CBS’ Les Moonves quits after new sex misconduct charges
NEW YORK (AP) — CBS Chief Les Moonves resigned Sunday, just hours after six more women accused the veteran television executive of sexual misconduct.
The resignation is effective immediately, CBS said in a statement posted on its website Sunday night.
The New Yorker magazine reported the latest allegations included Moonves forcing women to perform oral sex and retaliating when advances were turned away. Moonves acknowledged relations with three of the women but said they were consensual, adding he had never used his position to hurt the careers of women.
The network didn’t address the allegations directly, but said Moonves will donate $20 million to one or more organizations that support the #MeToo movement and equality for women in the workplace.
“The donation, which will be made immediately, has been deducted from any severance benefits that may be due Moonves,” the statement said.
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Strengthening Hurricane Florence takes aim at US Southeast
A rapidly strengthening Hurricane Florence churned across the Atlantic on Sunday toward a possible direct hit on the U.S. Southeast late this week, triggering warnings to people up and down the coast to get their emergency kits ready, map out escape routes and fill sandbags.
Red flags flying on beaches warned swimmers to stay out of waters already roiled by the distant storm, and cruise ships and Navy vessels were set to be steered out of harm’s way. People rushed to buy bottled water, plywood and other supplies.
Florence crossed the 74 mph threshold from tropical storm to hurricane Sunday morning, and by evening its winds were up to 85 mph (140 kph) as the National Hurricane Center warned it was expected to become an extremely dangerous major hurricane by Monday and remain that way for days.
As of 5 p.m. EDT, Florence was centred about 720 miles (1,160 kilometres) southeast of Bermuda, moving west at 7 mph (11 kmh). Drawing energy from the warm water, it could be a fearsome Category 4 with winds of 130 mph (209 kph) or more by Tuesday, the Miami-based centre said.
Forecasters said it is too early to know the exact path the storm will take but warned that it could roll ashore in the Carolinas by Thursday.
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Pence: I’m confident no one on my staff wrote the NYT column
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice-President Mike Pence says he’s “100 per cent confident” that no one on his staff was involved with the anonymous New York Times column criticizing President Donald Trump’s leadership.
“I know them. I know their character,” Pence said in a taped interview aired Sunday by CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Some pundits had speculated that Pence could be the “senior administration official” who wrote the opinion piece because it included language Pence has been known to use, like the unusual word “lodestar.” The op-ed writer claimed to be part of a “resistance” movement within the Trump administration that was working quietly behind the scenes to thwart the president’s most dangerous impulses.
More than two dozen high-ranking administration officials have denied writing the column. And Pence said his staff has nothing to do with it.
“Let me be very clear. I’m 100 per cent confident that no one on the vice-president’s staff was involved in this anonymous editorial. I know my people,” Pence said on “Face the Nation.” ”They get up every day and are dedicated, just as much as I am, to advancing the president’s agenda and supporting everything … President Trump is doing for the people of this country.”
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Sweden’s ruling party hits election low as far right grows
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Voters handed Sweden’s ruling party its worst-ever election result Sunday and delivered a parallel lift to a far-right party with white supremacist roots, leaving the ideological outline of the Scandinavian country’s next government uncertain.
After a campaign dominated by debates over immigration, the centre-left Social Democratic Party emerged with the greatest share of the vote — 28.4 per cent as the count neared completion — yet looking at holding fewer parliament seats and having its mandate to govern questioned.
The potential for an immigration backlash to result in a big boost for the far-right Sweden Democrats inspired fear among many Swedes before the election. It received a little more than one in six votes, or 17.6 per cent. Its showing was not as strong as the one-in-five polls had predicted, but good for a third-place finish that had the party’s leader telling supporters, “We won.”
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who brought the Social Democrats to power in 2014, said he intended to remain in the job. The leader of the Moderates party that came in second, Ulf Kristersson, already had called on Lofven to resign and claimed the right to form Sweden’s next government.
Sounding sombre and firm, Lofven told his supporters the election presented “a situation that all responsible parties must deal with,” adding that “a party with roots in Nazism” would “never ever offer anything responsible, but hatred.”
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Texas officer arrested on manslaughter charge in man’s death
DALLAS (AP) — A white Dallas police officer was arrested Sunday on a manslaughter charge in the off-duty shooting of a black neighbour whose apartment she says she mistook for her own.
Officer Amber Guyger was booked into the Kaufman County Jail after being taken into custody, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a news release. The department said the investigation is ongoing and that no additional information was available.
A jail employee said Guyger was released on bond. Online records initially showed Guyger was in custody, but she later was not listed on the jail inmate roster.
Guyger fatally shot 26-year-old Botham Jean on Thursday at Jean’s apartment. Lawyers for Jean’s family had been calling for Guyger’s arrest, saying the fact that she had remained free days after the shooting showed she was receiving favourable treatment. They held a news conference Sunday night, shortly before the arrest was announced, making another plea for the officer to be taken into custody and saying their team had presented new evidence — a witness and video footage — to prosecutors. They didn’t provide details.
The family attorneys weren’t immediately available for comment after the arrest came.
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Doctors explore lifting barriers to living organ donation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Surgeons turned down Terra Goudge for the liver transplant that was her only shot at surviving a rare cancer. Her tumour was too advanced, they said — even though Goudge had a friend ready to donate, no matter those odds.
“I have a living donor — I’m not taking away from anyone. I’m trying to save my own life,” she pleaded. Finally, the Los Angeles woman found a hospital on the other side of the country that let the pair try.
People lucky enough to receive a kidney or part of a liver from a living donor not only cut years off their wait for a transplant, but those organs also tend to survive longer. Yet living donors make up a fraction of transplants, and their numbers have plateaued amid barriers that can block otherwise willing people from giving. Among them: varying hospital policies on who qualifies and the surprising financial costs that some donors bear.
Now researchers are exploring ways to lift those barriers and ease the nation’s organ shortage.
“We just want people to be given the chance to at least entertain this as a possibility,” said Dr. Abhinav Humar, transplant chief at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where Goudge ultimately received part of friend Amy Aleck’s liver.
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7 injured in Paris knife attack; terrorism not suspected
PARIS (AP) — Seven people were injured in a knife attack in central Paris late Sunday but police said that terrorism was not suspected.
Two British tourists were among those injured, broadcaster BFMTV and Le Parisien newspaper reported.
Authorities were trying to determine if the attacker, who was arrested, is among the seven injured. Le Parisien said the attacker is an Afghan national.
An overnight police press officer said the attack took place near a cinema in the 19th district of Paris. The officer had no information about the identities of the injured. The Paris prosecutors’ office is handling the investigation.
The reports said the man was armed with a knife and a metal bar, and first attacked three people outside the cinema.
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Djokovic wins US Open for 14th major, tying ‘idol’ Sampras
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Open final suddenly appeared to be slipping away from Novak Djokovic. He dropped three consecutive games. He was barking at himself, at his entourage, at a crowd vocally supporting his opponent, Juan Martin del Potro. He was, in short, out of sorts.
And then came Sunday’s pivotal game, a 20-minute, 22-point epic. Three times, del Potro was a point from breaking and earning the right to serve to make it a set apiece. Three times, Djokovic steeled himself. Eventually, he seized that game — and del Potro’s best chance to make a match of it.
A year after missing the U.S. Open because of an injured right elbow that would require surgery, Djokovic showed that he is unquestionably back at his best and back at the top of tennis. His returns and defence-to-offence skills as impeccable as ever, Djokovic collected his 14th Grand Slam title and second in a row by getting through every crucial moment for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over 2009 champion del Potro at Flushing Meadows.
“There was always part of me that imagined and believed and hoped that I can get back (to) the desired level of tennis very soon,” said Djokovic, whose operation was in February. “But at the same time, life showed me that it takes time for good things, it takes time to really build them, for things to fall into place, so you can centre yourself, balance yourself and thrive. The last two months have been terrific.”
This was Djokovic’s third championship in New York, along with those in 2011 and 2015. Add in the trophies he has earned at six Australian Opens, one French Open and four Wimbledons, most recently in July, and the 31-year-old Serb pulled even with Pete Sampras for the third-most majors among men, trailing only Roger Federer’s 20 and Rafael Nadal’s 17.
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Top 5 finalists chosen in Miss America pageant
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The top five contestants have been chosen in the Miss America pageant.
They are: Miss New York Nia Imani Franklin; Miss Louisiana Holli’ Conway; Miss Massachusetts Gabriela Taveras; Miss Florida Taylor Tyson and Miss Connecticut Bridget Oei.
The judges narrowed the field of 51 candidates during the pageant Sunday night from Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
It is the first Miss America competition in which there is no swimsuit competition, a change that has created a good deal of controversy and criticism of current Miss America leadership. Minutes before the nationally televised broadcast began, a comedian warming up the crowd mentioned that there would be no swimsuit competition this year, and was met with loud boos in the hall.
The swimsuits have been replaced by onstage interviews, which have generated attention-grabbing remarks from contestants regarding President Trump, and NFL player protests, among other topics.
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John Legend, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice now EGOT winners
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC’s live version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” won an Emmy Award on Sunday and that made three men extra happy — it meant star John Legend, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice joined the elite squad of EGOT winners.
The musical’s win for best live variety special united Legend, Lloyd Webber and Rice with Emmys to go along with their Tonys, Grammys and Oscars — the four biggest prizes in show business.
Lloyd Webber and Rice have already won Tonys (“Evita” and “Sunset Boulevard”), Grammys (“Cats,” ”Evita”) and an Oscar for “You Must Love Me” from “Evita.” Legend has won 10 Grammys and in 2015 he scored an Oscar for his song “Glory” from the movie “Selma.” Last year, he won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play as a co-producer of “Jitney.” Legend, who played Jesus in the concert version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” but won his Emmy as a co-producer of the show, is also gunning for an acting Emmy later this month.
Legend’s wife, Chrissy Teigen, posted of photo of all three men cradling their Emmys with the caption: “EGOT GOATS” — a reference to the term “greatest of all time.”
Two other songwriters were also one Emmy away from the EGOT on Sunday — Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose song “In the Market for a Miracle” appeared in “A Christmas Story Live!” They previously won an Oscar for “La La Land,” and a Tony and a Grammy for “Dear Evan Hansen.” But their bid for EGOT status was derailed when the Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics went to “Saturday Night Live” and their song “Come Back Barack” when Chance the Rapper was hosting.
