France news

France news

France has issued red alerts for flooding in three departements as the aftermath of Storm Nils causes chaos across the country. Flood waters have inundated homes and isolated villages after the Garonne River burst its banks, with hydrologists warning that rain is falling on soils that have hit record-breaking levels of saturation. Meteo France said red flood alerts would remain in place on Wednesday in Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne and Maine-et-Loire but the number of counties under orange alert would fall from 14 to 12.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will next week propose new rules that are expected to include a requirement for companies in strategic sectors to produce in Europe if they want to receive public money. But the definition of "European preference" has triggered debate, with calls especially from France for more "Made in Europe", while other EU states such as Germany call for "Made with Europe".

"France finally has a budget,"

This month, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that Phnom Penh would also welcome expertise and advisory support from the former colonial power. "The prime minister firmly believes that France's continued engagement will serve the shared objective of achieving a just and lasting solution, allowing the Cambodian and Thai peoples to live side by side in peace, security, good neighborliness and prosperity for generations to come," Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

After France issued the couple humanitarian visas to avoid them being deported to Russia, Alexei Ishimov, 31, arrived in Paris from Seattle on Monday morning, AFP correspondents saw. His 29-year-old wife Nadezhda, a former volunteer for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was expected to arrive on a separate flight from Miami, also on Monday morning. But she did not show up at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport as planned.

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"Everyone should take their cue from us, instead of criticising us," he said at the Munich Security Conference, after US Vice President JD Vance used his address at the annual gathering last year to attack European policies on immigration and free speech. "I believe that Europe is inherently strong and can be made even stronger yet," he added.

The European Central Bank said Friday it had fined French bank Credit Agricole €7.55 million ($9 million) for failing to properly identify climate change-related risks that could affect its balance sheet. "Credit Agricole did not sufficiently assess the materiality of its climate-related and environmental risks" by a deadline set after an investigation in 2024, the ECB said in a statement, adding the bank was late by "75 full days".

High winds and hard rain brought chaos across southern France, northern Spain and parts of Portugal on Thursday, forcing cancellations of flights, trains and ferries and disruption on roads. French officials said a truck driver was killed when a tree smashed through his windscreen, while dozens were injured in weather-related incidents in Spain and a viaduct in Portugal partially collapsed because of flooding.

French police have detained a 50-year-old woman after the bodies of two infants were found in a freezer in eastern France, with the suspect admitting to freezing her newborns, prosecutors said on Thursday. The discovery was made after the woman, who had nine children from three different fathers, had abruptly left the family home in the eastern town of Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont in December.

It's long had a reputation as the city of romance, but now the French capital is supporting a growing number of businesses that will arrange an extravagant marriage proposal in a landmark setting - for a hefty fee, of course. The luxury marriage proposal business is booming in Paris with agencies charging international clients thousands of euros to pop the question in a 'romantic' setting in the City of Love.

If you spend any time scrolling French TikTok, watching French YouTubers, or hanging out near a high school or university café in Paris, Marseille, or Lyon, you'll quickly notice that the French you learned in class isn't exactly what young people are speaking today. French Gen Z slang is a fast-evolving mix of , Arabic and Romani influences, texting shortcuts, and words born from rap and street culture.

The contentious decision came as part of a "National Strategy for Food, Nutrition and Climate," setting out the government's aims until 2030 on balancing a healthy diet while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It was supposed to be published in 2023, the culmination of a direct-democracy initiative that immediately raised the hackles of agriculture lobbies that accused the government of threatening their livelihoods.

Famed Paris modern art museum the Pompidou Centre said Wednesday it had filed a legal complaint and suspended an employee after a hidden camera was found in the women's toilets of its offices. A statement from the famed modern art space, which closed its doors last year for renovations, said an employee had discovered "an image-recording device" on January 14th in offices housing building management and security staff near its main site.

"We will move to elections when all the necessary security guarantees are in place," Zelensky told reporters, including AFP journalists, in a voice note. "I have said it's very simple to do: establish a ceasefire, and there will be elections," he added. If Russia also agrees, it may be possible to "end hostilities by summer", Zelensky said.

Ronan O'Gara was pitch-side on Thursday night in Paris, so he got a close-up view of France's mauling of Ireland. When he read Andy Farrell's quotes about his team lacking "fight" and "intent", he could empathise with the Ireland coach because he's been trying to regenerate his La Rochelle team for two seasons.

Nine officers from the French riot police have gone on trial in Paris accused of beating peaceful protesters who were sheltering from teargas during the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) anti-government demonstrations in 2018. The case at Paris's criminal court is one of the biggest trials over alleged police violence during the unrest in 2018 and 2019, when hundreds of thousands of protesters in fluorescent jackets took to the streets over rising fuel taxes in what morphed into broader anti-government protests against the president, Emmanuel Macron.