Hi, this is Philip Glamann in Beijing, which is still getting to grips with Donald Trump’s latest stunner. The US and Israeli air assault on Iran has shocked policymakers around the world , rattled markets , upended travel globally and raised worries about energy flows . It also comes just weeks before Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to host Trump in the Chinese capital . That trip — the first by...
Hi, this is Philip Glamann in Beijing, which is still getting to grips with Donald Trump’s latest stunner. The US and Israeli air assault on Iran has shocked policymakers around the world , rattled markets , upended travel globally and raised worries about energy flows . It also comes just weeks before Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to host Trump in the Chinese capital . That trip — the first by an American president since Trump’s visit in 2017 — will play a crucial role in efforts by Washington and Beijing to keep their one-year trade truce intact . The two sides are now working on making sure that discussions between the leaders of the world’s biggest economic powers go well. Bloomberg reported that Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are expected to meet in Paris next week to go over deals that could get worked out in the talks. The potential items are significant: the Chinese purchase of Boeing jets, commitments to buy US soybeans , the future of US fentanyl tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court and of course Taiwan, the democracy that Beijing views as its own . So the stakes are high. To say the attack on Iran complicates the meeting is an understatement. (Read more about the complications here and here’s a full rundown of our Iran War stories .) China has been clear it is unhappy with the bombing, the disruption to flows of oil through the Strait of Hormuz and the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . (Read about a Chinese bank halting a big loan due to worries about the Middle East here .) This week Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi seemed to push Tehran to stop the drone and missile attacks on its neighbors — moves aimed at getting those nations to pressure the US to back off. Yet he also said Beijing “values the traditional friendship between China and Iran, and supports Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and national dignity.” Chinese di...
Big-Tech Signs Ratepayer-Protection Pledge As the AI and data center explosion threatens to overwhelm the grid, the Trump administration organized a commitment from the hyperscalers driving that demand: pay your own way, or don’t build here . *TRUMP: TELLING BIG TECH THEY NEED TO PROVIDE THEIR OWN POWER *TRUMP: NEGOTIATED NEW RATE PAYER PLEDGE ON DATA CENTER ENERGY — zerohedge (@zerohedge) Februar...
Big-Tech Signs Ratepayer-Protection Pledge As the AI and data center explosion threatens to overwhelm the grid, the Trump administration organized a commitment from the hyperscalers driving that demand: pay your own way, or don’t build here . *TRUMP: TELLING BIG TECH THEY NEED TO PROVIDE THEIR OWN POWER *TRUMP: NEGOTIATED NEW RATE PAYER PLEDGE ON DATA CENTER ENERGY — zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 25, 2026 On March 4, the White House rolled out the Ratepayer Protection Pledge , signed by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI . The deal is simple and overdue: these companies must build, bring, or buy every new megawatt they need, and then some. No more socializing the costs onto ordinary ratepayers already hammered by years of green-mandate fallout. The five core commitments are straightforward: Full funding of new generation : Companies cover 100% of new power plants or purchases, with extra capacity added where possible to actually benefit the broader grid. Infrastructure upgrades : All transmission and delivery upgrades required for their facilities get paid by them. Take-or-pay rates : New, separate utility contracts mean they pay the full freight for the power and pipes whether they use every watt or not. Local jobs and training : Hiring and skill programs in host communities. Grid resilience backup : Backup generation available to utilities during shortages to prevent blackouts. As we’ve long documented, from the growing revolt against data centers in political races, where affordability crushed every other issue, to our piece on Democrats still blaming tech while ignoring Biden-Harris green policies that sent Northeast bills soaring to national highs. Households and small businesses love nothing more than staring down double-digit rate hikes and skipping rent payments just so Silicon Valley can train the next LLM models. between exploding electricity bills and lack of jobs for grads, a new luddite revolution is coming - they will be burning...
China will soon power up an ultra-efficient, nuclear waste-burning reactor with a groundbreaking technology that it projects will safely meet humanity’s energy needs for the next 1,000 years. Accelerator-driven subcritical systems (ADS) are advanced nuclear reactors that can both generate energy and transmute long-lived radioactive waste into shorter-lived and less hazardous isotopes. Designed by ...
China will soon power up an ultra-efficient, nuclear waste-burning reactor with a groundbreaking technology that it projects will safely meet humanity’s energy needs for the next 1,000 years. Accelerator-driven subcritical systems (ADS) are advanced nuclear reactors that can both generate energy and transmute long-lived radioactive waste into shorter-lived and less hazardous isotopes. Designed by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) along with state nuclear enterprises, the China Initiative Accelerator Driven System will be the world’s first megawatt-level prototype of such a system once it goes online in southern China’s Guangdong province next year. 02:41 Japan residents protest against planned reopening of world’s largest nuclear power plant Japan residents protest against planned reopening of world’s largest nuclear power plant He Yuan, deputy director of the Institute of Modern Physics under CAS, said the system was an “internationally recognised ideal approach for nuclear fuel breeding and nuclear waste treatment”, according to a report by the official ministry newspaper, Science and Technology Daily, on March 2. Advertisement It could turn nuclear power into a “green, safe, stable energy source for 1,000 years”, according to the report. Despite the promise of this design, there are no commercial systems operating worldwide, with only experimental projects such as China’s in development, according to the institute. Advertisement He said that the institute aimed to complete the installation of the system’s superconducting particle accelerators – which were key to powering the system – this year. While much of the used fuel from conventional nuclear reactors decays fairly rapidly, a significant portion of used nuclear fuel is long-lived actinides, which can remain hazardous for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of years.
格隆汇3月6日｜巴克莱经济学家Bum Ki Son表示，随着伊朗冲突升级及油价上涨，韩国3月整体通胀可能面临上行风险。他在评论韩国2月低于预期的通胀数据时写道：“短期内推动通胀走势的最大因素很可能是油价。”如果中东冲突持续，可能为油价带来显著的风险溢价，并对通胀产生实质性影响。他补充称，韩国可能释放石油储备，这或在一定程度上抵消部分价格上行压力。韩国官员表示，该国战略石油储备在无需进一步进口的情况...
格隆汇3月6日｜巴克莱经济学家Bum Ki Son表示，随着伊朗冲突升级及油价上涨，韩国3月整体通胀可能面临上行风险。他在评论韩国2月低于预期的通胀数据时写道：“短期内推动通胀走势的最大因素很可能是油价。”如果中东冲突持续，可能为油价带来显著的风险溢价，并对通胀产生实质性影响。他补充称，韩国可能释放石油储备，这或在一定程度上抵消部分价格上行压力。韩国官员表示，该国战略石油储备在无需进一步进口的情况下可支撑208天的使用。