“An 18-year-old man has been charged by New South Wales Police after a vehicle allegedly struck 10 people during a parade of rugby league side Newcastle Knights fans. A five-year-old girl is in a critical but now stable condition, while a 67-year-old man’s condition was considered critical but is currently reported to be serious but stable. A two-year old girl and a second five-year-old girl, whose conditions are described by police as stable, were among eight others hit. … NSW Police said that the driver had been released from hospital and charged with nine offences, including three counts of dangerous driving, three counts of negligent driving and three counts of causing bodily harm by misconduct, in charge of motor vehicle.” (10/03/26)
“Nicolás Maduro is not entitled to immunity from criminal charges, US prosecutors said, countering the former Venezuelan president’s bid to toss the US’s narco-terrorism case against him. Maduro and Cilia Flores — Maduro’s wife who also faces charges — are ‘former rogue officials of a formerly rogue state with no entitlement to immunity,’ the US argued in a filing in Manhattan federal court late Friday. His defense team argued last month that he is immune to prosecution in the US as the head of a sovereign country.” [editor’s note: The better argument is that the Constitution limits criminal prosecutions to “the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,” and Venezuela is neither a state nor a district of the United States – TLK] (10/04/26)
“Two Iranian men conducted surveillance of a Manchester synagogue that was the site of a deadly attack a year ago as part of a plot to bomb it this year, a prosecutor said Saturday. Salam Ahmadyan, 36, and Rahman Salehi, 34, researched attacking the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester in northwest England and the Jewish Museum in nearby Cheetham Hill, the court was told. Ahmadyan and Salehi were arrested last month and charged Friday with engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts. … Prosecutor Mark Luckett said the duo were directed by a third person believed to be in Iran who coordinated plans and provided instructions on making a homemade chlorine bomb.” (10/03/26)
“US authorities are searching for six people after a medical plane bound for Boston, Massachusetts, went missing early Saturday morning. The Federal Aviation Administration told the BBC that it lost contact with the Gulfstream G-100 plane and put out a search-and-rescue notice just after 1:00 local time (6:00 GMT). An air and water search is underway off the coast of Nantucket, a Massachusetts island, according to the US Coast Guard’s Northeast District. The plane departed from Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport at 23:40 local time, according to flight data from FlightAware, and was slated to land at Boston’s Logan International at 1:30 EDT (6:30 GMT). According to the tail number released by the Coast Guard, the plane belonged to Latitude Air Ambulances, a company that provides international medical flights for patients returning home.” (10/03/26)
“Tennessee’s prison chief is resigning after the failed [killing] of Christa Pike, which lawyers say was the fifth ‘botched’ [prisoner killing] under his leadership across two states since 2022. Frank Strada, the commissioner of the Tennessee department of correction, has faced mounting questions about the state’s highly secretive death penalty protocols since Wednesday evening when Pike became the first death row prisoner in the US to to be injected with lethal drugs and survive. … Death penalty lawyers said there were common threads in the five problematic [prisoner killings] under Strada, including the prisoners’ protracted suffering and questionable injection procedures, and argued that Lee should never have appointed Strada given his Arizona record.” (10/03/26)
“A team investigating a boat-shaped formation in eastern Turkey says new evidence is strengthening its case that the site could hold the remains of Noah’s Ark. ‘In archaeology, you deal with probabilities, and we’re inching towards where we believe we will have confirmation this winter after our soil analysis is done with Sivas University, who’s our partner in this,’ Noah’s Ark Scans founder Andrew Jones told ‘Saturday in America’. The focus of the investigation is the Durupınar formation, an approximately 538-foot-long geological structure near Mount Ararat. Its shape and proximity to the region identified in the biblical account have fascinated Ark hunters for decades. The boat-shaped formation was first discovered in 1959 and has long-drawn speculation over a possible connection to Noah’s Ark.” (10/03/26)
“Ethiopian government forces and allied militias have regained control of the capital of Tigray, three sources told Reuters on Sunday, dealing a major setback to the opposition alliance that rules the northern region. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which leads the opposition alliance, said in a statement posted on Facebook it had retreated from the capital and that the regional government would be ‘temporarily moved out of Mekelle and operate from somewhere else.’ A source close to the pro-government militia, the Tigray Peace Forces, said its fighters entered the centre of Mekelle on Saturday afternoon, followed by the Ethiopian military. A humanitarian source and a Mekelle resident, who asked not to be named, confirmed the city was controlled by government forces. The prime minister’s office did not respond immediately to a request for comment.” (10/04/26)
“A father and son who worked at a Mississippi smoke shop have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of at least one university student who died from a suspected overdose of kratom, sometimes called ‘gas station heroin’ in the US. The pair worked at a shop that allegedly sold derivatives of the substance to University of Mississippi students. US prosecutors charged Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Yahya Mosleh, 18, for possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances in connection with the death investigation of two Ole Miss students last month. Although their deaths have not officially been attributed to kratom, officials afterward issued warnings about consuming kratom.” (10/03/26)
“A federal judge ruled that a deputy violated the Fourth Amendment by searching a driver’s historical vehicle-location records without a warrant through license plate reader systems, including Flock Safety. U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill of the Northern District of Oklahoma issued the 38-page ruling Thursday in United States v. Melisa Susan Kyle. She ordered prosecutors to exclude all evidence officers obtained after the deputy initiated the search. Federal prosecutors charged Kyle with possessing more than 500 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Hill’s October 1 order addressed how officers obtained evidence, not whether Kyle committed the alleged offense.” (10/03/26)
“‘Monty Python’ legend John Cleese is doubling down on his months-long string of incendiary posts about Islam after activists filed a complaint that asked Britain’s counter-radicalization program to scrutinize him over the missives. ‘How exciting,’ the 86-year-old comedian wrote after learning that a member of the public had referred him to Prevent, a British government program designed to intervene when authorities believe someone may be vulnerable to radicalization or becoming involved in terrorism. The September 22 referral, first reported by Muslim-focused British news outlet 5Pillars, accused Cleese of ‘a sustained pattern’ of online activity that ‘demonizes, dehumanizes, and collectively attributes violence and criminality to Muslims and Islam’.” (10/03/26)
