Mediapart launches battle against Google for transparency over intellectual property rights payments

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 © Photo Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart © Photo Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart

As a result of confidentiality clauses imposed by Google, Mediapart will not accept the money owed to it over the use of its intellectual property in search engine results; what are known as “neighbouring rights”. It comes down to an issue of trust with our readership, explains Mediapart's publishing editor Carine Fouteau, who argues that a united front by the press publishing sector is more necessary than ever in the face of Big Tech's lack of transparency.

Local fears over plans for Europe's second biggest lithium mine in central France

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The site of the planned lithium mine in central France. © Photo Richard Damoret / REA The site of the planned lithium mine in central France. © Photo Richard Damoret / REA

Paris-based minerals multinational Imerys wants to open a lithium mine near the village of Échassières in the centre of France where they have been holding consultations with local residents. If it goes ahead the mine would produce enough lithium for 663,000 electric car batteries each year. But as Nicolas Cheviron reports, people in the area are worried about the environmental impact of this major scheme as the debate continues over the best way to carry out energy transition.

The inside story of France's battle against Russian disinformation

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 © Photomontage Armel Baudet / Mediapart © Photomontage Armel Baudet / Mediapart

In recent days, a false video purporting to be from news channel BFMTV has stoked paranoia about the prevalence of bedbugs in France. This is just one more item of pro-Russian propaganda among countless other examples of fake news that have been circulating lately. Justine Brabant and Matthieu Suc investigate the hidden workings of France's daily fight against Moscow's online influence.

A French McCarthyism hounding expressions of solidarity with Palestine

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A scene in Toulouse, south-west France, October 25th 2023. © Photo Patrick Batard / Hans Lucas via AFP A scene in Toulouse, south-west France, October 25th 2023. © Photo Patrick Batard / Hans Lucas via AFP

Showing solidarity with Palestine has been made into an offence in France, writes Mediapart co-founder Edwy Plenel. To express it in speech, in writing or by demonstrating is liable to lead to a police summons, a criminal sentence or, beforehand, a ban. Every democrat should be concerned about this situation.

European elections: what’s at stake with the vote in France

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Campaign posters in the Paris suburb of Clamart, April 2024. © Photo Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas via AFP Campaign posters in the Paris suburb of Clamart, April 2024. © Photo Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas via AFP

European Union countries head for the polls in June to elect, country by country, their future members of the European Parliament. In France, the elections coincide with the mid-term point in Emmanuel Macron’s presidency and that of parliament, where no party has an absolute majority, and the poll in June represents the first nationwide test of political opinion since 2022. While they are of a so-called “second order”, they are also typically the stage for voters to cast aside strategic choices and display their true preferences. Fabien Escalona reports.

Paid 100,000 euros per day: what lies behind Stellantis CEO’s huge remuneration

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Top earner: Carlos Tavares. © Photo Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP Top earner: Carlos Tavares. © Photo Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP

Carlos Tavares, the CEO of carmaking group Stellantis, has been awarded a total remuneration for 2023 amounting to 36.5 million euros. While the extraordinary sum has prompted a wave of indignation, like on every occasion that such massive payouts are made, the indecent amount above all reveals important truths about the organisation of our economic and social systems, writes Mediapart’s economic affairs correspondent Romaric Godin.

Gaza and Israel: the gagging frenzy of a Germany in denial

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Marchers defying a ban on their pro-Palestinian demonstration held in Hamburg on October 23rd 2023. © Georg Wendt / DPA Marchers defying a ban on their pro-Palestinian demonstration held in Hamburg on October 23rd 2023. © Georg Wendt / DPA

Since the October 7th Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza, the German authorities and cultural institutions have embarked on a heavy-handed censorship against those who denounce the massive death toll of Palestinian civilians. Along with bans on demonstrations, there has been a wave of cancellations of cultural events involving artists, writers and thinkers who, because of their opposition to the war in Gaza, are accused of anti-Semitism, including Jewish critics of the Israeli government. As Mathieu Magnaudeix reports from Berlin, the gagging frenzy and staunch support for Israel across the German political class, regarded as a raison d’état, is rooted in the country’s shame of its Nazi past.

Gaza: what are we doing to stop the catastrophe?

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A young boy cries over the death of a relative at Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, April 1st 2024. © Photo Khaled Omar / Xinhua / Sipa A young boy cries over the death of a relative at Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, April 1st 2024. © Photo Khaled Omar / Xinhua / Sipa

After six months of Israeli bombardments the Gaza Strip is now just rubble and the war against Hamas has turned into a massacre of Palestinians, says Mediapart's publishing editor Carine Fouteau in this op-ed article. And by not opposing the destruction of an entire people, she argues, we become accomplices to it.

French judge behind bars over claims of links with Corsican mafia and misuse of public funds

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Judge Hélène Gerhards at Albertville in south-east France in 2008. © Photo Fayolle / Sipa Judge Hélène Gerhards at Albertville in south-east France in 2008. © Photo Fayolle / Sipa

A judge close to justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti, and who is suspected of having been compromised by the Corsican mafia and of having misused more than 100,000 euros of public money, was remanded in custody in the early hours of Saturday April 6th. Hélène Gerhards – who denies any wrongdoing - had earlier been formally placed under investigation for some ten alleged offences as the judicial probe into the case continues. As Fabrice Arfi reports, it is unprecedented for a serving French judge to be remanded in custody in this way.

Why Monaco is on the brink of a regime crisis

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 © Illustration Simon Toupet / Mediapart avec AFP © Illustration Simon Toupet / Mediapart avec AFP

Prince Albert II of Monaco is facing the biggest internal crisis this city-state has known for many years, against a backdrop of endemic corruption and a merciless war between rival clans. Fabrice Arfi and Antton Rouget report on the claims and counterclaims being made inside this tiny but ultra-wealthy principality.

‘Thrown to the wolves’: French environment police targeted by farmers’ revolt

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Inspectors from the French Office for Biodiversity, the OFB, on patrol at Herzeele, north-east France. © Photo François Lo Presti / AFP Inspectors from the French Office for Biodiversity, the OFB, on patrol at Herzeele, north-east France. © Photo François Lo Presti / AFP

The nationwide protest movement by French farmers that began earlier this year erupted from long-simmering unrest over falling incomes and rising costs. But among other key grievances they expressed are the constraints of environmental regulations, which are enforced by the inspectors of the French Office for Biodiversity, the OFB. The inspectors have become a main focus of the anger, whipped up by the largest farmers union, the FNSEA, and entertained by the centre-right government keen to appease the revolt ahead of European Parliament elections in June. Many inspectors have received instructions to suspend their policing of farmland, while their powers and practices are now the subject of review. “We’ve been thrown to the wolves,” said one OFB union official.

Inside the Paris school whose headteacher quit after death threats over headscarf row

By Prisca Borrel
The Maurice-Ravel high school at the centre of the headscarf row in Paris. © Photo Lione Urman / Abaca The Maurice-Ravel high school at the centre of the headscarf row in Paris. © Photo Lione Urman / Abaca

The headteacher of Maurice-Ravel high school in the French capital recently resigned after receiving death threats following an incident with a female pupil about a headscarf. The French prime minister Gabriel Attal has since announced the government is taking legal action against the student in question. As Prisca Borrel reports, the consequences of this controversial affair are dramatic and underline just how hard it is for teaching staff to peacefully apply the law banning the wearing of overtly religious symbols in state schools.

How a narrative of fear over public debt aids the destruction of France's welfare state

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 © Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP © Photo illustration Sébastien Calvet / Mediapart avec AFP

The French government recently announced that the country's public deficit was higher than forecast, further fuelling a debate that had begun a few weeks ago about the threat posed by the country's overall public debt. In this analysis Mediapart's Romaric Godin says that the main purpose of this scary debt narrative is to justify future austerity while maintaining a flow of financial benefits to the private sector.

All about winning: luxury goods firm LVMH backs France's top medal hopes at Paris Olympics

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LVMH are sponsors of the Paris Olympics. © Photo Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP LVMH are sponsors of the Paris Olympics. © Photo Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP

Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton are promoting some of their many luxury brands via a select group of French sporting stars who are competing at this summer's Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. And while the organisers may be championing the Paris Olympics as a popular event for all, Mathias Thépot argues in this op-ed article that 'premium' sponsors LVMH are in fact focussed on excellence - and victories.

Two Palestinian families in France: forever uprooted, forever exiled

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From top to bottom: Abdudlmajeedf, Rufeida and their son Omar: Abu Salma, Maysoun and their children Salma et Adam. © Photos Ameer Alhalbi pour Mediapart From top to bottom: Abdudlmajeedf, Rufeida and their son Omar: Abu Salma, Maysoun and their children Salma et Adam. © Photos Ameer Alhalbi pour Mediapart

In this report from Paris and the south-west French city of Toulouse, two families of Palestinian refugees, who arrived in France following the escalation of the civil war in Syria, recount their long paths of exile during which they were regularly uprooted, just like their ancestors who were forced to flee their homes in 1948, when the state of Israel was proclaimed. They tell of the sadness that hangs over lives permanently eyeing a homeland of the past, even for the generations who have never known it. “We never knew Palestine, we were born in a different country, we live in another, and in every situation we’re treated as foreigners,” said Omar, 20, born and raised in a Damascus refugee camp. “But if we have children, we’ll have a lot to tell them.” Sophie Boutboul hears their stories, alongside photographer Ameer Alhalbi.