Free Republic

NEW YORK — Exxon Mobil said Friday that it will wind down a drilling project in Russia in compliance with U.S. sanctions, but said it received a license to keep working beyond the sanctions' deadline in order to complete the work. U.S. sanctions against Russia over its involvement in the Ukraine require the removal of U.S. workers on projects in the Russian Arctic and other select locations by September 26.

Iranian media on Saturday reported fire breaking out after Israel bombed infrastructure at the South Pars gas field in southern Bushehr province. Developing

Tensions between neighbors Venezuela and Guyana have ratcheted up in recent weeks over a long-running territorial dispute. At issue is a 160,000-square-km (62,000-square-mile) border territory around the Esequibo river, which is mostly jungle, and an offshore area where massive discoveries of oil and gas have been made.

Wednesday May 24, 9:44 AM Chinese warships trained weapons on Japan's SDF aircraft: Pentagon (Kyodo) _ Chinese warships trained weapons on Japanese surveillance aircraft monitoring a disputed Chinese gas field in the East China Sea in a weapons drill last fall, the U.S. Defense Department said Tuesday in an annual report on China's military capabilities. The Pentagon said in the 50-page report that the incident was one of the key developments over the past year underscoring China's continuing activities to build up and modernize its military beyond its interests over Taiwan to secure its interests deeper into the Pacific. The...

Chinese warships remind Japanese of challenge on seas By Norimitsu Onishi and Howard W. French The New York Times SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2005 TOKYO In a muscular display of its rising military and economic might, China deployed a fleet of five warships last week near a gas field in the East China Sea, a potentially resource-rich area that is disputed by China and Japan. The ships, including a guided-missile destroyer, were spotted by a Japanese military patrol plane near the Chunxiao gas field, according to Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Forces. It is believed to be the first time that Chinese warships...