lolwat? Daily Briefing

Good morning. I'm Mica Finch. It's Wednesday, September 30, and this is your lol what dot net morning briefing. In Japan, a court has drawn an important distinction between a voice and the commercial identity it carries. Anime actor Kenjiro Tsuda asked for TikTok videos to be removed, alleging that their narration used an unauthorised artificial intelligence imitation of his voice. AFP and Fuji Television report that the Tokyo District Court recognised that a famous person's voice can be protected by publicity rights. Those rights concern the commercial appeal of someone's identity. The reported test focuses on using a voice exclusively to take advantage of that appeal. But the court dismissed the removal request because the account and its videos had already been deleted. TikTok had disputed the allegation, calling the narration a generic male voice. Recognising that voices can receive protection does not establish that every similar voice infringes someone's rights, or settle the disputed allegations here. For performers and audio producers, the useful distinction is between the legal principle, the evidence needed to prove a violation, and the remedy a court can provide. In this case, the material was gone before the ruling arrived.

Australia's latest inflation figures need two numbers side by side. The Bureau of Statistics says consumer prices rose four per cent over the year to August, up from three point five per cent in July. The trimmed mean, a measure that reduces the influence of unusually large price changes, stayed at three point six per cent for a third consecutive month. So the headline rate climbed while that underlying measure held steady. Comparing the bureau's contribution tables suggests transport accounted for roughly nine-tenths of the increase in the annual headline rate, allowing for rounding. That is its share of the increase, not its share of all inflation. Housing remained the largest contributor to the annual rate overall. On Tuesday, before these figures were released, the Reserve Bank raised its cash-rate target by a quarter of a percentage point, to four point six per cent. The bank cited energy costs and domestic capacity pressures, while acknowledging a slowing economy. Higher borrowing costs can restrain spending, but they also squeeze borrowers. And interest rates cannot directly create more oil or housing. Today's figures help explain that policy tradeoff; they do not tell us what the bank will decide at its next meeting.

In the United States, the Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday allowing rapid deportations to countries other than a person's own to resume pending a full review of the policy's legality. The order put on hold a lower-court judgment that had found the policy unlawful. It suspended requirements for notice and a chance to object before removal. That temporary decision did not establish that the policy is lawful. The justices set arguments for December. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied the stay. Under the policy examined in the case, notice procedures depend on assurances from the receiving country. Reuters reported that people could be removed without notice when that country provided diplomatic assurances against persecution or torture. Without those assurances, people would be notified of the destination, but officials would assess those protection concerns only if the person raised them. The administration described third-country removals as a way to enforce final deportation orders when people cannot be returned to their home countries. Lawyers for the migrants argued that people need a meaningful opportunity to raise individual protection concerns before being sent elsewhere. The court also agreed to examine whether the lower court had authority to hear the case and grant relief covering the group. Those questions affect both where people can challenge the policy and how broadly a court's decision applies.

In football, a major disciplinary decision comes with an important distinction: findings and penalties are separate stages. In a statement published Tuesday, the Premier League said an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of all charges concerning serious breaches of its financial rules across nine seasons, and most charges concerning failure to cooperate with the investigation. According to the league's account, the commission found that commercial arrangements had overstated revenue and understated costs by more than nine hundred million pounds between the two thousand nine to ten and two thousand seventeen to eighteen seasons. It also found that the club would have substantially exceeded spending limits if those arrangements had been accurately reported. Why does that matter beyond the accounts department? Compliance with financial rules depends on reliable income and expenditure figures. Making income look larger, or costs smaller, can make spending appear to fit within limits it actually exceeds. The league said sanctions would be considered in a separate hearing, and gave the club until Friday, October second, to appeal the findings. Its rules allow fines, points deductions and other sporting sanctions. That list describes available options, not an announced punishment. Tuesday's statement established the commission's findings as reported by the league; it did not specify a penalty. Follow our live desk at lol what dot net for verified updates.

Turning to research, the European Commission has allocated an additional five hundred million euros to Horizon Europe for this year and next. Austria's ERA portal says the total budget for those two years now reaches about fourteen point eight billion euros. The changes include research on biodiversity, energy systems and skills, along with efforts to connect promising technologies to investment. One useful detail is that the biodiversity work will examine both the benefits and the impacts of clean and digital industries. Calling a technology clean does not answer every question about its effects on the living world; those effects still need investigation. Two monitoring reports published alongside the funding announcement also describe who participates. According to the ERA summary, fifty-five per cent of beneficiaries are newcomers to European Union research and innovation programmes. But the average newcomer participates in only one project, while more experienced organisations receive multiple grants. That points to a practical distinction between opening the door to research funding and helping a team sustain its work. The additional money expands what can be supported. The projects will still need to show what their methods and results can deliver.

Finally, today's Right Livelihood Awards bring together work on legal rights, artificial intelligence and the future of farming. The Associated Press reports that the recipients are Pakistani lawyer Jalila Haider, AI researcher Timnit Gebru, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, and the Rural Women's Assembly. The foundation credits Haider with legal work for communities facing discrimination, and the Georgian association with securing protections through the courts. Gebru, founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute, is recognised for examining the concentration of power in AI and its effects on communities facing exclusion. The farming award offers a particularly concrete example of preserving choices for the future. The Rural Women's Assembly works across eleven southern African countries. According to the foundation, it has established twenty-four sites where farmers reproduce and preserve seeds, and has documented hundreds of local varieties. A seed collection is a living library: its varieties need to be reproduced and kept available for another planting. Documenting them preserves a record alongside the seeds themselves. Today's prize recognises that continuing work. These recipients use very different tools, from legal cases to research and seed collections. The common thread is making resources and protections available to people who might otherwise struggle to obtain them.

I'm Mica Finch. Thanks for listening.