“A grand jury in Texas has rejected indictments against a federal immigration agent following the fatal shooting of a US citizen during a traffic encounter last year. Ruben Ray Martinez was killed on March 15, 2025, by an agent from Homeland Security Investigations. The Department of Homeland Security had not publicly disclosed the incident until The Associated Press and other media outlets reported it last week. Prosecutors confirmed the grand jury’s decision on Wednesday, stating that indictments were declined after the case was presented.” (02/26/26)
“Cuba said its forces fatally shot four heavily armed people attempting to ‘infiltrate’ its territory on a Florida-registered speedboat on Wednesday, amid simmering tensions between the communist island and the US. Cuban border guard troops approached the boat after it entered their territorial waters in Falcones Cay, Villa Clara province, just over 100 miles from Florida, the country’s interior ministry said in a statement. A passenger on the speedboat shot at the Cuban vessel, wounding its commander, and prompting Cuban forces to return fire, according to the statement. Six other people aboard the speedboat were wounded and are in custody and receiving medical attention. The passengers were Cuban residents of the US and were armed with assault rifles, handguns and Molotov cocktails, and had ‘intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes,’ according to a later statement from the ministry.” (02/25/26)
“The vast trove of documents released by the Justice Department from its investigations into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein failed to include some key materials related to a woman who made an accusation against President Trump, according to a review by The New York Times. The materials are F.B.I. memos summarizing interviews the bureau did in connection to claims made in 2019 by a woman who came forward after Mr. Epstein’s arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by both Mr. Trump and the financier decades earlier, when she was a minor. The existence of the memos was revealed in an index listing the investigative materials …. According to that index, the F.B.I. conducted four interviews in connection with her claims and wrote summaries about each one. But only one summary of the four interviews, which describes her accusations against Mr. Epstein, was released by the Justice Department. The other three are missing.” (02/25/26)
“A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israeli forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the New York-based independent organisation, which documents attacks on journalists worldwide, said in its annual report published on Wednesday. … Israel was responsible for 81% of the 47 killings that the CPJ classified as intentionally targeted, or ‘murder.’ It said the actual figure was probably higher, owing to access restrictions that made verification difficult in Gaza.” (02/25/26)
“The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against a private prison company facing a lawsuit alleging immigration [abductees] were forced to work and paid only $1 a day in Colorado. The unanimous ruling is a procedural defeat for the GEO Group, but it’s not a final decision. The company is fighting a lawsuit from 2014 alleging detainees in Aurora had to perform unpaid janitorial work and other jobs for little pay to supplement meager meals. GEO defended its practices and argued that the case should be tossed out because it’s immune from lawsuits as a government contractor. After a judge disagreed, the company asked the Supreme Court to allow it to quickly appeal the ruling. But the justices refused.” (02/25/26)
“Iceland will hold a referendum ‘in the coming months’ on restarting European Union accession talks, Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said on Wednesday during a visit to Poland. Reykjavik abandoned EU membership talks in 2013 after four years of negotiations, but a rise in the cost of living and the war in Ukraine have helped rekindle the island nation’s interest in joining the bloc, opinion polls have shown. Repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to annex Greenland, which is located between Iceland and the United States, have also made the question of EU membership more pressing for Iceland, which is home to almost 400,000 people. … Iceland’s centre-left government, which came to power after a snap election in 2024, had promised to hold a referendum no later than next year on restarting talks with the EU.” (02/25/26)
“Pope Leo will visit four countries across Africa from April 13-23, the Vatican announced on Wednesday, with the pontiff making his first major overseas trip in 2026 to the continent where the Catholic Church is growing fastest. The pope will also make a one-day visit on March 28 to Monaco, the microstate on the French Riviera, and will visit Spain from June 6-12, the Vatican said. In Africa, Leo will visit Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. He is expected to draw large crowds, urge world leaders to support development on the continent, and highlight efforts at Catholic-Muslim dialogue. Leo, elected in May to succeed the late Pope Francis as head of the 1.4-billion-member Church, has made only one overseas trip so far, visiting Turkey and Lebanon in November and December on a visit originally organised for Francis.” (02/25/26)
“Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from teaching at Harvard University amid a campus review of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the university announced Wednesday. Summers, who has been on leave since November and whose name appeared hundreds of times in newly released Epstein files, will leave at the end of the school year, according to a statement from Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton. … Summers served as treasury secretary under former President Bill Clinton and went on to lead Harvard as president for five years starting in 2001. It’s the latest fallout from the Justice Department’s recent release of millions of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and his longtime confidant and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Resignations have rippled across the academic, legal and business communities.” (02/25/26)
“Mexico has sent a second humanitarian aid package for Cuba as the island faces a tightened U.S. embargo and threats of tariffs against countries providing it with oil. Two Mexican navy vessels carrying 1,193 tons of supplies departed the Gulf of Mexico port of Veracruz on Tuesday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry announced. The shipment is expected to arrive on Saturday. The Papaloapan is carrying 1,078 tons of beans and powdered milk, while the Huasteco is transporting 92 tons of beans and 23 tons of other food items. According to the Foreign Ministry, the final 23 tons of humanitarian aid were provided by various social organizations with the support of the Mexico City government. It is the second humanitarian aid package this year to the island.” (02/25/26)
“Paramount on Tuesday sweetened its offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, as the David Zaslav-led media conglomerate pursues a sale of its entertainment studios and spinoff of its linear television assets. The offer from Paramount, which comes in at $31 per share, is the latest salvo in a hostile bid that seeks to undercut a deal Warner Bros. Discovery struck late last year with Netflix for the streamer to acquire its sprawling movie and TV business …. Warner Bros. Discovery, in a statement on Tuesday, said Paramount’s new offer could reasonably be expected to lead to a ‘Company Superior Proposal,’ a key term that signals company leadership could soon recommend its board support a sale to Paramount.” (02/25/26)
