Russell Brand convicted of rape and sexual assault in London

This is the evening edition of the One News Page Global Briefing, for Thursday, the fifth of November, twenty twenty-six. Here is what matters now.

A London jury has convicted comedian and actor Russell Brand, fifty-one, of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. Prosecutors said the reported cases spanned from one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine to two thousand and nine, over a five-year span of his showbusiness career, and described him as a ruthless, calculating and manipulative sexual predator. The judge said Brand faces a significant custodial term. Brand denied the charges and testified that, although he had once led a promiscuous life, he had never forced anyone to act against their will. He had pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault; the jury convicted him on one rape count and three sexual assault counts.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, thirty, has been sentenced to ten years in prison after pleading guilty in September to seeking foreign sanctions against Hong Kong and China under Beijing’s national security law. Wong rose to prominence during the twenty fourteen Umbrella Movement and has been in prison since twenty twenty, having already spent nearly six years behind bars. Britain and the United States condemned the sentence. The U K Foreign Office said it shows the city’s security law is being used to target individuals for political expression, calling the term cruel. In letters from prison published before sentencing, Wong expressed fear that people would forget Hong Kong.

In sport, Cristiano Ronaldo, forty-one, has announced his retirement from international football in a video message posted to social media. “To the Portuguese people, the day has come for me to hand back the No. seven shirt of our national team,” he said. The announcement follows a public spat with Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus over playing time, which reports linked to the decision.

In the United States, the midterm elections have left the Senate contest in deep-red Mississippi uncalled, where Democrat Scott Colom holds a razor-thin lead over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. Votes are still being counted, and Mississippi law does not provide for automatic or requested recounts. Republicans suffered broad losses, and the party’s blame game has focused on the war in Iran. Vice President J D Vance said the conflict was the reason for the defeats and challenged critics to argue that “losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it.” President Donald Trump also blamed the Iran war and said he would “do it again.” An A B C News voter poll found that thirty-four percent of voters said the war was crucial to their vote.

Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s defence ministry said it will seek parliamentary approval to extend the operations of its anti-piracy Cheonghae unit to waters about six hundred and fifty kilometres from the Strait of Hormuz, near Oman’s Duqm. The plan includes deploying a maritime patrol aircraft and an explosive-ordnance disposal team. Seoul said the move is intended to protect merchant ships and energy supplies from pirates who have ventured farther from the Somali coast, while keeping South Korean forces out of the ongoing U S-Iran war. The announcement follows pressure from Donald Trump for greater support for the war.

In Europe, an Aer Lingus Airbus A320 flying from Dublin to Rome was diverted to Évreux airbase in Normandy, France, after receiving a bomb threat, the French prime minister’s office said. The aircraft landed safely in the latest of several similar threats targeting flights across Europe in recent days.

At the United Nations, North Korea’s mission has told the European Union to “mind its own business” after the E U backed a draft U N resolution on human rights in the country. Pyongyang said the West does not have a monopoly on human rights. The U N High Commissioner for Human Rights said last year that rights conditions in North Korea had shown no improvement over the past decade and had worsened in many cases.

In economic news, the Bank of England raised its base interest rate from three point seven five percent to four percent, the first increase in more than three years, after eight members of its monetary policy committee voted for the move. The central bank warned that inflation would climb to about five percent next year, well above target, and signalled further tightening may follow as the Iran war continues to drive up energy costs.

In Poland, authorities have arrested six people suspected of spying for Russia and supplying its military. Four have been charged with espionage for allegedly sending information to Moscow, while two others are accused of shipping military components to Russia. The charges also include violations of regulations governing international trade in strategic goods and technologies.

In the Baltic region, a Finnish court has jailed the Russian captain and an Azerbaijani crew member of the freighter Fitburg for sabotaging undersea cables linking Helsinki and Tallinn. The captain received three years and six months, and the crew member two years and ten months. The vessel was seized last year over one of several incidents of damaged Baltic infrastructure since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In Washington, U S First Lady Melania Trump is scheduled to host Ukrainian and Russian officials, including human rights chiefs, at the White House on Thursday ahead of Abu Dhabi talks aimed at ending the Ukraine war. The meeting follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarding her a national honour on Wednesday for helping broker a partial ceasefire that allowed civilians to evacuate the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky.

That was the evening edition of the One News Page Global Briefing. Read the complete briefing and explore its supporting coverage at one news page dot com.