DAILY NEWS Stream – January 2, 2026

Ukraine (Ureign) President Zelenskyy says US-Ukraine (Ureign) security guarantees are fully agreed to after talks with US President Trump. Most of the peace plan for the Russia-Ukraine (Ureign) war is close to completion, though territorial issues remain unresolved (Euronews)

President Trump says He is willing to travel to Ukraine (Ureign) to urge its parliament to consider ceding territory to Russia as part of a peace deal (New York Post)

US President Trump touts a “good and very productive” call with Russia’s President Putin hours before meeting Ukraine (Ureign) President Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago [US] to advance a 20-point peace plan (New York Post)

China says Thailand and Cambodia plan to rebuild political mutual trust after weeks of border tension. Their foreign and defense officials meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Yunnan [China] to discuss stabilizing the situation. All three countries signal commitment to improving relations, preventing further escalation, and supporting broader regional peace (Reuters)

China sends its first shipment of emergency humanitarian aid to Cambodia after recent border clashes with Thailand. The supplies arrive in Phnom Penh with tents, blankets, food, and other essentials (Tuổi Trẻ)

The Thai military announces that border areas with Cambodia are now stable and urges evacuated residents to return home. Hotspots in Chanthaburi, Trat, and Surin are calm after the December 27 ceasefire (Tuổi Trẻ)

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) distributes 432 cartons of dates to Sudanese refugees at the Mare’ Sabri Camp in Chad’s Wadi Fira region. The aid forms part of an 800 metric ton date distribution project supporting vulnerable families across Chad (Arab News)

Protests intensify across Iran as demonstrators clash with security forces in Tehran and Mashhad. Nationwide strikes shut major commercial hubs as inflation soars and the rial [Iran’s currency] hits record lows (Fox News)

Columbia University [US] scientists discover why statins [cholesterol-lowering drugs] cause muscle pain— high-resolution imaging reveals drugs leak calcium from muscle cells, triggering weakness and fatigue (SciTechDaily)

University of California, Riverside [US] scientists find that microplastics from our environment accelerate heart disease by clogging arteries— tiny particles from common plastic products significantly increase plaque buildup in male subjects (SciTechDaily)

Florida Atlantic University [US] scientists analyze over 60 studies involving millions of people, confirming alcohol consumption significantly increases breast, liver, oral, laryngeal, esophageal, gastric and colorectal cancer risks. Vulnerability spikes for individuals with obesity, diabetes, or specific genetic predispositions (SciTechDaily)

A severe winter storm devastates Gaza, killing over 15 people and destroying over 40,000 tents— heavy rain and winds flood shelters for around 1.5 million displaced Palestinians (The Watchers)

A winter storm leaves nearly 100,000 without power across mid-Michigan [US]— snow squalls trigger over a dozen vehicle crashes in one county alone and sustained high winds complicate electricity restoration efforts (MLive Media Group)

For the first time since 1998, Mount Etna’s Northeast Crater has a sudden, violent explosion. Huge fountains of lava shoot up to 500 meters into the air, and giant clouds of ash rise 10 kilometers high (The Watchers)

Multiple tornadoes strike Illinois [US], causing damage and outages— an EF [Enhanced Fujita]-1 scale tornado hits Tazewell County with winds near 158 kilometers per hour, destroying two outbuildings and downing trees and power poles. Over 2,400 customers are left without power in Macon County due to another tornado (The Watchers)

China introduces the world’s first mandatory energy consumption standard for electric cars, effective in 2026, capping a 2-ton vehicle at 15.1 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers (Dân trí)

Sweden declares the Snowy Owl-person nationally extinct after a decade without breeding, confirming it no longer maintains a viable population there. The species still survives across the Arctic, but climate-driven ecosystem change is disrupting its habitat, causing its southern range to contract (Bird Guides)

Scientists identify the rare algae Karenia cristata as the true cause of an eight-month toxic bloom along South Australia’s coast. The species produces powerful brevetoxins [a group of neurotoxins], drives mass marine-people deaths, harms human health, and highlights rising risks as changing ocean conditions enable rare organisms to dominate (Earth.com)

A study shows that a vegan diet cuts one’s carbon footprint nearly in half. Researchers from the University of Granada and the Spanish National Research Council [Spain] find a vegan diet reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 46%, land use by 33%, and water use by 7% compared to an omnivorous Mediterranean diet (Frontiers in Nutrition)

Portland, Oregon secures the 2025 top spot for US vegetarian and vegan living. Personal finance website WalletHub ranks the city first for its abundant animal-free eateries and community gardens. Los Angeles and Austin follow, as Portland residents order meatless meals 148% more frequently than the national average (Travel + Leisure)

Chef Dai Jun transforms fine dining at the two Michelin-star restaurant Lamdre in Beijing [China]. Using zero-waste techniques, the 2025 Best Chef Award winner crafts seasonal vegan haute cuisine, proving dishes made without harm are much a part of China’s rising culinary scene (South China Morning Post)

California [US] rolls out new animal-people welfare laws starting January 1, 2026: banning pet-person brokers [ensuring third-party sellers cannot falsely claim local origins for puppies sourced from commercial mills], requiring health certificates for imported puppies, expanding veterinary technician duties, and allowing shelters to provide basic care without onsite veterinarians (KESQ)

Aulacese (Vietnamese) rangers launch a crackdown on illegal bird-people trapping in An Giang province, removing nearly 300 meters of nets, seizing luring devices and rescuing wild bird-folk amid a resurgence of their capture in open fields and canals (Báo An Giang)

Twenty-year-old student Trọng Nguyễn of Âu Lạc (Vietnam) battles Type 2 diabetes after reaching 110 kilograms from multiple jobs, sugary drinks, and minimal sleep, then reverses his condition within three months through intermittent fasting, green vegetables and eliminating junk food (Vietnam Net)

I was so happy, I was so content, joyful, and then I was like, “All righty, I could stay here forever.” And then I reached a point where I realized, “You know what? I want to be like this. I want to just stay here.” And then there was a moment of determining, like it was that—okay, you either go this way or that way. So, meaning I either go bye-bye and leave this Earth as a spirit, pain-free, or you go back into your body and change my life around. American intuitive coach and former corporate professional Judy Kuo shares how she drowned at age nine, and nearly died again during an ayahuasca ceremony in 2016.

Judy grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, one of the world’s largest cities, raised Catholic in a purely physical, materialist environment. After her first near-death drowning experience at age nine in 1990, she noticed heightened spiritual sensitivity— absorbing others’ emotions and anxiety—but suppressed these gifts because no one around her understood them.

For over 20 years, Judy worked in corporate software training and client services. By late 2016, she was juggling three people’s jobs with one title, suffering from undiagnosed autoimmune symptoms— severe arthritis pain spreading from her hands to her shoulders. Western doctors couldn’t diagnose her and questioned whether her pain was real. Dying on the inside while appearing fine on the outside, Judy knew she had to change something. There was this knowingness that there was something bigger leading and guiding me towards different places, or to look up something specifically. And that’s how I found out about this Costa Rica retreat, meditation and yoga retreat, with the option to attend this ayahuasca ceremony.

Ayahuasca is a powerful psychoactive. In early 2016, Judy traveled to Costa Rica. She set a powerful intention: to step into her higher purpose. She took half the usual dose of ayahuasca due to her sensitivity. The ceremony ran from 6 pm to 6 am. I hit the point where I was so weak I didn’t even know how— am I coming back? Am I done here? I didn’t know. My body was just laying there. The next thing I noticed is I found myself feeling my spirit, my soul, going up, away from my body, like my spirit and my soul levitating from my body and going up, and like really high up.

Judy kept one eye on her physical body below while her spirit soared above. Her body felt completely lifeless— every cell near death. But as a pure spirit, she felt no pain. Oh my gosh, this is amazing! Oh my gosh, I haven’t felt like this in so long. I was so happy, I was so content, joyful. And then I was like, “All righty, I could stay here forever.” And then I reached a point where I realized, “You know what? I want to be like this. I want to just stay here.” And then there was a moment of determining—okay, you either go this way or that way. So, meaning I either go bye-bye and leave this Earth as a spirit, pain-free, or you go back into your body and change my life around. And it took me a little while, but then it finally kicked in, this sense of—there was something bigger than me that realized it’s not about taking the easy way out. And then it really hit me, and I realized I’m not done. I’m not done. I have so much to do here on Earth.

But returning wasn’t easy. Judy had to fight her way back. The fighting part was— as I’m coming down from spirit and soul format, consciousness, down into my body, it was almost like the current was working against you. But there was something— like, imagine this: if you don’t have anything else… if you don’t have your body, you don’t have your emotions, anything on the physical form that you know… but you have this tiny little bit of—here you go, you only have this to work with.

That’s all you have, as far as power. So I only had that to work with, basically. And so I had to build up off that tiny little fire, and I’m trying to keep going. Later, I realized that was the fire I had in my heart, in my consciousness, in the signature of my essence. I made a decision— I’m coming back. And part of this whole spiritual transformation was to open up for me to access that, to know that even if I don’t have anything else, physical, emotional… like anything else that we can see through the eyes, that is still there. Even if you think everything is lost, but this is still there. I was vibrating at such a high level, but without being in my body, which was very— that’s why I was so close to just being gone. And unless I made that decision and unless I tapped into that fire, I wouldn’t have come back.

Judy fought for hours— what felt like centuries in higher dimensions. She went back and forth seven or eight times before finally breaking through and returning to her body. Judy now channels higher-dimensional beings and uses her experience to guide other sensitives through spiritual awakening and health transformation.

Inspiring quote of the day: “The biggest part of you is on the inside of you.” Ibukun Awosika Prominent Nigerian Businesswoman and Author