“France has appointed Christophe Leribault as the new head of the Louvre, bringing in the director of the Palace of Versailles to turn around the world’s most visited museum after a humiliating jewellery heist and staff strikes. Leribault, who was chosen by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, will succeed Laurence des Cars, who resigned on Tuesday. Des Cars had faced intense criticism since burglars made off in October with jewels worth an estimated $102m, exposing glaring security gaps at the museum. The jewels are still missing.” (02/25/26)
“A military air strike by the Myanmar military in Rakhine state has killed at least 17 people and injured 14 others, local media reported, in the latest civil war carnage weeks after a military-backed governing party election win was dismissed as a ‘sham’ by international observers. Women and children were among those killed when air strikes hit Yoengu village in Ponnagyun township on Tuesday, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) said. The village lies about 33 kilometres (21 miles) northeast of Sittwe, the Rakhine state capital. It was captured by the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine armed group fighting the Myanmar military, in March 2024.” (02/25/26)
“Mexican lawmakers approved President Claudia Sheinbaum’s initiative to gradually reduce the work week from 48 hours to 40 hours early Wednesday. The constitutional reform now goes to state legislatures for approval, where Sheinbaum’s governing party controls the majority. It passed the lower chamber of the Congress early Wednesday with 411 votes in favor and 58 against. The Senate had already approved it earlier this month. The change will be implemented gradually, trimming two hours per year beginning in 2027 and reaching a 40-hour work week in 2030. Lawmakers decided to maintain the requirement for one day of rest for every six days worked, rejecting a proposal to require two days of rest per week. The government has calculated that the change could affect 13.5 million workers, but some analysts say more than double that number could be covered.” (02/25/26)
“Authorities have charged a New Hampshire resident in connection with a shooting that occurred at the state’s border with Canada, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Blu Zeke Daly, 26, who also goes by Cullan Zeke Daly, of Manchester, was charged with one count of attempted murder of a federal officer and one count of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, prosecutors said. Daly was shot near the border early Sunday by a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was returning fire from Daly, investigators said Monday. Daly is at a hospital receiving medical treatment under guard, prosecutors said. The Border Patrol agent, whom authorities have not named, was unharmed, authorities said earlier this week.” (02/24/26)
“Sperm quality is highest in the summer and lowest in the winter, according to a new study. Researchers from the UK, Canada and Denmark analysed semen samples from 15,581 men in Denmark and Florida, all aged between 18 and 45. Their findings show that sperm motility – the ability of sperm to swim effectively – was consistently highest in June and July for both parts of the world. Understanding these seasonal patterns could improve fertility treatments, by optimising the timing of treatment and fertility testing to provide better guidance to couples trying to conceive. The study, published in the journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology, suggests that sperm’s motility levels remain consistent across different climates, instead changing with the seasons. Levels were lowest in December and January, even though Florida remains warm all year round.” (02/25/26)
“The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for an immediate, full and unconditional cease-fire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, despite the United States'[s] abstention and a failed U.S. bid to strip language identifying the Kremlin’s aggression. The 193-member body met on the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion and voted 107 in favor, 12 against and 51 abstentions to adopt the ‘Support for lasting peace in Ukraine’ resolution.” (02/24/26)
“A number of Palestinians have been injured in separate attacks by the Israeli army and [squatters] in the Hebron area of the occupied West Bank, amid an escalating wave of state-backed violence as Israel concurrently continues its genocidal war on Gaza. In ad-Dhahiriya, about 24km (15 miles) southwest of Hebron, Israeli forces fired live and rubber bullets as they carried out a raid on Tuesday night, security sources told the Wafa news agency. Several Palestinians were injured by rubber-coated bullets fired at their feet, the agency reported. In a separate incident, four Palestinians were wounded when dozens of [squatters] launched an attack on the village of Khirbet Susiya in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, late on Tuesday, local sources told Al Jazeera.” (02/25/26)
“A five-judge panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously voted to convict those accused of plotting the 2018 killing of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes, a case that exposed deep-rooted ties between politics and organized crime. The case has stirred emotions in the politically divided nation. Some see Franco as a martyr and symbol of left-wing resistance, while allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro have attacked her legacy and the tributes paid to her since her death. The five men on trial for the killing of the 38-year-old human rights activist-turned-politician were former congressman Chiquinho Brazão; his brother who was a member of a Rio government watchdog, Domingos Brazão; his assistant Robson Calixto Fonseca; former police investigator Rivaldo Barbosa and former police officer Ronald Paulo Alves Pereira.” (02/25/26)
“Facebook owner Meta Platforms will buy artificial intelligence chips from Advanced Micro Devices in a deal that will also give it the opportunity to buy up to a 10% stake of the chip company. News of the AMD deal comes just days after Meta announced a long-term partnership where it will use millions of chips and other equipment from Nvidia for its artificial-intelligence data centers. Meta will buy AMD’s latest chips, the MI450, to help power data centers. The 6-gigawatt agreement will see shipments supporting the first gigawatt deployment set to start during the second half of this year. The agreement could potentially be worth more than $100 billion.” (02/24/26)
“A Washington, D.C., federal court on Tuesday rejected a request from an immigrant rights group to temporarily block the IRS from sharing certain taxpayer data that could make it easier to [abduct] people who are in the U.S. illegally [sic]. A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to issue a preliminary injunction for the immigrants’ rights group, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, and other nonprofits that are suing the federal government over the data-sharing agreement signed last April by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The agreement allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally [sic] to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records.” (02/24/26)
