“Iranians were finally able to call the outside world on Tuesday morning, over four and a half days after Iran’s clerical regime imposed a communications blackout to suppress growing anti-government protests. People were able to make international phone calls on their mobile phones for the first time since Friday. But people from outside Iran were unable to make calls into the country. The internet and text messaging were also still blocked. The blackout has been in effect for over 108 hours, according to monitor Netblocks. The communications blackout was imposed as Iranian authorities began a violent crackdown to suppress the uprising sweeping the nation. Over 648 people have been killed, Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Monday.” (01/13/26)
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are jointly suing the Trump administration over the influx of federal immigration agents taking over the Twin Cities. The lawsuit seeks to stop the ‘unprecedented surge’ of more than 2,000 federal agents deployed by the Department of Homeland Security that has resulted in the [murder] of a 37-year-old mother and countless claims of civil rights abuses since Department of Homeland Security forces began taking hold in Minnesota late last year. The filing further accuses the federal government of violating the 10th Amendment of the Constitution by usurping Minnesota’s right to police itself. Among the defendants named in the lawsuit are Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons; and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Cmdr. Greg Bovino.” (01/12/26)
“Russia launched a second major drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in four days, officials said Tuesday, aiming again at the power grid and apparently snubbing U.S.-led peace efforts as the war approaches the four-year mark. Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media. One strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region killed four people at a mail depot, and several hundred thousand households were without power in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said.” (01/13/26)
“Nearly 15,000 nurses are walking out of their hospital jobs early Monday morning and onto the picket line, in what their union says is the largest nursing strike in New York City history. New York State Nurses Association members working for Montefiore Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian and the Mount Sinai Health System are demanding salary increases to account for inflation while fighting to maintain protections against understaffing that they won after a three-day strike three years ago. They are also calling for new contract provisions on artificial intelligence and workplace violence. … The strike follows months of negotiations — most recently with a mediator — over new three-year contracts to replace the union’s prior collective bargaining agreements, which expired Dec. 31.” (01/12/26)
“Meta has removed more than half a million social media accounts belonging to Australians under the age of 16, the company said, as it announced its efforts to comply with the Oceanian nation’s new social media age ban. The law, introduced in late 2024, went into effect Dec. 4, requiring social media services to remove accounts held by those under the age of 16 and younger and block the creation of new accounts for youth under 16. … Meta, which has argued against the ban, said it is committed to complying with the law’s obligations, while arguing that the prohibition is linked to isolating vulnerable teens from online communities and driving some to less regulated apps and alternative parts of the Internet.” (01/12/26)
“After numerous bid rejections, Paramount Skydance is officially waging a proxy fight against Warner Bros. Discovery’s board. Paramount has refused to increase the price of its offer for WBD, arguing its bid is financially superior to Netflix’s. It’s now become clear that it believes its best path to winning WBD is through legal pressure. Paramount on Monday sent a letter to WBD shareholders saying it intends to nominate directors for WBD’s board and that it filed a lawsuit to force the company to disclose ‘basic information” about the bidding process to enable shareholders to “to make an informed decision as to whether to tender their shares into our offer.'” (01/12/26)
“The government of Greenland has firmly rejected threats from United States President Donald Trump, stating that it will not accept a US takeover under ‘any circumstance.’ The self-governed Danish territory also underscored its NATO membership in a statement on Monday, saying that the territory’s defence falls to the transatlantic alliance. … Trump has continued to insist that he will seize Greenland, threatening that the territory will be brought under US control ‘one way or another.’ Those threats have sparked outrage from European allies who have warned that any takeover of Greenland would have serious repercussions for ties between the US and Europe.” (01/12/26)
“Pope Leo XIV met with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado in a private audience at the Vatican on Monday, during which the Venezuelan leader asked him to intercede for the release of hundreds of political prisoners held in the Latin American country. The meeting, which hadn’t been previously included in the list of Leo’s planned appointments, was later listed by the Vatican in its daily bulletin, without adding details. Machado is touring Europe and the United States after she reemerged in December after 11 months in hiding to accept her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. … Pope Leo has called for Venezuela to remain an independent country after U.S. forces [abducted] former President Nicolás Maduro in his compound in Caracas and took him to New York to face federal charges of drug-trafficking.” (01/12/26)
“Bathers found five severed heads displayed on a beach in Ecuador in what appears to be a warning to gang members who have been threatening local fishermen. The gruesome discovery was made on Sunday on the beachfront in Puerto López, a town which has been wracked by gang violence. Next to the body parts, locals found a sign threatening those stealing from and extorting fishermen with the same fate. Ports and towns by the Pacific Ocean are among those worst hit by gangs which smuggle cocaine from Ecuador to the US and Europe. Police have identified the remains as those of five men who had been reported missing days earlier. They ranged between 20 and 34 years in age. Officials told local media one of them had a criminal record for gun possession. Their bodies have not yet been located.” (01/12/26)
“Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, is questioning the ‘credibility’ of the Department of Justice’s investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and threatening to oppose President Trump’s nominees to the central bank until the matter is resolved. ‘If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none. It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question,’ Tillis said in a statement. He also vowed to keep Trump’s nominees to the Fed bottled up in the Banking Committee over the matter.” (01/12/26)
