Browsing: France

Méabh Mc Mahon speaks to Stanislas Gaudon of the Alliance Police union about preparations for another weekend of protests in France, as police warn they are underresourced and unprepared to deal with further unrest.

The publisher of top-selling Haitian Canadian writer Thélyson Orélien, who was removed from France’s most prestigious literary prize list last month, has confirmed the author used artificial intelligence to help write his novel C’était ça ou mourir (It Was Either That or Die).

Leaders criticised for spreading misleading information as France prepares for further protests this weekend

At 3pm BST / 4pm CEST Friday 23 Oct, Guardian Europe columnists Rokhaya Diallo and Alexander Hurst will be live taking questions from our readers about the riots and protests in France. Send your questions by email now to conversations@theguardian.com, or join the discussion on Friday

Cars swept away, neighbourhoods and homes flooded: a new bout of severe weather has lashed south-eastern France, moving from Occitanie towards Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The heavy rain, which began on Monday, was easing in intensity by around midday on Tuesday.

French security forces arrested a man on Tuesday believed to be connected to the ultra-left over the burning down of a historic town hall in central France during rioting at the weekend on the sidelines of nationwide protests.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday that a “massive” security operation would be in place during further expected protests on Saturday after cost-of-living demonstrations turned violent across France over the weekend.

Meanwhile,the EU’s trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said the bloc’s relationship with the UK is of “vital importance in the current geopolitical, security and economic context,” as he set out the bloc’s expectations ahead of next month’s EU-UK summit on 20 November.

Six months before France elects a successor to President Emmanuel Macron, the country was rocked over the weekend by some of its worst street violence in years, with thousands of shops damaged, many looted. The unrest came after weeks of student demonstrations demanding better conditions in schools.

But first: Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has just told Europe Today that Europe has “fundamentally failed to be competitive”. “The (Mario) Draghi report is sitting on the shelf gathering dust, and Ursula von der Leyen speaks about competitiveness without doing anything about it.”