French-Turkish actor appeared in a string of high-profile films, as well as hit BBC series The Missing
Tchéky Karyo, who appeared in some of director Luc Besson’s biggest hits and a string of international films, died on Friday at the age of 72, his family have announced.
A statement from his wife and children sent to AFP said he had “succumbed to cancer”.
Continue reading...Woman, 38, and man, 37, had been arrested on Wednesday in relation to theft of £76m worth of jewellery in Paris
Two more suspects, a man and a woman arrested this week over the jewel heist at the Louvre, have been charged and remanded in custody, prosecutors have said.
The charges on Saturday brought to four the number of people now charged over the spectacular robbery.
Continue reading...Four men given prison terms for desecration that was possibly ‘orchestrated by Russian intelligence services’
A French court on Friday jailed four Bulgarians for desecrating a Jewish memorial with red handprints last year, in what prosecutors think may have been foreign interference linked to Russia.
The Paris criminal court gave two-year sentences to Georgi Filipov and Kiril Milushev, described as the perpetrators, and four years and three years respectively to Nikolay Ivanov and Mircho Angelov, considered the operation’s “masterminds”. Angelov is still at large.
Continue reading...Robbery in Lyon left five employees slightly injured after explosion in latest high-profile incident to hit country
Six people have been arrested after thieves used explosives and military-grade weapons to break into a laboratory in Lyon that deals with precious metals, including gold, in the latest, brazen daytime heist to hit France.
Police said that the minutes-long raid, which took place on Thursday, had briefly allowed thieves to get away with an estimated €12m (£10.5m) in loot. At the time, 28 employees were present at Laboratoires Pourquery, five of whom were slightly injured.
Continue reading...French magazine publishes judicial notice after using paparazzi images of family holiday in Alps
The Prince and Princess of Wales have won a privacy case against a French magazine after it published paparazzi photographs of them and their children on a private family ski holiday, Kensington Palace said.
William and Catherine launched legal action after their break was featured in Paris Match magazine in April, with a series of images documenting their activities with their children at a French resort in the Alps.
Continue reading...Public prosecutor says arrests were made in and around Paris but suspects ‘did not help us find the stolen goods’
Five new suspects have been arrested in connection with the Louvre robbery in Paris, in which thieves stole crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m), the city’s public prosecutor has said, but the gems remain missing.
Laure Beccuau told RTL radio on Thursday the arrests had been made on Wednesday night in the French capital and the surrounding area, particularly the neighbouring Seine-Saint-Denis department. But they “did not help us find the stolen goods”, she added.
Continue reading...Tiphaine Auzière spoke at trial of 10 people accused of harassment by posting claims that French first lady was born a man
Brigitte Macron’s daughter has told a Paris court that false claims online that the French first lady was born a man had damaged her mother’s quality of life, leaving her worrying every day about the clothes she wears and how she stands.
Tiphaine Auzière, 41, a lawyer, was called as a witness at the trial of 10 people accused of online harassment of Brigitte Macron by creating or reposting social media posts falsely claiming she was a man.
Continue reading...Trial is latest phase in legal battle against false claim that French first lady is a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux
Ten people have gone on trial in Paris charged with online harassment of Brigitte Macron – the latest phase of a legal battle on both sides of the Atlantic against the false claim that the French first lady is a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux.
The president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife filed a defamation lawsuit in the US at the end of July, in connection with a rumour amplified and repeated online that Brigitte Macron was born a man.
Continue reading...French child, who was six years old at the time of the incident in 2019, suffered life-changing injuries
A boy who was thrown from the 10th floor of Tate Modern in London six years ago can now run and swim limited distances, his family has revealed.
The unnamed French boy, who his parents call their “little knight”, suffered life-changing injuries in the attack in August 2019. Jonty Bravery is serving a minimum 15-year jail term for his attempt to murder the boy.
Continue reading...One man arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport and another just outside Paris, officials confirm
French police have arrested two suspects believed to have helped steal crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m) from the Louvre museum in Paris, officials have said, a week after one of the country’s most spectacular heists in decades.
The Paris public prosecutor confirmed media reports on Sunday that one man had been detained at about 10pm (8pm UK time) on Saturday at the capital’s Charles de Gaulle airport by officers from the armed robberies and serious burglaries squad.
Continue reading...Analysis of DNA from teeth of troops buried in mass grave suggests soldiers had paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever
When Napoleon ordered his army to retreat from Russia in October 1812, disaster ensued. Starving, cold, exhausted and struggling with sickness, an estimated 300,000 soldiers died.
Researchers now say they have identified two unexpected diseases among soldiers who died in the retreat – paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever – which provide fresh insights into their plight.
Continue reading...Simon handed three-month suspended sentence and fine
Olympic medallist admitted using teammate’s bank card
The French biathlete Julia Simon was found guilty of theft and credit card fraud and handed a three-month suspended prison sentence by a French court on Friday.
Simon was accused of repeatedly using the bank card of her France teammate, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, and that of a French team staff member to make online purchases totalling more than €2,000 (£1,371).
Continue reading...French investigators are analysing DNA samples and fingerprints on tools and other items found on the scene
French investigators are analysing more than 150 DNA samples, fingerprints and other traces from tools and safety gear left by the thieves who broke into the Louvre museum and escaped with crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m).
Five days after the brazen heist from the world’s most-visited museum, Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, said she had “a small hope” the jewels could still be recovered and was “optimistic” about the investigation’s outcome.
Continue reading...Footage showing two men appears to have been filmed from nearby window in museum
The slow-motion getaway of two thieves from the Louvre clutching €88m (£76m) of France’s crown jewels was captured on video, it has emerged – the latest dramatic twist to the country’s most spectacular heist in decades.
The 36-second clip, which Le Parisien newspaper said it had verified, shows two men dressed in black, one wearing a yellow hi-vis vest and the other a motorcycle helmet, slowly descending on a furniture lift from the museum’s Apollo gallery.
Continue reading...Laurence des Cars questioned by senators about daring daytime break-in at Paris museum
The director of the Louvre museum in Paris has acknowledged a “terrible failure” days after thieves took seven minutes to break in via a window and steal jewels worth €88m, admitting there was “highly insufficient” security camera coverage of the outside walls of the vast building.
Senators questioned Laurence des Cars about the spectacular heist in which four men used a truck with extendable ladder and furniture hoist to access a balcony, cut through a window and steal jewels from the ornate Apollo gallery during opening hours.
Continue reading...Police continue to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery targeting France’s crown jewels
The financial loss from France’s most dramatic heist in decades has been put at nearly €90m as the head of the Louvre prepared to face difficult questions over how thieves were able to steal priceless jewellery in broad daylight.
As police continued to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery on Sunday, the Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told the broadcaster RTL that the museum’s curator had estimated the losses at about €88m (£76m).
Continue reading...Former president organised stage-managed departure from his Paris home before becoming first French postwar leader to be jailed
The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been jailed in Paris, after a court sentenced him to five years for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012 is the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to go behind bars.
Continue reading...Former French president will reportedly be held in isolation and has a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo for company
Perhaps France’s most fabled jail, La Santé – where the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five-year term for criminal conspiracy to raise campaign funds from Libya – is the last remaining prison inside the Paris city limits.
Located in the southern Montparnasse district of the capital, it opened in 1867 and was the scene of at least 40 executions, the last in 1972. Partially closed for renovation in 2014, the prison reopened five years later and houses more than 1,100 inmates.
Continue reading...The tornado killed one construction worker on a building site, injured 10 others and left four in critical condition
A tornado tore through districts north of Paris on Monday, toppling three construction cranes that killed one person and left four others with critical injuries, authorities said.
The town of Ermont, about 20km (13 miles) north-east of Paris was worst hit by the sudden twister that caused damage across about 10 districts.
Continue reading...Justice minister says ‘we have failed’ after thieves take seven minutes to steal priceless jewels from museum
The French government is under increasing pressure over museum security as police continued to search for thieves who took seven minutes to steal priceless jewels from the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum.
“What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels, and give France a terrible image,” the justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, told France Inter radio on Monday.
Continue reading...