Category Archives: France

Arrests in France after scores report being attacked with syringes at street music festival

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Interior ministry says 145 people across the country reported being stabbed with needles at Fête de la Musique events

French police have detained 12 suspects after 145 people reported being pricked with syringes during the country’s annual street music festival, officials said on Sunday.

Millions of people took to the streets across France on Saturday evening for the Fête de la Musique, with authorities reporting “unprecedented crowds” in Paris. Before the party, posts on social media had called for women to be targeted during the festivities.

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Disneyland Paris calls in police over alleged fake wedding with child ‘bride’

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Police questioning two people as prosecutor says event at theme park was staged with girl aged about nine and actors

French police were questioning two people on Sunday after Disneyland Paris was hired for an alleged fake marriage ceremony involving a girl aged about nine.

The theme park complex outside Paris had been hired for what was presumed to be a genuine private wedding early on Saturday morning before opening hours.

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Pornhub and other adult sites back online in France after three-week protest

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Adult websites back online after court suspended decision requiring platforms based in the EU to verify users’ ages

Major adult websites Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube were back online in France Friday after a court suspended a decision requiring pornographic platforms based in the European Union to verify users’ ages.

The three platforms’ owner, Aylo, based in Cyprus, had made its websites unavailable in France in early June as a protest against the French decree. Failure to comply could have lead to sanctions including fines or the blocking of the websites.

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Macron lays out broad European offer for Iran to end war with Israel

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Proposal would cover uranium enrichment and ballistic missile programmes and aim to end terrorist funding

Europe is to make Iran a comprehensive offer to end its war with Israel that would include an Iranian move to zero uranium enrichment, restrictions on its ballistic missile programme and an end to Tehran’s funding of terrorist groups, Emmanuel Macron has said.

The proposals are surprisingly broad, spanning a range of complex issues beyond Iran’s disputed nuclear programme, and are likely to complicate any solution unless an interim agreement can be agreed.

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Paris airshow in subdued mood after deadly Air India crash

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Industry professionals gather at civil and military aircraft event further overshadowed by war between Israel and Iran

Every second summer more than 100,000 aviation industry professionals gather in Paris for an airshow – a flying display crossed with a vast conference. The mood at the latest gathering this week was more subdued than usual, after the deadly crash a week ago of a London-bound Air India flight in Ahmedabad.

Investigators have recovered the black box from the plane to try to work out the cause of the disaster. The aircraft maker Boeing, and GE Aerospace, which made the 787 Dreamliner’s engines, both cancelled many of their media-facing events out of respect for the families of the 241 passengers and crew who died, as well as at least 30 more people on the ground who were killed.

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Employees at firm that supplied grape-pickers for champagne on trial for human trafficking

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Police found 57 people allegedly held in fetid conditions in case known as ‘grape harvest of shame’

Three employees of a firm that provided workers to pick grapes for champagne has gone on trial for human trafficking, in one of the biggest labour scandals to hit France’s exclusive sparkling wine industry.

The employees of the firm supplying grape pickers for the champagne harvest in 2023 were charged with human trafficking and exploiting seasonal workers, submitting vulnerable people to undignified housing conditions, and employing foreign nationals without authorisation. The firm itself was also on trial for moral responsibility in the case.

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Weather tracker: France reels from deadly thunderstorms and lightning

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Cold drop, upper-air trough and heat dome combine to create severe weather and 85mm hailstone

Severe thunderstorms swept across France last Friday, killing one person and injuring another. Two systems were involved, prompting orange weather warnings: the first came from the west via Brittany and hit the north of the country, and the second arrived via Spain and affected south-west France.

More than 30,000 lightning strikes were recorded between midnight on Friday and early Saturday. Eure, north of Paris, was worst hit with 4,326 strikes. Strong winds lashed Normandy – Rouen recorded a 76mph (123km)/h) gust that broke the 64mph record set in 2019. Hail affected several areas, leading to infrastructure and crop damage.

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Macron criticises Trump’s threats to take over Greenland during visit

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French president is first foreign head of state to visit Arctic territory since US president made comments

Emmanuel Macron has criticised Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland as he became the first foreign head of state to visit the vast, mineral-rich Arctic territory since the US president began making explicit threats to annex it.

“I don’t think that’s what allies do,” Macron said as he arrived in the Danish autonomous territory for a highly symbolic visit aimed at conveying “France’s and the EU’s solidarity” with Greenland on his way to a summit of G7 leaders in Canada.

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Nicolas Sarkozy stripped of Legion of Honour over corruption conviction

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Former French president loses country’s highest state award despite Emmanuel Macron’s opposition to move

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been stripped of his Legion of Honour, the country’s highest distinction, after his conviction for corruption was confirmed last year, according to an official decree published on Sunday.

The conservative one-term president has been beset by legal problems since leaving office in 2012. In December France’s highest court upheld his conviction for influence peddling and corruption, ordering him to wear an electronic ankle tag for 12 months.

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French court releases New Caledonia independence leader detained over deadly riots

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Christian Tein, who denies accusations of instigating violence in the French territory in 2024, will remain under judicial supervision

A French court freed an independence leader from the overseas territory of New Caledonia who had been detained for a year over deadly riots in 2024.

Christian Tein, who is indigenous Kanak , was charged and incarcerated over the rioting on the Pacific archipelago in May last year that left more than a dozen dead.

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Gisèle Pelicot settles claim for invasion of privacy against French magazine

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Paris Match agrees to pay €40,000 to two charities after publishing photos of Pelicot

Gisèle Pelicot, who survived almost a decade of rape involving dozens of men after she was drugged by her ex-husband, has settled an invasion of privacy case with the French magazine Paris Match.

Pelicot, who became a feminist hero after she decided to waive her right to anonymity in the trial of her former husband and 50 other men last year, took legal action against the publication in April.

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‘We did nothing wrong’: Greta Thunberg accuses Israel of kidnapping yacht crew

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Swedish activist says ‘12 peaceful volunteers’ did not break laws during attempt to bring symbolic aid shipment to Gaza

Hours after being deported from Israel, Greta Thunberg accused the country of kidnapping her and her fellow activists in international waters, adding that she had refused to sign a document stating that she had entered Israel illegally.

Speaking to reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, the Swedish campaigner stressed that she and others on a Gaza-bound ship intercepted by Israel on Monday had simply been attempting to bring much-needed aid to the war-torn territory.

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France to use UK drama Adolescence to teach teenagers about toxic masculinity

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French education ministry follows Britain and Netherlands in incorporating Netflix hit into school curriculums

France has followed the UK and the Netherlands in allowing the Netflix drama Adolescence to be used in secondary schools as part of efforts to teach teenagers about toxic masculinity and online harms.

The French education ministry will offer schools five classes based on excerpts from the critically acclaimed mini-series, which has provoked a global debate about the impact on young boys of misogynistic content online and on social media.

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Weather tracker: Storms make way for summer heat in Europe

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Florence in Italy could hit 39C as hot weather sweeps continent, while parts of South Africa brace for snow

The severe thunderstorms that have been lashing parts of Europe over recent days are expected to give way to high temperatures this week. Several regions could climb to 10C (50F) above seasonal norms, with Italy braced for the full force of the heat. Florence in Tuscany is forecast to soar to a sweltering 39C on Thursday and across the weekend.

Germany, France and Belgium will also face hot weather from Wednesday, with widespread highs at least 9C above the June average. Many other parts of Europe are forecast to experience temperatures 5-7C above normal. This is the result of a high-pressure system creating a heat dome over the region, whereby sinking air compresses and warms as it descends, trapping heat near the surface.

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France plans to begin intercepting small boats at sea, says UK Home Office

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Officials have agreed to begin offshore interceptions, it is claimed, in change of policy that NGOs say will risk lives

The French government plans to begin intercepting small boats carrying asylum seekers even if they are already at sea, a Home Office source has said.

In a move that NGOs claim will endanger lives, it was claimed that French officials agreed this week to draw up plans to begin intervening in waters close to beaches and inland canals.

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Pornhub owner to suspend site in France in protest at new verification law

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Parent company Aylo criticizes requirement that adult website visitors must confirm age with credit card or ID document

French visitors to the adult sites Pornhub, Youporn and RedTube will on Wednesday be greeted with a message denouncing the country’s age verification requirements, the company said on Tuesday.

Parent company Aylo, in reaction to a French law requiring adult sites to take extra steps to verify that their users are 18 or older, will stop operating in France, a spokesperson said.

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Two people die and hundreds arrested in France after PSG Champions League victory

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Vehicles torched in French capital and football supporters clash with police following match in Munich

Two people have died and hundreds have been arrested amid violence on the streets of France, which have marred Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final victory and provoked political recriminations.

Cars were torched as flares and fireworks were set off while supporters clashed with police in the French capital on Saturday night after the match in Munich.

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At least 81 arrested in Paris as fans celebrate PSG’s Champions League victory

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Police on the Champs-Élysées use teargas and pepper spray to keep order after huge crowds had gathered for game

At least 81 people have been arrested after violent clashes in Paris after huge crowds of fans gathered to watch PSG’s victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final.

The club’s Parc des Princes stadium was transformed into a fan zone for the night to screen the match, which took place in Munich, with about 48,000 attending.

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Banksy posts image of new lighthouse artwork believed to be in Marseille

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Image on street incorporates shadow of a bollard alongside words ‘I want to be what you saw in me’

Banksy has posted an image of a new artwork that appears to be in Marseille, in southern France, though its exact location has not been confirmed.

The characteristic image, posted on the artist’s Instagram account, transforms the shadow of a street bollard into the form of a lighthouse. Stencilled across it are the words “I want to be what you saw in me”.

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Gisèle Pelicot’s daughter says she believes online pornography played role in rape case

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Caroline Darian tells Hay festival that pornography websites are ‘part of the system’ of misogyny and violence

There is “no way” that Gisèle Pelicot would have been raped more than 200 times without the existence of pornography websites, her daughter has said.

Speaking at the Hay festival in Powys on Thursday, Caroline Darian said there were “so many social problems like online porn” that can lead to instances of abuse.

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