the US and China, and came in below consensus expectations (exports: +4.8% yoy, imports: -3.4% yoy).

The moderation in headline export growth reflects the continued fall in China’s exports to the US with another 17% sequential decline after seasonal adjustment.  Meanwhile, the decline in imports appears widespread, consistent with fewer working days in May compared with a year ago.

By product, export value of housing-related products fell in May, while exports of automobile and tech-related products rose. The imports of energy products and metal ores declined notably, partly due to falling prices. Overall, the trade surplus was US$103.2bn in May, higher than in April.

By region, while China’s exports to the US plunged further in May, exports to other economies picked up.
 

As shown in the next chart, while normally Chinese exports to the US would be around $50BN, they have since dropped to $30 billion.  And as Brad Setser notes, “the trailing 12m of exports to the US isn’t tracking exports to Europe.”

The trade war impact is there if you know where to look — exports to the US were ~ $30b, and they normally would be ~$50b. The trailing 12m of exports to the US isn’t tracking exports to Europe (an easy test)

3/ pic.twitter.com/CQj2bn7H0n

— Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) June 9, 2025

Import values from most trading partners declined in May, except for those from the EU and LatAm.

The broader collapse in Chinese exports to the US, as reported by China, and US imports from China, as reported by the US (both are used to the rather gaping data divergences in the past), can be seen in the next chart.

Among major DM countries, exports to the US dropped by 34.5% yoy in May (vs. -21.0% yoy in April). China’s imports from the US declined by 18.1% yoy in May (vs. -13.8% yoy in April). China’s exports to the EU rose by 12.0% yoy in May (vs. +8.3% yoy in April), while imports from the EU were roughly unchanged from a year ago in May (vs. -16.5% yoy in April). Among major EM countries, exports to ASEAN rose by 14.8% yoy in May (vs. 20.8% yoy in April). Exports to Africa rose by 33.3% in May (vs. 26.3% yoy in April), however, imports from EM countries mostly moderated from April to May.

So how has China’s economy not yet collapse if it has lost about 40% of its US export markets? Simple: transshipments. To fill the hole from exports lost to the US, China is ramping up exports to other countries… that then go on to re-export to the US!

So far there are no real signs that I can see that Trump’s go-it-alone tariffs have tamed China’s export juggernaut

6/6 pic.twitter.com/AOW25L65nc

— Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) June 9, 2025

And to make it abudnantly clear that all the trade war has so far achieved is boosted transshipments is the following Setser chart showing that whatever export volume has been given up by China, has been more than made up by ASEAN (mostly Vietnam) + Taiwan, i.e. filling the hole with transshipments.

Some more interesting (and likely more important) things happening right now, but still wanted to highlight a couple of the details of the US trade data.

Seems pretty clear what is happening here

1/ pic.twitter.com/gllUggBwuI

— Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) June 6, 2025

The bottom line, as everyone who is familiar with China’s economy knows, and as Brad Setser repeats this morning, is that “net exports are still driving China’s economy”, and is why not just the US – but also Europe – is expressing  outrage with Beijing’s relentless mercantilist model, which exports deflation – and economic pain – to every market targeted by China’s sweatshops.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

“Trump made me do it.”

Across the country, this is a virtual mantra being mouthed everywhere from businesses to higher education. Corporations are eliminating woke programs. Why? Trump did it. Universities are eliminating DEI offices and cracking down on campus extremism. Trump did it. Democratic politicians are abandoning far-left policies. Trump did it.

For those who lack both courage or conviction, the claim of coercion is often the next best thing. The “TDI defense” is born.

Of course, they did not invent Trump, but they needed him. For years, schools like Harvard and Columbia ignored warnings about the rising antisemitism on campuses. They refused to punish students engaged in criminal conduct, including occupying and trashing buildings. These administrators did not want to risk being tagged by the far-left mob for taking meaningful action.

Then the election occurred, and suddenly they were able to blame Trump for doing what they should have been doing all along.

Administrators are now cracking down on extreme elements on campuses.

At the same time, hundreds of schools are closing DEI offices around the country. Again, most are not challenging the Trump administration’s orders on DEI or seeking to adopt more limited responses. They are all in with the move, while professing that they have little choice.

In other words, schools are increasingly turning to TDI to end DEI.

The legal landscape has changed with an administration committed to opposing many DEI programs as discriminatory and unlawful. However, it is the speed and general lack of resistance that is so notable. In most cases, the Trump administration did not have to ask twice. Trump seemed to “have them at hello,” as if they were longing for a reason to reverse these trends.

Many will continue to fight this fight surreptitiously. For example, shortly before the Trump election, the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted to ban DEI and focus on “institutional neutrality.” Yet, even Administrators emboldened by the TDI defense are finding resistance in their ranks. For exsmple, UNC Asheville Dean of Students Megan Pugh was caught on videotape, saying that eliminating these offices means nothing: “I mean we probably still do anyway… but you gotta keep it quiet.”  She added, “I love breaking rules.”

The Board, perhaps not feeling the same thrill, reportedly responded by firing her.

The same pattern is playing out in businesses. Over the last few weeks, companies ranging from Amazon to IBM have removed references to DEI programs or policies. Bank of America explained, “We evaluate and adjust our programs in light of new laws, court decisions, and, more recently, executive orders from the new administration.”

Once established, these DEI offices tended to expand as an irresistible force within their institutions and companies. Full-time diversity experts demanded additional hirings and policies on hiring, promotion, and public campaigns. Since these experts were tasked with finding areas for “reform,” their proposals were treated as extensions of that mandate. To oppose the reforms was to oppose the cause.

While some executives and administrators supported such efforts, others simply lacked the courage to oppose them. No one wanted to be accused of being opposed to “equity” or being racist, sexist, or homophobic. The results were continually expanding programs impacting every level of businesses and institutions.

Then Trump showed up. Suddenly, these executives and administrators had an excuse to reverse this trend. They could also rely on court decisions that have undermined long-standing claims of advocates that favoring certain groups at the expense of others was entirely lawful.

This week, the Supreme Court added to these cases with its unanimous ruling in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, to remove impediments to lawsuits by members of majority groups who are discriminated against.

For many years, lower courts have required members of majority groups (white, male, or heterosexual) to shoulder an added burden before they could establish claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In a decision written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court rejected that additional burden and ordered that everyone must be treated similarly under the law.

Many commentators noted that the ruling further undermined the rationales for disparate treatment based on race or other criteria within DEI.

In other words, more of these programs are likely to be the subject of federal investigations and lawsuits. Of course, if these executives and administrators were truly committed to the programs in principle, they could resolve to fight in the courts. The alternative is just to blame Trump and restore prior policies that enforce federal standards against all discriminatory or preferred treatment given to employees based on race, sex, religion, or other classifications.

Former Vice President Hubert Humphrey once observed that “to err is human. To blame someone else is politics.” That is evident among politicians. For years, many moderate Democrats voted to support far-left agendas during the Biden administration, lacking the courage or principles to oppose the radical wing of the Democratic Party. Now, some are coming forward to say that the party has “lost touch with voters.”

Rather than admit that their years of supporting these policies were wrong, they blame Trump and argue that the party must move toward the center to survive.

The calculus is simple: You never act on principle when you can blame a villain instead. It is not a profile of courage but one of simple convenience. No need for admissions or responsibility — just TDI and done.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

For the first time since 2024, inflation expectations tracked by the NY Fed survey of Consumer Expectations dropped across all three horizons in May.

One-year-ahead inflation expectations declined by 0.4% to 3.2%, three-year-ahead inflation expectations declined by 0.2% to 3.0%, and five-year-ahead inflation expectations declined by 0.1% to 2.6%.

The declines in median one- and three-year-ahead inflation expectations were broad-based across age, education, and income groups, so there is nothing the Marxists at UMich can say to mitigate what is clearly a renormalization of the previous ridiculous expectations for imminent hyperinflation due to tariffs which, as we have said all along, destroy demand and lead to lower prices in the long run (something which even Goldman now agrees with). Median inflation uncertainty (the uncertainty expressed regarding future inflation outcomes) also declined at the one-year horizon and was unchanged at the three- and five-year horizons.

The latest NY Fed inflation expectations are falling in line with other household-based surveys pointing to a rebound in sentiment in the wake of the announcement, even if the laughable UMichigan survey of a few confused Democrats by a few confused Marxists, still shows 1 Year inflation expectations at a record high 6.6%!

Since the beginning of the year consumers have been bracing for higher prices, even though there has so far been zero evidence prices are in fact rising; instead many business continue to internalize the price increases while Chinese suppliers have also been asked to share the pain. 

There was more good news on the inflation front: first, the survey found that median home price growth expectations decreased by 0.3% point to 3.0%. This series has been moving in a narrow range between 3.0% and 3.3% since August 2023. The decline was driven by respondents in the West and South census regions.

Also, the median year-ahead commodity price change expectations decreased by 0.8 percentage point for gas to 2.7%, 1.3 percentage points for the cost of medical care to 7.4%, 1.6 percentage points for the cost of college education to 7.5%, and 0.6 percentage point for rent to 8.4%. The only place where price expectations increased was in year-ahead food prices which increased by 0.4 percentage point to 5.5%, the highest level since October 2023.

Fed officials are closely following consumer estimates of price pressures to assess whether tariffs could lead to a persistent inflation spike. The broad-based improvements in inflation expectations suggest that the Fed is that much closer to cutting rates, confirming that once again Trump will have been correct in urging “too late Powell” to cut. 

It wasn’t just inflation expectations that improved: Americans’ views about their job prospects also improved slightly in May. The perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next year dropped 0.5%, while respondents’ likelihood of quitting voluntarily ticked up. The mean expectation that the unemployment rate will be higher one year from now decreased 3.3% to 40.8%. 

But wait, there was even more good news (ahead of the idiotic UMich report later this week): Households’ perceptions of their own finances also improved, with the share of respondents saying they will be worse off in a year declining slightly.

A smaller share of participants reported that it was harder to access credit although the average perceived probability of missing a minimum payment in the next three months dropped to the lowest since January. Also, a smaller percentage of consumers, 13.45% vs 13.94% in prior month, expect to not be able to make minimum debt payments over the next three months, the lowest level since January 2025. The decrease was driven by those with more than a high school diploma and those with household incomes over $50,000.

Some more details from the report:

• The median expected growth in household income increased by 0.1% point to 2.7% in May, while remaining well below the trailing 12-month average of 3.0%.
• Median nominal household spending growth expectations declined by 0.2% point to 5.0%, remaining just above the trailing 12-month average of 4.9%.
• Perceptions of credit access compared to a year ago improved, with a smaller share of households reporting it is harder to get credit, and a larger share reporting it is easier. Conversely, expectations for future credit availability deteriorated, with the share of respondents expecting it will be easier to obtain credit a year from now decreasing to 10.6% from 12.1%.
• The median expectation regarding a year-ahead change in taxes at current income level was unchanged at 3.3%.
• Median year-ahead expected growth in government debt increased by 0.6 percentage point to 5.4%.
• The mean perceived probability that the average interest rate on saving accounts will be higher in 12 months decreased by 1.1 percentage points to 25.4%.

Finally, the mean perceived probability that the US stock market will be higher 12 months from now increased. 

Average perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment over the next three months decreased by 0.5 percentage point to 13.4%, the lowest level since January 2025.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Free speech in the United Kingdom has long been in free fall, with expanding criminalization and regulation of speech. Much of this effort is carried out to combat disinformation or radicalism.

The subjectivity of such “Prevent” standards is evident in a new media report that officers are being trained to look for “cultural nationalism,” including those people who are concerned that Western culture is under threat from mass migration.

Such concerns are now viewed as indicative of “right-wing terrorist ideology.”

Europe, like the United States, is showing a surge in political support for politicians seeking to limit and reverse mass immigration into their countries. That includes Great Britain.

The material is part of an online training course for British hospitals, schools, universities, and other public institutions that are expected to identify and report extremists to the government.

The training would subject a large number of British citizens to potential investigation as right-wing extremists. In 2023, a government report by William Shawcross concluded “populist conservative voices who have nothing to do with violent extremism” are often identified by investigators even though the overwhelming number of attacks committed in the UK were “Islamist in nature.”

There have also been warnings that by classifying “cultural nationalism” as an indication of extremism, the anti-terror scheme could be used to stifle public debate.

A Home Office spokesman insisted, however, that “Prevent is not about restricting debate or free speech, but about protecting those susceptible to radicalisation.”

That is a rationale already used in the UK to arrest those with dangerous thoughts or viewpoints.

For years, I have been writing about the decline of free speech in the United Kingdom and the steady stream of arrests, including in my book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.

A man was convicted of sending a tweet while drunk, referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for wearing an anti-police t-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”

Nicholas Brock, 52, was convicted of a thought crime in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The neo-Nazi was given a four-year sentence for what the court called his “toxic ideology” based on the contents of the home he shared with his mother in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Judge Peter Lodder QC dismissed free speech or free thought concerns with a truly Orwellian statement:

“I do not sentence you for your political views, but the extremity of those views informs the assessment of dangerousness.”

Lodder lambasted Brock for holding Nazi and other hateful values:

“[i]t is clear that you are a right-wing extremist, your enthusiasm for this repulsive and toxic ideology is demonstrated by the graphic and racist iconography which you have studied and appeared to share with others…”

Recently, the UK effectively resumed blasphemy prosecutions and previously arrested a woman for silently praying to herself near an abortion clinic.

The training captures the potential chilling effect on speech where any publicly stated concerns over immigration and Western Civilization could lead to your being reported to the police. It reflects the cavalier approach to such speech regulations in not just the UK but throughout Europe.  However, this European model is being promoted by many in the United States, including some who are calling on the European Union to challenge the United States over the regulation of speech.

We detailed Sunday that Russian forces have begun advancing into Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in the three-year-plus long war, marking a significant territorial escalation amid stalled peace talks. The Kremlin on Monday described the expanded offensive as key to establishing President Vladimir Putin’s buffer zone in a fresh statement.

The recent advance into Dnepropetrovsk Region, which borders Donetsk to the West, is part of the push establish a “buffer zone” on the front line, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“It is one of the goals, of course, but if we talk about the nuances of the military actions themselves, then your questions should be addressed to the Defense Ministry,” Peskov said.

The defense ministry has confirmed that tank division of the battle group ‘Center group’ – the 90th Armored Division – reached the western border of Donetsk as of Sunday, and was advancing into the Dnepropetrovsk oblast.

In late May, Putin had announced before ministers and Kremlin officials that he’s ordered a big buffer zone along Russia’s southern border to protect the towns and populations there from cross-border strikes from Ukraine.

“We have approved the creation of a necessary security buffer zone along our borders. Our armed forces are actively working to accomplish this task,” the Russian leader had stated.

April, May, and early June have seen thousands of drones launched from Ukraine onto southern oblasts, with some drones targeting as far as Moscow, which has resulted in commercial flight stoppages at several area airports.

The timing of Putin’s buffer zone plan was very significant, given that President Trump is increasingly being perceived as ‘stepping back’ from pursuit of a final peace settlement, perhaps content to ‘let them fight it out’.

The NY Times last month described that Trump is ready to throw his hands up in the air and say ‘not my problem’ as neither side is ready to compromise:

For months, President Trump has been threatening to simply walk away from the frustrating negotiations for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.

After a phone call on Monday between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, that appears to be exactly what the American president is doing. The deeper question now is whether he is also abandoning America’s three-year-long project to support Ukraine, a nascent democracy that he has frequently blamed for being illegally invaded.

The Times concluded, “In a reversal, President Trump appears to have backed off joining a European push for new sanctions on Russia, seemingly eager to move on to doing business deals with it.”

Also last month, hawkish top national security official Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia could eventually extend the buffer zone across almost the whole of Ukraine.

Former Russian president Medvedev was being threatening and perhaps hyperbolic, given Russia has struggled to slowly solidify its hold over the Donbass, yet Putin has still held back on a full declaration of war and mobilization of the whole of society.

The Singapore-flagged container ship Wan Hai 503 erupted in flames after an explosion rocked the vessel earlier today off the coast of Beypore, a port town in Kerala, southern India.

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) wrote on X that naval assets responded swiftly following an explosion aboard the Wan Hai 503, located approximately 130 nautical miles northwest of the Kerala coast.

Quick response by @IndiaCoastGuard after explosion on #Singapore flagged MV #WANHAI503, 130 NM NW of #Kerala coast.
➡️ #ICG aircraft assessed the scene & dropped air-droppable
➡️ 04 #ICG ships diverted for rescue.#MaritimeSafety #ICG #SearchAndRescue pic.twitter.com/xVPEShbU8h

— Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) June 9, 2025

ICG deployed a maritime surveillance aircraft to the incident area for real-time assessment and reconnaissance, alongside diverting four ICG vessels to the area. Local media reports confirm that the crew has abandoned the Wan Hai 503.

Here are more details about the incident via The Hindu:

Of the 18 crew in the lifeboat, one is reported to have sustained serious injuries. Four crew (2 Taiwanese, 1 Indonesian and 1 Myanmarese) are missing from the time of the explosion. ICG Dornier aircraft is maintaining overhead the vessel for real-time assessment.

The vessel is presently adrift and firefighting efforts by the Coast Guard have commenced to bring the situation under control. The details of the cargo onboard are being ascertained to determine the nature of fire and the potential risks involved during firefighting operations, the officials said.

The fire poses a significant risk of further explosions and potential structural compromise. Any drifting containers or subsequent hazards to navigation will be assessed only after Coast Guard ships return after rescue operations. All nearby traffic has been alerted to maintain safe CPA and speed reductions in the vicinity, the officials said.

. . . 

According to DG Shipping officials, owners have been requested to promptly assess and report the nature of the cargo in the affected hold to ascertain the presence of any hazardous material

One X user on ICG’s X account asked: “Can this second occurrence be indicative of sabotaging indian coast.” 

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Friday saw US payrolls do their usual comic thing and prove the ADP employment print using ostensibly the same methodology earlier entirely wrong. Jobs were 139K vs. 126K consensus with an unchanged 4.2% unemployment rate and average hourly earnings up 0.4%, a tick more than expected. Some pointed to a huge drop in the household survey which could mean a downturn and deflation ahead; and others pointed to those same perhaps being illegal workers exiting stage left under the new White House, so a boom led by wage inflation. Who can tell at this stage? Not anybody looking at an Excel spreadsheet, surely.

Moreover, if you think that’s all that’s going on you must have spent the weekend deep in a cave, high on a mountain, or on a yacht heading towards the East Med.

• In geopolitics, Ukraine delivered another big drone blow to Russia, this time hiding them in grain containers, with worrying implications for the ease of modern warfare and unease over global trade. The US also fears asymmetrical Russian retaliation above and beyond strikes on Ukrainian cities.  
• The New York Times claimed Russian spies are spooked by China, which they still refer to as an “enemy”. If so, tell me more about this inevitable BRICS future, please.
• Right-wing Colombian opposition senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot twice in the head in Bogotá on Saturday evening, bringing back the spectre of political violence there.
• Iran claims it stole Israeli intel materials, including nuclear documents, which makes a change from the other way round, but doesn’t spell ‘peace for our time’ in that region. Meanwhile, Israel claims to have found documents proving Qatar backed Hamas in thwarting President Trump’s first term peace initiative – which would surprise few in the region if true. Hamas’s Khaled Mashaal reportedly told Qatar’s Al Thani, “We need to cooperate in order to resist the deal of the century and thwart it.” It remains to be seen what the consequences might be today given Qatar’s even greater influence –allegedly, even in Israel– and Jerusalem’s lower diplomatic standing in the West. 
• France’s defence ministry has reportedly approached Renault to manufacture drones for Ukraine – automakers shifting to weapons? That’s never happened before, right? A Bloomberg op-ed asks ‘Will Golden Dome Work? The World Needs It Anyway’.
• German Chancellor Merz admitted what anyone who understands anything about realpolitik has been saying for some time – that Europe will remain reliant on the US militarily for a long time yet, “whether we like it or not.” Politico just said the same about Big Tech, and energy speaks for itself.

In politics, former Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang says he’d like to join a new Musk libertarian American Party that backers claim would be supported by 80% of Americans… while slashing federal programs 80% of Americans want to retain. That’s as Trump, who said he has no desire to repair his rift with Musk, warned there would be “very serious consequences” if he sided with the Democrats – though a third party would do damage enough to Republicans itself, as one source wildly claimed Trump may even ban X for national security reasons.

California Governor Newsom floated withholding federal taxes as Trump threatened to do the same with federal funding for California; and as we heard US Treasury Secretary Bessent had attacked Elon Musk, riots started in LA with the National Guard called in despite the Governor not wanting to use them, or to direct them himself.

Meanwhile, UK “policing is broken”, says The Telegraph, as officers quit in droves, also with an op-ed that the country is “heading for oblivion.’ In the background, former Reform Party Chair Yusuf announced his return two days after quitting to lead a ‘Doge team’ inspired by Musk; and that’s as other media talk of a split in the governing Labour Party between its left and centrist wings.

In short, politics almost everywhere continues to show flux and polarization as a result of being able to propose any workable –or at least quick or painless– solutions to our multiple conflating problems. And let me underline again that tariffs aren’t either, whatever happens from here.

• In trade, the US and China are to meet in London today, but even Bloomberg says it’ll be harder to strike a deal than before;
• China fast-tracked rare earths to Europe to play it off against the US on another front after Airbus;
• The US Treasury didn’t call China a currency manipulator, but did have a warning from Switzerland and Ireland(!), and called on Japan to raise rates to boost JPY, breaking controversial new ground for policy recommendations;
• The US trade team in India is staying on, which is either a good or bad sign depending on how one looks at it;
• Mexico’s president said she would prop up her steel industry if US tariff talks fail, and that she would “mobilise” the country is the US budget bill brings in a remittance tax, which one Congressman is pushing to increase substantially; and
• A former NZ PM and business leaders called for the country not to side with the US ahead (as if it gets to set the pace of geopolitics and geoeconomics) 

In markets, Trump not only called for a 100bps Fed cut(!) at the next meeting, upping the ante there, but he said a new Fed Chair would be named soon – so do we soon get a shadow Fed Chair working alongside Powell, presumably to undermine his authority, and if so who, and will the market then listen to them?

And in energy, India is following Germany (de facto), and China, and the US (de jure) in burning more coal as its energy demand surges far beyond what renewables can provide; as Beijing reportedly worries about what’s happening in China’s over-built EV sector, as both its CPI and PPI prints both stayed negative and even export growth dipped while import growth, of course, shrank.

But apart from all that, not a lot is happening.

In overnight attacks Russia launched a record 479 drones across Ukraine, with airstrikes reported in 10 locations, damaging buildings but surprisingly there were no immediate reports of deaths or mass casualties, with one person reported injured.

Ukrainian forces subsequently claimed to have intercepted 460 of the drones and 19 of 20 missiles. Western supplied anti-air defenses are still hard and work and remain effective in Ukraine, apparently.

The mayor of Rivne called it the oblast’s largest attack on a single night since the war began. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged in a late Sunday statement that in some of those areas “the situation is very difficult.”

Air raid sirens sounded for some ten hours in Kyiv oblast, local media reports, and further issued the following details:

According to the official statement, Russia launched 499 weapons, including 479 Shahed‑type attack drones and various decoy drones, four Kh‑47M2 “Kinzhal” air-launched ballistic missiles, 10 Kh‑101 cruise missiles, three Kh‑22 cruise missiles over the Black Sea, two Kh‑31P anti‑radar missiles, and one Kh‑35 cruise missile from occupied Crimea.

Ukraine had reportedly neutralized 479 of the incoming targets, with 292 were shot down, and 187 jammed or lost via electronic warfare.

On the other side, Ukraine also mounted a large-scale drone assault, again deep inside Russian territory, which resulted in direct hits and damage.

Ukraine forces said they struck a Russian electronics factory that produces drone components, causing a temporary shutdown.

The VNIIR plant, one of the nation’s largest producers of electronic components, is situated in southern Cheboksary, about 600 km east of Moscow and 1,000 km northeast of Ukraine’s border.

“This morning, Ukrainian attempts to use drones in Chuvashia were detected,” regional head Oleg Nikolayev stated on Telegram, saying also “There were no victims from the attack” and that the situation is “entirely under control”.

In all these latest factory strike, Kiev maintains it is hitting ‘military targets’ which are linked to the Russian army…

Russia, Cheboksary, a factory that produces electronics for their army. pic.twitter.com/d9zWfewcLP

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) June 9, 2025

Yet it looks as if Ukraine struck yet another valuable target deep inside Russia, with questions remaining over the effectiveness for Russia’s anti-air defense systems, which were designed to track and intercept larger inbound projectiles such as missiles.

* * * 

Below are more developing geopolitical headlines via Newsquawk:

• Russian forces captured Zoria in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and reached the Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine, according to TASS and Interfax. However, it was later reported that Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Kovalev denied claims by the Russian Defence Ministry that its forces advanced into Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time since it launched its full-scale invasion.
• Head of the Russian delegation at talks with Ukraine in Istanbul said Russia handed over to Ukraine the first list of 640 POWs for exchange, according to TASS. Furthermore, the Russian Defence Ministry said Russia launched a large-scale humanitarian operation to repatriate more than 6,000 bodies of deceased Ukrainian military personnel and exchange prisoners of war, while Ukrainian officials rejected Russian claims that Ukraine was delaying the exchange of soldiers’ bodies.
• Ukrainian drone attack sparked a short-lived fire at the Azot chemical plant in Russia’s Tula region, although there was no threat to air quality near the plant, according to the regional governor.
• US believes Russian retaliation for Ukraine’s drone attack is not over yet and it expects a multi-pronged strike.
• Poland scrambled aircraft to ensure airspace security after Russia launches strikes on Ukraine.

Another dramatic video out of Cheboksary:

Full video, Cheboksary movement pic.twitter.com/LfHtfuwq5L

— Malinda 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇵🇱🇨🇦🇮🇹🇦🇺🇬🇧🇬🇪🇩🇪🇸🇪 (@TreasChest) June 9, 2025