“Eli Lilly on Thursday said its next-generation obesity drug retatrutide cleared its first late-stage trial on Type 2 diabetes patients, helping them manage their blood sugar levels and lose weight. The drug lowered hemoglobin A1c — a key measure of blood sugar levels — by an average of 1.7% to 2% across different doses at 40 weeks compared with placebo, meeting the study’s main goal. Patients started the trial with an A1c in the range of 7% to 9.5%, and were not taking other diabetes medications.” (03/19/26)
“Congolese and Rwandan officials met in the United States and agreed on coordinated steps to de-escalate tensions in eastern Congo, where government troops are fighting rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda, according to a joint statement. The statement issued by the Congolese, Rwandan and U.S. governments said that Congolese and Rwandan officials met on Tuesday and Wednesday to advance progress in eastern Congo as peace efforts led by the U.S. and partners including Qatar have stalled and violence continued. The mineral-rich eastern Congo has been battered by decades of unrest as government forces fight more than 100 armed groups, the most potent the M23 rebel group backed by Rwanda.” (03/19/26)
“In a marked shift, commercial satellite companies that provide open-source data used widely by many, including journalists and researchers, have restricted access to images showing Iran and the wider Middle East, including areas where there are U.S. military sites that have been targeted by Iran’s retaliatory fire. Planet Labs, which regularly provides imagery used by news organizations including CBS News, said earlier this month that it was delaying the release of all new imagery of Iran, the Persian Gulf, U.S.-allied bases, and ‘existing conflict zones’ for 14 days. … The other large firm often relied on for satellite updates is Vantor, formerly called Maxar, which currently has controls in place on imagery from parts of the Middle East, a spokesperson said.” (03/19/26)
“Iran executed a 19-year-old champion wrestler in a public hanging Thursday along with two other people who were arrested during the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters in January. Saleh Mohammadi, a rising star from Qom, was allegedly tortured to confess to the capital crime of waging war against God, with the teen executed without a fair trial, according to human rights groups. ‘His execution was a blatant political murder, part of the Islamic Republic’s pattern of targeting athletes to crush dissent and terrorize society,’ Nima Far, a human rights activist and Iranian combat athlete, told Fox News. Mohammadi, along with fellow protesters Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, were accused of killing two police officers ‘with knives and swords’ during the January protests, according to Iranian state media. Mohammadi was arrested during the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters in January.” (03/19/26)
“The Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman won a defamation lawsuit filed by seven Ohio sheriff’s deputies who sued him over music videos in which he used home security footage to mock their raid of his home. ‘We did it, America! Yeah, we did it! Freedom of speech! Right on! Right on!’ the 51-year-old rapper, born Joseph Foreman, shouted outside the courthouse after the Wednesday evening verdict. … The Adams County deputies [whined that] they were publicly harassed over the viral videos, which were viewed more than three million times on YouTube. The videos show rifle-wielding deputies busting down Afroman’s door, searching his shoes and suit pockets, and hungrily eyeing a cake on the kitchen table, inspiring one song’s title, Lemon Pound Cake. In other music videos, Afroman took aim at the deputies’ personal lives and called them ‘crooked cops’ because of $400 that went missing in the raid.” (03/19/26)
“Lawmakers in Macau, a city under Chinese rule, unanimously approved a bill on Thursday that allows court proceedings to be held behind closed doors when deemed necessary to protect national security [sic] interests. The city enacted its first national security [sic] law in 2009 and tightened it with amendments in 2023. Last July, leading democrat Au Kam San was arrested for alleged collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security [sic], the first known arrest under that law. The new legislation stipulates that judges must refer cases to the city’s Committee for Safeguarding National Security if they believe national security [sic] may be at risk during a public hearing.” (03/19/26)
“Conservatives [sic] celebrated Tuesday after a federal appeals court denied California’s request to narrow a Supreme Court ruling on transgender policies, two weeks after the high court dealt the state a major blow in the same case. ‘California has now lost at the district court, lost at the Supreme Court, and been turned away by the Ninth Circuit,’ Executive Vice President of the Thomas More Society Peter Breen said in a statement. ‘The state has repeatedly tried to paint parents who don’t immediately accept their children’s assertion of a new name and gender as ‘abusive.’ The courts have resoundingly rejected that premise.’ The Supreme Court had temporarily blocked California officials on March 2 from interfering with school policies that require parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender.” (03/19/26)
“France’s attempt to suspend Chinese online platform Shein’s marketplace was rejected by a Paris Court of Appeal on Thursday, after a Paris court had already ruled against the government’s request in December. Shein has been embroiled in a scandal since France’s consumer watchdog found sex dolls resembling children and banned weapons for sale on its marketplace in November, prompting the government to attempt to suspend the platform.” (03/19/26)
“Gold and silver joined a broad sell-off on Thursday, with the metals shedding around 5% and 10%, respectively, as fears about the Iran war and inflation gripped global markets. At 8:43 a.m. ET, spot gold was down 4.9% at just over $4,600 an ounce. Front-month gold futures were down 5.8% at $4,612. Spot silver was 9.5% lower at $68.22 an ounce, while silver futures lost 12% to settle at $68.31.” (03/19/26)
“Three dozen state and local governments have challenged the Trump administration’s reversal of a landmark Obama-era scientific ruling which held that greenhouse gases were a threat to public health. The lawsuit seeks to overturn the administration’s repeal last month of the 2009 ‘endangerment finding’ that underpins US policies aimed at lowering emissions from cars, power plants and other sources of planet-warming emissions. Several environmental organisations filed a similar lawsuit last month. President Donald Trump touted the climate change rollback as a major achievement, calling it a victory over the Democratic Party’s ‘radical’ energy and climate policies. The petition filed in the US Court of Appeals argues that overturning the ‘endangerment finding’ violated provisions in the Clean Air Act. The group challenging the administration includes 23 states and 17 cities, counties and state agencies, among them New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.” (03/19/26)
