France

Ireland to vote against EU-Mercosur trade deal as France also vows no amid farmer backlash Ireland will vote against the proposed EU-Mercosur trade agreement at a meeting of European Union ambassadors tomorrow, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris said, aligning Dublin with France’s declared opposition as farmer protests intensify. Martin said progress had been made on safeguards around imported beef from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, but the Government lacked sufficient confidence that Irish and EU…

Britain and France carried out a joint airstrike in Syria targeting an underground facility north of Palmyra that was likely used by the Islamic State group to store weapons, the British Ministry of Defence said. “Royal Air Force aircraft have completed successful strikes against Daesh in a joint operation with France,” the ministry said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. “This facility had been occupied by Daesh, most likely to store weapons and explosives. The area around the facility is…

Brussels condemned a new round of U.S. visa bans on European figures involved in combating online hate and disinformation, calling the move unjustified and warning the European Union could respond swiftly to defend its regulatory autonomy. France and Germany joined the EU in denouncing the restrictions, which target five Europeans, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, over alleged efforts to curb free speech and impose burdensome regulation on U.S. tech companies. The decision, announced by the administration of…

France and Italy are pushing to delay a final European Union vote on the Mercosur trade agreement, a last-minute intervention that threatens to derail a pact 25 years in the making and billed as the EU’s largest deal by tariff relief. The move comes days before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is due in Brazil to sign the agreement with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and amid heightened pressure on the bloc to show unity. Supporters say the EU-Mercosur deal would diversify European trade away from…

Turkey starts building Somalia spaceport, a strategic equatorial launch site drawing global scrutiny Turkey has begun constructing a satellite and rocket launch site on Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast, a bold step that Ankara says will accelerate its space ambitions and that outside observers say is already drawing intense attention from rival powers. The spaceport — publicly backed by Baykar chairman Selçuk Bayraktar — is being developed under Turkish state authority on a roughly 30-by-30-kilometer coastal tract. Turkish…

PARIS — French health authorities have isolated two people infected with the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) after they returned from a joint tour of the Arabian Peninsula, the health ministry said late Tuesday. Both patients are in a “stable” condition in a French hospital, the ministry said in a statement, and all measures have been put in place to limit the risk of transmission to their entourage and to health-care staff. The ministry said those measures include contact tracing, “barrier…

BEIJING — President Emmanuel Macron told President Xi Jinping on Tuesday that France and China must overcome their "differences" as he pressed Beijing on both Ukraine and trade during a three-day state visit to China. "Sometimes there are differences, but it is our responsibility to overcome them for the greater good," Macron said at the start of talks in the Great Hall of the People, as he sought to put the Macron China visit on a cooperative footing. Xi echoed the sentiment, calling for "more stable" ties and saying…

Paris remembers, wounds stay open: ten years after the 2015 attacks On a mild November evening, Notre-Dame’s bells pealed across Paris as the city paused to mark a decade since the coordinated attacks that killed 130 people in cafes, restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and near the Stade de France. The rituals of remembrance — flowers placed at makeshift memorials, names inscribed on plaques, officials and relatives standing together — could not erase the rawness that many survivors and families still carry. The events…

Unveiling a Buried Truth: The Thiaroye Massacre and France’s Colonial Legacy In the shadows of history lies the forgotten story of the Thiaroye massacre, a tragic event that has recently come under the spotlight with revelations pointing to a deliberate cover-up. On December 1, 1944, French troops opened fire on West African soldiers demanding their due pay at the Thiaroye camp near Dakar, Senegal. For decades, the official death toll was reported as at least 35. Yet, new findings suggest that these numbers are drastically…

The Untimely Death of Nathi Mthethwa: A Complex Legacy In the heart of Paris, beneath the shadow of promise and tragedy, the body of Nkosinathi Emmanuel "Nathi" Mthethwa was discovered outside his hotel. The South African ambassador to France and former cabinet minister was found lifeless after the window to his high-rise room had been forcibly opened. He was 58 years old. A Diplomatic Journey Interrupted Mthethwa had just begun his role as ambassador in December 2023, serving as South Africa's envoy to one of its key…