France

PARIS, Sept 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Former French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn has been put under formal investigation over her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported BFM TV and Agence France Presse.

The development marks one of first cases worldwide where a leading public sector official has been held legally accountable for the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

10 Sep 2021; MEMO: The Paris Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a four-year prison sentence against Rifaat Al-Assad, the uncle of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, for "misappropriating public funds and money laundering".

Last year, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced Rifaat to four years in prison for crimes he committed between 1996-2016.

PARIS, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The main suspect in the 2015 Islamist attack that killed 130 people in Paris disrupted the trial for a second consecutive day on Thursday to make political statements from the dock, prompting the judge to briefly suspend the hearing.

Salah Abdeslam, 31, is believed by prosecutors to be the only surviving member of the Islamic State cell that carried out the gun-and-bomb attacks on bars, restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and the Stade de France stadium on Nov. 13, 2015.

PARIS (AP) — In a secure complex embedded within a 13th-century courthouse, France on Wednesday will begin the trial of 20 men accused in the Islamic State group’s 2015 attacks on Paris that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.

Nine gunmen and suicide bombers struck within minutes of each other at France’s national soccer stadium, the Bataclan concert hall and Paris restaurants and cafes on Nov. 13, 2015. Survivors of the attacks as well as those who mourn their dead are expected to pack the rooms, which were designed to hold 1,800 plaintiffs and 350 lawyers.

PARIS (AP) — The 2015 attacks in Paris killed 130 people and wounded hundreds of others. A trial begins Wednesday of 20 men accused of having roles in the carnage.

The attacks were carefully planned and simultaneous across the French capital.

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September-November 2015: Two apartments and a house in Belgium are rented under false identities to prepare and coordinate the attacks. Salah Abdeslam rents two cars in Belgium to drive to France.

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Nov. 13, 2015

PARIS, Sept 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The biggest trial in France’s modern legal history begins on Wednesday (Sept 8) over the November 2015 attacks on Paris that saw 130 people slaughtered at bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall.

The suicide bombing and gun assault by three teams of extremists, later claimed by the Daesh group, was France’s worst post-war atrocity.

PARIS, Aug 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) – France set conditions for the recognition of the Taliban as the new rulers of Afghanistan, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry said, yesterday, adding that, “we expect deeds, not words.”

“We are working to form the largest possible international consensus on this subject, in cooperation with our partners,” he said.

29 Aug 2021; MEMO: France and Britain will submit a resolution to an emergency United Nations meeting due Monday proposing a safe zone in Kabul to try and protect people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, reports Reuters.

PARIS, Aug 29 (Reuters) - France and Britain will submit a resolution to an emergency United Nations meeting due Monday proposing a safe zone in Kabul to try and protect people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.

"Our resolution proposal aims to define a safe zone in Kabul, under U.N. control, which would allow humanitarian operations to continue," Macron told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) in an interview published on Sunday.

PARIS, Aug 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — About 71.1 percent of the French population has received at least the first part of their vaccination against the coronavirus, health authorities announced in Paris on Friday.

62.7 percent, nearly two-thirds of the population already have a full vaccination, they said.

The vaccination rate among staff in hospitals and nursing homes, where Covid-19 vaccinations are to become obligatory, is also rising.

Despite the encouraging figures, the number of coronavirus patients admitted to hospitals is also on the rise.