Disney to Pay $10 Million Penalty for Alleged Illegal Targeting of Children

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/12/disney-pay-10-million-penalty-alleged-illegal-targeting/

It turns out even Disney’s “magic” has legal — and costly — limits.

The Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs announced in a news release Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with the entertainment giant over alleged violations of federal children’s privacy law.

Under an order entered by a federal court, Disney Worldwide Services Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC — collectively referred to as “Disney” — will pay $10 million in civil penalties.

The settlement stems from allegations that Disney violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, commonly known as COPPA. Continue…

The EU imposes a €3 fee per package: more control, more revenue, and more bureaucracy at the consumer's expense

https://gatewayhispanic.com/2025/12/european-union-will-impose-e3-fee-small-packages/

The European Union has decided to impose a flat fee of 3 euros on small packages sent within the block, a measure that will come into force next year and will directly affect millions of consumers and small businesses. Under the pretext of strengthening tax collection and ensuring resources for Member States, Brussels is taking yet another step in its policy of growing control over trade and the daily lives of citizens.

According to European legislation, the measure aims to curb the boom in low-value online commerce, especially frequent purchases of inexpensive products. However, in practice, the fee punishes everyday consumption, makes basic goods more expensive, and reinforces the European bureaucratic apparatus, which needs to justify its constant expansion with new sources of revenue.

The fee will apply to shipments whose value does not exceed a threshold set by each country, affecting both domestic and imported products. Brussels insists that the goal is to ensure “tax fairness,” but the outcome is clear: every package will be registered, monitored, and taxed, expanding state oversight and the administrative burden on citizens and businesses. Continue…

Disgraced Former Prince Andrew Causing Fresh Outrage as He’s Spotted With His New, Free Land Rover 4×4

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/12/disgraced-former-prince-andrew-causing-fresh-outrage-as/

The never-ending royal perks.

Even after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lost all his royal titles and patronages, he still very far from a simple commoner.

In the last few days, the disgraced former Prince, former Duke of York has been pictured driving his brand new $100,000 Land Rover Defender – and outrage is building since it was likely given to him for free as a royal benefit.

Daily Mail reported: Continue…

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CANADISTAN OUT OF CONTROL: Successful Actress Suffering From Mental Illnesses Appeals to Ontario Superior Court To Be Able To Die by Assisted Suicide

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/12/canadistan-control-successful-actress-suffering-mental-illnesses-appeals/

Death is not the answer.

As more than 5% of deaths in Canada now are caused by assisted suicide, the very idea has become a part of the culture, with the inevitable results.

Now, it arises that a successful actress who has a loving family and friends insists to die by assisted suicide ‘because she cannot overcome horrific mental illnesses’.

Daily Mail reported: Continue…

Greta Thunberg and pro-Palestinian activists once again blocked Piccadilly Circus

https://gatewayhispanic.com/video/greta-thunberg-pro-palestinian-activists-once-again-blocked/

GRETA THUNBERG: An Activist for Whatever is Fashionable and Superficial

The new scene at Piccadilly Circus is not a testament to conviction, but the latest stop on Greta Thunberg's tour of popular causes. Her public evolution follows a calculated and predictable pattern: a frantic search among supposed "social justice" struggles that, conveniently, are always at the center of the global media spotlight and align with the dominant anti-Western narrative in radical progressive circles. First, it was environmentalism, a legitimate movement she instrumentalized with her apocalyptic rhetoric and high-profile travels. Then, through her sister, Beata Ernman, and her association with extreme intersectional feminism. Now, she has unabashedly embraced the Palestinian cause, posing with the keffiyeh at a London intersection. This is not a show of personal growth, but the script of a professional activist who changes flags depending on which way the wind of sympathy blows on social media and among cultural elites. Continue…

The Final Battle?: Iran Protests Spread As Prices Surge, Currency Hits Record Low

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/final-battle-iran-protests-spread-prices-surge-currency-hits-record-low

Various Iranian opposition channels on X, Telegram, and other social media have said 'live fire' has been used by Iranian security forces in ongoing crackdown efforts against the tens of thousands of citizen demonstrators who have taken over the streets of several cities and locales of the past days.

Such allegations, especially hurled at elite IRGC forces, are somewhat typical when protest movements have flared up in past years - and there have been prior examples in these of demonstrators and police alike being wounded or killed by gunfire. Live fire by Iranian security forces is a typical early allegation when unrest kicks off like this.

So far this round of anti-government unrest, which began Sunday by shopkeepers in Tehran as the rial has plunged to record lows against the dollar, has witnessed plenty of riot control measures - but no independent confirmation of gunfire on the crowds in the streets. It started when Tehran shopkeepers in the Jomhouri area and near the Grand Bazaar shuttered their stores and has since spread to the college campuses.

One thing is clear - it is growing by the hour as the movement has spread to several other cities on Tuesday, and now after three consecutive days is gong from the shop and business districts to the universities. Regional news sources say protests have hit at least ten universities across the Islamic Republic, including seven in Tehran. Continue…

DOE Orders Indiana Coal Units Totaling More Than 950 MW To Run Past Retirement Dates

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/doe-orders-indiana-coal-units-totaling-more-950-mw-run-past-retirement-dates

The U.S. Department of Energy on Dec. 23 ordered Northern Indiana Public Service Co., a division of NiSource, and CenterPoint Energy to continue running three coal-fired units in Indiana, totaling more than 950 MW, beyond their planned retirement at the end of the month.

DOE contends that portions of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator face an emergency situation, citing studies by the grid operator and the results of recent capacity auctions that indicate tightening supply conditions.

“The emergency conditions resulting from increasing demand and shortage from accelerated retirement of generation facilities will continue in the near term and are also likely to continue in subsequent years,” DOE said in its 90-day emergency orders to MISO, NIPSCO and CenterPoint. Continue…

The Brits Want The Poles To Contain Russia In The Baltic

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/brits-want-poles-contain-russia-baltic

The Polish Defense Minister announced in late November that his country will buy three A26 Blekinge-class diesel-electric submarines from Sweden as part of a deal estimated to be worth a little less than €2.5 billion.

This comes just several months after their first joint exercise, which presaged closer cooperation against Russia in the Baltic, and also follows reported British lobbying for Sweden over other competing bidders since one of its defense companies is expected to profit from this deal.

Although the US is Poland’s closest partner, with which it’s working hand-in-hand to geostrategically re-engineer Europe by facilitating the revival of Poland’s long-lost Great Power status simultaneously with counteracting Germany’s plans to federalize the EU, the Brits are arguably its second-closest one. This was confirmed by the creation of their de facto trilateral alliance with Ukraine exactly one week before the special operation started. They then conspired to sabotage that spring’s peace talks with Russia.

Last summer, it was assessed that “The UK Aims To Entrench Its Influence In Estonia In Order To Lead The Arctic-Baltic Front”, which preceded “SVR Once Again Warning About A British-Ukrainian False Flag Provocation At Sea” a month later.

Then at the start of fall, Scandinavia experienced a Russian drone scare that was likely a series of false flags for justifying a potential crackdown on Russia’s shadow fleet in the Baltic, which is already under pressure.

Such a move could serve to greatly escalate tensions. Continue…

Watch: Destroying Kamikaze Drones With Cheap Autonomous Turrets

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/watch-destroying-kamikaze-drones-cheap-autonomous-turrets

Kamikaze drones, particularly FPV and loitering munitions, have introduced a new dimension to modern warfare, as demonstrated in the Russia-Ukraine war and other active conflict zones globally. These low-cost, off-the-shelf systems are increasingly assessed as a credible threat to civilian targets in the Western world, as highlighted by a recent U.S. government threat assessment warning of potential drone attack risks surrounding Chicago's upcoming New Year's Eve fireworks.

For months, we have tracked tech weapons startup Sentradel, which is developing a low-cost, easily deployable counter-unmanned aircraft system (CUAS) designed to engage drones using inexpensive kinetic interceptors, such as bullets.

"In today's threat landscape, a $500 FPV drone can easily destroy a $10M tank," Sentradel stated on its website, warning, "We're losing this asymmetric cost warfare. The solution is not $100,000 missiles; it's affordable systems like Sentradel."

From time to time, Sentradel releases new demonstration videos showing the rapid progress of its CUAS platform. Continue…

Latvia Hails Completion Of 175-Mile Fence Along Russian Border

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/latvia-hails-completion-175-mile-fence-along-russian-border

Latvia has finally finished building a long anticipated nearly 175-mile fence along its border with Russia, according to regional media on Tuesday, which cited the state-linked company responsible for managing the project.

The fence cost an equivalent of nearly $20 million, and so at that price points to it being defensively minimal and low-tech, however some additional work is still underway on supporting infrastructure - which is expected to include support items such as footbridges over marshy terrain, observation towers, and engineering installations.

The country's Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis said Latvia is now deploying advanced surveillance and monitoring systems along the frontier for an eventual "modern border security system" on the European Union's eastern edge.

This will also complement the previously erected 90-mile fence along Latvia's border with Belarus, which has been a partner of Moscow in the Ukraine war. Continue…

US Commits $2 Billion For Foreign Aid But Tells Agencies To 'Adapt, Shrink, Or Die'

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-commits-2-billion-foreign-aid-tells-agencies-adapt-shrink-or-die

The United States and the United Nations have finalized an agreement that includes $2 billion in humanitarian funding and what the State Department described as radical reform to save Americans’ tax dollars while avoiding ideological projects.

The finalized agreement supports the U.N.’s 2026 plan to reach nearly 90 million people and target 17 crisis-affected countries.

It was signed in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 29 amid the administration’s criticism of what it said were wasteful foreign aid programs and its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“The agreement requires the U.N. to consolidate humanitarian functions to reduce bureaucratic overhead, unnecessary duplication, and ideological creep,” the State Department said in a press release.

“Individual U.N. agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die.” Continue…

UAE Announces Full Withdrawal Of Forces From Yemen After Violating Saudi 'Red Line'

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/uae-announces-full-withdrawal-forces-yemen-after-violating-saudi-red-line

The UAE has announced that it will withdraw its military personnel from Yemen, hours after Saudi Arabia struck its Yemeni allies and made an extremely rare public condemnation of Abu Dhabi's conduct in the country. The Emirati defense ministry said in a statement that "in light of recent developments" it was announcing "the termination of the remaining counterterrorism personnel in Yemen of its own volition".

The ministry said Abu Dhabi had participated in an Arab coalition supporting the internationally recognized government of Yemen since 2015. It stated that while UAE forces had mostly concluded their role in 2019, specialized teams remained to work on "counterterrorism efforts" alongside international partners. Continue…

America Is Arguing About Free Speech… The World Is Putting People In Prison For It

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/america-arguing-about-free-speech-world-putting-people-prison-it

As the freest nation in the world, America has long understood the value of free speech—not as an abstract ideal, but as a fundamental right.

…France, Germany, and Canada all score just 20 percent in CPAC’s index. In Canada, the consequences are especially stark. A father, Robert Hoogland, served prison time for refusing to use compelled language regarding his daughter’s gender identity. His crime was not violence or harassment, it was speech, and a refusal to surrender parental conscience to the state. Continue…

Bruce Pardy: Property rights fallout from Aboriginal title rulings extends beyond B.C.

https://www.rebelnews.com/bruce_pardy_property_rights_fallout_from_aboriginal_title_rulings_extends_beyond_b_c

'The foundational problem is this idea that if you have a certain kind of descent, then you are a different legal category than everybody else,' said Dr. Pardy. 'And that is the idea that, in this country, we have to do away with.' Continue…

Toronto hate crime suspect was denied refugee status years before arrest

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/revealed-toronto-hate-crime-suspect-was-denied-refugee-status-years-before-arrest/70062

According to Global News one of the Toronto men recently charged in connection with alleged hate- and extremism-motivated crimes targeting women and members of the Jewish community had been denied refugee status more than seven years ago, according to court and immigration records.

Federal court documents show that Osman Azizov, an Azerbaijani citizen, entered Canada in 2017 with his parents after crossing the US-Canada border near Lacolle, Quebec, between official ports of entry. The family filed refugee claims shortly after arriving.

The Immigration and Refugee Board rejected the family’s asylum application in 2018, citing credibility concerns.

Their appeal was denied by the Refugee Appeal Division in early 2019, and the Federal Court declined to review the case later that year.

There is no publicly available record explaining how Azizov remained in Canada following the unsuccessful refugee claim.

Azizov was living in Toronto at the time of his arrest in August 2025. Police later announced that he had been charged in connection with multiple attempted kidnappings that investigators allege were motivated by hate and extremism. The charges were publicly disclosed on Dec. 19. Continue…

Burnaby RCMP seize 97kg of illicit drugs, $70,000 cash in massive bust

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/burnaby-rcmp-seize-97kg-of-illicit-drugs-70000-cash-in-massive-bust/70064

The Burnaby RCMP's gang enforcement team has seized more than 97kg of illicit drugs and $70,000 in cash following a six‑month investigation that culminated in a December raid on a New Westminster home.

Police executed the search warrant on December 17, 2025, taking a 29‑year‑old man into custody. He now faces a series of potential charges.

Officers seized 15 kg of cocaine, 41 kg of methamphetamine, 30 grams of fentanyl, 41 kg of cannabis concentrate shatter — some packaged, some in bulk — along with more than $70,000 in cash, drug‑production materials and money counters. Police estimate the street value of the haul at nearly $4 million.

Inspector Matt Toews, Burnaby RCMP's investigative services officer, said the scale of the seizure underscored the real‑world harm caused by the drug trade.

"The production and trafficking of drugs is not a victimless crime. We see its devastating effects daily," he explained, adding that the number of potential lives saved is "immeasurable."

He praised the gang enforcement team's work but noted that significant steps remain before the case reaches the charge‑approval stage.

The investigation is ongoing.

Carney Speaks With European Leaders on Potential Ukraine Peace Deal

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/carney-speaks-with-european-leaders-on-potential-ukraine-peace-deal-5964344?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=more-top-news-0

'Prime Minister Mark Carney says he spoke with European leaders earlier today about the latest efforts to secure a negotiated settlement to the Russia-Ukraine War.

“We support the efforts of President Trump and President Zelenskyy to reach a negotiated settlement and we stand ready to provide robust security guarantees for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Carney said in a Dec. 30 social media post.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) did not provide additional details about the meeting.

Carney met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Dec. 27 in Halifax, where the prime minister announced an additional $2.5 billion in “economic assistance” for Ukraine.

Since February 2022, Canada has committed nearly $22 billion in support to Ukraine, including more than $6.5 billion in military assistance. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the funding is intended to facilitate additional lending of $8.4 billion to Ukraine through the International Monetary Fund and to serve as a loan guarantee of up to $322 million for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, aimed at supporting Ukraine’s gas imports and energy sector.

Canada earlier this month announced a $200 million package of critical military capabilities sourced from the NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) to support Ukraine’s defence. Continue…

Iran Labels Royal Canadian Navy a Terrorist Organization in Retaliatory Move

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/iran-labels-royal-canadian-navy-a-terrorist-organization-in-retaliatory-move-5964687?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=medium-0

The Iranian government ​​has listed Canada’s navy as a terrorist organization in a tit-for-tat response to Ottawa’s 2024 inclusion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on its list of extremist groups.

A statement from the Iranian foreign ministry said the decision was made in response to Ottawa’s classification of the IRGC as a terrorist organization last summer, saying Canada’s move was “in contravention of the fundamental principles of international law.”

The Dec. 30 statement shared on X highlights the 2019 law passed by Iran after the United States classified the IRGC as a terrorist entity in April of that year. The law allows Tehran to take reciprocal action against countries that support the position adopted by the White House.

The statement said Iran considers the Royal Canadian Navy to fall within the scope of this law and, “within the framework of reciprocal action, hereby designates and declares it as a terrorist organization.” The statement did not list what repercussions, if any, would come with the designation.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor Global Affairs Canada responded to a request for comment on Iran’s decision before publication time.

Canada listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code on June 19, 2024. The IRGC, also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. Continue…

Founder Chip Wilson Seeks Leadership Shake-Up on Lululemon Board

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/founder-chip-wilson-seeks-leadership-shake-up-on-lululemon-board-5964379?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=founder-chip-wilson-seeks-leadership-shake-up-on-lululemon-board-0

Lululemon Athletica founder Chip Wilson announced this week his launch of a proxy fight at the Canadian clothing company he established more than 25 years ago as he seeks changes in strategy at its helm.

Wilson announced in a Dec. 29 statement that he has put forward three director candidates for Lululemon’s board to help revamp the company as it looks to the future. He has nominated former On Running co-CEO Marc Maurer, former ESPN chief marketing officer Laura Gentile, and former Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg.

The move comes a little more than two weeks after Lululemon announced the upcoming exit of its CEO, Calvin McDonald. Lululemon said on Dec. 11 that McDonald would step down from his role effective Jan. 31 after seven years in the top spot. He is set to serve as a senior adviser through March 31 of next year.

The board has appointed chief financial officer Meghan Frank and chief commercial officer André Maestrini as interim co-CEOs as it searches for a permanent replacement.

Wilson said the apparel company he founded in 1998 is “in need of change” and characterized the recent announcement about the CEO transition as the “third total failure” of the board because it made the announcement without a clear successor.

“Shareholders have no faith that this Board can select and support the next CEO without input from a Board with stronger product experience,” said Wilson, who remains a large Lululemon shareholder. Continue…