Two of Prince Andrew’s efforts to prevent or stall the progression of a lawsuit by a woman who says he sexually assaulted her when she was 17 have been blocked by a US federal judge.

Judge Lewis A Kaplan, in a written order on Saturday, asked the prince’s lawyers to turn over key legal documents on the schedule that has been set in the lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

Giuffre claims she was abused by the prince on multiple occasions in 2001 while she was being sexually abused by financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

Kaplan also rejected arguments by the prince’s lawyers on jurisdiction grounds after they argued last week that the suit should be dismissed since Giuffre, a US citizen, no longer lives in the US.

The lawyers had claimed it was, therefore, pointless to exchange evidence until that question is resolved because it could result in the lawsuit’s dismissal.

In a statement, Giuffre’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, called the request to halt the case “just another in a series of tired attempts by Prince Andrew to duck and dodge the legal merits of the case Virginia Giuffre has brought against him. All parties in litigation are subject to discovery and Prince Andrew is no exception.”

A US judge has postponed a sexual abuse case of British Prince Andrew likely to late 2022 despite an earlier announcement that he would have to answer questions under oath by next July 14.

In October, the prince’s lawyers attacked Giuffre’s lawsuit, arguing Giuffre had made false claims against Andrew because he “never sexually abused or assaulted” her.

“Giuffre has initiated this baseless lawsuit against Prince Andrew to achieve another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him. Epstein’s abuse of Giuffre does not justify her public campaign against Prince Andrew,” the written arguments said.

Andrew has also come under pressure to shed more light on the nature and extent of Epstein’s relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the disgraced media mogul, Robert Maxwell.

Last Thursday, Ghislaine, 60, was found guilty of recruiting and trafficking young girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.

Source: Presstv

The world began ushering in 2022 on Friday after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions, soaring case numbers, and a slight glimmer of hope for better times ahead.

The past 12 months saw a new US president and a fresh Adele album, the first spectator-free Olympics, and dreams of democracy from Afghanistan to Myanmar and Hong Kong crushed by authoritarian regimes.

But it was the pandemic — now entering its third year — that again dominated life for most of humankind.

More than 5.4 million people have died since the coronavirus was first reported in central China in December 2019.

Countless more have been sickened — subjected to outbreaks, lockdowns, lock-ins and an alphabet spaghetti of PCR, LFT and RAT tests.

The year 2021 started with hope, as life-saving vaccines were rolled out to around 60 percent of the world’s population, although many of its poor still have limited access and some of its rich falsely believe the jabs are part of some ill-defined plot.

As the year drew to a close, the emergence of the Omicron variant pushed the number of daily new Covid-19 cases past one million for the first time, according to an AFP tally.

France on Friday became the latest country to announce Omicron was now its dominant coronavirus strain.

In Britain, the United States, and even Australia — long a refuge from the pandemic — the variant’s prominence is driving record new cases.

To party, or not?

Parts of the Pacific nation of Kiribati became the first to welcome in the new year from 1000 GMT.

But from Seoul to San Francisco, celebrations have again been cancelled or curtailed as infections rise.

In Sydney, which in normal times bills itself as the “New Year’s Eve capital of the world”, the vast harbour where people gathered to watch the city’s fireworks was notably uncrowded.

With tourists still unable to enter the country and many residents fearful of the rapid spread of Omicron, tens of thousands were estimated to have attended, rather than the one million-plus who normally flock to the foreshore.

Still, the city saw New Year’s Eve in with a bang — igniting six tonnes of technicoloured fireworks that lit up the Opera House and floating barges, turning the Harbour Bridge rainbow-like.

“I’m just trying to focus on the positive things that happened this year, rather than dwelling on all the bad things that have happened,” 22-year-old medical student Melinda Howard told AFP as she waited for the show.

Dubai is planning a pyrotechnics spectacle at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, despite a surge of infections in the United Arab Emirates.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, municipal authorities in the Tunisian capital Tunis cited the “rise in cases” of coronavirus for the last-minute cancellation of a concert and other festivities planned for Bourguiba Avenue, the main city-centre thoroughfare.

In contrast, South Africa — the first country to report Omicron back in November — lifted a curfew late Thursday to allow festivities to go ahead.

Health officials said that a dip in infections in the past week indicated the peak of the current wave had passed — crucially without a significant increase in deaths.

‘Only one desire’

In Rio, celebrations on Copacabana Beach will go ahead in a scaled back format — though crowds of revellers are still expected at the traditional party spot.

“People have only one desire, to leave their homes, to celebrate life,” 45-year-old Copacabana beach waiter Francisco Rodrigues said.

Authorities in Seoul are showing caution, barring spectators from a traditional midnight bell-ringing that will instead be live-streamed.

In India, fearing a repeat of a devastating virus surge that overwhelmed the country in April and May, cities and states have imposed restrictions on gatherings. Delhi implemented a 10:00 pm curfew.

Mumbai police on Friday issued evening bans on people visiting public places such as the city’s beaches and seafront promenades, normally popular sites for seeing in the new year — with the restrictions set to last two weeks.

The UK also marks the new year in muted fashion, but at least does so under the warmest temperatures on record, near 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit).

Trying times

The World Health Organization has warned of trying times ahead, saying Omicron could lead to “a tsunami of cases”.

Many Western leaders have been hesitant to reimpose strict controls seen in 2020, for fear of sparking a new economic downturn.

But on-again-off-again restrictions have still prompted frequent, vocal and occasionally violent anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine and anti-government protests.

Experts and non-experts alike hope that 2022 may be remembered as a new, less deadly phase of the pandemic.

“Hopefully 2022 is going to be better for everyone,” said 31-year-old reveller Oscar Ramirez in Sydney.

“Everyone in the world needs a big change.”

Source: AFP

Japan hanged three prisoners on Tuesday, its first executions in two years, with the government saying it was necessary to maintain capital punishment in the face of continued “atrocious crimes”.

Japan is one of the few developed countries to keep the death penalty, and public support for capital punishment remains high despite international criticism, especially from rights groups.

More than 100 people are currently on death row in Japan, most of them for mass murder. Executions are carried out by hanging, usually long after sentencing.

One of the three executed on Tuesday was Yasutaka Fujishiro, 65, who used a hammer and knife to kill his 80-year-old aunt, two cousins and four others in 2004, a justice ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

The other two were 54-year-old Tomoaki Takanezawa, who killed two clerks at an arcade game parlour in 2003, and his accomplice Mitsunori Onogawa, 44.

The executions were the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October.

“Whether to keep the death sentence or not is an important issue that concerns the foundation of Japan’s criminal justice system,” deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara said.

“Given that atrocious crimes keep occurring one after another, it is necessary to execute those whose guilt is extremely grave so it is inappropriate to abolish capital punishment.”

Members of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations “strongly protest” Tuesday’s executions, the body’s president Tadashi Ara said in a statement.

Ara urged the government to “abolish capital punishment and stop all executions until it is abolished”.

Half a century on death row

Japan executed three death row inmates in 2019 and 15 in 2018 – including 13 from the Aum Shinrikyo cult that carried out a fatal 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.

For decades, authorities have told death row inmates just hours before an execution is carried out.

Two prisoners are suing the government over the system, which they argue is illegal and causes psychological distress.

The pair are also seeking compensation of 22 million yen ($194,000) for the distress caused by living with uncertainty about their execution date.

In December 2020, Japan’s top court overturned a ruling blocking the retrial of a man described as the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, raising new hope for the now 85-year-old.

Iwao Hakamada has lived under a death sentence for more than half a century after being convicted in 1968 of robbing and murdering his boss, the man’s wife, and their two teenaged children.

But he and his supporters say he confessed to the crime only after an allegedly brutal police interrogation that included beatings, and that evidence in the case was planted.

Worldwide, at least 483 people were executed last year in 18 countries, according to rights watchdog Amnesty International.

That represents a drop of around a quarter from the year before, and fits a downward trend since 2015.

The figure does not, however, include the “thousands” of executions believed to have been carried out in China, which keeps such data secret, along with North Korea and Vietnam.

Japan and the United States are the only members of the G7 group of developed countries that still use the death penalty.

Source: AFP

There are currently 488 media professionals imprisoned around the world, the highest number since Reporters Without Borders began counting more than 25 years ago, the NGO announced Thursday.

By contrast, the number killed this year — 46 — was the lowest since it began issuing annual tallies, due to the relative stabilisation of conflicts in the Middle East.

“The number of journalists detained in connection with their work has never been this high since RSF began publishing its annual round-up in 1995,” the NGO, which battles for freedom of the press, said in a statement.

The number has risen by some 20 percent over the past year thanks largely to crackdowns on the media in Myanmar, Belarus and Hong Kong.

RSF said it had also never seen so many female journalists detained, with the overall number of 60 representing a third more than 2020.

China leads the way for imprisoned journalists with 127, thanks in large part to the national security law it imposed on Hong Kong, undermining many of its long-standing democratic freedoms.

‘People’s tribunal’

Myanmar was second with 53, followed by Vietnam (43), Belarus (32) and Saudi Arabia (31).

The falling number of deaths since a peak in 2016 reflects changing dynamics in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, where a reduction in conflict means fewer journalists have been drawn to the region.

Most of the 46 killings were assassinations: “65 percent were deliberately targeted and eliminated,” the report said.

The most dangerous countries were once again Mexico and Afghanistan, with seven and six journalist deaths respectively, followed by Yemen and India with four apiece.

RSF also counted 65 journalists and colleagues held as hostages around the world.

All are in the Middle East — Syria (44), Iraq (11) and Yemen (9) — apart from French journalist Olivier Dubois, held in Mali since April.

A “people’s tribunal” to achieve justice for murdered journalists opened in The Hague last month to defend media freedoms in an age of increasing authoritarianism and populism.

Set up by a coalition of press freedom organisations, the hearings lasting six months will focus on the unsolved cases of three journalists murdered in Mexico, Sri Lanka and Syria.

While it has no legal powers to convict anyone, the tribunal aims to raise awareness, pressure governments and gather evidence through what it calls its form of “grassroots justice”.

The tribunal was organised by Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Reporters Without Borders.

Source: AFP

China will deliver another 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa and encourage Chinese companies to invest no less than $10 billion in the continent over the next three years, President Xi Jinping said on Monday.

The country has already supplied nearly 200 million doses to Africa, where vaccination rates have fallen behind amid growing concern over the spread of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which was first identified in southern Africa.

Xi said 600 million doses would be donations and 400 million doses would be provided through other means such as joint production by Chinese companies and relevant African countries. China will also build 10 health projects in Africa and send 1,500 health experts, he said.

In a speech via video link at the opening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Xi said a China-Africa cross-border yuan centre would be set up to provide African financial institutions with a credit line of $10 billion, without giving further details.

China will provide $10 billion of trade finance to support African exports, create a zone for trade and economic cooperation and build a China-Africa industrial park, he said.

The announcement comes amid criticism of China’s infrastructure-for-commodities deals that some experts say saddle countries with unsustainable debt. Democratic Republic of Congo is currently reviewing a $6 billion deal with Chinese investors over concerns that it is not sufficiently beneficial to Congo.

The Belt and Road Initiative, in which Chinese institutions finance major infrastructure in mainly developing nations, has slowed: Chinese bank financing for infrastructure projects in Africa fell from $11 billion in 2017 to $3.3 billion in 2020, according to a report by international law firm Baker McKenzie.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a four-nation tour of the region last week that Washington was pushing for cleaner deals without unsustainable debts.

Xi says imports from Africa to reach $300 billion

China’s imports from Africa, one of its key sources of crude oil and minerals, will reach $300 billion in the next three years, Xi said, adding that the two sides would cooperate in areas such as health, digital innovation, trade promotion and green development.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, also speaking via video link, thanked China for its support and said African economies should be able to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines.

Discussions at the World Trade Organization on a temporary TRIPS waiver to make COVID-19 vaccines and treatments available to all needed to be finalised, he said, while criticising the travel curbs imposed on South Africa.

Source: REUTERS

An Emirati general accused of torture was elected president of Interpol Thursday, the global police agency said, despite the concerns of human rights organisations and members of the European Parliament.

“Mr Ahmed Nasser AL RAISI of the United Arab Emirates has been elected to the post of President (4-yr term),” Interpol said on Twitter.

General Al-Raisi, head of the United Arab Emirates’ security forces, will take on a largely ceremonial and voluntary role.

It is Interpol Secretary General Juergen Stock who handles day-to-day management of the organisation. Stock was given a second five-year term in 2019.

Mr Ahmed Nasser AL RAISI of the United Arab Emirates has been elected to the post of President (4-yr term). pic.twitter.com/pJVGfJ4iqi

— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) November 25, 2021

Complaints of “torture” were filed against the Emirati general in recent months in France and Turkey, which is hosting Interpol’s general assembly in Istanbul this week.

The appointment follows generous funding by the UAE for the Lyon, France-based body and accusations Abu Dhabi has abused Interpol’s system of so-called “red notices” for wanted suspects to persecute political dissidents.

Three European Parliament members wrote a letter dated November 11 to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to warn of the impact the general’s appointment would have on Interpol.

“The election of General Al Raisi would undermine the mission and reputation of Interpol and severely affect the ability of the organisation to carry out its mission effectively,” they wrote.

And in October 2020, 19 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, expressed concern about the possible choice of Raisi, whom they described as being “part of a security apparatus that continues to systematically target peaceful critics”.

Source: AFP

Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou-Children in West Africa and Central Africa involved in conflict are the most employed by armed groups in the world and the most victims of sexual violence, a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund on Tuesday. Says. ..

Over the past five years, more than 21,000 children have been hired by government forces and armed groups in an increasing number of conflicts in the region, according to the report. In addition, more than 2,200 children in the region have been victims of sexual violence since 2016, the report said.

According to the report, more than 3,500 children have been kidnapped, making it the second most abducted area in the world.

“For children of today’s and future generations, the numbers and trends are very worrisome,” UNICEF’s Director of West Africa and Central Africa, Marie Pierre Poirier, told The Associated Press.

“The serious violations against children committed by the parties to the conflict did not stop throughout West Africa and Central Africa, but also surged over the past five years, increasing the total number of serious violations confirmed by 50%. “She said.

Since 2005, the United Nations has established a system to monitor and report serious violations of children, including recruitment, abduction, rape, and attacks on schools and hospitals, one in four violations worldwide has occurred in West Africa and Central Africa. The report states that it was done.

In conflict-affected countries such as Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, violence has devastating humanitarian consequences for children and communities, and pandemics exacerbate the situation. The United Nations said.

More than 57 million children need humanitarian assistance, which has doubled since last year as a result of conflict and viruses.

While some countries have been concerned for more than a decade, according to the United Nations Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, there are three new areas of concern: Burkina Faso, Cameroon and the countries around Lake Chad.

Conflicts in four countries across the Lake Chad basin (Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria) have evacuated about 3 million people and killed thousands in the Zihadist rebellion this year in Burkina Faso. Has increased at least 5 times. According to information AP saw in an unpublished report by international aid and conflict experts, from four documented cases across the last year.

During the June deadly attack in the Sahel region of the country where at least 160 people were killed, children were seen with jihadists and “Alahu Akbar” (in Arabic) while burning their homes. God is wonderful).

Children associated with armed groups are often exposed to “unbearable levels of violence,” which can be followed by other violations such as abduction, sexual violence, and the killing and disability of children before and after their recruitment. .. Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba told The Associated Press.

The United Nations calls on the parties to the conflict to prevent and end violations against children and hold the perpetrators accountable. It encourages aid groups to increase documenting of violations, prevent them, and work to respond to them. UNICEF states that more than $ 92 million is needed to protect children in emergencies in West and Central Africa, more than half of which has not yet been funded.

Source: Illinoisnewstoday

Israel’s former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought “total and complete” control over his media image, his ex-spokesman told the graft trial of the veteran leader on Monday.

“If we use the term ‘control freak,’ he is much more than that,” said Nir Hefetz. “In everything relating to the media, he demands to know everything, down to the smallest detail.”

The testimony of Hefetz, seen as a key prosecution witness in Israel’s highest-profile trial, had been postponed from last week at the request of Netanyahu’s legal team.

Netanyahu — who was Israel’s longest serving prime minister, including a record 12-year tenure from 2009 to 2021, and now head of the opposition — has been charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

The indictments collectively accuse him of accepting improper gifts and illegally trading regulatory favour with media moguls in exchange for positive coverage.

Hefetz said in his district court testimony that Netayahu’s “control over everything relating to media matters and his social media channels could not be higher”.

“Netanyahu spends at least as much as his time on media as he spends on security matters, including on matters an outsider would consider nonsense.”

The session focused on Netanyahu allegedly granting favours to Shaul Elovitch, then-head of Israel’s largest telecom company, Bezeq, in exchange for favourable coverage by its Walla news website.

Netanyahu is accused of offering regulatory benefits that could have been worth millions to the company in return for the politically advantageous coverage.

Hefetz said that in 2015, shortly before elections, Elovitch contacted him regularly to lobby for governmental approval of his group’s merger with cable TV operator Yes, and to find out who would be the next communications minister.

“I think he (Elovitch) was thinking at the time: who knows who will win; so the Yes deal had to be signed first,” Hefetz said.

Netanyahu left after the first few hours of testimony Monday after receiving permission from the court.

Source: AFP

A Russian fleet of tankers, carrying the most substantial amount of diesel to the United States in recent years, is heading to the US East Coast to help alleviate a fuel shortage that has led to the soaring of prices in the country to a seven-year high.

A fleet of four tankers laden with 2 million barrels of Russian diesel are set to arrive in New York, New Haven, and Connecticut next week, Bloomberg reported, citing data from energy cargo-tracking agency Vortexa.

“Russia is better positioned to supply diesel than other refiners in Europe because of its access to cheap natural gas,” said Clay Seigle, a managing director for Vortexa in Houston.

“It’s very rare we’d see volumes this large coming to the East Coast,” he added.

The Russian shipment of diesel is heading to the US at a time when stockpiles in the East Coast, the largest US importing region, are close to the lowest seasonally since 2017.

US imports of European gasoline hit a nine-month low in October. The price of diesel and other fuels have skyrocketed across the globe since energy demand has been back with the world economy reopening but supply simply has not kept up.

Deliveries of European gasoline to the US plunged last month by 51% month-on-month to about 202,000 barrels per day, the lowest monthly tally since January.

Europe is also facing an energy crisis as natural gas prices have more than tripled there.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that his country could help ease Europe’s natural gas shortage. But Russian supplies have so far not been enough as a Russian pipeline, the Nord Stream 2, is held up by permitting delays in Germany. Germany on Tuesday suspended the approval process for the pipeline project.

Source: Presstv