“Elon Musk took the stand on Wednesday in a trial brought by Twitter investors, who allege the billionaire committed securities fraud as he was buying the social media company in 2022. The class-action lawsuit alleges Musk agreed to buy Twitter but then waffled for months, attacking the company with the goal of bringing down the stock price to get a better bargain. After contentious legal wrangling, Musk did eventually buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, his original offer, totalling around $44bn. Musk testified on Wednesday that he didn’t realize his attacks on the company, mostly done via tweet on Twitter itself, would lower the company’s stock price or hurt its investors.” (03/04/26)
“China has cut its annual economic growth target to a range of 4.5%-5%, the lowest expansion goal since 1991 as it grapples with challenges both at home and abroad. It is the first time the target has been lowered since it was cut to ‘around 5%’ in 2023. A target was not set in 2020 due to the pandemic. The details were released during China’s biggest political gathering, known as the “two sessions”, alongside the release of some details of the 15th Five Year Plan for the world’s second largest economy. Beijing aims to reshape its economy as it faces issues like weak consumption, a shrinking population, an ongoing property crisis, global trade tensions and an energy crunch due to the Iran war. One China analyst told the BBC that the lower target gives China ‘more room to manage the economy’ without being forced into making huge financial commitments just to hit a precise goal.” (03/05/26)
“A Mexican court ordered the army to hand over long-awaited documents that could advance the landmark investigation into the 2014 disappearance of 43 students in southern Guerrero state at the alleged hands of organized crime and local security forces. The ruling, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, rejected the army’s prior assertion that 853 missing pages of information generated by the CFRI, an army intelligence agency, did not exist, and ordered that these must now be handed over. The government has for over a decade promised to find those responsible for one of the country’s worst human rights atrocities, but no one has been convicted, though over 100 have been arrested and face ongoing prosecutions.” (03/04/26)
“Three years after Honduras parted ways with Taiwan and forged diplomatic ties with China in hope of economic gain, shrimp farmers in the Central American country are in revolt. Their sales to Taiwan fell to a mere $16 million in 2025, down from more than $100 million in 2022, and the Chinese didn’t fill the void as hoped. ‘We were deceived,’ said Javier Amador, executive director of the National Aquaculture Association of Honduras, as he described the promises from former President Xiomara Castro of better opportunities with China when she severed ties with Taiwan and opened an embassy in Beijing in 2023. Nasry Asfura, who was elected president with the backing of President Donald Trump and sworn into office in January, has ordered a review of agreements between Tegucigalpa and Beijing. This has fueled expectations that Honduras will distance itself from China, in line with a Trump administration campaign to reduce Chinese influence and economic clout in Latin America.” (03/05/26)
“President Trump said on Thursday that he must be personally involved in the process of selecting a new leader in Iran. In an interview with Axios published on Thursday, Trump said that the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei, is most likely to succeed his father, but that the pick would be ‘unacceptable’ to him. … Trump’s demand that he decide the next leader of Iran, however, could complicate efforts to end the conflict in that country, which was long run by the U.S.-backed Shah before the Iranian revolution. The Shah’s rule was strengthened by a coup in 1953 backed by the U.S. and British governments in which the CIA was instrumental. Trump told reporters on Wednesday Iranian leadership keeps dying when asked about potential future leaders.” (03/05/26)
“Four siblings who were longtime friends of Michael Jackson are accusing the late pop star of being a ‘serial child predator’ who preyed upon then when they were as young as ‘seven or eight’ in a bombshell lawsuit filed last week in California. Edward, Dominic and Aldo Cascio and their sister Marie-Nicole Porte called Jackson a ‘serial child predator’ who, ‘over the course of more than a decade drugged, raped and sexually assaulted each of the plaintiffs,’ according to their complaint in U.S. District Court. The plaintiffs met Jackson through their father, who worked at a hotel that Jackson often stayed at, the lawsuit says. The Michael Jackson Co. and people associated with the estate, trust and production companies attached to Jackson were named as defendants.” (03/04/26)
“A bipartisan resolution aimed at limiting President Donald Trump’s ability to wage war in Iran has failed in the US Senate, as the strikes continue. The war powers measure was rejected in a 53-47 vote largely along party lines. It would have halted US military action in Iran without congressional approval. Democrats argue that Trump has sidelined Congress and offered shifting reasons for the war. Most Republicans blocked the resolution, but some said they could change course if the war expands in the coming weeks.” [editor’s note: The Senate had two constitutionally legitimate options: Either vote to declare war and ask the House to agree, or ask the House to vote articles of impeachment. Without a declaration of war, the war is illegal (either way, it’s evil and stupid, but that’s a different subject) – TLK] (03/04/26)
“In a defeat for the Trump administration, a federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday that companies that paid tariffs struck down last month by Supreme Court are due refunds. Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade wrote that ‘all importers of record’ were ‘entitled to benefit’ from the Supreme Court ruling that struck down sweeping double-digit import taxes President Donald Trump imposed last year under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The Supreme Court found those tariffs to be unconstitutional under the emergency powers law, including the sweeping ‘reciprocal’ tariffs he levied on nearly every other country. The majority ruled that the president could not unilaterally set and change tariffs because taxation power clearly belongs to Congress.” (03/04/26)
“Bitcoin hovered near $72,500 as U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs logged about $155 million in net inflows on Wednesday, extending a two-week run of roughly $1.47 billion in new allocations. … Institutional demand through ETFs has begun to stabilize after a difficult start to the year. Investors have poured roughly $1.7 billion into U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs since Feb. 24, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data previously reported by CoinDesk, suggesting some investors are growing more comfortable that the market may have found at least a near term floor.” (03/05/26)
“A U.S. submarine sank a prized Iranian warship by torpedo, the first such sinking of an enemy ship since World War II, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Wednesday morning. … The flagship was named for Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who the U.S. killed in a January 2020 drone strike during President Donald Trump’s first term.” (03/04/26)
