UK RAPE VICTIMS CAN NOW AVOID QUESTIONING IN COURT

London, March 19: The UK government is overhauling its rape laws to allow alleged rape victims to prerecord their evidence and spare them from cross-examination in open court.

UK justice secretary Liz Truss said that such schemes of pre-recording testimony before the trial piloted in three cities showed they led to a higher level of “early guilty pleas”. The plans could come into force as early as September.

“It reduces the level of trauma for the victim. I want to see that being the standard offer in those cases and that will give more victims confidence to come forward,” Truss was quoted as saying by the Sunday Times.

Victims and vulnerable witnesses would be able to give evidence “in a room in the court where it’s much less intimidating, where there are ground rules set by the judge.”

She said the prerecorded interviews will also provide “much clearer ground rules” to counsel. Pre-recorded evidence is already being launched for child sex cases in the UK.

— PTI

March The US Secret Service bolstered security at the White House after a man was arrested after making threats at one of its checkpoints, an official has said.

CNN reported that the man made a threat claiming he had a bomb in his car, and that he was immediately arrested and the car in which he was travelling seized.

President Donald Trump was away in Florida at the time.

The individual was detained immediately and criminal charges are pending, the agency said in a statement, without identifying the suspect. A Secret Service official speaking on condition of anonymity said the person was not found to be carrying any weapons.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer tweeted that the unnamed person had been unable to make it into the grounds, and praised the “great response” by the Secret Service.

The arrest came about a week after a more serious incident that called into question the White House security. Just before midnight on March 10, a man scaled three barriers outside the White House and walked around the grounds of the executive mansion for 16 minutes before being arrested. Mr Trump was inside the building. — PTI