‘I didn’t even know this type of attack existed’: more than 200 women allege drugging by senior French civil servant

When Sylvie Delezenne, a marketing expert from Lille, was job-hunting in 2015, she was delighted to be contacted on LinkedIn by a human resources manager at the French culture ministry, inviting her to Paris for an interview.“It was my dream to work at the culture ministry,” she said.But instead of finding a job, Delezenne, 45, is now one of more than 240 women at the centre of a criminal investigation into the alleged drugging of women without their knowledge in a place they never expected to be targeted: a job interview.An investigating judge is examining allegations that, over a nine-year period, dozens of women interviewed for jobs by a senior civil servant, Christian Nègre, were offered coffees or teas by him that had been mixed with a powerful and illegal diuretic, which he knew would make them need to urinate.Nègre often suggested continuing the interviews outside, on lengthy strolls far from toilets, the women say

Horrific death of Kardell Lomas sparks urgent calls for new independent oversight of police

Members of the federal government’s own expert advisory panel on sexual violence have called for “urgent” independent national oversight of police after new revelations about Queensland police failures before the killing of the First Nations woman Kardell Lomas.Guardian Australia’s Broken trust investigation revealed that Lomas, a 31-year-old Kamilaroi and Mununjali woman, had sought help from police and other agencies in the months before she was killed.Her family has applied for an inquest to examine, among other things, failures by police to help Lomas, protect her from her dangerous partner, or investigate evidence of domestic violence.A statement signed by 16 of the 20 members of the expert panel selected to advise the federal government about sexual violence law reform has called on the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, to take “urgent, decisive action” in relation to the case.They said the case highlighted issues they had raised throughout the Australian Law Reform Commission’s inquiry into justice responses to sexual violence but that the inquiry’s recommendations had not gone far enough

UK gambling firms make extra £1bn from punters amid calls for tax rises

The UK gambling sector made an extra £1bn from punters in the year to March, according to new data expected to buoy calls for the chancellor to raise betting taxes in Wednesday’s budget.Betting companies made £12.6bn from services excluding lotteries in the latest 12-month reporting period, the Gambling Commission revealed on Tuesday, a 9.3% rise on the £11.5bn the industry made during the previous year

CPS to train staff on ‘spectrum of abuse’ in violence against women and girls

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will train its staff to recognise the “wide spectrum of abuse” in cases of violence against women, after new data found that domestic abuse was present in more than a third of rape cases, and in more than eight out of 10 cases of stalking and image-based abuse.Launching its five-year Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, the body said its main aims were to increase casework quality and increase trust in the CPS.The CPS data found a significant overlap in crime types relating to violence against women and girls, with 93.5% of charges of “honour” crimes linked to domestic abuse, as well as 35.1% of rape charges, 82

Ministers urged to apologise after review finds systemic failures led to carer’s allowance crisis

Ministers are facing calls to apologise and pay compensation to hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers after a damning review of the benefit system revealed some considered suicide to escape their debts.A report ordered by the government on the longstanding failures within the carer’s allowance found the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) inflicted avoidable hardship and distress on carers and led to hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being misused.The investigation said fault lay with “systemic” issues at the DWP and said carers should not be blamed for falling foul of what it said were complex and confusing benefit rules.Unpaid carers who look after loved ones for at least 35 hours a week are entitled to £83.30 a week carer’s allowance, as long as their weekly earnings from part-time jobs do not exceed £196

What is prostate cancer and how is it diagnosed in the UK?

David Cameron has become the latest high-profile figure to back growing calls for the NHS to start screening men, or at least those at highest risk, for prostate cancer after being treated for it himself.He joined Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy and prostate cancer charities in saying that recent advances in diagnosing the disease mean that testing can be introduced that is much safer than traditional methods, which can produce both false-positive and false-negative results.However, others, including Cancer Research UK, disagree.On Thursday, the UK National Screening Committee will meet to discuss the latest evidence on the subject. The independent committee, which advises ministers, is under pressure to allow testing to begin of those men at highest risk: black men, those with a family history of prostate, breast or cervical cancer and men who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene