News And Current Events

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned 123 prisoners as part of a deal with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, Minsk has announced. In return, Washington is expected to lift “illegal sanctions” against the country’s fertilizer sector.

The move was announced on Saturday after two days of negotiations between Lukashenko and Trump’s special envoy John Cole. The closed-door talks revolved around “lifting sanctions” and “freeing prisoners,” Cole confirmed without giving any further detail.

“We talked about the future, about how to move forward on a path of rapprochement between the United States and Belarus to normalize relations. That’s our goal,” he told reporters.

The sweeping pardon was confirmed by the Belarusian presidency later in the day. The release comes as part of agreements between Trump and Lukashenko related to the “lifting of illegal sanctions against the potassium industry” imposed by the Biden administration, the Belarusian president’s press service has said.

A shelter in place order has been lifted for the Providence community

https://www.foxnews.com/us/person-interest-custody-following-deadly-shooting-brown-university

An Estonian court has handed lengthy prison sentences to the leaders of an anti-NATO party convicted of working on behalf of Russia to undermine national security.

On Thursday, the Harju District Court sentenced Aivo Peterson, co-founder of the small conservative Koos party, to 14 years in prison for treason. His associates, Dmitri Rootsi and Andrei Andronov, received sentences of 11 years and 11 years and six months, respectively. All three denied any wrongdoing and said they would appeal the verdict.

Prosecutors alleged that the defendants spread “narratives supporting Russia’s foreign and security policy” intended to undermine public trust in NATO and Estonia’s military aid to Ukraine.

“The defendants deliberately assisted Russia in activities directed against the Estonian state and society,” State Prosecutor Triinu Olev-Aas said.

Founded in 2022, Koos calls for Estonia to leave NATO, become a neutral state, remove foreign troops from its territory, and “refrain from participating directly or indirectly in military conflicts between other countries.”

European Union (EU) finance ministers have agreed to impose a €3 import fee on low-value imports starting July 2026, in a bid to manage the rising number of small parcels entering the bloc from e-commerce platforms such as Shein and Temu.

The decision, announced yesterday, December 12, follows growing concern among EU retailers over what they describe as unfair competition from overseas sellers, particularly from China.

According to official data, 4.6 billion small retail packages were imported into the EU last year, more than 145 every second. Around 91% of those shipments originated from China, and volumes are expected to continue growing.

The new flat-rate fee will be applied per item if packages contain different products. However, for shipments with multiple units of the same product, the duty will only apply once, a spokesperson for the European Council confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The measure is temporary and will take effect from July 1, 2026. It will remain in place until a long-term tax structure is finalised by the bloc.

The move follows the EU’s decision to end a previous exemption that allowed packages valued under €150 to enter the 27-member bloc without duties. That exemption had been widely used by Chinese-founded platforms to ship goods directly to European consumers.

At least 12 dead, including one alleged suspect, and 11 injured in mass shooting on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia

https://www.foxnews.com/world/least-10-dead-after-mass-shooting-during-hanukkah-event-australias-bondi-beach

After declining invite to Tehran, top Lebanese diplomat says Iran ‘source of instability’ in Mideast * ISF will not fight Hamas, say US officials, who still seek to deploy force next month

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-december-12-2025/

José Antonio Kast, son of a Nazi party member, is frontrunner in fierce campaign against communist Jeannette Jara, an outspoken critic of Trump, Maduro, and Israel’s war in Gaza

https://www.timesofisrael.com/chileans-polarized-ahead-of-presidential-election-as-far-right-candidate-poised-to-prevail/

https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/man-accused-burglarizing-local-church-arrested-after-standoff-new-york-city/UZPVK4AEONALLKBKEIRQV5JE5A/

What happens when your country's public health system is run by anti-vaccine activists?

https://gizmodo.com/u-s-measles-outbreak-nears-grim-milestone-as-hundreds-quarantine-in-south-carolina-2000697900

Calvin Curtis Johnson, 36, also claimed deputies 'saved me from the aliens' during arrest

https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-man-allegedly-crashes-stolen-bmw-gives-bizarre-explanation-deputies-teleported

A spokesperson for Walz's office pushed back on the criticism from Republicans

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/he-had-years-to-stop-this-gop-lawmakers-blast-walz-over-massive-minnesota-fraud-scheme

Attorney General Pam Bondi says the public education system must be a 'bastion of merit and equal opportunity — not DEI'

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/justice-department-sues-public-school-district-over-allegedly-discriminatory-policies

Dem says RFK Jr 'has turned his back on science'

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-democrat-introduces-impeachment-articles-against-rfk-jr

The death toll from the devastating flooding in Asia has surpassed 1,200, with storms and cyclones battering Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka and bringing their heaviest rainfall in decades.

Hundreds of people have been reported missing since floods and landslides first struck last week, affecting millions across Southeast Asia, killing at least 659 in Indonesia, 390 in Sri Lanka and 181 in Thailand, authorities said on Tuesday.

The flooding was triggered by the exceptionally rare Cyclone Senyar sweeping through Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and the powerful Cyclone Ditwah pounding Sri Lanka and India.

In Indonesia, the hardest hit by the disaster, the death toll jumped to 659 on Tuesday, up from 440 over the weekend, the head of the disaster mitigation agency said. Some 475 people remained missing.

Rescuers were struggling to reach villages on the island of Sumatra, where thousands of people were still stranded after the floods washed out roads and collapsed bridges.

Helicopters and boats had been deployed, but officials said worsening weather and damaged infrastructure were slowing operations.

President Prabowo Subianto pledged to rebuild the infrastructure while visiting the affected areas on Sumatra.

"We need to confront climate change effectively," he added. "Local governments must take a significant role in safeguarding the environment and preparing for the extreme weather conditions that will arise from future climate change."

At least 25 people have died in a fire that tore through the dance floor of a nightclub in India's popular holiday destination of Goa.

The fire erupted from a gas cylinder explosion in the club's kitchen at midnight on Sunday. Four tourists were among those killed, while as many as 14 were members of kitchen staff.

The incident took place at Birch by Romeo Lane, a popular club in Arpora village in North Goa, located 25km from the state capital Panaji.

About 100 people were on the packed dance floor when the fire erupted, witnesses said, adding that some ran downstairs to the club's kitchen to try and escape the fire but got trapped along with staff.

The fire has been extinguished, officials said on Sunday morning, and an inquiry has been ordered into what caused the fire.

An eyewitness told BBC News that it appeared to be a usual Saturday night during the tourist season, until he heard screams.

The family of a Colombian man who was killed in a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean has lodged a complaint against the United States with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

The family of 42-year-old Alejandro Carranza Medina, who was killed on Sept. 15, rejected assertions there were any drugs on the vessel targeted in Washington's anti-narcotics military campaign, and insisted he was a fisherman just doing his job on the open sea.

"We know that Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defense, was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza Medina and the murder of all those on such boats," reads the complaint seen by AFP on Wednesday.

U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific have killed more than 80 people on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were ferrying drugs from Venezuela. Legal experts and lawmakers critical of the strikes have argued that the military action targeting the suspected drug smuggling boats are legally dubious.

Family members and victims' governments insist some of those killed were fishermen, and rights groups say the strikes are illegal even if the targets were in fact drug traffickers.

The IACHR complaint said Hegseth gave the orders "despite the fact that he did not know the identity of those being targeted for these bombings and extra-judicial killings" it said were "ratified" by President Trump.

The IACHR is a quasi-judicial body of the Organization of American States, created to protect human rights in the region.

In a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Hegseth said the U.S. has "only just begun striking narco-boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean." He noted a recent pause in strikes, explaining that "it's hard to find boats to strike right now."

"Deterrence has to matter," he said. "Not arrest and hand over and then do it again, the rinse-and-repeat approach of previous administrations."

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has called the U.S. strikes "extrajudicial executions," has vowed support for the family in its quest for justice.

"My lawyer Dan Kovalik has begun the legal defense of the Carranza family, victims of the American assassination of Alejandro Carranza, the fisherman from Santa Marta killed by a missile fired at his boat in the Caribbean and poor in solidarity," Petro wrote on social media on Monday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/04/fbi-arrests-suspect-in-jan-6-pipe-bomb-case-ms-now.html

Follow the latest news on President Donald Trump and his administration | Dec. 3, 2025

https://apnews.com/live/trump-news-updates-12-03-2025

A U.S. naval operation off the coast of Venezuela has escalated into a high-stakes legal and political crisis as Admiral Frank Bradley faces mounting scrutiny for authorizing a second strike on survivors of a disabled vessel on 2 September. The incident, which the White House has defended as part of its expanded campaign against drug cartels, has triggered investigations in Caracas, sharpened divisions in Washington and raised questions about whether the commander acted within the bounds of international law-or whether he could ultimately face war crimes liability.

Within the first 100 words: Admiral Frank Bradley, Venezuela, White House, Pete Hegseth, President Trump, Geneva Conventions.

Conflicting narratives from U.S. officials have intensified the controversy. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Bradley acted "within his authorities" to neutralize a threat, while reporting has pointed to claims that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal directive to "kill everybody." President Trump has since distanced himself, saying he "wouldn't have wanted" a second strike. The shifting positions have left Bradley isolated as questions grow about whether he is being positioned as a scapegoat for a verbal order that leaves no documentary record.

Legal experts say the case hinges on the Geneva Conventions' designation of shipwrecked personnel as hors de combat, who must be "respected and protected in all circumstances." The Defense Department's Law of War Manual restates the rule, calling attacks on such individuals "dishonourable." But the manual also outlines a narrow exception, stating protection applies only if a person is "wholly disabled from fighting," noting it can be "difficult to distinguish" between incapacitated survivors and combatants preparing to re-engage. That distinction forms the legal fulcrum of Bradley's defense.

Reports detail a 40-minute interval between the initial disabling strike and the second, lethal attack on survivors in the water. Initial targeting left the Venezuelan vessel dead in the water, with crew members clinging to debris. Standard rules of engagement suggest the operation should have ended there. Instead, a second strike was carried out. Leavitt defended the decision, saying Bradley "worked well within his authority" to "ensure the boat was destroyed" and that the "threat to the United States of America was eliminated."

The EU's former foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has been detained by Belgian police as part of an anti-fraud investigation. Stefano Sannino, a top EU civil servant, was also taken into questioning on Tuesday.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/12/02/belgian-police-raid-european-external-action-service-in-anti-fraud-operation?fromBreakingNews=1

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article313261442.html

Gunman remains at large after targeting banquet hall where 15 people were shot, investigators say

https://www.foxnews.com/us/mass-shooting-stockton-california-banquet-hall-leaves-multiple-dead-wounded

The shooting allegedly occurred close to Farragut Metro Station; DC police say suspect in custody

https://www.foxnews.com/us/law-enforcement-responding-2-national-guard-members-shot-near-white-house

Five others were injured, three of them critically, in the fire at Wang Fuk Court in the northern district of Tai Po, the Fire Services Department said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/hong-kong-fire-high-rise-housing-estate-wang-fuk-court-tai-po-bamboo-rcna246020