“Ukraine struck three Russian oil rigs operating in the Caspian Sea on Sunday following Moscow’s large-scale bombardment over the weekend that left thousands without heat or power in Kyiv. Footage released by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) revealed the moment Kyiv launched three separate explosive drones overnight targeting drilling platforms belonging to Lukoil, one of Russia’s largest oil producers. … Ukraine has ramped up its attacks on Moscow’s oil and gas plants as a way to cripple Russia’s war machine after targeting oil rigs in the Caspian Sea last month. Along with the drone strikes on the oil rigs, Ukraine also targeted the Russian city of Voronezh on Sunday, killing one woman and injuring three others, according to regional Gov. Alexander Gusev.” (01/11/26)
“A Virginia man has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of planting two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national parties on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Brian J. Cole Jr., of Woodbridge, Virginia, entered the plea at a brief hearing on Friday. He is facing two counts of transporting and attempting to use explosives. Justice Department prosecutors have said that Cole confessed to placing pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters only hours before a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol. Cole said he hoped the explosives would detonate and ‘hoped there would be news about it,’ prosecutors wrote in court documents.” (01/10/26)
“X may soon provide more insight into how its algorithm works. On Saturday, Elon Musk posted on the platform to say that the company ‘will make the new X algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days.’ X’s recommendation algorithm has been the subject of investigations by France and the European Commission, the latter of which recently extended through 2026 a retention order that it sent to the company at the beginning of last year.” (01/10/26)
“The Conservatives say they would ban under-16s from accessing social media platforms if they win power, promising to follow the example of Australia, which became the first country to introduce the policy last month. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said her party would also seek to ban smartphones in schools if it entered office. Speaking to the BBC, she said many parents wanted to stop their children using social media but ‘don’t know how.'” [editor’s note: They’re about as likely to successfully repeal the laws of gravity – TLK] (01/11/26)
“The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Sunday that they agreed under a ceasefire to withdraw their fighters from the two districts they held in Aleppo after deadly clashes in the city. … The United States and the European Union on Saturday urged the Syrian government and Kurdish authorities to return to negotiations after days of clashes. The violence in Aleppo erupted after efforts to integrate the SDF’s de facto autonomous administration and military into the country’s new government stalled. Since the fighting began on Tuesday, at least 21 civilians have been killed, according to figures from both sides, while Aleppo’s governor said 155,000 people have been displaced.” (01/11/26)
“The organization that oversees the Nobel Peace Prize rejected recent suggestions that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado could give or share her award with President Donald Trump. The Norwegian Nobel Institute shut down the idea Friday, after Machado suggested that she might transfer the prestigious award to Trump earlier this week. ‘Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others,’ the institute said in a statement. ‘The decision is final and stands for all time.’ The statement comes after Machado floated the idea during an appearance Tuesday on Fox News'[s] ‘Hannity.'” (01/10/26)
“U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that aims to block the seizure of Venezuelan oil revenue held in U.S. Treasury accounts. The executive order states that the revenue, which is held in foreign government deposit funds, are ‘held solely for sovereign purposes’ and that any court attempt to seize the funds will ‘materially harm the national security and foreign policy’ of the U.S. The order, which declared a national emergency, said the funds are the sovereign property of Venezuela held in U.S. custody for governmental and diplomatic means, and are not assets subject to private claims. Any use of judicial process against the funds will interfere with efforts to ‘ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela,’ the order says.” (01/10/25)
“Thousands of nurses at some of New York City’s biggest hospitals could go on strike Monday during a severe flu season, three years after a similar walkout forced some of the same medical facilities to transfer some patients and divert ambulances. The looming strike could impact operations at several of the city’s major private hospitals, including Mount Sinai in Manhattan, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Nearly 15,000 nurses could walk off the job early Monday if a deal is not reached, amounting to the largest nurses strike in city history, according to Nancy Hagans, president of the New York State Nurses Association.” (01/11/26)
“Myanmar on Sunday held the second phase of a vote organised by a junta-appointed election commission, with the ballot missing Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, the landslide winner of the last two general elections, which was banned after the 2021 coup. … With Suu Kyi sidelined and her massively popular party dissolved, democracy advocates say the vote has been rigged by a crackdown on dissent and a ballot stacked with military allies.” (01/11/26)
“Bob Weir, the singer, songwriter and guitarist who co-founded the Grateful Dead and helped define the sound of the San Francisco rock scene, died Saturday, Jan. 10, after a prolonged battle with cancer and underlying health issues, his family said. He was 78.” [editor’s note: In 1983, I was sitting in a high school science classroom reading the newspaper, when I had occasion to look across at my friend Victor Weir and ask him if he was related to Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, who had just died of a drug overdose. I’m not sure when the Matrix’s programmers changed the timeline to undo that; I didn’t notice until the early 2000s when I married a Deadhead – TLK] (01/10/26)
