“A 77-year-old Florida man convicted of beating a woman to death with a hammer is scheduled Tuesday to become the 16th person executed this year in the nation’s busiest death chamber. Curtis Wilkie Beasley was sentenced to death after being convicted of first-degree murder, robbery and grand theft auto in a 1995 attack on Carolyn Monfort. The Florida Supreme Court last week rejected appeals that executing a man his age who is suffering from cognitive decline would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Beasley, who would become Florida’s seventh prisoner over the age of 70 to be executed this year, is set to receive a three-drug injection at the state prison starting at 6 p.m.” (09/29/26)
“A jury deliberating on a federal bribery charge against Trayon White, a Washington, D.C., councilmember, could not come to a unanimous decision, leading to a mistrial Monday. The jury, eight women and four women, told U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras that they could not agree on a decision after four days of deliberations. A meeting will take place after Oct. 14 to what happens next. … White was allegedly shown on video accepting envelopes full of cash from business owner Allieu Kamara, who reportedly said he wanted the favor of D.C. officials. White was arrested in August 2024. White and his defense attorney said that there was no crime: that White accepted money but that it was not a bribe and there was no quid pro quo. Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for D.C., said she plans to retry the case.” (09/28/26)
“U.S.-Canada relations, already tense, are likely to deteriorate further after the United States went ahead early Tuesday with a decision to ban nearly $1 billion worth of Canadian imports, including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles. The ban amounts to barely a ripple in $880 billion worth of annual two-way trade between the two northern neighbors. But it marks another ratcheting up of President Donald Trump’s second-term trade war with America’s longtime ally and trading partner. … The latest sparring began over the summer when Trump reached back to a Great Depression law to impose 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, charging that Canada discriminates against U.S. dairy, auto and alcoholic beverage producers. Canada promptly counterpunched with tariffs of 15%, 25% or 50%, matching U.S. imports dollar for dollar.” (09/29/26)
“EU lawmakers are calling for the Commission to forbid European firms and banks from applying U.S. sanctions, as Washington weighs sanctioning the International Criminal Court over its actions concerning Israel. The U.S. has already targeted nine of the court’s judges and four prosecutors since the Netherlands-based institution issued a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ‘To protect its values, [the EU] needs to protect the ICC and the people who work there. It means … activating the blocking statute,’ said Dutch lawmaker Dirk Gotink of the center-right European People’s Party after a closed-door meeting of the economy committee on Monday evening.” (09/28/26)
“SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket came back to Earth earlier than planned after its first orbital flight Monday, with an explosion visible on the company’s livestream just after touchdown in the Pacific Ocean. … Starship launched from South Texas just before 9 a.m. ET on a planned test flight of about 10 hours. It was set to orbit Earth about six times before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Chile. But SpaceX decided to bring it back to Earth after only about 3 hours. As part of the mission, Starship deployed 26 of the company’s new, better-performing Starlink V3 internet satellites. The cause of the apparent explosion was not immediately clear, and the company didn’t offer any details.” (09/28/26)
“Saudi Arabia has resumed oil exports through the main pipeline extending from the east to the west of the Kingdom. According to Bloomberg, state-run Saudi Aramco was last week testing the East-West pipeline and building pressure, with the aim of resuming meaningful flows by the weekend, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the information is not public. The resumption will restore Saudi Arabia’s access to the alternative export route that it had been using during the Iran war, even as the Kingdom has ramped up shipments through the Strait of Hormuz this month.” (09/28/26)
“Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday boosting the size of the army by 15,500 troops in the fourth such order this year. Putin’s order comes as both Russia and Ukraine suffer mounting casualties in the more than four-and-a-half-year Ukraine war. The decree did not give a reason for the troop increase. … Putin had previously signed documents boosting the size of the army in March, June and July. The combined increase since March amounts to 47,860 soldiers. Russia’s battlefield advances have slowed this year, as widespread drone use on the front has made swift, large-scale troop movements almost impossible. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of preparing for another military call-up, a suggestion that Putin has called Ukrainian ‘disinformation’.” (09/28/26)
“Intense clashes have broken out in the Somali city of Baidoa between government forces and fighters loyal to the ousted regional president. Fighter jets and drones were reported as the hostilities flared on Monday in the South West State city after thousands of local fighters entered the city in the morning. Violence has plagued the city in recent weeks as the army seeks to maintain the control it wrested earlier this year. … A number of states in Somalia oppose President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. His government sent troops to oust the head of South West State, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen in March. Laftagareen has repeatedly attempted to retake the area, including the administrative capital of Baidoa.” (09/28/26)
“A judge on Monday vacated a Trump administration rule that would withhold 20% of federal counterterrorism funds allocated for states unless states and certain municipalities made certain changes to how they administer elections. In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali said the Federal Emergency Management Agency exceeded its legal authority ‘by conditioning the counterterrorism grant funds on changes to routine election administration.’ Ali also said FEMA, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, had not shown how the desired changes to election administration related to stopping terrorism.” (09/28/26)
“Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier intensified his fight with OpenAI and its founder Sam Altman on Monday by asking a Florida court to stop the tech giant from further developing its artificial intelligence technology while their legal battle plays out. In his latest push to put guardrails around AI, Uthmeier is attempting to leverage the recent panic about the technology’s unchecked growth in Washington and beyond as proof that ChatGPT and other AI models are dangerous products. Uthmeier is seeking an injunction against OpenAI that would prevent the company from advancing new AI models without third-party approved protections, and cut off minors from using its popular chatbot.” [editor’s note: Uthmeier always wants every public discussion to be about him … except, of course, the public discussion about the embezzled taxpayer funds his PACs used to rig the 2024 election in Florida – TLK] (09/28/26)
