New York: Mamdani builds his team of progressive policymakers

Zohran Mamdani hasn't wasted any time in lining up a new team of progressive policymakers on his first day as mayor of New York City.

Brooke Anderson
Washington, DC
01 January, 2026

THE NEW ARAB

Mamdani announced a series of political appointments just before his inauguration [Getty]

Newly inaugurated New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hasn't wasted any time in lining up a new team of progressive policymakers on his first day as mayor of New York City.

In his first speech at the Old City Hall subway station after becoming mayor in the early hours of the first day of 2026, he appointed Mike Flynn as his new Department of Transportation commissioner.

He described the historic station as “a testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, the health and the legacy of our city.”

Two days earlier, at Elmhurst Hospital in the borough of Queens, he held a press conference, where he introduced new appointments for his healthcare and legal team.

These include Ramzi Kassem from City University of New York, appointed as general counsel. In a short speech, Kassem described New York City as his first stable home after spending his childhood living in conflict zones.

In another appointment, Mamdani name Steven Banks, former head of the Legal Aid Society, as the city’s Corporation Counsel

At the same press conference, he tapped Helen Arteaga, who had been serving as CEO of Elmhurst Hospital, to be Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. She was the hospital’s first Latina CEO and oversaw care during the Covid-19 pandemic. She described her position as the safety net that New Yorkers rely on.

On his website, Mamdani lists the leaders of his transition team, along with their biographies.

Grace Bonilla is serving as transition co-chair. She has until now been the head of United Way, assisting low-income New Yorkers.

His second listed transition co-chair is Lina Khan. She is something of a rock star in American left-wing politics.While serving as Federal Trade Commission Chair under former President Joe Biden, Khan regularly gave late-night TV interviews on consumer protection and anti-trust law and was greeted with standing ovations.

His third listed transition co-chair is Maria Torres-Springer. Most recently, she has served as First Deputy Mayor in City Hall. Her professional background is in housing advocacy.

His fourth co-chair listed is Melanie Hartzog, who has until now been working as president and CEO of the New York Foundling, advocating for families in need.

The transition executive director is Elana Leopold, who has been serving as a senior advisor for Mamdani’s campaign. She previously held senior roles in former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.

Dean Fuleihan is starting his tenure as First Deputy Mayor. The son of Lebanese immigrants, Fuleihan brings experience in overseeing New York budgets, having spent over 30 in state politics.

Elle Bisgaard-Church is serving as Mamdani’s chief of staff. She has played a major role in Mamdani’s transportation initiatives and his affordability agenda.


On the website, there are hundreds of new positions and names listed in housing, legal affairs, housing, education, technology and social services.

Disney will pay £7.4 million fine over children's privacy violations on YouTube

Entertainment giant settles with US regulators after failing to properly label children's content, enabling targeted advertising without parental consent

The settlement specifically addresses content distribution on YouTube and does not involve Disney's own digital platforms
Getty Images

ByAshya Rose

Dec 31, 2025
EASTERN EYE

Highlights

Disney to pay £7.4m settlement for violating children's online privacy laws.

Company failed to mark videos from Frozen, Toy Story and The Incredibles as child-directed content.

Settlement requires Disney to create compliance programme for children's data protection.

The Walt Disney Company has agreed to pay £7.4m ($10m) to settle claims that it violated children's privacy laws by improperly labelling YouTube videos as made for children, allowing targeted advertising and data collection without parental permission.

The settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission, initially announced in September, was formalised by a federal court order on Tuesday.

The case centred on Disney's alleged failure to properly categorise children's content uploaded to YouTube, which resulted in youngsters receiving targeted advertisements and having their personal information collected without their parents' knowledge or consent.

Under the agreement, Disney Worldwide Services Inc and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC must establish a comprehensive programme to comply with children's data protection regulations.

The settlement specifically addresses content distribution on YouTube and does not involve Disney's own digital platforms.

Brett Shumate, an assistant attorney general in the US Justice Department's civil division, said in a statement "The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their children's information is collected and used."

How rules apply

The case stems from requirements introduced after a 2019 settlement between the FTC and Google, YouTube's parent company.

Content creators were mandated to label videos directed towards children to prevent targeted advertising and personal data collection, which are prohibited under the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

This law requires creators making content for children under 13 to notify parents and obtain consent before gathering personal information.

According to the Justice Department's complaint filed in California, Disney uploaded videos to more than 1,250 YouTube channels through various subsidiaries since 2020.

Many of these videos, particularly those uploaded during the pandemic, proved extremely popular, with viewership surging during the early months of Covid-19.

Government lawyers alleged that Disney was aware of failures to properly mark children's videos as early as June 2020, when YouTube informed the company that it had changed labels on more than 300 videos, including content from The Incredibles, Toy Story and Frozen franchises.

The misclassification allegedly resulted in YouTube collecting personal information and placing targeted advertisements on child-directed videos on Disney's behalf.

A Disney spokesperson confirmed the company has agreed to the terms originally announced in September.

FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE

US health insurance costs to rise by 114% for millions as subsidies expire

More than 20 million people in the United States will face sharply higher health insurance costs as of January 1 after enhanced tax credits that helped enrollees in the Affordable Care Act afford coverage expired overnight. The expiration of the subsidies will mostly affect families, small business owners and self-employed workers.


Issued on: 01/01/2026
By: FRACE 24

US Capitol is seen shortly after sunrise, December 16, 2025, in Washington. © Julia Demaree Nikhinson, AP

Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as "Obamacare") enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of people in the United States at the start of the new year.

The change affects a diverse cross-section of the population who don’t get their health insurance from an employer and don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare – a group that includes many self-employed workers, small business owners, farmers and ranchers.

On average, the more than 20 million subsidised enrollees in the Affordable Care Act programme are seeing their premium costs rise by 114 percent in 2026, according to an analysis by the healthcare research nonprofit KFF.

The subsidies were first given to Affordable Care Act enrollees in 2021 as a temporary measure to help US residents get through the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats in power at the time then extended them, pushing the expiration date to the start of 2026. Some lower-income enrollees received health care with no premiums, and high earners paid no more than 8.5 percent of their income. Eligibility for middle-class earners was also expanded.

Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue, demanding the health subsidies be extended before they agreed to a new Republican budget. Some Republicans also called for a bipartisan solution to save their 2026 political aspirations, given the ACA's popularity – two-thirds of Americans favour the system, according to KFF.

But while congressional Republicans acknowledged the issue needed to be addressed, they refused to put it to a vote until late in the year. A House vote expected in January could offer another chance, but success is far from guaranteed.

Health analysts have predicted the expiration of the subsidies will drive many of the 24 million total Affordable Care Act enrollees – especially younger and healthier Americans – to forgo health insurance coverage altogether.

Over time, that could make the programme more expensive for the older, sicker population that remains.

Rising costs across the board

The surging healthcare prices come alongside an overall increase in health costs in the US, which are further driving up out-of-pocket costs in many plans.

It also comes at the start of a high-stakes midterm election year, with affordability – including the cost of health care – topping the list of voters’ concerns.

“It really bothers me that the middle class has moved from a squeeze to a full suffocation, and they continue to just pile on and leave it up to us,” said 37-year-old single mom Katelin Provost, whose healthcare costs are set to jump. “I’m incredibly disappointed that there hasn’t been more action.”

Some enrollees, like Salt Lake City freelance filmmaker and adjunct professor Stan Clawson, have absorbed the extra expense. Clawson said he was paying just under $350 a month for his premiums last year, a number that will jump to nearly $500 a month this year. It’s a strain for the 49-year-old, but one he’s willing to take on because he needs health insurance as someone who lives with paralysis from a spinal cord injury.

Others, like Provost, are dealing with steeper hikes. The social worker’s monthly premium payment is increasing from $85 a month to nearly $750.

An analysis conducted last September by the Urban Institute and Commonwealth Fund projected the higher premiums from expiring subsidies would prompt some 4.8 million Americans to drop coverage in 2026.

But with the window to select and change plans still ongoing until January 15 in most states, the final effect on enrollment is yet to be determined.

Provost said she is holding out hope that Congress finds a way to revive the subsidies early in the year – but if not, she’ll drop herself off the insurance and keep it only for her 4-year-old daughter.

She can’t afford to pay for coverage for both of them without the subsidies.

After Republicans cut more than $1 trillion in federal healthcare and food assistance by passing Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill, Democrats repeatedly called for the ACA subsidies to be extended.

In December, the GOP-controlled Senate rejected two partisan healthcare bills – a Democratic pitch to extend the subsidies for three more years and a Republican alternative that would instead provide Americans with health "savings accounts".

In the House, four Republicans broke with GOP leadership and joined forces with Democrats to force a vote that could come as soon as January on a three-year extension of the tax credits. But with the Senate already having rejected such a plan, it’s unclear whether it could get enough momentum to pass.

Meanwhile, Americans whose premiums are skyrocketing say lawmakers don’t understand what it’s really like to struggle to get by as health costs ratchet up with no relief.

Many say they want the subsidies restored alongside broader reforms to make health care more affordable for all Americans.

“Both Republicans and Democrats have been saying for years, oh, we need to fix it. Then do it,” said Chad Bruns, a 58-year-old Affordable Care Act enrollee in Wisconsin. “They need to get to the root cause, and no political party ever does that.”

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

Americans brace to start New Year without healthcare

1 day ago

BBC
Ana Faguy

Adrienne Martin

Adrienne Martin faced a difficult choice after her monthly healthcare premium increased dramatically

Adrienne Martin and her family are starting the New Year off without healthcare.

The 47-year-old Texas mother had to make a difficult choice when she found out her monthly healthcare premium was increasing in 2026 from what she described as a manageable $630 (£467) to an unaffordable $2,400 (£1,781).

Her husband depends on an IV medication to treat a blood-clotting disease that costs $70,000 a month without insurance. Knowing their benefits would expire, the family stockpiled the drug to survive the first few months of the year.

"It would be like paying two mortgage payments," she said of the new monthly price for healthcare. "We can't pay $30,000 for insurance a year."

Ms Martin and her family are not the only ones facing this conundrum. Millions of Americans will see their healthcare bills skyrocket when these subsidies, which were provided through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, expire.

Some members of Congress on both sides of the aisle attempted to extend these subsidies into 2026, but Washington was gridlocked. A vote in the new year could offer hope, but until then, many like Ms Martin will have to live without insurance or see their bills steeply increase.

About 24 million Americans buy health insurance through the ACA marketplace, and the majority were used to receiving tax credits to lower the monthly price.

Those tax credits, also referred to as subsidies, were first introduced through former President Barack Obama's ACA in 2014. They were then expanded during Covid.

The fight to extend the subsidies became the centre of the longest government shutdown in US history, which went on for more than 40 days earlier this year.

Democrats wanted to force Republicans to extend the subsidies for an additional three years, which would cost $35bn per year. Republicans did not want the government to foot the bill for another three years of subsidies without spending cuts.

The weeks-long shutdown - which left millions without essential government services - ended when a group of Democratic senators agreed to reopen the government, if Republicans in the Senate agreed to vote on extending the subsidies.

But that vote still hasn't happened yet, despite efforts from Democrats and four Republicans to put the issue to Congress before the subsidies expired.

"I am pissed for the American people," New York Congressman Mike Lawler, a Republican who pushed to save the subsidies, said. "Everybody has a responsibility to serve their district, to their constituents. You know what is funny? Three-quarters of people on Obamacare are in states Donald Trump won."

Without the subsidies, the monthly cost of healthcare could rise by 114% on average, according to health research non-profit KFF.

Adrienne Martin and Stephanie Petersen

Maddie Bannister is among the Americans bracing for that.

The California mother, who just had her second child, was paying $124 a month for her family of three in 2025. Now, with a new baby and no ACA subsidies, she is preparing to pay $908 a month.

"So many people are going to choose to be uninsured because it's cheaper to pay a penalty for being uninsured than it is to have healthcare," she said.

For Ms Bannister's family, the increased cost of healthcare means putting off other spending: "We were saving for a home, and saving money for that is going to take way longer if we have to spend $11,000 a year on healthcare that we barely use."

While Ms Bannister is stomaching her new bill, and Ms Martin is going without healthcare, others are resorting to different government programmes to get their coverage.

For years, Stephanie Petersen used Medicaid - a healthcare program for lower-income Americans - to get healthcare coverage. Just recently, she was able to switch and get her coverage through the ACA - a welcome change for the 38-year-old.

Because her health care is skyrocketing from $75 to $580 a month, she is returning to Medicaid coverage in the New Year.

"I'm trying to stay optimistic but the way things have been going, I'm not hopeful," the Illinois resident said. "Everyone should have affordable, good healthcare, and not have to jump through all these hoops."

A vote on the three-year extension of the ACA subsidies is now expected the week of 5 January when Congress returns to Washington.

Until then, Ms Martin will be one of the more than 27 million Americans without health insurance in 2026.

A number that is likely to grow, experts warn, as healthcare costs increase.

"We're not low-income people, we make decent money, but we can't afford $30,000 a year for insurance, that's crazy," she said.

"We've done everything we're supposed to do, we've worked our whole lives, we work hard, and we just get screwed. The whole system is a nightmare."

Europe’s Auto Industry Faces an Existential Test From China’s EV Surge

By RFE/RL staff - Jan 01, 2026

• Chinese automakers have rapidly surpassed European competitors on cost, scale, and increasingly on quality, despite EU tariffs.
• 
  
• Subsidies, economies of scale, and global price wars have enabled Chinese cars to undercut European brands across multiple segments.
• 
  
• With jobs, industrial know-how, and strategic autonomy at stake, Europe faces dwindling time to mount an effective response.
• 
  

Two decades into a successful career manufacturing interiors for the world’s leading auto brands, Tomas, a former senior manager with an Italian multinational company, walked away from the car industry in the autumn of 2025.

“I think it's doomed,” the Czech man told RFE/RL, explaining the main reason he walked away from the business. “The industry is doomed.” Tomas has asked that his surname not be used in this story.

Europe’s storied car industry is under threat from a flood of high-quality Chinese vehicles with impossibly aggressive price tags -- some as low as 10,290 euros ($12,141) in specific markets -- that began arriving on the continent especially after the COVID pandemic. Experts warn the influx endangers an industry that has served as the foundation of European manufacturing for decades.

Despite tariffs introduced by Brussels in 2024 of up to 35 percent on some Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) on top of a 10 percent import duty, Chinese vehicle sales into Europe nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025, with more than half a million Chinese models sold in the first nine months of this year.

Chinese EV giant BYD reported a year-on-year sales increase of 225 percent to become the top-selling electric vehicle maker in the EU through some months of 2025 despite tariffs. Other manufacturers dodged the EU trade barriers on EVs by shipping combustion engine vehicles and hybrids not subject to the same duties.

Beijing's car industry dates back to the 1950s, but its manufacturers have long been dogged by a reputation for poor quality and clunky style, which kept their international footprint to a minimum. That all changed recently.

Before the world’s economy ground to halt in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, Tomas said that technical professionals in the European car industry dismissed Chinese brands, saying, “they’re horrible, they can’t build. They’ll need 20, 30, 40 years to come to our level and we will be much further ahead by then.”

“What happened is basically in five years, they exceeded us,” he said. “Now their cars are actually amazing.”

A Perfect Storm

Chinese manufacturers have long enjoyed a cost advantage for the country’s use of cheap, mostly coal-fired energy, and a labor force with minimal bargaining power, but a recent perfect storm of factors has allowed Chinese cars to be priced far below Western competitors.

In response to the Kremlin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the EU banned steel imports from Russia. China, meanwhile, has massively increased its imports of high-quality metals from the country.

Additionally, China’s car industry has been able to leverage unprecedented economies of scale through the past decade.

The country’s car industry was already the world’s largest by 2009, but manufacturers were mostly focused on the country’s oversaturated domestic market. That changed as intense price wars within China pushed manufacturers to look outwards. In 2023, China overtook Japan to become the world’s largest car exporter, producing tens of millions of vehicles each year.

Then, there are alleged subsidies.

China has denied it props up automakers, but an EU investigation in 2024 found that public money was “detected across the entire supply chain,” from mines extracting raw materials to the ships hauling finished electric vehicles to Europe.

The United States imposed a 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024 after their own investigation concluded that the US auto industry was being "materially injured" by some subsidized Chinese models.

Paul Bennet, a managing partner at the UK-based automotive advisory firm Madox Square, told RFE/RL that the blitzkrieg entry of Chinese vehicles into the European market may be about more than business.

“Overall, while the economic benefits are clear, the geopolitical aspects of this strategy shouldn't be overlooked,” he said. “In my opinion, it's likely part of China's broader efforts to reshape global economic dynamics and enhance its position on the world stage.”

While some insiders say that Europe may still have opportunities to counter, time is running out. Bennet wrote in September that the future of the continent's auto industry, which employs some 13.2 million people, and supports millions more jobs in dependent businesses, now “hangs in the balance.”

Hedging Against Tariffs

Under current market rules, a Chinese vehicle produced inside the EU would not be subject to the same tariffs as those imported from outside the bloc. Chinese manufacturers are moving fast to exploit that condition.

China’s BYD is in the process of establishing a $4.6 billion factory in Hungary, and in
Barcelona, cars are already being produced by a joint venture between Spain’s Ebro-EV Motors and China’s Chery brand. There are ongoing talks for further manufacturing bases in other EU countries, including in Italy and Poland. Additionally, manufacturing sites have been established by Chinese auto brands in Serbia.

Bennet told RFE/RL that Serbia was likely chosen for a range of factors, including Belgrade's free trade agreements with Russia and the EU, and Serbia's potential future European Union membership, making the country, "an attractive long-term investment potentially offering easier access to EU markets in the future."

Many of Europe's car brands, meanwhile, are facing a shrinking consumer base for their cars in China -- once a key market -- as well as on home soil amid the surge in imported Chinese car sales in Europe.

Bennet has called for carmakers to pressure the European Commission into mandating joint ventures that are majority owned by European brands wherever Chinese companies establish a manufacturing footprint inside the EU.

Others have called for the EU and the United States to open their markets to one another, while blocking out China. Beijing and Brussels have also restarted negotiations over a minimum price floor for Chinese EVs on the European market to limit how severely local automakers can be undercut.

Industry veteran Tomas worries that if current trends continue, Europe’s wider industrial base may be in danger. He fears “much bigger consequences than we can think of now, like the loss of industrial self-sufficiency and know-how, leading to huge security risks in the future.”

The auto sector, he says, remains “the biggest industrial driver and crib for young engineers, with careers in defense, research, and development.”

Tomas says he struggles to imagine a political solution to the economic threat to Europe’s auto makers.

But, he adds, “I hope I am wrong, I really hope I am wrong.”

By RFE/RL

China’s BYD logs record EV sales in 2025


By AFP
January 1, 2026


BYD has come to dominate China's new energy vehicle market -- the world's largest - Copyright AFP/File Idrees MOHAMMED

Chinese auto giant BYD sold 2.26 million electric vehicles last year, a company statement showed Thursday, setting a new record for any firm globally.

The figure puts BYD in pole position to outstrip Elon Musk’s Tesla in the annual category for the first time, with the lagging Texas-based firm having previously announced 1.22 million in 2025 EV sales by the end of September.

Tesla is expected to announce its total EV sales for last year on Friday.

Shenzhen-based BYD, which also produces hybrid cars, announced the data in a statement published to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed.

Known as “Biyadi” in Chinese — or by the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — BYD was founded in 1995, originally specialising in battery manufacturing.

The automotive juggernaut has come to dominate China’s highly competitive new energy vehicle market — the world’s largest.

Now it is seeking to expand its presence overseas, as increasingly price-wary consumption patterns in China weigh on profitability.

BYD and its Chinese competitors face hefty tariffs in the United States.

But its success is growing in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and even Europe — to the consternation of traditional industry heavyweights from the continent.

Tesla narrowly beat BYD in annual EV sales in 2024, with US company’s 1.79 million just outpacing the latter’s 1.76 million.

This year, Musk’s firm has seen sales struggle in key markets over the CEO’s political support of US President Donald Trump and far-right politicians.

Tesla has also faced rising EV competition from BYD and other Chinese companies, as well as from European giants.

Rise of the Far Right in Chile

Wednesday 31 December 2025, by Oscar Mendoza


WITH THE SECOND round of the Chilean election, José Antonio Kast won a decisive victory over the progressive candidate Jeanette Jara (58% to 42%). When Kast is sworn in as president on March 11, he will be the first far right-wing president since 1990.


Kast’s surprising victory speech hit a moderate tone calling for national unity, avoiding attacks on political opponents and even praising Jara for “her courage…in facing a very difficult challenge…and fighting till the end.” He also stated that people had voted for change, hinting at a major departure from the current government’s policies.

He has received congratulations on his win from a number of far-right figures including Argentina’s president Javier Milei. Millei posted a map of Latin America on X with Chile joining Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru governed by the right.

How did Chile move from the euphoria of Gabriel Boric’s triumph in 2021, with a 10-point lead over Kast, to a far right-wing victory?

First, we can point to the failure of the Boric presidency to secure a new constitution, which could replace the one from the Pinochet dictatorship (1980), with some amendments during the Coalition of Parties for Democracy (CPPD) after 1990.

The social revolt that led to Boric’s win had already approved a plebiscite for constitutional change. Securing a new constitution that would overcome the barriers to the inequality of income distribution, health, education and pensions was its main task.

But when the final draft was submitted to a referendum vote on September 4, 2022, it was soundly rejected by 62% to 38%.

The always-present right wing had campaigned hard against the new constitution, and its victory allowed a majority right-wing delegates to develop its proposal, which was also soundly defeated in a December 2023 referendum.

By that point, Chileans had moved on from constitutional concerns to the bread-and-butter, post-pandemic issues of employment, inflation, mass immigration and public safety. Of course, the issues of inequality, health care, education and pensions bubbled in the background, always present.

The changed political climate had diminished the optimism and much of the trust in Boric’s government, whose popularity steadily declined despite attempts by the government to address key issues — even with Boric’s relative success in terms of the economy, which is growing steadily as inflation is well under control, and Labor Minister Jara’s achievements in increasing the minimum wage, reducing the working hours and implementing pension reform.
“Falling to Pieces” False Narrative

The right’s narrative of Chile “falling to pieces” was pushed daily by the majority rightwing media. It grew in strength with continued attacks on economic competence and the failure to curb “illegal immigration” and crime, principally violent crime.

Secondly, for the 2025 elections voting was made mandatory. Most analysts agree that these additional “forced voters,” normally not interested or engaged in politics, mostly expressed discontent with the government and voted for the opponents of Jara, the Minister of Labor in the Boric government and a member of the Communist Party.

These voters are neither right nor left, they are looking for politicians to offer solutions that deliver more money in their pockets and safety in the streets and in their homes.

In the November 16 first round of elections, of the eight candidates, Jeanette Jara won 26.58% while the top three right-wing parties won the majority. José Antonio Kast, a 59-year-old lawyer and leader of the extreme right-wing populist Republican Party won 23.92%.

Including Kast, the top three right-wing candidates won over 50% of the vote while the People’s Party candidate won almost 20%. Although Jara worked to win the People’s Party voters, most voted for Kast in the decisive second round.

This was Kast’s third time running for president; last time Boric beat him by a 10% margin. Kast’s father arrived in Chile in 1951 from Germany, where he had been an army officer and Nazi Party member. His brother was a key minister in the Pinochet regime.

Kast has claimed that Pinochet, if still alive, would have voted for him. However, he did not run on his very extreme right-wing social views, such as complete opposition to abortion, but as someone prepared to efficiently govern. In fact, the election of Kast is not necessarily a sign of some major shift to the right in Chilean politics.

The country will go from a progressive president in Boric to a far-right extremist in Kast, but Chile is most definitely not “falling to pieces”’ and its strong institutions will continue to function fairly normally.

The right’s failure to dominate Congress, which has a tie in the Senate and a simple right-wing majority in the lower chamber, means that legislation will have to be negotiated. With the strong People’s Party representation (14 deputies) and its plan to be in active opposition means that the more extreme measures in Kast’s program are unlikely to succeed.

Some observers feel that a Kast administration is bound to fail for a number of reasons. Campaign promises, such as putting an end to crime and deporting over 330,000 irregular immigrants, seem undeliverable. Others believe that if he acts in the pragmatic manner he signaled on the night of his triumph, focuses on crime, immigration and the economy, and builds on the stability and growth delivered by the Boric government, he has a good chance.

Kast has issued a demand that those immigrants without status self-deport between his election and his installation next March. For the Venezuelans, Peruvians, Colombians and Haitians, even Bolivians and Argentinians who have overstayed their visas or came across the northern borders.

Chile is a magnet because of its relatively stable economy. These recent immigrants have family and friends in the country. Kast says he will build a wall, but that will not prove easy along the long and porous Peruvian and Bolivian borders.

With organized crime spreading throughout Latin America, Chile’s violent crime rate has gone up, although it seems already in decline. However, Chileans feel less safe and Kast’s “Implacable Plan” outlines an iron-fist policy. According to the New York Times December 13, 2025 feature on “The Crime Wave Reshaping Latin American Politics” by Emma Bubola, Kast met last month with Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele’s security minister. Kast and his team have almost no experience of government, and unless prominent members of the more traditional right parties agree to join the cabinet, technical and political mistakes are almost inevitable.

Kast himself makes a virtue of his inability and unwillingness to compromise. Given that politics in government is all about reaching agreement, it’s impossible to see how the president Kast will differ from the long-term candidate. Can the leopard lose his spots?

However, it looks increasingly clear from Kast and his closest advisers’ pronouncements and ongoing meetings with traditional right-wing personalities and former government ministers and their advisers, that his first cabinet to be announced in January, will draw from the whole of the right-wing spectrum.

Unlike the United States, where Trump enjoys a legislative and executive “trifecta” and the almost total loyalty of the GOP, Kast will have no such luxury. Political actors who neither owe him allegiance nor have an interest in seeing him succeed hold considerable sway in Congress, and he’s in for a rough ride.

Some analysts have even predicted a resurgence of mass protests just months from the presidential inauguration in March 2026. I’m not convinced about this since Jara and the whole of the forces behind her campaign have called for responsible opposition within Chile’s institutional framework and wholly within the law.

As the next electoral cycle for local councils and governors is scheduled for October 2028, his administration will have 30 months before his performance in the role will be subjected to public scrutiny.

In the meantime, a vast number of Chileans will wait and see what develops, with only a quarter of all voters who are staunch Kast supporters fully committed to his success. Only then, I think, could we speak of a decisive and definite rise of the far right.

Source: January-February 2026, ATC 240.


Attached documentsrise-of-the-far-right-in-chile_a9335.pdf (PDF - 912.7 KiB)
Extraction PDF [->article9335]

Chile
Kast: Chile’s “democratic route” back to Pinochetism
From progressive decline to reactionary advance in Chile
After the 1973 Coup in Chile
The coup in Chile
The Chile Coup and after
Far Right
What is left of the Chinese Left?
Notes on the historic rise of the far right in Britain
Three years of Meloni: A model for the international far right
A New Step in the Radicalisation of the Far Right in the Netherlands
The imperial engine of fascism

Oscar Mendoza
Oscar Mendoza is a social scientist, specialist in international development and cooperation, former political prisoner between September 1973 and May 1975, based in Scotland since May 1975 (initially as a refugee until 1987).

Walz Says Trump Is Exploiting Minnesota Fraud Issue to Defund State’s Childcare Programs

“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” said the Democratic governor.


Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz testifies during a Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on June 12, 2025.
(Photo by Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Dec 31, 2025

COMMON DREAMS

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday accused US President Donald Trump and his administration of sensationalizing and exploiting a real problem—fraud in the state’s social services system—to advance their broader agenda of gutting the safety net.

“This is Trump’s long game,” Walz wrote on social media after the US Department of Health and Human Services announced it was suspending all federal childcare funds to Minnesota, alleging “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant.”

Walz added that fraud is “a serious issue—but this has been [Trump’s] plan all along.”

“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” the governor wrote.

The right-wing media ecosystem and Republican politicians have fixated on fraud in Minnesota in recent weeks, using it to launch bigoted attacks on the state’s Somali community and call for mass deportations of Somalis.

The issue exploded over the weekend after Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer and YouTuber, released a video claiming to expose fraud in Minnesota day care centers. The video went viral and was shared by top Trump administration officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Vice President JD Vance. Kristi Noem, head of the US Department of Homeland Security, said in the wake of the video’s publication that federal agents “are on the ground” in the state and “conducting a massive investigation.”

Minnesota Public Radio reported that the state’s House speaker, Rep. Lisa Demuth (R-13A), confirmed that her caucus directed Shirley to the day care sites that he visited.

“Those featured in his widely viewed video have been part of a state-administered childcare program using federal money, although some recently had operations or payments suspended,” the outlet noted.

The Guardian noted that “despite claims by conservatives on social media that the allegations of fraud were ignored until now, there have been years of fraud investigations that began with the indictments in 2022 of 47 defendants for their alleged roles in a $250 million scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

MAGA influencer's viral Somali fraud claims shot down by CBS News fact check

David Edwards
December 30, 2025 
RAW STORY


YouTube/screen grab

Despite a right-leaning change in management at CBS News, the network disputed claims made by MAGA influencer Nick Shirley about alleged fraud at Somali daycare facilities in Minnesota.

Shirley's video investigation, which was viewed tens of millions of times on YouTube and X, suggested that the facilities were taking funds from the government without caring for children.

On Tuesday, CBS News posted a fact check of Shirley on X, the same platform that members of the Trump administration had used to bolster the fraud claims

CBS News correspondent Jonah Kaplan noted that Somali businesses had been prosecuted for fraud in the past.

"Now you have this viral video getting traction online," he said. "It's from influencer Nick Shirley, and he visited several daycares, Somali-owned daycares in the Twin Cities, and basically accused them of doing the same thing. Running these sham operations where kids didn't show up but still bilked the federal government and collected millions of dollars in Medicaid funds."

"We visited those sites too, as did state inspectors many times over the last six months," he continued. "And we found the facts on the ground tell a different story. Those daycares, many of them were written up for safety violations, things like maybe busted equipment or staff training issues, but that's not the same as being fraudulent."

"So it's important to put all of this into context."

 

Reporter shreds Trump admin's daycare fraud claims in less than 2 minutes

Washington Post reporter Dave Jorgenson on YouTube on December 29, 2025

 (Image: Screengrab via @DaveJorgenson / YouTube)

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that Jorgenson is a former Washington Post reporter who is the founder of Local News International.

Carl Gibson

December 30, 2025

ALTERNET

President Donald Trump's administration recently made the decision to suspend all federal childcare payments to Minnesota in the wake of a far-right influencer's YouTube video over supposed daycare fraud in Minneapolis. But one former Washington Post reporter is accusing the administration of cherry-picking data to suit their preferred narrative.

In a video posted to YouTube Shorts, Local News International founder Dave Jorgenson observed that YouTuber Nick Shirley's video — in which he asserted that Somalian immigrants in Minneapolis were stealing taxpayer dollars — was based on documented fraudulent activity. However, he noted that the wave of right-wing outrage that has followed the release of Shirley's video overlooks the fact that both Minnesota's Democratic state lawmakers and members of Congress, as well as former President Joe Biden's administration, have all taken significant steps to address the fraud in Minnesota daycares.

"Yes, since 2018, more than half of $18 billion in taxpayer funds spent on the 14 programs intended to help low-income vulnerable people was most likely stolen," Jorgenson said. "But this has been under investigation for a long time. More than 92 people have been charged."

Jorgenson mimicked both Shirley and Vice President JD Vance (who reposted Shirley's video on X), with "Shirley" asking Jorgenson: "Well, how come we haven't seen it in the news?" Jorgenson reminded viewers that "local and international outlets have been reporting on it for years," and pointed to a New York Times article from 2022 on the Biden administration's FBI sounding the alarm over "massive fraud" in Minnesota.

When Jorgenson's "JD Vance" countered that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) supposedly "did nothing about this," Jorgenson pushed back again, alerting viewers to Omar leading a push to get to the bottom of the fraud allegations in February of 2022. He also referenced a local report from 2019 about a statewide audit of Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program. He also shared a local Fox affiliate's 2018 article about state officials "aggressively investigating daycare fraud since 2014."

"But what about how they're funneling all the money to terrorists?" Jorgenson's "Nick Shirley" asked.

"Look, there is clearly fraud happening here," Jorgenson said. "But that terrorist allegation was made by a police detective from Seattle who retired in 2015 and has never been to Minnesota."

Jorgenson also pointed out that while Shirley was unable to find evidence of children being present in daycares in the video he posted the day after Christmas, it was unlikely that daycare managers would let "a complete stranger, flanked by his security team and his camera crew, into your daycare to see the children."

"And I don't know when he filmed this, but my daughter's daycare is closed for the last two weeks of December," he added.

Watch the video below:

It’s More Than OK For Kids To Be Bored − It’s Good For Them

Many parents try to shield children from boredom due to work pressures, social expectations and easy access to screens, but research suggests that constant stimulation can hinder children’s ability to cope with negative emotions and build independence.

Outlook News Desk
Updated on: 22 December 2025 


Photo: Tribhuvan Tiwari

Summary of this article


Boredom is a natural and useful experience that encourages reflection, creativity and goal-setting, helping children develop curiosity, emotional regulation and essential life skills such as planning and self-direction.


Allowing short, manageable periods of boredom and unstructured time helps children become more resilient over time.


It also eases parental stress by reducing the pressure to keep children constantly entertained.




Boredom is a common part of life, across time and around the world. That’s because boredom serves a useful purpose: It motivates people to pursue new goals and challenges.


I’m a professor who studies communication and culture. I am currently writing a book about modern parenting, and I’ve noticed that many parents try to help their kids avoid boredom. They might see it as a negative emotion that they don’t want their children to experience. Or they might steer them into doing something that they see as more productive.



There are various reasons they want to prevent their children from being bored. Many parents are busy with work. They’re stressed about money, child care responsibilities and managing other parts of daily life. Making sure a child is occupied with a game, a TV show or an arts and crafts project at home can help parents work uninterrupted, or make dinner, without their children complaining that they are bored.


Parents may also feel pressure for their children to succeed, whether that means getting admitted to a selective school, or becoming a good athlete or an accomplished musician.


Children also spend less time playing freely outside and more time participating in structured activities than they did a few decades ago.

Easy access to screens has made it possible to avoid boredom more than ever before.

Many parents needed to put their children in front of screens throughout the pandemic to keep them occupied during work hours. More recently, some parents have reported feeling social pressure to use screens to keep children quiet in public spaces.

That is to say, there are various reasons why parents shy away from their kids being bored. But before striving to eliminate boredom completely, it’s important to know the benefits of boredom.


Benefits of boredom

Although boredom feels bad to experience in the moment, it offers real benefits for personal growth.


Boredom is a signal that a change is needed, whether it be a change in scenery, activity or company. Psychologists have found that the experience of boredom can lead to discovering new goals and trying new activities.

Harvard public and nonprofit leadership professor Arthur Brooks has found that boredom is necessary for reflection. Downtime leaves room to ask the big questions in life and find meaning.

Children who are rarely bored could become adults who cannot cope with boredom. Boredom also offers a brain boost that can cultivate a child’s innate curiosity and creativity.

Learning to manage boredom and other negative emotions is an important life skill. When children manage their own time, it can help them develop executive function, which includes the ability to set goals and make plans.

The benefits of boredom make sense from an evolutionary perspective. Boredom is extremely common. It affects all ages, genders and cultures, and teens are especially prone to boredom. Natural selection favors traits that offer a leg up, so it is unlikely that boredom would be so prevalent if it did not deliver some advantages.

Parents should be wary of treating boredom as a problem they must solve for their children. Psychologists have found that college students with overly involved parents suffer from more depression.

Other research shows that young children who were given screens to help them calm down were less equipped to regulate their emotions as they got older.

Boredom is uncomfortable

Tolerating boredom is a skill that many children resist learning or do not have the opportunity to develop. Even many adults would rather shock themselves with electricity than experience boredom.


It takes practice to learn how to handle boredom. Start with small doses of boredom and work up to longer stretches of unstructured time. Tips for parents include getting kids outside, suggesting a new game or recipe, or simply resting. Creating space for boredom means that there will be some stretches of time when nothing in particular is happening.


Younger children might need ideas for what they could do when bored. Parents do not need to play with them every time they are bored, but offering suggestions is helpful. Even five minutes of boredom is a good start for the youngest children.


Encouraging older children to solve the problem of boredom themselves is especially empowering. Let them know that boredom is a normal part of life even though it might feel unpleasant.

It gets easier

Children are adaptable.


As children get used to occasional boredom, it will take them longer to become bored in the future. People find life less boring once they regularly experience boredom.


Letting go of the obligation to keep children entertained could also help parents feel less stressed. Approximately 41% of parents in the U.S. said they “are so stressed they cannot function,” and 48% reported that “most days their stress is completely overwhelming,” according to a report from the U.S. surgeon general in 2024.


So the next time a kid complains, “I’m bored!” don’t feel guilty or frustrated. Boredom is a healthy part of life. It prompts us to be self-directed, find new hobbies and take on new challenges.


Let children know that a little boredom isn’t just OK – in fact, it’s good for them.


(This story is by The Conversation)

Published At: 22 December 2025 

Sri Lanka: Economists For Suspending Debt After Devastating Cyclone

Abdul Rahman | 29 Dec 2025

• 
  

Sri Lanka is expected to pay over 25% of its total revenue in debt servicing every year at a time when Ditwah, as per early estimates, caused damages worth 7 billion USD or around 7% of the country’s GDP.

People repair a collapsed bridge affected by Cyclone Ditwah in Badulla District, Sri Lanka, Dec. 13, 2025. Photo: Xinhua

The Institute of Political Economy (IPE), Sri Lanka and the UK-based Debt Justice issued a joint statement demanding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suspend Sri Lanka’s debt repayment to help it tackle its prolonged economic crisis compounded by Cyclone Ditwah.

The statement, signed by over 120 well-known economists from across the world including Jayati Ghosh and Utsa Patnaik from India, Nobel-prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, and French economist Thomas Piketty, asks the IMF to prioritize the welfare of people and their development over financial obligations to external creditors.

Sri Lanka, which has been trying to overcome the prolonged effects of the 2019 economic crisis, still must dedicate 25% of its annual revenue for international debt servicing.

The debt burden leaves little for the government to spend on crucial development sectors such as education, health, and social security. It creates a situation where the crucial renovation of the country’s infrastructure is delayed, compromising the preparedness for the persistent effects of climate change, such as Cyclone Ditwah.

Sri Lanka currently has an external debt of around USD 9 billion. It defaulted on its repayment schedule in 2022 for the first time in its history when the economic crisis, intensified due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was at its peak.

While in the 17th IMF sovereign debt restructuring agreement last year, creditors agreed to reduce the debt payment by 17%. Yet, the restructuring falls far short of the requirements of the Sri Lankan economy, the statement notes.

It “failed to provide a sustainable solution to Sri Lanka’s debt crisis” and left the country “extremely vulnerable to external shocks – particularly climate-induced disasters,” the statement claims.

Even after the readjustment, Sri Lanka’s repayment rate is one of the highest in the world, the statement notes. The Sri Lankan government would still have to use a quarter of its total revenue for the repayment of debts, which leaves a very high chance of default and very little for basic development needs.

The IMF itself has assessed that at the current rates there is nearly a 50% chance of Sri Lanka defaulting on its repayment schedule.

The suspension in debt repayment would help in stabilizing the economy and resources in order for the government to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone.

Justice and debt sustainability

Over 800 people were either killed or missing and over 1.4 million were displaced during the cyclone, which hit the country last month. The cyclone caused massive economic losses to the already-struggling country, damaging standing crops and public infrastructure.

According to estimates, the cyclone caused damages worth over USD 7 billion which is around 7% of the country’s GDP. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake called it the “largest and most challenging natural disaster” in the country’s history.

Noting that the environmental emergency created by the cyclone Ditwah “is poised to observe – and potentially exceed – the extremely limited fiscal space created by the current debt restructuring package,” signatories of the statement demanded that Sri Lanka “needs a more comprehensive, resilience-oriented debt solution.”

The signatories argue that the IMF’s approach has been to prioritize the continuity of debt servicing over deep debt relief, which exposes the Sri Lankan economy and population to future disasters.

The statement accused the IMF of failing to assess Sri Lanka’s capacity to service debt at the moment and proposed a new approach of “debt sustainability” under the given circumstances.

In a separate statement issued by Sri Lankan civil society, it is noted that because Sri Lanka is forced to continue its debt servicing the government is unable to give attention to sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, and social protection required to revive the economy of the country and provide relief to people.

The organizations demand the renegotiation of the conditions of repayment of external debt.

Hence, the IPC and Debt Justice see it as pertinent that the IMF, “recognize climate-driven disasters as systemic, not exceptional,” provide “significant debt cancellation to free up fiscal space for disaster recovery, social protection, reconstruction and development” and prioritize “human welfare, environmental protection and long-term viability over financial obligations to external creditors.”

“Only a fundamental rethinking of the global debt regime – one based on Justice and sustainability – will offer Sri Lanka a realistic chance to recover from the climate impact and build an equitable future for all,” the statement underlined.

Responding to the Sri Lankan government’s request, the IMF issued a 206-million-dollar emergency support to the country on Friday, December 19, to deal with the economic problems arising due to Cyclone Ditwah. 

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch