Free Republic

Taiwan's military mobilized its forces and said it was confident it could protect the island, after China started two days of "punishment" drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to "separatist acts". The exercises, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands that sit next to the Chinese coast, come just three days after Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan's new president, a man Beijing detests as a "separatist". China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has denounced Lai's inauguration speech on Monday, in which he called on China to...

A top adviser at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) deleted records critical to uncovering the origins of COVID-19 — and used a “secret back channel” to help Dr. Anthony Fauci and a federal grantee that funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, evade transparency. NIH senior adviser Dr. David Morens improperly conducted official government business from his private email account and solicited help from the NIH’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office to dodge records requests, according to emails revealed in a memo by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which The Post obtained Wednesday. “[I] learned from...

A fascinating video that draws all of the parts of the India/China/Regional disputes into focus, and the consequences of each outcome.

Gore's, Talbott's Red Russian roots How they 'Hammer'-ed out Washington-Moscow policy Posted: October 3, 2000 Loutchansky's name surfaced again last year, when the Washington Post revealed that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's two brothers, Tony Rodham and Hugh Rodham, were involved in a $118 million scheme to grow and export hazelnuts in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Their partner in the venture was Aslan Abashidze, who said his financial adviser was Loutchansky. Abashidze is a reputed member of a Russian organized crime family.The Rodham brothers at first balked and then agreed to national security adviser Sandy Berger's request that...

A Massachusetts pharmacist accused of causing a fungal meningitis outbreak that caused the deaths of 11 Michigan residents is set to go on trial for murder. Livingston County Circuit Judge Matthew McGivney set a trial date for Nov. 4 for Glenn Chin who faces 11 counts of second-degree murder for his alleged involvement in the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday, May 20. “Eleven Michiganders tragically lost their lives as a result of a lack of concern for patient safety,” Nessel said. “My department looks forward to finally seeking justice for the victims and...

China’s latest test shows commitment to perfecting electromagnetic tech while US waffles between defunding or reviving its efforts The Type 072 destroyer (pictured) was spotted in 2018 carrying what military experts believed to be the PLA Navy’s first electromagnetic rail gun. Photo: Handout / SCMP China’s latest electromagnetic railgun test ultimately failed but underscored its relentless pursuit of the weapon, contrasting sharply with the US’s uncertain commitment to the potential game-changing technology. This month, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that the People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) tested an electromagnetic railgun by firing a smart bomb 15 kilometers into the...

The Michigan community of Green Charter Township on Friday lost a court battle to block Chinese-linked electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Gotion Inc. from building a factory near the town. Michigan is generally friendly to Chinese investments and the Gotion project in Green Charter Township was specifically endorsed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who called it “the biggest ever economic development project in Northern Michigan.”

Behind the anti-Israel protests and riots is a coalition of radical leftist and Islamist groups drawing sustenance from a vast dark money network... that is linked to the Chinese Communist Party. How did anti-Israel protests erupt within a month of the Hamas-led October 7 massacre? How did university campuses in America turn into tent cities of keffiyeh-clad youth calling for the liberation of Palestine, the annihilation of Israel, and death to Jews? If you suspect these protests are well orchestrated and funded, you are right. Behind them is a coalition of radical leftist and Islamist groups drawing sustenance from the...

Elon Musk’s Tesla is continuing to lay off employees as the company has slashed an additional 600 jobs across its California facilities, affecting a wide range of positions from factory workers to engineers. CNBC reports that Tesla has been grappling with a series of challenges that have led to multiple rounds of layoffs over the past month. The latest round of layoffs, reported in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing obtained by CNBC, impacted a wide range of positions, from entry-level roles to directors, spanning various departments such as factory workers, software developers, and robotics engineers. This...

DONGYANG, China (Reuters) - It's the end of a school day in the eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, and eager parents collect their children after a hectic day of primary school. But that's just the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang province, who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favored by local residents. Basins and buckets of boys' urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in "virgin boy eggs", a local tradition of soaking and cooking eggs in the urine of young...

The last U.S. zoo with pandas in its care expects to say goodbye to the four giant bears this fall. Zoo Atlanta is making preparations to return panda parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang to China along with their American-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, zoo officials said Friday. There is no specific date for the transfer yet, they said, but it will likely happen between October and December. The four Atlanta pandas have been the last in the United States since the National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China last November. Other American zoos have sent...

A Taiwanese lawmaker caused a major commotion by grabbing a bill and running out of the legislative chamber to prevent it from being passed. The event happened just before President-elect Lai Ching-te was set to take office on Monday. According to reports, the morning session was already heated, with lawmakers shouting and shoving each other even before any votes were cast. The situation escalated when one MP, now nicknamed the “Bill Bandit,” grabbed the bill and dashed for the exit. Other lawmakers chased him, turning the chamber into a scene of chaos. The video was shared by @CensoredMen on X...

Chaos in Taiwan's parliament today... The US and Iran held indirect talks this week... US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan travelling to Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend... In a legislative committee of France's National Assembly an 'assisted dying' bill approved tonight... The US State Department issuing a security alert claiming an increased threat to LGBTQ+ people and events inspired ... In Israel the popularity of top politicians measured in a Channel 12 poll... The Pentagon spin on sexual assaults in the US military... At least four people, three of the tourists, killed in Afghanistan... Dutch medical entrepreneur and former...

Interesting report, 8 minutes, on illegals from China coming to the US by a Singapore TV news source. One interesting thing was how they get kidnapped in Mexico and have to pay off ransoms. That’s in addition to $14K they’re paying the coyotes. They start off in Ecuador. 40,000 illegals from China have come in the last year.

A vaunted 'new era' of strategic partnership between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Xi Jinping may not exactly have been sealed with a kiss, but it did lead to rare hugs between them. Underscoring the importance of Xi's support for the Kremlin, Putin headed to Beijing earlier this week in what was his first trip abroad since his March re-election and the second in just over six months to China. Russia, grappling with Western sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine, is increasingly reliant on its booming trade with China, which is challenging US supremacy in areas from quantum...

Switzerland agreed to buy F-35 jet fighters to park on a remote runway. Then the U.S. zeroed in on the Wangs, who owned the rustic hotel next door. UNTERBACH, — The Hotel Rössli, a century-old lodge in this Alpine valley village, enjoys a spectacular view . ... But it is the view from the back that caught the attention of American intelligence agencies. About 100 yards from the rear of the rustic, wood-paneled inn .. cuts the runway where the Swiss military had agreed to base several F-35s, the world’s most advanced jet fighter. The airstrip, only partly fenced, is...

Senator Kennedy is legend. 'If you eat enough shrimp from India, you will grow an extra ear.'

Multiple polls are showing Joe Biden sinking into the abyss. Biden has been in denial about those polls for some time. President Biden is not convinced by recent polls that show he is facing a difficult election fight against former President Trump in November, and neither are many in his orbit.Some Democrats think Biden's in "denial" about his difficult posture and not taking his position seriously enough, according to Axios."The polling data has been wrong all along. How many — you guys do a poll at CNN," Biden told CNN last week. "How many folks you have to call to...

After more than three billion doses, the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is being withdrawn. However, its reputation was dented as unusual blood clots emerged as a rare side effect of the vaccine, and the UK turned to alternatives.