France has the largest Jewish community in Europe – around 550,000 people. Increasingly, however, many say they no longer feel safe in their country. The Pinto family chose to move away from Seine-Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb. Last year, three men locked them up for several hours in their home. They were “targeted” because of their …
Read the full post →“Fears grow in France over anti-semetic violence”
French judges have dropped their long-running investigation into the deadly 1994 attack on former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, which sparked the country’s genocide, a legal source told AFP on Wednesday. The probe has been a major source of tension between the two countries after seven people close to current Rwandan President Paul Kagame were charged in the …
Read the full post →“France drops probe into attack that sparked Rwanda genocide”
Undocumented migrants living in makeshift camps in northern France have been subjected to an “unprecedented” violation of their basic rights over the past three years, the country’s human rights ombudsman said in a report Wednesday. Jacques Toubon said that migrants camped out along France’s northern coast and in Paris were “in a state of extreme …
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Toxic and potentially cancer-causing chemicals have been found in babies’ nappies in France, an investigation has revealed. Among the concerning findings was glyphosate, a chemical used in weedkiller which was last year deemed to have caused an American man’s cancer. Experts said they found ‘dangerously high levels’ of substances which could cause harm to children …
More than one million French women, or one woman in 20, are targets of sexist comments in public, according to a new report on sexism. The report highlights the kind of discrimination women go through on a daily basis, revealing that 1.2 million women experiencing sexist insults in 2017. The first investigation into sexism in France was carried out by the …
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Around 40 people in a holding center in Vincennes and 70 people in a center in Mesnil-Amelot, both in the Paris region, are on hunger strike. They allege police violence and a lack of access to adequate medical care; they say that their goal is to highlight the conditions in which they are being held. …
Read the full post →“France: Hunger strikes in two migrant holding centers”
France’s most important church sex abuse trial to date is likely to end in acquittal for a cardinal and other senior Catholic officials accused of protecting a pedophile priest, despite years of efforts by his victims to seek justice. The Rev. Bernard Preynat confessed to abusing Boy Scouts, and his victims say church hierarchy covered …
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The mayor of a town in northern France has issued a ban on excessive dog barking in a bid to curb canine noise pollution. From Monday, dog owners in Feuquières face a €68 (£60; $77) fine for “prolonged or repeated barking”. Mayor Jean-Pierre Estienne says the ban is in response to dogs “barking day and …
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Portraits of a Holocaust survivor stained with swastikas. A memorial in honor of a Jewish man vandalized. A bagel shop with the German word “Juden” sprayed on its front window. These are just a few of the hundreds of anti-Semitic acts that have been committed in France, which is home to the world’s largest Jewish …
Read the full post →“Anti-Semitic acts registered by police rose 74 percent in France last year”
Radio France and the news site Mediapart published on Wednesday excerpts of a memo from the DGSE – the French equivalent of MI6 and the CIA – which seems to refute the idea that they knew nothing of the Rwandan genocide as it began to unfold. The two news organisations published a note from the French exterior …
