International
The Supreme Court of Israel rules on the end of the military exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews

The Israeli Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Tuesday the end of the military exemption for young ultra-Orthodox Jews, a very controversial measure that has historically divided Israeli society, especially since the war in the Gaza Strip.
The Court decided that “there is no legal basis to exclude ultra-Orthodox men from recruitment” and that if they do not serve in the Army they should not receive educational and social assistance subsidies financed with public funds.
It is not clear whether this ruling implies the immediate sending of recruitment orders for the approximately 67,000 eligible Hareddi men – the equivalent of five military divisions – for compulsory military service at this time, or it will be a gradual process.
The two ultra-Orthodox parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism (JUT) – are frontally opposed to the recruitment of young Torah scholars and have threatened to leave Benjamin Netanyahu’s current government coalition if the measure enters into force, endangering the stability of the Executive, since they provide 18 vital seats.
“There has never been a ruling of the Supreme Court in favor of the students of the yeshivah and in the interest of the ultra-orthodox public. There is not a single judge there who understands the value of the study of the Torah and its contribution to the people of Israel,” said today one of the leaders of JUT, Rabbi and deputy Moshe Gafni.
The military exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews is not a law, but an executive provision that is prolonged periodically and that exists since the birth of the State of Israel, although there are several judicial judgments that indicate that it violates the principle of equality that governs the Israeli basic law.
The Israeli Supreme Court began at the beginning of June to hear arguments in the case of the military exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who since the formation of the State of Israel can avoid compulsory military service if they study full-time in a Talmudic school (yeshivah).
This issue has caused great divisions in Israeli society and within the government.
At the beginning of April, a temporary rule that allowed the exemption to be maintained expired, and numerous civil society groups have claimed to end the privileges of the ultra-Orthodox, which represent about 13% of the Israeli population.
The Government has been represented in this litigation by a private lawyer, since the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, has declared herself against the military exemption, going so far as to declare that the Executive acts “without authority” when trying to prevent recruitment.
After the massive mobilization of about 300,000 reservists for the war in Gaza, which has already lasted almost nine months, in addition to for battalions of soldiers both on the northern border with Lebanon and in the occupied territory of the West Bank, many Israelis demand that Netanyahu, that all young people in Israel fulfill their military “duty”.
“There is a real national need to extend the time of service of the soldiers of the permanent army and to extend the period of service of the reservists. Therefore, we are obliged to reach new agreements and make decisions that we had not made in 75 years,” said the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, on this issue.
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.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“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.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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