“Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother’s behalf Wednesday, hours after officials said Machado would miss the ceremony. Machado has been in hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. … Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, told the award ceremony that ‘María Corina Machado has done everything in her power to be able to attend the ceremony here today — a journey in a situation of extreme danger.’ ‘Although she will not be able to reach this ceremony and today’s events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe, and that she will be with us here in Oslo,’ he said to applause.” (12/10/25)
“According to a notice published in America’s federal register on Tuesday, foreign tourists would need to provide their social media from the last five years. It will be ‘mandatory’ to hand over the information, and other details – including email addresses and telephone numbers used in the last five years, as well as the names, addresses, numbers, and birthdays of family members – will also be required. … There have been several reports of travellers already having been denied entry into the US over social media posts and messages found on their personal devices after President Donald Trump took office in January.” (12/10/25)
“South Carolina’s stalled nuclear power project could finally finish construction as a private company has offered to pay $2.7 billion to the state-owned utility and a small share of the power if they can reach an agreement to get the two reactors up and running. The half-built reactors ended up so far behind schedule that the project was abandoned in 2017. However, the potential deal is a long way from complete. There will be up to two years of negotiations between utility Santee Cooper and Brookfield Asset Management on the thousands and thousands of details. The deal would also let Brookfield keep at least 75% of the power generated by the new plant that they could mostly sell to whom they want, such as energy-gobbling data centers. The exact amount of the rest that Santee Cooper receives would be determined on how much the private company has to spend to get the reactors running.” (12/09/25)
“Guinea-Bissau’s military junta adopted a 12-month transitional charter that bars the interim president and prime minister from running in the next elections, two weeks after officers staged a coup that suspended the constitution. The 29-article charter, published on Tuesday, requires presidential and legislative elections to be held at the end of the one-year transitional period, with the polling date to be set by the transitional president. Army officers in Guinea-Bissau, branding themselves the Military High Command, toppled President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on November 26 and installed Major-General Horta Inta-a as interim president the following day. … The Military High Command will control legal and institutional reforms during the transition, including drafting revisions to the suspended constitution, setting up a new Constitutional Court, changing regulations for political parties and overseeing the appointment of new electoral officials, according to the charter.” (12/10/25)
“Australia’s landmark new social media age law is set to go into effect, barring anyone under 16 from holding an account as the government moves to enforce one of the world’s strictest online safety measures. The Australian government’s Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, passed in November 2024, will start being enforced on Wednesday. ‘From December 10, if you’re under 16, you’re no longer allowed to have a social media account,’ said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a video statement that was played in classrooms ahead of the social media restrictions, according to 9 News Australia. ‘You’ll know better than anyone what it’s like growing up with algorithms, endless feeds and the pressure that can come with that.’ The platforms that will be banned for youth in Australia are Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.” (12/10/25)
“Florida is suing three major medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, accusing them of pushing misinformation about gender-affirming care to drive demand for their members’ services and generate profit from membership sales. The lawsuit was announced Tuesday by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in a video statement, naming the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the Endocrine Society and AAP as defendants. ‘We believe these organizations fail to disclose the risks, limits and evidence when promoting so-called gender-affirming care for children,’ he said. … All three defendants have previously come out against legislation seeking to interfere in the healthcare of children.” (12/10/25)
“President Donald Trump’s administration has drastically slashed resources for enforcing tax laws, and the result has been a massive plunge in tax-related prosecutions. A Tuesday report from Reuters found that federal tax prosecutions in 2025 fell to ‘their lowest level in decades this year,’ falling by 27% over the last year. The report noted that the Trump administration has made ‘deep cuts to the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigative unit,’ and has also reassigned some agents who worked in the unit to focus more on immigration cases. The Trump administration has even assigned more than 20 IRS agents in the agency’s DC office to conduct patrols alongside city police officers as part of the president’s purported plan to reduce crime in the capital city, Reuters reported.” [editor’s note: They say it like it’s a bad thing! – TLK] (12/10/25)
“Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved a bill early Wednesday that could drastically reduce the sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been serving 27 years in jail for staging a coup. If ratified by the Senate, the 70-year-old far-right leader, who has been behind bars since late November, could see his sentence cut to just over two years. Chaotic scenes erupted in Congress Tuesday as a lawmaker disrupted the lower house efforts to vote. Bolsonaro’s defense team meanwhile has asked the Supreme Court to authorise his release for a surgical procedure due to his deteriorating health, according to documents obtained by AFP.” (12/10/25)
“Two four-story buildings collapsed overnight in the Moroccan city of Fez, killing 22 people in the second fatal collapse there this year, authorities said on Wednesday. MAP, Morocco’s state news agency, reported the two residential buildings housed eight families. Sixteen people were injured in the collapse and taken to the hospital. Authorities said the neighborhood had been evacuated and search and rescue efforts were ongoing. It was unclear what caused the collapse or how many people were unaccounted for on Wednesday morning, but authorities said an investigation had been opened. MAP reported that the structures were built in 2006 during a self-construction initiative called ‘City Without Slums.’ Fez is Morocco’s third-largest city and one of the hosts of this month’s Africa Cup of Nations and the 2030 FIFA World Cup. It is best known for its walled city packed with medieval souks and tanneries.” (12/10/25)
“Democrats on Tuesday flipped a state House seat in a red-leaning district in Georgia, delivering the party another notable win heading into next year’s midterms. Democrat Eric Gisler was projected to defeat Republican Mack Guest IV in the special election in Georgia’s House District 121, according to Decision Desk HQ. Gisler’s victory is a major upset, as President Trump won the district last year by 12 points, according to DDHQ.” (12/09/25)
