Poupées sexuelles: la justice enquête sur les plateformes asiatiques, Shein menacé d’interdiction

Avant l’ouverture mercredi du magasin Shein au BHV, les géants asiatiques de la vente en ligne doivent se défendre sur un nouveau front: la justice a ouvert, au nom de la protection des mineurs, des enquêtes sur Shein et AliExpress notamment pour avoir proposé sur leurs sites des poupées sexuelles d’apparence enfantine, et sur leurs concurrents Temu et Wish, pour d’autres griefs.Lundi soir, le parquet de Paris a annoncé à l’AFP avoir confié quatre enquêtes à l’Office des mineurs (Ofmin). Ces investigations portent sur la “diffusion de message violent, pornographique, ou contraire à la dignité accessible à un mineur” pour les quatre sites.Dans le cas de Shein et AliExpress, qui proposaient des poupées ayant l’apparence d’enfants, les enquêtes visent aussi la “diffusion de l’image ou la représentation d’un mineur présentant un caractère pornographique”.Le parquet souligne avoir été saisi par des signalements de la Répression des fraudes (DGCCRF) qui dénonçait “l’accessibilité de contenus sexuels par des mineurs, ainsi que la mise en vente d’objets sexuels revêtant l’apparence d’enfants, et donc à caractère pédopornographique”.De son côté, Temu a tenu à souligner que le signalement de la DGCCRF le concernant “ne porte aucunement sur la vente de poupées sexuelles ayant l’apparence d’enfants”, dans une déclaration envoyée à l’AFP mardi.Lundi soir, Shein avait affirmé avoir supprimé l’intégralité des annonces et visuels associés aux “poupées sexuelles”, et avoir temporairement déréférencé sa catégorie “produits pour adultes”. AliExpress a assuré que “les annonces concernées (par le signalement) ont été retirées”.- Menace d’interdiction -Plusieurs responsables politiques étaient montés au front, le ministre de l’Économie Roland Lescure menaçant sur BFMTV et RMC de demander, “si ces comportements sont répétés, (…) qu’on interdise l’accès de la plateforme Shein au marché français”.”C’est tout à fait inacceptable et soulève la question, plus généralement, de la manière dont le marché unique européen, dont notre marché intérieur, est envahi par des produits contrefaits”, a ajouté le ministre des Affaires étrangères Jean-Noël Barrot.Shein sera auditionnée sous quinze jours à l’Assemblée par la mission d’information sur les contrôles des produits importés en France.”Il y en a marre parce que ce ne sont pas des objets comme les autres”, a condamné sur BFM la haute-commissaire à l’Enfance Sarah El-Haïry. “Ce sont des objets pédocriminels sur lesquels des prédateurs s’entraînent malheureusement, parfois avant de passer à des sévices sur des enfants”, a-t-elle ajouté.”Au domicile de Joël Le Scouarnec, le médecin qui a fait plus de 300 victimes, on a retrouvé une collection de poupées sexuelles à l’effigie d’enfants”, rappelle Arnaud Gallais, fondateur de Mouv’Enfant, en référence à l’ancien chirurgien, condamné à 20 ans de prison pour viols et agressions sexuelles. Le collectif s’est rendu devant le BHV lundi pour dénoncer le partenariat avec Shein.Le régulateur de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique, l’Arcom, a par ailleurs confirmé à l’AFP avoir été saisi.- “Indécent” -Entreprise aux racines chinoises qui a conquis le marché mondial de l’ultra fast-fashion, Shein s’est implantée progressivement dans le paysage du commerce en ligne depuis son arrivée en France en 2015.Régulièrement accusée de concurrence déloyale, de pollution environnementale et de conditions de travail indignes, Shein a prévu d’ouvrir mercredi son tout premier magasin physique pérenne au BHV, historique grand magasin.Sur la devanture du BHV, le patron de Shein Donald Tang et celui de la société des grands magasins (SGM), propriétaire du BHV, Frédéric Merlin, s’affichent tout sourire sur une immense affiche.S’il juge “indécent” et “inacceptable” la vente de ces poupées, Frédéric Merlin a défendu lundi le partenariat avec Shein.”Le principe même de notre partenariat est clair: seuls les vêtements et articles conçus et produits directement par Shein pour le BHV seront vendus en magasin”, assure-t-il. “Aucun produit issu de la marketplace internationale de Shein n’est concerné”.L’association Origine France Garantie appelle, elle, au boycott médiatique de Shein, dont l’ouverture du magasin est prévue à la veille du salon du Made in France, à Paris, de jeudi à dimanche.De son côté, le directeur des opérations de l’exploitant des Galeries Lafayette en province, Karl-Stéphane Cottendin, a affirmé lundi sur BFMTV que le calendrier d’ouverture des points de vente de Shein ailleurs qu’à Paris était à “redéfinir”, sans donner plus de précisions.mpa-cac-ole-ama-hrc-fbe/bfa/dch/may/ak/dsa

Poupées sexuelles: la justice enquête sur les plateformes asiatiques, Shein menacé d’interdiction

Avant l’ouverture mercredi du magasin Shein au BHV, les géants asiatiques de la vente en ligne doivent se défendre sur un nouveau front: la justice a ouvert, au nom de la protection des mineurs, des enquêtes sur Shein et AliExpress notamment pour avoir proposé sur leurs sites des poupées sexuelles d’apparence enfantine, et sur leurs concurrents Temu et Wish, pour d’autres griefs.Lundi soir, le parquet de Paris a annoncé à l’AFP avoir confié quatre enquêtes à l’Office des mineurs (Ofmin). Ces investigations portent sur la “diffusion de message violent, pornographique, ou contraire à la dignité accessible à un mineur” pour les quatre sites.Dans le cas de Shein et AliExpress, qui proposaient des poupées ayant l’apparence d’enfants, les enquêtes visent aussi la “diffusion de l’image ou la représentation d’un mineur présentant un caractère pornographique”.Le parquet souligne avoir été saisi par des signalements de la Répression des fraudes (DGCCRF) qui dénonçait “l’accessibilité de contenus sexuels par des mineurs, ainsi que la mise en vente d’objets sexuels revêtant l’apparence d’enfants, et donc à caractère pédopornographique”.De son côté, Temu a tenu à souligner que le signalement de la DGCCRF le concernant “ne porte aucunement sur la vente de poupées sexuelles ayant l’apparence d’enfants”, dans une déclaration envoyée à l’AFP mardi.Lundi soir, Shein avait affirmé avoir supprimé l’intégralité des annonces et visuels associés aux “poupées sexuelles”, et avoir temporairement déréférencé sa catégorie “produits pour adultes”. AliExpress a assuré que “les annonces concernées (par le signalement) ont été retirées”.- Menace d’interdiction -Plusieurs responsables politiques étaient montés au front, le ministre de l’Économie Roland Lescure menaçant sur BFMTV et RMC de demander, “si ces comportements sont répétés, (…) qu’on interdise l’accès de la plateforme Shein au marché français”.”C’est tout à fait inacceptable et soulève la question, plus généralement, de la manière dont le marché unique européen, dont notre marché intérieur, est envahi par des produits contrefaits”, a ajouté le ministre des Affaires étrangères Jean-Noël Barrot.Shein sera auditionnée sous quinze jours à l’Assemblée par la mission d’information sur les contrôles des produits importés en France.”Il y en a marre parce que ce ne sont pas des objets comme les autres”, a condamné sur BFM la haute-commissaire à l’Enfance Sarah El-Haïry. “Ce sont des objets pédocriminels sur lesquels des prédateurs s’entraînent malheureusement, parfois avant de passer à des sévices sur des enfants”, a-t-elle ajouté.”Au domicile de Joël Le Scouarnec, le médecin qui a fait plus de 300 victimes, on a retrouvé une collection de poupées sexuelles à l’effigie d’enfants”, rappelle Arnaud Gallais, fondateur de Mouv’Enfant, en référence à l’ancien chirurgien, condamné à 20 ans de prison pour viols et agressions sexuelles. Le collectif s’est rendu devant le BHV lundi pour dénoncer le partenariat avec Shein.Le régulateur de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique, l’Arcom, a par ailleurs confirmé à l’AFP avoir été saisi.- “Indécent” -Entreprise aux racines chinoises qui a conquis le marché mondial de l’ultra fast-fashion, Shein s’est implantée progressivement dans le paysage du commerce en ligne depuis son arrivée en France en 2015.Régulièrement accusée de concurrence déloyale, de pollution environnementale et de conditions de travail indignes, Shein a prévu d’ouvrir mercredi son tout premier magasin physique pérenne au BHV, historique grand magasin.Sur la devanture du BHV, le patron de Shein Donald Tang et celui de la société des grands magasins (SGM), propriétaire du BHV, Frédéric Merlin, s’affichent tout sourire sur une immense affiche.S’il juge “indécent” et “inacceptable” la vente de ces poupées, Frédéric Merlin a défendu lundi le partenariat avec Shein.”Le principe même de notre partenariat est clair: seuls les vêtements et articles conçus et produits directement par Shein pour le BHV seront vendus en magasin”, assure-t-il. “Aucun produit issu de la marketplace internationale de Shein n’est concerné”.L’association Origine France Garantie appelle, elle, au boycott médiatique de Shein, dont l’ouverture du magasin est prévue à la veille du salon du Made in France, à Paris, de jeudi à dimanche.De son côté, le directeur des opérations de l’exploitant des Galeries Lafayette en province, Karl-Stéphane Cottendin, a affirmé lundi sur BFMTV que le calendrier d’ouverture des points de vente de Shein ailleurs qu’à Paris était à “redéfinir”, sans donner plus de précisions.mpa-cac-ole-ama-hrc-fbe/bfa/dch/may/ak/dsa

Nigerian separatist’s trial heads towards likely convictionTue, 04 Nov 2025 11:32:27 GMT

The years-long legal drama of Nigerian separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu appears to be heading towards a likely conviction after he declined again Tuesday to open his defence, to the exasperation of the judge.Kanu, leader of the banned group the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has long advocated for the independence of southeastern Nigeria, alleging the …

Nigerian separatist’s trial heads towards likely convictionTue, 04 Nov 2025 11:32:27 GMT Read More »

Stocks drop as traders assess tech rally

Stock markets fell Tuesday as investors weighed the recent tech rally on Wall Street against growing fears of an AI bubble and concerns over the US interest-rate outlook.A flood of multi-billion-dollar investment into artificial intelligence has been a key driver of the surge in mostly technology equities across the globe this year, sending valuations to record highs.But there is increasing talk that tech-led gains may have gone too far and a painful correction could be on the way.”Wall Street CEOs have also put investors on notice for a correction in the next 1-2 years,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.”It seems like the investment community has taken heed of this message,” she added.Paris and Frankfurt stock markets shed more than one percent in midday trading Tuesday, while London slipped 0.7 percent.The British pound retreated against the dollar after finance minister Rachel Reeves hinted at tax rises in a pre-budget speech.That tracked a weak day in Asia, with Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai stocks falling.Wall Street ended on a mixed note Monday, after tech stocks won a boost from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI signing a $38 billion deal with Amazon’s AWS cloud computing arm.”Some skeptics continued to raise their eyebrows, concerned by the circularity of these deals,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote bank.Cautious remarks from US Federal Reserve officials did little to provide support for further buying after the central bank’s chief, Jerome Powell, indicated last week that a third rate cut this year was not definite.Data on Monday indicated some further weakness in the US economy, with a key gauge of activity in the manufacturing sector contracting more than expected and for an eighth straight month in October as demand and output weakened.On currency markets, India’s rupee rallied from close to a record low against the dollar after the Reserve Bank of India stepped in with support, according to Bloomberg News. The unit briefly jumped to 88.3925 against the greenback, after sitting close to its all-time low on Monday.India’s rupee has come under pressure of late owing to worries about exports as New Delhi struggles to strike a trade deal with the United States.In company news, shares in British energy giant BP were down 0.4 percent after a drop in oil prices on Tuesday overshadowed its strong earnings report.Crude prices shed around 1.5 percent as the market anticipated oversupply.- Key figures at around 1115 GMT -London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 9,630.90 pointsParis – CAC 40: DOWN 1.2 percent at 8,009.26Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1.4 percent at 23,798.38Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.7 percent at 51,497.20 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 25,952.40 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,960.19 (close)New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 47,336.68 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1504 from $1.1518 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3071 from $1.3138Dollar/yen: DOWN at 153.48 yen from 154.20 yenEuro/pound: UP at 88.02 pence from 87.67 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.6 percent at $60.07 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.4 percent at $64.00 per barrel

Oscar-winning Palestinian films daily ‘Israeli impunity’ in West Bank

Armed with his camera, Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra has spent years in the occupied West Bank documenting what he describes as the impunity Israelis enjoy in their mistreatment of Palestinians.From his terrace, he points to the nearby Israeli settlement of Maon, just a short distance away. The view appears calm, but he said incidents involving settlers and Israeli soldiers take place almost daily.The situation has only worsened since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, said Adra, the co-director of “No Other Land,” a documentary he made with Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham that this year won an Academy award.”The world allows Israelis — and gives them the impunity — to commit crimes,” the 29-year-old filmmaker told AFP at his home in the village of At Tuwani.In the nine months after accepting his Oscar in Hollywood, Adra has given score of interviews and captured hundreds of videos capturing settler violence allegedly carried out under army protection.”Dozens of Palestinian communities, villagers fled from their homes in this time due to the settler and occupation forces violence and attacks and killings,” Adra said.Taking a team of AFP journalists on a tour to illustrate the difficulties of life for Palestinians in the West Bank, Adra headed to the nearby Bedouin village of Umm al-Khair.To reach it, one must pass an Israeli settlement.On a wall, an inscription in Arabic warns: “No future for Palestine.”Since the war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, settler and army attacks in the West Bank have killed around 1,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.During the same period, Palestinian attacks in the same region have killed at least 43 Israelis, including soldiers, according to official Israeli figures.- Targeted -Even the presence of international and Israeli activists, intended to deter violence, has done little to change reality for Palestinians in the West Bank.Adra recalled the killing of a close friend, fellow activist Awdah Hathaleen, on July 28.Hathaleen, he said, was filming “settlers with a bulldozer going through his family land, destroying their olive trees and fence”.His death, widely filmed by other activists and reported in the media, prompted Israeli police to open an investigation, though they did not classify it as murder.”A couple of days after this criminal settler committed these crimes, he was allowed to come again to the same place, to continue digging the same land,” Adra said.The young filmmaker, who displayed the Oscar statue, has also been targeted.”I’ve been arrested several times by the army,” Adra said.”Once, settlers came onto our land, they started pushing us, throwing stones. They had sticks, and one of them had a gun. Two of my brothers were slightly injured.””We called the police. They arrived, but the attack continued while they watched.”The military said it had received reports that “several terrorists” had hurled rocks at Israeli civilians near At Tuwani injuring two of them.”Upon receiving the report, the security forces were dispatched to the scene, conducted searches in the area and questioned suspects,” the military told AFP.Adra said that in Masafer Yatta, the cluster of villages that includes At Tuwani, settler activity is unrelenting.”They keep building settlements and illegal outposts 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said.After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the army in 2022, paving the way for the eviction of residents from eight Palestinian villages in the area.- ‘We will stay’ -In the village of Umm al-Khair, a few concrete houses are surrounded by settler structures — mobile homes flying Israeli flags and permanent structures encircling the Bedouins.At his desk, community leader Khalil Hathaleen — brother of the slain activist — spreads out 14 demolition orders received on October 28.According to army documents in Hebrew and Arabic, residents have 14 days to appeal.”Even if the entire village is demolished, we will stay on this land and we will not leave,” Hathaleen said.”Because there is nowhere else to go.”Like other communities in the area, the approximately 200 residents of Umm al-Khair are descendants of Bedouins expelled from the Negev desert in southern Israel in the early 1950s.About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Some 500,000 Israelis live there in settlements deemed illegal under international law.At the end of October, the Israeli parliament voted to advance two far-right-backed bills calling for annexation of the territory.”Growing up, I believed very much in international law,” Adra said.”I believe that the materials that I’m filming, the documentation, when they are seen abroad, somebody is going to do something.”

Fierce mountain storms kill nine in Nepal

Days of ferocious snowstorms and an avalanche in Nepal’s treacherous Himalayan peaks have killed nine people, including five Italian climbers, officials said Tuesday.The deaths occurred in two separate accidents since Friday.On Monday, an avalanche hit a group of 12 people at the base camp of 5,630-metre (18,471-foot) Yalung Ri peak, in central Nepal near the border with China.Seven people died in that disaster, including three Italians, two Nepalis, a German and a French climber, Phurba Tenjing Sherpa, from expedition organiser Dreamers Destination, told AFP.Sherpa, whose company had arranged the expedition for some of the group, said he had “seen all the seven bodies”. The rest of the group were rescued and airlifted to the capital Kathmandu on Tuesday morning, said senior police officer Gyan Kumar Mahato, from Dolakha district.Those rescued included two French climbers and two Nepalis, who were recovering in hospital.Survivors recounted to AFP how “slabs” of ice smashed into the group as they clung on the mountain, burying some under the snow.- ‘Crashing down’ -“Suddenly we heard a loud noise, and the slabs came crashing down, and we were caught in them,” French climber Didier Armand Berton, 61, told AFP from hospital, where he was recovering from broken ribs.”I think we were saved because we were the group highest on the summit, and the others below couldn’t escape. We jumped over a large rock face, four to five meters high,” he added.He described how the survivors managed to rescue a guide, trapped under the snow, “by digging with an ice axe”.French climber Christian Manfredi, 69, died after he was hit on the head by a rock. “I was under the snow, but not a lot. Just a little. But Christian died because of the rock (which hit) his head,” his wife Isabelle Thaon said from her hospital bed. Thaon, 54, said the avalanche felt like “a wave of snow”. “I swim a lot. And I think this is why I am alive,” Thaon said.In an earlier incident in western Nepal, two Italian climbers died while attempting to scale the 6,887-metre (22,595-foot) Panbari mountain.The men had been out of contact since Friday. Italy’s foreign ministry named them on Tuesday as Alessandro Caputo and Stefano Farronato.”Their deaths were confirmed this morning by local authorities,” the statement read. “The compatriots had been caught in heavy snowfall at Camp 1 (5,000 metres above sea level).”Home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks, including Mount Everest, Nepal welcomes hundreds of climbers and trekkers every year.Autumn season is the second most popular time for Himalayan expeditions, despite shorter, colder days, snowy terrain and a narrow summit window compared to the busy spring.Last week, Cyclone Montha triggered heavy rain and snowfall across Nepal, leaving trekkers and tourists stranded on popular Himalayan trekking routes.According to the Himalayan Database, an expedition archive, at least 1,093 people have died on peaks since 1950, with avalanches killing almost a third of them.

Shein vows to cooperate with France in sex doll probe

Asian e-commerce giant Shein Tuesday pledged to “cooperate fully” with French judicial authorities after an uproar over it selling childlike sex dolls, and said it was prepared to disclose the names of people who bought them.The controversy comes as the ultra-fast fashion giant is set to open its first bricks and mortar store in the world, in the prestigious BHV department store in central Paris on Wednesday.”We will cooperate fully with the judicial authorities,” Shein’s spokesman in France, Quentin Ruffat, told RMC radio, adding the company was prepared to share the names of those who have bought such dolls.”We will be completely transparent with the authorities,” he said.”We will put the necessary safeguards in place to ensure that this does not happen again,” Ruffat added.The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had opened investigations against Shein, and also rival online retailers AliExpress, Temu and Wish, over the sale of sex dolls.The probes were for distributing “messages that are violent, pornographic or improper, and accessible to minors”, the office told AFP.The investigations were launched after France’s anti-fraud unit reported on Saturday that Shein, a Singapore-based company which was originally founded in China, was selling childlike sex dolls.French media published a photo of one of the dolls sold on the platform, accompanied by an explicitly sexual caption.The pictured doll measured around 80 centimetres (30 inches) in height and held a teddy bear.Ruffat described what had happened as “serious, unacceptable, intolerable.”He chalked up the sale of the dolls to “a malfunction in our processes and governance”.- ‘Who can stop it?’ -On Monday, Shein announced it was imposing a “total ban on sex-doll-type products” and had deleted all listings and images linked to them.  Shein’s meteoric rise has been a bane for traditional retail fashion companies and, even before the uproar over the dolls, the arrival of Shein in the fashion capital had sparked a controversy.Critics fear that Shein will further hurt stores in France that have had to lay off staff or close.”Shein in France. Who can stop it?” left-leaning French daily Liberation said on its front page.Frederic Merlin, the 34-year-old director of the company that owns BHV, has been criticised for partnering up with Shein, which has been accused of unfair competition, environmental pollution and poor working conditions.Merlin admitted on Tuesday that he considered pulling the plug on the partnership with Shein after the latest uproar.”It’s despicable,” he told broadcaster RTL.”I find it sickening to know that we can freely sell this kind of stuff on the internet,” Merlin added.But he said he had reconsidered, saying Shein’s stance and readiness to cooperate with the French authorities “convinced me to continue”.He said he was confident about the Shein products that will be sold at the department store, and denounced a “general hypocrisy” surrounding Shein and its “25 million French customers”.He expressed hope that the Asian giant would help increase footfall at the department store.- ‘Shein has to pay’ -On Monday, France’s high commissioner for childhood, Sarah El Hairy, denounced the dolls which she called “paedophile objects that predators unfortunately sometimes use to practise before moving on to abusing children.”Ruffat said he and “the entire Shein brand” shared her concerns.”We will be delighted to discuss these issues with her, these issues of paedophile crime, which are too serious to be ignored,” he said.Finance Minister Roland Lescure had warned he would move to ban the company from the French market if the items returned online.On Monday, an association fighting to protect children from all forms of violence staged a protest in front of the department store.”Shame on Shein,” one of the signs read.”Shein has to pay, politically speaking,” said Arnaud Gallais, co-founder and president of the Mouv’Enfants association.