“Senators unanimously approved a resolution Thursday to withhold their pay during government shutdowns, an attempt to make federal closures financially painful for lawmakers after a string of record-breaking impasses in the past year. The bipartisan support for the measure comes at a time when federal closures have become longer and more frequent, frustrating lawmakers who say there should be punishment when Congress fails at its most basic legislative duty. Under the resolution, senators’ pay would be withheld by the secretary of the Senate whenever a government shutdown affects one or more agencies, then released once funding is restored. It will take effect the day after the Nov. 3 general election. ‘Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences,’ said Sen. John Kennedy [R-LA], the bill’s sponsor, in a floor speech Wednesday.” (05/14/26)
“Latvian center-right Prime Minister Evika Silina announced her resignation on Thursday, after the Progressives Party, her left-leaning coalition partner, pulled support from the government and left her without a majority. Her resignation came after Latvia’s Defense Minister Andris Spruds, from the Progressives Party, was forced to resign last week over the government’s handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine crossing into Latvian territory. Silina said at the time Spruds had lost her trust and that of the public.” (05/14/26)
“Apple is on Google’s side when it comes the latter’s criticisms against the European Union’s proposals which would give third-party AI services the same level of access to Android that Gemini has. The European Commission has been taking steps to ensure that Google complies with the rules of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In January, it told the company that it has to give external AI assistants the same access to Android its own technology has and to hand over ‘anonymized ranking, query, click and view data held by Google Search’ to rival search engines. … According to Reuters, Apple echoed Google’s statement that allowing competing AI services complete access to Android would undermine European users’ privacy. It would, for instance, allow them to interact with the apps people use to send emails, order food or share photos.” (05/14/26)
“A vessel reportedly operating as a ‘floating armoury’ in the Gulf of Oman has been seized by Iranian military personnel, according to the maritime risk management company Vanguard. The ship is now ‘bound for Iranian territorial waters,’ the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation said. BBC Verify has checked ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic which shows the vessel – identified by Vanguard as the Honduras-flagged Hui Chuan — last broadcast its location 70km (40 miles) north-east of Fujairah in the UAE on Wednesday. Hui Chuan’s operators told Vanguard it was operating as a floating armoury which stores weapons for security firms who protect ships at sea from attack by pirates. BBC Verify cannot confirm what was on the ship or who it was used by.” (05/14/26)
“The Cuban government says it is open to reviewing a US offer of $100m (£74m) in aid, hours after rare protests over worsening power cuts erupted on the Communist-run island. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said on Thursday that Cuba was ‘ready to hear the details of the proposal and how it would be implemented’. The shortages have been exacerbated by a US-imposed blockade of oil which has squeezed the country’s supplies of essentials such as diesel and fuel oil. Hospitals have been unable to function normally, and schools and government offices have been forced to close. Tourism, an economic engine for Cuba, has also been impacted.” (05/14/26)
“Bay Area health officials are warning the public of an unusual surge in mushroom poisonings across the region and state, including the latest cases in Napa County. Over the weekend, three adults were hospitalized after eating wild mushrooms they collected in the rural area of Deer Park, the county’s Health and Human Services Agency said in a Tuesday news release. The three people were not Napa County residents and were foraging mushrooms specifically between Deer Park Road, Fawn Road and Silverado Trail. The agency said the poisonings are part of an ‘unprecedented outbreak’ of mushroom-related illnesses and deaths across California. According to the California Department of Public Health, there have been 47 cases, including four deaths, since Nov. 18, 2025. Of these cases, hospitalizations occurred in six Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma.” (05/14/26)
“A New York man was found guilty on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after a trial over federal prosecutors’ allegations that he operated a ‘secret police station’ on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Lu Jianwang, 64, should have alerted the U.S. Attorney General that he was a Chinese agent when he helped open the so-called police station in 2022. They also said he helped China’s government locate a pro-democracy activist living in California. Lu was arrested in April 2023. He had pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges he faced: conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent, acting as an unregistered agent of China, and obstruction of justice. A jury in Brooklyn federal court reached the verdict after a weeklong trial.” (05/13/26)
“The munchies are one of marijuana’s most famous effects, with countless movies playing up the trope that smoking weed leads to uncontrollable hunger. But a new study is showing that cannabis could actually have surprising effects on your waistline. Researchers at UC Riverside gave cannabis to obese mice and found that not only did the rodents lose weight, but when given a concentrated cannabis oil, the mice also saw striking benefits in their metabolic function. Nicholas DiPatrizio, a UC Riverside professor and the lead author of the study, said he thinks the work could lead to cannabis-based diet therapies. ‘We can develop molecules that can be cannabis based, isolate them and maybe even do better than nature. We are just at the beginning,’ DiPatrizio told SFGATE.” (05/14/26)
“Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that reports claiming the CIA was involved in a recent targeted assassination outside Mexico City were ‘fictions the size of the universe.’ CNN and the New York Times reported Tuesday that the CIA was involved in the targeted car bombing of a mid-level Sinaloa cartel member on March 28. … Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Omar Harfuch immediately denied the reports Tuesday evening in a post on social media platform X. CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons followed Harfuch’s post with her own carrying the agency’s official denial.” (05/13/26)
“A NASA spacecraft chasing a rare metal asteroid swings past Mars this week for a gravity boost, snapping thousands of pictures as practice for the main encounter in 2029. Named Psyche like the asteroid it’s after, the robotic explorer will slingshot past the red planet at 12,333 mph (19,848 kph) on Friday. It will be an especially close flyby, with Psyche passing within 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) of Mars, equivalent to the distance between the U.S. east and west coasts. Then it will barrel toward the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that is home to its enticing target. All of the spacecraft’s science instruments will be on for the Mars pass. NASA’s two Mars rovers along with a small fleet of U.S. and European orbiters will make surface and atmospheric observations at the same time for comparison..” (05/14/26)
