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Contrary to popular belief, using cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools slowed down experienced software developers when they were working in codebases familiar to them, rather than supercharging their work, a new study found, Reuters reported.

AI research nonprofit METR conducted the in-depth study, opens new tab on a group of seasoned developers earlier this year while they used Cursor, a popular AI coding assistant, to help them complete tasks in open-source projects they were familiar with.

Before the study, the open-source developers believed using AI would speed them up, estimating it would decrease task completion time by 24%. Even after completing the tasks with AI, the developers believed that they had decreased task times by 20%. But the study found that using AI did the opposite: it increased task completion time by 19%, according to Reuters.

The study’s lead authors, Joel Becker and Nate Rush, said they were shocked by the results: prior to the study, Rush had written down that he expected “a 2x speed up, somewhat obviously.”

A federal judge on Thursday again barred President Donald Trump's administration from denying citizenship to some babies born in the U.S., making use of an exception to overcome the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that restricted the ability of judges to block that and other policies nationwide, BBC reported.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante ruled at a hearing in Concord, New Hampshire, after immigrant rights advocates implored him to grant class action status to a lawsuit they filed seeking to represent any children whose citizenship status would be threatened by the implementation of Trump's executive order curtailing automatic birthright citizenship.

The ruling is far from the last word in the legal battle over Trump's order, which he signed in January on his first day back in office. The judge paused his ruling for seven days to give the Trump administration time to appeal, which a Justice Department lawyer at the hearing indicated would certainly happen, according to BBC.

Laplante, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, agreed, opens new tab the plaintiffs could provisionally proceed as a class, allowing him to issue a fresh judicial order blocking implementation of the Republican president's policy nationally.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he wanted to find a diplomatic solution to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports, but vowed to reciprocate like-for-like if they take effect on August 1, BBC reported.

"We'll first try to negotiate, but if there's no negotiation, the law of reciprocity will be put into practice," Lula said in an interview with Record TV, citing a law Congress recently passed giving the president powers to retaliate against trade barriers. "If they're going to charge us 50, we'll charge them 50."

The president is unlikely to announce any retaliatory measures until the tariffs are implemented, said a Brazilian diplomat who requested anonymity to describe internal government debates. "We have until August 1," the source said, according to BBC.

In a letter to Lula published on Wednesday, Trump linked the tariffs to Brazil's judiciary launching legal proceedings against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial on charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in 2023 after hundreds of pro-Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress. Trump said Bolsonaro was the victim of a "witch hunt."

Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by U.S. immigration authorities for more than 100 days, is seeking $20 million from the Trump administration over what he says was his false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, Reuters reported.

Khalil’s lawyers on Thursday said they submitted the claim against President Donald Trump's departments of Homeland Security and State under a law requiring people to seek damages directly from the government before they can file a lawsuit. Officials have six months to respond.

A DHS spokesperson called Khalil's claim "absurd" and said the Trump administration acted well within its legal authority to detain Khalil.

Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent U.S. resident of Palestinian descent, was arrested in March and detained for months while the Trump administration sought to deport him, saying his support of Palestinians undermined U.S. relations with Israel, according to Reuters.

A North Korean defector is filing civil and criminal charges against the country's leader Kim Jong Un for abuses she faced while detained in the country, BBC reported.

Choi Min-kyung fled the North to China in 1997 but was forcibly repatriated in 2008. She said she was sexually abused and tortured after her return. 

When she files the case in Seoul on Friday, it will be the first time a North Korean-born defector takes legal action against the regime, said a South-based rights group assisting Ms Choi.

South Korean courts have in the past ruled against North Korea on similar claims by South Koreans but such verdicts are largely symbolic and ignored by Pyongyang, according to BBC.

A senior Ukrainian intelligence officer has been gunned down in broad daylight in Kyiv, officials have said, BBC reported.

The agent of the domestic Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was shot several times in a car park after being approached by an unidentified assailant who then fled the scene, footage circulated on social media shows.

The spy agency did not identify the victim, though Ukrainian media outlets have named him as Colonel Ivan Voronych.

The SBU is primarily concerned with internal security and counter-intelligence, akin to the UK's MI5. But since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, it has also played a prominent role in assassinations and sabotage attacks deep inside Russia, according to BBC.

The UK will begin returning migrants arriving in small boats to France within weeks under a new pilot scheme, Sir Keir Starmer has said, BBC reported.

Under the "one in, one out" deal, some arrivals would be returned to France and in exchange the UK would accept an equivalent number of asylum seekers, subject to security checks.

Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of a three-day state visit, the prime minister said the plan would show that attempts to cross the Channel in small boats would "be in vain".

It had been reported that the scheme would see up to 50 people a week being returned, but Sir Keir did not confirm any figures, according to BBC

US President Donald Trump has said he will slap a 35% tariff on Canadian goods starting 1 August, even as the two countries are days away from a self-imposed deadline to reach a new deal on trade, BBC reported.

The missive came as Trump also threatened blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most trade partners, and said he would soon notify the European Union of a new tariff rate on its goods.

Trump announced the latest levies on Canada on Thursday in a letter posted to social media and addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney. 

The US has already imposed a blanket 25% tariff on some Canadian goods, and the country is feeling the pain of the Trump administration's global steel, aluminium and auto tariffs, according to BBC.