Allies are growing concerned about electoral setbacks and debt, casting doubt on the future of Xi Jinping’s ambitious connectivity dream.

Rows of world leaders seated before him, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his audience at the Boao Forum for Asia — widely recognized as the Asian Davos — in April that his megaconnectivity project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), wasn’t the outcome of “geopolitical calculations.” It could work for the “greater benefit of all our peoples,” he insisted. Six months later, Xi’s sales pitch is wearing thin in his own neighborhood. From Maldivian docks to teahouses in Pakistan, conspiratorial whispers about “the Chinese” abound. And country after country in Asia is either hedging its bets or withdrawing from the project.

First unveiled in late 2013, the BRI is planned as a web of highways, railroads and ports connecting different parts of Asia with each other, and then with Europe and Africa. More than 130 countries attended the 2017 BRI Forum, where Xi tried to convince leaders to sign onto the project, which is estimated to cost China between $1 trillion and $8 trillion. But amid growing concerns over rising debts from Chinese investments under the BRI, an increasing number of Asian nations are re-evaluating their partnership under the project. A series of electoral setbacks for regional regimes that were friendly to China is further complicating the equation for Beijing.

While the 2010 law was supposed to reduce health insurance costs, it’s taken a new administration to make that a reality.

The stated goals of Obamacare when it was signed into law in 2010 were to lower health care costs (and insurance premiums in particular), expand access to care and install consumer protections such as prohibiting rate differences based on pre-existing health conditions. When President Donald Trump took office, supporters of the law were worried that he would seek to undermine and eventually repeal it. Their fears seemed validated by Republican efforts in 2017 to do away with the core of Obamacare and replace it with market-based reforms.

But since those efforts failed, premiums on Obamacare’s marketplaces for coverage in many states have actually stabilized, according to a recent study by the Associated Press and Avalere Health. In fact, 2019 premiums are expected to decline in 11 states, with another 30 states experiencing premium increases of less than 10 percent next year.

This leads one to a provocative conclusion: The Trump administration has actually done more to lower costs (and therefore achieve one of Obamacare’s core stated goals) than the Obama administration did over its many years of implementing the law.

Horses dressed in fine costumes have seven minutes to wow the crowds with their moves.

Dussehra, an annual Indian festival, celebrates the victory of good over evil. And during this special time on the Hindu calendar, in the village of Tappal in Uttar Pradesh, 56 miles from the capital of New Delhi, residents attend a much-anticipated day-long celebration: the equine version of So You Think You Can Dance.

Horses are a big deal here already — they’re a status symbol — but the annual competition, which is locally known as the Ghoda Nritya Pratiyogita (roughly translates to “horse dancing competition”), draws excited crowds from neighboring villages who come to watch dozens of the beautifully-costumed animals dance.

According to local legend, some 30-odd years ago a mysterious man visited the village with a horse who could dance. This has since spurred villagers to start training their horses — almost every household has them — to fouetté and pirouette.