“A U.S. appeals court on Friday declared unconstitutional a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for Congress to exercise its power to tax. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members. They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create an apple-pie-vodka recipe. The ban was part of a law passed during Reconstruction in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.” (04/10/26)
“Negotiators from Iran and the United States prepared Friday for high-level talks planned to start a day later in Islamabad, seeking to steady a ceasefire teetering over Israel and Hezbollah exchanging fire and Tehran’s chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Vice President JD Vance was set to take off from Washington, with Iran still remaining mum over its team as it tried to pressure Washington to halt Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, claimed that talks would ‘remain suspended”’ otherwise. Meanwhile, Kuwait said it faced a drone attack Thursday night that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region.” (04/10/26)
“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a 32-hour ceasefire over a two-day period for Orthodox Easter and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv would abide by the measure. The ceasefire for Orthodox Easter celebrations on Sunday coincides with a pause in U.S.-led efforts to clinch a settlement to the four-year-old conflict amid hostilities in Iran and the broader Middle East. Putin’s announcement was similar to a 30-hour ceasefire he ordered last year. Each side accused the other of violating it.” (04/09/26)
“U.S. applications for unemployment benefits rose last week before Iran, Israel and the U.S. announced a two-week ceasefire deal that injected a degree of optimism into a still-clouded global economic picture. The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending April 4 jumped by 16,000 to 219,000 from the previous week’s 203,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s more than the 210,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting but within the range of the past several years. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” 904/09/26)
“A StarkWare researcher has proposed Quantum Safe Bitcoin, a hash-based scheme that can make bitcoin transactions resistant to quantum attacks today without changing the Bitcoin protocol. The method works within existing consensus rules but requires massive off-chain GPU computation, driving estimated costs to $75 to $200 per transaction and making it far more complex than standard payments. Framed as a last-resort emergency tool rather than a permanent fix, QSB contrasts with long-term proposals like BIP-360, which seek protocol-level quantum resistance but are likely years away from activation.” (04/10/26)
“The Artemis 2 astronauts have hit the midway point in their journey back to Earth from the moon, according to NASA. The quartet — NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen — remain on track arrive at their home planet on Friday evening (April 10). … Orion’s return trajectory plan for Artemis 2 was altered after the heat shield on Artemis 1 experienced unexpected char and material losses during atmospheric reentry. Now, rather than hitting the atmosphere head-on, Orion will perform what’s called a ‘lofted’ reentry, dipping down into the atmosphere briefly, before delving back down for its final descent — similar to a stone skipping once across a pond before sinking beneath the water.” (04/09/26)
“Meta on Thursday began removing advertisements from attorneys who were seeking clients that claim to have been harmed by social media while under the age of 18. This comes just two weeks after Meta and YouTube were found negligent in a landmark California case about social media addiction [sic]. Lawyers across the country now are seeking new plaintiffs, in the hopes of bringing a class action lawsuit that could result in lucrative verdicts. … ‘We’re actively defending ourselves against these lawsuits and are removing ads that attempt to recruit plaintiffs for them,’ a Meta spokesperson tells Axios. ‘We will not allow trial lawyers to profit from our platforms while simultaneously claiming they are harmful.'” (04/09/26)
“Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday effectively criminalized the activities of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning rights group Memorial, the latest step in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent and civil society organizations in the country amid its war in Ukraine. Separately, police in Moscow raided the offices of the prominent independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose chief editor Dmitry Muratov was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2021. The newspaper said its lawyers were not allowed inside the office. … Memorial is one of the oldest and the most renowned Russian human rights organizations. It was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, less than a year after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, alongside Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, who was imprisoned at the time, and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties.” (04/09/26)
“The first major outlook for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season was released Thursday morning as researchers at Colorado State University forecast a near- or below-average season, with fewer hurricanes than typical and a lesser chance of impacts for this region of the United States. In his first long-range forecast for the year, renowned hurricane specialist Phil Klotzbach predicted 13 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes, slightly less than the long-term seasonal average of 14.4 named storms, 7.2 hurricanes and 3.2 major hurricanes. … The driving factor is a burgeoning El Niño, which may even become a super El Niño. El Niño begins as a warming of waters in the eastern/central tropical Pacific. … El Niño patterns are linked to quieter-than-average Atlantic hurricane seasons.” (04/09/26)
“Venezuelan police fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse around 2,000 protesters who marched towards the presidential palace to demand salary increases, AFP reporters said. ‘Let’s go to Miraflores!’ the demonstrators shouted as they pressed long-standing demands for increases to wages so low that many struggle to survive. Riot police with helmets and shields attempted to drive back the protesters as they made their way through central Caracas, a few kilometres from the presidential palace. The protests reflect growing anger in Venezuela over the failure of acting President Delcy Rodriguez to set out concrete plans to address the situation. On Wednesday, she went on television to announce a wage increase on May 1 but did not disclose the amount.” (04/09/26)
