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RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/December 2024

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December 2024[edit]

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31United StatesPalestine According to US officials, they asked for, and got, a retraction of a famine warning for north Gaza from a supposedly independent monitor. This has led to accusations of political interference from aid groups and human rights watchdogs.
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23United StatesPalestine Americans trapped in Gaza are suing the Biden administration, alleging that the government has abandoned them and their families.
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27PalestineIsrael Five babies die from the cold in Gaza as temperatures drop
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35United States Jimmy Carter has died at age 100.
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23AzerbaijanRussia Azerbaijan's president confirms that Russia shot down its passenger jet, which crashed earlier this week with 38 fatalities.
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32CanadaUnited StatesUnited KingdomAustraliaNew Zealand Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance releases report warning of minors increasingly becoming radicalized online.
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39United StatesArkansas. Judge rules Arkansas law threatening librarians with jail unconstitutional: The law, which threatened imprisonment if librarians or booksellers provided ‘harmful’ content to minors, violates the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled.
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22FinlandEstoniaRussiaCook Islands Finnish coastguard boards tanker suspected of causing power and internet cable outages: Cook Islands-registered Eagle S was carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea
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20IsraelYemen WHO chief at Yemen airport during Israeli airstrikes; Netanyahu says attack ongoing ‘until we complete the job’. Houthi television reports say three people were killed in Israel’s strikes on Yemen; Israel says airstrikes target military infrastructure
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23El Salvador In a blow to Bitcoin, in order to accept a $1.4 billion loan from the IMF, El Salvador has had to drop payment by Bitcoin on taxes, wind down the Chivo coin-wallet, and to stop obligatory payment by Bitcoin.
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30United StatesTrans flag.svg Trump threatens to end trans rights on day one of his second presidency.
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32United StatesCalifornia. Trans flag.svg A Los Angeles County police officer has pled guilty to beating a transgender man who flipped him off in 2023.
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19Pakistan Pakistan is developing long-range ballistic missile capabilities that could hit targets as far away as the United States.
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22United States Health insurance companies limit coverage of prosthetic limbs.
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28Vatican CityBelgium Pope Francis begins beatification process for King Baudouin of Belgium for his decision to abdicate for a day rather than give his assent to a law legalizing abortion.
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28IcelandEuropean Union The incoming government in Reykjavík has put forward for 2027 a referendum on negotiations for Icelandic membership of the EU. Major reasons include economic uncertainty, the weakness of the Icelandic króna and rising cost of living.
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32Germany A Saudi-born doctor drove a car into a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, killing at least 5 people and wounding hundreds of others. While a motive has not been determined, the suspect is an ex-Muslim AfD supporter whose social media was full of anti-Islam themes. Der Spiegel also reported that the perpetrator sympathized with social media agitators like Alex Jones, Tommy Robinson, and Elon Musk.
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29United StatesGermany Elon Musk endorses fascist German party AfD in the run-up to the next election
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27United StatesUkraine Financial Times reports Trump has changed his position on military aid to Ukraine, and may continue supplying it.
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29United States Trump already looks to silence the press.
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24United States Trump calls for abolishing the debt ceiling.
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19PalestineIsrael Israel has been systematically (ab)using children as human shields in Gaza since October 2023.
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22United States Luigi Mangione has been federally charged.
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29PalestineIsrael Israel has been deliberately restricting the supply of water to Gaza.
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45RussiaUkraine Ukraine kills Russian chemical weapons chief in Moscow
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25IsraelLebanonSyria Not content with just colonizing Palestine, some Israeli settlers are now eyeing land in Syria and Lebanon.
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27United States Biden is making a large number of pardons/commutations on his way out. Of these, one that will likely be notorious: his commutation for judge Michael T. Conahan. Conahan was originally convicted in the "kids for cash scandal".
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20United StatesNew Jersey. A large number of "mystery drone" sightings have been occurring in the New Jersey area since November. There's conflicting information about them, as the federal government appears to be downplaying the importance of the phenomenon, contrary to some locals. Some locals appear to feel "gaslit" about the situation, though it may be a case of misattribution; in at least some cases the "drones" turned out to be planes. Wikipedia's take: 2024 New Jersey drone sightings.
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15United StatesTexas. Law proposed in Texas would ban drugstores from selling sex toys.
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23United States Trump reportedly considering privatizing the US Postal Service.
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19South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol has been impeached following his attempt to impose martial law, though he remains president (albeit with suspended duties) while the Constitutional Court decides what to do with him.
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29PalestineIsrael Israel has been blocking shipments of food from entering Northern Gaza for two months now, putting a million people at risk of starvation.
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27United States A reporter covered United Healthcare. TMZ thought he might be a killer. Sean Morrow of More Perfect Union received an unexpected call amid a manhunt after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. … showing the potential danger of poor journalistic practices.
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32United States The burial site of the people Andrew Jackson enslaved was lost, until now.
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28United States San Francisco tech CEO's billboards are 'dystopian.' That's how he wants it. "Stop Hiring Humans: The Era of AI Employees Is Here"… brought to you by bots at Y-Combinator/ThielCo
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26the World Several drugs, including fentanyl, found in bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico.
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26South AfricaPoland The killer of South African anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani is slated to be deported back to Poland now that his parole has ended.
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38IsraelSyria Israel is now stealing more land in Syria
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45Syria Damascus has fallen to the rebel forces. Update: The Syrian military has announced that Assad is no longer in power, and the Syrian prime minister says he will cooperate with the rebels.
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56United States Nick Fuentes arrested after throwing a woman who showed up at his house and rang his doorbell down stairs and pepper spraying her.
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51IsraelPalestine Amnesty International releases report saying Israel is committing intentional and calculated genocide against Palestinians. Israel's Foreign Ministry calls report "entirely false".
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21United States Trump has nominated friend of J. D. Vance Daniel P. Driscoll to be Secretary of the Army and cryptocurrency lobbyist Paul S. Atkins to be chairman of the SEC. Oh, and he also nominated Humpty Dumpty to be head of the IRS.
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68United States A gunman has killed the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of America’s largest health insurance companies, in what appears to have been a targeted attack.
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13United States Donald Trump nominates CEO of Shift4, commercial astronaut and friend of Elon Musk, Jared Isaacman to be the next administrator of NASA.
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21United StatesTrans flag.svg Supreme Court hears arguments in challenge to gender-affirming care ban
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27United States Neo-Nazis, emboldened by Trump's Second Coming, are on the march across the US.
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28United StatesMinnesota. Trans flag.svg A crowd cheered as two transgender women were assaulted at a Minneapolis rail station.
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44South Korea South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law, claims he will eradicate "shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces", which (to Yoon) includes the opposition Democratic Party, who currently hold the majority in parliament. Update: South Korea's national assembly has voted to block Yoon's martial law decree. Update: Yoon Suk Yeol has declared martial law to be over.
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25MexicoUnited StatesTexas. Trump's tariffs on Mexico would be devastating for Texas, leading to a loss of 370,000 jobs.
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20Syria Syrian rebels retake Aleppo.
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27United States President Biden has pardoned his son Hunter for felony gun and tax-evasion convictions. Biden had previously said he would not do so.
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13United States Nearly a month after the election, the Harris campaign is continuing its fundraising efforts.
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8the World Pokémon Go Data ‘Adding Amplitude to War Is Obviously an Issue,’ Niantic Exec Says regarding their players' data-based AI model
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31United States Trump has picked vehement conspiracy theorist Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI. Kash has previously testified in court that all the classified documents Trump kept in Mar-a-Lago for over a year were declassified when he was still president, and that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen by Joe Biden.
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15United States Trump has picked Jared Kushner's father, felon Charles Kushner, to be Ambassador to France.
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25United StatesBrazilRussiaIndiaChinaSouth AfricaIranEgyptEthiopiaUnited Arab Emirates Donald Trump says he will impose a 100% tariff on the BRICS geopolitical coalition of non-Western countries if the group moves away from trading using the U.S. dollar.