Daily News Roundup

Wednesday, October 2

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has launched legal proceedings against a UK Sunday newspaper over what her husband, Prince Harry, referred to as a “ruthless campaign” against his wife.

Schillings law firm said the lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday, which is being paid for by the Royal couple was over the publication of a private letter

In an emotional statement, Prince Harry likened the treatment of his wife to that meted out to his mother, Princess Diana, saying Meghan had “become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences”.

“I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person,” he wrote.

“I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”

Schillings law firm said the lawsuit was over the publication of a private letter in a “campaign by this media group to publish false and deliberately derogatory stories” about the couple.

“We have issued proceedings to redress this breach of privacy, infringement of copyright and the aforementioned media agenda,” the law firm said.

In the opening of his statement, Harry spoke on behalf of himself and his wife, saying they regarded media freedom as “a cornerstone of democracy”.

“As a couple, we believe in media freedom and objective, truthful reporting.”

But he went on to say the contents of a private letter had been published in an “intentionally destructive” and “manipulative” manner and strategically omitted specific words and sentences.

He said “knowingly false and malicious” propaganda had escalated over the past year, throughout Meghan’s pregnancy and while she raised the couple’s newborn son, Archie.

“I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been,” Harry said, adding: “My deepest fear is history repeating itself.”

Prince Harry was 12 years old when his mother died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 after being followed through the streets by photographers.

Princess Diana became one of the most photographed women on Earth after she married Harry’s father, Prince Charles.

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A law professor who advised Donald Trump during his transisiton to the presidency believes the Ukraine phone call and subsequent whistleblower complaint is “far worse” than Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.

His assessment came as a new poll has reportedly found 55 per cent of Americans support removing Mr Trump from office.

Professor J.W. Verret told CNN viewers the apparent courting of help from a foreign power was a far more serious offence than former President Nixon’s cover-up.

“People have made the analogy to the Nixon-era scandals and Nixon’s resignation, but this is a lot worse than that,” Mr Verret said during his TV appearance. 

“Nixon was a patriot. Of all the crazy things he did, he never would have accepted help from a foreign power for his own personal interest in an election, particularly one that would compromise the US’ strategic interests,” Prof Verret added.

“This is much worse and I think momentum continues toward impeachment.”

Facing almost certain impeachment after tape recordings confirmed his knowledge of and involvement in the robbery of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC, in 1974 President Nixon resigned before the House could impeach him.

Experts say Mr Trump is much less likely to be impeached compared to the two American presidents who have been — Bill Clinton in 1998 and Andrew Johnson in 1868 — because America’s government is more divided along party lines than ever before.

Mark Updegrove, a presidential historian and president of the LBJ Foundation in Austin, Texas, told the Associated Press enduring support from Republican politicians currently separates Mr Trump from Mr Nixon, who resigned in the midst of the Watergate impeachment inquiry because his party began to abandon him.

“The big difference between this and Watergate is that you had both Republicans and Democrats being deeply concerned about the president being involved in criminal wrongdoing,” Mr Updegrove said.

“It was a bipartisan effort and you certainly don’t have that here.”

But it is early, compared with Watergate. There were small signs that some Republicans were trying to keep some measure of distance from the president.

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Sunshine Coast residents have been put on alert after a number of letterboxes were blown up prompting police to warn that someone could get injured.

Police said dozens of letterboxes had been destroyed across the region with “crude” explosive devices.

Officers said they believed young people were responsible for the destruction, with the explosions commencing at the start of school holidays.

In one incident at Little Mountain a device made from a soda can exploded and destroyed a brick letterbox, sending steel parts of the letterboxing flying metres through the air.

A 60-year-old woman living in the home heard the explosion, then saw the shrapnel scattered through her yard.

In another incident at Mountain Creek, the blast occurred near the front door.

Inspector Mark Cordwell said the letterbox bombings pose a risk not just to residents and neighbours but also those making the explosives.

“They also cause major damage to property and have a high risk of starting fires,” he said.

“I would hate for an elderly person or resident to sustain serious injuries after innocently investigating a disturbance outside their home and being caught in one of these explosions.”