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)…[+]