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PARIS, France (AFP) – Two decades after it scrapped its compulsory military service France will introduce a mandatory “national service” for all young people, the government said Tuesday, confirming a campaign pledge by President Emmanuel Macron. Macron took the country by surprise a year ago when he announced that, if elected, he would make all young people spend a month getting “a direct experience of military life with its know-how and demands.” He billed it as a […]
by Michelle FITZPATRICK Agence France-Presse FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — European aircraft manufacturer Airbus on Friday said it had agreed to pay a fine of 81.25 million euros ($99 million) to end a German corruption probe into the 2003 sale of Eurofighter jets to Austria. Prosecutors in Munich said in a statement that their investigation did not find evidence of bribery to secure the lucrative contract. But they said Airbus management had failed in […]
by Jed Court Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Nabil Fekir’s penalty helped Lyon beat Montpelier 2-1 on Wednesday to reach the French Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2012. Maxwel Cornet caught home goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte by surprise to give the visitors an early lead, only for Jonathan Ikone to quickly lash in an equalizer. But Fekir grabbed his 20th goal of the season with a 27th-minute spot-kick which proved to be the winner, leaving […]
by Daphné Benoit Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – France on Wednesday announced plans to boost defense spending by more than 40 percent, bringing it into line with NATO targets after complaints from US President Donald Trump that Europe is not pulling its weight. European NATO members have come under pressure from Trump to relieve the burden on the US, which currently accounts for about 70 percent of combined NATO defense spending. The French government unveiled a bill […]
by Sandra FERRER Agence France-Presse BREST, France (AFP) — Fancy a job at the North or South Pole? A French research institute is looking for you. The Paul-Emile Victor Polar Institute in northwest France has launched a public appeal to recruit around 40 French-speaking people for a wide variety of jobs at its six bases in the Arctic and Antarctica. From chemists and carpenters to bakers and pastry chefs, the institute is stepping up its efforts […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The Eiffel Tower turned away tourists on Tuesday as snow swept across northern France, causing traffic chaos in Paris during the French capital’s first real dose of wintry weather this season. The Meteo France weather service put the greater Paris region on alert for snow and black ice on roads, among 27 departments it expected to be on alert across the country until midday Wednesday. The weather caused major gridlock across the city, […]
by Jean Liou © Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFPI) — t lies hidden deep beneath Paris’s bustling Gare de l’Est railway station, its sprawling subterranean rooms and sparse furniture pristinely preserved if a little dusty. Originally built a few years before World War II for luggage storage, the underground bunker was repurposed after war broke out. French railway historian Clive Lamming said its 1939 overhaul was to provide “a place to retreat in case of an […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — Widespread fears over a controversial dengue vaccine that some blame for child deaths are wreaking havoc on the Philippines’ war on preventable diseases, with many parents refusing to get their children immunized, a senior health official said Friday. Immunization rates for polio, chicken pox, tetanus and other diseases are significantly down from previous years since the government suspended the sale and distribution of the Dengvaxia vaccine in December, Health Undersecretary […]
MARSEILLE, France (AFP) — Five people were killed Friday after two army helicopters crashed near the southern French resort town of Saint-Tropez, police said. “The helicopters collided. There were three crew in one and two in the other. All are dead,” police said in the nearby town of Brignoles, adding that one body had still to be recovered from the wreckage. The Var region prefecture said two army aviation service helicopters based at nearby […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The Galileo satellite navigation system, Europe’s rival to the United States’ GPS, has nearly 100 million users after its first year of operation, the French space agency CNES said Thursday. The system, seen as strategically important to Europe, went live in December 2016, having taken 17 years at more than triple the original budget to get there. Initial services offered only a weak signal, and some of the atomic timekeepers on […]
