“The U.S. State Department revoked the visas of members of a Mexican band after they projected the face of a drug cartel boss onto a large screen during a performance in the western state of Jalisco over the weekend. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who was U.S. ambassador to Mexico during the first Trump administration, said late Tuesday on social media that the work and tourism visas of members of Los Alegres del Barranco were revoked. … ‘I’m a firm believer in freedom of expression, but that doesn’t mean that expression should be free of consequences,’ Landau wrote on X. ‘The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists.'” (04/03/25)
“A North Dakota mayor resigned on Tuesday after an investigation into a lewd video he messaged to the city’s top attorney in January. Minot Mayor Tom Ross texted City Attorney Stefanie Stalheim a video of him masturbating shortly after the two talked on the phone about a police officer’s suicide, according to a report issued by the Minot City Council. Ross called Stalheim within minutes of sending the video, asking her to delete it without watching it and telling her it was intended for a girlfriend. The mayor stepped down from office the same day Minot legislators made the report into the incident public.” (04/02/25)
“Donald Trump has been ordered by a judge in England to pay more than £620,000 in legal costs after unsuccessfully suing a company over denied allegations he took part in ‘perverted’ sex acts. The US president brought a data protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence, a consultancy founded by a former MI6 officer, Christopher Steele, in 2022. Steele authored the report known as the Steele dossier …. Mrs Justice Steyn threw out the claim in February last year without ruling on the truth of the allegations, and ordered Trump to pay Orbis’s costs ‘of the entire claim’ including an initial payment of £290,000, which a hearing in January was told Trump had ‘decided not to pay.’ That led to him being prevented from taking part in a three-day hearing to decide the size of the total legal bill, after which Judge Rowley on Thursday ordered the US president to pay £626,058.98.” (04/03/25)
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office is once again ensnared in scandal after police arrested two of his close associates this week on suspicion of accepting money from Qatar to promote a positive image of the Gulf Arab state in Israel. The affair has gripped Israelis because Qatar, a country that many view as a patron of Hamas, and which has no formal diplomatic ties to Israel, appears to have penetrated the highest corridors of power. Qatar, which is a key mediator for Hamas in its ceasefire negotiations with Israel, denies backing the militant group. Netanyahu has given a statement to police on the matter but is not a suspect in the case, which he says is baseless and meant to topple his rule.” 904/02/25)
“Turkish police have detained 11 people as part of an investigation into social media calls for an economic boycott backed by the opposition following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, state media reported on Thursday. Prosecutors launched the probe on Tuesday, saying they were investigating individuals promoting economic boycotts on social and traditional media. The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said the calls sought to prevent a segment of the public from engaging in economic activity, citing potential violations of ‘laws against hate speech and inciting public hostility.'” (04/03/25)
“A Trump administration official said Thursday the United States is in talks with conflict-plagued Congo on developing its mineral resources under a deal that the Congolese president has said could help make his country safer. U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos, did not provide details of the potential deal following talks with Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa, but he said it could involve ‘multi-billion-dollar investments’. ‘You have heard about a minerals agreement. We have reviewed the Congo’s proposal,’ Boulos said. ‘I am pleased to announce that the president and I have agreed on a path forward for its development.’ American companies would be ‘operating transparently’ and ‘would stimulate local economies’. Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and smartphones. It also has substantial gold, diamond and copper reserves.” (04/03/25)
“Colombian police said Wednesday they had [stolen] nearly 49 tonnes of tin and coltan, a mineral used in smartphones, that had been illicitly extracted by leftist rebels and readied for shipment to China.
They valued the [theft], one of the biggest of illegally mined coltan in Colombia in years, at US$1.2 million. The police said the minerals, which are mined together, were extracted by dissident members of the now-defunct rebel Farc army in the jungle near the Venezuelan border.” (04/03/25)
“Mayor Eric Adams is opting out of New York City’s Democratic primary and running for reelection as an independent — embarking on narrow path as he further isolates himself from the city’s dominant political party. The mayor confirmed his plans exclusively to POLITICO. In an interview Monday, Adams said he would ‘mount a real independent campaign’ that relies on ‘a solid base of people’ outside Manhattan, with an emphasis on ethnic minorities who boosted him to victory four years ago. He lamented how the bribery charges federal prosecutors hit him with in September — which a judge dismissed Wednesday — ‘handcuffed’ him, and he promised to be ‘uninhibited’ on the campaign trail. … Absent extraordinary circumstances — like the crime wave of the 1990s that lifted Republican Rudy Giuliani, a former prosecutor, to office, or the Sept. 11 terror attacks that elevated self-funded billionaire Mike Bloomberg in 2001 — New Yorkers generally elect Democrats to lead their city.” (04/03/25)
“Several prominent pro-Israel social media accounts have accused ’60 Minutes’ host Lesley Stahl of being sympathetic to Hamas terrorists following a Sunday night interview she conducted with a hostage recently released by the militant group. Stahl asked Hamas hostage Keith Siegel whether his captors starved him on purpose or because they didn’t have enough food to give him. During the CBS News program, she spoke to several hostages who had recently been freed from the terror group’s clutches and returned to their families. Stahl spoke to Siegel, along with Tal Shalom and Yarden Bibas — the man whose wife and two young children were murdered while in captivity — learning details about their horrific experiences living in Hamas-controlled tunnels in Gaza. While Siegel discussed how his captors treated him, he stated that after his wife, Aviva, was released from captivity, Hamas became ‘very mean and very cruel and violent.'” (04/03/25)
“Scientists may have produced the strongest evidence yet that the shingles vaccine is linked to reduced dementia risk. Using the health records of more than 280,000 older adults in Wales, researchers found those who received the shingles vaccine were 20 per cent less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years than those who did not receive the vaccine. The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, build on other recent studies that have demonstrated associations between herpes virus infections and an increased risk of developing dementia.” (04/02/25)
