EXCLUSIVE France is on the brink of full-scale civil war. I've lived here for 25 years and the locals have had enough of the violence caused by hordes of destructive youths. The state has lost control - and I fear what's coming next: JONATHAN MILLER
As I stood in the queue at the fishmonger on the town square close to my home in the South of France yesterday, he was cutting the head off a sea bream with deft strokes of his razor-sharp knife.
'You French have always been rather good at decapitation,' I said, gesturing towards a spot outside the post office, where the town guillotine had stood in an earlier era. Nobody laughed. 'They should bring the guillotine back,' said the fishmonger. 'We need it more than ever.' He wasn't joking and other customers nodded vigorously.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Harassment by Ubisoft executives left female staff terrified, French court hears
Three former executives at the French video game company Ubisoft used their position to bully or sexually harass staff, leaving women terrified and feeling like pieces of meat, a French court has heard. The state prosecutor Antoine Haushalter said the trial of three senior game creators for alleged bullying, sexual harassment and, in one case, attempted sexual assault was a 'turning point' for the gaming world. It is the first big trial to result from the #MeToo movement in the video games industry, and Haushalter said the case had revealed 'overwhelming' evidence of harassment. In four days of hearings, female former staff members variously described being tied to a chair, forced to do handstands, subjected to constant comments about sex and their bodies, having to endure sexist and homophobic jokes, drawings of penises being stuck to computers, a manager who farted in workers' faces or scribbled on women with marker pens, gave unsolicited shoulder massages, played pornographic films in an open-plan office, and another executive who cracked a whip near people's heads. The three men deny all charges. Haushalter said 'the world of video games and its subculture' had an element of 'systemic' sexism and potential abuse. He said the #MeToo movement in the gaming industry had allowed people to speak out. 'It's not that these actions were not punished by the law before. It's just that they were silenced, and from now on they will not be silenced,' he said. Ubisoft is a French family business that rose to become one of the biggest video games creators in the world. It has been behind several blockbusters including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and the children's favourite Just Dance. The court in Bobigny, in Seine-Saint-Denis, heard that between 2010 and 2020 at Ubisoft's offices in Montreuil, east of Paris, the three executives created an atmosphere of bullying and sexism that one member of staff likened to a 'boys' club'. One alleged victim told the court: 'The sexual remarks and sexual jokes were almost daily.' Tommy François, 52, a former vice-president of editorial and creative services, is accused of sexual harassment, bullying and attempted sexual assault. He was alleged once to have tied a woman member of staff to a chair with tape, pushed the chair into a lift and pressed a button at random. He was also accused of forcing one woman wearing a skirt to do handstands. 'He was my superior and I was afraid of him. He made me do handstands. I did it to get it over with and get rid of him,' one woman told the court. At a 2015 office Christmas party with a Back to the Future theme, François allegedly told a member of staff that he liked her 1950s dress. He then allegedly stepped towards her to kiss her on the mouth as his colleagues restrained her by the arms and back. She shouted and broke free. François denied all allegations. Another witness told the court that during a video games fair in the US, François 'grabbed me by the hair and kissed me by force'. She said no one reacted, and that when she reported it to her human resources manager she was told 'don't make a big thing of it'. The woman said that later, in a key meeting, another unnamed senior figure told staff he had seen her 'snogging' François, 'even though he knew it had been an assault'. She said François called her into his office to show her pictures of his naked backside on his computers and on a phone. 'Once he drew a penis on my arm when I was in a video call with top management,' she said. The woman said these incidents made her feel 'stupefied, humiliated and professionally discredited'. François told the court he denied all charges. He said there had been a 'culture of joking around'. He said: 'I never tried to harm anyone.' Serge Hascoët, 59, Ubisoft's former chief creative officer and second-in-command, was accused of bullying and sexual harassment. The court heard how at a meeting of staff on an away day he complained about a senior female employee, saying she clearly didn't have enough sex and that he would 'show how to calm her' by having sex with her in a meeting room in front of everyone. He was alleged to have handed a young female member of staff a tissue in which he had blown his nose, saying: 'You can resell it, it's worth gold at Ubisoft.' The court heard he made guttural noises in the office and talked about sex. Hascoët was also alleged to have bullied assistants by making them carry out personal tasks for him such as going to his home to wait for parcel deliveries. Hascoët denied all the charges. He said: 'I have never wanted to harass anyone and I don't think I have.' The former game director Guillaume Patrux, 41, is accused of sexual harassment and bullying. He was alleged to have punched walls, mimed hitting staff, cracked a whip near colleagues' faces, threatened to carry out an office shooting and played with a cigarette lighter near workers' faces, setting alight a man's beard. He denied the charges. The panel of judges retired to consider their verdict, which will be handed down at a later date.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Former Man Utd and Chelsea star Nemanja Matic slapped with football ban after taping over LGBTQ+ logo
NEMANJA MATIC has received a ban after he covered an LGBTQ+ campaign logo on his kit with tape. The former Manchester United and Chelsea midfielder, who now plays for Ligue 1 club Lyon, covered up the logo on his sleeve for the final game of the season. 4 4 Matic, 36, used tape to cover a rainbow coloured Ligue 1 logo on his Lyon shirt for their final day victory over Angers. The logo was part of Ligue 1's annual campaign against homophobia which sees every club shirt adorned with the rainbow design. Matic wasn't the only player to cover the logo, with Le Havre forward Ahmed Hassan also covering the sleeve design with tape. According to Belgian news outlet HLN, both Matic and Hassan have been handed two-match bans by the French Football Federation as a result of their actions. The pair will also reportedly have to undergo an awareness campaign about homophobia in football. Matic is believed to be a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Hassan is Muslim. A third player, Nantes striker Mostafa Mohamed, has escaped punishment after refusing to play with the logo. Mohamed, who is also a practicing Muslim, chose not to play in the final match of the season rather than covering the logo up. 4 Mohamed cited his 'values' for not playing in Nantes 3-0 win over Montpellier. He wrote on social media: "Living together also means recognising that this diversity can be expressed differently from one person to another. Nemanja Matic brands Andre Onana 'one of worst keepers in Man Utd HISTORY' in savage response to goalie "I believe in mutual respect - the respect we owe others, but also the respect we owe ourselves and our beliefs. "As for me, there are deep-rooted values tied to my heritage and my faith, which make participating in this initiative difficult." The actions of the Matic, Hassan and Mohamed prompted France's sports minister Marie Basacq to issue a statement after the final day of the Ligue 1 campaign. Barsacq said: "Football has a massive platform, and the [French Football] Federation is determined to put this issue on the clubs' and supporters' agenda. 'Homophobic insults and behaviour are no longer acceptable. "Society has evolved, and the language in football must change with it. There's a full range of sanctions available, and they must be applied.' Although rare, some players have spoken out in support of the LGBTQ+ community in the past.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Decapitated body of missing escort is found and her security guard client is arrested – as he gives harrowing confession
A WOMAN who vanished in Italy last month has been found brutally decapitated - after weeks of national concern over her disappearance. The body of Denisa Maria Adas Paun, 30, was discovered on Wednesday in a suitcase among brambles, her head found separately miles away in a field. 5 5 5 Adas was a Romanian national who lived in Italy's capital of Rome and worked as an escort, according to the prosecutor's office. She disappeared on May 15 from the Tuscan town of Prato, where she is said to have travelled for work. Vasile Frumuzache, a Romanian-born 32-year-old security guard, reportedly confessed to the horrific crime. Frumuzache was charged with murder and concealment of a corpse. The married father-of-two claimed to police that Adas threatened to tell his wife of their relationship unless he gave her €10,000 (£8,417). 'That's why I killed her,' he allegedly told police. Frumuzache strangled her, then used a knife to decapitate her before placing the body in a rubbish bag and stuffing it into a suitcase, Italian news outlet Corriere Fiorentino reports. The next day, he reportedly set fire to her head in a garden using gasoline. Adas gave her mother a call on May 15 during which she "seemed calm". "Hi Mum, I'm fine, see you at home on Saturday," she said. 5 Body found in search for missing woman who vanished 15 years ago – as suspect, 39, arrested over 'murder' But shortly after the call, both of Adas' phones were switched off - a detail her family called deeply suspicious. Her mother soon went to police in Rome to report her missing. At first, investigators suspected she had left voluntarily - her phones, purse, car keys, two suitcases and the blanket she never travelled without were all missing. Her loved ones, however, were convinced something sinister had happened. A few days before her disappearance, Adas told a friend: 'I'm afraid I'm going to be killed,' local media report. Detectives say Frumuzache entered the property where Adas was staying at 10.50pm on May 15, carrying a holdall. Shortly after 1am, he was seen leaving with the suitcase that she had brought with her from her home in Rome. It is believed her body was inside the suitcase. Detectives traced his journey to the spot where the body was found using GPS data from a tracker fitted to his car for insurance purposes. Adas' body was discovered near an abandoned farmhouse in a rural part of Montecatini Terme, near Florence - around a half-hour drive from Prato. Her head was only found after Frumuzache disclosed its location during police questioning. Adas is believed to have been suffocated, but a post-mortem is expected to confirm the exact cause of death.
