Ireland’s premier has spoken to the Dublin woman who won a civil case against mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor to praise her courage. 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.For travelers, Puerto Rico is a floating island of desirabilityNone
SOUTH LEBANON - The Lebanese army and UNIFIL have completed preparations for a gradual deployment in Khiyam after clearing it of unexploded ordnance and redeploying in the checkpoints that had been evacuated before the Israeli ground incursion. Following the retreatment of the Israeli occupation forces from the outskirts of the border city towards Sarda in the Wazzani plain, dozens of families are waiting for the moment to reenter their war-ravaged city to retrieve the bodies of martyrs from the rubble and rebuild their homes. The redeployment of the Lebanese army in northern Khiyam coincided with an Israeli Hermes drone martyring 3 citizens who were checking their homes. Najib Mikati, the caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister, has described the attack as “a blatant betrayal that violates all the pledges made by the parties that sponsored the ceasefire agreement. The United States and France are required to declare a clear position on what happened and to curb the Israeli aggression.” The steadfast town of Khiyam has an honorable history of defending the Lebanese territory and confronting the Israeli enemy. Every inch of the land in Khiyam tells a story of heroism and the name of an honorable martyr is engraved on every stone. The city has suffered greatly as a result of the Israeli occupation since the 1982 invasion, when the enemy turned its military barracks into detention centers, and practiced the most heinous forms of torture until the liberation in 2000. During the 2006 war, the Khiyam plain was the cemetery of the Merkava. Khiyam proved to be resistant to defeat. Since October 2023, the heroic scene has been repeated as Khiyam has sacrificed its best heroes for the sake of Palestine. After Khiyam, the Lebanese army is expected to be redeployed in all eastern border towns as the enemy postpones the implementation of the truce within 60 days. It is doing what it failed to do during the war as it continues to bombard homes. In 72 hours, the Israeli enemy destroyed 80% of the capabilities of the Syrian army, which will need an entire generation to rebuild. Will the Lebanese army be able to protect Lebanon? It is not surprising that the Lebanese army will fail to do so as the Zionist-American colonialism does not want powerful armies in the region, plain and simple. Hence, Observers believe that the re-deployment of the Lebanese army will not prevent the continuation of Israeli violations. Since the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon in 2005, Lebanon’s pro-US political factions have prevented the Lebanese army from cooperating with any country that Washington does not like. The best evidence of this is what happened in 2008 when Vladimir Putin decided to give Lebanon MiG-29 fighter jets, tanks, and artillery with weapons and ammunition. Washington, however, quickly thwarted it along with various other offers. Instead of confronting the US-Israeli hegemony, Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun presents himself as a presidential candidate who seeks not to anger Washington.
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Some high-flying ASX stocks could be key for creating wealth over the long-term. I'm excited by the potential of ( ) to grow into a much bigger business and help Aussies get closer to millionaire status. Now priced at $11.81, shares in the online retailer have climbed around 7,300% since 6 January 2017. This would have turned a $10,000 investment into $740,000. I'm not expecting another 7,000% in the next seven years. However, over the long-term, I do believe that the company has significant to become a much larger and more profitable business. This online retailer of homewares and furniture has reasons. Temple & Webster estimates it had a market share of just over 0.5% of the Australian furniture and homewares market in FY19, and this has grown to 2.3% in FY24. Part of its success is that, by being online, it's able to offer a huge product range – more than 200,000 products, in fact. Many are shipped directly by suppliers, which means the ASX stock doesn't require the warehouse or inventory investment to facilitate those sales. This enables the business to have an asset-light model. Temple & Webster notes that its category is experiencing a once-in-a-generation shift from offline to online. According to the company, millennials and Generation Z are driving online channel adoption. The Australian level of online penetration for furniture and homewares is approximately 20%, noticeably lower than the United States, United Kingdom, and other higher-penetrated categories. If the company can simply maintain its market share of sales, then it should do well out of the migration. As it becomes larger, its customer offering can improve around its range, pricing, data and personalisation, content, service and delivery experience. Temple & Webster has already delivered a lot of revenue growth. In , it achieved $498 million which was 26% higher than the year before. Its revenue has grown at a of 34% since 2017. That's impressive, in my opinion. Depending on its growth rate, the company aims to reach at least $1 billion in annual sales between FY26 and FY28. Within that $1 billion target, it is targeting a market share of 4.2% (up from 2.3% in FY24). The company expects its market share to grow to 15%. Overall, its core furniture and homewares segment is aiming for at least $800 million of the $1 billion sales target. The ASX stock also has multiple 'growth plays'. One is its business-to-business offering, and the other is its home improvement segment called TheBuild, where it sells products like plumbing, kitchen appliances, sinks, curtains and blinds, tiles, heating and cooling, wallpaper, and so on. Management hopes this segment will contribute at least $200 million of the $1 billion sales target. I expect revenue to continue growing strongly to 2026 and beyond, but even more importantly, I believe profit margins can climb. This will enable the bottom line profit to climb significantly. As the business grows, its fixed costs as a percentage of revenue are expected to decrease. In FY24, fixed costs decreased to 11% of revenue, down from 12% in FY23. It has a target of 6% of revenue by 28%. Another margin-improving move by the company is utilising AI for product content generation, recommendations, and live chat. This has led to an improvement in conversion and a $4 million improvement in annualised cost of doing business (CODB) savings. Growing its level of orders from repeat customers is expected to help lower marketing costs of overall revenue. In FY24, the ASX stock achieved a business as usual (BAU) operating profit ( ) margin of 4.6%. It's aiming for a BAU EBITDA margin of at least 15% in the long term. If the company can deliver on its margin improvement goals, it'll become a pleasingly profitable business with much higher revenue, which could drive the Temple & Webster share price higher.Aston Villa march on in Champions League after beating RB Leipzig