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Macron dictates again

The French government declared illegal cash payments above a ceiling of €1,000 per transaction for individuals resident in the country, affecting volumes of commercial payments (linked to professional activities) and the collection of taxes by the tax authorities.

Likewise, the limit for non-residents (mainly tourists) increases to €15,000.

Outside the demanding margins established by the cash limit, users are forced to resort to alternative means of payment such as bank cards and checks.

Non-business transactions between consumers are not subject to cash regulation.

Still, when payments of more than €1,500 are recorded, the parties must issue an invoice certifying to the State that a transaction has occurred.

The new measures are in addition to others that already exist regarding the use of cash.

For example, paying taxes or fees in local jurisdictions maintains a cash limit of up to €300 per transaction, beyond which other non-cash means of payment are required to be used.

This limit operates to settle income tax, VAT, municipal fees, audiovisual license fees, etc.

Emmanuel Macron’s administration is preparing to strengthen state monitoring of transactions, which is extremely difficult for cash payments.

The restrictions will come into effect as of next September.

The ruling party defended the measures as part of the “fight against terrorism and the laundering of illicit capital”.

However, many of these illegal operations (the vast majority) manage much larger funds than the limits to which the measure refers.

Focusing on retail transactions has led many to believe that the real intentions are to strengthen tax collection (the control of small amounts of tax evasion) and to pave the way for implementing an eventual state digital currency in the future.

On the other hand, although inflation in France eased slightly in March 2023 and fell to 5.6% year-on-year, it remains the highest in 37 years and will act as a pressure factor to push commercial and fiscal transactions toward the use of bank cards or checks from September onwards.

The deterioration of the purchasing power of money at the most drastic pace in the last four decades will lead to the progressive erosion of the limits imposed by Macron if no adjustment clauses are added for the evolution of the CPI.

With information from La Derecha Diario

DEALS BETWEEN DEVILS:

Rampant corruption and a ramp up of US troops at Ukrainian borders may be no surprise to us, but US journalist Seymour Hersh sheds some more light on the extent of Biden's pointless adventures on the Eastern European front in latest report.

Article published to personal Substack blog of award-winning reporter writes Zelensky and his circle illegally embezzled at least $400 million from funds transferred to Ukraine to buy diesel - all funded by the US taxpayer.

He adds that US military is preparing a draft agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine, which will be offered to Russia "in event of its defeat."

Ukrainian military experts are extremely annoyed by the fact that Russia used guided bombs

@Voenkor_reZervist cites data from Ukrainian channels:

“The Russian Federation has recently begun to attack Ukraine with guided bombs more and more often. This applies to both the south and the north. Usually the shelling comes from tactical enemy aircraft – SU-35.

The attack is carried out by guided bombs along the entire front line – Sumy region, Chernigov region, the eastern direction. They attack everywhere. There is a new threat, to which it is difficult to respond, to put it mildly, because the enemy is using remotely controlled bombs, so far with impunity.

Russian planes strike from a distance of 50 kilometers across the line of military clashes either on the state border of Ukraine or from the sea. Among them are mainly high-explosive bombs FAB-500.

There is nothing to reach planes yet. You can try to shoot down bombs, but this requires a lot of money. The enemy uses 10-12 such bombs daily along the front line. This is basically a FAB-500, equipped with wings, GPS navigation, flies to its target 10-20 km, or maybe more, in accordance with the height from which it is thrown.

Unfortunately, the Russian Federation has a significant stock of aerial bombs, including the FAB-500. This allows them to convert them into guided missiles and use them instead of more expensive cruise missiles. Russian aircraft do not need to enter the zone of operation of the APU anti-aircraft systems, and the bomb itself is too small a target for effective destruction by air defense systems.

Of course, such air bombs can be intercepted by tactical air defense systems. You can even use stationary Patriot air defense systems, Iris-T air defense systems, or NASAMS for this purpose. But the targets are too small to hit them accurately. In addition, Ukraine does not have these air defense systems in sufficient quantities; bringing scarce SAMP-t, NASAMS, Iris-T or Patriot close to the front line means guaranteed to doom them to destruction.

The only effective means of combat remains the extermination of the carriers of these bombs. And for this, Ukraine needs modern aircraft. In particular, American F-16 fighters, old Soviet MiG-29s donated by Poland and Slovakia will not change the situation.”

Brazil hit by two new school attacks in 24 hours

A 13-year-old boy stabbed three classmates Tuesday at a school in Brazil, the second such assault in 24 hours, adding to fears over spiraling school violence after a series of deadly attacks.

Brazil is on edge after a man armed with a hatchet burst into a preschool last week and hacked four children to death, shocking the nation and thrusting the issue of school safety into the spotlight.

Police said a student in the central city of Santa Tereza had thrown a firecracker into a classroom, then attacked classmates with a knife when they fled into the hallway.

He wounded three before being subdued by a janitor.

On Monday, a student in the northern city of Manaus stabbed a teacher and two classmates, media reports said.

Justice Minister Flavio Dino said Monday that a climate of panic was spreading in the wake of last Wednesday’s attack on the Good Shepherd preschool and day care center in the southern city of Blumenau.

The 25-year-old attacker climbed over the school’s wall and went on a rampage on the playground, killing four children between the ages of four and seven before handing himself in to police.

Messages have been circulating on social media warning of further school attacks, including a viral video telling parents not to send their children to school on April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in the US state of Colorado.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government has announced 150 million reais (around $29 million) in federal funding to local governments to bolster security in schools.

Dino called for social networks to actively monitor content related to school violence. The government has proposed requiring the companies to fast-track requests from authorities to remove such posts.

Deadly school violence used to be relatively rare in Brazil, but has been increasing in recent years.

Last month, a 13-year-old boy killed a teacher in a knife attack at a school in Sao Paulo.

In November, a 16-year-old shooter killed four people in twin attacks on two schools in the southeastern city of Aracruz.

Brazil’s deadliest school shooting was in 2011, when a man opened fire at his former elementary school in the Rio de Janeiro suburb of Realengo, killing 12 children and then himself.

New Israeli spyware targets journalists, politicians: watchdog

New Israeli-made spyware resembling the notorious Pegasus program has been used to target journalists and opposition politicians in several countries, a Canadian watchdog said Tuesday.

The spyware and related exploit or hacking software was created by the little-known firm QuaDream Ltd, which was established by a former Israeli military official and veterans of NSO Group, the creator of Pegasus, according to Citizen Lab.

Citizen Lab, which studies the abuse of digital technologies, said it identified at least five people targeted by QuaDream spyware and exploits in North America, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

“Victims include journalists, political opposition figures, and an NGO worker,” it said, saying it would not identify them at the moment.

Spyware like Pegasus has been widely used by governments and other actors to spy on opponents, media and activists.

The programs can be placed on computers and cellphones by phishing communications and backdoor exploits, and can survey and transmit information on the phone back to an operator without the user’s knowledge.

The White House said in late March that Pegasus has been used by governments “to facilitate repression and enable human rights abuses.”

Citizen Lab said that, one placed on a user’s phone or computer, QuaDream’s spyware can record audio from a phone call, record external sounds from a device’s microphone, take pictures from cameras, and search the device’s files, all without the user’s knowledge.

The spyware can also generate its own two-factor authentication codes to enable continual access to the device owner’s cloud accounts.

The spyware includes a self-destruct feature to hide its previous presence once it is no longer used, Citizen Lab said.

Citizen Lab identified servers in 10 countries that received data from victims’ devices, including Israel, Singapore, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Bulgaria.

QuaDream has marketed its spyware and services to government clients including Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Ghana, Indonesia and Morocco, Citizen Lab said.

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