France

European Parliament member Rima Hassan says she’s facing “genuine judicial and political harassment” for her political opinions. She was detained in France on suspicion of “apology for terrorism”.

‘We were five people in my parents’ 2CV; we would set out at 3am and by 10am, around about Lyon, my father would need a break. My mother would set up a deckchair for him under a tree by the side of the road and he would sleep before driving the rest of the way to Toulon.”

On a recent road trip through France, I met up with Thierry Doillon, a vintage car fanatic who helped restore a 1950s petrol station on the Route Nationale 7. I wanted to talk about the heyday of this iconic road (so famous that singer-songwriter Charles Trenet released a song about it in 1955) and why it’s enjoying a renaissance with holidaymakers.

The RN7 stretches 996km (619 miles) from Paris to Menton on the Côte d’Azur, passing through Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Avignon, Lyon, Aix-en Provence, Fréjus and Nice. In summer 1936, the French government passed a law that mandated paid holiday, a move that kickstarted the exodus of northerners to the Med every August, and it became a true emblem of the French vacances. In the 50s and 60s, the route was awash with petrol stations, traffic jams, picnickers and roadside cafes.

Although the RN7 fell quieter when the Autoroute du Soleil (Motorway of the Sun) was completed in the early 1970s (the new toll road knocked a third off the journey time), it is now experiencing a resurgence thanks to the trend for slow tourism and discovering the road less travelled.

My road trip started on Paris’s Place d’Italie on a chilly September morning after an overnight stay at Hôtel Rosalie. Although my hired Citroën was capacious in comparison with Thierry’s 2CV of yesteryear, I could imagine the thrill he must have felt as a kid, embarking on an adventure that would take him to a land unrecognisable from the cold and grey of northern France, with the promise of warm sea, palm trees and glowing sunsets at its end.

Only a few kilometres from the centre of Paris, the roads started to widen and troops of Napoleonic plane trees lined up to guide this adventurer south. Historic highway it may be, but there’s a subtlety to the RN7 compared with the likes of America’s Route 66: instead of the shield-shaped “Historic Route” markers with “66” in large numbers, there are simple red-and-white bornes – round-topped concrete distance markers that dot every kilometre. There are faded ghost signs instead of screaming billboards, a mere whisper of the promise of parasols and pastis to come; Relais Routiers restaurants instead of roadkill cafes; and the soundtrack is Trenet’s 1955 whimsical hit (“L’amour joyeux est là qui fait risette, On est heureux Nationale 7”) rather than Chuck Berry or the Rolling Stones getting their kicks.

I imagine Thierry’s father despairing at my sluggishness, but nonetheless I made my first stop just 50km from Paris, in the village of Barbizon in the Fontainebleau forest. I stretched my legs in the shady wooded paths in the footsteps of the mid-18th-century artists who decamped here from the city to be inspired by nature.

Back on the road, I counted numerous art deco frontages of now-derelict mechanics along the route. “There were sometimes as many as 12 garages in a 6km stretch,” Thierry had told me. “Not just because the petrol tanks were so tiny back then, but because the cars broke down all the time!”

I drove through pretty riverside towns such as Charité-sur-Loire and Nevers and parked up at the Hôtel de Paris in Moulins, a charming town that’s intersected by the RN7. The historic hotel has played host to many French stars over the decades, from Coco Chanel to Edith Piaf, and was such a popular stopping point in the 50s that it used to have two daily lunch sittings – the first for those heading south from Paris, the second for those driving north from Lyon and the Riviera.

The next morning, I journeyed further back in time in La Pacaudière, a tiny village that bore witness to the importance of this north-to-south route centuries before it thronged with holidaymakers. Le Petit Louvre is a coaching inn in the village with a gargantuan, gleaming Burgundian roof that since the early 1500s has served variously as trading point, post office, prison and school, as well as hosting many passing bigwigs.

While residents in La Pacaudière are now free of traffic jams thanks to a bypass that avoids the village, those in the next village of Lapalisse hold a biennial traffic jam party called Embouteillage to celebrate the nostalgic bottlenecks of the 60s.

My next stop was Roanne, one of those French towns most Britons have never heard of that turns out to be a gastronomic gem, in this instance partly due to it being home to Michelin-starred chef Michel Troisgros. While he has a three-star gastronomic restaurant in the nearby village of Ouches, I stopped at little-sister restaurant Le Central, which is bang on the RN7 as it cuts through town in front of la gare.

The route’s history is intertwined with that of the Michelin Guide, which provided essential information and maps for millions of holidaymakers. Many legendary chefs and eateries are synonymous with the route – from Eugénie Brazier, the first woman to earn six Michelin stars, to Fernand Point with La Pyramide in Vienne, who achieved three Michelin stars in the 30s.

My lunch at Le Central started with a fish broth amuse bouche, continued with a hunk of white fish and confit peppers, and ended with a volcanic île flottante called Mont Fuji, all of which really kickstarted the gastronomic second half of my slow journey through France.

Not far after Roanne came the visual highlight of my trip: the Ozo petrol station which Thierry and his friends have restored to its former glory. He’d told me how the first guardian of the station had been a woman – AKA the godmother – who had lived in the tiny kiosk and been on hand 24/7 to help drivers at the pump.

Fully fuelled, my drive then took me to the Vallée de la Gastronomie, a stretch of central France that pulses with the heartbeat of artisans, chefs, producers and winemakers.

I met Pierre-Yves at Maison Mure in St Symphorien-de-Lay, an artisan boulanger, pâtissier and chocolatier who has created a cake that celebrates the Nationale 7, a light sponge sandwich in the shape of its road sign. I spent the night in a cottage at Domaine de Clairefontaine, a small hotel and bistronomic restaurant.

The next morning, I continued to Tain-l’Hermitage, visiting its Citè du Chocolat museum and hiking through the Hermitage vineyards that border the town. I stopped over at Maison Chabran in Pont-de-l’Isère, another good example of the many superlative family-run hotel-restaurants that dot the length of the RN7.

The culinary treats came one after the other as I made my way south, from roadside nougat in Montélimar to the historic rolling vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France’s first wine appellation. My journey reached its gastronomic zenith with an overnighter at the Michelin-starred La Mère Germaine, perched in the heart of the wine village, before I trundled to the coast, the greenery of la vraie France now behind me and the dusty roads, rocky outcrops of the Luberon and big hitters such as Orange’s Théâtre Ancien, Avignon’s papal palace and Aix-en-Provence’s Cézanne celebration ahead.

From plane trees to palm trees, from big rivers to the Mediterranean, the route was now edged by melon vendors and seafood stalls, with seemingly infinite blue sea in front. I spent the last night of my road trip in Fréjus, a town that combines ancient history with modern-day Med sparkle, staying in l’Aréna hotel. In 1799, Napoleon slept here en route from Egypt to his coup d’état in Paris.

I like to take the road less travelled when I can in France, but this time I had taken the road much travelled, then barely travelled, and now more travelled again. My out-of-season journey down the Route des Vacances was a memorable mix of quiet roads, nostalgia, superlative food and wine, and a variety of landscapes.

It was ​not ⁠immediately clear how the vessel, which Marine Traffic tracking data shows is sailing south along the coast of Oman, secured safe passage.

A container ship belonging to French shipping giant CMA CGM has crossed ⁠⁠through the Strait of Hormuz, the first such passage by a Western vessel since Iran effectively closed the waterway, the Marine Traffic vessel website shows.

The Malta-flagged Kribi, owned by CMA CGM, crossed the Strait on April 2 and is the first French-owned vessel to ‌‌make it through the channel since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28.

It was not ⁠⁠immediately clear how the vessel, which the data shows is sailing south along the coast of Oman, secured safe passage.

There was no immediate comment from CMA CGM.

However, LSEG ⁠⁠shipping data showed the vessel on Thursday changed its destination to “Owner France”, ⁠⁠signalling to Iranian authorities the nationality ⁠⁠of its owner, before crossing the strait’s Iranian territorial waters.

The ship had originally been bound for Pointe-Noire in the Republic of ‌‌the Congo.

Only about 150 vessels, including tankers and container ships, have transited the strait since March 1, according to data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Most were linked to Iran and countries including China, India and Pakistan.

Beijing expressed “gratitude” on Tuesday after three of its ships passed through the strait, including two container ships on Monday belonging to state-owned shipping giant Cosco.

Energy crisis

Until the war led to the effective blocking of the Strait, it was the route for about a fifth of global oil and ⁠⁠liquefied natural gas supplies. As a result, fuel prices have skyrocketed worldwide.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump insisted that petrol prices would fall quickly once the war concluded, but offered no solution for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, he invited sceptical US allies to do it themselves. He insisted that the war would be worth it.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday it would ⁠⁠be unrealistic to launch a military operation to open the strait, and ⁠⁠that only diplomatic efforts would work.

Macron has worked with European and other ⁠⁠allies to build a coalition to guarantee free passage through the strait once hostilities have stopped.

Meanwhile, writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran’s former top diplomat said that Tehran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.

Tehran could “declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one,” wrote Mohammad Javad Zarif, foreign minister from 2013 to 2021.

The United States and Israel have carried out multiple attacks on medical facilities in the course of their war on Iran.

On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian appealed to international health organisations to respond to attacks on medical facilities in Iran, including the Pasteur Institute in capital Tehran, a key centre that Iranian officials said had been targeted that day.

At least 2,076 people have been killed and 26,500 have been wounded in Iran since the US and Israel first launched strikes on the country on February 28.

Here is a closer look at how the US and Israel have hit healthcare facilities in Iran.

What has the Iranian president said about attacks on healthcare?

On Thursday, Pezeshkian wrote in an X post: “What message does attacking hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and the Pasteur Institute as a medical research center in Iran convey?”

The Iranian president, 71, a heart surgeon by profession, continued: “As a specialist physician, I urge WHO [the World Health Organization], the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and physicians worldwide to respond to this crime against humanity.”

What is the Pasteur Institute, which has been targeted?

On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei wrote in an X post: “The American-Israeli aggressors have attacked the Pasteur Institute of Iran – the oldest and most prestigious research and public health centre in Iran and the entire Middle East, founded in 1920 through an agreement between the Pasteur Institute of Paris and the Iranian government.”

Baghaei deemed the attack “heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous”.

He did not specify whether there were casualties from the attack.

The institute was founded more than 100 years ago in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur in Paris, an internationally renowned centre for biomedical research, which itself was founded in 1887.

The institute in Iran conducts research on infectious diseases, produces vaccines and biological products and provides advanced diagnostics.

The centre has played a central role in fighting endemic diseases such as smallpox and cholera. It also supports Iran’s national immunisation programme by developing and producing vaccines and related biologicals – including those used against diseases such as tetanus, hepatitis B and measles.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, wrote in an X post on Friday that two departments of the Pasteur Institute of Iran have also been working closely with the WHO.

“The conflict in Iran, and the region, is impacting the delivery of health services and the safety of health workers, patients, and civilians present at health facilities,” Ghebreyesus wrote.

Which other healthcare facilities have been hit in Iran?

“Since 1 March, WHO has verified over 20 attacks on health care in Iran, resulting in at least nine deaths, including that of an infectious diseases health worker and a member of the Iranian Red Crescent Society,” Ghebreyesus wrote in his X post.

Some of the facilities hit include:

Red Crescent warehouse

On Friday morning, a drone strike hit a Red Crescent relief warehouse in Iran’s Bushehr province.

While no casualties were reported, the attack destroyed two relief containers, two buses and emergency vehicles, Fars news agency reported.

Tofigh Daru

On March 31, Israeli-US strikes hit one of Iran’s largest pharmaceutical companies in Tehran, the Iranian government said in a post on X.

The company was later identified as Tofigh Daru Research and Engineering Company, which is owned by the Social Security Investment Company, a state-run holding firm. On LinkedIn, Tofigh Daru states that it develops and produces active pharmaceutical ingredients “in the anticancer, narcotics, cardiovascular to immunomodulatory segments”.

No confirmed casualty numbers were reported from that strike.

Delaram Sina Psychiatric Hospital

This newly constructed hospital in Tehran was significantly damaged during an attack on the capital on March 29, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

About 30 patients were in the hospital at the time of the strike late on Monday, the hospital’s director told IRNA. No specific casualty figures for the hospital have been reported.

Ali Hospital

The hospital in Andimeshk in Iran’s Khuzestan province sustained damage from an explosion on March 21, according to the Mehr and Fars news agencies.

In his post on Friday, Ghebreyesus confirmed this attack and said the facility had been forced to evacuate staff and cease services.

Reports about the attack do not mention casualties at the hospital.

Gandhi Hospital

On March 2, Gandhi Hospital in Tehran was damaged during attacks on a television communications tower nearby.

No confirmed casualty figures were reported for the hospital itself.

What does international law say about attacks on healthcare?

International humanitarian law states that health establishments and units, including hospitals, should not be attacked, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

These protections also apply to the sick and wounded, to medical staff and to means of transport such as ambulances.

In 2016, the United Nations Security Council resolution 2286 was adopted unanimously. This condemns attacks on healthcare and calls on nations to respect international law.

However, last year record attacks on healthcare during armed conflict were recorded, according to the WHO’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA).

The SSA said that in armed conflicts worldwide, 1,348 attacks on medical facilities resulted in the killing of 1,981 people. The majority of these deaths were in Sudan, where 1,620 people were killed, followed by Myanmar, where 148 people were killed.

This was a sharp uptick from 2024, when 944 patients and medical personnel were killed in armed conflict.

Where else has Israel targeted medical staff and facilities?

Lebanon

Besides Iran, Israeli attacks have also targeted healthcare facilities in Lebanon.

A month into its latest bombardment of Lebanon, Israel has killed 53 medical workers, destroyed 87 ambulances or medical centres, and forced the closure of five hospitals, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.

“Israeli strikes and blanket evacuation orders are cutting people off from care and shrinking the space for health services to function,” Luna Hammad, the Lebanon medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), told Al Jazeera, adding that MSF has seen “a documented pattern of attacks affecting healthcare”.

Gaza

Throughout its genocidal war in Gaza, Israel has also attacked healthcare facilities in the Palestinian enclave.

In October 2023, hundreds of people sheltering in the car park of Gaza’s al-Ahli Hospital were killed in an Israeli attack, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israel attributed the explosion at the facility to a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an allegation denied by the armed group.

In March 2024, the Israeli military said it killed 90 people in its raid on al-Shifa Hospital during a siege, as displaced Palestinians sheltering in the facility described long detentions and abuse.

In December 2024, the Israeli army arrested Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, after refusing to follow orders to abandon one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza. His arrest came a day after the military killed approximately 20 Palestinians and apprehended about 240 in a raid inside the hospital, which was one of the “largest operations” conducted in the territory until that time.

In March 2025, Israeli forces reportedly shot dead 15 Palestinian medics for the Palestine Red Crescent Society and inside clearly identifiable PRCS ambulances, during a rescue mission in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood.

President Lee Jae Myung said Friday he and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to work together to secure the safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and mitigate the broad impact from the war in the Middle East.

Lee addressed concerns over uncertainties in global energy supply chains following summit talks with Macron, during which the two leaders discussed ways to deepen economic ties and strengthen coordination on security issues.

“President Macron and I agreed to share policy-related experiences and strategies in order to jointly address the economic and energy crises triggered by the Middle East war. We also concurred on working together to reduce uncertainty in the global economy,” Lee said during a joint press announcement.

“We confirmed our commitment to bolstering energy security by expanding our cooperation in the nuclear and offshore wind power sectors while collaborating to secure safe maritime transport routes through the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.

Lee said the two leaders also agreed to boost trade and investment with a goal of reaching $20 billion in annual bilateral trade by 2030, up from $15 billion last year.

To boost cooperation across sectors, the two sides signed a series of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and other documents.

They pledged to expand cooperation in advanced technologies and future industries — including artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum technology — and to establish a ministerial-level joint committee on science and technology.

The two countries also signed a letter of intent on cooperation in critical mineral supply chains, aimed at combining South Korea’s manufacturing capabilities with France’s processing technology and infrastructure.

The state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power signed MOUs with French nuclear firms, Orano and Framatome, as well as a separate MOU with France’s EDF on a joint development of an offshore wind power plant in the southwestern city of Yeonggwang.

Lee expressed hope that the agreements would ensure a stable supply of raw materials for South Korea’s nuclear power plants and lay the groundwork for joint entry into the global market.

He also laid out plans to cooperate in space and defense while pledging efforts to bolster collaboration in the cultural sector in light of an MOU signed between the two nations’ cultural heritage agencies.

During the talks, Lee said he explained Seoul’s efforts to resume dialogue with Pyongyang to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula, while Macron reaffirmed Paris’ support for peace and stability on the peninsula.

“We two leaders shared a profound understanding that peace on the Korean Peninsula has far reaching implications not just in Northeast Asia and Europe but also the rest of the world,” Lee said.

Lee noted that Seoul and Paris have expanded cooperation across a wide range of sectors, including future strategic industries, such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, space, nuclear energy and defense, and expressed hope to deepen coordination on the international stage.

“As responsible members of the international community, the two countries are also working together to respond to rapid changes in the global landscape,” he said.

Lee said Macron extended a formal invitation to the Group of Seven summit scheduled for June in Evian, France, adding that he accepted the invitation. If he attends, it would mark his second consecutive appearance at the G7, following his participation in Canada last year.

Lee welcomed the two countries’ decision to upgrade ties from “a comprehensive partnership for the 21st century,” established in 2004, to “a global strategic partnership,” calling it “a new milestone” in bilateral relations built on 140 years of trust and friendship.

Macron struck a similar tone, expressing hope to expand cooperation across a broad range of areas, including artificial intelligence, quantum technology, semiconductors, space and culture, under the upgraded partnership.

He said that Seoul and Paris could strengthen security cooperation and work together to help stabilize the situation in the Middle East, including ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

The visit marks Macron’s first trip to South Korea since taking office in 2017 and the first by a French president in 11 years. It comes as the two countries mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations, established with the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between France and the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

It can be difficult to choose which class to go for when booking Eurostar. Recently, I tried Plus, and while it was a pleasant experience, here’s why I think it’s not worth the money

Eurostar offers a fast and efficient way to get from London to the continent, and if you’re doing a day trip or a short break, it can be much more time-efficient than flying.

When you choose your Eurostar train time, you’ll usually be presented with three fare options: Standard, Plus, and Premier. Recently, I took two trips in the space of a week, one on Standard and one on Plus to see how the two classes compare. With Plus tickets often costing double, triple, or even quadruple the cost of a Standard ticket, is it worth the upgrade?

I took the Eurostar Standard from London to Lille, which at just 90-minutes is the shortest journey from London St Pancras. I managed to pick up tickets for £35 one-way in a flash sale, so going to Lille was cheaper than visiting many UK cities by train.

Standard

Standard is a no-frills service. You get a luggage allowance of two bags up to 85cm long on routes to and from London, plus a small item such as a handbag and laptop bag. There are no weight or liquid limits like you’d find on planes, although you do need to heft your bags up and down the steep train steps, so keep that in mind before stocking up on wine at the supermarché.

There are two rows of two seats, which are comfier than most UK trains and have headrests and footrests. Impressively, Standard tickets are flexible up to an hour before departure, so if your travel plans change you can swap your ticket for no fee. You simply pay the difference for your new fare.

Seats come with a power outlet, and you technically get access to WiFi, although on all my journeys, this barely worked, so bring a book. Once settled in, we had some snacks and the journey flew by, and we stepped off the train into the centre of Lille ready for a city break.

Eurostar Plus

A few days later, I tried the Eurostar Plus, this time on a journey from London to Paris. The journey through St Pancras station is exactly the same, you don’t get access to a priority queue, lounge, or boarding, so you don’t really notice the difference until you board. Luggage allowances and rules around flexibility are also the same as Standard class.

The carriages are also very similar to Standard, except with one less seat in a row, so you have two seats on one side and single seats on the other. The single seats seemed popular with business travellers who quickly whipped out their laptops, although with the patchy WiFi, I’m not sure how much work they got done.

Unfortunately, I think I had bad luck with this train: half the toilets were out of order, and the other half were less than pleasant. I had to wobble my way up and down the aisles with a child in tow, trying to find a loo.

The main upgrade on Plus is that you get breakfast or a light meal, plus a choice of drinks, including wine and beer. Dishes are served cold, so they tend to be salads with chicken or fish or pasta dishes. My salmon and lentils were tasty enough, but about on par with what you’d get in Marks and Spencer at the station.

The staff on Eurostar Plus are also extremely friendly and helpful, and it was nice to sit back and be served a meal with wine and coffee on a well-presented tray. But is it worth the upgrade?

READ MORE: Spain airport strikes warning as Easter travellers face severe delaysREAD MORE: Brit lad books Airbnb stay in someone’s garage – and sums it up in 2 words

However, I will admit that the Plus carriage did have a slightly calmer, more business-like vibe, so if you’re on the way to an important meeting, it might be worth the money. Likewise, if you’re traveling alone and don’t want to risk ending up with a chatty neighbour, the thought of booking a single seat might appeal.

Otherwise, take your own sandwich and save your Euros for when you arrive at your destination.

Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

The pastel tones of Vichy in the Auvergne

Vichy is not on everyone’s radar as a must visit French town, but it really is a delight to spend a few days in. I discovered it while on a bicycle trip around central France, and its famous waters did wonders for my tired legs and muscles. Vichy is a historic spa town famous for its spring waters and its art nouveau and belle époque architecture. A thriving cultural scene means that, whenever you visit, you’ll find concerts, theatre, opera and exhibitions, especially at the town’s opera house and the iconic Grand Casino. Vichy is also a shopper’s paradise, with more than 500 boutique shops in the heart of the town. When all that shopping and walking has worked up a thirst, taste the famous Vichy waters for free at Hall des Sources (listed on the Accidentally Wes Anderson website). The city is easy to explore on foot or by bike, with riverside paths along the Allier River, pretty neighbourhoods with pastel-coloured villas, and plenty of outdoor cafes. Being there felt like witnessing a Renoir or Matisse painting coming to life before my eyes.
Nicoletta

Canals, lakes and flowers in Savoie

Chanaz on the north-western edge of the Savoie is a picturesque village I love to visit in summer. One the best little trips is to rent a canoe or electric boat and glide along the Canal de Savières to the Lac du Bourget. The village boasts colourful flowers, old narrow streets, cycling lanes, and some of the best ice-cream I’ve ever tasted. There are plenty of affordable accommodation options around the Lac du Bourget, and many more villages to explore in the area.
Juliette B

The ‘most beautiful kilometre in France’ is in Normandy

Avoid the crowds and see the wonder of Mont-Saint-Michel from another angle, the Falaises de Champeaux (Champeaux Cliffs), with a view much admired by General Dwight Eisenhower in the second world war after he had set up an allied HQ in nearby Jullouville. The half-hour car journey from Granville to medieval Genêts takes you through the old-fashioned and unspoilt seaside village resorts, cafes and restaurants of Saint-Pair-sur-Mer, Jullouville, Carolles, and before you reach the delightful village of Saint-Jean-le-Thomas, you can take in the panoramas of the “most beautiful kilometre in France”.
Dee

Modernism and glass in Provence

The Fernand Léger National Museum in Biot, near Antibes, is one of our favourite places to spend an afternoon. The temporary and permanent displays of Léger’s modernist works are interesting, but it’s the stunning exterior and calm surrounding grounds that are really special. To make the most of your time, La Verrerie de Biot is a two-minute drive away. Here you can watch free glass-blowing demonstrations and browse the glass creations in the shop.
Rowan De Saulles

Walking in the shadow of Robert Louis Stevenson, Massif Central

Last August I walked the southern half of the Chemin de Stevenson (designated the GR 70) – a 140-mile footpath in the Cévennes that follows the route taken by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1878 with his recalcitrant donkey, Modestine. I averaged 15 miles daily, hiking along rocky trails and woodland paths. Accommodation comprised basic hostels, each about €50 a night; one had lodged RLS 147 years previously. I ate dinner at local bistros; breakfast came from boulangeries. I met a few fellow hikers but was mostly accompanied only by the words from Stevenson’s account, Travels with a Donkey, as I tried to match his footsteps to my own. The full route crosses four departments: Haute-Loire, Ardèche, Lozère and Gard.
Jane

Leonardo’s resting place on the Loire

Amboise, a delightful small town on the Loire, boasts three chateaux. The most imposing is the Château Royal d’Amboise, home to Francis I, who lent a spare chateau, the Clos Lucé, to Leonardo da Vinci for the last three years of his life (1516–19). It is the Clos Lucé that delights the most, with its full-sized mock-ups of Leonardo’s designs dotted around the park, while models of other inventions are displayed in the cellars. Leonardo’s bedroom, kitchen and atelier are all reproduced in their original rooms. Leonardo’s last resting place is a dedicated chapel in the Château Royal – the Chapel of Saint-Hubert. The third chateau, Gaillard, is renowned for its Renaissance landscape architecture and gardens.
Pete Mitchell

Cycling between Normandy pools

I took my vintage Raleigh Chopper on the night ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe and cycled the Normandy coast with essentials packed in a small bag. I stopped at Honfleur, Deauville, Caen and Mont-Saint-Michel and enjoyed swims in Trouville’s art deco lido, Deauville’s beautiful seawater Olympic pool, the tidal sea pools at Saint-Pair-sur-Mer and Granville. The superb Les Bains de Dieppe has sadly had to permanently close since my visit because of structural problems. I used trains when the weather was bad and to get back to Dieppe.
Victorie

Provence in the frame

Base yourself in Arles during the long summer for Les Rencontres d’Arles (6 July-4 October), when cutting-edge photography fills an eclectic mix of venues: romanesque churches, cloisters, the town hall, shady parks and even a Monoprix warehouse, all within easy walking distance. There’s accommodation to suit all budgets, including many in old Arlésienne homes. Between exhibitions, trace Van Gogh at the Starry Night Café and along the canal towards the Bridge at Arles, or climb the Roman arena for wide Provençal views. In September Camargue rice festival with its tractor-pulled floats, music and rice flung like panto sweets is also great fun to visit.
Stephen Edwards

A dash of Tuscany in Pays de la Loire

I caught my first glimpse of Clisson while visiting nearby Gétigné. There is simply no mistaking you are south of the Loire here. It’s a delightfully surprising town in the muscadet wine region with a distinctly Mediterranean feel where terracotta roofs and ochre tones abound. On a hot summer’s day, be transported from Loire-Atlantique to Tuscany thanks to the Italianate-style architecture and sweeping views from the castle towards Domaine de la Garenne Lemot. Umbrella pines serve to accentuate the town’s characteristic ambience and tucked away on a charming sidestreet is one truly remarkable leaning specimen.
Richard Arnott

Winning tip: Canoeing in Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Corrèze, a rural department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine, has lakes, gorges, sleepy farming hamlets and furry brown cows. It is a peaceful place even in the middle of August. We followed a switchback road to Smile Kayak, rented canoes, stuffed waterproof barrels with baguettes, beers and cheeses, and were delighted to find we had the gorge to ourselves. We paddled along the river where the Dordogne and Diège converge, watching red kites wheeling overhead and shattering the silence by shouting for echoes.
Cath Fischl

US President Donald Trump has released a series of posts attacking NATO countries including France, Spain and the UK over their role in securing the Strait of Hormuz. Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher explains what Trump’s latest criticism of US allies means.

March 28 (UPI) — Law enforcement in Paris arrested one person and is pursuing another after they allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device outside a bank there.

The two suspected attackers attempted to detonate the device near Bank of America’s headquarters in France’s capitol, French officials confirmed on Saturday afternoon.

“Bravo for the swift intervention of a prefecture of of police crew that made it possible to thwart a violent action of a terrorist nature last night in Paris,” France’s minister of the interior, Laurent Nunez, said in a post on X.

“The investigation continues … Vigilance remains more than ever at a high level,” he said.

Around 3:30 a.m. early Saturday morning, officers in the area saw two people carrying a shopping bag, out of which came a container of some type of fuel taped to a tube that the duo attempted to light, the French radio station RTL reported.

The suspect who was caught by police told them he had been recruited online and was paid about $700 for the attempted attack.

Attacks have been committed at synagogues, Jewish schools and facilities, and near businesses associated with the United States and Israel in a handful of countries since the start of the war in Iran.

France, in particular, has ramped up security on the lookout for terrorist attacks.

The Iran-linked group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya posted video on Telegram of a bank in France last week which included a push to attack Bank of America in Paris because it “is not just a bank, but a shadowy Zionist force,” The Telegraph reported.

“This bank sends vast investments to Israel, while simultaneously strengthening Jewish economy, culture and politics in France,” the group said in the video. “Through its support for Zionist schools, associations, companies and urban development projects, Bank of America has become a ‘financial and strategic force’ in the European Zionist arena.”

Interior minister says ‘vigilance at high level’, after police arrest suspect before setting off explosive device outside US bank’s headquarters.

French authorities have opened an investigation into a foiled ⁠attack targeting Bank of America’s Paris headquarters after police detained one suspect who was allegedly attempting to ignite an explosive device outside the building.

In a social media post on Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the swift intervention by police had “thwarted a violent terrorist attack” in the French capital the previous night.

French newspaper Le Parisien cited a police source as saying the suspect was arrested at about 3:25am local time (02:25 GMT) outside the bank’s local headquarters in the city’s 8th arrondissement as he tried to light a device consisting of a five-litre (1.3-gallon) container filled with an unidentified liquid and an explosive charge made up of about 650 grams (23 ounces) of powder.

The suspect was taken into custody, while a second individual who was present fled the scene and remains at large. The device was taken to the Paris police’s forensics lab for full analysis.

The National Terrorism Prosecution Office told the Reuters news agency the suspected offences included attempted destruction by fire or other dangerous means in connection with a “terrorist plot”, as well as ⁠the making, possession ⁠and transport of an incendiary or explosive device with intent ⁠to carry out dangerous damage.

The probe ⁠also includes a ⁠charge of participation in a “terrorist” criminal association, covering potential ‌links to accomplices or a broader network, it said.

“Vigilance remains at a very high level,” said Nunez on X, thanking “security and intelligence forces, who are fully mobilised under my authority” in what he called the “current international context”, seemingly with reference to the escalating situation in parts of the Middle East amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Earlier in the week, Nunez had said that authorities had stepped up the personal protection of some figures from the Iranian opposition and increased security around sites that risked being targeted, including sites linked to US interests and to the Jewish community.

A spokesperson for Bank of America told Reuters the organisation was “aware of the situation” and “communicating with the authorities”.

PRAGUE — Ilia Malinin is back on the top step of the podium.

Six weeks after a disastrous skate knocked the Olympic gold-medal favorite off the podium, the “quad god” reeled off one huge jump after another, and a backflip for good measure, to retain his world championship title for the third year running.

Malinin shouted and punched the air with relief after finishing a skate that showed he had achieved his desire to “move on” from the Olympics after days tormented by his mistakes.

He praised the crowd’s support, saying: “It was really challenging, really hard but with you guys I was able to make it through.” His aim, he added, had simply been to get through the free skate “in one piece.”

Skating last after leading the short program, just as he did in Milan, Malinin landed five high-scoring quadruple jumps but not his pioneering quad axel, a jump he didn’t attempt at the Olympics.

Malinin scored 218.11 in the free skate for a total 329.40, far ahead of silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan on 306.67. Another Japanese skater, Shun Sato, was third on 288.54.

Ilia Malinin performs a backflip during his free skate at the World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday in Prague.

(Petr David Josek / Associated Press)

Kagiyama beat his personal-best free skate score but still had to make do with a fourth career world championship silver in a career which includes four Olympic silvers and five total worlds medals, but no gold from either event. He still embraced Malinin after his skate and they jumped together in celebration.

In a showcase of top-level skating, there was no podium spot for France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, who had been in second after the short program but dropped to fifth overall after a fall. Estonia’s Aleksandr Selevko also fell dropped from third to sixth.

Malinin had no rematch with Mikhail Shaidorov, the skater from Kazakhstan who won the Olympic gold, because he opted against competing again this season.

That’s relatively common in figure skating for gold medal winners who face a rush of media and commercial opportunities after a grueling four-year Olympic buildup.

Malinin becomes the first skater to win three consecutive men’s world titles since fellow American Nathan Chen, who achieved the feat in 2018, 2019 and 2021 after the 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last competition of the championships is the free dance portion of the ice dance event later Saturday. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron are in the lead after Friday’s rhythm dance.

VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France — Group of Seven foreign ministers met on Friday in France to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with deep divisions apparent over the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, following President Trump’s repeated complaints that America’s allies have ignored or rejected requests for help in the military operation and in confronting Iran’s retaliatory attacks, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most international shipping.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined his counterparts from the G7 just 24 hours after Trump’s latest round of insults lobbed at NATO and as instability in oil markets persisted with the Iran war entering its fourth week along with uncertainty over the status of potential negotiations to end the crisis.

Most of America’s closest allies have greeted the Iran war with deep skepticism, sentiments that were on display as the G7 foreign ministers met at a historic 12th-century abbey in Vaux-de-Cernay, outside Paris, even as they urged a diplomatic solution to resolve the situation.

As the diplomats gathered, France’s Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin said the war in the Middle East “is not ours,” adding that the French position is strictly defensive.

“The aim is truly this diplomatic approach, which is the only one that can guarantee a return to peace,” she said on Europe 1 and CNews. “Many countries are concerned, and it is absolutely essential that we find a solution.”

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, meanwhile, said Britain also favored a diplomatic path, acknowledging differences with the United States. “We have taken the approach of supporting defensive action, but also we’ve taken a different approach on the offensive action that has taken place as part of this conflict,” she said.

Rubio already faced difficulties in trying to sell the U.S. strategy for the Iran conflict, but Trump’s vitriolic comments about NATO countries not stepping up to help the U.S. and Israel during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday will likely make it an even tougher task.

Of the G7 nations — besides the U.S. — Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy are members of the trans-Atlantic military alliance. Japan is the only one that is not.

“We are very disappointed with NATO because NATO has done absolutely nothing,” Trump said in comments echoed later by his top diplomat.

“Frankly, I think countries around the world, even those that are out there complaining about this a little bit, should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that’s willing to confront a threat like this,” Rubio said Thursday.

Rubio, who chatted briefly with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, also still has work to do to smooth things over with allies like those in Europe that have faced criticism or outright threats from Trump and others in his Republican administration. The Europeans are still smarting over Trump’s earlier demands to take over Greenland from NATO ally Denmark and are concerned about U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. The conflict in the Middle East has added another point of tension.

“Today at the G7 I reiterated that President Trump is committed to reaching a ceasefire and negotiated settlement to the Russia-Ukraine war as soon as possible,” Rubio said in a post on X containing a photo of him meeting with his counterparts.

Shortly before leaving Washington Rubio told reporters he was not concerned about G7 unhappiness with the Iran war.

“I’m not there to make them happy,” he said. “I get along with all of them on a personal level, and we work with those governments very carefully, but the people I’m interested in making happy are the people of the United States. That’s who I work for. I don’t work for France or Germany or Japan.”

Trump has complained about lack of support from allies

Trump has complained that he has not been able to rally support behind his war of choice in Iran and that NATO and most other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s chokehold has disrupted oil shipments and pushed up energy prices.

“We’re there to protect NATO, to protect them from Russia. But they’re not there to protect us,” Trump said Thursday.

Before the U.S. leader’s comments, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte reiterated the increase in defense spending by alliance members — which Trump has urged — saying Europe and Canada had been “overreliant on U.S. military might” but a “shift in mindset” has taken hold.

Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful, and its ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that the United States and Israel’s “justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie.” The ambassador, Reza Najafi, has accused the U.S. and Israel of attacking ”Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities.”

G7 host France has been skeptical of the Iran war

France is hosting the G7 meeting near Versailles and has been highly skeptical of the war. Besides Vautrin’s comments on Friday, the chief of the French defense staff, Gen. Fabien Mandon, complained this week that U.S. allies had not been informed about the start of hostilities.

“They have just decided to intervene in the Near and Middle East without notifying us,” Mandon said, lamenting that the U.S. “is less and less predictable and doesn’t even bother to inform us when it decides to engage in military operations.”

However, 35 countries joined military talks hosted by Mandon on how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “once the intensity of hostilities has sufficiently decreased,” France’s Defense Ministry said.

Rubio said that with Iran threatening global shipping, countries that care about international law “should step up and deal with it.”

Similar sentiments to Mandon’s have been expressed by other allies that also worry about the U.S. commitment to Ukraine as the Iran war closes in on four weeks.

“We must avoid further destabilization, secure our economic freedom and develop perspectives for an end of and the time after the hostilities,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday. “Our joint support for Ukraine … must not crumble now. That would be a strategic mistake with a view to Euro-Atlantic security.”

Lee writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Lorne Cook in Brussels, John Leicester in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

France’s sports minister has called the International Olympic Committee’s decision to introduce genetic testing for women’s ⁠events a “step backwards”, warning it raises major ethical, legal and scientific concerns, while US President Donald Trump praised the IOC’s new policy.

France “takes note” of the decision to require athletes to undergo testing based on the SRY ⁠gene, but opposes any broad use of genetic screening, Marina Ferrari said in a statement on Friday.

“On behalf of the French government, I wish to express our deep concern regarding this decision,” she said. “We oppose a generalisation of genetic testing that raises numerous ethical, ‌legal and medical questions, particularly in light of French bioethics legislation.”

The IOC said on Thursday that only biological female athletes would be eligible for women’s events from the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics onwards, following a one-time gene test designed to identify male sex development. The move essentially bars transgender athletes from competing in the female category.

The rule is in line with an executive order by Trump from February 2025 that banned transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

“Congratulations to the International Olympic Committee on their decision to ban Men from Women’s Sports,” Trump said late on Thursday on the Truth Social platform.

“This is only happening because of my powerful Executive Order, standing up for Women and Girls!”

However, Ferrari said that: “These tests, introduced in 1967, were discontinued in 1999 ⁠due to strong reservations within the scientific community regarding ⁠their relevance. France regrets this step backwards.”

She added that the policy risked undermining equality by specifically targeting women.

“This decision raises major concerns, as it specifically targets women by introducing a distinction ⁠that undermines the principle of equality,” she said.

Ferrari also warned that the approach failed to reflect biological diversity, particularly among intersex ⁠individuals.

“It defines the female sex without taking into ⁠account the biological specificities of intersex individuals, whose sexual characteristics present natural variations, leading to a reductive and potentially stigmatising approach,” she said.

New Zealand’s Olympic Committee said on Friday that the IOC policy would bring greater “clarity” and “fairness” to future Games.

New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympics at Tokyo in 2021.

NZOC chief executive Nicki Nicol said the organisation recognised the “extensive consultation and expert input that has informed this policy”, particularly from athletes.

She said it would bring “greater clarity, consistency and fairness to eligibility for the female category at the Olympic level”.

“This is a complex and sensitive area that directly affects people, not just policy,” she added.

After competing in 2021, Hubbard, who failed in all of her lifting attempts in Tokyo, said she was aware of the controversy surrounding her participation.

Friday’s NZOC comments did not refer to Hubbard, who has kept a very low profile since her games appearance.

Also reacting to Thursday’s IOC announcement, Australian Olympic Committee president Ian Chesterman said the IOC had comprehensively investigated what he called a “complex issue”.

“Without doubt, this is a challenging and complex subject, and at the AOC we approach it with empathy and understanding.”

He added: “This decision provides clarity for elite female athletes who compete at the highest level and demonstrates a commitment to fairness, safety and integrity in Olympic competition, all of which are fundamental principles of the Olympic Movement.

“As the IOC has stated, at the highest level of sport, the smallest margins can determine outcomes, and clarity around eligibility is critical for female athletes to continue to compete on a level playing field.”

France beat Brazil 2-1 in a friendly in the United States, in what was a potential dress rehearsal for World Cup 2026 final.

France forward Kylian Mbappe showed no ill effects of his left knee injury when he broke free for a goal to give France an early lead on its way to a 2-1 victory over Brazil in a World Cup tuneup between two of the world’s top teams.

With a crowd of 66,215 heavily favouring Brazil, Mbappe and Hugo Ekitike gave France a 2-0 lead on Thursday on the same pitch where they will play their final group stage game of this summer’s World Cup, against Norway and Erling Haaland. Bremer cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 78th minute.

The friendly went off without any evident hiccups despite the simmering feud between the town of Foxborough and World Cup organisers over almost $8m in security costs. The sides reached an agreement two weeks ago in which the organising committee promised to make the payment in advance, and the town approved the necessary entertainment licence.

That was expected to be the last remaining obstacle to the world’s biggest sporting event arriving in this 20,000-person suburb tucked between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, that swells to three times its size for New England Patriots games. To accommodate FIFA requirements, a grass field has replaced the artificial turf that had been used for the NFL’s Patriots and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer.

The crowd was the second-largest to watch a football match at Gillette Stadium, behind only a 2007 friendly between Brazil and Mexico. It was speckled with fans in Brazilian yellow kits, with just a few French flags waving to celebrate Mbappe’s goal. (The media dining room was more neutral, with madeleines, macarons and eclairs alongside Brazilian brigadeiro, pudim and mousse de maracuja.)

Also in the house were Coach Joe Mazzulla and players from the NBA’s Boston Celtics, with forward Jayson Tatum taking part in the pregame coin toss alongside Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.

A former Paris Saint-Germain and current Real Madrid star, Mbappe sprained his left knee in December but played through January before missing almost a month. He was used as a substitute in Real Madrid’s last two matches but started on Thursday.

Mbappe said on Monday that his injury was “truly behind me”. (Reports that said the team examined the wrong knee were false, Mbappe said at a news conference in Foxborough on Wednesday.)

And he showed it in the 32nd minute when Ousmane Dembele delivered a through ball that left no one between Mbappe and the goalkeeper. The 2018 World Cup champion and 2022 Golden Boot winner tapped it ahead once before chipping it over the keeper to make it 1-0.

France took a 2-0 lead in the 65th minute when Ekitike, Liverpool’s top scorer this season, converted on a pass from Michael Olise in the penalty area. Mbappe left for a substitute immediately afterwards.

After France’s Dayot Upamecano was sent off in the 55th minute for taking down a player with a clear path to the goal, a card that was upgraded from yellow to red on video review, Brazil cut the deficit to 2-1 when Bremer redirected a cross from Luiz Henrique past France keeper Mike Maignan.

The game also featured a mid-half “cooling break” that enabled players to rest and hydrate – even though the temperature in early spring New England was in the mid-60s (15 degrees Celsius).

After a heatwave during last year’s Club World Cup, FIFA announced that all games in the 2026 World Cup would include the break, regardless of the temperature on the pitch.

Should France and Brazil both win their groups at the World Cup, then the first time they can meet at the tournament will be in the final itself.

French and Brazilian stars in focus as former world champions meet in a glamour friendly in Boston, US, before the World Cup.

Brazil and France will be among the leading contenders for FIFA World Cup glory later this year, and the two heavyweight teams continue their preparations for the tournament by facing off in a glamour friendly in the United States on Thursday.

With fewer than three months until kickoff, the countries ranked fifth and third respectively in the world rankings are in the US, familiarising themselves with what lies in store for them this June-July.

When and where is the Brazil vs France friendly match?

The former world champions go head-to-head on Thursday at 20:00 GMT at the Gillette Stadium near Boston, Massachusetts.

The home of the National Football League (NFL) side New England Patriots is the venue for the first meeting of these teams in exactly 11 years, since Brazil came from behind to win 3-1 in a friendly at the Stadium of France in March 2015 with goals from Oscar, Neymar and Luiz Gustavo.

How is Brazil’s form ahead of the match?

Brazil laboured their way through South American World Cup qualifying with six defeats in 18 games as they finished fifth. Now they are hoping the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as coach will give them a genuine chance of winning a record-extending sixth World Cup, and first since 2002.

After this match, they will head to Orlando, Florida, for the next friendly on March 31 against Croatia, the team that ousted them from the 2022 World Cup in the quarterfinals.

Will Brazil miss Neymar?

Neymar is now 34 and has not played for his country since October 2023, but his absence from the squad has still been one of the main talking points coming into these matches.

“It is a physical issue, not technical. With the ball, he is great, but he needs to improve physically,” Ancelotti said after being asked about the absence of the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain superstar, now at Santos.

“Because in my eyes and those of my staff, he is not at 100 percent. So he needs to keep working to get back to 100 percent.”

Who will be the key players for Brazil?

In the meantime, Brazil’s main man is Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior, while others likely to have key roles at the World Cup, such as goalkeeper Alisson Becker, centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes and midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, are missing here.

Despite a glittering club career that includes two Champions League triumphs and three La Liga titles, Vinicius has scored eight goals in 45 appearances for the five-time world champions and is determined to turn promise into international silverware with his second World Cup on the horizon.

“I feel more at ease, I’m happier; ⁠and when I’m happier, everyone around me is ⁠happier and more confident too,” Vinicius told reporters.

“I hope that everything I do for Real, I can go on to do ⁠here with the Brazilian national team. That’s my biggest goal. It’s where I’ve always dreamed of being, ⁠and I want to bring great pride ⁠to our country and a lot of joy to our entire nation.”

Among other players to feature is Rayan, the uncapped 19-year-old who earned his place after impressing in the Premier League for Bournemouth since arriving from Vasco da Gama in January.

Will Mbappe start for France?

The main focus for France, as ever, is Kylian Mbappe, and the national team captain was eager to feature on this trip after overcoming a knee injury to return for Real Madrid just last week.

There had been mounting fears in France that the 27-year-old’s fitness could become a real issue, but he said missing the World Cup or the end of the club season was never a concern.

“It is behind me. I was following a protocol, and I wanted to start playing again gradually. I hope to be able to play during this international break and to start being decisive again,” he said on Monday.

What happened in the last Brazil-France match?

The last competitive meeting of the teams came at the 2006 World Cup, when France beat Brazil 1-0 in the quarterfinals, thanks to a Thierry Henry goal and a masterful performance by Zidane.

Will Brazil and France meet in the World Cup?

If both win their groups at the upcoming World Cup as expected, they would not meet each other until the final.

Getting that far is the aim for these sides, and Thursday’s game will be a good gauge of where both stand as the competition approaches.

Reality star Loana Petrucciani, who shot to fame after having sex in the pool while appearing on the French edition of Big Brother, has been found dead at her home

A TV star who became known for having sex in the Big Brother pool has been found dead. Loana Petrucciani, who won the first series of Loft Story France 1, was just 48-years-old.

It’s reported that the reality star, simply known as Loana, was found dead at her home in Nice. Prosecutor Damien Martinelli stated that an investigation has since been opened to “find the causes of death”, before stating the TV star had been dead for “several days”.

Loana gained fame in 2001 when she entered the Loft Story house, living with strangers for ten weeks under constant surveillance from cameras, mirroring the Big Brother format. In the wake of her death, TV network M6 said: “An iconic figure of the first season of ‘Loft Story’, she will forever remain a personality who profoundly marked an entire generation of viewers,” before praising her for “her pontaneity, sensitivity and authenticity.”

Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

Alexia Laroche-Joubert, CEO of Loft Story’s production company Banijay France, said: “It is with immense emotion that I learned of Loana’s passing. Our paths crossed 25 years ago, and I am honoured to have shared so many memories with her. I witnessed her successes and her struggles.

“My thoughts are, of course, with her mother, Violette, her daughter, her brother, and the other housemates who were part of this adventure. Let us never forget that behind her public image was a sensitive and extremely intelligent woman.” Benjamin Castaldi, presenter of Loft Story said: “There are some faces we never forget. And hers, Loana’s, is part of our collective history.

“Thought we would watch a show. In fact, we were witnessing a revolution. The first one. The truth. The one that changed television forever… and maybe also our view on humans. Loana was not a character. She was a woman. A real one. With its cracks, its sweetness, its fragility in the open sky. And that’s precisely why we loved it.

“But that’s also why we dropped her. We applauded his light… not protecting his shadow. His authenticity has been consumed… without measuring the price she would pay. We’ve watched her live, love, fall… without ever really wondering who would pick her up after. The truth is, we’re all a little responsible. Because we all watched. Cuz we all commented Because we’ve all, at one point, looked away when it got too hard.

“She embodied raw innocence in a world that didn’t forgive anything. And we couldn’t match what she gave us. Today, there’s only a television memory. There’s still an emotion. Embarrassment. A regret. The one of not being human enough to someone who deeply was. So yeah… We lived a revolution together. But maybe we forgot, along the way, the important thing: Behind the phenomenon… There was a woman.”

It was on Lost Story that Loana became known for sleeping with co-star Jean-Edouard Lipa, sparking outrage across the country. Despite the scandal, she walked out of the house as the champion and was welcomed as she paraded down the Champs-Élysées.

With her newfound fame came magazine deals, gracing the cover of Elle, photographed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and her deeply personal memoir several months later.

In her memoir, the Cannes-born star opened up about the highs and lows of her career in the spotlight, as well as previous suicide attempts. Speaking about entering Loft Story, she said previously: “I went there feeling very insecure. I was worried. The casting director said to me, ‘Aren’t you ashamed to come dressed like that?’ I took it very badly, especially since he was asking everyone that question.”

She added: “He asked me to flirt with the camera: I don’t know how to do that, it’s impossible. I blushed, I stammered. Then they asked me to dance and sing. I left and thought to myself, ‘I didn’t show them anything.'” She said of her fame: “There are two women inside me. The public loved both. Before, we saw a lot of the extroverted Loana who danced on the catwalks, but we didn’t see the other side, because she was too shy to express herself. But, in Loft Story, we saw that there was another side to her.”

In the early 2010s, Loana attempted to take her own life, which left her in a coma. Her family and friends later discovered that she had made several attempts on her life prior to this.

If you’re struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch

If you have been affected by this story, Cruse Bereavement Support offers free help to make sense of how you are feeling. Click here for their website or call 0808 808 1677.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Zidane will succeed his former national side teammate Didier Deschamps as France head coach, according to the report.

French football ‌icon Zinedine Zidane has ⁠agreed ⁠to take over his national team’s head coaching duties following this ⁠summer’s FIFA World Cup, ESPN reported on Monday.

Zidane, 53, reportedly ⁠reached a verbal agreement with the Federation Francaise de Football to replace Didier Deschamps, who has held ‌the role since 2012.

Zidane, who managed La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid for two stints (2016-18, 2019-21), has long been expected to eventually become the skipper ⁠for France.

As a player, ⁠the dynamic midfielder won the 1998 Ballon d’Or and was a three-time ⁠FIFA World Player of the Year (1998, ⁠2000 and 2003).

He ⁠helped France win the World Cup in 1998 and finish second in 2006. ‌He was infamously sent off during the final of the latter ‌World ‌Cup when he head-butted Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the chest.

France’s president Emmanuel Macron said Lebanon’s fight against threats to its security is ‘just’, while stressing that no violation of sovereignty can be justified. His comments come as fighting escalates between Israel and Hezbollah, with more than 1,000 people killed and 1.1 million displaced in Lebanon.

Gregoire headed a list uniting the traditional left, the Greens and the Communists to victory in French capital.

The Socialist Party’s Emmanuel Gregoire has won the Paris mayoral race, as the results of nationwide municipal elections showed gains for the traditional left and right, and a major win for the far right in the city of Nice.

Sunday’s run-off votes in more than 1,500 communes saw Gregoire on course to become mayor of the French capital, with exit polls showing that the far-right National Rally (RN) fell short of taking control of the key southern cities of Marseille and Toulon.

Gregoire, who headed a list uniting the traditional left, the Greens and the Communists, clinched the prized mayoralty with an estimated 51 to 53 percent of the vote, according to pollsters, seeing off Conservative rival Rachida Dati, who conceded defeat.

The 48-year-old son of a teacher and civil servant is stepping into the spotlight after previously serving as deputy to outgoing mayor and fellow Socialist Anne Hidalgo. During his bid, he had promised that Paris would stand as a “city of refuge” and a “bastion against the right and the far right”.

In Marseille, the second-largest city in the country, Socialist Mayor Benoit Payan was on track to be re-elected with 56.3 percent of the vote, according to an Elabe poll for BFM TV. RN’s chances of winning the coveted prize took a hit after the withdrawal of a hard-left candidate from France Unbowed (LFI) aimed at uniting left-wing voters.

Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure hailed the wins in Paris and Marseille, positioning his party as a bulwark against the far right. “Only the left can prevent France from this regression,” he said.

In Toulon, an Elebe poll showed centre-right candidate Josée Massi leading at 53.5 percent, with RN candidate Laure Lavalette conceding defeat. Yet, senior RN officials rejected suggestions that the party’s loss indicated it had hit a “glass ceiling” ahead of next year’s presidential election.

“The National Rally and its candidates have achieved tonight, in this municipal election, the biggest breakthrough in its entire history,” RN chief Jordan Bardella said, alluding to wins in local constituencies where it previously had no presence.

In the first round, Bardella’s anti-immigration party won re-election in the southern city of Perpignan, and it won in smaller cities, too. And on Sunday, exit polls indicated that Eric Ciotti, a former mainstream conservative who is now an ally of the RN, won in Nice, France’s fifth-biggest city.

Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was re-elected mayor in his northern city of Le Havre, according to the TF1 and LCI broadcasters, delivering a better-than-expected performance that boosts his hopes of running for president in 2027.

Philippe, a centre-right politician who served as prime minister under centrist President Emmanuel Macron, made a speech with a clear national message, saying his victory showed that “there were reasons to be hopeful” in the values of France and that the extremes can be beaten.

Turnout at 5pm local time (16:00 GMT) was just higher than 48 percent in France’s mainland, more than than in the 2020 vote held during the COVID-19 pandemic, but four points lower than in 2014, according to the Ministry of Interior.

Some airports can be very challenging to land at

Jetting off on holiday should be an exciting occasion, however some European holiday hotspots require landing at challenging airports. Four popular European destinations have been ranked among the most dangerous airports in the world.

While many planes take off and land safely at the airports every day, pilots need to be aware of the dangers. It could be tricky runways, weather changes or challenging terrain.

As a result, the pilots undergo specialist training to safely land at these airports. This can be done through ground training, a simulator and in the air.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) ensures safety across the entire continent, with high standards at airports. The majority of airports in Europe are category A, which requires standard training.

Category B airports have “slightly out of the ordinary” features, while category C requires specialist training. Here are some of Europe’s most challenging destinations.

Innsbruck Airport, Austria

Many people head to Innsbruck to take in the stunning Austrian Alps, yet the mountains pose a challenge for pilots. It has been reported that only captains are permitted to land planes at Innsbruck Airport, which is deep in a valley.

The challenging manoeuvre to land in the valley is often made harder by low-level wind. Depending on the weather conditions, the pilot may need to make a tight turn during the approach. There’s also a limited possibility for a missed approach due to the mountains surrounding the airport.

Gibraltar International Airport, Gibraltar

Gibraltar has a rather unusual airport setup as a main road crosses the airport. Traffic is stopped around 15 times a day to let planes land and take off.

For pilots, the challenges come due to abnormal wind effects, turbulence and wind due to the famous Rock of Gibraltar. Diversions and go-arounds are common, with some flights even abandoning attempting to land.

Cristiano Ronaldo Airport, Madeira

Madeira’s runway may look rather precarious due to it being a bridge right by the water. However, it has actually helped to improve safety at the airport.

To land at the island, pilots need special training in order to be granted permission. Experienced pilots have to cross mountains and exposed coastlines before lining up perfectly with the narrow runway while often facing high winds.

Sadly, a fatal accident occurred in 1977 when 131 of the 164 people on a plane died when it fell off at the end of the runway. The accident led to the construction of the runway extension bridge.

Courchevel Airport, France

The airport in the French Alps is often ranked as one of the most dangerous in the world. It has the world’s shortest runway and is the highest tarmacked runway in Europe.

Courchevel Airport is 6,588ft (2,008m) above sea level and its runway is just 1,762 ft (537m) long. Only small aircrafts and helicopters are allowed to land there.

To add to the difficulty, the runway doesn’t have lighting systems, and the area is often battered by extreme weather conditions in the autumn and winter.

PARIS — We’ve long had your back, now it’s our turn. That is how the famously transactional President Trump is framing his demands that allies help him with the Iran war. He wants to call in IOUs for decades of U.S. security guarantees.

The string of refusals indicates his stock of European goodwill is low. He has put allies through the wringer since returning to the White House, bullying them over tariffs, Greenland and other issues, and disparaging the sacrifices their soldiers made alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Now he’s demanding — not just requesting — that they send warships to help the U.S. unblock the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes — essentially mop up behind the conflagration that he and Israel ignited in the Middle East.

The reply has been a “global raspberry.”

That’s how a veteran French defense analyst, François Heisbourg, described allied responses.

No close ally has come forward with immediate help. Britain is flat-out refusing to be drawn into the war. France says the fighting would have to die down first. Others are non-committal. China, which is not an ally but was also asked to help, is ignoring Trump’s call.

“This is not Europe’s war. We didn’t start the war. We were not consulted,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday.

Trump’s frustration with the ‘Rolls-Royce of allies’

Trump has singled out the refusal from the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Keir Starmer cultivated ties with Trump and reached an early trade deal with the administration, but is now among allies who refuse to join a regional war with no clear endgame.

The U.K. “was sort of considered the Rolls-Royce of allies,” Trump said Monday, adding that he’d asked for British minesweeping ships.

“I was not happy with the U.K,” Trump said. “They should be involved enthusiastically. We’ve been protecting these countries for years.”

Starmer said Britain “will not be drawn into the wider war” and that British troops require the backing of international law and “a proper thought-through plan” — suggesting those were not in place.

He initially refused to let U.S. bombers attack Iran from British bases before accepting their use for strikes on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe, said allies are “looking at the United States in a way that they never have before. And this is bad for the United States.”

Having previously appeased Trump, some European leaders are “starting to realize that there’s no benefit or value in using flattery,” he said.

European leaders say it’s not their war

Going to war without consulting allies was in keeping with Trump’s America-first outlook.

“My attitude is: We don’t need anybody. We’re the strongest nation in the world,” he said Monday.

But failing to get an international mandate, as the U.S. did before intervening in the 1990 Gulf War, is boomeranging.

“It is not our war; we did not start it,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said. “We want diplomatic solutions and a swift end to the conflict. Sending more warships to the region will certainly not contribute to that.”

French President Emmanuel Macron envisions possible naval escorts in the Strait of Hormuz — but only once fighting has died down.

“France didn’t choose this war. We’re not taking part,” he said.

After bruising tariff battles with Trump last year, the first months of 2026 have further strained alliances. Trump’s renewed pressure for U.S. control of Greenland, including a tariff threat against eight European nations, and his false assertion that allied troops avoided front-line fighting in the Afghanistan War, upset partners in the NATO military alliance.

“Allies, or at least the Europeans, aren’t willing to be at the beck and call of a demand from Donald Trump,” said Sylvie Bermann, a French former ambassador to China, the U.K. and Russia.

“And even in asking for a helping hand, he is doing so in a brutal manner, saying: ‘You’re useless, we’re the strongest, we don’t need you, but come,’” she said.

A dangerous mission

Retired naval officers say that unblocking the Strait of Hormuz with military escorts while the war rages and without Iran’s consent would be dangerous.

France, which has rushed its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean, is working with other countries to prepare such a mission once the air war has subsided. French military spokesman Col. Guillaume Vernet said any escorting would be conditional on talks with Iran, and Macron has publicized two calls in eight days with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

That has won points with Trump.

“On a scale of zero to 10, I’d say he’s been an eight,” Trump said Monday. “Not perfect, but it’s France. We don’t expect perfect.”

But he’s fuming at other allies.

“We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said Tuesday.

Trump has leverage, including in Ukraine

Allies in Europe and Asia need oil, gas and other products from the Middle East to flow again. That gives Trump some leverage.

Allies also know from experience that resisting Trump carries risks of retaliation.

“It really could be anything. Are the Europeans prepared for that?” asked Ed Arnold, a former British army officer and now a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank.

European allies need Trump’s continued blessing for U.S. weaponry, intelligence, and other support for Ukraine, as well as financial pressure on Russia. The U.S. has started to chip away at some sanctions on Moscow by temporarily allowing shipments of Russian oil to ease shortages stemming from the Iran war. Allies also want him to reengage in talks to end the war.

“That was what kept European leaders quiet for a lot of last year in the face of the rhetoric and actions,” said Amanda Sloat, a former U.S. national security adviser who now teaches at Spain’s IE University.

“It is also the thing that is making them a little bit nervous now.”

Leicester and Burrows write for the Associated Press. Burrows reported from London. AP journalists Jill Lawless in London, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Suman Naishadham in Madrid, Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

‘It’s not France, it’s not Italy, it’s Menton.” The seaside town on the French-Italian border has changed identities many times in its history. It was the only town in France completely annexed by the Italians during the second world war, but has also belonged to the Grimaldis of Monaco, was part of the kingdom of Sardinia, and only became French after a public vote in 1860. Today, ignoring the colours of Il Tricolore and Le Tricolore, almost everything is painted in various shades of yellow, a celebration of the town’s reliance on its beloved lemon.

Mauro Colagreco, the chef at the spectacular Mirazur restaurant, a few steps from the border, takes me up into the hills to visit one of his lemon and citrus fruit suppliers. “You can eat the peel of a Menton lemon; it has a thick, sweet rind. You can eat the whole thing; it’s totally organic and very juicy.” Menton’s microclimate, its warm winters, terraced hills and sandy soil make it perfect for growing citrus fruit. “What’s particular to the Menton lemon is that it has a smile, a small curvy fold at one end,” says Colagreco, who uses them in his restaurant alongside exploring the possibilities of Star Ruby grapefruits, yuzu confit and kumquats.

This time of the year, late February and March, is called “yellow time”, owing to the lemons, daffodils and the mimosa on the hillside. It’s also the time of the Fête du Citron, a two-week festival with parades, giant floats and, this year, huge models of a whale, 12-metre-high parrots and entwined storks – all covered in citrus fruit. It was the 92nd iteration of the festival, but the Menton lemon is too expensive and rare to use, so all 123 tonnes of oranges and lemons now come from Spain (mostly) and Portugal.

In a perfect location to appreciate Menton’s two personalities is Luciano Fondrieschi, who runs R Bike Menton, a cycling shop on the promenade between the old town and the Italian border. He believes there’s a lot of lively competition between Italy and France in the town. Fondrieschi was a successful runner and triathlete in Italy and his shop is always full of French and Italians, looking over the racks of shoes, pedals and bikes and asking for advice.

“Menton is a French town with an Italian regard,” he tells me. “All the boats in the harbour are Italian.” However, looking around, most of the cars are French. Fondrieschi switches languages seamlessly in his repair shop. While we are chatting, a British couple come in, breathless but exuberant in their Lycra, having just completed a 36-mile (58km) round trip to Sanremo. They are followed by an Italian pensioner who had cycled up to Dolceacqua, 13 miles away, for a pizza lunch, and a couple from Luxembourg who want a puncture repaired before they set off for Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. “French people really just like speaking in French, but we [Italians] speak with our hands, so can talk to anyone!” says Fondrieschi. His in-store cafe offers a mix of brioches, rústico caprese, Italian aromatic cordials and café au lait.

Like every town in France, Menton’s streets are named after the country’s authors, politicians and war heroes. But in Menton, for every avenue Pasteur, Victor Hugo and Général de Gaulle, there’s an avenue Cernuschi and Laurenti, a rue Pietra Scritta, Isola, Urbana, Pieta and Mattoni. There’s also a Square Victoria (the British queen stayed in Menton in 1882), avenue Blasco Ibáñez (the Spanish writer lived in a huge villa here in the 1920s) and avenue Katherine Mansfield (who stayed in the villa Isola Bella) – the last two linked by the rue Webb-Ellis.

William Webb Ellis, the schoolboy who supposedly invented the game of rugby when he picked up the ball in a school football match in 1823, became an Anglican vicar and moved to Menton in the 1860s, spending the last years of his life there. He is buried in the hilltop Vieux Château cemetery, a steep walk up from the old town, where his grave overlooks the sea, forever covered in rugby balls and club ties.

The grave of the English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley is even higher up the hill, in Trabuquet cemetery. He died aged 25 and is buried alongside many other young artists, writers and aristocrats who flocked to Menton at the end of the 19th century to cure their respiratory disorders and lose themselves in the town’s many botanical gardens.

Half a century later, France’s own master of pen and ink, Jean Cocteau, also turned up in Menton. In 1955, the mayor asked him to decorate the interior of the Salle des Mariages – a depiction of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with centaurs and a Menton marriage. A key is available at the town hall for visitors.

A hundred metres away is Allo Robert, a warehouse-emporium of French and Italian bric-a-brac, the kind of things couples had on their wedding lists 100 years ago. I found a light-up Tabac sign, cabinets packed with 1930s soda siphons, candlesticks and champagne buckets, Italian crockery and blue chairs from Nice’s promenade. It’s a dusty snapshot of Menton from the early 20th century – as it says on the sign outside: “de curiosités … et tutti quanti” (“curiosities … and so on”).

Stay at the seafront Hôtel Napoléon, which has a solar-heated pool; doubles from €106, napoleon-menton.com. Eat pizzas, vitello tonnato and flavoured burrata at Mauro Colagreco’s La Pecoranegra, pecoranegra.fr