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French coastguard says small boat was carrying more than 100 people during failed crossing attemptFive people have died in an attempt to cross the Channel near the town of Wimereux, south of Calais, French police have said.A spokesperson for France’s national police told Reuters that five asylum seekers had died, while the French coastguard confirmed there was a failed attempt to cross the Channel...

Faced with competition from rival sporting events, the future of the Games hung in the balance. A century on, new hurdles are loomingParis 1924 was the sixth and last Olympics presided over by Baron de Coubertin, the modern movement’s founder. He had good reason to be pleased with his work. The French government had enthusiastically backed the enterprise, providing a budget of 20m francs...

Coalition of civil society groups says Paris should return harsh reparations imposed on Caribbean state two hundred years agoFrance should repay billions of dollars to Haiti to cover a debt formerly enslaved people were forced to pay in return for recognising the island’s independence, according to a coalition of civil society groups that is launching a new push for reparations.The Caribbean island state became...

Health, jobs, defence, security and climate crisis all seen as more important than immigration with June elections approachingIrregular migration is not the top priority for European voters despite the prominence of the issue in the media and political campaigning by rightwing parties over the last year, a new survey commissioned by the European parliament shows.The Eurobarometer poll which tracks public opinions every quarter puts...

Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, says ‘every life counts equally, whether in Ukraine, in Gaza, or in Sudan’The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has warned of a further escalation in violence in Sudan.“The Sudanese people have been subjected to untold suffering during the conflict which has been marked by indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas, ethnically-motivated attacks, and a high...

Heavy rain forecast in Saudi Arabia and UAE as France and Spain cool down after weekend of high temperaturesIntense thunderstorms are forecast across parts of the Gulf on Monday and Tuesday, bringing very high rainfall to the region and a significant flooding risk in parts.Low pressure over the Arabian peninsula will deepen on Monday while a flow of moist tropical air moves into the...

President said US are ‘devoted to the defence of Israel’ as he urged Tehran to show restraint Joe Biden has said he expects an Iranian attack on Israel “sooner rather than later” and issued a last-ditch message to Tehran: “Don’t.”“We are devoted to the defence of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” Biden told reporters...

Le Violon d’Ingres print produced under artist’s supervision was among friend’s collection auctioned in ParisIt is one of the most recognisable images of the surrealist movement: a black and white photograph by Man Ray of Kiki de Montparnasse with f-shaped sound holes painted on her back representing a violin.Le Violon d’Ingres, which was produced in 1924 and signed by the US artist, set a...

Proposed penalty, intended to boost creaking health service, is criticised by doctors’ unions and patients’ groupsPatients in France who fail to turn up to a doctor’s appointment without a good excuse will be fined €5 (£4.30) under a proposal from the government.Gabriel Attal said on Monday that medical professionals reported an estimated 27m no-shows every year, adding: “We cannot allow this to continue.” Continue...

Georges-Louis Leclerc proposed species change and extinction back in the 1740s, a new book revealsShortly after Charles Darwin published his magnum opus, The Origin of Species, in 1859 he started reading a little-known 100-year-old work by a wealthy French aristocrat.Its contents were quite a surprise. “Whole pages [of his book] are laughably like mine,” Darwin wrote to a friend. “It is surprising how candid...

Audrey Mondjehi, 43, found guilty of terrorism-related charges relating to 2018 attack that killed fiveA former security guard who helped procure the gun used to kill five people and injure 11 others in a terrorist attack on Strasbourg’s Christmas market in 2018 has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.Audrey Mondjehi, 43, was found guilty of a series of terrorism-related charges, including abetting murder...

French president marks 30th anniversary with video, airing Sunday, saying international community lacked will to stop the slaughterThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said France and its western and African allies “could have stopped” Rwanda’s 1994 genocide but did not have the will to halt the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.In a video message to be published on Sunday to...

French president in favour of singer opening the Games amid racist backlash from far-right politiciansEmmanuel Macron has said the French pop superstar Aya Nakamura would be in her rightful place performing at an opening ceremony for the Olympic Games this summer, after suggestions that she could sing an Édith Piaf song sparked a racist backlash against the singer.Asked about Nakamura, who is the most...

Three minors have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after incident in MontpellierThe French government has launched an urgent investigation after a 14-year-old girl was severely wounded and left in a coma after being beaten outside her school by three other teenagers in the south of France.The three alleged attackers, including a girl who was at the same school as the victim in...

Tunnel under construction found near La Santé prison does not appear to be part of an escape plan, local official saysA mysterious tunnel under construction has been discovered near a prison in southern Paris during routine electrical works, although police sources said it did not appear to be part of an escape plan.The discovery was made on Tuesday by a technician from Enedis, which...

Bones were discovered near the hamlet of Le Vernet, close to where the little boy went missing in 2023French investigators have found the remains of a toddler who went missing in 2023, in a case that shocked the nation.Investigators are now working to determine how the boy died, a prosecutor said on Sunday. Continue reading...

Photos of French president’s three-day trip to Brazil to reaffirm countries’ partnership delight internet observersIf the official photos are anything to go by, Emmanuel Macron’s three-day trip to Brazil has been more romantic getaway than international diplomacy.The French president, who ended his tour of the South American country on Thursday with a state visit to the capital, Brasília, prompted online hilarity after the publication...

Les Jeux Olympiques: Miroir des Sociétés opens ahead of Paris Olympics and puts previous games in context of conflicts and injusticesFrom the Nazi stadium propaganda in 1936 Berlin to the 1968 Mexico City podium protest of medal-winners Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who were expelled from the competition after raising their gloved fists in a Black Power salute against racial injustice, the Olympic Games...

French president tells Brazil forum both parties need to be ‘much stronger’ on biodiversity and climateEmmanuel Macron has called a proposed trade agreement between the EU and South America’s Mercosur bloc a “very bad deal” that lacks proper climate considerations.“As it is negotiated today, it is a very bad deal, for you and for us,” the French president told Brazilian businessmen in São Paulo...

Gabriel Attal says state will file a complaint against student over accusation against principal who had to resign for his safetyThe French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has defended French secularism following the resignation of a Paris school principal who received death threats after asking a student to remove her Muslim veil on the premises.Attal, a former education minister, said the state would be filing...

Immersive tour at Musée d’Orsay takes visitors back to 15 April 1874 – the moment that marked the movement’s birthIn a lush red-and-gold carpeted photographer’s studio in northern Paris, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas are adding the final touches to the hanging of their paintings, while fellow artists Berthe Morisot and Camille Pissarro lament the lack of recognition for their work and Claude Monet...

President sparks social media buzz as users ask whether he is getting ready to take on Vladimir Putin after images posted to InstagramThe release of official photos showing Emmanuel Macron hitting a punching bag have been met with a mixture of praise and consternation in France.The photos of the French president, posted on Instagram on Tuesday by his official photographer, Soazig de la Moissonnière,...

One chef receives three stars at first attempt in 115th edition of the French foodies’ bibleA record 52 restaurants in France – including 23 that only opened in the past year – have been awarded one or more Michelin stars for the first time, which the French foodies’ bible said reflected the “cultural dynamism” of a new generation of innovative young chefs.“This year’s is...

Outrage from the far right over rumours of a performance at the opening ceremony has exposed deep divisions in FranceShe is the most listened-to French singer in the world, whose relentlessly catchy hits about love and betrayal have been streamed 7bn times and who made history last year when she sold out three Paris gigs in 15 minutes.But Aya Nakamura, France’s biggest pop superstar...