morning
EU-China deal ‘suspended’ in ‘slap down’ of Angela Merkel
European Union officials have “suspended” their attempt to ratify a controversial investment deal with China in a sign of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s waning influence and growing trans-Atlantic anger at Beijing’s human rights abuses.
“We now in a sense have suspended ... political outreach activities from the European Commission side,” EU Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told Agence France-Presse.
That development marks a setback for Merkel, who spearheaded the charge to conclude negotiations over the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment in December, even as then-incoming President Joe Biden’s team urged European officials to postpone the talks. Merkel and leading figures within the EU forged ahead, but a subsequent decision to join the United States in sanctioning some of the Chinese communist officials individuals responsible for atrocities against the Uyghur Muslims opened a new rift between Brussels and Beijing — one that Merkel sought to close as recently as last week.
“Well, coming in the wake of the German-Chinese government consultations last week which [Merkel] used to push for early ratification of [the China investment deal], this amounts to a very much deserved slap down,” Germany’s Reinhard Buetikofer, who heads the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China, tweeted Tuesday. “She should think again how she positions Germany as long as she is still there.”
Buetikofer was “number one on China’s sanctions list,” as Chinese state media put it, when Beijing targeted 10 individuals and four entities in retaliation for Western sanctions on behalf of the long-suffering Uyghurs.
"It's clear in the current situation with the EU sanctions in place against China and Chinese countersanctions in place, including against members of European Parliament [that] the environment is not conducive for ratification of the agreement,” Dombrovskis said.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/eu-china-deal-suspended-slap-down-angela-merkel
AF2 USAF C-32A departed JBA for Providence , R.I. the opposite direction of the border
Harris to visit Rhode Island alongside Raimondo
Vice President Kamala Harris is set to visit Rhode Island on Wednesday. She will be joined by the state’s former Gov. Gina Raimondo, who now serves as secretary of commerce. They will visit small businesses and discuss President Biden’s plans to help the economy. Later this month, Biden will visit New England with a trip to Connecticut.
https://whdh.com/news/harris-to-visit-rhode-island-alongside-raimondo/
Lumber Futures Extend Record Rally to Top $1,500 for First Time
U.S. lumber futures extended their steep rally to fresh record highs, shooting above $1,500 in early trading Wednesday.
The extended rally comes as voracious home construction demand sends builders scrambling to secure the wood they need, while sawmills struggle to bulk up their inventories and labor shortages from truckers to construction workers exacerbate the situation. Prices have quadrupled in the past year, vaulting higher on an unexpected surge in home building and renovations that caught sawmills off guard amid the pandemic. Weyerhaeuser Co. reported a record quarterly profit last week, having sold out of some products for the next five to six weeks, while Resolute Forest Products Inc. said its order book exceeds its inventory. The rally, which some expect could continue even higher, is hitting pocketbooks and potentially pushing first-time home buyers out of the market, as North America heads into its peak building season. It has lifted the price of an average new single-family home by $35,872 over the past 12 months, according to the national Association of Home Builders.
July lumber futures on Chicago Mercantile Exchange rallied as much as 4% to $1,541 per 1,000 board feet, the highest-ever for a most-active contract. The May contract, which will expire May 14, rose $1.10 to $1,610.10.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/lumber-futures-extend-record-rally-to-top-1-500-for-first-time-1.1599512
AF2 USAF C-32A on descent for Providence , R.I.
SAM396 USAF G5 en
FORGE31 US Army C-560 (and has been an AZAZ09O9 flight in the past-which are nao non-existent) south
FORGE94 US Army G5 departed JBA and sorta hanging around just nw of JBA
>>50650 pb $17.5 Million In Revenue And $5.4 Billion In Losses: Archegos Was A 300x-Levered Time Bomb For Credit Suisse
Archegos prepares for insolvency as banks seek compensation
Archegos Capital Management, the family office run by former Tiger Asia manager Bill Hwang, is preparing for insolvency after banks tried to recoup some of the $10 billion in losses due to its meltdown in March, the Financial Times reported. The company did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
https://www.reuters.com/article/archegos-bankruptcy/archegos-prepares-for-insolvency-as-banks-seek-compensation-financial-times-idUSL4N2MS36I
Considering Archegos web site has been down since the week of March 21st.....cap#2