French prosecutors investigating source of blaze at seven-storey residential building in suburb of city

French prosecutors are investigating the source of a pre-dawn blaze that killed 10 people, including five children, in a dilapidated seven-storey block of flats in a Lyon suburb.

The country’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said at the scene of the fire on an estate in Vaulx-en-Velin that it was too early to draw conclusions about the cause, but acknowledged the building housed a squat and was a known drug dealers’ hangout.

Prosecutor looking into allegations about 2017 and 2022 elections, which were won by Emmanuel Macron

France’s financial prosecutor has opened an investigation into the role of consultancy groups including McKinsey in the 2017 and 2022 French election races, when Emmanuel Macron was elected and then won a second term.

The financial prosecutor’s office confirmed that its current investigation into potential tax fraud by the US-based consultancy giant McKinsey had been widened to include consulting firms’ possible involvement in the two election races. Investigators are looking into allegations of “improperly keeping campaign accounts”, the “undervaluing of the role of consulting firms” and “favouritism”.