Email decrying Anne Baldassari's management signed by half of museum staff, but director has support of artist's son, Claude The reopening of the Picasso museum in Paris, after a 52m (£42m) renovation that took more than five years, should be a cause for celebration. But instead, the museum in the Marais district has become caught up in a crisis, pitting the director and the artist's only surviving...
Poll shows 80% of people agree with opposition that Christiane Taubira should resign for remaining silent during national anthem France's justice minister is facing calls for her resignation after she refused to take part in what she called "karaoke" by singing the French national anthem. Christiane Taubira was criticised on her Facebook page for refusing to sing the Marseillaise at a ceremony...
The EU was designed to bind a continent together in peace. It transformed Europe politically and economically, but now critics rage at waste, austerity economics and a democratic deficit. Ahead of European elections, Julian Coman travels to Italy, France and Belgium to find out: is the postwar dream over? Click here for a timeline of the EU's turbulent history Entering the central courtyard of the...
1945-2014: the evolution of a union that grew from the ashes of the second world war In 1945 western Europe was a scene of devastation after almost six years of world war. French foreign minister Robert Schuman and diplomat Jean Monnet drove the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community, a proto-common market overseen by a supranational authority. The aim was to bind the states together economically,...
France and Germany warn Vladimir Putin Sunday's separatist referendum in east is illegal and call for 'national dialogue' Germany and France have threatened Russia with further sanctions if the 25 May election in Ukraine does not go ahead as planned. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, urged the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to do more to calm the situation, warning that a separatist referendum...
French and German economy ministers to discuss potential counterbid from Siemens for Alstom's energy arm France's economy minister Arnaud Montebourg flew to Berlin on Friday to urge Siemens to make a counterbid for the energy division of Alstom and keep the business out of the hands of its US suitor, General Electric (GE) . The visit is another desperate bid by François Hollande's Socialist...
Raft of disagreements between two sides leads to failure of efforts to create world's biggest advertising group The proposed US$35bn merger between US-based Omnicom and French rival Publicis has been called off as the challenges in forming the world's largest advertising agency proved too immense for the partners. The deal heralded in July as a merger of equals that would vault the two agencies into...
Officers will patrol with French counterparts to prevent fellow citizens being targeted by pickpockets and muggers Paris police are to draft in reinforcements from China to help patrol the French capital during the summer tourist boom. Continue reading... ...
The left cannot rely on a grand, Thomas Piketty-driven paradigm shift to sweep it to power, so it must first win the little battles John Maynard Keynes wrote that the ideas of economists and political philosophers are "more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else." Many enthusiastic readers of the French economist Thomas Piketty agree. Chris Huhne,...
French club Clermont Foot 63 appoints seasoned coach Helena Costa to top position in historical move for the sport The continual relegation of women to the sidelines of football was given a good kicking on Wednesday when France appointed its first female professional team manager. It did not matter that it was a second division club. It did not matter if it was, as some bad sports male of course suggested,...
Suspect in drug smuggling case released on bail after court hears about rulings against Guadeloupe and Martinique prisons Magistrates have refused to extradite to France a man suspected of cocaine smuggling and firearms offences, on the grounds that conditions in its overseas prisons are inhumane and degrading. The decision by the district judge Quentin Purdy will be seen as a blow to France's commitment...
Seven senior editorial executives at Le Monde have resigned en masse from the French daily following a conflict with management. "A lack of confidence in, and communication with, editorial management prevents us from fulfilling our roles as chief editors," they wrote in an internal letter. "We have realised that we are no longer able to assume the tasks entrusted to us, and that's why...
French president backs minister who wrote to US firm saying offer not good enough despite sale approval from Alstom board France's government has dismissed General Electric's 12.4bn (£10.2bn) offer for the energy division of Alstom as "not good enough". Its economy minister Arnaud Montebourg wrote to the US industrial group and bypassed Alstom's board of directors, which has already...
In 1994 the Queen opened Waterloo International before travelling on Eurostar to Calais for the tunnel's inauguration with President Mitterrand of France The £10.5 billion Channel Tunnel will today be used to carry the Queen, John Major and several cabinet ministers to the elaborate inauguration ceremonies at Calais, even though it has not been granted one of the four operating certificates needed...
3m plan to increase numbers of the Great Hamster of Alsace, which has suffered from farmers changing crops Authorities in the French region of Alsace have launched an action plan to save a hamster facing extinction, more than two years after Europe's top court rapped Paris for neglecting the little rodent. The five-year project will see farmers in the eastern region implement measures to try to encourage...
23-year-old Afghan man had fashioned craft with table leg as a mast and bedsheet as a sail French coastguards saved a 23-year-old Afghan man trying to cross the Channel on a makeshift raft on Monday using a bedsheet as a sail. The youth, who had fashioned the raft with strips of wood and canvas, with a table leg serving as a mast, was rescued off Sangatte near Calais, an official said. Continue reading......
South African Steven Cohen danced for 10 minutes near Eiffel tower in Paris before police intervened A Paris court has found a South African artist guilty of sexual exhibitionism after a performance in Paris in which he danced with a cockerel tied to his penis. But the criminal court imposed no penalty on 51-year-old Steven Cohen, noting that no complaint had been filed against him and that he had...
Le Grand Barry has been acquired and opened by enthusiasts concerned for biodiversity in publicly run protected areas Majestic, densely wooded limestone cliffs rise into the sky for as far as one can see. At their foot a stream runs past dry-stone buildings belonging to the village of Véronne, Drôme. Last month the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals ( Aspas ) opened Le Grand...
Museum housing one of most extensive collections of Spanish artist's work to reopen five years after closing for renovation Five years after it closed for a two-year renovation, the Picasso museum in Paris which houses one of the world's most extensive collections of the Spanish master's work will finally reopen in September, the culture ministry announced on Sunday. The delay has caused controversy,...
Gérard Depardieu plays ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the tale of his downfall following sexual assault charges To the French, the dramatic fall from grace of presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn on charges of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid was "the affair of the century". They heard the story, read the book , followed the legal machinations, and now they can watch...