Author: Ron Chambers

WAR DRUMS: China outraged over reports of U.S. military presence in Taiwan, Threatens to launch air strike to “Eliminate U.S. invaders”

ETH – October 7. 2021

Leaders in China almost immediately expressed outrage Thursday at a new report indicating the U.S. has secretly stationed forces on Taiwan in an attempt to bolster the island nation’s defenses against the increasing likelihood of an attack from the mainland.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that a small unit of special operations forces have been based in Taiwan for at least a year to train local military forces – a move China has previously said would violate contentious agreements between Washington and Beijing that have maintained a fragile security understanding regarding Taiwan for decades.

Asian outlets first reported last year the possible presence of Marines there. “Why just two dozen members? Why secretly? The US should send 240 servicemen publicly, in US military uniform, and make public where they are stationed,” Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of China’s English language Global Times, considered a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, wrote in a tweet accompanying the Journal’s article. He added of China’s military, “See whether the PLA will launch a targeted airstrike to eliminate those US invaders!” China has previously indicated it would retaliate swiftly and immediately to any indication the U.S. had deployed military forces to Taiwan.

When Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, claimed without explanation in August that the U.S. had roughly 30,000 forces on Taiwan, state news in Beijing fired back that, if true, the Chinese military would “crush them by force.” What has previously been downplayed as idle threats have taken on new potency in recent days, following China’s steady deployment of aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense zone on an unprecedented scale.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Warsaw’s step towards Polexit shows that West’s attempt to recreate Soviet Union in form of EU was doomed to failure

RT – October 8, 2021

Paul A. Nuttall is a historian, author and a former politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament between 2009 and 2019 and was a prominent campaigner for Brexit.

The Mexican standoff between Warsaw and Brussels has taken a turn for the worse as Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that some EU laws are in direct conflict with the Polish Constitution.
This represents a direct challenge to the principle that EU law is supreme in its member states.

The tribunal judgement on Thursday found that the EU institutions often “act beyond the scope of their competences.” Poland’s Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro welcomed the ruling as it “set the constitutional limits of European integration and permissible EU interference in Polish cases.” 

Naturally, this judgement has provoked outrage in Brussels. The European Commission responded in typical robust fashion, stating that “All rulings by the European Court of Justice are binding on all Member States’ authorities, including national courts.”

Moreover, the Commission made it clear that it would “not hesitate to make use of its powers under the treaties to safeguard the uniform application and integrity of union law.” In other words, Poland backs down or punishment is in the post.

And what will these punishments be? Well, as ever with the EU, the punishment will be financial reprisals. It’s a bit like when a naughty child has their pocket money withheld from an irate parent.

https://www.rt.com

Strong earthquake strikes Pakistan shaking multiple cities and leaving over 20 dead

Ricky Scaparo – October 6, 2021

A strong earthquake has reportedly struck Pakistan shaking the cities of Harnai and Shahrag around 3 am local time, causing buildings and homes to collapse on residents.

According to Express-News, Sohail Anwar Hashmi, Deputy Commissioner for Harnai city, told Pakistani newspaper Quetta Voice via telephone: “We have received 20 dead bodies” However, the latest estimates by officials suggest 20 people have died in the earthquake, including children.

According to NDTV, Naseer Nasar, the head of Balochistan’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority, told AFP that between 15 and 20 people had died, but warned that the toll may increase.

The worst-affected area was the remote mountainous city of Harnai, in Balochistan, where a lack of paved roads, electricity, and mobile phone coverage has hampered the rescue effort. The quake caused electricity to fail in the region, with health staff working without lights in a poorly equipped government hospital.

“We were operating without electricity with the help of torches and mobile flashlights,” Zahoor Tarin, a senior official at the government-run Harnai hospital told AFP. “Most of the injured came with fractured limbs. Dozens of people were sent back after first aid while some 40 people who were critically injured have been sent to Quetta in ambulances,” he added.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Pfizer Asks FDA to Allow COVID Shots for Kids Ages 5 to 11

Newsmax – October 8, 2021

Pfizer asked the U.S. government Thursday to allow use of its COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11 — and if regulators agree, shots could begin within a matter of weeks.

Many parents and pediatricians are clamoring for protection for children younger than 12, today’s age cutoff for the vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. Not only can youngsters sometimes get seriously ill, but keeping them in school can be a challenge with the coronavirus still raging in poorly vaccinated communities.

Pfizer announced in a tweet that it had formally filed its application with the Food and Drug Administration.

Now the FDA will have to decide if there’s enough evidence that the shots are safe and will work for younger children like they do for teens and adults. An independent expert panel will publicly debate the evidence on Oct. 26.

One big change: Pfizer says its research shows the younger kids should get a third of the dose now given to everyone else. After their second dose, the 5- to 11-year-olds developed virus-fighting antibody levels just as strong as teens and young adults get from regular-strength shots.

https://www.newsmax.com

Court rules: Jews can pray on Temple Mount

– October 6, 2021

For the first time since Jewish worship returned to the Temple Mount, an Israeli court approved the act and provided it with unprecedented legal standing.

Justice Bilha Yahalom of Jerusalem’s Magistrate Court,  accepted on Wednesday an appeal by Temple Mount activist Rabbi Aryeh Lippo against the police ban on prayer that he witnessed during his visits to the holy site.

“His daily Temple Mount attendance shows that this is a matter of principle and meaning for him,” Judge Yahalom noted in her ruling.

During the hearing, the court viewed a video documenting Jewish people praying on the Temple Mount. The court ruled that silently praying on the holy site is not a violation of police guidelines.

“The prosecutor doesn’t dispute that the appellant, like many others, prays on a daily basis on the Temple Mount, and this activity in and of itself is not a  violation of police instructions,” Judge Yahalom wrote.

Temple Mount organizations ad activists welcomed the ruling as it recognizes and green-lights “the positive process that is going on the Temple Mount.”

Activist Arnon Segal called it a “beautiful victory” while blasting the police for harassing Rabbi Lippo for no reason.

Shai Glick, CEO of the B’Tsalmo rights organization hailed the decision tweeting: “This is the first time we can say the words ‘the Temple Mount is in our hands.’ We are talking about a historic day for the Nation of Israel in its entirety.”

https://www.israel365news.com

Global Corporate Tax Deal Nears as Holdouts Drop Objections

Newsmax – October 8, 2021

A global deal to ensure big companies pay a minimum tax rate of at least 15% and make it harder for them to avoid taxation is set to be finalized on Friday after Ireland, Estonia and Hungary agreed to sign up, leaving a few holdouts isolated.

The agreement aims to end a four-decade-long “race to the bottom” by governments that have sought to attract investment and jobs by taxing multinational companies only lightly and allowing them to shop around for low tax rates.

Negotiations have been going on for four years, moving online during the pandemic, with support for a deal from U.S. President Joe Biden and the costs of COVID-19 giving additional impetus in recent months. Some 140 countries are now involved.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which has been leading the talks, is due to announce the outcome of Friday’s discussions around 1600 GMT.

The agreement will set a minimum corporate tax rate of 15% and let governments tax a greater share of foreign multinationals’ profits.

It aims to prevent big groups from booking profits in low-tax countries like Ireland regardless of where their clients are, an issue that has become ever more pressing with the rise of tech giants that easily do business across borders.

https://www.newsmax.com

Solar Cycle 25 overperforms: Sunspot counts for Sept. 2021 were the highest in more than 5 years, exceeding the official forecast

Strange Sounds – October 3, 2021

Solar Cycle 25 continues to overperform. Sunspot counts for Sept. 2021 were the highest in more than 5 years.

And, for the 11th month in a row, the sunspot number has significantly exceeded the official forecast:

“The NOAA/NASA co-chaired, international panel to forecast Solar Cycle 25 released their latest forecast for Solar Cycle 25. The forecast consensus: a peak in July, 2025 (+/- 8 months), with a smoothed sunspot number (SSN) of 115. The panel agreed that Cycle 25 will be average in intensity and similar to Cycle 24.

“Additionally, the panel concurred that solar minimum between Cycles 24 and 25 will occur in April, 2020 (+/- 6 months). If the solar minimum prediction is correct, this would make Solar Cycle 24 the 7th longest on record (11.4 years).”

The plot above shows sunspot counts vs. time. The red curve traces the forecast issued by the NOAA/NASA Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel in 2019. It calls for a relatively weak solar cycle peaking in July 2025.

The sun has a mind of its own, though. Higher-than-expected sunspot counts suggest a stronger cycle, with a peak occuring in late 2024 instead of mid-2025. This is good news for aurora watchers, but maybe not so good for the Internet. [Space Weather]

https://strangesounds.org

China’s Xi warns of ‘grim’ situation with Taiwan

AFP – September 26, 2021

Beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that relations between Beijing and Taipei were “grim” on Sunday, urging the island’s main opposition party to help seek “unification of the country.”

China views self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and vows to retake it one day, by force if necessary.

Xi has become the most bellicose leader since Mao Zedong, describing the seizure of the island as “inevitable.”

In a congratulatory letter to Eric Chu — the newly elected leader of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party — Xi said the Chinese Communist Party and the KMT should collaborate under a “shared political basis.”

“In the past our two parties insisted on ‘1992 consensus’ and opposing ‘Taiwan independence’ … to promote peaceful developments in cross- strait relations,” Xi said in the letter released by the KMT.

“At present the situation in the Taiwan Strait is complex and grim,” he said, urging the parties to jointly seek peace and “the unification of the country.”

Ties between Taiwan and China improved markedly under former president Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT between 2008 and 2016, culminating with a landmark meeting between Xi and him in Singapore in 2015.

The KMT has sidestepped frictions with China by accepting the so-called 1992 consensus — a tacit agreement that there is only “one China” without specifying whether Beijing or Taipei is its rightful representative.

In response, Chu said in a letter to Xi that the two sides should “seek common ground and respect their differences” to promote peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing has stepped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who views the island as a sovereign nation and not part of “one China.”

Last year, Chinese military jets made a record 380 incursions into Taiwan’s defense zone, with some analysts warning that tensions between the two sides were at their highest since the mid-1990s.

https://thelibertyloft.com

Mice plague spreading across new Australian states as summer sparks surge in pest numbers

Anton Nilsson – September 23, 2021

Despite a lull over the winter, Australia’s mouse plague never ended – and now it’s threatening new areas of the country.

Large numbers of mice continue to plague rural Australian communities as farmers fear yet another crop will be ruined.

After dwindling in the winter cold, mouse populations have begun growing rapidly again, CSIRO mouse expert Steve Henry said.

“We’re quite concerned, given them the numbers that have been reported at the moment,” Mr Henry said.

NSW Farmers vice president Xavier Martin, who operates a farm in Gunnedah, said the new wave of mice would be a hard blow for farmers still reeling from the plague earlier in the year.

“A lot of farmers are on edge because they’re still trying to deal with contaminated hay and crops,” he said.

“Some contaminated produce had to be buried or burnt. So they’re very wary about this upcoming harvest and hay making.”

The mice are multiplying fast across a wide area that stretches from northern NSW to southern Queensland.

The worst-hit areas in recent weeks appear to be around Walgett and Moree in NSW, and in the Darling Downs in Queensland.

But there is also an area in Western Australia where mice are breeding fast, according to Mr Henry.

https://www.news.com.au

Massive facility overseen by Pope Francis to pave the way for a “One World Religion” in 2022

ETH – September 30, 2021

(OPINION) Are we about to see the formation of what will ultimately facilitate and pave the way for a “One World Religion”? The Abrahamic Family House, which encloses a synagogue, a church, and a mosque in a single complex, and which is scheduled to be inaugurated in 2022, is 20 percent complete, the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Committee, which is also supervising the project, said it is inspired by the 2019 Document on Human Fraternity. Constructed on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the project is closely followed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb of al-Azhar, who endorsed the design, the HCHF said.

The Abrahamic Family House derives its name from the Old Testament biblical figure, Abraham, who is recognized and greatly revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

The Abrahamic Family House’s design, by architect Sir David Adjaye, captures. the values shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, through three main buildings, including a mosque, a church, and a synagogue in one place.

“As such, the complex innovatively recounts the history and builds bridges between human civilizations and heavenly messages.” The names of the three separate iconic houses of worship in the Abrahamic Family House complex are officially unveiled as “Imam AlTayeb Mosque,” “St. Francis Church,” and “Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue”. Moses ben Maimon was a prolific and influential Sephardic Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages.

https://endtimeheadlines.org