19/06/2025

THURSDAY | JUNE 19, 2025

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UK parliament votes to decriminalise abortion

Suspect not on trial for lying, mushroom murder trial told SYDNEY: An Australian woman accused of killing three lunch guests with deadly mushrooms should not be judged guilty just because she lied after the meal, her defence lawyer said yesterday. Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking their lunch with death cap mushrooms. She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest, who survived the lunch after a long stay in hospital. Patterson has maintained her innocence during a seven-week long trial that has made headlines from New York to New Delhi. As the trial came to its closing stages yesterday, defence lawyer Colin Mandy sought to explain Patterson’s behaviour in the days following the deadly feast. Patterson told police investigating the deaths that she did not own a food dehydrator, which was allegedly used to prepare the death cap mushrooms. Security footage showed Patterson dumping a dehydrator at a nearby rubbish facility, and forensic tests found trace amounts of death cap mushrooms on the appliance. “No one knows what they would have done in a similar situation,” Mandy told the trial. “She is not on trial for being a liar.” Mandy said there was nothing unusual about Patterson’s knowledge of death cap mushrooms. She developed an interest in foraging for mushrooms during the lockdown in 2020, Mandy said, teaching herself which varieties were safe to eat. It made “perfect sense” that Patterson would have become “aware of death cap mushrooms” during this period, Mandy said. Patterson “loved” mushrooms, he added, because they were healthy and full of flavour. This interest explained why Patterson visited a website listing locations of death cap mushrooms near where she lived, Mandy said. Patterson originally invited her estranged husband Simon to join the family lunch at her secluded home in the farming village of Leongatha in Victoria state. But he turned down the invitation, saying he felt uncomfortable going, the court heard earlier. – AFP levels were “medium” across chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons categories, according to the California report. Anthropic noted there is “substantial probability that our next model may require ASL-3 safeguards” for systems that could help individuals create weapons of mass destruction. – Bernama

o 379 lawmakers in favour, 137 against

“Each one of these cases is a travesty enabled by our outdated abortion law,” she told parliament. “This is not justice, it is cruelty and it has got to end.” The vote was part of a broader government Criminal Justice Bill that if passed in its entirety would bring the abortion laws in England and Wales in line with other Western countries including France, Canada and Australia. Some politicians warned the proposed amendment was being rushed through parliament and could have unintended consequences. Rebecca Paul, a Conservative member of parliament, warned “if this becomes law, fully developed babies up to term could be aborted by a woman with no consequences.” The amendment would revoke parts of a law passed in 1861 by a then all-male parliament that made deliberately ending a pregnancy a crime and stipulated that those who

assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer. “It is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences,” she said. Lander denied that accusation. “I certainly did not assault an officer,” he said. A spokesman for the Manhattan attorney’s office said it was investigating Lander’s actions at the federal building on Tuesday. A video posted to Lander’s personal account on X earlier on Tuesday showed him being placed in handcuffs and led into an elevator by men in plainclothes, backward baseball caps and surgical masks. One man wore a vest that said “police federal agent.” Hochul called the arrest “bullshit.” “How dare they take an elected official who’s been going down there for weeks, to escort people who are afraid to walk into a courthouse in the United States of America,” she said ahead of going to the courthouse. – Reuters law that allowed abortion pills to be taken at home to end pregnancies within 10 weeks of conception. In a free vote in parliament, when politicians were not ordered to vote along party lines, lawmakers gave an initial approval by 379 votes to 137 for an amendment to stop prosecutions for women who end pregnancies in all circumstances. Medical professionals who assist women in obtaining an abortion outside the 24-week limit could still face prosecution. The proposal could still be altered or even voted down as it is a part of a greater Bill that is making its way through the House of Commons and the unelected upper chamber of parliament. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who proposed the amendment, said the law had been used to investigate 100 women in the last five years, including some who had given birth prematurely or had been forced into abortions by abusive partners.

carried it out could be “kept in penal servitude for life”. A change to the law in 1967 permitted abortions in certain circumstances, but left the 19th century criminal prohibition in place. Between 1861 and 2022, only three women in Britain were convicted of having illegal abortions, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which works to improve women’s healthcare. But since then, six women have been charged by police, the group said. One woman has been jailed. In May, a British woman, Nicola Packer, was acquitted after taking prescribed abortion medicine when she was around 26 weeks pregnant, beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks for taking such medication at home. The 45-year-old told jurors during her trial, which came after a four-year police investigation, that she did not realise she had been pregnant for so long. – Reuters

LONDON: Britain’s parliament voted on Tuesday to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales to stop a growing number of women from being investigated by police for terminating pregnancies under legislation dating back to the mid-19th century. Abortions have been legal in England and Wales for almost 60 years but only up to 24 weeks and with the approval of two doctors. Women can face criminal charges if they decide to end a pregnancy after 24 weeks under a Victorian-era law that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. In Britain, criminal convictions for breaking this law are rare, but the number of prosecutions has increased following a change in the NEW YORK: City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained for several hours after being arrested at an immigration court on Tuesday, the latest politician opposed to US immigration raids to get caught up with law enforcement. Lander, who is among 11 Democratic candidates seeking to replace Mayor Eric Adams, was released after New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul went to the courthouse. She left the building with Lander and said charges had been dropped against him. Lander, the city’s chief financial officer, said he had been escorting a defendant out of court when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He said he was “fine”, only losing a button on his shirt as he was arrested by federal agents. “The rule of law is not fine and our constitutional democracy is not fine,” Lander said outside the court, adding that families were being separated and immigrants denied due process in the immigration crackdown. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lander was arrested for

New York official released after immigration arrest

Lander being led away in restraints at an immigration court. – REUTERSPIC

California report warns of ‘potentially irreversible harm’ of AI SACRAMENTO: Without proper safeguards, powerful artificial that would impose a 10-year moratorium on state laws protecting against AI misuse.

Congressional leadership to express their concerns about leaving Americans vulnerable to AI-related threats, according to the California document. Recent AI safety concerns have intensified as leading companies report their models approaching dangerous capability thresholds. OpenAI said in February that risk

that even if a company deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm, the company making that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public,” warned the California report, citing opposition letters from more than 140 organisations. Over 40 state attorneys general have joined the opposition, writing to

intelligence (AI) could induce severe and “potentially irreversible harms”, a report released on Tuesday by California Governor Gavin Newsom warned. The 53-page AI policy report from leading academics came as President Donald Trump advanced legislation

The proposed federal Bill would eliminate California’s bans on AI generated child sexual abuse material, deepfake pornography and robocall scams targeting elderly Americans. “This moratorium would mean