While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 8
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Representatives meet during the National Security advisors' meeting in Jeddah.
PHOTO: AFP
Ukraine ‘satisfied’ with Saudi-led conflict talks
Ukraine on Monday said it was “satisfied” with a summit held in Saudi Arabia over the weekend on a peace settlement to end fighting, to which Moscow was not invited.
Representatives from around 40 countries including China, India, the United States and Ukraine took part in the peace summit, which was held in Jeddah.
“We are very satisfied with the results of the summit,” the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said.
Judge dismisses Trump’s defamation claim against E. Jean Carroll
AFP
A US judge on Monday dismissed Donald Trump’s defamation counterclaim against the writer E. Jean Carroll, who won a US$5 million (S$6.71 million) jury verdict for defamation and sexual assault against the former president in May.
Trump had sued Carroll for defamation after she said “oh yes, he did; oh yes, he did” when asked on CNN about the jury’s finding that he had not raped her, but that he was liable for sexual assault.
He also objected to Carroll recounting how she had told his lawyer “he did it and you know it” shortly after the verdict was read.
‘Alarming’ rise in kidnapping of Haiti children, women: Unicef
AFP
Some 300 women and minors were kidnapped in Haiti by criminal gangs in the first half of this year, Unicef said Monday, warning of a disturbing rise in abductions that leave “deep physical and psychological scars.”
That six-month number is close to the total registered for the entirety of last year and is triple the 2021 tally – “an alarming spike in kidnappings,” the United Nations children’s agency said, adding that many women and children face “unthinkable terror” at the hands of the pervasive gangs.
“The stories we are hearing from Unicef colleagues and partners on the ground are shocking and unacceptable,” Garry Conille, the agency’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a statement.
Lavreysen reigns supreme in sprints, Britain top medals table
AFP
Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen maintained his stranglehold on track cycling’s sprint discipline as he made it five world titles in succession in the individual event on Monday.
The 26-year-old Olympic champion comfortably beat Trinidad and Tobago’s Paul Nicholas to claim his second gold of the UCI World Championships, having also won the team sprint.
Host nation Britain top the medals table though after another impressive day at the Chris Hoy Velodrome.
The Exorcist director William Friedkin dies aged 87
REUTERS
William Friedkin, the groundbreaking US director of The Exorcist and The French Connection, died on Monday, a family friend told AFP. He was 87.
Friedkin passed away in Los Angeles after suffering unspecified health issues in recent years, said Stephen Galloway, a former Hollywood Reporter executive editor.
“He died this morning,” confirmed Galloway, after speaking with Friedkin’s wife.
