Taoiseach Simon Harris said he also wanted to tell Nikita Hand, a hair colourist from Drimnagh, that her case had prompted an increase in women coming forward to ask for support. Ms Hand, who accused the sportsman of raping her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018, won her claim against him for damages in a civil case at the High Court in the Irish capital on Friday. The total amount of damages awarded to Ms Hand by the jury was 248,603.60 euro (£206,714.31). Mr McGregor said in a post on social media on Friday that he intends to appeal against the decision. That post has since been deleted. Speaking to the media on Saturday, Mr Harris said he told Ms Hand of the support she has from people across Ireland. “I spoke with Nikita today and I wanted to thank her for her incredible bravery and her courage,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that she knew how much solidarity and support there was across this country for her bravery. “I also wanted to make sure she knew of what the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre had said yesterday – that so many other women have now come forward in relation to their own experiences of sexual abuse as a result of Nikita’s bravery.” The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said the case has had a “profound effect” on the people the charity supports, and that over the first 10 days of the High Court case, calls to its national helpline increased by almost 20%. It said that first-time callers increased by 50% compared to the same period last year, and were largely from people who had experienced sexual violence who were distressed and anxious from the details of case and the views people had to it. Mr Harris said: “I wanted to speak with her and I wanted to wish her and her daughter, Freya, all the very best night, and I was very grateful to talk with Nikita today. “Her bravery, her courage, her voice has made a real difference in a country in which we must continue to work to get to zero tolerance when it comes to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. “I don’t want to say too much more, because conscious there could be further legal processes, but I absolutely want to commend Nikita for her bravery, for her courage, for using her voice.” Justice Minister Helen McEntee praised Ms Hand’s bravery and said she had shown “there is light at the end of the tunnel”. She said: “I just want to commend Nikita for her bravery, for her determination and the leadership that she has shown in what has been – I’ve no doubt – a very, very difficult time for her and indeed, for her family. She added: “Because of wonderful people like Nikita, I hope that it shows that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that there are supports available to people, and that there is justice at the end of the day.” Ms Hand said in a statement outside court on Friday that she hoped her case would remind victims of assault to keep “pushing forward for justice”. Describing the past six years as “a nightmare”, she said: “I want to show (my daughter) Freya and every other girl and boy that you can stand up for yourself if something happens to you, no matter who the person is, and justice will be served.” During the case, Ms Hand said she was “disappointed and upset” when the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to prosecute the case after she made a complaint to the Irish police. In a letter to her in August 2020, the DPP said there was “insufficient evidence” and there was not a reasonable prospect of conviction. Ms Hand asked the DPP to review the decision, saying she felt she was being treated differently because one of the suspects was famous. Asked about the DPP’s decision not to prosecute, Mr Harris and Ms McEntee stressed the importance of the DPP’s independence on whether to prosecute. “There are obviously structures in place where the DPP can meet a victim and can outline to them their reasons for not taking the case,” Mr Harris said. “But there’s also always an opportunity for the DPP in any situation – and I speak broadly in relation to this – to review a decision, to consider any new information that may come to light, and I don’t want to say anything that may ever cut across the ongoing work of the DPP.” Ms McEntee stressed that there should “never be any political interference” in the independence of the DPP’s decisions. “I have, since becoming minister, given priority to and enabled a new office within the DPP to open specifically focused on sexual offences, so that this issue can be given the focus and the priority that it needs,” she said.Andy Murray to coach long-time rival Novak Djokovic at Australian Open
It was a shocking sight for those who remembered Lin Jing’en at the peak of her fame, dazzling on red carpets and gracing magazine covers. How had she fallen so far? What had led her to this point of desperation?
In a community where trust and solidarity were valued above all else, the divergent opinions and uncertainties surrounding the woman's presence served as a test of the village's unity and resilience. As the investigation continued and the mystery deepened, one question resonated in the minds of all: What was the true story behind the lost female master's student, and would the villagers ever discover the real truth?
New productivity is not simply about increasing outputs in the traditional sense, but rather about transforming the way we work, produce, and interact with technology. It embodies a shift towards more efficient processes, sustainable practices, and enhanced collaboration between humans and machines. This evolution is driven by a combination of factors, including advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and big data analytics.
To combat deceit, it is imperative to prioritize truth, integrity, and accountability in all aspects of Taiwanese life. Promoting a culture of honesty and authenticity, and holding individuals and institutions accountable for their actions, can help restore trust and credibility in society.On Friday, the Secretary-General of NATO, Mark Rutte held discussions with United States (US) President-elect, Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida. Saturday Telegraph reports that the discussion between the two world leaders focused on critical global security issues impacting the NATO alliance. According to NATO spokeswoman, Farah Dakhlallah, Rutte, the former Dutch Prime Minister sought the meeting shortly after Trump’s election victory on November 5. However, this move has stirred concerns in Europe over potential shifts in US military aid to Ukraine. It would be recalled that Trump’s first presidential term was marked by demands for increased European defence spending and questioning NATO’s structure and fairness. During the meeting, Rutte mentioned the growing collaboration between adversaries such as North Korea, Iran, China, and Russia. Speaking earlier at a European leaders’ summit in Budapest, Rutte warned of Russia supplying technology to North Korea, which poses a direct threat to both the US and Europe. Rutte emphasized the need for collective action to counter these threats and safeguard NATO’s transatlantic security interests. Trump’s re-election and potential policies regarding Ukraine’s defence have heightened European anxieties, with NATO allies stressing the strategic importance of keeping Kyiv in its fight against Moscow. Rutte emphasized that maintaining global stability requires NATO to adapt to evolving challenges and uphold solidarity among member states. This meeting signals a pivotal moment for NATO’s future direction under Trump’s renewed leadership.
Irish premier praises Dublin woman who won civil case against Conor McGregorZelensky's push for Ukraine to join NATO has been a long-standing goal for the country, as it seeks to strengthen its ties with Western allies and enhance its security in the face of ongoing tensions with Russia. The prospect of Ukraine becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been met with mixed reactions from different quarters, with some viewing it as a positive step towards bolstering regional stability, while others express concerns about potential repercussions and escalating conflicts with Russia.
NoneArgentina's Racing wins its first Copa Sudamericana championship by beating Brazil's Cruzeiro 3-1Voice cloning is an emerging technology powered by artificial intelligence and it's raising alarms about its potential misuse. Earlier this year, New Hampshire voters experienced this firsthand when a deepfake mimicking President Joe Biden’s voice urged them to skip the polls ahead of the primary. The deepfake likely needed only several seconds of the president's voice to create the clone. According to multiple AI voice cloning models, about 10 seconds of an actual voice is all that is needed to recreate it. And that can easily come from a phone call or a video from social media. "A person's voice is really probably not that information-dense. It's not as unique as you may think," James Betker, a technical staff member at OpenAI, told Scripps News. Betker developed TortoiseTTS, an open-source voice cloning model. "It's actually very easy to model, very easy to learn, the distribution of all human voices from a fairly small amount of data," Betker added. How AI voice cloning works AI models have been trained on vast amounts of data, learning to recognize human speech. Programs analyze the data and train repeatedly, learning characteristics such as rhythm, stress, pitch and tone. "It can look at 10 seconds of someone speaking and it has stored enough information about how humans speak with that kind of prosody and pitch. Enough information about how people speak with their processing pitch and its weights that it can just continue on," Betker said. Imagine a trained AI model as a teacher, and the person cloning the voice to be a student. When a student asks to create a cloned voice, it starts off as white noise. The teacher scores how close the student is to sounding correct. The student tries again and again based on these scores until the student produces something close to what the teacher wants. While this explanation is extremely simplified, the concept of generating a cloned voice is based on bit-by-bit, based on probability distributions. "I think, at its core, it's pretty simple," Betker said. "I think the analogy of just continuing with what you're given will take you pretty far here." There are currently some AI models that claim to only need two seconds of samples. While the results are not convincing yet, Betker says future models will need even fewer voice samples to create a convincing clone.
However, as time went on, Mr. and Mrs. Zhang began to have second thoughts about their decision. They expressed concerns about Amy's ability to handle the responsibilities and potential financial burdens associated with owning the property. Furthermore, they felt a growing sense of unease about losing control over a significant asset that had been in the family for generations.A: Several key factors have driven China's economic growth, including its strong manufacturing sector, export-oriented economy, large domestic market, and government-led infrastructure investment. China's focus on technological innovation and industrial upgrading has also played a crucial role in driving growth and transforming its economy from a low-cost manufacturing hub to a more high-tech and service-oriented economy.
Andy Murray to coach long-time rival Novak Djokovic at Australian Open