Free Republic

Workers throughout China are flooding the streets in revolt as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs slam the fragile Chinese export economy. From the cramped streets of Sichuan in the southwest to the cold outskirts of Inner Mongolia in the northeast, furious workers are demanding back pay and protesting mass layoffs as factories shutter under pressure from Trump’s tariffs. Outside a LED light manufacturing plant near Shanghai, thousands of unpaid workers shouted furiously at company managers over wages that haven’t been paid since January. In central China’s Dao County, a similar scene unfolded outside a sporting goods store after the company...

... They're masking IPs, exporting laptop farms to America so they can connect into those machines and appear to be working from the USA, and they are using AI – but there's a question during job interviews that never fails to catch them out and forces them to drop out of the recruitment process. "My favorite interview question, because we've interviewed quite a few of these folks, is something to the effect of 'How fat is Kim Jong Un?' They terminate the call instantly, because it's not worth it to say something negative about that," he told a panel session...

China has created a list of US-made products that would be exempted from its 125 per cent tariffs and is quietly notifying companies about the policy, two people familiar with the matter said, as Beijing seeks to ease the impact of its trade war with Washington. China has already granted tariff exemptions on select products, including select pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines and was asking firms to identify critical goods they need levy-free, Reuters reported on Friday (Apr 25). However, the existence of a so-called 'whitelist' had not been previously reported. The quiet approach allows Beijing, which has repeatedly said...

The two men had entered Kenya on a tourist visa and were staying in a guest house in the western town of Naivasha. Their lawyer said that her clients did not know what they were doing was illegal. Two Belgian teenagers who were found with thousands of ants valued at more than €8,000 and allegedly destined for European and Asian markets will be sentenced in two weeks, a Kenyan magistrate has said. Njeri Thuku, sitting at the court in Kenya's main airport, said she would not rush the case but would take time to review environmental impact and psychological reports...

As China’s Belt and Road initiative tightens worldwide, the U.S. has a rare opportunity to stymie its inroads into Latin America. “We often say that to get rich, we must first build roads; but in coastal areas, to get rich, we must also first build ports.” – Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the China Central Committee The Chinese Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop CopiaPort-E, Chile’s deep-water port on the Pacific, raises national security questions given that Todd Callender, Esq., the CEO of the insurance conglomerate Cotswold Group in Barbados, would prefer to sell to the...

April 18, 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of Ernie Pyle’s death on the battlefield Eighty years ago, Ernie Pyle, one of America's most recognized war correspondents, was killed while covering the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -- Eighty years ago, one of America’s most recognized war correspondents was killed while covering the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. When it came to telling the story of the American soldier fighting the good fight overseas, no one compared to Ernie Pyle. “He exemplified the courage and the willingness to hear the story of the common soldier,...

• makes it clear the US cannot tolerate Hong Kong's prosperity and stability

Pongsri Woranuch, a trailblazer in Thai country music (also known as Luk Tang), has passed away following a battle with a lung-related illness at 85. Woranuch died early on Sunday morning at her home, as confirmed by her son. The famed singer and Thai music icon had been struggling with either lung disease or cancer, according to varying reports. She was allegedly in and out of hospitals leading up to her death. Videos by American Songwriter “And then Mom got on the last express train and left us,” Woranuch’s son, Jujuk Boonnachoti, wrote on Facebook. “No need to hug a...

Is this the real-life Atlantis. A 90-foot “pyramid” submerged just off the coast of Japan is turning heads — and could shake up everything we thought we knew about ancient civilizations. Sitting 82 feet below sea level near the Ryukyu Islands, the Yonaguni Monument has baffled scientists and divers since it was first discovered in 1986. The enormous stone structure, complete with angular steps and flat terraces, looks uncannily like the ruins of a man-made temple — despite being over 10,000 years old. That timeline, if proven accurate, would date it thousands of years earlier than Egypt’s pyramids or England’s...

Singapore expresses disappointment over U.S. tariffs on its exports despite a free-trade agreement and trade deficit with the U.S. Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong emphasizes diplomacy over retaliation and highlights talks with the U.S. to resolve concerns. Singapore will review economic forecasts due to the escalating issue. In a move that has sparked international economic tension, Singapore's trade minister expressed disappointment over the U.S. imposition of a 10% tariff on its exports, despite a free-trade agreement and trade deficit with the United States Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong, speaking at a press conference, assured that Singapore would not pursue retaliatory...

Asia-Pacific markets rose Tuesday, rebounding from previous session's losses over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policy and threats of even higher levies against China. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.92%. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 5.31% while the Topix gained 5.65%. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.34% and the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.96%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.58%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index jumped 3.57%. Hong Kong's stock market led losses in the region on Monday, with the Hang Seng Index plummeting over 13% to log its steepest one-day decline since 1997, data from FactSet showed. Mainland China's CSI inched...

Bangkok -- Search teams in Myanmar recovered more bodies from the ruins of buildings on Friday, a week after a massive earthquake killed more than 3,100 people, as the focus turns toward the urgent humanitarian needs in a country already devastated by a continuing civil war. United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who is also the emergency relief coordinator, will visit the area on Friday in an effort to spur action following the March 28 quake. Ahead of the visit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international community to immediately step up funding for quake victims “to match the...

Shares sagged Thursday in Asia, apart from China, after President Donald Trump announced he will slap 25per cent tariffs on imported cars. Trump said he was raising duties on auto imports to encourage more manufacturing in the US, but the impact will be complicated since US automakers and even foreign manufacturers with factories in the U.S. Source many of their components from around the world. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1per cent to 37,662.36. Toyota Motor Corp stock dove 3.2per cent, while Honda Motor Co stock dipped 2.8per cent. Nissan was down 2.6per cent. Mazda Motor Corp shares dropped 6.5per...

Vietnam to cut tariffs on US products including cars and gas to avoid President Trump's reciprocal tariffs.https://x.com/watcherguru/status/1904985807426908288

The deflation-fueled outperformance of Chinese bonds has lured in a Tokyo-based investor for the first time. A team that oversees investment in foreign government bonds at Asset Management One started buying China’s debt in October and has since boosted exposure to the country’s interest-rate risk, Hikaru Tanaka, fund manager at the Tokyo-based company, said in an interview on Friday. China’s economic struggles involving excessive debt and real estate "are what Japan experienced in the 1990s,” Tanaka said. "Our long-term view is that it’s inevitable for China to follow the path of Japan.” China’s government bonds handed investors a return of...

Even as the Trump administration is trying to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine (and saying some things in the process that aren't remotely fair), the administration also seems to be hinting it is changing the US's long-held position on Taiwan. The change to a State Department fact sheet was small but significant.The fact sheet, produced by the department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the U.S. opposes "any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful...

The U.S. State Department has removed a statement on its website that it does not support Taiwan independence, among changes that the island's government praised on Sunday as supporting Taiwan. The fact sheet on Taiwan retains Washington's opposition to unilateral change from either Taiwan or from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own. But as well as dropping the phrase "we do not support Taiwan independence," the page has added a reference to Taiwan's cooperation with a Pentagon technology and semiconductor development project and says the U.S. will support Taiwan's membership in international organizations "where applicable."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Europeans this week that "realities" prevent the U.S. from being its security guarantor, and to expect a drawdown of U.S. forces in the region. "We are focusing on security of our own borders. We also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific," Hegseth told a meeting of a Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Belgium on Wednesday. "The U.S. is prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific. Recognizing the reality of scarcity and making the resourcing trade-offs to...

Hong Kong will file a complaint on recent US tariffs imposed on the city to the World Trade Organization, claiming the United States has completely ignored the city's status as a separate customs territory, chief secretary Eric Chan said on Tuesday (Feb 11). "This is absolutely inconsistent with the WTO rules. Of course, they have totally disregarded Hong Kong is a separate customs territory," Chan, the China-ruled city's number two official, told reporters. "We will file a complaint to the WTO regarding this unreasonable arrangement," he said without giving specifics. Chan was responding to a US decision to impose 10...

Thai authorities have cut off internet, power and fuel along the Thailand and Myanmar border in a bid to thwart the operation of scam centres there. The move on February 5, 2025, came amid growing pressure for Thailand to do more to help clamp down on the illegal compounds that have ensnared vast numbers of people from many jurisdictions. The Thai Provincial Electricity Authority disconnected power supplies at five points along the northern border, including Myawaddy in Myanmar’s Shan state. The high-profile rescue of a Chinese actor from a scam operation near the Thai border in January has put the...