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Showing posts from December, 2024

The 50 men accused in mass rape of Gisèle Pelicot

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Reuters Collectively, the defendants accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot are facing more than 600 years in jail They are young, old, burly, thin, black and white. Among them are firefighters, lorry drivers, soldiers, security guards, a journalist and a DJ. These are the 50 men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot at the behest of her husband, Dominique Pelicot, 72, who drugged her for a decade with prescription sleeping pills. The fact they broadly represent a microcosm of French society means they have been dubbed  Monsieur-Tout-Le-Monde  (Mr Everyman). Next week they are due to be sentenced, at the end of a trial that started in September. If found guilty, collectively they face more than 600 years in jail. A few of them act defiant, but they mostly look down as they answer questions from the judges, looking up occasionally to catch their lawyers' eyes for reassurance. Read Also: Dozens of civilians killed in two days of intense fighting in Sudan Warning: You may find some of the d...

Dozens of civilians killed in two days of intense fighting in Sudan

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More people killed in North Darfur and Greater Khartoum attacks as fighting between the army and the RSF turns bloodier. People walk past a destroyed vehicle after shelling by the Rapid Support Forces in Omdurman, Sudan, December 10, 2024 [Handout/Government of Sudan via Reuters] Dozens of people have been killed over two days in Sudan as fighting between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensifies, according to officials, activists and rights groups. The 20-month  conflict , which has killed tens of thousands, has become increasingly bloody, with the army stepping up air attacks in areas under the RSF control and the paramilitary forces staging raids and carrying out intense artillery strikes. On Monday, an air attack on a busy market in the town of Kabkabiya, a town about 180km (110 miles) west of North Darfur’s capital  el-Fasher , currently surrounded by the RSF, killed more than 100 people and wounded hundreds, including women and children, ...

“Detected in Germany” – What you should know about new COVID-19 variant XEC spreading across world

A new COVID-19 variant has started spreading accross the countries in the world and could soon take off and become the dominant type. The variant – known as XEC – has infected 600 people across Europe and North America just ahead of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere, during which respiratory diseases are typically more widespread. As the XEC began to raised concerns about its potential impact on public health, here are what you should know: What is the new COVID XEC variant? The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. COVID-19 can cause mild to severe respiratory illness, including death. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been several prominent variants, including Alpha, Beta, Delta, Omicron and XEC. According to the World Health Orgnasation, the XEC strain is a subvariant of the Omicron lineage of the ...