“The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits increased marginally last week amid relatively low layoffs, despite the dragging war with Iran. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 215,000 for the week ended May 23, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 211,000 claims for the latest week. Claims have been tucked in a 190,000-230,000 range this year. … The unemployment rate is expected to have held steady at 4.3% in May. Continuing claims have dropped from last year’s lofty levels, though some of the decline is likely due to people exhausting their eligibility for benefits, limited to 26 weeks in most states.” (05/28/26)
“A U.S. judge on Thursday declined to block President Donald Trump’s executive tightening rules on mail-in voting in a loss for the Democratic Party, whose lawyers argued that it could disenfranchise millions of voters. The decision comes as Trump’s Republicans are locked in a tight battle to keep control of both houses of the U.S. Congress in the November midterm elections. … The executive order signed by Trump on March 31 directed his administration to compile a list of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state and to use federal data to help state election officials verify who is eligible to vote. It also required the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver ballots to voters on each state’s approved mail-in ballot list, and required states to preserve election-related records for five years.” (05/28/26)
“U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has called for the United States to formally recognize Somaliland, saying stronger ties with Hargeisa would advance American security and strategic interests in the Horn of Africa. Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas and chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, told Fox News Digital that Somaliland’s location and willingness to cooperate with Washington make it a valuable security partner for the United States. ‘Somaliland promises to be a critical counterterrorism ally for the United States, both because of its strong willingness to partner with us and because of its unique location,’ Cruz said in a statement to Fox News Digital.” (05/28/26)
“A Google employee has been arrested for allegedly using his access to company information to successfully place lucrative bets on the prediction platform Polymarket. The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said it had charged Michele Spagnuolo, a Google engineer, with breaking insider trading laws because of several bets he placed through the platform. Although Spagnuolo is an Italian citizen who lives in Switzerland, he was arrested on Wednesday and brought before a federal judge in New York. Spagnuolo allegedly used information he had early access to through his work at Google, which is based in the US, to make bets that saw him rack up $1.2m (£894,330) in winnings.” (05/28/26)
“A former US government official has been arrested after FBI investigators found hundreds of gold bars worth more than $40m (£29.6m) in his Virginia home. David Rush made several requests to the US government to receive the bars ‘for work-related expenses’ over the past year, according to court documents. He has been charged with criminal theft of public money in a complaint filed last week. According to the New York Times, Rush held a senior position in the CIA until recently. He was arrested and is being held in detention until his hearing this week. His attorney declined to comment. Agents also uncovered about $2m in US currency in Rush’s home, along with 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolexes..” (05/28/26)
“France will reimburse the cost of weight-loss drugs prescribed to severely obese patients from mid-June in a first for a European Union country, Health Minister Stephanie Rist said on Thursday. Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro medications have led a boom in anti-obesity treatment, attracting interest from governments keen to address rising overweight levels worldwide. Rist estimated the annual cost to the state at around €100 million (US$116 million) at full roll-out. Patients in France are currently paying around €300 per month on average for the drugs, she said, without indicating how many people currently follow such treatments.” (05/28/26)
“The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for a [b]lack death row inmate from Mississippi who claims there was racial bias in the makeup of the jury that convicted him. By a 5-4 vote, the justices sided with Terry Pitchford, who was sentenced to death for his role in the killing of a grocery store owner. ‘In this case, whether due to confusion, oversight, an overly hurried jury selection process, or some other cause, things broke down,’ Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court. Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices joined with Kavanaugh. There were 11 white jurors and one [b]lack juror in a trial with similarities to that of another [b]lack man on Mississippi’s death row, whose conviction the high court overturned seven years ago.” (05/28/26)
“Inflation continued to hit consumer wallets in April, likely keeping the Federal Reserve on the sidelines until the current wave subsides, fresh pricing data released Thursday showed. The personal consumption expenditures price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 3.8%, the Commerce Department reported. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for respective readings of 0.5% and 3.8%. Excluding food and energy, core prices rose 0.2% for the month and 3.3% for the year, against estimates of 0.3% and 3.3%.” (05/28/26)
“For nearly two centuries after France abolished slavery, the colonial-era law that classified humans as property has remained quietly on the books. On Thursday, the lower house of parliament voted to wipe it from French law. The National Assembly voted 254-0 — a rare show of unanimity — to adopt a bill repealing Code Noir, or Black Code, the 1685 decree King Louis XIV signed to govern slaves across France’s colonies. The law turned human beings into chattel, allowing them to be worked, beaten, sold, raped and murdered. And the realization that France never formally did away with it left many aghast.” (05/28/26)
“Russia has claimed it has found evidence of a US-backed bioweapons programme operating in Ukraine. The country’s Investigative Committee has alleged that Ukraine’s Health Ministry was involved in projects funded by the US Department of Defence. The committee’s official spokesperson, Svetlana Petrenko, said the findings were based on documents and materials allegedly recovered during Russian military operations, according to Sputnik India. … In 2022, the Joe Biden administration rejected claims made by Russia and China that the US owned or operated secret chemical or biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine.” (05/28/26)
