Life in Late Stage Capitalism

“It’s much easier to imagine the end of all life on earth than a much more modest radical change in capitalism.”

– Slavoj Žižek

2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019

2025

eSwatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, has agreed to accept U.S. deportees in exchange for US$5.1 million.
Benin’s interior minister says a coup d’etat attempt has been foiled.
FIFA gives its new peace prize to Trump.
Greek police fire tear gas at protesting farmers threatening to blockade airport.
Kenyan lawmakers identify “disturbing trend” of misconduct by British troops:

A parliamentary inquiry in Kenya has accused British troops training there of a pattern of sexual misconduct and environmental harm that has led the forces from the former colonial power to be seen as an ”occupying presence”.

The findings of the investigation by a parliamentary committee focused on defence and foreign relations highlight rising frustrations in the East African country at the conduct of soldiers from the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), who have faced a raft of highly-publicised accusations in recent years.
Trump says Venezuelan airspace should be considered closed.
OpenAI needs to raise at least $207 billion by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates.
Soldiers seize power in Guinea-Bissau coup d’etat and detain the president.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to publish prison memoir on his 20 days behind bars.
France’s top general under fire after saying country must be “prepared to lose children”.
E.U.-made weapons fuel war crimes in Sudan, envoy says:

Abdelbagi Kabeir called on EU countries to stop selling arms to the United Arab Emirates, which a United Nations panel probed earlier this year over allegations it is backing a notorious rebel militia in the Sudanese conflict.

Sudan has been ravaged by a war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of the government in Khartoum and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused by rights group and United Nations experts of ethnic massacres, mass displacement and systematic sexual violence. The U.N. describes the humanitarian crisis as among the world’s largest, with tens of thousands killed since 2023 and some 25 million facing extreme hunger.
German auction house cancels sale of Holocaust artefacts after outcry.
Federal judge in Chicago orders clean toilets, access to lawyers for immigration detainees:

The detainees’ lawyers described the facility as a “black box” where people could not make confidential calls to lawyers and had no privacy. Several witnesses testified that they were confined to overcrowded and filthy cells and forced to sleep on the floor.
U.S. layoffs for October surge to two-decade high:

U.S.-based employers cut more than 150,000 jobs in October, marking the biggest reduction for the month in more than 20 years, a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas said […] as industries adopt AI-driven changes and intensify cost cuts.
U.S. Army tells soldiers in Germany to go to the food bank amid government shutdown.
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads:

Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue – or $16 billion – from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show.
U.S. government shutdown longest ever.
Nobel Peace Prize winner supports Trump’s military actions in the Caribbean:

María Corina Machado, the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, has emerged as a strong supporter of President Trump’s military buildup in the Caribbean, arguing, like Mr. Trump, that Venezuela’s autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, poses an enormous security threat to the region.

[…]

Since September, the Trump administration has been targeting what it calls drug boats in the Caribbean. But the size of the military buildup in the region, and Mr. Trump’s increasingly strident threats against Mr. Maduro, have led many people in both countries to think that the Trump administration’s real objective is Mr. Maduro’s removal — possibly by force.
France faces homelessness crisis as deaths and child poverty soar:

France saw a record surge in homeless deaths in 2024, with 912 people dying while living without stable housing, according to figures released Thursday by the collective Les Morts de la Rue.
Nvidia becomes first company worth $5 trillion:

Nvidia remains the world’s largest company, ranking ahead of Microsoft ($4 trillion) and Apple ($3.9 trillion), which crossed the $4 trillion threshold for the first time Tuesday, as well as Google parent Alphabet ($3.2 trillion), Amazon ($2.4 trillion) and Meta ($1.8 trillion).
At least 121 killed in Rio de Janeiro’s most deadly police operation ever ahead of climate conferences.
Over 1.2 million people a week talk to ChatGPT about suicide.
U.S. sought to lure Nicolás Maduro’s pilot into betraying the Venezuelan leader:

The federal agent had a daring pitch for Nicolás Maduro’s chief pilot: All he had to do was surreptitiously divert the Venezuelan president’s plane to a place where U.S. authorities could nab the strongman.

In exchange, the agent told the pilot in a clandestine meeting, the aviator would be made a very rich man.
U.S. launches strikes on 4 alleged drug-running boats in the eastern Pacific, killing 14.
Amazon, Inc. confirms around 14,000 cuts to its corporate workforce.
Peru’s interim president declares state of emergency in Lima and Callao:

Since assuming the presidency on October 10, after Boluarte was removed from office, Jerí has focused on projecting the image of an authority determined to take a hardline stance against the unrest. […]

During Boluarte’s administration, several states of emergency were declared, but none proved effective. As a result, 59% of Peruvians consider insecurity and crime to be the country’s most serious problems, according to a survey by Peru’s National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) conducted in the first quarter of 2025. Extortion has severely affected urban transportation — an estimated 180 drivers and fare collectors have been killed throughout 2025 for refusing to pay protection money to local mafias.
Pregnant women detained by I.C.E. suffer from malnutrition, isolation, and miscarriages:

Since Trump returned to the White House in January — seeking to increase the number of detainees for the largest deportation in history — agents have had no qualms about arresting pregnant women, despite their need for additional care that ICE centers don’t provide. There are several cases of women who have suffered miscarriages without receiving adequate treatment while detained, and there have even been reports of women being rushed to the hospital handcuffed while suffering vaginal bleeding.

[…]

“[Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC)] has received reports of pregnant detainees begging to bring an apple or a carton of milk into their cells and being denied, forcing them to try to meet their nutritional needs with French fries and frozen burritos, the only food available for purchase, at an exorbitant price,” at the Basile facility, the report states. WRC staff interviewed deported nursing mothers in Honduras, “who were so malnourished by their detention” that their bodies “had stopped producing milk.”
United States attacks two alleged drug boats in the Pacific in less than 24 hours.
U.S. federal workers form line down the block for food pantry as shutdown hits third-week mark.
German N.G.O. accuses TotalEnergies of complicity in Mozambique war crimes.
TotalEnergies convicted of greenwashing over claims of carbon neutrality.
Peru declares 30 days state of emergency in Lima after wave of violence.
Sarkozy taunted in prison by inmates vowing revenge for Gaddafi’s death.
France’s former president Sarkozy to be protected by two police officers in prison:

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told Europe 1 radio that two police officers who are part of the security detail protecting former presidents will be stationed permanently in neighbouring cells throughout Sarkozy’s incarceration.
California National Guard will be deployed to help food banks amid ongoing government shutdown.
Amazon’s AWS struggles to recover after major outage disrupts apps, services worldwide.
French bank BNP Paribas to pay $20 million damages for complicity in Sudan atrocities.
Australia defends plan to send deportees to tiny Pacific nation of Nauru:

[…] Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said 30-year visas issued to deportees would give them the right to work in Nauru, a country of 12,000 people who occupy just 21 square km (eight square miles) and rely on foreign aid.
Trump administration strikes a seventh alleged drug boat, killing 3:

At least 32 people have been killed in U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats. The Trump administration has said the U.S. is in a ”non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, arguing that the narcotics they smuggle kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, constituting an “armed attack.”

[…]

The Venezuelan and Colombian governments have also criticized the strikes. This weekend, Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. of hitting a fishing vessel in one of its strikes. Mr. Trump later called Petro an “illegal drug leader” and threatened to cut off U.S. aid to the South American country.
Trump administration authorises covert C.I.A. action in Venezuela.
S&P cuts France’s credit rating to A+ over political instability risking deficit.
Verizon exec tells unemployed Gen Z they can always volunteer to stand out in the current bleak job market:

Young millennials and Gen Zers are having a hard time breaking into the world of work. Millions are unemployed, many are questioning whether their expensive college degree was “pointless”, and they’re quickly realizing that in today’s economy, you need work experience to get experience.

“The work experience piece doesn’t always have to be traditional and paid,” [Verizon’s chief talent officer] Schelling exclusively tells Fortune. “You know, you could do volunteer work, and that builds skills, that also builds your resume when you’re early in your career.”
One dead, dozens injured in Peru anti-crime protests:

The Ombudsman’s Office said 102 people were injured, including 24 civilians and 78 police, updating earlier tolls.

Youth-led demonstrations brought thousands of Peruvians, frustrated by the authorities’ failure to resolve a worsening crime crisis, onto the streets in Lima and several other cities.

[…]

The National Human Rights Coordinator, an NGO, said the man may have been shot by a plainclothes police officer.
Netherlands invokes rare emergency law to take charge of Chinese chipmaker:

Officials said the step — described as “highly exceptional” — was intended to ensure continuity of supplies from Nexperia in a crisis and to safeguard critical know-how on European soil.

[…]

The Goods Availability Act, on which the Netherlands has now relied, is a seldom-invoked law allowing the state to secure access to critical goods and production in emergencies or when vital capabilities are at risk.
France evacuates Madagascar president amid protests and army revolt.
U.K. high street slot machine shops pay staff bonuses linked to how much gamblers lose.
Measles outbreaks across the U.S. continue to add to record case count.
U.S. federal workers start to miss paychecks amid government shutdown.
German industrial output falls to 2005 levels as auto sector craters.
Apple, Inc. removes app that tracks I.C.E. agents from its App Store, developer says.
U.S. President authorises deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago.
Four killed in latest U.S. strike on alleged drug vessel near Venezuela.
Greece passes labour law allowing 13-hour workdays in some cases.
Nationwide strikes disrupts services across Greece:

Protesters are striking against new proposed labor laws that would allow firms to seek 13-hour working days.
Elon Musk just became the first person ever worth $500 billion.
Morocco rocked by Gen Z-led protests over public services:

Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch […] called for dialogue as the country braced for a sixth night of anti-government protests. At least three people have been killed in the recent unrest when police opened fire on demonstrators. The youth-led protests have spread across the country, leading to widespread clashes and hundreds of arrests.
A quarter of Canadians are struggling with food insecurity, says Food Banks Canada.
Donald Trump says U.S. cities should be used as military ”training grounds”.
Global debt hits record of nearly $338 trillion, says Institute of International Finance.
Deadly protests erupt in Madagascar over chronic blackouts and water cuts.
Ghana accused of dumping West African migrants deported from U.S. in Togo.
Moldova’s electoral commission bars pro-Russian party from parliamentary vote.
French ex-president Sarkozy sentenced to 5 years in prison in Libya campaign financing case.
Death rates rose in U.S. hospital E.R.s after private equity firms took over, study finds.
Governments worldwide spend hundreds of billions annually to keep more than 11.5 million people behind bars:

Private corporations now profit from incarceration in many countries, from building cells to selling phone calls. Inside, organized crime syndicates run contraband empires and extortion rackets. Inmates, meanwhile, hustle for survival in an underground economy where ramen noodles are currency and labor pays just a few cents per hour.

As well as low rehabilitation rates, governments are also failing to curb another growing crisis — prison overcrowding. Penal Reform International reports that 155 countries struggle with prison overcapacity, with 11 at over double their limit. Facilities in Congo, Cambodia and the Philippines are operating at 300 to 600% occupancy.

[…]

The US government spends over $3.9 billion per year on private prisons, whose operators earn billions more from others services, including prisoner food, health care and telecommunications. These US prison essentials, known as commissary, are marked up by as much as 600%, while phone calls can cost families up to $16 for just 15 minutes.

[…]

Private companies also build and manage entire prison facilities, supply surveillance tech, run prison labor programs and transport inmates between jail facilities and court. They tend to strip costs right back by understaffing facilities, which reduces inmate services. The results have been mixed.
Internal e-mails reveal Ticketmaster helped scalpers jack up prices, U.S. Federal Trade Commission says.
More than 100 Sudanese refugees dead or missing in shipwrecks off Libya.
Charity warns one in three French people struggle to afford three meals a day.
Australia to spend $8 billion on nuclear sub shipyard.
Germany’s automotive industry in crisis:

According to a study by auditing firm EY, jobs in the German automotive industry fell by 6.7% year-on-year. Around 51,500 positions were cut within a single year, marking the steepest decline across the entire industrial sector.
Nearly 300 people were arrested in France as “Block Everything” demonstrations disrupted transport and public services in cities across the country, authorities said:

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said 80,000 police and gendarmes had been deployed nationwide, including 6,000 in Paris, with orders of zero tolerance.

In the early hours, Retailleau told reporters that nearly 200 people had been detained. By mid-afternoon, the Interior Ministry reported nearly 300 arrests nationwide, including 183 in the Paris region.

Authorities said 430 protest actions had been recorded across France, ranging from roadblocks and demonstrations to attempts to occupy schools and transport hubs.
Fitch downgrades France’s credit rating amid political crisis.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using fake cell towers to spy on people’s phones.
U.S. school shooting industry is worth billions — and it keeps growing:

There have been more than 400 school shootings since Columbine in 1999, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. The latest was last month, when a former student opened fire at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. Two students were killed and at least 18 other people were wounded.

In the wake of those shootings, an industry has emerged to try to protect schools — and business is booming. According to the market research firm Omdia, the school security industry is now worth as much as $4 billion, and it’s projected to keep growing.
19 killed in Nepal in protests over social media ban, Army deployed.
Police in Britain are making more than 30 arrests a day over offensive online posts:

According to reports earlier this year based on analysis of custody data, police are making more than 30 arrests a day over offensive posts on social media and other online platforms. This equates to 12,000 arrests each year.
U.S. strikes on Latin American “drug boats”.
Libyan coastguard shot at migrant rescue ship in Mediterranean, N.G.O. claims.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement used so much tear gas, a public school fled its campus.
U.S. electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as inflation.
Canadian government forces striking Air Canada cabin crews back to work:

More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants were participating in the strike over a pay dispute with the airline.

Currently, the flight attendants are paid only when they are flying.

However, the union wants flight attendants to be compensated for the time they spend on the ground between flights and as they help passengers board.
Flash floods kill hundreds in Pakistan, India.
Meta’s AI rules have let bots hold “sensual” chats with kids, offer false medical info.
Facial recognition vans to be rolled out across police forces in England.
U.S. national debt reaches a record $37 trillion.
U.S. President deploys National Guard to D.C., takes control of local police in crime crackdown.
U.K. homelessness minister resigns in eviction and rent price hike row:

The UK’s Under-Secretary for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, Rushanara Ali, has resigned after a row erupted over claims she evicted tenants from a property she owned before increasing the rent.

[…]

She was accused of hypocrisy after it was revealed she evicted four tenants from her east London townhouse before relisting the property online with a rent increase of almost £700 (€808) a month.
Food, housing, and health care costs are a source of major stress for many people in U.S.:

About half the public identify the cost of groceries as a major source of financial stress. Nearly 1 in 5 of them have used so-called Buy Now Play Later services to buy their groceries.
Third-hottest July on record worsens droughts, floods and fires.
Death toll climbs to 96 in Yemen migrant boat sinking with dozens still missing.
France battling largest wildfire in 75 years.
Spain’s housing crisis deepens, residents’ anger is rising:

Since 2010, housing prices in the European Union have surged by over 50% on average, while rents have climbed by 26%. Spain is among the hardest-hit nations, with rents increasing by up to 80% in the past decade.

This is a crisis caused by a cocktail of scarce housing supply, inflated construction costs, the boom in short-term rentals, and foreign investor speculation.
Amid brutal heatwaves, Spain sees one of its worst months for heat-related deaths.
Japan sets record temperature of 41.8 °C.
Poorest U.S. workers hit hardest by slowing wage growth:

The wage growth trend means the lowest paid are now more likely to find themselves among the 40 per cent of US workers whose salaries are not keeping pace with inflation, even though median pay is still rising faster than prices, according to Cory Stahle, economist at Indeed.
A.I. researchers are negotiating $250 million pay packages. Just like NBA stars.
U.S. President fires Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner after disappointing job numbers.
El Salvador parliament approves reform to allow Bukele to run indefinitely:

The party of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele approved constitutional changes in the country’s National Assembly […] that will allow indefinite presidential reelection and extend presidential terms to six years.
At least 22 killed in protests against fuel price hikes in Angola, president’s office says.
Protests erupt at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya following aid cuts:

Humanitarian groups have grappled for months with rising tensions in the Kakuma refugee camp as rations have been reduced following massive cuts to aid from the United States and other donors.

The camp in northern Kenya is the east African nation’s second-largest after Dadaab, hosting roughly 300,000 people, mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Burundi.
Google failed to warn 10 million of Turkey earthquake severity:

Google has admitted its earthquake early warning system failed to accurately alert people during Turkey’s deadly quake of 2023.

Ten million people within 98 miles of the epicentre could have been sent Google’s highest level alert – giving up to 35 seconds of warning to find safety.

Instead, only 469 “Take Action” warnings were sent out for the first 7.8 magnitude quake.

[…]

Google’s system, named Android Earthquake Alerts (AEA), is run by the Silicon Valley firm – not individual countries.
Beijing floods kill 30 as China sees summer of extreme weather.
More than 1,000 firefighters battle three major blazes in Portugal.
Albania and Bulgaria ask E.U. for help to deal with raging wildfires.
Wildfires rage in Greece and Turkey as extreme heat persists.
Cyprus battles largest wildfires in more than 50 years.
Island-wide blackout hits Puerto Rico, leaving 1.4 million customers without power and more than 400,000 without water.
Venezuela says U.S. migrants were tortured in El Salvador:

At a press conference […], Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek Saab showed videos of former detainees describing human rights abuses and showing injuries.

Saab said prisoners suffered several kinds of mistreatment, including sexual abuse, beatings, denial of medical care or treatment without anesthesia, and that they were given rotten food.
French cities impose curfews on children after drug violence.
Food prices rise worldwide due to climate extremes, according to new report.
Iranians asked to limit water use as temperatures hit 50 °C and reservoirs are depleted.
Czech president signs law criminalising communist propaganda:

The revised legislation signed by Petr Pavel allows judges to hand down prison sentences of up to five years for anyone who “establishes, supports or promotes Nazi, communist, or other movements which demonstrably aim to suppress human rights and freedoms or incite […] class-based hatred.”
The U.S. administration is about to incinerate 500 tons of emergency food:

Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people abroad who need it. Nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food—enough to feed about 1.5 million children for a week—are set to expire tomorrow, according to current and former government employees with direct knowledge of the rations.
Foreign YouTube stars secretly paid by U.K. Government for “propaganda” clips:

A three-year investigation by Declassified UK has found that online influencers are made to sign legal contracts banning them from disclosing the Government’s involvement.

“Feedback” on each video is given by Whitehall officials before the influencers are allowed to publish them.

London-based media agency, Zinc Network Ltd – co-founded by a former Conservative Party spin doctor – is heading up the work on behalf of the Foreign Office in a deal worth nearly £10 million of public money.

Zinc has won lucrative contracts from the UK, US and Australian governments.

Speaking to Declassified, one former employee described Zinc’s work as “state propaganda” and accused it of interference in foreign elections.
Growing number of U.S. homeowners who bought in pandemic boomtowns owe more than homes are worth.
Deutsche Bahn is on track for more delays and cancellations:

In Germany, where the trains were said to never run late, a route is now considered punctual if it is delayed by less than six minutes. Since 2022, only 62% of trains run right on schedule, compared with close to 99% in neighboring Switzerland. Much longer delays are commonplace, and trips are as likely to be canceled completely as they are to end prematurely. The frequent problems are exacerbated by strikes and weather conditions. If is particularly hot or cold, travelers are likely to encounter more problems.
U.S. judges are deporting record numbers of young children:

More kids aged 11 or under — 8,317 — received a removal order from an immigration court in April than any other month in over 35 years of data collection, according to court data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

Since Trump’s inauguration in January, judges have ordered removals for over 53,000 immigrant minors.

Those children are predominantly elementary school age or younger. Some 15,000 children were aged under four years old, and 20,000 of them were children aged four to eleven.

[…]

Some of these children being deported are unaccompanied minors, who do not have a legal guardian in the US; though the exact number is unclear, since immigration authorities stopped recording this data years ago.

Children, including toddlers, are required to show up at immigration hearings to be questioned by a judge – and many, unsurprisingly, do not understand what is happening nor the gravity of their situation.
Texas officials scrapped “Flash Flood Alley” warning system before 27 killed at Camp Mystic — because it was too expensive.
Texas hit by deadliest inland flooding in the U.S. since 1976, with at least 118 dead and more than 160 missing.
Mediterranean Sea experienced marine heatwaves of “record intensity”.
The U.S. is having its worst year for measles in more than three decades.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security tells police that common protest activities are “violent tactics”.
U.K. Post Office scandal may have led to more than 13 suicides, inquiry finds:

More than 13 people may have killed themselves as a result of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal and it drove at least 59 more to contemplate suicide, according to the first findings from the public inquiry into what has been labelled the worst miscarriage of justice in UK history.

[…]

About 1,000 post office operators were prosecuted and convicted by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015, the report said, because of faulty Horizon accounting software that suggested they had committed fraud. A further 50 to 60 people, possibly more, were prosecuted but not convicted. The total wrongly held responsible for losses was in the thousands, with many making up the shortfall out of their pocket without ever being charged.
Trump appointees have ties to companies that stand to benefit from privatising weather forecasts.
Death toll from Kenya’s latest anti-government protest surges to more than 30:

Police on Monday clashed with protesters on the outskirts of Nairobi after officers put up roadblocks to stop people entering the capital, as well as in 17 counties across Kenya. More than 100 people were injured and over 500 arrested amid widespread destruction to property, including supermarkets.

[…]

Tensions rose further when a police officer shot a civilian at close-range during a demonstration against police brutality.
Nvidia becomes the first company to reach $4 trillion in value.
U.S. immigration budget now bigger than most of the world’s militaries:

The Senate has passed a bill making Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the U.S.’s largest interior law enforcement agency with funding for Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda higher than most of the world’s militaries […].

Pending its passage in the House of Representatives, Trump’s bill could mean a massive increase in ICE funding as part of an immigration enforcement agenda worth $150 billion over four years.
Kabul, a city of over six million people, could become the first modern city to run out of water in the next five years, a new report has warned.
The number of Americans dealing with food insecurity has almost doubled since 2021:

[…] 15.6% of adults were food insecure, almost double the rate in 2021. At that time Congress had beefed up SNAP benefits and expanded the Child Tax Credit driving down poverty rates, and giving people more money for food.
Ursula von der Leyen slams “Russian puppets” as MEPs debate motion to topple her presidency:

The motion rests on three main accusations, the first of which relates to text messages exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during the COVID-19 vaccine negotiations. Her team’s contentious refusal to release the messages was met with a scathing rebuke by the European Court of Justice.

[…]

The other allegations involve the “misapplication” of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in national elections, which is not backed by evidence, and the “abusive use” of Article 122 of the EU treaties to bypass the Parliament in the new €150-billion loan programme for defence. The plan, known as SAFE, only required the blessing of member states.
South Korea to give citizens free money, aimed at stimulating domestic consumption.
French police use knives to puncture migrant dinghies in the sea.
U.S. deports men from Asia and Latin America with criminal records to South Sudan:

The deportations to South Sudan — a country plagued by armed conflict and political instability that the U.S. government warns Americans not to visit — mark an unprecedented new frontier in President Trump’s government-wide crackdown on illegal immigration.
42% increase in heat-related deaths at work in the E.U. since 2000, trade union says.
Spain and England record hottest June as heatwave grips Europe.
Shoplifting hits record high in Germany.
U.S. debt is now $37 trillion.
U.S. President signs sweeping tax and spending bill into law:
The 870-page package includes:
- extending 2017 tax cuts of Trump’s first term
- steep cuts to Medicaid spending, the state-provided healthcare scheme for those on low incomes and the disabled
- new tax breaks on tipped income, overtime and Social Security
- a budget increase of $150bn for defence
- a reduction in Biden-era clean energy tax credits
- $100bn to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Germany prepares €25 billion tank order to ramp up N.A.T.O. brigades.
Leather from cattle raised in deforested areas and on Indigenous land in the northern Brazilian state of Para is being turned into luxury items in Italy, according to an investigation.
Nearly 20% of cancer drugs defective in four African nations. Across Africa, cancer medications have been found to be substandard or counterfeit.
N.H.S. estimated to be spending £50bn a year on effects of deprivation and child poverty:

Rising rates of child poverty have led to a growing burden on hospitals, with the knock-on cost to the NHS comparable to the annual defence budget.

One senior NHS figure said they were seeing “medieval” levels of untreated illness in some of Britain’s poorest communities, including people attending A&E “with cancerous lumps bursting through their skin”.
Spies for hire used “Big Brother” tactics on U.K. salmon farm activists:

Wildlife activists who exposed horrific conditions at Scottish salmon farms were subjected to “Big Brother” surveillance by spies for hire working for an elite British army veteran.

[…]

One firm, run by a former special forces pilot, was found to have infiltrated Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups for corporate clients in the 2000s. Another, reportedly founded by an ex-MI6 officer, was hired in 2019 by BP to spy on climate campaigners.
Amazon, Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez gear up for final wedding party in Venice:

The three-day gala, estimated to cost some $50 million, will culminate on Saturday evening with the closing party in a former medieval shipyard where Lady Gaga and Elton John are expected to perform.

[…]

Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, Jordan’s Queen Rania, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner and Kim and Khloe Kardashian, as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and Domenico Dolce from Dolce & Gabbana were among the 200-250 guests.
Five Greek government officials resign over E.U. farming subsidy fraud allegations.
France faces €5 billion in fresh cuts as debt balloons to record high. France’s public debt rose again in early 2025, reaching just over €3.35 trillion at the end of the first quarter – 114 % of G.D.P.
Flights cancelled in Brussels’ airports amid fifth general strike of the year over government plan to reform pensions.
U.S. Army recruits tech executives:

The US military created a new army reserve body earlier this month that included four players from the biggest tech companies in the world.

The Army’s new initiative – Detachment 201, called the Executive Innovation Corps to Drive Tech Transformation, will see senior tech executives serve as advisors to the military to “help guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems,” the army’s website reads.

[…]

The first four reserve members are Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer, and Bob McGrew, advisor at Thinking Machines Lab and former chief research officer at OpenAI.
The world’s 3,000 billionaires gained $6.5 trillion over the last ten years, while nearly half of the world’s population — over 3.7 billion people — live in poverty, Oxfam says.
N.A.T.O. chief Mark Rutte bizarrely calls Trump “daddy”.
Man “refused entry into U.S.” as border control catch him with bald J.D. Vance meme.
Panama temporarily suspends some constitutional guarantees in protest-rocked province:

Nationwide, protesters - backed by unions and Indigenous groups - have faced off with authorities over a pension reform law passed in March. Confrontations have been particularly intense in Bocas del Toro, largely led by workers at a local Chiquita banana plantation.

Chiquita called the workers’ strike an “unjustified abandonment of work” and sacked thousands of employees.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using no-bid contracts, boosting big firms, to get more detention beds.
Billions of login credentials from Google, Facebook and other sites have been leaked, report says.
Plurality of Americans believe “civil war” likely in next decade.
British woman mistaken for thief after shop face scan alert:

A woman who was wrongly accused of shoplifting toilet roll due to an apparent mix-up with a facial recognition system was left “fuming” after being ejected from two Home Bargains stores.

[…]

She later discovered she was falsely accused of stealing about £10 worth of items after her profile was added to a facial recognition watchlist to prevent shoplifting.
Finland’s lawmakers vote to leave land mine treaty as Nordic country boosts defenses against Russia. In the Baltics, lawmakers in Latvia and Lithuania earlier this year voted to exit the treaty.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed to pause immigration arrests at farms, hotels and restaurants.
Protesters against overtourism take to the streets of southern Europe.
Japan’s annual births fall to record low as population emergency deepens.
Pray for food, Nigeria government tells its staff amid mockery:

An internal memo from the head of the ministry’s HR department urges staff to attend a solemn prayer session and fast for the next three Mondays.

Some Nigerians have responded by questioning the government’s commitment to the task of bringing down the high cost of food.

[…]

At least 4.4 million people in Nigeria do not have enough food, according to UN estimates, with the country experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation following policy changes brought in by the new government since 2023.

The ever-increasing price of basic food staples was one of the triggers for nationwide cost-of-living protests last year. Yams, for example, quadrupled in price from one year to the next.
Two Democratic lawmakers shot, one fatally, in “politically motivated assassination” in Minnesota.
European journalists targeted with Paragon Solutions spyware, say researchers. Citizen Lab says it found “digital fingerprints” of military-grade spyware that Italy has admitted using against activists.
Top defence C.E.O. touts need for €100 billion E.U. defence fund:

Micael Johansson, the CEO of Swedish defence and security company Saab, said […] that steps taken by the European Commission to turbocharge defence spending in the EU go in the right direction but that more needs to be done to facilitate countries and companies developing and acquiring new systems together.

The EU executive’s “Readiness 2030” plan for defence […] relies on two main financial pillars: the relaxation of fiscal rules for defence spending which the Commission estimated could see €650 billion poured into the sector over the coming four years; and a €150 billion loan instrument called SAFE.
Corruption allegations intensify around Spain’s government as prime minister resigns:

Sánchez, who became prime minister in 2018 after using a motion of no confidence to turf the corruption-mired conservative People’s party (PP) out of government, is already contending with a series of graft investigations relating to his wife, his brother, his former transport minister, and one of that minister’s aides. All deny any wrongdoing. A former PSOE member was recently implicated in an alleged smear campaign against the Guardia Civil police unit investigating the corruption allegations.

The pressure on his administration increased further […] when the judge announced he had “firm evidence” that suggested Santos Cerdán, the PSOE’s organisational secretary, had discussed taking kickbacks on public contracts with the former transport minister […] and one of the minister’s aides […].
The U.S. spends $1 trillion a year to service its debt.
Nearly 50 people killed in South Africa floods.
Waymo pauses service in downtown L.A. neighborhood where driverless cars getting lit on fire.
British photographer injured by “plastic bullet” in L.A. protests.
Australian reporter covering Los Angeles immigration protests hit by rubber bullet on live T.V.
Downtown Los Angeles under curfew for second night after days of protests:

Nearly 400 people have been arrested in LA since protests began on Friday, including 330 undocumented migrants and 157 people arrested for assault and obstruction - including one for the attempted murder of a police officer.

Federal prosecutors have so far charged two men for throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers in two separate incidents.

A total of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines have been deployed to help quell the unrest. Some of those National Guard troops are now authorised to detain people until police can arrest them.
U.S. deploys Marines to Los Angeles as Trump backs arrest of California governor:

Some 700 Marines based in Southern California were expected to reach Los Angeles Monday night or Tuesday morning, officials said, as part of a federal strategy to quell street demonstrations opposing the immigration raids, which are a part of a signature effort of President Donald Trump’s second term.
U.S. Government deploys National Guard as Los Angeles protests against immigration agents continue.
California labour union president arrested in I.C.E. raids.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests under Trump top 100,000 as officials expand aggressive efforts to detain migrants.
German manufacturing job losses deepen fears over industrial decline:

Germany has lost almost a quarter of a million manufacturing jobs since the start of the Covid pandemic as companies and politicians sound the alarm that Europe’s industrial heartland is suffering an irreversible decline.

[…]

According to the industry group VDA, some 11,000 jobs were lost last year alone among German car suppliers — one of the first sectors to announce job cuts as car production started to decline.

Gesamtmetall, a lobby group for employers in the metal and electrical industries, has warned of further cuts in jobs, forecasting that up to 300,000 more jobs will disappear from its members over the next five years — a near 7 per cent decline.
Sweden reaches “historic” deal with Estonia to rent prison cells to tackle overcrowding.
At least seven Sudanese migrants found dead after being stranded in Libyan desert.
U.N. demands probe after dozens of bodies found at Libya detention sites:

The United Nations is calling for an independent investigation after the discovery of dozens of bodies and evidence of human rights violations at militia-run detention facilities in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

[…]

Reports received by his office between May 18 and May 21 detail the excavation of 10 “charred bodies” at the SSA headquarters in the Abu Salim neighborhood in Tripoli. A further 67 bodies were discovered in refrigerators at Abu Salim and Al Khadra hospitals in the capital, with some of the remains said to be in an advanced state of decomposition due to power outages.
Therapy chatbot tells recovering addict to have a little meth as a treat.
Chlordecone victims in French West Indies demand justice as state denies liability after authorising the use of the pesticide for years in banana plantations in Martinique and Guadeloupe.
More than 700 believed dead in devastating Nigeria floods.
Biden White House insisted families were safe after toxic East Palestine derailment — but behind the scenes, admin warned of “cancer cluster”.
Latvia has introduced “military lessons” as a compulsory subject in schools.
Over 25 million South Africans depend on social grants amid rising poverty.
Skincare industry makes billions marketing products to tweens, including some that could harm young skin.
Boeing to pay $1.1 billion to avoid criminal prosecution in 737 Max case.
Special Forces officer blocked 1,585 Afghans from U.K.:

A UK Special Forces officer personally rejected 1,585 resettlement applications from Afghans with credible links to special forces, newly released documents say.

[…]

The MoD told the court that the officer may have been connected to matters under examination by the ongoing inquiry into alleged war crimes committed by the SAS.

The admission comes after the BBC revealed last week that the UKSF officer – who previously served in Afghanistan - rejected applications from Afghans who may have witnessed the alleged crimes.
Chiquita fires thousands of striking banana workers in Panama, says it suffered $75 million losses.
The retirement age in Denmark has been raised to 70.
Nebraska becomes first state approved to ban soda purchases with food stamps.
Pentagon accepts Boeing jet from Qatar that will be used for Trump:

[Secretary of Defense] Hegseth’s acceptance of the plane comes days after sources confirmed to CBS News that the Qatari royal family would be donating aircraft for Mr. Trump’s use. […] Valued at $400 million, the jumbo jet will be donated to Mr. Trump’s future presidential library just before he leaves office.
France to open high-security prison in Amazon jungle:

The €400m (£337m) facility, which could open as early as 2028, will be built in an isolated location deep in the Amazon jungle in the northwestern region of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni.
Gran Canaria migrant centre closed after allegations of child abuse:

A recent investigation by Amnesty International highlighted several other issues with the islands’ network of more than 80 centres for unaccompanied children, including a lack of staff with proper training, with “nightclub bouncers” in some cases hired to staff the centres. It said it had documented allegations of abuse including excessive punishments that had forced children into isolation or deprived them of food.
President Nayib Bukele consolidates his authoritarian style in El Salvador:

Since coming to power, Bukele has not hesitated to implement despotic measures. On his first day in office, he fired hundreds of public employees and dissolved entire institutions with a single message on Twitter. Over time, he took even bolder steps — like in February 2020, when he entered the Legislative Assembly with soldiers and sat in the chair of the Assembly president as a pressure tactic to get lawmakers to approve a loan to fund his security strategy.

Later, in 2021, after winning an absolute majority in Congress, Bukele dealt a blow to the Supreme Court of Justice and handpicked judges who later approved his reelection bid, despite it being prohibited by the Constitution. He also removed the attorney general who was investigating his negotiations with the MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs, and forced prosecutors to flee the country. That same year, he launched a purge of the judiciary to install judges aligned with his agenda.

But the move that most accelerated his global image as an authoritarian was the implementation of the state of emergency — a measure allowed by El Salvador’s Constitution in cases of natural disaster or national emergency, and intended to last one month. Bukele has renewed this measure more than 36 times.

While the president frames it as a strategy to combat the gangs that had turned El Salvador into one of the most violent countries in the world, the imprisonment of nearly 80,000 people in a country of 6.3 million has raised serious concerns among the international community and human rights organizations. Since then, local groups have documented nearly 400 deaths without convictions inside prisons, many of them showing signs of torture.
Spain struck by phone and internet blackout, just four weeks after nationwide electricity outage.
Japan’s farm minister apologises over “never had to buy rice” remark amid rising price of food:

Japan’s Agriculture Minister Taku Etō has issued an apology after remarks he made about never needing to purchase rice due to gifts from supporters sparked widespread outrage among citizens struggling with soaring food prices.
French government covered up Nestle mineral water scandal, report shows:

The French government “at the highest level” covered up a scandal over the treatment of mineral water by food giant Nestle, including the iconic Perrier brand, a Senate investigation said […].

In recent years the Swiss food and drinks conglomerate has been under pressure over its Perrier and other brands as EU regulations strictly limit what treatments are allowed for any product marketed as natural mineral water.
Nissan more than doubles layoffs to around 20,000.
Japan Prime Minister warns financial condition worse than Greece’s:

According to the International Monetary Fund, Japan’s general government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product stood at 234.9 per cent as of 2025 while it was at 142.2 per cent for Greece.
European “green” investments hold billions in fossil fuel majors. Funds with names such as “Sustainable Global Stars” have stakes in some of the world’s biggest polluters.
French crypto entrepreneurs promised extra security after violent kidnapping attempts:

A group of leading French cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and their families will receive enhanced security following two successful kidnappings and one abduction attempt involving industry leaders and their loved ones.
Romanian government accused of online censorship ahead of election rerun:

The criticisms center on emergency regulations rushed through in January that are considered too far-reaching and punitive, with regular voters unfairly considered as “political actors,” platforms required to take down content within five hours, and the risk of fines of more than half an average yearly salary. Over 4,000 content-removal orders have been given since April 4, most of them for TikTok.

[…]

One of the videos the bureau has demanded be taken down shows a man in his living room clapping to the sound of pop music with the caption “Clap if you want to come home too, clap for GS and CG,” referring to George Simion and Călin Georgescu. The man, who has 148 followers, mostly shares content about a child who appears to be his daughter.

[…]

According to the Central Electoral Bureau, any user who mostly posts political messages and does so repeatedly should be considered to be a political actor, and any content that “directly or indirectly urges voters to choose or not to choose, to vote or not to vote” for a candidate is considered political advertising material.
Moody’s strips U.S. of top-notch triple-A credit rating. Agency warns of strains caused by rising government debt and a widening budget deficit.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes shipment of t-shirts featuring swarm of bees attacking a cop.
U.S. President Trump gets richer:

Now that President Trump is back in office, his family is profiting from his brand: At least $2 billion has flowed to Trump companies in just the last month. The ventures include real estate, a cryptocurrency and a private club slated to open in Washington with a $500,000 membership fee. Now, Qatar may give him a new presidential airplane.
YouTube viewers will start seeing ads after “peak” moments in videos:

Imagine you’re watching a highly anticipated video from your favorite YouTube creator […] when an ad pops up immediately after the clip. This is part of YouTube’s new ad format called “Peak Points.”

[…]

Peak Points leverages Google’s Gemini AI to analyze YouTube videos and identify moments it believes have the highest viewer engagement or are most emotionally impactful, and then suggests placing the ad right after it.
Airlines are selling air traveler data to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
German Chancellor Merz wants to create Europe’s strongest military.
French scientists denounce poor conditions as Macron courts U.S. talent:

France’s president is hoping to position his country as a thriving scientific hub to attract US academics, but domestic researchers say they have been worn down by government cuts.

[…]

In February, the government slashed the 2025 budget for higher education and research by €1 billion, and a further €493 million in cuts was announced in April. This has had a direct knock-on effect on the work and working conditions of researchers across a range of fields.

“70% of university buildings in France are in a state of disrepair, while researchers in France are working on extremely tight budgets and the majority of institutions are in the red,” Virginie Saint-James, Secretary General of Sup’ Recherche UNSA, a union for academic researchers, told Euronews.
French child welfare service accused of allowing kids to fall into prostitution.
Ex-U.K. Special Forces break silence on “war crimes” by colleagues:

Former members of UK Special Forces have broken years of silence to give BBC Panorama eyewitness accounts of alleged war crimes committed by colleagues in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Giving their accounts publicly for the first time, the veterans described seeing members of the SAS murder unarmed people in their sleep and execute handcuffed detainees, including children.
Press freedom in Greece going “from bad to worse”, Human Rights Watch report says.
Lithuania’s parliament votes to withdraw from landmines treaty.
Rapidly aging E.U. countries have an estimated shortage of some 1.2 million doctors, nurses and midwives.
Facebook allegedly detected when teen girls deleted selfies so it could serve them beauty ads.
Ukraine is using video game incentives to slay more Russians:

The program — called Army of Drones bonus — rewards soldiers with points if they upload videos proving their drones have hit Russian targets. It will soon be integrated with a new online marketplace called Brave 1 Market, which will allow troops to convert those points into new equipment for their units.
Perplexity C.E.O. says its browser will track everything users do online to sell “hyper personalised” ads.
Harvard scientist’s I.C.E. arrest leaves cancer researchers scrambling.
Venezuelan detainees at Texas center spell out S.O.S. with their bodies. The men fear deportation to El Salvador under wartime law despite maintaining they do not have gang ties.
Global military expenditure sees steepest year-on-year rise since end of Cold War:

The world’s top ranked spenders — the US, China, Russia, Germany and India — spent a combined total of $1.635 trillion (€1.437 trillion), accounting for 60% of total global military spending.

Meanwhile, real term military spending increased by 9.4%, taking worldwide total military expenditure to $2.718 trillion (€2,389 billion), and the global military burden — the share of global economic output devoted to military expenditure — increased to 2.5% of GDP.
Spain, Portugal and parts of France hit by massive power outage.
America’s nuclear arsenal to cost $946 billion over next decade, U.S. government report reveals.
Low-cost airline partners with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for deportation flights.
Pop star Katy Perry and television personality Gayle King will join Jeff Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez on Blue Origin spaceflight.
One million Haitian children face “critical” food shortage, says U.N.
LG TVs’ integrated ads get more personal with tech that analyses viewer emotions .
U.S. Social Security lists thousands of migrants as dead to prompt them to “self-deport”:

By placing migrants in Social Security’s “death master file,” the Trump administration is seeking to cut off their access to credit cards, bank accounts and other financial services.
U.K. creating “murder prediction” tool to identify people most likely to kill. Algorithms allegedly being used to study data of thousands of people, in project critics say is “chilling and dystopian”.
Google is allegedly paying some A.I. staff to do nothing for a year rather than join rivals.
There are more billionaires than ever before – and Elon Musk is the richest of them all, according to Forbes’ latest billionaires list.
Easter eggs are so expensive Americans are dyeing potatoes.
Trevor Milton, Trump-donor who was sentenced to prison last year for fraud, was pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Florida to consider relaxing child labour laws to fill vacant jobs.
C.E.O. of A.I. ad-tech firm pledging “world free of fraud” sentenced for fraud.
Yale suspends scholar after A.I.-powered news site accuses her of terrorist link.
U.S. administration deports hundreds of immigrants even as a judge orders their removals be stopped.
Greenpeace ordered to pay more than $660 million over Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
French scientist denied U.S. entry after phone messages critical of Trump found.
China delays approval of BYD’s Mexico plant amid fears tech could leak to U.S.
Elon Musk installs “quick and dirty” turbines to power Memphis data centers.
U.N. judge guilty of forcing woman to work as slave.
Amazon rainforest cut down to build highway for climate summit:

A new four-lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.

It aims to ease traffic to the city, which will host more than 50,000 people – including world leaders – at the conference in November.
Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit lost $1.5 billion to North Korean hackers.
Mental health crisis pushing French farmers to a breaking point:

French agriculture is facing an unprecedented crisis as farmers struggle with falling incomes, mounting debts and bureaucratic burdens. Despite being the EU’s largest agricultural producer, France sees one farmer die by suicide every two days.
BlackRock to buy Hong Kong firm’s Panama Canal port stake amid Trump pressure:

Trump refused to rule out military action to assert U.S. control over the canal, which is operated by the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous agency overseen by the Panamanian government, and surrounded by several ports.

The U.S. president has complained about the presence of Chinese and Hong Kong-based companies in Panama, and American officials and politicians have said CK Hutchison’s control of the ports represents a security risk for the operation.
Violent protests in Greece on rail crash anniversary as frustration at system failures boils over.
Jeff Bezos narrows Washington Post opinion pages around “personal liberties” and “free markets”. Billionaire owner says overhauled section will focus on “underserved” viewpoints.
BP shuns renewables in return to oil and gas.
E.U. borders recorded over 120,000 migrant pushbacks in 2024, says report by N.G.O.s.
Apple, Inc. pulls encryption feature from U.K. over government spying demands:

Apple has stopped offering its end-to-end encrypted iCloud storage, Advanced Data Protection (ADP), to new users in the UK, and will require existing users to disable the feature at some point in the future. The move comes following reports earlier this month that UK security services requested Apple grant them backdoor access to worldwide users’ encrypted backups.
Sri Lanka scrambles to restore power after monkey causes islandwide outage.
HP deliberately adds 15 minutes waiting time for telephone support calls:

HP Inc is trying to force consumer PC and print customers to use online and other digital support channels by setting a minimum 15-minute wait time for anyone that phones the call center to get answers to troublesome queries.
New San Francisco public health chief was part of notorious McKinsey opioid-marketing operation.
So many Americans died from COVID, it’s boosting Social Security to the tune of $205 billion:

The working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that approximately 1.7 million excess deaths among Americans 25 and older occurred between 2020 and 2023 related to the pandemic. Premature deaths related to COVID mean Social Security will not make retirement payments to those individuals in the future, reducing payments by about $294 billion, the researchers found.
Brazil’s former President Bolsonaro charged over alleged coup that included a plan to poison Lula:

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet alleges that Bolsonaro and 33 others participated in a plan to remain in power. The alleged plot, he wrote, included a plan to poison Lula and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.
Argentina’s president Javier Milei launches meme coin.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to monitor and locate “negative” social media discussion about the agency and its top officials, according to contract documents.
MI5 lied to courts to protect violent neo-Nazi spy.
Germany bars climate activist from becoming school teacher.
U.S.-funded “social network” attacking pesticide critics shuts down after journalist investigation:

The St Louis, Missouri-based company, v-Fluence, said it is shuttering the service, which it called a “stakeholder wiki”, that featured personal details about more than 500 environmental advocates, scientists, politicians and others seen as opponents of pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops.
Trump halts enforcement of U.S. law banning bribery of foreign officials.
Car company Stellantis introduces pop-up ads in vehicles:

In a move that has left drivers both frustrated and bewildered, Stellantis has introduced full-screen pop-up ads on its infotainment systems. Specifically, Jeep owners have reported being bombarded with advertisements for Mopar’s extended warranty service. The kicker? These ads appear every time the vehicle comes to a stop.
Mass graves with bodies of nearly 50 migrants found in southeastern Libya.
U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts:

Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.
Google lifts a ban on using its A.I. for weapons and surveillance.
Over 90% of U.S. airport towers are understaffed, data shows.
Sweden aims to introduce law letting police wiretap children as gang violence rises.
Kansas faces one of the largest tuberculosis outbreaks in U.S. history.
The E.U. Commission paid N.G.O.s to influence parliamentarians within the interests of the E.U. Commission.
U.S. restricts Switzerland’s access to A.I. chips.
U.S. school’s $1 million A.I. gun detection system fails to detect weapon before fatal school shooting.
Elon Musk makes fascist salute at Trump inauguration rally.
Swedish man dies in South Korea after being denied urgent treatment at 21 hospitals:

Hospitals were reportedly reluctant to treat the individual due to his foreign nationality, the high cost of surgery, and concerns over reimbursement for his medical care.
Biden pardons five members of his family in final minutes in office.
Oxfam report finds billionaires’ wealth increased three times faster in 2024 than in 2023, outpacing the previous year’s growth.
N.H.S. frontline nurses are being forced to give care in corridors, cupboards and car parks on a daily basis, report has revealed.
U.S. schools using A.I. emulation of Anne Frank that urges kids not to blame anyone for Holocaust.
Melania Trump launches her own cryptocurrency.
Trump begins selling new crypto token:

The president-elect and his family have a direct and potentially lucrative stake in the sale of a cryptocurrency product that surged in value in the hours after going on sale, days before his inauguration.
Bulgarian police “blocked rescue” of teenage migrants who froze to death.
Top three insurers reaped $7.3 billion through their drug middlemen’s markups, F.T.C. says:

The top pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — CVS Health’s Caremark Rx, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx — generated roughly $7.3 billion through price hikes over about five years starting in 2017, the FTC said.

The “excess” price hikes affected generic drugs used to treat heart disease, HIV and cancer, among other conditions, with some increases more than 1,000% of the national average costs of acquiring the medications, the commission said.
U.K. prisons recruit officers from Nigeria in move which sees some sleeping rough.
At least 100 illegal miners have died while trapped in a South African mine for months, group representing the miners said.
As wildfires rage in Los Angeles, private firefighters join the fight for the fortunate few.
2024 first year to pass 1.5 °C global warming limit.
U.S. announces $25 million reward for arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro.
Baby born on migrant boat crossing from Africa to Canary Islands.
Number of homeless people in Germany rises to more than 500,000.
U.K. Special Forces S.A.S. had golden pass to get away with murder, inquiry told.
Italian village forbids residents from becoming ill:

Around half of Belcastro’s 1,200 residents are over the age of 65 and the nearest Accident & Emergency (A&E) department is over 45km (28 miles) away, the mayor said.

He added that the A&E was only reachable by a road with a 30kmh (18mph) speed limit.

The village’s on-call doctor surgery is also only open sporadically and offers no cover during weekends, holidays or after hours.
U.S. president Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Nazi ties to Credit Suisse ran deeper than was known, hidden files reveal.
Kenya police hide killings of anti-government protesters.
Doctors call for more scurvy testing in British Columbia in light of vitamin C deficiency data.
Washington Post cartoonist quits after Jeff Bezos cartoon is killed:

Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Washington Post, said on Friday evening that she was resigning after the newspaper’s opinions section rejected a cartoon depicting The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, genuflecting toward a statue of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
U.K. girl, 12, designs solar-powered blanket for homeless.
Poorer children hit hardest as scurvy makes a comeback in France:

Scurvy, a disease caused by severe vitamin C deficiency, is making a comeback in France. A new study links its resurgence, particularly among young children from low-income families, to rising food insecurity and inflation since the Covid pandemic.

“[E]mancipatory politics must always destroy the appearance of a ‘natural order’, must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere contingency, just as it must make what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable.”

– Mark Fisher

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