“Two congressional lawmakers on Sunday called on Howard Lutnick to resign amid revelations that the Commerce secretary had more extensive business and personal dealings with deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein than were previously disclosed. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., urged Lutnick to step down after The New York Times reported the Trump ally interacted ‘regularly’ with Epstein, according to files released by the Department of Justice relating to the notorious sex offender. Massie was the lead Republican on the Epstein Files Transparency Act that compelled the release of the Epstein files. … Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, took it a step further, calling on Lutnick to resign — or be fired.” (02/08/26)
“Japan’s conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi swept to a landslide victory in a snap election on Sunday, marking a historic turnaround for her party, which had been hemorrhaging voter support in recent years — until she stepped to the helm. Since she was elected more than four months ago – becoming Japan’s first female leader in a country where men have long dominated politics – Takaichi has enjoyed sky high approval ratings and a glowing endorsement from US President Donald Trump. … The LDP won more than 310 of the 465 seats in Japan’s lower house of parliament, marking the first time since World War II that a single party has secured a two-thirds majority. The broader ruling coalition won more than 340 seats.” (02/09/26)
“Members of Congress were briefed this week on a whistle-blower report about an intelligence intercept of a call between two foreign nationals discussing a person close to President Trump, according to people familiar with the material. It is not clear what country the two foreign nationals were from, but the discussion involved Iran. The whistle-blower report was drafted last May, around the time the Trump administration was deliberating about a strike on Iran. Mr. Trump ordered a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. … The whistle-blower accused Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, of limiting who could see the report and of blocking wider distribution among the nation’s spy agencies, according to people familiar with the complaint. People who have reviewed the whistle-blower report have differed about the importance of the underlying intelligence, which was collected by the National Security Agency.” (02/07/26)
“Haiti’s presidential council stepped down on Saturday after almost two years of tumultuous rule alongside a U.S.-backed prime minister, who is expected to remain in power as the country prepares for the first general elections in a decade. Days before the nine-member council was dissolved, the U.S. deployed a warship and two U.S. Coast Guard boats to waters near Haiti’s capital, where gangs control 90% of Port-au-Prince. … In late January, two of the council’s most influential members announced that a majority had voted to oust Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, defying calls from the U.S. government to uphold the country’s fragile political stability. Days later, the U.S. government announced visa revocations for four unidentified council members and a Cabinet minister. The council’s plan to oust Fils-Aimé for reasons not made public appeared to fall to the wayside as it stepped down in an official ceremony on Saturday.” (02/07/26)
“Hamas’s political leader abroad, Khaled Meshaal, has rejected calls to disarm Palestinian factions in Gaza, arguing that stripping weapons from an occupied people would turn them into ‘an easy victim to be eliminated.’ … In the second phase of a US-mediated ‘ceasefire’ deal between Israel and Hamas, agreed in October last year, Washington says it will tackle the disarmament of Hamas and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. But Israel continues to carry out near-daily deadly attacks across Gaza in violation of the ‘ceasefire’ and has so far refused to withdraw from the so-called ‘Yellow Line’ in eastern Gaza, an informal boundary separating more than half of the territory that remains under Israeli military control from the rest of the Strip.” (02/08/26)
“Kyiv’s foreign minister has said the Ukrainian and Russian leaders need to meet in person to hash out the hardest remaining issues in peace talks, and that only U.S. President Donald Trump has the power to bring about an agreement. Ukraine wants to accelerate the efforts to end the four-year-old war and capitalise on momentum in the U.S.-brokered talks before other factors come into play, such as campaigning for the U.S. Congressional mid-term elections in November, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in an interview. ‘Only Trump can stop the war,’ Sybiha told Reuters in his office in Kyiv, close to the Dnipro river. From a 20-point peace plan that has formed the basis of recent trilateral negotiations, only ‘a few’ items remain outstanding, Sybiha said.” (02/08/26)
“Progressive Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman (D) on Saturday made a last-minute bid to challenge Mayor Karen Bass (D) in the June primary election. Raman made the announcement hours before the 12 p.m. filing deadline for candidates be on the ballot. She praised Bass in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, calling the mayor ‘an icon’ but said the city needs someone who will tackle its problems. … Raman was the first of three candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America to win seats on the city council, followed by Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez. Raman defeated former City Councilmember David Ryu in 2020 and was reelected in 2024.” (02/07/26)
“The text messages a Border Patrol agent sent to colleagues and family members after he repeatedly shot a Chicago woman in October can be released to the public, a federal judge ruled Friday. In messages previously made public, the agent bragged about his marksmanship. U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis stated in court that the text messages provide insight into the agent’s and the Department of Homeland Security’s credibility, as well as into how DHS leadership perceived the shooting. The agent, Charles Exum, shot Marimar Martinez five times on Oct. 4, after she allegedly rammed her car into agents’ vehicles. Martinez denies ramming them and said agents were the aggressors. Exum did not have his body camera turned on during the incident. In one text message previously released, he bragged about his shooting skills, writing: ‘I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.'” (02/07/26)
“In a case with a potentially far-reaching impact, the Michigan Supreme Court has closed the door on a wave of post-conviction challenges tied to the state’s use of judges as one-person grand juries. In the unanimous opinion issued Feb. 4 and written by Justice Elizabeth Welch, the court said that its 2022 decision restricting the use of one-man grand juries, which curtailed prosecutions in the Flint Water Crisis, does not apply retroactively to cases that are already final. The court held that defendants convicted years ago cannot rely on its earlier ruling in People v. Peeler to reopen their cases simply because they were charged through a one-person grand jury rather than given a preliminary examination. The case before the court involved Todd Douglas Robinson, who was convicted in 2013 of first-degree premeditated murder and felony-firearm in what was allegedly a drug deal gone bad.” (02/07/26)
“Six people have been arrested after police clashed with protesters in Milan, one of the hosts of the Winter Olympic Games, during the first day of the competition. Thousands took to the streets of the city in northern Italy on Saturday to protest against a range of issues including the cost of living. Some released fireworks and threw stones at police, who responded with water cannon. It comes after the government tightened protest laws in the wake of a demonstration last weekend in Turin that left more than 100 officers injured, according to government figures. Meanwhile, officials are investigating suspected sabotage on northern Italy’s railway network on Saturday.” 902/08/26)
