News in Brief -2023-12-16)

FE Team | Published: December 15, 2023 23:54:45

Blizzards sweep across Russia bringing massive snow falls
MOSCOW, Dec 15: Blizzards swept across swathes of Russia on Friday, carpeting Moscow in one of the biggest snow falls in decades and sowing chaos on major roads where truck drivers battled with more than 20 centimetres of snow and strong winds. A cyclone brought more than a day of constant blizzards to the Russian capital in what could be one of the strongest snow storms to hit Moscow in 60 years, according to meteorologists. More than one fifth of the average snow fall for December was recorded over just 24 hours at metrological stations across Moscow where streets were blanketed in snow and motorists struggled to get their cars out of parking spaces. — Reuters
UK judge rules Prince Harry was victim of phone hacking by Mirror Group
LONDON, Dec 15: A UK judge ruled Friday that Prince Harry was a victim of phone hacking by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), and awarded him £140,600 ($179,600) in damages. The high court judge ruled in favour of the Duke of Sussex in 15 of the 33 sample articles that he submitted as evidence in his lawsuit against MGN, which publishes The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. The Duke of Sussex was one of four test cases selected to be heard after he sued Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for obtaining information using unlawful means, such as private investigators or gaining information by deception. — AFP
Father pleads not guilty to British-Pakistani girl's murder
LONDON, Dec 15: The father of a British-Pakistani 10-year-old girl whose death sparked an international manhunt pleaded not guilty to her murder in a UK court on Thursday, together with two other family members. Sara Sharif's body was discovered at her home in Woking, southern England, on August 10. A post-mortem examination found she had sustained "multiple and extensive injuries" over a long period. Her father 41-year-old Urfan Sharif, her step-mother Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother Faisal Malik, 28, deny killing the girl. They entered their pleas via video link to London's Old Bailey court. — Express Tribune