Daytime service will take about eight hours and will complement the night route that launched last year
A new high-speed train linking Paris and Berlin is to launch in December, operators have announced.
The daytime service will complement a popular night train route between the two capital cities that relaunched last year to much fanfare but has since been beset by technical problems.
Continue reading...Letter sent to EU said Brexit had gravely affected ‘the coherence of policies’ on asylum and migration
Germany and France have called for a Europe-wide deal on migration and asylum with the UK government, to capitalise on Labour’s more “constructive” approach to EU-UK relations.
In a letter to the EU home affairs commissioner, the German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, and her former French counterpart, Gérald Darmanin, said Brexit had gravely affected “the coherence of migration policies”.
Continue reading...Police stationed across territory and curfews tightened over concern of new outbreaks of violence after months of deadly unrest
New Caledonia was on edge on Tuesday, with fears tensions could spill over into fresh unrest as the territory marked the anniversary of the French takeover – and some independence figures prepared to issue calls for sovereignty.
September 24 is a symbolic day in New Caledonia, long regarded as a day of mourning among the Indigenous Kanak population. This year the anniversary comes after months of deadly unrest and heightened tensions in the French Pacific territory between pro-independence Kanak people and the communities loyal to Paris.
Continue reading...Some jewellery historians believe it features diamonds from infamous piece at centre of Marie Antoinette scandal
An antique diamond necklace worn at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and may be linked to a French scandal involving Marie Antoinette could fetch as much as £2m at auction.
The necklace, made of 300 carats, was also worn to King George VI’s coronation by members of the Marquess of Anglesey family, who owned the diamonds until the 1960s when they sold them.
Continue reading...Appointment of Bruno Retailleau is most striking example of reactionary right taking power, says Socialist leader
The French interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, has promised to “restore order” by cracking down on crime and immigration, as critics on the left complained that the new government had leaned too far towards the “reactionary right”.
On Monday, as Michel Barnier’s new cabinet began work after more than two months of unprecedented political crisis in France, Retailleau said: “The French people want more order – order in the streets, order at the borders.”
Continue reading...New PM Michel Barnier says he will not increase the tax burden and says the number of migrants ‘has become unbearable’
Germany’s Social Democratic party (SPD) narrowly won yesterday’s election in Brandenburg – and the party leadership is now downplaying questions about Olaf Scholz’s candidacy in next year’s national election.
“Yesterday’s election gives us courage that we can do it, but of course I also know that the challenges and the questions we have to deal with at national level are far from dealt with as a result of yesterday evening,” the party’s co-leader, Lars Klingbeil, said today, the Associated Press reported.
Klingbeil reiterated that that Scholz’s candidacy isn’t in question.
“There is absolutely no wobbling,” he said. “In the leadership of the party, the parliamentary group, among the state governors and ministers, there is no discussion about this in any place.”
Critics of new cabinet, finalised by Michel Barnier on Saturday night, said it was ‘same-old, same-old’
Mounting threats of a parliamentary motion of no-confidence have put Michel Barnier’s new government under considerable duress before it has even had a chance to start work, as street protesters continued to voice their anger over the French prime minister’s new administration.
Eleven weeks after Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, called a snap general election, the new government was finally appointed on Saturday night. But there was little sense that the new cabinet, which signals a clear shift to the right, would bring calm into the political realm.
Continue reading...New cabinet likely to face immediate no-confidence motion from leftwing bloc sidelined by president
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has named a new government led by the prime minister, Michel Barnier, marked by a shift to the right 11 weeks after an inconclusive parliamentary election.
The first major task for Barnier, appointed just more than two weeks ago, will be to submit a 2025 budget plan addressing France’s financial situation, which the prime minister this week called “very serious”.
Continue reading...The horrifying details of the case that shook the country, and the local mayor’s reaction, show a refusal to confront abuse
As the horror of how Dominique Pelicot drugged his wife, Gisèle, and allowed at least 83 men to rape her continued to unfold in a French courtroom last week, it was hard to see how the case “could have been worse” as one local official suggested.
Louis Bonnet, mayor of Mazan, the southern French town of 6,000 people where the Pelicots and a number of the alleged rapists lived, who added that “no one was killed”, later apologised and admitted his words were not “entirely appropriate”.
Continue reading...French Caribbean island sees scenes of vehicles engulfed in flames and gutted buildings as officials impose curfew
Officials in the French Caribbean island of Martinique have imposed a 9pm to 5am curfew in parts of its capital to quell escalating violent protests over the high cost of living.
According to Radio France International (RFI), at least 14 people, including 11 police, have been injured – some by firearms – as alarming scenes on social media showed vehicles engulfed in flames, gutted buildings and heavily geared riot police marching towards the protests.
Continue reading...Lionel R, 44, one of 50 men accused, apologises to his victim and tells the court: ‘I have no choice but to accept the facts’
One of 50 men accused of raping the French woman Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged by her husband accepted the charges on Thursday, saying he was sorry for what he did.
Lionel R, a 44-year-old supermarket worker and father of three, was among dozens of men accused of participating in the mass rape of Pelicot over a decade in a trial that has shocked France.
Continue reading...Former wife of Dominique Pélicot, who allegedly recruited strangers to assault her, calls accused men ‘degenerates’
The former wife of a French man accused of recruiting strangers to rape her while she was drugged has told a court she never consented and the men who allegedly assaulted her were “degenerates”.
Appearing at the trial of her former husband, Dominique Pélicot, and 50 men he allegedly invited to rape her, Gisèle Pélicot, 72, said: “I never, even for a single second, gave my consent to Mr Pélicot or those other men.”
Continue reading...Pélicot’s testimony set to be decisive for 50 other men accused of raping his then wife Gisèle over nine-year period
A 71-year-old French man accused of drugging his wife so that he and dozens of strangers could sexually assault her at her home has told a court that he admitted the charges and was a rapist.
“I am a rapist, like the others in this room,” Dominique Pélicot said, quietly and calmly, as he looked across the courtroom at the 50 other men who are also on trial accused of raping his wife in her own bed while she was drugged and in a state akin to a “deep coma”.
Continue reading...Trial of retired electrician, 71, and 50 other men had been adjourned while he was taken to hospitals for tests
The trial of Dominique Pélicot and 50 other men accused of rape will resume on Tuesday after he was deemed well enough to attend court.
The hearing was adjourned last week after the 71-year-old retired electrician, who has admitted drugging his wife, Gisèle, and inviting up to 90 men to rape her while she was unconscious and he filmed the attacks, was reportedly diagnosed with a urine infection and prostate problems and taken to hospital for tests.
Continue reading...Party spokesperson says new PM has ‘complex equation to solve’ and is unlikely to appoint ministers this week
The new French prime minister, Michel Barnier, has continued negotiations with potential ministers as he struggles to form a government to end the country’s political deadlock.
The veteran politician and former EU Brexit negotiator, appointed by the president, Emmanuel Macron, earlier this month, had promised to form a new administration this week after “listening to everybody”.
Continue reading...Investigation opens in France into deaths as David Lammy says UK could process asylum claimants in third country
Eight people died overnight trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French regional authorities have said, as the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the government could follow Italy’s lead and process asylum claimants in a third country.
The French maritime prefecture said 59 people were onboard the boat, which got into difficulty off the coast of France, and 51 of them were rescued. An investigation has been opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office.
Continue reading...Outrage at ordeal of woman raped after being drugged by husband leads to marches across the country
Hundreds of protesters gathered across France on Saturday in support of Gisèle Pélicot, the woman whose husband drugged her and invited more than 80 men to rape her at their home over the course of a decade.
Feminist groups organised about 30 protests in cities including Paris and Marseille. Demonstrators also gathered in Brussels. At Place de la République in Paris, protesters held placards with messages of support for victims of sexual violence. One read: “Gisèle for all. All for Gisèle.”
Continue reading...Police seek to identify intended recipient after drugs found under pallets at four Grand Frais stores
Dozens of kilograms of cocaine have been found in banana deliveries to four of a French supermarket chain’s stores, with police unsure who the intended recipient was.
Staff at Grand Frais branches in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France were astonished to find between 40kg (88lb) and 50kg of drugs hidden under pallets of bananas and were anxious to reassure customers that the cocaine had not come into contact with the fruit.
Continue reading...Dominique Pélicot has been excused from court because of poor health and proceedings could be delayed if he remains ill for a long period
The trial of a French man accused of recruiting strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife has been adjourned until Monday after the suspect was excused from attending in light of his deteriorating health, the court has said.
Should Dominique Pélicot, 71, be unavailable to attend proceedings for a lengthy period of time, then the trial will be postponed to a later date, the presiding judge, Roger Arata, said on Thursday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Michelin, Dunlop, Goodyear and Bridgestone products have found way to Russia via intermediaries
More than $30m (£23m) worth of aircraft tyres made by western manufacturers including the French firm Michelin and Britain’s Dunlop were imported into Russia last year via intermediaries despite attempts to ban the trade, according to a Ukrainian government agency.
Russian aviation is critically dependent on foreign-made tyres and, according to the available customs records, the vast majority imported into the country in 2023 were produced by companies headquartered in France, Britain, the US and Japan.
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