A group of fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) laid down their arms on Friday during a disarmament ceremony in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, coinciding with continued Turkish attacks on the organization despite months of a ceasefire between the historic rivals.
Just 30 minutes into the ceremony, the Turkish army launched air attacks on villages in the Amediya district of Dohuk province in north Iraq. The small ceremony was held on Friday near the province of Sulaimaniya. Twenty to 30 PKK fighters destroyed their weapons in a symbolic gesture, rather than surrender them to authorities.
Images on social media showed the militants placing their guns in a fire pit, ready to be lit.
The group “comprised around 30 fighters who laid down weapons including AK-47s, PKM machine guns, and sniper rifles,” informed sources told Kurdish news outlet Rudaw.
The fighters affirmed during the ceremony their commitment to democratic political engagement aimed at securing Kurdish rights in Turkey.
In a statement, the group of PKK fighters – identifying themselves as the Group for Peace and Democratic Society – said they disarmed to “ensure the practical success of ‘Peace and Democratic Society’ process, to wage our freedom, democracy and socialist struggle with methods of legal and democratic politics on the basis of enacting laws for democratic integration.”
They said their destruction of the arms was “a step of goodwill and determination.” Ankara welcomed the step, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan describing it as “totally ripping off and throwing away the bloody shackles that were put on our country’s legs.” He added that the move would benefit the region.
In the weeks leading up to the ceremony, Turkish attacks continued to target Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, according to a war monitor.
The US-based Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) said on Thursday that “Turkish military strikes and operations have remained steady – though increasingly concentrated in specific areas – even as a disarmament ceremony approaches this Friday.”
These pictures show PKK beginning its disarmament today, starting with 30 armed members laying down their weapons. In the region’s history of conflict, such scenes—if not unique—are certainly rare. Lasting peace will require continued effort, especially from the Turkish state. pic.twitter.com/4L3S46zSGd
“Turkish military strikes have remained steady and concentrated – though notably, no civilian casualties have been reported – since their surge in May. In June, bombardments and attacks increased by just eight percent compared to the previous month but continue to exceed levels observed prior to the ceasefire,” CPT said.
“Notably, 98 percent of strikes and shelling occurred within the Duhok governorate, specifically in the Amedi district, a stark contrast to previous years when Turkish offensives were more geographically dispersed,” it added.
Between June 1 and June 30, at least 550 bombings and strikes were documented in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, the monitor went on to say.
The PKK has been engaged in a guerrilla campaign against Turkiye for decades. Its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, is currently serving a life sentence in prison on the Turkish island of Imrali. In February, Ocalan issued a call for the PKK to lay down its arms.
The group has been holding talks on the matter with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in Turkiye. It has demanded legal and political guarantees in exchange for disarming, including constitutional reforms and equal rights for Kurds in Turkiye. It is also hoping for an eventual release of its leader from Turkish prison.
Thirty #PKK fighters burned their weapons in a ceremony in Sulaymaniyah as part of their #disarmament process.
— Channel 8 English (@Channel8English) July 11, 2025
Ocalan reiterated his call in a video message released on 9 July, declaring that the Kurdish militant group’s decades-long armed struggle against Turkiye has come to an end. On March 1, the PKK declared an immediate ceasefire in its insurgency against the Turkish state, in line with Ocalan’s call in February.
The PKK is very closely linked to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria, which earlier this year signed a deal with Damascus to integrate into the new Syrian military. The integration has yet to take place. Ankara has urged the SDF to quit “stalling” and integrate with Damascus’s forces immediately.
Syrians Fear Israel Normalization Could Trigger Another Countrywide War
Many Syrians fear another country-wide war could erupt if the country’s new post-Assad rulers make peace with Israel through a normalization deal based on Trump’s Abraham Accords.
Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reports that normalization with Syria and Lebanon is on the table, as Prime Minister Netanyahu agrees with Washington on a hoped-for expansion of the Abraham Accords.
“Israel is interested in expanding the Abraham Accords circle of peace and normalization,” Saar said. Israel had already signed deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – the result of Trump’s first term in office.
“We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors – to the circle of peace and normalization while safeguarding Israel’s essential and security interests,” Saar added.
PM Netanyahu himself has recently said that the June war with Iran had opened “the path to dramatically enlarge the peace accord.”
From a strategic point of view, Tel Aviv wants to isolate any Arab country which remains resistant and critical of its war in Gaza.
Going back to Hafez al-Assad who ruled Syria since 1970, Ba’ath-ruled Syria had long been Israel’s fiercest enemy and neighbor, with the two having fought several wars.
The average Syrian has long been hugely critical of Zionism and Israeli expansionism, particularly since it came under control of the Golan Heights.
Now under President Sharaa, hundreds of foreign jihadist groups are running around Syria, often persecuting Christians, Alawites, and Druze as Sharaa’s HTS government in Damascus turns a blind eye.
ISIS is also a continuing reality in parts of Syria – though Sharaa himself is ‘former’-ISIS, as are some government ministers and officials.
Strangely, or perhaps unsurprisingly given it was at one point a tool of the US regime change war on Damascus, the Islamic State has never really waged a terror war against Israel. The reality is that Israel was also a big player in the CIA’s regime change operations, dubbed ‘Timber Sycamore’.
As countries like Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and the United States see an ongoing revolt against mass immigration from India, Germany is opening its doors to the Asian country of 1.5 billion. In particular, the city of Berlin has been a top spot for migration from India, and it is the group that has seen the highest level of immigration to the city in the last ten years.
Official statistics indicate the number of Indians went from 3,579 in 2014 to 41,472 in 2014. That represents a 1,059 percent increase in 10 years, and accounts for the largest immigrant influx to the city during that time in terms of growth. However, in terms of raw numbers, Turks are still the largest group of citizens with foreign citizenship overall, representing 109,585, while Ukrainians are in second with 70,501, according to RBB.
Unlike immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, Indians are not routinely featured in the daily barrage of murders, rape, stabbings, and robberies. However, that does not necessarily mean that a massive influx of Indians is not going to be met with anti-immigration sentiment — at least if it continues at its current pace.
Germany may have to confront the issue of mass immigration from India very soon, as the previous government signed the German-Indian migration agreement of December 2022 to promote tens of thousands of Indians coming to the country every year.
Outside of Berlin, Indians also make up a huge number of newcomers, totaling 274,910 nationals as of November 2024, according to the Central Register of Foreign Nationals. India is ranked fifth overall in terms of countries where more people immigrated than emigrated, ranking behind Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, and Turkey. Many of these immigrants work in the IT and healthcare sectors; however, many also come to study or for family reasons. In 2024, the number of Indian students surged 40 percent compared to the average seen in previous years, meaning that a soaring number of university spots are going to this demographic group.
What can Germany expect from mass immigration from India?
Other countries, and their reaction to mass immigration from India, may showcase what is in store for Germany and other European countries that head down this path, which has mostly been an Anglo phenomenon.
Canada is a good example. Indians are the top non-European group that has immigrated to the country, but there, anti-immigration sentiment is soaring. Competition for jobs is now fierce, with an influx of foreigners now competing for dwindling jobs.
Three job seekers for every job vacancy in Canada in February 2025. Make of that what you will. pic.twitter.com/EgpmStA47I
The chart documenting Canada’s net immigration totals from 1952 to 2025 highlights the incredible surge of immigration into Canada in just the last few years, with the lion’s share of newcomers arriving from India.
🇨🇦Updated Canada’s immigration chart based on Liberal government targets for 2025.
2.5 million is the largest peacetime influx of immigrants relative to population size in world history.
This influx of immigrants, while not necessarily a point solely against Indians, has made the Canadian housing market extraordinarily unaffordable. Indians just so happen to be the largest group, and their numbers, left unchecked, appear to grow nearly exponentially due to family reunification and other measures. Canada is not the only one, but also the U.S., the U.K., and Australia have all seen incredible demographic transformation in recent years, with Indians playing a key role. In London, for instance, Indians are now the top property holders, even pulling ahead of native Brits.
In Australia, Indians are the top buyers of housing in new estates, outpacing Australians by a large margin. The situation is so bad that experts are calling for a “wartime response” to the housing crisis.
“The future of our country in terms of our economics is based upon whether we can house a growing population and we can’t,” said Metricon Homes CEO Brad Duggan.
“I think we need a wartime response. When we look back over the last three years of this government, we’ve not had a wartime response,” he added.
If Germany continues on the path of Indian immigration, housing prices will continue to soar and the property that is available will be bought up by Indians en masse, if Britain and other Western countries are any guide. In fact, Indian media openly writes that real estate is by far the most favored form of investment by Indians, which is very unlike Germans, who have historically been very adverse to buying their own property. Germans have the highest share of renters in the entire EU. This model worked for many decades because renting was so affordable, but that has quickly changed in the last two decades.
Indians are not to blame for this development, but increasing numbers of Indians will only greatly exacerbate the problem that already exists. Germans will be increasingly priced out of the market and will find it harder to own property, have children, and raise families, at which point, the government will claim it needs more immigration to fix the native labor shortage.
Indians are pros at taking advantage of grants and benefits
In fact, the internet is rife with videos making “tutorials” on how to take advantage of these special loan programs, which are often targeted at minorities. These programs offer low-interest loans, and sometimes even outright grants, to start businesses. Straight White people are often excluded from these programs or do not have as good loan conditions as groups such as Indians.
🇨🇦 Indian guy explains how to get free money in Canada.
There are currently 192 programs in a SINGLE category.
It is important to note that even previous waves of refugees are calling out what they say are people now coming to Canada who are just taking advantage of the system, and are not actual refugees.
The Sudanese refugee immediately points to an Indian influencer talking about the Canadian government handing out money “for doing nothing.” These types of videos are rampant across the web, and not only do they showcase blatant opportunism at the expense of Canadian taxpayers, but also highlight how these programs for marginalized people are exploited by very recent newcomers.
India’s divisions also migrate West
India is a country with incredible poverty, racism and discrimination, both through its caste system, and due to religious hatred — often between Hindus and Muslims but also Sikhs. In many cases, these divisions carry over to Western countries.
“Indians, we do not welcome you on land of Vancouver. Go back to your country.”
As the Guardian writes: “The Hindu caste system, which is assigned at birth and determines occupations and social status, is made up of four tiers, with Brahmins or priests and teachers at the top and Dalits at the bottom. Dalits are often tasked with scavenging and street cleaning, are considered ‘untouchable’ and are outcasts from Indian society.”
In fact, the situation is so prevalent in the United States that caste-based discrimination now has to be banned in American cities, such as Seattle. A BBC special documents its prevalence in the United States.
India also features a number of ethnic and religious groups, with tensions growing between Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits, and others. This tension often leads to explosive violence outside of India as well. In one case, for example, an Indian student was ordered to leave Australia for a series of attacks on Sikhs. In return, he was greeted as a hero upon returning to India.
“International student Vishal Jood was asked to leave Australia after being linked to a series of attacks on Sikhs. Rather than opprobrium, on his return he was greeted by a roadshow and politicians calling him a patriot. Critics who accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party of fuelling Hindu nationalism in India warn Jood’s case shows how the problem has spread to overseas diasporas,” wrote the SCMP.
Germany and other continental European countries that embrace immigration from India will likely see these same conflicts, on top of the already existing rivalries between other migrant groups, whether it is Russians versus Ukrainians, or Turks versus Kurds.
Will Indians fix the Western healthcare system?
Governments across the Western world see India as a solution to the lack of labor, including the healthcare sector. The reality is that the “immigration solution” for national healthcare crisis seen in Western countries has been a mirage.
Canada is perhaps the best example of this, as it has seen the highest rate of Indian immigration in the West, with many of these Indians heralded as a solution to a healthcare worker shortage. One out of ten doctors is now Indian in the country. However, Canada’s hospitals are experiencing their worst crisis yet, with wait times hitting a record high.
“This is 222 percent longer than the 9.3 week wait in 1993,” reads one report.
All of the Indian doctors and healthcare workers, not to mention all the other immigrant groups, were supposed to improve the system, but it only appears to be getting worse. This all comes at a time when the number of doctors per 100,000 has actually soared higher.
“Per 100,000 residents, there are now nearly twice as many doctors in Alberta and across Canada compared to 50 years ago. From 1971 to 2022, Canada’s number of physicians (per 100,000) has grown from 125 to 247, while Alberta’s has grown from 123 to 244,” according to the Business Council of Alberta.
Undoubtedly, Canada is a much older population now, but the massive increase in doctors per capita should, in theory, mean this older population is well cared for. It could be that doctors in previous decades were more competent, more efficient, and better able to handle patient volumes, but the exact reason remains unclear.
As one report notes, Canada has more doctors than ever before, and then tries to explain “why it doesn’t feel like it.“
However, poor communication between diverse groups, including a lack of native-language skills, can cost valuable time and lead to serious patient treatment mistakes. As one major study from Britain’s NHS notes, as reported by the BBC, language barriers between staff and patients are adding up to half a working day per week to working hours, and also reducing to quality of care.
Statistics Canada released its report Deaths, 2022 on Monday, showing that the life expectancy of Canadians fell to 81.3 years in 2022 from 81.6 years in 2021. The decline was more prominent among females than men, the data showed.
“This is the first time this has ever happened,” Dr. Doug Manuel, a senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, told Global News. “We’ve hardly had any declines, we have had a recession, but never like this, not three years in a row. It’s a pretty big event.”
“This is a measure of how our health is doing as Canadians. And it means that we’re doing worse.”
In a list of 20 OECD countries, Canada ranked second to last. In fact, Denmark, which is notorious for its strict immigration policies, was in first place, tied with the Netherlands, which also features a relatively smaller share of non-EU migrants compared to many other Western EU countries, amounting to 11.7 percent.
Another report from this year states: “A new report says Canada’s healthcare system has fallen behind international peers in access to care, equity and wait times, outperforming only the United States.”
Canada is not the only example. Australia also provides ample warning to any Western country that wants to take in more Indians..Australia now has some of the worst medical metrics in its history, all at a time when Indians increasingly make up a larger and larger share of the country’s medical workforce. As the Australian Medical Association (AMA) notes:
Australian Medical Association President Professor Steve Robson said a lack of capacity in hospitals had led to people waiting years for essential surgery, long waits in EDs and ambulance ramping.
“Australia’s public hospital performance is at its worst since the AMA started tracking the data 20 years ago,” Professor Robson said.
“Public hospitals are inadequately funded and resourced. The outcome is ambulance ramping, patients spending far too long in EDs and a surgery waiting list that is nudging close to one million people.”
“We are seeing more and more Australians die waiting for these essential surgeries, with more than 12,000 deaths in 2022–23, up from 9,000 the year before. While these deaths may not have been because of delayed surgery, it is an alarming increase.”
This all comes despite record immigration to Australia, of which Indians make up a significant percentage. They are now the second-largest immigrant group in the country and by far the largest contributor to doctors with a foreign background, making up approximately 22 percent of all doctors from a foreign country.
It should also come as no surprise that an influx of Indians to a country to work in healthcare is not a panacea, as India’s own healthcare system is in shambles. This is not a racist screed against Indians, but simple data. Some 2.4 million Indians die of treatable conditions every year, meaning India is facing the worst outcome among all 136 nations studied for a report published in The Lancet.
In addition, “poor care quality leads to more deaths than insufficient access to healthcare–1.6 million Indians died due to poor quality of care in 2016, nearly twice as many as due to non-utilization of healthcare services (838,000 persons).” reads a report from the Independent.
If anything, those qualified workers who are arriving in the West are essentially being robbed from India’s own struggling population. Even if one were to acknowledge that Indians are a net benefit to the Western healthcare systems, and that is far from clear, there is no doubt that the most qualified of these doctors are being taken from people who are dying by the millions.
In short, Western countries like Germany may be better off slightly lowering the admissions standards for their own population for medical schools rather than allowing more foreigners to arrive, often with questionable certifications and a worrying command of the German language.
Concerns about diploma mills and fraudulently obtained diplomas are rife in India, including for medical diplomas, as has been documented. Many cases, however, likely go undetected. India is a chaotic country, where often anything goes for the right price, including masses of underage girls trafficked and sold into sexual slavery, all conducted relatively out in the open.
Undoubtedly, many Indians will come to Germany, and many of them will work hard, but the sheer numbers that have arrived in Western countries present a major challenge going into the future.
Many Western nations see India as a solution, including Germany. The population is enormous while European populations are shrinking.
Most European leaders, even on the right, are dead-set on more immigration, as long as its legal, as they try to prop up GDP, boost the pool of consumers, boost housing prices and construction, and keep the ponzi scheme going that represents much of what the modern economy has now become.
We’ve all heard the argument before – “Liberals are the ‘creatives’ in western culture and conservatives have no imagination”. And, if you only use venues like the Hollywood film industry or maybe the New York art and literature scenes as examples, then this claim might appear to have validity. After all, the vast majority of filmmakers, writers, actors and artists today are rabidly progressive. It’s hard to find a single conservative among them.
Of course, the argument falls apart when we look back to the artists and musical geniuses of the Renaissance, or the great writers and poets of the early industrial age. In fact, for centuries the creative world was dominated by conservative and Christian powerhouses. It wasn’t until the quiet leftist invasion of media starting in the 1940s (which was stalled by McCarthy) and the eventual takeover in the 1970s that “art” became the exclusive domain of progressives.
How did this happen? How did conservatives get pushed out of the creative world?
Well, they’re still around; thousands upon thousands of them. However, the art world and the realm of entertainment are largely dictated by corporate dollars. Wealthy benefactors used to PAY conservative artists and commissioned great works. Now, they don’t. Whoever gets the money gets the exposure, and liberal artists get the money. It’s not about merit, it’s about ideology and politics.
Try to be a new talent with openly conservative views in mainstream film, television, fiction writing, comic books, painting, music, etc. Watch how quickly you are added to the blacklist and how quickly you disappear regardless of how brilliant your work is. It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s observable fact.
There are numerous case studies of conservatives in Hollywood being buried by the industry. In literature the progressives learned how to control the bottleneck – Nearly all literary agencies are run by leftists (and women), and if you can’t get representation for your book then it won’t get nationally published.
A common argument among leftists (or idiots) is that women simply read far more and so books that cater to female consumers get the green light. It’s the “free market” – Don’t you support the free market?
In reality, the woke takeover of literature came first. And, now that books are rarely written by men for men, male readers have no market to tap into. The problem has become so epidemic that a literary company in Britain called Conduit Books announced that they are going to focus on male writers for the foreseeable future. And guess what happened? Mobs of leftists and the corporate media attacked them, arguing that men had their time and now is the time for women to “have a voice”.
In other words, male writers (let alone male conservative writers) aren’t even allowed to have ONE company that supports their work.
As the Gamergate movement exposed, woke activists hijacked gaming by extorting companies with threats of cancellation. They then organized “consultation” groups (like Sweet Baby Inc.) that invaded the industry and injected woke narratives into every new product. Conservatives are persona non grata in the AAA game development space.
Comic books have been utterly destroyed by the political left. An army of feminists and LGBT activists now control every aspect of the comic industry and American comics no longer sell because of woke politics. Did the market die? No, customers simply moved on to the alternatives. Japanese Manga dominates the comic market today with sales that dwarf American comics. In 2021, total US comic sales hit $2.07 billion, with $1.47 billion of that being manga.
These are just a few examples of how leftists act as gatekeepers in creative markets. For decades they have dictated who gets exposure and who doesn’t. And you know whose fault it is? It’s ours.
For many years I have listened to conservatives dismiss pop culture as “kids stuff” and not important compared to politics. Meanwhile, woke saboteurs were slithering into every corner of the entertainment world and planting their degenerate notions into every movie, every show, every song, every book, everywhere you look their cultism is rampant. You can’t get away from it and we allowed this to happen because we weren’t paying attention.
Luckily, a counter-movement has formed and the vast effort to stop wokeness in media has been largely effective in organizing boycotts. In the past few years nearly every entertainment platform that produces woke material is dying.
In movies, production companies are forced to reduce or completely cut out woke messaging in order to draw an audience. The problem is, the leftists still stand guard at the gates. Conservatives still aren’t getting access to media markets, which means all we are going to get for years to come is progressive slop, or productions that avoid wokeness but remain mediocre.
My fear is that audiences will simply settle for mediocre as a replacement for woke; that people will throw up their hands and give up on quality in art and entertainment as long as they’re no longer bombarded with DEI. It basically means the the death of creativity in the west.
So what’s the solution?
It seems so obvious to me that it’s painful, but maybe conservative creators are so despondent that they’ve given up. The internet and social media offer immense opportunities for independent content creation, but this is not enough. Audiences and investors need to put cash and support behind the alternative content industry.
Just as great Christian artists were once given the ability to conjure historic works of grandeur because of commissions, there needs to be a movement to focus production and distribution back into conservative hands.
The crisis in liberal entertainment cannot be allowed to go to waste. Never before has the progressive media juggernaut been as weak as it has been in the last few years. Now is the time to take the culture back. Not necessarily by forcing conservative politics into movies and books, but by creating meaningful and powerful art again; art that removes the stains of wokeness.
Films and short form fictional content are incredibly cheap to make and distribute compared to 20 years ago. I have always loved the artform of film but when I started writing in the early 2000s the field was prohibitively expensive and digital cameras were in their infancy. Even making a short film could bankrupt the average twenty-something artist with a tight budget.
Today, you can get near Hollywood quality digital cameras, lighting, editing, sound, etc, for well under $10,000. Maybe half that price if you buy used. All you need is a good idea and the will to make it happen. Price is no longer a factor like it once was.
I will say, though, that conservative filmmakers need some kind of venue to tap into – Maybe a yearly short film contest or a screenplay competition. Someone needs to step up and provide an arena where conservative creators can compete for greater opportunities beyond some cash from YouTube.
In literature I suspect the crusade will be much more difficult, unless companies with weight and money step in to launch a conservative renaissance in fiction. Self publishing is definitely an option but reach without marketing is limited. The most successful creators will be those with a preexisting audience. A lot of brilliant writers will fall by the wayside because they don’t already have an online presence.
Indie video games are in the wild west phase and there are some incredible success stories out there. As the technology becomes more accessible I suspect leftists will lose their hold on development. It may take another few years, though.
I believe comic books is one area that is BEGGING for revitalization and new blood. As noted, the market is huge. American readers are hungry for good stories, they just aren’t finding them at Marvel and DC because of the woke takeover. No one wants to buy leftist drivel.
American comic creators like Eric July have proved that the industry can be saved. His libertarian/conservative “Rippaverse” project has garnered a lot of attention (and a lot of hate) for offering non-woke comic books and he has shown that there is a steady audience for this kind of content.
I’m adding my own limited contribution to the fight with my action/horror graphic novel ‘Mountain Hollow’ which is now in print. A story about a survivalist who fights a guerrilla war against an interdimensional evil. Here’s a promo video for my book:
Anyone interested in purchasing a copy can BUY ONE HERE.
I think most people accept the prevailing theory that the political left, with the help of NGOs and even governments, has steamrolled into the cultural zeitgeist with the goal of saturating our media with as much propaganda as possible. Perhaps they they thought we would be so overwhelmed that we would give up and embrace their ideology as the “new normal”.
However, I would suggest that this was only part of their plan. Their secondary goal was to deconstruct western pop-culture should they fail to control it. In other words, if they can’t have it, they would rather burn it all down to the ground so that no one else can have it. And I have to admit that they are winning when it comes to destroying what remains of our entertainment. The options today look bleak.
Stories and art are not simply about fantasy and escapism – They are the catalyst by which a civilization passes on its principles, its ideas, its dreams, its lessons and its morals. Leftists understand this all too well. For some reason conservatives are late to the party. There is still time to save our culture from being cast into the pit of despair.
We only require an organized effort that provides support to conservative art; a new Renaissance which resurrects the values of merit, talent, hard work and conscience.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
Every year, The Economist ranks cities around the world on livability, based on factors including crime and conflict to public transportation and education.
The index ranks cities on over 30 factors across five categories to determine their overall livability. Factors include:
Stability: Prevalence of crime, terror, military conflict, civil unrest/conflict
Healthcare: Availability and quality of private and public healthcare, general healthcare indicators
Culture and environment: Humidity/temperature rating, cultural and sporting availability, social or religious restrictions
Education: Availability and quality of private education, public education indicators
Infrastructure: Quality of road network, public transport, international links, availability of good housing
What is the Most Livable City in the World?
Below, we show the 10 most livable cities in the world according to The Economist, and their livability scores.
Copenhagen was ranked the most livable city in the world, ending Vienna’s three-year streak at the top of the rankings.
Denmark’s capital city scored perfect 100s across stability, education, and infrastructure, with an overall score of 98.
Vienna and Zurich tied for second with scores of 97.1. Switzerland—which had two cities rank in the top 10 for livability—also ranked first as the top migration destination to live and work in for 2025.
Vienna saw its scores for stability drop dramatically in the wake of a bomb threat before a Taylor Swift concert (later cancelled), and a planned attack on a city train station in 2025.
Overall, cities in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific continue to dominate the top of the rankings.
Vancouver, Canada is now the only North American city in the top 10, after Calgary saw the biggest drop in ranking, falling from fifth in 2024 to 18th in 2025 due to declines in its healthcare scores.
The average score for livability in 2025 was 76.1 out of 100, the same as 2024. However, scores in the stability category have continue to decline amid widespread geopolitical tension and civil unrest around the world.
To compare this list with last year’s livability rankings, check out the 2024 graphic here.
According to figures released on July 9 by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the producer price index for industrial products in June fell by 3.6 percent compared with the same month in 2024—worse than a 3.3 percent drop in May, and the biggest annual decline since July 2023.
The month’s purchasing price index for industrial products fell by 4.3 percent year over year, bigger than the 3.6 percent drop in May, and the sharpest decline since August 2023.
According to Dong Lijuan, statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics, the producer price index deflation in June was driven by cheaper energy prices, uncertainties in international trade, and hot and wet weather that drove down the price of building materials.
Sectors that rely on exports faced more downward pressure in prices, she said.
“The prices of computers, communication equipment, and other electronic equipment in June dropped by 0.4 percent [compared to May], the prices of electrical machinery and equipment fell by 0.2 percent, and textile prices fell by 0.2 percent,” she said.
In annual terms, the prices of computers, communication equipment, and other electronic equipment fell by 2.3 percent.
China’s factory activity shrank for a third month in a row in June, albeit at a slower pace, with employment and new export orders still languishing.
“We expect demand to weaken later this year, as exports slow and the boost from fiscal support diminishes,” Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, said.
Market reaction to the data was cautious amid uncertainties in the trade war between the United States and other economies. China’s Shanghai Composite Index was up by 0.3 percent by the midday break, while Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index traded down by 0.7 percent.
As subdued domestic demand remains a drag on China’s economy, companies have resorted to price discounts to boost sales, prompting the authorities to urge an end to the auto industry’s bruising price wars.
Highlighting the tepid consumer market, Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com have pledged heavy subsidies over recent months to expand aggressively into fast deliveries.
Consumer prices rose by 0.1 percent compared with the same month in 2024, following four months of deflation.
“Consumer inflation is likely to remain near zero for the rest of the year, as structural adjustment continues slowly, with consumer demand weighed by the protracted property downturn and worries over the jobs market,” Duncan Wrigley, chief China economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said.
He also said that trade tensions between Washington and Beijing are likely to continue despite the recent framework agreement.
“More flare-ups are likely and cooling export growth will add to downward price pressure in manufactured goods sectors,” he said.
According to supply chain technology provider Descartes, U.S. container imports from China were about 639,300 20-foot equivalent units in June, slightly up (0.4 percent) from May, but a 28.3 percent decline from June 2024.
The company said it expects that “China’s share of U.S. imports may remain under pressure through the second half of 2025,” with the upcoming expirations of U.S. tariff pauses extended to Aug. 1 and the trade truce with China on Aug. 12, and with additional U.S. tariffs on transshipped goods via Vietnam.
Ben Davidson of Space Weather News issued a warning on X overnight about an Earth-facing coronal hole that could eject fast-moving solar wind toward Earth, potentially triggering elevated geomagnetic activity, including auroras and geomagnetic storms. The high-speed stream is expected to reach Earth within days.
“Now THAT is a coronal hole. Whoa momma,” Davidson said, adding,”Excess magnitude/volcanic watch is in play now. Solar wind enhancement expected Saturday/Sunday/Monday.”
Now THAT is a coronal hole. Whoa momma.
Excess magnitude/volcanic watch is in play now. Solar wind enhancement expected Saturday/Sunday/Monday. pic.twitter.com/XRuiMOBqtY
Solarham, a solar storm monitoring website, warned, “The onset of a coronal hole stream was not expected until within the next few days.”
On Thursday, Solarham described the “Coronal Hole to Face Earth” that will begin impact Earth this weekend:
A large coronal hole will begin to face Earth this weekend. A solar wind stream flowing from this zone is expected to reach Earth beginning July 12th with the main influence by July 13/14. It is possible that a geomagnetic storm watch will be issued in the days ahead.
As of Friday morning, Solarham data shows all quiet across the Western Hemisphere.
For context, disturbances in Earth’s magnetosphere—triggered by solar activity such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs)—can impact the modern economy in multiple ways, including degrading satellite systems and GPS, disrupting power grids and high-frequency communications, and more.
A Carrington-class storm would be absolutely catastrophic for the world, potentially causing trillions of dollars in economic damage globally.
Can you guess which US power grid is most at risk? Find out here…
On Sept. 16, 2001, five days after the attacks on New York and Washington, DC, President George W. Bush declared, “This crusade – this war on terrorism – is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I’m going to be patient. But I can assure the American people I am determined.”
Four days after that, President Bush declared the “war on terror” to be primarily against al-Qaeda. “Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda,” he said in an address to Congress and the nation, “but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”
He described the enemy thus:
This group and its leader — a person named Osama bin Laden — are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries.
Bush was correct in his assessment of the group.
One of those countries into which al-Qaeda jihadists implanted themselves was Syria, where from 2011 – with the support of the Obama Administration – they attempted to overthrow the secular leader, Bashar al-Assad, using terrorist tactics they had been well-trained in.
They soon changed their name – but not their stripes – and became the Al-Nusra Front, headed up by an experienced jihadist who fought against US troops in Iraq by the name of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. His group was known for chopping off heads. Perhaps even American heads.
Last December Jolani’s jihadists – with support from the US, Turkey, and Israel – finally brought down the Assad government and quicker than you can say “Washington PR makeover” he clipped his beard, switched out his tactical military watch for a $90,000 Patek Philippe World Time Chronograph, and declared himself president.
The “civilized world” cheered the re-emergence of democracy in Syria!
At their first meeting earlier this year in Saudi Arabia, President Trump praised jihadist Jolani as “a young, attractive fellow” and “a tough guy, a fighter, with a very strong background. He has a lot of potential, he’s a real leader.”
This week, President Trump “removed sanctions on Jolani’s Syria at (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu’s request,” and just yesterday Secretary of State removed Jolani’s old al-Qaeda affiliate (which had gone from al-Nusra to HTS over the years) from the US terrorist list.
The history of the GWOT (Global War on Terror) began in 2001 with the US invading Afghanistan to dig out Al Qaeda. It ends twenty-four years later with the US recognizing an AQ affiliate as the new ruler of Syria.
According to Brown University’s Cost of War Project, the “Global War on Terror” cost the American people at least eight trillion dollars. It also took the lives of perhaps a million people.
And what did we get for all this blood and treasure? In Afghanistan, the Taliban were after 20 years of US military action replaced by the Taliban, and in Syria a fierce opponent of al-Qaeda was replaced by…al-Qaeda!
As Jake Sullivan, then right hand to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wrote to the Secretary in 2012, “al-Qaeda is on our side in Syria.” He wasn’t joking!
That was the shot…here’s the chaser: In the same week the United States removed sanctions on al-Qaeda ruled Syria, it placed sanctions on…UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese!
Who is Albanese? She is the fearless defender of human life in a Gaza where it is slowly being extinguished by Israel with the backing (and weapons) of the US government.
In hitting UN human rights defender Albanese with sanctions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote:
Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt @IntlCrimCourt action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.
Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated. We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.
The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies. (emphasis added)
What might those “whatever actions” be? Clearly it is a physical threat against Albanese for speaking out against a mass murder happening in real time, observable for all who wish to do so on our own computer screens.
So that is it. The “Global War on Terror” is over. Terrorists have been elevated by the US government to be heads of state and those who speak out against state terrorism are threatened with “whatever actions we deem necessary” to shut them up.
FBI’s ‘Raw’ Epstein Prison Video Was Likely Doctored: Wired
In an effort to quell longstanding theories surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein, the U.S. Department of Justice this week released nearly 11 hours of what it described as “full raw” surveillance footage from outside Epstein’s prison cell. Instead of ending speculation, the release has introduced new doubts.
According to an analysis conducted by WIRED in collaboration with independent video forensics experts, metadata embedded in the files shows the footage was not a direct export from the prison’s surveillance system. Rather, it appears to have been modified – likely using Adobe Premiere Pro, a professional video editing tool.
The file, investigators say, was assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded to the DOJ’s website, where it was labeled “raw” footage.
“If a lawyer brought me this file and asked if it was suitable for court, I’d say no. Go back to the source. Do it right,” said Hany Farid, a professor at UC Berkeley whose research focuses on digital forensics and misinformation. “Do a direct export from the original system—no monkey business.”
Farid also questioned why the video’s aspect ratio shifted during playback. “Why am I suddenly seeing a different aspect ratio?” he asked.
While experts emphasize that the metadata alone does not prove deceptive intent, they caution that the DOJ’s failure to explain the editing process adds to the cloud of suspicion that has long surrounded Epstein’s 2019 death in federal custody.
Earlier this week, the DOJ released a memo concluding that Epstein had ‘no incriminating client list’ and wasn’t murdered later releasing the footage in question.
Again, Bongino’s claim is impossible. Epstein had three other inmates on his cell block, and the camera there wasn’t recording. Even if no one came to kill Epstein from the outside, we can’t rule out these other inmates.
According to Wired, “the video may have simply been processed for public release using available software, with no modifications beyond stitching together two clips. But the absence of a clear explanation for the processing of the file using professional editing software complicates the Justice Department’s narrative.“
For months leading up to the joint memo the DOJ and FBI published Monday, attorney general Pam Bondi had promised the release of records related to Epstein, raising expectations that new, potentially incriminating details might surface about the disgraced financier’s death and his ties to powerful individuals. However, rather than revealing new information, the memo largely confirmed conclusions reached years earlier: that Epstein was found in a Manhattan prison cell on August 10, 2019, and died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
To support its conclusion, the FBI reviewed surveillance footage overlooking the common area of the Special Housing Unit (SHU) at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), where Epstein was held. The FBI enhanced the footage by adjusting contrast, color, and sharpness, and released both the enhanced and what it described as the “raw” version. Both versions of the video appear to have been processed using Premiere and include much of the same metadata. According to the FBI, anyone entering the area containing Epstein’s cell during the relevant time frame would have been visible on that camera. -Wired
According to the metadata from the “raw” file reveals that the video had been saved at least four times on May 23, 2025, by a Windows user named “MJCOLE~1.” The footage references two source clips—“2025-05-22 21-12-48.mp4” and “2025-05-22 16-35-21.mp4” – and Premiere project files, indicating that it was a composite video.
One media forensics expert, who reviewed the metadata and asked not to be named, told Wired “It looks suspicious – but not as suspicious as the DOJ refusing to answer basic questions about it.”
The Department’s handling of the footage has also drawn criticism in light of previous issues at MCC. According to a 2023 report from the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General, starting on July 29, 2019 – less than two weeks before Epstein’s death – around half of MCC’s 150 analog surveillance cameras stopped recording due to a technical error. Repairs scheduled for the night of August 9 were not carried out because the technician lacked an escort.
Only two cameras were operational in the SHU area at the time Epstein was found hanged: one near the entrance to the 10 South Unit and one by a ninth-floor elevator bay. Neither covered Epstein’s cell door.
What’s more there was a notable gap in the recording: one minute of footage, from 11:58:58 p.m. to 12:00:00 a.m., is missing. The recording resumes immediately afterward.
At a press conference Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi attributed the missing minute to a daily system cycle, claiming that one minute is missing from every night’s recording.
For months, Bondi had promised that the DOJ would release records that could shed light on Epstein’s death. But the new video and memo “largely confirmed conclusions reached years earlier,” WIRED noted, leaving many observers unsatisfied.
Researchers have found that nine species of gut bacteria can help detoxify the body from forever chemicals, rapidly absorbing PFAS linked to cancer and other serious illnesses.
“This uncovers a new beneficial role of gut bacteria for the human health—to help removing toxic PFAS from our body,” senior study author Kiran Patil, a member of the MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Cambridge, told The Epoch Times.
How Bacteria Work
The Cambridge University study, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, identified nine bacterial species that can absorb up to 75 percent of toxic PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—from their surroundings.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals used in thousands of consumer products, from nonstick pans and waterproof clothing to cosmetics and food packaging. Dubbed “forever chemicals” because they resist breaking down in the environment, PFAS accumulate in human bodies and have been linked to various cancers, liver damage, and immune system disorders.
Currently, there are no approved treatments to remove PFAS from the human body, making this discovery potentially significant for public health.
The research team identified nine bacterial species—including six in the Bacteroides family, Odoribacter splanchnicus, Parabacteroides distasonis, and Parabacteroides merdae—that can absorb two common types of PFAS: perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
When these bacteria were introduced into mice, they quickly absorbed the chemicals. When they were excreted through the gut, the forever chemicals were removed with them in waste. Within minutes of exposure, the bacteria absorbed between 25 and 74 percent of PFAS chemicals at various concentration levels.
The researchers believe the way bacteria collect PFAS into protective clumps inside their cells is a survival mechanism that prevents the chemicals from causing cellular damage.
As the mice were exposed to increasing PFAS levels, the bacteria kept removing a steady percentage of the toxins, suggesting they could act as a natural filter in the gut.
Treatment Potential
The effectiveness of this approach depends on the specific type of PFAS compound, Patil said.
Short-chain PFAS leave the body quickly through urine. However, long-chain PFAS stay in the body for years and are mostly removed through feces. Therefore, using bacteria works best for PFAS compounds that are primarily eliminated through fecal excretion, according to Patil.
The bacteria proved effective even at very low exposure levels similar to those found in European and U.S. water samples, suggesting potential real-world applications.
The researchers plan to develop probiotic supplements that could boost these helpful bacteria, offering a new way to reduce PFAS levels in humans. However, while promising, the results have not yet been tested directly in humans.
There are always unknown factors between lab studies on mice and real-world applications for humans, Bryan Quoc Le, a food scientist and founder of and principal food consultant at Mendocino Food Consulting, who was not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times.
“Despite this,” he said, “the study did take a more comprehensive approach, such as using diverse microbial populations that are realistic for humans, and testing with different types of PFAS.”
However, he also noted the main challenges with a study like this include not knowing how things change in the long term, how these selected bacteria survive in different microbiomes with different diets and health conditions, and whether the same level of PFAS uptake would occur consistently and reliably.
“Needless to say, this area of research is still developing, so nothing is conclusive for human applicability yet, but it does suggest that further research would be worthwhile,” Le continued.
Safety Considerations
Medical experts urge caution despite the findings. Dr. Joseph Mercola, board-certified family medicine osteopathic physician, not involved in the study, emphasized the importance of careful implementation when introducing new bacterial strains into the human gut.
While the bacteria used in the study came from species already found in healthy humans, even familiar microbes can act differently depending on our overall gut balance, immune system, and existing health conditions, he told The Epoch Times.
“The good news is that these species aren’t exotic imports; they’re already natural residents in many people,” he said. “Still, scaling up their population through supplements or engineered probiotics could throw off your microbial balance if done recklessly.”
Dr. Kham Ali, an emergency medicine physician at Northwell Health in New York and not involved in the study, warned that adding bacteria to our microbiome that store toxic PFAS could have “unintended consequences,” such as disrupting other beneficial bacteria or affecting how the body processes food and medicine.
“We’d need long-term human studies to understand the safety of such interventions,” he told The Epoch Times.
