Harvey Weinstein rejugé à New York après l’annulation de sa première condamnation

L’ex-producteur roi du cinéma Harvey Weinstein, dont la chute a entraîné en 2017 le début de la vague mondiale #MeToo, a retrouvé le banc des accusés mardi à New York lors d’un nouveau procès pour viol et agression sexuelle après l’annulation retentissante de sa condamnation l’année dernière.Costume bleu foncé et cravate, l’ancien patron des studios Miramax, 73 ans, diminué par des problèmes de santé, est entré dans la salle d’audience de la cour criminelle de Manhattan poussé en chaise roulante. Le procès a démarré avec la sélection du jury, qui pourrait prendre plusieurs jours avant les interrogatoires des témoins par l’accusation et la défense.Harvey Weinstein doit être rejugé pour l’agression sexuelle de l’ancienne assistante de production Mimi Haleyi, en 2006, et le viol de l’aspirante actrice Jessica Mann, en 2013. Il avait été reconnu coupable de ces faits en 2020 et condamné à 23 ans de prison. Mais en avril 2024, la cour d’appel de New York a annulé toute la procédure, au motif que le tribunal avait laissé témoigner d’autres victimes présumées sur des faits pour lesquels l’ancien magnat du cinéma n’était pas inculpé.Cette annulation a été vécue comme une gifle pour le mouvement de lutte contre les violences sexuelles et un retour en arrière pour la prise en compte de la parole des victimes par la justice.Le procès portera aussi sur une nouvelle inculpation pour agression sexuelle en 2006 dans un hôtel de Manhattan, sur une victime présumée qui demeure anonyme. Ces femmes “vont faire en sorte que Weinstein soit tenu responsable des crimes odieux qu’il a commis”, a déclaré devant la cour criminelle de Manhattan l’avocate de cette victime, Lindsay Goldbrum.- “Courage” -“Le fait qu’elles témoignent à nouveau témoigne de leur courage”, a-t-elle ajouté.Harvey Weinstein, producteur d’innombrables succès du cinéma indépendant (“Sexe mensonges et vidéo”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Shakespeare in Love”) reste détenu, car il a aussi été condamné en Californie à seize ans de prison en 2023 dans un dossier distinct de viol et agressions sexuelles. Il espère que l’affaire sera “regardée avec un oeil neuf”, plus de sept ans après les enquêtes du New York Times et du New Yorker à l’origine de sa chute et d’une onde de choc planétaire qui a libéré la parole de nombreuses victimes et contraint les sociétés à de profondes remises en question sur la place des femmes.”Ce sera très différent”, veut croire son avocat Arthur Aidala, promettant un procès “sur les faits et pas sur #MeToo”. “Il y a cinq ans (lors de son premier procès en 2020, ndlr), il y avait des manifestations, des gens qui scandaient +C’est un violeur+ (…) les gens étaient tellement contre lui”, ajoute-t-il. “Je pense que tout cela est retombé”, assure-t-il.Décrit par ses accusatrices comme un prédateur qui jouait de sa stature d’homme tout puissant du cinéma pour obtenir des faveurs sexuelles d’actrices ou d’assistantes, le plus souvent dans des chambres d’hôtel, Harvey Weinstein n’a jamais reconnu d’agression et toujours assuré que les relations étaient consenties.Depuis les premières révélations en 2017, Harvey Weinstein a été accusé par plus de 80 femmes de harcèlement, agression sexuelle ou viol, dont les actrices Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow ou Ashley Judd.La déflagration #MeToo s’est poursuivie dans de nombreux pays, dont la France, où le monde du spectacle a été contraint à l’introspection après les accusations de l’actrice Judith Godrèche contre les cinéastes Benoît Jacquot et Jacques Doillon. Un rapport parlementaire a dressé le 9 avril un constat accablant de violences “systémiques” et “endémiques” dans la culture en France.

Sudan marks two years of war with no end in sightTue, 15 Apr 2025 14:34:17 GMT

Sudan on Tuesday marked two years of a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis — with no sign of peace.Fighting erupted on April 15, 2023 between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, headed by his former …

Sudan marks two years of war with no end in sightTue, 15 Apr 2025 14:34:17 GMT Read More »

Somalia launches first voter registration in capital in five decadesTue, 15 Apr 2025 14:07:32 GMT

Somalia on Tuesday launched voter registration in the capital Mogadishu for the first time in over 50 years, a step towards universal suffrage ahead of presidential elections scheduled for 2026 in the volatile nation.The east African country is struggling to emerge from decades of conflict and chaos, battling a bloody Islamist insurgency and frequent natural …

Somalia launches first voter registration in capital in five decadesTue, 15 Apr 2025 14:07:32 GMT Read More »

Stocks rise as auto shares surge on tariff break hopes

Stock markets rose Tuesday, with shares in several automakers gaining after US President Donald Trump hinted that the sector could get some tariff reprieve.Some stability has returned to markets after last week’s rollercoaster ride over Trump’s stop-start tariff announcements, but uncertainty remains over speculation of new levies on high-end technology and pharmaceuticals.”While financial markets have steadied, with many looking as if they are consolidating at current levels, this feels as if it is the calm before the storm,” said David Morrison, senior analyst at financial services firm Trade Nation.”Markets remain skittish, and investors feel safer sitting on their hands for now, hoping that last week’s worrying dislocations revert back to normal,” he said.Wall Street opened slightly higher while the dollar, which has been battered in recent days, pared back some losses against the euro.European indices performed better than US peers in afternoon deals.Paris made more modest gains, weighed by shares in luxury conglomerate LVMH falling more than eight percent after it reported a decline in sales. Shares in European and Asian automakers rallied following Trump’s comments on Monday that he was “very flexible” and “looking at something to help some of the car companies” hit by his 25 percent tariff on all imports.”This serves to double down on the weekend narrative that Trump will reverse some of his tariffs once company execs approach him to highlight the huge negative implications of his action,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets. “It therefore comes as no surprise to see the likes of Aston Martin Lagonda, BMW and Volkswagen heading up the gainers,” he added.US-European automaker Stellantis, whose brands include Jeep, Fiat and Peugeot, gained over six percent in Paris, while German brands Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz advanced more than two percent. “We are encouraged by what President Trump indicated yesterday about tariffs for the car industry,” Stellantis president John Elkann said at the group’s annual shareholders meeting.In Asia, Toyota jumped 3.7 percent and Hyundai more than four percent.But in the United States, General Motors and Ford slumped.Markets made a positive start to the week, rising Monday after the announcement of tariff exemptions for consumer electronic products, though Trump’s suggestion that the reprieve would be temporary tempered the optimism.”Sentiment got a further boost thanks to positive noises about trade negotiations, which added to the sense that the administration is focused on making deals that could see the tariffs come down,” said Jim Reid, analyst at Deutsche Bank.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that a China-US deal could be done, in an apparent olive branch as the two economic powerhouses trade tariff threats.Trump has hammered China with duties of up to 145 percent, while Beijing has imposed retaliatory measures of 125 percent.Other countries are negotiating with Washington.Trump aide Kevin Hassett said the White House had received “more than 10 deals where there’s very, very good, amazing offers made to us”, but did not specify from which countries they came.Asian markets pushed higher, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai all rallying.South Korea’s announcement of plans to invest an additional $4.9 billion in the country’s semiconductor sector gave a little lift to chip giants Samsung and SK hynix.- Key figures around 1335 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 40,575.75 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 5,417.84New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.2 percent at 16,863.42London – FTSE 100: UP 1.0 percent at 8,219.12Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,301.89Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.2 percent at 21,202.45 Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 34,267.54 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 21,466.27 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,267.66 (close)Dollar/yen: DOWN at 142.92 yen from 143.09 yen on MondayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1316 from $1.1356 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3226 from $1.3189Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.57 pence from 86.08 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $61.48 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $64.82 per barrel

‘We just ran’: survivors recount escape from famine-hit Sudan camp

Amna Hussein didn’t stop when the bullet hit her hand. She kept on running as paramilitaries attacked Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the dead of night.”They entered Zamzam and started shooting at us,” she told AFP in the small town of Tawila, 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of the huge famine-stricken camp, which by Sunday had fallen to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).”I tied my hand with a cloth to stop the blood and we kept running,” the 36-year-old said, her hand swollen and body weak after a three-day trek on foot.The United Nations says more than 400 people have been killed and around 400,000 people displaced since the RSF on Friday began attacking Zamzam, where aid sources estimate up to a million people were sheltering.The lucky ones like Hussein made it to Tawila, despite barely any aid available there. The fighters did not pursue them.Ibrahim Essa, a 43-year-old father of six, didn’t think he would make it out.”We tried to leave on the first day, but RSF fighters blocked the roads and fired artillery at us,” he told AFP from underneath the dead tree his family now uses for shelter.Since war erupted between the regular Sudanese army and the RSF two years ago, Darfur has seen some of the worst violence, with entire villages and camps torched.- Systematic destruction -Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL), which uses remote sensing data to track the conflict, confirms that the RSF now controls the sprawling camp.”Zamzam camp is now being systematically destroyed by fire from intentional arson by RSF forces,” it reported Monday, a day after the RSF claimed it had “liberated” the area.The camp lies just south of North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, the only major city in the vast western region not conquered by the RSF.The UN and international leaders have for nearly a year warned against a full-scale attack on Zamzam and El-Fasher, with fears of ethnically motivated massacres such as those the RSF committed elsewhere in Darfur.According to the Yale HRL, the RSF has positioned a 200 vehicle-strong force inside Zamzam, indicating “an imminent large-scale assault on El-Fasher city itself”.The RSF has besieged El-Fasher since last May, but has been unable to defeat the army and its allied militias known as the Joint Forces.After the army retook the capital Khartoum 1,000 kilometres to the east last month, the RSF intensified its attacks in a final push to claim all of Darfur.- ‘Die together in Zamzam’ -Although the Joint Forces have for months intercepted RSF supply lines, experts warn a full-scale attack could overcome their defences.Several survivors from Zamzam told AFP they were stopped by Joint Forces fighters who urged them not to flee.”They told us: ‘Don’t leave. We will all die together in Zamzam,” said one survivor who gave her name as Nasha.When the fighting intensified, she took her children and ran for Tawila, arriving three days later.”Now we’re sitting in the dirt with no blankets, no mattresses, not even proper clothes,” she told AFP.Behind her, hundreds of families huddled under scattered trees, nothing to their name but the clothes they fled in.On Monday, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said its small team in Tawila reported 10,000 displaced people arriving in under two days.Little aid is available in Tawila, where people displaced from other parts of North Darfur have slept on the ground for months.An AFP journalist saw a steady stream of exhausted families pour in, some clinging to overcrowded trucks or jolting slowly along in wooden donkey carts piled high with children.”After we arrived in Tawila, aid workers gave us water and dates. But I was already very sick,” Nasha said.”I collapsed and fainted from thirst and the heat.”On Tuesday, Sudan’s war entered its third year with no hope of respite.Tens of thousands have been killed, including up to 15,000 in ethnically motivated massacres by the RSF and allied militias in the West Darfur town of El-Geneina alone, a UN panel said.Thirteen million more have been uprooted and eight million are on the brink of famine, in what the UN calls the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.An independent UN fact-finding mission warned Monday that “the darkest chapters of this conflict have yet to unfold”, citing rising ethnic violence and retaliation nationwide. 

‘We just ran’: survivors recount escape from famine-hit Sudan campTue, 15 Apr 2025 13:54:51 GMT

Amna Hussein didn’t stop when the bullet hit her hand. She kept on running as paramilitaries attacked Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the dead of night.”They entered Zamzam and started shooting at us,” she told AFP in the small town of Tawila, 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of the huge famine-stricken camp, …

‘We just ran’: survivors recount escape from famine-hit Sudan campTue, 15 Apr 2025 13:54:51 GMT Read More »