Category Archives: Paris

French police arrest Rwandan genocide suspect Félicien Kabuga

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Officers find African country’s most-wanted man living under false identity in Paris

French police have ended a decades-long hunt for a fugitive accused of playing a key role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, arresting 84-year-old Félicien Kabuga during a dawn raid near Paris.

Kabuga, who is accused of financing the killings and frequently listed as one of the world’s most wanted men, was living under a false identity in the French capital’s suburbs, local police and prosecutors said in a statement on Saturday.

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‘People feel a bit nervous’: France braces for end of lockdown

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As schools and businesses get set to reopen some citizens urge caution, wary of a spike in infections

France is set to end eight weeks of strict lockdown as the government urged people to behave responsibly to avoid a sudden spike in coronavirus cases.

Hours before the national déconfinement there were reports of two new Covid-19 clusters in départments designated green – areas where the virus has largely stopped circulating and where most restrictions are being lifted.

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French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December

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Man found to have had virus a month before government confirmed first cases

A French hospital that retested old samples from pneumonia patients has discovered that it treated a man with the coronavirus as early as 27 December, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.

Dr Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals in the northern suburbs of Paris, told BFM TV that scientists had retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January who tested negative for flu.

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Tony Allen, legendary drummer and Afrobeat co-founder, dies aged 79

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Gilles Peterson and Biz Markie pay tribute to the Fela Kuti collaborator, described by Brian Eno as ‘perhaps the greatest drummer who ever lived’

The Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, who is credited with creating Afrobeat along with his old bandmate Fela Kuti, died suddenly at the age of 79 in Paris on Thursday, his manager said.

“We don’t know the exact cause of death,” Eric Trosset said, adding it was not linked to the coronavirus.

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What the butler saw: sex secrets of French presidents’ palace revealed

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For 300 hundred years staff at the Elysée witnessed men flaunting their power over women, but no longer, says author of a new book

From the time of kings and emperors to modern day presidents, the Elysée Palace has stood as a symbol of male dominance in society and politics. Behind the wrought iron gates its gilded salons have witnessed conquests of many kinds – including, frequently, the sexual.

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One year after Notre Dame fire, officials struggle to keep restoration on track

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Cathedral can still be repaired by 2024, says general, but decisions must be made fast

The army general in charge of rebuilding Notre Dame has said it is still possible for the cathedral ravaged by fire exactly one year ago on Wednesday to reopen in 2024 as pledged by Emmanuel Macron, if everyone “rolls up their sleeves”.

Jean-Louis Georgelin insisted unexpected delays in work to restore the 13th-century cathedral to its previous glory – including the coronavirus lockdown – need not derail the five-year deadline.

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Gare de Lyon in Paris evacuated after fire outside station

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Fire reportedly started by protesters opposed to concert nearby by Congolese singer

Police evacuated the Gare de Lyon in Paris after scooters and rubbish bins were set alight outside the station, reportedly by protesters opposed to a concert being given by a Congolese singer.

Photos on social media showed flames reaching several metres into the sky and a cloud of black smoke around the station, which was evacuated at the height of rush hour.

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Paris launches emergency bed bugs hotline

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New campaign includes advice on how to prevent and treat an infestation, and a number to call for expert help

The French government launched a campaign Thursday, complete with an emergency number, to combat an influx of unwelcome visitors that have left Parisians in despair: bedbugs that have settled in homes and hotels to feed, uninvited, on human blood.

After disappearing from France in the 1950s, the insects have made a resurgence, according to the ministry of housing, which cited international travel and growing resistance to insecticide as the main causes.

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Russian artist and girlfriend held over release of Paris politician’s sex video

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Petr Pavlensky and partner questioned after complaint from Benjamin Griveaux

The girlfriend of a Russian performance artist and activist who released a video of a sexual nature that prompted a Paris mayoral candidate to stand down is being questioned by police over her role in the scandal.

The woman was taken into custody along with the artist, Petr Pavlensky, on Saturday afternoon as they left a Paris hotel. They are being questioned over accusations of invasion of privacy and “broadcasting images of a sexual nature without the permission of the person involved”.

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‘I don’t want a Michelin star,’ says French chef in ‘Cheddargate’ row

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Marc Veyrat, who lost court battle to guide, in defiant mood as he opens new Paris restaurant

Marc Veyrat, the French celebrity chef at the centre of the “Cheddargate” scandal, has declared he never wants a Michelin star for his new Paris restaurant.

The flamboyant cook who took the red guide to court last year after he lost his third Michelin star for his celebrated flagship restaurant in the French Alps, has taken over a historic Parisian dining room previously owned by the equally colourful French actor Gérard Depardieu.

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French revolution? That’s news to me | Kim Willsher

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The conspiracy theorists’ claim that the media are playing down the Paris protests is nonsense

France is riven by civil war, president Emmanuel Macron is hiding in a castle surrounded by the army, and hundreds are dead. Britons know nothing about this because the UK government has issued a D-notice banning the media from reporting it, and the European Union has been buying up video footage of the conflict to bury it.

All of this is news to me – and it’s my job to know what is going on here. Perhaps because it is, in polite terms, utter nonsense.

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Diamond as big as a tennis ball makes Louis Vuitton debut in Paris

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1,758-carat Sewelô snapped up by luxury brand is world’s second-largest rough diamond

Louis Vuitton has made a splash as it showed off its latest purchase: the world’s second-largest rough diamond.

The LVMH-owned brand, which announced last week that it was the new owner of the 1,758-carat Sewelô, displayed the glinting, blackened stone at its Place Vendôme store in Paris.

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Rent rises force revered LGBT bookshop out of Paris’s gay district

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Les Mots à La Bouche’s move from the Marais shows loss of cultural heritage, activists say

In the window of France’s best-known gay bookshop, above the display of Lucian Freud art books, opera singer Maria Callas’s memoirs and a history of the Pride movement, a poster warns in giant red letters: “Cultural heritage in danger.” An urgent note on the door adds: “We need your help!”

Les Mots à La Bouche, a 40-year-old Paris institution, is the top LGBT bookshop in France and considered one of the best in the world – a focal point of Paris’s historic gay neighbourhood in the Marais district. But as property speculation in central Paris reaches dizzying heights – it is estimated that at certain times of year there are more Airbnb rentals than residents in the Marais – the bookshop is being forced out by rising rents.

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Notre Dame Cathedral ‘not saved yet’ and still at risk of collapse

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Head of restoration says removal of fused scaffolding may destroy vaulted ceiling

The French general appointed to oversee the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral has said the iconic building is still at risk of collapse more than six months into the efforts to restore it.

Gen Jean-Louis Georgelin said the cathedral is “not saved yet” and has to undergo a delicate operation to remove fused scaffolding around the spire, destroyed by a devastating fire last April.

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Notre Dame Cathedral stays dark for first time in 200 years

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French Catholics go to nearby church in Paris for Christmas mass following fire in April

Notre Dame Cathedral was unable to hold Christmas Eve mass for the first time in more than 200 years after a fire ravaged its structure in April.

French Catholics instead gathered at the church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, a few hundred metres away from the Paris landmark, for a service celebrated by the cathedral’s rector Patrick Chauvet.

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Alex Duval Smith obituary

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Foreign correspondent with a knowledge and love of Africa who worked for the Guardian, the Independent and the BBC

The journalist Alex Duval Smith, who has died of cancer aged 55, was a free spirit with a remarkable gift for connecting with others across social, language or cultural barriers.

For more than two decades she worked as a reporter and correspondent in European and African countries, for the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the BBC, Radio France International and France 24. She had a deep knowledge of and love for Africa and was a citizen of the world – with two nationalities and three languages; she had lived in almost a dozen countries.

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Striking rail workers clash with riot police at Gare de Lyon in Paris – video

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Striking French rail workers have clashed with riot police in Paris after holding a demonstration against pension changes despite Emmanuel Macron’s call for a Christmas truce. Hundreds of trade unionists and protesters gathered outside Gare de Lyon on Monday morning. The nationwide transport strikes have dragged on for a 19th day, causing what the state rail operator SNCF has described as 'ongoing severe disruption' to services

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No Christmas mass at Notre Dame cathedral for first time since 1803

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Mass to be held nearby as workers continue to repair Paris landmark eight months after devastating fire

Notre Dame cathedral will fail to hold a Christmas mass for the first time since 1803, French officials confirmed on Saturday, as workers continue to repair and rebuild the Paris landmark eight months after a devastating fire.

The cathedral’s press office said midnight mass would still be celebrated on Christmas Eve by rector Patrick Chauvet but it would be held at the nearby church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois.

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Violence in Paris amid nationwide pension reform protests

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As prelude to day of action, power to thousands of homes deliberately cut by workers

Police fired teargas and charged at demonstrators in central Paris as hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country staged a show of force against the government’s controversial pension reform plans.

The violence erupted at Place de la Nation, one of Paris’s biggest squares, as riot police attempted to disperse protesters. Police said they had charged after coming under a hail of paving stones and missiles. There were 27 arrests by late afternoon.

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