LONDON: London's High Court on Friday threw out part of a claim brought by Meghan, Britain's Duchess of Sussex, against a tabloid newspaper for breaching her privacy.
Meghan, wife of Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince Harry, is suing publisher Associated Newspapers over articles its Mail on Sunday newspaper printed in February last year which included parts of a letter she had sent to her father, Thomas Markle.
At a hearing last week, the paper's lawyer argued that allegations it had acted dishonestly and had stoked the family rift should be removed from the case along with references to other articles about the royal which Meghan says were false.
"I agree that all three categories of allegation should be struck out of the Particulars of Claim," judge Mark Warby said in his ruling.
Lawyers for the duchess say the publication of her letter by the paper was a misuse of private information and breached her copyright. They are seeking aggravated damages.
As part of the claim, they had accused the Mail and other tabloids of harassing, humiliating and manipulating Thomas Markle, and contributing towards a fallout between him and his daughter. The two have not spoken since her glitzy wedding to Harry in May 2018.
The paper rejected the allegation it had acted dishonestly or maliciously by publishing extracts of the letter she sent her father in August 2018 and said it was "remarkable" the claim about the treatment of Markle had been made without the duchess having contacted him to see if he agreed.
"Today’s ruling makes very clear that the core elements of this case do not change and will continue to move forward," said a spokesman for Schillings, Meghan's law firm.
He added: "The Duchess’ rights were violated; the legal boundaries around privacy were crossed. As part of this process, the extremes to which The Mail on Sunday used distortive, manipulative, and dishonest tactics to target The Duchess of Sussex have been put on full display."
Meghan and Harry are now living in the Los Angeles area having stepped down from their royal roles at the end of March.
The case will still go on to a full trial but no date for it has yet been set.
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London court throws out part of Duchess Meghan’s privacy claim against newspaper
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London court throws out part of Duchess Meghan’s privacy claim against newspaper
- Lawyers for the duchess say the publication of her letter by the paper was a misuse of private information
- Meghan and Harry are now living in the Los Angeles area having stepped down from their royal roles at the end of March
Afghanistan quake causes no ‘serious’ damage, injuries: official
KABUL: A 5.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked eastern Afghanistan including the capital Kabul has resulted in only minor damage and one reported injury, a disaster official told AFP on Saturday.
The quake hit on Friday just as people in the Muslim-majority country were sitting down to break their Ramadan fast.
The epicenter was near several remote villages around 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Kabul, the United States Geological Survey said.
“There aren’t any serious casualties or damages after yesterday’s earthquake,” said Mohammad Yousuf Hamad, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority.
He added that one person had sustained “a minor injury in Takhar,” in Afghanistan’s north, “and three houses had minor damage in Laghman” province.
Zilgay Talabi, a resident of Khenj district near the epicenter, said the tremor was “very strong, it went on for almost 30 seconds.”
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
In August last year, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country’s east wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people.
Weeks later, a 6.3-magnitude quake in northern Afghanistan killed 27 people.
Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in Nangarhar province in 2022, killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes.
Many homes in the predominantly rural country, which has been devastated by decades of war, are shoddily built.
Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have hampered disaster responses in the past, preventing authorities from reaching far-flung villages for hours or even days before they could assess the extent of the damage.
The quake hit on Friday just as people in the Muslim-majority country were sitting down to break their Ramadan fast.
The epicenter was near several remote villages around 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Kabul, the United States Geological Survey said.
“There aren’t any serious casualties or damages after yesterday’s earthquake,” said Mohammad Yousuf Hamad, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority.
He added that one person had sustained “a minor injury in Takhar,” in Afghanistan’s north, “and three houses had minor damage in Laghman” province.
Zilgay Talabi, a resident of Khenj district near the epicenter, said the tremor was “very strong, it went on for almost 30 seconds.”
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
In August last year, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country’s east wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people.
Weeks later, a 6.3-magnitude quake in northern Afghanistan killed 27 people.
Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in Nangarhar province in 2022, killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes.
Many homes in the predominantly rural country, which has been devastated by decades of war, are shoddily built.
Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have hampered disaster responses in the past, preventing authorities from reaching far-flung villages for hours or even days before they could assess the extent of the damage.
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