TAIWAN - The island of Taiwan, governed by the Republic of China (ROC), lies about 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of mainland China, across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan also administers a number of smaller islands known as the Kinmen archipelago, or Kinmen County. Great Kinmen Island and its neighbor islets are on the other side of the strait, in a harbor just east of the port city of Xiamen, practically surrounded by the People’s Republic of China (PRC ) — in some places barely more than a mile apart.

TAIWAN - American troops are to be permanently stationed in Taiwan, according to Taipei, a huge move that will likely send tensions with China soaring as its president Xi Jinping covets the island. Taiwan has officially confirmed the presence of US troops stationed on its islands in the Taiwan Strait permanently, a development that could further escalate mounting tensions with China. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed in 2023 facilitated the deployment of these troops to conduct training programs for Taiwanese frontline forces.

ISRAEL - A top Israeli official said his country’s military is ultimately going to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah and defeat Hamas “even if the entire world turns on Israel, including the United States.” “We are going to go in and finish this job, and anybody who doesn’t understand that doesn’t understand that the existential nerve of the Jews was touched” by the October 7 attack when Hamas operatives killed 1,200 and abducted 250, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said on a US podcast posted online Thursday.

EUROPE - European Union leaders issued a new call Thursday for an “immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable cease-fire” in Gaza, responding to growing alarm about the risk of famine in the besieged territory. They also urged Israel not to pursue a ground operation in Rafah. For several months, EU nations had struggled to agree on language criticizing Israel’s military operations, but a growing number of countries have been demanding a stronger stance. Thursday’s statement also said that the EU would accelerate work on additional sanctions on Hamas.

MIDDLE EAST - Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed to have launched several explosive drones at a US warship, striking the vessel. The US Navy has not yet commented on the report. Houthi rebels claimed to have struck a US warship in the Red Sea with explosive drones. If confirmed it would mark the first successful strike on a US Navy vessel in the region since the start of the most recent conflict. A Houthi spokesperson said: "An American destroyer was targeted in the Red Sea with a number of drones, successfully achieving their goals, thanks to God." The US Navy has not yet commented on the report.

RUSSIA - Yesterday, terrorists murdered at least 143 concertgoers in suburban Moscow. The Islamic State’s news agency, Amaq, posted the group’s claim of responsibility, as usual in language balanced between wire-service precision and rabid derangement. Everything we know about Russia and its history with ISIS supports the theory that ISIS perpetrated the attack. ISIS has been reviving its capacity, particularly in its Khorasan affiliate, the one identified by US intelligence as responsible for the attack. The cruelty of the killing and even the choice of venue — a concert hall — are all awfully familiar to anyone acquainted with jihadism in Russia.

ISRAEL - Last September, five red heifers arrived in Israel amid great fanfare, because some Jews and Gentiles believe red heifers are a key element leading to the building of the Third Jewish Temple. These red heifers are now between 1 ½ and 2 years old. To replicate the ceremony mentioned in the Bible, they need to be at least 3 years old. And within that time span, they cannot have a blemish or anything that would disqualify them for the ceremony, even one white or black hair.  According to those working on the project, the ceremony of the red heifer needs to be performed on the Mount of Olives, and in a place that would have looked directly into where the Temple stood. The land directly east of the Temple Mount, purchased 12 years ago, meets both of those standards. 

UK - Three in four countries face the threat of 'underpopulation' by 2050 because of the world's plummeting birth rates, shock research warned today. By 2100 this could rise to 97 per cent of all nations, in what experts have described as a 'staggering social change'. Powerhouses such as Britain and the US will have to become reliant on immigration to avoid the 'immense' consequences the situation threatens, the study in the respected medical journal The Lancet concluded. Without replenishment of an ageing population, scientists claim public services and economic growth are at risk. Ever-declining birth rates will also pile extra pressure on the NHS and social care. Commentators today warned policymakers need to 'wake up to the fact that falling fertility rates are one of the greatest threats' to the West.

SAUDI ARABIA - Two small but critically important pieces of news in the past few weeks are early indicators that the global economic order, centred on the primacy of the dollar, is slowly coming apart – bringing the threat of radically worsened instability. First, Saudi Arabia’s finance minister said the Gulf kingdom had “no objection” to selling its oil in a currency other than dollars. Saudi has made similar noises before, but this latest suggestion comes after Chinese president Xi Jinping urged Gulf countries to take up the yuan for the settlement of oil and gas trades with China at the first China-Arab States Summit, hosted with great pomp and ceremony by Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riyadh last month.

USA - The US dollar isn't just for Americans — every country in the world relies on it. The greenback has been facilitating the flow of money and goods around the world for over a century. Buying or selling oil? Usually done with dollars. Countries issuing government debt? Usually the price of those bonds is in US dollars. For generations, the greenback has been the safe haven for investors when markets crash and systems go haywire. The US even reminded everyone just how influential the buck is when it effectively froze Russia out of the global financial system with sanctions last year.

USA - Between the “peace dividend” and “outsourcing”, our defense industry is reliant on Chinese products. But a swift response may not be possible, in large part because of how shrunken the US manufacturing base has become since the Cold War. All of a sudden, Washington is reckoning with the fact that so many parts and pieces of munitions, planes, and ships it needs are being manufactured overseas, including in China. Among the deficiencies: components of solid rocket motors, shell casings, machine tools, fuses and precursor elements to propellants and explosives, many of which are made in China and India.

USA - Former National Security Advisor to 45th POTUS General Mike Flynn: "Guess I’m not the only one predicting some type of BLACK SWAN event…@RonPaul said in a recent and important @TuckerCarlson interview, “I think we’re reaching this point where some sudden thing is going to happen. I believe in that theory of the black swan. Yes, it’s going to pop up, and it’s not going to be controllable.” Wake up Americans, we live in very uncertain times. “There’s no way they can win a legitimate, fair election so let’s not have one… I am predicting some type of event that will cause some dramatic shift in what is happening.”

SWEDEN - A Swedish MP who advocated for open borders during the 2015 refugee crisis said she has completely changed her mind and now wants to see a significant number of deportations. Louise Meijer, a lawmaker with the now-governing Moderate Party, previously “took a stand for openness” and supported the ‘Refugees Welcome’ mantra, but now wants to pull up the drawbridge completely. “But I have changed my mind on the matter,” she told Expressen, adding she now supports “an even stricter migration policy than the one I opposed at the time.” “The change that Sweden has undergone and is undergoing is fundamentally changing the country,” said Meijer, noting that “mass immigration has been followed by several major problems.”

USA - US District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, appointed by Barack Obama, ruled that an illegal immigrant has the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. This ruling came about in the case of Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, who faced charges under 18 USC § 922(g)(5), a federal statute that prohibits noncitizens without legal status in the US from “possess[ing] in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.” Carbajal-Flores, who has been living in the United States illegally, was charged after he was found to be carrying a gun in Chicago during the civil unrest in the spring of 2020.

USA - X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has posted a devastating ad exposing the migrant invasion for what it really is. Musk, who has become progressively red-pilled over the last few years, shared the ad with his 177 million followers on X with the tagline: “This is happening!” The ad, which was originally posted and produced by the anti-communist account Western Lensman, exposes how the Democratic Party’s open borders policy is part of a broader plan to entrench single-party rule. Musk has now pinned the video to the top of his profile, an indication of how important he considers the issue to be. It currently has over 15 million impressions and rapidly rising.