Free Republic

U.S. military prosecutors are reportedly negotiating potential plea deals with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other conspirators imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay. The plea deals may allow the five dependents to escape a potential death penalty, according to CBS. Mohammed is widely credited with being the architect of the 9/11 terror attacks. The other four defendants are Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, Walid bin Attash and Ammar al-Baluchi. Attorneys for the defendants reportedly say they would be willing to enter a guilty plea in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, as well as for getting treatment...

By JOHN SULLIVAN and JOSEPH NEFFRaleigh News & ObserverNovember 13, 2001 FORT BRAGG, N.C. - A former sergeant at Fort Bragg who became a close adviser to Osama bin Laden obtained sensitive documents describing how U.S. special operations units function. Ali A. Mohamed, a trusted trainer in bin Laden's al Qaeda network, walked the halls of the U.S. military's top warfare planning center at Fort Bragg for more than two years as an Army sergeant. From 1987 to 1989, he acquired sensitive documents describing how special operations units work and a detailed plan for a special operations training exercise, court ...

There were three pillars on which the Iranian regime was founded, following the 1979 revolution, hi-jacked by the elderly fanatical cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The first pillar was the system of velayat-e-faqih, or guardianship of the Islamic jurist, which laid the foundations for the first fundamentalist Islamic state and was written into the constitution. The second pillar was the complete transfer of all power and authority to the Supreme Leader and from him to the theocracy of ayatollahs and mullahs, who perversely claimed their authority came directly from God. The third and final pillar, carefully designed by Khomeini, was the...

Dubai -- A US Navy warship fired a warning flare to wave off an Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboat coming straight at it during a tense encounter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, officials said Tuesday. The incident on Monday involving the Guard and the Navy comes as tensions remain high over stalled negotiations over Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as Tehran enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels under decreasing international oversight. Meanwhile, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Iran now plans to enrich uranium through a second set of advanced centrifuges at its underground Fordo...

Authorities on Sunday identified a 44-year-old British national as the man who took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue for 10 hours before an FBI SWAT team stormed the building, ending a tense standoff that President Joe Biden called “an act of terror." Malik Faisal Akram was shot and killed after the last of the hostages got out at around 9 p.m. Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel near Fort Worth. In a statement, the FBI said there was no indication that anyone else was involved, but it didn't provide a possible motive. Akram could be heard ranting on a...

Baluchis in Pakistan are rebelling against colonization by Chinese. Starts around 8:00.

Iran is hosting a meeting of... the foreign ministers of Iran, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Russia holding talks in the Iranian capital Tehran on Afghanistan's political future and the formation of a new government...Iran's population is majority Shiite but Sunni minorities live predominantly in the areas near the border with Afghanistan. The Sunnis have long complained about discrimination by Iranian authorities.Due to dilapidated infrastructure and a lack of health and educational facilities, the areas near the Afghan border are the poorest and least developed in Iran...But Fatemeh Aman, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Middle East Institute (MEI),...

Islamabad apparently bought peace with the TLP. As in its frequent mobilisations over the last few years, the TLP has once again forced the Pakistani state onto the backfoot and enhanced its own political clout. A relatively new phenomenon, the TLP, was founded in 2015 by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a firebrand cleric who died in November 2020. It now has a strong following among Pakistan’s Barelvi sect. At the heart of TLP’s ideology is the protection of the Prophet’s honour and a vigorous defence of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or the Prophet...

China thermal coal prices hit record high. ... Cold winds from north sweeps central and east China. China's Met Office forecasts sharp drops in temperatures. China's energy crisis deepened on Friday as cold weather swept into much of the country and power plants scrambled to stock up on coal, sending prices of the fuel to record highs. Electricity demand to heat homes and offices is expected to soar this week as strong cold winds move down from northern China. Forecasters predict average temperatures in some central and eastern regions could fall by as much as 16 degrees Celsius in the...

Selling off resources, purging top officials, and defaulting on debt. It seems that the Chinese economy is falling, and there may be no one to bail them out. In a wave of recent reports, we see the contraction of the national economy, especially intense in the north. There have been blackouts and power failures across the area, and while the problems began in factories they have now spread to homes, a trend that is forecast to spread as time passes. The most alarming case is that of the real estate colossus Evergrande, whose debt is so large that default is...

Cambodia continued construction work at its Ream naval base in August and September, advancing projects that the US suspects could support a Chinese military presence in a strategically valuable corner of Southeast Asia. Satellite photos taken by Maxar and Planet Labs and published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative show that two new buildings were built on the north end of the base... ... work took place near the former site of the Tactical Headquarters of the National Committee for Maritime Security, a US-funded building that was officially opened in 2012 and unexpectedly demolished in September 2020...

NEW YORK—An economic slowdown in China could ripple through the global economy and weigh on commodity prices and growth, star stock picker Cathie Wood of ARK Invest warned in a webinar on Tuesday.Wood, whose flagship $19.7 billion Ark Innovation fund was the top-performing U.S. equity fund in 2020, said that China’s recent steps to crack down on sectors ranging from gaming to education to financial firms are increasing the likelihood of a policy mistake that leads to a sharp slowdown.“I really do think that the policy makers in China are beginning to play with fire,” she said, adding “We will...

Floods in Shanxi province in northern China have forced more than 120,000 people from their homes. Local media reported 5 people died on 05 October 2021 after continuous rainstorms battered Shanxi Province. Meanwhile, more than 15 have been reported dead and there are more to come! Floods and landslides have been reported in 76 districts and cities. China’s state news agency Xinhua reported 17,000 homes severely damaged or destroyed. A total of 1.76 million people have been affected, as of 10 October. Emergency management departments have distributed relief supplies including tents, bedding and clothing. The heavy rain has also caused...

China is making a mockery of climate targets as it announced plans to build more coal-fired power plants and increase oil and gas exploration, just weeks ahead of the COP26 summit where world leaders were expected to agree to ambitious emission cuts. Beijing's National Energy Commission said late Tuesday it is important 'to build advanced coal-fired power plants' and intensify domestic oil and gas exploration after the country was hit by blackouts last week.Li Keqiang, China's second-in-command, made the announcement after the meeting and hinted that a pledge to cap the country's carbon emissions by 2030 - which already lags...

Around 22 percent of coal mines in China’s coal hub of Shanxi Province were recently ordered to stop operating due to major safety issues. One China observer said that problems persist due to a lack of oversight and corruption among authorities, and safety rules are regarded as a mere formality.From January to July, Shanxi produced about 675 million tons of raw coal, the highest among all provinces, accounting for about 30 percent of China’s total output in the same period. Suspending the coal mine operations in the province is a big deal as other industries would be affected.Shanxi is an...

Since Oct. 2, China’s largest coal-producing province, Shanxi, has experienced continuous heavy rain, affecting more than 70 districts and cities in the province. The unceasing downpour has resulted in floods, landslides, road closures, and the suspension of 60 of its coal mines. The flooding in Shanxi province comes less than three months after the flooding in Henan province which left more than 300 dead. The Fenhe river flows through the center of Shanxi Province; it is the second-largest tributary of the Yellow River, with a total length of about 441 miles. According to Sina News, a Chinese state-owned media, the...

With each passing week, it looks like World War III -- between America and China -- is coming sooner than we think. It's not going to be fought with bullets or aircraft carriers, although the Chinese are building up their military in an aggressive and threatening way. This will more likely be an all-out economic war for global supremacy. The yuan versus the dollar. The Nasdaq versus the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, America is asleep at the switch -- at least, the Biden administration is. This is the worst possible time to be raising tax rates on American companies (Our...

China is not alone — India is also teetering on the edge of a power crisis. As of Oct. 6, 80% of India's 135 coal-powered plants had less than 8 days of supplies left — more than half of those had stocks worth two days or fewer, according to ... China is not the only Asian giant grappling with an energy crunch — India is also teetering on the edge of a power crisis. Most of India's coal-fired power plants have critically low levels of coal inventory at a time when the economy is picking up and fueling electricity demand....

Increasing evidence suggests Joe Biden is running the American government for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party.A Chinese state-run oil and gas company linked to the son of the President of the United States, Hunter Biden, hit record levels of production amidst President Biden’s decision to halt the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Sinopec, also known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, is a Chinese Communist regime-controlled oil and gas enterprise. Its “fully-owned subsidiary” Sinopec Marketing Company enjoyed nearly $1 billion in investment from Hunter Biden’s private equity firm BHR Partners.Finalized in March 2015, the investments from the...

ore than 120,000 people have been evacuated, coal mines shut and crops destroyed after unseasonably heavy rainfall flooded north China’s Shanxi province over the weekend, state media reported Monday, with more rain forecast. The deluge comes just months after record floods hit the country’s central Henan province in July — killing more than 300 people — and raises fears about ensuring the supply of energy ahead of the winter. Many parts of Shanxi, a landlocked province that generally has dry weather, saw record-breaking rainfall over the past week, according to the provincial government, which ordered coal mines to take flood-proofing...