Brexit Impact: UK Decides to Leave European Union

Richard Turnill of Blackrock,Market Realist 23 hours ago 

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5 Key Takeaways from the Brexit Vote PART 1 OF 4 The UK’s momentous decision to leave the European Union has both short- and long-term implications for investors around the world. BlackRock Chief Investment Strategist Richard Turnill explains. The UK’s 52% to 48% vote to break with the European Union (or EU) has lasting consequences for the UK, Europe and the world at large. With UK Prime Minister David Cameron set to leave his post by October, we believe other European leaders will be focused on fending off populist movements throughout the continent, spurring further political and economic uncertainty. We see five key takeaways from this historic decision. Market Realist – The United Kingdom ...

World's Largest Plane Will Launch Rockets into Space

SPACE.com 5 hours ago 

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The way Paul Allen sees it, the bigger the better, at least when it comes to building an airplane to serve as a flying launch pad for sending satellites into space. The airplane, informally called the "Roc" after the legendary giant bird of prey, is nearing completion inside a custom-built hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. It's the same place where the Roc's little sister, White Knight, lofted the SpaceShipOne spaceplane into the air in 2004 to clinch the $10 million Ansari X Prize for the first privately funded, manned vehicle to travel beyond the atmosphere. Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, whom Forbes ranks as the 40th wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth ...

North Koreans irked at orders to donate to construction project

UPI 2 hours 27 minutes ago 

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North Korea needs all the help it can get in the construction of a new residential district dedicated to Pyongyang's scientists, but a request to donate household goods to the effort is drawing backlash. The Kim Jong Un project known as Ryomyong Street, or "Avenue of Dawn," completed its first phase of construction in 2015 at a cost of $88.4 million. A North Korean source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK the state has been issuing "various directives in succession" regarding the Ryomyong project, including orders for ordinary North Koreans to donate households goods, like pots and pans, to the project. State-controlled KCNA reported delegates gathering for the fourth meeting of its 13th Supreme People's Assembly, to be held Wednesday, contributed "support material" at the construction sites along Ryomyong. ...

Report: China is still harvesting organs from prisoners

CNN 7 hours ago 

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According to the report, that gap is made up of executed prisoners, many of them prisoners of conscience locked up for their religious or political beliefs. China does not report its total number of executions, which it regards as a secret. The report's findings stand in stark contrast to Beijing's claim that, since the beginning of 2015, China has moved from almost completely relying on organs from prisoners to the "largest voluntary organ donation system in Asia." At a regular press conference Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China has "strict laws and regulations on this issue." "As for the testimony and the published report, I want to say that such stories ...

China ambassador Wu Jianmin's death sparks foreign policy debate

BBC News Wed, Jun 22 1:00 AM PDT 

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The sudden death of former Chinese ambassador and influential foreign policy "dove" Wu Jianmin has sparked shock and mourning. But, more unusually, it has also prompted a rare moment of reflection in China over how the country should deal with its foreign policy challenges. The BBC's Vincent Ni explains why. Who was Wu Jianmin? Mr Wu was one of China's most senior and outspoken diplomats. He served as an interpreter for Mao Zedong and his premier Zhou Enlai, and was also China's ambassador to France, the Netherlands and the United Nations in Geneva at various points in his career. Before his retirement, he also headed China's Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, which has trained generations ...

Next Big Future: China making a copy of a B-2 stealth bomber which is called the Xian H-20 bomber

nextbigfuture.com 8 hours ago 

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China’s Xian Aircraft Corp. is developing a new strategic bomber that may be a ‘flying wing’ design called Certain contributions to the H-20 project were made by Noshir Gowadia, a design engineer who previously worked for Northrop Grumman. In 2011, he was convicted to 32 years for selling classified information to China. ...

Top Chinese Paper Lashes Out At U.S. Over South China Sea Action

Rebecca Falconer,Huffington Post 5 hours ago 

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BEIJING (Reuters) -- China's top newspaper strongly criticized the United States on Wednesday after it deployed two aircraft carriers on a training mission in East Asia where military tensions have risen amid China's growing assertiveness. The U.S. carriers John C. Stennis and Ronald Reagan began joint operations in seas east of the Philippines at the weekend in a show of strength ahead of an international court ruling expected soon on China's expansive territorial claims in the contested South China Sea. "The U.S. picked the wrong target in playing this trick on China," the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said in a commentary. It was published under the pen ...

Two U.S. Aircraft Carriers Move to the Philippines to Keep China in Check

Popular Mechanics Mon, Jun 20 1:29 PM PDT 

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The U.S. Navy has moved two carrier battle groups into the Philippine Sea to conduct exercises, the first two-carrier exercise in the region in two years. The move comes just before a UN court ruling expected to be against China and its claims in the South China Sea. The two carrier strike groups (CSGs) field a total of two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, two guided-missile cruisers, and six guided-missile destroyers. Two nuclear attack submarines would normally be part of the combined CSG makeup but their presence was not confirmed by the Navy.  Together, the two carrier carrier battle groups have a powerful strike force of approximately 140 aircraft, including eighty F/A-18 Hornets. That, ...

When China and Vietnam Went to War: Four Lessons for History

The National Interest Tue, Jun 21 1:00 AM PDT 

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Last month, during President Barack Obama’s recent barnstorm through East and Southeast Asia, he announced in a joint press conference with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang that the embargo on weapon sales to Vietnam was to be lifted. Though the White House had hitherto reassured human-rights watchers that any negation of this Cold War–era policy would be directly tethered to Hanoi’s record of improvement on issues of freedom of conscience (admittedly described by Obama as “modest”), what ended up proving more important in the eyes of Washington officialdom was what Harold Macmillan once described as the primary determining factor in politics: “Events, dear boy, events!” For Obama, the ...

China's Aerospace Defense Industry Sacks US Military Technology

Forbes 3 hours ago 

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The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is the main supplier of military planes and helicopters to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). They produce the J-20 stealth fighter, FC-1, and FC-8 fighters, the 5th-generation FC-31 stealth fighter, and aerial reconnaissance and attack drones. In 2007, Chinese hackers stole secrets about the U.S. F-35 that were incorporated by AVIC into the Chinese FC-31. Given how U.S.-China relations are deteriorating in Asia, the U.S. military in the Pacific region could someday fight these Chinese aircraft — or at least play dangerous games of brinkmanship. In March 2016, a Chinese military helicopter in the South China Sea lifted off from a ...

The Iraqi Army Is Flying Chinese-Made Killer Drones

Popular Mechanics 11 hours ago 

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Last year the Iraqi military took delivery of three Chinese CH-4 Cai Hong drones, an aircraft that, according to its creators, is better than the American MQ-1B Predator. The CH-4s are flying from Al-Hayy airbase in support of operations in Anbar province, site of Ramadi and Fallujah, where heavy fighting has been taking place. A recent Iraqi video (warning: graphic combat footage) shows four drone strikes, and claims that the drones destroyed one suicide car bomb before it could be used, two other vehicles carrying fighters, and a covered trench occupied by ISIS. The Cai Hong-4 ( "Rainbow 4") was developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the nation's leading military drone makers. ...

Business

I took a ride on Bombardier's brand-new airliner — this is what it was like

Business Insider 20 hours ago 

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The stakes were high. It doesn’t happen often that a bunch of CEOs of some of the world’s most important airlines fly on one and the same aircraft. And unlike in other industries, where the top brass can never travel together in the air, the airline industry rather demonstrates its full confidence in an aircraft that is not in commercial service yet. Such was the setting of flight BBA505 from Dublin to Zurich on June 3. As SWISS is the launch customer for the long-delayed Canadian twin jet, for the first time attempting to challenge Airbus and Boeing in their bread-and-butter market of 120-160 seaters, this was the perfect opportunity for Bombardier. The airline industry leaders had gathered ...

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OrlandoSentinel.com allowing free, unlimited access to Tropical Storm Colin coverage

Orlando Sentinel 7 hours ago 

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With the impact of Tropical Storm Colin on the Central Florida region, OrlandoSentinel.com is allowing free, unlimited access to all weather coverage on the website as a public service. While the region is under tropical storm watches and warnings, all stories and photos with Tropical Storm Colin coverage on our weather channel will not count against our website meter. ...

Every 230 million years, the Earth completes its longest journey

Business Insider 20 hours ago 

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Sure, the Earth goes around the sun every year, and it's a wonderful thing. But we're making another, much more impressive journey, all the time. Every 230 million years or so, Earth and the rest of our solar system complete one long trek around the Milky Way, our home galaxy. If that sounds like an incomprehensibly large number, here's some context: We've only made the full journey about 20 times. Ever. So if you find yourself feeling stuck in the mud on a project, try taking a moment to remember that every second of every day, our solar system hurtles through 130 miles of space. Check "make an epic journey" off today's to do list. ...