“A Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement at an immigration detention facility in Texas died after guards held him down and he stopped breathing, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday that ruled the death a homicide. Geraldo Lunas Campos died Jan. 3 following an altercation with guards. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) originally said the 55-year-old father of four was attempting suicide and the staff tried to save him. But a witness told The Associated Press last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious.” (01/22/26)
“Two prominent Tunisian columnists were sentenced on Thursday to three and a half years in prison each for money laundering and tax evasion, according to a relative and local media. The two men, Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies, have already been in detention for almost two years for statements considered critical of President Kais Saied’s government, made on radio, television programmes and social media. They were due to be released in January 2025 but have remained in custody on charges of money laundering and tax evasion.” (01/22/26)
“With Donald Trump’s actions in Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela, a foreign enemy could not invent a better chain of events to wreck the standing of the United States.” (01/22/26)
“France’s navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said. French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag. The French navy is escorting the ship to anchorage for more checks, the statement said. The tanker departed from the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it said.” (01/22/26)
“Of course it’s possible to insist that climate change isn’t a thing, if it is it’s of no matter, or that we’re not doing it. It’s also true that whatever the truth of any of that society as a whole insists it is, it is and we are therefore something must be done. At which point we should have had a carbon tax …. At which point we would be done. Lower petrol tax and raise, modestly, taxes elsewhere and we’ve solved climate change. All of which is, of course, just a repeat of the grand lesson of the 20th century. Those places which tried to use planning, direction and insistence as a method of economic management remained poor. All of those that used markets and prices to achieve the same end, that of economic management, became grossly rich by global or historical standards.” (01/22/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Tourism might have exacerbated Spain’s housing problem, but it’s not the root cause. The gap between sluggish supply and explosive demand has resulted in a deficit of around 700,000 homes. As a result, rental rates have doubled and house prices risen by 44% since 2020. In its last Financial Stability Report, released in November, the Bank of Spain identified historically low construction levels as a key factor in the deficit. … Still, it’s easier to blame tourists.” (01/22/26)
“Trump’s assault on the Federal Reserve demands a structural solution: rules-based monetary policy that protects central bank independence whilst delivering better economic results.” (01/22/26)
“The U.S. has finalized its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, one year after President Donald Trump announced America was ending its 78-year-old commitment, federal officials said Thursday. But it’s hardly a clean break. The U.S. owes more than $130 million to the global health agency, according to WHO. And Trump administration officials acknowledge that they haven’t finished working out some issues, such as lost access to data from other countries that could give America an early warning of a new pandemic. … In an executive order issued right after taking office, Trump said the U.S. was withdrawing from WHO due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises.” (01/22/26)
