Johannesburg, South Africa (AFP) Flash flooding that followed heavy rains has killed at least 14 people taking part in religious rituals in Johannesburg, with others still missing, emergency services said Sunday. A group of 33 worshippers had joined church rituals on the banks of the Jukskei river when the flooding struck on Saturday, said Robert Mulaudzi, spokesman for the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services. An earlier toll of nine dead rose after the discovery […]
Tag: France
Biden, Macron pledge US-French alliance on Ukraine, democracy
Washington, United States ( AFP) by Francesco Fontemaggi and Sebastian Smith US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron emerged from White House talks Thursday pledging to close ranks in helping Ukraine and pressuring Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make peace. Following lengthy Oval Office talks they also signaled they’d calmed the waters on a burgeoning US-EU trade dispute. Addressing a joint press conference on the second day of Macron’s rare state visit to Washington, […]
French Pres. Macron caps US visit with New Orleans trip, meetup with Musk
New Orleans, United States (AFP) by Francesco FONTEMAGGI President Emmanuel Macron on Friday visited New Orleans, a city emblematic of historic Franco-American ties, to promote the French language and conclude his state visit to the United States. The French president, on the third day of a US trip that included a lavish reception at the White House a night earlier, strolled New Orleans’s historic French Quarter — and held an unannounced face-to-face meeting with […]
Biden, Macron close ranks on Russia during state visit
by Francesco Fontemaggi and Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron emerged from White House talks Thursday pledging to close ranks in helping Ukraine and pressuring Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make peace. Following lengthy Oval Office talks they also signalled they’d calmed the waters on a burgeoning transatlantic trade dispute. Addressing a joint press conference on the second day of Macron’s rare state visit […]
Earth now weighs six ronnagrams: New metric prefixes voted in
Paris, France | AFP | by Daniel Lawler Say hello to ronnagrams and quettametres: International scientists gathered in France voted on Friday for new metric prefixes to express the world’s largest and smallest measurements, prompted by an ever-growing amount of data. It marks the first time in more than three decades that new prefixes have been added to the International System of Units (SI), the agreed global standard for the metric system. Joining the ranks […]
Chagall painting stolen by Nazis sells for $7.4 mn at US auction
New York, United States | AFP | A painting by Marc Chagall, which was among 15 works stolen by Nazis and eventually returned by France to the heirs of the affected families, sold for $7.4 million at auction in New York Tuesday. The sale at the Phillips auction house was part of the fall auction season, which sees major industry players sell hundreds of works of art for several billion dollars in a few […]
Vuitton heir’s apartment burgled in Paris
Paris, France | AFP | The Paris home of an heir of the Louis Vuitton luxury empire was burgled at the weekend, sources close to the case said Monday, with thieves taking high-end watches, jewelry and bags. Benoit-Louis Vuitton, a sixth generation descendant of the fashion house’s founder, lives in the swanky seventh district of the capital near the Invalides military museum. The exact value of the pieces taken was still being evaluated, but […]
France, UK sign new deal on thwarting migrant Channel crossings
PARIS, France (AFP) – France and the UK on Monday signed a new agreement to work together to stop migrants crossing the Channel to England in small boats, a source of huge bilateral tension. Under the agreement, Britain will pay France 72.2 million euros ($74.5 million) in 2022-2023 so that Paris can increase by 40 percent the numbers of security forces patrolling its northern beaches, the French interior ministry said. This means some 350 additional members […]
France allows migrant rescue ship to dock after Italian refusal
by Shahzad ABDUL in Toulon with Sandra LAFFONT in Marseille Agence France-Presse TOULON, France (AFP) — France warned Italy of “severe consequences” as it was set to take in on Friday a charity ship carrying more than 200 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, who were denied entry by Rome. The Ocean Viking ship had initially sought access to Italy’s coast, which is closest to where the migrants were picked up, saying health and sanitary conditions […]
French cardinal faces legal probe over child abuse: prosecutor
by Sandra LAFFONT with Karine PERRET in Lourdes French prosecutors said Tuesday they had opened an inquiry into child abuse by a cardinal after he confessed publicly to “reprehensible” acts with a 14-year-old girl in the 1980s. Jean-Pierre Ricard, a retired bishop made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2016, was named among 11 senior clergymen who face sexual abuse allegations in an announcement by the French Catholic church on Monday. In a message read […]
Rare canine rabies case discovered near Paris
Paris, France | AFP | A rare case of rabies has been detected in a dog in the Paris region which had bitten several people, the French agriculture ministry announced Thursday. “The Pasteur Institute confirmed a case of rabies in a Husky-cross dog held in a shelter in Evry-Courcouronnes in Essonne,” south of the French capital, the statement said. Before being isolated, the infected dog had “bitten several people who were quickly taken care of […]
France’s TotalEnergies faces legal case for allegedly fuelling Russian bombers
Paris, France | AFP | Two associations have lodged a complaint against French energy giant TotalEnergies for “complicity in war crimes” for allegedly helping fuel Russian planes that have bombed Ukraine, a source close to the case said Friday. The France-based Darwin Climax Coalition and Ukrainian group Razom We Stand handed the file to the national anti-terrorist prosecutor, who investigates war crime allegations, on Thursday. Le Monde newspaper in August said TotalEnergies held a stake […]
