Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo will face no charges in Las Vegas in connection with a sexual assault allegation because the case cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, prosecutors said on Monday.

Ronaldo, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time and plays for the Italian club Juventus, has maintained he is innocent of rape.

The allegation made headlines last year after Las Vegas police said they were investigating it.

The case stems from a June 13, 2009 call from a woman to Las Vegas police. She reported that she had been sexually assaulted and police took her to the hospital for an examination, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Monday (July 22).

But she declined to identify the person who she said assaulted her.

The woman and Ronaldo reached a civil settlement in 2010 and law enforcement did not hear again from her until August 28, 2018, when she asked police to reopen the investigation. She said Ronaldo was the person who sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.

“Based upon a review of the information presented at this time, the allegations of sexual assault against Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Ronaldo’s attorney, Peter Christiansen, and a representative for his sports agents could not immediately be reached for comment. (REUTERS)

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Tags: Cristiano Ronaldo, Las Vegas, Reuters, UNTV

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a newly built submarine and pointed out its tactical capabilities and weapons systems, North Korea’s official news agency KCNA said on Tuesday (July 23).

The submarine, which was built under Kim’s “special attention”, will be operational in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, KCNA said.

KCNA released still photographs of Kim looking around the submarine, but did not describe the kind of weapons systems the submarine contained or when the inspection took place.

Kim tasked defense and scientific officials accompanying him with achieving more strategic initiatives in submarine use, state media added. (REUTERS)

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Tags: Kim Jong Un, new submarine, North Korea, Reuters, weapons system

A Dutch sustainability advocate completed the longest ever journey in an electric vehicle in New Zealand on Friday (July 19) after a three-year drive that took him through more than 30 countries.

Wiebe Wakker set off from the Netherlands in March 2016 in his “Blue Bandit” to showcase the potential of sustainable transport, funded by donations from those following his trip on social media.

“So I wanted to do my bit to promote this technology and show that sustainability is a viable way of transport. So I wanted really to do something that really speaks to the imagination which is driving an electric car from Amsterdam to literally the other side of the world to show that it can be done,” he said.

The 101,000 kilometers (62,800 miles) trip took Wakker through Eastern Europe, Iran, India, Southeast Asia, before traveling around much of Australia and across to New Zealand.

Wakker gave regular updates on his blog and social media throughout the journey, detailing visiting Iran’s biggest car manufacturer in Tehran, a breakdown on the Indonesian island of Java and visits to Australia’s outback and world-famous Uluru.

The drive had relied on the support of strangers across the globe who offered the traveler food, a place to stay and the essential means to charge his car along the way. (REUTERS)

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Tags: longest electric vehicle trip, New Zealand, Reuters, UNTV, Wiebe Wakker