“When 26-year-old Umar Sofi received his acceptance letter from Columbia University’s School of Journalism, he thought the hardest part of his journey was over. After trying for three years, Mr Sofi had finally been admitted to his dream university and even secured a partial scholarship. He quit his job in anticipation of the big move. But on 27 May, when the US suddenly paused student visa appointments, the ground slipped from beneath his feet. … Some 2,000km (1,242 miles) away in Mumbai, 17-year-old Samita Garg (name changed on request) went through a similar ordeal. A day after she was accepted into a top US university to study biochemistry — her first step towards becoming a dermatologist — the US embassy halted student visa appointments.” (06/10/25)
“Georgia’s highest court on Tuesday overturned four rules passed by the State Election Board just before last year’s general election, ruling the board overstepped its authority and intruded on lawmaking power reserved for legislators under the state constitution. The state Supreme Court’s unanimous decision limits the future rulemaking ability of the State Election Board and other executive branch agencies of Georgia’s government. The board passed a slate of new rules in August and September that mostly had to do with processes after ballots are cast, spawning a flurry of lawsuits. President Donald Trump narrowly lost the state in 2020 and alleged without evidence that election fraud had cost him victory. Three Trump-endorsed Republicans hold the majority on the five-person State Election Board. The new rules brought an outcry that the board’s majority was trying to improperly use its power to help Trump.” (06/10/25)
“Namrata Nangia and her husband have been toying with the idea of having another child since their five-year-old daughter was born. But it always comes back to one question: ‘Can we afford it?’ She lives in Mumbai and works in pharmaceuticals, her husband works at a tyre company. But the costs of having one child are already overwhelming – school fees, the school bus, swimming lessons, even going to the GP is expensive. It was different when Namrata was growing up. ‘We just used to go to school, nothing extracurricular, but now you have to send your kid to swimming, you have to send them to drawing, you have to see what else they can do.’ According to a new report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN agency for reproductive rights, Namrata’s situation is becoming a global norm.” (06/10/25)
“President Donald Trump hosted a roundtable at the White House on Monday to promote a key feature of the sweeping Republican domestic policy bill — a provision that would provide every American newborn with a $1,000 investment account. The accounts, which the administration has dubbed ‘Trump Accounts,’ would be established for all US citizen children born between January 2025 and January 2029 under a pilot program included in the House-passed legislation. The government’s $1,000 contribution would be placed in an index fund tied to the overall stock market and managed by the child’s legal guardians. The accounts will start at $1,000 per child and guardians or other private entities can contribute up to $5,000 additional dollars every year throughout the child’s life.” (06/10/25)
“The Benicia-Martinez Railroad Drawbridge, a lofty Bay Area landmark for 95 years, has developed an altitude problem. The structure is too low for the speedier, more frequent trains that the Capitol Corridor intends to run in the future as part of its ambitious plan to boost rail between the Bay Area and Sacramento. The regional passenger service says the solution is to build a new, higher bridge either next to the current one or several miles west, between Crockett and Vallejo. Those plans are underway as the current structure awaits its fate. The problem is due to maritime traffic. The drawbridge’s vertical lift span rises several times a day to allow large ships to pass underneath. The lifts halt rail traffic for 20 minutes or more, according to a consultant’s report for the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, and ‘represent the second most significant cause of delays to [corridor] trains.'” (06/10/25)
“Samoa will head to the polls on Aug. 29, a half-year earlier than expected, after Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa’s government collapsed following a budget defeat in parliament late last month. Fiamē, who became the South Pacific island nation’s first female prime minister in 2021 and ended four decades of Human Rights Protection Party rule, now faces a three-way political battle that has ramifications far beyond Samoa. The snap election comes at a time of heightened geopolitical interest in the South Pacific, with Samoa viewed as a strategic player in the growing contest for regional influence between China and traditional partners like Australia and the United States.” (06/10/25)
“The customs officers at Brussels Airport were stunned. They had opened crates in the back of a lorry expecting to find a tonne of medical ketamine. But somewhere on its journey, the white powder had been switched for salt. After zigzagging hundreds of miles across Europe, the contents of the consignment had been verified five days earlier by customs officers at Schipol Airport in the Netherlands, ready for its road trip to Belgium. But somewhere between Amsterdam and Brussels the ketamine had vanished – the authorities believe most likely into the black market — replaced by the salt and freshly forged documents. While it is not known where the drug ended up, and no-one responsible has been caught, this case shows the increasingly elaborate methods crime gangs are using to traffic ketamine across Europe and into the UK.” (06/10/25)
“MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell took the stand Monday in the ongoing defamation trial against him, where he remained committed to his crusade against voting machines and his widely debunked conspiracy that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Lindell also continued his attacks against Eric Coomer, the former Dominion Voting Systems executive, even as he sought to distance himself from claims that he specifically coordinated attacks against Coomer at a 2021 convention Lindell organized about the conspiracy theory. Lindell attacked Coomer as merely seeking money and grinding a political ax.” (06/09/25)
“The Arizona Democratic Party moved over the weekend to bar billionaires and corporations from using their wealth to purchase primary elections, a key step for progressives who have been pushing the Democratic Party nationwide to curb the political influence of ultra-rich donors. A newly approved resolution, passed by voice vote at the Arizona Democratic Party’s State Committee meeting on Saturday, instructs the party to ‘establish a ‘People’s Primary’ policy to bar, to the greatest extent possible, the use of massive private wealth to buy or unduly influence our primary elections.’ Organizers and supporters said the resolution’s passage marks a significant victory for progressives who have been pushing Democratic leaders to target the outsize influence of big money on primary contests. The weekend vote marked the first time a state Democratic Party has formally committed to challenging big money in primaries, according to organizers.” (06/10/25)
“Israel deported activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday, the country’s Foreign Ministry said, a day after the Gaza-bound ship she was on was [stolen by Israeli pirates]. Thunberg left on a flight to France and was then headed to her home country of Sweden, the Foreign Ministry said in a post on X. It posted a photo of Thunberg, a climate activist who shuns air travel, seated on a plane. Thunberg was one of 12 passengers on the Madleen, a ship carrying aid to Gaza that was meant to protest Israel’s ongoing war there and shed light on the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group behind the journey. Israeli [pirates stole] the boat without incident early Monday about 200 kilometers (125 miles) off of Gaza’s coast, according to the coalition, which along with rights groups, said Israel’s actions were a violation of international law.” (06/10/25)
