Author: 5amResearch

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA – President Donald Trump ordered massive tariffs on Brazil July 30 and sanctions against the judge overseeing a trial of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of attempting a coup in Latin America’s biggest economy. The announcement of 50 per cent tariffs saw Mr Trump make good on his threat to wield US economic might to punish Brazil – and its Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, in particular – for what he has termed a…

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Treasury Department announced fresh sanctions on Wednesday on over 115 Iran-linked individuals, entities and vessels, in a sign the Trump administration is doubling down on its “maximum pressure” campaign after bombing Tehran’s key nuclear sites in June. The sanctions broadly target the shipping interests of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, who is himself an adviser to Supreme Leader Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The U.S. Treasury described the move as the most significant…

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students. The Civil Rights Division’s Notice of Violation finds that UCLA failed to adequately respond to complaints of severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment and abuse that Jewish and…

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s administration has initiated a probe into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal over allegations of race-related discrimination, making it the latest American university to face the threat of cuts to federal funding. The government said on July 28 that it will probe whether the Duke Law Journal’s selection of its editors gives preferences to candidates from minority communities. “This investigation is based on recent reporting alleging that Duke University discriminates on the bases…

There are typically not many winners in a trade war, but Boeing appears to be reaping some rewards from the one started by US President Donald Trump. The aerospace company has received a steady stream of new orders as part of trade deals between the United States and other countries. These sales could be a boon for Boeing as it emerges from years of bruising crises. They also allow Mr Trump to claim that his unconventional trade policies are helping…

BUCHAREST – Romanian deputy prime minister Dragos Anastasiu resigned on Sunday after an old corruption scandal in which he was involved as a witness resurfaced at a time when the one-month-old coalition government is trying to enforce cost-cutting reforms. Anastasiu had been tasked by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan with overseeing the reform of state-owned companies, part of broader efforts to reduce the largest budget deficit in the European Union and root out waste and inefficiency. Last week, an old corruption…

NEW YORK – US insurance giant Allianz Life said on July 26 that hackers stole the personal information of the majority of its customers, financial professionals and select Allianz Life employees. The insurance giant’s filing with Maine’s attorney-general did not immediately provide the number of customers affected. As per the filing, the data breach, which the company described as a hack, occurred on July 16 and was discovered on July 17. The data breach was first reported by TechCrunch. “On…

WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on July 25 that a nationwide injunction he issued in February that blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship should remain in place. In a written ruling, US District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston said his earlier nationwide injunction was the only way to provide complete relief to a coalition of Democratic-led states that brought the lawsuit before him, rejecting the Trump administration’s argument that a narrower ruling was warranted because of…

July 29-31 FT News  Barlow, D. H., Allen, L. B., & Choate, M. L. (2004).  

WHITSTABLE, United Kingdom – Pensioner Chris Stanley became so incensed by water companies dumping wastewater into the sea near his home that four years ago he stopped paying his bills. To his dismay, things have not improved. “They released sewage water last week on Friday, (and) Sunday night, and on Monday, the beach was declared not safe for swimming,” said Mr Stanley, 82, a regular swimmer, whose home overlooks the sea from the south-eastern town of Whitstable. The Southern Water…

BERLIN – Germany plans to reintroduce compulsory screening for military service for 18-year-old men as part of plans to ramp up defence capabilities, a defence ministry source said on July 24. Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made boosting Germany’s threadbare military a key priority given the threat from Russia and US President Donald Trump’s questioning of the traditional American security umbrella for Europe. The drive for now aims to attract volunteers to the armed forces, but includes provisions for compulsory…

BRUSSELS – The European Union plans to quickly hit the US with 30 per cent tariffs on some €100 billion (S$149.78 billion) worth of goods in the event of no deal and if US President Donald Trump carries through with his threat to impose that rate on most of the bloc’s exports after Aug 1. As a part of a first wave of countermeasures, the EU would combine an already approved list of tariffs on €21 billion of US goods…

Microsoft Corp warned that Chinese state-sponsored hackers are among those exploiting flaws in its SharePoint software to break into institutions globally, with the US agency responsible for designing nuclear weapons now among those breached. In a blog post, the tech giant identified two groups supported by the Chinese government, Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon, as leveraging flaws in the document-sharing software that rendered customers who run it on their own networks, as opposed to in the cloud, vulnerable. Another hacking…

The following is the introduction to Cancel THIS, a new book by Mike Fairclough. Britain’s cancel culture is a purposely designed social credit system. Say the wrong thing, and you’re done for. One ‘offensive’ tweet? Straight to prison. Say a silent prayer? You’re nicked. Point out that men don’t have wombs, or that climate change hysteria is exaggerated? You’re sacked and shunned. Post a meme that contradicts a government orthodoxy or expresses concerns about illegal immigration? Congrats, you’re now persona non grata and…

MUNICH/BERLIN/FRANKFURT – For Gundbert Scherf – the co-founder of Germany’s Helsing, Europe’s most valuable defence start-up – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed everything. Scherf had to fight hard to attract investment after starting his company – which produces military strike drones and battlefield AI – four years ago. Now, that’s the least of his problems. The Munich-based company more than doubled its valuation to $12 billion at a fundraising last month. “Europe this year, for the first time in decades,…

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – From her ninth-floor balcony over Alexandria’s seafront, Eman Mabrouk looked down at the strip of sand that used to be the wide beach where she played as a child. “The picture is completely different now,” she said. The sea has crept closer, the concrete barriers have got longer and the buildings around her have cracked and shifted. Every year 40 of them collapse across Egypt’s second city, up from one on average a decade ago, a study…