China Launches a Stealth Invasion in the South China Sea The Daily Beast 12 hours ago Sign in to like Reblog on Tumblr Tweet On Aug. 6, the Chinese government sent a stealth invasion force sailing into the disputed waters surrounding traditionally Japanese-occupied islands in the East China Sea. But there wasn’t a single Chinese naval warship among the nearly 250 vessels that swarmed the Senkaku Islands, around 250 miles southwest of Japan. Instead, Beijing deployed 13 coast guard ships, some of them armed, along with an estimated 230 fishing vessels operated by government-sponsored maritime militiamen. China has sent ships into disputed waters before, but never on this scale. “The latest developments … do seem to be a potentially significant escalation,” Christopher Hughes, a professor of international politics at ... Read more
Posts
Japan warns China of deteriorating ties over East China Sea dispute By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Eric Beech, Reuters 7 hours ago Comments Sign in to like Reblog on Tumblr Share Tweet Email By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Eric Beech TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japan warned China on Tuesday that ties were deteriorating over disputed East China Sea islets, and China's envoy in Tokyo reiterated Beijing's stance that the specks of land were its territory and called for talks to resolve the dispute. The diplomatic tussle comes amid simmering tension as China builds on outposts in the contested South China Sea, including what appear to be reinforced aircraft hangars, according to new satellite images. Ties between Asia's two largest economies have been strained in recent days since Japan saw a growing number of Chinese coastguard and other government ships sailing near the East China Sea islets, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu...
‘Clinging on for grim death': Fossils show ancient animals might have caused a mass extinction Washington Post 3 hours ago Sign in to like Reblog on Tumblr Tweet For markers of a mass extinction, the fossils dug up from the Namibian soil are not very impressive. The few animals caught in the rock are ribbon-shaped and worm-like. Many are nothing but impressions in 540-million-year-old sea bed muck, tunnels left behind by burrowing creatures whose soft bodies were not preserved. Others are small craters that erupt out of the ancient sand like exploded zits. The scientists studying these fossil traces say the indentations could not have been left by bubbling gas — where gas would leave a pointed impression like a volcano, these holes are concave — but are where predatory sea anemones once anchored themselves to the sea floor. If this fossil trove had a ... Read more
Science Supercharged Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks This Month SPACE.com 1 hour 5 minutes ago Sign in to like Reblog on Tumblr Tweet The Perseids are here: The dazzling meteor shower's peak of activity is Aug. 12, but you can already see its streaks of light peppering the sky. Skywatchers are particularly excited about this year's Perseids. Though the meteor shower is an annual event, the Perseids are in outburst this year. That means that rather than 80 meteors per hour, we might see 150 to 200 per hour, according to NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke. "Next, we move into the August Perseids, which is perhaps the most popular meteor shower of all," Cooke told Space.com in our summer meteor shower guide. "This year, they will be in what we call 'outburst' — their rates will double, because we're running into more material left ...
Major Chinese state paper calls for a military strike on Australian ships that enter the South China Sea Business Insider 9 hours ago Sign in to like Reblog on Tumblr Tweet China’s state-run Global Times has published an editorial attacking Australia for supporting the recent international ruling on China’s activities in the South China Sea and called for strikes on any Australian ships which might undertake “freedom-of-navigation” activities in the region. The editorial said Australia “is not even a ‘paper tiger’, it’s only a ‘paper cat’ at best”. It says that even though “Australia calls itself a principled country… when it needs to please Washington, it demonstrates willingness of doing anything in a show of allegiance”. As a result, the Global Times says (our emphasis): China must take revenge and let it know it’s wrong. Australia’s power means nothing compared ...