“Bulgaria’s prime minister resigned on Thursday after less than a year in office, acknowledging ‘the voice of the people’ after mass protests against his government in recent weeks. Speaking to reporters in the Parliament in the capital, Sofia, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov announced he was stepping down, becoming the latest in a revolving door of prime ministers to leave over the past four years. His departure was fomented by continued economic instability in one of the European Union’s consistently poorest countries. Bulgaria is set to join the eurozone on Jan. 1.” (12/11/25)
“A judge has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly [sic] deported and brought back to the US to face criminal charges, from immigration custody. US District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland said since returning to the US, Mr Abrego Garcia was re-detained ‘without lawful authority’. The order means he can at least temporarily return to his home in Maryland. The Department of Homeland Security said the decision was ‘naked judicial activism’ and ‘lacks any valid legal basis’. The case became a focal point in the administration’s crackdown on immigration after he was deported to El Salvador in March, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation. Judge Xinis wrote in her ruling that the government did not have a removal order, which blocks it from deporting Mr Abrego Garcia ‘at this juncture’.” (12/11/25)
“The US Navy has submitted its recommendations on potential punishments, if any, for Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over his participation in a video that reminded US troops they have a duty to refuse illegal orders, a Pentagon official told CNN on Thursday. Those recommendations have been submitted to the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel ‘where they are providing a legal review and input,’ the official said. It was not immediately clear what recommendations were included in the report. … The Trump administration has argued that by emphasizing service members’ legal duty to disobey unlawful orders, Kelly and the other Democratic lawmakers were inciting troops to disobey lawful orders.” (12/11/25)
“Austria’s lower house of parliament has passed a ban on Muslim headscarves in schools after a previous ban was overturned on the grounds that it was discriminatory. Lawmakers passed the new legislation on Thursday by a large majority, meaning that girls younger than 14 will not be permitted to wear headscarves that ‘cover the head in accordance with Islamic traditions’ in all schools, with non-compliance fines ranging from 150 to 800 euros ($175-930). In 2019, the country introduced a ban on headscarves for under-10s in primary schools, but the Constitutional Court struck it down the following year, ruling that it was illegal because it discriminated against Muslims, going against the state’s duty to be religiously neutral.” (12/11/25)
“Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said she planned to take her award back to Venezuela, but declined to say on Thursday when she would return to her home country after leaving in great secrecy to receive the honour. The 58-year-old engineer had secretly left Venezuela for Oslo in defiance of a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities and after spending more than a year in hiding. ‘I came to receive the prize on behalf of the Venezuelan people and I will take it back to Venezuela at the correct moment,’ she told reporters at Norway’s parliament, dressed in white, declining to say when this would be. When Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in October, she dedicated it in part to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he himself deserved the honour.” (12/11/25)
“Venezuela’s national assembly on Thursday unanimously voted to repeal a law which ratified the Rome Statute, paving the way for the country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating human rights abuses in the country. The president of the ruling party-dominated assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro, said the law would have immediate effect. Maduro is expected to sign the repeal so the country can formally notify the ICC it intends to withdraw.” (12/11/25)
“Mike Lindell, creator of the MyPillow and a noted conspiracy theorist, has announced he is running for governor of Minnesota. Lindell is a longtime friend and supporter of President Donald Trump and is known for saying that voting machines in the United States are rigged and can flip elections. Though he’s lost lawsuits for his election denials, he is still saying that the 2020 election was stolen. He enters a crowded field of Republicans vying for Gov. Tim Walz’s office, including speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Lisa Demuth, former state senator and 2022 Republican nominee for governor Scott Jensen, lawyer Chris Madel and state Rep. Kristin Robbins.” (12/11/25)
“Tennessee executed Harold Wayne Nichols by lethal injection Thursday in Nashville for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley, a 20-year-old student at Chattanooga State University. Nichols, 64, had confessed to killing Pulley as well as raping several other women in the Chattanooga area. Although he expressed remorse at trial, he admitted he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested. He was sentenced to death in 1990. ‘To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,’ Nichols said in his final statement. Before Nichols died, a spiritual adviser spoke to him and recited the Lord’s Prayer. They both became emotional and Nichols nodded as the adviser talked, witnesses said. Media witnesses reported that a sheet was pulled up to just above Nichols’ waist and he was strapped to a gurney with a long tube running to an IV insertion site on the inside of his elbow.” (12/11/25)
“A federal judge on Wednesday ruled to formally dismiss the case against a Lakeview comedy club manager whom federal authorities had accused of slamming the door on the leg of a Border Patrol [gang member] during an October immigration arrest. Nathan Griffin, 25, was charged Oct. 27 with assaulting, interfering with or impeding a federal [gang member] after he allegedly shut a car door on a U.S. Customs and Border Protection [gang member] in a scuffle that followed an immigration enforcement [abduction] near the Laugh Factory, at the intersection of Belmont Avenue and Broadway. A grand jury ultimately refused to indict him.” (12/10/25)
“On Thursday, December 11, Amnesty International accused Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for the first time of crimes against humanity, including extermination, during and after the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza. … The rights group has also accused Israel of committing genocide in its retaliatory campaign in Gaza, an accusation that Israel has vehemently denied. … Amnesty has previously accused Hamas and other groups of committing war crimes, which are serious violations of international law against civilians and combatants during armed conflict. Crimes against humanity can occur in peacetime and include torture, rape and discrimination, be it racial, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender-based.” (12/11/25)
