Category Archives: France

French court upholds ban on girls wearing abayas in schools

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State council rejected complaints that ban was discriminatory and could incite hatred against Muslims

France’s top administrative court has upheld a government ban on girls in state schools wearing abayas, rejecting complaints that it was discriminatory and could incite hatred.

The government announced just before schools reopened this week that the abaya, a long, flowing dress worn by some Muslim women, would no longer be allowed because it violated the French principle of secularism, or laïcité.

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Night train between Berlin and Paris to return after nine years

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Austrian rail operator ÖBB says service will resume partly in December and daily from October 2024

A night train linking Berlin and Paris will return in December, nine years after the service was cancelled, the Austrian rail operator ÖBB has announced.

ÖBB has been a pioneer in bringing back night trains as Europeans look for low-carbon travel options.

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Royal family announces state visit to France during Rugby World Cup

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King Charles and Queen Camilla to dine at Palace of Versailles banquet and meet sports stars

King Charles will address members of both houses of the French parliament and will have a bilateral meeting with French president, Emmanuel Macron, during a state visit to France with the queen later this month.

The visit, originally due in March, was postponed when pension-reform protests in France spiralled into violent clashes.

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French schools send home dozens of girls wearing Muslim abayas

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Girls who refused to remove banned garment given letter saying ‘secularism is not a constraint, it is a liberty’, says minister

On the first day of the new academic year French schools sent home dozens of girls for refusing to remove their abayas, the education minister said on Tuesday.

Defying a ban on the Muslim garment, nearly 300 girls showed up on Monday morning wearing an abaya, Gabriel Attal told the BFM broadcaster. Most agreed to change, but 67 refused and were sent home, he said.

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No more cordon blur: France prepares to ban vegetarian products from using meaty language

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Terms like ‘steak’, ‘grill’ and ‘spare ribs’ must be expunged from plant-based products, says agriculture ministry, amid simmering dispute

The French government has said it is preparing a new decree against meaty terms like “steak”, “grill” and “spare ribs” being used to describe plant-based products.

Its latest decree is “an issue of transparency and honesty responding to the legitimate expectations of consumers and producers”, agriculture minister Marc Fesneau said in a statement on Monday.

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Woody Allen in Venice: #MeToo has been good for women, but cancel culture can be ‘silly’

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Director attacks ‘extremes’ of movement while promoting Coup de Chance, his 50th film, at Venice film festival, as well as addressing persistent interest in historic allegations against him

Woody Allen has voiced his support for the #MeToo movement while promoting his new film, adding that he sometimes finds cancel culture “silly”.

The director’s career has lately been mired by a recent refocusing in social media on an allegation made against him in 1993, when his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, said he had sexually assaulted her in an attic at the time of the custody battle between Allen and Dylan’s adoptive mother, Mia Farrow.

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French actor Mathieu Kassovitz ‘seriously injured’ in motorbike accident

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Actor famous for Amélie, The Bureau and La Haine, which he also wrote and directed, reportedly in a ‘worrying’ condition

The French actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz is in a “worrying” condition after a motorbike accident in greater Paris on Sunday, authorities say.

The 56-year-old, who is best known for his 1995 film La Haine and his role in the 2001 film Amélie, was on a motorcycle training course at the time, a police source told Agence France-Presse.

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Algeria says its coastguard fired warning shots before killing jetski riders

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Defence ministry releases its version of events five days after two dual French-Moroccan men were shot dead on entering Algerian waters

Algeria’s defence ministry has said its coastguard fired warning shots before firing directly at a man on a jetski who entered Algerian waters, in an incident that a survivor said left two dead.

The incident took place on Tuesday after five men strayed into Algerian waters on jetskis near the Moroccan coastal resort of Saïdia on Algeria’s border, according to Mohamed Kissi, who said he survived the shooting.

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France planning to ban disposable vapes in effort to combat smoking

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Ban follows similar measures in Germany, Australia and New Zealand amid concern over health effects

Disposable vapes will be banned in France as part of a national plan to combat smoking, the prime minister said on Sunday.

Élisabeth Borne told the broadcaster RTL that the government would “soon present a new national plan to fight against smoking with, in particular, the prohibition of disposable electronic cigarettes, the famous ‘puffs’ which give bad habits to young people”.

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Thousands rally in Niger seeking withdrawal of French troops

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Demonstrators gather near base housing French soldiers as military junta accuses Paris of interference

Thousands of protesters rallied in Niger’s capital Niamey to call for the withdrawal of French troops, as demanded by a junta that seized power in June.

The demonstrators gathered near a base housing French soldiers on Saturday, after a call by several civic organisations hostile to the French military presence in the west African country.

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Weather tracker: Hurricane Idalia leaves trail of damage in Florida

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Category 3 storm causes extensive flooding in south-east US, while heavy rain and winds also hit France and Italy

Hurricane Idalia struck northern Florida on Wednesday, bringing damaging winds and torrential rain. It made landfall near Keaton Beach on Florida’s Big Bend during the morning as a high-end category 3 hurricane, bringing sustained winds speeds near 125mph (200km/h) and a storm surge of 16ft along Florida’s north-west coastline.

Due to very warm sea surface temperatures, the storm strengthened rapidly over the Gulf of Mexico to category 4 status, before weakening to category 3 as it made landfall. It brought extensive flooding as it passed through and damaged power lines, leaving thousands without electricity.

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British armed forces rugby player found dead in France

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Investigators believe player died in an accidental fall in Brittany, which is hosting World Defence Rugby competition

A British armed forces rugby player has been found dead in France, where the World Defence Rugby competition is being held.

Investigators believe the player may have died in an accidental fall in northern Brittany, a prosecutor said.

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Europe hits roadblocks in the race to switch to electric cars

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Despite progress towards a 2045 zero-emission goal, the high price of EVs has created a headache for governments

European countries are struggling to persuade people to switch from combustion engine cars to electric ones, experts warn.

Europe sells 10 times more electric cars today than it did just six years ago, according to the International Energy Agency, but its fleet is cleaning up too slowly to meet its climate goals. Governments across the continent are struggling with the price-tag of electric vehicles, which can cost several thousand euros more upfront than comparable ones that burn fossil fuels.

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Niger coup leaders give French ambassador 48 hours to leave country

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The ultimatum was rejected by France’s foreign ministry, which said it did not recognise the junta’s authority

Niger’s junta said on Friday it had ordered French ambassador Sylvain Itte to leave the country within 48 hours, as relations between the west African country and its former colonial ruler deteriorated further.

The junta-appointed foreign ministry said the decision to expel the ambassador was a response to actions taken by the French government that were “contrary to the interests of Niger”.

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France to spend €200m on destroying excess wine as demand falls

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Fund aims to help struggling winemakers as they adjust to consumers’ changing habits

The French government has announced it is to set aside €200m to fund the destruction of surplus wine production in an attempt to support struggling producers and shore up prices.

Several major wine-producing regions in France, particularly the Bordeaux area, are struggling because of a cocktail of problems including changes in consumption habits, the cost of living crisis and the after-effects of Covid-19.

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Marine Le Pen could become next French president, says interior minister

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Gérald Darmanin sounds alarm over far-right leader as he positions himself as centre-right candidate

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen could win the next presidential election in 2027, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has said, as he positions himself as a potential candidate for the centre-right.

“The fact of the matter is that in five years’ time, a victory for Madame Le Pen is quite probable,” Darmanin told La Voix du Nord, in an interview published on Friday.

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African Union issues ambiguous view on possible Niger military intervention

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AU opposes countries outside Africa getting involved, but gives more nuanced position on any Ecowas military action

The African Union (AU) appears to have left room open for military intervention by a west African political bloc to restore democracy in Niger, as Algerian state radio said it had refused a French request to fly over its airspace for a military operation.

France’s joint defence staff, however, denied the country had made any request to Algeria to use its airspace for a military operation in Niger.

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Zero-degree line at record height above Switzerland as heat and fire hit Europe

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Weather ballon climbs to 5,300 metres before temperature falls to 0C amid late summer heatwave

A Swiss weather balloon had to climb to an unprecedented 5,300 metres (17,400ft) before the temperature fell to 0C (32F), meteorologists have said, as a late summer heatwave and wildfires continue to pummel swathes of continental Europe.

A man was found dead in a blaze raging north of Athens on Monday as the Greek government warned of an “extreme” risk of fire across the country, while more than half of mainland France was placed under an amber heat alert.

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Tenerife wildfire ‘started deliberately’ as blazes in Greece force evacuations

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Canary Islands regional president opens inquiry into fire, while people flee from four Greek villages

An out-of-control wildfire on Tenerife that has forced thousands to flee was started deliberately, authorities have said, as four more villages in Greece were evacuated in the face of another advancing blaze and more than half of mainland France was on extreme heat alert.

As much of southern Europe continues to roast after July was named the world’s hottest month on record, the Canary Islands regional president, Fernando Clavijo, said on Sunday that police had confirmed the blaze raging on the Spanish island since Tuesday had been lit intentionally, and had opened three separate lines of inquiry.

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Row over restaurant ‘wealth screening’ boils over in French resort of St-Tropez

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Mayor threatens sanctions over reported practices of large minimum spends and selecting diners by size of previous bills

The mayor of St-Tropez has threatened “racketeering” restaurateurs in the Med’s most famous – and overpriced – former fishing village with sanctions after reports that some are selecting diners by the size of previous bills and are setting minimum spends.

“These accusations are extremely shocking to me because they are unfortunately true,” Sylvie Siri told local media, adding that she “and the entire council are totally opposed to such despicable practices”, which were “ruining the town’s image”.

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