France

PARIS, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The highly pathogenic bird flu, or avian influenza, has been detected at a turkey farm in northern France, causing the cull of at least 8,000 turkeys, French daily news Le Figaro reported on Monday.

"Regulated protection and surveillance zones have been set up within a radius of 3-10 km," local authorities of the city of Feuilleres, in the northern department of Somme of France, said in a press release. The first cluster of the high pathogenic bird flu was found on Saturday at the turkey farm.

29 July 2022; MEMO: French President, Emmanuel Macron, was hosting Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on Thursday as part of increased Western efforts to court the major oil-producing State amid the war in Ukraine and faltering talks to revive a nuclear deal with Iran, Reuters reports.

PARIS, July 28 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday as part of increased Western efforts to court the major oil-producing state amid the war in Ukraine and faltering talks to revive a nuclear deal with Iran.

French opposition figures and human rights groups have criticised Macron's decision to invite to dinner at the Elysee Palace a man Western leaders believe ordered the murder in 2018 of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

PARIS, July 23 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his disappointment to his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi at the lack of progress over talks on the 2015 nuclear agreement, the Elysee Palace said in a statement on Saturday.

In June, Iran began removing essentially all the agency's monitoring equipment, installed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The French leader urged Raisi to make a "clear choice" to reach a deal and go back to the implementation of Iran's commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement, the Elysee Palace said.

23 July 2022; MEMO: Some 38 far-left French MPs have signed a draft resolution condemning Israel's "institutionalisation of an apartheid regime against Palestinian people," news agencies reported on Friday.

The draft resolution was originally submitted on 13 July by Communist MP Jean-Paul Lecocq but stirred a public debate on Friday.

PARIS, July 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France secured promises of new energy supplies from the United Arab Emirates on Monday after talks between President Emmanuel Macron and UAE leader Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in Paris.

The UAE has emerged as a key partner for Western countries as they scramble for energy deals worldwide to replace imports from sanctions-hit Russia.

Sheikh Mohamed, also known as MBZ, was on his first overseas state visit since taking office in May following the death of his half-brother.

PARIS, July 18 (Reuters) - The governments of France and the United Arab Emirates signed on Monday a strategic agreement to cooperate in the energy sector, the French government said.

The partnership aimed to identify joint investment projects in France, the UAE or elsewhere in the sectors of hydrogen, renewable and nuclear energy, the French government said in a statement.

"In the currently uncertain energy context, this agreement will pave the way for a stable long-term framework for cooperation, opening the way for new industrial contracts," it added.

PARIS, July 17 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron warned against anti-Semitism and historical revisionism on Sunday as he commemorated victims of the Holocaust on the 80th anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv roundup of Jewish families.

On July 16-17, 1942, around 13,000 people were taken to the Winter Velodrome, the Vel d'Hiv, in Paris before being sent on to concentration camps across Europe. It was the largest mass detention of Jewish people by French police in collaboration with the Nazi German occupiers.

PARIS, July 16 (Reuters) - More than 100 French public figures have signed an open letter denouncing what they said were homophobic remarks by a recently appointed government minister.

Caroline Cayeux, appointed minister for territorial cohesion as part of France's new government formed on July 4, was asked by the Senate on Tuesday whether she maintained her opposition to the law for same-sex marriage and adoption in 2013.

At the time, she called the reform a "caprice" and "plan that goes against nature".

PARIS (AP) — Firefighters battled wildfires raging out of control in France and Spain on Sunday as Europe wilted under an unusually extreme heat wave that authorities in Madrid blamed for hundreds of deaths.