France

PARIS (AP) — A French court on Wednesday ordered a Yemeni airline that operated a passenger plane that crashed into the Indian Ocean in 2009 to pay damages to the flight’s lone survivor and the families of 65 French citizens who died.

The Yemenia flight departed from Paris, picked up more passengers in the southern French city of Marseille and made a stopover in Sanaa, Yemen, where 142 passengers and 11 crew members boarded another plane to continue to the capital of Comoros, an island nation off Africa’s east coast.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced a national debate on end-of-life options that will include exploring the possibility of legalizing assisted suicide.

A 2016 French law provides that doctors can keep terminally ill patients sedated before death but stops short of allowing assisted suicide.

Macron said in a written statement that a panel of citizens would work on the issue in coordination with health care workers over the coming months, while local debates are organized in French regions.

PARIS, Sept 10 (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron held his first telephone call with new British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Saturday with the French presidency saying the two agreed on their desire to strengthen co-operation.

The statement said Macron and Truss focused on the support for Ukraine and how to respond to the consequences of the conflict on food security and energy prices.

PARIS/VIENNA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - France, Britain and Germany on Saturday said they had "serious doubts" about Iran's intentions to revive a nuclear deal, comments that were rejected by Tehran and called "very untimely" by Moscow.

Iran earlier this month sent its latest response to the European Union's proposed text to restore the 2015 agreement under which Tehran had restrained its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. economic sanctions.

PARIS, Sept 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) – France’s maritime transport company, La Meridionale, launched its first zero-particle ferry, Le Piana, that will link the southern city of Marseille to the island of Corsica, French daily newspaper, Le Figaro, reported yesterday.

All the engines of the ferry are equipped with an innovative filter that captures 99 percent of sulfur oxides, and eliminates 99.9 percent of fine and ultrafine particles – the most dangerous pollutants for human health, Le Figaro reported.

PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - France is reactivating a disused pipeline in its northeastern Moselle administrative department, originally built for east-to-west flows, to send Germany gas under an energy deal unveiled by President Emmanuel Macron, according to French officials.

France will be able to deliver 130 gigawatt hours (GWh) per day, a tiny fraction of German needs, French energy ministry officials have previously said, while Germany will be ready to provide France power in the event of tight supplies mid-winter. 

PARIS (AP) — A special French terrorism court on Monday opened the trial of eight people accused of helping a man who, on Bastille Day six years ago, plowed a heavy truck through crowds in a southern French resort town leaving 86 dead.

During the planned three and a half months of court proceedings in Paris, survivors and those mourning loved ones will recount the horrors inflicted along the beachfront of Nice on the night of July 14, 2016.

Veronique Marchand, whose husband was killed, said she’s still haunted by the attack.

PARIS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- France must stick to an independent foreign policy and build more balanced partnerships for multilateralism, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday during an ambassadors' conference.

In recent years, there were many unpredictable incidents including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he told the diplomats, adding that France alone does not have the means to resolve these crises.

Its interest is therefore to "build more and more balanced, equal, bilateral and regional partnerships," he said.

NICE, France (AP) — It was Bastille Day on the French Riviera.

A lawyer was strolling with her mother, friends and a colleague along the beachfront boulevard in Nice to celebrate France’s national day. Four young sisters from Poland had spent a day of sightseeing. Two Russian students were on a summer break. And a Texas family, on vacation with young children, was taking in some of Europe’s classic sights. The bright lights of the packed boardwalk glittered along the bay like a string of stars.

PARIS, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- France must stick to an independent foreign policy and build more balanced partnerships for multilateralism, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday during an ambassadors' conference.

In recent years, there were many unpredictable incidents including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he told the diplomats, adding that France alone does not have the means to resolve these crises.

Its interest is therefore to "build more and more balanced, equal, bilateral and regional partnerships," he said.