Taiwan says China "out of control" as it loses El Salvador to Beijing

https://www.yahoo.com/news/taiwan-set-lose-third-diplomatic-ally-source-014854291–finance.html

TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Taiwan vowed on Tuesday to fight China's "increasingly out of control" behavior after Taipei lost another ally to Beijing when El Salvador became the third country to switch allegiances to China this year.

Taiwan now has formal relations with only 17 countries worldwide, many of them small, less developed nations in Central America and the Pacific, including Belize and Nauru.

Speaking in Taipei, President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan would not bow to pressure, describing El Salvador's decision as further evidence of China's efforts to squeeze the island, which have included regular Chinese bomber patrols around Taiwan.

"We will turn to countries with similar values to fight together against China's increasingly out-of-control international behavior," Tsai said.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters earlier that Taipei was not willing to engage in "money competition" with its giant neighbor.

He said El Salvador had been continuously asking for "massive funding support" since last year for a port development, but Taiwan was unable to assist with the "unsuitable project" after assessment.

"Pressure from China would only make Taiwan more determined to continue our path of democracy and freedom," he said.

"China's rude and unreasonable behavior will certainly have negative impact to cross-strait relations. This is also not how a responsible country should behave."

Beijing considers Taiwan to be a wayward province of “one China”, ineligible for state-to-state relations, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

In Beijing, the Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, said El Salvador had made the right decision.

"I'm confident that the people of El Salvador will feel the warmth and friendship of the Chinese people and derive tangible benefits from its cooperation with China," Wang told reporters alongside his El Salvador counterpart, Carlos Castaneda, shortly after the pair signed an agreement establishing ties.

>>2689017

China rankled by the Taiwanese president's visit to NASA

https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-taiwan-nasa-visit-20180820-story.html

China has protested a visit Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen made Sunday to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The visit, made on a stopover from a trip to Central and South America, marked the first time a Taiwanese leader has been to an official U.S. government facility. It was widely viewed as a sign of deepening ties between the U.S. and Taiwan — much to the delight of many Taiwanese and the dismay of China.

An official in Beijing, where the Communist government sees Taiwan as part of its territory rather than a state free to engage in its own diplomacy, accused Tsai of trying to split her island from China.

She is “finding excuses to visit foreign countries to engage in activities aimed at splitting China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday.

The Taiwan government’s Mainland Affairs Council called the remarks “crude” and said they would have “absolutely no persuasive power among Taiwanese and even less help the positive development of two-way relations.”

China had implored the United States to block Tsai’s latest trip there.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/russia-displays-latest-weapons-military-show-57309226

Russia has displayed its latest weapons at a military show aimed at attracting more foreign customers.

President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the Army 2018 show that opened Tuesday that it reflects the "huge potential" of Russian military industries and will serve as a platform for military cooperation with other countries.

The show held at a shooting range just outside of Moscow features Russia's latest fighter jet, the Su-57, the new Armata battle tank and other new weapons.

It will involve flyovers by the air force's aerobatic squadrons and displays of new army weapons in action.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu emphasized that most new weapons at the show have proven their worth during the Syrian campaign.

Autostrade Approves Initial $577 Million Fund for Genoa Tragedy

Atlantia SpA’s Autostrade per l’Italia unit approved an initial 500 million euros ($577 million) in funding to help victims of the Genoa bridge disaster and support the region, in its first official response after the Italian government started a formal process to revoke the company’s highway concession in the country.

The board agreed on a “first list of initiatives, preliminary worth 500 million euros, which will be self-financed,” Autostrade said in an e-mailed statement. The meeting, which began with one minute of silence to mourn the victims, also acknowledged a “letter of dispute”sent by the transport ministry. A further extraordinary meeting will make deliberations on the process, the company said.

Italy’s coalition government sent a formal dispute letter to the company dated Aug. 16, kicking off the process of ending the highway concession, after the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa killed 43 people.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stepped up pressure on Atlantia Tuesday, telling Corriere della Sera that the initial disaster relief offer was “certainly modest,” and that the company “could quadruple or quintuple that” to about 2.5 billion euros.

Replacing Bridge

Autostrade reiterated that it could replace the destroyed infrastructure within eight months with a new steel bridge. The company will stop charging tolls in the area until reconstruction is completed and it said it’s planning new roads to ease congestion.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-21/autostrade-approves-initial-577-million-fund-for-genoa-tragedy

Muslims at Hajj Converge For Ritual Stoning of Devil

JAMARAT, SAUDI ARABIA —

More than two million Muslim pilgrims hurled pebbles at a giant wall in a symbolic stoning of the devil on Tuesday, the start of the riskiest part of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia where hundreds died in a crush three years ago.

Clad in white robes signifying a state of purity, men and women from 165 countries converged on Jamarat to perform the ritual from a three-story bridge erected to ease congestion after earlier stampedes.

Under close supervision from Saudi authorities, the faithful carried umbrellas to block the blazing sun, with daytime temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit).

The kingdom stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites — Mecca and Medina — and organizing the world's largest annual Muslim gathering.

It has deployed more than 130,000 security forces and medics as well as modern technology including surveillance drones to maintain order.

"The police assistance and the services were all extraordinary. Praise God, I am very happy and God willing our Lord will provide for us again," said Jordanian Firas al-Khashani, 33.

https://www.voanews.com/a/muslims-at-hajj-converge-for-ritual-stoning-of-devil/4537633.html

Paul Allen's Space Firm Details Plans for Rockets, Cargo Vehicle

SEATTLE —

The space company of billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Monday unveiled details of medium-lift rockets and a reusable space cargo plane it is developing, injecting more competition into the lucrative launch services market.

With its rockets, Allen's Stratolaunch Systems is trying to cash in on higher demand in the coming years for vessels that can put satellites into orbit. But his vehicles will have to compete domestically with other space entrepreneurs and industry stalwarts such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and United Launch Alliance — a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Seattle-based Stratolaunch, founded by Allen in 2011, said in a news release its launch vehicles will make satellite deployment “as easy as booking an airline flight,” though the first rocket launch is not slated until 2020 at the earliest and the massive airplane it is building to deploy the rockets is still in pre-flight testing.

Rather than blasting off from a launch pad, Stratolaunch's rockets will drop at high altitude from underneath the company's six-engine, twin-fuselage airplane — the largest ever built by wingspan.

That launch method is similar to the one being developed by billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Stratolaunch’s plane is designed to carry a rocket and payload with a combined weight of up to 550,000 pounds (250,000 kg), on par with what a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket can launch from the ground.

SAUCE: https://www.voanews.com/a/paul-allen-space-firm-details-plans-for-rockets-cargo-vehicle/4537313.html

>>2689219

I can empathize.

Need help with this one Anons. Iranian spies kicked out yesterday. They were spying on a Jewish Group in Hyde Park. Notable about Hyde Park? Barack Obama lives in Hyde Park (as did Hugh Hefner).

Iranian spies targeted political foes, Jewish group in Hyde Park, feds charge

https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/iranian-spies-political-foes-jewish-group-hyde-park-feds-charge/

An Iranian-American man was arrested in Chicago earlier this month and charged with spying on Israeli and Jewish facilities in the area and collecting information on Americans associated with a political group that advocates for the overthrow of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s regime.

A federal complaint that was unsealed Monday charged 38-year-old Ahmadreza Mohammadi-Doostdar with conspiracy, acting as an unregistered foreign agent and providing services to Iran that violate U.S. sanctions. Majid Ghorbani, a 59-year-old Iranian citizen who lives in California, also was charged.

Both men were arrested on Aug. 9, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. Doostdar was arrested in Chicago, while Ghorbani was taken into custody in Los Angeles, California, according to ABC-7 News.

“The National Security Division is committed to protecting the United States from individuals within our country who unlawfully act on behalf of hostile foreign nations,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Demers said in a statement. “Doostdar and Ghorbani are alleged to have acted on behalf of Iran, including by conducting surveillance of political opponents and engaging in other activities that could put Americans at risk. With their arrest and these charges, we are seeking to hold the defendants accountable.”

According to the criminal complaint, Doostdar traveled to Chicago last July and conducted surveillance at Rohr Chabad, a Jewish student center at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park, where he allegedly took photographs of security features surrounding the facility.

That same day, Doostdar also visited the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago, where he “moved through the museum in an unusual fashion” and met with an unidentified female, according to the complaint.

Last September, Ghorbani allegedly conducted surveillance at a rally in New York City led by Mojahedin-e Khalq, of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, a political-militant organization that advocates for the overthrow of the current regime in Iran, the complaint said.

Doostdar later met with Ghorbani in December and paid him $2,000 after Ghorbani delivered 28 photographs he had taken at the rally, many of which included notes identifying individuals, according to the complaint.

The photos and a receipt for $2,000 were later found during a search of Doostdar’s luggage as he traveled from the U.S. to Iran that same month, the complaint said.

On May 18, Ghorbani also took photographs of certain speakers and attendees of the 2018 Iran Freedom Convention for Human Rights in Washington, D.C., an event associated with Mojahedin-e Khalq, according to the Justice Department.

Ghorbani is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing Tuesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said.

>>2689289

Judge allows work to continue on relocation of track near Obama Presidential Center

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-obama-center-track-relocation-20180814-story,amp.html

>>2689289

^^^^^^^^^^^^

>>2689316

Uninformed and completely ignorant statement showing you still buy into the narrative of FAKE NEWS.

Can POTUS drop the word "Marvel", at tonights rally? Not marvelous, but, Marvel.

Thank you.

>>2689527

Would you rather I shit all over the bread and claim this is all fake? Or simply make my request? You faggots…damned if you do, damned if you dont. You'll bitch no matter what.

>>2689617

TY Baker

>>2689628

You're right. Same shit, different day. You come in and post shit and leave. Like a bitch.

>>2689667

Blah blah blah.