Victims included billionaire spiritual leader the Aga Khan, who handed over €20m
A group of men accused of using Skype and a silicone mask to extract tens of millions of euros from the rich and famous by impersonating a leading French politician are to go on trial in Paris on Tuesday.
Victims of the fake Jean-Yves Le Drian – now foreign minister but then in charge of defence – included the billionaire spiritual leader the Aga Khan, who parted with €20m (£17m).
Continue reading...UK court sanctions fines after firm admits using agents across world to bribe officials to land high-value contracts
Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace multinational, is to pay a record £3bn in penalties after admitting it had paid huge bribes on an “endemic” basis to land contracts in 20 countries.
Anti-corruption investigators hailed the result as the largest ever corporate fine for bribery in the world after judges declared that the corruption was “grave, pervasive and pernicious”.
Continue reading...The north African country’s population have suffered years of turmoil, fuelled by the meddling of outside players. The civil war may yet escalate
Let’s all be good. This was, in essence, the conclusion of the conference in Berlin this month which aimed to at least begin the work of ending a war which has cost thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Libya. Participants agreed that foreign meddling should cease and that everyone should abide by the UN arms embargo.
Despite the desperate need for peace, there was good reason to be cynical. The host, Angela Merkel, argued publicly with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, over what had actually been agreed. Fighting soon raged again. The UN refugee agency announced on Thursday that it is suspending all operations at a facility in Tripoli and moving refugees from the site, fearing for their safety and that of its staff and partners amid worsening conflict. The UN says that several participants in the Berlin meeting have since shipped both arms and mercenaries to Libya, blatantly violating the embargo.
Continue reading...Police have used teargas and water cannon on protesting firefighters in Paris. Thousands of firefighters attended the demonstration in the French capital, asking for an increase in their hazard bonus, which has not changed since 1990
Continue reading...Officials announce new measures to contain disease, including wildlife trade ban and bus suspensions, as confirmed death toll reaches 56
Jonathan Ashworth, the UK’s shadow health secretary, urged the government to reassure the public it is sufficiently prepared as the NHS is already struggling in the flu season.
He told the Guardian:
The NHS is currently under immense strain this winter with staff already working flat out and hospitals overcrowded. We need urgent reassurance from ministers they have a plan to ensure we have capacity in place to deal with Coronavirus should we need to,
Continue reading...Head of powerful CGT tells French president of trouble to come unless he cancels reform
The union leader heading protests against France’s bitterly contested pension reforms has accused Emmanuel Macron of playing with fire and showing contempt for the country’s workers.
Philippe Martinez, head of the powerful CGT, said the president and his government were “disconnected” from the real world, and their advisers needed to “shake the hands of a few who actually work”.
Continue reading...More than 1,280 infected in China as officials try to stem spread of virus which has reached Europe, the US and Australia. Follow the latest news
In China, 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have now raised their public health alert to level 1, the highest level, according to Global Times. This enables measures such as quarantining.
Sichuan province has announced a ban on group gatherings. Individuals are not allowed to organise gatherings and restaurants are being prevented from hosting them. Anyone who had prior reservations has been told to cancel.
Chinese tourism continues to be affected by the spread of the virus.
All domestic and foreign tour group operations are to be suspended from Monday. The move follows the closure of Shanghai’s Disneyland, and all tourist sites in the popular Sanya city.
Continue reading...Three cases have been discovered, two of them from the same family
France has identified three cases of the deadly new coronavirus from China, the first cases in Europe.
Two of the cases were announced by the health minister, Agnès Buzyn, on Friday evening. She said that both of those affected had travelled to China.
Continue reading...1,758-carat Sewelô snapped up by luxury brand is world’s second-largest rough diamond
Louis Vuitton has made a splash as it showed off its latest purchase: the world’s second-largest rough diamond.
The LVMH-owned brand, which announced last week that it was the new owner of the 1,758-carat Sewelô, displayed the glinting, blackened stone at its Place Vendôme store in Paris.
Continue reading...Dublin court to consider European arrest warrant for Ian Bailey over unsolved murder of French woman
Ian Bailey, an English journalist-turned poet, has said he is trapped in Ireland because of an attempt to extradite him to France where he faces 25 years in jail for allegedly murdering a French film-maker, Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
A high court in Dublin will hold a hearing on Monday into a European arrest warrant issued by a Paris court, the latest twist in a legal saga over Ireland’s most notorious unsolved murder.
Continue reading...Les Mots à La Bouche’s move from the Marais shows loss of cultural heritage, activists say
In the window of France’s best-known gay bookshop, above the display of Lucian Freud art books, opera singer Maria Callas’s memoirs and a history of the Pride movement, a poster warns in giant red letters: “Cultural heritage in danger.” An urgent note on the door adds: “We need your help!”
Les Mots à La Bouche, a 40-year-old Paris institution, is the top LGBT bookshop in France and considered one of the best in the world – a focal point of Paris’s historic gay neighbourhood in the Marais district. But as property speculation in central Paris reaches dizzying heights – it is estimated that at certain times of year there are more Airbnb rentals than residents in the Marais – the bookshop is being forced out by rising rents.
Continue reading...Downgrading of Auberge du Pont de Collonges to two-star establishment prompts fury
The world of French fine dining has become embroiled in yet another ratings row due to the removal of the three-star Michelin ranking from renowned chef Paul Bocuse’s restaurant, almost two years after his death.
The Auberge du Pont de Collonges, situated near the gastronomic capital of Lyon in south-east France, was the oldest three-starred restaurant in the world, having held the ranking without interruption since 1965.
Continue reading...Hassan Rouhani’s threat to western allies comes amid fears of reimposition of sanctions
Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani has warned that European soldiers in the Middle East could be in danger after the UK, France and Germany triggered a dispute mechanism in the nuclear agreement that could lead to the reimposition of international sanctions on the country.
Rouhani’s remarks on Wednesday were the first direct threat he has made against European powers as tensions have grown between Tehran and Washington since Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal more than 18 months ago.
Continue reading...Star chef says he is ‘obsessed with selling wine’ and wants to diners to drink more, not less
French chef Alain Ducasse, an outspoken opponent of Dry January, has launched an initiative to entice patrons of his restaurants to drink more during the first month of the year, not less.
“I like swimming against the tide,” he told AFP on Tuesday, announcing plans to proffer top bottles of Burgundy and Bordeaux at knockdown prices to encourage diners to order wine by the bottle rather than by the glass.
Continue reading...It’s Thursday evening at Geneva airport and about 60 British holidaymakers are waiting for a bus to take them to the French ski resorts of Chamonix and Morzine. All but a handful are over 50.
What was once a young person’s sport is now owned by the baby boomer generation, something with potentially disastrous consequences for the ski industry as older skiers depart the slopes and young people fall out of love with the mountains.
Continue reading...Sarkozy is accused of trying to obtain classified information from a judge in 2014
Nicolas Sarkozy will become France’s first former president to stand trial on corruption charges in a case in which he is accused of trying to obtain classified information from a judge.
The trial will start on 5 October 2020 and will last until 22 October, a Paris court said.
Continue reading...Tributes paid to wine producer who ‘raised the Beaujolais flag around the world’
Tributes have been paid to the wine merchant Georges Duboeuf, known in France as the “king of Beaujolais” for his production and promotion of the famous wine variety.
Duboeuf, who has died aged 86, founded Les Vins Georges Duboeuf, one of the largest wine companies in France, and was almost single-handedly responsible for making Beaujolais nouveau popular.
Continue reading...Farmers blame ‘ecological emergency’ on inadequate treatment of sewage
A gastroenteritis epidemic sweeping France has hit oyster farmers in Brittany after the virus was found in shellfish.
Health authorities have banned the fishing and selling of oysters in the bay around Mont-Saint-Michel and other shellfish farming areas on France’s north-western coast until further notice.
Continue reading...Prosecutors say man ‘known for radicalisation’ taken to hospital and placed in custody
French police have shot and injured a man holding a knife in Metz, two days after a fatal stabbing in Paris.
Christian Mercuri, the public prosecutor in the city in north-east France, said the man involved in the incident on Sunday, who was known to police both “for his radicalisation and for a personality disorder”, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) before being shot.
Continue reading...Head of restoration says removal of fused scaffolding may destroy vaulted ceiling
The French general appointed to oversee the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral has said the iconic building is still at risk of collapse more than six months into the efforts to restore it.
Gen Jean-Louis Georgelin said the cathedral is “not saved yet” and has to undergo a delicate operation to remove fused scaffolding around the spire, destroyed by a devastating fire last April.
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