Category Archives: France

Hundreds join silent march in France in support of Gisèle Pelicot

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Women and men march in village where Pelicot’s husband is accused of drugging her and inviting men to assault her

A silent march took place in support of Gisèle Pelicot and other female victims of sexual violence on Saturday in Mazan, the village where Pelicot’s husband is accused of drugging her and inviting more than 80 men to assault her at their home.

Hundreds of women and men turned out in solidarity with the woman at the centre of a case that has shocked the world. Members of the Pelicot family did not attend but said they appreciated the public support.

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Child ‘trampled’ to death among fatalities on Channel boat, says French minister

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Young child reportedly found on overcrowded boat trying to cross Channel, hours after G7 countries agree plan to combat smuggling gangs

A two-year-old child was crushed to death and three other people died in two attempts to cross the Channel from France on Saturday.

French authorities said the infant died after being trampled following a “wave of panic” among migrants trying to board a dinghy.

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Squeezed out: last accordion maker in France to close shop after 105 years

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Maugein owner blames competition from China and Covid pandemic for firm’s demise, but former French president says there is hope

Its distinctive sound has provided the soundtrack for some of France’s most recognisable cultural classics, from Parisian dance halls to the film Amélie and the songs of Édith Piaf. It has even been played by a former president.

But it seems the traditional French-made accordéon à bretelles (strap accordion) has been squeezed out of existence after Maugein, the country’s last manufacturer, was forced into liquidation after 105 years of making the instrument, known as the “poor person’s piano”.

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France’s 31-year treasure hunt for a buried owl statue finally ends

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Conclusion of search launched by 1993 picture puzzle book leaves chouetteurs with mixed emotions

Somewhere in France, a small statuette of a bird in flight has emerged from the soil in which it has lain buried for more than three decades. The quest for the golden owl, one of the world’s longest-running treasure hunts, appears finally to be over.

“A potentially winning solution is being verified,” read a post on the hunt’s official chatline, published at 6.11am on Thursday. “No more solutions may be submitted. Further information will be communicated as soon as possible.”

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Europe’s exhausted oyster reefs ‘once covered area size of Northern Ireland’

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Study uncovers vivid and poignant accounts of reefs as high as houses off countries including UK, France and Ireland

Only a handful of natural oyster reefs measuring at most a few square metres cling on precariously along European coasts after being wiped out by overfishing, dredging and pollution.

A study led by British scientists has discovered how extensive they once were, with reefs as high as a house covering at least 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) from Norway to the Mediterranean, an area larger than Northern Ireland.

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New Caledonia election postponed for a year by France’s new prime minister

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The French Pacific territory has been hit by violent unrest between communities loyal to Paris and pro-independence Indigenous Kanaks

France’s new prime minister, Michel Barnier, has announced that a provincial election scheduled for December in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia has been postponed for a year.

During his inaugural address to parliament on Tuesday, Barnier also said a controversial bill proposed by President Emmanuel Macron to amend the constitution to change voting lists in the territory would not be forwarded to a joint meeting of parliament for ratification. The territory’s Indigenous Kanak people fear changes to the voting registry would favour recent arrivals to the Pacific archipelago.

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Spending cuts needed to tackle France’s colossal debt, Michel Barnier tells MPs

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New prime minister receives applause and boos in national assembly as he urges political forces to work together

In his first address to the French parliament, the new prime minister, Michel Barnier, has said “colossal” debt is a financial “sword of Damocles” hanging over the country, requiring cuts in public spending and tax increases.

In an hour-long inaugural address, Barnier was alternately heckled and applauded as he outlined his minority government’s political programme in the national assembly, which remains deeply divided. The lower house is split between three political blocs, none of which emerged with a majority after June’s snap general election.

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Marine Le Pen and other RN figures go on trial over EU fake jobs allegations

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French far-right leader and 24 others from National Rally party allegedly embezzled European parliament funds

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has gone on trial on charges of embezzling money from the European parliament, in a high-profile case that could endanger her presidential ambitions.

“We have not broken any rules,” the three-time presidential candidate of the far-right National Rally (RN) said before the start of the hearings in Paris, adding that she was in a “very calm” mood.

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Valentino steals the show in Paris with Alessandro Michele at the helm

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Ex-Gucci star brings 70s haute bourgeoisie ladies in trailing chiffons and Gen Z boys in tattoos and pearls to the runway

Valentino was the hottest ticket of this Paris fashion week, and the show had a sense of occasion to match.

A vast floor was laid with smashed mirror tiles, glittering like a ballroom after an earthquake. Five hundred armchairs and a smattering of glowing lamps lay beneath a shroud of white sheets, as if a grand house had been locked up for a long winter. The house of Valentino was shaking off the cobwebs for a new era and hitting the dancefloor.

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European ministers call for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon

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France says Israel must stop strikes, as governments voice alarm over escalation and killing of Nasrallah

European foreign ministers have stepped up calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, amid concern that Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, risks seriously destabilising Lebanon and the region.

Even as Israeli defence officials continued to raise the prospect of a cross-border operation into southern Lebanon, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK voiced alarm over the latest escalation on the Israeli side.

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Stock markets hit record highs after news of a fall in US inflation

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S&P 500 index of major US companies registers near 100% gain on year ago amid expectation of interest rate cuts

A fall in US inflation expected to pave the way for further cuts in interest rates pushed stock markets to record highs on Friday.

Ending a week of gains that began when the Chinese authorities approved a huge economic stimulus package, the S&P 500 index of major US companies soared above 5,750 to register a near 100% gain on a year ago.

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Anti-immigration mood sweeping EU threatens its new asylum strategy

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The bloc’s migration pact, finally agreed after a decade of talks, is already in peril as states outdo each other in efforts to get tough

In 2015, when more than 1.3 million people headed to Europe, mostly fleeing a brutal war in Syria, the response of Germany’s then chancellor, Angela Merkel, was to say “Wir schaffen das” (“We can manage this”), and open the country’s borders.

Less than a decade later, and faced with a flow of irregular arrivals less than 10% of what it was at the peak of the bloc’s migration crisis, EU capitals are increasingly saying, “No, we can’t”. Or, perhaps more accurately, “We won’t”.

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High-speed Paris-to-Berlin rail link to launch in December

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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.

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Germany and France call for Europe-wide deal with UK on migration

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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”.

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Old tensions in New Caledonia: curfews and colonialism resurface on anniversary of French takeover

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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.

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Necklace worn at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation could fetch £2m at auction

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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.

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French interior minister vows to ‘restore order’ as critics warn of shift to right

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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.”

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France’s new government meets with focus on the budget and immigration – as it happened

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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.”

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France’s new government under pressure as opponents threaten no-confidence vote

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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.

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Macron names right-leaning French government under Michel Barnier

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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”.

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