Corax
67,042 Afrikaners express interest in Donald Trump's plan to give them refugee status, most on the list are parents between 25 and 45 years of age, according to the US Embassy in South Africa
World
67,042 Afrikaners express interest in Donald Trump's plan to give them refugee status, most on the list are parents between 25 and 45 years of age, according to the US Embassy in South Africa
Donald Trump says that he has agreed with Vladimir Putin on immediate ceasefire on all energy and infrastructure the next 30 days, Trump writes on Truth Social that they will be working quickly to have a complete ceasefire and ultimately an end to the very horrible war, Russia comments that the key condition to preventing an escalation of the war would be the suspension of foreign military aid and foreign intelligence to Ukraine
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops nearly encircled in Russia's Kursk after Russian forces regain territory and cut off Ukraine's key supply lines in a three-day counter offensive, Donald Trump who is determined to end the war as soon as possible comments that he finds it more difficult to deal with Ukraine and that he strongly considers widespread sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a peace deal is reached
Miscellaneous
American fast-food chain Steak 'n Shake announces that they will RFK their fries by frying them in beef tallow, says the fries are so much better that no one will be going back after trying them, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has been a vocal beef tallow advocate and has repeatedly argued against seed oils stating that they contribute to rising obesity rates
Australian James Harrison dead at 88, was known as the man with the golden arm as his blood plasma containing the rare antibody Anti-D saved the lives of 2.4 million babies, donated plasma between 18 and 81 years of age and held the world record for most blood plasma donated between 2005 and 2022
Father in Nebraska struggling to correct his daughter Caroline's name and get her social security number, the 2-year-old girl who spent more than a year in foster care as her mother was deemed unfit has the term "for government use only" on her birth certificate which keeps him from getting her insurance and is registered under the name Unakite Thirteen Hotel which the father says is a computer-generated name from the state
Japan Post stops delivering live reptiles, says shipping animals in an environment where temperature control and food are unavailable can amount to animal abuse, deliveries of mammals and birds already banned
David Lynch dead at 78 in emphysema, directed Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive as well as many other mainly surreal movies, also avidly practiced transcendental meditation and set up the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace
Leftist theatre Gaîté Lyrique in Paris faces bankruptcy as 250 African migrants have occupied the building for the last five weeks after being invited for a free conference entitled Reinventing the welcome for refugees in France, the theatre comments that it is unthinkable to throw out the occupants and calls for local authorities to find a housing solution, the local authorities say no accomodation is available and call for the government to deal with the problem but President Macron ignores the request
Media
The White House comments CNN:s fact check on Donald Trump's quote that the Biden administration spent USD 8 million on making mice transgender, writes that "The Fake News losers at CNN immediately tried to fact check it, but President Trump was right (as usual)", lists the six projects that sum up to USD 8.29 million
BBC apologizes and admits unacceptable flaws in the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone about children's life in Gaza after it emerged that the 13-year-old narrator is the son of Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says it is critical for trust in the BBC that a comprehensive and rigorous review happens quickly and that appropriate action is taken
Brazil orders ban of right-leaning video platform Rumble, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes says the platform has repeatedly and willingly not complied and for instance refused to take down Brazilian conservative Florida-based journalist Allan dos Santos' channel, Rumble which earlier this week along with Trump Media & Technology Group sued Moraes for infringing on the free speech protections of the First Amendment of the US constitution comments that the Brazilian censorship is unprecedented
AP sues three Trump administration citing freedom of speech regarding losing access to presidential events for not using the term Gulf of America, AP comments that the press and all people in the US have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says they will see them in court
The White House posts video on X showing illegal immigrants being deported and jingling handcuffs titling it "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight", mixed reception for the post that got six million interaction and 6,000 retweets within two hours, Elon Musk retweets the post writing "Haha Wow"
TikTok shuts down in the US after the Supreme Court upheld a law passed in April preventing American companies from hosting or serving TikTok content unless it sells itself to a buyer from the US or one of its allies, the company says that Donald Trump has indicated working on a solution and Trump has also said he will most likely delay the ban for 90 days, the TikTok app has been used by 170 million Americans
The EU Commission asks X to hand over internal documents about its algorithms, the company has been accused of giving far-right posts and politicians greater visibility over other political groups, EU digital commissioner Henna Virkkunen says they will not hesitate to ban or fine X if it was found to be in breach of the Digital Services Act
Politics
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defends Vice President JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference, says Europe has been sacrificed on the altar of wokeness, bureaucracy and mercantilism and adds that Vance discussed deeper issues such as identity and freedom of speech, adds that we would live in a stronger Europe if those who were outraged had showed the same pride when Europe lost its strategic autonomy, tying its economy to autocratic regimes, or when European borders and our way of life were threatened by mass illegal migration
Friedrich Merz declares victory in the German snap election where his CDU/CSU finished first with a projected 29%, right-wing Alternative for Germany in second place with 20% ahead of center-left SPD with 16% which is the party's worst performance since it adopted its current name in 1890, AfD's chancellor candidate Alice Weidel calls the result a historic success and adds that she is open to participating in a coalition government with CDU/CSU although Merz has ruled that out
83-year-old Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell says he will not seek reelection, was first elected in 1986 and was the Senate's top Republican leader for 18 years, says representing the Kentuckian commonwealth seven times has been the honor of a lifetime but that he will not seek the honor an eighth time
Young voters drive the rise of Germany's right-wing AfD party which is expected to be the second largest party in Sunday's election, hundreds of young people line up in the eastern city of Suhl to listen to the party's extremist-designated Thuringia section leader Björn Höcke, 26-year-old Dante Reidel who says he idolizes Höcke and that his ideology represents Prussian virtues like diligence and discipline as well as cardinal virtues from antiquity
Karl Nehammer resigns as both Austrian chancellor and as leader of the conservative ÖVP after failing to form a new government along with the social democratic SPÖ, the talks caused by all parties refusing to work with right-wing FPÖ who came first in the September election with 29.2%, snap election now the next step which is welcomed by FPÖ which has increased its support to 35% according to a December survey
German Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz criticizes Elon Musk for his article where he stated that right-wing AfD is the country's last spark of hope, states that he cannot recall a comparable case of interference in the electoral campaign of a friendly country in the history of Western democracies and that one can only imagine the justified reaction of Americans if a prominent German businessman wrote an article in the New York Times backing an outsider in the US presidential election campaign
Opinion
Jayant Bhandari: India is about to return to its original state of corrupt, power-hungry sadism, the last remaining pieces of civilisation built by missionaries and the English will soon wither away, what's left is only a cargo-cult like adherence to Western values which still seems to fool many Westerners
EU's health ministers agree on recommending bans on smoking and vaping in many outdoor areas including cafe patios and beaches, all countries voted in favour apart from Germany and Greece which abstained, EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi comments that the agreement is a crucial step towards the goal of a tobacco-free generation in Europe
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy: Recent Supreme Court decisions make clear that numerous regulations are unconstitutional because they were not enacted by Congress, we will help Donald Trump identify such regulations so that he can immediately repeal them, this will also cause severe cuts to agencies and major cost savings
Jeff Bezos: Media fails to be seen as credible and is considered by most to be biased, it would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing decline in credibility but victim mentality does not help and I will not allow the Washington Post fade into irrelevance so changes are now needed for us to win this fight
Europe
Poland plans to produce a million anti-personnel mines to fortify its borders with Russia and Belarus, the decision follows plans to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention which bans anti-personnel mines, Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Bejda says
Hungary's parliament passes a law in a 136-27 vote banning Pride events and allowing police to use facial recognition software to identify attendees, opposition lawmakers from the Momentum party ignite smoke bombs in the chamber during the voting, European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib calls the law a ban on fundamental rights and Amnesty says it is a full-frontal attack on the LGBTQ+ community
Hungary opposes EUR 20 billion EU aid package for Ukraine, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó says they will not be dragged into allowing Hungarian taxpayers' money to be used to finance arms shipments to Ukraine, adds that they support peace negotiations and that thanks to President Trump peace is the closest it has been in the past three years which makes Brussels' pro-war stance unacceptable
North America
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that some 5,200 of USAID's 6,200 programs have been eliminated and that the review officially ends, says that tens of billions of dollars were spent in ways that did not serve and in some cases harmed the US core national interests, adds that the State Department will administer the remaining programs
Washington DC renames Black Lives Matter Plaza and paints over the yellow text covering the street, the decision follows a bill from Republican Andrew Clyde that would force a renaming and the text to be covered, Mayor Muriel Bowser says the mural inspired millions of people and helped the city through a very painful period but that focus must now be on economic growth and public safety
Donald Trump signs executive order designating English as the official language of the US, the order rescinds a Bill Clinton policy requiring agencies to provide assistance programs for people with limited English proficiency, comments that a nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society
The Trump administration orders Pentagon to identify and fire transgender members of military within 60 days, comments that individuals with gender dysphoria suffer from medical, surgical and mental health constraints and thus can't live up to the government's high standards for service member readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity
Latin America
Chile's President Gabriel Boric visits Antarctica along with his defense minister to reaffirm his country's claim to sovereignty in the area, is the first Latin American leader to visit the south pole, the US state department says seven countries maintain territorial claims in the area but that US and most other countries instead recognize the Antarctic Treaty
Venezuela's government announces USD 100,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González, González in Spanish exile after the election where the opposition claim election fraud and has shown that tally sheets from the voting machines show they won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro, González' campaign announces international tour starting with meeting President Javier Milei in Argentina
Record low 114 homicides in El Salvador during 2024, down from 214 in 2023 and 6,615 in 2015, more than 83,000 arrested since 2022 when President Nayib Bukele's administration was granted a state of exception after street gangs killed 62 people in a matter of hours, Bukele extremely popular due to the improved safety
Asia
Australian leaders call the surge in antisemitic attacks across the country a national crisis, more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in Australia during the year after Hamas' attack on Israel which is three times the figure for the same period a year earlier, cars and schools set on fire or spray-painted with anti-Israel messages and arson attacks against a synagogue in Melbourne as well as against a Jewish child care center in Sydney, two nurses in a Sydney hospital suspended this week for saying on TikTok that they would kill Jewish patients or refuse to treat them
The Cook Islands signs comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with China, contents not disclosed with New Zealand prior to ratification despite repeated requests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun says the relationship between China and the Cook Islands does not target any third party and should not be disrupted or restrained by any third party
India sets up deregulation commission to further reduce the State's role in governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says it is his conviction that there should be less interference of the government in the society, hundreds of compliances already ended and the income tax has been lowered and property rights have also been strengthened
Kim Jong Un declares that serving hot dogs constitutes treason and that people caught selling or cooking them could face time in labor camps, Korean-American hot dog hotpot budae-jjigae which was created from meats discarded by US soldiers during the 1950s as well as steamed rice cakes tteokbokki also banned recently
179 of 181 people onboard suspected dead in crash during landing for a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 travelling from Bangkok to Muan International Airport in South Korea, the plane suffered from malfunctioning landing gear and veered off the runway into a wall, witnesses also report seeing the plane collide with birds
North Korea launches aggressive campaign against unmarried couples living together, declares such arrangements symptoms of a decadent capitalist culture and police has legal authority to intervene as it is already branded a non-socialist practice, couples caught face an ultimatum where they can register their marriage within 15 days or face public criticism sessions at neighborhood watch units or workplaces
Africa
The Congo River Alliance including the M23 rebels pull out of peace talks, say EU sanctions earlier in the day against Rwandan officials and M23 undermine talks, were to meet the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Angola for direct negotiations
Economy
Cryptocurrency industry leaders meet with Donald Trump in the White House after Thursday's executive order creating a strategic reserve of cryptocurrency for the US following his vision of making the country the crypto capital of the world, Trump comments that there are high-IQ individuals around the table and that they feel like pioneers
European defence stocks soar during Monday, British BAE Systems rose 15%, German Rheinmetall 14% and French Thales as well as Italian Leonardo gained 16%, shares in aerospace companies with significant defence revenues such as Airbus and Safran also rose while Rolls-Royce gained 4% to a record high
Argentina's annual inflation rate falls from record high 211.4% in 2023 to 117.8% in 2024 due to President Javier Milei's austerity program, December marked the third consecutive month with less than 3% inflation, Argentina's Economy Ministry posts that they pulverized inflation in just 12 months
European wind power stocks fall after Donald Trump states that his administration will not build windmills as it's the most expensive energy there is and that it litters the country as they are rusting and rotting, wind farm developers such as Orsted and RWE as well as turbine makers such as Siemens Energy and Vestas close lower
Indonesia admitted as full BRICS member, was endorsed by BRICS leaders in 2023 but opted to wait for the elected government in 2024 to make the decision, the Brazilian government says that Indonesia with the largest population and economy in Southeast Asia will contribute positively to deepening South-South cooperation, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joined the alliance in 2024 while Saudia Arabia was invited but so far has opted out
Technology
Apple removes its end-to-end encryption data security tool ADP from British customers after the government demanded access to user data, the company says it's gravely disappointed but that they have said many times they never built a backdoor or master key to any of its products and never will
Technology for lab-grown eggs or sperm on could be a reality within a decade according to UK's fertility watchdog HFEA, the board says solo parenting where the egg and the sperm are created from the same individual should be banned as a complete extreme of incest but that multiplex parenting where for instance two couples produce two embryos and cells from these embryos are used to derive eggs and sperm to create a final embryo could be allowed as it has a social precedent in the form of blended families or those who maintain a relationship with non-anonymous donors, the risks of higher-risk pregnancies in older mothers as well as someone creating huge numbers of embryos are also debated
Science
Swedish-Chinese group of scientists breeds new rice variety that reduces methane emissions by 70%, says the rice yields 8.96 tons/hectare to be compared to the world average 4.71, Swedish microbiologist Anna Schürrer who contributed to the study says rice fields cause 13% of the humanly caused methane emissions and adds that rice growers while awaiting regulatory approvals can reduce methane emissions by 60% by using intestinal parasitic worms drug oxantel on the soil
Rising scurvy incidence in France since 2015 with a 34.5% increase in hospital admissions since March 2020, largest increase among children aged 4 to 10 from low-income families, the study that was published in Lancet connects the increase to the rising food prices driven by Covid-19 as some of the children had not eaten for several days
Ground squirrels observed hunting and eating vole in California, could be driven by an explosion in vole numbers with roughly seven times more voles than the 10-year average reported, squirrels are in general flexible regarding food and eat insects as well as hatchling birds but have never been seen hunting adult mammals before