France

12 June 2019; DW: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he would support German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the new President of the European Commission.

Macron told Swiss broadcaster RTS on Tuesday that while he could not speak for her, he would support her in any bid to become president of the executive branch of the European Union.

Europe needs "new faces" and strength, he said.

Paris, Jun 11 (AFP) French police have smashed a neo-Nazi cell accused of plotting attacks on Jewish or Muslim places of worship, legal sources said Tuesday.

Five members of the group, who were "close in ideology to the neo-Nazi movement" were charged between September and May over the alleged plot, a source close to the investigation said.

"The investigation suggested they were developing an ill-defined plot to carry out an attack, likely to target a place of worship," the judicial source said.

CAEN, France (AP) — The D-Day commemoration was an occasion for France to showcase its long friendship with the United States, but U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron nevertheless acknowledged their differences on key world issues when they met Thursday.

OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — The Latest on the 75th anniversary of D-Day (all times local):

8:15 p.m.

Concluding D-Day celebrations at Juno beach, with birds singing in the background, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has made a plea for global peace and understanding.

Philippe attended the ceremony alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, among other dignitaries from other countries.

6 June 2019; DW: The sudden end to the merger talks came after midnight in Paris.

In a statement issued from London early on Thursday, Fiat Chrysler (FCA) said it was withdrawing its merger proposal which would have created the world's third-largest automaker, worth almost €36 billion ($40 billion) after it became "clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully."

3 June 2019; AFP: The execution of nine French jihadists on death row in Iraq would be a disgrace for France and leave an "indelible stain" on the mandate of President Emmanuel Macron, a group of prominent French lawyers said Monday.

With controversy growing in France over the sentences handed out to the nine for joining the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, the 40 lawyers urged Paris to keep the men alive, irrespective of their crimes.

PARIS, June 3. /TASS/: The Council of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) on Monday will discuss the preparation of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, and determine the countries that will host the 2019 and 2020 World Club Championships.

The meeting of the FIFA Council will be held in Paris on June 3. It precedes the congress of the international federation, the main event of which will be electing the organization’s president. The Congress will be held on June 5, the only contender for the post is the current head of FIFA Gianni Infantino.

PARIS (AP) — More than 40,000 people have been intercepted in the Mediterranean and taken to detention camps and torture houses under a European migration policy that is responsible for crimes against humanity, according to a legal document Monday asking the International Criminal Court to take the case.

31 May 2019; MEMO: A Saudi cargo ship has left the southern French port of Fos-sur-Mer without loading its arms cargo destined for Saudi Arabia, blocked from doing so after pressure from rights campaigners, a French rights group said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

French police have arrested two men after an IED exploded outside a bakery in Lyon, France's third most populous city. Several people were wounded and hospitalized after the attack.

Police in Lyon on Monday arrested two suspects over last week's explosion in the heart of the French city. Investigators are treating the blast as a possible terror attack.

"A suspect has been arrested," French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, wrote on Twitter. He later said a second man had been detained.