“The Agriculture Department is cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from a program aimed at helping farmers buy and retain land, three people familiar with the decision confirmed to POLITICO on Tuesday. … Nonprofits, tribal governments and other organizations applied for the funding to address land access issues for underserved farmers — including access to capital, market expansions, succession planning and efforts to prevent land loss. The projects were especially targeted to address land access issues facing [b]lack farmers, immigrant farmers, [i]ndigenous farmers, veterans and other underrepresented groups. According to one of the cancellation letters shared with POLITICO, USDA determined that the program ‘involved discriminatory preferences based on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ as well as ‘wasteful spending.'” (03/24/26)
“In a surprise move, OpenAI will shut down its Sora AI video app, just months after it was first launched. ‘We’re saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you,’ the company said in a statement. ‘What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.’ A source familiar with the matter tells The Hollywood Reporter that Disney is also exiting the deal it signed with OpenAI last year, in which it pledged to invest $1 billion in the company and agreed to license some of its characters for use in Sora.” (03/24/26)
“Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos says he is working to secure new sources of oil after he placed the country under a state of national energy emergency in response to the war in Iran. Marcos told Filipinos in a televised address that the government would procure one million barrels of oil to add to the current stock, which is good for 45 days. ‘We will have a flow of oil. Not just one delivery, not two deliveries, but a flow of oil-related products,’ he said. The Philippines, which imports 98% of its oil from the gulf, became the first country to declare an energy emergency after local diesel and petrol prices more than doubled in the country since the war broke out on 28 February. The US-Israel war with Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a key shipping route – have sent shock waves through global energy markets, causing shortages and price rises.” (03/25/26)
“Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s hopes for a third term were further complicated on Tuesday, with her left-wing bloc winning the election yet failing to secure a majority. The bloc, which includes the Social Democrats, the center-right Venstre and Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s Moderates, took 84 seats in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament. The right secured 77 seats, official results showed. Rasmussen’s party became kingmaker with 14 seats, setting the stage for thorny negotiations as the winners strive to build a coalition government. … Her Social Democrat party had been bolstered with Frederiksen having rebuffed Trump’s threat to take control of Greenland, an island in the Arctic Ocean that is a semi-autonomous territory controlled by Denmark. But Tuesday’s vote represents the worst result for the Social Democrats since the start of the last century, sinking to 21.9%. That’s dramatic fall from the 27.5% they won in the last election in 2022.” (03/24/26)
“An Iranian military spokesperson mocked US attempts at a ceasefire deal, insisting Americans were only negotiating with themselves. Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari’s statement came after the Trump administration reportedly sent a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran through Pakistan. … Kuwait and Bahrain were both hit with damaging strikes on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning …. News that Trump had approved the deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East further undermined the US president’s repeated claims of successful peace talks.” (03/25/26)
“Democrat Emily Gregory on Tuesday won a special election for the Florida state House district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, flipping the seat from Republican control, The Associated Press projects. Gregory beat Republican Jon Maples, who had been endorsed by Trump, in the race for a seat that has been vacant since August. Palm Beach County Clerk Mike Caruso left the seat empty when he resigned from the legislature last year and was appointed to his current office. Gregory had 51% of the vote to 49% for Maples with all precincts reporting. … The president carried this Florida legislative district by about 11 percentage points in the 2024 election, according to The Downballot, a left-leaning political site that tracks special elections.” (03/24/26)
“Russia and Ukraine have targeted each other’s energy facilities in tit-for-tat attacks, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power, officials from both countries said, as the world’s attention has shifted to the US-Israel war on Iran. Nearly half a million people were left without electricity in Russia’s Belgorod region, while 150,000 consumers in the city of Chernihiv and surrounding areas were without power on Wednesday.” (03/25/26)
“A New Mexico jury found Meta liable for misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangering children, ordering the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties for violating the state’s consumer protection laws. The verdict in the landmark State of New Mexico v. Meta Platforms, Inc. trial makes New Mexico the first state in the nation to win against a major tech company accused of harming young people. The jury ordered Meta to pay the maximum penalty under the law of $5,000 per violation, totaling $375 million.” [editor’s note: On the up side, idiocy like this will hopefully help move social media toward more decentralized/ownerless models so that there aren’t any deep pockets to pick – TLK] (03/24/26)
“Asian countries are turning to coal as the Iran war disrupts oil and gas shipments. The continent is exposed because it relies on imported fuel, much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil and natural gas trade. … It burns cleaner than coal, but still emits climate change-causing gases, especially methane. The war has countries shifting back to coal to cover LNG shortfalls. India is burning more coal to meet higher summer demand. South Korea has lifted caps on electricity from coal. Indonesia is prioritizing using its domestic supply. Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam are boosting coal-fired power. Burning more coal risks worsening smog in major cities, slowing the transition to renewable energy and increasing the region’s planet-warming emissions.” (03/24/26)
“Israel will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River to create a ‘defensive buffer,’ Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday, spelling out for the first time Israel’s intent to seize territory amounting to nearly a tenth of Lebanon. At a meeting with the military chief of staff, Katz said Israeli forces would ‘control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani,’ a river that meets the Mediterranean about 30 km (20 miles) north of Israel’s border. Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said it would fight to prevent Israeli troops from occupying southern Lebanon, calling such a move an ‘existential threat’ to the Lebanese state.” (03/24/26)
