“At least 20 people have been injured, some of them seriously, after a car drove into a group of people in the German city of Munich, authorities said. Authorities did not provide details of the incident near downtown Munich that took place about 10:30am (09:30 GMT) on Thursday, including whether the victims were hit deliberately. Police said on social platform X that the driver was ‘secured’ at the scene and no longer poses any danger. A damaged Mini Cooper could be seen at the scene.” (02/13/25)
“A U.S. aircraft carrier collided with a cargo ship Wednesday evening in the eastern Mediterranean Sea near Port Said, Egypt, the service’s Sixth Fleet announced. The USS Harry S. Truman did not suffer flooding, damage to its nuclear-powered engines, or injuries to its crew, according to the fleet. Port Said, the nearest port to where the collision occurred, is at the northern end of the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. The other ship involved in the collision, the Panama-flagged merchant vessel Besiktas-M, is a Panama-flagged bulk cargo carrier, according to the online VesselFinder database. Its status, and that of its crew, is unclear. The ship transited the canal in the hours before the collision.” (02/13/25)
“Employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development asked a federal judge on Thursday to keep blocking an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to pull all but a fraction of worldwide staffers off the job. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, handed the administration and billionaire ally Elon Musk a setback last week by temporarily halting plans that would have put thousands of workers on leave and given those abroad only 30 days to return to the United States at government expense. Nichols’ order was set to expire by the end of the day. Two associations representing federal employees want him to continue it, as well as suspending Trump’s freeze on almost all foreign assistance. The president’s pause has shut down clinics, emergency water deliveries and almost all of the thousands of other U.S.-funded aid and development programs around the globe, USAID workers and humanitarian groups say.” (02/13/25)
“About 75,000 federal workers accepted the Trump administration’s deferred buyout program, a senior administration official told Semafor. The news comes just hours after a federal judge lifted a pause on the program, which offered over two million federal employees to be paid through Sept. 30 if they resign by a certain date. The original deadline to resign was Feb. 6, but that was extended amid the legal pushback. … Tonight’s final numbers represent around 3.75% of the workforce, and includes those offered a buyout in the CIA. Trump’s buyout program is part of the administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce.” (02/12/25)
“Jailed Russian IT specialist and operator of the defunct crypto exchange BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, is set to return to Russia as part of a [hostage] exchange that has seen school teacher and former diplomat Marc Fogel fly back to the U.S. At the time of writing, U.S. media reports indicated that officials were in the process of repatriating the freed Russian. Vinnik, 44, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder $4 billion via BTC-e, reportedly faced the prospect of 20 years in prison. He entered his plea in May 2024, six years after his [abduction] in Greece at the behest of the United States. According to U.S. officials, Vinnik’s crypto exchange had become the go-to platform for cybercriminals and drug traffickers.” (02/12/25)
“A judge on Wednesday lifted his pause on the federal government’s deferred resignation program, prompting the Trump administration to swiftly declare victory as it closed the offer to any more workers who might still have been mulling it. The program — which encouraged federal workers to resign with the promise of pay through September — had been halted since last Thursday, when U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. temporarily stopped the Office of Personnel Management from moving ahead. Unions representing more than 800,000 federal workers had filed a lawsuit to stop the program, calling it an ‘arbitrary, unlawful, short-fused ultimatum.’ In his ruling, O’Toole wrote that the unions’ lawsuit could not succeed because they lacked standing to sue and because his court lacked jurisdiction.” (02/12/25)
“China has floated a proposal to hold a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump to help end the Ukraine war, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Chinese officials in recent weeks have raised a proposal with the Trump team through intermediaries to hold a summit between the two leaders and to facilitate peacekeeping efforts after an eventual truce, according to people in Beijing and Washington cited by the newspaper. … The Kremlin had said Putin and Trump had agreed to meet, and Putin had invited Trump to visit Moscow. Trump said their first meeting would ‘probably’ take place soon in Saudi Arabia.” (02/13/25)
“The U.N. human rights office on Wednesday estimated that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in Bangladesh over three weeks last summer in a crackdown on student-led protests against the now-ousted former prime minister. In a new report, the Geneva-based office says security and intelligence services ‘systematically engaged’ in rights violations that could amount to crimes against humanity and require further investigation. Citing ‘various credible sources,’ the rights office said it estimated that as many as 1,400 people may have been killed in the protests between July 15 and Aug. 5 — the day longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India amid the uprising.” (02/12/25)
“Austrian far-right leader Herbert Kickl’s efforts to form a coalition government with a conservative party collapsed in mutual recriminations on Wednesday, more than four months after his party won a national election. Austria’s president last month gave Kickl a mandate to try to form a new government — the first to have been headed by the far right since World War II — after other parties’ efforts to put together a governing alliance without his Freedom Party failed. But Kickl on Wednesday informed President Alexander Van der Bellen that he was giving up the mandate. Weeks of tense talks with the conservative Austrian People’s Party appeared increasingly troubled in recent days.” (02/12/25)
“The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence, adding the former Democrat to President Donald Trump’s inner circle after lawmakers raised pointed questions about her views on Russia, ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who [became the one of America’s few 21st century heroes so far by exposing the US government’s crimes to public scrutiny]. Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman, secured confirmation on a 52-48 vote. In her new role, Gabbard will oversee the 18 agencies within the U.S. Intelligence community, serving as the president’s top adviser on intelligence matters.” (02/12/25)
