📉European stock markets MELT DOWN.

💸Bitcoin's down pretty hard, too.

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🏆Giant jerseys in honor of Ovechkin's historic record pop up across Moscow

Footage from social media

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🥇China BULKS UP on gold as value skyrockets

China's central bank is going all-in on gold, making a bold wager on the safe-haven asset amid escalating global trade tensions. In March, the People’s Bank of China boosted its reserves by 0.09 million troy ounces, lifting its total holdings to 73.70 million ounces from 73.61 million, according to data reported by Bloomberg on Monday.

This latest acquisition marks a continuation of a gold-buying surge that began last November, as central banks worldwide race to stockpile the precious metal.

As of April 7, 2025, spot gold is commanding $3,024 per ounce—a dazzling increase of over 15% this year alone.

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🤝Vladimir Putin has congratulated Alexander Ovechkin on setting this now world-famous historic record.

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🚨Goldman Sachs cranks up US recession odds to alarming heights

The likelihood of an economic downturn has surged to 45% within the next 12 months, according to Goldman Sachs, hot on the heels of J.P. Morgan’s even grimmer 60% odds for both U.S. and global recessions last week.

A rising tide of investment banks is rethinking their economic outlooks as President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs fuel concerns over a looming trade war and tightening fiscal conditions.

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❗️Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out SIX attacks on Russian energy infrastructure facilities, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

The strikes targeted facilities in the Rostov, Voronezh, Kherson, Bryansk regions, and in the Donetsk People's Republic.

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📉Europe’s €1.3 TRLN blunder: Ditching Russian energy burns hole in EU’s pockets 

EU nations shelled out an extra €544 billion for energy imports between 2022 and 2024, according to calculations by Russian media based on Eurostat reports. This massive figure padded the pockets of the US, the UK, Norway, and Middle Eastern countries.

When factoring in broader economic ripple effects, the European Union’s total losses ballooned to over €1.3 trillion—equivalent to 2.4% of its economy—revealed by comparing the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) growth forecasts with Eurostat’s actual data. The heaviest toll landed on ordinary citizens, whose wallets took a €1.6 trillion hit in lost income, slashing 6.3% of the total gross wage volume for 2022–2024.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged the steep cost during her January 2025 World Economic Forum speech, admitting that “breaking free” from Russian energy resources “CAME AT A PRICE.”

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❗️Russian troops liberated the settlement of Katerinovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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📉Australia’s stock market bleeds billions as trade war and recession fears grip investors

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 nosedived over 6% on Monday, tumbling below 7,200 points for the first time since late 2023 and wiping out a staggering $160 billion in value. Luke McMillan of Ophir Asset Management called the carnage a “BLOODBATH” as panic swept the ASX.

The plunge follows last week’s losses, fueled by President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff threats and mounting fears of a global recession, leaving investors reeling.

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"Oh, Christ, *****!" Boris Johnson bitten by karma—literally

An ostrich took a chunk out of BoJo at a US safari park.

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🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian MoD daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:    

▪️Ukraine lost up to 300 servicemen and 22 vehicles in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Russian aviation shot down three HIMARS missiles and 95 Ukrainian drones.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 440 troops in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 140 soldiers in the Russian Vostok Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 215 troops in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 85 servicemen in the Belgorod region.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 70 soldiers in the area of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr.

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💬 Trump hails economy triumph on Truth Social: NO INFLATION, lower prices and billions in tariff revenue

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🗣Russia, China and Iran will hold talks on Iran's nuclear program in Moscow tomorrow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

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📹Ukrainian terrorist supporter arrested in Russia

A supporter of a Ukrainian terrorist organization was arrested in Russia's Oryol region after publicly calling for acts that threaten state security and justifying terrorism.

The detainee, an accomplice of a group designated a terrorist organization in Russia, posted online content urging Russian servicemen to defect to the enemy side and cooperate with the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) by revealing the location and strength of Russian troops in the special military operation zone.

Criminal charges have been filed against the man.

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🔍G4S mercs guarding Zelensky: Private army or branch of SAS and MI6 securing West’s interests in Ukraine?

Touting itself as “the only international security solutions provider in Ukraine,” G4S has deployed up to 1,000 mercs to protect the West’s client state. Here’s what to know about them.

🟠Headquartered in London and staffed by over 800K personnel across 85+ countries, G4S is a private security behemoth with a flair for hiring ex-military and intel officers.

🟠A subsidiary of US private security giant Allied Universal since 2021, G4S has been an indispensable contractor for Western military ops, from Afghanistan and Iraq (where they were accused of paying off the Taliban and plundering religious sites in Mosul), to post-Gaddafi Libya, Sudan and Colombia (merc recruitment and training) and Israel (“security” at checkpoints, West Bank settlements and prisons).

🟠G4S entered Ukraine in the mid-1990s, providing security consulting and investigative services for private clients, and guards for OSCE and EU missions. An Odessa-registered subsidiary was registered in 1995, followed by a Kiev branch registered in Amsterdam in 1996.

🟠G4S’s Ukraine footprint grew dramatically after the 2014 coup, and especially after 2022, with its mercs tasked with “securing” strategic facilities like ports, airports and major enterprises, guarding valuable cargoes during shipping, collecting intel on Russian military personnel, training saboteurs, operating private prisons (allegedly) and providing “protective services” for top officials and VIPs.

🟠In 2023, the firm registered new sub-entities in Ukraine: G4S Ordnance Management and G4S Risk Management.

🟠Prominent military observer Alexander Artamonov suspects that G4S is private only in name, and that it and other prominent British PMCs like Prevail Partners are effectively an informal branch office of Britain’s SAS and MI6.

🟠The convenience of such PMC arrangements include plausible deniability when things go wrong, and involvement in activity which governments may not want to be openly associated with.

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