Bright News

TALLINN, Estonia -- A prominent journalist went on trial in Belarus Monday, the latest step in a years-long crackdown on opposition figures, independent journalists and human rights activists. If convicted on the charges of assisting extremist activity, Pavel Mazheika, 45, faces up to six years in prison for his work covering the political opposition. He is accused of working for news outlets including Blest TV, which broadcasts in Belarusian from its base in neighbouring Poland. The Belarusian authorities have labeled Blest as “extremist.” Journalists and activists in Belarus have faced large-scale repression since the August 2020 vote that handed a sixth term to President Alexander Lukashenko. Following the election, which was rejected as fraudulent by the opposition and the West, Belarus was swept by massive protests, some of which drew more than 100,000 people. Authorities responded with a brutal crackdown. More than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten by police whi

I’m LONDON -- An aspiring actor who accused Kevin Spacey of being a “vile sexual predator” who drugged and assaulted him when he sought his mentorship acknowledged Monday that he later joked with friends that he might resort to having sex with the Oscar winner if he couldn’t find work. The man testified that he used humor to cope with the trauma he experienced after he fell asleep or passed out at the Hollywood star's flat and woke up to find Spacey performing oral sex on him. “It became a running joke and that’s me running with the joke,” he said of the mockery he made of the incident for a “sense of catharsis.” The man is the fourth and final alleged victim to accuse the two-time Academy Award winner at trial of sexual assaults in Britain between 2001 and 2013 when Spacey worked at the Old Vic Theatre in London. Spacey, 63, is on trial in a London court on 12 charges that include sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity withou