France

Air France cancels flights as Russia withholds clearance

(Reuters) --- Air France (AIRF.PA) cancelled two more flights to Moscow on Monday after Russian authorities failed to approve flight plans that avoid Belarus airspace.

The European Union has urged its airlines to avoid Belarus amid outrage over the forced landing of a Ryanair (RYA.I) jet en route to Lithuania from Greece on May 23 and the arrest of a dissident journalist on board.

French policewoman stabbed by ex-prisoner on threat watch list

(Reuters) --- A radicalised French ex-prisoner on a watch list of potential terrorist threats stabbed a policewoman inside her station in western France on Friday before being killed in a shoot-out with police, a government minister said.

The victim was seriously wounded but expected to survive, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

The assailant had been released from prison in March following an eight-year sentence for violent crime and was on a security services register for individuals who might pose a terrorism risk.

Man who attacked policewoman in Western France was radicalised in jail -source

(Reuters) --- A man who stabbed and badly wounded a policewoman on Friday in the town of La Chapelle-sur-Erdre in western France was reported by prison staff to have been radicalised in jail, a source close to the investigation said.

The source also said the man, who was released from jail in March following a conviction for violence, had psychological disorders.

France resists more joint funding of 'brain dead' NATO

(Reuters) --- A $20 billion plan to give NATO more flexibility in facing military threats, climate change and China's rise has hit firm resistance from France, which fears the move could undermine its defence priorities, four diplomats and a French defence source said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg proposed in February that allies put more money directly into existing, albeit small common budgets, rather than rely on the current system that each government pays for its own military operations.

France’s Macron seeks forgiveness over Rwanda genocide

(Reuters) --- French President Emmanuel Macron said he recognised his country’s role in Rwanda’s genocide and hoped for forgiveness at a memorial in Kigali on Thursday, seeking to reset relations after years of Rwandan accusations that France was complicit in the 1994 atrocities.

"Only those who went through that night can perhaps forgive, and in doing so give the gift of forgiveness," Macron said at the Gisozi genocide memorial in Kigali, where more than 250,000 victims are buried.

France will impose self isolation for people coming from UK

(Reuters) --- France will impose self-isolation measures for people coming from the United Kingdom due to the presence of COVID-19 variants in the country, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday.

"France will set up compulsory isolation for people coming from the UK," Attal told a news briefing after a cabinet meeting, adding that details would be given in "the coming hours".

COVID-19: 1.5 billion anti-virus shots injected worldwide: France

PARIS, May 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 1.5 billion doses of anti-Covid vaccines have been injected into people’s arms around the world, six months after the vaccination drive started.

By Tuesday at 1530 GMT at least 1,500,017,337 doses had been injected in 210 countries or territories, according to a tally of official sources.

Nearly three fifths of the total have been administered in three countries: China (421.9 million), the United States (274.4 million) and India (184.4 million).

France’s Sarkozy goes on trial over 2012 campaign financing

PARIS (AP) — The trial of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on charges that his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid was illegally financed has formally started on Thursday. The scandal had thrown his conservative party into turmoil.

Sarkozy, 66, is facing allegations that he spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros ($27.5 million) on the presidential race he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande. He has denied wrongdoing.

France: Former President Sarkozy goes on trial over 2012 campaign financing

Paris, May 20 (AP-PTI) Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy goes on trial on Thursday on charges that his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid was illegally financed, a scandal that has thrown his conservative party into turmoil.

Sarkozy, 66, is facing allegations that he spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros ( 27.5 million) on the presidential race he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande. He has denied wrongdoing.

France hits target of 20 mln first COVID-19 vaccinations: PM

PARIS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- France has administered the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 20 million people, reaching its target days ahead of the reopening of catering businesses and cultural venues, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Saturday.

Castex announced on Twitter the hitting of the 20-million mark, a number that represents some 30 percent of the population.

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