News feed

The town of Biarritz in south-west France is already the scene of unprecedented security measures ahead of the G7 summit to be held there next weekend, with some locals complaining that its summer season economy is being hit, while the authorities, fearing violent protests, have ordered that a counter-summit organsied by leftwing groups should be held 30 kilometres away in Hendaye, on the Spanish border. 

Julien Gauthier, 44, who was on a trip along the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to record sounds of nature for a musical project, was attacked by a bear in the middle of the night and dragged away by the animal.

At a press conference ahead of more than two hours of talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in southern France on Monday evening, Putin said he supported a plan for international talks to seek a resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, while Macron said their discussions would centre on the crises in Syria and Libya because "Russia has an essential role in these situations".

At a press conference ahead of their talks at the French President's official retreat on the Mediterranean coast on Monday, Emmanuel Macron tackled Russian President Vladimir Putin on the crackdown on recent opposition protests in Moscow, to which the Russian leader spoke of a toll of deaths and injuries in France's 'yellow vest' protests, adding that, 'We wouldn’t want such events to take place in the Russian capital'. 

Work on cleaning up the damage to Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which was severely damaged by fire in April, resumed on Monday after a break of three weeks due to widespread lead contamination from the building, the extent of which was revealed by Mediapart last month. 

A French couple are facing prosecution and a possible jail term of between one and six years after Italian police found 40 kilos of sand they took from a beach in Chia, southern Sardinia, crammed into plastic bottles in the boot of their vehicle.

Simon Gautier, who was studying art history in Rome, was last heard alerting emergency services in a call in which he said he had suffered a fall while trekking a remote area near Naples and had broken both legs.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks at the Fort de Bregançon, his official summer retreat in southern France, on Monday, ahead of the G7 leaders' meeting in Biarritz next weekend, from which Russia is excluded.

A waiter at a pizzeria near Paris was shot dead by a man who witnesses said was angry at the length of time it took to serve him a sandwich.