China sends naval, air forces to shadow US plane over Taiwan Strait

PolitCens Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

BEIJING — China’s military said on Tuesday it deployed naval and air forces to monitor and warn a U.S. Navy patrol aircraft that flew through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, denouncing the United States for trying to “mislead” the international community.

Around once a month, U.S. military ships or aircraft pass through or above the waterway that separates democratically governed Taiwan from China – missions that always anger Beijing.

China claims sovereignty over the island of Taiwan and says it has jurisdiction over the strait. Taiwan and the United States dispute that, saying the strait is an international waterway.

The U.S. Navy’s 7th fleet said a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft had flown through the strait “in international airspace,” adding that the flight demonstrated the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

“By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,” it said in a statement.

China’s military criticized the flight as “public hype,” adding that it monitored the U.S. aircraft throughout its transit and “effectively” responded to the situation.

“The relevant remarks by the U.S. distort legal principles, confuse public opinion and mislead international perceptions,” the military’s Eastern Theatre Command said in a statement.

“We urge the U.S. side to stop distorting and hyping up and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability.”

Taiwan’s defense ministry said the P-8A flew in a northerly direction through the strait and that the Taiwanese military monitored it, adding the “situation was as normal.”

In April, China’s military said it sent fighter jets to monitor and warn a U.S. Navy Poseidon in the Taiwan Strait, a mission that took place just hours after a call between the Chinese and U.S. defense chiefs.
…

Міноборони відреагувало на повідомлення про браковані міни, каже про розслідування причин

SocNet Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

Міністерство оборони зазначає, що наразі призупинено використання партій боєприпасів у Силах оборони, а також їхню видачу в бойові підрозділи
…

US telecom worker who was Chinese agent sentenced to 4 years in prison

PolitCens Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

WASHINGTON — A former U.S. telecom company employee who provided information about Chinese dissidents and Falun Gong members to China was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday, the Justice Department said.

Ping Li, 59, of Wesley Chapel, Florida, admitted in a plea agreement to acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government, the department said in a statement.

Li, who emigrated to the United States from China, provided corporate information to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) and personal details about an individual affiliated with the Falun Gong spiritual movement who lived in Florida.

The Falun Gong movement is banned in China.

The U.S. Justice Department said Li worked for a major U.S. telecom company and an international information technology company. The companies were not identified in court documents, but according to press reports, they were Verizon and InfoSys, respectively.

“From at least as early as 2012, [Li] served as a cooperative contact working at the direction of officers of the MSS to obtain information of interest to the [Chinese] government,” the Justice Department said. “Li obtained a wide variety of information at the request of the MSS, including information concerning Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy advocates, members of the Falun Gong religious movement, and U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations.”

A 71-year-old Chinese man was sentenced to 20 months in prison in California last week for taking part in a plot targeting the Falun Gong in the United States.

John Chen, of Los Angeles, was also convicted of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government.

China calls the Falun Gong movement, founded in 1992, an evil cult, outlawing it in 1999 after 10,000 members peacefully demonstrated outside a government building in Beijing.
…

Генштаб ЗСУ: російська армія 23 рази штурмувала позиції Сил оборони на Куп’янському напрямку

SocNet Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

«На Покровському напрямку зберігається висока інтенсивність бойових дій. Кількість боєзіткнень зросла до 51», заявляє командування
…

From VOA Persian: Bipartisan congressional bill targets Iranian government criminal schemes

PolitCens Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

A new bipartisan bill introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate seeks to address the criminal activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran on U.S. territory. The draft bill proposes enhancing criminal penalties for individuals who engage in unlawful actions on behalf of the Iranian government or other adversaries of the United States.

See the full story here.
…

Dow hits another record as stocks rise on treasury secretary pick

PolitCens Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

New York — U.S. stocks rose Monday, with those benefiting the most from lower interest rates and a stronger economy leading the way. 

The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to pull closer to its all-time high set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 440 points, or 1%, to its own record set on Friday, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%. 

Treasury yields also eased in the bond market amid what some analysts called a “Bessent bounce” after President-elect Donald Trump said he wants Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager, to be his treasury secretary. 

Bessent has argued for reducing the U.S. government’s deficit, which is how much more it spends than it takes in through taxes and other revenue. Such an approach could soothe worries on Wall Street that Trump’s policies may lead to a much bigger deficit, which in turn would put upward pressure on Treasury yields. 

After climbing above 4.44% immediately after Trump’s election, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell back to 4.26% Monday, down from 4.41% late Friday. That’s a notable move, and lower yields make it cheaper for all kinds of companies and households to borrow money. They also give a boost to prices for stocks and other investments. 

That helped stocks of smaller companies lead the way, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks jumped 1.5%. It finished just shy of its all-time high, which was set three years ago. Smaller companies can feel bigger boosts from lower borrowing costs because of the need for many to borrow to grow. 

The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks the market’s expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with overnight interest rates, also eased sharply. 

The Fed began cutting its main interest rate just a couple months ago from a two-decade high, hoping to keep the job market humming after bringing inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. But immediately after Trump’s victory, traders had reduced bets for how many cuts the Fed may deliver next year. They were worried Trump’s preference for lower tax rates and higher spending on the border would balloon the national debt. 

A report coming on Wednesday could influence how much the Fed may cut rates. Economists expect it to show that an underlying inflation trend the Fed prefers to use accelerated to 2.8% last month from 2.7% in September. Higher inflation would make the Fed more reluctant to cut rates as deeply or as quickly as it would otherwise. 

Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle expects that to slow by the end of next year to 2.4%, but he said inflation would be even lower if not for expected tariff increases on imports from China and autos favored by Trump. 

In the stock market, Bath & Body Works jumped 16.5% after delivering stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The seller of personal care products and home fragrances also raised its financial forecasts for the full year, even though it still sees a “volatile retail environment” and a shorter holiday shopping season this year. 

Much focus has been on how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain, given high prices across the economy and still-high interest rates. Last week, two major retailers sent mixed messages. Target tumbled after giving a dour forecast for the holiday shopping season. It followed Walmart, which gave a much more encouraging outlook. 

Another big retailer, Macy’s, said Monday that its sales for the latest quarter were in line with its expectations, but that it would delay the release of its full financial results. It found a single employee had intentionally hidden up to $154 million in delivery expenses, and it needs more time to complete its investigation. 

Macy’s stock fell 2.2%. 

Among the market’s leaders were several companies related to the housing industry. Monday’s drop in Treasury yields could translate into easier mortgage rates, which could spur activity for housing. Builders FirstSource, a supplier of building materials, rose 5.9%. Homebuilders, D.R. Horton, PulteGroup and Lennar all rose at least 5.6%. 

All told, the S&P 500 rose 18.03 points to 5,987.37. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 440.06 to 44,736.57, and the Nasdaq composite gained 51.18 to 19,054.84. 

In stock markets abroad, indexes moved modestly across much of Europe after finishing mixed in Asia. 

In the crypto market, bitcoin was trading below $95,000 after threatening to hit $100,000 late last week for the first time.
…

$300B COP29 climate deal sparks outrage, hope 

PolitCens Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — Anger and frustration from developing nations vulnerable to climate impacts are likely to linger following the conclusion of the climate change summit in Azerbaijan, COP29, as nations adopted a $300 billion global finance target to help poorer nations cope with climate change, a deal that many recipient nations slammed as severely insufficient.

Global North countries, often historic emitters responsible for global warming, agreed on Sunday to pledge $300 billion a year until 2035 for their developing counterparts to stave off the direst effects of climate change — less than a quarter of the acknowledged $1.3 trillion needed annually to reduce emissions and build resilience in vulnerable countries.

The $300 billion figure, also, is an increase by $200 billion each year, compared to the agreement in place since 2009, which is expiring.

Spirited disappointment and rage from Global South countries was expressed at the closing plenary, with some national representatives calling adoption of the new funding package “insulting.”

“We are extremely disappointed,” said Indian negotiator Chandni Raina, who called the figure “abysmal.”

Her Cuban counterpart, Pedro Luis Pedroso, described the deal as “environmental colonialism,” pointing out that, when factoring in today’s inflation, the pledged funding is lower than the $100 billion agreed to in 2009. Bolivia’s negotiator called the deal “insulting” to developing nations.

Some Western representatives were more upbeat.

“COP29 will be remembered as a new era of climate finance,” top EU climate negotiator Wopke Hoekstra said, calling the target amount “ambitious” and “achievable.”

Some experts told VOA that the structure and composition of the $300 billion deal was more important than the actual monetary figure. The final deal allows for both public and private sources of funds to be tapped to bolster climate preparation efforts in the developing world.

Negotiators for developing countries expressed concern that private sources of funding could come in the form of more loans, which could lead to challenging debt accumulation by poorer nations, rather than funding in the preferred form of grants.

Global South countries argued for a new target for green finance and have consistently called for such climate finance to come in the form of public grants. The tense and fraught negotiations of the past week dragged on for two extra days and included at least one episode of negotiators from small island nations and some of the poorest nations in the world walking out of a meeting room with wealthy nations in protest. They asserted that their voices and perspectives were not heard.

”This COP has been a disaster for the developing world,” said Mohammed Adow, director of Kenya-based climate and energy research group Power Shift Africa. ”It’s a betrayal of both people and planet, by wealthy countries, who claim to take climate change seriously.”

The adopted finance package also stated that a further roadmap is set to be discussed at the next conference – likely COP30, set for Belem, Brazil in late 2025 — on how to reach the trillion-dollar figure.

Independent South African climate consultant Gillian Hamilton called the $300 billion core funding target “insufficient,” particularly for building resilience against climate impacts — also known as climate adaptation.

“Developed nations should have shown more leadership and transparency,” Hamilton told VOA. “The biggest emitters need to rapidly decrease their emissions so that adaptation costs for developing countries don’t increase exponentially.”

Campaigners staged multiple environmental protests each day here during the past week-plus of meetings.

Though negotiators for developing nations repeatedly asked for climate finance in the form of grants instead of loans, in the final deal, developed countries stopped short of guaranteeing that could be done.

Adaptation finance

The deal adopted Sunday acknowledges that funding sources for adaptation finance should be public and transparent.

With 2024 going down as the hottest year in history, the world has experienced a slew of climate disasters, ranging from devastating floods in Nepal and Spain, to Hurricane Helene in the Americas, droughts in the Mediterranean and typhoons in the western Pacific region.

Despite the disasters and renewed calls to finance climate-resilient infrastructure across the Global South to guard against rising sea levels and wildfires, funding has been falling short for years, according to a November report from the U.N. Environment Program.

The so-called adaptation projects include developing more advanced disaster warning systems, reforestation, and building catchment mechanisms to ensure water security in regions most affected by climate change.

At COP29, Germany pledged $62 billion, to the adaptation fund; France highlighted its 2023 pledge of $2.9 billion, in adaptation; the U.S. said it pays $3 billion into it each year. A total of 14 Global North countries including Spain, Sweden, South Korea and Switzerland promised to provide $300 million this year, according to a separate negotiation text in the conference.

Despite pledges in recent years, countries didn’t completely deliver on promises. This year, for example, more than $122 million of pledged financial support to poor nations for adapting to climate risk is still up in the air, even though this assistance has been a stated priority at recent COP meetings.

What to expect in Belem?

Countries will be tasked at the Brazil meeting next November with ironing out the details of a global carbon trade system governed by a centralized U.N. regulatory body. They also will try to find a path for wealthy, developed countries to reach the target of $1.3 trillion to support efforts in the Global South to address the consequences of climate disasters. A major component will be reviewing national climate plans, which are due to be submitted in February. Britain, Brazil and the UAE are among the nations that this past week aimed to get ahead of the February deadline and shared some of the goals in their national climate preparation plans.

Harjeet Singh, global engagement director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, said it is likely that ‘most’ nations will not meet the February deadline to submit their updated plans to address climate change.

The future participation of Argentina is unclear, after hardline President Javier Milei — who has called climate change a hoax — reportedly told his government delegates here to pack their bags and leave the negotiations on the third day of the summit.

Singh was asked by VOA whether wealthy nations would deliver on their promises to lead the effort toward $300 billion in climate finance support, and he responded that the key lies in their ‘willingness, as the money has always been there.’
…