“Laura Fernandez, a conservative, populist politician with strong links to outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, has won nearly half of the votes in Costa Rica’s general election with 94% of votes counted, meaning she will become the country’s new leader. Her victory confirms a strong rightward trend in Latin America, where voter anger at corruption and crime have driven recent conservative wins in Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Honduras. Fernandez had won 48.3% of the vote, the preliminary results from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) showed, far in excess of the 40% needed to avoid a run-off.” (02/02/26)
“Twelve miners have been killed by a Russian drone strike in eastern Ukraine, the country’s largest private energy firm has said. DTEK said a bus carrying workers after a shift in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region had been targeted in Sunday’s attack. At least 15 people were injured, state emergency services said. Earlier, at least two others were killed and nine injured in separate Russian attacks overnight and on Sunday, including six people who were hurt when a drone hit a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia. The strikes come while Russia had agreed not to target population centres and energy infrastructure for the duration of a cold snap.” (02/02/26)
“The Department of Justice on Friday released the largest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files to date, a giant tranche including three million more pages of documents and thousands of videos and images. The documents shed new light on the disgraced financier’s relationships with several prominent figures, including Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. … The files appeared to contain at least 4,500 documents that mentioned [Donald] Trump. One was a summary that officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation assembled last summer of more than a dozen tips from the public involving Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein, according to emails released by the Department of Justice on Friday. It is unclear why the investigators put together the summary, which includes accusations of sexual abuse by Mr. Epstein and Mr. Trump. The emails did not include any corroborating evidence, and The New York Times is not describing the details of the unverified claims.” (01/31/26)
“Israel reopened the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt on Sunday in a limited capacity after two years, allowing only foot traffic, as violence continued across the Gaza Strip. The move comes amid fresh bloodshed in the enclave, with Gaza’s civil defense agency reporting dozens killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday. … Israel announced separately on Sunday that it was terminating the operations of Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, accusing the group of failing to submit lists of its Palestinian staff — a requirement Israeli authorities say applies to all aid organizations in the territory.” (02/01/26)
“Bitcoin tumbled more than 10% on Saturday to about $75,700, extending a slide that has erased over 30% of its value since April 2025 and dragging major tokens like ether and Solana sharply lower. Roughly $111 billion in crypto market value and about $1.6 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out in 24 hours amid thinning liquidity, muted buying interest and a halt in new capital flowing into bitcoin. Analysts say long-term holders are taking profits after last year’s ETF-fueled rally, and they expect a drawn-out period of sideways trading rather than a swift rebound, even as a deep 70% crash appears unlikely without selling by Strategy.” (02/01/26)
“Mehdi Mahmoudian, the Oscar-nominated It Was Just an Accident co-writer, has been arrested in Iran for speaking out against the Islamic Republic’s regime. On Saturday, Mahmoudian was arrested in Tehran along with Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni for signing a statement condemning the actions of Ali Khameni, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is currently no information about the charges against them. The 17 signatories included It Was Just an Accident co-writer and director Jafar Panahi, who spoke out against Mahmoudian’s arrest in a statement.” (02/01/26)
“Members of Canada’s Conservative opposition party voted to keep Pierre Poilievre as their leader despite his election loss last year and recent defections. Poilievre received 87.4% support in a leadership review vote announced early Saturday at the party’s convention in Calgary, Alberta. Poilievre lost the last election to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals in April and even his own seat in Parliament, but has since rejoined the House of Commons.” (01/31/26)
“A judicial misconduct complaint against Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of D.C. has been dismissed because the Justice Department failed to show that he exhibited bias against the Trump administration. The allegations against Boasberg, a former prosecutor nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, were widely recirculated by conservative media. But when a federal appeals court requested evidence to back them up, administration officials failed to provide it, Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said in a decision dismissing the misconduct complaint. The decision, dated Dec. 19, was made public Saturday. … Trump has called for Boasberg to be removed from office. An impeachment resolution was introduced in the House last year and has support from 23 Republicans.” (01/31/26)
“Pakistan’s security forces killed 145 militants over 40 hours after coordinated attacks across Balochistan, the chief minister of the southwestern province said on Sunday, as the authorities battle one of the deadliest flare-ups in years. The attacks underscore the persistence of insurgents in the resource-rich province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, where separatist militant groups have stepped up assaults on security forces, civilians and infrastructure. … He also said 17 law enforcement personnel and 31 civilians were killed in the attacks. Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, has faced a decades-long insurgency led by ethnic Baloch separatists seeking greater autonomy and a larger share of its natural resources.” (02/01/26)
“Iran’s supreme leader warned Sunday that any attack by the United States would spark ‘a ]regional war’ in the Mideast, further scalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic. The comments from the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are the most-direct threat he’s made so far as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated American warships are in the Arabian Sea, sent by Trump there after Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. It remains unclear whether Trump will use force. He’s repeatedly said Iran wants to negotiate and has brought up Tehran’s nuclear program as another issue he wants to see resolved. But Khamenei also referred to the nationwide protests as ‘a coup,’ hardening the government’s position as tens of thousands of people reportedly have been detained since the start of the demonstrations.” (02/01/25)
