https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from France in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday January 23rd that the law had to change to better protect victims of child sexual abuse, after thousands shared their stories in response to a newly published book. https://www.thelocal.fr/20210124/french-president-macron-says-frances-laws-on-child-sex-abuse-must-change Sun, 24 Jan 2021 10:04:32 +0100 french-president-macron-says-frances-laws-on-child-sex-abuse-must-change A former deputy mayor of Paris accused of sexual harassment by a co-worker was charged on Friday with rape and other sexual assaults, several sources said. https://www.thelocal.fr/20201010/paris-ex-deputy-mayor-charged-with-rape Sat, 10 Oct 2020 11:18:53 +0200 paris-ex-deputy-mayor-charged-with-rape French prosecutors said Friday they had asked the Vatican to lift the diplomatic immunity of its envoy to France who is under investigation for alleged sexual assault. https://www.thelocal.fr/20190316/france-demands-vatican-lift-envoys-immunity-over-abuse-probe Sat, 16 Mar 2019 09:46:35 +0100 france-demands-vatican-lift-envoys-immunity-over-abuse-probe A French priest was Friday sentenced to five years, two without parole, for sexually assaulting four young female parishioners, one of whom was just nine when the offences started, and embezzling 100,000 euros to pay one of his victims. https://www.thelocal.fr/20190202/french-priest-jailed-for-sexual-abuse Sat, 02 Feb 2019 09:57:04 +0100 french-priest-jailed-for-sexual-abuse Sixteen activists from France's second biggest student union have come forward to tell stories of rape, sexual harassment and abuse that they have suffered within the organisation. https://www.thelocal.fr/20180220/french-female-activists-reveal-stories-of-sexual-abuse-and-rape-rife-in-student-union Tue, 20 Feb 2018 13:44:46 +0100 french-female-activists-reveal-stories-of-sexual-abuse-and-rape-rife-in-student-union At least 267,000 people, mostly women, were sexually abused on public transport over a two-year period in France, a new study has revealed, highlighting just how serious the problem has become. https://www.thelocal.fr/20171220/hundreds-of-thousands-of-french-women-abused-on-public-transport Wed, 20 Dec 2017 12:23:17 +0100 hundreds-of-thousands-of-french-women-abused-on-public-transport A third woman came forward on Tuesday to accuse Roman Polanski of sexual assault when she was a minor, four decades after he went on the run for raping another girl. https://www.thelocal.fr/20170816/third-woman-accuses-director-roman-polanski-of-sexual-assault Wed, 16 Aug 2017 11:13:29 +0200 third-woman-accuses-director-roman-polanski-of-sexual-assault A video shows a double amputee left without his prosthetic limbs in a train station after an apparent identity check. https://www.thelocal.fr/20160506/outrage-after-french-police-humiliate-amputee Fri, 06 May 2016 11:03:55 +0200 outrage-after-french-police-humiliate-amputee A French couple have been charged after their 17-year-old daughter was found in a coma, covered in excrement with maggot-infested wounds in a room in their house, prosecutors said on Tuesday. https://www.thelocal.fr/20160427/parents-charged-daughter-found-dead-neglect-coma-maggots-france Wed, 27 Apr 2016 10:50:02 +0200 parents-charged-daughter-found-dead-neglect-coma-maggots-france French victims of the paedophile priest Bernard Preynat on Monday sent a letter to Pope Francis, requesting a private audience with the pontiff. https://www.thelocal.fr/20160314/victims-of-paedophile-priest-demand-audience-with-the-pope Mon, 14 Mar 2016 11:32:59 +0100 victims-of-paedophile-priest-demand-audience-with-the-pope France has suspended two of its soldiers over allegations they sexually abused children, including a five-year-old girl, in the west African country of Burkina Faso, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. https://www.thelocal.fr/20150701/french-soldiers-accused-of-abusing-5-year-old Wed, 01 Jul 2015 10:43:49 +0200 french-soldiers-accused-of-abusing-5-year-old UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Friday said France should have probed much earlier claims that its soldiers raped children in the Central African Republic between December 2013 and June 2014. https://www.thelocal.fr/20150509/un-why-didnt-france-probe-sex-abuse-troops-earlier Sat, 09 May 2015 12:51:20 +0200 un-why-didnt-france-probe-sex-abuse-troops-earlier France's defence minister has urged soldiers "to give themselves up" if they are guilty of sexually assaulting hungry Central African kids, as questions remain on why the probe into the alleged crimes is taking so long. https://www.thelocal.fr/20150504/france-urges-sex-abuse-soldiers-to-come-forward Mon, 04 May 2015 10:45:24 +0200 france-urges-sex-abuse-soldiers-to-come-forward A French court has sentenced a couple to two years in prison for abusing their two young sons, repeatedly punishing them with brutal methods and at one point, forcing one of them to eat his own excrement. https://www.thelocal.fr/20141126/french-parents-jailed-for-child-faeces-torture Wed, 26 Nov 2014 12:12:00 +0100 french-parents-jailed-for-child-faeces-torture A zookeeper has been convicted after using a shovel to beat an ostrich to death at a French zoo. As if that wasn't bad enough he then tried to pin the blame for the bird's killing on an ageing pony. https://www.thelocal.fr/20140627/zookeeper-beat-ostrich-to-death-blamed-pony Fri, 27 Jun 2014 16:09:00 +0200 zookeeper-beat-ostrich-to-death-blamed-pony A French court may have set a legal precedent this week when it decided that a frozen chicken constituted a weapon. A judge sentenced a man to a year in prison for swinging the poultry at his ex-partner. https://www.thelocal.fr/20140207/french-frozen-chicken-brandisher-gets-prison Fri, 07 Feb 2014 12:44:00 +0100 french-frozen-chicken-brandisher-gets-prison As a provocative new anti-smacking video campaign by the Fondation pour l'Enfance (Foundation for Childhood) causes a stir in France, the man behind the drive Dr. Gilles Lazimi tells The Local why France needs a law banning parents from smacking their kids. https://www.thelocal.fr/20130618/why-france-needs-a-total-ban-on-smacking-kids Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:42:00 +0200 why-france-needs-a-total-ban-on-smacking-kids A young teenager from the Ivory Coast who moved to France to live a better life with her aunt was purportedly made to work as a janitor in a Parisian school where she was allegedly sexually abused. https://www.thelocal.fr/20130322/14-year-old-girl-forced-to-work-as-janitor-in-french-school Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:37:00 +0100 14-year-old-girl-forced-to-work-as-janitor-in-french-school An ethics panel in France on Tuesday opposed the use of so-called sexual assistants for the disabled, an issue sparked by a true-to-life film recounting the experiences of a handicapped man. https://www.thelocal.fr/20130312/france-rejects-sex-assistants-for-the-disabled Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:43:00 +0100 france-rejects-sex-assistants-for-the-disabled Putting the blame for paedophilia on the Roman Catholic Church is a way of avoiding the issue, top French cardinal and Archbishop of Paris Andre Vingt-Trois says. https://www.thelocal.fr/20130311/blaming-church-for-sex-abuse-is-too-easy-paris-bishop Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0100 blaming-church-for-sex-abuse-is-too-easy-paris-bishop