“A German court on Tuesday handed a jail sentence of one year and three months to a Ukrainian man for spying for Russia and helping prepare possible acts of sabotage. The court in Stuttgart acquitted two other Ukrainian men aged 22 and 25 who were on trial for the same plot, which involved posting test packages containing GPS trackers in March last year to Ukraine. The plan was aimed at scoping out possibilities for ‘disrupting transport and infrastructure’ and was ultimately directed by a ‘Russian state entity’, the court said.” (08/18/26)
“A historic preservation group that sued to block construction of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to suspend the project while it considers whether the work can continue. The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed its request less than a week after the Trump administration asked the nation’s highest court to allow the White House to continue construction on its $400 million ballroom project. Lawyers for the trust argued that ‘rather than obtain permission from Congress, petitioners have instead decided to try to outrun judicial review’. The building of the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom has included demolishing the East Wing of the White House and is part of Trump’s plans to quickly remake Washington. The petition comes after a divided appeals court panel upheld an order to pause aboveground construction on the project. The ruling was suspended to let the administration appeal.” (08/18/26)
“The prosecution rested Monday in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy over the killings of her three children in Massachusetts. Clancy, 36, is accused of fatally strangling her children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan — at their home on Jan. 24, 2023. … The prosecution said Clancy committed the killings while her then-husband Patrick was out of the house. She then jumped out of the second-story window of the house and was paralyzed from the waist down. The defense does not dispute that Clancy killed her children but argues that she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis.” (08/17/26)
“UN inspectors this week visited several undeclared Assad-era Syrian nuclear sites for the first time — including some used to store nuclear material. The inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi and his team came after diplomatic efforts by the Trump administration, first reported by Axios, that produced understandings with both Syria and Israel. It marked the first time the IAEA was given full access to suspicious nuclear sites in Syria.” (08/18/26)
“President Donald Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary, according to local voting records, even as he continues to rail against mail-in voting with wide-ranging allegations of fraud. Voting records from Palm Beach County show the president requested his ballot in late July and it was returned on Aug. 13. This is not the first time that Trump has voted by mail in his adopted home state. He voted by mail in a special election in Palm Beach County earlier this year. … Trump continues to rail at the use of mail-in voting and says the current practice should be limited to those who in the military, are traveling or have a disability or illness.” (08/17/26)
“During midday in California, the state’s solar grid produces so much energy that, sometimes, it can’t even use it all. It’s a good problem to have, and one that the leading Democratic candidate governor thinks could be a boon to low-income households. At a recent summit hosted by Politico, Xavier Becerra said he wants to offer free electricity from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for those who qualify, possibly saving them upward of $1,000 annually. Becerra’s plan is not entirely novel, and similar programs have been introduced in places like Australia and Texas. Texas is the only U.S. state that has already established a program that offers free electricity during specific time windows. Several companies have plans that offer free hours during the night, day or weekend, provided that customers sign up for those plans.” (08/17/26)
“A federal judge on Monday blocked a Trump administration plan to relocate the new FBI headquarters to Washington, D.C., rather than in nearby Maryland, which had been picked in 2023 to host the building. U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang sided with the Democratic-led state of Maryland and Prince George’s County in ruling the administration had unlawfully scrapped a plan to construct a new FBI headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland, and diverted money approved by Congress for that project to an alternate location, the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. The judge said the selection of Ronald Reagan Building violated measures passed by Congress in 2022 and 2023 that required the General Services Administration to pick from one of three short-listed sites outside of Washington.” (08/17/26)
“Ukraine launched more than 620 drones at Moscow overnight in what appeared to be its largest such attack in years, while Russian attacks killed 10 people in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 180 of the 620 drones heading towards Moscow were ‘destroyed’ by Russian defences over the capital region between Monday evening and 5am (02:00 GMT) on Tuesday. He said 17 more drones were shot down en route to the capital later. … The drone attack wounded three people, including a 10-year-old girl, Moscow region’s Governor Andrey Vorobyov said on Telegram. … Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force reported shooting down or suppressing 111 of 147 ‘enemy’ drones overnight. Kharkiv’s regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said preliminary information indicated 10 people were killed and eight injured in the Pechenihy settlement.” (08/18/26)
“A ship was hit by a projectile early Tuesday as it was sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack highlights the ongoing danger of attempting to transit the waterway as Iran continues to throttle shipping traffic, even as it finalizes negotiations with Oman on a plan to manage the critical passage. … With negotiations between the U.S. and Iran stalled, Iran has been holding separate talks with Oman on a plan to manage ships transiting the strait, and said Monday it was in the process of finalizing details for a joint statement. U.S. President Donald Trump [whined like a spoiled three-year-old], reportedly threatening to Fox News reporter Trey Yingst in a telephone interview that the U.S. would bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way.'” (08/18/26)
“The Trump administration says it is temporarily pausing construction of a controversial border construction project in the Big Bend National Park while the head of the agency tasked with building the wall visits Texas to do an ‘on-the-ground evaluation.’ The project through the national park in southern Texas has faced fierce bipartisan opposition by critics who say it is marring a pristine environmental area and that the region’s rugged and remote terrain already serves as a deterrent to migrants and smugglers.” (08/17/26)
