North Korea resumes missile tests, raising tensions with rivals

Multiple short-range ballistic missiles were fired days after the end of U.S.-South Korean military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

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 U.S.-South Korean military drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a parliamentary session that North Korea fired “a number of” ballistic missiles into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. He said the missiles fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone and no damage or injuries had 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 said the South Korean military bolstered its surveillance posture and is closely coordinating with the United States and Japan.

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Millions blocked from porn sites as free speech, child safety debate rages across US

A high-stakes battle over pornography, child safety and free speech is heating up across the nation, with more than a half-dozen states passing age-verification laws aimed at halting minors from accessing Pornhub and other adult web sites.

Texas this week became the 7th - and largest - state to pass some form of the controversial legislation, which effectively blocks millions of adult video enthusiasts from entering Pornhub's site unless they can prove they are at least 18 years old.

Attorneys and advocates for porn sites argue that the laws are not just prohibiting minors, but adults, too. Pornhub says it had no choice but "to completely disable access to our website in Texas" in order to reduce the risk of hefty fines and penalties.

In addition to Texas, Pornhub has reluctantly blocked site access for people in other states with age-verification laws, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

“We are fighting not only for the rights of our members and the larger adult entertainment community, but for the right of all Americans to access constitutionally protected expression in the privacy of their own home," said Alison Boden, Executive Director of Free Speech Coalition, a national advocacy organization for the First Amendment rights of adult businesses. The group filed a lawsuit in federal court last year over what it called an "anti-porn ban" by Utah lawmakers.

The HB 1181 law passed earlier this week in Texas requires companies that offer "sexual material harmful to minors" to verify that guests on their website are 18 or older either by proof of government-issued identification or another system that uses public and private data.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a member of the Republican party, sued Pornhub's parent company, Aylo, to force them to comply with the HB 1181 law. Paxton also threatened the company with millions of dollars in civil penalties — including up to $10,000 per day and $250,000 "if a child is exposed to pornographic content due to not properly verifying a user’s age."

“Texas has a right to protect its children from the detrimental effects of pornographic content,” Paxton said in announcing the suit. “I look forward to holding any company accountable that violates our age verification laws intended to prevent minors from being exposed to harmful, obscene material on the internet.”

The Texas case illuminates similar restrictions on pornography websites across the US. And it shines a light on the debate over the balance between keeping children safe online and free speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Pornhub says the "only effective solution" to protect children and adults is to verify the users' age on their devices and deny or allow them access to age-restricted content and websites based on that verification, according to the message on the site.

“Until the real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Texas,” the adult site's message read.

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