Weekly News Briefs: Apr. 17

Local:

McIver still in courts, won’t testify on his own behalf

https://www.ajc.com/news/icymi-mciver-murder-trial-facebook-fallout-city-hall-scandal-and-shake/FDqmvzKpahnj8eaGbgnobM/

The Tex McIver case continues as the former lawyer takes the stand. Two charges about for influencing a witness were dropped by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney. The murder charges are still in play and come from McIver allegedly accidentally shooting his wife in a car while asleep. He also said to the court that he will not be testifying on his own behalf.

National:

Trump strikes Syria, met with international concerns

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/14/politics/un-meeting-syria-strikes/index.html

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that the US will continue to keep up the pressure against Syria following deadly chemical attacks last week. The missle strikes began as a joint effort between the UK, US and France on April 13. The French and United Kingdom ambassadors to the United Nations are urging the US to participate in peace talks rather than striking Syria, but they will continue to support military action if peace is not attainable. They want the issue to resolve as quickly and safely as possible. The three nations want to hold Syria accountable, but the Russian ambassador Nebenzi said that Russia found no traces of chemicals at the sites and that the US, UK and France used it as an excuse to strike Syria.

World:

Experts say giving robots rights could be bad

http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/12/technology/robots-rights-experts-warn-europe/index.html

The European Parliament passed a law that serves as the framework for granting “electronic persons” rights. Experts in the field of robotics and other similar fields are warning that this may be a bad idea. An issue that they see is that it may disrupt society as a whole by adding in an entirely new ethical argument. According to some experts, robots are built to serve humanity. In granting them rights, they fear that it will make the two parties indistinguishable from a legal perspective which may cause issues in the future.