French far-right leader may face trial on embezzlement charges

After a seven-year investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office requested Friday that Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, and more than 20 other members of her National Rally party stand trial for embezzlement of funds from the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016.

The case has centered on whether party members who were representatives in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, along with their assistants, used money allocated to cover expenses at the assembly for party costs that had nothing to do with their parliamentary functions.

The request from the prosecutor’s office does not mean the case will go to trial. That decision will be made by Paris magistrates, probably within the next several weeks.

Chinese journalist who gave #MeToo victims a voice is now on trial

After two years in detention, a Chinese journalist who spoke up against sexual harassment stood trial on subversion charges Friday along with a labor rights activist, the latest example of Beijing’s intensified crackdown on civil society.

Huang Xueqin, an independent journalist who was once a prominent voice in China’s #MeToo movement, and her friend Wang Jianbing, the activist, were taken away by police in September 2021 and later charged with inciting subversion of state power. Their trial was held at the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in southern China.

East Coast braces for heavy rain and wind from Tropical Storm Ophelia

Tropical Storm Ophelia gained strength as it churned toward the North Carolina coast on Friday, promising a weekend of heavy rain and windy conditions throughout the mid-Atlantic.

Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for parts of eastern North Carolina, saying Ophelia showed the potential to gather even more strength as it passes over warm Gulf Stream waters. The storm was expected to make landfall in North Carolina on Saturday morning and dump as much as 7 inches across portions of the state and into southeast Virginia. The National Hurricane Center estimated that the storm had sustained winds of about 60 mph and was about 185 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

Pope decries indifference toward migrants as he visits port of Marseille

Pope Francis blasted the “fanaticism of indifference” that greets migrants seeking a better life, as he arrived Friday in the French port of Marseille amid a new influx of would-be refugees from Africa that has sparked a backlash from some of Europe’s increasingly anti-migrant leaders.

Opening a brief, overnight visit to the Mediterranean port, Francis presided over a silent moment of prayer at a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea, surrounded by Marseille’s faith leaders and migrant rescue organizations.

Medical panel finds that torture made a Sept. 11 defendant psychotic

A military medical panel has concluded that one of the five 9/11 defendants held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base has been rendered delusional and psychotic by the torture he underwent years ago while in CIA custody.

The findings heighten uncertainty over whether Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who has long complained he was under attack by invisible rays at Guantanamo, will stand trial. A military judge, Col. Matthew McCall, is expected to rule as soon as Thursday whether al-Shibh’s mental issues render him incompetent to take part in the proceedings against him.