Paris, France | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May will announce a new treaty on how to handle migrants hoping to head to Britain, the French presidency said Wednesday. The treaty, set to be announced at a summit in London on Thursday, will “complete …
Read More »Second Sahel ‘G5’ anti-terror force mission begins
Paris, France | AFP | Five Sahel countries – Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso — on Monday launched their second anti-Jihadist operation in the troubled region, after talks in Paris with their partner France. After the discussions between the defence ministers of the so-called G5 Sahel and their …
Read More »Case dismissed against French troops accused of child rape in C.Africa
Paris, France | AFP | French investigating magistrates have closed a probe into allegations that French soldiers raped children in the Central African Republic while on a peacekeeping mission, judicial sources said Monday. Members of Operation Sangaris, deployed to keep warring militias apart, had been accused of abusing children at …
Read More »Macron ‘happy’ Merkel coalition deal in sight
Paris, France | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday he was “happy and very satisfied” that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had achieved a breakthrough with the Social Democrats on her bid to form a coalition. Macron, who had pressed the Social Democrats (SPD) to return to a grand coalition …
Read More »Three French soldiers wounded in Mali attack
Paris, France | AFP | Three French soldiers deployed in a counter-terrorism force in Mali’s restive northeast were injured, one seriously, in a suicide bomb attack, France’s army said Friday. The convoy was attacked while travelling between the Menaka and Indelimane regions on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the launch …
Read More »France signs deals with China but warns against ‘pillaging’
Beijing, China | AFP | Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron oversaw the signing Tuesday of business deals worth billions of dollars, seeking better trade ties even as France’s finance minister boasted of rejecting those investments he likened to “pillaging”. The two sides signed deals in the …
Read More »Macron visits Forbidden City before China deals, Xi talks
Beijing, China | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron toured Beijing’s sprawling Forbidden City on Tuesday before a day of business deals and talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as the two rising global leaders seek closer ties. Macron, who has positioned himself as the leading voice of the European …
Read More »Outrage after French mayor scraps pork-free school meals
Beaucaire, France | AFP | A far right local authority in southern France on Monday scrapped pork-free school meals, a move branded “anti-Muslim” or “anti-Jewish” by an equality minister. Julien Sanchez, the National Front mayor of Beaucaire, a town south of Avignon, abolished the scheme, brought in by his predecessor, …
Read More »Apple takes French tax activists to court over store protest
Paris, France | AFP | Apple has filed a lawsuit against the Attac activist group after about 100 of its supporters occupied the tech giant’s flagship store in Paris last month, protesting alleged “wide-scale tax evasion” by the firm. An Apple spokesman told AFP on Thursday that while it respected …
Read More »Make reforms while sun shines on world economy: Lagarde
Paris, France | AFP | International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has urged France and other countries to push through reforms “while the sun is shining” on the global economy. In an interview with France’s Le Journal du Dimanche published Sunday Lagarde said the strength of the global economic recovery …
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