One Belt and Road Initiative growing stronger

I agree, they should be forced to restore annexed land and forced to accept internationally agreed boarders, that includes sharing water and paying for stolen oil, and compensate for the damage they have unlawfully inflicted upon others...there nuclear capability must be removed etc etc

Indonesia inaugurated a $100 million floating solar farm on Thursday, the largest in Southeast Asia, as it seeks more opportunities to transition to green, renewable energy.

The Cirata floating solar farm, which is expected to generate enough electricity to power 50,000 households, is built on a 200-hectare (500-acre) reservoir in West Java, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) from the capital, Jakarta.
A aerial picture shows the newly built floating solar power plant on the water at Cirata Reservoir, West Java, on Nov. 9, 2023, shortly before being inaugurated by President Joko Widodo. Photo by AFP/Bay Ismoyo

An Israeli minister said on Sunday that using a nuclear weapon on Gaza is "an option" in Tel Aviv’s ongoing war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Amichai Eliyahu belongs to the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, led by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and has been the Minister for Heritage in the Israeli government since 2022.
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Nine people were killed in US warplanes strikes on an Iran-linked weapons storage facility in eastern Syria on Wednesday in response to attacks against American personnel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

It is the second time in roughly two weeks that the United States has targeted a location in Syria it said was tied to Iran, which supports an array of armed groups that Washington blames for a spike in attacks on its forces in the Middle East.
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After four years, the Chinese mega-mart in Jordan - Dragon Mall - has closed its doors. The 160 orientally-decorated stores and office spaces could not attract the business once hoped for the $20-million-worth project - built to serve as a reflection of China’s investments in Jordan.

Over the last decade, China has signed agreements for infrastructure projects in Jordan worth over $7 billion, including plans to construct a new Jordan-China university, a national railway network, and an oil pipeline to link Iraq and Jordan.

But as hope for the Dragon Mall’s success has faded, so too have China’s billion-dollar promises for massive development projects, the majority left as no more than ink on paper.

Chinese investment in Jordan - what Beijing once saw as its “gateway” into the Levant - has been “a flop”, Jesse Marks, a non-resident fellow at the Washington-based Stimson Center, told The New Arab.

One of the few Chinese projects that have actually materialised has left Jordan caught in a heated lawsuit to get out of a deal that would leave the resource-poor Kingdom billions of dollars in debt.

As per the current agreement for the construction of the Attarat power plant, a Chinese-built shale-oil power plant in the country’s southeast, Jordan must pay China $8.4 billion over a 30-year period, which, after the first two years of the plant’s operations, Jordan has barely managed to repay, according to the Associated Press.

However, the removal of the contract would undermine one of China’s leading Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, likely fuelling tension between Amman and Beijing.

So, the Attarat power plant - once set to be the largest BRI private infrastructure project outside of China - has left Jordan between a rock and a hard place with Beijing, stuck in a lawsuit destined to end in frustration.

The Swede supplied Hitler with coal throughout WW2, today they are supporting Bidens lies who is attacking and trying to annex part of Russia

Major Australian port operator shuts down amid cyber security incident, impacting goods in and out of the country
In short: Goods coming in and out of Australia are at a stand still because a major port operator DP World has shut down land operations in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle.
The federal government is helping respond to the incident.

DP World Australia, which operates ports in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle, is responsible for 40 per cent of maritime freight said it began responding to a cybersecurity incident on Friday.

While ships remain able to unload freight, the freight cannot then leave the port site.
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The number of Ukrainian asylum seekers in the EU continues to soar, reaching 4.2 million people registered in the bloc and eligible for various social benefits, officials said on Friday.

However, Russia has also emerged as a major destination for Ukrainian refugees. According to Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s permanent representative to the UN, since February 2022 several Russian regions have received more than five million people from Ukraine and Donbass.

Shortly after the start of the conflict, the EU invoked the Temporary Protection Directive which grants Ukrainian citizens the right to free or subsidized housing, medical care, employment, and education on the bloc’s territory.

Armed Israeli settlers stormed the Armenian Quarter in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, 5 November, in an effort to lay a hand on a piece of land following the signing of a murky deal between the Jerusalem Arminian Patriarchate and Xana Capital, owned by Jewish Australian investor Danny Rubenstein.

Rubenstein carries an Israeli passport and also goes by the name Danny Rothman.
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Sweden's exports of ball-bearings to Germany were vitally important, but were even overshadowed during the early years of the war when Sweden supplied Germany with 40 percent of its iron-ore before imports of iron ore from other European countries reduced this dependency.

Sweden declared its neutrality in September 1939. However, after the German occupation of Norway and Denmark in April 1940, Sweden was less well placed to resist German pressure to relax its neutral stance. In June 1940 Sweden signed a transit agreement with Germany allowing goods and troops to transit Sweden on their way from Norway to Finland. German soldiers on rotation to and from the war front made about 250,000 trips across Swedish territory, as late as August 1943. Moreover, the Swedish Navy escorted German convoys in the Baltic.

The Germans also increased their economic and financial ties to Sweden. When the war begun Germans had over 130 corporations, or groups of corporations in Sweden that were outright branches and subsidiaries of German firms. There were also firms that were believed to be financed by German corporations of German nationals. These included AEG, Krupp, the Siemens Group, I.G. Farben, and Telefunken Gesellschaft. In addition, there were over 170 Swedish corporations, or group of corporations, to varying degrees had an identity of interest with German corporations, such as patent and trademark agreements, "dummy" and "cloaking" activities, cartel agreements, contractual relationships, and direct representation of German firms, e.g., through Swedish sales agencies.

German influence was significant in Swedish industry, such as iron-ore and mining, coal import and distribution, machine and machine tool manufacture, forestry, chemical raw materials manufacture, shipping and shipbuilding, and steel. The Germans also had real estate investments in Sweden.

Germany's war effort depended significantly upon its imports of raw materials and goods from the neutral nations. Sweden's exports of ball-bearings to Germany were vitally important, but were even overshadowed during the early years of the war when Sweden supplied Germany with 40 percent of its iron-ore before imports of iron ore from other European countries reduced this dependency.

The corruption within Ukraine is unmatched anywhere in the world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
"In Russia, we have plenty of problems. We, in Russia, and in the entire world are fighting corruption, but corruption in Ukraine has taken on a life of its own - there is nothing like it in the world, you can take it from me," he said at a meeting with the new members of the Russian Public Chamber.

"Believe me - I had close contacts with former leaders - they buy everything: the vote in the Supreme Court, the vote in the Constitutional Court. Buy!" he said. He recalled his talks with the former Ukrainian leaders who used to say when discussing certain topics: "We will take care of this, it will cost this much." "This coming from the highest officials! I was taken aback! I said: ‘This is how you do things here?! [And the answer was]: Well, yes, this is the way it is here,’" Putin shared details.

As an example of corruption in Ukraine, the Russian president cited arms sales. "They say now - weapons from Ukraine are popping up in the Middle East. Of course they are, because they sell them," he said, adding that Ukraine also sells weapons to the Taliban (outlawed in Russia). And, from there, [the weapons] spread anywhere," Putin said.

"Everything is for sale," he described the situation in Ukraine.

"People in Novorossiya and Donbass were living in such conditions, with everything bogged down in corruption," he said. "We must introduce our standards steadily while showing respect to society, to the people living there." He admitted, however, that corruption is a problem in Russia as well. "But the scope is different: there [in Ukraine], corruption is actually legal," he added.

Russia is confident that current attempts by the Kiev regime to split the Orthodox community in Ukraine will be successfully quashed, Alexey Polishchuk, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department, said in an interview with TASS.

The diplomat reiterated that on October 19, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s unicameral parliament, passed a bill in the first reading aimed at banning the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and ensuring its further absorption by the breakaway schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), "which is Washington and Constantinople’s political project." "The Orthodox faith has weathered many tragic events, including the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Union of Brest (in 1595-1596, which shifted the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of traditionally Orthodox lands from the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Holy See in Rome - TASS), numerous wars and other large-scale upheavals. We are confident that the current attempts to artificially break Orthodoxy apart will also be surmounted," he noted.

Polishchuk stressed that the bill allowing the banning of the UOC is "legally invalid and contravenes the Ukrainian constitution." "Such an initiative is part of the Kiev regime’s extensive information campaign to discredit the UOC and its clergy. Such destructive steps are splitting Ukrainian society, striking a nerve among tens of millions of Orthodox believers. It is obvious that such a policy track may have the most serious consequences," he said, noting that canonical Orthodoxy on the territory of modern-day Ukraine has a long history going back over one thousand years.

"We have been consistently urging the global community to condemn the iniquity underway in Ukraine and have been calling upon international organizations to demand that the Kiev regime abandon the policy of church repressions," the diplomat concluded.
Situation around Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)

In recent years, the Ukrainian authorities have been openly moving toward banning the UOC and this process has only intensified since February 2022. The schismatics from the OCU, with the Ukrainian government’s approval, have been taking over UOC churches by force and attacking UOC priests. The canonical church is being deprived of its right to lease land plots for siting its churches, while its priests are being accused of high treason and other crimes, sanctioned or stripped of citizenship. Although at least 5-6 mln Ukrainians still adhere to the UOC, according to data from the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, the officially sanctioned persecution of the canonical church continues unabated.

On the instructions of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, the government drafted a bill aimed at banning the canonical church. On October 19, the Verkhovna Rada passed it in the first of three readings. The UOC pointed out that the bill contravenes the country’s constitution and violates the right of citizens to freedom of religion.

The stock of global debt rose $10 trillion in the first half of 2023, bringing it to a new record high of $307 trillion, according to a report by the Institute of International Finance released Tuesday.

Mature markets such as the U.S., the U.K., Japan and France were responsible for more than 80% of the debt build-up in the first half of the year, while China, India and Brazil have seen the most pronounced increase in the emerging markets.
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Debt as a share of GDP has risen to about the same level as in the United States, while in dollar terms China's total debt ($47.5 trillion) is still markedly below that of the United States (close to $70 trillion). As for non-financial corporate debt, China's 28 percent share is the largest in the world.

China is one of the United States's largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt.
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In 2022, global public debt – comprising general government domestic and external debt –
reached a record USD 92 trillion. Developing countries owe almost 30% of the total, of which
roughly 70% is attributable to China, India and Brazil.
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In total, the Chinese state and its subsidiaries have lent about $1.5 trillion in direct loans and trade credits to more than 150 countries around the globe. This has turned China into the world’s largest official creditor — surpassing traditional, official lenders such as the World Bank, the IMF, or all OECD creditor governments combined.

yeah well China won't run short of gold today:

Data from the World Gold Council reveals that China purchased 23 tonnes of gold in July, bringing its total net gold acquisitions for 2023 to 126 tonnes. As a result, China's gold reserves now stand at approximately 2136 tonnes, representing roughly 4 percent of the global gold reserves.

China FX Reserves 3,254,813.00 Total Reserves 3,384,750.39 Gold Reserves Tonnes 2,113.46
Gold Reserves Millions 129,937.39

Japan FX Reserves 1,195,165.2 Total Reserves 1,247,176.35 Gold Reserves Tonnes 845.97
Gold Reserves Millions 52,011.06

Switzerland FX Reserves 827,698.72 Total Reserves 893,893.95 Gold Reserves Tonnes 1,040.00
Gold Reserves Millions 66,195.23

Taiwan FX Reserves 560,279.00 Total Reserves 587,242.51 Gold Reserves Tonnes 423.63
Gold Reserves Millions 26,963.51

India FX Reserves 551,219.00 Total Reserves 600,246.21 Gold Reserves Tonnes 797.44
Gold Reserves Millions 49,027.21

Russian Federation FX Reserves 439,325.18 Total Reserves 582,552.70 Gold Reserves Tonnes 2,329.63
Gold Reserves Millions 143,227.53

United States of America FX Reserves 232,967.29 Total Reserves 733,018.61 Gold Reserves Tonnes 8,133.46 Gold Reserves Millions 500,051.32

China to hold joint military exercises with Malaysia and four south east Asian countries

China will hold a joint military exercise with five south east Asian countries in mid-to-late November, state media outlet Xinhua reported today.

The exercise, to be held in China’s southern Guangdong province, will include Cambodian, Lao, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese forces.

The drills will be focused on counter terrorism and maritime safety, Xinhua said.

The China Development Bank on Monday disbursed a 7 billion yuan ($956.61 million) loan agreement with Egypt's central bank, according to a statement released by the Beijing-based bank on Tuesday.

The agreement was signed during the third Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing earlier this month, the statement said, and is to finance projects agreed upon at that summit as well as during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2021.

US House Speaker Johnson floats two-step measure to avert gov't shutdown


The House and Democratic-led Senate must agree on a spending vehicle that President Joe Biden can sign into law by Friday, or risk a fourth partial government shutdown in a decade that would close national parks, disrupt pay for as many as 4 million federal workers and disrupt a swath of activities from financial oversight to scientific research.

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China accused Canada, Saturday, of conducting a "malicious and provocative" air patrol over the disputed South China Sea, after Ottawa rebuked Beijing for what it described as a second risky midair intercept in two weeks.

Canada's Defense Minister Bill Blair said Friday that a Chinese fighter jet twice flew close to a Canadian Cyclone helicopter over the Paracel Islands, Oct. 29, firing flares "directly in front" of the aircraft on the second flyby.
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Russia on Tuesday formally withdrew from a landmark security treaty which limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the United States for undermining post-Cold War security with the enlargement of the NATO military alliance.

The 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), signed a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, placed verifiable limits on categories of conventional military equipment that NATO and the then-Warsaw Pact could deploy.

The treaty was designed to prevent either side of the Cold War from amassing forces for a swift offensive against the other in Europe, but was unpopular in Moscow as it blunted the Soviet Union's advantage in conventional weapons.

Russia suspended participation in the treaty in 2007 and halted active participation in 2015. More than a year after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin in May signed a decree denounced the pact.
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The United States will suspend the operation of its obligations under a late Cold War-era security treaty next month following Russia's withdrawal, a senior White House official said Tuesday.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made the announcement as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) decided to suspend its obligations of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) aimed at limiting key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe.

The suspension came as prospects for international security cooperation remain bleak amid Russia's protracted war in Ukraine and the escalating war between Israel and the Hamas militant group, not to mention the intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.
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WeWork, the SoftBank Group-backed startup whose meteoric rise and fall reshaped the office sector globally, sought U.S. bankruptcy protection on Monday after its bets on companies using more of its office-sharing space soured.

The move represents an admission by SoftBank, the Japanese technology group that owns about 70percent of WeWork and has invested billions of dollars in its turnaround, that the company cannot survive unless it renegotiates its pricey leases in bankruptcy.

A WeWork spokesperson said about 92percent of the company's lenders had agreed to convert their secured debt into equity under a restructuring support agreement, wiping out about $3 billion of debt. SoftBank would retain an equity stake under the proposed restructuring, according to court documents.

yeah few loose canons on here
One deleted off one of his blogs the very information that he now seeks. So I gave him a hint but clearly flew over the top head. The hint Queensland has its own state constitution but is part of Australia.
And likewise Ukraine by virtue of its constitution that was ratified in 1936 bound Ukraine to the Democratic Russian Federations constitution that was created after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and ratified in December 1993.
Ukraine was not one of the five parts of the old of Soviet Union that elected to separate from Russia and Ukraine's own state like constitution bound it to the Democratic Russian Federation and its Bill of Rights.

Even half dumb clown should be able to comprehend even though google search engine has been cleaned of related factorial information. It doesn't take an much brain power to figure out that Ukraine is alleged by a bunch christian Nazi supporters to have created a new Ukraine Constitution and separation 1996.
As for full of it swede no comment mate

Haha NZ National won more than 38 per cent of the vote and 48 seats. ACT Party's 11 seats, the right-bloc partners hold 59 seats — not enough to form a majority government with the New Zealand parliament set to have a total of 122 seats this term. its now a month since Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and his Labour Party lost the election, but they have been sworn in again as a caretaker government while their political opponents keep talking including Peters !!______________________________________________________
After all the pomp and pageantry in Washington with a state dinner and meetings with US President Joe Biden, where the strategic alliance was celebrated with unusual gusto, Mr Albanese hotfooted it to Beijing where he was feted in personal meetings with no less than President Xi Jinping.
Japanese leaders are incensed at reports Mr Xi expressed a desire during his discussions with Mr Albanese to join the 12-member regional trade pact known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Haha !!______________________________________________________
Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron has made a surprise comeback to the British government after being appointed to head the country’s Foreign Office by incumbent PM Rishi Sunak. Cameron, who led the country for six years, resigned in 2016 after the UK voted to leave the European Union.
The move was announced by Downing Street on Monday as part of a major cabinet reshuffle.
David Cameron was a member of Conservative Friends of Israel as an MP and patron of the Jewish National Fund before stepping down in 2011 while prime minister. However: Saturday was the biggest ever pro-Palestine march in UK history, with over 800,000 people marching in the streets calling for a ceasefire in Gaza_______________________________________________________
Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko held talks in New Delhi on Monday.
The discussions covered bilateral topics, including political, trade, economic, energy, connectivity, defense and consular issues. Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko held talks in New Delhi on Monday. The discussions covered bilateral topics, including political, trade, economic, energy, connectivity, defense and consular issues, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi announced on X (formerly Twitter). He added that the parties shared their “perspectives on regional and global issues of mutual interest.” The meeting comes just days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited New Delhi for an annual 2+2 ministerial dialogue. Blinken held discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 10 on the sidelines of the event, and the two “reaffirmed” their countries’ “shared vision for close partnership in the Indo-Pacific and on issues of global importance,” according to the US State Department’s readout. Last month, media reports suggested that Moscow and New Delhi were in discussions regarding a bilateral summit between Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin by end of the year. However, there was no “immediate date or plans for that,” the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson later clarified. Diplomatic sources have confirmed to RT that while both sides remain in close contact and discussions on a potential meeting are being held at a high level, nothing has been decided yet.
Economic cooperation between Russia and India has been growing rapidly in the past year. According to data from the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, total trade between the two countries in the first eight months of the year reached nearly $44 billion. Defense and security cooperation has also been robust, with Russia currently executing multiple large orders, including the construction of two stealth frigates and the delivery of the two remaining units of S-400 Triumph air defense

yes there is a lot of presuming consent going on, meanwhile BRI group countries are/have been offering peaceful transition to better international financial settlement norm.
So yes the clowns better understand that non violence transition won't be as painful and therefore hopefully common sense will prevail.

On Nov 3, 2023 Electoral Commission declared the official results for the 2023 General Election.

The National Party has two fewer seats, Te Pati Maori has gained two, and the Green Party has gained one more.
The number of seats in Parliament on these results will be 122.

The National Party has 48 seats compared with 50 on election night.

Te Pati Maori has 6 seats compared with 4 on election night.

The Green Party has 15 seats compared with 14 on election night.

There are no changes for the Labour Party which has 34 seats, ACT New Zealand which has 11 seats, and the New Zealand First Party which has 8 seats.

There is an overhang of two seats because Te Pati Maori won more electorate seats than it would otherwise have from its share of the party vote.

One more seat will be added to Parliament after the Port Waikato by-election, taking the total to 123.

So If there are no applications for recounts, on Thursday 9 November 2023, the Electoral Commission will return the writ to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, allocate list seats in the presence of party scrutineers and declare by Gazette Notice the election of list members of Parliament.

If there are applications for judicial recounts, the return of the writ and the election of list members will be delayed until any recounts are complete. Meanwhile given the majority needed to form government has a target of 62 seats therefore National Party coalition with Greens makes sense. But I guess is unlikely
National Party
38.06%
48 seats

Labour Party
26.91%
34 seats

Green Party
11.6%
15 seats

ACT New Zealand
8.64%
11 seats

New Zealand First Party
6.08%
8 seats

Te Pati Maori
3.08%
6 seats

The US federal budget deficit stood at approximately $67 billion in October to kick off the 2024 fiscal year on a negative note, according to Treasury Department figures released Monday.

For October, total receipts, or income, were around $403 billion, against total outlays, or spending, of $470 billion, the agency's figures showed.

As for receipts, individual income taxes were $220 billion, while social insurance and retirement came in at $114 billion.

For outlays, social security was $117 billion, while national defense came in at $87 billion.

For the 2023 fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023, the budget deficit had stood at $1.69 trillion with almost $4.44 trillion in income against approximately $6.13 trillion in spending.
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Bitcoin saw its price climbing over $37,000 on Thursday for the first time in 18 months with optimism about regulatory approvals and growing interest of investors.

The price of the world's biggest cryptocurrency surged over 4% to climb as high as $37,104 at 8.53 a.m. EDT (1353GMT) to reach its highest level since May 5, 2022, according to official figures.

Ethereum, the world's biggest altcoin by market value, also rose to as much as $1,929 at the time -- highest since July 17, 2023.
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday revised up China's economic growth projections both for 2023 and 2024.

The Chinese economy is expected to grow 5.4% this year thanks to a strong post-virus rebound, an upward revision of 0.4 percentage points from its previous projection in October, the fund said in a statement.

The gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to increase by 4.6% in 2024 revised upwards from 4.2%.

The slowdown expected in the growth next year is due to "continuing weakness in the property market and subdued external demand," the fund noted.

A Chinese envoy on Monday called for greater efforts to support the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.

"Given the current context, the international community should make greater efforts to support the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), which is of great urgency and relevance in facilitating reconciliation and cooperation among regional countries in the Middle East and advancing the Middle East peace process," said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

Speaking at the fourth session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction, Geng said that nuclear weapons and other WMDs have been "a major factor causing a trust deficit in the Middle East, undermining regional peace and stability."

"China supports the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other WMDs and believes that this move will help curb the proliferation of WMDs, safeguard the authority and effectiveness of the international non-proliferation regime, and reduce the risk of an arms race and conflict, thereby providing an important mechanism for the maintenance of long-term regional peace and security," he said.
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China is ready to work with its partners in the Asia-Pacific region to make the region a pacesetter for cooperation and development, and inject stronger impetus into regional and global economic recovery, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing on Thursday.

Wang made the remarks while commenting on Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and Pacific, a report issued last month by the International Monetary Fund, which said that economic activity in the region remains on track to contribute about two-thirds of global growth in 2023.

Growth in the region this year is projected at 4.6 percent, compared with 3.9 percent in 2022, according to the IMF.
Wang said that this year, the Asia-Pacific region has demonstrated resilience and vitality in its economy, with market demand rebounding and sectors such as tourism and the digital economy booming.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement came into full effect in June, further boosting the region's economic growth, the spokesman said at a regular news briefing.
Wang said that China is a vital participant in Asia-Pacific regional cooperation and economic integration, serves as a major trading partner for many Asia-Pacific economies and plays a crucial role in regional industrial and supply chains.___________________________________________--
China's central bank could move to lower interest rates further this year to support its economy, says Dan Wang, the chief economist of Hang Seng Bank China.
Lowering interest rates could put more pressure on the already weakened yuan. "There is very limited room for monetary easing right now because of the pressure of currency depreciation," she says.
"If economic sentiment improves next month, it's safe to say that China will lower interest rates. But if sentiment doesn't improve, the central bank will have a very difficult decision to make."______________________________________________
Mali has told the UN that its 12,000 peacemakers need to leave, after 10 years countering Islamist militants in the country
Last year, France withdrew its forces after military leaders seized control of Mali and brought in mercenaries from Russia's Wagner group.

Sri Lanka’s top court on Tuesday declared the country’s former president, and ex-prime minister responsible for mishandling the nation’s worst financial crisis last year.
Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy last year and as of September 2023, Sri Lanka had $35.1 billion in foreign debt, of which 19% was owed to China, 7% to Japan, and 5% to India.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Sri Lanka's public debt was at 128% of its gross domestic product at the end of last year, which is "unsustainable."

In March this year, Sri Lanka received the first $330 million tranche of the IMF's nearly $3 billion bailout meant to support the island country.
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Following the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950 – with China on the side of North Korea, support that continues to this day – the UN Command was established that July 24. The war ended in 1953 in armistice, after which the US deployed around 28,500 soldiers in South Korea.

According to the UN Command website, UN Security Council Resolutions 83 and 84 “provided the international legal authority for member states to restore peace on the Korean Peninsula, and they designated the United States as the leader of the unified command we know as UN Command.”

Albanese pissed in Biden's pocket on his way to China, he is playing with fire I think.
His government was not lawfully elected, and he is on the hop running a dictatorship best as I can tell, running a dictatorship and attempting to limit China's influence in South East Asia.
Albanese was not upholding our constitution with the most recent elections, he was a party to the Liberal / Labor preferential voting scam.
The Australian constitution states that the people elect there political representatives and our head of state if King Charles III not the Australian Republic President Albanese sending shit into Ukraine, supporting Israel and as above in attempting to limit China's influence in this region

Yeah Australia's Head of State is King Charlies III. Australia should remain a democracy not something else.
The Scots abuse along with Fargo-draft-dodging dishonest persons abuse, is utterly unacceptable.
In any event my comment was directed to you Butcher and none of there business.

Implementing a two party republic likened to America's undemocratic two party system after Australians already rejected the republic moments intentions in quite recently defeated referendum. Being a referendum that was clearly rejected by the voters of Australia is disgusting abuse of our constitution.
The recent election outcome was unlawful on more than one count.
For Liberal & Labor to clandestinely implement John Howard's preferential voting scam, over our constitutions description of the voters being the sole determination of the elected representatives, is clearly unlawful, its criminal.

Can't recall a mention !!
Egypt controlled the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran, and did not recognize Israel after the two countries signed an armistice agreement to end the 1947–1949 Palestine war. Egypt began to strengthen a blockade of Israeli shipping as relations between Israel and Egypt deteriorated further between 1949 and 1956
So Israel tried to regain control of the Suez Canal for the Western powers and to remove Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had just nationalised the foreign-owned Suez Canal Company, which administered the canal. Israel's primary objective was to re-open the blocked Straits of Tiran.
On October 29, 1956, Israeli forces moved across the border, defeated the Egyptian army in the Sinai, captured Sharm al-Sheikh and thereby guaranteed Israeli strategic control over the Straits of Tiran. Britain and France issued their ultimatum and landed troops, effectively carrying out the agreed upon operation.
The boundary between Egypt and Israel stretches 206 kilometers (128 miles) along the eastern edge of the Sinai Peninsula from the de facto tripoint with Palestine (Gaza) to the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea.

In September 1975, following the 1973 War, both states signed The Sinai Interim Agreement allowing free passage of “non-military cargoes destined for or coming from Israel.

Egypt may be undergoing difficult economic times but the Suez Canal, one of Cairo’s key foreign currency earners, continues to benefit from trade dislocations caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The resultant western sanctions on the country’s oil exports have seen record volumes of Russian crude head east and bumper volumes of oil products from Gulf countries head to Europe.

Revenues hit $9.45bn for the Egyptian financial year to 30 June, up a whopping 36% or almost $2.5bn on the previous record of $6.96bn set a year earlier.

Egypt may be undergoing difficult economic times but the Suez Canal, one of Cairo’s key foreign currency earners, continues to benefit from trade dislocations caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The resultant western sanctions on the country’s oil exports have seen record volumes of Russian crude head east and bumper volumes of oil products from Gulf countries head to Europe.


Suez Canal is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping routes, witnessing the passage of thousands of vessels every year.

The canal, which separates Asia from the African continent, offers the shortest maritime route between Europe and the regions that share a border with the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean.

The journey from Europe through the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, transiting through the Suez Canal, cuts around 7,000 kilometres off the trip compared to the one carried out through the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans. The canal also connects Port Said in northeast Egypt with Port Tewfik in the city of Suez in the south.

Eisenhower & PM Menzies politician and lawyer together in 1954 created SEATO that led to Vietnam War.
1956 Suez Crisis:
On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, the joint British-French enterprise which had owned and operated the Suez Canal since its construction in 1869.
Nasser’s announcement came about following months of mounting political tensions between Egypt, Britain, and France. Although Nasser offered full economic compensation for the Company, the British and French Governments, long suspicious of Nasser’s opposition to the continuation of their political influence in the region, were outraged by the nationalization. You and I would agree I'm sure Nasser was quite corrct to piss them off.
During extremely negotiations over the British evacuation of the Suez Canal base in 1954–55, the Americans generally supported Egypt, though at the same time trying hard to limit the extent of the damage that this might cause to Anglo-American relations.
Nine members of United Nations Security Council signify support of the resolution endorsing operation of the Suez Canal on Oct. 14, 1956.
Eisenhower administration, worried by the prospect of the outbreak of hostilities between its NATO allies and an emergent, influential Middle Eastern power (and the possible intervention of the Soviet Union in such a conflict), attempted to broker a diplomatic settlement of the British-French-Egyptian dispute. On September 9, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles proposed the creation of a Suez Canal Users’ Association (SCUA), an international consortium of 18 of the world’s leading maritime nations, to operate the Canal. Although SCUA would have given Britain, France, and Egypt an equal stake in the Canal, this, and various other U.S. and international mediation efforts failed to win the full support of any of the contending powers.

In discussions with the United States between August and October, the British Government repeatedly hinted that it might resort to force in dealing with Nasser. At the same time, the British and French held secret military consultations with Israel, who regarded Nasser as a threat to its security, resulting in the creation of a joint plan to invade Egypt and overthrow its President. In keeping with these plans, Israeli forces attacked across Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on October 29, 1956, advancing to within 10 miles of the Suez Canal. Under the pretext of protecting the Canal from the two belligerents, Britain and France landed troops of their own a few days later.

Iraq's Central Bank (ICB) struck deals with foreign nations to support Iraqi private banks in foreign currencies, coinciding with lawmakers' no-confidence efforts against ICB's governor amid currency pressure from the US dollar.

ICB and US officials have reached a deal to strengthen the reserves of 10 Iraqi banks with the US dollar after detailed discussions in Abu Dhabi ICB and US officials have reached a deal to strengthen the reserves of 10 Iraqi banks with the US dollar after detailed discussions in Abu Dhabi

"After recent discussions between the Iraqi Central Bank and American representatives, ten banks can now strengthen their reserves in US dollars—five through Citi Bank and five via JP Morgan," INA reported.

"Furthermore, the number of banks allowed to enhance their reserves in the Chinese Yuan through the Singapore Development Bank will increase to 13 banks. Two banks have already fortified their accounts in Indian Rupees with the Singapore Development Bank," the agency added.

ICB also makes serious negotiations to enhance Iraqi bank balances in Euros, and more banks are reinforcing their balances in the Chinese Yuan and Indian Rupees for Iraqi banks, signalling a strategic move to finance imports, especially in pharmaceuticals and food items

I think some of the highest grade of Iron Orr in Australia is found in Tasmania.
The Savage River magnetite iron ore mine list of directors I found interesting


Australian Government 31 December 2018 last updated Last updated:7 June 2023 is upfront about Iron resources. I don't think it is all just colonialism, big companies put in big investment to extract minerals, and still China, Japan and Korea remain today major importers of Australia's iron ore products.