Chris Brown released in Paris after rape complaint
PARIS — Singer Chris Brown and two other people were released Tuesday from police custody after a woman filed a rape complaint against them, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
The Grammy-winning singer was detained Monday with two other suspects on potential charges of aggravated rape and drug infractions.
The Paris prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press that Brown has been authorized to leave France while the investigation is ongoing.
A post late Tuesday on Brown’s Instagram page strongly denied the accusations.
“I WANNA MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR…… THIS IS FALSE,” the post said. “FOR MY DAUGHTER AND MY FAMILY THIS IS SO DISPRESPECTFUL AND IS AGAINST MY CHARACTER AND MORALS!!!!!”
4 charged in plot to attack Muslim community named Islamberg
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Three men and a high school student were charged with plotting to attack a rural upstate New York Muslim community named Islamberg with explosives, authorities said Tuesday.
The Rochester-area residents are accused of plotting to attack the small Muslim enclave west of the Catskills, according to court papers.
The timing of the attack was unknown. At the time of their weekend arrests, the men, three of whom were in Boy Scouts together, had access to 23 rifles and shotguns and three home-made explosives, Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said at a press conference.
“I don’t know that there was a specific date. They had a plan in place,” Phelan said.
He did not rule out the possibility of additional arrests.
Tentative deal reached to end Los Angeles teachers strike
LOS ANGELES — A tentative deal reached Tuesday between Los Angeles school officials and the teachers union will allow educators to return to classrooms after a six-day strike in the nation’s second-largest district, officials said.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, accompanied by leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District, announced the agreement at City Hall a few hours after a 21-hour bargaining session ended before dawn.
“I’m proud to announce that, pending approval by the teachers represented by UTA and educational professionals and this Board of Education, we have an agreement that will allow our teachers to go back to work on the campuses tomorrow,” Garcetti said.
Union President Alex Caputo-Pearl said teachers would vote Tuesday, and he expected approval. Teachers planned to meet with union representatives to familiarize themselves with the agreement before casting ballots later in the day.
It wasn’t clear when the results would be known, but teachers are expected to be back at work on Wednesday.
Afghan security service suffers heavy toll in Taliban attack
KABUL, Afghanistan — Dozens of people killed in a brazen Taliban attack on a military base were members of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, officials said Tuesday, in a severe blow to the government that already has lost control of nearly half of the country to the insurgents.
At least 45 people were killed and as many as 70 were wounded by a suicide bomber who drove an armored Humvee packed with explosives at the base in eastern Maidan Wardak province on Monday, the officials said.
There were fears the death toll from the daytime assault could increase. The base, which also serves as a training center for pro-government militias, is run by Afghanistan’s intelligence service known as the National Directorate for Security, or NDS.
The NDS said its reports show 36 military personnel were killed and 58 were wounded. Though the agency’s figures were lower than what provincial officials had reported, it was still an unprecedented casualty toll for the agency, among the best equipped and trained in Afghanistan.
The agency said the suicide bomber had managed to penetrate the gate of the base on the outskirts of Maidan Shar, the provincial capital located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Kabul, even though guards fired at the vehicle.
Khawanin Sultani, a council member in the province, said a main building collapsed from the explosion, which likely contributed to the high casualty toll.
“Most of the bodies were under the destroyed building,” he said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility in a statement to the media just hours after the attack and later said its representatives met Monday with U.S. representatives to discuss “ending the invasion of Afghanistan” in talks that were to continue Tuesday. They are meeting in Qatar, where the Taliban have a political office.
Man linked to 4 killings suspected of being in US illegally
LAS VEGAS — A man suspected of being in the U.S. illegally shot and killed four people in Nevada over the past few weeks, including an elderly Reno couple, authorities said, and the slayings added fuel to the immigration debate.
Wilbur Martinez-Guzman, 19, from El Salvador, has been jailed in Carson City since Saturday on possession of stolen property, burglary and immigration charges. Authorities said they expect to file murder charges against him in the shooting deaths of the couple and two women in the nearby town of Gardnerville.
Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said federal immigration authorities told his office that Martinez-Guzman was in the country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not have details on his entry into the U.S.
The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, and it was too early to comment on a possible motive.
Investigators watched Martinez-Guzman go to a car wash and trash bins Saturday, and detectives became concerned that he might try to dispose of evidence connected to the slayings. Authorities decided to arrest him after he approached a mall that has a large gun store. He did not have a weapon when he was handcuffed, the sheriff said.
Oscar nods honor ‘Roma,’ ‘The Favourite,’ ‘Black Panther’
NEW YORK — Oscar voters on Tuesday showered Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite” with a leading 10 nominations for the 91st Academy Awards, while two dominant but contentious Hollywood forces — Netflix and Marvel — each scored their first best picture nomination.
Though many expected “A Star Is Born,” Bradley Cooper’s revival of one of Hollywood’s most remade show business myths, to top the nominations, Cooper was surprisingly overlooked as director and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences instead put its fullest support behind a pair of indies by international directors.
With the black-and-white, Spanish-language “Roma,” Netflix scored its first best picture nomination, a prize the streaming giant has dearly sought. Marvel, too, joined the club with Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” the first superhero movie ever nominated for best picture.
Cuaron tied the record for most decorated Oscar nominee ever for one film with four individual nods for “Roma,” his deeply personal exhumation of his Mexico City childhood. Cuaron was nominated for direction, cinematography, original screenplay and best picture. Only Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane”) and Warren Beatty (who did it twice with “Reds” and “Heaven Can Wait”) have matched the four-nod feat.
Cuaron, previously a six-time nominee and winner for directing “Gravity,” said by phone from London that the nominations for such a personal film were more meaningful to him, as was the attention for a film about a humble indigenous domestic worker (Yalitza Aparicio, who was nominated for best actress). He praised Netflix for its commitment to his film.