RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?

From RationalWiki
(Redirected from WIGO:World)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
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?

(talk) (talk) (talk) (talk) (hic)
You gotta spin it to win it
Media
Icon media.svg
Stop the presses!
We want pictures
of Spider-Man!
Extra! Extra!

December 2024

upneutraldown
6United StatesGermany Elon Musk endorses fascist German party AfD in the run-up to the next election
upneutraldown
10United StatesUkraine Financial Times reports Trump has changed his position on military aid to Ukraine, and may continue supplying it.
upneutraldown
19United States Trump already looks to silence the press.
upneutraldown
16United States Trump calls for abolishing the debt ceiling.
upneutraldown
16PalestineIsrael Israel has been systematically (ab)using children as human shields in Gaza since October 2023.
upneutraldown
15United States Luigi Mangione has been federally charged.
upneutraldown
21PalestineIsrael Israel has been deliberately restricting the supply of water to Gaza.
upneutraldown
41RussiaUkraine Ukraine kills Russian chemical weapons chief in Moscow
upneutraldown
22IsraelLebanonSyria Not content with just colonizing Palestine, some Israeli settlers are now eyeing land in Syria and Lebanon.
upneutraldown
22United 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".Wikipedia
upneutraldown
18United 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.Wikipedia
upneutraldown
14United StatesTexas. Law proposed in Texas would ban drugstores from selling sex toys.
upneutraldown
19United States Trump reportedly considering privatizing the US Postal Service.
upneutraldown
17South 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.
upneutraldown
24PalestineIsrael Israel has been blocking shipments of food from entering Northern Gaza for two months now, putting a million people at risk of starvation.
upneutraldown
26United 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.
upneutraldown
28United States The burial site of the people Andrew Jackson enslaved was lost, until now.
upneutraldown
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
upneutraldown
26the World Several drugs, including fentanyl, found in bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico.
upneutraldown
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.
upneutraldown
37IsraelSyria Israel is now stealing more land in Syria
upneutraldown
44Syria 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.
upneutraldown
53United States Nick Fuentes arrested after throwing a woman who showed up at his house and rang his doorbell down stairs and pepper spraying her.
upneutraldown
47IsraelPalestine Amnesty International releases report saying Israel is committing intentional and calculated genocide against Palestinians. Israel's Foreign Ministry calls report "entirely false".
upneutraldown
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 DumptyWikipedia to be head of the IRS.
upneutraldown
66United 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.
upneutraldown
13United States Donald Trump nominates CEO of Shift4, commercial astronaut and friend of Elon Musk, Jared Isaacman to be the next administrator of NASA.
upneutraldown
20United StatesTrans flag.svg Supreme Court hears arguments in challenge to gender-affirming care ban
upneutraldown
27United States Neo-Nazis, emboldened by Trump's Second Coming, are on the march across the US.
upneutraldown
26United StatesMinnesota. Trans flag.svg A crowd cheered as two transgender women were assaulted at a Minneapolis rail station.
upneutraldown
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.
upneutraldown
25MexicoUnited StatesTexas. Trump's tariffs on Mexico would be devastating for Texas, leading to a loss of 370,000 jobs.
upneutraldown
20Syria Syrian rebels retake Aleppo.
upneutraldown
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.
upneutraldown
14United States Nearly a month after the election, the Harris campaign is continuing its fundraising efforts.
upneutraldown
8the World Pokémon Go Data ‘Adding Amplitude to War Is Obviously an Issue,’ Niantic Exec Says regarding their players' data-based AI model
upneutraldown
30United 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.
upneutraldown
15United States Trump has picked Jared Kushner's father, felon Charles Kushner, to be Ambassador to France.
upneutraldown
25United StatesBrazilRussiaIndiaChinaSouth AfricaIranEgyptEthiopiaUnited Arab Emirates Donald Trump says he will impose a 100% tariff on the BRICSWikipedia geopolitical coalition of non-Western countries if the group moves away from trading using the U.S. dollar.

November 2024

upneutraldown
15United States Hal Lindsey, end times purveyor and writer of The Late Great Planet Earth, has died at 95.
upneutraldown
20United StatesMexico Don the Dove is poised to order an invasion of Mexico. The only debate is to how the invasion will unfold.
upneutraldown
22United Statesthe World Shen Yun was sued by one of their former dancers, who accused them of forced labor and human trafficking
upneutraldown
11United States Donald Trump appoints Great Barrington Declaration writer Jay Bhattacharya as the next NIH director.
upneutraldown
27IsraelLebanonUnited States Israel and Hezbollah have both agreed to an American-brokered ceasfire deal.
upneutraldown
19IsraelLebanonUnited States Probe shows that Israel used American-supplied bomb kit in likely deliberate attack on journalists in Lebanon.
upneutraldown
18United KingdomTrans flag.svg UK Supreme Court will consider whether trans women with gender-recognition paperwork should be legally considered women under the Equality Act.
upneutraldown
13United States At the request of special counsel Jack Smith, a federal judge has dismissed the criminal charges against Donald Trump for his attempts to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election.
upneutraldown
30United StatesGay Pride Flag.svg Trump's election has seen increasing numbers of women and queer people taking up firearms training and gun ownership in response.
upneutraldown
12United KingdomIsrael Foucault's boomerangWikipedia strikes again: British troops are using Israeli arms technology tested in Gaza.
upneutraldown
22United StatesMassachusetts. Massachusetts electorate votes to allow Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize.
upneutraldown
20United States A Marine Corps poolee has been kicked out of the USMC after admitting to having ties to Neo-Nazi groups.
upneutraldown
18United States Trump is refusing to sign the president-elect ethics agreement, something he is both legally required to do and also signed into law back in 2020.
upneutraldown
11United StatesNew York. New York judge indefinitely delays sentencing for Trump's felony convictions, will allow Trump's legal team to move to dismiss.
upneutraldown
22IsraelPalestine Israel sanctions Haaretz, which was basically the only Israeli news outlet to be remotely critical of Israel's conduct during the ongoing genocide. "Only democracy in the Middle East", people.
upneutraldown
17United StatesTennessee. Christian nationalists are descending on Jackson County, Tennessee with the aim of creating a dominionist Mecca.
upneutraldown
20United States The House has voted 219-184 to pass a bill that would empower the Treasury Department to eliminate the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit it unilaterally deems to be "supporting terrorism." 15 Democrats voted in favor. ACLU statement here.
upneutraldown
21Philippines Vice-president of the Philippines Sara Duterte, daughter of infamous Rodrigo Duterte, says she has contracted an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of infamous dictator Ferdinand Marcos,Wikipedia should she herself be killed.
upneutraldown
21United StatesIllinois. An Illinoisan woman faces felony hate crime charges after harassing a man and assaulting his wife for simply wearing a hoodie with "Palestine" on it.
upneutraldown
20United StatesGeorgia (U.S. State). Georgia fires entire maternal morality panel after they report on abortion ban deaths.
upneutraldown
22Germany German Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck has died.
upneutraldown
26United StatesKansas. Trans flag.svg Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) has introduced the the "Defining Male and Female Act of 2024," which seeks to legally erase transgender people. The bill will likely fail due to the Democratic Senate majority, but Marshall can resubmit it next year, when the Democratic majority ends.
upneutraldown
20United StatesIsrael The Senate has rejected Bernie's measure to block arms sales to Israel.
upneutraldown
21United States Trump wants Republicans to "kill" bill that would protect journalists from intimidation.
upneutraldown
10United States Pam Bondi selected as Trump's new presumptive Attorney General (AG) nominee after Matt Gaetz withdrew. Bondi is Florida's former state AG & has ties to (but isn't a member of) the Church of Scientology, particularly the branch in Clearwater, FloridaWikipedia where Scientologists own a large proportion of the downtown area. Update: She also seems to have a history of lobbying for foreign governments, including having registered as a foreign agent of Qatar.
upneutraldown
27Brazil Jair Bolsonaro and aides indicted for their roles in the 2022 coup attempt
upneutraldown
27United States Matt Gaetz withdraws Attorney General nomination.
upneutraldown
16RussiaUkraine Russia fires intercontinental ballistic missile in attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
upneutraldown
29Israelthe World ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged Gaza war crimes. His office also claims "ICC warrant for his arrest over alleged war crimes is "antisemitic" and "absurd""
upneutraldown
16United StatesNorth Carolina. Republican-controlled North Carolina House of Representatives has voted to strip power from incoming Democratic governor and attorney general.
upneutraldown
29United StatesPalestineIsrael One of the largest unions in the US has backed Bernie's bid to block Israel arms deal.
upneutraldown
20the World Documents obtained and released by Greenpeace suggest the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), which includes membership of companies ExxonMobil and Shell, was setup with the implicit goal to “change the conversation” away from plastic bans and productions caps to just recycling; the viability and effectiveness of plastic recycling has been called into serious question by environmental advocates.
upneutraldown
29India New Delhi declares a state of emergency due to extreme air pollution. India's National Air Quality IndexWikipedia gives a general AQI score of 50-100 as satisfactory for public health and 400-500 as severe; in the past two days the AQI score for New Delhi was at 1785.
upneutraldown
13United States Trump has picked Mehmet Öz as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
upneutraldown
24United States Trump's Secretary of Defense pick, Pete Hegseth, had been flagged as an "insider threat" by fellow service members. Hegseth has a tattoo of the phrase "Deus Vult" on his inner bicep; the phrase has significant use among far-right, Christian-nationalist, and white-supremacist groups.
upneutraldown
24PalestineIsrael A Gaza school burned to the ground hours after aid arrived. Witnesses say IDF soldiers were responsible for the arson.
upneutraldown
11United States Trump nominates Fox host Sean Duffy to serve as Secretary of Transportation.
upneutraldown
12Hong KongChina Hong Kong sentences 45 pro-democracy leaders to prison terms of up to 10 years
upneutraldown
18United States Matt Gaetz, Trump's announced nominee to lead the US Department of Justice, did reportedly pay for sex with two women, according to a lawyer representing two women who testified for the House Ethics Committee investigation. Additionally, one of the women said she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor, but that he learned she was underaged then stopped having sex with her. The new Senate Majority Leader supports Trump's proposed use of recess appointments in case this proves controversial.
upneutraldown
-17GermanyHungaryItaly Germany reiterates the country's refusal to supply long-range missiles to Ukraine. Italy and Hungary are also opposed, with the latter stating "This is not only undemocratic, but also extremely dangerous".
upneutraldown
-1United StatesUkraineRussiaFranceUnited KingdomSwedenFinlandNorway President Biden has authorized Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike military targets further within Russian territory. Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer agree with the decision and will send some of their missiles to Ukraine as well. Putin responded by saying that he will "take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face". Sweden, Norway & Finland have issued pamphlets discussing what citizens should do if the war escalates to their countries.
upneutraldown
16United StatesAfghanistan Trump is compiling list of military officers involved in US withdrawal from Afghanistan, despite the fact that Trump was the one who negotiated the withdrawal in the first place.
upneutraldown
20GermanyRussiaUkraine After 2 years of silence, German Chancellor Scholz has started negotiations with Putin about Ukraine, telling him that he "should be open to negotiating with Ukraine". Putin, on the other hand, demanded that "any peace deal should acknowledge Russia's territorial gains" and that that "Kiev should renounce joining the NATO".
upneutraldown
25United States Mike Johnson wants to keep "potentially damaging" Ethics Panel report about Matt Gaetz a secret.
upneutraldown
20United States Trump-appointed judge blocks new Biden rule that would have expanded overtime protections for millions of workers.
upneutraldown
21IsraelPalestineUnited Nations The UNGA votes in favour to affirm Palestinian's right to self determination. Among those voting against are the usual suspects and Argentina.
upneutraldown
25the World Since Musk became part of Trump presidency, several companies and organisations have left 𝕏 due to the site's toxicity and disinformation; including newspapers The Guardian and La Vanguardia, German football club St Pauli, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, Austrian Airlines & Clifton Suspension Bridge.
upneutraldown
6United States Trump has picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
upneutraldown
27United StatesPalestineIsrael Bernie Sanders has announced that a vote to block "certain offensive weapons sales" to Israel is in the works.
upneutraldown
29United States Dennis Prager, the founder of PragerU, has been hospitalized because of a back injury.
upneutraldown
62United States The Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars site out of bankruptcy, plans to turn it into a parody of itself
upneutraldown
5United States Trump has picked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.
upneutraldown
7United States Trump has picked Matt Gaetz (who had been under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct) as Attorney General and Russian asset Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence.
upneutraldown
19United States Trump announces his Secretary of Defense will be Fox News host Pete Hegseth, who previously refused to wash his hands for ten years and denied germs exist since he can't see them.
upneutraldown
23IsraelPalestineUnited States Israel has failed to comply with the US' humanitarian access demands in Gaza, Refugee International reports
upneutraldown
35United States The progressive wing of the Democratic Party is seeking to take over party leadership amid the fallout of the Harris campaign's electoral loss.
upneutraldown
6United States Trump has picked dog killer and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem to be Secretary of Homeland Security.
upneutraldown
9United States Trump has picked ex-Arkansas governor and evangelical theocrat Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel.
upneutraldown
7United States Trump has picked Elise Stefanik as Ambassador to the U.N. under his administration, and Lee Zeldin as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Good grief.
upneutraldown
29United States Trump's plans for day one of his new presidency include mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, pardoning January 6th coup participants, rolling back protections for transgender youth in schools, and ending the criminal cases against him.
upneutraldown
31United Nationsthe World Lead executive for COP29 climate change conference caught on camera facilitating oil and gas deals for event. This is the second year in a row that event officials have been found striking fossil fuel deals.
upneutraldown
28Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz's fragile coalition government has collapsed after he fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democratic Party. Scholz says there will be a confidence vote on 15 January and elections in March.
upneutraldown
17United States It appears that for the second time, Trump has prevented the US from having their first female President. Unlike Trump, his opponent will concede the race.
upneutraldown
17United Statesthe World "You can’t hide, because we’re constantly looking" says the director of the National Reconnaissance Office, which is working with SpaceX to create a network of at least 100 satellites to monitor American adversaries around the world.
upneutraldown
27United StatesTennessee. Tennessee Neo-Nazi has been caught attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction to destroy an energy facility.
upneutraldown
46Palestine The situation in north Gaza is "apocalyptic" as the whole population is at risk of imminent death, warns the UN.
upneutraldown
41United States As data centers for AI strain the power grid, bills rise for everyday customers: The huge demand for electricity from data centers driving the AI boom has fallout for everyday ratepayers. Regulators are concerned.
upneutraldown
23United Kingdom A Polish man living in the UK, has been sentenced for 2½ years under the Terrorism Act for claiming to be part of the Wagner Group, and wearing its insignia during a Viking re-enactment.