(Reuters) - Lawyers for former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted last month of rape and sexual assault, have asked a New York court to take into consideration his health and age and sentence him to prison for five years.
Weinstein, 67, faces up to 29 years in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping former aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
“Please accept this letter as our request that the court sentence Mr Weinstein to a period of incarceration of five years,” three of Weinstein’s lawyers said in a letter addressed to Justice James Burke of state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Reuters saw a copy of the letter, which was signed by lawyers Damon Cheronis, Donna Rotunno and Arthur Aidala and dated Monday. Sentencing is due on Wednesday.
Weinstein’s conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which was fueled by his case starting in late 2017. The movement inspired women to accuse hundreds of powerful men - in entertainment, business, the media, politics and other fields - of sexual misconduct.
Last week, Weinstein was transferred to New York’s Rikers Island jail complex from Bellevue Hospital after undergoing a procedure to clear a heart blockage.
In their letter, Weinstein’s lawyers mentioned his poor health and age, as well as his “accomplishments” and “charitable endeavors”.
“His life story, his accomplishments, and struggles are simply remarkable and should not be disregarded in total because of the jury’s verdict,” they said.
Jurors acquitted Weinstein on the two most serious charges against him, predatory sexual assault, which carried a maximum life sentence.
New York prosecutors said last week Weinstein should get a prison sentence that reflects not only his conviction for sexually assaulting two women, but a “lifetime of abuse towards others”.
Throughout his adult life, Weinstein has shown a “staggering lack of empathy, treating others with disdain and inhumanity,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office said in a letter to Burke.
Weinstein, who reshaped the independent film industry with critically acclaimed pictures such as “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love,” fell from grace after more than 70 women, most of them young actresses and others in the movie business, accused him of rape and sexual misconduct dating back decades.
He denied the accusations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.
In addition to his convictions in New York, Weinstein faces several felony charges in Los Angeles in connection with alleged sexual assaults against two women in 2013.
Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert Birsel
Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday of sexual assault and rape but cleared of the most serious predatory sexual assault charges.
The jury of seven men and five women found the producer guilty of criminal sexual acts in the first degree and rape in the third degree, a partial victory for the #MeToo movement that considered the case a watershed moment.
The 67-year-old was found not guilty however of first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault charges that could have seen him jailed for life.
The verdict marks the most high-profile sex assault conviction in the United States since Bill Cosby was found guilty in 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago.
The decision was announced in a packed New York courtroom where some 100 people had gathered. The defendant, who attended the trial hunched over a walker, was shielded from view by police officers.
More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct since allegations against him ignited the #MeToo global reckoning against men abusing positions of power in October 2017.
But the jury was considering charges related to just two: ex-actress Jessica Mann and former production assistant Mimi Haleyi, with many claims too old to prosecute.
One of the predatory sexual assault charges also included testimony from the Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, who said Weinstein raped her in her New York apartment in the winter of 1993-94.
Six women took the stand from the opening of testimony on January 22, to say they had been sexually assaulted by Weinstein.
Weinstein's team subjected the women to ferocious cross-examination, as they argued that his relationships were consensual and transactional.
The prosecution presented no forensic evidence or third-party witness accounts. The state's case rested on asking the jury to believe the women.
Agence France-Presse
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The jury in former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial began deliberations on Tuesday on charges that could send him to prison for life, in a case that has become a milestone for the #MeToo movement.
The Manhattan jury of seven men and five women began their discussions after the judge hearing the case warned Weinstein’s lead defense lawyer, Donna Rotunno, against talking to the press until jurors have reached a verdict.
The warning came two days after the attorney wrote an opinion piece about the case in Newsweek magazine.
“I would caution you about the tentacles of your public relations juggernaut,” Justice James Burke told Rotunno.
Rotunno told Burke that the opinion piece, published on Saturday and titled “Jurors in my client Harvey Weinstein’s case must look past the headlines,” was not intended to address the jury directly.
“This is an op-ed about the jury system as a whole, about the criminal justice system as a whole,” she said.
Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi asked Burke to revoke Weinstein’s bail and jail him, saying he must have approved the Newsweek opinion piece, which she said “borders on tampering with the jury.” The judge did not act on the request.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping Jessica Mann, a onetime aspiring actress, in 2013.
Weinstein faces life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault.
A unanimous verdict is needed for a conviction.
Since 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. Weinstein, who was behind films including “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has denied the allegations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.
The allegations fueled the #MeToo movement, in which women have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and politics of sexual misconduct.
After deliberating for less than an hour, the jury sent a note asking for clarification of their legal instructions, which Burke provided.
Later in the afternoon, they requested exhibits, including a blueprint of the apartment where Weinstein allegedly assaulted Haleyi and a 2017 email he sent to a private investigator with a list of women highlighted as “red flags.”
The list included Annabella Sciorra, who testified that Weinstein entered her apartment one winter night in 1993 or 1994 and raped her. The accusation is too old to be charged as a separate crime, but it could act as an aggravating factor to support a charge of predatory sexual assault.
Prosecutors have said the email is evidence that Weinstein tried to prevent Sciorra and other accusers from going public with their accusations.
Last week, jurors heard closing arguments from lawyers on both sides. Defense attorney Rotunno argued that the encounters had been consensual, pointing to friendly communications from the women to Weinstein after they were allegedly assaulted. She assailed the credibility of the accusers and urged the jury to put aside their emotions and use common sense in evaluating the evidence.
Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi urged jurors to convict Weinstein, saying the once-powerful producer used his position in the film industry to prey on women and that those who testified against him had no reason to lie.
Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Jonathan Oatis
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein will not testify in his own
defense at his rape trial, his lawyers said on Tuesday as they rested their case.
Outside the presence of the jury, one of Weinstein’s lawyers told Justice James Burke that Weinstein would not be taking the stand in the trial that began in New York on Jan. 6 and is a milestone in the #MeToo movement.
“That’s correct,” Weinstein confirmed when asked by the judge.
The defense rested its case shortly after this exchange, setting the stage for closing arguments to begin on Thursday.
Asked outside the courtroom whether he had been thinking of testifying, Weinstein responded, “I wanted to.”
“He didn’t have to,” said one of his lawyers, Damon Cheronis.
Arthur Aidala, another one of his lawyers, said outside the courthouse that Weinstein had been “anxious to testify to clear his name,” but that his lawyers had advised him that “he did not need to do that because the evidence presented in this case was anemic at best.”
Earlier on Tuesday, a former agent of accuser Jessica Mann took the stand, testifying that Mann showed no signs of distress on the morning she says she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to raping Mann, a onetime aspiring actress, and to sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi.
Mann accused Weinstein of raping her in a Manhattan hotel one morning in March 2013. She previously testified that the rape occurred in the course of an “extremely degrading” relationship with Weinstein that lasted for years.
Thomas Richards, a former friend and agent of Mann testified that he had breakfast with Mann and Weinstein the same day. Richards told jurors that the dynamic between Mann and Weinstein appeared “friendly.”
Richards testified under a subpoena from the defense. Asked by Weinstein’s lawyer Damon Cheronis whether he was testifying to help Weinstein, Richards answered, “Not at all.”
Under cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi, Richards said he had been drinking the night before the breakfast and his memory of the next day was not clear.
On Monday, Mann’s former friend Talita Maia, a Brazilian-born actress, testified that Mann did not show any distress after the alleged attack. Mann has said Richards was also with her in New York at the time.
The trial is a key moment in the #MeToo movement in which women have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and politics of sexual misconduct.
Since 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
The former producer, who was behind films including “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has denied any nonconsensual sex.
Weinstein faces life in prison if convicted of predatory sexual assault, the most serious charge against him.
Prosecutors rested their case last Thursday after jurors heard testimony from six women accusing Weinstein of sexual assault, including Mann, Haleyi and actress Annabella Sciorra, who said Weinstein raped her in her home in the early 1990s.
Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; writing by Noeleen Walder; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool
NEW YORK - A woman testified at Harvey Weinstein's rape trial on Wednesday that the film producer trapped her in a hotel bathroom in 2013 and masturbated in front of her while groping her breasts, and told her: "This is what all the actresses do to make it."
Lauren Young, a 30-year-old model and actress, is the last of six accusers scheduled to testify in a Manhattan courtroom against Weinstein, a once-powerful Hollywood figure.
Young's claims are not part of the criminal charges against Weinstein. She is among three women whom prosecutors are calling to bolster their case against the former movie producer.
Young is also one of two accusers in a sexual assault case brought against Weinstein in Los Angeles.
In the New York case, Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann and to sexually assaulting another woman, former production assistant Mimi Haleyi. Since 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
Weinstein, who produced films including “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has denied the allegations and said any sexual encounters were consensual. The trial is widely seen as a milestone in the #MeToo movement in which women have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and politics of sexual misconduct.
Young told jurors that she met Weinstein in 2012 at an Oscars dinner, where she also became friendly with actress Claudia Salinas.
Young said Salinas invited her to a meeting with Weinstein in the lobby of a Beverly Hills hotel in February 2013, where she hoped to pitch a script she was working on.
Then, Young testified, Weinstein said he had to go up to his hotel suite to prepare to receive an award and asked the two women to accompany him.
Weinstein led Young through a bedroom in the suite to a bathroom, at which point Salinas closed the door behind her. Young testified. She said Weinstein turned on the shower and began to undress.
"I felt so trapped and I was in shock,” Young said. “I just couldn’t believe what was happening.”
Young said Weinstein stood between her and the door and told her, “We’re just going to have a talk here.” He unzipped her dress, pulled it down and began touching her breast with one hand while masturbating, as Young repeatedly told him no, she testified.
She said Weinstein told her, “This is what all the actresses do to make it.”
She said he did not let go of her until he ejaculated, at which point he left the bathroom while Young stayed behind “in shock.”
During cross-examination, one of Weinstein's lawyers, Damon Cheronis, grilled Young about inconsistencies between her testimony and what she had earlier told investigators.
Young conceded that she had previously told investigators that that she was "pushed" into the bathroom and that the attack had taken place shortly after her first meeting with Weinstein, rather than the following year.
During her direct testimony, prosecutors also asked about Weinstein's genitals.
"It looked like it had been cut and sewn back on," Young said of his penis. "Not a normal-looking scar from circumcision. Something didn’t look normal."
On Tuesday, jurors were shown naked photos of Weinstein. Prosecutors did not say why the photographs were introduced or how many were presented. Weinstein's attorney, Donna Rotunno, said in an email on Tuesday evening that the photos were shown to shame Weinstein.
Mann testified last week that he did not appear to have testicles and said he appeared “deformed” or “intersex.” The term "intersex" refers to individuals with sex characteristics “that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies,” according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
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HYDERABAD - Hundreds of people on Saturday laid siege to a police station where four men are being held over the latest gruesome rape-murder to shock India.
Baton-wielding police pushed back crowds from the building in the southern city of Hyderabad where they said the 27-year-old veterinary doctor was gang-raped, killed and then her body burned.
While the suspects were quickly detained, the killing sparked new outrage in a country that has been in the international spotlight over its handling of sex assaults since the brutal gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus in 2012.
"How anyone could subject another human being to such terrible, unprovoked violence is beyond imagination," said former opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi on Twitter.
Police had to bring in reinforcements to bolster security around the Hyderabad police station. The suspects were to appear before a magistrate for what was expected to be the start of "fast-track" proceedings later Saturday.
But police were also criticised as protests spread to other cities.
ASHES DISCOVERED
A woman who tried to stage a one-person demonstration outside the Indian parliament in New Delhi said she was beaten by police after refusing to go home.
Anu Dubey had sat outside the assembly carrying a sign questioning why she could not "feel safe" in her own country.
"The only purpose of this protest is to ensure that I am not burned to death tomorrow," she told reporters later, fighting back tears.
"That woman died, other girls have also died. Every 20 minutes, there is a rape in India. I don't want to die. And I can't be a spectator to any more rape cases. I'm tired of seeing such cases over and over again," she said.
According to government figures, more than 32,000 rape cases were reported in 2017, however, experts say that the crime is vastly unreported.
Other cases reported Saturday included a 16-year-old girl who died in a Delhi hospital 10-days after being allegedly raped by a neighbour and then set ablaze.
Police said the 27-year-old Hyderabad vet, who cannot be named, was abducted on Wednesday night after she left her scooter near an express-way toll booth.
The four men are alleged to have deflated a tyre whilst she was away and offered to help when she returned to collect it.
The victim called her younger sister to say she was stranded and that a group of men had offer to fix her scooter.
The woman said she was "afraid", according her sister's testimony to police. The sister called back later but the victim's phone was switched off.
Police said the ashes of the woman's body were found on Thursday morning. The body had been wrapped in a blanket and doused with kerosene.
The killing has set off a firestorm of social media comment, many calling for a tough reaction.
"The culprits must be given severest punishment," commented Rajasthan state's chief minister Ashok Gehlot, one of tens of thousands to post Twitter comments.
Women's groups turned against a minister in Telegana state, which includes Hyderabad, who said the dead woman could have been saved if she had called police first instead of her sister.
"Is there no shame," hit back Swati Maliwal, head of the Delhi Women's Commission. "Now the blame is being put on the dead victim."
ash/tw/ecl
Agence France-Presse
SEOUL - A South Korean court sentenced a K-pop musician to 6 years in prison on Friday for raping a woman and distributing a video capturing the act in a case that drew attention to the darker side of the country's lucrative entertainment industry.
Jung Joon-young, 30, was arrested in March. Choi Jong-hoon, 30, a former member of South Korean boy band FT Island, was also sentenced to 5 years in prison for the rape of the woman.
Both were members of online chat groups that shared secret sex tapes and made jokes about drugging and raping women, the Seoul Central District Court said.
Jung's conviction also includes the illegal distribution of other videos he took secretly while having sex with women. The identities of the victims were suppressed to protect their privacy.
The court also sentenced each man to 80 hours in "sexual violence treatment" education.
"The defendants are well-known celebrities and friends, but the chat they've had showed that they simply considered women as objects of sexual pleasure, and committed crimes that were extremely serious," Judge Kang Seong-soo said as he handed down the verdict.
"Strict punishment is inevitable as the damage inflicted has not properly been recovered and the victims demand harsh penalties."
Jung admitted distributing the video and others he took, though he argued the sex was in all cases consensual. Choi denied raping the woman, and had argued that he did not remember having sex with her and that if he had, it was likely consensual.
Lawyers for Jung and Choi could not be reached for comment.
Their case was one of several scandals involving sex crimes and other illegal activity that revealed a dark side of an industry at the center of the global K-pop craze.
Lee Seung-hyun, a former member of K-pop group Big Bang better known by the stage name Seungri, is also on trial over accusations he paid for prostitutes for foreign businessmen to drum up investment in his business.
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DHAKA - Former Bangladeshi students are turning to social media to detail allegations of "rampant" sex abuse at the hands of teachers and older pupils in Islamic schools, breaking their silence on a taboo topic in the conservative country.
Child abuse in madrasas has long gone unreported in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation where hardline Islamist groups draw their support from the tens of thousands of schools across the nation of 169 million people.
But in the wake of a brutal murder of a teenage girl who was burnt to death in April after accusing her headteacher of sexual assault, such incidents have been subject to national scrutiny and debate for the first time.
In July alone, at least five madrasa teachers have been arrested on rape charges against boys and girls under their care.
Several senior students were also held by police over the rape and beheading of an 11-year-old orphan, while a Dhaka cleric and seminary teacher was charged with sexually assaulting a dozen boys aged between 12 and 19.
The accusations reveal how students from poorer and rural backgrounds, whose parents send them to madrasas as they are more affordable than secular schools, are disproportionately affected by the abuse.
Rights activists said the assaults -- which range from violent rapes to forcible kissing -- are so pervasive that the cases reported in the media are just the tip of the iceberg.
"For years these crimes eluded spotlight due to sensitivity of the subject," Abdus Shahid, the head of child rights' group Bangladesh Shishu Odhikar Forum, told AFP.
"Devout Muslims send children to madrasas, but they don't speak up about these crimes as they feel it would harm these key religious institutions."
'WIDESPREAD AND RAMPANT'
Hojaifa al Mamduh, who studied in three madrasas in the capital Dhaka, published a series of posts on Facebook in July detailing the abuses endured by students including himself.
The assaults were "so widespread in the madrasas, every student who has studied there knows about it", Al Mamduh, now a journalism student at a Dhaka University, told AFP.
"Many madrasa teachers I know consider sex with children a lesser crime than consensual extramarital sex with women. Since they live in the same dormitories, the perpetrators can easily hide their crimes and put pressure on their poor students to keep mum."
The 23-year-old's posts generated heated debate in the country, and he was personally threatened.
He was accused of being "an agent of Jews and Christians" and smearing the "sacred image" of a madrasa by one social media user.
Another reminded him of the fate of Avijit Roy, a top Bangladeshi atheist blogger and writer who was hacked to death by Islamist extremists in 2015.
But his posts encouraged others to share their own experiences of alleged sex crimes.
Mostakimbillah Masum, who published his story on a feminist website, said he was "first raped by an elder student in my madrasa when I was just seven".
The 25-year-old told AFP that another one of his rapists was "a teacher who made me unconscious and raped me. It traumatised me permanently".
"Dozens of madrasa students I know were either raped or witnessed rapes and sexual assaults of their fellow students," he added. "It is so rampant almost every madrasa has a fair share of such stories."
CULTURE OF IMPUNITY
Madrasa teachers have strongly denied the allegations, calling them "negative propaganda".
Mahfuzul Haq, a principal of a madrasa in Mohammadpur where Al Mamduh studied, told AFP "one or two isolated incidents can happen" as there were 20,000 madrasas in the South Asian nation.
"Those who don't like to study in madrasas are spreading these stories," he added.
A spokesman for hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islami, which represents a coalition of thousands of madrasas, said his organisation told a recent conference of 1,200 principals to take "tough stand against any sex crimes".
However, there has been growing acknowledgment of the alleged offences.
Pro-Islamic website Fateh24.com, viewed as a voice for the madrasas, pointed out in a report that children were at risk in smaller seminaries run by just one or two teachers and that had no oversight from governing bodies.
Editor Iftekhar Jamil, a former madrasa student and teacher, added that the cases were "not isolated" incidents and called for closed-circuit cameras to be installed in students' sleeping quarters.
"Instead of looking for conspiracies, these madrasas must take up responsibility and adopt an action plan to tackle these crimes," he told AFP.
sa/grk/aph/rbu
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SÃO PAULO, Brazil -- Police in Brazil probing rape allegations against football superstar Neymar have closed the case due to a lack of evidence, the Sao Paulo attorney general's office said Monday.
The police decision will be sent to prosecutors on Tuesday, who will have 15 days to evaluate the case, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office told AFP.
A final ruling on the case will be made by a judge.
A spokesman for Neymar said he was not able to comment on the police decision. Sao Paulo police are due to hold a news conference on Tuesday.
Neymar has vehemently denied allegations he raped a Brazilian woman in a Paris hotel in May.
The ugly affair, which has dominated headlines and conversations in the soccer-mad country for weeks, overshadowed Brazil's preparations for the Copa America.
Hosts Brazil went on to win South America's showcase tournament earlier this month without their biggest player, who was injured in a warm-up friendly before the opening match.
The scandal blew up on June 2 when Neymar published a seven-minute video on Instagram, where he had first been in contact with Najila Trindade, revealing that he had been accused of rape.
In an attempt to defend himself against the allegations, Neymar's video was accompanied by WhatsApp messages and images of his encounter with Trindade -- without her consent, possibly breaking Brazilian law.
- Police questioning -
The drama quickly snowballed. Extracts of a televised interview with Trindade, in which she accused Neymar of "aggression together with rape," aired just one hour before he was about to enter the pitch for the pre-Copa game between Brazil and Qatar.
Neymar tore his right ankle ligament in the 20th minute, ruling him out of the tournament.
In the following weeks, Neymar was questioned by police over the WhatsApp messages.
He also appeared before police in Sao Paulo, where Trindade had filed her complaint at the end of May.
As the case dragged on, police filed a defamation suit against Trindade -- who was dropped by multiple lawyers -- after she insinuated the force was corrupt.
"The police are bought, aren't they? Or am I crazy?" she told television channel SBT last month in response to questions over the police investigation of an alleged theft of a tablet device from her home that contained a short video she claims has conclusive evidence she was assaulted.
Despite the seriousness of the allegations, polls have shown that most Brazilians believe Neymar is innocent.
Controversy has followed the Paris Saint-Germain player, who flew back to France earlier this month.
Neymar, who joined PSG in 2017, has made clear he wants to return to Barcelona.
He has yet to feature during PSG's pre-season tour in Asia and French media reported he will miss Tuesday's game against Sydney in China.
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LOS ANGELES -- Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo will not face any charges over an alleged rape in Las Vegas a decade ago after US prosecutors said Monday they did not have enough evidence to proceed.
A district attorney in the state of Nevada said it would not prosecute the Portuguese soccer player because it "cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt" that a sexual assault occurred.
Kathryn Mayorga, a former model, alleges that Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward reached a financial settlement with her one year after the incident.
He has always denied allegations of sexual assault, insisting their encounter was consensual.
The Clark County District Attorney's Office said it had received a report from Mayorga -- who it identified only as "V" -- on June 13, 2009, reporting that she had been the victim of a sexual assault.
Police could not conduct "any meaningful investigation" at the time because she declined to say who assaulted her or where it occurred, the office said in a statement.
As a result, detectives were "unable to search for and impound vital forensic evidence," and video showing Ronaldo and Mayorga together was lost, it added.
Mayorga contacted police in August of last year to ask that the case be reopened, at which point she named Ronaldo as the alleged assailant.
The case was reopened "in spite of the passage of over nine year," prosecutors said.
"Based upon a review of the information presented at this time, the allegations of sexual assault against Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt," prosecutors said. "Therefore, no charges will be forthcoming."
- #MeToo movement -
Mayorga's attorney has stated that she agreed to an out-of-court settlement to keep her name from going public, but was later inspired to speak out by the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.
Mayorga has also said that her emotional trauma at the time did not allow her to participate in the mediation process for the financial settlement.
Neither Ronaldo's nor Mayorga's lawyers responded to AFP's request for comment on the decision to end the investigation.
The player has yet to respond on social media.
In October last year, Ronaldo said he was "an exemplary person."
"I know who I am and what I did. The truth will come out," he told France Football magazine.
"And the people who criticize me and who expose my life today, who make a song and dance about it, these people will see."
The allegations have taken a toll on his life, and in particular on his family, he said.
In January, a Spanish court handed Ronaldo a suspended two-year prison sentence for committing tax fraud while he was at Real Madrid.
This was immediately reduced to a fine of 365,000 euros ($410,000), on top of another penalty of 3.2 million euros ($3.6 million).
Ronaldo is widely considered one of the greatest footballers in the history of the game, having won the Champions League title five times -- once with Manchester United and four times with Real Madrid.
He also led Portugal to the Euro 2016 title in France.
Ronaldo, who is based in Turin, is currently on Juventus' pre-season tour of Asia.
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A 21-year old Filipino was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at Elizabethtown College campus in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
According to authorities, Alexis John Dolotina, who was on campus through an international work travel program, is being accused of sexually assaulting a woman in one of the school buildings.
No students were reportedly involved in the incident.
Dolotina has been taken into custody with bail set at $500,000.
He is charged with rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and similar charges.
Read more on Balitang America:
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PATNA, INDIA - An Indian mother and her daughter had their heads shaved and were paraded through their village after resisting an attempted rape by men including a local official, police said Friday.
The world's largest democracy has an abysmal record on sexual crime against women, particularly in rural areas where the majority of the 1.3-billion population lives.
Ward councilor Mohommad Khurshid forcibly entered the women's home in the eastern state of Bihar on Wednesday with other men and allegedly attempted to rape the newly married 19-year-old daughter, police told AFP.
When she and her mother -- whose husband tries to make ends meet by begging -- resisted, they were both physically assaulted and Khurshid brought in the local barber to shave their heads, the elder woman told police.
"Until now only six accused in the case have been arrested. Police have been conducting raids to arrest others as they are absconding after the incident," local policeman Sanjay Kumar said.
The councilor and the barber were among those being held, with the case attracting national media coverage and opposition lawmakers hitting out at the state government.
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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Star striker Neymar has been accused of raping a woman at a hotel in Paris, Brazilian media reports said Saturday, charges that the player's father slammed as attempted blackmail.
According to a complaint filed with Sao Paolo police and reported by the UOL and GloboEsporte websites, the Paris Saint-Germain star is accused of "using violence to have sex with the victim without her consent."
Sao Paulo's security secretariat would not provide a copy of the complaint to AFP, confirming only that one had been filed but saying its contents were classified.
The unidentified woman, who lives in Brazil, allegedly met Neymar through Instagram, and after exchanging messages, the footballer invited her to visit him in Paris in mid-May.
According to the complaint, Neymar arrived at the hotel "apparently intoxicated," and the two chatted and exchanged "caresses."
But then "he became aggressive and used violence to have sex with the victim without her consent," the document said.
Neymar's father, who is also his agent, categorically denied the accusations in an interview with Brazilian broadcaster Bandeirantes.
"This is not true, he has never committed any crime," said Neymar Santos, arguing that his son was a victim of blackmail. "We have all the evidence and we already gave everything to the lawyers."
According to Neymar Santos, his son and the woman went on a date, but Neymar did not want to see her again. Since then, the woman has tried to extort money from the player and his family, he said.
"My son can be accused of many things, but I know what kind of man he is ... it's clear that this was a trap," he said, adding that the family was prepared to release WhatsApp messages that would exonerate Neymar.
According to the media reports, the accuser was in Paris from May 15 to 17, but waited until last Friday to file the complaint in Brazil because she was "emotionally shaken."
Neymar, 27, is currently in Brazil preparing for the Copa America, which takes place in the country from June 14 to July 7.
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MANILA – Former Miss USA Olivia Jordan took to social media where she revealed that she was molested as a child and was raped as a teenager.
The revelation was part of a lengthy Instagram post, where Jordan aired her opinion about laws concerning abortion.
Jordan said it is through that lens that she views “the new policies that govern what happens to a woman’s body as a direct assault.”
“Decisions were made for my body without my consent. My body and mind have been traumatized in ways I am still recovering from many years later. Maybe it sounds unjust to compare criminalizing abortion to being raped; but to me, it feels the same,” she said.
“I used to get angry when confronted with anti-abortion messaging. I used to want to yell and scream back how I felt. But then we would just have two people screaming,” she added.
Jordan clarified that she is stating her piece not to impose her beliefs on others.
“No one will ever force you to have an abortion. And I ask, if you could pause for one second and realize how insane it is to impose your views on me, to force me or any woman to endure a pregnancy she is not ready for, maybe even one she didn’t consent to in the first place,” she said.
“Maybe you haven’t had the life experience I have had where your body has been controlled too many times without your consent but I have, and I will fight hard to stop any person from enduring the same fate,” she saud,
To end her post, Jordan appealed for others not to support “policies that strip people of their rights and their free choice.”
“Because when men make laws that govern women’s body without their consent, I feel like I am being assaulted all over again. I feel like we are letting the perpetrators win,” she said.
She then hoped “for a better future where we can realize that we can live in harmony even when we don’t agree.”
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SEOUL, South Korea - K-pop and drama star Park Yoo-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.
Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.
Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around 5 times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.
Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.
Park's contract with his management agency had been cancelled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park's management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.
Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.
A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes, and secret chat about rape led at least 4 other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.
The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.
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WASHINGTON - Arizona Senator Martha McSally, the first woman to fly in combat for the US Air Force, said Wednesday that she had been raped by a superior officer while in the service.
McSally, 52, who spent 26 years in the Air Force and commanded a fighter squadron, revealed the attack in emotional remarks during a Senate subcommittee hearing on sexual assault in the military.
"I am also a military sexual assault survivor but unlike so many brave survivors I didn't report being sexually assaulted," McSally said.
"Like so many women and men I didn't trust the system at the time," she said. "I blame myself. I was ashamed and confused. And I thought I was strong but felt powerless.
"The perpetrators abused their position of power in profound ways," the first-term Republican senator said. "And in one case I was preyed upon and then raped by a superior officer."
McSally, who served in the Air Force until 2010 and retired with the rank of colonel, said she kept quiet about the assault for many years.
"But later in my career, as the military grappled with scandals and their wholly inadequate responses, I felt the need to let some people know -- I too was a survivor," she said.
McSally said she considered leaving the military at one point.
"I almost separated from the Air Force at 18 years over my despair," she said. "Like many victims I felt the system was raping me all over again.
"But I didn't quit," she said. "I decided to stay and continue to serve and fight and lead, to be a voice from within the ranks for women and then in the House and now in the Senate."
EDUCATE COMMANDERS
McSally said military commanders needed to be better educated in handling sexual assault cases.
"We've come a long way to stop military sexual assault but we still have a long way to go," she said.
"I share the disgust at the failures of the military system and the many commanders who failed in their responsibilities," the senator said.
"We must educate, select and then further educate commanders who want to do the right thing but who are naive to the realities of sexual assault," she said.
"We must ensure that all commanders are trained and empowered to take legal action, prosecute fairly and rid perpetrators from our ranks."
McSally lost a close race in November to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema but was later appointed by the Arizona governor to fill the seat once held by John McCain, who died in August.
She is expected to contend for the Senate again in 2020 and may face a potentially tough race against former astronaut and US Navy veteran Mark Kelly, who is seeking the Democratic nomination.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, who is also a military veteran, revealed earlier this year that she had been raped while in college.
In a report released in May 2018, the Pentagon said the number of sexual assault cases reported by service members rose by about 10 percent in fiscal 2017.
It said the Pentagon received 6,769 reports of sexual assault involving service members as either victims or subjects of criminal investigation.
cl/ia
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PARIS - American singer Chris Brown filed a legal complaint for defamation on Thursday after a woman accused him of rape in Paris, his lawyer said.
Brown, 29, denied the accusation. He was released this week after one night in police custody and no charges were brought against him.
"Chris Brown has lodged a complaint with the Paris public prosecutor for slanderous accusations, so that an investigation can be conducted, in particular so that light can be shed on the conditions under which this young woman was brought to lodge a complaint against him and, also, check her motivations," Raphael Chiche told Reuters.
The arrests were first reported by Closer magazine, which said Brown, his bodyguard and a friend were detained after a 24-year-old woman alleged she was raped at the singer's suite at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on the night of Jan. 15.
"Chris Brown affirms that there was no sexual relationship with the complainant," Chiche said.
The Grammy-award winning musician pleaded guilty to assaulting singer Rihanna, his then-girlfriend, in 2009 in an incident that made headlines around the world when a photo of her bruised face was released.
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PHOENIX - An Arizona male nurse has been charged with raping a severely disabled woman at the long-term care facility where he worked, a crime that came to light only after she gave birth, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Nathan Sutherland, 36, was arrested by investigators who linked him to the case through DNA evidence after the woman, who is in her 20s, unexpectedly gave birth on Dec. 29 at Hacienda Healthcare Skilled Nursing Facility in Phoenix.
"From the minute we first became aware of this crime, a sexual assault, we have worked virtually non-stop every day, every night, seven days a week trying to solve and resolve this case," Police Chief Jeri Williams told a news conference.
Williams said the case, which has made international headlines, was solved through a combination of DNA and "good old fashioned police work."
Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse who began working at Hacienda Health care in 2012, was charged with one count each of sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail during a brief appearance in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Reuters could not reach Sutherland's defense lawyer for comment on Wednesday.
The Arizona Republic newspaper reported that attorney Dave Gregan said during the hearing that there was no direct evidence against his client, who had no criminal history, and that the defense planned to conduct its own DNA tests.
The woman, who has been disabled since very early childhood as a result of seizures, has spent most of her life in Phoenix's Hacienda Healthcare.
Though she was initially described as comatose, her parents said in a written statement that although she was disabled she could respond to sound, make facial gestures and had some ability to move her limbs, head and neck.
"The important thing is that she is a beloved daughter, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities," they said.
The parents declined to comment on Sutherland's arrest in a separate statement issued through their attorney.
Hacienda employees were not aware that woman was pregnant before she went into labor, police say, and were first alerted to the case when the baby was born. Police then sought DNA samples from all male employees.
The facility said in a written statement that Sutherland was fired as soon as administrators learned of his arrest.
"Before he started work with Hacienda, he underwent extensive background checks, including an extended criminal history search; a search of multiple government registries, including sex offender registries and Arizona Department of Economic Security and Child Protective Services registries; and checks of his personal references," it said.
The baby, a boy who is being cared for by family members, is doing well, police said.
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WASHINGTON - A one-time classmate of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee said Monday that Brett Kavanaugh was a habitual heavy drinker, challenging the judge's Senate testimony to the contrary.
The comments came days after the FBI opened a Senate-requested probe into allegations by three women that a drunken Kavanaugh sexually abused them or engaged in sexual misconduct while they were students in the 1980s.
"I can unequivocally say that in denying the possibility that he ever blacked out from drinking and in downplaying the degree and frequency of his drinking, Brett has not told the truth," Chad Ludington told reporters.
The North Carolina State University professor, who said he had contacted the FBI with his information, indicated in a statement Sunday that Kavanaugh was "belligerent and aggressive" when he drank.
Earlier, Trump had defended his pick but admitted that the appeals court judge has had a "bit of difficulty" with alcohol.
In a White House press conference, the US president sought to excuse excessive drinking by teenagers, while going beyond Kavanaugh's own testimony on his past use of alcohol to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
"I was surprised at how vocal he was about the fact that he likes beer," the president said.
"He's had a little bit of difficulty. He talked about things that happened when he drank. This is not a man that said... he was perfect with respect to alcohol."
He also questioned why investigators needed to examine the 53-year-old Kavanaugh's high school record.
"I think it's very unfair to bring up things like this," Trump said.
"I graduated from high school and while I did not drink, I saw a lot of people drinking," he said.
"They drink beer and go crazy and they were in high school... Does that mean that they can't do something they want to do in their life?"
He returned to the theme during a campaign rally in Tennessee, where he accused opposition Democrats of being motivated by politics.
"They have been blind in a blind rage ever since they lost the 2016. They have gone loco," he told supporters.
'I LIKE BEER'
In Thursday's extraordinary hearing, Kavanaugh vehemently denied the sexual abuse allegations, and also aggressively challenged suggestions he had a drinking problem at the time.
"I drank beer with my friends. Sometimes I had too many beers," he told the panel.
"Yes, we drank beer. I liked beer. I still like beer," he said.
"If every American who drinks beer or every American who drank beer in high school is suddenly presumed guilty of sexual assault, it will be an ugly, new place in this country."
The New York Times also reported that Kavanaugh was questioned but not charged by police after a 1985 bar fight in New Haven, Connecticut where he was accused of throwing ice on a fellow patron.
A witness said that a friend of Kavanaugh's then threw a glass that hit the same patron in the ear, causing bleeding.
US media meanwhile reported that the FBI had begun their interview of Mark Judge, Kavanaugh's former best friend and a key figure in the misconduct allegations leveled by Christine Blasey Ford.
Judge's interview started but "has not been completed," his attorney said in a statement quoted by Fox News.
In last week's hearing, Blasey Ford said Judge witnessed Kavanaugh's alleged assault and jumped on top of them as it happened, sending all three tumbling and allowing her to escape.
CLOCK TICKING
Trump meanwhile said the White House would not restrict the new FBI probe, requested by senators before they take a final vote on Kavanaugh.
"I think the FBI should do what they have to do to get to the answer," Trump said.
"I want it to be comprehensive... With that being said, I would like to go quickly," he added.
"We don't want to go on a witch hunt, do we?"
Senators, including Republican Jeff Flake, struck a deal Friday that gives the FBI one week to conduct its investigation and deliver its report.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate, made up of 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats, will be "voting this week" on advancing the Kavanaugh nomination, setting up a possible final confirmation vote this weekend or early next week.
"The time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close," McConnell said.
Last week, Flake expressed eagerness to see Kavanaugh confirmed but said he wanted a "better process" for assessing the allegations. Flake said over the weekend that he would vote for Kavanaugh unless the FBI finds something in its investigation.
bur-ia/amz
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WASHINGTON - Democratic U.S. senators expressed concern on Sunday over reports the White House was working with Republicans to narrow the scope of an FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
President Donald Trump bowed to pressure from moderate members of his Republican Party on Friday and ordered the probe after Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor, detailed her allegations at a Senate hearing that Kavanaugh assaulted her in 1982, when the two were in high school.
The stunning reversal capped two weeks of allegations, followed by furious denials, that roiled prospects for Trump's nominee, a conservative federal appeals court judge once expected to easily become the second Trump nominee to win a lifetime appointment to the top U.S. court.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford's accusation, as well as those of two other women.
Republicans, who are trying to retain control of the U.S. Congress in November elections, are seeking to balance their desire for another conservative justice on the court with sensitivity about how they handle sexual misconduct allegations amid the reverberations of the #MeToo movement.
It did not take long, however, for the FBI probe to become an object of partisan divide.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the White House had defined the parameters of the probe for the FBI, and that the investigation would start off with interviews with only four people.
NBC News, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal previously reported that the White House was constraining the investigation, prompting Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to express concern.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel's top Democrat, wrote to White House counsel Donald McGahn and FBI Director Christopher Wray and asked that the committee be provided with a copy of the written directive the White House sent to the FBI, as well as the names of any additional witnesses or evidence if the probe is expanded.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The administration denied it was trying to control the probe, which the Judiciary Committee said on Friday "would be limited to current credible allegations" and wrapped up within a week.
"We're staying out of the way" and letting the FBI do their job," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told "Fox News Sunday."
But the administration made clear there would be limits. "It's not meant to be a fishing expedition," White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Trump vowed on Saturday that the FBI could interview "whoever they deem appropriate." On Sunday, he criticized Democrats for expressing concerns about the length and scope of the probe.
"For them, it will never be enough!" he wrote on Twitter.
FBI PROBE
The FBI will question Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party when both were students at Yale University, the White House official told Reuters.
It will also question Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh who Ford said witnessed the assault, and Leland Keyser and P.J. Smyth, who she said were at the gathering.
A third accuser, Julie Swetnick, was not on the initial list of witnesses to be interviewed.
Senate Republicans compiled the list of four witnesses, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell shared it with the White House, the official and another source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the White House asked the FBI to share its findings after the initial interviews and that Trump and his advisers would then decide whether the accusations should be investigated further.
Neither the FBI nor a Judiciary Committee representative would comment on the probe.
Asked on Friday which allegations would be investigated, Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who was instrumental in forcing the investigation, told reporters: "We'll leave that to the FBI." His office did not respond to a request for comment on the latest reports on Sunday.
Senator Susan Collins, among a handful of moderates who joined Flake, said in an email: "I am confident that the FBI will follow up on any leads that result from the interviews."
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said it would not be unlawful for the White House to restrict the investigation's scope since the FBI is under the executive branch.
But Tobias said FBI agents were usually allowed to act independently and it would be a "clear conflict of interest" for White House officials involved in Kavanaugh’s confirmation process to interfere with the FBI’s investigation.
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