Tag: French President Emmanuel Macron

Russia, Ukraine set for face-to-face peace talks

by Danny KEMP Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will resume face-to-face peace talks as soon as Monday, probing whether a near-stalemate in fighting has forced Moscow to temper its demands. President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the new negotiations, saying he hoped they would bring peace “without delay”, and lamented a month-long Russian invasion that has already killed thousands and devastated numerous Ukrainian cities. The new talks are set to start in […]

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World urged to move on ‘climate emergency’ after pandemic

by Jitendra JOSHI and Patrick GALEY in Paris Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The United Nations on Saturday urged leaders to declare a global climate emergency and shape greener growth after the coronavirus pandemic, as nations took gloomy stock five years since the landmark Paris Agreement. Fast-growing China, the world’s biggest emitter, outlined limited new ambitions in green energy at a virtual “Climate Ambition Summit” addressed by more than 70 leaders. In the […]

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French aid workers among eight killed by gunmen in Niger

by Boureima Hama Agence France-Presse KOURE, Niger (AFP) — Gunmen on motorcycles killed eight people including a group of French aid workers as they visited a part of Niger popular with tourists for its wildlife, officials said. “There are eight dead: two Nigeriens including a guide and a driver, while the other six are French,” the governor of the Tillaberi region told AFP on Sunday. France confirmed its nationals were among the dead, without giving […]

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Russia holds grand WWII parade ahead of vote on Putin reforms

by Jonathan BROWN Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Columns of tanks and troops will parade through Red Square on Wednesday as President Vladimir Putin oversees grand World War II commemorations to stir up patriotic fervour ahead of a vote on extending his rule. Forced to postpone the country’s traditional May 9 Victory Day celebrations by the coronavirus pandemic, Putin rescheduled the parade for just a week ahead of a July 1 public vote on […]

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Slovaks vote for president with outsider tipped to win

by Laszlo Juhasz / with Anna Maria Jakubek in Warsaw Agence France-Presse BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AFP) – Slovaks vote for a new president on Saturday with the odds-on-favorite an outsider whose anti-corruption stance has resonated with voters, still reeling from the fallout from an investigative journalist’s murder. An environmental lawyer with no experience in political office, Zuzana Caputova could become the EU and eurozone member’s first female president. Her rival in the run-off election is the […]

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Merkel ready for ‘painful compromises’ to seal govt deal

by Deborah COLE and Michelle FITZPATRICK in Frankfurt Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was prepared to make “painful compromises” as she headed in a final round of talks Tuesday to seal a coalition deal for her fourth term and end months of political limbo in Europe’s top economy. As negotiators from Merkel’s CDU party, her Bavarian CSU ally and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) gathered for one last push to […]

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Fear and diplomacy fuel Qatar’s military spending

by David Harding Agence France-Presse DOHA, Qatar (AFP) – Since the Qatar diplomatic crisis started, one response by the emirate has become increasingly clear — Doha is using its extraordinary wealth to fund a massive push in defense spending. A flurry of military contracts have followed since Saudi Arabia and its allies dramatically cut all ties with Qatar last June, accusing the 2022 World Cup host of sponsoring terrorism and cosying up to Riyadh’s bitter regional rival, […]

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Protesting French prison guards reject government proposals

by Joseph Schmid Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – French prison guards pushed ahead with work stoppages and pickets Friday after two unions turned down the government’s latest offer to end a nearly two-week crisis after a series of attacks by inmates. But French President Emmanuel Macron said his justice minister Nicole Belloubet, who has been negotiating with union leaders this week to end France’s worst prison blockade in 25 years, had his full support. “The […]

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World powers meet to pressure Syria on chemical attacks

by Valérie Leroux Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Diplomats from 29 countries including US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meet in Paris on Tuesday pushing for sanctions and criminal charges against the perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria. Tillerson and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian will also co-host a meeting of ministers ahead of a new round of peace talks in Vienna later this week and again in Sochi in Russia the week after. The […]

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Lebanon’s Hariri says he’s on way to Riyadh airport: Tweet

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who is expected to fly to Paris, said late Friday he was on his way to the airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh where he has been since his shock resignation “To say that I am held up in Saudi Arabia and not allowed to leave the country is a lie. I am on the way to the airport,” Hariri tweeted. Lebanese President Michel Aoun had accused Saudi […]

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Macron faces rights test as Egypt’s Sisi visits Paris

by Cécile Feuillatre Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Paris on Tuesday under pressure from human rights groups to end what they call France’s “disgraceful policies of indulgence” towards him. Sisi, a former general who ousted the elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, will meet the French defense and foreign ministers as well as business groups during his three-day trip that started on Monday. Macron, […]

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‘Potentially catastrophic’ Maria eyes Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico

ST JOHN ISLAND, United States (AFP) – Hurricane Maria closed in on the US Virgin Islands late Tuesday as the US National Hurricane Center warned of a “potentially catastrophic” impact from a storm that has already killed at least two people in the Caribbean. Winds packing 160 miles (255 kilometers) an hour were already lashing the US islands as Maria barreled westwards, forecast to make landfall Wednesday before heading to Puerto Rico. “Preparations against life-threatening storm surge […]

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