🇪🇺🏦💰EU Banking Watchdog Extends Anti-Money Laundering Measures to Cover Crypto Firms.

The European Banking Authority's new guidance for crypto firms will take effect on Dec. 30.

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/01/16/eu-banking-watchdog-extends-anti-money-laundering-measures-to-cover-crypto-firms/

📖 🇰🇵 🇰🇵 Is Kim Jong Un Preparing for War?

🔶️ The situation on the Korean Peninsula is more dangerous than it has been at any time since early June 1950. That may sound overly dramatic, but we believe that, like his grandfather in 1950, Kim Jong Un has made a strategic decision to go to war. We do not know when or how Kim plans to pull the trigger, but the danger is already far beyond the routine warnings in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo about Pyongyang’s “provocations.” In other words, we do not see the war preparation themes in North Korean media appearing since the beginning of last year as typical bluster from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea).

🔶️ The first obvious signs that a decision had been made and a decisive break with the past was underway came in the summer and autumn of 2021, apparently the result of a reevaluation in Pyongyang of shifts in the international landscape and signs—at least to the North Koreans—that the United States was in global retreat. This shift in perspective provided the foundation for a grand realignment in the North’s approach, a strategic reorientation toward China and Russia that was already well underway by the time of the Putin–Xi summit of February 2022 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There are few signs that relations with China have moved very far, and, in fact, signs of real cooling in China-DPRK relations. However, ties with Russia developed steadily, especially in the military area, as underscored by the visit of the Russian Defense Minister in July and the Putin–Kim summit in the Russian Far East last September.

🔶️ The North’s view that the global tides were running in its favor probably fed into decisions in Pyongyang about both the need and opportunity—and perhaps the timing—toward a military solution to the Korean question. At the start of 2023, the war preparations theme started appearing regularly in high-level North Korean pronouncements for domestic consumption. At one point, Kim Jong Un even resurrected language calling for “preparations for a revolutionary war for accomplishing…reunification.” Along with that, in March, authoritative articles in the party daily signaled a fundamentally and dangerously new approach to the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea), introducing formulations putting South Korea beyond the pale, outside what could be considered the true Korea, and thus, as a legitimate target for the North’s military might. At the plenum last month, Kim made that shift crystal clear, declaring that “north-south relations have been completely fixed into the relations between two states hostile to each other and the relations between two belligerent states, not the consanguineous or homogenous ones any more.”

https://www.38north.org/2024/01/is-kim-jong-un-preparing-for-war/

🇪🇺👮‍♀️🐙👮❌🇺🇦Cryptojacker arrested in Ukraine over EUR 1.8 million mining scheme.

The National Police of Ukraine (Національна поліція України), with the support of Europol, has arrested an individual believed to be the mastermind behind a sophisticated cryptojacking scheme.

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/cryptojacker-arrested-in-ukraine-over-eur-1.8-million-mining-scheme

🇪🇺❌🇾🇪 — 📰 Al Arabiya correspondent: Initial agreement in the European Union to launch a Pan-European naval mission to protect navigation in the Red Sea.

https://fxtwitter.com/AlArabiya_Brk/status/1747265387342049306

🐧❌🏴‍☠️ Linux devices are under attack by a never-before-seen worm.

Based on Mirai malware, self-replicating NoaBot installs cryptomining app on infected devices.

For the past year, previously unknown self-replicating malware has been compromising Linux devices around the world and installing cryptomining malware that takes unusual steps to conceal its inner workings, researchers said.

The worm is a customized version of Mirai, the botnet malware that infects Linux-based servers, routers, web cameras, and other so-called Internet of Things devices. Mirai came to light in 2016 when it was used to deliver record-setting distributed denial-of-service attacks that paralyzed key parts of the Internet that year.

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/01/a-previously-unknown-worm-has-been-stealthily-targeting-linux-devices-for-a-year/

#BREAKING

🇮🇷❌🇵🇰 — Reports on Persian-speaking social medias that Iran has fired dozens of missiles against targets inside Pakistan!

🇨🇳🖨💴China is considering 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) of new debt issuance under a so-called special sovereign bond plan, only the fourth such sale in the past 26 years, as authorities seek more money to finance intensifying efforts to shore up the world’s second-largest economy.

These new stimulus measures by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government are the latest attempt to support an economy that is struggling to maintain momentum. China’s ongoing property crisis, deflation concerns, and weak domestic demand are weighing on economic activity and depressing market confidence. The new stimulus measure also shifts spending responsibility to the central government from debt-laden local Chinese governments that have struggled to fund various stimulus measures.

The design of long-term sovereign bonds means they are intended to be repaid over several decades, lowering the pressure on the government to make payments in the short term. In a research note, Goldman Sachs said the ultra-long bonds still “may not be able to address all the fiscal challenges,” but the issuance of such debt is a “likely toolkit” for fiscal easing this year. In October 2023, China’s legislature approved a plan to raise the fiscal deficit ratio for 2023 to about 3.8% of gross domestic product, well above the 3% set last March. That plan included issuing additional sovereign debt worth 1 trillion yuan in Q4 to support disaster relief and construction.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-16/china-weighs-more-stimulus-with-139-billion-of-special-bonds

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/indices/TXCX/pressreleases/23372911/23372911/

📊 Highest market capitalization

🇺🇸 Microsoft: $2.88 trillion
🇺🇸 Apple: $2.87 trillion
🇸🇦 Saudi Aramco: $2.12 trillion
🇺🇸 Alphabet: $1.79 trillion
🇺🇸 Amazon: $1.59 trillion
🇺🇸 NVIDIA: $1.35 trillion
🇺🇸 Meta: $0.96 trillion
🇺🇸 Berkshire: $0.79 trillion
🇺🇸 Tesla: $0.69 trillion

@FinancialWorldUpdates

📊 Microsoft is currently the largest company on the planet, recently outpacing Apple to take the to spot with a market cap nearing $3 trillion:

1. Microsoft 👑
2. Apple
3. Saudi Arabian Oil
4. Alphabet (Google)
5. Amazon
6. NVIDIA
7. Meta (Facebook)
8. Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet)
9. Tesla
10. Eli Lilly
11. Visa

@FinancialWorldUpdates