National Security - Page 275

Schools in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong suspended classes on Thursday due to an influenza outbreak, an uncomfortable reminder of the punishing lockdowns that were used across the country during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.

Senior World Health Organization (W.H.O.) leaders, including Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, once again complained in a press conference on Thursday that the Chinese Communist Party was withholding critical data that could help the agency understand the origin of the Wuhan coronavirus.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov threatened to abandon a landmark grain deal with Ukraine if obstacles to Moscow’s exports remained.

The city of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines, held its first unrestricted Good Friday crucifixion ceremony since the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic began in 2020 this week, nailing eight people to crosses as a form of penance for sin.

The Philippine government hinted on Tuesday that it would welcome a permanent defense attaché from India, a sign of growing military cooperation between the two countries against the common menace of Communist China.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday said that Russia’s partner China has “impressive potential for mediation” in the Ukraine war, as “eloquently demonstrated” by China’s recent brokering of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday that the government of China is considering banning the export of technology used to create rare-earth fueled high-performance magnets, often used in electric vehicles and other advanced technology.

The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met for an extensive meeting in Beijing, China, on Wednesday that resulted in the formal restoration of diplomatic ties and promises to restore flights between their countries and reopen each other’s embassies within 60 days.

A 25-year-old man killed four children with an ax and injured five more at a Brazilian day care center located in the southern city of Blumenau, Santa Catarina, on Wednesday.

The Biden White House is arguing that the Republican push to defund the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) actually helps Mexican cartels. 

A small plane flew over the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on Wednesday towing a banner that read “One China! Taiwan is part of China!” while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

The Communist Party of China, through its Foreign Ministry and state propaganda outlets, threatened House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and America in general on Thursday with “strong and resolution measures” in response to McCarthy’s meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

The United States is “playing with fire” and engaged in a hot “hybrid war” with Russia, a Russian government minister has claimed.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) met with visiting Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California on Wednesday, despite threats from Communist China.

President Joe Biden is reportedly considering a partial nuclear deal with Iran under which it would keep near-weapons-grade uranium, but stop short of refining it further, in exchange for some sanctions relief.

China “froze” all high-level bilateral diplomatic contact with the United States since February’s Chinese spy balloon incident, Politico reported on Wednesday.

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) may soon impose a ban on former President Jair Bolsonaro for running for office, national media outlets reported this week, for allegedly having spread disinformation about the nation’s electoral system during an official encounter with diplomats in July.

The Pakistani Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered snap elections to proceed in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, overriding efforts by the administration of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to delay the votes until October.

Palestinians desecrated the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, during the holy month of Ramadan this week by stockpiling weapons they intended to use to attack Jews praying at the Western Wall on Passover.

Chinese Communist Party censors allowed users on its state-controlled site Weibo to comment extensively on the arrest of American former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, resulting in many cheering on the decline of the United States and predicting a civil war.

Classified documents were transported from then-Vice President Joe Biden’s safekeeping to the Penn Biden Center, where they were kept in an unlocked closet and remained accessible to center employees and potentially others, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) revealed Tuesday after an interview with Biden’s former assistant, Kathy Chung.

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, declared on Tuesday the arraignment of former American President Donald Trump meant the United States’ ability to pressure other countries to improve their own democracies was “gone.”

U.S. intelligence officials are watching for possible political “interference” from Russia and China in the wake of the indictment of Donald Trump, a report by CNBC on Wednesday claims.

Ukraine’s national securitychief warned that the West must prepare for the collapse and fragmentation of Russia similar to the Soviet Union.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Monday took over the investigation of a weekend knife attack on a bus in British Columbia because it was deemed an act of terrorism, perpetrated by a supporter of the Islamic State.

The Indian government on Tuesday angrily rejected China’s attempt to change the names of eleven locations in the Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing has been trying to seize.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni responded to criticism of his country’s draconian new laws against same-sex relationships by urging other African leaders to join him in resisting “the promotion of homosexuality.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) traveled to El Salvador this weekend to meet with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, criticizing President Joe Biden for “alienating” Central American and other allies with combative policies.

China’s state-run Global Times propaganda outlet celebrated on Tuesday the oil cartel OPEC+ announcing a significant cut in its production the day before, claiming it as a victory against “U.S. hegemony” and a “stern warning” to America that it had lost global influence.

The Premium Times of Nigeria reported on Monday that a panel investigating human rights violations in the insurgent-plagued northeast has heard testimony from 50 witnesses on abuses perpetrated by the Nigerian military, including mass abortions and the murder of children.

The surprise decision on Monday by the oil cartel OPEC+ to dramatically cut crude production preceded indications from the administration of leftist President Joe Biden in late March that it was not interested in imminently refilling supplies depleted out of America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR).

CARACAS, Venezuela – China, through its major development finance institutions (DFIs), has not lent any more money to Venezuela since 2016, according to a recent report by the Inter-American Dialogue think tank and the Boston University Global Development Policy Center.

Four additional military bases in the Philippines were opened up to U.S. troops on Monday, with one site near the increasingly contested South China Sea and another bordering Taiwan.

The U.S. government is to pump another $2.6 billion worth of munitions into Ukraine, Kyiv officials confirmed Monday.

A spokesman for the Pentagon has denied that a damaged American “nuclear bomb” patched up with tape has been pictured in the Netherlands.

Finland’s President will attend a ceremony at the NATO headquarters in Belgium today to mark the 12th new member this century.