France sets European record, as Italy tightens measures against the unvaccinated
France has registered a national and European record for new coronavirus infections as the Omicron variant fuels a surge in cases across the continent, with multiple countries hitting new highs.
France on Wednesday reported 208,000 cases in the previous 24 hours, up from its previous record of almost 180,000 set the day before.
Continue reading...From a factory in China to an English beach, rubber dinghies are acquired by people-smugglers to transport desperate people
Against the backdrop of Dunkirk’s busy port with its cranes and smoke, a collapsed, grey rubber dinghy lies on the shore, abandoned and washed in by the tide.
It is one of the many haunting signs of the thousands of desperate people who have attempted to cross the Channel from northern France.
Continue reading...US reports 512,553 cases; UK reports 129,000; France reports 179,807; Portugal 17,172; and Greece 21,657
Stock markets have continued to gain ground despite the surge of Omicron around the world.
Asian markets lifted on Tuesday with the Nikkei in Japan up nearly 1%, Shanghai up 0.2%, Seoul up 0.1% and Sydney’s ASX200 is up 0.44%.
Continue reading...Agents step in after incident involving two small boats in early hours of morning
UK authorities have rescued 67 people who were attempting to cross the Channel on Christmas Day.
Border Force agents took a group of people to Dover in Kent in the early hours of Saturday, after an incident involving two small boats.
Continue reading...Nicolas Baudin’s voyage at the height of the Napoleonic wars gave us dozens of French place names, and left with kangaroos for the Empress Josephine
From La Perouse in Sydney to Victoria’s French Island and South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, hints of early French exploration dot the country’s coastline.
In fact, French familiarity with our region was such that they were the first to print a near-complete chart of Australia’s coast in 1811, beating the British by three years. But for a few other historical quirks, at least part of the nation might now be Francophone.
Continue reading...Four wolves were shot dead by park workers and five anaesthetised by officials at scene
Authorities in the south of France have temporarily shut down a zoo after a pack of nine wolves escaped from an enclosure during visiting hours, officials have said.
No humans were injured in the incident last weekend at the Trois Vallées zoo in Montredon-Labessonnié in the south-west Tarn region but four of the wolves were shot dead by park workers and five were anaesthetised by local officials on the scene, Fabien Chollet, a local official, told AFP on Friday.
Continue reading...Campaigners help close the loophole allowing glue-trapping in France, but the battle to save endangered bird species goes on
“Chasse à la glu has ended, but the fight to save other birds is not over,” says campaigner Yves Verilhac. “We are now battling to stop other cruel hunting methods that lead to the killing of skylarks, lapwings, golden plovers, thrushes and blackbirds.”
Two years ago, Verilhac, of France’s Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO), was fighting to stop the French tradition of chasse à la glu – hunting songbirds with twigs and branches covered in adhesive.
Continue reading...While French politicians are hailing the result of the referendum as ‘final’, indigenous Kanaks say their future is anything but settled
In the wake of the third New Caledonian referendum on independence from France, French president Emmanuel Macron declared that “France is more beautiful because New Caledonia decided to stay.”
The vote in the 12 December referendum – supposedly the finale of a 30-year process of preparation and consultation – was an overwhelming 96.5% against independence.
Continue reading...Dutch lockdown puts limits on Christmas celebrations, while France and other countries toughen restrictions as Covid cases climb
Nations across Europe moved to reimpose tougher measures to stem a new wave of Covid infections spurred by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, with the Netherlands leading the way by imposing a nationwide lockdown.
All non-essential stores, bars and restaurants in the Netherlands will be closed until 14 January starting Sunday, caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte said at a hastily arranged press conference Saturday night. Schools and universities will shut until 9 January, he said.
Continue reading...Lengthy tailbacks on M20 heading to Dover and at entrance to Channel tunnel follow change of rules on Friday night
A rush of passengers travelling to France to beat the country’s ban on UK tourists has led to a knock-on effect on freight traffic, resulting in long queues of lorries.
There were lengthy tailbacks on the M20 motorway in Kent heading to Dover and at the entrance to the Channel tunnel on Saturday.
Continue reading...Makeshift vessels got into trouble attempting to make crossing from France to the UK
More than 130 people have been rescued after their makeshift vessels became stranded in the Channel as they tried to reach Britain from France, French authorities said.
Two navy vessels and two lifeboats brought the 138 refugees back to shore after authorities were informed on Thursday that “many boats trying to cross the Channel were in trouble”.
Continue reading...As ban takes effect from midnight, UK travel operators say news is ‘devastating for ski industry’
France has banned all non-essential travel from the UK, starting on Friday night. We explain what it means if you have planned to visit over the festive period.
Continue reading...French President Emmanuel Macron says Australia behaved badly after ending its submarine deal with France before opting for a nuclear powered arrangement in collaboration with the United States and United Kingdom. Macron previously accused the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, of lying to him over the abandoned $90bn submarine contract. Speaking in an interview with TF1 and LCI television stations, Macron said: "The Australians have treated us in a bad manner, industrially and strategically. We responded in the firmest manner, and it will be felt in time, believe me. The Australians behaved badly"
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Authorities say mostly Iraqi Kurds drowned in the Channel dinghy incident, including a teenager and one child
French authorities have formally identified 26 out of 27 people who drowned last month in a Channel dinghy incident, with most of them being Kurds from Iraq.
A statement from the Paris prosecutor said that there were 17 men among the deceased aged 19-26, seven women aged 22-46, as well as a 16-year-old teenager and a child aged seven.
Continue reading...Overwhelming vote to remain with France, but low turnout ‘weighs heavily’ on self-determination process, say observers
Low voter turnout at New Caledonia’s independence referendum “weighs heavily” on the French territory’s self-determination process, election observers from the Pacific Islands Forum have said.
In Sunday’s referendum, more than 96% of voters were opposed to independence from France, compared with 57% in 2018 and 53% in 2020.
Continue reading...Turnout of just 40% after pro-independence campaigners urged indigenous people not to participate
Residents of the Pacific territory of New Caledonia have voted overwhelmingly to remain part of France in a referendum boycotted by pro-independence groups.
In the third referendum on the matter, the decision to stay within the French republic was carried by 96.49% to 3.51%, but a turnout of just over 40% suggested the indigenous Kanak people have not given up on dreams of independence.
Continue reading...British government says move agreed during talks before Friday midnight deadline set by Brussels
The UK and Jersey governments have issued further licences to French fishing boats to trawl British waters in an apparent attempt to ease cross-Channel tensions.
The Brussels-imposed deadline of midnight on Friday for solving the post-Brexit fishing row passed without an agreement being announced.
Continue reading...France willing to re-engage on Channel crossings, but UK economy relies on illegal labour, says president
Relations between France and Britain are strained because the current UK government does not honour its word, president Emmanuel Macron has said.
Macron accused London of failing to keep its word on Brexit and fishing licences, but said France was willing to re-engage in good faith, and called for “British re-engagement” over the “humanitarian question” of dangerous Channel crossings, after at least 27 migrants drowned trying to reach the British coast.
Continue reading...A million-selling superstar at home and in France, she discusses her confrontation with Playboy, growing up in a famous family and being publicly outed as bisexual
A few years ago, a popular pub quiz question involved naming 10 famous Belgians. The answers often revealed more about British cultural ignorance than Belgium’s ability to produce international celebrities, given that the fictional Tintin and Hercule Poirot were the best many could come up with.
The game has got easier since the rise of Angèle, a stridently feminist Belgian pop singer-songwriter who shot to fame in 2016 after posting short clips singing covers and playing the piano on Instagram. She was young, talented and not afraid to make fun of herself, pulling faces and sticking pencils up her nose. Her 2018 debut album, Brol, sold a million copies; by 2019, she was a face of Chanel. “I’d always wanted a career in music, but I was thinking more of working as a piano accompanist,” she says, folding into an armchair at a five-star boutique hotel near the Paris Opéra. “I really didn’t expect it to happen like that.”
Continue reading...Urgent appeal lodged to stop the broadcast of cartoons calling on New Caledonians to vote against independence from France in this weekend’s referendum
Cartoons urging New Caledonians to vote no to independence from France in this weekend’s referendum have been accused of “profound racism and ridicule towards Pacific Islanders, especially the [indigenous] Kanak people”, in a legal submission lodged with France’s highest judicial body.
An urgent appeal has been lodged against the broadcast of the animations, which have been running on television in New Caledonia and online, with the Council of State in France.
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