After the service pilgrims climbed up to the Lone Pine cemetery where in August 1915 Australia suffered its greatest casualties A crowd of 4,400 people turned out for the Anzac Day service at Gallipoli in Turkey, a year ahead of the 100th anniversary of the disastrous landing. In northern France a smaller crowd of 4,500 assembled at the Australian war memorial outside the village of Villers-Bretonneux,...
There's more to France's great outdoors than vineyards and escargots. From wolves to wallcreepers, this nature documentary offers a surprising armchair odyssey Pah! Natural World: France The Wild Side (BBC2). Wild? It's just the other end of the bloody tunnel, isn't it? A short booze cruise away. What have they got that we haven't? Extra snails probably, and frogs. And the odd cheese-eating surrender...
Prosecutors set to invoke bystander laws after passengers moved carriage while man sexually assaulted mother of four French police are investigating whether they can prosecute bystanders who did nothing to help a woman who was sexually assaulted on the metro, after a man was jailed for 18 months over the attack. The 30-year-old woman's ordeal began as she entered a metro station in the northern city...
Muslims fleeing Christian mobs say new state needed as UN warns of 'ethnic-religious cleansing' but analysts dismiss idea Rebels in the Central African Republic are calling for the establishment of a new country as a radical solution to the worsening sectarian conflict . The name the Republic of Northern Central Africa and a design for a national flag, are circulating by mobile phone in the dusty town...
An award-winning project has spread across the UK and abroad and is helping neighbours engage together in a greener lifestyle When Gail Jackson put an invitation through every door on her street in St Albans, inviting her neighbours round to her house to discuss doing Transition Streets , she didn't really expect any of them to come. "I ended up with 11 people crammed...
GE is reported to be lining up a politically sensitive deal to buy some or all of the struggling French industrial group The French government is setting up defensive lines as the blue chip engineer Alstom faces a $13bn (£7.7bn) takeover from General Electric of America. As ministers prepared to meet GE bosses, shares in the French company were suspended from trading on Friday by the French stock...
Historian who reinterpreted the middle ages as an era of distinctive character and development The French historian Jacques Le Goff, who has died at the age of 90, specialised in the middle ages, which he defined taking the long view as stretching from the 5th to the 18th centuries. His case was that the period had a character of its own, and should not be seen as paving the way to modern times: it...
General Electric's interest in French industrial group met with warning from Manuel Valls, who vows to keep watch on jobs General Electric is reportedly in talks over a politically sensitive takeover of French industrial group Alstom in a deal worth up to $13bn (£7.7bn). The US conglomerate's interest in the maker of the TGV high-speed trains met with a warning from France's new prime minister,...
Boy's joyride prompted motorway chase, during which he smashed through toll barriers and collided with police car A teenager's obsession with fire engines has landed him in court and left firefighters in France with red faces after he repeatedly managed to steal emergency vehicles from under their noses. The 17-year-old was finally detained this week after a motorway chase at speeds of up to 105mph,...
British aristocrat angered stallholders with rent rises but has sold stake in Saint-Ouen market to French businessman The Duke of Westminster has sold his stake in a world famous Paris flea market at a substantial loss after bitter disputes with French antiques dealers over rent costs. The sixth Duke of Westminster and Britain's eighth richest man, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, sold the Paul Bert Serpette...
All the day's business and economic news, including the latest manufacturing surveys from China and Europe, as the French government prepares its new deficit reduction plan 9.40am BST Breaking: The UK government has hit its target for deficit reduction for the last financial year, as the British deficit fell to its lowest level since the financial crisis. The Office for National Statistics reports...
Foreign minister Laurent Fabius targets young with package of measures amid fears French nationals were hostages' captors Urgent measures to prevent young people from going to wage jihad in Syria are to be unveiled by the government in Paris amid fears that its nationals were among the captors of four French hostages. The measures include a plan to stop minors leaving France without parental consent,...
The EU project has never been less popular. Berlin and Paris must deal with the economic and security crises together Never has it been so important for the nations of the European Union to be united. But never has the European project been more endangered by indifference, hostility and even open rejection. Can we bridge this gap and where would the impulse to do so come from? With one...
Refurbishment of Paris landmark has involved complex repairs but it is a new business model that is setting the tone for change The time is 1.30pm on Sunday, 31 March 1889. Work on the world's highest structure is complete in preparation for the imminent Universal Exhibition in Paris. Gustave Eiffel welcomes his guests, here to celebrate the end of construction, then starts up the 1,792 steps....
Reporters recently released from captivity in Syria reveal details of 10-month ordeal Four French journalists released from captivity in Syria have said they were chained together in underground cells with no natural light for much of their 10-month time in captivity. Didier François, Nicolas Hénin, Edouard Elias and Pierre Torres were met by their overjoyed families and François...
François Hollande says France has 'information' that toxic gases have been used against opposition in recent attacks Allegations that Bashar al-Assad's forces used chemical weapons in recent attacks gained traction on Sunday when France said it had "information" of toxic gases being used against opposition targets. Continue reading... ...
Spat between leaders of Ukip and French National Front follows Farage's rejection of European coalition offer The French National Front leader, Marine Le Pen, has accused Nigel Farage of slander after the Ukip leader called her party antisemitic. Farage this week rejected a suggestion from Le Pen that Ukip could join a coalition with the FN in the European parliament because of "prejudice and...
As a festival of Gallic cinema opens in the UK, women both on screen and behind the camera are now in France's cultural vanguard Half a century has passed since a group of mostly young and almost exclusively male directors electrified the culture-starved, postwar public with what would become known as nouvelle vague films. Using handheld cameras and with a shortage of both money and celluloid, François...
Nicolas Hénin, Pierre Torres, Edouard Elias and Didier François are found safe and well on Turkish border Four French journalists held hostage in Syria since June have been found blindfolded and bound on the Turkish border. Turkish soldiers found the four in good health on Saturday after they were released by a radical Muslim rebel group. Continue reading... ...
Ukip leader instead chooses Gaullist Debout la Republique party while being complimentary about Marine Le Pen Ukip's leader, Nigel Farage, has rejected fresh overtures from the far-right French Front National leader Marine Le Pen but admitted she has "got some good qualities" and is "achieving remarkable things". His comments were made after Le Pen said Ukip could join a coalition...