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Welcome to the final edition of Foreign Policy’s China Brief for 2025. Compared with what lies further ahead, next year may be relatively quiet for China. The following year, 2027, marks both the end of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s unprecedented third term and a frequently cited benchmark for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s ability to attack Taiwan. Though Beijing is keeping a lower profile amid global turbulence, there is plenty of trouble bubbling under the surface. What can we expect from China in the year ahead? Below, we offer our four best bets. A Turn on Women’s Rights China is...

SLOP, PARASOCIAL and rage bait were contenders for word of the year in 2025. In 2026 an early favourite for that title, at least among pollsters and election strategists, is “affordability”, often paired with the word “crisis”. Having at last found a slogan that seems to work against the spell of Trumpism, Democrats will talk of little else between now and the midterms in November. In Europe, which is better at reposting American memes than coming up with fresh ones, there is talk of a cost-of-living crisis. A transatlantic consensus is forming that prices are out of whack. But are...

A nasty fight erupted outside of Miami International Airport on Monday as travelers were seen pulling each other's hair and dragging one another to the ground. The fight began just after 9 pm EST near the airport's lower-level doors 16 and 17, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. A video of the altercation went viral on social media, depicting the terrifying moments when two individuals began beating each other. As fists flew, others ran to join the fight. The brawl involved both men and women, as some attempted to de-escalate the violence. At one point, an individual was pulled by...

Some GOP Ohio lawmakers are calling for their fellow Republican state officials to investigate unproven claims spreading on social media about fraud among Columbus-area day cares. But Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's office says attempts to defraud publicly funded day care are not new and the state already has safeguards in place to catch it. The claims began to circulate after a viral video allegedly showing abandoned day cares among the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota led to a response from Vice President J.D. Vance, an Ohio native, and the FBI "surging" resources to investigate, according to USA TODAY.

DETROIT — General Motors is on pace to be the top U.S.-traded automaker stock of 2025, as shares of GM are having their best year since the Detroit company’s reemergence from bankruptcy in 2009. GM stock is up over 55% to a record of more than $80 per share, as of Friday’s close, topping the company’s previous annual increase of 48.3% last year. That includes a nearly 13% rise so far in December, adding to five consecutive months of share gains, according to FactSet. Several factors have been driving the share increase. But GM CEO Mary Barra and other executives...

As a nutritionist, I enjoy coffee for more than its aroma and morning lift. Recent research highlights that coffee, when taken strategically, can slow biological aging, protect the heart, reduce diabetes risk, and even support gut health. Here’s the crucial factor: Benefits largely depend on how you drink it and the type you choose. More Than a Pick-Me-Up Most people reach for coffee as a way to ease into the day, however, science now confirms that coffee’s reach extends far beyond boosting alertness. Regular coffee drinkers—by applying particular restraints—can lower the risk of disease. A recent National Health study on...

It was bad enough that ostensibly conservative political commentators Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens both have been the main drivers of a growing divide in the MAGA movement, through their obsession with demonizing Israel and the Jews. Now they have also become leading Western apologists for Islam. Are they even conservative? Were they ever? (Owens in particular has never been committed to anything but her own grift, not a political philosophy.) Conservatives are defenders; we preserve. Our mission, in large part, is to defend and preserve the liberties our forefathers earned for us. It is to defend and preserve the...

Meanwhile, in Minnesota ...

Some truths don’t require a laboratory study or a government commission. They simply need eyes willing to see. For years now, anyone who dared suggest that biological males hold inherent physical advantages over females in athletic competition has been labeled a bigot, a science-denier, or worse. The activists insisted that hormones could level any playing field, that strength and speed differences were merely social constructs waiting to be dismantled by the right policies and enough sensitivity training. Meanwhile, coaches knew better. Athletes knew better. Parents watching their daughters get steamrolled by competitors with shoulders like linebackers knew better. But acknowledging...

A 52-year-old patient was newly committed to getting healthy—walking daily, eating better, and feeling strong—when a sharp pain flared in her chest. She assumed it was a pulled muscle, and subsequent tests looked normal. Still, her doctor ordered a cardiac CT scan “just to be safe,” Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, recounted to The Epoch Times. Her CT scan revealed no clear abnormalities. However, her doctor then ordered a follow-up catheterization that tore a major artery, forcing emergency surgery. Within months, she’d undergone bypass surgery, followed by more complications, and finally a heart...

The now-infamous misspelled Minnesota daycare, Quality “Learing” Center, is finally getting its exterior sign fixed to read “Learning.” However, the address of the facility is still misspelled, reading “Nicolet” instead of “Nicollet” Avenue above the daycare center’s door. The Quality “Learing” Center in Minneapolis is fixing its sign after finding itself at the center of nationwide mockery following the release of citizen journalist Nick Shirley’s viral video alleging fraud in Minnesota. Video footage of the repair shared by the New York Post — whose reporters visited the facility on Monday — shows the sign being corrected, but taking a closer...

A Maine health services company recently accused by a whistleblower of bilking taxpayers out of millions in Medicaid funds saw its spigot shut off this week as the state Department of Health moved to halt payments from MaineCare. Gateway Community Services is a Portland company run by a Somali-born man who ran for president – the U.S. equivalent of governor – of Jubaland, Somalia, for what would have been a four-year term beginning in 2024, according to his campaign website. Ali’s campaign manifesto includes a point saying he would create "robust security infrastructure" to counter Al-Shabab, while reports out of...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business; End to Sex Slavery; Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to...

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has been helping to form an Irish “national party” as he works “behind the scenes” on what he described as “the Irish situation”, he said in an interview. The Donald Trump ally, whose anti-EU rhetoric previously included an expressed desire “to drive a stake through the Brussels vampire”, told the Politico news website that there would soon be an “Irish Trump”. Mr. Bannon, who hosts the War Room podcast and retains influence in the grassroots of the MAGA (Make American Great Again) movement of Trump-supporting populists, is quoted as supporting the new US national...

Minneapolis and its moonbat mayor.

A new investigative report has uncovered daycare fraud undertaken by Somalis in Washington State. A resident living at a home registered as a daycare center in the state told reporters, when confronted that there has never been such a business there. Video showed journalist Cam Higby sending a decoy up to the home that is listed as housing the business "Dhagash Childcare," with Higby saying that his decoy heard "rustling around on the other side of the Ring camera, as if they were listening to her but not responding." Journalist Jonathan Choe said he also went to the house with...

The Department of Health and Human Services has frozen all federal child care payments to the state of Minnesota amid a far-reaching fraud scandal that has unfolded in the state. HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill announced on Tuesday evening that three actions have been taken amid " serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade." O’Neill said he has "activated our defend the spend system for all ACF payments. Starting today, all ACF payments across America will require a justification and a receipt or photo evidence...

Local report from 2013 exposed Somali daycare fraud in Minneapolis, showing the sham centers earned millions per year with parents falsifying work records to receive even more cash. TV station went undercover Money meant for food was funneled to a restaurant who used the funds to possibly support Terrorism

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has been trying for years now to get more regulations around name, image and likeness (NIL) deals in college sports, saying back in 2023 that the landscape was "in peril." …. The post pointed out that the Iowa State Cyclones, who just lost longtime head coach Matt Campbell to the vacant Penn State Nittany Lions job, only has 17 players remaining on their roster for next season. Among those players, only one was a starter. …

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different outcome. That also defines the current state of the Democratic Party, who keeps coming back to tested — and failed — policies in the hopes that no one will notice those policies don't work. But this time, it's even worse. After weeks of hearing about the massive fraud of every social program in Minnesota, including childcare programs, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has decided what her state needs is massive taxpayer-funded fraud, too. To that end, she's announced her support for...