Connect with us

NewsBeat

Emilia Pérez, Wicked and The Brutalist lead race

Published

on

Emilia Pérez, Wicked and The Brutalist lead race
Ian Youngs

Culture reporter

Netflix Karla Sofía Gascón in a scene from Emilia PérezNetflix

Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays Emilia Pérez, is the first trans person to be nominated in an acting category

Netflix musical Emilia Pérez leads this year’s Oscars nominations, with Wicked also among the top contenders.

Emilia Pérez, about a Mexican drug lord who changes gender, has 13 nominations in total – although one of its stars, Selena Gomez, missed out.

Advertisement

Wicked received 10 nominations – including nods for British actress Cynthia Erivo and her co-star Ariana Grande.

Three-and-a-half-hour epic The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, also has 10 nominations, while Demi Moore has the first Oscar nomination of her career.

Mubi Demi Moore looking in the mirror in The SubstanceMubi

Demi Moore has received big support for her performance in The Substance

Moore, 62, is nominated for best actress for playing a fading star who swaps her body for a younger and more beautiful version of herself in The Substance.

She said an Oscar nomination was “an incredible honour and these last few months have been beyond my wildest dreams”.

Advertisement

Referring to the wildfires in Los Angeles, she continued: “This is a time of incredible contrasts and right now, my heart is with my friends, family, neighbours, and community here in LA.”

In the best actor category, two big names are in contention for portraying the early years of very different real-life figures – Sebastian Stan for playing Donald Trump in The Apprentice and Timothée Chalamet for playing Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

That makes Chalamet, 29, the youngest person to get two best actor nominations since James Dean in the 1950s, according to Variety.

But 2003 best actor winner Brody is favourite to scoop that prize again, for playing a Hungarian architect hired by a wealthy American after World War Two in The Brutalist.

Advertisement

The top nominees:

  • Emilia Pérez – 13 nominations
  • Wicked – 10
  • The Brutalist – 10
  • A Complete Unknown – 8
  • Conclave – 8

The Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by US comedian Conan O’Brien, will take place on 2 March.

The nominations had been due to be announced last week, but were postponed twice because of the fires.

Organisers have said the ceremony will “reflect on the recent events while highlighting the strength, creativity, and optimism that defines Los Angeles and our industry”.

Emilia Pérez makes history

Advertisement
Reuters Zoe Saldaña holding up a Golden Globe trophyReuters

Zoe Saldaña won a Golden Globe for Emilia Pérez, and is now favourite to win best supporting actress at the Oscars

Emilia Pérez, which follows the leader of a Mexican drugs cartel who decides to change gender and identity, hasn’t set Netflix alight so far and has divided opinion among those who have watched it.

But Oscar voters have given it a resounding seal of approval.

It it the most-nominated non-English language film of all time. It’s actually a French production, is set mostly in Mexico and is mostly acted in Spanish.

Karla Sofía Gascón is nominated for best actress for the movie’s lead role, making her the first trans person to be nominated in an acting category (although Elliot Page was nominated for Juno in 2008, before the actor transitioned).

Advertisement

Zoe Saldaña, who plays Perez’s lawyer, is up for best supporting actress (despite having more screen time than Gascón). The film’s only notable omission is Selina Gomez, who was an outsider for a nod in the same category for playing Perez’s wife.

Brits in contention

Black Bear Ralph Fiennes in a scene from ConclaveBlack Bear

This is Ralph Fiennes’ first Oscar nomination since The English Patient in 1997

Erivo is the first black British woman to receive two Oscar nominations for acting, after also being nominated for Harriet in 2020.

If she wins best actress this time, for playing Elphaba in Wicked, she’ll become an EGOT – having completed the set of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

Advertisement

Ralph Fiennes is flying the flag in the best actor category with his first nomination for 28 years. He’s recognised for playing a cardinal who oversees the selection of a new Pope in Conclave.

Elsewhere, Felicity Jones is nominated for best supporting actress for The Brutalist – a decade after her first Oscar nomination – while Sir Elton John is in the best original song race.

The country will also be rooting for two more screen legends – Wallace and Gromit (and their makers Aardman Animations), who are hoping for their fourth Oscar. They are shortlisted for best animated feature for their latest outing, Vengeance Most Fowl.

Creator Nick Park told the BBC the nomination was a “surprise and real privilege”, while co-director Merlin Crossingham said he “nearly spilt my tea” when hearing the news before adding that “we all had a huge cheer and celebration”.

Advertisement

Wicked casts an Oscars spell

Reuters Ariana Grande and Cynthia ErivoReuters

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo will be back together at the Oscars

Wicked, based on the Broadway musical about the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, has been a big box-office success and is now also a hit with Oscar voters.

It has exceeded many expectations with its 10 nominations – two more than Barbie managed last year.

After their widely-praised performances in both the film and on the press tour, Erivo and Grande will be reunited on the Oscars red carpet.

Advertisement

Grande said she “cannot stop crying” after receiving the first Academy Award nomination of her career.

However, the film’s mastermind Jon M Chu missed out on a nomination for best director.

Other snubs

Getty Images Pamela Anderson and Demi Moore posing together at W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont on January 04, 2025 in Los AngelesGetty Images

Pamela Anderson and Demi Moore have been the “comeback queens” on this year’s film awards circuit

Pamela Anderson had scored Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her vulnerable and powerful performance as an ageing Las Vegas performer in The Last Showgirl, but has missed out at the Oscars.

Advertisement

Best actress is a competitive field, and other big names including Angelina Jolie (Maria) and Nicole Kidman (Babygirl) were also overlooked.

British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste could also have been a contender for playing a constantly miserable woman in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.

Jamie Lee Curtis lost out on a spot in the best supporting actress category for her role alongside Anderson in The Last Showgirl, while Gladiator II’s Denzel Washington couldn’t notch up the 10th acting nomination of his career.

In fact, 24 years after the original Gladiator won five Oscars, the sequel could only manage a single nomination, for best costume design.

Advertisement

Former James Bond star Daniel Craig had a chance for his first Oscar nomination – but voters overlooked his performance in Queer, as a gay man who ventures into the jungle in search of a plant with telepathic qualities.

And Irish-language rappers Kneecap were disappointed – their film, which received six Bafta nominations last week, was overlooked by the Oscars.

Read more about this year’s nominated films:

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

NewsBeat

Campaigners dismiss government’s loan charge review as ‘sham’

Published

on

Campaigners dismiss government's loan charge review as 'sham'

The government has launched its promised independent review into the loan charge but has been met with criticism from campaigners who dismissed it as a “sham”.

The loan charge was implemented to close a tax loophole and recover backdated taxes but has left many freelance workers facing large bills.

In a statement on Thursday, Treasury Minister James Murray said the review would look at barriers preventing those owing money from “reaching resolution with HMRC and to recommend ways in which they can be encouraged to do so”.

However, it will not reconsider the government’s position that the loan charge is fair.

Advertisement

This has led the Loan Charge Action Group to dismiss the review as a “sham” and a “complete betrayal”.

“What the government has announced today is not a review at all, as it actually astonishingly excludes reviewing the loan charge,” said group founder Steve Packham.

He said the review failed to look at how HMRC set up the loan charge and who operated and promoted the tax avoidance schemes.

In 1999, the then-Labour government introduced IR 35, a tax law which sought to class many self-employed freelance workers as employers, meaning they would have to pay National Insurance.

Advertisement

Thousands subsequently signed up to schemes, promoted by lawyers and accountants, allowing them to legally avoid paying National Insurance.

This usually involved the freelancers paying money to offshore companies, who loaned it back to them without expecting the loan to be repaid.

After the government shut this loophole, the Treasury used the loan charge to ask the freelancers to pay backdated tax.

HMRC estimates around 50,000 people are affected by the loan charge.

Advertisement

Announcing a review of the loan charge, Treasury Minister James Murray said: “The government believes that it is right that those who did not pay the right amount of income tax and National Insurance are required to resolve their affairs with HMRC.

“Accepting otherwise would be contrary to the decisions of the courts and would be unfair to the vast majority of taxpayers who have never used these schemes.”

However, he added that there was concern about the charge, particularly the size of some payments and whether people were able to pay “in a reasonable timeframe”.

He said the review would aim “to bring the matter to a close or those affected; ensure fairness for all taxpayers; and ensure that appropriate support is in place for those subject to the loan charge”.

Advertisement

It will be conducted by Ray McCann, a former President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, who is expected to report back by the summer.

Conservative MP Greg Smith, and co-chair of the Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), said the announcement of the review was “a farce”.

“This is not the review that was promised nor the review that is so desperately needed and the APPG will continue to push for a genuine inquiry into this scandal,” he said.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Judges who allowed Sara Sharif to remain in her father’s custody to be named next week

Published

on

Judges who allowed Sara Sharif to remain in her father’s custody to be named next week

Three judges that oversaw Sara Sharif’s family court cases before she was murdered by her father and stepmother, can be named in seven days, a court has ruled.

The Court of Appeal has accepted an appeal after several media organisations challenged Mr Justice Williams’ controversial ruling that those who oversaw a string of family court proceedings before the 10-year-old’s death could not be identified.

Mr Justice Williams originally cited a “real risk” of harm to them from a “virtual lynch mob” as he said that to suggest family court officials should be held accountable for Sara’s death was “equivalent to holding the lookout on the Titanic responsible for its sinking”.

In the Court of Appeal’s ruling, Sir Geoffrey Vos said: “In the circumstances of this case, the judge had no jurisdiction to anonymise the historic judges either on 9 December 2024 or thereafter.”

Advertisement

A shocking trial saw Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, 42, and his wife Beinash Batool 30, found guilty for her traumatic murder, after she suffered a catalogue of 70 injuries, including 25 fractures, human bite marks and burns. Her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was convicted for causing or allowing her death while living with them.

Three judges involved in cases related to the care of Sara Sharif can be named in a week (Surrey Police/PA)

Three judges involved in cases related to the care of Sara Sharif can be named in a week (Surrey Police/PA) (PA Media)

Details later emerged from previous family court proceedings, which revealed that Surrey County Council had repeatedly raised “significant concerns” about Sara’s safety.

The council first had contact with Sharif and Sara’s mother Olga Domin in 2010 – more than two years before Sara was born – having received “referrals indicative of neglect” relating to her two older siblings, known only as Z and U.

Advertisement

Within a week of Sara’s birth in 2013, the authority began care proceedings concerning the children.

Between 2013 and 2015, several allegations of abuse were made against Sharif and Domin, which were never tested in court despite three sets of family court proceedings.

One hearing in 2014 told that the council had “significant concerns” about the children returning to Sharif, “given the history of allegations of physical abuse of the children and domestic abuse with Mr Sharif as the perpetrator”.

Sara and her sibling U were returned to the parents. Sibling Z remained in foster care where they made allegations of physical abuse perpetrated by both parents, as well as allegations of domestic violence.

Advertisement
Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool were convicted of Sara’s murder (Surrey Police/PA)

Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool were convicted of Sara’s murder (Surrey Police/PA) (PA Media)

These allegations were denied by Sharif and Domin and the court did not determine the truth.

In 2015, Domin accused Sharif of hitting her and their children, as well as controlling, violent behaviour. He made counter-allegations against Domin and agreed to go on a domestic violence course, but these allegations were never tested in court.

Sara would briefly go into foster care and then join her mother in a refuge. While in foster care, a carer noted scars potentially consistent with cigarette burns on Sara and her sibling, which Domin and Sharif said were chicken pox scars.

Advertisement

By November that year, the family concluded the children should live with Domin, allowing supervised visits with Sharif.

In 2019, a judge approved Sara moving to live with her father at the home in Woking, after she alleged Domin had abused her, where she later died after a campaign of abuse.

Sara Sharif was 10 years -old when she died. (Surrey Police/PA)

Sara Sharif was 10 years -old when she died. (Surrey Police/PA) (PA Media)

Freelance journalists Louise Tickle and Hannah Summers were two of many media figures who appealed the decision as they told a hearing on 14 January that the judges should be named in the interests of transparency.

Advertisement

Chris Barnes, for Ms Tickle and Ms Summers, called the judge’s decision “unfair, poorly reasoned and unsustainable”, calling it “out of step with the recognised need to promote transparency, and media reporting, in the Family Court”.

The children’s guardian, representing other minors involved in the case, opposed the appeal. Alex Verdan KC, representing the guardian, said the judge’s decision “would seem to be grounded on concern for the wellbeing of judges”.

“For many professionals working within the family justice system, particularly those in a judicial role, the risks are all too real, but all too infrequently acknowledged,” he added.

Cyrus Larizadeh KC, for Urfan Sharif, has also opposed the appeal, as he said in written submissions that he was “concerned that no harm should come to the judge(s) who presided in the historic proceedings”, citing that media reporting had led to “significant threats” being made to judges on social media.

Advertisement

More follows…

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Labour MP says CPS made ‘right choice’ to charge Rudakubana with murder, not terrorism

Published

on

Labour MP Mike Tapp has backed calls for a national review into terrorism laws following the sentencing of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana.

Speaking to GB News, the Dover MP said: “These people, without clear ideologies, who are obsessed with murder, we’ve got to get on top of it.”

FULL STORY HERE.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Hamas to name next Israeli hostages set to be released

Published

on

Hamas to name next Israeli hostages set to be released

Hamas is expected to hand over to Israel the names of four hostages to be released on Saturday under the Gaza ceasefire deal.

It is thought they will be soldiers and civilians, all female.

They will be freed in exchange for 180 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

It will be the second exchange since the ceasefire came into effect last Sunday. Three hostages and 90 prisoners were released in the first swap.

Advertisement

The ceasefire halted the war which began when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages.

More than 47,200 Palestinians, the majority civilians, have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.

Hamas is also expected to provide information about the remaining 26 hostages due to be released over the next five weeks.

This includes the Bibas family – two parents and two children, one of whom, Kfir, was 10 months old when taken captive and is the youngest hostage. It is unclear if this information will include the names or just the number of living or dead hostages.

Advertisement

The prisoners who will be released are of a more serious category than those freed in the first exchange. They will include those who have killed, some of whom are serving sentences of more than 15 years.

Israel has insisted that no-one who was involved in the 7 October attacks will be freed.

The ceasefire deal was reached after months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, led by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

It will be implemented in three stages, with the second stage due to begin six weeks into the truce. About 1,900 Palestinian prisoners will be released during the first stage in exchange for 33 hostages. Israeli forces will also begin withdrawing from positions in Gaza and hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians will be able to return to areas they had fled or been forced from.

Advertisement

The ceasefire is meant to lead to a permanent end to the war in Gaza.

Ninety-one hostages taken on 7 October 2023 are still held in Gaza. Fifty-seven of them are assumed by Israel to still be alive. Three others – two of whom are alive – have been held for a decade or more.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Thousands of young men obsessed with violence, UK's most senior police officer warns

Published

on

Thousands of young men obsessed with violence, UK's most senior police officer warns


The UK’s most senior police officer has warned thousands of young men are obsessed with violence in the wake of the Southport killings.

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Storm Eowyn school closures: Find out which are shut near you amid rare red weather warnings

Published

on

Storm Eowyn school closures: Find out which are shut near you amid rare red weather warnings

Thousands of schools have been closed on Friday as Storm Eowyn batters the country with winds of over 100mph.

The Met Office has issed two rare red weather warnings in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as Storm Eowyn is likely to damage buildings, uproot trees, cause power cuts, and bring a danger to life.

Elsewhere, every part of the UK is impacted by either a yellow or amber weather warning as many face disruption to their lives and journeys.

Pupils across the country have been told to stay at home, as Northern Ireland closes all of its schools and many in Scotland and Northumberland are forced to close.

Advertisement

The Met Office said winds would pick up rapidly during Friday morning’s rush hour, bringing peak gusts of 80-90mph, and up to 100mph along some exposed coasts.

A wind speed of 114mph brought by Storm Eowyn has been recorded in Ireland, the fastest since records began, forecaster Met Eireann said.

Police said no road users should travel in or to the red weather warning area, and motorists there were advised not to drive unless absolutely essential.

Advertisement
Every part of the UK is impacted by either a yellow or amber weather warning as many face disruption to their lives and journeys.

Every part of the UK is impacted by either a yellow or amber weather warning as many face disruption to their lives and journeys. (Met Office)

Some 4.5 million people received emergency alerts on their phones warning of the incoming storm in the “largest real life use of the tool to date” on Thursday.

Parents are urged to check with on their children’s school websites in the morning, with information also posted on council sites and on local radio stations.

Advertisement
(Rebecca Black/PA Wire)

Here is a list of likely affected council websites The Independent has compiled:

Northern Ireland

All schools in Northern Ireland are to close on Friday.

Scotland

Advertisement

All schools in the following areas are closed on Friday:

  • Glasgow City
  • East Ayrshire
  • North Ayrshire
  • South Ayrshire
  • West Lothian
  • East Lothian
  • West Dunbartonshire
  • East Dunbartonshire Council
  • Midlothian
  • Inverclyde
  • South Lanarkshire
  • North Lanarkshire
  • Argyll and Bute
  • East Renfrewshire
  • Renfrewshire
  • City of Edinburgh
  • Dundee
  • Falkirk
  • Fife
  • Perth and Kinross
  • Scottish Borders
  • Western Isles
  • Stirling
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Dumfries and Galloway

With Aberdeenshire under yellow and amber warnings for snow and wind, here is the link to their local council website to find out which schools are closed – https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/school-closures

Several schools in the Scottish Highlands were also closed, with a full list for Friday available here – https://www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures

The Scottish government also has an online directory here for you to search if your child’s school is closed – https://www.mygov.scot/school-closures

Wales

Advertisement

In Anglesey, dozens of schools are closed due to high winds. You can check the list on their website here – https://www.anglesey.gov.wales/en/Residents/Community-Safety/Weather-warning-24-January-2025.aspx

England

A number of schools are closed in Northumberland, which is under a yellow and amber warning on Friday. The full list of closures will be updated here – https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Alerts

In Cumberland, seven schools have been closed so far on Friday. With a full list for Friday available here – https://www.cumberland.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-closures

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Labour MP Mike Tapp backs national review into terrorism legal framework after sentencing

Published

on

Labour MP Mike Tapp has backed calls for a national review into terrorism laws following the sentencing of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana.

Speaking to GB News, the Dover MP said: “These people, without clear ideologies, who are obsessed with murder, we’ve got to get on top of it.”


Rudakubana 18, was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison for the murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed class in Southport in July 2024.

However, Mr Justice Goose confirmed the offences he had committed “did not reach the legal definition of terrorism”, because he did not kill to further a political, religious or ideological cause.

Advertisement
Mike Tapp, Axel Rudakubana sketch

Tapp defended the CPS’s decision to not charge Rudakubana with terrorism

GB News / PA

Speaking to the People’s Channel, Tapp stressed that the review would examine everything “from the first referral to the last” to understand how Rudakubana “slipped through the net”.

Advertisement

“I think this started happening when he was a very young age. So possession of knives, obsession with murder, the vile things he’s been viewing online,” he said.

Defending the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service’s to pursue murder charges rather than terrorism offences in the case, Tapp noted that the CPS “have to charge with the offence they’re most likely to convict on”.

He explained: “If there isn’t that clear evidence of that motivation and ideology leading to those viral murders, they’ve got to go with the one that’s most likely to succeed.

Axel Rudakubana

Rudakubana, 18, was sentenced to a minimum term of 52 years in prison on Thursday

Advertisement

PA

“So that was most likely the right choice here, and that’s why we’ve seen him convicted.”

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

He explained that while Rudakubana “is clearly a terrorist,” prosecutors faced challenges with proving ideological motivation.

Advertisement

“The complex part here is, yes, he killed people, and that was vile. He terrorised, he had an al Qaeda manual, he produced ricin,” Tapp said.

“But the CPS made a decision to charge on murder because there wasn’t that clear ideological motivation for carrying out the murders.”

The Labour MP emphasised that careful consideration of charges was essential to secure a conviction.

Mike Tapp

Tapp told GB News that there wasn’t a ‘clear enough motivation’ for the CPS to charge Rudakubana on

Advertisement

GB News

Tapp emphasised the importance of careful language during legal proceedings to ensure successful prosecutions. “If we say the wrong things for political reasons that jeopardise a case like that, that would be disgraceful,” he said.

The Dover MP acknowledged the dedication of counter-terrorism officers, noting that many attacks have been prevented.

Advertisement

“Having worked in counter terrorism, we’ve really committed counter officers, people are working tirelessly to stop attacks from happening,” he told GB News.

Tapp also stressed that while many attacks were prevented, this case represented one that “slipped through the net, which is an absolute tragedy”.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Appeal won to name girl’s family court judges

Published

on

Appeal won to name girl's family court judges
Christian Fuller

BBC News, South East

Surrey Police Sara Sharif wearing a hijab. She is smiling and looking directly at the camera. Surrey Police

Sara Sharif’s body was found at her home in Woking on 10 August 2023

Three judges who oversaw family court proceedings related to the care of Sara Sharif before she was murdered will be named next week, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Mr Justice Williams ruled in December that the media could not name the judges involved in the historical family court cases related to the 10-year-old, as well as social workers and guardians, due to a “real risk” of harm from a “virtual lynch mob”.

Advertisement

However, several media organisations, including the BBC, have successfully appealed against the decision, previously telling a hearing that the judges should be named in the interests of transparency.

Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 43, and stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, were jailed for life for her murder in Woking in 2023.

At a ruling on Friday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the three unnamed judges could be identified in seven days.

Sir Geoffrey Vos said: “In the circumstances of this case, the judge had no jurisdiction to anonymise the historic judges either on 9 December 2024 or thereafter.

Advertisement

“He was wrong to do so.”

Following the convictions at the Old Bailey in December last year, details from previous family court proceedings could be published relating to Sara’s care before her death.

This included that Surrey County Council (SCC) repeatedly raised “significant concerns” about the children returning to Sharif, “given the history of allegations of physical abuse of the children and domestic abuse with Mr Sharif as the perpetrator”.

Surrey Police Mugshots of Sara's father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool.Surrey Police

Sara’s father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool were jailed for life over her death

Documents released to the media showed that SCC first had contact with Sharif and Sara’s mother, Olga Sharif, in 2010 – more than two years before Sara was born – having received “referrals indicative of neglect” relating to her two older siblings.

Advertisement

The authority began care proceedings concerning the siblings in January 2013, involving Sara within a week of her birth.

Between 2013 and 2015, several allegations of abuse were made that were never tested in court.

In 2019, a judge approved Sara moving to live with her father in Woking. It was there that she was hooded, burned and beaten during years of abuse before her death.

SCC said the appeal should be allowed.

Advertisement

Sharif was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison for murder, while Batool received a minimum of 33 years.

Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment for causing or allowing her death.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

French woman who stopped having sex with her husband wins appeal over divorce | World News

Published

on

The ECHR has ruled it was wrong to blame a woman for her divorce on the grounds she refused to have sex. Pic: AP

A French woman who stopped having sex with her husband has won an appeal in Europe’s highest court after being told she was at fault for their divorce.

Identified as H.W., the woman filed for divorce against her husband in 2012 and claimed he had been bad-tempered, violent and abusive. They had four children together.

H.W. said she stopped having sex with her husband in 2004 over health problems and threats of violence. He then counterclaimed that she failed to fulfil her marital duties and made slanderous accusations against him.

In 2019, the woman was told by a French appeals court that her refusal to have sex with him was a breach of her marital duty and ruled she was responsible for the breakdown of the marriage.

Advertisement

Almost six years later, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled the French court was wrong to do so, and condemned it for violating H.W.’s right to respect for private and family life.

It said on Thursday that it “could not identify any reason capable of justifying this interference by the public authorities in the area of sexuality”, and that any concept of marital duties needed to take consent into account.

“In the Court’s view, consent to marriage could not imply consent to future sexual relations,” the ECHR said. “Such an interpretation would be tantamount to denying that marital rape was reprehensible in nature.”

The ECHR added it “concluded that the very existence of such a marital obligation ran counter to sexual freedom” and to France’s obligation to combat domestic and sexual violence.

Advertisement

Read more from Sky News:
Storm Eowyn: Record winds of 114mph recorded
Axel Rudakubana’s ‘unduly lenient’ sentence to be reviewed

In a statement released by lawyer Lilia Mhissen, H.W. said she hopes the decision will “mark a turning point in the fight for women’s rights in France”.

Advertisement

“It is now imperative that France, like other European countries, such as Portugal or Spain, take concrete measures to eradicate this rape culture and promote a true culture of consent and mutual respect,” she added.

While the ruling has no impact on the divorce, Ms Mhissen said it will prevent French judges from making similar divorce rulings in the future.

H.W., who was born in 1955, brought the appeal to the ECHR in 2021 after exhausting her legal options in France.

A diplomatic source told Reuters that the French parliament is currently considering a new law that would modify the legal definition of rape.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Judges who oversaw family court proceedings related to care of Sara Sharif can be named | UK News

Published

on

Home Office pauses decisions on Syrian asylum claims following fall of Bashar al Assad | Politics News

Three judges who oversaw family court proceedings related to the care of Sara Sharif can be named next week, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Mr Justice Williams issued a ruling last year that the three judges involved in the historical family court cases related to the 10-year-old, as well as social workers and guardians, could not be named due to a “real risk” of harm from a “virtual lynch mob”.

News organisations had previously appealed against Mr Williams’s decision on the grounds of transparency about the court case relating to 10-year-old Sara, who was murdered by her father and stepmother.

Sir Geoffrey Vos said on Friday: “In the circumstances of this case, the judge had no jurisdiction to anonymise the historic judges either on 9 December 2024 or thereafter. He was wrong to do so.”

Advertisement

Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal heard the judges who oversaw court proceedings had “serious concerns” about the risks posed to them and their families if they were named.

Mr Justice Williams previously argued that holding individuals involved in those proceedings was “equivalent to holding the lookout on the Titanic responsible for its sinking”.

Sharif and Sara’s stepmother, Beinash Batool, were jailed for life in December for years of horrific “torture” and “despicable” abuse that led to her murder.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Advertisement

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025 WordupNews