Russell Brand, a comedian, is already facing similar rape and sexual assault charges involving four other women, according to new evidence from British authorities.
The new rape and sexual assault charges against Brand were brought against two more women, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the United Kingdom on Tuesday. According to the CPS, the alleged crimes occurred in 2009.
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Brand, 50, was already facing charges in April for two counts of rape, two of sexual assault, and one of indecent assault. Four women alleged they had been assaulted by the comedian, and four months later, the charges were brought.
These crimes, according to the prosecution, occurred between 1999 and 2005, with the third one occurring in London and the English seaside town of Bournemouth.
In a court in London, Brand entered a not-guilty plea to those accusations.
In relation to the two new accusations, he is scheduled to show up at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on January 20. On June 16, a trial is scheduled, and it should last four to five weeks.
In recent years, the Get Him to the Greek actor, who is renowned for risky stand-up routines and drug and alcohol battles, has left the mainstream. He created a sizable following online through videos that combine religion, conspiracy theories, and wellness.
Brand claimed he was pleased to be able to prove his innocence when the first group of charges was revealed in April.
In a social media video, he said, “I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord.” I had sex, drug, and impure tendencies. But I was never involved in rape. I’ve never engaged in illicit behavior. I ask that you observe me with my eyes so that you can see that.
The women involved in the case continue to receive support from specially trained officers, according to Detective Chief Inspector Tariq Farooqi.
Libya’s army chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, and four other Libyan officials have been killed in an air crash near , the Turkish capital, Ankara, Libya’s prime minister has said.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said in a statement that the crash on Tuesday was a “tragic accident” that occurred while the officials while returning from a trip from Ankara.
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“This great tragedy is a great loss for the nation, the military establishment, and all the people, as we have lost men who served their country with sincerity and dedication and were an example of discipline, responsibility, and national commitment”, he said in a statement.
Turkiye its gendarmerie had found the wreckage of the plane carrying the Libyan chief of staff, which disappeared shortly after taking off from the Turkish capital.
“The wreckage of the business jet that departed Ankara’s Esenboga airport for Tripoli has been located by Turkish gendarmerie approximately two kilometres]1.2 miles] south of Kesikkavak village in the Haymana district” 74km (45 miles) from Ankara, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
Yerlikaya said earlier on X that the Falcon 50 business jet had taken off at 8: 10pm (17: 10 GMT) on Tuesday and radio contact was lost at 8: 52pm (17: 52 GMT).
He said the flight had made a request for an emergency landing while over the Haymana district but no contact was established afterwards.
Several Turkish media outlets broadcast images showing the sky lit up by an explosion not far from the location where the aircraft sent a signal.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the incident.
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said the delegation had arrived in “a private jet that was rented by the Libyan government from an outside company”.
“According to reports and according to official statements from Libya, the initial findings suggest a technical error”, Koseoglu said.
She said people are “speculations” as tensions in the region are high.
Turkiye’s Ministry of Defence had announced the Libyan chief of staff’s visit to Ankara this week, saying he had met his Turkish counterpart and other military commanders.
Al Jazeera’s Malik Traina, reporting from Tripoli, said he knew al-Haddad personally and that his death would be a “huge loss” to the Libyan military.
“He was a career military man, someone that everybody respected, and he went by the book”, Traina said.
“He was someone that people here in Western Libya really respected, someone who always adhered to the law and followed the rules and he didn’t take side with any militias no matter how powerful they were.
The Libyan military institution has suffered a colossal loss.
Traina claimed that al-Haddad, who had served in the military for decades, was a prominent figure during the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.
The parliament of Turkiye approved extending the mandate of Turkish soldiers’ deployment in Libya by two more years following Tuesday’s crash.
The United Nations-backed Tripoli government receives economic and military support from Ankara in close cooperation with the country’s regional government.
It later reached a maritime demarcation agreement and sent military personnel there in 2020 to support and train its government.
A preliminary agreement on energy exploration was also signed by Tripoli and Ankara in 2022.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro requested that the Supreme Court grant him permission to temporarily leave prison for a medical procedure later this week.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for his involvement in a coup plot, will have hernia surgery, according to Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ announcement on Tuesday.
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Lawyers for Bolsonaro had requested that he be moved to Hospital DF Star in Brasilia for Wednesday’s medical examinations and the following day’s surgery. He was complaining that a hernia was bothering him on both groins.
Since being stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign event in 2018, the former president has gone through a number of hospitalizations and medical procedures. His hospital visit marks his first break from federal custody since he began serving his sentence toward the end of November.
Bolsonaro was given a 24-hour order from the court to continue monitoring him.
The far-right leader was scheduled to address Metropoles on Tuesday, but he canceled because of health issues.
There has been rumor that Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, will succeed him as the country’s political right leader after his imprisonment. During the Tuesday interview, some had anticipated Bolsonaro to announce his support for his son’s 2026 presidential campaign.
Flavio claimed in a social media post that his father would have preferred to speak during the interview but that “health first” was what was required.
Flavio stated that “he is about to undergo surgery.” He says, “Some days, he wakes up feeling well, and other days, he doesn’t.” He may have woke up feeling more unwell today.
Cambodia’s economy is being impacted by the conflict with Thailand. Thailand is a major trading partner for both tourism and clothing imports. Assed Baig, a journalist for Al Jazeera, spoke with business owners who are struggling to keep their locations open.
The Israeli government has unmatched control over how its citizens are presented with their critical news sources as a result of its crackdown on critical media outlets.
The so-called Al Jazeera Law, which allows the government to shut down foreign media outlets on national security grounds, is one of the changes. The Israeli parliament approved the two-year extension of the law on Tuesday to essentially stop Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel after it was started during Israel’s bloodbath in Gaza.
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Additionally, the government is attempting to shut down one of Israel’s two publicly funded news outlets, Army Radio. The Israeli right wing frequently criticizes the radio station because it believes Army Radio is biased against it.
About half of Israelis still rely on broadcast news for current affairs information, and about a third also rely on radio stations for news.
Important is the media’s editorial and broadcasting tone. According to analysts inside Israel, the selective coverage of Palestinian suffering during Israel’s occupation of Gaza has contributed to the carnage and reinforced a sense of unease that justifies Israel’s ongoing assaults on both Gaza and regional nations like Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon.
The far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes ministers convicted of “terrorism” offences and others who have repeatedly called for the illegal annexation of the occupied West Bank, is looking to bypass legal controls on the media and bring more of Israel’s information feed under its control, despite what observers have described as a media environment firmly rigged in its favor.
Let’s examine this more closely.
because it is too critical in the eyes of the government.
Israeli politicians have long complained about how the Gaza war has been covered in both domestic and international media.
The government added a new accusation in November, partly blaming the media for the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
In response to attempts by the Israeli government to lessen the independence of the judiciary, communications minister Shlomo Karhi said, “If there hadn’t been a media entirely mobilized to encourage refusal to volunteer to reserve duty] and reckless opposition to the judicial reform, there wouldn’t have been such a rift in the country that led the enemy to take advantage of the opportunity.“
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with West Jerusalem’s Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi.
A plan to privatize Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, the move to end Army Radio, and an initiative to put the media regulator under the control of the government are just three things that are currently being considered.
Numerous reports about the government have been published on Army Radio and Kan, another state-funded outlet with editorial independence.
Eli Feldstein, Netanyahu’s former aide, told Kan that the prime minister had instructed him to create a strategy to help him avoid accepting responsibility for the attacks on October 7.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, who defended the decision to shut down Army Radio, claimed on Monday that the outlet had evolved into a platform for attacking Israeli soldiers.
Israel’s media regulation may also change. A bill passed by the Israeli parliament in November that would replace the country’s existing media regulators with a new, independent body, potentially allowing for even greater state interference, was passed.
Gali Baharav-Miara, the attorney general of Israel, is a member of the cabinet meeting held at Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum.
Israel has also ratified the emergency law that forbids foreign media outlets whose content it disagrees with. Israel used it in May 2024 to impose an emergency law, which was then used the following month to halt The Associated Press’ activities after the government accused the country’s news agency of sharing footage with Al Jazeera.
If the prime minister agrees to a professional assessment that the outlet poses a security threat, the communications minister may halt a foreign broadcaster’s transmissions with the approval of the prime minister’s approval and the backing of a ministerial committee. The minister has the authority to censor access to the broadcaster’s website, revoke equipment used to produce its content, and shut down its offices.
Have the actions drawn criticism?
Israel’s decision to impose laws against foreign media platforms that it perceives as a threat has been criticized by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the UK’s National Union of Journalists.
Israel is “waging a battle” against media outlets, both local and foreign, that denounce the government’s narrative, according to IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger in a statement. This is the kind of behavior of authoritarian regimes. We are deeply concerned that the Israeli parliament will pass this contentious bill because it would severely restrict free speech, media freedom, and be a direct assault on the public’s right to information.
Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara declared the move unlawful and accused Netanyahu’s coalition of making public broadcasting “weakened, threatened, institutionally silenced, and its future shrouded in mist” amid the harsh criticism of the attempt to shutter Army Radio.
Baharav-Miara has also criticized the government’s decision to regulate media, claiming that the bill “affects the very foundation of press freedom.”
Not very .
The Israeli government’s actions in Gaza, where more than 70 000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, and in the occupied West Bank have largely received positive reviews from the Israeli media.
Palestinians’ suffering is rarely depicted, and it is frequently justified when it is.
The Israeli media provide cover for Israel’s military and government actions despite the killing of more than 270 journalists and media personnel in Gaza.
That means that Israelis frequently reject the hypocrisy of the statements made by their governments.
An example occurred in June after Israel’s 12-day war with Iran resulted in the arrest of an evacuated hospital. The Israeli government portrayed the incident as a war crime, and the Israeli media captured it.
However, Israel was accused by a number of organizations, including the UN, of routinely destroying Gaza’s healthcare system, with doctors being held accountable for their arrests and frequently tortured despite international law’s protection.
British police have said they will not take any further action in response to comments made by punk-rap duo Bob Vylan about the Israeli military at a June Glastonbury music festival.
According to Avon and Somerset Police, the remarks did not “require for any person to be prosecuted” under the criminal law, as the statement was stated on Tuesday.
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The group’s lead singer, Pascal Robinson-Foster, who goes by the name Bobby Vylan, sung chants of “death, death” directed at the Israeli military over its genocidal war in Gaza during the performance.
There is “insufficient evidence to provide a realistic chance of conviction,” according to the police. In addition, the force conducted an investigation that involved contacting about 200 people, including a man in his mid-30s.
The BBC’s live-streaming of the chant on June 28 as part of its coverage of Glastonbury caused a lot of controversy. The broadcaster later thanked the broadcaster for showing what it described as “such offensive and repulsive behavior,” and its complaints unit determined that the BBC had broken editorial guidelines.
Before concluding the investigation, Avon and Somerset Police claimed to have taken into account the context, relevant case law, and issues with freedom of expression.
We think it is appropriate that this matter was thoroughly investigated, that every potential criminal offense was taken into account, and that we sought every possible counsel to ensure that we made an informed choice, the statement read.
“The words made on Saturday, June 28, drew widespread outcry, demonstrating that words have real-world effects.”
Following the performance, Bob Vylan’s visas were voided in the United States, causing the tour’s cancellation.
Irish broadcaster RTE is accused of fabricating its own anti-Semitic chants during the Glastonbury performance by Bob Vylan, and it has filed a defamation lawsuit against the company.
Following chants of “Free Palestine” during a performance, the British police also dropped an investigation into the Irish-language rap group Kneecap.
