Holidaying Raab faces ‘missed call’ row – as PM continues scramble on Afghanistan crisis
Ministers are continuing their scramble for a co-ordinated international response to the crisis in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s dramatic takeover.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday night resumed his series of calls with world leaders following the fall of the central Asian country to the extremist group.
He spoke with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, having also this week held talks with the leaders of France, Germany, the US and Pakistan.
Dominic Raab will speak with other G7 foreign ministers
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also continued with efforts to come up with a joint global response by speaking with his Indian and American counterparts.
However, Mr Raab was hit with calls to resign from opposition MPs following claims he last week failed to immediately ask Afghanistan’s foreign minister for urgent assistance in evacuating Afghan interpreters who had worked for the UK military.
According to the Daily Mail, the foreign secretary – while on holiday with his family in Crete – was advised by officials on Friday to speak with Hanif Atmar as the Taliban advanced on Kabul.
But, the newspaper said, officials were told Mr Raab was not available and that another foreign office minister should speak with Mr Atmar.
The report said that Mr Raab ended up not speaking with his Afghan counterpart until at least the next day, after the Afghan foreign ministry refused to set up a call with the more junior UK minister.
A foreign office spokesperson said: “The foreign secretary was engaged on a range of other calls, and this one was delegated to another minister.”
Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds accused Mr Raab of a “dereliction of duty”, adding: “Failing to make a call has put the lives of brave interpreters at risk, after they served so bravely with our military. Utterly shameful.”
On Thursday, Mr Raab will join a virtual meeting of G7 foreign ministers.
This will precede a planned virtual meeting of G7 leaders early next week – set to be held more than seven days since Afghanistan’s capital Kabul was seized by the Taliban.
The virtual talks will come as European leaders struggle to hide their frustration with US President Joe Biden’s handling of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
However, Mr Biden has remained defiant about his decision to pull-out US soldiers and, on Wednesday night, once again refused to take questions following a live televised statement from the White House.
Mr Johnson’s call with Mr Draghi came after the prime minister had faced a barrage of criticism from MPs of all parties – including senior Conservatives – in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The prime minister used his address to parliament to promise a doubling of UK aid to Afghanistan this year to £286m.
The government – which has cut the UK’s overall foreign aid budget – is also calling on other nations to boost humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Downing Street said Mr Johnson, in his talks with Mr Draghi, had “outlined his five-point proposal for the international community to support the people of Afghanistan and to contribute to regional stability”.
The continuing immediate priority for many countries is the evacuation of their nationals from Kabul, with the US warning on Wednesday night that it could not ensure safe passage for those attempting to reach the city’s airport.
The US also said it does not currently have the capability to evacuate large numbers of Americans who are outside Kabul.
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Biden snubs Afghanistan questions
As of 8am on Wednesday, the UK had evacuated approximately 1,200 people from Kabul on military flights.
This includes around 300 British nationals, with the other 900 predominantly individuals resettled under the scheme for those Afghans who were employed locally by the UK, along with a small number of Afghans who are dependents of British nationals.
The government has also promised to welcome up to 5,000 of the most vulnerable Afghans to the UK in the first year of a bespoke refugee scheme, and up to 20,000 in future years.
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A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Today the prime minister set out the UK’s significant offer to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan – doubling our humanitarian aid to the region and establishing one of the most generous asylum schemes in British history.
“He also outlined the UK’s broader strategy for Afghanistan and the region, including the need to unite the international community behind a clear plan for dealing with the Taliban regime in a unified and concerted way.
“We are now asking our international partners to match the UK’s commitments and work with us to offer a lifeline to Afghanistan’s most vulnerable people.”
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’
The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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