Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

Oral arguments have begun at the US Supreme Court over state laws that bar transgender girls from competing on girls’ school sports teams, in a case with wide implications for civil rights protections. The hearing combines two legal challenges brought by transgender students against Republican-backed laws in Idaho and West Virginia. A ruling against the students could weaken legal safeguards for trans youth and LGBTQ+ people more broadly. The court first heard arguments in Little v Hecox, which concerns Idaho’s 2020 law, the first in the country to impose a blanket ban on trans women and girls participating in female…

A quarter of developing countries are poorer today than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new findings from the World Bank. The Washington-based institution said many low-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, have suffered a prolonged economic setback over the past six years, leaving average incomes below 2019 levels. In its latest outlook, the World Bank said global economic growth has “downshifted” since the pandemic and is now too weak to significantly reduce extreme poverty or create enough jobs in the world’s poorest regions. Growth across emerging market and developing economies is expected to slow from 4.2% this…

Donald Trump has warned that any country doing business with Iran will face a 25% tariff on trade with the United States, as Washington considers its response to the unrest gripping the Islamic Republic. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the US president said the measure would take effect immediately. He stated that any country trading with Iran would be subject to a 25% tariff on all business conducted with the US. Under US law, tariffs are paid by American importers of foreign goods. “This order is final and conclusive,” Trump said, without offering details on…

Malaysia has become the second country to temporarily block access to Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok following global concern over its ability to generate fake, sexualised images.

Spanish police have carried out their largest-ever cocaine seizure at sea after intercepting a merchant vessel carrying almost 10 tonnes of the drug off the Canary Islands. The operation followed an investigation into a multinational criminal network suspected of exporting large quantities of cocaine from South America to Europe. Detectives identified the ship after it departed from Brazil, according to a statement from the Policía Nacional. Last week, officers from Spain’s elite special operations unit boarded the vessel while it was 332 miles (535km) off the Canary Islands. Almost 300 bales of cocaine were discovered concealed within a cargo of…

According to court rulings, Venezuela now owes more than $13bn collectively to Exxon and ConocoPhillips as compensation for the expropriations.

The US Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve, marking a sharp escalation in Donald Trump’s confrontation with the central bank. Powell said on Friday that the Fed had been served with grand jury subpoenas, raising the prospect of a criminal indictment linked to his testimony before the Senate banking committee in June last year. The investigation focuses on Powell’s comments to lawmakers about renovations to the Federal Reserve’s historic office buildings in Washington DC, and whether he misled Congress about the scale of the project. According to the New York Times,…

Bob Weir, the veteran rock musician who helped steer the Grateful Dead through six decades of musical evolution and cultural influence, has died aged 78, according to a statement posted on his verified Instagram account on Friday. The statement, shared by his daughter Chloe Weir, said he died surrounded by family. Weir had been diagnosed with cancer in July and later succumbed to underlying lung complications. “Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music,” Chloe Weir wrote. “There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again.” She asked…

The United States has urged its citizens to leave Venezuela immediately amid reports that armed paramilitary groups are attempting to identify and track US nationals, one week after the capture of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. In a security alert issued on Saturday, the US state department said it had received reports that members of pro-government militias, known as colectivos, had set up roadblocks and were searching vehicles for signs that occupants were US citizens or supporters. The alert advised US nationals in Venezuela to remain vigilant and exercise extreme caution when travelling by road. It urged them to depart…

Indonesia has temporarily blocked access to Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot, citing concerns over the risk of AI-generated pornographic content. The move makes Indonesia the first country to deny access to the tool. The decision follows growing criticism from governments, regulators and researchers across Europe and Asia over the spread of sexualised content on the app. Several countries have opened inquiries into Grok’s safeguards. xAI, the company behind Grok, said on Thursday that it had restricted image generation and editing to paying subscribers while addressing lapses that allowed sexualised outputs. These included images of scantily clad children, which sparked widespread condemnation.…