by Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese, US and French troops kicked off their first-ever joint military drill Tuesday in southwestern Japan, as concerns rise over China’s growing assertiveness in the region. An Australian naval ship is also taking part in the week-long air, land and sea exercises involving 300 ground troops from the three countries. It comes as Tokyo looks to deepen defence ties beyond its key US ally and with eyes on […]
Tag: France
France defends phased vaccine rollout as critics urge haste
PARIS, France (AFP) — French Health Minister Olivier Veran on Tuesday defended the country’s staggered rollout of Covid-19 vaccines over the coming weeks, despite calls for making more adults eligible immediately as some doses go unused. Currently people aged 55 and older can get the jab, but several vaccination centres have reported a shortage of candidates and surplus vials in recent weeks. That has prompted some local officials to quietly offer vaccines to all adults […]
French primary schools reopen as Covid 3rd wave eases
by Romain FONSEGRIVES PARIS, France (AFP) — Millions of French children returned to the classroom on Monday as primary schools reopened after a three-week shutdown ordered to combat a severe third wave of Covid-19 infections. Kindergartens also reopened as President Emmanuel Macron’s government began easing restrictions imposed when France entered its third nationwide lockdown on April 3. Secondary schools will reopen in a week’s time and restrictions on people travelling beyond a 10-kilometre (six-mile) radius […]
France’s Sanofi to help produce Moderna vaccines in US
PARIS, France (AFP) — French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said Monday that it would help Moderna produce its cutting-edge Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, as it pursues development of its own jab for the virus at home. The company’s production site in Ridgefield, New Jersey, just outside New York City, will carry out “fill and finish” operations for up to 200 million doses starting in September for distribution worldwide. “We are one of the few […]
Knife attacker in France said to have watched jihadist videos
by Murielle KASPRZAK and Joseph SCHMID RAMBOUILLET, France (AFP) — A Tunisian man who stabbed to death a police employee outside Paris watched jihadist propaganda videos just before the attack, France’s anti-terror prosecutor said Sunday, adding that a fifth person was detained for questioning. Based on an analysis of the killer’s cellphone as well as his social media postings, “his radicalisation appears little in doubt,” Jean-Francois Ricard said at a press conference. The 36-year-old attacker, […]
France to provide ‘significant’ oxygen assistance to India
PARIS, France (AFP) — France plans to offer India “significant” extra oxygen capacity in the coming days to help the country cope with a record surge in Covid-19 infections, the French presidency said on Sunday. The assistance is to include badly needed oxygen ventilators, a source told AFP without providing further details. France joins other countries such as Germany, Britain and the United States in coming to the aid of India, which with a new […]
Japan to host first joint military drill with US, France
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan will hold a joint military drill with US and French troops in the country’s southwest next month, the defence minister said Friday, as China’s actions in regional waters raise concern. The exercise, running from May 11 to 17, will be the first large-scale exercise in Japan involving ground troops from all three countries, the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) said in a statement. It comes as Tokyo seeks to deepen […]
Covid 3rd wave peak in France ‘appears to be behind us’: PM
PARIS, France (AFP) — The peak of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in France “appears to be behind us”, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday, announcing that travel restrictions will be relaxed from early next month. He told reporters there had been a “genuine fall in the circulation of the virus over the last 10 days”, confirming that restrictions confining people to a 10-kilometre (six-mile) radius of their homes would be dropped […]
France to ease curfew, travel limits on May 2: presidency source
PARIS, France (AFP) — France plans to lift travel restrictions and ease a nationwide curfew on May 2 on expectations that daily Covid-19 cases will soon begin falling, a source close to the presidency told AFP. President Emmanuel Macron also intends to stick to a goal of allowing restaurants to serve patrons outdoors from mid-May, while also reopening cinemas, theatres and museums with reduced capacity, the source said. Non-food businesses will also open their doors […]
French police warn Macron about rising violence
by Jérôme RIVET MONTPELLIER, France (AFP) — French police warned President Emmanuel Macron about rising levels of street violence, as he toured crime hotspots on Monday following a string of shocking assaults. A spate of violent attacks in recent months has made fear of crime a top political issue ahead of presidential elections next year in which Macron is expected to seek a second term. “We are faced with young people who are more organised, […]
Ukraine’s president calls for summit with Merkel, Macron and Putin
PARIS, France (AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday called for a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to ease tensions with Moscow. “I want to get the four of us” together to discuss “the issue of the security situation in eastern Ukraine and the de-occupation of our territories,” Zelensky said after a meeting with Macron in Paris in which Merkel participated by video […]
France’s Covid-19 deaths pass 100,000
PARIS, France (AFP) — The number of people killed by Covid-19 in France climbed past 100,000 on Thursday, with the virus claiming a further 300 lives in the past 24 hours, the country’s health authority said. A day earlier, the death toll stood at 99,805. France is the third country in Europe to reach the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, after the United Kingdom and Italy. “We will not forget a single face, a […]
