“Puerto Rico’s governor announced a state of emergency Wednesday to fight a surge in coastal erosion along the U.S. territory ’s north coast. Gov. Jenniffer González said the executive order would allow her administration to accelerate projects to protect natural resources and vulnerable coastal communities. The government said in a statement that rising sea levels, storm surges and other factors have intensified coastal erosion in Puerto Rico. González pledged to help northern towns including Loiza, where people have been evacuated and chunks of asphalt from coastal roads have tumbled into the ocean following heavy swells. The order was signed just days before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. The cost of the projects has not yet been determined.” (05/27/26)
“A Hyde Park man living in fear because his house had been broken into before opened fire on a home intruder early Tuesday morning, police said. … Officers arrived to find the suspect — later identified as Simeon Pratcher — laying ‘face down’ in one of the home’s bedrooms, police said. … The homeowner told investigators that he was in his living room when he heard someone entering his home. He went to one of his bedrooms and saw an intruder in the doorframe, leading the homeowner to fire two shots, MPD said. No one was struck by the gunfire. The homeowner told MPD that his home had been broken into three times, adding that he felt like he ‘had to protect himself.'” (05/26/26)
“Republican primary voters on Tuesday rejected U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, one of the Senate’s most senior GOP members, in favor of Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. … ‘Tonight is the beginning of the fight to preserve every value we hold dear,’ Paxton told supporters, referring to his upcoming general election campaign against Democrat James Talarico. … Cornyn and his supporters warned that the outcome could complicate Republicans’ efforts to hold the seat in November against Talarico, a state representative from Austin.” [editor’s note: Paxton seems to think Texas Republicans hold fraud, bribery, and adultery “dear” as “values.” And he just may be right – TLK] (05/27/26)
“Air defence units in the port of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied [sic] Crimea downed more than 20 Ukrainian drones early on Wednesday, with Ukraine also using Storm Shadow missiles, the city’s governor said on Telegram. There were no injuries, according to preliminary data, Mikhail Razvozhayev said, adding that a few buildings, including a regional office of the central bank and an eight-story apartment block, were damaged in the attack. Storm Shadow missiles are made by a Franco-British consortium. Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has previously summoned the British and French ambassadors to protest Ukraine’s use of the weapons.” (05/27/26)
“President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had ‘largely negotiated’ a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he’s closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that’s been politically unpopular for Republicans. … The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism — even from some of his own supporters — that Iran’s hardline leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened.” (05/27/26)
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a long-shot lawsuit in which Florida sought to sue California and Washington for allegedly allowing people who entered the country illegally [sic] to obtain commercial truck driver’s licenses. Florida’s claim was filed in the aftermath of a high-profile crash in the state last year in which a truck driven by an Indian man, Harjinder Singh, was involved in an accident that left three people dead. The state, which says Singh did not have legal status in the United States, alleges he was wrongly issued licenses in both California and Washington. … The court denied the state’s appeal without comment. Conservative [sic] Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a separate opinion saying he would have heard the case. He was joined by fellow conservative [sic] Justice Samuel Alito.” (05/26/26)
“Bitcoin’s expected volatility has fallen to the lowest level in nine months, as subdued trading and a shift in speculative interest away from the largest cryptocurrency dampen demand for options protection. The Bitcoin Volmex Implied Volatility Index fell to 36.11 Monday in Singapore, its lowest since September last year and close to its lowest since 2023. The index reflects the market’s expected 30-day volatility in Bitcoin, derived from real-time crypto options prices.” (05/26/26)
“Ireland aims to pass a law curbing goods trade with settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by mid-July with Israel, some U.S. lawmakers and business groups opposing the move, Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said on Tuesday. Ireland’s government, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, first promised to sanction Israeli settlements in October 2024. The legislation has since been held up by pressure from opposition politicians who aimed to extend the ban also to services trade, on one side, and international company lobbyists seeking to scrap the bill, on the other. Sources told Reuters last October that the bill was set to be limited to goods. Prime Minister Micheal Martin confirmed that last week and said widening the scope to services was neither ‘implementable’ nor ‘viable.'” (05/26/26)
“As U.S. kamikaze drones guided by Elon Musk’s Starlink network began to make visible gains in the war against Iran, senior SpaceX officials reached a conclusion: The Pentagon should be paying more for access to their satellite Wi-Fi network. Within weeks of the United States launching its bombing campaign, SpaceX executives met Pentagon officials and argued the military had been paying about $5,000 for connection per terminal while effectively using a higher tier of service worth closer to $25,000, according to two sources familiar with the matter and Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters. … The Pentagon, which is seeking to help Iranian citizens bypass government-imposed communications blackouts, has also been at odds with SpaceX over pricing for a plan to provide the populace direct-to-cell connections with Starlink akin to 5G service, two of the sources said.” (05/26/26)
“The Dutch government is blocking a United States-based company’s attempts to acquire a key online identification IT supplier. Dutch firm Solvinity runs a platform for the country’s DigiD app, which allows the country’s citizens to authenticate themselves online when they want to book a doctor’s appointment, buy a house or interact with public authorities. In November, U.S.-based Kyndryl announced it would acquire Solvinity, triggering concerns that a key Dutch online identification tool would fall under foreign control. Across Europe, there have been increased concerns about the bloc’s reliance on U.S. technology. … The decision comes a week before the European Commission is set to unveil its tech sovereignty package, a set of proposals to reduce Europe’s reliance on foreign technology in the areas of cloud, microchips and AI.” (05/26/26)
