Ex-FBI Director Comey indicted again, in a probe over an online post officials call a Trump threat
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted again, this time over a social media photo of seashells arranged on a beach that officials say constituted a threat against President Donald Trump. It’s the second criminal case the Justice Department has brought against the longtime Trump foe. Comey says he assumed the arrangement of shells reading “86 47” was a political message, not a call to violence against Trump, the 47th president. The two-count indictment charges Comey with “knowingly and willfully” making a threat to “take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon” Trump and with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.
King Charles III highlights US-UK bond during busy day of diplomacy with Trump and Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — King Charles III has marked the 250th anniversary of American independence from Britain with gratitude that the two countries united to build “one of the most consequential alliances in human history.” Still, he is urging “that we ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward-looking.” Charles' speech to Congress on Tuesday came amid tensions between President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the war in Iran. Trump met with Charles and Queen Camilla at the White House earlier in the day and hosted them for a state dinner Tuesday night. The royal couple will continue their U.S. tour with stops in New York City and Virginia.
United Arab Emirates will leave OPEC in a blow to the oil cartel
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates will leave OPEC effective Friday, stripping the oil cartel of its third-largest producer and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices. The UAE in recent years has pushed back against OPEC production quotas it felt were too low. Regional politics are also likely a factor in the decision announced Tuesday. The UAE has had increasingly frosty relations with Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, over political and economic matters in the Mideast, even after both were attacked by fellow OPEC member Iran during the war. The UAE’s withdrawal from OPEC won’t necessarily have any immediate effects in markets because supplies are being constrained by the war in Iran.
US soldier pleads not guilty to using intel on Maduro raid to win $400,000 on Polymarket
NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. special forces soldier has pleaded not guilty in federal court in New York to charges that he used classified information about the mission to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to win more than $400,000. Gannon Ken Van Dyke is accused of using the information on the prediction market Polymarket. He entered the plea on Tuesday after he was charged with the unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction. The case comes during heavy scrutiny on prediction markets, which allow people to trade or wager on almost anything.
Elon Musk takes stand in trial vs. Sam Altman that could reshape AI's future
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, world’s richest man and OpenAI’s cofounder, took the stand Tuesday in a high-stakes trial revolving around a bitter feud between himself and former friends Sam Altman and Greg Brockman that could reshape the future development of artificial intelligence. The bickering billionaires’ early-morning appearances at the Oakland, California, federal courthouse foreshadow what could be a dramatic start to a legal drama that is expected to be brimming with intrigue and potentially embarrassing details about the two tech moguls. The jury was selected Monday and the trial is scheduled to take three weeks.
What to know about how a suspect in the killing of two Florida students used ChatGPT
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors have revealed that a suspect in the deaths of two University of South Florida students asked ChatGPT about body disposal. This raises questions about tech companies' roles in preventing misuse of chatbots. The suspect, Hisham Abugharbieh, allegedly asked the AI about guns and body disposal before the students went missing on April 16. Law enforcement found Zamil Limon's body on Friday, and a second body, found in a waterway near Limon’s body, has not been identified. Abugharbieh faces two counts of premeditated murder. The case highlights how AI data can aid investigations and underscores concerns about tech companies' responsibilities in preventing criminal misuse.
Agents armed with search warrants keep focus on Minnesota in public fraud probe
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents have served search warrants in Minnesota in an ongoing fraud investigation of publicly funded social programs for children. No details about possible crimes were disclosed, though armed agents were seen at childcare centers in the Minneapolis area on Tuesday. Gov. Tim Walz welcomed the action. Minnesota was the site of an immigration crackdown that led to the deaths of two people this year. Before that crackdown, the government brought charges against dozens of people, many of them Somali Americans, who were charged with fleecing a federal program that was meant to provide food to kids.
Iran's economy has been battered. Its leaders still think Trump will blink first
CAIRO (AP) — U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have crippled thousands of factories in Iran, and the damage is reverberating across the country's economy. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have lost their jobs, and millions more could face the same fate. Most damaging, Israeli strikes knocked out most production of steel and petrochemicals, causing a surge in prices for metals and plastic and threatening wider sectors. Things could get worse under the U.S. blockade. Still, Iran's leaders are betting that an economy built to be self-reliant under decades of sanctions can endure the pain longer than U.S. President Donald Trump.
Takeaways from AP investigation: Adopted kids confined in for-profit institutions
Takeaways from an Associated Press investigation that finds a business known for tough-love boarding schools for rebellious, rich teenagers has set its sights on a different demographic: adopted kids. Experts say adoptees account for an estimated 25-40% of those in residential treatment. What some call the “troubled teen industry,” a sprawling network of loosely regulated, for-profit residential treatment centers and boarding schools advertise to adoptive parents, promising to help adoptees heal, at a cost as high as $20,000 a month. Adoptees told AP they believe they were in a shadow orphanage system where children end up institutionalized in oppressive, sometimes abusive facilities.
Ex-NBA player Damon Jones is 1st to plead guilty in gambling sweep that led to over 30 arrests
NEW YORK (AP) — Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones has become the first person to plead guilty in a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and other basketball figures. During back-to-back hearings in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday, Jones pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was charged in separate cases with profiting from rigged poker games and providing sports bettors with nonpublic information about injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, according to court filings. The 49-year-old previously pleaded not guilty in both cases. He's due to be sentenced Jan. 6. He and his lawyer declined to comment after the hearings.
