DAILY NEWS Stream – February 26, 2025

Syria holding a two-day National Dialogue Conference starting February 25, 2025, on how to govern the country under its new leadership, aiming to represent all Syrians in the discussion (Barron’s)

US Vice President Vance issues harsh warning to Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy for “badmouthing” President Trump following US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia, saying it’s an “atrocious way to deal with this administration” (Sky News Australia)

US President Trump, out of frustrating, unreasonable, demanding peace deal, calls calls Ukrainian President Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” and demands he “move fast” to make peace with Russia and resume elections, which have been suspended under martial law since 2022, or else he’s “not going to have a country left” (Sky News Australia)

US President Trump is not “cozying up” to Putin, says Republican strategist John Jordan, calling on Democrats to be more realistic. “Is Putin a good guy? No, he’s not. But you have to talk to him, you have to talk to all kinds of people if you want to do statecraft… it’s the world we live in” (Sky News Australia)

UK: House of Lords member Baroness Philippa Stroud hails Vice President Vance’s tough words for Europe, agreeing that Europe is retreating from its most fundamental values of truth and free speech and it’s “foolish” to say the continent could never fall to ruin (Fox News)

US President Donald Trump declares more tariffs on imports will be implemented thanks to “amazing” success so far for America’s balance sheet, saying “we’re bringing our businesses back” (Sky News Australia)

President Trump-backed company Trump Media & Technology Group and social media platform Rumble sue Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, claiming he’s illegally censoring free speech in the US by targeting multiple US-based social media accounts for “spreading misinformation” and “criticizing the [Brazilian] Supreme Court” (Fox News)

“I couldn’t stand it”: President Trump speaks on foreign gang members being “dropped off in buses” under Biden and celebrates that “we don’t have that problem anymore” thanks to His administration’s tightened border security (Sky News Australia)

US Border Czar Tom Homan tells migrant terror groups President Trump will “wipe you off the face of the Earth” and celebrates a 95% reduction in illegal immigrants escaping border patrol, but vows “I’m not going to be happy till that number’s zero” (Fox News)

Washington DC [US]: New management at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will usher in a “Golden Age of the Arts” under President Trump’s leadership, Special Presidential Envoy Ric Grenell says, adding that many of Biden’s shows were canceled due to lack of ticket sales (Fox News)

President Trump’s Department of Education investigating State of Maine after Governor Janet Mills defies the President’s order to keep transgender athletes out of women’s sports, risking US$250 million in federal school funds for non-compliance (Fox News)

Efficiency Commissioner Elon Musk lays pressure on federal employees, saying they must explain by email what they “got done” last week or they’re fired, after President Trump urges the DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] chief to “get more aggressive” in shrinking the federal government, posting “REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE” (New York Post; CBC)

Legal argument behind DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] is “very strong,” constitutional law attorney Katie Cherkasky says, as lower courts across the US recognize Commissioner Elon Musk’s executive authority as a direct aide to President Trump (Fox News)

Argentinian President Javier Milei gifts Elon Musk a chainsaw to celebrate DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] cuts to federal government spending, with Commissioner Musk declaring “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy!” (Sky News Australia)

Rare enterovirus strain in Spain raises alarms over potential outbreaks, with links to both respiratory illness and potential neurological complications in children (News Medical Life Sciences)

Briane Dressen suffered injuries in 2020 from the COVID AstraZeneca vaccine and highlights important findings from the new “post- vaccination syndrome” study: “Your immune system is changed so much so just after vaccination that you have a higher occurrence of reactivating latent viruses like EBV [Epstein-Barr virus], also known as mono” (Fox News)

Study links drinking caffeine to significant, temporary reductions in brain gray matter; how this affects brain function is not yet clear and merits further study, researchers say (New Atlas)

Alcohol-related cancers are a growing concern in India, including mouth, throat, esophageal, stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, breast, and prostate cancers, experts warn (NDTV)

Colombia’s deforestation in 2024 among lowest levels in 23 years, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad says (Reuters)

Humpback whale song has striking similarities to human language, sharing key statistical properties previously thought unique to human speech, study finds (EcoWatch)

Waste to wealth: Pomelo peel can be used for electricity generation and sensing devices thanks to its unique, porous structure, US study finds (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Reflective quote of the day: “The Wise are wise only because They love. The fools are fools only because they think hey can understand love.” – Paulo Coelho