Coverage on recent struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Cardiff Bay to Thailand
Continue reading...Category Archives: France
Protests at ‘inhumane’ export of live horses to Japan for food
Activists seek ban on flying horses to Japan with thousands sent every year from Canada and France
Tens of thousands of horses are being subjected to long-haul flights, confined in crates with no food or water, to meet demand for horsemeat in Japan.
Since 2013, about 40,000 live horses have been flown to Japan from airports in western Canada. Under Canadian regulations, the journey can stretch up to 28 hours, during which the animals are allowed to go without food, water or rest.
Continue reading...France not complicit in Rwanda genocide, says Macron commission
Report says France did not do enough to halt the 1994 killings but found no evidence of complicity
France bears the burden of “heavy and damning responsibilities” in the Rwandan genocide but was not complicit in the slaughter, according to the findings of an official commission set up by Emmanuel Macron.
As many as 800,000 people, mainly from Rwanda’s minority Tutsi ethnic population, were massacred in a wave of killings in 1994. The report released on Friday confirmed long and persistent accusations that France did not do enough to halt the killings, but said there was no evidence of complicity in the massacres.
Continue reading...France claims UK will struggle to source second Covid jabs
EU will not be blackmailed over Oxford/AstraZeneca doses, says foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
The war of words with the EU over vaccines has escalated as France’s foreign minister claimed Britain will struggle to source second Covid jabs but that Brussels would not be “blackmailed” into exporting doses to solve the problem.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, a close political ally of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, claimed that the UK’s success had been built on driving forward with first jabs without having secured the second doses necessary for full vaccination.
Continue reading...French monks locked down with 2.8 tonnes of cheese pray for buyers
Raw-milk product normally sold only to restaurants or visitors to Cîteaux Abbey is marketed online
A French monastery in the heart of Burgundy has launched an emergency online sale to get rid of thousands of its artisanal cheeses, which are languishing in its cellars as Covid-19 keeps buyers away.
The Cîteaux Abbey, just south of Dijon, birthplace of the Cistercian Catholic order, usually sells its raw-milk, semi-soft discs only to restaurants or visitors to its on-site shop. But a drop in demand since the coronavirus crisis erupted last year has left the abbey’s 19 Trappist monks with 4,000 cheeses too many, a 2.8-tonne problem.
Continue reading...France limits outdoor gatherings to six as Covid infections rise
More areas of the country get mobility restrictions while Hungary and Poland face crises
Concern is mounting among health experts that France is not doing enough to curb a rise in coronavirus infections, particularly among younger people, as a third wave fuelled by the B117 variant first detected in the UK accelerates across Europe.
Announcing 45,000 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the French health minister, Olivier Véran, on Thursday banned outdoor gatherings of more than six people and added three more départements, including the area around Lyon, to 16 already placed under tougher mobility restrictions.
Continue reading...‘No more shame’: the French women breaking the law to highlight femicide
Alarming rates of violence have inspired a poster campaign that has spread beyond France to more than 15 countries
On a weekday evening, in between coronavirus lockdowns and curfews, Camille, Natacha and Cindy are out with a bright yellow plastic bucket of glue, two large brushes and a wad of A4 paper, each sheet covered with a single letter.
The women, all in their 20s, stop on the main road of this Paris suburb by the wall of what looks like a former bank.
Continue reading...‘Cooperative and rather active’: joy as pandas mate in French zoo
Huan Huan, a female on loan from China at the Beauval zoo in France, was ‘put in contact’ eight times on Saturday with partner Yuan Zi
A couple of giant pandas in captivity engaged in a rare weekend of mating, although the hoped-for result, an even rarer panda offspring, is still too early to call, a French zoo has said.
Huan Huan, a female panda on loan from China at the Beauval zoo in central France, was “put in contact” eight times on Saturday with partner Yuan Zi, the zoo said on Sunday.
Continue reading...European countries to resume AstraZeneca jabs after safety backing
EMA says benefits outweigh risks but it is continuing to study possible link with very rare blood clotting disorder
Italy, France and several other countries will resume administering AstraZeneca jabs from Friday after Europe’s medicines regulator said the vaccine was “safe and effective” and its benefits outweighed its risks.
Germany and Portugal will resume on Monday, Spain and the Netherlands next week, while Sweden’s public health agency said it would take “a few days” to decide.
Continue reading...Firefighters should not face charge of raping girl, French court rules
Accused will face lesser offence of sexual assault in ‘Julie’ case that has sparked protests across France
France’s highest court has ruled that firefighters accused of raping a girl when she was aged between 13 and 15 should be charged with the lesser offence of sexual assault.
A woman known as Julie claims she was raped over a period of two years after being groomed by a firefighter in 2008, when she was a girl aged 13, and that he later introduced her to his colleagues. Three accused men have admitted having sex with her but say it was consensual. Seventeen others have not been charged.
Continue reading...European countries at the start of a third wave of Covid, experts warn
Decision to pause use of AstraZeneca jab could lead to more deaths as new variant cases increase rapidly
Large parts of Europe are at the start of a third coronavirus wave, experts have said, with warnings that the decision to pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over health concerns is likely lead to a rise in cases and a high number of deaths as more contagious new variants account for the majority of cases.
Christian Drosten, a leading virologist at Berlin’s Charité hospital said Germany’s epidemiological situation was “not good right now”, and was compounded both by the exponential rise in the spread of the B117 mutation which first originated in Britain that now makes up about three-quarters of new cases in Germany, and the decision to temporarily stop using Oxford/AstraZeneca. “We need this vaccine,” he insisted.
Continue reading...Parkour climate activists switch off Paris shop signs to fight light pollution – video
With France under nationwide curfew from 6pm to 6am, the usually crowded Champs-Élysées in the centre of Paris is all but empty these days. But that has not stopped businesses along the avenue continuing to keep their signs and advertisements turned on. Now a group of parkour climate activists have begun climbing buildings to turn off the signs as part of the Lights Off movement, which seeks to take a stand against light pollution. Since going viral on TikTok, similar actions have started taking place in other French cities
Continue reading...French MPs approve ‘non-consent’ law to protect children from sexual abuse
Draft legislation says a child under 15 cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual act
French MPs have unanimously approved a long-awaited draft law to protect children from rape and sexual abuse.
The legislation, drawn up after a series of scandals involving high-profile figures, establishes an age of “non-consent” at 15 under which a child cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual act. In cases of incest, the age has been set at 18.
Continue reading...Europe’s caution over Oxford vaccine about more than the science
Analysis: the evidence for side-effects is scant but governments have other factors to consider
As France and Germany join Ireland, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands in suspending the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – even though the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization are advising people to continue taking it – the common refrain in European governments is that they are acting out of “an abundance of caution”.
There have been a handful of reports of blood clots in people recently vaccinated and also a rarer condition called thrombocytopenia, in which people do not make enough platelets. That can result in excessive bleeding. Deaths have been reported in Austria and Italy, which stopped the use of one batch of vaccine for fear it was contaminated. Meanwhile a further death from thrombocytopenia has been reported in Norway, as well as three hospitalisations.
Continue reading...Cheese sales soar in French lockdown – but an Italian is biggest winner
Consumption at home rose sharply last year, with mozzarella up 21% and raclette machines in high demand
How did the French keep smiling through the Covid lockdown? Not by saying “cheese” but by eating it, figures suggest.
Researchers say cheese consumption at home soared last year as the confined sought comfort food. And in a nation that boasts 246 kinds of cheese, as the former president Charles de Gaulle once said, it was Italian mozzarella that benefited most, with a 21.2% rise in sales in 2020.
Continue reading...Third Covid wave sweeps across EU and forces new restrictions
New variants blamed as Italy, France, Germany and Poland see infection rates surge
A third wave of the Covid pandemic is now advancing swiftly across much of Europe. As a result, many nations – bogged down by sluggish vaccination campaigns – are witnessing sharp rises in infection rates and numbers of cases.
The infection rate in the EU is now at its highest level since the beginning of February, with the spread of new variants of the Covid-19 virus being blamed for much of the recent increase.
Continue reading...Charlie Hebdo criticised for ‘offensive’ cartoon of Meghan
Image in French magazine depicts Queen kneeling on Duchess of Sussex’s neck, echoing George Floyd’s killing
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has sparked outrage with a cartoon depiction of Queen Elizabeth kneeling on the neck of Meghan Markle, echoing the death of George Floyd.
The controversial publication’s cartoon comes after the Duchess of Sussex, and her husband, Prince Harry, told US interviewer Oprah Winfrey of apparent racism within the royal family, though they did not criticise the Queen. But Markle said courtiers refused her permission to leave Kensington Palace on occasion and that she once only left twice in four months, leading her to experience severe loneliness and suicidal ideations.
Continue reading...Actor strips at ‘French Oscars’ in protest at closure of theatres and cinemas
Corinne Masiero criticises coronavirus strategy with words ‘no culture no future’ on her chest
A French actor stripped naked on stage during a scaled-back César Awards ceremony in Paris to protest against the government’s closure of theatres and cinemas during the coronavirus pandemic.
Corinne Masiero had “no culture no future” written on her chest and “give us art back Jean” on her back, in a message to the prime minister, Jean Castex.
Continue reading...France to declassify files on Algerian war
Opening up of defence files from more than 50 years ago may also shed light on 1968 Air France crash
Emmanuel Macron is to allow access to classified national defence documents from more than 50 years ago, covering France’s war in Algeria and other files previously deemed to contain state secrets.
The Élysée said the move, a week after the admission that French troops tortured and killed the Algerian independence activist Ali Boumendjel in 1957, sought to balance “historical truth” with legitimate “national defence issues”.
Continue reading...Ken Follett gives book proceeds to French cathedral restoration fund
Author donates proceeds from book about Notre-Dame fire to project to save cathedral in Brittany
The bestselling British author Ken Follett is donating the proceeds from his book about the Notre-Dame fire to restore a cathedral in Brittany.
Follet is giving €148,000 (£127,000) towards a multimillion euro project to save Saint-Samson de Dol-de-Bretagne cathedral.
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