Gentlefolk,
This post describes our main activities during the month of March 2025.
The contents of this post are in the following sequence:
Photos of our activities during March 2025.
News items which caught my eye in March 2025.
A summary of actions by President Trump in his 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th weeks in the White House (frightening but fascinating!).
International Trade (this section survives, for now).
Highlights of March: Vera's 80th birthday which we celebrated in Sydney with Andrew & family.Nate Roberts' 18th birthday - we had a family dinner for Nate in Brisbane on 16 March. Nate successfully applied for a rugby scholarship at Central Washington State University (CWU) which he will take up in August 2025.Tropical cyclone Alfred threatened the Brisbane region - the first cyclone to hit Brisbane since 1974 (far north Queensland often experience cyclones, but they rarely come this far south).
Herewith photos of some of our activities in March 2025:
My niece Laura visited Caloundra for a couple of days. We took her to a hostel in Mooloolaba her next destination.
Laura and Selim (a backpacker from Argentina), checking into the Abode hostel in Mooloolaba.
We had coffee and cake at the Mooloolabah Surf Club - great views overlooking the beach.
Jen & Tom spent the night with us in Nirimba.
As it meandered down the Qld coast (took 17 days) Tropical cyclone Alfred dominated the news. It is a rare occurrence - the last cyclone to hit the Brisbane region was back in 1974. We prepared as muchj as we could, but didn't really know what to expect.
In the end, the areas south of Brisbane were hit hard (Gold Coast, Northern Rivers), but the Sunshine Coast was largely spared. We had some wind and rain, but not nearly as much as other areas.
High waves and tides devastated many beaches, but the sand erosion at Kings Beach in Caloundra (where we normally go) was not too bad.
our wonderful neighbours Karla and Peter.
More wonderful neighbours: Gary and Margaret and Theresa.
The trucks using the haulage road along our back fence have been disruptive. On 13 March a group of us met with two executives from Aura Stocklands who told us that there would only be local vehicles using the haulage road in future, and the parking area for the Moxie trucks would be moved further away. - good news indeed.
From left: Cec, me, Genaea Keith (Senior Develoment Mgr, Aura), Tanya, Joel Coates (Senior Project Mgr, Aura), and Attila.
With our neigbours Marg & Cec and Tanya & Attila. We are much relieved to hear that the noise and dust from the haulage trucks would cease soon.
The final talk at U3A Travel Chats group for this term was on a visit to Buenos Aires and Santiago.
About 20 years ago, at the height of our Tango phose, Vera & I spent 2 weeks in BA primarliy taking taking tango lessons, but also exploring the city. It's a lovely city, the wide avenues and stately buildings were a reflection of a grand past. The speaker described her visit in September 2024 - still impressive.
Brisbane
We went to Brisbane to celebrate Nate's 18th birthday. Tom & I attended the Reds v Waratahs game on Saturday night. The Reds had a good win.
Family dinner at South Bank for Nate's 18th birthday (under a railway line!).
Nate is a talented rugby player - he played 5/8 for the First 15 at Marist College Ashgrove. He has been awarded a rugby scholarship at Central Washinton State University (in Ellensburg, about 150km east of Seattle). He has registered to do a 4 year Business Degree and will move there in August 2025 - exciting time!
Sydney, 19 - 24 March 2025
We decided to celebrateVera's birthday with family in Sydney.
Andrew got tickets for the Socceroos v Indonesia soccer game at Allianz Stadium.
The final score was 5 - 1 to Australia, but the game was actually closer than the score suggests. There were many Indonesian fans in the crowd, which made for a good atmosphere. The following week the Soccerooos played China in Hangzhou - we managed to win that game 2 - 0; hopefully we'll make the World Cup next year.
Coffee & hot chocolate at a cafe around the corner from Andrew & Caz's home in Queens Park.
Grabbing a coffee and hot chocolate on the way to school. Caz was missing, as she was visiting the factory in Indonesia.
Vera and I took a ferry from Circular Quay to Cabarita to visit Niniek and Paul at Breakfast Point.Their apartment has been renovvated and looks great!
Birthday girl!
Birthday dinner for Vera: from left Cath, Andrew, Vera, Niniek, me, Paul. The 4 kids were at the opposite side of the table. Caroline was visiting the factory in Indonesia.
Vera with Andrew and Jay Jay.
Eddie invited 25 friends (soccer & school) to the party. for his 11th birthday. It wsa held at a special swim centre at Maroubra. Here the lifeguard is explaining the rules.
Everyone had to prove that they were competent swimmers, before the fun started on the jumping castle.
They had a ball for an hour.
The boys were hungry after the fun on the jumping castle.
We went to the Waratahs v Brumbies game at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night. The Waratahs won 25 - 23, their first victory over the Brumbies in 13 games. The halftime score was 21-6 and I knew we were in trouble. The Brumbies came back in the second half, but fell short.
Eddie played soccer - loves it - he is a good player.
Adrew chatting with some parents. This game was in Wollongong, about 1.5h drive from Queens Park.
We stopped for Fish & Chips (and icecream) after the game.
Vera loved spending time with the grandkids Eddie & Jay..
Jay Jay (8th birthday a couple of weeks ago).
Eddie (11th birthday a week ago).
Jay and her cousin Bea.
Mother & son.
Mother & son.
Back home in Nirimba
More flowers for the birthday girl when we returned to Caloundra, this time from Oda & Marion and Moritz and Laura. Thank you so much!
Congratulations at Friday night happy hour from Sandie Ingram, Chair of the Halcyon Nirimba Social Club.
Read another Jeffery Archer book this month.
He is a terrific story-teller.
......
News items which caught my eye in March 2025.
($ are US dollars unless otherwise shown)
Global
Turkey: Kurdish
separatist group PKK declared a ceasefire with Turkey after 40 years of
fighting. Huge protests across Turkey when Pres Erdogan’s main political
rival, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested on corruption charges.
Arab League:
announced a $53B plan to rebuild Gaza (in response to Trump’s plan for Gaza).
Hong Kong: Li
Ka Shing’s Hutchinson Group sold 43 ports in 23 countries to a BlackRock
consortium for $19B.
Syria: Alawaite
community targeted, many dead and injured.
Canada: Mark Carney
replaced Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party, and Prime Minister. He
called a general election for 28 April. The Conservatives were well ahead in polls,
but many Canadians don’t like Trump’s claim they should be the 51st
State.
The Philippines:
Former President Rodrigo Duarte was arrested and sent to appear before the
ICC in The Hague.
Formula 1: Lando Norris
(McLaren) won the Australian GP; Oscar Piastri (McLaren) won the Chinese GP.
Germany: Bundestag voted
to lift spending on defence/security.
UK: Heathrow
Airport closed by a fire in a sub-station; 1,300 flights affected.
Vatican: Pope Francis
(88) left hospital after 5 weeks care.
Electric vehicles: in 2024 BYD had
revenue of $107B, Tesla had $98B. Both companies sold 1.8M EVs but BYD also
makes hybrids.
Myanmar: strong
earthquake killed 1,700+ and many injured.
South Korea: wildfires
killed 30+ with many injured.
Israel –
Hamas & Hezbollah
The ceasefire
lapsed and the IDF started attacking sites in Gaza again.
Israel stopped
all aid from entering Gaza, to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining
hostages. Later Israel also stopped access to power.
Death toll of
Gazans passed 50,000 (mainly women and children).
IDF struck sites
in Lebanon, in response to attack.
Russian
invasion of Ukraine
Confrontation in
the Oval Office between Pres Trump & VP Vance and Pres Zelensky – they
were obviously softening Zelensky up before the peace negotiations with
Russia.
Three-way
talks (USA-Ukraine, and USA-Russia)
started in Saudi Arabia, trying to find a way to end the Ukraine conflict.
European leaders
held emergency meetings to rally support for Ukraine.
USA halted cyber
war operations against Russia.
Trump ‘paused’
military support and intelligence sharing with Ukraine (later reinstated).
Poland said it
would pay the Starlink fee for Ukraine ($50M pa).
USA
Another frantic
Trump month – see "Pres Trump at work" below.
Trump announced
25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, later suspended until 2 April
(when 25% tariffs will start on all imports into the USA of cars and parts
and many other products). In 2024 the USA imported about 8M cars (valued at
$240B), mainly from Mexico, S Korea, Japan, Canada and Germany. About half of
new car sales were imported cars.
Stock markets
volatile due to uncertainty of Trump’s policies; gold passed $3K per ounce.
Trump made a
“report to Congress” setting out his agenda.
Trump revoked
security clearances of Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Liz Cheney and others
(Biden’s revoked last month).
Trump took a
legal firm off his black list when the firm agreed to provide $40M in pro
bono services related to his initiatives.
Trump said he
will correct the Smithsonian’s (21 museums + zoo) “improper, unamerican,
ideology” (similar to the Kennedy Centre of which he is now the Chairman).
A Trump Executive
Order made English the official language of the USA.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha visited a US military base in Greenland - Vance urged Greenlanders to join the USA.
US military
attacked Houthi sites in Yemen to force them to stop targeting shipping.
Trump threatened
Iran if it did not renegotiate the non-nuclear agreement within two months.
Trump closed down
The Voice of America (“leftist”!).
Elon Musk’s DOGE
cut IRS staff by 20% (and other agencies).
Anti Musk/Trump
demonstrations at Tesla offices across America. Tesla shares have fallen from
$480 in December to $250 now.
Congress passed a bill to keep the federal govt going until 30 Sept.
The Govt
announced there were 8,326 “encounters” with migrants on the South-West
Border in February 2025 (146,64 in Feb 2024).
The Oscars: Anora
– Best Picture; Adrien Brody – Best Actor (The Brutalist); Mickey Madison –
Best Actress (Anora); Sean Baker – Best Director (Anora).
Astronauts Butch
Wilmore and Sunni Williams returned on A SpaceX satellite after being
stranded for 9 months on the ISS.
Former world
boxing heavyweight champion George Foreman died aged 76. He won 73 fights, 68
by knockout. Mohammad Ali beat him in 1974 in the famous “Rumble in the
Jungle” fight.
Hyundai:
announced plans to invest $21B in the USA.
Stock market volatile
due to uncertainty of Trump’s push for tariffs and drastic reductions in Federal
Govt agencies.
Elon Musk sold X
(formerly Twitter) to sister coy xAI for $33B.
American actor Richard Chamberlain died aged 90 (Dr Kildare, Shogun, The Thorn Birds, etc).
Australia
Prime Minister
Albanese called a general election on 3 May 2025. Polls predict a
close contest.
The Aust Federal
Police said that the caravan found with explosives in January was part of a
“criminal hoax”, not terrorist.
Annual Gay & Lesbian
Mardi Gras held in Sydney.
NRL started the
2025 season with two rugby league games in Las Vegas (Raiders beat Warriors
and Panthers beat Sharks).
Tropical Cyclone
Alfred crossed near Bribie Island (first cyclone near Brisbane in 51 years);
extensive damage to areas south of Brisbane.
Major floods in South-West Queensland; farms hit hard.
James Harrison
died aged 88. He was known as the “Man with Golden Arm” for regularly donating
blood from age 18 to 81.
Labor was
returned in the Western Australia state election.
Steve Smith
announced his retirement from one-day international cricket. He was Aussie
captain 2015-8. Scored 5,800 runs (av 43.28). 70 ODI caps.
An estimated 80%
of Australian adult males gamble at some stage; gambling turnover in 2023-4
estimated at $244B.
Qld Govt unveiled
“final” plans for the 2023 Olympic Games: new stadium and swim centre in
Brisbane; several events will be held in regional areas.
Former NSW policeman
Kristian White found guilty of manslaughter for tasering 95 yo Clare Nowland
which caused her to fall, hit her head and die. He was sentenced to 2 years
community service.
President
Trump at work
Donald
John Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the USA on 21 January
2025.
He was
much better prepared this time, and started to implement his program
immediately, largely via Executive Orders.
It's been
a period of whirlwind action, which has completely dominated the media. He doesn't care what went before, completely disregards existing treaties and agreements, to have his own way. He will certainly change America.
Trump may
be a rogue, but he gets things done.
To give a
sense of what is happening, the following is a summary of Trump's key actions
in Weeks 6 – 7 - 8 & 9 of his administration (roughly equating with the
four weeks of March 2025).
Trump’s
key actions in Week 6 of his administration
Ryan Teague Beckwith, MSNBC 4 March 2025
• Passed a House budget on party lines that could cut
Medicaid and food stamps to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.
• Imposed tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada that went into
effect on Tuesday.
• Scrambled to rehire staffers with the Food & Drug
Administration who monitor the safety of medical devices.
• Proposed a "gold card" visa that would allow
people to become lawful permanent residents for $5 million.
• Criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his
face in a shockingly contentious White House meeting.
• Slashed staff of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, fulfilling a Project 2025 goal.
• Announced the White House would take control of a press
pool run by journalists for more than a century.
• Announced that it would strip security clearances from a
white-shoe law firm for working with former special counsel Jack Smith.
• Announced that the Treasury Department will no longer
enforce an anti-money laundering law.
• Began planning a nationwide operation to potentially
deport children who came into the U.S. without a parent or guardian.
• Proposed that the U.S. government purchase and hold
cryptocurrencies in a "Crypto Strategic Reserve."
• Said, through the Health and Human Services secretary,
that measles deaths are "not unusual," though the U.S. hasn't had one
since 2015.
• Wrote an unusual op-ed for Fox News in which the HHS
secretary said the measles vaccine should be "readily accessible for all
those who want them."
• Reportedly moved to cancel a $2.4 billion contract with
Verizon to overhaul air traffic control systems and give it to Musk’s Starlink.
• Made plans for large-scale layoffs at federal agencies in
March and April in a memo calling the federal workforce "bloated" and
"corrupt."
• Floated a plan to put tariffs on copper as part of a move
to hurt China's growth in the sector.
• Threatened to put 25% tariffs on the European Union,
claiming, inaccurately, that the economic bloc was formed "to screw"
the U.S.
• Filed three bills to impeach judges who ruled against the
Trump administration in recent weeks.
• Invited billionaire federal contractor Elon Musk to
Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, although he is not a member of the Cabinet.
• Said at that Cabinet meeting that the country has
"gotten bloated and fat and disgusting."
• Denied access to The Associated Press, Reuters, HuffPost
and a German newspaper at the Cabinet meeting.
• Revealed, after refusing to answer for weeks, that federal
worker Amy Gleason is nominally the head of the DOGE effort.
• Floated removing government spending from gross domestic
product (GDP) reports, complicating any analysis of DOGE cuts.
• Floated a controversial budget maneuver that would let
Congress say that Trump's tax cut bill cost nothing, instead of trillions.
• Posted a video on Truth Social that showed the Gaza Strip
as a resort featuring gold statues of Trump.
• Threatened to sue journalists who use anonymous sources or
off-the-record quotes in news articles and books.
• Blamed, without evidence, "paid 'troublemakers'"
for Republican lawmakers facing tough questions at town hall meetings.
Trump’s
key actions in Week 7
MSNBC Ryan Taegue Beckwith, 11 March 2025
• Lost a Supreme Court case, 5-4, in which the
administration sought to continue a freeze on billions of dollars of foreign
aid approved by Congress.
• Paused shipments of military aid to Ukraine approved by
Congress after a contentious meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• Gave his first joint address to Congress this term,
defending tariffs while noting that there will be "a little
disturbance" from them.
• Announced a new White House office centered on
revitalizing commercial and naval shipbuilding.
• Told Congress that it should repeal the landmark 2022
bipartisan CHIPS Act to give subsidies to build semiconductors in the U.S.
• Said he would temporarily spare automakers from a new 25%
tariff on Canada and Mexico.
• Stripped security clearances from the law firm Perkins
Coie, which previously represented Hillary Clinton.
• Revoked security clearances and barred access to
classified information for several Biden-era officials.
• Ordered a student loan forgiveness program to disqualify
nonprofit workers who have engaged in "improper" activities.
• Called a Columbia student protester
"pro-terrorist" and said his arrest is the first "of many to
come."
• Told about 180 employees of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention who had been laid off to return to work.
• Listed hundreds of federal properties for sale, including
the FBI headquarters, then took the list down.
• Floated the idea of having mail carriers conduct the U.S.
census instead of hiring temporary workers.
• Gave some Republican senators Elon Musk's phone number so
they can call him to get problematic DOGE spending cuts reversed.
• Refused to rule out a recession in an interview with "Fox
News Sunday," saying the economy will see "a period of
transition."
• Saw the worst day for the Nasdaq since 2022 amid market
fears sparked by tariff uncertainty and Trump's remarks.
• Blamed "globalist countries and companies" for a
recent slide in the stock market.
• Said "nobody has ever
heard of" the southern African country of Lesotho.
Trump’s
key actions in Week 8
March 18, 2025 By Ryan Teague Beckwith MSNBC
President Donald Trump took his most dramatic step to
claim executive powers in his eighth week in office, invoking the Alien Enemies
Act to begin deporting noncitizens without giving them a chance to go before a
judge.
The 1798 law has been invoked only three other times:
during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. The last time it was used
as part of the legal rationale for Japanese internment camps.
• Invoked the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to deport
alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
• Denied that it violated a court order temporarily blocking
the deportations, arguing it "had no lawful basis."
• Deported a 10-year-old U.S. citizen recovering from brain
cancer and her family to Mexico after detaining them on their way to one of her
medical checkups.
• Claimed that pardons of House Jan. 6 committee members and
some others by then-President Joe Biden were now "void."
• Ruled out an exemption for Australia on steel and aluminum
tariffs, as the European Union announced retaliatory trade actions.
• Threatened to double steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada
if Ontario added surcharges to electricity sold to the U.S.
• Fired 1,300 workers from the Education Department,
effectively gutting an agency he's vowed to shut down.
• Announced that another 1,000 National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration workers will be laid off.
• Put 1,300 staffers at the Voice of America on paid leave
amid plans to shutter the news agency, which was set up during World War II.
• Passed a spending bill with $485 million more for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and nearly $1 billion in cuts to the budget
of Washington, D.C.
• Made plans to fire workers who preserve and maintain
26,000 works of art owned by the U.S. government.
• Promoted Tesla on the White House lawn and said vandalism
against the company will be treated as domestic terrorism.
• Disbanded two federal committees tasked with advising
policymakers on food safety.
• Expelled the South African ambassador for criticizing the
Trump administration, calling him "persona non grata."
• Withdrew a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
nominee who had questioned the measles vaccine.
• Reversed more than 100 terminations of leases for federal
buildings around the country.
• Threatened to impose a 200% tariff on European wine,
Champagne and liquor amid a trade war with the European Union.
• Lost in court as two judges ordered the administration to
reinstate thousands of fired federal workers.
• Deported a kidney transplant doctor and professor even
though a judge had issued an order blocking it.
• Launched investigations into 52 universities, accusing
them of "racial preferences" for diversity efforts.
• Threatened to pull federal funding to Columbia University
unless it overhauls admissions and cedes control of academic departments.
• Faced a major protest as demonstrators took over Trump
Tower to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil.
• Was sued by a group of Democratic state attorneys general
over efforts to dismantle the Education Department.
• Directed military officials to draw up options for
increasing the troop presence in Panama, according to two U.S. officials.
• Asked the Supreme Court to narrow court orders so that it
can put into effect a new policy against birthright citizenship.
• Terminated $20 billion worth of Biden-era grant agreements
to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects.
• Refused, in confirmation hearings for Dr. Mehmet Oz to
lead Medicare and Medicaid, to commit to not cut Medicaid.
• Sued, through various entities affiliated with Trump,
Capital One bank for closing accounts after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S.
Capitol.
• Delivered a highly politicized speech claiming he was
persecuted to officials at the Justice Department.
• Argued in that speech that reporting by independent news
outlets is biased and should be "illegal."
• Promoted Steak 'n Shake beef tallow-cooked fries in an
interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Said, in an interview with the commerce secretary, that
Trump's policies would be "worth it" even if they led to a recession.
• Fired a pardon attorney who said she believes she was
ousted because she refused to restore Mel Gibson's right to carry a gun.
• Made plans for a registry that would require Canadians
staying in the U.S. for longer than a month to get fingerprinted.
• Criticized The Wall Street Journal by saying it's
"owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union."
Trump’s
key actions in Week 9
MSNBC by Ryan Teague Beckwith, 25 March 2025
President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on lawyers
and judges in his ninth week in office.
Though Trump has long criticized judges, he's now calling
for impeaching ones who rule against him as well as sanctioning lawyers who
work on cases he dislikes.
• Directed the attorney general and homeland security
secretary to sanction firms who file lawsuits the administration dislikes.
• Called for the impeachment of a judge who ordered a
temporary halt to the use of a 1798 law for deportations.
• Signed an executive order seeking to dismantle the
Department of Education while flanked by children sitting at school desks.
• Was rebuked by the chief justice of the Supreme Court in a
rare statement that said impeachment is not an appropriate response to
disagreeing with a judge's decision.
• Accidentally added a journalist to a group chat of top
officials on Signal discussing war plans in Yemen.
• Used police and security to enter the U.S. Institute of
Peace as part of a DOGE effort to take control of the nonprofit and gut it.
• Fired the two Democratic commissioners on the Federal
Trade Commission in what appears to be a violation of a 1935 Supreme Court
decision.
• Ended Secret Service protection for former President Joe
Biden's two adult children, Hunter and Ashley.
• Appointed retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, who pleaded guilty
to lying to the FBI, to an oversight board for West Point.
• Began planning tariffs on trillions of dollars in imports,
according to a Washington Post article citing unnamed sources.
• Removed a ban on "segregated facilities" in
federal contracts that dates back to 1965.
• Announced that Boeing had won a contract for a new fighter
jet to be named the F-47, after Trump.
• Announced a new requirement that Americans applying for
Social Security verify their identity online or in person.
• Threatened to shut down Social Security systems over a
judge's order barring DOGE access, then backed down.
• Released tens of thousands of pages of government
documents on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
• Included the Social Security numbers of hundreds of living
people in the JFK documents released.
• Planned to send second lady Usha Vance and a national
security adviser to Greenland, whose prime minister called the visit
"aggressive."
• Attempted to recruit corporate sponsors for the
147-year-old Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn.
• Said in an interview with Commerce Secretary Howard
Lutnick that only "fraudsters" would complain about a missing Social
Security check.
• Said, in another interview with Lutnick, that people
should "buy Tesla" and that "it'll never be this cheap
again."
• Suggested that Tesla vandals should be labeled as
terrorists and sent to prison in El Salvador.
• Demanded that the governor of Colorado take down a
painting of Trump that he said was poorly done.
......
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
My 30 year career as an Australian Trade Commissioner gave me an interest in matters related to international trade. I subscribe to Bloomberg's excellent daily newsletter "Supply Lines".
Here are some of the interesting graphs in the Bloomberg newsletter during March 2025; they are self-explanatory.
At the beginning of December 2024 Bloomberg advised that they would start charging to subscribe to this newsletter ($299 pa). So far they have continued to provide it free, but when that stops I will, regretably, no longer include this section in my blog. Pity, as it's been an excellent source of readily-accessible information.
In the meantime, herewith the latest offering, for March 2025.
......
That's it for this post.
Stay happy and healthy, and keep smiling.
Vera & Alex OlahCaloundra, AustraliaMonday 31 March 2025
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| My niece Laura visited Caloundra for a couple of days. We took her to a hostel in Mooloolaba her next destination. |
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| Laura and Selim (a backpacker from Argentina), checking into the Abode hostel in Mooloolaba. |
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| We had coffee and cake at the Mooloolabah Surf Club - great views overlooking the beach. |
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| Jen & Tom spent the night with us in Nirimba. |
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| As it meandered down the Qld coast (took 17 days) Tropical cyclone Alfred dominated the news. It is a rare occurrence - the last cyclone to hit the Brisbane region was back in 1974. We prepared as muchj as we could, but didn't really know what to expect. In the end, the areas south of Brisbane were hit hard (Gold Coast, Northern Rivers), but the Sunshine Coast was largely spared. We had some wind and rain, but not nearly as much as other areas. |
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| High waves and tides devastated many beaches, but the sand erosion at Kings Beach in Caloundra (where we normally go) was not too bad. |
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| our wonderful neighbours Karla and Peter. |
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| More wonderful neighbours: Gary and Margaret and Theresa. |
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| The trucks using the haulage road along our back fence have been disruptive. On 13 March a group of us met with two executives from Aura Stocklands who told us that there would only be local vehicles using the haulage road in future, and the parking area for the Moxie trucks would be moved further away. - good news indeed. From left: Cec, me, Genaea Keith (Senior Develoment Mgr, Aura), Tanya, Joel Coates (Senior Project Mgr, Aura), and Attila. |
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With our neigbours Marg & Cec and Tanya & Attila. We are much relieved to hear that the noise and dust from the haulage trucks would cease soon.
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| We went to Brisbane to celebrate Nate's 18th birthday. Tom & I attended the Reds v Waratahs game on Saturday night. The Reds had a good win. |
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| Family dinner at South Bank for Nate's 18th birthday (under a railway line!). |
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| Nate is a talented rugby player - he played 5/8 for the First 15 at Marist College Ashgrove. He has been awarded a rugby scholarship at Central Washinton State University (in Ellensburg, about 150km east of Seattle). He has registered to do a 4 year Business Degree and will move there in August 2025 - exciting time! |
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Sydney, 19 - 24 March 2025
We decided to celebrateVera's birthday with family in Sydney.
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| Andrew got tickets for the Socceroos v Indonesia soccer game at Allianz Stadium. |
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| The final score was 5 - 1 to Australia, but the game was actually closer than the score suggests. There were many Indonesian fans in the crowd, which made for a good atmosphere. The following week the Soccerooos played China in Hangzhou - we managed to win that game 2 - 0; hopefully we'll make the World Cup next year. |
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| Coffee & hot chocolate at a cafe around the corner from Andrew & Caz's home in Queens Park. |
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| Grabbing a coffee and hot chocolate on the way to school. Caz was missing, as she was visiting the factory in Indonesia. |
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| Vera and I took a ferry from Circular Quay to Cabarita to visit Niniek and Paul at Breakfast Point.Their apartment has been renovvated and looks great! |
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| Birthday girl! |
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| Birthday dinner for Vera: from left Cath, Andrew, Vera, Niniek, me, Paul. The 4 kids were at the opposite side of the table. Caroline was visiting the factory in Indonesia. |
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| Vera with Andrew and Jay Jay. |
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| Eddie invited 25 friends (soccer & school) to the party. for his 11th birthday. It wsa held at a special swim centre at Maroubra. Here the lifeguard is explaining the rules. |
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| Everyone had to prove that they were competent swimmers, before the fun started on the jumping castle. |
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| They had a ball for an hour. |
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| The boys were hungry after the fun on the jumping castle. |
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We went to the Waratahs v Brumbies game at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night. The Waratahs won 25 - 23, their first victory over the Brumbies in 13 games. The halftime score was 21-6 and I knew we were in trouble. The Brumbies came back in the second half, but fell short.
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| We stopped for Fish & Chips (and icecream) after the game. |
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| Vera loved spending time with the grandkids Eddie & Jay.. |
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| Jay Jay (8th birthday a couple of weeks ago). |
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| Eddie (11th birthday a week ago). |
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| Jay and her cousin Bea. |
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| Mother & son. |
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| Mother & son. |
Back home in Nirimba
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| More flowers for the birthday girl when we returned to Caloundra, this time from Oda & Marion and Moritz and Laura. Thank you so much! |
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| Congratulations at Friday night happy hour from Sandie Ingram, Chair of the Halcyon Nirimba Social Club. |
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| Read another Jeffery Archer book this month. He is a terrific story-teller. |
News items which caught my eye in March 2025.
($ are US dollars unless otherwise shown)
|
Global |
Turkey: Kurdish
separatist group PKK declared a ceasefire with Turkey after 40 years of
fighting. Huge protests across Turkey when Pres Erdogan’s main political
rival, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested on corruption charges. Arab League:
announced a $53B plan to rebuild Gaza (in response to Trump’s plan for Gaza).
Hong Kong: Li
Ka Shing’s Hutchinson Group sold 43 ports in 23 countries to a BlackRock
consortium for $19B. Syria: Alawaite
community targeted, many dead and injured. Canada: Mark Carney
replaced Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party, and Prime Minister. He
called a general election for 28 April. The Conservatives were well ahead in polls,
but many Canadians don’t like Trump’s claim they should be the 51st
State. The Philippines:
Former President Rodrigo Duarte was arrested and sent to appear before the
ICC in The Hague. Formula 1: Lando Norris
(McLaren) won the Australian GP; Oscar Piastri (McLaren) won the Chinese GP. Germany: Bundestag voted
to lift spending on defence/security. UK: Heathrow
Airport closed by a fire in a sub-station; 1,300 flights affected. Vatican: Pope Francis
(88) left hospital after 5 weeks care. Electric vehicles: in 2024 BYD had
revenue of $107B, Tesla had $98B. Both companies sold 1.8M EVs but BYD also
makes hybrids. Myanmar: strong
earthquake killed 1,700+ and many injured. South Korea: wildfires
killed 30+ with many injured. |
|
Israel –
Hamas & Hezbollah |
The ceasefire
lapsed and the IDF started attacking sites in Gaza again. Israel stopped
all aid from entering Gaza, to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining
hostages. Later Israel also stopped access to power. Death toll of
Gazans passed 50,000 (mainly women and children). IDF struck sites
in Lebanon, in response to attack. |
|
Russian
invasion of Ukraine |
Confrontation in
the Oval Office between Pres Trump & VP Vance and Pres Zelensky – they
were obviously softening Zelensky up before the peace negotiations with
Russia. Three-way
talks (USA-Ukraine, and USA-Russia)
started in Saudi Arabia, trying to find a way to end the Ukraine conflict. European leaders
held emergency meetings to rally support for Ukraine. USA halted cyber
war operations against Russia. Trump ‘paused’
military support and intelligence sharing with Ukraine (later reinstated). Poland said it
would pay the Starlink fee for Ukraine ($50M pa). |
|
USA |
Another frantic
Trump month – see "Pres Trump at work" below. Trump announced
25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, later suspended until 2 April
(when 25% tariffs will start on all imports into the USA of cars and parts
and many other products). In 2024 the USA imported about 8M cars (valued at
$240B), mainly from Mexico, S Korea, Japan, Canada and Germany. About half of
new car sales were imported cars. Stock markets
volatile due to uncertainty of Trump’s policies; gold passed $3K per ounce. Trump made a
“report to Congress” setting out his agenda. Trump revoked
security clearances of Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Liz Cheney and others
(Biden’s revoked last month). Trump took a
legal firm off his black list when the firm agreed to provide $40M in pro
bono services related to his initiatives. Trump said he
will correct the Smithsonian’s (21 museums + zoo) “improper, unamerican,
ideology” (similar to the Kennedy Centre of which he is now the Chairman). A Trump Executive
Order made English the official language of the USA. Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha visited a US military base in Greenland - Vance urged Greenlanders to join the USA. US military
attacked Houthi sites in Yemen to force them to stop targeting shipping. Trump threatened
Iran if it did not renegotiate the non-nuclear agreement within two months. Trump closed down
The Voice of America (“leftist”!). Elon Musk’s DOGE
cut IRS staff by 20% (and other agencies). Anti Musk/Trump
demonstrations at Tesla offices across America. Tesla shares have fallen from
$480 in December to $250 now. Congress passed a bill to keep the federal govt going until 30 Sept. The Govt
announced there were 8,326 “encounters” with migrants on the South-West
Border in February 2025 (146,64 in Feb 2024). The Oscars: Anora
– Best Picture; Adrien Brody – Best Actor (The Brutalist); Mickey Madison –
Best Actress (Anora); Sean Baker – Best Director (Anora). Astronauts Butch
Wilmore and Sunni Williams returned on A SpaceX satellite after being
stranded for 9 months on the ISS. Former world
boxing heavyweight champion George Foreman died aged 76. He won 73 fights, 68
by knockout. Mohammad Ali beat him in 1974 in the famous “Rumble in the
Jungle” fight. Hyundai:
announced plans to invest $21B in the USA. Stock market volatile
due to uncertainty of Trump’s push for tariffs and drastic reductions in Federal
Govt agencies. Elon Musk sold X
(formerly Twitter) to sister coy xAI for $33B. American actor Richard Chamberlain died aged 90 (Dr Kildare, Shogun, The Thorn Birds, etc). |
|
Australia |
Prime Minister
Albanese called a general election on 3 May 2025. Polls predict a
close contest. The Aust Federal
Police said that the caravan found with explosives in January was part of a
“criminal hoax”, not terrorist. Annual Gay & Lesbian
Mardi Gras held in Sydney. NRL started the
2025 season with two rugby league games in Las Vegas (Raiders beat Warriors
and Panthers beat Sharks). Tropical Cyclone
Alfred crossed near Bribie Island (first cyclone near Brisbane in 51 years);
extensive damage to areas south of Brisbane. Major floods in South-West Queensland; farms hit hard. James Harrison
died aged 88. He was known as the “Man with Golden Arm” for regularly donating
blood from age 18 to 81. Labor was
returned in the Western Australia state election. Steve Smith
announced his retirement from one-day international cricket. He was Aussie
captain 2015-8. Scored 5,800 runs (av 43.28). 70 ODI caps. An estimated 80%
of Australian adult males gamble at some stage; gambling turnover in 2023-4
estimated at $244B. Qld Govt unveiled
“final” plans for the 2023 Olympic Games: new stadium and swim centre in
Brisbane; several events will be held in regional areas. Former NSW policeman
Kristian White found guilty of manslaughter for tasering 95 yo Clare Nowland
which caused her to fall, hit her head and die. He was sentenced to 2 years
community service. |
President
Trump at work
Donald
John Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the USA on 21 January
2025.
He was
much better prepared this time, and started to implement his program
immediately, largely via Executive Orders.
It's been a period of whirlwind action, which has completely dominated the media. He doesn't care what went before, completely disregards existing treaties and agreements, to have his own way. He will certainly change America.
Trump may
be a rogue, but he gets things done.
To give a
sense of what is happening, the following is a summary of Trump's key actions
in Weeks 6 – 7 - 8 & 9 of his administration (roughly equating with the
four weeks of March 2025).
Trump’s key actions in Week 6 of his administration
Ryan Teague Beckwith, MSNBC 4 March 2025
• Passed a House budget on party lines that could cut
Medicaid and food stamps to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.
• Imposed tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada that went into
effect on Tuesday.
• Scrambled to rehire staffers with the Food & Drug
Administration who monitor the safety of medical devices.
• Proposed a "gold card" visa that would allow
people to become lawful permanent residents for $5 million.
• Criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his
face in a shockingly contentious White House meeting.
• Slashed staff of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, fulfilling a Project 2025 goal.
• Announced the White House would take control of a press
pool run by journalists for more than a century.
• Announced that it would strip security clearances from a
white-shoe law firm for working with former special counsel Jack Smith.
• Announced that the Treasury Department will no longer
enforce an anti-money laundering law.
• Began planning a nationwide operation to potentially
deport children who came into the U.S. without a parent or guardian.
• Proposed that the U.S. government purchase and hold
cryptocurrencies in a "Crypto Strategic Reserve."
• Said, through the Health and Human Services secretary,
that measles deaths are "not unusual," though the U.S. hasn't had one
since 2015.
• Wrote an unusual op-ed for Fox News in which the HHS
secretary said the measles vaccine should be "readily accessible for all
those who want them."
• Reportedly moved to cancel a $2.4 billion contract with
Verizon to overhaul air traffic control systems and give it to Musk’s Starlink.
• Made plans for large-scale layoffs at federal agencies in
March and April in a memo calling the federal workforce "bloated" and
"corrupt."
• Floated a plan to put tariffs on copper as part of a move
to hurt China's growth in the sector.
• Threatened to put 25% tariffs on the European Union,
claiming, inaccurately, that the economic bloc was formed "to screw"
the U.S.
• Filed three bills to impeach judges who ruled against the
Trump administration in recent weeks.
• Invited billionaire federal contractor Elon Musk to
Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, although he is not a member of the Cabinet.
• Said at that Cabinet meeting that the country has
"gotten bloated and fat and disgusting."
• Denied access to The Associated Press, Reuters, HuffPost
and a German newspaper at the Cabinet meeting.
• Revealed, after refusing to answer for weeks, that federal
worker Amy Gleason is nominally the head of the DOGE effort.
• Floated removing government spending from gross domestic
product (GDP) reports, complicating any analysis of DOGE cuts.
• Floated a controversial budget maneuver that would let
Congress say that Trump's tax cut bill cost nothing, instead of trillions.
• Posted a video on Truth Social that showed the Gaza Strip
as a resort featuring gold statues of Trump.
• Threatened to sue journalists who use anonymous sources or
off-the-record quotes in news articles and books.
• Blamed, without evidence, "paid 'troublemakers'"
for Republican lawmakers facing tough questions at town hall meetings.
MSNBC Ryan Taegue Beckwith, 11 March 2025
• Lost a Supreme Court case, 5-4, in which the
administration sought to continue a freeze on billions of dollars of foreign
aid approved by Congress.
• Paused shipments of military aid to Ukraine approved by
Congress after a contentious meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• Gave his first joint address to Congress this term,
defending tariffs while noting that there will be "a little
disturbance" from them.
• Announced a new White House office centered on
revitalizing commercial and naval shipbuilding.
• Told Congress that it should repeal the landmark 2022
bipartisan CHIPS Act to give subsidies to build semiconductors in the U.S.
• Said he would temporarily spare automakers from a new 25%
tariff on Canada and Mexico.
• Stripped security clearances from the law firm Perkins
Coie, which previously represented Hillary Clinton.
• Revoked security clearances and barred access to
classified information for several Biden-era officials.
• Ordered a student loan forgiveness program to disqualify
nonprofit workers who have engaged in "improper" activities.
• Called a Columbia student protester
"pro-terrorist" and said his arrest is the first "of many to
come."
• Told about 180 employees of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention who had been laid off to return to work.
• Listed hundreds of federal properties for sale, including
the FBI headquarters, then took the list down.
• Floated the idea of having mail carriers conduct the U.S.
census instead of hiring temporary workers.
• Gave some Republican senators Elon Musk's phone number so
they can call him to get problematic DOGE spending cuts reversed.
• Refused to rule out a recession in an interview with "Fox
News Sunday," saying the economy will see "a period of
transition."
• Saw the worst day for the Nasdaq since 2022 amid market
fears sparked by tariff uncertainty and Trump's remarks.
• Blamed "globalist countries and companies" for a
recent slide in the stock market.
• Said "nobody has ever
heard of" the southern African country of Lesotho.
March 18, 2025 By Ryan Teague Beckwith MSNBC
President Donald Trump took his most dramatic step to
claim executive powers in his eighth week in office, invoking the Alien Enemies
Act to begin deporting noncitizens without giving them a chance to go before a
judge.
The 1798 law has been invoked only three other times:
during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. The last time it was used
as part of the legal rationale for Japanese internment camps.
• Invoked the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to deport
alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
• Denied that it violated a court order temporarily blocking
the deportations, arguing it "had no lawful basis."
• Deported a 10-year-old U.S. citizen recovering from brain
cancer and her family to Mexico after detaining them on their way to one of her
medical checkups.
• Claimed that pardons of House Jan. 6 committee members and
some others by then-President Joe Biden were now "void."
• Ruled out an exemption for Australia on steel and aluminum
tariffs, as the European Union announced retaliatory trade actions.
• Threatened to double steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada
if Ontario added surcharges to electricity sold to the U.S.
• Fired 1,300 workers from the Education Department,
effectively gutting an agency he's vowed to shut down.
• Announced that another 1,000 National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration workers will be laid off.
• Put 1,300 staffers at the Voice of America on paid leave
amid plans to shutter the news agency, which was set up during World War II.
• Passed a spending bill with $485 million more for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and nearly $1 billion in cuts to the budget
of Washington, D.C.
• Made plans to fire workers who preserve and maintain
26,000 works of art owned by the U.S. government.
• Promoted Tesla on the White House lawn and said vandalism
against the company will be treated as domestic terrorism.
• Disbanded two federal committees tasked with advising
policymakers on food safety.
• Expelled the South African ambassador for criticizing the
Trump administration, calling him "persona non grata."
• Withdrew a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
nominee who had questioned the measles vaccine.
• Reversed more than 100 terminations of leases for federal
buildings around the country.
• Threatened to impose a 200% tariff on European wine,
Champagne and liquor amid a trade war with the European Union.
• Lost in court as two judges ordered the administration to
reinstate thousands of fired federal workers.
• Deported a kidney transplant doctor and professor even
though a judge had issued an order blocking it.
• Launched investigations into 52 universities, accusing
them of "racial preferences" for diversity efforts.
• Threatened to pull federal funding to Columbia University
unless it overhauls admissions and cedes control of academic departments.
• Faced a major protest as demonstrators took over Trump
Tower to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil.
• Was sued by a group of Democratic state attorneys general
over efforts to dismantle the Education Department.
• Directed military officials to draw up options for
increasing the troop presence in Panama, according to two U.S. officials.
• Asked the Supreme Court to narrow court orders so that it
can put into effect a new policy against birthright citizenship.
• Terminated $20 billion worth of Biden-era grant agreements
to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects.
• Refused, in confirmation hearings for Dr. Mehmet Oz to
lead Medicare and Medicaid, to commit to not cut Medicaid.
• Sued, through various entities affiliated with Trump,
Capital One bank for closing accounts after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S.
Capitol.
• Delivered a highly politicized speech claiming he was
persecuted to officials at the Justice Department.
• Argued in that speech that reporting by independent news
outlets is biased and should be "illegal."
• Promoted Steak 'n Shake beef tallow-cooked fries in an
interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Said, in an interview with the commerce secretary, that
Trump's policies would be "worth it" even if they led to a recession.
• Fired a pardon attorney who said she believes she was
ousted because she refused to restore Mel Gibson's right to carry a gun.
• Made plans for a registry that would require Canadians
staying in the U.S. for longer than a month to get fingerprinted.
• Criticized The Wall Street Journal by saying it's
"owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union."
MSNBC by Ryan Teague Beckwith, 25 March 2025
President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on lawyers
and judges in his ninth week in office.
Though Trump has long criticized judges, he's now calling
for impeaching ones who rule against him as well as sanctioning lawyers who
work on cases he dislikes.
• Directed the attorney general and homeland security
secretary to sanction firms who file lawsuits the administration dislikes.
• Called for the impeachment of a judge who ordered a
temporary halt to the use of a 1798 law for deportations.
• Signed an executive order seeking to dismantle the
Department of Education while flanked by children sitting at school desks.
• Was rebuked by the chief justice of the Supreme Court in a
rare statement that said impeachment is not an appropriate response to
disagreeing with a judge's decision.
• Accidentally added a journalist to a group chat of top
officials on Signal discussing war plans in Yemen.
• Used police and security to enter the U.S. Institute of
Peace as part of a DOGE effort to take control of the nonprofit and gut it.
• Fired the two Democratic commissioners on the Federal
Trade Commission in what appears to be a violation of a 1935 Supreme Court
decision.
• Ended Secret Service protection for former President Joe
Biden's two adult children, Hunter and Ashley.
• Appointed retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, who pleaded guilty
to lying to the FBI, to an oversight board for West Point.
• Began planning tariffs on trillions of dollars in imports,
according to a Washington Post article citing unnamed sources.
• Removed a ban on "segregated facilities" in
federal contracts that dates back to 1965.
• Announced that Boeing had won a contract for a new fighter
jet to be named the F-47, after Trump.
• Announced a new requirement that Americans applying for
Social Security verify their identity online or in person.
• Threatened to shut down Social Security systems over a
judge's order barring DOGE access, then backed down.
• Released tens of thousands of pages of government
documents on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
• Included the Social Security numbers of hundreds of living
people in the JFK documents released.
• Planned to send second lady Usha Vance and a national
security adviser to Greenland, whose prime minister called the visit
"aggressive."
• Attempted to recruit corporate sponsors for the
147-year-old Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn.
• Said in an interview with Commerce Secretary Howard
Lutnick that only "fraudsters" would complain about a missing Social
Security check.
• Said, in another interview with Lutnick, that people
should "buy Tesla" and that "it'll never be this cheap
again."
• Suggested that Tesla vandals should be labeled as
terrorists and sent to prison in El Salvador.
• Demanded that the governor of Colorado take down a
painting of Trump that he said was poorly done.
......
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
My 30 year career as an Australian Trade Commissioner gave me an interest in matters related to international trade. I subscribe to Bloomberg's excellent daily newsletter "Supply Lines".
Here are some of the interesting graphs in the Bloomberg newsletter during March 2025; they are self-explanatory.
At the beginning of December 2024 Bloomberg advised that they would start charging to subscribe to this newsletter ($299 pa). So far they have continued to provide it free, but when that stops I will, regretably, no longer include this section in my blog. Pity, as it's been an excellent source of readily-accessible information.
In the meantime, herewith the latest offering, for March 2025.
