National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG

U.S. House passes $800mn aid package for Ukraine | 11 Dec 2025 | The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a defense spending bill that would provide 800 million in military aid to Ukraine through 2027. The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was approved 312-122 on Wednesday and will now advance to the Senate, where it is expected to receive bipartisan support, according to The Hill. Some legislators objected to directing more taxpayers’ m-ney to help Ukraine fight Russia. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump slammed what he described as a “massive corruption situation” in Kiev, referring to the recently uncovered 100 million kickback scheme in the country’s energy sector, which heavily relies on Western aid. Prosecutors named Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s longtime associate and former business partner Timur Mindich as the ringleader.

U.S. lawmaker pushes for withdrawal from NATO | 10 Dec 2025 | A Republican congressman has introduced a bill to pull the U.S. out of NATO, arguing the bloc is a “Cold War relic” that drains “trillions” of d-llars from American taxpayers. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced the legislation on Tuesday, stating that the military bloc was created to counter the long-gone Soviet Union and that taxpayers’ m-ney would be better spent elsewhere. “We should withdraw from NATO and use that m-ney to defend our own country, not socialist countries…” Massie said. If passed, the bill would order the U.S. government to formally notify NATO that it intends to end its membership and halt the use of American funds for the bloc’s shared budgets.

Trump gives Zelensky ‘days’ to respond to peace plan – FT | 10 Dec 2025 | U.S. negotiators have given Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky days to respond to a peace proposal requiring Kiev to accept territorial losses to Russia in exchange for unspecified security guarantees, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing officials familiar with the matter. One person told the FT that U.S. President Donald Trump was hoping to reach a deal by Christmas. Zelensky reportedly told U.S. envoys that he needed time to consult with Kiev’s European backers. The U.S. president submitted a peace plan in November that reportedly called for Ukraine to withdraw troops from part of Russia’s Donbass they currently control, one of Moscow’s key conditions for a broad ceasefire.

UK soldier killed in Ukraine – British MOD | 9 Dec 2025 | A UK military service member has been killed in an undisclosed incident in Ukraine, the British Ministry of Defense has announced. “It is with deep regret that we must announce that a member of the UK Armed Forces died in Ukraine this morning,” the MOD said on X on Tuesday. “He was injured in a tragic accident whilst observing Ukrainian forces test a new defensive capability, away from the front lines,” the ministry added, without elaborating. The Telegraph cited a defense source as saying that it was the first official UK military casualty in Ukraine.

Lavrov praises Trump’s understanding of Ukraine conflict causes | 10 Dec 2025 | U.S. President Donald Trump is the only Western leader who comprehends the real reasons for the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Addressing Russia’s Federation Council, the upper chamber of parliament, on Wednesday, Lavrov said that while the U.S. is “showing growing impatience” with the diplomatic process aimed at ending the hostilities, Trump is one of the few in the West who know what led to the conflict in the first place. “President Trump…is the only one among all Western leaders who, immediately after arriving in the White House in January of this year, began to demonstrate an understanding of the reasons the war in Ukraine had been inevitable,” he said. Lavrov added that Trump “has a clear understanding” of the factors that shaped the hostile policies pursued toward Russia by the West and by former U.S. President [sic] Joe Biden, which, he said, “had been nurtured for many years.”

U.S. seizes oil tanker in Caribbean waters | 11 Dec 2025 | The U.S. has seized an oil tanker allegedly transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced. The action took place amid a buildup of U.S. military activity in the region and strikes against what Washington described as cartel boats. “Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran,” Bondi wrote on X on Wednesday. Bondi said that the vessel had been sanctioned “due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”

U.S. deploys fighter jets to Gulf of Venezuela in closest known approach yet | 9 Dec 2025 | The U.S. deployed two fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela Tuesday, marking what appeared to be the closest known approach of military aircraft to Venezuelan airspace to date, according to reports. The F/A-18 jets were observed on Flightradar24 flying for roughly 30 minutes over the waters north of Venezuela, the Associated Press reported. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the short mission as a “routine training flight” designed to demonstrate the aircraft’s operational reach. Although the U.S. has previously flown B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer bombers along Venezuela’s coastline, those aircraft did not appear to approach as closely as Tuesday’s F/A-18s.

How Covid vaccines can cause heart damage | 10 Dec 2025 | Covid mRNA vaccines can cause heart damage by triggering immune cells to go on the attack, scientists have found. More than 2,000 people in Britain suffered inflammation of the heart [myocarditis] or heart lining [pericarditis] following vaccination, with young men particularly vulnerable. The majority of cardiac problems were caused by mRNA jabs, such as Pfizer and Moderna, which delivered a blueprint of the Covid spike protein to cells. Now Stanford University has found that the immune system can lock on to the foreign RNA from the vaccine, which triggers a fierce response and in some cases can inflame heart cells. It is likely to be a problem with other mRNA jabs, they warn. Vaccine-associated myocarditis occurs in about one in every 140,000 people vaccinated after a first dose and rises to one in 32,000 after a second dose. Incidence peaks among males aged 30 or below, at one in 16,750 vaccinations, but is still very rare.

Scientists discover how Covid shots cause deadly heart damage as officials launch probe into vaccine-linked deaths | 11 Dec 2025 | Scientists at Stanford University have revealed how the mRNA Covid vaccines can cause damage to heart cells. Experts have long sounded the alarm over myocarditis, an extremely rare complication of the vaccine that causes inflammation of the heart muscle. Data show about one in 125,000 children and adults under 65 who were vaccinated against the virus between 2023 and 2024 developed the condition. Among men and boys under 25 years old, however, the rate rose to one in 250, or 475 per 125,000. The FDA has said it is now conducting a thorough investigation into reports of deaths in both children and adults that are thought to be linked to the Covid vaccine… Earlier this month Dr Robert Redfield, who headed the CDC during Trump’s first term, said he did not support the continued use of mRNA Covid vaccines.

Deadly ‘super flu’ forces more schools to close and triggers hospital restrictions, revivals of Covid-era mask mandates | 10 Dec 2025 | More hospitals and schools across the US are imposing renewed visitor restrictions and closures amid concerning spikes in a deadly “super flu,” as experts urge the public to keep watch for warning signs. Cases of the dangerous flu strain H3N2 subclade K are climbing in more than three dozen states. Detroit Medical Center has restricted visitor access to protect patients and staff from the spreading virus. New guidelines limit guest numbers, visitors under 12 and anyone 13 and up who is currently sick. The change comes after masking requirements for hospital staff and visitors in New Jersey and New York hospitals were reinstated. This year’s strain has already been dubbed the super flu in the UK, where it is pushing hospitals beyond capacity, closing schools and causing revivals of Covid-era mask mandates. [Do not comply.]

EU Fines Elon Musk’s X $140 Million for Not Following Censorship Law | 5 Dec 2025 | The European Commission has issued a 140 million fine to Elon Musk’s X for violating the EU’s controversial Digital Services Act (DSA). The fine is likely to escalate tensions between the EU and America over free speech online. Bloomberg reports that the European Commission has imposed a 120 million-euro (140 million) fine on X, Elon Musk’s social media platform, for breaching the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). This marks the first penalty issued under the new censorship law, which aims to regulate online platforms and “protect” users from illegal content and disinformation. The fine, while lower than expected, is still set to escalate tensions between the EU and the White House over free speech and tech regulation. Vice President JD Vance posted to X in advance of the fine, warning, “The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage.”

New homes delayed by ‘energy-hungry’ data centres | 3 Dec 2025 | The rapid growth of “energy-hungry” data centres is delaying new homes in London, just as its housing crisis is “at its worst,” a new report has warned. Data centres are giant warehouses full of powerful computers used to run digital services, such as streaming and artificial intelligence. However, they require masses of electricity from the National Grid to keep running. According to the report from the London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee, some new housing developments in west London were temporarily delayed after the electricity grid reached full capacity.

Dr. Oz warns Walz to address alleged Somali Medicaid fraud or lose federal funding: ‘We’ll stop paying’ | 7 Dec 2025 | Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz on Friday warned Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz the state could lose federal Medicaid funding unless it restores “the integrity” of its program. In a post on X, Dr. Oz claimed more than one billion had been stolen through a massive Medicaid fraud scheme carried out by “bad actors” within Minnesota’s Somali community, alleging some of the funds “may have even made its way to the Somalian terrorist group (al-Shabab).” “Our staff at CMS told me they’ve never seen anything like this in Medicaid — and everyone from Gov. Tim Walz on down needs to be investigated, because they’ve been asleep at the wheel,” Oz said.

Supreme Court to consider sweeping move by President Trump to end birthright citizenship | 5 Dec 2025 | The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of Donald Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship. The conservative-dominated court made the decision on Friday. It has not set a date for oral arguments in the case, but it is likely to be early next year. On the president’s first day back in the White House for his second term, he signed an executive order called “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” The order declared that children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrants and those on temporary visas would not automatically become citizens… Trump’s executive order argues that anyone in the U.S. illegally or on a visa is not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore left out of this category. The Trump administration has also argued that the 14th Amendment, passed in the wake of the Civil War, addresses the rights of formerly enslaved people and not the children of undocumented migrants or temporary U.S. visitors.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis designates Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR as ‘foreign terrorist organizations,’ follows Texas’s lead | 9 Dec 2025 | Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis marked the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as “foreign terrorist organizations” in an executive order on Monday, just weeks after Texas’s governor did the same. DeSantis shared the memo, complete with his stamp of approval on his X account, which he said was “EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.” “Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support,” DeSantis wrote. On Nov. 18, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also labeled CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations.

Twice-deported Honduran accused of stabbing passenger on Charlotte light rail faces federal charges | 11 Dec 2025 | A twice-deported Honduran man linked to the stabbing of a passenger on a Charlotte, North Carolina, light rail train has been federally charged, the Justice Department said Thursday. Oscar Gerardo Solorzano-Garcia, 33, is charged with one count of illegal reentry by a removed alien and one count of committing an act of violence on a mass transportation system. “An individual who was deported twice, convicted of violent crimes, and repeatedly reentered our country illegally had no business being on a public train in Charlotte, or anywhere near American citizens,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Solorzano, who has a violent criminal history in the United States, was deported in March 2018 before illegally re-entering through the southern border in Texas in March 2021, Fox News Digital previously reported. He was deported a second time by the Biden administration and reentered illegally as a “got-away” at an unknown time and location.

Furious anti-ICE protesters threw snowballs at feds to protect Chicago Tren de Aragua gangbanger, DHS says | 8 Dec 2025 | The illegal immigrant whom Chicago anti-ICE protesters tried to protect by hurling rocks and snowballs at the feds is an alleged Tren de Aragua gangbanger who had rammed an officer as they tried to arrest him, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday. ICE arrested Luis Jesus Acosta Gutierrez — who entered the U.S. under former President [sic] Joe Biden — following the impromptu riot on a snowy residential street in Elgin, Illinois, in which dozens of protesters lobbed rocks, bottles and icy snowballs at federal agents who had been chasing Gutierrez, according to DHS. Immigration agents had attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Gutierrez, when he smashed his car into one of the agency’s vehicles, sending it careening into a tree. He then fled the crash on foot before barricading himself in a stranger’s apartment.