“Protesters clashed with police outside Kosovo’s government and parliament buildings on Monday, calling for lawmakers to pass legislation that would limit the powers of a Kosovo war crimes court in The Hague. The protest came weeks after the court sentenced former President Hashim Thaci and three others to a combined 81 years in prison for war crimes. Police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse demonstrators who threw firecrackers and stones at officers guarding parliament and government buildings in central Pristina.” (10/05/26)
“A Spanish Supreme Court judge lifted the arrest warrant for Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday, clearing the way for him to return home without fear of detention for the first time in nearly a decade. Puigdemont, Catalonia’s former regional president, fled [Catalonia] for Belgium in 2017 after leading a failed attempt to break Catalonia away from Spain. He has since avoided attempts by Spain to have him sent back to face a court, while many of his confidants and supporters spent time in prison. Now he looks set to go back to Spain just when the country is preparing for a national election next month. It is too early to know how his return would impact the campaign, but given his unpopularity in most of Spain, it is likely that opposition parties would try to use his return against incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.” (10/06/26)
“A homeowner shot and killed a 36-year-old man who broke into his home after he fled a nearby disturbance Sunday night, according to the Lytle Police Department. Just after 10:30 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to the 14600 block of Butch Cassidy Street in the Saddle Ridge Estates subdivision after reports of a disturbance. In a news release, Lytle police said witnesses reported that the man appeared ‘aggressive and out of control’ before fleeing the scene. The man entered a nearby residence that had no apparent connection to him. Police said the home appeared to have been selected at random. After the man entered the home and cornered the homeowner, police said the homeowner used a firearm to protect himself and his family. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.” (10/05/26)
“Ukraine attacked the Moscow region with around 650 drones overnight, killing two people and damaging dozens of residential buildings, Russian authorities said early on Tuesday. Most of the drones were destroyed by air defences at long range, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram. He said 105 drones were destroyed as they approached the Russian capital. In addition to the two deaths, nine people were injured in the attack, according to Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region. It was not initially possible to verify these figures.” (10/06/26)
“President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Monday aimed at bringing down near-record diesel prices by waiving restrictions on cheaper red-dyed diesel. Speaking at a campaign event in Nebraska, a state hit hard by the spike in diesel prices, Trump said the order will ‘allow anyone to purchase tax-free red-dyed diesel for any reason.’ … Red-dyed diesel is the same as regular diesel. It’s just untaxed and dyed red to distinguish it for off-road use only, such as for tractors or industrial purposes. … The fact sheet says the order directs the Treasury secretary, in consultation with the secretary of defense, to defer payment for on-road use of dyed diesel fuel for the rest of the year without interest or penalties and to ‘explore pathways to eliminate the obligation to pay the deferred taxes.'” [editor’s note: So the taxes aren’t actually coming off, they’re just getting extorted later – TLK] (10/05/26)
“Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to activate ‘deterrence measures’ under a mutual defence pact and rapidly deploy forces to the Gulf kingdom to counter attacks by Yemen’s Houthis. The decision was announced on Monday after the three countries’ defence and foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Riyadh. It marked the first time the alliance – known as the Mecca Alliance for Defence – has been invoked since it was signed on August 7. … The announcements came hours after forces aligned with Yemen’s [Saudi puppet regime] launched a counteroffensive to retake territory the Iran-aligned Houthis captured last month. ” (10/05/26)
“The US commodities regulator proposed on Monday a new federal framework for cryptocurrency exchanges that offer leveraged digital asset trading, seeking to bring parts of the spot crypto market under federal oversight weeks after Congress failed to advance comprehensive crypto regulation. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s proposed rules would effectively allow [sic] US crypto exchanges to opt into a federal regulatory framework instead of relying primarily on a patchwork of state money-transmitter licenses, the agency said. The proposed rules make use of a specific authority the CFTC has to oversee margined or leveraged spot assets. The CFTC has long sought authority to regulate spot cryptocurrency markets – which currently operate in a regulatory grey area – but only Congress has the ability to provide the regulator with that purview.” (10/05/26)
“The International Criminal Court on Monday unsealed arrest warrants against four senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of the crime against humanity of gender persecution against women, girls and members of the LGBTQI+ community in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in 2021. The court said in a statement that warrants were issued in July and September last year for the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and the head of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, Abdul Hakim Haqqani. Also wanted are Education Minister Habibullah Agha and Minister of Higher Education Neda Mohammad Nadim. The existence of the warrants against Akhundzada and Haqqani was revealed last year, but the warrants remained sealed. With the Taliban in control of Afghanistan and the court having no police force to execute warrants, the prospect of any of the suspects being arrested is remote.” (10/05/26)
“Teachers in Libya have escalated their protests over salaries into an open-ended strike at public schools. Protests began on September 13, the day the school year was due to start. Sit-ins were held outside schools and government buildings in the capital, Tripoli. Two weeks later, Libya’s teachers union stepped up the campaign with a nationwide strike. It has kept students out of classrooms across the country. On Sunday, several Libyan unions representing other sectors threatened to join the strike unless the government entered talks to address a cost of living crisis.” (10/05/26)
“The Supreme Court is rebuffing an appeal from a Michigan woman fighting a school district’s ban on shirts with the phrase ‘Let’s Go Brandon,’ a jab at then-President Joe Biden with a coded reference to profanity. The mother of two boys says their First Amendment rights were violated when they were told to take off the sweatshirts she bought them for Christmas in 2022. A lower court disagreed, finding that the veiled vulgarity of the phrase, which functions as a stand-in for ‘F-— Joe Biden,’ allows schools to ban it. The woman’s attorneys argued that the decision wrongly gives school officials wide latitude to squelch political speech based on their personal ideas of what is vulgar. The phrase itself doesn’t contain any swear words or sexual implications, they said.” (10/05/26)
