“The federal government has agreed to officially restore the Pride flag that was removed from the Stonewall National Monument in New York’s Greenwich Village. The move marks a reversal by the Trump administration, which had the flag removed back in February. It comes on the heels of a lawsuit brought by several nonprofit groups against Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the National Park Service and others. The agreement to restore the flag settles the lawsuit. The National Park Service said it removed the flag under guidance from the Department of Interior, which had said non-agency flags could not be officially displayed on flagpoles managed by the National Park Service.” (04/13/26)
“Bryan Cranston, Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix and more than 1,000 other Hollywood professionals released an open letter Monday vehemently opposing Paramount Skydance’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing that the corporate tie-up would hurt an industry ‘already under severe strain.’ ‘This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it,’ the signatories wrote in the letter, published early Monday on a website called Block the Merger. … The list of signatories includes A-list stars (Glenn Close, Ben Stiller), celebrated filmmakers (Yorgos Lanthimos, Denis Villeneuve) and acclaimed writers (‘The Sopranos’ creator David Chase).” (04/13/26)
“UBS has been accused of withholding tens of thousands of records about former subsidiary Credit Suisse’s shocking Nazi ties — including involving the forced transfer of assets owned by murdered Jews. Around 23,000 documents are still being ‘redacted or withheld’ from a lawyer conducting an independent investigation into the Nazi-linked accounts at the now-defunct Credit Suisse, according to new testimony submitted to Congress on Monday. The ombudsman, Neil Barofsky, said in supplemental written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he also has yet to see another 1 million pages under review by UBS lawyers for potentially privileged information. The delay of the probe is complicating a related $1.25 billion settlement with Holocaust victims.” (04/13/26)
“At least 50 people were killed and many others injured when the Nigerian military conducted airstrikes Saturday against insurgents in northeastern Nigeria, according to residents and the local authorities. A Nigerian military spokesman, Lt. Col. Sani Uba, said the strikes hit what he called a terrorist enclave and logistics hub near Jilli, in what he said was an abandoned village in Borno State, killing militants who had taken up residence there. But the local authorities and human rights groups described a starkly different scene, saying the bombs struck a weekly market that attracts hundreds of people and denying that the town was abandoned. They said the number of dead, mostly civilians, was much higher than reported.” (04/13/26)
“A self-proclaimed psychic who in TikTok videos falsely accused a University of Idaho professor of being involved in the murders of four of the school’s students in 2022 is appealing for relief after a civil court jury ordered her to pay $10m in damages to the educator. In a recent legal filing that she prepared herself, tarot card reader Ashley Guillard called the case brought against her by history professor Rebecca Scofield ‘fraudulent’ and asked the federal court in Idaho where a jury delivered a verdict against her to set aside the judgment. … Before authorities arrested Kohberger in late December 2022 in connection with the victims’ brutal stabbing deaths, Guillard published videos on the TikTok platform baselessly alleging Scofield had engaged in a romance with one of the four people slain.” (04/13/26)
“Police lobbed tear gas shells and used ‘minimum force’ on Monday to quell a factory workers’ protest in the Indian national capital’s suburb of Noida, which turned violent on its fourth day, with vehicles torched and stones pelted in parts of the satellite city. … Visuals from news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed dozens of protesters marching on the street and chanting slogans, while security personnel in anti-riot gear looked on. Other visuals showed an overturned vehicle with flames rising out of it, and protesters hurling stones and trying to break through barricades.” (04/13/26)
“China said Sunday it would resume some ties it had suspended with Taiwan, such as direct flights and imports of Taiwanese aquaculture products, following a visit by the Beijing-friendly opposition leader of the self-ruled island. The Taiwan Work Office under China’s Communist Party issued a statement saying it would explore setting up a longstanding communication mechanism between the Communist Party and Taiwan’s Kuomintang Party. It said it will facilitate the import of Taiwan’s aquaculture products that it had previously banned. Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Kuomintang, and China’s President Xi Jinping held a high-profile meeting Friday during which they called for peace, without offering specifics. China [pretends the island is] part of its territory and hasn’t ruled out the use of force to annex it.” (04/13/26)
“Pope Leo XIV has begun a landmark visit to Algeria in the first trip to the Muslim-majority country by a pontiff. The United States-born pope arrived in the capital Algiers at around 09:00 GMT on Monday, an AFP news agency journalist travelling aboard the papal plane said. He is expected to pay tribute to victims of Algeria’s war of independence from France (1954-1962) later in the day. The 70-year-old pontiff is on an ambitious 11-day tour of four countries in Africa, urging global leaders to address the needs of the continent where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live, according to Vatican statistics.” (04/13/26)
“Faced with growing backlash, US President Donald Trump appears to have removed a controversial Truth Social post depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure. The AI-generated image, which showed Trump appearing to heal a sick man in a hospital bed, sparked fierce backlash from both sides of the US political spectrum, including from some of Trump’s most ardent supporters. The post came just hours after Trump posted a lengthy message criticising Pope Leo XIV, a vocal critic of the US and Israeli military operation in Iran. Trump acknowledged posting the picture, telling reporters he thought it was ‘me as a doctor.’ The now-deleted image showed Trump, wearing a white robe, with a glowing hand on the forehead of a sick man, which critics said was similar to religious paintings showing Jesus healing the infirm.” (04/13/26)
“California Republicans refused Sunday to endorse Donald Trump’s pick for governor here, a stark rebuke of the sitting president by the party’s rank-and-file in the nation’s most populous state. The activists’ break with Trump — electing not to endorse in the contest, despite his backing of former Fox News host Steve Hilton — came amid worsening fears within the GOP about the party’s prospects in the midterms, including in critical House battlegrounds in California. … More party delegates voted for Chad Bianco, a firebrand Southern California sheriff who launched a probe into last year’s special election, than Hilton, with neither reaching the 60 percent threshold necessary to secure an endorsement. Bianco received 49 percent support, Hilton drew 44 percent, and the rest of delegates voted not to endorse.” (04/12/26)
