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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Extra! Extra!

August 2025

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1United StatesRudy Giuliani has been hospitalized after being injured in a car crash.
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14United StatesAnti-vaxxer trump-FDA official Vinay Prasad silenced one of his critics on YouTube, claiming copyright violation
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15Indonesia Mass protests against inequality and economic problems in Indonesia.
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12United States Wall Street largely silent as Trump intervenes in business. The Financial Times contrasts this with business leaders' "vociferous" criticism of NYC mayor-hopeful Zohran Mamdani. Though some CEOs did take to Fortune to call Trump a commie.
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15United StatesMinnesota. Trump's government cut funding to mass shooting prevention programs for Minnesota, meant to identify potential shooters before they attack, a month before yet another school shooting happened this week in Minnesota. In a journal, the shooter was baffled that the police hadn't noticed signs of the impending attack.
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15IsraelYemenIsrael has assassinated the Houthi prime minister.
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5United StatesVenezuelaThe US Navy is amassing warships off the coast of Venezuela.
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12United StatesThe Trump regime is offering to hold military funeral honors for the slain January 6th insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt.
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15United Kingdom Big scientific review estimates 90% of middle-aged and older autistic adults in the UK are undiagnosed. Bad day for anti-vaxxers, including a certain someone, who wanted to blame the MMR jabs for the uptick in diagnoses among younger people. It likely turns out to have just been increased awareness about autism that led to more diagnoses.
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15United Kingdom The BBC is forced to apologize after a performance at the Proms is interrupted by the group Jewish Artists for Palestine.
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15United Statesthe World At least 25 countries have entirely stopped shipping small packages to the United States due to the end of something called a "de minimis exception". Many shoppers had their orders cancelled after the rule, which has been around nearly a century, was changed. The change reportedly caused "chaos" in retail businesses, as well as among various hobbyists.
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13United States Scientists applying for jobs with the National Weather Service are tested for loyalty to Trump's political agenda.
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11United States The new head of the CDC has no medical training. He is buddies with Peter Thiel though.
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10United States Federal government's Medicare agency pilots using AI to determine whether to accept or deny applications for medical procedures. The agency, CMS, is currently led by Mehmet Oz.
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18United StatesPalestineUnited Nations The US revokes the visas of Palestinian officials including president Mahmoud Abbas thus preventing them from attending the UN general assembly. Further isolating yourself on the world stage because you want to defend a genocidal and apartheid ethnostate is certainly a choice.
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16AustraliaA journalist mentions anti-immigration MP Bob Katter's Lebanese heritage. Katter then threatens to punch said journalist in the mouth.
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15United States Trump revokes Secret Service protection from former VP Kamala Harris.
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14United States Acting US CDC director fired after she "refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts".
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12United States JD Vance says he's ready to be president, and also Trump's health is just fine. There's been speculation about Trump's health for a variety of reasons, and most recently because of the bruising spotted on his hand that he's occasionally covered with makeup.
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13GreenlandDenmark Denmark apologizes to Inuit people in Greenland who were subject to birth control between 1966 and 1970 without their consent.
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25United States Republicans in US Congress open an investigation into Wikipedia, alleging "bias" in Israel articles. The congresspersons reference a report by the ADL, whom in 2024 Wikipedia editors found to be unreliable on Israel/Palestine topics.
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24United StatesGreenlandDenmark Danish sources found Americans "conducting covert operations in Greenland" to "infiltrate society and promote its secession from Denmark to the US". The Danish government summoned the top US diplomat to Denmark as a result, and the US government responded Denmark just needs to "calm down".
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22United StatesWashington. Firefighters beating back a wildfire in Washington state were arrested by federal immigration agents.
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19United StatesRussiaUkraine American officials held secret talks with Russians about oil deals involving ExxonMobil alongside the Ukraine peace talks held in Alaska this August.
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27United StatesCalifornia. Parents of a California teenager who died by suicide have sued Sam Altman and his company OpenAI, claiming ChatGPT "coached" their son into taking his own life.
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19ArgentinaArgentina investigates alleged kickback scheme entangling President Milei's inner circle
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35United StatesTexas. California. In response to the Texas GOP's horrifically gerrymandered new congressional map, California Democrats have passed a redistricting bill of their own. The California electorate is now slated to vote on this proposal in November.
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34United StatesFlorida. Florida has been ordered to shut down the "Alligator Alcatraz" concentration camp because of its environmental impact.
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20United StatesMaryland. John Bolton recently had his home raided by the FBI.
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20United StatesMaine. There are now three Shakers in the world.
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38United StatesJames Dobson is dead.
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28United StatesTrans flag.svg Trump has banned federal health insurance from covering gender-affirming care, but makes sure to allow for faith-based counselling services.
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24IsraelHundreds of thousands of protesters gather in Tel Aviv to demand an end to Gaza war.
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23United StatesOn Monday 18 August, Donald Trump claimed to have ended six wars. On Tuesday 19 August, he claimed to have ended seven. He hasn't really ended any.
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18United StatesNew York. New York City. Zohran Mamdani is widening his lead over all other candidates in the New York City mayoral race, according to recent polling.
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34United StatesAnother Trump official has been outed as a Nazi.
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28United StatesCalifornia. Trans flag.svg Federal park ranger fired for helping to display a trans flag at Yosemite National Park. It was pointed out that other flags had previously been allowed to be displayed. The ranger intends to challenge the firing under free speech rights, citing a Trump administration executive order.
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41United StatesNevada. Israel Israeli cybersecurity official Tom Alexandrovich – charged with luring a child for a sex act – was released on bond after a Nevada sting operation. News organizations from different sides are highlighting how strange it is to let a suspect (who isn't a diplomat) go out of the country without facing trial or bail conditions, especially since the other suspects involved in the same case are facing such legal ramifications.
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35United StatesRussiaUkraine Documents immediately leaked from the (apparently fruitless) Trump–Putin meeting about Ukraine. Trump's team left the papers behind in a publicly accessible printer at a hotel.
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27United States Smithsonian museums subjected to an ideological "review" by the Trump White House.
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16United StatesBrazilIsraelEl SalvadorSouth Africa Trump's Department of State revises its international human rights report to be less critical of perceived political allies to Trump, such as Israel and El Salvador, more critical of perceived political foes like Brazil and South Africa (given examples).
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20United StatesNew York. PalestineIsrael Jewish federation from New York donates $1 million to aid civilians in Gaza. There continues to be extreme starvation in the Gaza Strip as Israel blocks much of the food aid, and people are regularly dying of malnutrition. Some very limited food aid is being let in, but this is highly insufficient; many people in Gaza require specialized nutritional care at this point.
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16United StatesLouisiana. Louisiana attorney-general sues the gaming platform Roblox. She said it's "the perfect place for pedophiles". Roblox has been in the news for this recently after banning a "predator hunter" and YouTuber called Schlep from the platform. U.S. congressman Ro Khanna also released a petition to pressure the company.
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15United States U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi exposes "Deep State" conspiracy. A man is accused of throwing a sandwich at a CBP officer. The sandwich was reportedly "sub-style". He's now been released from jail.
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11United States The White House is keeping a list of corporations with a "loyalty rating" for how much they're promoting Trump's agenda.
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12Russiathe World Russia banned the international group Reporters Without Borders.
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8United StatesRussiaUkraine Trump and Putin meet in Alaska to discuss Ukraine.
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13United States The Trump administration closed many of the government investigations into Big Tech companies.
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11United States OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: yes, A.I. is in a bubble. He compares it to the dot-com bubble which crashed down in 2000. This comes as AI data centers have overtaken all consumer spending in the United States, measured by contribution to GDP growth. Brian Merchant: "spending on IT for AI is so big it might be making up for economic losses from the tariffs, serving as a private sector stimulus program."
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20United StatesUnited KingdomEnglandVacationing J. D. Vance is turned away from an English pub after staff refuse to serve him.
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30United Statesthe District of Columbia. Citing a non-existent crime wave, Trump has taken over the DC police and unleashed the National Guard on the capitol.
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20Serbia Coordinated attack by the Serbian Progressive Party activists on people of Bačka Palanka and Vrbas
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30United Kingdom British government asks citizens to delete old emails to stop droughts. It comes after the government led the charge to "turbocharge AI" in Britain; AI data centers are well known to use obscene amounts of fresh water. This exact scenario was warned against in a February 2025 BBC News report.
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26United StatesKentucky. Gay Pride Flag.svg Kim Davis has formally asked SCOTUS to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.
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23IndonesiaFlag of Aceh, Indonesia.svgGay Pride Flag.svg Two men subjected to being publicly caned eighty times for hugging and kissing each other in Indonesia
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31United States Trump administration dismantling some anti human trafficking services amidst Epstein scandal.
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30United States US education secretary, former wrestling CEO Linda McMahon, interrupted by a hacker playing circus music at her event.
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24United States FEMA employees reassigned to ICE during hurricane season.
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20United States Somebody keeps robbing US National Guard armories, possibly with insider assistance.
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23United KingdomTrans flag.svg British government plans to restrict all trans people's access from both male and female spaces, "including shops, museums, gyms, prisons, and NHS departments, among others." A trans man would potentially be disallowed in both a male space or female space, for example, based on the strange guidance the EHRC created.
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22United StatesTexas. LebanonThe Lebanese-born co-owner of Trump Burger, a Texas chain of Donald Trump-themed fast food restaurants, has been detained by ICE. In response, ICE has said that "what restaurant you own or political beliefs you might have" make no difference.
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25UkraineRussia Russia creates 'catalogue' of stolen Ukrainian children for adoption
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33United Statesthe District of Columbia. DOGE's Big Balls gets his ass kicked by two teenagers.
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17United Statesthe WorldTrans flag.svg Brown University is now "inaccessible" to transgender students after the university's cowardly capitulation to Trump.
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30the WorldWikipedia has decided to adopt a "speedy deletion policy" for AI slop articles.
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34IsraelPalestineThe Israeli government has reportedly decided to occupy Gaza. UPDATE: Now confirmed by Israel PM Netanyahu.
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44United Statesthe District of Columbia. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has decided to restore references to Donald Trump in its exhibit on presidential impeachments in the U.S., after the removal of those references triggered widespread backlash.
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25United StatesTexas. Illinois. In an attempt to block the vote on redrawing Texas' congressional map in a manner that favors Donald Trump in the 2026 midterms, the state's Democrats have fled Texas...for Illinois.
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36United StatesA new report has found that Elon Musk's DOGE has burned through almost 22 billion dollars' worth of taxpayers' cash.
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30United StatesTrump fires statistics chief due to poor economic statistics - they show his tariffs are not instantly making America wonderful (namely inflation and job creation), so they must be wrong. So now expect the new boss to give Americans the 'correct' news on that in the hope Americans stop blaming him. Alas, this is likely to make things worse because business and finance rely on accurate and reliable statistics.
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32United Statesthe District of Columbia. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has announced that it will cease operations in light of having lost $1.1 billion in federal funds; President and CEO Patricia Harrison said in a press release that she made the decision "despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans". The organization has funded programming on NPR, PBS, and the latter's predecessor, NET, for nearly six decades.
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21United StatesFlorida. Texas. Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of child sex trafficking and other offenses in relation to Jeffrey Epstein, has been sent to a minimum security prison in Texas after her meeting with the Department of Justice regarding Trump. A perk very rarely granted to people convicted of her crimes.
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18United StatesRussia In response to threats from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, President Trump claimed to have ordered the relocation of a pair of nuclear submarines to the "appropriate regions".
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19United States Apparently oblivious or indifferent to recent events, Trump names former NFL player Lawrence Taylor to lead a national youth fitness initiative. Taylor was convicted in 2011 for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.

July 2025

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17United StatesThe idiocy of DOGE continues; reported 50% budget cuts and 2k layoffs for NASA. So much for 'beating the Chinese to Mars' then.
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14United Statesthe District of Columbia. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has removed all references to Donald Trump from its exhibit on U.S. presidents who were impeached, but has indicated that those references will return in a future exhibition that would reference all impeachments.
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16United Statesthe District of Columbia. The White House Communications Director, Steven Cheung, is enraged over online criticism of Sydney Sweeney's ad for American Eagle Outfitters, describing it as "cancel culture run amok" and remarking that "this warped, moronic, and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024." The slogan used in the ad, "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans", has been criticized for its perceived homonymous reference to eugenics and white supremacy.
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9United StatesGeorgia (U.S. State). Trump scores a paper victory; Coca-Cola announces new cane sugar variant for US. Except Coca-Cola *already* has this product in the US. There is no suggestion that Coca-Cola 'Classic' will stop using HFCS. Or that other Coca-Cola lines (such as Fanta and Sprite) will cease using it either.
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12United StatesCalifornia. A California judge has extended temporary protection status for 60,000 Asian and Central American migrants after that status was revoked by the Trump administration.
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23United StatesTexas. The Texas State Legislature has announced a new redistricting plan which primarily targets the state's five largest cities, all of which are Democratic strongholds.
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17United StatesRhode Island. Brown University reached an agreement with the Trump administration, which restored its federal funding for the 2025-26 school year.
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31CanadaPalestineCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that his country will recognize a Palestinian state in the fall.
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14United StatesDonald Trump's defense attorney Emil Bove, who has been criticized for his role in the corruption case against Eric Adams and for attempting to investigate those who prosecuted those involved in the January 6 insurrection, was confirmed to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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20United StatesPennsylvania. His name is Jesus. He’s a carpenter. ICE arrested him.
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22Saint LuciaGay Pride Flag.svg St. Lucia's Supreme Court strikes down laws banning same-sex relations
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13United KingdomKeir Starmer says the UK will officially recognize the State of Palestine in September, unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution.
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18United KingdomNigel Farage has said Reform UK would repeal the Online Safety Act that makes the UK a "borderline dystopian state". This led technology secretary Peter Kyle to say Farge is on the side of "extreme pornographers" and child abusers. Farage is demanding an apology.
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21Colombia Right-wing war criminal and former president Álvaro Uribe convicted of bribery and witness tampering charges
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16ThailandCambodiaAfter days of clashes along their disputed border, Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire".
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19United StatesMassachusetts. Tom Lehrer, the acclaimed musical satirist of the Cold War era, dies aged 97.
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23AustriaNATO The Austrian Foreign minister has said in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, that she is questioning the country's decades old status of military neutrality and NATO membership due to the changing geopolitical situation, saying it no longer guarantees the country's stability.
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27United StatesGeorge Santos is now in prison.
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22Palestine Gaza’s descent into mass starvation. According to the Financial Times, one in three Gazans are going several days without food.
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17Czechia Czechia has said it will end hard coal mining next year 2026, leaving Poland the sole hard coal mining nation in the EU.
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17ThailandCambodia Thailand launches airstrike on Cambodia as border clash escalates
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24FrancePalestineFrance is to officially recognize the State of Palestine.
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40United States South Park's return satirizes Trump for suing a shit ton of people, and shows him in bed with Satan (à la Saddam Hussein), who asks Trump about the "Epstein list". Trump's settled lawsuit with Paramount (which publishes South Park), and Paramount's cancellation of Stephen Colbert are mentioned. The White House is not amused.
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24United StatesFlorida. Professional wresting star Hulk Hogan, who spoke at President Trump's Madison Square Garden rally last year, has died of cardiac arrest in Clearwater, Florida, at the age of 71.
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27United States The Wall Street Journal has reported that attorney general Pam Bondi informed Donald Trump that his name appeared in the Epstein files numerous times back in May.
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25FranceUnited StatesDelaware. Candace Owens is sued by French First Lady Brigitte Macron in Delaware because of Owens' constant claims that Madame Macron is secretly trans.
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26Germany Satirist Sebastian Hotz, who was charged with approval of offenses because of online comments he made about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July 2024, has been acquitted.
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26Ukraine Protesters have been gathering on the streets of Kyiv after the Ukrainian government passed a law that removes the independence of the anti-corruption bureau and the anti-corruption prosecutor's office. Update: The government has backed off, and launched a new bill to reinstall the independence after pressure from the Europeans.
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21Azerbaijan Azerbaijan has arrested and charged two of its citizens for being members of the Wagner Group.
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22United States A spokesperson for Barack Obama responds to Trump's allegations that Obama invented the "hoax" of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election and should be arrested for treason. The statement begins, "Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction."
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19United KingdomNigel Farage says that if Reform UK comes to power, it will spend £10.5 billion hiring new police officers to ensure a "higher and physically tougher standard of police officer on our streets." Five new prisons will be built to help create 30,000 prison places. Foreign prisoners will be sent home and British prisoners might be sent overseas too.
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21United StatesIn a desperate bid to distract from the self-inflicted Epstein Files fiasco, Trump has released the FBI's files on MLK's assassination. This is despite his family's strong objections.
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27United StatesWashington. Judge rules against Washington state law requiring priests to report child abuse, after the law was challenged by Catholic bishops and the Trump administration. They argued it violated freedom of religion to require priests to report statements heard in sacred confession booths.
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29Canada A prominent OpenAI investor is suffering from ChatGPT-induced psychosis.
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18Taiwan Air raid drills take place across Taiwan in preparation for a war with China that will hopefully never happen.
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16SloveniaNATO Slovenia's parliament has voted to cancel a proposed referendum on NATO membership. The referendum was part of a game of chicken between parties over higher defence spending.
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29United StatesIncriminating evidence connecting Trump to Epstein was leaked to the Wall Street Journal just hours after Trump fired the SDNY prosecutor of the Epstein case Trump subsequently threatened to sue the WSJ.
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24United KingdomEngland Goats in the news! Researchers had hoped that movement and behavior-tracking ear tags would help improve the welfare of dairy goats. However, the unco-operative animals appear to keep resetting the ear tags by headbutting each other. "I'm surprised that the goats haven't eaten them," one researcher said.
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22United KingdomThe voting age will be lowered from 18 to 16 for the next UK General Election.
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22United StatesAfter days of speculation about bruises on his hand, the White House has confirmed that Donald Trump (who has touted himself as being, "the healthiest president that's ever lived"), is suffering from a chronic vein condition.
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26United States Stephen Colbert has announced that Paramount is scrapping its late night chat show altogether on CBS from May 2026. The network cited financial reasons for the cancellation. However, there are suggestions the reasons for it being cancelled are political, as it only received an Emmy nomination two days beforehand and Colbert called out the network for paying a $16 million “bribe” to Trump.
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34Japan The rising far-right populist Sanseitō party is having its first major scandal, following newspaper allegations that the party is linked to the Kremlin.
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33Israel Only 24 hours after the ultra-Orthodox group the United Torah Judaism quit Netanyahu government, the main ultra-Orthodox Shas party has quit the coalition as well. This leaves the Netanyahu government in a minority government in the Knesset, which could led to possible vote of no-confidence and collapse of the government.
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16United KingdomLGBTQ+ rainbow flag Quasar "Progress" variant.svg TERF Kathleen Stock has won a court injunction to stop the local police force from participating in pride and using the progress flag in Newcastle, claiming that it breaches the police's neutrality.
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24United Kingdom An anti-dairy ad from a vegan charity that shows a human mother having her baby taken away from her has been banned for being "irresponsible, distressing and likely to cause widespread offence."
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25Israel One of the smaller parties in the Netanyahu government, the ultra-Orthodox group the United Torah Judaism has quit the collation over the demand that Haredim must be conscripted into the IDF. There is now suggestions that the main ultra-Orthodox party Shas could quit as well over this issue, which could collapse the government.
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17France As a cost cutting measure, prime minister François Bayrou proposes to cut two public holidays from the French calendar, reducing them from eleven to nine, next year. They are Easter Monday and May 8th [Victory in Europe Day].
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17AzerbaijanRussiaArmenia A breakdown in relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, especially over a land bridge in the Caucasus connecting the two parts of the country, has caused a surprise warming in relations between Azerbaijan and its old foe Armenia.
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13United StatesPastor John MacArthur dead at 86: 'Grace To You' announces passing of "beloved preacher".
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28IranIsraelUnited StatesSenior Iranian clerics have issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. More than US$40 million has allegedly been raised as a reward for anyone who kills Trump.
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38United StatesCalifornia. 57-year-old farm worker Jaime Alanis becomes the first person to die as the result of an ICE raid.
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24United StatesBorder Czar Tom Homan says ICE have the right to briefly detain people based on their physical appearance.
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29United StatesTexas. Donald Trump calls a CBS reporter who asked him if late warnings about the Texas floods contributed to a loss of lives a "very evil person".
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43United StatesTrump's Epstein memo debacle is tearing the MAGA movement apart. Update: Trump decides the Epstein files are now a Democrat hoax, and defends Pam Bondi against Bongino and the MAGA base. At a TPUSA conference, the attendees side with Bongino.
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22IsraelPalestineUnited StatesIllegal Israeli settlers have killed an American citizen in the occupied West Bank.
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20United StatesOklahoma. An Oklahoma City TV station weather radar has been damaged by militia movement freaks believing it to be a tool to control the weather. The group responsible has warned other attacks are incoming.
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19Canada Canadian RCMP charge a pair of active Armed Forces members with terrorism amid an alleged plot to form an anti-government militia, occurring days after the Armed Forces announce an investigation of members being involved in an extremist Facebook group.
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27United StatesBisexual Pride Flag.png After it removed references to trans people from it in February, the US government is now removing references to bisexual people from the Stonewall National Monument website.
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17United States The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance voted to enact stricter English language requirements for commercial vehicle drivers in the US. This was after an executive order was signed by Donald Trump to require all truck drivers to be able to speak English with “proficiency” or be placed out-of-service.
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23United KingdomTrans flag.svg A gender critical trainee detective and former journalist who took the Metropolitan Police to an employment tribunal over a pro trans rights speech that was delivered during a trans rights event, has her case dismissed.
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35European Union For the first time ever, solar energy was the biggest supplier of electricity in the EU in the month of June.
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24Vatican CityPope Leo XIV interrupts his vacation to say a prayer for the Texas flood victims and to urge action on tackling climate change. "We have to pray for the conversion of many people … who still do not see the urgency of caring for our common home," he said.
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20United StatesCanada US politicians write a letter to Canada asking them to stop being so engulfed in flames, as they don't like the smoke very much.
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27IrelandUnited Kingdom An anti-extremist think tank has reported that a number of Irish extreme-right and anti-immigration groups, are linking up with Ulster loyalists such as the UVF and British neo-Nazi networks.
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33United States The National Education Association, which has millions of members, cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League.
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26the WorldAfghanistan The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Taliban leaders Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
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11United KingdomEnglandWales To reduce the backlog of cases in criminal courts, a former Lord Justice has suggested removing the right to jury trials and using a magistrate system for minor offences.
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22United KingdomUkraine Three men from south London have been found guilty of a Wagner-linked arson attack, involving setting fire to aid to Ukraine.
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10United States Trump's FBI says Jeffrey Epstein had no "client list", and that he killed himself.
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18IranAfghanistan ~450,000 Afghan refugees in Iran abruptly deported back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Further deportations could impact as many as 4 million Afghans in Iran.
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23Peru Archaeologists unveil 3,500-year-old city in Peru
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21IranIsraelTrans flag.svg Israel's June strikes against Iran hit the infamous Evin Prison, where many dissidents against the Iranian state are housed. Though hated officials such as the prison's prosecutor Ali Ghanaatkar were killed, many in the Iranian opposition denounced Israel's disregard for the life of dissident inmates. The picture is still emerging, but probably over 100 people died, if not many more. The prison apparently had a wing that held transgender people, which was struck badly and The New York Times reports about 100 of them are presumed dead. A statement to the Times by human rights lawyer Reza Shafakhah indicates the Iranian state tends to treat transness as criminal (despite claims elsewhere they were protected by a 1987 fatwa).
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20United States Medical associations sue the Trump administration's HHS for anti-vaccine policies. "Plaintiffs include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Association, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine."
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18United StatesTexas. Death toll from flooding in Texas surpasses 100.
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20United States U.S. annual measles cases are higher than they've been in over thirty years.
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17Germany Birds of a feather flock together. The left-populist Bündis Sahra Wagenknecht has said it's open to talks with the far right-populist AfD.
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26United KingdomEnglandGay Pride Flag.svg At London's annual Pride parade, LGBTQ+ artists decried the UK Supreme Court's April ruling on the definition of a woman and there were shouts of, "Trans rights now!" Proceedings were also held up by pro-Palestine protesters.
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12United StatesTexas. Georgia (U.S. State). There have been deadly floods in Texas, which MAGA congressional hopeful Kandiss Taylor has called "fake" and which have probably prompted Marjorie Taylor Greene to tout the idea of making it illegal for "them" to control the weather anymore.
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18United States Elon Musk says he formed a new political party called the "America Party". This follows his recent disagreement with Trump about government spending levels.
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18United KingdomEngland Protesters arrested for holding signs that said "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action." Palestine Action is a group the British government recently proscribed as a terrorist organization for vandalizing military equipment. Five United Nations special rapporteurs "urged the United Kingdom not to ban the 'direct action' group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000."
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18UkraineLaosRussiaUkrainian intelligence has said that Laos has unofficially joined Russia in supporting the frontline in the Kursk region. Laos would be the second country joining the DPRK in supporting Russia.
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24Australia A bill has been presented to the Victorian state parliament to make its local indigenous voice, the First People's Assembly a permanent fixture. This is after a year ago Australia voted no to creating a constitutional indigenous council, the Voice.
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19United KingdomEnglandTrans flag.svg Reform UK-run Kent County Council "emboldens anti-trans rhetoric and contributes to a culture where marginalized people feel unsafe, unwelcome, and silenced" by banning trans-related books from the children's sections of its 104 public libraries.
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13RussiaAfghanistan Russia has become the first country to formally recognise the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.
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20United StatesDonald Trump casually uses a "blatant and vile antisemitic slur" at an Iowa rally.
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26United Kingdom New socialist party splits from the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. The party is led by left-wing MPs Zarah Sultana (suspended from Labour) and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was expelled from the party. Sultana states that the Starmer government is an "an active participant in genocide" in Gaza, failed to tackle poverty and welfare issues, and had mistreated disabled people.
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21United Statesthe World The Trump administration officially shuttered the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on July 1st. A study in The Lancet estimated these cuts to foreign aid will cause 14 million deaths, if the cuts persist to 2030.
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21United States Climate change assessments scrubbed from U.S. government websites.
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14United States Congress passes Trump's budget bill. There are many elements, but some major points include that this increases the national debt by trillions, narrows Medicaid eligibility (essentially a Medicaid cut), makes permanent the tax cuts from 2017, and massively funds immigration enforcement.
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39AustraliaUnited StatesKanye West, once a frequent visitor to Australia and married to an Australian, has been barred from entering the country because of his new "Heil Hitler" song.
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40United KingdomTrans flag.svg The Lemkin Institute has issued a Red Flag Alert over the ongoing systemic erasure of trans and intersex rights in the UK.

June 2025

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44ItalyUnited States Jeff Bezos' lavish wedding takes place in Venice amid protests, including the words "No Kings, No Bezos" being projected onto the belltower in St. Mark's Square and the unfurling of a giant banner that read, "If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax." Protest group No Space for Bezos claims it forced Bezos to change the location where the wedding ceremony was held.
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29the WorldPeople are being institutionalized as a result of ChatGPT-induced psychosis.
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24the WorldA NASA satellite that's been defunct for nearly sixty years recently sent a mystery radio signal back to Earth.
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37HungaryGay Pride Flag.svg ~100,000 people defy ban on LGBT pride march in Hungary. Viktor Orbán's government purported to have outlawed the event.
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33IsraelPalestine Israeli soldiers admit they were ordered to deliberately fire on Palestinian civilians waiting for humanitarian aid.
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26United StatesFor the Christian persecution crowd: ICE is going after church leaders and Christians fleeing actual persecution.
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25PakistanUnited StatesThe Pakistani government nominates Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Then condemns him for bombing Iran a day later.
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21United States US Supreme Court rules that states can block Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood clinics that were used for contraception and cancer screenings. The case was not directly about funds for abortion procedures.
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37United States Criminals keep impersonating ICE, made possible by the way ICE agents have been operating.
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20Iran Crackdown on political opposition to the Iranian government has ensued following a ceasefire with Israel.
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25United States Medical associations are forming their own vaccine advisory groups since the US federal government's equivalents are run by anti-vaxxers now.
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22United KingdomGay Pride Flag.svg British politicians complain in Parliament about political parties being barred from Pride events this year. The decision was made by LGBT pride events in certain cities as a protest in solidarity with trans people and against the current policy stances of these parties. MPs from Labour and the Conservative Party spoke in Parliament against the decisions; Green Party MP Siân Berry said she supports the decisions by the pride groups.
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20European Union Tesla sales continue to drop in Europe, in protest of CEO Elon Musk's politics, such as his support for the Alternative for Germany party.
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21United States Study finds school shootings are economically disruptive on the local level. Well, now we're listening!
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12United States HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the US will defund the international vaccinations group Gavi. Junior cites manufactured uncertainty created by the anti-vaccination movement.
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22United StatesNew York. New York plans to build their first nuclear power plant in decades.
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16United KingdomEnglandWales UK House of Commons passed a bill to legalize assisted suicide in terminally ill patients in England and Wales.
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19the World Scientists modified bacteria so they convert plastic waste into pain relief drugs.
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20United StatesIsrael Trump says Benjamin Netanyahu should be pardoned from corruption charges since he blew up a bunch of stuff in Iran.
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16United StatesIsraelIran Trump put together a fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel that appears to be holding for now. The ceasefire initially failed, before Trump pressured Israel not to respond to what it alleged were ceasefire violations by Iran. Despite some intelligence assessments to the contrary, Trump insists Iran's nuclear program has been destroyed, but says he'd be open to conduct further strikes on Iran if they rebuilt it. Oh, and "Bomb Iran" made a comeback.
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19United States Non-existent studies cropping up at the HHS again, presumably due to generative AI usage again. This time it's at the CDC, where an anti-vaxxer was giving a presentation against thimerosal.
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16IndiaTrans flag.svg Court in India recognizes transgender women as women. Specifically, the court "rejected arguments that tie womanhood exclusively to reproductive capacity". It's noteworthy context that a British court recently made an opposite ruling; India was historically a colony of Britain, and gender-variant people there were targeted under the Criminal Tribes Act.
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24United KingdomTrans flag.svg Narrator of all the Harry Potter audiobooks and national treasure Stephen Fry finally condemns J. K. Rowling's transphobia, says she has been "radicalized by TERFS" and is a "lost cause". J. K. Rowling has responded by saying that Stephen Fry was never a friend of hers anyway.
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18United StatesThe infamous "Big Balls," who was a key operative in Elon Musk's ironically-named "Department of Government Efficiency," has resigned from his service in the government. Update: He now works at the Social Security Administration.
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20United StatesWashington. The Trump DOJ is suing Washington State over a law requiring Catholic clergy to report sexual abuse.
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22NorwayUnited States A 21-year-old Norwegian tourist was detained, searched and refused entry into the United States, after a CBP officer found a copy of the JD Vance baby meme on his smartphone.
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22United StatesThe SPLC is suing the "Goyim Defense League."
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23IranUnited StatesQatar The Iranians have symbolically bombed the al-Udeid American airbase in Qatar, for retaliation for the bombing of the Iranian nuclear sites.
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27United StatesIran US enters war with Iran
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34United StatesMahmoud Khalil has been released from ICE detention.
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16Netherlands A traditionalist Catholic group, TFP Europe has demanded that the Rijksmuseum remove the recent display of an early 19th century French condom, with a picture on it that shows a nun and three clergymen engaging in a sexual act with each other.
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26MoldovaFlag of Transnistria (state).svg The Russian-backed breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria has openly admitted it is in a complete crisis mode; with all of its monetary reserves completely empty, and has completely run out of energy supplies, due its gas supplies being completely cut off since January.
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21United KingdomUnited StatesThe BBC threatens legal action against US-based AI firm Perplexity, accusing it of reproducing its content verbatim.
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25United States Tech corporation executives from Palantir, Meta/Facebook, and OpenAI sworn in as lieutenant colonels by the US Army.
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20United States Trump administration wants to dismantle the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
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29United StatesIsraelIran US intelligence assessments contradict Israel, Trump, and US Central Command on whether Iran was rushing to get a nuclear bomb. (The director of US national intelligence is currently Tulsi Gabbard.) Trump dismisses the assessments by Gabbard and the US intelligence community. If you squint, this all looks a bit familiar.
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24United StatesIsraelIran US military forces relocated to the Middle East as Trump mulls intervening in the Israel–Iran conflict. Few people actually want him to, at least according to a YouGov survey.
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18China Chinese scientists raised into adulthood a mouse born from two male parents.
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16the World AI scraping bots are breaking open libraries, archives, and museums.
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29United States New VA rules allow for doctors and other healthcare providers to refuse care based on political beliefs and marriage status.
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26United States Trump is shuttering the only federal agency that investigates industrial chemical explosions.
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51United States While Trump threw a military parade to celebrate his birthday, millions of participants took part in hundreds of protests against him and his regime across the US.
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30United StatesMinnesota. Gunman dressed as a police officer kills one Minnesota state representative and her husband and injures another and his wife. Update: Preliminary reports indicate that the perpetrator, who reportedly moonlighted as a missionary evangelical pastor, had a list of many other targets, which included Democratic politicians, abortion providers, and pro-choice advocates.
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33United Statesthe District of Columbia. Tennessee. CCM star Michael Tait, founder of DC Talk, frontman of Newsboys, and singer of "God's Not Dead", has basically admitted to sexually assaulting numerous men.
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19United KingdomScotlandSir Geoff Palmer, Scotland's first Black professor, a "courageous voice for justice and equality" and winner of the American Society of Brewing Chemists Award of Distinction ("the Nobel prize of the beer world"), dies at age 85.
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27IsraelIranIsrael has engaged in an act of aggression and war and attacked Iran's missile and nuclear sites and assassinated multiple top military officials and countless civilians.
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24United StatesICE has been given the go-ahead to conduct warrantless arrests.
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29United StatesNew York. A retrial of Harvey Weinstein has found him to be guilty of sexual assault.
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17United StatesDisney and Universal are suing the AI image-generation company MidJourney for copyright infringement.
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25the WorldTrans flag.svg Fossil fuel billionaires are bankrolling the global transphobic movement.
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19United KingdomSpainGibraltarEuropean UnionBritain and Spain agree to a post-Brexit deal that would allow for the free travel of goods and people between Gibraltar and the Schengen Area.
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16United StatesUnited KingdomAustralia According to the FT, the Pentagon is considering scrapping AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.
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21United Kingdom A Daily Telegraph hit piece on the application of adding 20% VAT on private schools, has been discovered to be completely false and AI was used to create the profile of the family in question.
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28United StatesRobert F. Kennedy Jr. breaks his confirmation hearing promise to senators and fires all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the CDC on vaccine scheduling. Update: Eight replacements have been named; predictably, this includes the alternative medicine promoting conspiracist Robert W. Malone and the fringe epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff.
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16AustriaGunman kills 9 in Austria school shooting. Update: The tally is now eleven, including the killer himself, a 21-year-old former student, who used his own weapons.
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19IsraelAustraliaUnited KingdomCanadaNew ZealandNorwayAustralia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway have jointly sanctioned Israeli cabinet members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, due to "repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities" and statements made supporting the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
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19the WorldChatGPT is down.
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15United Kingdom The UK's Financial Conduct Authority issues new guidance warning mortgage borrowers about firms pushing freeman on the land defences.
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15United Kingdom Former midwife turned COVID-19 denialist and anti-vax conspiracy theorist Seana Kerr struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
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33United States Protests against ICE raids began in the Los Angeles area and have spread throughout the country after Trump and Pete Hegseth deployed the National Guard. The US Marines have also been deployed. SEIU labor union leader David Huerta was arrested by ICE, now released on $50,000 bail; some solidarity protests in other cities, like the one in Boston, have significant SEIU presence.
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29United Statesthe District of Columbia. Cop who leaked information to the Proud Boys has been sentenced to prison.
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23PalestineIsraelIsrael has intercepted the Freedom Flotilla aid ship that was bound for Gaza. Greta Thunberg and the others onboard have been detained.
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21United KingdomTrans flag.svg Hillary Cass, the doctor behind the infamous Cass Review, is getting sued.
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13United States Court rules in favor of Trump in case brought by the Associated Press, who were compelled to say "Gulf of America" instead of "Gulf of Mexico" if they wanted White House press pool access. The case may be appealed.
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31United Kingdom In a timely development, British scientists have created the world's smallest violin.
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42United States Trump and Musk to have a nasty divorce, fight over kids. Musk claims Trump is in the Epstein files, Trump threatens to sell the sports car scrap SpaceX contracts, and Elon pre-empts him by announcing he will smash it himself the dismantling of the Dragon capsule.
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38RussiaUkraineUkraine launches massive drone strike deep in Russia, damaging Russia's nuclear bomber capabilities
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22BulgariaEuropean UnionRussia And now there are 21 countries. The European Commission has given the green light for Bulgaria to join the single European currency on the 1st January 2026, replacing the lev with the euro. However, it has also been revealed that Russians have been acting as agents provocateurs in anti-euro protests in the country's capital, Sofia.
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26Russia Russia lists the video game company that owns World of Tanks as an "extremist organization". (The Taliban was recently de-listed.)
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22the World AI chatbots are suddenly driving a bunch of people crazy in a very specific way, making them think they're a god or they created a god.
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20United States Elon Musk calls Trump's spending bill a "disgusting abomination". One of his main contentions is it would raise the national debt. According to ABC, Musk is privately upset at a number of other recent decisions by the Trump administration and allies in Congress. Rand Paul is with Musk, and Trump isn't happy.
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20IsraelPalestine Israel labels the roads to aid stations "combat zones".
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10United StatesGay Pride Flag.svg Defense Secretary Hegseth orders Navy to strip name of gay rights icon Harvey Milk from ship.
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27United StatesPuerto RicoNon-binary Pride Flag.png Puerto Rico Supreme Court allows people to change the gender marker on their birth certificate to "X".
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38United Kingdom Due to littering and issues with targeting teenagers, single-use vapes such as Elfbars and Lost Marys have been banned in the UK.