Courts

A judge in the UK High Court has declared that Australian computer scientist Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, marking the end of a years-long debate.“The evidence is overwhelming,” said Justice James Mellor, delivering a surprise ruling at the close of the trial. “First, that Dr. Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin white paper. Second, Dr. Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in the period 2008 to 2011. Third, Dr. Wright is not the person…

By Andrew Dalton | Associated Press LOS ANGELES — A woman has sued director Roman Polanski, alleging he raped her in his home when she was a minor in 1973. The woman aired the allegations, which the 90-year-old Polanski has denied, in a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, on Tuesday. The account is similar to the still-unresolved Los Angeles criminal sexual assault case that prompted Polanski in 1978 to flee to Europe, where he has remained since. The woman who filed the civil lawsuit said she went to dinner…

A Los Angeles judge refused to dismiss Cher’s bid for a conservatorship over her adult son Elijah Blue Allman’s finances on Wednesday, instead granting the singer a three-month delay to gather medical records and pursue a private settlement ahead of a new June 11 hearing. Allman, 47, appeared in person for the hearing and said he opposed his mom’s petition, which seeks control of his finances with claims he suffers from “severe mental health and substance abuse issues.” His lawyer accused Cher’s side of stalling…

The internet could look vastly different depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the question of whether tech companies’ curation of posts and users can be protected under the First Amendment.  The court heard oral arguments Monday for a pair of lawsuits challenging laws passed in Texas and Florida that barred social media sites from curating political speech. Both laws were inspired by conservative backlash claiming Big Tech platforms censored posts and users with right-wing viewpoints.  The…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A new study by researchers at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Lowell, San Diego State University, and Penn State Harrisburg has examined perceptions of team members who work with a U.S. program called Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs) regarding the viability and longevity of the program. The study identified team members' expectations and hopes for the future, including the importance…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Important decisions are made about a child's life during private law proceedings—but a strikingly large proportion of children are not seen by the professionals involved, and have no voice, new research shows. The research from Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (Nuffield FJO), carried out by the Family Justice Data…

By Morgan Lee | Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. — Prosecutors in New Mexico are pursuing accountability for the 2021 death of a cinematographer who was fatally shot by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal for the Western film “Rust.” Before Baldwin’s case progresses, the armorer on the set is being tried on charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. Jury selection in Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s trial started Wednesday in Santa Fe. Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to the charges and maintains she’s…

Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson, the wildly talented but troubled genius who co-founded the legendary group and composed most of its landmark Pet Sounds album, is suffering from dementia at the age of 81, court filings obtained by Rolling Stone confirm. In a petition for a conservatorship filed Wednesday in Los Angeles, representatives for the singer-songwriter publicly revealed the magnitude of his cognitive decline for the first time, saying Wilson is “unable to properly provide for his own personal needs for…

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and X, speaks at the Atreju political convention organized by Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), in Rome, Dec. 15, 2023.Antonio Masiello | Getty ImagesTwo weeks after a Delaware court ruled that Tesla must rescind Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package, the company's board remains mum on what the decision means for shareholders or what's next for the mercurial CEO.In her 200-page opinion on Jan. 30, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick called the pay plan the largest in public corporate history, and…

A spirited dispute between coffee liqueur makers in Lyons has ended with a whimper. Richardo’s Liqueur, a niche company whose only product is a decaf coffee liqueur, sued Spirit Hound Distillers last April, and was then countersued by it six months later. Their small-town tiff included allegations of incompetence and theft of a closely guarded formula. From 2020 to 2022, Richardo’s and Spirit Hound had an agreement in which Spirit Hound would bottle and sell Richardo’s liqueur at its tasting rooms and Richardo’s would pay…