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China kicks off second day of military drills around Taiwan

China kicks off second day of military drills around Taiwan

Day two of the ‘Justice Mission 2025’ drills will include 10 hours of live-fire exercises and a simulated blockade of Taiwan’s major ports. China has begun a second day of military drills around Taiwan in the latest escalation of tensions over the self-governing island. China’s military said on Tuesday that it had deployed navy destroyers, bombers and other forces as part of the war games, which Beijing claims are aimed at “separatist” and “external” forces. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The drills were due to include live-fire exercises between 8am and 6pm local time (00:00 to 10:00 GMT) in five maritime and airspace zones around Taiwan, as well as air and sea patrols, simulated precision strikes and anti-submarine manoeuvres, according to Chinese state media. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said some of the live-fire drills would take place in what Taiwan considers its territorial waters, or within 12 nautical miles (22km) from the coastline, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. More than 80 domestic flights were cancelled on Tuesday, many to Taiwan’s outlying islands, and more than 300 international flights could face delays due to rerouted air traffic during the drills, according to Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration. The exercises, code-named “Justice Mission 2025”, began early Monday and came days after the United States announced its largest-ever weapons package for Taiwan, worth $11.1bn. State news outlet The China Daily said the drills were “part of a series of Beijing’s responses to the US arms sales to Taiwan as well as a warning to the [Taiwanese president] Lai Ching-te authorities in Taiwan”, in an editorial on Monday. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Lin Jian, also told reporters on Monday that the exercises were “a punitive and deterrent action against separatist forces who seek Taiwan independence through military buildup, and a necessary move to safeguard China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Advertisement Justice Mission 2025 marks the sixth time China has staged large-scale military drills around Taiwan since then-US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022. A key focus of the “Justice Mission 2025” exercises will be “anti-access and area denial capability” to ensure that Taiwan cannot receive supplies from allies like Japan and the US during a conflict, according to William Yang, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the Crisis Group. They will also include simulating a blockade of Taiwan’s major ports in the north and south, and taking control of strategically important waterways, like the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait, through which Taiwan imports much of its energy supplies, Yang said. China’s Eastern Theatre Command released a poster on Tuesday, titled “Hammer of Justice: Seal the Ports, Cut the Lines”, showing large metal hammers hitting the port of Keelung in the north and the port of Kaohsiung in the south. Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said it had tracked 130 air sorties by Chinese aircraft, 14 naval ships and eight “official ships” between 6am on Monday (22:00 GMT, Sunday) and 6am on Tuesday (22:00 GMT, Monday). The exercises were also monitored by Taiwanese coastguard ships and an undisclosed number of naval vessels, according to Taiwan’s Defence Ministry. Adblock test (Why?)

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,405

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,405

These are the key developments from day 1,405 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 30 Dec 202530 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is where things stand on Tuesday, December 30: Alleged attack on Putin’s residence Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said that an attack took place on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia’s Novgorod on Sunday, “practically immediately after” talks in Florida between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The strike “will not go unanswered”, Ushakov said in remarks reported by Russian media, following a call between Trump and Putin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russian air defence systems shot down 91 long-range strike drones used in the attack and that no one was injured. Zelenskyy denied the claim, accusing Russia of trying to derail peace talks. However, Trump expressed anger over the alleged attack, telling reporters: “I was very angry about it.” When asked if the United States had evidence of the attack, Trump said, “We’ll find out.” Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that “the response to Kyiv’s attacks will not be diplomatic” and that Russia would be revising its negotiating position in the attack’s wake. The United Arab Emirates’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it “strongly condemned” the “deplorable attack” and “the threat it poses to security and stability”. Diplomacy White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that a phone call between Putin and Trump on the issue of Ukraine on Monday was “positive”, without elaborating. Zelenskyy said he spoke by phone with the leaders of Germany, Latvia and Finland to update them on the outcomes of his meeting with Trump and where peace negotiations stood. Lavrov said in an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti that “Kyiv and its Western backers must recognise the new territorial realities that have emerged following the incorporation of Crimea, Sevastopol, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the  Luhansk People’s Republic, and the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions into the Russian Federation.” He was referring to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed, which include Donetsk and Luhansk, renamed by Russian-backed separatists as the DPR and LPR. A survey published by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF), a Ukrainian think tank, on Monday showed that recognising occupied Ukrainian territories “as part of the Russian Federation” remained deeply unpopular in Ukraine, with 76 percent of Ukrainians saying they considered it “unacceptable”. Advertisement Fighting Russian forces attacked the front-line town of Orikhiv in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, killing a 46-year-old man and wounding a 49-year-old woman, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. Russian forces killed one person and injured five in attacks on Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Sunday, Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Facebook. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, said on Telegram that Russian forces killed seven civilians who had been hiding in a basement in the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said it had launched an investigation into reports that Russian soldiers shot dead two captured Ukrainian soldiers in the village of Shakhove, Pokrovsky, on Saturday. “The deliberate killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and qualifies as a grave international crime,” the prosecutor general’s office said. Ukrainian attacks injured five civilians in Russia’s Belgorod region, according to Russia’s TASS state news agency, citing local officials. Ukrainian attacks also injured four civilians in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia, and three civilians in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Donetsk, TASS reported, citing local officials. In a televised address from the Kremlin, Putin made a wide range of claims about Moscow’s ongoing war on Ukraine, including that Russian troops were advancing towards the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s army chief, said during the same address that Russian forces had captured 6,460 square kilometres (2,494sq miles) of territory in Ukraine in 2025, including 334 villages. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) quoted its director general, Rafael Grossi, as saying that power line repairs near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant had been successfully completed. Adblock test (Why?)

Unearthed surveillance exposes how parents were allegedly involved in Minnesota’s daycare fraud scheme

Unearthed surveillance exposes how parents were allegedly involved in Minnesota’s daycare fraud scheme

As federal authorities investigate reports of massive fraud taking place in Minnesota daycares, an unearthed video from a 2018 fraud case shows parents and providers involved in a fraud scheme dating all the way back to 2015. The video, taken from a local Fox report from 2018, shows parents checking their children into a daycare center in Hennepin County, Minnesota, only to leave with their children minutes later. The video was taken from a surveillance camera as part of a case prosecuted by Hennepin County, according to the 2018 Fox 9 report. Under the scheme, low-income parents would sign in their children for daycare services so that providers could then claim reimbursement for services that were never truly provided, per Fox 9. The outlet said that, according to surveillance video, some days no families would show up, but that the daycares would claim reimbursements from the government nonetheless. The time stamp on the surveillance video shows March 2015. MAGNITUDE ‘CANNOT BE OVERSTATED’: FEDS SAY MINNESOTA FRAUD MAY BE MORE THAN $9B  Another video in the broadcast showed a man handing an envelope to a parent with an alleged kickback payment for participation in the scheme. This comes amid widespread outrage over a viral video posted by Nick Shirley on Friday showing visits to multiple childcare centers in Minnesota, including one that allegedly received millions of dollars in state funding despite appearing largely inactive. The video has sparked widespread backlash, drawing criticism of Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz throughout the weekend from several high-profile figures, including Vice President JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk. LABOR SECRETARY ANNOUNCES ‘STRIKE TEAM’ GOING TO MINNESOTA TO INVESTIGATE RAMPANT FRAUD The White House on Sunday reposted an X post from Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who called the alleged fraud a “breathtaking failure.” At the time of the video’s release, Walz was already under heavy fire amid the scandal enveloping his administration that notably included at least $1 billion lost to alleged social services fraud largely tied to Minneapolis’ Somali community. Commenting on the resurfaced video, conservative strategist Greg Price wrote on X, “Somali fraudsters have been stealing from taxpayers for years and it’s clear that the entire Somali community is in on it.” HHS PROBES MINNESOTA’S USE OF BILLIONS IN FEDERAL SOCIAL SERVICE FUNDS AMID FRAUD CONCERNS: REPORT A TIMELINE OF THE ‘LARGEST COVID-19 FRAUD SCHEME’ IN THE UNITED STATES FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency has surged additional personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota as part of an ongoing effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.” Patel said Sunday that the bureau moved resources into the state before recent online attention intensified, pointing to the Feeding Our Future investigation, which uncovered a $250 million scheme that siphoned federal food aid intended for children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case has already resulted in 78 indictments and 57 convictions, with prosecutors also charging defendants in a separate plot to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash, Patel said, adding that the investigation remains ongoing. “The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing,” he wrote on X. “Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigration officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible.”

Trucker slapped with charges in fatal driving incident previously immigrated to US illegally: source

Trucker slapped with charges in fatal driving incident previously immigrated to US illegally: source

A trucker who allegedly killed three in a reckless driving incident in Virginia immigrated to the U.S. illegally in the nineties, according to a federal law enforcement source. El Hadji Karamoko Ouattara, a 58-year-old immigrant from Africa, is being charged in connection with the fatal crash after running his tractor-trailer off the side of Interstate 81 and striking a minivan, killing three individuals, including a two-year-old child, and injuring three others, according to local outlet WFXR. The outlet reported that the victims were transported to a nearby hospital. 65-year-old Lorraine Renee Williams, 49-year-old Ebony Latasha Williams and 2-year-old Shazziyah Lesley died of their injuries. A 63-year-old male, a 73-year-old male and a 10-year-old female were also injured but survived, according to the outlet. WFXR reported that Ouattara was originally charged with reckless driving. DHS REVEALS ILLEGAL ALIEN BEHIND FATAL CRASH WAS GIVEN LICENSE BY DEEP BLUE STATE However, according to the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office, Outtara is now being charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter as a result of the incident, which took place on Dec. 22. The office said he is a resident of Montgomery Village, Maryland. A federal law enforcement source told Fox News that Ouattara is a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Ivory Coast. The source stated that, despite originally entering the United States illegally in the 1990s, Ouattara was eventually able to obtain a green card and become a naturalized citizen. This comes amid heightened awareness and national concern about untrained, unqualified illegal immigrant drivers on U.S. roads. DAVID MARCUS: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKERS ARE AN INSULT TO AMERICANS WHO PLAY BY THE RULES Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy offered an update on his agency’s work alongside the Department of Homeland Security in cracking down on an influx of illegal immigrants given a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license (CDL) without proper vetting, which has led to several deaths on America’s highways. Duffy sprang into action earlier this year after an Indian national named Harjinder Singh, who authorities said was issued a CDL by California, allegedly killed a carload of people after he attempted an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike. Duffy said that DOT has pressed for compliance from problem states offering illegals CDLs, sharing that California has since revoked 17,000 problematic non-domiciled CDL licenses.  CONVICTED MURDERER, CHILD PREDATORS ROUNDED UP IN CHRISTMAS WEEKEND ICE CRACKDOWN: ‘GREATEST GIFT’ “We are going to use every resource, every tool that we have at DOT, to make sure that we have the right people on our road that are well qualified, well licensed. That are proficient in the English language to make sure we’re maximizing safety,” Duffy said.