Month: January 2023

2 Chinese Citizens Arrested in Afghanistan on Suspicion of Smuggling Lithium

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has arrested five men, including two Chinese citizens. They are suspected of smuggling about 1,000 tons of lithium-containing stones out of the country. The regime’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said on Jan. 21 that it had seized about 300 tons of these stones in Nangarhar province, and about 700…


What to Do If Your Flight Has Been Canceled

By Kyle Arnold From The Dallas Morning News Early January saw Southwest Airlines cutting two-thirds of its flights following an operational meltdown stemming from an arctic storm. A canceled flight often leaves passengers in a conundrum over whether to request a refund or sit and wait for the airline to put them on the next…


China’s Economic Future Can Be Predicted by Population

Commentary China released its latest population figure for 2022, recording a year-over-year decline, which had not been seen since the Great Leap Forward in the early 1960s. Population growth is important for economic growth because all outputs are produced by labor and capital (non-labor), the two standard input factors. Given a production function in terms…


German Business Morale Brightens Further in January: Ifo

BERLIN—German business morale brightened in January as Europe’s largest economy started the new year with easing inflation and an improved outlook, a survey said on Wednesday. The Ifo institute said its business climate index rose to 90.2, in line with consensus according to a Reuters poll of analysts and up from a reading of 88.6…


Governments Warned Chinese Cellular Chips Pose Next Biggest Threat

Using data collected in microchips, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could monitor activities all over the world in people’s homes as well as weapons deployment, a report warned. The report (pdf), written by British China researcher and former diplomat Charles Parton for Washington-based consultancy OODA, called on free and open countries to ban Chinese-manufactured IoT modules…


Philippine Plane Crash Kills 2, Another Carrying 6 Missing

MANILA, Philippines—A Philippine air force plane crashed Wednesday on a farm northwest of Manila, killing the two people on board, while a search was continuing for a private aircraft carrying six people that went missing the previous day in the mountainous north. The SF-260 plane was on a training flight from Sangley airport in Cavite…


‘Left Behind’ Sequel Eerily Similar to World Events Today

Commentary EpochTV Cinema provides a wide variety of quality productions free from Hollywood propaganda. A recent addition to their selection is a sequel to the well-known “Left Behind” series, “Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist.” The film continues a string of movies first produced in 2000. “Left Behind” is based on a series of 16…


Elevated Rate of Facial Paralysis Identified After Pfizer COVID-19 Booster in Elderly: FDA

An elevated rate of Bell’s palsy was identified among elderly people after vaccination with a Pfizer booster shot, U.S. regulators said in a new study. The “small but statistically significant elevation” in Bell’s palsy was detected after vaccination with Pfizer’s old booster, which is no longer available in the United States, researchers with the U.S….


Girl, 9, Finds ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime’ Huge Shark Tooth From 15 Million-Year-Old, 50-Foot Megalodon

A 9-year-old fossil hunter from Maryland stumbled across a once-in-a-lifetime find while scouting for treasures on the Calvert County coastline on the Chesapeake Bay: a huge tooth from a 15 million-year-old megalodon. On Dec. 25, Molly Sampson, a fourth grader from Southern Maryland was out fossil hunting with her big sister, Natalie. Molly was wrapped in…


2 British Nationals Killed Attempting ‘Humanitarian Evacuation’ in Ukraine

Two British nationals who went missing in Ukraine earlier this month were killed while attempting a “humanitarian evacuation,” their family members have said. Andrew Bagshaw, 47, and Christopher Parry, 28, were last seen on Jan. 6 while heading to the town of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region of the country, where heavy fighting was…