Families argued detention in Syria exposed the two women and their children to inhumane treatment
The European court of human rights has condemned France over its refusal to repatriate French women who travelled to Syria with their partners to join Islamic State and are currently being held with their children at Kurdish-run prison camps.
The ruling will be studied closely by other countries who still have citizens detained in camps in north-eastern Syria, including the UK.
Continue reading...The medical report on death of 91-year-old director said he had chosen to end his life
Jean-Luc Godard, the maverick French-Swiss director who revolutionised post-war cinema in Europe, died by assisted dying, his lawyer has confirmed.
The medical report on the death of the 91-year-old director said he had chosen to end his life. He “had recourse to legal assistance in Switzerland for a voluntary departure” because he was “stricken with ‘multiple incapacitating illnesses’”, Godard’s legal council, Patrick Jeanneret, told AFP.
Continue reading...Lionel Guedj got rich by carrying out work on healthy teeth of low-income people in Marseille, court told
A multi-millionaire dentist in France has been jailed for deliberately mutilating patients from low-income neighbourhoods of Marseille, in a money-making scheme in which he performed thousands of unnecessary procedures.
Lionel Guedj, 41, was jailed for eight years and his father, Carnot Guedj, 70, who worked part-time for him, was jailed for five years after a court heard harrowing accounts of patients who had booked an appointment for minor issues, such as a cavity or loose crown, and ended up having scores of healthy teeth removed for no medical reason.
Continue reading...Man on day release hijacked car at gunpoint in Mannheim and then died in head-on collision near Nancy
A German man’s escape from a prison day-release scheme resulted in a cross-border manhunt that ended hours later in a fatal crash in neighbouring France, police said on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old fugitive hijacked a car at gunpoint in Mannheim, 190 miles (300km) south-west of Berlin, on Monday, forcing the driver to take off down a highway before he left her at a rest stop.
Continue reading...Rankings in 2012 were subject of lengthy legal proceedings, and several top châteaux have pulled out this year
Winemakers in the historic vineyards of Saint-Émilion in France are hoping that prestigious wine rankings unveiled on Thursday will put an end to more than a decade of court cases, legal wrangling and controversy.
The sedate area of Saint-Émilion, with its Romanesque architecture and collection of vineyards classed as a world heritage site, has been at the centre of a long-running row over its famous rankings, which are decided every 10 years.
Continue reading...Spain’s El País greets new PM saying ‘lack of charisma can be a political advantage in times of uncertainty’
Liz Truss’s purported lack of charisma and the “disastrous” economic situation facing Britain is the focus for much of the European media following the appointment of the country’s new prime minister.
The apparent differences in style between Boris Johnson and his successor was picked up by newspapers and websites across the political spectrum but the conclusions on Truss’s first speech in office were generally generous.
Continue reading...Seven men and one woman accused of helping gunman who drove a vehicle into crowds, killing 86 people
Seven men and one woman have gone on trial over the 2016 Bastille day attack in Nice, when a gunman drove a heavy truck at high speed into a crowd gathered to watch fireworks on the Riviera seafront, killing 86 people and injuring more than 400.
The attack – the second most deadly massacre in peacetime France – happened eight months after the Paris attacks on bars, restaurants, the national stadium and Bataclan concert hall, which killed 130 people and were claimed by Islamic State.
Continue reading...Remains from Chad desert provoke rancorous dispute over whether species was earliest to walk upright
It is a dispute that has taken a long time to reach boiling point. Seven million years after an apelike creature – since nicknamed Toumaï – traversed the landscape of modern Chad, its means of mobility has triggered a dispute among fossil experts. Some claim this was the oldest member of the human lineage. Others that it was just an old ape.
The row, kindled by a paper in Nature, last week led scientists to denounce opponents while others accused rivals of building theories on “less than five minutes’ observation” .
Continue reading...Inventory of what was seized at Mar-a-Lago caused ‘transatlantic freakout’ between Paris and Washington
Donald Trump boasted to close associates that he knew secrets about Emmanuel Macron’s sex life from US intelligence sources, it has been reported.
The report in Rolling Stone magazine comes in the wake of the release of court documents on the classified and national defence documents found in a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on 8 August, which mention a file referred to as “info re: President of France”.
Continue reading...High-speed rail firm blames departure from EU and Covid for decision to halt service next summer
Eurostar has decided to stop direct services from London to Disneyland Paris from next summer, citing the fallout from Brexit and Covid.
The high-speed train operator said on Tuesday it was scrapping trains running from the British capital to the Disneyland site in Marne-la-Vallée, in the eastern Paris suburbs.
Continue reading...Scheme to be extended across the country after trial in nine departments led to extra €10m in tax receipts
French tax authorities using AI software have found thousands of undeclared private swimming pools, landing the owners with bills totalling about €10m.
The system, developed by Google and Capgemini, can identify pools on aerial images and cross-checks them with land registry databases. Launched as an experiment a year ago in nine French departments, it has uncovered 20,356 pools, the tax office said on Monday, and will be extended across the country.
Continue reading...Critics say €90m project would reduce allied landing to a money-spinning tourist attraction
A row has erupted in France over plans for a new D-day attraction near the landing beaches, which critics have likened to a Disney-style theme park.
The multimillion-euro project to retell the story of le débarquement of 6 June 1944 and the subsequent Battle of Normandy in a hi-tech 45-minute “immersive show” has sparked a furious war of words, with opponents describing it as disrespectful to those who died and their families.
Continue reading...The bestselling author fears she too could be a target but says terrorists cannot be allowed to win
The bestselling author Leïla Slimani says the knife attack on Salman Rushdie has left her and other writers afraid, but that they have a “duty” to keep making public appearances and resist censoring themselves, despite the dangers.
The French-Moroccan writer, whose novels include Adèle, Lullaby and The Country of Others and is Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of French language and culture, said defending her freedom as a writer “feels even more important than before” and was an act of resistance.
Continue reading...If foreign secretary wins the Tory leadership contest she looks set to have to change course on ‘handouts’ despite campaign pledges
For months, everyone in government had known that Friday was energy cap day, and at 7am the bad news duly dropped. Phones pinged as the nation woke to Ofgem’s confirmation that typical gas and electricity bills were to rise by a frightening 80%.
Millions of people would be unable to cope, said charities. Even those on low or middle earnings who had some savings could see them entirely wiped out. It was a full-on national crisis, albeit long predicted.
Continue reading...Robert Hendy-Freegard, subject of Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman documentary, may face attempted murder charges
A British conman who was the subject of a Netflix documentary is on the run and facing possible attempted murder charges in France after injuring two police officers while fleeing a raid, local officials have said.
Robert Hendy-Freegard had been illegally breeding dogs while living in the French village of Vidaillat, according to the local mayor, Martine Laporte.
Continue reading...Travellers had to leave their vehicles and walk through the emergency tunnel
Eurotunnel passengers were stranded for nearly five hours at subsea level after the train broke down beneath the Channel, leaving hundreds of passengers to be ushered to a service tunnel.
The incident happened late on Tuesday, affecting the 3.50pm Eurotunnel Le Shuttle service from Calais to Folkestone.
Continue reading...Wartime leader survived most serious of many assassination attempts 60 years ago in Paris suburb
On 22 August 1962, France’s wartime leader Charles de Gaulle survived what would be the most serious of 30 attempts on his life. De Gaulle and his wife, Yvonne, were being driven through a Paris suburb for a flight from Villacoublay military airport, eight miles from the Élysée Palace.
The presidential couple were on their way back to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, their country home about halfway between the French capital and Strasbourg in the east. They were travelling in a black Citroën DS, followed by an escort vehicle and two motorcycle police officers on Triumph bikes.
Continue reading...Minister condemns ‘shocking’ games inspired by reality TV show at Fresnes prison, south of Paris
France’s justice ministry is under pressure to explain why it signed off on games inspired by reality TV at the country’s second largest prison.
The political row erupted after a 25-minute video of prisoners at Fresnes jail taking part in go-karting and other challenges in the prison courtyard appeared on YouTube. The prison games were called Kohlantess – a play on Les aventuriers de Koh-Lanta, a French reality TV show based on the Survivor format.
Continue reading...Project leaders at Guédelon Castle tell how their woodwork savoir faire is proving a godsend for mission to restore Paris cathedral roof
At Guédelon Castle the year is 1253 and the minor nobleman, Gilbert Courtenay, has ridden off to fight in the Crusades, leaving his wife in charge of workers building the family’s new home: a modest chateau that befits his social position as a humble knight in the service of King Louis IX.
Here, in a forest clearing in northern Burgundy, history is being remade to the sound of chisel against stone and axe against wood, as 21st-century artisans re-learn and perfect long-forgotten medieval skills.
Continue reading...Hostile policies encourage asylum seekers to try dangerous routes to England, say French support groups
Organisations supporting refugees in northern France have blamed the French government for the high number of people risking their lives to cross the Channel in small boats.
So far this year more than 20,000 people have crossed with UK Border Force union officials predicting that the number could reach 60,000 by the end of the year.
Continue reading...