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Authored by Cathy He and Eva Fu via The Epoch Times,

The propaganda department in virus-stricken Hubei Province has engaged over 1,600 censors to scrub the internet of “sensitive” information relating to the coronavirus outbreak, according to an internal document obtained by The Epoch Times.

The internal report, dated Feb. 15, detailed the agency’s efforts to ramp up censorship measures. It was drafted after a speech given by Chinese leader Xi Jinping via video link on Feb. 10 to “frontline responders” of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, where the virus first broke out.

The revelations come as the Chinese regime tightens information controls over the worsening outbreak, as netizens have increasingly turned to the internet to vent their frustrations about the authorities’ response, or document what is happening on the ground.

The illness has seen a steadily growing official list of infections and deaths on a daily basis. Experts and commentators, however, believe the actual number of infections to be far greater, due to underreporting and shortages in testing kits and hospital beds—meaning many people are left undiagnosed.

1,600 Trolls Deployed

According to the document, the department has hired more than 1,600 trolls, known as the 50-cent army in China, to regulate internet speech continuously, 24/7.

The trolls, through technological and manual screening, had identified as many as 606,800 posts online with “sensitive or harmful information,” it said.

Their approach, it said, was to “timely dispel the online rumors” and “strike powerful blows offline.”

As of Feb. 14, the online censors had deleted as many as 54,000 such “rumors,” and had social media influencers write nearly 400 commentary articles to shape the narrative.

The regime’s propaganda efforts, the report said, should be directed toward promoting the effects of officials’ outbreak control measures and the “moving deeds” of volunteers, community workers, and the police.

Some professional “internet commentators” had also made 400,000 comments to “counter the negative public opinions,” according to the document.

Posts mourning whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang, who died of the virus he was warning about in December, quickly disappeared from the internet in the hours after the news of his passing was first announced. “I want free speech,” a phrase that became trending on Chinese social media following his death, was also swiftly erased.

Wuhan citizen journalists Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi also recently disappeared after posting regular videos online highlighting the severity of the outbreak.

As of Feb. 11, over 2,500 people had signed a joint online petition expressing anger over Li’s death and criticizing the government for suppressing free speech during the outbreak. Several co-signees were subsequently summoned by local police. At least one was detained.

The department has also set up 11 work groups for the purpose of “wartime propaganda” work. The groups were communicating daily with propaganda officials from the central government to “coordinate public opinion” in real time on issues “online and offline,” “inside the country and overseas,” it stated.

Ousting Local Reporters

According to the leaked report, at least 60 reporters from 33 overseas news agencies came to Wuhan after the coronavirus outbreak began earlier this year. However, at least 47 of them agreed to leave, through the department’s “communication and persuasion.”

As of the evening of Feb. 14, only five non-mainland outlets had reporters in Hubei.

Meanwhile, the propaganda department as of Feb. 4 has sent over 300 state-run media reporters to Hubei to promote positive media coverage.

To “lead overseas media to objectively report on the outbreak information,” the department has set up an international language section and have published 200 pieces on the outbreak from official channels in seven languages, the document said.

On Jan. 14, a group of reporters from at least four Hong Kong media were taken to a police station located within a hospital in Wuhan after trying to interview patients, according to local media.

The police searched their belongings and asked them to delete the videos taken around the hospital. They were only released after 1 1/2 hours of interrogation.

Censorship Overdrive

The Chinese regime has made the suppression of information about the virus a priority.

At a Feb. 3 meeting, the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, the top decision-making body, called for authorities to “strengthen internet and media control.”

This has filtered down to local authorities cracking down on people for “spreading rumors” on the internet about the outbreak.

Chinese state-run media have warned people not to “spread fake information” about the coronavirus, lest they be in violation of China’s Criminal Law.

A provision of that law states that anyone found fabricating and spreading false information on an epidemic, disaster, or police activity, can be sentenced to three to seven years in prison.

Washington-based nonprofit Chinese Human Rights Defenders documented 254 cases of arrests between Jan. 22 and Jan. 28, in which Chinese citizens were punished for “spreading rumors” relating to the virus. The forms of penalty included fines, verbal warnings, and forced confessions.

In a list of 167 cases of people punished for rumor-mongering published by U.S.-based website China Digital Times, the majority of the “offenses” were posts about confirmed or suspected cases in their city or neighborhood. Some included the number of deaths.

For instance, a man in Baoding City, Hebei Province, wrote on his blog: “I truly believe the authorities have not revealed the true number of infected patients. I heard that in a village about 20 kilometers [12.4 miles] from ours, the number of confirmed cases was six on Jan. 26. All were sent to the hospital for quarantine. But I have not seen any official reports that included these six cases.”

He received five days of administrative detention for this posting. Administrative detention refers to the arrest and detention of an individual without trial.

In what probably should come as a surprise, but most likely won’t, it appears that multi-billion family offices are getting access to trading desks that smaller offices and retail traders can’t access.

We know, you’re shocked.

Offices with at least $1 billion are increasingly bypassing private bankers and are allowed to go direct to investment bank trading desks, according to Bloomberg. 

Luigi Pigorini, Citi Private Bank’s region head for Europe, Middle East and Africa said: “Some of them are so sophisticated and have such buying power. We have them trading directly with some of our desks in the markets division. There’s not that many, but there’s quite a few and that number keeps growing.”

The number of family office style firms has surpassed 10,000 globally over the past 10 years, including the offices of names like Bill Gates and Michael Dell. Last year, the average family office had assets of $917 million, according to UBS. The offices with direct access to desks at banks like Citigroup generally trade equities, forex and futures. By having a direct line to the trading desk, they can get the undivided attention of traders and get access to some products not traditionally offered through the private bank. 

Family officies like Eric Schmidt’s Hillspire LLC have gone out of their way to hire staff with experience in institutional investing. Their CIO, Massimo Iacono, previously worked as a relationship manager for institutional clients in Turin, Italy. 

Goldman Sachs has employees specifically set aside to deal with family office needs. They focus on everything from lending to philanthropy – and Goldman is looking to hire more employees to act as these types of liaisons. 

Andre Portelli, co-head of investment for Barclay’s private bank said that Barclay’s “…gives wealthy clients access to private equity and debt deals handled by its investment bank.”

A top banker at UBS has warned that billionaires are bypassing financials institutions as they engage in private transactions, noting that almost 85% of all family offices make direct investments. 

Pigorini concluded: “We love to have clients that sit on the other side of the table and know exactly what we’re talking about. They have the knowledge and experience to understand the most sophisticated ideas that we can propose to them.”

As long as the fees keep rolling in, right Luigi? 

Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

The coronavirus spreading across Asia and the world is very likely to hammer Japan and the yen. Some people consider the Japanese yen a “safe-haven” currency where they can safely store their wealth in times of financial turmoil. This flies in the face of reason because Japan is destined to eventually face an economic crisis brought on by the growing debt of its government. Central banks have promoted the myth that a major currency cannot fail, however, the rapid demise of either the yen or the euro is all that will be needed to reveal the truth and remind people our system of fiat money is held together only by faith in the system and a prayer.

An accurate timetable for the collapse of the yen is nearly impossible to predict. Several factors play into such a scenario and how fast it might unfold. In recent years as Japan has undertaken a policy to weaken its currency and to strengthen its exports America has remained mute in sympathy for the problems Japan is facing. The reality is that much like the situation that developed in Greece, Japan is facing a wall of debt that it will never be able to repay. The difference is that Japan controls the press that prints its money.

BOJ Leads In This Experiment

Near the end of last year, Daniel Lacalle wrote the failure of Abenomics has been phenomenal. Lacalle points to the balance sheet of Japan’s central bank which has ballooned to more than 100% of the country’s GDP. The central bank now owns almost 70% of the country’s ETFs and is one of the top 10 shareholders in the majority of the largest companies of the Nikkei index. Despite the record-low cost of debt, Japan’s government spends almost 22% of its budget on interest expenses. This has occurred while none of the results that were expected from the massive monetary experiment, inventively called QQE (quantitative and qualitative easing) have materialized.

Abenomics has consistently missed both its inflation and economic growth targets. Japan has been unable to offset the problem of demographics and productivity with higher debt and money printing. Japan has incentivized malinvestment and government spending has resulted in transferring wealth to unproductive sectors which has zombified the economy. The QQE program was based on three “arrows”; monetary policy, government spending, and structural reforms which never happened because protecting the bureaucratic machine of government always takes priority over what is best for the people.

Shifts From Bigger Players Move Yen

In the future, Japan’s debt can only be addressed by printing more money and debasing the yen. This means Japan would be paying off its debt with worthless yen when possible and in many cases defaulting on promises made. Japan’s public debt, which stands at around 250% of its GDP is the highest in the industrialized world (click here to view debt clock). Because of its size, people tend to forget that the island nation of Japan is an economic powerhouse with a GDP that ranks third behind only the United States and China. Japan is an export-driven economy meaning it sucks in raw materials from all over the world, adds value to them, and then spews out finished goods. This leaves the country and its economy dependent on and vulnerable to the countries buying its products. A weak yen makes these goods more competitive on the world market and propels the economy forward.

The yen is part of a somewhat self-defending system of reserve currencies which are considered the most liquid and sound in the global economy. The value between them constantly fluctuates and as one currency falls out of favor investors shift into the other three seeking the least bad choice. As long as savers, investors, and institutions keep their wealth stored within these four currencies and continue the delicate balancing act of avoiding the worse and exiting the most overvalued the system remains relatively stable and will continually readjust partly because it is so self-contained. Each of these currencies has its particular strengths and weaknesses, however, the most vulnerable of the two are probably the Japanese yen and the Euro which is the official currency of the Eurozone, which consists of 19 of the 28 member states of the European Union. A key weakness of the euro is the questionable accountability of its controlling institution. 

Weak Growth And Huge Debt

Over recent decades because of its size in the global economy the current Bank of Japan policy has quietly and systematically distorted financial markets across the planet. With super-low interest rates, it has become a key player in the carry trade. In recent years investors and the mega-banks across the world have drastically reduced their Japan Government Bond (JGB) holdings. This has quietly transferred the risk of who gets hurt in the case of a falling yen or a default directly to the Japanese public. As Japan continues down this path it is only a matter of time before the credibility of the BOJ is lost and the yen plunges in value. Many economists have taken a dim view as to the yen’s future, however, when it will succumb to economic reality has been delayed because it is so well insulated and intertwined in world markets.

Demographics paint a bleak picture for Japan which is stuck with an aging and shrinking population that is increasingly expensive for the government to provide for. Adding to its woes the Fukushima nuclear disaster shuttered its nuclear power plants and forced the country to import more expensive energy alternatives. All in all neither monetary nor fiscal policy will adequately solve Japan’s problems. Continuing to run fiscal deficits only means that government debt is pushed onward and upward. Simply put, the fundamentals of Japan are lousy. It should be noted that Japan would be sitting in far worse shape if it were not for the wealth currently shifted from America to the small island nation each year. America spends billions each year defending Japan and puts much of this money directly into the economy. Another way America supports Japan is by purchasing many of the goods the country produces. The massive trade deficit America has with Japan feeds large amounts of money into Japan, without this money the massively indebted nation would be in even more trouble.

For years it has been noted that a key strength that Japan holds is its ability to control its own economic fate and that it cannot be held hostage to foreigners because the people and institutions of Japan hold its debt. In the past, we have seen that outside creditors can wield a great deal of sway over a nation that is deeply in debt. It is not uncommon for creditors to squeeze, threaten, and even blackmail a country that owes them a great deal of money. A country can always drive its currency downward, however, supporting it is much more difficult. To drive a currency lower a country only needs to print and sell their currency using it to buy one or more of the other three reserve currencies. It should be noted that in recent years a great deal of the yen’s resilience may be contributed to the fact Japan has strong economic ties to China. This bolstered the yen during China’s boom years and as growth in China slowed the yen became a conduit to move wealth out of China.

Unlike many other leading economies, Japan has been battling deflation or falling prices for the best part of the past two decades. At some point expect this to change and a new reality to take hold. To support their stock market the BOJ has even gone to buying stock. When investors in Japan’s government bonds begin to believe that Abenomics will be successful in bringing back inflation it would be logical for owners of  JGB’s to move out of low yielding securities and buy foreign bonds or equities. The moment the Japanese stock market fails to rise enough to offset a falling yen and inflation we may see a tsunami of money fleeing Japan. This would constitute the end of the line for those left holding both JGB’s and the yen.

This has been a long time coming and when this finally occurs and Japan crumbles it will be felt across the world.

Julian Assange will seek asylum in France, according to the Associated Press. Lawyers for the WikiLeaks founder are currently preparing for his lates hearing, where he faces extradition to the United States on 17 criminal charges for unlawfully publishing the names of classified sources, as well as conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain access to classified information.

Manning’s 35-year sentence was commuted by President Obama after spending nearly seven years in prison. Assange, meanwhile, spent nearly seven years on Ecuador’s London embassy before he was ejected and arrested by British police for jumping bail in an unrelated case.

Speaking from Paris, Assange’s defense team said that the case against him is unfair, and violates his human rights while his health is suffering.

“We consider the situation is sufficiently serious that our duty is to talk about it” with French President Emmanuel Macron, said French lawyer Eric Dupont-Moretti.

Assange’s Spanish coordinator, Baltasar Garzon, confirmed that the legal team will argue that former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) acted as a middle man for the Trump administration to offer Assange a pardon if he showed proof that Russia was not involved in the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee’s email. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham denied on Wednesday.

“The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he’s an ex-congressman,” said Grisham. “He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject. It is a complete fabrication and a total lie.”