“Italian police have arrested seven people accused of belonging to an anarchist militant network and carrying out sabotage on a high-speed railway line during the Winter Olympics in February. In a statement on Tuesday, police said a judge had ordered five suspects to be held in prison and two placed under house arrest. The charges include terrorist association and subversion of the democratic order. Police said two of those arrested were accused of taking part in a February 14 attack on the Rome-Florence high-speed rail line. According to investigators, the sabotage was carried out using improvised explosive devices, causing severe damage to infrastructure estimated at €455,000 ($528,000). The attack led to train delays of more than an hour during the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, which ran from February 6 to 22.” (06/16/26)
“SpaceX has agreed to buy AI coding start-up Cursor for $60bn (£45bn) just days after its bumper initial public offering (IPO). Elon Musk’s rocket company will take over Anysphere, which makes the artificial intelligence coding agent. The move comes after SpaceX joined New York’s tech-focused Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday in the biggest ever listing, valuing it at more than $2tn and raising $85.7bn. … Like OpenAI and Anthropic, Cursor’s technology uses AI to automate the process of writing code, one of the most prominent current uses for artificial intelligence.” (06/16/26)
“A U.N.-backed court in the Central African Republic on Tuesday opened the trial of former President François Bozizé, who is accused of crimes against humanity for abuses committed by members of his security forces between 2009 and 2013. The trial is the sixth held by the Special Criminal Court, a tribunal created in 2015 with U.N. support to prosecute serious crimes committed during the country’s conflicts. …Prosecutors accuse Bozizé of being responsible as a military commander for crimes committed by members of his presidential guard and other security forces, including ‘murder, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other inhumane acts.’ Bozizé, 79, is being tried in absentia. He has been living in exile in Guinea-Bissau since 2023, and authorities there have refused to extradite him despite an international arrest warrant issued by the court in 2024.” (06/16/26)
“A Texas man who was in Colombia to adopt a 7-year-old boy was arrested after a huge, angry mob accused him of sexually abusing the child in plain sight on a balcony, according to reports. The 36-year-old suspect was seen holding the boy in front of him on a balcony of a building in an upscale neighborhood in Bogota on Sunday afternoon — and an outraged crowd quickly formed below, according to viral video of the incident shared on social media. ‘He’s abusing the child, let him go!’ shouted the woman recording along with others before the man eventually took the child inside, the dramatic clip shows. The otherwise unidentified suspect was arrested at the scene …. the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare later said there were no physical signs of sexual violence, while stressing that the investigation is ongoing because ‘there are other factors involved in sexual abuse,’ according to Bogota-based newspaper El Espectador.” (06/16/26)
“Romania’s latest prime minister-designate failed to secure the backing of his own party on Tuesday, impeding the path to forming a new government. Adrian Veștea — a former mayor, county council president and development minister from the center-right National Liberal Party (PLN) — was announced on Sunday as Romanian President Nicușor Dan’s second prime minister-designate in two weeks, after previous candidate Eugen Tomac failed to win enough support to form a technocratic government. But on Monday evening, PNL chair and former Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan — who was forced from office when the government collapsed in May — announced that his party would not support Veștea as he seeks to form a governing coalition in Romania’s parliament. … Veștea is expected to rely on dissident PNL lawmakers to reach the parliamentary majority needed to form a government. But Bolojan has also threatened to expel PNL lawmakers who vote for Veștea.” (06/16/26)
“A 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook part of central Indonesia ’s Sulawesi island Tuesday, injuring dozens of people, damaging homes and infrastructure and rattling residents of a city devastated by a quake and tsunami eight years ago, officials said. The initial quake was centered inland about 43 kilometers (27 miles) east-southeast of Palu, and the U.S. Geological Survey said it was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep. The strong shaking sent people fleeing into open areas in and around Palu, a city of about 400,000 people and the capital of Central Sulawesi province. Several hospitals evacuated patients, some with IV drips, outdoors as a safety measure. Four regencies close to the epicenter — with a combined population of 1.3 million — have yet to be fully assessed, but a preliminary report said at least 109 people have been displaced by the powerful earthquake.\” (06/16/26)
“China’s retail sales fell for the first time in more than three years in May while urban investment contracted more than expected, piling pressure on Beijing to roll out meaningful stimulus to spur consumption, even as de-escalation in Middle East tensions offers some near-term relief. Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, declined in May for the first time since December 2022, dropping 0.6% from a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. The Labor Day holiday at the start of May failed to offset sluggish consumer spending, with Beijing scaling back trade-in subsidies earlier this year. The sales contraction was a surprise as economists polled by Reuters had estimated flat growth.” (06/15/26)
“The number of foreign travellers visiting Cuba has plummeted since the beginning of the year amid tightened US sanctions, figures released by Cuba’s national statistics agency suggest. Fewer than 360,000 people visited the Communist-run island in the first five months of 2026, a decrease of 58.4% compared to the same period last year, according to Onei. The Trump administration has targeted the tourism sector, a key source of income for Cuba’s beleaguered government, as part of its pressure campaign against the island’s leadership. As a result, a number of foreign airlines and hotel operators have stopped operating in Cuba, further driving down visitor numbers. Earlier this month, Air Canada announced it was suspending its flights to Cuba indefinitely, citing the ‘ongoing political and economic uncertainty’ as its reason. The carrier had already stopped flying to the island in February because of a shortage of aviation fuel on the Caribbean island.” (06/16/26)
“India blocked access to Telegram messenger on Tuesday ahead of a retest of a nationwide medical college entrance examination, after a scandal last month over a question paper leak. The failure of the hugely competitive exam, along with a separate marking fiasco in high school tests, sparked outrage and fuelled youth protests demanding the education minister’s resignation. The Ministry of Electronics issued the order restricting access to Telegram until June 22, the day of the retest. Message-editing features, which allow users to alter existing posts, will remain restricted until June 30.” (06/16/26)
“Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday that Ohio should abolish the death penalty, saying it is no longer a deterrent to violent crime, confirming his change of heart on the policy he helped write as a state legislator 45 years ago. ‘I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe that there’s any chance in the future the facts that I’ve cited to support that belief will change,’ the 79-year-old governor said during a news conference. ‘Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty.’ DeWine has repeatedly postponed scheduled executions in the state over his seven years as governor. During a news conference, he said data indicates the death penalty is not working as intended to deter crime, even as it brings years of pain to victims’ loved ones and takes a toll on the mental health of state employees who serve on execution teams.” (06/16/26)
