Buyer at small German auction house did not know bicorne had belonged to the French emperor
A newly discovered hat with DNA evidence proving it belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte has gone on display at auction house Bonhams in Hong Kong.
Described by Bonhams as the “first hat to bear the emperor’s DNA“, it is being previewed in Hong Kong before it moves to Paris and then London, where it will be auctioned on 27 October.
Continue reading...House in southern France yielded find of outstanding wall paintings dating from 1st century BC
On the right bank of the Rhône in the Provençal town of Arles, the Roman-built House of the Harpist is being hailed as a remarkable record of ancient architecture and interior decoration.
Now, experts have opened their workshop to reveal their painstaking attempts to piece together the vast jigsaw of magnificent and never before seen frescoes discovered in the property thought to date back more than two millennia.
Continue reading...20 men accused of involvement in 2015 massacre, but it is unclear whether the key accused will break their silence
Deep inside Paris’s historic law courts on the bank of the River Seine, builders were putting the finishing touches to an extraordinary architectural structure described as a cross between a high-security bunker and modern church.
Its sleek pale wood and white lighting were chosen by the French justice ministry to create “a sense of calm” in contrast to the horrific events which will soon be examined there. This temporary structure will from next week host the biggest criminal trial ever held in France, when 20 men are accused of planning, aiding and carrying out the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks on a stadium, bars and restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall.
Continue reading...The Vieux Pays of Goussainville should have disappeared during the construction of the Charles de Gaulle airport in the 70s, however some inhabitants resisted the takeover of their houses and continue to live there despite the noise and isolation
Continue reading...US tech firm fined for not complying with order to come up with proposals on compensating publishers
Google is appealing against a €500m (£430m) fine imposed by France’s antitrust watchdog after a dispute with local media about paying for news content.
The financial penalty came amid increasing international pressure on online platforms such as Google and Facebook to share more of the revenue they make from using media outlets’ content.
Continue reading...Analysis: forging an acceptable agreement with new Afghan regime will require careful diplomacy
The history of war is littered with losing parties struggling to accept the terms or even the fact of their defeat. At the end of the first world war, Germany’s then chancellor Philipp Scheidemann announced: “May the hand wither that binds us in such shackles.”
Some of the demands by the US and its allies on how the Taliban must behave now contain similar self-denial. It is as if the US remains in control of Kabul, as orders are issued on future Taliban actions ranging from the release of refugees to the future makeup of the government, its counter-terrorism policies and the place of women in society.
Continue reading...Western G7 powers are meeting Turkey, Qatar and Nato in Doha to discuss how Kabul airport could be reopened
Talks are due in Doha and New York to try to reach an international consensus on the conditions for recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan. There are signs of tensions between superpowers after Russia called on the US to release Afghan central bank reserves that Washington blocked after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul earlier this month.
“If our western colleagues are actually worried about the fate of the Afghan people, then we must not create additional problems for them by freezing gold and foreign exchange reserves,” said the Kremlin’s envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov.
Continue reading...Analysis: Les Républicains face complex battle to find 2022 presidential candidate to rival Macron and Marine Le Pen
This week’s declaration by Michel Barnier, the former EU chief negotiator on Brexit, that he aims to run for French president has added to the uncertainty of a crowded field of candidates competing to represent the traditional right in next spring’s election.
The rightwing Les Républicains, the party of the former president Nicolas Sarkozy, is facing an increasingly complex battle to identify a 2022 presidential candidate to rival the centrist Emmanuel Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen, who, polls currently show, could once again face one another in the final.
Continue reading...Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy has been charged with four counts of rape, Cheshire Constabulary has confirmed. City have also suspended the France international pending an investigation.
In a statement, the force said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Cheshire Constabulary to charge a man in connection with allegations of sexual assault. Benjamin Mendy, aged 27, has been charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...A round-up of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Thailand to Mexico
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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