International

International


North Korean defectors urge the UN to hold the country’s leader accountable for rights abuses

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Eunju Kim, who escaped starvation in North Korea in 1999, was sent back from China and fled a second time, told the United Nations on Tuesday that the country’s leader must be held accountable for gross human rights violations. Gyuri Kang, whose family faced persecution for her grandmother’s religious beliefs, fled […]

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Hackers strike UK’s legal aid agency and compromise data of lawyers and clients

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s justice department said Monday that it shut down online services for legal aid recipients and the lawyers paid to help them after a cyberattack compromised personal information including criminal records, national insurance numbers and payment details. The Ministry of Justice said it learned on April 23 that online digital services at […]

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Biotechnology company Regeneron buying 23andMe for $256 million

Biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is buying 23andMe for $256 million, two months after the genetic testing company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In March 23andMe said that it was looking to sell “substantially all of its assets” through a court-approved reorganization plan. Its co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki also resigned from the top post, […]

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The future of history: Trump could leave less documentation behind than any previous US president

WASHINGTON (AP) — For generations, official American documents have been meticulously preserved and protected, from the era of quills and parchment to boxes of paper to the cloud, safeguarding snapshots of the government and the nation for posterity. Now, the Trump administration is scrubbing thousands of government websites of history, legal records and data it […]

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Decorated Australian veteran loses his defamation appeal over killings in Afghanistan

Australia’s most decorated living war veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, on Friday lost his appeal of a civil court ruling that blamed him for unlawfully killing four unarmed Afghans. Meanwhile a veterans’ advocate called on prosecutors to speed up their investigations of war crime allegations in Afghanistan that have left innocent soldiers under a cloud of suspicion. […]

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Coinbase said cyber crooks stole customer information and demanded $20 million ransom payment

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange based in the U.S., said Thursday that criminals had improperly obtained personal data on the exchange’s customers for use in crypto-stealing scams and were demanding a $20 million payment not to publicly release the info. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a social media post that criminals had bribed some […]

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Ex-FBI agent and Pentagon contractor sues over secret recording showing him criticizing Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI agent and Pentagon contractor has sued the founder of a conservative nonprofit known for its hidden camera stings over secretly recorded videos showing the contractor criticizing President Donald Trump to a woman he thought he had taken on a date. Jamie Mannina says in his lawsuit that he was […]

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Court rules in favor of The New York Times over texts between the EU chief and a pharma boss

BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European court ruled on Wednesday that the European Commission failed to provide a credible explanation for refusing The New York Times access to text messages sent between its President Ursula von der Leyen and a pharmaceutical boss during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case highlights questions about transparency at the commission, […]

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Illinois governor is first in US to block federal access to personal data on autism

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed a first-in-the-nation executive order to block the federal government from collecting personal health data related to autism, a direct rebuke to the Trump administration. Democrat Pritzker, who has been one of the more vocal critics of Trump’s second administration, signed the order last week, saying […]

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‘Beacon of freedom’ dims as US initiatives that promote democracy abroad wither under Trump

CHICAGO (AP) — Growing up in the former Soviet Union, Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez’s father and grandparents would listen to Voice of America with their ears pressed to the radio, trying to catch words through the government’s radio jamming. The U.S.-funded news service was instrumental in helping them understand what was happening on the other side of […]

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Authorities arrest over 100 people on Tennessee roads in support of Trump’s deportation plan

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried. “None of us have ever seen anything like this,” Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee […]

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X restricts access to jailed Istanbul mayor’s account under court order but challenges decision

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The social media platform X said Thursday it has blocked access to jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu ’s account in Turkey, complying with a Turkish court order — the latest measure targeting a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, Elon Musk’s X said that while the company abided by […]

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