“The Las Vegas police officer who shot and killed a local homeowner after the man called 911 for help has resigned from the department, authorities said. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Officer Alexander Bookman resigned effective March 27. News 3 also reached out to the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, which said Bookman was eligible to return to work but chose to resign. The resignation follows the shooting death of Brandon Durham, 43, who was killed less than 15 seconds after Bookman entered Durham’s home on November 12, 2024. … Body-worn camera video showed Bookman kicking down Durham’s front door, entering the home and shooting Durham as he struggled over a knife with an intruder police identified as Alejandra Boudreaux.” (07/27/26)
“Iran on Tuesday hanged two men convicted in a case of killing four police officers during January protests, state media reported. A report by Mizanonline. ir, affiliated to the country’s judiciary, identified the two as Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani and Amir Hossein Safari Hosseinabadi, saying they also set a police station on fire and damaged public properties in the central city of Isfahan, some 250 miles south of the capital, Tehran. The two men are the latest executed from among the tens of thousands who were arrested during a January crackdown on nationwide protests.” (07/28/26)
“Myanmar’s military-backed parliament approved a law on Tuesday that authorises capital punishment for those who detain or violently coerce victims into working in online scam centres, the speaker said. The ‘Anti-Online Scam Bill’ was passed after MPs approved changes to a draft bill at a combined meeting of the lower and upper houses Tuesday morning in the capital Naypyidaw, Union Parliament Speaker Aung Lin Dwe said during a live television broadcast. Lower house MP Aye Chan confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the death sentence remained in the approved version of the law. … Internet fraud factories have flourished in war-torn Myanmar, part of Southeast Asia’s thriving scam economy, targeting web users worldwide with romance and cryptocurrency investment cons.” (07/28/26)
“Police in Chile say they have captured a man convicted years ago of the kidnapping and murder of popular folk singer Victor Jara under military ruler Augusto Pinochet. Nelson Haase was one of a group of officers given jail terms for the killing, which took place just five days after the coup which brought Pinochet to power in 1973. He was sentenced to 25 years. Haase took flight when the sentence was announced in August 2023 but was found by police on Saturday in the south of the country. Jara, who became famous in the 1960s and 70s for his protest and pacifist songs and supported the ousted socialist president Salvador Allende, was subjected to torture and shot 44 times.” (07/28/26)
“Haiti’s CEP electoral council on Monday scheduled the first presidential elections in a decade for December with a runoff in February, after plans to hold the vote in August with a December runoff were postponed over security concerns. Haiti has not held elections since 2016. Its last president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in 2021, after delaying a vote. Successive governments have been tasked with holding an election but said insecurity amid a conflict with powerful armed gangs made it impossible.” (07/27/26)
“U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday, with wars in Iran and Ukraine at critical stages and his ties with both leaders markedly different. Relations with Zelenskiy have warmed as Ukraine has blunted Russian advances, while Netanyahu arrives amid growing White House frustration over the lack of progress toward a broader settlement in the Iran conflict and criticism from some of Trump’s supporters who oppose deeper U.S. involvement in the Middle East. The two men are in Washington to attend a memorial service for Senator Lindsey Graham, a hawkish Republican who was one of Trump’s closest allies and who frequently tried to coax Trump into providing more support for Ukraine’s war.” (07/28/26)
“Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed on Sunday night to accelerate negotiations for a trade agreement between China and Mercosur, a striking reversal for Brasilia, which for years led resistance to such a deal in the South American bloc. The two leaders spoke by telephone for more than an hour, according to a statement from the Brazilian presidency, and ‘coincided on the importance of speeding up the talks for a Mercosur-China agreement that contemplates the necessary flexibilities’. … The call came days after a 25 per cent tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump on [American buyers of] part of Brazil’s exports took effect.” (07/28/26)
“Iran has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that negotiations with Washington are underway, with the country’s Foreign Ministry insisting that no talks are currently taking place between the two sides. In a statement on Monday (July 27), the ministry said Iran was ‘not engaged in any negotiations with the United States’ and dismissed suggestions that Tehran had sought to restart dialogue, saying such an approach was ‘not in our DNA’. Instead, it claimed it was Washington that had requested talks, according to Iranian news agency Tasnim. The remarks came despite a pause in the recent military confrontation between Iran and the United States, with both sides refraining from launching fresh strikes for a second consecutive day.” (07/28/26)
“The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, escalating the dispute 99 days before the November midterm elections. The emergency request came after a federal appeals court, in a 2-1 decision Saturday, left in place an order blocking key parts of Trump’s executive order issued in March that directs federal agencies to create voter eligibility lists and restrict U.S. Postal Service delivery of ballots not tied to those lists. A coalition of 23 states argue Trump lacks authority to impose federal rules on elections administered by state and local officials.” (07/27/26)
“The U.S. walked out as France addressed a United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Monday, accusing its longtime ally of ‘disingenuous grandstanding’ over French comments comparing the U.S. to North Korea, Russia and other authoritarian states regarding votes on human rights issues. The move followed a tense weekend exchange between the two permanent Security Council members on X in which France blasted Washington for joining Russia, North Korea and seven other countries in voting against a proposal to extend the term of Volker Turk as the U.N. rights chief for four more years. … The U.N. General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly to extend the term of Turk, an outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conduct in Gaza who has also called for investigations into deaths in U.S. immigration custody. The term extension has been opposed by Russia, Israel and others, with Washington threatening to reassess its funding and engagement.” (07/27/26)
