Looks…….
Super Micro Co-Founder Arrested In Alleged $2.5 Billion Nvidia Chip Smuggling Scheme
Federal prosecutors have charged a co-founder of Super Micro Computer Inc. and two associates with participating in a scheme to divert roughly $2.5 billion in advanced Nvidia chips to China,according to an indictment unsealedThursday afternoon. The charges mark a notable escalation in Washington’s effort to police the flow of high-end artificial-intelligence hardware, shifting focus from overseas resellers to individuals with direct ties to U.S. technology firms.
The indictment alleges that the defendants obtained restricted graphics processors - used to train large AI models - and routed them through intermediaries to obscure their ultimate destination. U.S. export rules bar the sale of the most advanced chips to China without a license, citing national-security concerns.
U.S. prosecutors have charged three men - senior executive Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw (the co-founder), Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun - with conspiring to divert billions of dollars’ worth of advanced U.S.-made AI servers to China, bypassing strict export bans.
The servers (packed with powerful restricted Nvidia chips) are banned from sale to China without special government approval because of national security risks. No licenses were ever obtained. Authorities say the group used a combination of third-party entities and altered shipping documentation to bypass those restrictions. Details on the volume and value of the shipments weren’t immediately available.
How the Alleged Scheme Worked:
The group used a company in Southeast Asia as a front buyer to place huge orders with a California-based U.S. manufacturer.
Once the servers arrived in Southeast Asia, they were quickly repackaged and secretly shipped to customers in China through a network of brokers.
Cover-Up Tactics:
Fake documents claiming the Southeast Asian company was the real end-user.
When audits happened, they staged warehouses with non-working “dummy” replica servers.
One defendant allegedly posed as a lawyer during a U.S. government inspection.
Text messages show they knew the rules were tightening but rushed shipments anyway (e.g., “We need to speed these up before May 13!”).
They've been charged with three counts; Conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, Conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States, and Conspiracy to defraud the United States (impairing Commerce Department licensing and enforcement).
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.660027/gov.uscourts.nysd.660027.2.0.pdf
EU faces energy price ‘tsunami’ – Putin envoy
The looming shock stems from the bloc’s “stubborn stupidity” by rejecting Russian energy, Kirill Dmitriev has said
An oil and gas price surge is about to hit Europe, Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev has warned, calling the EU’s rejection of Russian energy, “stubborn stupidity.”
The escalating conflict in the Middle East, triggered by the US-Israeli attack on Iran, has driven extreme volatility in global energy markets. Gas prices have spiked by roughly 70% since March 1, amid strikes on energy infrastructure in the Gulf. Oil prices have climbed above $110 per barrel due to disruptions to maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for roughly 20% of global supply.
“An oil and gas price tsunami is about to devastate Europe,” Dmitriev said on Thursday on X. The looming disaster “stems from the stubborn strategic stupidity of Russophobes such as [European Commission President] Ursula [von der Leyen] and [EU foreign policy chief] Kaja [Kallas], who rejected reliable and cost-effective Russian energy,” he argued. Moscow has long maintained that it remains a reliable supplier.
https://www.rt.com/news/635565-eu-energy-tsunami-dmitriev/
Clowns are projecting
WHO warns of 'worst-case scenario nuclear incident' in US-Israeli war on Iran
The United Nations agency says no matter how much it prepares, the outcome would be catastrophic
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is bracing for potential nuclear fallout from the escalating US-Israeli war on Iran, and warns that the outcome would be catastrophic no matter how many precautions are taken.
Speaking to Politico this week, Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said she is "really just hoping that it does not happen".
"The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that's something that worries us the most,” she said.
“As much as we prepare, there's nothing that can prevent the harm that will come," Balkhy added. "The consequences are going to last for decades."
The US has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. Israel, though it has never publicly admitted it, is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. Iran may have nuclear ambitions, but has not enriched its uranium to bomb-making levels, according to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/who-preparing-nuclear-threat-report/
US Central Command posted what it said were satellite images showing the destruction of a ballistic missile factory in Karaj, northern Iran.
https://twitter.com/i/status/2034722725323821095
Iran launched a new missile barrage toward Haifa, where dozens of projectiles were seen in the sky.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said earlier that an oil refinery in the city had been damaged by missile fragments.
🚨 MULTIPLE VIDEOS CONFIRM: Iran unleashing cluster ballistic missiles on Israel — dozens of submunitions detonating mid-air & on impact.
Israeli Air defenses overwhelmed in latest barrages.
https://www.rt.com/news/635517-us-iran-israel-war-updates/
Bezos Plots Colossal $100 Billion Fund To Transform Companies Using AI: WSJ
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is in early discussions to raise as much as $100 billion for a new investment vehicle aimed at acquiring and revitalizing manufacturing companies through the application of artificial intelligence, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The proposed fund, described in investor materials as a “manufacturing transformation vehicle,” would target companies in strategic industrial sectors such as semiconductor fabrication, defense and aerospace. Bezos has held preliminary meetings with some of the largest asset managers in Asia and the Middle East, though the talks remain at an nascent stage, the Journal said.
The initiative is closely linked to Project Prometheus, the AI startup Bezos co-founded and co-leads as CEO. Launched in late 2025 with $6.2 billion in initial funding—much of it from billionaire himself—the company is developing advanced AI models designed to understand and simulate the physical world.
Project Prometheus, valued at roughly $30 billion following its initial round, is separately pursuing additional capital, the Journal also reported.
The unprecedented surge in investment into artificial intelligence has raised a host of unresolved questions. Is the AI boom a bubble destined to burst? And perhaps more pressingly, how will the world muster sufficient energy to sustain this revolutionary technology amid soaring power demands from data centers?
In an interview at Italian Tech Week in October, Bezos offered an answer to the second question.
The Amazon founder predicted that “gigawatt-scale” data centers—massive facilities capable of drawing power on the scale of entire cities—will begin to be constructed in orbit within the next 10 to 20 years. The billionaire argued that the orbital installations would harness constant, uninterrupted solar energy, free from clouds, weather, or nighttime interruptions that constrain terrestrial operations.
“These giant training clusters…will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7. There are no clouds and no rain, no weather,” Bezos said during a fireside conversation with Ferrari and Stellantis Chairman John Elkann. “We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centers in space in the next couple of decades.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1974246055282610500
https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/bezos-plots-colossal-100-billion-fund-transform-companies-using-ai-wsj
US Fast-Tracks Billions In 'Emergency' Arms Sales To Gulf, Bypassing Congress
On the one hand President Trump and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth have declared that America is 'winning' against Iran, having destroyed its navy and air defenses, and having seriously degraded its missiles - but on the other the admin has put in for a more than $200 billion supplemental request to Congress to fund the war.
It seems Congress will likely eventually sign off on this gargantuan figure - for an 'excursion' which should end 'soon' we are told by Trump - given that even the effort to pass so much as a War Powers resolution gets repeatedly stymied.
Still, the US administration is busy bypassing standard congressional review requirements, on Thursday approving a series of emergency arms sales across the Middle East, at a moment US regional allies are being pummeled by Iranian drones and ballistic missiles.
The argument is that Washington's allies are in imminent danger, and given that indeed vital Gulf infrastructure is getting hit quite seriously - new arms have to be rushed over there on an emergency basis.
According to details in Saudi-owned Al Arabiya:
The largest package was approved for the United Arab Emirates, totaling more than $8 billion. It includes the $4.5 billion sale of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), $2.10 billion for FS-LIDS counter-drone systems, $1.22 billion in Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs), and $644 million in F-16 munitions, including GBU-39 small diameter bombs and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs).
In parallel, Washington approved an $8 billion deal for Kuwait to buy Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor Radars, significantly enhancing the country’s missile detection and tracking capabilities.
Jordan was also included in the emergency approvals, with a $70.5 million package covering aircraft support and munitions to sustain operational readiness.
Notably, a US base all the way over in Jordan, the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, was struck by Iran in the opening days of the war, satellite imagery showed.
This development of all these newly approved 'emergency' arms and weapons shipments begs the question: is this more evidence that Washington is settling in for a 'long war'?
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-fast-tracks-billions-emergency-arms-sales-gulf-bypassing-congress
Minnesota Audit: State Agency 'Accidentally' Blocked Kickback Investigation Into Autism Services
A state agency erred when it blocked autism-services kickbacks from being investigated—a decision based on the agency’s flawed, decades-old definition of “fraud,” according to a Minnesota audit released March 17.
That was the key finding of the state’s Office of Legislative Auditor, a state watchdog that conducted a two-year special review. The autism-services program that auditors examined is among many health and welfare benefits that Minnesota’s Department of Human Services runs or oversees.
For months, Minnesota has been a focal point for government-program fraud that could total billions of dollars, with dozens of people, mostly Somalis, having been charged and convicted since 2022. Additional schemes emerged late last year and remain under investigation, with more charges expected, prosecutors have said.
Concerns about fraud have recently expanded nationwide. On March 16, President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating an anti-fraud task force. Saying that other states such as California and New York may have fraud problems that are worse than Minnesota’s, the president directed Vice President JD Vance and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson to root out fraud in federally funded social services and welfare programs.
During the Minnesota audit, investigators told auditors that they believed they lacked “authority to investigate allegations of kickbacks” in the autism program without additional claims of “fraud, theft, abuse, or error.”
The department’s fraud definition, set in 1995, failed to specifically include “kickbacks.” Those are payments or “anything of value” to induce referrals to providers of federally funded health care—a practice that is illegal under federal law, the report noted.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/minnesota-audit-state-agency-accidentally-blocked-kickback-investigation-autism-services
What is Elon Musk actually up to?
He seems to be rattling the cage at Twitter, but what other things is he
involved with?
Short list:
-
Shill for self-driving cars, something no one asked for and no one needs, but will certainly restrict people’s freedoms
-
Shill for electric cars. No one likes tailpipe emissions, but that electricity has to come from somewhere – and we already know we don’t have enough electricity if everyone gets an electric vehicle
-
Shill for psycho-surgery and the implanting of electronic devices into people’s brains to…to what exactly, and why?
These are all Klaus Schwab favorites.
https://www.brasscheck.com/video/the-real-elon-musk/
Charities funding Israel’s illegal settlements untouchable, Labor says
The Labor Government has told the Senate that Australian charities don’t have to comply with international law, nor will they be compelled.
The Albanese government has rejected a proposal to strip tax-deductible status from Australian charities found to be supporting illegal occupations, amid mounting scrutiny over donations flowing to Israeli settlements and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
MWM has identified 5 charities either sending money to the IDF or to parties associated with illegal West Bank settlements in Occupied Palestine.
The proposed amendment, introduced by Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, would explicitly bar organisations from receiving deductible gift recipient (DGR) status if they are found to have supported an “illegal occupation”.
“The fact that people are sending money to support the war crimes of the Israeli military and to expand illegal, violent settlements in the West Bank is bad enough, but that Australian taxpayers are subsidising these settlements is completely outrageous,” Faruqi said.
Supporting these heinous crimes deserves investigation, not a tax deduction.
The amendment, circulated in the Senate as part of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill 2025, would insert a new provision into the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 denying DGR endorsement to any entity that has “advocated, prepared, planned, assisted in, financed, fostered, supported … or contributed to the establishment, maintenance or expansion of the illegal occupation”.
It would also empower the foreign affairs minister to formally declare what constitutes an “illegal occupation” for the purposes of the law.
Charities funding illegal settlements
This year, MWM released a series of investigations revealing that Australian charities are funnelling tax-deductible donations to projects linked to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, as well as to initiatives supporting IDF soldiers.
In the Senate debate on the amendment, Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne cited the findings of the MWM investigations.
https://youtu.be/dUAkzL2n_yA
She highlighted figures showing that Jewish National Fund Australia had remitted more than $125m to Israel since 2009, while the United Israel Appeal Refugee Relief Fund had transferred approximately $376m since 2013 via Keren Hayesod, with a portion of these funds used for settlement expansion and IDF-linked programs.
Allman-Payne also referenced the activities of the Chai Charitable Foundation, which earlier this year hosted fundraisers for organisations providing direct support to IDF soldiers and settlement communities, including in Tekoa and Hebron, before removing the campaigns following questioning by MWM.
“It is obviously of significant concern if there are charitable organisations in Australia that are funnelling funds to illegal occupiers and illegal settlements,” Allman-Payne told the Senate.
She noted that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) had received 896 complaints relating to 88 charities in connection with the Israel-Gaza conflict between October 2023 and December 2025.
“Given that these donations are tax-deductible … that effectively means taxpayers are subsidising illegal occupation and militarisation,” she said.
https://michaelwest.com.au/charities-funding-israel-illegal-settlements-untouchable-labor-says/
Australia