PART OF CASE DROPPED AGAINST WEINSTEIN
» Prosecutors
NE WY O RK abandoned part of their sexual assault case against Harvey Weinstein on Thursday after evidence surfaced that a police detective coached a witness to stay silent about evidence that cast doubt on the account of one of his earliest accusers.
With Weinstein looking on, a judge agreed to dismiss the lone charge in the case related to Lucia Evans, who helped spark the #MeToo movement when she told The New Yorker in an expose published a year ago Wednesday that the film producer had forced her to perform oral sex in his office in 2004 when she was a college student and aspiring actress.
Weinstein, 66, still faces charges over allegations that he raped an unidentified woman in his hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty and denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex.
» The Turkish government has told U.S. officials it has audio and video recordings that prove Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.
The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in on Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding — then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.
The audio recording in particular provides some of the most persuasive and gruesome evidence that the Saudi team is responsible for Khashoggi’s death, the officials said. The state Supreme Court unanimously struck down Washington’s death penalty Thursday, ruling that it had been used in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner.
Washington has had a moratorium on executions since 2014, but the ruling makes it the 20th state to do away, by legislative act or court decree, with capital punishment. The court converted the sentences of the eight people on Washington’s death row to life in prison.
Melania Trump says she might be “the most bullied person.”
W A S HINGT
ON» First lady Melania
Trump says she could be “the most bullied person” in the world, judging by “what people are saying about me.”
She made the remark during a television interview in which she promoted her Be Best initiatives, which take on online bullying. Critics have pointed out that her husband, President Donald Trump, routinely mocks people for their looks and for what he says is a lack of talent or intelligence.
“I could say I’m the most bullied person in the world,” Mrs. Trump said in the interview segment that aired Thursday on “Good Morning America.” Mrs. Trump said her Be Best campaign is focusing on social media and online behavior in part because of “what people are saying about me.”
U.S. military suspends operations for F35 fighter jets, citing safety concerns.
The United States temporarily suspended operations for its fleet of F35 fighter jets for 24 to 48 hours to check for possible faulty fuel tubes in the engines of the planes, after a crash in South Carolina late last month raised concerns about whether the parts were to blame.
DNA confirms a great white shark bit California boy.
S AN
DIEGO» DNA testing has revealed the shark that attacked a 13yearold boy last month off a Southern California shore was a great white, according to a report.
Scientists gathered the shark’s DNA by swabbing the wet suit Keane WebreHayes wore when he was bitten while diving for lobsters near Encinitas, the San Diego UnionTribune reported Wednesday.
The bite on Sept. 29 tore his back, shoulder, torso, face and ear. The teen was released from a hospital after surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.
Witnesses estimated the shark was about 11 feet long.