Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is denied bail after mixed verdict clears him of top charges in sex crimes case
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs dropped to his knees and prayed in the courtroom after he was acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s celebrated figures behind bars for life. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses and denied bond by the judge as he awaits sentencing.
The mixed result capped a sordid legal odyssey that shattered Combs’ affable “Puff Daddy” image and derailed his career as a Grammy-winning artist and music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star.
Combs stands convicted of two counts of a crime — transportation to engage in prostitution — that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. But jurors cleared him of charges that could have put him behind bars for life.
He was convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a felony violation of the federal Mann Act.
The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but Combs’ lawyers said that under federal sentencing guidelines he’d likely face about two years in prison. Prosecutors, citing Combs’ violence and other factors, said the guidelines would call for at least four to five years. Jailed since his September arrest, he’s already served nine months behind bars.
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Bryan Kohberger admits to killing 4 Idaho students but motive remains unclear
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A criminal justice student who avoided a potential death sentence by pleading guilty Wednesday to the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students carefully planned the attack for months and took multiple steps to cover his tracks, the lead prosecutor said.
Bryan Kohberger, who was a graduate student at nearby Washington State University, pleaded guilty to murder in the killings that terrified the Idaho campus and set off a nationwide search, which ended weeks later when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.
Kohberger remained impassive as he admitted to breaking into a rental home through a kitchen sliding door and killing the four friends who appeared to have no connection with him. Prosecutors did not reveal a motive behind the slayings.
The killings initially baffled law enforcement and unnerved the rural college town of Moscow, which hadn’t seen a murder in five years until Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were found dead near campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed each was stabbed multiple times.
In the two years since Kohberger’s arrest, his attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty and challenged DNA evidence, leaving a plea deal their final alternative to spare his life before the start of a trial in August.
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Republican leaders in House work to win over final holdouts on Trump's tax bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders in the House were busy Wednesday trying to win over some final holdouts on President Donald Trump's tax and spending cuts package — determined to seize momentum from a hard-fought vote in the Senate while essentially daring members to defy their party's leader and vote against it.
“The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay,” the top four House GOP leaders said Tuesday after the bill passed the Senate 51-50, thanks to Vice President JD Vance's tiebreaking vote.
It's a risky gambit, one designed to meet Trump's demand for a July 4 finish. Republicans have struggled mightily with the bill nearly every step of the way this year, often succeeding by only one vote. Their House majority stands at just 220-212, leaving little room for defections.
Some Republicans are likely to balk at being asked to rubber-stamp the Senate version less than 24 hours after passage. Republicans from competitive districts have bristled at the Senate bill's cuts to Medicaid, while conservatives have lambasted the legislation as straying from their fiscal goals.
It falls to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his team to convince them that the time for negotiations is over. They will need assistance from Trump to close the deal, and several conservatives went to the White House to talk about their concerns with the president.
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US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza
BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press.
Two U.S. contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were revealing their employers’ internal operations, said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous and irresponsible practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open license to do whatever they wished.
They said their colleagues regularly lobbed stun grenades and pepper spray in the direction of the Palestinians. One contractor said bullets were fired in all directions — in the air, into the ground and at times toward the Palestinians, recalling at least one instance where he thought someone had been hit.
"There are innocent people being hurt. Badly. Needlessly,” the contractor said.
He said American staff on the sites monitor those coming to seek food and document anyone considered “suspicious.” He said they share such information with the Israeli military.
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Judge blocks order barring asylum access at border and gives administration two weeks to appeal
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge said Wednesday that an order by President Donald Trump suspending asylum access at the southern border was unlawful, throwing into doubt one of the key pillars of the president's plan to crack down on migration at the southern border. But he put the ruling on hold for two weeks to give the government time to appeal.
In an order Jan. 20, Trump declared that the situation at the southern border constitutes an invasion of America and that he was “suspending the physical entry” of migrants and their ability to seek asylum until he decides it is over.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington said his order blocking Trump's policy will take effect July 16, giving the Trump administration time to appeal.
Moss wrote that neither the Constitution nor immigration law gives the president “an extra-statutory, extra-regulatory regime for repatriating or removing individuals from the United States, without an opportunity to apply for asylum” or other humanitarian protections.
The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a request but an appeal is likely. The president and his aides have repeatedly attacked court rulings that undermine his policies as judicial overreach.
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7 missing after explosion at California fireworks warehouse sets off massive blaze
ESPARTO, Calif. (AP) — Seven people were missing Wednesday following an explosion at a fireworks warehouse in rural Northern California that caused a massive fire that spread to farm fields and forced evacuations in the surrounding community, authorities said.
Emergency crews and investigators were working with the property’s owner and monitoring the area using drones to find the individuals, said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
It was not immediately clear if those missing worked at the warehouse or lived nearby.
People were urged to avoid the area after the Tuesday night blast, which set off a barrage of fireworks and caused a huge blaze that led to other spot fires and collapsed the building near Esparto in Yolo County about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento.
The cause of the explosion was under investigation.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority strikes down 176-year-old abortion ban
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority struck down the state’s 176-year-old abortion ban on Wednesday, ruling 4-3 that it was superseded by newer state laws regulating the procedure, including statutes that criminalize abortions only after a fetus can survive outside the womb.
The ruling came as no surprise given that liberal justices control the court. One of them went so far as to promise to uphold abortion rights during her campaign two years ago, and they blasted the ban during oral arguments in November.
The statute Wisconsin legislators adopted in 1849, widely interpreted as a near-total ban on abortions, made it a felony for anyone other than the mother or a doctor in a medical emergency to destroy “an unborn child.”
The ban was in effect until 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide nullified it. Legislators never officially repealed it, however, and conservatives argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe reactivated it.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit that year arguing that abortion restrictions enacted by Republican legislators during the nearly half-century that Roe was in effect trumped the ban. Kaul specifically cited a 1985 law that essentially permits abortions until viability. Some babies can survive with medical help after 21 weeks of gestation.
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Paramount will pay $16 million in settlement with Trump over '60 Minutes' interview
NEW YORK (AP) — In a case that became a closely-watched test of whether a corporation would back its journalists and stand up to President Donald Trump, Paramount Global decided to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit regarding editing at CBS' storied “60 Minutes” news program.
Aftereffects of the deal are likely to linger. Journalists were infuriated Wednesday and a senator wants to investigate whether bribery laws were broken. The company was hoping to put the issue to rest as it seeks administration approval of a merger.
Paramount, which owns CBS, says the money will go to Trump's future presidential library and to pay his legal fees, and it is not apologizing or expressing regret about the story. The company announced the deal overnight, before a Wednesday morning shareholders meeting.
Trump's lawyers claimed he suffered “mental anguish" following the “60 Minutes” interview in October with his Democratic opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, and sued for $20 billion.
At issue was the broadcast's editing. Harris was shown giving two different answers to a question about Israel by correspondent Bill Whitaker in clips aired on “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation.” Both responses came as part of a long-winded answer that Harris gave to Whitaker.
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Tesla sales plunge again as anti-Musk boycott shows staying power and rivals pounce on the weakness
NEW YORK (AP) — Sales of Tesla electric cars fell sharply in the last three months as boycotts over Elon Musk's political views continue to keep buyers away.
The 13% plunge in global sales over a year earlier suggests the damage to Tesla's brand from Musk's embrace of U.S. President Donald Trump and far-right European politicians is much deeper, widespread and lasting than some investors had expected. The figures reported by Tesla on Wednesday also signal that its quarterly earnings report due later this month could disappoint as rival electric-vehicle makers pounce on its weakness and steal market share. v
Sales fell to 384,122 in April through June, down from 443,956 in the same three months last year.
During the latest period, Musk formally left the Trump administration as a cost-cutting czar, and hopes rose that sales would recover. The Tesla CEO himself recently said the company was in the midst of a “major rebound” in sales, a statement contradicted by the latest figures.
Still, some parts of the report were encouraging. Sales of the Models 3 and Y totaled 373,728, above the estimate of 356,000 from Wall Street analysts. Tesla shares rose 5% on the news.
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Knicks offer coaching job to Mike Brown and are working on a deal, AP source says
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks have offered their coaching job to Mike Brown and are working to finalize a deal with the two-time NBA Coach of the Year, a person with knowledge of the details said Wednesday.
Brown would replace Tom Thibodeau, who was fired last month despite leading the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years.
Brown had his second interview with the Knicks on Tuesday before the job was offered, the person told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the search were to remain private.
The plan to hire Brown was first reported by ESPN.
The Associated Press
