Seventeen of the 51 men convicted variously of raping and sexual assaulting Gisèle Pelicot, whose now ex-husband drugged her and invited others to rape her at their home in southern France over a ten-year period, have lodged appeals against their convictions, to be heard in a new trial in the autumn of 2025, while her former spouse has said he will not appeal his 20-year prison sentence.
At least three people died and four others were hospitaised early on Sunday morning in what the French maritime prefecture for the Channel region described as a 'chaotic' attempt by dozens of migrants to launch their dinghy from Sangatte beach in northern France.
A total of 107 people trying to reach Britain from France in small dinghies which ran into difficulties crossing the Channel were rescued by the French authorities on Wednesday, according to France's Channel and North Sea maritime prefect's office.
The driver of a high-speed train carrying about 400 passengers committed suicide by jumping onto the tracks as it passed a village around 60 kilometres south-east of Paris, setting off emergency brakes that brought the train to a halt with no-one reported to be injured.
About 240 people were stranded for more then three hours in freezing conditions on stationary open-air ski lift benches at the French Alpine resort of Superdévoluy on Tuesday after a mechanical failure, before all were safely brought down, most by ropes while others were rescued by helicopter.
With many leading political figures looking forward to the 2027 presidential elections, and reluctant to gamble their chances on a government that is likely to fall within weeks, newly-appointed French PM François Bayrou has struggled to find those willing to join his government.
France held a national day of mourning on Monday for those who lost their lives when Cyclone Chido, with winds of more than 220 kilometres per hour, devastated the Indian Ocean French archipelago territory of Mayotte on December 14th.
The Flamanville 3 European Pressurized Reactor in Normandy was finally connected to the national grid this weekend, 12 years behind schedule after technical setbacks which saw the cost of the project soar to an estimated 13.2 billion euros, four times the initial 3.3 billion-euro estimate.
At the end of their trial in Paris on Friday, eight defendants variously accused of organising a hate campaign online against murdered secondary school teacher Samuel Paty and of providing assistance to the perpetrator who beheaded him, were found guilty and handed jail sentences of between one and 16 years.
French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly used racist, sexist and homophobic jibes in discussions with ministers and staff according to French daily Le Monde, while the allegations were denied by the presidential office.
The French president, who on Friday ended his brief visit to France's cyclone-hit Indian Ocean territory, met with angry residents complaining over delays in the supply of drinking water and food, when he told them that, without France, 'you’d be in a bath of shit 10,000 times worse'.
Following the groundbreaking trial of 51 men found guilty this week of raping Gisèle Pelicot, her decision to refuse a trial behind closed doors, and which led to public outrage at what she had endured and admiration for her courage, one feminist lawyer sees a trend emerging of more women reporting sexual abuse and refusing closed-door trials.
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