China’s 15th Five-Year Plan?

             (Staff post from The CHINA BRIEFNG on 02 June 2025.)

2025 is a pivotal year in China’s policy cycle, marking the close of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the lead-up to the 15th, which will chart the country’s course from 2026 to 2030. President Xi Jinping is already steering discussions with senior officials on key priorities, while state media mobilize public input ahead of the CPC Central Committee’s expected approval this fall.  

2025 is a pivotal year in China’s policy landscape, marking the final year of the 14th Five–Year Plan and setting the stage for the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee to put forward proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan in the fall.

China’s political leadership is currently laying the groundwork for the release of this pivotal document, which will shape the country’s social and economic development over the next five years. President Xi Jinping has held meetings with senior officials to discuss key priorities for the new plan, while state media have launched a national campaign to gather public input and feedback.

How US Destroyed Toshiba in 1987?

              (Huang Lanlan’s post from The GLOBAL TIMES on 28 September 2020.)

Lessons from Toshiba, Alstom: how US suppresses foreign rival companies to maintain tech hegemony. The continual suppression by the US of Chinese tech companies including Huawei and TikTok has been a farce the world has watched ever since Washington started regarding these fast growing and expanding Chinese tech giants as threats to its domestic counterparts.

People in the know are no longer surprised by the aggressive treatment of foreign tech companies by the US. In past decades, companies around the world such as Japan's Toshiba and France's Alstom were targeted, sanctioned and seriously hurt by the US government that used excuses like security, anti-dumping and anti-bribery.

There is no essential difference between the suppression of Huawei or TikTok today and Washington's past crackdowns on Toshiba or Alstom, said Zhang Monan, a chief research fellow of US studies with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. "Washington continues its technological hegemony, placing its laws and administrative instructions above market order," Zhang told the Global Times.

The GrandMothers Hypothesis Explained!

               (Mwenza Blell’s post from The WILEY FREE ONLINE LIBRARY.)

The grandmother hypothesis is a hypothesis to explain the existence of menopause in human life history by identifying the adaptive value of extended kin networking. It builds on the previously postulated "mother hypothesis" which states that as mothers age, the costs of reproducing become greater, and energy devoted to those activities would be better spent helping her offspring in their reproductive efforts.

It suggests that by redirecting their energy onto those of their offspring, grandmothers can better ensure the survival of their genes through younger generations. By providing sustenance and support to their kin, grandmothers not only ensure that their genetic interests are met, but they also enhance their social networks which could translate into better immediate resource acquisition. This could extend past kin into larger community networks and benefit wider group fitness.

The grandmother hypothesis is an adaptationist explanation for the fact that the human female life span extends beyond the period of fertility. Human female reproductive life spans are variable in length but reproductive senescence occurs much faster than somatic aging.

Massive Memorial Service for Charlie Kirk!

             (David Smith’s post from The GUARDIAN UK 23September 2025.)

Democrats silent as Republicans galvanised after Charlie Kirk memorial: Democrats trod carefully in responding to event attended by nearly 100,000 that blended politics with religion.

Democrats maintained a wary silence on Monday as Donald Trump’s Republican party appeared galvanised by a memorial service for the late rightwing activist Charlie Kirk that was part religious revival, part political rally.

Nearly 100,000 people filled an American football stadium and overflow arena in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday to pay tribute to Kirk, according to his his organisation Turning Point USA. The 31-year-old staunch Trump ally was shot dead on 10 September.

KIA Disrupts Myanmar Rare Earth Flow To China

           (Devjyot Ghoshal’s post from the REUTERS NEWS on 17 September 2025.)

BANGKOK, March 28 (Reuters) - When armed rebels seized northern Myanmar's rare-earths mining belt in October, they dealt a blow to the country's embattled military junta - and wrested control of a key global resource.

By capturing sites that produce roughly half of the world's heavy rare earths, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) rebels have been able to throttle the supply of minerals used in wind turbines and electric vehicles, sending prices of one key element skyward.

The KIA is seeking leverage against neighbouring China, which supports the junta and has invested heavily in rare earths mining in Myanmar's Kachin state, according to two people familiar with the matter.

India Working with KIA for Rare Earth Minerals

       (Staff posts from the ECONOMIC TIMES INDIA on 10 September 2025.)

India explores rare-earth deal with Myanmar rebels after Chinese curbs: India is working to obtain rare-earth samples from Myanmar with the assistance of a powerful rebel group, according to four people familiar with the matter, as it seeks alternative supplies of a strategic resource tightly controlled by China.

India's Ministry of Mines asked state-owned and private firms to explore collecting and transporting samples from mines in northeastern Myanmar that are under the control of the Kachin Independence Army, three of the people said.

State-owned miner IREL (India Rare Earth Limited) and private firm Midwest Advanced Materials - which received government funding last year for the commercial manufacturing of rare-earth magnets - were among those involved in the discussions, the sources said.

Last Days of Sean Connery (1930-2020)

                (Nisha’s post from her FACE BOOK on 11 September 2025.)

In 2016, Sean Connery had quietly stepped away from the public eye, living a serene life in the Bahamas. The man once known for his commanding presence and iconic voice now preferred early mornings with the sound of ocean waves instead of red carpets.

He spent much of his time in his Lyford Cay home, walking slowly through the garden with his wife, Micheline Roquebrune, sometimes stopping to sit under the shade of a palm tree where they would sip tea and talk about art, travel, and the quiet beauty of growing old together.

By 2017, Connery had become more reclusive, though still sharp in moments of clarity. Friends who visited recalled how his eyes still held the same intensity that once defined characters like James Bond and Jim Malone. But his memory began to falter. He often forgot names, struggled to follow conversations, and occasionally seemed lost in his own house.

Charlie Kirk Assassinated by a Sniper in Utah!

                 (Editorial post from the NEW YORKER on 11 September2025.)

Charlie Kirk, the conservative media figure and influential supporter of Donald Trump, was shot and killed today while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. Graphic videos captured by those in attendance appear to show Kirk being struck in the neck by a bullet. He was thirty-one.

The President announced Kirk’s death on social media, and requested flags across the country be flown at half-staff. Other major political figures from across the ideological spectrum, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris, condemned the shooting and political violence.

Kirk founded Turning Point USA, a youth-focussed right-wing nonprofit, in 2012, when he was just eighteen. “It’s impossible to overstate his role in MAGA and Republican politics,” Antonia Hitchens, a New Yorker staff writer who covers politics, told us over e-mail from Washington, D.C.

Mexico’s Molar City Could Transform Your Smile.

              (Burkhard Bilger’s post from THE NEWYORKER on 28 July 2025.)

Mexico’s Molar City Could Transform My Smile. Did I Want It To? More than a thousand dentists have set up shop in Los Algodones. Their patients are mostly Americans who can’t afford the U.S.’s dental care.

Los Algodones was built on leaps of faith. A short walk from the United States, it’s a place for the poor, the afflicted, the huddled masses without dental insurance. On weekday mornings in late winter, they start to arrive before dawn. They drive in from Arizona or California, catch a shuttle from Yuma, or park their car in a lot in the Sonoran Desert and cross the border on foot.

The path for pedestrians follows State Route 186, past a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses offering free Bible courses, along a twisting corridor of razor wire and chain-link fence, through passport control, and into Los Algodones.