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Russell Brand jailed for 10 and a half years for rape and sexual assaults

9 Nov 2026, 17:42 GMT

A globe of the Earth — Stock image: Zde / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

British comedian and actor Russell Brand has been sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison.

The sentence

Brand, 51, was sentenced on Monday, 9 November 2026, after a jury of eight men and four women found him guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others, in offences dating back to 2004. He was cleared of two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. Brand had maintained his innocence, saying all his encounters were consensual.

The judge's remarks

Judge Joel Bennathan said Brand had shown a casual and arrogant disregard for women's right to say no, and placed the crimes in the context of his rise to fame about 20 years ago, when he was widely seen as clever, funny and charismatic.

Background

Brand became famous in the 2000s as a stand-up comedian, television and radio presenter and Hollywood actor, and was known for his outrageous on-air behaviour and his public battles with drug and alcohol addiction. The allegations against him first emerged in a joint media investigation in 2023, after which he was charged by British police. In recent years he had reinvented himself as an online commentator with a large following.

Brand was jailed for 10 years and six months.
He was convicted of rape and three sexual assaults.
He was cleared of three other counts.

More gist

World & WestReported

Seven dead and over 100 injured in Egypt train collision near Cairo

9 Nov 2026, 17:42 GMT

At least seven people were killed and about 125 injured when a passenger train crashed into the rear of another in Giza province, south of Cairo. Prosecutors have opened an investigation.

At least seven people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a collision between two passenger trains in Egypt.

What happened

The crash happened on Sunday, 8 November 2026, in the al-Ayyat district of Giza province, about 52 kilometres south of Cairo. According to Egypt's Transportation Ministry, a train travelling from Giza to Fayoum crashed into the back of another train heading from Cairo to Aswan, derailing several carriages and trapping passengers. The Health Ministry said 125 people were injured. Emergency services sent 72 ambulances, and local residents helped pull survivors from the wreckage.

Investigation

Egypt's Public Prosecution has opened an investigation into the cause of the crash.

Background

Egypt has one of Africa's oldest and busiest railway networks, but it has a long history of deadly accidents, often blamed on poor maintenance and human error.

World & WestReported

Hackers claim leaked Russian records show up to 450,000 war deaths in Ukraine

9 Nov 2026, 14:42 GMT

Two hacking groups say records taken from Russia's state statistics agency show between about 394,000 and 450,000 Russian deaths linked to the war in Ukraine. The figures have not been verified and the agency denies any data was leaked.

Two hacking groups say they have obtained records from Russia's state statistics agency pointing to hundreds of thousands of Russian deaths in the war in Ukraine.

The claims

According to reports on Monday, 9 November 2026, the pro-Ukrainian group Silent Crow and the Belarusian Cyber Partisans said they accessed an internal database at Rosstat containing information from death certificates from February 2022 to August 2026. Silent Crow, which published the data, put the death toll at about 450,100, while the Belarusian Cyber Partisans, using a narrower method that counted only records naming military operations as the cause of death, put it at 393,881. The figures have not been independently verified.

Russia's response

Rosstat acknowledged that its systems were targeted between 29 October and 1 November but said no databases were compromised. Russia has banned both groups as 'extremist organisations'. Moscow has rarely given official figures for its military losses.

Background

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Independent estimates of Russian military deaths have varied widely, and both sides have been accused of under-reporting their own losses. The Belarusian Cyber Partisans also oppose the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Moscow.

World & WestReported

Gunman in Krakow Main Square shooting that killed six dies in hospital

9 Nov 2026, 11:42 GMT

The 24-year-old suspected gunman in a shooting in Krakow's Main Square that killed six people and injured about 16 has died in hospital, Polish police say. Three of his relatives were also found dead at his home.

The suspected gunman in a deadly shooting in the centre of Krakow, Poland, has died in hospital, police say.

What happened

The shooting took place in the city's Main Square on the afternoon of Saturday, 7 November 2026. Six people, four women and two men, were killed and about 16 others were injured, including visitors from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria. Police said the 24-year-old suspect was arrested on a nearby street after trying to escape in a car, and that two officers were injured in an exchange of fire. Three more bodies were found at his home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 150 kilometres from Krakow, and he is believed to have also killed three members of his own family.

The suspect dies

In an update on Monday, 9 November, regional police confirmed that the suspect had died in hospital that morning. He is believed to have used an AR-15-style rifle, and ammunition was recovered from his car. Authorities have not given a clear motive, but said he was fascinated by far-right ideologies.

Background

Mass shootings are rare in Poland, which has strict gun laws.

World & WestReported

Donald Trump official portrait — Photo: Daniel Torok / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Trump admits immigration crackdown was 'too tough' after midterm defeat

9 Nov 2026, 09:43 GMT

President Donald Trump has said his administration's immigration crackdown was too tough and hurt Republicans in the midterm elections, particularly the deportation of people with stable jobs whose only offence was breaking immigration rules.

US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his administration's immigration crackdown went too far, in a notable change of tone after his party's heavy losses in the midterm elections.

What he said

In an interview broadcast by the CBS programme '60 Minutes' on Sunday, 8 November 2026, Trump defended his record on border security and on removing dangerous criminals, but said he thought the crackdown had been too tough. He said the administration had suffered politically by deporting people who had stable jobs and had only committed immigration violations, and that this had hurt Republican candidates at the ballot box.

The election

Exit polls showed immigration was the third most important issue for voters, after the economy and the state of democracy. In traditionally conservative states such as Texas, a shift among Latino voters towards the Democrats contributed to their gains in Congress, where they are projected to control both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Background

Mass deportations became a defining policy of Trump's second term, drawing protests and legal challenges. Only days ago he promoted Stephen Miller, the architect of the deportation programme, to White House chief of staff, so it is unclear how far policy will change in practice. Groups of Nigerians have been among those deported, including six who arrived in Lagos last week.