Free Republic

SHENYANG, China -- People in northeastern China ate breakfast by the light of smartphones and shopkeepers turned on generators as much of the country enforced power cuts Wednesday to meet official conservation targets and ease shortages in some areas. News reports blame high coal prices they say make power companies reluctant to meet booming demand, while economists say the real motive is political: Officials are under pressure to curtail energy use to meet official targets.... ...In Shenyang, the northeast's most populous city, restaurant owner Li Yufeng used a battery from an electric bicycle to run a pot for noodles after...

China has agreed to “meaningful increases” in its purchase of U.S. agriculture and energy exports to help reduce the U.S. trade deficit, both countries said Saturday after wrapping up two days of high-stakes trade talks in Washington. A joint statement released by the White House said negotiators from both sides found “consensus on taking effective measures to substantially reduce the United States trade deficit in goods with China.” “To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services,” the statement said. “This...

>How real is the deal? We may not know for a couple of weeks yet (if not longer) but recent talks between China and the United States have resulted in an initial announcement that Beijing will prioritize closing the trade gap with the U.S. by purchasing significantly greater amounts of goods. Included in the few details offered thus far is a plan to increase both agricultural and energy exports from America. While China’s Foreign Ministry disputed some of the target amounts, the rest of the announcement looks as if it may soon become a reality. (CNN) Both parties said in...

Is Russia negotiating missile strikes as a method of appeasing Donald Trump? The Washington Post reports that Russia has shifted gears from confrontation to mitigation with the US after assisting Bashar al-Assad’s capture of the rebel stronghold Douma. At first, Moscow threatened a military conflict if Trump followed through on his threat to punish Assad for yet another use of chemical weapons that Russia had guaranteed were destroyed: Russian officials on Thursday sought to tamp down public fears of a looming conflict with the United States, even as Syrian government forces took control of the town where they are...

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has agreed to further open its auto market to the United States as the two countries prepare to amend their 6-year-old trade agreement following complaints by President Donald Trump. ...It marks the first successful renegotiation of a trade deal for the Trump administration — which used the threat of 25 percent steel tariffs at the bargaining table — and comes as the allies sought to resolve disputes before planned meetings with Kim Jong Un.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping's two-day summit meeting with Donald Trump, overshadowed by the U.S. attack on Syria, gave each president the chance to take the measure of the other and, apparently, each liked what he saw. From the Chinese perspective, things went very well indeed, with China taking the initiative and the Americans going along. It wasn't supposed to be like that. Trump had plans to pressure Xi to reduce the U.S. trade deficit. Trump also expected Xi to "step up" and help rein in North Korea. Neither thing happened. From the beginning, China felt it had the situation under...

Sunday, November 15, 2015 Why Islam is a Religion of War Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog "He it is who has sent His Messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist." Koran 61:9 Islamic violence is a religious problem. Islam derives meaning from physical supremacy, so war becomes an act of faith. To believe in Islam, is to have faith that it will conquer the entire world. And to be a true Muslim, is to feel called to aid in that...

Syrian President Bashar Assad wields command over the world's biggest stockpile of chemical weapons, international security experts say, and he is expected to emerge from any punitive Western airstrikes with his arsenal intact. With an estimated 50 storage sites, many situated in or near urban centers, any attempt to destroy or degrade the Assad government's supply of poison gases and nerve agents would require a massive invasion of ground forces that no nation considered part of the emerging "coalition of the willing" would be likely to support. Even if U.S. and allied intelligence have precisely located some of the stores...

BEIJING (AP) -- U.S.-based toy giant Mattel issued an extraordinary apology to China on Friday over the recall of Chinese-made toys, taking the blame for design flaws and saying it had recalled more lead-tainted toys than justified. The gesture by Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations, came in a meeting with Chinese product safety chief Li Changjiang, at which Li upbraided the company for maintaining weak safety controls. Toy inquiry reveals more recalls to come Video More video India's infrastructure has undergone dramatic change in the last few years. Fortune takes you inside this country's sudden...

The Great Escape Democrats today can wipe the sweat off their brows, thanks to a small group of RHINO Republicans (Republicans In Name Only). Be assured, neither Media Elite nor their party with “honesty” in hand will speak of this near-death-experience, but in truth they were going down due to their own actions or lack there of. Most understand that Democrats last hope, with loss after loss at the ballot box, is to control the judiciary, allowing only liberal, ideologically activist judges on the bench. Without votes needed, a saving-of-face, the survival of the do-nothing, obstructionist’s party were given another...

<p>A short while ago, I chanced to be in Dallas, Texas, making a documentary film. One of the shots involved a camera angle from a big commercial tower overlooking Dealey Plaza and the former "book depository," and it was later necessary for us to take the road through the celebrated underpass. The crew I worked with was younger than I am (you may as well make that much younger) and consisted of a Chinese-Australian, an English girl brought up in Africa, a Jewish guy from Brooklyn and other elements of a cross-section. As we passed the "Grassy Knoll," and looked up at the window, and saw the cross incised in the tarmac, I was interested by their lack of much interest. The event of Nov. 22, 1963 isn't half as real to them as the moment, say, when the planes commandeered by suicide-murderers flew into the New York skyline. Nor, as I realized, is it half as real or poignant to me as the site of Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. Time has a way of assigning value.</p>

Don Nickels and other senior Senators privately discussed ways to ease Lott out of his leadership job before year's end to put the controversy behind the party, Republican sources said.They said Senator Nickels and others are working on a 'soft landing' scenario to encourage Lott to step down under face saving conditions, which could include another prestigious Senate office. Senior GOP senators including veteran John Warner (R-Va.) spent several hours on the phone discussing Lott's eventual fate.There were also private discussions about whether party elders-perhaps former GOP leaders Robert Dole of Kansas and Howard Baker of Tennessee--should approach Lott soon...