5 d. ago ‘A supermarket for sexual predators’: abuse scandal at elite boarding school shakes France

Legal complaints filed by former pupils accuse priests and staff of physical or sexual abuse from 1957 to 2004When 14-year-old Pascal Gélie saw a brochure for an elite French Catholic boarding school boasting swimming in summer and skiing in winter, he begged his parents to send him. He had just watched the American school drama Dead Poets Society and was expecting “sport and friendship”.“On the first night, I realised I’d made a terrible mistake,” said Gélie, now a 51-year-old office-worker in Bordeaux. “There were 40 of us in a dormitory with decrepit mattresses. When I whispered to another boy for some toilet paper to take to the bathroom, the supervisor grabbed me by the face and pointed to the stone terrace outside. Someone told me to take my coat because you could be forced to stand outside for hours in the cold and damp. I was made to stand there all night.” Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Dad shares harrowing near miss after Chalkwell tree death tragedy, as expert warns of 'wake

A local parent has shared a harrowing near-miss after a 7-year-old girl was killed by a falling branch at Chalkwell Park this weekend, while a tree expert has condemned the local council

Events

9 d. ago Three Revolutions by Simon Hall review – Stories from the frontlines of revolution

The uprisings in Russia, China and Cuba seen through the eyes of reporters John Reed, Edgar Snow and Herbert MatthewsIf the word “revolution” implies, etymologically, a world turned around, then what unfolded in Russia in 1917 was just that. Everything changed. Old-school deference was dead; the proletariat was in power.The communist American journalist John Reed witnessed a contretemps that captured the suddenness of the change. In simpler times, sailors would have yielded to senior ministers, but on the day of the storming of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, they weren’t having it. When, in a last-ditch effort to save the Provisional Government, two liberal grandees demanded that they be let in, one of the sailors replied, “We will spank you! And if necessary we will shoot you too. Go home now, and leave us in peace!” Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Three Revolutions by Simon Hall review – how Russia, China and Cuba changed forever

A historian explores eyewitness accounts of the most dramatic political unpheavals of the 20th centuryIf the word “revolution” implies, etymologically, a world turned around, then what unfolded in Russia in 1917 was just that. Everything changed. Old-school deference was dead; the proletariat was in power.The communist American journalist John Reed witnessed a contretemps that captured the suddenness of the change. In simpler times, sailors would have yielded to senior ministers, but on the day of the storming of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, they weren’t having it. When, in a last-ditch effort to save the Provisional Government, two liberal grandees demanded that they be let in, one of the sailors replied, “We will spank you! And if necessary we will shoot you too. Go home now, and leave us in peace!” Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Outback killer Bradley John Murdoch transferred from prison to palliative care

The ruthless drug runner spent 20 years in jail for shooting British backpacker Peter Falconio and tying up Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees before she made a harrowing escape.

Events

1 week ago Hero schoolboy tells how he saved girlfriend when her Muslim parents tried to strangle her in 'honor killing'

Ihsan Ali, 44, and his wife Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, are charged with second-degree attempted murder and attempted kidnapping after the attack that was stopped by the girl's teen boyfriend.

Events

2 w. ago Girl's harrowing account of how Muslim parents tried to strangle her in 'honor killing' outside American school

Ihsan Ali, 44, and his wife Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, are charged with second-degree attempted murder and attempted kidnapping after the attack in Lacye, Washington, on October 18.

Events