President Biden signs law requiring China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok or cease operating in U.S. “The new law, swiftly passed this week as part of an unrelated foreign aid package, will give the Biden administration another chance to dismantle an app it says the Chinese government can use to mass-gather Americans’ data and secretly shape their beliefs. But legal experts say there’s no certainty to how a new court challenge will be resolved. ….experts said the law still trips over constitutional hurdles and fails to make a convincing case that the government could resolve its concerns only by forcing the sale of the app. Susan Ariel Aaronson, a research professor at George Washington University who studies international trade and data rules, said the law also might raise questions among judges because it appears designed to penalize TikTok rather than focus on broader issues, such as data privacy and algorithmic transparency, that lawmakers have otherwise ignored. ‘So if an American buys it, it’s all okay?’ she said. ‘It makes no sense whatsoever. Does the problem exist or not?'” https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/25/tiktok-legal-battle-is-certain/
108 Gaza protesters arrested as Boston police clear Emerson College encampment. “Several videos posted on social media showed a chaotic scene as law enforcement officers in helmets and reflective jackets scuffled with a throng of shouting protesters, some carrying umbrellas. Many of the protesters appeared to link arms forming a barrier as officers moved in. More than 100 protesters were arrested, Sergeant Detective John Boyle, the department chief spokesman, wrote in a statement. Boyle said four officers were injured. ….at least two protesters were taken to hospitals.” https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/25/metro/emerson-encampment-cleared/ Protests held across the country. “Police peacefully arrested student protesters at the University of Southern California, hours after officers at the University of Texas at Austin aggressively detained dozens in the latest clashes between law enforcement and those protesting the Israel-Hamas war on campuses nationwide. ….Officers pushed their way into the crowd and made 34 arrests at the behest of the [University of Texas at Austin] and Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety. A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was in the push-and-pull when an officer yanked him backward to the ground, video shows. The station confirmed that the photographer was arrested. A longtime Texas journalist was knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff.” https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestine-war-campus-protests-fbd7dd06431f32d24d0f8abcc8a56b8b UT Austin arrests rise to 54. “State troopers have arrested at least 50 pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Texas, Austin, on Wednesday following wild clashes on campus, as students across the country try to force academic institutions to divest from Israel. Hundreds of troopers, armed with riot shields and batons, were seen scuffling with pro-Palestine protesters, and the Lone Star state was forced to send in mounted officers to control the growing chaos at the protest, which was hosted by the Palestine Solidarity Committee, a registered student group and a chapter of the national Students for Justice in Palestine. ….As of 9 pm, 34 people were arrested, but this morning it was revealed that an additional 20 have been arrested as well.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13348719/ut-austin-arrests-pro-palestine-protest-university-texas.html
U.S. secretly providing long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. “The US previously supplied Ukraine with a mid-range version of the ATACMS, but had resisted sending anything more powerful, partly over concerns about compromising US military readiness. Officials were also concerned that the Ukrainians could use the weaponry to strike inside Russian territory, causing the conflict to escalate, according to NBC, which first reported the news. The Ukrainians have long called for the systems, which can fire missiles up to 300km (186 miles). Mr Biden is said to have secretly given the green light in February. ….The longer-range ATACMS give Ukraine the ability to strike deeper into Russian-held areas; particularly bases, storage facilities and logistics hubs.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68893196
Video of August 2021 attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul appears to show gun battle. “For two years, the US military has insisted that the loss of life [at the Abbey Gate] was caused by a single explosion, and that troops who reported coming under fire and returning it were likely confused in the chaotic aftermath, some suffering from the effects of blast concussion. But video captured by a Marine’s GoPro camera that has not been seen publicly in full before shows there was far more gunfire than the Pentagon has ever admitted. A dozen US military personnel, who were on the scene and spoke to CNN anonymously for fear of reprisals, have described the gunfire in detail. One told CNN he heard the first large burst of shooting come from where US Marines were standing, near the blast site. ‘It wasn’t onesies and twosies,’ the Marine said. ‘It was a mass volume of gunfire.’ An Afghan doctor who spoke to CNN on the record for the first time said he personally pulled bullets from the wounded, and with his hospital staff counted dozens of Afghans who died from gunshot wounds. Combined, the new evidence challenges the credibility of the two US military investigations and raises serious questions for the Pentagon, which has continued to dismiss mounting evidence that civilians were shot dead.” https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/24/world/new-evidence-challenges-pentagon-account-kabul-airport-attack-intl/index.html
Iranian rapper sentenced to death over protest songs. “A rapper in Iran who came to fame over his lyrics about the 2022 death of [hijab protester] Mahsa Amini and criticizing the Islamic Republic has been sentenced to death, his lawyer and rights activists said Thursday. Confusion still surrounds the death sentence issued against 33-year-old metal shop worker Toomaj Salehi, as even Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency and its judiciary did not formally confirm it. But the news quickly drew international criticism from the United States and United Nations experts, who pointed at it as a sign of Tehran’s continuing crackdown against all dissent following years of mass protests in the country. ‘Art must be allowed to criticize, to provoke, to push the boundaries in any society,’ a panel of the U.N.’s independent experts on Iran said in a statement Thursday.” https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-international/ap-lawyer-says-iran-rapper-famous-for-songs-after-2022-killing-of-mahsa-amini-sentenced-to-death/
Philippine weather bureau warns of 46 C (115 F) heat index. “The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) warned against a ‘danger’ heat index of 46 C that may be experienced in three areas in the country, including Metro Manila, until Friday. The other two are Cavite and Pangasinan, the state-run weather bureau said.” https://www.manilatimes.net/2024/04/25/news/46-c-danger-heat-index-forecastin-metro-manila-2-other-areas/1943253
Woman captures photo of UFO from plane while flying over New York City. “Michelle Reyes said she caught sight of a mysterious ‘flying cylinder’ out of her plane window while above LaGuardia Airport. ‘The first thing I did was email the FAA to let them know what I saw,’ she told News Nation Wednesday. ‘Maybe it was a safety hazard, but unfortunately, they didn’t acknowledge my email.'” https://nypost.com/2024/04/25/us-news/possible-ufo-reported-over-nycs-laguardia-airport/
New York’s highest court overturns Harvey Weinstein rape conviction. “In a 4-3 ruling, the New York State Court of Appeals found that a Manhattan judge ‘erroneously’ allowed testimony from three women whose allegations weren’t connected to the case. The trial judge also ‘compounded that error’ by ruling that Weinstein, if he chose to testify, could be grilled on the witness stand ‘about those allegations as well as numerous allegations of misconduct that portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light.’ ‘The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial,’ the appeals court said. Weinstein was separately sentenced in February 2023 to 16 years in prison in a Los Angeles criminal case after a California jury convicted him of raping an Italian model…. That conviction still stands.” https://nypost.com/2024/04/25/us-news/harvey-weinsteins-felony-sex-crime-charges-overturned-by-nys-highest-court/
President Biden signs foreign military aid bill into law. “President Biden signed the $95 billion military spending package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan Wednesday after months of congressional wrangling. Biden said weapons would flow into Ukraine ‘within hours’…. The spending package includes $26 billion in more funding for Israel, which has now killed over 34,000 people in Gaza in just over six months, 14,000 of whom are children, according to official numbers. The true toll is likely much higher, as thousands remain missing or trapped under rubble.” https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/25/headlines/biden_signs_95b_in_foreign_aid_as_new_report_details_us_weapons_transfer_violates_intl_law
Amnesty International rebukes western democracies for allowing Israel to flaunt international law. “‘For millions the world over, Gaza now symbolizes utter moral failure by many of the architects of the post-World War Two system; their failure to uphold the absolute commitment to universality, our common humanity, and to our ‘never again’ commitment,’ Amnesty International’s secretary-general Agnès Callamard wrote in the preface to the report. ….Amnesty wrote that Israel had made a ‘mockery’ of some of the key tenants of international humanitarian law such as proportionality and distinction by targeting civilization populations and infrastructure such as refugee camps, hospitals, bakeries, and United Nations schools. ….At present, the death toll has surpassed 34,200, though that is likely an undercount as many remain buried beneath rubble. ‘….the international community has proven desperately unwilling and incapable of upholding these norms,’ [AI’s Budour] Hassan added, saying that, by failing to act, it could be ‘signing a death sentence to the whole international order.'” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2023-near-breakdown-international-law
Poland’s former conservative government used spyware against citizens, claims current prosecutor. “Poland’s prosecutor general told the Parliament on Wednesday that the powerful Pegasus spyware was used against hundreds of people during the former government in Poland, among them elected officials. Adam Bodnar told lawmakers that he found the scale of the surveillance ‘shocking and depressing’. ‘It is sad for me that even in this room I am speaking to people who were victims of this system,’ Bodnar told the Sejm, the lower house of parliament. Bodnar, who is also the justice minister, didn’t specify who exactly was subject to surveillance by the spyware. His office said the information was confidential. ….The data showed that Pegasus was used in the cases of 578 people from 2017 to 2022, and that it was used by three separate government agencies: the Central Anti-corruption Bureau, the Military Counter-intelligence Service and the Internal Security Agency. He said that the software generated ‘enormous knowledge’ about the ‘private and professional lives’ of those put under surveillance.” https://www.courthousenews.com/polands-prosecutor-general-says-previous-government-used-spyware-against-hundreds-of-people/
Florida woman owes state $127,000 for 10 months of imprisonment. “In Florida, prisoners are charged $50 for every day of their original sentence—meaning they keep getting charged, even if they are released early. When former inmates inevitably fail to pay this massive bill, it can prevent them from ever moving on from their period spent behind bars. ….[Shelby] Hoffman was hit with a $127,000 bill for a 7-year prison sentence—even though she only served 10 months. Since her release from prison, Hoffman has gotten clean and rebuilt her life. She’s soon to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. However, she can’t start her dream career as a case manager because of her outstanding ‘pay-to-stay’ bill. ….Pay-to-stay fines end up following people like Hoffman long after they’ve left prison, trapping them in insurmountable debt. Not only is this practice cruel, but it obviously has little utility beyond the extended punishment of ex-offenders.” https://reason.com/2024/04/24/she-only-served-10-months-behind-bars-florida-still-slapped-her-with-a-127000-bill/
Progressive News Service 