Ireland Finishes 2025 Without Gun Deaths, Mamdani Reverses Executive Orders and More New Year Updates
To close out the first day of the new year, we’re bringing you an evening update with several significant developments, from a decisive move by New York’s new mayor to continued protests in Iran and a historic milestone in Ireland.
Mamdani rescinds all Eric Adams executive orders
New York’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, began his first full day in office by rescinding all executive orders issued by former Mayor Eric Adams after September 26, 2024, the date Adams was federally indicted. The move effectively wipes out a slate of late-term directives signed during the final months of Adams’s administration and signals a clean institutional break rather than a piecemeal review. This move blocks the former mayor’s attempt to block any attempt to boycott Israel, which was an executive order signed just last month.
Mamdani has called the action as a reset, arguing that decisions made under an indicted mayor lack democratic legitimacy and should not bind the next administration. It is an unusually blunt opening move, but one that makes clear this administration intends to govern on its own terms, and without carrying forward the baggage of the Adams era, exactly as New Yorkers demanded.
No gun deaths in Ireland in 2025
Ireland entered 2026 having recorded no gun-related deaths during the entirety of 2025, a rare outcome in the modern history of the state and a sharp break from the gangland violence that defined much of the 2010s. While firearm-related offences and seizures continued throughout the year, there were no confirmed cases in which a shooting resulted in a fatality, a first for the country since 1968
The absence of gun deaths has been attributed to a sustained crackdown on organised crime, long prison sentences for key figures, and the effective dismantling of networks linked to previous gangland feuds.
Officials have cautioned against complacency, noting that the conditions which fuelled past violence have not disappeared entirely. However, it’s hard not to celebrate the fact that Ireland closed 2025 without a single gun death, underscoring how exceptional the country’s firearm-related homicide rate remains by international standards, especially with the memory of Bondi Beach and the many many US mass shootings fresh in our memories.
U.S. MQ-9 remnant reportedly found in Venezuela
Miami-based Telemundo 51 reported on Wednesday that remnants believed to be from a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone were found inside Venezuela, citing sources and images circulated locally. According to the report, debris consistent with a U.S.-manufactured unmanned aerial vehicle was recovered, which, if true, would be the first piece of concrete evidence that a U.S. attack on Venezuela occured.
The MQ-9 Reaper is a long-range, armed surveillance platform typically operated by the U.S. Air Force and CIA, the latter of whom are reported to be behind the attack.
While officials in Washington continue to insist that the USA has indeed struck a facility in Venezuela, both the government and media in the South American country have denied such an attack has taken place, while the facility in question claims an electrical fire occurred, not a drone strike.
Moscow asks Trump to stop persueing oil tanker
Moscow has asked the United States to halt its pursuit of an oil tanker, that U.S. authorities say is linked to sanctions-evading oil shipments, according to reporting by NYT. The tanker, the Bella 1, has been chased by the U.S. military for 2 weeks, as a part of the USA’s illegal blockade of Venezuela.
The request was delivered through diplomatic channels after U.S. forces attempted to board the vessel near Venezuelan waters, only for the tanker to flee and later claim Russian registration. U.S. officials have described the ship as stateless at the time of interception and therefore subject to enforcement action, while Russia argues that the pursuit should stop now that the vessel is flying a Russian flag, now that the crew has painted a Russian flag on the side of the ship.
Protests in Iran escelate
Iran’s wave of protests entered a fifth consecutive day with unrest triggered by deepening economic hardship spreading into multiple provinces and cities across the country. The widespread protests began as strikes and demonstrations by shopkeepers and bazaar merchants in Tehran over a collapsing currency and soaring prices has now drawn broader participation, including students and ordinary citizens, as frustration with inflation and deteriorating living standards intensifies. There is a lot of talk online about the influence of Israeli intelligence and media in the protests, and while certainly true on some level, there is a longstanding unhappiness with the Iranian regime over significant portions of the population, as demonstrated by years of protests.
Clashes between protesters and security forces have so far resulted in multiple deaths and hundreds of injuries. Fars and other outlets reported at least three protesters killed and dozens wounded in western provinces, where the protests have mostly concentrated. Authorities have also arrested dozens of demonstrators in Tehran and elsewhere under charges of disturbing public order.
 |
|
Spell check malfunction?