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It's Thursday, the 20th of March, welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

Let's get briefed. First up, China's new amphibious assault barges are sparking fresh concerns that the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, is in the early stages, or at some stage, planning a potential full-scale invasion of Taiwan.

Later in the show, Israel unleashes a new wave of airstrikes overnight across Gaza, following the collapse of their

fragile ceasefire with Hamas, as the IDF prepares to ramp up ground operations in the enclave.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We'll start in China, where the regime's military

has unveiled their new D-Day-style assault barges. That's an ominous sign

regarding their potential plans to invade Taiwan. Footage recently emerged on Chinese social media

platforms showing the Chinese Navy conducting would look to be amphibious landing exercises with

the barges in the South China Sea.

Now, China has reportedly built at least five of these barges, which appear to draw inspiration

from the portable mulberry harbors that were developed by Britain for the normative landings

back in World War II. They've got unique features that analysts say are tailored to facilitate

a ground invasion from the sea. According to a report from the Telegraph, each barge is equipped with

an extendable road bridge that's about 400 feet long, roughly the length of one and a third

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