Tag Archives: France

The European Union agreed on Monday to draft a framework for possible sanctions on Russian mercenaries who could be deployed to West Africa’s Sahel region, France’s foreign minister said. Reuters reported in September that Mali’s military junta was in discussions about deploying Russia’s Wagner Group in Mali, which France says …

France on Friday warned Russia against harming Ukraine’s territorial integrity, after the United States shared with European allies its fears over Russian troop movements on the Ukrainian border and over a potential attack. Four European diplomats told Reuters that US officials had raised their concerns about an attack on Ukraine …

World powers will push for sanctions against anyone who disrupts Libya’s electoral process and political transition, according to draft conclusions of a conference they are holding later on Friday in Paris. The meeting, which will include the leaders of France, Libya, Germany and Egypt, as well as the US vice …

Several EU member states on the UN Security Council have criticized Israel’s move to proceed with settlement construction in Palestine’s West Bank and East Jerusalem while slamming the decision to dub six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations. “We reiterate our strong opposition to the expansion of settlements and will not …

Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Saturday he would not make the “first move” towards easing tensions with former colonial power France after critical comments from Paris about his country. The diplomatic spat has been fueled by a visa row and media reports that President Emmanuel Macron told descendants of …

Tunisia has discovered a tunnel near the French ambassador’s residence from a house frequented by a known extremist, and anti-terrorism forces are investigating, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. French diplomats were not immediately available for comment. Tunisian security forces have thwarted most militant plots in recent years and …

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attacked the credibility of French President Emmanuel Macron as a newspaper quoted a text message that suggested France anticipated “bad news” about a now-scuttled submarine deal. An Australian newspaper cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s explanation to Macron last week that the US leader thought …

The UK warned France on Monday to back down in a fish row within 48 hours or face legal action under the Brexit trade deal amid an intensifying dispute between Paris and London. Tensions over fishing rights escalated on Thursday, when France seized a British trawler fishing in its territorial …

French President Emmanuel Macron said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison lied to him over the cancellation of a submarine building contract in September and indicated more efforts were required to rebuild trust between the two allies. In Rome for the G20 summit, the two leaders were meeting for the first …

Britain gave France 48 hours on Monday to back down in a fishing row that threatens to escalate into a wider trade dispute between two of Europe’s biggest economies or face tortuous legal action under the Brexit trade deal. Post-Brexit bickering over fish culminated last Wednesday in the French seizure …

Britain and France clashed again over a post-Brexit fishing row on Sunday, with London calling on Paris to withdraw its threats and rejecting assertions there had been any agreement to try to cool an argument that could ultimately hurt trade. The two sides painted different pictures of a meeting between …

Britain stepped up a war of words with France on Saturday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson refusing to rule out triggering trade dispute action next week in a fishing row and his Brexit minister sharply criticising Paris’ actions. Johnson, who is hosting the U.N. climate summit next week, again said …

US President Joe Biden told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron Friday that his country was “clumsy” in securing a submarine deal with Australia behind France’s back. “We have no better ally than France,” Biden said in the first meeting with Macron since the row erupted last month. “What happened was, …

Australia’s defense minister says French President Emmanuel Macron is playing to domestic political sensibilities by expressing sustained outrage in a recent submarine row with Canberra. Australia scrapped a $40-billion submarine deal with France in favor of a trilateral security partnership with the United States and Britain. France said it was …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet French President Emmanuel Macron this weekend amid a row over post-Brexit fishing rights in which France has seized a British boat and London has threatened to board French trawlers. The flare-up is part of a wider dispute over post-Brexit trade arrangements between Britain …

France gave verbal warnings to two British boats that were fishing in waters off its port of Le Havre, the government said on Thursday, as tension simmers between the neighbors over post-Brexit arrangements. The French maritime ministry said it gave the warnings overnight to the two boats, one of which …

Saad Rizvi, the head of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party, was arrested last year amid demonstrations against France over publishing caricatures of Prophet Muhammad. Thousands of supporters of a far-right religious party have launched their “long march” from the eastern city of Lahore toward Pakistan’s capital, demanding that the government …

Five aides and allies of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy were set to go on trial on Monday for allegedly misusing public money and cronyism, adding to the former head of state’s legal problems. Sarkozy’s former chief of staff Claude Gueant and ex-advisor and consultant Patrick Buisson are among those …

France confirmed its ambassador to Belarus left the country on Oct 17, adding that the official in question – Nicolas de Lacoste – would now assume the role of special envoy in Belarus as of this Monday onwards. “France will keep on standing by the Belarus people and will look …

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday condemned as “inexcusable” a deadly crackdown by Paris police on a 1961 protest by Algerians whose scale was a taboo covered up for decades by French authorities. Macron told relatives and activists on the 60th anniversary of the bloodshed that “crimes” were committed on …