Free Republic

Some residents and local politicians in New Hampshire have sounded the alarm about national security concerns after a Chinese company purchased a large property near a small town's water system. Earlier this year, Nongfu Spring, one of China's largest bottled water and soft beverages companies, quietly purchased a 337,391-square-foot industrial building on 23 acres in Nashua. Nongfu Spring, owned by China's richest man, Zhong Shanshan, paid $67 million, four times the assessed value of the property, after it sat vacant for over a decade. The company's limited market in the U.S., the inflated sales price, and the building's proximity to...

Indian refiners, the top importers of Russian crude oil, are searching for alternative suppliers ahead of Friday’s summit between President Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, is looking to switch up its procurement process after Trump imposed a total 50% tariff rate on New Delhi, accusing the country of effectively fueling Russia’s war machine. Oil importers are hedging their bets that even harsher punishments are in store for anyone who purchases petroleum from Moscow once Trump meets with Putin, with India’s state processor buying large bulk quantities of non-Russian crude this week to...

The Communist Party of China imposed a 75.8-percent tariff on Canadian canola products on Thursday, claiming that Canada was intentionally “dumping” underpriced canola seed into the Chinese market to hurt domestic farmers. The measure appeared to be a response to the Canadian government, still under radical leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the time, imposing a 100-percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) last year to protect Canada’s fledgling homemade EVs. Chinese state media explicitly mentioned Canada’s “trade protectionist and restrictive measures against China” in reporting the canola seed tariffs, accusing Ottawa of violating World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Beijing...

***Kabul is running dry, withered by scarcer rainfalls and snow melts and drained by unregulated wells. It has become so dry that its six million people could be without water by 2030 — and are now fighting about it. Its water reserves are emptying nearly twice as quickly as they are getting replenished. The Taliban administration, short of cash, has so far been unable to bring water from nearby dams and rivers to the choking city. *** Kabul, surrounded by snowy mountains and crossed by three rivers, had never been known as a dry city. But while its population has...

PEORIA, Ariz. - The owner of a successful Peoria sushi restaurant, who has lived in the U.S. for more than two decades without legal status, is facing deportation to Hong Kong within weeks. What we know: Kelly Yu was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on May 28 and has been held at the Eloy Detention Center. Her husband, Aldo, said she came to the U.S. when she was 19 and pregnant, seeking a better life and trying to escape China's one-child policy. "She came here 21 years ago," Aldo said Monday, Aug. 11. Homeland Security Investigations confirmed Yu...

Tariffs as high as 145 percent were due to be implemented on goods from China at midnight Tuesday. The last-minute extension came hours after Trump provided a vague response to reporters on extending the deadline on Monday. “We’ve been dealing very nicely with China… they have tremendous tariffs that they’re paying to the United States of America,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “We’ll see what happens. They’ve been dealing quite nicely. The relationship is very good with President Xi and myself.” Trump signed a new Executive Order later on Monday. China will now have its...

Footage shows Chinese coast guard vessel with its entire bow caved in after colliding with Chinese warship near contested Scarborough ShoalA Chinese warship collided with a vessel from its own coast guard while chasing a Philippine patrol boat in the South China Sea on Monday, Manila said, releasing dramatic video footage of the confrontation. The incident occurred near the contested Scarborough Shoal as the Philippine Coast Guard escorted vessels distributing aid to fishers in the area, said coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela in a statement. Video released by Manila showed a China Coast Guard ship and a much larger...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday evening extending the U.S.-China tariff truce for another 90 days, just hours before a midnight deadline that would have triggered massive tariff increases on Chinese goods. The order prevents high U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from snapping back into effect, giving negotiators until mid-November to reach a more permanent trade agreement.What This Extension MeansThe extension maintains current tariff levels rather than allowing them to spike to economically devastating levels. Under the current negotiated arrangement, U.S. "reciprocal" tariffs on Chinese imports stand at 30%, while China's retaliatory tariffs on American goods are at...

China’s richest man just bought an empty piece of land with only a warehouse in New Hampshire and they’re REFUSING to answer questions on what it’ll be used for.. The land cost $15 million, they paid 4X THE COST, $67 million.. It’s right next to important US military bases ... What would happen if we owned any land next to a military base in China? ... China doesn't allow foreigners to purchase land there.

A Chinese warship ploughed into its own coast guard vessel on Monday while the latter was chasing a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea, Manila said. Philippine coast guard officials were distributing aid to fishermen in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, Commodore Jay Tarriela said, when the Chinese coast guard "performed a risky manoeuvre" which inflicted "substantial damage" on the Chinese warship's forward deck. China confirmed that a confrontation took place and accused the Philippines of "forcibly intruding" into Chinese waters, but did not mention the collision. The South China Sea is at the centre of a territorial dispute between...

Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for the Chagos Islands will cost 10 times more than he said, according to official figures. The Government’s own estimate for handing over the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius is almost £35bn, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show – far higher than the £3.4bn figure Sir Keir has cited in public. Labour ministers now face accusations they misled Parliament and the press with an “accountancy trick” to conceal the true scale of the bill from taxpayers

A 38-year-old man from the Bay Area, who went by at least three aliases, managed to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rare historical Chinese manuscripts dating back to the 13th century from the University of California, Los Angeles’ library, federal officials announced. In a U.S. Department of Justice news release, federal prosecutors allege that Jeffrey Ying, who also went by the names Jason Wang, Alan Fujimori and Austin Cheng, stole the manuscripts between Dec. 2024 and July 2025. Because of their value and rarity, UCLA does not keep the books in regular circulation, requiring a reservation to...

Gavin Newsom is letting the Chinese buy up Pacific Palisades land.. American contractor works in both the Pacific Palisades and Altadena area and confirms Chinese nationals are calling him and asking to buy up 5-6 lots at a time He says China is buying so many properties, it’s “going to turn both Altadena and Pacific Palisades into the type of neighborhoods where you drive down and all of the signage is in Chinese.” “Do you know who's buying up all of the property in the LA fire zones? It's the Chinese. And I've avoided saying this for a while because...

Since returning to office in January 2025, President Donald Trump has shown a marked shift in his approach to South Asian geopolitics, displaying what analysts describe as a more favorable stance toward Pakistan while simultaneously straining relations with India. This represents a significant departure from decades of U.S. foreign policy that had increasingly favored New Delhi as a strategic counterweight to China. The most striking aspect of this policy shift appears to be intertwined with the Trump family’s business ventures. World Liberty Financial (WLF), founded in 2024, is no ordinary fintech startup. The company is 60% owned by Donald Trump’s...

Perry, N.Y. (WHAM) — A man from China who has been living in Wyoming County for the last 30 years was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcements agents after he went to the local immigration office for a routine check-in, according to his family. It's been nearly a month since 56-year-old You Chen Yang, the former owner of Hong Kong Restaurant on Main Street in Perry, was taken into custody. His daughter, Elizabeth Yang, said Friday she's still in shock. "ICE Buffalo arrested Chinese national You Chen Yang July 14 pursuant to a warrant of removal issued by an immigration...

---SNIP--- It’s decline began some 20 years ago, when the company made multiple acquisitions, many of which were in telecommunications and wireless technology. In concept, that made great sense. But acquiring businesses is a skill of its own, and David Yoffie, a Harvard Business School professor who was on Intel’s board of directors at the time, told Fortune “100% of those acquisitions failed. We spent $12 billion, and the return was zero or negative.” Intel also tried unsuccessfully to grasp the mammoth cell phone opportunity. The company understood the opportunity and was supplying chips for the highly popular BlackBerry phone....

Victor Davis Hanson breaks down what he calls the most sweeping political counter-revolution in modern American history—one that’s reshaping the military, the border, higher education, foreign policy, and the economy all at once. In this powerful analysis, Hanson paints a picture of a president who's not just reversing the progressive tide, but exposing it. Illegal immigration? Blocked. DEI and university corruption? Called out. Military recruitment? Rebuilt. Meanwhile, entrenched institutions are being forced to admit guilt—on antisemitism, on academic overreach, and on systemic rot. On the world stage, Trump is redefining diplomacy through strength—not surrender. Putin’s war machine and Hamas’ terror...

* Donald Trump called on Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign over China-linked investments. * Tan told employees he's staying and operating with the "highest legal and ethical standards." * Intel stock fell 3% as political pressure mounted over Tan's past business ties. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan directly addressed employees on Thursday after Donald Trump demanded his resignation over national security concerns, saying he has the full support of the board. In a companywide email, published on Intel's blog Thursday, Tan defended his integrity and reaffirmed his commitment to leading the largest US chipmaker through a critical transformation. "The United...

When the line between public and private is erased, politics is all about special favors. That's gross.If you want to understand the silly little scene that played out between Apple CEO Tim Cook and President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, you might start by remembering something that Vice President J.D. Vance said two years ago. While attending a conference for nationalist conservatives, Vance offered an astonishing view of politics. The "idea that there is this extremely strong division between the public sector and the private sector" was flawed, Vance argued. In reality, he went on to say,...

Taiwan has a “far more robust” claim to statehood than Palestine does, former British prime minister Boris Johnson said during a conference in Taipei, Taiwan, according to a Tuesday report by British outlet The Telegraph…. “Never in the wildest dreams of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, can he have believed – when he and his colleagues instigated the horror of October 7, 2023 – that only 22 months later the United Kingdom itself would be so craven and pathetic as to fall for Hamas propaganda and to turn against Israel,” Johnson wrote in his column in the UK outlet Daily...