“Farmers in southwest France blocked roads and set fire to bales of hay on Saturday, December 13 to protest the culling of cows due to a skin disease as the government said one million cattle would be vaccinated. French farmers have been angry over what they see as the government’s heavy-handed response to an outbreak of nodular dermatitis, widely known as lumpy skin disease. On Friday, veterinarians slaughtered a herd of more than 200 cows in the village of Les Bordes-sur-Arize near the Spanish border after discovering a single case of the sickness. The police had to disperse angry farmers to escort in a team to carry out the culling. … On Saturday, dozens of tractors blocked traffic, while others were parked in front of public buildings, with farmers setting fire to bales of straw and tires.” (12/13/25)
“Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava after two days of talks with an envoy for President Donald Trump, a U.S. statement said. In return, the United States agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash. Potash is a key component in fertilisers, and the former Soviet state is a leading global producer. The prisoner release was by far the biggest by Lukashenko since Trump’s administration opened talks this year with the veteran authoritarian leader, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Western governments had previously shunned him because of his crushing of dissent and backing for Russia’s war in Ukraine.” (12/13/25)
“They’re clicking taboos to the curb. Pornhub has released its annual Year in Review report, revealing women are tuning in to X-rated videos at record rates. In 2025, the fairer sex made up a sizable 38 percent of all visitors to the adult website, a 14 percent surge since 2015. ‘Over the last decade, our statisticians have been tracing the proportion of female visitors to Pornhub,’ the company stated. ‘They have noticed an upward trend over the years, putting into question the dated umbrella statement: ‘It’s only men who watch porn.” In the Philippines, Colombia, and Argentina, women now make up a majority of Pornhub visitors. In Mexico, the stats were almost split: 48 percent of all visitors to the site this year were female. Meanwhile, American men are still more likely than their female counterparts to peruse porn, with just over a quarter of all searches (28 percent) conducted by women.” (12/13/25)
“The German Foreign Ministry said it summoned the Russian ambassador Friday after accusing Moscow’s military intelligence of a cyberattack on air traffic control and attempted election interference. A spokesperson for the ministry said a hacker group behind the 2024 cyberattack likely has ties to GRU, Russia’s military intelligence. … A Russian propaganda group called Storm-1516 is accused of launching a targeted disinformation campaign to influence the election. The group allegedly spread misinformation about ballot manipulation, Green Party candidate Robert Habeck and now-Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the BBC reported.” (12/12/25)
“President Donald Trump said Saturday that ‘there will be very serious retaliation’ after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group. ‘This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,’ he said in a social media post. The American president told reporters at the White House that Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was ‘devastated by what happened’ and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump, in his post, said al-Sharaa was ‘extremely angry and disturbed by this attack’. U.S. Central Command said three service members were wounded in an ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria.” (12/13/25)
“The U.S. Justice Department is suing four more states as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country. The department filed federal lawsuits against Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada on Thursday for ‘failing to produce statewide voter registration lists upon request [sic]. So far, 18 states have been sued, along with Fulton County in Georgia, which was sued for records related to the 2020 election. The Trump administration has characterized the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide the voter lists and information about ineligible voters.” (12/12/25)
“A shooting at Brown University has left at least two dead and nine injured on Saturday, Dec. 13. Two of the dead and eight of the injured have been confirmed as Brown University students. The school is still on lockdown as the shooter is not yet in custody. Providence police have released limited information about the suspected shooter – only that he is male, was wearing all black or dark clothing, and may be in his 30’s. … In what he described as the last regular update of the evening, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley emphasized that law enforcement has not received any additional credible information that there’s any ongoing threat.” (12/13/25)
“Cambodia has shut its border crossings with Thailand, as fighting continues between the two forces on Saturday despite US President Donald Trump earlier saying they had agreed to a ceasefire. The crossings will be closed until further notice, according to Cambodia’s interior ministry. Earlier, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he told Trump a ceasefire would only be possible after Cambodia had withdrawn all its forces and removed landmines. Thai officials said four soldiers were killed on Saturday, as both sides reported continued bombing and artillery exchanges. Cambodia has not been updating its military casualty figure. Cambodia’s defence ministry said that Thai fighter jets bombed hotel buildings and a bridge, while Thailand reported several civilians were injured in a Cambodian rocket attack. The four deaths on Saturday bring Thailand’s total military death toll since Monday to 15, with 270 others injured. It added that six civilians had also been injured.” (12/13/25)
“Supporters of 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi say she has been arrested while attending a memorial ceremony in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad. The Narges Foundation said on Friday that Mohammadi, 53, was arrested during an event honouring a human rights lawyer who recently died in unclear circumstances. Iranian authorities have not commented on her reported detention, and it remains uncertain whether she will be returned to prison to complete a previous sentence. The arrest comes amid a broader clampdown on activists and civil society figures as Iran faces sanctions, economic pressures and heightened regional tensions.” (12/12/25)
“Scientists on California’s Central Coast recently spotted a giant, evasive seven-arm octopus while on a research expedition in Monterey Bay. The rare creature, called Haliphron atlanticus, was seen by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s biodiversity and biooptics team on Nov. 6, the institute confirmed to SFGATE via email. Prior to this sighting, scientists with MBARI had only seen the octopus four times in the past 35 years. Haliphron atlanticus was last seen by MBARI scientists in 2017, when they discovered the octopus is partial to a diet of jellyfish and gelatinous plankton. Last month, the team again witnessed the elusive animal. Led by senior scientist Steven Haddock, the MBARI team was studying marine life in the ocean’s midwater — a vast range between the water’s surface and the seafloor — when they came across Haliphron atlanticus at a depth of about 2,300 feet.” (12/11/25)
