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Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media baron Jimmy Lai on Monday was found guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign countries by a Hong Kong court. The 78-year-old was charged under Hong Kong’s controversial national security law, enacted by Beijing in 2020 after pro-democracy protests swept the region in 2019.

The United States would suffer a devasting defeat and lose its biggest aircraft carrier if it tried to stop China invading Taiwan, according to a top secret Pentagon report. War games showed the U.S. would be overwhelmed by China's arsenal of around 600 hypersonic weapons, along with missiles and nuclear submarines. The grim assessment, revealed by the New York Times, confirmed the conclusions of previous war games, but it also highlighted wider concerns about the future direction of the U.S. military and its continued reliance on outdated methods. *** Ships like the $13 billion USS Gerald R. Ford - the...

President Donald Trump is poised to roll out a $12 billion farm aid package to support farmers, according to the White House. The aid package will provide up to $11 billion toward the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new Farmer Bridge Assistance Program, which is designed to provide single payments to row crop farmers, while the remaining $1 billion will go to farmers whose crops do not qualify for the program. Further details will be hashed out as the USDA continues to evaluate market conditions, according to the White House. The president is expected to unveil the new aid package...

Huawei has just launched HarmonyOS NEXT — a fully independent operating system that cuts all remaining ties to Windows and Google. For the first time in history, China is replacing Western software at national scale, forcing thousands of government institutions and state-owned companies to migrate away from Microsoft. In this video, we break down how HarmonyOS NEXT works, why it’s faster and more secure than Windows in China’s ecosystem, and how Beijing is using it to achieve full technological independence. From AI-powered apps to distributed architecture, Huawei’s OS is redefining how devices communicate and how nations control their digital future....

[Catholic Caucus] Leo XIV Accepts Chinese (CCPA) Bishop Who Just Closed a ChurchThe Vatican announced the episcopal consecration of Monsignor Francesco Li Jianlin as the new bishop of the Prefecture of Xinxiang in Henan, China, on December 5.The liturgy was held at the church of Weihui and celebrated by Bishop Li Shan of Beijing. He heads the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.Li Jianlin is the second bishop elected during the papal interregnum following the death of Pope Francis.The appointment was formally approved by Pope Leo XIV on August 11. It comes with the acceptance of the “resignation” of the underground...

A former top aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul enjoyed a life of luxury because she was an undeclared agent for China, federal prosecutors have claimed. Linda Sun, 41, is accused of acting as an unregistered operative for the Chinese Communist Party and using her position to influence Hochul and ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo into actions favorable to Beijing. Sun earned a government salary of $145,000, but was also receiving millions of dollars from side deals arranged by Chinese officials, prosecutors told her trial Monday. She and her husband Chris Hu used cash to purchase a $3.6 million mansion in...

When President Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods, the Chinese Communist Party didn’t just retaliate with trade measures. It launched an information war, using American insiders to spread its narrative that tariffs were reckless and self-defeating. One of the most prominent voices in that campaign is Rick Waters, a former senior U.S. diplomat who once directed the State Department’s China House. Since leaving government, Waters has become a reliable messenger for Beijing’s preferred positions, appearing with CCP-linked influence groups and using Western media outlets to promote pro-China talking points that undermine Trump’s trade strategy. From State Department Insider to...

For Xi, rare-earths bombshell signaled a new toughness, while TikTok was ‘spiritual opium’ that could be turned into a low-cost bargaining chipDuring his first term, President Trump often frustrated Xi Jinping with his freewheeling mix of threats and bonhomie. This time, the Chinese leader believes he has cracked the code.Xi has thrown out China’s traditional diplomatic playbook and tailored a new one specifically for Trump, said people close to Chinese policymakers, who describe Xi as appearing confident and emboldened. The new strategy, these people said, embraces Trump’s self-image as a master dealmaker, offering concessions on high-visibility issues he personally cares...

The U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, in the latest escalation and buildup of military forces in the region, the Pentagon announced Friday.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to deploy to U.S. Southern Command to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post.Deploying an aircraft carrier is a major escalation of military power in a region that has already seen an...

While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan Economic Development Corporation contends it’s “not the outcome we hoped for,” residents in Mecosta County are celebrating its decision to nix $715 million in taxpayer-funded incentives for Gotion. MEDC officials on Thursday notified lawmakers that the company with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party is in breach of its economic development contract, which was negotiated in secret by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and select lawmakers just three years ago. “It’s about damn time,” Marjorie Steele, founder of the Economic Development Responsibility Alliance that opposed Gotion’s planned $2.4 billion EV battery plant, told Bridge Michigan....

China’s Sinicization of Religion DeepensThe Sino-Vatican deal continues to empower the CCP to subjugate Catholicism in China under Marxist ideology.On September 29, 2025, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping demanded that the pace of Sinicization of religions—that of bringing them in line with the principles of Maoism, which sought the total eradication of religion through the destruction of thousands of houses of worship and the imprisonment, torture, and murder of religious leaders and laypersons—be stepped up. The “Red Emperor” explicitly demanded an “acceleration” of this process, describing it as essential to promote “religious meekness, ethnic harmony,...

The Pope or Xi Jinping? The Secret Agreements increasingly humiliate the Vatican This week, Ignatius Wu Jianlin was ordained auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Shanghai. The appointment took place with the approval of the Chinese Patriotic Association. This is yet another illicit appointment carried out by the post-Maoist regime, confirming that the Secret Agreements between Beijing and the Vatican do not serve to mend a fractured Church like the one in China.On October 15th, Ignatius Wu Jianlin was ordained auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Shanghai. The diocese itself made the formal announcement, specifying that the appointment took place...

[Catholic Caucus] China Flexes Power over Rome Once Again with New Bishop ConsecrationIt appears that once again, Beijing has delivered another blow to the Holy See by consecrating a bishop to the pivotal Diocese of Shanghai after he was elected during the papal sede vacante.On October 15, Father Wu Jianlin will be consecrated as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Shanghai. News of the ceremony came via official notices issued by the schismatic state-approved church, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA).Previously vicar general of the diocese, Wu was elected, effectively unopposed, in a vote on April 28. The next day...

The U.S. is awash with scam text messages. Officials say it has become a billion-dollar, highly sophisticated business benefiting criminals in China. Your highway toll payment is now past due, one text warns. You have U.S. Postal Service fees to pay, another threatens. You owe the New York City Department of Finance for unpaid traffic violations. The texts are ploys to get unsuspecting victims to fork over their credit-card details. The gangs behind the scams take advantage of this information to buy iPhones, gift cards, clothing and cosmetics. Criminal organizations operating out of China, which investigators blame for the toll...

WASHINGTON (AP) — For many years, American and Chinese scholars worked shoulder to shoulder on cutting-edge technologies through open research, where findings are freely shared and accessible to all. But that openness, a long-standing practice celebrated for advancing knowledge, is raising alarms among some U.S. lawmakers. They are worried that China — now considered the most formidable challenger to American military dominance — is taking advantage of open research to catch up with the U.S. on military technology and even gain an edge. And they are calling for action.“For far too long, our adversaries have exploited American colleges and universities...

For thousands of manufacturers across China, it’s déjà vu—with implications for the country’s fragile economy. Earlier this year, after President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% in April, American customers of Alan Chau’s toy factory in southern China abruptly froze orders, sparking a cash crunch ttohat brought his business to the brink. So it came as a relief when the U.S. and China reached a trade truce weeks later in mid-May, rolling back most of their tariffs on one another—and allowing Chau to resume shipping his products again. Now, less than six months later, prohibitively high tariffs could...

BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem calling on the department to stop issuing work authorizations to student visa holders in direct violation of the law. Grassley also emphasized how foreign student work authorizations put America at risk of technological and corporate espionage, citing more than 33,000 current Chinese student visa holders with STEM work authorizations. “Competition from foreign graduates is contributing to rising unemployment rates among college-educated Americans. This should not be the case. Congress placed caps on employment visas for foreign graduates to ensure that...

Among issues Charlie Kirk took a strong stand against was immigration, even legal immigration stemming from H1B visas that many Indian students and professionals use. “America does not need more visas for people from India. Perhaps no form of legal immigration has so displaced American workers as those from India. Enough already. We’re full. Let’s finally put our own people first,” he said in a post on X on September 1 He was responding to a Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham’s post suggesting that a US-India trade deal might involve more visas for Indian professionals. In a subsequent post on...

An old tweet by Charlie Kirk has resurfaced after Donald Trump signed a proclamation requiring companies to pay $100,000 yearly for H-1B visas for foreign employees. Shared just six days before he was shot and killed at a Utah college event, the conservative influencer posted that “America does not need more visas for people from India.” “Perhaps no form of legal immigration has so displaced American workers as those from India. Enough already. We’re full. Let’s finally put our own people first,” he tweeted on September 2. He was fatally shot on September 10 while debating gun violence during an...

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) will introduce a bill on Tuesday that would sharply reduce the number of H-1B migrants working in U.S. white-collar jobs. The bill, to be announced Tuesday morning, would begin to count visa renewals as new visas, so ending the current practice of allowing unlimited renewals for most of the 85,000 visas granted to companies each year. The unlimited renewals policy allows roughly 750,000 H-1B visa holders to retain white-collar, career-track jobs that would otherwise have gone to young U.S. graduates. Without the exemption, the number of company-employed H-1B visa holders would drop to roughly 250,000. The...