الكاتب: kafej

The 82-year-old founder of one of Canada’s largest clothing brands convicted of charges linked to incidents between 1988 and 2005.

Former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been found guilty of four counts of sexual assault, a court in Toronto has said.

Nygard, 82, was on trial in the Ontario Superior Court for five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement, charges linked to incidents between 1988 and 2005. The charges involved four women and a 16-year-old girl.

The jury handed down the verdict on Sunday, the fifth day of deliberations following a six-week trial. Nygard was acquitted on one count of sexually assaulting one of the women who testified at the trial.

The trial addressed the first in a series of charges he faces for sex crimes against multiple women over several decades in Canada and the United States.

“I know it’s been a long and arduous case for you,” Justice Robert Goldstein told the jury.

Nygard’s lawyer Brian Greenspan did not rule out the possibility of appealing the verdict. During the closing arguments, Greenspan said the case was built on “contradictions and innuendo” as he panned the prosecution’s portrayal of his client.

“To describe Peter Nygard as an evil predator, a Jekyll and Hyde personality who, through wealth and power, lured women to his den of iniquity and forced women to comply with his sexual demands… is neither fair nor accurate,” he said.

Prosecutor Ana Serban, on the other hand, said Nygard on the stand was evasive and inconsistent, and that his memory was unreliable and selective.

Serban pointed to “remarkably similar accounts” of his five accusers, independent of each other, about how they met Nygard, were invited to his office building and “how he sexually assaulted them in his private bedroom suite”.

“The similarities defy coincidence,” she said. “It’s a pattern of behaviour.”

Testifying in his own defence, Nygard did not recall meeting or knowing four of his accusers and insisted he never raped any of the five.

“The type of allegations that were said and were described is the type of conduct that I know that I have never done, I never would do,” he told the court, even while admitting that his memory had become “very fuzzy” with age.

He will return to court on November 21 for sentencing.

Nygard, who in 1967 founded the firm that was to become Nygard International, has been held in detention since his arrest in 2020.

He must now face similar charges in Quebec and Manitoba. as well as extradition to the US where he has been accused of sexually assaulting dozens of women and girls, racketeering and trafficking.

Born in Finland, Nygard grew up in Manitoba, eventually running his namesake clothing companies and becoming one of Canada’s wealthiest people.

Five US service members have been killed on a routine training mission after the military aircraft carrying them suffered a “mishap” and crashed into the sea.

The military personnel were taking part in a routine air refuelling mission in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Friday as part of their training, the US defence department confirmed on Sunday.

The tragedy was reported by the United States European Command (USEUCO), which handles American military operations in Europe and parts of the Middle East.

It said in a statement: “All five of the service members on board the aircraft were killed.”

Search and rescue teams were deployed immediately after the incident, including nearby US military aircraft and ships.

An investigation into the crash is now under way.

“We can definitively say that the aircraft sortie was purely related to training and there are no indications of hostile activity,” the USEUCO statement said.

The identities of the deceased crew members will not be released for 24 hours while officials inform their next of kin, “out of respect for the affected families” and in accordance with the US Department of Defence policy.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the fallen,” USEUCO added.

The US military has deployed two aircraft carriers, their supporting ships and dozens of aircraft to the eastern Mediterranean since the deadly Hamas attack in Israel on 7 October, to act as a deterrent in the hope the conflict does not expand.

The tragedy was confirmed as people across the US prepared to mark Veteran’s Day – known as Armistice Day in the UK – on Saturday.

It is not yet clear what military service the aircraft belonged to.

In a statement, US President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill were mourning the loss of the five service members.

‘Servicemen represent the best of America’

“Our service members put their lives on the line for our country every day,” he said.

“They willingly take risks to keep the American people safe and secure.

“And their daily bravery and selflessness is an enduring testament to what is best in our nation.”

Mr Biden said he and his wife were praying for the families and friends who have “lost a precious loved one – a piece of their soul”.

“Our entire nation shares their grief,” he added.

“And, during this weekend when we pause to honour our nation’s veterans, we once more affirm the sacred obligation we bear to those who volunteer to serve our nation as well as their families, caregivers, and survivors.

“We pray for the families of all our fallen warriors today and every day.”

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US secretary of defence, Lloyd J Austin III, said the servicemen “represent the best of America”.

“While we continue to gather more information about this deadly crash, it is another stark reminder that the brave men and women who defend our great nation put their lives on the line each and every day to keep our country safe.

“We will remember their service and their sacrifice.

“My prayers are with the patriots we have lost today and their families, loved ones, and teammates.”

In a recent segment on how Hamas “frames the civilian casualties” of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, CNN’s Jake Tapper starts out by acknowledging that we “do know that innocent civilians in Gaza continue to be killed by Israeli strikes”. It is impossible to “not be affected by these horrific images that we’re seeing”, he states, as the humanitarian crisis in the enclave grows “increasingly dire”.

What is the solution, then? In Tapper’s view, apparently, it is for Israel to continue killing innocent civilians and presiding over a humanitarian catastrophe, because it is all Hamas’s fault anyway.

Near the beginning of the segment, we are shown a clip of Queen Rania of Jordan responding to those who argue that a ceasefire will help Hamas – an argument she says amounts to “endorsing and justifying the death of thousands of civilians”.

Then it is back to Tapper, who calls Queen Rania’s remarks an “interesting turn of phrase” and goes on to wonder condescendingly whether it did not occur to Hamas, when the organisation undertook its operation on October 7, that Israel would “retaliate in a way that would cause innocent Palestinians in Gaza to die”.

To start with, the “interesting turn of phrase” is not so much “interesting” as a straightforward statement of fact. If you insist there should be no ceasefire in an Israeli onslaught that has now killed over 11,000 people in Gaza in just over a month – well, yeah, you are straight up “endorsing and justifying” civilian deaths.

And you are especially endorsing and justifying them if – instead of blaming Israel for slaughtering men, women and children in Gaza with abandon – you blame Hamas for failing to foresee the unprecedentedly psychotic nature of Israel’s “retaliation”. Were the American media and political establishment not so firmly committed to transmitting a thoroughly decontextualised version of this war – and of Israel/Palestine in general – perhaps a news anchor would ask whether it never occurred to Israel that the Palestinians would ever “retaliate” for 75 years of ethnic cleansing, suffocating blockades and massacres.

Tapper forges ahead with his assault on logic and humanity with the help of an arsenal of video clips, several of them courtesy of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), itself an unofficial Zionist propaganda arm – although CNN and other US media outlets are doing a fine job in that respect, as well.

From these clips, featuring former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal among others, Tapper draws three convenient conclusions, which he conveys with Orientalist smugness and disdain: that Hamas is totally content to have Palestinian civilians die; that Hamas does not care about protecting civilians and only cares about their own military tunnels; and that Hamas is determined to keep attacking Israel for eternity.

In case anyone remains unconvinced, he has also thrown in a clip of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is evidently unsatisfied with the quantity of blood she already has on her hands and requires more: “People who are calling for a ceasefire now do not understand Hamas. That is not possible. It would be such a gift to Hamas.”

Near the end of the segment, we are presented with the “point of view of Israel”, as if that is not what we have been receiving this whole time: “They [the Israelis] hear all the calls for a ceasefire. What they do not hear is anyone in the international community proposing any way for them to get back their 240 hostages that Hamas kidnapped.”

This is funny, since, as NPR reported this month, a recent opinion poll in Israel found that almost two-thirds of the Israelis surveyed were in favour of a prisoner exchange – something Hamas has repeatedly offered – in which Israel would release its Palestinian detainees in exchange for the hostages held by Hamas. Why look to the “international community” when there is a solution right there?

It bears emphasising that prisoner exchanges are nothing new. In 2011, for example, Israel freed no fewer than 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single soldier held by Hamas since 2006 – chalk the ratio up to the superior value placed on Israeli lives.

And, in 2008, Israel acquired the remains of two Israeli soldiers in exchange for five Lebanese nationals and the remains of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian captives.

As of the Hamas operation of October 7, there were over 5,000 Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails; two weeks later, the number had doubled, as Israel went about maniacally arresting people.

But, hey, we are only supposed to see the “point of view of Israel”.

Proceeding in his defence of that viewpoint, Tapper laments that the Israelis “don’t hear anyone proposing any way for Hamas to be removed from the leadership of Gaza.” This is an “interesting turn of phrase”, to borrow Tapper’s own words, seeing as removing Hamas from leadership isn’t really anyone else’s business at all.

Recall that, after Hamas won democratic elections in 2006, the US decided it was indeed their business, and helpfully sparked a civil war in Gaza – to Hamas’s eventual advantage. Oops.

Anyway, who needs a Palestinian civil war when you can just annihilate Gaza altogether?

Tapper’s segment received praise from various US media figures, with Brit Hume of Fox News lauding his “excellent analysis”. It is an “analysis”, of course, that is shared by President Joe Biden and across the US politico-media spectrum: That a ceasefire is off the table and Palestinians must continue to die.

And as Tapper continues to audition for the role of Israeli military spokesperson, an immediate ceasefire needs to be called on bloodthirsty journalism.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

The enclave’s second largest hospital is facing fuel shortage, threatening the lives of people seeking treatment and shelter.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says the al-Quds Hospital, the second largest in Gaza, has ceased operations due to a fuel shortage as Israeli forces continue to bomb the besieged enclave.

“The hospital has been left to fend for itself under ongoing Israeli bombardment, posing severe risks to the medical staff, patients and displaced civilians,” the PRCS said in a statement on Sunday, intensifying fears for the Palestinians seeking treatment and shelter there.

“This cessation of services is due to the depletion of available fuel and power outage. Medical staff are making every effort to provide care to patients and the wounded, even resorting to unconventional medical methods amid dire humanitarian conditions and a shortage of medical supplies, food, and water,” PRCS said.

The organisation said it held the international community and signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention accountable for the complete breakdown of Gaza’s healthcare system and the resulting dire humanitarian crisis.

Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said al-Quds Hospital has been cut off from the world in the last six to seven days.

“No way in, no way out,” said the spokesperson.

Al-Quds Hospital joins al-Shifa Hospital – another major healthcare facility in northern Gaza – and is also now closed to new patients, with staff saying that Israeli bombardment and a lack of fuel and medicine meant those already being treated could die.

Hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave are blockaded by Israeli forces and barely able to care for those inside, medical staff said. More people are being killed and wounded daily, but there are fewer and fewer places for the injured to go.

“My son was injured and there was not a single hospital I could take him to so he could get stitches,” said Ahmed al-Kahlout, who was fleeing south in accordance with Israeli advice while fearing that nowhere in Gaza was safe.

A plastic surgeon at al-Shifa Hospital said bombing of the building housing incubators had forced them to line up premature babies on ordinary beds, using the little power available to turn the air conditioning to warm.

The Gaza Health Ministry’s spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said Israeli fire was “terrorising medical officials and civilians alike”.

The Israeli attacks have killed more than 11,000 people in Gaza in five weeks, most of them women and children.

The human cost of Israel’s war on Gaza is beyond calculation – lives lost, families destroyed, tens of thousands injured.

But what about the economic cost – and who will pay?

Will Israel contribute anything to rebuild communities devastated by its bombs?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Tamer Qarmout – Assistant professor of public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies; comes from Gaza

Helin Sari Ertem – Associate professor of international relations at Istanbul Medeniyet University; is a Turkish foreign policy specialist

Sultan Barakat – Professor of public policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University and author of the report, After the Conflict: Reconstruction and Development in the Aftermath of War