“The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Sunday that they agreed under a ceasefire to withdraw their fighters from the two districts they held in Aleppo after deadly clashes in the city. … The United States and the European Union on Saturday urged the Syrian government and Kurdish authorities to return to negotiations after days of clashes. The violence in Aleppo erupted after efforts to integrate the SDF’s de facto autonomous administration and military into the country’s new government stalled. Since the fighting began on Tuesday, at least 21 civilians have been killed, according to figures from both sides, while Aleppo’s governor said 155,000 people have been displaced.” (01/11/26)
“The organization that oversees the Nobel Peace Prize rejected recent suggestions that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado could give or share her award with President Donald Trump. The Norwegian Nobel Institute shut down the idea Friday, after Machado suggested that she might transfer the prestigious award to Trump earlier this week. ‘Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others,’ the institute said in a statement. ‘The decision is final and stands for all time.’ The statement comes after Machado floated the idea during an appearance Tuesday on Fox News'[s] ‘Hannity.'” (01/10/26)
“U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that aims to block the seizure of Venezuelan oil revenue held in U.S. Treasury accounts. The executive order states that the revenue, which is held in foreign government deposit funds, are ‘held solely for sovereign purposes’ and that any court attempt to seize the funds will ‘materially harm the national security and foreign policy’ of the U.S. The order, which declared a national emergency, said the funds are the sovereign property of Venezuela held in U.S. custody for governmental and diplomatic means, and are not assets subject to private claims. Any use of judicial process against the funds will interfere with efforts to ‘ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela,’ the order says.” (01/10/25)
“Thousands of nurses at some of New York City’s biggest hospitals could go on strike Monday during a severe flu season, three years after a similar walkout forced some of the same medical facilities to transfer some patients and divert ambulances. The looming strike could impact operations at several of the city’s major private hospitals, including Mount Sinai in Manhattan, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Nearly 15,000 nurses could walk off the job early Monday if a deal is not reached, amounting to the largest nurses strike in city history, according to Nancy Hagans, president of the New York State Nurses Association.” (01/11/26)
“Myanmar on Sunday held the second phase of a vote organised by a junta-appointed election commission, with the ballot missing Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, the landslide winner of the last two general elections, which was banned after the 2021 coup. … With Suu Kyi sidelined and her massively popular party dissolved, democracy advocates say the vote has been rigged by a crackdown on dissent and a ballot stacked with military allies.” (01/11/26)
“Bob Weir, the singer, songwriter and guitarist who co-founded the Grateful Dead and helped define the sound of the San Francisco rock scene, died Saturday, Jan. 10, after a prolonged battle with cancer and underlying health issues, his family said. He was 78.” [editor’s note: In 1983, I was sitting in a high school science classroom reading the newspaper, when I had occasion to look across at my friend Victor Weir and ask him if he was related to Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, who had just died of a drug overdose. I’m not sure when the Matrix’s programmers changed the timeline to undo that; I didn’t notice until the early 2000s when I married a Deadhead – TLK] (01/10/26)
“Sudan’s military-led government has returned to the country’s capital after nearly three years of operating from its wartime base in the eastern city of Port Sudan. Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris told reporters on Sunday that the ‘government of hope’ was officially back in Khartoum and would begin efforts to improve services for the city’s beleaguered residents. The military was forced out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) when civil war erupted between the two sides in 2023. The army recaptured it in a significant breakthrough last March.” (01/11/26)
“Nicaragua’s left-wing [sic] government has announced the release of dozens of prisoners following pressure from United States President Donald Trump’s administration. The government of President Daniel Ortega said in a statement on Saturday that ‘tens of people who were in the national penitentiary system have gone home to their families.’ … While the government described the move as a gesture to commemorate 19 years of Ortega’s government, Nicaragua is under considerable pressure from the US over its human rights record and a years-long crackdown on opposition leaders and activists.” (01/10/26)
“NASA has made an ‘unprecedented’ decision to bring a crew home early from the International Space Station after a medical emergency in orbit, marking the first time in the station’s 25-year history that a mission has been cut short for health reasons. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Thursday that a single crew member experienced a medical situation aboard the station on Jan. 7 and is now stable. After consultations with medical and agency leadership, he ordered the early return of the crew. … Isaacman said the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft would bring Crew-11 back to Earth within the coming days, ahead of their planned return later this year. The crew arrived at the ISS in August and was set to spend six to eight months there.” (01/11/26)
“The Trump administration on Friday was blocked from freezing roughly $10 billion in federal funding for child care and social services in five Democratic-led states, a federal judge ordered. Judge Arun Subramanian decided that the administration must release funds for three social service programs that serve low-income families and individuals with disabilities for the next two weeks, despite President Trump’s efforts to withhold the funds. … The suit, filed Thursday evening in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the freeze was triggered by viral misinformation, political rhetoric and public threats from Trump and top officials, not by fraud findings.” (01/10/26)
