The Europeans have taken yet more ‘counter-Russia’ actions amid widespread allegations that Moscow has sponsored sabotage campaigns targeting EU communications infrastructure.

Finnish authorities have newly detained a cargo ship suspected of damaging an undersea communications cable. The vessel has been identified as the Fitburg, and had departed St. Petersburg, Russia and was traveling toward Israel when it was intercepted by Finnish authorities.

Security officials have since confirmed, “Finnish authorities have taken control of the vessel as part of a joint operation.”

The cable in question links Helsinki with Tallinn and is operated by the Finnish telecom company Elisa. Like with other similar cable cutting allegations, officials admit there’s no smoking gun proof at this point.

Prior similar instances of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ supposedly engaged in cable cutting activity have generated ample headlines but nothing in the way of proof.

Bloomberg and European media have reported that fourteen crew members are currently being held by authorities – which includes nationals of Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.

The Finnish police and the Border Guard have accused the vessel dragging its anchor along the seabed, after which it entered Finnish territorial waters at the request of authorities, whereupon it was taken into custody.

“At this stage, the police are investigating the incident as aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated interference with telecommunications,” the police said.

The Finnish coast guard tracked has charged that “The ship’s anchor chain had been lowered into the water.” This after it was taken into custody.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb says he’s closely monitoring the situation amid a pending investigation. “Finland is prepared for various security challenges and responds to them in the manner the situation requires,” he said on X.

This kind of thing has occurred in the Baltic Sea region, allegedly many times since the Ukraine war began. CNN writes that “At least 10 undersea cables have been cut or damaged in the Baltic Sea since 2023.“

Finland seizes vessel suspected of damaging underwater cable

Finnish authorities have seized the cargo vessel Fitburg off the coast of Porkkala in connection with damage to an undersea data cable between Helsinki and Tallinn. The vessel departed Saint Petersburg on December 30… pic.twitter.com/ihtJpkZVlW

— MarineTraffic (@MarineTraffic) December 31, 2025

Sometimes the vessels at the center of these controversies were already under Western sanctions, and have been boarded by authorities from various EU and NATO countries.

The Department of Health and Human Services is freezing all federal childcare payments to every state following alleged Somali-linked welfare fraud involving Minnesota daycare and autism centers. These revelations shocked the nation earlier this week after being exposed by citizen journalist Nick Shirley.

A growing army of citizen journalists is descending into corrupt, Democratic-run states this week, where additional suspected welfare fraud schemes tied to migrant networks are being uncovered – even as corporate media outlets attempt to downplay the findings and discredit those reporting them. Legacy media has acted as a public relations arm for the Democratic Party in an attempt to discredit anyone investigating suspected fraud.

By Tuesday, Shirley’s viral exposé of suspected Minneapolis daycare fraud had surpassed 100 million views on X and sparked a massive shift in public sentiment, creating broader support for HHS’ efforts to stop fraud, waste, and abuse. That public sentiment enabled HHS to take decisive action. 

The action phase began Tuesday when HHS froze all federal childcare funding for Minnesota, citing rampant fraud allegations attributed to Somali-linked daycare operators. By Wednesday night, the funding suspension had been expanded nationwide.

We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota.

You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.

Today we have taken three actions… pic.twitter.com/VYbyf3WGop

— Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill (@HHS_Jim) December 30, 2025

ABC News was the first to report HHS’ move to cut all federal funding to daycares nationwide until operators can prove their legitimacy.

An HHS official said the funds will be released “only when states prove they are being spent legitimately.” There were no further details or more information about the paperwork proof the agency requires from the states. It is assumed this will be addressed in an upcoming memo.

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told ABC News that recipients of funding who are “not suspected of fraudulent activity” are required to send HHS their “administrative data” for review.

HHS’ approach is very similar to the Small Business Administration’s move last month, when it issued letters to all contractors in the 8(a) Business Development Program, the nation’s largest DEI program, requesting financial records to root out fraud, waste, and abuse. SBA also halted grants to the state-run by what appear to be very corrupt and hinged Democrats.

Nixon said that recipients of federal funding in Minnesota, as well as those “suspected of fraudulent activity,” must provide HHS with additional records, including attendance logs, licensing documents, inspection and monitoring reports, and records of complaints and investigations.

“It’s the onus of the state to make sure that these funds, these federal dollars, taxpayer dollars, are being used for legitimate purposes,” Nixon told the outlet.

What’s shocking is that CNN is more driven to prove Shirley wrong.

Yet the truth slipped …

Related:

• Obama’s Trojan Horse: How His Refugee Machine Engineered The Billion-Dollar Looting Of US Treasury

Time to revitalize DOGE and stop the looting of the US Treasury.

Belarus has announced that Russia’s Oreshnik intermediate-range nuclear capable ballistic missile system has been deployed on its territory, though details and specifications – including range – of the projectile remain secretive.

On Tuesday, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense released a video it claims shows the Oreshnik system being deployed inside the country. It featured Russian troops and technicians in a ceremonial flag-raising while stationed in Belarus, along with a convoy of vehicles moving into a field-based firing position before being concealed under camouflage netting. 

Accompanying this was the recent emergence of satellite images indicating that Moscow is indeed positioning the nuclear-capable missiles in Belarus.

But questions have been raised as to the precise location of the missile systems, given that the undated published video features only support vehicles and doesn’t appear to including the launch apparatus itself. 

Still, the video includes a senior officer informing troops that the systems have officially entered combat duty and references prior routine training and reconnaissance exercises carried out by missile crews.

Russian state media has referenced a precise date for the missile transfer to Belarusian territory, however:

Russian officials have likened its conventional destructive power to that of a low-yield nuclear strike, highlighting its dual strategic and tactical potential. By comparison, Western militaries currently lack a directly equivalent hypersonic MIRV-capable system, giving Oreshnik a unique edge in speed, maneuverability, and multi-target strike capability.

Up to ten systems are slated for deployment in Belarus under an agreement reached between Minsk and Moscow shortly after the missile’s initial combat test.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced in a parliamentary address this month that the Oreshnik systems had arrived in Belarus on December 17. Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Muraveyko said last week the combat patrol areas are set and the system is fully operational and ready for use.

Already Belarus plays host to Russian tactical nuclear weapons – though details of this too remain shrouded in mystery and intentioned strategic ambiguity.

EuroNews: “Analysts identified a former airfield near the Russian border as a likely site.”

Russia shows nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system in Belarus

Russia’s Defence Ministry released the first images of an intermediate-range weapon entering service. Analysts identified a former airfield near the Russian border as a likely site. pic.twitter.com/vkEv6eGP5r

— euronews (@euronews) December 30, 2025

2025 has been a big year for Moscow showcasing its military might and tech. As we reviewed earlier, in a matter of less than a year, Russian scientific know-how came up with four bangers:

1. Oreshnik: hypersonic missile, already tested in the Ukraine battleground.

2. Burevestnik: Or “Stormbringer”, with that nice Deep Purple ring. Nuclear cruise missile with unlimited range.

3. Poseidon: nuclear-powered torpedo, capable of loitering underwater, undetected, for unlimited time; then, at a command, strikes enemy coasts with a nuclear payload, provoking a radioactive tsunami. Largely exceeds the destructive power of the Sarmat, Russia’s largest ICBM.

4. Khabarovsk: nuclear sub. Call him The Messenger of Doom: capable of delivering at least 6 Doomsday-enabling Poseidons.

As for the Oreshnik, it was at a December 2024 meeting with Belarusian President Lukashenko that Putin had first unveiled plans to station Oreshnik missiles in Belarus. He indicated at the time that the deployment would occur in the second half of 2025. There are prior reports saying the hypersonic Oreshnik has already been used against Ukrainian targets to demonstrate Moscow’s ‘shock and awe’ capabilities.

Authored by Nouriel Roubini via Project Syndicate,

Contrary to what far-right leaders claim, Europe’s greatest challenge is not immigration or “wokeness,” but its own economic and technological backwardness. With productivity growth lagging and innovation increasingly taking place elsewhere, Europe must confront its structural weaknesses or risk falling further behind.

US President Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy offers a misguided assessment of Europe, long regarded as America’s most reliable ally. Unrestrained immigration and other policies derided by administration officials as “woke,” it warns, could lead to “civilizational erasure” within a few decades.

That argument rests on a fundamental misreading of Europe’s current predicament. While the European Union does face an existential threat, it has little to do with immigration or cultural politics. In fact, the share of foreign-born residents in the United States is slightly higher than in Europe.

The real threat facing Europe lies in its own economic and technological backwardness. Between 2008 and 2023, GDP rose by 87% in the US, compared to just 13.5% in the EU. Over the same period, the EU’s GDP per capita fell from 76.5% of the US level to 50%. Even the poorest US state – Mississippi – has a higher per capita income than that of several major European economies, including France, Italy, and the EU average.

This widening economic gap cannot be explained by demographics. Instead, it reflects stronger productivity growth in the US, largely owing to technological innovation and higher total factor productivity. Today, roughly half of the world’s 50 largest technology firms are American, while only four are European. Over the past five decades, 241 US firms have grown from startups into companies with market capitalizations of at least $10 billion, compared with just 14 in Europe.

These trends raise a critical question: Which countries will lead the industries of the future, and where does Europe fit in? The race for technological leadership now spans a wide range of fields, including AI and machine learning, semiconductor design and production, robotics, quantum computing, fusion energy, fintech, and defense technologies. Europe enters this race at a clear disadvantage.

Whether the US or China currently leads the industries of the future remains open to debate, but most observers agree that it’s essentially a two-horse race, with America still ahead in several key areas. Beyond that, innovation is concentrated in countries like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India, and Israel. In Europe, by contrast, innovative activities are largely confined to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Switzerland – two of which are not even EU member states.

It is hardly a surprise, then, that while the US and China dominate global technological rankings, Europe finds itself far from the top. And the outlook is anything but reassuring, given that the next wave of innovation is widely expected to be more disruptive than anything we have seen over the past half-century.

The technological gap between the US and Europe can be attributed to several factors.

• First, the US has a far deeper and more dynamic ecosystem for financing startups, while Europe still lacks a genuine capital markets union, limiting the scale and speed at which new firms can grow.

• Second, Europe is hampered by excessive and fragmented regulation. A US startup can launch a product under a single regulatory framework and immediately access a market of more than 330 million consumers. The EU has a population of roughly 450 million but remains divided among 27 national regulatory regimes. An International Monetary Fund analysis shows that internal market barriers in the EU act like a tariff of around 44% for goods and 110% for services – far higher than the tariff levels the US imposes on most imports.

• Third, cultural attitudes toward risk-taking differ sharply. Until relatively recently, a failed entrepreneur in some EU countries (like Italy) could face criminal penalties, while in the US, a tech founder who has never failed is often seen as too risk-averse.

• Fourth, the US benefits from a deeply integrated academic-military-industrial complex, while Europe’s chronic underinvestment in defense has weakened its innovation capacity. Technological leaders like the US, China, Israel, and, more recently, Ukraine spend heavily on defense, with military research often producing technologies that have civilian applications.

Despite this, many European political leaders continue to frame higher defense spending as a tradeoff between security and social welfare. In reality, free-riding on US defense spending since the end of World War II has limited the type of innovation that could have generated more of both through higher productivity. Paradoxically, sustaining Europe’s social model will require greater investment in defense, beginning with meeting NATO’s new spending target of 3.5% of GDP.

If Europe allows its technological lag to grow over the coming decades, it risks prolonged stagnation and continued economic decline relative to the US and China. There are, however, reasons for cautious optimism. Increasingly aware that Europe faces an existential challenge, policymakers have begun to advance serious reform proposals. The most notable examples are the two major 2024 reports on EU competitiveness and the single market by former Italian prime ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, respectively.

Europe also retains considerable strengths, including high-quality human capital, excellent education systems, and world-class research institutions. With the right incentives and regulatory reforms, these assets could support much higher levels of commercial innovation. With a better environment for entrepreneurship, Europe’s high per capita income, large internal market, and elevated savings rates could help unleash a wave of investment.

Crucially, even if Europe never leads in cutting-edge technologies, it could still significantly boost productivity by adopting and adapting American and Chinese innovations. Many of these technologies are general-purpose in character, benefiting both adopters and pioneers.

All of this leaves Europe at an inflection point.

As Ernest Hemingway famously observed, bankruptcy happens “gradually and then suddenly.”

So far, Europe’s technological decline has been gradual. But if it fails to confront its structural weaknesses, today’s slow erosion could give way to a sudden and irreversible loss of economic relevance.

Swiss emergency services responded to an explosion and fire that killed 40 people and injured about 100 during New Year’s celebrations at a bar and lounge called Le Constellation, located in the ski resort town of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland.

BREAKING: Swiss police say “several dozen” people are dead, and “100 or so” people have been injured after the fire at Le Constellation bar in Switzerland https://t.co/5MpePzQTlm

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/ZGSid31ZHi

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 1, 2026

Local officials said the cause of the blast at Le Constellation remains unclear and noted that it has not been designated as a terrorist attack.

“At the moment, we are considering this a fire, and we are not considering the possibility of an attack,” prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud told reporters, adding that a full investigation has commenced.

“We are a ruling out an attack”

Swiss authorities say the incident is being considered a fire and not an attackhttps://t.co/5MpePzQTlm

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/zaAGceMyjO

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 1, 2026

Latest details from the Swiss news conference:

• Around 40 people are presumed dead, with at least 100 injured

• Victims include multiple nationalities

• Most of the injured sustained severe burns and significant injuries

• Swiss emergency services deployed 10 helicopters, 40 ambulances, and 150 responders to the scene

• Authorities did not disclose a cause for the fire, but the prosecutor ruled out a terrorist attack

• The Valais hospital intensive care unit is at capacity, with patients being transferred elsewhere for specialized burn treatment

“What was meant to be a moment of joy turned, on the first day of the year in Crans-Montana, into mourning that touches the entire country and far beyond,” Swiss Federal President Guy Parmelin wrote on X.

Authored by Lawrence Kadish via The Gatestone Institute,

The British were the first to develop the aircraft carrier as an emerging weapon of war. But it was the Japanese who perfected the ship by combining as many as four aircraft carriers into a single battle group and deploying a task force that led to their devastating strike against the American fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Nearly a century later, another ally, the State of Israel, has pioneered asymmetrical warfare in which they combine their technological superiority in gathering intelligence with precision strikes to counter enemies who seek their destruction. The Israelis’ continued success can be found from the use of explosive pagers that took out Hezbollah terrorists, to hidden computer malware that disabled Iranian uranium enrichment. Their exploits could fill a book.

Our other allies, the Ukrainians, are using drones controlled by sleeper agents to destroy Russian military assets far behind the battle lines.

For the Russians, anyone and everyone could now be a suspect.

All of this begs the question: If this is what our allies are capable of, what can our enemies be contemplating?

As the successful Japanese carrier task force dramatically reminded the world in 1941, our enemies sit, watch, and consider how emerging tools of warfare pioneered by democracies can be used against these nations of freedom.

Who are the sleeper agents who may be working within our nation’s utilities, capable of infecting our complex electrical grids with malware that, if activated, would plunge our cities into darkness?

Who are those who have purchased farmland near our Midwest strategic bomber air bases and whose barns and warehouses could now have drones hidden within them, waiting for a signal to strike?

Can hackers in North Korea manipulate our nation’s financial system, threatening everything from bitcoin “banks” to financial transfers on the command of their Communist leader?

These are just some of the nightmare scenarios that America needs to understand and prepare to defend against in a world where armies do not need to invade and missiles do not need to be launched in order to disarm an adversary.

The Chinese, however, are not solely relying on stealth sleeper agents or asymmetrical opportunities.

China’s second aircraft carrier is expected to enter service in 2026, according to the respected publication Aviation Week.

Separately, the publication also notes that while the Chinese are publicly criticizing the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile-defense program, they are hard at work at developing their own anti-missile defense shield.

It is classic Beijing – criticize your enemies for what you are already pursuing.

The year 2026 will see the United States advancing on multiple fronts, from accelerating our return to the Moon to strengthening our naval forces, to bolstering our drone technology, to increasing our strategic defenses.

All the while, the forces of freedom must recognize that, like Imperial Japan of 1941, our adversaries are watching Western democracies to determine our vulnerabilities.

It will require the White House to sustain its firm and resolute leadership to protect our future and all those who treasure democracy and freedom.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Authored by X user Saggezza Etern,

Obama’s Billion-Dollar Minnesota Fraud Empire

The Heist You Paid For

Imagine waking up tomorrow to find your bank account empty. Every dollar you saved for your children’s tuition, your retirement, your security—gone. Now imagine looking out the window and seeing the thief driving a Porsche bought with your money, laughing as he waves a government-issued thank you note. This is not a hypothetical scenario. It is the reality of the American taxpayer in the wake of the single largest COVID-era fraud scheme in the nation’s history. While you were locked down, masked up, and worrying about the price of eggs, a sophisticated network of fraudsters in Minnesota was siphoning off a quarter of a billion dollars—likely far more—from programs meant to feed hungry children.

The “Feeding Our Future” scandal is not just a story about greed. It is the smoking gun of a much darker political operation. Federal prosecutors have charged 70 people in a $250 million conspiracy, and the FBI is reportedly eyeing fraud that could total over $2 billion across multiple sectors including autism therapy, housing, and daycare. The vast majority of these defendants come from the Somali community in Minnesota. But do not be distracted by the foot soldiers. To understand how a fraud of this magnitude happens, you have to look past the people cashing the checks and look at the architect who built the bank. This industrial-scale theft traces directly back to Barack Obama. It was his administration that deliberately flooded Minnesota with tens of thousands of refugees, creating a dependent, insular enclave primed for exploitation. It was his policy of “equity” that paralyzed oversight. And it is his political heirs who are now frantically trying to bury the evidence.

The Architect of the Enclave

You might be wondering how Minnesota, a state once known for Scandinavian stoicism and lakes, became the global epicenter for Somali diasporic fraud. It was not an accident. It was a federal mandate. Between 2008 and 2016, the Obama administration oversaw the admission of over 54,000 Somali refugees into the United States. But they didn’t just scatter them across the 50 states. They targeted specific swing states and counties, with Minnesota being the primary dumping ground.

By the time Obama left office, Minnesota was home to the largest Somali population in the country, now estimated at over 80,000 people. This concentration was strategic. By clustering refugees in Minneapolis, the Democratic machine created a voting bloc that could be harvested for elections and a demographic that demanded massive government outlays. They called it “diversity.” In reality, it was demographic engineering. The Obama administration poured federal grants into “refugee services,” creating a lucrative industry of nonprofits and community organizers whose entire existence depended on keeping the flow of refugees—and federal dollars—moving. This established the infrastructure for the fraud we see today. When you import a population from a failed state with no tradition of Western civic duty, and you teach them that the government is a bottomless trough of free money, you don’t get assimilation. You get predation.

The “Equity” Shield: How They Paralyzed the Police

The genius of the Obama-era strategy was not just in the importation of people, but in the weaponization of race to silence dissent. Under the guise of “equity,” the Obama administration pushed for relaxed standards in federal contracting, specifically favoring “minority-owned” nonprofits. This created a regulatory environment where asking questions became a career-ending risk.

Consider the mechanics of the “Feeding Our Future” fraud. The fraudsters claimed to be serving thousands of meals a day to children who did not exist. At one site, they claimed to be feeding 2,000 children daily in a second-story apartment. Anyone with eyes could see this was impossible. So why didn’t the Minnesota Department of Education stop it? Because when they tried, they were called racists. The fraudsters, emboldened by the racial grievance culture Obama cultivated, sued the state for discrimination. Terrified of the “racism” label, the state resumed payments. This is the direct result of a decade of Obama-era policy that equated oversight with oppression. The bureaucrats were more afraid of a lawsuit from the ACLU than they were of letting billions of dollars in taxpayer money walk out the back door.

The Protege: Ilhan Omar and the MEALS Act

If Barack Obama built the machine, Ilhan Omar is the operator. Omar is the ultimate product of the Minnesota Somali enclave. She rose to power not despite her radicalism, but because of the demographic reality Obama created. And her legislative fingerprints are all over this scandal.

In 2020, as the pandemic began, Omar sponsored the MEALS Act. This legislation fundamentally altered the rules for federal nutrition programs, allowing parents to pick up meals without children present and removing the requirement for congregate dining. While pitched as a compassionate measure, it effectively removed the only verification mechanism the government had. It was a blank check. It is no coincidence that the fraud exploded immediately after these rules were relaxed. Omar’s campaign has accepted thousands of dollars from individuals later indicted in the scheme, money she quietly returned only after the media glare became too bright. She defends the lax rules as necessary to “feed kids,” twisting the narrative to make you feel guilty for questioning the theft. But the money didn’t go to kids. It went to luxury condos in Nairobi, beachfront property in Turkey, and Porsches in Minneapolis.

The Deep State Money Laundry

The rabbit hole goes deeper than just meal tickets. The connections between the Somali fraud network and the highest levels of the Democratic establishment are becoming impossible to ignore. Take a look at Rose Lake Capital, a venture capital firm founded by Tim Mynett, Ilhan Omar’s husband. As the fraud investigations heated up, astute observers noticed that the firm’s website was scrubbed of some very interesting names.

Prior to the scrub, the firm listed advisors including a former Obama ambassador to Bahrain, a former Obama ambassador to China, and a former DNC treasurer. Why are top-tier Obama officials swimming in the same financial waters as the family of a Congresswoman whose district is ground zero for the largest fraud in history? These networks provide the cover. They provide the legitimacy. And they potentially provide the mechanism to wash the proceeds of the grift. This is not just local corruption. It is a federally integrated operation where the political elite protect the foot soldiers who deliver the votes and the cash.

The Cost of Submission

You are paying for this. Every time you look at your pay stub and see the massive chunk taken out for federal taxes, remember that money is not building roads. It is not securing the border. It is funding the lifestyle of people who hate you. The $250 million stolen in the Feeding Our Future scam is just the tip of the iceberg. Investigators believe the total theft across childcare, autism, and housing programs could reach billions.

But the financial cost pales in comparison to the security threat. Much of this stolen money was remitted overseas. We know it bought real estate in Kenya and Turkey. What we don’t know is how much of it ended up in the hands of Al-Shabaab or other extremist groups in the Horn of Africa. By turning a blind eye to this fraud to preserve “community relations,” the Democrats have effectively turned the US Treasury into a piggy bank for foreign interests. And politically, they have succeeded. The Somali bloc in Minnesota votes over 80% Democrat. They have sent Ilhan Omar to Congress three times. They are a captured constituency, bought and paid for with your tax dollars.

Dismantling the Legacy

The Minnesota fraud scandal is the inevitable result of the Obama doctrine: Import a dependent class, dismantle the safeguards against corruption under the banner of “equity,” and brand anyone who notices as a bigot. They counted on your silence. They counted on your fear of being called a name.

But the receipts are in. We know who did this. We know how they did it. And we know who let it happen. The solution is not “reform.” It is a complete dismantling of the refugee resettlement pipeline that Obama built. We need a forensic audit of every federal dollar sent to “community non-profits” in the last ten years. We need to seize the assets—the cars, the houses, the overseas accounts—of everyone involved. And most importantly, we need to stop being afraid. The cry of “racism” is the thief’s final defense. Ignore it. Keep your eyes on the money. Keep your eyes on the truth. They stole your country and sold it back to you as “diversity.” Demand a refund.

What You Can Do Right Now:

• Share this article: The mainstream media is trying to bury the Obama connection. Force the conversation.

• Demand Audits: Contact your state representatives and demand a specialized audit of all Department of Education and DHS grant recipients in your state.

• Reject the Guilt: When they try to shame you for asking where the money went, laugh in their faces. You are the creditor. They are the debtors. And collection day is coming.

. . . 

Chinese-made electric buses are rapidly gaining ground across Southeast Asia as governments push to decarbonize public transport and Chinese manufacturers seek growth beyond a slowing home market, according to Nikkei Asia.

In Jakarta, that shift is already visible. Transjakarta, the capital’s main bus operator, introduced electric buses from China’s BYD in 2022. It now runs 420 electric buses — nearly 10% of its fleet — including models from Skywell and Zhongtong, and plans to fully electrify its 10,000-bus fleet by 2030.

For veteran driver Muhammad Iqbal, the change has been dramatic. A decade ago, Chinese buses in Indonesia were known for breakdowns and even fires, forcing operators to rely on Japanese and European brands. Now, Iqbal says the new electric models are easier and more comfortable to drive. “It’s more comfortable to drive this electric bus,” he said. “It uses an automatic transmission, and drivers don’t have to queue at the gas station each [night] before returning [the buses].”

Nikkei writes that Chinese firms dominate the global electric bus export market, led by Yutong and King Long. In the first half of 2025 alone, China exported about 9,000 electric buses worldwide — a 124% increase from a year earlier. Southeast Asia still represents a small share of that total, but demand is accelerating.

In Indonesia, BYD has partnered with local manufacturer VKTR Teknologi Mobilitas, which opened an assembly plant in Central Java in May. The facility, capable of producing 3,000 vehicles a year, currently builds about 200 and aims to deliver 80 buses to Transjakarta by early 2026. Forty percent of the buses’ components are locally sourced, qualifying the company for government incentives.

Growth is also spreading regionally. Malaysia operates more than 140 electric buses and plans to deploy thousands over the next five years. Singapore has already ordered hundreds of electric buses from Chinese suppliers and aims to electrify half its fleet by 2030. The Philippines and Indonesia have set similar targets, driven by national EV policies.

Vietnam and Thailand are exceptions. Vietnam’s local manufacturer VinFast dominates its electric bus market, while Thailand is prioritizing rail investment over bus electrification.

The rapid expansion has also raised cybersecurity concerns. In November, Norway’s public transport operator warned that Chinese-made buses could be vulnerable to remote manipulation, prompting investigations in Europe. Chinese manufacturer Yutong rejected the claim. Indonesian cybersecurity expert Pratama Persadha cautioned that vehicle data could be exploited and urged governments to require cyberaudits for imported EV systems. As analyst Mark Manantan put it, “Whoever the company is, there will always be a cybersecurity risk.”

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The Department of State has instructed U.S. embassies located in Western nations to report human rights abuses occurring there due to mass immigration, according to a Dec. 30 thread on X.

The embassies will “analyze government policies that facilitate mass migration or privilege migrants over citizens,” the department said.

“The United States urges governments to protect their borders and defend their citizens against the human rights abuses caused by mass migration. The United States stands ready to work alongside nations across the Western Hemisphere to end the global crisis of mass migration.”

According to the United Nations’ International Migrant Stock report published in January 2025, the total number of international migrants worldwide in 2024 was 304 million.

Europe hosted 94 million of these individuals, which is “more international migrants than any other region” in the world, the report said.

In second place was North America, which hosted 61 million migrants, followed by Northern Africa and Western Asia with 54 million people.

Between 1990 and 2024, Europe saw the largest increase in international migrants, with 43 million foreigners flowing into the region. North America added 34 million people during this period.

In its X post, the State Department said the United States has seen millions of migrants and massive amounts of deadly drugs flowing into the country on transnational routes operated by terror groups.

“Mass migration has endangered American citizens, threatened the economic security of American workers, and strained America’s asylum system,” it said, adding that the “narco-terror organizations that facilitate mass migration routinely engage in child trafficking, forced labor, sexual assault, and other heinous human rights abuses that threaten the citizens of nations throughout the Western Hemisphere and undermine the rule of law.”

On Nov. 21, the State Department said in a thread on X that it had directed embassies to report on any human rights implications and public safety impacts of mass migration, calling it an “existential threat to Western civilization” that also undermines the stability of key American allies.

“In the United Kingdom, thousands of girls have been victimized in Rotherham, Oxford, and Newcastle by grooming gangs involving migrant men,” the department said. “Many girls were left to suffer unspeakable abuse for years before authorities stepped in.”

The department also noted rapes of teen girls in Sweden and Germany by migrants.

In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has arrested and deported “hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal aliens” under the Trump administration, including drug traffickers, rapists, gang members, and kidnappers, the department said in a Dec. 19 statement.

“Seventy percent of those arrested by ICE are criminal illegal aliens who have been charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.,” DHS said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized 39,984 pounds of drugs under President Donald Trump, a 10 percent jump from the same time in 2024, the department said, adding that Coast Guard seizures of illegal narcotics have surged 200 percent since January 2025.

Living on Benefits

As part of strengthening immigration practices, DHS issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on Nov. 19 to amend the Public Charge provision regarding the admission of immigrants into the country, triggering opposition from lawmakers.

Under the provision, authorities can deny the application of an immigrant applying for a visa, admission, or adjustment of legal status in the United States who is likely to primarily become dependent on government benefits.

On Dec. 19, more than 100 lawmakers sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow, urging them to withdraw updates to Public Charge rules, saying it would harm immigrant communities, according to a Dec. 23 statement from the office of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

“The Trump Administration’s proposal would rescind the clear 2022 public charge regulations and replace them with vague, undefined standards, leading to arbitrary decision-making, fear, and widespread confusion,” they said.

“Past public charge expansions have driven families, including those with U.S. citizen children, away from lawful access to health care, nutrition, and early childhood programs.”

In its proposed rulemaking notice, DHS said that the regulations must be updated.

The existing rules are “inconsistent with congressional intent, unduly restrictive, and hamper DHS’s ability to make accurate, precise, and reliable determinations of whether certain aliens are likely at any time to become a public charge,” it said.

DHS wrote that rescinding these rules would restore “broader discretion to evaluate all pertinent facts and align with long-standing policy that aliens in the United States should be self-reliant and government benefits should not incentivize immigration.”