Have the current negative factors been completely released? From the current situation, Iran may choose to silently bear the cost of the bombing this time. Trump has expressed a very clear stance: if Iran continues to refuse to return to the negotiating table, the United States plans to directly conclude this war after implementing a round of super-scale bombing operations.
Trump has expressed a clear stance on the current situation. He pointed out that if Iran refuses to come to the negotiating table, the United States will undoubtedly take extremely tough measures. At that time, the U.S. will completely put an end to this war after carrying out a large-scale bombing campaign.
The EU's flagship Africa project has been criticized for its ties to Chinese state-owned enterprises.
In the view of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the railway that winds through the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to reach the Atlantic port of Lobito in Angola is "not just infrastructure."
The upgrade of the Lobito Corridor railway is the flagship project of the EU's €300 billion (US$346 billion) infrastructure initiative "Global Gateway," which was launched with much fanfare in 2021 to counter Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative.
This is also crucial for the EU to break free from China's monopoly on global supplies of critical minerals.
The corridor aims to transport copper and cobalt (key commodities that power high-tech products and the global industrial economy) from mines to ports in the fastest and cheapest way possible.
Now, EU lawmakers are demanding to know whether von der Leyen's investment of over $2.3 billion in European funds for the Lobito Corridor has been funneled to Chinese state-owned enterprises.
This funding will help upgrade and extend Angola's existing Benguela railway and extend it to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.
The Angolan civil war destroyed its core infrastructure, much of which has been rebuilt by Chinese companies with funding supported by the Chinese government; moreover, the sponsors of its expansion projects have deep ties to Beijing.
Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) is a joint venture established by Swiss commodities trader Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil, and private railway company Vecturis. In 2022, the company received a 30-year concession for railway operations, management, and maintenance.
Since 2021, 30% of Mota-Engil's shares have been held by the Chinese state-owned company China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), raising concerns among lawmakers who believe European taxpayer money will strengthen geopolitical competitors.
In February of this year, Trafigura issued a press release praising the low-carbon intensive copper anodes produced by Kamoa Copper, which were sold for the first time to German metal supplier Aurubis Group.
These anodes were transported to Trafigura's inland port facility in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then transferred by LAR to Lobito port, and subsequently shipped by Aurubis to European refineries "for their European refining operations."
According to a statement on Zijin Mining's website, this copper was produced at "the state-of-the-art copper smelter of the recently commissioned Kamoa-Kakula copper mine complex," in which Zijin Mining holds a 44.45% stake.
In 2021, von der Leyen stated when announcing the Global Gateway plan, "It makes no sense to build a perfect road between the copper mines owned by China and the ports owned by China."
In this situation, the EU seems to be repeating the mistakes that a German official had explicitly warned against.
A report passed by the European Parliament on Thursday called for "an immediate investigation into the involvement of all Chinese companies in the Global Gateway initiative."
The report stated that there have been reports that "some Global Gateway projects are being implemented by Chinese companies," which "directly violates the goal of providing an alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative."
Barry Andrews, chair of the Parliament's Development Committee, stated that this chaotic situation "highlights the relationship between the rhetoric we must be cautious about regarding the Global Gateway initiative and the complexities of global supply chains."
"Similarly, this information was also something we stumbled upon; the committee did not disclose it publicly," he added. "We can do better."
EU insiders indicated that while they are more inclined to avoid funding Chinese companies, they cannot rule out that certain Chinese companies have assisted in implementing some Global Gateway projects.
Part of the reason is that third-country partners have their own procurement rules and selection processes, which may lead to Chinese companies winning tenders for EU commitments to provide funding.
However, in the case of LAR, the public has known since as early as 2020, when Mota-Engil and CCCC reached an investment agreement, that this Chinese company was a major shareholder.
This situation exposes the challenges Europe faces: in the race for mineral resources, Europe is several years behind China and other competitors.
This is not the first time the EU has chosen a company partially controlled by China to assist in the construction of Global Gateway projects.
China-Europe trade: deficits, disputes, and de-risking.
In 2023, the South China Morning Post reported that one of the companies on the advisory board of the initiative is Chinese-controlled.
China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) is a state-owned enterprise and is the largest shareholder of the Portuguese energy company (EDP). EDP is one of the companies providing consulting services for the "implementation of the Global Gateway strategy and the scaling of Global Gateway flagship projects" to the European Commission.
As the largest shareholder of EDP, China Telecom (controlled by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council) holds the largest voting power ratio.
EU spokesperson Guillaume Mosser stated that the EU "aims to ensure that its funding primarily benefits companies in Europe and partner countries."
"This is reflected in its procurement rules: for tenders directly managed by the EU, participation is usually restricted, meaning companies from the G20 countries outside the EU are generally not eligible to participate."
"However, many EU projects are implemented indirectly through partners like the European Investment Bank and other development financial institutions, which all adopt their own procurement frameworks," Mosser added.
"While these measures are based on open competition, they can facilitate broader participation."
He noted that in the next EU budget currently being negotiated in Brussels, "the Commission has proposed a more strategic and nuanced procurement approach... including measures to strengthen European priorities."
This aligns with the EU Commission's "Industrial Accelerator Act," a recently proposed initiative aimed at ensuring that in the procurement market of critical industries in the EU, European companies are favored over lower-priced Chinese competitors.
Ark Investment's Latest Trading Update: Cathie Wood Reduces Holdings in Nvidia and Meta, Shifts Focus to Healthcare Sector
According to a report released by Gelonghui on March 30, the highly watched "Wood Lady" Cathie Wood and her leadership at Ark Investment (ARK Invest) announced the latest trading data for their ETFs last Friday. The disclosed information indicates that the institution is making a significant strategic adjustment to its asset portfolio, primarily involving a withdrawal of funds from certain technology stocks and a shift towards increased investment in the healthcare sector.
In terms of fund operations in the technology and semiconductor sectors, Ark Investment's reduction in holdings is quite pronounced. Specifically, the institution sold a total of 58,119 shares of Nvidia through its three fund products: ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), successfully cashing out approximately $9.95 million. At the same time, Ark Investment also reduced its holdings in Meta and AMD, selling 10,500 shares of Meta stock and 19,126 shares of AMD stock, with these two transactions involving funds of approximately $5.75 million and about $3.90 million, respectively.
In stark contrast to the outflow of funds from the technology sector, Ark Investment has demonstrated a positive buying intent in the healthcare market. Data shows that its ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG) has undertaken an increased investment action, purchasing 48,659 shares of Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings, with the total investment amounting to approximately $344,500.
During a flight on Air Force One, U.S. President Donald J. Trump shared the latest update with reporters. He stated that Iran has gifted 20 oil tankers as tribute to the United States. According to the current itinerary, this batch of ships is expected to set sail on Monday morning and begin their journey across the Strait of Hormuz.
According to a report by Yicai, DeepSeek has experienced a continuous overnight service interruption. On the evening of March 29, the platform encountered widespread access anomalies. Many users reported that when trying to use the web and App, the system frequently prompted "Server busy" or became completely unresponsive. This sudden situation quickly drew everyone's attention, and the related topic soon climbed the Weibo hot search list.
As of the morning of March 30, reporters found that after opening DeepSeek, the previous technical malfunction still had not been fixed. Users were still unable to successfully submit any questions, and the page would directly pop up a reminder saying "Please check your network and try again." As of the time of this article's publication, DeepSeek has not yet provided any official public response to this sudden large-scale outage.
Recently, Iran launched an attack on a factory in the Middle East. As a result of this sudden event, the aluminum trading prices in the LME market have surged, with an overall increase of 5%.
Due to the further escalation of the war situation in Iran, market risk aversion sentiment has been rapidly ignited, leading to significant pressure on multiple major stock indices. In the Asian market, the South Korean KOSPI index experienced a substantial drop of 5%, while the downward trend of the Japanese Topix index has also intensified, with a decline expanding to 4.5%. Dragged down by the overall bearish atmosphere, the MSCI Asia-Pacific index fell by 2%, with the specific index level dropping to 229.70 points. In addition, this risk aversion sentiment has also spread to external markets, with the Nasdaq 100 index futures currently seeing a decline that has also expanded to 1%.