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Xi Jinping’s surprise no-show at BRICS Summit fuels speculation about China’s global standing
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Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend this week’s BRICS Summit in Brazil, marking the first time the Chinese leader has missed the gathering of major emerging economies. The abrupt decision has triggered widespread speculation about internal political dynamics within China and the fraying cohesion of BRICS itself.
China’s official explanation — a «scheduling conflict» and the fact that Xi already met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva earlier this year, according to the South China Morning Post — has been met with skepticism. Premier Li Qiang will attend the summit in Xi’s place, continuing a recent trend of Xi scaling back his appearances on the global stage.
«That doesn’t make sense,» said Gordon Chang, an expert on U.S.-China relations. «There are many other countries at the BRICS summit, not just Brazil. To me, it’s extremely significant that Xi Jinping is not going. It suggests turbulence at home — there are signs he’s lost control of the military and that civilian rivals are reasserting power. This is a symptom of that.»
RUSSIA’S PUTIN HOSTS CHINA’S XI AT MASSIVE MOSCOW MILITARY PARADE ON RED SQUARE
Chinese President Xi Jinping listens as Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, not pictured, speaks during their meeting at the Office of the Party Central Committee in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Monday, Apr. 14. (AP/Minh Hoang)
Bryan Burack of the Heritage Foundation agrees that Xi’s absence underscores deeper issues: «It’s another indication that BRICS is not going to be China’s vassalization of the Global South.» He noted that countries like Brazil and Indonesia have recently imposed tariffs on China over industrial overcapacity and dumping, moves that suggest widening rifts within the group.
«China is actively harming all those countries for the most part, maybe with some exceptions, through its malign trade policies and dumping and overcapacity.»
Tensions with India and global trade pressure may also be factors
Some analysts point to rising China-India friction as a contributing factor in Xi’s decision to skip the summit.
«China has been at war with India for decades, essentially,» Burack said. «These are fundamentally opposing interests. It’s difficult to see China changing its behavior in the near term, and that will keep tensions high.»
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take a leading role at the gathering, potentially another deterrent for Xi’s attendance.
Another key leader — Russian President Vladimir Putin — is only expected to address the group by video.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, are two key leaders of the BRICS alliance. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
BRICS: United in name, divided in decades-long tensions
Formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China and later joined by South Africa, BRICS was envisioned as a non-Western counterweight to G7 dominance. It has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and, most recently, Indonesia, strengthening its economic footprint.
Economist Christian Briggs highlighted BRICS’s massive scale: «BRICS now comprises 12 full members and up to 23 when counting partners. Collectively, they account for over 60% of the world’s GDP and around 75% of the global population. They control vast natural resources and a growing share of global trade flows.»
Yet despite its scale, the bloc remains ideologically and strategically fragmented. «It’s a group of countries that hate each other,» Burack said bluntly. «China is harming many of them through unfair trade practices. There’s not a lot of incentive for real unity.»
Currency ambitions and strategic divergences
The alliance’s aspirations to challenge the U.S. dollar through alternative payment systems and a potential BRICS currency have gained media traction — but experts caution against overestimating this threat.
«There’s been a lot of fearmongering about a BRICS currency,» said Burack. «But the interests of these countries are completely divergent. There’s more smoke than fire when it comes to a currency challenge to the dollar.»
Chang echoed this skepticism: «The only country that can challenge the dollar is the United States. Weakness in the dollar is due to what we are doing domestically, not what the BRICS are doing.»
Still, Briggs offered a counterpoint, arguing that BRICS members are already reshaping global currency flows.
«They’re moving away from the dollar into digital yuan, rupees, rubles. China has launched a SWIFT alternative already adopted by the Caribbean banking sector — trillions of dollars are shifting.»
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a family photo during the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024. (Alexander ZemlianichenkoPool/AFP via Getty Images)
Is BRICS still a threat to U.S. influence?
While its cohesion remains questionable, BRICS poses a long-term challenge to U.S. influence — particularly in regions where Washington has retreated diplomatically and economically.
«China filled the void left by the U.S. in places like Africa,» said Briggs. «Now it controls about 38% of the world’s minerals. Meanwhile, Russia’s economy has doubled despite sanctions, because they preemptively reduced reliance on the dollar.»
Yet Chang sees India as a brake on any aggressive anti-Western tilt. «BRICS has an ‘I’ in it—and that’s India. Modi doesn’t want to be part of an anti-Western bloc. As long as India’s in BRICS, the rest of the world is safe.»
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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take a leading role at the summit, potentially another deterrent for Xi’s attendance. (Sipa USA via AP)
A missed opportunity — or a calculated power move?
To some, Xi’s no-show signals instability in Beijing. To others, the opposite: it demonstrates confidence in China’s dominance over the other BRICS members.
«He doesn’t have to be there,» Briggs contended. «Xi’s power allows him to delegate. China is trading with nearly 80% of the world now. He’s moving the agenda forward even in absentia.»
What’s clear is that BRICS continues to evolve — its internal contradictions as visible as its geopolitical ambitions. Whether Xi’s absence marks a retreat or a recalibration remains one of the key questions hovering over the summit in Brazil.
INTERNACIONAL
Undercover video reveals red state university employee suggesting DEI is simply being rebranded
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FIRST ON FOX: A conservative watchdog group has released a video that it says raises concerns that administrators at the University of Utah are continuing to push diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), possibly at odds with a relatively new state anti-DEI law.
«No, no comment,» University of Utah education coordinator Lucas Alvarez told Accuracy in Media when asked about an allegation he was pushing DEI in violation of a 2024 law aimed at curbing DEI practices inside state universities.
Accuracy in Media President Adam Guillette then showed Alvarez video of him explaining the current DEI practices at the university.
«We’re still, I think, figuring out as we go, like, HB261,» Alvarez said in the video. «It’s complicated, I mean, like, the programs that we’re doing, I think technically we’re still allowed to do them, but they have to be marketed in a certain way.»
BOMBSHELL REPORT EXPOSES ‘DEEPLY CONCERNING’ MIDWEST UNIVERSITY INITIATIVE PUSHING FAR-LEFT K-12 LESSON PLANS
A conservative watchdog group has released a video suggesting DEI is being rebranded at University of Utah. (Accuracy in Media)
When pressed by Guillette on what he meant by changing «marketing,» Alvarez once again said no comment.
Alvarez was also pressed about another comment he made on video suggesting DEI was still a focus at the university, explaining that his department has been «meeting with a lot of campus partners» to do the «strategic work» of being in «compliance» but pointing out that these partners have «academic freedom.»
«I think what he was referring to was the professors have academic freedom to do research and speak from their expertise in the field that they’ve studied,» LeiLoni McLaughlin, the university’s director of the Center for Community & Cultural Engagement, told Guillette when asked what Alvarez meant.
UNIVERSITY DOCTOR RESIGNS AFTER UNEARTHED AUDIO EXPOSES HIM BOASTING ABOUT SKIRTING ANTI-DEI LAWS
The University of Utah campus is viewed from Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Rick Bowmer/AP Photo)
«He kind of suggested that they shifted things over to the professors though,» Guillette said, prompting McLaughlin to explain she thinks that was a «false statement.»
McLaughlin was then asked by Guillette what Alvarez meant by changing the «marketing.»
«I think with the legislative changes, every university has had to shift,» McLaughlin said.
«Shift their actions or just shift how they market what they are doing,» Guillette responded.
«Both,» McLaughlin answered.
WATCH: DEI STILL IN PLACE AS COLLEGE ‘FINDING WAYS’ AROUND BAN, OFFICIAL ADMITS: ‘PROUD OF THE FIGHT’
People march outside the office of hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, protesting his campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion and attacks against former Harvard University President Claudine Gay in New York City, Jan. 4, 2024. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
A University of Utah spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement, «I reject the assertion that the university is hiding diversity work with rebranding and remarketing.»
«The changes required under HB 261 transformed how we support student success, recruit faculty, celebrate events and create a sense of belonging on our campus.»
The spokesperson added that Alvarez is «not a spokesperson for the University of Utah.»
«His comments do not reflect the position of the institution,» the spokesperson continued. «The comments of LeiLoni McLaughlin, director of our Center for Cultural and Community Engagement…were much more aligned with university leaders.»
The spokesperson also pointed to an interview that she said showed the Black Student Union was «extensively mourning the loss of their center and identity-based resources» due to the school following the new law.
The school has previously outlined measures taken to conform with the law, including closing identity-based resource centers, transferring DEI employees to other jobs on campus, and prohibiting diversity statements in hiring.
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«This isn’t about one or two bad apples — it’s about a broken system,» Guillette told Fox News Digital about his video footage, filmed in October 2024 and May of this year.
«Utah needs a Kansas-style DEI ban with a reporting mechanism and actual legal consequences. And more importantly, America’s university system needs to be fundamentally reshaped with a focus on education rather than activism.»
Republicans across the country, along with President Donald Trump’s administration, have scored major victories pushing back on DEI in favor of meritocracy standards, but experts have warned that universities and organizations will be hostile toward the idea of giving up those methods and will instead attempt to rebrand them under different banners.
«At first, they just pushed back on, tried to defend DEI itself, but when that became so obvious that what DEI really was anti-White, anti-Asian, sometimes anti-Jewish discrimination in hiring and promotion, they abandoned that,» Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told Fox News Digital earlier this year. «Now what they’re trying to do is simply change the terminology that has become so toxic to their brand. So we’re seeing a lot of companies move from having departments of DEI, for example, to ‘departments of belonging’ or ‘departments of inclusivity.’»
Hid added, «It is the exact same toxic nonsense under a new wrapper, and they’re just hoping to extend the grift, because a lot of these people — I would say most of the people — working in DEI are useless.»
politics,campus radicals,utah,education
INTERNACIONAL
Censura para Celia Cruz en Cuba: un grupo de artistas denunció que no pudieron homenajearla en el centenario de su nacimiento
Celia Cruz, la reina de la salsa, cumpliría este martes 100 años. Sin embargo, entre el silencio oficial y denuncias de censura, el centenario de la artista cubana más universal pasó desapercibido en Cuba.
Según denunciaron artistas y promotores culturales, hubo esfuerzos de las autoridades por dejar sin efecto cualquier atisbo de homenaje.
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La Iglesia católica fue la única que realizó una actividad para recordar a Cruz, la cantante que inmortalizó éxitos globales como ‘“Bemba colorá”, “La vida es un carnaval” y “La negra tiene tumbao”.
Celia Cruz dejó la isla tras el triunfo de la revolución y jamás pudo regresar al país.
Misa en honor a Celia Cruz en La Habana
Este martes se ofició, a propuesta de un grupo de artistas, una misa en memoria de la popular artista cubana en la iglesia Nuestra Señora de La Caridad del Cobre en el popular municipio de Centro Habana.
Celia Cruz, cuyo segundo nombre era, precisamente, Caridad, era muy devota de esta virgen, Patrona de Cuba. Celia Cruz participando de los Latin Grammy de 2002 (Foto: AP/Kim D. Johnson).
“Hay un deseo de agradecimiento por su legado cultural (…) y lo que ella significó como embajadora de la cultura cubana para el mundo entero”, señaló Ariel Suárez, párroco de la iglesia y secretario adjunto de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Cuba. El religioso aseguró que no recibió ninguna presión oficial relacionada con esta eucaristía.
A un costado del altar destacó una imagen de Celia Cruz y en primera fila se ubicó un puñado de artistas cubanos. Entre ellos, el multinstrumentista y ganador de un Grammy Latino Alain Pérez.
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“Es lastimoso (la censura). Y personalmente creo que cometen un error las instituciones a estas alturas del mundo de tratar de cegar y limitar el significado de Celia. No puedo decir mucho más porque no es un misterio y no es nada que no sepamos los que estamos claros de esta situación”, afirmó Pérez.
Cancelan en La Habana un acto de homenaje a Celia Cruz
Recientemente, la Fábrica de Arte Cubano, una de las principales instituciones culturales privadas del país, canceló a última hora un espectáculo programado para el pasado domingo en honor a la ‘Guarachera de Cuba’ y lamentó que el acto no pudiera celebrarse.
El centro cultural colocó una butaca vacía en el lugar en el que debió realizarse el homenaje y la acompañó con una hora de silencio. En redes sociales se publicó una foto de un sillón con la leyenda “arte de la resistencia”.
La cubana Rosa Marquetti, autora del libro “Celia en el mundo”, afirmó que se trata de “un capítulo más a la historia de la censura y la aplicación de métodos de comisariado político dentro de la cultura cubana”.
Por qué Celia Cruz es silenciada por el gobierno cubano
Desde su exilio a Estados Unidos en 1960, un año después del triunfo de la revolución cubana, las autoridades isleñas y la artista mantuvieron una constante tensión, al punto en el que la cantante nunca pudo volver a su país.
Ya en territorio norteamericano, Cruz logró una fama internacional que la encumbró -para muchos- como la cubana más reconocida mundialmente en el último siglo.
La artista murió en 2003 sin haber regresado a su patria, aunque en 1990 se presentó en la Base Naval estadounidense de Guantánamo, un territorio bajo control estadounidense que La Habana reclamó históricamente. Celia Cruz quedó inmortalizada como la «reina de la salsa» (Foto: AP).
Pese a la censura, su música puede incluso sonar ahora en los hoteles cubanos -pertenecientes al conglomerado empresarial GAESA, de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias- sobre todo por las constantes peticiones de los turistas.
También es admirada por numerosos cubanos de la isla. Incluso, Laura de la Uz, una de las actrices más renombradas del país, la homenajeó a principios de los 2000 en una popular obra de teatro titulada “Delirio Habanero”, donde interpretó a tres personajes icónicos cubanos, Celia Cruz, el músico Benny Moré y un legendario barman apodado Varilla. La obra estuvo en cartelera en La Habana.
(Con información de EFE y AP)
cuba, Celia Cruz
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Amid the implementation of President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan to end the Hamas-Israel war, Mideast experts are urging that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have no presence in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip because of its reported support for the terrorist organization Hamas and its track record of severe incompetence.
Hugh Dugan, who served on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Organization Affairs in 2020, told Fox News Digital, «UNRWA’s mission was to provide relief and support pending a durable political solution. As such, a solution is at hand – pending Hamas’ compliance to disarm immediately – truly neutral humanitarian operations beg for new measures and modalities.»
He added, «The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for months has distributed aid independently of U.N. channels and has prevented diversion by militant groups. Other U.N. humanitarian operations would be well-served to take cover and operate within GHF’s shadow under the blistering sun of critical human need.»
IDF KILLS HAMAS TERRORIST IT SAYS WORKED FOR UNRWA, LED CHARGE ON REIM BOMB SHELTER MASSACRE
Pictures are displayed on the walls of a bomb shelter, in which, six months prior, people sought refuge before being killed during the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, near Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
Dugan, a former diplomat who served at the U.S. mission to the world body, said UNRWA has turned a cottage industry into a sprawling transnational bureaucracy that has perpetuated financial waste and prolonged the conflict by granting refugee status to the descendants of Palestinian refugees after the first Israel-Arab states’ war.
«After the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA’s critical mission was to provide direct relief and works program for 800,000 Palestinian refugees. Its job was to put itself out of business as soon as possible, however it went the route of mission creep. Over decades managerially captured by the U.N. bureaucracy, UNRWA perpetuates the status of refugees now swelling to 5.9 million,» he said.
Dugan concluded, «After billions of dollars, Palestinians continue in desperate dependence for humanitarian aid of the most basic kind. This has positioned UNRWA as a political actor in its own right beyond its original mission. And its politics and relations with Hamas reveal that UNRWA lost irretrievably its grounding in humanitarian neutrality and non-discrimination.»
DOSSIER REVEALS INFORMATION USED TO EXPLAIN UN AGENCY’S DEEP TIES TO HAMAS IN GAZA
People carry boxes of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US-backed aid group that has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system in the territory, as displaced Palestinians return from an aid distribution centre in the central Gaza Strip on June. 8 The UN and major aid organisations have refused to cooperate with the GHF, citing concerns that it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. (EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)
In August, Fox News Digital obtained a U.S. State Department public assessment to Congress, stating, «The administration has determined UNRWA is irredeemably compromised and now seeks its full dismantlement.» The Biden administration had given UNRWA $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer funding since 2021 before the freeze in 2024 went into effect.
UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma countered allegations against the organization as dangerous and told Fox News Digital that such claims have «never been substantiated, let alone proven,» adding, «The United Nations has undertaken investigations and external reviews, and none of these claims have been substantiated. What these claims have done, most importantly, is they have banned UNRWA, the largest humanitarian organization, from delivering food to hungry people.»
Touma said «It also put my colleagues in Gaza in danger and have put their lives at serious risks due to this dis-information. UNRWA has 12,000 staff on the ground in Gaza It is impossible to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza without UNRWA and its teams. We know that all other attempts to replace UNRWA have been disastrous.»
She continued, «Given [the] above and the action that the U.N. has taken against these claims, these claims remain as such—claims with huge consequences on the lives of our colleagues, the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the reputation of this agency,» she said.
Photos released by the Israeli Defense Force show three individuals that the Israeli military claims are Hamas terrorists inside an UNRWA compound in Rafah. (IDF)
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that «President Trump and Secretary Rubio have long stated that Hamas will never govern Gaza again. That includes institutions they have infiltrated to sustain their power and influence.»
The spokesperson reiterated the directive from «President Trump’s Feb. 4 Executive Order regarding ending funding or reviewing support for certain U.N. and international organizations,» which declared that «UNRWA has reportedly been infiltrated by members of groups long designated by the Secretary of State (Secretary) as foreign terrorist organizations, and UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.»
Former IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said, «UNRWA has proven itself to be irredeemably corrupt, infiltrated by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad and part of the reason why Hamas was able to recruit tens of thousands of Jihad-indoctrinated youth and to sustain itself during two years of fighting.
Hamas terrorists killed civilians, including women, children and the elderly, when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
«If we desire a deradicalized Gaza, the first organization that has to be removed from power is Hamas. The close second is UNRWA. Both must not have any role in shaping the present or the future of Gaza. Now is the time to invest in a better future for Gaza and the region, and the time to remove UNRWA.»
Conricus said that «Ever since Hamas took power over the Gaza Strip in 2007, UNRWA has been a facilitator for Hamas’s military buildup. By diverting international aid to provide for the civilian needs of Gaza‘s population per Hamas guidance, UNRWA enabled Hamas to divert the majority of their funds to military buildup in the shape of digging tunnels, producing rockets, acquiring drones and sophisticated missiles and paying and training a large force of Jihadi terrorists.»
UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City, Gaza on February 21, 2024. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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He said that «Throughout the two-year war, Hamas fighters systematically used UNRWA facilities and infrastructure to support and sustain their military operations against Israel. Hamas underground command posts were exposed directly underneath UNRWA facilities in Gaza City, including a supply of electricity and IT services from UNRWA offices to the underground Hamas bunker. UNRWA schools all across the Gaza Strip were systematically used by Hamas as military staging grounds, production facilities for weapons, intelligence collection sites, and hideouts for Hamas fighters.»
When asked about the role of UNRWA, an IDF spokesperson told Fox News Digital, «It’s the political echelon to decide everything regarding the peace deal and the post-war details.» Fox News Digital reached out to Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson on several occasions for a comment. Israel’s government banned UNRWA operations in January, 2025.
united nations,israel,terrorism,conflicts,anti semitism
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