World

U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian sentenced Sean Combs to 50 months behind bars. Prosecutors had sought an 11-year, three-month prison term for his Mann Act conviction, while the defense was aiming for a 14-month sentence, which would have amounted to time served. Combs, 55, was taken into custody in September last year so he’ll have more than a year of credit …

Sean “Diddy” Combs will be sentenced Friday for his conviction on two prostitution-related counts, crimes prosecutors say deserve more than a decade behind bars as the music mogul seeks “mercy” and a swift release. Following two months of often searing testimony and arguments in the New York federal case, jurors in July rejected the most serious charges of sex trafficking …

Mediators have made contact with the head of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, who has indicated he does not agree to the new US ceasefire plan, the BBC understands. Israel has pressed on with its offensive in Gaza City since President Trump unveiled his peace plan Izz al-Din al-Haddad is thought to believe the plan was designed to finish Hamas, …

Dozens of activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, have been detained by Israeli forces after a flotilla carrying aid bound for Gaza was intercepted. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said several vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) had been “safely stopped” and those aboard were being transferred to an Israeli port to be deported. The boats intercepted were in international …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government was thrown into a shutdown Wednesday with no easy endgame in sight, as Democrats held firm to their demands to salvage health care subsidies that President Donald Trump and Republican in Congress have dismissed as something to possibly discuss later. The White House threatened mass layoffs of federal workers, rather than simply the normal furloughs, in a matter of days, seizing …

Israel is becoming increasingly isolated on the world stage as the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza continue, with the backlash seeping into economic, cultural and sporting arenas. International condemnation has soared since Israel announced a ground assault on Gaza City and conducted an unprecedented strike against Hamas leadership on Qatari soil. It also comes as an independent UN inquiry …

A federal grand jury in the US state of Virginia has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on two charges related to his testimony to Congress. Mr Comey, who has long drawn US President Donald Trump’s criticism, is accused of lying to Congress during his September 2020 testimony over whether he authorised the leak of classified information to the media. …

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has terminated the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative, following widespread protests in Japan over concerns that the programme would trigger increased immigration from Africa. The agency scrapped the initiative after struggling to contain the slew of misinformation online about it. The “hometown” agreement, announced by JICA at an African development conference in Yokohama in August, …

Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Tinubu, presented Nigeria’s national statement at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday. In the address, Tinubu urged the UN to give Nigeria permanent membership, stressing the country’s role and influence within Africa and the global community. He also called on nations with strategic mineral resources to …

After regularly testing the guardrails of American democracy in his second term, President Donald Trump is now busting through them — at a breakneck pace. The Justice Department on Thursday secured an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, just days after Trump urged it to prosecute him and forced out the prosecutor who resisted charging the president’s political foes. The situation epitomizes …