“Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced a major expansion of illegal [squats] in the occupied West Bank, as he pushes to annex more of the Palestinian territory. Smotrich said on Wednesday that a planning committee had approved the construction of 2,162 new Jewish homes, of which 1,006 units will be in a new illegal [squat] near Jerusalem, 922 near the city of Nablus and 234 near Hebron.” (06/04/26)
“Police have arrested a 36-year-old Mountain View woman in connection with a fire at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Carmel Valley earlier this year. Announced Tuesday by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the arrest comes after an investigation that revealed GuoGuo Lu was allegedly making online statements tied to the fire and threats toward other Buddhist temples in the state. The fire happened on March 27 at the oldest Japanese Buddhist Soto Zen monastery in the country, officials said. The sheriff’s office said Lu is facing several charges, including arson, making criminal threats and committing a felony hate crime.” (06/03/26)
“The oil industry is warning the Trump administration that a Hormuz-sized hole in the world’s petroleum market is steadily draining inventories to levels that are likely to send global energy prices surging in the next several weeks, according to four executives. Industry executives have flagged the issue to senior White House officials and Cabinet members in recent weeks as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing dialogue with the U.S. energy industry, the people said. The warnings came as recently as late last month as data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and other sources began showing that fuel makers were increasingly relying on oil and fuel from their storage tanks to replace products no longer arriving from the Middle East.” (06/04/260
“A massive fire tore through multiple buildings of an historic psychiatric facility in the Hudson Valley, wild footage shows. The blaze erupted Wednesday at the abandoned Hudson River Psychiatric Center in Poughkeepsie, which was established in 1867 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 after closing years earlier, according to Pix 11. … The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but officials confirmed the campus is not connected to the electric grid.” (06/04/26)
“Dozens of artists participating in this year’s Venice Biennale contemporary art show are threatening legal action if their names are not removed from the ballot allowing visitors to vote for the best national pavilion and overall participants in the absence of a jury to award the prestigious Golden Lions. The Venice Biennale opened its most chaotic and contested edition in recent memory on May 9, with the prestigious Golden Lion yanked from contention after the jury quit in protest of Israel’s and Russia’s participation. The week of previews leading up to the public opening was characterized by loud protests outside the Israeli and Russian pavilions. … Signatories seeking to be removed from visitor prize contention include some 70 artists participating in the main show and nearly 40 national pavilions, including those of Iceland, Norway and Denmark, which have led the call to have Russia barred from returning to the Biennale for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.” (06/04/26)
“Germany’s foreign minister says support for Ukraine and Israel may have cost votes after Berlin failed to secure a rotating spot on the UN Security Council. Johann Wadephul described losing out to Portugal and Austria as a ‘bitter defeat’ after a vote on which countries would become one of the five new members of the council was held on Wednesday evening. ‘There is our firm support for Ukraine, the fact that Russia does not want such a voice at the Security Council,’ Wadephul said, adding it was ‘no secret’ Russia had stirred up sentiment against Germany. There are five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US – and 10 temporary ones.” (06/04/26)
“Supporters of opposition political figures and state security forces continued to clash in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Thursday after fighting broke out Wednesday evening ahead of a planned anti-government demonstration. No official casualty figures were immediately available from the violence that prompted calls for restraint from the United Nations and the United States as the government and opposition traded blame for the violence. Residents reported heavy gunfire and explosions as fighting broke out in several neighborhoods Wednesday. … Opposition figures say the rally planned for Thursday was intended to protest what they call constitutional violations and efforts by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to extend his tenure. The government has rejected those allegations.” (06/04/26)
“Scandal-plagued democratic socialist Graham Platner’s continued controversies have led his former primary rival to speak out and remind Mainers that she remains on the ballot despite having suspended her campaign. Platner has been hit with one controversy after another, though he remains the heavy favorite heading into next Tuesday’s primary contest, as his only active opponent, David Costello, has failed to gain traction. But Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign for Senate earlier this year, dropped a potential bombshell in comments to a Lewiston Sun-Journal columnist by suggesting Democrats could still vote for her in their effort to unseat 30-year incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, New England’s last remaining federal Republican officeholder.” (06/03/26)
“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is canceling most pending contracts initiated under ousted Secretary Kristi Noem, the current secretary said on Wednesday, a move that follows congressional scrutiny and an internal watchdog review of her contracting practices. During a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, Secretary Markwayne Mullin also said he would restore longer training for federal immigration officers, reversing a Noem-era decision that shortened training during a hiring surge and drew bipartisan concerns in Congress about whether recruits were adequately prepared. Mullin faced questions from a top Democrat about what steps he had taken to roll back Noem-era contracts. ‘We are looking at the contracts that weren’t already signed, and we did go through and cancel most of those,’ Mullin said. The move is part of a broader effort by Mullin to unwind contracting practices under Noem that drew bipartisan criticism.” (06/03/26)
“The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s broad authority to recover illegal profits using a financial remedy called disgorgement, buttressing one of the Wall Street watchdog agency’s key powers. The justices, in a 9-0 ruling, upheld a lower court’s decision that had endorsed a wide use of the SEC’s disgorgement authority. President Donald Trump’s administration had defended the SEC in the case. … [Ongkaruck] Sripetch admitted violating securities law, and in a related criminal case was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Sripetch challenged the lower court’s disgorgement order on the grounds that the SEC failed to prove his actions caused stock prices to drop or otherwise financially harmed investors.” (06/04/26)
