03 World

China’s Expanding Navy Is A Threat To U.S. National Security– thefederalist.com

pgnewser May 5, 2025 0

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On April 24, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report on China’s naval modernization, noting that, “China’s navy is, by far, the largest of any country in East Asia, and sometime between 2015 and 2020 it surpassed the U.S. Navy in numbers of battle force ships …” The CRS report then quotes the DOD, that China’s navy “is the largest navy in the world …”

As an Asian land power, why would China be rapidly expanding its navy?

A benign view of China’s naval buildup is that it is driven by its economic and security needs. As the world’s second-largest economy, it relies on maritime trade routes for energy and raw materials imports and exports of finished goods, making sea lane security paramount. Though, one might ask, security against what threat?

Of note, even though China has a base in Djibouti on the Red Sea, its navy has been wholly absent in keeping the vital waterway and path to the Suez Canal open in the face of piratical Houthi attacks on shipping. In fact, the U.S. government has credibly accused a Chinese satellite company of providing real-time intelligence to the Houthis to aid in their targeting of shipping, including the U.S. Navy. That China’s naval buildup and China’s increasing bellicosity align with paramount leader Xi Jinping’s vision of national rejuvenation linked to maritime command of the seas — far beyond Taiwan’s rocky shores.

Europe launches ‘super grant’ to attract US researchers hit by government cuts– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser May 5, 2025 0

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The grant, which will be offered between 2025 and 2027, comes as the Trump administration has cut more than 380 domestic grant programs in the last month. Trump justified the cuts by saying they violated his executive order, which prohibited funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion directives.

French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen discussed the grant at the “Choose Europe for Science” event in Paris.

“A few years ago, no one would have imagined that one of the biggest democracies in the world would cancel research programs under the pretext that the word diversity was in this program,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “No one would have thought that one of the biggest democracies in the world would delete with a stroke the ability of one researcher or another to obtain visas,” Macron said, but here we are.”

Brazil Supreme Court reviews charges against key Bolsonaro allies in coup proceedings– abcnews.go.com

pgnewser April 22, 2025 0

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SAO PAULO — A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court justices started proceedings on Tuesday morning to determine whether federal officers, retired military officers and an aide of former President Jair Bolsonaro will also stand trial for allegedly attempting to stage a coup.

Last month, the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over an alleged attempt to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ordered him to stand trial.

When Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet accused Bolsonaro and 33 others of attempting a coup, he divided them into five different groups, based on their roles and positions in the alleged plot.

Bolsonaro and his closest allies, including running mate Gen. Braga Netto, were placed in the “core group,” according to the charges. Now, the Supreme Court panel will review charges against the second group, which Gonet said held managerial roles.

Things Aren’t Looking Good For Canada’s Conservative Party– dailycaller.com

pgnewser April 22, 2025 0

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Canada’s conservative darling has gone from leading the polls by double digits to barely scraping by in the run up to the April 28 election.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has been described by media outlets as Canada’s version of President Donald Trump, held a nearly 25 point lead in CBC polling averages going into January 2025. However, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pending resignation and replacement with banker Mark Carney, the liberals are now leading in the polls with just a month left until Canadians cast their votes.

Trudeau’s approval rating was historically bad leading up to his resignation announcement in December 2024, with 74% of voters disapproving of his administration, according to the Angus Reid Institute.

VIDEO: ‘A battle between right and wrong’: Houthi spokesman on confronting the US and Israel– thegrayzone.com

pgnewser April 22, 2025 0

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The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal interviews Muhammad Al-Bukhaiti, senior political officer and spokesman for Ansar Allah (the Houthi movement), on Yemen’s direct confrontation with a US military machine which is hellbent on destroying its ability to resist Israel.

In this third conversation between The Grayzone and Bukhaiti, the Ansar Allah spokesman explains why he believes his movement’s war with the US-Israeli axis is unlike any conflict that preceded it, and why he believes Yemen is engaged in a righteous battle despite the terrible toll its civilians have faced.

This interview was translated by Hekmat Aboukhater.

 

Pope Francis’ funeral scheduled as mourners prepare to gather in Rome – National– globalnews.ca

pgnewser April 22, 2025 0

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Pope Francis will be laid to rest Saturday after lying in state for three days in St. Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff.

The cardinals met Tuesday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10.

The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. U.S. President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump plan to attend, and Argentine President Javier Milei is also expected.

“Political Interference Endangering Higher Education”: US Universities– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser April 22, 2025 0

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More than 100 US universities and colleges, including Ivy League institutions Princeton and Brown, issued a joint letter on Tuesday condemning President Donald Trump’s “political interference” in the education system.

The move comes a day after Harvard University sued the Trump administration, which has threatened to cut funding and impose outside political supervision.

“We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the letter read.

“We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion,” it said, adding: “We must reject the coercive use of public research funding.”

Gaza horror as Israeli air strike victims ‘burned to death’ in fresh wave of attacks– www.mirror.co.uk

pgnewser April 22, 2025 0

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At least 26 Palestinians have been killed – including 11 believed burned to death – in ferocious Israeli attacks across Gaza. Horrific imagery of bodies being pulled out of a rubbled housing complex in Khan Younis, in the Strip’s south, showed the scale of the morning air-strikes.

An attack early on Tuesday destroyed a multistory home in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing nine, including four women and four children. The dead included a 2-year-old girl and her parents and the early morning attacks were part of a widening Israeli campaign in Gaza to try and and wipe out Hamas and force the release of hostages.

Israeli Officials Reportedly Concerned Trump May Be Repeating Obama-Era Nuclear Deal Mistakes– gellerreport.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 1

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Some of the reports coming out of the U.S-Iran nuke talks are extremely disappointing. President Trump seems to have a cabal of Iran appeasers and Israel-haters in his national security team. There is a concern that they could convince President Trump to accept a substandard deal with Iran. Rubio, Waltz, Huckabee, and other sensible Trump Admin officials are going to have to fight the Iran appeasers, and make sure that only a strong deal is signed with Iran. A deal in which Iran’s nuclear program is completely dismantled.

Related – Trump team’s Iran divide: Dialogue vs. detonation to end nuclear threat

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Pope Francis died of stroke and heart failure: Vatican doctor | News– www.aljazeera.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

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Pope Francis died of a cerebral stroke and irreversible heart failure, Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli has said in a death certificate.

The certificate released on Monday for the 88-year-old pontiff said the pope had fallen into a coma before his death earlier in the day.

Pope Francis had suffered various ailments during his 12-year papacy, with severe complications in recent weeks following a bout of double pneumonia for which he spent 38 days at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.

The Vatican also released Pope Francis’s spiritual testament – a written statement of faith – in which he said he wished to be buried in Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major and not at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, unlike many of his predecessors.

30 Kiiled, Dozens Wounded In Paramillitary Shelling In Sudan: Report– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

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Paramilitary shelling on Sudan’s besieged city of El-Fasher, in the western region of Darfur, killed more than 30 civilians and wounded dozens more, activists said on Monday.

The attack, which took place on Sunday, involved “heavy artillery shelling” and targeted the city’s residential neighbourhoods, said the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating aid across Sudan.

Since April 2023, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a brutal war.

El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, remains the last major city in the vast Darfur region that the paramilitary group has not conquered.

Last week, the RSF launched a renewed offensive on the city and two nearby displacement camps — Zamzam and Abu Shouk — killing over 400 and displacing some 400,000 people, according to the United Nations.

‘Hopefully they will do it this week’: Donald Trump’s big hint on Russia-Ukraine ‘deal’– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

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US President Donald Trump on Sunday said Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement “this week,” possibly to end their war of more than three years. He also said the two rivals could then do “big business” with the United States and “make a fortune.”

“Hopefully Russia amd (sic) Ukraine will make a deal this week. Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a big fortune!” Trump posted to his Truth Social network.

However, he did not share details of any progress in peace talks Washington has sought to push forward between Moscow and Kyiv, since he took over from Joe Biden in January.
The US president’s Truth Social post comes just days after his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, warned that Washington could “move on” from its push to broker an agreement to end the conflict, which began in February 2022.
“We need to figure out here now within a matter of days whether this is doable in the short term, because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio said on Friday in Paris, after high-level discussions with European and Ukrainian leaders.

Trump Slams “Weak, Ineffective” Judges As Deportation Row Intensifies– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

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The clash over President Donald Trump’s bid to exercise unprecedented powers in deporting migrants deepened Sunday as he again bashed the judiciary, while a top Democrat warned the country was “closer and closer” to a constitutional crisis.

The latest events followed a dramatic intervention by the Supreme Court in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday to temporarily block Trump’s use of an obscure law to deport Venezuelan migrants without due process.

Trump lashed out Sunday on his Truth Social platform, not specifically naming the high court but slamming the “WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten!”

Samuel Alito, one of two conservative high-court justices to vote against the halt, called the emergency ruling by the court’s majority “legally questionable.”

Taiwan’s Biggest Problem in Steeling Itself for War with China is Cultural– warontherocks.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

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General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly wants to prepare China for a war over Taiwan. The measures he is taking to ready its people, economy, legal system, and especially its military are clear for everyone to see. The best way to dissuade him from actually rolling the iron dice is for Washington and Taipei to work together, because neither can stop Beijing on their own. It would be a fool’s errand for Taiwan to resist a Chinese military onslaught without its chief patron and protector. And the United States needs Taiwan to hold on and hold out long enough for the U.S. military to arrive in decisive force.

Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Many Taiwanese citizens question whether America will actually defend them. Washington’s long standing posture of strategic ambiguity is obviously one source of skepticism. But even strategic clarity toward Taipei will not solve the problem. The fact is that Washington and Taipei have a long and complicated relationship. Taiwanese voters know the United States has a long history of turning its back on them in their moment of need.

Thus, there is no question that the United States should take steps to address Taiwan’s understandable lack of faith in America’s commitment. A sensible first step is to address the backlog in arms deliveries to Taiwan, as two Kuomintang legislative staffers recently argued in these pages. And there are a range of other things Washington can do to demonstrate that it is serious about Taiwan.