Firefighters at scene as intruder seen dangling near top of tower
The Eiffel Tower has been evacuated after a man tried to scale it.
The man could be seen dangling just below the third and highest level of the structure. A rescuer dressed in red could be seen above him.
Continue reading...Mulhouse has turned around its image and now boasts more shops opening than closing, thanks to smart planning, investment and community efforts
On a lane in what was once considered eastern France’s grimmest town, a street artist is up a ladder finishing a mural, the independent bookshop has a queue at the till, the organic cooperative is full of customers and Séverine Liebold’s arty independent tea shop is doing a brisk trade.
When Liebold opened Tilvist in Mulhouse three years ago, in a space that had been vacant for years, friends tried to persuade her against it. “They said: ‘Not Mulhouse, look elsewhere,’” she recalls. “But I stuck with my instinct, and I was right.”
Continue reading...Finance ministers say Europe is increasingly dependent on Chinese and US technology
It boasts the world’s second biggest economy, a huge consumer market of about 500 million people and prodigious pools of talent and capital, not to mention two of the world’s most important financial centres.
But Europe is struggling to match its great rivals, the US and China, in creating the kind of global firms that increasingly dominate the 21st-century marketplace.
Continue reading...Basque terrorist group’s former political chief tracked down after 16 years on the run
A former leader of the Basque terrorist group Eta has been arrested in France after spending more than 16 years on the run, the Spanish government said on Thursday.
Jose Antonio Urrutikoetxea Bengoetxea, better known as Josu Ternera, was once Eta’s political chief.
Continue reading...Jacinda Ardern and Emmanuel Macron met companies and G7 nations in Paris for Christchurch Call summit
World leaders and heads of global technology companies have pledged at a Paris summit to tackle terrorist and extremist violence online in what they described as an “unprecedented agreement”.
Wednesday’s event, organised two months to the day since the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand, drew up a “plan of action” to be adopted by countries and companies to prevent extreme material going viral on the internet.
Continue reading...France’s far-right National Rally leader asks ally to remove controversial selfie from Facebook
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally, has asked an Estonian ally to remove a selfie from Facebook in which the pair made a controversial “OK” hand gesture, which has been linked to white-power messaging.
Le Pen was in Tallinn to meet MPs from Estonia’s far-right EKRE party, which recently became part of the country’s coalition government, as part of cross-continent negotiations on setting up a new bloc of nationalist and far-right forces after European elections next week.
Continue reading...British film-maker claims she was denied access to Marché du Film, then told to pay fee for baby and wait two days for it to be processed
The Cannes film festival has been criticised for its treatment of mothers and babies after a female director claimed she and her child were prevented from entering the festival site.
British director Greta Bellamacina, whose film Hurt By Paradise is screening in the market section of the festival, said the festival had displayed an “outrageous” attitude after she attempted to enter the festival with her four-month son.
Continue reading...Designs from architects around world also suggest glass, crystal and metal spires
An architecture firm has proposed replacing the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral with a swimming pool, as France prepares to launch an international competition to restore the fire-damaged gothic edifice to its former glory.
After the roof and spire of Notre Dame were damaged in a fire watched worldwide in April, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he was open to a “contemporary gesture” in rebuilding it “more beautiful than before”, and the prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, called for a new spire “adapted to the techniques and the challenges of our era”.
Continue reading...Ballot comes six months after closer-than-expected referendum raised questions over French control of islands
Voters in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia cast ballots for their local Congress on Sunday, with separatists hoping to win a majority.
The ballot comes six months after a closer-than-expected referendum raised questions over France’s control of the strategic islands, which sit on a quarter of the world’s known supplies of nickel, a vital electronics component.
Continue reading...High lead levels after cathedral fire have led to concerns from environmental groups
Paris authorities have warned of very high lead levels on the ground immediately surrounding the fire-damaged Notre Dame cathedral but insisted there was no danger from breathing the air, after environmental groups likened the site to “toxic waste”.
The latter are preparing to step up pressure this week over the possible pollution danger from toxic metal particles from the cathedral fire. Campaign groups will hold a press conference on Friday to warn of their concerns about the danger from the combustion of lead in last month’s blaze which destroyed the Gothic cathedral’s roof, spreading lead-laden dust.
Continue reading...Red Cross steps in after temperatures drop below zero at unauthorised electronic music festival
About 30 people have been treated for hypothermia at an outdoor techno music festival in France after unexpected snowfall left many sheltering under survival blankets distributed by the Red Cross.
About 10,000 people attended the unauthorised Teknival 2019 festival in the central Creuse region at the weekend, where temperatures dropped to -3C over Saturday night.
Continue reading...Artisans creating a ‘13th-century’ castle in Burgundy might well be the ideal team to restore the cathedral
In a clearing in a forest in northern Burgundy, the stonemasons and carpenters of Guédelon are awaiting a call.
If anyone can rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral as it was – if that is what is required – they can.
Continue reading...Working conditions have become ‘intolerable, says police union, calling for the station to be completely fumigated
A police station in north-eastern Paris had to be evacuated on Sunday after it was invaded by fleas, a police union said.
“Police station closed until further notice!” read an notice stuck to the front door of the station, which is located in the 19th arrondissement of the French capital.
Continue reading...Three firefighters in custody after a woman made a complaint to police
Police are questioning three Paris firefighters in connection with the alleged rape of a woman at their station.
The firefighters, who were not on duty at the time, allegedly brought “at least” three women back to their Plaisance fire station in the city’s 14th arrondissement at 4am on Saturday after an evening of drinking, according to reports.
Continue reading...After 30 years at the highest level of fashion, Virginie Viard makes debut as solo designer
“Complacency,” designer Karl Lagerfeld once said, “is the beginning of the end.”
Three months after his death, this spirit lives on at Chanel. The house has sprung out of mourning and back into action, transforming the Grand Palais in Paris into a Belle Époque railway station for the first collection by Lagerfeld’s successor, Virginie Viard.
Continue reading...Staff say they stopped attempt to enter intensive care, but intruders smashed computers
French officials say medical staff narrowly averted “a catastrophe” after May Day demonstrators reportedly stormed a Paris hospital and attempted to force their way into an intensive care unit.
About 50 protesters – some wearing gilets jaunes (yellow vests) and others with masks – entered the hospital after the admission of a riot police officer who was hit in the face by a paving stone towards the end of a traditional union-led 1 May march.
Continue reading...Worst violence occurs in Paris but trouble also flares in Berlin, Gothenburg and St Petersburg
Police and protesters have clashed, sometimes violently, in cities across Europe as tens of thousands of trade unionists, anti-capitalists and other demonstrators marched in traditional May Day rallies.
The worst confrontations were in Paris, where riot police fired teargas and stingball grenades as a 40,000-strong crowd, included gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protesters and an estimated 2,000 masked and hooded “black bloc” activists, marched from Montparnasse station to Place d’Italie.
Continue reading...Police and protesters have clashed in cities across Europe as tens of thousands of trade unionists, anti-capitalists and other demonstrators march in traditional May Day rallies. The worst confrontations were in Paris, where riot police fired teargas and stingball grenades as a 40,000-strong crowd marched from Montparnasse station to Place d'Italie
Continue reading...Eurozone economy grew by 0.4% in the last quarter, faster than expected, as Italy escaped its third recession in a decade
Earlier:
Italy’s farms, factories and service sector companies all made a positive contribution to growth in the last quarter, Istat says.
Net exports also boosted growth, which is an encouraging signal.
In another boost to the eurozone, Italy has returned to growth after its third recession in a decades.
Italy Q1 preliminary GDP +0.2% vs +0.1% q/q expected https://t.co/bZacGKzKXT pic.twitter.com/6Nl0Eqd7KZ
Continue reading...Police advise cleaning dust with wet wipes after tests find particles of toxic metal released by cathedral fire
Neighbours of the fire-stricken Notre Dame cathedral have been advised to use wet wipes to clean surfaces where lead-laden dust from the blaze may have settled.
Tests have shown that the devastating 15 April fire released particles of the toxic metal that had been present in the frame of the church and its now-levelled spire, Paris police have said.
Continue reading...