“Ted Turner, the charismatic, larger-than-life figure who conquered the world of media, sports and philanthropy, has died, according to a release by Turner Enterprises obtained by CNN. He was 87. Turner disclosed in September 2018 that he was suffering from Lewy body dementia, a brain disorder that affects memory and other cognitive functions. Turner, Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1991, transformed the world of television, inventing 24-hour news with CNN and pioneering national basic cable. To feed his ‘superstation,’ he made deals that rewrote the rules of sports broadcasting. He was also a sports figure himself, winning the America’s Cup and owning the Atlanta Braves when they won the World Series.” (05/06/26)
“Police have raided around 50 homes and other locations, targeting people suspected of involvement in far-right criminal youth groups that have recently emerged in Germany. Prosecutors said the suspects were believed to be part of two groups, ‘Jung & Stark’ (JS), or Young and Strong, and ‘Deutsche Jugend Voran’ (DJV), which means Forwards German Youth. No arrests were made in Wednesday’s raids, which took place in 12 states, mainly in the east and south of Germany, including Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony. In a statement, federal prosecutors said the raids targeted individuals suspected of organising violence through social media and forming nationwide networks. ‘Some of the accused are said to have attacked members of the left-wing scene or people they believed to be paedophiles. In each case, the victims were beaten by several attackers and sustained significant injuries,’ prosecutors said.” (05/06/26)
“Over 600 military personnel from multiple countries are searching for two U.S. soldiers who went missing in Morocco during U.S.-African military exercises, scouring underwater caves and the Atlantic coast, authorities said Wednesday. As the search entered its fifth day, the African Lion military drills neared their end. The two U.S. Army members went missing last week near the Cap Draa training area outside Tan-Tan, a coastal city in southwestern Morocco, the Moroccan military said. They are believed to have been on a recreational hike and may have fallen into the ocean. More than 600 personnel from the U.S., Morocco and other African Lion participants are involved in the search and have covered more than 45 square kilometers of coastal and open ocean area, a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly on the matter.” (05/06/26)
“Venezuela insisted Wednesday that a disputed mineral-rich region of Guyana was ‘fraudulently’ taken in a 19th-century example of colonialism, arguing that a 1966 agreement and not the United Nations’ highest court should finalize ownership of the territory. The International Court of Justice is holding a week of hearings between the South American neighbors who both lay claim to the Essequibo region, which is rich in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources and is located close to massive offshore oil deposits. An 1899 decision by arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States drew the border along the Essequibo River largely in favor of Guyana. The U.S. represented Venezuela in part because the Venezuelan government had broken off diplomatic relations with Britain. Venezuela contends the Americans and Europeans conspired to cheat the country out of its rightfully owned land.” [editor’s note: States, as criminal gangs, don’t and can’t own anything. Everything they control is stolen – TLK] (05/06/26)
“A French academic is under investigation for inventing a Nobel-style prize for philology in order that he could then go on to win it. Florent Montaclair, from Besançon in eastern France, was decorated with the Gold Medal of Philology in 2016 at a ceremony held at the National Assembly in Paris, attended by ministers and Nobel laureates. But the prize was a fiction, as was the body that supposedly awarded it, the International Society of Philology – both apparently dreamed up by Montaclair to burnish his academic credentials. Philology is the study of language through texts. Investigators in Besançon are now looking into the affair to see if any laws were broken, while the university where Montaclair taught for 20 years has suspended him indefinitely.” (05/06/26)
“A man accused of firing a gun at law enforcement officers near the Washington Monument this week was walking along the path of Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade before the shooting and made a vulgar remark about the White House after the confrontation, according to a court filing Wednesday. Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, was shot multiple times during Monday’s confrontation and was in the back of an ambulance on his way to a hospital when he said, ‘F**k the White House!’ and ‘Kill me, kill me, kill me!’ as a Secret Service agent said in an affidavit. The sworn statement does not specify whether investigators believe Marx had a particular target.” (05/06/26)
“Uganda’s parliament passed legislation to curb alleged foreign influence after scaling back proposed restrictions on funding from abroad that the central bank governor said risked ‘economic disaster.’ The proposal, entitled ‘The Protection of Sovereignty Bill,’ was adopted late on Tuesday and now awaits the signature of President Yoweri Museveni. Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, and allies in the ruling party regularly decry outside influence in Uganda, accusing domestic political rivals of receiving funding from abroad and pushing foreign agendas such as LGBTQ rights. Several Ugandan opposition parties have traditionally received some of their funding from outside the country.” (05/06/26)
“Vivek Ramaswamy will run for the position of Ohio governor in November, after the staunch ally of US President Donald Trump emerged victorious in one of a series of primary contests held in the US Midwest. Projected results on Tuesday night showed the health-tech entrepreneur had defeated Casey Putsch to earn the Republican nomination. Ramaswamy – who gained prominence during his unsuccessful run against Trump for president in 2024 – said at a victory party that his plan was to ‘leave this state and this country better than we found it.’ Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Amy Acton, who ran unopposed for her party’s own nomination, told supporters she wanted to make Ohio more affordable again. ‘It shouldn’t be this hard,’ said Acton, who is the former Ohio public health director. ‘It is time to put working families first.'” (05/06/26)
“Democrat Chedrick Greene is projected to win the special state Senate race in Michigan, according to Decision Desk HQ, preserving his party’s narrow majority in the chamber. With Greene’s projected victory in the 35th District, Democrats’ advantage expands from 19-18 to 20-18, easing their path to advance legislation. Democrats won a governing trifecta in 2022, taking control of the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature. But the party lost the state House in 2024 and has held a one-seat majority in the Senate since.” (05/05/26)
“Officials and experts in Argentina are scrambling to determine if their country is the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has gripped an Atlantic cruise. The health emergency aboard the ship that’s moored across the ocean comes as Argentina sees a surge of hantavirus cases that many local public health researchers attribute to the recently accelerating effects of climate change. Argentina, where the cruise to Antarctica departed, is consistently ranked by the World Health Organization as having the highest incidence of the rare, rodent-borne disease in Latin America. Higher temperatures expand the virus’ range because, in part, as it gets warmer and ecosystems change, rodents that carry the hantavirus can thrive in more places, experts say. People typically contract the virus from exposure to rodent droppings, urine or saliva.” (05/06/26)
