Paris prosecutors kicked off a preliminary probe after an aide to French President Emmanuel Macron was filmed beating demonstrators during this year’s May Day rally, Le Monde reports.

Announced Thursday morning, the investigation will focus on incidents of “violence by someone charged with a public service mission,” a judicial official said, without naming the aide in question, according to the French daily.

The identity of the man behind one of the worst scandals to rock the Macron presidency, Alexandre Benalla was revealed by the respective newspaper on Wednesday. It pinpointed the politician while scrutinizing social media footage taken by left-wing activists who had turned out to protest the president’s economic reforms at this year’s annual May Day event.

On Monday morning, police authorities made public the results of vandalism and clashes that have followed France’s victory in the World Cup.

292 people have been taken into custody, including 90 in Paris and 18 in Lyon, with 45 policemen seriously wounded, French newspaper Le Monde reports.

There were also acts of vandalism throughout the country, especially in Paris where dozens of youths shattered windows and looted popular stores.

UK, US, and French bombs inflicted mass loss of civilian life in ISIS-held Raqqa, according Amnesty International. A new report has also accused coalition forces of bombing areas where they knew civilians were trapped.

During the four-month operation to eradicate the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the US-led coalition – which includes British forces – killed hundreds of civilians and injured many more, says Amnesty International.

According to its damning report into the coalition forces, residents were trapped as fighting raged in the streets between IS militants and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who were supported by coalition airstrikes. Escape routes for civilians were riddled with IEDs, put there by Islamic State, which also positioned snipers to shoot those trying to flee.

Mr Macron’s popularity plummeted to an all-time low in the poll after he ordered the hefty perk to protect his and his wife Brigitte’s privacy from nosy paparazzi.

In July, two surveys showed his approval score went from a low-40s recorded in January to an all-time low of 32 percent in one poll and 34 percent in another.

Bruno Cautrès of CEVIPOF, a polling analysis institute, argued this blow may be lethal for the French President, saying: “All these themes of ‘president of the rich’ and ‘president far from the people’ are strong, structured, and unlikely to fix themselves.

“Most of what he has lost in the last few months has been support on the left.”

French shipping company CMA CGM, one of the world’s largest cargo shipping companies, recently announced that it will stop doing business with Iran out of fear of becoming embroiled in US sanctions against the nation.

"Due to the Trump administration, we have decided to end our service for Iran," CMA CGM chief Rodolphe Saade said, according to the Times of Israel.

"Our Chinese competitors are hesitating a little, so maybe they have a different relationship with Trump, but we apply the rules."

CMA CGM is the world's third-largest container shipping fleet, according to United Nations statistics.

Riots continue in France after a 22-year-old Aboubakar Fofana lost his life in police control on Tuesday. The Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) official responsible for the has been indicted but remains free under judicial supervision. This decision has rekindled tensions in Orvault, Rezé, and the neighborhoods of Nantes, Breil, and Bellevue.

Ouest-France reports that the security forces wiped Molotov cocktails at Breil and Bellevue and responded with tear gas grenades.

Following France's victory on July 6 over Uruguay, Macron is due to come to cheer for the national squad during its July 10 bout in the semi-finals.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been lambasted for postponing a comprehensive plan to battle poverty in France in light of a trip to Russia to root for the World Cup team, according to a report in The Local.

Originally, the head of state was due to announce a plan to provide aid for 8.7 million French living below the poverty line on July 10, and the move has already attracted a great deal of media attention.

The two controversial bills—which now pass to the senate for approval—address the “manipulation of information” in the three months prior to national elections and referendums, granting sweeping powers of censorship to the judiciary branch of government. The bills respond to proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year for legislative intervention to prevent the spread of “fake news” on social media during elections.

At the time, French philosopher Alain de Benoist severely criticized Macron’s scheme for media control, comparing it to the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s novel 1984.

“And let’s not forget that the mainstream media, which today prides itself on ‘debunking’ fake news among others, had always been the first to relay government lies such as Saddam Hussein’s ‘weapons of mass destruction,’” he wrote.

The first group of migrants from a private rescue boat that Malta agreed to let dock only if they were divided among several countries left for France Thursday aboard a commercial flight.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb welcomed the arrival of 52 refugees who had been among 234 people who reached Malta last week aboard the Lifeline.

Malta and Italy had initially denied safe harbor to the Lifeline, which had carried out rescues in the Mediterranean off Libya, where migrant-smugglers are based. After a standoff, Malta let the boat dock but only if other countries offered to take a share of the migrants. Italy, six other EU countries and Norway agreed, while Malta was to keep some of them.

As many as 71 percent of French citizens believe that French President Emmanuel Macron’s policy is "unjust," an Odoxa-Dentsu Consulting survey, conducted for the Franceinfo radio and Le Figaro newspaper, showed on Thursday.

According to the poll results, Macron’s policy is considered "unjust" by supporters of French left-wing parties (98 percent of France Insoumise supporters and 78 percent of Socialist Party supporters), as well as by supporters of right-wing parties (75 percent of The Republicans supporters and 85 percent of National Rally supporters).

Moreover, 65 percent of respondents consider measures taken by Macron "ineffective," the poll showed.

Several explosions were heard. A local resident said that young people took to the streets: “It’s a real riot. Young people throwing molotov cocktails and are setting alight rubbish bins.”

Shortly before 11pm the House of Associations and the adjoining mall ignited and are on fire. A large number of firefighters are on the scene.
The news spread in the neighbourhood, which was quickly surrounded by police. CRS trucks are parked on rue des Plantes.

Young people sent projectiles and Molotov cocktails. The police responded with tear gas. At least three cars have caught fire.

Three cars were torched, a community house and a local shopping centre. It’s unclear whether the police are in control of the situation at the moment.

Top diplomats from world powers will meet on Friday in a bid to defend their landmark nuclear deal with Iran from attack by President Donald Trump.

Foreign ministers from China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.K. will convene in Vienna for the first time without the U.S. in order “to ensure the continued implementation” of the accord, which granted Iran a reprieve from sanctions in exchange for limits to its nuclear program, according to a European Union statement on Wednesday. Trump abandoned the deal in May and reimposed sanctions against countries and companies doing business with Iran.

“Austria and the European Union are ready to maintain and deepen the framework for cooperation with Iran,” Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said following a meeting in the Austrian capital with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani. U.S. threats to impose secondary sanctions violate the rights of European companies and individuals, Van der Bellen said.

Human rights defenders say they have received a commitment from French firm Systra to pull out of a project to expand Israel’s Jerusalem light rail.

The International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH hailed the decision as “a first victory on a just path.”

Meanwhile, campaigners are also welcoming a decision by car rental firm Europcar to end the operations of its Israeli subsidiary in settlements in the occupied West Bank.

200 riot police were needed to quell chaos in an immigrant suburb of Nantes, France as youths set cars on fire and torched a shopping center.

The riots were sparked by police shooting dead a 22-year-old man, identified by Le Monde as Aboubakar F.

Cars were set ablaze while rioters in Dervallières set fire to the local town hall and house of justice and law.

Meanwhile, in the Breil neighborhood of the city, enraged demonstrators threw molotov cocktails at police and set a shopping center on fire.

France-based insurance giant AXA is refusing to divest from Israeli firms involved in war crimes against Palestinians.

This includes banks that help build settlements and a company that makes weapons used to kill civilians in Gaza.

A year ago, 70 organizations, political parties and trade unions urged AXA to divest from three Israeli banks and arms maker Elbit Systems.

But AXA has tried to brush away its responsibility.

Ignoring the mild protestations of the French government, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman has extended the administrative detention of Palestinian-French human rights defender Salah Hamouri for an additional three months.

Like the 430 other administrative detainees held by Israel, Hamouri has been imprisoned without charge or trial since he was seized by Israeli occupation forces from his home in occupied East Jerusalem last August.

Hamouri works as a researcher with prisoners rights group Addameer.

On Thursday, the left-wing newspaper L’Humanité asked the French foreign ministry for its reaction to the extension and what France is doing to secure Hamouri’s freedom.

“We can only regret this decision, on which an Israeli court is expected to rule in coming days,” the ministry responded.

Activists have mobilized strong support for Salah Hamouri, the Palestinian-French human rights defender jailed by Israel without charge or trial since last August. But the French government appears to be doing nothing to secure his release. (via Facebook)
Ignoring the mild protestations of the French government, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman has extended the administrative detention of Palestinian-French human rights defender Salah Hamouri for an additional three months.

Like the 430 other administrative detainees held by Israel, Hamouri has been imprisoned without charge or trial since he was seized by Israeli occupation forces from his home in occupied East Jerusalem last August.

Hamouri works as a researcher with prisoners rights group Addameer.

On Thursday, the left-wing newspaper L’Humanité asked the French foreign ministry for its reaction to the extension and what France is doing to secure Hamouri’s freedom.

A map of France shared on social media has swapped the names of the regions with jibes that President Macron has directed at their citizens. And there are few areas left which he didn’t make a dig at.

Macron’s political opponents, Nadine Morano, who currently serves as Member of the European Parliament, and former French politician and the founder of the Christian Democratic Party, Christine Boutin, took to social media to ridicule the president on Tuesday. They posted a map with some of the “unpleasant vocabulary” Macron has used.

French butchers have formally requested police protection against vegans, whom they blame for a series of attacks designed to "spread terror" in the meat-loving nation, according to a document seen by AFP and cited by The Local. Butchers claimed that animal rights groups and vegans in particular attack them "physically, verbally and morally"; they notably blame universal media exposure on the anti-meat cause for triggering bellicose sentiment against their occupation.

In an open letter to Gérard Collomb, the interior minister, President of the French Federation of Butchers and Caterers Jean-François Guihard stated:

"We are counting on your services and on the support of the entire government to stop as swiftly possible 'such attacks.'"

A prosecutor in southeast France has opened a probe into allegations that local authorities in Lyon offered illegal help to Emmanuel Macron during his campaign for the presidency last year, a legal source told AFP.

The investigation was opened after a complaint from right-wing lawmakers in Lyon who alleged last week that city authorities had assisted Macron, who campaigned several times there.

One of his earliest political backers was long-time Lyon mayor Gerard Collomb who was named interior minister after Macron's election victory in May 2017.

France has been “colonized” by migrants, as well as by the US, China, Germany, and the European Union, a French euroskeptic politician has warned, stating that he doesn't want his country to "disappear."

"I think that our country is colonized...economically by the Americans and the Chinese, politically by Brussels, the European Union and Germany," Nicolas Dupont-Aignan said during an interview on France's 'On the Couch' program.

The creation of a joint European military force is again on the agenda after talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. While France's top army official has stated that much progress has been carried out on the matter, French professor Christophe Réveillard told Sputnik that it plagiarizes the NATO system.

As soon as talks between French and German leaders came to an end on June 19, France’s minister of defense, Florence Parly, stated there’d been progress in building up the joint European defense system. Sciences Po and Sorbonne professor Christophe Réveillard has overturned her optimistic claims, saying the concept of a Europe-wide joint army is non-original and would copy NATO documents. According to the scholar, the current programs can be called fully European, as they imply cooperation among four countries at most. Réveillard told Sputnik that the production plan of the defense industry doesn’t apply to the whole European Union.

According to the French president, financial sanctions should be introduced against EU members that refuse migrants who have proven asylum status.

Speaking to reporters Saturday at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Macron stressed that Paris could not accept a situation where "countries that benefit massively from EU solidarity" give in to "national self-interest when it comes to the issue of migrants."

While Emmanuel and Brigitte seemed to be excited to host the first-ever electronic music event for the 37th edition of Music Day, French politicians and social media users didn’t appreciate the move.

“These steps saw De Gaulle, Kennedy, Trump and even Putin. And then this happened,” tweeted Jordan Bardella, spokesperson for The National Rally party (formerly known as the National Front).

Activists of the energy workers' trade union association, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), shut off the supply of gas to the Elysee Palace, the residence of the French president, for three hours on Thursday, the television channel BFM reported, pointing out that the blackout occurred in the middle of the day.

Commenting to BFM on their move, Olivier Fego, head of the trade union of power engineers and miners in the Ile-de-France region, underlined that "the action was held because of reports saying that the authorities intend to privatize the group in September-October this year, Electricite de France (EDF, Electricité de France), as well as all of its major subsidiaries, in particular Enedis (Enedis), France's largest power grid operator."

With no end in sight to the EU refugee crisis, Berlin and Paris look to put the burden of dealing with asylum seekers on the countries where they first register. The seeming return to ‘old rules’ is poised to split Europe further.
During their meeting ahead of the EU summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to “jointly and resolutely tackle” what they euphemistically called “secondary movements inside the EU.” An elusive wording used in the so-called Meseberg Declaration adopted by the two leaders effectively means one thing: Macron and Merkel want all the newly arrived asylum seekers and migrants to stay in the EU countries where they were first registered while their cases are being processed. This would leave the EU southern member states to deal with the new arrivals alone.

Right-wingers in Angela Merkel's coalition have slammed her eurozone budget deal with Emmanuel Macron over asylum policy. The criticism came as she attended a World Refugee Day event with her hardline interior minister.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has, to an extent, changed his country’s foreign policy towards Israel, making it more favourable. This is part and parcel of Macron’s neoliberal, pro-American, Atlanticist bent, a tendency which has even seen him snuggle up to hard-right US President Donald Trump.

Macron’s embrace of Israel has been so complete that it has led to protests in France. After Israel’s massacres of Palestinians in Gaza over the past couple of months, thousands marched in the streets of Paris; well-known French cultural figures, including film director Jean-Luc Godard, declared a boycott of their government’s activities designed to promote Israel. Among these is the Saison France-Israel (France-Israel Season), which started this month.

France and Germany have agreed to set up a common budget for the eurozone, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday, announcing a key reform proposal to bolster the bloc.

The sum will be a "real budget with annual revenues and spending," said French President Emmanuel Macron after talks with the German leader, adding that Paris and Berlin hoped to have it in place by 2021.

Macron would not be drawn into giving a figure for the budget, saying that its size would be discussed with other members of the bloc.

How it would be funded was also up for discussion with other eurozone members, said Merkel, suggesting that it could involve regular transfers made by individual countries or a tax on financial transactions.

France and Germany are pushing to return asylum seekers to the EU country where they arrived - as German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a coalition revolt over the migrant crisis.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said France and Germany are seeking deals with frontline states in Europe's migration crisis to return asylum seekers to the EU country where they were first registered, usually their point of arrival.

'France and Germany will ensure that those who are registered in a Schengen zone country can be taken back as quickly as possible to the country where they have been registered,' he said, vowing to achieve this through bilateral and multinational agreements.

Police in France have prevented two boats from a Gaza Strip-bound flotilla from docking in Seine River, despite subjecting the vessels to extensive searches in advance.

The boats and two other vessels are part of the Freedom Flotilla, which is to set sail for Gaza in the hope of breaking Israel’s siege of the coastal enclave.

The river police confronted the vessels on Sunday as dozens of pro-Palestinian activists were celebrating the flotilla’s imminent departure and chanting “Stop the massacre of Palestinians.”

The honorary president of the France-Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS) Taoufiq Tahani confirmed that the boats had undergone a thorough inspection.

“We were unfortunately surprised and didn’t know that Israeli waters now begin in the Seine (river) in Paris. That’s unimaginable,” he said sarcastically.

PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron will go to Germany this week for crunch talks with Angela Merkel on eurozone reforms but it is likely that the European Union's migrant challenges will overshadow the meeting.

Addressing French radio Europe 1’s audience, France’s National Front party (FN) leader Marine Le Pen has suggested that France introduce taxes on German-manufactured goods, thereby referring to Donald Trump’s recently announced economic measures vis-à-vis China.

According to the French politician, the US economic policies should set an example for France, whose external trade deficit with Germany is estimated at over 17 billion euros.

The former head of France Telecom Didier Lombard, six other executives and telecoms operator Orange have been ordered to stand trial over their alleged role in a wave of staff suicides.

They stand accused of engaging in or assisting psychological harassment, according to the court order, obtained by Reuters. Lombard, a former human resources head and a deputy CEO were
placed under court supervision until trial.

"As it has always said, Orange rejects the accusations and will make its case during the public hearing which will be scheduled in the coming months," an Orange spokesman said.

Jean Veil, Lombard's lawyer, said the move was "absurd."

Crockery shopping for the presidential palace has put the French head of state, dubbed the “president of the rich,” into a new controversy as it was reported that a new set cost $586,000. The revelations came right after Macron’s critical remarks over a “shedload of cash” on welfare emerged.

The 1,200 piece designer set, chosen by first lady Brigitte Macron, was ordered to change the shabby plates from the mid-20th century, according to the presidential Élysée Palace.

The order, which included 900 dinner plates and 300 side plates, was placed with the Manufacture de Sèvres, which has been known worldwide for its fancy porcelain for nearly 200 years. The leading French satiric outlet Le Canard enchaîné reported that the price tag for the set, designed by the artist Evariste Richer, is as much as 500,000 euros ($586,000), or 400 euros ($470) a plate.

With the UK leaving the European Union, the French President is aiming at a linguistic revanche. He aspires to put his native language to the forefront as the main means of communication in the EU, as it once used to be. The idea has found powerful lobbyists at the very top of the bloc.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has set himself on a linguistic crusade against the use of English in European Union institutions, as he aspires to restitute French domination with a number of measures, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

French special forces are present on the ground in Yemen with forces from the United Arab Emirates, French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Saturday, citing two military sources.

The newspaper gave no further information about their activities. The Defence Ministry was not immediately available for comment, but its usual policy is not to comment on special forces’ operations.

A French parliamentary source recently told Reuters French special forces were in Yemen.

A large majority of voters across every age bracket and region in France believe that the nation’s economy could not cope with a further influx of third world migrants, according to a YouGov survey.

A representative sample of more than 1,000 people were polled on the topic by Capital magazine after the president of the executive council of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, offered to open the French island’s port to a migrant-packed NGO boat earlier this week after it was turned away by Italy.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron admitted that France has lost the battle against drug trafficking within the growing number of no-go zones in the country.

In a speech for 600 business and political guests in May, Macron called on the local mayors themselves – together with the population – to find suitable solutions, for the problems in France’s 1,500 no-go areas or ‘sensitive areas’ as France calls them.

The street sign, which was written in French and Arabic, read: “In memory of the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians and the destruction of 532 villages in 1948 by the war criminal David Ben-Gurion for the creation of Israel.”

Israel had pressured the suburb to remove the plaque, with Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Emmanuel Nahshon, describing the renaming of the street as “a nauseating act”. Israel’s Ambassador to France, Aliza Bin-Noun, accused the mayor of supporting “Palestinian terrorism” and inciting hatred.

Both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have presented plans to reform the European Union. While there are many aspects that the two leaders agree, there are also some fundamental differences. Most significant of these is the agreement to create a European Army, the creation of an EU Monetary Fund, and a clamp down on immigration. FRN’s parent organization, CSS, has long forecasted the eventuality of European Army which would make NATO a redundant relic of an Atlanticist past.

Hundreds of protesters shut down the Champs-Élysées on Tuesday evening to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s gala welcome for Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli leader was in Paris for the official inauguration of the Saison France-Israël – or France-Israel Season – a series of propaganda events backed by both countries to boost Israel’s image.

Earlier, France had canceled a visit by its prime minister to Israel for a similar ceremony, but it went ahead with receiving Netanyahu to the outrage of supporters of Palestinian rights.

Donald Trump was accused of snubbing Theresa May for the second time in 48 hours yesterday, as he charged other nations, including Britain, with ‘robbing’ the US.

The US President’s latest rebuff to the Prime Minister came when he failed to mention her name as he left the G7 summit after a blazing trade row with fellow world leaders.

Denying claims of a rift, Mr Trump said he got on well with Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau – but omitted to mention Mrs May.

It came a day after he refused to grant her a one-to-one meeting during the two-day event in Canada, and after Mrs May had arrived at the summit to reports that Mr Trump was tired of her ‘schoolmistress’ tone.

Meanwhile, a photo of the US President in a stand-off with Mrs Merkel and other G7 leaders - including Mrs May - at the summit has gone viral.

President Donald Trump criticized Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for being so angry about the new US tariffs and accused Canada of hurting American dairy farmers.

"Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the US and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things … but he doesn’t bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy — hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!" Trump wrote in a Twitter message on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a press briefing that French and Canadian delegations would try to persuade Trump at the G7 summit to take a more conventional path on trade amid his imposition of tariffs on the European Union and Canada.

The French and British navies are planning to follow in the footsteps of the US Navy with their own wayfinding mission through the disputed South China Sea, specifically, into areas London and Paris argue are illegally claimed by Beijing.

A seaborne task force comprising French and British ships and naval aircraft will make its way through the South China Sea next week, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parley said Sunday. The force will go "into certain areas" where the world's fastest growing navy — the People's Liberation Army-Navy — is expected to be present.

There is really only one reason a law would be put into place to stifle so-called ‘fake news’ and that is so the real purveyors of fake news, like CNN, can continue to push theirs.

The people at the top of the pyramid who are actually running the entire show appear to have it all figured out. In a world where down is up and up is down fake news appears almost everywhere but the real fact of the matter is that most of it comes from mainstream sources, like CNN. So, withal, I have to ask: Will the new laws be used to crackdown on sources like CNN that always publish garbage or will the powers-that-be let agencies like CNN roll with whatever smut they like while other smaller but more trustworthy outlets get targeted over ‘fake news’? Will the powers-that-be use the law as a weapon to remove controversial reports?

The AFP out of Paris reports:

ANGELA Merkel has issued a devastating criticism of Emmanuel Macron’s ambitious dreams of Eurozone reform, according to an analysis of an interview the German leader has given.

Mrs Merkel’s refusal to get on board with Macron’s reforms comes at a time when there is renewed concern over the future of the bloc because of political issues in Spain and Italy.

The German Chancellor revealed she wants to keep changes to a minimum and maintain surveillance over spending, ban systems and debt resolution.

She told newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung: “Solidarity among euro partners should never lead to a debt union, but must come in the form of help towards self help.”

France's financial prosecutor said Monday that he had opened a corruption probe against President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff Alexis Kohler.

French anti-corruption association Anticor requested a Paris court to examine Kohler’s alleged family ties to the MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, citing the investigation of the Mediapart portal.

The Paris court will now decide whether a preliminary investigation will be opened or the complaint rejected.

French party National Front officially changed its name to "National Rally" (Rassemblement national), after the absolute majority of party members supported this decision, leader of the organization Marine Le Pen said Friday.

Le Pen proposed the party's rebranding in early in March at the party congress in Lille in a bid to improve the party's reputation. From early May, the party members have been voting, answering whether they supported the change of name.

"About 53 percent of the party members took part in the voting, with 80.81 percent [of those who voted] answered 'Yes' to the question whether they supported the change of the party's name. Therefore, on June 1, 2018, the 'National Front' officially becomes the 'National Rally,'" Marine Le Pen said, speaking in Lyon.

The maker of rifles used during Israel’s recent massacres in Gaza will soon exhibit its products at an arms fair sponsored by the French government.

Amnesty International’s investigations have identified the Tavor as likely to have been one of the main guns fired by Israeli snipers attacking Palestinian demonstrators over the past two months.

As the manufacturer of that rifle, Israel Weapon Industries ought to be blacklisted by every country which professes concern for human rights.

France is one such country. Emmanuel Macron, its president, officially condemned the killing of more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators since 30 March.

His condemnation was hollow. It came as preparations were underway for the Eurosatory weapons fair in Paris.

An RT journalist has been barred from attending a conference hosted by Emmanuel Macron in Elysee palace. The reporter was told that the president “was clear” about RT: access for the channel’s staff is denied.

Kyrill Kotikov, working for RT France, was stopped by security at the gates of the palace where Macron was due to give a speech at the international conference on Libya on Tuesday.

Kotikov had the conversation recorded. “The president was clear about Russia Today,” one of the officers is heard saying after journalist’s documents were checked. Kotikov was carrying a press card as instructed by the palaces’ press office.

French and Russian officials on Tuesday unveiled an obelisk commemorating the Russian soldiers, who defended France during the harsh battles of World War I.

It has been installed in the commune of Aguilcourt, department of Aisne. Regional officials, French military, Russian diplomats, and the successors of the soldiers and officers of the 3rd Brigade of the Russian Expeditionary Corps, which Russia dispatched to assist its military allies, attended the ceremony.

The monument is located on Mont Espin height that the Russian soldiers seized from the German forces after three-years-long occupation.

"The exploit of the Russian soldiers will never be forgotten," said Aguilcourt Mayor Gerard Prevost.

He recalled that the Russian battalions stormed the unassailable stronghold on Mont Espin in spring 1917. They faced a numerically stronger enemy.

French prison Fleury-Merogis, which holds 20 female jihadist inmates and is notorious for Islamic radicalization, is “simply cracking.” The staff struggles with violence and exhaustion, a prison union representative told RT.

The facility for imprisoned women within the Fleury-Mérogis Prison, located just 24km from Paris, has 290 female inmates, 20 of whom the administration tagged as Islamic terrorists, or TIS.

“Due to their specific profiles [of these 20 women], all their movements must be accompanied by prison staff, but we do not have enough personnel to carry out this task properly,” the regional secretary of the Ile-de-France branch of the CGT Penitentiaries union, Ambroise Koubi, told RT France.

A Malian immigrant dubbed Spiderman for scaling four storeys to save a child dangling from a balcony in Paris will be made a French citizen after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron this morning.

Mamoudou Gassama, 22, was hailed a hero for single-handedly hauling the four-year-old to safety after scaling the facade of an apartment block in the capital's 18th arrondissement.

The dramatic rescue, which saw Gassama clamber from balcony to balcony and reaching the child in less than 30 seconds, was captured on video and widely shared on social media. He has since been compared to the Marvel superhero Spiderman.

Gassama, who said he arrived in France a few months ago 'dreaming of building his life' in the country, was pictured meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace this morning.

Macron said the migrant will be made a French citizen and will also be offered a place in the fire brigade.

Russia is irreplaceable in international relations, including in the Middle East, French President Emmanuel Macron said at a joint media conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

While delivering a lyrical speech that lasted over 20 minutes, starting with the long history of Franco-Russian ties, Macron underlined that France is an independent country and that dialogue with Russia is a “manifestation of this independent position.”

“I am perfectly aware of Russia's irreplaceable role in solving international problems," he said after several hours of talks with Putin, where the two discussed Syria and the Iran nuclear deal among other international issues in which both countries are taking an active part.

EMMANUEL Macron has praised the leadership of Vladimir Putin by highlighting the “irreplaceable” role of Russia in international issues following discussions between the two leaders on Thursday.

A severe storm swept over French capital Paris on May 22, 2018, flooding streets and Metro stations. Just a few days ago, intense hailstorm further south in Vaucluse destroyed almost a year's worth of Luberon cherry tree crops.

The capital's streets looked more like rivers and stairwells like waterfalls, The Connexion reports. Areas in the north and the west of the city are said to be the most affected.

Heavy rain was accompanied by an intense hailstorm, leaving some parts of the city under a significant amount of ice.

The French government’s reforms of state-owned railway operator SNCF was rejected by 94.97 percent of the company’s employees who had participated in a non-binding vote on the reform, Franceinfo news outlet reported on Wednesday.

According to the media, which cited Laurent Brun, the secretary-general of the CGT-Cheminots trade union, that 91,000 railroad workers had participated in the vote, organized by the major trade unions of the SNCF. This number stands for almost 62 percent of the company’s workers.

A British military retiree had allegedly terrorized the residents of a French town, living in a forest nearby, where he fled from a trial concerning 40 robberies. The guerilla outlaw settled with comfort in a concealed tent, using his military training.

A 51-year-old, retired British soldier has been detained in France and faces a term in prison for dozens of robberies. As a local broadcaster BFMTV reports, he had been hiding in the woods in the western department of Vienne and robbing the residents of Surin over the course of six months.

According to the media he was first captured in April 2017, suspected of 40 robberies, but fled. The court had sentenced him to 15 months in prison, while a European arrest warrant was issued.

Responding to a tweet from President Donald Trump, WikiLeaks pointed out that the Obama administration ordered the CIA to hack Marine Le Pen and other candidates during the French election in 2012.

Demands are growing to cancel the Saison France-Israël 2018 – or France-Israel Season – a series of hundreds of “cultural” events backed by both governments that is set to start next month.

In the first major sign that the pressure is being felt, the French government announced on Wednesday that Prime Minister Édouard Philippe was canceling a trip to open the France-Israel Season.

Already, more than 10,000 people have signed a petition launched this week urging President Emmanuel Macron to cancel the France-Israel Season altogether.

The petition asks: “How can we carry on as if nothing has happened? As if dozens of young people have not been slain in a premeditated fashion? As if hundreds of demonstrators merely demanding their fundamental rights have not been maimed for life? As if the Gaza ghetto does not run the risk of simply being liquidated, with the active or passive complicity of the international community?”

Police and protesters clashed violently in Paris streets Tuesday, with fire and water cannons turning neighborhoods into chaos.

As Sputnik reported earlier, Parisians took to the streets Tuesday to protest social and economic reforms implemented by French President Emmanuel Macron.

However, the protests turned into violent clashes and the police resorted to brutality, detaining protesters and beating them to the ground with batons.