World

World reporting, written for the person reading it.

World · 2026-08-29 · 1 min read Deadly Trump-Shaped Pills Spark Dutch Alert The Netherlands' Trimbos Institute issued a national Red Alert after testers found two-tone ecstasy tablets molded like President Donald Trump's head, with "NL" and "Trump" stamped across a break line on the back. Several pills were turned in at Dutch testing centers in August; the Netherlands Forensic Institute analyzed one as well. Labs found a very high dose of PMMA, a slower-acting MDMA analog that often lacks the expected buzz, so users may take another pill and overdose. Trimbos warned of delayed nausea, a racing heart, convulsions, and fatal overheating, and said not to use the pills under any circumstance. Spokesperson Anniek Groothuis told the Associated Press there were no known deaths or serious illnesses tied to these batches and no victims with PMMA in their blood. Ecstasy is illegal in the Netherlands, but a 2024 government report said about 550,000 people used it in a year. German police seized thousands of orange Trump-head tablets in 2017, marketed as "Trump makes partying great again."

World · 2026-08-29 · 1 min White House Aide Bets On Speeches The CFTC on Friday ordered former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay $172,539 for using advance copies of President Trump's speeches to bet on Kalshi "mention markets," contracts that pay if the president utters specific words or phrases. Perez, a technical aide who has run Trump's teleprompter since 2016, traded from December 2025 to February 2026 and booked $107,539.02 in profits. The settlement requires him to disgorge those gains, pay a $65,000 civil penalty discounted for "exemplary cooperation," and sit out trading for three years. Kalshi's own surveillance flagged unusual mention-market bets in March, traced the account to a federal teleprompter operator, and referred the case. Then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the trades a "disgrace" in July and said Perez would not return. The White House Management Office had already warned aides not to bet on prediction markets. Kalshi counsel Bobby DeNault posted that it does not matter who you are: break the rules and you face consequences. World · 2026-08-29 · 1 min Iceland's Knife-Edge EU Vote Closes Icelanders voted Saturday on whether to reopen European Union accession talks, 13 years after Reykjavik froze a 2009 application. Polls closed at 10 p.m. GMT with the race too close to call; a Friday Gallup survey showed a slight No lead after earlier Yes edges. A Yes would start talks officials say could wrap in 18 to 24 months, then face a second referendum. Yes campaigners, led by Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir, say the euro could ease 8% interest rates and that Trump's threats over Greenland — which he has confused with Iceland — add a security case. No campaigners, led by opposition leader Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir, say Brussels would eventually claim Iceland's fishing waters, nearly 40% of exports, and that high prices are a domestic problem. More than one in five voters had already cast early ballots. Ballots from remote stations must travel by plane, boat, and car; a reliable count may not come until midday Sunday.