“Venezuelan police fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse around 2,000 protesters who marched towards the presidential palace to demand salary increases, AFP reporters said. ‘Let’s go to Miraflores!’ the demonstrators shouted as they pressed long-standing demands for increases to wages so low that many struggle to survive. Riot police with helmets and shields attempted to drive back the protesters as they made their way through central Caracas, a few kilometres from the presidential palace. The protests reflect growing anger in Venezuela over the failure of acting President Delcy Rodriguez to set out concrete plans to address the situation. On Wednesday, she went on television to announce a wage increase on May 1 but did not disclose the amount.” (04/09/26)
“Britain and Norway conducted a weekslong military operation to deter Russian spy submarines near undersea cables in the North Atlantic, the U.K. defense chief said Thursday, accusing Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe. Defense Secretary John Healey said a Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel were involved in tracking a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the U.K., and prevented the spy vessels from carrying out ‘nefarious’ activities against underwater infrastructure. He said the Russian vessels eventually left after the operation that lasted more than a month. There is no evidence of damage to any cables or pipes, he said. The U.K. said other allies were also involved in the operation, but didn’t name them.” (04/09/26)
“Yet another member of a family within Minnesota’s Somali community is expected to plead guilty Thursday in the massive fraud scandal that has drawn national attention and prompted criticism of Attorney General Keith Ellison over a meeting he held with members of the family in question. Gandi Mohamed, 45, is expected to either plead guilty at a change of plea hearing scheduled for Thursday or choose to enter a plea of no contest, which would allow him to accept conviction and be sentenced without admitting guilt, according to court records. Mohamed is the sixth member of his family who would be pleading guilty in the scheme prosecutors say fraudulently claimed to be serving meals while instead pocketing $14 million from the federal child nutrition program, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported.” (04/09/26)
“The emperor penguin has been declared an endangered species as climate change pushes the icon of Antarctica a step closer to extinction, the global authority on threatened wildlife announced Thursday. Its change of status from ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) underscores the existential threat to ice-dependent species as global warming profoundly reshapes the frozen continent. Emperor penguins rely on sea ice to live, hunt and breed. The early break-up and loss of these platforms of frozen ocean water has caused their numbers to plummet.” (04/09/26)
“In a potential boost to Middle East ceasefire efforts, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he authorized direct negotiations ‘as soon as possible’ with Lebanon aimed at disarming Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbors. The two countries have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948. There was no immediate response from Lebanese authorities, but the announcement appeared to bolster the tentative ceasefire in the Iran war that had staggered under the weight of Israel’s bombardment of Beirut, Tehran’s continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and uncertainty over whether planned peace talks can find common ground. Netanyahu’s announcement came amid disagreement over whether the ceasefire deal included a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and a day after Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes that resulted in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began on Feb. 28.” (04/09/26)
“OpenAI is finalizing a model with advanced cybersecurity capabilities that it plans to release only to a small set of companies, similar to Anthropic’s limited roll out of Mythos, a source familiar told Axios. AI capabilities have reached a tipping point, at least in terms of autonomy and hacking capabilities. Model-makers are now so worried about the havoc their own tools could cause that they’re reluctant to release them into the wild. Anthropic announced plans Tuesday to limit access of its new Mythos Preview model to a hand-picked group of technology and cybersecurity companies over fears of its advanced hacking capabilities.” (04/09/26)
“Argentina’s Congress has passed a controversial amendment making it easier to mine in glacier regions, a move environmentalists say weakens protections for crucial water sources. The pioneering Glacier Law, approved in 2010, prohibited all mining and exploration activities in glacier regions by protecting them as water reserves. The reform shifts the responsibility of defining protected glacier areas from the Argentine Institute for Snow, Ice and Environmental Sciences (Ianigla) to the provincial governments. President Javier Milei, who backed the reform, said the change ’empower[s] the provinces to utilise their resources’ and allows mining activities ‘where there was nothing to protect’. The reform has proven divisive, with those opposed organising protest rallies. Argentina’s Senate had already approved the bill in February 2026, so approval by the lower house was the last major hurdle left.” (04/09/26)
“The security cabinet approved the establishment of 34 new [squats] in a meeting two weeks ago, The Times of Israel has learned. This brings to 103 the total number of new [squats] established or retroactively legalized [sic] by the government since it took office in 2022. Only six new [squats] were formally approved by Israel in the 30 years following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Security cabinet meetings and their decisions are classified, and there has been no official confirmation of the decision by the government.” (04/09/26)
“A U.S. judge in Washington ruled on Thursday that the Pentagon is hampering journalists in defiance of a court order that required it to restore access to credentialed reporters covering the seat of U.S. military power. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the Defense Department must comply with his earlier order that sided with The New York Times and other news organizations challenging restrictions imposed on them last year. ‘The Department cannot simply reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action and expect the Court to look the other way,’ Friedman wrote in his ruling. The judge called the Pentagon’s actions a ‘blatant attempt to circumvent a lawful order of the Court.'” (04/09/26)
“First lady Melania Trump denied that she had a friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein or that she had any ties to his crimes in a head-turning White House address Thursday. … Trump has previously taken legal action over claims related to herself and Epstein with three publishers issuing apologies for publishing claims that the sex offender introduced her to her future husband. … She did not answer any questions shouted by reporters as she left.” (04/09/26)
