“Burkina Faso’s military junta has broken off diplomatic ties with France, accusing Paris of persistently acting against its national interests. Relations between Burkina Faso and its former colonial ruler worsened after Capt Ibrahim Traore seized power in a coup in 2022 and pursued largely anti-Western policies. In a televised statement on Friday, communications minister Pingdwendé Gilbert Ouédraogo said France was guilty of ‘ceaseless activism’ against his country and accused it of ‘neo-colonial ambitions.’ The French foreign ministry called the decision ‘hostile and unfounded’ and said it ‘illustrated the troubling drift by the Burkinabe government.'” (06/27/26)
“Opening Pope Leo XIV’s closed-door conference of the world’s cardinals on war, the Vatican’s doctrinal chief accused the European Union of applying international law selectively, sanctioning some military invasions while treating others differently. The rare gathering was called by Leo to examine what he calls a global “culture of power” that fuels modern conflict and to consider how the Church should respond. A central focus of the discussions was the pope’s effort to rethink the traditional doctrine of a just war, which he argues has too often been invoked to justify military action. That position has already brought Leo into conflict with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who challenged the pope’s interpretation of Catholic teaching after Leo questioned whether the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran could meet the criteria of a just war.” (06/28/26)
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., revealed that she believes Congress should look to break up companies like Apple amid news that the tech giant might soon raise its prices on phones and laptops due to a strained processing chip supply chain. ‘We need to break up a lot of these companies that are far, far too big and we need to be instituting consumer protections for people,’ Ocasio-Cortez said. … ‘The problem that we have is that these big companies think they are governments. They want to be governments. They want to have totally unchecked power,’ Ocasio-Cortez said.” (06/28/26)
“The U.S. government on Friday granted Anthropic permission to release its Mythos 5 model to a group of roughly 100 companies and federal agencies, CNBC has confirmed. The decision, detailed by the Commerce Department in a letter to Anthropic, marks a major step forward in the negotiations between the Trump administration and the artificial intelligence company, which have been engaged in a two-week standoff over its latest models: Fable 5 and Mythos 5.” [editor’s note: The US government enjoys precisely zero right to decide whether AI creators can release their models, or if so to whom – TLK] (06/27/26)
“The parents of former Raiders running back Doug Martin say that the excessive force Oakland police officers used on their son during a mental health crisis led to his death in October, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday. Martin died in police custody on Oct. 18. In a statement released two days later, the Oakland Police Department said the 36-year-old was involved in an alleged break-in near the Oakland Zoo. … According to the suit, Martin fled to a nearby neighbor’s home during what his family described in the immediate aftermath as a mental health crisis, where police found him in the basement. The suit acknowledges a struggle but alleges that officers placed Martin face down on the ground with at least one officer on his back. When Martin appeared to be unconscious, the lawsuit alleges, police thought he was sleeping or pretending to be asleep.” (06/26/26)
“The world’s biggest superconducting magnet for a nuclear fusion reactor has passed final tests as part of China’s CRAFT ‘artificial sun’ project, eclipsing international performance benchmarks. The assembly comprises two coils: a toroidal-field magnet that acts as a magnetic cage, and a central solenoid that serves as the igniter. The results, achieved by researchers with the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, clear a major engineering hurdle on the path to confining a plasma hotter than the sun’s core, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday. The project – the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology – aims to create a miniature sun at over 100 million degrees Celsius (over 180 million Fahrenheit) and trap it inside a doughnut-shaped metal cage to generate electricity.” (06/28/26)
“Iran’s armed forces struck a container ship that was passing through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, according to U.S. and Iranian officials, undermining efforts to restore shipping traffic through the crucial waterway. The attack came hours after Iran, demonstrating its control over the strait, had warned ships that the only route through the vital pathway for oil and natural gas was through its waters. Many ships had been using a route on the southern side of the strait, hugging the Omani coast.
The strike halted traffic through the crucial waterway, contradicting President Trump’s claim that Iran did not control the strait and his assurances that it was open once again to shipping. Oil prices jumped after the attack, with the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rising over 2 percent to about $75 a barrel.” (06/25/26)
“Roughly $10.63 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) options expire on Deribit Friday. The settlement drops into a market that keeps sliding lower while traders hunt for a floor. Bitcoin trades near $60,200 after a 2% daily drop, while ether sits around $1,580 after a steeper 4.43% fall. Both rest far below their options max pain levels. Friday’s settlement ranks as the quarter’s largest options event on Deribit. The bulk of expiring value sits in Bitcoin, with notional contracts worth about $9.06 billion against ether’s $1.57 billion. Max pain marks the price where the most options expire worthless.” (06/26/26)
“The US supreme court has found in favor of the former Monsanto company in a ruling that is expected to block thousands of lawsuits filed by people alleging the key ingredient in the weed killer Roundup causes cancer. The decision was made in a 7-2 vote, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh offering the majority opinion and justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writing the dissenting opinion, joined by justice Neil Gorsuch. The case, Monsanto v Durnell, specifically dealt with the question of whether a federal law that gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory authority over pesticides preempts state claims that a company failed to warn users of certain product risks when the EPA itself has not required such warnings.” (06/25/26)
“Ukraine said its drones hit two oil refineries in the Russian city of Ufa, the latest in a wave of strikes on its foe’s energy infrastructure that have led to fuel shortages. The drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Ufaneftekhim and Bashneft Novoil refineries, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Telegram statement on Thursday. The attacks caused a fire at the two facilities’ primary processing units, SBU said in a separate statement. The plants in question are owned by Rosneft, Russia’s top oil producer and refiner. … Ukraine’s refinery strikes set a record in May, forcing Russia’s oil-processing rates runs to drop to a 20-year low at the start of June. Damage to the plants, including an attack on a facility in Moscow last week, has triggered panic buying of petrol, driving up pump prices and disrupting supplies across many parts of the country.” (06/25/26)
