“A Chinese artist was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday for ‘infringing upon the reputation of heroes’ through satirical works of art, including statues of the country’s former leader Mao Zedong. The US-based Gao Zhen, who was part of an artistic duo known as the Gao Brothers, was arrested while visiting family in China in August 2024. He has been in custody ever since. He was sentenced by the Sanhei People’s Court court in northern Hebei province, according to his wife Zhao Yaliang. The charges against Gao relate to artistic works that China considers insulting to revolutionary figures. One such piece of work is a 2009 statue called Mao’s Guilt which shows the founder of modern China kneeling in repentance. Another is the Miss Mao series of caricatures depicting Mao with breasts and an engorged nose.” (08/26/26)
“A Thai woman accused of killing her ex-husband, a U.S. diplomat, has been sentenced to one year in prison for violating Myanmar’s immigration laws, but she still might go to trial for murder, a lawyer familiar with her case said Wednesday. The court in Yangon’s Kamayut township on Tuesday found Pavinee Supasirivisan guilty under a provision applying to any foreign national who commits a crime in the country, according to the lawyer. The charge carries a sentence ranging from six months to five years, the lawyer said on condition of anonymity to avoid possible repercussions from Myanmar’s military-backed government, which exercises tight control over information. Pavinee is being held at Insein Prison. Neither U.S. nor Myanmar officials have publicly named the dead man, but the New York Post and other Western media have identified him as 43-year-old Daniel Paul Riva, who served as a U.S. State Department assistant regional security officer.” (08/26/26)
“An inquest opened Wednesday into the sudden death earlier this month of Jason Arday, a Cambridge University professor who faced a storm of plagiarism accusations. Arday, 41, who became Cambridge’s youngest [b]lack professor in 2023, was found dead at an address in south London on Aug. 13, days after he resigned his post as professor of sociology of education following intense media scrutiny of his credentials and many of the other claims he had made about his accomplishments outside of academia. The inquest opened with a short hearing at London Inner South Coroner’s Court. Any deaths in the U.K. that are deemed to exhibit uncertainties of one form or another are investigated by a coroner.” (08/26/26)
“Mortgage interest rates moved even higher last week, causing demand for loans to weaken yet again. Total mortgage application volume dropped 1% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of up to $832,750 increased last week to 6.78% from 6.77% the prior week, with points rising to 0.66 from 0.65, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment. That is the highest level in three weeks. Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly rate moves, fell 2% for the week. They were 17% lower than the same week one year ago, when rates were 9 basis points lower.” (08/26/26)
“Nepal sent helicopters to the rescue after a huge flash flood swept away villages, killing at least eight people and damaging roads, bridges and power projects in areas near Tibet, authorities said. Officials said 384 tourists, including 291 from countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, India and Malaysia were reported missing as a result of the flash flood on Wednesday. The waters were too high for helicopters to land in Nepal’s affected areas of Syapru Besi and Timure in the mountainous district of Rasuwa, with a population of about 50,000, officials said. … Across the border, Tibet reported ‘major casualties’ with people missing in the neighbouring county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a land crossing between China and Nepal, the Xinhua official news agency said.” (08/26/26)
“California’s leaders love to brag about the state’s legal cannabis market being the largest in the world. Even when the legal market has shown deep problems and dysfunction, leaders could say that at least California was still No. 1. However, that no longer appears to be true. Canada’s federal government released data last week showing that its June sales totaled $517.8 million Canadian dollars, or about $374.5 million in U.S. dollars. That’s more than the $372.4 million that California sold the same month, according to the Department of Cannabis Control, meaning California has lost its superlative status. The two markets have some clear differences, notably that Canada is an entire country while California is a state. But both have similar populations; California has 39.5 million people while Canada has 41.4 million, and the differences have not stopped California’s leaders from making the international comparison in the past.” (08/26/26)
“A U.S. district court has blocked Texas from banning drag performances as unconstitutional, ruling that the solution to the problem is for those who find such events offensive to just not attend. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 into law in June 2023 to ban ‘sexually oriented performances’ via civil penalties on businesses that host them and criminal penalties on performers. It has been debated in the courts since, with a court ruling it unconstitutional in 2023 and an appeals court in February allowing it to take effect while sending the case back to the district court for review. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner, a Reagan appointee who issued the 2023 ruling, declared Senate Bill 12 an unconstitutional restriction on speech and ordered that the state be permanently enjoined from enforcing it.” (08/26/26)
“Swiss voters will decide in a referendum next month whether to approve a more restrictive form of neutrality that would block their country from imposing economic sanctions or cooperating with NATO. Posters featuring doves of peace and asking voters to reject war have appeared across the Alpine nation in a campaign that has won the backing of the Kremlin but has raised fears that it could isolate Switzerland from its European neighbours. Opinion surveys suggest voters will reject the proposal …. Swiss neutrality, internationally recognised since 1815 and part of the country’s constitution since 1848, kept Switzerland out of both world wars. But this status is under threat after Switzerland imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, said Christoph Blocher, a veteran politician and backer of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) which supports the campaign.” (08/26/26)
“James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, wants to reveal depositions involving Ken Paxton, his Republican opponent, as part of an ongoing effort to keep the focus on Paxton’s history of scandals. The depositions involve a civil case where Unity Resources, a mineral assets company, was accused of fraud. Paxton was connected to Unity but not a defendant, and the case was settled. Talarico’s campaign confirmed it asked a court on Wednesday to release the documents. The Democratic state representative is counting on voters recoiling from past accusations against Paxton, the Texas attorney general, even though similar tactics have failed in previous campaigns. … Talarico also has talked about how Paxton was impeached, although Paxton was later acquitted, and how he faced criminal charges for securities fraud, which ended with an agreement with prosecutors involving restitution payments but no admission of guilt.” (08/26/26)
“A Massachusetts judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration violated a nationwide injunction by finalizing a rule that would significantly overhaul mail voting if allowed to take effect. The order allows the Trump administration to publish the rule Wednesday, but the U.S. Postal Service remains barred from making the dramatic changes to mail-in ballots. … Tuesday’s ruling came in response to a motion from the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts asking Talwani to enforce her nationwide injunction blocking the new mail-ballot rules. The injunction bars the administration from directing USPS to reject ballot mail that doesn’t comply with the administration’s new design requirements until after the 2026 midterms.” (08/25/26)
