“Typhoon Sinlaku pushed past Guam on Wednesday headed for the Northern Mariana Islands packing sustained winds of 125 mph, according to a series of alerts from Guam’s Joint Information Center. Roads blocked by debris, scattered utility outages and reports of low water pressure were among the immediate issues on Guam, which remained under Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 1. … The storm had slowed to a crawl overnight and moved only 25 miles over 14 hours, a speed that prolonged dangerous conditions near the westernmost U.S. territory.” (04/15/26)
“The Maine Legislature on Tuesday passed a controversial measure temporarily prohibiting new data center development for more than a year, sending it to Gov. Janet Mills for final approval. The bill, LD 307, would create a limitation on data centers with electric loads of at least 20 megawatts by preventing the state, local governments and quasi-governmental agencies from issuing permits or other approvals until November 2027. In the meantime, a new Data Center Coordination Council — also created in the bill — would get time to study the centers’ potential impact in Maine and issue policy recommendations. The House voted 79-62 to enact Tuesday, sending it to the Senate, which voted 21-13 to approve it later that evening. The bill’s fate now lies with Mills, who has expressed concerns that it does not include a carveout for a data center proposal in Jay.” (04/14/26)
“Italy is declining to renew a longstanding defense agreement with Israel, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday, a sharp reversal for her right-wing government. Ms. Meloni made the announcement on the sidelines of an event in Verona, and a government official said that Italy’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, had sent a letter to his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, announcing the decision. … Opposition parties had put pressure on the government for over a year to suspend the renewal. Marco Grimaldi, an opposition lawmaker, said the decision was ‘a victory’ for those who had protested Israel’s military offensive in Gaza over the last three years.” (04/14/26)
“The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in office over five years ago. Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all 1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase the convictions for the extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. … Juries in Washington, D.C., convicted the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump’s 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.” (04/14/26)
“Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been charged with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds at the end of a two-year investigation by a judge in Madrid. Gómez, 55, has been accused of using her influence as the wife of the socialist prime minister to secure and manage a post at Madrid’s Complutense University, and of using public resources and personal connections to further her private interests. … The investigation into Gómez was triggered by a complaint from Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), a self-styled trade union with far-right links that has a history of using the courts to pursue those it deems a threat to Spain’s democratic interests.” (04/14/26)
“The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah will not abide by any agreements that may result from the direct Lebanon-Israel talks in the United States, negotiations it firmly opposes, a senior Hezbollah official said Monday. Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of Hezbollah’s political council, spoke on the eve of the talks expected in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the U.S. It will be the first time in decades that envoys from Lebanon and Israel, which do not have diplomatic relations, meet face-to-face in direct talks. ‘As for the outcomes of this negotiation between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy, we are not interested in or concerned with them at all,’ Safa told The Associated Press. ‘We are not bound by what they agree to,’ he added in a rare interview with international media.” (04/14/26)
“A major U.S. Postal Service union is launching a national TV ad campaign promoting voting by mail, stepping into a politically charged debate as skepticism about mail-in ballots has been raised by President Donald Trump and others. The 30-second message features a variety of voters, among them a busy farmer and a flight attendant, explaining why they cast their ballots by mail. Sponsored by the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union, the advertising campaign announced Tuesday will begin airing this week in Ohio, where Union Army soldiers during the Civil War cast the first mail ballots in 1864. It will then move to other states.” (04/14/26)
“France’s interior minister is seeking to block US rapper Kanye West from performing in the southern city of Marseille in June due to his antisemitic remarks, a source close to the minister said on Tuesday. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is ‘highly determined’ to ban the June 11 concert at Marseille’s Velodrome stadium and is exploring “all possibilities”, the source said. West, 48, has been heavily criticised for making antisemitic remarks and voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler. Britain has blocked the US rapper, also known as Ye, from entering the country due to his outbursts, prompting organisers of a festival he was to headline to cancel the July event.” (04/14/26)
“U.S. wholesale prices surged last month as the Iran war drove up the cost of energy. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose 0.5% from February and 4% from March 2025. The year-over-year gains was the biggest in more than three years. Energy prices surged 8.5% from February. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core producer prices rose a modest 0.1% from February and 3.8% from a year earlier. The gains in wholesale prices were smaller than economists had forecast.” (04/14/26)
“Mohammed Amin was eight when he died shortly after testing positive for HIV. His fevers were so bad that he insisted on sleeping in the rain, and he writhed in pain ‘like he’d been thrown in hot oil,’ says his mother, Sughra. ‘He used to fight with me, but he also loved me,’ 10-year-old Asma says as she kneels at her younger brother’s graveside. Not long after her brother contracted the virus, Asma was also diagnosed with HIV. Her family believe both children contracted it from injections with contaminated needles during routine medical treatment at a government hospital in Taunsa, in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. They are two of the 331 children that BBC Eye has identified as testing positive for HIV in the city between November 2024 and October 2025.” (04/14/26)
