“A person was shot and killed late Thursday night at a Fort Myers apartment complex. Fort Myers police say they responded to a call from someone saying they fired one shot at an intruder who was armed and trying to get into their home. Officers and EMS provided lifesaving measures, but the intruder was pronounced dead on the scene. According to FMPD, detectives discovered the person who died lived on the property and had a similar apartment number as the one he was trying to gain access to.” (04/11/25)
“European allies have announced a ‘surge’ of military support for Ukraine, with the British government unveiling £450m ($580m) in UK-led aid. The support is partly aimed at strengthening the country’s position ahead of any peace deal with Russia. The UK will provide £350m this year, with Norway contributing further funding, Britain’s ministry of defence said on Friday. The funding will provide repairs and maintenance to vehicles and equipment as well as radar systems, anti-tank mines and hundreds of thousands of drones. The UK and Germany are host a meeting of 50 nations at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels on Friday. British defence secretary John Healey and his German counterpart, defence minister Boris Pistorius, will co-chair the 27th Ukraine Defence Contact Group, a role previously performed by the US defence secretary until Donald Trump’s return to office.” (04/11/25)
“US stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday in a volatile session that saw the major averages swing wildly, as markets reacted to an updated tariff announcement from the White House. The major indexes plunged to session lows after officials confirmed that increased levies on Chinese goods would rise to 145% — not 125% as previously stated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 2,100 points at its worst, the S&P 500 fell 6%, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled over 7%. However, the losses were trimmed by the close. The Dow ended 1,014 points, or 2.5% lower. The S&P 500 shed 3.46%, while the Nasdaq lost 4.31%.” (04/10/25)
“House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Thursday overcame a sizable revolt of his members and passed a budget resolution that was endorsed by President Trump. It puts Republican leaders one critical step closer to being able to pass a hulking fiscal bill that includes $4 trillion in tax cuts and a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase. … The budget measure passed 216-214, with GOP Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.) joining Democrats in voting against it.” (04/10/25)
“The US has sacked the commander of its military base in Greenland over her alleged attempts to ‘subvert President Trump’s agenda’ after hosting the American vice-president on the Arctic island. Colonel Susannah Meyers was removed as commander of the Pituffik Space Base late on Thursday after reports that she had sent an email critical of vice-president JD Vance’s visit to the island last month. … ‘I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the US administration discussed by vice-president Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,’ the email sent on March 31 said, according to military.com. Greenland has been thrust into the geopolitical spotlight after President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he intends to take over the Arctic island of 57,000 people from Denmark and has refused to rule out using force to do so.” (04/11/25)
“Donald Trump is going to ‘make America’s showers great again’ by easing rules restricting water flow, the White House says. The US president is ordering the energy secretary to rescind a change introduced by Barack Obama that restricted multi-nozzle showers from discharging over 2.5 gallons of water per minute overall. This served ‘a radical green agenda that made life worse for Americans’, the White House said, as Trump criticised the ‘ridiculous’ amount of time he says it takes to wet his hair in the shower. … Under a 1992 energy law, showerheads in the US are not allowed to produce more than 2.5 gallons (9.5l) of water per minute.” [editor’s note: Nice to see him doing something good! – TLK] (04/10/25)
“DoorDash has started robot deliveries in Los Angeles and Chicago. This is thanks to a partnership with the company Coco Robotics. Eligible customers will be able to receive sidewalk deliveries sourced from over 600 participating merchants. Coco robots have been making deliveries for DoorDash in Helsinki since late last year through its international sub-brand Wolt. DoorDash says that Coco robots completed over 100,000 deliveries during this initial pilot phase. … DoorDash isn’t the only delivery company in town experimenting with robots. Grubhub recently started bringing delivery robots to college campuses and Uber Eats expanded autonomous deliveries to Japan.” (04/10/25)
“Zimbabwe says it has started paying compensation to white farmers who lost land and property more than 20 years ago in controversial and often-violent farm seizures, a move the government hopes will help thaw icy relations with the West. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said the government has approved the disbursement of $3.1 million, the first such payment under a deal signed between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and dispossessed white farmers in 2020. Ncube said in a statement this week that the amount is equivalent to 1% of the total compensation claim of $311 million. He said 740 farms have been approved for compensation, with 378 benefiting from the first batch of payments. About 4,000 white farmers lost their homes and swaths of land when the [b]lack-majority country’s then-president, Robert Mugabe, launched the often-chaotic redistribution program in 2000.” (04/10/25)
“OpenAI is suing Elon Musk for unfair competition and interfering with its business relationships with investors and customers, escalating a legal battle between the ChatGPT maker and the billionaire who helped bankroll the artificial intelligence startup a decade ago. The allegations against Musk were filed Wednesday in a federal court in California as a counterclaim to the Tesla CEO’s lawsuit against OpenAI, which is heading to a jury trial next year. Musk, an early OpenAI investor who now runs his own AI firm, xAI, along with Tesla, SpaceX, social media platform X and President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, began a legal offensive against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman more than a year ago. He first sued for breach of contract over what he said was the betrayal of its founding aims as a nonprofit research laboratory, and later expanded his claims.” (04/10/25)
“A Bangladesh court on Thursday issued a fresh arrest warrant against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her daughter Saima Wajed Putul, and 17 others in connection with a graft case involving alleged fraudulent acquisition of a residential plot. Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Zakir Hossain Galib accepted the Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) charge sheet and issued the warrants, noting that all accused were absconding. … This development follows two previous arrest warrants issued by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal against Hasina and others for alleged crimes against humanity. It also comes a day after the ACC launched a new probe into the alleged misappropriation of Taka 4,000 crore during the ‘Mujib Centenary’ celebrations, involving Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, and retired official Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury. … 77-year-old Hasina has reportedly been living in India, which has yet to respond to Bangladesh’s request for her extradition.” (04/10/25)
