“A potential veto of Chicago’s 2026 budget by Mayor Brandon Johnson could trigger the Windy City’s first-ever municipal shutdown. Johnson reportedly rebuked the budget passed by council over the weekend, which lacks the mayor’s favored per-employee ‘head tax’ on corporations, as ‘morally bankrupt.’ If Johnson were to veto the budget, it would place the onus back on city council to rehash a plan that could get signed before Dec. 30 – or plunge the city into shutdown. … Items in the council’s budget include legalized video-gambling machines at eateries and Chicago-Midway Airport, raising the shopping-bag tax and a nationally unique proposal to tax social media companies – levying $0.50-per active Chicago user beyond 100,000 users that a platform has – with an expected windfall of $31 million, if approved. While a shutdown would be a novel development, late-year budget vetoes in Chicago are not.” (12/23/25)
“Sudan’s prime minister has presented a plan to end the country’s nearly three-year war before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), calling on members to stand ‘on the right side of history’ by backing the initiative, as fighting continued in Kordofan and North Kordofan states. Addressing the UNSC on Monday, Kamil Idris outlined the proposal that includes a ceasefire monitored by the UN, African Union and Arab League, and the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary from territory it controls. The plan would also see RSF forces, who have been engaged in fierce clashes with the Sudanese army since April 2023, being placed in camps and disarmed – a measure, Idris said, would be necessary for the truce to have any ‘chance for success.'” (12/23/25)
“Patrick Hotze’s three daughters made it home safe from Camp Mystic after July’s catastrophic floods that killed 25 campers and two teenage counselors. He attended some of the funerals and says he understands the outrage over the Texas camp’s plan to partially reopen next year. He also intends to send his girls back. … For the first time since the roaring flood, the 100-year-old all-girls Christian sleepaway retreat plans to sign up campers in January, forging ahead with a reopening that has divided families and stunned some lawmakers. Campers will start arriving in May, bunking on higher ground than the area where fast-rising waters on the Guadalupe River swept away two cabins. Some families say the decision to let their daughters return is a vital step in their own healing from the disaster that is still under scrutiny.” (12/23/25)
“President Donald Trump expressed sympathy Monday for powerful and influential people caught up in convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit, including former President Bill Clinton, telling reporters that he doesn’t ‘like the pictures of other people being shown.’ … Photos included Epstein with well-known figures, including Trump, on his plane or at social events. Clinton has appeared in multiple photos that were released last week as part of the first batch of documents the DOJ made available. There has been ‘tremendous backlash’ to the documents, Trump said, because they’ve ensnared ‘people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago,’ including successful lawyers and businesspeople. … Trump briefly acknowledged that there were photos of himself included in the recent document dumps, but didn’t provide any details on his relationship with Epstein at the time, except to say that he threw him out of Mar-a-Lago.” (12/22/25)
“Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones in a new air attack on Tuesday, authorities said, killing at least three people including a child and triggering emergency power cuts across the country as Ukrainians gear up to celebrate Christmas. Moscow’s latest combined strike hit energy facilities in western regions the hardest, said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, and came days after another round of U.S.-led peace talks to end the nearly four-year-old war.” (12/23/25)
“The U.S. military struck an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, [murdering] one ‘narco-terrorist.’ U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) shared a 27-second video of the strike on X, adding that the vessel was ‘operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters’ and was ‘transiting along known narco-trafficking routes’ in the eastern Pacific. No U.S. military forces were injured in the latest operations, Southcom noted. The U.S. military has now conducted a minimum of 27 strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea since early September, [murdering] at least 105 people.” (12/22/25)
“The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it would ban new foreign-made drones, a move that will keep new Chinese-made drones such as those from DJI and Autel out of the U.S. market.
The announcement came a year after Congress passed a defense bill that [pretended there are] national security concerns about Chinese-made drones …. The bill called for stopping the two Chinese companies from selling new drones in the U.S. if a review found they posed a risk to American national security. The deadline for the review was Dec. 23. The FCC said Monday the review found that all drones and critical components produced in foreign countries, not just by the two Chinese companies, posed ‘unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons.'” (12/22/25)
“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to force a vote on a measure to allow the chamber to jump-start litigation against the Trump administration for failing to comply with the new law requiring the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. ‘The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,’ the New York Democrat said in a statement Monday. ‘Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law. Today, I am introducing a resolution to force the Senate to take legal action and compel this administration to comply.’ … It’s unlikely that enough Republicans would join Democrats in supporting the measure, but Schumer intends to put his colleagues on the spot in January, bringing the resolution to the floor when the Senate reconvenes after the holiday recess.” (12/22/25)
“South Korea’s rival political parties are set to appoint special prosecutors to investigate allegations that the Unification Church bribed and lobbied politicians across the ideological divide, a rare move that observers have said could test the country’s constitutional separation of religion and politics. On Monday, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said it would accept a proposal from the conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP) for the team of special prosecutors to investigate the church’s alleged political influence. The decision marks a turnaround for the DPK, which has previously opposed the idea, and reflects growing public pressure to launch an inquiry to examine politicians from both ruling and opposition parties over their supposed links to the Unification Church.” (12/22/25)
“The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ priorities. The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves.” (12/22/25)
