“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday signed an accord with pan-European rights body the Council of Europe for establishing a special tribunal to try top officials responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The court would prosecute the ‘crime of aggression’ in the invasion, which Russia launched in February 2022, and could, in theory, try senior figures up to President Vladimir Putin. … The 46-member Council of Europe is not part of the EU and members include key non-EU European states such as Turkey, the UK and Ukraine. … European foreign ministers endorsed the creation of the tribunal in a meeting in Lviv in western Ukraine on May 9.” (06/25/25)
“It’s not difficult to attract the attention of government officials, especially if you have a relatively high profile in business, political activism, or journalism. That can lead to difficulty crossing borders, even in countries with relatively firm civil liberties protections, such as the United States. Officials at border crossings often have powers beyond those of police within the country, meaning that even returning citizens might have to submit to searches of their possessions and their electronic devices. But travelers can take steps to keep information safe and beyond the reach of nosy enforcers.” (06/25/25)
“U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing her of assaulting and interfering with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center during a congressional oversight visit at the facility. … A nearly two-minute video clip released by the Department of Homeland Security shows McIver at the facility inside a chain-link fence just before Baraka’s arrest on other side of the barrier, where other people were protesting. McIver and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor. The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word ‘Police.'” (06/25/25)
“Bad models and bad data created a killer pandemic of uncertain gravity that was later supposedly solved by shots tested with bad data and whose efficacy was further demonstrated by awful models and data. There is surely a lesson here. And yet the romance with bad models and bad data is not entirely over. There is evidence that a very similar scenario unfolded with regard to the claim that Iran was constructing a nuclear weapon, resulting in a hellfire of bombs and death in both Iran and Israel. The same sketchy claims, obscured in shape-shifting language that blurred crucial distinctions between intentions and realities, were generated by an AI model.” (06/25/25)
“Gunmen killed 10 people including children in an attack on a house in a central Mexican city plagued by cartel-related violence, authorities said Wednesday. Several others were wounded in the shooting on Tuesday night in Irapuato in Guanajuato state, the municipal government said in a statement. … Local media reported the shooting happened during a religious celebration, according to the Reuters news agency.” (06/25/25)
“Whenever a legal challenge to a given policy is decided, a discussion tends to arise as if the court is making a statement on the desirability of the policy itself. For example, after the US Court of International Trade struck down Trump’s tariffs enacted under the International Economic Policy Act (IEEPA) of 1977 (VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump), supporters of the tariffs took to social media to decry the court’s ruling as a ‘judicial coup’ against a vital policy. … On the Left, after the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v Wade in Dobbs, many decried the ruling as supporting bad policy (abortion restrictions). The argument they were making was that Dobbs wasn’t wrongly decided because the law was wrong, but because legal abortion is a desirable policy. But here’s the thing: courts do not exist to judge policy.” (06/25/25)
“Grocery giant Kroger revealed during its first-quarter earnings call this month that it will shut down about 60 underperforming stores over the next 18 months. At the same time, the company intends to open new locations throughout this year and the next. ‘We’re simplifying our business and reviewing areas that will not be meaningful to our future growth. Unfortunately, today, not all of our stores are delivering the sustainable results we need,’ said Kroger Chairman and Interim CEO Ronald Sargent in the June 20 earnings call. … The specific stores targeted for closure have not been officially confirmed.” (06/25/25)
