China has flown 68 warplanes and deployed 10 navy vessels around Taiwan in a day’s span – just weeks after the US announced its first-ever transfer of military equipment to the island. 

The move is the latest in military demonstrations between China, Taiwan and the US. 

The 68 plane total came a day after Taipei said 35 Chinese warplanes were detected around the self-ruled island, with some then flying to join China’s Shandong aircraft carrier for naval drills in the Western Pacific. 

Communist China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and relations have soured since Taiwan’s independence. When Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, Beijing ratcheted up military and political pressure on the island. 

The US has been a long backer of Taiwan, including Nancy Pelosi making a visit to the island in 2022. Last month, President Joe Biden‘s administration announced an $80million transfer of military hardware to Taiwan. 

The State Department informed Congress of the $80 million package, which is small compared with recent sales to Taiwan but marks the first assistance to Taipei under the Foreign Military Financing program, which generally involves grants or loans to sovereign countries.

The State Department did not formally announce the aid or give details, but a person familiar with the notice said the assistance would involve support to improve awareness at sea. 

Taiwan’s defense ministry said beginning at around 6 a.m. local time, Chinese warplanes, including J-10 fighters, had flown into the southwestern corner of the island’s air defense identification zone, or ADIZ.

‘This year, the Chinese Communist Party has aggressively expanded its armaments and continued to build various types of fighter jets and drones,’ Taiwanese Major General Huang Wen-Chi said in a statement. 

Some of the Chinese aircraft crossed the Bashi Channel to carry out drills with the Chinese aircraft carrier the Shandong in the Pacific, the ministry added.

Japan’s defense ministry also said Wednesday its navy had detected six ships – including frigates, destroyers, one fast combat support ship and the Shandong – sailing through waters some 400 miles south of Miyakojima island, east of Taiwan. 

Japan sent a destroyer to monitor the Chinese ships and confirmed that jet fighters and helicopters aboard the Shandong conducted landing training, the ministry added. 

China’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan’s forces monitored the situation, including sending up its own air force planes and activating air defense systems, the ministry added, using the normal phrasing for its response to such Chinese incursions.

A Chinese naval formation led by the Shandong entered the western Pacific for training, Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Monday. 

Separately, more than 20 Chinese warships, including Type 055 destroyers, sailed through the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait into the Pacific on Wednesday, a senior official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters. 

The Chinese naval maneuver, along with the training exercises by the carrier group, were an ‘obvious challenge’ to the recent military activities by the United States and its allies in the region, the person said.

‘They want to show that they got the total control of the west of the first island chain,’ the person said, referring to the area which runs from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China’s coastal seas.

A US and a Canadian warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, the U.S. Navy said, marking the second such joint mission since June and coinciding with the leaders of both countries attending the G20 summit in India.

The two countries’ navies also conducted a series of exercises in the South China Sea this week, according to the US Navy.

China has been increasing its military operations around Taiwan over the past few years in response to what it calls ‘collusion’ between Taiwan independence forces and the US.

For five decades, the United States has officially recognized only Beijing although Congress, under the Taiwan Relations Act, requires the supply of weapons to the self-governing democracy for its defense. 

The State Department insisted that the first-ever aid under the program did not imply any recognition of Taiwan sovereignty.

‘Consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and our longstanding One China policy, which has not changed, the United States makes available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary to enable it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability,’ a State Department spokesperson said.

‘The United States has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, which is critical to regional and global security and prosperity.’

Taiwan’s defense ministry expressed gratitude. ‘The aid will help in regional peace and stability,’ it said in a short statement.

China’s defense ministry, asked about the aid at a regular briefing, warned that US military aid to Taiwan would harm the island.

‘US military aid and sales to Taiwan only nourish the US military-industrial complex while harming the security and well-being of Taiwan compatriots,’ spokesperson Wu Qian told a briefing.

‘In this regard, the People’s Liberation Army will, as always, take all necessary measures to resolutely counter it,’ he added, referring to the Chinese military by its official name.

Kevin McCarthy greeted Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in his home state of California in April amid rising threats from China warning the two leaders against bilateral talks.

The House Speaker led a bipartisan group of lawmakers to meet with Tsai and her delegation as they wrap up a highly controversial and closely-watched tour through Central and North America.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited in August of 2022, becoming the first speaker to do so since 1997. 

It’s known for its beautiful architecture and breathtaking coastline, but now Malta has a new claim to fame. 

Experts have revealed that it’s the country with the highest levels of body confidence. 

In a new global study, researchers from Anglia Ruskin University surveyed over 56,000 people from 65 nations about their body image. 

Malta, Taiwan, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan topped the list as the most body confident countries. 

At the other end of the table, Australia, India, and UK were revealed as the countries with the lowest levels of body confidence. 

Previous research has found a link between high levels of body appreciation and a range of positive wellbeing traits, including improved self-esteem and healthy eating habits. 

However, until now, little research has looked at how body appreciation varies around the world. 

To answer this question, the team enlisted 56,968 participants from 65 nations who were surveyed about their body image. 

Participants were asked to rate how much they agreed with 10 statements, including ‘I respect my body’, and ‘I appreciate the different and unique characteristics of my body.’ 

Overall, the results revealed that having a more positive body image was strongly associated with better psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction. 

Professor Viren Swami, lead author of the study, said: ‘This is one of the largest studies on body image ever carried out, brought about by a collaborative research effort involving over 250 scientists across the world. 

‘Our finding that greater body appreciation is associated with better psychological wellbeing highlights the importance of developing ways to promote more positive body image globally.’

Breaking the results down by country, the researchers found that Malta topped the list as the most body confident, followed by Taiwan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, South Korea and the Philippines. 

At the other end of the scale, people in Australia had the lowest body confidence, followed by India, the UK, Ireland, Ukraine, Germany and the USA.  

Finally, the study found that, across nations, body appreciation was higher in people living in rural areas, as well as those who were single. 

‘People who live in urban areas may feel stronger pressure to conform to body ideals promoted by Western society, and it is also notable that people from countries considered culturally different to the United States appeared to have broadly greater body appreciation,’ Professor Swami said. 

‘People in rural areas may also benefit from being in nature, which past research has also shown to be linked with positive body image.’

The researchers hope the findings will encourage authorities around the world to promote more positive body image.

‘We are confident that the present work will help scholars better understand the meaning and manifestation of body appreciation across nations, and will be of value to practitioners and policy-makers seeking to promote more positive body image outcomes in diverse national, cultural, and linguistic groups,’ the team wrote in the study, published in Body Image. 

How sewer robots helped a Taiwan city kill off disease-carrying mosquitoes: Machine scanned sewers for larvae to eliminate

By Matthew Phelan Senior Science Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 16:15 EDT, 16 June 2023

Rep. Mike Gallagher says China may be the only issue lawmakers can agree on currently as Congress remains gridlocked on a way out of defaulting on $31trillion in debt. 

Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, shepherded through policy recommendations to combat the greatest threat to the U.S., which is Chinese aggression – on physical, technological and intellectual levels.

On Wednesday, his bipartisan select committee passed two reports on a voice vote – one dealing with how to bolster Taiwan‘s security in the direct face of a growing Chinese threat, and another on the CCP’s ongoing genocide of Uighur Muslims.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., was the only lawmaker to vote ‘no’ on the committee. 

‘Amid broader congressional gridlock, the select committee was able to pass two reports with two sets of recommendations that are bipartisan but very strong,’ Gallagher said during a press call.

He referenced the ongoing talks between the Biden administration and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who are still far from striking a deal to stave off default. 

Negotiations continued at the White House on Wednesday, but the two sides are hung up on a top line number on spending cuts.

McCarthy told reporters ‘I don’t think there will be a default’ and both sides made some ‘progress’ today. 

Gallagher said the ’10 for Taiwan’ plan is not a ‘comprehensive list of everything we need to do,’ but it outlines the major areas that the 118th Congress can accomplish. 

The recommendations were put together following a ‘war games’ scenario the committee conducted in April that concluded the U.S. stockpile of precision-guided missiles would be wiped out within two weeks if China invades Taiwan. 

As a result, the 10-point proposal was created in order to ‘meaningfully enhance’ deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, including by establishing a weapons stockpile to protect the island.

Also as part of the 10 recommendations, the U.S. would expand communications channels with the Taiwanese military and disperse U.S. troops in the Indo-Pacific region. 

The plan was constructed in a way where the recommendations are ‘teed up’ for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), he added.

‘So I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll be able to get a lot of it into the NDAA,’ Gallagher said, noting that several members of the select committee also sit on the Armed Services Committee.

On the genocide set of recommendations, Gallagher called them ‘achievable’ this Congress. 

The committee voted to sanction CCP officials responsible for genocide and ensure American companies are not complicit by exploiting loopholes.

The chairman told reporters that it’s important that the U.S. or American companies don’t ‘inadvertently fund’ genocide. 

It will also ‘change the behavior’ of large players in the private sector who ‘too often turn a blind eye’ to the atrocity, he added. 

Both passed recommendations are a blueprint for legislative action, Gallagher said. He does not intend them to ‘sit up on a shelf somewhere and collect dust.’

‘I am here to get stuff done.’

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers led by Gallagher traveled to London last week to meet with top UK leaders to find ways for both nations to work together in order to effectively counter China’s growing aggression on multiple fronts.

A select committee aide said the lawmakers and the leaders in the UK recognize that the trip was designed to figure out the best ways to work together to counter China’s aggression since they are ‘all in the same boat.’ 

‘The CCP aggression is global,’ a committee aide told DailyMail.com. ‘It extends to all facets including economic, military and cyber coercion.’ 

During the meetings abroad, AUKUS – a trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and the U.S. – came up in nearly every discussion.

The lawmakers debated over how to get AUKUS implementation right, and that means International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) reform, according to a source familiar with the meetings.

Additionally, the leaders were hopeful that AUKUS can be a springboard for increased military and technological cooperation.

The source added that one key idea that emerged from the weekend was that the U.S.-UK ‘special relationship’ – now expanded with the AUKUS platform – could be a new model type of ‘flexible diplomacy.’

Altering a gene in mice allows them to live up to 20 per cent longer and protects them against cancer, scientists have discovered. 

Researchers today hailed the findings as a ‘big surprise’, saying they’ve yet to find any negative side effects.

And the team, from Taiwan, think the benefits could one day apply to humans, too.

Rodents were genetically-engineered in a lab to have a mutated version of the KLF1 gene.

These mice ended up living longer, were unusually active in middle-age and did not go grey as early, experts claimed.

Pushing their age-defying experiment further, researchers at Academia Sinica then decided to inject a group of unmodified mice with blood from the rodents found to live longer.

Mice given the modified protein ‘typically’ lived for five months longer, an increase of around 20 per cent.

Two-month-old mice are very roughly equivalent to 18-year-old people, according to New Scientist, which first reported the findings.

They also remained healthier for longer, with their physical and mental performance starting to decline later than unmodified mice.

All humans already carry the KLF1 gene, which regulates the production of new red blood cells. 

The findings, published on pre-print website, bioRxiv, also found the mice given the mutated KLF1 via a single bone marrow cell transplant, ‘appeared to have significantly higher anti-cancer capability’ than normal mice. 

They showed ‘reduced tumour growth’ and lower rate of ‘spontaneous cancer incidence’, researchers said, at 12.5 per cent compared to 75 per cent in mice who did not undergo the procedure. 

The cancer resistance of KLF1-mutated mice was not dependent on their age, gender or genetic background, scientists also found. 

Overall, the findings have ‘demonstrated the feasibility’ of a new approach to blood cell production ‘for anti-disease and anti-ageing’, the researchers said.

One of the scientists, Che-Kun James Shen, said: ‘So far, we have not found any negative side effects.’ 

Researchers also later injected modified cells, which show similarities to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) into the mice. 

ALS, a common form of the incurable motor neurone disease, is a rare condition that progressively damages parts of the nervous system. 

This leads to muscle weakness, often with visible wasting.

Mice with the mutated KLF1 genes were found to have significantly slower progress of the condition, researchers said.  

Responding to the researchers findings, Professor Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, a molecular biogerontologist at the University of Birmingham, said: ‘I am convinced of the life-extending properties of this mutation.’ 

Gene editing blood stem cells could also have ‘great potential as a therapy for ageing’, he added.

It comes as previous studies have also found infusions of young blood plasma could reinvigorate ageing organs and tissues, leading researchers to rush to produce and trial therapies based on the plasma. 

But while studies have found benefits for rodents, there is no evidence to date that this approach to youthfulness will help humans dodge the passage of time. 

A Chinese language uncrewed fight plane has flown round Taiwan, the island’s defence ministry stated, showcasing Beijing’s capacity to assault its fall-back east coast bases, as a U.S. maritime patrol plane transited the Taiwan Strait.

China, which views democratically ruled Taiwan as its personal territory, has elevated army stress on the island over the previous three years because it tries to drive Taipei to simply accept its sovereignty declare.

This month, China staged conflict video games round Taiwan after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met U.S. Home of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

Taiwan’s defence ministry, in an early Friday replace of Chinese language army actions over the earlier 24 hours, stated 38 army plane had entered the island’s air defence identification zone.

A type of was a TB-001 drone, nicknamed the twin-tailed scorpion, which flew round Taiwan, first crossing the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, then up the east of Taiwan earlier than crossing again towards the Chinese language coast, based on a map supplied by the ministry.

It was noticed between 6 am (1000 GMT) Thursday and 6 am Friday.

Chieh Chung, a army researcher at Taiwan’s Nationwide Coverage Basis suppose tank, stated that in a conflict, China was prone to ship the TB-001 to identify targets on the island’s east coast, the place Taiwan would shelter reserve forces, as bases there don’t face China.

‘It should enable the communist’s army’s naval and air forces within the Western Pacific, together with air drive strike teams or service battle teams, to launch assaults’ on the east coast, he stated.

He added that it was not the primary time a Chinese language drone has flown round Taiwan, however was most probably to first time it did so fully inside Taiwan’s air defence zone.

Chinese language state media has referred to the TB-001 because the ‘twin-tailed scorpion’ and has proven footage of it carrying missiles, saying it’s able to high-altitude, long-range missions.

China’s air drive has flown what it calls ‘island encirclement’ missions with the crewed, nuclear-capable H-6 bomber.

The tensions round Taiwan have alarmed Washington and its allies, which have repeatedly expressed concern at China’s behaviour and known as for no pressured change in the established order.

A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance plane flew by way of the Taiwan Strait on Friday, and a senior French lawmaker confirmed a warship from his nation had lately transited the delicate waterway.

The US, and sometimes its allies, have routinely despatched warships and plane by way of the Taiwan Strait lately.

The U.S. Navy’s seventh Fleet stated the Poseidon flew in worldwide airspace.

‘By working throughout the Taiwan Strait in accordance with worldwide legislation, the USA upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,’ it stated in a press release. ‘The plane’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the USA’ dedication to a free and open Indo-Pacific.’

China’s army stated it monitored the plane, and accused the USA of provocative behaviour within the strait.

China stated final 12 months that it has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait, and stated it was ‘a false declare’ to check with the strait as worldwide waters.

The US and Taiwan each say China’s place isn’t right.

Assembly Tsai at her workplace in Taipei on Friday, a French lawmaker and former defence minister stated sending a warship by way of the strait confirmed his nation’s dedication to safety.

‘I wish to inform you that our parliament’s view is that the safety of Taiwan is a vital concern for us and we’re encouraging our authorities to remain alert on safety within the Strait, because the latest passage of our warship has once more demonstrated,’ French Senate Vice President Alain Richard stated.

He didn’t say when the crusing occurred, and neither the French nor Taiwanese governments has formally confirmed particulars. Taiwan’s defence ministry stated this month it was conscious of the transit.

French President Emmanuel Macron lately warned in opposition to being drawn right into a disaster over Taiwan pushed by an ‘American rhythm and a Chinese language overreaction’.