- The Israeli government has ratified a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, calling for a "suspension of hostilities" between the two regimes within 24 hours, and the release of 20 Israeli prisoners as well as the remains of 28 others. Of course, Gaza is pretty much uninhabitable now, which presumably suits the Israelis fine, since they'll probably just send in a bunch of settlers to rebuild the place for themselves. Trump is of course talking a lot about this, presumably hoping to convince the Nobel committee to give him the Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking of which, many Norwegian politicians and journalists are seriously concerned about how Trump will react to not receiving the prize, now that it's been awarded to someone else. One columnist and analyst doesn't even rule out the possibility of Trump declaring Norway an enemy.
- Mark Bray, the Rutgers University historian who is moving to Europe to escape death threats, showed up at Newark International Airport with his family on Wednesday night, only to be told at the boarding gate that their flight had been cancelled. They were able to rebook a flight for Thursday night, which suggests that this was not the action of the regime but of one of its overly enthusiastic supporters. No doubt the MAGA crowd would still like us to believe that they aren't fascists, but they aren't making a very good case for themselves.
- FBI director Kash Patel has disbanded a working group studying corruption and fired several agents, saying that they had "weaponized law enforcement against the American people". This comes after the group had placed several Republican senators under investigation.
- Vyacheslav Leontyev, a former editor of the Russian newspaper Pravda, has died after falling from his fifth floor apartment in Moscow. Authorities have ruled his death a suicide; as we know, depression is a very common affliction among those with insider knowledge of the Russian state.
- Elections BC has ruled that signs that billionaire Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon, violated third-party advertising rules when he posted signs in front of his Vancouver mansion declaring the NDP to be "Communist" during the last election campaign. He was fined $600; for perspective, the signs themselves cost him over $1,600 and the maximum penalty for a violation is $10,000.
- A licensed counsellor in Colorado is challenging the state's ban on "conversion therapy" for LGBT* minors on "free speech" grounds. Not surprisingly, the Supreme Court is widely expected to rule in the counsellor's favour.
- Researchers in Switzerland are growing human neurons from stem cells in order to make artificial brains that can be integrated into computer systems.
- The mayor-elect of the German town of Herdecke suffered serious injuries in a stabbing on Tuesday. Given the current political climate around the world, an assassination attempt is the first thing that comes to mind, however she has apparently pointed the finger at her adopted daughter.
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