https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/13/hungary-protesters-demand-pm-viktor-orban-quits-over-child-abuse-cases

Tens of thousands of Hungarians have taken part in a demonstration in Budapest demanding Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s resignation over his inaction towards repeated child-abuse scandals in the country.

Since returning to power in 2010, Orban has promised to prioritise the protection of children in Hungary, but multiple high-profile child abuse scandals have rocked his government in recent years.

Saturday’s protests, led by opposition party TISZA’s leader Peter Magyar, came after new allegations regarding a juvenile detention centre in the country’s capital Budapest surfaced in September. Security camera footage from the centre showed the director of the Szolo Street juvenile detention centre kicking a boy in the head.

Earlier this week, four staff members were taken into custody, and the government announced that it would place all such child facilities under direct police supervision.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters walked through Budapest’s frosty streets behind a banner reading “Protect the children!” and called on the government to take more action against the perpetrators. Some people also carried soft toys and torches in solidarity with victims of physical abuse in a case dating back several years.

On Friday, Magyar also released a previously unpublished official report from 2021, which found that more than a fifth of children in state-run care institutions had been abused.

“We should be outraged at what is being done with the most vulnerable children,” Zsuzsa Szalay, a 73-year-old pensioner who took part in Saturday’s protest, told the AFP news agency.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/world/asia/north-korea-soldiers-russia-ukraine.html

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, welcomed home specialized soldiers this week after a deployment in Russia’s war against Ukraine, honoring nine killed in action with his country’s highest medal, state media reported on Saturday.

The event was North Korea’s first public acknowledgment that it had sent specialized troops, combat engineers tasked with mine-clearing operations, to aid Russia in the war.

The Kremlin said in July that North Korea had agreed to send 1,000 combat engineers and 5,000 military construction workers to help rebuild Russia’s war-torn Kursk region. Earlier, up to 15,000 North Korean troops fought alongside Russian forces there to drive out Ukrainian soldiers.

State media said the combat engineers returned home after a demining operation in Kursk. A large welcoming ceremony was held Friday in a plaza in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, where Mr. Kim thanked the troops for their “sacred mission” and praised their “brilliant military exploits.”

“You could work a miracle of turning a vast area of danger zone into a safe and secure one in a matter of less than three months,” Mr. Kim said in a speech to returning members of North Korea’s 528th Regiment of Engineers. “Except for the heart-rending loss of nine lives, all the officers and soldiers of the regiment have returned to the motherland.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/12/12/black-lives-matter-oklahoma-city-leader-indicted-fraud/87730404007/

Black Lives Matter leader in OK accused of misusing millions

A local Oklahoma Black Lives Matter leader was indicted by a federal grand jury for charges of wire fraud and embezzlement after accusations she used funds meant for social justice causes for her own personal benefit, authorities said.

Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, the executive director of Black Lives Matter OKC, was accused of embezzling more than $3 million in funds, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma said on Dec. 11. She was indicted on Dec. 3 with 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/us-state-department-reverts-times-new-roman-font/106127732
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered diplomats to revert to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken's decision to adopt Calibri a "wasteful" diversity move, according to a leaked internal cable.

The department switched to Calibri, a modern sans-serif font, in January 2023, saying it was a more accessible font for people with disabilities because it did not have decorative angular features and was at the time the default in Microsoft products.

Some scientific studies have suggested that sans-serif fonts such as Calibri are indeed easier to read for those with certain visual disabilities.

However, a cable dated December 9 that was sent to all US diplomatic posts said that typography shaped the professionalism of an official document and that Calibri was informal compared to serif typefaces.

"To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department's written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface," the cable said.
"This formatting standard aligns with the President's One Voice for America's Foreign Relations directive, underscoring the Department's responsibility to present a unified, professional voice in all communications."

DEIA, often referred to simply as DEI, stands for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and refers to a range of initiatives intended to make workplace environments more accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/suspect-charlie-kirk-killing-makes-first-in-court-appearance-2025-12-11/
Dec 11 (Reuters) - Tyler Robinson, the accused killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, made his first in-person court appearance on Thursday as a judge heard arguments on what level of media access should be allowed in the high-profile criminal case.
Robinson, wearing a dress shirt and striped tie, talked with his lawyers, at times smiling, after he was brought into the Provo, Utah, courtroom in handcuffs and shackles. Robinson's parents and brother were present, his lawyer Richard Novak said. His mother wiped away tears as he entered, according to a Salt Lake Tribune reporter present in the courtroom.
Local television stations showed an armored SWAT truck in the convoy of vehicles that brought Robinson, 22, to the courthouse about four miles (6 km) from where Kirk, 31, an ally of President Donald Trump, was shot dead on September 10.
U.S. District Court Judge Tony Graf heard arguments from Robinson's attorneys who want to ban cameras from the courtroom in a case that has drawn extraordinary media attention. David Reymann, an attorney representing media organizations, called on the court to grant his clients access to recordings and transcripts from closed-session court hearings in the case.
"We don't want the chaos that is out in the media in this courtroom," said Robinson's attorney Staci Visser.
Graf scheduled a December 29 video call to give his ruling on media access and set May 18-21 for an in-person preliminary hearing.
At the request of state prosecutors, Graf designated Erika Kirk, Kirk's widow, as the victim representative in the case.
Robinson is accused of firing a single round from a rooftop that killed Kirk during a Turning Point USA event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Salt Lake City, as Kirk debated with students.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/us/politics/sec-crypto-firms-trump-investigation.html

A cryptocurrency firm run by the billionaire Winklevoss twins was facing a punishing federal lawsuit. After Donald J. Trump returned to the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission moved to freeze the case.

The S.E.C. had also sued Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, but then dropped the case altogether under the new administration.

And after a yearslong legal fight with Ripple Labs, the new S.E.C. tried to reduce a court-ordered penalty against the crypto firm, seeking to soften the blow of the punishment.

The agency’s pullback from these cases illustrated a wide-ranging transformation in the federal government’s treatment of the crypto industry during President Trump’s second term, a New York Times investigation has found.

It is unheard-of for the agency to retreat from a swath of lawsuits against a single industry. And yet, The Times found that the S.E.C. had eased up on more than 60 percent of the crypto cases that were ongoing when Mr. Trump returned to the White House, moving to pause litigation, lessen penalties or outright dismiss the cases.

The dismissals were particularly unusual, The Times found. Under Mr. Trump, S.E.C. dismissals came at a far higher rate for crypto firms than other cases.

And although the particulars of the crypto lawsuits differed, many of these firms had something in common: financial ties to Mr. Trump, the self-described crypto president.

A Indian Hindu pajeet family from Gujarat, India is kidnapped in Libya for ransom while trying to illegally immigrate to Portugal.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/gujarat-couple-child-trying-to-migrate-to-portugal-kidnapped-in-libya-officials/amp_articleshow/125953355.cms

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/gujarat/gujarat-couple-child-trying-to-immigrate-to-portugal-kidnapped-in-libya-officials/article70393034.ece/amp/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/libya-eu-migration-torture-detainment-europe-asylum-boats-mediterranean-search-rescue-boats-humanity-1/

https://apnews.com/article/chile-elections-kast-jara-president-boric-trump-e9ef32b53359f3152ee80d62c106c5f6

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s ultra-conservative former lawmaker José Antonio Kast secured a stunning victory in the presidential election Sunday, defeating the candidate of the center-left governing coalition and setting the stage for the country’s most right-wing government in 35 years of democracy.

Kast won 58.2% of the votes as Chileans overwhelmingly embraced his pledge to crack down on increased crime, deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status and revive the sluggish economy of one of Latin America’s most stable and prosperous nations.

His challenger, communist candidate Jeannette Jara, clinched 41.8% of the vote. She called Kast to concede the election and congratulate him on his successful campaign after his lead became irreversible. Kast’s supporters erupted into cheers in the street, shouting his name and honking horns.

Speaking at a public square in downtown Santiago, Chile’s capital, she encouraged her supporters not to be deterred by the outcome. “It is in defeat that we learn the most,” she said.

Kast was declared the winner less than two hours after polls closed. His campaign spokesman, Arturo Squella, struck a solemn tone, saying that the party feels “very responsible for the tremendous challenge of taking charge of the crises that Chile is going through.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-reportedly-says-kyiv-willing-to-drop-nato-membership-accession-demands/

Ukraine is willing to drop demands for NATO accession should the U.S. and Europe offer sufficient security guarantees in ongoing talks on a proposed peace deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was reported to say on Sunday.

“We are talking about bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the United States — namely, Article 5-like guarantees ... as well as security guarantees for us from our European partners and from other countries such as Canada, Japan and others,” Zelenskyy told journalists in a group chat, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Ukraine and European leaders are working on a U.S.-drafted 20-point peace plan that includes territorial concessions to Russia.

Zelenskyy has said that he hasn't heard back from the White House on his proposed revisions to the plan.

Zelenskyy's comments come while German, British and French officials on Sunday are reportedly discussing the proposals to end the Ukraine war, ahead of a meeting on Monday that’s to include the leaders of those countries.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Zelenskyy, who will be received by Merz in Berlin on Monday.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/us/politics/sec-crypto-firms-trump-investigation.html
A cryptocurrency firm run by the billionaire Winklevoss twins was facing a punishing federal lawsuit. After Donald J. Trump returned to the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission moved to freeze the case.
The S.E.C. had also sued Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, but then dropped the case altogether under the new administration.
And after a yearslong legal fight with Ripple Labs, the new S.E.C. tried to reduce a court-ordered penalty against the crypto firm, seeking to soften the blow of the punishment.
The agency’s pullback from these cases illustrated a wide-ranging transformation in the federal government’s treatment of the crypto industry during President Trump’s second term, a New York Times investigation has found.
It is unheard-of for the agency to retreat from a swath of lawsuits against a single industry. And yet, The Times found that the S.E.C. had eased up on more than 60 percent of the crypto cases that were ongoing when Mr. Trump returned to the White House, moving to pause litigation, lessen penalties or outright dismiss the cases.
The dismissals were particularly unusual, The Times found. Under Mr. Trump, S.E.C. dismissals came at a far higher rate for crypto firms than other cases.
And although the particulars of the crypto lawsuits differed, many of these firms had something in common: financial ties to Mr. Trump, the self-described crypto president.