Category Archives: France

Four people die in Channel small-boat sinking

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At least 42 others rescued after incident in strong currents off coast of Boulogne

Two men and two women have died after a small boat sank in the Channel between France and Britain, French local authorities have said.

They died after being swept away by strong currents while trying to board a dinghy, according to François-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais. The dinghy was described as a taxi-boat, which travels along stretches of the northern French and Belgian coasts, picking up refugees and migrants along the shore.

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‘A step back from the brink’: European leaders welcome US-Iran ceasefire

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Announcement of deal met with relief and calls for strait of Hormuz to be reopened and permanent end to hostilities

European leaders have welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire deal while calling for the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to hostilities, including in Lebanon.

The US and Iran agreed a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday, including a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after last-minute diplomacy from Pakistan. The Israeli military said on Wednesday it was continuing “fighting and ground operations” in its war against the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, despite a statement from Pakistan that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire.

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How Paris swapped cars for bikes – and transformed its streets

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Under Anne Hidalgo – mayor for 12 years until last week – the French capital added bike lanes, cut traffic and reclaimed public space, but not without resistance

When Corentin Roudaut moved to Paris 10 years ago, he was too scared to cycle. The IT developer had biked everywhere as a student in Rennes but felt overwhelmed by the bustling French capital. Cars were everywhere. Cyclists had almost no protection.

But once authorities carved out space for a segregated bike lane on Boulevard Voltaire near his home in the 11th arrondissement, Roudaut returned to the two-wheel commute and did not look back.

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Biometric checks stalled again for cross-Channel travellers

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Fears of Easter chaos over scaling up of new EU border system are eased, with no facial IDs for Eurotunnel and Eurostar passengers

Passengers crossing the Channel from the UK to France will not face new biometric checks in the coming weeks, despite an imminent deadline for the complete implementation of the EU’s entry-exit system (EES), ports say.

Airlines and airports across Europe have feared chaos over the Easter holidays.

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Trump claims Starmer is weak as he mocks PM and UK aircraft carriers

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Footage shows US president saying UK ‘should be our best’ ally and accusing PM of prevarication over sending ships

Footage has emerged of Donald Trump mocking Keir Starmer by claiming the prime minister said he would have to consult his team before deciding whether to send UK aircraft carriers to the Middle East.

In a new low for UK-US relations, Trump appeared to impersonate Starmer during an Easter lunch speech at the White House.

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‘You have to be serious’: Macron criticises Trump’s mixed messages about Nato and Iran

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Speaking in South Korea, the French president defended the transatlantic alliance and called for return to peace

Emmanuel Macron has sharply criticised Donald Trump’s inconsistent and often contradictory pronouncements on the Iran war and Nato, saying if “you want to be serious” it was better not to come out with something different every day.

“There is too much talk … and it’s all over the place,” the French president said on Thursday during a state visit to South Korea. “We all need stability, calm, a return to peace – this isn’t a show!”

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‘Not up to standard’: Macron criticises Trump after comments about his marriage

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Anger in France after US president puts on French accent and mocks Macron during private lunch in Washington

Emmanuel Macron has said Donald Trump’s comments about his marriage were “neither elegant nor up to standard” after the US president put on an accent and mocked his French counterpart and his wife during a private lunch in Washington.

Arriving in South Korea on Thursday, Macron made clear his displeasure at Trump’s comments, which appeared briefly in a video on the White House YouTube channel before being removed.

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Two dead and one missing after trying to cross Channel to UK

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First fatal incident this year occurred hours after £16.2m ‘stop the boats’ deal agreed between Britain and France

Two people have died and another is missing after trying to cross the Channel from France to the UK on Wednesday morning. It is the first fatal incident in the Channel this year.

The deaths occurred just hours after an interim £16.2m “stop the boats” deal was agreed between the UK and France which will be in place until May. Negotiations will continue for a longer-term deal to replace the previous three-year deal, which expired on Tuesday. According to reports, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is trying to secure a “payment by results” agreement to reduce small boat crossings.

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Britain to host 35 countries for strait of Hormuz talks, says Starmer

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US understood not to be invited directly to talks that will explore ways of reopening critical waterway

The UK will convene 35 countries – excluding the US – to explore ways to reopen the strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route for oil and gas that has been blocked by Iran.

Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said the next phase of discussions in the joint British and French efforts to secure the waterway would be held on Thursday, with Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, alongside international leaders.

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UK to pay France extra £16m in stopgap deal to patrol Channel beaches

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Two-month arrangement aimed at preventing small-boat crossings comes as existing deal expires

The UK will pay France an extra £16.2m to keep police patrolling Channel beaches and prevent a surge in small-boat crossings after negotiators failed to agree a permanent deal before a midnight deadline.

The stopgap arrangement, which will last for two months, comes after French negotiators refused to agree to UK demands for further interventions and patrols to stop asylum seekers from reaching the UK via the Channel.

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Murder trial opens over alleged masonic lodge crime network in Paris

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Twenty-two defendants, including intelligence agents and police, accused of committing crimes on behalf of Freemason mafia

Twenty-two people are to stand trial in France from Monday on charges of murder and other serious crimes centred on a masonic lodge accused of running hit squads.

Seven defendants – including former intelligence agents, soldiers and businessmen – face possible life sentences. Prosecutors allege the group carried out murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy on behalf of a mafia network inside the Athanor lodge in the Paris suburb of Puteaux.

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Police in Paris foil attempted bomb attack outside Bank of America building

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Incident in the city’s 8th arrondissement reportedly involved a homemade explosive device

French police prevented an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris on Saturday when they arrested a man about to set off a homemade explosive device, officials and sources close to the case said.

The incident occurred at about 3.30am (0230 GMT) in front of a Bank of America building in the city’s 8th arrondissement, a couple of streets away from the Champs-Élysées.

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Skeleton of Three Musketeers hero d’Artagnan may have been found

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Archaeologists believe remains found in Maastricht, Netherlands, may be of soldier who inspired novel character

More than three-and-a-half centuries after a musket ball to the throat put an end to decades of exemplary swashbuckling, the French soldier who inspired Alexandre Dumas and went on to be immortalised on the stage and screen – not to mention as a plucky cartoon dog – may rise again.

Workers repairing a church in the Dutch city of Maastricht have discovered a skeleton that could belong to the 17th-century Gascon nobleman Charles de Batz-Castelmore – better known as d’Artagnan – whose exploits led Dumas to make him the hero of the Three Musketeers.

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Could the continent’s far right be suffering from a Trumplash?

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France’s National Rally missed key targets in local elections ahead of next year’s seismic presidential vote – and the mainstream is doing OK elsewhere, too

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The Rassemblement National is not invincible. A year out from a make-or-break presidential vote, that might be the main lesson (though there are others, which may prove more significant) from last weekend’s local elections in France. What’s more, news elsewhere – Giorgia Meloni’s referendum defeat in Italy, Janez Janša beaten in Slovenia, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in trouble, the left bloc largest in Denmark – might suggest the rest of Europe’s far right are not having it all their own way, either.

But let’s focus first on France – if only because while local elections are rarely a wholly accurate guide to future national outcomes, these ones seem to provide some pointers – and the stakes in the country’s next major election are vertiginously high.

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Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire elected Paris mayor, as National Rally fails to take key cities

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City hall veteran beats rightwinger Rachida Dati in French capital, while far-right RN fails to win Marseille and Toulon in French local elections

The Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire has been elected mayor of Paris, beating the former rightwing minister Rachida Dati, with Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) failing to take key cities targeted in Sunday’s second round of local elections.

Grégoire took a victory bike ride with future councillors in Paris on Sunday night to show that the French capital would continue its pro-cycling and environmental policies.

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Mayoral races in balance as voting opens in last round of French local elections

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Electoral alliances expected to play vital role in number of contests including Paris and Marseille

Voting is under way in France in the second round of local elections – seen as a bellwether for next year’s presidential race – with cities including Paris and Marseille in the balance and both the radical left and far right hoping for gains.

Most of France’s 35,000-odd communes elected their councils in the first round last Sunday, but in municipalities where the contest is tighter, including most large urban areas, the second round will be decisive, with electoral alliances playing a key role.

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‘One in, one out’ asylum seekers sent to France return to UK in lorries

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Exclusive: At least four people have travelled back to the UK by lorry in the last two weeks

Asylum seekers who arrived in the UK in small boats and were forcibly returned to France under the controversial “one in, one out” deal have returned to the UK in lorries, the Guardian has learned.

When asked about the recent returnees, the Home Office said that people who came back to the UK after removal to France were detained and returned to France at the earliest opportunity. Amnesty International UK has called for “one in, one out” to be scrapped.

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Ancient skeleton unearthed in France is latest to be found sitting upright

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Scientists trying to work out why Gauls chose to bury some of their dead in seated position facing west

Children at a primary school in eastern France found a strange attraction next to their playground this week: a skeleton sitting upright, peeking out of a circular pit.

It is the latest in a series of bodies discovered in the city of Dijon that were buried in a seated position facing west.

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French political parties seek alliances before final round of local elections

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Candidates look for deals with rivals to boost chances as major seats including Paris, Marseille and Lyon appear tight

Political parties in France are hastily attempting to negotiate strategic alliances before the final round of local elections this weekend, after a strong showing by the far right and the radical left.

This Sunday’s final-round vote for mayors and local councillors in major cities including Marseille, Lyon and Paris is expected to be close.

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Nicolas Sarkozy back in court for fresh trial over alleged Libya funding

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Ex-French president, who was jailed last year for criminal conspiracy, to be tried at Paris appeal court on four counts

Nicolas Sarkozy appeared at the Paris court of appeal to face a fresh trial over allegations he conspired to receive illegal election campaign funding from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The former rightwing French president, who was in office between 2007 and 2012, denies any wrongdoing.

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