Procès pour viol de l’avocat parisien Alex Ursulet: verdict attendu samedi

La cour criminelle de Paris doit rendre samedi son verdict dans l’affaire de l’avocat parisien Alex Ursulet, accusé de viol par une ancienne stagiaire à son cabinet en janvier 2018.Les réquisitions de l’avocat général sont attendues samedi matin, avant les plaidoiries des avocats de la défense et les derniers mots de l’accusé.”Ce que je dis depuis le premier jour, c’est que je suis innocent des faits qui me sont reprochés”, a répété vendredi cette figure bien connue du barreau de Paris, autrefois associé de Jacques Vergès, qui avait acquis une notoriété et connu un succès professionnel certain après avoir défendu le tueur en série Guy Georges.A la barre, Alex Ursulet martèle: “La vérité, c’est ce que je dis, c’est ce qui s’est passé”, c’est-à-dire, selon lui, rien, en tout cas rien de nature sexuelle, entre lui et cette stagiaire à l’époque âgée de 25 ans.Jeudi, la plaignante, depuis devenue avocate, avait pourtant raconté en détail une pénétration digitale vaginale, le 30 janvier 2018 en milieu d’après-midi, subie dans un état de “sidération”, alors que les deux se trouvaient seuls au cabinet. Un peu plus tôt, lors d’un déjeuner en tête-à-tête au restaurant, l’avocat l’avait déjà, selon elle, questionnée sur ses pratiques intimes.Alex Ursulet, qui comparaît pour viol aggravé, notamment en ce que les faits auraient été commis par “contrainte” et “surprise” par une personne abusant de l’autorité que lui confère sa fonction, encourt vingt ans de réclusion criminelle.Vendredi, lors d’un interrogatoire de près de cinq heures, qualifié de “laborieux” par l’avocat général, le mis en cause a formellement contesté cette chronologie accusatrice: après le déjeuner, il n’est pas rentré directement à son cabinet mais est allé prendre un café avec sa compagne, puis il a retrouvé un journaliste avec qui il avait rendez-vous.De telle sorte que, s’il s’est ensuite bel et bien retrouvé seul avec sa stagiaire dans son bureau, “ça a duré une minute, une minute et demie”.- “Explications incongrues” -Faute d’éléments matériels incontestables, la cour criminelle (compétente pour juger les crimes dont la peine encourue n’excède pas vingt ans, composée de cinq magistrats professionnels sans jurés populaires) a enchaîné depuis lundi les auditions de témoins. A l’appui de l’accusation, ces proches de la plaignante qui ont décrit son état de tristesse et désespoir les semaines qui ont suivi les faits allégués. La jeune femme avait par ailleurs mis fin à son stage dès le lendemain. D’autres anciens collaborateurs avaient encore fait part de la “toute puissance” d’Alex Ursulet.Au terme de son enquête, le juge d’instruction avait pour sa part décelé “une relation alternant proximité, réprimandes et compliments” entre la robe noire et sa stagiaire, corroborée par des messages plus ou moins équivoques – la défense n’y voit que du second degré.Pour Alex Ursulet et ses avocats, celle qui ne cachait pas son admiration pour son maître de stage a construit un récit a posteriori, “fâchée, furieuse” de ne pas avoir été conviée à une audience, peut-être d’ailleurs influencée par des adversaires de Me Ursulet qui auraient voulu “sa perte”.”Qui?”, l’a interrogé vendredi l’avocat général. Pas de réponse. Le représentant de l’accusation poursuit: “Vous pensez qu’une jeune stagiaire qui n’a pas été retenue pour vous accompagner à une audience aurait été capable de dire devant le Conseil de l’ordre, les enquêteurs, et aujourd’hui la juridiction criminelle” qu’elle a été faussement victime d’un viol, “en venant vous accabler sept ans après?”Pour l’une des trois avocates de la partie civile, Me Hedwige Mure, il existe “deux versions avec une scission très précise”: “D’une part, les incohérences, les contradictions, les explications incongrues, parfois même farfelues, d’une des parties”, “de l’autre la constance, la précision, la cohérence.””La constance doit triompher face aux contradictions”, a-t-elle exhorté.

Trump pulls support for key MAGA ally Marjorie Taylor Greene

US President Donald Trump said Friday he was pulling his endorsement for key ally Marjorie Taylor Greene after a string of disagreements, calling the hard-right lawmaker a “ranting lunatic.”It marks an extraordinary rift in Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement a year before US midterm elections, with Trump facing growing criticism on the cost of living and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. “I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of ‘Congresswoman’ Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network.”All I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!”Trump said he would be open to backing an opponent if Republicans in her state of Georgia decided to mount a primary challenge against Greene, saying people there were “fed up with her and her antics.””If the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support. She has gone Far Left,” Trump said.Trump has, largely successfully, supported primary challenges against Republicans he considers insufficiently loyal in the past.Greene responded quickly on X saying “I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump.” She asserted that Trump was attacking her as punishment — and as a warning to other Republicans — because she supports efforts for Congress to call on the administration to release the full Epstein probe files.The split comes at a delicate time for Trump, following heavy off-year election losses earlier this month that have caused Republican jitters a year away from the 2026 midterms.Firebrand Greene, 51, was until recently a diehard pro-Trump supporter — even wearing a “Trump Was Right About Everything” hat when he addressed Congress in March. She has since broken with him on a host of issues, and Trump expressed frustration with her for the first time on Monday, saying she had “lost her way.”The first signs came when she split with other Republicans over the summer when she called Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide.”Greene has also been critical on health care and particularly the cost of living crisis, telling Trump to focus on the “home front” instead of foreign policy and peace deals.Perhaps the most sensitive area of criticism has been Greene’s position on the Epstein scandal, which ensnared Trump again in recent days with the release of a new trove of emails.After becoming a leading voice calling for justice for victims of the notorious sex offender over the summer, Greene this week was one of a few MAGA rebels who backed a call by Democrats on a vote to push Trump to release files relating to the Epstein probe.”And of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next weeks vote to release the Epstein files,” Greene said in her X post Friday night.”It’s astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level,” she added.Greene’s sudden shift has prompted speculation that she is lining up for her own presidential bid in 2028, although she has dismissed it as “baseless gossip.” Famed for her scathing comments towards Democrats and journalists, Greene had previously made her name as a fierce defender of Trump’s policies.She also embraced QAnon conspiracy theories and in 2018 asserted that California wildfires were ignited by a space laser controlled by the Jewish Rothschild family.

Trump pulls support for key MAGA ally Marjorie Taylor Greene

US President Donald Trump said Friday he was pulling his endorsement for key ally Marjorie Taylor Greene after a string of disagreements, calling the hard-right lawmaker a “ranting lunatic.”It marks extraordinary rift in Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement a year before US mid-term elections, with Trump facing growing criticism on the cost of living and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. “I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of ‘Congresswoman’ Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network.”All I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!”Trump said he would be open to backing an opponent if Republicans in her state of Georgia decided to mount a primary challenge against Greene, saying people there were “fed up with her and her antics.””If the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support. She has gone Far Left,” Trump said.Trump has, largely successfully, supported primary challenges against Republicans he considers insufficiently loyal in the past.The split comes at a delicate time for Trump, following heavy off-year election losses earlier this month that have caused Republican jitters a year away from the 2026 midterms.Firebrand Greene, 51, was until recently a diehard pro-Trump supporter — even wearing a “Trump Was Right About Everything” hat when he addressed Congress in March. She has since broken with him on a host of issues, and Trump expressed frustration with her for the first time on Monday, saying she had “lost her way.”The first signs came when she split with other Republicans over the summer when she called Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide.”Greene has also been critical on health care and particularly the cost of living crisis, telling Trump to focus on the “home front” instead of foreign policy and peace deals.Perhaps the most sensitive area of criticism has been Greene’s position on the Epstein scandal, which ensnared Trump again in recent days with the release of a new trove of emails.After becoming a leading voice calling for justice for victims of the notorious sex offender over the summer, Greene this week was one of a few MAGA rebels who backed a call by Democrats on a vote to push Trump to release files relating to the Epstein probe.Greene’s sudden shift has prompted speculation that she is lining up for her own presidential bid in 2028, although she has dismissed it as “baseless gossip.” Famed for her scathing comments towards Democrats and journalists, Greene had previously made her name as a fierce defender of Trump’s policies.She also embraced QAnon conspiracy theories and in 2018 asserted that California wildfires were ignited by a space laser controlled by the Jewish Rothschild family.

Purdue Pharma to be dissolved as US judge says to approve bankruptcy

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, blamed for helping to fuel a deadly opioid crisis, said Friday that a US bankruptcy judge will sign off on a deal to settle thousands of lawsuits against the company, which will cease to exist.Purdue and other opioid makers and distributors were accused of encouraging free-wheeling prescription of their products through aggressive marketing tactics while hiding how addictive the drugs are.Earlier this year, several US states reached a $7.4 billion settlement with the Sackler family and Purdue, the company they owned for decades, that will see funds routed to affected communities and individuals.Federal judge Sean Lane said in a New York court that he would sign off on the company Chapter 11 plan, with a formal ruling expected at a hearing on Tuesday.”Today cements the end of a long chapter, and brings us very near to the end of the book for Purdue,” board chairman Steve Miller said in a statement. “Soon, Purdue will cease to exist.””We will now commence the process of satisfying all outstanding requirements for Purdue to emerge from bankruptcy so that resources from the settlements can flow to communities across America as quickly as possible,” he said.The Sacklers will pay $6.5-7.0 billion while the company will pay $900 million. A separate fund of $865 million will be created to compensate victims.The remnants of Purdue will become Knoa Pharma, a company owned by a foundation, that will provide opioid use disorder treatments and overdose reversal medicines, “with no obligation to maximize profits,” the company said.For many people, opioid addiction begins with prescribed pain pills, such as OxyContin, before they increase their consumption and eventually turn to illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid.The Sacklers have consistently denied wrongdoing over the opioid crisis.The company statement says the family “have had no involvement in Purdue since the end of 2018,” while officials said the January settlement had ended the Sacklers’ control of Purdue Pharma.

Iran’s first woman orchestra conductor inspires

When Paniz Faryoussefi mounts the podium and reaches for her baton, she represents more than just the hope of a thrilling orchestral performance.The eyes turned towards her in Tehran’s renowned Vahdat Hall include those of many young women musicians inspired by her taking her place as Iran’s first woman philharmonic conductor.Women’s professional and cultural lives are still heavily restricted in the conservative Islamic republic, particularly in terms of public performance before mixed-gender audiences.Women, for example are not allowed to sing solo in front of men.But, as exemplified by 42-year-old Faryoussefi, they can now conduct an orchestra.”When I stepped onto the stage, I noticed that all eyes were on a woman conducting the orchestra, and I felt an immense responsibility,” she told AFP after the performance.- Close eye on dissent -Widespread street protests shook Iran for several months following the death in custody in 2022 of a young woman arrested for violating the country’s strict dress code for women.In the wake of the disturbances, the government has relaxed certain restrictions and young women have become more prominent in some areas of social and cultural life. And since a 12-day war with Israel earlier this year, Iranians have been pushing social boundaries further still.Analysts say the authorities have shown greater tolerance, while keeping as close an eye as ever for any signals of political dissent.Several women in the audience at the concert did not wear their scarves. The conductor wore hers, covering her hair as the law demands, but her arrival at the podium was in itself a sign of greater openness.    The crowd shared Faryoussefi’s enthusiasm, particularly the young women, who seemed aware that they were witnessing a historic moment.In some Iranian cities, women musicians are not allowed to perform on stage, and even in the capital Tehran they cannot raise their voices in song in public. Faryoussefi was born into an artistic family and her mother dreamed of her becoming a cheffe d’orchestre — but Iranian performing arts academies do not teach conducting.She briefly attended classes in Armenia before returning to build a trailblazing career. “Young women need to persevere and follow their dreams,” she said.At the podium, she led the 50-strong orchestra through works by Austria’s Franz Schubert, Finland’s Jean Sibelius and the Soviet-Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian.”I hope this marks a new era for young Iranian women and that they will understand that… they should not be afraid,” she said. “It is the only gateway to emancipation.”A friend saw a little girl in the audience mimicking my movements. He thought a dream was already taking root in her, that she was thinking she too could one day achieve the same thing.”The concerts took place over two days and attracted large crowds.Said Shourabi, 53, works in metal fabrication and wasn’t a big concertgoer until his daughter, who was out of town, bought him the tickets and insisted he go along.  “In Iran,” he said, “women have always been held back and haven’t been able to fully express their talents, even if I’m sure they’re just as capable as men.” Hairdresser Fariba Aghai, 44, was delighted to see a woman take up the baton at the orchestra, lamenting that women singers still can’t perform at concerts or publish their own songs.”They shouldn’t have to sell themselves short and should know that they’re capable of anything,” she said.

Trump demands probe into Epstein links to Bill Clinton

US President Donald Trump told law enforcement chiefs Friday to investigate links between Jeffrey Epstein and ex-president Bill Clinton, seeking to deflect growing questions about his own ties to the late alleged sex trafficker.Under mounting pressure from the release of a new trove of Epstein emails, Trump also demanded the Justice Department and FBI probe banking giant JPMorgan Chase and ex-Harvard president Larry Summers, who served as Clinton’s treasury secretary.The 79-year-old Republican accused Democrats of pushing the “Epstein hoax” after emails emerged in which the disgraced financier suggested Trump “knew about the girls” and spent hours with one of the victims at his house.”I know nothing about that. They would have announced that a long time ago,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Florida for the weekend.”Jeffrey Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years.” Questions about his long friendship with Epstein have dogged Trump since his return to the White House in January.Epstein died in prison in 2019 — by suicide, authorities ruled — before he could face trial on federal sex trafficking charges. But questions over his alleged masterminding of a sex ring where powerful men were provided with underaged girls have only mounted.Trump said on Truth Social that he would be “asking” Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI “to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions.””Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘Island.'”Bondi named senior New York prosecutor Jay Clayton to “take the lead” on Trump’s request.- ‘Damning information’ -The order for a probe comes even though the FBI and Justice Department said in a memo in July that they had not uncovered evidence that would justify an investigation of uncharged third parties.That memo also sparked a huge backlash in Trump’s MAGA movement after it said a “client list” Bondi claimed to have been reviewing did not in fact exist.Democratic former president Clinton has long faced scrutiny over his ties to Epstein and flew on his private plane, although he has never been accused of wrongdoing in the scandal, either.Epstein said that Clinton had “never ever” been to his notorious private island in the Caribbean, according to several emails in the latest trove dating from 2011 and viewed by AFP.Clinton spokesman Angel Urena said on X that the emails “prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing. The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else.”JPMorgan Chase — which in 2023 agreed to pay $290 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by victims of Epstein, its former client — rejected Trump’s claims.”The government had damning information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks,” it said in a statement to AFP.”We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts.”There was no immediate comment from Summers or Hoffman, the founder of professional networking app LinkedIn. – ‘No middle ground’ -Trump’s message and comments broke two days of silence over the scandal, which has overshadowed his victory lap after Democrats agreed to end the longest government shutdown in US history.The email traffic between Epstein and friends said Trump had spent “hours” with Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim and his main accuser.The White House said that Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, had cleared Trump of any wrongdoing and had declared that Trump “couldn’t have been friendlier.”Trump’s efforts to put a lid on the scandal have repeatedly failed, in part because there are photos and videos of him interacting with Epstein decades ago.Another problem is that Trump and some of his close allies had in the past promised his right-wing base they would seek the release of all the evidence against Epstein.The US House of Representatives is to vote as early as next week on a motion demanding that the White House release the files, after a rebellion by a handful of MAGA lawmakers provided sufficient votes.Surviving Epstein victims and the relatives of Giuffre sent US lawmakers a letter Friday urging the release of those files and saying: “There is no middle ground here. There is no hiding behind party affiliation.”Trump on Friday made clear he does not want the effort in Congress to proceed.”Don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!” he said on social media.

Rebooted Harlem museum celebrates rise of Black art

As the Studio Museum reopens this weekend in its gleaming new building, New York’s premier institution for Black art finds itself looking back and looking forward at the same time.Colorful signs featuring permanent works have sprouted near the museum’s home in Harlem, a center point in Black life and imagination in America for more than a century.The museum, closed for the more than seven-year project, has commissioned new works to commemorate the reboot, which features expanded studios for the institution’s artists-in-residence program.But the 57-year-old museum is also hearkening back to its roots with a retrospective of the late Tom Lloyd, whose electronically programmed wall sculptures anticipated today’s digital age.Some of the same pieces were hung in the museum’s inaugural 1968 show back when works by artists of African descent were mostly absent from New York’s leading museums.Today’s art scene is very different. Rashid Johnson, Amy Sherald and others are regularly showcased in shows at the Guggenheim, Whitney and other nameplate New York museums, which have also hosted retrospectives belatedly recognizing Black movements.”In the time of the museum’s life, we have seen this incredible trajectory and some of that is a result of the work that the museum did in its establishment and its early years,” said Studio Museum director Thelma Golden, who oversaw a more than $300 million drive to finance a teardown and newbuild project that cements the museum’s ties to Harlem.”The aperture opens, but even with that, we still believe deeply in the work that continues to need to be done.”- ‘Truly current work’ -The museum’s history is laid out in photos of the 1968 groundbreaking, and there are posters of jazz nights, “Uptown Friday” gatherings, high school programs and of shows such as a retrospective of James Van Der Zee, a famed photographer during the Harlem Renaissance.The founders’ ambitions included creating a place distinct from New York establishments like the Museum of Modern Art.The Studio Museum will present “truly current work,” founders wrote in 1966. The work “could turn out to be a flash in the pan or could conceivably begin an entire new school or new direction in art.”Backers also sought to redefine Harlem, “which is all too often equated with slums, violence and other evils,” and to deepen the commitment of supporters — some white — to “make New York City a united city rather than one which is currently divided by an invisible Berlin wall.”Key turning points included 1981, when the Studio Museum broke ground at its current address at 144 West 125th Street.Another shift came after Golden joined in 2000, when the mission statement was expanded beyond US-born creators to artists of African descent “locally, nationally and internationally.”- Signature works -That broadened scope is boldly expressed on the building’s exterior with a red, black and green flag by David Hammons inspired by the Pan-African flag of the 1920s associated with activist Marcus Garvey.Another signature work is Houston Conwill’s “The Joyful Mysteries,” containing statements by seven prominent Black Americans written for future generations. The time capsules will be opened in September 2034, 50 years after their creation.The new edifice itself nods to Harlem’s architectural vernacular, with a mass of geometries in gray concrete and glass. The building has received rapturous reviews, and this weekend offers the public a first look.Golden described the site as aiming to “redefine what a museum can be in its space and content.”She credited her predecessors, not all of whom lived to see Black art achieve mainstream acceptance.”I am well aware that they did not get to see the fruits of the labor,” Golden told AFP. “The inheritance I have from them is that they believed so deeply that that belief carries from ’68 to this moment.”