A defamation lawsuit brought by a former French MP against six women who accused him of sexual harassment and four journalists who reported the allegations has opened in what is seen as a further backlash against the #MeToo movement in France. Denis Baupin, the former vice president of France’s Assemblée National and a prominent MP for the Green party, resigned in May 2016 after denying the allegations.

The investigative website Mediapart and the radio station France Inter published stories from 14 women who alleged Baupin had groped and harassed them over a number of years. Most of the women were also members of the Green party, whose leader was then Baupin’s wife, Emmanuelle Cosse; four of them filed criminal complaints for sexual harassment. A nine-month investigation, during which police interviewed 50 people, ended with prosecutors announcing there would be no charges as the three-year statute of limitations had expired. In a statement, the prosecutors said the women had given “measured, constant statements”.The scandal broke 18 months before the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual assault by multiple women, which sparked an international campaign calling powerful men to account for their behaviour.(theguardian)…[+]

CARACAS – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday proposed early parliamentary elections, seeking to shore up his crumbling rule after a senior general defected to the opposition and tens of thousands thronged the streets in protest at his government.

As domestic and international pressure on Maduro to step down mounts, a senior air force general disavowed him in a video that circulated earlier yesterday, expressing his allegiance to parliament head and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido. The military’s support is crucial for Maduro, who is deeply unpopular, largely due to an unprecedented economic crisis that has prompted an exodus of millions. Maduro claims he is victim of a coup directed by the United States.

In a speech to supporters, Maduro said the powerful government-controlled Constituent Assembly would debate calling early elections for the National Assembly parliament, which is opposition-controlled. Guaido has called for a new, fair presidential election after the disputed vote won by Maduro last year. “You want elections? You want early elections? We are going to have parliamentary elections,” Maduro told a pro-government rally in Caracas, held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez’s first inauguration as president.(Reuters)…[+]

Sex­u­al preda­tors, ban­dits, and tres­passers are cre­at­ing fear among fe­male se­cu­ri­ty guards of the Na­tion­al Main­te­nance Train­ing and Se­cu­ri­ty Com­pa­ny (MTS). The se­cu­ri­ty guards af­fect­ed are those dis­patched to five pri­ma­ry schools in the Mara­cas/St Joseph area and work 12-hour shifts—from 6 am to 6 pm and 6 pm to 6 am.

Re­cent­ly, there was an at­tempt­ed rape where the sus­pect on­ly man­aged to take off the woman’s un­der­gar­ment but she fought off the preda­tor and es­caped. While there have been claims that a guard was raped by an in­trud­er be­hind one of the pri­ma­ry schools in No­vem­ber last year, po­lice could not con­firm this. Of­fi­cers at the Mara­cas/St Joseph Po­lice Sta­tion con­firmed, how­ev­er, that they have re­ceived “dis­tur­bance” re­ports from “one or two” of the se­cu­ri­ty guards but could not di­vulge fur­ther de­tails. The of­fi­cer as­sured that they are ready to re­spond to any calls for help.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]