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FEATURED STORYNEW5 MIN READ
She Reported France’s Most Beloved Actor — and Refused to Disappear
In 2018 a young actress accused Gérard Depardieu of assaulting her, and police first closed the case. She forced it back open and, three years later, put her name to it. Dozens of women followed. Here is what has — and hasn’t — happened since.
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“For three years she existed in headlines as an “unconscious intoxicated woman.” Then she read a statement in a courtroom that would be viewed 11 milli…”
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History·6 MIN READ
The 1962 Laughter Epidemic That Closed 14 Schools in Tanzania
In 1962, three schoolgirls in a Tanganyika village began to laugh — and couldn’t stop. Within months the fits had spread to nearly a thousand people and forced fourteen schools to close. No virus, no poison, and no one ever died. Here is what actually happened.
Human Rights·7 MIN READ
Why Leaving Is the Most Dangerous Moment in Abuse
The most common question asked of abuse survivors — why didn't she just leave? — is exactly backwards. Decades of research show the risk of being killed peaks when a woman tries to leave. Here is what the data actually says about intimate partner violence, and the warning signs that appear long before anyone dies.
Human Rights·7 MIN READ
The Soldier Who Forced Japan's Military to Apologise
Rina Gonoi joined Japan's Self-Defence Forces after watching them rescue her town in 2011. When her own colleagues assaulted her and two investigations were dropped, she posted her story on YouTube — and forced the military into a public apology and a service-wide reckoning.
Human Interest·8 MIN READ
How One Woman Made Upskirting a Crime in 18 Months
Gina Martin was upskirted at a London music festival and told by police it wasn't a crime. With no lawyer, no funding, and no political connections, she spent eighteen months changing the law for all of England and Wales.
Custom Affairs·12 MIN READ
Luis Rubiales Found Guilty: The Jenni Hermoso Case Explained
On August 20, 2023, in front of a global television audience, Luis Rubiales — then president of Spain's football federation — grabbed Jenni Hermoso's head with both hands and kissed her on the lips during the Women's World Cup medal ceremony. She said, immediately and publicly, that it was not consensual. What followed was designed to make her doubt herself. The federation defended Rubiales. His mother locked herself inside a church in his hometown and went on hunger strike, calling the backlash a "bloodthirsty witch hunt." Hermoso testified that her life had been "on standby" ever since. She never changed her story. She filed a criminal complaint. She testified in court. In February 2025, a Spanish court found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault. The judge ruled plainly: a non-consensual kiss is sexual assault. Here is the full timeline of what happened. Read the full story below.
True Crime·12 MIN READ
The 1997 Philadelphia Fire That Was Actually a Kidnapping
On December 15, 1997, a fire tore through a home in Philadelphia. Inside was 10-day-old Delimar Vera. Firefighters found no body — the intense heat, officials said, must have consumed it entirely. No death certificate was ever issued. There were simply no remains to certify. Her mother, Luz Cuevas, never accepted that explanation. For six years, she told anyone who would listen that she believed her daughter was still alive. Most people, including her own family, urged her to let it go. Then, at a birthday party in January 2004, Cuevas saw a six-year-old girl who looked exactly like her missing daughter. She pretended the girl had gum in her hair, snipped five strands as a keepsake, and brought them to police for DNA testing. The results confirmed what she had known for six years: the fire had never killed her daughter. It had been set to cover up a kidnapping. Read the full story below.
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