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China fires missiles in second day of military drills Taiwan calls ‘highly provocative and reckless’ #China #fires #missiles #day #military #drills #Taiwan #calls #highly #provocative #reckless
Beijing — China launched missiles and deployed dozens of fighter jets and warships around Taiwan on Tuesday for a second day of live-fire exercises aimed at simulating a blockade of the self-ruled island’s main ports and assaults on maritime targets.
The two-day war games, dubbed “Mission Justice 2025”, were described by Taipei as “highly provocative and reckless”.
China claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and has refused to rule out military action to seize the island democracy.
AFP journalists on Pingtan, the Chinese island closest to the main island of Taiwan, saw a volley of rockets fly into the air around 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Tuesday, leaving trails of white smoke.
ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty
At least 10 rockets were launched in rapid succession, sending a booming sound reverberating through the sky and drawing tourists to the waterfront to take photos and videos with their phones.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said in a statement shortly afterward that it had “conducted long-range live-fire exercises in the waters north of the island of Taiwan and achieved the desired effects.”
The show of force follows a Exceptional arms sales to Taipei by the United States – the main financier of Taiwan’s security – and Japanese Prime Minister’s comments that any use of force against Taiwan by China could justify a military response from Tokyo.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, said Tuesday that Beijing will “strongly oppose” large-scale U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, adding that any attempt to hinder China’s unification with the island “will inevitably end in failure.”
Beijing said this month it would take “resolute and forceful measures” to safeguard its territory after U.S. lawmakers approved the latest major arms sale to the island.
President Trump said Monday that the United States was not informed in advance of the Chinese exercises, but he was not particularly concerned about them either. He ruled out the possibility that his counterpart Xi Jinping would order an invasion of Taiwan, noting that China has been conducting exercises around the island for many years.
“I don’t believe he’s going to do it,” Mr. Trump said, touting what he called his “great relationship” with the Chinese leader.
Getty/iStock
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian called the exercises “a punitive response to Taiwan’s pro-independence separatist forces and a necessary action to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te expressed his “strongest condemnation” and said Beijing was “deliberately undermining regional stability through military intimidation.”
“This is a blatant provocation against regional security and the international order,” he wrote on Facebook, adding that Taipei would not escalate the situation.
China blocks Taiwan
China said Tuesday morning it had deployed destroyers, frigates, fighters and bombers “to conduct exercises on the topics of identification and verification, warning and expulsion, simulated strikes, assault on maritime targets, as well as anti-aircraft and anti-submarine operations.”
A statement from the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command said the exercises in the waters north and south of Taiwan “tested the capabilities of air-sea coordination and integrated blockade and control.”
State broadcaster CCTV reported that one of the central themes of the exercises was the “blockade” of Taiwan’s main ports, including Keelung in the north and Kaohsiung in the south.
Chinese authorities have released a map of five major areas around Taiwan where war exercises would take place. They are expected to end on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Taiwan said these areas, some of which are within 12 nautical miles of its coasts, had affected international sea and air routes.
Dozens of flights to Taiwan’s Kinmen and Matsu islands have been canceled, according to the island’s Civil Aviation Administration, affecting around 6,000 passengers, while more than 850 scheduled international flights will be “affected” and could face delays.
Taiwan Coast Guard/Anadolu/Getty
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it detected 130 Chinese military aircraft near the island, as well as 14 Chinese navy ships and eight unspecified government vessels, in the 24 hours ending at 6 a.m.
Taiwan’s coast guard said it deployed 14 vessels to monitor naval activity, “using a one-on-one observation approach to forcefully deter vessels.”
“So many exercises like this over the years”
Many ordinary Taiwanese reacted stoically.
“There have been so many such exercises over the years that we are used to them,” said Chiang Sheng-ming, 24, a fishmonger at a market in the capital Taipei.
“If you hold on, you have nothing to fear,” adds Tseng Chang-chih, 80, a fruit seller.
“War? Impossible. It’s just a posturing. If they really attacked Taiwan, they would have to pay the price.”
The Chinese military last held large-scale exercises involving live fire around Taiwan in April. Surprise maneuvers condemned by Taipei as “blatant military provocations” and “escalatory behavior” that he said threatened the peace.
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News & Knowledge / Facts
VIDEO | Roof of shopping center collapses after heavy rain #VIDEO #Roof #shopping #center #collapses #heavy #rain
A shocking moment has gone viral on social media after a section of the Roof of shopping center collapsed after heavy rain registered in South Africa.
The incident occurred in The Northgate shopping center, located in Johannesburg, where intense rain and hail strained the facility’s infrastructure.
The Northgate Mall Collapse
According to local and international media, The partial collapse occurred last Saturday, December 27more precisely in the internal corridor which connects entrance 2 to the Pick n Pay store. Videos captured by visitors show the moment when the water begins to filter like a waterfall before the ceiling plates give way under the weight.
Despite the spectacular images and the momentary panic of shoppers, management of the mall, owned by Growthpoint Properties, confirmed that no injuries had been reported. Security forces immediately cordoned off the affected area as a precaution. to begin cleaning and technical assessment work.
Causes of the accident and technical response
According to the official press release published by the Northgate shopping center via its Facebook accountthe incident was caused by the extreme volume of water and hail over a very short period of time. This situation generated excessive buildup in the gutters, causing an overflow that ultimately caused a rupture in an isolated section of the ceiling.
Mall management emphasized that after an initial inspection, it was determined that the main roof structure was not damaged and the integrity of the building remained sound. SO, The shopping center remained open and operating normally.limiting the closure to only the area of the corridor concerned to carry out the necessary repairs.
Weather alert in the region
This event coincided with a Level 4 alert issued by the South African Weather Service (SAWS) due to Severe thunderstorms in Gauteng province. Local authorities had previously warned of the risk of flooding and damage to infrastructure, calling on residents in and around Randburg to take extreme precautions.
Technical teams and specialists continue to work on site to ensure all areas are safe for tenants and visitors. This is how the roof of the Northgate shopping center collapsed after heavy rains.
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#VIDEO #Roof #shopping #center #collapses #heavy #rain
Ireland
Tatiana Schlossberg: granddaughter of JFK, died at 35 after diagnosis of terminal cancer #Tatiana #Schlossberg #granddaughter #JFK #died #diagnosis #terminal #cancer
The JFK Library Foundation announced Ms. Schlossberg’s death in a statement today.
“Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the statement said. The message was signed “George, Edwin and Josephine Moran, Ed, Caroline, Jack, Rose and Rory”.
Ms. Schlossberg is survived by her husband, George Moran, their three-year-old son and their one-year-old daughter.
She is also survived by her parents, Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, her brother Jack Schlossberg and her sister Rose Schlossberg, married to Rory McAuliffe.
The environmental journalist revealed she was diagnosed with a rare type of acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cancer, in a New Yorkers essay published on November 22, the 62nd anniversary of his grandfather’s assassination.
I had swum a kilometer in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant
In the essay, Ms. Schlossberg recounted her disbelief. “I couldn’t believe they were talking about me.
“I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick,” she wrote.
Ms Schlossberg was diagnosed shortly after giving birth to her daughter last year, when doctors noticed her white blood cell count was high.
Today’s news in 90 seconds – December 31
“Everyone thought it was pregnancy or childbirth related. After a few hours, my doctors thought it was leukemia,” she wrote.
In her essay, Ms. Schlossberg also criticized her cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
“I watched from my hospital bed as Bobby, in the face of logic and common sense, was confirmed for the position, despite never having worked in medicine, public health or government,” she wrote.
She denounced his cuts in research funding, in particular for “mRNA vaccines, a technology which could be used against certain cancers”.
Ms. Schlossberg’s work has focused on the impacts of climate change. She has published several articles in The Washington Postincluding an investigation into the impacts of climate change on cranberry growers.
In 2019, Ms. Schlossberg also published Discreet consumption: the environmental impact you don’t know exists.
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News & Knowledge / Facts
Trump administration says it’s freezing child care funds in Minnesota after series of fraudulent schemes :: WRAL.com #Trump #administration #freezing #child #care #funds #Minnesota #series #fraudulent #schemes #WRAL.com
President Donald Trump’s administration announced Tuesday that it is freezing Minnesota’s child care funds after a series of fraudulent schemes in recent years.
Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on the social platform
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz responded in an article on
“He is politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz said.
O’Neil called out a right-wing influencer who posted a video Friday claiming to have discovered that daycares run by Somali residents in Minneapolis committed as much as $100 million in fraud. O’Neill said he asked Walz to submit an audit of those centers including attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations and inspections.
“We turned off the money spigot and we discovered the fraud,” O’Neill said.
The announcement comes a day after U.S. Homeland Security officials traveled to Minneapolis to conduct a fraud investigation by visiting unidentified businesses and interviewing workers.
There have been years of fraud investigations that began with the nonprofit Feeding Our Future’s $300 million scheme, for which 57 Minnesota defendants were convicted. Prosecutors said the organization was at the center of the nation’s largest COVID-19 scam, when defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food to children.
A federal prosecutor alleged earlier in December that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that have supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. Most of the defendants are Somali Americans, they said.
O’Neill, who is acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said in a social media post Tuesday that payments across the United States through the Administration for Children and Families, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will now require “justification and a receipt or photographic proof” before the money is sent. They also launched a hotline and email address to report fraud, he said.
The Administration for Children and Families provides $185 million in child care funds to Minnesota each year, according to Deputy Secretary Alex Adams.
“This money is expected to help 19,000 American children, including toddlers and infants,” he said in a video posted on X. “Any dollars stolen by the scammers are stolen from these children.”
Adams said he spoke with the director of Minnesota’s Office of Child Care on Monday and she was unable to say “with certainty whether these allegations of fraud are isolated or whether the fraud is statewide.”
Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said fraud would not be tolerated and his administration “will continue to work with our federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are arrested.”
Walz said an audit scheduled for late January should give a better idea of the extent of the fraud. He said his administration was taking aggressive steps to prevent further fraud. He has long defended his administration’s response.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota’s most prominent Somali American, urged people not to blame an entire community for the actions of a few.
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