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Beijing's bandwidth to deliver is shrinking as its economic performance wanesIn Xi Jinping's official encounters with Western leaders at the Group of 20 Summit last week in Bali, the Chinese leader was accommodating, even collaborative. This made for a stark contrast with his rigid appearance last month at the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan before that. Indeed, Xi's swirling agenda of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G-20 could be seen as a charm offensive to shift from confrontation with the West to what might be...

The first thing you notice about America’s 42nd president when he walks out on stage is how much skinnier he is today than he was 30 years ago, when he staged a shocking upset of a sitting president who only a year earlier had a 90 per cent approval rating. Bill Clinton doesn’t really walk out on stage. He sort of ambles out slowly with a huge grin on his face, surveying the audience. On this day, it immediately offers a standing ovation even before he enters from the wings. And why not? Toronto has always loved Clinton, as evidenced...

Nine months after invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is beginning to fracture the West. Top European officials are furious with Joe Biden’s administration and now accuse the Americans of making a fortune from the war, while EU countries suffer. “The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons,” one senior official told POLITICO. The explosive comments — backed in public and private by officials, diplomats and ministers elsewhere — follow mounting anger...

Assurances to China contrast with call for Russian regime changeThe new export curbs U.S. President Joe Biden recently imposed on the Chinese chip industry to help slow Beijing's technological and military advances have obscured his administration's relatively conciliatory stance since taking office. Even the export curbs have been undercut by exemptions granted to major Taiwanese and South Korean companies for their chipmaking facilities in China. Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, wants Biden to live up to "Five Nos" which Beijing claims the U.S. president has committed to: No to changing China's authoritarian system; no to containing China; no to seeking...

Last year, my aunt-in-law passed away after a long battle with cancer. She had 4 relatively old (13-15 y/o) cats at the time, and unfortunately she did not have a will. She was renting at the time from friends who are now being forced to sell the house, and she had no other living family. The cats are all relatively healthy: they're all spayed/neutered, they're not declawed, and are very well socialized indoor cats. Since the house is nearby, my wife and I have been taking care of the cats: feeding, changing litter, etc (we can't bring them to our...

A U.S. official currently in Syria is calling for an “immediate de-escalation” following days of deadly airstrikes and shelling along the Syria-Turkey border A U.S. official in Syria on Friday called for an “immediate de-escalation” following days of deadly airstrikes and shelling along the Syria-Turkey border, saying the actions destabilize the region and undermine the fight against the Islamic State group. Turkey this week launched a wave of airstrikes on suspected Kurdish rebels hiding in neighboring Syria and Iraq, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the Kurdish groups. The groups have denied...

Stepping into the world of ultra-luxury feels like entering a new realm, just like how going through the Stargate leads you to a whole new place. It's not too far of a stretch, then, to associate Qatar's newest hotel, Raffles Doha, with the military sci-fi series, especially with its unique architectural aesthetic. The country's only all-suite hotel, after all, sports an arc design that resembles the iconic ring-shaped portal, as seen from the comparison above. It's probably all just sheer coincidence, but hey, part of the fun is to find links to existing elements of geek culture. Plus, it does...

There is significant concern that Turkey’s planned ground invasion into Syria to root out the U.S.-allied Kurds could open the floodgates for the release of thousands of imprisoned Islamic State terrorists. Syrian Kurdish forces have incarcerated thousands of ISIS terrorists from more than 50 countries in prisons in northeastern Syrian. Brigadier Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said Wednesday, "Recent air strikes in Syria directly threatened the safety of U.S. personnel who are working in Syria with local partners to defeat ISIS and maintain custody of more than 10,000 ISIS detainees." Turkey recently launched air strikes targeting the Syrian...

A Carnival cruise ship passenger fell overboard into the Gulf of Mexico and was found alive against all odds on Thanksgiving Day — more than 15 hours after vanishing, officials said Friday. “[It’s] just one of those Thanksgiving miracles,” Lt. Seth Gross of the US Coast Guard, told CNN. The missing man, who hasn’t been identified, was with his sister at the Carnival Valor’s bar at 11 p.m. Wednesday when he took a bathroom break and never came back, the outlet reported.

CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem said Friday on CNN’s “At This Hour” that no 18-to-25-year-old males should be allowed to have assault weapons. When asked about President Biden advocating for an assault weapons ban, Kayyem said, “OK, so you first keep trying to ban them. In other words, the political momentum is clearly showing that independents and generation lockdown, who came out in numbers this last election, may continue to come out on this issue. So, they are viewing gun legislation as seriously as pro-gun advocates have been viewing it. So that is what the politics is, and it...

From weight gain to nausea, breast tenderness, and menstrual cycle changes, the Pill has a long list of side effects. But a number of women have spoken out about what is probably the most unlikely side effect yet — they say the oral contraceptives turned them gay. While it may sound outlandish, there is some evidence the combined and progestin-only oral contraceptives can alter how women perceive attractiveness. The medication works by suppressing the body's natural production of sex hormones and replaces them with synthetic versions. These altered hormones may re-wire brain circuits related to love and sex, according to...

Since NATO supplied air defense systems are failing to stop Russia’s relentless missile attack on Ukraine’s electrical and power grid, may be it is time for Volodymyr Zelensky to bring in Tom Bodett. Most U.S. residents know Tom Bodett because of his tag line in a Motel 6 commercial — i.e., “We’ll leave the light on for you.”<> Bodett’s promise to keep a light on stands in stark contrast to the reality facing Kiev and Lviv and other major cities across Ukraine. Ukraine, even with NATO support, is struggling to keep the lights and heat on. It is a grim...

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Despite The Federal Reserve removing some of the monetary punch bowl, Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate declined to 6.77% yesterday. Catch a rising yield and put it your pocket. European sovereign yield are up over 10 basis points today. On this side of the pond, The Federal Reserve has begun their experiment with big banks using digital currency. This is a step towards going to a cashless economy. Why is this terrifying? Blockchain technology is a fantastic innovation for processing payments given its ledger capabiliities. But that means that The Federal Reserve might be able to look at your complete history...

The Biden administration is set to give Chevron Corp. a license to pump oil in Venezuela, according to The Wall Street Journal. As part of the deal, Chevron would retain partial control of both production and maintenance for a select set of run-down oil fields it previously had stakes in with Petróleos de Venezuela SA, a state-run oil company in Venezuela, according to the WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter.

The pathway to truly exposing the corrupt rot at the FBI runs through the Whitmer fednapping hoax. A federal judge next month is scheduled to sentence two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her lakeside cottage in the fall of 2020. Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader, and Barry Croft, Jr. face years in prison. During the first trial in April, Fox and Croft received a hung jury while two co-defendants were acquitted on all charges based on extensive evidence of FBI entrapment. A jury found Fox and Croft guilty after a second trial in August...

President Biden faced intense backlash from critics on Thanksgiving after speaking out against the purchase of semi-automatic weapons. During a press event in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Biden reiterated his previous support for new gun restrictions while speaking about the recent mass shooting in Colorado. "The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick," Biden said. "Just sick. It has no socially redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers." A reporter then asked Biden if he would be able to make any movement on new gun laws while Republicans...

eported cases of COVID-19 in China have hit record highs in recent days amid growing public discontent over the regime’s strict control measures. Meanwhile, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to issue contradictory messages about when to loosen the restrictions, which analysts believe has caused chaos in the control of COVID-19 in various regions. With the newly reported infections, China recorded a total of 32,943 locally transmitted cases on Nov. 24. However, since the CCP has always concealed the scale of the outbreak, it is difficult for the outside world to know the real numbers. Major cities across China...

The mother of an Oregon man who was fatally stabbed said she’s hopeful the case will finally be solved after police said they are looking into its possible ties to the brutal knife slayings of four University of Idaho students. “I want answers for all five of them. If law enforcement can work together and solve both cases that would be the best Christmas present ever,” Myra Juetten told The Independent on Thursday. The grieving mom made her comments a day after Moscow Police Chief James Frye was asked if his department was “looking into any possible connection” to the...

Walmart mass shooter Andre Bing penned a rambling “Death Note,” in which he complained that his co-workers were “idiots” who he was angry with for comparing him to a notorious cannibal serial killer, officials revealed Friday. “They laughed at me and said that I was like Jeffrey Dahmer … Sorry everyone but I did not plan this I promise things just fell in place like I was led by the Satan,” Bing wrote before slaughtering six of his colleagues in the break room at the start of their night shift Tuesday. Dahmer was a notorious loner who murdered 17 young...