Category Archives: France

Afghanistan: what does each nation hope to get out of the G7 meeting?

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Analysis: Tuesday’s meeting called by Boris Johnson may include postmortem on Joe Biden’s handling of crisis

The emergency meeting of G7 nations on Tuesday – called by Boris Johnson as this year’s chair of the G7 – is in essence a gathering of the vanquished but faces a threefold agenda: how to ensure as many Afghans as possible can leave Kabul, and whether the US is prepared to stay beyond the original 31 August deadline for the withdrawal of all US forces; how a resettlement programme can be coordinated for the medium term; and finally, how to encourage the Taliban to form an inclusive government, including by threatening sanctions or withholding recognition.

But each country will bring its own concerns and an ugly postmortem on Joe Biden’s handling of the crisis cannot be ruled out.

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‘I cry all the time’: the plight of Afghan refugees in Calais

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More Afghans are arriving in norther France hoping to make it across the Channel to claim asylum in the UK

Salaam Khan had not long ago woken up after another fruitless night attempting to cross the Channel from Calais and was on alert for the arrival of the French police. They come most mornings to confiscate the tents of the hundreds of migrants and refugees sleeping on the city’s outskirts.

“It’s a new day and the same shit,” he said.

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‘We love everybody’: the French drag couple making non-traditional wedding dresses

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James and ViviAnn Du Fermoir-de-Monsac want to create an atmosphere where those who don’t fit the vision of an ideal bride feel comfortable

On the third floor of a typical Alsatian building in Strasbourg, a door opens on to a bright atelier, dotted with mannequins draped in bridal wear. This is where James and ViviAnn Du Fermoir-de-Monsac live and work, designing couture wedding gowns watched over by their cheerful mascot – a yellow parakeet named Adam. And they do it in drag.

The pair say seeing clients in their drag personas creates an atmosphere where people can be accepted for who they are. They know the traditional experience of buying a wedding dress is not always easy for everyone in a world where the vision of an ideal bride is often still someone thin, white and able-bodied.

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Josephine Baker to become first Black woman to enter France’s Pantheon

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Performer who became part of the French resistance will be moved to the mausoleum in November

The remains of Josephine Baker, a famed French-American dancer, singer and actor who also worked with the French resistance during the second world war, will be moved to the Panthéon mausoleum in November, according to an aide to President Emmanuel Macron.

It will make Baker, who was born in Missouri in 1906 and buried in Monaco in 1975, the first Black woman to be laid to rest in the hallowed Parisian monument.

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Two people found dead in French wildfire near Saint-Tropez

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As many as 1,200 firefighters and a dozen aircraft try to contain blaze in Var region

Two people have died during France’s biggest wildfire of the summer, local authorities have confirmed as the blaze continued to rage in the countryside behind Saint-Tropez.

At least one man is among the deceased, local prosecutor Patrice Camberou told the TV channel France 3. He said the other body, found in a destroyed home in the village of Grimaud, was too badly burned to identify.

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French Covid permit scheme extended to Paris department stores

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Shoppers in capital and parts of Med coast will have to show pass sanitaire as case numbers rise

France’s pass sanitaire health permit system will be extended to more than 120 major department stores and shopping centres on Monday in areas where levels of Covid infection are causing concern, including Paris and the Mediterranean coast.

The decision to extend the measure restricting entry to customers who can prove they have been vaccinated, have had a negative Covid test or have recovered from coronavirus was made by local officials.

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Fifth consecutive weekend of protests in France over Covid pass

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More than 250,000 people are expected at 200 demonstrations, an increase on last week

Protesters took to the streets of France for the fifth consecutive Saturday to oppose the country’s pass sanitaire – health pass – now required for everyday activities.

More than 250,000 people were expected at about 200 demonstrations, an increase in the number that officials said had turned out last week. Protesters have accused the government of underestimating the numbers and playing down support.

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Belarus repression and the Taliban advance: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A round-up of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Thailand to Mexico

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Booster jabs for rich countries will cause more deaths worldwide, say experts

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Oxford Vaccine Group and Gavi say western leaders must not ‘reject their responsibility to the rest of humanity’

Many more people around the world will die of Covid if western political leaders “reject their responsibility to the rest of humanity” by prioritising booster shots for their own populations instead of sharing doses, the head of the Oxford vaccine group has warned.

Writing for the Guardian, Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, and Seth Berkley, the chief executive of Gavi, the vaccine alliance, say that the scientific and public health case for large-scale boosting has not been made and could have far-reaching consequences in other countries.

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French police on alert after Covid testing centre attacks

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Vandals damage 22 health sites, often leaving graffiti comparing vaccination drive to Holocaust

French police have been urged to step up security around Covid vaccination and testing centres after a spate of attacks and vandalism in the last month.

As France prepares for a fifth weekend of demonstrations against the health pass, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has written to police chiefs calling for greater vigilance. French media reported that the request had come directly from Emmanuel Macron.

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French Holocaust survivor Simone Veil’s memorial vandalised

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Police launch investigation after memorial in Brittany to former minister daubed with swastikas

A stone memorial commemorating the life of the Holocaust survivor and former minister Simone Veil has been defaced with swastikas, police have said, sparking fresh concern over antisemitism in France.

The memorial to Veil, at Perros-Guirec in the western Brittany region, was found to have been daubed with the Nazi insignia on Wednesday morning. An investigation has been launched.

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French police question man who reportedly admitted killing priest

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Father Olivier Maire had offered a home to the accused who was awaiting trial for cathedral arson

A man is being questioned by police after he reportedly admitted killing a priest who had offered him a home while awaiting trial for arson.

The suspect walked into a gendarmerie in the Vendée in western France on Monday morning and allegedly told officers he had killed the cleric, the head of a Catholic religious order.

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Mali conflict: at least 51 people killed in attack by suspected jihadists

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Militants attacked three villages near Niger border in latest in wave of civilian massacres in Sahel region

More than 51 people have been killed in northern Mali by jihadists, who attacked three villages near the border with Niger, killing and torching homes, in the latest mass attack in a region beset by violence.

Militants on motorbikes overwhelmed the villages simultaneously on Sunday evening, entering and killing indiscriminately and burning and ransacking homes, according to security officials.

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France extends Covid health pass after fourth weekend of protests

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Pass sanitaire allows people to visit restaurants, hospitals and take long train trips but backlash continues

An extension to France’s “health pass” covering activities including going to restaurants and cafes, taking long-distance train journeys and visiting hospitals has come into effect after a fourth weekend of protests.

The pass sanitaire, which the government hopes will boost vaccination rates, is shown in the form of a QR code either digitally or on paper and given to those who are fully vaccinated, have a negative Covid-19 test or have had coronavirus and recovered.

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Macron tells critics: vaccine passport will protect all our freedoms

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French protests expected to enter fourth week but president’s hardline strategy is succeeding

When the Great Plague struck Marseille in 1720, killing more than half of the city’s population, travellers were ordered to carry a “bill of health” and ships arriving at the Mediterranean port underwent a 40-day cordon sanitaire or quarantine. As a gateway for trade, the city authorities struggled to find a delicate balance between halting the spread of the disease and damaging vital commerce.

Three hundred years on, President Emmanuel Macron is walking an equally tricky tightrope just eight months before he seeks re-election in April 2022. And unlike the ancient Marseillais, Macron has to answer to social media.

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‘It is a bit annoying’: Italy’s Covid pass restrictions kick in

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Green pass rule has prompted some protests but not on same scale as similar scheme in France

The ritual of coffee and breakfast at the bar in Italy has become slightly more complicated as restrictions on unvaccinated citizens kicked in.

People can still drink coffee and eat a cornetto, a type of croissant, while standing at the bar or sitting at an outside table without needing to present a so-called green pass. But not if they are seated inside.

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Fully vaccinated UK arrivals from France will not need to quarantine

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Ministers ditch plans for watchlist of amber countries such as Spain

Millions of Britons have been given the green light to travel to Europe’s holiday hotspots, avoiding quarantine on return from France and Spain where concerns have been raised about Covid variants.

Ministers announced on Wednesday that fully vaccinated holidaymakers returning from France would no longer need to quarantine and ditched plans for a “watchlist” of amber countries such as Spain.

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French protests grow against extended health pass scheme

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200,000 take to the streets to oppose proof-of-vaccination for hospitals, trains, and cultural and leisure centres

Thousands of people have protested in Paris and other French cities over a mandatory coronavirus health pass for entry to many public venues, introduced by the government as it battles a fourth wave of infections.

Protesters injured three police officers in Paris, a police spokesperson said. The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said on Twitter that 19 demonstrators were arrested, including 10 in Paris.

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UK minister seeks to calm row over France Covid travel curbs

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Grant Shapps defends decision to put France on UK’s amber-plus list over Beta variant threat

A British cabinet minister has sought to dampen down a growing diplomatic row with France over the imposition of tougher international restrictions on millions of travellers owing to the threat of the Beta variant of coronavirus.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, defended the decision to put France on the “amber-plus” list, after the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, on Thursday suggested the variant’s prevalence on Réunion, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean, was partly to blame.

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Israeli authorities inspect NSO Group offices after Pegasus revelations

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Officials visit offices near Tel Aviv as Israeli defence minister meets French counterpart in Paris

Israeli authorities have inspected the offices of the surveillance outfit NSO Group in response to the Pegasus project investigation into abuses of the company’s spyware by several government clients.

Officials from the defence ministry visited the company’s offices near Tel Aviv on Wednesday, at the same time as the defence minister, Benny Gantz, arrived for a pre-arranged visit to Paris in which the Pegasus revelations were discussed with his French counterpart.

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