Trump lifts his tariff on spirits to help Kentucky, Scotland at behest of king

Shares in spirits companies rose on Thursday after President Donald Trump announced he is lifting the 10% tariffs on alcohol sales between the United Kingdom and the U.S.

The move came at the behest of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, according to Trump’s post on Truth Social.

“In honor of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, who have just left the White House, soon headed back to their wonderful Country, I will be removing the Tariffs and Restrictions on Whiskey having to do with Scotland’s ability to work with the Commonwealth of Kentucky on Whiskey and Bourbon, two very important Industries within Scotland and Kentucky,” Trump said.

“People have wanted to do this for a long time, in that there had been great Inter-Country Trade, especially having to do with the Wooden Barrels used. The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking! A wonderful Honor to have them both in the U.S.A. President DONALD J. TRUMP”

—Lexington Herald-Leader

Ban on kids’ companion chatbots advanced by Senate committee

WASHINGTON — Artificial intelligence chatbot providers would need to verify users’ ages and ban minors from using AI companion chatbots under a bill that advanced unanimously in a Senate committee Thursday.

The Judiciary Committee voted 22-0 to approve the bill, which would make it a crime to knowingly provide a chatbot that might encourage minors into sexually explicit behavior or suicide.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., sponsored the bill, dubbed the “Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue,” or GUARD Act. The legislation has 18 co-sponsors across both parties, including the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill.

Hawley called the bill a “targeted, tailored effort” to protect kids using chatbots and said senators could help choose what the future of AI use would look like.

—CQ-Roll Call

‘An impossible choice’: Trans Idahoans file lawsuit over bathroom ban

BOISE, Idaho — A group of transgender Idaho residents filed a lawsuit over a new law that bars people from using restrooms or changing rooms that don’t align with their sex assigned at birth.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleges the state’s new bathroom ban violates the constitutional rights of transgender people and puts their safety and well-being at risk.

House Bill 752 makes it a misdemeanor to “knowingly and willfully” use a restroom in a government-owned building or place of public accommodation that doesn’t correspond with someone’s sex at birth. A second offense within five years comes with a felony and up to five years in prison.

The lawsuit said the law, which takes effect July 1, forces transgender people to make an “impossible choice,” between using a bathroom that doesn’t align with their gender identity and risking “severe physical and psychological harms,” or breaking the law and facing prison time.

—Idaho Statesman

A defiant Sheinbaum refuses to extradite Mexican officials on US drug charges

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum denounced the U.S. prosecution of a sitting Mexican governor and other officials on drug trafficking charges as “political,” and said Thursday that Mexico would not comply with Washington’s demands that the accused be arrested and extradited to the United States.

“We are not permitting a foreign government to say what is the future of Mexico,” said Sheinbaum, who repeatedly assailed U.S. “meddling” in the incendiary case.

U.S. authorities have not submitted sufficient evidence to justify the arrests and detentions of anyone in Mexico, Sheinbaum said.

Mexico’s rejection of the U.S. demand for the arrest and extradition of the accused would appear to put Mexico on a collision course with Trump, who has harshly criticized Sheinbaum’s government for not doing enough to crack down on cartels.

—Los Angeles Times