A top French TV personality receives a preliminary charge of rape and abusing authority

PARIS (AP) — France’s most famous TV presenter has been handed a preliminary charge of rape by a person abusing his authority. French authorities have investigated complaints by about 20 women who have accused Patrick Poivre d’Arvor of sexual misconduct. He denies wrongdoing, and has sued 16 of his accusers. A revered personality who hosted France’s most popular news program for more than two decades, he insists the sexual encounters were consensual. The prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said Wednesday that Poivre d’Arvor received the charge for alleged actions dating from 2009. He was also named as an ‘’assisted witness’’ in another alleged rape from 2004.