Macron says Russia’s permission not needed to deploy troops in Ukraine

French president says France, UK and others could each deploy ‘a few thousand troops’ to key locations to show Ukraine ‘long-term support’

Emmanuel Macron has said France, the UK, and other nations providing security guarantees for Ukraine after any eventual ceasefire would not be aiming to deploy a “mass” of soldiers, but instead could send contingents of several thousand troops to key locations in Ukraine without needing Russia’s permission.

The French president told regional French newspapers, including Le Parisien and La Dépêche de Midi, that “several European countries, and indeed non-European ones” had “expressed their willingness” to join a possible deployment to Ukraine to secure a future peace agreement with Russia.

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Skin in the game: mink coat at ethical fashion show fuels sustainability debate

Eco-concerns upturn moral battle over fur as quiet luxury gives way to ‘boom boom’ looks at Paris fashion week

Gabriela Hearst is an ethical fashion designer, with sustainability at the heart of her brand. And she wants to sell you a mink coat.

Hearst’s Paris fashion week show included a coat, jacket and stole made from vintage real fur. “We bought all these old mink coats in Italy, and pieced them together,” she said after her show.

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Germany to reach out to France and UK over sharing of nuclear weapons

But Friedrich Merz cautions such a move could not replace the US’s existing protective shield over Europe

Germany’s chancellor-to-be, Friedrich Merz, has said he will reach out to France and Britain to discuss the sharing of nuclear weapons, but cautioned that such a move could not be a replacement for the US’s existing protective shield over Europe.

“The sharing of nuclear weapons is an issue we need to talk about,” Merz said in a wide-ranging interview on Sunday with the broadcaster Deutschlandfunk (DLF). “We have to be stronger together in nuclear deterrence.”

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Journalist quits role after comparing French actions in Algeria to Nazi massacre

Jean-Michel Aphatie stands by comments he made on broadcaster RTL

A prominent French journalist has said he is stepping down from his role as an expert analyst for broadcaster RTL after provoking an uproar by comparing French actions during colonial rule in Algeria to a second world war massacre committed by Nazi forces in France.

Jean-Michel Aphatie, a veteran reporter and broadcaster, insisted that while he would not be returning to RTL, he wholly stood by his comments made on the radio station in February equating atrocities committed by France in Algeria with those of Nazi Germany in occupied France.

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Visitors flock to Paris’s Pompidou Centre before it closes for renovations

Art lovers catch last glimpse of prestigious art collection before gallery shuts for five years for major revamp

Visitors from around the world have been flocking to the Pompidou Centre in Paris this weekend, seizing the last opportunity to enjoy Europe’s largest temple of modern and contemporary art before it closes its doors for a five-year overhaul.

In one of the most complex closures of its kind, the task of removing the museum’s 2,000-strong permanent collection will start on Monday. The Pompidou’s Chagalls, Giacomettis and myriad other treasures will be relocated to other sites in Paris and museums elsewhere in France and around the world.

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‘Military Keynesianism’? Reeves faces British defence dilemma after EU spending surge

Even Berlin and Brussels are bending fiscal rules in the face of Russia’s threat. Will the chancellor still stick to hers?

As the Nobel laureate Robert Lucas quipped during the 2008 financial crisis: “I guess everyone is a Keynesian in a foxhole.” Donald Trump’s upending of the postwar security consensus has underlined the enduring wisdom of Lucas’s observation. But now, instead of bank bailouts and emergency bond buying, European firepower is being directed at bombs, tanks and drones in the desperate fight to secure the continent’s border with Russia.

Berlin and Brussels – typically capitals of financial orthodoxy – have been convinced that this approach is required once again. Under the plan put forward by Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, Berlin is on the brink of relaxing its “debt brake” rule to pave the way for spending on defence and infrastructure worth an additional €1tn (£840bn) over the coming decade.

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Sarah Burton makes fresh but understated debut for Givenchy in Paris

Former Alexander McQueen protege’s show a major fashion moment as it is first by a new female creative director

The obvious place to start at Givenchy would be with Audrey Hepburn, but Sarah Burton is a more subtle designer than that.

Instead of rewatching Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Alexander McQueen’s protege-turned-successor studied old photographs of Hubert de Givenchy’s first show, in 1952. She was struck by the minimalism of “stripped back, not fussy” clothes, she told Vogue before the show. “It is quite clean, quite pure, obviously postwar,” she said.

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Macron warns Russian aggression ‘knows no borders’ in televised address

French president says Europe must prepare for a future without guaranteed US support, warning Russian threat could extend beyond Ukraine

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has warned that Russian aggression “knows no borders”, will not stop at Ukraine and is a direct threat to France and Europe which must prepare in case the US steps away from its side.

“I want to believe the US will stay by our side,” Macron said in a televised address late on Wednesday. “But we have to be ready if that isn’t the case,” he said.

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UK, France and Germany say Gaza aid freeze could breach international law

Ministers issue joint statement after Israel cuts off supplies in effort to push Hamas to accept change in ceasefire deal

Britain has joined Germany and France to warn that Israel could be in breach of international law by halting the entry of aid into Gaza, which is facing a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis.

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, signed a joint statement with his French and German counterparts to urge Israel and Hamas to engage constructively to get ceasefire talks back on track.

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Paris trials dedicated car-sharing lane on its notoriously congested ring road

Busiest urban motorway in Europe restricted mainly to vehicles carrying at least two people during rush-hour

Authorities in Paris have created a dedicated car-sharing lane during rush-hour on its notorious ring road as part of efforts to reduce congestion and pollution on one of Europe’s busiest motorways.

Paris city hall began the trial scheme on Monday, restricting the outside lane of the périphérique to passenger vehicles carrying at least two people from 7am to 10.30am and 4pm to 8pm. The lane will also be available to public transport, taxis, the emergency services and vehicles used by disabled people.

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UK and France will work on own Ukraine peace plan, says Keir Starmer

PM says he and Macron have agreed to begin talks as Europe scrambles to respond to White House disaster

Britain and France will work on their own peace plan for Ukraine, Keir Starmer has said, as European leaders scrambled to respond to Friday’s disastrous White House meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The prime minister told the BBC on Sunday that he and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, had agreed to begin negotiations separate to those between the US and Russia, after a series of hurried phone calls on Saturday evening.

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Macron says French-Algerian author under ‘arbitrary detention’ in Algeria

French president concerned for health of Boualem Sansal who has gone on hunger strike over his imprisonment

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he is concerned about the “arbitrary detention” and health of Boualem Sansal, days after the French-Algerian author began a hunger strike over his imprisonment in Algeria.

On Tuesday, Pen America issued a statement calling for the immediate release of 75-year-old Sansal, noting that “his hunger strike adds to grave concerns for his wellbeing”.

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It’s Jekyll and Hyde, says son of French surgeon accused of abusing 299 patients

Relatives of Joël Le Scouarnec, who allegedly sexually assaulted young patients, tell court of split personality

Members of a French surgeon’s family have described discovering the “Jekyll and Hyde” character of the man accused of raping or sexually assaulting 299 young patients while they were sedated or recovering from operations.

At his trial in the city of Vannes in Brittany, relatives of Joël Le Scouarnec spoke of his split personality.

In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International

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Life without parole for Nice church attacker who murdered three

Brahim Aouissaoui claimed the fatal stabbings at a church in southern French city were revenge on westerners

A Tunisian man who fatally stabbed three people in a terrorist attack at a church in Nice, almost decapitating one victim, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in France.

Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, had told the special court in Paris he had no recollection of the attack in October 2020. He later admitted he was taking revenge on “you [westerners] who kill Muslims every day”.

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French fugitive whose escape left two officers dead extradited from Romania

Mohamed Amra’s arrest ends nine-month manhunt when armed assailants ambushed prison convoy in Normandy

A notorious French fugitive who staged a deadly escape that killed two guards last year has been extradited from Romania to France, days after his arrest in Bucharest ended a nine-month international manhunt.

Mohamed Amra, nicknamed “The Fly”, was arrested near a shopping centre in Bucharest on Saturday after being identified by Romanian police, despite having dyed his hair red, possibly to evade detection. The Bucharest court of appeal approved his extradition request on Sunday.

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Trump says Putin will accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine

France’s Macron corrects US president’s claim that Europe has only loaned funds to Kyiv at White House meeting

Donald Trump has said the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end the three-year war.

The US president was speaking alongside the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House on Monday as the leaders sought to smooth over a transatlantic rift to achieve peace.

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Incendiary device explodes outside Russian consulate in Marseille

No injuries reported after incident on Monday, which marks third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

An incendiary device exploded outside the Russian consulate in Marseille early on Monday, authorities said, on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. No injuries were reported.

A second device was thrown but did not explode, and a bomb disposal expert was called to the scene.

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Starmer unlikely to unveil plan for rise in defence spending this week, says minister

Bridget Phillipson calls 2.5% target ‘ambitious’ days before PM meets with Donald Trump in Washington

Keir Starmer is unlikely to set out a plan this week for when the UK will increase its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, a cabinet minister has indicated.

The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the target was ambitious, despite Labour previously claiming it would set out a path to meeting the spending goal after the strategic defence review in the spring.

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Man killed intervening in knife attack on French police officers

Macron says knife attack is ‘without any doubt an act of Islamist terrorism’

A 69-year-old man who intervened when a suspected terrorist attacked police officers with a knife shouting “Allahu Akbar” has died in eastern France.

Two police officers were also seriously injured in the suspected Islamist terrorist act, which took place in the city of Mulhouse during a demonstration in support of the Congo on Saturday afternoon. Three other police officers were lightly wounded.

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‘My paedophile letters’: French surgeon to stand trial accused of abusing 299 child patients

Joël Le Scouarnec’s ‘black books’ of handwritten notes in which alleged sexual abuse was recorded are at the heart of case against him

When two gendarmes knocked on her door in 2019, Marie had no idea that she was about to find herself at the dark heart of one of the world’s biggest child abuse cases.

The French mother of three, now 38, was shocked when the officers told her she had been the victim of Joël Le Scouarnec, a surgeon and an alleged serial paedophile accused of raping and sexually abusing hundreds of children.

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