Tag Archives: France

Paris, France | AFP | L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, the world’s richest woman whose old age was clouded by dementia, has died at the age of 94, her family said Thursday. “Liliane Bettencourt died last night at home,” her daughter Francoise Bettencourt Meyers said in a statement. “My mother left peacefully.” …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | Rwandan President Paul Kagame has met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in New York for rare talks, Kigali said Tuesday, as diplomatic ties remain icy over the 1994 genocide. Kigali has long accused France of complicity in the genocide of some 800,000 mostly ethnic …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | An audit of the electronic system used to tally votes in Kenya’s cancelled presidential poll showed no manipulation of data, the French biometrics firm that supplied the system told AFP Friday. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has accused the company, OT-Morpho, of being complicit in alleged rigging …

Besançon, France | AFP | Tourists visiting a church in the picturesque French town of Chateau-Chalon were surprised to discover that local pranksters had replaced the fonts’ holy water with alcohol, the local tourism office said Friday. A dozen tourists sniffed out the telltale signs of eau-de-vie, a clear fruit brandy, …

Paris, France | AFP |  Homemade explosives ready for use were found Wednesday in an unoccupied flat near Paris, judicial sources said. Gas canisters and electric wiring were also found in the flat in Villejuif, a suburb south of the French capital, and two men were arrested nearby, the sources …

Paris, France | AFP | French oil giant Total said Monday it has agreed to sell its remaining stake in a Norwegian oil field to Kuwait so that it can focus on its recent acquisition of Denmark’s Maersk Oil. “Total has signed an agreement to divest its remaining 15-percent interest in …

United Nations, United States | AFP | A bid for a UN Security Council vote early next week on a French-sponsored resolution that would set up a sanctions regime for Mali gained momentum Friday despite resistance from some countries, diplomats said. Russia and Ethiopia have voiced reservations over the proposal, raising …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Russia on Friday voiced reservations over a French proposal to set up a UN sanctions regime for Mali to punish those who are obstructing a 2015 peace deal. France last month circulated a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on establishing a …

Paris, France | AFP | Parisian nudists will finally have a spot to take it all off — for the next few weeks at least — at a secluded zone in the Bois de Vincennes park east of the city. “The creation of an area in the Bois de Vincennes where …

Paris, France | AFP |  French judges have ended their investigation into the substantial assets of Gabon’s late president Omar Bongo and his family, none of whom have been charged, sources close to the case said Wednesday. French prosecutors have been investigating since 2010 whether the fortunes amassed in France …