Zerohedge

US equity futures are sharply higher, erasing all of April’s losses on blowout earnings from MSFT and META, and relief over signs the Trump administration is stepping back from its harshest tariff threats. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures rose 1.2% to 5655, the highest level since before Trump’s Liberation Day announcement and pointing to an eighth consecutive session of gains for the cash index; Nasdaq futures gained 1.7%, as META and MSFT added +6.3% and +7.8%, respectively; most Mag 7 names, NVDA (3.7%) and semis are higher given META’s CapEx increase and MSFT’s reiteration on CapEx guidance. The dollar is higher after the BOJ finally flipped dovish and slashed its growth target pushing USDJPY to 144.5 this morning. It’s light on overnight news as most of Europe is closed today ex-UK along with China; US/Ukraine signed an agreement over the country’s natural resources, UK Manf PMI printed better but remained in contraction, and Trump reiterated that there is a “very good chance” of a deal with China on NewsNation last night. Commodities are mostly lower: WTI -1.2%; Gold -1.7%. The US economic calendar includes weekly jobless claims (8:30am), April manufacturing PMI (9:45am), ISM manufacturing and March construction spending (10am). Fed’s external communications blackout ahead of the May 7 FOMC meeting. Apple and Amazon results are due after the market close.

In premarket trading, the Magnificent Seven are mostly higher: Microsoft (MSFT) gains 8% after the company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly sales and profit growth. Meta (META) jumps 6% after the company’s advertising sales quelled Wall Street concerns about the impact of the Trump administration’s trade war. Apple was the only tech giant in the red, falling 1.4% after a federal judge said in a ruling that it violated a court order requiring it to open up the App Store to third-party payment options (other Mag7s are up Nvidia +4.6%, Amazon +3.7%, Alphabet +1%, Tesla +0.7%).
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) declines 1.4% as sales fell in the first quarter, reflecting a deterioration in consumer sentiment that’s making it harder for restaurants to lure in diners. Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) drops 5% after the company cut its earnings outlook. Here are some other notable premarket movers:

• Align Technology rises 10% after the Invisalign company reported quarterly shipments that beat the average analyst estimate.
• Confluent Inc. falls 10% after the provider of a streaming platform gave an outlook for second-quarter subscription revenue that fell shy of expectations. First quarter results showed a slowdown in additions of customers with $100,000 in annual recurring revenue.
• CVS Health rises 8% after the company boosted its adjusted earnings per-share-guidance for the full year and reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter
• E2open shares are up 34% after WiseTech Global, in response to media reports about its being in discussions to acquire E2open, said it was participating in a strategic review process.
• KKR & Co. rises 2% after the investment firm reported assets under management that beat the average analyst estimate. Fee-related earnings also came in above analysts’ expectations.
• Qualcomm falls 5% as the biggest maker of chips that run smartphones gave a tepid revenue prediction for the current quarter, underscoring concerns that tariffs will hurt demand for its products.
• Robinhood gains 4% after the trading platform’s earnings largely beat expectations, with analysts highlighting positive trends in April amid market volatility and a boost from a lower tax rate.
• Shake Shack falls 3% after posting first-quarter results.
• Wayfair gains 5% after posting adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter that beat the average analyst estimate.

Tech giants added to investor optimism that deals between the US and its partners would limit the damage from Trump’s trade war. Wall Street ended a tumultuous month on a day in which the S&P 500 erased an intraday drop of more than 2% to close 0.2% higher. Traders sought reassurance in bets on Federal Reserve easing after the US economy contracted for the first time since 2022. 

“So far we’re seeing big tech companies deliver on earnings, which is reassuring, and it’s this reassurance which is supporting equity market futures,” said Georgios Leontaris, chief investment officer for EMEA at HSBC Global Private Banking. “The other element of the story beyond earnings is obviously the ongoing debate as to whether we’ve seen peak tariff noise or not.”

Apple results are due after the market close. Analysts will be listening closely for any further detail on how the company, whose supply chain is reliant on China, Vietnam, and India, views the impact of tariffs

The White House said it was nearing an announcement of a first tranche of trade deals with partners that would reduce planned tariffs. Sentiment was also helped by a report that the US has been proactively reaching out to China through various channels. At the same time, Trump said he would not rush deals to appease nervous investors.

The US and Ukraine reached a deal over access to the country’s natural resources, offering a measure of assurance to officials in Kyiv who had feared Trump would pull back his support in peace talks with Russia.

Elsewhere, most markets in Europe and many in Asia are shut for holidays. The UK’s FTSE 100 index was steady, following 13 days of gains, the longest winning streak since 2017. Gains in material and industrial names are offset by losses in energy and health care. 

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rises 0.3%. the yen is the weakest of the G-10 currencies, falling 0.9% against the greenback after the Bank of Japan pushed back the timing for when it expects to reach its inflation target and slashed its growth forecasts. The pound and euro are little changed.

In rates, treasuries climb, pushing US 10-year yields down 2 bp to 4.14%. Treasury spreads remain within a basis point of Wednesday’s close, as gains remain broad-based across the curve. Gilts are steady, with UK 10-year borrowing costs flat at 4.44%. Treasury futures edge higher into the early US session, on the day’s highs with yields lower by 1bp to 2bp across the curve. US session focus includes weekly jobless claims along with both ISM and PMI manufacturing reports.

In commodities, oil prices decline, with WTI falling 2.3% to below $57 a barrel; the drop followed the biggest monthly drop since 2021, as signs that the Saudi-led OPEC+ alliance may be entering a prolonged period of higher output added to concerns the trade war will hurt demand.  Spot gold is down $65 at $3,223/oz, falling for a third day on signs of potential trade-talk progress between the US and several other nations, quelling demand for havens even as signs of slowdowns have emerged in the largest economies. Bitcoin rises 1% and above $95,000. 

Looking at today’s calendar, we get the April Challenger job cuts (7:30am), weekly jobless claims (8:30am), April manufacturing PMI (9:45am), ISM manufacturing and March construction spending (10am). Fed’s external communications blackout ahead of the May 7 FOMC meeting

Market Snapshot

• S&P 500 mini +1.2%
• Nasdaq 100 mini +1.6%
• Russell 2000 mini +0.3%
• Stoxx Europe 600 little changed
• DAX +0.3%
• CAC 40 +0.5%
• 10-year Treasury yield -2 basis points at 4.15%
• VIX -0.9 points at 23.85
• Bloomberg Dollar Index +0.2% at 1226.38
• euro little changed at $1.1324
• WTI crude -2% at $57.02/barrel

Top Overnight news

• The US and Ukraine signed an agreement over access to the country’s natural resources. The deal will see the US will get first claim on profits transferred into a jointly managed investment fund that’s intended in part to reimburse the US for future military assistance. BBG
• House Republicans are seriously considering proposals to further limit tax deductions that companies can take for their highest-paid workers’ compensation, expanding restrictions that now apply only to a handful of current or former executives making more than $1 million, according to people familiar with the discussions. WSJ
• US President Trump said we are going to have ‘Made in the USA’ like never before and he stated give us a little time to get moving regarding the economy. Furthermore, Trump said interest rates should go down and reiterated that “he (Powell) should reduce interest rates, I understand them better than him”, as well as noted it would be nice for people wanting to buy homes and things.
• There was some chatter that the House Ways and Means Committee is going to mark up their tax package on May 8th: Punchbowl.
• Elon Musk said he’s considering sending DOGE to the Fed, citing a costly renovation of its headquarters as an example of potential government waste. BBG
• The yen dropped as much as 1.2% after the BOJ pushed back the timing for when it expects to reach its inflation target and Governor Kazuo Ueda spoke of uncertainties due to tariffs. For now, policymakers kept rates at 0.5%. BBG
• China feels the white house is “too divided” on trade policy and will hold off on entering serious trade talks with the US while it waits to see which of Trump’s advisors will have his ear and how other countries respond to the 90 day pause on tariffs. SCMP
• Saudi Arabian officials are briefing allies and industry experts to say the kingdom is unwilling to prop up the oil market with further supply cuts and can handle a prolonged period of low prices, five sources with knowledge of the talks said. This possible shift in Saudi policy could suggest a move toward producing more and expanding its market share, a major change after five years spent balancing the market through deep output as a leader of the OPEC+ group of oil producers. RTRS
• The EU is planning to share a paper with the US next week that will set out a package of proposals to kick-start trade negotiations with the Trump administration. The paper will propose lowering trade and non-tariff barriers, boosting European investments in the US, cooperating on global challenges such as tackling China’s steel overcapacity and purchasing US goods like liquefied natural gas and technologies. BBG
• Janet Yellen has warned that Trump’s tariffs will have a “tremendously adverse” impact on the US economy as they “hobble” companies that rely on critical mineral supplies from China. She added: “I’m not yet ready to say that I’m forecasting a recession, but certainly the odds have gone way up. FT
• Microsoft beat estimates and showed strong growth in its key Azure cloud business, while Meta also topped estimates and raised its full-year capex forecast as it continues to invest in AI. With first-quarter earnings in full swing the scorecard so far has shown resilience amid Trump’s trade war. The next big test comes after the close, when Apple and Amazon report. BBG

Tariffs/Trade

• US President Trump reiterated there is a very good chance that they will make a deal with China and any deal has to be on their terms, while he added that they are negotiating with India, South Korea and Japan.
• US President Trump said after a certain amount of time, there will be a tariff wall for pharmaceutical companies.
• USTR Greer said it is a matter of weeks not months to have initial trade deals announced and he is meeting with Japan, Guyana and Saudi Arabia on Thursday and with the Philippines on Friday. Greer added he wouldn’t say they are ‘finish-line’ close on an India trade deal but noted he has a standing call with India’s Trade Minister and said they are working closely with the UK and moving quickly with countries ready to move forward on trade. Furthermore, Greer said Canadian PM Carney is a serious person and that President Trump wants a healthy relationship in North America, while he added there are no official talks with China yet and that harmful foreign trade practices, including those in China, need to be addressed.
• China is to hold off on entering serious trade discussions with the US while it waits to see which of US President Trump’s advisers will have his ear and how other countries will respond to the 90-day pause on tariffs, according to a source cited by SCMP
• US Senate narrowly rejected a bipartisan measure to block Trump tariffs with the vote count at 49-49.

Notable Earnings

• eBay Inc (EBAY): Shares +0.5% pre-market. Q1 profit beat estimates, and revenue also increased. The company announced that Peggy Alford was appointed CFO, replacing Steve Priest, as the company adjusts its leadership. It reported Q1 adj. EPS of 1.38 (exp. 1.34), Q1 revenue of USD 2.6bln (exp. 2.55bln). Q1 gross merchandise volume USD 18.75bln (exp. 18.52bln); International GMV USD 9.69bln (exp. 9.58bln); US GMV USD 9.07bln (exp. 8.92bln). In Q1, it had 134mln active buyers (exp. 134.17mln). Sees Q2 revenue between USD 2.59-2.66bln (exp. 2.60bln), and sees Q2 adj. EPS between 1.24-1.31 (exp. 1.29). (Newswires)
• Meta Platforms (META) – Shares +6.5% pre-market following a Q1 beat, while Q2 guidance was in line with expectations. Q1 revenue rose +16% to USD 42.31bln (exp. USD 41.4bln), with EPS of USD 6.43 (exp. USD 5.28); Q1 advertising sales were USD 41.39bln (exp. 40.55bln). Exec said daily users reached 3.43bln, while Threads has now has more than 350mln monthly active users. FY25 CapEx guidance was increased to USD 64–72bn for 2025 (prev. saw 60-65bln), and exec said that increased CapEx will bring data centre capacity online quicker. On AI, exec said its Meta AI app is focused on scaling and engagement this year, with business integration planned for next year; nearly 1bln monthly active users now use Meta AI across its apps. Exec also said that the EC’s ruling may hit its EU business, where it will need to make modifications to ads model which could have significant impact to European business and revenue as early as Q3, while Asia ad spend fell amid regulatory uncertainty. Sees Q2 revenue between USD 42.5bln-45.5bln (exp. 44.41bln), lowered its FY25 total expenses view to USD 113bln-118bln (prev. saw 114-119bln). (Newswires)
• Microsoft (MSFT) – Shares +8.1% pre-market following a beat on Q3 sales and profits, driven by 20% cloud growth amid strong AI demand. The tech giant reported Q3 adj. EPS of 3.46 (exp. 3.21), Q3 revenue USD 70.1bln (exp. 68.41bln); Q3 CapEx USD 16.75bln (exp. 16.28bln). Azure and other cloud services revenue (Ex-FX) surged +33% (exp. +31%), with Azure growth attributable to AI 16pts (exp. 15.6ppts); the majority of Azure outperformance in Q3 was in its non-AI business. Q3 Cloud sales USD 42.4bln (exp. 42.22bln), Q3 Intelligent Cloud sales USD 26.8bln (exp. 25.99bln). Exec said H2 total CapEx view remains unchanged vs January guidance. Sees Q4 revenue between 73.3bln-73.4bln (exp. 72.0bln), Q4 CapEx expected to increase on a sequential basis, Q4 cloud gross margin expected to be 67% (down Y/Y), Q4 Intelligent Cloud revenue seen between USD 28.75bln-29.05bln (exp. 28.52bln), while Q4 Azure and other cloud services revenue growth is expected to be 34-35% in constant currency. Exec said that FY26 CapEx is expected to grow at a lower rate than FY25. (Newswires)
• Qualcomm (QCOM) – Shares +5.7% pre-market after it topped Q2 top- and bottom-line estimates, but Q3 guidance was light, and it sees a sales hit from US tariffs ahead. It reported Q2 adj. EPS 2.85 (exp. 2.80), Q2 revenue USD 10.84bln (exp. 10.60bln); Q2 QCT revenue USD 9.47bln (exp. 9.23bln), Q2 QTL revenue USD 1.32bln (exp. 1.35bln); Q2 Internet of Things revenue USD 1.58bln (exp. 1.45bln), Handsets revenue USD 6.93bln (exp. 6.84bln), Automotive revenue USD 959mln (exp. 909.8mln). Sees Q3 adj. EPS 2.60-2.80 (exp. 2.66), Q3 revenue between USD 9.9-10.7bln (exp. 10.33bln), sees Q3 QCT revenue between USD 8.7-9.3bln (exp. 8.98bln), and sees Q3 QTL revenue between 1.15-1.35bln (exp. 1.3bln). (Newswires)

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newquawk

APAC stocks traded higher but with gains capped in severely thinned conditions owing to mass holiday closures across the region and in Europe for Labour Day. ASX 200 eked mild gains as the outperformance in tech, real estate and consumer staples was offset by losses across the commodity-related sectors, while trade data was mixed as Australian monthly exports returned to growth but imports contracted. Nikkei 225 advanced at the open after having reclaimed the 36,000 level and with further upside seen after the BoJ policy announcement where the central bank kept rates unchanged at 0.50% and provided some dovish rhetoric despite maintaining its rate hike signal.

Top Asian News

• BoJ maintained its short-term interest rate target at 0.5%, as expected, with the decision made by unanimous vote, while it said it will continue to raise the policy rate if the economy and prices move in line with its forecast and will conduct monetary policy appropriately from the perspective of sustainably and stably achieving the 2% inflation target. BoJ said Japan’s economic growth is likely to moderate and underlying consumer inflation is likely to be at a level generally consistent with the 2% target in the second half of the projection period from fiscal 2025 through 2027, as well as noted that uncertainty surrounding Japan’s economy and prices remains high with risks to the economic outlook and inflation outlook are skewed to the downside. Furthermore, it lowered its evaluation of the economic outlook and warned that a prolonged period of high uncertainties regarding trade and other policies could lead firms to focus more on cost-cutting, and as a result, moves to reflect price rises in wages could also weaken. In terms of the Outlook Report projections, the Real GDP median forecast for Fiscal 2025 was cut to 0.5% from 1.1% and the Fiscal 2026 estimate was cut to 0.7% from 1.0%, while the Core CPI median forecast for Fiscal 2025 was cut to 2.2% from 2.4% and the Fiscal 2026 forecast was cut to 1.7% from 2.0%.
• BoJ’s Ueda Press Conference: Uncertainty from trade policy has heightened sharply. Expect to keep raising rates if the economy and prices move as projected. Timing to attain the underlying 2% inflation target will be delayed. Price goal timing delay doesn’t mean delay in hikes; timing of trend inflation does not necessarily correlate with the timing of a hike.

Due to Labour Day across Europe, cash and derivatives markets are closed across Euronext services and those run by other European exchanges such as Deutsche Boerse, SIX and Nasdaq (Scandinavia closed ex-Copenhagen). The UK’s FTSE 100 is one of the few indices in Europe which is open today; currently flat.

Top European news

• EU is to present trade proposals to the US next week, according to Bloomberg citing officials.

FX

• DXY is up for a third consecutive session with the USD firmer vs. all major peers. On the trade front, the White House administration continues to talk up the possibilities of imminent trade deals. Reports suggest that the US reached out to China recently for tariff talks. However, Chinese press notes that China is to hold off on entering serious trade discussions with the US while it waits to see which of US President Trump’s advisers will have his ear and how other countries will respond to the 90-day pause on tariffs. Ahead, Challenger layoffs, weekly claims and ISM manufacturing PMI are all due. DXY ventured as high as 100.08, but has recently waned off that high to a current 99.75 level.
• EUR is essentially flat vs. the USD with most of Europe away from the market on account of Labour Day. In terms of macro updates for the region, Bloomberg reported that the EU is to present trade proposals to the US next week. EUR/USD hit a trough overnight at 1.1288 before returning to the 1.13 handle.
• JPY is the clear laggard across the majors after the BoJ opted to stand pat on rates (as expected) whilst cutting its Real GDP and Core CPI estimates in its quarterly outlook report; the FY 2025 GDP estimate saw a sizable downgrade to 0.5% from 1.1%. At the follow-up press conference by Governor Ueda, USD/JPY continued its ascent to a peak at 144.75 with Ueda noting that the timing to attain the underlying 2% inflation target will be delayed. However, upside was trimmed after he stated that a delay in the timing of the price goal doesn’t mean a delay in hikes.
• GBP is flat vs. the USD with incremental macro drivers remaining light. On the trade front, USTR Greer said the US is working closely with the UK and moving quickly with countries ready to move forward on trade. Local elections are taking place in the UK today with a focus on the extent of Conservative losses, the performance of Labour and how much ground the Reform Party can make; not expected to be a market mover. Cable has delved as low as 1.3275 but has since reclaimed the 1.33 mark and now sits around 1.3320. UK Manufacturing PMI was subject to an upward revision, but ultimately had little impact on the GBP.
• Antipodeans are both softer vs. the broadly firmer USD and tracking losses in global peers. AUD saw little follow-through from mixed trade data as Australian monthly exports returned to growth but imports contracted.

Fixed Income

• The BoJ left rates unchanged as expected. JGBs were bid though as the accompanying forecasts were lowered for both Real GDP and Core CPI, pushing back the timing for when underlying inflation is likely to be at a level generally consistent with the 2% target. In totality, this lifted JGBs from 141.05 to 141.34 though the upside did dissipate almost entirely in the gap between the announcement and Governor Ueda. Ueda for the most part stuck to the script of the statement and made it very clear that the BoJ is facing significant uncertainty in its forecasts. Ueda’s reiteration that there will be a delay to attaining the underlying 2% inflation target sparked another bout of dovishness, lifting JGBs to a fresh 141.42 peak.
• A very slow start to the session for USTs given the absence of European participants for Labour Day (China also away). USTs are firmer and at a 112-12 peak, but one that is shy of the 112-16 high from Wednesday. As was the case on Wednesday, any concerted move higher enters a patch of clean air before resistance at 114-03+ and 114-10 from early-April.
• Gilts opened higher by around 30 ticks before extending a handful more to a 93.86 peak, influenced by the upside seen in JGBs post-BoJ/Ueda. On the data front, April’s Manufacturing PMI was revised slightly higher (but still in contractionary territory) and a significant jump in Mortgage Lending during March; the latter comes alongside a 3bps drop in the effective rate on new and outstanding mortgages to 4.5% and 3.84% respectively during the period and ahead of Stamp Duty alterations which kicked in alongside the new FY in April.

Commodities

• Crude is on the backfoot and trading lower by around USD 1.00/bbl, in a continuation of the prior day’s downside. As a reminder, oil prices slumped on Wednesday following reports that Saudi officials briefed allies and industry experts that the kingdom can sustain a prolonged period of low oil prices.
• Gold is pressured given the positive risk tone in the US and as the Dollar makes modest gains. Yellow metal has been as low as USD 3.2k/oz, over USD 100/oz from the week’s opening levels despite the series of soft data for the US as the inflationary part of the stagflationary narrative and modest yield curve steepening weighs on XAU.
• Base metals were contained trade overnight given the mass holiday closures and absence of the metals largest buyer, China, for a long weekend (May 1st-5th). This morning, 3M LME Copper has picked up tracking the broader macro tone with US futures strong after earnings, 3M LME Copper back above the USD 9.2k mark.

Geopolitics: Middle East

• US Secretary of Defence Hegseth said Iran will pay the consequence for supporting Houthis.

Geopolitics: Ukraine

• US and Ukraine signed an agreement on access to natural resources and to establish a US-Ukraine reconstruction investment fund. It was also reported that the US Treasury said the Treasury Department and US International Development Finance Corporation will work with Ukraine to finalise programme governance and advance the partnership, while it added that the agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term. Furthermore, Treasury Secretary Bessent said the US–Ukraine economic partnership agreement allows the United States to invest alongside Ukraine to “unlock Ukraine’s growth assets”.
• US Senator Graham, who is a close ally of President Trump, is forging ahead on a plan to impose new sanctions on Russia and steep tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, gas and uranium, while the bill also would impose a 500% tariff on imported goods from any country that purchases Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products, according to WSJ.

US Event Calendar

• 7:30 am: Apr Challenger Job Cuts YoY, prior 204.8%, revised 204.78%
• 8:30 am: Apr 26 Initial Jobless Claims, est. 223k, prior 222k
• 8:30 am: Apr 19 Continuing Claims, est. 1864.5k, prior 1841k
• 9:45 am: Apr F S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI, est. 50.5, prior 50.7
• 10:00 am: Apr ISM Manufacturing, est. 47.9, prior 49
• 10:00 am: Apr ISM Prices Paid, est. 73, prior 69.4
• 10:00 am: Mar Construction Spending MoM, est. 0.2%, prior 0.7%

Authored by Frank Fong via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Chinese regime is increasingly sending groups that pose as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to the United Nations in an effort to suppress criticism of its human rights record, according to a report published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on April 28.

The 10-month investigation, a partnership between the ICIJ and 42 media organizations, examined China’s transnational repression under Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Part of the report focused on the communist regime’s subversion campaign against the U.N. Human Rights Council through “a growing army of Chinese NGOs.”

“Since Xi’s reelection as Communist Party general secretary in 2017 and president the following year, China has sought greater influence within the U.N. human rights system and become more aggressive in silencing dissent,” the report reads.

ICIJ found that the number of Chinese NGOs holding consultative status with the U.N. has nearly doubled since 2018.

NGOs can participate in U.N. meetings, make oral statements, and submit written statements before U.N. sessions after obtaining consultative status, which is granted by the U.N. Economic and Social Council.

An ICIJ analysis of 106 NGOs from China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan found that 59 are not independent but are “closely connected” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The ICIJ referred to these Beijing-backed NGOs as “GONGOs” or “government-organized nongovernmental organizations.”

Ten of these GONGOs receive more than 50 percent of their funding from Beijing, the ICIJ noted.

In at least 46 of these groups, directors, secretaries, vice presidents, or other high-ranking staff also hold positions in the Chinese regime’s departments or within the CCP.

Additionally, 53 of these NGOs pledge loyalty to the CCP on their websites or in other official documents. Among them, 12 agree to defer their decision-making to the Party, such as leadership appointments.

“In 2024, 33 Chinese NGOs showed up about 300 times on the lists of speakers at Human Rights Council sessions. There were only three of them in 2018. None criticized China,” the report reads.

Rana Siu Inboden, senior fellow at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin, was quoted in the report as saying that Beijing “is clearly using NGOs as a tool.”

“They are encouraging them, helping them, guiding them, coaching them through how to get this [consultative] status,” Inboden said. “And then once they’re [at the U.N.], you can see how their statements, whether it’s in the Human Rights Council or elsewhere, serve the government.”

China’s Tactics

Delegates from the Beijing-backed groups seek to “disrupt and drown out” criticism of China, heap praise on the CCP, and monitor and intimidate those who come to Geneva to testify against China.

“It’s corrosive. It’s dishonest. It’s subversive,” Michèle Taylor, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council from February 2022 to January this year, was quoted as saying in the ICIJ’s findings.

Beijing-backed groups “are masquerading as NGOs” as part of a broader effort by the CCP “to obfuscate their own human rights violations and reshape the narrative around China’s actions and culpabilities,” Taylor said.

The ICIJ and its media partners spoke to 15 activists and lawyers dedicated to China’s human rights who “described being surveilled or harassed by people suspected to be proxies for the Chinese government,” according to the report. These incidents happened both inside the United Nations and in Geneva at large.

Some activists said that their relatives, whom they believed were pressured by Chinese authorities, had urged them to cease their public activism or cautioned them about the risks of their actions, according to the ICIJ.

The report cites an incident in March 2024, when some rights activists refused to set foot inside the U.N. buildings, out of fear that Beijing’s presence could result in retribution against their families in China.

“Instead, they gathered for a secret meeting on the top floor of a nondescript office building nearby. They were there to discuss human rights abuses in China and Hong Kong with the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk,” the ICIJ said.

In January last year, China was among several countries that underwent a peer review process called the “Universal Periodic Review” before the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Rushan Abbas, cofounder of the U.S.-based Campaign for Uyghurs, told ICIJ that after she and other NGO delegates entered the U.N. building where China’s review was being held, “those Chinese GONGOs were taking pictures of us.”

“I did not report [this] to the U.N. authorities because I lost faith in them, as China was acting … like the U.N. was its playground,” Abbas was quoted as saying in the report.

The ICIJ said that independent organizations now have a greater responsibility to speak out about atrocities due to the rise of autocracy around the world.

“If China’s power continues to go unchecked by U.N. authorities, it threatens the credibility of the institution in its efforts to monitor and document violations and abuses not just in China, but all over the world,” the group said.

Tesla Chairwoman Robyn Denholm denied a Wall Street Journal report claiming the board had begun searching for Elon Musk’s successor, calling the story “absolutely false.” Musk echoed the rebuke, slamming the story as an “EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS” by the legacy media outlet. 

“Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company,” Denholm wrote in a statement published on X via Tesla. 

She emphasized, “This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published),” adding, “The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”

Musk chimed in, calling the WSJ story by Emily Glazer, Becky Peterson, and Dana Mattioli “an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors.”

It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the @WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors! https://t.co/9xdypLGg3c

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2025

WSJ’s Glazer and others cited anonymous sources to indicate that slumping vehicle sales and DOGE-related backlash had damaged the brand, prompting the board to search for a new CEO.

Here’s an excerpt: 

Board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding Tesla’s next chief executive, according to people familiar with the discussions. 

… 

The board narrowed its focus to a major search firm, according to the people familiar with the discussions. The current status of the succession planning couldn’t be determined. It is also unclear if Musk, himself a Tesla board member, was aware of the effort, or if his pledge to spend more time at Tesla has affected succession planning. Musk didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Why WSJ’s Glazer and her co-authors chose to publish the story—despite receiving a denial from Tesla’s board before publication—underscores how legacy media spreads misinformation and disinformation.

This is the landscape Musk—and top officials in the Trump administration—are navigating: a hostile leftist corporate media environment that pushes endless streams of misinformation and disinformation.

In case you wonder what we — and President Trump — are up against.

100% NEGATIVE coverage from so-call “mainstream” press in the first 100 days. PERFECT SCORE.

(Come on @RobertKennedyJr & @elonmusk , you guys can do better!) pic.twitter.com/uYi2ebI0RG

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) April 30, 2025

Folks on X are saying…

Same old story, legacy media writing BS stories about Tesla, then the amateur armchair speculators come in to spread fud, wild.

— Adrian Dittmann (@AdrianDittmann) May 1, 2025

YOU CANNOT HATE THE MEDIA ENOUGH!!!!!!

— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) May 1, 2025

Many car companies, but protests are only against Tesla.

Many billionaires, but protests are only against Elon Musk.

Many departments, but protests are only against DOGE.

Many social networks, but the media is only against 𝕏

Why is that?

— Crazy Vibes (@CrazyVibes_1) May 1, 2025

There is no more journalistic integrity. It’s high time Tesla sues WSJ and all the fake media fwiw. They’re free to say ‘sources familiar with the matter’ to hedge their lies but these things hit Bloomberg terminals and leading to deliberate market manipulation by algos

— Baymax (@blorrior) May 1, 2025

. . . 

The key question facing equity markets now is whether the April 8 low marked a floor — or merely a trap door for bulls. 

Veteran emerging-markets investor Mark Mobius joined Bloomberg TV earlier, warning, “Cash is king” as he waits for the trade war storm and mounting macroeconomic headwinds to blow over. 

“At this stage, cash is king. So 95% of my money in the funds are in cash,” Mobius said in an interview, adding, “Right now, we’ve got to keep the cash and be ready to move when the time is right.”

Mobius continued: “If the market comes down further, of course we will put more money in.” 

He said he owns “a little bit with S&P 500 funds” to track the market and expects higher prices by the end of the year.

“Trump doesn’t want to see a big market crash, so he will be making adjustments and announcements, which will give a little bit more confidence for people in the market,” the legendary investor said. 

He pointed out that he has “become very bullish on China” and sees possibilities for Beijing to boost trade and domestic consumption amid the ongoing trade war.

“Right now, we’ve got to keep the cash and be ready to move when the time is right”

Veteran emerging-markets investor Mark Mobius is keeping the bulk of his funds’ holdings in cash as he waits out the trade-related uncertainty https://t.co/X3z6gg4pvE pic.twitter.com/bHNvjszfUM

— Bloomberg (@business) April 30, 2025

By late Tuesday morning in the US, main equity futures tumbled following a series of negative prints that cast dark shadows over the US economy:

• Rate-Cut Odds Jump After ADP Reports Weakest Job Growth Since July 2024

• US Q1 GDP Contracts On Record Imports, Shrinking Govt, As Consumption Comes In Stronger Than Expected

Main equity futures were dumped following the bad macro prints.

However, there is good news:

*TRADERS FULLY PRICE FOUR QUARTER-POINT FED CUTS BY END-2025

Powell dragged in, kicking and screaming

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 30, 2025

Implied four cuts by year’s end. 

Separately from Mobius’ interview, Goldman analyst Vickie Chang offered clients a market snapshot on Tuesday, assessing whether the April 8 low marked a concrete bottom for stocks — or if another leg lower is still ahead:

• The most immediate question for markets is whether there is fresh downside to come. We said that a shift in trade policy was the most obvious route for recovery in risk assets, and there has been a modest version of that dynamic since April 9. Even though the economic impact is yet to be felt, it is possible that we are past the peak of new tariff “shocks” and policy uncertainty.

• In past equity corrections, markets tended to bottom near the trough in economic activity. But if there was a clear cause of the weakness, it was enough for the market to see the peak in pressure from that source to conclude that activity would bottom soon, and for equities to trough ahead of that. In episodes where the source was less easy to track, the market did not trough until economic growth itself started to bottom.

• What matters now is whether the current episode is more like past “shock”-driven corrections where the tariff shock having seemingly peaked could be enough to mark the market bottom, or whether this will ultimately be a scenario where the economic data needs to stabilize first. It is possible that simply being through the worst of the shock has allowed the market to set some limits on the process, even if the damage is yet to be felt and if the underlying economic situation remains bad for some time.

• Despite that possibility, we still think there is significant vulnerability in a recession scenario, even if the worst of the underlying “shock” has passed, for three reasons: 1) It has generally been true that in shock-driven corrections, there has been a meaningful reversal and not just a peak in the source of the pressure. So the tariff reversal may need to be more dramatic to be equivalent to those past peaks. 2) The unemployment rate matters a lot for the pricing of risk, and it has been some time since the economy has undergone a period of job and portfolio losses happening together. 3) The 19% drawdown so far would be relatively mild relative to past recessionary drawdowns and would have entirely taken place before economic damage is seen, which would be historically unusual.

• It is worth keeping an open mind given the unprecedented nature of the current shock, but continued market recovery from here means putting an increasing weight on the belief that recessionary dynamics will not take hold, and requires confidence in the market’s ability to look through what is likely to be a further weakening in the data. We think the balance of risks still argues for expecting renewed declines in equity prices from current levels and for adding downside protection, especially if further relaxation makes that protection cheaper.

Just days ago, Bank of America’s Michael Hartnett told clients to “sell rips” and stay long “BIG” (his favorite trade idea for 2025, namely Bonds, International Stocks, and Gold). 

Authored by Steve Cortes via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Last November, Americans sent a clear election message and delivered President Trump a clear mandate: Prices are way too high. While inflation has hit our grocery stores (up 23.6% since 2020) and housing costs (up 30.9% since 2020), there’s another cost outpacing the rest when it comes to price hikes. Prescription drugs have jumped 46.2% since 2020, forcing Americans to pay the highest price in the world for life-saving medications. No wonder citizens are angry.

In 2022, Congress passed legislation that gave the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) the authority to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries for the first time. As this administration targets cost-saving measures across government, this program is projected to save billions of dollars, with an estimated $1.5 billion in savings for seniors next year alone and $100 billion in total taxpayer savings over 10 years.

Thankfully, President Trump knows how to negotiate. With his leadership, Medicare negotiation could be just the start in a larger effort to earn a better deal for Americans on prescription drugs. This issue presents an enormous opportunity for the president to bolster his legacy by protecting and expanding the government’s ability to crack down on corrupt lobbyists and special interests and allow the government to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers to lower prescription drug prices for the American people.

This issue is not new to President Trump, who has long railed against the corruption and greed in the pharmaceutical industry. He recognizes that “we pay, as a country, so much more for drugs because of the drug lobbies,” whom he says are “getting away with murder.” Trump’s solution? “Tougher negotiation [and] more competition [will lead to] much lower prices.” As one of the early voices calling for Medicare to negotiate drug prices back in 2016, this is his moment to make this promise into reality.

Now that he’s back in the White House, Trump can reaffirm his commitment to reducing costs for seniors and cutting government spending, two of his biggest priorities. Consistent with his clear mission to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, he has already begun to implement this cost-saving plan by supporting and defending Medicare’s ability to negotiate lower drug prices.

If the drug lobby is successful in fighting against Trump by rolling back Medicare’s negotiation authority, the biggest winners would be – you guessed it – pharmaceutical companies, which would return to charging inflated prices, forcing both the government and everyday Americans to bear the cost, increasing prices of prescription drugs by a shocking 46.2%, effectively doubling their cost.

President Trump has long been a vocal critic of Big Pharma. His leadership can yet again make him the strongest voice ever in holding the industry accountable. Backing policies that rein in drug prices would be a major victory not just for his administration, but for every American family.

I know President Trump will continue to fight for the American people because he understands that Americans should never be taken advantage of by the drug lobby. This is President Trump’s chance to do it big by standing up to Big Pharma and ensuring drug prices come down. That’s a deal that every American can get behind.

Steve Cortes is a former advisor to President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance and a former commentator on Fox News and CNN.

While DOGE may have saved $160 billion so far, the Pentagon now ‘needs’ $150 billion of new funding under the guise of supporting various Trump priorities.

The House Armed Services Committee advanced the supplemental spending plan on Tuesday in a 35-21 vote during a markup hearing.

The plan was unveiled on April 27 by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), with Congressional Republicans preparing it for reconciliation – a process which allows Congress to pass legislation concerning taxation and government spending without requiring the 60 Senate votes typically needed to invoke cloture and avoid a filibuster.

Republicans have several such reconciliation bills in the pipeline.

The military spending bill will now be added to a broader continuing resolution to fund the federal government through the remainder of FY2025. 

It provides $25 billion this year for Trump’s plan to overhaul the US missile defense network, as laid out in Trump’s January executive order calling for an “Iron Dome for America.”

As the Epoch Times notes further, other top priorities in the military spending supplemental include $34 billion to boost shipbuilding and $21 billion to replenish depleted munitions stockpiles.

Earlier this month, Trump signed executive orders aiming to boost U.S. shipbuilding and arms procurement capabilities.

The proposal also assigns around $14 billion for various innovation projects, including low-cost attritable weapons systems, $13 billion for efforts to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and $12 billion for general readiness projects like base infrastructure projects and efforts to boost stocks of spare parts.

Another $11 billion would go toward the U.S. military’s Pacific components to conduct training exercises and bolster regional defenses.

Another $7 billion would support various projects to enhance existing aircraft and develop new ones.

This would include $400 million to boost the development of the recently announced F-47 stealth fighter jet.

Border security would also get a spending boost.

The supplemental lays out $5 billion for Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security efforts to prevent illegal border crossings, and to conduct immigration and counter-drug enforcement operations.

The bill calls for around $9 billion more for quality of life improvements for military personnel and their families.

The additional funding would increase allowances for housing, health care, and family assistance programs.

Opening the April 29 markup hearing, Rogers said: “The time for this level of investment is long overdue.”

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), by contrast, cast doubts as to whether the Defense Department could make efficient use of the new funding.

Smith, who is the committee’s ranking member, said: “I cannot support throwing another $150 billion that I absolutely guarantee you will not be well spent.”

Democrats on the House committee’s minority submitted 21 amendments to the Republican-led reconciliation bill, all of which failed to make it in.

One amendment that Smith offered called for all but 25 percent of the new funds to remain locked up until Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders a review of policies and procedures for handling classified and sensitive information.

Smith and other committee Democrats used the hearing to reiterate concerns about recent incidents in which Hegseth discussed military operations on the Signal messaging application.

Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) also offered an amendment to reduce Hegseth’s salary to $1.

Ryan submitted yet another amendment to block any of the funds described in the military spending reconciliation bill from being made available to business entities operated by special government employees.

Billionaire entrepreneur and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been advising the Trump administration and has been designated as a special government employee.

Committee Democrats offered other amendments to block the Department of Defense from relieving senior officers of their commands or terminating different groups of civilian employees.

Other amendments would have made much of the proposed funds contingent on the completion of a successful department financial audit, a task the department has failed to achieve in the past seven consecutive years it has tried.

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

When you buy those beautiful cupcakes and cookies at the grocery store, how much plastic are you eating? This is a burning question these days, as Americans have become newly aware of the real content of mainstream food.

MIT professor Retsef Levi has produced remarkable research detailing the extent of the problem of petroleum food dyes in normal products you eat every day. He did an analysis of 700K products in the USDA Global Branded Food Products Database and found over 85K products with at least one dye and some categories having well over 50 percent of products with at least one dye.

As is well known, these products have been credibility associated with behavioral disorders in the young and carcinogens in adults, which is why most countries in the world do not use them. Many dispute those findings, and arguments run in all directions. But these days, there is great concern about chronic disease in the young and a strong effort to address the issue through every means.

It makes sense that U.S. producers align themselves more with natural rather than synthetic dyes. It’s rather remarkable that the practice has continued as long as it has. Foreign travelers in the United States fear U.S. food in part for this reason. They would rather eat food, not plastic, and worry about what is really in our bright, delicious-looking, packaged foods.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at HHS and Dr. Marty Makary at the FDA have taken aim at six of these dyes (in addition to two already identified under the last administration) and have scheduled them to be phased out as part of the agenda to make America healthy again. In this, they have faced remarkably little pushback. Few are willing to stand up in defense of synthetic dyes in our food and most people have a sense that we would be better off without.

This is why so far, the agreements to get rid of them are voluntary. They rely on cooperative understandings with industry rather than mandates. This seems right to me.

I’m of a libertarian cast of mind and generally feel like people should eat whatever they want. It’s up to the consumer and not government to decide such questions. Producers should use whatever ingredients customers want, and it does seem as if these products on the ban list have more or less been approved by the consumer marketplace.

In principle, I agree with Jeffrey Singer: “The HHS and FDA regulatory monopolies should not infringe on adults’ autonomy to choose less expensive or more visually appealing foods containing these substances, if they wish. Autonomous adults must have the freedom to make their own risk-benefit assessments.”

As usual, however, the situation is more complicated than merely freedom of choice or bans by the government. Vast amounts of the U.S. food industry benefits from subsidies in the form of SNAP benefits and school lunches, among other programs. These provide a high margin of profitability for the producers.

Government is the consumer in this case, and not a very discerning one. Producers manufacture products that sell well for particular industrial purposes. These often require very long shelf lives and the ability to sustain the look and feel of food from having traveled long distances in challenging temperatures.

It makes sense that petroleum and synthetic products make the journey from factory to shelf more easily than natural dyes like fruit juices and spices. The look is entirely different when using real food dyes. I was at a Vietnamese superstore that sells none of the synthetic products because no one would ever buy them. I looked at the colors of the sweets. They are certainly more dull and less optically appealing. On the other hand, they look like food used to look.

I shop often at local markets and trade with local bakeries so I don’t see much of these fake colors in food. Farmers markets don’t use them. On the other hand, these cater to a customer who is health- conscious and pays for the real deal. Most people do not do this.

An investigation into how these synthetic dyes got in our food takes us far back in time to the very first federal food regulation measure of 1906 that centered on regulating the meat-packing industry. The cover story was that it was eliminating unhealthy and dangerous practices. In reality, and as unpacked by many historians, the dominant lobbyists in the text and implementation of the controls were the major industrial firms.

This is how “poke and sniff” became the dominant way meat was inspected in this country. It was the opposite of safe and ended up spreading disease. But it also resulted in much higher costs for the industry that only the biggest players could bear. The practical effect was to drive out small meat packing companies and bolster a growing cartel in the industry. The 1906 act was not really about stopping bad practices, it was about entrenching large businesses as the controlling force of industrial planning.

This was only the beginning of what ended up being a century-long consolidation of the food industry. It firmed up at the New Deal, which implemented a central plan for agriculture complete with production limits, mandates, subsidies, and controls. Price controls in World War II strengthened it further. The mad dash toward gigantic food-production subsidies in the early 1970s consolidated the industry ever more.

Independent farmers were the ones who suffered.

What was being created here was not a “free market” but a food cartel that discriminated hard against small farms and local food and in favor of centralized and industrial methods of production. Ask any local farmer or rancher about the struggles they face. The regulatory barriers are huge and the mandates all-consuming. They cannot simply raise food and sell it. They face a barrage of investigations and regulatory hoops.

A free market is exactly what they want. But it doesn’t exist. They will tell you that the big producers in the market have all the advantages over them wheres they would be fine a genuinely competitive market.

Food production and distribution in the United States is famously consolidated. What seems like infinite choice at the supermarket is really an illusion. Depending on the product, the dominant producers are usually one of the big four: PepsiCo, Tyson, Nestlé, and Kraft. The smaller producers are in the mix but face intractable barriers.

The problem with corporate consolidation is that it creates uniform industrial practices designed less for the consumer and more for the well-being of the company and its systems. These dyes have been fine for that purpose, and perpetuated themselves without an adequate system of feedback from the market they serve.

This is a reason not to blame the free market for unhealthy food. We don’t have a free market. We have a corporatist system in which the biggest players rely on close cooperation with the FDA and other regulatory agencies to protect and consolidate their market share. They get away with practices that otherwise would be punished in a real market with consumer-based accountability.

There is an additional problem with the existence of the FDA itself. Most Americans believe that because of its presence, anything for sale at the store has necessarily been certified as safe and fine to eat. If something says it is healthy, it surely is.

In a genuine market economy without such an overlay of constant assurance from government, we might develop more of a habit of questioning the claims of producers or seeking out better sources of information. There would surely be private and accurate sources to which we could appeal.

In electronics, for example, Underwriters Laboratory has long certified the safety of products. It is not a government institution and gets no support from government so far as I can tell. It makes money entirely from fees from producers who pay to have their products certified as safe. If the company fails in its duties, it would face a huge blowback. The system works.

The FDA, on the other hand, has long presided over a system largely captured by industrial lobbyists, shared patent revenue, revolving doors of regulators from and to industry, and conflicts of interest that are rampant throughout the whole process of food and drug approvals.

The system is deeply compromised to the point that it blesses certain practices in production and distribution that could never survive a legitimate market test. They dominate precisely because market forces are not allowed to operate to enable a correction.

For this reason, and despite my preference for freedom in all matters, I’m not unhappy about the pushes against synthetic food dyes that are now being enacted. Arguably, this should just be the beginning, a course correction. The agencies have served to ratify and protect practices that otherwise would not have survived in a genuine marketplace.

Freedom of choice is essential but so is informed choice and a truly competitive marketplace.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

In 2015 the US Marines carried out a study to discern if women could fulfill combat duty roles within mixed gender units.  The study followed an aggressive push by the Pentagon and the Obama Administration to expand female participation on the front line.  This included the much hyped inclusion of women in Army Rangers training – The program was later exposed for giving special treatment to the female trainees and lowering their fitness standards.  In essence, it was the beginning of DEI within elite units in the military.

However, the Marines study relied on merit based standards and was not skewed to make the Pentagon brass happy.  It told the truth:  Women and mixed gender units offer dismal performance in the field under pressure.

Data collected during a months-long experiment showed Marine teams with female members performed at lower overall levels, completed tasks more slowly and fired weapons with less accuracy than their all-male counterparts. In addition, female Marines sustained significantly higher injury rates and demonstrated lower levels of physical performance capacity overall, officials said.  Any unit with women was dragged down.

DEI is a disaster for most endeavors, but it is especially deadly in the military where performance and merit determine life and death.  It also causes divisions and distrust; if a soldier cannot be counted on to perform tasks to a certain standard then they can put the entire unit at risk.

Furthermore, women would likely act as a distraction in the field and in combat for a number of reasons which should be obvious to anyone with half a brain. 

These same concerns are practical and apply to any fighting force around the world, they are not specific to the US.  That’s why it’s disturbing (but not surprising) that the British government is now holding soldiers under their “Terrorism Act” for questioning the idea of women in combat.

In what the Telegraph refers to as a “highly unusual move”, a serving member of the Royal Marines, an elite corp, has publicly warned about the lowering of standards for female trainees, stating that lives could be at risk. 

The commando says that up to 1,000 of his fellow Marines backed a private letter to military chiefs raising fears that so-called diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies were in danger of creating an “unrecognisable, weak and compromised version of the corps”.  The letter claimed that some women at the Commando Training Centre were being “artificially pushed through training”, resulting in what was described as “unearned paper-passes”.

Given that this same process of lowering standards for female trainees has been observed in the past in the US military, it’s not surprising that the same thing is happening in Britain.  And given the British government’s cult-like obsession with far-left ideology, the imposition of DEI will probably be unstoppable and catastrophic for fighting forces. 

But the problem goes well beyond the risks of war.  The soldier in question has now been reportedly held by Police Scotland while entering the country after a holiday, and detained under the British “Terrorism Act” because he has voiced such warnings.  He says government officials initially dismissed the letter or petition as a product of “Russian bots”, then held an internal inquiry to investigate the soldiers involved. 

“They tell me that they deal with security leaks. And they essentially try and make what is a genuine issue look like it was just some uppity Marines that are just being sexist, being evil… It’s absurd because we wrote that in the survey, that we were concerned that… we will be painted as sexists. And that is exactly how they treated us. Telling me that I should be concerned for my career. Telling me that I should comply for the sake of myself and my family…”

“I ask them: ‘Am I being detained?’ They say: ‘No, you’re not being detained, but we’re holding you here under the Terrorism Act. And I’m just shaking my head in this instance. And I said: ‘Have I committed any acts of terrorism? Am I expected to commit any acts of terrorism?’ And they said: ‘No, we have you here because of your views…'”

The British government does not deny that the commando was flown to London for questioning; nor that he was detained by Police Scotland under counter-terrorism legislation.  Whitehall sources have suggested that Police Scotland was concerned he may be linked to “extreme far-Right politics.”  However, he was not charged, and continues to serve as a Royal Marine commando (for now).

Going public was a smart move for the soldier, as it has likely helped to prevent the government from burying him outright.  Britain under leftist Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spiraled into an Orwellian nightmare as the government actively hunts down anyone that openly questions DEI initiatives and mass immigration policies.  Many have already gone to prison simply for posting criticism and memes on social media. 

Analysts within Britain have suggested that the country is on the verge of civil war.  The progressive politicians in power would be caught at a disadvantage if the public knew that elite soldiers in the military do not support leftist policies and might very well be on the side of populist reforms.

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A federal judge ruled on April 29 that the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) must disburse the funding appropriated by Congress to the nonprofit news organization Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a temporary restraining order sought by the media group, directing USAGM to immediately disburse over $12 million in funding for the month of April to Radio Free Europe.

Lamberth said the plaintiff had shown it would suffer irreparable harm absent a restraining order, noting that USAGM’s actions to terminate the grants agreement “threaten the very existence” of the group.

The judge also stated that Radio Free Europe is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that USAGM had violated the Administrative Procedure Act by terminating the grants agreement.

Lamberth said the Trump administration must seek congressional approval to take such action, noting that it “has no residual constitutional power to refuse” to spend appropriations by Congress.

“It is, after all, Congress that makes the laws in this country. In this case, for example, it was Congress who ordained that the monies at issue should be allocated to RFE/RL,” Lamberth stated, referring to the acronym for Radio Free Europe.

The judge also determined that USAGM’s decision to change the grant agreement after the start of the fiscal year was “arbitrary and capricious.”

According to the court order, USAGM presented “a radically different grant agreement” in mid-April, leaving little time for a meaningful negotiation as Radio Free Europe was running out of funding.

“If our nation is to thrive for another 250 years, each co-equal branch of government must be willing to courageously exert the authority entrusted to it by our Founders,” Lamberth stated.

USAGM moved to terminate Radio Free Europe’s grant agreement following President Donald Trump’s order directing officials to eliminate non-statutory components of the agency. USAGM has an annual budget of around $900 million and operates networks broadcasting in more than 60 languages and around 100 countries.

The cutbacks affect the organizations and agencies under its umbrella, including Voice of America (VOA); the Office of Cuba Broadcasting; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and other organizations such as Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

Radio Free Europe was established during the Cold War to broadcast news to the Soviet Union. It describes itself as a “private, independent international news organization whose programs—radio, Internet, television, and mobile—reach a weekly audience of nearly 50 million people in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus.”

The organization filed a lawsuit against USAGM on March 18 and subsequently sought a temporary restraining order to block the funding cancellation.

Government lawyers have previously argued that the dispute is over a contract and can only be adjudicated by the Court of Federal Claims. The lawyers also said that while Congress makes funding available for grants to Radio Free Europe, there is no mandated sum within the appropriations specifically for the organization.

Stephen Capus, president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, welcomed the ruling and said that they hope to receive the funding quickly. Capus said the group had to furlough staff and scale back some of its programming due to the funding cut.

“Every day that USAGM withholds money further endangers our journalists, including four who are currently in prison,” Capus said in a statement. “We will remain in court and look forward to working with USAGM to ensure that we’ll be paid for the rest of the fiscal year.”

The Epoch Times reached out to USAGM for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

The artificial intelligence race to outperform Chinese DeepSeek intensified on Tuesday as Alibaba unveiled Qwen3, a family of open-source large language models. Goldman analysts told clients the new LLMs represent a continued boom in China’s AI space.

On Tuesday, the Qwen team published a blog post on its website announcing the results of Qwen3-235B-A22B, showing that the flagship model achieved competitive results in benchmark evaluations of coding, math, general capabilities, etc., when compared to other LLMs, including DeepSeek-R1, o1, o3-mini, Grok-3, and Gemini-2.5-Pro. 

According to Qwen, Qwen3-235B-A22B transitions between a “thinking mode” and a “non-thinking mode” in a hybrid approach to problem-solving. 

I seriously cannot believe this is a 0.6B LLM! 🤯@Alibaba_Qwen just released Qwen3, a series of hybrid reasoning models that allow you to control how much “thinking” the model does for a given task.

They can even run locally in your browser on WebGPU with 🤗 Transformers.js! pic.twitter.com/jnjWanObw9

— Xenova (@xenovacom) April 29, 2025

Goldman analysts Ronald Keung, Timothy Zhao, and colleagues commented on the rise of China’s AI models like Qwen, outlining seven key observations for clients after reviewing the Qwen3-235B-A22B:

1. Its leading benchmarking results for its flagship model (Qwen3-235B-A22B) in coding, math etc. vs. other top-tier models DeepSeek-R1, o1, etc.,

2. further improved performance alongside lower inference cost, with the smaller MoE model (Qwen3-30B-A3B) offering higher performance with much less activated parameters,

3. its smaller models allow for flexibility of local deployment and edge applications across mobile devices, smart glasses, autonomus vehicles, robotics etc.,

4. integrated thinking (complex reasoning) and non-thinking (instant responses) modes, offering users/enterprises to dynamically manage the inference costs.

5. expanded pre-training dataset for Qwen3 (36tn token, vs. 18tn token of Qwen2.5),

6. more AI agentic capabilities with support of MCP (model context protocol), and

7. global accessibility, supporting 119 languages and dialects. Separately, Alibaba Cloud announced earlier at its 2025 AI conference on April 9 where API calls for AI models on Alibaba Cloud surged nearly 100X in Jan 2025 vs. Dec 2024, while the number of enterprises integrated with the PAI model platform has also grown 100X to over 10k vs. last year

The analysts are “Buy” rated on BABA with a 12-month price target of $159 “on stabilizing domestic eCommerce profits and fast Alibaba Cloud revenue growth being China’s largest cloud hyperscaler, with leading AI models and diverse application scenarios.”

The race for more efficient LLMs will likely lead Washington to continue tightening chip exports to curb China’s advances, especially with developments from DeepSeek and Alibaba. US exports of Nvidia’s H20 AI chips were recently banned, while US-blacklisted Chinese Huawei Technologies said Monday that it’s testing its new powerful AI chips that exceed the performance of H100s. 

“Alibaba’s release of the Qwen 3 series further underscores the strong capabilities of Chinese labs to develop highly competitive, innovative, and open-source models, despite mounting pressure from tightened U.S. export controls,” Washington-based analyst Ray Wang told CNBC. 

Wang warned: “The U.S.-China AI race, the gap between American and Chinese labs has narrowed—likely to a few months, and some might argue, even to just weeks.” 

“With the latest release of Qwen 3 and the upcoming launch of DeepSeek’s R2, this gap is unlikely to widen—and may even continue to shrink,” he noted.

In markets, the Nasdaq 100 began spiraling lower just a week or so after DeepSeek’s R1 was launched in late January. 

What happens to the Nasdaq on a DeepSeek’s R2 launch? 

Well, for one thing, we know peak data center capacity has likely arrived:

• Wells Fargo Analysts Say Amazon Paused Some Data Center Lease Commitments

• Goldman Throws Cold Water On AI Hype, Moves Forward Datacenter Peak Forecast

. . .