“Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in March to their slowest pace nine months, as easing mortgage rates failed to motivate home shoppers during what’s traditionally been the busiest time of the year for the housing market. Existing home sales fell 3.6% last month from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Sales also fell 1% compared with March last year, weighed down by declines in the Northeast and Midwest. The latest sales figure fell short of the roughly 4.06 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.” (04/13/26)
“A French court has found cement group Lafarge guilty of financing ‘terrorism’ through its Syrian subsidiary, fining the company and jailing its former CEO. The Paris court ruled on Monday that Lafarge had paid protection money directly to ISIL (ISIS) and other armed groups and breached European sanctions to operate in northern Syria during the country’s civil war in 2013-2014. The case is just the latest of several concerning the company’s conduct during the conflict. The court ordered Lafarge to pay a fine of 1.12 million euros ($1.32m), and for 30 million euros ($35.1m) worth of its assets to be confiscated. An additional fine was levied for having disregarded international sanctions. The ruling can be appealed.” (04/13/26)
“Keiko Fujimori appeared headed for yet another presidential runoff in Peru after early results from Sunday’s election showed her leading a fragmented field, setting up a potential showdown with ultraconservative former Lima mayor Rafael López Aliaga in a vote shaped by rising crime, political instability and disputes over the electoral process. … The preliminary outcome, if confirmed, would mark the fourth consecutive time Fujimori advances to a second round. She previously lost runoffs in 2011, 2016 and 2021, but her latest showing suggests she remains one of the most durable political figures in the country despite years of polarization surrounding her candidacy and the legacy of her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, the authoritarian leader who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, and who remains one of the country’s most polarizing figures.” (04/13/26)
“Many countries are pursuing social media bans for anyone under 16, but a recent poll is putting the effectiveness of such laws into question. The Molly Rose Foundation, a charity organization that focuses on preventing online harm, recently published a study that polled 1,050 Australian children between ages 12 and 15 in March. The study’s results showed that 61 percent of those between 12 and 15 who previously had access to affected social media platforms still have one or more active accounts. Australia made a first-in-the-world decision to ban social media for those under 16 years old, beginning on December 10. While it’s only been a few months since the ban went into effect, the foundation’s poll concluded that the ban doesn’t have a ‘clear positive or negative impact on children’s wellbeing.’ The study also noted that 70 percent of children trying to get on restricted platforms said that it was easy to get around the ban.” (04/13/26)
“The federal government has agreed to officially restore the Pride flag that was removed from the Stonewall National Monument in New York’s Greenwich Village. The move marks a reversal by the Trump administration, which had the flag removed back in February. It comes on the heels of a lawsuit brought by several nonprofit groups against Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the National Park Service and others. The agreement to restore the flag settles the lawsuit. The National Park Service said it removed the flag under guidance from the Department of Interior, which had said non-agency flags could not be officially displayed on flagpoles managed by the National Park Service.” (04/13/26)
“Bryan Cranston, Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix and more than 1,000 other Hollywood professionals released an open letter Monday vehemently opposing Paramount Skydance’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing that the corporate tie-up would hurt an industry ‘already under severe strain.’ ‘This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it,’ the signatories wrote in the letter, published early Monday on a website called Block the Merger. … The list of signatories includes A-list stars (Glenn Close, Ben Stiller), celebrated filmmakers (Yorgos Lanthimos, Denis Villeneuve) and acclaimed writers (‘The Sopranos’ creator David Chase).” (04/13/26)
“UBS has been accused of withholding tens of thousands of records about former subsidiary Credit Suisse’s shocking Nazi ties — including involving the forced transfer of assets owned by murdered Jews. Around 23,000 documents are still being ‘redacted or withheld’ from a lawyer conducting an independent investigation into the Nazi-linked accounts at the now-defunct Credit Suisse, according to new testimony submitted to Congress on Monday. The ombudsman, Neil Barofsky, said in supplemental written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he also has yet to see another 1 million pages under review by UBS lawyers for potentially privileged information. The delay of the probe is complicating a related $1.25 billion settlement with Holocaust victims.” (04/13/26)
“At least 50 people were killed and many others injured when the Nigerian military conducted airstrikes Saturday against insurgents in northeastern Nigeria, according to residents and the local authorities. A Nigerian military spokesman, Lt. Col. Sani Uba, said the strikes hit what he called a terrorist enclave and logistics hub near Jilli, in what he said was an abandoned village in Borno State, killing militants who had taken up residence there. But the local authorities and human rights groups described a starkly different scene, saying the bombs struck a weekly market that attracts hundreds of people and denying that the town was abandoned. They said the number of dead, mostly civilians, was much higher than reported.” (04/13/26)
“A self-proclaimed psychic who in TikTok videos falsely accused a University of Idaho professor of being involved in the murders of four of the school’s students in 2022 is appealing for relief after a civil court jury ordered her to pay $10m in damages to the educator. In a recent legal filing that she prepared herself, tarot card reader Ashley Guillard called the case brought against her by history professor Rebecca Scofield ‘fraudulent’ and asked the federal court in Idaho where a jury delivered a verdict against her to set aside the judgment. … Before authorities arrested Kohberger in late December 2022 in connection with the victims’ brutal stabbing deaths, Guillard published videos on the TikTok platform baselessly alleging Scofield had engaged in a romance with one of the four people slain.” (04/13/26)
“Police lobbed tear gas shells and used ‘minimum force’ on Monday to quell a factory workers’ protest in the Indian national capital’s suburb of Noida, which turned violent on its fourth day, with vehicles torched and stones pelted in parts of the satellite city. … Visuals from news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed dozens of protesters marching on the street and chanting slogans, while security personnel in anti-riot gear looked on. Other visuals showed an overturned vehicle with flames rising out of it, and protesters hurling stones and trying to break through barricades.” (04/13/26)
