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HOLLYWOOD

France to strip Hollywood’s Weinstein of Legion d’Honneur award

France will strip disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of the prestigious Legion d'Honneur, President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday.

Published: 16 October 2017 09:03 CEST
France to strip Hollywood's Weinstein of Legion d'Honneur award
Harvey Weinstein after receiving the Legion d'Honneur in 2012. Photo: AFP
“I have taken steps to revoke the Legion d'Honneur (Legion of Honour)” from Weinstein — accused by several women of sexual harassment, groping and rape — Macron said in a televised interview.
 
Weinstein was made a knight of the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest award, in 2012 in recognition of the efforts by Miramax, the company he founded with his  brother Bob, to boost foreign films in the United States.
 
READ ALSO: 
On Thursday, Florence Darel, 49, became the fourth French actress to claim she had been harassed by Weinstein.
   
Bond star Lea Seydoux had earlier written her own account of her run-ins with Weinstein and others in an industry that she said turned a blind eye to abuse.
   
Two other French actresses, Judith Godreche and Emma de Caunes, also said they had also suffered at his hands.

ANGELA MERKEL

Merkel’s conservative party moves to clean up after ‘mask affair’

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives are trying to end corruption allegations roiling their ranks over mask procurement, ordering MPs to declare all financial gains related to the pandemic days ahead of key regional elections.

Published: 10 March 2021 14:00 CET
Merkel's conservative party moves to clean up after 'mask affair'
Angela Merkel on Tuesday. Photo: DPA

A lawmaker from Merkel’s CDU party and another from its CSU Bavarian sister party have been accused of profiting directly or indirectly from mask contracts.

In a move to clean house, the conservative CDU-CSU alliance on Wednesday ordered all of its MPs to declare any financial benefits gained from the coronavirus pandemic by 6pm on Friday.

All members of the CDU-CSU parliamentary group will have to make “a declaration that no such benefits were obtained in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic”, says the letter addressed to the lawmakers, dated March 10th.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Germany’s face mask scandal

This declaration must take into account any financial benefits “from the purchase or sale of medical products such as protective equipment, testing and vaccination supplies, from the provision of contacts, from the forwarding of offers or enquiries, or from the provision of support or advice to third parties”, the letter seen by AFP says.

In the event that such a declaration cannot be made, MPs are urged to report directly to two senior party members.

CSU lawmaker Georg Nüsslein was last month placed under investigation for corruption following accusations that he accepted around €600,000 ($715,000) to lobby for a mask supplier.

A similar controversy has embroiled CDU lawmaker Nikolas Löbel, whose company pocketed 250,000 euros in commissions for acting as an intermediary in mask contracts.

Löbel has resigned from his MP post and Nüsslein has said he will leave after September’s elections, with the deals drawing scathing criticism across the political spectrum.

Amid the fallout from the scandal dubbed the “mask affair” by German media, the conservatives said they had “a responsibility to present and clarify such matters in a completely transparent manner”.

The scandal has led to a drop in the CDU’s popularity ratings just days ahead of two key regional elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The state elections will be a litmus test ahead of Germany’s general election on September 26th – the first in over 15 years not to feature outgoing chancellor Merkel.

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