Casandra Ventura, the ex-girlfriend of music mogul Sean Combs, on Friday finished four grueling days on the witness stand in his sex trafficking trial, testifying in graphic, deeply personal terms about years of abuse including rape.Combs is facing federal charges of sex trafficking and leading an illegal sex ring that enforced its power with crimes including arson, kidnapping and bribery — and Ventura’s testimony is core to the prosecution’s case.Ventura — the singer known as Cassie, who is heavily pregnant with her third child — told jurors that Combs raped, beat and forced her into degrading, drug-fueled sex parties dubbed “freak-offs” throughout their decade-plus relationship.In the final stretch of her testimony in a Manhattan courtroom, Ventura faced a blitz of questions over a $20 million settlement she received from Combs in a separate civil case prior to the start of criminal proceedings. She said she was also set to receive $10 million in another settlement with the Intercontinental Hotel, where Combs assaulted her in a 2016 incident caught on camera that was aired in open court.Ventura remained largely composed throughout the week but broke down near the end of her testimony.”I’d give that money back if I never had to do freak-offs,” she said through tears in an emotional crescendo, referring to the marathon sex parties with male escorts she says Combs systematically subjected her to.”I would have had agency and autonomy. I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to get it back,” she said.She said Combs’s treatment of her made her feel “worthless.”The defense sought to tarnish her credibility with painstaking readings of years-old text messages between the couple, emphasizing that she stayed with Combs despite the alleged abuse, and pointing to times when she had acted violently.”I will kill you,” Ventura was heard saying in an audio recording to a man she believed had a video of a freak-off.Defense lawyer Anna Estevao highlighted tender text exchanges, and implied drug addiction had played a key role in Combs’s rage.Ventura insisted there was subtext to many of the suggestive or keen messages she sent to Combs over the years, and that she often felt pressured into freak-offs with the music industry heavyweight, especially as she was signed to his label.”I worried for my safety. I worried for my career. But I also was in love with him, so I worried that he wouldn’t want to be with me” if she didn’t comply with his demands, she said.- ‘Extremely challenging’ -Ventura’s lawyer Douglas Wigdor read a statement on her behalf, after she wearily left the courtroom holding her belly.”This week has been extremely challenging, but also remarkably empowering and healing,” she said.She said she hoped her testimony would help other abuse survivors and asked for privacy as she prepares to give birth.”I am glad to put this chapter of my life to rest,” she said.In a separate statement, also read by Wigdor, Ventura’s husband Alex Fine praised her “strength and bravery” while adding he felt “profound anger” as he sat in court “in front of a person who tried to break her.”Combs initially introduced Fine and Ventura, who already have two children together, it was stated in court.- Many weeks to come -Combs, 55, made hundreds of millions in the music, fashion, media and liquor industries and is often credited with helping to bring hip-hop into the mainstream.But the rap producer and global superstar once famous for his lavish parties now appears visibly aged after months in prison.He has pleaded not guilty to all charges but faces life in prison if convicted.The defense contends that while Ventura’s relationship with Combs was complicated and included domestic abuse, it did not amount to sex trafficking.Late in the day, prosecutors began questioning Dawn Richard — a singer who found fame on MTV’s reality show “Making the Band,” which Combs produced. Richard previously filed a separate civil suit against Combs alleging sexual assault and battery.She told jurors Friday she witnessed Combs attempt to hit Ventura over the head with a skillet.Proceedings are expected to continue into the summer.

President Donald Trump proclaimed a decisive break with decades of US interventionism during his Middle East tour, promising a new American foreign policy based instead on his beloved art of the deal.Trump vowed during his swing through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that there would be no more “lectures on how to live”, saying the region had achieved a “modern miracle the Arabian way.”In an extraordinary rupture with his predecessors, Trump then lambasted what he called the “neo-cons” that oversaw bloody US military interventions in the region and beyond.”In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built,” Trump told an investment forum in Riyadh, the first stop on his tour of the Gulf.”Far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use US policy to dispense justice for their sins.”Trump did not name them but the targets were clear. His Democratic predecessor Joe Biden tried to tie US support to the promotion of human rights and the maintenance of the international order. And Republican George W. Bush in the early 2000s launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.- ‘Consequential shift’ -“Trump’s Riyadh speech marked a clear and consequential shift in US policy toward the Middle East,” said Sina Toossi, from the Center for International Policy. “By rejecting the legacy of military intervention and nation-building, he signaled a move toward realism and restraint. This shift resonates deeply in a region exhausted by war and foreign meddling.”But for Trump, that also means ignoring democracy and human rights issues and embracing the leaders of oil-rich monarchies with often autocratic tendencies.His Saudi host, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was for example found by US intelligence to have ordered the gruesome murder in 2018 of dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi. But there was no mention of that in Riyadh.Instead, Trump preached the same brand of gold-plated, transactional politics that he does at home.Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates showed him the money, signing a host of huge business and investment deals with the United States during his trip.In return they got the glitz of Trump’s first major foreign trip and praise as being examples of what the region could become.Conversely, Trump’s visit also shook one of the longest-standing pillars of US policy in the Middle East — its support for Israel.The US president not only bypassed Israel on the trip but appeared to sideline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on key issues including Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s war in Gaza, and Yemen’s Huthi rebels.This showed mounting tensions behind the scenes, particularly on Iran, with Israel far keener than Trump on a military option.- ‘American power’ -But Trump’s deal-making approach to foreign policy could soon have its limits tested.He has shown willingness to seek a deal with Iran over its nuclear program — saying that Tehran’s case “I have never believed in having permanent enemies.”But at the same time Trump has threatened military action against Iran if it does not reach an accord.Trump also left the Middle East with no progress towards a deal to end the war in Gaza despite his pledges to end the conflict — although he made a rare reference to the fact that people were now “starving” in the besieged enclave.Further afield, Trump tried to coax Russia’s Vladimir Putin to talks in Istanbul during his trip to discuss an end to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but his efforts came to nothing.Trump’s “peace through strength” doctrine also has its contradictions. On a visit to a huge US air base in Qatar he said that “my priority is to end conflicts, not start them.” But then he immediately added: “I will never hesitate to wield American power if it’s necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners.”