CBS probes misconduct allegations against CEO

NEW YORK • US broadcasting and media company CBS Corp said it was investigating claims of personal misconduct by its chief executive, Mr Leslie Moonves, made in a New Yorker magazine article published last Friday.

The allegations against Mr Moonves surfaced as he is locked in a legal battle over control of CBS with the company's largest shareholder, National Amusements, owned by Ms Shari Redstone and her father, Sumner, who also control media company Viacom.

The New Yorker report featured claims against Mr Moonves from six women spanning different periods over two decades, from 1985 to 2006. The allegations included sexual assault and unwanted advances.

"I recognise that there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances," Mr Moonves said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.

REUTERS

Malaysia judges clean toilets as janitors strike

KUALA LUMPUR • Judges in Malaysia have been cleaning their own toilets for several weeks now, as janitors have gone on strike after not being paid by the contractor.

Chief Justice Richard Malanjum, who inherited this problem, is now organising a gotong royong (mass volunteering) session today and has requested all court staff and judges to be present for a good clean-up of the complex.

The cleaners have been on strike since the fasting month in May-June because they have not been paid.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Sex claims: Pope accepts US cardinal's resignation

VATICAN CITY • Pope Francis yesterday accepted the resignation as a cardinal of Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington DC and one of the US Catholic Church's most prominent figures, who has been at the centre of allegations of sex abuse with minors and young seminarians.

He is the first cardinal to lose his red hat in living memory. The scandal surrounding him has stunned the American Catholic Church because he was a widely respected leader for decades and was a confidant of popes and presidents.

Last month, US church officials said allegations that he sexually abused a teenager almost 50 years ago were credible.

REUTERS