News roundup, 13 April 2026

- Following the breakdown of peace talks in Pakistan, Donald Trump has announced that if the US can't use the Strait of Hormuz, nobody else can either. He says the US navy will "hunt down and interdict" vessels that have paid the toll being charged by Iran to use the strait.

- In January, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican's ambassador to the US, was summoned to a meeting at the Pentagon in response to papal criticism of American foreign policy. According to one report, US officials told Pierre that due to the US' enormous military strength the country can do "whatever it wants…and that the Vatican, and Leo, better take its side". They allegedly invoked the Avignon papacy as a warning. The Pentagon has denied that the meeting went as reported, of course.

- Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has been soundly defeated in Hungary's general election on Sunday. The opposition Tisza, led by Péter Magyar, is projected to win 138 out of 199 parliamentary seats; if these results stand it means that Tisza will have the supermajority needed to undo some of the constitutional changes made by Orbán over the years.

 - Lars Løkke Rasmussen, leader of Denmark's Moderate party, is refusing to enter into a coalition with PM Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats unless Frederiksen talks to centre-right parties. Frederiksen has been trying to bring in more left-leaning parties, but has paused those negotiations, apparently in response to pressure from Rasmussen. I imagine Rasmussen doesn't want to be the most rightwing member of any coalition, and/or is further to the right than he presents himself to voters. 

- BMW is retooling their 104 year old assembly plant in Munich for the construction of electric vehicles. They say that by next year it will be the company's first plant to produce EVs exclusively.

- France's government is trying to move away from Windows on desktop computers; they have plans to convert many such systems to Linux in order to reduce dependence on American companies. 

News roundup, 18 June 2025

- Israel has launched another barrage of strikes against Iran, and the latter country has responded in kind. Meanwhile Donald Trump has warned Tehran's nearly 10 million residents to evacuate, leading to huge traffic jams on the roads leading out of the city. He has also stridently called for "unconditional surrender", and while he has been sending mixed messages many suspect that Israel's attack came with his tacit approval. There are fears that the US could get involved directly, with potentially dire consequences.

- Attacks on aid convoys are increasingly common. The most high-profile examples are those seen in Gaza recently, but there have been recent occurrences in Haiti and the Central African Republic as well. Michael Fakhri, a professor at the University of Oregon School of Law currently serving as the UN's Special Rapporteur on the right to food, is calling for armed UN troops to protect the convoys. He argues that the UN General Assembly should be able to authorize this without the involvement of the Security Council.

- A bankruptcy trustee accuses conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of concealing assets to avoid having to pay Sandy Hook families. Lawsuits filed by the trustee allege that Jones transferred assets to his father, his ex-wife, and a trust fund for his children in the hope of keeping said assets out of reach of the plaintiffs.

- New York State's legislature has passed a bill to require transparency on matters concerning public safety from AI developers whose products are accessible to the state's residents. The bill is designed to address the perceived flaws of a similar bill which was passed by California's legislature but vetoed by the state's governor, Gavin Newsom. The New York bill has now been sent to governor Kathy Hochul for approval; however, it could be made moot if Trump's "one big, beautiful bill" passes, as that bill contains provisions to prevent states from regulating AI in any way. 

- The German state of Schleswig-Holstein is trying to eliminate the use of Microsoft products on its systems, replacing them with open source software. They're doing away with Microsoft Office and Teams, and have plans to shift from Windows to the Linux operating system.

-  The Recording Academy, which gives out the Grammy awards, has decided to abolish the Best Country Album award, replacing it with two awards, Best Traditional Country Album and Best Contemporary Country Album. There are suspicions among some that Beyonce winning the award last year, and the resulting backlash, may have motivated the change.