In our news wrap Friday, a federal judge is opening an investigation into whether Justice Department lawyers misled the court about plans to renovate a D.C. golf course, the DOJ told a judge that it may bring more charges against former FBI Director James Comey and Christa Pike says she's in constant pain following her botched execution in Tennessee last month.

Miami-Dade officials drop charge of battery by strangulation against rapper due to ‘insufficient evidence’

Florida prosecutors on Thursday dropped a felony charge against rapper Rick Ross nearly a month after he was arrested in Miami Beach when a woman he was living with told police he hit her, court records said.

The Miami-Dade state attorney’s office filed paperwork on Thursday to drop a felony charge of battery by strangulation because of “insufficient evidence”. Ross, whose legal name is William Roberts II, still faces a misdemeanor charge of battery domestic violence.

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© Photograph: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images

Thirty-three months after it was announced, the grime legend’s new album is coming out. He explains how skinheads, fatherhood and rap history came to bear on its socially conscious contents

‘I can’t be perfect,” Skepta says, pulling a black Arc’tyrex beanie down over a furrowed brow with both hands. “But I can be conscious.” The self-proclaimed king of grime has always been a serious person, wary of fools and time-wasters. Focus is important to him, perhaps because he’s often multitasking: balancing his music career, his fashion label Mains, film-making and acting (his debut short, Tribal Mark, came out in 2024), his Big Smoke festival and a house music project, Más Tiempo.

He coordinates them all from the scruffy but functional studio in London’s West End where we meet. At one point, he picks up a Rubik’s Cube from the cluttered coffee table, and, over the course of five minutes of conversation, solves it. “This album has been winding me up,” he admits, referring to The Fork and Knife, which is out next week, 33 months after it was first announced. “But I think I’ve actually made something here that is what the people want from me.”

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© Photograph: Jordan Hemingway

© Photograph: Jordan Hemingway

© Photograph: Jordan Hemingway

In our news wrap Thursday, a local ceasefire in Oleshky held for a third day with humanitarian aid set to enter the Russian-held Ukrainian city soon, the Pentagon is reportedly accusing a recently fired Army general of misconduct amid allegations that he leaked classified information to the media and stage and screen legend Patrick Stewart has died.

In our news wrap Wednesday, the Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged even as officials acknowledged that inflation remains elevated, the federal judge overseeing the prosecution of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro died at the age of 92 and hundreds of passengers aboard a cruise ship found themselves stranded in Cambodia after their trip was cut short due to high fuel prices.

In our news wrap Tuesday, the State Department said it will provide U.S. visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family following his loss in Brazil's election, President Trump insists the East Potomac Golf Course will close for renovations despite a judge's order blocking major changes and a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky was holding as a humanitarian truce took effect.

In our news wrap Monday, AI giant Anthropic officially kicked off what could be one of the biggest initial public offerings ever, at least two Catholic bishops have expressed regret for taking part in a White House meeting that was later made public and a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration acted illegally when it fired Maureen Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.

In our news wrap Friday, the White House says Melania Trump brokered a localized ceasefire deal in the Ukrainian city of Oleshky, Romania's president blamed Russia for a drone strike that sank a cargo ship in the Black Sea and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the army there to prepare for a full closure of the occupied West Bank.

In our news wrap Thursday, federal authorities charged Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas with running a criminal marijuana enterprise, New York City lawmakers voted to ban horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park and a judge in Florida ordered President Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC, or the case could be dismissed.