“Early voting started Thursday across Seychelles as concerns over a drug crisis and environmental challenges facing the nation weigh heavily on the minds of many as they choose a new president and parliament. President Wavel Ramkalawan hopes to hold on to the top post in this tourist haven and Africa’s smallest country, both in land area and population. Ballots papers were flown to the outer islands and special polling stations opened for the elderly and essential workers for early voting, said election commission’s chief, Manuella Amesbury. The presidential and parliamentary election will be held on Saturday.” (09/25/25)
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has summoned the military’s top officers — hundreds of generals and admirals — to a base in northern Virginia for a sudden meeting next week, according to two people familiar with the matter. The directive did not offer a reason for the gathering Tuesday of senior commanders of the one-star rank or higher and their top advisers at the Marine Corps base in Quantico. The people, who described the move as unusual, were not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive plans and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon’s top spokesman, Sean Parnell, confirmed that Hegseth ‘will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.’ Across the military, there are 800 generals and admirals of all ranks.” (09/25/25)
“Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced plans Thursday to close hundreds of stores and undergo a second round of layoffs this year in an effort to revive the coffeehouse chain. In a letter to employees, Niccol said the company will have about 1% fewer stores beginning in fiscal year 2026, Oct. 1, compared to a year ago. This accounts for both new store openings and the just-announced closures. Starbucks had 18,734 stores in North America at the end of June, and will begin October with 18,300 stores. Niccol said the company was ‘working hard’ to find new placements for employees at the stores set to be shuttered.” (09/25/25)
“Benjamin Netanyahu has again taken a significantly longer flight route than necessary, avoiding the airspace of several European countries, this time while en route to the UN in New York. The Israeli prime minister, who has an international criminal court arrest warrant against him for alleged crimes including starvation as a method of warfare, made a trip that flight-tracking data showed followed the Mediterranean Sea, rather than a more direct route over the continent. … Shorter, more fuel-efficient routes may have flown across France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and the UK. Those countries have all signed the ICC statute and would be legally required to arrest and surrender Netanyahu to The Hague-based court if he entered their territory.” (09/25/25)
“The European Commission launched an antitrust probe into German software behemoth SAP on Thursday, citing concerns about the company’s practices in software support services. According to the Commission, the investigation will assess ‘whether SAP may have distorted competition in the aftermarket for maintenance and support services related to an on-premises type of software, licensed by SAP, used for the management of companies’ business operations.’ SAP, in a statement on Thursday, said it believed its policies and actions were fully compliant with EU competition rules.” (09/25/25)
“As COVID-19 continues to evolve, a new strain is spiking case numbers worldwide. The XFG variant, also known as Stratus, has been gaining momentum after first being detected in Southeast Asia in January, according to the World Health Organization. The organization designated Stratus as a ‘SATS-CoV-2 variant under monitoring’ after it had spread to 38 countries by June. Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in nine U.S. states, including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and both North and South Dakota, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s wastewater monitoring in the U.S. has identified XFG as the ‘predominant variant,’ based on data from the week of Sept. 15. The Stratus variant follows the Nimbus strain, which is highly infectious and linked to severe ‘razor blade’ sore throat symptoms, according to Stony Brook Medicine, the academic medical center of Stony Brook University in New York.” (09/25/25)
“A federal judge refused on Wednesday to reinstate eight former inspectors general who sued after the Trump administration fired them with no warning and little explanation. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said that while President Donald Trump likely violated the federal law governing the process for removing the non-partisan watchdogs from office, the firings didn’t cause enough irreparable harm to justify reinstating the watchdogs before the lawsuit is resolved. The eight plaintiffs were among 17 inspectors general who were fired by Trump on Jan. 24.” (09/24/25)
“The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said Wednesday that it detected Russian aircraft operating in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). NORAD identified the aircraft as two Tu-95s, which are long-range strategic bombers, and two Su-35s, which are advanced fighter jets. ‘The Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian activity in the Alaskan ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat,’ NORAD said in a statement.” (09/25/25)
“Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to millions of euros of illicit funds from the late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi. The Paris criminal court acquitted him of all other charges, including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing. The ruling means he will spend time in jail even if he launches an appeal, which Sarkozy says he intends to do. Speaking after Thursday’s hearing, the 70-year-old, who was president from 2007-12, said the verdict was ‘extremely serious for rule of law.’ Sarkozy, who claims the case is politically motivated, was accused of using the funds from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign. In exchange, the prosecution alleged Sarkozy promised to help Gaddafi combat his reputation as a pariah with Western countries.” (09/25/25)
“The Democratic National Committee’s donations from the late financier Jeffrey Epstein have come under renewed scrutiny as Epstein’s sex-trafficking case files continue to roil the Trump administration. The DNC’s donations from Epstein in the mid-1990s, totaling $32,000, were never returned by the committee, while several other Democratic lawmakers and entities have since donated or returned theirs. The donations, visible in public campaign finance records, are back in the spotlight as the DNC relentlessly taunts the administration over Epstein by creating a social media account dedicated to raising awareness about his nonpublic case files and circulating a mobile billboard about it by the White House.” [editor’s note: The real reason the Dems are voting against the full disclosure of the files, as we suspected all along? – SAT] [editor’s note: Yes, this being publicly disclosed explains the Democrats, who have continuously voted for full disclosure of the files, voting against full disclosure of the files /sarc – TLK] (09/25/25)
