Former astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly started spy balloon company funded by China
Before becoming a senator, Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., was not only an astronaut, but he also co-founded a company that specializes in spy balloons, which was funded, in part, by a venture capitalist in China with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Kelly, who is reportedly on a short list of running mate contenders under consideration by Vice President Kamala Harris, co-founded Tucson, Arizona-based World View in 2012 with a vision to provide space tourism using stratospheric balloons. While Kelly’s company started out with a focus on space tourism via balloons, the vision evolved with the maturing of the company’s technology. “As we matured our technology, we recognized an opportunity for immediate use cases for our technology through remote sensing services to defense, scientific and commercial customers,” a spokesperson for World View told Fox News Digital. “Today, our primary business remains providing remote sensing services to the U.S. Department of Defense and her allies by way of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, as well as servicing scientific organizations like NASA, NOAA and others to better understand Earth from the unique atmospheric layer of the stratosphere.” HARRIS EDGES CLOSER TO TRUMP IN NEW POLL CONDUCTED AFTER BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL Axios reported that shortly after World View was started, it received venture capital from Tencent in 2013, then again in 2016. Tencent is one of China’s largest corporations, and it was founded in 1998 by “Pony” Ma Huateng, Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan and Zeng Liqing. Last year, “Pony” Ma Huateng was listed by Forbes as the fourth-richest man in China with a net worth of $32.1 billion. Ma is also the CEO of Tencent. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2021 that Tencent collected a trove of data over the years from its mobile app WeChat, the predominant social-media platform in China. The data was collected through its processing of the chat conversations and financial transactions of its over one billion monthly active users, most of them in China. That has made the company’s platform WeChat a powerful surveillance tool for the Chinese government, which reportedly regulates Tencent and regularly has it suppress dissenting views. ARIZONA SENATE CANDIDATE SAYS MARK KELLY WOULD GIVE HARRIS ‘JOLT’ AS VP With Tencent’s ties to the Chinese government, World View told Fox News Digital on Saturday that Tencent has “zero access, zero input and zero control” over the company. “The current leadership believed it was a mistake for the company to accept Chinese investment when it did,” a company spokesperson said. “When new leadership arrived in 2019 and learned of that investment, they swiftly moved to ensure World View was protected from any and all involvement from representatives of Chinese investors.” But the company’s early connections with the Chinese capitalist could raise questions as Kelly is being considered as a candidate for vice president, especially after China floated a surveillance balloon over the U.S. in February 2023, which was ultimately shot down by a fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina. WHO IS MARK KELLY? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SENATOR FOR ARIZONA AND POSSIBLE VP PICK The incident raised tensions between the U.S. and China, along with concerns that the Chinese government was spying on America. Kelly stepped away from his position at World View in 2019 to prepare for his U.S. Senate run. The company spokesperson said the remaining financial interest Kelly has in World View is secured in a blind trust, adding Kelly gave up all of his access, interest and control of the company when he left. Axios reported that in 2014, Jane Poynter, the former CEO of World View, told Chinese news outlet Pengpai that Kelly met with the head of Tencent USA, David Wallerstein, and “introduced space tourism technology to him.” TENCENT EXECUTIVE HELD BY CHINA OVER LINKS TO CORRUPTION CASE Kelly told The Arizona Republic in 2020 that he had a “very brief conversation” with an individual from Tencent which lasted from 30 seconds to a minute. Kelly did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on the matter. The New York Times published an article about Kelly on Friday, highlighting the Navy veteran’s accomplishments in the political arena. The publication spoke with Republican operative Daniel Scarpinato, who weighed in on what Kelly could face if selected as a candidate for vice president. “Mr. Kelly has also not faced the harsh spotlight of a national campaign, and has potential political liabilities like a high-altitude surveillance balloon company he helped found with Chinese venture capital,” the New York Times wrote of Scarpinato’s take. Scarpinato could not be reached for further comment. Along with providing surveillance, World View offers remote sensing services to oil and gas companies, utility companies, mining and shipping companies, and insurance companies, among others.
US military to unveil new command in Tokyo aimed at combating China
The United States will announce a major revamp of its military structure in Asia, unveiling a new command in Tokyo as it deepens ties with Japan in response to China’s increased ambition in the region. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are scheduled to hold talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara on Sunday, according to a report from Reuters, where Austin will announce a shift of U.S. forces in Japan. “Secretary Austin plans to announce that the United States intends to reconstitute U.S. Forces Japan as a Joint Force Headquarters, reporting to the commander of U.S. INDOPACOM,” a U.S. official told Reuters. TRUMP SHOOTING PLAYS INTO RUSSIA, CHINA PLANS TO DIVIDE US AHEAD OF ELECTIONS Japan has been looking to establish a new joint headquarters in the country to better coordinate with U.S. forces as it sees growing threats in the region, the report notes, with Japan citing increased missile tests by North Korea and China’s growing military ambitions. Japan had hoped the new command would be headed by a four-star general, but the U.S. official told Reuters that a three-star general will take control of the new organization. Talks between the U.S. and Japan Sunday are expected to cover “extended deterrence,” the U.S. official said, the term the U.S. uses to describe how it deploys nuclear forces to deter attacks on its allies. TAIWAN REACTS TO TRUMP’S THEY ‘SHOULD PAY US FOR DEFENSE’ COMMENTS Japan already hosts a U.S. military base with 54,000 American troops, hundreds of aircraft, and a forward-deployed carrier strike group, the report notes, but the new command will allow for greater cooperation between the two countries. Japan recently committed to double defense spending from 1% of GDP to 2% as it seeks greater deterrence over China and North Korea. The move also comes as President Biden has looked to increase cooperation between Japan and South Korea, another key U.S. ally in the region. Relations between the two countries have been strained since the early 20th century. The three nations on Sunday signed an agreement to “institutionalize” trilateral cooperation, according to the report, which will include sharing of real-time North Korean missile information and increased joint-military exercises. “This memorandum, strengthens the cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea, making our partnership unshakable no matter how the international situation changes,” Kihara told reporters after the agreement was signed. The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment.
Harris’ favorability sees dramatic spike after Biden drops out: poll
Vice President Kamala Harris has seen her favorability among American voters rise dramatically in the aftermath of President Biden dropping out of the race, a new poll shows. Harris’ overall favorability rose from 35% to 43% compared to a week earlier, while the vice president’s unfavorability rating fell from 46% to 42%, according to the results of an ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted on Friday and Saturday. The poll comes just a week after Biden made the decision to drop out of the 2024 race and endorse Harris, who quickly consolidated support among her fellow Democrats to essentially lock up the nomination by the middle of last week. HARRIS CLOSES IN ON TRUMP IN ELECTION BETTING MARKETS The news brought a jolt of enthusiasm to Democrats, who donated record-setting fundraising numbers to the Harris campaign in the aftermath of her taking over at the top of the ticket, enthusiasm that was reflected in the new poll. Among Democrats, 88% indicated that they were enthusiastic about Harris (63% very and 25% somewhat) becoming the party’s nominee. The level of enthusiasm for Harris in her own party outstrips that of former President Trump among Republicans, with 82% of those respondents indicating that they were enthusiastic about him being the nominee. Trump also saw his favorability rating drop in the poll, falling from 40% last week to 36% in the most recent poll. The former president’s unfavorable rating also ticked up slightly in the new poll, rising from 51% to 52%. DEMOCRATS TO CONFIRM NOMINEES BY VIRTUAL ROLL CALL WEEKS BEFORE DNC IN CHICAGO TO AVOID LEGAL CHALLENGES The poll also tackled the ongoing “veepstakes” for Harris, who has yet to choose a running mate. While Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (54%) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (54%) enjoy the highest name recognition among respondents, candidates such as Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., (22% favorable) and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (17% favorable) have the highest favorability rating among respondents who were familiar with them. The ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted between July 26-27, surveying 1,200 U.S. adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
US election 2024: Kamala Harris campaign raises $200m in a week
Harris has quickly coalesced Democratic support after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the November 5 election. US Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has raised $200m since President Joe Biden announced his exit from the presidential election race and endorsed her as his successor. The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total on Sunday, said the bulk of the donations — 66 percent — came from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle. Over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts. “The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director, wrote in a memo. Donald Trump’s campaign said in early July that it raised $331m in the second quarter, topping the $264m that Biden’s campaign and its Democratic allies raised in the same period. Trump’s campaign had $284.9m in cash on hand at the end of June while the Democratic campaign had $240m in cash on hand at the time. ‘Close race’ Harris quickly coalesced Democratic support after Biden, whose candidacy fizzled following his disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump, exited the race. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were quick to announce their support. Prodigious Democratic fundraisers former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama announced their endorsement on Friday. The Democratic National Convention next month will, however, decide if Harris will become the party’s nominee. At her Saturday fundraiser, Harris said she remained the “underdog” in the race but that her campaign was picking up steam. Her takeover has re-energised a campaign that had faltered badly amid Democrats’ doubts about Biden’s chances of defeating Trump or his ability to continue to govern had he won. Meanwhile, in his campaign appearance in St Cloud, Minnesota on Saturday, Trump called Harris a “crazy liberal,” and accused her of wanting to “defund the police” and said she was an “absolute radical” on abortion. Polls over the past week have shown Harris and Trump essentially tied, setting the stage for a close-fought campaign over the 100 days left until the election. On Sunday, Mitch Landrieu, a campaign co-chair, said on MSNBC that Harris “had one of the best weeks that we’ve seen in politics in the last 50 years”. “This is going to be a very close race,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Wade Davis: US social and political landscape points to decay
Canadian-American social anthropologist Wade Davis says the US empire is showing major signs of decay. In an interview recorded days before United States President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Canadian-American social anthropologist Wade Davis argues that both Biden and his rival Donald Trump “ought to have stepped off the stage a long time ago”. Davis tells host Steve Clemons that there is no question that the 20th century was the American century, but the question now is, “Who’s going to rule in the next century?” With Americans on the left and right demonising each other, there is no room for a middle ground, and the country has become unrecognisable to many Americans, says Davis. Adblock test (Why?)
Mali rebels claim major victory over army, Russian mercenaries
Tuareg separatists say they ‘obliterated’ enemy columns and seized a large amount of equipment and weapons. A mainly Tuareg separatist coalition has claimed a major victory over Mali’s army and its Russian allies following three days of intense fighting in a district on the Algerian border. “Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns on Saturday,” said a statement by Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, spokesman for the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD) alliance on Sunday. “A large amount of equipment and weapons were seized or damaged”, and prisoners were taken, the statement said, adding that seven rebels were killed and 12 wounded in the fighting in the Tinzaouatene district. Mali’s military rulers, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, took power in 2020 and turned to Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries for security assistance, after expelling French forces in 2022. The Tuareg are an ethnic group who have been fighting for independence since 2012. Large-scale fighting broke out on Thursday between the West African nation’s army and the separatists in Tinzaouatene after the army announced it had retaken control of several districts. Tinzaouatene is almost entirely surrounded by Algerian territory and has been the scene of other battles between separatist forces and the army over the past decade. The CSP-PSD also said it damaged a helicopter, which crashed in Kidal, a rebel stronghold. Separatist groups lost control of several districts in 2023 after an offensive that saw forces from the military government take Kidal. The Malian army said in statements that two soldiers had been killed and 10 injured. One of its helicopters crashed in Kidal on Friday while on a routine mission, but no one was killed, it said. Adama Gaye, a journalist, author and former director of the Economic Community of West African States, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Tuareg forces could be receiving outside help, including from the French military and regional armed groups with “allegiance to al-Qaeda”. Wagner fighters reportedly involved In some of the videos shared by the rebels with the AFP news agency, white soldiers were visible among the prisoners, the agency said in a report on Sunday. A local official and a former worker with the United Nations mission in Kidal told AFP the Malian army had retreated with at least 15 fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group killed or arrested. Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the separatist movement, claimed that “dozens” of Wagner fighters and soldiers had been killed or taken prisoner. Several Russian military bloggers reported that at least 20 from the Wagner Group were killed in an ambush near the Algerian border. “Employees of the Wagner PMC [Group], who were moving in a convoy with government troops, were killed in Mali … Some were captured,” said a prominent Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, who uses the name War Gonzo. The Baza Telegram news channel, which has links to Russia’s security structures, reported that at least 20 Wagner fighters have been killed. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the blogger’s or the AFP’s reports. Mali has said Russian forces are not Wagner mercenaries, but trainers helping local troops with equipment bought from Russia. Baza’s report said on Sunday that Wagner fighters have been in Mali since at least 2021. Meanwhile, there have been several accusations of rights abuses of the civilian population by the Malian army and Wagner forces. Malian authorities deny the allegations. Violence by rebels linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), as well as community self-defence and criminal organisations, has also rocked Mali since 2012. Adblock test (Why?)
List of IAS coaching centres in Delhi whose illegally-run basements are sealed by MCD
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has sealed 13 coaching centres in Old Rajinder Nagar running illegally.
Biden and Harris to visit Houston this week to pay respects to Sheila Jackson Lee
Biden will travel to Houston on Monday and Harris will attend a Celebration of Life Service on Thursday. The trip will mark Harris’ third visit to Texas in the past month.
Buttigieg faces grilling on Harris’ immigration record: ‘Let’s get real’
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg defended the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of illegal immigration in a heated back-and-forth with Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Sunday. Buttigieg appeared in his personal capacity as a special guest on “Fox News Sunday” and attempted to deflect criticisms of Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris and Democrats have attempted to flip the script on her 2021 mission to address border issues, a mission that led to the media widely calling her “border czar” at the time. “Let’s be very clear about this because there has been a lot of mischaracterization. She was not in charge of the border. The Homeland Security Department is in charge of the border. She did do something important, though. She was assigned to conduct diplomacy with Central American countries, knowing that that’s part of the bigger picture of what’s affecting the border. And you know what? Those Central American countries are among the few countries to see their numbers go down in terms of the source of migrants who are seen at the border,” Buttigieg said. “Not by much,” Bream countered. TRUMP EYES MULTIPLE BORDER VISITS AS HE DRAWS CONTRAST WITH ‘RADICAL LEFT’ HARRIS Buttigieg went on to argue that President Biden had only failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform thanks to former President Trump’s intervention. BIDEN ADDRESSES DECISION TO DROP OUT OF 2024 RACE, INTENDS TO COMPLETE TERM IN WHITE HOUSE “[Biden] wanted Congress to resolve [immigration] because that would have been more durable. But when Trump came in, talked Republicans out of their own bipartisan project because he didn’t want the issue to get better. Remember, the worse things are at the border, the better things get for Donald Trump. So he has a vested interest in it remaining chaotic down there,” Buttigieg said. Bream pushed back on the claim, however, saying that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other Republican lawmakers had objected to provisions Democrats slipped into the border bill. KAMALA HARRIS HIT WITH ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT OVER BORDER CRISIS, ‘MISLEADING’ PEOPLE ON BIDEN “Let’s get real. You know why they didn’t move forward,” Buttigieg insisted. “They moved forward because Donald Trump swooped in and said I don’t want Joe Biden to get a win.” “Many of them felt that it was a flawed piece of legislation that had too many loopholes and things they couldn’t support,” Bream said. Buttigieg is one of many top Democrats who have jumped to defend Harris on her immigration policy since her rapid ascension as the presumptive Democratic nominee in 2024. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused Republicans of “making up” the title of “border czar.” His comments came just before six members of his House Democratic Caucus voted to criticize her handling of the migrant crisis. “We have a single legislative item that is on the floor today… it’s a fake and fraudulent resolution cooked up, I think, by one of the representatives from New York – continues to embarrass herself regularly – that lies about the vice president,” Jeffries told reporters at his weekly press conference. “She was never assigned the position of border czar. They’re making that up, because the extreme MAGA Republicans are in full meltdown,” he added.
Schumer calls on Trump to pick new running mate, claims Vance is ‘best thing he’s ever done for Democrats’
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday said former President Trump should swap out his “incredibly bad choice” of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate. During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Schumer was discussing the upcoming presidential election when he decided to address “the addition of JD Vance” to the GOP ticket. “It’s an incredibly bad choice,” Schumer said. “I think Donald Trump, I know him, and he’s probably sitting and watching the TV, and every day, Vance, it comes out Vance has done something more extreme, more weird, more erratic. Vance seems to be more erratic and more extreme than President Trump.” “And I’ll bet President Trump is sitting there scratching his head and wondering, ‘Why did I pick this guy?’ The choice may be one of the best things he ever did for Democrats,” Schumer said. TRUMP SENIOR CAMPAIGN ADVISOR SLAMS LEFT: TAKING VANCE’S ‘CAT LADY’ COMMENTS ‘BLATANTLY OUT OF CONTEXT Referring to Trump, the former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee, Schumer said “the president has about 10 days – 10 days before the Ohio ballot is locked in.” “And he has a choice: does he keep Vance on the ticket?” Schumer said. “He already has a whole lot of baggage, he’s probably going to be more baggage over the weeks because we’ll hear more things about him, or does he pick someone new? What’s his choice?” The left has gone after Vance in recent days over a 2021 interview in which the Ohio senator appeared to disparage “childless cat ladies” in the Democratic Party. “We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance said three years ago, specifically calling out Vice President Harris and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as being part of that group. On an episode of Fox News’ “The Brian Kilmeade Show,” Trump 2024 senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita said Vance’s interview is being “blatantly taken out of context,” adding that the Trump-Vance campaign is not against “childless women” as the liberal media is saying. Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir adapted into a Netflix film about his time as a Yale Law School student reflecting on growing up in Appalachia, was propelled into national headlines when Trump announced him as vice presidential running mate at the start of the Republican National Convention. REPUBLICANS SAY SCHUMER MUST ACT ON VOTER PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP BILL IF DEMOCRAT ‘REALLY CARES ABOUT DEMOCRACY’ Republicans have billed Vance, whose mother is 10 years sober, as speaking to forgotten working class Americans. But the Harris campaign has attempted to counter that messaging. In a video shared weeks ago, Harris claimed Vance would be “loyal only to Trump, not to our country” and a “rubber stamp for [Trump’s] extreme agenda.” But Vance, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq, shot back during a campaign rally with Trump in Minnesota Saturday. “Now, I saw the other day Kamala Harris questioned my loyalty to this country. That’s the word she used, loyalty. And it’s an interesting word. Semper Fi, because there is no greater sign of disloyalty to this country than what Kamala Harris has done at our southern border,” Vance said. “And I’d like to ask the vice president, what has she done to question my loyalty to this country?” “I served in the United States Marine Corps. I went to Iraq for this country. I built a business for this country. And my running mate took a bullet for this country. So my question to Kamala Harris is, what the hell have you done to question our loyalty to the United States of America?” Vance added. “And the answer, my friends, is nothing.” Asked about how Harris should handle Republican criticism of her immigration policy, Schumer told CBS host Robert Costa that Democrats in Congress and the Biden-Harris administration “put together the toughest border policy that would have stopped the flow from the border that we’ve seen in a very long time.” He said the plan was initially supported by Republicans but claimed Trump wants chaos at the border so he can run on it during the election. “We’re happy to bring that up. And case after case, when we bring that up, the voters side with us, not with their policies. We were willing to fix the border. Trump and his Republican minions said, ‘Don’t fix it, we want chaos for political purposes.’ Who do you think’s going to win the argument?” Schumer said. Fox News’ Garbriel Hays contributed to this report.