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Military  China's sole operational aircraft carrier passed through the Taiwan Strait Wednesday, the island's defence ministry said, as Beijing steps up pressure on its democratic rival. It comes weeks after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen warned against what she called China's "military expansion" -- the increase of air and naval drills around the island since she came to power in May 2016. Beijing views the self-ruling island as part of its territory, to be reunified at some point. Cross-strait relations have become increasingly frosty as Tsai refuses to acknowledge Taiwan is part of "one China". The aircraft carrier -- a second-hand Soviet ship -- caused a stir in Taiwan when it first entered the strait in January last year, viewed as a symbolic show of strength by Beijing. The defence ministry said the Liaoning carrier and accompanying vessels entered Taiwan's air defence zone early Wednesday morning and left by noon. The fleet, which ...

It wasn’t long ago that Brazil planned to retrofit its vintage aircraft carrier  Sao Paulo  to last until 2039. No longer. Instead, Brazil will  retire the 32,800-ton flattop  during the next three years, according to a report in IHS Jane’s. With Argentina having given up on carriers, Brazil’s decision will leave the United States with the only operational carriers in the Western Hemisphere. Sao Paulo  was originally the  Foch , a  Clemenceau -class carrier which first launched in 1960. During her 40 years in service with the French navy,  Foch ’s air wings dodged Yemeni MiGs, intervened in the Lebanese civil war and bombed Serbia during the Kosovo conflict. France sold  Foch  to Brazil in 2000, and the renamed  Sao Paulo  carried out exercises and launched Brazil’s AF-1 Skyhawk attack planes from her flat, catapult-launch deck — similar to U.S. carriers and the  Charles de Gaulle , France’s sole remaining fleet carrier...