Singapore's most senior diplomat just stood on Chinese soil and told the Chinese state directly: we cooperate with you because of shared interests, not because of shared blood. That sentence is more significant than it sounds. Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's former Prime Minister and current Senior Minister, completed a five-day visit to China last week, meeting officials in Guangxi and Shanghai. Speaking to Singapore media on May 22, he was direct: "We are a Chinese-majority country, but we are a multiracial society. We are a separate country with separate sovereignty from China." He added that Singapore's ties with China are grounded in mutual benefit, not shared ethnicity or ancestry. This is a deliberate and pointed statement. The CCP has spent decades promoting the idea that ethnic Chinese people around the world, regardless of citizenship, share a special bond with the Chinese motherland. The concept of 同宗同源, meaning "same ancestry, same roots," is embedded in Chinese state rhetoric aimed at diaspora communities across Southeast Asia, including Singapore's Chinese majority. United Front Work Department operations, diaspora engagement programs, and state media all lean on this framing to cultivate affinity, influence, and loyalty among overseas Chinese populations. Lee Hsien Loong said that is not the basis of Singapore's relationship with China. Singapore cooperates with Beijing because it serves Singapore's interests. Full stop. The moment those interests diverge, the shared ethnicity changes nothing. Singapore has maintained this position since Lee Kuan Yew built the country. It rejects the "Third China" label. It maintains strong ties with the United States, Japan, and the West while trading extensively with Beijing. It is ethnically Chinese-majority and fiercely sovereign. That combination makes it a direct challenge to the CCP's narrative that Chinese ethnicity implies Chinese political alignment. Lee said it in Shanghai. In front of Chinese media. After visiting Chinese officials. The message was intentional and the audience was chosen carefully. #Singapore# #China# #CCP# #LeeHsienLoong# #Sovereignty# #Geopolitics# #SoutheastAsia# #UnitedFront# #Diaspora# #ASEAN#

In the Backpack tokenomics, we have one guiding principle. - Insiders "dumping on retail" should be impossible: no founder, executive, employee, or venture investor should receive wealth from the token until the product hits escape velocity. Of course it begs the question, what does it mean to "hit escape velocity". Every project is different, and it's impossible to generalize. For Backpack, the answer is clear: we want to IPO in the USA. Going public might happen quickly, it might happen not so quickly, and in fact, it might not happen at all. In any case, we're going for it. But before going public, we have to grow--a lot. The odd thing about Backpack's growth over the past year--and in fact one of the things that makes Backpack so different from basically every token project in crypto--is that, today, Backpack Exchange only serves about 48% of the world. We've been very slow, very intentional about opening up our product to the world, ensuring that we have every "i" dotted and ever "t" crossed as a regulated financial institution. Growth that sometimes feels like running with a parachute, but we are happy to take the long path, because it's precisely that parachute that will allow us to fly. For those that don't know us, the reason for this is simple. Backpack is trying to not only build great crypto products, but we're also trying to build great TradFi products. We're trying to not only give our users access to every crypto asset, every blockchain, and every decentralized application, but we're also getting banking rails around the world, USD client money accounts in the USA, EUR in the EU, JPY in Japan--every currency on every major payment network you can imagine. We're trying to build a great securities product, whether that's getting access to your favorite stocks in a traditional brokerage or bidding on primary shares of a company about to go public on NASDAQ. We want to serve not only retail users worldwide, but we want to serve regulated products for regulated counterparties and regulated institutions around the world. All of this takes an enormous amount of time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears. We've been working on this for over three years at this point, laying an international foundation for the company and for the product slowly but surely, brick by brick. If we're lucky, we'll spend a lifetime. What this all means is that, in the most literal sense--and I know this sounds silly--we're just getting started. We still have half the world to open up into. We still have some of our most exciting products to launch. And this leads to our next guiding principle in our tokenomics. - Liquid tokens should exclusively go to users, fueling growth triggered by key product milestones. Every time we open up a new region, every time we launch a new product, that's an opportunity to grow. Open up EU => grow. Open up Japan => grow. Open up the USA => grow. Open up predictions => grow. Open up stocks => grow. Open up card => grow. Like gasoline onto a fire, the token serves to continuously kickstart new markets in the same way points kickstarted Seasons 1-4. With every growth lever we pull, tokens unlock in a predictable way to users, bringing in a new wave of token holders, growing the community, and allowing the product to soar to new heights. The objective constraint for this to work is precise: the value of added growth created by new token unlocks must always be greater than the dilution of those unlocks. As long as that condition holds, we can continue to unlock tokens direct to our most active users, growing along the way. Last but not least is the question: Ok so if all the liquid tokens are going to users, then what about the team? How exactly do you remain incentive aligned while ensuring the team cannot unlock, dump on retail, and become enormously wealthy without building something great? And the answer is simple: not a single founder, executive, team member, or venture investor has been given a direct token allocation. The entire "team allocation" sits in a "corporate treasury", i.e. on the balance sheet of the Backpack company--locked until at least one year post IPO. The team owns equity in the company, and the company owns a large percent of the token supply. It's not until the company goes public (or has some other type of equity exit event), that the team can earn any wealth from the project. It's not until the company has access to the largest, most liquid capital markets in the world by going public--and it's not until the company has done all the hard work to earn access to those markets--that the team can reap the rewards of the value created by the Backpack community from now until then. We either go big, or we go home.

Let's consult the historical record to see what the Aztec society was up to when the Spanish conquered it. First, from Cortes: “They have a most horrid and abominable custom which truly ought to be punished and which until now we have seen in no other part, and this is that, whenever they wish to ask something of the idols, in order that their plea may find more acceptance, they take many girls and boys and even adults, and in the presence of the idols they open their chests while they are still alive and take out their hearts and entrails and burn them before the idols, offering the smoke as sacrifice. Some of us have seen this, and they say it is the most terrible and frightful thing they have ever witnessed… not one year passes in which they do not kill and sacrifice some fifty persons in each temple; and this is done and held as customary… not one year has passed… in which three or four thousand souls have not been sacrificed in this manner.” And now Bernal Diaz del Castillo: “The dismal drum of Huichilobos sounded again, accompanied by conches, horns and trumpet-like instruments. It was a terrifying sound, and when we looked at the tall cue [temple] from which it came we saw our comrades who had been captured in Cortes’ defeat being dragged up the steps to be sacrificed. When they had hauled them up to a small platform in front of the shrine where they kept their accursed idols we saw them put plumes on the heads of many of them; and they made them dance with a sort of fan in front of Huichilobos. Then after they had danced the papas [priests] laid them down on their backs on some narrow stones of sacrifice and, cutting open their chests, drew out their palpitating hearts which they offered to the idols before them.” ... “Every day we saw sacrificed before us three, four or five Indians whose hearts were offered to the idols and their blood plastered on the walls, and their feet, arms and legs of the victims were cut off and eaten… Every wall of this chapel and the whole floor, had become almost black with human blood, and… the stench was worse than in a Spanish slaughter-house.” ... “When we arrived at the great market place, called Tlaltelolco, we were astounded at the number of people and the quantity of merchandise that it contained… Let us begin with the dealers in gold, silver, and precious stones, feathers, mantles, and embroidered goods. Then there were other wares consisting of Indian slaves both men and women; and I say that they bring as many of them to that great market for sale as the Portuguese bring negroes from Guinea…. They brought some of them tied to long poles by means of collars around their necks so they would not escape, and others left loose.” ~~ This is what the Spanish conquered in the name of Christendom - a Stone-Age society consumed with ritualistic human sacrifice, cannibalism and slavery.

Antony Blinken was confronted about having the blood of Palestinian children on his hands. His response is revealing: “Don’t do this in front of my children.” This is exactly why the genocide happened. These monsters only care about their own children, not the children of Gaza.

Live From Mexico the concert film is out now on YouTube and the album drops everywhere at midnight 😭 2 of the most special years wrapped up into 2 hours.. the end of an era 💙 I hope watching and listening to this shows the euphoria, the love, the blood sweat and tears and most importantly the radical optimism (!!) that we all shared on this tour, we will have it forever now so thank you!!!!! ~ full film and album pre-order here

How did the Palestinians of Gaza react to the assassination of Al-Qassam Brigades Chief of Staff Izz Eddin Al-Haddad? -VIDEO 1: With chants during his funeral procession: “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Zionists, the Al-Qassam army has begun to return.” VIDEO 2: A woman from Gaza: “O Allah, make the blood of commander Al-Haddad a new revolution that liberates Al-Aqsa. I wished to pray behind Izz Eddin Al-Haddad in Al-Aqsa, but God willing, we will pray behind the fighters raised by Izz Eddin Al-Haddad in Al-Aqsa.” -VIDEO 3: Another scene from Al-Haddad’s funeral, where Gaza residents were chanting: “Salute to the Izz Eddin Brigades, salute to the Izz Eddin Brigades.” Video 4: a video of the former Chief of Staff of Al-Qassam Brigades, Izz Eddin Al-Haddad.

National Police Week is a time to celebrate the brave men and women who keep our communities safe, but it also serves as a solemn reminder of the incredible sacrifices made every day when our police officers put on their uniforms. I mentioned these individuals in my address at the Capitol, but I wanted to give those who gave their lives in the line of duty their due recognition. First, I want to honor a brave officer from my home state of Ohio who was killed in a cowardly ambush attack in Lorain County. Phillip Wagner was an officer in the local police department, and Marine Corps veteran with a beautiful wife and three precious children. Last July, Officer Wagner and a fellow officer were in their patrol vehicle when a man opened fire on their car. Officer Wagner succumbed to his wounds in the hospital, surrounded by his loved ones. Last August, Officer Suzanne O was mortally wounded in Maui County, Hawaii while responding to reports of an armed and dangerous suspect. Suzanne O was a devoted public servant who was awarded the Certificate of Merit two years prior for her tireless efforts during the 2023 Hawaii wildfires. Officer O gave her life in defense of the people she swore to serve, and her legacy of strength and selflessness will be remembered by her family, loved ones and all Americans. Finally, I want to honor three officers from Pennsylvania’s Northern York County Regional Police Department who were killed in the line of duty last year. Detective Mark Baker, Detective Isaiah Emenheiser, and Detective Sergeant Cody Becker were working to serve an arrest warrant against an armed stalker lying in wait outside a woman's home. These talented, seasoned officers confronted evil face-to-face and were met with a brutal ambush by a coward who took these brave husbands and fathers from their families prematurely. These stories, unfortunately, are not unique. Too many other officers have given their lives protecting their communities. The officers I mentioned are just a few examples of the strength and sacrifice that every officer in our country represents. Under the Trump Administration last year, on-duty law enforcement officer deaths were the lowest they've been in 80 years. That’s a stat I’m extremely proud of. Last year, the murder rate in our country was the lowest it's been in 125 years. That's because of the dedication of our peace officers and the shift in our nation that supports and respects the men and women who keep us safe. Peace and safety in our country comes at a price. It is paid for in the blood of brave individuals who make the ultimate sacrifice defending their communities, and in the tears of fallen officers' families. That is a price Americans should never take for granted, and it is a debt we can never repay. To all of our peace officers, thank you for your service.

Samar Kerkeni explored Heze, Shandong province, during the 2026 Peony Festival. From gardens and ink paintings to dough figurines and hanfu design, she's uncovering how the peony lives beyond the bloom — shaping art, craft, and culture across the city.

We rebuilt @base from scratch 📝 Instant confirmations, faster swaps, same-block Copy Trading, and USDC pair support. Every improvement hits both the Bloom EVM Bot and the EVM Extension. One engine. Every surface. 🔵 Trade on Base →