“The U.S. military attacked a boat suspected of being used to smuggle drugs in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, [murdering] four people, as the Trump administration continues its monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America. The latest attack brings the number of people who have been [murdered] in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 231 in 69 strikes since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls ‘narcoterrorists’ about one year ago.” (09/19/26)
“Rep. Lauren Boebert is denying accusations that she engaged in sexual relationships with three of her staffers, as well as paid one of the staffers $200,000 not to file an ethics complaint. A complaint filed with the House Committee on Ethics on Thursday, Sept. 17 and obtained by the Colorado Times Recorder, alleges that the congresswoman, 39, had relationships with three House employees under her direct supervision. … In a statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Boebert denied the allegations, calling them ‘baseless.’ ‘Congresswoman Lauren Boebert rejects these allegations as utterly false and there is no truth to them whatsoever,’ the spokesperson said. ‘This is nothing more than a politically motivated stunt designed to manipulate the ethics process, create headlines, smear her, and generate clickbait.'” (09/20/26)
“Cuba’s electrical grid suffered a total collapse on Friday, plunging the nation into darkness and leaving millions without power amid a US pressure campaign that has largely blocked oil from reaching the Caribbean’s largest island. Friday’s collapse was triggered by a failure in high-voltage transmission lines in central Cuba that occurred around 2pm local time, authorities said. … Cuba’s aging power generation system has been under severe strain from fuel shortages and decrepit infrastructure for years, but a US-imposed oil blockade that began in January has vastly worsened blackouts and led to more frequent grid collapses.” (09/19/26)
“US President Donald Trump has said his proposed triumphal arch will double as a complex to store military equipment, complete with the ability to deploy snipers and drones. In a Sunday morning post, Trump said he is updating the plans at the ‘strong request’ of the US military and for ‘national security purposes’. … Construction on Trump’s 250-foot arch, planned for a site across the Potomac River from Washington DC just outside the Arlington National Cemetery, was expected to begin this month.” (09/20/26)
“AI giants Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Google are facing allegations of collusion following recent calls for a coordinated slowdown of AI development, according to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court Friday. The complaint claims that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s public plea earlier this month for ‘industry-wide coordination’ to ‘pace the frontier’ of AI advancement, which drew agreement from SpaceXAI head Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, amounted to an illegal business agreement between competitors under U.S. antitrust law.” (09/18/26)
“Ed Sheeran was overcome with emotion as he apologized to fans during his return to the stage Saturday following backlash after Macklemore was dropped from his tour. … ‘Now, I want to address the question of where I stand in the situation in Israel and Palestine and whether this concert here tonight implies where I stand. I’ve tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind, because I want my music and shows to be about unity not division, about humanity not politics. But this is a humanitarian issue and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel at a … music festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.'” (09/19/26)
“A rights groups says the Israeli government is forging ahead with a contentious [squat] expansion plan that would effectively divide the occupied West Bank, a plan long criticized as a threat to the viability of a future Palestinian state. On Wednesday, Israeli rights group Ir Amim said Israel’s government will open the bidding for an additional 2,167 units in a [squat] project that would effectively cut the West Bank in two. … [Squat] development in this open tract of land east of Jerusalem known as E1 is especially contentious because it runs from the outskirts of Jerusalem deep into the occupied West Bank.” (09/18/26)
“Rep. Kevin Kiley, a former Republican who is facing an uphill reelection battle after losing most of his district due to redistricting, said he won’t caucus with his former party if he wins in November. The announcement came Wednesday during a forum hosted by Semafor, where Kiley doubled down on his move to abandon his party if reelected. He said that would include him losing access to agenda-setting decisions with the Republican Party and mean he would lose his seat on key committees. Kiley said he’s trying to change those rules so independents aren’t automatically blocked. … Kiley, who is 41 and has served two House terms, captured national attention in March when he announced that he was leaving the Republican Party and was instead running as an independent,after Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50.” (09/18/26)
“President Trump said Friday he is banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘effective immediately,’ escalating his long-running battles with news organizations. Trump is seeking to use White House access against news outlets whose coverage he objects to, while threatening to target additional organizations. Trump’s Truth Social post called the three outlets ‘Fake News’ and accused them of reporting ‘FICTION and LIES,’ before threatening to also ban other ‘Fake News Media Outlets.'” (09/18/26)
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Friday they struck an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, according to state news agency IRNA, as a British maritime agency also reported an attack. Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the strategic strait as Washington continues pressing its counter-blockade of Iranian ports during the Middle East war. Iran wants to charge ships for passage, attacking vessels it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.” (09/18/26)
