A list of half a million names shines new light on Dutch collaboration with Nazis – NPR

  1. A list of half a million names shines new light on Dutch collaboration with Nazis  NPR
  2. Suspected Nazi collaborators named in the Netherlands  NBC News
  3. Dutch online archive identifies suspected WW2 Nazi collaborators  Reuters
  4. Netherlands to open archive on people accused of wartime Nazi collaboration  The Guardian
  5. The Netherlands releases names of more than 400,000 suspected WW2 Nazi collaborators  Sky News
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Search begins for British hikers missing in northern Italy since New Year’s Day

Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, were ‘planning on going off-grid’ during holiday in the Dolomites

A search is under way for a pair of British hikers in the Dolomites in northern Italy who have been missing since New Year’s Day.

Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, last sent messages home on 1 January from the Trentino region. They have not been heard from since. The pair, who are both from London, did not check in to their flight home on 6 January.

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Austria’s far-right leader to invite centre right for coalition talks

Herbert Kickl’s move could pave way for anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Freedom party to govern country

The leader of Austria’s anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Freedom party has said he intends to invite the mainstream centre-right party for coalition talks, potentially paving the way for the far right to rule the country for the first time since the second world war.

Herbert Kickl, whose party won the most votes in September’s election, was tasked with building a ruling coalition by the Austrian president on Monday after the collapse of talks between mainstream parties aimed at forming an alliance that would have blocked the Freedom party (FPÖ).

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Elon Musk Steps Up Starmer Row Just as UK Tops Tesla Sales in Europe – Bloomberg

  1. Elon Musk Steps Up Starmer Row Just as UK Tops Tesla Sales in Europe  Bloomberg
  2. Elon Musk's 'disinformation' endangering me, says Jess Phillips  BBC.com
  3. Wednesday briefing: What Elon Musk’s focus on grooming gangs reveals about alt-right online discourse  The Guardian
  4. What Is the U.K. ‘Grooming Gang’ Scandal Seized On by Elon Musk?  The New York Times
  5. Musk’s quest for world domination takes shape in Britain and Germany  MSNBC
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Cockney influences found in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand, says expert

Linguistics professor says London dialect is most likely to be spoken in Essex, but aspects have traversed the globe

The cockney dialect, as associated with the late EastEnders icon Dame Barbara Windsor, may not be as prevalent in today’s London, but it remains possibly the most influential English dialect across the world, according to academic research.

No longer the preserve of those born within earshot of the Bow Bells in the City of London, today cockney is more likely to be spoken in Essex.

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Death toll of Haiti gang violence rose to 5,600 in 2024, UN says

UN Human Rights Office adds that 2,200 were injured and nearly 1,500 kidnapped as international mission struggles

More than 5,600 people were reported killed in Haiti last year, the UN has said, as an international mission led by Kenya struggles to contain rampant gang violence.

The number of killings increased by more than 20% compared with 2023, according to the UN Human Rights Office. More than 2,200 people were reported injured and nearly 1,500 kidnapped, it said.

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Trump moves to block report on election interference and classified documents cases – US politics live

President-elect’s lawyers ask attorney general to stop release of outgoing special counsel Jack Smith’s report

Nina Jankowicz, a former homeland security official tasked with fighting disinformation, said Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to end factchecking on his platforms was a “bending of the knee” to Donald Trump.

“Let’s be clear – the factcheckers have not ‘been’ politically biased as Zuckerberg suggests, but have been *perceived as such* because of politically motivated efforts to smear them, one that Zuck is now participating in and capitulating to,” said Jankowicz, who know leads the American Sunlight Project, an anti-disinformation group.

Facebook has already contributed to the demise of journalism and this will be the final nail in the coffin; newsrooms —especially outside the U.S. where subscription models are difficult sells—get grants from Facebook to provide fact-checks. That money allows them to do other journalism!

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Biden administration bans medical debt from inclusion on credit reports

Kamala Harris announces removal of billions in medical debt from credit reports of 15 million Americans

Lenders will no longer be able to see whether American borrowers have unpaid medical debt in their credit history, according to a new rule from the outgoing Biden administration.

The vice-president, Kamala Harris, announced early on Tuesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was removing $49bn of existing unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of 15 million Americans and will ban the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports.

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Restaurant owner rescues woman from submerged car in Leicestershire

Cimi Kazazi says he is proud to have helped woman trapped by flood, as thoughts turn to his devastated gastropub

Dramatic footage showed a woman being rescued from a submerged car in Leicestershire after a critical incident was declared in the region because of wide-scale flooding.

A restaurant owner in the village of Great Glen went to the aid of a woman who was struggling in her submerged car after severe flooding hit the area on Monday morning.

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Home Office may reclassify ketamine in response to record levels of use

Illegal use in UK seems to reflect growth of unregulated market in US, where its high-profile users include Elon Musk

Ketamine, the anaesthetic taken by Elon Musk to control his moods, could be reclassified as a class A drug by the Home Office after illegal use reached record levels last year.

Currently controlled as a class B substance, ministers are seeking “expert advice” on reclassification after an estimated 299,000 people reported use of the drug last year.

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