Category Archives: France

Lyhanna: lawyer for murdered French girl’s family calls for more justice system funding

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Political row emerges over state’s failure to tackle sexual violence against children as people protest across France

A lawyer for the family of an 11-year-old girl whose disappearance and murder sparked protests across France has called for more funding for the struggling justice system, amid a political row over the French state’s failure to tackle sexual violence against children.

“Frankly, if the justice system had more resources, this tragedy and all the others wouldn’t have happened,” said the family’s lawyer, François Roujou de Boubée, on Tuesday. “The victim’s family and I trust in the justice system. So enough is enough.”

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French star Patrick Bruel held by police investigating new sexual assault allegations

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Two new rape complaints have been filed against the 67-year-old singer and actor, who denies the claims

French singer and actor Patrick Bruel, facing sexual assault allegations from multiple women, was taken into police custody on Monday, as two new rape complaints were filed against him.

The 67-year-old, a major figure in French pop culture with multiple top-selling albums and more than 40 film appearances, is being questioned about 13 victims, the prosecutor’s office in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre said in a statement.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

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Thousands march for French schoolgirl murdered after police failed to question suspect

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Local man had been accused of rape in months before murder but series of delays meant police had failed to summon him for questioning

Thousands of mourners have turned out for a silent march for a 11-year-old schoolgirl whose murder prompted widespread outrage when it emerged police had failed to question the suspected killer about previous child sexual abuse allegations.

The parents of the girl, who has been named only as Lyhanna, led the cortege on Sunday in the south-western village of Fleurance behind a banner reading “Never again”. Most of those who marched, including children, wore white shirts or T-shirts, many bearing a smiling portrait of the young victim.

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Bernadette Chirac, formidable former first lady of France, dies aged 93

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Widow of French ex-president Jacques Chirac was a steely behind-the-scenes operator known for her charity work

Bernadette Chirac, the formidable widow of the former French president Jacques Chirac and a driving force behind his political rise, has died at the age of 93.

As France’s first lady for 12 years, Chirac was a steely behind-the-scenes operator in support of her husband, who served twice as prime minister, 18 years as mayor of Paris and two terms as president.

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Starmer to host Zelenskyy and EU leaders for Ukraine talks

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Ukrainian leader will attend UK meeting along with French president and German chancellor

Keir Starmer will host Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz for talks in Downing Street on Sunday to discuss support for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader will visit the UK with the French president and German chancellor after a week of heightened hostilities and Vladimir Putin’s rejection of his proposal of face-to-face talks on Moscow’s war.

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Uproar in France as it emerges suspect in case of missing girl had rape allegations dismissed

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Interior minister announces review into handling of the cases after body reportedly found in search for 11-year-old

Outrage has erupted in France after it emerged the main suspect in the case of an 11-year-old girl missing since last week had been repeatedly accused of sexually abusing children with no action taken.

A body was discovered on Thursday and formal identification was under way, an informed source said.

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‘Of course we will give it back’: Bayeux tapestry set for secret journey across Channel

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Operation will use specially built container to protect fragile 11th-century embroidery

As the Bayeux tapestry wends its way across the Channel in a top secret operation there will be no jolts, no bumps, no shakes or vibrations – unlike the voyage of William the Conqueror whose 1066 victory at Hastings the artefact recounts.

“Nothing has been left to chance,” Catherine Pégard, the French minister of culture, told a gathering to mark the historic loan, which will be physically achieved with the tapestry, which is really an embroidery, transported in a specially constructed cradle within a container, the minister said.

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French navy seizes Russia-linked oil tanker in Atlantic

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President Macron says ship subject to sanctions and posts video of operation that took place with UK support

A suspected Russian oil tanker has been detained in the Atlantic, France has announced, in the latest seizure aimed at combatting Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of vessels contravening international sanctions.

The Tagor was detained on Sunday morning in international waters more than 400 nautical miles (740km) west of Brittany with the help of the UK and other partners, said the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

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French police arrest 780 after violent clashes as PSG fans celebrate Champions League win

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Interior minister says 57 officers injured as rioters set fires and vandalise shops in about 15 cities

French police have detained 780 people involved in violent clashes in Paris and other French cities that erupted on Saturday night after Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal to win the Champions League.

The interior minister, ­Laurent Nuñez, said 57 officers were wounded, with most suffering minor injuries, as football fans set off fires and vandalised shops. One small group even tried to storm a Paris police station.

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Lone children held at UK-run detention centres in France 284 times last year

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Refugee charities say the numbers revealed in freedom of information data are ‘shocking’

Lone children were held at UK-run detention centres in France on nearly 300 occasions last year, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Data obtained by the Guardian shows they are part of about 900 instances when unaccompanied minors have been detained at British short-term facilities near Calais and Dunkirk over the last four years.

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Feeding the future of France: Rollout of €1 meals an attempt to help struggling students

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It’s a thumbs up from the country’s 3 million students, who can now buy cheap meals up to twice a day

Where in France can you get a nutritious and balanced three-course meal for €1?

If you are one of the country’s estimated 3 million students in higher education, the answer is: the university restaurant or cafe.

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Seven heat-related deaths in France as May records set in several countries

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Extreme early summer event across western Europe also brings highest temperatures for month in UK and Ireland

Seven people have died in France in an extreme early summer heat event affecting a swathe of western Europe, with record high temperatures for May recorded for a second day in several countries.

In France, which logged its hottest ever May day on Monday and again on Tuesday, the weather agency Météo France said the heatwave could last through the week and predicted temperatures could reach 39C in some areas.

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Record May highs sweep across France as extreme heat hits western Europe

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Mercury in Spain also climbs to well above normal with weather event set to continue for several more days

More than 350 French towns have recorded their highest-ever temperatures for May as France and the UK set national heat records amid an extreme early-summer heat event that could see the mercury rise to 40C in parts of Spain by the end of the week.

The UK’s Met Office said the country’s all-time record for May was broken when a temperature of 34.8C was recorded at London’s Kew Gardens.

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Extra EU border checks suspended at Dover as travellers face delays in heat

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Wait times of more than two hours reported at terminal for cross-Channel ferry to France

French police have temporarily suspended extra EU border checks at the port of Dover as thousands of holidaymakers face long delays in the hot weather.

Waiting times of more than two hours were reported at the terminal in Kent for the cross-Channel ferry to France.

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‘Full-on summer heat’: western Europe braces for unusually high temperatures

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Portugal, Spain, France and UK expected to exceed 30C on Friday and into next week, with new May records predicted

A large swathe of western Europe is bracing for the first significant heat event of the summer, with temperatures forecast to rise to more than 10C above the norm and new monthly records for May expected to be set in possibly hundreds of places.

Temperatures across Portugal, Spain, France and the UK were expected to exceed 30C (86F) on Friday and into next week, reaching 32C in Paris and London and 35C in south-west France, with highs of up to 38C in the Guadiana and Guadalquivir regions of Spain.

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Macron says France must address issue of reparations for its role in slave trade

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French president’s use of term comes as demand grows for formal discussion on addressing legacies of enslavement

Emmanuel Macron has said reparations for France’s role in hundreds of years of enslavement of African people is an issue that should be addressed, but he stopped short of making clear proposals.

“How to repair … is a question that must not be refused,” the French president said in a speech on the legacies of slavery at the Élysée Palace. “It’s also a question on which we must not make false promises.”

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Air France and Airbus guilty of corporate manslaughter for 2009 plane crash

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Firms given maximum fine of €225,000 each and are expected to appeal after lower court had cleared them

A Paris appeals court has found Airbus and Air France guilty of corporate manslaughter over the 2009 Rio-Paris plane crash that killed 228 passengers and crew.

The verdict is the latest milestone in a legal marathon involving two of France’s most emblematic companies and families of the mainly French, Brazilian and German victims of France’s worst air disaster.

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French star Patrick Bruel denies multiple sexual assault allegations

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Singer and actor who has appeared in more than 40 films faces investigations in France and Belgium

The French singer and actor Patrick Bruel, the subject of multiple rape allegations, protested his innocence on Sunday and said he would not step away from his work.

The Paris prosecutor’s office announced earlier on Sunday that Bruel was the subject of at least four complaints of sexual assault in France, and that the cases would be investigated together.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

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‘It was like a mosh pit’: Swatch closes stores as watch launch causes crowding and scuffles

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French police fire teargas and UK shops close for safety reasons as hundreds queue for Royal Pop timepieces that make up Audemars Piguet collaboration

The launch of limited-edition Swatch watches descended into chaos in several European cities and New York, with French police firing teargas to restore order at a store near Paris.

Hundreds of people waited through the night from Friday into Saturday – and in some cases for several days – hoping to buy the Royal Pop timepieces, made in collaboration with the luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet.

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UK and France extend ‘one in, one out’ small boats pilot scheme until October

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Asylum seekers express dismay at continuation of scheme agreed last year that has failed to stop crossings in Channel

The Home Office is extending a controversial scheme to stop asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats, the Guardian has learned.

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, signed a deal they hailed as “groundbreaking” last July, known as “one in, one out”.

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