RUSSIA
Possible Riot poisoning
A member of the punk protest group Pussy Riot has been hospitalized in grave condition for what could be a possible poisoning. Ekho Moskvy radio and online news portal Meduza on Wednesday reported that Pyotr Verzilov has been in emergency care since late on Tuesday. They quoted a fellow Pussy Riot member, Veronika Nikulshina, as saying that Verzilov’s symptoms included losing his eyesight and ability to speak. Nikulshina said Verzilov was being treated in the toxicology unit of a Moscow hospital, indicating a suspected poisoning.
UNITED STATES
Russian hacker pleads guilty
A Russian man considered to be one of the world’s most notorious hackers on Wednesday pleaded guilty in Hartford, Connecticut, to charges alleging he operated a network of devices used to steal computer credentials, distribute spam e-mails and install malicious software. Peter Levashov, 36, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft and other charges. Investigators linked Levashov to a series of powerful botnets, or networks hijacked computers capable of pumping out billions of spam e-mails. Federal officials said Levashov had controlled the botnets — including one that infected at least 50,000 computers — to harvest e-mail address, log-ins and passwords from infected computers, and also distributed malware and other malicious software. Prosecutors said Levashov had also moderated online forums used to sell and trade stolen identities and credit card numbers.
UNITED STATES
Ex-officer guilty of assault
A former police officer in an Ohio village on Wednesday was sentenced to 43 years in prison for sexually assaulting four women while on duty. The Dayton Daily News reported that the sentence handed down to 33-year-old Justin Sanderson of Huber Heights provides his first parole opportunity in 33 years. Sanderson was a police officer in the Montgomery County village of Phillipsburg. He was found guilty last month of rape, kidnapping and other charges. Prosecutors say Sanderson was arrested in July last year after two women he met online told police they did not feel free to resist his advances at a motel. Two other women stepped forward after his arrest to say he sexually assaulted them.
CHILE
Gender identity law passed
After a five-year battle, Congress on Wednesday passed a gender identity law that allows transgender people older than 14 to change their name and gender in official records. Activists called the with 95-46 vote “historic,” with the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh) saying it “will change the quality of life of thousands of people.” The law makes it possible to modify information registered in birth certificates through a simple process done at the civil registry. Those between the ages of 14 and 18 would need permission from a parent or guardian, along with consent granted by a family court. After the vote, conservative lawmakers Sergio Bobadilla and Juan Antonio Coloma said they intend to go to the Constitutional Court to argue that the project “undermines the right of the biological identity of minors.” While LGBT activists applauded the bill, they regretted that it did not include those under 14. “Today is bittersweet, since the discrimination against those under 14 will translate into more suicides,” Movilh cofounder Rolando Jimenez said.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion