Category: France

French Rescue Workers Find 6th Body in Rubble of Collapsed Marseille Buildings

PARIS—French rescue workers have found a sixth body in the rubble of buildings in the southern city of Marseille that collapsed following an explosion, a spokesperson for the police said on Monday. Authorities had said earlier that they had identified eight people missing following Sunday’s explosion, which destroyed two residential buildings and caused a third…


Criticism Over French President’s Comments on US and Taiwan Continues

French President Emmanuel Macron has again been castigated for comments he made following a diplomatic visit to China, where he urged Europe to pursue strategic autonomy and resist becoming American vassal states. Australian Senator Simon Birmingham, the shadow minister for Foreign Affairs, said that Macron’s comments were unbecoming of a country like France that stood…


French President Panned for Warning Europe Against Becoming US Vassal

French President Emmanuel Macron has again been castigated for comments he made following a diplomatic visit to China, where he urged Europe to pursue strategic autonomy and resist becoming American “vassals.” Australian Senator Simon Birmingham, the shadow minister for Foreign Affairs, said that Macron’s comments were unbecoming of a country like France that stood for…


8 People Feared Under the Rubble After Buildings Collapse in Marseille

Eight people are not responding to calls and are thought to be under the rubble of two buildings that collapsed in an explosion early on Sunday in the southern French city of Marseille, local officials said. The cause of the explosion was not yet known, Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens said. The collapse caused a fire…


Avalanche in French Alps Kills at Least 4 People

PARIS—An avalanche in the French Alps killed four people Sunday, France’s interior minister said, calling the death toll a provisional count. The avalanche rolled down the Armancette glacier in Contamines-Montjoie, in the Haute-Savoie region, some 30 kilometers (almost 20 miles) southwest of Chamonix. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin provided no details in his tweet about the…


Macron Says Europe Should Reduce Dependence on US Dollar After Meeting With China’s Xi

Amid reports that some countries are “de-dollarizing,” French President Emanuel Macron suggested in a new interview that Europe should reduce its dependency on the United States. There is a “great risk” that Europe “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy,” he told Politico this weekend…


No ‘Third Way’ for EU, Experts Warn, as Macron Meets Xi in Beijing

French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Beijing in a bid to improve economic cooperation with the Chinese communist regime—and to ask for China’s help in de-escalating the Russia-Ukraine war. Observers have pointed out that Macron’s pursuit of cooperation with the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is somewhat idealistic. Macron has consistently attempted to take the…


EU Leaders Head to China for Delicate Talks on Ukraine, Trade

BEIJING—European Union executive head Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron are to land in China on Wednesday seeking to “reset” ties with an important economic partner while broaching thorny issues like Ukraine and trade risks. Macron last visited China in 2019 while it will be von der Leyen’s first trip since becoming…


Lone Suspect in 1980 Paris Synagogue Bombing Goes on Trial

PARIS—A Lebanese-Canadian academic who is the lone suspect in a 1980 bombing outside a Paris synagogue went on trial in absentia Monday, nearly 43 years after four people were killed and 46 wounded in the unclaimed attack. French authorities identified Hassan Diab as a suspect in 1999. They accuse him of planting the bomb on…


Shadow of Colonial Past Hinders France in Limiting Growing Chinese and Russian Influence in Africa

France’s imminent reduction of troop levels in Africa has experts eyeing which major power will supplant Paris’s influence across the continent. The tongues started wagging after French President Emmanuel Macron announced earlier this month that his country harbors no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa. During his March 1–4 tour of the…