Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Six In The Morning Wednesday 12 January 2022

 

Prince Andrew to face civil sex assault case after US ruling

Prince Andrew is to face a civil case in the US over allegations he sexually assaulted a woman when she was 17.

Virginia Giuffre is suing the prince, claiming he abused her in 2001.

His lawyers said the case should be thrown out, citing a 2009 deal she signed with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But a New York judge ruled that the claim could be heard.

He has consistently denied the claims. Buckingham Palace said it would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.


Aras Amiri: Iran frees British Council employee accused of spying

Amiri, 34, back in UK after Iran’s supreme court overturned 2019 conviction and 10-year prison sentence


 Diplomatic editor

An Iranian woman who worked for the British Council has been freed from detention in Evin prison and returned to the UK after being acquitted of spying charges.

Aras Amiri’s lawyers had mounted an appeal to the Iranian supreme court that led to her release. She is now at an undisclosed address in the UK.

The 34-year-old, who worked as an artistic affairs officer for the British Council, was visiting relatives in Tehran in 2018 when she was detained. In May 2019 she was sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges after she said she refused to become an informant for Iran’s intelligence service. Three months later she lost an appeal.


Rape trial of Greek sailing coach begins as #MeToo movement gathers pace

The case came to light after Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou spoke out about her sexual abuse

Moira Lavelle

in Athens


Greek former sailing coach accused of raping a child has gone on trial in Athens, in a case that surfaced last year after an Olympic champion spoke out about her experience of sexual abuse and effectively kickstarted Greece’s #MeToo movement.

Triantafyllos Apostolou, 39, appeared in court on Wednesday to face trial for the alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl in 2010.

The case came to light after former Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou spoke out in December 2020 about her own abuse as a young woman by a sports official, with her revelations spurring many victims of sexual assault in Greece to come forward.


Green groups target poisonings from rising pesticides sales

More and more pesticides are being sprayed worldwide with deadly consequences for humans and nature, a report finds.

The rising use of pesticides is at the heart of environmental damage across the world, according to a new report from environmental groups in Germany.

"You encounter the issue everywhere when you deal with agriculture, health, species loss and water pollution," said agricultural engineer Susan Haffmans from Pesticide Action Network Germany, who played a leading role in developing the Pesticide Atlas report. "It is a major cross-cutting issue."

Together with the green-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation, the German branch of environmental group Friends of the Earth and the international monthly newspaper LE MONDE diplomatique, the report was presented and published Wednesday in Berlin. Its 50 pages outline harmful effects of the billion-dollar pesticide business.


Tunisia reimposes night-time curfew in effort to stem virus surge

Tunisia on Wednesday announced a new night-time stay-at-home order for the next two weeks in order to tamp down surging coronavirus cases.

There will be "a curfew from 10:00 PM until 5:00 AM", following recommendations by the government's scientific committee, the presidency said in a statement.

similar measure had been in place since 2020 but President Kais Saied ended it in September.

The presidency also ordered "the postponement or cancellation of all public gatherings or demonstrations, in closed or open spaces."


Afghan women face hardship as Taliban struggles to revive economy

Several Afghan women Al Jazeera spoke to say they have struggled to put food on the table as Taliban fails to revive the economy.


 For Zaigul, a 32-year-old housewife from Nangarhar province who lives at the Nasaji camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near the capital, Kabul, life was already difficult before the Taliban seized power on August 15 last year.

She worked as a maid while her husband Nasir worked at construction sites to bring food to the table for their seven children, but not any more. Since the Taliban’s return to power, the country has plunged into unprecedented economic crisis, with banks running out of cash and state employees suffering from months of unpaid salaries.









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