English

Baby dies after migrant boat gets into difficulties in Channel

France — Link

The boat was found to be heavily loaded with migrants and some were in the water when the rescue team arrived on Thursday evening.

Floods cause damage, power outages in France after heavy rain

France — Link

Damage was caused in France's mountainous southeast region after days of heavy rain.

Macron slams ministers over leaked Israel comments

France — Link

French president goes on attack to try put lid on brouhaha that sparked row with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

France to cut prices in Martinique after costs of living unrest

France — Link

Martinique has been rocked by cost of living protests that have left four people dead in clashes and shops and businesses set alight or looted.

French police release anti-Western activist Kemi Seba

International — Link

The controversial activist known for his pan-Africanist stance, was released from French custody without charge, two days after he was arrested in Paris.

Flooding in central France submerges rail and road links

France — Link

Torrential rain and flooding have submerged roads and railways in central France, disrupting transportation in the region.

How plans for US firm to buy makers of France's best-selling medicine sparked an outcry

France

Doliprane, a brand name for paracetomol, is France's most popular medicine and has become part of the social fabric of the country. So when it was revealed recently that French pharmaceutical company Sanofi plans to sell the subsidiary that makes the medicine to a private equity firm from the United States, there was public outcry. Yet despite earlier pledges over the need for health and medicine security - and about the need to reindustrialise the country - the Élysée has supported the move on the grounds that it shows that France is an attractive place for investors. Martine Orange reports.

French interior minister charts hardline immigration strategy

France — Link

The newly formed French government plans to adopt another, tougher immigration bill next year, and leading the charge is hardline interior minister Bruno Retailleau. 

Mbappé to sue for libel over Swedish rape investigation

France — Link

Lawyer for Kylian Mbappé says the footballer was "shocked" to see his name linked to a Swedish rape investigation and that the Real Madrid and France star will take legal action for defamation.

Macron clashes with Netanyahu over founding of Israel

International — Link

French president  warned Israel’s prime minister not to forget that “his country was created by a UN decision”, a few days after the Israeli ambassador to France was summoned, and Israel repeatedly fired on UN peacekeepers. 

The simplistic equation behind French government's budget plans to axe teaching jobs

France — Opinion

France's new government under prime minister Michel Barnier last week announced details of its proposed budget, which aims to make up to 60 billion euros in savings. Part of the plan involves cutting jobs in education. Here in this op-ed article, Mediapart's education correspondent Mathilde Goanec wonders how the government will try to persuade the public to accept the decision to axe another 4,000 teaching posts, especially after it promised to place education at the heart of its concerns. She says ministers will resort to a lot of clever PR and rely on the now well-worn line that fewer teachers are needed because of declining demographics. Even though this argument does not stand up to scrutiny.

Russia jails French researcher in 'foreign agent' case

International — Link

Laurent Vinatier, who worked for a Switzerland-based conflict mediation NGO, was arrested in June while gathering what prosecutors say was information on Russia's military.

The poetic novel that evokes France's damaged but still enduring rural world

Culture et idées

Novelist Juliette Rousseau's latest work 'Péquenaude' is a book that is hard to categorise. It is a poetic and political narrative, rooted in a countryside that has been disfigured by agribusiness. As Amélie Poinssot notes, the author - who has returned to her native Brittany in western France after many years living in Paris – has written a work based around a rural world that is loved and damaged in equal measure.

Minute of silence held for French teachers killed by jihadists

France — Link

On Monday French middle and high schools will be observing a minute of silence to commemorate Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard, two teachers murdered during jihadist attacks in 2020 and 2023. 

‘Isolated’ France faces political storm over EU trade deal

France — Link

An already weakened Emmanuel Macron risks outrage from farmers as the rest of the EU races to get deal with Mercosur bloc of South American nations deal done.