Weinstein, Spacey, others in spotlight for sexual misconduct

This file photo taken on February 23, 2016 shows actor Kevin Spacey arriving for the season 4 premiere screening of the Netflix show "House of Cards" in Washington, DC. (AFP)
Updated 04 November 2017
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Weinstein, Spacey, others in spotlight for sexual misconduct

WASHINGTON: Accusations of sexual assault by movie producer Harvey Weinstein have opened the floodgates to a torrent of new allegations against powerful entertainment figures, and revived scrutiny of industry players previously accused of misconduct.
Here are the most prominent cases:

Dozens of women — 93 by one count — have accused the Oscar-winning producer Weinstein of offenses ranging from sexual harassment to rape dating back to the 1980s.
Weinstein, 65, and his brother Bob founded their movie production company Miramax in the 1970s and went on to produce a number of hit films including “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
The New York Times published the initial allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein on October 5 and The New Yorker followed up with additional accounts five days later.
Among the actresses who have stepped forward with accusations against Weinstein are stars such as Ashley Judd, Daryl Hannah, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.
No criminal prosecutions have yet been launched against Weinstein but the authorities in New York, London and Los Angeles are reportedly looking into potential actions.
Weinstein was fired by Miramax and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
His publicist has issued a statement saying “any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”

Cosby, the multiple Grammy- and Emmy-winning comedian, has been accused by dozens of women of drugging and raping them, with some accusations dating back to the 1960s.
Cosby, 80, made his name as a stand-up comedian before going on to appear in the hit television show “I Spy.”
In the 1980s, he appeared in the popular TV comedy “The Cosby Show,” which was seen as ground-breaking for its portrayal of a middle class African-American family.
Accusations of sexual assault against Cosby began to surface in 2014 and around 60 women have since come forward with allegations against him.
Only one criminal case has come to trial, however, because the statute of limitations for prosecution has run out on most of the others.
In that case, Andrea Constand accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her in January 2004 in his home in Cheltenham, a suburb of Philadelphia, Cosby’s hometown.
She said he gave her pills that left her semi-conscious then made sexual advances — a story not unlike those recounted by many of the other accusers.
The case ended in a mistrial in June but Cosby is to appear back in court in April 2018.

The director of “Bugsy” and other films has been accused of sexually harassing dozens of women, many of whom he would approach on the street and offer movie roles.
Thirty-eight women told the Los Angeles Times of awkward or humiliating encounters with Toback, including times when he rubbed his crotch against them or masturbated.
Since the report, dozens of other women have come forward with stories of similar behavior by the 72-year-old Toback, whose film credits also include “The Pick-up Artist” and “Two Girls and a Guy.”
Toback denied the allegations to the Times and claimed that because of poor health it was “biologically impossible” for him for the past 22 years to have committed the acts of which he is being accused.
Police in New York and Los Angeles said they were investigating multiple complaints against Toback following publication of the Los Angeles Times story.
The newspaper said that after its report it had received emails and phone calls from more than 200 additional women with stories about Toback.

Actresses Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn and four other women told the Los Angeles Times they had been the victims of sexual misconduct or harassment by Ratner, director of “Rush Hour” and “X-Men: The Last Stand.”
Ratner, 48, rejected the accusations and filed a defamation suit against a woman who separately made allegations against him in a Facebook post.
Henstridge told the Times she was a 19-year-old fashion model in New York in the early 1990s when Ratner, then a music video director in his early 20s, forced her to perform oral sex.
Henstridge said she was inspired to come forward by the women who reported sexual misconduct by Weinstein and Toback.
Munn, who has appeared in the HBO show “The Newsroom” and the movie “Magic Mike,” told the Times that Ratner had masturbated in front of her when she was an aspiring actress on the set of the movie “After the Sunset.”
Four other women also recounted stories to the newspaper about Ratner being sexually inappropriate or intimidating.
Ratner, through his attorney, Martin Singer, rejected the accounts.
“I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment,” Singer said.

“Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey, a two-time Oscar winner, of making sexual advances toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old.
Since then, several other people have come forward with stories of sexual misconduct or harassment involving the 58-year-old actor.
They included eight people working on “House of Cards,” who told CNN that the set of the hit Netflix series became a “toxic” environment because of Spacey’s alleged behavior.
Netflix has suspended production of the show.
Following the accusation by Rapp, now 46, Spacey said he did not remember the encounter but that if he did behave as described he apologizes for “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”
Spacey, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for “Usual Suspects” and one for Best Actor for “American Beauty,” also revealed he was gay.
British police have meanwhile opened an investigation into an allegation of sexual assault from a man in 2008, when Spacey was artistic director at the Old Vic theater.

One of the longest-running sexual assault cases in Hollywood involves the French-Polish director Polanski, who pleaded guilty in the United States in 1977 to statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.
Polanski, whose films include “The Pianist” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” fled for France before sentencing and has been a fugitive from the US justice system ever since, despite repeated attempts to have him extradited.
Last month, Swiss prosecutors confirmed they were investigating new rape allegations against Polanski made by a woman who said he assaulted her at a resort in the Swiss Alps in 1972.
The new claims, which the 84-year-old Polanski has denied through his lawyer, bring to at least four the number of women who have publicly accused him of sexual assault.


Iran ‘categorically’ denies envoy’s meeting with Musk

Updated 14 sec ago
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Iran ‘categorically’ denies envoy’s meeting with Musk

TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman on Saturday “categorically” denied The New York Times report on Tehran’s ambassador to the United Nations meeting with US tech billionaire Elon Musk, state media reported.
In an interview with state news agency IRNA, spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was reported as “categorically denying such a meeting” and expressing “surprise at the coverage of the American media in this regard.”
The Times reported on Friday that Musk, who is a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, met earlier this week with Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani.
It cited anonymous Iranian sources describing the encounter as “positive.”
Iranian newspapers, particularly those aligned with the reformist party that supports President Masoud Pezeshkian, largely described the meeting in positive terms before Baghaei’s statement.
In the weeks leading up to Trump’s re-election, Iranian officials have signalled a willingness to resolve issues with the West.
Iran and the United Stated cut diplomatic ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Since then, both countries have communicated through the Swiss embassy in Tehran and the Sultanate of Oman.


Indian private university opens first international campus in Dubai

Updated 16 November 2024
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Indian private university opens first international campus in Dubai

  • Indian FM inaugurated the Dubai campus of Symbiosis International University on Thursday
  • Under national education policy, New Delhi wants to internationalize Indian education system

New Delhi: A private Indian university has opened its first international campus in Dubai this week, marking a growing education cooperation between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi. 

Symbiosis International University is a private higher education institution based in the western Indian city of Pune with at least five other campuses operating across the country, offering undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate-level programs. 

It is considered one of the top private business schools in the South Asian country, ranking 13th in management in the Indian Ministry of Education’s National Institutional Ranking Framework. 

SIU’s Dubai campus, which will offer management, technology and media and communications courses, was officially inaugurated on Thursday by Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the UAE minister of tolerance and coexistence. 

“I am sure that this campus will foster greater collaboration and research linkages between scholars of India and UAE, for mutual prosperity and global good,” Jaishankar said during the ceremony. 

“(The) ceremony is not just an inauguration of a new campus; it is a celebration of the growing educational cooperation between our two countries. Right now, Indian curriculum and learning is being imparted through more than 100 International Indian Schools in UAE, benefitting more than 300,000 students.”

Under India’s National Education Policy 2020, New Delhi aims to internationalize the Indian education system, including by establishing campuses abroad. 

Another top Indian school, the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, began its first undergraduate courses in September, after starting its teaching program in January with a master’s course in energy transition and sustainability. 

Initially launched in September with more than 100 students, the SIU Dubai Campus is the first Indian university in Dubai to start operations with full accreditation and licensing from the UAE’s top education authorities, including the Ministry of Education. 

“A university setting up a campus abroad is not just a bold step, but a concrete commitment to the goal of globalizing India. They certainly render an educational service, but even more, connect us to the world by strengthening our living bridges,” Jaishankar added as he addressed the students. 

Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, pro-chancellor of Symbiosis International University, said that the school’s establishment in Dubai was in line with the UAE’s education goals. 

“Internationalization is central to the UAE’s educational vision,” Yeravdekar said on Friday. 

“By opening our campus in Dubai, we are creating a gateway for students from around the world to engage in a truly global academic experience, where they can benefit from international faculty, real-world industry collaborations, and a curriculum that meets the needs of a changing world.”


Russia captures two villages in eastern Ukraine, defense ministry says, according to agencies

Updated 16 November 2024
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Russia captures two villages in eastern Ukraine, defense ministry says, according to agencies

MOSCOW: Russian forces have captured the villages of Makarivka and Leninskoye in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.


UN climate chief asks G20 leaders for boost as finance talks lag

Updated 16 November 2024
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UN climate chief asks G20 leaders for boost as finance talks lag

  • Negotiators at the COP29 conference in Baku struggle in their negotiations for a deal intended to scale up money to address the worsening impacts of global warming

BAKU: The UN’s climate chief called on leaders of the world’s biggest economies on Saturday to send a signal of support for global climate finance efforts when they meet in Rio de Janeiro next week. The plea, made in a letter to G20 leaders from UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, comes as negotiators at the COP29 conference in Baku struggle in their negotiations for a deal intended to scale up money to address the worsening impacts of global warming.
“Next week’s summit must send crystal clear global signals,” Stiell said in the letter.
He said the signal should support an increase in grants and loans, along with debt relief, so vulnerable countries “are not hamstrung by debt servicing costs that make bolder climate actions all but impossible.”
Business leaders echoed Stiell’s plea, saying they were concerned about the “lack of progress and focus in Baku.”
“We call on governments, led by the G20, to meet the moment and deliver the policies for an accelerated shift from fossil fuels to a clean energy future, to unlock the essential private sector investment needed,” said a coalition of business groups, including the We Mean Business Coalition, United Nations Global Compact and the Brazilian Council for Sustainable Development, in a separate letter.
Success at this year’s UN climate summit hinges on whether countries can agree on a new finance target for richer countries, development lenders and the private sector to deliver each year. Developing countries need at least $1 trillion annually by the end of the decade to cope with climate change, economists told the UN talks.
But negotiators have made slow progress midway through the two-week conference. A draft text of the deal, which earlier this week was 33-pages long and comprised of dozens of wide-ranging options, had been pared down to 25 pages as of Saturday.
Sweden’s climate envoy, Mattias Frumerie, said the finance negotiations had not yet cracked the toughest issues: how big the target should be, or which countries should pay.
“The divisions we saw coming into the meeting are still there, which leaves quite a lot of work for ministers next week,” he said.
European negotiators have said large oil-producing nations including Saudi Arabia are also blocking discussions on how to take forward last year’s COP28 summit deal to transition the world away from fossil fuels.
Saudi Arabia’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Progress on this issue has been dire so far, one European negotiator said.
Uganda’s energy minister, Ruth Nankabirwa, said her country’s priority was to leave COP29 with a deal on affordable financing for clean energy projects.
“When you look around and you don’t have the money, then we keep wondering whether we will ever walk the journey of a real energy transition,” she said.


Protesters’ biggest day expected at UN climate talks, where progress is slow

Updated 16 November 2024
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Protesters’ biggest day expected at UN climate talks, where progress is slow

  • Several experts have said $1 trillion a year or more is needed both to compensate for such damages and to pay for a clean-energy transition that most countries can’t afford on their own

BAKU: The United Nations climate talks neared the end of their first week on Saturday with negotiators still at work on how much wealthier nations will pay for developing countries to adapt to planetary warming. Meanwhile, activists planned actions on what is traditionally their biggest protest day during the two-week talks.
The demonstration in Baku, Azerbaijan is expected to be echoed at sites around the world in a global “day of action” for climate justice that’s become an annual event.
Negotiators at COP29, as the talks are known, will return to a hoped-for deal that might be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to poorer nations. Many are in the Global South and already suffering the costly impacts of weather disasters fueled by climate change. Several experts have said $1 trillion a year or more is needed both to compensate for such damages and to pay for a clean-energy transition that most countries can’t afford on their own.
Panama environment minister Juan Carlos Navarro told The Associated Press he is “not encouraged” by what he’s seeing at COP29 so far.
“What I see is a lot of talk and very little action,” he said, noting that Panama is among the group of countries least responsible for warming emissions but most vulnerable to the damage caused by climate change-fueled disasters. He added that financing was not a point of consensus at the COP16 biodiversity talks this year, which suggests to him that may be a sticking point at these talks as well.
“We must face these challenges with a true sense of urgency and sincerity,” he said. “We are dragging our feet as a planet.”
The talks came in for criticism on several fronts Friday. Two former top UN officials signed a letter that suggested the process needs to shift from negotiation to implementation. And others, including former US Vice President Al Gore, criticized the looming presence of the fossil fuel industry and fossil-fuel-reliant nations in the talks. One analysis found at least 1,770 people with fossil fuel ties on the attendees list for the Baku talks.
Progress may get a boost as many nations’ ministers, whose approval is necessary for whatever negotiators do, arrive in the second week.