World News
Johnny Depp accuses ex-wife Amber Heard of domestic abuse
American actor Johnny Depp has denied physically abusing his ex-wife Amber Heard, arguing that it was her who abused him during their relationship.
In newly filed court documents as part of his $50m (£39m) defamation case against her, Depp accused Heard of having “painted-on bruises”.
“I have denied Ms Heard’s allegations vehemently since she first made them in May 2016,” he said.
A lawyer for Heard denied the allegations against his client.
Depp launched the defamation case against Heard after the actress described herself as the victim of domestic abuse in a piece in the Washington Post in December.
Heard asked a judge in Virginia to dismiss the lawsuit, prompting the new declaration from Depp.
“I have denied Ms Heard’s allegations vehemently since she first made them in May 2016 when she walked into court to obtain a temporary restraining order with painted-on bruises that witnesses and surveillance footage show she did not possess each day of the preceding week.
“I will continue to deny them for the rest of my life.”
Depp added: “I never abused Ms Heard or any other woman.
“She was the perpetrator, and I was the victim. While mixing prescription amphetamines and non-prescription drugs with alcohol, Ms Heard committed innumerable acts of domestic violence against me, often in the presence of a third-party witness, which in some instances caused me serious bodily harm.”
In a statement to People magazine, Heard’s lawyer Eric George said: “The evidence in this case is clear: Johnny Depp repeatedly beat Amber Heard.
“In light of the important work done by the #TimesUp movement highlighting the tactics abusers use to continue to traumatise survivors, neither the creative community nor the public will be gaslit by Mr Depp’s baseless blame-the-victim conspiracy theories.”
A spokesperson for Depp, in a statement given to the BBC, accused Heard of an “infamous hoax” which he said had been “obliterated”, adding: “Amber Heard’s lawyer says ‘the evidence in this case is clear,’ and then presents none.”
Depp and Heard started dating after meeting on the set of 2011 comedy The Rum Diary. They married in Los Angeles in February 2015.
The BBC has contacted Depp and Heard’s representatives for comment.
Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp after accusing him of abuse in May 2016, which he denied.
The couple settled their divorce out of court in 2016 and both actors signed non-disclosure agreements barring them from discussing their relationship publicly.
In a joint statement issued at the time, they said their relationship was “intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love”.
They added: “Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm.”
Source: BBC
World News
Meryl Streep Guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the 77th Festival de Cannes
Meryl Streep will be the guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the 77th Festival de Cannes which will take place on the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière on Tuesday, May 14. A celebrated figure in American cinema, the American actress will kick-off the upcoming edition which will draw to a close on Saturday, May 25th with the awards’ list given by the President of the Jury, Greta Gerwig.
After Jeanne Moreau, Marco Bellocchio, Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jane Fonda, Agnès Varda, Forest Whitaker or Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep will receive the Festival’s Honorary Palme d’or. 35 years after winning the Best Actress award for Evil Angels, her only appearance in Cannes to date, Meryl Streep will be making her long-awaited return to the Croisette.
“I am immeasurably honored to receive the news of this prestigious award. To win a prize at Cannes, for the international community of artists, has always represented the highest achievement in the art of filmmaking. To stand in the shadow of those who have previously been honored is humbling and thrilling in equal part. I so look forward to coming to France to thank everyone in person this May!” Meryl Streep stated.
“We all have something in us of Meryl Streep!” Iris Knobloch and Thierry Frémaux said. “We all have something in us of Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, Out of Africa, The Bridges of Madison County, The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! Because she has spanned almost 50 years of cinema and embodied countless masterpieces, Meryl Streep is part of our collective imagination, our shared love of cinema.”
After her drama studies and initial success on New York City stages, Meryl Streep’s career took off on the big screen in 1978 with The Deer Hunter, starring Robert De Niro. In Michael Cimino’s film, Meryl Streep wrote all her lines to give her character nuance and depth. This marked both her first Oscar nomination — now reaching a record 21 — and her demand to play strong, ambivalent women. For example, when she starred opposite Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer, she refused to let the film revolve around the male lead and rewrote a crucial monologue. She went on to win her first Oscar, and quickly gained recognition from the audiences and the industry alike.
Meryl Streep uses her intuition and hard work to reinvent herself with every appearance. Even on the scale of a film: in Karel Reisz’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman, she played two roles. In Alan J. Pakula’s Sophie’s Choice, her acting addresses a mother’s inconceivable moral dilemma. For this character, she studied German and Polish to take on the accent — impeccable according to Andrzej Wajda — and won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Sidney Pollack’s unforgettable historical, romantic epic Out of Africa (1985) marked a new turning point, in which she and Robert Redford formed one of cinema’s most legendary couples. Far from confining herself to the register of passionate love, Meryl Streep also ventured into darker characters. In Fred Schepisi’s 1988 Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark), she played a mother accused of infanticide. Her performance earned her the Best Actress Award at the 1989 Festival de Cannes.
In the 1990s, she tried her hand at gritty comedy: she challenged female stereotypes in Mike Nichols’ Postcards from the Edge and Robert Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her. In The Bridges of Madison County, she captured the screen alongside Clint Eastwood in a love story as impossible as it is timeless, that went down in cinema history.
Throughout her career, Meryl Streep has never shied away from publicly denouncing the precarious position of women in the film industry. Aware of the issues surrounding the representation of women in Hollywood movies, and keen to embody all their facets in all their complexity and fragility, Meryl Streep plays a wide variety of roles and genres. After Stephen Daldry’s The Hours and Robert Altman’s The Last Show, it was in two roles as funny as unexpected that she once again made her mark: as the cantankerous editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine in The Devil Wears Prada and Donna, a hippie who marries off her daughter in the musical Mamma Mia! She went on to star in biopics (The Iron Lady, Florence Foster Jenkins, Julie & Julia), political satyres (Lions for Lambs, Pentagon Papers, Don’t Look Up) and family films such as Little Women, directed by Greta Gerwig, who serves as President of the Jury at this year’s Festival de Cannes.
Two women, two generations, two aspirations, and the same passion for the Seventh Art, brought together on the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
World News
Former US Army Servicemember, Sanda G. Frimpong Sentenced to Prison in Money Laundering Romance Scam
Sanda G. Frimpong, 33, was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution to victims for laundering the illicit proceeds of an elaborate series of romance scams. Frimpong pled guilty to three counts of money laundering on September 14, 2023.
“Romance scammers exploit our most vulnerable citizens, even our seniors and military veterans, sometimes leaving them financially and emotionally devastated,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “The fact that an Army servicemember was involved in romance scams while serving as a soldier is appalling. We are partnering with the Department of Defense to drum out fraudsters and money launderers like Frimpong from our military ranks and put them in prison where they belong.”
Read Also: US Army Major Kojo Owusu Dartey Found Guilty After He Smuggled Guns to Ghana in Blue Barrels of Rice and Home Goods
“Integrity is a core tenet of the armed forces and when servicemembers choose to compromise their integrity for greed, it tarnishes the reputation of all others serving in uniform,” stated Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dillard, Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Mid-Atlantic Field Office. “DCIS and its law enforcement partners will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to hold those accountable who cheat government programs and use online scams to prey on the most vulnerable.”
Frimpong and other conspirators, engaged in elaborate scams, impersonating romantic love interests, diplomats, customs personnel, military personnel, and other fictitious personas for the purpose of ensnaring their victims by earning their confidence, including promises of romance, sharing of an inheritance or other riches, or other scenarios intended to fraudulently induce the victims to provide money or property to the conspirators. Frimpong then laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds of these frauds through his various bank accounts across state lines and through his contacts in Ghana. Frimpong was also an active-duty Army servicemember stationed at Fort Bragg during the commission of the offenses up until shortly after his arrest in 2023.
Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III announced the sentence. Defense Criminal Investigative Service led the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David G. Beraka prosecuted the case.
Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:23-CR-0035-D.
World News
US Army Major Kojo Owusu Dartey Found Guilty After He Smuggled Guns to Ghana in Blue Barrels of Rice and Home Goods
US Army Major Kojo Owusu Dartey, 42, was convicted for smuggling firearms to Ghana in blue barrels disguised as containing rice and household goods.
The incident, which took place in April 2024, has sparked widespread discussion on social media platforms. Dartey, involved in a marriage fraud scheme, faces a maximum sentence of 240 months and is scheduled for sentencing on July 23, 2024. The case has raised questions about the motives behind the smuggling and the potential implications for national security.
A US Army Major, Kojo Owusu Dartey, known for his role in the US special forces, has been found guilty of smuggling firearms to Ghana hidden in blue barrels of rice and household goods.
The 42-year-old is facing a maximum sentence of 240 months and awaits sentencing on July 23,… pic.twitter.com/o28I3wZOKd— EDHUB🌍ℹ (@eddie_wrt) April 30, 2024
A federal jury convicted a United States Army Major, currently assigned to Fort Liberty, on charges of dealing in firearms without a license, delivering firearms without notice to the carrier, smuggling goods from the United States, illegally exporting firearms without a license, making false statements made to an agency of the United States, making false declarations before the court, and conspiracy. Kojo Owusu Dartey, age 42, faces a maximum penalty of 240 months when sentenced on July 23, 2024.
Read Also: Abena Korkor says she’s found love in a bipolar American army officer
“We are partnering with law enforcement agencies across the globe to expose international criminals – from money launderers to rogue international arms traffickers capable of fueling violence abroad,” said U.S Attorney Michael Easley. “Through a partnership with Ghanaian officials, this rogue Army Major was convicted at trial after smuggling guns to Ghana in blue barrels of rice and household goods. I want to thank the Ghana Revenue Authority and the International Cooperation Unit Office of the Attorney-General of Ghana for their assistance in the investigation. I also commend the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attachés to U.S. Embassy Accra and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Department’s Criminal Division for their significant assistance to this prosecution.”
“Far from being a victimless crime, firearms trafficking threatens public safety across our nation and beyond,” said Toni M. Crosby, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Baltimore Field Division. “The Baltimore Field Division is proud to partner with the Ghana Revenue Authority and ATF’s Charlotte and Louisville Field Divisions for this investigation, which has kept firearms off the streets — preventing them from being used in any number of killings and other crimes — and ended this international firearm trafficking scheme.”
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, between June 28 and July 2, 2021, Dartey purchased seven firearms in the Fort Liberty area and tasked a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to purchase three firearms there and send them to Dartey in North Carolina. Dartey then hid all the firearms, including multiple handguns, an AR15, 50-round magazines, suppressors, and a combat shotgun inside blue barrels underneath rice and household goods and smuggled the barrels out of the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, on a container ship to the Port of Tema in Ghana. The Ghana Revenue Authority recovered the firearms and reported the seizure to the DEA attaché in Ghana and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division. At the same time, Dartey was a witness in the trial of U.S. v. Agyapong. A case that involved a 16-defendant marriage fraud scheme between soldiers on Fort Liberty and foreign nationals from Ghana that Dartey had tipped off officials to. In preparation for the trial, Dartey lied to federal law enforcement about his sexual relationship with a defense witness and lied on the stand and under oath about the relationship.
Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the verdict. The ATF, Army Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel J. Diaz prosecuted it with technical assistance from David Ryan, DOJ Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
World News
Ex-UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou announces death of his 15-month-old son
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Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad shot dead outside Baghdad home
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