“Israel launched several strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanese state media reported, as the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure including a military compound. The attacks come as the committee monitoring the ceasefire, in effect since November 2024, which includes the United States, France and the UN in addition to Lebanon and Israel, is set to meet on Friday. … The Israeli military said it targeted ‘terror infrastructure sites in multiple areas across Lebanon’ including ‘a military compound used by Hezbollah to conduct training and courses’ for the Iran-backed group’s members.” (12/18/25)
“NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope got a rare look at the aftermath of two cosmic collisions — and helped scientists solve a decades-old mystery. Many years ago, scientists saw a dense, bright spot near a young star called Fomalhaut. They thought it could be a planet and continued to track it. But in 2023, Hubble’s pictures revealed something strange. The bright spot had vanished — and a new one had appeared — a sign that it wasn’t a planet after all. Scientists had stumbled on the dusty debris from two cosmic crashes. Massive space rocks slammed together to create clouds of dust that were thick enough to masquerade as planets. Over time, the remains spread out and eventually disappeared altogether. Scientists think the space rocks involved in the collision were at least 37 miles (60 kilometers) wide. It’s rare to capture such clashes on camera, especially since theories suggest they only happen in the same vicinity about once every 100,000 years.” (12/18/25)
“Luigi Mangione’s pretrial hearing wrapped up Thursday with a judge saying he plans to rule in May on what evidence prosecutors will be able to use in his New York trial for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Prosecutors rested their case after calling nearly 20 witnesses over three weeks, many of them police officers involved in Mangione’s December 2024 arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Mangione’s lawyers opted not to call any witnesses. … Mangione, 27, is seeking to exclude items including a gun and notebook found in his backpack that prosecutors say tie him to Thompson’s Dec. 4, 2024, shooting in Manhattan. … Mangione’s lawyers contend that anything found in Mangione’s backpack should be excluded from his trial because police didn’t have a search warrant and lacked the grounds to justify a warrantless search.” (12/18/25)
“As many as 20,000 Saudi-backed forces are gathering on the border of Yemen as the separatist Southern Transitional Council comes under pressure to withdraw from the huge territorial gains it has made in the last month in the vast, oil-rich governorate on Hadramaut in eastern Yemen. The STC is using its advance to raise its demand for Yemen to revert to two states, north and south, as it had been until 1990. The STC, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, has been warned there is a possibility of direct airstrikes by Saudi forces, a development that would threaten key STC positions. Well-paid troops, mainly drawn from a Saudi-funded militia called the National Shield, have been gathering in the al-Wadeeah and al-Abr areas close to the Saudi border. The STC has been reassured it retains the support of the UAE, raising the prospect of future clashes between troops loyal either to Saudi Arabia or the UAE.” (12/18/25)
“The Chinese government on Thursday condemned the Trump administration’s announcement of a proposed $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan, a move that Beijing said violates both the ‘One China principle’ and an agreement in which the US pledged to reduce arms sales to Taipei. The US State Department said the record $11.154 billion package contains a broad range of weaponry and other military equipment, including Lockheed Martin High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Lockheed Martin Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) long-range missiles, BAE Systems M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, drones and tactical software, Javelin and TOW missiles, and M2A1 machine guns and other armaments.” (12/18/25)
“Ghislaine Maxwell asked a judge to throw out her sex-trafficking conviction and 20-year prison sentence on the eve of a deadline for the Justice Department to turn over a trove of documents relating to her ex-boyfriend, the disgraced financier, Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell filed a long-shot petition for a judge to upend the guilty verdict based on what she claims is ‘substantial new evidence’ that has emerged since her 2021 trial. The 63-year-old filed the request pro se, or without a lawyer, from the Bryan, Texas, federal prison where she is serving her sentence. The new evidence ‘shows that exculpatory information was withheld, false testimony presented, and material facts misrepresented to the jury and the court,’ she wrote in the 51-page filing, the upshot of which is ‘a complete miscarriage of justice, rendering petitioner’s conviction invalid, unsafe and infirm.'” (12/18/25)
“FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino will step down from his post next month, he said on Wednesday, ending a short and at-times tumultuous tenure as the bureau’s second highest-ranking official. Bongino announced the move on social media hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said he thought Bongino wanted to ‘go back to his show.’ He hosted a prominent right-wing podcast prior to joining the FBI. ‘Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show,’ Trump told reporters.” (12/17/25)
“The ‘top levels of government’ were involved in bringing charges against a Wisconsin judge who helped a Mexican immigrant evade federal authorities, her defense attorney told jurors during closing arguments at her trial Thursday, attempting to blunt arguments from prosecutors that the judge acted inappropriately. Prosecutors argued that Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan put her personal beliefs above the law. ‘You don’t have to agree with immigration enforcement policy to see this was wrong,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Brown Watzka told the jury in closing arguments. ‘You just have to agree the law applies equally to everyone.’ The case was expected to go to the jury late Thursday after a four-day trial. The highly unusual charges against a sitting judge are an extraordinary consequence of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Dugan’s supporters say Trump is looking to make an example of her to blunt judicial opposition to immigration arrests.” (12/18/25)
“A Second Amendment clash has erupted between the federal government and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The U.S. government sued the U.S. territory, its police department and Police Commissioner Mario Brooks on Tuesday, accusing them of obstructing and systematically denying American citizens the right to possess and carry guns. The U.S. Virgin Islands requires that applicants demonstrate ‘good reason to fear death or great injury to his person or property,’ and to have ‘two credible persons’ to vouch for their need of a firearm. Local law also requires that someone have ‘good moral character’ to obtain a gun permit, which is valid for up to three years and applies to a single weapon.” (12/17/25)
“A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to limit members of Congress from visiting detention facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled Wednesday that ICE cannot enforce newly adopted policies that require lawmakers to provide seven days notice before visiting detention facilities and entirely barring congressional visits to field offices being used to detain immigrants. Those policies, adopted in June, appear to violate explicit language in federal funding laws — adopted annually since 2020 — that prohibit ICE from restricting lawmakers’ access to its facilities, Cobb concluded.” (12/17/25)
