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Paris Saint-Germain footballer Achraf Hakimi, a key player in their Champions League-winning side last season, is to stand trial charged with raping a young woman, his lawyer and a French prosecutor told AFP Tuesday. In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in the Val-De-Marne region southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her.The 27-year-old Moroccan international, who played a pivotal role in Morocco becoming the first African and Arab side to reach the World Cup semi-finals when they made the last four in 2022, denies any wrongdoing.”Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” he wrote on X on Tuesday. “I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly.”Hakimi’s lawyer Fanny Colin said a trial had been ordered and the prosecutor in the Nanterre suburb of Paris confirmed it.”A trial has been ordered on the basis of an accusation that rests solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests, refused to allow her mobile phone to be examined, and refused to give the name of a key witness,” Colin said.The plaintiff said she met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram and went to his home in a taxi ordered by the player, a police source said at the time.She claimed that the player kissed her, touched her without her consent and then raped her.She said she managed to push him away and text a friend, who came to pick her up.PSG coach Luis Enrique, when asked about it at a Tuesday press conference ahead of the Champions League play-off second leg match with Monaco, said: “This matter is in the hands of the authorities.”Hakimi attended training, adorned by a neck warmer, and being the first choice right back would normally line up on Wednesday for the game.  – ‘Sound barrier’ -The plaintiff’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client was relieved to hear the case was going to court.She said the judiciary had been exemplary in handling the case.But its treatment in general showed “there are still areas where the #MeToo movement has not yet breached the sound barrier, chiefly in men’s football,” she added.Hakimi, born in Spain to Moroccan parents, his mother a cleaner and father a street vendor, came through the Real Madrid academy, making his senior debut for them in 2017.He played a part in their 2017/2018 Champions League campaign that ended with them lifting the trophy, although he was not in the team that beat Liverpool in the final.   He was also one of Morocco’s superstars during the Africa Cup of Nations, with the host team making it to the final where they lost in a chaotic climax to the tournament to Senegal. Hakimi joined PSG in 2021, after stints with Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan. 

Europe has wide “shortfalls” in its military capabilities which leave it “ill-prepared” as the war in Ukraine grinds on, a new report said Tuesday.With the new security strategy of US President Donald Trump’s administration forcing European countries to rethink defence policies, four years of war in Ukraine has spurred efforts to boost military capabilities, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in its annual report.The 2026 edition of the Military Balance report by the London-based institute notes that the United States is seeking to refocus its efforts on protecting its own territory.As a result, the US leader continues to push allies for “greater burden-sharing” in military spending, both in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region in response to China’s growing influence.- Military spending -In 2025, global military spending rose by 2.5 percent to $2.63 trillion, a slower pace than over the past five years.This was partly due to a drop in the US defence budget — a decline unlikely to last, with the Trump administration’s defence spending expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2026 for the first time.Part of that will notably fund America’s “Golden Dome” missile defence shield project, the IISS said.In contrast, military spending continued to grow at “record levels” in Europe, reaching $562.9 billion — up 12.6 percent in a year — driven by Germany.NATO countries, under pressure from America and facing an increased threat from Russia, have pledged to raise national defence budgets to 5.0 percent of GDP by 2035.But they could be constrained by their “limited fiscal headroom”, the IISS warned.- Ukraine war -The IISS report, published on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said it was difficult to imagine the war would end any time soon.”Western estimates of Russian personnel losses vary, but these may now total more than a million killed or wounded,” the report added.Despite that “Russia has been able to adapt, regenerate and maintain its capability”.Russia’s war in Ukraine has driven “rapid and continuous evolution in technologies — notably in the design and use of uninhabited systems and artificial intelligence — as well as in tactics and defence-production cycles,” according to the IISS.But any end to the conflict will depend on “decisions taken in foreign capitals” which will “play an important role in shaping the war’s trajectory”.This is especially “given both sides’ reliance on external support for materiel”.- NATO’s eastern flank -The IISS report highlighted NATO efforts to reinforce its eastern flank against a potential threat, pointing to drone incursions into Poland last September.”Unfortunately for European armed forces, (there) is a capability shortfall, leaving them ill-prepared for the kind of large scale attacks that Ukraine is facing,” it said.NATO chief Mark Rutte in June called for the alliance to hike its integrated air and missile defence by 400 percent.Calling it an “ambitious target”, the IISS concluded that “NATO has some way to go”.Moves to address these “deficiencies” were underway, including the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative, “which aims to close air-defence gaps with off-the-shelf procurement of systems”.The Baltic states and Poland have been joined by Finland in the Baltic Drone Wall programme announced in early 2025.And the same countries have announced they are withdrawing from a key treaty, in order to potentially renew their use of anti-personnel mines along their borders.- Iran weakened, China rises -Iran’s ambitions “have suffered major setbacks” since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel “and during the Twelve-Day War between Israel and Iran in June 2025,” the report stated.”It incurred significant damage to its nuclear and missile installations” during Israeli and US strikes in June 2025.This could lead it to seek closer cooperation with China and Russia to rebuild its capabilities, the IISS said.Iran’s traditional allies in the Middle East, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have also been weakened by Israeli military action.This raises “serious questions over whether Iran can sustain current levels of military spending — and indeed its stature in the balance of power in the region — while managing the economy and stemming civil unrest”.Meanwhile, China’s “defence budget outpaces the wider” Asia-Pacific region, accounting for some 44 percent of regional spending.A large military parade held on September 3 to mark 80 years since the end of World War II “sent both political and military-operational signals,” the institute said.For the first time it publicly confirmed Beijing’s “nuclear triad” of air, submarine and land capabilities.An anti-corruption purge in the army has also not deterred Beijing from increasing its number of incursions into Taiwan’s air defence zone.