29 November 2022 – 29 December 2022
Elon Musk announced Twitter’s new “policy is to follow the science, which necessarily includes reasoned questioning of the science,” as well as changes to the backend server architecture that should make the site “feel faster.”
Read trending story
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has threatened the government with “coordinated and synchronized” strike action by teachers, junior doctors, firefighters, and all other unions that will cripple the economy into the new year.
The Democrat-controlled House ways and means committee voted to make President Trump’s tax returns filed between 2015 and 2021 public on Friday.
Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, has hired the former lawyer of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as he faces a renewed investigation from House Republicans.
Another attorney for Hunter Biden announced that seasoned Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell had joined the legal team “to help advise” and “address the challenges” the president’s son is facing. Lowell previously represented Jared Kushner in Congress and during the investigation into Russian election interference, but he is more widely known for representing President Bill Clinton in the 1998 impeachment trial.
It comes after new Twitter CEO Elon Musk leaked the bombshell “Twitter files” that reported on how the social media company worked with the Biden campaign to kill the laptop story. To make matters worse for the Biden family, House Republicans won the majority in the midterm elections, meaning Hunter will face a renewed investigation from Congress.
Read live storyAmbulance workers across the UK have gone on strike over a pay dispute joining their colleagues, NHS nurses, who went on strike last week.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Joe Biden in Washington and will address the US Congress this evening. The US announced more support for Ukraine, which includes missile defense systems.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24090215/STK171_VRG_Illo_1_Normand_ElonMusk_001.jpg)
After Musk apologized for implementing rules preventing people from mentioning other social media companies on the platform, the CEO of two months asked the community whether he should step down as head. 57% of the 17.5 million users who voted chose to fire him.
Read trending storyThe UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is set to attend the Baltic summit on countering Russian aggression, where he is planning to announce the supply of hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition, rocket systems, and other lethal aid to Ukraine.
On Thursday, President Trump announced the release of “limited edition” digital trading cards depicting the president as a superhero. The cards are non-fungible tokens (NFTs), meaning their ownership is securely verified on blockchain technology.
Amazon workers in Coventry have voted to formally strike in a UK first and join nurses who, on Thursday, started the largest strike in NHS history. They join a long list of other workers who have staged strikes this year, including Royal Mail postal workers, train workers, bus drivers, and airport staff, causing widespread disruption across the country before Christmas.
The disruption caused by the strikes has been extensive, particularly during the Christmas period, when there are more deliveries and busier hospitals.
The Amazon warehouse workers in Coventry voted on Friday to take strike action, asking for an hourly pay increase from £10 an hour to £15. They are the first UK Amazon staff to participate in a formal strike.
On Thursday, tens of thousands of nurses went on strike, resulting in 19,000 patient appointments being postponed. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has asked for a 19% pay rise for nurses and has warned more strikes will follow in the new year. Rishi Sunak has said the 19% pay rise is unaffordable but that the government is open to negotiation.
The prime minister is reportedly concerned about the precedent it would set if the government gave into the RCN’s demands, fearing that other sectors would follow suit and ask for similar unaffordable pay rises.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the US government. It comes after SBF, the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, agreed to testify before the US House Committee on Financial Services on 13 December.
Vladimir Putin has canceled Russia’s traditional annual press conference for the first time in a decade, leading to speculation that Putin is reluctant to face questions over the war in Ukraine or that his health is deteriorating.
The founder of collapsed cryptocurrency trading firm FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), tweeted that he is “willing to testify” before the House Committee on Financial Services on the 13th of December.
In November, FTX’s native token plunged in price, causing customers to withdraw funds until FTX could not meet the demand. Subsequently, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
SBF was once worth almost $30 billion and was the second-largest donor to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. After the collapse of FTX, he is now under investigation for fraud and worth less than $100 thousand.
A new poll suggests the Conservative party is losing voters to Reform UK. The poll suggested Conservatives only have 20% of the national vote, with Labour at 47% and Reform at 9%.
The poll conducted by People’s polling for GB News indicated a one-point jump for Labour and a one-point drop for Conservatives in the last week. However, the key takeaway is the significant surge in support for Reform UK, previously known as the Brexit Party that Nigel Farage founded.
According to the poll, Reform UK is now the third most popular party with 9% of the national vote — beating the Liberal Democrats at 8% and the Greens at 6%.
Reform’s leader Richard Tice has voiced his hopes that Rishi Sunak’s government will be “the last ever Conservative government” and believes he would beat Keir Starmer “hands down” in an election.
A judge has ruled against a request from the Department of Justice to hold President Trump’s team in contempt of court for not fully complying with the subpoena for the classified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.
Read the backstoryAfter a fierce campaign trail of personal attacks and scandal, the people of Georgia are getting ready to vote on Tuesday in the Senate runoff election. Republican and former NFL running back Herschel Walker will face Democrat and current senator Raphael Warnock for Georgia’s Senate seat.
Warnock narrowly won the Senate seat in a special election runoff in 2021 against Republican Kelly Loeffler. Now, Warnock must defend his seat in a similar runoff, this time against former football star Herschel Walker.
Under Georgia law, a candidate must obtain a majority of at least 50% of the vote to win outright in the first election round. However, if the race is close and a candidate for a smaller political party, or an independent, gets enough votes, no one will get a majority. In that case, a runoff election is scheduled between the top two candidates from round one.
On 8 November, the first round saw Senator Warnock grab 49.4% of the vote, narrowly ahead of Republican Walker with 48.5%, and 2.1% going to Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver.
The campaign trail has been fiery with accusations of domestic violence, not paying child support, and paying a woman to have an abortion. The intense rivalry will come to a head on Tuesday, 6 December, when Georgia voters make their final decision.
Read live election coverageThe Royal Family is facing a fresh bout of racism accusations from the left-wing media. Prince William’s godmother, Lady Susan Hussey, 83, has resigned from her duties and offered “profound apologies” for making allegedly racist comments at a reception hosted by the Queen Consort, Camilla.
The incident involved a woman who worked as an advocate for survivors of domestic abuse. She described the conversation as a “violation” when Lady Hussey asked her, “what part of Africa are you from?”
Despite the conversation being somewhat inappropriate, the left-wing media jumped on the racism bandwagon.
According to his lawyer, President Trump still wants to pursue legal action against Twitter for banning his account in January 2021, despite it being reinstated earlier this month.
Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk ran a poll asking users if Trump should be allowed back, and 52% to 48% voted “yes,” with over 15 million votes cast. President Trump even shared the poll on his Truth Social account, asking followers to vote favorably. But it now appears he has no interest in returning as he is yet to use his reactivated account after almost two weeks.
Shortly after being reinstated, Trump criticized Twitter during a video speech, saying he didn’t “see any reason” to return to the platform because his social network, Truth Social, was doing “phenomenally well.”
The former president said Truth Social has much better engagement than Twitter, describing Twitter as having “negative” engagement.
To add insult to injury, it appears Trump still holds a grudge against Twitter as his lawyer reports he is still pursuing legal action against the company, despite the lawsuit being dismissed by a judge in May — he is appealing the ruling.
