FORMER MISS COSTA RICA IS LATEST TO ACCUSE ARIAS OF SEXUAL ABUSE

SAN JOSE: A former Miss Costa Rica has become the second woman to make a criminal complaint against Nobel Peace Prize laureate and ex-president Oscar Arias, in the latest of mounting allegations of sexual misconduct to emerge this week. The woman alleges that Arias grabbed her and kissed her against her will at his home in 2015, according to partial photos of the complaint published on Thursday by Escri-viendo, a Facebook page dedicated to entertainment news. Prosecutors confirmed its existence on Friday, telling AP they had “received a new complaint against Arias Sanchez for the presumed crime of sexual abuse”. AP

Rare tiger kills prospective mate in London Zoo

LONDON: For ten days, the London Zoo kept its newly arrived male Sumatran tiger Asim in a separate enclosure from Melati, the female tiger who was supposed to become his mate. On Friday, zoologists put the two in the same enclosure - and almost instantly Asim attacked and killed Melati. It marked a shocking end to hopes that the two tigers would breed as part of a tiger conservation programme.

AP

Another woman accuses Virginia official of assault

WASHINGTON: A second woman accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault on Friday, saying the Democrat raped her 19 years ago while they were both students at Duke University. Calls for his resignation grew steadily as the day wore on. A lawyer for Meredith Watson, 39, said Fairfax had attacked Watson in 2000. AP

Jihadists get life for deadly 2015 Tunisia attacks

TUNIS: A Tunisian court has sentenced seven jihadists to life in prison over attacks at a museum and on a beach in 2015 that killed 60 people, many of them British tourists, prosecutors said on Saturday. Dozens of defendants faced two separate trials over the closely linked shootings, which occurred just months apart in Tunis and Sousse, but many were acquitted.

Oz divers appeal for release of Bahraini footballer

SYDNEY: Two Australian divers, who saved 12 Thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave, have written to the Thai PM to ask for the release of a Bahraini footballer with refugee status in Australia. Hakeem al-araibi, 25, faces an extradition request from Bahrain and a 10-year sentence. He was arrested in Bangkok in November. REUTERS