🇵🇦⛵️ The Panama Canal Authority says through its official channels that for the first time so far in 2024, the Gatún and Alhajuela reservoirs rose above the level recorded for this same date in 2023.

https://x.com/canaldepanama/status/1794857617283588365

🇨🇳💸❌🇺🇸💲 The Start of De-Dollarization: China’s Gradual Move Away from the USD

Since 2010, the majority of China’s cross-border payments, like those of many countries, have been settled in U.S. dollars (USD). As of the first quarter of 2023, that’s no longer the case.

This graphic from the Hinrich Foundation, the second in a three-part series covering the future of trade, provides visual context to the growing use of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) in payments both domestically and globally.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/hf02-start-of-de-dollarization-chinas-gradual-move-away-from-the-usd/

https://www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/wp/trade-and-geopolitics/the-renminbi-begins-a-long-march/

🇩🇪 Munich’s Oktoberfest to ban Italian disco hit co-opted by far right

The managers of Munich’s Oktoberfest have said they will seek to ban an Italian disco hit from being played at the world’s most famous beer festival after its hijacking by far-right revellers.

In recent months the schmaltzy love lyrics of L’amour Toujours, a catchy 2001 hit by Italian DJ Gigi D’Agostino, have repeatedly been drowned out at public gatherings by a Nazi slogan: “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out”.

Last week footage from the elite German party island of Sylt showing people singing the racist version of the song went viral, causing a wave of outrage and a string of lawsuits.

Charges are expected to be made against at least five people who participated at the Sylt party, on the terrace of the Pony Club, a popular disco venue on the island’s so-called Whiskey Mile.

They are also considering suing the culprits for reputational and economic damage. Amid the fallout from the controversy, a major sponsor said it was ending its relationship with them.

🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/28/munichs-oktoberfest-to-ban-italian-disco-hit-co-opted-by-far-right

🇨🇳🧠📈🇺🇸 — 🇺🇸 Bloomberg | China Chipmakers Are Catching Up Fast in AI, SenseTime’s Xu Says | May 28, 2024:

"China’s domestic AI chipmakers are making fast progress in closing the gap on international leaders, according to SenseTime Group Inc. co-founder Xu Bing.

Asia has a shortage of computation power for artificial intelligence, lagging significantly behind the US, but China has the talent and data to make up lost ground, Xu said in an interview at the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong. SenseTime is one of China’s artificial intelligence pioneers, though it’s been placed on a US investment blacklist as part of sweeping American sanctions curbing the country’s advances in AI.

China’s progress in this field has been made more difficult by US trade controls preventing the import of Nvidia Corp.’s advanced AI accelerators. That’s sparked the need for domestic alternatives from the likes of Huawei Technologies Co. and Shanghai Biren Technology Co., which are both also subject to US trade restrictions."

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🔗 Source:

🇺🇸 🇨🇳 🇹🇼 China's recent military exercises surrounding Taiwan "looked like a rehearsal" for an invasion, U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander Samuel Paparo told Nikkei.

🗳 The large-scale exercises took place just after new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te took office. The drills are a part of China's pressure campaign to bring the island under its control as Beijing regards Lai as a troublemaker.

🏗 Asked about the possibility of China invading Taiwan, Paparo stressed, "What matters is [China's] own assessments," warning that Beijing continues to "build capability at an alarming rate."

💥 If shooting did break out in the region, Paparo said he is confident the U.S. and its allies and partners would "prevail in a conflict."

🇯🇵 The U.S. has been promoting "integrated deterrence" with these allies and partners. Calling the U.S.-Japan alliance "the most important alliance on the planet," Paparo touted the countries' joint operational capability. "Japanese units are within the formation, and are nearly indistinguishable in how we share, track and [in] our ability to operate tactically," he said.

🇵🇭 As for the tensions in the South China Sea, where Chinese ships have repeatedly harassed Philippine ships, Paparo said, "We're monitoring the situation, and we stand ready to come to the aid of our treaty ally, the Philippines." He added that the Netherlands, Italy and Germany will enhance deterrence in the South China Sea through efforts such as dispatching vessels.

🇰🇵 Elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region, North Korea attempted to launch a rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite on Monday. Although the attempt failed, the threat to the security of Japan and the United States has been increasing.

⚡️ "The lessons of the last five years have shown that we're living in an increasingly chaotic and disordered world," Paparo said.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/China-s-drills-appear-to-be-rehearsal-for-Taiwan-invasion-U.S.-admiral

https://archive.ph/RGODo

🇳🇮💥 — The dictator Daniel Ortega called his brother, retired General Humberto Ortega, head of the Army during the Sandinista revolution, a “traitor to the homeland.” Last week, Humberto criticized the Nicaraguan regime in an interview

💬 Daniel Ortega referred to his brother for the first time since the interview, at an event celebrating the 45th anniversary of the final guerrilla offensive that overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979.

🇺🇸 During the event, the dictator revoked through a presidential decree the awarding of the Camilo Ortega gold medal that the Army, led by his brother, had given to Lieutenant Colonel Dennis F. Quinn, head of the U.S. Government’s Military Attaché Office in Managua.

"In the neoliberal government, they appointed their defense minister, an enemy of the people and the Army itself. But he established a very good relationship with the Army chief at that time, who committed the sacrilege of awarding that gold medal for valor to the U.S. government's military delegate in Nicaragua. Giving the Camilo Ortega gold medal to the Yankee. What a shame, a betrayal of the people, of the homeland!"

⛓ The Nicaraguan police have kept Humberto Ortega under virtual house arrest following the interview that the dictator’s brother gave to Infobae.

⚠️ Humberto Ortega also reported that he has learned of intentions to assassinate him by members of the power group due to his critical positions against the regime. However, he said he does not believe these actions would be carried out under orders from his brother.

Source 🖇