France reports 74% rise in offences against Jews and Germany records 60% surge in violent attacks
Antisemitism is rising sharply across Europe, experts have said, as France reported a 74% increase in the number of offences against Jews last year and Germany said the number of violent antisemitic attacks had surged by more than 60%.
Related: Hungary tells UK Jewish group to 'mind its own business' over antisemitism
Continue reading...Ismaël Emelien departs as president reshuffles team in wake of gilets jaunes protests
Emmanuel Macron’s closest special adviser has become the latest to quit the Élysée Palace as the French president reshuffles his team to counter the gilets jaunes anti-government protests and an ongoing scandal around a former security aide.
Ismaël Emelien, 31, had helped mastermind the 2017 election campaign in which Macron promised a mix of right- and leftwing ideas that would destroy France’s tired political party system. Emelien took the role at the Élysee after Macron’s defeat of the far-right Marine Le Pen in 2017, advising on how the now-president could continue to “disrupt” traditional politics.
Continue reading...Five suspended over role in group that allegedly harassed other journalists for years
A clique of French journalists has been accused of bullying female colleagues via social media.
Six people have been suspended for their role in the closed Facebook group Ligue du LOL, a macho online “boys’ club” that reportedly harassed female and minority ethnic journalists for years.
Continue reading...French research involved more than 44,000 people over a period of seven years
Eating a lot of heavily processed foods is linked to a risk of earlier death, according to a study.
A team in France worked with more than 44,000 people in a study running from 2009 called NutriNet-Santé. They looked at how much of their diet – and calories – was made up of “ultra-processed” foods – those made in factories with industrial ingredients and additives, such as dried ready meals, cakes and biscuits.
Continue reading...Scuffles break out as protesters march on National Assembly and Senate in Paris
Thousands of French gilets jaunes (yellow vests) demonstrators marched on Saturdayin what was their 13th weekend of action. There were scuffles in Paris and a demonstrator’s hand was mangled by a small explosive.
There was also an overnight arson attack on the Brittany residence of the National Assembly head, Richard Ferrand, though no immediate link was made to the actions against President Emmanuel Macron.
Continue reading...David Ibbotson, who was flying light aircraft that crashed in Channel, has not been found
The family of the missing pilot of the plane carrying the footballer Emiliano Sala have set up a fundraising page for donations to restart a search for him.
Sala’s body was recovered and formally identified earlier this week but David Ibbotson, who was flying the light aircraft, has not been found.
Continue reading...Derman Tamimou from Togo found lying unconscious on side of road between Piedmont and Hautes-Alpes
French magistrates have opened an inquiry into “involuntary manslaughter” after a man died of hypothermia after trying to cross into France from Italy.
A truck driver found Derman Tamimou from Togo on Thursday morning, lying unconscious on the side of a highway that links the northern Italian region of Piedmont with France’s Hautes-Alpes. He was taken to hospital in the French town of Briançon, but it is unclear whether he died there or was already dead at the scene. He was found between Briançon and Montgenèvre, an Alpine village about 6 miles from the Italian border.
Continue reading...The French ambassador’s recall ought to remind Italy’s populist leaders that they need some friends in Europe
Diplomatic etiquette would normally classify the recall of an ambassador for “consultations” as a middle-order symbol of displeasure. During the cold war, the summoning, or withdrawal, of an ambassador was mundane. More recently, Hungary pulled its ambassador from the Netherlands in 2017, in response to criticism by the outgoing Dutch ambassador in Hungary.
Related: France recalls Rome envoy over worst verbal onslaught 'since the war'
Continue reading...Move comes after Italian deputy PM met leaders of the anti-Macron gilets jaunes
Paris has taken the extraordinary step of recalling its ambassador from Rome, in the worst crisis between the two neighbouring countries since the second world war.
France blamed what it called called baseless verbal attacks from Italy’s political leaders, which it said were “without precedent since world war two”.
Continue reading...Police treating blaze in French capital’s 16th district as possible arson attack
Police have arrested a woman suspected of starting a fire that swept through an eight-storey apartment building in Paris, killing at least eight people and injuring 30 others, including six firefighters.
The woman, who lived in the building, was taken into custody as flames swept rapidly through the block in the French capital’s 16th arrondissement, not far from the Parc des Princes stadium, home to the Paris Saint-Germain club.
Continue reading...Prominent writers including Leila Slimani have spoken out against the Salon du Livre in Paris’s use of phrases including ‘young adult’, a ‘bookquizz’ and ‘le live’
A celebration of the “Scène Young Adult” at the Salon du Livre in Paris next month has drawn the condemnation of dozens of French authors and intellectuals, who have described the adoption of English terminology as an “unbearable act of cultural delinquency”.
The proliferation of English words on display at the book fair, where the “scène YA” was set to feature “Le Live”, a “Bookroom”, a “photobooth” and a “bookquizz”, spurred around 100 French writers into action, among them three winners of the country’s Goncourt prize – Lullaby author Leïla Slimani, Tahar Ben Jelloun and Marie NDiaye – and the bestselling writers Muriel Barbery and Catherine Millet. Together they have issued a scalding rebuke to organisers over their use of that “sub-English known as globish”.
Continue reading...Lawsuit by Denis Baupin is seen as latest backlash against #MeToo movement in France
A defamation lawsuit brought by a former French MP against six women who accused him of sexual harassment and four journalists who reported the allegations has opened in what is seen as a further backlash against the #MeToo movement in France.
Denis Baupin, the former vice president of France’s Assemblée National and a prominent MP for the Green party, resigned in May 2016 after denying the allegations.
Continue reading...Louvre blockbuster marking 500 years since artist’s death may end up a casualty
He was a Renaissance master – painter, scientist, engineer and inventor – who was hailed as one of the greatest artists who ever lived.
But as Europe stages a year-long frenzy of events to mark 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci’s death, Italy and France are engaged in a diplomatic tussle over him that threatens a blockbuster exhibition at the Louvre in Paris.
Continue reading...Family group indicted over 8mm pistol used by Cherif Chekatt in Christmas attack that killed five people and wounded 11
Three men have reportedly been charged with supplying the weapon used by Cherif Chekatt in the Christmas market attack that killed five people and wounded 11 in the French city of Strasbourg.
The three suspects, from the same family and aged 32, 34 and 78, were indicted and placed in custody by an examining magistrate in Paris for “possession and transfer of a category B weapon in relation to a criminal terrorist enterprise” and for “conspiracy with terrorist criminals”, according to a judicial source.
Continue reading...Two men sentenced to seven years for rape of Emily Spanton at Paris police HQ
Two police officers from one of France’s elite units have been sent to jail for seven years for the gang rape of a Canadian tourist.
The officers took Emily Spanton back to their headquarters at 36 Quai des Orfèvres after an alcohol-fuelled evening at an Irish bar in April 2014.
Continue reading...Government facing calls to ban riot police’s use of explosives
The French government is under growing pressure to review police use of explosive weapons against civilians after serious injuries were reported during gilets jaunes street demonstrations, including people alleged to have lost eyes and to have had their hands and feet mutilated.
France’s legal advisory body, the council of state, will on Wednesday examine an urgent request by the French Human Rights League and the CGT trade union to ban police from using a form of rubber-bullet launcher in which ball-shaped projectiles are shot out of specialised handheld launchers. France’s rights ombudsman has long warned they are dangerous and carry “disproportionate risk”.
Continue reading...A 73-year-old French sailor has won an unusual, around-the-world yacht race after 212 days alone at sea without modern instruments, in what was his first sailing victory.
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede arrived on Tuesday in Les Sables d’Olonne in western France in his 35-foot yacht Matmut, the first boat to finish the 30,000-mile Golden Globe race. Of the 19 sailors who started out last July, only five were still in the race on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Shots fired in latest dramatic escape, with union accusing authorities of naivety
Two armed men attacked a van carrying a prisoner on his way to a French court on Monday, firing at the vehicle and striking a guard before making their getaway in the southern town of Tarascon, officials said.
The escape follows last year’s dramatic helicopter jailbreak by Rédoine Faïd, a notorious gangster, which led to calls for prison services to improve their security and intelligence gathering.
Continue reading...Wartime aircraft will fly in 6 June event commemorating day that turned tide of war
The skies over the UK and Normandy will be filled with wartime Dakota aircraft as hundreds of parachutists take part in a mass airdrop to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-day landings in June.
The plans, unveiled by Imperial War Museums (IWM), are part of a programme on an “unprecedented scale” for the commemoration of the greatest seaborne invasion in history, to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation, on 6 June 1944.
Continue reading...Mike Pompeo urged countries to disconnect from Maduro’s government financially as Britain issued eight-day ultimatum
Britain has issued the embattled Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, a stark ultimatum, warning him it would throw its weight behind the country’s self-declared interim leader unless he called an election within the next eight days – as the US government called on the world to “pick a side” in the crisis.
Echoing calls from Berlin, Paris and Madrid, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, said on Saturday it was clear Maduro was no longer the legitimate leader of the Latin American country after last year’s “deeply flawed” election.
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