Category Archives: France

Coronavirus live news: France reports 7,379 daily cases in new post-lockdown record

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France records second highest daily tally since March; Italy considers evacuating tourists from Sardinia; Spain’s daily count falls; face masks mandatory in Paris

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a White House proposal to spend $1.3tn (£1tn) in coronavirus economic relief would not be enough to meet the needs of American workers and families.

Pelosi said in a statement she hoped the Republicans would come to the negotiating table and accept the Democratic offer of $2.2tn in spending.

Nationwide restrictions cannot be ruled out should England see a spike in coronavirus cases this winter, the health secretary has warned.

Matt Hancock said countries in others parts of the world were already experiencing a second wave, adding it was “a very serious threat”.

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Global report: India sets new national daily case record

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Parisian pedestrians must wear face coverings from Friday; Spain says school children over six must wear masks; China goes 12 days without local case

India has set a new national record of daily coronavirus infections, reporting more than 77,000 cases in 24 hours, just shy of the global one-day record tally held by America.

India’s health ministry reported 77, 266 new cases on Friday. The largest ever one day rise is 78,427, reported by the US on 25 July. India also recorded more than 1,000 new deaths taking total fatalities, to 61,529, the fourth highest total in the world, behind the US, Brazil and Mexico.

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France records post-lockdown record of 6,111 daily cases – as it happened

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France records highest level of daily cases since lockdown ended and the second-highest ever; Italy records most daily cases since 6 May. This blog is now closed. Follow our new blog below.

This blog has now closed. You can stay up to date on all the latest news on our new blog below.

Related: Coronavirus live news: Tour de France in doubt, WHO to review emergency alert rules

Here’s a quick recap of the latest coronavirus developments across the world over the last few hours:

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Coronavirus live news: Europe sees increase in infections among younger people, says WHO chief

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Regional director warns of increase in hospitalisations and deaths as winter comes; India records daily rise in cases of 75,000

Germany plans to keep fans out of stadiums until at least the end of the year and get tougher on mask-wearing to combat a worrying rise in coronavirus infections, under a draft seen by AFP.

The chancellor Angela Merkel is holding talks with the leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states to officially agree a package of new measures, which will apply nationwide.

The goal of the federal government and the states is to work together to reduce the infection numbers as much as possible.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned top officials to take special care to comply with coronavirus rules after the shock resignation of EU trade boss Phil Hogan.

Her words of caution came just hours after Hogan stepped down after a week of pressure over a breach of coronavirus guidelines in his home country of Ireland.

Related: EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan resigns after flouting Covid rules

[As] Europeans make sacrifices and accept painful restrictions, I expect the members of the college to be particularly vigilant about compliance with applicable national or regional rules or recommendations.

Tonight Commissioner @PhilHoganEU submitted his resignation. I respect his decision. I am grateful for his work as a Trade Commissioner and a member of my team. https://t.co/xPcdLX3kmy

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French minister defends ‘precious’ right to sunbathe topless

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Gendarmes’ request for topless sunbathers to cover up on south coast prompts outcry

France’s interior minister has defended the “precious” right to sunbathe topless on beaches, after police asked a group of women to cover up on the southern coast.

French gendarmes patrolling a beach in Mediterranean seaside town Sainte-Marie-la-Mer last week asked a group of topless sunbathers to cover up in response to a complaint from a family, the local gendarmerie said in a statement on Facebook.

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Drowned Sudanese refugee Abdulfatah Hamdallah is buried in Calais

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Coronavirus restrictions mean repatriation of remains would have taken three months

A Sudanese migrant who drowned while attempting to cross the Channel from France to England has been buried in Calais after coronavirus restrictions meant it would have taken three months for his body to be repatriated to Sudan.

More than 150 fellow Sudanese attended Abdulfatah Hamdallah’s funeral in Calais on Monday morning, according to his cousin.

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French naturist camp hit by ‘very worrying’ Covid outbreak

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Some 100 holidaymakers at the Cap d’Agde resort have tested positive so far

French regional health authorities on Sunday said there had been a “very worrying” outbreak of coronavirus at a naturist holiday resort on France’s Mediterranean coast, with some 100 holidaymakers so far testing positive.

The Cap d’Agde resort in the Herault region, hugely popular among naturists, saw 38 positive tests on Monday and another 57 on Wednesday, the regional health authority said.

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Holocaust denial graffitied at site of Nazi massacre in France

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Justice minister vows to ‘find and judge’ vandals who defaced Oradour-sur-Glane

Vandals have scrawled graffiti denying the Holocaust on a wall in the village that was the site of the Nazis’ biggest massacre of civilians in France during the second world war.

The justice minister vowed on Saturday to bring those responsible to justice.

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Bellicose words won’t stop the Channel dinghies – but compassion might | Regina Catrambone

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Fear of what lies behind drives people against desperate odds. Turning them away won’t stop them, and risks more deaths

The dangerous waters of the Channel have seen a rise in the number of people trying to cross to the UK in desperately unsuitable and overcrowded dinghies. The British government has called for the use of defence forces to stop them.

Fears of “outsiders” bringing danger are exacerbated in the strange times of the coronavirus pandemic, when most of us face unprecedented restrictions on movement, making it a fertile climate to propagate anti-migrant messaging.

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Global report: WHO says world could rein in pandemic in less than two years

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South Korea records most cases since early March; South Africa infections pass 600,000; Brazil on ‘downward trend’

The world should be able to rein in the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years, the World Health Organization has said, as South Korea reported the most daily infections since early March and expanded social distancing measures across the country.

The WHO’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, struck a partly optimistic note when he drew comparisons between the Covid-19 pandemic and the with the 1918 flu pandemic, saying technology could help end the spread.

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‘We were terrorised’: brother of drowned Sudanese refugee on war-torn homeland

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Al-Fatih Hamdallah relives Darfur conflict and neglect that blighted many lives and exodus that led to the death of Abdulfatah

The Sudanese village that Abdulfatah Hamdallah came from is so small that it is not actually on the map.

Himdey is in Kordofan State, which borders the war-torn areas of Darfur and the Nuba mountains. It has a population of about 2,000 and two wells for drinking water, according to Hamdallah’s older brother Al-Fatih.

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Number of migrants crossing Channel in boats passes 5,000

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UK pursues ‘militarised’ response despite calls for safe routes for asylum seekers

The number of migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats this year has passed 5,000, analysis shows, as the UK government continues to pursue a “militarised” response to the growing numbers.

A further five people arrived in England on Friday, risking their lives in force 8 gales, rain showers and rough seas. It is understood the five men presented themselves as Sudanese and Chadian nationals, and were brought into Dover to be questioned by immigration officials.

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Behind the Channel crossings: migrant stories of life or death in tiny inflatables

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Two refugees’ efforts to reach Dover reflect persecution in Sudan and rising tensions over migrants in Europe

On the night he attempted to cross the Channel, Abdulfatah Hamdallah left his blanket and bicycle behind at the camp in Calais.

They were the only possessions he would leave behind: his backpack was lost at sea when he drowned attempting to make the perilous crossing over the Dover Strait to England in a dinghy, with shovels for oars.

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Coronavirus live news: Europe reporting 26,000 new cases a day; South Korea warns of ‘nationwide pandemic’

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WHO says European countries registering an average of 26,000 new cases a day; Germany records 1,707 new infections; South Korea has week of triple figure daily cases; India records highest daily infections yet

The coronavirus pandemic has reignited debate in Germany about cutting the working week to four days to help preserve jobs during and after the economic shock.

But the idea remains highly controversial.

Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray, I’ll be running the global coronavirus blog for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch with any story suggestions or personal experiences you’d like to share.

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People are dying in the Channel because of politicians, not smugglers | Maya Goodfellow

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Priti Patel’s recognition of a child’s humanity in death is hollow when he was stripped of it in life by cruel border policies

The human cost of the government’s border policies has been made appallingly and painfully real: a 16-year-old boy from Sudan was found dead on a beach near Calais on Wednesday after trying to make it across the Channel. When people die trying to cross borders, the response from politicians is almost always the same: they say they are shocked and saddened and then carry on as usual. Yesterday was no different.

Related: Calais-based volunteers condemn UK for death of Sudanese teenager

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Hunt is on for rightful owner of Nazi-looted French painting

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Sign hangs next to Nicolas Rousseau artwork in Verdun asking public for information

A 19th-century oil painting stolen from Nazi-occupied France during the second world war has gone on display in an attempt to trace its rightful owners, after being returned by the son of the German soldier who was ordered to take it.

After 76 years in Germany, the small untitled artwork by the French painter Nicolas Rousseau is back in France and being exhibited at the World Centre for Peace, Liberty and Human Rights in the north-eastern town of Verdun.

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Teenager found dead tried to cross Channel in dinghy with shovels for oars

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Sudanese teenager, found near Calais, attempted crossing with another boy in inflatable dinghy

A Sudanese teenager who disappeared at sea has been found dead on a beach near Calais on Wednesday morning, after trying to cross the Channel with another boy in an inflatable dinghy using shovels for oars.

The French citizenship minister, Marlène Schiappa, said the body was found on the beach of Sangatte, near to the former site of the notorious “jungle” refugee camp, and was believed to be that of a 16-year-old boy, although some uncertainty remains over his age while authorities are continuing to investigate the matter.

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Mali’s new rulers urged to ensure rapid restoration of democracy

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US calls on military to reject violence and work towards return of constitutional government

Mali’s new military rulers have come under intense pressure to ensure a rapid restoration of democracy following the coup that brought them to power overnight.

There were reports on Wednesday that the officers who led the coup met Mahmoud Dicko, a conservative cleric with a large popular following and de facto leader of the recent protest movement in Mali, during the afternoon, suggesting they may be seeking to work with political actors in the unstable west African country.

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Coronavirus live news: Czech Republic reintroducing mask wearing; New Zealand postpones election

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Czech Republic sees resurgence of coronavirus infections; India death toll passes 50,000; Japan GDP falls at annual rate of 27.8%

In the UK, the government has performed a juddering u-turn to say that this summer’s exam results will be based on teacher assessment rather than a controversial standardisation model that prompted fury from students who found themselves sharply downgraded on the basis of their schools’ previous performance.

My colleagues Richard Adams and Sally Weale have a write-up here...

Related: A-level and GCSE results in England to be based on teacher assessments in U-turn

Related: UK coronavirus: England joins other countries in U-turning on exam results after mass outcry – live news

Earlier we posted a link to an interesting El Pais piece which noted that in recent months the average age of those newly infected with coronavirus had dropped significantly. If you’re interested in this phenomenon and its consequences more broadly, take a look at this piece by our own Jon Henley from last week:

Unlike during the early months of the crisis in March and April, when older people accounted for the biggest share of cases, in France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium 20 to 39-year-olds now represent up to 40% of new infections...

The challenge for governments and health agencies, experts say, is to prevent the virus from spreading to more vulnerable populations. “There’s no reason to imagine it can be contained to just one age group, without affecting others, Pascal Crépey, an epidemiologist and public health expert, told Le Parisien.

Related: Surge in Covid-19 cases across Europe linked to young people

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Refugees crossing Channel tell of beatings by French police

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Asylum seekers give accounts of injuries, as Priti Patel says many refugees feel France is racist

Asylum seekers in the UK and France have described injuries they have received at the hands of French police, as Priti Patel said many were making the perilous journey across the Channel because they believe France is racist.

The home secretary made her comments in a conference call with Conservative MPs concerned about the recent surge in numbers attempting the voyage in small boats.

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