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Plagued by delays in ship repairs and outdated design practices, the US Navy faces mounting challenges in maintaining readiness and keeping pace with China’s rapid shipbuilding advancements. This month, USNI News reported that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that fewer than 40% of US Navy ships had completed repairs on time, despite the availability of shipyard space. The GAO ranked shipyard conditions second only to F-35 Lightning II air fighter sustainment costs as the most problematic readiness issue facing the US armed services.

All five Central Asian presidents are scheduled to attend a parade on Red Square on May 9 to commemorate the end of World War II in Europe in 1945, while the majority of the world's leaders continue to condemn Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022. Yury Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on May 7 said Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, and Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhammedov will attend the event in the Russian capital’s Red Square. Ushakov added that President Miguel Diaz-Canel of...

The figurehead president of the Cuban communist Castro regime, Miguel Díaz-Canel, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for a two-day official visit that will include a meeting with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, who has been recently inaugurated for a new six-year term as president. According to the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Díaz-Canel will “address bilateral agenda priorities” following Putin’s inauguration, meeting with other representatives of the Russian government before meeting with Putin on Thursday. Díaz-Canel will also participate in Wednesday’s meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, representing Cuba in its capacity as an observer member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)....

A Senate Armed Services hearing turned heated this week when Sen. Angus King, chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee, laid into John Hill, deputy assistant defense secretary for space and missile defense, about why the Biden administration’s 2025 missile defense budget request falls far short on funding to maintain readiness against the growing threat of hypersonic missiles from adversaries — namely Russia. “We have no defense for hypersonic missiles, yes or no? Mr. Hill? Any defense on hypersonic missile?” Mr. King asked during one exchange. If Russia launches a hypersonic missile traveling 6,000 mph and “you are the commander of...

"The Chinese are imposing a kind of sanction on us. They don't officially declare it, but they are delaying shipments to Israel.... In electronic products, there are tens of thousands of components, but if even one component doesn't arrive, we cannot deliver the product." — Unnamed senior figure in a factory, Ynet, December 24, 2023. Also immensely disturbing is that "massive" amounts of advanced Chinese military equipment were found in Gaza by the IDF during its military operations there. "[I]f you set up systems with technology for critical infrastructure, like electricity, energy, water, transport, these are tied to one another....

China’s communist regime spent $710.6 billion on its military in 2022, more than three times Beijing’s publicly stated totals, according to a report from the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI).“Considering that the Pentagon has labeled China the ‘pacing challenge,’ this revelation should cause concern,” the April 29 report reads.“When compared globally, China’s estimated $711 billion military budget illustrates that China is more of a ‘pacing threat’ than a ‘pacing challenge.’”Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at the AEI and the author of the report, explained that she came up with the figure based on her calculation after accounting for economic adjustments,...

President Xi Jinping of China, on a two-day visit to France, spoke out firmly against criticism of his country for its close relationship with Russia during the war in Ukraine, saying that “we oppose the crisis being used to cast responsibility on a third country, sully its image and incite a new cold war.” Flanked by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, with whom he held several rounds of talk on Monday, Mr. Xi stiffened as he defended China’s role, recalling it was “not at the origin of this crisis, nor a party to it, nor a participant.” The bristling remark...

Chinese scientists have engineered a virus with parts of Ebola in a lab that killed a group of hamsters. A team of researchers at Hebei Medical University used a contagious disease of livestock and added a protein found in Ebola, which allows the virus to infect cells and spread throughout the human body. The group of hamsters that received the lethal injection 'developed severe systemic diseases similar to those observed in human Ebola patients,' including multi-organ failure,' the study shared. One particularly horrific symptom saw the infected hamsters develop secretions in their eyes, which impaired their vision and scabbed over...

This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire By W. Caffey Norman Real Clear Wire Concerning new reports reveal that the drug shortage in the U.S. has reached its highest level since the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists began tracking data. In total, 323 medicines are now in short supply. However, the problem is about to get worse because of government regulations on an entirely different issue. Counterintuitive measures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are set to effectively ban the domestic production of chemicals that are used in the process of manufacturing vital prescription drugs and vaccines. Shortly...

A large landslide destroyed a significant portion of the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, China, at around 02:10 local time on May 1, 2024. The collapse caused 23 vehicles to plummet down a steep slope, igniting some in flames and resulting in 48 fatalities and 30 injuries as of May 2, 2024. In the early morning (LT) of May 1, 2024, a large landslide triggered by extensive rainfall hit the Chaoyang section of the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou City, resulting in severe destruction and loss of life. The landslide triggered the collapse of an approximately 18 m (59...

Expert worries they are 'coming to this country to commit acts of sabotage'.. More Chinese-based illegal immigrants were encountered at the U.S. southern border in just two days than in all of fiscal year 2021, according to Fox News’ Bill Melugin. There were approximately 262 Chinese migrants caught by Border Patrol at the San Diego sector on May 1, as well as 223 on May 2, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) source told Melugin. Only 323 Chinese nationals were apprehended by Border Patrol at the southern border throughout all of fiscal year 2021 ... There has been a surge...

An annual report by a Uyghur advocacy group revealed ongoing persecution in China's far-western Xinjiang province, with an estimated 1 in 26 Uyghurs jailed, accounting for a third of China's prison population, 3.5 times the world's highest rate of imprisonment. A new Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) report indicates that Uyghurs, Turkic and other non-Han peoples in the Uyghur Region account for more than a third (34 per cent) of China's estimated prison population, despite making up only one per cent of China's overall population. When accounting for the total regional population, the Uyghur region has the highest prison rate...

Scientists with close ties to China and the U.S. government is now saying that risky experiments he proposed—which some experts believe could have led to the creation of SARS-CoV-2—may have been done, deviating from earlier statements.Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, testifies before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in Washington, on May 1, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)Another scientist involved in the proposal also says he doesn’t know if the work was done.“To the very best of my knowledge ... the work hasn’t been done,” Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, told a congressional panel this...

Officers from the New York Police Department went to two different universities on Friday morning to clear out anti-Israel agitators and break up demonstrations they held on campus. Officers first cleared an encampment at New York University, where they arrested several protesters and called cleaning crews to the area to remove tents and sweep away the trash left behind by the protesters. The NYPD was then called to take similar actions at The New School in New York. After the operations, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell spoke to reporters to confirm the NYPD took the actions "at the request...

China and Russia are working on a joint invasion of Taiwan, US intelligence officials fear. 'We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognising that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn't,' Avril Haines, Director of US National Intelligence, told the US Congress on Thursday. Her warning on the potential cooperation between the countries on Taiwan, which China has long claimed as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary, was echoed by Lieutenant General...

"95,096 views May 1, 2024 Finally some justice. If you are a victim of transnational oppression please remember that you're not alone!" Synopsis: Chinese national acting on behalf of the Chinese government threatens Chinese-Americans for criticizing China and the Chinese Communist Party. The 'wumao' is now facing prison time and eventual deportation back to China.

There’s a viral trend on TikTok that got started with a seemingly simple question: Would women rather run into a bear or a man in the woods? Now people are discussing the fact that a lot of women have admitted to preferring the bear. USA Today reports how this debate — simply referred to as “Man vs. Bear” — is said to have been started by TikTok account, Screenshot HQ, who posted a video of women being asked this question seemingly around the United Kingdom about a week or so ago. By the end of the video, all the woman...

China’s first home-grown narrowbody passenger jet has passed a battery of “deep level” safety tests as part of a step that is expected to help the C919 find overseas markets as its rival Boeing wrestles with a list of mechanical woes. China Eastern Airlines Technology, a subsidiary of the group that owns C919 operator China Eastern Airlines, concluded four days of “A-inspection” tests on Monday at a hangar in Shanghai, the Civil Aviation Administration said on Tuesday. The aircraft is required to undergo safety checks after either every four months, 700 flight hours or 500 flight cycles – meaning the...

US officials may have sent taxpayer money to fund risky research in a Chinese lab known to be carrying out bioweapon research. Disgraced researcher Dr Peter Daszak suggested to a Congressional subcommittee that the intelligence community was aware of the coronavirus experiments carried out at the Wuhan Institute of Virology years before the pandemic - which many fear may have started the outbreak. The government sent money to the Chinese facility despite concerns that the WIV was being by the Chinese government to manufacture bioweapons, according to Dr Daszak's testimony. Further, the researcher said the WIV is astonishingly still in...

World reserve status allows for amazing latitude in terms of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve understands that there is constant demand for dollars overseas as a means to more easily import and export goods. The dollar’s petro-status also makes it essential for trading oil globally. This means that the central bank of the US has been able to create fiat currency from thin air to a far higher degree than any other central bank on the planet while avoiding the immediate effects of hyperinflation. Much of that cash as well as dollar denominated debt (physical and digital) ends up in...