Category Archives: France

Far-right links and Putin praise: fears over £600m UK history theme park plan

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French family behind project visited Kremlin in 2014 to discuss building ‘Tsarland’ in annexed Crimea

With its spectacular shows featuring Viking longboats, Roman charioteers and sword-wielding knights who perform death-defying stunts, Puy du Fou in France is consistently ranked among the world’s best theme parks. Each performance of its centrepiece Cinéscénie show, which depicts 700 years of French history, features more than 1,000 actors, hundreds of horses and about 800 fireworks.

Now the company has set its sights on bringing its brand of immersive history to the UK via a £600m investment to build its mock medieval castles, hotels and restaurants on farmland just off the M40 in Oxfordshire. It has asked the upmarket property firm Savills to help with its planning applications and is expected to look for British co-investors for a project that it says will create thousands of jobs.

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Share of €500,000 jackpot offered to men who bought scratchcard with stolen credit card

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Winnings as yet unclaimed by thieves in Toulouse who bought scratchcard amid legal debate over who gets payout

Two homeless men who bought a winning lottery scratchcard with a stolen credit card have been offered a potentially lifechanging deal by their victim: a share of the €500,000 jackpot if they can produce the ticket.

The situation has left legal experts scratching their heads over who is the rightful owner of the so far unclaimed winnings: the person who bought the scratchcard, or the person who paid for it? And will the lottery operator pay out?

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St Pancras and Channel tunnel plan rail routes to Germany and Switzerland

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Partnership comes as London station looks at ways to almost triple passenger numbers

St Pancras railway station in London and the Channel tunnel operator have agreed to work together to open up more trains from Britain to France, and routes to Germany and Switzerland.

The agreement is the latest sign of growing momentum for new passenger rail links from England across the Channel, after Great Britain’s only international station announced plans to triple the number of people who can travel through every hour.

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French foreign minister makes rules-based order plea to global south over Ukraine

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Jean-Noël Barrot tells G20 to prioritise those who support the law rather than power by force

European powers have made a plea at the G20 in South Africa to countries in the global south that they show unambivalent support for the international rules-based order, including the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Writing in the Guardian, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the real line of geopolitical division was not between north and south but between those who supported the international rules-based order and those who did not.

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‘Allo ‘Allo! Europe’s leaders get together dans Paris for emergency sommet | John Crace

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Emmanuel Macron, Kier Starmer and others discuss Trump, Russia and Ukraine at hastily arranged conference

Emmanuel Macron: Bienvenu á Paris.

Keir Starmer: Bonjour, Monsieur le President. Thank you for organising this “once-in-a-generation” summit at such short notice.

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France tries five suspected IS militants over kidnap of four journalists in Syria

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One suspect, Mehdi Nemmouche, is serving a life sentence for a 2014 attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels

Five suspected Islamist terrorists accused of kidnapping and torturing four French journalists covering the war in Syria have gone on trial in Paris.

The men include the French jihadist Mehdi Nemmouche, 39, who is serving life imprisonment for an attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014 in which four people died.

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One dies in attempted Channel crossing after small boat sinks off Calais coast

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A further 69 people were rescued in what French authorities called a very busy night for crossings

One person has died trying to cross the Channel in a small boat that sank off the coast of Calais, while 69 were rescued during what French authorities said was a very busy night for crossings.

The small boat began to take in water before French navy ship Abeille Normandie rescued the 70 people on board. Only half of those on board had life jackets. The French navy’s Dauphin helicopter was also involved in the rescue operation.

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Flight costs from France to rise as government more than doubles air tax

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‘Solidarity tax’ to go up in move criticised as ‘irresponsible’ by Air France, as Ryanair threatens to cut flights in country

The cost of flights from France will rise next month when the government more than doubles its “solidarity tax” on tickets.

The French government has said the increases are fair on ecological and fiscal grounds but critics say it will hit France’s ability to compete globally.

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French investigators say ‘all hypotheses remain open’ in deaths of British couple

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Prosecutor confirms body of Dawn Searle was found semi-clothed outside with head injuries caused by several blows

French police say they are still investigating the deaths of a British couple whose bodies were found at their rural home in Aveyron in the south of France last week.

The bodies of Andrew Searle, a retired fraud investigator, and his wife, Dawn, a project manager, were discovered at about 12.30pm on Thursday at their home in the village of Les Pesquiès.

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Man goes on trial in France over deadly Nice church attack

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Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, tells court he has no memory of 2020 attack in which three people were fatally stabbed

A Tunisian man has gone on trial in France accused of fatally stabbing three people in a terrorist attack at a church in Nice.

Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, told the special court in Paris he had no recollection of the events of October 2020, when he allegedly almost decapitated a 60-year-old woman, stabbed another worshipper 24 times and slit the throat of a church worker with a kitchen knife – killing all three.

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Hollyoaks actor Callum Kerr issues statement after death of mother and her husband in France

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Kerr’s mother, Dawn Searle, and her partner Andrew were found dead at their rural home in south-west France on Thursday

A former Hollyoaks actor has said he is “grieving the tragic loss” of his mother after she was found dead alongside her husband in France.

The bodies of Andrew Searle, a retired fraud investigator, and his wife, Dawn, a project manager, were discovered at about 12.30pm on Thursday at their home in the village of Les Pesquiès, south of Villefranche-de-Rouergue. The couple had moved to south-west France from Scotland about 10 years ago.

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Nicolas Sarkozy fitted with electronic tag after losing corruption appeal

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Former French president was found guilty of trying to bribe a judge in 2014 after he had left office

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was fitted with an electronic tag on Friday after losing his appeal against his conviction for corruption and influence peddling.

He will be required to remain at his Paris home between 8pm and 8am, but has been given a special dispensation to be outside until 9.30pm for three days a week when attending a separate trial on charges – that he denies – of accepting millions in illegal campaign funds from the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

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Teams pull out of Étoile de Bessège cycling race after car enters course

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  • Ineos Grenadiers among teams to withdraw in France
  • Vehicle came towards the peloton at a roundabout

Several teams have pulled out of the Étoile de Bessèges cycling race in France after a car came towards the peloton at a roundabout during the third stage on Friday.

Ineos Grenadiers said: “The safety of our riders and staff is of paramount importance. Following multiple incidents of public vehicles entering the race course our riders, together with other teams, have decided not to complete today’s stage at #EDB2025.”

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British conman sentenced to six years for ramming police with car in France

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Robert Hendy-Freegard, the subject of a Netflix documentary, injured two gendarmes at his home in 2022

A British conman who featured in a Netflix documentary has been sentenced to six years in prison by a French court for deliberately ramming two police officers with his car as he attempted a getaway.

Robert Hendy-Freegard, 53, nicknamed the Puppet Master because of his career as a serial swindler, made his escape after injuring the gendarmes at his home in the Creuse in central France.

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French PM François Bayrou survives first confidence vote

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National Rally and Socialists did not back no-confidence motion tabled by hard-left France Unbowed

The French prime minister, François Bayrou, has survived an initial confidence vote in parliament called for by the hard left, after the far-right National Rally (RN) and centre-left Socialists did not back the motion against him.

On Wednesday, 128 lawmakers voted in favour of the first motion of no confidence, well short of the 289 votes needed.

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EU will stand up for itself in face of Trump tariffs threat, Macron says

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French president and other leaders call for cooperation with Washington but vow a robust response if needed

The EU will stand up for itself if its interests are targeted, Emmanuel Macron has said, as the bloc’s leaders urged talks – but a firm response if needed – in response to Donald Trump’s weekend threat to impose punishing tariffs.

“If our commercial interests are attacked, Europe, as a true power, will have to make itself respected and therefore react,” the French president said as he arrived for an informal defence meeting with other leaders in Brussels on Monday.

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‘Vicious cycle’: how far-right parties across Europe are cannibalising the centre right

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Hardline agendas, especially on immigration, are copied by mainstream conservatives in vain effort to win back votes - but it’s not working

Far-right parties could become the largest force on the right in Europe within a decade, experts have said, as mainstream conservative parties look to copy their hardline agendas, especially on immigration, in a vain effort to win back votes.

Germany’s conservatives last week sparked fury when their leader, Friedrich Merz, the country’s likely next chancellor, broke a longstanding pledge by relying on far-right votes to adopt a non-binding motion urging a drastic immigration crackdown. The leader of Alternative für Deutschland, Alice Weidel, hailed “a historic day for Germany” as the Bundestag, for the first time in its history, passed a vote with the backing of her party, which is second in the polls weeks before this month’s elections.

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Planned UK people-smuggling laws risk ‘criminalising’ asylum seekers, charities say

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Bill could mean asylum seekers crossing the Channel who refuse rescue may face five years in prison

Keir Starmer’s planned people-smuggling laws risk “criminalising” hundreds of asylum seekers, refugee charities have said, after it emerged that people who refuse to be rescued by the French authorities could be jailed for five years.

Some parents who bring their children to the UK in small boats could also face prosecution, which could ultimately split their families, a human rights assessment of the border security, asylum and immigration bill has concluded.

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‘Disrupt or be disrupted’, mainstream parties warned as voters turn to populists

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Research shows voters losing faith in traditional centre-left and centre-right to deliver meaningful change

Voters in western democracies are turning away from mainstream political parties and towards populists because they are losing faith in their ability to implement meaningful change, a major report based on surveys of 12,000 voters has found.

The popularity of traditional centre-left and centre-right parties across major democratic countries has plummeted from 73% in 2000 to 51% today, according to research by the Tony Blair Institute.

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Five skiers killed in French Alps after avalanches hit off-piste areas

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Four Norwegians and one Swiss person died in the Savoie and Haute-Savoie regions

An avalanche in the French Alps has killed four Norwegian skiers who were swept away by an off-piste torrent of snow and ice in the southeastern Savoie region.

Also on Wednesday, a separate avalanche near Chamonix, in the Haute-Savoie region, killed a Swiss skier, according to the public prosecutor’s office in Bonneville.

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