Author: chicagoinquirer

by Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascard WASHINGTON  — Republicans muscled President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP’s self-imposed deadline of July 4th. At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Democrats united against the legislation, but were powerless to stop it as long as Republicans stayed united. The Senate passed the bill, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote.…

NEW YORK  — Sean “Diddy” Combs dropped to his knees and prayed in the courtroom after he was acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s celebrated figures behind bars for life. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses and denied bail as he awaits sentencing. The mixed result capped a sordid legal odyssey that shattered Combs’ affable “Puff Daddy” image and derailed his career as a Grammy-winning artist and music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star. “I’ll see you when I get out,” Combs told family members including…

by Emeka Obasi No individual did more for the Igbo after the genocidal Civil War than Ajie Ukpabi Asika, a First Class Economist produced by the University of Ibadan, who was appointed Administrator of East Central State in 1967. Strangely, those who should praise him only remember that he did not support Biafra. Asika and his wife, Chinyere, returned from the United States with chains of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) degrees and settled down to work at the University of Ibadan. By 1966, they had moved to Tanzania and later Zambia. It took another Economist, Dr. Adebayo Adedeji,…

by Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister NEW YORK  — Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s most celebrated figures behind bars for life. The mixed result still could send Combs, 55, to prison for as long as a decade, and is likely to end his career as a hitmaking music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star. After hearing the verdict, Combs held his hands up in a prayer motion, looking at jury and hugged defense lawyer Teny Geragos. Combs’…

by Caitlin Kelly ADRE, Chad — Fatima Omas Abdullah wakes up every morning with aches and pains from sleeping on bare ground for almost two years. She did not expect Sudan’s civil war to displace her for so long into neighboring Chad. “There is nothing here,” she said, crying and shaking the straw door of her makeshift home. Since April 2023, she has been in the Adre transit camp a few hundred meters from the Sudanese border, along with almost a quarter-million others fleeing the fighting. Now the U.S.- backed aid system that kept hundreds of thousands like Abdullah alive…

by Paul Wiseman WASHINGTON — The United States and China have reached an agreement — again — to deescalate trade tensions. But details are scarce, and the latest pact leaves major issues between the world’s two biggest economies unresolved. President Donald Trump said late Thursday that a deal with China had been signed “the other day.’’ China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed Friday that some type of arrangement had been reached but offered few details about it. Sudden shifts and a lack of clarity have been hallmarks of Trump’s trade policy since he returned to the White House determined to overturn a…

by Tim Sullivan and Alanna Durkin Richer WASHINGTON — The legal battle over President Donald Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship is far from over despite the Republican administration’s major victory Friday limiting nationwide injunctions. Immigrant advocates are vowing to fight to ensure birthright citizenship remains the law as the Republican president tries to do away with more than a century of precedent. The high court’s ruling sends cases challenging the president’s birthright citizenship executive order back to the lower courts. But the ultimate fate of the president’s policy remains uncertain. Here’s what to know about birthright citizenship, the Supreme…

by Chinedu Asadu, Mathew Lee and Ellen Knickmeyer WASHINGTON — The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda on Friday signed a peace deal facilitated by the U.S. to help end the decadeslong deadly fighting in eastern Congo while helping the U.S. government and American companies gain access to critical minerals in the region. “Today, the violence and destruction comes to an end, and the entire region begins a new chapter of hope and opportunity, harmony, prosperity and peace,” President Donald Trump told the foreign ministers of the two countries at a White House meeting. The agreement was signed earlier at…

BY MARK SHERMAN by Mark Sherman WASHINGTON (AP) — A united conservative majority of the Supreme Court ruled Friday that federal judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions, but the decision left unclear whether President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship could soon take effect in parts of the country. The outcome represented a victory for Trump, who has complained about judges throwing up obstacles to his agenda. Nationwide, or universal, injunctions had emerged as an important check on the Republican president’s efforts to expand executive power and remake the government and a source of mounting frustration to him…

by Alanna Durkin Richer WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases, the latest moves by the Trump administration targeting attorneys connected to the massive prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, according to two people familiar with the matter. Those dismissed include two attorneys who worked as supervisors overseeing the Jan. 6 prosecutions in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington as well as a line attorney who prosecuted cases stemming from the Capitol attack, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.…