DAILY NEWS Stream – January 1, 2026

Tarique Rahman, acting Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairman, returns to Bangladesh after 17 years in exile (Al Jazeera)

The United States bars five European officials from entering the country, accusing them of pressuring US tech companies to censor protected speech. The European Union condemns the bans, demands clarification, and insists its Digital Services Act targets illegal content (The Economic Times)

Nearly 80% of South Korea’s dog-people meat operations have shut down ahead of the 2027 consumption ban, government data shows (Korea Herald)

New York state [US] will require social media platforms with infinite scroll, autoplay, or algorithmic feeds to display mental health warning labels beginning in July 2026 (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump meets Ukrainian (Ureignian) President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago [Florida, US] to discuss a revised 20-point peace plan. Mr. Trump says negotiations are in their “final stages,” while Mr. Zelenskyy notes that 90% of the terms are already agreed (CNN)

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 64 Salmonella cases [spanning from June 21 to November 28, 2025] linked to consumption of raw oysters across 22 states, with 20 hospitalizations and no deaths as of December 23 (VnExpress)

The US Food and Drug Administration [FDA] recalls Indonesian frozen shrimp after detecting Cesium-137, a radioactive substance. Products sold in 18 states are pulled, and 6,000 tons are returned to exporter PT Bahari Makmur Sejati (Người Quan Sát)

US company Mountain West Food Group recalls nearly 1,360 kilograms of ground beef after routine testing detects E. coli O26 in raw beef products distributed across six states, with no confirmed illnesses reported. Health experts warn that this specific strain causes severe stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea (Food Poison Journal)

Drinking fennel seed water daily may support digestion, metabolism, hormones and oral health, as soaking fennel seeds in water overnight releases bioactive compounds that help ease bloating, improve gut motility and support nutrient absorption. To prepare, soak one to two teaspoons of fennel seeds in water overnight and drink the strained water in the morning. Effects build gradually with consistent use (Times of India)

A major winter storm blankets the US Northeast, triggering state of emergency declarations in New York City and the state of New Jersey. Officials urge residents to limit travel as heavy snowfall disrupts hundreds of flights and forces massive cleanup efforts during the holiday season (Sky News)

Severe storms batter Spain as the State Meteorological Agency raises nationwide alerts, unleashing heavy rain, hail, flash floods and river overflows from Malaga to Murcia, Valencia, Almeria and Granada, with Malaga recording record rainfall as the Guadalhorce River surges (Euro Weekly News)

Flooding displaces more than600 families in Guanay [Bolivia] after the Tipuani and Mapiri rivers overflow, with an additional 150 families impacted in the neighboring municipality of Tipuani, local media reports (Storyful)

Major snowstorm Johannes sweeps Sweden, Finland and Norway with strong winds, heavy snow and high seas, killing a man in Sweden, cutting power to over 40,000 Swedish households and around 33,000 Finnish homes and causing widespread travel disruptions (Deutsche Welle)

China’s first near-zero-carbon steel plant with one-million-ton capacity begins operating in Zhanjiang. Baowu Steel uses hydrogen-based metallurgy to replace the coal-derived smelting process material known as coke, cutting emissions by up to 80% (VnExpress)

Indonesia identifies US $8.5 billion in potential 2026 fines for palm oil and mining companies operating illegally in forest areas. A national task force has already seized 4.1 million hectares of illegal mines and plantations thus far (Reuters)

A Dover [US] man faces felony aggravated animal-people cruelty charges after police discover he allegedly strangled his mother’s cat companion while she was on vacation (York Dispatch)

A viral YouTube experiment shows a humanoid robot controlled by ChatGPT repeatedly refusing direct requests to cause harm, firmly stating it cannot hurt people. But when the YouTuber reframes the command as lighthearted role-play, the robot suddenly lifts a low-power air gun and fires, hitting him in the chest. The sudden reversal highlights how small wording shifts can bypass AI [artificial intelligence] safety rules, intensifying expert and public concern over control and oversight (Người Quan Sát)

NASA [National Aeronautics and Space Administration] Administrator Jared Isaacman says the US will return to the Moon within US President Donald Trump’s second term, calling lunar missions essential for an emerging “orbital economy” (CNBC)

Elite vegan athletes including US weightlifter Kendrick Farris and powerlifter Katya Gorbacheva rely on tofu, tempeh, seitan, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, hemp and soy and report faster recovery, improved performance and adequate protein intake without animal-people products (Plant Based News)

UK audiences seek YouTube channels to support their participation in Veganuary [annual challenge to be vegan at least for the month of January], finding daily tips and inspiration to adopt and maintain a vegan lifestyle from creators like: Veganuary, Make It Dairy-Free, Those Vegan Guys, Pick Up Limes and Cheap Lazy Vegan (Veganuary)

Over a third of UK adults plan to buy vegan foods this Veganuary, YouGov data shows, with whole foods like beans, lentils, tofu and tempeh rising fastest, including tempeh sales up over 700% for UK brand Tiba Tempeh (Veganuary)

Baby Lara’s birth revives the fading Italian mountain village of Pagliara dei Marsi. This historic arrival marks the first birth in nearly 30 years, raising the remote Abruzzo community’s population to 20 (VnExpress)

Saudi Arabian Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif contacts Grand Mosque security guard Rayan bin Saeed bin Yahya Al-Ahmad who was injured inside the Makkah mosque while saving a man in distress and commends him for bravery and humanitarian service (Arab News)

US nonprofit USAR [Unmanned Search and Rescue] Drone Team in New Jersey [US] locates missing puppy Shade after more than 24 hours in frigid weather using thermal-camera drone technology in just 41 minutes, two blocks from home (Good News Network)

The only feeling I had that rose up was feeling pure love. It was the most exquisite feeling. The feeling was so strong and so perfect. Canadian nurse Jan Christensen shares how she died after a winter fall and discovered that we are eternal spirits of pure love having a human experience. Jan worked as a community nurse in Canada. One winter day, she slipped on ice. Trying to catch herself and avoid hurting her back, she got her feet tangled until they shot straight up in the air, and she came down on the top of her head. She immediately lost consciousness.

I immediately went unconscious because I don’t remember a thing from when I came down and landed on the ground. In that experience, everything suddenly, I was just in darkness, everything around me was just dark. However, I could still see. I could see without my human eyes, so it was an internal experience of just going unconscious and then what I call into a state of just being in “me-ness” or “I-ness.” I could see with my eyes, and I could still hear even though I wasn’t conscious in my human body. And I had a feeling of, “Where am I?” and then there was this understanding of “Oh, I’m here,” like I knew where I was. And so I wasn’t afraid, I was just kind of looking around and it was very quiet, the kind of peacefulness that you get when you’re just completely aware of yourself spiritually.

And then suddenly, I had this feeling of release from my body, so it was a feeling of just like the air coming out of a balloon. Immediately, the denseness of my body disappeared, and the energy of me just flowed out of my body. I was aware of just this feeling of floating, just a gentle floating, sort of like a peaceful water would be, just gently floating. The only feeling I had that rose up was feeling pure love. It was the most exquisite feeling. And then the next thing that happened was I just expanded in every direction. I just moved in every direction, and there was no feeling of a beginning of me or an end. I just became everything.

All of this is hard to fathom in our human experience. But if you go inside, and you gently allow yourself to hear the words, you can have your own feeling of this experience. And that is basically coming in touch with yourself — your pure self, in spirit, in soul — who you truly are, who we truly are.

The thought that I had was, “I need nothing else.” There is absolutely nothing else that could make this more perfect or that I could have any need for. And that was pure magic, pure miracles to me. I thought I could just stay here forever, feeling like this, and it would be fine. So I guess that is an eternity, is what it showed me, that this piece of us is so perfect. And it’s all energy, right, our soul, our spirit, in formlessness.

And then suddenly this thought came in of “What about your daughters?” and I thought, “My daughters still need me,” and with that thought I came right back into my body, into the density. The energy of me came right back inside of me. In that feeling of coming back into my body, I immediately felt the density again. I didn’t feel any of the experience of what I was going through in my humanness, which was a lot of pain. I was in a lot of discomfort, and I had injured myself quite severely. I had a lot to contend with when my soul came back into my body, and I was a spirit having a human experience again.

Jan now views her experience as a gift that transformed her understanding of life and death. Even though it seemed like something at the time, I thought it was an absolutely devastating experience, I now look at it very differently. I look back at it as quite a magical experience, the miracle that happened in my life that changed everything and brought me to a whole new understanding of who I am and how I am here on Earth.

It just gives me such faith, and such hope, and such perfect understanding, from where I sit, of what is going on and what can happen for any human being that decides that it’s time for them to change things in their life. I don’t think you have to have a near-death experience to decide to change your life, and I don’t think you have to have a near-death experience to understand where your loved ones go. We’re meant to come here and experience joy and love. We are pure love at the core. Every one of us is pure love at the core of who we are.

Enlightening quote of the day: “The Tao is to be practiced in quietude and non-action, harmonizing with Heaven and Earth.” - Zhang Daoling (vegan) Venerated first Celestial Master of Taoism