AP-Newswatch

Hezbollah hit by a wave of exploding pagers in Lebanon and Syria. At least 9 dead, hundreds injured

BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously in parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people — including members of the militant group Hezbollah and a young girl. Officials in Lebanon say more than 2,700 were wounded on Tuesday, 200 critically. Hezbollah officials tell The Associated Press that the explosions affected a new brand of pagers used by the militant group. The explosions occurred in the suburbs of Beirut and in other areas that are Hezbollah strongholds. Hezbollah blamed the explosions on Israel. AP has reached out to the Israeli military, which declined to comment.

Florida will launch criminal probe into apparent assassination attempt of Trump, governor says

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida law enforcement officials will launch their own criminal investigation into the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump that will run parallel to the federal probe. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made the announcement Tuesday. The governor said Florida prosecutors will pursue the most serious charges available under state law, including attempted murder, in the state-level investigation into Ryan Wesley Routh. The suspect was charged Monday with federal firearms offenses. It’s not uncommon for state and federal law enforcement agencies to run simultaneous investigations into crimes. States may be able to bring charges that are unavailable at the federal level — and vice versa.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces sex trafficking and racketeering charges; Government seeks detention

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs has been indicted on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges and prosecutors want him kept behind bars. The indictment unsealed Tuesday says the music mogul abused women for over a decade and presided over a sordid empire of sexual crimes. He was arrested Monday in Manhattan. The indictment details allegations dating to 2008 that he abused, threatened and coerced women for years “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.” Recently, Combs has been sued by people who say he physically or sexually abused them. He’s denied many of those allegations, and his lawyer says Combs is innocent and will plead not guilty.

Speaker Johnson sets House vote on government funding bill after a one-week postponement

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson will move ahead with a temporary spending bill that would prevent a partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1, despite the headwinds that prompted him to pull the bill from consideration last week. The bill includes a requirement that people registering to vote must provide proof of citizenship. The requirement has become a leading election-year priority for Republicans who are raising the specter of noncitizens voting in the U.S. even though it’s already illegal to do so and research shows that such voting is rare. The legislation faces an uphill climb in the House and has no chance in the Senate.

North Carolina’s coast has been deluged by the fifth historic flood in 25 years

Parts of southeastern North Carolina have been deluged by another historic flood. Highways in Brunswick County remained underwater Tuesday, a day after about 18 inches of rain fell at nearby Carolina Beach in 12 hours. Emergency workers brought food and water to people as they waited for the flooding to recede. But the same area has seen four other floods of a lifetime in the past 25 years from Hurricane Floyd in 1999, unnamed storms in 2010 and 2015, and the benchmark flood with 30 inches of rain from Hurricane Florence in 2018. Meteorologists says warmer temperatures from climate change allows the air to hold more moisture and heavier rains to fall.

A French man admits in court to drugging his wife so that he and dozens of men could rape her

AVIGNON, France (AP) — A 71-year-old French man has admitted in court that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious. In a trial that has gripped France and raised new awareness about sexual violence, Dominique Pélicot testified Tuesday that he also raped his wife Gisèle Pélicot, who has since divorced him, and that the 50 men standing trial alongside him understood exactly what they were doing. Gisèle Pélicot also spoke Tuesday, saying she feels completely betrayed. Although Dominique Pélicot previously confessed to investigators, his testimony will be crucial for the judges to decide the fate of his co-defendants, many of whom deny wrongdoing.

Congress is gridlocked. These members are convinced AI legislation could break through

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday introduced legislation that would prohibit political campaigns and outside political groups from using artificial intelligence to misrepresent the views of their rivals by pretending to be them. The legislation was introduced as Congress has failed to regulate the fast-evolving technology and experts warn it threatens to overwhelm voters with misinformation. Lawmakers say the bill would give the Federal Election Commission the power to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in elections in the same way it has regulated other political misrepresentation for decades. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California are among those sponsoring the bill.

A key employee who called the Titan unsafe testifies the company only wanted to make money

A key employee who labeled a doomed experimental submersible unsafe prior to its last, fatal voyage testified Tuesday that he frequently clashed with the company’s co-founder and felt the company was committed only to making money. David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former operations director, is one of the most anticipated witnesses to appear before a commission trying to determine what caused the Titan to implode en route to the wreckage of the Titanic last year, killing all five on board. His testimony echoed that of other former employees Monday, one of whom described OceanGate head Stockton Rush as volatile and difficult to work with.

Instagram makes teen accounts private as pressure mounts on the app to protect children

Instagram is introducing separate teen accounts for those under 18 as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid growing backlash against how social media affects young people’s lives. The teen accounts will be private by default. Messages are restricted so they can only get them from people they follow or are already connected to. “Sensitive content,” such as videos of people fighting or those promoting cosmetic procedures, will be limited, Meta said. They will get notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes and a “sleep mode” will be enabled that turns off notifications and send auto-replies to direct messages from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m.