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Moscow — Iran's president committed his country to deeper ties with Russia to counter Western sanctions on Tuesday, state media reported, amid U.S. worries that Tehran is supplying Moscow missiles to hit Ukraine. Russia's top security official Sergei Shoigu arrived in the Iranian capital days after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang. More than two and a half years into its conflict with Ukraine, Moscow has been seeking to develop ties with the two nations, both hostile to the United States. "My government will seriously follow ongoing cooperation and measures to upgrade the level of relations between the two countries," the state IRNA news agency quoted Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian as telling Shoigu, Secretary of Russia's Security Council. "Relations between Tehran and Moscow will develop in a permanent, continuous and lasting way. Deepening and strengthening relations and cooperation between Iran and Russia will reduce the impact of sanctions.” The United States views Moscow's growing relationships with Pyongyang and Tehran with concern and says both are supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in the conflict in Ukraine. Iran has denied sending ballistic missiles to Russia. Moscow has said only that Iran is Russia's partner in all possible areas. Shoigu's trips are taking place at a crucial moment in the war, as Kyiv presses the United States and its allies to let it use Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike targets such as airfields deep inside Russian territory. President Vladimir Putin said last week that Western countries would be fighting Russia directly if they gave the green light, and that Moscow would respond. The Nour news agency, affiliated to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Shoigu met his Iranian opposite number, Ali Akbar Ahmadian. There was no immediate information on the outcome of the meeting. Russia has repeatedly said it is close to signing a major agreement with Iran to seal a strategic partnership between the two countries. Shoigu was Russian defense minister until May, when he was appointed secretary of the Security Council that brings together President Vladimir Putin's military and intelligence chiefs and other senior officials. Apart from meeting North Korea's Kim last week, he also held talks in St. Petersburg with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Washington — More than 50 Burmese Americans gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, protesting China's alleged interference in Myanmar's internal affairs. The protest on Saturday, part of a global campaign, called on China to withdraw its support for Myanmar's military junta and respect the will of the people, who have been fighting for democracy since the February 2021 coup. The protest — with demonstrators waving banners that read "Reject Junta's Sham Elections" and "Solidarity With the People of Myanmar" — was sparked by a statement released earlier Saturday by the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, saying that China was not interfering in the country's affairs and would continue to promote peace and stability. "We reject the Chinese Embassy's statement that they're not interfering in Myanmar's internal matters," said Yin Aye, a protest leader who has been organizing demonstrations in the Washington area since the 2021 coup. "If they would stop supporting sham elections and truly pressure the military to stop causing so much pain to our people, we might believe them." Yin Aye referred to China's close ties with Myanmar's military junta and its alleged interference in the operations of ethnic resistance forces in northern Shan State, actions that have drawn widespread criticism from Burmese and pro-democracy groups. On August 29, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, an armed ethnic group fighting against the junta in northeastern Myanmar, said it had received a letter from Chinese authorities in the border town of Ruili warning the group to halt its offensive in northern Shan State, where key Belt and Road Initiative projects are located, or face consequences. Hla Kyaw Zaw, a veteran observer of China-Myanmar relations, said China's recent actions, particularly its warning to the TNLA, have sparked outrage among the Myanmar public, who view it as a direct threat to ethnic resistance forces fighting for democracy. "The language used in the letter was undiplomatic and threatening," Hla Kyaw Zaw told VOA’s Burmese Service. A spokesperson for the TNLA told VOA that Chinese authorities had warned the group in the letter to stop fighting, maintain stability along the China-Myanmar border and protect Chinese citizens. The letter warned that failure to comply would result in China "teaching them a lesson" and holding the group responsible for any consequences. When asked about the letter at a regular press briefing in late August, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jian did not confirm or deny Beijing had sent the letter. “China is closely following the situation in Myanmar and the developments of the conflict in northern Myanmar and has been working to promote peacetalks and ceasefire,” spokesperson Liu Jian said. “As Myanmar’s biggest neighboring country, China has all along sincerely hoped that Myanmar will achieve stability and development and has worked actively to this end.” Since then, members of the Myanmar diaspora have intensified protests outside Chinese embassies worldwide, accusing China of supporting Myanmar's military coup. Protests worldwide Saturday's protest in Washington was part of a series of coordinated demonstrations by Burmese diaspora communities worldwide. In July, activists in Washington, New York, San Francisco, London and Tokyo protested outside Chinese embassies and consulates. In the July protest in Washington, protesters attempted to hand deliver an open letter to Chinese authorities, urging Beijing to halt its support for Myanmar's military junta. However, the letter went unanswered. "When we handed the letter to the Chinese embassy here in D.C., they refused to accept it. They didn't even acknowledge our demands," said Yin Aye. Activists were instructed to send the letter by post, but previous attempts to mail similar letters to the Chinese Embassy were returned undelivered. Despite the lack of formal response, Myanmar activists say the Chinese Embassy in Washington has been monitoring their protest activities in recent weeks. "Now, we see them videotaping our protests," Yin Aye said. Voice of America reached out to the Chinese embassies in Washington and Yangon for comment about the protests but did not receive a response by the time of publication. War crimes allegations The Myanmar diaspora argues that China's support for Myanmar's military is not only undermining the will of the people but also enabling war crimes, including aerial bombardments and the targeting of internally displaced persons. Minmin Berwald, an activist of Myanmar descent, was compelled to participate in the protest on Saturday. "I want to ask China to immediately stop supporting this military regime and interfering in Burma's internal affairs," Berwald said. "It's not just homes being set on fire. Internally displaced people who have fled war are being bombarded." China's contradictory stance China has maintained a complex position toward Myanmar since the February 2021 coup, balancing its own interests with regional stability, Hla Kyaw Zaw said. She noted that China has sent high officials to Myanmar, called for peace in the country and sponsored mediating talks between the junta and the armed ethnic groups. After the coup, however, China's official Xinhua news agency described the military's takeover and replacement of elected ministers as a "major cabinet reshuffle," avoiding the use of the term "coup." Beijing called for all parties in Myanmar to "resolve their differences" and refrained from condemning the military. In 2022, China also abstained from voting on U.N. Security Council Resolution 2669, which called for an end to violence in Myanmar. However, critics argue that China's actions on the ground suggest deeper involvement. A veteran China-Myanmar affairs expert in Yangon, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said China's statements often appear contradictory. "It's clear that China wants to control the situation to its advantage," the expert said, referring to China's public calls for peace while its actions suggest otherwise. China, for its part, has denied interfering in Myanmar's internal affairs on multiple occasions. In its statement Saturday, the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar reiterated its position of noninterference and called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The embassy also condemned what it called "unjustified accusations" from individuals and media. The fight continues Protesters also called for China to take a more active role in cutting off support to Myanmar's junta, including halting the supply of jet fuel used in airstrikes against civilians. Amnesty International has documented multiple cases of the Myanmar military using airpower to target civilian areas, and activists argue that China's continued engagement with the junta implicates them in these atrocities. For now, the protesters have vowed to keep returning to the Chinese Embassy in Washington. "We will continue to protest, continue to speak out," said Yin Aye.

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Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe's government has given in to pressure from rights groups and is now providing free treatment to women with obstetric fistula, a condition that makes it hard for mothers who went through difficult labor to control their bowels. For a closer look, VOA visited Chinhoyi, a farming and mining area about 150 kilometers west of Harare, where early marriages are common, and where the treatment is being offered. Among the first beneficiaries of the treatment were young women at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital after government gynecologists had performed surgery to address their cases of obstetric fistula. Twenty-three-year old Chiedza, not her real name as she requested that VOA protect her identity, was visibly happy as she had not been able to control her bowels since giving birth to her son seven years ago. “When I gave birth I tore my private parts, so I couldn’t hold my feces,” she said. “It would just come out on its own. I would just feel something on my body flowing. I stayed like that because I did not have money to seek services of gynecologists to correct my condition. So, when I heard about this free service on a WhatsApp group for women, I called a toll-free number which was there and I came here. So I am now going to live a comfortable life. I can now perform even house chores comfortably.” Another woman who asked to be called Tendai ruptured her bladder after protracted labor at home while giving birth at the age of 16. “I would share nappies with my baby so as to block my smell from others,” she said. “At one time I almost committed suicide because people kept on laughing at my condition. I thought I had been bewitched till I came here and saw that there are some people in my condition. I am grateful for this procedure for it has given me hope.” The World Health Organization estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 women experience obstetric fistula every year and that about 2 million women in sub-Saharan Africa are living with the condition.   Dr. Stanley Ngwaru, a senior gynecologist in Zimbabwe’s ministry of health, says the condition is an abnormal communication between the woman's genital tract and the urinary tract or the rectum. “They suffer shame and they suffer social segregation,” he said. “It's very common in young women, because the genital tract is not well developed and when they go into labor, they are more likely to suffer from obstruction and this can lead to these communications are developing between the genital tract and the unit tract and the rectum.” Lucia Masuka, head of Amnesty International in Zimbabwe, says she commends the government for offering the free service. However, she believes authorities needs to develop a strategy to help prevent this condition from afflicting young women in the first place. “If we therefore facilitate access to sexual reproductive health services for this group, it will reduce instances of early pregnancies, and in turn, reduce cases of obstetrics fistula,” she said. “Whilst treatment is a positive development, it's akin to trying to mop water from an open tap; you will never really be able to mop that water as long as the tap is open.” Amnesty International in Zimbabwe last year pleaded with parliament to push the government to make obstetric fistula treatment a national issue after its research had revealed that the condition was rampant among young women in Zimbabwe and was not getting enough attention.

Washington — Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. Congress has appropriated $174 billion, including U.S. weapons and materiel, to respond to the crisis and help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s aggression. U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch calls the oversight of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine his office’s “job one,” with more than 200 people assigned to that task. In an interview with Voice of America’s Ukrainian Service, Storch discussed the challenges in obtaining the information necessary for such oversight in a country that is fighting a war, suffers from endemic corruption and has no large-scale U.S. military presence. According to the most recent quarterly Special Inspector General report to the U.S. Congress on Operation Atlantic Resolve (the name of the U.S. military response to Russian operations in Ukraine), issued in mid-August, there were 57 open investigations as of June 30, 2024. They involved “grant and procurement fraud, corruption, theft, program irregularities, and diversion and counter-proliferation of technology of weapons systems components.” In January, Ukraine’s SBU security service reported that it had uncovered a $40 million corruption scheme, implicating defense ministry officials and arms supplier managers, that involved the embezzlement of funds for purchase of 100,000 mortar shells. That case did not involve U.S.-provided materiel. However, in September 2023, Oleksii Reznikov was removed as Ukraine’s defense minister “over various corruption cases despite enjoying a solid reputation in representing Ukraine in its discussions with Western allies,” Reuters reported. Storch told VOA that the Pentagon is working with Ukraine’s military to ensure that it provides timely and accurate information, and with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government to fight corruption. He said that in the days immediately following Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s armed forces were delinquent in providing information, but that the situation has improved, in part thanks to oversight. While corruption remains endemic in Ukraine, Storch said that Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions are maturing and that the oversight community is working to ensure that such progress continues. The following has been edited for length and clarity. VOA: You are overseeing numerous Pentagon programs. How robust is oversight of the delivery of weapons to Ukraine? Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Defense Robert Storch: We are leading a robust, comprehensive oversight effort that really covers all aspects of U.S. assistance to Ukraine. I have responsibility over the security assistance that's provided, and we partner very closely, hand-in-glove, with our great colleagues from the State Department Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General to make sure we're covering all aspects of humanitarian or other assistance that's being provided to Ukraine. VOA: How large is your team that is overseeing the Ukrainian program? Storch: We have a lot of things pulling at us and lots going on in the world with the Department of Defense. But Ukraine is very much job one. I always say it's really a matter of the highest priority for my office and for my colleagues’ offices as well. So, in the case of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, we have over 200 people who are engaged in one aspect or another of oversight over U.S. security assistance to Ukraine. That includes about 30 people who were forward deployed in the region. We have several offices in Germany. We have folks in Poland. And we have both investigators and programmatic oversight personnel at the [U.S.] Embassy in Kyiv. If you take all of our partners from State and AID in oversight entities, it is between 300 and 400 people who are engaged in oversight in this whole-of-government effort. VOA: When you talk to Ukrainian officials, do they appreciate the importance of reporting? Storch: Without exception, they acknowledge the importance of making sure that we get the information we need to be able to do our oversight to make sure there's accountability, and frankly to be able to tell the decision-makers here in Washington that that's going on. … I go up to the Hill [Capitol Hill, location of the U.S. Congress] not infrequently. And you know, I'm not a policymaker. It's up to the administration and the Congress to set what the policies are. But one of the things I get asked all the time is, ‘Are we getting the information we need to carry out our work?’ and we have been getting that, and we're going to work to make sure we continue to.   VOA: The Pentagon transfers materiel to the Ukrainian armed forces. Do they understand the importance of oversight, and do they provide timely self-reporting? Storch: We work really closely to make sure that's the case. That's one of the big lines of effort with regard to our oversight. We've done a number of reports looking at the monitoring and the reporting. There are obligations that the Ukrainian armed forces have for reporting on the status of the equipment, and U.S. personnel keep track and there's a database. When things are lost or destroyed, they have to be reported in a certain way. … [T]hat's one area where I like to think that our oversight has really made a difference. When we first started on that, the level of delinquency in that reporting was really pretty high, and some of that was because, when the war started, the U.S. personnel had to leave the country. There was equipment being provided and really no one doing that sort of accountability and inventory. So, a lot of it has been playing catch-up. And … there are challenges with a wartime setting and a lot of this equipment is being used on the front lines and [in] really difficult and sad situations. And so being able to maintain accountability is difficult, but we do a lot of work on that. VOA: In one of your reports, you mentioned endemic corruption in Ukraine. You worked in Ukraine in 2007 to 2009 to help the country overcome corruption. Can you compare the situation in Ukraine now to what you saw back then? Storch: I actually had the opportunity to work and live in Ukraine back in 2007 to 2009, when I was with the Department of Justice working with the Ukrainians to help them develop measures to address official corruption. And I had the opportunity to go back on a number of occasions and provide assistance in the drafting of the anti-corruption legislation, and that created the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Office of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, so I have had a lot of experience out there and have seen the way these institutions have matured. The Ukrainians made it happen ... But Ukraine has had long-standing issues with corruption, obviously, and people are working to address it. One of the things we talk about in our quarterly reporting … is that they're continuing to make efforts to address it, and we continue as the United States both to provide assistance in that, and then, in the oversight community, to do oversight over that to make sure that progress is being made. VOA: Your report mentions that there are 57 investigations ongoing into allegations ranging from irregularities in procurement to corruption, diversion and theft. Have any of those allegations been substantiated? Storch: At this point, based on our completed work, we haven't substantiated those allegations, but obviously the investigations continue, right? VOA: About half of the allegations involve the proliferation of weapons. How high is the risk of diversion? Storch: Sure, there's a significant risk there, but we always want to make sure we're doing everything we can to address it, and that's why I mention the programmatic oversight. We have a website [with] links to the hotlines that my office and our counterparts operate. I really encourage folks to take advantage of that to report that information. So, people can look into it. VOA: There is reporting that the Pentagon overestimated the value of some of the U.S. equipment destined for Ukraine. Do you think this accounting error will persist or is it being corrected? Storch: We're doing everything we can to help the [Defense] Department to address it. We became concerned about that pretty early on and consulted with the department about it and, without getting too complex, basically the department was using a methodology to value the materiel that was being provided that resulted in an overvaluation of it. If you were donating your car, you probably wouldn't be able to donate the cost of buying a new car like that, right? It's a little more complicated than that, but basically it resulted in an overvaluation. Initially the Department looking into it found about $6.2 billion that they thought was overstated. We came in and did additional oversight, which is reflected in our reporting, and found about $1.9 billion additionally. So, the answer to your question is we made recommendations to help the Department address the issues, and we're going to keep working to make sure those recommendations are carried out and the problems addressed.

With the U.S. presidential election less than two months away, an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump is raising concerns of more political violence. Amid the tensions, American foreign adversaries are stepping up influence campaigns to impact the outcome. Israel says it is considering a wider military operation in Lebanon aimed at halting Hezbollah attacks, despite calls to prioritize a cease fire and hostage release deal. Millions of hectares of Brazil’s forest and land destroyed by wildfires this year could have further global warming implications.

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A small town in the Midwestern state of Ohio finds itself at the center of a controversy involving fake news about migrants eating residents’ pet cats and dogs. VOA’s Creole Service traveled to Springfield and has this report, narrated by Elizabeth Cherneff.

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new york — A U.S. court on Tuesday upheld disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction on sex trafficking charges for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein abuse underage girls. Maxwell's lawyers had argued that her convictions violated an agreement Epstein reached with federal prosecutors 15 years ago and violated the statute of limitations. They also cited judicial error and a miscalculation of the federal sentencing guidelines range as reason to reject her conviction and sentence. But the ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said Epstein's non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida didn't bar federal prosecutors in New York from bringing a case. They also found that Maxwell's indictment was within the statute of limitations. Maxwell, 62, was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to Epstein so he could molest them, between 1994 and 2004. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022. Epstein sexually abused children hundreds of times over more than a decade, exploiting vulnerable girls as young as 14. Prosecutors said Maxwell, his longtime companion, helped him and made the abuse possible. He killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial. Epstein and Maxwell's associations with royals, presidents and billionaires were not a prominent part of her trial but mentions of friends such as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump showed how the pair exploited their connections to impress their prey. The trial revolved around allegations from only a handful of Epstein's accusers. Four testified that they were abused in the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein's mansions in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands. Maxwell is serving her sentence at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

BEIRUT — Dozens of people were wounded in Beirut's suburbs and other parts of Lebanon after their handheld pagers exploded Tuesday, Lebanese state media and security officials said.  A senior military intelligence official and an official with a Lebanese group with knowledge of the situation, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that pagers carried by Hezbollah members were detonated. The second official said it was believed to be an Israeli attack.  The state-run National News Agency reported that in Beirut's southern suburbs and other areas "the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology, and dozens of injuries were reported." It wasn't immediately clear if people were killed.  A Hezbollah official said that at least 150 people, including members of the group, were wounded in different parts of Lebanon when the pagers they were carrying exploded. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the explosions were the result of "a security operation that targeted the devices."  "The enemy (Israel) stands behind this security incident," the official said, without elaborating. He added that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying had lithium batteries that apparently exploded. Lithium batteries, when overheated, can smoke, melt and even catch on fire.  The Associated Press reached out to the Israeli military and they declined to comment.  The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing near-daily for more than 11 months against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.  The clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.  Photos and videos from Beirut's southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.  Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group's members not to carry cellphones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.

American women are poised to play an important role in deciding the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In recent years, women have registered to vote and cast votes at higher rates than men, and in the 2020 election, female voters outnumbered male voters by several million. Although women are not a monolithic voting bloc, the trends favor one major party over the other, as Dora Mekouar reports.

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London — Meta said it's banning Russia state media organization from its social media platforms, alleging that the outlets used deceptive tactics to amplify Moscow's propaganda. The announcement drew a rebuke from the Kremlin on Tuesday.  The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said late Monday that it will roll out the ban over the next few days in an escalation of its efforts to counter Russia's covert influence operations.  "After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets: Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity," Meta said in a prepared statement.  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lashed out, saying that "such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable," and that "Meta with these actions are discrediting themselves."  "We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. And this, of course, complicates the prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta," Peskov told reporters during his daily conference call.  RT was formerly known as Russia Today. Rossiya Segodnya is the parent company behind state news agency RIA Novosti and news brands like Sputnik.  "It's cute how there's a competition in the West — who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better," RT said in a release.  Rossiya Segodnya did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.  Meta's actions comes days after the United States announced new sanctions on RT, accusing the Kremlin news outlet of being a key part of Russia's war machine and its efforts to undermine its democratic adversaries.  U.S. officials alleged last week that RT was working hand-in-hand with the Russian military and running fundraising campaigns to pay for sniper rifles, body armor and other equipment for soldiers fighting in Ukraine. They also said RT websites masqueraded as legitimate news sites but were used to spread disinformation and propaganda in Europe, Africa, South America and elsewhere.  Earlier this month, the Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two RT employees of covertly providing millions of dollars in funding to a Tennessee-based content creation company to publish English-language social media videos pushing pro-Kremlin messages.  Moscow has rejected the allegations.  Meta had already taken steps to limit Moscow's online reach. Since 2020 it has been labeling posts and content from state media. Two years later, it blocked state media from running ads and putting their content lower in people's feeds, and the company, along with other other social media sites like YouTube and TikTok, blocked RT's channels for European users. Also in 2022 Meta also took down a sprawling Russia-based disinformation network spreading Kremlin talking points about the invasion of Ukraine.  Meta and Facebook "already blocked RT in Europe two years ago, now they're censoring information flow to the rest of the world," RT said in its statement.  Moscow has fought back, designating Meta as an extremist group in March 2022, shortly after sending troops into Ukraine, and blocking Facebook and Instagram. Both platforms — as well as Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter, which is also blocked — were popular with Russians before the invasion and the subsequent crackdown on independent media and other forms of critical speech. The social media platforms are now only accessible through virtual private networks. 

AVIGNON, France — A 71-year-old French man acknowledged in court on Tuesday that over nearly a decade, he was drugging his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her, as well as raping her himself. He pleaded with her and their three children for forgiveness. "Today I maintain that, along with the other men here, I am a rapist," Dominique Pelicot told the court. "They knew everything. They can't say otherwise." Pelicot's testimony is the most important moment so far in a trial that has shocked and gripped France and raised awareness about sexual violence. Many also hope his testimony will shed some light — to try to understand the unthinkable. While he previously confessed to investigators, the court testimony will be crucial for the panel of judges to decide on the fate of some 50 other men standing trial alongside him. Many deny having raped Gisele Pelicot, saying they were manipulated by her then-husband or claiming they believed she was consenting. Gisele Pelicot has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France for agreeing to waive her anonymity in the case, letting the trial be public and appearing openly in front of the media. She is expected to speak in court after her ex-husband's testimony on Tuesday. Under French law, the proceedings inside the courtroom cannot be filmed or photographed. Dominique Pelicot is brought to the court through a special entrance inaccessible for the media, because he and some other defendants are being held in custody during the trial. Defendants who are not in custody come to the trial wearing surgical masks or hoods to avoid having their faces filmed or photographed. After days of uncertainty due to his medical state, Dominique Pelicot appeared in court Tuesday and told judges he acknowledged all the charges against him. His much-awaited testimony was delayed by days after he fell ill, suffering from a kidney stone and urinary infection, his lawyers said. Seated in a wheelchair, Pelicot spoke to the court for an hour, from his early life to years of abuse against his now ex-wife. Expressing remorse, his voice trembling and at times barely audible, he sought to explain events that he said scarred his childhood and planted the seed of vice in him. "One is not born a pervert; one becomes a pervert," Pelicot told judges, after recounting, sometimes in tears, being raped by a male nurse in a hospital when he was 9 years old and then being forced to take part in a gang rape at age 14. Pelicot also spoke of the trauma endured when his parents took a young girl in the family, and witnessing his father's inappropriate behavior toward her. "My father used to do the same thing with the little girl,'' he said. "After my father's death, my brother said that men used to come to our house." At 14, he said, he asked his mother if he could leave the house, but "she didn't let me." "I don't really want to talk about this, I am just ashamed of my father. In the end, I didn't do any better,” he said. Asked about his feelings toward his wife, Pelicot said she did not deserve what he did. "From my youth, I remember only shocks and traumas, forgotten partly thanks to her. She did not deserve this, I acknowledge it," he said in tears. At that moment, Gisele Pelicot, standing across the room, facing him across a group of dozens of defendants sitting in between them, put her sunglasses back on. Later, Dominique Pelicot said, "I was crazy about her. She replaced everything. I ruined everything." A security agent caught Pelicot in 2020 filming videos under women's skirts in a supermarket, according to court documents. Police searched Pelicot's house and electronic devices and found thousands of photos and videos of men engaging in sexual acts with Gisele Pelicot while she appears to lie unconscious on their bed. With the recordings, police were able to track down a majority of the 72 suspects they were seeking. Gisele Pelicot and her husband of 50 years had three children. When they retired, the couple left the Paris region to move into a house in Mazan, a small town in Provence. When police officers called her in for questioning in late 2020, she initially told them her husband was "a great guy," according to legal documents. They then showed her some photos. She left her husband, and they are now divorced. He faces 20 years in prison if convicted. Besides Pelicot, 50 other men, ages 26 to 74, are standing trial.

NEW YORK — Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has been hit with three federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.   Combs, 54, was arrested in Manhattan by federal agents on Monday night, following a year in which his career was derailed by several lawsuits accusing him of physical and sexual abuse.  Marc Agnifilo, Combs' lawyer, said he was disappointed with the decision to pursue an "unjust prosecution" of the rapper and producer.  "Sean 'Diddy' Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community," Agnifilo said on Monday night. "He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal."  Agnifilo added that Combs voluntarily relocated to New York in anticipation of the charges.  Combs, who has also been known as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, was a major figure in hip-hop in the 1990s and 2000s. He founded the label Bad Boy records, and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars.  His reputation came under fire last November when former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape during their decade-long relationship. She agreed to an undisclosed settlement one day after suing, even as Combs denied her allegations.  His legal pressures mounted, and he has faced several civil lawsuits by women and men who accused him of sexual assault and other misconduct. His lawyers have been fighting those cases in court. Federal agents raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Florida six months ago.  Singer Dawn Richard, formerly of Danity Kane, last week accused Combs in a lawsuit of sexual assault, battery, sex trafficking, gender discrimination and fraud.  A Michigan judge this month ordered Combs to pay $100 million to Derrick Lee Smith, who said Combs drugged and sexually assaulted him at a party almost 30 years ago, after Combs failed to show up to defend himself in court. A lawyer for Combs said he would seek to dismiss that judgment.  Combs has also rejected claims in a February sex trafficking lawsuit by Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones, who Combs employed as a producer on his 2023 release "The Love Album: Off the Grid."  The indictment is not Combs' first brush with the law. He was acquitted in March 2001 of bribery and weapons charges in a criminal trial stemming from a nightclub shooting that left three people wounded.