“Russia has designated the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, chaired by Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, as an ‘undesirable organisation’. The ‘undesirable’ tag is used by Russian authorities to ban the activities of organisations it deems to pose a threat to the state, and means that any Russians who cooperate with them or share their content can face prosecution. In its announcement, the Russian prosecutor’s office noted that HRF had designated Russia as a ‘fully authoritarian regime’ in its ‘Tyranny Tracker’ project. It said HRF was engaged in discrediting the Russian armed forces — which was made a criminal offence after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — as well as promoting anti-Russian sanctions and supporting other undesirable organisations.” (08/07/26)
“U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday that the White House said expands the definition of people who are ineligible for birthright citizenship and bans ‘birth tourism.’ Limiting birthright citizenship has been one of the top priorities in the Republican president’s crackdown on immigration. An earlier effort by Trump was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in June, prompting him to call upon Congress to act.” (08/06/26)
“Iranian state media on Thursday reported that Tehran could attempt to block U.S. and Israeli shipments from transiting the Strait of Hormuz under its joint venture with Oman to reopen the critical waterway to commercial traffic. Members of Iran’s parliament are reviewing a proposed bill to block “hostile” vessels from moving through the choke point responsible for carrying a fifth of the world’s oil transports per day under normal conditions. Ships caught violating the policy could face a 20 percent fine if caught by Iranian authorities, per state media. Each ship approved to transit the strait will face fees for insurance, refueling and or environmental costs, according to Iranian state media. … The Trump administration has maintained that there will be no tolls on the strait.” (08/06/26)
“Yemen’s Houthi group has killed at least 30 [Saudi puppet regime] soldiers and injured 15 others in missile attacks on Yemeni military camps in the governorates of Hadramout and Marib, government sources told Al Jazeera. Thursday’s strikes on military sites, including some run by Yemen’s Emergency Forces, are the deadliest in years in the country’s civil [sic] war. They follow an increase in violence in Yemen seen in recent weeks. … the attack struck at 2pm local time (11:00 GMT) on Thursday, hitting camps belonging to several [Saudi puppet regime] military formations, the Homeland Shield Forces, the Emergency Forces and the First Military Region in Hadramout. The Homeland Shield Forces, formed in 2022 with Saudi backing and numbering tens of thousands, guard the Marib-Hadramout frontier and the Saudi border.” (08/06/26)
“A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms [sic] to young people from its platforms in the second phase of a landmark trial. Judge Bryan Biedscheid said in a ruling late Thursday that the bulk of the money — $420 million — will be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years. The new penalty is in addition to the $375 million in civil penalties that jurors ordered against Meta in March after [hallucinating that] the company knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.” (08/06/26)
“Another update from Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office. On Thursday, they sent out another statement from him, saying he’s headed home. … ‘Earlier today, I was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery at home. … On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business.’ … The 84-year-old senator was hospitalized June 14 after reportedly suffering a fall. On July 12, it was announced he was moved to a rehab facility where he has been until now. This is only the third statement said to be directly from McConnell since then. He has not been publicly seen, but his staff has provided two photos.” (08/06/26)
“A British sociologist who became famous as the youngest [b]lack professor ever at the University of Cambridge has resigned after the university opened an investigation into ‘new information’ about his academic qualifications. Professor Jason Arday, who was 37 when he became a Cambridge professor in 2023, announced his decision late Wednesday following weeks of allegations about plagiarism in his academic work and questions surrounding claims about his athletic and fundraising accomplishments. … Questions about his qualifications were raised publicly last month by Nathan Cofnas, a one-time Cambridge philosophy researcher who left the university after his critique of diversity, equity and inclusion programs sparked widespread protests.” (08/06/26)
“A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that some federal gun restrictions can no longer stand after Republicans last year zeroed out the taxes that justified their [entirely fake in the first place] constitutionality. Congress relied on its taxing authority to pass the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA), which established a $200 fee to transfer or make certain firearms. But last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the tax for short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles and silencers. U.S. District Judge Wesley Hendrix said that has ‘constitutional consequences.’ The law’s registration and recordkeeping requirements for those guns can’t continue, he ruled. ‘Because today’s NFA does not generate any revenue from untaxed firearms, its regulatory provisions cannot be upheld under the taxing power,’ Hendrix wrote in his 66-page opinion.” (08/06/26)
“The Federal Communications Commission, the government agency that regulates the broadcast airwaves, voted Thursday to eliminate a cap on the share of U.S. television households a single company can reach, a major move that could pave the way for more corporate consolidation in the media industry. In a 2-1 vote, the FCC repealed a 22-year-old rule holding that a company cannot own stations that reach more than a combined 39% of the U.S. television audience. The ownership limit will be replaced by a case-by-case approach.” [editor’s note: It should be replaced by a “none of the government’s business” approach – TLK] (08/06/26)
“President Trump was adamant Thursday that the US has ‘massive amounts’ of munitions in its arsenal and vowed to hunt down leakers who are anonymously sounding the alarms about America’s stash of firepower. The president’s condemnation followed a Washington Post report that he lashed out at War Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Camp David cabinet meeting last week, claiming he had been misled about the state of America’s arms stockpile. According to the outlet, Trump complained that the shortages are one of the main reasons he hasn’t ordered massive new strikes against Iran. The president has publicly attributed operational delays to progress in peace talks with Tehran.” (08/06/26)
