THE EPSTEIN CLASS
'Operation Epstein Distraction': Sexual assault allegations against Trump emerge
Issued on: 06/03/2026
Play (06:31 min)
PRESS REVIEW – Friday, March 6: International papers discuss US President Donald Trump's "warrior transformation" and speculate about how the new war in the Middle East could benefit Russia. Also: the US Department of Justice publishes an interview that outlines sexual assault allegations against Trump. Finally, is the US president trying to distract attention from the Epstein files with the new war? This question has inspired quite a few cartoons.
Papers from across the world are following the war in the Middle East. Spanish daily El País writes that "two out of three Spaniards oppose the war against Iran". However, "61 percent support sending a frigate to Cyprus in response to the Iranian attacks" and as a commitment to defend the European Union.
French newspaper La Croix headlines with "Trump's warrior transformation". The attack on Iran shows a dramatic turnaround by the US president, who was once opposed to "endless wars". Lebanese newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour headlines with "an entire population forced to flee", showing a scared child on the street and massive traffic jams after Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of Beirut's southern suburbs.
Israeli papers are not always on the same page. An analysis in the left-wing paper Haaretz says that "Trump's fantasies for Iran go beyond regime change". It says that the joint US-Israeli war is a "bid to consolidate a new regional order in the Middle East". Trump's vision for this order is not democratic values, human rights or international law, says the analysis. The paper reminds us that his central partners in the Gulf states are authoritarian monarchies where the ultra-rich employ poor migrants from the Global South. Therefore, the new emerging order is driven by economic interests: defence technologies, AI, crypto, real estate and finance, where the Gulf is a "haven for capital," not limited by the "perils of democracy". An analysis in the right-wing paper The Times of Israel says that the Gulf states are living "their worst nightmare", because they've spent decades trying to avoid direct conflict with Iran. The article says that Iran hopes that inflicting enough pain on its neighbours will pressure Trump to end the war. But this strategy might end up backfiring: the Gulf states are cooperating even more closely with Israel, opening pathways to new alliances.
The Washington Post writes that "Russia could benefit from the new war", as Trump's attention may be totally diverted with weapons rerouted to the Middle East. Russian oil might be put back on the table amid surging oil prices. The Ukrainian paper The Kyiv Independent writes that "in the Middle East, chaos is Putin's new ally". The opinion piece says that people shouldn't be worried that Putin will intervene on behalf of Iran; he will instead try to exploit the new war.
Meanwhile, Politico reports that the US Department of Justice has published documents that outline sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump. It's a trio of FBI interviews with a woman who says that Trump sexually assaulted her when she was a young teenager, between the ages of 13 and 15. She was introduced to him by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her central allegation is that the president forced her to perform oral sex on him – she says she then bit his private parts to defend herself, after which he punched her. These files come as Democrats have been investigating whether the US Justice Department deliberately withheld material that includes sexual assault allegations against Trump.
Finally, we take a look at some cartoons that imply Trump attacked Iran only to divert global attention from the Epstein files. "Operation Epstein Distraction" was renamed to "Operation Epic Fury" so that's it's not too obvious, says one of the cartoons wryly.
Issued on: 06/03/2026
Play (06:31 min)
PRESS REVIEW – Friday, March 6: International papers discuss US President Donald Trump's "warrior transformation" and speculate about how the new war in the Middle East could benefit Russia. Also: the US Department of Justice publishes an interview that outlines sexual assault allegations against Trump. Finally, is the US president trying to distract attention from the Epstein files with the new war? This question has inspired quite a few cartoons.
Papers from across the world are following the war in the Middle East. Spanish daily El País writes that "two out of three Spaniards oppose the war against Iran". However, "61 percent support sending a frigate to Cyprus in response to the Iranian attacks" and as a commitment to defend the European Union.
French newspaper La Croix headlines with "Trump's warrior transformation". The attack on Iran shows a dramatic turnaround by the US president, who was once opposed to "endless wars". Lebanese newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour headlines with "an entire population forced to flee", showing a scared child on the street and massive traffic jams after Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of Beirut's southern suburbs.
Israeli papers are not always on the same page. An analysis in the left-wing paper Haaretz says that "Trump's fantasies for Iran go beyond regime change". It says that the joint US-Israeli war is a "bid to consolidate a new regional order in the Middle East". Trump's vision for this order is not democratic values, human rights or international law, says the analysis. The paper reminds us that his central partners in the Gulf states are authoritarian monarchies where the ultra-rich employ poor migrants from the Global South. Therefore, the new emerging order is driven by economic interests: defence technologies, AI, crypto, real estate and finance, where the Gulf is a "haven for capital," not limited by the "perils of democracy". An analysis in the right-wing paper The Times of Israel says that the Gulf states are living "their worst nightmare", because they've spent decades trying to avoid direct conflict with Iran. The article says that Iran hopes that inflicting enough pain on its neighbours will pressure Trump to end the war. But this strategy might end up backfiring: the Gulf states are cooperating even more closely with Israel, opening pathways to new alliances.
The Washington Post writes that "Russia could benefit from the new war", as Trump's attention may be totally diverted with weapons rerouted to the Middle East. Russian oil might be put back on the table amid surging oil prices. The Ukrainian paper The Kyiv Independent writes that "in the Middle East, chaos is Putin's new ally". The opinion piece says that people shouldn't be worried that Putin will intervene on behalf of Iran; he will instead try to exploit the new war.
Meanwhile, Politico reports that the US Department of Justice has published documents that outline sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump. It's a trio of FBI interviews with a woman who says that Trump sexually assaulted her when she was a young teenager, between the ages of 13 and 15. She was introduced to him by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her central allegation is that the president forced her to perform oral sex on him – she says she then bit his private parts to defend herself, after which he punched her. These files come as Democrats have been investigating whether the US Justice Department deliberately withheld material that includes sexual assault allegations against Trump.
Finally, we take a look at some cartoons that imply Trump attacked Iran only to divert global attention from the Epstein files. "Operation Epstein Distraction" was renamed to "Operation Epic Fury" so that's it's not too obvious, says one of the cartoons wryly.
#METOO REDUX
In France, women accusing Al-Fayed seek answers over trafficking claimsParis (AFP) – Mohamed Al-Fayed traded on the glamour of owning Harrods, the Paris Ritz and luxury yachts, but he and his brother were also at the centre of a dark web of alleged abuse, say French lawyers for women who liken him to US sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Issued on: 04/03/2026 - RFI
Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in September 2023, is accused by at least 37 women of rape and sexual assault. © AP - Kamil Zihnioglu
French authorities began investigating the late Egyptian businessman and his brother Salah last year amid allegations of a vast system of sex trafficking and abuse on French soil.
"Every time I met Mohamed Al-Fayed, he tried to assault me," his former personal assistant Kristina Svensson told French police of her two years working at the Ritz.
Her testimony is all too familiar.
The alleged crimes of Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in 2023 aged 94, first came to light in a BBC investigation in September 2024. In it, several young women who worked at his upmarket London department store Harrods accused him of rape and sexual assault.
Late Harrods owner Al-Fayed accused of rape: BBC
British police told AFP that 154 victims have so far come forward to say the former owner of Premier League club Fulham abused them.
His brother Salah, who died in 2010, is also accused.
More than 400 people come forward over Al-Fayed sexual abuse claims
But frustrated by London Metropolitan Police's investigation of the alleged crimes, which span more than 35 years, some victims have turned to France in the hope of finding justice.
"In England they're ignoring the trafficking... They just want to make it about Al-Fayed and Harrods," said Rachael Louw, a former Al-Fayed employee, speaking for the first time about her ordeal.
The French investigation, however, is handled by "a unit specialised in human trafficking", she told AFP.
It is "a relief that our cases are actually being recognised as trafficking".
Mohamed Al-Fayed, outsider shunned by British high society
Consumed 'like meat'
Louw was 23 when her bosses sent her to Salah Fayed's yacht on the French Riviera. Now after 31 years she was able to testify about what happened there to French investigators on February 10.
Louw told AFP she was first "spotted" by Mohamed Al-Fayed in 1993 while working as a sales assistant at Harrods. Shortly after, she was placed on a management training scheme, which required her to submit to a medical exam by a Harley Street doctor before being employed by the chairman's office in the summer of 1994.
Rachael Louw, a former employee of late Salah Fayed, brother of late Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, here during a photo session in Paris on 9 February, 2026, was 23 when her bosses sent her to Salah Fayed's yacht on the French Riviera. AFP - JOEL SAGET
The medical appointment went far beyond a standard checkup, with a pelvic exam and "thorough breast exam", smear and HIV tests.
And the results were not kept confidential.
The report, seen by AFP, was handed over to Harrods, and described Louw's personal life: her parents' separation when she was young, her father living in the United States and the death of her mother and grandmother.
The doctor also noted that she took a birth control pill, had a boyfriend and was in "excellent" health.
The doctor "sent confidential information to arm the rapist", said French lawyer Eva Joly, who is representing Louw and another former Al-Fayed assistant.
"These young women were like meat, and they wanted to know if they were fit to consume," said Caroline Joly, another member of the legal team.
Several encounters were arranged between Louw and Salah Fayed at his home in London's glitzy Park Lane, where Louw said she was drugged with "a crack cocaine mix".
Louw was then offered a job as an assistant to Salah in France and she was sent there by private jet.
She said she refused further drugs, "and because he didn't push anymore, I thought it was okay".
"I had no reason not to trust this man... this was my first job from university."
The medical appointment went far beyond a standard checkup, with a pelvic exam and "thorough breast exam", smear and HIV tests.
And the results were not kept confidential.
The report, seen by AFP, was handed over to Harrods, and described Louw's personal life: her parents' separation when she was young, her father living in the United States and the death of her mother and grandmother.
The doctor also noted that she took a birth control pill, had a boyfriend and was in "excellent" health.
The doctor "sent confidential information to arm the rapist", said French lawyer Eva Joly, who is representing Louw and another former Al-Fayed assistant.
"These young women were like meat, and they wanted to know if they were fit to consume," said Caroline Joly, another member of the legal team.
Several encounters were arranged between Louw and Salah Fayed at his home in London's glitzy Park Lane, where Louw said she was drugged with "a crack cocaine mix".
Louw was then offered a job as an assistant to Salah in France and she was sent there by private jet.
She said she refused further drugs, "and because he didn't push anymore, I thought it was okay".
"I had no reason not to trust this man... this was my first job from university."
'I didn't feel safe'
Staff confiscated her passport as she flew from London's Luton airport to his yacht. And once she arrived, "nothing" resembled the job she signed up for.
"I thought I was supposed to be filing paperwork, making arrangements, organising office work," she said.
Instead "there was no office, no normal working hours, no time off. I was expected to just be with him", she said.
Louw recalled appearing alongside Salah Fayed at dinners attended by elderly, wealthy men with "young girls and lots of touching".
When she managed to call her boyfriend, who worked at Harrods, he was fired.
One night, Louw woke up to find Salah in her bed, claiming he was lonely, she said.
"I went ramrod straight and the rest of the night I was awake just lying there petrified," she said, fearing any movement would be an invitation for him to touch her.
"I didn't know what he would do to me... I didn't feel safe."
She saw other young women in the Fayeds' orbit.
On a trip to Saint Tropez she encountered a red-headed "young girl", possibly younger than herself, sunbathing on Mohamed Al-Fayed's yacht that was moored just off his villa.
"Mohamed starts rubbing lotion all over this girl, she's wearing a bathing suit and then he started to kiss her," Louw told AFP.
"I don't remember anything else" of that day, she said, "so I don't know if there were drugs, I can't say for sure whether I was drugged that afternoon," she added.
What jolted her to escape was the prospect of being trapped alone with Salah after he bought a speedboat with only one bedroom, telling her "that he would take me to sail around the Italian coast".
"I knew that if I went on that boat nothing good would happen," she said.
Panicked, she booked the first Air France flight out and worked up the courage to ask for her passport back, which she received although it was clear Salah "was very angry".
Home again, "I had blocked out" the details of what happened, she said. "I didn't want to remember."
For decades she feared she was bound by a confidentiality agreement she had signed at her interview, but seeing other victims speak out against Al-Fayed in 2024, she reconsidered.
"How can I be silent? There has to be a cost to what the perpetrators did. Because if they go unpunished, it emboldens the next man.
"If we women do not speak up we become complicit in our own oppression... powerful men will never change a system that benefits them."
Alleged victims Gemma, Lindsay and Jen after a press conference held by the legal team featured in "Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods", in London on 31 October, 2024, after barristers provided an update on their investigation into Harrods corporate failure to provide a safe system of work for its employees. AFP - BENJAMIN CREMEL
'Organised system'
Despite the deaths of the brothers, the women hope investigators can still track down who enabled the trafficking network.
"There is no such thing as a small piece of information. Every element is useful for the investigation," Al-Fayed assistant Svensson said, calling on victims and witnesses to speak to police.
The Swedish woman arrived in France in 1993 and was placed by a temp agency at the Ritz in 1998, then owned by Mohamed Al-Fayed, as his assistant.
Svensson, aged 30 at the time, was to help him manage his affairs after the death of his son Dodi with Princess Diana in a Paris car crash, perceived as a prestigious assignment.
'Organised system'
Despite the deaths of the brothers, the women hope investigators can still track down who enabled the trafficking network.
"There is no such thing as a small piece of information. Every element is useful for the investigation," Al-Fayed assistant Svensson said, calling on victims and witnesses to speak to police.
The Swedish woman arrived in France in 1993 and was placed by a temp agency at the Ritz in 1998, then owned by Mohamed Al-Fayed, as his assistant.
Svensson, aged 30 at the time, was to help him manage his affairs after the death of his son Dodi with Princess Diana in a Paris car crash, perceived as a prestigious assignment.
Mohamed-al Fayed's spokeswoman, Katharine Witty, speaks after the inquest verdict is announced into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi-al-Fayed at the High Court in London 7 April, 2008. (Photo : Reuters)
During her interview with the Ritz management, the questions posed were "focused" on her appearance and her personal background, she said, even pointing out that she was the "spitting image" of Al-Fayed's wife.
The Ritz then sent her to Harrods in London for an interview with Al-Fayed himself, and organised accommodation for her at a luxury residence he owned.
"I had brought my CV. He wasn't interested in that. He only asked me personal questions."
What followed was a regular pattern of meetings with Al-Fayed. Svensson said she was left in a room alone for hours with no instruction, until he eventually arrived and she would endure sexual assault and attempted rape during which "he'd laugh".
"I hoped that in time he would see that I wasn't interested in him and that he would take me seriously," Svensson told police.
"I was a foreigner, with no family or network in the country, no knowledge of French labour law, and no one to lean on financially if I quit."
In retrospect, Svensson compares herself to a closely watched "luxury product", which Al-Fayed wanted to possess, "a doll on a shelf".
Al-Fayed was born Mohamed Fayed in Alexandria, but later changed his surname to the grander Al-Fayed, while his brother kept the original family name.
London investigation 'continues'
At the Ritz, she recalls that staff warned her that there were "microphones and cameras in every corner". And at a villa in Saint Tropez, she said a housekeeper suggested that she block her bedroom door at night.
The Ritz Paris told AFP in a statement that it was "deeply saddened by the testimonies and the allegations of abuse" and that it is "ready to fully cooperate with the judicial authorities. Our teams do not tolerate any form of inappropriate behaviour, which would be a serious breach of our code of conduct.
"We want to express our deepest respect to the women who spoke out," it added.
Harrods said it "continues to support the bravery of all women in coming forward. Their claims point to the breadth of abuse by Mohamed Fayed and again raise serious allegations against his brother, Salah Fayed. The picture that has emerged suggests that this pattern of abusive behaviour took place wherever they operated."
They said more than 180 survivors had already received counselling support through its independent advocate. The store also urged survivors to claim compensation through the Harrods Redress Scheme.
London's Metropolitan police said its "investigation into those who could have facilitated or enabled Mohamed Al-Fayed's offending continues" and urged victims to come forward.
"The way the Met works has moved on immeasurably, and our teams have transformed the way we investigate rape and sexual offences."
Lawyers for the two women say their testimony helps sketch the outlines of a "powerful system" of trafficking which resembles the one established during the same period by Epstein.
"As with Epstein, with the Al-Fayeds there is a frenzied consumption of young women and an organised system to procure them," said lawyer Eva Joly, who is also a former judge and European parliament member.
"The pattern is the same: selecting vulnerable young women, transport, accommodation, isolation and money, which is used to intimidate or corrupt," she said.
And as with the Epstein case, while the statute of limitations may have expired, an investigation into the Al-Fayeds can still establish the facts and identify any victims whose cases could be still prosecuted.
"We are only at the beginning of piecing the puzzle together in France," Joly insisted.
During her interview with the Ritz management, the questions posed were "focused" on her appearance and her personal background, she said, even pointing out that she was the "spitting image" of Al-Fayed's wife.
The Ritz then sent her to Harrods in London for an interview with Al-Fayed himself, and organised accommodation for her at a luxury residence he owned.
"I had brought my CV. He wasn't interested in that. He only asked me personal questions."
What followed was a regular pattern of meetings with Al-Fayed. Svensson said she was left in a room alone for hours with no instruction, until he eventually arrived and she would endure sexual assault and attempted rape during which "he'd laugh".
"I hoped that in time he would see that I wasn't interested in him and that he would take me seriously," Svensson told police.
"I was a foreigner, with no family or network in the country, no knowledge of French labour law, and no one to lean on financially if I quit."
In retrospect, Svensson compares herself to a closely watched "luxury product", which Al-Fayed wanted to possess, "a doll on a shelf".
Al-Fayed was born Mohamed Fayed in Alexandria, but later changed his surname to the grander Al-Fayed, while his brother kept the original family name.
London investigation 'continues'
At the Ritz, she recalls that staff warned her that there were "microphones and cameras in every corner". And at a villa in Saint Tropez, she said a housekeeper suggested that she block her bedroom door at night.
The Ritz Paris told AFP in a statement that it was "deeply saddened by the testimonies and the allegations of abuse" and that it is "ready to fully cooperate with the judicial authorities. Our teams do not tolerate any form of inappropriate behaviour, which would be a serious breach of our code of conduct.
"We want to express our deepest respect to the women who spoke out," it added.
Harrods said it "continues to support the bravery of all women in coming forward. Their claims point to the breadth of abuse by Mohamed Fayed and again raise serious allegations against his brother, Salah Fayed. The picture that has emerged suggests that this pattern of abusive behaviour took place wherever they operated."
They said more than 180 survivors had already received counselling support through its independent advocate. The store also urged survivors to claim compensation through the Harrods Redress Scheme.
London's Metropolitan police said its "investigation into those who could have facilitated or enabled Mohamed Al-Fayed's offending continues" and urged victims to come forward.
"The way the Met works has moved on immeasurably, and our teams have transformed the way we investigate rape and sexual offences."
Lawyers for the two women say their testimony helps sketch the outlines of a "powerful system" of trafficking which resembles the one established during the same period by Epstein.
"As with Epstein, with the Al-Fayeds there is a frenzied consumption of young women and an organised system to procure them," said lawyer Eva Joly, who is also a former judge and European parliament member.
"The pattern is the same: selecting vulnerable young women, transport, accommodation, isolation and money, which is used to intimidate or corrupt," she said.
And as with the Epstein case, while the statute of limitations may have expired, an investigation into the Al-Fayeds can still establish the facts and identify any victims whose cases could be still prosecuted.
"We are only at the beginning of piecing the puzzle together in France," Joly insisted.
Damage to Golestan Palace in Tehran, after US and Israeli airstrikes, 2 March, 2026.
Damage to Golestan Palace, Tehran after US-Israeli airstrikes, 2 March, 2026. © پاد / POD
