French

Removal site in Dunkirk will hold people of 10 nationalities trying to reach UK in small boats under new deal with FrenchUK politics live – latest updatesThe UK will pay for 200 French officers to detain and deport people seeking asylum from some of the world’s most oppressive and war-ravaged regimes under a new UK-France deal to try to reduce Channel crossings.In what is being billed as the first time the French government has agreed to target those heading to the UK in small boats, a removal site in Dunkirk will be used to hold people from 10 countries: Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam and Yemen. The Home Office said they were the top 10 nationalities who crossed the Channel by small boat last year. Continue reading...

• Niger's transitional government announced a three-month extension to its military cooperation agreement with France, pausing its expulsion of French troops and reversing its February timeline for withdrawal. • The reversal follows intense negotiations between Paris and Niamey, with France agreeing to reduce its military footprint from 1,500 to 900 personnel and committing €200 million in civilian development aid. • The compromise addresses security challenges in the Sahel region, where French and US military presence remains crucial to counterterrorism operations despite growing anti-Western sentiment among portions of Niger's military leadership.

Owner of X summoned along with former CEO Linda Yaccarino over investigation by cybercrime unitBusiness live – latest updatesEurope live – latest updatesElon Musk has been summoned to Paris, where investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content.The world’s richest man and Linda Yaccarino – the former chief executive of X – were on Monday summoned for “voluntary interviews”, while other employees of the platform were scheduled to be heard as witnesses throughout this week, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Continue reading...

Jeremy Hansen praised for speaking French in space after Air Canada chief’s linguistic snub exposed tensions and drew rebuke from PMFew people foresaw humanity’s quest for the moon as accurately as the 19th-century French author Jules Verne, whose two works –From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon – anticipated many of the features of modern lunar exploration.But Verne’s language had never been spoken in deep space until the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen uttered four words during Nasa’s recent Artemis II mission. Continue reading...

Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says familyThe French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday.Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983. She died on Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family told AFP. Continue reading...

Marie-Thérèse Ross was arrested on 1 April and held in a Louisiana facility by immigration officials A French woman in her eighties who was arrested and placed in a US immigration detention centre has flown home.Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Marie-Thérèse Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. The 86-year-old widow was being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana. Continue reading...

In open letter, writers criticise Bollaré for promoting reactionary and far-right ideas and say ‘we refuse to be hostages in ideological war’More than 100 writers have quit the historic French publishing house, Grasset, in protest at its billionaire conservative owner, Vincent Bolloré, whose media empire has been accused of promoting reactionary and far-right ideas.In an unprecedented walk-out, dozens of writers including the acclaimed punk feminist novelist Virginie Despentes and the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, signed an open letter against Bolloré, 74, who is close to far-right figures. Continue reading...

Agents detained Marie-Therese Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to DHSThe French government is pressing the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release the 86-year-old French widow of a military veteran from immigration custody after she was detained earlier this month.US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Marie-Therese Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to DHS. Ross is now being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana. Continue reading...

The family of Marie-Thérèse, from Brittany, fear for her health after she was cuffed and placed in a detention centreAn 86-year-old French woman who moved to the US to marry her 1950s sweetheart is being held in a crowded detention centre in Louisiana after she was arrested by immigration agents and cuffed by her hands and feet.The family of the woman, named only as Marie-Thérèse, said they feared for her health as French consular officials attempted to secure her release. One of her sons told the Ouest-France newspaper that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had treated his mother like a hardened criminal. Continue reading...

Lafarge fined more than €1m and its former boss jailed for paying nearly €5.6m to groups including Islamic State A French court has fined the cement group Lafarge more than €1m (£870,000) and sentenced its former boss to six years in prison for paying protection money to Islamic State and other terror groups to maintain its business in war-torn Syria from 2013 to 2014.The ruling follows a 2022 case in the United States in which the French firm pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to US-designated “terrorist” organisations and agreed to pay a $778m fine (£580m) – the first time a company had faced the charge. Continue reading...

Police rescued boy after neighbour reported sounds of a child coming from vehicle in Hagenbach in eastern FranceA malnourished nine-year-old boy was rescued after being locked in his father’s van since 2024 in eastern France, a prosecutor said.A neighbour alerted police to “sounds of a child” coming from a vehicle in the village of Hagenbach, near the borders of Switzerland and Germany. Continue reading...

• Serena Williams won the 2026 French Open women's singles championship, defeating Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 7-5 in Saturday's final at Roland Garros. • The victory marks Williams' 25th Grand Slam title, breaking her previous record of 24 and cementing her status as the greatest tennis player of all time. • At age 44, Williams demonstrated exceptional fitness and mental fortitude throughout the two-week tournament.

• French cybersecurity funding has undergone a structural shift driven by AI-powered threats, regulatory requirements, and U.S. expansion, with Q1 2026 alone surpassing all of 2025's funding activity. • The sector is emerging as a frontline investment priority, though a government report warns of a €3 billion funding gap over five years for breakthrough technologies needed for future defense. • The acceleration reflects growing global demand for advanced security solutions as AI capabilities reshape both offensive and defensive cybersecurity strategies.

New agreement delayed amid home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s demands for more interceptions of dinghiesA renewed deal between the UK and France to stop small boat Channel crossings has not yet been signed, with a day to go before the current one expires, raising questions about whether people smugglers will be able to act unimpeded from later this week.Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron announced the previous £468m deal on 10 March 2023, weeks before it came into force. The UK pays two-thirds of the cost of policing France’s northern border and the current agreement expires on Tuesday. Discussions on it began last July at the 37th UK-France summit and British officials travelled to Paris last week for another round of talks. Continue reading...

Comedy duo will take the stage together in the West End for the first time in 17 years in Cinderella alongside Julian ClaryDawn French and Jennifer Saunders are to return to the stage together for the first time in 17 years to play the Ugly Sisters in the London Palladium pantomime.“It won’t be pretty,” the popular duo predicted in an announcement on Tuesday. “We have wished to play the Ugly Sisters for so many years, it feels this is the fulfilment of a dream – a dream our hearts made.” Continue reading...

Trump administration announces deal with TotalEnergies to redirect investment in wind to oil and gas insteadAs a fuel crisis triggered by the war in Iran drives up global fossil fuel prices, the Trump administration has announced it will pay French energy major TotalEnergies $1bn to kill plans to construct wind farms off the US east coast.The deal is the latest blow to the US offshore wind industry, which has faced repeated disruptions to multi-billion-dollar projects under Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Outcome suggests that when mainstream parties cooperate they can still block Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally Europe live – latest updatesFrance’s local elections, closely watched for clues to next year’s crunch presidential vote, have given parties of the centre a welcome and unexpected lift as the far right and radical left fell some way short of their ambitions.The 35,000 municipal ballots often focus on local survival and their outcomes do not always reflect national voting patterns, but they do show trends in popularity and suggest what kind of alliances can be struck in a fragmented political landscape. Continue reading...

Electoral alliances expected to play vital role in number of contests including Paris and MarseilleVoting is under way in France in the second round of local elections – seenas a bellwether for next year’s presidential race – with cities including Paris and Marseille in the balance and both the radical left and far right hoping for gains.Most of France’s 35,000-odd communes elected their councils in the first round last Sunday, but in municipalities where the contest is tighter, including most large urban areas, the second round will be decisive, with electoral alliances playing a key role. Continue reading...

Sabri Essid also found guilty of crimes against humanity after harrowing evidence from women enslaved by jihadistA French member of Islamic State has been convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed against Yazidis in a historic judgment that highlighted the atrocities committed by jihadists.The Paris criminal court found Sabri Essid, who was tried in his absence, directly participated in an organised system of killing, raping and enslaving members of the Iraqi ethnic and religious minority who are descended from some of the region’s most ancient roots. Continue reading...

Candidates look for deals with rivals to boost chances as major seats including Paris, Marseille and Lyon look closePolitical parties in France are hastily attempting to negotiate strategic alliances ahead of the final round of local elections this weekend, after a strong showing by the far right and the radical left.This Sunday’s final-round vote for mayors and local councillors in major cities including Marseille, Lyon and Paris will be close. Continue reading...

National Rally leader urges voters to back party’s ‘common sense’ campaign in final round as it eyes taking another cityJordan Bardella, the head of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) and a potential candidate in next year’s presidential race, has called on voters to back what he called his party’s “common sense and order” campaign in the final round of municipal elections next week.As the first-round municipal election results trickled in on Sunday night, the anti-immigration RN held on to the biggest city it runs: Perpignan. Louis Aliot was re-elected in the first round as mayor of the city, which has a population of 121,000 and is close to the Spanish border. Continue reading...

A French soldier was killed in an attack in Iraq on March 14, 2026, amid strikes by pro-Iranian factions targeting bases with foreign troops. Iranian media reported fresh explosions in Tehran, with the conflict showing no signs of abating despite economic fears. The incident highlights expanding risks to international forces beyond US assets. NATO allies are reassessing deployments in the region.

A drone attack on March 12, 2026, in northern Iraq killed one French soldier and wounded several others from the international coalition countering ISIS, as Iran-aligned groups intensify assaults. This incident follows heightened militia activity targeting US interests during the Iran war, raising fears for coalition stability. US officials monitor the situation closely, with potential impacts on multinational operations in the region.