Plus: Woman gives evidence in historic French rape trial, and why Bangladesh needs more than fast fashion ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| Hello. The widely-criticised sale of Oasis concert tickets has put Ticketmaster under scrutiny once again. Today my colleagues explain why UK authorities and European lawmakers are looking at the ticketing giant. Our second story, from France, concerns a trial where 51 men are accused of having raped the same woman, who was drugged by her husband. I should stress that it contains obviously disturbing details. We're also reporting on Bangladesh, the Philippines, and French politics. | |
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QUESTIONS ANSWERED | Why the Oasis ticket row draws spotlight on Ticketmaster |
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| | There was huge demand for the British band's first concerts since 2009. Credit: Getty Images | The so-called "dynamic pricing" of Oasis reunion concert tickets, where prices rose up to £350 per ticket (€415, $461) because of high demand, has provoked the ire of fans and the scrutiny of competition authorities in the UK. Ticketmaster, the best-known official ticket seller for the concerts, in under the spotlight once again. |
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| | Helen Bushby, Chi Chi Izundu and James Stewart, BBC News |
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| What have Oasis and Ticketmaster said about the dynamic pricing row? | Oasis said on Wednesday that the band did not know dynamic pricing would be used and had left pricing decisions up to promoters and management. Ticketmaster said it did not set ticket pricing policy - artists and promoters did. But the division is not as clear as Ticketmaster makes it sound. There are three promoters for the Oasis reunion tour, all with links to one company: Live Nation, the US multinational which owns Ticketmaster. | Have authorities reacted? | The Competition and Markets Authority, the UK's competition regulator, has launched an investigation into the sale, including the use of "dynamic pricing". It will examine whether Ticketmaster engaged in unfair commercial practices, buyers were given clear information to explain that the tickets could be subject to price rises, and if people were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time. | Is this the first time Ticketmaster and Live Nation have come under scrutiny? | After Taylor Swift announced the Eras Tour in November 2022 and Ticketmaster's website went into meltdown, a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was convened and for more than three hours Live Nation executives were grilled. The US Justice Department is also seeking to break up Live Nation, alleging it and concert promoters illegally inflated ticket prices and hurt artists. | | | Throwing it back to them: Oasis hit out at Ticketmaster "dynamic pricing" in a statement on Tuesday, saying the ticketing plan in place "failed to meet expectations". Investigation: Live Nation is involved in almost every aspect of the UK's live music industry, Chi Chi Izundu and James Stewart found. In Ireland: Lawmakers are seeking to introduce a ban on "dynamic pricing" for live tickets. | |
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| 'My world fell apart' | | The trial, which is held in public, has upset the French public since its start on Tuesday. Credit: EPA | Gisèle Pélicot, a 72-year-old woman, was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of 51 men who are all accused of raping her in her home in south-eastern France. Her husband has admitted drugging and inviting men to have sex with his unconscious wife for more than 10 years. Many of them claimed they thought they were taking part in a consensual sex game. |
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| | Hugh Schofield, Paris correspondent |
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| | Gisèle Pélicot recalled the moment in November 2020 when she was asked by police to attend an interview alongside her husband. He had recently been caught taking under-skirt photographs of women at a supermarket, and Gisèle told the court she believed the meeting with police was a formality related to that incident. “The police officer asked me about my sex life,” she told the court. “I told him I had never practised partner-swapping or threesomes. I said I was a one-man woman. I couldn’t bear any man’s hands on me other than my husband’s."
Ms Pélicot went on: “But after an hour the officer said, ‘I am going to show you some things which you will not find pleasant’. He opened a folder and he showed me a photograph. I did not recognise either the man or the woman asleep on the bed. The officer asked: ‘Madame, is this your bed and bedside table?’ It was hard to recognise myself dressed up in a way that was unfamiliar. Then he showed me a second photo and a third. I asked him to stop. It was unbearable. I was inert, in my bed, and a man was raping me. My world fell apart.” |
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THE BIG PICTURE | Why Bangladesh needs more than fast fashion |
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| | | Many garment manufacturing jobs remain well below the minimum wage. Credit: BBC | Bangladesh is at the centre of the fast fashion industry, and despite recurring scandals around labour practices, the garment sector is essential to the country's economy. And the weeks of deadly protests that toppled the government of Sheikh Hasina in August highlighted how dependent the country was on a single industry, Nikhil Inamdar writes. |
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FOR YOUR DOWNTIME | The anti-James Bond | Slow Horses, Apple TV+'s spy show about MI5 rejects, is more popular than ever. | |
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And finally... in the Philippines | A bright fireball was spotted over northern Philippines shortly after midnight on Thursday as a small asteroid burned up in the atmosphere. The asteroid, measuring roughly 1m (3.2 feet), was "harmless" but created a "spectacular fireball", the European Space Agency (ESA) said. See for yourself. | |
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Football Extra | Get all the latest news, insights and gossip from the Premier League, weekdays to your inbox. | |
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