Is Camila Cabello dating Rauw Alejandro? Truth behind romance rumors amid Puerto Rican star's split with Rosalia
Camila Cabello and Rauw Alejandro have set the record straight regarding dating rumors
2023-07-29 21:19
National Cathedral replaces windows honoring Confederacy with stained-glass homage to racial justice
The landmark Washington National Cathedral has unveiled new stained-glass windows with a theme of racial justice
2023-09-24 01:24
Attack on Vienna's pride parade prevented, security services say
VIENNA Austrian security services said on Sunday they had thwarted a planned attack on Saturday's pride parade in
2023-06-18 19:52
Panicked people leave Shifa Hospital, while dozens are killed at a school elsewhere in northern Gaza
Patients, staff and displaced people fled Gaza’s largest hospital Saturday, with one describing a panicked and chaotic evacuation as Israeli forces searched men among the evacuees and took some away
2023-11-19 01:56
‘That ‘70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson faces 30 years to life at sentencing for rapes
“That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson could get as much as 30 years to life in prison at his sentencing Thursday for the rapes of two women two decades ago. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo is set to sentence the 47-year-old actor after ruling on a defense motion for a new trial that she’s very likely to reject, and after hearing impact statements from the victims. A jury of seven women and five men found Masterson guilty of two counts on May 31 after seven days of deliberations. Both attacks took place in Masterson’s Hollywood-area home in 2003, when he was at the height of his fame on the Fox network sitcom “That ’70s Show.” The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on a third count, an allegation that Masterson also raped a longtime girlfriend. The verdict came in a second trial after a jury failed to reach verdicts on three counts of forcible rape in December and a mistrial was declared. Prosecutors alleged that Masterson used his prominence in the Church of Scientology — where all three women were also members at the time — to avoid consequences for decades after the attacks. The women blamed the church for their hesitancy in going to police about Masterson. They testified that when they reported him to Scientology officials, they were told they were not raped, were put through ethics programs themselves, and were warned against going to law enforcement to report a member of such high standing. “They were raped, they were punished for it, and they were retaliated against,” Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told jurors at the trial. “Scientology told them there’s no justice for them.” The church said in a statement after the verdict that the “testimony and descriptions of Scientology beliefs” during the trial were “uniformly false.” “The Church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone — Scientologists or not — to law enforcement,” the statement said. Masterson did not testify, and his lawyers called no witnesses. The defense argued that the acts were consensual, and attempted to discredit the women’s stories by highlighting changes and inconsistencies over time, which they said showed signs of coordination between them. The women whose testimony led to Masterson’s conviction said that in 2003, he gave them drinks and that they then became woozy or passed out before he violently raped them. Olmedo allowed prosecutors and accusers to say directly in the second trial that Masterson drugged the women, while only allowing the women to describe their condition in the first. Masterson was not charged with any counts of drugging, and there was no toxicology evidence to back up the assertion. The issue could be a factor in a planned appeal from the defense of Masterson’s conviction. The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they’ve been sexually abused. Masterson starred with Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace in “That ’70s Show” from 1998 until 2006. He had reunited with Kutcher on the 2016 Netflix comedy “The Ranch,” but was written off the show when an LAPD investigation was revealed the following year. While that investigation began before a wave of women shook Hollywood with stories about Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, the conviction and sentencing of Masterson still represents a major #MeToo era success for Los Angeles prosecutors, along with the conviction of Weinstein himself last year.
2023-09-07 19:57
Ukraine counter-offensive two months in: Can it still succeed?
Ukrainian troops have advanced, at most, about 10 miles in two key areas. Is the counter-offensive working?
2023-08-05 07:16
Robert Downey Jr reveals his dad Robert Sr 'was a bit of a snob' about the roles he played in movies
Robert Downey Jr recalled his father, filmmaker Robert Downey Sr, was satisfied with the actor's role on 'Less Than Zero'
2023-06-15 14:51
Biden chooses female admiral to lead US Navy -official
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, a move that would break
2023-07-22 02:26
Taiwan Exports Plunge at Fastest Pace in 14 Years on Demand Woes
Taiwan’s exports plunged in June at the fastest pace since 2009, exacerbating concerns about the slump in global
2023-07-07 17:15
Trump’s public statements are being influenced by his lawyers, legal expert says
Donald Trump’s public statements have changed in line with advice from his lawyers, a legal expert has suggested. Harry Litman, a former US attorney and former deputy assistant attorney general for the Western District of Pennsylvania, wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Monday night that the former president “continues to employ the same braggadocio. But listen carefully, he’s begun to pepper his proclamations with hedges, such as ‘in my opinion’ or ‘that’s what I think.’ That’s lawyer-prescribed to try to shield him from outright lies”. One example of this came when Mr Trump was speaking to Megyn Kelly of SiriusXM. Mr Trump insisted that there’s no “ritual” to declassifying secret information as he argued that he was allowed to have the boxes of files found at Mar-a-Lago which led to one of the indictments against the former president. Mr Trump was speaking to Kelly when he returned to one of his familiar talking points, calling Special Counsel Jack Smith “deranged”. “We have a deranged guy named Jack Smith who has been overturned at the Supreme Court a number of times, and he gets overturned ... because he goes too far,” Mr Trump told Ms Kelly. “They don’t even mention the Presidential Records Act. This is all about the Presidential Records Act.” “I’m allowed to have these documents, I’m allowed to take these documents – classified or not classified. And frankly, when I have them, they become unclassified. People think you have to go through a ritual – you don’t, at least in my opinion, you don’t,” Mr Trump added. But a number of social media users didn’t seem to think slipping in “in my opinion” would help Mr Trump in the courts. Responding to Mr Trump’s comments to Ms Kelly, Jennifer Rubin, a Washington Post columnist, wrote that it was “another public confession. Like taking candy from a baby”. “Someone should tell him, that the US isn’t governed by opinions, it’s governed by laws,” one user said. Conservative anti-Trump lawyer George Conway also noted that Mr Trump appeared to be making comments putting him in further legal jeopardy, saying that “interviewers should be required to read him his rights”. “Credit to @megynkelly for letting him confess to the crimes in the indictment. She’ll see this played at the trial by the government,” Bradley Moss added. “I want Dude to say this to Jack Smith in open court during his criminal trial,” Tony Michaels said. Mr Trump’s shift in language comes as Mr Smith’s office has asked for a narrow gag order from Judge Tanya Chutkan in the federal election interference case against Mr Trump in Washington DC to prevent him from attacking possible witnesses and jurors. Read More Dominion’s $1.6bn defamation case against Newsmax will go to trial weeks before Election Day Trump ex-aide claims he wrote ‘to-do lists’ on back of classified documents – live updates White House hits back after House sets first Biden impeachment hearing for 28 September
2023-09-20 04:26
Ukraine war: Deadly new Russian attack reported on Izmail port area
A Russian attack on port facilities in the Izmail area killed one person, the local governor says.
2023-09-06 12:25
Is Wagner still a threat to global security?
Its soldiers are scattered between Belarus and Africa, while others have joined the Russian army.
2023-09-06 09:59
You Might Like...
Oliver Bäte, Allianz CEO, Addresses United Nations Climate Ambition Summit
Taylor Swift belittles ex Joe Alwyn as she admits her life finally 'makes sense' amid Matty Healy romance
Fresno in California becomes only second US city to ban caste discrimination
3 doctors fatally shot and 1 wounded at a Rio beach, and the motive remains unclear
California Governor Gavin Newsom blows his own trumpet on minimum wage hike, Internet traffic drowns him out: 'You killed the franchise'
SEC puts emphasis on gambling after college sports roiled by multiple wagering scandals
More companies setting 'net-zero' climate targets, but few have credible plans, report says
Haslam family refutes allegation from Warren Buffett's company that it bribed truck stop chain execs