TOP NEWS

The future of the Republicans
JD Vance on the pie throwing: "Are tests of purity"

US Vice President JD Vance tried to unite his party on the last day of the Americafest conference by shifting the focus to the opposition, writes Politico. This after several top Republicans got together and let the insults rain down on each other for several days.

He called the pie throwing of the last few days "endless, self-destructive tests of purity".

- We have far more important work to do than practice cancel culture against each other, he said.

JD Vance instead went hard on the "far left" within the Democrats and blamed the murder of Charlie Kirk on their policies.

The war of words gained momentum when conservative internet debater Ben Shapiro attacked other high-profile Republicans during his speech. He called Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Steve Bannon, among others, "fraudsters and swindlers".

Fukushima accident
Protests as Japan restarts largest nuclear power plant

Japan's largest nuclear power plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Niigata, will restart after the regional council voted in favor of the reopening, Reuters reports. The reactor was one of 54 that were shut down after the accident in Fukushima almost 15 years ago.

Governor Hideyo Hanazumi, who previously approved the restart, says that the safety of residents remains the highest priority. At the same time, about 300 people protested against the decision.

- I am really angry from the bottom of my heart, 77-year-old protester Kenichiro Ishiyama told Reuters.
New Pope Leo XIV 

Pope criticizes cardinals for internal power struggles
Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged Vatican cardinals to stop their internal power struggles.

“After many years of service in the Curia, we see with disappointment that certain dynamics, linked to the exercise of power and the desire to assert oneself, are slowly changing,” the pope said in his first Christmas address since taking office.

Compared to his predecessor Francis, who often harshly criticized the Vatican bureaucracy, Leo struck a gentle and conciliatory tone. Francis spoke, among other things, of corruption that spread like cancer and “spiritual Alzheimer’s.” Leo urged church officials to embrace the Christmas message of simplicity and humility.

Political situation in Colombia
Soldiers kidnapped during raid against guerrillas in Colombia

18 Colombian soldiers have been kidnapped during an operation against the ELN guerrilla group in the Chocó region, the country’s Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said, according to AFP.

According to Sanchez, the soldiers were surrounded by about 200 people and forcibly taken to an indigenous area near the border with Panama.

Sanchez condemns the incident, saying it endangers the safety of civilians in the area.

“Peace is not built by kidnapping soldiers or weakening the state,” he writes on X.

The socialist guerrilla ELN was formed in 1964 and controls several drug-producing regions in Colombia.