France

PARIS (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was meeting Friday in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron in efforts to mend relations following post-Brexit tensions, as well as improving military and business ties and toughening efforts against Channel migrant crossings.

Both leaders shook hands and briefly posed for photographers, smiling, as Sunak arrived at the presidential palace.

PARIS (AP) — French train and metro drivers, refinery workers, garbage collectors and others held further strikes Wednesday against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64, maintaining pressure on the government as senators debated the reforms.

New protest actions focused on women — and the retirement reform’s impact on working mothers — were expected, to coincide with International Women’s Day. Feminist activists see the pension reform as unfair to women, especially because they say it would further deepen gender inequalities.

PARIS, March 3. /TASS/: The UK’s King Charles III will arrive in France on March 26 for his first state visit since ascending the throne, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources in the Elysee Palace.

According to its information, Charles III's first state visit will last four days and will end on March 29. The news agency theorized that the visit was due to the sides’ willingness to hit the reset button on the relationship, which was "strained" after a series of disputes.

2 Mar 2023; MEMO: French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that he will continue to "move forward" to strengthen Paris' relationship with both Algeria and Morocco.

However, media sites have said that the French government found itself "besieged at the international level and the African one in particular."

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron will unveil on Monday his country’s changing economic and military strategy in Africa in the coming years, as France’s influence substantially declines on the continent.

Macron is expected to call for a more balanced partnership with African nations, in a speech at the Elysee presidential palace before he begins an ambitious Africa trip on Wednesday to Gabon, Angola, the Republic of Congo and Congo.

Monday’s speech comes at a time when France’s influence on the continent is facing more challenges than it has in decades.

PARIS (AP) — The lower house of France’s parliament debated a contested pension bill aimed at raising the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64 during what was expected to be lawmakers’ last discussion on the proposal before sending the legislation to the Senate.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government has vowed to go ahead with the reform despite nationwide protests and strikes and opinion polls consistently showing a majority of French people oppose the change.

PARIS/TOURS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Saturday seeking to keep up pressure on the government over its pension reform plans, including a move to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62.

After three days of nationwide strikes since the start of the year, unions are hoping to match a mass turnout from Jan. 19 when more than a million people marched in opposition to the plans.

PARIS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Tuesday expressed concerns over damage to Syrian and Turkish heritage sites, and vowed support for the two earthquake-devastated countries.

Following an initial survey of damage to heritage carried out alongside national authorities, UNESCO said: "In Syria, UNESCO is particularly concerned about the situation in the Ancient city of Aleppo, which is on the List of World Heritage in Danger."

07 Feb 2023; MEMO: French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, has sparked outrage with a new cartoon mocking Turkiye after the country was hit on Monday by two deadly earthquakes, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The cartoon, posted on Twitter under the heading "cartoon of the day", shows buildings near collapse and lying in rubble, a flipped-over car, and piles of debris in the quakes' aftermath.

"Earthquake in Turkiye," is written above the cartoon, and the words "No need to even send tanks" at the bottom.

PARIS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A mother and her seven children aged between 2 and 14 died in a house fire early on Monday in France's northern department of Aisne, the local prefecture confirmed in a press release.

Just after midnight, the blaze ripped through a two-story house in the city of Charly-sur-Marne.

A firefighter could rescue a severely burnt man, who was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, the prefecture said, adding that his condition was not life-threatening.