“China on Monday criticized the U.S.’s seizures of oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela and accused Washington of breaking international law amid reports that the U.S. Coast Guard was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea after seizing two others this month. In a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said: ‘The U.S.’s arbitrary seizure of other countries’ vessels is a serious violation of international law,’ adding that China ‘opposes illegal unilateral sanctions … without authorization from the UN Security Council.'” (12/22/25)
“A suspected cyberattack knocked France’s national postal service and its banking arm offline Monday, blocking and delaying package deliveries and online payments at the height of the busy Christmas season. The postal service, called La Poste, said in a statement that a distributed denial of service incident, or DDoS, ‘rendered its online services inaccessible.’ It said the incident had no impact on customer data, but disrupted package and mail delivery. At a Paris post office decked out in holiday garlands and usually bustling this time of year, employees turned away frustrated customers lining up to send or retrieve packages, including Christmas gifts. Customers of the company’s banking arm, La Banque Postale, were blocked from using the application to approve payments or conduct other banking services.” (12/22/25)
“The nation’s oldest National Park Ranger, Betty Reid Soskin, died at the age of 104. In a public post on Soskin’s social media accounts, a spokesman confirmed the news of her death, saying Soskin had died at her home in Richmond, California on Sunday. … Soskin was hired by the National Park Service as a ranger at the age of 85, working at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park until her retirement in 2022 at the age of 100, according to her obituary. The National Park Service said Soskin worked to establish the park as a site for honoring women’s roles during World War II before she began working there as a park ranger.” (12/22/25)
“The U.S. will build “Trump-class” military vessels that the president on Monday suggested are new-age battleships, inching the country closer to construction of what the administration is advertising as ‘the Golden Fleet.’ … Trump unveiled the plans while flanked at Mar-a-Lago by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Navy Secretary John Phelan. ‘They’ll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,’ Trump said. Concept art depicts something reminiscent of a cruiser. It has at least one laser weapon aboard and is capable of launching missiles. A helicopter hovers overhead. And an image of Trump raising his fist is emblazoned on the back.” (12/22/25)
“Iranian state media reported missile drills in different Iranian cities, citing unnamed sources and witnesses. The Telegram channel of Iran’s public broadcaster and semi-official Nournews publish videos of what appear to be missile launches …. Israel has warned the Trump administration that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may be using an ongoing military exercise focusing on missiles as cover to launch an attack on Israel, according to a report yesterday. However, the US intelligence community has not seen any signs that an Iranian strike could be imminent, an American source told the outlet.” (12/22/25)
“Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has stepped in to personally guarantee $40.4 billion in Paramount Skydance’s latest effort to pry Warner Bros Discovery away from selling its prized Hollywood assets to streaming giant Netflix. The guarantee, disclosed in a filing on Monday, seeks to allay the Warner Bros board’s doubts about Paramount’s financing and the lack of full Ellison family backing, which had pushed it toward the competing cash-and-stock offer from Netflix. Warner Bros shares rose nearly 4%, while Paramount added about 3%. Warner Bros and Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.” (12/22/25)
“The Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces on Monday ordered their fighters to cease fire following deadly clashes that came as Turkey’s top diplomat urged the Kurds to integrate into the Syrian army. At least three people were killed in the clashes, which came ahead of a deadline for implementing a 10 March agreement between Damascus and the Kurds to integrate the SDF — which controls vast swathes of Syria’s oil-rich northeast — into the state.” (12/22/25)
“Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced the $12 billion bailout package that will include one-time Farmer Bridge Payments to American farmers. The relief is a ‘response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs,’ according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) release. … But [Tryg] Koch and agriculture economists say the plan hardly represents a bailout and will have little impact on Montana farmers as they brace for potential losses in 2026. … Koch estimates the package will grant $30 per acre for row crop farmers who produce things like wheat, canola and pulses. ‘The $30 per acre will help, but it’s a far cry from what the actual losses are,’ Koch said. ‘We don’t need government bailouts – that doesn’t solve the problem and all it does is put a Band-Aid over it to keep up with inflation. We should be selling wheat for $8 or $9 per bushel.'” (12/22/25)
“Spotify says it has launched new protections against ‘anti-copyright attacks’ after the open-source library / pirate activist group Anna’s Archive announced it’s ripped 86 million songs from the platform that it plans to make available in torrents, as reported earlier by Billboard. According to the group, ‘We have archived around 86 million songs from Spotify, ordering by popularity descending. While this only represents 37 percent of songs, it represents around 99.6 percent of listens.’ The first torrent released says it contains metadata, such as album art, song title, and artist name, belonging to 99.9 percent of Spotify’s 256 million tracks. The group says it plans to make the 300TB worth of music files available at a later date.” (12/22/25)
“Japan[‘s regime] took the final step to allow the world’s largest nuclear power plant to resume operations with a regional vote on Monday, a watershed moment in the country’s return to nuclear energy nearly 15 years after the Fukushima disaster. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located about 136 miles northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Since then, Japan has restarted 14 of the 33 that remain operable, as it tries to wean itself off imported fossil fuels. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa will be the first operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO,) which ran the doomed Fukushima plant.” (12/22/25)
