Author: John Leicester
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Fishing tensions flare between France, UK over Brexit rules
LONDON • British Royal Navy vessels and French police boats patrolled Thursday near the English Channel island of Jersey, where French fishermen angry about losing access to its waters gathered for a maritime protest. The irate mariners set off flares and entered the island’s main harbor in the first major dispute between France and Britain…
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Angry herders secure bear ban from France’s Macron
PARIS • The bears have cute names — Bubble, Feather, Snowflake and the like — and look so soft and huggable when caught on video by remote cameras that study their habits. But to herders high in the Pyrenees mountains of southwest France, the animals are stone-cold killers, ravaging flocks and undermining farming livelihoods. Pyrenean…
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Riot in Paris: 135 hurt in protests; 1,000 detained
PARIS — The rumble of armored police trucks and the hiss of tear gas filled central Paris on Saturday, as French riot police fought to contain thousands of yellow-vested protesters venting their anger against the government in a movement that has grown more violent by the week. A ring of steel surrounded the president’s Elysee…
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This is heavy: The kilogram is getting an update
SEVRES, France • The kilogram is getting an update. No, your bathroom scales won’t suddenly become kinder and a kilo of fruit will still weigh a kilo. But the way scientists define the exact mass of a kilogram is about to change. Until now, its mass has been defined by the granddaddy of all kilos:…
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Barcelona’s victims: A snapshot of the world
PARIS — The dead and injured in Barcelona were a snapshot of the world — men, women and children from nearly three dozen nations — testifying to the huge global appeal of the sun-kissed city. Families, friends and government officials from Paris to Sydney, San Francisco to Berlin scrambled Friday to discover whether their loved…
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Aru beats Froome in first mountain stage of Tour
CHAMPAGNEY, France — In an impressive show of strength, Italy’s Fabio Aru has beaten three-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome to the top of the first mountain climb of this year’s race, winning Stage 5. Aru powered away from Froome and other top riders with a burst of acceleration on the sharp ascent to…
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Peter Sagan disqualified for causing Mark Cavendish to crash, withdraw from Tour de France due to injury
VITTEL, France – Mark Cavendish has been forced out of the Tour de France after suffering a fractured shoulder blade in a serious crash caused by world champion Peter Sagan, who was disqualified from cycling’s showcase event. Hours after Tuesday’s crash in a chaotic sprint finish to Stage 4, Cavendish’s Team Dimension Data said on…
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US prepares to ban laptops on flights from Europe
BRUSSELS — The U.S. is expected to broaden its ban on in-flight laptops and tablets to include planes from the European Union, a move that would create logistical chaos on the world’s busiest corridor of air travel. Alarmed at the proposal, which airline officials say is merely a matter of timing, European governments held urgent…
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Centrist Emmanuel Macron becomes France’s youngest president
PARIS — Ripping up France’s political map, French voters elected centrist Emmanuel Macron as the country’s youngest president ever Sunday, delivering a resounding victory to the unabashedly pro-European former investment banker and strengthening France’s place as a central pillar of the European Union. A jubilant crowd of Macron supporters roared with delight at the news,…
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Man killed after trying to grab Paris airport soldier’s gun
ORLY, France — Soldiers at Paris’ busy Orly Aiport shot and killed a man who wrestled one of their colleagues to the ground and tried to steal her rifle Saturday, officials said. Thousands of travelers were evacuated and at least 15 flights were diverted to the city’s other airport, Charles de Gaulle. No one else…