REPORT: Oilers Ready To Name McFarland As New Assistant
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the agreement as 'historic'. But it stops short of full independence sought by Indigenous Kanaks.View on euronews
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
4 hours ago
- Business Insider
France orders tighter visa controls on Algerian diplomats amid deportation row
French President Emmanuel Macron has instructed his government to tighten visa restrictions on Algerian diplomats as tensions escalate over Algeria's refusal to accept the deportation of its nationals from France. French President Emmanuel Macron directed tighter visa restrictions for Algerian diplomats. The move comes in response to Algeria's refusal to accept deported nationals from France. Tensions have worsened due to France recognising Morocco's Western Sahara claim, opposed by Algeria. French President Emmanuel Macron has instructed his government to tighten visa restrictions on Algerian diplomats as tensions escalate over Algeria's refusal to accept the deportation of its nationals from France. Macron cited growing migration and security challenges with Algeria, calling for a firmer stance towards the former French colony, according to a Reuters report. He directed Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to formally notify Algiers of France's suspension of a 2013 agreement that allowed diplomatic and official passport holders from Algeria to enter France without visas. Macron also asked Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to coordinate with Schengen zone countries to ensure stricter enforcement, urging them to consult France before issuing short-stay visas to Algerian officials covered under the suspended accord. What Macron said: "France must be strong and command respect. It can only receive this from its partners if it shows them the respect it demands from them. This basic rule also applies to Algeria," Macron said. Diplomatic relations between Paris and Algiers have frayed since July 2024, when France recognised Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed territory Algeria staunchly supports in favour of Sahrawi independence.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
First Channel crossing migrants arrive in UK as returns deal comes into force
Migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel on the day the 'one in, one out' deal with France comes into force. Pictures taken on Wednesday afternoon show a UK Border Force boat ferrying migrants, including children, into the Port of Dover. Migrants carrying their belongings and wearing orange life jackets were then escorted off the boat to be processed before leaving the port. Soon after, a second Border Force ship also carrying migrants who set off from the French coast this morning was brought in. Under the pilot scheme that takes effect on Wednesday, adults arriving on a small boat can be detained and returned to France for the first time. This is in exchange for an approved asylum seeker in France to be brought to the UK under a safe route. The deal comes as ministers grapple to crack down on smuggling gangs amid a record number of crossings. On Wednesday, shadow home secretary Chris Philp posted a video on X from the Channel where he was watching a French warship follow a dinghy making the journey to the UK. Speaking to the PA news agency, the Conservative MP was quick to say the Government's new deal 'clearly isn't working' after his trip across the Channel this morning. 'I've been out on the water since 7 o'clock this morning, I went all the way to Calais and what I witnessed is that quite clearly their deal is not working at all,' said Mr Philp. He added that Labour 'foolishly' scrapped the Rwanda plan which would have seen '100%' of these arrivals removed. A joint parliamentary committee report found that the Tories' plan was 'fundamentally incompatible' with UK Human Rights law in February 2024. Latest Home Office figures show 25,436 people have arrived by small boat so far this year – a record for this point in the year since data began in 2018. This is up 48% on the same point last year (17,170), and is 70% higher than in 2023 (14,994), according to the PA news agency analysis. Under current procedure migrants who make the dangerous journey will be screened at Manston processing centre in Kent, where some will be selected to be removed from the country. UK officials have up to 14 days after their arrival to request their return to France, and French officials must also respond within 14 days, or 28 in exceptional circumstances. Migrants being returned will be held in an immigration removal centre until being sent to France by plane. The treaty, which was laid in Parliament on Tuesday, commits for a return to be completed within three months in all cases. Migrants will be able to appeal against the decision based on exceptional circumstances. Ministers have rejected criticism that the returns deal leaves open a loophole for human rights laws to be exploited for migrants to avoid deportation. The agreement contains a clause that says in order for people to be returned to France, the UK must confirm they do not have an 'outstanding human rights claim'. Mr Philp said on Tuesday this section offered 'an easy loophole for lawyers'. Borders minister Dame Angela Eagle said he was wrong, and that the clause was included 'precisely to ensure no-one can use 'clearly unfounded' human rights claims to avoid being returned'. Reacting to the criticism on Wednesday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also said: 'The deal that we've struck will allow people with us to send people back to France who have human rights claims. 'Those claims will be heard in France. So, I know that the Conservative Party has been saying that this is a loophole. It isn't and we're really confident about that.' The Home Office has prepared for judicial review challenges over human rights decisions to be heard in UK courts from France.
Chicago Tribune
16 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Steve Chapman: Donald Trump's grand plan to lose friends and squander influence
The United States has long enjoyed a supremely enviable position in the world: not just a military superpower but a beacon of freedom and democracy, a fount of movies and music beloved by audiences abroad, an architect of international institutions, and a magnet for foreigners who yearn for what we enjoy. But under Donald Trump, all that is changing. Oscar Wilde said of George Bernard Shaw, 'He has no enemies but is intensely disliked by his friends.' Trump is different: He has plenty of enemies around the world, and his friends can't stand him. He has no regard for those nations that have been pals with us in the past. The U.S. used to cultivate warm ties with the two nations that share our land borders. But Trump has poisoned those relationships through his intemperate demands and threats. He prizes military power, while throwing away what's known as soft power: our ability to advance our interests and values through diplomacy, global frameworks that we've shaped, and the allure of both our democratic system and our vibrant culture. In the president's 'America First' calculus, we don't need friends — because we can get what we want through threats and punishments. We are in a position to bully just about anyone. In his first term, Trump decried the North American Free Trade Agreement and forced Canada and Mexico to negotiate a new trade accord. On his return to office, though, he tossed it aside to impose higher import taxes. His other trade 'deals' are likewise subject to whatever whim strikes him. Trump's commitments are not built to last. He has a destructive habit of focusing entirely on the short run — getting something he can proclaim as a victory in the next news cycle. But foreign policy and national security are a long game, and Trump's approach promises to backfire later, if not sooner. No one likes being bullied, and while victims may see no choice today but to comply, the abuse fosters anger, resentment and the desire for payback. This applies to both foreign governments and those they represent. Americans bridle when they think their leaders exhibit weakness — and so do citizens of every other nation. When the European Union swallowed a huge increase in the tariffs imposed on goods it ships to the U.S., French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it is 'a dark day when an alliance of free people, brought together to assert their values and defend their interests, resigns itself to submission.' Alice Weidel, leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany, which Trump has defended, proclaimed, 'The EU has let itself be brutally ripped off.' The humiliation won't be forgotten. Trump can (falsely) claim this and other trade 'deals' as a win. But seeing how U.S. leverage can be used against them, our trading partners will seek to erode it. They and other countries have a growing incentive to band together against us. The victimized governments will look for ways to quietly renege on their commitments. Powerful adversaries, by contrast, often get gentle treatment from this administration — notably Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has made a mockery of Trump's promise to end the war in Ukraine overnight. North Korean despot Kim Jong Un — of whom Trump once gushed, 'We fell in love' — has expanded the nuclear arsenal that our president wanted to eliminate. Trump has a habit of coddling enemies and abusing friends, neither of which serves our strategic interests. He's on a mission to ruin our good name. He does things calculated to spread fear of America around the world: not just imposing heavy tariffs, but vowing to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal, bombing Iran, terrorizing immigrants and cutting off refugee admissions. At the same time, he has closed down the U.S. Agency for International Development and cut off programs that combated hunger and disease, while gutting the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. These programs and others not only provided critical help to suffering people abroad, but also built up an invaluable American asset: goodwill. In 2002, 71% of Canadians had a favorable opinion of the U.S. Today, only 34% do, according to the Pew Research Center. In Germany, France, Poland, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico and Australia, public sentiment is similarly negative. Amid World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a rueful observation: 'There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.' The same holds for peacetime: Cooperating with allies usually beats going it alone. But Trump thinks America doesn't need friends, and he's doing his best to make sure we don't have any.
