The organization is one of 25 humanitarian groups suspended for their alleged failure to comply with new Israeli rules. As we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation, your support is urgently needed. According to the Associated Press, Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs “said the organizations that will be banned on January 1 did not meet new requirements for sharing staff, funding, and operations information.” The Israeli government specifically accused Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), of “failing to clarify the roles of some staff that Israel accused of cooperation with Hamas and other militant groups,” AP reported. Ahead of Tuesday's announcement, Doctors Without Borders warned that the looming withdrawal of registration from international NGOs “would prevent organizations, including MSF, from providing essential services to people in Gaza and the West Bank.” “With Gaza's health system already destroyed, the loss of independent and experienced humanitarian organizations' access to respond would be a disaster for Palestinians,” the group said in a statement last week. “The humanitarian response in Gaza is already highly restricted, and cannot afford further dismantlement.” “If Israeli authorities revoke MSF's access to Gaza in 2026, a large portion of people in Gaza will lose access to critical medical care, water, and lifesaving support,” the group added. “MSF's activities serve nearly half a million people in Gaza through our vital support to the destroyed health system. “MSF teams are trying to expand activities and support Gaza's shattered health system,” said Coissard. “In 2025 alone, we carried out almost 800,000 outpatient consultations and handled more than 100,000 trauma cases.” Israel's announcement came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump in Florida, where both dodged questions about their supposed “peace plan” for Gaza after more than two years of relentless bombing. Thanks to a generous supporter, your one-time gift today will be matched immediately. We have just 24 hours left to raise $22,000 and receive the full match. As Trump attempts to silence dissenting voices and oppositional nonprofits, reader support is our best defense against the right-wing agenda. Help Truthout confront Trump's fascism in 2026, and have your donation matched now!

Nguyen, 34, was part of April's historic 11-minute flight, whose crew included pop star Katy Perry, broadcast journalist Gayle King, and journalist and wife of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez. For Nguyen, who is a civil rights activist for sexual assault survivors as well as a bioastronautics research scientist, she said the backlash to flight saw her professional achievements and dreams “buried under an avalanche of misogyny”. She said the volume of news coverage and social media reaction to the trip was so “unprecedented” that even a “small fraction of negativity becomes staggering”. “I did not leave Texas for a week, unable to get out of bed. A month later, when a senior staff at Blue [Origin] called me, I had to hang up on him because I could not speak through my tears,” she wrote. In an interview with the Guardian in March, Nguyen said she had put her lifelong ambition of becoming an astronaut on hold after another student raped her at university and she pursued a years-long fight for justice, which she described as “all-consuming”. In 2019, her activism for sexual assault survivors led to Nguyen being nominated for the Nobel peace prize and in 2022, she was one of Time magazine's women of the year. Now, eight months on from realising her dream of going to space, Nguyen said the “fog of grief has started to lift”, and thanked those who have supported her and sent her well wishes. Nguyen, whose parents arrived in the US as refugees after fleeing Vietnam after the fall of Saigon, went on: “When Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, bombs rained down on Vietnam. This year, when my boat refugee family looked at the sky, instead of bombs they saw the first Vietnamese woman in space. Despite the backlash, she said there had been “overwhelming good that has come out of [the flight],” including the media attention brought to her women's health research and opportunities to meet world leaders in relation to her advocacy for rape survivors. “I can tell Gayle it's not going to take years.”

Spanish woman's attempted restoration of church artwork was widely mocked but became lucrative tourist attraction Cecilia Giménez, the woman who achieved unwanted international fame for her botched “Monkey Christ” restoration of a 19th-century mural in Borja, north-east Spain, has died aged 94. However, her talent as an artist was not equal to her good intentions and she produced what was described as the worst restoration in history. Amid the storm of mockery and bad publicity over what became known as the Monkey Christ, Giménez took to her bed with an attack of anxiety, losing 17kg (37lb) in the process. However, she soon found that notoriety had an upside as people began bidding to buy her own art, which she sold on eBay, and she later donated the proceeds to a Catholic charity. The botched restoration became first an internet sensation and then a tourist attraction and the church began charging for admission. In 2023, Behold the Man (English for Ecce Homo), an opera based on the story written by Andrew Flack, a US public relations expert, with music composed by Paul Fowler had its world premiere at Opera Las Vegas. Giménez was not well enough to attend but her niece was there on opening night to represent the family. Eduardo Arilla, the mayor of Borja, said in his tribute to Giménez that she had lived a hard life. Arilla said the greatest homage that could be paid to anyone was what they had done with their life, emphasising the benefits she had brought to Borja.

Amber Sandy's 'The Mary' Birchkin Bag is made of birch bark, home-tanned deer hide, dyed porcupine quills, seed beads, cotton lining and artificial sinew.Supplied The tony, top-handle accessory, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, was conceived of by Jean-Louis Dumas, former head of the French house, after a fabled encounter on a plane with British actor-singer Jane Birkin. She sketched out an ideal purse on a sick bag for Dumas and he came up with a design that addressed her needs – space for baby bottles included – while possessing the poshest of pedigrees. And the lavish lifestyle it signifies has become thematic fodder for several contemporary sculpture artists looking to amplify, examine and even reinterpret what it represents. The outsized steel recreation of Hermès's coveted carry all, weighing a whopping 380 kilograms, was exhibited on Bond Street – a destination itself synonymous with luxury goods. Where Lemos's piece navigated the intersection of politics and design, Yonkers, N.Y.-based sculptor Barbara Segal takes a historical route with her interpretation of Hermès's hallowed pieces. Segal crafts Birkins (along with other luxury fashion bags from Chanel and Louis Vuitton) out of opulent marble. They're the kinds of pieces Paris Hilton would buy if she was a Borghese. In a recent Instagram post about a new Birkin-inspired work, Palazzo Ducale, Segal wrote that the piece was carved “from the same Verona marble and Ischia limestone that adorn the Doge's Palace in Venice, this piece features a brass quatrefoil detail. It's a beautiful fusion of Venetian heritage and contemporary luxury symbolism.” The piece, completed last year and presented at the Vancouver-based gallery Ceremonial / Art's booth at Art Toronto in October, is a take on the Birkin and composed of birch bark, home-tanned deer hide, dyed porcupine quills, seed beads, cotton lining and artificial sinew. The sculpture is priced at $25,000 – not too far off from what a Birkin bag sells for. “I've spent years developing strong relationships with [my] community to be able to learn these traditional skills,” Sandy said, adding that intergenerational skills including tanning, beading and working with wood have been imperilled by colonization, specifically the residential school system. The Birch tree, Sandy said, has particular significance because its bark is traditionally used in her community to make carry-all items: baskets, baby holders, even the original canoes they used to travel in. Her own art practice involves making pieces that are wearable, including earrings and, of course, bags. Birch bags are meant to be used, and they get better with age.” Here, there is another parallel with the Birkin bag and the patina it's said to develop over time as its leather softens. “The Mary exemplifies everything that I love about Indigenous contemporary art: continuance, resilience, humour and creativity,” said Jake Kimble, the gallery director and curator at Ceremonial / Art. “I think for quite some time Hermès has held tight onto the cultural significance and status symbol of what a Birkin is and what it means,” he said. “It has for so long enforced archaic class systems that I think, how could you not critique, challenge or make fun of these systems as an artist? What Amber does so successfully with The Mary is really put Hermès on its head – you can make the same style of bag but you can make it with community, care, knowledge and sustainability.” The prototype was purchased at a Sotheby's auction in Paris this past July for US$10.1-million. A result, some would argue, befitting any bona fide work of art. Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

“All conditions for combat duty and accommodation of Russian personnel were prepared in advance in Belarus,” the ministry noted, adding that crews responsible for launch, communications, security, and power supply “underwent retraining on modern facilities” before entering service. The personnel are now exploring new patrol areas and conducting reconnaissance. Unveiled in November 2024, an Oreshnik carrying conventional warheads struck a major military plant in Ukraine in what Moscow called a successful “combat test.” It is capable of delivering multiple independently targetable warheads (MIRVs) at hypersonic speeds, with each warhead maintaining guidance and maneuverability even during the final approach, making interception extremely difficult. Russian officials have likened its conventional destructive power to that of a low-yield nuclear strike, highlighting its dual strategic and tactical potential. By comparison, Western militaries currently lack a directly equivalent hypersonic MIRV-capable system, giving Oreshnik a unique edge in speed, maneuverability, and multi-target strike capability. Up to ten systems are slated for deployment in Belarus under an agreement reached between Minsk and Moscow shortly after the missile's initial combat test. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced in a parliamentary address this month that the Oreshnik systems had arrived in Belarus on December 17. Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Muraveyko said last week the combat patrol areas are set and the system is fully operational and ready for use. He emphasized that the system is part of Russia's new weaponry meant to “ensure strategic parity, security, and global positions of Russia for decades to come.” Read RT Privacy policy to find out more.

Ukrainian forces struck a Russian drone storage facility at Donetsk Airport in Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi said on Dec. 30. Ukrainian forces regularly strike military facilities in Russian-occupied areas that supply weapons, fuel, and equipment to Russian troops. Russian forces have set up a base at the airport to train and launch Shahed, Geran, and Gerbera drones, according to Brovdi. Satellite images from August 2025 also showed Russia repairing the runway, likely to expand attack drone operations from Russian-occupied territory. Kateryna Hodunova is a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a sports journalist in several Ukrainian outlets and was the deputy chief editor at Suspilne Sport. She holds a bachelor's degree in political journalism from Taras Shevchenko University and a master's degree in political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. "Where is their condemnation of the fact that our children are being bombed and people are being killed all this time? I don't hear India, frankly, nor the United Arab Emirates," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 30. "Each restoration requires significant time and resources, as the level of damage varies across regions," Deputy Energy Minister Olha Yukhymchuk said. Ukraine struck a Russian drone storage facility at Donetsk Airport in occupied Donetsk Oblast, Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi said on Dec. 30. U.S. President Donald Trump said Dec. 29 that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him Ukraine had tried to attack Putin's residence, an allegation Kyiv has denied. "I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it," Trump said. Zelensky dismissed Russian claims that Ukrainian drones targeted Putin's residence as “another lie,” warning Moscow is using the allegation as a pretext for possible strikes on Kyiv and government buildings. Kyiv failed to implement nine indicators in the last three months of 2025, the highest number missed in any quarter since the Ukraine Facility began in 2024, according to a Dec. 29 assessment by RRR4U. "President Trump has concluded a positive call with President Putin concerning Ukraine," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's inauguration will feature Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two most prominent leaders of the Democratic Party's progressive movement. Mamdani, who will be publicly sworn in at a City Hall inauguration ceremony on New Year's Day, will be introduced by fellow New Yorker Ocasio-Cortez, his transition team told CNN. “For the many New Yorkers who have long felt betrayed by a broken status quo, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez embodies a new kind of politics that puts working people at the heart of it,” Mamdani said in a statement. “I've been so proud to count her as a partner across the many stages of our people-powered movement—from the primary campaign to our Forest Hills rally in October to the very first day of the transition—and I'm honored that she'll be a part of our historic City Hall inauguration.” Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed Mamdani early in the primary and campaigned alongside him on several occasions, is expected to deliver opening remarks at the ceremony, which is open to 4,000 ticketed guests. Mamdani's transition is also organizing a “watch party” set to take place alongside Broadway, part of an effort to make the celebration accessible to any New Yorker who wants to attend. Sanders will administer Mamdani's oath of office during the City Hall ceremony. Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, will technically take office at midnight on New Year's Day. As thousands of revelers usher in the new year in Times Square, Mamdani and his family will be in Lower Manhattan where a private swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place at an old, now defunct subway station underneath City Hall Plaza. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.

MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. The dialogue between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump remains based on mutual trust, and Kiev's provocations cannot undermine it, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on Kiev's attempt to attack Putin's state residence. "The leaders maintain a trusting dialogue and continue to engage in talks. Such provocations, such acts of state terrorism, cannot undermine this level of mutual trust between the two presidents," he stressed. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Monday that on the night of December 28-29, Ukraine had launched a terrorist attack on Putin's residence in the Novgorod Region, employing 91 unmanned aerial vehicles. All drones were destroyed by air defenses; there were no reports of casualties or damage, Lavrov noted. The action was carried out by Kiev amid intensive negotiations to resolve the Ukraine conflict, the top Russian diplomat stressed. In turn, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that during a phone call with Trump, Putin drew attention to Kiev's attack, which took place "almost immediately" after the US-Ukraine talks in Mar-a-Lago, and warned that it would not go "unanswered." The Russian leader also told Trump that Moscow's position in negotiations to resolve the conflict would be re-evaluated.

MINSK, December 30. /TASS/. The Belarusian Defense Ministry has confirmed that the Russian-made Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile system has assumed combat duty in the republic, posting a video of the relevant ceremony. "After the missile system was readied for its designated deployment and its inspection by a joint comprehensive group, a battalion of Oreshnik missile launchers has begun to accomplish assignments of its combat duty in designated areas on the territory of our country," the ministry said in a statement. The Oreshnik missile system arrived in Belarus pursuant to a decision made by the Russian and Belarusian leaders, the ministry said. Before the Oreshnik missile system went on combat duty in Belarus, its launch combat crews, signal corps, security and power supply personnel, and also drivers-mechanics of the missile system's components had undergone advanced training on modern simulators, it specified. Russia's Defense Ministry reported earlier on December 30 that the Oreshnik missile system had gone on combat duty in Belarus. "The system is capable of engaging targets at ranges of up to 5,000 km and can carry both nuclear and conventional payloads and conduct launches from any point of its combat patrol route," the Belarusian Defense Ministry reported. Last week, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said that the Oreshnik missile system's deployment on the republic's territory came in response to aggressive actions by Western opponents.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine cannot simply withdraw from its territories as part of any peace deal with Russia, emphasizing that the issue goes beyond legal constraints and affects people's lives, during an interview on FOX News Channel's "Special Report with Bret Baier" aired on Dec. 29. "We can't just withdraw, it's out of our law. We can't just withdraw from our territories. (But) it's not only the law," Zelensky said. Zelensky's remarks follow a Dec. 28 meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence, which he described as productive. "I'm thankful to President Trump, really, it was a very productive meeting and in Mar-a-Lago maybe another mood here," Zelensky said following what looked like one of the better face-to-face meetings between him and Trump this year. The Ukrainian president added that a 20-point draft of the revised peace plan to end Russia's full-scale war is now almost complete: "...When I said (that) 90 percent (of the plan is complete) it's true because there are (issues) with only with two points,” Zelensky said, adding that the remaining unresolved issue centers on territories. Zelensky stressed that while Ukraine and Russia hold opposing views on territorial issues, the United States understands the positions of both sides and "tries to find a compromise." At the same time, Zelensky said a referendum could not be used to justify withdrawing from Ukrainian territory under current conditions. "We can't go out because 100,000 have been wounded, dozens have been killed there," he said, referring to Ukrainian losses. Instead, Zelensky said Ukraine has proposed establishing a demilitarized free economic zone as a compromise, under which both sides would take reciprocal steps and pull back their forces by several kilometers. Zelensky said Russia's recent territorial gains, estimated at roughly 3,000 square kilometers per year, have come at a staggering human cost, with about 400,000 Russian casualties over the past year and roughly 31,000 killed each month. While Trump claimed on Dec. 28 that "Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed," speaking alongside Zelensky, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "working with Ukraine" to open the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Zelensky remains skeptical that Putin genuinely seeks peace. I don't trust Putin and he doesn't want success for Ukraine,” Zelensky added, saying that pressure from the United States remains critical. Asked whether Ukraine could win the war without U.S. support, Zelensky answered bluntly. "Without American support, we can't defend the sky." He said U.S.-supplied air defense systems and ammunition remain essential as Russia continues to launch hundreds of drones and missiles. Zelensky also discussed security guarantees, saying Ukraine is seeking long-term, legally binding commitments from the U.S., ideally with congressional backing. "Today we spoke with the president and there is a proposition. The first proposition is a security guarantees for 15 years," he said. Asked whether peace on acceptable terms is possible, Zelensky said Ukraine has no alternative but to pursue it: "We have to do (it), we don't have other way. Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper's Canadian correspondent in June 2018. "Where is their condemnation of the fact that our children are being bombed and people are being killed all this time? I don't hear India, frankly, nor the United Arab Emirates," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 30. "Each restoration requires significant time and resources, as the level of damage varies across regions," Deputy Energy Minister Olha Yukhymchuk said. Ukraine struck a Russian drone storage facility at Donetsk Airport in occupied Donetsk Oblast, Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi said on Dec. 30. U.S. President Donald Trump said Dec. 29 that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him Ukraine had tried to attack Putin's residence, an allegation Kyiv has denied. "I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it," Trump said. Zelensky dismissed Russian claims that Ukrainian drones targeted Putin's residence as “another lie,” warning Moscow is using the allegation as a pretext for possible strikes on Kyiv and government buildings. Kyiv failed to implement nine indicators in the last three months of 2025, the highest number missed in any quarter since the Ukraine Facility began in 2024, according to a Dec. 29 assessment by RRR4U. "President Trump has concluded a positive call with President Putin concerning Ukraine," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.