Exclusive by @mariatad.bsky.social How the deal to get Ukraine a €90 billion EU loan was sealed www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...

“Mr Landry said it was an honour to take the voluntary role “to make Greenland part of the US” Donald Trump names special envoy for Greenland www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

Ken Early: The Saipan film makes the conflict between Keane and McCarthy less interesting www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer...

Around August/September every year my parents start asking what date the amazing @pantibliss.bsky.social donations event for children in emergency accommodation is on. Dignity, respect and decency for all children, no matter their nationality, race, ethnicity. The essence of Christmas.

Can't think of a stronger endorsement for Erasmus.

🇺🇦President Zelenskyy presser at #EUCO summit now after speaking with 🇪🇺 Says he agrees with 🇵🇱PM Tusk that if Europe doesn't pay now with money it will pay later with blood "I don't want to intimidate anybody, but it speaks for itself" Says he had good talk with 🇧🇪PM De Wever

The Christmas Tree at Plux outside the 🇪🇺Parliament is no more after farmers protesting against #Mercosur free trade with South America set a giant blaze. #EUCO www.politico.eu/article/smok...

“neglect, physical abuse and little point in disclosing the abuse they were suffering at the hands of their brother.” Where are all the ‘concerned citizens’ these days? www.thejournal.ie/man-who-rape...

Exhibit number one billion that Israelis consider all Palestinians to be militants and celebrate when their children are killed

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power…”

The 'betrayal of Brexit' response to rejoining Erasmus is obviously predictable, and stupid (Brexit = leaving EU). But what's more striking is how *dated* it seems, like someone still waving a 'Thatcher out' placard.

When Charlie Kirk, a commentator who stirred up hatred and prejudice was killed, the Trump government led a purge against anyone who commented on it in a way they didn’t like. When a beloved director & actor is brutally murdered, Trump mocks and criticises him just hours later. Revolting hypocrisy.

An Administration utterly contemptuous of the idea that every human life is of inherent value.

“US officials were becoming increasingly frustrated with the UK’s lack of willingness to address so-called non-tariff barriers, including rules and regulations governing food and industrial goods.”

For those who are in "peace talks" right now: a good reminder of what a signature is worth these days...

I ask my multitude of Trump-supporting friends, colleagues, and acquaintances: Can you honestly say that this man is decent, and fit for leadership in a great country, or any?

She's gone and done it. 🇪🇺President von der Leyen has yielded to German pressure and just proposed to scrap the EU's 2035 combustion engine phase-out. "This will divert investment away from electrification at a time when European manufacturers urgently need to catch up with Chinese EV," says T&E.

One of the biggest moments of my career: USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!

The Israeli government has approved the transfer of funds from civil development programmes for Palestinian citizens of the country to the police and the internal intelligence agency, the Shin Bet. The move involves around 220 million shekels ($68.6m) and was approved on Sunday.

‘Victim blaming’: refugee council criticises O’Callaghan’s asylum seeker comments www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Guilty as charged 🇮🇪🎄🎶

not the kind of behavior I expect from the winner of the fifa peace prize

Sickening and heartbreaking. Heard today about a girl‘s father getting pulled from his car after they bashed the window. Current student at my old Catholic high school. I don’t understand how Americans have accepted this, how so many are OK with it. This is inhuman.

Why has Ireland abruptly decided the European Convention on Human Rights goes too far? www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

In Springfield, Ohio — a city transformed by Haitian immigrants — Casey Rollins says she feels like the “town crier” warning of a looming family separations crisis. 19thnews.org/2025/12/spri...

unironically this is an illustration of what we mean when we say AI cannot write like humans can. you could feed it all his rambling speeches, unhinged posts, life history of crimes for training, and AI would still be incapable of producing output this awful, bad every day in new and innovative ways

Q: At the end of this year, those extended Obamacare subsidies expire. What's your message to those 24m Americans who will see their premiums go up? TRUMP: Don't make it sound so bad. Obviously you're a sycophant for Democrats. You're obviously a provider of bad news for Republicans.

Excellent and clear-eyed analysis of the US openly hostile relations with the EU

“Let me state the obvious: Antisemitism is always wrong. Islamophobia is always wrong. Intentionally killing civilians is always wrong, whether on a beach in Sydney or a beach in Gaza. Can we not all agree on all of the above? Is that really so hard” - my take for Zeteo’s First Draft newsletter:

It's genuinely staggering, after all the things Trump has said and done, that he can still say and do things that make my jaw hit the floor. A grown man, the president of the United States, wrote this and felt compelled to actually hit post. It's unconscionable. Rob Reiner

1. Measles is ravaging South Carolina. Over 100 people infected, and hundreds more in quarantine. In response, RFK Jr., the nation's top public health official, has been SILENT But it's much worse than that. RFK Jr. and his allies are undermining confidence in the vaccine

Rob Reiner religion note: One of his last film projects was “God & Country,” a documentary released last year based on Katherine Stewart’s book. The film turned a critical lens toward Christian nationalism. Disclosure: I know this, because I’m in it. www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...

Lewis Goodall had gulping Tory MP Philp on and absolutely skewered him. The Tories want to ditch a Boris Johnson era EV policy, now whining it is “killing jobs”. Goodal pointed out the obvious flaw: they bloody introduced it. Own goal, again. #ukpolitics

The human cost of Trump's gutting of USAID: By the time Tor Top’s mother was sick with cholera, the nearby clinic had been shuttered for weeks. He bundled her into a canoe & paddled toward the nearest hospital, 8 hours away. Less than halfway into the journey, his mother died. New, @propublica.org

Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.

What a terrible news day: Bondi Beach, Brown, the Reiners, Jimmy Lai, Chile. What a terrible world we're building.

The information environment is so cooked right now. Here’s a thread for anyone wanting or needing to combat far-right extremist propaganda in either real-time or real life. #bondi #auspol #medialiteracy 🧵 Let’s start with genocidal maniac Netanyahu falsely claiming Ahmed el Ahmed was a Jew:

It doesn’t seem like the US side is meeting with Ukraine/EU/NATO today

Zelensky met with Finnish President Alexander Stubb ahead of key meetings in Berlin. They discussed recent diplomatic efforts and coordinated joint positions with EU partners. Next steps have also been agreed as Ukraine pushes for stronger support and unity in ongoing peace talks.

Jimmy Lai, the media tycoon and brave defender of democracy in Hong Kong, has been found guilty of ‘foreign collusion’. His family expect he’ll die in jail. HK’s national security law, imposed by Beijing after huge pro-democracy protests, has claimed its most prominent victim.

Kaja Kallas @kajakallas.bsky.social : Countries want to be in NATO because they don't want Russia to invade them, to attack them. And that's why Sweden and Finland joined NATO. That's why the Baltic states joined NATO, to have this defense umbrella, really.

Decisions take in the coming days and week may define Europe for a generation. My latest with thoughts on the looming Battle of Brussels, Starmer’s dangerous dithering, Ireland’s neutrality fetish, China’s industrial siege warfare, plus have we passed peak human?

🚨 BREAKING: Oversight Dems received 95,000 new photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate. These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. Time to end this White House cover-up. Release the files!

Look at these two buddies taking a selfie. You'd never know one of them is currently sitting on hours of video of the other.

Rob Reiner was one of the key people behind the effort to go to court to overturn California's anti-marriage equality Proposition 8 when it passed in 2008. Working with Chad Griffin, they founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights and got Ted Olson and David Boies to team up to fight Prop 8.

Chile elects far-right José Antonio Kast as next president