Tag Archives: France

French Prime Minister Jean Castex paid tribute on Saturday to history teacher Samuel Paty a year after he was murdered by a radical, saying France would stand up for its values of secularism and freedom. Paty’s attacker, a teenager of Chechen origin, had wanted to avenge the teacher’s use of …

France on Friday stopped offering COVID-19 tests free of charge for everyone, in the government’s latest effort to incite holdouts to get vaccinated against the virus. A recent negative test, proof of recovery, or full vaccination is needed to get a health pass which is required for access to cafes, …

France says one of its soldiers has been killed during a “maintenance operation” in northern Mali. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Wednesday that non-commissioned officer Adrien Quelin “died [on Tuesday] following an accident that occurred during a maintenance operation in Timbuktu.” According to French Government Spokesperson Gabriel Attal, an investigation …

Britain has rescued or intercepted a total of 1,115 migrants attempting to cross the English Channel over just two days, the country’s interior ministry said on Sunday. Rising numbers of Channel crossings by migrants in small boats have contributed to growing tensions between the UK and France following Britain’s departure …

France will launch a campaign for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty as part of its upcoming presidency of the European Union, President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday. A conference will be held in Paris gathering civil society groups from countries where the death penalty is in use or …

The German and French foreign ministers have issued a joint statement saying that Poland has both a moral and legal obligation to respect the common rules of the European Union, which is joined in 2004. Heiko Maas of Germany and Jean-Yves Le Drian of France published their statement late Friday …

France’s ambassador to Australia says Australian officials lied to his face and raised the risk of confrontation in Asia by crafting a secret submarine deal with the United States and Britain that undermined trust in democratic alliances. France is determined to protect its interests in the Indo-Pacific region, and to …

A French anti-terrorist judge has charged four men with suspected links to a far-right conspiracy theorist for allegedly plotting a series of attacks, including on coronavirus vaccination centers, a judicial source said Saturday. Two of the men are also accused of involvement in the kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl in …

The head of a French delegation of senators on Thursday called Taiwan a “country” during a visit to Taipei, risking fury from China which has strongly protested against the trip. Alain Richard, a former defense minister, arrived on Wednesday for a five-day visit despite repeated warnings from the Chinese embassy …

The Catholic Church’s leader Pope Francis has expressed sadness and shame over the Church’s inability to deal with the sexual abuse of children by the clergy in France. Francis’ expression of regret came after an independent commission investigating sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in France published a 2,500-page …

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said the forthcoming G20 summit must send a clear message to Afghanistan’s Taliban on the conditions for international recognition. In an interview with France Inter radio station broadcast on Tuesday, Macron said those conditions must include equality for women, access to foreign humanitarian operations, and non-cooperation …

France has said it could cut power to the British Crown dependencies in the English Channel to “pressure” London in a dispute over fishing licenses for French boats. Under the 2020 UK-EU trade deal, French boats are allowed to continue catching fish in British waters if they obtain a license. …

An independent commission examining sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in France believes 3,000 child abusers — two-thirds of them priests — have worked in the church over the past 70 years. The estimate was given by the commission president, Jean-Marc Sauvé, in an interview published Sunday in the …

Algeria decided Saturday to recall its ambassador to France for consultations, as diplomatic tensions mount with Paris. The move comes after France’s President Emmanuel Macron made critical remarks about Algeria published in French daily Le Monde in which he said the former French colony was ruled by a “political-military system.” …

Australia’s trade minister said on Friday talks with the European Union over a trade deal have been postponed, as a row over Canberra’s decision to cancel a $40 billion deal with France escalated. Australia last month cancelled a deal with France’s Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines …

A cargo plane delivered four helicopters, weapons, and ammunition from Russia to Mali late on Thursday, Malian interim defense minister Sadio Camara said. He said Mali had bought the helicopters in a contract agreed in December 2020 to support its armed forces in their battle alongside French, European and UN …

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was handed a one-year prison sentence by a Paris court on Thursday after being found guilty of illegal campaign financing over his failed 2012 re-election bid. Sarkozy, 66, is unlikely to go to jail. He decided to appeal the sentence, a move that in effect …

France has accused Britain of playing politics with post-Brexit fishing rights after London and the Channel Island of Jersey refused dozens of French fishing boats a licence to operate in their territorial waters. The disputes between the UK and France over post-Brexit fishing rights in the English Channel have flared …

France’s foreign minister has warned his Russian counterpart against involving paramilitaries from the controversial Wagner group in Mali’s conflict. “On Mali, the minister alerted his Russian counterpart to the serious consequences of the Wagner group’s involvement in this country,” the French foreign ministry said Friday. Jean-Yves Le Drian met Sergey …

The mobile phones of at least five French ministers and a diplomatic adviser to President Emmanuel Macron were infected by the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, sources told AFP on Friday, confirming a report by the Mediapart investigative website. French security services detected the software while inspecting the phones, with the intrusions …