RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An Ohio man received supervised probation after pleading guilty to threatening to kill a North Carolina state senator in a social media message last year.

Nicolas Alan Daniels, of West Portsmouth, Ohio, entered a plea to one felony count of threatening a legislative officer last Thursday in Wake County court, according to legal documents. He received a suspended sentence of 6-17 months in addition to the two years of probation.

Daniels, 38, was arrested in February by North Carolina General Assembly police after he allegedly sent messages to Republican state Sen. Todd Johnson on Facebook last fall threatening to kill the Union County lawmaker and his family. Ohio authorities had a hand in Daniels’ arrest.

Daniels, whose first name is spelled “Nicholas” in some court documents, initially faced two felony and 10 misdemeanor counts, but prosecutors dismissed all but the single felony count as part of a plea agreement.

Daniels’ lawyers didn’t immediately respond to Wednesday emails seeking comment. During a February court appearance, Daniels said he didn’t send the threats and that his Facebook account was hacked, WRAL-TV reported.

According to a sentencing document, Daniels must undergo a mental health assessment and could serve his probation in Ohio. He also must not contact or approach Johnson.

Johnson, now in his third state Senate term, is a chairman of the chamber’s commerce and insurance committee. Neither he nor his office responded to a message seeking comment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee is opening an investigation into Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, after his indictment earlier this month on allegations of bribery, money laundering and working on behalf of a foreign government.

The committee said Wednesday that it voted unanimously to take the rare step of pursuing an investigation into Cuellar, 68, while he and his wife remain under investigation by the Department of Justice over the couple’s ties to the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

“The Committee is aware of the risks associated with dual investigations and is in communication with the Department of Justice to mitigate the potential risks while still meeting the Committee’s obligations to safeguard the integrity of the House,” said the chair, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., and ranking member, Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., said in a statement.

Cuellar, in a statement to The Associated Press, said he respects the committee’s work. He said he is “innocent of these allegations, and everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas.”

House and committee rules require that within 30 days of a member being indicted or formally charged, the committee shall either establish an investigative subcommittee to look into the allegations or publicly report its reasons for not doing so.

Guest and Rep. Glenn Ivy, D-Md., will lead the review of Cuellar. The committee cautioned in its statement that opening an investigation does not mean that the lawmaker has violated House rules.

Culler is the third lawmaker to face a federal indictment since the current congressional session began in January. He has said that he and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, 67, “are innocent of these allegations.”

In a statement in early May, Cuellar said that before he took action, “I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm.”

The indictment against the couple states that from 2014 to 2021, they accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico, and in exchange, Cuellar agreed to advance the interests of the country and the bank in the United States.

Among other things, Cuellar agreed to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the House, according to the indictment.

In addition to bribery and conspiracy, Cuellar and his wife face charges including wire fraud conspiracy, acting as agents of foreign principals and money laundering. If convicted, they face up to decades in prison and forfeiture of any property linked to proceeds from the alleged scheme.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A man accused of killing his Michigan girlfriend after returning to the U.S. following deportation was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for murder.

The case against Brandon Ortiz Vite, a Mexican citizen, became a political flashpoint in April when former President Donald Trump accused the Biden administration of failing to keep him out of the country. Ortiz Vite, 25, was deported in 2020. It’s not known whether he returned during the last year of the Trump administration or during the Biden administration.

A judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has now found enough evidence to send Ortiz Vite to trial for murder and other charges in the death of Ruby Garcia, 25, who was found dead on the side of a highway on March 22.

A message seeking comment from defense attorney Naesha Leys was not immediately returned.

Before the shooting, she and Ortiz Vite were inside a car on U.S. 131, arguing about their relationship, investigators said. Ortiz Vite is accused of shooting Garcia in the head, removing her body from the car and then driving away.

Police said the evidence against him includes his call to 911 two days later, confessing to the crime and declaring that he wanted to turn himself in. He was at a church attending Palm Sunday services when he made the call.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese national and disrupted a major botnet that officials said he ran for nearly a decade, amassing at least $99 million in profits by reselling access to criminals who used it for identity theft, child exploitation and financial fraud including pandemic relief scams.

The U.S. Department of Justice quoted FBI Director Christopher Wray as saying Wednesday that the “911 S5” botnet — a network of malware-infected computers in nearly 200 countries — was likely the world’s largest.

Justice said in a news release that Yunhe Wang, 35, was arrested May 24. It did not say where and department officials did not immediately respond to a query on that.

The cybercriminals used a network of zombie residential computers to steal “billions of dollars from financial institutions, credit card issuers and accountholders, and federal lending programs since 2014,” according to an indictment filed in Texas’ eastern district.

The administrator, Wang, sold access to the 19 million Windows computers he hijacked — more than 613,000 in the United States — to criminals who “used that access to commit a staggering array of crimes that victimized children, threatened people’s safety and defrauded financial institutions and federal lending programs,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the takedown.

He said criminals who purchased access to the zombie network from Wang were responsible for more than $5.9 billion in estimated losses due to fraud against relief programs. Officials estimated 560,000 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims originated from compromised IP addresses.

Wang allegedly managed the botnet through 150 dedicated servers, half of them leased from U.S.-based online service providers.

The indictment says Wang used his illicit gains to purchase 21 properties in the United States, China, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and St. Kitts and Nevis, where it said he obtained citizenship through investment.

In its press release, the Justice Department thanked police and other authorities in Singapore and Thailand for their assistance.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A human skull padlocked to an exercise dumbbell has been fished out of a New Orleans waterway, leaving police with a mystery on their hands.

The skull was found earlier this month by a man using a red rope and a magnet the size of a hockey puck on a bridge to pull things out of the water below, police said in a report.

The report was recently released and obtained by The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. The fisherman also found a handgun and a gun barrel in the water on May 18, police said.

The 15-pound (6.8 kilogram) dumbbell was padlocked around the skull, which was “fully decomposed, lacking a jaw or the top row of teeth,” according to the report.

The magnet fisherman flagged down a passing police officer after making the find off the Bayou St. John Bridge.

New Orleans police did not have any further updates on the case this week, and the coroner did not say whether he had confirmed the victim’s identity, the newspaper reported.

Police have been seeking tips from the public as they investigate the case.

NEW YORK (AP) — A nurse was fired by a New York City hospital after she referred to Israel’s war in Gaza as “genocide” during a speech accepting an award.

Labor and delivery nurse Hesen Jabr, who is Palestinian American, was being honored by NYU Langone Health for her compassion in caring for mothers who had lost babies when she drew a link between her work and the suffering of mothers in Gaza.

“It pains me to see the women from my country going through unimaginable losses themselves during the current genocide in Gaza,” Jabr said, according to a video of the May 7 speech that she posted on social media. ”This award is deeply personal to me for those reasons.”

Hesen wrote on Instagram that she arrived at work on May 22 for her first shift back after receiving the award when she was summoned to a meeting with the hospital’s president and vice president of nursing “to discuss how I ‘put others at risk’ and ‘ruined the ceremony’ and ‘offended people’ because a small part of my speech was a tribute towards the grieving mothers in my country.”

She wrote that after working most of her shift she was “dragged once again to an office” where she was read her termination letter and then escorted out of the building.

A spokesperson for NYU Langone, Steve Ritea, confirmed that Jabr was fired following her speech and said there had been “a previous incident as well.”

“Hesen Jabr was warned in December, following a previous incident, not to bring her views on this divisive and charged issue into the workplace,” Mr. Ritea said in a statement. “She instead chose not to heed that at a recent employee recognition event that was widely attended by her colleagues, some of whom were upset after her comments. As a result, Jabr is no longer an NYU Langone employee.”

Ritea did not provide any details of the previous incident.

Jabr defended her speech in an interview with The New York Times and said talking about the war “was so relevant” given the nature of the award she had won.

“It was an award for bereavement; it was for grieving mothers,” she said.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health says that more than 36,000 people have been killed in the territory during the war that started with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced and U.N. officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

Critics say Israel’s military campaign amounts to genocide, and the government of South Africa formally accused the country of genocide in January when it asked the United Nations’ top court to order a halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Israel has denied the genocide charge and told the International Court of Justice it is doing everything it can to protect Gaza’s civilian population.

Jabr is not the first employee at the hospital, which was renamed from NYU Medical Center after a major donation from Republican Party donor and billionaire Kenneth Langone, to be fired over comments about the Mideast conflict.

A prominent researcher who directed the hospital’s cancer center was fired after he posted anti-Hamas political cartoons including caricatures of Arab people. That researcher, biologist Benjamin Neel, has since filed suit against the hospital.

Jabr’s firing also was not her first time in the spotlight. When she was an 11-year-old in Louisiana, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on her behalf after she was forced to accept a Bible from the principal of her public school.

“This is not my first rodeo,” she told the Times.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A noose that was used in the largest mass execution in U.S. history will be returned to a Dakota tribe, the Minnesota Historical Society announced.

The society plans to repatriate what is known as the Mankato Hanging Rope to the Prairie Island Indian Community after the 30-day notice period required under federal law. It was used to hang Wicanhpi Wastedanpi — in English, Good Little Stars — also known as Chaske. He was one of 38 Dakota men executed in Mankato following the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. It has been in the society’s collection since 1869, but out of sensitivity to the Dakota people, it is not on public display.

“This is a harmful and painful object that does not reflect the mission and the values of MNHS today,” the society said in a statement Tuesday.

The society said all 11 of the other federally recognized Dakota tribal nations have expressed support for the Prairie Island community’s claim, which was made under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The federal law sets up a process for museums and federal agencies to return certain Native American cultural items, including funerary and sacred objects, to tribes and direct decedents of the people they belonged to.

Prairie Island tribal government officials expressed gratitude for the decision to return the noose.

“What happened to 38 of our relatives will never be forgotten,” Noah White, the tribe’s historic preservation officer, said in a statement. “The repatriation of this item stolen from Wastedanpi’s grave is important to all Dakota people. It serves as a vivid reminder of what happened to our relatives.” It also allows “the process of healing within our Dakota communities to continue.”

The 38 Dakota men were hanged Dec. 26, 1862, under orders from former President Abraham Lincoln. They were among 303 people initially sentenced to death in military trials that historians have described as a farce, with some taking as little as five minutes. In addition, the Native American men were denied counsel and did not understand the proceedings. Lincoln later pardoned most of them. Historians believe Wicanhpi Wastedanpi himself likely was executed by mistake.

In a donation letter that is still in the society’s collection, Capt. J.K. Arnold wrote that he took the noose from Wicanhpi Wastedanpi’s grave and hid it so that it wouldn’t be sent to Washington with the other nooses used in the hangings.

The six-week U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 exploded in southwestern Minnesota after decades of tensions between settlers and Dakota people and unkept treaty promises by government officials, according to the society. Many of the Dakota confined to a small reservation were starving when a group of Dakota men attacked some white settlers.

By the time it was over, more than 600 settlers were dead, including women and children. The society says that the number of Dakota casualties is unrecorded but that fewer than 1,000 Dakota, out of a population of more than 7,000, participated in the uprising. Many who survived were forcibly removed from Minnesota.

NEW YORK (AP) — Black passengers who were briefly ordered off an American Airlines plane in January sued the airline Wednesday, alleging that they were victims of racial discrimination.

Three of the men filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York. They said they were told to leave a plane waiting to take off in Phoenix and noticed five other black men who also had been ordered off the flight.

The men said airline employees told them they were removed because of a complaint about body odor, which they said was false. The men said they complained about discrimination.

American offered to rebook them, but when it became clear after about an hour that there were no other available flights to New York that evening, they were allowed to reboard the plane, according to the lawsuit filed by Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader.

American said it was looking into the claims.

“We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us,” the airline said in a statement. “Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people.”

In 2017, the NAACP warned Black travelers about flying on American, claiming that several African American passengers had experienced discrimination by the airline. American promised changes, and the civil-rights group later lifted the advisory.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Cleveland branch of the Federal Reserve said Wednesday that Beth Hammack, an executive at investment bank Goldman Sachs, would be its next president effective Aug. 21.

Hammack, 52, has worked at Goldman Sachs since 1993. She was most recently the cohead of global finance, and has also served as global treasurer and held senior trading roles. Hammack was named a partner in 2010.

She will follow Loretta Mester, who is stepping down June 30 after a decade as president of the Cleveland Fed. Fed presidents older than 55 when they are appointed are typically limited to 10 years in the role.

Mester was a longtime “hawk” on the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee, which meant she generally preferred higher interest rates to guard against inflation, while “doves” typically support lower rates to boost the economy and employment. Mester supported Chair Jerome Powell’s sharp interest rate hikes to combat inflation in 2022 and last year, but has also been willing to entertain the possibility of rate cuts this year and has said she believes inflation is likely to continue falling back to the Fed’s target of 2%.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A federal judge has struck down New Hampshire’s nearly 3-year-old law limiting what teachers can say about race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and other topics in public schools as unconstitutionally vague. The ruling could revive the topic as an election year campaign issue.

Republicans pitched the 2021 law as an anti-discrimination measure after the Trump administration sought to ban discussion of “divisive concepts.” It prohibits teaching public school children that they’re inferior, racist, sexist or oppressive by virtue of their race, gender or other characteristics.

Teachers found to have violated the law could face discipline including the possible loss of their licenses, and could also face lawsuits.

Educators and administrators who sued the state said they were confused about what they could legally teach. They said the law violates their freedom of speech, and they feared for their jobs.

U.S. District Judge Paul Barbadoro ruled Tuesday that the law’s phrasing about banned concepts speaks only obliquely about the targeted speech, and fails “to provide teachers with much-needed clarity” about how they might apply it, both in the classroom and in extra-curricular activities where students might initiate conversations.

“This lack of clarity sows confusion and leaves significant gaps” that can only be filled by law enforcers, which invites arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement based on a particular law enforcement authority’s point of view.

Several groups sued, including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire; the National Education Association-New Hampshire; the American Federation of Teachers-New Hampshire union; diversity, equity and inclusion school administrators; teachers and parents.

They sued New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, Commission on Human Rights Chair Christian Kim, and New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella.

The judge’s decision “means that educators across New Hampshire can nurture an equitable and inclusive school environment where all students are seen and heard,” Christina Kim Philibotte and Andres Mejia, two New Hampshire school administrators who are plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement. “It is critically important that students see themselves in the books they read and in the classroom discussions they have to ensure that they feel cared for and valued.”

The attorney general’s office is reviewing the judge’s order and considering whether to file an appeal, a spokesperson said.

New Hampshire’s law is one of many in Republican-led states that have sought to restrict classroom discussions over concerns about critical race theory, which centers on the idea that racism has been systemic in the nation’s institutions.

“Judge Barbadoro just put stopping Critical Race Theory back on the ballot in November,” Republican state Rep. Keith Ammon of New Boston posted on X.

Chuck Morse, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, was president of the state Senate when the law was crafted and passed. He called the ruling “a crucial step towards creating an educational environment that focuses on unity and equality, and I will not be deterred by this setback.”

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, has allowed a bill to become law that requires serial numbers on firearms that are privately made with individual parts, kits or 3D printers.

Scott allowed the bill, part of an effort to crack down on hard-to-trace ghost guns that are increasingly showing up in crimes, to become law without his signature. He said in a letter to lawmakers Tuesday that while he agrees that firearms should be serialized as a public safety measure, he has concerns about the law’s “practicality and impact.”

“Over the last decade, as anti-policing policies increased and criminal accountability has steadily decreased, violent crime has grown in Vermont,” Scott wrote. “This is why I believe we should instead focus on measures that will reverse these trends over those, like S.209, that are unlikely to have any measurable impact on violent crime.”

Supporters of the measure in the Democratic-controlled Legislature have said it’s critical for Vermont to keep the weapons out of the hands of people who aren’t allowed to have firearms. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last month to take up a Biden administration appeal over the regulation of the difficult-to-trace ghost guns.

The law in Vermont, a politically liberal state that also has a strong gun and hunting culture, includes penalties ranging from fines to prison time depending on the offense. A person who carries a firearm that lacks a serial number while committing a violent crime would face up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $5,000, or both.

Chris Bradley, president of the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, said last month that the legislation is a tax on law-abiding gun owners who would have to get a gun serialized and undergo a background check.

The measure also prohibits guns at polling places. The secretary of state’s office, in consultation with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and the Vermont Municipal Clerks and Treasurers Association, also is required to report to the Legislature by Jan. 15 on options for prohibiting firearms in municipal and state buildings, including the Statehouse, which some Republicans fear would lead to further gun restrictions.

Vermont is the 14th state to regulate ghost guns, according to Vermont chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Half a year after the nation’s capital bid an emotional farewell to its giant pandas, the National Zoo is expecting a renewed surge in panda-mania with the announcement that two more of the furry black-and-white icons will be coming to Washington.

The zoo announced Wednesday that a fresh agreement had been struck with the Chinese government, and a pair of adult pandas would be arriving from China by the end of the year. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute said the incoming pair are Bao Li (pronounced BOW’-lee) and Qing Bao (ching-BOW’).

“We’re thrilled to announce the next chapter of our breeding and conservation partnership begins by welcoming two new bears, including a descendent of our beloved panda family, to Washington, D.C.,” said Brandie Smith, the zoo’s director. “This historic moment is proof positive our collaboration with Chinese colleagues has made an irrefutable impact.”

Giant pandas are prized in Washington and around the nation and the world. The number of pandas in American zoos has dwindled as loan agreements lapsed during diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and China that remain high over economic relations, technology, trade, Taiwan and even a spy balloon. Washington’s three pandas returned to China last November.

For more than five decades, the institute has created and maintained one of the world’s foremost giant panda conservation programs, helping move the panda from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global list of species at risk of extinction.

Chinese President Xi Jinping had signaled during a trip in late 2023 that China would be sending new pandas to the United States. He called them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”

The zoo accompanied the announcement with a light-hearted video featuring Smith, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III and first lady Jill Biden. The trio in the video are gathered to discuss protocol for a reception to welcome unnamed honored guests. When Biden asks about attire and menu, Smith dryly replies that the impending guests are “strict vegetarians” who are “partial to black and white.”

Last November, giant pandas Tian Tian and Mei Xiang and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji, went back to China, prompting a nationwide outpouring of farewell from millions of U.S. panda fans of all ages. The trio’s departure left only one panda family remaining in American zoos, at Zoo Atlanta, and those remain scheduled to return to China later this year.

Zoo Atlanta is making preparations to return panda parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang along with their American-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, zoo officials said earlier this month.

It’s possible that America will welcome another new panda pair before the Atlanta bears depart. The San Diego Zoo said last month that staff members recently traveled to China to meet pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, which could arrive in California as soon as this summer. A separate agreement was also announced to send a breeding pair of pandas to San Francisco as well.

Pandas have been a symbol of U.S.-China friendship since Beijing sent a pair to the National Zoo in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. Later, Beijing loaned pandas to other U.S. zoos, with proceeds going back to panda conservation programs.

When U.S-China relations began to sour in recent years, members of the Chinese public started to demand the return of giant pandas. Unproven allegations that U.S. zoos mistreated the pandas, known as China’s “national treasure,” flooded China’s social media.

The National Zoo said the pandas coming to Washington are:

— Bao Li, a 2-year-old male whose name means “treasure” and “energetic.” He was born Aug. 4, 2021, at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan to father An An and mother Bao Bao. The zoo said Bao Li’s mother was born at the zoo in 2013, and his grandparents Tian Tian and Mei Xiang lived at the zoo from 2000 to 2023. It was Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, along with their cub Xiao Qi Ji, who left the zoo in November.

— Qing Bao, a 2-year-old female whose name means “green” and “treasure.” She was born Sept. 12, 2021.

A research and breeding agreement with the Chinese runs through April 2034 and, like previous ones, says any cubs born at the zoo will move to China by age 4, according to the announcement. The zoo will pay a $1 million annual fee to the China Wildlife Conservation Association to support research and conservation efforts in China.

ConocoPhillips is buying Marathon Oil in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $17.1 billion.

The deal is valued at $22.5 billion when including $5.4 billion in debt.

Crude prices have jumped more than 12% this year and the cost for a barrel rose above $80 this week.

As part of the transaction, Marathon Oil shareholders will receive 0.2550 shares of ConocoPhillips common stock for each share of Marathon Oil common stock that they own, the companies said Wednesday.

ConocoPhillips said Wednesday that the transaction will add highly complementary acreage to its existing U.S. onshore portfolio.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. It still needs approval from Marathon Oil stockholders.

Separate from the transaction, ConocoPhillips said that it anticipates raising its ordinary dividend by 34% to 78 cents per share starting in the fourth quarter.

TOKYO (AP) — A group working under the U.N. Human Rights Council has issued a wide-ranging report about rights in Japan, including discrimination against minorities and unhealthy working conditions.

The report, issued this week in Geneva, recommended various changes in Japan, such as more training in businesses to raise awareness of rights issues, setting up mechanisms to hear grievances, enhancing diversity and strengthening checks on labor conditions, as well as sanctions on human rights violations.

The U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, which visited Japan last year, is made up of independent human rights experts who work under a mandate from the council, but they don’t speak for it.

Their report listed as problem areas the gender wage gap and discrimination against the Ainu indigenous group, LGBTQ and people with disabilities, noting a long list of people it considered “at risk.”

“The crux of the challenges faced by at-risk stakeholder groups is the lack of diversity and inclusion in the labor market, on the one hand, and the prevalence of discrimination, harassment and violence in the workplace and society at large on the other,” it said.

The report called “abhorrent” the working conditions of foreigners and migrants and voiced concern about cancer cases among people working at the Fukushima nuclear plant that suffered meltdowns in 2011.

The report also said protection of whistleblowers in Japan and access to the judicial process need to be improved.

Among the issues raised in the report was alleged sexual abuse at the Japanese entertainment company formerly known as Johnny and Associates.

Dozens of men have come forward alleging they were sexually abused as children and teens by Johnny Kitagawa, who headed Johnny’s, as the company is known, while they were working as actors and singers decades ago.

Kitagawa was never charged and died in 2019. The head of Johnny’s issued a public apology in May last year. The company has not yet responded to the report.

The report said the monetary compensation that the company, now renamed Smile-Up, paid to 201 people was not enough.

“This is still a long way from meeting the needs of the victims who have requested timely remediation, including those whose compensation claims are under appeal,” the report said.

It also urged Smile-Up to offer mental health care and provide lawyers and clinical psychologists for free.

Junya Hiramoto, one of those who have come forward, welcomed the report as a first step.

“The abuse is not past us. It is with us now and will remain with us,” he said on Wednesday.

___

AP correspondent James Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

___

Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial sent their first two notes to the judge Wednesday afternoon, just a few hours after beginning deliberations.

They requested to rehear jury instructions, as well as rehear testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker about the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting where he agreed to identify negative stories for Trump, a phone call he says he had with Trump about the Karen McDougal deal, and his decision not to sell the rights to McDougal’s story to Trump.

The jury also asked to hear Michael Cohen’s testimony about the same Trump Tower meeting.

Judge Juan M. Merchan said it would take some time to gather the requested testimony. Then he’ll bring jurors into the courtroom and have it read to them.

The historic deliberations followed Tuesday’s whirlwind of closing arguments, which stretched into the evening as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass accused Trump of intentionally deceiving voters by allegedly participating in a “catch-and-kill” scheme to bury stories that might obliterate his 2016 presidential bid.

The defense approached its summation much in the same way it approached cross-examination: by targeting the credibility of star witness Michael Cohen.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, charges which are punishable by up to four years in prison. He has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

At the heart of the charges are reimbursements paid to Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.

Prosecutors say the reimbursements were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.

The case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to reach trial and is the first-ever criminal case against a former U.S. president.

Currently:

— Cohen’s credibility, campaigning at court and other highlights from closing arguments

— Rallies and debates used to define campaigns. Now they’re about juries and trials

— Biden’s campaign shows up outside Trump’s trial with Robert De Niro and others

— Another big name will be at the courthouse in Manhattan on Wednesday: Harvey Weinstein

— Trump hush money case: A timeline of key events

Here’s the latest:

JURY EXCUSED FOR THE DAY

Judge Juan M. Merchan has excused jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, ending the first day of deliberations.

Merchan said the jury can decide on its own if it wants to hear all of the instructions again, or just some, and then send him another note reflecting that decision.

He estimated that the rereading aloud of the requested testimony from former National Enquirer Publisher and Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen would take about a half hour, but he added that the relevant transcript pages were still being gathered.

Prosecutors estimated to Merchan that the sections of testimony that jurors have asked to rehear are about 30 pages and will take about 30 minutes to be reread.

The jurors deliberated for 4½ hours Wednesday.

Merchan says jurors will resume deliberating Thursday at 9:30 a.m. He said they will be summoned to the courtroom once the transcript pages are ready to be reread aloud for them.

JURY SENDS ANOTHER NOTE

Jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial have sent another note to Judge Juan M. Merchan — this time requesting to rehear jury instructions. Merchan said he will bring the jury back into the courtroom to see if it wants to hear a portion or all of the instructions.

WHY IS THE JURY SENDING A NOTE WITH REQUESTS?

The jury in Donald Trump’s criminal trial does not have a transcript of witness testimony from the case. All they have with them is a verdict sheet and a laptop loaded with documents and other exhibits presented in the case.

The panel can’t have any of the transcripts of testimony in the case while deliberating, nor can they be given a written copy of the instructions that were read to them Wednesday morning.

Instead, the panel must send a note to the judge each time it wants to have a snippet of testimony read out or get a refresher on the instructions it must follow.

JURY REQUESTS PECKER’S TESTIMONY AND MORE

The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial has made four requests in a note to the judge.

It wants to hear former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker’s testimony regarding the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting where he agreed to identify negative stories for Trump, a phone call he says he had with Trump about the Karen McDougal deal, and his decision not to sell the rights to McDougal’s story to Trump.

The jury also wants to hear Michael Cohen’s testimony about the same Trump Tower meeting.

Judge Juan M. Merchan said it would take some time to gather the requested testimony. Then he’ll bring jurors into the courtroom and have it read to them.

JURY SENDS FIRST NOTE TO JUDGE

The jury in Donald Trump’s criminal trial has sent its first note to the judge. The note’s contents have not yet been made public but will be read in court soon. The jury, which is deliberating in secret in a side room, indicated it had a note by ringing a courtroom bell at 2:56 p.m., about 3½ hours into deliberations.

While deliberating, juries can only communicate with the judge by note. They may involve questions such as requests to hear portions of testimony or rehear certain instructions.

STUCK WAITING AT THE COURTHOUSE, TRUMP RANTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Donald Trump’s complaints on social media about the hush money case persisted Wednesday as the jury deliberated.

“IT IS RIDICULOUS, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND UNAMERICAN that the highly Conflicted, Radical Left Judge is not requiring a unanimous decision on the fake charges against me brought by Soros backed D.A. Alvin Bragg,” he wrote. “A THIRD WORLD ELECTION INTERFERENCE HOAX!”

Despite his declaration, any verdict in the case has to be unanimous: guilty or not guilty.

If the jurors disagree, they keep deliberating. If they get to a point where they are hopelessly deadlocked, then the judge can declare a mistrial.

If they convict, they must agree that Trump created a false entry in his company’s records or caused someone else to do so, and that he did so with the intent of committing or concealing another crime — in this case, violating a state election law.

What the jurors do not have to agree on, however, is which way that election law was violated.

HOW LONG WILL THE JURY DELIBERATE?

Jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal trial will deliberate as long as they need to.

The standard court day runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a break for lunch. But judges sometimes extend the hours if jurors wish. In this case, Judge Juan M. Merchan already has decided that deliberations will proceed on Wednesday, which is normally a day off from the trial.

There’s no limit on how many days deliberations can continue.

WHITE HOUSE: BIDEN’S ATTENTION ISN’T FOCUSED ON TRUMP’S TRIAL

As jury deliberations get underway in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, the White House says President Joe Biden’s attention is focused elsewhere.

“The president’s focused on the American people, delivering for the American people,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with Biden to Philadelphia, where he has campaign events scheduled Wednesday. “That’s his focus.”

FACT CHECK: YES, THE JURY MUST COME TO A UNANIMOUS VERDICT

As the jury begins its deliberations in Donald Trump’s hush money case, claims are spreading across social media that Judge Juan M. Merchan told the panel they don’t need a unanimous verdict to convict Trump.

That’s false.

To convict Trump, Merchan told the jury they will have to find unanimously — that is, all 12 jurors must agree — that the former president created a fraudulent entry in his company’s records or caused someone else to do so, and that he did so with the intent of committing or concealing another crime.

What’s being distorted by some online is the judge’s instruction about how to reach a verdict about that second element.

Prosecutors say the crime Trump committed or hid is a violation of a New York election law making it illegal for two or more conspirators “to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means.”

Merchan gave the jurors three possible “unlawful means”: falsifying other business records, breaking the Federal Election Campaign Act or submitting false information on a tax return.

For a conviction, each juror would have to find that at least one of those three things happened, but they don’t have to agree unanimously which it was.

COURTROOM SHUTTING DOWN FOR LUNCH

The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money case will deliberate through the lunch hour, but no action will occur and no notes will be passed during the break. Court will resume at 2:15 p.m.

THE JURY HAS BEEN SENT TO DELIBERATE. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN?

Jury deliberations proceed in secret, in a room reserved specifically for jurors and through an intentionally opaque process.

Jurors can communicate with the court through notes that ask the judge, for instance, for legal guidance or to have particular excerpts of testimony read back to them. But without knowing what jurors are saying to each other, it’s hard to read too much into the meaning of any note.

It’s anyone’s guess how long the jury in Donald Trump’s hush money case will deliberate for and there’s no time limit either. The jury must evaluate 34 counts of falsifying business records and that could take some time. A verdict might not come by the end of the week.

To reach a verdict on any given count, either guilty or not guilty, all 12 jurors must agree with the decision for the judge to accept it.

Things will get trickier if the jury can’t reach a consensus after several days of deliberations. Though defense lawyers might seek an immediate mistrial, Judge Juan M. Merchan is likely to call the jurors in and instruct them to keep trying for a verdict and to be willing to reconsider their positions without abandoning their conscience or judgment just to go along with others.

If, after that instruction, the jury still can’t reach a verdict, the judge would have the option to deem the panel hopelessly deadlocked and declare a mistrial.

TRUMP: ‘MOTHER TERESA COULD NOT BEAT THESE CHARGES’

Former President Donald Trump told reporters after jurors began deliberating in his criminal hush money trial that the charges were rigged and again accused the judge of being conflicted. He further said that “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges.”

“What is happening here is weaponization at a level that nobody’s seen before ever and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” Trump said.

Trump repeated accusations that the criminal charges were brought by President Joe Biden’s administration to hit him, as the president’s main election opponent.

TRUMP MUST STAY IN THE COURTHOUSE

After jurors left the courtroom to begin deliberations, Judge Juan M. Merchan told Donald Trump and his lawyers that they were required to remain in the courthouse.

“You cannot leave the building. We need you to be able to get here quickly if we do receive a note,” Merchan said.

After Merchan left the bench, Trump turned and walked to chat with his son, Donald Trump Jr. and lawyer Alina Habba.

MERCHAN ADDRESSES ALTERNATE JURORS

After the main jury in Donald Trump’s hush money case left the courtroom Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan told the six alternates who remain in the courtroom that they will remain on standby in the courthouse as deliberations get underway.

He thanked them for their service and diligence, noting he saw one of the alternates go through three notebooks.

He said, “There might be a need for you at some point in deliberations.”

The alternates will be kept separate from the main jury and must also surrender their phones to court officers while deliberations are in progress. If a member of the main panel is unable to continue, an alternate can take that person’s place and deliberations will begin anew.

JURY DELIBER
ATIONS UNDERWAY

Jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial have begun deliberating after Judge Juan M. Merchan finished instructing them Wednesday morning on the law governing the case and what they can consider as they work toward a verdict.

The trial is the first-ever criminal case against a former U.S. president.

TWO ELEMENTS PROSECUTORS MUST PROVE FOR A GUILTY VERDICT

Prosecutors are required to prove two elements for each of the counts in order to find Donald Trump guilty, Judge Juan M. Merchan told the jurors.

They must find that he “personally or by acting in concert with another person or persons made or caused a false entry in the records” or a business. Prosecutors must also prove that Trump did so with the intent to commit or conceal another crime.

Prosecutors allege the other crime that Trump intended to commit or conceal was a violation of a state election law regarding a conspiracy to promote or prevent an election by unlawful means.

The alleged unlawful means that jurors must consider are:

1. Violations of federal campaign finance law

2. Falsifying other business records, such as paperwork used to establish the bank account used to pay Stormy Daniels, bank records and tax forms

3. Violation of city, state and federal tax laws, including by providing false or fraudulent information on tax returns, “even if it does not result in underpayment of taxes”

EXPLAINING ‘CONSPIRACY TO PROMOTE OR PREVENT ELECTION’

In reading instructions to the jury in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, Judge Juan M. Merchan also went over New York’s law against “conspiracy to promote or prevent election,” a statute that’s important to the case.

Prosecutors claim that Trump falsified business records to cover up alleged violations of the election conspiracy law. The alleged violations, prosecutors say, were hush money payments that really amounted to illegal campaign contributions.

Under New York law, it’s a misdemeanor for two or more people to conspire to promote or prevent a candidate’s election “by unlawful means” if at least one of the conspirators takes action to carry out the plot.

The judge noted that the law also requires that a defendant have the intent unlawfully to prevent or promote the candidate’s election — not just that a defendant knows about the conspiracy or be present when it’s discussed.

In the defense’s closing argument Tuesday, Trump attorney Todd Blanche urged jurors to reject prosecutors’ election conspiracy assertions, insisting that “every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate.”

EXPLAINING ACC
ESSORIAL LIABILITY

Judge Juan M. Merchan instructed jurors on the concept of accessorial liability, under which a defendant can be held criminally responsible for someone else’s actions.

That’s a key component of the prosecution’s theory of Donald Trump’s hush money case because while Trump signed some of the checks at issue, people working for his company processed Michael Cohen’s invoices and entered the transactions into its accounting system.

To hold Trump liable for those actions, Merchan said jurors must find beyond a reasonable doubt that he solicited, requested or commanded those people to engage in that conduct and that he acted intentionally.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass touched on accessorial liability in his closing argument Tuesday, telling jurors: “No one is saying the defendant actually got behind a computer and typed in the false vouchers or stamped the false invoices or printed the false checks.”

“But he set in motion a chain of events that led to the creation of the false business records,” Steinglass said.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.

HOW TO JUDGE THE TRUTH

The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal trial gave the jury some guidance on factors it can use to assess witness testimony, including its plausibility, its consistency with other testimony, the witness’s manner on the stand and whether the person has a motive to lie.

But, the judge said, “There is no particular formula for evaluating the truthfulness and accuracy of another person’s statement.”

The principles he outlined are standard but perhaps all the more relevant after Trump’s defense team leaned heavily on questioning the credibility of key prosecution witnesses, including the ex-president’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.

Jurors appeared alert and engaged as Judge Juan M. Merchan instructed them Wednesday morning. Several took notes as he recited instructions.

JUDGE TO JURORS: PERSONAL BIAS MUST BE PUT ASIDE

The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal trial reminded jurors Wednesday morning of their solemn responsibility to decide Trump’s guilt or innocence, gently and methodically reading through standard jury instructions that have a special resonance in the former president’s high-profile case.

“As a juror, you are asked to make a very important decision about another member of the community,” Judge Juan M. Merchan said, underscoring that — in the eyes of the law — the jurors and Trump are peers.

Merchan also reminded jurors of their vow, during jury selection, “to set aside any personal bias you may have in favor of or against” Trump and decide the case “fairly based on the evidence of the law.”

Echoing standard jury instructions, Merchan noted that even though the defense presented evidence, the burden of proof remains on the prosecutor and that Trump is “not required to prove that he is not guilty.”

“In fact,” noted Merchan, “the defendant is not required to prove or disprove anything.”

READING OF JURY INSTRUCTIONS UNDERWAY

The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial has entered the courtroom and taken their seats. Ahead of deliberations, Judge Juan M. Merchan has begun instructing the panel on the law that governs the case and what they can consider as they work toward a verdict.

Jurors will not receive copies of the instructions, but they can request to hear them again as many times as they wish, Merchan said.

“It is not my responsibility to judge the evidence here. It is yours,” he told them.

Trump leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as Merchan told jurors that reading the instructions would take about an hour.

TRUMP ARRIVES AT
COURT

Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the courthouse in lower Manhattan as proceedings in his hush money trial are set to resume.

He did not stop to speak to reporters as he typically does before entering court each day.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., joined him in the courtroom Wednesday morning and was in the first row of the gallery behind the defense table, sitting alongside Trump lawyer and spokesperson Alina Habba.

TRUMP POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA BEFORE HEADING TO COURT

Donald Trump posted again on his social media network before he left Trump Tower to head to the courthouse Wednesday morning, making another all-caps rant about the hush money trial, the judge and Michael Cohen.

He called it a “KANGAROO COURT!” and falsely claimed that Judge Juan M. Merchan barred him from defending himself by claiming that his alleged actions were taken on the advice of his then-lawyer, Cohen. Trump’s lawyers in March notified the court that they would not rely on that defense.

“THERE WAS NO CRIME, EXCEPT FOR THE BUM THAT GOT CAUGHT STEALING FROM ME!” Trump said, apparently referring to Cohen. He added: “IN GOD WE TRUST!”

Trump is prohibited under a gag order from making out-of-court statements about witnesses in the case, and he was previously penalized for comments about Cohen.

It’s unclear if Trump’s latest rant would rise to the level of a violation — or if prosecutors would seek to have the former president sanctioned for it. The judge has also indicated that he’d give Trump leeway in certain instances to respond to attacks from Cohen.

TRUMP’S MOTORCADE HEADS TO COURT

Donald Trump’s motorcade has left Trump Tower and is on its way to the courthouse in lower Manhattan where his hush money trial will resume.

The jury in the case is expected to begin deliberations after receiving instructions from the judge later in the day.

WHO IS ON THE JURY?

The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial is comprised of 18 Manhattan residents.

The main jury includes seven men and five women. There are also six alternate jurors who’ve listened to the testimony but won’t join in the deliberations unless one of the main jurors needs to drop out or is removed.

The jury members represents a diverse cross-section of the borough and come from various professional backgrounds, including a sales professional, a software engineer, a security engineer, a teacher, a speech therapist, multiple lawyers, an investment banker and a retired wealth manager.

Jurors’ names are being kept from the public.

A RECAP OF TESTIMONY JURORS HEARD IN THE CASE

Across more than four weeks of testimony, prosecutors called 20 witnesses. The defense called just two.

Among the prosecution’s key witnesses: Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, porn actor Stormy Daniels, tabloid publisher David Pecker and lawyer Keith Davidson, who negotiated hush money deals for Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Cohen testified that he paid $130,000 in hush money to Daniels at Trump’s behest weeks before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about her claims of a sexual encounter with him a decade earlier. Trump denies the encounter took place. Cohen also said Trump was involved in an arrangement to repay him and log the payments as legal expenses.

Daniels gave an at-times graphic account of the alleged encounter.

Pecker testified about agreeing to be the “eyes and ears” of Trump’s campaign by tipping Cohen off to negative stories, including Daniels’ claim.

Davidson talked about negotiating the deals and what he said was Cohen’s frustration after the Daniels deal that Trump still hadn’t repaid him.

The defense’s big witness was attorney Robert Costello, who testified last Monday and Tuesday about negotiating to represent Cohen after the FBI raided Cohen’s properties in 2018.

HOW WILL THE JURY DELIBERATIONS WORK?

Jury deliberations in Donald Trump’s hush money trial will proceed in secret, in a room reserved specifically for jurors and in a process that’s intentionally opaque.

Jurors can communicate with the court through notes that ask the judge, for instance, for legal guidance or to have particular excerpts of testimony read back to them.

But without knowing what jurors are saying to each other, it’s hard to read too much into the meaning of any note.

ANOTHER FAMOUS FACE AT THE COURTHOUSE

Donald Trump will not be the only big name appearing before a judge in lower Manhattan on Wednesday — fallen movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to appear for a hearing related to the retrial of his landmark #MeToo-era rape case.

The hearing will take place in the same courthouse where Trump is currently on trial and where Weinstein was originally convicted in 2020.

Weinstein’s conviction was overturned in April after the court found that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case. His retrial is slated for sometime after Labor Day.

A MOTION THAT STILL HASN’T BEEN DECIDED

The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial might have one last piece of business to address on Wednesday before jurors receive instructions and can begin deliberations.

Last Monday, defense lawyers filed a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case, arguing that prosecutors had failed to prove their case and there was no evidence of falsified business records or an intent to defraud.

Prosecutors rebutted that assertion, saying “the trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element” of the alleged offenses, and the case should proceed to the jury.

Judge Juan M. Merchan did not indicate at the time when he would issue a decision on the request. More than a week later, it remains unclear whether he will address it before the case goes to the jury.

WHAT MUST BE PROVED FOR A CONVICTION?

Jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are expected to begin deliberations on Wednesday after receiving instructions from the judge on the law that governs the case and what they can consider as they strive toward a verdict in the first criminal case against a former U.S. president.

The panel has a weighty task ahead of them — deciding whether to convict or acquit Trump of some, all or none of the 34 felony counts he’s charged with.

But what had to be proved for a conviction?

To convict Trump of felony falsifying business records, prosecutors had to convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that he not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely but also did so with intent to commit or conceal another crime. Any verdict must be unanimous.

To prevent a conviction, the defense needed to convince at least one juror that prosecutors didn’t prove Trump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard for criminal cases.

If the jury deadlocks after several days of deliberations and are unable to reach a unanimous verdict, the judge may declare a mistrial.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The United States has appointed a new representative to Taiwan, as China boosts its threats against the self-ruled island following the election of a new president who wants the territory to maintain its de-facto independence.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory and this week staged naval and air force drills that surrounded the island in a simulated blockade.

The American Institute in Taiwan that acts as the de-facto embassy in Taipei said Wednesday that veteran diplomat Raymond Greene would take over from Sandra Oudkirk beginning in the summer of 2024.

The U.S. cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 and established official relations with the People’s Republic of China, then a Cold War ally against the Soviet Union. Despite an absence of formal relations with Taiwan, the U.S. is the island’s strongest ally and is obligated under a 1979 law to help Taiwan protect itself from invasion.

Despite China’s intimidation, life carried on as usual in Taiwan, with politics dominated by arguments over legal changes that could make it easier for the minority Nationalist Party to cut deals with China’s ruling Communist Party, potentially undercutting Taiwan’s international competitiveness, financial advantages and high-tech economy based on its production of the most advanced computer chips.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office May 20 and urged Beijing to stop its military intimidation and said Taiwan was “a sovereign independent nation in which sovereignty lies in the hands of the people.”

Greene has previously served as deputy head of AIT, as well as at the missions in Tokyo and held various roles in Washington, largely focused on economic relations. His appointment comes as Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Sen. Dan Sullivan led a delegation to Taiwan emphasizing strong bipartisan support for the island.

Wall Street was poised to open with losses on Wednesday as some major dealmaking and a handful of earnings reports fill the news void until Friday’s latest inflation report.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each tumbled 0.6% before the bell.

ConocoPhillips said that it is buying Marathon Oil in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $17.1 billion, or $22.5 billion including debt. Marathon shares jumped more than 7%. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter and still needs approval from Marathon shareholders.

Global pharmaceutical giant Merck is buying privately held ophthalmology biotech EyeBio in a deal valued at up to $3 billion, according to EyeBio lead investor Jeito Capital. Merck shares were flat in premarket trading.

American Airlines skidded 8.6% before the bell after it slashed its profit guidance and announced that Vasu Raja, its chief commercial officer, was leaving the company in June.

Dick’s Sporting Goods rose 7.2% after it reported better earnings than analysts expected and raised its full-year profit guidance. Pet food and supply company Chewy also easily beat Wall Street’s first-quarter profit targets and its shares climbed close to 6%.

There’s little economic news to move markets until Friday, when the government releases its latest monthly report on spending by households and the incomes that they earned. The consumer spending report also includes a calculation of inflation for April that the Federal Reserve prefers to use.

The Fed has been holding the federal funds rate at the highest level in more than two decades in hopes of grinding down the economy and investment prices enough to get the annual inflation rate down to its 2% target. If it leaves rates too high for too long, it could kneecap the job market and overall economy. But a premature cut to interest rates could allow inflation to reaccelerate and inflict even more pain on U.S. households.

Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 slipped 1.1%, Britain’s FTSE was down 0.4% and Germany’s DAX declined 0.8%.

In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.8% to 38,556.87. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.3% to 7,665.60. South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.7% to 2,677.30. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.8% to 18,477.01, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, edging up less than 0.1% to 3,111.02.

The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for China’s economic outlook, saying it expects the No. 2 economy to grow at a 5% annual pace this year. But it also warned that consumer-friendly reforms are needed to sustain strong, high-quality growth.

In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 61 cents to $80.44 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, added 57 cents to $84.51 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 157.28 from 157.12 Japanese yen. The euro cost $1.0848, down from $1.0857.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 closed little changed, just below its record set a week ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%, while gains in technology stocks pushed the Nasdaq composite up 0.6% to another all-time high.

NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan prosecutors told a judge Wednesday they are evaluating new claims of sexual misconduct made against Harvey Weinstein and could potentially seek a new indictment against the former movie mogul ahead of his scheduled retrial on rape charges later this year.

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said during a court hearing that additional people have come forward with assault claims and prosecutors are currently assessing which fall under the statute of limitations.

She said some potential survivors that were not ready to step forward during Weinstein’s first trial may now be willing to testify.

When asked by Judge Curtis Farber whether there was a possibility of prosecutors filing a new indictment, Blumberg replied: “Yes, your honor.”

Weinstein appeared before the judge Wednesday afternoon in the same New York City courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial.

He entered the court in a wheelchair, as he has during other recent court hearings after his 2020 conviction was tossed out.

Blumberg said prosecutors would be in a better position to update the court on the direction of the case at the end of June. The retrial on the rape charge is tentatively scheduled for some time after Labor Day.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, also addressed a letter prosecutors sent to the judge l ast week asking him to remind Weinstein’s lawyers not to discuss or disparage potential witnesses in public ahead of the retrial.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argues that Aidala made statements earlier this month that were meant to intimidate Miriam Haley, a former TV and film production assistant who Weinstein was convicted of sexually assaulting.

Aidala apologized to the judge but said he didn’t intend to intimidate anyone and that it is the defense’s position that “lies were told at the last trial, and will be told at this one.”

Farber, in response, directed both sides to “refrain from pandering to press,” saying the case will “not be decided in the court of public opinion” but in the court of justice.

He also set the next court date for July 9.

Weinstein’s original trial was held in the same courtroom where Trump is on trial now, but the two men were unlikely to bump into each other. Weinstein is in custody and was brought to and from the courtroom under guard. He appeared in a courtroom on a different floor than where Trump is currently on trial.

At his 2020 trial, Weinstein was convicted of raping Jessica Mann, an aspiring actor, and of sexually assaulting Haley. But last month New York’s highest court threw out those convictions after determining that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that weren’t part of the case. Weinstein, 72, has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

The New York ruling reopened a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures. The #MeToo era began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein.

Speaking outside of court on May 1, Aidala said Haley lied to the jury about her motive in coming forward and that his team planned an aggressive cross-examination on the issue “if she dares to come and show her face here.”

Haley has said she does not want to go through the trauma of testifying again, “but for the sake of keeping going and doing the right thing and because it is what happened, I would consider it.”

The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as both Haley and Mann have.

Weinstein, who had been serving a 23-year sentence in New York, was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and is still sentenced to 16 years in prison in California.

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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

“Drag is joy, but it’s under attack. Our very existence, our self-expression, our art — all of it is being threatened. And we’ve had enough.”

That’s the opening salvo of Qommittee, a group of drag performers banding together to protect and promote their art form, as it announced its formation ahead of June’s LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

“We’ve always had to fight tooth and nail for our place in this world,” the group said in a news release Wednesday. “But now, we’re also battling a tidal wave of hate — doxxing, harassment, death threats, armed protests, bombings, and even shootings.”

Qommittee consists of about 10 drag performers nationwide who have experienced, directly or indirectly, threats, harassment or violence related to their art form. One had a venue firebombed in Ohio; one performed at Club Q in Colorado Springs and helped victims the night of the shooting there that killed five people; and one worked at Club Q and at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, where a gunman killed 49 people in 2016.

Qommittee says it hopes, among other things, to connect drag performers and communities lacking in local support to resources including legal aid and therapy. It may also help performers and venues navigate the business.

The group is already working to create dialogue between its members and local law enforcement agencies, organizers said.

“The Qommittee stands as a kind of a central hub for other communities across the country, the performance communities across the country, to find resources to help them, whether it is negotiating with venues or … helping defend against the many protests against drag shows that we’ve seen,” said Qommittee President B Williams, a drag king who performs in Washington, D.C., as Blaq Dinamyte.

In recent years, conservative activists and politicians have complained about what they call the “sexualization” or “grooming” of children by drag performers, often via popular drag story hours, in which performers read age-appropriate materials to children, or drag brunches, whose venues generally warn patrons of material unsuitable for children.

There is a dearth of evidence that drag performers harm children. Just last week, a jury awarded more than $1 million to an Idaho performer who accused a far-right blogger of defaming him by falsely claiming he exposed himself to a crowd that included children.

Still, the idea of drag as a threat has caught on as another form of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. Opponents have even shown up to drag events with guns. At least five states have passed laws in recent years restricting performances in some fashion, but courts in some of them have put enforcement on hold.

As Pride Month approaches, it’s important to remember that drag is not just an art, but also an industry that fosters entrepreneurship and creates jobs, said community organizer Scott Simpson, who helped connect the members of Qommittee. The fans should get involved, too, he said.

“The time to really come together is now. The time to come together is when we’re having joyful moments together,” said Simpson, who also works for the unaffiliated Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “I mean, drag’s the revolution. And we want to keep the revolution going.”

HOUSTON (AP) — Power outages remained widespread Wednesday in storm-weary Texas a day after another burst of severe weather flooded streets, uprooted trees and ripped off roofs. Authorities said a teenager was killed at a construction site while working on a home that collapsed.

The severe weather Tuesday, which at one point left more than 1 million customers without electricity, was a continuation of deadly storms, some spawning tornadoes, across the U.S. over the long Memorial Day weekend that killed 24 people in seven states.

Electric utility Oncor said power in the Dallas area should be restored by Friday for most customers, but some outages will linger into the weekend. So far, the company has brought back power to just over half of the 650,000 customers affected in north Texas.

Flooding and damage in Houston came just weeks after the area was walloped by a weather event known as a derecho — a widespread, long-lived windstorm that’s associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. That storm left eight people dead and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers.

“A lot of people are without power again. We just got through with the derecho a couple of weeks ago, which was extremely devastating and many are still trying to recover from,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in the county home to Houston.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell was scheduled to travel Wednesday to Arkansas, where seven people died in the weekend storms, as the Biden administration continues assessing tornado damage.

The potential for heavy rains, localized flash flooding and severe weather will continue Wednesday through Oklahoma and Texas. Thunderstorms are predicted late Wednesday and Thursday across eastern Montana and Wyoming and northeast Colorado before pushing into Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and northern Texas.

Tuesday’s power outages in the Dallas area prompted officials to extend polls by two hours in the state’s runoff elections after dozens of polling places lost power.

The city opened centers where residents could seek shelter and air conditioning after winds gusting to 80 mph (129 kph) caused extensive damage. Local news footage showed several homes without roofs, some damaged by trees ripped from the ground.

Social media posts showed winds pushing an unoccupied American Airlines plane away from a gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The airline said severe weather affected several parked aircraft. No one was injured.

The airport said in an email to The Associated Press that about 500 flights were canceled because of the weather. Nearly another 200 flights were canceled at Dallas Love Field Airport, according to the website FlightAware.

Cars crawled through flooded highways and more than 300,000 customers were without power at one point around Houston.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said a 16-year-old boy was killed when a home under construction collapsed during a thunderstorm in the Houston suburb of Magnolia. The teen was an employee of the construction company and authorized to be on the site, the sheriff’s office said.

It was one of three homes under construction that collapsed, according to the city’s fire department.

There doesn’t appear to be much relief in sight. The National Weather Service said the “very active and highly impactful” weather pattern will continue in the central U.S. over the next several days.

Destructive storms over the weekend caused deaths in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia. Meanwhile in the Midwest, an unusual weather phenomenon called a “gustnado” that looks like a small tornado brought some dramatic moments to a western Michigan lake over the weekend.

For more information on recent tornado reports, see The Associated Press Tornado Tracker.

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Paul J. Weber, Ken Miller, Jennifer McDermott, Sarah Brumfield, Kathy McCormack, Acacia Coronado, Jeffrey Collins, Bruce Schreiner, Julio Cortez, Valerie Gonzalez and Mark Thiessen.