NuseReal
Headlines for internationalists
Major news
Paul Krugman: The ignominious death of drill, baby, drill (LINK) 12 January 2026
— 'Darren Woods, the CEO of ExxonMobil, blurted out the awkward truth — namely that Venezuela is "uninvestable" under current conditions. On Sunday evening Trump responded by saying that he was "inclined" to block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela. "I didn't like their response." The Bureau of Land Management auctioned off more than 20,000 acres of public land in Colorado for oil and gas drilling. Or I should say, tried to auction the land off — because there were no bids, despite the fact that the land was offered at very low prices.'
From Punta del Este to Geneva | First Session of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISP-CWP P1): 2 to 6 February 2026 at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG). (LINK) 12 January 2026
EU countries approve Mercosur trade deal after 25 years of talks — (LINK) ground.news: 313 media reports — 9 January 2026 (LINK)
— Supporters say the pact would remove 4 billion euros of duties on EU exports and aims to expand evenly split goods trade worth 111 billion euros while giving European companies access to 280 million Latin American consumers. Opponents warned the deal would increase cheap food imports as France, Poland, Austria, Hungary and Ireland voted against while Belgium abstained, and French farmers protested with tractors near the Eiffel Tower on January 8, 2026. The EU conclusion procedure requires European Parliament consent.
Gates Foundation: The health issues set to dominate 2026 (LINK) 10 January 2026
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: global health's defining test (LINK) 9 January 2026
U.S.: House passes bill to extend health care subsidies in defiance of GOP leaders: 230-196 (LINK) 8 January 2026
GEN: A global hub for environment governance and the host region of the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands, Geneva is key place to protect wetlands and reverse the trend of global loss of wetlands (LINK) 8 January 2026
Turkish man jailed for 11 years in U.K. for supplying people-smuggling gangs with thousands of Channel small boats (LINK) 7 January 2026
Flight of the bullions: Why did Maduro move gold to Switzerland? (LINK) 7 January 2026
— Euronews: Caracas shipped 127 tonnes of central-bank gold to Swiss refineries over a period of five years, seeking cash and collateral as the Venezuelan debt crisis deepened. Switzerland hosts some of the world's biggest refineries. These include Valcambi, PAMP, and Argor-Heraeus, largely clustered in the canton of Ticino. Swiss public broadcaster SRF said Maduro's government shipped gold abroad as an "act of desperation" to avert state bankruptcy, selling part of the bullion and using some as collateral for loans and the refinancing of its debt.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz drops reelection bid: a conservative influencer's viral video alleging fraud by day care centres that receive government aid further fanned the controversy, leading the administration to announce a freeze of child care funding to the state (LINK) 5 January 2026
— In a statement announcing his decision, Walz defended his administration's actions, saying they "made systemic changes to the way we do business" in response to "an organized group of criminals [that] have sought to take advantage of our state's generosity."
Breaking news
Trump warns Cuba: 'Make a deal, before it is too late': Cuba defiant — (LINK) ground.news: 402 media reports — 11 January 2026 (LINK)
— Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the U.S. actions are `an act of state terrorism` and `a shocking violation of the norms of international law`, while analysts warned the loss of Venezuelan oil would devastate power and fuel supplies.
Ukraine-Russia war latest: UK announces Project Nightfall to provide Kyiv with new missiles (LINK) 11 January 2026
— Later on Monday the UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting to discuss Russia's use of its Oreshnik hypersonic missile just 60 miles from the border of Nato member Poland. Russia has claimed the Oreshnik strike was retaliation for an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on one of Putin's residences, an allegation Kyiv denies.
Kyiv shivers without heat: Russian strikes on the capital Friday killed at least four people and left half the city's residential buildings without heat, at a time when temperatures are around -10C and expected to drop further (LINK) 11 January 2026
'Dire' financial crisis forces UNRWA to drop 571 ex-Gazan staff from payroll (LINK) 11 January 2026
Trump weighs potential military intervention in Iran (LINK) 11 January 2026
Iran threatens preemptive strikes against Israel and US bases (LINK) 10 January 2026
Major news
Paul Krugman: The ignominious death of drill, baby, drill (LINK) 12 January 2026
— 'Darren Woods, the CEO of ExxonMobil, blurted out the awkward truth — namely that Venezuela is "uninvestable" under current conditions. On Sunday evening Trump responded by saying that he was "inclined" to block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela. "I didn't like their response." The Bureau of Land Management auctioned off more than 20,000 acres of public land in Colorado for oil and gas drilling. Or I should say, tried to auction the land off — because there were no bids, despite the fact that the land was offered at very low prices.'
From Punta del Este to Geneva | First Session of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISP-CWP P1): 2 to 6 February 2026 at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG). (LINK) 12 January 2026
EU countries approve Mercosur trade deal after 25 years of talks — (LINK) ground.news: 313 media reports — 9 January 2026 (LINK)
— Supporters say the pact would remove 4 billion euros of duties on EU exports and aims to expand evenly split goods trade worth 111 billion euros while giving European companies access to 280 million Latin American consumers. Opponents warned the deal would increase cheap food imports as France, Poland, Austria, Hungary and Ireland voted against while Belgium abstained, and French farmers protested with tractors near the Eiffel Tower on January 8, 2026. The EU conclusion procedure requires European Parliament consent.
Gates Foundation: The health issues set to dominate 2026 (LINK) 10 January 2026
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: global health's defining test (LINK) 9 January 2026
U.S.: House passes bill to extend health care subsidies in defiance of GOP leaders: 230-196 (LINK) 8 January 2026
GEN: A global hub for environment governance and the host region of the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands, Geneva is key place to protect wetlands and reverse the trend of global loss of wetlands (LINK) 8 January 2026
Turkish man jailed for 11 years in U.K. for supplying people-smuggling gangs with thousands of Channel small boats (LINK) 7 January 2026
Flight of the bullions: Why did Maduro move gold to Switzerland? (LINK) 7 January 2026
— Euronews: Caracas shipped 127 tonnes of central-bank gold to Swiss refineries over a period of five years, seeking cash and collateral as the Venezuelan debt crisis deepened. Switzerland hosts some of the world's biggest refineries. These include Valcambi, PAMP, and Argor-Heraeus, largely clustered in the canton of Ticino. Swiss public broadcaster SRF said Maduro's government shipped gold abroad as an "act of desperation" to avert state bankruptcy, selling part of the bullion and using some as collateral for loans and the refinancing of its debt.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz drops reelection bid: a conservative influencer's viral video alleging fraud by day care centres that receive government aid further fanned the controversy, leading the administration to announce a freeze of child care funding to the state (LINK) 5 January 2026
— In a statement announcing his decision, Walz defended his administration's actions, saying they "made systemic changes to the way we do business" in response to "an organized group of criminals [that] have sought to take advantage of our state's generosity."
Miscellaneous
Australia: bushfire in Central Victoria destroys 47 homes and cooperative near artistic hub of Castlemaine: residents testify (LINK) 12 January 2026
— Fire ignited north of the apple-growing region of Harcourt in central Victoria on Friday afternoon. By that evening flames, fanned by fierce winds, were running down hills into the Harcourt Valley and the township, razing three local businesses and 47 homes.
Fed served with DOJ subpoenas threatening a criminal indictment related to June congressional testimony on ongoing renovations of the Fed's headquarters, Powell vows to stand firm (LINK) 11 January 2026
Trump denies involvement: 'I don't know anything about it' — (LINK)
— "I don't know anything about it, but he's certainly not very good at the Fed, and he's not very good at building buildings," Trump said of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a brief interview with NBC News Sunday night.
Golden Globes wins by film, series, distributor & TV platform (LINK) 11 January 2026
Paul Krugman: one year of Trumponomics: "Consumer confidence is low and Trump's approval rating on handling the economy, which was strongly positive last January, is now strongly negative." (LINK) 11 January 2026
— "This is not a hot economy, by any objective measure. Granted, the U.S. economy isn't falling off a cliff either. In fact, what we're seeing isn't a classic recession; it's more a sort of creeping malaise."
U.S. researchers discover how conservatives pick political positions: the probability a participant would rely on a single data point for their conclusions rose from about 4 percent for "very liberal" people to over 37 percent for "very conservative" folks. (LINK) 11 January 2026
— University of Idaho researchers: those on the Left "tend to be more likely to consult a comprehensive set of statistical data relative to those on the Right. People's political beliefs influence how they look for information (often without them realizing it)."
Royal Air Philippines cancels all flights in Chapter 7 liquidation plan on 4 January: Indian charter airline Dove Airlines enters voluntary liquidation process on 5 January (LINK) 11 January 2026
— 3,000-4,000 travelers with tickets booked between until March 2026 have to seek out alternative travel options. Indian airline has not operated flights since 2022 when it lost its last Cessna CitationJet/CJ/M2 jet to creditors.
2 people were shot by a federal agent after accusations of having ties to a notorious gang (LINK) 10 January 2026
Bill Gates warns AI could be used to develop bioterrorism weapons: AI could help non-state groups using open source software (LINK) 9 January 2026
— Gates highlighted that the next big challenge will be the disruption to the job market. He said the pace of growth of AI was already disrupting the job demand in areas like software development.
Gatesnotes: "Optimism with footnotes" — (LINK)
— "The thing I am most upset about is the fact that the world went backwards last year on a key metric of progress: the number of deaths of children under 5 years old."
— "The next five years will be difficult as we try to get back on track and work to scale up new lifesaving tools. Yet I remain optimistic about the long-term future. As hard as last year was, I don’t believe we will slide back into the Dark Ages. I believe that, within the next decade, we will not only get the world back on track but enter a new era of unprecedented progress."
Washington National Opera bows out of Kennedy Center (LINK) 9 January 2026
National Review: Renee Good belonged to 'ICE Watch' group that trained activists to interfere with agents, block vehicles (LINK) 9 January 2026
Cell phone footage raises new questions about ICE agent’s tactics before fatal shooting (LINK) 9 January 2026
Renee Nicole Good said 'I'm not mad at you' before ICE agent shot her, video shows (LINK) 9 January 2026
— Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that the footage was authentic while claiming that Good "was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement" and the "officer was in fear of his own life".
America's new dietary guidelines ignore decades of scientific research: "An emphasis on fruit, vegetables, and whole foods is welcome — but it's wrong to suggest steak and beef tallow should be prominent" (LINK) 10 January 2026
Judge disqualifies US attorney in New York, tosses out subpoenas against Letitia James (LINK) 8 January 2026
Donald Trump reacts after Republican Senators vote to curb his war powers (LINK) 8 January 2026
— Democrats were joined by five Republican Senators in the 52-47 vote to advance the war powers resolution, setting up a later vote on final passage. The measure is unlikely to become law because it would need to pass the House and be signed by Trump. But the vote signaled unease among some Republicans after U.S. forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.
U.S. citizens are now banned from entering Mali and Burkina Faso in retaliation (LINK) 8 January 2026
Eco-friendly toilet papers are trendy, but their environmental impacts vary (LINK) 8 January 2026
— According to the Environmental Paper Network, a coalition of nonprofits, more than 1 billion gallons (3.8 billion litres) of water and 1.6 million trees could be saved if everyone in the U.S.used one roll of toilet paper made from recycled content instead of a roll made from forest fibers. Aria, Green Forest, Natural Value, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods 365 100% Recycled received the highest grade in 2025, with all made entirely from recycled materials. Sustainable toilet paper brands typically cost more per square foot than conventional products. But prices will likely drop if consumers continue buying it and manufacturers expand production.
What is the world’s smartest bird? (LINK) 8 January 2026
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