Category Archives: France

Flyboard inventor poised for ‘crazy’ Channel crossing

Posted on by

Franky ‘Flyman’ Zapata set for takeoff on invention that wowed Macron and Merkel

The French hoverboard star Franky Zapata will attempt to cross the Channel on Thursday using the invention that wowed world leaders and Champs-Élysées crowds on Bastille Day.

The former jetski champion will attempt to make the 20-minute crossing on his turbo-powered hoverboard – the Flyboard Air – to mark the 110th anniversary of French aviator Louis Blériot’s first cross-Channel airplane flight.

Continue reading...

‘Perverts in bushes’ are ruining nude zone in Paris park, say naturists

Posted on by

Users of Bois de Vincennes claim peace is being disturbed by voyeurs and exhibitionists

Naturists in a Paris park have complained that voyeurs and exhibitionists are spoiling their naked enjoyment.

The nudists say they are being pestered in an area of the city’s Bois de Vincennes where for the last two years they have been allowed to shed their clothes.

Continue reading...

Paris authorities scotch rumours of radioactive tap water as ‘fake news’

Posted on by

Viral message claims water has harmful tritium levels as country faces heatwave

As France faces a scorching new heatwave this week, Paris authorities have urged residents to keep calm and carry on drinking tap water after rumours spread that the capital’s water supplies had been contaminated with harmful levels of the radioactive isotope tritium.

The Paris region prefecture insisted the city’s tap water did not present any risk for public health and said rumours circulating on social media were “fake news”.

Continue reading...

French inventor to attempt to cross Channel on jet-powered flyboard

Posted on by

‘Flying soldier’ Franky Zapata expects to cross from France to England in 20 minutes

A former jetski champion and French military reservist who became known as the “flying soldier” after he invented a jet-powered hoverboard will attempt to cross the Channel this week.

Franky Zapata, who impressed France with a demonstration of his flyboard at this year’s Bastille Day parade, has said he will make the crossing on Thursday to mark the 110th anniversary of Louis Blériot’s first cross-Channel airplane flight.

Continue reading...

Fantastique beasts: cult art from the Lalannes’ private collection to go on sale

Posted on by
Surreal works from the home of François-Xavier Lalanne and his wife Claude expected to fetch up to £20m

For years, a giant brass and Sèvres porcelain grasshopper that could, if needed, double as a wine-cooler sat outside the royal apartments at Windsor Castle; a gift from French president Georges Pompidou to the Duke of Edinburgh during a state visit to France in 1972.

Across the Channel, an hour from Paris, the home of its late creator François-Xavier Lalanne and his artist wife Claude is full of such wonderful and whimsical creatures: a huge rhinoceros that transforms into a desk; a bronze cabbage on chicken legs; a herd of sheep that can be sat on, tables of enormous ginkgo leaves.

Continue reading...

Stella McCartney signs deal with French luxury group LVMH

Posted on by

Owner of Vuitton, Dior and Givenchy sees British designer as part of push to sustainability

Stella McCartney has signed a deal with France’s largest luxury group, LVMH, to “accelerate its worldwide development in terms of business and strategy”.

The news, announced on Monday, comes just over a year after McCartney ended her 17-year business partnership with LVMH’s rival conglomerate, Kering, and bought back its 50% stake in her eponymous brand. Further details of the deal will be announced in September, although it has been confirmed that McCartney will remain majority owner and continue as creative director. She currently oversees womenswear, menswear and childrenswear collections.

Continue reading...

France demands access to dual-national academic held in Iran

Posted on by

Prominent researcher Fariba Adelkhah was arrested in June, reports say

France has demanded immediate consular access to a senior French-Iranian academic who has been arrested in Iran.

Fariba Adelkhah, a prominent researcher in anthropology and social sciences based at the Paris political institute Sciences Po, is believed to have been arrested in June.

Continue reading...

France: riot police use teargas to disperse Bastille Day protesters

Posted on by

Demonstrators try to disrupt parade by dragging barriers into road and setting bins alight

French riot police fired teargas to disperse masked protesters from the Champs Élysées after the annual Bastille Day military parade ended in Paris on Sunday.

A few dozen men — some masked and dressed in black — briefly tried to block roads near the Arc de Triomphe by dragging metal security barriers and setting fire to bins.

Continue reading...

Jet-powered flyboard steals the show at France’s Bastille Day celebrations – video

Posted on by

This year’s Bastille Day celebrations in France featured a French inventor hovering above Paris on a jet-powered flyboard. The former jetskiing champion and military reservist Franky Zapata clutched a rifle as he soared above the Champs-Élysées on his board, which can reach speeds of up to 118mph (190km/h)

Continue reading...

The Syrian refugees changing the UK’s food scene

Posted on by

Mohamad Rahimeh found a talent for cooking in the Calais refugee camp. Now he has a viable business in London

When Mohamad Rahimeh arrived in the Calais refugee camp that was nicknamed “the Jungle”, cooking was the last thing on his mind. He was a political scientist from Syria with a journey from hell behind him. Food was just a means to an end.

But when a close friend fell sick, he rustled up a meal of eggs. A hidden talent was uncovered.

Continue reading...

Iran refuses to end breach of nuclear deal until it gets ‘full rights’

Posted on by

French envoy visits Tehran as Rouhani warns UK tanker seizure will have repercussions

Iran has told Europe it will not reverse its decision to increase uranium enrichment beyond the limits set by the 2015 nuclear accord until it achieves its “full rights” to an economic relationship with the EU under the deal.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior security official and representative of Iran’s supreme leader, made his remarks as he met a senior French diplomat sent to Tehran by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Continue reading...

Missiles found at base of Libyan warlord are ours, France admits

Posted on by

Defence ministry denies supplying weapons in breach of UN arms embargo

France has said some of its missiles were found at a Libyan base used by forces loyal to the military strongman Khalifa Haftar – an embarrassing admission that raises new questions about its role in the conflict.

Confirming a report in the New York Times, the French defence ministry said it had purchased the US-made Javelin missiles that were subsequently discovered at a camp south of Tripoli.

Continue reading...

Saudi princess tried in absentia over alleged attack on worker

Posted on by

Princess Hassa accused of getting bodyguard to beat man for taking photo in Paris home

The sister of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia is going on trial in absentia in Paris accused of conspiring to kidnap and beat a worker who was refurbishing her luxury apartment in Paris.

Hassa bint Salman’s French lawyer said she denied the charges of complicity in armed violence, complicity in holding someone against their will and theft against an Egyptian-born man who was carrying out repairs at her family’s Paris residence on the exclusive Avenue Foch in September 2016.

Continue reading...

Father in French right-to-die case says removal of son’s life support is ‘murder’

Posted on by

Vincent Lambert has been at the centre of a bitter case after becoming severely brain-damaged after car accident

The father of Vincent Lambert, a severely brain-damaged patient at the heart of a bitter right-to-die case, has denounced his son’s “murder” after a French hospital began removing him from life support.

“It’s murder in disguise, it’s euthanasia,” 90-year-old Pierre Lambert told journalists at Sebastopol hospital in the north-eastern city of Reims on Sunday, where his son has been in a vegetative state since a car accident in 2008.

Continue reading...

Tall tales: Paris Match explains Sarkozy’s growth spurt in photo

Posted on by

After much derision, magazine says 5ft 5in ex-president was on step above wife, Carla Bruni

As soon as this week’s cover of Paris Match magazine featuring Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni was released, the questions began: how was the diminutive former French president seemingly taller than his towering wife?

The front-page photoshoot might have sparked speculation the 64-year-old rightwinger was thinking of a political comeback, coming hot on the heels of his new book called Passions, which has become a summer bestseller.

Continue reading...

More than €1m raised for rescue ship captain detained in Italy

Posted on by

Money will go towards paying Carola Rackete’s legal fees if charges are brought

Two online campaigns to help the German captain of a rescue ship under house arrest in Italy have between them raised more than €1m.

Carola Rackete’s arrest on Saturday, after she forced her way into port in Lampedusa carrying migrants and refugees she had rescued off Libya, prompted a fundraising appeal by two prominent German TV stars that by Tuesday morning had raised €917,195 from more than 33,000 donors.

Continue reading...

EU powers resist calls for Iran sanctions after breach of nuclear deal

Posted on by

Focus is on averting further breaches and UK says it remains committed to 2015 deal

European leaders have resisted calls to start reimposing sanctions on Iran after the country said it had for the first time broken the terms of the nuclear deal it signed with foreign powers in 2015.

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Monday it had allowed its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to exceed 300kg. The move is a carefully calibrated and reversible step intended to put pressure on Europe to do more to help mitigate the effect of crippling US sanctions.

Continue reading...

Montpellier melts under a 45C high as Europe hit by record heatwave

Posted on by

The south of France is like August in Death Valley, officials say, but lessons have been learnt from the deadly summer of 2003

“Where shall we put it?” asked Luc Gomel, the director of Montpellier zoo. “Right on the front gate, to make sure the joggers see it,” came the reply from the reception desk. “They always complain if bits of the park are shut.”

Gomel, sweat patches already blotting his armpits in the early morning heat, pinned the red notice to the gatepost. It warned that, because Montpellier was both on red alert for a heatwave and rated as a “severe” wildfire risk, special measures had been put in place at the zoo.

Continue reading...