“Four young men were detained by Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities and put into a rehabilitation program for walking around in public dressed up as their favorite characters from the hit British drama ‘Peaky Blinders.’ The Taliban government’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said the four friends — who had become popular in their local Jibrail township, in the southern province of Herat, for strutting through the streets in trench coats and flat caps — were detained for ‘promoting foreign culture.'” (12/09/25)
“French celebrities and politicians on the left have expressed outrage after Brigitte Macron was filmed using a derogatory and sexist slur to describe feminist protesters at a theatre show in Paris. A video filmed on Sunday showed France’s first lady in discussion backstage at the Folies Bergère theatre in Paris with Ary Abittan, a French actor and comedian previously accused of rape, before a performance he was about to give. The previous night, feminist campaigners had disrupted his show with shouts of: ‘Abittan, rapist!’ Before Sunday’s performance, Macron asked him how he was feeling. When he said he was feeling scared, she referred to the protesters as ‘sales connes’ (dirty or stupid bitches) and adding that if they reappeared, ‘we’ll toss them out.’ … Politicians on the left criticised the use of a sexist slur and some said Brigitte Macron should apologise.” (12/09/25)
“The Southern District of Texas announced the seizure of more than $50 million in NVIDIA GPUs bound for China in violation of US export laws. Authorities arrested two businessmen, one of them the owner of a Houston company, accused of smuggling the chips used to train and run AI models. … The smuggling operation used a combination of falsified paperwork, purposefully misclassified goods, straw purchasers and even removing the NVIDIA labels on GPUs to ship them to both mainland China and Hong Kong. The conspirators face between 10 and 20 years in prison if convicted.” (12/09/25)
“The Lithuanian government has declared a ‘nationwide emergency situation’ in response to a series of incursions from neighbouring Belarus by weather balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes. Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene condemned the balloon incursions as a ‘hybrid attack’ by Belarus that posed a real risk to national security and civil aviation. This year alone, officials say about 600 balloons linked to smuggling and almost 200 drones have entered Lithuanian airspace, leading to the repeated closure of Vilnius airport. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko denies being behind the incursions, alleging the issue has been ‘politicised’ by Lithuania, which is a member of both the EU and Nato.” (12/09/25)
“Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced a leader of the feared Sudanese Janjaweed militia to 20 years imprisonment Tuesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the catastrophic conflict in Darfur more than two decades ago. At a hearing last month, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman who was was convicted in October of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that included ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an ax in 2003-2004.” (12/09/25)
“The Supreme Court won’t get involved in states’ regulation of vanity license plates, rejecting an appeal from a Tennessee woman challenging the rejection of her controversial ’69PWNDU’ personalized plate. The court on Dec. 8 declined to hear an appeal from Leah Gilliam, who argued that states’ rules for what is and isn’t allowed on personalized plates are often unclear and can amount to a ‘dizzying array of censorship.’ She wanted the court to find that she is expressing her own views through a vanity plate, not the government’s, a decision that would have limited states’ ability to control that message.” (12/09/25)
“Jimmy Kimmel isn’t going anywhere, despite his show’s recent suspension and antagonistic interactions as of late with President Donald Trump. The ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ host has signed a one-year extension with ABC, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY on Dec. 8. His late-night show will stay on the network through May 2027.” (12/09/25)
“A convenience store manager in Kenner locked a group of Border Patrol agents out as they approached the store on Saturday. In a cell phone video he took of the incident, the group appears to be with the [gang’s top shot-caller], Gregory Bovino. ‘You want some chicken? You ain’t getting it here, bro,’ Wayne Davis can be heard taunting the agents through the door. Davis is an assistant manager of the Brother’s convenience store in Kenner where the incident happened. He said he was helping a customer when he saw two unmarked SUVs speed into the parking lot and stop in front of the store. Agents came out wearing Border Patrol vests. … Davis locked the door from behind the counter as the agents approached. … ‘I’m not going to let them do what they think they can do,’ he said, ‘because they can’t.'” (12/09/25)
“Carmaker Stellantis is teaming up with Estonia-based ride-hailing platform Bolt to deploy driverless vehicles across Europe, with plans to begin on-road trials in 2026, the companies said on Tuesday. The collaboration will integrate Stellantis'[s] purpose-built autonomous vehicle platforms with Bolt’s ride-hailing network, which serves more than 200 million customers in over 50 countries, including 23 member states of the European Union. Deployment will be phased from prototypes and pilot fleets to progressive industrial scale-up, with an initial production target in 2029, the joint statement said.” (12/09/25)
