The Latest News about France

The cathedral is still in danger. Notre Dame — an icon of France, a symbol of the West, and one of the most beautiful expressions of Catholic worship — burned Monday while the world watched and the faithful prayed. By morning, thanks to the brave first responders and solid Medieval construction, the thousand-year-old church stood tall and the worst had been ...

France announced Wednesday that it will launch a contest to design a spire to replace Notre Dame Cathedral’s famous central tower destroyed in the tragic fire Monday. “Notre Dame should be given a new spire adapted to the techniques and goals of our era,” French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said, according to the WSJ. The spire was added to the ...

Two French billionaires pledged Tuesday to donate a total of 300 million euros to fund the restoration of Notre Dame cathedral after Monday’s massive fire. François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of the luxury retail group Kering and president of Groupe Artémis, announced Monday night while fires still burned in Notre Dame that his family would donate 100 million euros to ...

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, is still standing after suffering extensive damage from a fire that consumed its roof Monday, but the building’s main structure is still in danger, according to one expert. “It’s wonderful that what has survived, survived,” professional architect and professor James McCrery told The Daily Caller News Foundation. But, “it’s vital that the building ...

The Vatican culture minister said Tuesday one of the most valuable things the Vatican can offer toward rebuilding Notre Dame cathedral will be technical expertise. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi told reporters that the Vatican would be able to offer some design and engineering expertise based on collections in the Vatican Museums in order to help rebuild Notre Dame’s roof. The cathedral’s ...

A Gothic engineering technique used to waterproof the top of Notre Dame cathedral made the structure impervious to firefighter’s efforts to douse the flames. The fire destroyed the cathedral’s roof, spire, and stained glass windows, and may have also destroyed a priceless Christian relic – Christ’s crown of thorns. The collapse of the cathedral’s vault also endangers the structural integrity ...

Twitter used an anti-fake news law France passed in 2018 to block the French government’s social media campaign to get citizens to vote early in an upcoming election. France passed a law in December 2018 requiring online political campaigns to declare who paid for them, and how much was spent. Twitter is now using the law to black out the ...

French President Emmanuel Macron is planning a sweeping energy and climate legislative package months after “yellow vest” protests ignited across the country over a proposed gas tax hike. The French government is putting the final touches on the legislation before releasing it, replacing vague goals with more concrete proposals. Around the country, demonstrations against high living costs and heavy taxes ...

Vandals defaced a former synagogue in eastern France with swastikas in the latest of a series of anti-Semitic desecrations recently plaguing the region. Staff at the synagogue-turned-sports facility in the town of Mommenheim discovered the swastikas on the building’s door and facade, which still bears Hebrew lettering, Monday, according to The Associated Press. The anti-Semitic incident came hot on the ...

Overtaxed, costs of living rising, wages falling, The Yellow Vest Movement took to the streets again in Act 11, against the deeply unpopular President Emmanuel Macron. The protests have been mostly peaceful with small pockets of violence in response to Macron’s forces firing on the overtaxed protesters. Things are likely to get worse as wages fall and living costs rise. ...

French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to get tough on citizens protesting his government appears to have backfired as members of the yellow vest movement take to Paris’ streets. Nearly 50,000 protesters trampled Sunday through towns and cities dotting France, including Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rennes and Marseille. Street marches began peacefully enough in Paris but soon degenerated into a maelstrom of ...

More than 100,000 French police are preparing for New Year’s Eve in Paris as the government tries to prevent the yellow vest movement from hijacking what is considered a major tourist event. Demonstrations are being organized on Facebook where nearly 9,000 people have indicated they plan to attend and cause a ruckus. The movement was created in November through a ...

Roads and highways across France experienced more chaos from the “yellow vest” protests Tuesday after protesters began occupying and destroying dozens of toll booths, Reuters reports. Roughly 40 toll sites run by Vinci Autoroutes, the largest toll road operator in France, were affected by protests. Several highways and toll booths suffered heavy damage. “Motorists should take utmost care as they ...

Police in Paris are bracing for a fifth straight weekend of violent protests and are preparing to deploy armored vehicles and thousands of officers to maintain control, the Associated Press reports. Armored vehicles patrolled the streets of Paris for the first time since World War II last weekend as thousands of protesters in the “yellow vest” movement, which started in ...

The French government is reportedly calling on the so-called Yellow Vest movement to end their protests and give law enforcement a break as they continue to search for the suspect who allegedly opened fire at a crowded Christmas market on Tuesday, killing two and injuring 13 others. For weeks France has been engulfed in turmoil as hundreds of thousands of ...