“The Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for large parts of southern Lebanon, declaring the areas ‘combat zones’ ahead of fresh strikes against Hezbollah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) urged residents to move north of the Zahrani River, about 40km (25 miles) from the border. The IDF said it would act ‘with extreme force,’ accusing Hezbollah of repeated ceasefire violations. It is the largest evacuation order since the ceasefire took effect on 17 April, covering about 14% of Lebanese territory. Earlier on Wednesday, Israel carried strikes on the southern city of Tyre. Hezbollah, which itself accused Israel of violating the ceasefire, said its fighters had clashed with Israeli troops.” (05/27/26)
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written to U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress asking for more American-made air defense ammunition to counter intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks, Kyiv said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers have backed a draft bill to have bank employees join the fight against Ukraine’s long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia — with trained bank staff shooting down the unmanned aircraft. The steps came after a recent escalation in aerial attacks by both sides in the more than four-year war that followed Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor. Neither side has been able to make much progress on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line.” (05/27/26)
“A Chinese dissident has washed up on the shores of South Korea after attempting to flee China in a rubber boat. Dong Guangping, 68, is in custody in South Korea, having been detained by the coastguard on Monday evening. He is thought to have travelled more than 30 hours by sea to reach the shores of China’s democratic neighbour. Dong has tried to escape from China on several previous occasions, according to media reports and interviews with two of his friends. … The coastguard released a statement on Wednesday confirming that a Chinese man in his 60s had been arrested and was being questioned on suspicion of immigration law violations, according to Reuters. The man was on a 3.3-metre boat with a 10-horsepower motor when he was spotted about 38 nautical miles off the coast. … Dong was previously jailed between 2001 and 2004 for ‘inciting subversion of state power.'” (05/27/26)
“A new study suggests GLP-1 medications may slow the spread of certain obesity-related cancers. … Researchers analyzed health data from more than 12,000 people who had one of seven types of cancer at stage 1, 2 or 3. They compared patients who started taking GLP-1 drugs after their diagnosis with similar patients taking another class of diabetes drugs called gliptins. ‘Our study found that use of GLP-1 drugs, compared to DPP-4 inhibitors and other antidiabetic drugs, was associated with a meaningful reduction in cancer progression across four solid tumor types,’ said co-author Dr. Mark David Orland of the Taussig Cancer Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. The strongest results were seen in lung, breast, colon and liver cancer, where patients taking GLP-1 medications were found to be 38% to 50% less likely to progress to stage 4 or metastatic cancer.” (05/27/26)
“A Canadian man accused of shipping poison to people contemplating suicide around the globe is expected to plead guilty to several counts on Friday, ending a case that has shocked the public. While Kenneth Law is set to admit to 14 charges of aiding or counseling suicide, Canadian prosecutors are withdrawing second degree murder charges, multiple sources have confirmed, causing anger among devastated families. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported the plea. Law, 60, is a former chef accused of running a number of online forums that offered predominantly young, distressed people advice on how to end their lives. He allegedly shipped parcels to hundreds of people in dozens of countries containing sodium nitrite, a legally available preservative that can be fatal in certain concentrations.” (05/27/26)
“Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said late Tuesday he is ‘drawing up plans’ to end the processing of international flights in left-leaning cities, pointing to protests outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey as rationale. Mullin’s comments follow weekend protests at Delaney Hall in Newark, where Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) was pepper sprayed during an interaction with immigration agents. … U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents process both U.S. and international visitors at the border and on flights. … Critics said ending the processing of international flights at various airports would cause chaos at airports across the country, forcing airlines to cancel flights and disrupt travel for left- and right-leaning cities that depend on CBP processing at major hubs.” [editor’s note: How about a compromise — CPB stops “processing” those flights … but the flights don’t stop. They just proceed without police state interference. Everybody wins! – TLK] (05/27/26)
“Spanish police are searching the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party as part of an ongoing investigation into possible financial wrongdoing, the Civil Guard said on Wednesday. The raid on the office in central Madrid is another blow to the party of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose Socialists have been hammered by a series of corruption scandals. The Civil Guard said the police were under judicial orders to find material relevant to a National Court probe into accusations of corruption against former party members and other individuals.” (05/27/26)
“NASA is already ordering landers, rovers and drones for a sprawling moon base, less than two months after the Artemis II’s record-breaking lunar flyaround. The space agency outlined the first phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies. Jeff Bezos’[s] Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface, at a spot near the moon’s south pole. These so-called lunar terrain vehicles will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones to the moon. All this hardware is ideally supposed to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the moon, planned for as early as 2028.” (05/27/26)
“Former U.S. president Joe Biden sued the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday, seeking to bar the release of audio recordings and transcripts of private conversations with his biographer in 2016 and 2017. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington D.C., comes ahead of the department’s planned June 15 release of the materials to the U.S. House judiciary committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation. The foundation sought them after they were used as part of then-special counsel Robert Hur’s 2023 investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. Hur declined to bring criminal charges.” (05/26/26)
“A former member of the German militant group Red Army Faction (RAF) has been jailed for 13 years for carrying out a string of armed robberies between 1999 and 2016. Daniela Klette, 67, was finally caught in a flat in Berlin in 2024 after more than 30 years on the run. She went on trial last year. Her defence had called for her acquittal but the court in Verden in Lower Saxony found her guilty on Wednesday of aggravated robbery, violating weapons laws and other offences over a 17-year period. The RAF, a violent anti-capitalist group also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, was eventually disbanded after a campaign of murder, kidnapping and bombing from the early 1970s to the early 1990s. ” (05/27/26)
