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Thursday, February 7, 2019

France condemns Italy's meeting with gilets jaunes leader

Paris says deputy PM Luigi Di Maio’s actions are an unacceptable provocation

France’s foreign ministry has accused the Italian deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, of undermining relations between the two countries after he met with leaders of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement.

Di Maio, who also leads the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), and Alessandro Di Battista, a prominent M5S member, met Christophe Chalençon, as well as candidates the protest movement has put forward for the European elections in May, on the outskirts of Paris on Tuesday.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2I4Yk7w
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Wednesday, February 6, 2019

The EU is under attack from the far right. Here’s how I learned to defend it | Schams El Ghoneimi

At citizens’ debates in France I found the best way to fight messaging from activists like Steve Bannon is to talk to people

The story of my life is, in some ways, the story of Europe. My father emigrated from Egypt to France in 1986, one month before I was born. My French mother fulfilled her dreams of becoming an English teacher after having grown up in the Calais region looking at the cliffs of Dover. Together they worked hard to give their children a bright future in a free, borderless, united Europe. I grew up with this dream, which has partly become a reality. But I’m not sure my own children will get to enjoy the privileges of belonging to the EU in the same way – if at all.

So I decided to go on a debating tour of France, to better understand what makes us still believe in the strengths of the EU, as well as the fears some people have. I quit my job in Brussels at the European parliament to travel to small towns and villages in 30 of France’s départements and take part in discussions with local people about Europe, immigration, Brexit and Frexit. I’ve now held more than 60 such debates, ahead of the EU-wide elections due in May. Here are some of the lessons I’d like to share, and which must surely hold true elsewhere in Europe too.

Recent polls show only 50% of the French are against Frexit, while 27% have no opinion on the matter and 23% support it

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2HWUspd
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Andrej Krauze on France's gilets jaunes – cartoon

Will President Emmanuel Macron’s ‘great national debate’ diffuse the protesters’ anger?

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2HWiH6S
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Apple to pay 10 years of back taxes to France

US tech firm has not disclosed sum but French magazine says figure is close to €500m

Apple has agreed to pay 10 years of back taxes to France, marking the latest victory for European governments pushing tech multinationals to pay their fair share in local markets.

The iPhone and iPad maker reportedly shelled out close to €500m (£440m) after reaching a confidential settlement with French authorities in December, according to the French news magazine L’Express.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2t4txgW
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Paris fire: woman arrested after 10 die in apartment building

Heroism of firefighters hailed as suspect is detained outside building in city’s 16th district

Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of starting a fire that swept through an eight-storey apartment building in Paris, killing at least 10 people and injuring 30 others, including eight firefighters.

The woman, who lived in the building, was taken into custody as flames swept rapidly through the block in the French capital’s 16th arrondissement, not far from the Parc des Princes stadium, the home of Paris Saint-Germain football club.

Les premières photos de l'incendie rue Erlanger à #Paris sont impressionnantes. On voit que plusieurs étages ont été ravagés par les flammes.
Photos B. Moser / BSPP pic.twitter.com/rGb30Q0sUi

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2REUFNf
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Woman detained after deadly apartment blaze in central Paris – video report

Ten people have been killed in an apartment building fire in Paris. The blaze at the eight-storey structure has also injured 30 people, including eight firefighters. A woman who lived in the building had been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire

Paris fire: woman detained as eight die in apartment building

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Emmanuel Macron admits failures as he battles gilets jaunes

France has seen ‘breakdown in equality’, says president during national debate tour

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has conceded there has been a “clear breakdown in equality” in high-rise suburbs and housing estates on the edge of major cities as he tours France to try to stem the gilets jaunes (yellow vest) anti-government protests.

Macron said the state must “guarantee social justice” and stop people in deprived suburban areas becoming trapped “under a form of social house arrest” as he appeared at a town hall building south of Paris to debate for several hours with mayors and community activists on Monday. But he hinted that further public spending cuts could be made. “We can do better while spending less, if we spend in the right places,” he argued.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2GaCqOy
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'An insult': French writers outraged by festival's use of 'sub-English' words

Prominent writers including Leila Slimani have spoken out against the Salon du Livre in Paris’s use of phrases including ‘young adult’, a ‘bookquizz’ and ‘le live’

A celebration of the “Scène Young Adult” at the Salon du Livre in Paris next month has drawn the condemnation of dozens of French authors and intellectuals, who have described the adoption of English terminology as an “unbearable act of cultural delinquency”.

The proliferation of English words on display at the book fair, where the “scène YA” was set to feature “Le Live”, a “Bookroom”, a “photobooth” and a “bookquizz”, spurred around 100 French writers into action, among them three winners of the country’s Goncourt prize – Lullaby author Leïla Slimani, Tahar Ben Jelloun and Marie NDiaye – and the bestselling writers Muriel Barbery and Catherine Millet. Together they have issued a scalding rebuke to organisers over their use of that “sub-English known as globish”.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2RDiyF2
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Former French MP sues sexual harassment accusers

Lawsuit by Denis Baupin is seen as latest backlash against #MeToo movement in France

A defamation lawsuit brought by a former French MP against six women who accused him of sexual harassment and four journalists who reported the allegations has opened in what is seen as a further backlash against the #MeToo movement in France.

Denis Baupin, the former vice president of France’s Assemblée National and a prominent MP for the Green party, resigned in May 2016 after denying the allegations.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WDBx68
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EU countries recognise Juan Guaidó as interim Venezuelan leader

Coordinated move comes after deadline for Maduro to call presidential elections expires

European countries including the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden and Denmark have recognised Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela in a coordinated move made after a deadline for Nicolás Maduro to call presidential elections expired.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK foreign secretary, said: “The people of Venezuela have suffered enough. It is time for a new start, with free and fair elections in accordance with international democratic standards.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WHYRQ7
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Monday, February 4, 2019

L’Humanité, voice of communist France, faces fight for survival

Hard-left newspaper issues plea to subscribers with court to rule in insolvency case

The venerable French communist newspaper L’Humanité is fighting bankruptcy, with even rightwing politicians taking out subscriptions to help keep it afloat.

The 114-year-old daily has appealed to readers to support its “great battle” to continue publishing as a court prepares to rule next week on whether it can be saved.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2TyWqh6
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Economic benefits of local buses eclipse unrealistic HS2 target | Larry Elliott

Improving Birmingham’s buses would boost productivity more than cutting train time to London

Here are a few things you probably already know. Britain has a productivity problem. Since the financial crisis, growth in output per worker has barely risen and the gap with other industrial countries is large. London is much more productive than the other big cities.

Now here’s something you might not know: a lot of it has to do with buses. Public transport really matters.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WB2pUh
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Leave Brigitte Macron alone. We French need to lay off our first ladies | Agnès Poirier

France has long loved the idea of a powerful woman pulling the strings of the president

It’s almost a ritual. In France, it takes only a few months after the election of a new president for essays, pamphlets, picture albums, novels even, about the great man’s political ideas – but also his “true” or “hidden” personal story – to start flooding bookshops. More surprisingly, and perhaps more revealingly, France’s first ladies get a similar treatment.

Although Emmanuel Macron has been in power for only 18 months, his wife, Brigitte, has already been the subject of five books. In January 2018, Brigitte Macron: L’affranchie came out, followed four months later by Brigitte Macron: La confidente. We were also treated to Les Macron and Lettre Ouverte à Brigitte Macron, a plea for assisted dying by an author hoping she would pass the message on to her other half so he’d make it legal.

The French like nothing more than a glimpse into the lives of the president and his favourite

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2StOXmd
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Sunday, February 3, 2019

French 'yellow vests' march in Paris to denounce police violence

Protesters injured in previous weeks of violence put at the front of the protests in French capital

Several thousand “gilets jaunes” protesters have marched through Paris and other French cities on Saturday on the 12th weekend of action against the government despite opinion polls pointing to a recovery in Emmanuel Macron’s popularity.

The protests – named after the fluorescent jackets French motorists are required to carry in their cars – began in November over plans to raise fuel taxes, before developing into a broader revolt against the government that mobilised tens of thousands of demonstrators nationwide each Saturday.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Gh914A
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Leonardo da Vinci dragged into Salvini's spat with Macron

Louvre blockbuster marking 500 years since artist’s death may end up a casualty

He was a Renaissance master – painter, scientist, engineer and inventor – who was hailed as one of the greatest artists who ever lived.

But as Europe stages a year-long frenzy of events to mark 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci’s death, Italy and France are engaged in a diplomatic tussle over him that threatens a blockbuster exhibition at the Louvre in Paris.

Leonardo is Italian; he only died in France

Leonardo da Vinci: A Mind in Motion British Library, London: key notebooks, including the Codex Leicester, loaned by Bill Gates, June to September.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2t0B3cF
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Strasbourg market attack: three charged with supplying gun

Family group indicted over 8mm pistol used by Cherif Chekatt in Christmas attack that killed five people and wounded 11

Three men have reportedly been charged with supplying the weapon used by Cherif Chekatt in the Christmas market attack that killed five people and wounded 11 in the French city of Strasbourg.

The three suspects, from the same family and aged 32, 34 and 78, were indicted and placed in custody by an examining magistrate in Paris for “possession and transfer of a category B weapon in relation to a criminal terrorist enterprise” and for “conspiracy with terrorist criminals”, according to a judicial source.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2UCyWHX
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French food law will not squeeze shopping budgets, minister says

Introduction of minimum prices in supermarkets aims to increase farmers’ incomes

France’s agriculture minister has sought to reassure households that food shopping bills would not jump dramatically after a rise in minimum food prices aimed at increasing farmers’ incomes came into effect.

The measure introduced on Friday had been postponed by the government in December as France reeled from nationwide unrest and sometimes violent gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests over high living costs and squeezed household budgets.

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Friday, February 1, 2019

French police officers jailed for raping Canadian tourist

Two men sentenced to seven years for rape of Emily Spanton at Paris police HQ

Two police officers from one of France’s elite units have been sent to jail for seven years for the gang-rape of a Canadian tourist.

The officers took Emily Spanton back to their headquarters at 36 Quai des Orfèvres after an alcohol-fuelled evening at an Irish bar in April 2014.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2RuB2r7
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Barklife: Paris finally allows dogs into its public parks

The city famed for its love of les petit chiens is finally letting them access its world-famous parks and gardens

When Lucie Desnos was looking for an apartment, she had one important condition: that it be near a park where she could walk her dog. Such a demand is far from unusual among house-hunters with pets, but can be particularly difficult to fulfil in Paris, where dogs have long been banned from most public parks and gardens.

“Every dog owner [in Paris] will say the same thing,” she says. “It’s very difficult to find a place to have dogs meet together, and to have them play and run around.”

We are passing from a regime of prohibition to one of permission

One of the more bonkers rules in Paris was the one that banned dogs from almost all parks. Last year, only 77 out of 490 green spaces in the city allowed on-leash dogs to enter. But in 2019, signs are going up around the city letting dog owners know they can mosey on in. pic.twitter.com/4QZFfSCU2k

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Rxqsja
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France prepares for return of jihadists after US withdraws

Government making plans to prevent Isis recruits from evading justice once troops pull out

The French government has confirmed it is preparing for French jihadists captured in northern Syria to return to France in the coming months following the departure of US troops from the region.

The question of what to do with foreigners who joined Islamic State has become increasingly vexed after the surprise announcement of a troop pullout by the US president, Donald Trump.

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from France | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2HKFi6n
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