The Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > French TV top anchor facing 5 rape accusations; BBC's Top News Anchor pleads guilty to child sex abuse images

 

Rough day to be a top news anchor in Europe. Can we assume they are both godless people?

Disgraced French former TV anchor

faces five new rape probes

Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, one of France's top TV presenters for more than two decades, faces five new probes into rape allegations by his former colleagues, French investigators revealed Wednesday. "PPDA", as he's commonly known in France, was fired from TV channel TF1 in 2008 and has faced several sexual assault investigations over the past few years. 

Issued on: 31/07/2024 - 14:19, Modified: 31/07/2024 - 14:17

2 min

By:NEWS WIRES

French investigators have opened five new probes into rape allegations against former prime-time news presenter Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The 76-year-old has denied repeated accusations of rape or sexual assault. In December he was charged with the rape of writer Florence Porcel in 2009.

That probe was widened in February to look into claims of the rape of two more women and a sexual assault of another committed between 2007 and 2018, which could lead to fresh charges.

The new investigations are into accusations of rape during an earlier period, the prosecutor's office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre and a lawyer told AFP.

The five accusers had filed previous complaints that were rejected for being past the statute of limitations, a source at the prosecutor's office said.

Poivre d'Arvor's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

Amongst the five accusers, journalist Helene Devynck has alleged the television presenter raped her when she was his assistant in 1993. Another journalist, Stephanie Khayat, has accused him of two rapes in 1994 and 1997.

Marie-Laure Eude-Delattre claims Poivre d'Arvor raped her as a 23-year-old intern at the Cannes Film Festival in 1985. Margot Cauquil-Gleizes, now a teacher, said he raped her the same year when she was 17.

They were identified by their lawyer Corinne Herrmann. It was not immediately clear who the fifth person was.

After a preliminary inquiry opened in 2021, prosecutors dropped 19 out of 22 testimonies or legal complaints accusing the veteran presenter of rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment for being past the statute of limitations.

But the five plaintiffs have used another legal channel to obtain investigations.

Herrmann said "these cases are not past the statute of limitations because there are several of them. When you have a cascade of cases, the latest annuls the statute of limitations for the one before it.

"France is reeling from a series of accusations of abuse in the arts and journalism.

Screen icon Gerard Depardieu, 75, is to stand trial in October over accusations of sexually assaulting two women. He was also charged in 2020 with rape two years earlier. He denies all charges.

(AFP)

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Former BBC lead presenter pleads guilty

in indecent child images case

By Pan Pylas  The Associated Press

Posted July 31, 2024 5:30 am

 2 min read

View image in full screen

Former BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, Wednesday July 31, 2024 where he is charged with three counts of making indecent images of children following a Metropolitan Police investigation. Jonathan Brady/PA via AP

Huw Edwards, the BBC’s former top news presenter, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of making indecent images of children.

The offenses he pleaded guilty to at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London during a 26-minute hearing involved images shared on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021 by a man who had initially contacted Edwards via social media.

Edwards, who was the lead anchor on the BBC’s nighttime news for two decades and led the public broadcaster’s coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, has been remanded on bail until a pre-sentencing hearing on Sept. 16. He could face up to 10 years in prison, though the prosecution conceded that a suspended sentence may be appropriate.

The court heard that Edwards, 62, was involved in an online chat with an adult man on the messaging service who sent him 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children.

The images that were sent included seven of what are known as “category A,” which are the most indecent. Of those, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between 7 and 9.

The court also heard that the unnamed male asked Edwards on Feb. 2, 2021 whether what he was sending was too young. Edwards told him not to send any underage images. Five more, though, were sent, and the exchange of pornographic images continued until April 2022.

“Accessing indecent images of underage people perpetuates the sexual exploitation of children, which has deep, long-lasting trauma on these victims,” said Claire Brinton of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Speaking in Edwards’ defense, his lawyer Philip Evans said there is “no suggestion” that his client had “in the traditional sense of the word, created any image of any sort.”

Edwards, he added, “did not keep any images, did not send any to anyone else and did not and has not sought similar images from anywhere else.” He added that Edwards had “both mental and physical” health issues and that he is “not just of good character, but of exceptional character.”

God help us when child porn users are exceptionally good characters.

Prosecutor Ian Hope told the court that Edwards’ “genuine remorse” was one reason why a suspended sentence might be considered. Setting out the potential penalties under the law, he said that where there is the prospect of rehabilitation, a community order and sexual offender treatment program could be considered as alternatives to prison.

A spokesperson for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said there should be “no doubt” about the seriousness of Edwards’ crimes.

“It can be extremely traumatic for young people to know sexual images of themselves have been shared online,” the spokesperson said. “We also need to see online platforms do much more to identify and disrupt child abuse in private messaging services in order to safeguard young people.”

Edwards, who was one of the BBC’s top earners, was suspended in July 2023 for separate claims made last year. He later resigned for health reasons.

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Approaching Sodom > Canada now leads the world in Transgender Madness; Swiss parents lose child to gender transitioning madness

 

Canada’s Gender Transition Policies for Minors

Least Restrictive Worldwide: Report

By Jennifer Cowan,  The Epoch Times

7/29/2024Updated:7/31/2024

Canada is the most permissive country in the world regarding legal and medical gender transition processes for minors, a new report has found.

Canadian policies tend to be less strict than those in Northern and Western European countries, according to the findings of a landmark study series from the Calgary-based Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy and Do No Harm, a group of health-care professionals and policymakers who advocate for keeping identity politics “out of medical education, research, and clinical practice.”

“Our policy review reveals that Canada and some U.S. states are the most permissive in the world when it comes to the legal and medical gender transition of minors,” endocrinologist and lead study author Dr. Roy Eappen said in a July 29 press release.

“Here, at a much younger age than Europe, patients are eligible for invasive surgeries that are potentially irreversible and medically harmful.”

Among European countries, the most permissive policies are found in France, the report said, while noting that in contrast to North America, France’s medical authorities have “recognized the uncertainties involved in transgender medical care for children and have urged great caution in its use.”

North America also favours gender affirmation—the idea that questioning a minor’s gender self-definition is harmful and unethical—while Northern and Western Europe have “begun to reject such automatic assumptions,” the authors wrote.

“Studies show that only 12 to 27 percent of cases of childhood gender dysphoria persist into adulthood,” and because gender-affirming care is “largely irreversible” strict barriers are necessary to protect minors, the report said.

“European countries now discourage automatic deference to a child’s self-declaration of gender distress, while also calling for months-long psychotherapy sessions to address co-occurring mental health problems.”

Puberty Blockers

The minimum age for puberty blockers is vastly more liberal in Canada than in any other country, the study found, noting that eight of 10 provinces have no minimum age requirement.

Alberta and Nova Scotia are the only provinces with some age conditions in place. Alberta bans puberty blockers before age 16 while Nova Scotia requires applicants to reach the second stage of puberty, which typically occurs between the ages of 11 and 12.

Most European nations allow puberty blockers for young teenagers with parental consent and at age 15 or 16 without parental consent.

In contrast, puberty blockers cannot be prescribed before age 18 without parental consent in most U.S. states. In Sweden and the United Kingdom, puberty blockers for minors under age 18 have either been banned or paused, the report said.

Hormone blockers can suppress menstruation in females and erections in males and pause or slow puberty-related physical changes that continue into young adulthood, according to the Canadian Paediatric Society.

The UK announced a ban of puberty blockers March 12, citing safety concerns.

“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of PSH [puberty suppressing hormones] to make the treatment routinely available at this time,” the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) said in its decision.

The NHS’s Cass Review, which published its initial findings last year, highlighted the uncertainty of the drug’s impact on the teenage brain. It emphasized that adolescence is a critical phase of brain development, including maturation of the frontal lobe, which controls decision-making and other important functions. The report also questioned whether catch-up in development would be possible at a later age.

Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, one of Europe’s top medical schools, also questioned the safety of the drugs. Its 2023 study review said the psychosocial health benefits cited by advocates are uncertain.

The review said puberty-blocker treatment in children with gender dysphoria should be “considered experimental treatment rather than standard procedure.”

Pediatrician Dr. Edward Les, who co-authored the newly released Canadian report, said more weight should be given to the studies coming out of Sweden and the UK.

“Given the growing European shift, which is grounded in medical science, and in the interests of protecting the most vulnerable, Canada and the United States should follow the lead of countries such as Sweden, England, and Scotland in reconsidering the gender-affirming care model,” Dr. Les said.

Cross-Sex Hormones

Seven of 10 Canadian provinces have no minimum age requirement for cross-sex hormones, with Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia being exceptions.

In Alberta and Saskatchewan, hormonal treatment is banned for children 15 years and younger. As with puberty blockers, children in Nova Scotia cannot begin treatment until they reach the second stage of puberty.

Some U.S. states restrict access to cross-sex hormones, while lawmakers in other states are considering restrictions. Oregon is the most permissive state, allowing minors as young as 15 to use them without parental consent.

Most European countries prohibit cross-sex hormones for minors 15 and younger, but allow them after age 16 with parental consent. Teens need to be 18 to take hormones without parental approval.

For boys wishing to transition, hormonal treatment involves the use of estrogen and possibly medicines known as anti-androgens, which block the hormone testosterone, according to the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

Physical changes include breast growth, shrinking of the testicles, decreased sperm production, decreased muscle mass, and less body hair growth. While some of these changes will diminish if treatment is stopped, breast growth and testicle shrinkage are permanent.

Girls wanting to transition will be given testosterone, the health authority said. Females undergoing the treatment can expect menstruation to stop within six months, growth of the clitoris, increased facial and body hair, male pattern hair loss, increased muscle mass, and voice changes. Growth of the clitoris, hair loss or gain, and voice changes are all permanent.

Sex-Reassignment Surgery

Two of the most common sex-reassignment surgeries are “bottom” surgery to transform and reconstruct the genitals, and “top” surgery to remove breast tissue for a more masculine appearance or enhance breast size and shape for a more feminine appearance, according to the Ottawa Hospital. Facial reconstructive surgery, to make facial features more masculine or feminine, is also an option.

Most provinces in Canada set 18 as the age of informed consent for sex-reassignment surgery, although four provinces allow it at earlier ages if the minor is “deemed capable of making informed decisions” without parental consent.

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador follow that philosophy while Alberta, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island all adhere to the 18-or-older rule. In British Columbia, surgery applicants must be 19 or older for bottom reassignment surgery, but permit top surgery “with consent of the applicant or their guardians, depending on their assessed capability.”

In Quebec and Nova Scotia, patients must be at least 18 for bottom reassignment surgery but can request a mastectomy at the age of 16.

Some U.S. states restrict minors’ access to sex reassignment surgery, while lawmakers in other states are considering it, the report said, noting that “gender-affirming” mastectomies have been performed on children as young as 12.

In the UK, Sweden, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, and Finland, sex reassignment surgery is not performed before age 18.

“Parental consent is not a factor since surgery is not performed on individuals under the age of consent,” the report said, although some countries allow mastectomies before the age of 18. France was the most liberal of the countries, saying breast removal surgery is “theoretically possible” at the age of 14, but is generally performed after age 16.

Aside from age, requirements to receive surgery in Canada vary from province to province.

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Swiss parents lose child to

gender transitioning madness

Billboard Chris 

@BillboardChris

BREAKING: Swiss parents who had their child taken from them by authorities for refusing to give her puberty blockers have lost their court case. Under threat of criminal charges, they are now forced to hand over documents for her legal ‘sex change.’

From

Billboard Chris