Thursday, 15 May 2025

Russia says Putin not due to attend peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey: sends "very junior" delegation (LINK) 15 May 2025.

Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Israeli strikes in northern Gaza kill at least 48, including 22 children, hospital says (LINK) 14 May 2025.

Israel agrees to resume Gaza aid before end of May after two month freeze, GHF foundation says (LINK) 14 May 2025.

US has 1,001 measles cases and 11 states with active outbreaks (LINK) 14 May 2025.

— Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses in the epicenter in West Texas, and an adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated.

'Rogue' communication devices found in Chinese solar inverters raises cybersecurity alarm (LINK) 14 May 2025.

Trump and Saudi Arabia announce $600 billion investment deal, including $142 billion in defence (LINK) — ground.news: 338 media reports (LINK) — 14 May 2025.

Trump meets Syrian president in Saudi Arabia before heading to Qatar: hails Islamist leader as 'attractive guy, tough guy' (LINK) — ground.news: 182 media reports (LINK) — 14 May 2025.

Gabbard fires the 2 top National Intelligence Council officials (LINK) 14 May 2025.

Russian civil society activist and prisoner of conscience Grigory Melkonyants sentenced to five years in prison: Amnesty International says "This is nothing more than a brazen and politically motivated clampdown on peaceful activism" (LINK) 14 May 2025.

Over 200 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from U.S. found in Thailand, officials say (LINK) 14 May 2025.

UnitedHealth under criminal probe for possible Medicare fraud, WSJ reports: stock fell 8% in after-hours trade following the report. (LINK) 14 May 2025.

Why people believe in conspiracy theories: wanting to make sense of the world, coping with uncertainty, and connecting with others (LINK) 14 May 2025.

Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Amnesty report exposes abuse of Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia (LINK) — ground.news: 13 media reports (LINK) — 13 May 2025.

Elon Musk just hijacked Trump's Saudi visit to land a major deal: Saudi Arabia approved the use of Starlink for aviation and maritime use (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Nvidia, AMD and Amazon to cash in on Saudi Arabia's AI hub ambitions: given the green light to ship thousands of powerful semiconductors for Humain, a new entity backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, to provide an artificial intelligence hub for the Middle East region (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Trump says U.S. will remove all sanctions on Syria: had been designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. government since 1979 (LINK) 14 May 2025.

US imposes sanctions on over 20 companies it says helped send Iranian oil to China and used the proceeds to fund terrorist activities: sanctions target a network controlled by Sepehr Energy, the commercial affiliate of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff, which uses front companies to conceal oil shipments. (LINK) — ground.news: 38 media reports (LINK) — 13 May 2025.

Harvard loses another $450 million in grants in escalating battle with Trump administration (LINK) 13 May 2025.

— In a letter to Harvard, a federal antisemitism task force said the university will lose grants from eight federal agencies in addition to $2.2 billion that was previously frozen by the Trump administration.

Federal judge OKs Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans (LINK) 13 May 2025.

GD Culture Group, Chinese firm with zero revenue, bought up to $300 million of $Trump meme coin (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Trump fired copyright chief after she warned of AI companies violating the law (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Mali junta dissolves all political parties in latest opposition crackdown (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Voting technology firm Smartmatic accuses Fox News, Rupert Murdoch of destroying evidence in 2020 election defamation case (LINK) 13 May 2025.

— Rupert Murdoch was chairman of Fox Corporation during the 2020 election, and his son was CEO. The elder Murdoch stepped down in 2023 and his son became Fox Corp. chairman. A Fox spokesperson said the latest allegations from Smartmatic were a "desperate attempt to distract" from a recent evidentiary ruling that was decided in the network's favour.

— Smartmatic claimed the deleted texts were from November and December 2020, when numerous Fox hosts promoted the debunked lie that Smartmatic machines rigged that year's presidential election against President Donald Trump.

Germany bans largest Reichsbürger faction known as Kingdom of Germany, arrests leaders in raid (LINK) — ground.news: 256 media reports (LINK) — 13 May 2025.

— Members refuse to pay taxes and social contributions while using antisemitic conspiracy theories to justify their supposed claim to power under the leadership of Peter Fitzek, 59, who was arrested. Government said group undermines democratic order by creating a counter-state, rejecting Germany's legitimacy, and engaging in economic crimes.

UnitedHealth CEO steps down for 'personal reasons': UNH also suspended financial outlook for the year because costs of Medicare Advantage "remained higher than expected". The company expects to return to growth in 2026 (LINK) 13 May 2025.

— Last month in a call with analysts following its most recent earnings report, Witty said its "overall performance that was frankly unusual and unacceptable". Shares that day fell more than 20%, its biggest single day drop in nearly three decades. The stock fell nearly 11% in premarket trading on Tuesday.

Erik and Lyle Menendez, 54 and 57, are now eligible for parole after judge resentences them in the shotgun killings of their parents more than three decades ago (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan indicted on accusations she helped a man evade immigration agents (LINK) 13 May 2025.

French film star Gérard Depardieu found guilty in 2021 sexual assault trial, given a suspended jail term of 18 months (LINK) 13 May 2025.

— The judge said there was no reason to doubt the word of the two women victims, who had told the court how Depardieu had touched them on intimate parts of the body, using lewd language. He placed Depardieu on a list of sex offenders and ordered him to pay compensation of €1,000 (£840) each for "secondary victimisation", a recent innovation covering the additional suffering for the women from the trial itself.

Proton threatens to quit Switzerland over new surveillance law: "We would be less confidential than Google" — If passed, new rules would require VPNs and messaging apps to identify and retain users' data: "The only country in Europe with a roughly equivalent law is Russia" (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Daily Beast: Washington Post staff sound alarm at Bezos's CEO's drinking: CEO Will Lewis has seen a mass exodus among staff — but staffers can't even find him. (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Luxury skyscrapers, golf courses and cryptocurrency: the Trump family's business ties to the Middle East have more than tripled since the president's first term in office (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Axios: Trump's executive order to lower drug prices may not do much of that: sets a deadline of 30 days and then will see what happens. (LINK) 13 May 2025.

— The order calls for drugmakers to voluntarily cut prices or face the threat of a "most favored nation" pricing regime that would peg the cost of their medicines to what's paid in other wealthy nations, where they often sell for less. Trump posted on social media Sunday that American consumers would "almost immediately" see their drug prices fall by 30% to 80%. In reality, it would take much longer than that. Trump's 2020 attempt to tie Medicare Part B drugs to the lowest price paid by other OECD countries was blocked by a federal judge after the drug industry sued.

$20 million "Mediterranean Blue Diamond" ready to wow at Sotheby's Geneva auction on May 13 (LINK) 13 May 2025.

10 acts win a place in the Eurovision final but 5 are sent home as the music contest in Basle, Switzerland, sheats up (LINK) 13 May 2025.

Monday, 12 May 2025

One in five people in Gaza face starvation, report warns, as Israel's months-long blockade continues, warns UN partnership IPC (LINK) — ground.news: 35 media reports (LINK) — 12 May 2025.

US-China trade deal details revealed: Bitcoin (BTC) reacts: the Chinese government will reduce customs duties on US-origin products from 125 percent to 10 percent for 90 days. In response, the US reduced the 145% tariff on China to 30% for 90 days. Following the news, Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $105,000 (LINK) 12 May 2025.

Dow soars 1,000 points after Trump team and China dramatically lower tariffs (LINK) 12 May 2025.

U.S. Episcopal Church says it won't follow federal directive to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status in US: cites the church's "commitment to racial justice and reconciliation" (LINK) 12 May 2025.

Radical reforms presaged in UK to reduce migration (LINK) 12 May 2025.

India has only 'paused' military action against Pakistan, Modi says: Indian PM says he is 'monitoring every step of Pakistan' as ceasefire holds (LINK) 12 May 2025.

Gaza: In Edan Alexander's New Jersey hometown, crowd cheers, sings, dances as he's freed after 584 days in Hamas captivity (LINK) 12 May 2025.

UN aviation body ICAO finds Russia responsible for downed MH17 flight when almost 300 died in 2002 over Ukraine: rules that Russian-backed separatists were to blame (LINK) 12 May 2025.

— Dead included 96 Dutch and 28 Australian citizens.

Trump administration poised to accept 'palace in the sky' as a gift for Trump from Qatar: luxury jumbo jet is to be used as Air Force One (LINK) 12 May 2025.

Library of Congress staff mount standoff against new MAGA bosses: Two Justice Department officials who apparently had been appointed into two new top roles at the library were turned away trying to enter the U.S. Copyright Office, including Trump's counsel named acting Librarian of Congress (LINK) 12 May 2025.

Climate crisis threatens the banana, the world's most popular fruit, research shows: Fourth most important food crop in peril as Latin America and Caribbean suffer from slow-onset climate disaster (LINK) 12 May 2025.

People spent an estimated $148 million on Donald Trump's meme coin in a contest to dine with the president at his private golf club in Sterling, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., later this month. (LINK) 12 May 2025.