“The head of Myanmar’s military government granted amnesty to more than 10,000 prisoners and reduced the sentences of others to mark a holiday, state-run media reported Monday. There was no sign former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in the military takeover in 2021 and has been held virtually incommunicado since then, would be freed. The amnesty comes two weeks before parliament is set to convene for its first session in more than five years following the recent election that critics said was neither free nor fair. State-run MRTV television reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, pardoned 10,162 prisoners, including 7,337 convicted under a counterterrorism law, on Peasants’ Day, a national holiday honoring farmers.” (03/02/26)
“Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called on both President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify about their relationships with Jeffery Epstein, telling NBC News’[s] ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday that said he’s working with a Republican colleague to subpoena Lutnick. Khanna, a member of the House Oversight Committee, referenced former President Bill Clinton’s testimony before the committee last week, saying Clinton ‘set a precedent’ for high-profile figures to testify. ‘A new Clinton rule that means that Donald Trump should do the same — answer the questions. Howard Lutnick should do the same,’ Khanna told ‘Meet the Press.'” (03/01/26)
“The Justice Department has sued another five states, including three led by Republicans, for their unredacted voter registration lists, amid the Trump administration’s the information ahead of November’s midterms. The Trump administration has now sued 29 states and the District of Columbia for voter information, heightening Democrats’ concerns that it is seeking to meddle in the elections. The five states sued Thursday were Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and New Jersey. The litigation effort has so far disproportionately targeted Democratic-led states, with Utah, Oklahoma and West Virginia among the few GOP-led states sued for their voter registration lists. Attorney General Pam Bondi argues she is charged by Congress with authority to request the sensitive election data under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, though courts have ruled against the government in the three cases that have reached decisions: California in mid-January and Michigan and Oregon earlier this month.” (02/27/26)
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held bilateral talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at Hyderabad House in the national capital, focusing on strengthening cooperation and partnership between the two countries. … Carney arrived in India on Friday for a visit he hopes will reset ties and double trade, offsetting the damage from his country’s fracturing relations with the United States.” (03/02/26)
“The global smartphone market is projected to contract sharply in 2026, with shipments expected to fall 12.9% year-on-year to 1.1 billion units, according to the latest forecast from research firm IDC. If realized, the decline would mark the steepest annual drop on record and push worldwide smartphone shipments to their lowest level in more than a decade. IDC said the revised outlook represents a significant downgrade from its November forecast as a worsening memory-component shortage ripples across the consumer electronics supply chain.” (03/01/26)
“The Federal Communications Commission has given the go ahead for two of the US’ biggest cable providers, Charter Communications and Cox Communications, to merge. Charter announced its intention to acquire Cox for $34.5 billion in May 2025, with specific plans to inherit Cox’s managed IT, commercial fiber and cloud businesses, while folding the company’s residential cable service into a subsidiary.” (02/27/26)
“Japan will not reappoint businessman Joichi Ito to a government committee on an entrepreneurship project when his term ends this month, over ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Sankei newspaper said on Monday. The decision comes after the release of millions of new Epstein documents by the U.S. Justice Department that revived scrutiny of Ito’s ties with Epstein and his current roles in Japanese government and academic circles.” (03/02/26)
“Mexican authorities returned the body of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho,’ to his family after he was killed by the Mexican army last week, officials said on Saturday. In a brief note on X, the Attorney General’s Office said that it handed over the body of El Mencho after completing all the necessary procedural protocols. … The killing of the country’s most powerful drug lord was met with a wave of retaliatory violence in some 20 states. More than 70 people were killed. The violence has fueled fears that the bloodshed could hurt tourism ahead of the FIFA World Cup later this year.” (02/28/26)
“Bettors on the prediction platform Polymarket made a killing with suspiciously timed wagers that the United States would attack Iran by February 28, the day President Donald Trump announced a bombing campaign against the Middle East nation. Bloomberg reported that six accounts on Polymarket, all newly created this month, ‘made around $1 million in profit’ by betting on the timing of the US attack on Iran. The accounts, according to Bloomberg, ‘had only ever placed bets on when US strikes might occur’, and ‘some of their shares were purchased, in some cases at roughly a dime apiece, hours before the first explosions were reported in Tehran.’ One account with the name Magamyman raked in over $515,000 by betting roughly $87,000 that ‘the US strikes Iran by February 28, 2026.'” (03/01/26)
“A federal judge on Friday extended an order protecting refugees in Minnesota who are lawfully in the U.S. from being arrested and deported, saying a Trump administration policy turns the ‘American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.’ U.S. District Judge John Tunheim granted a motion by advocates for refugees to convert a temporary restraining order that he issued in January into a more permanent preliminary injunction while the case develops further. The order applies only in Minnesota. But the implications of a new national policy on refugees that the Department of Homeland Security announced Feb. 18 were a major part of the discussion at a hearing held by the judge the next day.” (02/28/26)
