Spain Ordered to Refund Shakira €60 Million After Court Throws Out Tax Fraud Case
Spain’s National Court acquitted Shakira of tax fraud on Monday and ordered the government to return more than €60 million — roughly $70 million — to the Colombian pop star, closing a decade-long dispute over her Spanish tax status. The ruling, based on a court document seen by the Associated Press, found that authorities could […]
US Extends Russian Oil Sanctions Waiver for a Third Time—Now with an Explicit Anti-China Rationale
The US Treasury has issued a third 30-day extension of its Russian oil sanctions waiver, this time with a new explicit justification: redirecting discounted Russian crude away from Chinese stockpiles and toward energy-vulnerable developing nations. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the extension on May 18, two days after the previous waiver lapsed — reversing a […]
US Ambassador Endorsed App at Center of Alberta Voter Data Breach, New Report Reveals
The US ambassador to Canada endorsed the voter ID app that an Alberta separatist group used to build an illegal database of nearly three million provincial voters, a PressProgress investigation reveals. The Centurion Project — co-founded by David Parker, who also leads the hard-right activist network Take Back Alberta — illegally obtained a voter list […]
What Elon Musk’s OpenAI Lawsuit Loss Really Means
Elon Musk’s defeat against OpenAI does not mean a court endorsed OpenAI’s mission-to-market transformation. It means the person trying to challenge that transformation arrived too late. That distinction is the real consequence of Monday’s verdict. Jurors were asked to resolve a narrower threshold issue: whether Musk still had time to bring the remaining claims against […]
A US Bill Wants To Recast Canada’s Online Streaming Act As Trade Harm
Canada’s online streaming regime is becoming a test of whether a domestic cultural-funding rule can be treated by Washington as a trade injury before the CRTC’s own payment framework is fully settled. Pennsylvania Rep. Lloyd Smucker’s bill, Protecting American Streaming and Innovation Act, would require the US Trade Representative to investigate Canada’s implementation of the […]
US Pauses 86-Year Old Canada Defense Forum, Thanks To Carney’s Rhetoric
Canada’s oldest defense habit with Washington has become an early stress test for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise that Ottawa can spend more, rely less on the US, and still keep American confidence in continental security. The Trump administration has paused the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, a Canada-US forum dating back to 1940, less […]
Did Gulf Leaders Really Ask Trump To Delay Iran Strike?
The immediate question after President Donald Trump’s Iran strike pause is not only whether Washington has stepped back from war, but whether the Gulf leaders he named have publicly confirmed the role he assigned to them. Trump said he postponed a planned US military attack on Iran after being asked by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim […]
San Diego Officials Confirm Active Mosque Shooting
San Diego officials were still managing a dangerous information gap Monday after police described the response at the Islamic Center of San Diego as contained but not fully resolved, with authorities confirming a major active-shooter response while leaving the suspect’s status, motive, and casualty count unclear. The incident unfolded at the Islamic Center in Clairemont, […]
Ottawa Signals Trans Mountain Could Stay Public as Privatization Window Closes
The federal government’s plan to privatize Trans Mountain Corp. is quietly dying, and the executives running the pipeline and its Crown parent spent a Toronto luncheon on May 11 making the case for keeping it that way. Elizabeth Wademan, head of Canada Development Investment Corp., the Crown corporation that holds Trans Mountain as a subsidiary, […]
US Seeks Long-Term Military Rights In Greenland
Washington’s Greenland strategy is moving beyond military access and into control over the island’s future investment choices, raising the prospect that a future independent Greenland could inherit limits on both its security policy and its major foreign deals before it becomes a state. The New York Times, citing interviews with officials in Washington, Copenhagen, and […]