“Aldrich Ames, a former CIA agent who spied for the Soviet Union and then Russia, died in prison, according to prison records. He was 84 years old. The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate records for Ames state he died Monday. … Ames pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion charges in an eastern district of Virginia courtroom on April 24, 1994, and was given life in prison as part of the plea deal for violating the Espionage Act. He was arrested that February, along with his wife, Maria Rosario Ames, on charges that they had spied for the Soviet Union and then Russia since 1985, in exchange for $2.5 million.” (01/07/26)
“A plot to kill Burkina Faso’s military leader, Capt Ibrahim Traoré, has been thwarted, the West African nation has announced. The sophisticated plan had been hatched by Lt Col Paul Henri Damiba, the military officer ousted by Traoré in September 2022, the security minister said in a late-night broadcast. ‘Our intelligence services intercepted this operation in the final hours. They had planned to assassinate the head of state and then strike other key institutions, including civilian personalities,’ said Mahamadou Sana, further alleging that the plot had been funded from neighbouring Ivory Coast. There has been no comment from either Col Damiba or Ivory Coast. Since seizing power, Capt Traoré has faced at least two coup attempts and is also grappling with growing jihadist violence that has forced millions from their homes.” (01/07/26)
“The husband of Karen Budd-Falen, a senior leader in the Department of the Interior, made millions of dollars from a Nevada mine that Budd-Falen’s agency approved, according to reporting by Public Domain and High Country News. As the associate deputy secretary, Budd-Falen is third in command at the department, which oversees the National Park Service. Her current role doesn’t require Senate confirmation. She also served in the Interior Department during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Her meetings and financial self-disclosure — or lack thereof — at the time are now coming under fire, after records showed that her family sold water rights necessary for a mining project without disclosing the hefty profit. Save Our Parks, an advocacy group for national parks, said that the ‘self-dealing goes beyond conflicts of interest into outright corruption’ in a news release.” (01/07/25)
“A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that several major medical organisations can move forward with their lawsuit challenging policies adopted under US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr that they say will lower vaccination rates. US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston rejected arguments by lawyers for US President Donald Trump’s administration that the groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, lack legal standing to pursue the case because they could not show they were harmed by the policies. The lawsuit seeks to invalidate all votes cast since June by a key vaccine advisory panel whose members were hand-picked by Kennedy, who previously founded the anti-vaccine [sic] group Children’s Health Defense before becoming the head of the US Department of Health and Human Services.” (01/06/26)
“Protesters angry over Iran’s ailing economy conducted a sit-in Tuesday at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, witnesses said, with security forces ultimately firing tear gas and dispersing demonstrators as the rest of the market shut down. The protest at the Grand Bazaar, the beating heart for centuries of both Iran’s economic and political life, represented the latest signal that the demonstrations likely are to continue as the rial currency fell to a record low Tuesday. Already, violence surrounding the protests has killed at least 36 people with authorities detaining more than 2,000 others, activists abroad say. Meanwhile, the situation was likely to worsen as Iran’s Central Bank drastically reduced the subsidized exchange rates for dollars it offers to importers and producers.” (01/07/26)
“Stock indexes gained momentum in the final hours of trading Tuesday as both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed at new highs. … The Dow ended the day 1% higher, or nearly 485 points, and closed at a record high for a second session in a row. In addition, the blue-chip index, which gained 1.2% on Monday, closed Tuesday above 49,000 for the first time ever. … Meanwhile, the S&P 500 closed 0.6% higher, also a record. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.7%.” (01/06/26)
“Ukraine’s allies agreed on Tuesday to provide key aspects of postwar security for the country in the event of a cease-fire with Russia, including a declaration by the leaders of France and Britain that they would commit troops to dissuadeRussia from invading again. President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain signed an agreement with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at a meeting in Paris of more than 30 European leaders and other members of the so-called Coalition of the Willing. The countries in it have committed to strengthening Ukraine’s security. In addition to the troop commitment, the agreement also said that the United States would lead an effort to monitor any eventual cease-fire, and that a special commission would be created to ‘address any breaches, attribute responsibility and determine remedies.'” (01/06/25)
“China has unveiled new export controls on Japan amid elevated tensions over Taiwan, prompting a rebuke by Tokyo. China’s Ministry of Commerce said it had banned so-called dual-use items, with military applications, in light of Japan’s ‘erroneous’ and ‘egregious’ statements about the self-governing island, which Beijing [pretends is] its territory. … China and Japan have long been at odds over historical and territorial issues, but relations deteriorated sharply after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested late last year that Tokyo could intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan.” (01/07/26)
“Federal immigration agents are ‘surging’ into Minnesota, officials said, amid a deepening fraud scandal that’s enveloped state and national politics. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons described the deployment in an interview on Newsmax as ‘the largest immigration operation ever.’ He did not say how many agents the deployment would involve or how long it was expected to last. … The Twin Cities region is home to the largest Somali population in the United States, with about 84,000 residents living in the area, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The majority of Somalis in Minnesota are U.S. citizens who were either born in the country or became citizens through the naturalization process.” (01/06/26)
“The Wyoming Supreme Court in a 4-1 majority ruled Tuesday that Wyoming’s abortion bans are unconstitutional, under the state Constitution’s promise of health care autonomy. The decision doesn’t defer to an earlier decision by Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens, but charts its own course through the constitutional amendment to arrive at the same ultimate result. … The ruling concludes four years of legal challenges that have fraught Wyoming since its 2022 abortion ban ‘triggered’ into place with the overturn of the federal abortion right under Roe vs. Wade. One sequel to that law and other abortion bans and restrictions have followed.” (01/06/26)
