Plus: How France's mass rape case has shattered the Pelicot family. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| Hello. Today we're turning our focus to Washington DC, where special counsel Jack Smith has asked a judge to drop two federal cases against President-elect Donald Trump. I'm sharing a new dispatch from Laura Gozzi, from the south of France, where the mass rape trial that has sent shockwaves across the world has also shattered the family at the heart of it. We're also reporting from Israel, Antigua and India. | |
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QUESTIONS ANSWERED | Prosecutor drops Trump federal cases |
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| | The request to dismiss the case marks an end to a lengthy legal saga for the president-elect. Credit: Getty Images | Special counsel Jack Smith has asked a judge to dismiss the federal election interference case against Donald Trump as he is set to become the next US president. Trump had pleaded not guilty to charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. |
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| | Madeline Halpert, BBC News |
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| What happened today? | In new documents filed on Monday, Jack Smith told the judge the case should be closed because of the Justice Department's policy that bans the prosecution of a sitting president. “This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant,” Smith wrote in the six-page filing. | How have Trump and his allies reacted? | In a statement, Trump’s team said the move to end the case was “a major victory for the rule of law”. Trump had pledged to get rid of Smith as soon as he takes office after his 20 January inauguration. Smith has reportedly said he plans to step down next year. | What does this mean for Trump's broader judicial issues? | Since Trump has won the presidency, “his criminal problems go away”, said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani. His sentencing for his criminal conviction in the state of New York has been indefinitely delayed, while another federal case related to his handling of classified documents is also likely to be dismissed as he takes office. Trump also faces state charges in Georgia for his attempts to overturn election results there, but that case faces delays as well. | | | From last week: A New York judge delayed Trump's sentencing in his hush payment case for a third time.
The context: Here's how Trump's win is affecting his various cases at the federal and state level. US politics latest: Donald Trump's incoming "border tsar", Tom Homan, has vowed to slash federal funding to states that do not co-operate with mass deportations of undocumented migrants. | |
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| Family crumbles at mass rape trial | | Caroline Darian accused her father of lying to the court, saying she was convinced he abused her. Credit: AFP | French prosecutors are seeking the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for Dominique Pelicot, the man who has admitted having drugged and raped his then-wife Gisèle and invited dozens of strangers to rape her. The trial has highlighted the destructive force of the patriarch's actions on the Pelicot family as a whole. |
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| | | The magnitude of Dominique Pelicot’s betrayal and crimes is such that the aftershocks have rippled far beyond his ex-wife. The Pelicots’ middle child, Caroline Darian, now 45, screamed her anguish at her father in court as she demanded to know the truth about photos found on his computer. Entitled “My naked daughter”, the images show her semi-naked and, she says, clearly drugged. Mr Pelicot has offered various and at times contradictory explanations for the pictures, although he has denied abusing his daughter. “I never touched you,” he pleaded with her.
But his duplicity has been abundantly exposed during this trial, and he has clearly lost the right to be believed by his daughter. “You are a liar,” she shouted back at him. “I am sick of your lies, you are alone in your lie, you will die lying.” Fighting back tears, she accused her father of looking at her “with incestuous eyes”. |
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THE BIG PICTURE | The smelly seaweed that could fuel cars |
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| | | Sargassum has covered some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, such as this on in Antigua. Credit: Rufus Gobat | When large swathes of invasive - and smelly - seaweed started carpeting Caribbean beaches in 2011, local residents struggled to figure out how to tackle it. Now a pioneering group of Caribbean scientists and environmentalists hope to turn the troublesome algae into biofuel that would power vehicles on the islands. |
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FOR YOUR DOWNTIME | Origin story | Author Gregory Maguire tells the BBC about the inspiration behind Wicked. | |
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And finally... in India | A video of a fashion shoot in India has gone viral and unexpectedly turned a group of underprivileged school children into local celebrities. Mehak Kannojia, one of the models in the video, told the BBC that she and her fellow students closely followed the sartorial choices of Bollywood actresses on Instagram and often duplicated some of their outfits for themselves. Take a look. | |
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Six Steps to Calm | Discover a calmer future with this course of six science-backed techniques, weekly to your inbox. | |
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MORE BBC NEWSLETTERS | | US Election Unspun: Cut through the noise in the US presidential election and its global impact, every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe. | | World of Business: Gain the leading edge with global insights for the boardroom and beyond, every Wednesday. Subscribe. | | The Essential List: The best of the BBC, handpicked by our editors, in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday. Subscribe. | |
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– Jules | | | | |
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