BORDEAUX, June 16, 2023 (AFP) – A rare 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit large parts of western France on Friday evening, with the seismology bureau BCSF calling it “very strong” amid reports of damage to buildings. Ecology transition minister Christophe Bechu said it was “one of the strongest quakes registered on the mainland”. AFP records show the last earthquakes of similar strength in France struck in the early 2000s. The national network for seismic surveillance RENASS […]
Tag: France
President Macron says ‘positive’ news on children hurt in France knife attack
ANNECY, France, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said the health of the preschool children badly wounded in a mass knife attack by a Syrian refugee was “heading in the right direction”, as police questioned the attacker. Four children — aged between 22 months and three years old — were stabbed Thursday in a playground in the Alpine town of Annecy, a normally idyllic lakeside spot popular with tourists. While […]
Two children ‘still critical’ after France knife attack
PARIS, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Two children were fighting for their lives a day after being stabbed by a man in a park in the French Alps, the government said Friday. “There are still two children considered to be in critical condition,” government spokesman Olivier Veran said in an interview with French media, adding that the children had undergone “surgical interventions”. He also cautioned against jumping to conclusions in the case, in which the […]
Anger as pre-historic stones destroyed for French DIY store
RENNES, France (AFP) — Around 40 standing stones thought to have been erected by prehistoric humans 7,000 years ago have been destroyed near a famed archaeological site in northwest France to make way for a DIY store, an angry local historian has revealed. The stones in Carnac were between 50-100 centimeters (20-40 inches) high and stood close to the main highly protected areas of one of Europe’s largest and most mysterious pre-historic tourist attractions. “The […]
Tree-mendous ride: Wooden Citroen 2CV sells for 210,000 euros
TOURS, France, June 5, 2023 (AFP) – A Citroen 2CV made of wood, thought to be the only one of its kind, has sold for 210,000 euros ($225,000) at auction in France, setting a new price record for the iconic vehicle. The car, in full working order and registered in France, beat expectations when it went under the hammer in the central town of Tours on Sunday. The body of the 2CV was hand-crafted out […]
French parliament seeks to regulate ‘jungle’ of social media influencers
PARIS, June 1, 2023 (AFP) – The upper house Senate of France’s parliament was Thursday due to pass a law that will better regulate social media influencers by limiting and regulating their ability to endorse products and encourage betting. The lower house National Assembly late on Wednesday gave its green light to the bill which has wide-cross party support — highly unusual in France’s current tense political climate — after being proposed by deputies […]
France to open its first electric car battery factory
By Caroline Nelly PERROT Agence France-Presse BILLY-BERCLAU, France, May 30, 2023 (AFP) — France will launch its first battery factory for electric cars on Tuesday, taking a big step in its race to build up a sector dominated by China. Building up the battery industry is at the heart of President Emmanuel Macron’s “reindustrialization” plan for France, with a clutch of factories set to emerge in the north of the country over the next three […]
Djokovic and Alcaraz in same half of French Open draw
PARIS, May 25, 2023 (AFP) – Novak Djokovic could face world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the French Open after both players were placed in the same half of the draw on Thursday. Djokovic is chasing a record 23rd men’s Grand Slam title in the absence of the injured Rafael Nadal, who will miss the tournament at Roland Garros for the first time since his 2005 title-winning debut. The third-seeded Djokovic, Roland […]
Hollywood royalty flood Cannes for DiCaprio-Scorsese premiere
CANNES, France, May 20, 2023 (AFP) – The Hollywood cavalcade descended on Cannes Saturday for the premiere of Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese’s Native American crime epic, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The three-and-a-half-hour movie, which includes Scorsese’s other long-time muse Robert De Niro, charts a wave of murders among the wealthy Osage Indians in the 1920s and the birth of the FBI. After hours of waiting in the rain that has drenched the French […]
New Indiana Jones director gives ‘best version’ of Spielberg
CANNES, France (AFP) — It is no easy feat taking over an iconic saga like Indiana Jones, but new director James Mangold says he wanted to deliver the “best version” of what his childhood hero Steven Spielberg had done with the four previous films. Mangold took the reins from Spielberg to deliver the fifth film in the franchise with “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, […]
French court upholds Sarkozy’s jail term in wiretap graft case
PARIS, May 17, 2023 (AFP) – A French appeals court on Wednesday upheld a prison sentence of three years, including two suspended, against former president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling. The court ruled he should serve a one-year detention sentence at home with an electronic bracelet and banned him from public office for three years over his attempts to secure favours from a judge in a case uncovered by wiretapping. Sarkozy is France’s […]
France to shut Pompidou museum for five years in 2025
PARIS, May 10, 2023 (AFP) – The Pompidou Centre in Paris, one of the world’s top modern art museums, will shut down for refurbishment for five years from 2025, France’s culture minister said Wednesday. The Pompidou houses work by artists from Pablo Picasso to Wassily Kandinsky and welcomed more than three million visitors last year. But its ground-breaking “inside out” structure by architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, that displays pipework on the outside, has […]
