🇺🇸❌🇸🇸❗️ — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declares the he is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders in US

He says that US Government will restrict any further issuance to prevent entry into the United States by South Sudanesss, effective immediately, due to the failure of South Sudan's transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner.

https://fxtwitter.com/SecRubio/status/1908637376403890383

🇪🇺🤝🚩 The European Commission admits it has used EU funds that were supposed to "fight climate change" for financing left-wing NGOs and climate organizations with the aim of silencing the voices of European conservatives in a secretive influence operation.

The funds came from the LIFE Program, which is supposed to fund environmental initiatives and has had a total budget of EUR 9 billion since 2014.

The LIFE program is a funding instrument dedicated to environmental, nature conservation, and climate action projects but some of the funds were instead used to attack conservative and eurosceptic voices according to the Austrian newspaper eXXpress.

According to internal documents, the targeted campaigns were designed in cooperation between EU agencies and climate NGOs, including planning which critics would be targeted.

According to the European Commission, changes are now to be introduced to the LIFE program to prevent future excesses.

Guidelines banning subsidized lobbying by EU institutions were already introduced in autumn 2024 - but it is only now that the abuses are being publicly confirmed.

Only a third of organizations and NGOs that received money from the LIFE Program openly disclose their income and how the funds are used, which has led to criticism of lack of transparency.

The former EU Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans orchestrated the secret contracts with environmental NGOs.

These contracts reportedly included detailed lobbying plans specifying targets and goals. It means that the European Commission provided not just funding but also strategic direction on whom to oppose in a coordinated effort to attack political opponents of the European Commission's climate agenda.

NGOs were instructed to focus on critics of the Green Deal, such as conservative MEPs, national politicians, or parties (Austria’s FPÖ and ÖVP parties are likely among the targets) who resisted stringent climate regulations.

🧵 https://fxtwitter.com/visegrad24/status/1908561357114352127

🇯🇵📉❗️ — Japan's Nikkei 225 average futures down 8.3% in early trade

🇦🇺📉❗️— Australian stock market down 4.7%

🇦🇺📉❗️ — Australian stock market down 6.4%

🇯🇵📞🇺🇸❗️ — Bloomberg reports that Japanese Prime-Minister Ishiba aims for Broad Trade Deal With US Over Tariffs following the fallout on Japanese stock market!

🇯🇵📉❗️— Japan's TOPIX banking index is down over 14%

🇹🇼📉❗️ — Republic of China (Taiwan) stock index plunges 9.8% at open

🇹🇼📉❗️ — Republic of China (Taiwan) stock market trading halted, circuit breaker triggered.

#BREAKING
🇭🇰📉❗️ — Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumps 9.1%

#BREAKING
🇭🇰📉❗️ — Hong Kong's Hang Seng Tech Index falls 23% from March High!

🇭🇰📉❗️ — Cantonese e-commerce giant Alibaba Express and Baidu both down by 12%

🇨🇳📉📝 — Southern China's CHINEXT Index (Shenzen-based Stock exchange's subsidiary) falls 6.8%, despite promises of Chinese Government intervention

🇸🇬📉❗️ — Singapore stock market down over 7%

🇨🇳💸📉 — 📊 First Squawk on 𝕏:

"YUAN WEAKENS, DRAGGED BY FEARS OF CHINA-U.S. TRADE WAR
-WSJ"

#Geoeconomics

🔗 First Squawk (@FirstSquawk)