Jay-Z Named in Diddy Lawsuit as Legal Battles Intensify

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+ GetSmart: The man who walked a slack line for 2.2 miles across the water

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Newsbites

Mysterious drones have been flying over the state of New Jersey since November 18, 2024. Witnesses have described the drones as being the size of SUVs with flashing lights. (video compilation). While residents in the state are becoming nervous about the objects, the White House and other D.C. agencies have not made things more clear. The White House said it reviewed the matter and found that many of the drones are manned and being flown lawfully. National Security spokesperson John Kirby said, “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus.” The number of reported drone sightings has risen in recent days.

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Massacre in Haiti: A prominent Haitian gang leader (“Mikano”) ordered the massacre of nearly 200 people during the weekend of December 6-7, which was carried out using knives and machetes. It took place in Cite Soleil. The victims were mainly over the age of 60 and practitioners of voodoo. Mikano allegedly ordered the executions following the advice of a voodoo priest, who raised the suspicion that the elderly people were responsible for inflicting a terminal illness on Mikano’s son through witchcraft. The gang leader’s son died on December 7.

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Syrian government falls to rebels: Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, along with other rebel groups, launched a surprise offensive against Syria’s government, capturing the second largest city of Aleppo, as well as the country's capital, Damascus. The swift attacks forced President Bashar al-Assad, who has led the country since 2000, to flee to Moscow, where he has been granted asylum from the Russian government. The rebel groups, with a significant amount of support from Syrians who viewed Assad as an evil dictator, will now begin the transition period to form a new government.

More: CNN interview with Syrian rebel leader (video). Another video from BBC showing Syrians searching for dead persons bodies from Assad’s regime.

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Burglaries of Star Athletes: A string of high-profile athletes have had their homes burglarized over the past several weeks, including Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Joe Burrow, and Mike Conley JR, among others. Authorities suspect it could be the work of South American Theft Groups (SATG). These are transnational criminal gangs that often use sophisticated technology like drones and WiFi signal jammers to facilitate robberies. The break-ins have typically occurred when players are at away games and thus known to be away from their homes.

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President Biden granted pardons and sentence commutations for more than 1,500 people (list) on Thursday, the largest single declaration of clemency in history. It far-surpasses Obama’s previous high of 330. 39 of the individuals were convicted of nonviolent crimes and are now pardoned (conviction erased from their record). The other 1,499 individuals, who had all been serving their sentences in home-confinement since COVID, will have their sentences commuted (sentence ends but conviction remains on record). Biden intends to pardon additional people before he leaves office.

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Google said its new quantum computing chip (Willow) achieved two breakthroughs this week. First, the new chip performed a benchmark computation in less than 5 minutes that would take a supercomputer more than 10 septillion years (10²⁵) to complete. Second, Google said it cracked “a key challenge in quantum error correction that the field has pursued for almost 30 years.” (blog post) Quantum computing uses principles of quantum mechanics to build computers that are exponentially more powerful than current ones. The next step in the field is to develop commercially-useful applications, which hasn’t been done yet.

More: Google also released its next AI Gemini 2.0 model (examples). The company’s stock jumped and reached all-time highs this week following the news.

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Jay-Z Named in Diddy Lawsuit as Legal Battles Intensify

The rapper and music mogul Shawn Carter, known as Jay-Z, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 2000 alongside Sean Combs. The alleged incident took place at an after-party following the MTV Video Music Awards. Jay-Z has denied the allegation.

The claim is part of a civil lawsuit filed by lawyer Tony Buzbee, who is representing the alleged victim and more than a hundred others filing suits against Diddy. Buzbee held a press conference in October in which he said there “are names that will shock you” that are implicated alongside Combs. While Buzbee has since filed dozens of lawsuits, Jay-Z is the first defendant to be publicly named outside of Combs.

• The case is a civil lawsuit, which can be filed by a private attorney and requires a “preponderance of evidence” as opposed to a criminal lawsuit, which must be filed by a public prosecutor and require evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” to convict.

• Civil cases typically seek monetary damages for the victim/accuser, whereas criminal cases seek jail time against the perpetrator.

Jay-Z and his legal team have responded with the following:

• “I implore [the accuser] to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?”

• Jay-Z is accusing Buzbee of attempting to extort and blackmail him. Before Jay-Z was named in the lawsuit, Buzbee’s firm had sent Jay-Z’s legal team a demand letter to privately mediate and settle the matter with the accuser. Jay-Z said Buzbee was thinking “the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle…No sir, it had the opposite effect!”

• Jay-Z did not pursue the private mediation, and instead, filed an anonymous lawsuit against Buzbee’s firm for attempted extortion.

• Lawyers for Jay-Z have requested that the case be dismissed outright or that the alleged victim’s identity be revealed if the case moves forward (currently the accuser is anonymous).

Buzbee responded in a series of posts:

• Buzbee said the “victim never demanded a penny from him [Jay-Z]. Instead, she only sought a confidential mediation” with the demand letter.

• “The letter was vetted and approved by our client, whose preference was to attempt resolution short of filing a lawsuit. This approach is common in these types of cases.”

• “Since I sent the letter on her behalf, Mr. Carter [Jay-Z] has not only sued me, but he has tried to bully and harass me and this plaintiff. His conduct has had the opposite impact. She is emboldened. I’m very proud of her resolve.”

• “This effort has included harassing my family and colleagues and even offering former clients money to sue me—which is illegal.”

Accusations of illegal conduct
Buzbee said some of his current and former clients are being contacted by “investigators” who are offering money in exchange for suing Buzbee, which he says would be a crime. One of the phone calls was apparently recorded, and Buzbee posted a portion of the transcript:

“We could get you paid, . . . you could get money right soon, you know? We gave this kid 1,000 bucks to start yesterday just to get him on the right path. At the end of the day, this is going to go through the courts, Buzbee is getting sued.”

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Luigi Mangione Arrested in Pennsylvania McDonald’s

What happened?
On Monday, authorities arrested 26-year-old Luigi Mangione at a McDonald's restaurant in Pennsylvania in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. An employee at McDonald’s recognized Mangione from the police tip photos and called it in.

When police approached Mangione, they described him as “shaking” when they asked him whether he had traveled to New York recently. He was in possession of a firearm and a two-page manifesto.

• The firearm was a “ghost gun”, meaning it was assembled from individual parts purchased online, and thus lacked a serial number.

• The handwritten manifesto expressed anger at the health insurance industry saying, “I do apologise for any strife of traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.” He added that the US is the most expensive healthcare system but ranks 42nd in life expectancy among other things. (full written manifesto here) Mangione suffers from chronic back pain which he underwent surgery for in 2023.