Category Archives: France

France divided over calls for Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine to be reburied in Panthéon

Posted on by

Petition says the poets, who were lovers as young men, were ‘the French Oscar Wildes’ and deserve to rest in the mausoleum

France’s cultural elite are split over whether the remains of two of the country’s greatest poets, Arthur Rimbaud and his lover Paul Verlaine, should be dug up and re-interred in the Panthéon in Paris.

The secular mausoleum is home to French greats including Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Émile Zola, Alexandre Dumas and Marie Curie. Now a petition signed by more than 5,000 people, including culture minister Roselyne Bachelot and a host of her predecessors, is calling on president Emmanuel Macron to allow Rimbaud and Verlaine to join them.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: concern over case clusters at French schools and universities; Melbourne lifts curfew

Posted on by

Le Monde reports 32% of outbreaks in France found in schools or universities; Victoria ends curfew

Families are counting down the days to moving into new homes in a Hong Kong estate that had been used as a Covid-19 quarantine centre in what had become a lightning rod for discontent, the South China Morning Post reports.

They included L.N. Siu, her husband and daughter, who were overjoyed when they were finally allocated a public housing flat at the Chun Yeung Estate in Hong Kong last December. They had been waiting eight years.

Romanians go to the polls on Sunday to choose mayors and local councillors, but a Covid-19 surge is threatening to hit the first electoral test after years of political turbulence with a high abstention rate.

Nationwide, the east European country of almost 19 million people has 43,000 seats to fill in the single-round election seen as a test ahead of national polls in December.

Continue reading...

The wurst is over: why Germany now loves to go vegetarian

Posted on by

More than 40% of Germans are cutting down on meat, and vegan burgers are a shopping mall staple

Inside a shopping mall in south Berlin, two colleagues are chomping on hamburgers and fries, cheese sauce running down their fingers as they try to beat the lunchtime clock.

Feelings of guilt are in short supply this Friday afternoon: the burger joint where the two women have grabbed a bite is called Vincent Vegan, and the patty inside the brioche bun is made of wheat, barley and soya.

Continue reading...

Suspect in new Charlie Hebdo attack angered by republished cartoons, say Paris police

Posted on by

Detained man, believed to be 18 and from Pakistan, arrived in France as unaccompanied minor three years ago

The man arrested after a knife attack on two people outside the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo told detectives he had been angered by its publication of cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad, French media reported yesterday.

The suspect, believed to be an 18-year-old born in Pakistan, is thought to have arrived in France three years ago as an unaccompanied minor.

Continue reading...

Covid figures prompt French and Dutch warnings, and deepening row in Spain

Posted on by

Coronavirus cases in France jump to record high as Spanish government calls for Madrid lockdown

The prime ministers of France and the Netherlands have issued stark warnings about their coronavirus figures, while in Spain, the western European country hardest hit by the virus, Madrid authorities have rejected the central government’s call for a lockdown across the capital.

Santé Publique France, the French public health authority, tallied 15,797 new confirmed cases on Friday, just shy of a daily record of 16,096 set on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Two injured in knife attack near Charlie Hebdo’s former offices in Paris

Posted on by

Media reports of two arrests after attack near former home of satirical newspaper

A counter-terrorism investigation has been launched in France after two people were seriously injured in a knife attack near the former offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

French media reported that two suspects have been arrested.

Continue reading...

What lessons can Europe learn from Sweden’s Covid-19 experience?

Posted on by

Experts say that while contested ‘light touch’ response warrants study each country must find right approach for them

EU governments that locked down are increasingly emulating the one that did not, but experts warn that Sweden’s Covid approach, relying more on voluntary compliance than coercion, will not suit all – and big questions remain over whether it has worked for Sweden.

As infections surge in several European countries, France, which is currently averaging nearly 12,000 cases a day, has ruled out another national lockdown, instead pursuing a strategy the prime minister, Jean Castex, calls “living with the virus” and imposing local measures.

Continue reading...

French police investigate attack on woman, 22, for wearing skirt

Posted on by

Student says she was punched in face in Strasbourg by three men who said ‘look at that whore’

French police have opened an investigation after a young woman said she was attacked by three men and beaten in public for wearing a skirt.

The government denounced the “very serious” incident as unacceptable, which came amid growing anger in France at physical and verbal abuse towards women over their dress in public.

Continue reading...

As Covid cases rise again, how are countries in Europe reacting?

Posted on by

Tighter measures are being imposed, but they vary across the continent

Continue reading...

French minister mocked for asking pupils to dress in ‘republican style’

Posted on by

Jean-Michel Blanquer’s comments follow protests over high school dress codes for female students

France’s education minister has sparked a sexism row after demanding high school pupils dress in “republican style” for classes.

Jean-Michel Blanquer’s comments came a week after a protest by girls at French high schools about being hauled in front of headteachers or turned away from lessons because they were wearing mini skirts, low-cut or crop tops deemed “provocative”.

Continue reading...

Michael Lonsdale, Bond villain Hugo Drax in Moonraker, dies aged 89

Posted on by

The César-winning actor appeared in films by François Truffaut and Alain Resnais, and played religious figures in Of Gods and Men and The Name of the Rose

Michael Lonsdale, the French-British actor whose best known role was the villain Drax in Moonraker but who also appeared in a string of films by auteur directors such as François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Alain Resnais, has died aged 89. Lonsdale’s agent, Olivier Loiseau, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the actor had died at his home in Paris.

Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson said in a statement: “He was an extraordinarily talented actor and a very dear friend. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.”

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: India sees 92,000 new infections; China faces fifth wave, expert says

Posted on by

India now has 5.4m cases; China fears winter infections; NZ records new cases

Covid-19 has spread around the planet, sending billions of people into lockdown as health services struggle to cope, Pablo Gutiérrez and Seán Clarke write. Find out where the virus has spread, and where it has been most deadly:

A clown juggled and acrobats launched themselves through the air above a stage in an open field in Seoul at the weekend as the audience watched from the safety of their cars, cocooned from the risk of coronavirus.

The annual circus – usually held in May – was pushed back twice this year because of the virus until organisers turned it into a drive-in event, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Cho Beong-hee, the manager of the Seoul Street Art Creation Centre, said:

The performing arts are very important even during a pandemic. So we came up with different ideas in trying to make this event happen and the drive-in option was chosen as it was deemed the safest idea.

I think watching performances in cars is great. I think it can be done in the future, with other performances like musicals.

Continue reading...

Isis claims murder of French aid workers and their guides in Niger

Posted on by

Six NGO staff and two local guides were ambushed in a nature reserve in August

The Islamic State extremist group has claimed responsibility for the murder of six French aid workers and their two local guides while they were visiting a nature reserve in the west African country of Niger.

The six French humanitarian workers, aged between 25 and 30, their guide and their driver were killed on 9 August in the Kouré national park, a wildlife haven 37 miles (60km) from Niger’s capital, Niamey.

Continue reading...

Covid-19: Marseille and Bordeaux announce new restrictions

Posted on by

New measures to limit public gatherings come as number of cases surges

Authorities in Bordeaux and Marseille have announced strict new measures to limit public gatherings in an effort to rein in a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases that risks overwhelming the two French cities’ hospitals.

“The virus has accelerated despite the obligation to wear a mask introduced earlier this summer,” Christophe Mirmand, the government’s top official in greater Marseille area, said on Monday. “We need to take action to ensure health services can cope.”

Continue reading...

Erdoğan warns Macron: ‘Don’t mess with Turkey’

Posted on by

Turkish leader hits back after criticism from French president over warship deployment

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Saturday warned his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, “not to mess” with Turkey, as tensions between the Nato allies escalated.

“Don’t mess with the Turkish people. Don’t mess with Turkey,” Erdoğan said during a televised speech in Istanbul on the 40th anniversary of the 1980 military coup.

Continue reading...

Ami, the tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive

Posted on by

Citroën’s ‘urban mobility object’ is classed as a light quadricyle and can be driven without a full licence

The vehicle is cheap and the reactions from the pavement are a bonus, from the disbelieving double-take or uncontrolled giggle to the frankly envious where-do-I-get-one-of-those (plus the odd pitying stare, but then this is Paris).

At first glance, Citroën’s new Ami, a playful polypropylene cube on wheels with an unashamedly Toytown aesthetic, seems hardly the kind of car to excite the passions of France’s drivers. But, perhaps because it is not a car, that is just what it is doing.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: French PM rules out full national lockdown as cases rise by 9,406

Posted on by

Jean Castex said government not planning return to full lockdown despite surge in cases; Austria extends mask rules

Melbourne residents are experiencing some of the strictest and longest coronavirus lockdown measures in the world as Victoria continues to work to contain a second wave of Covid-19 infections. An overnight curfew from 8pm to 5am is in place, leaving the streets of a once thriving city deserted.

Related: Melbourne’s curfew descends and vibrant city becomes ghost town – in pictures

Saturday’s Mirror splash in the UK.

Saturday’s MIRROR: Virus alert #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/NiJ4gNUL3Z

Continue reading...

Cuties controversy sparks #CancelNetflix campaign

Posted on by

French film Mignonnes sparks 200,000 tweets calling for boycott of streaming service over claims the film sexualises its young stars

A call to boycott Netflix on Thursday over the French film Mignonnes – AKA Cuties – has been launched on social media, over claims that its young stars were portrayed in a sexualised way.

The film is directed by French-Senegalese director Maïmouna Doucouré, and started streaming on 9 September. More than 200,000 tweets with the hashtag #CancelNetflix became the top trending topic one day later.

Continue reading...

UK, France and Germany agree to reject US demand for Iran snapback sanctions

Posted on by

European ‘E3’ ministers reach consensus during Kent meeting hosted by UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab

Foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany have agreed to hold out against US demands to snapback all UN sanctions on Iran, despite intensified pressure from the US specifically on the UK government to fall into line.

The US was left isolated at the UN security council last month when it said it wished to reimpose snapback sanctions, with the European nations – known collectively as the E3 – arguing that the US was no longer a participant in the deal and so unable to act unilaterally. The US, which left the deal in 2018, described the E3 position as crackers and pandering to terrorists. A further showdown on the issue at the UN is expected this month.

Continue reading...

Paris museum refuses entry to woman in low-cut dress

Posted on by

Musée d’Orsay, home to some of world’s most famous nudes, apologises for barring visitor

One of Paris’s biggest museums, whose galleries feature some of the world’s most famous nudes, has been accused of discrimination and sexism after refusing entry to a woman in a low-cut dress.

In a case of life not imitating art, a zealous official told a literature student whose name was given only as Jeanne that “rules are rules” and ordered her to cover her cleavage if she wanted to be allowed into the Musée d’Orsay, a popular tourist attraction and bastion of the beaux arts.

Continue reading...