Saturday, 13 December 2025

Trump's 'historic' peace deal for DR Congo shattered after M23 rebels seize key city of Uvira (LINK) 13 December 2025

Friday, 12 December 2025

Trump says he's sealed renewed Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire, but fighting continues (LINK) 12 December 2025

DW: US giant Chevron, not China, may save oil-rich Venezuela: Chevron is driving Venezuela's oil rebound while China is pulling back (LINK) 12 December 2025

Commander overseeing U.S. forces in Caribbean relinquishes command early amid U.S. buildup near Venezuela (LINK) 11 December 2025

— Adm. Alvin Holsey relinquished command Friday in a ceremony at U.S. Southern Command headquarters after announcing early retirement amid U.S. buildup off of Venezuela.

"Trump AI regulation order hallucinates more fake law than any AI" (LINK) 12 December 2025

— "Can a president unilaterally invent new laws and then assert that this counts as occupying the field to then preempt state laws? No, of course not. But he issued the order anyway because this administration is itself a hallucination engine stochastically vomiting out orders."

EU to move Ukraine membership forward despite Hungary veto (LINK) 12 December 2025

— EU states will still have veto rights over the final decision about Ukraine's membership, but for the time being Ukraine will move ahead with the necessary reforms in order to become eligible to join.

EU indefinitely freezes Russian assets so Hungary and Slovakia can't veto their use for Ukraine (LINK) 12 December 2025

Le Monde: Russia's phantom gains in Ukraine (LINK) 12 December 2025

Al Jazeera: Gaza's displaced living under plastic sheets face storm disaster (LINK) 12 December 2025

Chileans are divided in a presidential runoff tilted toward the far right: Kast aims to become the most right-wing president since the military dictatorship. (LINK) — ground.news: 19 media reports (LINK) 12 December 2025

Residents can enter Swiss landslide village in Grisons again from Saturday. An additional restricted area has been set up to its north (LINK) 12 December 2025

— "How things will continue for the people of Brienz/Brinzauls in the longer term is unclear. The conditions on the mountain are to be reassessed by the end of January. It will then be possible to say whether it will be possible to lift the evacuation. Meanwhile, canton Graubünden has promised further help. On Tuesday, the cantonal parliament approved a loan of CHF50 million ($63 million) for the preventive resettlement of the village of Brienz/Brinzauls, which is threatened by rock masses. This will compensate those residents who want to move away permanently."

Google turns ordinary headphones into instant language interpreters for Android phones: support for more than 70 languages (LINK) 12 December 2025

Thursday, 11 December 2025

Ukraine launches war’s most massive drone-missile strikes, Russian energy targeted (LINK) 11 December 2025

Zelensky says US wants Ukraine to withdraw from Donetsk region and create a 'special economic zone' there: territory and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power remain unresolved issues (LINK) 11 December 2025

US sanctions six more ships after seizing oil tanker off Venezuela (LINK) 11 December 2025

— Sanctions have also been placed on some of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's relatives and businesses associated with what Washington calls his illegitimate regime.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado says U.S. 'support' helped her escape Venezuela to go to Oslo for Nobel Peace Prize (LINK) 11 December 2025

Swiss Eurovision winner Nemo to send trophy back in protest over Israel's participation "during what the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry has concluded to be a genocide" (LINK) — ground.news: 165 media reports (LINK) 11 December 2025

US jobless benefit applications jump to 236,000 last week as concerns about labor market persist (LINK) 11 December 2025

Swiss yodeling, yurt-making, Turkmen Alabay dog-breeding join UNESCO Cultural Heritage list (LINK) 11 December 2025

Nearly 30,000 live animals rescued in a monthlong global INTERPOL operation against wildlife trafficking (LINK) — ground.news: 21 media reports (LINK) 11 December 2025

— Seizure data shows authorities across 134 countries made a record 4,620 seizures, confiscating nearly 10,500 butterflies, spiders and arthropods plus more than 245 tonnes of protected marine species during the week. As a result, authorities identified 1,100 suspects and INTERPOL issued 69 notices, while data will map global trafficking routes and target criminal networks. Officials also reported 14,000 pieces of illegally logged timber and over 10,000 tonnes of live plants.

Utah repeals ban on collective bargaining for teachers, firefighters and police unions (LINK) 11 December 2025

Trump says he's pardoned Tina Peters, sentenced to 8.5 years in prison and six months in county jail in 2024 for her role in tampering with county voting and records equipment after the 2020 election, but that may not save her from prison: no power to pardon a person for state convictions. (LINK) 11 December 2025

Trump's new chair of CDC vaccine panel fired from pediatric practice because of his position on the committee, wife says (LINK) 11 December 2025

Navy delivers report to Hegseth on potential of punishment for Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly over video that reminded US troops they have a duty to refuse illegal orders (LINK) 11 December 2025

IOC receives Low Carbon Award from Geneva climate network 2050Today for reducing its corporate carbon footprint by 30% (LINK) 11 December 2025

Hundreds of items taken in 'high-value' Bristol museum raid on 25 September: police release photo of four men sought (LINK) 11 December 2025

Jared Kushner and three Arab monarchies are at the heart of the Paramount-WBD bid that will require administration approval (LINK) 11 December 2025

Showjumping: Rolex Grand Slam CHI Geneva 2025: Donald Whitaker win Trophée de Genève (LINK) 11 December 2025

Wednesday, 10 December 2025

Ukraine presents response to US peace plan as Trump says European leaders want a meeting (LINK) 10 December 2025

US votes against UN resolution on Chornobyl disaster, aligning with Russia, Belarus, China, North Korea, Nicaragua and Niger during a vote on nuclear safety and international cooperation (LINK) 10 December 2025

First of 30 oil lease sales planned for Gulf of Mexico draws $300 million from companies (LINK) 10 December 2025

US Fed cuts interest rates for the third-straight time (LINK) 10 December 2025

Trump launches $1m 'gold card' immigration visas (LINK) 10 December 2025

US lawmakers in House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a sweeping defence bill bolstering European security — a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump's mounting threats to downgrade Washington's ties to traditional allies and NATO (LINK) 10 December 2025

Swiss Senate opposes drastic cuts proposed by House to 2026 CHF300m funding earmarked for NGOs in International Geneva (LINK) 10 December 2025

Geneva-based Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has cut 300 posts (LINK) 10 December 2025

— "Essential work has had to be eliminated, particularly in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burma, Tunisia and other countries."

Trump says U.S. seized oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela (LINK) 10 December 2025

Venezuela decries 'act of piracy' — (LINK)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado appears in Norway after dramatic escape from Venezuela: her first public appearance in almost a year since she went into hiding after being barred from running in her country's presidential election (LINK) 10 December 2025

Trump warns Colombian President Gustavo Petro he will ‘be next’ amid drug trafficking rift (LINK) 10 December 2025

Canada's DC envoy to exit as US trade talks stall (LINK) 10 December 2025

Judge blocks Trump's National Guard deployment in LA with sharp rebuke (LINK) 10 December 2025

Heather Cox Richardson: the U.S. government did not recognize Human Rights Day this year (LINK) 10 December 2025

Pfizer is reportedly shedding hundreds of jobs in Switzerland (LINK) 10 December 2025

Gotthard Base Tunnel work will delay Swiss trains in January: almost all trains will travel via the mountain route., taking an hour longer: exceptions are early and late connections and trains travelling between Germany and Italy (LINK) 10 December 2025

Foreign tourists could be required to disclose 5 years of social media histories under Trump administration plan (LINK) 10 December 2025

Sen. Warren presses Bessent and Swiss megabank UBS on private conversations on the bank's possible move to the U.S., exposing taxpayers to risk (LINK) 10 December 2025

Jeff Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Scott unveils record $7.1 billion in 2024 gifts (LINK) 10 December 2025

— Scott, 55, made the latest donations to 186 organizations around the world, including universities, environmental nonprofits, and groups fighting for equality. So far, she has donated over $26 billion in gifts to over 2,700 non-profit organizations.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in Oslo, but will not attend Nobel Peace ceremony to receive award (LINK) 10 December 2025

— Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, is set to accept the award in her place. Machado, who holds many right-wing views, dedicated her prize in part to United States President Donald Trump, who has said that he himself deserved the honour and was infuriated that he did not receive it.

Australia's world-first social media ban for under-16s comes into effect: deactivating more than 1 million accounts across 10 platforms including Facebook and TikTok (LINK) — ground.news: 470 media reports (LINK) 10 December 2025

— Others are following suit, whether by enacting or pledging a similar ban (like in Malaysia, Denmark and France) or legislating tougher standards for social platforms (as in the U.K.)

Vast majority of World Health Organization (WHO) member States say 40 to 90 per cent of their populations now use traditional medicine (LINK) 10 December 2025

— Shyama Kuruvilla, director of WHO’s Global Traditional Medicine Centre, established in 2022 to tap into the potential of these systems for healthcare and well-being: "Traditional medicine is often the closest or only care available for many people. For many others, it's a preferred choice because it is personalized and holistic. It's bioculturally aligned and it supports overall well-being rather than only treating specific disease symptoms."

Royal Caribbean makes port change from Cozumel to Nassau's Royal Beach Club Paradise Island — some guests aren't happy (LINK) 10 December 2025

Al Jazeera: Fact-checking Trump's Pennsylvania speech and his Politico interview (LINK) 10 December 2025

• Trump did not, in fact, inherit the "worst inflation" in history. The annualized inflation rate was below 3 percent during the six months before Trump took office in his second term.
• He claimed that Ilhan Omar, the Democrat who has served as a Minnesota representative in Congress since 2019, is in the US illegally. Trump also claimed that Somalia has no military, parliament or police. Somalia does have a military, a parliament and a police force. Omar became eligible for citizenship five years after she entered the US, and finally became a citizen in 2000, when she was 17 years old. Trump: "She married her brother in order to get in, right … she married her brother to get in, therefore she's here illegally." There is no verifiable evidence to back up allegations that either Hirsi or Elmi, her previous husbands, is Omar's brother.
• During the Pennsylvania rally, Trump claimed the Democrats want “transgender for every member in your family”. There is certainly no evidence that the Democratic Party believes all families should have a transgender member.
• Trump also said: "Black people love Trump. I got the biggest vote with Black people." Overall, he secured 20 percent of the Black vote in November 2024 — a big rise from the 12 percent he won in 2020. However, this means that his opponent for the presidency, Democrat Kamala Harris, in fact won the majority of the Black vote.

3 separate US strikes on alleged drug boats have initially left survivors. Each time they’ve been treated differently (LINK) 10 December 2025

Tuesday, 9 December 2025

UN environment report 'hijacked' over fossil fuels, its co-chair says: United States and other countries were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings in the Global Environment Outlook, the result of six years' work (LINK) 9 December 2025

— BBC: At a meeting with government representatives to agree the findings, the US and allies said they could not go along with a summary of the report's conclusions. As the scientists were unwilling to water down or change their findings, the report has now been published without the summary and without the support of governments, weakening its impact.

A sustainable future requires new thinking: UNEP environment report (LINK) 9 December 2025

— The agency calls the report the most comprehensive assessment of the global environment ever undertaken, with input from 287 multi-disciplinary scientists from 82 countries — stretching to well over 1,000 pages. It calls for a transition to circular economy models; a rapid decarbonisation of the energy system; a shift towards sustainable diets, reduced waste and improved agricultural practices; and expanding protected areas and restoring degraded ecosystems — all backed by behavioural, social and cultural shifts that include Indigenous and local knowledge.

Fox News: Zelenskyy ready to present new peace proposals to US and Russia after working with European talks (LINK) 9 December 2025

India plans to continue buying Russian oil despite sanctions (LINK) 9 December 2025

OpenAI, Anthropic, Block launch agentic AI standards body under the Linux Foundation, joined by Google, Microsoft, AWS, Bloomberg, and Cloudflare (LINK) 10 December 2025

Israel named by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) as leading killer of journalists in 2025 for third straight year (LINK) 9 December 2025

Amazon announces $35 billion investment in India by 2030 to advance AI innovation, create jobs (LINK) 9 December 2025

Heather Cox Richardson: Cable news, AI and manipulating voters (LINK) 9 December 2025

Louis XIV's cause of death revealed by DNA from his mummified heart 310 years after he was buried in Paris: longest reigning monarch in European history died four days short of his 77th birthday on 1 September 1715 from fungus infection not bacterial agents in gangrene: the king was in agony for two weeks before his death (LINK) 9 December 2025

Decoding the chemistry of life: revealing how mutations alter enzymes and drive drug resistance through 'maximum entropy' (LINK) 9 December 2025

Pompeii house frozen mid-renovation reveals secrets of Roman cement: reactive hot-mix method — highly reactive quicklime (dry heated limestone) is mixed with volcanic ash and water, setting off a chemical reaction that produces heat and gives the material self-healing capabilities (LINK) 9 December 2025

Monday, 8 December 2025

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis (LINK) 8 December 2025

UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urges Britain and Mauritius not to ratify Chagos deal (LINK) 8 December 2025

— "It risks perpetuating long-standing violations of Chagossians' rights." The deal, struck in May after years of talks, passes sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius while allowing Britain to retain control of the US-UK air base on the largest island, Diego Garcia, under a long-term lease. Up to 2,000 Chagossians were forcibly removed from the archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s. Many ended up in Britain, and some have sought the right to return. Committee said it was concerned that the deal "explicitly prevents the return of the Chagossian people to their ancestral lands in Diego Garcia Island".

Al Jazeera: Russia-Ukraine war list of key events, day 1,384 (LINK) 8 December 2025

— The city of Sumy was without power late on Monday after Russian forces launched more than a dozen drones in the span of half an hour. Earlier on Monday, Sumy regional authorities said Russia had launched 130 attacks on the region in one day.

Zelensky meets European leaders as Trump accuses him of not reading US proposal to end war (LINK) 8 December 2025

Police raid East Jerusalem UNRWA offices, apparently over unpaid debts, raise Israeli flag over compound (LINK) 8 December 2025

Thailand launches airstrikes on Cambodia as Trump's peace agreement hangs in balance (LINK) 8 December 2025

Federal judge in US expands criminal contempt probe over deportation flights, saying Kristi Noem failed to provide answers (LINK) 8 December 2025

One of Trump's most consequential decisions — a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — just got more complicated: investors have concerns (LINK) 8 December 2025

Solar storms ground 6,000 jets, disrupt GPS systems on 9 December (LINK) — ground.news: 15 media reports (LINK) 8 December 2025

Louvre: Water leak in November damaged hundreds of historic books (LINK) 7 December 2025

China's exports rebound in November by 5.9% from 11% drop, massively beating expectations after U.S. trade truce: strong sales to non-US markets but 29% drop to U.S. over November 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 41 media reports (LINK) 8 December 2025