Hanoi (dpa) – Vietnam and the European Union on Thursday upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam’s highest diplomatic tier, amid a tumultuous period for global trade.

In a joint statement, Vietnam and EU stressed “the importance of a partnership based on common interests and shared values of peace, security, and prosperity in a rules-based international order, based on international law.”

Though US tariffs were not explicitly mentioned, at a press briefing held after meeting Vietnamese President Luong Cuong, European Council President António Costa said: “At a moment when the international rules-based order is under threat from multiple sides, we need to stand side-by-side as reliable and predictable partners.”

“Vietnam considers the EU one of its most important partners in the world and wishes to continue promoting and deepening its relationship with the EU,” Cuong said.

Cuong labelled the move a “historic milestone,” coming 35 years after Vietnam and the EU established diplomatic relations. The EU-Vietnam free trade agreement, signed in 2020, has helped drive a 40 percent increase in bilateral trade.

Vietnam is one of the EU’s largest trading partners in South-East Asia, while the EU is Vietnam’s fourth-largest trading partner. In the first 10 months of 2025, two-way trade reached nearly 61 billion Dollar (51 billion Euro), up 8.4 percent year on year.

Vietnam and the EU on Thursday also underscored the need to strengthen cooperation on peace, defence and security, and voiced support for multilateralism and respect for international law, including the UN Charter. (29 January)

Billions of dollars (UnlimPhotos)

Since the outbreak of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran in late February 2026, the six largest Wall Street banks have posted one blockbuster quarter after another. It’s a paradox that isn’t really one: market volatility — the very thing savers and businesses dread — is precisely what trading desks feed on.

Numbers That Boggle the Mind

On July 14, 2026, five of the biggest US banks reported earnings on the same day, and the results surprised even the most bullish analysts. JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank by assets, posted quarterly profit of $16.9 billion, once again driven by its equities trading division, which “took advantage of market volatility triggered by the war in Iran.” Revenue in that division jumped 35% year-over-year, and equity markets revenue soared 86%.

According to several financial outlets, JPMorgan’s profit — including gains on its equity holdings — actually came close to $21 billion for the quarter, an all-time record for the bank.

Goldman Sachs was no exception: the investment bank also handily beat forecasts, lifted both by conflict-driven volatility and by SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO, which Goldman co-led. Its merger-advisory fees rose 55%, and in the first half of 2026 alone it advised on $1.2 trillion in announced mergers and acquisitions — an unprecedented pace for any investment bank, putting it $425 billion ahead of its nearest rival.

All told, in the second quarter of 2026 alone, the five biggest banks combined (JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo) posted roughly $49 billion in combined profit. In the first quarter, the six largest US banks — those five plus Morgan Stanley — had already collectively booked nearly $48 billion in profit, well above year-earlier levels.

Why Does War Benefit the Banks?

The mechanism is no mystery to market professionals, even if it startles the general public. A trading floor doesn’t make money when markets are calm — it makes money when they move. Every geopolitical jolt — a military strike, a rumored ceasefire, a partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz — triggers waves of buying and selling across stocks, currencies and commodities. Every transaction generates fees.

Since the first US-Israeli strikes on February 28, 2026, bond, oil and stock markets have swung wildly with each twist of the conflict and every dashed hope of a truce. That chronic instability has directly fueled investment banks’ trading revenues.

On top of that comes an indirect effect: the war slowed, then unleashed in waves, mergers-and-acquisitions activity and IPOs — two highly lucrative businesses for investment banks, which collect substantial advisory fees on every deal.

Goldman Sachs itself acknowledges as much in black and white in its quarterly financial report filed with the US securities regulator (SEC): the Iranian conflict has had “significant implications for the global economy,” combining disrupted oil supply, higher oil prices and heightened equity-market volatility — precisely the ingredients of the trading desk’s playbook.

A Paradox That Goes Beyond the Banks

This phenomenon isn’t confined to the banking sector. Major oil companies — especially European majors with large trading arms, such as TotalEnergies — have seen profits surge on the back of price swings following the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a route for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas. Defense contractors, for their part, are reporting record order backlogs, led by Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, buoyed by allied nations rearming.

Meanwhile, households and non-financial businesses bear the flip side of that same volatility: higher energy prices, costlier freight, and mounting uncertainty for long-term investment. The conflict has thus become a vast transfer of wealth, in which the very instability harming the real economy is simultaneously enriching a handful of financial and industrial players positioned to capitalize on it.

At a Glance

• Q1 2026: the six largest US banks combined for nearly $48 billion in profit.
• Q2 2026: five of them posted roughly $49 billion in combined quarterly profit.
• JPMorgan: record quarterly profit of nearly $21 billion (including gains).
• Goldman Sachs: M&A advisory fees up 55%, with its M&A backlog at a five-year high.
• Mechanism: market volatility, driven by the twists and turns of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran since February 28, 2026, has mechanically boosted investment banks’ trading and advisory revenues.

L’article Iran War: Wall Street’s Quiet Jackpot est apparu en premier sur FrenchDailyNews.

Tulsi Gabbard declassifies an explosive report

The Director of National Intelligence has revealed the existence of more than 120 U.S.-funded biological laboratories in over 30 countries, including several dozen in Ukraine. This revelation has reignited the debate on transparency and biosafety.

Today, on my final day as Director of National Intelligence, I’m releasing never-before-seen communications and documents exposing how Dr. Fauci provided millions in US taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, worked with politicized elements… pic.twitter.com/ZMdliW4zyS

— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) June 19, 2026

An unprecedented report made public

After several months of reviewing intelligence archives, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard released new information indicating that the United States has long funded more than 120 biolaboratories in over 30 countries.

Gabbard described the release as one of her final actions before leaving her post as Director of National Intelligence. On May 22, she announced her resignation in order to care for her husband, who has been diagnosed with cancer.

The declassified documents, which remain partially redacted, detail the locations and functions of various laboratories that “likely housed dangerous pathogens.”

Highly Dangerous Pathogens, Limited Oversight

According to the documents, the United States “built and supported” 40 biolabs in Ukraine that worked on “particularly dangerous pathogens,” including anthrax, avian influenza, Ebola, plague, and tuberculosis. At least 12 of these laboratories conducted research involving human subjects.

According to an official ODNI statement, “many of these U.S.-government-funded biolabs conducted research on dangerous and highly contagious pathogens, in some cases including studies designed to enhance the functions of these pathogens, with virtually no oversight or supervision.”

The declassified map notably shows that a laboratory in Odesa—a city of one million residents—stored biological agents inherited from the former Soviet biological weapons program, including anthrax, tuberculosis, SARS, Marburg virus, Ebola, Lassa fever, and plague.

Risks in a War Zone Highlighted

Gabbard emphasized that some of these laboratories in Ukraine could be compromised because of the ongoing conflict with Russia. According to her, intelligence agencies had previously warned internally that a U.S.-linked biolaboratory in Ukraine “likely housed dangerous pathogens” and remained vulnerable to Russian attack, seizure, or damage.

Previous Administrations Accused

In a statement, Gabbard said that Dr. Fauci and members of the Biden administration’s national security team “lied to the American people about the existence of U.S.-funded and U.S.-supported biolaboratories and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth.”

The ODNI stated that this information had been “intentionally concealed” by previous administrations.

In March 2022, Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland acknowledged under oath that “Ukraine has biological research facilities,” while denying that those facilities worked on biological weapons and asserting that “the United States does not own or operate any chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine.”

End of Funding for High-Risk Research

Gabbard also confirmed a major policy shift under the Trump administration: Washington is ending decades of federal funding for gain-of-function research overseas. The move follows Executive Order 14292, signed by President Trump in May 2025, which aimed to terminate such international funding.

What the Report Does Not Prove

It should be noted that the declassified documents, while exposing serious shortcomings in oversight, risky gain-of-function research, and vulnerabilities in conflict zones, concern programs many of which supported legitimate disease surveillance efforts. The report does not confirm the existence of an illegal offensive biological weapons program, but it does document a striking lack of transparency and oversight spanning several decades.

Sources: ODNI (Official Release No. 10-26, June 12, 2026), Newsweek, Daily Caller, and BizPac Review.

The documents

L’article U.S. biolabs abroad: Tulsi Gabbard declassifies an explosive report est apparu en premier sur FrenchDailyNews.

Dollars for Ukraine (Photo Unlimphotos)

Dollars, and more dollars! According to exclusive information published by Politico, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov will present an emergency aid request for $20 billion on June 18 at the next meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format. The goal: to capitalize on what he considers a temporary but decisive military advantage.

A Six-to-Nine-Month Window of Opportunity

Ukraine believes that current battlefield dynamics offer a rare opportunity. Russian advances have slowed significantly this year, to the point of nearly stalling last month, largely due to Ukrainian medium- and long-range drone strikes against Russia’s logistics networks and energy infrastructure.
According to a senior Ukrainian Defense Ministry official quoted anonymously by Politico, “we have a six-to-nine-month window of opportunity on the battlefield that requires an urgent acceleration of funding.” The same official warned that Russia is “moving quickly and innovatively”; any pause would allow Moscow to adapt and regain lost ground.
“Everyone can see that Russia is burning, and we want it to burn even more. But to do that, we need funding,” said a senior anonymous Ukrainian defense official.
In short, we still need billions more dollars.

A Detailed Plan Already Under Discussion with Allies

The Ukrainian plan has already been presented during a series of bilateral meetings led by Minister Fedorov and other senior officials with representatives from Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Canada. Each ally would be asked to contribute between $2 billion and $6 billion, either through direct assistance or loans.
The funds would be allocated to the acquisition of air defense systems, drones, ammunition, electronic warfare equipment, and long-range strike capabilities. Part of the financing would also support NATO’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, as well as direct purchases from Ukrainian defense manufacturers.

Pushing Putin to the Negotiating Table

Behind the military rationale for this request lies a political objective: forcing Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table.
According to another source cited by Politico, “Ukraine has a real chance to bring the dictator to negotiations,” provided Russia is not given time to recover its tactical advantage.
The potential development of Russian medium-range drones is described as a worst-case scenario. “If the enemy develops its own medium-range drones, it would be a real disaster for Ukraine,” one source noted.
Putin himself stated last week that Russian forces are advancing every day, while also acknowledging that Ukrainian strikes are causing damage.

An Effort Within a Broader NATO Framework

Ukraine’s request comes amid a broader intensification of Western support. According to four NATO diplomats also cited by Politico, Alliance members are considering a new €70 billion military assistance program, which could be announced at the NATO summit in Ankara next month.
The initiative, championed by Germany, aims to improve transparency and ensure a fairer distribution of the burden among allies.
If the additional $20 billion is secured, total assistance committed in 2026 would reach $58 billion, close to the $60 billion bilateral target set by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Kyiv intends to reach that goal before the end of the summer.

Source: Politico (exclusive), June 12, 2026. Article compiled using information cross-checked with Kyiv Post, United24 Media, and US News.

Billions more for Ukraine !

L’article Kyiv Requests an Additional $20 Billion to “Burn” Russia est apparu en premier sur FrenchDailyNews.