Mexico filed an amicus brief Thursday with the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, voicing opposition to Texas Immigration Law SB 4, which authorizes Texas authorities to arrest and prosecute individuals suspected of illegal entry across the US-Mexico border.  On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court reversed its position and allowed the Texas law [...]

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new bill into law on Wednesday that prohibits homeless individuals from sleeping in public spaces, such as sidewalks and parks. The bill, HB 1365, is set to take effect on October 1. DeSantis claimed the bill aims to address public safety and quality of life by ensuring homeless individuals [...]

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The Mississippi House of Representatives passed on Wednesday a bill that seeks to define sex in strictly binary terms, impacting the recognition of transgender individuals’ identities within the state. The Mississippi Women’s Bill of Rights reflects a broader trend among Republican-controlled legislatures in the US to address and restrict the legal acknowledgement of transgender and [...]

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Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability sent a letter to SpaceX inquiring about the technology company’s potential relationship with Russia. The Wednesday letter stems from allegations that Russia may be using Starlink internet satellites, produced by American-owned SpaceX, in its ongoing war against Ukraine, potentially violating US sanctions. [...]

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US lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced a bill on Tuesday aimed at curbing the influence of social media apps controlled by the US’s foreign adversaries, such as TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance. The bill, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, comes amid increasing concern from US lawmakers over the [...]

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The Alabama House passed a bill and the state Senate unanimously passed another on Thursday that would safeguard access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) following the Alabama Supreme Court decision in LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, Inc., which classified frozen embryos as children. The House passed HB 237 by a 94-6 majority while the Senate passed SB [...]

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A US federal appeals court halted the release of Robert Rundo, an alleged leader of the white supremacist group Rise Above Movement (RAM), on Thursday, reversing a decision by a US district judge in California that had led to his brief release. This decision came following an emergency motion from federal prosecutors, which cited Rundo’s “grave risk [...]

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The Wisconsin State Assembly passed a constitutional amendment Thursday to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within state and local governmental entities. Introduced by Republican representatives and cosponsored by select senators, the amendment aims to “prohibit governmental entity discrimination.” Explicitly, the amendment declares: A governmental entity may not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment [...]

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A coalition of organizations issued an open letter on Wednesday to the Chair of the UN’s Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime, emphasizing “critical flaws” in the latest draft of the UN Cybercrime Convention—the so-called Zero Draft—and urging significant amendments. The coalition warned that without significant amendments, the convention could compromise global cyberspace security and human [...]

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In a unanimous decision, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a declaratory ruling Thursday that prohibits the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls. Aiming to combat fraud and prevent election interference, the decision expands upon the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 to explicitly prohibit AI voice-cloning technologies. The FCC now has the authority [...]

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