🇨🇳💴📉 — 🏴 ZeroHedge | Is China Prepping For Yuan Devaluation: Renminbi Tumbles After PBOC Pushes It Below Key Support Level | March 22, 2024:

"While everyone continues to watch the slow-motion trainwreck that is the Japanese yen, where the BOJ epically fucked up its latest monetary policy intervention, sending the yen plunging to a 34 year low despite its first rate hike in 17 years, the real action overnight was in the Chinese yuan, which abruptly tumbled below the key support level of 7.22 despite lower US yields and dovish comments by Powell at this week's FOMC, hinting at a possible imminent change in PBoC FX policy, read currency devaluation driven by the relentless crash in the yen and ascent in the US dollar.

On Friday, China’s tentative loosening of its vise-like grip on the yuan unleashed a slide in the currency and pulled down its Asian and EM currency peers lower. The onshore yuan dropped the most in more than two months after the authorities set a weaker-than-expected daily fixing, sparking speculation they would tolerate further losses, i.e. proceed with a soft or not so soft yuan devaluation.

The onshore yuan slid as much as 0.4% to 7.2299 per dollar Friday, breaching the 7.2 level that Beijing had been defending for months. The tumble came after the PBOC lowered its daily fixing by the most since early February; the decline took the currency to within 0.2% of the end of its allowed daily trading band of plus or minus 2% from the fixing."

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🇸🇻⚛️ — Bukele initiates efforts regarding the use of atomic energy: "El Salvador is going nuclear"

➡️ The Government of El Salvador requests authorization from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to use nuclear energy.

➡️ The legal instruments were delivered by Daniel Álvarez, head of the General Directorate of Energy, Hydrocarbons, and Mines (DGEHM), and Adriana Mira, Vice Chancellor of El Salvador, to Rafael Grossi, the Director-General of the IAEA.

"El Salvador is committed to decarbonization, diversifying its energy mix, and benefiting from peaceful nuclear applications. It is important to receive legal instruments from Deputy FM 🇸🇻 @AdrianaMiraSV and @DGEHMSV’s @daalvarezc, enabling nuclear’s safe and secure use."

📝 In March 2023, El Salvador signed a cooperation agreement with the American organization Thorium Energy Alliance to study nuclear energy generation using thorium.

‼️ Thorium is an element that can be used as nuclear fuel for electric power in nuclear reactors. According to the Government, 68.4% of the national energy demand is supplied by renewable generation.

Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) on 𝕏 🔗

China 🇨🇳 introduced new guidelines that will mean US chips from Intel $INTC and $AMD are phased out of government PCs and servers

The guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft’s $MSFT Windows OS and foreign-made database software in favour of domestic options - Financial Times
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🇨🇳❌💻💻🧠China blocks use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers, FT reports.

China has introduced guidelines to phase out U.S. microprocessors from Intel opens new tab and AMD, opens new tab from government personal computers and servers, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-blocks-use-intel-amd-chips-government-computers-ft-reports-2024-03-24/

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Atlantic Council: "Russian victory in Ukraine would leave Europe at Putin’s mercy"

(...)

"Russia is already connoscripting large numbers of men in occupied regions of Ukraine and using them as cannon fodder in brutal human wave offensives. If Ukraine falls, hundreds of thousands more would be forced to join the Russian military and deployed in similar fashion. As well as extra manpower, a conquered Ukraine would also provide Russia with vast natural resources, industrial strength, and agricultural wealth. Indeed, the occupation of Ukraine would allow Russia to dominate global agricultural markets."

🔗 https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russian-victory-in-ukraine-would-leave-europe-at-putins-mercy/

🇺🇸🇨🇳 Yellen to Visit Senior Leaders in China in April, Politico Says

Yellen previously traveled to Beijing in July. She and other senior US officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have visited over the past year as ties between the two economic superpowers stabilize.

🔗 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-23/yellen-to-visit-senior-leaders-in-china-in-april-politico-says

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🇲🇽📞🇺🇸 — 📰 CBS News' 60 Minutes on Twitter/X:

The president of Mexico’s proposal for stemming immigration includes:

— 💸 The U.S. commit $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
— 🇻🇪 Lift sanctions on Venezuela
— 🇨🇺 End the Cuban embargo
— 🇲🇽 Legalize law-abiding Mexicans living in the U.S.

🔗 60 Minutes (@60Minutes)

1 BTC 💎 = $.07M

We are still early! 📈

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🇺🇸🌊⛏ Why the U.S. hasn't joined the race for deep sea mining in international waters

Something akin to the California Gold Rush is happening in the Eastern Pacific—an international mad dash, not for one precious metal but for vast quantities of minerals scattered across the ocean floor—vital for everything from electric cars to defense systems. To avoid a free-for-all, 168 countries—including China—have signed on to the United Nations' Law of the Sea, a treaty that divvies up the international seabed. Conspicuously absent is the United States, kept out of the race by a group of Republican Senators who say the treaty undermines American power. Despite efforts by five presidents, ratifying the treaty has hit a wall in the Senate year after year. With seabed mining set to begin next year, China is in place to dominate it. Now a group of former diplomats and military leaders is trying again to break the logjam in the Senate.

A thousand miles from U.S. waters—between Mexico and Hawaii—lies this patch of Pacific Ocean. It looks tranquil but it's a locus of fierce competition. To see what's at stake, you have to plunge to the bottom. See those potato-sized rocks? They're filled with cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper—some of the most valuable metals on earth.

Today, the race is on for the estimated trillions of dollars of strategic minerals on the ocean floor, vital for next-generation electronics. Countries that ratified the Law of the Sea treaty, now are testing giant robots that vacuum the minerals from the sea floor.

They're carving up and laying claim to parcels on the seabed covered with rich balls of ore. China has five sites—90,000 square miles—the most of any country. The United States? None: blocked from even putting a toe in the water by its refusal to ratify the treaty.

John Bellinger: We are not only not at the table but we're off the field. The United States probably has got the most to gain of any country in the world if it were party to the Law of the Sea Convention, and conversely, we actually probably have the most to lose by not being part of it.

Since 2012, while repeated attempts to ratify the treaty have failed, China has made deep sea mining a national priority. It already has a near monopoly of the critical minerals on land. Now, it's set to lock up the bounty on the sea floor. Ambassador John Negroponte—a former director of National Intelligence in the Bush administration—told us, China's aggressive actions should be setting off alarms.

🔗 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-the-us-hasnt-joined-the-race-for-deep-sea-mining-in-international-waters-60-minutes-trannoscript/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7d&linkId=371265779

🇺🇸🌊⛏ Some of Earth’s most valuable metals sit on the ocean floor – estimated to be worth trillions of dollars. But the U.S. is blocked from the race to go get them – or even put a toe in the water – by the Senate’s refusal to ratify the Law of the Sea.

🔗 60 Minutes

🇨🇳 China’s Tech Sector May Rival Property as Growth Driver, BE Says

China’s high-tech sector is driving an increasing amount of demand for goods and services in the world’s second-biggest economy, and its contribution could rival real estate by 2026, according to Bloomberg Economics.

“The high tech sector has potential to become a much more significant source of growth,” economists Chang Shu and Eric Zhu wrote in a report. It’s estimated to drive demand worth nearly 19% of GDP by 2026, up from 14.3% last year, and almost on par with the property sector now.

📝 Beijing forced the property market crisis in order to shift resources away from property to tech.

🔗 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-25/china-s-tech-sector-may-rival-property-as-growth-driver-be-says

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🏦📊🌎 — 🏴 ZeroHedge | The World's Top 50 Largest Banks By Consolidated Assets | March 24, 2024:

"Banks are often among the biggest companies in the world.

In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu lists the top 50 banks in the world by consolidated assets, based on a 2023 report from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The data represents each bank’s total assets for the most recent period available.

Chinese Banks Keep on Growing

According to S&P, the four largest Chinese banks grew their assets by 4.1% in 2022, reaching a combined total of $19.8 trillion.

In fact, Chinese banks already account for over a third of the assets held by the largest banks on the planet. Four of the 15 biggest companies in China are banks."

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🇨🇳👺❌🇬🇧 — 🇺🇸 Politico | UK accuses China of cyberattacks on British democracy | Britain rolls out sanctions and summons Chinese ambassador as it points finger at ‘Chinese state-affiliated actors.’ | March 25, 2024:

"LONDON — The British government formally pointed the finger at China Monday for a spate of cyberattacks on U.K. democratic institutions.

Addressing the House of Commons, Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said “Chinese state-affiliated actors” had been behind two separate “malicious” attacks on both the U.K.’s electoral watchdog and on lawmakers themselves.

Britain is slapping sanctions on two individuals in response and summoning the Chinese ambassador for a dressing down. Beijing has angrily hit back at the claims, calling them “slander.”

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🇵🇦🇨🇴 More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Darién on their way to the US in 2024

So far this year, more than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Darién Gap, the natural border between Panama and Colombia, the Panamanian government said Sunday.

🗣“We have already surpassed 101,000 who have passed through Panama (after arriving through the Darién),” Panama’s Security Minister Juan Manuel Pino said in a video.

Most of those who have crossed into Panama are Venezuelans (64,307), followed by Ecuadorians (8,198), Haitians (6,661) and Colombians (6,462), among other nationalities.

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#Panama #Colombia #DarienGap #US

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