“Bolivia is heading for an unprecedented presidential run-off election between centrist and conservative candidates in October after preliminary results showed a collapse for the ruling leftwing Movimiento al Socialismo for the first time in 20 years. Centrist candidate Rodrigo Paz … led the preliminary count with 32.1 per cent, with 95 per cent of ballots counted, leading conservative Jorge Quiroga with 26.8 per cent. … MAS was punished by voters for infighting and economic mismanagement, with its candidate Eduardo del Castillo receiving 3.1 per cent of the early votes, just clearing the 3 per cent threshold to retain its legal status as a political party. The election was overshadowed by the influence of charismatic former president Evo Morales, who was forced from MAS and barred from running by a court ruling on term limits. Morales had encouraged voters to spoil their ballots in protest against his exclusion. Spoilt ballots accounted for 19 per cent of the vote.” (08/18/25)
“Donald Trump has ruled out Ukrainian membership of Nato and sovereignty over Crimea ahead of a crucial meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House today. Flanked by top European leaders, the Ukrainian president will return to Washington, DC nearly six months after he was infamously booted from the White House by Trump in a shocking twist earlier this year. … After meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Trump is pushing Mr Zelensky to strike a peace agreement instead of a ceasefire deal without Crimea and Nato membership – reiterating Moscow’s position.” [editor’s note: Since Ukraine was never going to become a NATO member or recover Crimea anyway, those seem like minimal demands – TLK] (08/18/25)
“The Republican governors of three states are deploying hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., at the request of the administration of President Donald Trump, who has portrayed the city as awash in crime. The announcements on Saturday of troops from hundreds of miles away in West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio came a day after D.C. officials and the Trump administration negotiated a deal to keep Mayor Muriel Bowser’s appointed police chief, Pamela Smith, in charge of the police department …. Trump, a Republican, said this week he was deploying hundreds of D.C. National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the Democratic-led city’s police department to curb what he depicted as a crime and homelessness emergency. Justice Department data, however, showed violent crime in 2024 hit a 30-year low in Washington, a self-governing federal district under the jurisdiction of Congress.” (08/17/25)
“Thousands of protesters in Israel have taken to the streets demanding an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to free captives held there, as the military intensifies attacks on Gaza City to force tens of thousands of starving Palestinians to flee again. Israeli schools, businesses and public transport have been shut down, with demonstrations planned in major cities as part of a national day of action by two groups representing a number of the families of captives and bereaved families. … Sunday’s rallies came just days after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to advance on Gaza City, nearly two years into a genocidal war that has devastated the enclave, left much of its population on the brink of famine, and led to Israel being increasingly internationally isolated.” (08/17/25)
“Anti-corruption protesters in Serbia set fire to the Valjevo offices of the country’s ruling political party, city leaders said, amid clashes sparked by the deadly collapse of a rail station in November. Saturday was the eighth night of unrest in the country, this time mostly centered in the western Serbian city, Balkan Insight reported Sunday. Protests also took place in the capital of Belgrade. … The protests were were originally organized by students after a railway station collapse in Novi Sad in November killed 16 people. Protesters blame the tragedy on government corruption and infrastructure negligence.” (08/17/25)
“The US Department of the Treasury is seeking public feedback on how digital identity tools and other emerging technologies could be used to fight illicit finance in crypto markets, with one option being embedding identity checks into decentralized finance (DeFi) smart contracts. The consultation, published this week, stems from the newly enacted Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), signed into law in July. … One of the ideas in the request for comment is the potential for DeFi protocols to integrate digital identity credentials directly into their code. Under this model, a smart contract could automatically verify a user’s credential before executing a transaction, effectively building Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) safeguards into blockchain infrastructure.” (08/17/25)
“A year after being lauded for its plan to replace thousands of aging, gas-powered mail trucks with a mostly electric fleet, the U.S. Postal Service is facing congressional attempts to strip billions in federal EV funding. In June, the Senate parliamentarian blocked a Republican proposal in a major tax-and-spending bill to sell off the agency’s new electric vehicles and infrastructure and revoke remaining federal money. But efforts to halt the fleet’s shift to clean energy continue in the name of cost savings. Donald Maston, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, said canceling the program now would have the opposite effect, squandering millions of dollars.” (08/17/25)
“Following a wave of lawsuits alleging that Roblox doesn’t provide a [curated by Puritans] environment for its underage users, the gaming platform made a series of sweeping updates to its policies. To address recent concerns, Roblox published a post on its website detailing these major changes, including restricting all unrated experiences, which is what Roblox calls its user-generated games, to the developer or those actively working with them. Roblox said this change will roll out in the coming months, representing a big shift from its previous policy that allowed users 13 or older to access unrated experiences. To further prevent any inappropriate behavior, any ‘social hangout’ experiences that depict private spaces, like bedrooms or bathrooms, will be limited to ID-verified users who are 17 or older. Roblox will also restrict social hangout games that mostly take place in those previously-mentioned private spaces or adult-only places, like bars or clubs, to users who are at least 17 and have been ID-verified.” (08/16/25)
“Nine teenagers in South Carolina were arrested in a plot to lure a 16-year-old boy to his death, and even the victim’s own girlfriend was in on the murderous scheme, according to authorities. Trey Dean Wright, 16, was found dead on June 24 with multiple gunshot wounds on First Neck Road in Florence County, roughly 45 miles west of Myrtle Beach, Fox News reported. Devan Scott Raper, 19, of Conway, is accused of fatally shooting Wright in an argument over a girl and was arrested the following day by the Florence County Sheriff’s office. But officials said Raper didn’t act alone. In the weeks since, eight other teens have been nabbed for their alleged roles in the dark scheme and are now facing charges for setting up Wright and recording his death on video — including the poor victim’s girlfriend.” (08/16/25)
“A scheduled visit by U.S. trade representatives to New Delhi later this month has been called off, according to Indian news broadcaster NDTV Profit. The visit that was expected to take place between Aug. 25 and Aug. 29 will likely be rescheduled, NDTV reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The report comes at a time when trade relations between the two countries have soured with U.S. President Donald Trump imposing a 25% blanket tariff on Indian exports, and topping those with additional 25% in duties — expected to come into effect on Aug. 27 — as a ‘penalty’ for India purchasing Russian crude. Both sides are in contact with each other, but a new schedule for talks has not been finalized, the report said.” (08/17/25)
