Real skeptics study the evidence and ask questions, rather than taking political dogma on faith. Experiencing disasters can open more eyes to the risks.

Understanding climate change in America: Skepticism, dogmatism and personal experience

US science lost a great deal in 2025, including tens of billions of dollars of federal funding, entire research agencies and programs, and a generation of researchers.

‘This year nearly broke me as a scientist’ – US researchers reflect on how 2025’s science cuts have changed their lives

KJ Muldoon received a groundbreaking new treatment earlier this year.

Baby takes 1st steps after receiving groundbreaking gene-edited therapy

A rare interstellar comet has been caught in X-rays by two space telescopes, revealing how its gases interact with charged particles from the sun as it travels through the inner solar system.

Scientists detect X-ray glow from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS extending 250,000 miles into space

Dec 18 () - Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical said on Thursday its experimental pill for a type of skin disease, developed using ​artificial intelligence, succeeded in two late-stage studies. More than half ‌the plaque psoriasis patients across the studies showed clear or almost clear skin after ‌16 weeks of treatment with the once-daily drug, zasocitinib, the company said.

Takeda's AI-crafted psoriasis pill succeeds in late-stage studies

Germany's foreign intelligence service is to be given far more scope for taking decisive action in threatening situations under plans of the office of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to media reports on Thursday. The proposals would allow sabotage operations to weaken hostile forces, according to public broadcasters WDR and NDR as well as the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, citing a new draft law on the country's Federal Intelligence Service BND.

Reports: Germany plans expansion of foreign intelligence powers

The European Union is postponing the signing of a free trade deal with four Mercosur countries until January, an EU official said on Thursday. The agreement between the EU and Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, which has been in the making for over 25 years, was scheduled to be signed at a summit in Brazil on Saturday.

EU delays signing of Mercosur free trade deal

The initiative is part of a broader effort to deter Turkey’s military and strategic activities in the eastern Mediterranean. Senior officials from Israel, Greece, and Cyprus are discussing the possibility of establishing a rapid-response force composed of units from the armed forces of the three countries, three people familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.

Israel explores creation of int'l force with Greece, Cyprus to deter Turkey

For decades, Belgium has been at the beating heart of the European Union.  The headquarters of the 27-nation bloc’s main institutions and NATO are based there.  EU leaders meet in the capital Brussels at least four times a year.

Under pressure at home, Belgium's leader treads a tight rope with EU partners over funds for Ukraine

Additionally, despite the United Nations’s continued complaints about the supply of aid into Gaza, COGAT stated the UN only provided 20% of the aid reaching Palestinians. Between 600 and 800 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip daily since the start of the ceasefire, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced on Wednesday.

Between 600 to 800 aid trucks entering Gaza daily since start of ceasefire, COGAT confirms

A new report claims the Asia Pacific was a dominating regional hotspot for international tourists in 2025.

These Cities Led Global Jet-Setting In 2025, According To New Data

The leaders of the European Union and the Western Balkans countries agreed to forge closer ties at a summit on Wednesday evening in Brussels. Russia's war against Ukraine and the increasing geopolitical challenges underscore the need for ever closer relations, according to a joint statement issued by the EU's 27 members and five countries of the region.

EU calls on Western Balkans to step up reforms for membership

Negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament have agreed on new safeguards for imported agricultural products under the pending Mercosur free trade agreement, despite persisting divisions over the approval of the deal with four Latin American countries. The controversial free trade deal is intended to boost trade between the European Union and the four Mercosur countries — Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay — but is still viewed critically by some in the EU.

EU agrees on agriculture safeguards as fronts harden in Mercosur deal

The banner, which reads “For the next war, Nahariya be prepared,” features images of Hezbollah. The Iranian regime placed a new banner in Tehran’s Palestine Square threatening Israel’s northern city of Nahariya, according to photos shared online.

‘Nahariya get ready’: Banner displaying Hezbollah threat mounted in Tehran’s Palestine Square

Winter cold ‘becomes lethal’ as Israel restricts entry of tents, blankets and other shelter supplies to ravaged enclave.

Palestinian infant freezes to death in Gaza as Israel keeps blocking aid

A renowned Brazilian Catholic priest confirmed Tuesday that he was ordered by Sao Paulo’s archbishop to stop broadcasting his services and avoid social media postings all-together, following attacks from right-wing figures who denounce his actions as leftist.  With 2.3 million followers on Instagram, Júlio Lancellotti, 76, is famous all over Brazil for his extensive advocacy and outreach work with homeless people in Sao Paulo.  On Tuesday, he told journalists he received the news from Cardinal O

Brazilian cardinal orders a popular Catholic priest to go offline following right-wing attacks

The diagrams included the locations of locks and the number of guards assigned to each wing, according to Ynet. Detailed diagrams showing various Israeli prisons were discovered inside the cells of terrorists arrested after the October 7 massacre, according to Israel Prison Service Operations Head Avihai Ben-Hamo, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

'War is not over': Detailed diagrams of prisons found in cells of Oct. 7 terrorists

Exposure to freezing temperatures near Morocco’s border with Algeria killed nine African migrants, a tragedy that rights groups in the North African country called deeply concerning and a violation of the right to freedom of movement.  The bodies of seven men and two women were found in Ras Asfour, a remote mountainous Moroccan area known for its plunging temperatures in winter, the Moroccan Association of Human Rights said Saturday in a statement.  The rest were from various countries throughou

9 African migrants died in freezing temperatures near Morocco-Algeria border

Hamas is forcing displaced residents in al-Qarara to pay rent for tent spaces on the Gaza coast after their homes were destroyed, according to the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson. After their homes had been destroyed in the war, Hamas is forcing displaced Gazans in al-Qarara to pay rent to live in tents on the beach, the IDF's Arabic spokesperson Col.

Hamas demanded displaced Gazans pay rent on beach tents amid torrential downpour, IDF reveals

​​The Bondi Beach attack is the latest and most deadly in a string of antisemitic incidents that have blighted Australia

A Timeline of Rising Antisemitism in Australia

Haskel, who lived in Australia for six years, said that the mass shooting came after repeated warnings to Canberra about growing antisemitism in the country. The terrorist attack at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday shattered Australia’s reputation as a safe country for Jewish life, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel.

'No middle ground' for tackling antisemitism after Bondi Beach mass shooting, deputy FM Haskel says

Moscow has labelled Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) an "undesirable organization," effectively banning its activities in the country. The move follows a recommendation by the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, DW reported on Sunday.

Germany's Deutsche Welle broadcaster declared 'undesirable' in Russia

Eleven people were killed in the shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach, as crowds attended an event to celebrate Hanukkah.

'Hero' who wrestled gun from Bondi shooter named as Ahmed al Ahmed

Longtime Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has dampened hopes for elections that are years overdue. Presidential and parliamentary polls should be held within a year after the end of the Gaza war, Abbas said on Friday in Rome, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Palestinian leader Abbas says elections only after Gaza war ends

An Israeli airstrike in July 2024 smashed her home in central Gaza as she and her family slept.  The 2-month-old ceasefire in Gaza has been slow to bring help for thousands of Palestinians who suffered amputations from Israeli bombardment over the past two years.  The WHO said a shipment of essential prosthetic supplies recently made it into Gaza.

Gaza amputees struggle to rebuild lives as the enclave faces shortages of prosthetic limbs

Yassin Marouf, 23, lies in a tent, his left foot amputated and his right leg severely wounded after being hit by Israeli shelling in May. His brother was killed in the same attack, and Marouf struggles with basic movements.  Doctors say his right leg may also need amputation unless he receives treatment outside the Palestinian territory.  Nearby, 34-year-old Haneen al-Mabhouh, sits in a wheelchair in her family home in Nuseirat, central Gaza, mourning the loss of her four daughters, including he

Photos of amputees in Gaza, struggling to survive after losing limbs to Israeli airstrikes

The Czech Republic will not participate in any future EU financing of Ukraine, newly appointed Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said in a video message on Saturday, with a view to the EU summit meeting planned for the coming Thursday. The right-wing populist also firmly rejected Czech participation in EU loan guarantees for the country invaded by Russia.

Czech Republic's new premier: No money for Ukraine

Vahid Razavi, a member of the Vadi family, told the dissident media site that Rouzbeh Vadi was detained a year and a half ago after a dispute at work. Executed Iranian nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi only confessed to spying for Israel after torture and after the regime threatened his mother, a relative told Iran International in an article published Friday.

Executed Iranian nuclear scientist confessed to aiding Israel after torture, threats against mother

Five men have been detained on suspicion of planning an attack on a Christmas market in southern Germany, the public prosecutor in Munich said on Saturday. Formal arrest warrants were issued for four of the men, while one was taken into preventive custody for the suspected plans to attack a Christmas market in the Dingolfing area in the south of the state of Bavaria, the prosecutor said.

Five held on suspicion of planning attack on German Christmas market

This year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has condemned the arrest in Iran of Iranian Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi, dubbing it a "confession of fear" by the Islamist regime. "The Islamic Republic understands what dictatorships always understand: a fearless voice, once heard, cannot be unheard.

New peace laureate: Iran's arrest of Mohammadi 'confession of fear'

PETIT GOÂVE, Haiti (AP) — Amizia Renotte sat on a broken piece of concrete and pointed to a large pile of dirt where her house once stood before the outer bands of Hurricane Melissa crumpled it as the storm lashed Haiti’s southern region.  The Atlantic hurricane season may be over, but thousands of people like Renotte in this Carribean country and beyond are still looking for food and struggling to rebuild their lives nearly two months after the Category 5 storm pummeled the northern Caribbean r

Hunger and makeshift shelters persist in north Caribbean nearly 2 months after Hurricane Melissa

Palestinian officials warn Israel’s new settlement plan accelerates annexation, deepens violence across occupied area.

Israel approves 19 new West Bank settlements in major annexation push

Roman Oleksiv was seriously injured and his mother died when Russian missiles struck a hospital in central Ukraine in 2022

Interpreter Starts Sobbing as 11-Year-Old Testifies About Last Time He Saw His Mom Before She Was Killed in Missile Strike

Farmers have staged protests in several parts of France in recent days after vets culled a herd suffering from the disease.

Farmers call for French blockades over cow disease cull

The treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended vice president is further eroding a 2018 peace agreement he signed with President Salva Kiir, U.N. experts warned in a new report.  As Riek Machar’s trial is taking place in the capital, Juba, the experts said forces from both sides are continuing to confront each other across much of the country and there is a threat of renewed major conflict.  U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the U.N. Security Council last month that the crisis in So

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