“South Korea’s Supreme Court has rejected a US composer’s allegation that the producers of the inescapably catchy children’s song Baby Shark plagiarised his work, ending a six-year-long legal battle. The court upheld two lower court verdicts that favoured Pinkfong, the South Korean company behind the tune with the ‘doo doo doo doo doo doo’ refrain that has been streamed billions of times. Jonathan Wright recorded a version of the tune in 2011 based on a children’s folk song. Pinkfong’s version was released in 2016. Wright said he owned the copyright to the interpretation, but Pinkfong argued that its version was an arrangement of the same folk song, which is in the public domain.” (08/14/25)
“This will blow ICE’s cover. Immigration agents who have long gone undercover to [abduct suspected immigrants] across the country will soon be rolling in vehicles boldly emblazoned with the agency’s logo — leaving agents furious and scared for their lives. The new fleet will be dark blue with ‘ICE’ plastered in giant, yellow letters across the side, along with the phrase ‘Defend the Homeland’ in all caps, a photo obtained by The Post shows. … agents — who are dealing with a 1,000% increase in [their victims defending themselves] — say they’re concerned that this will further expose them to dangerous threats. … Agents already wear masks to shield their identities and dress in street clothes while making arrests — a practice that has come under scrutiny as the Trump administration ramps up its mass deportation effort.” (08/14/25)
“A $325 million superyacht [stolen] by the U.S. from a sanctioned Russian oligarch — part of Washington’s effort to punish Moscow’s elite over the invasion of Ukraine — is headed to auction, marking the first sale of its kind since the war began. The auction of Amadea, once [sic] owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, comes as President Donald Trump heads to Alaska this week to negotiate an end to the Kremlin’s three-and-a-half-year war. The government argued in a legal filing last year for selling the yacht, citing monthly maintenance costs of approximately $600,000 plus a $143,750 insurance premium. The stunning 348-foot-long yacht features eight state rooms, a beauty salon and spa, a gym, a helipad, a swimming pool, hot tub, fire pit, and two elevators.” (08/14/25)
“A judge on Thursday granted a request by federal prosecutors to dismiss two of the 14 counts against U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife, as part of a federal bribery and conspiracy indictment. The judge also ordered that their trial, which had been set for September, be rescheduled for next year. … Federal authorities have charged Cuellar, 69, and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, with accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for the congressman advancing the interests of an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. Cuellar has said he and his wife are innocent. Prosecutors said they were dismissing the two counts following a February memorandum from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that shifted the focus of charges filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.” (08/14/25)
“A Florida police officer who was suspended after punching a driver in the face during a traffic stop will not face criminal charges for his actions, prosecutors say. William McNeil Jr took a video of himself sitting in his car as an officer smashed his window, hit him and dragged him to the ground in footage that circulated widely online. In a report released by the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida, prosecutors determined the officer, D Bowers, had not committed any crimes. ‘Officer Bowers conducted a lawful traffic stop and gave McNeil 12 individual lawful commands, which McNeil refused to obey,’ the report says.” (08/14/25)
“As Japan’s defeat marking the end of WWII nears its 80th anniversary, and some events fade from living memory, history is hardly consigned to books. It lives on in unhealed wounds, still-simmering disputes, freshly unearthed discoveries, and historical lessons waiting to be learned. The release of WWII-era military documents this year has given a boost to researchers digging into Japan’s notorious germ warfare program, which lasted from 1936 to 1945. … Unit 731 is estimated to have killed around 3,000 people, while bioweapons developed by other branches of the program are believed to have killed far more. Japan’s government has never apologized for Unit 731’s actions, and insists that it has found no evidence that the unit experimented on Chinese prisoners, even though a Tokyo court ruled in 2002 that the military had conducted such experiments and waged biological warfare.” (08/14/25)
“A man was charged with a felony in federal court this week for throwing a sandwich at a border patrol [gang member] in Washington, D.C., amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime [sic] and federal takeover of the city’s law enforcement, officials said. … ‘Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!’ Dunn yelled at the [gang member], according to the criminal complaint. He also swore and called [gang members] ‘fascists,’ the complaint said. He then threw a sub-style sandwich at the [gang members’] chest, the complaint said.” (08/4/14/25)
“Barred from appearing on Sunday’s ballot, former leftist president Evo Morales has launched a scrappy campaign for a presidential contender with no name, no face and no formal platform. The contender’s known as ‘Nulo’ — Spanish for the null-and-void vote. Nulo has a reliable base in Bolivia, where voting is compulsory. For many years, voters disillusioned with Morales’[s] increasingly high-handed attempts to prolong his presidency over three consecutive terms defaced their ballots or left them blank. But with the coca-farming union leader disqualified from the race and seeking to distance himself from the unpopular President Luis Arce and other leftists associated with Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in four decades, Morales has emerged as Nulo’s greatest champion.” (08/13/25)
“A federal judge ordered the nation’s health department to stop giving deportation officials access to the personal information — including home addresses — of all 79 million Medicaid enrollees. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services first handed over the personal data on millions of Medicaid enrollees in a handful of states in June. After an Associated Press report identified the new policy, 20 states filed a lawsuit to stop its implementation. In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services entered into a new agreement that gave the Department of Homeland Security daily access to view the personal data — including Social Security numbers and home address — of all the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees. Neither agreement was announced publicly.” (08/14/25)
“Israeli forces demolished houses in eastern areas of Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people in aerial and tank fire, local health authorities said, as the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas told mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks. Residents and medics said eight people were killed when Israeli tank shelling hit a house in Zeitoun neighbourhood, while a man was killed in an airstrike on a building in the nearby Shejaia suburb. Two other people were killed in tank shelling in Tuffah, a third Gaza City suburb. Local health authorities said they had received desperate calls from families trapped in the Zeitoun area, including from people saying they were wounded, and that ambulance vehicles could not reach them.” (08/14/25)
