“Bitcoin tumbled more than 10% on Saturday to about $75,700, extending a slide that has erased over 30% of its value since April 2025 and dragging major tokens like ether and Solana sharply lower. Roughly $111 billion in crypto market value and about $1.6 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out in 24 hours amid thinning liquidity, muted buying interest and a halt in new capital flowing into bitcoin. Analysts say long-term holders are taking profits after last year’s ETF-fueled rally, and they expect a drawn-out period of sideways trading rather than a swift rebound, even as a deep 70% crash appears unlikely without selling by Strategy.” (02/01/26)
“Mehdi Mahmoudian, the Oscar-nominated It Was Just an Accident co-writer, has been arrested in Iran for speaking out against the Islamic Republic’s regime. On Saturday, Mahmoudian was arrested in Tehran along with Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni for signing a statement condemning the actions of Ali Khameni, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is currently no information about the charges against them. The 17 signatories included It Was Just an Accident co-writer and director Jafar Panahi, who spoke out against Mahmoudian’s arrest in a statement.” (02/01/26)
“Members of Canada’s Conservative opposition party voted to keep Pierre Poilievre as their leader despite his election loss last year and recent defections. Poilievre received 87.4% support in a leadership review vote announced early Saturday at the party’s convention in Calgary, Alberta. Poilievre lost the last election to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals in April and even his own seat in Parliament, but has since rejoined the House of Commons.” (01/31/26)
“A judicial misconduct complaint against Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of D.C. has been dismissed because the Justice Department failed to show that he exhibited bias against the Trump administration. The allegations against Boasberg, a former prosecutor nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, were widely recirculated by conservative media. But when a federal appeals court requested evidence to back them up, administration officials failed to provide it, Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said in a decision dismissing the misconduct complaint. The decision, dated Dec. 19, was made public Saturday. … Trump has called for Boasberg to be removed from office. An impeachment resolution was introduced in the House last year and has support from 23 Republicans.” (01/31/26)
“Pakistan’s security forces killed 145 militants over 40 hours after coordinated attacks across Balochistan, the chief minister of the southwestern province said on Sunday, as the authorities battle one of the deadliest flare-ups in years. The attacks underscore the persistence of insurgents in the resource-rich province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, where separatist militant groups have stepped up assaults on security forces, civilians and infrastructure. … He also said 17 law enforcement personnel and 31 civilians were killed in the attacks. Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, has faced a decades-long insurgency led by ethnic Baloch separatists seeking greater autonomy and a larger share of its natural resources.” (02/01/26)
“Iran’s supreme leader warned Sunday that any attack by the United States would spark ‘a ]regional war’ in the Mideast, further scalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic. The comments from the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are the most-direct threat he’s made so far as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated American warships are in the Arabian Sea, sent by Trump there after Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. It remains unclear whether Trump will use force. He’s repeatedly said Iran wants to negotiate and has brought up Tehran’s nuclear program as another issue he wants to see resolved. But Khamenei also referred to the nationwide protests as ‘a coup,’ hardening the government’s position as tens of thousands of people reportedly have been detained since the start of the demonstrations.” (02/01/25)
“Democrats scored a stunning upset on Saturday in a special election runoff for Texas Senate, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ, giving the party a major boost ahead of the November midterms. Fort Worth Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a machinist and Air Force veteran, defeated Southlake Republican Leigh Wambsganss to fill the vacant state Senate District 9. The district favored President Trump — who endorsed Wambsganss earlier on Saturday — by 17 points in 2024. The race went to a runoff after none of the candidates were able to clinch a majority in the November election. … ‘When a grassroots union organizer like Taylor Rehmet overperforms by almost 20 points and forces a runoff, it couldn’t be any clearer that voters are tired of Republican bullshit,’ Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement after the November race.” (02/01/26)
“Students poured into Dolores Park on Friday afternoon, sporting baggy pants, backpacks and protest signs as they joined thousands of workers and organizers for a national day of action demanding Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents be removed from communities nationwide. A drum circle pulsed through the crowd — with maracas shaking and a cowbell clanging — as teens waved signs bearing cheeky slogans like, ‘We are skipping our lessons to teach you one,’ ‘End the ICE age’ and ‘Sex is good but have you ever tried fucking the system?’ Cars passing the park honked in support while chants of ‘Minnesota to the Bay ICE ICE go away’ rippled across the hillside, driven by impassioned local labor and student organizers from a makeshift stage near the base of the park.” (01/30/25)
“An explosion tore through an apartment building Saturday in Iran ‘s port city of Bandar Abbas, killing a 4-year-old girl as local media footage purportedly showed a security force member being carried out by rescuers. The blast happened a day before a planned naval drill by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. Already, the U.S. military had warned Iran not to threaten its warships or commercial traffic in the strait, on which Bandar Abbas sits. State television quoted a local fire official as blaming the blast on a gas leak. Another explosion blamed on a gas explosion Saturday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz killed five people, state media reported.” (01/31/26)
“Local law enforcement sprang into action Saturday morning after a kangaroo was spotted on a major highway in central Virginia. The Nelson County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to the intersection of Thomas Nelson Highway and Oak Ridge Road near the unincorporated community of Arrington after receiving a report of a kangaroo blocking traffic. … Officers safely steered the kangaroo off the roadway and onto nearby private property before tracking down the animal’s owner, according to authorities. ‘When the owner arrived, he shot the animal with a tranquilizer dart to subdue the animal,’ Nelson County Sheriff Mark Embrey told Fox News Digital.” (02/01/26)
