Philippe Monguillot left brain dead after assault by men not wearing Covid-19 face masks
French prosecutors have charged two men with attempted murder after a bus driver was assaulted and left brain dead for refusing to let a group of people who were not wearing face masks board the bus.
Four men set upon 59-year-old Philippe Monguillot in the south-western town of Bayonne on Sunday after he asked three of them to wear masks and tried to check another man’s ticket.
Continue reading...Statistics agency is first in France to cross-check Covid-19 fatalities with country of origin
Death rates among immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa doubled in France and tripled in the Paris region at the height of France’s coronavirus outbreak, finds a study from the French government’s statistics agency.
The INSEE agency’s findings, published on Tuesday, are the closest France has come to acknowledging with numbers the disproportionate impact of the virus on the country’s black immigrants and members of other overlooked minority groups.
Continue reading...France has a new prime minister after President Emmanuel Macron named career civil servant Jean Castex as the replacement for Édouard Philippe. Castex will be part of Macron’s ‘new course’ for the last two years of his mandate.
Castex, from the centre right of French politics, coordinated France’s successful exit from lockdown and is widely known as Monsieur Déconfinement. He will form the next government
Continue reading...Philippe’s popularity has grown, as Macron’s has slipped, during the coronavirus crisis
Édouard Philippe, the prime minister of France, has tendered his government’s resignation after seeing the country through the coronavirus pandemic.
The Élysée Palace announced Philippe, an increasingly popular figure during the crisis, had submitted the government’s resignation but would remain as head of an interim government until the president, Emmanuel Macron, carried out a reshuffle and named his successor.
Continue reading...Former Swedish settlement of Hunspach, in Alsace, unlikely to remain ‘peaceful’ for long
French people have chosen Hunspach, which was once part of Sweden, as their favourite village of 2020.
The Alsace village of 652 inhabitants, on France’s eastern border with Germany, was selected in a TV poll of 700,000 viewers.
Continue reading...Spain and Portugal reopen border as global tourism industry predicted to lose up to £2.6tn
The first tourist flights in four months landed on the Greek island of Crete, and Spain and Portugal reopened their land border as European countries continued to ease travel restrictions, as Brazil recorded 60,000 deaths.
A charter plane carrying 172 passengers from Hamburg landed at Heraklion airport on Crete at 8am, minutes after another aircraft had arrived from the Czech Republic, re-establishing the island’s air links with the outside world.
Continue reading...One French driver in five admits to a Jekyll and Hyde personality when they take the wheel
The French are the road-rage champions of Europe, according to a survey, with the highest number of drivers who feel they become more aggressive when they get on the road.
The 10th annual poll of “responsible driving” published by the Vinci Motorway Foundation and carried out by the Ipsos polling agency in 11 European countries, revealed that one French driver in five – and more in the Paris area – has a Jekyll and Hyde personality behind the wheel.
Continue reading...Ad for VanMoof bike unfairly discredits automobile industry, says watchdog
A TV commercial for a Dutch-made bicycle has been banned by France’s advertising watchdog for creating a “climate of fear” about cars.
Despite being aired on Dutch and German television, the Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité (ARPP) said the ad for the VanMoof bike unfairly discredited the automobile industry.
Continue reading...Former French prime minister and wife Penelope given jail sentences over fake jobs scandal
The former French prime minister François Fillon and his Welsh wife, Penelope, were sentenced to jail on Monday for embezzling public funds as part of a “fake jobs” scandal.
A court found the couple guilty of fraud after a trial heard he had paid her and two of the couple’s children about €1m for non-existent jobs as his parliamentary assistants.
Continue reading...Socialist mayor retains capital, with Macron’s LREM losing out to the ecology party
France was swept by a green wave on Sunday as ecology candidates won a number of major victories in the country’s local elections.
Early results suggested the biggest winners of the delayed vote would be the green party, Europe Ecologie Les Verts (EELV), while the election delivered the predicted blow to Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche (LREM) party, which has failed to take root locally since it was founded four years ago.
Continue reading...Experts believe up to 500 people guillotined in period may be buried in Chapelle Expiatoire
Experts believe the remains of up to 500 people guillotined during the French Revolution may be buried in the walls of a listed monument in Paris.
The discovery blows apart the accepted historical account, which suggests the bodies of famous guillotinés, including Louis XV’s mistress Madame du Barry, Olympe de Gouges and Maximilien Robespierre, revolutionary architect of the Reign of Terror, were moved to the network of catacombs under the city.
Continue reading...Environmentalists have welcomed news that the 43-year-old Fessenheim reactor will close, nine years after it was first planned
France’s oldest nuclear power plant will shut down on Tuesday after four decades in operation, to the delight of environmental activists who have long warned of contamination risks, but stoking worry for the local economy.
The Fessenheim plant, opened in 1977 and already three years over its projected 40-year life span, became a target for anti-nuclear campaigners after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima in Japan in 2011.
Continue reading...Ministers also expected to end policy of quarantining arrivals to the UK for 14 days
Overseas holidays will be given the green light from early next month, with the government expected to suspend the 14-day quarantine period for a series of countries and also to set up so-called air bridge arrangements for overseas destinations.
While the full list of countries involved is still being confirmed, the initial phase of travel opening up is expected to involve European nations including France, Greece, Spain and possibly Portugal, with other potentially more distant locations to follow.
Continue reading...Four police officers questioned for involuntary homicide over death of Cédric Chouviat
A French delivery driver who died after being arrested in Paris pleaded “I’m suffocating” several times as police held him to the ground.
Footage has emerged of 42-year-old Cédric Chouviat saying he could not breathe seven times in 22 seconds as officers pinned him to the ground.
Continue reading...Ramzan Kadyrov defends compatriots in France after an attack on Chechen teenager sparked unrest
Ramzan Kadyrov, the autocratic leader of Chechnya, has expressed support for compatriots involved in clashes in the French city of Dijon this month, saying they were protecting one of their own because police failed to act.
Kadyrov’s message came as French police carried out raids and made a number of arrests of Chechens after several nights of violence blamed on members of the Chechen community from last Friday to Monday, when the city was rocked by clashes and car burnings.
Continue reading...French president holds talks with PM on UK visit to mark second world war anniversary
Boris Johnson has told Emmanuel Macron that he sees little point prolonging UK-EU talks on a future trading relationship into the autumn.
The French president was in London on Thursday for a largely ceremonial visit. No 10 said Johnson had welcomed a recent agreement to intensify talks on the issue in July. However, comments dismissing the idea of “prolonged negotiations” suggest that Johnson is increasingly prepared to end the talks without an agreement and thinks both sides would need time to prepare for this rather than make last-minute adjustments in December when the existing transition period expires.
Continue reading...The French president visits No 10 for talks on Thursday during trip to commemorate WWII alliance
The French president Emmanuel Macron is expected to call on the UK to revisit its decision of imposing a 14-day quarantine period on visitors from abroad during his trip to the UK on Thursday.
Macron, on his first visit abroad since the coronavirus outbreak, is in London to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Gen Charles de Gaulle’s broadcast announcing an alliance with Winston Churchill, “the leader of the British empire”, and the launching of the French resistance.
Continue reading...‘Exceptional’ correspondence sent from Arles in 1888 is bought by Van Gogh Museum
A letter written by two of the greatest artists of the 19th century, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, about their visits to French brothels has been bought for the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for €210,600 (£189,000).
The correspondence, previously held in private hands, has been described as “exceptional”. The two painters entwine descriptions of their experiences living together in Arles, Provence, with claims of certainty that their work is leading a “great renaissance of art”.
Continue reading...French nursing unions called for a national strike to ask for better working conditions and to demand the government keep its promise to overhaul France’s hospital system in response to the coronavirus crisis.
Police fired teargas after being pelted with objects by a small minority that overturned a car during the demonstration led by healthcare workers
Police say alleged assault on Chechen boy may have sparked reprisals in Grésilles area
The French government has vowed to bring an end to violence in the usually placid eastern city of Dijon after it was hit by a fourth night of unrest allegedly linked to score-settling by members of the Chechen community.
According to police, the incidents appear to have been sparked by an alleged assault this month on a 16-year-old Chechen boy, prompting reprisal raids.
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