In May 2024 graffiti appeared on the walls of the Holocaust museum in Paris. The 35 spray-painted red hand symbols were quickly condemned by politicians as an act of anti-Semitism. But who was responsible? After a swift investigation, detectives tracked down those responsible for defacing the Mémorial de la Shoah. Matthieu Suc reports on how investigators then quickly discovered that the vandalism was in fact part of a wider Russian attempt to destabilise France.
The French overseas territory of New Caledonia, situated in the south-west of the Pacific Ocean, was last year plunged into chaos over a move by Paris to introduce an electoral reform that weakened the political clout of parties of the indigenous, and largely pro-independence, Kanak population. Violent protests over the reform erupted last May, after which at least 14 people died in the clashes, which also left the archipelago’s economy reeling. Mediapart's Ellen Salvi returned to New Caledonia at the end of 2024 where she met with the Kanak population in Saint-Louis, a hotbed of the insurrection and subsequently the target of a repressive crackdown. She reports here on how the inhabitants, despite their anger, sadness and fatigue, remain determined to pursue the Kanak cause for independence.
In a rare moment of contrition the French president said in a New Year message to the nation that he recognised that his decision to call early parliamentary elections in June had created more political instability in the country.
The French action follows several rounds of US strikes against Islamic State targets in the weeks since rebels ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from power.
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.
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and three of his ex-ministers will stand trial in Paris on January 6th on corruption charges related to the alleged illegal funding of his 2007 election campaign by the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Part of the prosecution case is the alleged offer by Sarkozy’s entourage to overturn, in return for the funding, an international arrest warrant issued by France against Gaddafi’s brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senussi, who was found guilty in absentia of masterminding the mid-air bombing of a French airliner in which 170 people died. In this interview with Mediapart, the sister of one of the victims, and the daughter of another, recount their long quest for justice, and explain why they hope the trial will finally present the truth about the suspected ugly dealings over Senussi.
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.
One year ago, US investment firm Cerberus Capital Management bought the French arm of British banking group HSBC for the symbolic sum of 1 euro. After pledging no job losses over its first 12 months of ownership, when the bank was given back its former name of CCF, the management has now announced a plan to axe 1,410 jobs and to close 85 of its 235 branches nationwide. The move represents the largest single redundancy plan currently underway in France. Khedidja Zerouali reports.
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.
