UNITED STATES
One Daniels suit dismissed
A federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday dismissed Stormy Daniels’ defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump, saying Trump made a “hyperbolic statement” against a political adversary when he tweeted about a composite sketch the actress’ lawyer released. Daniels in April sued Trump after he said a composite sketch of a man she said threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump was a “con job.” Judge S. James Otero said Trump’s statement was protected speech under the First Amendment. Daniels’ attorney vowed to appeal the decision and said he was confident it would be reversed.
NETHERLANDS
‘Night Watch’ to be restored
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is going to restore its most famous painting, Rembrandt van Rijn’s Night Watch, starting in July next year in a project that is to be open to the public and viewable online. Rijksmusem general director Taco Dibbits yesterday said the huge masterpiece is to be encased in a specially built glass chamber as it first undergoes a thorough varnish-to-canvas examination using a precise microscope. The work, which last underwent a restoration 40 years ago, is starting to show blanching in parts of the canvas, he said.
UNITED STATES
Voting records on sale
An estimated 35 million voter records from 19 states have been offered for sale on a darkweb online forum, security researchers said on Monday. The offering does not mean voter databases have been breached, they said, adding that the records could have been stolen from resellers who buy voter data from states for use by campaigns and get-out-the-vote efforts. Policies vary by state on who can buy such records, which typically include telephone numbers and addresses, and sometimes voting histories. Experts said the main risk is of identity theft.
UNITED STATES
Photos trigger resignation
An Idaho state wildlife official on Monday was forced to resign after photographs of him posing with a family of baboons and other wild creatures he killed last month during a hunting trip in Africa went viral online. In a resignation letter to Idaho Governor Clement Leroy Otter, Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Blake Fischer cited poor judgement in posting the images. Otter said he asked for and received Fischer’s resignation on Monday. Among the photographs is one of Fischer smiling while propping up the heads of bloodied baboon carcasses, including that of a baby in its mother’s embrace.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Bentleys bought for APEC
The government has reportedly bought three Bentley limousines to use at the APEC summit next month, in a move set to rev up further outrage after the purchase of 40 Maseratis for the event. The Bentley Flying Spur cars cost more than A$320,000 (US$227,993) each, the Australian newpaper reported. The cars were en route by sea, it said, publishing an invoice purportedly detailing the purchase from a Malaysian company, South Pacific Ventures. “We are disgusted,” Legislator Bryan Kramer said on social media on Monday after meeting with other lawmakers to discuss the issue. A strike was originally scheduled for this week, but Kramer said it had been deferred to Thursday next week to avoid clashing with school exams.
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
‘INCREDIBLY TROUBLESOME’: Hours after a judge questioned the legality of invoking a wartime power to deport immigrants, the president denied signing the proclamation The US on Friday said it was terminating the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, giving them weeks to leave the country. US President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history and curb immigration, mainly from Latin American nations. The order affects about 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came to the US under a scheme launched in October 2022 by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, and expanded in January the following year. They would lose their legal protection 30 days after the US Department of Homeland Security’s order is published in the Federal
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