Author: Reporter

South Africa launched a pivotal legal case on December 29 at the top court of the United Nations, accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. It also asked the court to order Israel to halt its attacks, the first such challenge made at the court over the current war. South Africa has been a fierce critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Many there, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, have compared Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with South Africa’s past apartheid regime of racial segregation. Israel rejects such allegations. The filing and Israel’s decision...

Ukraine’s two largest cities came under attack on January 2 from Russian missiles that killed five people and injured as many as 130, officials said, as the war approached its two-year mark and the Kremlin stepped up its winter bombardment of urban areas. Air defenses shot down all 10 of the Russian Kinzhal missiles, which can fly at 10 times the speed of sound, out of about 100 of various types that were launched, said General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief. But other missiles got through in Kyiv and in Kharkiv, the provincial capital of the northeastern region. In Kyiv...

Foreign hackers did not change vote totals or otherwise compromise the integrity of federal elections last year in the United States, according to a declassified U.S. government report made public. The report does identify multiple instances in which hackers linked to Iran, China, and Russia connected to election infrastructure, scanned state government websites and copied voter information. But it said there is no evidence that any of the cyber activity had any impact on the election or on the vote totals. “We have no evidence that any detected activity prevented voting, changed votes, or disrupted the ability to tally...

M-I-C-K-E-Y will soon belong to you and me. With several asterisks, qualifications and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of characters, films, and books that will become public domain as the year turns to 2024. In a moment many close observers thought might never come, at least one version of the quintessential piece of intellectual property and perhaps the most iconic character in American pop culture will be free from Disney’s copyright as his first screen release, the 1928 short “Steamboat Willie,” featuring both Mickey and Minnie Mouse, becomes available for...