“One of Russia’s top nuclear generals is clinging to life after a suspected Ukrainian assassination attempt outside his home. Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, 56, was being driven out of his property when a would-be assassin pulled up next to him and opened fire in Saratov, Russia. The close ally of Vladimir Putin accused of ordering a deadly missile strike on Kyiv’s children hospital, was hit in the face and chest, reported Kanal 24, a Ukrainian news outlet. His driver reportedly managed to escape, later returning to the scene and calling for an ambulance. Varpakhovich was left in critical condition and was flown to Moscow on a medical evacuation flight, the report said. The gunman has not been found.” (09/03/26)
“Wall Street billionaire Leon Black on Thursday sued a congressional committee that had ordered him to provide lawmakers with copies of non-disclosure agreements as part of a probe into the activities of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In June, Black refused to answer questions from lawmakers about victims of Epstein’s abuse and the agreements. He declined to appear at a deposition the committee had scheduled for Thursday. He accused lawmakers of exceeding their constitutional authority when they subpoenaed him to provide the agreements. … Black is one of several prominent political and business figures who have been called to testify about their ties to the late financier. Black relinquished the chief executive role at Apollo in 2021 after an external law firm found he had paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning.” (09/03/26)
“Two Palestinian teenagers have been killed during a raid by [squatters] and Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. The killings occurred during a raid in al-Mughayyir on Wednesday. The village has been the site of repeated attacks by illegal Israeli [squatters] and Israeli forces in recent months. The Palestinian Wafa news agency, citing the head of the village council, identified the victims as Mohammad Na’ssan and Khalil Abu Aliya, both 19 years old. As residents tried to confront the [squatters], Israeli soldiers opened fire on the residents, critically wounding two young men, he said. They later died from the wounds. Sources from the village told Al Jazeera that snipers had taken positions on rooftops in the village ahead of the killings.” (09/03/26)
“A judge has again told the deadlocked jury in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial to keep trying to reach a verdict after a dramatic sixth day of deliberations. Tensions flared in court after the jury forewoman sent the judge a note saying one juror would not follow the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt.
The defence team asked for the holdout to be removed, a request that was denied by the judge. Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan – at her Massachusetts family home on 24 January 2023. … If the jury does not reach a verdict and Judge Sullivan declares a mistrial, prosecutors would need to decide whether to retry the case.” (09/03/26)
“In a country where governments are famously short-lived, the perceived success of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has often been attributed to her survival skills rather than her accomplishments. On Thursday, after 1,413 days — nearly four years — Meloni’s conservative administration became Italy’s longest-serving uninterrupted government since World War II, surpassing the record set by the late Silvio Berlusconi between 2001 and 2005. None of Italy’s 68 governments in the country’s 80 years as a republic has yet to complete a five-year term without interruption. Berlusconi came closest, but a government crisis forced him to resign briefly in 2005 before forming a new Cabinet. Meloni and her party will celebrate their feat on Friday with a large preelection rally in the southern city of Bari.” (09/03/26)
“More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs are still rare and jobless claims remain at historically low levels. The Labor Department reported Thursday filings for benefits ticked up to 206,000 last week from a revised 204,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose modestly to 207,250 last week. Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have mostly stayed within a historically low range of 200,000 to 230,000 a week.” (09/03/26)
“Renewed fighting erupted early Thursday between government forces and militias on the outskirts of Somalia’s southwestern city of Baidoa, with reports of heavy gunfire and civilians fleeing their homes. Somalia’s Defense Ministry said government forces responded to an attack by fighters loyal to former South West state President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen and the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab. The clashes are the latest escalation in a political and security dispute between Somalia’s federal government and Laftagareen over control of South West state. Federal forces took control of Baidoa on March 30, after which Laftagareen resigned. He had governed the state since 2018.” (09/03/26)
“Thirty-three Democrats in the U.S. House joined nearly all Republicans to pass a bill Thursday that would require colleges and universities to certify that they are not engaged in a ‘nonexpressive commercial boycott’ of Israel in order to receive federal funding. The legislation was endorsed by pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, while most liberal Jewish groups, including J Street and Democratic leadership, opposed the measure. The Republican-majority chamber voted 237-169 in favor of the ‘Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act,’ which would have to pass the Senate to become law.” (09/03/26)
“Nvidia announced on Thursday that it has agreed to acquire open-source AI company Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. The acquisition will bring a platform that is used by 18 million people, including researchers and developers, under Nvidia’s ownership. Hugging Face has been used to share more than 3 million models, 500,000 datasets and 1 million applications, Nvidia said in a blog post.” (09/03/26)
“Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur resigned Wednesday evening after national auditors accused his ministry of spending irregularities and a scandal involving undelivered ammunition for Ukraine. The center-right politician, who has served as minister since 2022, said he would step down one day after after reports emerged that his ministry had awarded a €70 million artillery contract to an Indian company with no record of ammunition sales. Estonia took the case to the European Court of Arbitration after the shells were not delivered. … Pevkur faced calls to resign after Estonia’s national audit office last month found ‘serious problems’ in the use of funds and accounting of assets in the defense ministry. The watchdog made similar claims last year.” (09/03/26)
