Category Archives: France

Paris Olympics organisers apologise to Christians for Last Supper parody

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Apology follows anger among Catholics and other groups at opening ceremony segment that resembled biblical scene

The organising committee of Paris 2024 has apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups who were outraged by a scene during the opening ceremony that evoked Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper painting with drag queens, a transgender model and a singer made up as the Greek god of wine.

The parody of the biblical scene, performed against the backdrop of the River Seine, was intended to interpret Dionysus and raise awareness “of the absurdity of violence between human beings”, organisers wrote on X.

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One dead and dozens rescued in latest attempt to cross Channel

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French authorities say they received call for help from overcrowded dinghy in early hours of Sunday

A woman has died trying to cross the Channel in an overcrowded dinghy, as a number of small boats made the dangerous journey over the weekend.

Thirty-four others were rescued from what was described as a “migrant boat” off the northern French port of Calais, after a call for help was made in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to French authorities.

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Why Édith Piaf’s plaintive song was the perfect fit for Céline Dion at Paris Games

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The melody for the first live performance since 2020 by the singer, who has suffered with ill-health, was suitably tragic

It was a very public triumph, both for Paris and for Céline Dion. It received plaudits around the world as one of the highlights of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Yet the soundtrack was a tragic one.

The Canadian diva had chosen to celebrate the great French chansonnier Édith Piaf in a live, high-stakes comeback performance delivered from the iron shoulders of the Eiffel Tower amid showers of rain and fireworks.

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‘It was like us – a chaotic mess’: France enjoys Paris Games opening ceremony

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Most French newspapers praise the Olympics spectacle but far-right commentators reject ‘woke propaganda’

They had waited 100 years for it and the French, mostly, were determined to love their kitsch, crazy, subversive, waterborne and very rain-drenched Olympics opening ceremony. Less happy were far-right figures, who spied “wokeist” propaganda.

A thoroughly unscientific poll on the rue de Rochechouart in Paris – where the far right have never had so much as a look-in – found plenty of enthusiasm.

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Further Eurostar cancellations hold up Paris 2024 passengers

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The rail operator has pulled four of 15 trains from its Saturday schedule, affecting more than 3,000 people

Eurostar passengers hoping to catch the start of the Paris Olympics have continued to face difficulties after an arson attack in France caused train cancellations.

People travelling by Eurostar from London to Paris on Friday were asked to postpone trips if possible after the rail operator cancelled one in four trains over the weekend as a result of arson attacks that lead to widespread disruption to France’s high-speed rail network hours before the start of the Olympics.

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Who launched attack on the French rail network – and why?

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Arsonists used crude methods but disruption to opening of the Olympic Games in Paris was severe

It was about 1.15am when the SNCF maintenance workers, carrying out repairs by moonlight, spotted the group of people a little further down the railway line near a signal box outside the sleepy village of Vergigny, in the northern French department of Yonne.

They were concerned enough by the unlikely sight at such an hour to approach the intruders, and then to make a call to the local police as those they had interrupted ran off into the dark.

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Three suspected IS members charged in Belgium over terrorism plot

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Police searched houses across country on eve of Olympic opening ceremony in neighbouring France

Three suspected members of Islamic State’s Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan, have been charged in Belgium with planning a terrorist attack.

Police released four other people who had also been detained during searches of houses across the country on Thursday, three of them after being questioned by an investigative judge, the state prosecutor’s office said.

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London Eurostar passengers asked to postpone journeys after arson attack

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High-speed rail services have been disrupted, hours before Olympics opening ceremony, by ‘acts of malice’

Eurostar passengers travelling from London to Paris on Friday were asked to postpone trips if possible, with trains delayed and cancelled after arson attacks took place on high-speed rail lines hours before the start of the Olympics.

Most services were leaving St Pancras International station on time but journeys were expected to be prolonged by at least an hour in France. Two afternoon departures have been cancelled.

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French rail network hit by arson attacks before Olympics opening ceremony

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‘Massive’ coordinated attacks on TGV bring severe disruption to France’s busiest rail lines

France’s high-speed rail network has been hit by coordinated “malicious acts” including arson attacks that have brought major disruption to many of the country’s busiest rail lines hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

The state-owned railway operator, SNCF, said arsonists had targeted installations along the lines connecting Paris with the country’s west, north and east and that traffic would be severely disrupted across the country during the weekend.

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Friday briefing: How a doping scandal could overshadow the Olympics

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In today’s newsletter: As Paris gears up for the Games, the excitement is palpable, but concern about performance-enhancing drugs threatens the reputation of one of its sports

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Good morning.

The Olympics is here! Get ready for some truly awe-inspiring displays of athleticism. But there is also a scandal hovering over the Games in Paris that threatens to move focus away from the athletes.

Health | Wes Streeting has called England’s healthcare watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), “not fit for purpose” after an interim report found significant failings were hampering its ability to identify poor performance at hospitals, care homes and GP practices.

Budget | Rachel Reeves is expected to reveal a £20bn hole in government spending for essential public services on Monday, paving the way for potential tax rises in the autumn budget.

Israel-Gaza war | Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has pressed Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on the “dire” humanitarian situation in Gaza in talks that she described as frank, adding “I will not be silent.”

Assisted dying | Keir Starmer is under pressure to fulfil a promise to allow a parliamentary vote on legalising assisted dying, as a bill is to be introduced into the House of Lords on Friday.

Police | A teenager who was kicked in the face by an armed police officer while lying prone on the ground is “traumatised” and receiving hospital treatment after the “barbaric” assault, his solicitor has said. Akhmed Yakoob said 19-year-old Muhammed Fahir was a victim of “police brutality” after footage showed an officer stamping on his head during an arrest at Manchester airport on Tuesday.

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French athlete may swap hijab for a cap to avoid Olympic opening ceremony ban

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Sounkamba Sylla reportedly reaches compromise after France’s strict laws on secularism threatened to bar her

A French sprinter is expected to swap her headscarf for a cap in order to participate in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics, in a compromise reportedly struck after the country’s strict laws on secularism threatened to bar her from the event.

Earlier this week Sounkamba Sylla, a Muslim member of France’s 400m women’s and mixed relay teams, said she would not be able to take part in Friday’s ceremony because she wears a hijab.

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Macron woos top foreign business chiefs after political chaos

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French president seeks to reassure guests, including Elon Musk, as data show industry morale slumped in July

Barely six weeks after he dissolved parliament and plunged France into political chaos, Emmanuel Macron has sought to reassure 40 of the world’s most influential businessmen that his country remains a good investment.

Guests at a sit-down lunch at the Élysée palace on Thursday included Tesla’s Elon Musk, Coca-Cola’s James Quincey, Airbnb’s Brian Chesky, YouTube’s Neal Mohan and Eli Lilly’s David Ricks.

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Salt Lake City must lobby for end to FBI doping investigation in return for 2034 Winter Olympics

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  • FBI is looking into allegations of Chinese doping
  • French Alps given 2030 Winter Olympics

What was expected to be a simple coronation of Salt Lake City as the 2034 Winter Olympic host turned into complicated Olympic politics on Wednesday, as the IOC pushed Utah officials to end an FBI investigation into a suspected doping coverup.

In a separate decision earlier in Paris, the 2030 Winter Games were awarded – with conditions – to France for a regional project split between ski resorts in the Alps and Nice. That project needs official signoff from the national government which is still being formed after elections in France earlier this month.

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Snoop Dogg to carry Olympic torch on final stages through Paris

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US rapper will conclude torch’s relay through Saint-Denis and Olympic Village to mark start of 33rd Games

Snoop Dogg will carry the Olympic torch through the final stages when it passes through Paris before the opening ceremony on Friday.

The US rapper will be hoping he won’t Drop It Like It’s Hot when he holds the torch in Saint-Denis to mark the start of the 33rd Games.

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Centrist government to remain in power until after Paris Olympics, says Macron

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France’s president says delay is to avoid disorder, after leftist coalition announces Lucie Castet as its pick to become PM

Emmanuel Macron has said he will maintain the country’s centrist caretaker government until the end of the Olympic Games in mid-August to avoid disorder, dismissing an effort by a leftwing alliance to name a prime minister.

His announcement in a TV interview came shortly after the leftist coalition that won the most votes in this month’s parliamentary elections selected the little-known civil servant Lucie Castets as its choice for prime minister.

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Olympic team officials briefed after Australian woman allegedly raped by five men in Paris

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Australian chef de mission Anna Meares says athletes have been advised to take care outside Olympic village after reports of assault

Olympic team officials have been briefed on the alleged sexual assault of an Australian woman in Paris.

French police are investigating the allegation that the tourist was sexually assaulted by five men, according to local media.

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Island off northern French coast imposes quota to tackle overtourism

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The picturesque Ile-de-Bréhat follows major cities such as Amsterdam and Venice with measures to reduce visitors

A small, picturesque island off the north coast of Brittany has imposed a summer tourist quota in an effort to ensure visitors have a more enjoyable experience and its 400-odd permanent residents do not feel swamped.

From this week until 23 August, the number of people allowed on to Ile-de-Bréhat – excluding local people, second homeowners and workers – between 8.30am and 2.30pm must not exceed 4,700, said the island’s mayor, Olivier Carré.

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France Unbowed MP sparks outrage by saying Israeli Olympians not welcome

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Thomas Portes accused of ‘putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes’ with remarks at protest against Gaza war

An MP for the radical-left France Unbowed party has sparked outrage after saying Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Paris Olympics and calling for protests against their presence.

Citing Israel’s war in Gaza, Thomas Portes told a pro-Palestinian gathering in Paris on Saturday: “We are just a few days away from an international event to be held in Paris, the Olympic Games. And I’m here to say that no, the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Olympic Games in Paris. We have to use this deadline and all the levers we have to mobilise.”

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‘It’s a very strange feeling’: can the man who won Olympic gold bring glory to the Paris Games?

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2024 Games organiser Tony Estanguet tells how chats with British sporting legend Sebastian Coe have kept him on an even keel

It has to feel pretty weird. You’re in charge of the biggest event your country’s ever organised. You have worked on it to the exclusion, basically, of everything else in your life, for very nearly a decade. And now – it’s a week away.

“It’s a very strange feeling,” confirms Tony Estanguet, head of the 2024 Olympic Games organising committee. “I come from this small town in south-west France. My sport is a very minor one. It’s been … quite a ride. But here I am. And now, well, here we all are.”

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Five protesters and one police officer hurt in French reservoir demonstration

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Violence erupts after about 4,000 gather in La Rochelle amid heightened tensions over water resources

A police officer and five protesters were injured when violence erupted after about 4,000 people turned out for a demonstration in La Rochelle over the use of reservoirs to supply large-scale agriculture, local officials said.

Police fired teargas and brought in water cannon trucks and reinforcements to disperse the demonstrators after the unrest broke out on Saturday afternoon, with several shop fronts smashed and at least seven people arrested.

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