Free Republic

Internal orders issued by China’s top military authority have met widespread resistance at the grassroots level following the purge of two of the country’s most senior generals, according to multiple sources close to the People’s Liberation Army who spoke to The Epoch Times. After Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia and chief of the Joint Staff Department Liu Zhenli were placed under investigation on Jan. 24, at least two directives issued by the CMC General Office to theater commands and group armies were ignored or only passively acknowledged. Sources said the grassroots troops within the military are expressing...

Police lashed a woman and her lover 140 times each for having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol in a far-flung region of Indonesia on Thursday — one of the harshest punishments carried out in 25 years. The brutal beating — with a rattan cane — caused the woman to sob and collapse in the region of Aceh, which is governed by strict Islamic laws. The lovers were caned on their back in a public flogging. It is among the harshest sentences imposed since Sharia law was implemented in Aceh in 2001, the Agence France-Presse reported.

China has suspended imports of Irish beef following the detection of an outbreak of bluetongue in County Wexford last week, while more cases of the virus have been confirmed in three additional cattle herds in the county. Minister for Agriculture said that his department informed Chinese authorities of the cases and that they “subsequently informed us that they have suspended the acceptance of Irish beef exported from Ireland with effect from 27 January 2026”. Minister Heydon added: “As with all temporary suspensions, it is a matter for the importing country when they will recommence the acceptance of exports of Irish...

A female skier was mauled by a snow leopard after getting too close to try to take a photo, with a chilling video capturing her being led away with blood pouring from her face.The footage shows the victim lying prone in the snow wearing a purple ski suit after the animal mauled her on Friday evening in Fuyun County at the northern Chinese border with Mongolia.She is then seen being taken away from the scene with blood pouring from her face.

"We are in the position to form a new government," said a senior official from the Union Solidarity and Development Party, after the vote's third and final phase took place on Sunday.Myanmar's dominant pro-military party has won junta-run elections, a party source told AFP on Monday (Jan 26), after a month-long vote that democracy watchdogs dismissed as a rebranding of army rule. While the military has said the election will return power to the people, popular democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi remains detained since the coup and her party has been dissolved, while critics say the ballot was stacked...

The Pentagon on Friday night released a long-awaited strategy that prioritizes the U.S. homeland and Western Hemisphere — a stunning reversal from previous administrations that aligns with President Donald Trump’s military strikes in Venezuela and efforts to acquire Greenland. The National Defense Strategy — a dramatic shift from even the first Trump administration — no longer focuses primarily on countering China. Instead, it blames past administrations for ignoring American interests and jeopardizing the U.S. military’s access to the Panama Canal and Greenland. The strategy calls for attention to the “practical interests” of the U.S. public and an abandonment of “grandiose...

To get its citizens to have babies, the Chinese Communist Party has pulled every lever. The efforts have largely failed. For the fourth year in a row, China reported more deaths than births in 2025 as its birthrate plunged to a record low, leaving its population smaller and older. The government on Monday said 7.92 million babies were born last year, down from 9.54 million in 2024. The number of people who died in 2025, 11.31 million, continued to climb. The latest population figures were reported alongside economic data that showed China’s economy grew 5 percent in 2025. The number...

Nicholas Kristof has a column today about China's desire to seize Taiwan and what it might actually do to make that happen. The column opens with a scenario in which China goes all in on a military invasion of the island, including some kind of attack on nearby US bases as a way to hinder our response. But Kristof and the people he's spoken with (he's in Taipei at the moment) don't think that's the most likely scenario.The more likely scenario is going to be something like what China did with Hong Kong. Not an invasion, exactly, but a gradual...

FOR SEVEN decades Tokyo was considered the world’s most populous city. That was 15 years too long, according to data released last month by the UN. Until recently the organisation’s statisticians accepted national governments’ definitions of where their cities began and ended; their latest report accepts the reality of urban sprawl. By their new measures, Jakarta (pictured), Indonesia’s capital, jumps to the top of the board with 42m people, about as many as Canada. Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, with 37m, has also pulled ahead of Tokyo, with 33m. Delhi and Shanghai, with around 30m people each, fill out the top...

The U.S. shouldn’t ignore this small Asian nation, because it offers interesting options for addressing some American concerns. Myanmar, also called Burma, is holding its first election since a military coup in February 2021. Expectations are low, and the vote has already been denounced as a sham. Early reports suggest that the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party won 82 of the 102 townships that voted in the first phase of the election on December 28. The nation has a total of 330 townships. Myanmar has reserves of natural gas as well as rare earth mines. The country’s pariah status...

As unpredictable as United States President Donald Trump may sometimes be, the decision to strike Venezuela and seize its leader Nicolas Maduro on Saturday (Jan 3) was not taken on a whim. It was clearly calculated to send a message about America’s power and interests – and its ability and willingness to mobilise one to advance the other. The question is whether it was the only message that everyone else received. The writing was on the wall for Maduro: In his first term, Mr Trump had refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Maduro presidency. Since his return to the...

Given all that’s at stake, how would Japan respond in a scenario that could lead to the world’s first great power war since 1945?Imagine this scenario: it’s finally happening. China is moving to take Taiwan by force. Chinese warships are blockading the island of Taiwan and the surrounding area, while missiles and UAVs rain down destruction on the Taiwanese people from above. In this hypothetical scenario, what is Japan doing? This is a question of some urgency for Tokyo these days. For one thing, Japan’s westernmost island is only about 110 kilometers away from Taiwan – much closer than...

Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, has delivered one of the clearest rejections of mass immigration seen from a major industrial nation in decades. In remarks now circulating globally, Takaichi stated she would rather allow Japan’s population to decline than rely on large-scale, low-skilled foreign labor. She called for a full pause and reassessment of immigration policy, arguing that economic convenience cannot override cultural cohesion, social order, and national identity. Takaichi emphasized that Japan must rethink immigration “from zero,” warning that year after year of importing people with vastly different cultures has created unsustainable tensions. She rejected the automatic merging...

Driving around Tokyo blaring slogans on the 84th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, ultra-nationalist outfit Taikosha only has around 100 mostly male, middle-aged members. But the recent rightwards lurch of mainstream politics under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi means that suddenly some parts of their patriotic messaging no longer seem quite so fringe. Since being elected in October, the conservative Takaichi has picked a fight with China, is preparing tough new rules on foreigners, and wants to outlaw desecration of the Japanese flag.

Finland's prime minister apologised on Wednesday to citizens of Japan, China and South Korea after MPs sparked outrage by posting pictures of themselves making derogatory squinting gestures. The parliamentarians from the populist Finns Party, which is part of the right-wing coalition government, posted images on social media where they pulled back the corners of their eyes -- widely seen as a racist gesture targeting East Asian people. They claimed to have shared the pictures in support of the 2025 Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, who was stripped of her title last week for posting a similar picture on social media in...

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the sanctions entail freezing the companies’ assets in China and banning individuals and organisations from accessing them. China has imposed sanctions against 20 US defense-related companies and 10 executives, a week after Washington announced large-scale arms sales to Taiwan. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the sanctions entail freezing the companies’ assets in China and banning individuals and organisations from dealing with them. “We stress once again that the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China－US relations,” the...

More than four years ago, the military ousted Myanmar’s freely elected government at gunpoint. The upcoming polls will be a total sham.On December 28, Myanmar’s military will hold the first phase of a long-promised election. But don’t be fooled: The voting is set to be a total sham. Military chief Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 coup, has urged his enemies to put down their weapons and take part in the election. He has also promised that the military administration will transfer power to whatever government is formed after the vote. But few observers are putting much stock...

10,980 views Dec 25, 2025 North Korea makes progress on its first nuclear-powered submarine A nuclear-powered submarine was one item on a wish list of sophisticated weaponry that Kim Jong-un announced during a political conference in 2021. Other arms included solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, spy satellites and multi-warhead missiles. READ MORE : https://www.youtube.com/c/euronews?sub_confirmation=1

Legends and bits of evidence tell a story of Asians arriving here long, long ago. Part one of two. "Even pale ink is better than memory." -- Chinese proverbAs the tide creeps over the sand flats of Pachena Bay south of Bamfield, it brings ashore the flotsam of the Pacific that -- on occasion -- hints at extraordinary travels and a mystery of historic proportions. Amid the kelp, in decades past, hundreds of green-glass fishing floats would arrive intact on the Vancouver Island coast, having ridden the powerful Japanese Current in year-long transits from Asia. But on rare occasions, entire...

Three people were killed and at least five more were injured in a knife attack in Taipei on Friday. A 27-year-old suspect ignited smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails at Taipei's main metro station, then ran to a nearby shopping district station, stabbing multiple people, according to Premier Cho Jung-tai. Cho stated that the suspect fell from a building and later died. The motive is still unknown. The attack took place during Taipei's evening rush hour, in the station that linked to a crowded underground shopping area. Taiwanese President William Lai pledged a rapid investigation. Such attacks are uncommon in Taiwan,...