China’s Economy: Consumers Boost Its Economic Recovery -- by J. Cheng

China’s economic recovery picked up a surprising amount of steam in March, boosted by strong domestic consumption and unquenchable foreign demand for Chinese-made goods.

The country’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index, a gauge of factory activity, hit a three-month high of 51.9 in March, topping February’s reading of 50.6 with the 50 mark separating expansion from contraction, according to data released Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a reading of 51.2.

Read more at: China’s Consumers Boost Its Economic Recovery - WSJ

European Union & Vaccine Rollout: Disaster Unfolding

For a long time now, the creation of the euro, a dangerous experiment that placed political fantasy over economic reality, has been the most damaging example of just how far, and just how incompetently, those running the EU would go in the name of “ever-closer union.” That dismal precedent may now have been eclipsed by Brussels’s involvement in securing supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine for those who live within the EU’s borders, a lethal experiment that placed political dogma over medical need.

Supported by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, the EU Commission (its administrative arm) took over the negotiations with vaccine manufacturers on behalf of all EU member-states last June. This was designed both as a declaration of EU “solidarity” and because of the belief that bargaining on behalf of the whole bloc could secure the vaccine at a cheaper price, a calculation that appeared to take little account of the economic costs of any delays, and delay was what — for a variety of reasons — Brussels delivered.

The U.K. came to its deal with AstraZeneca (the manufacturer of the Oxford vaccine) three months earlier than the EU, and its contract came with sharper teeth. The EU also took four months longer than the U.K. and U.S. to sign up with Pfizer.

Readmore at: European Union & Vaccine Rollout: Disaster Unfolding | National Review

Coronavirus - EU: Frustration at EU summit on slow vaccination - by Eszter Zalan

A sluggish start to the vaccine roll-out has cast a long shadow on the online meeting of EU leaders, who on Thursday (25 March) discussed the bloc's vaccine strategy.

There has been a muted backing for the EU Commission's plans to tighten export rules, as the bloc wants to make sure pharmaceutical companies, particularly AstraZeneca, deliver on their EU contracts before exporting.

Leaders also resisted Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz's efforts to redistribute vaccines at the summit, which Kurz argued had been unevenly spread among member states.

Read more at: Frustration at EU summit on slow vaccination

EU: Spain, Nethrlands open econmy for Europe preferable - by Jan Strupczewski and Foo Yun Chee

Spain and the Netherlands on Wednesday urged the 27-country European Union to keep its economy open, as it tries to become more independent from global powers like the United States and Asia in technology, vaccine production and energy.

The joint call by the two countries, which have large exposure to trade and tourism, comes as the European Commission announced on Wednesday tougher rules on the export of COVID-19 vaccines, including clearer rights to block shipments to countries.

Read more at: Spain, Netherlands say open economy key to EU strategic autonomy

USA: Wall Street: Will The U.S. Stock Market Crash Soon?

U.S. stock markets have experienced another brutal week. Inflation fear and soaring bond yields are some of the concerns that are trying to burst the higher stock valuation bubble. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, among two other stock indices—the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite—is the only index holding on to its yearly gains. The fear is that we could see an even more intense sell-off that could crash the stock market.

Read more at: Will The U.S. Stock Market Crash Soon?

EU - the have and the have nots: Covid-19 and Europe-wide inequality – by Michael Dauderstädt

When the pandemic hit the European Union its economy had decelerated somewhat but unemployment had reached its lowest level for years, while inflation remained stubbornly below its 2 per cent target. Inequality had decreased, too. All these achievements were however disrupted by an enormous economic shock as the economies of the member states went into lockdown.

In 2019, EU-wide inequality had reached its lowest level since the 2007 eastern enlargement (Figure 1). After many years of stagnation, in 2016 income disparities had eventually started to decline.

Read more at: Covid-19 and Europe-wide inequality – Michael Dauderstädt

Britain-EU relations: Europe's trust in Britain has gone. We're now a problem, not a partner - by Raphael Behr

The pandemic is landing well-aimed punches on the already bruised relationship between Britain and the European Union. A dispute over vaccine supplies threatens to bring blunt instruments of trade war down on delicate national feelings. Not in the darkest hours of Brexit negotiations did either side imagine that supply-chain management would so quickly become a matter of life and death.

At a summit later this week, European leaders will discuss a possible ban on exports to the UK from an AstraZeneca plant in the Netherlands. There is frustration in Brussels that millions of vaccine doses have gone overseas (mostly Pfizer ones) and none have come over in return. The UK responds that it cannot be blamed for moving earlier, signing better contracts and generally getting its immunising act together faster.

Tory MPs say Brussels is lashing out in jealousy. Vaccination is something Boris Johnson’s government is doing well, and the EU is floundering. That has less to do with Brexit than is claimed by triumphant ministers, but as propaganda the point is irresistible: there is nothing else to trumpet as a benefit of detachment from the continent, and winning the vaccination race resonates with voters grateful for jabs.

Read more at: Europe's trust in Britain has gone. We're now a problem, not a partner | Brexit | The Guardian

USA: Will the Biden Administration Shine Light on Special Ops Programs?

U.S. special operations forces deployed to 154 countries, or roughly 80 percent of the world’s nations, last year, but information about exactly where elite forces conduct missions, under what authorities they operate, who they’ve killed, and whether they’re adhering to the laws of armed conflict is closely guarded, buried in obscure legal provisions, shrouded in secrecy, or allegedly unknown even to Special Operations Command.

The command, known as SOCOM, will only name half the countries where its forces were active in 2020. It claims that its personnel — Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets, and Marine Corps Raiders among them — have captured or killed “thousands of terrorists” under one obscure program but also that it doesn’t track such data. SOCOM refuses to provide even basic information about publicly acknowledged operations.

Read more at: Will the Biden Administration Shine Light on Special Ops Pro

Airbus A380: Which Airlines Leased Hi Fly's Airbus A380?

Hi Fly Malta is a Maltese subsidiary of Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly. The carrier is known for having operated an Airbus A380 in a striking ‘Save The Coral Reefs’ livery. This paint scheme raised environmental awareness, warning against coral reef destruction on its travels.

Hi Fly Malta is a Maltese subsidiary of Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly. The carrier is known for having operated an Airbus A380 in a striking ‘Save The Coral Reefs’ livery. This paint scheme raised environmental awareness, warning against coral reef destruction on its travels.

Low-cost carrier Norwegian was one of 9H-MIP’s more prominent users between 2018 and 2020. One of the reasons it leased the aircraft was to clear a backlog of delayed passengers caused by the London Gatwick drone incident in December 2018. The A380’s extra capacity over Norwegian’s Boeing 787s was crucial in getting transatlantic passengers home for Christmas.

Read more at: Which Airlines Leased Hi Fly's Airbus A380? - Simple Flying

Europe sees a 3rd wave of COVID-19, propelled by variants

European leaders address concerns about the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine by getting the shot amid a third wave of the coronavirus, much of it propelled by variants.

Read more at: Europe sees a 3rd wave of COVID-19, propelled by variants | CBC.ca

Corona virus: Spain joins France, Germany and Italy in pausing Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – as it happened

France, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Cyprus announced they will stop administering the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine pending an assessment by the EU’s medicine regulator. Spain said it will stop using the AZ vaccine for at least two weeks.

Read more at: Spain joins France, Germany and Italy in pausing Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – as it happened | World news | The Guardian

Coronavirus: Immunizing the World: Can We Do It? - by Andrés Ortega

It is not only a matter of morality — but also an issue of general protection and even of geopolitics: It is necessary to immunize the world, or at least to try to, and to this end to launch a global vaccination campaign against COVID 19.

Western leaders have been slow to react — but they at last seem better disposed towards the proposal, as became clear at the recent virtual G7 summit.

It was not a foregone conclusion — nor are all the guarantees on offer. In any event, while the method is multi-lateralism, the goal is the universalism of the kind that has become a common or collective good.

Read more at: Immunizing the World: Can We Do It? - The Globalist

US Economy- Forecast: oecd-doubles-us-economic-growth-forecast

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has more than doubled its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the US economy since making its last projections in December. At that time, the OECD said it expected real GDP growth of 3.2% in the US in 2021, but now it expects the US economy to grow 6.5% this year.

If its current predictions are accurate, it would be only the second time since 1966 that US GDP growth exceeded 6%, following behind 1984 when GDP growth was a red-hot 7.2%.

Read More at: ai-cio.com/news/oecd-doubles-us-economic-growth-forecast/

British-EU reations: EU starts legal action against UK over Northern Ireland - by Eszter Zalan

The European Parliament has urged EU states to go after alleged Syrian war criminals in Europe, 10 years after the start of the bloodiest war in its neighbourhood.

"Persons responsible for core international crimes must be duly prosecuted, including by EU member states ... [as] lack of accountability provides a breeding ground for further atrocities," the parliament said in a non-binding resolution adopted last week.

Read more at: EU starts legal action against UK over Northern Ireland

USA - economy: Oligarch bankers are using woke PR campaigns to whitewash the greatest wealth inequality and economic plunder in history - by Mitchell Feierstein

Goldman Sachs has announced a broad pledge of $10 billion to ‘change the lives’ of One Million Black Women. But the plan is thin on detail and smacks of a bid for good PR from an industry where inequality has thrived for years.

In a press release, Goldman Sachs promised that the One Million Black Women initiative “will address the dual disproportionate gender and racial biases that black women have faced for generations, which the pandemic has only exacerbated.” And Goldman’s CEO David Solomon explained the framework for the project. “Given all that's happened over the course of the last year, we've done a lot of talking at the firm–and even more, listening–to help us figure out how we can do more to end the racial inequity and the gaps that have existed in society for well too long,” he said. Additionally, Goldman pledged $100 million for philanthropic causes.

Read more at: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/518172-goldman-sachs-black-women/

Coronavirus: Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 118.82 million, death toll at 2,760,596

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 118.82 million, death toll at 2,760,596

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/world

EU-US Relations: New transatlantic partnership for global change in motion

In a letter sent to Manfred Weber – the chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political organization in the EU Parliament, Council, and Commission – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban officially announced that his political party, Fidesz, would resign from the center-right group.

Orban’s decision to pull Fidesz out of the faction came after the EPP, which has dominated EU politics for over 20 years, moved to enact a new rule change that would have paved the way for Fidesz to be suspended from its ranks.

Reas more at: New transatlantic partnership for global change in motion | New Europe

CHINA: Wealthy Chinese outnumber wealthy Americans for the first time

A new report from Credit Suisse (CS) shows that wealth in China is ticking up, and the country now accounts for 100 million of the richest 10% of people in the world. There are 99 million Americans in the same category.

The United States still has many more millionaires — 18.6 million, or 40% of the world's total, versus 4.4 million in China. It's also adding to the millionaire count at a faster clip. The report credits low interest rates and Republican tax cuts for the country's 11th consecutive year of rising wealth.

Tech billionaires dominate China's rich list. Some pig farmers also had a good year Tech billionaires dominate China's rich list. Some pig farmers also had a good year

Read more at: Wealthy Chinese outnumber wealthy Americans for the first time - CNN

EU-IndTrade in focus: India, EU discuss ramping up ties

Cmmerce Minister Piyush Goyal and MoS Commerce & Industry Hardeep Singh Puri at the high-level dialogue on India-EU bilateral trade with Executive Vice President of European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis. (via @PiyushGoyal)

India and the European Union (EU) have held the first high level dialogue (HLD) and discussed ways to promote bilateral trade and investments, the Commerce Ministry said on Saturday.

The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and the European Union Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. It was held on Friday.

Read more at: Trade in focus: India, EU discuss ramping up ties | Business News,The Indian

EU-IndTrade in focus: India, EU discuss ramping up ties

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and MoS Commerce & Industry Hardeep Singh Puri at the high-level dialogue on India-EU bilateral trade with Executive Vice President of European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis. (via @PiyushGoyal)

India and the European Union (EU) have held the first high level dialogue (HLD) and discussed ways to promote bilateral trade and investments, the Commerce Ministry said on Saturday.

The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and the European Union Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. It was held on Friday.

Read more at: Trade in focus: India, EU discuss ramping up ties | Business News,The Indian Express

US Senate approves $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in Democratic victory

On Saturday, the US Senate voted to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that includes at least $6.1 billion in estimated funding for Hawai‘i.

The American Rescue Plan Act – the second largest emergency relief package in American history and a trillion dollars more than the last package passed in December – includes funding for unemployment assistance, and aid for small businesses, vaccine distribution, schools, and health care workers.

Read more at: US Senate approves $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in Democratic victory | Euronews

EU, US agree 4-month tariff freeze over aircraft dispute

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the Joe Biden presidency as a "fresh start." The pair are seeking to rebuild relations, starting with a trade breakthrough in the Airbus-Boeing dispute.

Read more at: EU, US agree 4-month tariff freeze over aircraft dispute | News | DW | 05.03.2021

EU: Covid: What’s the problem with the EU vaccine rollout?

The European Union has been criticised for the slow pace of coronavirus vaccinations in its member states.

It has introduced export controls on vaccines produced in the EU after its rollout was hit by supply problems and delays. They were used for the first time on 4 March, when Italy blocked a shipment of 250,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia.

The scheme, set up in June 2020, allows the EU to negotiate the purchase of vaccines on behalf of its member states. It says this can help reduce costs and avoid competition between them.

Member states do not have to join the scheme, but all 27 EU countries chose to do so.

Read more at: Covid: What’s the problem with the EU vaccine rollout? - BBC News

The Netherlands to trial rapid and home coronavirus tests

Extensive research has already shown that these types of coronavirus tests are effective and reliable, and now 10 short-term trials will be used to determine whether their large-scale use is realistic or practical.

Eight of the 10 pilots will take place at educational institutions in Groningen, Delft, Amsterdam, Nijmegen, Eindhoven, Utrecht and Rotterdam, while the last two will take place at the fire station at Schiphol Airport and a private company. All trials will be supervised by Dutch hospitals and universities.

Read more at: The Netherlands to trial rapid and home coronavirus tests

USA - Wall Street: S&P 500 scores best day gain in about 9 months, as March kicks off with brighter economic outlook - by Mark DeCambre and Sunny Oh

U.S. stock-market benchmarks surged Monday, with the S&P 500 booking its best day of gains since June, as a gauge of manufacturing activity showed the economy was picking up steam at the start of the year.

Strategists also attributed the enthusiasm to a cool-down of last week’s rapid rise in bond yields that had unsettled the bullish mood on Wall Street and threatened to offset the easy-money policies implemented by the Federal Reserve.

Read more at: S&P 500 scores best day gain in about 9 months, as March kicks off with brighter economic outlook - MarketWatch