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UK: Suspension of Parliament sparks widespread backlash. GEO´ Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom UK prime minister, Boris Johnson´s decision to "prorogue" [suspend] Parliament for five weeks, has already prompted widespread dissent from MPs, opponents of a no-deal Brexit, a legal challenge and a petition with over one and a quarter million signatures. [ Click here for latest on Petition ] After meeting the Queen together with Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg to obtain Royal assent for the "suspension" Mr Johnson said a Queen's Speech would take place after the suspension, on 14 October, to outline his "very exciting agenda". Going on to say that he did not want to wait until after Brexit "before getting on with our plans to take this country forward". Proroguing: discontinue a session of (a parliament or other legislative assembly) without dissolving it. Interestingly, it was "No Deal Brexit" supremo Michael Gove who was firs...

G7: Trump would meet Rouhani in right circumstances By: Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom US President Donald Trump chose the last day of the G7 summit in Biarritz to make an announcement that he is open to meeting Iran´s President Hassan Rouhani under the "right circumstances." Rouhani has already said that "he was ready to meet anyone if he felt it would benefit Iran." It comes on the back of the brief, unannounced visit to the French hosted summit by Iran´s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif last Sunday said to be at the behest of the French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump told G7 reporters at a joint G7 press conference with French leader Emmanuel Macron, who is trying to be an honest broker between the two opposing countries, that he had "good feelings" about the prospect of a new nuclear deal with Iran going on to say that "Iran is not the same country it was two and a half years ago when I came into office." "I really believe ...

MARKETS: Asian markets fall as overall Geopolitical tensions increase By: NewsDesk Team City of London Newsroom The Asian indexes have fallen after an unhelpful escalation in the US-China trade war rattled investors according to market insiders. The falls are being directly attributed by market analysts to US President Donald Trump after he announced more tariff hikes on China last Friday [23 August] on what is now effectively all Chinese imports to the US in a puerile knee-jerk reaction toward Beijing after China said it was imposing fresh duties and raising tariffs on US imports into China. The trade crisis is being directly attributed as the key catalyst behind the falls which saw Hong Kong's Hang Seng index sliding by 3.2% while the Shanghai Composite fell by 1.3%. Meanwhile the Nikkei 225, Japan's benchmark index, dropped 2.3% with the Chinese yuan weakening to a new 11-year low against the US dollar. The onshore yuan was around 7.15 per dollar in morning trading. Sharp fa...

Macron: 'Our house is burning', as Amazon fires rage on. By NewsDesk Team City of London Newsroom French president, Emanuel Macron has sent a "plea" Tweet, in effect to the World, saying "Our house is burning.' In a statement he said the record number of fires in the Amazon rain-forest is now an "international crisis" that needs to top the agenda at this weekend's G7 summit. However, his platitudes met with dissent primarily by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro; widely seen as an arch hypocrite, reacted by branding it a publicity stunt and motivated for "political gain". He said calls to discuss the fires at the G7 summit in Biarritz, which Brazil is not participating in, relay "a misplaced colonialist mindset". The largest rain-forest in the world, the Amazon is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming. Many conservationists have blamed Mr Bolsonaro's government for the Amazon's plight, sayi...

TRADE: UK and South Korea to sign continuity agreement By: Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom The UK and South Korea have agreed to sign a "continuity" trade agreement today [22/08/19] enabling businesses to continue trading freely after Brexit after the two countries agreed to a preliminary deal in June, marking the first post-Brexit deal secured in Asia. International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss will sign off the agreement with her South Korean counterpart Yoo Myung-hee in London. In a statement, Ms Truss said "My priority is to make sure that British businesses are fully prepared for Brexit and ready to trade on Thursday 31 October." She went on to say that the agreement would allow businesses to "keep trading as they do today, and they will be able to take advantage of the opportunities that Brexit offers." while Ms Yoo said the agreement would "remove much Brexit uncertainty" from the economic partnership between the two countries. While t...

Pakistan to take the Kashmir crisis to International Court of Justice. By: Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom Pakistan has said it will take the Kashmir dispute to the International Court of Justice, in a move brought about since India revoked the special autonomous status of the part of Kashmir that it administers. Pakistan has reacted to that decision by cutting trade and transport links and expelling India's ambassador. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a phone call to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told him that the issue was one "For India and Pakistan to resolve between themselves, ideally through dialogue." with French President Emmanuel Macron scheduled to discuss the crisis with Mr Modi when they meet in Paris later this week. Kashmir, which both Pakistan and India joint rule but claim in full has seen decades of sporadic turmoil. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said "We have decided to take the Kashmir case ...

CYBER SECURITY: VPN Mentor - When Biometrics go bad A damning report on a huge data breach on the Biostar 2 Bio-metric Security Platform affecting millions of users has prompted industry wide concern about the true security levels of Bio-metric Security. The report by the research team at vpnMentor.com led by internet privacy researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, discovered a huge data breach in the Biostar 2 platform.  Biostar 2 is a web-based bio-metric security smart lock platform. A centralized application, it allows admins to control access to secure areas of facilities, manage user permissions, integrate with 3rd party security apps, and record activity logs. As part of the bio-metric software, Biostar 2 uses facial recognition and fingerprinting technology to identify users. The app is built by Suprema, one of the world’s top 50 security manufacturers, with the highest market share in bio-metric access control in the EMEA region. Suprema recently partnered with Nedap to i...

TANKER CRISIS: Iranian oil tanker leaves Gibraltar despite US warrant By: Newsroom Team City of London Newsroom The Iranian ship held by Gibraltar since July on suspicion of transporting oil to Syria has left port after a court in Gibraltar freed the vessel last Thursday [15 August]  having received "assurances" from Tehran that "it would not discharge its cargo in Syria" despite a last minute request from the US to "further detain" the vessel was denied. The US made the last-minute request on Friday, a day after the Gibraltar court lifted its detention order. Gibraltar said it could not comply with Washington's request to issue a new detention order because US sanctions preventing oil exports from Iran did not apply to nor could they be enforced by the EU. A federal court in Washington has since issued a warrant to seize the tanker the oil it carries and nearly $1 million, after a request by the US justice department, on the grounds that the vessel ha...

GEO´ ™ PR Channel: Euro area international trade in goods surplus €20.6 Bn Release Date: 16 August 2019 - Brussels The first estimate for euro area [EA19] exports of goods to the rest of the world in June 2019 was €189.9 billion, a fall of 4.7% compared with June 2018 [€199.3Bn]. Imports from the rest of the world stood at €169.3Bn, a fall of 4.1% v. June 2018 [€176.6Bn]. As a result, the euro area recorded a €20.6Bn surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in June 2019, compared with +€22.6Bn in June 2018. Intra-euro area trade fell to €160.5Bn in June 2019, down 6.6% compared with June 2018. In January to June 2019, euro area exports of goods to the rest of the world rose to €1163.3Bn [an increase of 3.2%  compared  with  January-June 2018], and imports rose to €1061.2Bn [an increase of 3.7% compared with January-June  2018]. As a  result  the euro  area recorded a surplus of €102.2Bn, compared with +€103.6Bn in January-June 2018. Intra-e...

CURRENCIES: Bitcoin is currently best Geopolitical & Economic risk indicator  By: Iain Fraser City of London - Newsroom Bitcoin is currently the best Geopolitical risk indicator according to Nicholas Colas, co-founder of market research firm DataTrek Research in an interview with CNBC , first published last 14 August. His rationale is also in line with recent comments by Peter Tchir, the former executive director at Deutsche Bank and Forbes contributor who recently wrote in an article that Bitcoin is a leading indicator of hidden geopolitical tensions. Bitcoin is still new and very volatile When asked in the interview if  believed that Bitcoin was now a "safe haven" asset alongside Bonds & Gold, he said that Bitcoin was one of the few assets of which the price predicted Hong Kong’s protests. Bitcoin is currently trading at a premium in Hong Kong as continued political uncertainty produces a highly anticipated spike in demand. He was asked if there were any guarante...

ECONOMY: Global recession fears cause widespread markets downturn By: Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor City of London Newsroom Global stock markets fell around the world as concerns grew about a possible recessions in major economies. This coupled with the US-China tariff saga, weak data from Germany and China and the likely prospect of a "no deal" Brexit is generating doesn't bode well when viewing an overall snapshot of the worlds GeoPolitical risks which also now have to take the individual Hong Kong and Kashmir crises into account. The collective risks have prompted investors to dump equities in turn fueling a rush for so called "safe harbour assets" like bonds and gold. The three main US stock markets closed 3% lower overnight, with European stocks falling across the board, prompting the Asian markets to open lower, meanwhile, the CBOE volatility index, the so-called "fear index" jumped higher with spot gold prices rising. The US central bank also ...

TRADE: US delays import tariffs on China By: Ben Hedges - US Correspondent The United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced yesterday [Tuesday, 13 August 2019] the next stages of implementing the latest round of Tariffs on China by imposing additional tariffs of 10 percent on approximately $300Bn of Chinese imports, as announced by US President Donald Trump on 1st August. The announcement was released literally minutes after China's Ministry of Commerce said Vice Premier Liu He had just had a "constructive" phone call with US trade officials. The timing of the latest announcement has been seen by many commentators as a "kick in the teeth" for China. The new tariffs will take effect on September 1 against the USTR published list of products [below] which was released last May 17, however, certain products are being removed from the tariff list based on health, safety and bizarrely national security "among other key factors" and will not be subjec...

BOLTON: UK "first in line" for US trade deal By: GEO´™ Trade Desk The UK is "first in line" for a trade deal with the US, according to US National Security Adviser, John Bolton, when he met new prime minister, Boris Johnson at Number 10, yesterday [Monday, 12 August 2019] "To be clear, in the Trump administration, Britain's constantly at the front of the trade queue, or line as we say," said Mr Bolton who also confirmed that the US trade deals would follow World Trade Organisation rules, saying when pressed that "our trade negotiators seem to think it is" He went on to say that the US supported a no-deal Brexit should that be the only [or preferred] option and added that Washington would propose a fast track series of deals to support the UK saying that "both President Trump and I were leavers before there were leavers". Known for his "America First" mentality, Bolton reiterated that the US government "fully understan...

UK: Boris Johnson: Show us the money!  By: Iain Fraser - Consultant Editor In a marked reversal of the fiscal restraint enforced over the past nine years by the previous administrations of Cameron and May, respectively; new PM Boris Johnson has pledged a massive boost to public spending at the same time as implementing tax cuts? So just where is all this money coming from and what is it going to cost the UK tax payer or is it all just bluff and bluster for the hustings? Remember, this man has "form" for failing to deliver on promises. Nobody at the Number 10 office was available to help me with my calculations when I contacted them this morning, so I have calculated my own, what I believe to be, extremely conservative figures for the outline cost of each key pledge and it stacks up to a colossal £32bn+ and that's without his scheme for deploying country-wide fibre broadband not having even been costed. In the meantime these are Johnson´s promises and my estimated costs t...

EXCLUSIVE: GEO´_Insights™ Brexit: Whats the worse that can happen? To receive the full Report direct to your inbox please Click Here to Register Free Introduction Brexit ["British" and "exit"] is the withdrawal of the  United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) following a referendum held on 23 June 2016 in which 51.9 percent of those voting supported leaving the EU, the Government invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, starting a two-year process which was due to conclude with the UK's exit on 29 March 2019. That deadline has since been extended to 31 October 2019. Withdrawal from the EU has been advocated by both left-wing and right-wing Eurosceptics, while pro-Europeanists, who also span the political spectrum, have advocated continued membership and maintaining the customs union and single market. History The UK joined the European Communities (EC) in 1973 under the Conservative government of Edward Heath, with continued membership endors...

The first half of 2019 proved quite eventful for the markets in general, not east the Gold [ag] market, at the same time stocks tracked their Q4 2018 pattern with losses by the end of April only to pullback again by 1 May then a few weeks later, stocks reached new highs yet again. Central banks across the globe have signaled a more "accommodative stance" in an effort to bring global bond yields to record lows. As traders looked to balance higher stock prices with an increasingly uncertain GeoPolitical environment, gold prices have surged, making Gold one of the best performing market assets by the end of June. The World Gold Council records global gold demand and supply growth in the second quarter of this year, as well as six-year inflow into gold-backed ETFs [Exchange Traded Funds] Global monetary policy has shifted a full 180 degrees. Less than a year ago, both Federal Reserve (FED) board members and US investors expected interest rates to continue to increase, at the very...

The far-right web forum 8chan that gained notoriety by adopting a sick editorial strategy seeing the sick forum celebrating mass shootings and other tragedies it is also a known source of child pornography, has been finally forced offline, not as would think by the relevant legislative authorities but by CloudFlare, the San Francisco based cyber-security heavyweights who provide higher echelon security for high-risk type websites and forums. 8chan was created in October 2013 by computer programmer Fredrick Brennan, often referred to as "Hotwheels" and deployed while he allegedly was having a psychedelic mushrooms trip. Mr Brennan gave up ownership of 8chan in 2015 and has since called for it to be shut down. Following Cloudflare’s announcement, he wrote on Twitter: "Thank you so much @CloudFlare Finally this nightmare might have an end.” 8chan now appears to be owned and run by Jim Watkins, a former US army veteran, believed to be living in the Philippines. In an announc...

The US has officially branded China a "currency manipulator", a statement which will flame current tensions between the world's two largest super economies. The statement by the US Treasury in a press release yesterday, follows sharp falls in the overall value of the Chinese yuan against the dollar. On Monday [5 August 2019] the yuan passed the seven-per-dollar level for the first time since 2008, prompting US President @realDonaldTrump to post the following message on his infamous Twitter feed: "China dropped the price of their currency to an almost a historic low. It’s called “currency manipulation.” Are you listening Federal Reserve? This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time! The latest drop even caught the markets off-guard as the norm is for Beijing to support the currency. The US Treasury department defines currency manipulation as when countries deliberately influence the exchange rate between their currency and the US dollar to gain ...

The US has officially branded China a "currency manipulator", a statement which will flame current tensions between the world's two largest super economies. The statement by the US Treasury in a press release yesterday, follows sharp falls in the overall value of the Chinese yuan against the dollar. On Monday [5 August 2019] the yuan passed the seven-per-dollar level for the first time since 2008, prompting US President @realDonaldTrump to post the following message on his infamous Twitter feed: "China dropped the price of their currency to an almost a historic low. It’s called “currency manipulation.” Are you listening Federal Reserve? This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time! The latest drop even caught the markets off-guard as the norm is for Beijing to support the currency. The US Treasury department defines currency manipulation as when countries deliberately influence the exchange rate between their currency and the US dollar to gain ...

The US is officially withdrawing from the INF treaty with Russia blaming the Kremlin´s violation of the treaty by deploying a new classification cruise missile The INF Treaty ( Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty ) was originally signed off in 1987 by then US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, following Russia´s declarations of Perestroika (Openness) & Glasnost , prompting reform from within the ruling Communist party the goal was to create a semi-free market system, reflecting successful capitalist practices in the economies of Germany, Japan, and the United States. Unfortunately, these guide economies took  time to thrive, and the Russian people found themselves stuck in a worn-out economy, which led to shortages, long queues, strikes and ultimately civil unrest. The incumbent treaty bans long range missiles i.e. ranges between 500 and 5,500 km however, earlier this year the US and NATO accused Russia of violating the pact by deploying a new ty...

GEO´_Insights™ Life in Modern day Iran To receive the full Report direct to your inbox please Click Here to Register Free Introduction Iran, [Persia] and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979 is a country in Western Asia . With 82 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 18th most populous country . Its territory spans 1,648,195  km 2 (636,372 sq mi), making it the second largest country in the Middle East and the 17th largest in the world . Geography Iran is bordered to the northwest by Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan , to the north by the Caspian Sea , to the northeast by Turkmenistan , to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan , to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman , and to the west by Turkey and Iraq . Its central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz , give it geostrategic importance. Government Tehran is the political and economic center of Iran, and the largest and most popul...

US President Donald Trump's trade war with China is backfiring and impacting the US economy, according to his former chief economic adviser. With literally, trillions of dollars invested into the US by China, one can only hesitate a guess, but, for sure it´s not in the US "best interests" to try to decapitate the Chinese dragon. Therefore, our thinking is that, while the "official" party line is to rattle sabres at China, but in ther rear window, "all points north" for China to thrive in the background.