Budget airline writes to European commission, Irish government and French embassy in Dublin over new inquiry into operations Ryanair has lodged a formal complaint with the European commission after French police raided its Marseille offices as part of an new inquiry into the low cost airline's operations in France. The Dublin-based company has sent protest letters to Brussels, the Irish government...
Ariège, Pyrenees: I've often seen them: huge, primitive-looking animals, razor-tusked, trotting at twilight by the margins of the trees Through the winter the farmer has prepared the fields stretching between winterbourne and forest edge in a cultivated strip that runs the length of the valley. Months ago, I watched bright tines of his plough turning the heavy clay, flopping it over to the side of...
Greek deputy PM Evangelos Venizelos describes the dramatic 2011 crisis summit that nearly forced his country out of the eurozone and outlines the damage that was averted It was a meal where only four of the 14 participants spoke and nobody ate. Seated in front of crystal glasses, the finest porcelain laid out before them, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and her French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy,...
Samples from staff and pupils at the Fénelon Notre-Dame school in La Rochelle were compared with material from girl's clothing French authorities say DNA testing of all male pupils and staff at a school has failed to identify the assailant who raped a teenage girl on the closed campus. The mass test last month at the Fénelon Notre-Dame private school in La Rochelle, western France, raised concerns...
Latest survey shows French private sector contracting this month, lagging the rest of the eurozone Summary: Eurozone growth dips as France stumbles UK economy grew 0.8% in Q1 - confirmation Photos: cleaners occupy Greek ministry entrance Deutsche Bank AGM hit by protests 5.18pm BST A slight dip in eurozone growth, according to the latest PMI surveys, left European markets struggling for direction,...
Virus 'could sort out demographic explosion' and by extension Europe's 'immigration problem', says founder of Front National Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France's far-right Front National, has suggested the deadly virus Ebola could solve the global "population explosion" and by extension Europe's "immigration problem". At a cocktail party before an election rally in Marseille on...
Apparently, it's the sort of thing that occurs when you separate the rail operators from train companies, so will probably be happening soon at a platform near you Name: Le Train Age: Very new. Continue reading... ...
Promoting new movie set during the Chechen war, The Search director expresses scepticism at the efficacy of peace-keeping bodies and explains how the success of The Artist enabled him to make a movie he felt was necessary Peter Bradshaw's review of The Search When your last film came from nowhere, cost peanuts, seduced critics, made a mint and won five Oscars (including best film), you can write your...
Police baffled by shooting of Hélène Pastor, wealthy landowner in the tax haven, whose chauffeur was also killed in the attack A wealthy Monaco heiress shot two weeks ago in a mysterious attack on the French Riviera has died of her injuries in hospital. Hélène Pastor, 77, said to be close to Monaco's royal family, and nicknamed the "vice princess", had been visiting her son...
Ukip leader says anti-EU parties may be able to form 'blocking minority' in European parliament Nigel Farage has said Ukip may have enough "common fronts" with France's Front National to vote with the party and other Eurosceptic groups to block legislation in Brussels. In advance of this week's European elections, the Ukip leader said there was a possibility that anti-EU parties of "varying...
Michel Hazanavicius has relocated Fred Zinnerman's 1948 Oscar-winner about a westerner who helps a lost child to the Chechen war. You can't fault the intention, you can't help but query the corny execution Michel Hazanavicius's desperately well-meaning movie is about an EU human rights observer who rescues a refugee boy during the 1999 Chechen war. It has its powerful scenes and heartfelt moments,...
SNCF's failure to verify measurements results in cost of 50m to modify 1,300 platforms in one in six regional stations The train due on platform one will not be arriving for the foreseeable future because it is too big. France's national railway operator SNCF has ordered 2,000 new trains that are too large for many of the stations they are due to serve. Continue reading... ...
The Dardenne brothers' employment rights fable looks likely to beat off stiff competition and bag them their third Palme d'Or, while star Marion Cotillard is on course for best actress Peter Bradshaw's five star review No film-maker has won the Palme d'Or three times. But if ever there were men to do it, those men would be Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the Belgian brothers and Cannes perennials who...
The future Queen and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh are on a charm offensive in the French capital There is no doubt that Republican Paris, from whatever motive, gave a royal welcome to Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. The motive was probably mixed. For one French newspaper it was simply that the people wished to pay their respects to two young people whom they found sympathique and...
Former IMF chief sues over Welcome to New York by Abel Ferrara, which features a sex addict who assaults a hotel maid The former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has instructed lawyers to sue the makers of a film in which Gérard Depardieu plays a sex addict who sexually assaults a hotel maid. Welcome to New York by Abel Ferrara, which had a private screening on the sidelines of the Cannes film...
Artist who copied, repeated and reconstructed other artists' works, starting with Andy Warhol's Flowers in 1965 The artist Elaine Sturtevant (known simply as Sturtevant), who has died aged 89, was best known for her repetition of works by other artists, anticipating at an early date the debates surrounding notions of authenticity, authorship, originality and representation that became central to the...
From birthplace of the bikini to graffiti temple, this newly renovated swimming pool has a unique place in the citys history Built almost a century ago, the art-deco Piscine Molitor in the 16th district of Paris is no ordinary swimming pool. It was here the first bikini was unveiled and the topless sunbathing revolution took off, and it is after this swimming pool that the main character in the 2001...
Kerviel had threatened to remain in Italy in defiance of a deadline to return to France French rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel ended a two-day standoff with French justice on Sunday by announcing that he would walk back across the Italian border into France where police were expected to arrest him. Kerviel, accompanied by supporters and a media scrum, had spent the last two days in Ventimiglia...
Online video encourages donations towards training for a priest, in a parody of French 'adopt a guy' dating site The Catholic church in France can't be accused of lacking a sense of humour. Six Catholic dioceses in Normandy have banded together to encourage the faithful to "adopt a priest" via an online video as part of their annual fundraising drive. The 48-second video, which has already...
Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin pledge to cooperate against militant group that has kidnapped 200 schoolgirls African leaders at a summit in Paris have agreed on a regional plan of action to combat Boko Haram, the Islamist group that has abducted more than 200 girls and threatened to sell them into slavery. In a rare show of unity, the leaders of Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin pledged...