NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul, was sentenced in Manhattan to 15 years in prison Wednesday for a felony sex crime in another #MeToo reckoning. Weinstein’s sentencing for sexually assaulting one-time TV production assistant Miriam Haley followed a legal odyssey spanning more than six years. His 2020 conviction was overturned by New York's highest court, citing testimony from other women whose allegations weren’t part of the case. A second jury found Weinstein guilty again at a retrial last year. Once among the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry, Weinstein was an Oscar-winning producer whose hits included “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat.” But his downfall came quickly after sexual assault allegations in 2017 set off the #MeToo movement. Weinstein, 74, is expected to appeal. He is now likely to remain behind bars until at least his late 80s. He has denied raping or sexually assaulting anyone. Seated in a wheelchair, he was quickly wheeled out of the courtroom after the sentencing, while some of his accusers hugg
WASHINGTON — The extraordinary showdown between President Donald Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes moved Wednesday to a courtroom in the nation’s capital, where a judge is hearing arguments on whether the president’s move banning three news organizations from White House grounds violates the Constitution. The administration has doubled down on its contention that it has the right to decide who can set foot in the White House. “Access to the White House is a privilege — not a right,” it said in a court filing late Tuesday. It also argued that the reporting of the three outlets — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — poses a threat to national security. In his early comments about the case, Trump focused not on national security but on negative coverage by the outlets and allegations of “fake news.” The proceedings are historic, said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “No president has taken this explicit of a step” to ban entire news outlets because he doesn’t like their reporting, she sa
UNITED NATIONS — Executives from three of the world's leading artificial intelligence companies briefed the UN Security Council on Wednesday amid warnings that increasingly powerful AI systems could soon improve themselves, slip beyond human control and pose a threat to international security. Among those addressing the 15-member council during the annual General Assembly gathering were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Hugging Face co-founder Clément Delangue, three of the industry's most prominent executives. "If managed poorly, I even believe that AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole," Anthropic's Amodei told the Security Council. Governments have grappled with how to oversee AI systems that are advancing faster than regulators can keep up while the United States and China — the two dominant players in AI development — remain divided over whether the technology needs global guardrails or should be left largely to market forces. “If AI is to be democratic, the most important decisions cannot be made by labs in San Francisco alone. They must be shaped t
WASHINGTON — When Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Washington for a state visit in 2015, he sought to calm the growing unease among the Americans about his country's rapid ascent. Xi largely succeeded, shaking hands with then-President Barack Obama to deepen economic ties and expand cooperation. In the Rose Garden, Obama declared that the U.S. “welcomes the rise of a China that is peaceful, stable, prosperous and a responsible player in global affairs.” Those days are over. Returning to the U.S. capital Wednesday for the first state visit in over a decade, Xi — more confident than ever — is seeking stability even as the globe's two largest economies compete over everything from artificial intelligence to space ambitions and global influence. Xi is expected to urge cooperation with the U.S. for the sake of the world. “In 2015, China was a rising power still, profoundly and quickly rising, but rising undeniably,” said Mira Rapp-Hooper, a visiting fellow at Brookings Institution's Center for Asia Policy Studies. Now, “China is risen.” Both economies have grown remarkabl
WASHINGTON — A White House official said Wednesday South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed shipbuilding cooperation and other topics during a meeting on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly this week. The official made the remarks in response to Yonhap News Agency's question about the meeting on Tuesday, where Seoul officials said that the leaders discussed key issues, including Seoul's push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines and secure rights to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel for peaceful civil purposes. "President Trump and President Lee had a brief meeting on the sidelines of the Leaders Reception at the United Nations General Assembly, where they discussed shipbuilding cooperation among other topics," the official said in an email. After the 30-minute meeting, a presidential official told reporters that Trump expressed interest in shipbuilding cooperation, as the Trump administration seeks cooperation with South Korea to rebuild the United States Navy and shipbuilding industry. Under last year's bilateral trade deal, So
Mounting inflation pressures and a strengthening economy look to be pushing the Federal Reserve towards an interest-rate hike on the eve of critical national elections, with traders on Wednesday piling into bets on a second straight Fed rate increase in late October. A closely watched measure of U.S. business activity, S&P Global's flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, jumped this month to its highest level since July 2021, S&P Global reported on Wednesday. The survey's measure of prices paid by businesses for inputs jumped to a nearly four-year high. Oil prices took a leg up on Wednesday, with Brent crude futures rising about 2 percent to $101.09 a barrel, and diesel fuel prices have surged to over $6.50 a gallon, as the US-Iran war continues to disrupt supply. Diesel has particular potential to broaden price pressures, as it powers the equipment and trucks used to make and move goods throughout the economy. The backdrop of rising inflationary risks and a strong economy means the Fed is likely to deliver more rate hikes, Fed Governor Michael Barr said on Wednesday in what's become a r
UNITED NATIONS/SEOUL — Ukraine has transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday in an address to the United Nations General Assembly. "Recently, we sent two North Korean prisoners of war to the Republic of Korea," said Zelenskyy in his speech. "These guys are not easy to capture alive. One of them, when he realized he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself. And he was shocked that fate did not let him die." Zelenskyy did not provide more details about the return. Ukraine captured the two North Koreans in Russia's Kursk region in January last year. They were the first North Korean soldiers to be apprehended alive since the country entered the Russia-Ukraine war in 2024. Zelenskyy said at the time that he would hand them over to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if he could facilitate their exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia. Human rights groups, however, urged him to repatriate them to South Korea citing the risks of punishments the soldiers faced. South Korean media reported that the two c
WASHINGTON — Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington Wednesday evening, where he received a rare greeting from President Donald Trump, who met his counterpart at the base’s airport instead of waiting for him to drive to the White House. Trump’s decision to greet Xi shows how far the U.S. president is going to honor China’s leader as he made his first state visit to the U.S. capital in more than a decade. Xi says China and the US should be ‘partners, not rivals’ In a statement marking his arrival in the U.S., China’s leader wrote that his country and the U.S. “should be partners, not rivals. Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand and the two countries can contribute to each other’s success, thereby benefiting the wider world.” Xi’s statement also suggested that the two sides “should move toward each other and work together to build a stable relationship – one where cooperation is the mainstay, competition is kept within proper limits, differences are managed and peace can be expected.
Turkey will gradually hand over control of its Bashiqa military base in northern Iraq to Baghdad, Ankara and Baghdad said Wednesday, in a move aimed at strengthening Iraqi state authority and easing a long-running source of tension between the neighbours.
The BBC has spoken to residents in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky who say they are being "constantly shelled".
Authorities in Idaho say a man found dead in a church decades ago may be connected to unsolved poisonings in 1982 that were dubbed the Tylenol murders
Explore 50 years of Vans’ skate shoe legacy, from the iconic Era to today’s fashion revival as luxury designers embrace the low-profile silhouette.
