A woman prosecutors say fired shots at #Rihanna's home in attempt to kill her set to appear in court.


Prosecutors allege the singing superstar, her hip-hop star partner A$AP Rocky, their three young children and many others were at their home in the Beverly Hills area when Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, 35, of Orlando, Florida, opened fire on the property on March 8.

Ortiz is charged with 10 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and three counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle or dwelling.

At her first appearance in Los Angeles Superior Court on March 11, Ortiz’s lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf, but then withdrew it in favor of postponing the arraignment.

Public records show Ortiz has been a licensed speech pathologist for more than a decade. Now jailed on $1.8 million bail, she could get life in prison if convicted on all charges.

The Public Defender’s Office said only that “we will work to ensure that our client receives the full protections guaranteed under the Constitution.”

District Attorney Nathan Hochman said when Ortiz was charged that Rihanna and Rocky were together in an Airstream trailer at the time of the shooting, while her mother, their children and staffers were in the main house.

The three counts of firing at a dwelling were for Rihanna’s house, her trailer, and a neighbor’s house, prosecutors said. The 10 assault counts were for Rihanna and family, two staffers and two people in the neighboring house.

Hochman would not say where any of the bullets landed, discuss a motive or describe any connection between Ortiz and Rihanna, saying all were under investigation.

A nine-time Grammy Award winner, Rihanna has 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “We Found Love,” “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Disturbia.” She founded the makeup brand Fenty Beauty in 2017.

She and A$AP Rocky announced the birth of their third child, a girl named Rocki Irish Mayers, in September.

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press

Everything you need to know about '#BTS: The Return,' the new #Netflix #documentary

That’s the scene that begins “BTS: The Return,” a new Netflix documentary from director Bao Nguyen (“The Stringer,” “The Greatest Night in Pop”), produced by This Machine (“Martha,” “Karol G”) and HYBE, the South Korean entertainment company behind BTS and countless other international acts.

The mostly-Korean language film offers an intimate look at BTS’ journey to their latest album, “ARIRANG,” released Friday. It also follows the seven member group — RM, Jin, Jimin, V, Suga, Jung Kook and j-hope — as they learned to reacclimate to their life in the fast lane, together again.

Here are key takeaways from the documentary film, which premieres on Netflix on Friday, March 27.

South Korea’s mandatory military service comes up fast

As BTS fans are well aware, “ARIRANG” is the band’s first full-length release since all seven members completed South Korea’s mandatory military service. In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18-28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from North Korea.

In their documentary, mention of BTS’ service emerges right away. In the first minute, while the band films their live video on the beach, RM mentions that he “learned to hustle” in the military. Then it cuts to footage of the guys getting their heads shaved and wearing their uniforms — and quickly thereafter, rejoining the band. In reality, they were separated for a number of years. Before announcing their comeback in June, all seven members hadn’t been seen broadcasting live together since September 2022.

The road to ‘ARIRANG’ was swift

Shortly after returning from their mandatory service, the band decamped to Los Angeles during the summer of 2025 to begin work on “ARIRANG,” their 14-track, fifth studio album and first in nearly four years.

They lived in the same house together. It was tight quarters, and a tight turnaround: In the film, Jin says he joined the band in Los Angeles the day after completing his 2025 solo tour. For that reason, he missed some of the early writing and recording.

The journey was also bumpy. As RM mentions in the movie, a long lifespan for a K-pop group is not guaranteed.

Fans of the genre might be familiar with what is referred to as the “seven-year curse,” where a group disbands, or loses members, or contracts expires, and they fall apart. That has not been the case for BTS, still widely regarded one of the most popular bands on the planet. The question then, for them, became: Where does their sound go from here?

“We’re doing a lot of experiments, trying to find out, like, what makes us special,” RM said. “What makes us BTS?”

They also felt the pressure to deliver a good album, and fast. “We’ve been out for too long,” said Jimin in one dinner scene. “Now that we’re finally out of the military, we don’t want to extend this break.”

Los Angeles was a creative hub

Working in and around Hollywood was a source of creativity for the band. The documentary shows clips of the guys in the studio working with some recognizable producers like Diplo and the South Korean songwriter Pdogg.

It also shows the band struggling to land a lead single and their in-studio dynamics: Suga playing guitar, serious and studious, V comforting an anxious Jin, so on and so forth.

Then they returned to South Korea to finish and mix the album.
The album really started to connect when they had a story

Boyoung Lee, executive creative director at Big Hit Music, told the band that in 1896, a group of Koreans arrived in the U.S. for an education, where they met music producer and ethnologist Alice C. Fletcher. Together, they recorded the first-ever Korean-language song in the U.S.: “Arirang,” the traditional Korean folk song that dates back to the 1400s and that inspired BTS’ album title.

It also meant that the album was a true celebration of South Korea and BTS’ efforts to bring their country and culture to the world. In one scene, Suga mentions changes needed to the song “Normal,” which he felt originally featured too much English and not enough Korean. “For this album, authenticity matters,” RM agreed.
Preparing for their comeback was daunting

Some members expressed reservations about how they may be received — what did their fans want from them, after so much time apart? And in an industry that demands reinvention? So, they worked as hard as they could, and in surprising ways: In one scene, V throws a baseball in a parking lot — seemingly to blow off steam. Days later he’s throwing a pitch at Los Angeles’ Dodgers Stadium. It’s clear he was practicing as to not disappoint their fans.

Even when the band is relaxing at night together at their shared home in Los Angeles — enjoying pork belly, soju and beer — they are still shown talking about their music, what could’ve been done differently in the studio, what they might want to try in the future. It’s a 24/7 process.

“I wonder if we’ve done a good job here,” Jung Kook asks aloud.
They were unsure about ‘Swim’ as the first ‘ARIRANG’ single

Some members of the band thought the song “Swim” might be too low in energy to serve as their lead single. But they also weren’t sure about “Dynamite” back in 2020, which became a huge international smash. It was their first all-English-language single and it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — a first for an all-South Korean musical act.

Suga appeared to be an early believer in “Swim.” “‘Oh, they can come back with a song like this?’ I think it’ll be cool,” he told his band mates, fantasizing about fan reaction.

“It’s a cool, mature song for us,” RM agreed. “It’s time we give off a grown-up vibe.”

Appearing more adult — and writing songs that mirror where they are in their lives — was a priority.

“We’ve all gotten older in general,” said Suga. “We tried to express more about being an adult.”

Maria Sherman, The Associated Press

Police video of Justin Timberlake's 2024 drunken driving arrest released.

Justin Timberlake struggled to perform field sobriety tests requiring him to walk a straight line and stand on one leg after he was pulled over in New York’s Hamptons in 2024 by police officers who suspected him of driving drunk, according to video footage released Friday.

The pop star tells officers at one point, “these are like really hard tests.”

The footage, which runs roughly eight hours, includes Timberlake’s initial stop after Sag Harbor police said he ran a stop sign in the village centre, veered out of his lane and got out of his BMW smelling of alcohol that June.

The NSYNC singer-turned-solo artist and actor tells officers he had consumed one martini and had been following friends home in the former whaling village, which is among the affluent beach towns of the Hamptons, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) east of New York City.

When an officer asks why he is in town, Timberlake says, “I’m on a world tour.”

“Doing what?” the officer asks.

“Hard to explain,” Timberlake says.

After stammering a bit, he says “World tour. I’m Justin Timberlake.”

The officer eventually responds: “You are Justin Timberlake? Do you have a licence with you?”

Timberlake, who ultimately pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, is asked by officers to walk heel-to-toe in a straight line on the road and lift one leg. At times he seems flustered listening to the instructions. He apologizes to officers and tells them his heart is racing.

“I’m a little nervous,” Timberlake says at one point.

In the back seat of the police car, he asks: “Why are you arresting me?”

Back at the police station, Timberlake is informed he will be held overnight, to which he says, “I’m going to be here all night? You guys are wild, man.”

He asks the officer to keep the light on in the cell as they lock the door.

The release by Sag Harbor Police comes after the village and Timberlake’s lawyers agreed to disclose a redacted version of the footage. The Associated Press was among several media outlets that filed a records request seeking the release of the video.

Timberlake’s lawyers had sued to block the release of the video, arguing it would “devastate” Timberlake’s privacy by revealing “intimate, highly personal, and sensitive details.” They also said it would cause “severe and irreparable harm” to his reputation by subjecting him to “public ridicule and harassment.”

But in a joint filing with the village Friday, Timberlake’s lawyers acknowledged the video “does not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under” the state’s public information law and agreed to its release.

Timberlake’s lawyers and representatives didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.

Sag Harbor officials, in a statement provided by the village’s lawyer, Vincent Toomey, said they are pleased the matter was resolved and they were able to comply with state public records law.

“From the beginning of this matter, after Mr. Timberlake’s arrest, the Village has attempted to comply with the mandates of the Freedom of Information Law,” the statement reads. “As would be true in any case involving records or video footage from our Police Department, such material is reviewed and redacted to address public and officer safety concerns as well as personal privacy considerations.”

Timberlake pleaded guilty to impaired driving in September 2024.

The Tennessee native agreed to give a public safety announcement against the perils of drunken driving as part of the plea deal that knocked down his initial misdemeanor charge to a noncriminal traffic violation.

He was also sentenced to a US$500 fine, 25 hours of community service and a 90-day suspension of his license.

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Hill reported from Albany.

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Philip Marcelo And Michael Hill, The Associated Press

Taylor Tomlinson’s #Netflix special is too ungodly for many churches. This one welcomed her.

“My iPhone started capitalizing the G in God again without asking me,” Taylor Tomlinson says in her latest Netflix stand-up special, gripping a mic beneath the ornate ceiling of Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “The robots are coming, and they love the Lord.”

Wearing a cross on her necklace and a long leather jacket, Tomlinson looked right at home in the vaulted sanctuary. But the comedian’s set, filmed in November and released on Feb. 24 with the title “Prodigal Daughter,” would be regarded as irreverent at best by most nondenominational Christian congregations. Filled with sexual themes, f-bombs and jokes about everything from foreskins to the crucifixion — “I hope I die in a way that looks good on jewelry,” she quips — it would rate as blasphemous in many.

But Tomlinson’s edgy content is exactly what made Fountain Street the perfect venue, church leaders say. The historic congregation is known for its support of abortion access, free speech and LGBTQ+ rights. It’s also an interreligious community that rejects specific doctrines.

“The charge that has been leveled against Fountain Street Church since the 1890s is that it’s not really a church,” said Fountain Street’s leader, the Rev. Nathan Dannison.

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This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religion news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story.

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Founded in 1869 through the merger of two Baptist congregations, Fountain Street has cultivated a reputation as a radical liberal outpost; women have always been voting members, Dannison said, and the church’s historic stained-glass windows celebrate humanists such as Charles Darwin and Erasmus. That reputation is especially noteworthy in Grand Rapids. While the city’s religious landscape has become increasingly diverse, it’s known for its historic ties to theologically conservative Dutch Reformed Christian traditions.

The congregation dropped its Baptist affiliation in the 1960s under the leadership of the Rev. Duncan E. Littlefair, its longtime, University of Chicago-trained pastor, and solidified its non-creedal identity. Local chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood were organized at the church during Littlefair’s tenure, as was the establishment of the church’s Choice Fund, which provided funds for emergency abortion care in Michigan; Recently, the church has made headlines as a hub for immigrant rights activism.

Fountain Street’s 1,507-seat auditorium has welcomed speakers such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Angela Davis, Winston Churchill and Malcolm X. The church has been hosting comedians since at least 2011, when it welcomed acts that were part of Gilda’s LaughFest, a community comedy festival. So when Tomlinson’s team reached out to Fountain Street in spring of 2024 as the place to record her fourth Netflix special, the church leadership listened.

“This show that she was putting together was heavily focused on her conservative Christian upbringing and her struggle with what it means to be religious,” said Kayle Clements, director of audio and visual technology at Fountain Street. “She was looking for a church setting where she could film this.”

Tomlinson has made comedic and serious points about her religious upbringing in her set for years. Her uncle is a progressive Christian pastor — “We’re both out here on weekends changing lives,” she joked in her recent special — and she got her start in comedy on the evangelical church circuit.

But these days she’s no longer religious and is upfront about the negative experiences she says she suffered in her childhood. “I have religious trauma. Anybody else have religious trauma?” she asked the crowd. “It just means you grew up in church, you’re not religious anymore, but now when you kind of feel good, you feel kind of bad about it.”

The critique didn’t faze Fountain Street. “We have a significant population of reconstructing Christians, refugees from the toxic theologies of Christian nationalism or right-wing Christian fundamentalism,” said Dannison. “They hear in Taylor’s comedy a lot of the same frustrations and values and radicalism that has been a part of Fountain Streeters’ lives growing up in this part of the country.”

Once Tomlinson’s team settled on Fountain Street, it took months of preparation to tape the Netflix special. The church was still in the process of restoring its historic bell tower and scrambled to finish it in time. The week of the recording, the church was beset with production assistants, security, Netflix employees and cases of AV equipment.

“They landed with, like, 12 people, and by the time they were done, we had 135 people there,” said the church’s governing board chair, J. Spalding Wall. “It was a major undertaking.”

Tomlinson performed four shows the week of Nov. 1, 2025 — the Netflix special is an amalgam of the best moments. Clements said he worked nearly around the clock to pull it off. “I think my shortest day was a 17-hour day. My longest was 23. But I would do it again tomorrow,” he said.

The special includes exterior shots of Fountain Street’s neo-Romanesque structure and begins with Tomlinson exiting the church’s choir room onto the stage.

Some of the set works in her bygone church basement routines. She jokes about the “decaf” Christians who only attend church on Easter and Christmas, and she gets a big response from the crowd when she mentions Veggie Tales, a cartoon show that has been a staple of evangelical Christian childhoods. But she soon gets progressively edgier, riffing on why the show never depicted Jesus’ death on the cross — VeggieTales characters have no arms, she points out. She questions how the story of Noah’s Ark, which she calls “dark as hell,” ever became the Bible’s most popular children’s story.

She says her biggest issue with church is that it “wouldn’t let you make a good point.” Difficult questions, she adds, were met with the unhelpful response, “We can ask God that when we get to heaven.”

Despite growing up in a “scary Christian house,” she credits her loving grandparents for modelling Christianity done right. “There are a lot of people who are using religion correctly, people like my aunt and uncle, my grandparents, the people at this church,” says Tomlinson. “There are a lot of people who are using religion as a tool for community and connection and comfort.”

The night of the special’s release, dozens of Fountain Street members gathered at the church for a celebratory viewing party, including a “thank you” video from Tomlinson.

“This is Fountain Street Church at its very best,” said Dannison, “living out its values of liberalism, free speech, progressive values, sanctuary, freedom to share your story, freedom to share your hurt without fear of censorship.”

Kathryn Post, The Associated Press

#Nigeria : Evangelist Tonto Dikeh shared how her faith journey began, urging those feeling the Holy Spirit’s call to pursue closeness with God.

Actress Annie Idibia clarifies she is “not a single mum” but a single woman raising two daughters after separating from music star 2Baba.

Justin Timberlake sues to block release of police video from 2024 drunken driving arrest in New York.

The pop star’s lawyers argued in a lawsuit filed Monday against the Village of Sag Harbor and its police department that release of the video would “devastate” Timberlake’s privacy by revealing “intimate, highly personal, and sensitive details.”

They also said it would cause “severe and irreparable harm” to his reputation by subjecting him to “public ridicule and harassment.”

“The footage at issue depicts Petitioner in an acutely vulnerable state during a roadside encounter with law enforcement, capturing intimate details of Petitioner’s physical appearance, demeanor, speech, and conduct during field sobriety testing, the subsequent arrest, and Petitioner’s confinement following arrest over the next several hours,” the lawsuit reads.

A judge didn’t immediately rule following a Monday hearing in state court in Riverhead, according to Vincent Toomey, a lawyer for Sag Harbor. Instead, Judge Joseph Farneti asked the two sides to confer on a possible resolution and report back later in the week, he said.

Timberlake’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The #NSYNC singer-turned-solo artist and actor pleaded guilty to impaired driving in September 2024. Police said he ran a stop sign in the village center, veered out of his lane and got out of his BMW smelling of alcohol that June.

The Tennessee native told officers he had had one martini and had been following some friends home in Sag Harbor, a former whaling village among the affluent beach towns of the Hamptons, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of New York City.

Timberlake agreed to give a public safety announcement against the perils of drunken driving as part of the plea deal that knocked down his initial misdemeanor charge to a noncriminal traffic violation. He was also sentenced to a $500 fine, 25 hours of community service and a 90-day suspension of his license.

U2’s new music honours Renee Good and draws inspiration from world events, The Irish rock band released the six-song EP “U2 - Days of Ash” on Wednesday. Its first track, “American Obituary,” is dedicated to Good, who died Jan. 7 in Minneapolis during an encounter with a Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. The song is a call for peace and a dedication to Good’s life.

“Renee didn’t just believe in kindness; she lived it, fully and fiercely,” said Becca Good, her partner, in a statement released with the project. “She believed every person deserved the same compassion, care and dignity regardless of who they were.”

The band released the EP on Ash Wednesday, describing it as an immediate response to current events and inspired by the people “fighting on the front lines of freedom.”

Frontman Bono has frequently incorporated social themes into U2’s music, and the new songs maintain that approach. Some tracks reference international tensions and humanitarian concerns, including the war in Ukraine, developments in the Middle East and immigration debates in the United States. One song also mentions Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, whose death last year in the Israeli-occupied West Bank drew international attention.

The project marks U2’s first major release of new original material since 2017’s “Songs of Experience,” although the band has remained active through touring and rerecorded projects in recent years.

Antonio Romanucci, an attorney representing Good’s family in a civil case connected to her death, said the tribute reflects a broader message.

“We certainly feel the urgency of the country’s situation reflected in the band’s powerful call for coming together,” he said in a statement.

Throughout its career, U2 has used its platform to highlight issues ranging from global poverty initiatives to human rights advocacy. The EP was released alongside lyric videos for each track and is available on major streaming platforms.

Good’s parents and siblings also described the song as an honor and said they hope it encourages reflection and unity.

“It’s an incredible honour to have the talent and impact of U2 spreading the message of peace in Renee’s name,” the statement read. “We certainly feel the urgency of the country’s situation reflected in the band’s powerful call for change and coming together.”

Jonathan Landrum Jr., The Associated Press

Austria charges youngster over Taylor Swift concert attack plot. Austrian prosecutors have filed terror charges against a 21-year-old over a plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, they said on Monday, which had led the U.S. megastar’s shows in 2024 in the Alpine nation to be scrapped.

Three dates in Swift’s record-breaking “Eras” tour were cancelled in the summer of 2024 after authorities warned of the plot.

The main suspect, who has been in detention since his arrest in August 2024, is facing terror offenses and other charges, prosecutors said.

The Austrian is accused of having been a member of a terror organisation from May 2023 “by planning and preparing a terrorist attack on the concert of singer Taylor Swift,” they said in a statement.

By sharing IS propaganda through various messaging services and other offenses, he participated and “openly aligned himself” with IS, they added.

Planning the attack on the concert, he allegedly tried to get weapons and worked on making a shrapnel bomb “specific to IS attacks” and received instructions from other IS members on handling explosives, according to prosecutors.

He is also alleged to have been involved in other attack plans abroad, including in Dubai and Istanbul though those attacks never materialised.

If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Last year, a Berlin court convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to the plot to attack the Swift concert.

The 16-year-old was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

The plot was thwarted with the help of U.S. intelligence.

Swift later wrote on social media that “the reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many had planned on coming to those shows”.

‘Melania,’ panned by some film critics, opens with strong ticket sales for a documentary.

NEW YORK — Promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump as “a must watch,” the Melania Trump documentary “Melania” debuted with a better-than-expected $7 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The release of “Melania” was unlike any seen before. Amazon MGM Studios paid $40 million for the rights, plus some $35 million to market it, making it the most expensive documentary ever. Directed by Brett Ratner, who had been exiled from Hollywood since 2017, the film about the first lady debuted in 1,778 theaters in the midst of Trump’s turbulent second term.

While the result would be a flop for most films with such high costs, “#Melania” was a success by documentary standards. It’s the best opening weekend for a #documentary, outside of concert films, in 14 years. Going into the weekend, estimates ranged from $3 million to $5 million.

But there was little to compare “Melania” to, given that presidential families typically eschew in-office memoir or documentary releases to avoid the appearance of capitalizing on the White House. The film chronicles Melania Trump over 20 days last January, leading up to Trump’s second inauguration.

On Thursday, Trump hosted a premiere of the film at the Kennedy Center, with attendees including Cabinet members and members of Congress. There, Ratner downplayed its box-office potential, noting: “You can’t expect a documentary to play in theaters.”

The No. 1 movie of the weekend was Sam Raimi’s “Send Help,” a critically acclaimed survival thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. The Walt Disney Co. release debuted with $20 million. The film, with a $40 million budget, was an in-between kind of release for Raimi, whose hits have typically ranged from low-budget cult (“Army of Darkness”) to big-budget blockbuster (2002’s “Spider-Man”).

The Jason Statham action thriller “Shelter” debuted with $5.5 million.

But most of the curiosity was on how “Melania” would perform. A week earlier, the White House hosted a black-tie preview attended by Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy, Apple chief executive Tim Cook and former boxer Mike Tyson.

The film arrived in a week dominated by coverage of federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

“Melania” didn’t screen in advance for critics, but reviews that rolled out Friday, once the film was in theaters, weren’t good. Xan Brooks of The Guardian compared the film to a “medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.” Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it a “cheese ball informercial of staggering inertia.” Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “To say that ‘Melania’ is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies.”

But among those who bought tickets over the weekend, the response was far more positive. “Melania” landed an “A” CinemaScore. Audiences were overwhelmingly 55 and older (72 per cent of ticket buyers), female (72%) and white (75 per cent). As expected, the movie played best in the South, with top states including Florida and Texas.

David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm FranchiseRe called it “an excellent opening for a political documentary.”

“For any other film, with $75 million in costs and limited foreign potential, it would be a problem,” said Gross. “But this is a political investment, not a for-profit movie venture, and if it helps Amazon with a regulatory, taxation, tariff or other government issue, then it will pay back. $75 million is insignificant to Amazon.”

“Melania” is Ratner’s first film since he was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017. Multiple women, including the actor Olivia Munn, accused Ratner of sexual harassment and misconduct. Ratner has denied the allegations. Last fall, after Trump’s reported intervention, Paramount Pictures said it would distribute his “Rush Hour 4.”

“Melania,” which will stream on Prime Video following its theatrical run, was released globally. Shortly before its debut, South African distributor Filmfinity said it would no longer release it. The company said it changed course “based on recent developments.”

International ticket sales for “Melania” were expected to be minuscule.

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press