Jean-Claude Arnault, the man at the centre of a sexual abuse and financial misconduct scandal that forced the postponement of this year’s Nobel prize in literature, has been convicted of rape. In a unanimous verdict, Stockholm district court sentenced Arnault – the husband of a member of the Swedish Academy, which awards the world’s most prestigious literary prize – to two years in prison, the minimum sentence.

The judge, Gudrun Antemar, said there was “sufficient evidence, consisting mainly of statements during the trial by the injured party and several witnesses”, to convict the defendant of one of the two counts of rape with which he had been charged. The verdict came at the start of Nobel prize week, shortly before the award for medicine was announced. Arnault’s lawyer, Björn Hurtig, earlier told local media his client would appeal if convicted. He has said his client strenuously denies all charges against him, describing them as a witch-hunt based on fundamentally flawed evidence.After a trial held behind closed doors, the public prosecutor, Christina Voigt, had called for the Frenchman to be sentenced to at least three years in jail. The maximum sentence for rape in Sweden is six years.Arnault, 72, an influential figure in Sweden’s cultural scene for many decades, faced charges of forcing a woman to engage in oral sex and intercourse in a Stockholm apartment on 5 October 2011, and of raping her again on 2 December in the same apartment while she was asleep.(theguardian)…[+]

The US and Canada have reached a deal on a “new, modernized trade agreement”, designed to replace the 1994 Nafta pact. In a joint statement on Sunday night, the two nations said the new deal would be called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). On Monday, Donald Trump greeted the “wonderful new trade deal” on Twitter.

“It is a great deal for all three countries,” the president wrote, “solves the many deficiencies and mistakes in Nafta, greatly opens markets to our farmers and manufacturers, reduces trade barriers to the US and will bring all three great nations together in competition with the rest of the world. The USMCA is a historic transaction!“Congratulations to Mexico and Canada!”The rejigged pact will substantially boost US access to Canada’s dairy market and protect Canada’s auto industry from possible US tariffs – a key Trump threat.

“It’s a good day for Canada,” the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, told reporters after a late-night cabinet meeting to discuss the agreement, which triggered a jump in global financial markets. Trump, who blamed Nafta for the exodus of manufacturing jobs to low-wage Mexico, had threatened to walk away from the deal unless major changes were made. But the president approved the “framework” deal with Canada just days after he criticised Trudeau and his negotiating team.(theguardian)…[+]

Groups of pro-independence Catalans have blocked roads, motorways and a high-speed rail line in the region to mark the first anniversary of its unilateral and illegal independence referendum. The activists, members of the grassroots, direct-action Committees for the Defence of the Republic, occupied streets in Barcelona and Lleida as well as the motorways to Madrid and France.

They also obstructed the train line between Figueres, Girona and Barcelona. Services were restored by 10am local time. In Girona, protesters stormed a government office, tearing down the Spanish flag and replacing it with the pro-independence estelada (starred) banner. Catalonia’s nationalist president, Quim Torra, made a symbolic visit to a polling station in the small town of Sant Julià de Ramis, where police prevented his predecessor Carles Puigdemont from voting last October. Torra told the protesters to keep up the pressure. “Everything began on 1 October and everything goes back to 1 October,” he said. “The lesson of 1 October and its values are what we need as we face the coming weeks and months.”(theguardian)…[+]

The homecoming of Brazil’s far-right presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro from hospital was upstaged this weekend by huge demonstrations as concerns over his authoritarian tendencies grew. Bolsonaro flew from São Paulo to his home in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, three weeks after being stabbed during campaigning, while tens of thousands of women filled the streets in cities across Brazil to protest against his extremist positions ahead of the 7 October election.

The G1 news site reported anti-Bolsonaro protests in all Brazil’s 27 states grew out of a Facebook group called Women United Against Bolsonaro which nearly 4 million people have joined. Pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations took place in 16 states, the site said. The piauí magazine website called the demonstrations “historic” and printed a photo of an enormous crowd in São Paulo which organisers claimed half a million attended, though police did not provide an estimate.

In Rio the huge crowds that filled the city centre were notable for their diversity – with women of all ages, many of whom had brought children, male and LGBT demonstrators, chanting “not him”, an anti-Bolsonaro hashtag that has become a campaign slogan shared by celebrities like Madonna.(theguardian)…[+]

In a meandering hour-long speech in West Virginia, Donald Trump said he “fell in love” with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, while escalating his rhetoric about the supreme court confirmation fight of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Speaking about his relationship with Kim, Trump said “We fell in love.” He added “No really. He wrote me beautiful letters. They were great letters. And then we fell in love.” Trump and Kim met in Singapore this year as part of the president’s attempt to push the North Korean regime to disarm after earlier insulting Kim as “little rocket man”.

He opened his speech by celebrating his trip to the United Nations general assembly earlier this week. “I just left the United Nations, believe me they respect us now again,” said Trump despite the audible laughter when he addressed the body.He also accused Democrats of “throwing away every standard of decency” and using “meanness and nastiness” in their treatment of Kavanaugh. “They don’t care who they hurt, who they have to run over in order to get power and control and that’s what they want: power and control” said Trump on Saturday night.(theguardian)…[+]

Elon Musk is to step down as chair of Tesla for three years and pay a fine after reaching a deal with the US financial regulator over tweets he made about taking the firm into private ownership. Under the settlement Musk would remain as chief executive but must leave his other post within 45 days. Both he and the company will each pay a $20m (£15.3m) fine.

The entrepreneur has overseen two tumultuous months for the car company that battered Tesla’s share price and Musk’s reputation. Last Friday Tesla’s share price was down close to 14% as investors lost confidence.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a suit in New York accusing Musk of fraud last week, alleging that the tweets about financing for a go-private plan he abandoned just weeks later had no basis in fact, and said the market chaos that ensued hurt investors. In his tweet in August he said he was considering taking Tesla off the stock market and into private ownership and had “funding secured” for the proposal, which would value Tesla at $420 a share.

Under the terms of the deal, Musk would also have to comply with the company’s communications procedures when tweeting about the firm. The settlement reached on Saturday does not go as far as the regulator initially demanded when it said that Musk should be barred from running Tesla, a sanction that many investors said would be disastrous for the loss-making electric carmaker.(theguardian)…[+]

September 27, 2018, BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – For sixteen fashion designers and design trainers in Barbados, the dream of being global industry leaders is a little closer to becoming a reality. They recently completed a workshop led by international fashion consultant and creative director, Avis Charles. The event, which took place at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology, took the participants through the fundamentals of design, developing their unique selling point, and the business techniques needed to be successful in the fashion industry.

The workshop took place from September 10 to 24, and was part of a Train-the-Trainers Programme in Fashion Design and Business Management Project, funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and executed by the Barbados Investment Development Corporation (BIDC). In addition to learning how to create a cost and pricing system; better understand trends in fabrics, colours and shapes; and marketing and brand creation, participants were also asked to design and showcase an individual piece.

“What we wanted to be able to achieve at the end of this thing is individuality. So even though you have eight designers in a room, they all have their unique selling point, and know exactly how they are going to market,” said Charles. Participants agreed that the knowledge gained in the workshop was valuable. For fashion designer Rosita Hunte, the focus on the business aspect of the fashion industry was particularly useful.(CDB)…[+]

India’s supreme court has ruled against a ban on girls and women of menstruating age from entering a prominent Hindu temple in southern Kerala state, upholding rights to equality of worship. The authorities at the Sabarimala temple, which attracts tens of millions of pilgrims every year, have said the ban on women and girls aged from 10 to 50 was essential to the rites related to the temple’s chief deity, Ayyappan, who is considered eternally celibate, and were rooted in a centuries-old tradition.

In the supreme court judgment, the country’s chief justice, Dipak Misra, said: “Restrictions put by Sabarimala temple can’t be held as essential religious practice.

“No physiological and biological factor can be given legitimacy if it does not pass the test of conditionality.”Stating that society needs to undergo a perceptual shift, Misra said: “Patriarchy in religion cannot be permitted to trump over elements of pure devotion borne out of faith and the freedom to practise and profess one’s religion.”

The ruling is the latest in a series of landmark judgments by India’s top court this month, involving some of the most sensitive issues in Indian society.(theguardian)…[+]

Facebook Inc says it has discovered a security issue affecting almost 50 million accounts. The social media company said engineers discovered the incident took place last Friday, on 25 September, and an investigation is still in the early stages.

Facebook said attackers stole Facebook access tokens through its “view as” feature, which they could then use to take over people’s accounts. “View as” is a feature that allows users to see what their own profile looks like to someone else. “Since we’ve only just started our investigation, we have yet to determine whether these accounts were misused or any information accessed,” the company said in a blogpost. Facebook shares fell 3% to $163.78 in afternoon trading.(theguardian)…[+]

Northern Ireland faces blackouts and drastic electricity price rises in the event of a no-deal Brexit, leaked government documents reveal. The country would likely be cut off from electricity supplies from the Republic of Ireland and unable to use its sole electricity link to the UK mainland, according to an internal briefing.

Officials have been warning for months that Northern Ireland’s electricity market could collapse, triggering “unprecedented consequences” and forcing authorities to prepare to take energy infrastructure into public ownership to keep the lights on.

The government documents, shared widely across Whitehall and seen by the Guardian, show that in the event of a no-deal Brexit:

• Householders in Northern Ireland could see electricity bills rise by up to £200.

• Energy companies could collapse.

• Diesel generators would be needed to keep power supplies running.

• The UK government has not yet talked to power station operators in Northern Ireland.

For more than a decade, Ireland and Northern Ireland have had a joint electricity market, known as the Single Electricity Market (SEM), allowing power to be traded across the border.(theguardian)…[+]