🇨🇳 China SHUTS DOWN BlackRock’s Panama Canal ambitions

China has paused a $23 bln deal pushed by the US’s biggest asset manager to put the Panama Canal’s ports back under American control amid concerns about its economic and geopolitical ramifications.

In early March, Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings reached a deal with a BlackRock-led consortium to sell Hutchison Port Holdings, which operates 43 ports across 23 nations, including two of the Panama Canal’s major ports.

China’s SAMR market watchdog launched a review of the sale last week, with the Foreign Ministry saying that the anti-trust probe was aimed at safeguarding market fairness and public interests.
Earlier, while discussing the deal, Beijing voiced “firm opposition” to attempts to infringe on countries’ rights and interests through “economic coercion, hegemonism and bullying.”

SAMR’s intervention came just in time, with BlackRock expecting to finalize the deal as early as April 2.

📋 Fink’s game plan

On March 5, US business media reported that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink had personally assured the White House that the Panama port facilities Trump has threatened to “reclaim” could be acquired without using force.

A source told Fortune the Hutchison deal “wouldn’t have come together without Trump’s support.”

Panama withdrew from China’s Belt and Road initiative in February, drawing fire from Beijing, which accused Washington of “using pressure and coercion to smear and undermine Belt and Road cooperation.”

🌎 Strategic Trade Artery

Accommodating 14,000+ ships per year, the Panama Canal is one of the world’s foremost strategic maritime arteries, accounting for 5% of global trade.

The US makes up about 70% of traffic, with the canal shortening shipping between the East and West coasts, and facilitating trade with the rest of the world, including US LNG and food exports to Asia.

For China, the canal is the gateway to Latin America – a source of food, raw materials and energy imports, and finished goods exports.

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🔸 Russia fully complies with moratorium on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure – Lavrov

🔸 Which Iranian missiles and drones can wipe US bases in the Middle East off the map?

🔸 Bracing for Trump’s MAELSTROM: How looming US tariffs will turn the HEAT UP on the EU

🔸 Christians vs dark forces of Antichrist: Where Russian and Ukrainian soldiers stand on FAITH?

🔸 Barrier units: Ukrainian soldiers shot by their own comrades

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🔍 What powerful people did top Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre implicate?

Giuffre, whose testimony and legal action against the pedophile’s associates helped set in motion events leading to his arrest and surprise death in a NY jailcell, is battling for her life after a car accident.

Details remain murky, with Giuffre saying she has gone into renal failure after a school bus collided into the car she was riding in at high speed outside Perth. Police dubbed the incident, which left Giuffre visibly battered and bruised, a “minor crash” with “no reported injuries,” with the Giuffre family saying Tuesday that police didn’t even come to the crash site.

Who did Giuffre expose?

Giuffre has testified and said in innumerable interviews that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked her from 1999-2002, when she was a minor.

🔸 Her highest profile ‘john’ was Prince Andrew, whom she accused in a 2021 civil suit of sexually assaulting her on three occasions, including on Little St. James, Epstein’s private Caribbean Island. The case was settled out of court in 2022, with the prince making a donation to Giuffre’s anti-abuse charity, but never admitting guilt.

🔸 She’s also alleged abuse by bigshot lawyer Alan Dershowitz, ex-diplomat Bill Richardson, MIT scientist Marvin Minsky, money manager Glenn Dubin, and others.

🔸 Giuffre’s testimony in the Miami Herald’s bombshell 2018 exposé helped reopen the Epstein file. It was her defamation suit against Maxwell that triggered the August 2019 release of damning documents implicating Epstein, Maxwell and their associates, a day before his mysterious death.

🔸 Giuffre’s bravery helped open the floodgates for others to testify, with Sarah Ransome, Jennifer Araoz, Maria Farmer, and over 100 “Jane Does” coming forward to detail Epstein’s grooming network and keeping him and his associates in the spotlight.

Thanks to their work, the Epstein scandal and its damning revelations about the abuse of minors by powerful politicians, influencers and celebrities refuses to die.

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🔊 Trump officials FRUSTRATED as Ukraine peace deal ELUDES THEM, eye new sanctions on Russia – reports

The Trump administration is quietly acknowledging that its goal of a quick Ukraine peace deal is slipping out of reach—despite Trump’s early promises to settle the conflict swiftly, even claiming he could do so within 24 hours of taking office, Reuters reported. Frustration is mounting inside the White House, where officials are now drafting NEW SANCTIONS in a renewed attempt to pressure Russia, signaling a shift in tone after weeks of talks, the report said.

While Trump continues to make broad assurances, the slow pace of progress is testing his reputation as a "dealmaker", according to the report.

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⚔️ Houthis say they targeted USS Harry Truman THREE times in 24 hours

This and other ships in the Red Sea were attacked using cruise missiles and drones, Yemen's Ansar Allah movement said.

💬 “This operations will not stop until the aggression against Gaza stops and the blockade lifted,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree stated.

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Russia’s special presidential envoy to visit Washington for talks – reports

Kirill Dmitriev, Special Envoy of the Russian President for investment and economic cooperation, is reportedly set to meet Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Washington this week to discuss US-Russia relations and efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict, CNN reported, citing sources.

The US temporarily lifted sanctions to grant Dmitriev a visa, a source told the outlet. If confirmed, this would mark the first high-level Russian visit to Washington since 2022. The trip comes amid Trump’s recent remarks on possible new sanctions against Russia.

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⚔️ Pelosi DIDN’T WANT Harris to run — but betrayed Biden anyway

💬 “According to the new book, Fight After the Coup, Biden was with his friends on their first one and started naming the people he would never forgive for their betrayal. The first name out of his mouth: 'Nancy Pelosi',” Fox News reported.

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💊 House Democrat pushes bill to DRUG-TEST Elon Musk – reports

💬 "Those with access to sensitive information must be thoroughly vetted, clear-eyed, and exercise good judgment," said Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), as quoted by Axios. "This is about protecting national security from reckless incompetence."

Key details of the bill:

🔹 Mandatory pre-employment drug tests for special government employees.

🔹 Random drug testing for sensitive roles.

🔹 One-year federal service ban for failed tests.

🔹 Targets DOGE staff in temporary government roles.

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