Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Hundreds of protesters have rallied in Houston in the US state of Texas to demand justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man [murdered] by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent this month. … Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, was [murdered] by an ICE agent on July 7 while he was driving his construction crew to a job site in Houston. The protests came amid mounting scrutiny of United States President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown. … After the shooting in Houston, ICE claimed Salgado Araujo had used his vehicle to try to ram an agent who fired his weapon in self-defence. But witnesses contradicted ICE’s version of events, and a statement issued on Thursday by the US attorney for the Southern District of Texas made no mention of any collision between Salgado Araujo’s van and a law enforcement vehicle nor did it explicitly state that the officer feared for his life.” (07/20/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/20/protests-in-houston-continue-after-ice-killing-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“[I]f Europeans spend more on defense, it doesn’t necessarily mean the United States will cut back its mammoth defense budget. Instead, Trump has outrageously proposed ballooning it by more than 50 percent. In light of this reality, his browbeating of allies on defense spending may seem to relieve allies’ snookering of the United States, but it doesn’t help the United States address its gaping budget deficits and spiraling national debt. A better alternative would be for Trump to announce a gradual U.S. withdrawal from NATO over a two-year period. The European Union now has a GDP about 8.5 times that of its principal rival—a Russia that has been severely weakened by the bloody, drawn-out quagmire against the surprisingly resilient Ukraine. There has never been a better time to pull the plug on a Cold-War-era alliance.” (07/17/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/17/trump-withdraw-nato/
Source: euronews [UK]
“Péter Magyar, the prime minister, has invited Judit Polgár, the most successful female chess player the world has ever seen, to become Hungary’s president. … On Saturday evening, President Tamás Sulyok announced that he would sign the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law. His mandate will end on the day after the law is promulgated, meaning that from midnight on Sunday he is no longer Hungary’s president. For one month, the office will be held by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ágnes Forsthoffer.” (07/20/26)
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/20/hungarys-pm-peter-magyar-it-would-be-great-honour-if-judit-polgar-accepted-the-presidency
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Maryanne Demasi
“200-page policy report argues that global public health is no longer being driven by the needs of countries, but by financial incentives. At the centre of that argument is Professor Ramesh Thakur—a former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and principal writer of Kofi Annan’s UN reform report. He spent years inside the system helping shape it. Now, he argues that in public health, global authority has gone too far. Thakur says decisions have shifted away from national governments and towards international institutions—particularly the World Health Organization.” (07/18/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/who-is-really-in-charge-of-public-health/
Source: The American Spectator
by Lawrence M Mead
“Lipton Matthews is an independent scholar, author of many notable essays and reviews. Born and first educated in Jamaica, Busting African Delusions is his most ambitious work. In it he argues that Africa is losing its chance to succeed China as the. workshop of the world. That is because it declines to pursue growth and wealth as it could and should. Africa is attracting foreign investment from China and elsewhere because of its relatively low wages and the incentives it offers to investors. Kenya, for instance, has created a special economic zone in Tatu City, and industrial parks are sprouting across the continent. To Matthews, however, African leaders and entrepreneurs seldom reach out as they could to appeal to foreign investors seeking new opportunities. Mostly, Africa looks backward, not ahead.” (07/18/26)
https://spectator.org/the-case-for-an-african-renaissance/
