US lawmakers pass massive climate, health bill in big win for Biden

Democratic-led House of Representatives approves $430 billion bill that is seen as biggest climate package in US history, delivering a major legislative victory for President Biden ahead of November 8 midterm elections.

The House voted 220-207 along party lines to pass the measure titled "Inflation Reduction Act" and send it on to Biden to sign into law. (Reuters)

US lawmakers have adopted President Joe Biden's sprawling climate, tax and health care plan –– a major win for the veteran Democrat that includes the biggest ever American investment in the battle against global warming.

The House of Representatives on Friday approved the measure by a 220-207 vote along party lines following its adoption in the Senate on Sunday by a razor-thin margin, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

The legislation to fight the climate crisis and lower prescription drug prices aim to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions. 

It will also allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for the elderly and ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay the taxes they owe. 

Democrats say it will help combat inflation by reducing the federal deficit.

Democrats hope the legislation will help them at the polls in November, when voters decide the balance of power in Congress ahead of the 2024 presidential election. 

Republicans are favoured to win a majority in the House and could also take control of the Senate.

Biden quickly hailed the adoption of his plan, which includes a $370 billion investment aimed at bringing about a 40 percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

"Today, the American people won. Special interests lost," the president tweeted in the minutes after the vote.

Republicans say 'it will kill jobs'

The bill's main revenue source is a 15 percent corporate minimum tax aimed at stopping large, profitable companies from gaming the Internal Revenue Service code to slash their tax bills to zero, which has led to mixed reactions from business groups to the legislation.

Republicans oppose the legislation, warning it will kill jobs by raising corporate tax bills, further fuel inflation with government spending and inhibit the development of new drugs.

"Democrats more than any other majority in history are addicted to spending other people's money, regardless of what we as a country can afford," House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said in a floor speech.

But the bill does not leave the US fossil fuels industry out in the cold. 

Some provisions allow the federal government to authorise new wind and solar energy developments on federal land only when it is also auctioning rights to drill for oil and natural gas.

The fossil fuel protections disappointed progressives but posed no barrier to Democratic support.

About half of Americans support the climate and drug pricing legislation, including 69 percent of Democrats and 34 percent of Republicans, according to a Reuters news agency/Ipsos poll conducted on August 3 and 4.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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China’s massive war games continue, Taiwan hits out at ‘evil neighbour’

China has encircled Taiwan with a series of huge military drills — now into their second day — that have been condemned by the United States and other Western allies.

Set to last until Sunday, the exercises will take place in multiple zones around Taiwan — at some points within just 20 kilometres (12 miles) of the shore. (AFP)

Taiwan says Beijing's fighter jets and ships have crossed the median line that runs down the Taiwan Strait as part of its latest military drills, calling China "the evil neighbour next door".

China has been holding huge drills encircling Taiwan, which Beijing considers as its own territory, since Thursday to protest this week's visit to the island state by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The drills involve live firing on the waters and in the airspace near the self-ruled island state, with as many as four missiles believed to have flown over the capital Taipei in an unprecedented escalation during the exercises.

"This Chinese military exercise, whether it be the launch of ballistic missiles or the deliberate crossing of the median line of the strait, is a highly provocative act," Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"...multiple batches of Chinese warplanes and warships conducted exercises around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the median line of the strait."

The median line is an unofficial but once largely-adhered-to border that runs down the middle of the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan and China.

It was previously rare for military jets and ships to cross the median line, although Chinese incursions have become more common after Beijing declared in 2020 that the unofficial border no longer existed. 

And there has been a spike in median-line incursions during this week's drills.

Crossings of the line are sensitive because the Taiwan Strait is narrow, just 130 kilometres (81 miles) at its thinnest point, and incursions raise the risk of military accidents. 

READ MORE: Pelosi vows US will 'not allow' China to isolate Taiwan

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5hXU_LRgpU[/embed]

Show of strength

The latest drills are expected to continue until midday Sunday, and have sparked outrage from the United States, Japan and the European Union, as well as Taipei.

China defends the drills as just countermeasures in the face of provocations by the United States and its allies in Taiwan.

Taiwan's premier Su Tseng-chang called for allies to push for de-escalation on Friday.

"(We) didn't expect that the evil neighbour next door would show off its power at our door and arbitrarily jeopardise the busiest waterways in the world with its military exercises," he told reporters.

The military exercises have straddled some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Airlines too have cancelled flights to Taipei and rerouted others to avoid airspace nearby that has been closed to civilian traffic during Chinese military exercises.

Beijing is yet to formally confirm whether missiles overflew the island state during the drills, while Taipei has refused to confirm or deny the flight paths, citing intelligence concerns.

But Japan's defence ministry said of the nine missiles it had detected, four were "believed to have flown over Taiwan's main island".

Meng Xiangqing, a professor at China's military-affiliated National Defence University, told state broadcaster CCTV that the drills represented the People's Liberation Army's closest-ever exercises to the island, its first encirclement and the first time it set up a shooting range east of Taiwan.

"That's unprecedented," Bonnie Glaser, a Washington-based Asia security specialist at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said of statements that four ballistic missiles had been fired over Taiwan.

"In my view, the larger threat is that China is doing a rehearsal for a blockade, demonstrating it can block Taiwan's ports and airports, and prevent shipping," she said.

READ MORE: What are key developments in US-Taiwan ties?

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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Pelosi in Japan after Taiwan visit sparks massive China military drills

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with officials in Japan during the last leg of her controversial tour to Asia that has drawn Beijing's fury and led to outsized military exercises around Taiwan.

Pelosi reached Japan two days after she became the most senior US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. (Reuters)

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is meeting Japanese officials in Tokyo, following a visit to Taiwan that Beijing answered with unprecedented military drills and missile launches.

Pelosi will meet officials on Friday after arriving in Japan following a visit to South Korea on Thursday, where she vowed support to denuclearise North Korea.

In Tokyo, she and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met for discussions on Friday morning. She is also expected to meet her Japanese counterpart Hiroyuki Hosoda, speaker of the more powerful lower house of parliament.

Kishida condemned China's firing of ballistic missiles during military drills around Taiwan, five of which Tokyo believes landed in its exclusive economic zone.

The missile launches are a "serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens," Fumio Kishida told reporters after meeting Pelosi for breakfast.

Pelosi's brief trip to Taiwan, where she arrived unannounced with a congressional delegation late on Tuesday and left on Wednesday, marked the highest-level US visit to the island state, which China says is its inseparable province, in 25 years.

It also came as Tokyo, one of Washington's closest allies, has been increasingly alarmed about China's growing might in the Asia-Pacific and the possibility that Beijing could take military action against Taiwan.

"China has chosen to overreact and use the speaker's visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

"The temperature's pretty high," but tensions "can come down very easily by just having the Chinese stop these very aggressive military drills," he added.

Largest Chinese drills in area

Pelosi lauded Taiwan's democracy and pledged American solidarity. Beijing responded with military drills that a state broadcaster said would be the largest by China in the Taiwan Strait, including live firing on the waters and in the airspace around the island.

Five missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone, prompting Tokyo to lodge a strong protest through economic channels.

Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan is an escalating national security threat.

PM Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has also pledged to double military spending to 2 percent of GDP.

Tensions between Japan and China ramped up a notch on Thursday when China announced that a meeting between the two nations' foreign ministers, set to take place on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Cambodia, had been called off due to its displeasure with a G7 statement urging Beijing to resolve Taiwan tension peacefully.

Source: Reuters

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Chile investigates massive sinkhole

Fast News

The National Service of Geology and Mining (Sernageomin) has sent specialist personnel to the area to run an inquiry on the sinkhole.

A sinkhole is exposed at a mining zone close to Tierra Amarilla town, in Copiapo, Chile, August 1, 2022. (Reuters)

Chilean authorities started investigating a mysterious sinkhole about 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter that appeared over the weekend in a mining area in the north of the country.

Chilean media on Monday showed aerial images of the sinkhole on land operated by a Canadian Lundin Mining copper mine, about 665 kilometers (413 miles) north of capital Santiago.

The National Service of Geology and Mining (Sernageomin) became aware of the sinkhole on Saturday and has sent specialist personnel to the area, the agency's director David Montenegro said in a statement.

"There is a considerable distance, approximately 200 meters (656 feet), to the bottom," Montenegro said. "We haven't detected any material down there, but we have seen the presence of a lot of water."

A sinkhole is exposed at a mining zone close to Tierra Amarilla town, in Copiapo, Chile, August 1, 2022. (Reuters)

Sernageomin reported the closure of areas from the entrance to the work site of the Alcaparrosa mine, located near the sinkhole.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Lundin Mining said the sinkhole did not affect any workers or community members.

"The closest home is more than 600 meters (1,969 feet) away while any populated area or public service are almost a kilometer away from the affected zone," the statement read.

Lundin Mining owns 80 percent of the property and the rest is held by Japan's Sumitomo Corporation.

Source: Reuters

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Hong Kong authorities to investigate after massive screen falls during concert, injures dancers

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Hong Kong officials said Friday they would open an investigation into a concert accident where a giant LED video screen fell down onto the stage and injured two dancers.

Video clips from the Cantopop group Mirror concert Thursday night show a massive LED screen suspended above the stage crashing down, directly landing on one dancer before toppling over onto another as audience members scream in horror.

The injured performers were immediately sent to the Queen Elizabeth hospital.

"One of the injured is staying in the intensive care unit in serious condition and underwent an operation [Friday]. Accompanied by his family, the other injured person in stable condition was discharged this afternoon," the Hospital Authority said in a statement.

Local media reported that Chang Tsz-fung, 29, was released from hospital, while Mo Lee Kai-yin, 27, remained in the hospital in serious condition.

Kai-yin dislocated the third and fourth sections of his cervical vertebrae, leaving him unable to move. Doctors were able to stabilize him after an overnight procedure and surgery.

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Authorities found that one of the two metal cords holding up the screen had snapped during the concert. An investigation is currently underway as experts attempt to figure out what exactly caused the suspension wires to fail. 

The concert’s various contractors, including Engineering Impact and Hip Hing Loong, will be participating in the investigation with authorities.

Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung told reporters Friday the government was "very concerned" about the incident and that an investigation would be conducted, likely over several weeks.

"We will do research to find out whether (the steel cable broke) due to an operational or material problem. It cannot currently be concluded at this stage," said Yeung, adding that the incident will affect "all future performances."

Authorities will also try to determine if any safety improvements are needed at other venues for upcoming performances to minimize the chances of such an incident occurring again, Yeung said.

Officers from the Labour Department have collected evidence from the venue and will work to determine who is responsible for the incident, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun said.

He said all activity under the remaining suspended screens at the venue will be halted, and organizers will work with government officials to determine how best to remove the suspended screens safely.

Kevin Yeung (3rd L), secretary for culture, sports and tourism of the HKSAR government, speaks to the media after inspecting the Hong Kong Coliseum on July 29, 2022 in Hong Kong, China. (Li Zhihua/China News Service via Getty Image)

Hong Kong leader John Lee said Friday that authorities will "comprehensively investigate the incident" and review safety requirements for future performances, according to a government statement.

He also said the government would help family members of one of the injured dancers be able to travel from Canada to Hong Kong to see him.

Concert organizer MakerVille said in a statement it was "deeply saddened" over the injuries of two performers and that it would work with authorities in the probe.

"If we find anything suspicious, or if any person or unit is involved in misconduct, we will immediately report it to the police," the statement read.

The concert on Thursday was the fourth of 12 scheduled concerts by Mirror, with tens of thousands of fans having bought tickets.

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The remaining eight shows have been canceled, but concert organizers announced that they will issue refunds to the fans.

Mirror, the 12-member band, has skyrocketed in popularity in Hong Kong and been credited with the revival of Cantopop.

Sarah Rumpf is a Fox News Digital Production Assistant. You can reach her on Twitter at @rumpfsarahc 

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Texas fishermen bow massive 271-pound alligator gar

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A group of fishermen in Texas reeled in a huge alligator gar last week. 

South Texas Bowfishing, a business that offers guided bowfishing tours in the area, posted on Facebook about the massive fish that three customers caught on July 18. 

The alligator gar weighed 271 pounds and was measured at 7 feet, 11 inches long and 48 inches around, according to the Facebook post. 

VIRGINIA MAN CATCHES 66-POUND BLUE CATFISH, BREAKS STATE RECORD

"New personal record for South Texas Bowfishing," the business posted on Facebook. "Had a great group of repeat customers that connected on true once in a lifetime trophy."

A group of fishermen in Texas caught a 271-pound alligator gar that was 7 feet, 11 inches long last week.  (South Texas Bowfishing)

The post ended with: "7’ 11" giant with a 48" girth weighing in at 271 pounds. We still have dates available through end of September. Message us and get booked for a great time."

Scott Meshell, who runs South Texas Bowfishing, told Fox News Digital that his three customers – LG Selvidge, Tim Selvidge and John Jackson – caught the gar on July 17. 

The massive alligator gar was caught by three customers on a guided fishing tour led by South Texas Bowfishing. (South Texas Bowfishing)

Meshell said it was the largest alligator gar he's had on his boat. However, the Texas state record for the heaviest alligator gar caught by bowfishing was a 290-pound gar caught in 2001 – just 19 pounds heavier than the one Meshell's customers caught. 

"[It was] definitely an amazing experience for me as a guide," Meshell told Fox News Digital. "It's one of my highlights." 

ILLINOIS TEEN FISHERMAN CATCHES 50-INCH MUSKIE: ‘A WHOLE EXPERIENCE’

In May, two other Texas fishermen caught another rare fish: a melanistic alligator gar, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Justin Jordan, who runs Lotus Guide Service in the Galveston, Texas-area, brought a customer fishing in May when they found the black alligator gar. 

TEXAS FISHERMAN REELS IN MASSIVE ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE: ‘EVERYTHING WENT CRAZY’

"The fish started jumping out of the water and going crazy," Jordan told Fox News Digital at the time. "When we got it over to the boat and it reached the surface, we saw it and it was jet black."

Justin Jordan and Terrell Maguire reeled in this melanistic alligator gar in May. (Justin Jordan/Lotus Guide Service)

Typically, alligator gars are more of an olive brown color, according to National Geographic. FTW Outdoors reported that fishermen rarely see or catch melanistic alligator gar. 

The fish can also grow up to 10 feet long and weigh up to 350 pounds, National Geographic reported. 

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After Jordan and his client caught the black alligator gar, they took a few photographs and released it back in the water, Jordan told Fox News Digital. 

"It was really cool," Jordan said. "It was special. It’s almost like it was meant to happen, that we were supposed to catch that fish."

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Ann W. Schmidt is a lifestyle reporter and editor for Fox News Digital. 

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