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A man has been convicted of federal terrorism charges in the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie. A jury delivered its verdict Wednesday in Buffalo, New York. Jurors found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. The 28-year-old had pleaded not guilty. Matar already is serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence on an attempted murder conviction in the August 2022 attack. Rushdie has faced a decades-old death threat over his novel “The Satanic Verses.”

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Film producer Jason Cloth, known for financing movies like “Joker” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” has been indicted on wire fraud charges. Prosecutors say he ran a $100 million Ponzi scheme. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday in Chicago. Cloth was arrested in Los Angeles the same day. Prosecutors allege he solicited money from investors for films or video games but used it for other projects. Cloth is charged with seven counts of wire fraud, each carrying up to 20 years in prison. The FBI is asking potential victims to contact their Chicago office. Attorneys representing Cloth in other legal matters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Four women have accused Jared Leto of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers, to which the actor and musician responded that he has “never sexually assaulted anyone.” He said in a statement Wednesday that the “claims are absolutely and categorically false.” The documentary "Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret" includes claims from four women who accuse him of misconduct between 2002 and 2016. The BBC says it corroborated the women's accounts, but they could not be independently verified by The Associated Press. The documentary does not identify the women by their full names. Leto is a 54-year-old Oscar winner and the frontman of the band Thirty Seconds to Mars.

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Academy Award-winning Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard has died in a motorcycle crash. His management says the accident happened in Dublin on Wednesday. He was 56. Hansard was known for his dual career in acting and music. He played a member of a Dublin soul band in “The Commitments” and won an Oscar in 2008 for the song “Falling Slowly” from the film “Once,” in which he also starred. He was the front man for The Frames, part of the duo The Swell Season. He also released solo albums including “Didn’t He Ramble,” which was nominated for a Grammy in 2016.

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More progressive Americans are swearing off traditional media. They’re turning to independent podcasts, social media and digital news for information. This shift could impact Democratic primaries by promoting progressive candidates. The rise of alternative media has been fueled in part by declining trust in institutions. Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim says progressive politicians have sought out his platform to reach voters. In Michigan, a Senate primary is testing its influence, with progressive Abdul El-Sayed challenging establishment-backed Haley Stevens. In New York City, a slate of progressive congressional candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated establishment-backed candidates.

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A judge is allowing a police interview of the man charged in the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur to be used in his upcoming trial. Duane “Keffe D” Davis is charged with murder, and his trial is scheduled to start Aug. 10. His attorney argued during a hearing on Tuesday that Davis' 2008 interview with law enforcement was supposed to be confidential, and that Davis was unaware it was being recorded. Prosecutors say there is no basis to exclude the interview from the trial.

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Artist Betye Saar has died in Los Angeles at 99. Saar’s death on Sunday was confirmed by relatives Monday. She would have turned 100 this week. Saar's work explored Black identity, culture and spirituality, and she was a central figure in the 1960s Black Art Movement. She began her art career at age 35 and continued creating works through her 90s. Roberts Projects gallery says Saar's “appropriation of Black collectibles, heirlooms, and utilitarian objects are transformed through subversion” and that “among the older generation of Black American artists, Saar is without reproach.” Saar’s artwork incorporated painting, printmaking, sculpture and found objects including dolls, washboards and other antiques.

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A judge has ruled there’s enough evidence to send singer D4vd to trial for the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The Los Angeles judge on Monday decided the evidence presented during a preliminary hearing provided probable cause for charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege Burke met Rivas Hernandez when she was 11 and began abusing her at 13. They claim he killed her when she threatened to report him. Burke’s music career was rising before these allegations emerged.

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Savannah Guthrie says her family is living a nightmare nearly six months after her mother's disappearance. In a video released Monday, she pleads with her mother's kidnappers to reveal her location. Eighty-four-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her home near Tucson, Arizona, on February 1. Authorities believe she was taken against her will. Blood was found near her doorstep, and surveillance footage showed a masked man on her porch. The FBI is evaluating ransom notes, some of which have been dismissed as extortion attempts. Savannah Guthrie has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to her mother's recovery.