On Monday, an estimated 31.6 million people across America will be in the path of the biggest solar eclipse since 2017.
Scientists will be able to study its effects on layers of the atmosphere, but according to conspiracy theorists, it could also be the end of days.
The internet is running wild with some outlandish claims.
Signs from God
Republican congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene says she thinks it is a sign from God that America needs to repent its sins.
Her post on X suggested New York’s recent earthquake combined with the eclipse were “strong signs”.
Image: Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested the solar eclipse was a sign from God. Pic: AP
“I pray that our country listens,” she posted.
X
This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only.
Her post, seen by more than eight million people, had a community note added to explain that earthquakes are common and solar eclipses are predicted well in advance.
But the ability to predict the eclipse plays into other conspiracy theories.
Nefarious plans
More on Space
Related Topics:
Right-wing commentator Alex Jones recently held an X Spaces event to discuss “what the globalists have planned for the imminent total solar eclipse”.
His guest Andrew Meyer told viewers the eclipse falls on a date in the Hebrew calendar where new energy can be pushed into the coming year. Mr Jones described Mr Meyer as “a expert on this”.
Advertisement
Image: Alex Jones’ InfoWars has broadcast multiple theories about the solar eclipse. Pic: AP
“The globalists, obviously, they want to make a big push for evil, negative energy,” Mr Meyer said.
“They want to inject the seed of every new year with negative energy because that’s what they harvest.”
A guest host of Alex Jones’ Infowars also discussed the idea that scientists studying the eclipse are using it for their “nefarious plans”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:35
Total solar eclipse explained
“The globalists, they believe these events have special powers,” Mike Adams said.
“So they are lining up important things in their minds, things to summon power.
“They are using the solar eclipse as a justification for the nefarious plans they intend to carry out.”
Image: Map showing when the eclipse will happen across the United States
End of days
Then there’s a vocal part of the internet who say Monday will be the end of the world, starting in Carbondale, Illinois.
Influencers have incorrectly mapped the eclipse’s ‘path of totality’ to show it covers between six and eight places called Nineveh.
Nineveh is mentioned in the Bible so the theorists are placing religious significance on their incorrect mapping.
In reality, this path, which shows where a total eclipse will be seen, covers two Ninevehs. The others will see a partial eclipse.
But the eclipse’s path continues to stir up theories.
Image: Total eclipse promo
When combined with the path of the US eclipse in 2017, they form a cross. At the centre of that cross is Carbondale, Illinois.
If you live in Carbondale, that means you will be lucky enough to see the full eclipse twice in seven years. According to debunked influencers on TikTok, it also means doomsday starts in your city.
The theories are being debunked by other influencers like Dan McClellan, a religious academic at the University of Birmingham.
TikTok
This content is provided by TikTok, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable TikTok cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to TikTok cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow TikTok cookies for this session only.
The severity cannot be overstated, if an additional 50% tariffs are levied on all Chinese goods it will decimate trade between the world’s two biggest economies.
Remember, 50% would sit on top of what is already on the table: 34% announced last week, 20% announced at the start of US President Donald Trump’s term, and some additional tariffs left over from his first term in office.
In total, it means all Chinese goods would face tariffs of over 100%, some as high as 120%.
It’s a price that makes any trade almost impossible.
China is really the only nation in the world at the moment that is choosing to take a stand.
While others are publicly making concessions and sending delegations to negotiate, China has clearly calculated that not being seen to be bullied is worth the cost that retaliation will bring.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
6:50
Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
The real question, though, is if the US does indeed impose this extra 50% tomorrow, what could or would China do next?
There are some obvious measures that China will almost certainly enact.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Further export controls on rare earth minerals (crucial for the development of high-tech products) are one example. China controls a huge proportion of the world’s supply, but the US would likely find workarounds in time.
Hiking tariffs on high-impact US products such as agricultural goods is another option, but there is only so far this could go.
The potentially more impactful options have significant drawbacks for Beijing.
It could, for instance, target high-profile American companies such as Apple and Tesla, but this isn’t ideal at a time when China is trying to attract more foreign investment, and some devaluation of the currency is possible, but it would also come with adverse effects.
Other options are more political and come with the risk of escalation beyond the economic arena.
In an opinion piece this morning, the editor of Xinhua, China’s state news agency, speculated that China could cease all cooperation with the US on the war against fentanyl.
This has been a major political issue for Mr Trump, and it’s hard to see it would not constitute some sort of red line for him.
Other options touted include banning the import of American films, or perhaps calling for the Chinese public to boycott all American products.
Anything like this comes with a sense that the world’s two most powerful superpowers might be teetering on the edge of not just a total economic decoupling, but cultural separation too.
There is understandably serious nervousness about how that could spiral and the precedent it sets.
A rumour on social media fuelled a brief upturn for struggling US stock markets – but they swiftly swung back down again after the claim was debunked by the White House.
Markets around the world have struggled since some of Donald Trump’s new import tariffs came into effect over the weekend.
The US markets opened on Monday with a fall for the third day in a row but briefly rallied and showed growth of over 2% at 3.15pm UK time.
The upturn came after a social media rumour claimed a top Trump administration adviser had suggested the president could be considering a 90-day pause on tariffs.
The origin of the false report was unclear but it appeared to be a misinterpretation of a comment made by a White House employee during a Fox News interview.
Asked if the US president would consider a pause, Kevin Hassett, White House National Economic Council director, said: “I think the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
“There are more than 50 countries in negotiation with the president.”
Nearly two hours later, multiple X accounts posted identical messages claiming Mr Hassett said a pause – for all countries except China – was being considered.
The identical posts were picked up by some news outlets and stock traders, sending the markets skyrocketing.
However, when the White House said any talk of a pause was “fake news”, they were sent back into the red.
This brief upturn was market volatility writ large
It was the stock market as a spectator sport.
The moment, mid-morning, when a Trump aide had given a TV interview and subsequent headlines screamed that Trump was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs.
Suddenly, the markets went from red to green.
Make that green to red, just minutes later, when the White House dismissed the story as fake news, insisting there would be no pause.
Investors duly reverted back to panic mode.
It was market volatility writ large.
The stance inside the White House can be best characterised as ‘panic, what panic?’.
Donald Trump on Monday joked his way through a photo call with the Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of baseball’s World Series, ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For those two men, there is much on the agenda, of course – not least the collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza.
On that, this will be an important stage in a grinding diplomacy that has ground to a halt around a ceasefire.
On tariffs, with Netanyahu, there will be a first look at how negotiations work with the punitive president.
Israel faces a 17% tariff from its largest trade partner and ally.
How to strategise a route towards the sweet spot?
With Trump’s first visitor since the tariff announcement comes a first test of how negotiations work and what they produce.
The world will be watching agog – as all the world has a stake.
Mr Trump has remained defiant despite fears that his levies could be pushing the US towards a recession.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:22
What’s going on with the stock markets?
Mr Trump – who played golf in Florida over the weekend – has also threatened an extra tariff on China, after Beijing announced a retaliatory levy on the US.
He said if Beijing does not withdraw its retaliatory tax, the US will impose an additional 50% levy on China and “negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately”.
The Duchess of Sussex has spoken about medical complications she suffered after the birth of one of her children.
Meghan revealed she was diagnosed with postpartum pre-eclampsia, a condition similar to pre-eclampsia which affects women during pregnancy.
In the first episode of a new podcast, Meghan described the condition as “so rare” and “so scary”.
“You’re still trying to juggle all these things and the world doesn’t know what is happening, quietly and in the quiet you are still trying to show up for people,” she added.
“You’re still trying to show up, mostly for your children. But those things are huge medical scares.”
While Meghan spoke about suffering with postpartum pre-eclampsia, she did not reveal whether it happened after the birth of five-year-old son Archie or three-year-old daughter Lilibet.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:48
What we learnt from Meghan series
Postpartum pre-eclampsia is a serious condition linked to high blood pressure which occurs most commonly within the first seven days of a birth, but can be a risk up to six weeks after delivery, according to the charity the Preeclampsia Foundation.
The NHS says symptoms include severe headaches, vision problems, pain below the ribs, vomiting and sudden swelling of the feet, ankles, face and hands.
Without immediate treatment, it can lead to serious complications including, in rare cases, convulsions, liver and blood clotting disorders and strokes.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Meghan’s podcast, Confessions Of A Female Founder, is the latest show she has produced since the release of her Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan and her new brand As Ever.
She has promised the podcast will feature “girl talk” and advice on how to create “billion-dollar businesses”.