PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte apologized for being caught calling feminist activists sales connes — which roughly translates to “stupid bitches”— but said she should be able to speak her mind away from the cameras. Interviewed by online news outlet Brut, Macron insisted that her remarks were made in private — she was attending a show by comedian Ary Abittan, who had been accused of rape in a case which was later dismissed — and that she would not have used these words in public. “I’m sorry if I hurt female victims [of sexual assault],” Macron said. She then added: “I’m the president’s wife, but I’m also myself, and in a private context, I can let myself loose in a way which isn’t appropriate … people have the right to [freely] speak and think.” In a since-deleted clip published by gossip outlet Public, Macron is seen asking comedian Abittan, before his performance, how he is doing, to which he responds that he is “afraid,” likely referring to the possibility of protesters interrupting his show. The French first lady then responds: “If there are stupid bitches, we’ll toss them out.” A small group of activists wearing cardboard masks with Abittan’s face attempted to interrupt a show in Paris, yelling “Abittan rapist” while being pushed back by security, video published by French outlet Le Média showed. Macron’s comments drew outrage from French politicians, feminist organizations and film industry celebrities alike. The hashtag #JeSuisUneSaleConne (#IAmAStupidBitch), launched in solidarity with the protesters, was shared by several high-profile figures, including Judith Godrèche — a French actress who has played a central role in confronting sexual violence in the film industry — and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard. Abittan is on his first tour since investigating judges decided not to charge him with a crime after he was accused of rape. While the plaintiff was found to have suffered post-traumatic stress, justice officials said they could not establish sufficient grounds to determine that the sexual encounter had been forced. Abittan has denied wrongdoing and said the act was consensual.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte sparked outrage after calling feminist protesters sales connes — roughly translated as “stupid bitches” — backstage at a comedy show. In a since-deleted clip published by gossip outlet Public, Brigitte Macron is seen asking comedian Ary Abittan before his performance how he is doing, to which the former responds that he is “afraid,” likely referencing the possibility of protesters interrupting his show. Abittan is on his first tour since investigating judges decided not to charge him with a crime after he was accused of rape. While the plaintiff was found to have suffered post-traumatic stress, justice officials said they could not establish sufficient grounds to determine that the sexual encounter had been forced. Abittan has denied wrongdoing and said the act was consensual. After Abittan said he was afraid, the French first lady responded: “if there are stupid bitches, we’ll toss them out.” Abittan’s return was protested by the feminist group Nous Toutes, whose members disrupted the show to denounce what they called a “communication campaign aimed at portraying him as a traumatized person while humiliating and belittling the victim.” In a statement to French newswire AFP published Monday, Macron’s office said the remark should be understood as “criticism of the radical methods used by those who disrupted and obstructed Ary Abittan’s show.” Condemnation came from political figures across party lines, as well as activists and film industry professionals. Marine Tondelier, head of the French Greens, called the remark “extremely grave” and conservative Senator Agnès Evren described it as “very sexist.” Prisca Thévenot, a lawmaker from the president’s party and former government spokesperson, deemed the comment “inelegant.” “When it comes to women fighting against violence against women, we don’t speak that way,” former President François Hollande said Tuesday on RTL. Judith Godrèche, the French actress who has played a central role in confronting sexual violence in the film industry, took to Instagram to criticize Macron. “I too am a stupid bitch. And I support all the others,” she wrote.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are calling on former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to sit for an interview as part of their probe into deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “The Committee is seeking to uncover the identities of Mr. Epstein’s co-conspirators and enablers and to understand the full extent of his criminal operations,” the lawmakers, led by Oversight ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), wrote. “Well-documented allegations against you, along with your long-standing friendship with Mr. Epstein, indicate that you may possess knowledge of his activities relevant to our investigation.” Formerly known as Prince Andrew, Windsor was in 2019 accused of sexually assaulting Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers who was 17 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, and has faced backlash for his friendship with the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell six years ago. Last week, Windsor was stripped of his royal title — and ordered to vacate the palatial mansion that had long been his home — by his brother, King Charles, suggesting it was over his ties to Epstein. Democrats, including Reps. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) have continued to call for Windsor to speak before Congress “In response to a subpoena issued to the Epstein estate, the Committee has identified financial records containing notations such as “massage for Andrew” that raise serious questions regarding the nature of your relationship with Mr. Epstein and related financial transactions,” the lawmakers wrote. House Democrats lack subpoena power. Windsor, a British citizen, cannot be legally required to testify. The committee asked Windsor to respond by Nov. 20. Both his office and Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PARIS — French lawmakers approved legislation Wednesday that introduced the concept of consent in the legal definition of rape following the shocking Gisèle Pelicot trial last year. While advocates have been pushing for years for France to change the definition of rape and sexual assault to outlaw nonconsensual acts, Pelicot’s case, where 51 men were accused of raping her with the help of her now ex-husband, who had drugged her, gave new impetus and got the ball rolling. Until now, French law defined sexual assault — including rape — as acts performed through “violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.” Some of the lawyers in the trial had unsuccessfully centered their defense on the argument that the definition did not explicitly require seeking a partner’s consent, claiming their clients believed they were taking part in a sexual fetish shared by the couple. The newly-written law states that “any non-consensual sexual act … constitutes sexual assault.” Consent must be “free and informed,” given for one specific act prior to it taking place, and it must be “revocable,” it adds. Crucially, it is explicitly stated that consent cannot be “inferred solely from the victim’s silence or lack of reaction.” Véronique Riotton, a centrist lawmaker who coauthored the bill and wrote a report on the issue in 2023, told POLITICO that the bill’s passage was a “positive moment” proving that parliament could still move forward on major issues despite the political gridlock currently crippling France. Several lawmakers had tried to pass similar legislation in recent years, but the issue drew little attention until Pelicot’s case. In 2022, a European Commission proposal to require all member countries to classify any nonconsensual sex as rape was dropped from a wide-ranging draft law on violence against women due to opposition from several countries, including France. French President Emmanuel Macron later clarified that he supports the legal redefinition but does not see it as a European prerogative.

LONDON — Nigel Farage thinks there’s no need to give Prince Andrew a further kicking. His voters disagree. Asked if parliament should intervene in the Andrew saga, the leader of Britain’s populist party, Reform UK, on Monday suggested King Charles’ brother is already “down, and on the way out,” adding there was “no particular need” to give him “a kicking on the way.” Under growing pressure over his links with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and other scandals, Andrew announced earlier this month that he would be giving up his titles, including as duke of York. He will, however, remain a prince. Reform voters, however, think Andrew should lose that title too due to his alleged behavior. Two-thirds of Reform voters (68 percent), Green voters (69 percent) and Liberal Democrat voters (63 percent) reckon he should have the honorific title of prince “officially removed,” according to a survey by the More in Common think tank. That compares with just 51 percent of mainstream Conservative and Labour Party voters. Officially removing Andrew’s prince title would require either an act of parliament, or could be done using the legal powers of the royal prerogative, but that would likely need to be done on the advice of a minister, according to a House of Commons briefing note. “It perhaps shouldn’t be surprising that those voters who most want to see the Prince stripped of his title are those who are now voting for populist parties on the right or left,” Luke Tryl, executive director of More in Common, said. “For Green voters, who tend to be among the least supportive of the monarchy, the desire to see the Prince stripped of his title shouldn’t be surprising. “But support is almost as high among Reform voters, a timely reminder that many Reform voters are particularly exasperated by what they see as a rigged system with ‘one rule for the rich and powerful and another for anyone else,'” he said. There are growing calls for Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson to move out of the 30-room Royal Lodge following the publication of the posthumous memoir of Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexual assault, which he strenuously denies, and after it emerged he pays a “peppercorn rent” – a quirk of British law that reduces the ground rent paid on a property by a leaseholder to a small, nominal fee, or “peppercorn” – to live in the vast property on the Windsor Estate. The Green Party’s four MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling for the government to take legislative steps to remove the dukedom granted to Prince Andrew. A total of 27 MPs, including Scottish and Welsh nationalists, have signed it. Speaking at a press conference in London on Monday, Farage attacked the “nice liberals” he claimed would like to hound Andrew physically out of the country, never to be seen again, warning parliament should only interfere in a “real extreme situation,” such as if Andrew refused to leave Royal Lodge, or he started reusing his duke title. “[Andrew] has renounced the dukedom. He undoubtedly will be looking for a new home very soon, probably somewhere where it’s a lot warmer and sunnier than it is here. I think for somebody who is down, and on the way out, there’s no particular need to give them a kicking on the way,” Farage said.

Prince Andrew has surrendered his titles, including the Duke of York, amid growing pressure over a series of scandals, including his alleged ties with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” Andrew said in a statement Friday evening. Andrew has been under intense scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein — the American financier and convicted sex offender who ran a network that exploited and trafficked underage girls. He faced backlash over a civil sexual-assault court case brought in the U.S. by Virginia Giuffre, which was eventually settled, and over his involvement with an alleged Chinese spy. “I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life,” Andrew added in his statement, “vigorously” denying the accusations against him. The announcement comes just days before the release of Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, which reportedly details three occasions on which Andrew allegedly had sex with her — excerpts of which were published by the Guardian earlier in the week. Andrew’s children, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, are set to retain their titles.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks set to send more people to jail with her law-and-order crackdown — but the country’s prisons are in no fit state to take more inmates. On June 9, prison guards in Cagliari in Sardinia discovered a 56-year-old inmate had hanged himself in his cell, the 33rd suicide in an Italian prison this year. President Sergio Mattarella this week urged the government to respond to the “dramatic” number of suicides behind bars, calling it a “true social emergency.” Facing overcrowding and inadequate psychiatric care, the prison system is under strain. But instead of offering relief, or even amnesties and pardons like her predecessors, Meloni is pressing harder. Earlier this month, Italy’s right-wing government passed a sweeping security decree that lengthens prison terms, adds 14 new offenses, and restricts alternatives to incarceration — sending more people into a system already in crisis. Most controversially, the law also targets protest tactics like roadblocks and occupations, tightening the state’s grip on dissent. Meloni described the new law as a step toward public safety that would protect the most vulnerable people in society. “We are acting with determination against illegal occupations, speeding up evictions and protecting families, the elderly and honest property owners,” she said. But critics see it as a political crackdown with damaging consequences. “It’s a dangerous illusion to think that more punishment and more jail time leads to more security,” said Vittorio Manes, professor of criminal law at Bologna University. Sergio Rastrelli, a senator from Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, dismissed fears that the new decree would send more people to prison. “It is not true that new types of crimes increase the prison population; on the contrary, it sets clear boundaries so those who intend to break the law understand they will be held accountable,” he said. CRACKING POINT Rastrelli’s contention will soon be put to the test. As of April, Italy’s prisons held over 62,000 people in facilities built for just 51,000, according to a report by Antigone, an NGO that monitors prison conditions. With an overcrowding rate of 133 percent — among the highest in the EU — chronic staff shortages, inadequate infrastructure and underfunded services, the system is cracking. The pressure is also boiling over into unrest. On June 4 up to 200 inmates in Genoa’s Marassi prison staged a riot in response to the alleged sexual assault of a fellow prisoner. Inmates overran parts of the prison, climbed fences and rooftops and damaged numerous cells. Two officers were injured, and the unrest was quelled only after riot police intervened — on the same day the Senate approved the final version of Meloni’s security decree. Earlier this month, Italy’s right-wing government passed a sweeping security decree that lengthens prison terms, adds 14 new offenses, and restricts alternatives to incarceration — sending more people into a system already in crisis. | Valeria Ferraro/Anadolu via Getty Images The decree, which has now become law, also introduces prison riots as a new criminal offense. Critics argue the measure could suppress the ability to make justified complaints about abuse or neglect in the form of organized prison protests. “There are many examples where prisoners’ protests gradually received the attention of local authorities and led to positive changes,” said Alessio Scandurra, the author of Antigone’s report. “A prison is a community that is not autonomous but that requires external help. … Silencing protests risks making prisons even poorer and less able to respond to growing needs.” According to the same report, suicides are surging, topping 33 in the first half of 2025. In 2024 some 91 suicides were recorded among prisoners — a record, surpassing the peak in 2022. “They occur mostly in isolation wards, in spaces where there are fewer activities, less interaction, less human contact,” Scandurra said. “That’s why this trend toward increased confinement is dangerous. The data clearly show that where there is more openness, the incidence of such acts is lower.” GHOST OF TORREGGIANI Italy has faced this reckoning before. In 2013, the European Court of Human Rights issued the Torreggiani ruling, which condemned Italy for systemic violations of the ban on inhuman and degrading treatment. The case concerned seven inmates held in cells with less than 3 square meters per person, a threshold the Court considers inhumane. The ruling forced Italy to improve conditions and reduce overcrowding by expanding alternatives to incarceration. “We were all surprised by the reactions after the Torreggiani ruling. It was as if, all of a sudden, everyone knew what to do,” Scandurra said. For a time, reform took root. The prison population dropped, and Italy introduced open-cell regimes, allowing inmates to move more freely.   That reform process is now at risk. Meloni’s government has hardened penalties and explicitly ruled out tools like sentence reductions or collective pardons, measures that were also used by late PM and Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi. “Amnesties and pardons do not align with the government’s vision of a modern state,” said Rastrelli, arguing that such measures offer only short-term relief without addressing deeper systemic issues. “They erode the certainty of punishment, which undermines citizens’ sense of legal security. Moreover, they weaken the authority of the state, reducing it to a system that yields to compromise in times of difficulty.” Scandurra observed that Meloni’s government has adopted an approach that differs from that of her predecessors in dealing with the prisons emergency. “It has always been quite resistant, even during institutional visits to prisons,” he said. “Traditionally, there was attention not only to staff conditions but also to those of inmates. Now, visiting officials often avoid speaking with staff or even entering the detention wings.” LONG-TERM PLANS, IMMINENT CRISIS Last year, Meloni’s government issued a Prisons Decree pledging to ease jail overcrowding by hiring more guards and building new facilities, including appointing a so-called Extraordinary Commissioner for Penitentiary Construction to oversee new projects and renovations. But critics say these promises miss the urgency of the situation. Facing overcrowding and inadequate psychiatric care, the prison system is under strain. | Paolo Manzo/NurPhoto via Getty Images “When faced with a crisis like this, talking about building new prisons means offering solutions that don’t help today’s inmates,” Scandurra said. “It pushes the problem into the future — and that’s deeply discouraging.” Manes called the government’s approach to the emergency “a sort of electoral marketing,” adding that “the problems won’t be solved by building prisons, just like Covid wasn’t defeated by building hospitals.” Rastrelli, who also served as rapporteur on the Prisons Decree, defended it by explaining that the government’s approach to prison overcrowding was structural rather than a knee-jerk emergency response. “All previous efforts in Italy have failed because they relied on temporary ‘prison-emptying’ tactics that only delay recurring problems,” he explained. “Our goal is to implement structural measures by allocating financial resources to train prison police, improve infrastructure, and analyze the prison population.” The real driver of overcrowding, Scandurra added, is repeat offenders. “If people stopped returning two, three, four times, the crisis would vanish. Prison must be a place for reintegration into society, not just punishment.” “Criminal law manages the failure of society. It doesn’t build civil coexistence,” he continued. “We already know what the solutions are. They are already sitting in ministers’ drawers. What’s missing is the political will.”

PARIS — French Prime Minister François Bayrou vehemently hit back against allegations that he mishandled a decades-old child abuse scandal during more than five hours of grilling on Wednesday. Bayrou spent much of the marathon hearing attacking the motives of the panel, especially far-left lawmaker Paul Vannier, as lawmakers attempted to nail down just how much he knew about the allegations of both physical and sexual abuse at a Catholic school in his constituency — some of which first surfaced when he was education minister and held local leadership roles in the 1990s.  “I didn’t lie,” Bayrou said. “I never hid anything.” While the prime minister did not commit any notable slip-ups, he did not appear to present strong enough evidence to put the scandal to rest or shake off lingering doubts about his past statements. Bayrou in February told lawmakers in the National Assembly that he hadn’t known about sexual abuse at the school at the time, but seemingly contradicted that statement in the days that followed and then again during the hearing. “The only information I had was what was covered in the press,” Bayrou said.  The scandal is a serious threat to Bayrou, who has been under intense pressure to lay out a credible path to thwart a looming budget crisis. Though Bayrou has managed to survive France’s gridlocked politics longer than his predecessor Michel Barnier, his minority center-right government remains intact thanks only to a fractured opposition, which could coalesce against it in the upcoming budget cycle. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said Bayrou had “his full trust” but behind the scenes speculation has been mounting over the prime minister’s future. A government adviser, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, said ahead of the hearing that Macron would be able to ask for Bayrou’s resignation “if things get out of hand in the media.” The case came back into the public eye last year when prosecutors announced they would investigate fresh allegations from dozens of former pupils at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, which some of Bayrou’s own children attended. Some 200 people have come forward as of early April to testify about abuse at the Bétharram institution, according to the local prosecutor’s office. Bayrou’s own daughter revealed last month that she was among those physically abused. One of the most serious allegations dates back to the late 1990s when the school’s director, a priest, was accused of child rape by a former student. The judge in charge of the investigations at the time testified under oath that he had met with Bayrou at his request during the investigation phase, and said he had given him details about the allegations.  The priest committed suicide before the case was concluded. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said Bayrou had “his full trust.” | POOL photo by Lou Benoist/EPA-EFE Bayrou first denied knowing about allegations of sexual abuse and told Le Monde he didn’t discuss them with the judge at the time. He later walked that back, telling lawmakers he “might” have discussed the case with the judge, who was his neighbor.   On Wednesday he said he had “no recollection of this [conversation].” But, he added, “I trust the judge” that it happened. Other aspects of the case centered around multiple allegations of violent physical abuse, including leaving children outside during freezing winter nights as punishment for misbehavior. In one case described at the hearing, a student narrowly escaped amputation as a consequence of frostbite. “Were there methods that were a bit rough? Probably yes. Would they be accepted today? Probably not,” Bayrou said. A former teacher at the school said under oath in a separate hearing that she had reached out personally to Bayrou in the 1990s and alerted him about the physical abuse. The prime minister accused her of fabricating part of her testimony and said “she informed me of nothing.”

LONDON — Conservative MP Patrick Spencer has been charged with two counts of sexual assault which are alleged to have taken place at London’s elite Groucho Club. Spencer, who has represented Central Suffolk and North Ipswich for the Conservatives since July’s general election, was charged by the Metropolitan Police Service in connection with two sexual assaults at the private members’ venue in central London. They are alleged to have occurred in Aug. 2023, which was before Spencer became a member of parliament. The charges relate to two separate women. Spencer will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 16. He has been suspended from the Conservative Party and had the whip withdrawn, the party confirmed Tuesday. Head of the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division Frank Ferguson said: “Following a review of the evidence provided by the Metropolitan Police Service, we have authorised two counts of sexual assault against Patrick Spencer MP.” He added: “The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are now active and that he has the right to a fair trial. “It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.” The Groucho Club, a longstanding hotspot for celebrities in London, was temporarily closed in November after its operating license was suspended at the request of the Metropolitan Police. It was reopened in January. A Conservative spokesperson said: “The Conservative Party believes in integrity and high standards. We have taken immediate action. Patrick Spencer MP has been suspended from the Conservative Party, and the whip withdrawn, with immediate effect.”

Former Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales has been found guilty of a crime of sexual assault after forcibly kissing footballer Jenni Hermoso. Rubiales, who kissed Hermoso without consent after her team won the Women’s World Cup in August 2023, was fined €10,800 by Spain’s National Court, banned from approaching Hermoso within 200 meters and from communicating with her for one year.   “This action of giving a woman a kiss on the mouth has a clear sexual connotation, and it is not the normal way of greeting people with whom one does not have an emotional relationship,” Judge José Manuel Clemente Fernández-Prieto said in his ruling on Thursday, El País reported. However, Rubiales was acquitted of coercion, and the verdict gave him a much lighter sentence than what prosecutors had sought. They had asked for 30 months in prison and a much higher fine of €50,000.  Rubiales’ kiss-on-the-lips scandal sparked widespread criticism of sexism in football and led to his resignation as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.  Prosecutors said the events created a situation of anxiety and intense stress for Hermoso that continued for several months afterward. Rubiales has publicly maintained his innocence, insisting that the kiss was consensual.