A jury on Thursday found that rapper Soulja Boy was liable for sexually assaulting and physically and emotionally abusing a former assistant, awarding the woman more than $4 million in damages. The decision from the Los Angeles County jurors came after a three-week trial in Santa Monica, California. The 34-year-old Soulja Boy, whose legal name is DeAndre Cortez Way, was found liable for assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Jurors did not find him liable for false imprisonment and other allegations. They found the woman should get about $4 million in compensatory damages and another $250,000 in...
Spain’s Prime Minister Visits China, To Strengthen Ties With Trump’s Top Tariff Target
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is visiting China on Friday, his third trip to the country in two years as his government seeks to boost investment from the Asian giant amid global economic uncertainty caused by a chaotic U.S. tariff policy. Sánchez met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and was expected to meet as well as business leaders from several Chinese companies, many of which produce electric batteries or renewable energy technologies. The visit comes at a complex moment for Europe and China. The tariffs announced last week — and then paused — by U.S. President Donald Trump could mean that the European Union pursues more trade with China —...
The Living Buried Their Dead, Search Ends For Victims In The Dominican Nightclub Collapse That Killed 221
A merengue icon, a baseball star and others killed when a cement roof collapsed at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic were buried Thursday, as authorities called off the search for bodies with the death toll at 221. Mourners clad in black and white streamed into Santo Domingo’s National Theater, where the body of singer Rubby Pérez lay inside a closed coffin. Pérez had been performing on stage at the packed Jet Set club early Tuesday when dust began falling from the ceiling and, seconds later, the roof caved. President Luis Abinader and first lady Raquel Arbaje arrived at the theater and stood...
State Department Discloses U.S. Ambassador To Ukraine Will Be Stepping Down As Peace Talks Is Not Guarantee
After three years in Kyiv, Bridget Brink the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is stepping down from her post amid uncertainty over the Trump administration’s attempts to broker a peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Brink assumed the job under former President Joe Biden’s administration and has been a staunch advocate for U.S. military assistance to Ukraine. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters: “Ambassador Brink has been at the embassy in Ukraine for three years during a time of war, for those three years it’s been an extraordinary performance there. And we wish her well. “At the same time, of...
Australian Woman Unknowingly Gives Birth To A Stranger’s Baby After IVF Clinic Error
A woman in Australia unknowingly gave birth to a stranger’s baby after she received another patient’s embryo from her in vitro fertilization clinic due to “human error,” the clinic said. The mix-up was discovered in February when the clinic in the city of Brisbane found that the birth parents had one too many embryos in storage, said the provider, Monash IVF, in a statement supplied Friday. Staff discovered an embryo from another patient had been mistakenly thawed and transferred to the birth mother, a spokesperson said. Australia news outlets reported the baby was born in 2024. Monash IVF didn’t confirm how old...
Schools In Beirut Suburb Fear Return To War After New Israeli Strikes
It was a typical Friday lunchtime in Beirut’s southern suburb. Then, a single warning, posted in Arabic on X by a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), triggered panic and chaos in the densely populated area known as Dahieh. “Urgent warning to those in the southern suburb of Beirut,” it read. The post included a map of a residential area, marking a building in red and two nearby schools. The IDF identified the building as a Hezbollah facility, and ordered the immediate evacuation of the schools. An air strike was imminent. What followed were scenes of sheer panic. Parents...
Israel Releases Palestinian Teen After Serving Nine Years In Prison
Ahmed Manasra who was jailed by Israel for an attack when he was 13 has been released after nearly a decade in prison. Surveillance footage showed the Palestinian him and his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan, brandishing large kitchen knives in a Jewish settlement in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. Hassan wounded a 13-year-old Israeli boy and an Israeli man before he was shot dead by police. Manasra’s case has long been a focus of human rights groups. Amnesty International said he endured “shocking ill-treatment”, including nearly two years of solitary confinement, causing him to develop serious mental illness. His lawyer, Khaled Zabarqa told the...
Activities Halt In Argentina, Union Protest Against President Milei’s Tough Measure To Tackle Hyperinflation
A general strike against public spending cuts in Argentina has severely disrupted transport, affecting domestic flights, while trains and metro services have been suspended in Buenos Aires and other parts of the country. This is coming after President Javier Milei slashed subsidies for transport, fuel and energy, fired tens of thousands of public servants and closed government departments. It’s the third general strike called by Argentina’s unions since Milei took office at the end of 2023. Since then, the president has introduced tough austerity measures to tackle hyperinflation. His plan has worked so far, with inflation down from more than...