Nation & World Glance

ASSOCIATED PRESS Supreme Court weighs how far federal officials can go to combat controversial posts on hot topics

WASHINGTON – In a busy term that could set standards for free speech in the digital age, the Supreme Court is taking up a dispute Monday between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics like COVID-19 and election security.

The justices are hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Missouri and other parties accusing administration officials of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view. Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.

The high court is in the midst of a term heavy with social media issues. On Friday, the court laid out standards for when public officials can block their social media followers. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.

The cases over state laws and the one being argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints. The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and other media platforms.

First charter flight with US citizens fleeing Haiti lands in Miami

MIAMI – A charter flight carrying dozens of U.S. citizens fleeing spiraling gang violence in Haiti landed Sunday in Miami, U.S. State Department officials said.

More than 30 U.S. citizens were on the government-chartered flight, officials said in a statement. It arrived in the Miami International Airport after the U.S. Embassy in Port-auprince earlier this month urged U.S. citizens to leave “as soon as possible” as chaos grips Haiti.

Passenger Avlot Quessa, who lives in Boston, traveled from the center of the country to board the charter flight after going to Haiti last month for was supposed to be a weeklong trip to visit his mother.

“It’s just terrible ... The suffering, you can only imagine,” Quessa told the Miami Herald of the nearby Caribbean nation. “Haiti is my homeland and it’s very stressful to see the homeland going through this act of violence, destruction ... and they are our neighbors.” Haiti’s main airport in Port-au-prince remains closed following gang attacks that have raged through Haiti in recent weeks, pushing many people to the brink of famine. Government and aid agencies this weekend reported looting of aid supplies as the situation worsened.

North Korea resumes missile tests, raising tensions with its rivals after their military drills’ end

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters Monday morning, its neighbors said, days after the end of the South Korean-u.s. military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

The launches were North Korea’s first known missile testing activities in about a month. Outside experts earlier predicted North Korea would extend its run of missile tests and intensify its warlike rhetoric ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November to boost its leverage in future diplomacy.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said North Korea fired three missiles, two together at 7:44 a.m. and the other about 37 minutes later. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a parliamentary session that the North Korean missiles landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, all outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, and that no damage or injuries have been reported.

Kishida denounced North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile tests as acts “that threaten the peace and safety of Japan, the region and the international society.” He said Japan strongly protested against North Korea over its testing activities, saying they violated U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the North from engaging in any ballistic activities.

South Korea’s military said it also detected “several” suspected short-range ballistic launches by North Korea on Monday morning. The Joint Chiefs of Staff called the launches “clear provocation” that threaten peace on the Korean Peninsula. It said South Korea will maintain readiness to repel any provocation by

North Korea, based on its solid military alliance with the United States.

According to Japan and South Korean assessments, the North Korean missiles fired from its capital region traveled a distance of 300-350 kilometers (about 185-220 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (about 30 miles). Observers say the missiles’ fight distances indicate they are weapons targeting major facilities in South Korea, such as its military headquarters in the central region.

A man has fallen to his death from a hot-air balloon in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia — A man fell to his death from a hot-air balloon Monday as it passed over suburban Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city.

The hot-air balloon took off from Melbourne’s northern suburbs early in the morning and was in the air for about 30 minutes before the man fell from the basket. His body was found in a residential area, which Victoria state police closed off to traffic. The balloon landed safely many miles from where the man’s body was found.

Police said it will prepare a report for the coroner and the death is not being treated as suspicious. Police are also speaking with the balloon’s pilot, other occupants and witnesses.

Suspect in Oakland store killing is 13-year-old boy who committed another armed robbery, police say

OAKLAND, Calif. — A juvenile suspect in the January killing of a liquor store owner is a 13-year-old boy who allegedly committed another armed robbery 40 minutes later in Oakland, California, police said.

The unnamed boy, an Oakland resident who turns 14 in July, is charged with murder and attempted robbery in the Jan. 6 fatal shooting of Maged Alazzani, 46, at the Orlando Market, officials said.

Investigators believe the boy went on to commit another armed robbery at a convenience store less than an hour later, and he’s also suspected in a robbery at a Target outlet in nearby Emeryville the following day, the Bay Area News Group reported Saturday.

Alazzani was shot in the chest and investigators believe it was the 13-yearold who killed the father of four. The juvenile was arrested in February. Detectives were searching for a possible male accomplice in all three robberies, police said.