Daily briefing

Nation

White House poses tech 'bill of rights'

Top science advisers to President Joe Biden are calling for a new "bill of rights" to guard against powerful new artificial intelligence technology.

The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy on Friday launched a fact-finding mission to look at facial recognition and other biometric tools used to identify people or assess their emotional or mental states and character.

Maryland

2 killed in shooting at senior housing

CAPITOL HEIGHTS -- Two staff members were fatally shot Friday at a Maryland apartment complex for seniors just outside of Washington, D.C., and a suspect was taken into custody, police said.

The shooting happened shortly after 9 a.m. at Gateway Village in Capitol Heights.

Texas

Appeals court lets abortion law resume

AUSTIN -- A federal appeals court Friday night allowed Texas to temporarily resume banning most abortions, just one day after clinics across the state began rushing to serve patients again for the first time since early September.

Abortion providers in Texas had been bracing for the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals to act quickly, even as they booked new appointments and reopened their doors during a brief reprieve from the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks.

World

Germany

Deal made on corporate minimum tax

FRANKFURT -- More than 130 countries have agreed on sweeping changes to how big global companies are taxed, including a 15% minimum corporate rate designed to deter multinationals from stashing profits in low-tax countries.

The deal announced Friday is an attempt to address the ways globalization and digitalization have changed the world economy. It would allow countries to tax some of the earnings of companies located elsewhere that make money through online retailing, web advertising and other activities.

Nigeria

Police: More than 180 hostages freed

LAGOS -- In one of the largest liberations of kidnap victims, at least 187 people including babies have been freed in the country's troubled north, police announced.

Nigerian security forces rescued the hostages from a forest in Zamfara state where they had been held for many weeks, Zamfara police spokesperson Mohammed Shehu said in a statement. He said they were released "unconditionally," indicating that no ransoms were paid.

India

Low coal stocks threaten power crisis

NEW DELHI -- An energy crisis is looming over India as coal supplies grow perilously low, adding to challenges for a recovery in Asia's third largest economy after it was wracked by the pandemic.

Supplies across the majority of coal-fired power plants in India have dwindled to just days worth of stock.