French ice sports federation chief Didier Gailhaguet on Saturday resigned his post amid accusations of complacency over sexual abuse of athletes after four women ice skaters, including former champion figure skater Sarah Abitbol, alleged they had been sexually assaulted and raped by their coaches when they were minors.
US tech company Apple has been fined 25 million euros by a French competition watchdog for failing to tell iPhone users that a software update throttled the performance of older iPhones, a problem that could be fixed by replacing the battery but which may have encouraged some to replace their smartphone for a new device.
The chairman of French top-flight Ligue 1 team Angers has been placed under formal investigation for 'aggravated sexual assaults' and handed conditional bail over four complaints filed against him by past and female employees.
The local authorities in the Channel port of Calais, north-west France, anticipate that a return of trade tariffs after Britain’s planned exit from the EU’s single market will revive the cross-Channel ‘booze cruises’ that saw Britons in the 1980s and 1990s day-trip to the town to buy cheap cigarettes, beer and wine on board ferries.
A factory in north-west France producing medical face masks, normally at a rate of 100 million per year, is working round the clock to meet demand from pharmacies and hospitals in Europe and Asia as the deadly coronavirus outbreak continues to spread.
As the world of sport in France was engulfed in scandal over accusations of the covering up of widespread sexual abuse of young athletes, and notably the rape allegations by a former ice skating champion and three of her fellow skaters against their former coaches, French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu on Thursday appealed to 'to all victims, past and present, to speak up so that we can find the offenders and prosecute them'.
The now two-month long, union-led series of street protests and strikes against the French government's planned reform of the national pensions system saw another day of action with a march through Paris on Thursday, when unions representing employees from the capital's transport network announced they would strike on February 17th during the draft legislation's passage through parliament.
The Paris prosecution services on Tuesday opened an investigation into allegations by former world championship bronze medallist Sarah Abitbol that she was raped by her coach when aged between 15 and 17, and those of three other skaters who accused the same coach and two of his colleagues of abuse and rape when they were minors, as pressure grew on the president of France's ice skating federation, Didier Gailhaguet, to resign.
Seven people are on trial in Paris for their aleged involvement in a multi-million fraud scandal that targeted more than 150 prominent figures and organisations and which included an impersonation by phone and Skype of then defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, now foreign minister, requesting funds for a supposed secret mission.
The three-metre tall painting of a man with a pearl-mounted sword sitting on a horse in elaborate regalia was bought by the Banque de France in the 1920s because it was believed to be a portrait of France’s Grand Dauphin, son of King Louis XIV, but was discovered to be that of a lord mayor of London, a work by John Closterman, and is now on display at the British capital's Tate Britain.
