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Britons driving abroad have been warned to ensure they have one crucial thing with them – or risk a fine. Holidaymakers visiting France this summer could be penalised if they do not purchase a windscreen emissions sticker before setting off, a leading motoring services company has warned as more areas now require them. RAC reported that the number of areas across the country requiring drivers to display a Crit’Air sticker rose to 12 in July, with Bordeaux and Clermont-Ferrand joining the list. The stickers – of which there are six types based on a vehicle’s air pollutant emissions – cannot be purchased locally and must be ordered in advance from the French government website. Costing €4.61, the scheme helps motorists to avoid a fine of €68, rising to €180 if not paid within 45 days. The cost will skyrocket further next year, reaching €750 after camera-based enforcement is rolled out. However, the RAC has warned drivers to avoid falling for third-party websites which will charge customers up to six times as much as the official sticker. The cleanest electric and hydrogen vehicles use a green “0” sticker, whilst the most polluting vehicles require a “5” sticker, with certain areas in France restricting vehicle movements based on a car’s sticker rating. Paris operates on the strictest policy, with certain roads only open to cars with “0”, “1” or “2” stickers at certain hours. Meanwhile, other European countries – Spain and Switzerland included – also employ increasingly strict emissions regulations, but a sticker from one country is not valid in another. From January 2023, all cars in Spain were required to have an eco-sticker classifying its emission rating. Blue stickers are used to identify the most efficient vehicles, whilst yellow indicates the least, and must be displayed in the lower-right corner of the windscreen. Likewise, from January 2020, Switzerland banned the most polluting vehicles from driving through the centre of Geneva during pollution peaks, using Stick’AIR stickers or vignettes as part of the capital’s differentiated traffic scheme. RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “Many UK drivers will be familiar with clean air zones such as London’s ultra-low emission zone, but they should also be ready to encounter them abroad this summer. “It’s vital anyone travelling to Europe does their homework to see whether an emissions-based windscreen sticker is needed – and give themselves enough time to order one before their trip. “Anyone without the right sticker or driving a non-compliant car into a low-emissions zone risks an on-the-spot fine. “In France, six years after Crit’Air emissions stickers were first introduced in a bid to improve air quality, there are now 12 locations where British drivers’ movements can be restricted based on how much their cars emit. “As time goes on, the regulations also get stricter and within a few years all but zero-emission vehicles will be banned from some city centres.” Read More Tory MP George Eustice compares new oil boiler ban to Ulez for rural communities What is London’s ultra low emission zone and its wider political impact? Just Stop Oil’s demands are ‘contemptible’, says Starmer Dropping green goals could lose us election, Environment Secretary warns Tories Sadiq Khan refuses to ‘water down’ Ulez as he steps up financial support UK holidaymakers driving abroad warned: Get an emissions sticker or risk a fine A guide to how Paris will welcome fans and stage 32 sports at the first post-pandemic Olympics Ukraine war: EU nation buys dozens of German-made Leopard 1 tanks for Kyiv

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When Ray Epps, now 61, arrived in Washington DC in early January, 2021, he believed he was answering the call of his president. Mr Epps was one of the thousands of MAGA loyalists who believed former President Donald Trump's lie that the 2020 election had been stolen. He also thought he and a throng of conservative allies would protest the election's certification. The night before the Capitol riot on Jan 6, Mr Epps told a crowd of fellow Trump supporters that they should enter the Capitol. This exchange was caught on video. He did not call for violence, and later claimed that he was encouraging a peaceful protest inside the building. Nearly 900 people have been arrested for their participation in the failed insurrection that occurred the following day. Though Mr Epps is not among that number, he has nonetheless become the focus of a MAGA-world conspiracy theory placing the blame for the entire debacle squarely on his shoulders. Who is Ray Epps? Mr Epps is a former Marine who runs a wedding and event venue in Queen Creek, Arizona. He describes himself as a staunch conservative, and was a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump. Mr Epps went to Washington DC believing that the 2020 election had been stolen. Politico has reported that Mr Epps is a former Oath Keeper, the militant right-wing gang whose members are currently under investigation on seditious conspiracy charges. Since the Capitol riot, his life has been turned upside down by the very people he once marched alongside. The conspiracy theory After failing to pin the Capitol riot on Antifa, right-wing media outlets refocused their efforts to reshape their narrative around Mr Epps. According to the New York Times, obscure right-wing outlets like Revolver Media began reporting on selectively-edited videos of Mr Epps during the Capitol riot, and later capitalised on the footage from 5 January in which he called for people to enter the Capitol. The theory claims that Mr Epps, who was not arrested in the wake of the Capitol riot despite apparently encouraging people to enter the building and participating in the event himself, could only have evaded law enforcement if he was working with the government. To explain this apparent contradiction, outlets and conspiracy theorists decided that Mr Epps had to have been an FBI agent sent into the crowd to stir dissent and set up a "false flag" event meant to justify the incarceration of hundreds of Trump supporters. Larger right-wing media platforms, including Fox News' Tucker Carlson, picked up on the story, thrusting Mr Epps into the mainstream conservative consciousness. Republican lawmakers including Senator Ted Cruz and Representatives Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz leapt on the theory in their efforts to reframe the Capitol riot narrative. Mr Trump himself eventually signed onto the conspiracy theory, feeding the man who believed his lies into the right-wing conspiracy machine's ever hungry maw. What really happened? Days after the Capitol riot, Mr Epps learned that the FBI was treating him as a person of interest in its then nascent investigation into the riot. He immediately called the agency and agreed to call them to discuss what had happened. During their talks, Mr Epps insisted that he had remained peaceful and had instructed other rioters to do the same. Video footage that was eventually edited and used to suggest Mr Epps was inciting violence actually showed that he was trying to talk down other protesters who were getting angry. In one video, he tells another protester, Ryan Samsel, to relax and reminds him that the Capitol police were doing their jobs. According to the Times, Mr Samsel was questioned by the FBI and fully corroborated Mr Epps' version of events. “He came up to me and he said, ‘Dude’ — his entire words were, ‘Relax, the cops are doing their job,’” Mr Samsel told investigators. Further, Mr Epps was able to prove that he had left the Capitol before the violence began in earnest. A protester who had fallen ill required help away from the chaos, and Mr Epps volunteered to help lead them out. The fallout Since then, Mr Epps’ life has turned upside down. He has become a persona non grata in conservative circles due to his association with the conspiracy theory. After the conspiracy theory picked up steam, Mr Epps began receiving death threats and even had intruders trespass on his property. According to Mr Epps, those individuals approached him and demanded to know the "truth" about his supposed involvement with the FBI. He has had to leave his home in Arizona and is currently hiding out in an RV with his wife at an undisclosed location. Mr Epps told theTimes that he fears the direction the US is heading, and called what was done to him "criminal." “I am at the center of this thing, and it’s the biggest farce that’s ever been,” he said. “It’s just not right. The American people are being led down a path. I think it should be criminal.” Lawsuit In July 2023, Mr Epps filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its former host, Tucker Carlson. Mr Epps filed the lawsuit in the Superior Court of Delaware, the same court in which Fox was given a $787.5m judgement to settle a separate defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems, the New York Times reports. Fox News has since sought to have the lawsuit moved to the Federal District Court in Wilmington. Mr Epps is seeking an unspecified amount in damages. The move comes after Mr Epps demanded in March that Fox News and Carlson retract their stories and issue on-air apologies to him. “Ray is taking the next steps to vindicate his rights by seeking accountability for Fox’s lies that have caused him and [his wife] Robyn so much harm,” his attorney, Michael Teter, told the Times. The lawsuit blames Fox News for spreading 2020 election fraud misinformation, painting Mr Epps as a loyal viewer who trusted the network’s commentary. “When Fox, through its on-air personalities and guests, told its audience that the 2020 election had been stolen, Epps was listening,” the complaint says. “He believed Fox. And when Epps kept hearing that Trump supporters should let their views be known on Jan. 6 in Washington D.C., Epps took that to heart.” It goes on further to claim that Fox News and Carlson made Mr Epps the “villain” of their stories, and said Carlson in particular became “fixated” on the former Marine. 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The mother of a 17-year-old killed by French police said she blames only the officer who shot her son for his death, a tragedy that has sparked three consecutive nights of destructive unrest and revived a heated debate about discrimination and policing in low-income, multi-ethnic communities.