“The European Union has unveiled an app to confirm users’ age online, setting the standard for verification technology as more countries consider laws banning young teenagers from social media. … The software was originally pitched as a way to prevent children from accessing obscene or harmful content online and comes as many EU members are debating restricting social media for minors. EU member states France and Greece have announced plans to pass measures banning younger teens from social media, pointing to studies on the sites’ addictiveness and harmful effects on minors.” (04/15/26)
“A grand jury indicted a Florida doctor on a manslaughter charge for allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen during a 2024 surgery. The prosecutor for the First Judicial Circuit on Monday announced the charge of second-degree manslaughter against Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky. Prosecutors said that during an Aug. 21, 2024, surgery, which was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy, Shaknovsky removed the victim’s liver instead of his spleen. That resulted in ‘catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table,’ law enforcement officials wrote in a press release. The patient was a 70-year-old man from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. … Florida suspended Shaknovsky’s medical license after the surgery. Records show he voluntarily surrendered his medical license in Alabama after regulators moved to revoke his license.” (04/15/26)
“South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Roelf Meyer, who served in the last government of the apartheid era, as his new ambassador to the US, his office has said. The country has not had a top envoy in the US since Ebrahim Rasool was expelled last year after he accused President Donald Trump of trying to ‘project white victimhood as a dog whistle.’ This worsened already strained relations between the nations, which took a downward spiral after Trump’s return to office last year. … Meyer, 78, played a key role as one of the chief mediators, alongside Ramaphosa, during the talks to end the racist system of white-minority rule known as apartheid in South Africa in the 1990s.” (04/15/26)
“House GOP leaders postponed a Wednesday procedural vote on an extension of a key federal spy powers program as they scramble to land a deal with hard-liners around changes — acknowledging the truly ‘clean’ extension that President Donald Trump is demanding is currently DOA in the chamber. There are ongoing discussions around modifying the clean, 18-month extension of the surveillance authority known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, that Trump is ordering. GOP leaders acknowledged in private conversations Tuesday night and publicly Wednesday morning that at least some tweaks are necessary to quell a GOP rebellion that could lead to Section 702’s expiration April 20. … Democrats aren’t expected to help Republicans overcome the procedural rule, even though some of them support a reauthorization without policy changes at this time.” (04/15/26)
“Australia’s wealthiest person Gina Rinehart must part with some of her riches, a court has ruled in a high-profile dispute over her mining empire. Worth an estimated A$38bn (£20bn; $27bn), Rinehart inherited the iron ore ventures of her father in 1992, before going on to develop mines in the mineral-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA). Two of her children and the heirs of her late father’s business partners argued they were entitled to a significant share of royalties and mining rights. On Wednesday, more than 13 years after the legal battle began, a Supreme Court judge ruled that Rinehart must pay past and future royalties to her rival heirs but that the mining rights remain hers. The legal battle centres around Hope Downs, one of Australia’s largest and most lucrative iron ore projects.” (04/15/26)
“Federal prosecutors made an unannounced visit this week to a construction site at Federal Reserve headquarters that is the focus of an investigation into a $2.5 billion renovation project, according to two people familiar with the visit. Two prosecutors and an investigator from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office were turned away on Tuesday by a building contractor and referred to Fed attorneys, one of the people said. The two people familiar with the visit spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation. The visit indicates that the Trump administration is not backing down in its investigation of the Fed and its chair, Jerome Powell, even though the probe has delayed the confirmation of a new chair nominated by President Donald Trump.” (04/15/26)
“Three drivers in San Jose, California, filed a class action suit against the city and police department over the deployment of nearly 500 cameras operated by Flock Safety, a controversial surveillance tech company that uses AI and dedicated cameras to catalogue vehicles’ movements. Organized by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian nonprofit law firm, the suit argues that the city’s use of the technology constitutes an unreasonable law enforcement search, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. … Unlike other ALPR companies, Flock offers its customers the chance to share access locally, statewide or across the country. Its databases can be accessed without warrants by officials at participating law enforcement departments. San Jose shares its Flock data with hundreds of other law enforcement agencies in California, but not nationwide.” (04/15/26)
“Sri Lanka has repatriated 238 Iranian sailors stranded in the South Asian country after one of their warships was torpedoed by a US submarine, a minister told AFP on April 15. Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekara said 32 sailors rescued from the IRIS Dena – a frigate attacked on March 4 just off Sri Lanka – and another 206 from the IRIS Bushehr left on April 14. … The attack on the IRIS Dena brought the Middle East conflict into the Indian Ocean, killing 104 sailors in the early days of the US and Israeli war against Iran, according to Iranian authorities. The bodies of 84 victims were recovered and have been repatriated.” (04/15/26)
“Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada has announced a temporary suspension of the federal fuel excise tax amid ongoing instability in the oil market due to war in the Middle East. Carney announced the move Tuesday during a press conference in Ottawa, stating the tax will be suspended from Monday through the end of Labor Day on Sept. 7. … The fuel excise tax is 10 Canadian cents per liter of regular gasoline and 4 Canadian cents per liter on diesel, equivalent to about 28 U.S. cents a gallon for gasoline and 11 U.S. cents a gallon for diesel.” (04/15/26)
“Guards severely beat and pepper-sprayed [abductees] at a state-run immigration detention center known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in the Florida Everglades this month, according to a lawyer for two detainees. The guards targeted Katherine Blankenship’s clients and other detainees at the facility after they complained about not having phone access on April 2, Blankenship said in a court declaration. The phones, which weren’t functioning, are the primary way for detainees to communicate with family and their attorneys while in the detention center. The guards began taunting the detainees, who were in a cell, then became ‘more aggressive and were yelling and threatening to enter the cage,’ Blankenship wrote. When one detainee approached a guard, he was punched in the face. The guards then started beating other detainees in the cell. One of Blankenship’s clients was punched in the right eye, thrown to the floor and beaten by several guards.” (04/15/26)
