“A 72-year-old woman says her civil rights were violated when an ICE agent in Manhattan sprayed her with pepper spray. Three weeks ago, Linda Wolff, an immigrant rights supporter who can often be found outside of Delaney Hall, said she was in Inwood when she got word ICE agents were [abducting people] in the area. She said she took out her phone and started recording. ‘I went back on the curb and was just filming ICE, and they walked over and they maced me,’ Wolff said Friday. ‘My civil rights were completely violated at that moment.’ Now, Wolff plans to take ICE to court.” (08/17/26)
“A Russian court on Monday convicted a prominent opposition politician for speaking out against the war in Ukraine and sentenced him to 11 years and one month in prison in the latest crackdown leading up to next month’s parliamentary election. The verdict against Lev Shlosberg, a senior member of the Yabloko party, was another step by the Kremlin to stifle dissent since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. Yabloko is the only official political party overtly opposing the war. Shlosberg, 63, is Yabloko’s deputy chairman and served in the regional legislature of Pskov from 2016-21. He stood trial in the city of Pskov, some 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of Moscow, on charges of ‘discrediting’ and spreading ‘false information’ about the Russian military.” [editor’s note: Yabloko briefly BECAME the only “official party” opposing the war last month after the Libertarian Party was banned, and was barred from ballots itself earlier this month – TLK] (08/17/26)
“Rebuffing President Donald Trump for a second time, the U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear his appeal of a $5 million verdict in favor of E. Jean Carroll after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming the former magazine columnist. The justices rejected Trump’s request to reconsider their previous decision in June denying his appeal of the 2023 jury verdict stemming from allegations that he raped her in the 1990s in a Manhattan department store’s dressing room. Trump’s lawyers contend that the trial was unfair. The Supreme Court is also weighing the Republican president’s appeal of a separate $83.3 million jury verdict for defaming Carroll in 2019 during his first term as president, when he denied the claims and asserted that she lied about the accusations. Trump’s lawyers in that appeal argue that presidential immunity shields him from Carroll’s claims and that lower courts wrongly decided that he had forfeited that defense.” (08/17/26)
“A Malian court sentenced on Monday a prominent broadcaster and an influencer, who had both criticised the ruling junta, to seven years in jail, an AFP journalist saw. The sentences are the latest handed to Malians critical of the unstable west African country’s military government, which came to power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. Television and radio commentator Mohamed Youssouf Bathily – alias Ras Bath – was convicted by the court in Bamako of criminal conspiracy and discrediting the state, alongside Rokia Doumbia, a noted campaigner known online as ‘Rose, the cost of living’. Both had been in custody for several years following the airing of a 2023 programme by the journalist dedicated to the economic difficulties facing ordinary Malians.” (08/17/26)
“The yield on 30-year U.S. Treasuries hit the highest in almost two decades, reflecting investor angst over the surging national debt, a flood of long-dated bond sales and inflation that’s been stuck over the Federal Reserve’s target for the past five years. The rate on the so-called long bond rose three basis points to 5.29% on Monday, the highest since 2007. The move pushed it closer to that year’s 5.44% peak during the early days of the global financial crisis. The rise, which is driving up the U.S. government’s borrowing costs, is part of a broader trend in global bond markets, where investors are demanding more compensation to protect themselves against the risk of mounting government debts and persistently high inflation that’s likely to keep short-term interest rates elevated.” (08/17/26)
“President Trump on Sunday accused vandals of damaging the ground near the World War II Memorial where thousands gathered for a July 4 celebration hosted in conjunction with the White House. Trump, in a post on Truth Social, shared pictures of a grassy field with patches of brown across the lawn. ‘Look what VANDALS did to the grass connecting the vandalized World War II Monument and the vandalized Reflecting Pool, which will be opened again, and better than ever, shortly,’ he wrote. ‘Anybody who thinks the Reflecting Pool wasn’t vandalized should go back to Law School,’ the president added.” (08/17/26)
“Paramount Skydance will seek to force the states holding up its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to pay for the fees and costs associated with the delay, according to a new filing in the antitrust case Monday. Paramount is requesting a $1.88 billion bond that would be paid by the states behind the lawsuit. In July, a dozen state attorneys general led by California’s Rob Bonta filed to challenge the proposed $110 billion merger between Paramount and WBD. … ‘By the time trial concludes and the parties submit their final briefs, Paramount will have paid Warner Bros. shareholders an unrecoverable $1.3 billion in ticking fees alone,’ Paramount said in the filing. ‘Delay also threatens to nullify the regulatory approvals that Defendants have already spent months securing. … That is precisely why federal law requires plaintiffs to provide security as a condition for receiving preliminary relief such as the court-approved order,’ the filing says.” (08/17/26)
“Chinese researchers have engineered a probiotic that could make diabetes care as simple as drinking a cup of yogurt or swallowing a capsule. The ‘smart’ bacterium, designed to sense high blood sugar and automatically release a glucose-lowering hormone, performed on par with the blockbuster drug Ozempic in animal tests, according to a study published in Nature last week. The team at East China Normal University in Shanghai has already filed patents and is now scaling up production to meet pharmaceutical standards for the US and European markets.” (08/17/26)
“US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday introduced legislation that would prohibit the federal government from garnishing Social Security payments from older Americans and people with disabilities who default on their student loans, a move that comes amid a debt crisis made worse by education cuts in President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Stop Social Security Garnishment Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (both D-MA), would bar the Treasury Department from seizing Social Security payments, including Social Security Disability Insurance, to collect on defaulted federal student debt. ‘As a result of Trump’s disastrous cuts to education, an increasing number of seniors are in danger of having their Social Security checks garnished to pay back student loans they took out decades ago. That is beyond unacceptable,’ Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement.” (08/17/26)
“Somalia’s federal troops and armed opposition groups clashed in heavy fighting in Baidoa city centre on Monday, a local resident and an army officer told Reuters. The administrative capital of South West state, Baidoa is home to international peacekeepers and humanitarian agencies. It is one of Somalia’s largest cities with a population of over a million people. Fresh fighting in the city could compound a dire humanitarian crisis in the area. Baidoa hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people and one in four children at displacement sites there are severely malnourished, according to a July survey by Medecins Sans Frontieres.” (08/17/26)
