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🇨🇳 China Retaliates
Citizen Frank
February 04, 2025
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, February 4.
Important note: cf.org is rebranding to thefrank.com. Soon you’ll find us under our new name.
China unveiled a series of retaliatory measures against the U.S. on Tuesday, shortly after U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods took effect, raising concerns of a broader trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
China’s Finance Ministry said Tuesday it will impose additional tariffs of 15% on coal and liquefied natural gas imports from the U.S. and 10% higher duties on American crude oil, agricultural machinery and certain cars, starting Feb. 10.
China reiterated that the imposition of additional levies of 10% by the U.S. “seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization … destructs the normal bilateral economic and trade activities” according to a CNBC translation of the statement in Chinese.
Police said “around 10 people” were killed at a school on Tuesday, in what has been described as the worst mass shooting in Sweden’s history. The suspected perpetrator is among the dead.
A large number of people were injured after a gunman opened fire at a campus in the city of Örebro in central Sweden, according to Roberto Eid Forest, the head of the city’s police district.
Speaking at a press conference late Tuesday, Forest explained that police were not able to report the exact death toll as the investigation was in its early stages.
The Senate Finance Committee voted Tuesday to advance to the floor Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The 14-13 vote was strictly along party lines and came despite Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) saying last week he had serious doubts about whether Kennedy is qualified to lead the agency, primarily over his history of promoting a false link between vaccines and autism. Kennedy is a longtime anti-vaccine activist.
Cassidy had emerged as the pivotal vote, as Kennedy couldn’t afford to lose any Republicans on the committee. Now that the nomination moves to the Senate floor, Kennedy can lose three and still be confirmed, with Vice President Vance breaking the tie.
Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s millennial dictator, has offered to house migrants and “dangerous criminals” deported by the United States in his country’s infamous mega jails, according to Marco Rubio.
Mr Rubio, who is on his first overseas tour as US secretary of state, said this would include deportees of any nationality, including violent American citizens imprisoned in the US.
America’s top diplomat is seeking support from Central American countries for the new Trump administration’s attempts to deport large numbers of migrants.
About 20,000 federal workers have accepted the “buyout” offer put forward by the Trump administration last week, a senior administration official tells Axios.
It’s a significant number of people — about 1% of the federal workforce — but still substantially less than the White House’s target of 5% to 10%.
The offer is open through Thursday, meaning the total could rise, despite heavy opposition from unions and others.
The Florida Panthers took the Stanley Cup to the White House today to visit recently inaugurated President Donald Trump. The players wore red ties, a look that Trump often goes for himself and one that matches the team’s colours. The president took notice.
“I love all these ties. This is so cute. I walked in and said, ‘I think they like Trump.’”
It’s tradition for the major North American sports league champions to visit the White House. Last year was the Panthers’ first-ever Stanley Cup. They beat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games, although they nearly blew a 3-0 series lead.
The city of Baltimore is suing the Trump administration, alleging the president’s executive orders ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs violate the First and Fifth amendments.
The city is part of a broad coalition that includes higher education officers to file a lawsuit Monday in a Maryland federal court.
Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave amid Trump administration’s DEI purge.
Thousands of people have fled the island of Santorini as hundreds of quakes continued to course through the famous Greek tourist destination.
More than 6,000 residents have left the island in recent days, according to Greek public broadcaster ERT. Early Tuesday morning, hundreds of people carrying their belongings were seen waiting at a port on the island, waiting for a ferry to take them to Athens.
A tremor with a magnitude of 4.8 was recorded early Tuesday, just shy of a 4.9 quake recorded over the weekend – the strongest so far. Over the past three days, some 550 tremors with a magnitude of 3.0 have been recorded in the Aegean Sea, between Santorini and the nearby islands of Amorgos and Ios.
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