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Unbiased headline news – North Korea announced it has successfully test-fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, claiming the weapon is designed to “reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region.” According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the missile was launched on Monday and traveled approximately 930 miles at 12 times the speed of sound. The missile’s hypersonic glide vehicle reportedly reached a first peak altitude of 61 miles and a second peak of 26 miles, the report added. — French health officials have confirmed the country’s first case of a dangerous new strain of the mpox virus, which has caused significant outbreaks in central Africa. Authorities reported that the patient had no travel history to the affected region and was identified through contact tracing. The new strain, known as clade 1b, has raised concerns because of its rapid transmission and resistance to existing diagnostics. Health officials noted that cases of the mpox clade 1b strain have also been detected in Belgium, Britain, Germany, and Sweden. — President-elect Donald Trump suggested renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” during a wide-ranging news conference held at Mar-a-Lago. Trump also criticized President Biden’s final actions before leaving office and outlined his ambitions to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, even hinting at potential military action to secure what he described as vital for U.S. economic and national security. While discussing these goals, Trump proposed the idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico as part of his broader vision. — Facebook plans to replace its current fact-checking system with “community notes,” a change that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said reflects the company’s commitment to “free expression.” “We’re replacing fact-checkers with Community Notes, simplifying our policies, and focusing on reducing mistakes,” Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday. “Looking forward to this next chapter.” The new system, which will also apply to Instagram and Threads, aims to lift restrictions on certain topics that are now considered part of mainstream discourse. — Federal prosecutors revealed in a new court filing that the FBI has uncovered “additional criminal conduct” involving New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Adams, who has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment, is accused of accepting luxury travel in exchange for political favors. These favors allegedly included influencing the fire department to approve the opening of a new Turkish consulate in Manhattan, despite inspectors raising ongoing safety concerns. — In a move expected to impact millions of Americans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized a rule to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports. The CFPB said the new rule would eliminate around $49 billion in unpaid medical bills from credit reports, benefiting approximately 15 million Americans. The agency estimated that the change could increase credit scores by an average of 20 points, enabling borrowers to qualify for mortgages and other financial products.

Unbiased headline news – President Joe Biden met with Venezuela’s opposition leader ahead of this week’s inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro’s disputed third term, according to multiple reports. Speaking briefly at the White House, Venezuelan Democratic Unitary party leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia described his meeting with the outgoing U.S. president as “long, cordial and fruitful,” The Miami Herald reported. The United States has recognized Gonzalez, who arrived Sunday night, as the rightful winner of Venezuela’s recent presidential election. — U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein announced that the Israeli Army has begun withdrawing from the western sector of southern Lebanon and will continue the process until it is fully out of the country, describing the effort as “a successful process.” Hochstein, who arrived earlier in the day and co-chaired the third meeting of the committee tasked with monitoring the implementation of the November 27 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement in the border town of Naqoura, said he had “a very good discussion” with Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri. — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed his decision to step down as the country’s leader and head of the Liberal Party. “I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process,” Trudeau said Monday in Ottawa at Rideau Cottage, speaking in both French and English. The 53-year-old leader will remain in office until March 24 after first taking the role in 2015 from then-Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. — A federal judge in New York has found Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court for failing to provide personal property and information to two Georgia election workers he was found to have defamed. Judge Lewis Liman ruled in favor of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who stated Giuliani has “not turned over a single dollar” to satisfy the $148 million judgment against him. Giuliani was held liable in 2023 for defaming Freeman and Moss by falsely accusing them of tampering with the 2020 presidential vote in Georgia. — The Justice Department has reached a settlement with Antioch, California, and its police department following an investigation into alleged discriminatory practices by the city’s officers against members of the public. According to allegations, officers exchanged text messages using racial slurs to describe Black residents, praised excessive use of force, and mocked George Floyd. The investigation began after messages between dozens of Antioch Police Department personnel, sent between September 2019 and January 2022, were made public following a separate inquiry by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI. — Pope Francis has appointed the first woman to lead a major Vatican office, naming Italian nun Sister Simona Brambilla as prefect of the department overseeing all Catholic religious orders. This appointment represents a significant step in Francis’ efforts to increase women’s leadership roles within the church. While women have previously held deputy positions in some Vatican offices, this marks the first time a woman has been named prefect of a dicastery or congregation within the Holy See Curia, the Catholic Church’s central governing body.

Unbiased headline news Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is under mounting scrutiny for allegedly censoring pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli content amid the ongoing war, drawing criticism from human rights organizations and media outlets such as the BBC. The company has faced several allegations over the past month, including claims in a Human Rights Watch report about content suppression, a BBC investigation accusing Facebook of limiting Palestinian news outlets’ reach, and testimonies collected by the human rights group 7amleh alleging shadow-banning of Palestinian pages. — As the deadline for the arrest warrant against impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol approached on Sunday, protesters and counter-protesters braved freezing temperatures and snow outside his residence. The protest coincided with a Seoul court’s dismissal of an injunction filed by Yoon seeking to invalidate warrants for his detention and a search of his home. South Korea remains in political turmoil after Yoon declared martial law in early December, accusing the opposition of attempting to overthrow democracy. — The new year brought a powerful winter storm to a significant portion of the United States, delivering heavy snow and dangerous ice that placed over 60 million people across 30 states under winter weather warnings. Blizzard warnings remained in effect for more than 4 million people through Sunday night in parts of Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri, according to the National Weather Service’s online map. Travel became hazardous in several heartland states, including Kansas, Kentucky, and Indiana. — A child missing for five days was discovered alive this week in a sprawling game park in northern Zimbabwe, home to big cats and other wild animals, officials confirmed. The seven-year-old boy was reported missing from his rural village on Dec. 27, according to a statement from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks). The agency noted that a coordinated search effort involving park rangers, police, and the local community led to his rescue. — New York City introduced a new toll for drivers entering the heart of Manhattan on Sunday, requiring many to pay $9 during peak hours to access the city’s busiest area. Known as congestion pricing, the initiative aims to alleviate traffic gridlock in the densely populated city while generating funds to improve its struggling public transit system. “We’ve studied this issue for five years, but five minutes in midtown Manhattan shows New York has a real traffic problem,” said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair. — A soccer-loving nun from Brazil has reportedly become the world’s oldest living person at nearly 117 years old following the death of a Japanese woman who previously held the title. Sister Inah Canabarro, who was frail as a child and not expected to survive, has now been recognized by LongeviQuest, an organization tracking supercentenarians. In a statement released Saturday, the group confirmed her status, based on early life records, as the world’s oldest living person.

Unbiased headline news – Disgraced former Congressman George Santos has requested that a judge delay his sentencing in his federal fraud case. Santos is currently set to be sentenced on February 7th in Central Islip, New York, following his guilty plea to charges of federal fraud, campaign finance violations, and embezzlement. His legal team has asked the judge to extend the sentencing by six months, pushing it to August, to allow Santos additional time to earn money and meet the nearly $600,000 he owes in restitution and forfeiture payments. — The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s New York criminal hush money case has indicated plans to issue an “unconditional discharge” as a sentence, citing respect for the presidential immunity doctrine. Judge Juan Merchan ordered Trump to appear, either in person or virtually, for sentencing on January 10th, just 10 days before Trump’s presidential inauguration. In his ruling, Merchan described an unconditional discharge as the “most practical resolution to ensure finality and enable Defendant to pursue his appellate options.” — Secretary of State Antony Blinken began what is expected to be his final international trip in office this weekend, with visits planned to South Korea, Japan, and France. The State Department announced that Blinken’s travels to Seoul, Tokyo, and Paris commenced on Sunday. In South Korea, amid the political upheaval following the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, and in Japan, Blinken aims to underscore the enhanced cooperation between the U.S. and these nations as part of the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy. — The Los Angeles County district attorney recently met with relatives of the Menendez brothers but stated he is still reviewing the facts of the case and has not yet decided whether to support their bid for release. LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman noted that upon taking office on December 3rd, he pledged to reevaluate the Menendez case thoroughly. This process, he explained, has involved examining thousands of pages of confidential prison records, trial transcripts, consultations with prosecutors and defense attorneys, and a review of court filings. — A fire at a shopping center in Dallas on Friday morning resulted in the deaths of over 500 animals, primarily small birds, authorities reported. The 579 animals at the Plaza Latina pet shop in Northwest Dallas succumbed to smoke inhalation, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans. The fire’s flames never reached the animals directly. Chickens, hamsters, two dogs, and two cats were among those lost, Evans said. The two-alarm fire required approximately two hours and 45 firefighters to extinguish. — Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman recognized as the world’s oldest person by Guinness World Records, has passed away at the age of 116, an Ashiya city official confirmed on Saturday. Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official overseeing elderly policies, stated that Itooka died on December 29th at a care facility in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan. Known for her love of bananas and a yogurt-flavored Japanese drink called Calpis, Itooka was born on May 23, 1908. She became the world’s oldest person last year, succeeding 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Unbiased headline news – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un proclaimed a “new high” in relations between North Korea and Russia, expressing hope for a Russian victory in its conflict with Ukraine by 2025. In a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin dated Dec. 30, Kim extended his best wishes for the upcoming year, describing 2024 as a pivotal year in transforming relations between the two nations. He characterized the shift as evolving from “friendly co-existence” to a “strategic and cooperative” partnership between “sworn friends.” — The World Health Organization commemorated the fifth anniversary of the emergence of COVID-19 by renewing its call for China to release critical data and allow external access to aid the global scientific community in uncovering the origins of the virus that triggered the pandemic. Reflecting on the day the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission first reported cases of “viral pneumonia” in Wuhan, the United Nations’ public health agency emphasized in a news release that uncovering the truth remains essential to ensure better preparedness for future pandemics than was the case with COVID-19. — A massive blackout engulfed almost all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the island prepared for New Year’s celebrations, leaving over 1.3 million customers without electricity. Officials warned it could take up to two days to restore power fully. The outage struck at dawn, silencing appliances and air conditioners across the island before those with generators turned them on. “Of all days, it had to be December 31st!” lamented a man named Manuel, standing outside a grocery store in San Juan and expressing frustration over the power failure coinciding with his birthday. — Four family members, including three U.S. citizens, were shot in an attack in Durango, Mexico, that claimed the lives of three of them, authorities reported. The victims included two brothers, Vicente Peña Rodríguez and Antonio Fernández Rodríguez, both U.S. citizens, and a local relative, Jorge Eduardo Vargas Aguirre, the Durango Attorney General’s Office confirmed. The shooting has left family members and officials seeking answers. — Two security guards were shot and injured at a downtown Los Angeles shopping center after confronting a man attempting to leave a store with a suitcase filled with unpaid merchandise, police said Tuesday. The confrontation escalated, shots were fired, and the suspect fled the scene on a bicycle, according to Los Angeles Police Officer Drake Madison. Both guards were reported to be in stable condition, while the suspect remains at large. The incident underscores mounting public frustration with retail theft and crime in California as 2024 begins. — London police are searching for a burglar who broke into an occupied mansion and made off with jewelry, designer handbags, and cash valued at over 10.5 million pounds, or 13.2 million dollars. The estate owners, identified by British media as an Instagram influencer and her developer husband, were not at home during the Dec. 7 burglary. However, employees were present, and surveillance footage captured a housekeeper narrowly avoiding a confrontation with the armed intruder.

Unbiased headline news – President-elect Donald Trump on Monday gave his backing to House Speaker Mike Johnson to remain in the position for the 119th Congress. Trump announced his “total and complete endorsement” of Johnson on his Truth Social platform early Monday morning. He praised the Louisiana congressman as a “good, hard-working, religious man” and expressed confidence that Johnson “will do the right thing, and we will continue to win.” — South Korean authorities said Monday they have requested a court to issue an arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol over allegations of insurrection and abuse of power tied to his failed attempt to declare martial law. The request comes from a joint investigation team comprising officials from the police anticorruption office and the defense ministry. The team is seeking to detain Yoon after he failed to respond to three prior subpoenas for questioning about his December 3rd martial law declaration. Similar arrests of former leaders such as Roh Tae-woo, Chun Doo-hwan, Park Geun-hye, and Lee Myung-bak occurred only after they left office. — A federal appeals court on Monday denied President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to overturn a jury’s verdict from last year, which found him liable for sexually abusing writer E Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s. The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that “Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings” and found he “has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.” — The fund responsible for compensating victims of Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme began its final disbursement this week, distributing an additional 131 million dollars to investors who were defrauded. Payments are being sent to 23,000 victims globally, bringing total recoveries to 94% of the losses suffered. Federal prosecutors noted that the majority of these victims were small investors who lost less than $500,000 in the massive fraud. — Three high-end watches, including a $9,000 Rolex, stolen from actor Keanu Reeves’ Los Angeles home have been recovered in Chile, police said. Chilean authorities reported that a man was arrested in Santiago on Saturday in connection with the theft, as part of a larger local operation. The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed, is now in custody. One of the recovered watches is a Rolex Submariner engraved with the “John Wick” actor’s name. — The funeral for former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 100, is scheduled for Jan. 9 at Washington National Cathedral. According to the Carter Center, Carter will also lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda after Congress extended the invitation to his family. The 39th president, a peanut farmer’s son who rose to the nation’s highest office, died at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by loved ones. He had recently become the longest-lived former U.S. president.