Category Archives: France

Frank Gehry’s Luma Arles tower to open in south of France

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Building is architect’s tribute to Arles’ most famous residents: the Romans and Vincent Van Gogh

Rising from the skyline of Arles, the tower appears like a futuristic structure from a Marvel movie with nearly 11,000 stainless steel panels gleaming in the Provençal sun.

Here, at what was once the centre of the Roman empire in France, this twisting structure is the 92-year-old architect Frank Gehry’s tribute to Arles’ most famous residents: the Romans and the artist Vincent Van Gogh.

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Fractious EU summit rejects Franco-German plan for Putin talks

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Bloc to explore sanctions instead, as gathering also holds ‘emotional’ debate over Hungary’s LGBT laws

A Franco-German plan to restart talks with Vladimir Putin has been rejected at a fractious EU summit that resulted in a decision to explore economic sanctions against Russia instead.

The two-day gathering in Brussels also included an “emotional” debate over LGBT rights in Hungary, as EU leaders confronted Viktor Orbán over a law that will ban gay people from being shown in educational and entertainment content for minors.

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French state sued for ‘failing to protect’ woman who killed rapist husband

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Lawyers say Valérie Bacot, on trial for murder, is victim of authorities’ gross negligence

Lawyers representing a woman who killed her stepfather turned husband after 24 years of violence that started when he raped her at 12 are taking legal action against the French state for “gross negligence” after claims the authorities failed to act on reports she was being abused.

Valérie Bacot’s defence team said a summons for liability had been filed with the Paris tribunal. Her lawyers point out that her children twice went to the police to report their father – who was Bacot’s stepfather – for abusing her but no action was taken.

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Moving on: why the EU is not missing Britain that much

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On the 5th anniversary of Brexit, commentators reflect on the EU’s success at rallying together after Britain’s exit

On the night of 23 June 2016 a storm broke out over Brussels. Rain poured, thunder rolled and lightning flashed over the headquarters of the European Union’s institutions.

Then in the small hours came a political thunderbolt almost no one had forecast: the UK had voted to leave the union. Five years on, the Brexit tempest has subsided – in Brussels, if not in London.

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Les Hijabeuses: the female footballers tackling France’s on-pitch hijab ban

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Young players excluded from matches because of their religious dress find a way to play on and encourage other hijab-wearing women into the sport

Founé Diawara was 15 years old when she was first told she could not wear her hijab in a football match.

It was an important game. She had recently got into the team of a club in Meaux, the town north-east of Paris where she grew up, and they were playing a local rival. Diawara had been wearing her hijab during training, but as she was about to walk on to the pitch, the referee said she must remove it if she wanted to play.

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Woman to stand trial in France for killing stepfather after years of abuse

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Valérie Bacot, who had four children with alleged abuser, will say she believed he would kill them all

On Monday, a French woman, Valérie Bacot, will walk into a court to be tried for killing her stepfather turned husband. She has admitted shooting him dead and believes she should be punished.

In her defence, she is expected to tell the the hearing at at Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy how Daniel “Dany” Polette made her life hell from the day he raped her when she was 12, to the day he died 24 years later while prostituting her.

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‘Slap in the face’ for Macron as French voters shun local elections

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Abstention rate estimated at 68%, and exit polls suggest Le Pen’s National Rally failed to get expected support

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party received what one of its own MPs called a “slap in the face” in regional and department elections on Sunday.

The president and his government failed to mobilise supporters, with an estimated 68% of voters shunning the polling stations – an unprecedented rate of abstention. If there was any consolation for the ruling party it was that exit polls suggested Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally had failed to garner its expected support.

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Marine Le Pen poised to make gains in France’s regional elections

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Sunday’s poll could help far right step further towards political mainstream ahead of 2022 presidential elections

France is voting in the first round of regional elections that could see Marine Le Pen‘s far-right party make gains and step further into the political mainstream.

In Sunday’s election, new assemblies will be elected for mainland France’s 13 regions and 96 departments, with Le Pen‘s National Rally (RN) tipped to win at least one region for the first time in what would be a major coup.

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‘It was war’: partygoer loses hand amid clashes with French police at illegal rave

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Authorities accuse partygoers of throwing Molotov cocktails, metal balls and bits of breeze blocks at officers, who fired teargas to break up party

French police clashed for hours with partygoers at a 1,500-strong illegal rave over the weekend, with one partygoer losing a hand and five officers injured.

Local official Emmanuel Berthier said partygoers threw “Molotov cocktails, metal balls and bits of breeze blocks” at officers during “very violent clashes” in western France.

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The ‘human rights’ sex trade case that will harm women

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A European court judgment this week could reverse laws that protect the vulnerable and abused

A case to be heard in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg this week could have disastrous consequences for those campaigning to eradicate prostitution.

The hearing is the first step in determining whether France’s laws on prostitution – which criminalise paying for sex – are constitutional, or whether they contravene the human rights of self-titled “sex workers”.

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EU founding father Robert Schuman moves a step closer to sainthood

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Pope Francis gives ‘venerable’ status to post-war French statesman and supporter of European unity

Robert Schuman, a French statesman who was an early advocate for the bloc that evolved into the European Union, has moved ahead on the Catholic church’s path toward possible sainthood.

The Vatican said Pope Francis on Saturday approved a decree declaring the “heroic virtues″ of Schuman, a former prime minister and finance minister after the second world war. In 1950, as foreign minister, he developed a plan to promote European economic unity in hopes of furthering peace.

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‘It’s such a relief’: how Europe’s Covid vaccine rollout is catching up with UK

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More supplies and vaccination centres have put France, Italy and Germany back on track in battle against coronavirus

On Friday morning, Leyla Çelik woke up with butterflies in her stomach. For weeks, the 22-year-old student at Berlin’s Freie Universität had tried in vain to get an appointment for her first Covid-19 vaccine shot so she could volunteer as a polling station administrator at federal elections in September. “I’d basically given up hope.”

But last week her university had suddenly got in touch via email, offering her a chance to get a first dose of Moderna vaccine on campus, and within a few days. By 9am on Friday, the anxiety has turned into euphoria: “It’s such a relief,” said the native Berliner, nursing her achey shoulder at Freie’s biology institute, converted into a vaccine delivery point as of this week. “At last I can catch a train or a bus without feeling anxious.”

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Bird in the hand: French retiree strikes up unlikely friendship with pigeon – video

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French retiree Xavier Bouget says he was out walking in one day near his home in Gommenech, Brittany when he saw a tiny pigeon fall to the ground as it tried to escape from a cat. Bouget later mentioned this story to his wife who asked why he didn't pick up the bird. So he went back to find it and "came home with Blanchon in my pocket," he said. Now, Blanchon, a white pigeon, follows the 80-year-old when he rides on his bicycle, tinkers in his workshop and works in his garden. The pigeon has become a constant companion, with Bouget revealing the key to the friendship. "Every human being can have that relationship with animals. It is a matter of patience, of watching how they live, of adapting to their way of life because they manage to adapt to yours."

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Françoise Hardy, ‘close to the end’ of her life, argues for assisted suicide

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The French singer says radiation has left her in immense pain, and fears a natural death would bring ‘even more physical suffering’

Françoise Hardy, the French pop songwriter who found fame in the 60s yé-yé movement, has said she feels “close to the end” of her life in a new interview.

Hardy, 77, told Femme Actuelle that in 2018 she was diagnosed with a tumour in her ear. It followed her diagnosis with lymphatic cancer in the mid-2000s, and a hospitalisation in 2015 that led to her being placed in an induced coma. Her life was saved when doctors administered a novel form of radiation.

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More than half of Europe’s cities still plagued by dirty air, report finds

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Data shows only 127 of 323 cities had acceptable PM 2.5 levels despite drop in emissions during lockdowns

More than half of European cities are still plagued by dirty air, new data shows, despite a reduction in traffic emissions and other pollutants during last year’s lockdowns.

Cities in eastern Europe, where coal is still a major source of energy, fared worst of all, with Nowy Sącz in Poland having the most polluted air, followed by Cremona in Italy where industry and geography tend to concentrate air pollution, and Slavonski Brod in Croatia.

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Man jailed for life over killing that sparked femicide outcry in France

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Bruno Garcia-Cruciani’s murder of Julie Douib in Corsica became a rallying call against domestic killings

A man who murdered the mother of their two children on the island of Corsica in March 2019 has been sentenced to life in prison in a case that caused an outcry over domestic killings of women in France.

Julie Douib was shot dead by her former partner of 14 years, Bruno Garcia-Cruciani, a few days after learning that prosecutors had closed a case she brought against him for threatening behaviour, harassment and assault.

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France and Spain to ease mask-wearing as Covid vaccine schemes gather pace

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French will no longer have to wear masks outside and curfew to end while Spain also planning to lift rule

France and Spain are moving to ease rules around wearing face masks outside, in a development attributed by both countries to their Covid-19 vaccination campaigns.

In France, people will no longer be required to wear masks outdoors from Thursday, though they will still be obligatory on public transport, in sports stadiums and other crowded places. A nightly curfew will end as of Sunday.

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Greenpeace Euro 2020 parachutist lucky not to be shot down, says politician

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Bavarian minister says activist could have ‘paid with life’ for stunt before Germany v France game in Munich

A Greenpeace protester who parachuted into the stadium before Germany’s Euro 2020 match against France in Munich was lucky not to have been shot down by anti-terror marksmen enforcing a no-fly zone, a state minister has said.

Two people were injured when the activist lost control of his powered paraglider, which had a motor attached to his back, and hit overhead camera wires attached to the stadium roof. Fans ducked as he careered towards the spectator area, narrowly missing the stands and demolishing technical equipment before crashing in front of the German penalty area.

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France win heavyweight clash with Germany thanks to Hummels own goal

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All that talent, all that expectation, and in the end it came down to a first-half own goal scored by Mats Hummels. An awkward deflection off his shin and into the top corner beyond Manuel Neuer was the only time either goalkeeper was beaten.

But do not think that the story of this game between the last two World Cup winners, the opening night that could have been the climax of the entire competition, can be told so easily. Do not believe, either, that France will be removed easily.

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British nationals in France face losing rights if they miss residency deadline

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Call to extend 30 June deadline over fears Britons will lose access to healthcare and pensions

Campaigners have warned that tens of thousands of British nationals living in France and three other countries risk losing local healthcare, employment and other rights if they do not apply to remain resident in the next 14 days.

British in Europe, a group set up to protect the post-Brexit rights of about 1.2 million UK nationals living on the continent, have called on France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Malta to extend their 30 June deadline as the Netherlands has done, to 30 October.

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