France

PARIS (AP) — The French president is heading to the South Pacific to make France’s voice heard in a region shaping up as a prime geopolitical battleground for China and the U.S.

President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia comes as French forces take part in massive U.S.-Australian-led military exercises in the region. With French troops, citizens and resources spread across its Pacific territories, France wants to protect its own interests and project its power alongside like-minded democracies worried about China’s growing assertiveness.

SAINTE-CROIX du VERDON, France (AP) — At the pristine southern French lake of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon, tourists in pedal boats and on white water rafts — and the businesses that welcome them — have been buoyed by generous rainfall and good water management this spring.

After a prolonged drought last summer, then another in the winter that followed, the once cracked lakebeds are now abundantly watered. Dams are releasing water into reservoirs on a consistent schedule for activities in the lake.

But tour operators are still wary.

Paris, Jul 14 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the first Indian premier to have been conferred with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian and military honour, by French President Emmanuel Macron.

PARIS (AP) — Widespread riots in France sparked by the police killing of a teenager with North African roots have revealed the depth of discontent roiling poor neighborhoods — and given a new platform to the increasingly emboldened far right.

11 July 2023; MEMO: The French-inspired campaign with Britain to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 was a disastrous error, according to France's spy chief in Libya at the time, the Times reports.

According to the report, the story of the secret operations to bring down the Libyan dictator has been told by Jean-Francois Lhuillier, a former Tripoli station chief of the Directorate General for External Security (DGSE). His book has angered the Secret Service, where he worked for 27 years.

PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) - Paris police banned a protest on Saturday against violence by the force, a week after France was rocked by riots sparked by the killing of a teenager in a suburb of the French capital.

The Paris police department said in a decision published on its website that it had banned the planned demonstration on the Place de la Republique over risks to public order, citing a "context of tensions".

French authorities and politicians including President Emmanuel Macron have denied institutional racism within the country's law enforcement agencies.

PARIS (AP) — France has returned 35 people — 10 women and 25 minors — from a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing thousands of people linked to Islamic State extremists.

Al-Hol Camp — named after a town near the Iraqi border — holds about 51,000 people, including many widows, wives and children of Islamic State fighters. Iraqis make up nearly half the population, but a sizeable minority are from outside the Middle East.

PARIS (AP) — Even in normal times Emmanuel Macron needed allies’ help governing France.

To get some things done he worked with the traditional right. The center-left helped the French president accomplish others. The challenge was bigger than any a French leader had faced in more than two decades: He had to convince politicians across the country’s national assembly to support even a minor domestic project.

PARIS, July 3. /TASS/: In the last 3 days, the French police have detained 3,200 people during the riots that engulfed the country after a police officer killed a 17-year-old in Nanterre, French Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin said during a briefing Monday.

"Law enforcement has been very active. A total of 3,200 people have been detained in three days, an unprecedented figure," he said, noting that the average age of the detainees is 17 years.

"Out of these 3,200 people, 60% have never had any problems with the law before," the minister underscored.

PARIS, July 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 719 people were arrested overnight from Saturday to Sunday in France, the fifth night of nationwide violence sparked by the killing of a teen by a police officer, France's Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

According to the ministry, 45 police officers and gendarmes were injured, while 577 vehicles and 74 buildings were burnt.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that Saturday night was "calmer" than Friday night when 1,311 people were arrested and 1,350 vehicles burnt.