“An annual cigar festival in Cuban capital Havana has become the latest casualty of a fuel shortage caused by a US oil blockade. The organising committee of the Festival del Habano announced on Saturday that this year’s event – which was due to take place over five days in late February – would be postponed until further notice. It said the decision was ‘motivated by the complex economic situation’ facing Cuba due to the ‘economic, commercial and financial blockade’ by the US. A fuel shortage causing power cuts on the Caribbean island has been worsened by the US seizing oil shipments from Cuba’s long-standing ally Venezuela. Cuba also has a shortage of aviation fuel, leading several airlines to suspend services there, while some countries, including the UK, have warned against non-essential travel to the island.” (02/14/26)
“The first solar eclipse of the year will grace Antarctica, and only a lucky few will get to bask — or waddle — in its glow. Tuesday’s annular solar eclipse, known as a ‘ring of fire’, will only be visible in the southernmost continent, home to research stations and diverse wildlife. ‘The penguins down there are going to have a great show,’ said astronomer Joe Llama with Lowell Observatory. Clear skies permitting, more people can catch a partial eclipse with small bites taken out of the sun from the tips of Chile and Argentina and bits of southeastern Africa including Madagascar, Lesotho and South Africa. Solar eclipses happen when the sun, moon and Earth align just so. The moon casts a shadow that can partially or totally block out the sun’s light from Earth.” (02/13/26)
“It has been described as Germany’s most ‘spectacular’ bank heist in years. On a quiet weekend just after Christmas, a group of thieves broke into a High Street bank in the western town of Gelsenkirchen, by boring through a wall with an industrial drill. They looted more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes and made off with millions of euros. Over a month later, police have yet to make an arrest. For the bank’s clients, some of whom say they have lost their life savings and precious family jewellery and valuables, this is a time of anger, confusion and shock. There is a strong sense that trust in institutions has been shaken. The case has thrown up all sorts of difficult questions, and some of them have been spelled out by Herbert Reul, the interior minister in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.” (02/14/26)
“The U.S. military struck dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria while conducting retaliatory strikes for the deaths of two soldiers and their interpreter. CentCom said it conducted 10 strikes on more than 30 ISIS targets in Syria from Feb. 3 through Thursday to ‘sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.’ The strikes over the past 1.5 weeks targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage facilities with precision munitions sent by fixed-wing, rotary-wing and unmanned aircraft, CentCom officials said.” (02/14/26)
“The seven Western states that depend on the Colorado River missed a deadline for the second time Saturday to agree on a plan addressing record drought and water shortages. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo released a joint statement calling on Upper Basin states to offer more concessions. Those states include Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. ‘The Colorado River is essential to our communities and economies, and our states have conserved large volumes of water in recent years to stabilize the basin’s water supplies for years to come,’ the governors said. ‘Our stance remains firm and fair: all seven basin states must share in the responsibility of conservation.’ Arizona, California and Nevada have offered to decrease Colorado River allocation by 27%, 10% and 17%, respectively, according to those states.” (02/14/26)
“A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule glided in for a Valentine’s Day docking at the International Space Station Saturday boosting the lab’s crew back to a full complement of seven one month after four other fliers came home early because of a medical issue. The Crew Dragon docked at the space-facing port of the lab’s forward Harmony module at 3:15 p.m. EST, 34 hours after launch Friday from the Kennedy Space Center atop a Falcon 9 rocket.” (02/15/26)
“The truth is out there. Former President Barack Obama said that aliens are real but he has no idea where they are during a podcast appearance released Saturday. ‘They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,’ Obama told YouTuber Brian Tyler Cowen after he asked him about extraterrestrials. The former president did not offer any further details on what he mean by ‘real’ — and no follow-up questions on the topic were asked — but he used the appearance to cast doubt on several longtime theories as to where they might be. ‘They’re not being kept in Area 51, there’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,’ Obama said.” (02/14/26)
“Britain’s High Court ruled Friday that the government’s decision last year to outlaw the protest group Palestine Action as a designated terrorist organization was unlawful, but it kept the ban in place pending an appeal. Judges Victoria Sharp, Jonathan Swift and Karen Steyn said ‘the nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities’ did not meet the ‘level, scale and persistence’ that would justify proscription. The judges said they were ‘satisfied that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.’ … Last year, the U.K. government declared the pro-Palestinian group a terrorist organization alongside the likes of al-Qaeda and Hamas, making membership in or support for Palestine Action a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since then, more than 2,000 people have been arrested for holding signs saying, ‘I support Palestine Action.'” (02/13/26)
“The chairman of the Marin County Republicans sounded alarms this week about possible voting by dead people during the special election last November. During a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, John Turnacliff requested that the county’s registrar of voters look into the matter. ‘I, along with others on our committee, have been dissecting Marin County voter rolls for over three years,’ Turnacliff said during the public comment portion of the meeting. ‘… And based on our analysis of the ballots that were returned for the Prop. 50 special election on Nov. 4, we found 73 people, 73 dead people had voted in that election.’ Asking Natalie Adona, the county’s registrar of voters, to review those numbers, Turnacliff said, ‘In summary, dead people are voting in Marin County, and we would like to know why.'” (02/14/26)
“The Amazon-owned home security camera provider Ring has cancelled an upcoming partnership with Flock Safety, a surveillance tech provider to US police forces. … In a statement yesterday (12 February), Ring said that after ‘a comprehensive review,’ it found that ‘the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated,’ and therefore was cancelling the partnership. The smart doorbell platform attracted controversy this week around an ad broadcast during TV coverage of the Super Bowl on 8 February publicising another Ring feature, ‘Search Party,’ which was unrelated to Flock. The ad showed multiple Ring cameras throughout a neighbourhood being activated in unison to search for a missing pet. Online criticism of the feature notes that this network of surveillance could also be used to track people.” (02/13/26)
