Comment on Mike's Blog Round Up

Apple Inc. said that it removed Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp and Threads from its China apps store after an order from the country’s internet regulator, which said the services pose risks to the country’s security. The order comes on the heels of a cleanup program Chinese regulators initiated in 2023 that was expected to remove many defunct or unregistered apps from domestic iOS and Android stores.

Israel launched a retaliatory strike against a site in Iran late Thursday night (early Friday morning local time), U. S. officials confirmed to several media outlets, though an Iranian official has downplayed the attack as a “failed and humiliating” drone strike. ABC News, CBS News, NPR, and others have cited unnamed U.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hits the Trump trials in New York City and reports like only he can. He interviews many people from a crowd of true diversity, which is practically a rainbow of all the different mental illnesses. There are too many zingers to repeat them all here, but it is so funny that even Trump would fill his Depends five times over from laughing so hard. But seriously, who do you think will win, the bleach blonde with the big jugs or Stormy Daniels? Open thread below read more

New York police removed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University on Thursday and arrested more than 100 demonstrators, including the daughter of a prominent Minnesota congresswoman. Several students involved in the protest said they also were suspended from Columbia and Barnard College, including Isra Hirsi, who is the daughter of Democratic U.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina formally requested on Thursday to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The request came as NATO’s Deputy General Secretary Mircea Geoana held talks in Brussels on regional security challenges with visiting Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri. Geoana said he welcomed Argentina’s bid to become an accredited partner in the alliance—a valued role short of “ally” for nations that are not in NATO’s geographical area and not required to take part in collective military actions.

A Covid-19 patient with a weakened immune system incubated a highly mutated novel strain over 613 days before succumbing to an underlying illness, researchers in the Netherlands found. The patient, a 72-year-old man with a blood disorder, failed to mount a strong immune response to multiple Covid shots before catching the omicron variant in February 2022.