🇪🇨❌🇻🇪🇻🇪 — President of Ecuador’s National Electoral Council (CNE) responds to Nicolás Maduro:

“If he says there was fraud, it means we’re doing things right in Ecuador. What would be truly concerning is if he congratulated us.”

🇺🇸🔒❗️ — Dan Caldwell, top advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, escorted out of the Pentagon after being identified in leaks probe

🇺🇸🤝🇸🇦☢️ — 📰 Reuters | Saudi Arabia, US on 'pathway' to civil nuclear agreement, US Energy Secretary says | April 13, 2025:

"RIYADH, April 13 (Reuters) - The United States and Saudi Arabia will sign a preliminary agreement to cooperate over the kingdom's ambitions to develop a civil nuclear industry, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday.

Wright, who had met with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman earlier on Sunday, said Riyadh and Washington were on a "a pathway" to reaching an agreement to work together to develop a Saudi civil nuclear programme.

Wright, on his first visit to the kingdom as secretary as part of tour of energy-producing Gulf states, said further details over a memorandum detailing the energy cooperation between Riyadh and Washington would come later this year."

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🇺🇸❗️🇨🇳🚲🧪🧲📺 — 📰 ZeroHedge | The US Relies Heavily On Rare Earth Imports From China | April 15, 2025:

"As part of the retaliation against Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, China has imposed new export controls on seven additional rare earth elements, temporarily suspending any exports of the valuable minerals.

The newly affected elements, namely samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, are critical components of a wide range of products, ranging from electric cars and semiconductors to military equipment such as missiles and drones.

While the new rules stop short of a full export ban, the affected metals will require a special export license going forward – granting Chinese authorities an extra layer of control over who is granted export rights.

Once the system is implemented, certain companies, for example U.S. defense contractors, could be banned from importing the crucial supplies, which are very hard to substitute or source elsewhere.

As Statista's Felix Richter shows in the chart below, the U.S. is heavily reliant on rare earth imports from China, which accounted for 70 percent of U.S. rare earth imports between 2020 and 2023, with Malaysia, Japan and Estonia the other three main suppliers of the United States."

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🇨🇳💱😎 — 📰 ZeroHedge | China Limits Stocks Sales To Maintain Impression Of Stability, As Bessent Hints At Boosting Treasury Buybacks If Fed Does Nothing | April 14, 2025:

"Last week we explained how the escalating trade war between the US and China has gradually transformed into a theatrical war of who has the upper hand on any given day. And since it takes a long time for trade obstructions to hit the underlying economy, investors are keenly eyeing the stock, and especially FX, markets for early indications of who has the upper hand.

Only there has been one notable difference: while US stocks have tumbled (and rightfully so, as Trump institutes shock treatment to ween the US out of its debt-funded reserve currency addiction) and the US dollar in freefall, Chinese stocks have been surprisingly resilient, with local stocks barely dipping and the yuan reversing its losses which pushed it to a record low only to rebound sharply higher.

There is just one problem: like everything else out of China, it's market reaction has also been 100% fake."

#Geoeconomics #WWT

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JUST IN:
🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦-Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that Ukraine is prepared to purchase 10 Patriot air defense systems from the United States in a deal valued at $15 billion.

🇷🇺🇮🇩 Russia looks to base strategic assets in Indonesia

Reports are now surfacing that Russia has requested basing for long-range strategic bombers in Indonesia

The Russian request for such a deal, which Australian officials say has yet to be decided on, would put Russian strike assets, and presumably Chinese as well, within range of key U.S. and partner nation installations.

While the move is alarming to both U.S. and regional decision-makers, it could be said that it isn’t an unexpected development. Indonesia is abreast of a key maritime choke point and is in close proximity to Australia, who has deepened military-to-military cooperation with the U.S., drawing protests from both China and Russia.

Sino-Russian military-to-military cooperation has increased exponentially since the start of the war in Ukraine. Nowhere has this been more clear than in the Western Pacific, where Russia has made notable strides toward not only enlarging but also modernizing its long-neglected Pacific Fleet.

🔗 OSINTdefender

📉🇺🇸🇪🇺 The S&P 500 turns negative as the EU says tariffs will remain with little progress made in tariff talks.

🔗 The Kobeissi Letter

📈 Gold fund net inflows have hit a record $80 BILLION year-to-date.

This is 2 TIMES more than the previous high set in the full year 2020.

Investors are pouring money into gold at a record pace as the market uncertainty has skyrocketed.

As a result, gold prices have rallied 22% year-to-date and have outperformed every other major asset class.

Gold prices have also hit 52 all-time highs over the last year, posting the best streak in 12 years.

Gold is the global safe haven.

🔗 The Kobeissi Letter

🇷🇺🇮🇩 Russia Eyes Papua Airbase Near Australia

Russia plans to establish its first airbase in the Pacific Ocean and wants to place its military aircraft near key U.S. and Australian facilities

The airbase will be located in the province of Papua, Indonesia.

🇦🇺 Australia sounds the alarm: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that Canberra is awaiting clarification from Indonesia.

🔗 NEXTA

🇨🇳📞🇧🇳 — Communist China Supreme Leader Xi Jinping calls for early signing of upgrade protocol of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area: PRC State media Xinhua says

🇺🇸❌🇨🇳❗️ — The White House announces that China is now facing up to 245% tariff as a result of its retaliatory actions against the U.S.

The 245% is specifically targeting medical syringes and electrical cars

🇵🇷⚡️📉 — Puerto Rico, a US overseas territory in Caribbean sea, hit by island-wide power outage