“Federal authorities are barred from conducting an ‘unsupervised, wholesale search’ of electronic devices that they seized from a Washington Post reporter’s Virginia home while investigating allegations that a Pentagon contractor illegally leaked classified information to the journalist, a magistrate judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter said he will independently review the contents of Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s devices instead of allowing a Justice Department ‘filter team’ to perform a search. He denied the newspaper’s request for an order requiring the government to immediately return the devices to its reporter. Judge Porter said he balanced the need to protect Ms. Natanson’s free speech rights with the government’s duty to safeguard top secret national security information.” (02/24/26)
“Britain’s data privacy watchdog slapped online forum Reddit on Tuesday with a [bribe demand] worth nearly $20 million for failures involving children’s personal information. The Information Commissioner’s Office said it issued the penalty worth $19.5 million because the failures resulted in the platform using children’s data ‘unlawfully.’ … The U.K. privacy regulator has been escalating scrutiny of online platforms over child safety. Earlier this month it hit MediaLab, owner of image-sharing site Imgur, with a [bribe demand] of about $335,000 over similar failures and it has also been investigating TikTok since last year.” (02/24/26)
“The Trump administration is suing New Jersey over a state order that prohibits [ICE gang thugs from abducting victims] in nonpublic areas of state property, such as correctional facilities and courthouses. The Justice Department lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Trenton, challenges Gov. Mikie Sherrill ’s Feb. 11 executive order, which also bars the use of state property as a staging or processing area for [gang abduction activity] Sherrill, a Democrat who took office Jan. 20, ‘insists on harboring criminal offenders from federal law enforcement,’ the lawsuit said, accusing her of attempting to obstruct federal law enforcement and thwart President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.” (02/24/26)
“Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, said Tuesday that the Russian government had opened a criminal investigation against him on charges of ‘aiding terrorism.’ Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia, accused Moscow of fabricating pretexts to restrict access by Russians to the Telegram service as part of an attempt to ‘suppress the right to privacy and free speech.’ … It comes two weeks after Russia’s communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said it was restricting the Telegram app, accusing the company of refusing to abide by Russian law.” [editor’s note: Fortunately, Durov lives in Dubai and seems unlikely to be extradited – TLK] (02/24/26)
“A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Americans can’t sue the U.S. Postal Service, even when employees deliberately refuse to deliver mail. By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled against a Texas landlord, Lebene Konan, who alleges her mail was intentionally withheld for two years. Konan, who is [b]lack, claims racial prejudice played a role in postal employees’ actions. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for a majority of five conservative justices, said the federal law that generally shields the Postal Service from lawsuits over missing, lost and undelivered mail includes ‘the intentional nondelivery of mail.’ In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that while the protection against lawsuits is broad, it does not extend to situations when the decision not to deliver mail ‘was driven by malicious reasons.’ Justice Neil Gorsuch joined his three liberal colleagues in dissent.” (02/24/26)
“The director of the Louvre in Paris has resigned, months after the high-profile theft of France’s crown jewels from one of the world’s most visited museums. Laurence des Carrs submitted her resignation to President Emmanel Macron, who praised her decision at a time when museum needed ‘calm and a strong new impetus to successfully carry out major projects involving security, and modernisation’. On the morning of 19 October last year, thieves used a stolen vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to gain access to the museum from a balcony close to the River Seine. The four main suspects have been arrested, but the eight prized pieces of jewellery, worth an estimated 88m euros (£76m, $104m) have not been recovered.” (02/24/26)
“China has prohibited the export of dual-use items to 20 Japanese entities that it says supply Japan’s military, the commerce ministry said Tuesday, in the latest escalation of a dispute with Tokyo. China is using its influence over supply chains to ratchet up pressure on Tokyo even after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who angered Beijing with comments about Taiwan in November, won a sweeping mandate in a landslide election victory this month. The measures target units of major Japanese industrial conglomerates such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ shipbuilding and aero engines divisions, the ministry said. The rules effectively cut companies off from the seven rare earths and associated materials currently on China’s dual-use control list, along with a swath of other controlled critical minerals.” (02/24/26)
“A Boise, Idaho woman has been charged with malicious destruction of federal property by fire after prosecutors said she stole an ambulance, drove it into a building that houses U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices and then poured accelerant inside the property. Sarah Elizabeth George, 43, was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Boise. In court documents, FBI special agent Daniel Ramirez said a suspect believed to be George stole a Canyon County Paramedics ambulance from St. Luke’s Hospital Emergency Center in the Boise bedroom community of Meridian late on Feb. 18. Ramirez said the suspect then drove the ambulance to a nearby parking lot, loaded at least two gas jugs and a plastic bag into the vehicle and then drove the ambulance through the front doors of a nearby office building before getting out and pouring the contents of the jugs on the lobby floor.” (02/24/26)
“Police in Mexico are searching a number of inmates sprung from a prison in Puerto Vallarta during a wave of attacks launched by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) on Sunday. Puerto Vallarta, a beach resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, was among the towns where the CJGN blockaded roads and torched cars in retaliation for the killing by security forces of their leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho.’ During the unrest, armed men rammed one of the prison gates with a car, paving the way for 23 prisoners to escape, an official said. More than 70 people – including 25 National Guard members – were killed in the operation to capture El Mencho and the violence which followed.” (02/24/26)
“A Utah judge on Tuesday declined to disqualify the local county attorney’s office from prosecuting the accused shooter in Charlie Kirk’s killing after the defense argued there was a conflict of interest because a prosecutor’s daughter was present when Kirk was shot. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Tyler Robinson, 22, who is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 shooting of the conservative activist on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem. Robinson has not yet entered a plea.” (02/24/26)
