President Trump on Friday in a radio interview disclosed something which missed the attention of the US and global media. He let slip that a large land site had been knocked out by a strike from US forces in the Caribbean – however without specifying which country was hit (whether Venezuela or perhaps Colombia).

Trump may have actually assumed the attack which he disclosed publicly for the first time was already being reported on, but it had not. He was being interviewed by John Catsimatidis, the Republican billionaire who owns the WABC radio station in New York on his The Cats & Cosby Show, and the two were talking about the Venezuela campaign. 

The United States had knocked out “a big facility” last week, Trump described somewhat vaguely, in apparent reference to a drug facility on the Latin American coast. 

“They have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from,” Trump said, though he did not explicitly identify the exact location or even country attacked. “Two nights ago we knocked that out.”

According to the full remarks in context, the president said:

“But every time I knock out a boat, we save 25,000 American lives. It’s very simple. And what’s happening is they’re having a hard time employment-wise, they can’t get anybody.

And we just talked out, I don’t know if you read or you saw, they [Venezuela] have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard. But drugs are down over 97 percent. Can you believe it?”

Some unnamed American officials suggested to the New York Times that the Commander-in-Chief was referring to a drug facility in Venezuela: 

Trump did not name the location of the facility, though American officials told the New York Times that the president was referring to a drug facility in Venezuela that was eliminated. The president’s comment is the only report of such an attack. No other Latin American government, including Venezuela, has disclosed a strike of this sort.

But information or confirmation other than that disclosure remains a mystery, as neither the CIA nor Pentagon have commented, as the NY Times notes:

If Mr. Trump’s suggestion that the United States had struck a site in the region proves accurate, it would be the first known attack on land since he began his military campaign against Venezuela. U.S. officials declined to specify anything about the site the president said was hit, where it was located, how the attack was carried out or what role the facility played in drug trafficking. There has been no public report of an attack from the Venezuelan government or any other authorities in the region.

Listen to the audio below:

Trump speaking on Venezuela appear to suggest the U.S. has already carried out land strikes. Listen for yourself.

“But every time I knock out a boat, we save 25,000 American lives. It’s very simple. And what’s happening is they’re having a hard time employment-wise, they can’t… pic.twitter.com/uySMAu23Bi

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) December 28, 2025

Speculation has quickly begun in an effort to identify which facility was hit and what damage was done. Some analysts have highlighted the below explosion reported by local Venezuelans, given the timing fits (Wednesday, Dec. 24).

The local reporter’s commentary reads according to (machine) translation, A new large explosion was reported from the Industrial Zone of the San Francisco municipality, Zulia state, in the early morning of this December 24.

#24Dic📹#Sucesos Una nueva gran explosión se reportó desde la Zona Industrial del municipio San Francisco, estado Zulia, la madrugada de este 24 de diciembre.

Vía: @Jhormancruz1#SanFrancisco pic.twitter.com/KM74H69lRH

— El Martillo Venezuela (@ElMartilloVen) December 24, 2025

This is in Venezuela’s second largest city, in the northwest corner of the country, and near the coast.

If the Pentagon did indeed take out a “large facility” on land, as Trump’s words indicate, it suggests the US may not initiate a major war in quick ‘shock and awe’ style, but will opt for sporadic strikes which limit military action to specified targets. So the ‘war’ might be a slow burn after all – which also means the Pentagon force build-up in the Caribbean is there to stay for a while.

Authored by Bryan Jung via PJMedia.com,

A venture capital firm run by Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) husband quietly scrubbed important names from its website, as the Minnesota congresswoman faces mounting questions on her sudden wealth amid a multi-billion Somali welfare fraud scheme in her district.

Rose Lake Capital, the $60 million dollar firm managed by Omar’s husband, political consultant Tim Mynett, deleted key officers from its website, including former Obama Administration officials, reported the New York Post in an exclusive.

The news comes as Somali communities across multiple states are currently facing scrutiny over dozens of similarly fraudulent schemes that have seen billions of taxpayer dollars flowing overseas, with some even going to jihadist terrorist groups in Somalia.

Nine billion dollars from Minnesota’s social services programs were illegally pocketed via scams mostly perpetrated by local members of the Somali community in Omar’s congressional district, according to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Minnesota congresswoman, a member of the “the Squad” who was born in Somalia, is an outspoken figure on the far-left wing of the House Democratic caucus

Omar suspiciously went from holding tens of thousands in debt to earning tens of millions in a single year, not long after taking office in 2019 on a congressperson’s annual salary of $174,000, the Washington Free Beacon reported in September. 

Her critics have recently pointed to the fact that she was the prime mover in introducing the federal legislation that enabled what the DOJ has called the largest fraud committed in the United States during the pandemic.

Minnesota’s Democrat governor and failed vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz is continuing to face criticism for his part in the mismanagement and alleged complicity in the debacle, as calls for federal charges against him grow louder.

The Somalia-born Omar introduced in 2020 the MEALS Act, which severely weakened oversight of government-sponsored children’s meals programs during the pandemic.

This allowed criminals to fraudulently claim that they served millions of meals without verification, while pocketing millions of dollars in government subsidies, say critics.

The $9 billion stolen is nearly equivalent to the entire economy of Somalia, whose GDP was under $12 billion last year, according to the World Bank.

The total losses accounts for roughly half of the $18 billion in total federal funds provided to the Minnesota-run services since 2018, say federal prosecutors.

Meanwhile, while one of the largest government subsidies frauds in American history was underway, Mynett launched Rose Lake Capital, his venture capital management firm, in 2022.

Mynett’s firm saw its reported value skyrocket from less than $1,000 in 2023, to between $5 million and $25 million by the end of the year, despite its address remaining a WeWork office in Washington, D.C., according to its LinkedIn page.

Rose Lake Capital apparently was able to amass significant assets under management through its “deep global networks built from on-the-ground work in more than 80 countries,” an amount which is normally unheard of in the industry.

Her husband’s other business, eStCru, was a failed California winery venture that has also faced fraud allegations and, strangely enough, was also listed as operating out of a WeWork office.

Mynett’s winery, which was worth between $1 million and $5 million in 2024, agreed to an out-of-court settlement with a former investor in November who accused Omar’s husband of swindling him out of $900,000, as he “fraudulently misrepresented … that estCru, LLC was a legitimate company.”

The winery was only worth between $15,000 and $50,000 in Omar’s financial disclosure report in 2022, making its 9,900%  earnings windfall the following year suspect, say critics.

About 90 Minnesotan Somalis have been arrested so far, including at least three suspects with direct ties to Omar, though she has not been charged.

“The magnitude cannot be overstated,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson told reporters last week.

 “What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud,” continued Thompson.

One of those charged was Salim Ahmed Said, the co-owner of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis where Omar held her 2018 congressional victory party. He was convicted in federal court in August of stealing more than $12 million, the DOJ stated on its website.

Said received $12 million in federal payouts to serve 3.9 million meals to hungry children during the 2020 pandemic, but instead spent it on a $2 million mansion in Minneapolis and a $9,000 shopping spree at Nordstrom, said the feds.

President Donald Trump asked on his Truth Social account when the news of the allegations first broke: “Does Ilhan Omar know these people? Are they from her wonderfully managed Home Country of Somalia?”

“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great state, and billions of dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,” the president added.

There is even a video on X of Omar praising Said at his restaurant, during the height of his scam, in front of reporters .

“Every day Safari provides 2,300 meals to children and their families,” Omar said in Somali while handing out food in front of the news cameras.

Another friend, Guhaad Hashi Said, who worked on the congresswoman’s campaign in 2018 and 2020, also pleaded guilty in August for running a fake food site called Advance Youth Athletic Development, which was supposed to serve 5,000 meals a day to kids, but led to $3.2 million being diverted from the food program and into his pockets.

Omar’s campaign received $7,400 in direct donations from the three convicted fraudsters, but the congresswoman who has publicly claimed to represent the interests of the people of Somalia now claims that she returned those donations since the scandal broke.

After federal prosecutors charged eight more suspects, mostly of Somali descent, between September and October for their participation in the subsidies fraud schemes, several names and bios of Rose Lake Capitals’s nine officers and advisors were removed from the firm’s website. 

They included lobbyist and former Obama ambassador to Bahrain Adam Ereli; former Sen. Max Baucus, who served as Obama’s ambassador to China; DNC finance chair associate Alex Hoffman; former DNC treasurer William Derrough; and former Amalgamated Bank CEO Keith Mestrich.

Mestrich once boasted that Amalgamated was “the institutional bank of the Democratic Party.”  

None of these officers were charged in the fraud, according to the New York Post, which also noted that the Treasury and Justice Departments were already investigating alleged money laundering by Omar and Mynett.

Upon taking office in 2019, Omar declared a net worth of between negative $25,000 and negative $65,000, with no assets and only carrying student and car debt.

Her personal assets are now between $6 million to $30 million, according to her latest financial disclosure, despite dismissing claims that she is a millionaire as “ridiculous” and “categorically false.” 

“There’s a lot of strange things going on,” Paul Kamenar, counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center, told the New York Post. 

“She was basically broke when she came into office and now she’s worth perhaps up to $30 million.…She needs to come clean on these assets,” said Kamenar.

Stocks are extending their modest losses from their pre-Christmas record as another shortened trading week starts. As late last week, much of the market action is in precious metals, with silver first smashing through $80 for the first time before sliding while gold also retreated from Friday’s all-time high and platinum pulling back sharply after surging nearly 10%, and hitting limit down in China along with Platinum.As of 8:15am, S&P 500 futures were 0.3% lower while Nasdaq 100 contracts were down 0.4% as Tesla and Nvidia slid more than 1% to lead premarket losses among Mag 7. Europe’s Stoxx 600 was little changed following talks about a peace deal for Ukraine that yielded no breakthrough. Treasuries gained with 10Y yields down 0.2bps from Friday’s close to 4.11% while the BBG dollar index rose. Bitcoin briefly surged back over $90,000 before getting summarily slammed right back down. Trading is likely to be light again, accompanied by a threadbare economic calendar and the absence of major planned corporate events. 

In premarket trading, Tesla and Nvidia underperform Mag 7, putting pressure on US stock futures (Tesla -1%, Nvidia -1%, Alphabet -0.5%, Meta -0.4%, Apple -0.2%, Microsoft -0.1%, Amazon +0.1%)

• Silver stocks including Coeur (CDE) and Hecla (HL) fall as the precious metal retreated sharply after smashing through $80 an ounce for the first time. Coeur -4.5%, Hecla -4%
• Coupang (CPNG) gains 2% after offering compensation worth more than $1 billion to all customers affected by South Korea’s biggest-ever data breach.
• DigitalBridge Group (DBRG) soars 33% as SoftBank Group is said to be in advanced talks to acquire the private equity firm that invests in assets such as data centers.
• Energy Fuels (UUUU) gains 3% after saying it exceeded 2025 uranium production and sales guidance.
• Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) rises 0.9% after the WSJ reported that founder Chip Wilson is launching a proxy fight at the retailer.

In corporate news, Japan’s SoftBank is in advanced talks to acquire DigitalBridge Group, a private equity firm that invests in assets such as data centers, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

With stock trading rather subdued, precious-metal price swings remained the overnight highlight, with silver spiking as much as 6% on Monday, before profit takers stepped in to send it back below Friday’s close. As a result, silver retreated sharply after smashing through $80 an ounce for the first time, halting a record-breaking rally powered by Chinese speculative demand.

The white metal fell by more than 6% as it took a roller-coaster ride Monday after earlier hitting $84 an ounce. Surging Chinese investment demand has pulled the metal higher, with premiums for spot silver in Shanghai rising above $8 an ounce over London prices, the biggest spread on record. Elon Musk fed the early momentum with his reply to a tweet about Chinese export restrictions due to start on Thursday, saying on X over the weekend: “This is not good. Silver is needed in many industrial processes.”

Silver, which had risen more than 40% since the start of the month through Friday, has been spurred like other precious metals this year by elevated central-bank purchases, inflows to exchange-traded funds and three rate cuts by the Fed. Lower borrowing costs burnish the attraction of commodities and traders are betting on more rate cuts in 2026. Frictions in Venezuela and strikes by Washington on Islamic State targets in Nigeria have also added to the haven appeal of metals. With silver inventories near their lowest on record, there’s a risk of supply shortages that could impact multiple sectors.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said he expects the Trump administration to de-escalate trade tensions next year after tariffs sent shockwaves through the US economy in 2025. He said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS News that BofA now sees “de-escalation, not escalation,” with an average of 15% tariffs and higher rates for countries that won’t commit to US purchases or lowering non-tariff barriers.

Despite the market closing out 2025 at an all time high, tariffs and other curve balls made it a brutal year for stock pickers. About $1 trillion was pulled from active equity mutual funds over the year, according to estimates from Bloomberg Intelligence using ICI data, marking an 11th year of net outflows and, by some measures, the steepest of the cycle. By contrast, passive equity exchange-traded funds got more than $600 billion.

“The question of ‘is AI a bubble’ will remain front and center for investors in 2026,” wrote Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm. “The scale of current investment and the pace of innovation mean that even the sceptics cannot ignore its influence on both markets and the real economy.

In geopolitical news, President Donald Trump said he made “a lot of progress” in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over a possible peace deal, but that it might take a few weeks to get it done.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 was little changed following talks about a peace deal for Ukraine that yielded no breakthrough. Miners outperform, driven by surging metals prices, while industrial goods and services stocks are among the biggest laggards. Here are some of the biggest movers on Monday:

• Fresnillo shares climb as much as 5.3% on Monday to the highest level on record, leading a rally in mining stocks driven by surging metals prices.
• International Personal Finance rises as much as 6.8% in London trading after Basepoint agreed to buy the consumer finance company in a deal valuing IPF at about £543 million.
• BioGaia shares gain as much as 4.2% as DNB Carnegie lifts its price target on the Swedish probiotics firm and says the stock may break out on the upside from its five-year trading range in 2026 as margins improve.
• Bonesupport shares advance as much as 4.5% on Monday as DNB Carnegie repeats its positive stance on the Swedish medical equipment firm and says valuation seems attractive given potential for growth.
• Leonardo shares fall as much as 4.7% after US President Donald Trump said he made “a lot of progress” in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over a possible peace deal.

Earlier in the session, Asian equities extended gains for a seventh day, the longest winning streak in three months, buoyed by advances in tech firms. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed as much as 0.6%, boosted by TSMC, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. South Korea led gains in the region, while benchmarks in Taiwan and Tokyo also rose. China’s markets reversed earlier gains despite Beijing’s pledge to broaden its fiscal spending base in 2026. Meanwhile, mining shares across Asia climbed after silver rallied to a new peak, before sliding. 

Elsewhere in commodities, copper, fueled by concerns over tighter supply, pushed hard toward $13,000 a ton, setting a fresh record on the London Metal Exchange.  Oil also rose as the US-led talks failed to yield a breakthrough and as China vowed to support economic growth next year. Brent crude is still on track for a fifth monthly drop in December, which would be the longest losing streak in more than two years.

Bitcoin topped $90,000 before erasing the gain. A gauge of the dollar was steady. US Treasuries strengthened across the curve, with the 10-year yield falling one basis point to 4.12%.

In rates, treasuries hold small gains on lower-than-average futures volumes to begin the year’s final week, amid similar price action in most European bond markets where trading resumed after Friday’s holiday. Yields are lower by about 1bp-2bp across tenors with the curve slightly flatter; 10-year declined as much as 2.5bp to 4.10%, lowest level since Dec. 18. Treasuries remain headed for a small monthly loss amid signs of US economic resilience, yet still on pace for their best annual performance since 2020 following three Fed interest-rate cuts in response to weakening labor-market conditions

The US economic data calendar includes November pending home sales (10am) and December Dallas Fed manufacturing activity (10:30am); no Fed speakers are scheduled until Jan. 3

Market Snapshot

• S&P 500 mini -0.3%,
• Nasdaq 100 mini -0.4%,
• Russell 2000 mini little changed
• Stoxx Europe 600 little changed,
• DAX -0.2%,
• CAC 40 little changed
• 10-year Treasury yield -2 basis points at 4.11%
• VIX +1.2 points at 14.82
• Bloomberg Dollar Index little changed at 1200.67,
• euro little changed at $1.1777
• WTI crude +2% at $57.89/barrel

Top Overnight News

• Ukraine Seeks 50-Year U.S. Security Guarantee, Trump Offers 15: WSJ
• China stages record drills designed to encircle Taiwan: RTRS
• Chinese Military Drills Send ‘Stern Warning’ After U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan: WSJ
• Why a Chinese Attack on Taiwan Would Be Japan’s Problem: WSJ
• China Swipes at Trump in Move to Be Thai-Cambodia Peacemaker: BBG
• Netanyahu Meets Trump as Gaza Ceasefire Approaches Crossroad: BBG
• US pledges $2 billion in humanitarian support to UN, State Department says : RTRS
• Justice Department Using Fraud Law to Target Companies on DEI: WSJ
• Every Wall Street Analyst Now Predicts a Stock Rally in 2026: BBG
• Xi’s Triumphant Year Staring Down Trump Belies Woes in China: BBG
• Lululemon Founder Launches Proxy Fight to Change Board: WSJ
• Copper Rallies to Record Near $13,000 in London on Supply Fears: BBG
• Ph.D.s Can’t Find Work as Boston’s Biotech Engine Sputters: WSJ
• Publicly Traded Private-Credit Funds Set for Worst Year Since 2020: BBG
• Canada Pensions Overseeing $1.2 Trillion Revamp Private Equity Model: BBG
• SoftBank Nears Deal for Data Center Investment Firm DigitalBridge: BBG
• How a Reclusive Ex-Glencore Trader Became Indonesia’s Nickel King: BBG

US Event Calendar

• 10:00 am: Nov Pending Home Sales MoM, est. 0.96%, prior 1.9%
• 10:30 am: Dec Dallas Fed Manf. Activity, est. -6, prior -10.4

European defense stocks moved lower on Monday after President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made progress in talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

On Sunday evening, after the talks, Trump told reporters, “I do think we’re getting a lot closer, maybe very close.”

Zelensky told reporters the peace talks were a “really great discussion” in which U.S.-Ukraine security guarantees were “100% agreed” upon. He added, “We agree that security guarantees are a key milestone in achieving lasting peace.”

Zelensky said Trump will host another meeting next month with Ukrainian and European officials to advance a peace deal that is nearing completion. Trump confirmed that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the Zelensky talks and plans to hold another call with Putin.

The full summary of the Trump-Zelensky “great meeting” is available here.

The Goldman Sachs European Defense Index fell by roughly 2% on Monday following overnight developments.

Larger timeframe. 

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, the GS European Defense Index has delivered outsized annual returns.

UBS analyst Tricia Wright commented on the moves:

“Defense stocks were among the top fallers in Europe after the Trump-Zelensky meeting. The Italian defense group Leonardo declined by 4.4%, topping the STOXX Europe 600 fallers list, while Germany’s Rheinmetall and Hensoldt were both down by about 3%. Talks to end the Ukraine war on Sunday spurred fresh optimism from U.S. President Trump, yet there are no clear signs that the two sides have reached a breakthrough, as Russia continues to push for land gains and reject a ceasefire,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

Even as a potential peace deal in Eastern Europe nears, we expect defense stocks to remain elevated given record defense spending.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently wrote in a report on the rise in military expenditure: “The world is spending far more on waging war than on building peace.”

China launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan on Monday, showcasing Beijing’s ability to simulate a full blockade of the self-ruled island’s key ports. The live-fire exercises come just one week after the U.S. announced an $11.1 billion arms sale to Taipei.

According to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, at around 15:00 local time, 89 Chinese military aircraft appeared on radar near Taiwan. Officials said 14 People’s Liberation Army warships and 14 Chinese coast guard vessels were also sailing nearby.

PLA activity is occurring in and around the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. So far, the exercises have not disrupted maritime traffic.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi of the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command stated that the “Justice Mission-2025” exercises serve as a “stern warning against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and external interference.”

Starting from today 29th of December, the PLA will launch Justice Mission 2025 exercise all around Taiwan.

We are preparing for the all-domain siege of Taiwan, from the air, sea, land, space and cyberspace. pic.twitter.com/eLMPBAYOHo

— Zhao DaShuai 东北进修🇨🇳 (@zhao_dashuai) December 29, 2025

The multi-day live-fire exercises and simulated strikes are intended to prepare China for a blockade of Taiwan’s main ports. The drills come one week after the U.S. announced an $11.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the largest-ever U.S. weapons package to the island. The package includes HIMARS rocket systems, howitzers, Javelin anti-tank missiles, Altius loitering munition drones, and other weapon systems.

Related: 

• China Sanctions 20 US Defense Firms, Issues ‘Red Line’ Warning Over Record Taiwan Arms Deal

• China Says Region Closer To War Due To US Record Taiwan Arms Package

“They are sending a strong message on external interference,” Chieh Chung, a researcher at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told Reuters. He noted that China had “completely cut off” air and sea routes with Japan across three zones north of Taiwan.

Despite live-fire exercises, the Taiwanese stock market rose to record highs, reflecting a solid AI market theme that remains intact amid traders’ disregard for Beijing’s invasion-related fears.

Taiwan’s president said the drills underscore the need to continue strengthening defense capabilities amid Beijing’s continued pressure on what it considers a breakaway province.

California quietly dropped its lawsuit this week against the Trump administration over the federal government’s decision to pull $4 billion in funding for the state’s long-delayed high-speed rail project.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority filed a notice of voluntary dismissal on Dec. 23 in the case with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

The dismissal is without prejudice, meaning the lawsuit could be refiled in the future.

The dismissal came two weeks after Judge Dale Drozd rejected the Department of Justice’s argument that the authority should have filed its lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

The U.S. Department of Transportation withdrew the funding in July from the bullet train project, which is supposed to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles.

The Trump administration has said the authority had “no viable plan” to finish work on a large segment of the project in the state’s Central Valley. Both President Donald Trump and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy have criticized the delayed project as a “train to nowhere.”

As Matthew Vadum reports for The Epoch Times, California voters approved the project’s initial $10 billion bond in 2008. The project’s price tag was originally expected to be $33 billion, with a completion date in 2020. Costs have ballooned to between $89 billion and $128 billion, and the project is projected to be completed by 2033.

So far, 50 key structures—bridges, overpasses, underpasses, viaducts, and 70 miles of guideway—have been completed.

The authority sued in federal court on July 17 to reinstate the funds, calling the funding cut politically motivated and unlawful.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said at the time that the federal funding reduction was “a political stunt to punish California.”

The lawsuit argued that Trump’s actions are part of a long-running pattern of political retaliation, pointing to his first administration’s attempt to revoke high-speed rail funding the day after California sued to block his emergency declaration for a border wall.

The High-Speed Rail Authority said it has met every requirement under its agreements, pointing to multiple federal reviews—including one as recent as February—that found the project to be in compliance.

Last week, the authority said it would seek out other funding sources to finish the project.

The authority’s CEO, Ian Choudri, said that on Dec. 19, the authority had launched a procurement process that “formalizes efforts to partner with private investors and developers, with the shared goal of delivering California’s transformational program faster, smarter, and more economically.”

A spokesperson for the authority said the decision to withdraw the federal lawsuit reflects the state’s view that the federal government “is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California.”

“Federal requirements have, at times, hindered project delivery by adding cost and delays without adding value—creating inefficiencies, constraining innovation, and slowing construction,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of Justice for comment but received no response.

Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

• China now drives short-term oil price moves as its opaque import patterns, refinery margins, and strategic stockpiling increasingly shape marginal demand and near-term price discovery.

• OPEC’s influence has shifted to the medium term.

• In times of genuine supply stress, pricing power returns to producers.

For most of the past decade, oil markets have treated decisions by OPEC as the primary signal for price direction. That hierarchy is being tested, but not overturned. What has changed is where traders look for short-term cues. Increasingly, those cues are coming from China, not because Beijing controls supply, but because its buying behavior now dominates marginal demand and near-term price discovery.

As reported by Reuters, China has overtaken OPEC as the most influential force in oil price formation, driven by the scale and timing of its crude purchases rather than any formal attempt to manage prices. The change shows us how oil markets have become increasingly demand-led, with China sitting right in the center.

China is the world’s largest crude importer, but its influence extends beyond just the volumes that make headlines. 

Refinitiv analysts recently noted that the traditional view of producers like OPEC+ as the primary oil price setters has been “challenged in 2025 by China,” explaining that Beijing’s use of strategic stockpiles to provide a crude price floor and ceiling effectively supplanted producer group direction this year. citeanalyst voices added, I can provide additional options.

Unlike OECD buyers, China’s oil system blends state-owned majors, independent refiners, and strategic stockpiling entities whose buying behavior is opaque and often poorly reflected in real-time data. Cargoes can move into commercial storage, strategic reserves, or floating storage with limited visibility. That uncertainty itself has become a market variable.

When Chinese buying accelerates, prices tend to firm even if global supply remains healthy. When imports slow, prices drop even with OPEC output restraint. Over the past two years, this pattern has repeated enough times that traders now treat Chinese import momentum as a more immediate price driver than OPEC production targets, many of which are either anticipated or only partially implemented.

OPEC (and particularly Saudi Arabia) still controls the bulk of global spare capacity. That capacity continues to anchor longer-term expectations. But spare capacity matters less when demand fluctuations dominate short-term pricing. In today’s market, the marginal barrel is shaped more by whether China is actively pulling crude from the market.

Chinese refinery margins have become an early indicator for price direction. When margins improve, especially among independent refiners, crude imports typically rise. When margins tighten, buying slows quickly. Because these refiners operate with short planning cycles and limited balance-sheet flexibility, their behavior introduces volatility that OPEC policy cannot easily smooth.

Geopolitics also throws itself in the mix here, with China increasing crude intake from Russia and other sanctioned suppliers under alternative pricing arrangements, weakening the link between OPEC decisions and spot prices by shifting trade into channels where supply discipline and benchmark signaling are less effective.

No, it doesn’t mean that OPEC is irrelevant. The cartel’s policy decisions still shape the medium-term balance and set boundaries for price expectations. But the market’s center of gravity has shifted, with traders now watching Chinese customs data, refinery runs, and policy cues with the same intensity once reserved for OPEC communiqués.

None of this means that China has replaced producers as the ultimate price setter. China’s influence operates at the margin and in the short term, not in moments of genuine supply stress. Strategic stockpiling and opaque buying can move prices when barrels are abundant, but they cannot cap prices during a true supply shock, nor defend a floor once inventories normalize and demand slows. 

When markets tighten, pricing power reverts quickly to those who control spare capacity. On that front, OPEC (and primarily, Saudi Arabia) still holds the decisive lever. China’s signals may be easy for traders to trade, but they remain conditional. If Beijing were truly setting prices, it would be able to sustain them. Whether it can do so will ultimately test the limits of this thesis.

In 2025, global births are expected to remain highly concentrated in a relatively small number of countries.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, shows where the world’s newest citizens are being born and highlights the regions driving global population growth.

The data for this visualization comes from the UN World Population Prospects 2024 via Our World in Data.

Asia Remains the Global Center of Births

Asia accounts for the largest share of births worldwide, driven primarily by populous countries with relatively young populations.

India leads by a wide margin, with more than 23 million births expected in 2025—nearly one in six births globally.

China follows with about 8.7 million births, despite decades of declining fertility. Other major contributors include Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, underscoring Asia’s continued demographic weight.

Africa’s Rapid Population Growth

Africa is the fastest-growing region by births, reflecting high fertility rates and youthful populations across much of the continent. Nigeria stands out with an estimated 7.6 million births in 2025, more than all of Europe combined, which is projected to see about 6.3 million.

Several other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Egypt, also rank among the global leaders.

Europe and East Asia Face Demographic Headwinds

In contrast, Europe and parts of East Asia show relatively low birth numbers due to aging populations and persistently low fertility rates.

Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy each record fewer than 750,000 births annually.

Japan, once a major contributor to global births, is also projected to see fewer than 750,000 births in 2025, reflecting its long-running demographic decline. These patterns raise concerns about labor force growth and long-term economic sustainability in many advanced economies.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Where Immigrant Earnings Grow the Fastest on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A chilling revelation from a former MI6 operative exposes the ticking time bomb of Islamist sleeper agents embedded across the UK, ready to unleash devastation rivaling 9/11 or 7/7—all fueled by disastrous open borders policies that prioritize radicals over citizens’ safety.

Aimen Dean, who spent eight years infiltrating Al-Qaida for MI5 and MI6, knows the enemy inside out. As a former member of the terror group himself, he formed bonds with operatives and even served as a “kind of spiritual coach” to terrorists in London, gaining insider access to their plots.

His espionage thwarted attacks like a bid to bomb the New York Subway. But Dean pulls no punches on the current danger: there are “hundreds” of sleeper agents lurking in the shadows, primed to strike.

A new 9/11 is coming any day from the hundreds of al Qaida sleeper agents ready to unleash carnage in the UK, says ex-MI6 spy https://t.co/ppWAvJYPq3

— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) December 27, 2025

“Unfortunately, I would love to tell you the world is an amazing place, but it’s not,” Dean told The Sun. “The problem is the new world order is now the new world nightmare. We have rogue nations such as Iran aspiring to become nuclear powers. And a threat like Iran needs to be countered because of the fact that they are a nation that has sponsored terrorism.”

Al-Qaida found safe harbor in Iran for 25 years, Dean revealed, allowing the regime to orchestrate attacks that killed British nationals in Saudi Arabia—orders straight from Tehran.

Dean claims this Iranian backing has supercharged the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the West, eroding trust in institutions while violent extremists wait for their cue.

“It’s not about if another 9/11 or 7/7 attack will happen; it’s about when,”Dean warns.

He slammed Europe’s fixation on Russia as a distraction from the real peril: “The biggest threat to the UK and Europe right now isn’t Russia but the spread of Iranian influence. We’re going to see many more lone-wolves acting for the regime. When it comes to sleeper agents in the UK, it’s impossible to tell how many there are but there are hundreds.”

“Islamic fundamentalism is much more sinister as it undermines from within,” Dean explained, adding “It pushes people to distrust institutions and in some ways is much more dangerous than violent extremism. The violence is just the tip of the iceberg.”

This dire assessment arrives amid Starmer’s latest blunder, where he gleefully welcomed Alaa Abd el-Fattah—a British-Egyptian extremist with a track record of Holocaust denial, praising Osama bin Laden, and calling for the killing of Zionists, police, and even declaring “I hate white people.”

Starmer boasted on X: “I’m delighted that Alaa Abd El-Fattah is back in the UK and has been reunited with his loved ones, who must be feeling profound relief.” He dubbed it a “top priority,” ignoring Abd el-Fattah’s vile posts like “can we get back to killing zionists please?” and urging rioters to “hunt police fools.”

Critics like Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick blasted it as “an absolute disgrace,” demanding citizenship revocation for this “national security risk” who “hates Britain.”

Starmer’s virtue-signaling diplomacy rolls out the red carpet for radicals, while Dean’s intel screams that Iran’s proxies are already here, blending in thanks to porous borders.

Mass importation of unvetted migrants under globalist agendas has turned Britain into a powder keg, where fundamentalists erode society before detonating.

With mass migration flooding in threats under leftist governance, this warning couldn’t come at a worse time, as Keir Starmer’s regime celebrates importing extremists who spew hate and incite violence, leaving Brits vulnerable to the next wave of jihadist horror.

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Rare earth elements (REEs) are the backbone of modern technology, from EV motors and wind turbines to smartphones and precision-guided systems.

This map, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, breaks down where the world’s known rare earth reserves are located in 2025, highlighting how concentrated they are across a handful of countries.

The distribution is highly uneven. China alone holds nearly half of the global total, followed by Brazil’s sizable deposits. By contrast, many advanced economies have limited reserves.

The data for this visualization comes from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

A Heavily Concentrated Reserve Base

China leads with 44.0 million metric tons, about 48% of the world total of 91.9 million metric tons. Brazil is a clear second at 21.0 million tons (23%), reflecting large ionic clay and hard-rock deposits that are still early in development.

India (6.9 million tons) and Australia (5.7 million tons) round out the top tier, while Russia (3.8 million tons) and Vietnam (3.5 million tons) are also ahead of the United States. Together, the top six countries account for roughly four-fifths of known reserves.

Advanced Economies: Small Shares, Big Demand

The United States holds just 1.9 million metric tons of rare earths (2%), underscoring its reliance on trade and midstream processing to secure supply. In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese materials by funding domestic mining projects, streamlining permits, and partnering with allies to diversify supply chains.

In October, President Trump and President Xi Jinping agreed to reduce tariffs in exchange for China maintaining the flow of rare earth exports.

Emerging Players

Canada (0.83 million tons) and the EU-adjacent Greenland (1.5 million tons) have meaningful but smaller bases.

Africa and the Arctic feature emerging sources: Tanzania (0.89 million tons) and South Africa (0.86 million tons) join Greenland as potential growth nodes if infrastructure and processing scale.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Why Rare Earths Are Critical to EV Motors on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.