“Democratic socialist Angie Nixon scored an upset victory on Tuesday in Florida’s Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate, as voters in several states picked candidates for elections that will determine control of Congress. … she defeated former national security official Alex Vindman, who rose to prominence in 2019 when he testified to Congress during Republican President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Vindman raised 16 times as much money as Nixon. … She will face Republican Senator Ashley Moody in November’s general election.” (08/19/26)
“Ukraine’s ousted Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a bombshell address on Tuesday, arguing the nation faced a crisis of governance, in the biggest internal challenge to President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia’s invasion. Fedorov’s call, delivered in a video address posted on YouTube, is the first such demand by a major Ukrainian political figure since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during wartime.” [editor’s note: That last sentence is a lie. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits holding elections during periods of martial law, which is an optional status that the president has to request, and the legislature grant, extensions of every six month. There might be reasons not to hold elections, but not holding them is a choice – TLK] (08/18/26)
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott to compel the extradition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent arrested on charges connected to Operation Metro Surge. Christian Castro faces four counts of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in Minnesota …. Castro was arrested in Harlingen, Texas, in May and booked into the Cameron County Jail. Ellison said Gov. Tim Walz asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in early June to extradite Castro to Minnesota, but he has yet to be extradited. According to Ellison, Walz’s request triggered a mandatory obligation for Gov. Abbott to issue a governor’s rendition warrant to Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino, initiating the transfer of Castro back to Minnesota to face justice.” (08/18/26)
“[American buyers of goods from] Canada got a three-day reprieve on damaging new American tariffs against billions of goods, with President Trump claiming that a deal was close but Prime Minister Mark Carney saying only that substantial progress had been made. Mr. Trump announced the delay on imposing 50 percent tariffs in a social media post on Tuesday night, roughly 90 minutes before the midnight deadline. The White House issued a proclamation saying Canada had agreed to make certain trade concessions, and the extra days were needed to finalize those provisions.” (08/18/26)
“US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that no talks with Iran are underway and none are scheduled, as he posted a map showing the Strait of Hormuz as a new American territory in a fresh jibe at Tehran. Trump has been pressing his threat to claim sovereignty over the crucial energy waterway as the nearly six-month-old Iran war grinds on with little sign of resolution. Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner had said on Monday that the United States and Iran were having ‘very positive and active conversations,’ but the president denied that was the case. … Iran says it will not reopen the strait until Washington meets a sweeping list of demands including ending the US blockade of Iran’s ports, lifting oil sanctions, unfreezing Iranian assets and paying war damages.” (08/18/26)
“Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected as Zambia’s president after defeating opposition challenger Brian Mundubile by more than one million votes, but his victory comes amid opposition concerns over the conduct of the election and questions about the country’s political direction. The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) declared Hichilema the winner on Tuesday after he secured 2,965,326 votes against Mundubile’s 1,856,217, giving him another five-year mandate after first taking office in 2021. … The European Union Election Observation Mission said candidates were able to campaign through rallies and public meetings but raised concerns over campaign-related violence, political intimidation and the media environment.” (08/18/26)
“A Trump administration task force created to combat antisemitism pushed for settlements with Ivy League universities despite government investigations that were rushed and incomplete or that failed to establish legal violations by the schools, a former Justice Department lawyer alleged in a whistleblower disclosure obtained by The Associated Press. The complaint alleges that the investigations into some of the nation’s most prestigious academic institutions were designed to strong-arm the schools into cutting deals for political purposes. Outcomes of the investigations were ‘predetermined, without regard to the evidence’ in a ‘politically mandated effort’ to extract money from schools through settlement demands and funding freezes under the pretext of rooting out antisemitism, the complaint alleges.” (08/18/26)
“The leader of Quebec’s separatist party said Tuesday he would delay any referendum on independence from Canada until Donald Trump is no longer U.S. president. Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose party is out of power but could win Quebec’s next election that must be held by Oct. 5, said a PQ government would still hold a referendum during its first term — but not before Jan. 20, 2029, when Trump’s term ends. He said a question as consequential as Quebec’s future requires a clear and calm debate. ‘It must not be hijacked by the upheavals of American politics, nor by the outbursts of an unpredictable president, nor by fear campaigns,’ St-Pierre Plamondon said.” (08/18/260
“The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday to reinstate the criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported by the Trump administration last year, by reversing a lower court order that found them to be vindictive in nature. In May, a federal judge in Tennessee dismissed a criminal indictment against Abrego Garcia, who had been accused by federal prosecutors of smuggling immigrants in the U.S. illegally. The judge found that the Justice Department prosecuted Abrego Garcia in retaliation for his efforts to challenge his wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year. In a filing Monday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, the Justice Department denied that the prosecution was vindictive, arguing it had ‘multiple legitimate bases to prosecute’ Abrego Garcia.” (08/18/26)
“Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan be moved to hospital for medical checks, after a petition by his lawyers over claims of poor health. Justice Shahid Waheed said 73-year-old Khan, who has been in jail since 2023 on corruption charges, will be shifted in the next two days to Shifa International hospital in the capital Islamabad. Khan and his wife and spiritual guide Bushra Bibi were both sentenced late last year to 17 years behind bars. … Khan was prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being removed in a no-confidence vote during a political crisis over tensions between his government and the South Asian country’s powerful military establishment.” (08/18/26)
