The island of Taiwan has formally signed an agreement with US arms firm Lockheed Martin to buy 66 F-16V fighter jets, reports said on Saturday, further raising tensions in the Taiwan Straits, and coming just two days after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced large-scale drills in response to US provocations and Taiwan secessionist activities. Source The Global Times
I must warn people in the US and Taiwan who hold this kind of thinking. Once they take the step of returning US forces to Taiwan, the PLA will definitely start a just war to safeguard China’s territorial integrity. China’s Anti-Secession Law is a tiger with teeth. Source ZeroHedge
French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation after two people were wounded in a knife attack in Paris on Friday near the former offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The suspected perpetrator, as well as six other men, have been taken into custody. Source France24
Mitsugi’s population as of the end of March marked a 13.8 percent plunge from 10 years ago, while Innoshima saw a similar drop of 12.4 percent. The statistics show both of these rural areas have been hemorrhaging its residents at a pace twice faster than central Onomichi, whose population has shrunk by 5.9 percent over the past decade. Source Japan Times
