The head of US media giant CBS, Les Moonves, has resigned with immediate effect after allegations of sexual misconduct.
CBS had been investigating Mr. Moonves since allegations appeared in the New Yorker in July – and fresh accusations from six more women appeared on Sunday.
Mr. Moonves, 68, denies the allegations, calling the latest “appalling.”
However, CBS said the company and Mr. Moonves would donate $20m (£15.4m) to groups supporting the #MeToo movement.
Mr. Moonves’ tenure at the top of CBS, which he joined in 1995, has been marked by a power struggle with Shari Redstone who, through her family’s business, National Amusements, is the controlling shareholder in both CBS and the media conglomerate, Viacom.
Ms. Redstone and Mr. Moonves had been engaged in a court battle as he tried to thwart her plan to merge CBS and Viacom.
But the announcement of Mr. Moonves’ departure came at the same time as CBS said it was ending legal against National Amusements.
CBS Chief Operating Officer Joe Ianiello will take on Mr. Moonves’ job on a temporary basis.
In a statement it announced that Mr. Moonves would step down as chairman, president and CEO with immediate effect.
Joseph Ianniello will serve as president and acting CEO.
The Financial Times said Mr. Moonves was resigning because this would entitle him to a hefty severance package, including stock options.
US media said the resignation package for Mr. Moonves could amount to $100m.
However, CBS said he would not receive any severance benefits until the result of an independent investigation into his conduct.
The donation to organisations fighting for “equality for women in the workplace” would be deducted from the severance benefits, it said.
Mr. Moonves has been one of the most powerful executives in US media, joining CBS in 1995 as head of entertainment and becoming CEO of CBS Corp in 2006.
He issued a statement on Sunday saying: “Untrue allegations from decades ago are now being made against me that are not consistent with who I am.”
The latest allegations appear in a new article in the New Yorker by Ronan Farrow, who also authored the July piece and this year won a Pulitzer Prize for detailing assault accusations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
The six women in the latest piece allege sexual harassment or assault by Mr. Moonves between the 1980s and the first decade of this century.
Some allege he forced them to perform oral sex or exposed himself without their consent.
Some say he damaged their careers when they rebuffed him.
TV executive Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb and writer Jessica Pallingston are two of the women who give graphic descriptions of the misconduct they accuse Mr Moonves of carrying out.
Swedish election: Main blocs neck and neck as nationalists gain
The Swedish general election has left the two main political blocs almost tied, with the anti-immigration party making gains on its previous results.
With nearly all ballots counted, the governing centre-left coalition is marginally ahead of its centre-right Alliance rivals, with around 40% each.
The nationalist Sweden Democrats (SD) have won about 18% of the vote, up from 12.9% in the previous election.
A protracted battle to form a working coalition now looks a certainty.
Sweden uses a system of proportional representation, under which each party is allocated a number of seats in each constituency that is broadly in line with its share of the vote.
Both of the main blocs have refused to govern with the SD, although its leader said he was prepared to talk with all other parties.
“We will increase our seats in parliament and we will gain huge influence over what happens in Sweden during the coming weeks, months and years,” Jimmie Akesson told a party rally.
The ruling coalition, headed by outgoing PM Stefan Lofven, is made up of his Social Democrats and the Green Party, and is supported in parliament by the Left Party.
The centre-right Alliance is made up of four parties. Its candidate for PM is Ulf Kristersson, head of the Moderates.
He said the ruling coalition had run its course and should resign.
But Mr. Lofven said he would not quit.
He told a party rally: “We have two weeks left until parliament opens. I will work on calmly, as prime minister, respecting voters and the Swedish electoral system.”
Both the Social Democrats and the Moderates saw their percentage of the vote fall, as the SD and smaller parties picked up votes.
However, even the SD performance was down on what some opinion polls had suggested.
Texas officer charged with manslaughter over ‘wrong flat’ killing
SOURCE: BBC.com
A police officer who shot and killed a man in his flat in Texas after apparently thinking she was in her own apartment has been arrested.
Officer Amber Guyger, 30, has been charged with manslaughter.
The family of 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean had demanded that the officer be taken into custody.
The victim was a devout Christian who graduated from a university in Arkansas and was working for multinational PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Officer Guyger has been in the police department for four years and is assigned to the Southeast Patrol Division.
She was booked at the Kaufman County Jail and the investigation is ongoing, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
She posted $300,000 (£232,000) bail, ABC reported, and has been released.
The arrest warrant was issued after an independent investigation by the Texas Rangers and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.
The victim’s family have hired lawyer Benjamin Crump, who represented Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, unarmed black teenagers who were shot dead by a neighbourhood watch volunteer and a police officer respectively.
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The Dallas shooting occurred at an upscale apartment complex just one block from the police department, south of downtown.
According to a police statement, the officer, still in uniform after her shift, walked into the unit she believed belonged to her and saw Botham Shem Jean inside.
What happened next is unclear, but the officer eventually fired her gun.
The officer then called for assistance and the victim was taken to hospital where he later died.
Officer Guyger was tested for drugs and alcohol at the scene.
Paris knife attacker injures seven
Seven people have been injured, four seriously, in an attack by a man armed with a knife and an iron bar in the French capital, Paris, police say.
The man, said to be an Afghan national, was arrested.
Sources said there was no indication it was a terrorist attack.
Several reports say two of those injured are British tourists.
The attack took place just before 23:00 (21:00 GMT) on the banks of a canal in the 19th arrondissement, in the north-east of the capital.
Sources said the man had attacked strangers, initially stabbing two men and a woman near the MK2 cinema on the Quai de Loire, along the Ourcq canal.
Several people playing the game pétanque nearby reportedly threw balls at the attacker to try to stop him.
The man was hit and fled.
He then reportedly attacked the two British tourists on rue Henri Nogueres.
“We are urgently investigating this incident and are in close contact with the French authorities,” the UK Foreign Office said in a statement.
A French police source said: “At this stage there is nothing to indicate that it could be a terrorist attack.”
Venezuela migrants flee back across border with Brazil
Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants have crossed back over the border with Brazil in the last few days after a violent incident in Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state.
Most said they were leaving because they feared for their lives after a young man was lynched, accused of killing a local man during a robbery.
They were picked up by buses sent by the Venezuelan government.
Brazil has accepted over 30,000 Venezuelans fleeing economic chaos.
Many of the migrants had been living on the streets of Boa Vista with no sanitation or water in improvised plastic and wooden shelters.
Many locals say they resent their presence, complaining of the smell and the mess left in public spaces.
Police were investigating the stabbing of a local man who had allegedly got into a fight with a Venezuelan after a robbery at a supermarket.
The Venezuelan man was attacked and beaten to death by a group of Brazilian men.
Tensions have been rising on the Brazilian-Venezuelan border where hundreds of people cross daily into Brazil fleeing Venezuela’s severe economic crisis.
Most of the migrants continue further south heading towards other countries in South America.
But about 30,000 have stayed in the border region in the state of Roraima.
