“In a rare move on Thursday, the Supreme Court spared the life of an ‘intellectually disabled’ death row inmate, dismissing an appeal by Alabama officials who claimed the man’s multiple IQ scores show he is competent and eligible for execution. The justices were narrowly divided, 5-4, in allowing a lower court ruling to stand that determined death for Joseph Clifton Smith, a convicted first-degree murderer, would violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition of ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment. The high court did not formally explain its decision. … Two lower federal courts ruled that a holistic analysis of Smith’s IQ scores and other evidence, including his behavioral history and school records, proved he is intellectually disabled.” (05/21/26)
“A Tennessee man who was jailed for more than month following his arrest over a Facebook post related to the killing of Charlie Kirk has settled an ‘unlawful incarceration’ lawsuit for $835,000 (£621,000). Larry Bushart, a retired police officer, spent 37 days behind bars before authorities dropped the felony charges against him, during which he lost his post-retirement job and missed the birth of his grandchild. He was arrested last September by the Perry County Sheriff’s Office for sharing a meme in a thread about a vigil honouring the conservative activist. ‘I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,’ Bushart said in a statement announcing the settlement on Wednesday. ‘The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy,’ his statement went on to say. ‘I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.'” (05/21/26)
“The Israeli government said Thursday that hundreds of flotilla activists who attempted to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza have all been released and deported. Outrage abroad over the activists’ treatment prompted several countries to summon Israeli envoys to hear their concerns. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that ‘all foreign activists’ from the flotilla had been deported. They were being flown out of Israel from a civilian airport near the southern Israeli city of Eilat, according to the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah.” (05/21/26)
“SpaceX tried to launch its new Starship V3 megarocket for the first time ever this evening (May 21), from the company’s Starbase site in South Texas. Technical issues cropped up late in the countdown, however, and SpaceX couldn’t resolve them in time to get Starship V3 off the ground. … the next opportunity for a liftoff is Friday evening (May 22), likely in the same window as today’s try — 6:30 p.m. EDT to 8 p.m. EDT (2230 to 0000 GMT). … Starship is a fully reusable vehicle consisting of two stages — a giant booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship, or simply Ship. SpaceX is developing Starship to help humanity colonize the moon and Mars, finish deploying its Starlink megaconstellation in Earth orbit and do pretty much everything else the company wants to do in the final frontier.” (05/21/26)
“The British government is offering cheaper chocolate and discounted entry to theme parks as it seeks to ease a cost-of-living squeeze and win back voters. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves on Thursday announced modest handouts to help alleviate rising costs sparked by the Iran war, including a reduction in import tax on cookies, chocolate and about 100 other supermarket products. U.K. inflation fell to 2.8% in April, down from 3.3% in March, but is expected to spike again on the back of higher prices for fuel, heating gas and electricity. To ease the impact, the government has postponed a planned increase in fuel duty and given truckers a yearlong reprieve from road tax to help offset soaring gasoline prices due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transit route. But Reeves did not commit to broader support for household heating bills.” (05/21/26)
“A Turkish court on Thursday issued a ruling that effectively removed the head of the country’s main opposition party by annulling a 2023 congress that elected him. The move deals a serious blow to the beleaguered Republican People’s Party, or CHP, as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials. An appeals court in Turkey’s capital Ankara declared the CHP congress that picked Ozgur Ozel as chairman to be null, ordering that he should be replaced by his predecessor Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Last year, a lower court ruled against claims of irregularities and misconduct surrounding Ozel’s election but Thursday’s decision overturned the original verdict.” (05/21/26)
“Fraudsters behind the notorious ‘Quality Learing Center’ day care facility in Minnesota raked in nearly a quarter of a million dollars worth of pandemic-era loans from the Small Business Administration, according to a senator’s investigation. That day care center, which had a misspelled name and a near-empty parking lot when YouTuber Nick Shirley stopped by for his viral video last year, became the poster child of the fraud scandal that rocked Minnesota. The facility, which shuttered in January, had garnered some $1.9 million from Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program last year and some $10 million in state funding since 2019. But a probe by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) found that it had also received federal assistance from the Small Business Administration back in April and May 2020 during the first Trump administration.” (05/21/26)
“China has called on the US to stop using ‘coercion’ and ‘threats’ against its ally Cuba, after Washington indicted former leader Raúl Castro on murder charges. An American court has accused the 94-year-old former president of conspiracy to kill US nationals over the 1996 downing of two planes, an incident which killed four people and fuelled diplomatic tensions between Washington and the Caribbean island. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to exert pressure on Cuba and has openly discussed toppling its communist regime. On Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the US should ‘stop threatening force at every turn,’ and that Beijing ‘firmly supports Cuba.'” (05/21/26)
“A judge on Thursday dismissed all charges against a former school administrator accused of ignoring repeated warnings that a 6-year-old had a gun hours before a teacher was shot. Acting on a defense motion, Circuit Judge Rebecca Robinson in Newport News, Virginia, issued the ruling on the fourth day of the trial of Ebony Parker, who was charged with eight felony counts of child neglect. ‘The court is of the legal opinion that this is not a crime,’ Robinson said. The former assistant principal was charged in the January 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News that left teacher Abby Zwerner wounded. Prosecutors had said the charges were for each of the bullets in the gun brought into Zwerner ’s classroom. Each count could have carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon conviction.” (05/21/26)
“It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young Indians are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach — known for its ability to survive harsh conditions — as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, set up its website and social media accounts on Saturday. By Thursday, its Instagram page had amassed more than 15 million followers, far surpassing the 8.8 million followers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party on the platform.” (05/21/26)
