Yesterday
French music flexes its muscles abroad
France • 2:33 PM
1 min
French-language music took centre stage during the Paris Olympics, with giant karaokés, star-studded ceremonies and a medley of styles and sounds. Boosted also by TV series, online streaming and a 30 percent increase in French music exports, Francophone
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France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen goes on trial in much-awaited EU embezzlement case
France • 6:43 AM
1 min
The political stakes are high for Marine Le Pen as the French far-right leader and other party officials went on trial Monday for allegedly embezzling EU funds. The much-awaited trial could upend the political future of France's three-time presidential c
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Friday, september 27, 2024
France's mass rape trial sparks timid debate about systemic male violence
France • 9:31 AM
1 min
The horrific mass rape trial that has roiled France over the past month has prompted growing calls for a wider reckoning with the culture of male domination and indifference to abuse that paved the way for the decade-long ordeal suffered by 71-year-old G
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Workers take down Olympic rings from Eiffel Tower – for now
France • 8:27 AM
1 min
Although the Olympic rings have been taken down from the Eiffel Tower, a proposal by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo would see the iconic monument adorned with lighter, less prominent versions of the symbol in tribute to the success of the 2024 Olympics.
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French rugby hero Dupont wraps up post-Olympics vacation with NFL workout
France • 7:24 AM
1 min
French rugby superstar Antoine Dupont paid a visit to the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday, two months after inspiring France to a historic rugby sevens gold at the Paris Olympics. But he played down rumours of a future shift to American football.
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Thursday, september 26, 2024
Wednesday, september 25, 2024
France's World Cup winner Raphaël Varane retires after knee injury
France • 9:11 AM
1 min
France's World Cup-winning defender Raphaël Varane announced his retirement from football at the age of 31 on Wednesday, bringing down the curtain on a hugely successful career after suffering a serious knee injury.
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French champagne makers aim to protect grape harvesters from abuse
France • 6:09 AM
1 min
Champagne vineyards are taking steps to better protect seasonal workers from abuse, hoping to restore the iconic bubbly's damaged reputation after reports emerged last year of migrant workers living in appalling conditions and other labour violations.
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Exclusive: On the ground in Russian territory held by Ukrainian forces
France • 12:09 AM
1 min
Ukraine is still holding swathes of territory in the Kursk region of Russia, seven weeks after a lightning offensive designed to draw Russian troops away from eastern Ukraine and gain leverage in potential peace negotiations with Moscow. FRANCE 24’s Cath
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Tuesday, september 24, 2024
‘Restore order’: France's new Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau signals rightward shift
France • 5:44 PM
1 min
Staunch conservative Bruno Retailleau has quickly shown his hardliner credentials as France’s new interior minister by taking a tough stance on immigration, crime and defending secularism.
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80 years on, French lake still polluted by World War II bombs
France • 2:47 PM
1 min
A French environmental group has found artillery shells dating back to World Wars I and II and even the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 in a lake in eastern France. Water samples from Gerardmer in the Vosges mountains show high levels of TNT explosive as wel
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French maternity care: A postcode lottery?
France • 2:15 PM
1 min
For several decades now, France has been struggling with doctors leaving rural areas and people there not being able to access medical care. Maternity wards are also part of this trend, with 30 percent of them shutting down over the past 20 years. The he
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Monday, september 23, 2024
France's new govt convenes for first time and sets budget, migrant issues as top priorities
France • 4:42 PM
1 min
France's right-leaning new government convened Monday for its first formal meeting during which Prime Minister Michel Barnier vowed to address budget and migrant issues as the priority. Barnier is expected to submit a new budget bill to the European Unio
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Six new defendants take the stand in France's Pelicot mass rape trial
France • 10:35 AM
1 min
The mass rape trial that has shaken France on Monday moved into its fourth week by hearing the cases against six new defendants. Among them was Joan K., who was 22 at the time of the alleged assaults, suspected of raping Gisèle Pelicot on two occasions u
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France's incoming interior minister vows to 'restore order' as new government takes over
France • 10:14 AM
1 min
France's new right-leaning government held its first meeting early on Monday, with Prime Minister Michel Barnier presiding over a working breakfast before a first official cabinet meeting at the Élysée Palace later in the day. Incoming Interior Minister
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Sunday, september 22, 2024
French PM Barnier signals tax hikes on wealthy as new government takes over
France • 7:03 PM
1 min
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Sunday said he would avoid broad tax hikes, opting instead for tax increases for high earners, a day before his new government was set to take up its functions. Barnier's first major test will be to narrow the budg
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France's new government under pressure on multiple fronts
France • 2:11 PM
1 min
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's new government is already feeling the pressure from opposition politicians on both sides amid growing threats of a no-confidence vote in parliament. Barnier's first main task is to submit a 2025 budget plan that add
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A look at key ministers in France's new government line-up
France • 6:22 AM
1 min
France finally got a new government after months of political deadlock and uncertainty following snap elections in July that resulted in a hung parliament. Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Saturday unveiled his new government with conservatives and centr
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Saturday, september 21, 2024
Macron appoints new government in shift to right after weeks of uncertainty
France • 7:09 PM
1 min
The French presidential palace unveiled a long-awaited new government Saturday dominated by conservatives and centrists. It came more than two months after elections that produced a hung parliament and deepened political divisions as France grapples with
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France's PM Barnier appoints new government in shift to right
France • 5:42 PM
1 min
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Saturday unveiled his new government after months of political deadlock in the wake of inconclusive snap elections. The cabinet line-up marks a shift to the right as left-wing protesters took to the streets for a s
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Environmental activists blockade Marseille port in protest at cruise ship pollution
France • 9:55 AM
1 min
Environmental protesters from Extinction Rebellion and Stop Croisieres blocked Marseille's cruise ship port on Saturday, protesting against the air, sea, and climate pollution caused by large cruise vessels. The protest, which involved a canoe blockade,
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France set to announce new government after months of political deadlock
France • 8:34 AM
1 min
France is expected to finalise a new government by Sunday, with President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Michel Barnier negotiating a cabinet reshuffle that marks a shift to the right. After months of political stalemate following snap legislative el
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Friday, september 20, 2024
Thursday, september 19, 2024
French PM Barnier presents new cabinet picks to Macron
France • 8:08 PM
1 min
Following a meeting with the leaders of French conservative and centrist parties and parliamentary groups, French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Thursday presented his new cabinet choices to President Emmanuel Macron. The new premier, a seasoned politi
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Migrant women face ‘second trauma’ when reporting sexual abuse in France
France • 4:37 PM
1 min
A recent report from Amnesty International reveals that undocumented women in France face significant barriers when reporting sexual violence, often encountering hostility from the institutions meant to help them. French NGOs say law enforcement has incr
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‘I feel humiliated’: Gisèle Pelicot outraged by suggestions of complicity at France mass rape trial
France • 7:22 AM
1 min
In the courthouse in the southern French city of Avignon, Gisèle Pelicot spoke out once again on Tuesday about the rapes she suffered at the hands of scores of men while heavily sedated, assaults that were instigated by her husband over a decade. The vic
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Wednesday, september 18, 2024
Tuesday, september 17, 2024
Monday, september 16, 2024
The other D-Day: France's forgotten colonial troops and the Provence landings
France • 3:38 PM
1 min
It's one of the untold stories of World War II: how France whitewashed its colonial troops during the liberation from Nazi rule. On August 15, 1944, experienced fighters who came from all corners of the French empire landed in southern France and won key
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French jihadist linked to Charlie Hebdo attackers stands trial for terrorism-related offences
France • 11:43 AM
1 min
French jihadist Peter Cherif, who was in regular contact with the brothers who carried out the 2015 attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, went on trial in Paris Monday. Cherif, who has not been formally charged over the attack, is on trial for terr
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France's Breton resigns as EU commissioner in public clash with Ursula von der Leyen
France • 9:23 AM
1 min
French European commissioner Thierry Breton announced he was standing down from his role effective immediately Monday, publicly accusing European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of having tried to block him from being reappointed. Breton, one o
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Saturday, september 14, 2024
'More than a show, a big thank you': Paris stages lavish Olympic Games farewell
France • 9:00 AM
1 min
Paris bids farewell to the 2024 Olympics with a grand parade on the Champs-Élysées on Saturday celebrating athletes and volunteers, followed by a concert featuring artists from this summer's ceremonies. Romain Pissenem, the creative mind behind the Paral
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France to bid final farewell to 2024 Olympic Games with Champs-Elysees parade, concert
France • 5:47 AM
1 min
France will bid a final farewell to the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday with a grand parade along the Champs-Elysees followed by a concert featuring artists from the opening and closing ceremonies. Organised at the request of President Emmanuel Macron, t
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Why so many French teachers are calling it quits
France • 5:00 AM
1 min
French teachers are quitting in record numbers, overwhelmed by low pay, crowded classrooms and increasing demands. Despite successive reforms by previous governments, staffing shortages persist. And leaving the profession is often a difficult process. Wi
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‘We believe you’: French demonstrators rally in support of mass rape victim
France • 12:33 AM
1 min
Waving banners and flags, demonstrators in cities across France on Saturday joined rallies in support of Gisele Pelicot, a woman who was allegedly drugged by her ex-husband for over a decade so that she could be raped by several men. The case has shocked
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Friday, september 13, 2024
Pope calls sex abuse ‘demonic’ amid revelations about revered French priest Abbé Pierre
France • 8:23 PM
1 min
After recent sexual abuse revelations concerning the Abbé Pierre, one of France's most revered public figures, Pope Francis said the Abbé was “a man who did so much good, but he’s also a sinner". He added: “Abuse is in my judgment is something demonic,
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Macron makes rare appearance with ex-PM and Élysée hopeful Edouard Philippe
France • 6:59 AM
1 min
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday made a rare public appearance with his ex-premier Edouard Philippe in Le Havre to commemorate the port's 1944 liberation from Nazi occupation. Philippe has criticised Macron's decision to call for snap legisla
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Thursday, september 12, 2024
Wednesday, september 11, 2024
French PM Barnier promises to form new government next week
France • 11:53 AM
1 min
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier said on Wednesday that he will name his government next week. President Emmanuel Macron last Thursday chose Barnier, a 73-year-old conservative and former Brexit negotiator, to lead the government after two months of
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Frenchman in mass rape trial again excused from testifying due to ill health
France • 11:34 AM
1 min
Dominique Pelicot, the Frenchman on trial for enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his wife Gisele after he drugged her into unconsciousness over a period, was on Wednesday excused a second time from attending a hearing due to ill health, the presiding
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Tuesday, september 10, 2024
Monday, september 9, 2024
Poll finds 52% are satisfied with Macron's choice of Barnier as French PM
France • 1:50 PM
1 min
An Ifop poll commissioned by the French weekly Journal du Dimanche found that 52 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with newly appointed Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who was named by Emmanuel Macron after two months of political deadlock.
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Speed limit on vital Paris ring road falls to 50km per hour on October 1
France • 1:33 PM
1 min
The speed limit on the ring road that surrounds and delineates the city of Paris will be limited to 50 kilometres (30 miles) per hour starting on October 1, the city's mayor announced on Monday. The decision, which immediately drew criticism for having b
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Eiffel family calls for removing Olympic rings from iconic Paris tower
France • 9:23 AM
1 min
The family of the legendary engineer behind the Eiffel Tower has said they have spoken to a lawyer about blocking Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s plans to leave the Olympic rings on the Paris landmark. Gustave Eiffel’s descendants argue that the rings would g
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Sunday, september 8, 2024
Saturday, september 7, 2024
French protesters rage at ‘stolen election’ as Macron picks conservative Barnier for PM
France • 4:54 PM
1 min
Two months after snap parliamentary elections that threw France into political turmoil, tens of thousands of left-wing demonstrators rallied in central Paris on Saturday in protest at French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to name conservative Miche
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Critics blast new French PM Barnier for having twice voted against gay rights
France • 9:27 AM
1 min
French media and some political opponents of freshly appointed Prime Minister Michel Barnier quickly dug up that, while serving in parliament in 1981, he had been among 155 lawmakers who voted against a law decriminalizing homosexuality.
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Friday, september 6, 2024
French PM Barnier says he will defend key Macron policies, toughen stance on immigration
France • 6:43 PM
1 min
France's newly-appointed Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Friday gave his first interview since being appointed to the role by President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday. In the brief televised exchange on broadcaster TF1, he said his government would be comp
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At least 17 more people allege sexual violence by French charity icon Abbe Pierre
France • 3:29 PM
1 min
More than a dozen more people have made accusations of sexual violence against the late French humanitarian monk Abbe Pierre, according to a report published Friday. With Pierre's once-saintly image already shaken by allegations of sexual abuse in July,
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Paris to honour slain Ugandan Olympic runner Cheptegei by dedicating sports venue
France • 10:45 AM
1 min
Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday that the city of Paris would honour the memory of murdered Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, by naming a sports venue after her. Cheptegei, who finished 44th in the women's marathon during the Paris Olym
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France’s new PM Michel Barnier tackles challenge of forming a unifying cabinet
France • 10:00 AM
1 min
France’s new Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Friday got to work on the challenge of forming a cabinet of ministers capable of gaining majority support in parliament. The former EU Brexit negotiator was reported to be meeting with President Emmanuel Macr
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Thursday, september 5, 2024
France to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine military aid
France • 11:27 PM
1 min
France’s defence ministry on Friday announced that it will use a share of €1.4 billion euros in revenue from frozen Russian assets to finance the purchase of military equipment for Ukraine. EU member states agreed in May to use the interest generated by
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Telegram chief Durov denounces French charges as ‘surprising’ and ‘misguided’
France • 10:48 PM
1 min
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov criticised France for his recent arrest over extremist content on the messaging platform. In his first public comment on Telegram, Durov called it "surprising" he was arrested for third-party actions, condemning the use of outdat
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French woman says police investigation of mass rape trauma 'saved her life'
France • 8:30 PM
1 min
Gisele Pelicot, 71, whose husband has admitted to recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged, took the stand for the first time on Thursday and said that police had saved her life by uncovering the abuse. In almost 90 minutes of tes
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New PM Barnier vows to address 'anger and grievances' of French
France • 11:23 AM
1 min
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Thursday vowed to address the "anger and grievances" of the French at a handover ceremony at the Hôtel de Matignon. Barnier was named to the role after nearly two months of political turmoil following surprise snap
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France’s newest nuclear reactor shuts itself down
France • 8:31 AM
1 min
France’s newest nuclear reactor automatically shut itself down Wednesday, a day after starting up for the first time. The state-owned operator said there was no need for concern and that shutdowns can happen during such “long and complicated” startup pro
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Wednesday, september 4, 2024
France still in political deadlock as Macron grapples with choosing prime minister
France • 8:56 PM
1 min
President Emmanuel Macron remained undecided on Wednesday on the choice of his new prime minister, with Conservative Xavier Bertrand and the former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve both seen as frontrunners. Analysts speculated on Wednesday tha
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French husband kept detailed records of sexual abuse of his wife, court told
France • 5:38 PM
1 min
A Frenchman accused of orchestrating multiple rapes of his wife kept detailed records of the decade-long abuse, enabling police to compile a list of more than 70 men suspected of abusing her. Dominique P., is accused of drugging his wife with sleeping pi
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Marseille fans cry foul as iconic pastis maker Ricard teams up with bitter rivals PSG
France • 5:05 PM
1 min
Dispirited fans of Olympique Marseille have vowed to stop drinking the beloved anise-flavoured aperitif after beverage giant Pernod Ricard announced a commercial partnership with football rivals Paris Saint-Germain, sparking a heated row that has drawn i
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French former PM Edouard Philippe launches 2027 presidential bid
France • 7:12 AM
1 min
France’s former prime minister Edouard Philippe on Tuesday announced he would run in the 2027 presidential elections in a widely expected move. Philippe, who was Macron’s first prime minister, has remained a popular figure since he resigned in 2020, and
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