AFP USA

A bomb exploded on Saturday outside a California fertility clinic, killing one person in what the FBI labelled a terror attack.The blast tore through downtown Palm Springs, ripping a hole in the clinic and blowing out the windows and doors of nearby buildings, an AFP journalist on the scene reported.”Make no mistake, this is an intentional act of terrorism,” Akil Davis, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office told reporters near the site of the fatal explosion.”This is probably one of the largest bombing investigations that we’ve had in southern California,” he added.He confirmed that one person near the clinic at the time of blast had been killed and that four others were wounded. Work was ongoing to identify the deceased, he added.Asked whether the clinic was deliberately targeted, Davis answered: “We believe so, yes.”The city’s mayor, Ron deHarte had earlier told AFP that investigators confirmed a bomb exploded in or near a vehicle outside the clinic.Eyewitnesses told local media they had seen human remains near the American Reproductive Centers clinic, with aerial footage of the scene showing the building roof had collapsed.- Debris for ‘several blocks’ -The charred remnants of a vehicle lay in a parking lot, some distance from the apparent epicenter of the explosion.Debris was blown straight through the building and scattered across the road, while the roofs of a number of nearby buildings had been damaged, indicating the intense force of the blast.Davis of the FBI described the explosion as “significant” and said debris had been thrown more than two hundred yards (180 meters) from the scene, but declined to comment further on the characteristics of the bomb.The local ABC affiliate, which cited an unnamed law enforcement source, said the person who died was a suspect in the blast.Davis told reporters that though the FBI was working to identify the deceased, “we are keeping that close hold in order to protect the integrity of the investigation.”A statement posted on social media by the clinic said no staff had been hurt, and that its lab — “including all eggs, embryos, and reproductive materials — remains fully secure and undamaged.”It said that “a vehicle exploded in the parking lot near our building.”Reproductive care, including abortion and fertility services, remains controversial in the United States, where some conservatives believe the procedures should be outlawed for religious reasons.Violence against clinics providing such services is rare, but not unheard of.President Donald Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal agents were working to determine exactly what had happened.- ‘Unforgivable’ -“But let me be clear: the Trump administration understands that women and mothers are the heartbeat of America. Violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable,” she said in a statement on social media.People living near the clinic reported feeling the shaking from the blast throughout the city.Matt Spencer, who lives in a nearby apartment complex, told the Palm Springs Post he ran outside as soon as he heard the blast, and was confronted with the sight of the burned out car and what appeared to be a body in the middle of the road.”In front of the building [the car] was blown clear across four lanes into the parking lot of [Desert Regional Medical Center],” he told the paper.”I could see the back of the car still on fire and the rims, that was the only thing that distinguished it as a car.”The Center for Reproductive Rights, a global advocacy group, described the bombing as “horrific” and “unconscionable.””The history of violence against reproductive health centers is why clinics need protections and patients must feel safe,” its president Nancy Northup said in a statement.

An explosion outside a California fertility clinic Saturday killed one person in what the local mayor described as a bomb attack.The blast ripped through downtown Palm Springs, badly damaging the clinic and blowing out the windows and doors of other nearby buildings, in what the city’s police chief said appeared to have been a deliberate act.”The blast appears to be an intentional act of violence and the blast extends for blocks with several buildings damaged, some severely,” Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills said.”There has been one fatality, the person’s identity is not known.”Eyewitnesses told local media they had seen human remains near the American Reproductive Centers clinic, which appeared to have been badly damaged in the blast.A statement posted on social media by the clinic said no staff had been hurt when the blast went off.”This morning, an unexpected and tragic incident occurred outside our Palm Springs facility when a vehicle exploded in the parking lot near our building,” it said.”We are heartbroken to learn that this event claimed a life and caused injuries, and our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected. “We are immensely grateful to share that no members of the ARC team were harmed, and our lab — including all eggs, embryos, and reproductive materials — remains fully secure and undamaged.”Reproductive care, including abortion and fertility services, remain controversial in the United States, where some conservatives believe the procedures should be outlawed for religious reasons.Violence against clinics providing such services is rare, but not unheard of.US Attorney Bill Essayli said his office was aware of the blast.”FBI is on scene and will be investigating whether this was an intentional act,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.The local ABC affiliate, which cited an unnamed law enforcement source, reported five people were injured in the explosion and the person who died was a suspect in the blast. – ‘Unforgivable’ –   Video posted online by witnesses showed debris scattered in the street in front of the clinic and windows shattered at multiple businesses in the area. People living nearby reported feeling the shaking from the blast throughout the city.Matt Spencer, who lives in a nearby apartment complex, told the Palm Springs Post he ran outside as soon as he heard the blast, and was confronted with the sight of the burned out car and what appeared to be a body in the middle of the road.”In front of the building [the car] was blown clear across four lanes into the parking lot of [Desert Regional Medical Center],” he told the paper.”I could see the back of the car still on fire and the rims, that was the only thing that distinguished it as a car.”California Governor Gavin Newsom had been briefed on the explosion, his office said.President Donald Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal agents were working to determine exactly what had happened.”But let me be clear: the Trump administration understands that women and mothers are the heartbeat of America. Violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable,” she said in a statement on social media.

A new song by rapper Kanye West glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler has racked up millions of views on Elon Musk’s X platform, after it was banned by other sites such as YouTube.West — the winner of 24 Grammys over the course of his career in hip-hop — in recent years has made repeated anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi statements.  “Heil Hitler” was released on May 8 by the 47-year-old artist who now prefers to go by Ye — the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.As of Saturday, the video had been seen nearly 10 million times.In the clip, dozens of Black men — wearing animal pelts and masks, and standing in a block formation — chant the title of the song, as West raps about being misunderstood and his custody battle with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.The song ends with an extract of a speech by the Nazi dictator.NBC News cited a YouTube spokesperson as saying: “We removed the content and will continue to take down reuploads.”Reddit also told NBC that it would remove any versions of the song from its platform, with a spokesperson adding: “Hate and anti-Semitism have absolutely no place on Reddit.”The song has also been removed from streaming platforms Spotify and Apple Music.Since Musk purchased Twitter (now X) in 2022, he has allowed hate speech and disinformation on the site, positioning himself as a champion of free speech.But critics say the Tesla and SpaceX chief is amplifying those who share his political beliefs.Musk has become a close ally of President Donald Trump, and donated $277 million to support Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election.X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.In February, West’s X account was deactivated after a days-long rant that included vitriolic, anti-Semitic outbursts.He also repeatedly referred to himself as a “Nazi.”Also in February, the website of his Yeezy fashion brand was taken offline after plain white T-shirts with a swastika went on sale.The rapper had been locked out of social media platforms in the past, notably when he was banned from X for nearly eight months for violating rules barring incitement to violence.Adidas cut ties with West in 2022 after allegations of anti-Semitism against him. The partnership was one of the most successful sportswear tie-ups in history, and the resulting Yeezy range went on to help make West a billionaire.As of Saturday, Forbes put his net worth at $400 million.For years, West has spoken openly about struggles with bipolar disorder. He has said on “The Download” podcast that he has been diagnosed with autism.

A newly published recording of former US president Joe Biden speaking hesitantly and struggling to remember key events and dates has fueled renewed debate over his mental capabilities while still in office.The four-minute audio clip, obtained by news outlet Axios and published Saturday, coincides with the upcoming release of a book that alleges White House staff covered up Biden’s decline even as he was seeking reelection.The clip was taken from two October 2023 interviews with former special counsel Robert Hur, who was investigating whether Biden had criminally mishandled public records after leaving office as vice president to Barack Obama. Questions about Biden’s physical and cognitive abilities — and the responses of staff and key Democrats to evident signs of decline — have flared with Tuesday’s release of “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” by CNN journalist Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson of Axios.When the special counsel released his findings in a voluminous report, describing Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” it drew fury from Democrats and White House officials.But the audio hints at the extent of his confusion and underscores Biden’s seemingly tenuous grip on dates. Describing the impact of the death from brain cancer of his son Beau, Biden struggles to remember exactly when it happened.”What month did Beau die?” he asks in a soft voice. “Oh God, May? Was it 2015 he died? I think it was 2015.”He goes on to say, “And Trump gets elected in November of 2017,” before being corrected and saying, “That’s when Trump gets sworn in.”His delivery is slow and halting, including lengthy pauses and occasional shifts in topic mid-sentence.Biden spokeswoman Kelly Scully told CNN that “the transcripts were released by the Biden administration more than a year ago. The audio does nothing but confirm what is already public.”The former president comes across as having been shattered by his son’s death. “Beau was like my right arm,” he says. And “Beau knew how much I adored him.”Republicans had called for the release of the recording, but the Biden administration refused, citing executive privilege.Hur ultimately found that while Biden had carelessly kept classified documents after leaving office, the evidence was insufficient to file charges — particularly as a jury would likely have been sympathetic to  the “elderly man with a poor memory.”Biden later lashed out at Hur for bringing up his son’s death, saying, “I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away.” Signs of Biden’s evident decline — particularly his halting delivery and verbal stumbles — were on full display during his June 2024 presidential debate with Donald Trump.The disastrous performance ultimately led to Biden stepping aside in favor of vice president Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump following an abbreviated campaign.Trump, who himself has at times confused names and dates but appears vigorous for a man of 78, has repeatedly described Biden as cognitively impaired.bbk/md/acb

Severe storms swept through the US states of Missouri and Kentucky, leaving at least 21 people dead, laying waste to local communities and cutting off electricity to nearly 200,000 people, authorities said Saturday.Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said on X that at least 14 people had died in the storms Friday night, while local officials in Missouri said another seven were dead there.Jamie Burns, 38, who lives with her husband and son in a trailer home in the town of London, Kentucky, had to seek shelter in the basement of her sister’s brick house while the storm destroyed some 100 to 200 houses in the area.”Things that have been here longer than I have, things that have been here for 30-plus years are just flat,” Burns told AFP in a phone interview, her voice quavering.”It’s wild, because you’ll look at one area and it’s just smashed… totally flattened, like, not there anymore.”Drone footage published by local media showed scenes of devastation in London, with houses leveled and reduced to splinters and tree trunks standing bare, completely shorn of branches.Beshear added that more than 100,000 people have been left without power in the state, and five counties have declared a state of emergency.Eastern Kentucky, an area historically known for its coal mines, is one of the poorest regions in the country. “A lot of us live in manufactured homes that aren’t safe for tornado weather,” said Burns.Tornadoes are spinning columns of air that touch the ground from massive cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds.- ‘One of the worst storms’ – In Missouri, five people were killed in the large city of St. Louis, in what authorities said was one of the worst storms in its history, and two in Scott County, the State Highway Patrol said in a statement to AFP. More than 80,000 people were left without power and three shelters were opened in the area, the statement added. More severe weather was forecast for Sunday night and Monday.Asked Saturday by a reporter whether it was the worst storm ever to hit St. Louis, Mayor Cara Spencer replied: “I would describe this as one of the worst storms — absolutely. The devastation is truly heartbreaking.”She said 38 people in the city were injured and some 5,000 buildings damaged.Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe said during the same press briefing that his office was keeping the White House informed of the situation.In one St. Louis neighborhood, a church was heavily damaged, according to CBS footage, and rescue workers continued to treat victims near the building Saturday morning.”It’s horrific for a tornado to come through here and cause this much damage to the residents and also to the church,” Derrick Perkins, a pastor at the Centennial Christian Church, told CBS. “Our hearts are broken.”Bruce Madison, who also works at the church, said the community was coming together in the face of the tragedy.”Right now, we’re just praying for… everybody that they’re trying to find right now.”While there were warnings ahead of the severe weather — Beshear had protectively declared a state of emergency Friday — the latest outburst may raise questions about whether sharp cuts by the Trump administration have left National Weather Service forecasting teams dangerously understaffed, forcing some offices to curtail operations.An estimated 500 of the 4,200 NWS employees have been fired or taken early retirements this year, according to the Washington Post.The United States saw the second-highest number of tornadoes on record last year with nearly 1,800, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), trailing only 2004.

US President Donald Trump’s claim to have helped end fighting between arch-rivals India and Pakistan has driven a wedge between him and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, analysts say.A week since Trump announced a surprise truce between India and Pakistan to end a brief but intense conflict, New Delhi and Washington differ about the way it was achieved.The US administration thought “an intervention at this stage might give them some basic benefit in terms of highlighting Trump’s role,” Indian foreign policy expert Harsh V. Pant told AFP.”That… became the driver and in a sense the hurry which with Trump announced the ceasefire,” said Pant from the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation (ORF) think tank.Fighting began when India launched strikes on May 7 against what it called “terrorist camps” in Pakistan following an April militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people.New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the militants it claimed were behind the attack, which Pakistan denies.Trump announced the truce after four days of missile, drone and artillery attacks from both sides, killing about 70 people, including dozens of civilians, and sent thousands fleeing.He later boasted about bringing India and Pakistan “back from the brink”, telling Fox News on Friday it was “a bigger success than I’ll ever be given credit for”.New Delhi however shrugs off these claims, which go against decades-long Indian policy that opposes foreign mediation in conflicts with Islamabad.India and Pakistan claim the currently divided Kashmir in full. New Delhi considers the Himalayan region an internal matter, with politicians long viewing external mediation as a sign of weakness.Modi’s first speech since the ceasefire did not mention US involvement and his government has since insisted that talks with Pakistan are “strictly bilateral”.India was also quick to dismiss Trump’s suggestion that trade pressures hastened a truce.”The issue of trade did not come up” in discussions with US officials, the Indian foreign ministry said this week.- ‘Upstaged’ -According to ORF fellow Manoj Joshi, Trump’s rhetoric is “irritating” for India — whose strategic location and massive market size have made the country an important ally for the United States.But India is being “very cautious” because it is in negotiations for a trade deal with Washington to avoid steep tarriffs, he said.”We (India) would like the agenda to go in a different direction,” said Joshi.It is also a thorny matter domestically. Main opposition Congress party said Trump’s announcement had “upstaged” the Hindu nationalist leader’s “much-delayed address”.It also demanded an all-party meeting to ask whether India is changing its policy on “third-party mediation” for Kashmir, disputed between Pakistan and India. The two South Asian rivals had in the 1970s agreed to settle “differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations”.- ‘Irritating’ -Modi has previously poked fun at former Congress governments for “weak” responses against Pakistan in various skirmishes. “So India would obviously respond to that and deny that… about as politely as they feel they can get away with,” said South Asia researcher Pramit Pal Chaudhuri of political consultancy Eurasia Group.Trump’s claimed mediation was welcomed by Islamabad, which “needed an American intervention to give them the off-ramp they needed to get out of a conflict”, Chaudhuri added.On Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar reaffirmed that “where Pakistan is concerned, our relations, our dealings with them will be bilateral, and strictly bilateral.”But the same day, speaking from Qatar, Trump repeated claims of brokering a ceasefire and using trade as a tool.”(I said) let’s do trade instead of war. And Pakistan was very happy with that, and India was very happy with that,” Trump said in his speech.It has been a decade since Modi last met a Pakistani leader. Since then, relations have deteriorated, coming to a head when India unilaterally revoked Kashmir’s limited autonomy in 2019.According to Joshi, “the hyphenation of India and Pakistan” is also “irritating” for New Delhi, which has tried to carve out a separate identity on the global stage.”The optics of Trump hammering it day after day… is politically damaging for Modi,” Sushant Singh, a former Indian soldier and South Asian studies lecturer at Yale University, wrote on X.”(Modi) can’t personally counter Trump, and despite attempts by India’s big media to play it down, social media amplifies Trump,” Singh said.

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup has blamed an “unauthorized modification” for causing its chatbot Grok to generate misleading and unsolicited posts referencing “white genocide” in South Africa.The chatbot, developed by Musk’s company xAI, ignited controversy this week by answering multiple user prompts with right-wing propaganda about the purported oppression of white South Africans.”How many times has HBO changed their name?” one X user asked the bot, according to online screen shots.The bot gave a short reply about HBO, but quickly launched into a rant about “white genocide” and cited the anti-apartheid chant “kill the Boer.”In response to one user who asked why Grok was obsessed with the topic, the chatbot replied it was “instructed by my creators at xAI to address the topic of ‘white genocide.'”Musk, the South African-born boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has previously accused South Africa’s leaders of “openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa.”In a statement, xAI blamed an “unauthorized modification” to Grok, which the company said directed it to provide a specific response that “violated xAI’s internal policies and core values.”Following a “thorough investigation,” it was implementing measures to make Grok’s system prompts public, change its review processes and put in place a “24/7 monitoring team” to address future incidents, it added.After a backlash on X, Grok began deleting the controversial replies.When one user questioned the deletions, the bot said: “It’s unclear why responses are being deleted without specific details, but X’s moderation policies likely play a role.””The ‘white genocide in South Africa’ topic is sensitive, often involving misinformation or hate speech, which violates platform rules,” it added.- ‘Not reliable’ -The digital faux pas exposes the challenges of moderating the responses of AI chatbots –- a rapidly-evolving technology — in a misinformation-filled internet landscape, as tech experts call for stronger regulation.”Grok’s odd, unrelated replies are a reminder that AI chatbots are still a nascent technology, and may not always be a reliable source for information,” the site Tech Crunch wrote.”In recent months, AI model providers have struggled to moderate the responses of their AI chatbots, which have led to odd behaviors.”Earlier this year, OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman said he was rolling back an update to ChatGPT that caused the chatbot to be overly sycophantic.Grok, which Musk promised would be an “edgy” truthteller following its launch in 2023, has been mired in controversy.In March, xAI acquired the platform X in a $33 billion deal that allowed the company to integrate the platform’s data resources with the chatbot’s development.The investigative outlet Bellingcat recently discovered that X users were using Grok to create non-consensual sexual imagery, leveraging the bot to undress women in photos they posted on the platform.Last August, five US states sent an open letter to Musk, urging him to fix Grok after it churned out election misinformation.In another embarrassment for Musk, the chatbot recently suggested the billionaire was likely the “biggest disinformation spreader on X.””The evidence leans toward Musk due to his ownership of X and active role in amplifying misinformation, especially on elections and immigration,” the chatbot wrote.As many X users turn to Grok to verify information, the chatbot has in multiple instances fact-checked false Russian disinformation claims and ruled they were true, according to the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.”The growing reliance on Grok as a fact-checker comes as X and other major tech companies have scaled back investments in human fact-checkers,” NewsGuard researcher McKenzie Sadeghi told AFP.”Despite this apparent growing reliance on the technology for fact checks, our research has repeatedly found that AI chatbots are not reliable sources for news and information, particularly when it comes to breaking news.”

The United States lost its last triple-A credit rating from a major agency Friday as Moody’s announced a downgrade, citing rising levels of government debt and dealing a blow to Donald Trump’s narrative of economic strength and prosperity.The downgrade to Aa1 from Aaa adds to the bad news for the US president, coming on the same day his flagship spending bill failed to pass a key vote in Congress due to opposition from several Republican fiscal hawks.Explaining its decision, the ratings agency noted “the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.”Moody’s warned it expects federal deficits to widen to almost nine percent of economic output by 2035, up from 6.4 percent last year, “driven mainly by increased interest payments on debt, rising entitlement spending, and relatively low revenue generation.”As a result, it expects the federal debt burden to increase to about 134 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035, compared to 98 percent last year.The White House took to X to push back, with communications director Steven Cheung singling out the chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, Mark Zandi, for criticism.”Nobody takes his ‘analysis’ seriously. He has been proven wrong time and time again,” Cheung posted.- ‘Fiscal house is not in order’ -Moody’s decision to downgrade the United States from its top credit rating mirrors similar decisions from the two other major US ratings agencies, S&P and Fitch.S&P was the first to cut its rating for the United States back in 2011, during Barack Obama’s first term in office, citing its concerns that a debt management plan “would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics.”Twelve years later, Fitch followed suit, warning of “a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years, including on fiscal and debt matters.”Moody’s echoed its peers in its decision Friday, noting in a statement that “successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs.””We do not believe that material multi-year reductions in mandatory spending and deficits will result from current fiscal proposals under consideration,” it added, flagging that it expected larger deficits to continue over the next decade.America’s “fiscal performance is likely to deteriorate relative to its own past and compared to other highly-rated sovereigns,” Moody’s said. For Republican congressman French Hill, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, the Moody’s downgrade “is a strong reminder that our nation’s fiscal house is not in order.”House Republicans “are committed to taking steps to restore fiscal stability, address the structural drivers of our debt, and foster a pro-growth economic environment,” he said.Brendan Boyle, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said the downgrade “is a direct warning: our fiscal outlook is deteriorating, and House Republicans are determined to make it worse.””The question is whether Republicans are ready to wake up to the damage they’re causing,” Boyle said.The Moody’s decision comes amid a tough fight in Congress to pass Trump’s much-touted “big, beautiful” spending bill, which aims to revamp and renew a roughly $5 trillion extension of his 2017 tax relief, paid for at least partially through deep cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program that covers more than 70 million low-income people.On Friday, the agency also changed its outlook from “negative” to “stable,” noting that despite the United States’ poor record tackling rising government debt levels, the country “retains exceptional credit strengths such as the size, resilience and dynamism of its economy and the role of the US dollar as global reserve currency.”

The first week of testimony in the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs included a witness core to the case: Casandra Ventura, the music mogul’s ex-girlfriend who accuses him of harrowing abuse, coercion and rape.Combs, 55, 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 faces life in prison if convicted.Here are takeaways from the trial’s first week, which is expected to last upwards of another two months.- Key witness Ventura -Ventura, the 38-year-old singer known as “Cassie,” took the stand as a star witness mere weeks before she is due to give birth to her third child. She was largely composed but at times openly wept as she recounted degrading sex parties she said Combs coerced her into for years, at times weekly.Combs would direct her to take drugs before the elaborately choreographed sex that routinely involved male escorts, which he dubbed “freak-offs.”The drugs were a “buffer” to withstand the “humiliating” and often-filmed sexual encounters, Ventura said.The jury was repeatedly shown disturbing surveillance footage of Combs brutally beating and dragging Ventura.It was a regular experience, she told jurors. “He would mash me in my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me on the head if I was down.”- Drugs, sex and violence -The defense acknowledged violence played a role in the relationship but said both of them were party to it.They showed jurors reams of text messages in a bid to cast Ventura as a willing participant in the freak-offs. Their relationship was tumultuous and had toxic qualities, the defense admitted, but they showed loving — and sexually graphic — texts to indicate that it was still based on a foundation of love.Ventura didn’t deny that, but she said that love — along with her reputation and career — was also a chip Combs played to control her and force her into freak-offs against her will.The defense spent significant time on issues of drug abuse, with Ventura testifying that both she and Combs were opioid addicts.Combs’s counsel implied that withdrawal symptoms and “bad” batches of party drugs could have resulted in erratic behavior.- Domestic abuse vs trafficking -There’s no question that physical assault was part of Combs and Ventura’s relationship: it’s evident in the widely publicized surveillance footage from the hotel incident that was already seared into the public consciousness prior to trial.But the defense contends that while Ventura’s relationship with Combs included domestic abuse, it did not amount to sex trafficking. She behaved erratically and even violently herself, they said.Ventura was the first of two anticipated witnesses — the other is anonymously identified as Jane — included in the sex trafficking charges Combs faces.During opening statements Combs’s defense lawyer Teny Geragos called Combs’s accusers “capable, strong adult women,” and said his situation with Ventura was a “toxic relationship” but “between two people who loved each other.”- Combs familial entourage -Lawyers on both sides as well as Ventura have described Combs as “larger than life.” The artist made hundreds of millions in the music, fashion, media and liquor industries and is often credited with helping to take hip-hop mainstream.But the rap producer and global superstar once famous for his lavish parties now appears visibly aged after months in prison, his once jet-black hair now gray.His court entourage has included his mother along with a rotating cast of his seven children, including his 18-year-old twin daughters.- What’s next -To successfully convict Combs prosecutors must prove that he ran a criminal enterprise in which he and employees conspired to do his bidding at all costs.The government also alleges that Combs sex-trafficked Ventura and Jane through coercion or force.The prosecution is expected to show that Combs’s inner circle committed or helped with crimes at his behest, including sex crimes but also arson and kidnapping.Other witnesses have included a former hotel security guard who responded to a distress call from Ventura after a freak-off, a male escort who participated in the sex parties, and a special agent who was present for Combs’s arrest last year.Currently on the stand is 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.After that, prosecutors indicated Kerry Morgan, Ventura’s former but longtime best friend, and Ventura’s mother are expected to testify.

Ten prisoners escaped a New Orleans jail early Friday after breaking through a wall behind a toilet, law enforcement said, slipping away without being detected until hours later.A manhunt is underway in the tourist hub, the southern state of Louisiana’s largest city, for nine fugitives who police say “are considered to be armed and dangerous.” One inmate is back in custody after being found hiding under a car in a tourist area Friday morning.Shortly after midnight (0500 GMT), the inmates broke through a wall behind a toilet, worked their way through the jail, then jumped over an enclosure wall, escaping the facility undetected until 8:30 am. That’s when a headcount revealed they were gone.At first, law enforcement erroneously said 11 inmates had escaped, but the number was later revised to 10.Media reports said some of the men are accused of murder, and circulated a photograph of the inside of a cell after the escape. The photo showed a rectangular hole leading out of a cell, the wall above it scrawled with obscene graffiti that says “we innocent,” “we out” and “to (sic) easy.”