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RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?

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Icon wigo world alt tilted.svg Keep up to date with all the interesting world news and current events that relate to RationalWiki's mission here. The most popular entries are found at Best of the world and the older entries are found in the archives.

Voting is meant to reflect the quality and relevance of a news item — not whether said item brings good or bad news.

What is going on?

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of Spider-Man!
Extra! Extra!

April 2025

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15SpainEuropean Union A joint European investigation spearheaded by a Spanish newspaper, has found that over 5000 European women have had cross border abortions, mainly due to differing term limits. The biggest was Germany to the Netherlands with over 1200, next was Portugal to Spain with over 500.
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18IsraelPalestine Israeli soldiers murder Red Crescent Aid workers.
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30ArmeniaEuropean Union Armenia has passed a bill to start the long accession process of joining the European Union.
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38United KingdomEnglandRussell Brand has been charged with rape, indecent assault and sexual assault for incidents between 1999 and 2005.
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30United KingdomEnglandUnited States 64-year-old Livia Tossici-Bell is found guilty of breaking the Public Spaces Protection Order by protesting outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth. Her case drew the attention of the US State Department, expressing concern about respect for and protection of freedom of expression in the UK, and Vice President J. D. Vance.
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16the WorldTrans flag.svg YouTube removes gender identity protections from its hate speech policy.
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36United States "Liberation Day" tariffs have wiped 140 billion dollars from the crypto market within hours.
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29United KingdomWales Researchers in Wales are discovering those who received the shingles vaccine Zostavax, are 20% less likely to later develop the crippling mental condition of dementia.
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31LuxembourgEuropean UnionGay Pride Flag.svg The Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union has given an opinion that all member states must recognise all marriage certificates of other member states, including those which allow same-sex marriage, for purposes of freedom of movement.
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41United Statesthe World Trump tariffs the world; 10% minimum, up to 50% on 'worst offenders' (running a trade surplus with the US). Even uninhabited islands, home only to penguins and other wildlife, got hit with a Trump tariff.
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25United StatesNew York. New York City. Mayor Eric Adams's corruption charges dismissed at the request of the Trump-led justice department, not on account of the charges being false but because they supposedly interfered in his ability to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
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25Canada Chief Atomwaffen Division propagandist "Dark Foreigner" is found guilty on terrorism charges and faces potential sentencing of life in prison.
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21France A French TV investigation reports that AI is being used to create thousands of very comprehensive realistic fake news websites, however they are with are riddled with errors. They are used solely to extract advertising money, which can reach thousands of dollars.

March 2025

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13Argentina Argentina's poverty rate fell to 38 per cent in the second half of last year — down from 53 per cent in the first half of the year, this is after the implementation of a policy program of “shock therapy” by current president Javier Milei in the effort to control inflation.
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16FranceRussia According to the Kremlin, Le Pen ban is a 'violation of democratic norms'
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36United States Executives of multiple large companies say they feel intimidated to advertise on X (formerly Twitter) again, citing Musk's political appointment and influence in Trump's administration.
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32the WorldOpen Source genetic database OpenSNP shuts down to protect users from "authoritarian governments".
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46FranceA French court has found Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement. This means that, unless the decision is overturned on appeal, she is banned from running for political office for the next 5 years.
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29United States Trump proposes using an alleged loophole in the constitution to allow him to serve a third term and bypass the 22nd amendment. Sounds a little familiar don'tcha think?
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35United States What could go wrong? DOGE looks to migrate the Social Security Administration's software systems off legacy COBOL in a matter of months. For comparison, nearly all large companies that have performed the same software migration struggled to successfully do it in years.
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17United StatesUtah. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said water fluoridation is dangerous. Now Utah has become the first US state to ban it.
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18United StatesFar right propagandist Tim Pool has reportedly joined the White House press pool.
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31United StatesTop US vaccine official Doctor Peter Marks has officially resigned from his government post because of RFK Jr's bullshit.
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31the WorldAround the world, many people are leaving their childhood religions behind. Christianity and Buddhism in particular have seen the largest declines.
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29United StatesScientists at Scripps Research publish research which could lead to a universal vaccine against coronaviruses, including COVID-19 and the common cold.
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27United StatesGreenlandDenmarkTo avoid planned protests, Second Lady Usha Vance's planned days-long "cultural tour" of Greenland was changed to a visit of just a few hours to a US military base there by Mr. and Mrs. Vance. J. D. Vance tried to make it sound like the US wants to peacefully take over control of Greenland from Denmark. But that's not what Donald's been saying, is it?
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28United KingdomLaurence Fox is going to be back in court on April 24, charged with a sexual offence after sharing an "upskirting" image of TV pundit Narinder Kaur on X without her consent.
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32United StatesTrump signs an executive order requiring "proof of citizenship" in order to vote. Keep in mind he doesn't actually have the power to do this, as only the states have the power to regulate elections.
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25United StatesSupreme Court upholds Biden-era restrictions on so-called "ghost gun" kits.
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49PalestinePalestinians take part in largest anti-Hamas protests in Gaza since start of war.
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26United KingdomEnglandTrans flag.svg The resignation of a professor accused of transphobia 4 years ago leads to the University of Sussex getting fined £585,000 for failing to uphold freedom of speech. Fearful this could leave institutions "powerless to prevent abusive, bullying and harassing speech", the university plans to appeal the ruling.
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35United StatesSignal chat scandal update: Multiple Trump administration officials denied that anything shared in the Signal chat was classified. So, The Atlantic has now published the attack plans shared on the chat. (Quote highlight from Hegseth: "We are currently clean on OPSEC.")
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25United StatesRFK, Jr appoints antivaxxer goon to lead "study" investigating the bullshit vaccine-autism link.
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19United StatesFlorida. Florida has a bill in the works to lift some child labor laws to fill the void left by deported migrant workers.
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12PalestineIsraelIsraeli security cabinet approves mass ethnic cleansing plan for Gaza.
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23Isle of ManThe parliament of the Isle of Man becomes the first in the British Isles to approve assisted dying.
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34JapanAfter an investigation spurred by the assassination of Shinzo Abe, a Tokyo District court has ordered the dissolution of the Unification Church in Japan after it determined that the church forced members to make donations and buy religious goods.
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24PalestineIsrael Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was arrested by Israeli police after being brutally attacked by Israeli settlers. Update: Ballal has since been freed.
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35United States The Atlantic: The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans. The Guardian: White House inadvertently texted top-secret Yemen war plans to journalist. Trump cabinet members added Atlantic editor to Signal chat discussing strikes on Houthis. This is what you get when hire people for loyalty over competence.
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29United StatesTexas. Gay Pride Flag.svg Federal court rules Texas A&M drag ban to be unconstitutional.
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27GreenlandUnited StatesOutgoing Greenlandic prime minister Múte Egede has condemned unofficial proposed visits by second lady Usha Vance and national security advisor Mike Waltz to the island nation, especially during a sensitive time of post election government transition.
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36United StatesCanada In an interview with Breitbart, Alberta Premier and Canadian traitor Danielle Smith said she asked Trump's administration to hold off on tariffs until after the election, as they are hurting Poilievre's campaign and benefitting the Liberals. Additionally, she mentions that she believes Poilievre, if elected, would be more "in-sync" with Trump's administration.
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19United States Donald Trump reverses an executive order signed by LBJ in 1965 that prohibited federal contractors from having segregated restaurants, waiting rooms, and fountains.
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25European UnionUnited KingdomUnited States A number of European countries including the UK, Germany, Denmark and Finland have updated their travel guidance for visiting the U.S., advising to be wary of the changing situation against their nationals.
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18Canada And they're off! Newly chosen leader Mark Carney has asked Governor General Mary Simon to dissolve parliament, and call an election for April 28th. Polling company 338 Canada has put the current Liberals on track for a narrow majority.
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23United StatesTexas. Austin rents tumble 22% from peak. They built more housing in case you haven't guessed what happened.
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27United StatesThe Streisand effect strikes again: "Meta scrambled to silence a tell-all book. Now it's a bestseller."
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-21United StatesUnited KingdomCommonwealth of Nations Donald Trump wants the US to join the Commonwealth of Nations
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7BrazilBandeira do Pará.svg Part of the Amazon rainforest is being felled in order to build a highway for the COP30 climate summit being held in Belém.
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37United StatesMAGA influencer and Fox News guest who made his fame filming himself harassing homeless people has been charged with child sexual abuse.
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13United StatesThere is a bill in the works to repeal Section 230.
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19United StatesMarco Rubio removes queer people and women from the annual human rights report. He also removed sections on disabled rights and government corruption.
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20United StatesEl SalvadorTrump wants to send American citizens who vandalize Tesla vehicles to El Salvador.
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27United StatesRegulators have recalled nearly all Cybertrucks.
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27United StatesTesla stock fell after the US Secretary of Commerce, in what was definitely not a conflict of interest, officially recommended people to buy Tesla stock.
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32FranceUnited States A French space researcher has had his electronic devices confiscated, ESTA visa refused and been expelled; after CBP officers found anti-Trump remarks on his phone. Authorities told him they had found messages "that express hatred towards Trump and can be qualified as terrorism.”
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20United StatesCanadaICE detained a white Canadian citizen for 2 weeks for no apparent legal reason.
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26United StatesNorth Dakota. Environmental charity Greenpeace says it may have to go into bankruptcy after a North Dakotan court ordered the charity to pay $650 million in defamation damages to a Texan oil firm over the Dakota Access Pipeline.
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29 United StatesDonald Trump (who previously called criticisms of judges that made rulings in his favor "totally illegal"), along with several other Republicans, call for the impeachment of judge James Boasberg after he issued a (largely ignored) temporary restraining order regarding Trump's deportation of 250 Venezuelans from America to an El Salvador prison without any due process whatsoever. This led John Roberts to issue a rare statement rebuking the calls for impeachment. Predictably, fascist commentators like Mike Cernovich, Catturd, and The Federalist respond with calls to impeach Roberts, or even do away with the Supreme Court altogether.
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22United StatesTrump to declare "illicit" fentanyl a "weapon of mass destruction," per draft executive order.
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32United StatesTrans flag.svg Federal judge has ruled Trump's transgender military ban to be unconstitutional.
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33IsraelEuropean UnionResearch has discovered that for the first time more Israelis are emigrating from Israel to Europe, than Jews are moving to Israel from Europe. One expert says the main reason for the emigration is increasing authoritarianism of the Israeli government.
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25IsraelPalestineIsraeli strikes kill over 400 in Gaza, say Palestinians, threatening total truce collapse
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32United StatesYoung scientists are seeing their futures vanish before their eyes because of Trump and Musk's unconstitutional funding cuts.
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29United StatesColorado. Denver ICE raids targeting 100 gang members only yielded them a grand total of one gang member.
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19United StatesPrivate equity is swooping into Social Security on the back of Musk's soft coup.
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22United StatesThe NIH told scientists to scrub references to mRNA vaccines in their grant applications.
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17United StatesChinaChinese nationalists cheer as Trump dismantles the Voice of America media agency.
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16United StatesNew Mexico. ICE has disappeared 48 New Mexico residents.
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19United StatesMahmoud Khalil's arrest has caused a chilling effect on free speech at American campuses.
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25United States Thanks to Donald Trump's bellicose rhetoric and trade policies, international travel to the United States is expected to slide by 5 percent this year, depriving the country of billions of dollars
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26Serbia Serbia: Protesters flood Belgrade with Vucic under pressure A massive peaceful protest took place in Belgrade, Serbia. The police allegedly used an illegal sonic weapon against protesters. Later, the organization Kreni-Promeni opened a petition for an international investigation.
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37RussiaUnited KingdomUnited States "I consider this a good reason for Britain to cease to exist". As Trump thaws ties, Russia has a new public enemy number one.
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15United States Ten Democrats have voted for cloture on the government funding bill, basically allowing Trump and Musk to cut all the programs they want
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36FranceRussiaThe lower chamber of the French parliament, the Assemblée Nationale has voted 288-54, majority of which were far left, to expropriate seized Russian assets held in the country. The money would be used to support Ukraine.
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21United States America's largest poppers [amyl nitrate] manufacturer Double Scorpio has been raided and shut down by the FDA. Speculation is pointing to RFK Jr’s view that poppers cause AIDS, citing known AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg.
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21United StatesTexas. Trans flag.svg A Texas bill would make being transgender a felony.
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25United StatesMexicoICE has deported an American citizen child recovering from brain cancer to Mexico with her undocumented parents.
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25United States Measles outbreak expands across more US states. National health secretary seen hawking some french fries.
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20United StatesWest Virginia. Trans flag.svg Republicans in West Virginia have passed a bill allowing for "child genital exams" without parental consent. Update: A further amendment nullified J.B. Akers's amendment that allowed this.
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14United StatesTrans flag.svg Trump makes workers in organizations providing services for trans people ineligible for student loan forgiveness.
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32United Statesthe WorldThe US has been added to a global human rights watchlist because of Trump's fascist bullshit.
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19United StatesThe USDA has cut one billion dollars in funding for schools and food banks to buy food from local suppliers.
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19United StatesPanamaTrump has ordered the US military to begin planning an invasion to seize the Panama Canal.
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18United StatesTrump and Musk are trying to make it harder for parents to register kids for Social Security Numbers.
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26United StatesMeta puts stop on promotion of tell-all book by former employee: Social media company wins emergency arbitration ruling on book, Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
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34United StatesOklahoma. Robert Morris, the former Dallas megachurch pastor who resigned last year amid sexual abuse allegations, and former Donald Trump spiritual advisor, has been formally indicted in Oklahoma for five counts of child sex crimes that date back to the 1980s.
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20United StatesWashington. ICE agents in Spokane have violently arrested two immigrant men without warrants.
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29United StatesNew York. ICE is trying to deport a legal American resident for engaging in speech critical of Israel.
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22United KingdomUnited States According to the Home Office in 2024 over 6000 Americans applied for British nationality, a rise of over a quarter compared to the previous year.
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29United StatesPalestineIsrael60% of Democratic voters sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis.
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31United StatesMichigan. Four people from Michigan alternative medicine provider Oxford Center are charged with second degree murder and other crimes after an explosion in a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber kills a 5-year old child
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38United StatesUkraine Democratic Senator Mark Kelly visits Ukraine, posting on X "Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement has to protect Ukraine's security and can't be a giveaway to Putin." Elon Musk, who as a reminder has apparently been having regular calls with Putin since late 2022 as reported by The Wall Street Journal, responds by calling him a traitor.
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25United Statesthe District of Columbia. Crews have begun tearing up Washington DC's Black Lives Matter Plaza after the city was threatened with losing federal funding unless the words "BLACK LIVES MATTER" were painted over and the area renamed Liberty Plaza.
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38United StatesTesla stock dropped 15% on March 10, vaporizing $29 billion of Elon Musk's net worth in one day. Since December 2024, Tesla stock has lost 55% of its value.
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31PhilippinesPhilippines police have arrested former president Rodrigo Duterte on a warrant from the International Criminal Court charging him with crimes against humanity. He is the first Asian leader to be arrested on an ICC warrant.
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31United StatesThe National Cancer Institute has been censored from using a list of 23 words and phrases, including vaccines, autism, marijuana, abortion, autism, fluoride, measles, diversity, "gender ideology", and environmental justice
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44FranceUkraine French newspaper Le Figaro has revealed that JD Vance’s estranged cousin Nate Vance has been fighting on the frontline for the Ukrainian Da Vinci Wolves volunteer battalion for the last three years. Not surprisingly, he is very critical of JD’s position and behaviour on Ukraine.
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22IsraelPalestineAfter blocking aid shipments last week, Israel has now cut off electricity to Gaza, shutting down a desalination plant that was producing desperately-needed drinking water.
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26United StatesUS butterfly populations drop by 20% in two decades.
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17Canada The Liberal Party have chosen former Governor of the central bank, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Mark Carney as its next leader, replacing Justin Trudeau. He would be asked by the Governor General, Mary Simon to be the next prime minister, despite not being a MP.
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43United StatesMontana. Trans flag.svg Powerful speeches from trans Democrats in Montana cause 29 Republicans to cross the aisle and vote against anti-trans bills.
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18United StatesSam Bankman-Fried is lobbying Trump to get a pardon.
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21United StatesGay Pride Flag.svg The DHS has quietly removed protections against surveillance based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
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23United StatesTens of thousands of online posts and images that are deemed to have anything to do with the dreaded DEI have been marked for deletion by the Pentagon. They include references to achievements in the US military by African Americans and women. They also include photos of people whose surname happened to be Gay and of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Enola Gay.
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20United StatesTrans flag.svg The Trump administration has transferred transgender women to male prisons in defiance of court orders. Some of the women have described being sexually assaulted by prison guards.
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16United StatesParapsychologist Charles Tart dies at the age of eighty-seven, let us know if you hear from him.
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26United StatesSouth Africa Donald Trump signs an executive order suspending all aid to South Africa (apart from the Pepfar HIV/AIDS program). Trump's motivation, as specifically cited in the order, is alleged "unjust racial discrimination" against white Afrikaners.
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22United StatesMexicoCanadaAfter the stock market sank in response to Trump's tariff announcement, he paused the tariffs for many Mexican and Canadian imports for one month.
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13United StatesSkeptical investigator Joe Nickell dies at the age of eighty.
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31IsraelPalestineUnited NationsOnly 4 days after Israel halted all humanitarian aid shipments into Gaza, the World Food Program says its dwindling supply will force it to reduce rations to keep feeding people. Rights groups call this a "starvation policy," while Netanyahu claims he's trying to pressure Hamas to agree to a more favorable ceasefire deal.
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44United StatesFlorida. Florida has opened a criminal inquiry into the Tate brothers.
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43United StatesMexicoCanadaChinaBegun, the trade wars have. Trump's long-threatened 25% blanket tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports have gone into effect. Tariffs on Chinese imports have also gone up to 20%; China is retaliating with tariffs on US farm imports. Canada has pledged retaliatory tariffs as well.
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38United StatesUkraineRussia The White House, which is definitely not led by a Russian-asset, looks to give sanction relief to Russia while suspending offensive cybersecurity operations, the latter of which was later denied by the Department of Defense to have occured. This comes at the same time as pausing military aid to Ukraine.
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41ArgentinaUkraine Once an ardent Ukraine supporter, Javier Milei decides to follow Donald Trump's steps and turns his back on Zelenskyy.
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25United KingdomThe Royal Society has decided not to expel Elon Musk from its fellowship in spite of calls from over 3,400 scientists for it to do so. Two eminent scientists have resigned from their Royal Society fellowships in protest.
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20France French broadcasting regulator ARCOM has withdrawn the renewal of the broadcasting license of TV channel C8 over repeated breaches of the license in question. Such breaches included platforming homophobic and ableist hate speech on its daily talk show and showcasing an anti-abortion film.
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33United StatesEuropean Unionthe WorldElon Musk's embrace of Nazi shit is causing Tesla stock to plummet and sales in Europe to crash.
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18United StatesTexas. US natalist conference to host race-science promoters and eugenicists in Austin, Texas
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26United StatesNATOUnited NationsElon Musk publicly supports call for the United States to leave NATO and the United Nations
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28United StatesVoice of America, which is overseen by the US Agency for Global Media, has placed a chief national correspondent on paid absence for suspected "bias against the Trump administration" while his social media posts are reviewed. This is in accordance with an executive order by Trump directing the network that, "Failure to faithfully implement the President's policy is grounds for professional discipline, including separation."
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30United StatesRussiaChinaRussia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees, according to US intelligence.