French president Emmanuel Macron has said he hopes to convince world leaders to pull back from trade war and heal growing divisions at the G7 summit in Biarritz, despite signs that will be a daunting task.
Related: Boris Johnson prepares for Biarritz balancing act with Donald Trump
Continue reading...More than 13,000 police arrive in town with authorities saying any unrest will not be tolerated
The French seaside resort of Biarritz is under lockdown by security forces ahead of the G7 summit, with more than 13,000 police as well as a special magistrates court set up to try anyone committing offences.
The historic centre of the Basque town was emptied of tourists on Friday before the arrival of leaders of the world’s advanced economies including the US president, Donald Trump, and the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, who will hold three days of talks on global issues from the climate emergency to trade wars.
Continue reading...Investigation to focus on potential crimes against citizens in France and abroad
The chief Paris prosecutor has announced that he is opening an investigation into the rape of minors and a series of other charges linked to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
A statement issued on Friday by the office of Rémy Heitz said the decision to open a preliminary investigation was based on “elements transmitted” to his office and “exchanges with American authorities”.
Continue reading...Trump has threatened high tariffs on French wine in response to Macron’s tech tax
French wine-makers are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s threats to introduce high tariffs on French wine in retaliation for Emmanuel Macron’s tax on global technology companies, as world leaders gather for the Biarritz G7 summit this weekend.
A new front in Trump’s international trade wars could open up across France’s vineyards, damaging the livelihoods and jobs of small producers, if the US president decides to substantially increase tariffs on French wine as punishment for what he has called the “foolishness” of the new levy on the annual revenues of technology companies.
Continue reading...Trump’s mood is volatile, and the French leader’s approach has had only limited success
Emmanuel Macron reckons he has found the best way of dealing with Donald Trump. It involves acceptance that the US president’s mind will not be changed where a campaign promise is involved. But on everything else – keep talking.
Macron’s method is about to be put to the test once more as Trump arrives on Saturday to join the G7 summit of the world’s major industrialised democracies in Biarritz. So far, the results have been thin at best.
Continue reading...French president tells Boris Johnson he must present concrete proposals for UK exit
Emmanuel Macron has described the Irish backstop as “indispensable” to a Brexit deal and urged Boris Johnson to set out his proposed alternatives as soon as possible, as he met the British prime minister in Paris.
The French president told Johnson on Thursday that the EU would like “visibility” on London’s concrete proposals for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU within a month, echoing language used by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Wednesday.
Continue reading...French observers fear Britain’s PM is setting up France to take blame over no-deal departure
Emmanuel Macron will hold a friendly but “frank” working lunch with Boris Johnson on Thursday after dismissing his request to renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement and scrap the Irish backstop as “not an option”.
The French president told reporters on Wednesday night that there was a “British democratic crisis” over Brexit and he was seeking “clarification” from Johnson on his proposals as the 31 October exit date approaches.
Continue reading...Julien Gauthier, 44, was on an expedition recording sounds of nature for his music
A French artist who used sounds of nature in his music has been killed by a bear in Canada.
Friends said Julien Gauthier, 44, was the victim of an attack after a bear entered a camp near the village of Tulita, in the Northwest Territories, in the early hours of Thursday last week. The police have not yet publicly identified the victim.
Continue reading...Couple in hot water as Italian authorities get tough on issue blighting island for years
A pair of French tourists could face up to six years in jail after allegedly stealing 40kg (6st 3lbs) of sand from one of Sardinia’s pristine beaches.
Border police found the white sand, taken from Chia beach in the south of the Italian island, stashed into 14 large plastic bottles in the boot of the couple’s car. The pair were about to board a ferry for Toulon, in southern France, from Porto Torres.
Continue reading...Police open murder inquiry after customer attacked waiter at a pizzeria on the outskirts of Paris
A customer fatally shot a waiter at a pizzeria on the outskirts of Paris, apparently enraged at being made to wait for a sandwich, according to witnesses.
The waiter’s colleagues called police after he was shot in the shoulder with a handgun in the Noisy-le-Grand suburb, 15km east of Paris’s city centre on Friday night.
Continue reading...Area around site sealed off for 10 days to remove hazardous dust that has settled since fire in April
Clean-up workers have begun a huge “decontamination” operation around Notre Dame Cathedral after a health scare over lead particles from the fire.
It is the second attempt to remove hazardous dust spread across a swath of central Paris that settled on homes, schools and on the ground after the blaze in April that destroyed the cathedral’s roof and spire.
Continue reading...The 14,000m² farm is set to open in the south-west of Paris early next year
It’s a warm afternoon in late spring and before us rows of strawberry plants rustle in the breeze as the scent of fragrant herbs wafts across the air. Nearby, a bee buzzes lazily past. Contrary to appearances, however, we are not in an idyllic corner of the countryside but standing on the top of a six-storey building in the heart of the French capital.
Welcome to the future of farming in Paris – where a whole host of rooftop plantations, such as this one on the edge of the Marais, have been springing up of late. Yet this thriving operation is just a drop in the ocean compared to its new sister site. When that one opens, in the spring of 2020, it will be the largest rooftop farm in the world.
Continue reading...Rider was reportedly in the fast lane when he was hit from behind by a motorbike
A 30-year-old man has been killed after being hit by a motorbike while riding his e-scooter on a French motorway.
It is the third death linked to the increasingly popular mode of transport in the Paris region in four months, and has sparked further safety concerns and renewed calls for their regulation.
Continue reading...Families of victims of 1982 Paris attack demand parliamentary inquiry over claims
Families of the victims of a 1982 terrorist attack in Paris are demanding a parliamentary inquiry after reports that the former chief of French intelligence made a secret pact with the perpetrators.
They have called on President Emmanuel Macron to declassify the top-secret file of the attack, which killed six and injured 22 others.
Continue reading...Work to protect children from risks of poisoning to be completed before schools open
Workers have started decontaminating schools in Paris that were found to have unsafe levels of lead following the blaze at the Notre Dame Cathedral, as part of efforts to protect children from risks of poisoning.
Related: Notre Dame fire: activists launch lawsuit over 'toxic fallout'
Continue reading...Edita Ochieng and like-minded women are taking a stand against endemic sexual violence and police corruption in Kibera. Plus: Angelique Chrisafis on why climate protesters in France are stealing portraits of Emmanuel Macron. Warning: this podcast contains references to sexual abuse
Edita Ochieng, like many women in Kibera, has been a victim of sexual violence. But with police corruption rife, she has banded together with several other women to bring perpetrators to justice as well as providing advice and counselling.
The Guardian’s Tracy McVeigh and Rod Austin spent time in Kenya’s largest slum with Ochieng and describe her extraordinary story to India Rakusen.
Continue reading...French inventor flies from northern France to Dover on jet-powered ‘Flyboard’
A French inventor has succeeded in crossing the Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard.
Franky Zapata achieved the feat on Sunday morning on his second attempt, after being knocked off balance during his first try last month.
Continue reading...More than 100 portraits of president removed in symbolic civil disobedience movement
It was a quiet Monday afternoon in the picturesque town hall of Lingolsheim, outside Strasbourg. The school summer holidays had started and it was exceptionally hot. But at 4pm something extraordinary happened.
Eleven people calmly walked in, politely greeted the receptionists, then headed to the room usually reserved for council meetings. They carefully unhooked the picture of the French president, Emmanuel Macron – the type of portrait that hangs in all local administration buildings – gently placing it in a special protective pouch, and then walked out.
Continue reading...From walking the dog at midnight to a dip in the canal, I tested the heatwave plan as the city reached 42.6C. Here’s how it went
Last week, as Paris faced down its hottest day since records began, the city authorities declared their readiness. Since the notorious heatwave of 2003 that killed thousands across France, the capital has put in place a heat strategy: cooling areas, a checking system for vulnerable people, shady parks kept open all night.
Could these strategies actually work against a predicted record temperature of 42C (107.6F)? A study released this week shows that the world has never warmed faster than now. By 2050, the average temperature in the hottest month in Paris will rise by six degrees. This heatwave might be the new normal.
Continue reading...Aim is to create international mission to safeguard shipping through strait near Iran
The UK has invited military representatives of the US, France and other European countries to a meeting in Bahrain on Wednesday in an attempt to create an international mission to safeguard shipping through the strait of Hormuz.
Britain hopes it can act as bridge between the US – which has the largest military presence of a western nation in the region – and countries such as Germany, which is reluctant to getting involved in any mission led by Washington.
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