Free Republic

Fatah, the Palestinian group that administers the Israeli-occupied West Bank, along with a dozen other Palestinian factions, has signed a declaration with its longtime rival Hamas to form an interim unity government for the Palestinian territories after the war in Gaza, Chinese state media reported Tuesday. The declaration was signed in Beijing after three days of talks.... Previous efforts by Arab countries to reconcile Fatah and Hamas, who rule over Gaza and sparked the ongoing war in the territory with their Oct. 7 attack on Israel, have failed. The long-term standoff between the groups has weakened political aspirations for Palestinian...

Ecuador’s Navy announced the start of a campaign to protect the Galápagos Islands from the predatory practices of Chinese illegal fishing vessels that have, for years, endangered their maritime biodiversity. The announcement comes shortly after the conclusion of Galapex III, a series of multinational naval training exercises designed to fight illegal fishing that the Ecuadorian Navy hosted from June 23 to July 9. The navies of the United States, Canada, South Korea, Italy, Spain, and neighboring nations — such as Colombia and Peru — participated. “The problem is that the number of foreign fishing vessels reaches a point where they...

HANOI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Vietnam are discussing the sale of Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules military transport planes to Hanoi, two people familiar with the discussions said, in a sign of closer security cooperation between the two former foes. The talks could lead to a supply agreement this year, the sources said, in what would represent Vietnam's largest military deal since it said publicly at the end of 2022 that it intended to diversify its defence supplies, which have for decades relied heavily on Russian gear. The C-130 can carry soldiers, military equipment and other supplies, and would...

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) announced that the U.S. military intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Wednesday ahead of Joe Biden's speech.NORAD detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 24, 2024. NORAD fighter jets from the United States and Canada conducted the intercept.The Russian and PRC aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian and PRC activity in the Alaska ADIZ is not seen...

Taiwan hunkered down on Wednesday for the arrival of a strengthening Typhoon Gaemi, with financial markets shut, flights cancelled and one person killed, while the military went on standby amid torrential rain. Gaemi, expected to be the strongest storm to hit Taiwan in eight years, is set to make landfall on the northeast coast late on Wednesday evening, weather authorities said. They upgraded its status to a strong typhoon, packing gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) near its center. After crossing the Taiwan Strait, it is likely to hit the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian late on Thursday...

A former aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul reportedly had her $3.5 million Long Island home raided by the FBI early Tuesday. The feds carried out the pre-dawn search at the five-bedroom property where Linda Sun, one of Hochul’s former deputy chiefs of staff, lives in a gated community in Manhasset, the New York Times reported. The reason for the raid wasn’t immediately clear. Neither Sun, 40, nor her husband, Chris Hu, 41, have been accused of any wrongdoing and no arrests were made, sources told the outlet.

CNN commentator Van Jones said Vice President Harris went from “cringe to cool” in 24 hours, as videos of her continue to go viral on TikTok. “There’s something happening that’s hard to quantify, because what’s happening on TikTok right now, is extraordinary,” Jones said Monday on CNN. “All the things that were cringey about Kamala, her laugh, the coconut tree comment, being unburdened by what — all those weird things she’s said.” She’s gone from cringe to cool in 24 hours as a whole generation has taken all that content and remixed it in all these incredible TikTok videos,” he...

Hong Kong CNN — Palestinian factions including rivals Hamas and Fatah have signed an agreement on “ending division and strengthening Palestinian unity” in Beijing, China said Tuesday. The announcement followed reconciliation talks hosted by China involving 14 Palestinian factions starting Sunday, according to China’s Foreign Ministry, which come as Israel wages war against militant group Hamas in Gaza and as Beijing has sought to present itself as a potential peace broker in the conflict.

KEY POINTS * Hamas and Fatah have been bitter enemies ever since the bloody 2006-2007 civil war in the Gaza Strip. * But this is far from the first time the rival groups have signed reconciliation pacts, only to return to hostilities due to persistent disagreements. * The development is significant for China, which has increasingly moved to expand its role in international diplomacy.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday (Jul 22) ordered an immediate ban on widespread and mostly Chinese-run online gaming operations in the Philippines accusing them of venturing into crimes including financial scams, human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murders. Marcos also said in his state-of-the-nation address that the Philippines would press efforts to strengthen its defensive capability by forging security alliances with friendly countries to counter threats to its territorial interests in the South China Sea, adding that his country would only settle disputes through diplomacy. He made the remarks on the territorial conflicts before legislators, top officials and diplomats at...

The sudden appearance of four crane barges where a submarine had been parked has prompted questions about the possibility of an accident. Satellite imagery shows unusual activity last month, including the sudden appearance of four crane barges, at a shipyard in China that builds submarines and other naval vessels, which might potentially be a sign of an accident of some kind. Tom Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank and a retired U.S. Navy submarine warfare officer, was first to notice the goings-on at the Wuchang Shipyard. This yard, which is...

Japan's biggest steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corp... has hired former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help with its effort to acquire U.S. Steel ... "We look forward to working alongside him to further emphasize the ways in which Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel bolsters the country's economic and national security," Nippon Steel said ... Pompeo had not been given a specific job title within the company. ... Although both steelmakers have received all regulatory approvals outside of the United States for their proposed $14.9 billion merger, they face political opposition and regulatory scrutiny from within the United States....

In short:The Wall Street Journal faces criticism for sacking a journalist who was elected head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association. - Chinese state media celebrated Selina Cheng's sacking, calling the Hong Kong media union "a malignant tumour". -What's next?Cheng told the ABC she intended to take legal action against the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong. The Wall Street Journal faces widespread criticism over its decision to sack a Hong Kong journalist who refused to withdraw from the election for a leadership post in the city's largest media union. Selina Cheng, who worked in the Journal's Hong Kong bureau...

I’m a major donor to the Democratic Party. Only one strategy can rescue the Dems: an open convention. Being a large donor to the Democratic Party is like having elective surgery. You know it’s the right thing to do, but you also know it will be painful. You are often going to be thrown under the bus by the very candidates you support. I would know. I maxed out my giving in the last four presidential elections to the Democratic candidate: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Biden again, this cycle. Perhaps that makes me sound partisan, but I...

China's coal output rose to a six-month high in June, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, as mines ramped up production to meet seasonal demand ... The world's largest coal producer mined 405.38 million metric tons of the fuel last month, a 3.6% increase on the year and the highest since December ... Output will continue rising in the third quarter ... Output in the January-June period was 2.27 billion tons

Pakistan's Gwadar port was meant to be a shining success for China's Belt and Road Initiative. But almost two decades later, it still sits empty. 'Investors thought Gwadar would become Dubai' The idea behind the CPEC was to connect China's western Xinjiang province with the sea via Pakistan. This would shorten trade routes for China and help avoid the contentious Malacca Strait choke point, a narrow waterway between Malaysia and Sumatra that links the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Pakistan, meanwhile, would benefit from increases in trade, infrastructure and industry along the 2,000-kilometer corridor (1,240 miles), all financed by China These...

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is vying for another White House mandate, said he thinks that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for defense, claiming that the country “doesn’t give us anything.” His comment was in response to a question on whether he would defend Taiwan against China, as part of an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published Tuesday. Beijing considers democratically governed Taiwan as a part of its territory, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has previously said reunification with the mainland was “a historical inevitability.” Trump said, “Taiwan should pay us for defense.” “You know, we’re no different than an...

Donald Trump has cast doubt over whether as U.S. president he would defend Taiwan if China were to invade the self-governed island Beijing views as part of its territory. "Taiwan is 9,500 miles away," the former president told Bloomberg, "it's 68 miles away from China." China's long-ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own but has never ruled there since coming to power in Beijing in 1949. Taipei rejects its neighbor's assertions. The GOP nominee for the U.S. presidential election appeared to suggest that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for protection, telling the outlet: "I don't think we're any different...

WASHINGTON — In his short time in the U.S. Senate, J.D. Vance, the newly tapped Republican vice presidential nominee, has been a hawk on China. He has introduced legislation to restrict Chinese access to U.S. financial markets and to protect U.S. higher education from Chinese influence. In an interview with Fox News shortly after being named as former President Donald Trump’s running mate on Monday, Vance called China “the biggest threat” to the United States. When asked about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Vance said Trump would negotiate with Moscow and Kyiv to “bring this thing to a rapid close so...

June 25 2024 marked a new “first” in the history of spaceflight. China’s robotic Chang’e 6 spacecraft delivered samples of rock back to Earth from a huge feature on the Moon called the south pole–Aitken basin. After touching down on the Moon’s “far side”, on the southern rim of the Apollo crater, Chang’e 6 came back with around 1.9kg of rock and soil, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The Moon’s south pole is designated as the location for the future China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). This truly international endeavor has partners including Russia, Venezuela, South Africa...