France

05 July 2022; MEMO: France urged Israel's new Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, on Tuesday, to restart peace talks with the Palestinians, but Lapid played down such prospects, citing rightist elements in his caretaker government ahead of a November election, Reuters reports.

"The people of Israel is lucky" to have Lapid as its premier, French President Emmanuel Macron said, ahead of a meeting between the two leaders in Paris.

PARIS, July 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Gas consumption will contract slightly this year due to high prices and Russian cuts to Europe, with only slow growth over coming years as consumers switch to alternatives, the IEA said Tuesday.

The International Energy Agency chopped its forecast for global gas demand by more than half in its latest quarterly report on gas markets.

It now expects growth of just 3.4 percent by 2025, an increase of 140 billion cubic metres (bcm) from 2021 levels, which is less than the 175 bcm jump in demand registered in 2021 alone.

PARIS, July 4 (Reuters) - The Eiffel Tower is riddled with rust and in need of full repairs, but instead it is being given a cosmetic 60 million euro paint job ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, according to confidential reports cited by French magazine Marianne.

The wrought-iron 324-metre (1,063 ft) high tower, built by Gustave Eiffel in the late 19th century, is among the most visited tourist sites in the world, welcoming about six million visitors each year.

PARIS, July 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Fifteen people have been arrested in France on suspicion of being part of a people-smuggling ring that was involved in one of the deadliest incidents seen in the English Channel.

In November 2021, 27 people died when their flimsy boat sank near Calais as they tried to make the dangerous journey across the Channel to reach the UK.

Seven months on, French police have now indicted 13 men and two women.

Some could face charges of involuntary manslaughter and people smuggling.

PARIS (AP) — The lawyer for the only surviving attacker from the November 2015 terrorist massacre in Paris criticized her client’s murder conviction and life prison sentence without the possibility of parole, saying Thursday the verdict “raises serious questions.”

Olivia Ronen did not say if Salah Abdeslam would appeal the verdict and sentence. He has 10 days in which to do so.

PARIS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Yael Braun-Pivet was elected on Tuesday as the new speaker of the French National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament.

The French National Assembly's 577 members kicked off its first session on Tuesday by electing its first female speaker with 242 votes in her favor out of 462 voters, according to French media.

PARIS (AP) — Over the course of an extraordinary nine-month trial, the lone survivor of the Islamic State extremist team that attacked Paris in 2015 has proclaimed his radicalism, wept, apologized to victims and pleaded with judges to forgive his “mistakes.”

For victims’ families and survivors of the attacks, the trial for Salah Abdeslam and suspected accomplices has been excruciating yet crucial in their quest for justice and closure. At long last, the court will hand down its verdict Wednesday.

25 June 2022; MEMO: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has warned that coastal communities in the Mediterranean are at risk of a tsunami by 2030.

The organisation confirmed that it would train all at-risk coastal communities to deal with the matter.

PARIS, June 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Covid vaccines prevented nearly 20 million deaths in the first year after they were introduced, according to the first large modelling study on the topic released Friday.

   The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, is based on data from 185 countries and territories collected from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021.

   It is the first attempt to estimate the number of deaths prevented directly and indirectly as a result of Covid-19 vaccinations.

PARIS, June 20 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist camp scrambled on Monday to seek support from parliamentary rivals in order to salvage some of his reform agenda and avoid political paralysis, after voters punished them in a legislative election.

While Macron's "Ensemble" grouping secured the largest number of lawmakers in the 577-seat National Assembly, it fell well short of an absolute majority in a vote on Sunday that saw a leftwing alliance and the far-right perform very strongly.

There is no script in France for how things should unfold.