Actress, dancer and YouTuber JoJo Siwa recently addressed her feud with actress and outspoken Christian Candace Cameron Bure last year.
As Christian Headlines previously reported, Siwa called Bure of being the ‘rudest celebrity’ she has ever met in a TikTok video last year. At the time, Bure managed to speak with Siwa on the phone and learned that Siwa made the declaration because at a red-carpet premiere of Fuller House, when Siwa asked Bure for a photo, Bure declined, saying, “Not right now.”Bure apologized to Siwa for her incident.
During an interview on Nick Viall’s (The Bachelor, The Bachelorette) podcast, The Viall Files, Siwa once again denounced Bure, only this time for comments she made after leaving the Hallmark channel for the Great American Family network last year.
“I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core,” Bure told the Wall Street Journal at the time.
Bure’s comment came in response to a question by the Wall Street Journal about whether GAF would feature LGTBQ+ love stories like the Hallmark channel began doing.
Siwa, who is queer, argued that Bure’s words were “rude and hurtful to a whole community of people,” ChurchLeaders.com reports.
When asked how things stand between her and Bure, Siwa said, “It’s interesting,” noting that she has nothing against religion.
“I grew up super religious. And I mean, I still have faith. I still believe,” Siwa said. She added that she takes no issue with movies depicting “traditional marriage with a man and a woman.”
However, Siwa argued that Bure’s comments on traditional marriage were her attempt to “put down LGBTQIA [people], and she was specifically going to make movies that had no representation of LGBTQIA which is finebut it’s fine if you’re doing it because it isn’t your movie’s storyline.
“But when you’re doing it out of spite to say that too much is about LGBTQ right now ‘you guys suck, and I want to make a movie about traditional marriage and you’re not traditional’ that got to me a little bit,” Siwa added.
“It gave me a little sense of like, okay, you and her are never going to agree. You and her are never going to be friends. You and her are never going to get along,” Siwa told Viall. “I’m never gonna be able to change her. She’s not gonna be able to change me. We can both just live life. We can both just have fun.”
“I wish she was able to be a little more open, a little more accepting,” Siwa went on. “I’m okay with calling her out in the way that I did. For a while, I regretted it, but after I found that article about her not wanting anything to do with LGBTQIA [people]that’s my people, you know what I mean? I gotta stand up for my people. That’s messed up, you know?”
During the interview, the podcast producers then showed Siwa Bure’s exact comment, in which Bure shared that her “heart wants to tell stories that have more meaning and purpose and depth behind them. I knew that the people behind Great American Family were Christians and loved the Lord and wanted to promote faith programming and good family energy.”
“That’s what I don’t like,” Siwa said in response. “Why is [some in the] LGBTQIA [community] not allowed to be good, loving Christian? You know what I mean?”
“You can be gay, and you can look up to the Lord. Why not? You know?” she added.
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Candace Cameron Bure Responds after JoJo Siwa Calls Her the ‘Rudest Celebrity’ She’s Ever Met in a TikTok Video
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
Signage at the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Alibaba‘s Hong Kong listed shares surged more than 19% on Monday as the Chinese tech giant’s cloud computing unit drove strong quarterly results, while details emerged over its new AI chip development.
It’s the highest level for the stock since March. Investors have backed the company’s improving performance in its key cloud unit and are content with the the tech giant’s investment into new areas — particularly in the so-called “instant commerce,” which has become incredibly competitive in China.
The Hong Kong rally builds on the momentum of Alibaba‘s earnings report of Friday, when the company’s New York-listed shares closed nearly 13% higher.
Alibaba last week week posted revenue for the June quarter of 247.65 billion Chinese yuan ($34.73 billion), marking a 2% year-on-year rise that nevertheless missed analyst expectations. On the upside, a 78% annual surge in net income came in ahead of forecasts.
The Chinese company’s cloud computing unit was a bright spot with revenue picking up by an annual 26%, which was a faster growth rate than seen in the previous quarter. Alibaba’s cloud growth has been accelerating over the last few quarter.
Like some of its Chinese and U.S. tech rivals, Alibaba has been investing in AI infrastructure and developing its own models, as well as selling AI services for its cloud computing unit. Investors see the division as key to the company’s efforts to monetize artificial intelligence, much like Microsoft or Google.
AI-related product revenue “maintained triple-digit year-over-year growth for the eighth consecutive quarter,” the company said Friday.
Alibaba’s core e-commerce business has meanwhile been showing signs of revival, while the company has jumped into China’s cut-throat instant commerce space in China. This is a feature introduced this year on Taobao, one of Alibaba’s main Chinese e-commerce apps, which provides deliveries of certain products in China within an hour.
Investments in quick commerce weighed on Alibaba’s adjusted earnings for its e-commerce business. Investors have given the company some leeway to invest for now.
More than 800 people have been killed and at least 2,800 others injured after an earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, according to Taliban state officials.
The quake hit the country’s rugged northeastern province of Kunar, near the Pakistan border, at roughly midnight on Sunday, destroying several villages, officials said.
Rescuers are continuing to work in several districts of the mountainous province where the quake hit, while officials in the capital city of Kabul have warned the number of casualties could rise.
A 6.0 quake hit Kunar at around 11.47pm local time (8.17pm UK time) on Sunday.
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The quake’s epicentre was near Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, at a depth of 8.7 miles (14km). Jalalabad is situated about 74 miles (119km) from Kabul. It is considered a remote and mountainous area.
Image: The large red circle shows the earthquake near Kabul. Pic: German Research Centre for Geosciences
A second earthquake struck in the same province about 20 minutes later, with a magnitude of 4.5 and a depth of 6.2 miles (10km). This was later followed by a 5.2 earthquake at the same depth.
Homes of mud and stone were levelled by the quake, with deaths and injuries reported in the districts of Nur Gul, Soki, Watpur, Manogi and Chapadare, according to the Kunar Disaster Management Authority.
The first quake hit 17 miles east-northeast of the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, the US Geological Survey said. Jalalabad is a bustling trade city due to its proximity to a key border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Image: Afghanistan earthquake map
It has a population of around 300,000 people, according to the municipality, but its metropolitan area is believed to be much larger.
Most of its buildings are low-rise constructions predominantly made from concrete and brick, though its outer areas include homes built of mud bricks and wood.
What have officials said so far?
Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s ministry of public health, said: “Rescue operations are still underway there, and several villages have been completely destroyed.
“The figures for martyrs and injured are changing.
“Medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived in the area.”
He said many areas have not been able to report casualty figures and that “numbers were expected to change” as deaths and injuries are reported.
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More details on the aftermath in Afghanistan
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, said: “Sadly, tonight’s earthquake has caused loss of life and property damage in some of our eastern provinces.
“Local officials and residents are currently engaged in rescue efforts for the affected people. Support teams from the centre and nearby provinces are also on their way.”
According to earlier reports, 30 people were killed in a single village, the health ministry said.
“The number of casualties and injuries is high, but since the area is difficult to access, our teams are still on site,” said health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman.
The Afghan Red Crescent said its officials and medical teams “rushed to the affected areas and are currently providing emergency assistance to impacted families”.
Quake measures slightly lower than the country’s deadliest disaster
Afghanistan is prone to earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
The country is also one of the world’s poorest, having suffered decades of conflict, with poor infrastructure leaving it particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.
Image: Strong earthquake in eastern Afghanistan near Pakistan border kills hundreds. Pic: AP
Image: People carry an earthquake victim on a stretcher to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad. Pic: Reuters
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake and strong aftershocks struck Afghanistan on 7 October 2023.
The country’s Taliban government said at least 4,000 people had been killed, but the United Nations said the death toll was around 1,500.
The 2023 earthquake is considered the deadliest natural disaster to hit Afghanistan in recent memory.
A series of other earthquakes in the country’s west killed more than 1,000 people last year.
Disaster adds to ‘multiplicity of crises’ for Afghanistan
The earthquake is a “perfect storm” in a country that is already suffering a “multiplicity of crises,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has told Sky News.
Filippo Grandi said the situation in the country was “very tragic” and added: “We have very little information as of yet, but already, reports of hundreds of people killed and many more made homeless.”
“That’s a country that is already suffering from a multiplicity of crises.”
He said Afghanistan is suffering from a “big drought”, while Iran has “sent back almost 2 million people” and Pakistan “threatens to do the same”.
Image: Ambulances prepare to receive victims of an earthquake. Pic: Nangarhar Media Centre/AP
“It’s extremely difficult to mobilise resources because of the Taliban. So it’s a perfect storm,” he added.
“And this earthquake, likely to have been quite devastating, is going to just add to the misery.”
He appealed to “all those who can help to please do that”.
A foreign office spokesperson for the Afghanistan government said no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work so far.
The vast majority of policymakers in Westminster, let alone elsewhere around the UK, have never heard of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the geopolitical grouping currently holding its summit at Tianjin, but hear me out on why we should all be paying considerable attention to it.
Because the more attention you pay to this grouping of 10 Eurasian states – most notably China, Russia and India – the more you start to realise that the long-term consequences of the war in Ukraine might well reach far beyond Europe’s borders, changing the contours of the world as we know it.
The best place to begin with this is in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Back then, there were a few important hallmarks in the global economy. The amount of goods exported to Russia by the G7 – the equivalent grouping of rich, industrialised nations – was about the same as China’s exports. Europe was busily sucking in most Russian oil.
But roll on to today and G7 exports to Russia have gone to nearly zero (a consequence of sanctions). Russian assets, including government bonds previously owned by the Russian central bank, have been confiscated and their fate wrangled over. But Chinese exports to Russia, far from falling or even flatlining, have risen sharply. Exports of Chinese transportation equipment are up nearly 500%. Meanwhile, India has gone from importing next to no Russian oil to relying on the country for the majority of its crude imports.
Indeed, so much oil is India now importing from Russia that the US has said it will impose “secondary tariffs” on India, doubling the level of tariffs paid on Indian goods imported into America to 50% – one of the highest levels in the world.
The upshot of Ukraine, in other words, isn’t just misery and war in Europe. It’s a sharp divergence in economic strategies around the world. Some countries – notably the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – have doubled down on their economic relationship with Russia. Others have forsworn Russian business.
And in so doing, many of those Asian nations have begun to envisage something they had never quite imagined before: an economic future that doesn’t depend on the American financial infrastructure. Once upon a time, Asian nations were the biggest buyers of American government debt, in part to provide them with the dollars they needed to buy crude oil, which is generally denominated in the US currency. But since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has begun to sell its oil without denominating it in dollars.
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Putin and Xi discuss Trump talks at security summit
At the same time, many Asian nations have reduced their purchases of US debt. Indeed, part of the explanation for the recent rise in US and UK government bond yields is that there is simply less demand for them from foreign investors than there used to be. The world is changing – and the foundations of what we used to call globalisation are shifting.
The penultimate reason to pay attention to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is that while once upon a time its members accounted for a small fraction of global economic output, today that fraction is on the rise. Indeed, if you adjust economic output to account for purchasing power, the share of global GDP accounted for by the nations meeting in Tianjin is close to overtaking the share of GDP accounted for by the world’s advanced nations.
And the final thing to note – something that would have seemed completely implausible only a few years ago – is that China and India, once sworn rivals, are edging closer to an economic rapprochement. With India now facing swingeing tariffs from the US, New Delhi sees little downside in a rare trip to China, to cement relations with Beijing. This is a seismic moment in geopolitics. For a long time, the world’s two most populous nations were at loggerheads. Now they are increasingly moving in lockstep with each other.
That is a consequence few would have guessed at when Russia invaded Ukraine. Yet it could be of enormous importance for geopolitics in future decades.