Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge

Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein attends a court hearing at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on September 18, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 18 September 2024
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Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge

Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge

NEW YORK: Disgraced US movie producer Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York.

Weinstein, 72, who had emergency heart surgery just over a week ago, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom in a wheelchair to enter his plea to a single charge of committing a criminal sexual act.

The once-powerful movie mogul was unshaven and appeared pale and visibly frail during his brief court appearance.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the new indictment of Weinstein is for the sexual assault of a woman in a Manhattan hotel between April 29, 2006 and May 6, 2006.

“Thanks to this survivor who bravely came forward, Harvey Weinstein now stands indicted for an additional alleged violent sexual assault,” Bragg said in a statement.

Weinstein is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted on rape charges in California.

He was also convicted in New York in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of an actress and of forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant.

He was sentenced to 23 years in prison in that case.

A New York appeals court, however, overturned that conviction in April and Weinstein is now awaiting a retrial on those charges.

Judge Curtis Farber scheduled a next court hearing for Weinstein for October 2.

The one-time Hollywood heavyweight has suffered from a raft of health issues while in prison and has spent time in a secure hospital unit.

On September 9, Weinstein was rushed to Bellevue Hospital from New York’s Rikers Island prison for emergency heart surgery.

Allegations against Weinstein helped launch the #MeToo movement in 2017, a watershed moment for women fighting sexual misconduct.

More than 80 women accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape, including prominent actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.

Weinstein claimed any sexual relations in question were consensual.

Weinstein and his brother Bob co-founded Miramax Films.

Their hits included 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” for which Weinstein shared a best picture Oscar.


Dutch government investigating possible missed warnings from Israel following riots

Dutch government investigating possible missed warnings from Israel following riots
Updated 47 min 5 sec ago
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Dutch government investigating possible missed warnings from Israel following riots

Dutch government investigating possible missed warnings from Israel following riots
  • Dutch police say four people remain in custody of the 63 people initially detained

AMSTERDAM: The Dutch government is investigating if possible warning signs from Israel were missed in the events leading up to this week’s assaults on Israeli football fans, Justice Minister David van Weel said in a letter to Parliament.
“An investigation is still being conducted on possible warning signs from Israel,” Van Weel said in his letter late on Friday evening.
At least five people were injured during the assaults on Thursday night and treated in hospital. All were released later on Friday. The incident concerned fans of the visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv football team.
Police on Saturday said four people remained in custody of the 63 people initially detained.
“The Public Prosecution Service has stated that it aims to apply fast-track justice as much as possible,” Van Weel said, adding that it is “the absolute priority” to identify every suspect.
He said the investigation would also examine whether the assaults were organized, with an antisemitic motive.
Political leaders have already denounced the attacks as antisemitic. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Friday he was “horrified by the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli citizens” and had assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone that “the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted.”
Israel sent extra planes to The Netherlands to bring fans home, but a Dutch government spokesperson could not immediately confirm how many people made use of this.
Videos on social media on what happened showed riot police in action, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs. Footage also showed Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday evening’s match.
Amsterdam banned demonstrations through the weekend and gave police emergency stop-and-search powers in response to the unrest.
Antisemitic incidents have surged in the Netherlands since Israel launched its assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza after the attacks on Israel by Hamas militants in October last year, with many Jewish organizations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.


China’s Xi hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with Indonesia

China’s Xi hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with Indonesia
Updated 09 November 2024
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China’s Xi hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with Indonesia

China’s Xi hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with Indonesia
  • Beijing and Jakarta are key economic allies, with Chinese companies plowing money into extracting Indonesian natural resources in recent years
  • But the two countries have sparred verbally over disputed claims in the South China Sea

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Indonesian counterpart that Beijing hopes for a “new chapter” in bilateral relations, as the two leaders met on Saturday.
Xi held talks with newly sworn-in President Prabowo Subianto in Beijing, the first stop of the Indonesian leader’s inaugural foreign tour since he took office in October.
China is keen to work with Indonesia to “write a new chapter of joint self-reliance, solidarity and cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win results as major developing countries,” Xi told Prabowo in front of journalists.
Beijing and Jakarta are key economic allies, with Chinese companies plowing money into extracting Indonesian natural resources in recent years, particularly the nickel sector.
But the two countries have sparred verbally over disputed claims in the South China Sea.
Prabowo said that the relationship between the two countries was “getting stronger and stronger.”
“I would like to reiterate our commitment... to work together for the mutual benefit of our two peoples and for the prosperity, peace and stability of all of Asia,” he added.
Xi held a welcome ceremony for Prabowo at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Saturday before the talks.
Prabowo, who landed in China on Friday, is also meeting Premier Li Qiang and number three official Zhao Leji on his trip, which ends on Sunday.
He will travel onwards to Washington, at the invitation of US President Joe Biden, as part of a world tour which will also include Peru, Brazil and Britain.
Prabowo has pledged to stick to Jakarta’s traditionally non-aligned foreign policy while making the world’s fourth-most populous nation more active abroad.
Confrontations over what Indonesia says are Chinese incursions into its territorial waters have weighed on the trading partners’ relationship in recent years.
In 2020, Indonesia deployed fighter jets and warships to patrol around the Natuna islands in the South China Sea after Chinese vessels entered the area.
Last month, Indonesia said it drove Chinese coast guard ships from contested waters in the South China Sea on three separate occasions.
Indonesia says it is trying to stop foreign vessels from fishing in its waters, costing the economy billions of dollars annually.
Huge unexploited oil and gas deposits are believed to lie under the South China Sea, though estimates vary greatly.
Beijing has for years sought to expand its presence in the contested waters, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim to most of the waterway has no legal basis.
It has built artificial islands armed with missile systems and runways for fighter jets, and deployed vessels that the Philippines says harass its ships and block its fishers.
The latest confrontations are an early test for Prabowo, who has pledged to bolster the defense of Indonesian territory.
Prabowo has promised to be bolder on foreign policy than his predecessor Joko Widodo, who focused more on domestic issues.


Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills one, injures 13, governor says

Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills one, injures 13, governor says
Updated 09 November 2024
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Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills one, injures 13, governor says

Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills one, injures 13, governor says
  • Russia launched 51 drones, focusing its attack on Odesa and the nearby region in the south of Ukraine
  • Ukraine’s military said that Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets in Octobe

KYIV: Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa overnight, killing one person and injuring 13 others, including two boys, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Saturday.
Several residential apartment buildings, private houses, commercial buildings and dozens of private cars were damaged in what was the second day in a row of Russian drone attacks on the city, Kiper said.
“At night the enemy again attacked Odesa and the nearby region with attack drones. One person died and 13 were wounded. Among the injured there were two children,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Prosecutors said the children were boys aged four and 16.
Russia launched 51 drones, focusing its attack on Odesa and the nearby region in the south of Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that Ukrainian air defense units and mobile drone hunter groups shot down 32 Russian drones.
It also said that 18 drones were “lost,” most likely meaning they had been thwarted electronically.
Russian drones also triggered a large fire in one of Odesa’s districts, public broadcaster Suspilne reported, quoting residents.
Other media outlets in the city posted video footage showing cars and buildings ablaze and thick smoke billowing skyward.
As the war against Russia nears its 1,000-day mark, Moscow’s forces have intensified air attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, sending swarms of drones almost every night.
Ukraine’s military said that Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets in October.
Moscow says it does not target civilians. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine had verified 11,743 civilian deaths in conflict-related violence from Russia’s full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022 to the end of August this year. The Ukrainian government says the toll is likely to be much higher due to difficulties accessing parts of the country.


Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say

Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say
Updated 09 November 2024
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Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say

Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say

WASHINGTON: Several Maryland boards of elections and an office in a county in California received bomb threats on Friday, state authorities said, adding everyone was safe and law enforcement authorities were conducting probes.
Election officials were counting mail-in ballots when the threats came in Maryland. State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis said the threats led to evacuation of some buildings. He called the threats “cowardly,” adding local officials will resume counting on Saturday.
“Safety is a top concern — but we WILL resume canvassing tomorrow. Cowardly threats whether from abroad or not shall not deter us,” DeMarinis said on social media platform X.
“The Baltimore County Police Department is aware and currently investigating the bomb threat received via email by the Baltimore County Board of Elections Office,” police posted on X, later adding that a probe found that threat unfounded.
In California’s Orange County, the registrar of voters received a bomb threat at an office in Santa Ana after which the office building was evacuated and bomb detection dogs were used to conduct a search. No explosives were located, officials said, adding normal operations will resume on Saturday.
The offices of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Maryland Governor Wes Moore said they were monitoring the situations and working with local officials.
Republican Donald Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s presidential election. Counting continued in parts of the country in local, congressional and presidential races.
The FBI said that hoax bomb threats, many of which appeared to originate from Russian email domains, were directed on Tuesday at polling locations in five battleground states — Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — as Election Day voting was under way. Russia denies interfering in US elections.
Ahead of the elections, officials had braced for attacks and threats arising from misinformation and conspiracy theories about the vote.


Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’

Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’
Updated 09 November 2024
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Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’

Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’
  • The US Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump
  • Investigators learned of the plan to kill Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an Iranian government asset

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday described as “totally unfounded” US accusations of a plot by Tehran to assassinate president-elect Donald Trump.

The foreign ministry “rejects allegations that Iran is implicated in an assassination attempt targeting former or current American officials,” spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement, after US prosecutors announced charges over the alleged plot.

The Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week’s election with planning the assassination of the Republican president-elect.

Investigators learned of the plan to kill Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots.

Shakeri told investigators that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to set aside other work he was doing and assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.

The official was quoted by Shakeri as saying that “We have already spent a lot of money” and that “money’s not an issue.” Shakeri told investigators the official told him that if he could not put together a plan within the seven-day timeframe, then the plot would be paused until after the election because the official assumed Trump would lose and that it would be easier to kill him then, the complaint said.

Shakeri is at large and remains in Iran. Two other men were arrested on charges that Shakeri recruited them to follow and kill prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has endured multiple Iranian murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement.

“I’m very shocked,” said Alinejad, speaking by telephone to The Associated Press from Berlin, where she was about to attend a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the tearing down of the wall. “This is the third attempt against me and that’s shocking.”

In a post on the social media platform X, she said: “I came to America to practice my First Amendment right to freedom of speech — I don’t want to die. I want to fight against tyranny, and I deserve to be safe. Thank you to law enforcement for protecting me, but I urge the US government to protect the national security of America.”

Lawyers for the two other defendants, identified as Jonathan Loadholt and Carlisle Rivera, did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Iran’s UN Mission declined to comment.

Shakeri, an Afghan national who immigrated to the US as a child but was later deported after spending 14 years in prison for robbery, also told investigators that he was tasked by his Revolutionary Guard contact with plotting the killings of two Jewish-Americans living in New York and Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. Officials say he overlapped with Rivera while in prison as well as an unidentified co-conspirator.

The criminal complaint says Shakeri disclosed some of the details of the alleged plots in a series of recorded telephone interviews with FBI agents while in Iran. The stated reason for his cooperation, he told investigators, was to try to get a reduced prison sentence for an associate behind bars in the US

According to the complaint, though officials determined that some of the information he provided was false, his statements regarding a plot to kill Trump and Iran’s willingness to pay large sums of money were determined to be accurate.

The plot, disclosed just days after Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris, reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials, including Trump, on US soil. Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot targeting American officials.

“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Friday. FBI Director Christopher Wray said the case shows Iran’s “continued brazen attempts to target US citizens,” including Trump, “other government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran.”

Iranian operatives also conducted a hack-and-leak operation of emails belonging to Trump campaign associates in what officials have assessed was an effort to interfere in the presidential election.

Intelligence officials have said Iran opposed Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran. Trump’s administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the president-elect was aware of the assassination plot and nothing will deter him “from returning to the White House and restoring peace around the world.”