Minimalist News

Ex-Netanyahu Aide Says 1st Post-Oct 7 Tasking From 'Panicked' PM Was Helping Him Dodge Responsibility A former top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that, in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas invasion on Israel, the first assignment he received from a "panicked" prime minister was figuring out how he could avoid being held responsible for an attack that was as humiliating for Netanyahu as it was devastating for the country. He also said Netanyahu was personally involved in orchestrating the leak of classified information to foreign media in a bid to dodge criticism over a failure to

Treasury Targets Money Services Businesses In Crackdown On Cartel Money Flows Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Treasury Department has announced a wide-scale enforcement operation targeting more than 100 money services businesses operating along the U.S.–Mexico border, as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to disrupt cartel money laundering through America’s financial system. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 21, 2025. AP Photo/Evan Vucci The operation, announced on Dec. 22 by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), focuses on examining money services businesses, or MSBs, operating along the southwest

What Is Wall Street's Favorite Christmas Song Every year-end, there are heated debates about what is the "best .... of Christmas", especially among those who work in finance.  Last year, Home Alone, Die Hard, and Love Actually topped the Christmas movie rankings as polled by the 2025 Deutsche Bank Global Markets Survey. This year, the bank returned to the even more contentious topic of favorite Christmas songs. At a global level, the bank's 2026 Year Ahead Global Markets Survey found that Wham! won again, while regionally, Mariah Carey took the crown in the US, Asia, and the Rest of the World with All I

Waste Of The Day: Superintendent Resigns, Nets Over $900K Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations, Topline: A Long Island school district must pay its superintendent over $907,500 after he resigned without a public explanation this September, according to records obtained by Newsday through a Freedom of Information Law request. Key facts: The Plainedge Union Free School District paid Edward Salina a $662,352 lump sum for 184 unused sick and personal days and 286.5 unused vacation days. The district will also pay the remaining $245,185 of Salina’s salary for the 2025-26 school year. The salary is paid in bi-weekly installments, which will end if Salina

Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me About Christmas It's almost as much a Christmas tradition as eggnog and Rankin/Bass - The political left's propaganda disparaging Noel appears like clockwork every December.  The season inevitably triggers progressives into rantings and ravings about the "white supremacist" evils of western culture, Christianity and the need for a more "secular" or "multicultural" form of celebration.  In other words, Christians aren't allowed to have their own holidays.  Protected holidays are only reserved for cultures with spicy foods and child marriage. And, if you went to a public school in the west in the past few decades you probably

The Evolution Of The Candy Cane Authored by Dean George via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Candy canes have been associated with Christmas for centuries, but their origins and early history are shrouded in legend, folklore and fantasy. The 2019 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade featured a candy cane float. Public Domain The sweet and sticky candy first became associated with Christmas in Germany in the 17th century, though the name, color and flavor were markedly different from contemporary candy canes. Originally, they were called sugar sticks. They were pure white in color, had no peppermint flavor, and weren’t “J” shaped.  The popularity of sugar sticks

Largest Acquisition In Nvidia History: Jensen Pays $20BN For AI Chip Startup In Bid For Google's TPU Tech Just before the market close on Friday, Nvidia unveiled its largest ever acquisition (which however was structured as a licensing deal to avoid anti-trust concerns) when it agreed to buy Groq - pardon license all of Grok's assets and acquire its entire executive team - a designer of high-performance artificial intelligence accelerator chips, for $20 billion in cash. In reality what the deal is really about is Grok's TPU expertise, and specifically the knowledge inside CEO Jonathan Ross' head, who helped launch Google's

Kick Streamer Runs Over 'Stalker' With Cybertruck A 20-year-old U.S.-based content creator and streamer, whose real name is Braden Peters, was reportedly banned overnight from the creator-focused livestreaming platform Kick following an incident that appears to involve running over a person described as a “stalker.” On Christmas Eve night, X user KickChamp posted a video showing Claviclar running over a “stalker” with a Tesla Cybertruck who jumped onto his windshield. > Clavicular RAN OVER a stalker that tried hopping on his windshield 😳 pic.twitter.com/w4ikrAeUp9 > > — KickChamp👑 (@Kick_Champ) December 25, 2025 "The stalker Clavicular ran over is unresponsive at the scene," KickChamp said. > The

'There Is Nothing To Celebrate': Gaza's Christians Mark Somber Christmas Amid Fragile Truce Via Middle East Eye Youssef Tarazi, a Palestinian Christian in Gaza, says the giant Christmas tree that once stood as a symbol of communal celebration will not be lit this year. For a third consecutive year, Gaza's Christian community says they will be observing Christmas without public celebrations, as Israel's alleged repeated ceasefire violations and restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the enclave continue to cast a shadow over the holiday. "Churches have suspended all celebrations outside their walls because of the conditions Gaza is going through," Tarazi, 31, told Middle East Eye. "We are marking

From Snowflakes To Raindrops: The Decline Of White Christmas The magic of a white Christmas - snowflakes dusting city streets and children sledding under twinkling lights - is firmly rooted in the collective imagination, whether in Northern America or Europe. But what are the actual chances of having a white Christmas? As Statista's Tristan Gaudiaut details below, according to meteorological service data published by various media reports, there is a significant decline in the likelihood of waking up to snow on December 25 around the world. You will find more infographics at Statista Over the last few decades, the tendency for winter precipitation to occur

FBI Raided Secret Service Agent's Home In Charity Tax Fraud Probe Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics, The FBI recently raided the home of a Secret Service agent on Vice President JD Vance’s detail in an alleged tax and wire fraud case involving millions of dollars in donations and grants. In the alleged scheme, the agent accepted donations to a charity that purports to help inner-city youth and victims of domestic violence but didn’t provide the services it reported to the IRS, according to several knowledgeable sources in the Secret Service community. The raid, which took place on or around Dec. 8, was the

COVID Christmas: Never Forget Yes, it's been five years. Yes, it's the season of joy and forgiveness, blah blah blah. But, fuck that! In 2020, while the sheeple huddled in fear-porn isolation, a cabal of power-hungry bureaucrats and pharma-shilling "experts" pulled off the greatest heist in modern history: they stole Christmas. Not with guns or tanks, but with "emergency decrees," arbitrary lockdowns, and endless streams of hysterical propaganda about a virus with a 99.7% survival rate for most. Across the West, authoritarian governors and health czars like California's Gavin Newsom and New York's Andrew Cuomo played Grinch-in-Chief. Family gatherings? Banned. Churches closed on the holiest night of the

Intensifying Shortage: This Is What A Run On The London Silver Market Looks Like Authored by David Jensen via Substack, Dutch trading specialist Karel Mercx posted the following commentary where the opposite (multiply by -1) of the silver swap rate minus US interest rates can be used as a proxy for the implied silver lease rate to determine physical shortage in the London silver market.: > “The 1-year silver swap minus the US interest rate is now –7.18%. > > That distortion explains why the silver rally is not over. > > Only at the red line do supply and demand normalize.” A further six days ago Mercx

Arab Nonprofit Stirs Pot With Times Square Ad On Christianity's Holiest Day On the holiest day of the Christian calendar, the nonprofit Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) purchased a gigantic Times Square advertisement in New York City declaring, "Jesus is Palestinian." This inflammatory and divisive rhetoric is nothing more than an attempt by the Arab nonprofit to stir up the Christian nation with their own narrative. Adeb Ayoub, National Executive Director of ADC, told The New York Post that the nonprofit has been renting ad space in Times Square this year, with rotating weekly messages. "There's a lot more similarities between Arabs and Muslims

Stunner: DOJ Finds A Million More Epstein Documents - Will Take 'Weeks' To Review In a stunning development, the embattled Department of Justice chose Christmas Eve to announce it had discovered more than a million more documents with potential links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Already in violation of a legislatively-mandated Dec 19 deadline to release all such files -- and facing demands for an audit of its handling of the process -- the DOJ says the enormous new tranche of documents will require "weeks" of additional work before they can be posted.   “We have lawyers working around the clock to

Is There A "Cuba Connection" Behind The Radicalization Of America's Nonprofit Left A common pattern across America's far-left organizations is alarming behavior that appears militant, resembling revolutionary movements more than civic advocacy. There is a historical explanation that is rarely discussed: for decades, Cuban intelligence has penetrated and influenced segments of the radical left, enabling influence operations with nation-killing objectives. This is not a new phenomenon, nor is it speculative. The pattern stretches back more than half a century and follows a consistent arc: student activism, escalation into disorder, foreign ideological grooming, and institutional capture through nonprofits that later rebrand as "civil

"And May All Your Christmases Be [Woke]": Liberal Pundits Come For Santa And Other Holiday Traditions Authored by Jonathan Turley, “And may all your Christmases be [woke].” As Santa prepares for his harrowing journey around the world, he is being closely pursued by liberal commentators protesting his race, gender, and capitalist leanings. The perpetually outraged have finally come for Christmas. One columnist at Slate called for Santa to be replaced by a penguin due to his race. Aisha Harris admitted that she was being a bit cheeky in pushing the penguin substitute but sought to express “my real concern that America continues to promote the harmful idea of

White House Orders Venezuelan Oil "Quarantine" As Gunboat Diplomacy Drives Dark Fleet Tanker Into Atlantic The Trump administration has ordered the U.S. military to enforce a two-month "quarantine" of Venezuelan oil, signaling an intensification of gunboat diplomacy aimed at fostering regime instability in Caracas, with potential spillover effects that could ripple across the Caribbean into Cuba. "While military options still exist, the focus is to first use economic pressure by enforcing sanctions to reach the outcome the White House is looking (for)," a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday afternoon, speaking on condition of anonymity. The U.S. Coast Guard has already intercepted two

Tense UN Meeting Sees Russia, China Blast US 'Cowboy Behavior' Against Venezuela A Tuesday UN Security Council session quickly grew tense and members squared off over what's happening off the coast of Venezuela, scene of apparent preparations for some kind of US military action. Russia and China issued common condemnation of Washington, blasting a campaign of intimidation against Caracas which goes against the principles of the United Nations, and is based on "cowboy behavior". via Reuters The emergency session of the UNSC was formally requested by Venezuela and immediately backed by China and Russia. Additionally the Chinese side complained that the US is currently "infringing upon

The Economics Of Santa Claus Authored by Vincent Cook via The Mises Institute, When I was a junior at a high school in the suburbs of Los Angeles in late 1978, rather uncharacteristically, I took a big risk. The teacher of my American Government class, Mr. Knapp, gave us an assignment to write a serious paper about government economic policy. Instead of doing that, I decided to submit a paper with a satirical theme, estimating what it would cost to become Santa Claus. Not only was I not following instructions, I had no idea how Mr. Knapp would react to my brand

Low-cost tech and joined-up funding have reduced illegal logging, mining and poaching in the Darién Gap – it’s a success story that could stop deforestation worldwide There are no roads through the Darién Gap. This vast impenetrable forest spans the width of the land bridge between South and Central America, but there is almost no way through it: hundreds have lost their lives trying to cross it on foot. Its size and hostility have shielded it from development for millennia, protecting hundreds of species – from harpy eagles and giant anteaters to jaguars and red-crested tamarins – in one of the most

Government poised to officially protect 200,000 hectares of remote Patagonian coastline and forest Chile’s government is poised to create the country’s 47th national park, protecting nearly 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of pristine wilderness and completing a wildlife corridor stretching 1,700 miles (2,800km) to the southernmost tip of the Americas. The Cape Froward national park is a wild expanse of wind-torn coastline and forested valleys that harbours unrivalled biodiversity and has played host to millennia of human history. Continue reading...

Winning margin of 28,000 votes announced a month late but before review of all ‘inconsistent’ ballots was completed Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for almost a month and was marred by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the US president. The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes. Continue reading...

Segment that Bari Weiss had removed provides in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo prison A 60 Minutes episode investigating a brutal prison in El Salvador, which CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled from the air on Sunday, appeared online on Monday after appearing on a Canadian TV app. The segment, which runs for nearly 14 minutes and was viewed by the Guardian, provides an in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) prison in El Salvador. It opens with footage of the mega-prison and shows detainees being shackled upon arrival in El Salvador. Continue reading...

Son of jailed former Brazilian president says spokesperson for ‘national symbol’ sandals is ‘openly left wing’ Leaderless since its figurehead was jailed for attempting a coup, Brazil’s far right has found a new nemesis: the flip-flop brand Havaianas, which has been “cancelled” by Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters over a television advert. The controversy stems from the actor Fernanda Torres – the star of I’m Still Here, the Brazilian film that won an Oscar for best international feature – saying in the ad that she hoped audiences would not start 2026 “on the right foot”, but “with both feet”. Continue reading...

Japanese strike-back capabilities and coastal defences to be boosted while Beijing accuses Tokyo of fuelling a ‘space arms race’ Japan’s cabinet has approved a record high defence budget as tensions with China continue to spiral, with Beijing this week accusing Tokyo of “fuelling a space arms race”. The draft defence budget for the next fiscal year – approved on Friday – is more than ¥9tn ($58bn) and 9.4% bigger than the previous budget, which will end in April. The increase comes in the fourth year of Japan’s five-year program to double its annual arms spending to 2% of GDP. Continue reading...

Elections will be first since military seized power in 2021, but analysts say vote is far from a step toward democracy Myanmar is preparing to go to the polls for the first time since its military seized power in a coup in 2021, but with its former leader behind bars, its most successful political party disbanded and roughly a third of the country either disputed or in rebel hands, few believe claims by its military rulers that its 28 December election will be “free and fair”. “This is not for the people, this is for themselves,” says Pai, 25, who fled Myanmar

Negotiations expected to last four days as each side calls on the other to show sincerity in words and actions Cambodian and Thai officials began four days of talks at a border checkpoint on Wednesday intended to negotiate an end to the deadly clashes between the two countries, Phnom Penh said. The meeting in Thailand’s Chanthaburi province had been at risk after Phnom Penh demanded a switch to a neutral venue. Continue reading...

Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations Rare footage of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history. General Xu Qinxian’s refusal to take his troops from the PLA’s prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore

Church leaders and members detained as government tightens controls on underground Christian gatherings The knocks came at 2am. Hiding out at a friend’s house in a Beijing suburb, Gao Yingjia and his wife, Geng Pengpeng, rushed downstairs to meet the group of plain-clothed men who said they were police officers. Their son, nearly six, was sleeping upstairs, and Gao and Geng wanted to minimise the ruckus. They knew their time was up. Two months later, Gao is in a detention centre in Guangxi province, southern China, charged with “illegal use of information networks”. His arrest was part of the biggest crackdown on

Police say there is no indication John Argento, 47, poses specific risk to the Jewish community, but believe he may be able to help with investigation * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Victoria police have named a man they want to interview in relation to a suspected arson attack on a car sporting a “Happy Chanukah” sign in Melbourne on Christmas Day. Police said emergency services were called to a vehicle displaying a mobile billboard that had been set alight in the driveway of a property in St Kilda East about 2.50am on Thursday. Continue reading...

Bushfire that is believed to have started at Boddington goldmine still uncontained, while monsoon trough soaks north-eastern Australia * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australians on both sides of the country have been warned to remain vigilant as floods and fires threatened their homes on Boxing Day. A bushfire continued to rage about 200km south-east of Perth on Friday morning, although nearby residents were no longer being urged to leave their homes. Continue reading...

Police allege the man also trespassed at ANU and ‘stuck propaganda-style stickers’ on buildings and other property * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An 18-year-old has been charged with allegedly performing two separate Nazi salutes at Canberra shopping centres and putting up “propaganda-style stickers” in recent months. The man is expected to appear before ACT magistrates court on Friday, where police will allege in October a member of the public confronted him as he stuck stickers up at a shopping centre and then performed a Nazi salute before leaving the centre. Continue reading...

WA facing several fire warnings as Perth temperatures exceed 40C while Melbourne on track for coldest Christmas since 2006 * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Perth exceeded its Christmas Day forecast of 40C as a heatwave created extreme fire danger for much of south-west Western Australia. Residents at Boddington goldmine were being warned it was too late to leave on Thursday afternoon as fire affected evacuation routes. Residents of Cowalla were also warned to leave immediately as fires posed a threat to homes at Bidaminna Place and Millbank Road. Continue reading...

Martin Thomas Glynn, 39, was arrested in Yangebup, where police allege they found firearms, ammunition and Hamas and Hezbollah flags * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A man accused of posting an antisemitic social media message in support of the Bondi massacre will spend Christmas behind bars. Martin Thomas Glynn, 39, was arrested in the Perth suburb of Yangebup and charged after a concerned member of the public reported him to police. Continue reading...

Retirees with ‘fantastic hunger for education’ taking part in university organised events in record numbers Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run “by pensioners for pensioners” amid increased loneliness and a growing appetite for learning and in-person interactions. Senioruniversitet, a national university that collaborates with Sweden’s adult education institution Folkuniversitetet, has about 30 independent branches around the country which run study circles, lecture series and university courses in subjects including languages, politics, medicine and architecture. Continue reading...

Sergei Udaltsov, Putin critic affiliated with the Communist party, convicted of justifying terrorism A court in Russia on Thursday convicted a pro-war activist and critic of Vladimir Putin of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison. Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of the Left Front movement that opposes Putin and is affiliated with the Communist party, was arrested last year. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Scientists find a way to forecast hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which affects millions worldwide Scientists are developing a simple blood test to predict who is most at risk from the world’s most common inherited heart condition. Millions of people worldwide have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a disease of the heart muscle where the wall of the heart becomes thickened. It is caused by a change in one or more genes and mostly passed on through families. Continue reading...

Refusing to help those in need is tantamount to rejecting God himself, says pontiff during Christmas Eve mass Pope Leo has told Christians that the Christmas story should remind them of their duty to help the poor and strangers. In his Christmas Eve sermon, the pope said the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn showed followers that refusing to help those in need was tantamount to rejecting God himself. Continue reading...

Anonymous official from Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence says the agency carried out the attack Two traffic police officers and a third person have been killed in a car explosion in Moscow, Russia’s investigative committee has said. The committee, which investigates major crimes, said in a statement on Wednesday that an explosive device had been triggered when the officers approached a “suspicious person” near their police vehicle on Yeletskaya Street in the south of the capital. Continue reading...

Fourteen countries, also including France, Italy, Ireland and Spain, say actions ‘violate international law and risk fuelling instability’ Fourteen countries, including Britain, Canada and Germany, have condemned the Israeli security cabinet’s approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying they violate international law and risk fuelling instability. Israel approved a proposal last Sunday for the new Jewish settlements, which brings the recent total to 69, according to the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. Continue reading...

Strikes were latest violation of year-long ceasefire and targeted what Israel said were Hezbollah sites Israel has carried out several airstrikes in southern Lebanon on what it said was Hezbollah infrastructure, as a new year’s deadline for the Lebanese state to disarm the group in the south of the country loomed. Israeli warplanes bombed the valleys of Houmin, Wadi Azza and Nimeiriya in the southern Nabatieh area on Wednesday morning. Residents reported that Israeli drones continued to hover over the area and other areas of south Lebanon and its eastern Bekaa valley after the strikes. Continue reading...

Justice secretary urged to ‘show a bit of humanity’ with protesters severely ill after refusing food for weeks * Who are the Palestine Action hunger strikers and what are the health risks? Families and supporters of Palestine Action-affiliated hunger strikers have pleaded with David Lammy to meet them in an attempt to end the impasse over the protest that has left some of them severely unwell. On Monday, as the protest reached a dangerous stage, lawyers for the hunger strikers sent a legal letter claiming that by refusing a meeting the justice secretary had failed to comply with the Ministry of Justice’s

Decision takes the total number of new settlements to 69 in past few years as construction binge continues Israel has approved a proposal for 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank as the government pushes ahead with a construction binge in the territory that poses a further threat to the possibility of a Palestinian state. It brings the total number of new settlements over the past few years to 69, a new record, according to the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who has pushed a settlement expansion agenda in the West Bank. The latest include two that were previously evacuated

Attack brings total number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since October ceasefire took effect The Israeli military killed six Palestinians, including a baby, who were in a school that sheltered displaced people in Gaza City on Friday, hospital officials have said. The attack brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since the October ceasefire took effect. Israeli troops fired over the ceasefire line which they have withdrawn to, killing the Palestinians and wounding a number more, the Palestinian civil defence said in a statement. It added that it was only able to recover the bodies after coordinating

Group of 120 experts including Joseph Stiglitz urge fresh debt restructuring plan given scale of destruction A group of the world’s top economists – including the Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz – have called for Sri Lanka’s debt payments to be suspended as it tackles the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah. More than 600 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed across the island, in what Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, called the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history”. Continue reading...

UN body to study possibility of integrating centuries-old practices into mainstream healthcare From herbalists in Africa gathering plants to use as poultices to acupuncturists in China using needles to cure migraines, or Indian yogis practising meditation, traditional remedies have increasingly being shown to work, and deserve more attention and research, according to a World Health Organization official. A historical lack of evidence, which has seen traditional practices dismissed by many, could change with more investment and the use of modern technology, according to Dr Shyama Kuruvilla, who leads the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre. Continue reading...

Researcher in Kerala rainforest sounds alarm after being told frogs had died after being handled by humans A group of endangered “galaxy frogs” are missing, presumed dead, after trespassing photographers reportedly destroyed their microhabitats for photos. Melanobatrachus indicus, each the size of a fingertip, is the only species in its family, and lives under logs in the lush rainforest in Kerala, India. Their miraculous spots do not indicate poison, as people sometimes assume, but are thought to be used as a mode of communication, according to Rajkumar K P, a Zoological Society of London fellow and researcher. Continue reading...

British Indian Ocean Territory commissioner’s appeal against decision last year rejected by judges in London Appeal court judges have backed a decision that dozens of asylum seekers were unlawfully detained on one of the world’s most remote islands, rejecting an appeal on Tuesday by the commissioner for the territory. Exactly a year ago, on 16 December 2024, a judge ruled that Tamils who arrived on the island of Diego Garcia, a UK and US military base, after a shipwreck while they were trying to reach Canada to seek asylum, were unlawfully detained there for three years in conditions described as “hell on

Opposition claims SIR process being used to disenfranchise minority groups to benefit Narendra Modi’s government India’s political opposition has warned that democracy is under threat amid a controversial exercise to revise the voter register across the country, which critics say will disenfranchise minority voters and entrench the power of the ruling Narendra Modi government. An debate erupted in India’s parliament last week over the special intensive revision (SIR) process, which is taking place in nine states and three union territories, in one of the biggest revisions of the country’s electoral roll in decades. Continue reading...

Provisional figures in government mandate’s first year show 20% shortfall in levels of SAF supplied for UK flights The take-up of sustainable aviation fuels is on course to fall short of the UK government’s first annual mandate, official figures suggest. Production data published by the Department for Transport (DfT) covering most of 2025 shows that sustainable fuels (SAF) only accounted for 1.6% of fuel supplied for UK flights – 20% less fuel in volume than the 2% needed to fulfil the requirement. Continue reading...

Millions of households are exposed to materials in upholstered furniture that can release dangerous fumes when they burn The UK is still using extremely outdated furniture fire safety rules, putting people at risk from toxic materials, an MP has warned. Bob Blackman, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on fire safety, said the government has failed to update rules that date back to 1988, leaving millions of households exposed to materials that exacerbate the release of dangerous fumes when they burn. Continue reading...

Southern Water says incident led to ‘very low levels’ at reservoir and set up bottled water station for residents Some households in East Sussex have had no water on Christmas Day after supplier Southern Water experienced a problem while trying to restore service following a burst water main. Southern Water blamed “very low levels” at Fairlight reservoir, adding that the facility had “now reached its final reserves”. Continue reading...

Emergency services launched major search at Budleigh Salterton after reports of people in difficulty in the water Two men are missing in the water off a beach in Devon, after a number of people were reported to be in difficulty. Emergency services were called to Budleigh Salterton at 10.25am on Christmas Day following concerns for people in the water. Continue reading...

High streets and online sellers set to benefit as cash-strapped consumers eke out post-Christmas bargains UK shoppers are expected to spend £3.8bn this Boxing Day, 2% more than last year, with online sellers experiencing most of that growth but high streets also enjoying a boost from a renewed appetite for post-Christmas bargains. Boxing Day remains one of the busiest shopping days of the year, but in recent years the dash for the high street has eased as more people opt to search for bargains from the sofa. Continue reading...

Some parts of LA saw more than 11in of rain, with flooding, road closures and debris flows reported across the region A strong rain and wind storm, carried by an atmospheric river from the Pacific, has been blamed for a third death in southern California as flooding, road closures and debris flows are reported across the region. A flood watch was also extended through Thursday for almost all of the area, as more than 11in of rainfall was measured in some parts Los Angeles county as of Wednesday night and evacuation warnings were issued for mountain communities in San Bernardino county. Continue reading...

Imran Ahmed, an anti-disinformation advocate, claims he is being targeted for scrutinising social media companies A British anti-disinformation campaigner close to Keir Starmer’s chief of staff has launched a legal challenge against the Trump administration after being told he could face deportation from the US in a row over freedom of speech. Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), has filed a complaint against senior Trump allies including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, in an attempt to prevent what he says would be an unconstitutional arrest and removal. Continue reading...

It was the second-largest lottery windfall in US history, with a lump-sum cash payment option of $834.9m A Powerball player in Arkansas won a $1.817bn jackpot in Wednesday’s Christmas Eve drawing, ending the lottery game’s three-month stretch without a top-prize winner. Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot higher than previously expected, making it the second-largest in US history and the largest Powerball prize of 2025, according to www.powerball.com. The jackpot had a lump sum cash payment option of $834.9m. Continue reading...

The rules-based global order, its institutions and value system face a crisis of legitimacy and credibility as the US turns away ‘The old world is dying,” Antonio Gramsci once wrote. “And the new world struggles to be born.” In such interregnums, the Italian Marxist philosopher suggested, “every act, even the smallest, may acquire decisive weight”. In 2025, western leaders appeared convinced they – and we – were living through one such transitional period, as the world of international relations established after the second world war crashed to a halt. Continue reading...

AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler says union ready to stand up for struggling Americans: ‘Which side are you on?’ Donald Trump has staged a year of “unrelenting attacks on working people,” according to the head of the largest federation of the labor unions in the US. Now they’re preparing to fight back. Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, said it was gearing up to challenge the US president’s “Billionaire First” agenda in 2026 – and drive candidates in key elections to stand up for “struggling” Americans. Continue reading...

Britain’s King Charles called for “compassion and reconciliation” at a time of “division” across the world in his Christmas Day message on Thursday. The 77-year-old monarch said he found it “enormously encouraging” how people of different faiths had a “shared longing for peace”. Charles praised individuals who risked their lives to save others in situations of violence, including those caught up in the killings at a Jewish event at Bondi Beach in Australia this month. “Individuals and...

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel took aim at US President Donald Trump as he warned on Thursday about the rise of fascism in an address to UK viewers dubbed “The Alternative Christmas Message”. The message, aired on Channel 4 on Christmas Day, reflected on the impact from the second term in office for Trump, who Kimmel said acts like he is a king. “From a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year,” he said. “Tyranny is booming over here.” The channel began a tradition of airing an...

As 2025 draws to a close, Wall Street’s love affair with Chinese equities is in full swing. While the relationship between global investors and China has been a rocky one, market sentiment is now about varying degrees of bullishness. In a panel discussion moderated by JPMorgan at the annual meeting of the Emerging Markets Trading Association earlier this month, some of the speakers said China’s stock market had undergone a shift from “uninvestable” to “irresistible”, especially in the...

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro endorsed his son ‌Flavio’s 2026 presidential bid on Thursday in a statement from a hospital where he ‍underwent a scheduled hernia operation that doctors said went smoothly. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorised Bolsonaro to leave prison, where he is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup, for the surgery. Police were ordered to stay outside ⁠his room where computers and mobile phones were prohibited. Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 44,...

Moscow has made an offer to Paris regarding jailed French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who is facing espionage charges that could see him sentenced to 20 years in a Russian prison, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The surprise public overture comes as both Russia and France have expressed interest in possible talks between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron. Vinatier, who works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO and was jailed in June 2024, is serving a three-year sentence for failing to...

Britain’s Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie attended the royal family’s traditional Christmas Day church service ‌on Thursday, while their father Andrew, recently stripped of his titles ‍over ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was absent. King Charles and Queen Camilla led senior royals to a church in Sandringham in eastern England, about 175km (110 miles) northeast of ⁠London, greeting well-wishers in crisp winter weather. Charles and Camilla walked ahead while the Prince and...

Russian air attacks caused death and destruction across Ukraine, authorities in different regions reported on Thursday, with Russian authorities reporting similar Ukrainian attacks on their territory. A Russian drone attack in the southwestern Odesa region on the Black Sea left one person dead and two injured. Damage was caused to port and energy infrastructure, the regional authorities said. In the Kharkiv region bordering Russia in Ukraine’s northeast, one person died and 15 were injured. And...

Mercedes-Benz on Thursday said it completed the acquisition of a 3 per cent stake, worth 1.34 billion yuan (US$191 million), in motorcycle maker-turned-autonomous driving systems developer Chongqing Qianli Technology, three months after the deal was first announced. The transaction involved Mercedes-Benz Digital Technology, the German carmaker’s tech unit, and Shanghai-listed Lifan Holdings, which transferred 135.6 million shares of Qianli at 9.87 yuan per share. Before the transaction, Lifan...

The first physical store of Chinese-owned fast-fashion giant Shein – which opened in central Paris in November amid heated protests – has become a new retail destination for many denizens of the French capital as they rush to finish their Christmas shopping. Hundreds of customers wandered among the racks of clothing, rifling through items carrying tags with rock-bottom prices, including a €66.99 (US$79) leather jacket and a €78.99 puffer coat. Those wishing to use the fitting rooms at the Shein...

A powerful winter storm is lashing Southern California, prompting California Governor Gavin Newsom to proclaim a state of emergency in Los Angeles and neighbouring counties. Coastal communities are bracing for multiple months’ worth of rain in just a few days, while areas charred by wildfires face the risk of mudslides. A third person has died, according to the Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, a flood watch was extended for most of Southern California. The state has pre-positioned emergency...

In an appeal on Thursday during a message and blessing given at Christmas and Easter, Pope Leo called for an end to all global wars. Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, he lamented conflicts, political, ‌social or military, in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, Myanmar, ‌and Thailand and Cambodia, among others. Leo said people in Ukraine, where Russian troops are threatening cities critical to the country’s eastern defences, have been...

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura won Honduras’ presidential election, electoral authorities said on Wednesday, ending a weeks-long count that has whittled away at the credibility of the Central American nation’s fragile electoral system. The election is continuing Latin America’s swing to the right, coming just a week after Chile chose the far-right politician Jose Antonio Kast as its next president. Asfura, of the conservative National Party, received 40.27 per cent of the vote in the...

The US Justice Department said Wednesday that it may need a “few more weeks” to release all of its records on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after suddenly discovering more than a million potentially relevant documents, further delaying compliance with last Friday’s congressionally mandated deadline. The Christmas Eve announcement came hours after a dozen US senators called on the Justice Department’s watchdog to examine its failure to meet the deadline. The group, 11 Democrats and a...

Just before Christmas, US President Donald Trump has unleashed a fresh blast of vitriol at late-night comedy talk shows, saying comedian Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic train wreck” who should be “put to sleep”. Colbert’s The Late Show is scheduled to end in May 2026, a decision his fans say smacks of censorship. In a late-night social media post, Trump said that Colbert “has actually gotten worse” since being “terminated by CBS, but left out to dry”. “Stephen is running on hatred and fumes – A...

Hundreds of worshippers gathered for mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Wednesday night as the Palestinian city ushered in its first festive Christmas in more than two years, emerging from the shadow of the war in Gaza. Throughout the conflict that began with Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023, a sombre tone had marked Christmases in the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ. But celebrations returned in full swing Wednesday with crowded parades and music in the occupied West...

Brazil is preparing to waive visa requirements for Chinese citizens travelling for tourism and business, local media reported on Wednesday citing government sources, in a move that would mark a significant shift in policy and deepen ties with its largest trading partner. The planned measure, expected to be announced in early 2026, would put Brazil on a reciprocal footing after China unilaterally granted visa-free entry to Brazilians for short stays. According to local newspaper Valor Economico,...

The European Union is back in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over its tech rules, which Washington denounced as an attempt to “coerce” American social media platforms into censoring viewpoints they oppose. The US State Department said on Tuesday it would deny visas to a former EU commissioner and four others, saying they “have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states – in each case targeting American speakers and American companies”. Trump has vowed to punish countries that...

Algeria’s parliament unanimously approved on Wednesday a law declaring France’s colonisation of the country a crime, demanding an apology and reparations in a move Paris condemned as “hostile”. Standing in the chamber, lawmakers wearing scarves in the colours of the national flag chanted “long live Algeria” as they applauded the passage of the bill, which states that France holds “legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused”. The vote comes as the two...

A US federal judge on Tuesday upheld President Donald Trump’s US$100,000 fee to process H-1B visa applications, while also acknowledging it could “inflict significant harm on American businesses and institutions of higher education”. In a 56-page opinion, US District Judge Beryl Howell wrote that the president has “broad statutory authority” to address “a problem he perceives to be a matter of economic and national security”. The US$100,000 application fee announced in September gave companies...

South Korea and the US have agreed to pursue a separate agreement to formalise Seoul’s right to build nuclear-powered submarines, and working-level talks will begin early next year, the Asian country’s national security adviser said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters after visiting Washington, Wi Sung-lac said he discussed the issue and other security arrangements with senior US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. His trip was aimed at...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the latest version of a plan to end the Russian invasion would freeze the front line, but still pave the way for Ukrainian withdrawals and the creation of demilitarised zones. “We now have draft documents that largely reflect the joint Ukrainian-American position, in some respects the American position,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday. “Some issues are still to be resolved.” Still, Zelensky offered an upbeat assessment, saying the...

Following the burglary of a warehouse belonging to Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com on Monday, a judicial source has confirmed an investigation has begun on charges of theft by an organised gang. The incident came in the middle of the Christmas shopping season and took place in the town of Dugny, a northern suburb of Paris that serves as a midpoint between the French capital and its main freight hub, Charles de Gaulle Airport. Suspects neutralised the warehouse’s video surveillance system, with...

Three people were killed by a bomb in Moscow on Wednesday after two police officers approached a man acting suspiciously near the site where a senior general was killed two days ago ⁠by a car bomb that Russia said was planted by Ukrainian intelligence. A string of Russian military figures and high-profile supporters of the war in Ukraine have been assassinated during the nearly four-year-old conflict. Ukrainian military intelligence has said it was responsible for a number of ‍the...

US President Donald Trump’s newly appointed envoy to Greenland said on Tuesday that the Republican administration is looking to begin a conversation with residents of the semi-autonomous Danish territory about the best way forward for the strategically important island. In his first extended comments since being appointed to the role this week, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said the Trump administration isn’t going to “go in there trying to conquer anybody” or try to “to take over anybody’s...

UK police said two new charges, of rape and sexual assault, had been issued on Tuesday against British comedian and actor Russell Brand. The media personality turned anti-establishment influencer already pleaded not guilty in May to five charges - one count of rape, one of oral rape, two of sexual assault and one of indecent assault between 1999 and 2005. “These new charges are in relation to two further women and are in addition to the charges issued to Brand in April 2025 which involved four...

The US State Department announced on Tuesday it was barring five Europeans it accused of leading efforts to pressure US tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints. The Europeans, characterised by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponised” non-governmental organisations, fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States. “For far too long,...

China accused the United States at the United Nations on Tuesday of violating international law and destabilising the Caribbean region, as Washington defended its seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers and vowed to intensify pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council requested by Venezuela and backed by China and Russia, Beijing said US actions carried out under the banner of counter-narcotics enforcement amounted to unilateral...

The US Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to let Donald Trump send National Guard troops to the Chicago area ‌as the Republican president expands the use of the military for domestic purposes in a growing number of Democratic-led jurisdictions, a policy critics call an effort to punish adversaries and stifle dissent. The justices let stand for ‍now a judge’s order blocking the deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops in a legal challenge brought by Illinois officials and local leaders. The...

A news segment about the Trump administration’s immigration policy that was abruptly pulled from 60 Minutes was mistakenly aired on a television app after the last-minute decision not to air it touched off a public debate about journalistic independence. The segment featured interviews with migrants who were sent to a notorious El Salvador prison called the Terrorism Confinement Centre, or CECOT, under US President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigration. The story was pulled from...

In November 2024, US president Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping made their first substantive joint statement about the national security risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, they noted that both the United States and China believe in “the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons”. That may sound like diplomatic low-hanging fruit, since it would be hard to find a reasonable person willing to argue that we should hand control over...

A private jet carrying Libya’s military chief, four other officers and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after take-off from Turkey’s capital, Ankara, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane. The Libyan delegation was in Ankara for high-level defence talks aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries, Turkish officials said. Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the death of General...

US President Donald Trump flew on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet “many more ‌times than previously has been reported,” according to an email from a New York prosecutor that forms part of a new batch of documents about Epstein released Tuesday by the US Justice Department. In an ‍email dated January 7, 2020, the unidentified prosecutor wrote that flight records showed Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet eight times during the 1990s. Among those were at least four...

Two men were found guilty on Tuesday of plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired gun rampage against the Jewish community in England, a planned attack investigators say shows the resurgent risk posed by the militant group. Police and prosecutors said Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, who went on trial a week after an unrelated deadly attack on a synagogue in the nearby northwest city of Manchester in October, were Islamic extremists who wanted to use automatic firearms to...

London police on Tuesday arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration in support of pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, Palestinian campaign groups said. Thunberg’s arrest makes her the highest-profile person to be detained by police since the government banned the Palestine Action group under anti-terror laws. Prisoners for Palestine, which organised the protest, said in a statement that Thunberg was arrested under the UK Terrorism Act. Thunberg, 22, was holding a sign reading: “I...

Thousands of new documents linked to the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made available Tuesday by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), amid mounting criticism over the pace of the publication and heavy redactions. The documents included a 2020 email from a prosecutor indicating US President Donald Trump had travelled aboard Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously has been reported”. At least 8,000 files – around 30,000 pages – were posted online, including...

As Russia remains bogged down in Ukraine, Belarus – the Kremlin’s only ally in Europe – seeks to improve relations with the United States. Unwilling to remain completely dependent on its giant neighbour, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko seems to be attempting to revive his well-known “multi-vector” foreign policy, balancing between Moscow, the West and China. But will he succeed? As the year nears its end, the 71-year-old Belarusian strongman has made several “humanitarian” gestures...

Russia fired more than 650 drones and three dozen missiles at Ukraine in a large-scale attack that began during the night and stretched into daylight hours Tuesday, officials said. At least three people were killed, including a 4-year-old child. The barrage struck homes and the power grid in 13 regions of Ukraine, causing widespread outages in bitter temperatures, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, a day after he described recent progress on finding a peace deal “quite solid”. The...

A small Mexican Navy plane transporting a young medical patient and seven others crashed on Monday near Galveston, killing at least five people and setting off a search in waters along the Texas coast, officials said. Four of the people on board were Navy officers and four were civilians, including a child, Mexico’s Navy said in a statement. Two of the passengers were from a non-profit that provides aid to Mexican children with severe burns, including transports to a Galveston hospital. US...

US regulators on Monday gave the green light to a pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, the first daily oral medication to treat obesity. The US Food and Drug Administration’s approval handed drug maker Novo Nordisk an edge over rival Eli Lilly in the race to market an obesity pill. Lilly’s oral drug, orforglipron, was still under review. Both pills are GLP-1 drugs that work like widely used injectables to mimic a natural hormone that controls appetite and feelings of...

As 2025 draws to a close, it marks an important milestone in the reconfiguration of the global economic system. Every century is defined not only by changes in technological leadership and shifts in global power, but also by the restructuring of the global financial system. The 20th century was the century of the US dollar, but with the arrival of the 21st century, the contours of the global macroeconomic system have begun to change. A recent International Monetary Fund study, “Playing with...

US President Donald Trump announced the US Navy would build a new “Trump-class” battleship as part of the White House push to modernise a fleet that has been hobbled by years of cost overruns and delays. A poster displayed at the event at Trump’s gilded Mar-a-Lago estate featured an artist’s rendering of a sleek-looking warship dubbed the USS Defiant, cutting through choppy waters with a laser beam shooting from its deck and smoke billowing from a target in the background. Next to the ship was a...

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Monday that financier Mark Wiseman will serve as Canada’s next ambassador to the United States, an appointment that comes at a critical time in relations between the two major trading partners. Wiseman will assume the role on February 15 and will be involved in negotiations with the United States regarding the review of their free trade agreement. “Mark Wiseman brings immense experience, contacts, and deep commitment at this crucial time of...

Protesters in Tirana, Albania hurled petrol bombs at the government building housing ‌Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office on Monday, demanding ‍the government’s resignation after prosecutors indicted the deputy prime minister for alleged corruption. Political tensions in Albania have escalated in recent weeks after the ⁠accusations were made against Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku. Along with several officials and private companies, she has been accused of using state funds to favour some...

Vince Zampella, the acclaimed co-creator of video gaming juggernaut Call of Duty, has died in a car crash. He was 55. The developer and executive died on Sunday while driving his Ferrari on a scenic road north of Los Angeles, according to local broadcaster NBC4. “For unknown reasons, the vehicle veered off the roadway, struck a concrete barrier, and became fully engulfed,” the California Highway Patrol said in a statement, without identifying the two victims in the crash. The CHP added that both...

China accused the United States on Monday of violating international law by seizing oil tankers off Venezuela, as Washington intensified pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government and a senior US official openly suggested that he should be removed from power. At a regular press briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the United States “seriously violated international law” by intercepting foreign vessels and reiterated China’s opposition to unilateral...

Government officials have traditionally steered clear of such overtly religious language, as the Constitution prohibits the establishment of an official state religion.

Chuck Redd, a jazz musician, said he canceled his annual concert after President Trump’s name was affixed to the Washington building’s facade.

Many Americans can take advantage of President Trump’s deduction on auto loan interest, but the tax break will provide only modest savings.

Imran Ahmed, who runs an organization that chronicles disinformation, was among five Europeans the State Department had barred, claiming they promote censorship.

The toll on older people and those with disabilities is especially severe as Moscow’s forces repeatedly attack the port city’s infrastructure.

The artifacts of 20th-century cinema are being preserved in museums, and in the care of private film collectors like Brian Darwas, who has hundreds of movie prints at his home.

The far right juggernaut known as the R.S.S. and its most prominent member, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are remaking secular India as a Hindu-first society, pushing aside minorities.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, known as the R.S.S., has survived bans and vilification to emerge as the force reshaping India’s secular republic into a Hindu nation.

Fighting has caused the spread of illnesses like malaria and cholera. In a worst-case scenario, the situation could threaten regional health security, experts say.

Prominent business and government figures spread rumors about the attack on Brown University’s campus this month, reigniting questions about accountability in online discourse.

New technologies are complicating efforts to teach the scrolling generation to think critically and defensively online.

For decades, Havaianas flip-flops have been a beloved global symbol of Brazilian culture, worn by millions of people each day. They are now ensnared in a political fight.

Populist rhetoric is numbing us to the plight of others.

For the past decade, every administration in Washington has said Venezuela represents an extraordinary threat to the United States.

Alain Rodriguez Colina, who was injured when a cargo plane crashed into his Kentucky workplace more than a month ago, died on Christmas Day.

Chosen by a British TV station to give an “alternative” to the king’s speech, Jimmy Kimmel said it had been a great year for the U.S. “from a fascism perspective.”

An Oxford professor and renowned critic, he was pugnacious, fearless and disdainful of the received wisdom of his intellectual milieu.

A single ticket drawn Wednesday night won the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever.