“Guinea-Bissau’s military junta has set a date for new elections following its takeover late last year, according to a statement by the junta’s leader on Wednesday. In a presidential decree, Gen. Horta Inta-a said the necessary conditions for holding free, fair and transparent elections had been met and the legislative and presidential elections would be held on Dec. 6. Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been dogged by coups and attempted coups since its independence from Portugal more than 50 years ago, including a coup attempt last October.” (01/21/26)
“The U.S. military said Wednesday it has started transferring detainees from the Islamic State group being held in northeastern Syria to secure facilities in Iraq. The move came after Syrian government forces took control of a sprawling camp, housing thousands of mostly women and children, from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which withdrew as part of a ceasefire. … U.S. Central Command said the first transfer involved 150 IS members, who were taken from Syria’s northeastern province of Hassakeh to ‘secure locations’ in Iraq. The statement said that up to to 7,000 detainees could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities.” (01/21/25)
“A judge overseeing Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case said Wednesday that two members of Congress lacked the legal right to intervene and press their demand for a court-appointed observer to ensure the government complies with a new law ordering release of its files on Jeffrey Epstein. … U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., had co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act that was signed into law by President Donald Trump in November. It required the public disclosure of files related to the sex trafficking investigations into Epstein, the late financier, and Maxwell, his longtime confidant. … They had urged Engelmayer to name an independent monitor to ensure that the government immediately released the more than 2 million documents it has identified as investigative materials. … A month after the deadline had passed for the materials to be made public, only about 12,000 documents have been made public.” (01/21/26)
“Nancy Lacore, a three-star admiral and former chief of the Navy Reserve before she was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, announced a run for Congress in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. Lacore, who began as a Navy pilot and rose to vice admiral during more than three decades of service, said in a video on social platform X she was removed without cause ‘along with dozens of other military leaders.’ She added that she ‘never put the uniform on again’ after leaving the Pentagon the day she was ousted, but she noted she ‘can’t stand by while Americans and South Carolinians are struggling.’ While Lacore registered Tuesday to run as a Democrat, she broadly criticized elected officials in Washington, D.C., for caring ‘more about party politics than standing up for the Constitution.'” (01/21/26)
“California Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to intervene in a bid to prevent the state from using a new congressional map designed to give the Democrats five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The state Republican Party and other challengers filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to block California’s new map, which was endorsed by voters as a counterweight to a similar redistricting effort in Texas aimed at boosting Republicans. A federal court on January 14 rejected the argument by the challengers that California illegally used race in redrawing the boundaries of the congressional districts.” (01/20/26)
“The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it will appeal the November ruling in favor of Meta in its antitrust case against the social media giant. The FTC said it continues to allege that, for more than a decade, Meta Platforms Inc. has ‘illegally maintained a monopoly’ in social networking through anticompetitive conduct ‘by buying the significant competitive threats it identified in Instagram and WhatsApp.’ Meta had prevailed over the existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp after a judge ruled that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking.” (01/21/26)
“Oh-no, Canada! The number of Canadian tourists and other visitors traveling south into upstate New York plummeted a whopping 21% through the first 11 months of 2025, according to new data from the governor’s office. Gov. Kathy Hochul released figures as part of her $260 billion budget plan that showed there were 3 million few travelers crossing from Canada into the Empire State – blaming President Trump for his tariff standoff and confrontational stance with the US’s northern neighbors. The number of Canadian tourists and other visitors traveling south into upstate New York plummeted a whopping 21% through the first 11 months of 2025. ‘The adverse effects on the protectionist trade environment are adversely impacting New York’s economy,’ the report out of Hochul’s office said. ‘Costs to manufacturers in New York have risen directly or indirectly.'” (01/21/25)
“Michele Tafoya, a longtime sportscaster and conservative commentator, has officially announced she will run for US Senate in Minnesota, giving the Republican Party a well-known candidate in a state that’s being roiled by the ongoing federal immigration crackdown. In a video announcing her campaign launch on Wednesday morning, Tafoya said: ‘For years, I covered the biggest football games in America,’ adding that ‘it taught me about how leadership really works when leaders are prepared and accountable.’ … The broadcaster’s entry jolts an already dynamic contest set off by Democratic Sen. Tina Smith’s retirement announcement last year. Meanwhile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is weighing whether to launch a run for governor that could further disrupt the state’s political landscape.” (01/21/26)
“Meta is laying off 331 workers in the Puget Sound region as part of broader cuts to its virtual reality division. The Facebook parent company last week said that it was cutting about 10% of its 15,000-employee Reality Labs division as it shifts resources away from what it called the metaverse to wearables like smart glasses. … Reality Labs has been a key part of Meta’s postpandemic growth in the Seattle area. … Meta’s layoffs are the latest to hit the local tech industry over the past year of cuts, including some made by the company in October that hit its artificial intelligence teams.” (01/20/26)
“Gov. Gavin Newsom was scheduled to speak during the World Economic Forum on Wednesday morning in Davos, Switzerland, but was barred from speaking at the very last minute by the White House, according to his office. ‘Under pressure from the White House and State Department, USA House (a church acting as the official US pavilion) is now denying entry to Governor Newsom after Fortune — the official media partner — invited him to speak,’ the governor’s office said in a text to the governor’s press corps and later posted to the governor’s official X account. The USA House is the collection of official U.S. venues during the World Economic Forum.” (01/21/25)
