“A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday declined the Justice Department’s request to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, setting up a potential emergency application to the Supreme Court. Legal experts [and people who can read] have said Trump’s order conflicted with the Fourteenth Amendment, which extends American citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, by denying citizenship to future children born in the United States if their mothers were unlawfully [sic] present in the country and their fathers were not citizens or permanent residents. … In denying the request, the panel found the Justice Department had not made a ‘strong showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits of this appeal.’” (02/19/25)
“Hamas said on Thursday it had handed over the bodies of four Israelis abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel — including a woman and her two young children — in exchange for Palestinian [hostages]. Large crowds had gathered near the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis to watch the choreographed handoff staged by Hamas. Rifle-toting gunmen were deployed around a stage on which four black coffins — each bearing the image of a deceased hostage — had been placed. Officials with the International Committee for the Red Cross placed the coffins in waiting white vehicles. The Israeli government later confirmed that the Red Cross had brought them to waiting Israeli forces inside Gaza.” (02/20/25)
“New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) sued the U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday after it rescinded federal approval for the city’s controversial congestion pricing program, which just went into effect in January. … [US Transportation Secretary Sean] Duffy argued in his letter that NYC’s program ‘exceeds the authority authorized by Congress’ under the Value Pricing Pilot Program.” (02/19/25)
“President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping executive order to expand the president’s control over independent regulatory agencies and declaring that only the president and the attorney general can interpret the meanings of laws. Trump signed the executive order Tuesday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort as he continues to try to consolidate the power of the federal government. According to the order, all executive departments and agencies must submit for review all proposed and final regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of the President for review to ensure they are consistent with ‘the President’s policies and priorities.’ … Independent agencies affected by the move include the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.” (02/19/25)
“The government of Nigeria has filed an $81.5 billion lawsuit against Binance, the world’s largest centralized exchange by trading volume, for $2 billion in back taxes and $79 billion in economic damages for allegedly crashing Nigeria’s local fiat currency. According to Reuters, Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said Binance has a ‘significant economic presence’ inside Nigeria and unpaid taxes from 2022 and 2023. FIRS is also reportedly demanding a 26.75% interest payment on the back taxes allegedly owed [sic] by the company and continues to claim that the exchange was instrumental in lowering the value of the Nigerian naira in foreign exchange markets.” (02/19/25)
“President Trump has spent the day attacking Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him a ‘dictator’ and deepening the rift between the two leaders [sic]. His attacks came after Zelensky, reacting to US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia from which Kyiv was excluded, said the US president was ‘living in a disinformation space’ governed by Moscow. … Zelensky’s five-year term of office was due to come to an end in May 2024. However, Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and elections are suspended.” (02/20/25)
“Three oil tankers have been damaged by blasts in the last month in separate incidents around the Mediterranean, with the causes unknown, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday. … An explosion caused a one-metre inward breach below the waterline on the hull of Greek-operated crude oil tanker Seajewel at a port in northern Italy on Saturday, one of the shipping sources said. A second blast occurred 20 minutes later on the same vessel without causing further damage. … Another vessel operated by Thenamaris, the crude oil tanker Seacharm, was also damaged by a blast off the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in late January, two of the sources said. In a third incident, the Liberia-flagged chemical and products tanker Grace Ferrum was damaged off Libya in February, three sources said, with one adding that the vessel would require a salvage operation.” (02/19/25)
“Kansas’s GOP legislature voted Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors, becoming the 27th state to restrict access to treatment. Republicans, with supermajorities in both chambers, easily cleared the two-thirds majority threshold needed to override Kelly’s veto in a set of votes that caught some Democrats off-guard. Kansas lawmakers had previously failed to override Kelly’s vetoes of similar measures. State Senate Bill 63, which is set to take effect later this month, aims to broadly prevent health care professionals from providing gender-affirming medical care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery, to minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria.” (02/19/25)
“US stocks closed higher on Wednesday as investors weighed President Trump’s latest 25% tariff salvo and digested the Federal Reserve minutes for insight into future policy. The benchmark S&P 500 moved up about 0.2%, hitting a fresh record high of 6,144.15, after notching a record on Tuesday as well. The Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both rose about 0.1%. Wednesday’s minutes from the Fed’s January meeting revealed most central bank officials supported holding policy at restrictive levels amid concerns about persistent inflation.” (02/19/25)
“In a day marked by contrasting movements, bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) faced a notable net outflow of $60.63 million, while ether ETFs managed to attract a modest inflow of $4.60 million. Bitwise’s BITB led the bitcoin ETF outflows with a substantial $112.65 million withdrawal, accompanied by Fidelity’s FBTC, which saw an outflow of $16.42 million. Conversely, Blackrock’s IBIT stood out by securing an inflow of $68.44 million, partially offsetting the overall negative trend. Other bitcoin funds remained neutral, reporting neither inflows nor outflows. … The significant lack of volume in the market and current bearish sentiment continue to reflect in the daily trading pattern of bitcoin and ether ETFs.” (02/19/25)
