Five stories this week, sent in part by two of you, and found in part the usual way. A library system saved, a wilderness protected, a man pulled alive from total darkness, teenagers who turned a summer hobby into a cleanup crew, and a bird that came back from extinction to have a baby.
In January, a US military operation captured Venezuela’s president and killed 32 Cuban military personnel in the process, a number Cuba’s own government, Venezuela’s own defense minister, and Trump himself have all confirmed. Within weeks, Cuba’s most important oil supply was gone.
An economic threat just drew a military one. Iran’s own military chief promised “devastating” retaliation against sanctions that haven’t even been announced yet. China rejected Washington’s pressure campaign outright. Four Mississippi cases we’ve been following all moved this week, two forward, two nowhere. And Iran executed another woman, a case with nothing to do with the protests.
The world is condemning a settlement plan that could end any chance of a Palestinian state. Washington isn’t. The national debt just crossed $40 trillion. Iran executed its 28th protester since March. And Israel just sent ground troops into Syria while Türkiye’s own government accused Netanyahu of genocide.
The Treasury Secretary set the sanctions policy driving up oil prices, then said today he doesn’t understand why they’re spiking. Over 100 people are dead in one of the deadliest mine collapses anywhere this year. North Korea’s response to Trump easing military drills wasn’t gratitude, it was a shrug. And a loophole is sending protected wild horses to slaughter anyway.
Israel just admitted, two and a half years late, to something outside investigators had already proven with satellite imagery. Israel and Türkiye are now in open conflict over who gets a foothold in Syria’s rebuilding military. And Saudi Arabia found a workaround to the Hormuz blockade, but oil keeps climbing anyway.
Trump has gone quiet on Iran, betting economic pain does what six months of war hasn’t. Israel just admitted for the first time it fired on the car that killed five-year-old Hind Rajab, two and a half years after denying it. The US sanctioned a sitting ICC president. Canada dodged a trade war by hours. And Ukraine is fighting a war on two fronts, one against Russia, one against its own conscription system.
A DSA member who raised under $1M just beat a $16M-funded impeachment witness in Florida’s Senate primary. Iran fired missiles at the UAE, which responded by cutting off all trade with Iran entirely. Ukraine’s own former defense minister just publicly challenged Zelenskyy, calling for wartime elections. And Israeli soldiers are now guarding an American citizen’s home from Israeli settlers.
