“Outraged by Elon Musk’s devastating [sic] contributions to the Trump administration, tens of thousands worldwide held ‘Tesla Takedown’ protests at over 200 locations on Saturday. Protests began the day in front of Tesla showrooms in Australia and New Zealand. They then rippled across Europe, including Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK. In the US, protests occurred in nearly every state, including the northeast, south, midwest, and west coast. ‘Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it,’ organizers wrote on Action Network, which has an interactive map of the protest sites. ‘We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup.’ Organizers also have a message for people with ties to the company: ‘Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines.'” (03/30/25)
“Utah has become the first US state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, over opposition from dentists and national health organisations who warn the move will lead to medical problems and disproportionately affect low-income communities. Republican Governor Spencer Cox signed legislation on Thursday that bars cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral to their water systems. … Utah lawmakers who pushed for a ban said putting fluoride in water was too expensive. Cox, who grew up and raised his own children in a community without fluoridated water, compared it recently to being ‘medicated’ by the government.” (03/28/25)
“Pakistan said it killed 10 civilians during an anti-militant operation in the country’s northwest and promised to investigate the circumstances. Authorities made the admission Saturday evening about the deaths, which occurred in the early hours of that morning in a remote hilltop area of Katlang, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is rare for Pakistan to reveal civilian casualties resulting from anti-militant activities and it was not immediately clear how the Saturday operations were carried out. According to provincial government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif, reports indicated the location was being used as a ‘hideout and transit point for terrorist’ elements. Subsequent information revealed that some unarmed civilians were present in the vicinity of the site, Saif added. Locals said 10 bodies, including those of women and children, were recovered from the area where government officials claimed the anti-militant operation had taken place.” (03/29/25)
“Israel launched a strike on a suburb of southern Beirut on Friday, the first such attack on the Lebanese capital since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire late last year. Traffic quickly filled the streets of the Hadath neighborhood after Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning, saying it was targeting a building it identified as a Hezbollah facility. … Lebanon’s education ministry issued an emergency order calling on all schools in the area to close. The evacuation warning Friday afternoon followed reports of two projectiles launched from Lebanese territory. One of the projectiles launched toward Israel was intercepted, the other fell in Lebanese territory. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed group and Lebanese political party, denied launching the rockets, according to a statement carried by Lebanon’s state news agency. The statement also said Hezbollah remains committed to the ceasefire agreement.” (03/28/25)
“Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland has rejected an attempt by the central government to give the US exclusive control of a port and airbase in Berbera. The city lies on the strategic Gulf of Aden, on the northern coast of Somaliland. The territory, which declared independence in 1991 as Somalia descended into civil war, says the facilities are not Mogadishu’s to give away. In a letter to US President Donald Trump, seen by Reuters news agency, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also offered port and airbase within Somalia, saying all four would strengthen US security operations. Somaliland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Abdirahman Dahir Aden dismissed the move as ‘desperate’. Signals given before Trump began his second term have given Somalilanders hope that the US may become the world’s first country to recognise the self-declared republic, which has functioned as a de facto state for nearly 34 years.” (03/30/25)
“The family of Jesus Uribe Corona is vowing to sue the town of Mammoth Lakes after officers shot and killed the unarmed man earlier this month. Police shot Uribe on March 4 after he was allegedly throwing rocks at passing cars near the town’s library. The Mammoth Lakes Police Department released a video (warning: graphic content) on Thursday of the shooting showing Uribe, who was 39, running from police before he’s shot multiple times by two police officers. Will Horowitz, an attorney representing Uribe’s children, said in a press release that officers had no justification for the killing. ‘The video demonstrates that the police’s use of deadly force was completely unnecessary. He was unarmed, had not thrown a rock at officers, and was at a safe distance from them,’ Horowitz said in a Thursday press release.” (03/28/25)
“France’s constitutional court on Friday ruled local politicians can be barred from office immediately if convicted of a crime, leaving the door open for far-right leader Marine Le Pen to potentially be barred from the 2027 presidential race in an embezzlement trial concluding on Monday. National Rally (RN) leader Le Pen, who leads polls for the 2027 presidential vote, accuses prosecutors of seeking her ‘political death’ by asking judges to bar her from office for five years if convicted. Should Le Pen receive a so-called ‘provisional execution’ ban, which would be effective immediately even if she appeals, she would be unable to stand in the 2027 election. She has denied wrongdoing.” (03/28/25)
“Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Ukraine could be placed under a form of temporary administration to allow for new elections and the signature of key accords with the aim of reaching a settlement in the war, Russian news agencies reported early on Friday. … Putin’s comments on temporary administration appeared to address his long-held complaint that Ukraine’s authorities are not a legitimate negotiating partner as President Volodymyr Zelensky has remained in power beyond the end of his mandate in May 2024. … ‘In principle, of course, a temporary administration could be introduced in Ukraine under the auspices of the UN, the United States, European countries and our partners,’ Putin was quoted as saying in talks with seamen at [Murmansk].” [editor’s note: Is he willing to accept the same setup for Russia? – TLK] (03/28/25)
“South Sudan’s opposition has said that the overnight arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar, longtime rival to President Salva Kiir, has invalidated their 2018 peace deal and risked plunging the country back into war. A convoy of 20 heavily armed vehicles entered Machar’s residence in the capital, Juba, late on Wednesday and arrested him, according to a statement issued by a member of his party – a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has been building for weeks in the world’s youngest country. … A power-sharing deal between Kiir and Machar has been gradually unravelling, threatening a return of the civil war that killed around 400,000 people between 2013 and 2018.” (03/27/25)
“A Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University has been detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents without explanation, her lawyer said Wednesday. Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, had just left her home in Somerville on Tuesday night when she was stopped, lawyer Mahsa Khanbabai said in a petition filed in Boston federal court. Video obtained by The Associated Press appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking away Ozturk’s phone as she yells and is handcuffed. ‘We’re the police,’ members of the group are heard saying in the video. A man is heard asking, ‘Why are you hiding your faces?'” (03/27/25)
