The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | France on Monday urged the UN’s top court to throw out a case brought against it in a bitter diplomatic row with oil-rich Equatorial Guinea over French accusations of top-level corruption. “France has not accepted the jurisdiction of this court under any title whatsoever …
Read More »French jazz violinist Didier Lockwood dies aged 62
Paris, France | AFP | Noted French jazz violinist Didier Lockwood, a disciple of the late Stephane Grappelli, has died of a heart attack in Paris, his agent said. Lockwood, who turned 62 on February 11, died early on Sunday morning. The night before his death, he had performed at …
Read More »New Liberia president Weah to visit France
Paris, France | AFP | Liberia’s new president, the ex-footballer George Weah, will visit France later this month and meet President Emmanuel Macron, the Elysee Palace announced Thursday. “This will be George Weah’s first trip to Europe since his election”, a statement said, calling his victory “an exemplary democratic change …
Read More »MSF reveals sex abuse cases as Oxfam scandal widens
Paris, France | AFP | A scandal over sexual abuse in the foreign aid industry that began with Oxfam spread Wednesday, as French group Doctors Without Borders revealed it had fired 19 staff last year for harassment or abuse. The Paris-based group, known by its French acronym MSF, said it …
Read More »French forces kill at least 10 jihadists in Mali: military sources
Bamako, Mali | AFP | French air power on Wednesday killed at least 10 jihadists in northeast Mali near the border with Algeria, local and foreign military sources said. “French forces on Wednesday led at least one raid near Tinzaouatene, at the Algerian border, against the terrorists,” a local Malian …
Read More »Did you know? Phone use even when parked by road in France is illegal
Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | It’s illegal to hold your phone on public roads in France even when you’re pulled over to the side of the road, whether you’re blocking traffic or not. A recent high court ruling means that taking what some consider to be a safe step — pulling …
Read More »France will ‘strike’ if proven Syria used chemical arms: Macron
Paris, France | AFP | France will launch attacks if proof emerges that the Syrian regime has used banned chemical weapons against its civilians, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday. “We will strike the place where these launches are made or where they are organised,” Macron told the presidential press corps. …
Read More »100 years ago today, jazz broke loose in Europe
Nantes, France | AFP | A hundred years ago in World War One, a group of American soldiers stormed Europe — not to the boom of guns, but the swinging rhythm of saxophones, drums and horns. They came to fight in the mud against the Germans in a war approaching …
Read More »Touting ‘transformation’, French PM seeks investment in Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | France’s Prime Minister Edouard Philippe promised lower taxes and a business-friendly France at a global summit in Dubai on Sunday, seeking investment from the oil-rich Gulf region. “France is undergoing great transformation,” Philippe said, addressing a thousand-strong audience at Dubai’s World Government Summit. …
Read More »France to spend 37 bn euros on upgrading nuclear arsenal
Paris, France | AFP | France is planning a 37-billion-euro revamp of its nuclear arsenal over the next seven years, part of a sharp increase in defence spending aimed at allowing France to “hold its own” as a key power in Europe, the country’s defence chief said Thursday. The upgrades …
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