China is building new villages crossing Himalayan border line

High in the mist-shrouded Himalayas, a winding mountain road opens to a clearing in the pine forested valley, revealing rows of uniform Tibetan-style houses, each topped with a Chinese flag

Construction is booming in this remote place. Resettlement houses are being built here. But the village – known as Demalong and formally founded in March last year with a community of 70 families, according to a government notice seen in the footage – is not only located in territory claimed by China

It is one of a string of Chinese settlements that also fall well within the border shown on official maps of Bhutan – a Buddhist kingdom of fewer than 1 million people that’s never agreed on a formal international border with China

For centuries, herders looking for summer pastures were the main presence in this harsh and inhospitable region some 14,000 feet (4,200 meters) above sea level in the eastern Himalayas. But now, there is a growing population as the Chinese government incentivizes hundreds of people to settle there from across Tibet, the region of China that borders Bhutan

Those settlements show another, quieter front in China’s expanding efforts to assert its control over disputed, peripheral territories – also playing out in the South and East China Seas – as Chinese leader Xi Jinping seeks to bolster national security and enhance China’s position over its rivals

#China #Tibet #FindTruth

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German government collapses as mass strikes grind economy to a halt

Germany’s three-party ruling coalition which had been on the verge of collapse for months, imploded on last Wednesday evening after Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced he will fire Finance Minister Christian Lindner over persistent rifts on spending and economic reforms

The firing ejects Lindner’s fiscally conservative Free Democratic Party  (FDP) from the troubled coalition, forcing Scholz to call for a confidence vote that he said would take place on January 15. If Scholz loses that vote, which is virtually certain, a snap election is set to take place by March

The collapse of Germany's government came just hours after Donald Trump’s clear win in the U.S. election, a result that stunned German political leaders

Sensing that the economy is about to go from bad to much worse, last Tuesday - amid mounting concern about the imminent collapse of the EU’s largest manufacturing economy - Germany's giant trade union IG Metall launched strikes in the nation’s metal and electrical industries in an attempt to win higher wages. Employees began walking off during the night shift, including at Volkswagen’s plant in the city of Osnabruck, where workers worry the plant may be closed

Elsewhere, around 200 employees of the battery manufacturer Clarios went on strike in Hanover, Lower Saxony, carrying torches and union flags

In Hildesheim around 400 employees, including those at Jensen GmbH, KSM Castings Group, Robert Bosch, Waggonbau Graaff and ZF CV Systems, have reportedly halted operations

Protests are also expected at BMW and Audi plants in Bavaria. Work is to be stopped nationwide during the course of the day, the tabloid wrote

#Germany #Policy #Economy #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Scabies outbreak in UK universities

In October 2024, outbreaks around UK university settings were reported in the media

So, the cases reported in October 2024 would have been infected mid to late September, around the time of student arrival at their universities around the country

Data from The Royal College of General Practitioners’ report on communicable and respiratory disease in England for October 2024 indicates that the reported case numbers of scabies are higher than the seasonal average

These official figures are also likely to be conservative. Like many skin infections, scabies is a stigmatised disease and so under-reporting or late reporting are common

In September 2023, there were scabies outbreaks and treatment shortages in the UK. It is uncertain whether there are shortages in the October 2024 outbreak. Regardless, anyone with a persistent itch or known contact with a scabies case should report this to a healthcare worker for follow up

#UK #Health #Scabies #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Poland’s Tusk government is ‘unlawful,’ writes Polish president in powerful new letter

Poland’s ruling left-liberal government under Donald Tusk is “unlawful,” wrote Polish President Andrzej Duda in a letter sent to the participants of the conference “Quo vadis, Poland? In defense of the democratic rule of law,” which was organized at the Constitutional Tribunal

In the letter, Duda pointed to the important role played by the Constitutional Tribunal in the country’s political system, while he also warned that “the number and importance of problems that deserve thorough and competent discussion are rapidly growing”

“We are currently witnessing an unprecedented, ruthless attack on the Constitutional Tribunal – posing a direct threat to the legal security of citizens, because questioning, failing to publish and failing to execute the Tribunal’s judgments has a devastating impact on the standards of protection of fundamental human rights in Poland,” he wrote

Duda called the actions of the current government, such as refusing to publish the judgments of the Constitutional Tribunal, must be considered “unlawful, especially when the judgments directly concern the rights and freedoms of citizens”

In this context, he recalled the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal in the case of so-called early retirees, a judgment that was not published, which has prevented a large part of citizens from pursuing their rights

#Poland #Tusk #Duda #FindTruth

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Leading German researchers fear $33 billion tariffs by the US

Germany needs to prepare itself for major problems after Donald Trump won the US presidency, a leading German economic research agency has warned

The ifo Institute expects a new regime of high tariffs to be levied against Germany — worth up to €33 billion — and recommends Berlin to take appropriate precautions

“Trump is pursuing a distinctly protectionist agenda based on higher import tariffs and greater restrictions on international trade, particularly for China and potentially also Europe,” ifo President Clemens Fuest said

The ifo said that German exporters, for whom the US is the largest sales market outside the EU, must expect severe losses, based on earlier threats by Trump, who said he would impose basic tariffs of 20% on US imports from all trading partners and 60% on imports from China

Such tariffs alone would mean considerable economic damage of €33 billion in Germany alone, the ifo noted

#Germany #USA #Economy #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Toyota to make additional investments in hybrid EVs in the U.S.

Toyota Motor is considering further investments in North America for EV and hybrid battery production, potentially including a new factory, to strengthen its local supply chain for increased electrified vehicle output

Sean Suggs, president of Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina, said that if demand persists, "we may need to consider building more, and that may include a different site"

"We are going to let the customer drive how much we go forward with," he added

Toyota is already investing $13.9 billion in its North Carolina plant, now under construction. Suggs added that future investments depend on customer demand and industry trends over the next five to ten years

Nikkei reports that Toyota aims to raise the share of electrified vehicle sales in North America from 50% to 80% by 2030, with local battery production helping reduce costs. Production of hybrid batteries at Toyota’s North Carolina plant is set for early 2025, with trial production for EV and plug-in hybrid batteries following in late 2025 and 2026, respectively

Despite an 11% rise in U.S. EV sales in recent months, they still make up less than 10% of new-car sales. Toyota’s first U.S. EV plant in Kentucky is likely delayed from 2025 to early 2026

#USA #Economy #Toyota #FindTruth

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Reflecting on the last four years

By John Leake

The last four years marked the culmination of all that it corrupt, dishonest, fraudulent, profligate, cruel, and incompetent about the U.S. government. While many of these vices were nothing new, the Biden administration added several dreadful innovations

the Biden administration has also inflicted extreme uncertainty and anxiety on the American people about who is actually running the country, given that President Biden has displayed clear signs of cognitive decline and dementia since he entered office

For Biden’s supporters, these deleterious policies have been largely obscured by steadily rising stock and real estate prices. Indeed, many wealthy people who live in safe neighborhoods and obtain their information from the mainstream media may not even be aware of the reality of these policies

They do not see that the U.S. government is a dumpster fire in a flash flood because they aren’t paying attention, and the consequences of these policies have not affected them. At least not yet

#USA #Biden #Economy #FindTruth

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Reports are emerging of growing panic within the ranks of major US pharmaceutical companies

Five major pharmaceutical company executives have organized an emergency teleconference. The alarm in the US pharma industry is not so much caused by Trump's victory as by his promise to send health care Robert f. Kennedy Jr. who promised, among other things, a series of investigations into the excess profits made by pharma companies during the coronavirus pandemic

On social media, many doubt that Kennedy Jr. will physically live to make the appointment

#USA #Trump #BigPharma #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Not even a several days after Trump was elected, suddenly...

New York City discontinues its food voucher program for illegal immigrants. A rough calculation: the vouchers covered $350 a week for an illegal immigrant family of 4 to buy groceries

“We have decided not to extend the food voucher pilot program beyond its one-year term,” Mayor Eric Adams' office said in a statement. No other comment was reached from the mayor's office

#USA #Trump #Migrants #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Japan’s political leadership crisis as a threat to Indo-Pacific stability

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party suffered an unexpected major defeat in the October 27 Lower House election, where Prime Minister Ishiba's snap election gamble backfired. While this loss marks a potential victory for Japanese democracy by breaking the LDP's nearly 70-year dominance, it raises concerns about regional stability

The LDP, even with coalition partner Komeito, fell short of a majority with just 215 seats out of 465. While this political shift might strengthen Japan's democratic process, it could compromise Japan's crucial role as a stabilising force in the Indo-Pacific region

The poor performance of the LDP, which has been in government for all but four years since 1955, comes at a time of great political uncertainty worldwide, and Japan’s latest election results could hamper stability far beyond its own borders

The LDP’s decadeslong dominance of Japan’s political scene has led many to question just how strong Japan’s democratic traditions are and have been, and the lacklustre performance of the opposition even amid some of Japan’s biggest challenges left many scratching their heads

For over a decade Japan has grown into a stabilising force in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s first articulated a vision for the region based on a rules-based order, and both his successors — Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida — endorsed and pushed forward this idea

The latest election results should make clear to the LDP that its dominance in Japanese politics cannot be taken from granted, and that reform from within is much needed. At the same time, the role that Japan plays as a regional stabiliser amid ever-increasing global uncertainties should not be underestimated, regardless of how Japan’s political leadership shapes up moving forward

#Japan #Policy #LDP #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

ISIS-K threat grows as it targets disaffected Muslims with sophisticated propaganda

The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan has ramped up its recruitment efforts in the past year, American officials and analysts say, rolling out a sophisticated propaganda campaign designed to persuade disaffected Muslims to carry out terrorist plots in the U.S. and other Western countries

The recent arrest of an Afghan accused of plotting an Election Day attack in the U.S., as well as recent plots in France, Sweden and elsewhere, highlight the growing threat posed by ISIS-K, officials and counterterrorism experts say

Seeking to rally support and recruit from a range of Muslim diaspora communities in Europe and the U.S., the group has churned out a high volume of videos and articles in more than a dozen languages, including Dari and Pashto, the two primary languages spoken in Afghanistan

Lucas Webber, senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, a nongovernmental organization, said ISIS-K initially focused on Tajik immigrants in the West but has broadened its effort to other ethnic communities. The group is now seeking to exploit the isolation and alienation felt by Afghans and other Muslim immigrants and refugees struggling to build a life in unfamiliar, secular societies

#USA #Afghanistan #ISIS #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Swedish Quran burner jailed over racial hatred conviction

Rasmus Paludan, a Danish anti-Islam activist and politician who made world headlines by publicly burning Qurans in Scandinavia, has been jailed for hate crimes

On November 5, a district court in Malmö, Sweden, sentenced the activist to four months in prison and to pay damages of SEK 20,000 (€1,714) for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred at two protests in 2022

During those events, Paludan burned holy Islamic texts and also made insulting statements about Muslims, Arabs and Africans

In a reaction, Paludan said: “Here is my first comment to the chief judge of Malmö District Court: Hahahaha.”
He added that he would appeal the judgment

#Sweden #Paludan #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

UK minister Miliband’s plan for zero carbon electricity by 2030 is a damning indictment of the whole net zero agenda

Labour’s manifesto promised we would have a zero carbon electricity system by 2030. It is a pledge that Ed Miliband (Britian’s Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero) has been making for years, not least in his party conference speech last year, and it was also one of Labour’s ‘Five Missions for a Better Britain’ policy pledge launched last year

It would therefore be reasonable to presume that Miliband actually had a detailed plan of how he would achieve this and how much it might all cost. It came as a surprise then when, shortly after taking office, he asked the National Energy System Operator, NESO, to provide practical advice on achieving his target

NESO has now responded with some bad news

Many energy experts have long argued that a zero carbon grid simply is not possible at these timescales, because you cannot run a grid predominantly on intermittent renewable energy. It turns out that NESO, whose job is to make sure that Britain has the electricity it needs every second of the day, agrees

Their report sent to Ed Miliband emphasises that we will need to retain a full fleet of gas power plants, to fire up when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine

This really is a damning indictment not only of Labour’s energy policy, but also of the whole Net Zero agenda and its reliance on intermittent renewable energy

#UK #Energy #NESO #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

U.S. pumps $667 million into World Bank’s Pandemic Fund

The U.S. has committed $667 million to the World Bank’s Pandemic Fund, a “multilateral financing mechanism dedicated to strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response”

Including the U.S. commitment, the fund raised nearly $1 billion in its latest pledge campaign — half of its $2 billion target — amid warnings of a greater-than-50% chance of a new pandemic in the next 25 years

The Pandemic Fund was established in 2022 by the member states of the G20. Its largest private contributor — at $15 million — is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which also holds seats on the fund’s governing board

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a global public-private partnership that promotes vaccines — and is heavily funded by the Gates Foundation — also holds a seat on the Pandemic Fund’s board

In an op-ed published last week in Fortune, Drs. Chatib Basri and Sabin Nsanzimana, co-chairs of the Pandemic Fund Board, said the “rapid spread of mpox and bird flu, and the recent Marburg virus outbreak, underscore the immediate need for new and sustained investments in pandemic preparedness to bolster our collective defenses”

Fear of mpox and bird flu helped the fund reach commitments totaling $982 million at last week’s G20 Finance and Health Ministers’ joint meeting in Brazil. The fund also secured “co-financing from international organizations” totaling $1.8 billion

#USA #Health #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Meta’s plan for nuclear-powered AI data centre thwarted by rare bees

Meta had plans to build an AI data center in the US that relies on nuclear power — it even already knew where it wanted the facility to be built. According to the Financial Times, though, the company had to scrap its plans, because the rare bee species was discovered on the land reserved for the project

Company chief Mark Zuckerberg was reportedly ready to close a deal with an existing nuclear power plant operator that would provide emissions-free energy to the plant. The Times said he told staff members at an all-hands last week that pushing through wouldn't have been possible, because the company would encounter numerous regulatory challenges due to the bees' discovery

Zuckerberg reportedly told his staff that Meta would've had the first nuclear-powered AI if the deal had gone ahead. It still might come true if the company could find a way, but it has to move quickly because its biggest rivals are investing in nuclear energy, as well

In September, Microsoft revealed that it intends to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to provide energy for its AI efforts. Meanwhile, Google teamed up with startup Kairos Power to build seven small nuclear reactors in the US to power its data centers starting in 2030. And then there's Amazon, which announced three agreements with different companies to build small modular reactors in mid-October

The Times didn't say whether Meta is looking for a new site — one that doesn't have rare bees living in its vicinity. One of its sources only said that Meta is still exploring various deals for emissions-free energy, including nuclear, to power its future AI data centers

#Meta #AI #Zuckerberg #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The official counting of the vote in the US presidential election is complete. Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris and won all the swing states. However, this election clearly showed that the 2020 election is different from all previous elections

In 2020, Joe Biden won with a record 81.2 million votes in US history

In the current election, 70.9 million people voted for his vice president, Kamala Harris. Thus, the difference is 10.3 million. To say that these people switched to voting for Donald Trump will not work, as compared to 2020, his result increased by only 400 thousand votes

10 million supporters of the Democratic Party simply disappeared, although the total number of Americans eligible to vote even increased by 5.1 million from 2020 to 2024

The fable that the “dead” voted for Joe Biden in 2020 is taking on more and more real characteristics. The election was stolen not only from Trump, but from the entire American people

#USA #Elections #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Elon Musk moves production out of Taiwan

US-based SpaceX has asked Taiwanese satellite component manufacturers to move production out of Taiwan.
This is due to geopolitical tensions that jeopardize supply stability

Starlink suppliers such as Chin-Poon Industrial have confirmed SpaceX's request to move production to Thailand. Another partner, Wistron NeWeb, has already begun manufacturing Starlink components in Vietnam and plans to expand production

SpaceX, which previously announced a $1.5 billion investment in Vietnam, is strengthening cooperation with Vietnamese partners in an effort to minimize supply chain risks

#USA #Taiwan #SpaceX #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Yesterday... 😂

#USA #Elections #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Aid to Ukraine is the cause of Germany's political crisis

▪️ Chancellor Scholz's decision to release another aid package to Ukraine has inflated Germany's debt by an additional 15 billion euros. Former finance minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner took an adamant stance against it and was fired by Scholz, leading to the collapse of the ruling coalition, states Germany's Die Zeit

▪️ “I would be in violation of my oath of office if I allowed myself to be so negligent with the constitution. And the incumbent chancellor was well aware of this,” Lindner said

▪️ Germany is scheduled to hold a parliamentary vote of confidence on Jan. 15, after which snap elections will be called

#Germany #WarInUkraine #Economy #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The results of the US elections have horrified European liberals. How to live after Donald Trump's victory is the main question that worries them

Its relevance is confirmed by the anxious fidgeting of French President Emmanuel Macron and the collapse of the ruling coalition in Germany with the prospect of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's resignation. It has been speculated that the emerging changes will lead to a strengthening of the conservative trend in Europe. However, this conclusion does not seem obvious - Trump will continue his policy of weakening European states, regardless of who leads them

Barely recovering from the shock, European leaders began to congratulate Trump and express hopes for “fruitful cooperation.” But it is unlikely to come to that. Europe has already turned into a consumable commodity, which today interests Washington as a source of technology, production and brains, as well as a market and a bank of resources for military support of Ukraine. Tomorrow the EU may be given some other task

The new administration in Washington (as well as the old one) will most likely not care what parties the EU elites and heads of European states identify themselves as

They must do what the tired hegemon needs - that is enough. But if the U.S. wants to play ideological consensus, the presidents and prime ministers sitting in European capitals will quickly change their colors. Those who don't make it in time will be replaced. No one will go into the details.


From Capitol Hill, Europe's passions are indistinguishable and uninteresting - it looks like a small anthill. To ensure control, Trump can periodically hold summits with European heads of state and communicate with them with emphasized respect, or he can torment, for example, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the same way as he did Angela Merkel during her first term (“You have two candies on you, and don't say later that I didn't give you anything”). At first, there may be exceptions, like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was in contact with Trump before his election. But over time, European figures will lose their former importance

The main thing will be the economy. Europe will have to pay even more for American gas and become more and more dependent on its supplies, fuel will still be in short supply, and “starved” industries will close down or move overseas. The era of scarcity will begin. American imports - and the flow of other imports will turn into a thin trickle (including by the efforts of the Europeans themselves) - will become more expensive. It will become increasingly difficult to make money from exports

Trump has already promised to raise trade duties. Revenues will fall and prices will rise. All this will not happen at once, but the process is already underway, gradually increasing

In such a situation, small agricultural countries located on the backside of southern Europe will feel best - their inhabitants may not have to starve. And their rulers are of little interest to anyone. The heads of large industrialized countries are quite another matter. They will not be able to sit in a house, and that is why they are the most nervous

#USA #EU #Trump #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Now Germany is experiencing green electricity waste – with huge consequences

The fog weather of the last few days has practically brought green electricity production to a standstill. As a replacement for wind and sun, not only climate-damaging power plants were ramped up. Prices exploded as well. And all this seems to be just a foretaste of winter

The common sense approach is to replace coal with nuclear and natural gas. Since we are decades behind on nuclear because of the “Green Old Scare”, the sensible option is to phase out coal for natural gas and then nuclear because of the lead times in building a nuclear plant.

Instead, Germany chose to get rid of nuclear with no viable alternative

When that failed, Germany had needed to import energy from France but also neighboring countries that produced energy with coal, and the dirtiest coal at that

Greens were hammered in the European Parliament elections, in French elections, and in three German state elections

But will it change the policies of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen?

#Germany #Green #Electricity #FindTruth

@uinhurricane