National & World

The trial for Johnny Depp’s libel suit against ex-wife Amber Heard has returned to the recurring themes of Depp’s jealousy and substance abuse. Bruce Witkin is a musician who was friends with Depp for nearly 40 years. In videotaped testimony played in court Thursday, he said the actor first displayed jealousy in romantic relationships decades ago. He said Depp also became jealous during his relationship with Heard. Witkin said both Heard and Depp showed signs of physical abuse. But he said he never saw the actors physically hurt each other. Depp is suing Heard for libel in Virginia over an op-ed she wrote that described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

Twitter is stepping up its fight against misinformation with a new policy cracking down on posts that spread potentially dangerous false stories. The change is part of a broader effort to promote accurate information during times of conflict or crisis. Under the new rules, which take effect Thursday, Twitter will no longer automatically recommend or amplify posts that mischaracterize conditions during a conflict or make misleading claims about war crimes or atrocities. Posts that violates the rules could also have warning labels applied, as well as links to more trustworthy content. Twitter says it will apply the rules first to Ukraine and then to future humanitarian crises.

The white man accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket appeared briefly in court Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on a first-degree murder charge. Assistant district attorney Gary Hackbush said the indictment of 18-year-old Payton Gendron was handed up Wednesday. He was silent throughout the proceeding and sent back to jail. Someone shouted “Payton you’re a coward!” as he was led out. Ten people were killed and three others wounded in the Saturday shooting at the Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo. Authorities are continuing to investigate the possibility of hate crime and terrorism charges.

McDonald’s is selling all of its restaurants in Russia 30 years after the burger chain became a powerful symbol of easing Cold War tensions between the United States and Soviet Union. It shuttered all Russian locations in March because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Chicago burger giant said its existing licensee Alexander Govor, who operates 25 restaurants in Siberia, has agreed to buy McDonald’s 850 Russian restaurants and operate them under a new name. McDonald’s Russian operations contributed 9% of the company’s annual sales, or around $2 billion. McDonald’s was among the first Western consumer brands to enter Russia in 1990.

A jury has convicted a man in the killings of a woman and her three children slain last year in their northeastern Indiana home. An Allen County jury found 22-year-old Cohen Hancz-Barron of Fort Wayne guilty Thursday of four counts of murder following a seven-day trial in the June 2021 deaths of his girlfriend and her three children. The Journal Gazette reports that attorneys were expected to begin the sentencing phase of the trial Thursday morning. Prosecutors are asking that the jury recommend life in prison without parole for Hancz-Barron. The bodies of 26-year-old Sarah Nicole Zent; her sons, 5-year-old Carter and 3-year-old Ashton; and 2-year-old daughter Aubree were found June 2 in a Fort Wayne home.

House lawmakers have approved a symbolic resolution calling for the restoration of the Ohio State University's football team's 2010 season that was vacated after a memorabilia-for-cash scandal. The resolution sponsored by Rep. Brian Stewart, an Ohio State graduate, calls on the NCAA to reinstate the team's 2010 record and wins. The season was vacated following revelations that players in 2009 and 2010 accepted cash and free or discounted tattoos from a Columbus tattoo parlor owner and also traded memorabilia like championship rings for cash. Stewart notes that the NCAA now allows players to be compensated for use of their name, image and likeness.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in April for the third month in a row as mortgage rates surged, driving up borrowing costs for would-be homebuyers as home prices soared to new highs. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that existing home sales fell 2.4% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million. That was slightly higher than what economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Sales fell 5.9% from April last year. The slowdown came as the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan climbed to above 5% for the first time in more than a decade by the end of April.

The man accused of opening fire on a Southern California church congregation because of his political hatred for Taiwan sent a newspaper a seven-volume diary before the attack. The Chinese-language World Journal bureau in the Los Angeles area said it received the stacks of photocopied pages and a flash drive on Monday — a day after authorities say David Chou opened fire on people at a luncheon at a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods. The paper said the title referred to a “destroying" angel opposed to Taiwan's independence from China. The newspaper's attorney tells The Orange County Register he will turn them over over to police when he receives a subpoena. Chou is charged with murder and attempted murder.

Alabama’s Republican primary has become a race to the right, with candidates staking out extreme positions on abortion, immigration and LGBTQ issues. The race was supposed to be a cake walk for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey _ who remains favored to win a second term — but right flank challengers are trying to make it a referendum on conservative credentials and push the Alabama governor into a runoff.

The white man accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket appeared in court after a grand jury indicted him on a first-degree murder charge.

Practically every minute of every hour, someone sends a tweet to Bill Pulte, a 33-year-old private-equity investor and heir to the mammoth PulteGroup homebuilding company. And, nearly every day, Pulte responds. He sent $500 for a man who sent a video showing his missing teeth. He gave $125 for a woman to pay for gas so she could make the long drive to her brother’s funeral. It’s all part of what Pulte calls “Twitter philanthropy” – a concept of direct giving in which Pulte and others offer immediate financial support to a tiny percentage of people who reach out over social media. Philanthropy experts say Pulte’s generosity is laudable, but question whether his approach will produce any long-term results.