“The Trump administration on Tuesday designated another Latin American drug cartel as a foreign terrorist organization, increasing financial pressure on its members and opening the door to potential military action against them. The U.S. State Department said Clan del Golfo, which is based in Colombia, has been listed both as a foreign and a global terrorist group, calling it a ‘violent and powerful criminal organization’ that uses cocaine trafficking to fund violent activities. ‘Clan del Golfo is responsible for terrorist attacks against public officials, law enforcement and military personnel, and civilians in Colombia’, the statement said. The designation comes after the Trump administration in September added Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in almost 30 years.” (12/16/25)
“A man was injured in what the Alexandria Police Department is calling a self-defense shooting on Marthas Drive …. APD said officers responded to a shooting call in the 5900 block of Marthas Drive. They learned that Avery Lewis, 31, had been shot after he jumped into a parked delivery truck in a threatening manner, and the driver, Robin Volson, shot him in self-defense. Volson then called the police. Lewis was moderately injured and was taken to a hospital.” (12/15/25)
“Canada will now extend automatic citizenship to children born or adopted abroad to a Canadian parent also born outside the country. There are conditions to the ‘Lost Canadian’ rules that came into effect on Monday – the Canadian parent must show a substantial connection’ to the country by having spent at least three years there prior to their child’s birth or adoption. ‘Lost Canadians’ refers to people who lost or never acquired citizenship because of what Ottawa deemed ‘outdated provisions’ of its citizenship laws. The changes on Monday stem from a 2023 Ontario court decision that ruled parts of the law limiting citizenship by descent were unconstitutional. The court ruling came after the federal government under former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper passed a law in 2009 that removed the automatic right to citizenship for descendants of Canadians born abroad.” (12/16/25)
“Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have said they would withdraw from the eastern Congo town of Uvira at the request of the U.S. administration, which had criticised seizure of the town last week as a threat to mediation efforts. The rebels entered Uvira, on the border with Burundi, less than a week after the presidents of Congo and Rwanda met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and affirmed their commitment to a peace deal known as the Washington Accords. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Rwanda’s actions in eastern Congo violated the Washington Accords and vowed to ‘take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept.’ Rwanda denies supporting M23 and has blamed Congolese and Burundian forces for the renewed fighting.” (12/16/25)
“The U.S. Capitol on Tuesday began displaying a statue of a teenaged Barbara Rose Johns as she protested poor conditions at her segregated Virginia high school, a pointed replacement for a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was removed several years ago. An unveiling ceremony of the statue representing Virginia in the Capitol was taking place in Emancipation Hall, featuring Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia’s congressional delegation. Johnson said more than 200 members of Johns’ family were on hand, listening on as the ceremony opened with a rendition of ‘How Great Thou Art’ performed by the Eastern Senior High School choir in Washington.” (12/16/25)
“The BBC has said it will defend itself against a $10 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump on Monday, which alleges the British public broadcaster defamed him in a documentary before last year’s presidential election by deceptively editing parts of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech. In a brief statement, the BBC said it would fight the lawsuit, raising the possibility of a legal battle over whether the edit of the speech caused harm to the president’s reputation. … In a 33-page complaint, Trump’s attorneys asked a federal court in Miami for a jury trial and alleged a BBC documentary that aired a week before the 2024 presidential election was ‘a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the Election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.’” (12/16/25)
“The U.S. military says it struck three more alleged drug-carrying boats in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, the latest in a campaign of vessel strikes ordered by the Trump administration that have [murdered] at least 95 people in 25 boats. Monday’s strikes [murdered] eight men across three boats, the U.S. military’s Southern Command said in a post on X. It alleged the [victims] were ‘male narco-terrorists’ and the boats were ‘transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking.’ The strike was authorized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Southern Command said.” (12/15/25)
“Ukrainian underwater drones struck a Russian submarine for the first time on Monday, causing critical damage to the vessel and making it the first publicly acknowledged use of the new class of Ukrainian weapons, according to Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency. At the time of the attack, the Kilo-class submarine was docked in a Russian Black Sea port near the city of Novorossiysk and carried four launchers for Kalibr cruise missiles, which Moscow regularly uses to attack across Ukraine, the agency said. Kilo-class vessels are not nuclear-powered and do not carry nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. The Russian government made no immediate comment on Ukraine’s claim.” (12/15/25)
“President Trump weighed in on the apparent homicide of director Rob Reiner and his wife in a Truth Social post Monday, suggesting the cause of death was reportedly ‘Trump derangement syndrome.’ ‘A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS,’ Trump wrote. … Reiner — a Democrat and donor — and his wife were found stabbed to death in their home Sunday afternoon.” (12/15/25)
“The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected one of Israel’s legal challenges seeking to block an investigation into its actions in the genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, dealing a blow to Israel’s efforts to derail the case. In their decision issued on Monday, judges refused to overturn a lower court decision allowing the ICC prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes in Israel’s war on Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. … The appeal focused on whether the ICC prosecutor was required to issue a fresh notification to Israel before investigating events that took place after October 7, 2023. Israel argued that the post-October 7 assault on Gaza constituted a new situation …. Judges rejected that argument, ruling that the original notification issued in 2021 – when the ICC formally opened its investigation into alleged crimes in occupied Palestine – already covered later events.” (12/15/25)
