03 World

Blurb:

Canadians are being urged to “leave Iran now” in an updated travel advisory issued by Global Affairs Canada as protests and a crackdown by Tehran intensify.

“Risk level — you should leave Iran now,” GAC said in an updated travel advisory on Tuesday.

Avoid all travel to Iran due to ongoing nationwide demonstrations, tensions in the region, the high risk of arbitrary detention and the unpredictable enforcement of local laws,” the advisory said.

Blurb:

The  US could face a bill as high as £520billion ($700bn) if Donald Trump’s rumoured plan to buy Greenland came into fruition, sources have claimed. Scholars and former US officials came up with the estimate while planning around Trump’s interest in buying the 800,000‑square‑mile island as a strategic Arctic buffer, reports NBC news.

Their calculation suggests the idea would cost more than half of the US Defense Department’s yearly budget. Trump’s past comments about taking Greenland and his order of a US raid to capture Venezuela’s president and his wife have caused concern in Europe and in Congress.

Blurb:

Kyiv, Ukraine – A Russian officer in the Moscow-occupied part of the Donetsk region in southeastern Ukraine has reportedly become unusually lenient towards one new soldier.

As the tale goes, the officer lets him spend several days in the administrative capital, also named Donetsk, and – knowing that the serviceman is single and childless – gives him the phone number of a “nice woman”. Overwhelmed by the war, the serviceman craves intimacy, and within days, the woman persuades him to get married.

Blurb:

Following the recent U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, a new poll suggests almost a third of Canadians say the United States might attempt “direct action” to take control of Canada.

It suggests one-in-five Americans think the same.

The poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, surveyed 1,540 Canadians between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11.

The poll suggests many Canadians believe the U.S. likely will attempt to take control of other countries in the future, including Greenland, Cuba, Colombia, Panama, Iran and Canada.

Blurb:

Iran’s chief coroner has laid the blame for the deaths of demonstrators in Iran on what he said were “terrorists,” claiming forensic examinations revealed victims whose “throats had been slit” and others shot at close range with hunting shotguns.

Detailing a series of killings during a Supreme Judicial Council meeting, Abbas Masjedi-Arani, head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organisation, said a large number of victims were killed with knives and double-barrelled shotguns.

Blurb:

 

President Donald Trump spoke more about Iran during an interview with Tony Dokoupil on CBS Evening News, spanning from promises of help to the endgame.

Trump reiterated his promise to Iranians that help is on the way as they battle the brutal regime:

DOKOUPIL: Americans woke up this morning and they saw that you said, Help is on the way. What do you mean by that?

TRUMP: Well, there’s a lot of help on the way, and in different forms, including economic help from our standpoint, and not going to help Iran very much. And you know, we put Iran out of business with their nuclear capacity. And now, depending on what’s actually happening, nobody has been able to give us accurate numbers about how many people they’ve killed. Well, on that point, looks like it could be a pretty substantial number, and that’s going to be a lot of problems, a lot of problems

Blurb:

 

With anti-regime unrest spreading across Iran, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is secretly planning his escape if the regime falls, The Times of London revealed Monday, quoting an intelligence source.

Khamenei has good reasons to work out a backup plan. His regime suffered a serious military and morale setback in the Twelve-Day War with Israel last summer. Khamenei’s own position within the regime has been weakened by the loss of many of his long-time confidants and key military commanders since Iran-backed Hamas launched the terrorist invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023.

Russia appears to be an obvious destination for a failed Iranian dictator. Nearly one year ago, the Iran-backed dictator of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, fled to Moscow after his regime collapsed after 50 years of clan rule. Khamenei, who leads the chants of “Death to America” at weekly Friday prayers in Tehran, has been at the helm of the tyrannical Islamic regime since 1989.

Blurb:

 

In yet another incident of a Hindu man being killed in Bangladesh, a 45-year-old factory owner, who was also the acting editor of a newspaper, has been shot in the head by a group of men, who also slit his throat.

Local sources alleged Rana Pratap had multiple cases filed against him.

Pratap’s killing comes close on the heels of the rape of a Hindu widow and the murders of at least three Hindu men in the country since December, prompting condemnation of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government’s handling of violence against minorities.

Officials said Pratap was killed in the Kopalia Bazar area of Manirampur sub-district in Jashore in southwestern Bangladesh around 6 pm on Monday.

Blurb:

 

Donald Trump has announced that the “interim” authorities in Venezuela will be providing the U,S. with 30-50 million barrels of oil that will be sold at market prices and controlled by Trump:

I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America. This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Blurb:

Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran’s ailing economy spread Thursday into the Islamic Republic’s rural provinces, with at least six people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said.

The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere. The fatalities, one on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in three cities predominantly home to Iran’s Lur ethnic group.

The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the demonstrations have yet to be countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.

Blurb:

The U.S. labor market ended 2025 on a soft note, with job creation in December less than expected, according to a report Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 50,000 for the month, lower than the downwardly revised 56,000 in November and short of the Dow Jones estimate for 73,000.

At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, compared to the forecast for 4.5%.

The report presented a muddy view of the labor market, with companies reporting a low level of hiring but households showing employment gains.

In addition, revisions brought totals down for the prior months. The November total saw a slight downward revision of 8,000 to the payrolls number, while October’s loss was even more than originally reported, now at 173,000 compared to the prior estimate of 105,000.

Blurb:

Sean Spicer exposed Politico’s inadvertent publication of an internal Google document — detailing the news sources it routinely checks — with Breitbart News notably absent from the list.

On January 9, Sean Spicer, host of The Sean Spicer Show and former White House Press stated: “Ever wonder why @politico @playbookdc is so left leaning? Major blunder this morning when they accidentally linked a story to their internal google doc showing what sources they “go to” (and therefore don’t – no @BreitbartNews @DailyCaller @DailySignal @realDailyWire )”.

The screenshots show a comprehensive list of outlets Politico staff are instructed to check for aggregation, ranging from legacy outlets like the New York Times and CNN to newer entities like Semafor and Axios. However, not a single conservative-focused publication appears among the primary sources. The document even includes logins and passwords for paywalled sources but excludes any reference to Breitbart News.

Blurb:

Ukraine has accused Vladimir Putin of another ‘war crime’ after Russia fired a devastating new hypersonic weapon during overnight strikes.

At least four people died in a Russian barrage on Kyiv last night, while strikes also rained down on civilian areas in Lviv region, close to the border with Poland.

Today, Ukraine‘s SBU security service released images of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile found among the debris in Lviv – and confirmed it was treating the use of the weapon as a war crime.

Among the fragments displayed by Ukrainian investigators are components described as the “brains” of the missile – its so-called stabilisation and guidance block.

Blurb:

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Chinese, Russian and Iranian warships arrived in South African waters for a week of naval drills starting Friday off the coast of Cape Town as geopolitical tensions run high over the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and its move to seize tankers carrying Venezuelan oil.

The Chinese-led drills were organized last year under the BRICS bloc of developing nations and South Africa’s armed forces said they will bring members of the bloc together to practice maritime safety and anti-piracy operations and “deepen cooperation.”

China, Russia and South Africa are longtime members of BRICS, while Iran joined the group in 2024.

The Iranian navy was taking part in the drills while protests grow back home against the Islamic Republic’s leadership.

It was not immediately clear if other countries from the BRICS group — which also includes Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates among others — would take part in the drills. A spokesperson for the South African armed forces said he wasn’t yet able to confirm all the countries participating in the drills, which are due to run until next Friday.

Blurb:

Danish soldiers will be required to shoot first and ask questions later if the United States invades Greenland, under the army’s rules of engagement. On Wednesday, the Danish defence ministry confirmed the existence of a 1952 rule requiring soldiers to “immediately” counter-attack invading forces without awaiting orders.

The defence ministry also said that the rule “remains in force” when asked about its status by Berlingske, a centre-Right Danish newspaper. This week, Donald Trump, the US president, repeated his intention to annex the Nato territory of Greenland, which he views as essential to US national security, including by military force if necessary.

His remarks have shocked Denmark, which rules Greenland as an overseas territory and insists the island is “not for sale” as well as Greenland’s government and the wider Nato alliance. According to the Danish newspaper Berlingske, the 1952 rule states that in the event of an invasion, “the attacked forces must immediately take up the fight without waiting for or seeking orders, even if the commanders in question are not aware of the declaration of war or state of war”.

Blurb:

On Saturday morning, around 45,000 homes and 90,000 people in southwest Berlin were without electricity after perpetrators set a fire on a power line supplying a gas power plant in the Lichterfelde district.

During the cold and snowy weather in Berlin, many households were without power and heating for days. According to BILD, the 97-year-old Ingeborg Esser was among those who had to sleep in a heated gym because her apartment was too cold.

In a letter published online on Sunday, the left-wing extremist “Vulkangruppe” (Volcano group) confessed to carrying out the attack in the name of saving the climate.

Blurb:

A Utah police department’s experiment with artificial intelligence took an unexpected turn after a software-generated report claimed an officer had transformed into a frog.

The incident occurred earlier this month in Heber City, where police have been testing AI tools designed to write reports based on body camera footage.

According to a KTSU report, the bizarre claim was not the result of science fiction or misconduct, but a simple background error.

“The body cam software and the AI report writing software picked up on the movie that was playing in the background, which happened to be ‘The Princess and the Frog,’” Sgt. Rick Keel told KTSU.

“That’s when we learned the importance of correcting these AI-generated reports,” Keel added.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolas Maduro was deposed as Venezuela’s leader. Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country’s oil products. Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!” “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida.

Blurb:

President Masoud Pezeshkian strikes conciliatory tone in interview broadcast on state TV but accuses US and Israel of fuelling unrest that has killed dozens.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has pledged to overhaul Iran’s struggling economy, saying his government is “ready to listen to its people” after two weeks of increasingly violent nationwide demonstrations.

Pezeshkian adopted a conciliatory approach during a televised interview on state television on Sunday, saying his embattled administration was determined to resolve the country’s economic problems while accusing the United States and Israel of fomenting deadly unrest.

Blurb:

The man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican parties’ headquarters five years ago pleaded not guilty in a court appearance on Friday.

Brian J. Cole, Jr was arrested by the FBI at his home in Virginia in early December, and faces two counts of transporting and attempting to use explosives.

The suspect was indicted on federal charges this week, FOX 5 reported.

He allegedly admitted to planting the bombs, which failed to detonate, in downtown Washington, D.C. on the eve of the Jan.6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Blurb:

The Israeli army struck an area of southern Lebanon on Sunday after issuing an evacuation warning, Lebanese state media said, with the military saying it attacked Hezbollah infrastructure.

The strikes came days after the Lebanese military said it had completed disarming Hezbollah south of the Litani River, the first phase of a nationwide plan, though Israel has called those efforts insufficient.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported that “enemy warplanes launched more than 10 raids on the threatened location” in the town of Kafr Hatta, which lies north of the Litani, noting “significant damage” to buildings there.

The Israeli military said it was “striking Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas” shortly after issuing an evacuation warning for Kafr Hatta.

Blurb:

Zohran Mamdani’s reign has begun, and that means promoting his socialist wants.

It also means trashing the idea of private property ownership, something he recently did when he visited a dilapidated, rent-controlled apartment building.


To be sure, that building was disgusting. I certainly wouldn’t want to live there, but there are consequences to placing price controls and mountains of regulations on landlords. Namely, it drains margins and makes it prohibitive to spend money on upkeep. There are also broader consequences when left-wing governance produces a city that is grossly unaffordable to live in, leaving the poorest with no choice but to reside in such abhorrent conditions, and property owners unable to provide anything better without going bankrupt.

Mamdani’s point was simple: Private landlords are evil and government-backed “affordable” housing is the way to go.

Blurb:

A federal judge in New York blocked the Trump administration from freezing $10 billion in funding for childcare and other social services in five Democrat-led states despite recent revelations of massive fraud perpetrated through fake money laundering daycare operations. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) explained that it was pausing the funding because it had “reason to believe” those states were funneling money to people living in the U.S. illegally.

Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said the five states — Minnesota, California, Colorado, Illinois, and New York — had met a legal threshold “to protect the status quo” for 14 days while arguments are made in court.

“Federal district court judge rules taxpayers must fund infinite refugee daycare scams,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller noted

“This is not a legitimate system. This is not democracy,” he declared.