The French sports store Decathlon has cancelled a plan to put a sports hijabon the market in France after several politicians, including one from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, called for a boycott. The retailer’s plain, lightweight running headscarf, which covers the hair but not the face, is already on sale in Morocco and was to be …
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Swastikas and anti-Semitic tags were found daubed over 80 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France on Tuesday on the day of nationwide marches against a rise in anti-Semitic attacks. The damage was discovered on Feb. 19 morning at a cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim, close to the border with Germany in the Alsace region, …
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France said on Feb. 14 it is toughening its internet abuse laws after an outcry over young media executives who ran a macho “boys’ club” that bullied female colleagues online. Two government ministers said new rules will be tabled before the end of June to force YouTube and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to …
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Kahina Bahloul, a Muslim woman who was born for an Algerian father and a French mother, has established an association for Muslims in France and it is called: “Tell Me About Islam.” The association aims to discuss controversial debates that are not discussed among Muslims. Bahloul was the first to suggest the idea of a …
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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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Workers building a mosque in southwestern France found a pig’s head and animal blood at the entrance of the site on Monday, the latest in a series of attacks on Muslim places of worship over the past decade. Construction of the mosque in the small town of Bergerac — known for its fine Bordeaux wines …
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The French state under Emmanuel Macron has been accused of “strengthening security and repression” not only to tackle terrorist threats but also to deal with anti-government gilets jaunes protesters and migrants. In his 2018 annual report released on Tuesday, Jacques Toubon, the official rights defender or national ombudsman, complained of an unprecedented number of preventive …
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A French court has found top Catholic official Cardinal Philippe Barbarin guilty for failing to act on accusations against a paedophile priest. In a surprise decision on Thursday in France’s most important church sexual abuse trial, the Lyon court handed Barbarin a six-month suspended prison sentence for not reporting the facts in the period between …
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A memorial stone marking the site of a former synagogue destroyed by the Nazis has been vandalised in Strasbourg. Officials said the heavy memorial stone was discovered moved from its base in the French city on Saturday morning. Strasbourg mayor Roland Ries denounced the incident as “a new antisemitic act”. French officials in the region said …
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A major translation website was criticized on March 1 for offering up anti-Semitic, racist and sexist explanations of words. Users who typed “nicer” into Reverso looking for a French equivalent were offered the example: “Hitler was a lot nicer to the Jews than they deserved.” A search of “much nicer” produced the result “Dachau was much …
