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.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

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.

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

Polish President Karol Nawrocki inaugurated the latest section of the “Via Baltica” highway between Poland and the Baltic States in late October in an event with his Lithuanian counterpart, with both highlighting the dual military purpose of this megaproject in an allusion to the “military Schengen”.

“Via Baltica” is one of the “Three Seas Initiative’s” (3SI) flagships, many of which complement the newer “military Schengen” initiative of facilitating the flow of troops and equipment eastward towards Russia.

Poland envisages the 3SI accelerating the revival of its long-lost Great Power status that’ll then result in it leading Russia’s containment all across Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) once the Ukrainian Conflict ends. It’s the most populous formerly communist member of NATO with the bloc’s third-largest military, just became a $1 trillion economy with its sights now set on a G20 seat, and has a history of regional leadership during the Commonwealth/“Rzeczpospolita” era, so these ambitions aren’t delusional.

Building upon the last point, most casual observers don’t know that the Commonwealth stretched as far north as parts of Latvia, which remained under its control till the Third Partition in 1795. Prior to that, it even controlled around half of Estonia from 1561-1629, after which it was ceded to Sweden. Suffice to say, what’s nowadays the nation-state of Lithuania was also part of the “Republic of the Two Nations” as the Commonwealth was officially known, thus giving Poland a substantial footprint in Baltic history.

The insight shared in the preceding two paragraphs enables the reader to better understand what Nawrocki told Lithuanian media during his maiden trip as president to that country last September about how “We as Poles, and I as the President of Poland, are aware that we are responsible for entire regions of Central Europe, including the Baltic States and Lithuania. Thanks to this visit and our cooperation, we feel that we are also building our military potential in solidarity, supported across the ocean.”

“Via Baltica” and the complementary “Rail Baltica”, both of which are behind schedule (especially the latter), will serve as the means for Poland to fulfill this dimension of its Great Power vision as elucidated by Nawrocki. The US’ post-Ukraine “Pivot (back) to (East) Asia” for more muscularly containing China could result in it redeploying some troops from CEE to there, but Poland would then likely replace the US’ reduced role through its ongoing militarization and 3SI-driven military logistical access to the Baltics.

The “EU Defense Line” that’s being built, which refers to the combination of the “Baltic Defense Line” and Poland’s “East Shield” along NATO’s eastern border, might then be bolstered by Polish-led troop deployments seeing as how Poland would be integral to those three’s survival in any war with Russia. In that scenario, from Estonia down to the Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian tripoint, Russia’s number one adversary wouldn’t necessarily be NATO as a whole but Poland. That would have important implications.

In brief, while Poland is closely allied with the Anglo-American Axis for reasons of shared anti-Russian goals, it’s not their puppet and might become even more strategically autonomous under Nawrocki. After all, he surprised many by recently saying that he’s ready to talk to Putin if Poland’s security depends on it, thus opening the door for a Polish-Russian modus vivendi in the future. Such an understanding might be the key to keeping the peace in CEE after the Ukrainian Conflict ends.

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

So many seniors that were once so full of life are now just shadows of their former selves.  It can be really easy to assume that they are “just getting old” and that nothing unusual is happening to them.  

But the truth is that in so many cases the reason why America’s seniors are shutting down is because they are simply being overmedicated.  Our entire medical system has been designed to push pills, and so when our seniors seek medical help that is usually the solution that they are offered.  As you will see below, the proportion of our seniors that are on at least 8 pharmaceutical drugs is truly alarming.  Of course those that consume pharmaceutical drug cocktails on a daily basis for an extended period of time are quite likely to experience very serious consequences.

Most people don’t realize that modern terms such as “pharmacy” and “pharmaceutical” originally come from the Greek word “pharmakeia”…

The word “pharmacy” has a fascinating origin story that’s as complex as the practice itself.

It comes from the Greek word “pharmakeia”, which referred to “the practice of the druggist”. But here is the twist: “phármakon”, the root of the term, was a double-edged sword – it meant a plant or herb that could be used for either healing or harmful purposes, blurring the line between medicine and poison.

No society in the entire history of the planet has taken “pharmakeia” to the extremes that we have.

We are the most drugged nation that the world has ever seen, and this is particularly true for our seniors.

The Wall Street Journal recently interviewed an 83-year-old woman named Barbara Schmidt that has “filled prescriptions for more than a dozen different drugs in the past year”…

For years, Barbara Schmidt’s family feared an illness was behind a pattern of terrifying falls that repeatedly landed the 83-year-old great-grandmother in surgery with broken bones. Instead, Schmidt’s frequent tumbles might have been tied to something else: medications intended to make her better.

Schmidt, who lives with her husband of 65 years in Lewes, Del., filled prescriptions for more than a dozen different drugs in the past year, according to pharmacy and medical records.

After taking so many medications in such a short period of time, it really is a miracle that she is still alive today.

But she is far from alone.

The Wall Street Journal discovered that one out of every six seniors that is enrolled in Medicare’s drug benefit has been prescribed at least 8 different pharmaceutical drugs…

That isn’t unusual for America’s seniors, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Medicare data. One in six of the 46 million seniors enrolled in Medicare’s drug benefit, which pays for most drugs taken by older Americans, were prescribed eight or more medications.

Millions upon millions of our seniors are literally being drugged into oblivion.

One of the problems is that seniors often visit multiple physicians, and that can result in a lot of confusion…

Pharmacists who work with seniors say doctors might not be aware of their patients’ full medication list. Patients don’t always mention what their other doctors have prescribed when a history is taken, and specialists might not have access to a shared medical record.

The Journal analysis found that, among seniors taking eight or more drugs, it was common for the prescriptions to come from a large number of doctors.

Of course it isn’t just seniors that are being overmedicated.

One recent survey found that 70 percent of U.S. adults are currently taking at least one pharmaceutical drug, and nearly a quarter of U.S. adults are currently taking at least four pharmaceutical drugs…

Recent CivicScience poll results reveal the picture of maintenance prescription drug use in the U.S. has shifted dramatically. The number of U.S. adults who report taking at least one prescription medication per day is now 70%, a 14 percentage-point increase from 2019 data.

Additionally, the percentage of people taking four or more prescription medications daily in the US has increased by six percentage points, from 18% to 24%. An increasing number of prescriptions equals less and less wiggle room in budgets already tightened due to inflationary prices.

It is an insanely profitable industry, and that is why we constantly see ads for pharmaceutical drugs on television.

They desperately want more “customers”, and seniors are the easiest target.

According to the official CDC website, 89 percent of Americans that are 65 years or older are currently taking at least one pharmaceutical drug…

Among adults aged ≥65 years, men (89.0%) and women (89.3%) were equally likely to take prescription medication. Prescription medication use increased with age, from 48.4% for those aged 18–44 years to 89.2% for those aged ≥65 years, and this pattern of increasing use with age was observed for both men and women.

We take more pharmaceutical drugs than anyone else in the world.

So why is our life expectancy below average compared to other industrialized nations?

I think that is a really important question.

When our seniors go to see their doctors, they are often not properly informed about the potential side effects of the drugs that they are being prescribed.

Let me give you an example.

Zoloft is the number one antidepressant in the United States, but most of those that are taking it do not realize that it has an extremely long list of side effects.

But don’t just take my word for it.  The following comes from the official Zoloft website…

ZOLOFT may cause serious side effects. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of the following symptoms, or call 911 if there is an emergency.

1. Suicidal thoughts or actions:

ZOLOFT and other antidepressant medicines may increase suicidal thoughts or actions in some people 24 years of age and younger, especially within the first few months of treatment or when the dose is changed.

Depression or other serious mental illnesses are the most important causes of suicidal thoughts or actions.

Watch for these changes and call your healthcare provider right away if you notice new or sudden changes in mood, behavior, actions, thoughts, or feelings, especially if severe.

Pay particular attention to such changes when ZOLOFT is started or when the dose is changed.

Keep all follow-up visits with your healthcare provider and call between visits if you are worried about symptoms.

2. Call a doctor right away if you or a person you know who is taking ZOLOFT has any of the following symptoms, especially if they are new, worse, or worry you:

-thoughts about suicide or dying
-attempts to commit suicide
-new or worse depression
-new or worse anxiety
-feeling very agitated or restless
-panic attacks
-trouble sleeping (insomnia)
-new or worse irritability
-acting aggressive, being angry, or violent
-acting on dangerous impulses
-an extreme increase in activity and talking (mania)
-other unusual changes in behavior or mood

3. Serotonin Syndrome. This condition can be life-threatening and symptoms may include:

-agitation, hallucinations, coma, or other changes in mental status
-racing heartbeat, high or low blood pressure
-coordination problems or muscle twitching (overactive reflexes)
-nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
-sweating or fever
-muscle rigidity

4. Increased chance of bleeding: ZOLOFT and other antidepressant medicines may increase your risk of bleeding or bruising, especially if you take the blood thinner warfarin (COUMADIN®, JANTOVEN®), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs, like ibuprofen or naproxen), or aspirin.

5. Manic episodes. Symptoms may include:

-greatly increased energy
-racing thoughts
-unusually grand ideas
-severe trouble sleeping
-reckless behavior
-excessive happiness or irritability
-talking more or faster than usual

6. Seizures or convulsions.

7. Glaucoma (angle-closure glaucoma). ZOLOFT may cause a certain type of eye problem called angle-closure glaucoma. Call your healthcare provider if you have eye pain, changes in your vision, or swelling or redness in or around the eye. Only some people are at risk for these problems. You may want to undergo an eye examination to see if you are at risk and receive preventative treatment if you are.

8. Changes in appetite or weight.

9. Low salt (sodium) levels in the blood. Elderly people may be at greater risk for this. Symptoms may include headache, weakness or feeling unsteady, confusion, problems concentrating or thinking, or memory problems.

10. Sexual problems (dysfunction). Taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including ZOLOFT, may cause sexual problems.

There are many other drugs that literally list “death” as one of the potential side effects.

And earlier this year it was being reported that adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs have now become the third leading cause of death in the United States…

In 2021, the American Society of Pharmacovigilance (ASP) launched the Fourth Cause Campaign to raise awareness that adverse drug events (ADEs) were the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Today, new data confirm a troubling and unacceptable reality—ADEs have now surged to become the third leading cause of death. An internal analysis conducted by ASP projects that adverse drug events now account for over 250,000 deaths annually, surpassing stroke and respiratory disease, making it the third leading cause of death in the United States.

What we are witnessing is truly a national tragedy.

But the big news networks aren’t going to talk much about it, because the pharmaceutical companies are their biggest advertisers.

And our politicians are unlikely to push for major reform, because the pharmaceutical companies pour vast amounts of money into their campaigns.

Money is power, and the pharmaceutical industry is absolutely swimming in cash.

If you are waiting for major change to happen, you may find yourself waiting for quite a while.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Every three years, the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) evaluates how well 15-year-olds can apply reading skills to real-world situations.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, ranks the top-performing countries based on their average reading scores.

The data for this visualization comes from the OECD’s PISA 2022 results.

PISA measures reading proficiency in a student’s native or primary language of instruction, focusing on comprehension, interpretation, and evaluation of written texts. Top-performing systems typically score in the 550–560 range, while the OECD average is 476.

Singapore Leads by a Wide Margin

Singapore ranks first globally with an average reading score of 543, placing it comfortably ahead of all other countries. The city-state’s education system emphasizes structured literacy, teacher quality, and early intervention for struggling students. The country also leads the world in math performance.

Japan and Ireland follow at a distant second and third, both scoring 516.

Strong Showing from East Asia and Northern Europe

East Asian economies dominate the top of the ranking, with Taiwan, Korea, Macao, Hong Kong, and Japan all placing in the top 11. These systems often stress rigorous curricula, strong parental involvement, and consistent national standards.

Northern European countries such as Estonia and Finland also perform well, reflecting long-standing investments in equitable education and student well-being. Estonia’s score of 511 places it among the global elite despite its relatively small population.

English-Speaking Countries Cluster Near the Top

Several English-speaking countries also appear in the upper half of the ranking, including Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Canada leads this group with a score of 507.

Notably, many large European economies, including Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, cluster around or just above the OECD average.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The World’s Wealthiest Nations in 2025 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Via The Cradle

Syrian citizens of the Alawite minority sect took to the streets on Sunday to protest against government violence and sectarian persecution, in line with a call made by the community’s religious leader a day earlier. 

Members of the minority sect protested in the Alawite neighborhoods of the central governorate of Homs, and in several towns and cities on the country’s coast, including Tartous, Jableh, and Latakia. Protests also erupted in Hama governorate, including in the city of Masyaf. Alawite Syrians held up banners reading “Federalism is the solution” and “the blood of Alawites is not cheap,” among other slogans.

The protesters also expressed anger over the killing of eight Alawite civilians and the injury of over a dozen others in a terror blast at a mosque a few days earlier. 

According to local media reports, government forces have attacked protesters in several areas, firing live ammunition to disperse crowds and making arrests at random. Reuters reports that “Three people were killed on Sunday when protests in Syria’s Alawite heartland of Latakia spiraled into gunfire and other violence, according to the province’s media office.”

“A widespread arrest campaign by the General Security forces is targeting citizens at random, and commercial shops in the Wadi al-Zahab neighborhood have been closed,” said a correspondent for Sham TV.

A correspondent for Kurdish outlet Hawar News Agency (ANHA) said “women were physically assaulted in the Zahraa neighborhood of Homs, to prevent them from participating.”

“Government forces attempted to forcibly disperse the gathering and imposed a siege on the area, preventing protesters from entering or leaving the square. Several surrounding roads were also blocked. They also assaulted protesters with beatings and gunfire in the coastal cities of Jableh and Baniyas,” the outlet said.

There are also reports of casualties among demonstrators. The Syrian Justice Archive (SJA) also says that at least three have been killed. Some reports said protesters threw stones at security forces, while others claimed hand grenades were found on one of the detained demonstrators.

The leader of the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council Ghazal Ghazal made the call for mass protest. “Our appointment [for protest] is tomorrow, Sunday, from 12:00 noon until 5:00 pm,” he said. 

“Silence over these crimes means nothing but more killing and collapse. The continuation of this situation without the implementation of swift, radical solutions and the imposition of international protection will only deepen the destruction they seek,” he added, calling for “every free and honorable person” to take part. 

Eight people were killed and 18 others injured, including children, in a bombing attack targeting an Alawite mosque in Homs on December 26. The blast hit Imam Ali Mosque in Homs’s Wadi al-Danab area during Friday prayer.

Thousands of Alawite civilians were massacred in March this year by Syrian government forces during a violent crackdown to quell an armed uprising carried out by members of the community and loyalists of the former government. 

Latakia: Footage shows HTS-led General Security militias storming the protest at Al-Azhari Roundabout with armored vehicles, then opening fire on peaceful protesters…

🚨🚨 Latakia: Footage shows HTS-led General Security militias storming the protest at Al-Azhari Roundabout with armored vehicles, then opening fire on peaceful protesters. https://t.co/KVZN3R2PPM pic.twitter.com/yQIz09kJzr

— Syria Justice Archive (@SyJusticeArc) December 28, 2025

Since then, the Alawite community has been disarmed by Damascus and has been left vulnerable to sectarian attacks and killing sprees. Young Alawite girls continue to disappear as a result of government-linked kidnapping networks, and Alawite men are regularly executed.

Thousands of Alawites took to the streets in protest across Syria’s coastal cities last month to demonstrate against government-sponsored sectarian violence. Security forces also shot at protesters.

The Syrian army is predominantly made up of what used to be known as the Al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Numerous other extremist factions with links to ISIS have been made official brigades in the new Syrian military since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad’s government and the collapse of his army last year.

Christians and Druze have also been persecuted by forces affiliated with the Syrian Defense Ministry. 

After the killing of over 1,600 Alawite civilians in March, a government-appointed investigative committee released a report largely absolving Damascus from its direct role in the massacres. 

A similar probe was launched after hundreds of Druze civilians were killed in July during clashes between Druze militiamen and government troops. Groups affiliated with or incorporated into the Syrian army also have a long history of violent persecution against Kurds.

VIDEO | Protests in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia and the Homs countryside: Demonstrators chant “Federalism, federalism, we want federalism!” and “Alawite blood is not cheap.” pic.twitter.com/dVr0PxpCC4

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) December 28, 2025

Government violence against minorities in Syria over the past year has prompted many to call for federalism, or the division of the country along sectarian lines. 

Observers have also speculated that Israel, which established a large-scale occupation in south Syria after Assad was ousted, has been pushing for federalism in a bid to divide Syria and keep it weak.

“Our door to communication is open to all states active in the Syrian file. We extend our hand to anyone who guarantees us the achievement of our goals and our right to self-determination,” Ghazal told The Cradle in an interview published last week.

New footage shows Syria’s General Security Service escorting death squads toward Alawite protesters. This minority group is in the streets demanding an end to sectarian bloodshed, especially after an HTS splinter group bombed their mosque with an IED just days ago. pic.twitter.com/B2G7HiiOv8

— Karim Franceschi (@karimfranceschi) December 28, 2025

“Federalism is linked to a set of political, field, regional, and international factors. It is not a decision taken unilaterally or quickly. However, we are working to accelerate the wheel of salvation in a safe and responsible manner, in light of the grave violations being committed against us by the de facto authority,” he added.