Police raid headquarters of French far-right National Rally party

Investigation into alleged illegal campaign financing denounced by party’s leader, Jordan Bardella, as ‘harassment campaign’

Police have raided the headquarters of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) and seized documents as part of an investigation into alleged illegal campaign financing that was denounced by the party’s leader, Jordan Bardella, as “a harassment campaign”.

The raid came a day after EU financial prosecutors in Brussels said they had launched a separate investigation into the alleged misuse of €4.3m by the former far-right Identity & Democracy (ID) group in the European parliament, which included the RN.

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French warned of high-risk summer for wildfires as Marseille blaze contained

Mayor urges people to exercise utmost caution as weather service says situation around Mediterranean is critical

More than 15,000 residents of Marseille confined to their homes have been allowed out after a wildfire on the outskirts of France’s second city was brought under control, but officials have warned the country faces an exceptionally high-risk summer.

Fanned by gale-force winds and kindled by parched vegetation, several fires have burned swathes of southern France in recent days, including Tuesday’s just north of the port city. The weather service has said the weeks ahead could be critical.

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Wednesday briefing: Can Macron and Starmer solve the small-boats crisis?

In today’s newsletter: As the French president arrives in the UK for a state visit, tackling migrant crossings in the Channel is top of the agenda

Good morning. Emmanuel Macron arrived in the UK yesterday for a three-day state visit. While the British royal family and political elite rolled out the red carpet for the French president, with all the expected pomp and pageantry, the real focus was, and remains, the politics behind the scenes. Top of the agenda: how Britain and France intend to deal with the small-boats crisis.

The UK has backed recent moves by French police to immobilise the inflatable boats used by people smugglers by slashing them. It’s not yet clear whether this was a one-off instance or part of the broader shift in strategy expected to be outlined soon by Keir Starmer and Macron.

Middle East crisis | Medical officials, humanitarian workers and doctors in Gaza say they have been overwhelmed by almost daily “mass casualty incidents” as they struggle to deal with those wounded by Israeli fire on Palestinians seeking aid.

Post Office | More than 13 people may have killed themselves as a result of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, while it drove at least 59 more to contemplate suicide, according to the first findings from the public inquiry into what has been labelled the worst miscarriage of justice in UK history.

NHS | Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, in England have voted in favour of strikes that could result in industrial action lasting until January next year, the British Medical Association has announced.

Crime | Thousands of defendants in England and Wales could lose the right to a jury trial under plans designed to save the criminal justice system from collapse.

UK News | Gregg Wallace has been sacked as MasterChef presenter ahead of a report into misconduct allegations, including claims, denied by Wallace, of groping and indecent exposure. Over 50 new complaints have since been made to the BBC.

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How do criminal courts work without juries around the world?

US defendants can waive right to jury trial and in Germany jury trials were abolished in 1924

One of the most significant recommendations in a review of the criminal courts in England and Wales, expected to be published this week, is likely to be the scrapping of jury trials for certain offences.

The idea in Sir Brian Leveson’s independent inquiry is that it will help reduce the record backlog in the courts. But for many the right to a jury trial, except for the most minor offences, is synonymous with the right to a fair trial and watering it down would be hugely controversial.

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Marseille airport cancels all flights as wildfire encroaches on city

Authorities urge residents to stay indoors and say more than 700 firefighters battling blaze

A fast-moving wildfire fanned by gale-force winds has been raging on the outskirts of France’s second-largest city, Marseille, officials said, as firefighters around the Mediterranean battle blazes sparked by an intense heatwave.

“The fire is on the fringes of Marseille,” the regional prefect, Georges-François Leclerc, told reporters on Tuesday, adding that the blaze was not yet stable or contained, but the situation appeared to be “under control”.

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Bee attack leaves dozens of people injured in French town

Three were in critical condition but have since improved after incident in Aurillac, south-central France

A unusual attack by bees in the French town of Aurillac has left 24 people injured, including three who were in critical condition but have since improved, according to local authorities.

Passersby were stung over a period of about 30 minutes on Sunday morning, according to the prefecture of Cantal, in south-central France. Firefighters and medical teams treated the victims, while police set up a security perimeter until the bees stopped their attack.

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Michael Rider evolves a winning formula in debut for Celine in Paris

The American designer balances a homage to the past with a nod to his own fashion story

After a year of musical chairs in fashion, September is gearing up to be one of its biggest show months ever: with debut collections slated from new creative directors at brands including Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and ex-Balenciaga designer Demna at Gucci.

On Sunday in Paris, Michael Rider, who recently succeeded Hedi Slimane at Celine, decided to get a head start.

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Paris reopens River Seine to public swimming after century-long ban

About 1,000 swimmers a day will be allowed to use three bathing sites after €1.4bn clean-up programme

Parisians and tourists flocked to take a dip in the Seine River this weekend after city authorities gave the green light for it to be used for public swimming for the first time in more than a century.

The opening followed a comprehensive clean-up programme sped up by its use as a venue in last year’s Paris Olympics after people who regularly swam in it illegally lobbied for its transformation. The outgoing mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, also helped to champion the plans, jumping in the river herself before the Olympics.

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Yvette Cooper hails new French tactics to reduce Channel crossings

Home secretary says working with French is vital to stop boats crossing, as UK prepares for Emmanuel Macron visit

Yvette Cooper has lauded new tactics used by the French to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats, before Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the UK this week, during which new initiatives are likely to be announced.

It is understood that a French review of how police could intervene to block boats that are already in the water has been completed, and French and British officials were continuing talks this weekend about what more could be done.

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‘The American system is being destroyed’: academics on leaving US for ‘scientific asylum’ in France

Almost 300 researchers have applied for for positions at Aix-Marseille University after Trump unleashed his attack on academia

It was on a US-bound flight in March, as Brian Sandberg stressed about whether he would be stopped at security, that the American historian knew the time had come for him to leave his home country.

For months, he had watched Donald Trump’s administration unleash a multipronged attack on academia – slashing funding, targeting international students and deeming certain fields and even keywords off limits. As his plane approached the US, it felt as though the battle had hit home, as Sandberg worried that he would face reprisals over comments he had made during his travels to the French media on the future of research in the US.

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Europe is scrambling to form a united front and regain relevance in the Iran crisis

Tehran now places little faith in the European countries who played a key role in brokering the Iranian nuclear deal

Exposed as divided and marginalised during the Iran crisis, European nations are scrambling to retrieve a place at the Middle East negotiating table, fearing an impulsive Donald Trump has diminishing interest in stabilising Iran or the wider region now he believes he has achieved his key objective of wiping out Tehran’s nuclear programme.

On Tuesday the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, was the latest senior European figure to phone the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, offering to be a facilitator and urging Tehran not to leave the crisis in a dangerous limbo by keeping UN weapons inspectors out of Iran.

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Lobster bisque and onion soup on ISS menu for French astronaut

Chef with 10 Michelin stars has designed meals for Sophie Adenot’s trip to International Space Station next year

When the French astronaut Sophie Adenot travels to the International Space Station (ISS) next year, she will be heading for the stars – not quite in celestial but certainly in gastronomic terms.

Adenot will dine on not just freeze-dried space food staples but also French classics such as lobster bisque, foie gras and onion soup prepared specially for her by a chef with 10 Michelin stars, the European Space Agency (Esa) announced on Wednesday.

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French PM François Bayrou failed to act on abuse at Catholic boarding school, report says

Damning report by MPs comes after inquiry into allegations of decades of physical abuse, rape and sexual assault at Notre-Dame de Bétharram school

The French prime minister, François Bayrou, failed to act to prevent physical and sexual abuse at a private Catholic school in south-west France when he served as education minister between 1993 and 1997, a parliamentary report has said.

The damning report issued by French lawmakers on Wednesday comes after a long parliamentary inquiry into allegations of decades of physical abuse, rape and sexual assault at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram boarding school near Pau in south-west France.

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French police charge ‘incel’ suspected of planning knife attack on women

Detention of 18-year-old man part of anti-terror police force’s first case linked to involuntary celibate movement

An 18-year-old French man suspected of planning attacks on women has been charged in the country’s first case of a terror plot linked to the misogynist “incel” movement, officials said.

The suspect was arrested on Friday by the DGSI domestic intelligence agency near a public high school in the southeastern city of Saint-Etienne.

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Children crossing Channel from France exposed to teargas, report says

NGO says rise in interventions has only increased danger as new data shows at least 15 children died in transit last year

Children and babies coming to the UK on small boats from northern France have been teargassed and subjected to tactics such as the discharge of rubber bullets and the slashing of dinghies with knives, according to a report.

The publication on Tuesday of We Want to Be Safe, by the French non-governmental organisation Project Play, came as the latest figures on daily crossings released by the UK government reached an all-time high of 19,982 for the first six months of the year, a 40% increase compared with the same period last year.

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France implements smoking ban at beaches and parks in step towards ‘tobacco-free generation’

Under new rules anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park from Sunday will be breaking the law

Anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park in France will be breaking the law from Sunday under new rules aimed at protecting children from the dangers of passive smoking.

Bus shelters and areas in the immediate vicinity of libraries, swimming pools and schools will also be affected by the ban, which is coming into force one day after its publication in the official government gazette on Saturday.

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Briton accused of staging Disneyland mock wedding with child is charged with fraud offences in France

Sex offender was arrested after alleged hiring of Disneyland Paris for fake ceremony with nine-year-old ‘bride’

A British sex offender accused of staging a mock wedding with a child at Disneyland Paris has been charged with money-laundering and fraud offences in France.

Jacky Jhaj, 39, who in 2016 was found guilty of sexual activity with two 15-year-olds, was arrested this weekend at Disneyland Paris after the theme park was hired for a private wedding. Staff are said to have called police when they saw that the “bride” in a wedding dress was a nine-year-old girl.

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Ex-French PM Dominique de Villepin launches party with view to 2027 presidential run

Senior figure has set up Humanist France and is attracting support due to his criticisms of Israel’s actions in Gaza

The former French prime minister and foreign policy chief Dominique de Villepin has launched a political party called Humanist France, with a view to a possible bid for the French presidency in 2027.

De Villepin, who was prime minister under the rightwing president Jacques Chirac from 2005 to 2007, is best known for his dramatic speech to the United Nations in 2003, setting out France’s opposition to a US-led Iraq war and warning of the “incalculable consequences” of military action in the region.

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Giant statues to return to Notre Dame’s spire in latest stage of restoration

Copper-coated figures will be hoisted on to cathedral’s reconstructed spire after devastating blaze of 2019

Sixteen giant statues are to be hoisted back on to the spire of Notre Dame in the latest step of the cathedral’s €700m (£600m) reconstruction after the devastating fire of 2019.

The copper-coated figures, each weighing almost 150kg, escaped the blaze because they were removed from the Parisian landmark for renovation just four days before flames consumed the roof and destroyed the spire.

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Weather tracker: US and Europe swelter in June heatwaves

Monday and Tuesday likely to be the hottest days of the year so far in eastern US while temperatures rise in Europe

This summer’s first heatwave has developed across the eastern half of the United States with most places having recorded their hottest temperature of the year so far on Sunday, which will then probably be beaten on Monday and Tuesday.

High pressure across the eastern US has funnelled up hot air from southern parts of the the country, resulting in what is known as a heat dome, initially across central regions on Friday, before spreading eastwards over the weekend. The temperatures rose significantly on Saturday, with Huron regional airport in South Dakota recording a high of 39.4C (102.9F), 13C above the average high in June for the region.

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