PARIS (Reuters) - France's Catholic Church called on prosecutors on Friday to open a probe into sexual assault accusations against the late French priest Abbe Pierre, who was a lifelong campaigner for the poor and homeless, and potential cover-ups of such abuse.

The French church has formally requested that prosecutors open an investigation into Abbé Pierre, a once-revered priest and humanitarian icon who died in 2007, following new revelations of sexual violence.

The British government says it will support a series of local inquiries into organized child sexual abuse in the wake of a furor largely stoked by the world’s richest man Elon Musk

Britain will back new local inquiries into child sexual abuse across the country, the government said on Thursday, after weeks of criticism by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk stirred renewed concern about a decades-old scandal over grooming gangs.

The UK government on Thursday announced a "rapid" national review of the extent of sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs and several new local inquiries into cases of abuse.The issue was at the centre of a political firestorm earlier this month when a war of words broke out between US tech billionaire Elon Musk and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.