Free Republic

President Trump and President Xi Jinping are locked in a fresh trade war standoff—and Beijing is betting the U.S. stock market will blink first. China’s escalating economic retaliation is timed with precision, and the message is clear: Xi believes Trump won’t risk another market meltdown. That assumption could shape every policy move over the next few weeks and shift investor sentiment worldwide. From rare-earth sanctions to new export controls and shipping-related penalties, China is tightening the screws just as President Trump threatens 100% tariffs on Chinese goods. Meanwhile, both countries prepare for a high-stakes summit later this month in South...

Fox News exclusively embedded with the Austin Police Department as part of a nationwide human trafficking operation targeting illicit Chinese massage parlors. A loudspeaker blared, "Austin Police! Search warrant! Come out with your hands up," as detectives from the Human Trafficking Division swept one illegal parlor. Inside, a sign advertised spa services, and another ironically warned against human trafficking. However, it didn’t take long to sense there was something much darker going on. The rooms were disheveled with mattresses, towels and shower beds. Simultaneously, officers raided a second illicit massage parlor minutes away, where a woman was found sleeping and...

In a war with China, the U.S. must prepare to absorb a massive opening punch of over a thousand missiles and drones aimed at paralyzing its forces. The key to victory is not preventing this first strike but building a resilient force that can “fight hurt.” This requires a radical shift to strategies like Agile Combat Employment, which disperses aircraft across many smaller bases, and developing resilient command networks.

WE HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE THIS THE BEST GENERATION OF MANKIND IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD OR MAKE IT THE LAST. JOHN E KENNEDY Dear People The JFK files given by the Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev to Rep Anna Luna has been translated to English from Russian - Joseph (JOE) X @JjthomsonJoe

DONALD Trump has deployed 10,000 US troops, nuclear-capable bombers, and America’s most elite special operations unit — the “Night Stalkers” — to the waters off Venezuela. The Caribbean is now bracing for its most explosive showdown in decades as dictator Nicolás Maduro whips his country into a war footing and vows to repel any US attack. In a dramatic escalation, three B-52 bombers — the same heavy bombers used in Iraq and Syria — flew for hours off Venezuela’s coast this week. Meanwhile, MH-6 Little Birds and MH-60 Black Hawks from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the...

The remapping of global supply chains.When President Trump announced a new 100% tariff on Chinese imports, in retaliation for Beijing’s latest export controls on rare earth elements, markets saw only the headline risk. But the real story lies beyond the ticker: a structural reordering of global trade. The world’s supply chains, long anchored to the Chinese mainland, are splintering.Capital is scattering across Asia’s periphery, and shipping routes that once followed predictable trans-Pacific lines are being redrawn into a new web of uncertainty and opportunity. Alongside an eastward turn worth $100 billion in investment, the trends of the last 30 years...

He Weidong was China second highest ranking official in the militaryThe Chinese Communist Party has expelled nine top generals in one of its largest public crackdowns on the military in decades.Nine men were suspected of serious financial crimes, a statement released by China's defence ministry said.Most of them were three-star generals and part of the party's decision-making Central Committee. They have also been expelled from the military.While the statement cast the expulsion as part of an anti-corruption drive, analysts say it could also be seen as a political purge. It comes on the eve of the party's plenum where the...

India will continue to be excluded from the U.S. Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery, commonly called the “green card lottery” for at least the next several years, likely through 2029. The country remains ineligible because the number of Indian nationals immigrating to the United States each year far exceeds the program’s limits. Meanwhile, ongoing backlogs in H-1B and employment-based (EB) green card categories have made the path to permanent residency even more challenging for skilled Indian professionals already living and working in the U.S. The U.S. Diversity Visa (DV) program or the green card lottery is designed to encourage immigration from...

According to a statement released by Peking University, researchers led by Huang Yani and Pang Yuhong of Peking University analyzed the complete genomes of 58 individuals whose remains were recovered from central China's Baligang site. This Neolithic site is situated between the Yellow River basin to the north, where early farmers grew millet, and the Yangtze River basin to the south, where people planted rice. The DNA study suggests that in the early Neolithic period, the Baligang population comprised a mix of northern and southern East Asian ancestry. Then, some 4,200 years ago, there was an increase in people bearing...

The espionage case against Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash collapsed after government officials refused to testify under oath that China posed a threat to national security. China poses a daily threat to Britain’s security, the head of the country's domestic intelligence agency said on Thursday, remarks that step up pressure on authorities to explain why the prosecution of two men charged with spying for Beijing collapsed just before they were due to stand trial. The government, opposition politicians and prosecutors have traded blame over the failed criminal case as the United Kingdom tries to balance between challenging and engaging with...

Until recently, Tim Haugh was among America's top spymasters. The four-star general spent 33 years in Air Force Intelligence and rose to lead America's largest and most advanced intelligence agency. Haugh was also in charge of defending America from computer threats. In his first television interview since retirement, General Haugh is here to warn that China has hacked into U.S. computer networks to an astonishing degree. And he believes he knows why. The surprise, Tim Haugh told us, is that China is targeting not just the U.S. military and industry but also Americans in their homes. Gen. Tim Haugh: I...

Donald Trump is working on establishing a Ukraine victory fund which will be bankrolled by fresh tariffs on China. The US president instructed Scott Bessent, his treasury secretary, to float the plan to European counterparts ahead of Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington DC on Friday. Mr Trump, who previously claimed Mr Zelensky did not “hold the cards” for a military victory, is increasingly losing patience with Vladimir Putin, and his proposal for a Ukraine war shift marks a significant change in his position. His language was mimicked by Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defence, who told a meeting of...

Space exploration has entered a new era where microbial discoveries challenge our understanding of life beyond Earth. The Chinese Tiangong station recently became the site of an extraordinary finding that reads like science fiction but represents very real scientific advancement. This discovery raises fundamental questions about biological adaptation in extreme environments. Niallia tiangongensis emerges from space station samples During routine operations in May 2023, the Shenzhou-15 crew collected samples from Tiangong’s habitation module that would later reveal something unprecedented. Scientists identified a completely new bacterial species, subsequently named Niallia tiangongensis after its birthplace among the stars. This microorganism represents the...

The U.S. is awash with scam text messages. Officials say it has become a billion-dollar, highly sophisticated business benefiting criminals in China. Your highway toll payment is now past due, one text warns. You have U.S. Postal Service fees to pay, another threatens. You owe the New York City Department of Finance for unpaid traffic violations. The texts are ploys to get unsuspecting victims to fork over their credit-card details. The gangs behind the scams take advantage of this information to buy iPhones, gift cards, clothing and cosmetics. Criminal organizations operating out of China, which investigators blame for the toll...

Perhaps US intelligence has an idea about who is increasingly the real power behind the throne in BeijingXi Jinping effectively vanished in July and the first half of August. Some China watchers speculated that his unexplained absence was a sign he was losing his grip on power. But he has since reappeared and been very visible again. At the end of the month, he visited Tibet, then indulged in a high-profile, backslapping meeting with Vladimir Putin and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tianjin. He capped off his busy two weeks with the September 3 military parade in Beijing...

A State Department contractor stole thousands of pages of “TOP SECRET” classified documents and met with Beijing officials. Ashley Tellis, an expert on India and South Asian affairs, removed the top secret documents from secure locations and met with Chinese officials. The classified documents were located in Tellis’s Virginia home during a raid. “On Sept. 25, he allegedly printed U.S. Air Force documents concerning military aircraft capabilities. Federal prosecutors allege that he met with Chinese government officials multiple times over the past several years,” Fox News reported. Prosecutors said in September 2022 that Tellis brought a manila envelope with him...

Since Beijing announced a new visa to attract young science and technology graduates, a backlash has erupted online, forcing the government to respond.When the Chinese government announced a new visa to attract young science and technology talent, it advertised the move as another step toward becoming the leading scientific power, one to which people from around the globe would flock.To many in China, it was a gross mistake.In the days before and since Oct. 1, when the visa was supposed to come into effect, commenters have accused the government of inviting foreigners to steal jobs from Chinese people, at a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — For many years, American and Chinese scholars worked shoulder to shoulder on cutting-edge technologies through open research, where findings are freely shared and accessible to all. But that openness, a long-standing practice celebrated for advancing knowledge, is raising alarms among some U.S. lawmakers. They are worried that China — now considered the most formidable challenger to American military dominance — is taking advantage of open research to catch up with the U.S. on military technology and even gain an edge. And they are calling for action.“For far too long, our adversaries have exploited American colleges and universities...

The employee, Ashley Tellis, is also a contractor with the Office of Net Assessment at the Department of Defense The Department of Justice said Tuesday that a State Department employee allegedly removed classified documents and met with Chinese officials. The employee, Ashley Tellis, is also a contractor with the Office of Net Assessment at the Department of Defense, and is considered a subject matter expert on India and South Asian affairs, according to the DOJ, https://www.foxnews.com/us/state-department-employee-allegedly-removed-classified-docs-met-chinese-officials

“China’s stance is consistent,” the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement posted online. “We do not want a tariff war but we are not afraid of one.”China signaled Sunday that it would not back down in the face of a 100% tariff threat from US President Donald Trump, urging the US to resolve differences through negotiations instead of threats. “China’s stance is consistent,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement posted online. “We do not want a tariff war but we are not afraid of one.” The response came two days after Trump threatened to increase the tax...