Source: Investing.com
“Bitcoin fell below $77,000 on Monday, extending weekend losses as surging global bond yields and rising oil prices linked to escalating Iran tensions weakened appetite for riskier assets. The world’s largest cryptocurrency last traded 1.5% lower at $76,946.6 by 00:54 ET (04:54 GMT), its lowest level since May 1. Bitcoin briefly climbed above $80,000 last week but failed to sustain momentum.” (05/18/26)
Source: Reuters
“Oil prices extended gains on Monday, driven by increasingly bleak prospects for peace in the Middle East after an attack on a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates. … Drone attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia and the rhetoric from the United States and Iran raised concerns of an escalation in the conflict. Saudi Arabia, which intercepted three drones that entered from Iraqi airspace, warned it would take the necessary operational measures to respond to any attempt to violate its sovereignty and security. Emirati officials, meanwhile, said they were investigating the source of the strike on the Barakah nuclear power plant, adding that the UAE had the right to respond to what it said were ‘terrorist attacks.'” (05/17/26)
Source: SFGate
“U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow advanced to a runoff in Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary Saturday, capitalizing on the power of President Donald Trump’s endorsement in another attempt to purge his party of people he views as disloyal. State Treasurer John Fleming came in second to join her in the next round of voting. Trump supported Letlow over incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the few Republican senators who voted to convict him during his second impeachment trial over the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cassidy, a doctor, has also clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy, though he provided crucial support to help Kennedy get confirmed.” (05/16/26)
Source: Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem]
“The International Criminal Court (ICC) has denied that it had issued new arrest warrants for Israeli political and military officials, following a Haaretz report published on Sunday claiming the Hague has quietly sought arrest warrants against several Israeli officials. According to the Haaretz report, citing a diplomatic source, the warrants target three Israeli politicians and two IDF officials. ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet said in a note to journalists that the report, in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, was not accurate, and the court ‘denies the issuance of new arrest warrants in the situation in the state of Palestine.'” (05/17/26)
Source: Fox News
“President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a longtime ally of the president, and threatened to back a primary challenger after she campaigned for one of his top Republican rivals. Trump lashed out on Truth Social against Boebert, whom he previously endorsed for reelection, just hours after she campaigned with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., one of Trump’s most vocal GOP critics in Congress. ‘Is anyone interested in running against Weak Minded Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District?’ Trump wrote. The president criticized Boebert for supporting Massie, whose primary challenger, retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, has Trump’s endorsement.” (05/17/26)
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Felicien Kabuga, a suspect in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, has died in custody, a UN court said on Saturday. He was 93 years old. The court, the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), said it had ordered an inquiry into the circumstances of his death. Kabuga was once one of the world’s most-wanted fugitives. He was accused of encouraging and bankrolling the massacres between April and June 1994, in which Hutu extremists killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days. … Kabuga evaded arrest for more than two decades after the genocide, using a succession of false passports and aided by a network of former Rwandan allies. … Hist trial started in 20222. … Kabuga, however, was later ruled unfit to stand trial because of dementia.” (05/16/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/rwandan-genocide-suspect-felicien-kabuga-dies-in-custody/a-77184740
Source: New York Times
“Kansas cannot enforce its ban on nonsurgical gender-transition treatments for minors, a state judge ruled on Friday. The ruling gives supporters of transgender rights a significant, though temporary, victory after more than a year of setbacks in capitols and courtrooms across the country. … The judge, Carl Folsom III of the State District Court in Douglas County, said in granting a temporary injunction that the law had likely violated parents’ rights to make decisions for their children. Attorney General Kris W. Kobach, a Republican whose office defended the law, criticized the ruling as ‘a stark example of judicial activism,’ and vowed to appeal.” (05/16/26)
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Hamas official has confirmed to the BBC that Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, commander of the group’s armed wing, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that Haddad had been ‘responsible for the murder, kidnapping and injury of thousands of Israeli civilians and IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers’. Israel described him as ‘one of the architects of the October 7 massacre.’ The strike is the latest launched by Israel on Gaza despite a ceasefire with Hamas. Three eyewitnesses told the BBC that a residential building known as Al-Mu’taz was struck by three missiles launched simultaneously from two separate directions, before a fleeing car was hit. The air strike, targeting the apartment block in the centre of Gaza City, sparked a large fire.” (05/16/26)
Source: Bloomberg
“The Philippine government asked the Supreme Court to deny a petition by Senator Ronald Dela Rosa to stop his arrest after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant on allegations of crimes against humanity. The government’s executive branch can enforce the ICC arrest warrant, the Office of the Solicitor General said in a comment filed to the court on Saturday and made public Sunday. … Dela Rosa was chief of police from 2016 to 2018, when ex-president Rodrigo Duterte waged a crackdown on illegal drugs that killed thousands. Dela Rosa went on to win a Senate seat in 2019 and was reelected last year. He maintains the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.” (05/17/26)
Source: SFGate
“Venezuela’s government said Saturday it deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro facing several criminal investigations in the U.S. less than three years after the businessman was pardoned by President Joe Biden as part of a prisoner swap. The decision marks a stark reversal for Alex Saab, who Maduro fought tooth and nail to bring home after his previous international arrest in 2020. Now, the Colombian-born insider, long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s ‘bag man,’ may be asked to testify against his former protector, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a shock raid by the U.S. military in January.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/venezuela-says-it-deported-close-ally-of-maduro-22262638.php