Man who had history of psychiatric illness said voices told him to ‘cause harm’, prosecutor in Meux says

A 33-year-old French man has admitted killing his wife and their four children, saying he heard voices telling him to “cause harm”, the public prosecutor said on Thursday.

French police on Tuesday arrested a man with a history of psychiatric illness on suspicion of murdering his Haitian-born wife and their children, aged nine months, and four, seven and 10 years old.

Strict new law contains so many hardline measures that the far-right Marine Le Pen has claimed it as an ‘ideological victory’

The French government is facing a political crisis after the health minister Aurélien Rousseau offered his resignation in protest over a hardline immigration bill.

Emmanuel Macron’s ruling centrist party was divided and soul-searching on Wednesday after a strict new immigration law was approved by parliament but contained so many hardline measures that the far-right Marine Le Pen claimed it as an “ideological victory” for her own anti-immigration platform.