Cosmonaut Captures Breathtaking Aurora from Space — Watch the Video

January 23, 2026

Watch: Stunning aurora filmed from space by cosmonaut

When the Sky Turned Red: Riding a River of Light from Space to Shore

It began as a whisper on social feeds — a streak of crimson unfurling above the curvature of Earth — and quickly became a chorus. High-definition video from the International Space Station showed bands of light folding and flowing like a slow, otherworldly ocean. Back on the ground, people stepped out of kitchen doors and pubs, phones held up against cold air, mouths open in that soft, stunned silence that comes when something ordinary is made sacred.

“We were sailing inside that light,” wrote one of the crew members aboard the station, describing the sensation of watching the aurora from orbit. The video he sent — miles of red and green spilling beneath the ISS — made the familiar scientific explanation suddenly intimate: charged particles from the Sun, racing across space, colliding with atoms high in our atmosphere and turning invisible energy into color.

Why the lights looked like fire

Auroras are not a light show orchestrated for Instagram. They are the visible signature of space weather: when the Sun spews plasma in a coronal mass ejection or intensifies its solar wind, electrically charged particles spiral along Earth’s magnetic field and slam into oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The specific colors you see depend on which gases are struck and how high up the encounter happens. Oxygen gives us the familiar neon-green at roughly 100–150 kilometers above the surface; at higher altitudes, rarefied oxygen can yield an eerie red. Nitrogen supplies blues and purples.

“People marvel at the prettiness, but the physics is brutal and beautiful,” said Dr. Elena Vargas, a space-weather researcher. “What you’re watching is particles, sometimes traveling hundreds of kilometers per second, dumping energy into the atmosphere. The scale of that transfer is enormous.”

Storms, scales, and what “strongest in two decades” really means

News feeds called it the most intense geomagnetic storm in roughly 20 years — a shorthand that captures public imagination. In the technical language of space weather, storms are measured by indices such as Kp and categorized from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). When the aurora reaches latitudes normally reserved for mid-latitude countries — when people in Dublin or northern England see shimmering curtains — it generally signals a major disturbance in Earth’s magnetic environment.

These disturbances are more frequent during the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle. We are currently living in the upswing of Solar Cycle 25, which has produced above-average activity compared with some past cycles. That rising activity makes dramatic auroral displays a more common headline than they might have been a decade ago.

From the ISS to the Irish coast: moments and voices

The footage from space was arresting, but the human stories down below made it real. In a seaside town on Ireland’s west coast, a fisherman named Sean O’Mahony left his nets and walked out onto the pier with his wife and toddler.

“We’ve had Northern Lights before, but this — it looked like the sea had climbed the sky,” he said. “Molly wouldn’t stop laughing; she kept pointing and shouting, ‘more, more!’ It’s something you keep.”

In Galway, an amateur photographer named Aoife Brennan described balancing a tripod between gusts of wind to capture streaks of crimson above the distant outline of Connemara mountains. “People at the pub spilled out and began clapping like it was a concert. Someone started singing an old sean-nós tune. It felt like the whole town forgot its phone bills and went to look at the sky.”

Local color and folklore: how communities make meaning

Across cultures, auroras carry stories. In Irish folklore, the lights have been linked to the Otherworld — omens of change or the handiwork of fair folk. In the Arctic, Sámi and Inuit traditions have long woven auroral displays into myth, sometimes seeing them as spirits of the dead or as a sign to be treated with respect. Those narratives don’t clash with science; they layer human meaning atop cosmic mechanics.

Not just beautiful — potentially disruptive

For all the wonder, space weather has teeth. Strong geomagnetic storms can induce currents in long-distance power lines, interfere with GPS and satellite communications, and increase drag on low-Earth-orbit objects. Airlines sometimes reroute polar flights to avoid communication blackouts. In 1989, a geomagnetic storm collapsed Quebec’s power grid for hours. In 2003, the “Halloween storms” knocked out satellites and disrupted radio.

“A spectacular aurora is a telltale of energetic processes that can affect infrastructure,” warned Dr. Vargas. “We’re seeing more of these events as the Sun wakes up, and it’s a reminder that our technologies are embedded in a space environment.”

Quick facts: Auroras occur in roughly oval regions around Earth’s magnetic poles called auroral ovals.
Oxygen emissions: green at about 557.7 nm; red emissions at higher altitudes produce crimson tones.
Geomagnetic storm scale: G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme); the Kp index ranges from 0 to 9.

Why this matters beyond the spectacle

There’s a larger arc to this story: humanity’s relationship to a star that both sustains and sometimes disrupts modern life. As our dependence on satellites, global positioning systems, and electrical grids grows, so does our vulnerability to solar tantrums. Yet those same solar storms gift us some of the most profound natural beauty many of us will ever see.

Does that contradiction — vulnerability and beauty in the same event — change how we think about technology and nature? Perhaps. It nudges us to treat the sky not as a backdrop but as an active participant in our shared infrastructure and culture. It also requires investment: better forecasting, hardening of critical systems, and international cooperation to protect assets in space and on Earth.

When the next curtain falls

As you read this, scientists on the ground are combing through data from satellites and magnetometers, translating flickers on a screen into actionable forecasts. Amateur skywatchers are cleaning lenses and checking forecast maps. And somewhere, a child who watched the sky catch fire is likely to be a little more awake inside, carrying that image forward.

So, what will you do the next time the night seems to glow unnaturally? Will you step outside and wait with your neighbors? Will you look up and let a celestial phenomenon remind you how small and connected we all are?

When the Sun reaches for us with particles and light, the Earth answers with color — green, red, blue — and a moment of communal awe. In those moments, the border between science and story dissolves, and every observer becomes, briefly, a witness to the conversation between our planet and its star.

Interim Venezuelan leader Rodriguez to embark on an official US visit

hanad

January 23, 2026

Venezuela's interim leader Rodriguez set to visit US — Delcy Rodriguez would be the first sitting Venezuelan president to visit the United States in more than a quarter century

A Quiet Revolution in Diplomacy: Why a Venezuelan Visit to Washington Matters

There are moments when the air itself seems to rearrange. In Caracas, the late-afternoon heat takes on a different feeling—tenser, layered with possibility—when a foreign phone call becomes domestic policy. That is the mood now, after reports that the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, has been invited to visit Washington. If the trip happens, it will be the first bilateral visit by a sitting Venezuelan head of state to the United States in more than 25 years, save for the routine passage of UN delegations to New York.

“We’re not talking about a courtesy call,” said a senior White House official, who asked not to be named because discussions are sensitive. “This would be a strategic, pragmatic engagement—very calibrated.”

Why the Visit Is Such a Big Deal

For decades, Venezuela and the United States have traded rhetoric as if it were industrial-grade fuel: hot, explosive, and capable of burning everything in its path. From the hawkish populism of Hugo Chávez to deep alliances with Tehran and Moscow, Caracas and Washington long operated like two giant ships orbiting different suns. Now, buoyed by economic pressures, shifting alliances, and the magnetic pull of Venezuela’s oil fields—estimated at roughly 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, the largest in the world—both capitals appear to be rethinking old scripts.

“This is less about handshakes and more about access,” said Marta Espinosa, a Caracas-based energy analyst. “Who controls the taps controls leverage. The United States wants predictable exports; Venezuela wants investment and legitimacy.”

Diplomacy, Sanctions, and the Art of the Possible

Delcy Rodríguez’s journey from an insider in Venezuela’s previous administrations to an interim leader engaging Washington is the sort of plot twist diplomats dream about. She is still reportedly subject to various sanctions and asset restrictions—a reminder that politics rarely cleans house overnight. But the invitation signals an American willingness to interact with a leader once branded untouchable.

“We’re in a process of dialogue, of working with the United States, without any fear, to confront our differences and difficulties,” Rodríguez said in a recent address. Whether that translates to relief from sanctions, easier foreign investment, or a stable route for oil exports is the question now hanging over both capitals.

There are practicalities behind the headline-grabbing optics. Since 2019 Washington has imposed significant sanctions on Venezuela, particularly targeting the state oil company and senior officials. Those measures were intended to pressure Nicolás Maduro’s government—accused by many in the international community of democratic backsliding—while avoiding a chaotic vacuum.

“Sanctions are blunt instruments,” said Benigno Alarcón, a political scientist at Andrés Bello Catholic University. “They can fracture elites, but they also hurt ordinary people. The United States appears to be trying a mixed strategy: pressure plus engagement.”

The Domestic Chessboard

Inside Venezuela, the invitation is a political litmus test. Hardliners—figures like Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López—still command loyalty in parts of the armed forces and the bureaucracy. Their stance toward opening up to Washington is far from monolithic.

“Some in the military see this as capitulation,” said a retired officer who now runs a coffee shop in La Guaira and asked that his name be withheld. “Others see the smell of dollars and foreign parts—that’s persuasive.”

Rodríguez has been reshuffling military leadership—appointing twelve senior officers to regional commands in recent days—moves that observers interpret as an attempt to solidify control while signaling continuity to both domestic and international audiences.

“Every promotion is a message,” the retired officer said. “It’s for the troops. It’s for the generals. It’s for the people watching from Miami and Madrid.”

Voices from the Street

Outside the corridors of power, Venezuelans are navigating a landscape of cautious optimism and bitter skepticism. In a market in eastern Caracas, vendors tally sales in bolívares and barter in hard currency. A fruit seller named Alba summed up the complex feelings: “If a plane brings investment, I will sell more oranges. If it brings war, I will sell them for my children’s safety.”

Opposition activists and democracy campaigners, who have long demanded full political freedoms and fresh, internationally supervised elections, worry that high-level diplomacy could paper over the need for accountability. “Any normalisation must include amnesty for political prisoners, truth, and a clear timetable for elections,” said Javier Morales, an activist whose brother remains detained. “Otherwise it’s a deal between elites.”

Geopolitics and the Global Ripples

Venezuela’s pivot—or partial pivot—toward engagement with Washington ripples beyond the Andean highlands. For Beijing, Moscow, Havana, and Tehran, who cultivated close ties with Caracas during its years of estrangement from the U.S., any warming with Washington represents both a strategic loss and a potential opening for renegotiated relationships.

“You can’t separate energy geopolitics from the broader architecture of the hemisphere,” said Dr. Isabel Romero, an international relations scholar in Bogotá. “The European Union, CARICOM, even Brazil and Colombia will watch closely. A negotiated path could defuse a humanitarian crisis that has pushed more than seven million Venezuelans into exile.”

Indeed, migration—estimated at roughly seven million people displaced since the crisis intensified in the 2010s—remains among the most pressing human consequences. Remittances, family separations, and brain drain are part of a long shadow that any diplomatic reset will have to acknowledge.

Questions for the Reader

What would you want to see from a diplomatic thaw between a superpower and a fractured nation? Are energy interests an acceptable starting point, or must human rights and democratic restoration be the non-negotiables? These are not rhetorical flourishes; they are the choices being negotiated in back rooms, on parade grounds, and in kitchens where people plan for another uncertain year.

What Comes Next

If the visit to Washington goes forward, it will not be a singular event but a test case: can transactional diplomacy be turned into something more durable? Can sanctions and incentives be calibrated to protect citizens without empowering bad actors? Can the international community encourage free elections and human rights while avoiding the pitfalls of ill-prepared regime change?

“Diplomacy is ugly, often slow, and always imperfect,” Dr. Romero said. “But it is better than the alternative—chaos. The key is to anchor any engagement in clear, measurable benchmarks.”

For now, Caracas waits. Markets and ministries adjust. Families watch the headlines with a mixture of hope and fatigue. And in Washington, diplomats run numbers and maps, aware that the fate of a nation—and perhaps the tone of hemispheric politics—may hinge on whether two leaders can find a language they both can live with.

Quick facts: Venezuela’s proven oil reserves are roughly 300 billion barrels—the largest on earth.
Migration: About 7 million Venezuelans have left the country since the crisis deepened in the 2010s (UN and IOM estimates).
Sanctions: Washington has used sanctions as a principal lever of policy toward Venezuela, particularly since 2017–2019.

Diplomacy is, at its best, an act of imagination. It asks opposite camps to picture a common future. Whether that imagination will be commanded by oil derricks or by ballot boxes is the unfolding story—one that will be written by politicians, generals, and ordinary people in market stalls, office towers, and family living rooms across the hemisphere.

Former Uvalde police officer acquitted in school shooting trial

hanad

January 22, 2026

Former officer acquitted in Uvalde school shooting trial — 19 students and two teachers were killed in the attack

Acquittal in Uvalde Case Reopens Wounds: A Town, a Trial, and the Question of Accountability

The courtroom exhaled before the word fell. When the verdict was read, Adrian Gonzales — the 52-year-old former Uvalde school district officer who stood at the center of a national debate about policing and public safety — bowed his head and pressed his palms to his face. Around him, lawyers offered pats on the shoulder. In the gallery, parents and siblings of the children and teachers killed at Robb Elementary sat frozen: some trembling, some wiping away tears, others staring as if trying to steady themselves against a wind that will not die down.

A jury in Corpus Christi found Gonzales not guilty on all 29 counts of criminal child endangerment, each count carrying a possible two-year sentence. After more than seven hours of deliberation, that verdict closed one chapter in a story that began in the small, sunbaked town of Uvalde, Texas, on 24 May 2022 — a day when 19 students and two teachers were murdered in one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.

What the trial centered on — and what it leaves unsettled

Gonzales was among the earliest of more than 400 officers who arrived at Robb Elementary that afternoon. Prosecutors argued that officers waited — for 77 minutes, in the government’s reckoning — before entering the classroom where the gunman had barricaded himself. In that gap, the assault on the children and teachers continued. The charge against Gonzales was not that he pulled the trigger; it was that his failure to act put children in immediate danger.

“They have decided he has to pay for the pain of that day and it’s not right,” defense attorney Jason Goss told jurors in closing, framing his client as one individual unfairly burdened with collective blame. Special prosecutor Bill Turner countered with a different moral calculus. “You can’t stand by and allow it to happen,” Turner told the jury, asking them to see Gonzales’s alleged inaction as criminally culpable.

Gonzales said he could not see the shooter and denied freezing; he insisted he did not leave the scene when response teams were organizing. The jury’s not-guilty finding suggests it did not find the prosecution’s case proved to the standard required in criminal court — beyond a reasonable doubt.

Courtroom scenes and small-town reverberations

The trial was convened hundreds of kilometers from Uvalde itself, in Corpus Christi, after defense lawyers argued a fair trial would be impossible in a town still raw from grief and outrage. Jurors came from across the region, and the 19-day trial played out under intense public scrutiny. Families of the victims traveled to attend, and the courthouse hallways hummed with raw emotion: whispered prayers, clipped legal strategizing, and the occasional, heartbreaking quiet.

Outside the courthouse, a neighbor who did not want to be named said, “Uvalde changed overnight. The people who live here are not just statistics — they’re mothers, fathers, teachers. There’s sorrow and a demand for answers.” A retired law enforcement trainer in Texas, speaking on background, told me, “This kind of prosecution is unusual — rare. The law penalizes certain failures, but proving criminal intent or gross negligence in the fog of a mass-casualty incident is hard.”

Facts, figures, and the bigger American conversation

Some details of the Uvalde response are undisputed: more than 400 officers responded, the gunman was a former student, and the gunman was eventually neutralized by officers after the delay. State and federal reviews concluded that officers allowed the shooter to remain inside a classroom while they debated tactical options — a lapse many officials, including then–Attorney General Merrick Garland, later said cost lives.

This case sits at the intersection of three national fault lines: policing practices and accountability, grief and the search for justice by victims’ families, and the broader debate over gun policy and public safety. In recent years, public-health data has underscored what many already felt in their bones: firearm deaths are a major—if not the leading—cause of death among American children and teens. That reality feeds the urgency and anguish that follow tragedies like Uvalde.

Only two people have been criminally charged in connection with the shooting: Gonzales and former school district police chief Pete Arredondo, who faces similar charges and has pleaded not guilty. The specter of systemic failure, not just individual error, has loomed over reviews of that day’s law-enforcement response.

A community’s rituals of remembrance

Walk Uvalde’s streets and you will find memorials and small altars — stuffed animals, crosses, hand-lettered signs — evidence that the town has tried to stitch meaning onto a wound. Locals speak of neighbors hanging on to rituals: shared meals, communal prayer services in Spanish and English, and school classrooms repurposed as spaces for counseling. “We keep going for the kids who are still here,” said a teacher who moved back to Uvalde after the shooting. “Everything we do is for them.”

At the same time, families who lost children have pushed for accountability. Some insisted that criminal charges were necessary to prompt broader reforms; others feared the trial would only deepen trauma. The tension between collective institutional responsibility and individual culpability is at the heart of what this trial attempted to resolve — but did not, ultimately, settle.

Legal nuance: why prosecutions of police are rare and difficult

Prosecutors who bring charges against officers face a steep evidentiary climb. Criminal statutes typically require proof of a person’s culpable state of mind or a level of gross negligence that goes beyond split-second poor judgment. As one criminal law scholar explained to me, “Courts and juries allow reasonable mistakes in chaotic situations. To convert those mistakes into crimes usually requires a showing of conscious disregard for human life.”

That standard is both legal and cultural. In communities across America, police are often given the benefit of the doubt in moments of crisis; at the same time, trust can be eroded when mistakes compound into tragedies. Which is why trials like Gonzales’s are watched not only as criminal adjudication but as moral reckonings.

Questions that linger

After the verdict, many in Uvalde and beyond asked: What does justice look like after a mass shooting? Is criminal prosecution the right mechanism to address systemic failures? How do communities hold institutions accountable without further fracturing the trust needed for public safety? These are not questions with easy answers.

“We wanted answers. We wanted to see accountability,” said a parent of a child killed at Robb Elementary, voice breaking. “But we also want truth — and truth is complicated.”

Robb Elementary attack: 19 students and two teachers killed (24 May 2022)
Gonzales: acquitted on 29 counts of criminal child endangerment
Jury deliberation: more than seven hours
Officers on scene: over 400; delay before entering classroom: 77 minutes (as reported in investigations)

A larger story of grief, law, and the search for reform

The Gonzales verdict will almost certainly not be the last word in the public discourse around Uvalde. For the families who lost children, the ache remains — as raw as it was three years ago. For law-enforcement leaders and reform advocates, the case raises structural questions about training, command, and crisis decision-making that do not fit neatly into criminal statutes.

And for the wider public—citizens, voters, policymakers—the trial is a prompt to ask hard questions: How should societies balance legal standards with moral urgency? How do we prevent such tragedies in the first place? Which changes are administrative and cultural, and which require the force of law?

In the quiet that follows courtroom drama, communities like Uvalde get back to the lifework of living with loss. They also keep pushing for changes they hope will stop history from repeating. “We didn’t come here for spectacle,” said a community advocate. “We came here to tell the world: look at us, hear us, and do better.”

How will we answer that plea? That is the continuing story — not only of Uvalde, but of a country still grappling with how to keep its children safe, and how to hold institutions accountable when they fail.

Irish Doctor Recounts Harrowing Shark Attack Encounter Off Australian Coast

hanad

January 22, 2026

Irish doctor recalls scene of shark attack in Australia — There was four shark attacks in 48 hours in Sydney in recent days

A jog that turned into a rescue: Life and fear at Manly Beach

The sun had just started to lift off the Tasman Sea, painting Manly Beach in stripes of gold and blue, when a morning jog became an impromptu medical mission.

“I thought it was training,” one witness later told me, voice still catching on the memory. “You know, kids doing CPR on the sand. Then I saw the blood.”

Brian Burns, a clinical professor of emergency medicine who was out running, says his professional instincts switched on the moment he saw the scene: surfboards scattered, lifeguards clustered, and a young man being worked on in the sand. What had begun as an ordinary Australian morning—the coffee shops opening, surfers paddling out—was suddenly about saving a life.

What unfolded on the beach

According to accounts from people at the scene and hospital staff, the surfer had been pulled from the water with catastrophic injuries consistent with a shark bite. He was in cardiac arrest when bystanders and trained lifesavers reached him. Burns and the beach lifeguards commenced CPR while awaiting paramedics.

“Everyone just moved,” a surf club volunteer said. “No panicking—people jumped from the water, others grabbed towels, someone ran for the defibrillator. It felt like a well-oiled machine, weirdly, in the middle of chaos.”

By the time an air ambulance touched down, the team had begun advanced life support—intravenous fluids, adrenaline—and, critically, blood transfusions were already underway on the beach. The patient was rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital and taken straight into surgery. Staff described a rapid, coordinated response that likely made the difference between life and death.

Prehospital transfusion: a game-changer

One of the most striking details from the rescue was the ability to deliver large volumes of blood to the victim before he ever reached the hospital. The system in Sydney allows for blood products to be transported to a patient in the field—an example of prehospital transfusion protocols becoming more common in trauma systems around the world.

“By the time we got him into the trauma theatre, he’d had 12–13 units of blood,” Burns said. “That level of intervention on the beach isn’t something you used to see often. It gave surgeons a fighting chance.”

Why are these attacks happening now?

The incident in Manly was not isolated. Local authorities warned swimmers and surfers across parts of New South Wales to stay out of the water after four shark incidents in a 48-hour window. Heavy rains were blamed for stirring up murky coastal waters, washing nutrients—and sometimes fish—closer to shore. Where prey goes, predators can follow.

“We’re seeing a confluence of factors,” explained Dr. Mei Li, an oceanographer who studies coastal ecosystems. “Warmer seas, shifting fish populations, and increased human presence along shorelines—more people in the water, more chance of encounters. Then you add heavy runoff from storms: visibility drops, sharks can mistake a human for prey, or simply come closer in search of food.”

Globally, unprovoked shark attacks are still relatively uncommon. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) records between roughly 60 and 100 confirmed unprovoked attacks worldwide each year, with fatalities typically in the single digits annually. Yet for local communities the statistical rarity offers little comfort when it’s your friend or neighbor on the sand.

Faces behind the headlines

Walk along Manly and you hear stories: the lifeguard who has grown up with the sea, the café owner who sets out milk and sugar as he waits for the morning rush, the grandmother who remembers when beaches felt less complicated. Each person interprets risk through the lens of lived experience.

“You accept a certain risk when you live here,” said Tom, a lifeguard in his thirties, towel slung over his shoulder. “But that doesn’t make moments like this any easier. We train for it, but training and reality are different. The kid who pulled him out—he’d been surfing since he was six. It’s heartbreak.”

Another surfer, Maya, watched from the promenade, hands clenched around a paper cup. “I love the ocean. I’m not going to stop surfing because of fear. But maybe we need better signals, more education. It’s not just about closing beaches—people need to know how to help.”

What the emergency response showed

The rescue highlighted several strengths: quick action by fellow surfers and lifeguards, a system capable of delivering blood and advanced resuscitation in the field, and seamless transfer to a major trauma centre. Those are the things that separate a tragic statistic from a story of survival.

Rapid bystander intervention and CPR
Lifeguard and surf-club coordination
Prehospital advanced life support and transfusion
Air ambulance transport to a specialist trauma centre

Wider implications: climate, coastlines, community

This episode is more than a dramatic headline; it’s a small, sharp example of larger trends. Coastal population growth worldwide continues to put more people in proximity to marine predators. At the same time, changing marine ecosystems—driven by warming waters and altered food webs—appear to be nudging some species closer to shore. Add in extreme weather events and more frequent storm runoff, and the conditions for encounters rise.

How do we live with the sea’s power and beauty while managing the risks? There’s no single answer, but communities are experimenting with solutions: drone surveillance for sharks, increased public education on what to do during an encounter, fishery management to reduce attractants near swimming areas, and better-equipped lifeguard services.

“We have to respect the ocean,” Dr. Li said. “We’re part of the coastal ecosystem now, whether we like it or not. If we want safe beaches, we need cross-disciplinary solutions—environmental management, emergency medicine, public policy, and community engagement.”

Looking inward: what would you do?

Stories like Manly’s force uncomfortable questions: How would you react if someone needed help in the water? Do you know basic CPR? Are our beaches and rescue services keeping pace with changing risks?

For the man who was bitten, answers came in the form of coordinated human effort—friends on surfboards, trained lifeguards, doctors and paramedics who knew exactly what to do. At least in that narrow window, the community’s muscle memory for emergencies worked.

A complicated gratitude

In hospital hallways and on the sand, gratitude mingles with a solemn recognition of vulnerability. “You never expect to be that person,” Tom the lifeguard said. “But you train so you can be. That’s all we can do—train, prepare, and act.”

As the city discusses better ways to keep beaches safe, as scientists study shifting marine patterns, and as surfers continue to paddle out at dawn, the Manly rescue remains a vivid reminder: the sea will always be a place of joy and danger, and how we respond to that truth says a lot about who we are.

Harris rules out any scenario where Ireland joins Peace Board

hanad

January 22, 2026

Harris: No scenario in which Ireland joins Board of Peace — Donald Trump described his 'Board of Peace' as the 'most prestigious board ever assembled'

When “Peace” Has a Price Tag: Ireland’s Quiet Refusal and a Global Moment of Doubt

There is a certain hush in the corridors of Leinster House that morning — not the hush of indecision so much as the careful, almost wary silence of a country weighing how loudly to denounce a spectacle staged half a continent away. In Davos, at the glittering World Economic Forum, a so‑called “Board of Peace” was consecrated with the pomp of summitry and the clang of headlines. The cost of permanent membership: one billion dollars. The names invited: a roster that mixes allies, autocrats and indicted leaders in a way that makes diplomats cough into their coffee.

Back in Dublin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister made the calculation public: under its present shape, Ireland will not sign up. The words landed not as a gavel strike, but as the small, deliberate sound of a country reminding the world that words like “peace” still have to mean something.

What is the Board of Peace?

At Davos, the initiative was presented as a new global convening to shepherd peace processes around the world. It carries a headline figure — $1 billion for permanent membership — and a promise of influence. But in practice it already looks less like a neutral mediation body and more like a VIP club where power, politics and pay‑to‑play optics collide.

Leaders in several European capitals recoiled. Some declined the initial invitation outright. Others are treating it as a diplomatic hot potato. Why the unease? Because the board’s list of attendees reportedly includes figures who are under indictment for war crimes, as well as strongmen whose human rights records are deeply contested. And because its structure, as presented, appears to carve out space for private, parallel channels of influence that could, critics warn, undercut the United Nations and longstanding multilateral norms.

Echoes Across Dublin: Why This Matters at Home

Ireland’s modern foreign policy is stitched together from a few golden threads: a commitment to international law, a storied record in UN peacekeeping, and the political capital of being a small nation that has often punched above its weight in mediation and humanitarian diplomacy. When Irish politicians talk about peace, there is an archive of credibility behind them — from peacekeepers in Lebanon to decades of quiet diplomacy.

So when Irish leaders say they cannot envision Ireland joining the board “as currently constructed,” it is not simply diplomatic theatrics. It’s a guardrail rooted in institutional memory. “We’ve always believed peacebuilding must be rooted in legitimacy, in international law, and in institutions that represent more than a gated list of friends and patrons,” one retired Irish ambassador told me. “You can’t attach the word ‘peace’ to something that sidelines the organisations designed to hold states accountable.”

Street Voices and Small Truths

Outside a bakery near Grafton Street, locals remarked less about doctrine and more about image. “If it smells like a photo op, it probably is,” said Maeve, who runs the shop. “I don’t want Ireland’s name put next to people who make war — not for a cheque, not for a handshake.”

A young teacher waiting for a bus asked, “Are we to believe peace can be auctioned off?” She smiled sadly and added, “It feels like the tune has changed. Diplomacy used to be slow and steady. Now it’s flashy, fast, and you need a golden ticket.”

Red Flags: Governance, Legitimacy, and the UN

The practical objections are straightforward. First, who governs the board? Who has vetoes? Where are the checks? Critics argue that the initial charter leaves too many questions unanswered and too few safeguards in place to prevent politicized decision‑making. Second, the invitations: including leaders under ICC indictment or accused of serious human rights violations invites moral incoherence. Third, the fee: a billion dollars for a permanent seat smacks of an elite club rather than a global public instrument for conflict resolution.

These are not trivial concerns. Multilateral institutions like the UN exist precisely because they bundle legitimacy with process. When parallel mechanisms arise that look like they could supplant or dilute those institutions — or when they reward the very actors whose actions created crises in the first place — the consequences are potentially destabilizing.

European Nervousness and a Larger Shift

This episode has also revealed a fault line in transatlantic relations. A handful of European governments have declined the Davos signing. France signaled reluctance. Britain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Slovenia reportedly stayed away. One senior EU official told journalists that the move amplified an ongoing debate in Europe about strategic autonomy and the need to rely on European instruments for security as well as diplomacy.

That debate is not purely abstract. The shocks of recent years — the war in Ukraine, supply‑chain crises, and the perception of unpredictable American policy swings — have accelerated European efforts to build capacity. The idea is not to sever ties with the United States but to avoid being blindsided when global frameworks change shape overnight.

Questions to Ponder

What kind of global architecture do we want for resolving war? Should peace be brokered by small clubs of powerful players, or by institutions that represent the wider international community? And perhaps most pressingly: can legitimacy be bought, rented, or convened with a big enough cheque?

These are not just academic questions. When a diplomatic initiative rebrands itself as a source of peace but allows the very architects of violence a seat at the table, it risks hollowing out the moral currency that peacebuilding depends on.

Where Ireland Fits In

Ireland’s measured response — to analyze, to confer with European partners, and to decline the Davos signing ceremony — reflects both principle and prudence. Dublin wants to be part of solutions, to offer its experience in mediation, and to push for a humanitarian response to crises like the one in Gaza. But it also knows that credibility is an asset you spend only once.

“We will consult broadly,” the Taoiseach indicated in public remarks, balancing caution with an acknowledgement of the need for action. Critics accused the government of dithering. Supporters called the refusal to appear at the signing ceremony responsible.

At its best, Irish diplomacy has been quietly distinctive: firm in principle, generous in aid, and adept at building bridges in messy contexts. The test now is whether Dublin can translate that tradition into constructive engagement that strengthens, rather than circumvents, global architectures for peace.

Final Thought

In a world where headlines are made quicker than consensus can be built, the temptation to stage a dramatic solution is powerful. But genuine peace—stable, just, and lasting—has never been a product of spectacle. It grows in institutions that are transparent, accountable, and broadly accepted. The question facing not just Ireland but the world is whether we will defend those institutions, or let the label of “peace” be repurposed by spectacle and money.

Which would you trust: a glossy global board with a price tag, or the slow, sometimes frustrating machinery of multilateral law and consensus? The answer we choose now will shape the next chapter of international diplomacy.

US, Denmark to revisit 1951 Greenland defense treaty, sources say

hanad

January 22, 2026

US, Denmark to renegotiate 1951 Greenland pact - source

At the edge of the world, an old pact gets a new pulse

The morning light in Nuuk slips across corrugated tin roofs and the skeletal masts of fishing boats, catching the distant blue of an ice fjord. Dogs bark, gulls wheel, and the smell of coffee and diesel hangs in the air. For most of the 56,000 people who call Greenland home, life still revolves around the sea and seasonal rhythms. Yet the conversation in kitchens, cafes and municipal offices has turned to one of the thorniest questions in international affairs: who decides the fate of Greenland?

This spring, Washington and Copenhagen quietly signaled they would reopen negotiations over a post‑World War II security arrangement that has shaped the island’s geopolitics for seven decades. The 1951 defense pact between the United States and Denmark—born in the chill of early Cold War anxieties and anchored by the Thule Air Base in northwest Greenland—has long governed U.S. military access to the island. Now, amid a changing Arctic and sharper geopolitical competition, both capitals appear ready to retune that old accord.

Why reopen an agreement from another era?

At first glance, a piece of paper signed in 1951 might seem an odd thing to reexamine. But the Arctic today is not the Arctic of the mid‑20th century. Ice that lingered for millennia is receding; new shipping routes loom open in the summers; mineral prospects and scientific installations are proliferating. Meanwhile, military activity has intensified across the high north.

“The world has rotated around the poles since that treaty was penned,” says Anne Sørensen, a Copenhagen‑based analyst who focuses on Arctic security. “The questions now are about transparency, Greenlandic sovereignty and how to protect vital early‑warning and communications infrastructure without sidelining the people who live here.”

To put the scale in perspective: Greenland is the planet’s largest island, covering about 2.16 million square kilometers, yet it holds fewer than 60,000 inhabitants. It enjoys wide autonomy—home rule was established in 1979, and self‑government expanded in 2009—but defense and foreign policy still formally fall under the Kingdom of Denmark. That constitutional reality is part of the tension. Greenlanders say decisions about military presence, land use and environmental safeguards affect their communities directly, and they want a say.

The local view: cautious pride, lingering pain

In Ilulissat, near the river of icebergs that inspired the Ilulissat Icefjord World Heritage designation, the mood is complicated. Elders speak of the Cold War days when the arrival of U.S. personnel brought jobs and new goods. But those years also left scars: forced relocations during early base expansions, contamination incidents, and a feeling, among some, of being a pawn in a larger geopolitical game.

“They promised jobs, they promised development, but my uncle told me about the time they moved families and didn’t look back,” says Katrine, a municipal council worker who requested to use just her first name. “We are proud to be strategic. But we also want respect—clean land, clean water, and a voice at the table.”

Across Nuuk’s harbor, a fisherman named Malik shrugs when asked about the pact’s revision. “If new ships come, we will see more money, maybe. But we also see more risk—noise, fuel, and more eyes on our waters,” he says. “We do not want our fjords to be used as chess squares without asking us.”

What’s at stake for the United States and NATO?

For the United States, Greenland is less about glamour and more about geometry. The island sits astride the shortest great‑circle routes between North America, Europe and the Arctic. Thule Air Base, established in the 1950s in Qaanaaq municipality, has long housed early‑warning systems and played a role in satellite tracking. In an era when hypersonic weapons and space‑based sensors are reshaping deterrence, having secure infrastructure in Greenland is a strategic priority.

“You can afford to treat the Arctic as a sideshow only if your enemies do,” says Mark Reynolds, a retired U.S. Navy officer who now studies Arctic logistics. “That’s not the case. Russia has hardened bases along its northern flank; China is investing in port and scientific ventures and calling itself a ‘near‑Arctic state.’ The U.S. and NATO are trying to recalibrate posture to deter and reassure at the same time.”

That recalibration has financial and political dimensions. Washington has periodically funded upgrades to runways, radar, and climate monitoring stations in Greenland. But each dollar spent on security is scrutinized back home and locally. How to balance defense needs with environmental protections, indigenous rights and potential economic development is the central knot to untie.

What might renegotiation look like?

No formal text has been released. But experts and Greenlandic officials suggest several likely topics:

Greater Greenlandic participation in talks and decision‑making, potentially elevating Nuuk from consultative to co‑equal status in specific defense matters;
Clearer environmental safeguards, compensation frameworks and cleanup commitments tied to any expansion of basing or infrastructure;
Transparency measures—public reporting, parliamentary oversight in Denmark and local Greenlandic institutions—so that communities can see the terms and impacts of military activity;
Arrangements for economic spinoffs: guaranteed hiring, education or infrastructure projects that benefit local communities.

“This is not about renouncing alliances,” says a Danish foreign ministry official who asked for anonymity because talks are nascent. “It’s about modernizing an agreement so it reflects current law, democratic expectations and the rights of Greenlanders.”

Climate, commerce and the long view

Beyond radar and runway improvements, the negotiations touch on broader questions about the Arctic’s future. What happens as sea ice declines and shipping corridors open? How will mineral exploration—greenland’s deposits of uranium, rare earths and other high‑value resources—be governed? Who benefits when a port or a radar array is built?

These questions are not merely bureaucratic. They are existential for communities that have stewarded this land for millennia. “We are watching our ice melt and our seasons shift,” says a climate scientist at the University of Greenland. “We need safeguards so that global security interests don’t translate into local harm.”

What should readers take away?

When a superpower and a small kingdom decide to retune a Cold War agreement, the world listens because the implications ripple far beyond one island. But the heart of the story lies in the people of Greenland—fisherfolk, municipal leaders, young students, elders—who will live with the consequences. They want recognition, compensation, and a real seat at the table.

So, what do you think? When strategic necessity clashes with local sovereignty and environmental stewardship, who should carry the final word? As readers who live far from the Arctic, we might feel removed from the fjords and base runways. But the choices made about Greenland will echo across global trade routes, climate resilience, and the norms of how powerful states partner with small communities.

In the coming months

Expect a messy, human conversation. Negotiations will likely involve technical teams, diplomats, Greenlandic representatives and civil society groups. Media attention will focus on hooky moments—statements from Washington, protests in Nuuk, perhaps new infrastructure projects—but the most consequential work will happen in small rooms and municipal halls.

At a café in Nuuk, a teacher stirs her tea and looks out toward the harbor. “We are at a crossroads,” she says. “If these talks are done right, our children will feel respected. If not, the old wounds will open again.”

That image—a patchwork of hope, caution, and pragmatic negotiation—captures why renegotiating a 1951 pact matters today. This is a global story with a very local center: ice, house paint, harpoons, and the steady, patient lives of people who have always known how to read the long seasons. It is their future, and the world will be watching how fairly it is handled.

Prince Harry accuses Daily Mail of making Meghan Markle’s life miserable

hanad

January 22, 2026

Prince Harry claims Mail has made wife's life 'a misery' — Prince Harry: 'My social circles were not leaky. I want to make that absolutely clear'

A Courtroom, a Crown, and a Country Asking What a Free Press Really Means

London’s High Court smelled of rain and takeaway coffee the morning Prince Harry took the witness stand. Tourists craned their necks toward the glass façade while reporters shuffled papers and phone screens glowed like constellations. Inside, beneath the quiet hum of ventilation and the measured tread of court officers, a very old public drama about power, privacy and the press was being retold in a new key.

“You have to understand what this feels like,” a woman who attends trials regularly told me as we stood outside the building. “This isn’t just a legal argument on paper. It’s about the kind of society we allow when newspapers push past the line.”

The cast and the claim

The case is as much about individuals as it is about institutions. Alongside Prince Harry—who has been publicly battling British tabloids for years—are six other claimants: Elton John’s husband David Furnish, anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence, former Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, and actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost. Together, they accuse Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, of systematic unlawful information gathering across decades.

Allegations include voicemail interception, the use of private investigators, “blagging” (deception to obtain private records) and other covert methods.
The claimants say these practices fuelled dozens of intrusive stories about their private lives, from family matters to health and finances.

Associated Newspapers denies wrongdoing, calling the accusations “preposterous” and insisting its reporting relied on legitimate sources. The publisher points to the commercial and editorial pressures facing modern newsrooms—competition for scoops in an era of shrinking attention spans and expanding digital audiences.

A single voice, a wider ache

When Harry spoke in the witness box, the words were spare but loaded. He described a family crowded by headlines and haunted by the tactics of an industry that once chased his mother, Princess Diana. He framed this lawsuit as something more than a personal righting of wrongs: a civic duty to test the boundaries of press power.

“It’s not just for me,” he said to the court in a moment that clearly moved him. “It’s for anyone who thinks no one is above the law—and that includes the press.”

The emotion was palpable, and not only because of royal history. Over the past two decades Britain has repeatedly wrestled with how to regulate its tabloids. The 2011 closure of News of the World, the subsequent Leveson Inquiry (2011–2012) and a string of settlements and criminal convictions related to phone-hacking set the stage for today’s debates. Thousands claimed to be victims of intrusive journalism; some journalists and private investigators were convicted. Legislation and voluntary regulators followed, but many argue the reforms never fully healed the wounds.

What the trial is really testing

At stake is a fundamental tension: the right to free expression and the public’s right to know, versus the right to private life and protection from unlawful intrusion. In legal terms, the court is balancing Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights with Article 8—freedom of expression against the right to privacy. But this is about more than articles of international treaties. It’s about children waking up to headlines about their parents, about grief made public before it’s private, and about whether the most powerful media organizations can be held to account by ordinary courts.

“There’s a structural imbalance here,” said a media-law academic I spoke with. “Large publishers have resources, lawyers and archives. Individuals—even famous ones—have fewer avenues to remedy invasion of privacy. Cases like this help clarify where the line should be drawn.”

Voices from the street

Outside, opinions split along familiar lines. “They’re famous—are they asking for censorship?” asked a young man from south London. He shrugged, fingers cold around a paper cup. “But then again, nobody deserves fake phone taps.”

A woman who works at a café near the court said she had served Prince Harry once when he visited a charity event. “He was just like anyone else—quiet and polite,” she said. “Seeing someone like that upset in public makes you think: how would an ordinary person survive that kind of attention?”

Numbers and influence

It’s worth remembering the scale. Associated Newspapers’ digital arm, MailOnline, is among the largest English-language news websites in the world, claiming global reach into the hundreds of millions of readers a month as recently reported. That size matters: stories printed within such networks ripple quickly, shape narratives and can be hard to retract once in the public stream.

Meanwhile, data on press complaints and privacy claims show an uptick in legal actions over the past decade, and a growing willingness among public figures and private citizens to take publishers to court. Whether that trend curbs invasive reporting or simply leads to more litigation and settlements remains a live question.

What happens next—and why it matters beyond Britain

The trial will continue with testimony from other claimants and experts. Its outcome could influence how editors, reporters and commercial operations think about risk; it could compel publishers to tighten source verification; or it could embolden tabloids to continue aggressive reporting under the banner of public interest.

For readers outside the UK, this might read like a particularly British melodrama—but the themes are universal. Democracies everywhere grapple with the role of an adversarial press, the ethics of undercover reporting, and the psychological toll on individuals who are treated as news fodder. Social media multiplies stories at speeds that make retractions feel like afterthoughts. As we sort truth from sensation, courts often become the battleground where values are tested.

So I ask you, the reader: what kind of press do you want in your country? One that will relentlessly pry into the private lives of the powerful and famous, or one that values accuracy, consent and restraint even when stories are tempting? Are we willing to accept the collateral harm of an unregulated chase for eyeballs?

In the hallway outside the courtroom, beneath portraits of stern jurists and the soft murmur of conversation, a junior barrister paused and looked toward the steps. “These cases can change how we live together,” she said. “Sometimes you only notice what’s been taken from you when you stand to reclaim it.”

The trial is a story of personalities and tabloids, of law and legacy, but at its heart it is about expectations—what a free press should do, and what a civilized society should protect.

Karachi authorities confirm 55 dead after mall fire

hanad

January 22, 2026

Death toll in Pakistan mall fire hits 55 - Karachi govt — Rescue workers search among the rubble after a massive fire broke out at a shopping mall in Karachi

Char and Silence: Inside the Gul Plaza Tragedy and a City That Knows This Pain

The air in south Karachi tastes like ash and questions. Blackened metal frames jut from the gutted facade of Gul Plaza, a modest three-storey shopping complex that until Saturday night thrummed with cloth merchants, small electronics stalls and the low, familiar hum of commerce in Pakistan’s largest city.

By the time the flames were doused, at least 55 people had been confirmed dead and dozens more were unaccounted for, officials said. Rescue teams, police and stunned families have been working through the rubble ever since—searching, cataloguing, calling names into scorched corridors where the world still echoes of lives abruptly stopped.

Scenes of grief at the mortuary

Outside the Civil Hospital Karachi mortuary, crowds gather with the sort of quiet that feels intolerably loud. There are mothers with scarves tied tight under their chins, children holding onto relatives’ sleeves, men who pace or sit with their faces in their hands. Dozens have provided DNA samples to help identify remains that are, in many cases, too badly burned for visual recognition.

“I just want them back. If it is a hand, a shoe, anything—let us bury them. Let us say goodbye properly,” said Faraz Ali, his voice thin and urgent. He is one of many who lost family members; his father and his 26-year-old brother had been at the mall. “We need to know who is where. We need to have some peace.”

Provincial health official Summaiya Syed told journalists that more than 50 families had provided DNA samples so far, a painstaking process that delays the last small mercy of closing a life with a name and a burial. “We will hand over the remains once DNA samples are matched,” she said, underscoring the grim, clinical work that accompanies sorrow in disasters like this.

What happened — and what we still don’t know

At the moment, the exact spark that turned a busy shopping centre into a tomb remains unclear. A government committee has been formed to investigate, and forensic teams are combing through wiring, signage and survivor testimony for clues. Fire experts and witnesses point to a combination of factors that frequently conspire to make urban fires catastrophic: overloaded electrical systems, lack of functioning fire exits, congested stairwells stacked with goods, and delayed emergency responses.

“When a building is packed with stock and people, and exits are blocked or nonexistent, a small ignition can become lethal in minutes,” said Dr. Aisha Mir, a structural safety researcher who has studied urban fires in South Asia. “What often gets ignored is prevention—inspections, enforcement of building codes, simple things like keeping escape routes clear.”

Data and context

Karachi is a metropolis of roughly 16 million people, a city whose density and informality are part of its energy—and its vulnerabilities. Fires occur across Pakistan’s cities with worrying frequency, particularly in markets and informal industrial zones where oversight is weaker. While large-scale infernos like Gul Plaza remain relatively rare, smaller fires that claim lives or devastate livelihoods are tragically common.

Official statistics on urban fire incidents in Pakistan are fragmented; many local governments lack comprehensive, public databases. But the pattern is unmistakable to anyone who tracks infrastructure failures: regulatory gaps plus aging electrical grids plus ever more crowded commercial spaces create a tinderbox.

Voices from the rubble

At the scene, survivors and rescuers share a vocabulary of shock—the smell of burning plastic; the impossible warmth of metal rails even hours after flames have cooled; the reverberating sound of someone calling a loved one’s name into a pile of twisted shops. Shopkeeper Yasmin Bibi, who manages a small textile stall two blocks from Gul Plaza, spoke of a neighborhood in mourning.

“We have been coming here for twenty years,” she said, wiping her eyes. “These were not only businesses—these were people’s lives. We are a community. When one shop burns, everyone feels it.”

A volunteer firefighter who has worked in Karachi for over a decade, requesting anonymity, was blunt about the systemic problems. “We do our best, but we are under-resourced. We need better equipment, more training, and the municipality must enforce codes. Until that changes, nothing about this will be surprising.”

Beyond the immediate: accountability, prevention, and what the survivors need

Calls for accountability are rising even as rescue teams continue the grim task of recovery. Families want more than explanations; they want tangible changes that reduce the chance this will happen to someone else. They want swift identification and dignified handovers so they can bury their dead and begin to grieve publicly rather than in limbo.

“Talk of investigations comforts no one until results come and something changes,” said Naveed Khan, a local civil society activist who has campaigned on building safety. “We need transparent timelines, public audits of the building code compliance of all such complexes, and immediate relief for the victims’ families.”

In practical terms, victims will need legal aid, counselling, and financial support—particularly in a local economy where small shop earnings are family lifelines. International donors and non-profits often step in after disasters, but long-term prevention requires a sustained political will at the municipal level.

What can be done?

Regular, public safety inspections of commercial buildings and markets, enforced with penalties and closure orders where necessary.
Upgrading electrical infrastructure and training shop owners in basic fire-risk reduction.
Investment in municipal firefighting capacity—both equipment and staffing.
Community education campaigns so residents know evacuation routes and how to act in the critical first minutes of a fire.

Looking outward: a city’s resilience, a global pattern

This is not just a Karachi story. Around the world, fast-growing cities in the Global South wrestle with infrastructure that struggles to keep pace with population, commerce and climate stress. When governance, enforcement and investment lag, small failures become disasters.

So, what should you feel as you read this, sitting miles away? Maybe helplessness. Maybe anger. But ask this other question: what would your city do differently? If the insurance, zoning, and emergency systems were on trial, would your neighborhood pass?

Closing—small rituals, larger hopes

For now, rituals of mourning are beginning. Relatives are making frantic phone calls, clerics are beginning the prayers for the dead, and neighbors are offering space, food, and shelter. The DNA testing will take time; identities will be confirmed, and funerals will come. And after the immediate fall of ash and grief settles, the harder work will begin: demands for accountability, the slow grind of policy change, and, one hopes, real efforts to prevent another fiery morning that ends too soon.

“We don’t want promises; we want measures,” said Yasmin as she folded a small cloth into a fist. “If this place can burn like that, any place can. We want our city to be safer for our children.”

Gul Plaza is still a smoldering silhouette on the south Karachi skyline. The city will rebuild—it always does—but the question that lingers is whether it will rebuild differently. Will lessons be learned, or will the next headline trace out the same terrible lines? The answer will say as much about Karachi’s future as the smoke that now hangs over it.

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