France – News Stories About France - Page 1

6 Teens Guilty
for Role in
Teacher's
Beheading

Dec 9, 2023 6:30 AM CST

6 Teens Guilty for Role in Teacher's Beheading

Defendants had testified they didn't know Samuel Paty would be killed by Islamic extremist

(Newser) - A French juvenile court on Friday convicted six teenagers for their roles in the beheading of a teacher by an Islamic extremist that shocked the country. Teacher Samuel Paty was killed outside his school in 2020 after showing his class cartoons of the prophet of Islam during a debate on...

6 French Teens Go on Trial Over Teacher's Murder

6 French Teens Go on Trial
Over Teacher's Beheading

Nov 27, 2023 12:50 PM CST

6 French Teens Go on Trial Over Teacher's Beheading

Prosecutors say they helped killer find Samuel Paty

(Newser) - Six French teenagers have gone on trial in connection with a murder in a Paris suburb that horrified the country three years ago. History and geography teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown students caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed during a class on free speech, was beheaded near a secondary school...

Wife of France's 'Ogre' Goes on Trial for Decades-Old Murders

Serial Killer's
Wife Goes on
Trial for
Decades-Old Murders

Nov 27, 2023 3:00 AM CST

Serial Killer's Wife Goes on Trial for Decades-Old Murders

Monique Olivier was already convicted of acting as Michel Fourniret's accomplice in other killings

(Newser) - In 2018, the French serial killer known as the "Ogre of the Ardennes" confessed to the 1990 murder of Joanna Parrish . But Michel Fourniret died in prison (where he was serving a life sentence after having been convicted in 2008 of killing seven other girls and women ) in...

'It's the Holy Grail' of
Napoleonic Souvenirs

Nov 17, 2023 1:48 PM CST

'It's the Holy Grail' of Napoleonic Souvenirs

Only 4 or 5 signature bicorne hats remain in collectors' hands

(Newser) - One of the signature broad, black bicorne hats that Napoleon Bonaparte wore when he ruled 19th-century France and waged war in Europe is expected to fetch upward of $650,000 at auction on Sunday. The faded black felt hat is the star piece of the auction, valued at between $650,...

France's Arrest Warrant
for Assad May Mark a First

Nov 15, 2023 10:30 AM CST

France's Arrest Warrant for Assad May Mark a First

Syrian president is accused of war crimes in connection with 2013 chemical attack

(Newser) - French investigative judges have issued an international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar Assad and those close to him. The warrants for Assad, his brother, and two army generals accuse them of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with August 2013 chemical attacks on rebel-held Damascus...

Bipartisan French March Opposes Antisemitism

French March Against
Rising Antisemitism

Nov 12, 2023 10:10 AM CST

French March Against Rising Antisemitism

Macron promises to punish those responsible for acts

(Newser) - Tens of thousands of people marched in Paris on Sunday to protest increasing acts of antisemitism during Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and representatives of several parties on the left, as well as far-right leader Marine Le Pen, attended Sunday's march in the...

Wartime Love Letters From 1750s Unsealed for First Time

In 1750s War Letters, Humanity
Shows the Same Stripes

Nov 7, 2023 9:30 AM CST

In 1750s War Letters, Humanity Shows the Same Stripes

Messages to distant French sailors feel 'very familiar,' despite the time gap

(Newser) - In 1758, Marie Dubosc penned a letter to her husband, Louis Chambrelan, first lieutenant on the French warship Galatee. "I could spend the night writing to you," she wrote. "I am your forever faithful wife." Unfortunately for Dubosc, who would die the following year, the letter...

Police Open Fire on Woman
at Paris Subway Station

Oct 31, 2023 3:36 PM CDT

Police Open Fire on Woman at Paris Subway Station

She allegedly threatened to blow herself up, 'made remarks of a rather Islamist nature'

(Newser) - Paris police opened fire Tuesday on a woman who threatened to blow herself up after allegedly making death threats and speaking in support of terrorism on a train heading into the French capital. It was the latest security incident in France, which has been on heightened anti-terror alert since a...

'Whitewashed'
Wax Statue
of 'the Rock'
to Be Fixed

Oct 24, 2023 2:00 AM CDT

'Whitewashed' Wax Statue of 'the Rock' to Be Fixed

Paris museum will redo the statue after massive uproar over its appearance, skin tone

(Newser) - A Paris wax museum says it will fix a wax statue of Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson after a massive uproar over the statue's appearance—most notably its very white skin tone. The actor and onetime professional wrestler's mother is Samoan, and his Canadian father was Black, the...

Top Wine-Producing Nation
Is About to Be Dethroned

Top Wine-Producing Nation Is About to Be Dethroned

France to overtake Italy after a growing season marked by intense heat, mildew

(Newser) - After a growing season disrupted by intense storms and blistering summer heat, the world's top wine-producing nation is about to be dethroned. Experts from the European Commission, French Ministry of Agriculture, and Italy's Institute of Services for the Agricultural and Food Market predict Italy will produce 12% less...

Rock Slab Found in 1900
Now Hailed as 'Treasure Map'

Oct 18, 2023 1:30 PM CDT

Rock Slab Found in 1900 Now Hailed as 'Treasure Map'

Researchers believe the Saint-Bélec slab points to Bronze Age burial sites in France

(Newser) - There's no bright red "X" marking the spot where treasure can be found. Still, archaeologists believe they've found a "treasure map" in the form of a 4,000-year-old rock slab whose engraved markings match natural features in France's westernmost Brittany region. The large stone, known...

Teacher Killed in Suspected
Terror Attack in France

Oct 13, 2023 6:55 AM CDT

Teacher Killed in Suspected Terror Attack in France

2 others were wounded in high school attack

(Newser) - A man armed with a knife killed a teacher and wounded two others on Friday at a high school in northern France, an attack being investigated as potential terrorism. Antiterror prosecutors said they were leading the investigation into the attack at the Gambetta high school in the city of Arras,...

Tree Rings Reveal
Biggest Solar Storm Ever

NEW STUDY

Oct 12, 2023 10:19 AM CDT

Tree Rings Reveal Biggest Solar Storm Ever

We hope to avoid another Miayake Event like this one, dated to 14.3K years ago

(Newser) - Scientists have found evidence of the largest solar storm known to date, one of such power that it would devastate life as we know it if we were to feel the effects today, per the BBC . The team analyzed slices of ancient trees undergoing the fossilization process on the eroded...

Judge: France Owns
'Most Historically
Important Shipwreck'

Oct 11, 2023 10:55 AM CDT

Judge: France Owns 'Most Historically Important Shipwreck'

Battle over 16th-century La Trinite, off Florida coast, may finally be over

(Newser) - The wreck of a three-masted ship that sank in 1565 rests a stone's throw from a Cape Canaveral beach in less than 33 feet of water. It holds three bronze cannons, worth more than $1 million each, along with untold treasures. Yet since the discovery of La Trinite in...

French Medieval Castle
Has a Quirk: It's Only 26

Oct 8, 2023 4:40 PM CDT

French Medieval Castle Has a Quirk: It's Only 26

Guédelon Castle is being built using only tools and materials found in the Middle Ages

(Newser) - Construction is underway at a medieval castle in France's Burgundy region, but not to restore or repair the building. Instead, it's being newly constructed, a project that broke ground just 26 years ago using only tools and materials found in the 13th century. NPR visited Guédelon...

France Vaccinating 64M Ducks
for Very French Reason

Oct 6, 2023 9:42 AM CDT

France Vaccinating 64M Ducks for Very French Reason

It's a $100M effort taken in part of safeguard the country's foie gras

(Newser) - How beloved is foie gras in France? Enough that the country is planning to vaccinate 64 million ducks to protect the delicacy. The New York Times reports the effort kicked off Monday in a bid to safeguard the birds from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI. Reuters reports ducks are...

Ahead of Paris Olympics, a
Pesky Issue: 'No One Is Safe'

Oct 2, 2023 7:46 AM CDT

Ahead of Paris Olympics, a Pesky Issue: 'No One Is Safe'

Bedbugs are overrunning France, with the Games less than 10 months away

(Newser) - The Summer Olympics kick off in Paris in a little under 10 months, but France is now contending with a pesky issue it hopes it can contain before then. NPR reports on a nationwide "resurgence of bloodsucking bedbugs," six-legged insects about the size of an apple seed that...

After Frantically Calling
Reporter, 6 Women
Rescued From Truck

Sep 29, 2023 1:30 AM CDT

After Frantically Calling Reporter, 6 Women Rescued From Truck

The migrants say they got on thinking it was headed to UK, but it was not

(Newser) - Six female migrants trapped inside a refrigerated food truck were rescued by French police after one of the women made a distress call to a reporter, the BBC and French authorities said Thursday. The women—four Vietnamese and two Iraqis—hid for hours in a truck loaded with boxes of...

Mass Marches Protest Racism

Sep 23, 2023 1:35 PM CDT

Mass Marches Protest Racism

Demonstrations across France were sparked by the police killing of 17-year-old during a traffic stop

(Newser) - Families, community groups, and far-left activists marched in cities around France on Saturday to decry racism and police brutality, putting authorities on edge at a time when French police are deployed in force for a string of high-security events. Lingering anger over the killing by police of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk...

One Dead in Botulism
Outbreak Linked to Sardines

Sep 15, 2023 3:15 AM CDT

One Dead in Botulism Outbreak Linked to Sardines

A dozen people affected in incident at wine bar in France's Bordeaux region

(Newser) - Matt Jackson was riding an electric bike through France's Bordeaux wine country when he started feeling strange. Nine days later, he's on a breathing machine in a French intensive care unit, unable to open his eyes, communicating only via notes on a whiteboard—and infected with botulism. Jackson...