Drones used to track mammal in ‘worrying’ health amid struggle to guide it back to Channel
A beluga whale that swam up the River Seine in France appears to be underweight and officials are worried about its health, regional authorities say.
The protected species, usually found in cold Arctic waters, had made its way up the waterway and reached a lock about 70km (44 miles) from Paris.
Continue reading...Routes that are usually safe at this time of year now face hazards as a result of warmer temperatures
Little snow cover and glaciers melting at an alarming rate in Europe’s heatwaves have put some classic Alpine hiking routes off-limits.
Usually at the height of summer tourists flock to the Alps and seek out well-trodden paths up to some of its peaks. But with warmer temperatures – which scientists say are driven by climate change – speeding up glacier melt and thawing permafrost, routes that are usually safe at this time of year now face hazards such as falling rocks released from the ice.
Continue reading...Unnamed man in his 30s with ‘a need for social recognition’ faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted
A firefighter from the south of France is responsible for a series of wildfires in the region which he started in a quest for adrenaline, French authorities have said.
The man, a volunteer firefighter from the Herault region, was arrested on Wednesday, regional prosecutors said.
Continue reading...Saudi crown prince accused of complicity in murder of Jamal Khashoggi is welcomed in Paris
Human rights campaigners have hit out at Emmanuel Macron’s decision to host Mohammed bin Salman for talks in Paris during the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to Europe since the murder nearly four years ago of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
On Thursday evening, Macron welcomed Prince Mohammed to talks at the Elysée Palace with a long handshake before the pair were due to dine together.
Continue reading...Pandemic and climate crisis account for most new entries in authoritative Le Robert and Larousse dictionaries
From covidé (infected with coronavirus) to confinement (lockdown) and éco-anxiété (climate anxiety) to verdissement d’image (greenwashing), the pandemic and the climate crisis account for most new French words, Le Monde has concluded.
But if 28% of recent additions are essentially English, according to an analysis by the paper, nearly half are French coinages, demonstrating what it called the language’s “great suppleness, as well as the creativity and humour of its users”.
Continue reading...Daniel Lambert, who supplies M&S, Waitrose and 300 independent retailers, to set up in France after £150,000 hole in revenue
A British wine wholesaler who last year criticised Brexit as the biggest threat to his business in 30 years has decided to leave the UK after post-Brexit paperwork made a £150,000 hole in revenue.
Daniel Lambert, who supplies Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and 300 independent retailers, is moving to Montpellier in France later this week with his wife and two teenage children.
Continue reading...Minister says open doors lead to 20% more consumption as restrictions on illuminated signs also announced
Air-conditioned shops throughout France will have to keep their doors shut or risk a fine of €750 (£635), a French minister has announced, after the mayors of several major cities unveiled a similar rule during the country’s heatwave last week.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the minister for ecological transition, said leaving doors open with air conditioning on led to “20% more energy consumption and … is absurd”. A decree confirming the decision will be issued in the coming days.
Continue reading...Cross-Channel ferry passengers told to arrive in good time for border checks after weekend of delays
Cross-Channel ferry passengers were being told to arrive in good time at Dover as queues built at the Port of Dover amid fears the severe disruption of recent days could return to Kent throughout the summer.
The ferry operator DFDS told passengers there were queues of about an hour for French border checks on Monday morning and to “allow a minimum of 120 minutes before your departure to complete all controls”.
Continue reading...Anger over lack of cash for Dover upgrade as Tory candidates vie to blame France for delays
Long summer queues at the border risk becoming the “new normal” after Brexit, holidaymakers have been warned, as a fierce diplomatic row erupted with France over the lengthy tailbacks affecting Dover.
Both Tory leadership candidates rushed to blame a shortage of French border staff for delays that saw some travellers waiting for hours. Former chancellor Rishi Sunak said the French “need to stop blaming Brexit and start getting the staff required to match demand”. Foreign secretary Liz Truss said she was in touch with her French counterparts, blaming a “lack of resources at the border”.
Continue reading...Travellers told to allow three to four hours to pass through security and French border checks at port
French authorities have hit back at claims by the Port of Dover that French border control staff were to blame for a second day of hours-long delays, saying: “France is not responsible for Brexit.”
It came after the port blamed delays on insufficient border staff at police aux frontières.
Continue reading...French transport minister hits back at Liz Truss’s suggestion that France needed to fix the ‘avoidable and unacceptable’ situation
Authorities in Kent have declared a “major incident” due to traffic jams in and around Dover, with officials saying the disruption could be worse than on Friday.
There are currently 3,000 lorries parked on the M20 and traffic is building at the port.
We are operating in a post-Brexit environment which does mean that passports need to be checked, they need to be stamped and indeed the capable people that do man the booths – police aux frontieres – they’re doing their job that they need to do now.
Continue reading...Fears over financing, security and staffing threaten to take the shine off a showcase event and a national triumph for Emmanuel Macron’s presidency
Two years almost to the day before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, organisers are reportedly “in a cold sweat” over security, financial, venue and staffing concerns that could take the shine off Emmanuel Macron’s promised “national triumph”.
The reformist French president, who holds a meeting with key ministers on Monday for a progress report, has personally invested in the success of the Games, having energetically backed the city’s successful bid to host them for the first time in a century as an opportunity to showcase the best of modern France.
Continue reading...Kent port apologises for delays and blames French border control as summer getaway kicks off
Holidaymakers have been warned chaos that triggered six-hour queues at Dover could spill into the weekend, after the port declared a “critical incident” that it blamed on “woefully inadequate” French border control staffing.
The Kent port apologised to travellers facing long waits to cross the Channel on an extremely busy day for travel across the UK, as schools across England and Wales break up for the holidays.
Continue reading...UK temperatures exceed 40C while France and Portugal hit new highs, with some extreme consequences
Record-breaking heat continued to affect parts of western Europe during the past week, with UK temperatures exceeding 40C (104F) for the first time since records began.
On Tuesday, several weather stations across London, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire broke the 40C barrier, with a top temperature of 40.3C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire. A further 39 stations across central and southern England also broke the previous highest temperature of 38.7C, which was set in July 2019.
Continue reading...Suspicions over François Mitterrand’s health were raised a decade before his cancer prognosis was made public
A British diplomat raised concerns about the secret extent of French president François Mitterrand’s ill health a decade before the statesman’s terminal prognosis was made public, newly released official papers reveal.
Sir Reginald Hibbert, the UK government’s ambassador in Paris, appraised Whitehall colleagues in December 1981 with “talk about the president’s health which seemed to me to carry a certain amount of conviction”.
Continue reading...Analysis: Vladimir Putin claims time is on his side, but he will have only one shot at making a gas cutoff count
Desperate efforts in Italy to prevent the fall of Mario Draghi’s government are only the latest political firestorm in Europe tied to Vladimir Putin’s tests of the west’s powers of endurance. Draghi’s foreign minister, Luigi di Maio, suggested it will be Putin who celebrated the fall of another western government if Draghi does not survive a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday.
“A boat without a rudder goes adrift,” said Ferruccio Resta, the president of the Conference of Italian University Rectors – a metaphor that could apply, to Putin’s satisfaction, to much of Europe as governments come under growing pressure over the perceived domestic cost of the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Thousands evacuated as above 40C forecast for some French regions on Monday and more lives lost in soaring heat in Spain
France was bracing on Monday for the peak of the heatwave gripping the country, with crushing temperatures expected from the Mediterranean, as wildfires continued to rage across Europe.
Forecasters have put 15 departments in France on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including Gironde in the south-west, where wildfires have already wrought havoc.
Continue reading...Civil defence authorities battle blazes that have forced evacuation of thousands of people across continent
Firefighters in Portugal, Spain, France, Greece and Morocco are battling forest fires raging across tens of thousands of hectares as this week’s heatwave continues to bring extreme temperatures and cause hundreds of deaths across south-western Europe.
The second heatwave of the summer – with temperatures hitting 47C (116F) in Portugal and 45C in Spain – has triggered wildfires that have forced the evacuation of thousands of people.
Continue reading...Portugal and Spain among countries affected as rescue forces from Greece help battle blazes in southern France
Firefighters are working tirelessly to tackle wildfires raging in parts of southern Europe as a result of soaring temperatures linked to the climate crisis.
France, Portugal and Spain are among the European countries particularly affected, with temperatures of more than 45C (113F) recorded during a heatwave that is also sweeping the UK.
Continue reading...Portugal declares ‘state of contingency’ as France, Spain and Morocco also battle fires, while record heat hits China
Thousands of people in Portugal, Spain, France and Morocco have been evacuated from their homes as firefighters tackle wildfires caused by this week’s heatwave, which has brought extreme temperatures of more than 45C (113F) to parts of Europe and north Africa.
One person has died and at least 135 people have suffered mainly minor injuries since wildfires began in Portugal last week. A “state of contingency” has been in effect since Sunday, and about 800 people have been evacuated from their homes, according to the country’s Civil Protection Authority.
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