A robot named "Colossus" played a key role in helping save the lives of firefighters at the recent Notre Dame blaze, according to The Independent. When the commander of the Paris fire brigade told his firefighters to retreat because the building's temperatures had grown too high, he instead enlisted the help of a 1,100 pound tank-like robot with the ability to venture into places and conditions that would quickly kill a human being.

The robot utilizes a water cannon capable of firing more than 660 gallons per minute, which it sprayed at the walls of the cathedral in the midst of the blaze.

Gabriel Plus, a spokesman for the Paris fire brigade said: “Time was against us, the wind was against us and we had to get the upper hand. The priority we set was to save the two belfries. Imagine if the timber of the belfries had been weakened and the bells had collapsed. That was really our fear. In the beginning, it was not impossible to imagine that the cathedral structure could collapse.”

Yellow Vests demonstrators are taking to streets for the 23rd round of protests that have been rocking the county since mid-November. A major demonstration is set to take place in the capital city of Paris.

The police have warned protesters to stay away from the Notre Dame cathedral area Saturday in the wake of a deadly blaze that erupted there on Monday.

That same day, President Emmanuel Macron was supposed to unveil measures to quell the protests, but had to cancel the announcement due to the Notre Dame tragedy.

The French president is yet to reveal a new date for his address.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended his condolences to France and its leader as well as an offer of help in rebuilding the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral.

In a message to Emmanuel Macron published on the Kremlin’s official website, Putin says he hopes the historic cathedral can be repaired after the fire destroyed part of its roof, clock and spire. He also offered to send “the best Russian experts with experience in restoring monuments of cultural heritage” to help.

The inferno which engulfed the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was a hard sight to witness, Vladimir Putin has told French businessmen in the Kremlin. Russian companies are eager to join reconstruction efforts, he added.
"We’re all sorry. We all watched this with tears in our eyes,” the president said as he described his reaction, and that of many Russians, as the blaze struck in the heart of the French capital on Monday.

Notre Dame is not just a symbol of France, but a symbol of the whole of European civilization, Putin pointed out as he met with the top managers from Total, Reno, Auchan and some other major French businesses in the Kremlin.

French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild the devastated Notre Dame within the next five years. The Russian leader expressed confidence that those plans will be fulfilled and made assurances that Russian companies, which have interests in France, were ready to help with the reconstruction of the landmark.

Notre-Dame belongs to the French state, which had been paying little to no attention to a gothic jewel that traversed eight centuries.

Fragments of arcades, chimeras, reliefs, gargoyles were always falling to the ground and kept in an improvised deposit in the back of the cathedral.

Only last year Notre-Dame got a check for 2 million euros to restore the spire – which burned to the ground yesterday.

To restore the whole cathedral would have cost 150 million euros, according to the top world expert on Notre-Dame, who happens to be an American, Andrew Tallon.

Recently, the custodians of the cathedral and the French state were actually at war.

The French state was making at least 4 million euros a year, charging tourists to enter the Twin (Bell) Towers but putting back only 2 million euros for the maintenance of Notre-Dame.

The rector of Notre-Dame refused to charge for a ticket to enter the cathedral – as it happens, for example, at the Duomo in Milan.

Gilbert Mercier, editor-in-chief of News Junkie Post and author of “The Orwellian Empire,” joined Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear Wednesday to discuss how French President Emmanuel Macron’s solemn speech in the aftermath of the fire that devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame could boost Macron’s approval ratings.

"It might sound kind of cynical on my part, but for politicians, it seems like all disasters can be used for potential political gain," Mercier told hosts John Kiriakou and Brian Becker.

President Donald Trump spoke with Pope Francis on Wednesday to offer condolences after the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral.
“Just had a wonderful conversation with Pope Francis offering condolences from the People of the United States for the horrible and destructive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Restoration of the famous Catholic cathedral will take several years and billions of dollars after the destructive fire on Monday.

Trump offered assistance for the process from the United States.

“I offered the help of our great experts on renovation and construction as I did in my conversation yesterday with President Emmanuel Macron of France,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The fire occurred during Holy Week, just prior to Easter Sunday, which prompted the president to recognize the season.

“I also wished both Pope Francis and President Macron a very Happy Easter!” Trump said.

Locals were overheard singing hymns outside the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris as firefighters continued battling the flames there into Tuesday morning.

The spire and part of the roof collapsed earlier in the evening, after the fire rapidly spread though the cathedral, though firefighters saved the main bell towers and outer walls from collapse before
bringing the blaze under control.

The fire, after burning for about 8 hours, was largely extinguished by 0300 CET on Tuesday. Earlier, in addition to battling to prevent one of the main bell towers from collapsing, firefighters tried to rescue religious relics and priceless artwork.

One of three women allegedly involved in a foiled plot in 2016 to blow up a car packed with gas canisters near the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was on Friday sentenced to eight years in prison by a French court for earlier offences.

Ines Madani, 22, was sentenced following a three-day trial during which she was accused of encouraging would-be jihadists to go to Syria and participate in attacks against France between March 2015 and June 2016.

She used Telegram – an encrypted messaging app widely used by jihadists to communicate.

GLENN BECK (HOST): If this was arson, this is going to be bad. If this was arson of any foreign -- kind of -- any foreign entity, any -- anybody with a grudge, I think if -- if, and this is a huge if -- it might have just been started by a cigarette. We don't know. But if this was started by Islamists, I don't think you'll find out about it, because I think it would set the entire country on fire.

...

This is their World Trade Center moment, and if this was done by terrorists, I think that they will keep it quiet, because -- I just don't think Macron and France wants that internal fight.

Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said there was no obvious indication the fire was arson. Fifty people were working on what would be a long and complex investigation. One firefighter was injured but no one else was hurt in the blaze which began after the building was closed to the public for the evening.

From the outside, the imposing bell towers and outer walls, with their vast flying buttresses, still stood firm, but the insides and the upper structure were eviscerated by the blaze.

Its focus is currently on Le Bras Freres (Le Bras Brothers), a company based in Jarny, in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department of north-eastern France.

Some of its 200 specialist employees were working on the wooden and lead spire of Notre Dame Cathedral that collapsed on Monday evening after the fire broke out on the roof just before 7pm.

“Many of these restorers were interviewed overnight,” said a source close to the investigation that has been opened into ‘accidental destruction by fire’.

Is France going to blame the Notra Dame fire on the Yellow Vests to shut them down?

The recently-deceased Prof. Andrew Tallon finished the painstaking work of laser scanning Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral, creating rich raw data that could potentially help in reconstruction efforts.

The main structure of Notre-Dame cathedral in central Paris has been saved after hours of firefighting to put out a devastating blaze, the city's top fire official said late on Monday.

Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet told reporters outside the cathedral: "We can consider that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved."

He added that it appeared the two main towers of the building had now been saved.

Firefighters, 400 of whom tackled the blaze, had earlier warned they might not be able to save Notre-Dame as a catastrophic blaze engulfed one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world.

A fire has broken out at the world-famous Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.

Pictures posted on social media showed enormous plumes of smoke billowing into the city's skyline as firefighters rushed to the historic site.

According to French newspaper Le Monde, the fire broke out in the attic of the historic monument before spreading to engulf a large section of the roof.

France is willing to consider offering WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange asylum if he requests it from them.

When asked about Julian Assange during a local radio program, France’s Secretary of State for European affairs, Amelie de Montchalin, said “we should listen to what he wants to do.”

Assange’s French lawyer, Juan Branco, has asked President Emmanuel Macron to bring the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominated publisher to France to avoid extradition, according to a report from the New York Post.

The Ecuadorian government allowed UK authorities to enter their embassy and arrest Assange after revoking his asylum in exchange for a hefty IMF loan.

A French court on Thursday upheld a guilty verdict against chemicals giant Monsanto over the poisoning of a farmer who suffered neurological damage after using one of its weedkillers, the latest legal setback for the company over its controversial pesticides.

Cereal farmer Paul Francois has been fighting Monsanto, a formerly US company which was bought by Germany's Bayer last year, for the past 12 years.

In the first ruling of its kind against Monsanto anywhere in the world, a French court in 2012 found it guilty of poisoning Francois.

He said he began experiencing symptoms including blackouts, headaches and loss of balance and memory after inhaling fumes while using the now-banned weedkiller Lasso.

Mr Macron was accused of breaking “EU unity” as he completely split away from the EU majority pushing Britain into a lengthy Brexit delay. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker was “absolutely furious” with the French President, a diplomatic source told Express.co.uk. The source said: “France went on its own and has broken EU unity, that really surprises us.”

The former UKIP leader turned his attention directly to Mr Macron on his LBC show, gravely claiming that if a long extension was called for in the Brussels summit, all his “worst fears would come true”. Mr Farage said: “I’ve just got a message really for Emmanuel Macron. Which is if you extend this, all your worst fears will come true.

"At tomorrow's EU Council, please vote against any further extensions to Article 50 and oblige the UK to leave the EU on Friday on WTO terms, as you previously said you would only honour any application for an extension if there was a credible reason so to do. That credible reason does not not exist." Mr Loughton added: "If the EU elections go ahead, it is highly likely the UK will elect an army of Nigel Farage mini-mes, who I am afraid will wreak havoc with the European Parliament.”

France’s Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has called for quick tax cuts in response to the anger expressed by Yellow Vests protesters. Philippe on Monday unveiled the results of a three-month “grand debate” launched by President Emmanuel Macron in response to the protests.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher said Sunday that France is holding discussions with senior officials in the Lebanese Armed Forces to secure maritime and land defense equipment for Lebanon, local media reported.

"We have opened a financing account of 400 million euros (about 449.3 million U.S. dollars) for this purpose," Foucher was quoted as saying by the National News Agency.

His remarks came during the yearly ceremony to honor veterans in the Lebanese and French armies.

A privileged experience of a fly-along in a French Air Force Rafale B fighter jet went terribly wrong last month for one civilian who was shockingly ejected from the jet during a takeoff from Saint Dizier Air Base in northeastern France.

The unidentified 64-year-old passenger, who “does not belong to the [French] Ministry of Armed Forces,” sustained back injuries but was listed in stable condition after being taken to the hospital, according to Aerotime News Hub.

“His health condition is not a cause for concern,” Col. Cyrille Duvivier, spokesman for the French Air Force, told Aerotime News.

In many cases, fly-along opportunities are extended to elected officials or those in the press to highlight capabilities of the aircraft, according to reports.

But aviation experts agree randomly firing passengers into the sky is typically not one of those capabilities.

More than a dozen people have been arrested as Yellow Vest protesters flood the streets of French cities, marking the 21st consecutive week of mass demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron and his government.

Some 21 protesters were arrested in Paris on Saturday morning, local media reported, citing police. Eric Drouet, one of the leaders of the Yellow Vests, was fined 135 euro ($150) for violating public protest laws. The ruling was slammed by his lawyer who said that “if Drouet wants to have a cup of coffee at the Champs-Elysees, he has an absolute right to do so.”

Germany and France have announced the creation of a new ‘Alliance for Multilateralism’ to support international cooperation and the UN. Is it a much-needed step to counterbalance the US, or a reaction to the excesses of Trump?

On the one hand you could say it's a sign of Europe's biggest powers finally showing some teeth to the US.

The news that two of America's strongest allies in Europe are forming an ‘Alliance for Multilateralism’ – which will officially launch in September at the United Nations General Assembly – probably won't go down well in Washington, especially as we're also told that Canada, Japan and Australia have shown interest in joining the initiative.

France rejects US President Donald Trump’s move to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian Golan Heights, President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday while meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Paris. “Recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the occupied territories violates international law and creates tension in the region,” Macron warned.

There are few people in this world more odious than French President Emmanuel Macron after his behavior this week. I’m sure there are child molesters who are worse. But as a man who is pivotal in the future of hundreds of millions of people, his decision to order the French military to quell the Yellow Vests protests with live ammunition is simply vile.

The 30 March protests in the French capital will mark the 20th week of demonstrations against French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies as the second phase of the “Grand National Debate” is expected to continue in the next few days.

Last weekend, French police banned protests on the Champs-Elysees and in its vicinity. Similar precautionary measures were taken by police in the French cities of Nice, Marseille and Metz.

Moreover, ahead of the 20th Yellow Vests protests, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that Operation Sentinelle troops have been mobilised to help maintain security in Paris and across the country. According to the French government, troops have only been deployed to guard symbolic sites.

There are few people in this world more odious than French President Emmanuel Macron after his behavior this week. I’m sure there are child molesters who are worse. But as a man who is pivotal in the future of hundreds of millions of people, his decision to order the French military to quell the Yellow Vests protests with live ammunition is simply vile.

“Shutting them up. That’s what it’s about. The hangman’s drop, the crackle of the firing squad, and their secrets go to the grave. Saddam Hussein didn’t get the chance to tell us about his dealings with the US and German companies who provided the gas he used on the Kurds. And now Gaddafi’s spymaster Abdullah al-Senussi will be shot in Libya before he has a chance to tell us about the cosy relationship he had with our Western security services when he liaised between his boss, the CIA and MI6.”

Realising that the present-day United States is a "difficult partner", France insists on its sovereignty on the political and technological scene, French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire said.

In an exclusive interview with Le Figaro, French Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said that, "in the face of the United States and China, Europe must assert itself as a sovereign power".

A 73-year-old activist is the latest casualty of French President Emmanuel Macron’s crackdown on the Gilets Jaunes protest movement. Geneviève Legay of the anti-globalization group Attac had her skull fractured by police in Nice as they charged at her during the nineteenth consecutive week of protests against the president’s unpopular austerity and tax policies. The feminist campaigner and grandmother was carrying a rainbow flag marked “peace” as she was attacked, in what her family calls “willful violence” in an official complaint.

The embattled president went after Legay, currently in serious condition in the hospital, lecturing her on her “irresponsibility” for being in a “prohibited” area, claiming that, “when one is fragile and risks being shoved, one does not go to places that are declared off-limits and one does not put oneself in that kind of situation,” adding that he wished her “a speedy recovery…and perhaps a kind of wisdom.”

Since the beginning of 2019, France has seen a torrent of attacks which have included arson, vandalism, and desecration of a number of its historic Catholic churches.

The defacers have torn down crosses, knocked down tabernacles, smashed statues, and have destroyed the Eucharist, igniting fears of a rise in widespread anti-Catholic sentiment across the country.

Emmanuel Macron has been accused of patronising a 73-year-old gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protester who sustained a fractured skull after riot police charged demonstrators in an off-limits area of Nice.

Geneviève Legay was taken to hospital with serious head injuries on Saturday. Jean-Michel Prêtre, the Nice public prosecutor, said an investigation had been opened but it appeared Legay had hit her head on a concrete bollard as police tried to clear protesters.

Macron, who was in Nice on Monday along with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who is visiting France, told the Nice-Matin newspaper he wished Legay a “speedy recovery”, but simultaneously criticised her.

“When one is fragile and risks being shoved, one does not go to places that are declared off-limits and one does not put oneself in that kind of situation,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has told a newspaper he hopes a 73-year old Yellow Vest protester who suffered serious head injuries after being charged by police in Nice, gains “wisdom” over the incident.

Anti-globalisation activist Genevieve Legay remains in hospital Monday after police advanced aggressively on people defying a protest ban Saturday.

An Associated Press reporter saw Legay, who was waving a rainbow flag marked “Peace”, fall to the pavement, blood spilling from her head.

In an interview published in Nice Matin on Monday, Macron suggested Legay didn’t behave “responsibly,” saying that “fragile” people shouldn’t attend “places that are defined as prohibited.”

Mr Macron, the French president, was an influential agitator in last week’s seven-hour negotiation over Theresa May’s request to delay Brexit until June 30. He drove a hard bargain as he urged his EU colleagues to push Britain out of the bloc in early May, with or without a deal in place. Former politicians and experts have suggested Paris’ tough rhetoric on Brexit is the result of a six-century rivalry between France and Britain.

France sought to make clear on Friday that it does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and that President Trump’s intention to do so would violate international law.

“The Golan is a territory occupied by Israel since 1967. France does not recognize the Israeli annexation of 1981,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a daily briefing, according to Reuters.

“The recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, occupied territory, would be contrary to international law, in particular the obligation for states not to recognize an illegal situation.”

This weekend's wave of 'Yellow Vests' protests arrived in Paris on Saturday despite a ban on protesting along the Champs-Elysees, which was announced by French Prime Minister Edouard Phillippe after violence erupted last weekend.

Ahead of the 19th Saturday seeing Yellow Vests protests in France, troops have been mobilised to help the police focus on protecting public order in Paris. The military can go as far as opening fire if their life or the life of people they defend are threatened, Gen. Bruno Leray, Paris military governor, said Friday.

French police have banned protests on the Champs-Elysees and in its vicinity, which had been slated to take place this Saturday, 23 March, according to their statement. Similar precautionary measures have been taken by police in the French cities of Nice, Marseille and Metz.

French president Emmanuel Macron, who rebuked British MPs for failing to respect the will of the people after they repeatedly refused to accept Theresa May's Brexit deal, has been criticised for ignoring his own people.
Former UK parliamentarian George Galloway said that Macron's lecture came from a leader whose country was "on fire every Saturday”.

Macron, one of the European Union's harshest critics of Britain’s indecisiveness over Brexit, told a meeting of the European Council on Thursday that the result of the British referendum must be respected.

“We need to hear our people, we need to address their fears. We can’t play with fears, or simply tear up pages without offering anything else," he said.

But former Labour MP Galloway said that Macron’s own record of listening to the people was far from flawless.

Israeli occupation forces raided a French government-linked cultural centre in East Jerusalem to shut down a Mother’s Day event, reported AFP.

According to the report, “an order posted on the door of the building by Israeli authorities said that the centre…intended to host an event organised with a women’s association ‘sponsored or financed by the Palestinian Authority [PA]’ and ‘without authorisation’.”

“In a rare move”, Israeli forces actually entered the French foreign ministry-associated centre, a source “with the French consulate” told AFP.

Israel considers any PA activity in occupied East Jerusalem, or events supported by the PA, to be illegal and a challenge to its sovereignty claim in the illegally-annexed part of the city.

“The consulate could not confirm if the association was indeed financed by the PA, but Palestinians who were to participate in the event said the allegation was false,” AFP added.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that now was the time for the US to recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel. According to him, the time has come to take such a step in the interests of the security of Israel and the region as a whole.

"The Golan is a territory occupied by Israel since 1967. France does not recognise the Israeli annexation of 1981," the Fench Foreign Ministry said in a daily briefing, adding that UN Security Council resolutions had recognised the annexation as illegal.

While the Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) protests actually began on 17.11.18, I think most are aware that frustration with the government has been building for many, many years. Sarkozy certainly played a big role in this. Deep-rooted contractions have been left unaddressed while offshore accounts were filled up. Without wanting to dedicate a lot of space to the details of each French government since the last massive riots in 1968, I think it is easier to proceed from the fact that France has been essentially occupied by America for decades. For me personally, this helps to explain a lot.

Soldiers will be deployed across France to help maintain security during this weekend’s planned Yellow Vest protests, President Emmanuel Macron has said. The military will secure government buildings and other sites to allow police forces to focus on maintaining public order, the president said, according to comments reported on Wednesday by government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.

France has announced tough new measures on “yellow vest” protests as the anti-government demonstrations entered its fourth month over the weekend, marked by clashes with the police, nearly 200 arrests and damage to businesses by some protesters.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford issued a statement Monday denying weekend media reports that the US plans to leave around 1,000 troops in Syria, saying the reports are “factually incorrect.”

Dunford presented the current planned “residual force” as 200, saying that this hadn’t changed since February. The US announced 200 would stay on February 21, but on February 22 officially increased that number to 400.

It’s not clear from Dunford’s statement where the “incorrect” aspect of the new report, which came out of a Wall Street Journal, exists. That report suggested that the 1,000 figure was not yet finalized, but was being discussed. Dunford’s comments didn’t include any details on what is actually being discussed, but just that nothing was finalized.

Europe must move away from full dependency on American weapon supplies, the French defense minister stressed, slamming President Donald Trump’s “conditional” approach towards NATO and his European allies.

Expressing concern that Trump’s idea of NATO’s solidarity is “conditional on allies buying this or that equipment,” the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, wondered if the US commitment to the military block will continue to be “perennial.”

The alliance should be unconditional, otherwise, it is not an alliance. NATO’s solidarity clause is called Article 5, not article F-35.

France’s prime minister said Paris’s police chief had been sacked and that the government would shut down “yellow vest” protests if violent groups were identified among the ranks of “yellow vest” protesters.

When I see Western leaders smiling, shaking hands and offering sage and heartfelt advice on tours of Africa, I just can’t help settling in for the show because you know some top level hypocrisy is just around the corner.

By far, my favorite part of politics is watching its highest level practitioners ignore whatever inconvenient facts from the past are getting in the way of the blatant self-interest of the present. The French leader visiting Africa? Well you know this is going to be a good one.

Africa is full of elephants, and many of them are political, sitting in the corners of rooms and trumpeting away merrily at the likes of Emmanuel Macron. His ability to ignore the weight of history has proved commendable.

President Trump says that the ongoing rioting in France is caused by dissatisfaction with the Paris accord on climate change.

‘How is the Paris Environmental Accord working out for France?’ Trump tweeted on Saturday.

‘After 18 weeks of rioting by the Yellow Vest Protesters, I guess not so well!

‘In the meantime, the United States has gone to the top of all lists on the Environment.’

It is unclear what Trump was referring to.

Surreal footage has emerged of a bank going up in flames after France's Yellow Vests were back in full swing on Saturday following a brief lull at the end of President Macron's unsuccessful 'great debate' - during which thousands of town halls were conducted over a two-month period in the hopes of solving national issues through citizen debates.

But now protests turned to riots are quickly returning to being potentially deadly with a number of dramatic close calls on Saturday.

Yellow vest protests in the French capital, which are ongoing for the eighteenth consecutive weekend, have evolved into serious clashes between activists and police, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.

As many as 31 people have been detained so far, according to media reports.

Earlier in the day, French police fired tear gas against protesters as yellow vest rallies continue for the eighteenth consecutive weekend in the country's capital, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

France has ended two months of citizen debates in which Yellow Vest supporters were invited to air their grievances. Parisians who spoke with RT said the meetings were a stunt used by Emmanuel Macron and won’t lead to real change.

The French president launched his “great debate” in mid-January in response to the popular Yellow Vest protest movement. Up to 500,000 people participated in 10,000 meetings nationwide, with discussion topics ranging from taxes to the environment. The national dialogue has been credited with giving Macron a much-needed boost in the polls – but few seem optimistic that the debates will lead to concrete changes.

“It would surprise me if he takes any measures, but I don’t expect anything,” one Yellow Vest supporter told RT.

Clashes between protesters and police broke out as the Yellow Vest rallies entered their 18th consecutive week, causing more headaches for President Macron, whose “great debate” aimed at pacifying the protests ended on Friday.

Saturday’s rally saw thousands of people flooding the streets of downtown Paris, with many wearing black balaclavas and holding French flags.

Violence erupted on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, where protesters congregated to take part in the weekly march which began in November. According to the Associated Press, Paris mobilized more police than in previous weeks in an attempt to stave off unrest.

The heavy-handed policing of anti-government “yellow vest” demonstrations, during which thousands of protesters have been arrested and many wounded, reflects a steady erosion of civil liberties in France, the country’s human rights watchdog said.

The French National Assembly has approved the creation of a new Franco-German assembly that would see the two countries represented in a single parliament.

The future two-country assembly would be comprised of 50 French and 50 German deputies who will meet twice a year to discuss issues of cooperation, with the first meeting expected to occur on March 25th, Franceinfo reports.

While the plan was approved on Monday in France, the German Bundestag has yet to vote on the proposal which has been described as a way to “deepen cooperation” between both nations.

The upper house of the French parliament has greenlighted a bill giving police broad powers to quell unrest. It comes as a rights watchdog warned of civil liberties being undermined in France due to crackdowns on protest.
Following hours of tense debate on Tuesday, the French Senate approved an anti-hooligan ('anti-casseurs') bill by a margin of 210 votes to 115.

The bill has courted widespread controversy, having been denounced as "liberticide" by the left, and hailed as a "the law of protections" by the French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

The transnational company Bayer said Wednesday that farmers in France and Germany were digging up thousands of hectares of rapeseed fields after traces of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are banned for cultivation, were found in seeds sold by the company.

In Europe, few varieties of GMO are authorized for growing, mostly due to environmental concerns. However, during a routine check, French authorities found out GMO seeds in three rapeseed seeds batches sold by Dekalb, a brand previously owned by Monsanto before the company was taken over by Bayer in 2018.

GMO crops are not authorized in Europe, although GMO could be imported for food and animal feed, Catherine Lamboley, Bayer’s chief operating officer for France, said and explained that the source of the contamination of rapeseed seeds, which were produced in Argentine GMO-free area, is not known yet.

The successor of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has rejected French President Emmanuel Macron’s vision of the European Union (EU), rejecting a more centralised EU.

The Christian Democratic Union leader, known by her initials AKK in Germany given her tongue-twister name, presented her own vision of the future of the European Union which differs greatly from the proposal of President Macron and would see increased cooperation but not down the path of an EU superstate Die Welt reports.

“Europe needs a strategy to promote convergence, which intelligently links national and European approaches,” Kramp-Karrenbauer said and added support for an “EU innovation budget” to fund research and technological development.