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In the face of neurotechnology advances, Chile passes ‘neuro rights’ law

AFP

Chilean lawmakers on Wednesday approved a law establishing the rights to personal identity, free will and mental privacy, becoming the first country in the world to legislate on neurotechnology that can manipulate one’s mind.

This bill, which already passed the Senate last year, could form the basis of future lawmaking in field of human rights in other countries in the face of advances in technology applied to the mind and the brain.

During debates preceding the vote, Senator Guido Girardi, one of the most vocal promoters of the law, said its aim is to protect “the last frontier” of the human being: the human psyche. 

“We are happy that this is the start of a global assessment on how technology should be used for the good of humanity,” Girardi said on Twitter.

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The bill will now have to be signed into law by the president.

With this legislation, Chile is striving to be at the forefront of advances in neurotechnology.

Rafael Yuste, a biology professor at Columbia University and one of the world’s top experts in the field, told AFP that researchers have already succeeded in implanting in the brain of mice images of things that they hadn’t actually seen which affected their behavior. 

This causes concern among some that such neurotechnology may be used to record people’s mental data as well as to modify it.

That is why, Chile’s law “establishes that scientific and technological development must be at the service of people and that it will be carried out with respect for life and physical and mental integrity”, the Chamber of Deputies said in a statement.

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It intends to safeguard people’s “neurodata” and  establish limits on how the contents of a person’s brain can be analyzed and modified.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

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“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

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