The Biden administration is expected to make a major announcement on China tariffs as soon as next week that will impact semiconductors, solar power, and electric vehicles, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. While the possibility of additional tariffs has been widely known, the specific industries to be targeted have now been identified. Moreover, Beijing will likely release angry comments after Biden’s speech next week, followed by a tit-for-tat response. 

Two of the people said the decision to hit China’s “new three” green goods comes after a review of Section 301 tariffs, which were first implemented under former President Trump in 2018. The tariffs primarily target electric vehicles, batteries, and solar cells, with existing tariffs being maintained. They said the announcement is planned for Tuesday. 

The Biden administration is making a bold move against Beijing in an election year as polling data spirals lower as Bidenomics has become a complete failure. It’s not us just saying this. Billionaire investor and Duquesne Family Office Chairman & CEO Stan Druckenmiller told CNBC’s Joe Kernen earlier this week that Bidenomics is a disaster. 

Last month, the president said he would impose  25% tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. Earlier this week, the administration said it would revoke Intel and Qualcomm’s export license to supply semiconductors to Chinese firm Huawei. 

If China were to retaliate, in a tit-for-tat effort, they could hit Elon Musk’s Tesla or continue reducing US agricultural exports of corn and soybean. 

“Instead of correcting its wrong practices, the United States continued to politicize economic and trade issues,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Friday, adding, “To further increase tariffs is to add insult to injury.” 

Meanwhile, if reelected, Trump has promised to hit China with a tsunami of tariffs, vowing a 60% tax on all Chinese imports. 

US Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, warned Beijing will respond:  

“We know how China reacted when Trump put tariffs on … and they hit agriculture with it. I can’t be sure that China would hit agriculture the same as they did in the Trump ones, but they’re going to hit back.”

In markets, Chinese shares of solar firms fell on the news:

• Longi shares drop 1.8% in Shanghai, JA Solar -1.7% in Shenzhen, Xinyi Solar -3.8% in Hong Kong

The yuan weakened in both onshore and offshore markets, while CSI 300 Index fell: 

• USD/CNH gains 0.1% at 7.2270, pair on track to rise 0.5% on the week, biggest weekly advance since the week ended March 22

• USD/CNY rises 0.1% at 7.2251

• Bloomberg’s dollar spot index steady; USD/HKD is little changed at 7.8139

• CSI 300 Index, benchmark of onshore China stocks, falls as much as 0.6% before paring about half of its decline.

“It’ll definitely cause investors to pause on stocks that are potentially exposed,” said Xin-Yao Ng, director of investment at abrdn. He added, “Everyone knows it’s a risk.” 

Here’s what other Wall Street analysts are saying (list courtesy of Bloomberg):

AllianceBernstein (John Lin)

• We are not overly concerned about that because to us geopolitics is now a structural part of investing in China” 
• “Everybody understands that there will be periods where things get a little worse and there will be periods where things get a little better. And that fluctuation to us is really an opportunity to add or reduce risk but not a reason to stay away from the market overall”

ANZ Banking Group (Khoon Goh)

• News of the US imposing more tariffs against some Chinese imports has seen the yuan weaken slightly
• The threat of more tariffs have been known, but if the final outcome is for a more targeted approach, then there is unlikely to be much of a lasting effect on the yuan

Maybank (Fiona Lim)

• “You can’t say that this was not expected. Such trade-war era kind of tensions have been in the making ever since Trump spoke about imposing 60% tariff”
• People’s Bank of China is keeping the yuan in a tight grip via the fix and offshore liquidity management and that may limit bearish swings to a certain extent
• “USDCNH-USDCNY premium could widen in such an environment”

TD Securities (Alex Loo)

• It wasn’t a total surprise to us. Trade tensions would likely increase if Biden puts heavy tariffs on China’s products in the coming weeks
• We anticipate that yuan would trade on the backfoot given such unfavorable news but expect the PBoC to continue to intervene and smooth out any excessive weakness in the CNY 
• Regional currencies are more sensitive to moves in the USD path now since China has been effectively anchoring the yuan

Eastspring Investments (Ken Wong)

• This news on the proposed tariffs in particular for Chinese EVs was widely expected
• Even so, we are seeing a bit of a pullback in EVs and renewable stocks in HK/China this morning

Saxo Capital Markets (Charu Chanana)

• The tariff announcement is a reminder that geopolitics remains a key aspect in considering exposure to China market, and valuations or government support measures are not the only catalysts
• This means valuations may continue to “take the ebb and flow of geopolitics into account” and also “increased exposure to domestic-oriented sectors”

IG Markets (Hebe Chen)

• “The US’s latest tariff hike on China EV is poised to trigger unprecedented shockwaves through the industry” 
•  This move not only deals a crippling blow to China’s new strategic ambitions, but it also marks a potential tipping point, broadening the trade war between Washington and Beijing to a new level 
• For Chinese stocks, particularly EV companies, the new tariff decision is akin to a looming tsunami. Investors are bracing for a significant upend as the full impact of the new tariffs unfolds

Shanghai Jade Stone Investment Management (Chen Shi)

• We’ve long been expecting more anti-China rhetoric and policies to be amplified closer to the election, and though this is surely a piece of negative news, to us, and to investors in general, the marginal effect is diminishing 
• “China has proven through the years that its core edge lies in a strong and comprehensive industrial structure, and that cannot be challenged with tariffs” 
• There are plenty of ways for companies to work around this

Deepening a trade war with China comes as Biden’s polling data is absolutely awful. 

This shows Biden’s polling data versus headlines in corporate media featuring trade war-related news.  

A tough-on-China stance could be a new strategy the administration attempts to win back voters.

… it won’t work. 

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Iconic boxing promoter Don King has endorsed former President Donald Trump for president in the 2024 election.

The 92-year-old made the remarks on May 8 on the sidelines of an event after being asked if he has a message for President Trump, who’s facing a bevy of court cases that threaten to derail his presidential campaign.

“Get reelected,” Mr. King said. “And we must reelect him to save ourselves. You know, a vote for Trump is a vote for yourself. Because we’ve got to fight the system of lies and the creation of wrong being right and right being wrong. That’s got to be eliminated.”

He called President Trump “the only man who’s got the intestinal fortitude to be able to stand up and fight the system like it should be fought,”

Mr. King said the former president “underestimated the power of this strong system of corruption and hypocrisy.”

While Mr. King didn’t elaborate on the “system of corruption and hypocrisy” that he had in mind, it could be a reference to the numerous legal battles that the former president is fighting that he and his supporters argue are thinly veiled attempts to use lawfare to derail his comeback bid.

“I want to say to him, let’s [save] America, let’s save ourselves, and then we can help others to be safe,” Mr. King added.

President Trump shared the video on his social media platform, Truth Social, thanking Mr. King for his endorsement and message of encouragement.

‘He’d Be Muhammad Ali’

Mr. King’s sympathies for the former president are well-established, with the boxing promoter being one of few celebrities who endorsed then-candidate Trump in the 2016 election.

Introducing then-candidate Trump at a church event in Ohio in 2016, Mr. King called him “courageous and brave” and said he believed the future president would fix the “corrupt” and “rigged” system and bring the country “back to inclusiveness.”

In mid-2017, after President Trump had spent several months in office, Mr. King told Politico Magazine in an exclusive interview that he believed he was doing an “excellent job” while lamenting the fact that his presidency was being overshadowed by the so-called “Russian collusion” scandal, which later turned out to be a hoax.

At the time, Mr. King told Politico that he believed President Trump was constantly in the crosshairs of the Washington establishment, saying that they would try to “keep him down” at almost any cost—even saying that he warned the president to be on guard for assassination attempts.

“If Trump were a boxer, who would he be?” the interviewer asked the legendary boxing promoter.

“He’d be Muhammad Ali…because he’s going to win,” Mr. King replied. “He’s going to run his mouth, he’s going to talk a lot and he’s going to win.”

The former president has won the support of a number of prominent figures in the fight world, including Mr. King’s best-known protege, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, and Dana White, CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Mr. Tyson endorsed then-candidate Trump for the 2016 election, while Mr. White said recently he supports his 2024 comeback bid.

“He should be president of the United States,” Mr. Tyson told HuffPost in an exclusive interview in 2015. The former champion said he thought a business-minded leader like Trump was exactly what the country needed.

“Let’s try something new. Let’s run America like a business, where no colors matter. Whoever can do the job, gets the job,” Mr. Tyson said.

‘Unfazed’

Mr. White gave his endorsement in an appearance on the Lex Fridman podcast in April, calling President Trump “the most resilient human being I’ve ever met.”

“They’re trying to attack him. They’re trying to ruin him—unfazed,” the UFC president said. “He will walk through fire.”

Asked if he thinks President Trump will win reelection, Mr. White said he’s unsure given the “dirty” and “ugly” nature of politics.

“Obviously, I’m rooting for him and I’m behind him and I hope he does.”

It comes as the former president has complained about being stuck in a New York courtroom for his so-called “hush money” trial while he could be out campaigning for reelection.

In a case officially known as The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, the former president is accused of hiding so-called hush money payments to an adult performer by falsifying business records. If found guilty, he could face a prison sentence.

President Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and before he entered the courtroom on April 15, the first day of the trial, he reiterated his position that the case is politically motivated.

“This is really an attack on a political opponent. That’s all it is,” he told reporters outside the courtroom before going inside.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Thursday as part of a probe into whether the Biden DOJ coordinated with Trump prosecutors.

“The investigations and subsequent prosecutions of former President Donald J. Trump appear to have been conducted in coordination with the United States Department of Justice,” Baily posted in a lengthy thread on X.

“This is demonstrated by the move of the third-highest ranking member of the Department of Justice, Matthew Colangelo, to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in order to prosecute President Trump in December 2022,” Baily continues.

What’s more, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg worked hand-in-hand with NY Attorney General Letitia James in pursuing civil litigation against Trump, which he used to campaign on.

Given the timing (Bragg charged Trump only after he declared his candidacy for President), the weakness of the charges, and the charges keeping Trump off the campaign trail, there is substantial reason to suspect @POTUS has coordinated with Bragg and others to prosecute Trump.

— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) May 10, 2024

As Fox News reports further;

Bailey argues that Bragg’s decision to bring the prosecution “despite its transparent weakness has nonetheless had the effect of keeping former President Trump off the campaign trail, which President Biden has bragged about.” 

He cites a post on X from the official Biden-Harris campaign on April 24, which says, “While Trump is stuck in court, President Biden is keeping a very robust schedule of campaign events. He’s been to Pennsylvania to talk about the economy, Virginia to talk about clean energy, and Florida to talk about abortion.” 

Baily is seeking all communications, including documents, calendar appointments, meeting minutes and agendas related to Colangelo’s move to work in Bragg’s office – as well as similar communications between Bragg and NY AG Leticia James and Fulton County DA Fani Willis. 

Via BitcoinMagazine.com,

For newcomers, especially those in and around retirement age, the idea of investing in or owning bitcoin can evoke reactions from skepticism to disbelief. If you look beyond the popular narratives, however, you might find there is more to the story than first impressions suggest.

Here are six reasons to consider owning at least some bitcoin during retirement.

1. BITCOIN HELPS BROADEN YOUR ASSET ALLOCATION BASE

Traditionally, investors use a strategy called asset allocation to distribute and shield funds from investment risk over time. A sound asset allocation strategy is the antidote to putting all of your eggs in one basket. There are several types of asset “classes” or categories over which to distribute risk. Customarily, advisors seek to establish a dynamic mix between debt instruments (i.e., bonds), equities (i.e., stocks), real estate, cash, and commodities.

The more categories you employ to distribute your assets and the less correlated those categories are, the better your chances of balancing your risk, at least theoretically. Recently, due to unintended consequences caused by the aggressive expansion of societal debt and the money supply, assets that were previously less correlated now tend to behave more in kind with one another. When one sector gets hammered today, several sectors often suffer together.

Regardless of these present-day conditions, asset allocation remains a well-conceived strategy for moderating risk. While still in its relative infancy, bitcoin represents an entirely new asset class. Because of this, owning at least some bitcoin, especially due to its distinct properties when compared to other “cryptocurrencies,” provides an opportunity to broaden your asset base and more effectively distribute your overall risk.

2. BITCOIN OFFERS A HEDGE AGAINST INFLATION AND CURRENCY DEBASEMENT

As a retiree, protecting yourself from inflation is crucial to preserving your long-term purchasing power. In the asset allocation discussion above, we referenced the recent and aggressive money supply expansion. Everyone who has lived long enough to approach retirement age knows that a dollar no longer buys what it used to. When the government issues large amounts of new money, it debases the value of the dollars already in circulation. This generally pushes prices higher as newly created dollars begin to chase the existing limited supply of goods and services.

Our own Parker Lewis touched on this extensively in his Gradually, Then Suddenly series:

In summary, when trying to understand bitcoin as money, start with gold, the dollar, the Fed, quantitative easing and why bitcoin’s supply is fixed. Money is not simply a collective hallucination or a belief system; there is rhyme and reason. Bitcoin exists as a solution to the money problem that is global QE and if you believe the deterioration of local currencies in Turkey, Argentina or Venezuela could never happen to the U.S. dollar or to a developed economy, we are merely at a different point on the same curve.

In contrast to fiat currencies, no one can increase the supply and arbitrarily reduce bitcoin’s value. There are no centralized authorities that govern its monetary policy. Despite arguments to the contrary, bitcoin is similar to gold—but not exactly, because gold miners continue to inflate the supply of gold each year at a rate of 1-2%.

As bitcoin is slowly introduced to the circulating supply (i.e., mined), its inflation rate decreases and will eventually cease. This fact makes bitcoin uniquely scarce among global monetary assets. Ultimately, this scarcity, along with bitcoin’s other monetary properties, should safeguard its purchasing power. As such, owning bitcoin during retirement offers you a hedge against inflation.

3. BITCOIN OFFERS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ASYMMETRIC RETURNS

Bitcoin’s capacity to mitigate many of the challenges we discuss here rests on its ability to achieve asymmetric returns. Its supply is fixed (there will only ever be 21,000,000 bitcoin), and demand for the asset is growing steadily. As this limited supply collides with increased store-of-value adoption from individuals, institutions, and governments, bitcoin has the potential to dwarf the returns of nearly every competing asset class.

It’s worth noting that people generally improve their returns with bitcoin when they hold it for the long term. In the modern era, retirements lasting decades or more are increasingly common. Over such time periods, even a limited allocation to bitcoin offers ample opportunity to benefit from its upside potential. You just need time to hold through the short-term volatility, which contrary to popular belief, is not evidence of it being a poor store of value.

Sequestering a portion of funds solely for appreciation during retirement runs somewhat counter to conventional wisdom. Modern retirement planning generally optimizes for the liquidation of portfolio funds to provide income. However, setting aside a small amount of bitcoin—kept steadfastly gated from funds earmarked for income—opens the door to benefit from the monetization of bitcoin’s limited supply.

4. BITCOIN OFFERS PROTECTION FROM THE RISK OF LONG-TERM BONDS

Conventionally, high-grade bonds—held directly or as fund shares—make up a significant part of most retirement portfolios due to their low risk levels and tendency toward capital preservation. However, things have changed.

Monetary expansion and increases in societal debt have forced bond yields—or the amount of interest paid (i.e., coupon)—to historically low levels. The yields on most bonds today fall well below the rate of inflation. This “negative real yield” means that owning a bond can cost you money. But the difficulty doesn’t end there.

Because retirees need funds from their portfolios to pay bills, they generally must sell assets at current market rates to derive income throughout retirement. In the case of bonds, at present, this can be very problematic. Consider the following equations.

• How much money does it take for a bond paying a 2% rate to yield $20? Answer: $1,000. ($1,000 x 2% = $20)

• How much money does it take for a bond paying a 4% rate to yield $20? Answer: $500. ($500 x 4% = $20)

These two equations reveal that to yield the same $20 return, the market value of the underlying bond changes based on the interest rate promised.

• When interest rates go up, the market value of bonds goes down.

• When interest rates go down, the market value of bonds goes up.

The market value of bonds has an inverse relationship to interest rates. Consider that interest rates today hover near historic lows. Over the next twenty to thirty years, what will happen to the market value of bonds held by retirees if interest rates increase substantially? The answer: the market value of their bonds will collapse.

This changes the entire risk paradigm for bonds in retirement portfolios and potentially makes them far less safe than typically imagined. Bitcoin exists in a separate asset class from bonds; it is a bearer instrument that is not exposed to the same money market risks. As such, owning bitcoin may help you offset at least some of the potential risk incurred from owning bonds in retirement.

5. BITCOIN OFFERS A POTENTIAL SOLUTION FOR LONG-TERM HEALTHCARE RISK

Another area of concern for retirees is the cost of healthcare. Here, I am not referring so much to ordinary medical bills but rather to the potential to incur long-term care expenses in later age. Insurance is available for long-term care, but it has some unique and increasingly difficult challenges to overcome.

Healthcare, in general, takes a double-hit when it comes to price inflation. Not only do healthcare costs rise due to monetary debasement, but healthcare faces additional headwinds from demand spurred by growth in the aging population.

Source: Administration for Community Living – 2020 Profile of Older Americans

States regulate insurance for long-term care. To keep policyowners safe, insurers face scrutiny over where and how they invest policy premiums. To preserve capital required for future claims, insurers generally rely on low-risk, intermediate and long-term bonds. However, as our discussion above on bonds reveals, low yields and the potential for rising rates complicate this practice. One immediate fallout is that premiums for long-term care insurance policies have risen substantially.

We noted earlier bitcoin’s usefulness as an inflation hedge and its potential for long-term price appreciation. As it relates to long-term healthcare, it may make sense to set aside some bitcoin explicitly dedicated as a hedge for this rapidly increasing expense.

6. BITCOIN OFFERS YOU INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY

The final reason we’ll consider for owning bitcoin in retirement is that it offers you increased individual sovereignty. Bitcoin provides you a level of ownership that is not achievable with other assets. It can easily be carried across borders with a hardware wallet or seed phrase, for example, or transferred peer-to-peer anywhere in the world at low cost.

If you hold bitcoin securely in a wallet you control, no central bank can steal the value of your bitcoin by printing it into oblivion. No CEO can dilute its value by issuing more of its “shares.” Nor can a bank arbitrarily block access to or confiscate your funds. Unlike centralized financial custodians, which can be ordered to freeze or withhold funds on the whims of government or other third-party authorities, bitcoin with keys properly held is resistant to these kinds of overreach.

Specifically for retirement purposes, you can also hold your own keys for bitcoin in an IRA. Products like the Unchained IRA are a robust tool for building and saving your wealth on a tax-advantaged basis. And holding your bitcoin keys in the form of a multisig collaborative custody vault allows you to eliminate all single points of failure while you do so.

SOUND FINANCIAL PRINCIPLES AND OWNING BITCOIN

Benefitting from bitcoin does not require committing to wild speculation or thoughtless abandonment of sound financial principles. In contrast, the more you look at bitcoin through sound financial principles and apply them to your thinking, the greater the opportunities it provides. One steadfast financial principle that coincides with bitcoin ownership is prudence.

Macro-economic investment strategist Lyn Alden often speaks of establishing a “non-zero position” in bitcoin (i.e., owning at least some). The risk of losing a few portfolio percentage points in a worst-case scenario is, in my estimation, worth the potential upside. But to be clear, each person’s situation is unique. You must do your own research and make the best decisions you can about what works in your particular scenario.

*  *  *

Visit Unchained.com for $100 off any Unchained financial services product with code “BTCMAG100”

Four flight attendants from the New York City area have been accused of participating in a multimillion-dollar drug money smuggling operation which saw $8 million make its way to the Dominican Republic, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

The accused, identified as Jarol Fabio, 35, of New York City; Charlie Hernandez, 42, of West New York, New Jersey; Sarah Valerio Pujols, 42, of the Bronx; and Emmanuel Torres, 34, of Brooklyn, allegedly transported the funds over a span of several years, exploiting their positions as flight attendants to bypass the stringent security measures in place at JFK International Airport.

“These flight attendants smuggled millions of dollars of drug money and law enforcement funds that they thought was drug money from the United States to the Dominican Republic over many years by abusing their privileges as airline employee[s],” stated U.S. Attorney Damien Williams. “Today’s charges should serve as a reminder to those who break the law by helping drug traffickers move their money that crime doesn’t pay.”

According to prosecutors, the scheme involved using their status as “Known Crewmembers”—a designation that allows flight crew members to undergo less rigorous security screenings—to smuggle large sums of cash without detection. This privilege, intended to streamline operations for crew members, became their tool for illegal activities.

Delta Airlines, where two of the defendants were employed, has been cooperative with the authorities following the revelation that security protocols meant to protect the passengers were systematically abused.

According to court documents, the detailed operation was exposed with the help of two cooperating witnesses, themselves previously arrested on money laundering charges. These witnesses played a pivotal role in unveiling the transactions that tied some of the smuggled funds to fentanyl sales, adding a dire public health dimension to the criminal activities.

In one incident, prosecutors detailed how Hernandez and Pujols divided over $120,000 in drug money in December 2019, with each taking their share on subsequent trips to the Dominican Republic. Such episodes illustrate the methodical approach taken to avoid detection while exploiting their roles within the airline industry.

If convicted, the penalties are severe. Torres and Fabio face up to 15 years in prison, Hernandez could see 20 years, and Pujols, facing an additional smuggling charge, could be sentenced to up to 25 years. These stiff potential sentences reflect the serious nature of their alleged crimes, which compromised airport security systems and endangered public trust in the safety of air travel.

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

Foreign migrant suspects are responsible for nearly 6 in 10 violent crimes in Germany according to new figures released by the federal government.

Despite comprising roughly 14.6 per cent of the population, foreign migrants were responsible for 58.5 per cent of all violent crimes.

Foreigners without a German passport make up 111,517 suspects alleged of violent crimes out of the total 190,605 suspects for the country as a whole.

The statistics were released by the Federal Criminal Police Office and reported by broadcaster NTV.

The number of non-Germans suspected of violent crimes rose by 14.5 per cent over the previous year, while foreign migrants also account for 187,000 out of the total 424,000 suspected thieves.

“Excluding immigration crimes, the number of non-Germans suspected of any crime rose by 17.8 per cent in 2023 to 923,269 suspects, representing nearly half of the 2.25 million total suspected criminals last year,” reports Breitbart.

NTV tried to justify the criminality of foreign migrants by asserting that they have experienced violence in their homes countries, which “lower(s) the threshold for using violence.”

Notably, the figures don’t include foreign migrants who later obtained German citizenship or those with a foreign migration background via one of their parents.

Andrea Lindholz, a member of the Bundestag parliament for the centre-right Christian Social Union (CSU) party, said Germany is reaching its “limit” in its “ability to integrate” migrants, adding that integration comes with a high cost.

As we highlight in the video above, there is now majority opposition to mass migration amongst Germans, despite the establishment demonizing those who hold such views as right-wing extremists.

The German government previously vowed to increase deportations of foreign criminals after a huge increase in migrant crime.

The anti-mass migration AfD is the second biggest party in Germany and the most popular amongst young people, but the federal government is trying to ban it in the name of ‘preserving democracy’.

*  *  *

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

They say central bankers can always print money out thin air: in this one case, however, the head of Malta’s central bank could desperately do with a bigger money printer, or at least a much better attorney.

Malta’s attorney general filed charges of fraud and misappropriation of funds against Central Bank of Malta Governor Edward Scicluna as well sa the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, Reuters reports citing court documents. At the same time, in what appears to be a sweeping crackdown on regime corruption, more serious corruption charges have also been leveled against former prime minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff and a former health minister – all in connection with a hospital privatization scandal dating back to 2015.

The charges follow a four-year inquiry instigated by the opposition Nationalist Party over a deal which handed management of three state hospitals to a previously unknown group, which had no experience in the medical sector.

The 30-year deal, which was conservatively valued at 4 billion euros ($4.23 billion), was annulled by Malta’s highest court in February after it found fraud.

Scicluna was finance minister and Fearne was a junior health minister at the time of the deal. Scicluna, who is a member of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, has not commented on the accusations, but has previously denied any wrongdoing. Fearne has rejected the charges.

“I have absolutely no doubt that the court will find nothing other than my complete innocence,” he said in a statement.

Muscat, chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi face charges of money laundering, corruption, bribery, trading in influence and setting up a criminal association. All three men have denied the accusations.

Muscat resigned in January 2020 after media revealed that he and Schembri had a close friendship with businessman Yorgen Fenech, who is awaiting trial for complicity in the 2017 car bomb murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Muscat has not been linked to the murder investigation, at least not yet.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has criticised the way the inquiry was conducted and has defended Fearne, saying he would remain in office and had no doubt about his integrity.

However, he has not confirmed whether he will press ahead with previously announced plans to nominate him next month as Malta’s next European Commissioner.

No date had been announced for the formal court arraignments when the accused will be asked to file a plea.

Via Middle East Eye

The Eurovision Song Contest was mired in further controversy on Wednesday when the Israeli contestant’s dress rehearsal performance was met with boos and shouts of “Free Palestine” from the audience.

Eden Golan’s performance of “Hurricane” ahead of the second Eurovision semi-final on Thursday took place as Israel plans its incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah where almost 1.5m displaced Palestinians have fled to.

Israel also faces accusations of war crimes and genocide for its ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, which has left a reported more than 34,900 Palestinians dead, the vast majority civilians.

“Easily the most booing I’ve ever heard at #Eurovision but no major disruptions of Israel at the first show with a crowd,” journalist Ben Rothenberg posted on X, formerly Twitter.

One person who said they attended the show said several members of the audience left during Eden Golan’s performance, and returned for the following contestant.

“Eurovision ignored public backlash and outrage from other musicians over Israel being allowed to perform at Eurovision while it continues its genocidal slaughter in Gaza,” posted another user alongside a clip from the show.

In response, Israel’s national broadcaster Kan, which is responsible for choosing the country’s submission for the competition, said in a statement: “Eden stood on the stage during the dress rehearsal with pride and gave an incredible performance. They did not silence her and they will not silence us.”

Golan also added in a statement to Israeli media that she was receiving love and support. “I am proud to represent my country, particularly this year,” she said after the incident.

Watch: heckling and booing intensifies for Israeli singer…

oh the booing was beautiful pic.twitter.com/uEZnIWcZZm

— Nozzy 🇮🇪🇭🇷🇪🇪 (@noztheboss) May 8, 2024

While some users argued that singers are not responsible for the actions of their government and that art should not be mixed with politics, others countered that her song submissions and decision to represent Israel during the war are political acts.

“When an artist like her actively chooses to represent her country, and actually records two previous songs that are deemed too political by the EBU [European Broadcasting Union], she is far from being an innocent or detached being from the current political situation,” wrote one user on a Reddit discussion board.

Golan’s initial song, October Rain, had been rejected by Eurovision organizers who took issue with the apparent reference to the 7 October attacks. After a request by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Kan agreed to change the lyrics despite initially refusing.

“Her choosing to represent Israel with that song is per se a political act,” the Reddit user continued, and added that booing was a relatively calm form of protest. “It’s not harassing her outside the event of representing the country and is not putting her in any material harm. It is just a natural form of protest given the situation,” they added.

Eric Saade full performance at eurovision that they removed from all social media because he is a Palestinian wearing a keffiyeh. pic.twitter.com/Tx6YiqymtU

— Sitoz⭐️ (@sitoz_) May 7, 2024

Another user commented that the disapproving shouts and boos were a way to “send a message” to the EBU, which organizes the competition. “They can censor and silence people all they want but people who love this contest are being fucked over and they need to see how pissed many of us are.”

The discussion comes just after the EBU rebuked Swedish-Palestinian pop singer Eric Saade for compromising “the non-political nature of the event” by wearing a Palestinian scarf, the keffiyeh, wrapped around his wrist in his opening performance at the first semi-final late on Tuesday.

Love love love
Boos and shouts of Free Palestine 🇵🇸 could be heard during #Israel‘s song at rehearsals for the semi-final of the #Eurovision song contest in #Sweden 🇸🇪 #FreePalestine and #PermanentCeaseFire#InvokeArticle6Genocideconvention #EndTheGenocide #EndtheOccupation pic.twitter.com/qJ5FhYWamj

— Dyor (@Powerfulmindx) May 9, 2024

Ireland’s act, Bambie Thug, similarly said they were forced to remove pro-Palestine symbols from their performance. The artist had “Ceasefire” and “Freedom for Palestine” written in ancient Celtic script as part of the costume, but was ordered to change it by the EBU.

Protests are expected on Thursday in Sweden ahead of Golan’s performance in the second semi-finals as part of continued demonstrations against Israel’s participation in the competition.

According to various reports, the city of Malmo has majorly beefed up its police presence, brought in reinforcements from neighboring countries, and has even cleared out local jail cells in case of mass arrests.

Europe is home to some of the largest and most sophisticated economies in the world. But how do countries in the region compare with each other on a per capita productivity basis?

In this map, Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao shows Europe’s GDP per capita levels across 44 nations in current U.S. dollars.

Data for this visualization and article is sourced from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) via their DataMapper tool, updated April 2024.

Europe’s Richest and Poorest Nations, By GDP Per Capita

Luxembourg, Ireland, and Switzerland, lead the list of Europe’s richest nations by GDP per capita, all above $100,000.

Note: Figures are rounded.

Three Nordic countries (Norway, Iceland, Denmark) also place highly, between $70,000-90,000. Other Nordic peers, Sweden and Finland rank just outside the top 10, between $55,000-60,000.

Meanwhile, Europe’s biggest economies in absolute terms, Germany, UK, and France, rank closer to the middle of the top 20, with GDP per capitas around $50,000.

Finally, at the end of the scale, Eastern Europe as a whole tends to have much lower per capita GDPs. In that group, Ukraine ranks last, at $5,660.

A Closer Look at Ukraine

For a broader comparison, Ukraine’s per capita GDP is similar to Iran ($5,310), El Salvador ($5,540), and Guatemala ($5,680).

According to experts, Ukraine’s economy has historically underperformed to expectations. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the economy contracted for five straight years. Its transition to a Western, liberalized economic structure was overshadowed by widespread corruption, a limited taxpool, and few revenue sources.

Politically, its transformation from authoritarian regime to civil democracy has proved difficult, especially when it comes to institution building.

Finally, after the 2022 invasion of the country, Ukraine’s GDP contracted by 30% in a single year—the largest loss since independence. Large scale emigration—to the tune of six million refugees—is also playing a role.

Despite these challenges, the country’s economic growth has somewhat stabilized while fighting continues.

Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

The British government has issued a new guidebook to all sitting MPs to help them spot “conspiracy theories”.

Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt  MP, who commissioned the guide, has warned that:

The proliferation of conspiracy theories across the UK is deeply disturbing. They are deliberate campaigns to spread disinformation and fear

[…]

If they go unchallenged we risk the public being conned and their wellbeing potentially damaged. These campaigns are also a threat to the health of our democracy.

It is essential that we give the public and their representatives the tools they need to combat this phenomenon.”

And claimed the aim of the new guide was to:

protect the public from the damaging effects of misinformation and safeguard the integrity of our democratic process,”

Which sounds just lovely, doesn’t it?

Oh, and just in case any of you are still caught up in the party politics illusion, the guide has full cross-party support, the Shadow Leader of the House called it “a must-read”.

The report was co-written by “experts” representing several non-governmental organisations, and fact-checkers including:

• FullFact – funded by (among others) Google, Facebook and the Open Society Foundation.

• The Institute for Strategic Dialogue  – funded by (among others) the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Facebook, over a dozen national governments and the UN.

• Global Network on Extremism and Technology  – The academic research arm of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, a thinktank “designed to prevent terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms”…and which is funded by (among others) Facebook, Amazon, Youtube and Microsoft.

In short, it’s all a rather incestuous funding pool of the same handful of tech giants and billionaires paying “experts” to tell them what they want to hear.

But we probably shouldn’t judge until we’ve read the “guide” itself, which is tricky because it doesn’t seem to be publicly available (seriously I looked everywhere, if you’re aware of a copy online post it in the comments and we’ll add it the link here).

Fortunately, our old friends at the Guardian have given us a little taste, here’s three things they’re warning about.

The Great Reset, which the Graun describes as…

…a vague set of proposals from the World Economic Forum to encourage governments to move to adopt more equitable policies, the concept has been hijacked by conspiracy theorists claiming it is a bid by a small group to exert control.

…which is wonderful, because it’s essentially admitting it’s true and then pretending it’s not.

The Great Reset is, indeed, a WEF initiative. It was launched in June 2020 with the backing of world leaders and captains of industry, it aims to totally and completely rebuild the way our society works, including how we travel, what we eat and where we live.

You can read about it in Klaus Schwab’s own words here, or see their handy diagram:

How is that NOT “exerting control”?

How does one go about transforming the farming, travel, taxation and employment policies of every nation on Earth without “exerting control”?

Eating Insects is another “conspiracy theory”, apparently.

With the Guardian warning that:

 [conspiracy theories] have included claims – fuelled by attempts to reduce meat consumption – that the WEF wants to make people eat insects.

The only problem being that the WEF really does want people to eat insects:

Like, a lot:

You know what? The Guardian wants people to eat insects too. So does the BBC. And Time. The list is endless.

This is – to use an overused word – gaslighting of the highest degree.

They are at once saying “hey, we all need to eat insects to save the world”, and then claiming anyone who repeats it back at them is a conspiracy theorist.

To encompass how mad this is you have to picture it being done on an interpersonal level.

Imagine a double-glazing salesman comes to your door, wearing a double-glazing company logo and holding a double-glazing sales catalogue and says “I think you should buy some double-glazing”.

To which you reply, “No thanks I don’t need any double glazing.”

At this point the man screams “Double glazing? Who said anything about double glazing!? You lunatic!” storms off down the path, gets in his double-glazing van and drives away.

It’s just that insane.

Climate Lockdowns are the third “conspiracy theory” the Guardian warns us about, claiming:

The ISD identified “climate lockdown” as the catchphrase for the conspiracy that the climate crisis will be used as a pretext for depriving citizens of liberty.

But climate lockdowns are not a conspiracy theory either, they were first posited in a report in October 2020 published by Project Syndicate and the World Council for Sustainable Development. The proposed lockdown included banning private vehicles, the consumption of red meat and “extreme energy-saving measures”.

Since then we have been inundated with peer-review studies, claiming lockdown is good for the environment.

The Guardian itself headlined, in March 2021:

Global lockdown every two years needed to meet Paris CO2 goals – study

It was such an unpopular story that they sneakily changed the headline.

It’s fairly clear that “climate lockdowns” are far from a conspiracy theory, that they were planned and then abandoned (or delayed) due to public anger at the first lockdown.

*  *  *

So, it looks like at least three of these “conspiracy theories” MPs are being “warned against” are actually…true. At least partially.

Oh well.

Still, it’s reassuring to know that unnamed experts from billionaire-funded NGOs are writing “guides” teaching our elected officials about the dangers of wrongthink.

What a great way to “safeguard the integrity of our democratic process”.