“A court in India has ordered the takedown of an online documentary posted by Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and billionaire Gautam Adani of cronyism, after Adani Enterprises sued, calling it defamatory. Adani’s flagship firm, Adani Enterprises, told the High Court in the eastern city of Kolkata that the documentary, which garnered millions of views on social media in recent days, was riddled with false content and had prompted inquiries from some investors in the company, whom the court order did not name. The documentary ‘is not a news report or an account of proceedings. It is a dramatised narrative’, the court’s takedown order for YouTube, X and Meta Platforms issued late on Monday said.” (10/27/26)
“The leaders of Finland and Norway have held a joint call with Vladimir Putin – a rare contact between the Russian president and European leaders. The aim was looking at ‘future negotiations to help to end the war’ in Ukraine, the offices of President Alexander Stubb and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said. Their initiative was not on behalf of ‘Europe as a whole’. After the call, Putin said ‘confrontational’ EU and Nato policies were prolonging the war which began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.” [editor’s note” My favorite rumor/meme is that Putin would negotiate Ukraine to peace if US would extradite Anthony Fauci to Russia to stand trial – SAT](10/27/26)
“Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who was charged with treason last year, has started a hunger strike to protest his inability to access his lawyers, his party said. Lissu, who leads the CHADEMA opposition party and came second in the 2020 presidential election, began refusing food on Monday after his lawyers were denied entry to the prison where he is being held, party spokesperson Brenda Rupia wrote on X. … Lissu was charged with treason over what prosecutors said was a speech calling on the public to rebel and disrupt last year’s general election. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, which his lawyer has said are politically motivated.” (10/27/26)
“A federal judge on Tuesday scolded the Justice Department for its unorthodox handling of a criminal case against two former FBI officials accused of making false statements to Congress about their knowledge of a laptop the Justice Department says belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden. U.S. Magistrate Zia Faruqui struck from the record an amended criminal complaint filed in the middle of the night by the Justice Department that added a new obstruction charge against the two former officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides. Such charging documents require sign-off from a judge that probable cause exists that a crime was committed by a defendant, and this complaint lacked that. ‘It is not our court’s practice — and I think it is appropriately not our practice — that unsigned complaints are filed on the docket,’ Faruqui said.” (10/27/26)
“A prisoner on Monday lost his challenge to an Australian state’s ban on inmates eating Vegemite after he argued in court that withholding the polarizing yeast-based spread breached his human right to ‘enjoy his culture as an Australian.’ Andre McKechnie, 55, who is serving a life sentence for murder, took his battle for the salty, sticky, black-brown byproduct of brewing beer to the Supreme Court of the state of Victoria last year. … Justice Claire Harris accepted prison authorities’ refusal to allow McKechnie Vegemite ‘limited his cultural rights’ under the charter. But she found the ban was justified in meeting authorities’ goals of removing illicit drugs and alcohol from the prison system. … Prison officials testified at a trial in July that Vegemite had been banned throughout the state’s 12 prisons for the past 20 years because it could potentially impair sniffer dogs’ ability to detect narcotics and could be used to brew alcohol because of its yeast content.” (10/27/26)
“Police in Brazil say they have cancelled the passports of the defeated right-wing presidential candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, after he failed to comply with an order to surrender the documents. On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to hand his passports over to police within 24 hours as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering, which he denies. At the time, Bolsonaro said he had no plans to leave the country, and insisted that he would stay in Brazil to lead the opposition to his left-wing rival, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. However, the deadline has passed without the senator surrendering the passports, prompting speculation he may have left the country. Federal officers are checking border crossings to establish if Bolsonaro may have travelled to neighbouring Argentina, according to a police source consulted by BBC News Brasil.” (10/27/26)
“Microsoft said on Monday it is offering voluntary buyouts to many staff members as the technology giant looks to contain costs and help fund its massive AI investments. The offer was extended to about 60,000 employees according to Microsoft. The company had 223,000 full-time employees globally as of June 30, according to its annual filing, meaning more than a quarter of its global workforce would have received the buyout offer.” (10/26/26)
“US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz got into a shouting match Tuesday with Cuba’s foreign minister on the floor of the UN’s General Assembly hall while detailing the communist regime’s ill-gotten wealth. The ambassador was calling attention to the ‘corrupt Cuban elites’, at one point displaying a photo of late dictator Fidel Castro wearing two Rolex watches worth around $40,000 in today’s money. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz shouts from the podium in the General Assembly hall. Waltz was detailing the communist regime’s real estate holdings at the UN. ‘According to the regime’s own statistics, that would pay for 55 years of an average Cuban wage,’ Waltz noted, before showing a photo of Miguel Díaz-Canel and saying, ‘It didn’t just start with Castro. This is the current Cuban president, also with a Rolex on.'” (10/27/26)
“California’s billionaire tax proposal has become one of the midterm elections’ most controversial measures, with the entire country watching to see if California’s voters will approve an unprecedented tax on billionaires’ net worth. But before voters can actually say yes or no to the tax, they’ll have to figure out how to do it. Approving Proposition 40, the tax on billionaires, is surprisingly complicated because there are two other competing ballot measures that contain ‘poison pill’ language designed to cancel out Proposition 40. These other measures (Proposition 41 and Proposition 42) do not specifically say they are designed to kill the tax, and public polling shows that at least some voters who want to support the billionaire tax could be unknowingly planning to vote against it.” [editor’s note: Be thankful for small victories maybe – SAT] (10/27/26)
“At least 21 people have been killed and 40 others were wounded in a drone strike in Nyala, Darfur, the AFP news agency reported, citing a medical source and witnesses. A Nyala resident said that the attack took place at around 8pm (18:00 GMT) on Monday at a market in the north of the city – which serves as the de facto capital of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. … The Sudanese military, which has been at war with the RSF since April 2023, regularly strikes Nyala, where the RSF has declared an administration rivalling the military-backed, internationally recognised government in Khartoum. The RSF has in turn launched strikes targeting Khartoum’s airports, as well as dams and power stations in the government-controlled east.” (10/27/26)
