“More than 1,700 passengers and crew members have been ordered not to leave their cruise ship while French health officials carry out tests after a likely stomach flu outbreak onboard. The cruise liner Ambition, which set sail from Belfast on 8 May, on a 14-night tour of western France and Spain, has seen dozens of cases of suspected gastroenteritis among those onboard. The vessel called at Liverpool on Saturday and cases of gastroenteritis were said to have risen after passengers boarded at that stop. There is no reason to link what looks like a stomach flu outbreak on the ship with the hantavirus cluster on the luxury MV Hondius ship, the regional health authority said.” (05/13/26)
“Moscow authorities have imposed restrictions on the publication of photos and videos showing the aftermath of ‘terrorist attacks,’ including drone strikes, the office of Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Wednesday. An order appearing on the mayor’s official website, referring to the city’s ‘Anti-terrorist Commission’ said the directive was aimed at ‘preventing the dissemination of unreliable information.’ It prevents media, as well as individuals and emergency services, from publishing any pictures or videos of ‘terrorist acts, including drone attacks’ until they appear on websites of the Defence Ministry or city government. … Other parts of Russia have already imposed similar bans.” (05/13/26)
“Nickolay Mladenov, the top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, said Wednesday the truce hinged on Hamas’ disarmament, a sticking point that has stalled progress on other fronts, including rebuilding the mostly destroyed enclave. The high representative for U.S. President Donald Trump’s International Board of Peace in Gaza, Mladenov, said months without progress implementing the deal benefited neither Israel nor Palestinians. He said the phased deal was paralyzed over Hamas not yet disarming, calling it ‘not negotiable.'” (05/13/26)
“In a landmark German case targeting chocolate ‘shrinkflation’, a court has found that the manufacturer of Milka’s classic Alpine Milk bar cheated consumers and broke competition law. Cutting back on the amount of chocolate while having the same kind of wrapper meant that customers were being misled, Bremen regional court ruled. The three-week court case was brought by Hamburg’s consumer protection office (VZHH), which accused manufacturer Mondelēz of deceiving consumers by cutting the weight of the ‘Alpenmilch’ bar from 100g to 90g. Reacting to the ruling Mondelēz told the BBC it was ‘taking the decision of the court seriously’ and would ‘look at it in detail now’. ” (05/13/26)
“A home invasion in Hopkins County ended in gunfire Tuesday when a homeowner fatally shot an alleged intruder, local authorities said. … investigators reviewed footage from a Ring doorbell camera that showed an individual, identified as Buck Clary, striking the glass front door of the residence while yelling. The footage reportedly showed Clary breaking a ‘portion of the glass and reaching inside the home,’ the sheriff’s office said. The homeowner then discharged a firearm through the door, striking Clary.” (05/13/26)
“Republican senators in Louisiana advanced a plan Wednesday to eliminate one of two majority-[b]lack, Democratic-held congressional seats following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s U.S. House map as an illegal racial gerrymander. The early morning Senate committee vote came after hours of impassioned testimony from [b]lack residents and Democrats opposed to the move. Republicans opted not to pursue a more aggressive approach, which could have targeted both Democratic seats for elimination. … The redistricting efforts to undo minority districts are the latest variation in a 10-month-long national redistricting battle that already has involved about one-third of the states.” (05/13/26)
“A Tunisian appeals court on Tuesday upheld the three-and-a-half-year prison sentences of two prominent journalists jailed for alleged financial crimes, according to their lawyer. The journalists, Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies, were sentenced in January for money laundering and tax evasion — accusations they denied. … Since President Kais Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021, rights groups have denounced a regression in freedoms in Tunisia. Dozens of Saied’s critics are currently behind bars. The case against Zeghidi and Bsaies has been condemned by media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) as ‘judicial harassment.'” (05/13/26)
“The Senate on Wednesday rejected a Democratic-led measure to halt the war in Iran, in a sign of durable Republican support for the military campaign even after the lapsing of the legal deadline for the Trump administration to receive lawmakers’ approval to continue it. The resolution failed by a vote of 50 to 49, with three Republicans joining nearly all Democrats in supporting the measure. The vote marked the latest setback for congressional Democrats, who have pledged to continue bringing the war powers measures to the floor even though each of them has failed.” [editor’s note: The war has been illegal from the start. The two CONSTITUTIONAL options were for Congress to declare war before it started, or impeach and convict Trump now for having illegally started it; the “war powers resolution” is just virtue/vice signaling – TLK] (05/13/26)
“The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the murder conviction of Alex Murdaugh, who was convicted in March 2023 of double homicide of his wife and son. The court ordered a new trial, saying that Mary Rebecca ‘Becky’ Hill, who served as the court clerk in Colleton County, exercised ‘improper external influences’ during Murdaugh’s first trial. Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian said in a statement that Murdaugh will remain in custody. The state supreme court voted unanimously on the decision. ‘Although we are aware of the time, money, and effort expended for this lengthy trial, we have no choice but to reverse the denial of Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial due to Hill’s improper external influences on the jury and remand for a new trial,’ their ruling said.” (05/13/26)
“A federal appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump will not have to pay the $83.3m defamation award to writer E Jean Carroll until the US supreme court either reviews the case or rejects an appeal. The second US circuit court of appeals in New York issued the order on Monday …. But the court also required that Trump increase the bond by $7.46m, to account for interest that would accrue on Carroll’s award during any further legal proceedings before the nation’s highest court. … In January 2024, a Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3m for defaming her in 2019 after she accused him of raping her inside the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. It came a year after a separate jury awarded Carroll $5m in damages after finding Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll.” (05/13/26)
