🔴 Live: Macron opens UN ocean summit in Nice in bid to boost marine protections
World leaders attending the UN Ocean Conference in Nice have been told to come up with concrete ideas and funding to tackle what organisers call a global "emergency" facing the neglected seas.
The appeal for unity comes as nations tussle over a global plastics pollution treaty, and the United States sidesteps international efforts to regulate deep-sea mining.
Around 60 heads of state and government are attending the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei.
French President Emmanuel Macron opens the high-level summit on Monday, two days after the president said France would restrict bottom trawling in some of its marine protected areas but was criticised for not going far enough.
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Fashion Network
an hour ago
- Fashion Network
French Senate to vote on regulating fast fashion
The French Senate is set to vote Tuesday on a bill regulating the fast fashion industry by sanctioning companies and banning advertisements. The bill targets Chinese-founded e-commerce giant Shein, which sells lower-quality clothes at very low prices. Fast fashion companies export large volumes of easily replaceable items to France, causing pollution and saturating markets. The lower house National Assembly adopted the bill in March 2024. The Senate will vote on it later Tuesday and is expected to pass it with government backing and widespread support in the chamber. The vote will not mark the final legislative step. A joint committee of senators and lower house deputies will meet in September to produce a joint text before the law's final adoption. "The text plans to reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry," said Anne-Cécile Violland, the center-right member of parliament who proposed the bill. Fast fashion continues to grow in France. Between 2010 and 2023, the value of advertised products rose from €2.3 billion to €3.2 billion. According to the state environmental agency Ademe, approximately 48 clothing items per person enter the French market each year, while 35 items are discarded every second. "Fast fashion poses a triple threat," said Minister for Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher. "It promotes overconsumption, causes ecological disaster and threatens our businesses." The minister condemned an "invasion" of products that "do not last" and expressed hope that the bill would help drive change across Europe. Pannier-Runacher said that once France adopts the bill, the European Commission will review it to ensure compliance with European law. Targeting fast-fashion The Senate, where the right holds a majority, modified the bill to specifically target "ultra" fast fashion companies such as Asian websites Shein and Temu. The Senate's amendments aim to exclude French and European brands that could otherwise be affected, such as Zara, H&M and Kiabi. However, the bill will still require these fashion giants to inform their customers about the environmental impact of their products. "I have no intention of forcing French brands that contribute to our country's economic vitality to pay a single euro," said rapporteur Sylvie Valente Le Hir, a member of the right-wing The Republicans party. The bill will impose stricter sanctions on fast-fashion companies by scoring their "environmental communication," Pannier-Runacher said. This "eco-score" will apply to all fast-fashion companies. Companies that receive the lowest scores will face government-imposed taxes of up to €5 per product in 2025, rising to €10 per product by 2030. This tax cannot exceed 50% of the product's original price. Advertisement ban The bill will also impose sanctions on influencers promoting fast fashion products and ban fast fashion advertisements. "The regulation of the fast fashion industry will only succeed through a collective effort, not by targeting a single actor," Shein spokesperson Quentin Ruffat told RTL radio on Monday. Ruffat warned that the law would introduce "a tax of €10 per sold item of clothing by 2030" and would "impact the purchasing power" of French consumers. Environmental organizations also voiced concerns that lawmakers could misinterpret the bill. "Debates may amount to an interesting framework that still lacks substance," said Green Senator Jacques Fernique. On Monday, the Textiles Industry Union (UIT) recognized the bill as "a first step" and expressed hope for its "rapid adoption ... even if the text does not entirely fit our expectations." with AFP
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
Two men sentenced to life for links to murder of Maltese journalist
Two men were sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday after being convicted of complicity in the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Jamie Vella and Robert Agius were accused of supplying the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia in 2017. Both were found guilty of the charges last week and on Tuesday were given the maximum sentence of life in prison. Caruana Galizia, 53, was murdered on 16 October 2017 by a car bomb that was detonated while she was driving near her home. In her career, she had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles in Malta, and her murder shocked Europe and triggered angry protests in the Mediterranean island country. Caruana Galizia's investigative reports had targeted people in then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's inner circle whom she accused of having offshore companies in tax havens disclosed in the Panama Papers leak. She also targeted the opposition and at the time of her death was facing more than 40 libel suits. The six-week trial also concerned the separate murder of a lawyer, Carmel Chircop, who was shot and killed in 2015. Two other men, George Degiorgio and Adrian Agius, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for that murder on Thursday. George Degiorgio and his brother Alfred Degiorgio both pleaded guilty in 2022 to carrying out the murder of Caruana Galizia. They were each sentenced to 40 years in prison. A third man, Vincent Muscat, pleaded guilty in 2021 for his role in the Caruana Galizia murder, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He testified in the recent jury trial after being granted a presidential pardon for his role in the Chircop murder on the condition he tell the whole truth. Yorgen Fenech, a prominent Maltese businessman, is currently out of jail on bail awaiting trial on charges of alleged complicity in the Caruana Galizia murder. French leftist MEP Rima Hassan has remained in Israeli custody and was awaiting a hearing on Tuesday before an Israeli judge, after being detained the day before alongside seven other people. Hassan was part of the 'Freedom Flotilla', a group of activists who set off on 3 June from Catania, Italy, to try to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza by boat but were intercepted by Israel's authorities about 200 kilometres from the coast on Sunday evening. The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry said then that the crew of the Madleen vessel had been provided with water and sandwiches but Hassan's team said that after a brief, filmed, distribution of sandwiches during the arrest, no water or food was provided during the 16-hour journey to the port of Ashdod, which the crew was forced to spend on the ship's deck until nightfall. The 12 Freedom Flotilla members were then presented with a document urging them to recognise they had entered Israeli territory illegally. Signing it meant immediate expulsion, while refusal would result in being brought before a judge. Four of them chose the first option, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, Spaniard Sergio Toribio, and two French nationals, Baptiste Andre and Omar Faiad. But the other eight refused to sign the document, arguing that the Freedom Flotilla was intercepted in international waters and rejecting the claim that they entered illegally. These eight people are now detained awaiting a new hearing before an Israeli judge, who could order their expulsion in the coming days. Hassan's parliamentary immunity guarantees her freedom of expression and protects her from legal action stemming from any EU member state, but does not apply outside of EU territory. The MEP's team denounced the document presented as 'a propaganda operation aimed at legitimising an illegal arrest and detention' and claimed it is 'a blatant violation of her parliamentary immunity'. 'We strongly affirm that their humanitarian mission to Gaza was legal, necessary, and urgent; the arrest violates international law; the detention is illegal and arbitrary," the statement from Hassan's team also reads. The European Parliament told Euronews on Tuesday that its President Roberta Metsola has been in constant contact with the Israeli authorities to ensure the safety and security of Hassan. 'We will remain in round-the-clock contact with all parties until it is resolved safely," a Parliament spokesperson said. This is not the first time a MEP was detained in a third country. In February 2025, three MEPs - Isabel Serra (Spain), Catarina Martins (Portugal), Jussi Saramo (Finland), all from the Left group - were detained and subsequently expelled from El Aaiún, the main city of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, where they had gone to carry out a human rights observation mission. 'The European Parliament will always insist that all its members are kept safe and treated with respect as elected representatives of the people of Europe wherever they are in the world", the Parliament also said in its statement to Euronews. Her detention and the Freedom Flotilla's seizure have become a much-debated political issue in France and in Brussels. France Unbowed published an appeal calling for the immediate release of the passengers and the lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon and MEP Manon Aubry also called for urgent intervention from President Macron and European and international bodies, declaring they bear a moral responsibility to defend these activists. A rally they organised in Paris on Monday to protest against the detention and Israel's actions in Gaza gathered tens of thousands of people, according to Mélenchon. In the European Parliament, The Left, the Socialists and Democrats and the Greens/European Free Alliance co-signed a statement asking for all the activists to be released.
Local France
2 hours ago
- Local France
French Senate adopts bill to regulate fast fashion
The bill is targeted at Chinese-founded e-commerce giant Shein, which has a reputation for selling lower quality clothes at a very low price. Easy to order and to replace, fast fashion items are exported to France on a large scale, causing pollution and saturating markets. The bill, which had been adopted by the lower house, the National Assembly, in March 2024, was passed by the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, with 337 votes for and only one against. The vote is not the final legislative hurdle: a joint committee of senators and lower house deputies is expected to meet from September to produce a joint text, prior to the final adoption of the law. Advertisement Before final adoption, the European Commission also has to be notified, to ensure the bill complies with EU law. The bill "is a major step in the fight against the economic and environmental impact of fast fashion, and a strong signal sent to businesses and to consumers," said the minister for ecological transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, after the vote's results were announced. The text plans to "reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry", said Anne-Cecile Violland, the centre-right member of parliament who proposed the bill. Fast fashion is a growing market in France, and between 2010 and 2023 the value of advertised products in the sector grew from €2.3 billion to €3.2 billion. Around 48 clothing items per person are released into the French market each year, and 35 are thrown away every second in the country, according to the state environmental agency Ademe. Pannier-Runacher has called fast fashion a "triple threat" that promoted overconsumption, caused ecological damage and threatened French clothing businesses. The Senate, dominated by the right, modified the bill to target "ultra" fast fashion companies, such as Asian websites Shein or Temu. The Senate's amendments plan to leave out French and European brands that may be affected by the bill, such as Zara, H&M and Kiabi. The fashion giants will still be obliged to notify their customers about the environmental impact of their products, according to the new bill. "I have no intention of making French brands that contribute to our country's economic vitality pay a single euro,' said rapporteur Sylvie Valente Le Hir, member of the right-wing Les Républicains party. Advertisement The bill will impose stricter sanctions on fast fashion companies by scoring their "environmental communication". This "eco-score" will affect all fast fashion companies, Pannier-Runacher said. Those with the lowest scores will be taxed by the government up to five euros per product in 2025 and up to 10 euros by 2030. This tax cannot go beyond 50 percent of the price of the original product. The bill would impose sanctions on influencers who promote such products and ban fast fashion advertisements. The regulation of the fast fashion industry will only succeed with a "collective effort", and not by targeting "a single actor," Shein spokesperson Quentin Ruffat told RTL radio on Monday. According to Ruffat, the law would "impact the purchasing power" of French people. On Monday, France's Textiles Industry Union called the bill as "a first step" and hoped for its "rapid adoption... even if the text does not entirely fit our expectations".
