NEWS

Unbiased headline news – Hanna Katzir, an Israeli hostage who was freed last year after spending 49 days in captivity in Gaza, has passed away, according to officials. The 78-year-old faced a “complex medical condition” that persisted for “many months” following her release, Kibbutz Nir Oz stated. During Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Katzir was abducted from her home, and her husband, Rami, was killed in their safe room at Kibbutz Nir Oz, as reported by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters. — Japan’s National Police Agency has identified the North Korea-based hacking group TraderTraitor as the likely culprit behind a May cyberattack that resulted in $308 million in Bitcoin being stolen from a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange. The breach at DMM Bitcoin was traced back to a computer virus installed on a company employee who handled deposits and withdrawals of DMM Bitcoin virtual currency. The virus infiltrated the system via a fraudulent job recruitment message sent through LinkedIn, police stated. — President-elect Donald Trump has maintained a long-standing feud with the media, and his recent comments, legal actions, and cabinet choices suggest he plans to escalate his fight against critical coverage. Trump’s approach to addressing unfavorable press has included lawsuits targeting major outlets like CNN, ABC, and The Washington Post. He has also pursued legal actions against smaller entities, such as a Wisconsin TV station and smaller publishers, indicating a broad focus on silencing dissent. — Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen is recuperating from serious but non-life-threatening injuries after being thrown off a horse, his office reported. The incident occurred while the Republican governor was horseback riding with family near Columbus on Sunday. The fall happened while he was riding a new horse, his office said. His injuries include “minor lacerations to his spleen and kidney, seven broken ribs, a partially collapsed lung caused by rib damage, and a minor vertebra fracture.” — Swiss Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger has tragically died in an avalanche, according to the Swiss-Ski federation. Hediger, 26, was caught in an avalanche at the mountain resort of Arosa in eastern Switzerland, the federation confirmed. “We are stunned, and our thoughts are with Sophie’s family, to whom we extend our deepest condolences,” Walter Reusser, the CEO of Swiss-Ski’s sports division, said in a statement. No further details about the incident have been disclosed. — One million taxpayers are set to receive automatic payments from the IRS in the coming weeks, the agency announced. The payments, which could be as high as $1,400, are intended for individuals who missed claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns. “These payments demonstrate our commitment to going the extra mile for taxpayers,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel stated. The IRS clarified that the payments will be sent automatically to eligible recipients, requiring no action on their part.

Unbiased headline news – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that over 3,000 North Korean soldiers have likely been killed or wounded while fighting for Moscow in Russia’s western Kursk region. Following a briefing by Kyiv’s top commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Zelenskyy shared the update on Telegram, emphasizing the ongoing battle in Kursk. Ukrainian forces have been engaged there since launching a surprise cross-border incursion in August. Ukrainian special forces claim their operations over three days resulted in more than 100 casualties among North Korean troops. — In 2024, devastating weather events claimed hundreds of lives globally as natural disasters grew increasingly severe and widespread. Spring brought a surge of tornadoes across the United States, while earthquakes and floods ravaged parts of the Middle East, Asia, and the Western Pacific. Intense summer heat waves gave way to hurricanes that caused widespread disruption in the southeastern U.S., and a Category 5 super typhoon devastated southeastern Asia, killing nearly 600 people. — Anonymous supporters have established several online defense funds for Luigi Mangione, including one on the crowdfunding site GiveSendGo, which has raised over $187,000 as of this week. The GiveSendGo campaign for the 26-year-old Mangione was set up by a group identifying itself as “The December 4th Legal Committee,” a reference to the day Mangione allegedly ambushed and fatally shot CEO Thompson in Midtown Manhattan. The incident occurred as the executive walked to his company’s shareholders conference at the New York Hilton. — Five people were hospitalized Monday after a chairlift appeared to malfunction at Heavenly Mountain Resort, located on the Nevada side of the Lake Tahoe region. The incident happened during the morning hours, prompting a response from the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District at around 10 a.m. local time. Emergency crews dispatched two engines and three ambulances. Authorities reported that five individuals were later transported to hospitals in Reno, Nevada. — A North Carolina police officer was shot and killed while responding to a report of an armed individual inside a supermarket, officials confirmed. The incident occurred Monday morning at a Food Lion in Greensboro, where Officer Michael Horan was fatally wounded. Police had responded to a call about a “man with a firearm” inside the store. Greensboro Assistant Police Chief MJ Harris stated that an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting. — Starbucks baristas in Massachusetts, Texas, and Oregon walked off the job Monday, broadening a holiday strike to 12 cities nationwide, according to Starbucks Workers United. The strike extended to cities including Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Portland, adding to actions in places like Los Angeles and Philadelphia. The union reported that nearly 50 stores were brought to a standstill nationwide on Sunday. The holiday season is typically one of the busiest times of the year for the coffee giant.

Unbiased headline news – Two U.S. Navy pilots safely ejected over the Red Sea after their F/A-18 fighter jet was mistakenly shot down. Military officials have described the incident as “an apparent case of friendly fire.” According to a statement from U.S. Central Command, one of the pilots sustained minor injuries. The aircraft, which was operating from the USS Harry S. Truman, was struck by the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, a ship that is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group. — The largest police department in the United States is undergoing a leadership upheaval amid mounting scandals surrounding Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey submitted his retirement papers as the *New York Post* prepared to report on allegations made by a female subordinate. She claimed Maddrey coerced her into providing sexual favors at police headquarters in lower Manhattan in exchange for approving her overtime requests. — A small plane crashed in Brazil on Sunday, claiming the lives of 10 people. Police identified Luiz Claudio Salgueiro Galeazzi, a businessman, as the pilot of the aircraft. He was traveling with nine family members, including his children, all of whom perished in the crash. The plane went down in a popular shopping area in Gramado, where 17 others who had been Christmas shopping nearby were hospitalized after the accident. — Five individuals sustained injuries when a man fleeing troopers drove a truck several hundred yards into a mall entrance. The driver, who was “actively running people over,” injured four individuals, while a fifth person later sought medical attention independently, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Bryan Washko. During the Saturday incident, the driver was fatally shot by multiple law enforcement officers, including three off-duty personnel, Washko reported during a news conference. — A child was hospitalized after being struck by a drone during an Orlando holiday show, where several drones collided and fell. The mishap occurred at about 6:45 p.m. Saturday during a holiday drone display at Orlando’s Eloa Lake, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Thousands of spectators watched as multiple small drones malfunctioned, collided mid-air, and plummeted into the crowd, the FAA stated. — President Joe Biden’s administration has announced an additional $4.28 billion in student loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public service workers. This latest relief effort brings the administration’s total student loan forgiveness to “approximately $180 billion for nearly 5 million Americans,” according to a Department of Education fact sheet. The new round of debt cancellation targets participants in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which provides relief for workers in fields such as nursing, teaching, and firefighting.

Unbiased headline news – The U.S. flu season has begun in earnest, with cases rising sharply in many parts of the country, according to health officials on Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported significant increases across several indicators, such as laboratory testing and emergency room visits. “It’s been increasing at a pretty steady pace now for the past several weeks. So yeah, we are certainly in flu season now,” said Alicia Budd of the CDC. Thirteen states last week reported high or very high levels of flu-like symptoms. — The death toll climbed to five on Saturday, including a 9-year-old child, with 200 others injured in Friday evening’s Christmas market car attack in Magdeburg, Germany, and officials warn it may rise further. Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old Saudi man who has lived in Germany since 2006. Among the dead is a toddler after the man drove his vehicle into a crowd around 7 p.m. local time. On Friday, the reported death toll had stood at two. — A captain in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is facing federal murder and terrorism charges in New York. The criminal complaint, unsealed Friday, accuses Mohammad Reza Nouri of orchestrating the murder of an American citizen in retaliation for the drone strike that killed a senior Iranian general. Prosecutors allege Nouri gathered intelligence on Stephen Troell, a 45-year-old American living in Baghdad, who was fatally shot in front of his wife in November 2022. — Shares of Trump Media and Technology Group fell during midday trading after President-elect Donald Trump moved his holdings into a revocable trust, according to a regulatory filing. Trump transferred nearly 115 million shares—valued at about $4 billion on paper—in the parent company of the Truth Social platform to the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust as a “bona fide gift,” per the Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday. His shares represent more than half of the company’s stock. — A military helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at Camp Pendleton on Friday, prompting warnings of possible traffic delays on Interstate 5. All four crew members escaped without injuries, said James Estillore, spokesman for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Communication Strategy and Operations. Around 4 p.m. local time, “a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion belonging to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing experienced an engine fire in-flight,” Estillore reported. — An arctic blast has gripped the northeastern U.S., bringing icy and snowy conditions that have disrupted flights and delayed travel. The coldest air of the season swept through the East and Northeast over the weekend. Fenway Park near Boston received at least 6 inches of snow, while parts of western New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania saw 1 to 4 inches. Temperatures dropped 15 to 25 degrees in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin and fell by 5 to 15 degrees across much of the Midwest.

Unbiased headline news – The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a law that could require TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest its ownership in the app or face a potential ban from U.S. app marketplaces. The justices will begin hearing oral arguments on January 10th, slightly more than a week before the law is set to take effect on January 19th. Opening briefs are due by December 27th, according to a brief court filing. The Supreme Court indicated that the discussions would focus on whether the law infringes upon First Amendment rights. — The U.S. Department of Defense announced Wednesday that two Guantanamo Bay detainees have been transferred, marking the departure of three detainees within 48 hours. The Pentagon stated that Malaysians Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep were sent back to their home country to complete a five-year sentence issued in June. Additionally, officials recently confirmed the transfer of Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu to Kenya. — Authorities say 12 people were found dead inside a restaurant at a popular ski resort in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia. The Mtskheta-Mtianeti Police Department of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the bodies were discovered in Gudauri, a well-known ski destination near the Russian border, about 75 miles north of Tbilisi, the country’s capital. — A former Alabama police sergeant has been sentenced to over a year in federal prison, followed by nearly two years of supervised release, after admitting in August to assaulting a man in a jail cell. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that Ryan Phillips, formerly with the Daleville Police Department, will serve 16 months for a civil rights violation. The assault occurred on March 1, 2022, according to court documents. A lawyer for Phillips, 42, did not respond to requests for comment. — A small cargo plane on a training flight crashed into an empty building shortly after taking off from Honolulu’s airport, igniting a fire and killing both pilots on board, officials said. Kamaka Air Flight 689 struck the structure at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport around 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed. Video footage captured the plane veering sideways at low altitude before crashing into the building, sending up a thick, black plume of smoke. — A Louisiana resident has become the first person in the U.S. to be diagnosed with a severe case of bird flu. The Centers for Disease Control reported Wednesday that the individual may have been exposed to sick or dead birds on their property. A CDC official noted that such exposure from backyard flocks is rare in the United States. Of over 60 bird flu infections in the U.S. this year, more than half have been recorded in California. —

Unbiased headline news – Mouaz Moustafa, who leads a U.S.-based Syrian advocacy group, reported that a “massive” grave containing well over 100,000 bodies has been discovered at a site approximately 25 miles north of Damascus. Opposition factions and rescue teams continue to uncover evidence of alleged human rights violations tied to the regime of ousted President Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for over 50 years. According to Moustafa, the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) has so far identified three other “mass graves” in addition to two “smaller ones.” — A high-ranking Russian general died in a bombing incident in a residential area of Moscow, an event that Ukrainian sources are describing as an intelligence-led operation. Russian media, including state-affiliated TASS, reported that Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed by an explosive device believed to have been hidden in a parked scooter and remotely detonated. The blast also claimed the life of an aide accompanying Kirillov, who headed Russia’s radiation, chemical, and biological protection forces. — The U.S. Embassy in Port Vila sustained damage on Tuesday when a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation. The quake hit roughly 18 miles west of the capital just before 1 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. While several aftershocks followed, no tsunami warnings were issued. U.S. officials announced that the embassy, located in the capital on the island of Efate, “sustained considerable damage during the earthquake and is closed until further notice.” — Svetlana Dali was arrested again on Monday, marking her second detention this month after an earlier FBI arrest on Dec. 4 for illegally boarding a Delta Air Lines flight from the U.S. to France. Law enforcement sources said Dali cut off her ankle monitor on Sunday and attempted to cross into Canada. The individual hosting her in Philadelphia found the broken monitor and informed authorities. This led to an arrest warrant being issued Monday morning for bail jumping in the Eastern District of New York. — The Federal Trade Commission has finalized a regulation that aims to eliminate surprise “junk fees” for tickets to live events, as well as charges for hotels and vacation rentals. Under the new rule, businesses must disclose full prices upfront instead of adding fees like “convenience charges” or “resort fees” during checkout. FTC Chair Lina Khan stated, “Whatever price you see is the price that you are paying at the end, no more mystery surprise fees at the very end of the process, which really cheat consumers and also punish honest businesses.” — Teen drug use remains lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic, as shown in results from a major annual national survey released on Tuesday. This year, about two-thirds of 12th graders reported they had not used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, or e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, marking the highest rate of abstinence since the survey began tracking it in 2017. Among 10th graders, 80% reported not using those substances recently, another record high for abstinence.