“The first baby boomer on the Supreme Court hit a milestone on Thursday, becoming the second-longest serving justice in history at a time when his influence has never seemed greater. Once an outlier on the nation’s highest court, Justice Clarence Thomas has become a towering figure in the conservative legal movement over the last decade as he helped secure landmark rulings on abortion, voting and Second Amendment rights. The only justice with a longer tenure is liberal William O. Douglas. Thomas would overtake Douglas in 2028 if he remains on the court, and there is no sign he plans to retire anytime soon.” (05/07/26)
“An outbreak of hantavirus on board a cruise ship is not the start of a pandemic, the UN health agency has said. Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO), told a news briefing that it was not the same situation as six years ago with Covid-19, because hantavirus spreads through ‘close, intimate contact’. Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius. On Thursday, the WHO said that overall, five of eight suspected cases of hantavirus had been confirmed. Three people have died, including a 69-year-old Dutch woman, who had the virus. Her Dutch husband and a German woman also died, and their cases are being investigated. Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents – but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.” (05/07/26)
“In a recent release of economic data, U.S. initial jobless claims have shown a modest increase, signaling potential shifts in the labor market. The actual number of initial jobless claims filed was 200,000, according to the latest figures. This number is slightly above the forecasted figure of 205,000, indicating a tighter-than-expected labor market scenario. The initial jobless claims measure the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week.” (05/07/26)
“A man accused of a firebomb attack that killed one person and injured a dozen others while they were demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges. Mohamed Sabry Soliman entered the pleas Thursday in Boulder County District Court. He now faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the attack in downtown Boulder last June 1. Soliman’s attorneys revealed he would plead guilty in a Sunday court filing in a related federal case. Soliman has meanwhile pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges. Prosecutors are weighing whether to seek the death penalty in the federal case, according to his attorneys.” (05/07/26)
“Two former Chinese defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, have been sentenced to death with reprieve on corruption charges, according to Xinhua. A military court found Wei guilty of accepting bribery, while Li was deemed guilty of both accepting and offering bribes, according to a two-paragraph statement released late on Thursday afternoon by Xinhua.” ()5/07/26)
“Film-maker James Cameron and Disney are being sued by an actress who has accused the director of using her likeness as the basis for one of the lead characters in his hit film series Avatar. German-born US actress Q’orianka Kilcher, who is of indigenous Peruvian descent, alleged that in 2005 – when she was 14 – Cameron ‘extracted her facial features’ from a photograph of her portraying Pocahontas in another film, The New World. In court documents filed on Tuesday in California, her team claimed Cameron ‘directed his design team to use it as the foundation for the character of Neytiri,’ depicted on screen by Zoe Saldaña. BBC News has contacted Cameron and Disney for a comment. The Avatar movies contain a hybrid of live-action performance mixed with computer-generated characters.” (05/07/26)
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the Middle East with Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday, at an audience that follows President Donald Trump’s criticism of the first American pontiff over the Iran war. The closed-door meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, was the first between the head of the Catholic Church and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year. It comes at a fraught time between Washington and the Holy See, with relations at a low after weeks of presidential attacks on Leo and the Chicago-born pope’s outspoken responses.” (05/07/26)
“Powerful storms that spawned at least three tornadoes tore through several Mississippi counties, damaging around 500 homes, uprooting trees and injuring at least 17 people, authorities said Thursday. There were no reports of deaths after the tornadoes cut across the state’s southwest late Wednesday evening, said Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. He said 12 of those hurt were transported from a hard-hit trailer park in the small community of Bogue Chitto, about an hour’s drive south of the state capital in rural Lincoln County. Most of the two dozen homes at Gene’s Mobile Home Supply were flattened into heaps of splintered boards and twisted metal. People picked through the debris Thursday morning under cloudy skies as a chain saw buzzed in the background.” (05/07/26)
“An South Korean appeals court has reduced the prison sentence of a former prime minister convicted of rebellion for his role in then President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ill-fated imposition of martial law in December 2024. Ex-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, a Yoon appointee, was sentenced to 23 years by a Seoul court in January. Yoon was sentenced to life in prison for rebellion the next month. On Thursday, the Seoul High Court upheld most of Han’s convictions, but reduced his sentence to 15 years. It upheld charges including that Han tried to create the appearance of legitimacy for Yoon’s illegal decree by getting it endorsed at a Cabinet meeting and discussing plans to cut off of water and electricity to critical media agencies. The court also affirmed convictions for falsifying the martial law proclamation, for destroying it and for lying under oath.” (05/07/26)
“Three women with links to the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group have been arrested on returning home to Australia following years in detention in Syria. All are Australian citizens. Police said they arrested two of them – Kawsar Abbas, 53, and Zeinab Ahmed, 31 – on arrival in Melbourne. Janai Safar, 32, was arrested after landing in Sydney. A fourth woman in the party, which includes nine children, was not arrested. The group are the subject of heated political debate in Australia, with the government saying it would give them no help to return. The children – thought to be aged from about six to their mid-teens – are to get psychological support and be assessed for possible radicalisation. Australia is one of a number of countries grappling with how to deal with the return of citizens – and their children – from Syria after the so-called Islamic State caliphate was destroyed in 2019.” (05/07/26)
