Headline

Trump Secures $15m in ABC News Defamation Settlement

Published

6 months ago

December 15, 2024

Editor

ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million to United Sates President-elect Donald Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit arising from comments made by its star anchor, George Stephanopoulos.

The anchor falsely claimed during a 10 March, 2024 broadcast that Trump had been found “liable for rape.”

The allegations were made during an interview with South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace on ABC’s ‘This Week’.

Stephanopoulos repeated the statement 10 times, sparking legal action from Trump.

The claims contradicted a 2023 New York civil court ruling that found Trump liable for “sexual abuse” against writer E. Jean Carroll, but not rape, under New York law’s narrower definition.

Under the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution toward a “Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past.” The network will also cover $1 million of Trump’s legal fees.

In addition to the financial terms, ABC News agreed to publish a statement expressing its “regret” for the incorrect claims. An editor’s note will be added to its 10 March 2024 online article about the interview, stating:

“ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.”

An ABC News spokesperson said, “The company is pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing.”

The civil case that sparked the controversy involved allegations from Ms. Carroll, who claimed Trump sexually abused her in a department store dressing room in 1996.

The jury concluded that Ms. Carroll had failed to prove rape under the strict legal definition of New York law but found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the case, emphasised that the legal definition of rape in New York is “far narrower” than its common understanding in modern parlance or other jurisdictions.

The jury’s ruling ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages to Ms. Carroll for additional defamatory statements.

Trump’s defamation case against ABC News was one of several high-profile lawsuits involving the media.

The president-elect filed suits against CBS and the BBC’s US partner, accusing them of “deceptive conduct.”

However, a judge dismissed his 2023 lawsuit against CNN, which alleged the network likened him to Adolf Hitler. Lawsuits against ‘The New York Times’ and ‘The Washington Post’ were also dismissed in recent years.

Headline

Thousands Protest In Tehran Against Israel

Published

55 minutes ago

June 20, 2025

Editor

Thousands of people joined a protest against Israel in the Iranian capital on Friday after weekly prayers, chanting slogans in support of their leaders, images on state television showed.

“This is the Friday of the Iranian nation’s solidarity and resistance across the country,” the news anchor said.

Footage showed protesters in Tehran holding up photographs of commanders killed since the start of the war with Israel, while others waved the flags of Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

“I will sacrifice my life for my leader,” read a protester’s banner, a reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to state television, protests took place in other cities around the country, including in Tabriz in northwestern Iran and Shiraz in the south.

AFP

Headline

Over 650 Die In Iran After First Week Of Israeli Strikes

Published

58 minutes ago

June 20, 2025

Editor

More than 650 people have been killed in Iran following a massive Israeli bombing campaign launched a week ago, an activist group said on Friday.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that 657 people have died and 2,037 have been injured in the nationwide airstrikes.

The Iranian government does not publish daily figures on casualties.

HRANA relies on a broad network of informants and publicly available sources.

The group said the dead include at least 263 civilians and 164 members of the military.

Another 230 fatalities remain unidentified.

The network also reported damage to civilian infrastructure, including a projectile striking a children’s hospital in Tehran, which did not result in any injuries.

In the western province of Ilam, a fire station was damaged, HRANA said, while an Israeli attack on a car factory in western Iran triggered a large fire.

Israel maintains its objective is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, which it considers an existential threat.

Headline

UK Joins Other Nations In Pulling Embassy Staff From Iran

Published

1 hour ago

June 20, 2025

Editor

Britain on Friday withdrew its embassy staff from Iran, following in the footsteps of other European nations as well as Australia and New Zealand amid the conflict with Israel.

“Due to the current security situation, we have taken the precautionary measure to temporarily withdraw our UK staff from Iran,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Our embassy continues to operate remotely,” it added.

On the eighth day of the war between Iran and Israel, the British ministry said it continued to call for de-escalation between the two sides.

But the statement added: “We take the protection of our staff and British nationals extremely seriously and we have long advised against all travel to Iran.”

Earlier Friday, Australia also shuttered its Tehran embassy and ordered officials to leave the country, Sydney said, citing a “deteriorating security situation”.

Both countries join a string of nations closing diplomatic missions in Iran since Israel launched air strikes a week ago, claiming its arch enemy was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.

Australia has directed all its officials and their dependents to leave Iran, and suspended its Tehran embassy operations, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a news conference in Adelaide.

“This is not a decision taken lightly. It is a decision based on the deteriorating security environment in Iran,” she said.

Wong said there were about 2,000 Australians and family members registered in Iran who wanted to depart, and another 1,200 in Israel.

Other nations that have suspended Tehran embassy operations include Bulgaria, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Portugal, and Switzerland.

Switzerland said it was temporarily closing its diplomatic mission in the Iranian capital, but would continue to fulfil is role in representing US interests in Iran.

“In view of the intensity of military operations in Iran and the highly unstable situation on the ground, the FDFA has decided to temporarily close the Swiss embassy in Tehran,” the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said.

European powers meanwhile met with Iranian officials in Geneva on Friday, and hoped to offer “a diplomatic solution”, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said “a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution”, while agreeing with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon”.

AFP