“Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters on Monday denied reports of civilian deaths from airstrikes on suspected bandits in the northern Niger state, saying the strikes were intelligence-led and hit only militant targets. Defence spokesperson Major-General Michael Onoja said drone strikes carried out overnight between May 9 and 10 targeted the villages of Katerma, Bokko, Kusasu and Kuduru in the Shiroro district after intelligence indicated that armed gangs — known locally as bandits — were gathering to plan attacks. The denial came in response to reports in Nigerian media alleging civilian casualties, underscoring longstanding concerns about the impact on local communities of airstrikes in Nigeria’s conflict zones.” (05/11/26)
“A painting stolen from a Jewish art collector by the Nazis during World War Two has been found in the home of descendants of a notorious Dutch SS collaborator, an art detective has said. Portrait of a Young Girl, by Dutch artist Toon Kelder, is believed to have hung for decades in the home of Hendrik Seyffardt’s family, Arthur Brand said. It had belonged to Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who died while fleeing the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, leaving behind a collection of more than 1,000 paintings. The case was brought to Brand’s attention by a man who told him he was a descendant of Seyffardt and that he was ‘disgusted’ to learn his family had kept the artwork for years. Seyffardt was a Dutch general who commanded a Waffen-SS unit of volunteers on the eastern front before he was assassinated by resistance fighters in 1943.” (05/11/26)
“The man charged with allegedly attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at a White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month pleaded not guilty at a Monday arraignment in federal court. Cole Tomas Allen, 31, wearing an orange shirt and trousers, was handcuffed and shackled as he was brought into the courtroom in D.C. federal court. His handcuffs were attached to a chain around his waist, which clanked as he was led to the defense table. Speaking on behalf of Allen, federal public defender Tezira Abe said her client ‘pleads not guilty to all four counts as charged,’ including attempting to assassinate the president of the United States, in connection with the April 25 incident at the Washington Hilton Hotel.” (05/11/26)
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Netflix. Paxton argues that the streaming service collected user data, including from children’s accounts, despite claims otherwise by the company. The suit claims Netflix earns ‘billions of dollars every year from secretly selling consumer data’ to commercial brokers and online advertising businesses.” (05/11/26)
“A Norwegian court said Monday that it will announce its verdict next month in the trial of the eldest son of Norway’s crown princess on charges including rape, following proceedings that cast a shadow over the royal family. The Oslo District Court said that the verdict in the case of Marius Borg Høiby will be delivered on June 15. During six weeks of court proceedings that ended on March 19, prosecutors sought a prison sentence of seven years and seven months for Høiby, who denies the rape allegations. Høiby, 29, is the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit by a previous relationship and the stepson of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to Norway’s throne. He is charged with 40 offenses in total, including four counts of rape between 2018 and 2024.” (05/11/26)
“Imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has had her long prison sentence suspended and is now in a Tehran hospital, her foundation announced Sunday. Narges, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while in prison on charges of spreading ‘propaganda’ against Iran’s Islamic regime, was granted a suspension of her 18-year sentence and transferred by ambulance from a hospital in Zanjan to Tehran Pars Hospital where she will be treated by her own medical team, the foundation said.” (05/10/26)
“Pop star Dua Lipa has filed a $15m (£11m) lawsuit against Samsung, alleging it used her image on packaging for its televisions without permission. Lipa alleges that Samsung prominently used a photograph of her face without consent on various television models sold across the US, according to a lawsuit filed on Friday in the US District Court for the Central District of California. Samsung’s packaging was ‘designed to improperly capitalize on Ms. Lipa’s hard-earned success to promote and sell Samsung’s products,’ the filing said. The BBC has contacted Samsung for comment. The lawsuit includes allegations of copyright infringement, trademark infringement and misappropriation of Lipa’s likeness and image. According to the lawsuit, the image was taken during the singer’s 2024 Austin City Limits Festival performance and Lipa owns the copyright to the photograph.” (05/11/26)
“Philippine lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly backed the impeachment of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, setting the stage for a trial in the Senate that could end her hopes for a presidential run in 2028. The petition was backed by 255 of 318 lawmakers on Monday, surpassing the one-third threshold required. A House justice committee had last month found probable cause for her impeachment in a petition from activists accusing her of misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth and threatening the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, his wife and the former House speaker.
With her ally-turned-enemy Marcos limited by the constitution to a single term in office, Duterte-Carpio is the clear favourite to succeed him in 2028, but the impeachment could derail her bid.” (05/11/26)
“It wasn’t until his junior year of college that civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons learned about a devastating massacre that took place in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. His African American studies professor lectured about what is known today as the Tulsa Race Massacre — the days in 1921 when white mobs carried out a scorched-earth campaign against an outnumbered Black militia protecting the fabled Black Wall Street, a prosperous all-Black community. ‘I actually told a teacher, ‘I’m from Tulsa. That’s not true,” Solomon-Simmons recalled. ‘And of course, I was wrong.’ That day planted a seed for the then-aspiring attorney, who went on to lead a reparations campaign for the living survivors of the massacre and their descendants. Nearly 105 years later, no one has been compensated for what they lost, and none of the culprits have been held accountable.” (05/11/26)
“Fugitive former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro is now in the United States courtesy of a visa from President Donald Trump after fleeing Hungary. Ziobro had been in Hungary since 2025 after former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán granted the disgraced minister asylum. New Hungarian leader Péter Magyar, however, promised to launch extradition proceedings against Ziobro upon taking office. Ziobro is wanted in Poland over the alleged misuse of public funds and the deployment of Pegasus spyware against political opponents. He has consistently denied the charges, calling the investigation a political vendetta from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.” (05/10/26)
