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A criminology student who crept into a shared house and murdered four young people in their beds as they slept was told Wednesday he would die in prison, in a case that has gripped and baffled the United States.Bryan Kohberger has never explained his motive for carrying out the murders and sat passively in an Idaho court as he heard heart-wrenching statements from families of the four students he stabbed to death in 2022 in the small town of Moscow.But in a deal that took the death penalty off the table earlier this month, he agreed to plead guilty to the horrific killings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.At an emotional sentencing hearing in Boise, Kohberger again refused to offer any justification when offered the chance to speak, telling Judge Steven Hippler: “I respectfully decline.”Handing down four life sentences without the possibility of parole, Hippler said the heartbroken families may never know why Kohberger killed their loved ones.”The need to know what is inherently not understandable makes us dependent upon the defendant to provide us with a reason, and that gives him the spotlight, the attention and the power he appears to crave,” he said.”In my view, the time has now come to end Mr Kohberger’s 15 minutes of fame.”It’s time that he been consigned to the ignominy and isolation of perpetual incarceration.Kohberger was studying for a doctorate degree in criminology at Washington State University in 2022 when he drove to the small town of Moscow in the neighboring northwestern US state of Idaho.There, he broke into a shared student house and went from room to room stabbing four of the six occupants to death.The investigation that followed was a national and international sensation, attracting lurid speculation from all corners of the internet, fuelled by a police policy of refusing to release details on the probe.Then, on December 30, Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania thousands of miles (kilometers) away, after DNA found on a knife sheath was traced to him.He continued to deny the charges, despite mounting evidence, and appeared set to go to trial until this month when a shock plea deal was announced.Not all families were happy with the agreement, with the Goncalves family saying it was “shocking and cruel” that he would not face a firing squad.”After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families on the plea’s details,” the family wrote in a statement when the deal was announced.”Bryan Kohberger facing life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world. Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever,” they said.Friends and family of the victims attending the sentencing on Wednesday paid tribute to their loved ones, while many dismissed Kohberger as a “failure” or said they hoped fellow prisoners would mete out justice.Others said they had faith that God would punish him.”Man, you’re going to go to hell,” Kernodle’s stepfather Randy Davis told Kohberger, shaking with rage.”You’re evil. There’s no place for you in heaven. You took our children. You are going to suffer, man.”

The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives on Wednesday sent lawmakers home early for a six-week summer break to avoid being forced into awkward votes on the probe into the late, politically connected sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The furor around the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking minors, is still roiling Donald Trump’s administration two weeks after his Justice Department effectively closed the case, announcing there was no more information to share.Democrats in the House — keen to capitalize on the simmering controversy — have been trying to force a vote that would compel the publication of the full Epstein case files.Desperate to avert the effort, the Republican leadership canceled votes scheduled for Thursday, sending lawmakers home for the August recess a day early.House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump loyalist, sought to frame the early finish as business-as-usual, insisting that many lawmakers would be continuing committee work rather than heading back to their districts, and denying claims of a cover-up.  “Democrats said nothing and did nothing — absolutely nothing — about bringing transparency for the entire four years of the Biden presidency,” Johnson told reporters at the US Capitol.”Now, all of a sudden, they want the American people to believe that they actually care. Their actions belie their words.”But Democrats accused the majority Republicans of running scared of their own voters, many of whom have been demanding more transparency.”As it relates to releasing the Epstein files that every single one of the top leaders of the Trump Justice Department — and the Trump FBI and the vice president and the president himself — promised to release, Republicans are on the run,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.In a July 7 memo, the Justice Department said the Epstein “client list” that Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have been reviewing did not in fact exist, and reaffirmed that he died by suicide in his prison cell. It sparked a furious backlash from Trump’s “MAGA” support base, who have for years been told by their leaders that a “deep state” cover-up was protecting figures in the Democratic Party whom they accuse of being Epstein’s clients.- ‘Dirtbags’ -Trump’s MAGA lieutenants — including two allies who have since been hired to run the FBI — made careers of fanning the conspiracy theories, including that Epstein’s suicide was actually a murder ordered by his powerful clients.Prominent online influencers and media figures in the movement — as well as ordinary voters — have spoken of feeling betrayed after Trump began publicly castigating them for wanting answers. Further complicating the issue for Republicans, Trump’s own ties to Epstein are extensive.The pair were frequently pictured partying together during a 15-year friendship before they fell out in 2004 over a property deal.The White House has been furiously pushing back against a Wall Street Journal report that said Trump had contributed a “bawdy” letter with his signature for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. Under the biggest political pressure in the first six months of his second presidential term, Trump has authorized Bondi to release “credible” Epstein information and has asked courts to unseal grand jury transcripts in the case. Bondi’s deputy Todd Blanche said this week he was seeking a meeting with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes.With a Republican rebellion in the House gathering pace, the Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee had already voted to subpoena Maxwell to talk with lawmakers at her Florida prison.”We’ve got to send a message to these dirtbags that do this, that this is not acceptable behavior,” said Republican Tim Burchett, who introduced the motion.Epstein admitted two state felony prostitution charges in 2008 as part of a plea deal — arranged by a prosecutor who would go on to serve in Trump’s cabinet — that was widely criticized as being too lenient. 

President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled an aggressive, low-regulation strategy on Wednesday boosting big tech’s race to stay ahead of China on artificial intelligence and cement US dominance in the fast-expanding field.The 25-page “America’s AI Action Plan” outlines three aims: accelerating innovation, building infrastructure, and leading internationally on AI. Overall, the administration frames AI advancement as critical to maintaining economic and military supremacy. Environmental consequences in the planning document are sidelined.”We believe we’re in an AI race…and we want the United States to win that race,” said the White House’s AI point person David Sacks in a call with reporters.Trump was expected to formally announce the plan at an event later Wednesday and sign a series of executive orders to give key components of the strategy additional legal weight.In its collection of more than 90 government proposals, the plan calls for sweeping deregulation, with the administration promising to “remove red tape and onerous regulation” that could hinder private sector AI development.Much of that work has already been carried out through a Trump executive order repealing the AI policies of the Biden administration. The plan also asked the Federal Communications Commission to find ways to legally stop US states from implementing their own AI regulations and threatened to rescind federal aid to states that did so.The American Civil Liberties Union warned this would thwart “initiatives to uphold civil rights and shield communities from biased AI systems in areas like employment, education, health care, and policing.” The Trump action plan also calls for AI systems to be “free from ideological bias” and designed to pursue objective truth rather than what the administration calls “social engineering agendas.”This criterion would apply to AI companies wanting to do business with the US government.A senior White House official said the main target was AI models that gave attention to diversity and inclusion concerns in programming their model output — reflecting the Trump administration’s anti-“woke” agenda.A major focus in the plan involves building AI infrastructure, including streamlined permitting for data centers and energy facilities that would overlook environmental concerns to build as swiftly as possible.AI “challenges America to build vastly greater energy generation than we have today,” the plan said.The administration, which largely rejects international science showing a growing climate crisis, proposes creating new environmental review exemptions for data center construction and expanding access to federal lands for AI infrastructure development.- Job replacement -Addressing fears that AI will replace humans and create mass job losses across entire sectors, the administration’s plan says instead that “AI will improve the lives of Americans by complementing their work — not replacing it.”The strategy calls for efforts to “counter Chinese influence in international governance bodies” and strengthen export controls on advanced AI computing technology.The plan also proposes evaluating Chinese AI models “for alignment with Chinese Communist Party talking points and censorship.”At the same time, the strategy calls on the government to champion US technology in conquering overseas markets.These plans will help “ensure America sets the technological gold standard worldwide, and that the world continues to run on American technology,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.Critics of the plan said the policies were a gift to US tech giants that were scaling back their goals for zero carbon emissions in order to meet the acute computing needs for AI.”The AI Action Plan is yet another gift to Big Tech that clearly shows the Trump administration is again placing corporate interests ahead of the needs of everyday Americans,” said Alan Butler of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.  

The US health department said Wednesday it would end the use of a vaccine ingredient long targeted by conspiracy theorists over debunked claims it causes autism.Thimerosal, a preservative that prevents bacterial and fungal contamination in multidose vials, has been extensively studied, with authorities including the World Health Organization finding no evidence of harm.The move follows a vote by a panel of outside experts convened by Kennedy last month that voted to end the use of thimerosal in influenza vaccines for adults, pregnant people and children.Although the substance is now rarely used in US vaccines, the recommendations by the influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices alarmed experts, who said the move has effectively embedded talking points championed by the anti-vaccine movement into national policy.While 96 percent of US flu vaccines in the 2024-2025 season did not contain thimerosal, the preservative remains important in lower-income countries because they are more likely to use lower-cost multidose vials that must be punctured repeatedly, raising the risk of contamination.Thimerosal contains an artificial form of mercury called ethylmercury that is cleared from the body far more quickly than the form of the chemical found in nature. A large body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the United States and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines, but US manufacturers voluntarily removed it from most pediatric vaccines in 2001 on a precautionary basis.”After more than two decades of delay, this action fulfills a long-overdue promise to protect our most vulnerable populations from unnecessary mercury exposure,” Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. “Injecting any amount of mercury into children when safe, mercury-free alternatives exist defies common sense and public health responsibility. Today, we put safety first.”Vaccine manufacturers have confirmed they have the capacity to replace multi-dose vials containing thimerosal, ensuring supplies will remain uninterrupted, the statement added.”There is no evidence of harm from the use of thimerosal,” WHO vaccine chief Kate O’Brien told reporters last month after the US panel made its recommendations.”For some of the vaccine supply, this is a very important ingredient in order to assure that we have the doses that are needed to protect children from serious and life-threatening diseases,” she added.

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday launched an investigation into Harvard University’s ability to sponsor visiting students and academics, part of a continuing crackdown on the elite institution.Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly accused Harvard and other top US universities of having a “liberal” bias, accusing some of “antisemitism” to cut federal funding and demand greater oversight.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the latest investigation would examine whether the university was complying with regulations in the Exchange Visitor Program.That included probing whether the university was “conducting their programs in a manner that does not undermine the foreign policy objectives or compromise the national security interests of the United States.””The American people have the right to expect their universities to uphold national security, comply with the law, and provide safe environments for all students,” he said in a statement.Harvard has so far defied Trump’s calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.”Trump has cut federal grants for Harvard and tried a host of different tactics to block the institution from hosting international students.The administration has sought to remove Harvard from an electronic student immigration registry and instructed embassies to deny visas to international students hoping to attend the Massachusetts-based university.The administration insists its moves are legally justified over Harvard’s failure to protect Jewish students, particularly amid campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.Harvard has sued the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to block the efforts, arguing they are illegal and unconstitutional.The Ivy League institution has also sued to restore more than $2 billion in frozen funds. A Harvard spokesman did not immediately respond to a request from AFP for its response to the State Department investigation.

Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, filed a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday against a right-wing US podcaster who claimed the spouse of the French president used to be a man.The 218-page complaint against Candace Owens, who has millions of followers on X and YouTube, was filed by the Macrons in Delaware Superior Court and seeks a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages.In a statement released by their lawyer, the Macrons said they filed the lawsuit after Owens repeatedly ignored requests to retract false and defamatory statements made on an eight-part YouTube and podcast series called “Becoming Brigitte.””Owens’ campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety,” they said.”We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused.”It is our earnest hope that this lawsuit will set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all.”The suit accuses Owens of using her popular podcast to spread “verifiably false and devastating lies” about the Macrons including that Brigitte Macron was born a man, that they are blood relatives and that Macron was chosen to be France’s president as part of a CIA-operated mind control program.”If ever there was a clear-cut case of defamation, this is it,” Tom Clare, a lawyer for the Macrons, said in a statement.”Owens both promoted and expanded on those falsehoods and invented new ones, all designed to cause maximum harm to the Macrons and maximize attention and financial gain for herself.”Brigitte Macron, 72, has also taken to the courts in France to combat claims she was born a man.Two women were convicted in September of last year of spreading false claims after they posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging that Brigitte Macron had once been a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux — who is actually her brother.The ruling was overturned by a Paris appeals court and Macron appealed to the highest appeals court, the Court de Cassation, earlier this month.

US President Donald Trump has announced a “massive” trade deal with Japan, as China said it would send its vice premier to US trade talks next week to secure its own agreement ahead of a looming deadline.In an attempt to slash his country’s trade deficits, the US president has vowed to hit dozens of countries with punitive tariff hikes if they do not hammer out a pact with Washington by August 1.The Japan agreement, along with another pact with the Philippines also announced Tuesday, means Trump has now secured five agreements since his administration promised “90 deals in 90 days” from April’s tariff delay.The others are with Britain, Vietnam and Indonesia, which the White House said Tuesday would ease critical mineral export restrictions.Negotiations are still ongoing with much larger US trading partners China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.Representatives from China and the United States will meet next week in the Swedish capital Stockholm to try and hammer out a deal before an August 12 deadline agreed in May.As the clock ticks down, China said Wednesday it would seek to “strengthen cooperation” with Washington at the talks, and confirmed vice premier He Lifeng would attend.- Japan deal -“We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday. He said that under the deal, “Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits”.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday that Japan received a 15 percent tariff rate, down from the 25 percent threatened, as “they were willing to provide this innovative financing mechanism.””They are going to provide equity credit guarantees and funding for major projects in the US,” Bessent added.Japanese exports to the United States were already subject to a 10 percent tariff, and this would have spiked to 25 percent come August 1 without a deal.Duties of 25 percent on Japanese autos — an industry accounting for eight percent of Japanese jobs — were also already in place, plus 50 percent on steel and aluminum.Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that the autos levy had now been cut to 15 percent, sending Japanese car stocks soaring, with Toyota and Mitsubishi up around 14 percent each. The Nikkei rose 3.5 percent.”We are the first (country) in the world to reduce tariffs on automobiles and auto parts, with no limits on volume,” he told reporters.- Rice imports -Japan’s trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa, who secured the deal on his eighth visit to Washington, said the 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum would remain. Akazawa also said increased defense spending by Japan — something Trump has pressed for — was not part of the agreement.Trump said Tuesday Japan has also agreed to “open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things.”Rice imports are a sensitive issue in Japan, and Ishiba’s government — which lost its upper house majority in elections on Sunday — had previously ruled out any concessions. Japan currently imports 770,000 tons of rice tariff-free under its World Trade Organization commitments, and Ishiba said it would import more US grain within this.Ishiba said Wednesday that the deal does not “sacrifice” Japan’s agricultural sector.Tatsuo Yasunaga, the chair of Japan Foreign Trade Council, welcomed the trade deal announcement but said the business community needed to see details to assess its impact.”I highly commend the fact that this major milestone has been achieved and dispelled the uncertainty that private companies had been concerned about,” Yasunaga said.Naomi Omura, an 80-year-old voter, said it was “disappointing that Japan cannot act more strongly” towards the United States.Tetsuo Momiyama, 81, said that Ishiba “is finished… It’s good timing for him to go.”- Eyes on the prize -Other major US trading partners are watching closely as the end of the month approaches. The Philippines’ deal also announced Tuesday only saw levies cut by one percentage point, to 19 percent, after Trump hosted President Ferdinand Marcos.  China on Wednesday said it supported “equal dialogue” following the announcement of the Japan-US deal.Beijing and Washington imposed escalating, tit-for-tat levies on each other’s exports earlier this year, reaching triple-digit levels.But in talks in Geneva in May they agreed to lower them temporarily until August 12.burs-reb-bys/aha

The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives on Wednesday sent lawmakers home early for a six-week summer break, to avoid being forced into awkward votes on the probe into the late, politically connected sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The furor around the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking minors, is still roiling Donald Trump’s administration two weeks after his Justice Department effectively closed the case, announcing there was no more information to share.Democrats in the House — keen to capitalize on the simmering controversy — have been trying to force a vote that would compel the publication of the full Epstein case files. Desperate to avert the effort and unable to bring up anything but the most non-controversial bills, the Republican leadership canceled votes scheduled for Thursday — sending lawmakers home for the August recess a day early.House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump loyalist who was under pressure from the president not to allow any Epstein votes, voiced hopes that the break would provide “space” for a resolution. But Democrats accused the majority Republicans of running scared of their own voters, many of whom have been demanding more transparency.”Donald Trump, for quite a while now, has been exaggerating and exploiting this case and making a big deal out of it,” Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the powerful Rules Committee, told MSNBC. “He wins the presidency, the Republicans control both chambers and, all of a sudden, we’re told forget about it.”In a July 7 memo, the Justice Department said the Epstein “client list” that Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have been reviewing did not in fact exist, and reaffirmed that he died by suicide in his prison cell. It sparked a furious backlash from Trump’s “MAGA” support base, who have for years been told by their leaders that a “deep state” cover-up was protecting figures in the Democratic Party whom they accuse of being Epstein’s clients.- ‘Dirtbags’ -Trump’s MAGA lieutenants — including two allies who have since been hired to run the FBI — made careers of fanning the conspiracy theories, including that Epstein’s suicide was actually a murder ordered by his powerful clients.Prominent online influencers and media figures in the movement — as well as ordinary voters — have spoken of feeling betrayed after Trump began publicly castigating them for wanting answers. Trump’s ties to Epstein are extensive. The pair were pictured partying together during a 15-year friendship before they fell out in 2004 over a property deal, and when Trump subsequently denounced his former ally.The White House has been furiously pushing back against a Wall Street Journal report that said Trump had contributed a “bawdy” letter with his signature for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. Under perhaps the biggest political pressure of his career, Trump has authorized Bondi to release “credible” information and has asked courts to unseal grand jury transcripts in the case. Bondi’s deputy Todd Blanche said this week he was seeking a meeting with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes. With a Republican rebellion in the House in full swing, the Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee had already voted to subpoena Maxwell to talk with lawmakers at her Florida prison. “We’ve got to send a message to these dirtbags that do this that this is not acceptable behavior,” said Republican Tim Burchett, who introduced the motion.Epstein admitted two state felony prostitution charges in 2008 as part of a plea deal — arranged by a prosecutor who would go on to serve in Trump’s cabinet — that was widely criticized as being too lenient. 

Ozzy Osbourne was a pioneering musician but the Black Sabbath frontman was perhaps best known in the mainstream for his antics — including offending all of Texas when he drunkenly urinated on the US state’s monument to its fallen Alamo heroes.The stunt earned him a years-long ban from playing in San Antonio but after repeated apologies, the organization behind the Alamo site paid homage to Osbourne’s journey “from regret to reconciliation” in light of his death on Tuesday.”We at the Alamo are saddened to hear of the passing of legendary musician Ozzy Osbourne. His relationship with the Alamo was marked initially by a deeply disrespectful incident in 1982,” the institution posted on social media. “However, redemption and reconciliation eventually became part of his history as well.”The incident saw the self-styled “Prince of Darkness” — who was wearing his wife Sharon’s dress, in defiance of her bid to prevent him from going out by hiding his own clothes — relieve himself on the 60-foot cenotaph that stands as a Texas war memorial.The Alamo was the setting of a much-mythologized battle between Mexican and Texan troops in 1836.Osbourne was arrested and barred for years from performing in San Antonio.But a decade later, he personally apologized to the then-mayor “and expressed genuine remorse for his actions,” including donating $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.In 2015 he revisited the Alamo grounds “to learn and appreciate the site’s history,” said the institution, which added that Osbourne “openly demonstrated humility and understanding.”That visit was filmed for a television show on The History Channel.”At the Alamo, we honor history in all its complexities,” read the statement.”Today, we acknowledge Ozzy Osbourne’s journey from regret to reconciliation at the historic site, and we extend our condolences to his family, friends, and fans around the world. May he rest in peace.”The British metal trailblazer died Tuesday at age 76, mere weeks after he played his final show in his home city of Birmingham.

Sales of previously-owned homes in the United States hit their lowest rate in nine months, according to industry data released Wednesday, as high home prices and mortgage rates weighed on the market.Existing home sales dropped by 2.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.9 million, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR).A consensus forecast of analysts had expected a smaller pullback to a 4.0 million rate, according to Briefing.com.There was no change in sales on a year-on-year basis, the NAR said.But the median home price jumped by two percent from a year ago to $435,300, a record high for the month of June, the association added.”Multiple years of undersupply are driving the record-high home price,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a statement. “Home construction continues to lag population growth. This is holding back first-time home buyers from entering the market,” he added.High mortgage rates were also fueling the gloom in home sales, he said.”If the average mortgage rates were to decline to six percent, our scenario analysis suggests an additional 160,000 renters becoming first-time homeowners and elevated sales activity from existing homeowners,” Yun said.The popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged around 6.8 percent in the second half of June, according to Freddie Mac data.This was similar to the level in mid-May and mid-April, data showed.Mortgage rates were significantly lower a few years ago.The higher mortgage rates come as the US Federal Reserve has held the benchmark lending rate steady this year, with policymakers closely monitoring the economic effects of President Donald Trump’s fresh tariffs.But Trump has repeatedly criticized this approach — despite economists’ warnings that tariffs could fuel inflation over time and bog down growth.Early Wednesday, Trump wrote in a social media post that “Housing in our Country is lagging” as the Fed “refuses to lower Interest Rates.”He reiterated his call for interest rates to be three percentage points lower than they currently stand.While lower interest rates can be a boost to the economy, they can also be associated with higher consumer prices.