• 01/20/2025

Britt Allcroft, Who Brought Thomas the Tank Engine to TV, Dies at 81

New York Times She adapted the children’s book series to TV, creating a lasting cultural behemoth that spawned movies, merchandise and theme parks. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/arts/britt-allcroft-thomas-tank-engine-dead.html

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Elon Musk demands UK act on grooming gang scandal amid growing calls for probe: ‘National inquiry now!’

Fox News SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is throwing his weight behind growing calls for a new investigation into the scandal of child abuse by grooming gangs, going so far as to back calls for King Charles III to intervene. “National inquiry now!” Musk stated on X on Friday, declaring the scandal “the worst mass crime…

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Northern Israel is quiet again, but most families have not gone home

Washington Post Of the 60,000 Israelis forced from their homes in the north by Hezbollah fire, only about 20 percent have returned since a ceasefire agreement five weeks ago. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/03/israel-north-hezbollah-lebanon-ceasefire/

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Zelenskyy says Trump could be ‘decisive’ in bringing an end to the war

Fox News Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy struck a hopeful tone on Thursday during a televised interview and said he believes President-elect Donald Trump could be “decisive” in ending the war as Kyiv stares down the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.  “Trump can be decisive. For us, this is the most important thing,” Zelenskyy said according to a Reuters report.…

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Live Briefing: European foreign ministers meet with Syria’s interim leader

Washington Post France’s foreign minister, who is in Damascus with his German counterpart, said Friday there is “real hope” for Syria, “but it is a fragile hope.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/03/israel-syria-war-news-hamas-gaza-palestine/

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After Fierce Lobbying, Treasury Sets Rules for Billions in Hydrogen Subsidies

New York Times With a lucrative tax credit, the Biden administration is hoping to establish a new industry that might help fight climate change. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/climate/hydrogen-subsidies-biden-treasury.html

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Iran executes over 1K prisoners in 2024, highest total in 30 years report says

Fox News The Islamic Republic of Iran executed over 1,000 prisoners in 86 prisons across the country in 2024, according to a report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The report says the death toll is “an unprecedented figure in the past three decades,” and represents an increase of 16% from the…

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ISIS increasingly unopposed following US withdrawal from Afghanistan, collapse of Syria

Fox News The threat posed by the Islamic State has once again hit the headlines following the New Year’s Day attack on a crowded street in New Orleans on Wednesday by a man who may have ties to the terrorist network. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S.-born citizen who lived in Texas and an Army Veteran, drove a…

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Inspired by ISIS: From a Taylor Swift plot in Vienna to carnage in New Orleans

Washington Post In the Bourbon Street rampage, a foiled attack on a European pop concert and other attacks, a pattern of self-radicalization breeds terrorists influenced by ISIS. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/01/03/taylor-swift-new-orleans-isis-terrorism/

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Brazil eliminated daylight saving time. It’s having second thoughts.

Washington Post Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president, promised a “permanent” end to clock confusion. Climate change could scupper that plan. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/03/brazil-daylight-savings-climate-change-bolsonaro/

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