Free Republic

A devastating earthquake hit central Japan today with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6, prompting mass evacuations, sparking fires and leaving residents trapped under the rubble of their homes as others scrambled for higher ground amid warnings of a tsunami. A total of 21 quakes above 4.0 magnitude rang out shortly after 4pm local time (7am UK time), and videos shared on social media and broadcast on Japanese TV showed how buildings collapsed in Suzu, a city close to the epicentre of the largest quake, with thick cracks appearing in roads. The tremors triggered a huge fire in Wajima city, in...

(Excuse me for printing his words. I wanted you to see what the left is saying now.) This is infuriating. This clod deserves no respect. Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a “dumb twat” on his comedy show last night. His far left audience loved it. The Daily Caller reported: On Friday night’s airing of the show, host Bill Maher took a shot at one of the left’s favorite targets, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, by contemplating her reaction to the tragic events that have unfolded in Japan over the past nine days. (h/t Real Clear Politics Video) “Did you hear...

President Joe Biden believes “serious scrutiny” is warranted for the planned acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, the White House said Thursday after days of silence on a transaction that has drawn alarm from the steelworkers union.Lael Brainard, the director of National Economic Council, indicated the deal would be reviewed by the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which includes economic and national security agency representatives to investigate national security risks from foreign investments in American firms. She said in a statement that Biden “believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign...

Former Marine Catherine Arnett, who spent 113 days in the brig and was eventually discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine in 2022, was arrested earlier this month for attempting to return to her duty station in Japan, according to Stars and Stripes. Arnett's case became a cause célèbre when she refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine in 2022, citing religious objections to the fact that the vaccine was developed using research that involved fetal tissue cells. Arnett's request for a religious exemption was denied. The Marine Corps notified Arnett that she faced administrative separation due to this decision,...

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy battled with CNN host Kaitlan Collins on her show Monday night after she aired a brief clip of him speaking about Taiwan. "Guess what, we’ll put a gun in every Taiwanese household, train them how to use it, that is how you make Xi Jinping think twice," Ramaswamy said in a clip taken from a speech he gave in Iowa. "Do you really think that would be a sufficient plan to deter a Chinese invasion, if it includes long-range missiles, ground troops, an aerial blockade, a naval blockade, all of the different measures here?" Collins...

WASHINGTON — Chinese President Xi Jinping bluntly told President Joe Biden during their recent summit in San Francisco that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but the timing has not yet been decided, according to three current and former U.S. officials. Xi told Biden in a group meeting attended by a dozen American and Chinese officials that China’s preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force, the officials said

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., expressed concern about the potential invasion of Taiwan by communist China, stating that Americans "should be worried."When asked about the possibility of such an invasion during an interview at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Dec. 2, Gen. Brown pointed to Hong Kong as an example, stating: "Just think about what happened in Hong Kong. ... We all should be worried whether it's going to happen or not. And part of the reason why deterrence is so important is so that conflict does not occur."Since Beijing enacted the...

Far from an idealistic crusade for democracy, America’s interest in Taiwan involves economic security, alliances, great power politics, and military deterrence.This month, Chinese military flights near Taiwan reached an all-time high. In a single day in September, aircraft from the People’s Liberation Army crossed into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone more than 100 times. As China’s campaign of military intimidation toward the self-governing island reaches new heights, it’s important to remember why U.S. support for the island nation is more vital than ever.Deterring China from launching an invasion of Taiwan and dominating the world’s largest market zone is a vital...

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned President Biden last month that he intends to end Taiwan’s decades-long de facto independence — peacefully, if possible. Xi told the 81-year-old commander-in-chief that “Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided,” NBC News reported Wednesday, citing three current and former US officials briefed on the meeting. The White House didn’t deny the exchange, which occurred during a Nov. 15 summit outside San Francisco that was attended by a dozen US and Chinese officials. “I’m not gonna get into the specifics of the discussion between the two...

PITTSBURGH - U.S. Steel, the Pittsburgh steel producer that played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, is being acquired by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $14.1 billion. The transaction is worth about $14.9 billion when including the assumption of debt. The combined company will be among the top three steel-producing companies in the world, according to 2022 figures from the World Steel Association. The price tag for U.S. Steel is nearly double what was offered just four months ago by rival Cleveland Cliffs. U.S. Steel, which rejected that offer, confirmed the offering price from Nippon...

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) vowed Monday to work to block the $14.9 billion sale of U.S. Steel Corp. to Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel, which he described as an “outrageous” move. The deal was announced Monday, prompting the stock prices of U.S. Steel to jump up 25 percent. Fetterman criticized the sale, saying in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the move was “wrong for workers and wrong for Pennsylvania.”

When Moody’s Investors Service announced to the world it might downgrade China, the lessons from Japan’s deflationary nightmare were written between the lines in bold font. This week’s big economic news in Asia was Moody’s slashing Beijing’s country's credit outlook. It dropped just a few weeks after Moody’s also lowered Washington’s rating outlook to “negative” from “stable.” The warning to Beijing, though, seemed timed to spur Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government to change course on debt before it’s too late. The central worry, of course, is China’s default-plagued property sector, a threat that echoes Japan’s 1990s bad-loan crisis. Another dynamic...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution Friday backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Supporters called it a terrible day and warned of more civilian deaths and destruction as the war goes into its third month. The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining. The United States' isolated stand reflected a growing fracture between Washington and some of its closest allies over Israel's monthslong bombardment of Gaza. France and Japan were among those supporting the call...

[Video] Schab has returned for the 82nd commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attack. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Pearl Harbor survivor “Ike” Schab is back in Honolulu. The 103-year-old was greeted with applause Sunday as he got off his flight from Portland. Schab has returned for the 82nd commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attack. It’s a trip that almost didn’t happen because of an illness, but Schab was determined to make it to this year’s ceremony. While it’s been more than eight decades since the Pearl Harbor attack, Dec. 7 still brings back his memories of being there. ”And they’re not necessarily...

There have been several recent incidents where China has done its best to bully the Philippines in the South China Sea. Those incidents haven’t gone unnoticed by some of China’s neighbors. Now Japan and the Philippines are teaming up to create a new defense pact. Japan’s PM headed to the Philippines today for two days of talks.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan said on Friday that his country would start formal talks with the Philippines to allow the deployment of Japanese troops to the Southeast Asian country, further strengthening ties between two countries that have embraced each other as bulwarks...

Older Chinese who have survived the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution and other tumultuous events are not so naive as to stand idly by as their government fails to effectively cope with the country's property slump. For these and other Chinese, overseas markets, notably Japan, are presenting an escape route of sorts for their money, partly thanks to smartphone apps. In fact, a massive capital flight being engineered by rich Chinese has given President Xi Jinping a serious headache, even as his administration celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative by hosting a forum in Beijing this week. That...

Prices at the pump remain on track to keep falling in the United States despite the Israel-Hamas war, according to energy industry analysts. After Hamas’ surprise attack over the weekend, global crude oil jumped to more than $87 a barrel by Monday, from below $83 late last week — roughly a 5% increase. Prices have since retreated, clocking in at $83.62 Wednesday morning. But Israel and its immediate neighbors aren’t major energy producers, so as long as the conflict doesn’t expand geographically, seasonal trends should continue much as they have for the last few weeks, said Tom Kloza, global head...

The Japanese Bankers Association said on Tuesday glitches at its payment clearing network system disrupted more than 1.4 million domestic fund transfers, the first major system failure that the banking group has experienced. The failure at the system’s relaying computers blocked transfers to and from 11 banks including MUFG Bank, Resona Bank, Yamaguchi Bank and JPMorgan Chase Bank. A total of 1.4 million transfers from the 11 banks were affected on Tuesday, the operator of the system said. Of those, 1 million were handled by alternative methods, while 400,000 remained unprocessed as of Tuesday evening.

A third of the Royal Canadian Navy's entire Pacific frigate fleet is visiting Japan. Mind you, that's just two vessels. By contrast, Japan's navy is vastly larger and its government is embarking on its largest military spending spree since the Second World War. Japan has recently announced a $433-billion upgrade plan to turn its armed forces into a major regional force, buying missiles capable of hitting China and Chinese ships and ensuring Japan will become the world's third-largest spender on defence (after the U.S. and China). That 65 per cent increase in spending will mean Japan hits the mark of...

It’s been a busy week for Japanese eVTOL developer SkyDrive, who has announced its second pre-order agreement in two days, its latest coming from CT UAV in Vietnam. That puts pre-orders for the company’s new SKYDRIVE eVTOL up to 200 in Vietnam alone. We will spare you the brief history of SkyDrive Inc. as we just offered a recap yesterday when the company announced a pre-order for up to five of its newly designed SKYDRIVE eVTOLs (seen above) by Austin Aviation in South Carolina. That initial letter of intent kicks off SkyDrive’s journey toward setting up shop in The Palmetto...