France
5 Family Beaches in Europe
What makes a great family beach? Clean water for swimming, clean sand for sitting, sunning, playing or walking, and naturally occurring amusements like gullies, tide pools or rocks for climbing. Access to decent food and bathrooms and even showers are also a plus and, thankfully, relatively common in Europe, where I’m based. And, of course, […]
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At Tour de France Femmes, It’s a Steep Climb to Equality
MEAUX, France — After winning Stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes, the Dutch cyclist Marianne Vos pulled on the Tour leader’s yellow jersey for the first time and explained that no, actually, this special moment was not something that had always been a dream for her. As a child, Vos had attended the […]
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Deep in a Covid Wave, Europe Counts Cases and Carries On
ROME — Customers in the Rome bookstore paid no attention to the circular stickers on the floor instructing them to stamp out Covid by maintaining “a distance of at least 1 meter.” “These are things from the past,” said Silvia Giuliano, 45, who wore no mask as she browsed paperbacks. She described the red signs, […]
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Plans to Fight Global Warming Face an Obstacle in Paris: Trees
PARIS — Long a favorite spot for picnics and sunbathing, the lawns surrounding the Eiffel Tower have recently become the scene of furious protests. First came a social media campaign. Then a rally by dozens of local residents. Before long, a protester had hunkered down in a nearby plane tree for a hunger strike. The […]
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Gaps in Arms Supplies to Ukraine Point to Countries’ Divergent Strategies
His words infuriated the Ukrainians as well as the Central Europeans, who want Russia weakened and Mr. Putin humiliated. For Pierre Vimont, a former French ambassador to Washington and former senior E.U. official, European countries are divided into three rough camps. There are those like Britain, Poland and the Baltics looking to isolate Mr. Putin […]
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France Brings Home French Wives of ISIS Jihadists From Syria
PARIS — France brought home 16 wives of jihadists from sprawling detention camps in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, breaking with a policy that for years had ruled out repatriating and trying adult women who had left to join the Islamic State. The women were accompanied by 35 children — some traveling with their mothers, others […]
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France’s Far-Right Surges Into Parliament, and Further Into the Mainstream
PARIS — In 2017, after the far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her allies won only a handful of seats in parliamentary elections, she blamed France’s two-round voting system for shutting her party out of Parliament despite getting over one million ballots cast in its favor. “We are eight,” she said bitterly, referring to the […]
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French Nuclear Power Crisis Frustrates Europe’s Push to Quit Russian Energy
PARIS — Plumes of steam towered above two reactors recently at the Chinon nuclear power plant in the heart of France’s verdant Loire Valley. But the skies above a third reactor there were unusually clear — its operations frozen after the worrisome discovery of cracks in the cooling system. The partial shutdown isn’t unique: Around […]
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It’s Macron vs. the Left in a Fierce Battle for France’s Parliament
PALAISEAU, France — Five years ago, Amélie de Montchalin, a politician known more for her quiet technocratic skills than her oratory, easily won election to Parliament from this southern suburb of Paris, and later became one of President Emmanuel Macron’s ministers. But at a small rally last week, at risk of losing her seat to […]
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