AFP USA

Republican fiscal hawks on Friday sunk a key vote on advancing the mega-bill that is the centerpiece of Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, in a significant setback for the US president’s tax and spending policies.Trump is pushing to usher into law his so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill” pairing an extension of his first-term tax cuts with savings that will see millions of the poorest Americans lose their health care coverage.But a congressional Republican Party riven with divisions and competing in its rank-and-file has complicated the process, raising serious doubts that the sprawling package can pass a vote of the full House of Representatives next week.Despite a social media post by Trump calling holdouts in his party “grandstanders,” five conservatives in the Republican-led House Budget Committee joined Democrats on Friday to reject the legislation.”This bill falls profoundly short. It does not do what we say it does with respect to the deficit. We are writing checks we cannot cash and our children are going to pay the price,” said Texas conservative Chip Roy.  The panel was tasked with bundling together the 11 different bills Republicans have approved over recent weeks through their policy committees — typically a perfunctory, if necessary, step on the way to the House floor.The budget committee’s no vote is not the final word on the package, which will be reworked and sent back to the panel for more debate starting 10:00 pm on Sunday (0200 GMT Monday), and a fresh vote.But it laid bare disagreements that have so far proved intractable between the party’s coastal moderates and its right flank that could still spin the president’s agenda off the rails.The Energy and Commerce Committee has passed cuts totalling more than $880 billion over a decade from health care, mostly from the Medicaid insurance program that covers 70 million low-income Americans.The Congressional Budget Office found that the panel’s work would mean 8.6 million additional people losing health insurance — stoking concerns among Republican moderates. But conservatives are furious that the package does not go further in cutting spending — pointing specifically to work requirements for Medicaid entitlement that do not kick in until the end of Trump’s term. The so-called SALT Republicans — a faction demanding bigger deductions in state and local taxes — are also at loggerheads with the leadership. House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to spend the weekend seeking compromise with his party’s rebels.But it will be a fraught balancing act, as any concession he makes to the debt hawks could cause a chain reaction of defections from the moderates.Republican senators meanwhile have made no secret of their intention to make major changes when the package reaches the upper chamber.”We’ve been talking with the House and there’s a lot of things we agree on… But there’ll be changes in a number of areas,” John Hoeven of North Dakota told NBC.

Defense lawyers for music mogul Sean Combs on Friday cross-examined his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura for a second day at his sex trafficking trial, seeking to poke holes in her testimony and portray her as erratic. 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. Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, is the prosecution’s star witness: she has told jurors in Manhattan federal court that Combs raped, beat and forced her into drug-fueled sex parties during their more than 10 years together.But the defense is attempting to damage her credibility by emphasizing the length of the relationship, her decision to stay with him despite her testimony that he repeatedly abused her, and her own at times questionable behavior.”I will kill you,” Ventura was heard angrily saying in an audio recording to a man she believed had a video of one of the so-called “freak-offs” — choreographed sex sessions that involved Combs, Ventura and male escorts, lasting for hours, even days.”I will cut you,” she said. ” I will put you in the ground.”Ventura, who is heavily pregnant with her third child, did not contest the contents of the recording aired Friday for jurors, and continued to reply in a calm manner, on day four of her marathon testimony. She often rubbed her belly while on the stand.On Thursday, defense lawyer Anna Estevao meticulously highlighted loving moments between the couple, as well as implying that drug addiction played a key role in Combs’s rage that Ventura has testified left her systematically battered.Much of it has focused on a ream of text exchanges between the couple — some were loving, others sexually graphic.”I’m always ready to freak off lolol,” read one of the messages from Ventura to Combs — dated August 5, 2009, when she was 22 and Combs was 39.Ventura said she and Combs both suffered from addiction to opioid drugs, and the defense implied that withdrawal symptoms and “bad” batches of party drugs could have resulted in erratic behavior.Ventura emphasized the subtext, saying that messages that might seem benign or even pleasant to outsiders contained pressures or other meanings that were clear to her.She also suggested on Thursday that Estevao might be cherry-picking elements that cast Combs in the best light.”This isn’t about what I feel is relevant, right? Because there’s a lot that we skipped over,” Ventura said of the voluminous text records she was given to read.- Domestic abuse or sex trafficking? -Combs, 55, was once one of the most powerful figures in the music industry, and is often credited with helping to bring hip-hop into the mainstream.His “white parties” filled with A-list celebrity guests — all of them wearing white — were the stuff of showbiz lore.But the one-time rap producer and global superstar now appears visibly aged after months in prison, his hair now gray.He has pleaded not guilty to all charges but could go to prison for life if convicted.Ventura spent two days on the stand giving vivid accounts of the coercive sex parties demanded by Combs — she participated in hundreds, she testified — and his routine brutal beatings of her.Jurors were shown a surveillance video from 2016 showing Combs beating, kicking and dragging Ventura in a hotel corridor.But the defense contends that while Ventura’s relationship with Combs was complicated and included domestic abuse, it did not amount to sex trafficking and that she behaved erratically and even violently herself.Judge Arun Subramanian has urged the defense to wrap up cross-examination of Ventura by Friday given her late-stage pregnancy, and attorneys said they would attempt to comply.Prosecutors indicated Dawn Richard — a singer who found fame on MTV’s reality show “Making the Band,” which Combs produced — will be among the next witnesses.Richard sued Combs last year on allegations including sexual assault and battery. She said in the court documents she had witnessed Combs physically abuse Ventura.

An American-Lebanese man was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday for trying to kill novelist Salman Rushdie with a knife at a New York cultural center in 2022.Hadi Matar, 27, was convicted in February of attempted murder and assault for the stabbing, which left Rushdie blind in one eye.Matar received the maximum sentence of 25 years in Chautauqua County Court for the attack on Rushdie and seven years for assault on the moderator of the speaking event, who was also on stage.Judge David Foley ordered the sentences to run concurrently.The British-American author did not attend the sentencing but submitted a victim impact statement.Matar also faces separate federal terrorism charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.Video of the attack was played during the trial and showed Matar rushing the stage and plunging a knife into Rushdie.  “It was a stab wound in my eye, intensely painful, after that I was screaming because of the pain,” Rushdie told jurors, adding that he was left in a “lake of blood.”Matar — who shouted pro-Palestinian slogans on several occasions during the trial — stabbed Rushdie about 10 times with a six-inch blade.He previously told media he had only read two pages of Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” but believed the author had “attacked Islam.”Matar’s lawyers had sought to prevent witnesses from characterizing Rushdie as a victim of persecution following Iran’s 1989 fatwa calling for his murder over supposed blasphemy in the novel.Iran has denied any link to the attacker and said only Rushdie was to blame for the incident.- Life-threatening injuries -The optical nerve of Rushdie’s right eye was severed in the attack.His Adam’s apple was lacerated, his liver and small bowel penetrated, and he became paralyzed in one hand after suffering severe nerve damage to his arm.Rushdie was rescued from Matar by bystanders. Last year, he published a memoir called “Knife” in which he recounted the near-death experience.His publisher announced in March that “The Eleventh Hour,” a collection of short stories examining themes and places of interest to Rushdie, will be released on November 4, 2025.Rushdie, who was born in Mumbai but moved to England as a boy, was propelled into the spotlight with his second novel “Midnight’s Children” (1981), which won Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India.But “The Satanic Verses” brought him far greater, mostly unwelcome, attention.Rushdie became the center of a fierce tug-of-war between free speech advocates and those who insisted that insulting religion, particularly Islam, was unacceptable under any circumstance.Books and bookshops were torched, his Japanese translator was murdered and his Norwegian publisher was shot several times.Rushdie lived in seclusion in London for a decade after the 1989 fatwa, but for the past 20 years — until the attack — he lived relatively normally in New York.

Lawyers for 252 Venezuelans deported by US President Donald Trump’s administration and imprisoned in El Salvador for two months alleged Friday that the migrants are victims of physical and emotional “torture.”A law firm hired by the Venezuelan government said that it had been unable to visit the migrants in the mega-prison where they are locked up.The lawyers are seeking “proof of life,” but say they have come up against a wall of silence from President Nayib Bukele’s administration and the Central American nation’s justice system.Grupo Ortega filed a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court on March 24 seeking an end to what it calls the “illegal detention” of the Venezuelans, but is still waiting for a ruling.”They are treating them like common criminals,” lawyer Salvador Rios said, after the migrants were shown dressed in prison clothing, shackled and with shaved heads.”This is torture,” both physical and psychological, Rios said in an interview with AFP.The lawyers delivered a letter in early May to Bukele, a key ally of Trump, requesting authorization to visit the Venezuelans, but so far without success.AFP sought a comment from the Salvadoran presidency about the case and the lawyers’ efforts, but has not received a response.Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa told French media outlet Le Grand Continent that his government merely provides a “service that we could call prison accommodation.”- Psychological damage -Trump’s administration has paid Bukele’s government millions of dollars to lock up migrants it says are criminals and gang members.Trump invoked rarely used wartime legislation in March to fly migrants to El Salvador without any court hearing, alleging they belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, a charge that their families and lawyers deny.The Venezuelans, as well as 36 deported Salvadoran migrants, are being held in a maximum security prison built by Bukele to house thousands of suspects arrested during his sweeping crackdown on street gangs.Images of the Venezuelans entering the CECOT mega-prison in shackles illustrate the brutality, Rios said.”The damage is not only physical, but also psychological,” Rios said.In their letter to Bukele, the lawyers sought permission to interview the prisoners, either in person or virtually, which could serve as “proof of life.”They asked Bukele to release the list of the 252 Venezuelans, something that Washington has not done either.One Salvadoran migrant who was initially incarcerated in CECOT — but in April was moved to a prison farm — is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a US resident deported due to what the United States itself admitted was an administrative error.A Venezuelan identified in US court documents as “Cristian” was also mistakenly expelled.In both cases, US judges unsuccessfully asked the Trump administration to facilitate their return to the United States.- ‘Complete powerlessness’ -UN human rights chief Volker Turk said this week that the situation “raises serious concerns regarding a wide array of rights that are fundamental to both US and international law.””Families we have spoken to have expressed a sense of complete powerlessness in the face of what has happened and their pain at seeing their relatives labelled and handled as violent criminals, even terrorists, without any court judgment as to validity of what is claimed against them,” he said in a statement.Isael Guerrero, another lawyer with Grupo Ortega, described the detentions as “completely illegal” because the Venezuelans “are not being legally prosecuted in any court” in El Salvador. The firm’s head, Jaime Ortega, said they are “100 percent migrants.””Not a single one of them is being prosecuted” in the United States for their alleged membership of the Tren de Aragua gang, he said.The fate of the Venezuelans now depends entirely on Bukele, as “the expulsion completely nullifies US jurisdiction,” Ortega said.In April, Bukele offered to trade the 252 Venezuelans for an equal number of political prisoners held by President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

President Donald Trump used his down time on Air Force One Friday to insult “obnoxious JERK” Bruce Springsteen and declare Taylor Swift “no longer HOT” in social media blasts against the music giants.Trump — returning from a whirlwind Middle East diplomatic trip — took to his Truth Social platform to feud with Springsteen, who this week told a British concert audience that his homeland is now ruled by a “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”In return, the 78-year-old Republican said the legendary rocker, nicknamed “the Boss,” is “Highly Overrated.””Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK,” Trump wrote in the lengthy tirade.”This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just “standard fare.” Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”Springsteen is an outspoken liberal critic of Trump and campaigned for Democratic president Joe Biden’s ultimately abandoned reelection run last year.While in Manchester on his “Land of Hope & Dreams” tour Wednesday, he told fans that “my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years” is in danger.”Raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring,” Springsteen said.Trump also had strong words for Swift, who endorsed Biden’s replacement as the Democratic candidate in 2024, Kamala Harris.In a separate post, which provided no context, the US president said: “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?'”He appeared to be referencing a post in September last year when he declared “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”Swift, 35, is the wealthiest female musician on the planet, with an estimated personal wealth of $1.6 billion, 14 Grammys and 30 MTV Video Music awards.

American R&B singer Chris Brown, former boyfriend of superstar Rihanna, was Friday remanded in custody until June 13 by a UK court, charged with assault over a 2023 incident.The judge’s decision to reject his bail request throws into doubt the start of Brown’s next tour, with shows already sold-out in the Netherlands on June 8 and Germany on June 11.Brown, a two-time Grammy winner who has sold tens of millions of records worldwide, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday at a Manchester hotel and charged over the alleged assault at a London nightclub in 2023, police said.The 36-year-old appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Friday, where District Judge Joanne Hirst remanded him in custody until a plea and trial preparation hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court on June 13.Brown is due to play in Germany that day, and has a series of shows planned in the UK and Europe during June and July, before heading to the United States.Wearing a black T-shirt, Brown spoke to confirm his name, age and the address of the hotel where he was staying.The singer is known for mid-2000s hits such as “Kiss, Kiss”, as well as a litany of legal troubles including a felony conviction for assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.He has also faced criminal accusations including sexual assault and domestic violence.- Hotel arrest -Brown was charged with “grievous bodily harm with intent” in relation to “an assault” that allegedly took place at a venue in Hanover Square in London on February 19, 2023, police said.Prosecutor Hannah Nicholls told the court the alleged victim was at the bar in the Tape nightclub in central London when he was struck several times with a bottle in an “unprovoked” attack.”The defendant then pursued him to a separate area of the nightclub where the victim was punched and kicked repeatedly by him and another,” she added.Brown was touring the UK at the time of the alleged assault.He reportedly flew into Manchester airport by private jet on Wednesday afternoon.Police detained him at the five-star Lowry Hotel in Manchester, according to media reports.Brown rose from a local church choir in Virginia to sudden fame with his rich R&B voice and later rap, but his reputation has been tarnished by allegations of domestic violence and other abuse.He was convicted of having beaten Rihanna before the 2009 Grammy Awards, forcing the pop star to miss the annual gala.In 2012, Brown was involved in an altercation at a New York nightclub with members of hip hop star Drake’s entourage, during which French basketball star Tony Parker suffered an eye injury after being hit by a thrown glass bottle.Two years later, Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting a fan in Washington.Brown was also arrested in 2016 after a woman alleged he pointed a gun at her.

World Press Photo said Friday it removed US-Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut’s name as the person credited for one of history’s most iconic pictures, the Vietnam War image “Napalm Girl”, amid doubts over its authorship.The organisation, which awards one of the world’s most prestigious photojournalism prizes, said it carried out its own investigation into the haunting 1972 photo — which shows a nine-year-old girl fleeing naked from a napalm strike — after the premiere of the film “The Stringer”.The documentary chronicles an investigation into rumours that the image, which helped change global perceptions of the US war in Vietnam, was taken by a little-known local freelancer, not Ut, the Associated Press (AP) staff photographer who won a Pulitzer Prize for the photo.World Press Photo, which awarded its Photo of the Year prize to Ut in 1973 for the black-and-white image — whose official title is “The Terror of War” — said the film had “prompted deep reflection” at the organisation.After investigating from January to May, it determined that “based on analysis of location, distance, and the camera used on that day”, two other photographers “may have been better positioned to take the photograph than Nick Ut”.”World Press Photo has suspended the attribution of ‘The Terror of War’ to Nick Ut, from today,” it said in a statement.”It is possible that the author of the photograph will never be fully confirmed. The suspension of the authorship attribution stands unless it is proved otherwise.”The Amsterdam-based organisation named the two other potential authors as Nguyen Thanh Nghe and Huynh Cong Phuc, both present for the infamous scene in the southern village of Trang Bang on June 8, 1972.Nguyen said he was certain the photo was his in interviews for “The Stringer”, which premiered at the Sundance film festival in January.AP, which said earlier this month it would continue crediting the photo to Ut, said in a statement it stood by that decision.But it acknowledged its own investigation had raised “real questions that we may never be able to answer” about the picture’s authorship.”We have found that it is impossible to prove exactly what happened that day on the road or in the bureau over 50 years ago,” it said.Ut insisted the image was his in a February Facebook post, calling claims to the contrary “a slap in the face”.The girl in the picture, Kim Phuc, survived her injuries, and is today a Canadian citizen and outspoken advocate for child war victims.World Press Photo emphasised that the authenticity of the image itself was not in question.”It is without question that this photograph represents a real moment in history that continues to reverberate in Vietnam, the United States, and globally,” said executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury.

American R&B singer Chris Brown, former boyfriend of superstar Rihanna, was Friday remanded in custody until June 13 by a UK court, charged with assault over a 2023 incident.The judge’s decision to reject his bail request throws into doubt the start of Brown’s next tour, with shows already sold-out in the Netherlands on June 8 and Germany on June 11.Brown, 36, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday at a Manchester hotel and then charged over the alleged assault at a London nightclub in 2023, police said.He appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Friday, where District Judge Joanne Hirst remanded him in custody until a plea and trial preparation hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court on June 13.Brown is due to play in Germany that day, and has a series of shows planned in the UK and Europe during June and July, before heading to the United States. The singer is known for mid-2000s hits such as “Kiss, Kiss” as well as a litany of legal troubles including a felony conviction for assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. He has also faced criminal accusations including sexual assault and domestic violence.- Hotel arrest -Brown was charged with “grievous bodily harm with intent” in relation to “an assault, which reportedly took place at a venue in Hanover Square in London” on February 19, 2023, police said.Brown allegedly attacked music producer Abe Diaw with a bottle at Tape nightclub in London’s exclusive Mayfair district, The Sun daily reported.The singer, who has sold tens of millions of records worldwide, was touring the UK at the time of the alleged assault.Brown reportedly flew into Manchester airport by private jet on Wednesday afternoon.Police detained Brown at the five-star Lowry Hotel in Manchester, according to media reports.The two-time Grammy winner rose to fame at a young age with his rich R&B voice and later rap, but his reputation was later tarnished by allegations of domestic violence and other abuse.He was convicted of having beaten Rihanna before the 2009 Grammy Awards, forcing the pop star to miss the annual gala.In 2012, Brown was involved in an altercation at a New York nightclub with members of hip hop star Drake’s entourage, during which French basketball star Tony Parker suffered an eye injury after being hit by a thrown glass bottle.Two years later, he pleaded guilty to assaulting a fan in Washington.Brown, who rose from a local church choir in Virginia to sudden fame, was also arrested in 2016 after a woman alleged that he pointed a gun at her.

Russians and Ukrainians sat face-to-face for under two hours Friday in Istanbul for the first direct talks in over three years aimed at ending their war, with expectations low for breakthroughs.Kyiv is seeking an “unconditional ceasefire” in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II which has also destroyed large swathes of Ukraine and displaced millions of people.Moscow says it wanted to address the “root causes” of the conflict and revive failed 2022 negotiations in which it made sweeping territorial and political demands of Ukraine.Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan sat at the head of a table in front of Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian flags at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace — with Russian and Ukrainian delegations facing each other, footage from the room showed.The talks concluded around 1220 GMT after just over 90 minutes, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.While the talks were ongoing, a Ukrainian diplomatic source told AFP that Russia was making “unacceptable” territorial demands in a bid to derail negotiations.Further talks may take place later on Friday but are not planned, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.Speaking at a European summit in Albania, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged a “strong reaction” from the world if the talks fail, including new sanctions.The two sides spent the 24 hours before the talks slinging insults at each other with Zelensky accusing Moscow of sending “empty heads” to the negotiating table.- Putin ‘afraid’ -Nevertheless, the fact the meeting was taking place at all was a sign of movement, with both sides having come under steady pressure from Washington to open talks.Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to travel to Turkey for the talks, which he had proposed, sending a second-level delegation instead. Zelensky said Friday Putin was “afraid” of meeting, and criticised Russia for not taking the talks “seriously”.Both Moscow and Washington have also talked up the need for a meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump on the conflict.”Contacts between presidents Putin and Trump are extremely important in the context of the Ukrainian settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, adding that “a meeting is undoubtedly necessary.”Trump had said Thursday that nothing would be settled until the two leaders met.”Our number one priority is a full, honest and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky said as talks were underway.”This must happen immediately to stop the killing and create a solid basis for diplomacy.”If a ceasefire cannot be agreed, “it will be 100 percent clear that Putin continues to undermine diplomacy,” he added.And in that case, “the world must respond. There needs to be a strong reaction, including sanctions on Russia’s energy sector and banks,” Zelensky said.- Rubio in Istanbul -Ahead of the talks, Ukrainian officials in Istanbul held meetings with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg and the national security advisors of Britain, France and Germany.Rubio urged a “peaceful” end to the war and said “the killing needs to stop”, according to State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.A Ukrainian diplomatic source in Istanbul told AFP the delegation also wanted to discuss a possible Putin-Zelensky meeting.But while the talks were ongoing, the source said Russia was advancing hardline territorial demands.”Russian representatives are putting forward unacceptable demands… such as for Ukraine to withdraw forces from large parts of Ukrainian territory it controls in order for a ceasefire to begin,” the source said.They accused Moscow of seeking to “throw non-starters” so the talks end “without any results”.Leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO chief Mark Rutte slammed Putin for skipping the Istanbul talks.Putin sent Vladimir Medinsky — a former cultural minister who is not seen as a key Kremlin decision-maker.Rubio acknowledged that the Russian representation was “not at the levels we had hoped it would be at” and downplayed expectations for a breakthrough. Russia’s Medinsky said Moscow saw Friday’s negotiations as a “continuation” of failed 2022 talks, which he led — a sign that Moscow’s hardline demands have not changed.But he pushed back against Zelensky’s criticism and insisted the Russian delegation has a mandate from Putin to “find possible solutions.”Russia has repeatedly said it will not discuss giving up any territory that its forces occupy. Kyiv’s chief negotiator is Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who has roots in Crimea, the peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. Russia continued its attacks in the hours ahead of the talks, with Kyiv saying at least two people were killed.burs-jc/cad/jm

World Press Photo suspended on Friday the credit for who took one of the most iconic pictures in history, the Vietnam War image “Napalm Girl”, after doubts were raised over the photograph’s authorship.The organisation, which awards one of the world’s most prestigious photojournalism prizes, said it carried out its own investigation into the haunting 1972 photo — which shows a nine-year-old girl fleeing naked from a napalm strike — after the premiere of the film “The Stringer”.The documentary chronicles an investigation into rumours that the image, which helped change global perceptions of the US war in Vietnam, was taken by a little-known local freelancer, not the Associated Press (AP) staff photographer Nick Ut, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the photo.World Press Photo, which awarded its own Photo of the Year prize to Ut in 1973 for the black-and-white image — whose official title is “The Terror of War” — said the film had “prompted deep reflection” at the organisation.After investigating from January to May, it determined that “based on analysis of location, distance, and the camera used on that day”, two other photographers “may have been better positioned to take the photograph than Nick Ut”.”World Press Photo has suspended the attribution of ‘The Terror of War’ to Nick Ut, from today,” it said in a statement.The organisation named the two other photographers as Nguyen Thanh Nghe and Huynh Cong Phuc, both present for the infamous scene in the southern village of Trang Bang on June 8, 1972.In “The Stringer”, which premiered at the Sundance film festival in January, Nguyen told the documentary’s makers he was certain the photo was his.AP, which said earlier this month it would continue crediting the photo to Ut, said in a statement it stood by that decision.But it acknowledged its own investigation had raised “real questions that we may never be able to answer” about the picture’s authorship.”We have found that it is impossible to prove exactly what happened that day on the road or in the bureau over 50 years ago,” it said.Ut insisted the image was his in a February Facebook post, calling claims to the contrary “a slap in the face”.The girl in the picture, Kim Phuc, survived her injuries, and is today a Canadian citizen and outspoken advocate for child war victims.World Press Photo emphasised that the authenticity of the image itself was not in question.”It is without question that this photograph represents a real moment in history that continues to reverberate in Vietnam, the United States, and globally,” said executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury.