Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at the Manila airport on March 11 and flown to the Hague on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Duterte will face charges of crimes against humanity relating to Duterte’s brutal war on drugs where an estimated 30,000 people were killed. Duterte’s arrest is a major victory for human rights defenders.
(“Philippines’ Duterte in the Hague After ICC Arrest Over the Drug War,” BBC News, March 12, 2025; “Why Has the Philippines Arrested Ex-President Duterte on ICC Warrant,” Al-Jazeera, March 11, 2025)
In the days before the White House Crypto Summit, attended by top crypto currency executives and investors on March 11, Donald Trump’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had dropped a series of cases against major crypto companies including Coinbase, Gemini, Open Sea and Uniswap Labs. The SEC also announced it had little interest in regulating meme coins, not long after Trump had rolled out his own $TRUMP meme coin before his Jan. 20 inauguration.
(“Here’s How Much the Guests at Trump’s Crypto Summit Donated to His Inauguration,” Intercept, March 7, 2025; “Crackdown on Crypto is Bulldozed under Trump,” New York Times, Feb. 28, 2025)
During his mid-January confirmation hearing, Doug Collins, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, heard complaints from a bipartisan group of U.S. senators about the $31 billion spent to outsource veteran’s health care services to private for-profit vendors and major cost overruns of a contract to overhaul the VA’s electronic medical recordkeeping – both occurring during Trump’s first term.
(“Doug Collins Cancel Culture,” American Prospect, March 12, 2025)
