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LA troop rules, Disney's AI suit and Weinstein's guilty do-over

 
Today's NATIONAL story

Marines, National Guard in LA can detain Americans

What happened
The 700 Marines and 4,100 National Guard members President Donald Trump has deployed to Los Angeles, over the objection of state and local officials, have been authorized to briefly detain but not arrest anyone who interferes with immigration raids or harasses federal agents during protests, military officials said yesterday. The Marines are undergoing mission-specific training and will join National Guard members — some of whom are already accompanying ICE on the workplace raids that triggered the protests — within two days.

Who said what
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, testifying at a Senate budget hearing yesterday, "insisted the Pentagon's deployment of troops to Los Angeles was lawful," Politico said. "He just couldn't cite the law he was following." 

Trump has not "initiated the Insurrection Act, so active-duty military would not be allowed to conduct any kind of law enforcement activity," and "detaining somebody could be considered an act of law enforcement," retired Marine Lt. Col. Gary Barthel, a former judge advocate general, told Military.com. And "the only justification for doing it is if you're trying to suppress people's right to protest the government's policies. And that's something that's done in China, Russia and North Korea, but it shouldn't be done in the United States." 

Since returning to office, Trump has, "step by step, expanded domestic use of the military," testing "legal and political limits," The New York Times said. Some former military officials and other experts believe the "goal" may be to "get Americans used to seeing troops in the streets of major cities," allowing Trump to use the military to "quell unrest and dissent." Trump "promised to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history and left-wing riots will not deter him in that effort," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday.

What next?
A federal court in San Francisco will hold a hearing today on California's request for a restraining order against Marines and Guard members participating in law enforcement. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has sued to void Trump's deployment. As protests against ICE raids spread across the U.S., Hegseth told senators he could send troops to more cities "if there are other riots in places where law enforcement officers are threatened."

 
 
Today's ENTERTAINMENT story

Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'

What happened
Walt Disney Co. and Universal Pictures yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against AI image generation company Midjourney. The studios claimed that the San Francisco startup is a "quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism" that "blatantly" copied characters from their most famous franchises, including Star Wars, Marvel and Frozen. 

Who said what
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, is the "first major legal showdown between Hollywood and generative AI," said The Verge. The entertainment industry has an "ongoing love-hate relationship with AI," the BBC said. "Many studios want to make use of the technology but are concerned that their creations could be stolen."

Disney chief legal officer Horacio Gutierrez said the company was "bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," but "piracy is piracy." Midjourney CEO David Holz said on an investor call yesterday that he "can't really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn't cool like that, but I think Midjourney is going to be around for a very long time."

What next?
The Disney-Universal action joins a "growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms," The Associated Press said. The "first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London," pitting Getty Images against Midjourney rival Stability AI. 

 
 
Today's CRIME Story

Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial

What happened
A New York jury yesterday found Harvey Weinstein guilty of one criminal sexual act, acquitted him of a second such charge and was still deliberating on a third-degree rape count. The mixed and partial verdict came at the end of a retrial of similar charges from 2020. New York's highest court last year overturned Weinstein's 23-year prison sentence from that trial, ruling 4-3 that the judge improperly allowed women not directly involved in the case to testify about their alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein. 

Who said what
The retrial jury found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting production assistant Miriam Haley and acquitted him of assaulting model Kaja Sokola. Sokola's lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, said that while it wasn't the "verdict she deserved," it "helped bring down a man who believed he was untouchable." Sokola said she was "relieved" Weinstein would remain in prison.

Weinstein's 2020 conviction was a "watershed moment for the #MeToo movement," The New York Times said. "This trial was fair until we got to the jury deliberations," his publicist, Juda Engelmayer, said yesterday. Weinstein, 73, did not testify but he asked for a mistrial in court after the jury foreman told the judge he was being bullied during deliberations. "Jurors fight," Justice Curtis Farber said, denying the request. "They act childish at times."

What next?
The jury will deliberate again today on the third charge. Weinstein faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for yesterday's conviction. He is also appealing a 16-year sentence he received at a sex crimes trial in Los Angeles in 2022.

 
 

It's not all bad

A foot scanner that uses technology similar to facial recognition could soon help doctors detect heart issues. The device takes 1,800 images of a person's feet and lower legs and uses AI to measure fluid levels, as fluid retention is a "critical indicator of worsening heart failure," said The Independent. A trial showed that the device flagged problems an average of 13 days before patients were hospitalized, enough time for doctors to take action and increase medication.

 
 
Under the radar

Vietnam has scrapped its 37-year-old rules limiting families to two children. The southeast Asian nation was "one of the last holdouts among countries with population-control policies," said The Washington Post, and now it's joining the global push to boost birth rates. 

In 1988, after years of war had left the nation with "limited resources," Vietnam decreed that families were not to have more than two children, said The Associated Press. Until then, the average number of births per woman in Vietnam was just under four. 

The effect of the decree on the country's population has only gradually emerged. Despite falling birth rates, working-age people in Vietnam still outnumber those who depend on them. However, that is only expected to last until 2039. 

By 2054, the population is forecast to start shrinking, and having fewer workers "could make it harder to grow the economy," the AP said, even as the cost of meeting the needs of the elderly steadily increases. Nevertheless, "rising living costs" and "changing societal values" mean that the lifting of limits may not "bring the baby boom the government hopes for," said Agence France Presse.

Nguyen Thi Nguyet Nga, a 31-year-old pharmacy worker, has no plans to have more children because she barely has the money to offer her two daughters a good education, she said to AFP. "My parents-in-law really want us to have a boy," but it's "better to have two grow up well" than have three or four who "don't have a good education or good life."

 
 
On this day

June 12, 1991

Boris Yeltsin was elected president of Soviet Russia, becoming the first popularly elected leader in Russian history. He became president of the Russian Federation when the USSR dissolved later that year. Yeltsin led Russia until 1999, when he was succeeded by Vladimir Putin, who has been either Russia's prime minister or president ever since.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"Right to dissent coming under siege across U.S.," the Detroit Free Press says on Thursday's front page. "Trump could send troops to more cities as protests expand," The New York Times says. "Troops may help pursue migrants," as "'No Kings' rallies seek to reclaim the banner of patriotism," USA Today says. Protesters in Chicago are "on guard" ahead of weekend demonstrations, says the Chicago Sun-Times. "Columbus' ICE Out! rally remains peaceful," The Columbus Dispatch says. "Downtown L.A. sees less unrest" as Angelenos "reject portrayal" of chaos as a mix of "images, spin and distortion," the Los Angeles Times says. "Trump-Newsom scrap benefits both," says the San Francisco Chronicle.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Trojan? No, French.

A 200-year-old condom has become an unlikely artifact on display at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. The prophylactic, most likely fashioned from a sheep's appendix, is part of the exhibition "Safe Sex?" at the Dutch national museum. Thought to be a "luxury souvenir" from a "fancy brothel in France," the archaic contraceptive is decorated with an "erotic image" of a nun and three clergymen and is in "mint condition," said the BBC. The museum purchased the condom at auction last year.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Chas Newkey-Burden, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: David McNew / Getty Images; Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images; Angela Weiss / AFP / Bloomberg via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images