France

PARIS (AP) — A French nun who was believed to be the world’s oldest person has died a few weeks before her 119th birthday, the spokesperson for her nursing home in southern France said Wednesday.

Lucile Randon, known as Sister André, was born in the town of Ales, southern France, on Feb. 11, 1904. She was also one of the world’s oldest survivors of COVID-19.

Spokesman David Tavella said she died at 2 a.m. on Tuesday at the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure nursing home in the town of Toulon.

PARIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari is a heinous and barbaric act, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday.

Macron said he stood in solidarity with Britain which has condemned the execution, which defied British and U.S. calls for the 61-year-old Akbari's release after he was handed a death sentence on charges of spying for Britain.

In an audio recording purportedly from Akbari and broadcast by BBC Persian on Wednesday, he said he had confessed to crimes he had not committed after extensive torture.

12 Jan 2023; MEMO: The French Football Federation's executive committee has suspended Noel Le Graet, president of France's football federation, following accusations of sexual misconduct.

A statement published by the French Federation yesterday said Le Graet, in agreement with the federation's executive body, had decided to step down until the results of an investigation ordered by Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera are published.

PARIS (AP) — An attacker wounded six people in an unprovoked blade attack in Paris’ busy Gare du Nord train station Wednesday morning before being shot and wounded by police, France’s interior minister said, praising the swift intervention of police for helping prevent any fatalities.

The suspect attacked several people, including a police officer, with a “bladed weapon” during the morning rush hour, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters at the scene, flanked by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

PARIS (AP) — Thousands of Kurds from around France and Europe marched through Paris on Saturday to show their anger over the unresolved killing of three Kurdish women activists in the French capital 10 years ago.

The marchers are also mourning three people killed outside a Kurdish cultural center in Paris two weeks ago in what prosecutors called a racist attack.

PARIS (AP) — Palestinian lawyer and activist Salah Hammouri vowed to keep up his fight for the rights of the Palestinian people despite his deportation to France following Israel’s claim that he has ties to a banned militant group.

Hammouri, who holds French citizenship, landed in Paris on Dec. 18 following months of legal wrangling, despite France’s public opposition to the expulsion.

His deportation underscored the fragile status of Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, where most hold revocable residency rights but are not Israeli citizens.

02 Jan 2023; MEMO: The appointment of the far-right French lawmaker, José Gonzalez, as vice-president of the Algeria-France Parliamentary Friendship Group has caused widespread alarm because of his glorification of colonialism and denial of French colonial crimes in Algeria.

PARIS (AP) — When a 38-year-old man anguished over the protests in Iran took his own life in the French city of Lyon, fellow members of the Iranian diaspora felt his pain.

Three months into the anti-government protests, Iranians abroad are going through a spectrum of emotions. Activists and counselors hope Mohammad Moradi’s desperate act this week inspires others to reach out for help and to raise awareness of what is happening in Iran.

PARIS (AP) — Members of France’s Kurdish community and others are holding a silent march Monday to honor three people killed in a shooting at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris.

A 69-year-old Frenchman is facing preliminary charges of racially motivated murder, attempted murder and weapons violations over Friday’s shooting, prosecutors said. The suspect told investigators that he had aimed to kill migrants or foreigners and then had planned to kill himself, and said he had a ’’pathological” hatred of non-European foreigners, according to prosecutors.

PARIS, Dec 25 (NNN-XINHUA) – France’s national railway company, SNCF, said, it reached an agreement on Friday, with the country’s labour unions, to avoid further strikes over the New Year’s weekend.

However, travel will still remain disrupted this weekend, with roughly one in three high-speed TGV trains cancelled.

According to local media, SNCF’s management has agreed to “strong” measures, to improve the recognition of the profession of conductors, the creation of more jobs and future promotions.