“Israel said it deported on Monday campaigner Greta Thunberg and another 170 activists from an international flotilla it prevented last week from delivering aid to Gaza, sending them to Greece and Slovakia. Earlier, Swiss and Spanish activists from the flotilla said they were subjected to inhumane conditions during their [abduction] by Israeli [pirates]. Monday’s expulsions brought the total number deported to 341, from 479 detained.” (10/06/25)
“The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal of the criminal conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein. The court’s action ends Ms. Maxwell’s attempt to overturn her conviction, meaning her only chance of an early release from prison is likely to be clemency from President Trump, with whom she used to socialize in the Florida and New York party scenes. Ms. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 on federal charges related to facilitating the crimes of Mr. Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Federal prosecutors have opposed her release.” (10/06/25)
“The home of South Carolina Circuit Court judge Diane Goodstein was set on fire after she had reportedly received death threats. State law enforcement is investigating the house fire on Edisto Beach which began at around 11:30 a.m. E.T. on Saturday, sources told local news outlet FITSNews. Goodstein was reportedly not at home at the time of the fire, but at least three members of her family, including her husband, former Democratic state senator Arnold Goodstein, and their son, have been hospitalized with serious injuries. … Law enforcement have not disclosed whether the fire is being investigated as an arson attack. … Last month, Goodstein had temporarily blocked the state’s election commission from releasing its voter files to the Department of Justice, a decision that was openly criticized by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon and later reversed by the state Supreme Court.” (10/06/25)
“Scientists Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for ‘their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance,’ the award-giving body said on Monday. This year’s prize ‘relates to how we keep our immune system under control so we can fight all imaginable microbes and still avoid autoimmune disease,’ said Marie Wahren-Herlenius, a rheumatology professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.” (10/06/25)
“A Colorado case going before the U.S. Supreme Court this week could set nationwide precedent for whether states can bar licensed medical professionals from performing the widely discredited practice of conversion therapy on LGBTQ+ kids. On Tuesday, the conservative-majority court will hear oral arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, a case brought by Colorado Springs counselor Kaley Chiles, who alleges the state’s ban on conversion therapy for minors violates her First Amendment rights. The Colorado Attorney General’s Office will argue that trying to change a young patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity is substandard medical care, and that greenlighting such care under the umbrella of free speech would ‘open Pandora’s box’ to a litany of licensed professional malpractice. Nearly half of U.S. states have prohibited the practice of conversion therapy on minors.” (10/05/25)
“The head of the U.N. refugee agency suggested Monday that President Donald Trump’s America has carried out deportation practices that violate international law, and criticized a wider ‘backlash’ in some countries against migrants and refugees. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, used a speech to lament that drastic funding cuts and shortages have forced his agency, UNHCR, to slash nearly 5,000 jobs this year, or nearly a quarter of its workforce. The cuts may not be finished, he said. ‘This was certainly not an easy year for any of us,’ Grandi told the opening of UNHCR’s executive committee. ‘But remember, please: There has never been an easy year to be a refugee – and there never will be.’ He did cite some bright spots and praised the Trump administration-led peace efforts in Congo, where conflict has displaced millions of people.” (10/06/25)
“Georgian prosecutors on Monday charged five opposition figures with attempting to overthrow the government, after protests on Saturday culminated in clashes between police and demonstrators in the capital of the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million. Georgian opposition supporters rallied in central Tbilisi on Saturday, with some leaders promising a ‘peaceful revolution’ on the day of local elections that were boycotted by the largest opposition blocs. Minutes before polls closed, a smaller group of protesters attempted to seize the presidential palace, before being repelled by riot police using gas and water cannon. The charges against the five men carry a maximum prison sentence of nine years. Officials have said the protests represented an attempt to seize power.” (10/06/25)
“Illinois filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block U.S. President Donald Trump from deploying hundreds of federalized National Guard troops into the streets of Chicago. The Democratic-led state and the city of Chicago filed the lawsuit hours after a federal judge in Oregon on Sunday temporarily blocked Trump’s administration from sending any National Guard troops to police Portland, Oregon. The lawsuit took aim at a decision by the Trump administration over the weekend to federalize up to 300 members of the Illinois National Guard over the objections of Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker and another 400 from Texas to deploy into Chicago.” (10/06/25)
“The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has plans to build out a 24/7/365 surveillance team that focuses on scouring social media for case leads, as revealed in documents first discovered by Wired. According to public records, ICE has put out a request for information — which allows the agency to detail its preliminary scope of work to gauge any interest from contractors — that details using social media platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and YouTube to develop leads on wanted individuals. … According to the documents, ICE wants at least 12 full-time staff to work at its National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center in Williston, Vermont …. On the other side of the country, ICE is looking for a minimum staff of 16 full-time contractors for its Pacific Enforcement Response Center in Santa Ana, California …” (10/05/25)
“Venezuela warned Monday of an alleged plan by extremists to attack the shuttered U.S. Embassy complex in Caracas with explosives, coming as bilateral tensions simmer over Washington’s military deployment in the Caribbean. Jorge Rodríguez, head of the National Assembly and of Venezuela’s delegation for dialogue with the U.S., said in a statement that through ‘three different channels,’ the United States had been warned ‘of a serious threat’ from right-wing groups posing as followers of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. ‘Through a false-flag operation prepared by extremist sectors of the local right, there are attempts to plant lethal explosives at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas,’ Rodríguez said. The Associated Press requested comment from the U.S. State Department and was awaiting a reply.” (10/06/25)
