The Moscow City Court sentenced US citizen Stephen Hubbard to six years and 10 months in prison on Monday after he was convicted of fighting as a mercenary for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) against the Russian military. Hubbard was charged under a section in the Russian Criminal Code that concerns mercenary activity. A [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments on Monday in a civil rights lawsuit alleging St. James Parish’s land-use policies have discriminated against majority-Black neighborhoods, resulting in pollution and other harms. St. James Parish, located outside New Orleans, is accused of implementing a 2014 land-use plan that “effectively codified” racist [...]
California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill (SB) 1047 on Sunday, concluding the bill was insufficiently broad in its regulation of large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) models, and lacked empirical support. Newsom viewed SB 1047 as premature and overly sweeping, noting that it “applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions” of AI, so long [...]
The US Senate unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday that would expand US Secret Service protection for major presidential and vice-presidential nominees. The bill passed the House of Representatives with a unanimous vote just days earlier. It was introduced in late July by Senator Rick Scott (D-FL). Speaking about the bill on Tuesday, Scott highlighted [...]
The French government deployed the special anti-riot police, the Republican Security Companies (CRS), to Martinique on Sunday in response to ongoing protests over the rising cost of living on the French-ruled Caribbean island. The deployment marks the first time CRS units have been sent to Martinique since they were banned from the territory in December [...]
Gavin Newsom, governor of the US state of California, signed three bills into law on Tuesday that collectively aim to regulate election-related content generated by artificial intelligence (AI). AB 2655 specifies that a “large online platform” must “block the posting of materially deceptive content related to elections in California.” Furthermore, these platforms would have to [...]
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a decree in the Official Federal Gazette on Sunday, confirming that recent judicial reforms have now taken effect following his formal approval of the constitutional amendments. One of the key reforms changes the appointment of magistrates, judges and ministers to an election based on popular vote. Other reforms [...]
The Minister for Education of Ireland, Norma Foley, announced Tuesday that a commission will investigate sexual abuse in Catholic schools after nearly 2,400 allegations came to light in the Report of the Scoping Inquiry. The Scoping Inquiry began in March 2023 and aimed to “enable consultation with survivors” and determine their desired outcomes from the [...]
The Nigerian government charged 10 individuals with treason for participating in an August protest in Abuja “demanding good governance,” according to court documents obtained by SaharaReporters on Monday. The defendants pleaded not guilty to their charges before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Abuja Federal High Court, emphasizing the constitutionally protected right to peaceful assembly, a [...]
The California State Assembly approved a bill on Wednesday that lays the foundation for regulating artificial intelligence (AI) in the state, including requiring developers to meet certain conditions before beginning AI model training. The bill, SB 1047, will only affect developers responsible for the training of “covered models,” which the bill defines based on the [...]
