RFI    The Louvre Museum closed its doors to thousands of disappointed visitors on Monday as staff launched a strike to protest working conditions and security failures at the Paris landmark, two months after a jewel heist.

Jessica Phelan    Artist JR will take over Pont Neuf, the French capital’s oldest surviving bridge, for a vast installation next summer, the City of Paris has announced. The project is inspired by another intervention 40 years earlier, which shifted the boundaries of what artists could do with France’s monuments.

RFI    The Flamanville EPR reactor in north-western France has reached full nuclear power for the first time, state utility EDF announced on Sunday, describing it as a major milestone for the long-delayed and over-budget project.

RFI    French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said on Sunday she will travel to the south-west of France on Monday to attend the start of the vaccination campaign for cattle herds, as angry farmers block key roads in protest at the government’s handling of lumpy skin disease.

RFI    Gondolas floated above a cityscape in the southeastern suburbs of Paris on Saturday as officials unveiled the first urban cable car in the French capital’s region.

Sarah Elzas    France has not had a mandatory military service for nearly three decades. Today, as Russia multiplies its threats on the edge of Europe, the country is considering how to boost its military capacity - and that includes growing the armed forces. As a new, voluntary military service aims to recruit...

RFI    On 9 December 1905, France abolished Catholicism as the state religion after MPs voted to separate church and state, a move that redefined the relationship between the republic and religious worship and founded the principle of secularism seen in modern France.

RFI    One month after Nicolas Sarkozy walked out of prison, the former French president’s new book Diary of a Prisoner, recounting his 20 days behind bars, was released this week. Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, a political communication specialist at Sciences Po Paris, tells RFI this is no simple memoir, but...

RFI    Farmers in southwest France blocked major roads overnight from Friday to Saturday, setting fire to hay bales and clashing with police in protest at government ordered cattle culls linked to an outbreak of lumpy skin disease.

RFI    A French mother whose teenage son took his own life is campaigning to hold social media platforms accountable, arguing that their algorithms pushed suicide-related content on him, as the French government considers a social media ban for young people - similar to the one which took effect in...

RFI    The French video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has swept the annual Game Awards in Los Angeles, dominating the ceremony with a record-breaking nine wins, including for best video game of the year.

RFI    French farmers stepped up their campaign against agricultural policy and animal health rules this week, with protests in south-western France highlighting growing anger over the compulsory slaughter of cattle following outbreaks of lumpy skin disease.

Alison Hird    When 25-year-old independent journalist Anna Margueritat covered the Pelicot mass rape trial in the south of France last year, she drew on her own experience as a victim of sexual violence - and in doing so, found a new strength.

RFI    A complaint has been filed against the Banque de France, the country’s central bank, for having authorised wire transfers that allegedly facilitated the arming of Hutu forces during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

RFI    Charities in northern France say they are concerned by the presence of British anti-immigration agitators on beaches and near migrant camps. The groups have filmed themselves for social media attempting to intimidate people waiting to cross the Channel and the aid workers supporting them.

RFI    Police arrested about 20 people across France on Wednesday on suspicion of buying childlike sex dolls online, sources close to the investigation said, confirming reports in the French press.

RFI    France’s wildlife is in crisis, but the few species that receive real protection show that long-term, well-funded action can reverse the trend, says the World Wildlife Fund France’s annual biodiversity report. The challenge is not a lack of solutions, but a lack of commitment.

RFI    France’s eastern Jura region has banned the possession and consumption of nitrous oxide in public spaces for three and a half months, targeting young people’s recreational use of the so-called laughing gas after recent fatal accidents.

RFI    France’s National Assembly narrowly approved the 2026 social security budget late Tuesday, giving Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu an important victory as he pushed a compromise through a deeply divided parliament without using article 49.3, which lets a government force a bill through without a...

RFI    French President Emmanuel Macron has called for defence of the 1905 law separating church and state, which marks its 120th anniversary on Tuesday, in order to preserve individual and collective freedoms.

RFI    France’s social security budget heads into a knife-edge vote on Tuesday that could plunge Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s government into a new political crisis and open a 30-billion gap in funding for welfare, pensions and healthcare.

RFI    Though Vietnam is one of the world’s top exporters, its coffee remains overlooked in Europe, where consumers tend to be more familiar with beans from Africa and South America. Now Vietnamese coffee culture is gaining ground in Paris, where a growing number of cafes are introducing the French...

RFI    A year after reopening to the public, Notre-Dame cathedral has drawn more than 11 million visitors, flocking to admire its restored pale stone and minimalist furnishings after the 2019 blaze that devastated the Paris landmark.

RFI    Masculinist ideas are circulating widely on social media in France, prompting warnings about their impact on young people’s sexual health and the culture of consent.

RFI    Covid-19 vaccines did not lead to higher death rates in France, according to a new study using data from 30 million adults. Researchers found that those who were not vaccinated had a 50 percent higher death rate over the four years following the rollout of the vaccines than those who had been...

RFI    France is ramping up diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Christophe Gleizes, the French sports journalist handed a seven-year prison sentence in Algeria, with President Emmanuel Macron insisting he wants to see him home as soon as possible . Gleizes’s parents told RFI they hope to meet...

Sarah Elzas    What France can learn from Italy’s fight against the mafia as it tackles its growing problem with drug-related organised crime. A look at France’s new military service. And wrapping Paris’s oldest bridge, 40 years after it was transformed by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

RFI    France’s drinking water is contaminated with PFAS forever chemicals in 92 percent of samples, a nationwide study has found, revealing the scale of pollution from substances that do not break down in the environment.

RFI    A 39-year-old man suspected of taking part in the Louvre heist was remanded into custody on Tuesday, joining three others already in detention. French prosecutors said he is believed to be the fourth and final member of the masked gang accused of stealing jewels worth an estimated 102 million.

RFI    President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday denied having any plan for a ministry of truth in France after right-wing and far-right politicians and media charged that his drive against disinformation risked curtailing freedom of press and expression.