The Truth About Islam's Origins That Historians Were Afraid to Tell You

 

 https://youtu.be/iaw6O71-DmI?si=9XnN5ObA0ecfg5PQ

 

Arafura Rare Earths mine green-lit as federal government agrees to buy 500 tonnes of product per year

 A Northern Territory rare earths mine at the centre of a Trump-Albanese deal will proceed, after the federal government agreed to buy up to 500 tonnes of product per year.

Arafura Rare Earths has announced the Nolans mine 135 kilometres north of Alice Springs will go ahead, decades after it was first flagged as a prospect.

Nolans has received hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding and was listed as a priority in a critical minerals deal between the US and Australian governments last year.

Multi-billionaire Gina Rinehart is also a key investor in the project, which would extract and then process rare earths, producing NdPr oxide.

Managing director Darryl Cuzzubbo told the ABC Country Hour the announcement was "the starting line" and production was several years away.

"We're very excited to be moving into construction … there's a lot of parties that have supported us, different levels of government, different investors," he said.

    "A big thank you to them and their support."

NdPr oxide is used in electric vehicle motors, renewable energy production, defence technology and advanced manufacturing.

Nolans would be Australia's first ore-to-oxide rare earths facility, with a sulphuric acid plant planned for processing.

The federal government expects the site to supply about 4 to 5 per cent of global demand when at full capacity.
A man looks to the right of the photo, standing in front of microphones

Darryl Cuzzubbo says the project has long-term commercial viability. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)

Mr Cuzzubbo said it took decades to reach a final investment decision due to the complexities of building a processing facility, as well as a mine, in a market dominated by China.

Mr Cuzzubbo said Nolans will provide a viable supply alternative to Chinese operations.

"Almost all of the rare earths produced globally are only processed to a concentrate or a carbonate, whereas we take it one step further to an oxide," he said

"We have done that so that we can be an ex-China source of rare earths."

He said government support was crucial in securing private investment.

"Investors need to have seen that government support to be confident that ultimately pricing won't be controlled by one entity," he said.

    "It's important that like-minded governments and countries show a determination to break the control of pricing for rare earths."

an aerial view of an accommodation village at Nolans Bore.

The federal government has committed to buy up to 500 tonnes of NdPr oxide per year, with funds from its $1.2 billion Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve.

It is the first time the reserve has been used, according to federal Resources Minister Madeleine King.

Arafura has also signed supply agreements with a range of international companies.

This includes South Korean car manufacturers Hyundai and Kia, German renewable energy company Siemens Gamesa and US commodity trader Traxys.

China's dominance

A sustainable minerals expert at the University of Queensland, Ian Satchwell, said Nolans would reinforce Australia's position as the "pre-eminent" supplier of rare earths outside China.

"China currently produces more than 80 per cent of the world's light and heavy rare earths, and very close to 100 per cent of heavy rare earths," he said.

    "[Nolans] will be a significant inroad into the market and it will mean that China has less control over the global market."

Ian Satchwell says Australia is the second biggest supplier of rare earths, behind China.  (ABC News: Glyn Jones)

Professor Satchwell said China had long used its dominance to manipulate prices.

"China's behaving from their perspective, quite rationally; they dominate rare earths mining and processing," he said.

"It's in their best interests to keep competitors out of the market."

Battles to shrink the Federal Reserve's balance sheet begin

Battles to shrink the Federal Reserve's balance sheet begin


A line chart that tracks Federal Reserve assets weekly from May 17, 2006, to May 13, 2026. Assets rose from about $839 billion in May 2006 to $4.47 trillion in May 2016, peaked at $8.97 trillion, then eased to $6.73 trillion by May 2026.

Incoming Federal Reserve chief Kevin Warsh's ambition to shrink the central bank's multitrillion-dollar bond portfolio may quickly run into hard limits.

Why it matters: For nearly two decades, the Fed's ability to flood markets with liquidity has been among its most powerful crisis-fighting weapons — and, in Warsh's view, too often a go-to tool for monetary stimulus outside of crises.

    Now, the hot discussion among Fed officials and commentators is about how to responsibly shrink the Fed's asset portfolio — and whether that's even a worthwhile goal.

The big picture: The Fed's assets ballooned from about $800 billion before the 2008 financial crisis to nearly $9 trillion at its 2022 peak — swelling each time the central bank stepped in to stabilize the economy, particularly through open-ended quantitative easing programs starting in 2012 and 2020.

    Three years of runoff brought the balance sheet back to $6.7 trillion, though the Fed resumed slowly growing it again after signs of stress in critical funding markets last December.

What they're saying: Warsh, who's expected to be sworn in at the White House on Friday, has been a consistent critic of the size of the Fed's balance sheet and the intervention in financial markets that it generates.

    "As it's grown its balance sheet, grown its imprimatur on the economy, those with financial assets have benefited," Warsh said at his confirmation hearing.
    "If we were to cut rates, a broader number of people will benefit from it, versus quantitative easing, which tends to move through financial assets first."

Yes, but: Reducing the Fed's holdings could cause mortgage rates and other longer-term borrowing costs to rise.

    And if undertaken without first reducing demand for reserves in the banking system, it could destabilize money markets.
    "If in the near term we're talking about a significant decrease in the balance sheet, that seems incompatible in any comparable time frame with the view of potentially reducing interest rates," Roy Henriksson, head of investment risk and trading at investment firm GMO, told Axios on the sidelines of the Atlanta Fed financial markets conference.

Of note: Warsh seems well aware of the risks, and in his confirmation hearing emphasized the need to move "slowly and deliberately."

    "It took us 18 years to create this big balance sheet that's done quite a bit of harm," he said.

Zoom in: Sucking too much money out of the banking system risks a repeat of 2019, when the Fed's efforts to do just that forced a sharp reversal after money markets seized up.

    Former Chicago Fed president Charles Evans, speaking at the conference, said one way to shrink the balance sheet might be curbing banks' demand for reserves, cash that financial institutions park at the Fed — and the single biggest slice on the liabilities side of the balance sheet.

    But Evans was skeptical of proposals for doing just that — from Stephen Miran, Lorie Logan, Stanford scholar Darrell Duffie and others.
    "Personally, I worry that each of these are ambitious, substantial, Manhattan Project-like initiatives," Evans said, adding, "I have my doubts."

The intrigue: Roberto Perli, who oversees the Fed's markets operations at the New York Fed, said this week that a smaller balance sheet is possible if banks' demand for reserves shrinks, which could happen through regulatory changes.

    He did warn that draining too much cash from the banking system can go wrong fast.
    "The consequences" of misjudging, Perli said, extend "not only for rate control but also for the stability of repo markets and, by extension, the Treasury market."

What to watch: Warsh will find at least one colleague already on record against his agenda.

    In a speech last week, Fed governor Michael Barr said that shrinking the balance sheet is "the wrong objective," noting that proposals to do so "would undermine bank resilience, impede money market functioning, and, ultimately, threaten financial stability."
    Some proposals to reduce the Fed's footprint, he added, would paradoxically require more frequent Fed intervention in markets, not less.

The bottom line: "Any longing for the good old days of $800 billion is just completely unrealistic," Evans said.

Marles, Hegseth to reveal ‘marquee’ military project in Singapore

  

Marles, Hegseth to reveal ‘marquee’ military project in Singapore

 Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles is preparing to meet his American and British counterparts in Singapore next week, when they are expected to announce a new AUKUS project that will breathe life into the neglected high-tech arm of the security pact.

The meeting of the AUKUS defence ministers is planned for the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La defence summit, according to Washington-based defence industry sources and a US official, all of whom requested anonymity to share details of private briefings.

自稱中國人的都該回顧一下這段歷史

自稱中國人的都該回顧一下這段歷史

數日前，川普在北京人民大會堂的國宴上致詞，提到了一段多數人都不知道的歷史。

他說：崇拜米國首任總統 #喬治華盛頓 的中國人們，送來一塊現在嵌在 #華盛頓紀念碑 裡的石碑，上面寫著一位中國官員將華盛頓這位偉大的將軍和政治家描述為「人類卓越的典範」。

這話從米國總統嘴裡說出來，兩國在場的高官應該都是一頭霧水。畢竟連米國人自己，也沒幾個知道那座 169 公尺高的方尖碑裡，竟藏著一篇清朝人寫的文言文。

這件事，要從 1853 年說起。

那一年是清咸豐三年，距離鴉片戰爭結束已11 年，彼時開國尚不足百年的米國正在籌建華盛頓紀念碑，向全世界徵集紀念石碑。消息傳到了中國，當時在寧波傳教的米國藉傳教士丁韙良，想到他讀過的一本叫《瀛寰志略》的書，裡面有段對華盛頓的評價，寫得極其精采。於是他聯合寧波在地的基督教信徒，買了一塊上等花崗岩，把那段文字刻了上去，以「大清國浙江寧波府」的名義，漂洋過海送到了米國。

這塊石碑後來被砌進了華盛頓紀念碑第十層的內壁上，成了裡頭 193 塊石碑中唯一的中文碑。

石碑高 1.6 公尺，寬 1.2 公尺，正楷刻了 207 個字。它在那裡安安靜靜待了 145 年，沒有人注意過。直到 1998 年，柯林頓訪華，在北京大學演講時提到這塊碑，才讓世人知道這個典故。而今年川普在國宴上再次提起，算是第二次讓它回到大眾的視野裡。

那這塊碑上到底寫了什麼，值得兩位米國總統在一百七十多年後兩度提及？

碑文內容是這樣的：「按，華盛頓，異人也。起事勇於勝，廣，割據雄於曹，劉。既已提三尺劍，開疆萬里，乃不僭位號，不傳子孫，而創為推舉之法，幾於天下為公，駸駸乎三代之遺意。」

「米利堅合眾國以為國，幅員萬里，不設王侯之號，不循世及之規，公器付之公論，創古今未有之局，一何奇也！泰西古今人物，能不以華盛頓為稱首哉！」

翻譯成白話：華盛頓這個人，真是個奇人。論起義打仗，他比陳勝、吳廣還猛；論割據一方，他比曹操、劉備還強。然而最不可思議的是，他提著劍打下萬里江山，居然不稱帝、不傳位給子孫，而是搞了一套「推舉之法」，這簡直跟中國上古三代天下為公的理想一樣了。

寫這段話的人，叫 #徐繼畬。

徐繼畬是山西五台人，19 歲中舉人，32 歲中進士，一路做到福建巡撫，算是晚清的封疆大吏。道光 22 年 (1842) 蒙皇帝召見，派他去廈門、福州辦理通商事務。在那裡，他天天跟外國人打交道，從傳教士和各國商人交談間問出了全世界的模樣。從 1844 年開始，他花了五年時間，寫成了這本《瀛寰志略》，系統性地介紹世界各國的地理、歷史、政治制度。

這本書最讓人吃驚的地方，是它對米國的評價。徐繼畬寫到米國的時候，不是把它當作「蠻夷番邦」來寫。他認認真真研究了米國的選舉制度和政治架構，然後給出了一個在當時堪稱石破天驚的判斷：這個沒有皇帝的國家，搞的「公器付之公論」（國家大事交給公眾來議論決定）是「創古今未有之局」。

一個清朝巡撫，頭頂上坐著皇帝，自己還是靠科舉上來的，居然敢公開誇獎番邦的選舉制度，還把它比作上古堯舜禹的聖王之道。

有這種思想的人，自然很難見容於朝廷；後來由於英國傳教士租賃福州神光寺一案遭到林則徐等人彈劾，隔年被降職甚至罷官，最終捲鋪蓋回了山西老家。

諷刺的是，1853 年那塊刻著他名字的石碑漂洋過海送到米國的時候，他本人正在山西賦閒，對這件事一無所知。

他在國內仕途不順，在米國卻成了名人。

1862 年碑文被翻譯成英文後，米國朝野大為震撼，簡短幾句就傳達出米國制度的精華，居然還是出自一個來自遙遠中國從未踏足米國的官員，而且如此推崇他們的國父。

1867 年，米國總統詹森特地製作了一幅華盛頓畫像，在北京舉行正式儀式，由米國駐華公使將畫像作為官方禮物送給徐繼畬。

大國相爭，不只是舞刀弄槍比威風，領導人間的唇槍舌劍更不能甘落下風。

即使狂妄自大如川普，兩任到頂也只能摸摸鼻子就下台。

川普是要回應習近平，白宮雖然沒有中南海的百齡古木，但開國元勳訂下的規矩可是未曾變動。祖宗之法不可變，米國人做到了，但中共國立國猶未滿百年就已然做不到囉。

而這，恰恰正是這塊石碑最耐人尋味的地方。

米國人崇尚個人英雄主義，追求進取的邊疆開拓精神；而中國人崇尚德治，講的是天下為公。

但米國的英雄會換人、會下台，而中國的天下為公其實骨子裡是一家天下啦。

中國死也想加入CPTPP

亞太經濟合作會議（APEC）貿易部長會議22日在中國蘇州登場，不過中國卻被爆出利用主辦國身分，舉辦「跨太平洋夥伴全面進步協定（CPTPP）」 相關活動（RCEP與CPTPP首次對話）。由於中國並非CPTPP成員，且活動未經正式程序事前核准，引發會員國困惑與反彈。

根據日媒《時事通信社》報導，中國濫用APEC輪值主辦國的身分，舉辦系列活動「RCEP與CPTPP首次對話」。區域全面經濟夥伴協定（RCEP）成員包含中國、日本、南韓及東南亞國協（ASEAN）。不過，由於中國目前並非CPTPP會員國，卻自行策劃相關活動並邀請各國參與，部分CPTPP成員國選擇不出席以表達不滿。

報導分析，在美國貿易政策趨向保護主義之際，CPTPP作為高標準、多邊貿易自由化協定，國際影響力逐漸提升。中國此舉被認為是為爭取加入CPTPP，並藉APEC主辦國身分，塑造自己是在亞太自由貿易議題上的主導角色。

報導指出，中國早在2021年就申請加入CPTPP，但至今尚未進入談判階段。如今傳出中國未經程序便主辦相關活動，部分成員國質疑這是「擅自舉辦」，不僅與CPTPP強調「共識」的運作原則不符，也可能對中國未來申請加入造成負面影響。

這次APEC貿易部長會議也預計討論「亞洲太平洋自由貿易區」（FTAAP），目標是在促進美國、俄羅斯、台灣等21個APEC成員國之間推動貿易自由化。中國據傳希望將透過CPTPP等大型自由貿易協定擴張，推動FTAAP實現的內容寫入共同聲明。

不過，隨著各國對中國試圖主導亞太貿易規則的警戒升高，加上這次CPTPP相關活動引發爭議，APEC共同聲明能否順利通過，仍充滿變數。

日媒爆川習會內幕 - 習近平點名批評日相高市早苗 遭川普反駁

日媒爆川習會內幕 - 習近平點名批評日相高市早苗 遭川普反駁



中國國家主席習近平當面向美國總統川普點名批評日本首相高市早苗，要求川普不要支持她，不過遭到川普反駁。

有日本媒體爆料，川習會期間，中國國家主席習近平當面向美國總統川普點名批評日本首相高市早苗，要求川普不要支持她，不過遭到川普反駁，稱高市並非應受到批判的領導人。

據《讀賣新聞》報導，多位日本政府消息人士透露，川習會期間，習近平特別點名批評了高市早苗和賴清德總統，聲稱他們威脅區域和平，習近平要求川普不要支持他們。

報導指出，習近平將高市與其視為「台獨勢力」的賴清德一同批評，意在削弱日美同盟。不過，川普並未附和習近平，而是稱高市並非「應被批評的領導人」。

而在川習會後，川普立刻致電高市早苗，高市早苗在兩人通話後向媒體表示，川普就此次訪中行程向她作了相當詳細的說明，並強調彼此再次確認了「堅不可摧」的日美同盟。

一名日本政府高層人士強調：「川普在習近平面前的回應，表明了他對首相的信任，也向中國展現了日美之間的團結。」