“Attorney General Pam Bondi clashed with lawmakers during a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, with the department’s handling of its Jeffrey Epstein records and its attempts to prosecute critics of President Donald Trump causing the most tension. … At times, Bondi’s performance on Wednesday seemed targeted specifically for Trump. She appeared to be reading off pre-written talking points on occasion and sang Trump’s praises, calling him ‘the greatest president in American history.’ Wednesday’s hearing devolved into a series of shouting matches as Democrats peppered Bondi with questions about Epstein and survivors of his abuse, many of whom attended the proceedings. … Bondi, in turn, repeatedly accused Democrats of ‘theatrics’ and said that she would not ‘get in the gutter with these people,’ though she repeatedly lobbed personal attacks on Democratic lawmakers.” (02/11/26)
“Canada’s strict gun laws include a ban on assault-style firearms and a national freeze on the sale, purchase and transfer of handguns. The Canadian government has banned more than 2,500 makes and models of assault-style firearms in recent years. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an immediate ban of more than 1,500 models on May 1, 2020, two weeks after a gunman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia. The ban included two weapons used by that gunman as well as the AR-15 and other weapons that have been used in a number of mass shootings in the United States. ‘Canadians need more than thoughts and prayers,’ he said at the time. More than 12,000 guns were collected and destroyed as part of a compensation program for businesses that ran between November 2024 and April 2025. A similar program for individuals opened last month …. Those who do not participate must dispose of or permanently deactivate their prohibited guns before an amnesty period ends Oct. 30.” (02/11/25)
“Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie and seven others linked to a doomsday sect were issued with new charges on Wednesday over the deaths of 52 people whose bodies were found in shallow graves in southeast Kenya in 2025, a court charge sheet showed. Mackenzie and others were already facing charges including murder and terrorism in connection with the deaths of people whose bodies were exhumed earlier from Shakahola forest, in one of the world’s biggest cult-related disasters in recent history. Prosecutors say Mackenzie and his Good News International Church organised a cult in which they ordered followers to starve themselves and their children to death to go to heaven before the world ended. Mackenzie has denied the accusations.” (02/11/26)
“The Food and Drug Administration has declined to review Moderna’s application for the first mRNA-based flu vaccine, a decision that shocked the company and that comes as the agency plans to tighten federal vaccine approvals. The nation’s top vaccine regulator, Vinay Prasad, told Moderna that it lacked an ‘adequate and well-controlled’ study, the company said in a news release Tuesday. In a large clinical trial, the vaccine was compared with Fluarix, an approved standard-dose flu vaccine. Prasad’s letter did not detail concerns with the safety or efficacy of the vaccine, which Moderna was aiming to target for adults ages 50 and older. Moderna President Stephen Hoge said that the company had previously engaged with the FDA on the trial design and that the agency earlier indicated it would be acceptable.” (02/10/26)
“Ten people including the shooter are dead after an assailant opened fire at a high school in western Canada on Tuesday in one of the country’s deadliest mass casualty events in recent history. The attack brought to Canada the type of mass shooting more common in the neighboring United States, and was carried out by a shooter described as female, police said. Six people were found dead inside a high school in the town of Tumbler Ridge, in British Columbia, two more people were found dead at a residence believed to be connected to the incident, and another person died on the way to hospital, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.” (02/11/25)
“Florida has executed a 64-year-old man for the 1989 murder of a traveling salesman, the state’s first execution and the nation’s second of the year. Ronald Heath was administered a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on Tuesday evening and was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. EST, the state’s Department of Corrections said in a statement. Though Heath is Florida’s first execution of 2026, his death follows a record-setting 2025 in which the Sunshine State put 19 death row inmates to death, accounting for 40% of the 47 executions carried out nationwide that year.” (02/11/26)
“Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez has said that the country will not hold presidential elections in the immediate future, emphasising that the government’s current focus is on national stability. His comments came late on Monday in an interview published with the conservative outlet Newsmax in the United States. Presidential terms run for six years in Venezuela, and the last election was [stolen by the regime] in 2024. Newsmax host Rob Schmitt asked if that meant another election would not happen for another five years. ‘The only thing I could say is that there will not be an election in this immediate period of time where the stabilisation has to be achieved,’ Rodriguez replied.” (02/10/26)
“The San Francisco cryptocurrency startup Archblock just filed for bankruptcy, throwing millions of dollars into question and continuing a slog of legal woes. Archblock has been plagued with legal trouble over the past few years, facing fraud allegations from the Securities and Exchange Commission and in a civil lawsuit from another crypto company. On Friday, Archblock and its subsidiaries filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which lets a company reorganize its debts. The company’s filing makes its financials look dire: It estimates that its assets are worth between $1 million to $10 million, against liabilities between $100 million to $500 million. But one subsidiary, TrustToken, claims in its own filing to have $100 million to $500 million in assets against just $10 million to $50 million in debt. The other subsidiaries tack on millions more for each column — it’s as yet unclear how the overall company will aim to reorganize in this bankruptcy process.” (02/11/25)
“US singer Britney Spears has become the latest musician to sell the rights to her catalog that includes hits like ‘… Baby One More Time’ and ‘Oops! … I Did It Again,’ US media reported Tuesday. The deal is believed to be worth around $200 million, according to sources cited by celebrity site TMZ, though it said the exact amount is not detailed in legal documents. That sum would be comparable to the sale of Canadian singer Justin Bieber’s catalog in 2023. Spears, 44, joins a growing list of artists who have sold their music rights in recent years including Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, as well as Shakira and KISS.” (02/10/26)
“A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the Department of Justice that sought to obtain Michigan’s voter rolls, marking the latest judicial rejection in President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging attempts to gain access to voter data from states. The Justice Department has sued at least 23 states and the District of Columbia in its effort to obtain detailed voter information. In an opinion issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou, a Trump nominee, said the laws cited by the Justice Department in its complaint, including the Civil Rights Act of 1960, do not require the disclosure of the records it sought.” (02/10/26)
