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China Appoints Dong Jun As New Defense Minister Following Official Dismissal Of Predecessor
(CTN News) – China has appointed former naval commander Dong Jun as the new defense minister, replacing Li Shangfu, who was removed from the role two months ago without explanation following an extended absence from public view.
The National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislative body, announced Dong’s appointment during its final session of the year, according to state media Xinhua.
The NPC also disclosed the removal of nine military figures from their positions, without providing reasons for the sweeping changes. T
his move follows a series of recent military personnel shake-ups. Dong Jun, who served as the top commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy since 2021, fills the vacancy left by Li’s removal in October.
Li Shangfu, appointed defense minister in March, had not been seen in public since late August, leading to widespread speculation about his fate.
His removal was part of a broader pattern of unexplained personnel changes, including the dramatic ousting of former Foreign Minister Qin Gang in July and the removal of two leaders from the PLA’s Rocket Force.
Both Li and Qin assumed their roles earlier in the year, hand-picked by Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of his efforts to consolidate power and appoint loyalists to key positions.
These abrupt dismissals have raised concerns about the transparency of Xi’s governance and his consolidation of power within China’s political system.
Speculation Surrounds Purge in Chinese Military as Nine PLA Figures Removed from NPC Delegates
The removal of the nine People’s Liberation Army (PLA) figures as delegates to the National People’s Congress (NPC) is expected to spark speculation about a broader purge within the military.
This move aligns with Xi Jinping’s ongoing ten-year campaign to combat corruption within the ranks.
While the NPC is primarily considered a symbolic parliament, being appointed as a delegate signifies endorsement of one’s political elite status. Past instances have seen NPC delegates stripped of their positions due to corruption investigations.
Among those removed is Li Yuchao, the former chief of the Rocket Force, who lost his post in July, along with four other officials currently or formerly associated with the branch.
Two dismissals are linked to the Equipment Development Department, which recently announced an anti-corruption initiative. Two others have affiliations with the Air Force and the Navy, according to Xinhua.
Three of the dismissed officials hold the rank of generals, while four are lieutenant generals.
The shake-up also seems to have affected the military-industrial complex, as three executives from the aerospace sector had their positions in the country’s top political advisory body revoked earlier in the week, as reported by Xinhua.
Before Li, the former defense minister, disappeared from public view, Xi held a meeting in Beijing with the military’s top brass, emphasizing political loyalty, discipline, and the party’s “absolute leadership” over the armed forces.
In July, the PLA’s Equipment Development Department announced a new crackdown on corrupt procurement practices, coinciding with Li’s tenure as its head.
Despite these developments, the Chinese government has not provided information on any investigations, and none of the ousted officials have been publicly named in corruption allegations.
The whereabouts and reasons for Li’s absence remain undisclosed, with the Chinese government refusing to comment. The announcement on Friday did not offer additional details, only confirming Dong’s appointment.
Reports from The Wall Street Journal suggest that Li was taken away for questioning by authorities in September, according to a source close to Beijing’s decision-making.
The Financial Times also reported that the U.S. government believes the defense minister is under investigation, citing American officials, although the reasons for the investigation are not specified in either report.
China’s New Naval Commander and Diplomatic Implications
In 2021, the newly appointed minister, Dong, assumed the position of the top commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.
During a ceremony on Monday, former submarine commander Hu Zhongming was announced as his successor, being promoted to the rank of admiral.
Dong was observed at the event, seated in the front row, as shown in a video broadcast by state media.
Before taking command of the navy, Dong served as the deputy commander of the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command, responsible for overseeing operations in the South China Sea.
Under Xi’s leadership, Beijing has displayed increased assertiveness in the contested and strategically vital South China Sea.
The region has witnessed militarization of islands and the use of the expanding Chinese navy to reinforce its influence, despite rival claims from several Southeast Asian nations.
The role of the defense minister in China is largely ceremonial, serving as the public face of military diplomacy with other nations.
Unlike counterparts such as the U.S. defense secretary, the Chinese defense minister lacks direct command power, which resides with the Central Military Commission. Nevertheless, the defense minister traditionally holds a position on the commission.
Despite its ceremonial nature, the defense minister plays a crucial role in China’s military diplomacy. The appointment of Dong could potentially facilitate the ongoing restoration of high-level defense dialogue between the U.S. and China.
Recently, top U.S. and Chinese generals engaged in their first conversation in over a year, signaling the end of a strained period of silence between senior military officials from both nations.
China had severed communication in August 2022, following a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an island that Beijing’s ruling Communist Party claims, despite never having controlled it.
In 2018, the U.S. imposed sanctions on China’s former defense minister, Li, over China’s acquisition of Russian weapons. Beijing had consistently suggested that a meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Li would not occur unless the sanctions were lifted.

News
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.
According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.
Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.
Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.
Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.
To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.
Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.
Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

Pixa Bay
Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding
On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.
TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.
When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.
And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.
Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.
A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.
Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.
But today, it feels more like reality.
Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.
SOURCE | CNN
News
2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Washington — Trump Media, The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.
The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.
The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.
The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case
Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.
Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.
Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.
The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case
That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.
The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.
SOURCE | AP
News
The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.
The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.
Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.
This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.
In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.
The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.
This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.
The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.
In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.
According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.
Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.
The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.
For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.
Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.
As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.
As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.
The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.
SOURCE: AP
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