Category Archives: France

French mayor blames UK for Channel-crossing deaths at weekend

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Lax employment law cited as motivation for ice-cold crossing in which five people died off Wimereux

The mayor of the French seaside resort where five people died off the coast trying to reach the UK has blamed the British immigration system for the crisis that engulfed the town at the weekend.

“What’s happening today is their fault,” said Jean-Luc Dubaële, the mayor of Wimereux, claiming Britain was offering “monts et merveilles”, a French expression meaning they were promising the world.

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Row over education minister sparks crisis in France’s new government

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Amélie Oudéa-Castéra was accused of lying about why she enrolled her son in a private school

France’s new education minister has sparked the first major crisis for Gabriel Attal’s new government following accusations she failed to give the true reason why she enrolled her children in a private school.

The snowballing row threatens to derail attempts by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to give the government – which does not have an absolute parliamentary majority – a new lease of life before European elections in June.

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Macron looks to Sarkozy connection to head off far right in France

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Hiring of figures close to former rightwing leader Nicolas Sarkozy confirms president’s rightward shift

Emmanuel Macron has tilted the French government significantly to the right, bringing in key figures close to the former rightwing president Nicolas Sarkozy in an attempt to reinvigorate his second term and limit possible gains by the far right at the European elections.

“I don’t want managers, I want revolutionaries,” Macron told the first cabinet meeting of the new government led by Gabriel Attal, 34, France’s youngest ever prime minister. He called for “quick results”.

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Jewish students condemn antisemitic tweets about French PM Gabriel Attal

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Students’ union calls for sanctions over posts on social network that have also contained homophobic abuse

The French Union of Jewish Students has called for sanctions against people who have written antisemitic and homophobic comments about France’s new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, on the social network X.

Attal, 34, who was appointed by the president, Emmanuel Macron, this week, is France’s youngest prime minister and also the first out gay politician in the job.

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New French PM seeks to send strong message on law and order

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Gabriel Attal attempts to set tone as Macron government tries to counter rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right

The new French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has sent a strong message on law and order on his first full day in office, visiting a police station and promising to deliver security to “responsible working French people”, who he said wanted calm.

“There is no security without our police,” said Attal on Wednesday outside a police station in Ermont in the Val-d’Oise, setting the tone for his attempts to counter the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right.

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French post office opens changing room for online shoppers

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Customers can collect their parcels and try on items in one trip during trial at La Poste branches

It is an increasingly common irritant of modern life. You order an item of clothing online; you wait with anticipation for it to arrive, and five minutes after it has arrived you’re packaging it up because it doesn’t fit.

For shoppers in France, however, the national post office may have the answer – or at least a way of making the process less logistically challenging. It is experimenting with in-store changing rooms to cater to people who want to quickly return purchases they do not want.

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Gabriel Attal becomes youngest French PM as Macron tries to revive popularity

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Attal, 34, rose in opinion polls during his time as education minister and may help ruling party in EU elections

Emmanuel Macron has appointed France’s youngest-ever prime minister, Gabriel Attal, as he seeks to reinvigorate a difficult second term as president and limit any possible gains for the far right in the forthcoming European elections in June.

Attal, 34, who was serving as education minister, has been referred to as a “baby Macron” as he shares similar qualities to the president, such as his ambition, strong media presence and centrist politics. He is considered to be the best-known and most recognisable face of the close circle of young politicians around the president.

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Gabriel Attal’s real challenge will be to break French parliament’s political deadlock

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The new PM was chosen to boost Emmanuel Macron’s agenda but, as his predecessor found out, pushing through legislation won’t be easy

As Gabriel Attal, France’s new prime minister, hastily made his first trip to the northern Pas‐de‐Calais to assess flood damage and reassure struggling residents and local politicians on Tuesday, it symbolised the challenges that await him.

A popular former government spokesperson and master political communicator, Attal was chosen to boost government by the centrist Emmanuel Macron who is approaching the two-year mark of his difficult second term with dipping approval ratings and facing voters’ growing distrust of politics in general.

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Gabriel Attal, 34, becomes youngest ever French prime minister – Europe live

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Former education minister succeeds Élisabeth Borne, who resigned on Monday, as Emmanuel Macron seeks to give fresh impetus to his government

Congratulations are starting to pour in for Gabriel Attal, the youngest prime minister of France’s Fifth Republic.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has appointed the country’s 34-year old education minister, Gabriel Attal, as prime minister, French media outlets reported. He is the youngest French PM in modern history and will succeed Élisabeth Borne, who resigned yesterday.

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Police officers go on trial over assault of black footballer that shocked France

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Three accused of violence against Théodore Luhaka in 2017 that left him with permanent disabilities

Three police officers have gone on trial north of Paris accused of assaulting a 22-year-old footballer in 2017, in one of the most significant cases of alleged police violence against a black man in France in the past decade.

Théodore Luhaka, who had been talking to friends on his housing estate in Aulnay-sous-Bois at the end of the afternoon of February 2017, was stopped as part of a police identity check. He was teargassed, beaten on the face and body, and left with permanent disabilities and incontinence after an extendable police baton perforated his anus.

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French PM Élisabeth Borne quits as Macron seeks boost before EU elections

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Second female prime minister of Fifth Republic resigns after days of speculation about reshuffle, with Le Pen party ahead in polls

France’s prime minister Élisabeth Borne has resigned after days of increasingly feverish speculation about an imminent government reshuffle.

Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking to give a new impetus to his second mandate before European parliament elections and the Paris Olympics this summer, said on Monday he thanked Borne “with all his heart” for her “exemplary work in the service of the nation”.

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Carrefour pulls PepsiCo products in four EU countries over price hikes

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Stores in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium will no longer stock PepsiCo drinks, Lay’s and Doritos crisps and Quaker cereals

The French supermarket chain Carrefour has said it will stop selling PepsiCo products in stores in four European countries because the global food company has put its prices up by too much.

Shelves at Carrefours in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium will from Thursday carry signs saying the store will no longer stock PepsiCo products such as fizzy drinks, Lay’s and Doritos crisps and Quaker cereals “due to unacceptable price increases”.

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French actor Alain Delon to file legal complaint against son over ‘media outburst’

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Anthony Delon told a magazine his father was finding it hard to accept his frail state of health

The actor Alain Delon will file a legal complaint against his son over “a media outburst” in France’s most prominent magazine, his lawyer has said.

In an interview published on Thursday, Anthony Delon told Paris Match that his father was finding it hard to accept his frail state of health, adding that there were “major risks” that the 88-year-old had celebrated “his last Christmas”.

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UK does not cooperate sufficiently over small boat crossings, says French body

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Independent French auditors say UK information on people crossing Channel is ‘very patchy’

The UK is not coordinating sufficiently with France to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats or providing enough detailed information, French state auditors have said.

The cour des comptes, an independent French body that examines the use of public funds, has published a report on the efficiency of French policy on illegal migration, in which it said France was “struggling to develop operational cooperation arrangements” with its neighbours, including the UK.

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Young lover in Robert Doisneau’s Paris kiss photograph dies aged 93

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Françoise Bornet’s embrace with then boyfriend in 1950 became one of the most famous images of the city

It was one of the most famous kisses of the 20th century – a postwar clinch that became a 1980s poster phenomenon, bringing fame and court battles.

Françoise Bornet, the young lover immortalised in the French photographer Robert Doisneau’s The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville, has died aged 93.

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Family of UK mother and son killed in Alps avalanche ‘beyond heartbroken’

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Kate Vokes, 54, and Archie Vokes, 22, from Manchester, killed while skiing off-piste near Mont Blanc

The family of a mother and son who died in an avalanche in the French Alps have said they are “beyond heartbroken” by the tragedy.

Kate Vokes, 54, and Archie Vokes, 22, from Manchester were killed when the avalanche swept through an off-piste section of the resort of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, near Mont Blanc, on 28 December.

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‘Not what I had in mind’: Eurostar cancellations leave thousands stranded

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Dismay at St Pancras International in London as services cancelled due to flooding of Thames tunnel

When Ilse Deurloo arrived at St Pancras station after a festive holiday with her boyfriend in London, she was shocked by the scenes of chaos and disruption as thousands of travellers were left stranded.

“This is not what I had in mind,” said Deurloo, 20, who was planning to return home to Amsterdam on Saturday. Her train, like all expected high-speed services between Ebbsfleet International and London St Pancras International, was cancelled due to flooding in a tunnel under the Thames. Thames Water said it believed the incident was caused by a fire control system malfunction.

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Row in France as government reluctant to back dry January

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Addiction experts urge state to promote month of abstinence but alcohol lobby says idea is out of step with French culture

Dry January is at the centre of a political row in France after more than 45 professors of addiction studies signed a letter urging the state to promote a month of abstinence from alcohol.

A group of senior academics and doctors working on addiction have written to the French health minister to say that not enough is being done by the state to campaign on alcohol risks, and the government should support an alcohol-free month at the start of the year.

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Mont Blanc avalanche kills British woman, 54, and son, 22, in French Alps

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Two were part of group skiing off-piste with instructor when avalanche occurred

A British woman and her son are reported to have died in the French Alps after an avalanche in the Mont Blanc mountain range.

The two were part of a group reportedly skiing far outside the designated slopes with an instructor when the avalanche, measuring 400 metres wide, occurred at an altitude of 2,300 metres near the ski resort of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains in the Haute-Savoie on Wednesday.

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Top chef leaves French hotel after alleged naked ‘hazing’ of kitchen staff

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Michelin-starred Aurélien Largeau, who ran restaurant at Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz, says reports of incident are ‘false and defamatory’

A Michelin-starred chef has left his job at a French luxury hotel after an alleged hazing ritual in which a member of kitchen staff was reportedly tied up naked and humiliated.

The public prosecutor has opened an investigation for sexual assault and violence into the incident earlier this month.

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