At any traffic light in Paris at 8 a.m., a crowd of bicycles gathers in the front row. On some streets, like Rue Rivoli, in front of the Tuileries Garden, the enormous number of bikes at any time of day is surprising. They far exceed the number of cars. The fight against private vehicles and the promotion of sustainable transport methods have been one of the pillars – and, surely, the most visible one – of the twelve years of socialist Anne Hidalgo as mayor of Paris, the first woman to hold the position. "It is essential to transform the city to adapt it to climate change," she argued in the early years of her mandate.

The left—despite party divisions—is holding its ground in major cities, while Marine Le Pen's far right has faltered. The French municipal elections have resulted in a map with more far-right mayoralties than ever before, but the National Rally (RN) has not achieved the electoral success it had hoped for. In many municipalities where the far-right candidate had managed to advance to the second round, it ultimately failed to win. The results—still provisional—show that the far right, with some exceptions, is struggling to surpass the 50% threshold and continues to struggle to gain traction in major cities. This is a setback for Le Pen, who had aimed to win in Marseille. According to the initial results, the RN has not won in either Nîmes or Toulon, two cities that were within its reach and which it had expected to win. In large and medium-sized cities, the far right is securing few victories. He retained the mayoralty in Perpignan (Louis Aliot had already won in the first round) and won in Carcassonne and Nice, although the Nice candidate, Éric Ciotti, is not from Marine Le Pen's party, only an ally.

Bread is practically a religion for the French. ParisAlmost the entire population lives within five minutes of a bakery (in French, the typical bakeriesAnd, morning or afternoon, it's easy to bump into neighbors walking home with at least one baguette under their arm. The vast majority of the city's bakeries are extraordinary, both those in the center and those on the outskirts, always with a tempting aroma and plenty of freshly baked bread and pastries. Many display awards in their shop windows, prizes received in various baking competitions over the years. One of the most popular competitions is the Best Baguette in Paris contest, organized by the City Hall, which in 2026 recognized Fournil Didot, a small, previously little-known bakery in the 14th arrondissement, away from the tourist bustle, behind Montparnasse towards the... suburbs From the south.

The first round of municipal elections held this Sunday in France confirms the advance of the far right. Final results will not be known until next Sunday, but Marine Le Pen's party, the National Rally (RN), has managed to advance to the second round in the vast majority of municipalities where it ran and will compete to win in city halls where it has not yet governed, such as Marseille, France's second-largest city, Nice, and Toulon. "It is a huge victory for our movement," Le Pen declared in a message to X.

The French return to the polls this Sunday to elect their local representatives. France is holding the first round of municipal elections, votes that don't usually carry national weight. However, this time, the proximity of the presidential elections—scheduled for spring 2027—will mean that the results will be interpreted through the lens of national politics. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN), a party that has traditionally had a weak local presence, wants the municipal elections to be its springboard to the Élysée Palace. Le Pen and her right-hand man—and likely presidential candidate if she is definitively barred from running—Jordan Bardella, want to translate their strong showing in the recent legislative and European elections into more mayoralties. This won't be easy because the RN's limited local presence means it can't field candidates in a significant number of municipalities. There's an anecdote that perfectly illustrates the situation: Bardella won't be able to vote for a candidate from the party he leads because Garches, the municipality of 17,000 inhabitants where he lives on the outskirts of Paris, doesn't have a candidate from Réagrupament Nacional.

The cold and snowy storm affecting much of Europe is causing serious problems in France this Wednesday, where flights, trains, and buses have been canceled, and traffic jams stretch for kilometers. In the Paris region alone, by mid-morning there were 950 kilometers of traffic jams on the roads, where the snow made driving extremely difficult. Across the country, traffic jams totaled more than 1,600 kilometers, a record-breaking figure. A total of 32 French departments remain on orange alert due to the storm. Up to 15 cm of snow is expected in the Ardennes, in the north of the country. The government has tried to prevent chaos on the highways by banning trucks and limiting the speed on all roads to 70 km/h, but numerous accidents caused by snow and especially ice have forced the closure of the A8 motorway in the southeast of the country and secondary roads. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot had urged people to avoid travel on Tuesday. "The situation in France is complicated today. The predicted snowfall appears to be confirmed," Tabarot told CNews on Wednesday. During the first day of the storm, Monday, at least five people died in traffic accidents.

Barça has once again proven itself to be a profitable section. Winning in Paris was almost more crucial for the club's finances than for sporting reasons, where, barring a virtually impossible combination of results, their excellent work beforehand had already practically secured their place in the quarterfinals. Be that as it may, Pere Romeu's team has done the job again, concluding a near-perfect Champions League group stage: five wins and a draw away to Chelsea. The final victory, a 2-0 win in Paris thanks to goals from Vicky López and Graham Hansen, consolidated their first-place position in Europe.

Muñeca, Valentina, Olga, Alexandra, Antonina, Tamara, Loudmila, Klavdla, Zinaida. Nine Russian women who speak about the war they lived through in the show War has no woman's faceFrom the Second World War. From all wars. From how they affect women. How they change them. From fear and resilience. Nine women. Nine lives. And the words of Svetlana Alexievich, the journalist and writer who, in this work, reflected the reality of Russian female combatants in a series of interviews. The book, published in Catalan by Raig Verd in 2018, had a theatrical version at the Taganka Theatre in Moscow. Now, the French director Julie Deliquet has transformed it into a brilliant and moving testimony to a subject of lamentable and eternal relevance, which could be seen this weekend in Paris.

French authorities have charged a Chinese woman with allegedly participating in the theft of several kilos of gold from the Natural History Museum in Paris. The incident occurred on September 16, and the woman was arrested in Barcelona on the 30th of the same month following a European arrest warrant. According to a statement released by the Paris prosecutor's office on the social media platform X, they became aware of the theft when a museum cleaner found debris. One of the curators then "noticed the disappearance of gold straws usually on display," valued at €1.5 million by the museum itself.

Paris surrendered at the feet of a Catalan woman. Again, for the fifth time. The French capital dressed up for another year for the Ballon d'Or ceremony, the award given by the French magazine France Football and which recognizes the best players of the season. A historic gala, because Aitana Bonmatí won the Ballon d'Or ahead of Mallorca's Mariona Caldentey, who came in second. Alessia Russo, a double European champion with Arsenal and the English national team, finished third. In the men's category, it was a celebration for PSG: they were chosen as the best club, Luis Enrique won as the best coach, and Ousmane Dembélé won the grand prize, the Ballon d'Or, ahead of Lamine Yamal, who came one step away from causing an upset. The player from Mataró became the youngest player to climb the podium, doing so at 18 years old. Until now, the youngest had been Brazilian Ronaldo in 1997 at 21 years old.

Peace negotiations in Ukraine appear to be at a standstill, but Europe is moving forward to prepare for the future peace scenario. French President Emmanuel Macron announced this Thursday that 26 countries—mostly European— have agreed to participate in the peace mission in Ukraine that will be deployed when there is anCeasefire. "Twenty-six countries have pledged to deploy troops in Ukraine as a guarantee force, or to be present by land, sea, or air," the French president assured after the summit held this Thursday in Paris.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou announced on Monday that he will submit to a vote of confidence on September 8th.cuts of 44 billion eurosin the 2026 budget, a referendum that will fall just before the first major protest called for the 10th. Following the news, the French stock market opened Tuesday trading lower. The CAC40, the main French index, rose with losses of over 2.5%, which eased throughout the morning. At midday, the index was down 1.72%, closing the session at -1.59%.

The 2024 Paris Olympics allowed the French to boost their self-esteem. The people of Paris even more so. And they usually have it high enough, right? It also helped new generations recover old hymns, likeHymn in love of Édith Piaf. For many years, the singer was the city's best ambassador, although recently fewer and fewer tourists remember her; they now have new role models. That's what they told me at the small museum dedicated to Piaf, in the neighborhood where she was born, Belleville.

France celebrated tonight PSG's victory in the Champions League finalHowever, a celebration that has turned tragic, with major clashes across the country and at least two fatalities, as confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior. Specifically, during these celebrations, a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Dacs, in southwestern France. At this time, the police have not specified the context of the attack. In Paris, a man died while riding a motorcycle and was struck by a car.

After a month of catwalks in New York, London and Milan, fashion labels are finishing off the presentations of their autumn-winter 2025/2026 collections at Paris Fashion Week. But even though the calendar marks the preview of what will be seen in the shop windows in the coming months, this season there was a special expectation for the designs presented. In just a few months, fashion labels have experienced a great dance of musical chairs at the top management level, so it was expected that there would be a structural renewal of some of the most classic collections. And so it was. Let's review what we have seen at this key event in the fashion sector.

Paris' Gare du Nord is completely paralysed on Friday because a bomb from the Second World War has been discovered. The shell, more than a metre long and intact, was found overnight "in the middle of the tracks" during work near Saint Denis. The Gare du Nord is the busiest in Europe with more than 600,000 passengers a day. It is the third busiest station in the world, according to Reuters. However, the authorities of the network were confident of being able to restore service this morning.

Paris' Gare du Nord is completely paralysed on Friday because a bomb from the Second World War has been discovered. The shell, more than a metre long and intact, was found overnight "in the middle of the tracks" during work near Saint Denis. The Gare du Nord is the busiest in Europe, with more than 600,000 passengers a day. It is the third busiest station in the world, according to Reuters. However, the authorities of the network were confident of being able to restore service this morning.

The summit hastily called by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to try to coordinate the European position on Ukraine can be read in two ways: as a sign of weakness, since everything points to the fact that the important summit will be the one held in Saudi Arabia by the United States and Russia, and as a first step to try to straighten out the situation. In any case, Macron has shown flair and agility and has wanted to counteract the image of weakness that Europe offered at the Munich Conference (who came up with this location with dark historical resonances?) with a meeting that, despite being informal, actually seems to be the first serious step taken in the era of Europe that makes it a time to articulate. In addition to France and the United Kingdom, the summit was attended by the heads of government of Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands and Denmark, a kind of European G-8 (with the EU and NATO) that is seeking its place in the world after the divorce The Paris meeting, which was intended to be informal, did not result in any official agreement, because, as Sánchez himself recalled, this was not a European Council, but it should serve to send the message that Europe is willing to help Ukraine and to assert itself against Washington and Moscow's attempt to resolve the war in a formal manner. However, in order for Kiev and especially Washington and Moscow to take Europe seriously and consider that it should have a place in the talks, the Europeans must show that they are willing to take important measures and use their specific weight. It has often been said that Europe was an economic giant but a political dwarf, and as long as the alliance with the United States worked and Russia behaved like a country aspiring to be a democracy, things went reasonably well. But now the situation has changed. If it does not react soon, Europe runs the risk of being humiliated by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who want to act as if the Old Continent did not exist.

The first deputy mayor of Paris City Hall, Emmanuel Grégoire, opened Pandora's box on Thursday night when, on a radio interview, he said that the French capital could be in lockdown for three weeks to drastically reduce the number of cases of covid-19 and thus "have the prospect of reopening everything" afterwards. Later, the number two of the city council led by the Socialist Anne Hidalgo has clarified his words to make it clear that it was only a hypothesis, but the basic idea remains: the restrictions currently in force in France are "extremely restrictive", they are dragging on for too long, they are not having "sufficiently convincing" health results and they do not guarantee that, in the end, it will not be necessary to go into lockdown too.