As consumers increasingly turn their backs on the tannin-rich wines of Bordeaux, winegrowers in the region are ripping out their vines and turning to the planting of other crops and even laying solar panels for electricity production.
Gisèle Pelicot, 71, who was subjected to rape by dozens of strangers over many years when her husband sedated her into a comatose state and recruited men online to sexually abuse her, on Wednesday took to the stand at the trial in southern France when she told the court women who have been raped must know that 'it's not for us to have shame'.
French President Emmanuel Macron is to make a state visit to Morocco beginning on October 28th, in a move to mend high tensions between Paris and Rabat over recent years with what Moroccan King Mohammed VI called 'a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors'.
Israel does not intend to bring the war in Gaza and Lebanon to a halt with its military successes against Hamas and the Hezbollah, writes Mediapart co-founder and former publishing editor Edwy Plenel in this op-ed article. Israel’s war aim, beyond the riposte to the October 7th 2023 Hamas attacks, is to bring an end to the project for a Palestinian state, and its supporters, he argues, and everything must be done to halt this unending war.
French scientists are studying the contents of a 144-year-old bottle of Vin Tonique Mariani, an apéritif invented by a Corsican pharmacist, which was a forebear of Coca-Cola and which is now under revival, to establish whether its ingredients really meet past claims of its ability to cure nervous conditions and impotency.
Private equity firm CD&R is in exclusive talks to buy 50% stake in Sanofi's consumer healthcare arm Opella which makes the best-selling Doliprane drug in France; meanwhile the French government has also bought a small stake in the company and has warned the American buyers of penalties if they shift production abroad.
The new French government under prime minister Michel Barnier plans to make savings of up to 60 million euros through tax rises and spending cuts. At least five billion euros of these scheduled savings in the 2025 budget – which will be debated by MPs this week - will hit France's local authorities, to the dismay and concern of regional political leaders. Here, mayors from three very different communities all tell Mediapart of the real-life consequences that these cuts will have locally, in particular on public services and in adapting to climate change. Interviews by Ilyes Ramdani.
Demonstrators gathered across France to show their support for mass rape victim Gisèle Pelicot whose ongoing trial saw her ex-husband as well as some 50 defendants – aged from 26 to 74 – take the stand.
Last summer the town of Échirolles in south-east France witnessed a surge of violence as drug-related shootings left two people wounded. The town, which is in the suburbs of the city of Grenoble, is now trying to fight back and the mayor recently wrote to President Emanuel Macron pleading for more resources to be able to tackle the problem of drug dealing and its impact on local residents. As Yannis Angles reports from Échirolles, the town council is also taking its own initiatives, including moving people out of a building that is notorious as a hotspot for the illicit trade.
A Parisian driver has been accused of intentionally running over a cyclist who got in his way. Protests are planned across the country following the cyclist's tragic death.
The controversial activist known for his pan-Africanist stance, was released from French custody without charge, two days after he was arrested in Paris.