The Chinese Fightback

Of course, China refuses to submit to the sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday!

On Friday, China fought back, hitting US goods with import taxes of 34%, starting April 10. 

Beijing said it would sue the United States at the World Trade Organisation and also restrict export of rare earth elements used in high-end medical and electronics technology. 

China’s State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement: “This practice of the US is not in line with international trade rules, seriously undermines China’s legitimate rights and interests, and is a typical unilateral bullying practice”.

But other big US trading partners held back as they digested the unfolding international standoff and fears of a recession.

And for a second day, markets plunged, wiping vast sums off investment and retirement portfolios alike. Wall Street went into free fall, following similar collapses in Asia and Europe. The Dow Jones dropped 5.5 percent and the S&P 5.97 percent, capping the worst week for the US stock market since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to global shutdowns and other disruptions. 

Trump, who has vowed to remake the global trade order, dismissed concerns about the market shock, touting it as a chance to "get rich". 

"Hang tough", he urged his followers on social media. "We can't lose".

Also speaking on Friday, Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, said he thought the economy remained "solid", pointing to the latest data showing strong hiring in the US in March.

But he acknowledged a high degree of uncertainty. "What we've learned is that the tariffs are higher than anticipated, higher than almost all forecasters predicted", Powell admitted, warning that growth would slow and prices were likely to rise.

In a note to investors, JP Morgan said they now put the odds of a global economic recession this year at 60%, up from 40% previously, noting that the shock from the tariffs could drive growth in the US down by two percentage points this year.

In a more concrete sign of how tariffs are impacting trade, Nintendo announced they were delaying pre-orders of their hotly anticipated Switch 2 gaming console while they assess "evolving" conditions.

Welcoming 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers to a new year and new beginnings! Happy 2025!

 

Black Myth: Wukong arrived in 2024 to incredible success and has seemingly spawned some copycats as a result, with Nintendo Switch fans laughing as Wukong Sun: Black Legend hits the platform just last week.

 

Gamers online have called out the $7.99 Wukong Sun: Black Legend as a fairly blatant rip-off of Black Myth: Wukong, which isn't on Nintendo Switch itself. Not only is the name incredibly similar, but the promotional image could easily be mistaken for that of the actual game.

 

 

The similarities practically end there, however, as Wukong Sun: Black Legend is a side-scrolling platformer as opposed to Black Myth: Wukong's third-person action. It also requires a meagre 338 megabytes of storage space according to the Nintendo eShop page.

 

It's description doesn't allude to this seemingly more limited experience, promising "a chaotic world teeming with powerful monsters", "supercharged abilities and crazy fighting skills" and "captivating visuals with unforgettable storytelling".

 

"Seriously, this is not even subtle", one ResetEra user wrote of the similarities between Wukong Sun: Black Legend and Black Myth: Wukong. "Not even trying", wrote another. "Yeah, this seems like the kind of shovelware cashgrab someone would release", said a third.

Pokemon Go Grossed $1 Billion

According to a SensorTower report dated Wednesday, Pokemon Go has not only grossed $1 billion in global revenue – but in the shortest amount of time. Just short of seven months since its July 2016 release.

 

At the monster-collecting game’s peak, it earned $18 million/day.

 

Not only is Pokemon Go a life-saver for Nintendo – the company’s annual revenue has been in decline since 2012 – but the success of Pokémon Go has shown that ‘augmented reality’ has immense potential. At the very least, profit-wise.

 

US President Donald Trump has been chided, censured and criticized since taking office.

 

Yet he refuses to budge. He is unwavering in his beliefs, no matter how flawed they are.

 

Trump insists he wants to protect Americans. Hadn't Barack Obama also wanted the same thing?

 

 

If you ask me, both are racists!

Pokemon GO is Insanely Addictive

Pokémon GO is the insanely addictive phone game that's taking over the world by storm. In fact, the Pokémon Go craze has doubled the price of Nintendo's shares and sent the game to the top of App Stores around the world.

 

Pokémon GO is a free-to-play mobile game that you can download for iOS or Android. While it's free, you have the option to use real money to buy PokéCoins (they vary from $0.99 to $99.99). Those PokéCoins are used to purchase Pokéballs or other in-game items you need to be able to catch Pokémons.

 

The game works by using your phone’s GPS for your real-world location and augmented reality to bring up those cool-looking Pokémon on your screen.

 

To truly enjoy the game, you have to actually get off your couch and wander around in real life! The Pokémons appear through your phone's camera like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image credit: http://says.com/my/tech/why-should-i-play-pokemon-go

 

Since the game’s launch in July 2016, the game has been hugely popular. After all, the fun element is obvious. If anything, the chance to play outside must be healthy, promoting exercise in the fresh air, right?

 

But be warned! There are plenty of things that can go wrong while playing. Stories have been flooding in of unfortunate players who’ve ended up in awkward or even downright dangerous situations as they take to the streets in search of their favorite pocket monsters.

 

Indonesian police detained a 27-year old French man for trespassing on a military base in Cirebon, Java. And in Bosnia, a demining group had received information that gamers were going into landmine areas.

 

In Baltimore, USA, it was reported that a driver rammed into a parked police patrol car while playing the game on his smartphone. And police in O’Fallon in Missouri, USA received a 2 AM call about a group of four teens who were parked in a Pokémon hotspot – according to reports, when players of the game stumbled into the parking lot that the teens were hiding in, they’d exit the car and rob gamers at gunpoint.

 

In a post on Reddit which has since been deleted, user scarstruck4 explained that, while working for a bank dealing with sensitive information, the player couldn’t help but whip out their phone to try to capture a Zubat which was flying nearby. While scarstruck4’s company allows the use of phones at desks, using the camera is a serious breach of security measures, and as Pokémon GO uses a phone’s camera to create an augmented reality image, scarstruck4’s phone was promptly confiscated and sent for inspection at the company’s head office. In the meantime, scarstruck4 is looking at serious disciplinary action.

 

The virtual game’s popularity is spreading far and wide. And once it grabs hold of you, you're hooked! Some Muslim countries have even issued fatwas against it.

 

As a player of this augmented reality mobile game, you will need to exercise extra caution. So the next time a rare Pokémon appears in the middle of the road, be sure to ask yourself whether it’s worth risking a car crash to get hold of it.

A simple choice really but for gamers, it may not be that simple.

 

On Wednesday, Moussa Dembele scored a dramatic stoppage-time penalty as Celtic moved one round away from the Champions League group stage.

 

A Leigh Griffiths penalty (45+3) had put Celtic 1-0 ahead, and 2-1 on aggregate, against FC Astana. But their evening was thrown into chaos when the Kazakh side’s Agim Ibraimi scored from 40 yards in the sixty-second minute.

 

Extra time – and possibly penalties – seemed to beckon until Dembele won the penalty that he then converted for his first goal for the club.

 

Celtic are just two games away from the Champions League group stage. Even if they lose that tie, they are guaranteed a place in the group stage of the Europa League