France news

France news

A French court was on Thursday examining accusations by actor Gérard Depardieu that a 2023 television report falsely portrayed him as making sexual comments about a young girl. Depardieu, whose prolific film and television career includes 1990 comedy "Green Card" and Netflix series "Marseille", is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement.

Trade unions in France are carrying out another day of widespread nationwide strikes, heaping pressure on the newly appointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to reverse an existing austerity programme and halt any new public spending cuts. France's Ministry of the Interior said approximately 85,000 people had turned out across the country by midday on Thursday, excluding Paris a figure lower than a strike two weeks earlier, which drew much larger crowds, indicating lower overall turnout.

French trade unions are leading a day of strikes on Thursday as they try to maintain pressure on the new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, to rethink budget cuts and consider a form of wealth tax on the super-rich. Lecornu has still not formed a new government after being appointed on 9 September amid a political crisis when his predecessor, Francois Bayrou, was dramatically ousted over proposed budget cuts.

Ryanair could cancel up to 600 flights a day next week due to French air traffic control (ATC) strikes, the airline has claimed. The company's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, has reiterated demands to the EU to protect overflights in a long-running campaign to minimise the disruption from ATC strikes. The strikes mean flights from the UK to France and holiday destinations such as Spain, Italy and Greece will be affected, as those routes overfly France.

We are very frightened of what will happen to us, said one. We were told we can claim asylum in France but nobody has explained to us what we need to do. I escaped from the smugglers in Calais when I travelled to UK and I am scared they will find me here and kill me.

The European Commission said it had carried out surprise inspections of a company active in the vaccines sector. It did not name the firm, nor say in which country the raids were taking place, though it specified investigators were joined by competition authorities of the member state affected. The European Commission said it has "concerns that the inspected company may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit abuses of a dominant market position".

Three people have been injured in an explosion at a restaurant in the centre of the French city of Lyon on Tuesday morning.

"I went to the Esplanade restaurant with my American friend. It was my second time going there, and I wanted to show her this wonderful restaurant! We were charged for menu items we did not order (twice...). "The markup was huge... it was a shame because the first time, I'd had such a lovely experience with my husband. "When you want to share the beauty of France with someone and it turns ugly, it's like watching a loved one fail at something they're typically good at," Taurie said.

South Africa's ambassador to France, formerly a long-serving cabinet minister, was found dead on Tuesday outside a Paris hotel after the window of his room in the high rise building was forced open, prosecutors said. Nkosinathi Emmanuel Nathi Mthethwa, 58, usually known as Nathi Mthethwa, had "reserved a room on the 22nd floor whose secured window had been forced open," the office of the Paris prosecutor told AFP.

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The arrests came days after French prosecutors said foreign interference was probably to blame for a spate of provocative acts that had targeted Jewish and Muslim sites in France in recent years, as tensions run high over the war in Gaza. French officials have previously said they were investigating Russia's role in destabilising operations that have stoked social tensions and sown division in France. On Monday, Serbia's interior ministry said the 11 people arrested were Serbian nationals.

A child is believed to have died while trying to cross the Channel in a small boat, according to French reports. The body of the teenager, who was believed to have fallen from a dinghy, was discovered on a beach in northern France on Sunday. The death follows those of three other people on Saturday who were trying to reach the UK two Somali women who were reportedly crushed in a boat,

Laurent Gregoire, a 28-year-old computer programmer from France, met Indonesian-born Samba Rukmi Widhyastuti, 64, at a hostel in the French city of Bordeaux in November 2015, according to testimony before the court in the western city of Nantes. Investigators said the two had travelled together in Spain a few weeks later. Gregoire was last seen in Andorra, the small principality sandwiched between France and Spain. He was spotted leaving a hostel there carrying a backpack on September 12, 2016.

Since the equinox on September 22nd, and the start of astronomical autumn, France has shivered in an unseasonably cold spell with temperatures about 5C below normal for the time of year. "The succession of cool, grey days in September is unusual," national forecaster Météo France said in a statement. The lack of sunshine is also part of what makes this situation remarkable."

The ECB suggested Europeans keep between 70€ to 100€ at home, according to its new study published this week. The bank's study titled "Keep calm and carry cash" covers the the role of cash during four recent crises across Europe. The study found that no matter the crisis, whether it be financial, military -such as the war in Ukraine or public health, such as the Covid pandemic, the use and demand for cash increased.

A family of three including a small child have become the first arrivals from France under Keir Starmer's one in, one out deal, the Home Office said on Wednesday. The move follows the removal of the first four asylum seekers from the UK to France over the past six days, despite ongoing legal challenges. Under the deal, signed in July by Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, the French president,

But we want our hostages back, and we don't want them back in, you know, ones and twos, and take the next two years to do it. We were the ones that got the hostages. And I always said, I told Steve, I told Marco, I was always saying the last hostages are going to be the toughest ones. But you can't honor them by doing anything like you suggest.

Swiss banking giant UBS will pay €835million to settle a long-running French legal case over helping wealthy clients dodge taxes, the group and French authorities have said. UBS will pay a €730million fine and €105million in damages to the French state to close the 14-year legal saga. "UBS AG is pleased to announce it has resolved the legacy matter concerning its cross-border business activities in France between 2004 and 2012," the bank said in a statement.

This is clearly not a technical or economic debate, but rather a clearly stated desire to destroy the French economy.

How a change in rules could affect your property's energy rating, the mysterious 'quotient familial', the difference between 'c'est' and 'il est', what to do in case of an accident - and France's best hiking and cycling routes revealed in this week's must-reads from The Local. From January 1st, 2026, "the electricity conversion coefficient included in the DPE will be lowered [in France], in line with European standards".