“In his latest full-frontal assault on democratic access and voting rights, President Donald Trump early Monday said he will lead an effort to ban both mail-in ballots and voting machines for next year’s mid-term elections — a vow met with immediate rebuke from progressive critics. ‘I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election,’ Trump wrote in a social media post infested with lies and falsehoods.” (08/18/25)
“U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro on Monday called on India to stop buying Russian crude oil, accusing the Asian giant of undermining international efforts to isolate Vladimir Putin’s war economy. Writing in in the Financial Times, Navarro described India’s dependence on Russian oil as ‘opportunistic,’ adding that if India ‘wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it needs to start acting like one.’ ‘In effect, India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,’ Navarro said in the op-ed. His comments come shortly after trade negotiations between the U.S. and India, which had been scheduled to take place in New Delhi later this month, were reportedly called off.” (08/18/25)
“The State Department has yanked more than 6,000 student visas in 2025 for overstays and law violations — including support for terrorism, Fox News Digital has learned. The Trump administration has launched multiple initiatives aimed at cracking down on immigration and revoking visas of those attending academic institutions in the U.S. Those who’ve publicly protested supporting Palestine have faced heightened scrutiny, as one example, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that the administration was reviewing the visa status of students who participated in pro-Palestine protests. The roughly 6,000 visas that were pulled primarily were due to visa overstays or encounters with the law, including assault, DUIs, burglary and support for terrorism, the State Department told Fox News Digital.” (08/18/25)
“Thailand will launch an 18-month pilot programme to allow foreign visitors to convert cryptocurrencies into baht to make payments locally, officials have said, part of efforts to rejuvenate the country’s critical tourist sector. Conversions will be capped at 550,000 baht (US$16,950) to test the system and prevent money laundering, Finance Ministry permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit told reporters on Monday, adding that the limit could be reassessed after the pilot period was over. The initiative comes amid a decline in foreign tourist arrivals in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy.” (08/18/25)
“Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced Monday she is challenging Gov. Josh Shapiro, giving establishment Republicans in the state a recruiting win. The two-term incumbent, 61, slammed Shapiro in her campaign kickoff video as vying for the White House while overlooking Pennsylvania’s woes. … GOP leaders in the state are expected to throw their support behind Garrity. Many of them are concerned about the prospect of far-right state Sen. Doug Mastriano mounting a comeback bid against Shapiro after losing to him by 15 percentage points in 2022 — and dragging down the rest of the ticket, including incumbents in must-win House races. Mastriano has been teasing a run on social media, and has said he would not be deterred by GOP efforts to clear the field.” (08/18/25)
“Sam Altman says OpenAI is strongly considering adding encryption to ChatGPT, likely starting with temporary chats. Users are sharing sensitive data with ChatGPT, but those conversations lack the legal confidentiality of a doctor or lawyer. … Encrypted messaging keeps providers from reading content unless an endpoint holds the keys. With chatbots, the provider is often an endpoint, complicating true end-to-end encryption. In this case, OpenAI would be a party to the conversation. Encrypting the data while it is in transit isn’t enough to keep OpenAI from having sensitive information available to share with law enforcement.” (08/18/25)
“A new study suggests that cutting out a single category of foods could nearly double people’s weight-loss results. The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine on Aug. 4, found that overweight adults who ditched ultra-processed foods (UPFs) lost nearly twice as much weight over a two-month span as those who did not. UPFs include microwave meals, sodas, potato chips and packaged cookies, among others. But they can also include items marketed as ‘health foods,’ some medical professionals say. UPFs go through multiple processes to be ‘stabilized for consumption’, Dr. Jeffrey Kraft, a bariatric surgeon at Hackensack Meridian Palisades Medical Center in New Jersey, told Fox News Digital.” (08/18/25)
“Google has agreed to pay a 55 million Australian dollar ($36 million) fine for signing anticompetitive deals with Australia’s two largest telcos that banned the installation of competing search engines on some smartphones, the U.S. tech giant and Australia’s competition watchdog said. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement it had commenced proceedings in the Australian Federal Court on Monday against the Singapore-based Google Asia Pacific division. The court will decide whether the AU$50 million ($36 million) penalty is appropriate. Under the anticompetitive agreements, which were in place for 15 months until March 2021, Telstra and Optus only pre-installed Google Search on Android phones sold to customers.” (08/18/25)
“The Canada Industrial Relations Board declared a strike by 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants illegal Monday and ordered them back on the job after they ignored an earlier order to return to work and submit to arbitration. The strike at Canada’s largest airline entered its third day on Monday and is affecting about 130,000 travelers per day during the peak summer travel season, and the two sides remain far apart on pay and other issues. Air Canada suspended plans to restart operations Sunday after the union defied an earlier return-to-work order. ‘The members of the union’s bargaining unit are directed to resume the performance of their duties immediately and to refrain from engaging in unlawful strike activities,’ the Canada Industrial Relations Board board, or CIRB, said in a written decision.” (08/18/25)
“Two U.S. tourists drowned last week in separate incidents at Carnival Cruise Line’s new Bahamas resort, authorities said. Both were passengers on Carnival cruise ships that had sailed to the Caribbean, the company confirmed to CBS News on Sunday. They died Friday while swimming at Celebration Key, a private resort on Grand Bahama Island that only Carnival cruise passengers can use, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Carnival. … Carnival opened Celebration Key — a $600 million resort compound on Grand Bahama Island that features numerous restaurants, pools, live music venues, a retail hub and amusement park-style activities — in July.” (08/17/25)
