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"The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assess that People's Republic of China (PRC) state sponsored cyber actors are seeking to preposition themselves on IT networks for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States," an alert released by the agencies earlier this week said... "CISA and its U.S. Government partners have confirmed that this group of PRC state-sponsored cyber actors has compromised entities across multiple critical infrastructure sectors in cyberspace, including communications, energy, transportation, and water...

Internet-connected cameras made in China are giving the Chinese government the ability to "conduct espionage or disrupt US critical infrastructure," according to a Department of Homeland Security bulletin obtained by ABC News. The cameras typically lack data encryption and security settings and, by default, communicate with their manufacturer. It's believed there are tens of thousands of Chinese-made cameras on the networks of critical U.S. infrastructure entities, including within the chemical and energy sectors, the bulletin said. Chinese cyber-operatives have previously exploited internet-connected cameras.. the DHS warns. "A cyber actor could leverage cameras placed on IT networks for initial access and...

<p>The Communist country of 1.3 billion people has shifted that much cash into amping up its factories in just four years in an effort to overwhelm manufacturers around the world with an influx of cheap goods.</p><p>President Trump’s 125% tariff on all Chinese imports into the US...is actually just the latest protective measure against China.</p>

Understanding why China has a chokehold on the US and many multinational companies has a lot to do with the government’s creation of special economic zones (SEZs)... For example, the city of Shenzhen was once a small fishing village of 30,000 before it was designated as one of the first SEZ in 1980. Now, Shenzhen,..a top ten global finance center in 2024...home to multinational tech companies like Huawei and Tencent (maker of Wechat)...The Shenzhen experiment illustrates what happens when you bring together dense clusters of suppliers, logistical infrastructure (including highways, railroads, and ports), skilled workers, economic investment and tax incentives....

..With these three rounds of additional tariffs and other measures, the effective U.S. rate on Chinese goods is about 65 percent. If he goes ahead with the 50 percent levy, the rate hits 115 percent. China this year added retaliatory tariffs of 10 percent and 15 percent on certain American products... Xi, despite best advice from around the world, has continually rejected consumption as the basis of the Chinese economy. .. Xi Jinping certainly does not believe in empowering citizens. Moreover, as Zongyuan Zoe Liu writing in Foreign Affairs notes, the Communist Party leadership also abhors consumer spending, believing "consumption...

Coming out of the Second World War, the US was the king of production,” says William B Bonvillian, a lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an expert in US innovation policy.... by 1945, more steel was produced in the state of Pennsylvania alone than in Germany and Japan combined.... By the turn of the millennium, the US’s global domination in mass-scale industrial production, technology and efficiency was lost. Long-standing issues culminated between 2000 and 2010, when the US lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs.... Between 2000 and 2010, nearly six million jobs in US manufacturing were lost, with...

Popular e-commerce companies, including giants Shein and Temu, use the so-called “de minimis” exemption to ship tens of millions of packages — everything from end tables and lamps to shoes and underwear — to U.S. consumers every year. So long as each individual package is worth $800 or less, they aren’t required to pay import fees or go through typical customs inspections. But under an executive order signed by Trump Wednesday, that loophole will close on May 2. These lower-value shipments will now face a tariff of 30% of the “value of the postal item containing goods for merchandise” with...

885(Probable date) Death of Methodius, who with his brother Cyril had evangelized the Balkans. 1593Hanging in London of John Greenwood and Henry Barrow, non-conformists who denied that the Church of England had biblical authority. 1735The first Moravians from Europe arrived in America. Invited by colonial governor James Oglethorpe, ten males of the "Unitas Fratrum" landed in Savannah, Georgia after sailing from England in February. 1851Anglican priest Henry E. Manning is received into the Roman Catholic Church. He will become archbishop of Westminster in 1865 and a cardinal in 1875. 1868Mormon church leader Brigham Young, 67, married his 27th and last...

Full List of Countries Hit With Reciprocal TariffsCountryTariffs Charged to the U.S.A. (%)U.S.A. Discounted Reciprocal Tariffs (%)China6734European Union3920Vietnam9046Taiwan6432Japan4624India5226South Korea5025Thailand7236Switzerland6131Indonesia6432Malaysia4724Cambodia9749United Kingdom1010South Africa6030Brazil1010Bangladesh7437Singapore1010Israel3317Philippines3417Chile1010Australia1010Pakistan5829Turkey1010Sri Lanka8844Colombia1010Peru1010Nicaragua3618Norway3015Costa Rica1710Jordan4020Dominican Republic1010United Arab Emirates1010New Zealand2010Argentina1010Ecuador1210Guatemala1010Honduras1010Madagascar9347Myanmar (Burma)8844Tunisia5528Kazakhstan5427Serbia7437Egypt1010Saudi Arabia1010El Salvador1010Côte d'Ivoire4121Laos9548Botswana7437Trinidad and Tobago1210Morocco1010Papua New Guinea1510Malawi3417Liberia1010British Virgin Islands1010Afghanistan4910Zimbabwe3518Benin1010Barbados1010Monaco1010Syria8141Uzbekistan1010Republic of the Congo1010Djibouti1010French Polynesia1010Cayman Islands1010Kosovo1010Curaçao1010Vanuatu4422Rwanda1010Sierra Leone1010Mongolia1010San Marino1010Antigua and Barbuda1010Bermuda1010Eswatini1010Marshall Islands1010Saint Pierre and Miquelon9950Saint Kitts and Nevis1010Turkmenistan1010Grenada1010Sudan1010Turks and Caicos Islands1010Aruba1010Montenegro1010Saint Helena1510Kyrgyzstan1010Yemen1010Saint Vincent and the Grenadines1010Niger1010Saint Lucia1010Nauru5930Equatorial Guinea2513Iran1010Libya6131Samoa1010Guinea1010Timor-Leste1010Montserrat1010Chad2613Mali1010Algeria5930Oman1010Uruguay1010Bahamas1010Lesotho9950Ukraine1010Bahrain1010Qatar1010Mauritius8040Fiji6332Iceland1010Kenya1010Liechtenstein7337Guyana7638Haiti1010Bosnia and Herzegovina7035Nigeria2714Namibia4221Brunei4724Bolivia2010Panama1010Venezuela2915North Macedonia6533Ethiopia1010Ghana1710Moldova6131Angola6332Democratic Republic of the Congo2211Jamaica1010Mozambique3116Paraguay1010Zambia3317Lebanon1010Tanzania1010Iraq7839Georgia1010Senegal1010Azerbaijan1010Cameroon2211Uganda2010Albania1010Armenia1010Nepal1010Sint Maarten1010Falkland Islands8241Gabon1010Kuwait1010Togo1010Suriname1010Belize1010Maldives1010Tajikistan1010Cabo Verde1010Burundi1010Guadeloupe1010Bhutan1010Martinique1010Tonga1010Mauritania1010Dominica1010Micronesia1010Gambia1010French Guiana1010Christmas Island1010Andorra1010Central African Republic1010Solomon Islands1010Mayotte1010Anguilla1010Cocos (Keeling) Islands1010Eritrea1010Cook Islands1010South Sudan1010Comoros1010Kiribati1010Sao Tome and Principe1010Norfolk Island5829Gibraltar1010Tuvalu1010British Indian Ocean Territory1010Tokelau1010Guinea-Bissau1010Svalbard and Jan Mayen1010Heard and McDonald Islands1010Reunion7337*White House officials said the calculations...

U.S. President Donald Trump has once again kicked up a storm with his pursuit of Greenland [...] But Washington was interested in acquiring Greenland to mitigate threats emanating from the Arctic long before Trump came along, even offering Denmark $100 million in gold for the icy island shortly after the conclusion of World War II. That interest has only expanded in recent years as Russia and China step up their military and commercial activities in the Arctic, conduct joint military exercises, and invest in new weapon systems like hypersonic missiles. “Greenland is growing in importance as we find ourselves in...

Foreman won the heavyweight title at the age of 24 and then again at the age of 45, becoming the oldest title holder in history. But, he says, it was a near-death incident in between those two titles that changed his life and prompted him to become a pastor. That life-altering event occurred in 1977. He had already lost his first title (against Muhammad Ali in 1974) and was attempting to reclaim his place in another heavyweight championship bout. “I was in the dressing room … walking back and forward and saying, ‘I don’t care about this boxing match I...

American military strategists are actively gaming U.S. military response scenarios to a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan by 2026. The wargames have already found that the U.S. would have to lose more than 900 fighter jets — up to half of its fighter jet fleet — and a large number of U.S. warships to turn back China, a new report revealed Monday. [...] The basic details of the war game are that China decided to force reunification with Taiwan, [...] As of Monday, the war gamers had studied the scenario 22 different times. In 18 of the 22 cases, Chinese...

Since Thursday, more than 1,000 people—including Christian minorities and Alawites, the sect to which Assad belongs—have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and local reports. [...] Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has vowed the new government will respect all communities and affiliations. He is working to gain international legitimacy and has recently met with regional leaders. However, this intense violence could undermine those efforts. Syria has been mired in conflict for more than a decade, [...] The recent fatal clashes mark the worst violence since al-Assad was thrown out, with high casualties reported among religious...

Target is facing a 40-day consumer boycott starting Wednesday over the company’s shift away from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. We’re asking people to divest from Target because they have turned their back on our community,” Rev. Jamal Bryant, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch pastor [see comment] who started the boycott, said in an interview with CNN. The boycott, which begins during the start of Lent, comes more than a month after Target made changes to its DEI programs and at a difficult period for the company as it faces an onslaught of tariffs in the middle of a challenging...

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries. The companies that bring the foreign goods into the country pay the tax to the government. Typically, tariffs are a percentage of a product's value. The 10% tariff on Chinese goods means a product worth $10 would have an additional $1 charge applied to it. Tariffs are a central part of Trump's economic plans. He promised to introduce import duties against some of America's main trade partners during his election campaign.He says tariffs will boost US manufacturing and protect jobs, as well as raising tax revenue and growing the economy.How...

The 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and other Pew Research Center polling find that the Christian share of the population, after years of decline, has been relatively stable since 2019. And the religiously unaffiliated population, after rising rapidly for decades, has leveled off – at least temporarily. At present:62% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Christians: 40% are Protestant, 19% are Catholic, and 3% are other Christians.29% are religiously unaffiliated: 5% are atheist, 6% are agnostic, and 19% identify religiously as “nothing in particular.”7% belong to religions other than Christianity: 2% are Jewish, and 1% each are Muslim, Buddhist or...

[...]a team of economists from Wellesley College and the University of Maryland published a working paper that focused on a peculiar puzzle facing the United States: declining birth rates.[...] Those economists concluded that one of the biggest factors was shifting priorities among younger Americans — away from raising children and toward career and travel aspirations.[...] t’s no secret that families with children are the easiest pathway to ensure that a church, mosque or synagogue will be able to sustain itself for decades to come. But which traditions are doing a good job of having children, and which ones aren’t? And...

Islam leads global religious growth with 2.04 billion adherents worldwide, representing 25% of the global population.Growth Statistics and Projections of IslamMuslim population expands rapidly, and projections show a 70% increase between 2015 and 2060. This growth surpasses the expected 32% increase in global population during the same period. Muslims will likely reach near parity with Christians by 2050, reaching 2.8 billion followers that represent 30% of the world’s population.Factors Driving Islamic Population GrowthThree main factors drive Islam’s rapid expansion:Demographic Advantage: Muslims maintain the youngest median age (24 years) among all major religious groupsHigher Fertility Rates: Muslim women have an average...

Conversation Dan Burmawi @DanBurmawy Back in 1994, when Yitzhak Rabin was ready to hand the Palestinians a state on a silver platter, who was the loudest voice against it? Benjamin Netanyahu. And what did the world call him? A radical, an enemy of peace, a warmonger. Even inside Israel, many thought he was being extreme. But was he? Bibi’s argument was simple: You don’t hand a state to people who openly declare that your country has no right to exist and that their ultimate goal is to wipe you off the map. That’s not a “peace process”, that’s national...

Latest work Follow on DOGE Department of Government Efficiency @DOGE The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process). In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost… Read more Yesterday at 05:25 PM DOGE Department of Government Efficiency @DOGE This is inaccurate. The referenced “classified information” is actually public FedScope data, posted publicly by OPM (Office of Personnel Management) in March 2024. DOGE Aaron Rupar @atrupar Kaine: "Yesterday the DOGE guys post classified information...