DAILY NEWS Stream – January 3, 2026

Taipei Mayor [Taiwan (Formosa)] Chiang Wan-an attends the Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum and calls for the Taiwan Strait to be associated with peace and prosperity amid ongoing tensions. He stresses dialogue and cooperation as the cities sign new memorandums of understanding [MOUs] (Focus Taiwan)

US President Trump says he is not worried about China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan (Formosa), citing his good relationship with China’s President Xi Jinping (VnExpress)

Tunisia and Saudi Arabia sign five agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) regarding customs, mining, postal services and media during their joint committee meeting in Riyadh [Saudi Arabia] (Anadolu Agency)

Ukraine (Ureign) and Russia agree to a local ceasefire near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, allowing repairs to a damaged power line under International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring in a pause aimed at reducing the risk of a nuclear incident (RBC-Ukraine)

The United States announces a US$50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, providing funding to all 50 states. The initiative will strengthen the rural health workforce, modernize facilities and technology, and expand innovative care models (White House)

The United States pledges US$2 billion for United Nations humanitarian aid programs for 2026, which will assist tens of millions facing hunger and disease in 17 countries (Reuters)

During 2025, the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has provided medical services to 77,000 refugees and locals in Yemen (Qatar Tribune)

The United Kingdom is set to introduce major 2026 reforms: employees gain rights to paternity leave, parental leave, and sick pay from their first day of employment; no-fault evictions end, meaning landlords can no longer remove tenants without giving a reason or proving any wrongdoing; junk food ads are banned before 9 pm on UK TV and banned all day on paid online platforms; new rules cover auto-renewing paid subscriptions, such as for software, by requiring clearer terms and prominent renewal reminders; and employment reforms to encourage or enable gender-pay-gap reporting and workplace well-being plans for menopausal women (Yahoo News UK)

US health officials confirm a measles case in a traveler at Newark Liberty International Airport [New Jersey, US] in mid-December and one in Boston Logan International Airport [Massachusetts, US] on Christmas Eve that could have infected many other fellow passengers as over 2,000 US cases have been reported in 2025 (Fox News)

Indian consumers boost searches for types of high-fiber, whole vegan foods for 2026 New Year resolutions, with Google Trends [tool indicating top search queries at Google Search] showing spikes for passion fruit, dates, and fermented vegetables and information on food for gut health (The Packer)

Hospitals across England, UK, deploy a AI [artificial intelligence] forecasting tool to predict emergency room demand peaks using historical data on weather, school holidays, and flu and COVID rates, thus helping plan personnel and bed requirements and reducing waiting times (Báo Tin tức)

Cyprus officials warn the island faces the fourth consecutive year of drought as dam water inflow since October 2025 reaches only around 1.7 million cubic meters, far below the over 10 million needed. Consumption now exceeds supply, shrinking reserves and heightening risk to communities and tourism (Express)

Farmer-led volunteers in southern Hungary’s Great Plain region redirect purified thermal water from a local spa to help restore groundwater. They are flooding a 2.5-hectare site that will aid in addressing accelerating desertification linked to climate change and poor land use practices (AP)

Iran’s Red Crescent reports at least 4 deaths and 9 missing after two days of winter flooding and blizzards hit over 20 provinces, with more than 23,000 receiving emergency aid (Báo Tri thức và Cuộc sống)

Severe storms dump over 100 millimeters of rain on Andalusia [Spain] in under 24 hours, triggering flash floods and landslides that kill three people in Málaga and Granada provinces (The Watchers)

Cyprus allocates €636,899 to municipalities expanding recycling and the Pay-As-You-Throw system, where households pay only for the non-recyclable waste they produce. The funding supports separate collection and helps meet European Union recycling targets (en.philenews)

Ecuador will further protect its mangrove ecosystems through the Mangroves for Climate project with a US$4 million grant from the Green Climate Fund (Noticias Ambientales)

Police in Phoenix [US] arrest an alleged dog-person breeder after authorities find three dead dog-people and rescue several dog-individuals suffering from severe lack of care in his apartments (WWSB)

Police in Morgantown [US] arrest a man who faces animal-people cruelty charges after officers find a critically injured 12-week-old puppy during a domestic dispute (WVVA)

South Korean scientists unveil the Pohang University of Science and Technology lithium-metal battery system, offering four times the energy storage of today’s standard electric vehicle batteries and maintaining over 99% efficiency after 300 charge-discharge cycles (Người Quan Sát)

Montenegro launches its first satellite, Luča, into low Earth orbit for cosmic radiation measurement, marking a major national scientific milestone (Vijesti)

Researchers in Texas [US] and South Korea develop a water purifier with a reusable copper-aluminum material that captures and destroys per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—so-called “forever chemicals”— over 1,000 times more effectively and far faster than current methods (Good News Network)

Turkish singer Tan Taşçı (vegan) promotes veganism on social media by showing a clip of him feeding sheep-people at his nature-centered home in Bodrum [Türkiye] and using a “be vegan” tag for the video (Haberler)

The Goa Animal Liberation Movement in Panaji [Goa, India] stages the 4th annual Goa Animal Liberation March with symbolic role-play showing caged humans and participants dressed as free animal-people to promote veganism and end speciesism (Goemparkonn)

Ski resorts across Europe, North America, and Japan now have more vegan-friendly hotels and dining options at popular destinations including Italy’s Dolomites, Austria’s Tirol, Aspen [US], and Whistler [Canada] (VegNews)

Dog caregivers in Sweden book airport hotel rooms to shield their animal-people companions from New Year’s fireworks stress, as areas within a 16-kilometer radius of airports are firework-free zones. Over 500 pet-friendly rooms near Arlanda and Landvetter airports sell out within hours (Sweden Herald)

Singapore-based marriage counselor Nur Amira Jumali plans to sell her car to fund her rescuing, neutering, feeding, and sheltering of stray cat-people in Johor Bahru [Malaysia]. She runs a shelter there and has helped at least 1,000 cat-persons in the city since late 2022 (CNA Asia)

Three residents in Bắc Gianh Ward [Âu Lạc (Vietnam)] jump into Gia Hy canal’s cold rushing water and successfully rescue two adults and a child who fell in during heavy rain (VTV)

I started finding myself going into this expanded state of consciousness, and the thought kind of came to my mind, “I really thought this one was going to go more than 13 years.” American near-death experiencer Ishtar Ishaya shares how he died at 13 in a car accident, experienced infinite love, and felt his mother’s spirit leave her body.

Ishtar was riding in the car with his mother after dropping his sister at her movie theater job. As they pulled out to cross a four-lane divided highway, a speeding Lincoln [car brand] was hidden by other vehicles. I was looking to my left to talk to my mother, and then, that moment, it was right about to hit us. I saw this big Lincoln right there, and it was so close and going so quick that my mind had time to register a couple of thoughts. Immediately, my whole system calmed down.

The thought kind of came to my mind, “I really thought this one was going to go more than 13 years.” But I pretty much felt through my whole body, “Ahh, the jig is up!” Then the whole “life flashing before one’s eyes” happened. I thought, “Is that even possible?” And sure enough, here it was just like a reel. Only this time, there was a sense that I was connected with this totally omniscient, completely objective consciousness. Only here it was as if I was completely united with it. And completely falling back into this vast spaciousness and letting go of everything. We looked through my life together. Any place where there was some sort of holding on, any place where I was wearing a mask, or I was acting out of fear, any grudges that I held or was holding on to, they were all seen clearly and then just forgiven. There was no harshness to the judgment. It was so matter-of-fact, and it was very palpable. It was like I was taking a fully experiential trip back through life.

It was as if every place of tightness or tension or resistance, which was the judgment or the pretense, all of those were clear that there was some sort of resistance against the river of life and where it was trying to take me. And it was taking me where it wanted anyway, I was just not enjoying the ride. As I was releasing all of it, it felt like it was being taken off me like the skin of a snake. With each step, there was just such a vast opening and such a vast peace, and joy and like a bliss. And when we got to the end, it was just the sense of being immersed in a field of infinite love.

Though only seconds passed, Ishtar experienced what felt like an eternity. It was as if all the veils were removed from my experience, and even when I looked at the dashboard or my mother’s shoulder, everything that was in my sort of perceptual view at the time —the sky, the beautiful clouds that were present that day, the face of the driver. And there was a sense that underneath all of this was this vast light, and this vast presence. And there was a sense that I was no longer simply just in this particular body, but I felt myself in all of those things – as this vast presence that was spread everywhere. And then, there was a recognition that this is life. This state of freedom, this state of not holding on, and not having all these barriers and masks. This was what life was meant to be.

Ishtar came to in the wreckage. His mother had taken the brunt of the impact. As paramedics cut the doors off with saws, Ishtar couldn’t remember his own name. While I was in the shoulder strap in the gurney, I had two points of awareness. There was the normal awareness of being in your body. I felt like I was also looking down on my body from the ceiling, but also I felt myself in the sky, and in the people, and in my mother. Immediately, her breathing went from this really labored breathing to this... letting it go. Letting it all go. And I felt her. I felt her leave and I didn’t register that as death. I felt as her breath went out. I felt her as if rising out of that body or becoming diffuse.

At the hospital, his father delivered the news. Though devastated, Ishtar retained the expanded consciousness. I could play with it. I could feel it in others. I could see it in the trees. I could relax back into the space, and when I would do that, bliss and joy would just flood my body.

There was clearly the damaged psyche of a 13-year-old who’d lost their mother. But at the same time, there was this bliss and joy, and even ancient wisdom, and intuitive, heightened intuition, and perceptions, and heightened empathy. People weren’t fooling me anymore. I could see more deeply into them. I could see that if my mother hadn’t died, I would probably have not reached some of the places that I’ve gone back to so quickly because the motivation simply might not have been there. The wound within the wounds are the blessings for so many of us.

Enlightening quote of the day: “In shallow men, the fish of little thoughts cause much commotion. In oceanic minds, the whales of inspiration make hardly a ruffle.” – The Venerated Enlightened Master Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri (vegetarian)