
Video shows Emmanuel Macron being pushed in face by wife
A video showing Emmanuel Macron being pushed in the face by his wife has been played down by the French president's office.
Brigitte Macron placed her hands on her husband's face as they prepared to exit their plane after touching down in Vietnam at the start of a South East Asia tour.
President Macron is seen taking a step back before he recovers and waves to the cameras at the bottom of the aircraft stairs.
The pair then walk down the steps together.
The Elysee initially denied the authenticity of images of the interaction before eventually verifying they were real, French media reported.
The clip has sparked suggestions of an argument between the pair but an Elysee official played down the moment.
A source close to the president told the Le Figaro newspaper the pair had "squabbled" but it was a "moment of closeness".
The Elysee official denied the video showed a row between the couple, who have been married since 2007.
"It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh," the official said.
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Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Seoul's LGBT community gathers for annual festival after liberal president elected
SEOUL, June 14 (Reuters) - The annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival was held in the South Korean capital on Saturday after the country ushered in a new liberal president, though it faced concurrent protests against the LGBT community's pride celebrations. While the community has made some advances towards broader acceptance in Korean society, conservative religious groups still mount resistance to efforts to pass laws against discrimination, and there is no legal acknowledgement of LGBTQ+ partnerships. City authorities repeatedly denied venue clearance requests for last year's festival before eventually giving their approval. "The slogan for the 26th Seoul Queer Culture Festival is that we never stop," said its chief organiser Hwang Chae-yoo. "During the last ... administration, hate against homosexuality and LGBTQ+ became very strong, leading to government policies that often ignored LGBTQ+ people. That's why we expressed our will to never give up until the end, and make efforts to improve human rights," Hwang said. South Korea elected liberal President Lee Jae-myung earlier this month in a snap election, after conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol was ousted following his impeachment. While Lee has not explicitly stated his positions on LGBT issues during the campaign, his election has led to optimism among some in the community that conditions could improve. Under blue skies and temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 Fahrenheit), festival turnout was brisk with people, some carrying rainbow flags, milling about booths including those set up by LGBTQ+ organisations, embassies and university clubs. From 4:30 p.m. local time (0730 GMT), participants marched through the streets of Seoul, calling for improved human rights and self-esteem for LGBTQ+ people. The event's organisers said 30,000 people were taking part, though police put their estimate at around 7,000. A protest against the Queer Culture Festival was also held in a nearby location in central Seoul on Saturday. Participants held blue and pink signs with phrases such as "Homosexuality Stop" and "Destroys Families". There was no clash. "It's changed a lot compared to the old days, but most people are still like, 'we know you exist, but don't come out'," said 44-year-old festival participant Hong Il-pyo, who was dressed in drag. "I hope we can make a little progress and change to 'you exist, so let's live well together.'"


Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Starmer's latest freebie: British sovereignty in exchange for nothing
While we can't rely on the French to help police the Channel – despite paying them £500 million for the privilege – we can always trust our Gallic cousins to bear a grudge. We already knew that the Prime Minister's great EU 'reset ' was a sham; that much was clear when all we got in return was the use of e-gates that were already operational in many European countries. Now, we learn that we may not even be granted access to the bloc's industrial defence programme, despite Sir Keir Starmer's insistence that defence and security was a central tenet of the deal. As he boasted last month after selling us out to Brussels: 'We've also struck a new defence and security partnership to strengthen our cooperation and strengthen our security – which is vital in this dangerous new era. 'And it will open the door to working with the EU's new defence fund – providing new opportunities for our defence industry, supporting British jobs and livelihoods.' Except, of course, the French have other ideas. In yet another example of just how bad Labour is at negotiating anything (see also the Chagos surrender and, more recently, the 'deal' to allow Spanish border guards to check passports on Gibraltar) we now learn that Emmanuel Macron is trying to shut out British arms firms from the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP). While different to the defence fund, which is known as SAFE (Security Action for Europe), EDIP will see cash pumped into joint procurement projects and the production of weapons, ammunition and other military hardware. It was created for the benefit of the EU and 'allies' but French diplomats have insisted the tool should be solely used to boost firms based inside the EU, as well as Norway and Ukraine – shutting out the UK. So much for Starmer's boast that the reset deal would put Britain 'back on the world stage' and give us 'unprecedented access to the EU market, the best of any country.' Labour is yet to reveal how many billions is being squandered on a reset that has already prompted another big fat 'non' from Paris.


The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Iran threatens to target American, British and French military bases
Iran has warned the US, UK and France that their military bases and ships will be targeted if they help block the Iranian missile and drone retaliation for Israel's attack, threatening to widen an already bloody war over Tehran's nuclear programme. Donald Trump has said the US will help defend Israel, and American officials have been quoted in news reports saying that US forces have already helped shoot down Iranian drones and missiles as they approached Israel. France's president, Emmanuel Macron, also said on Friday that his country would help defend Israel against Iranian reprisals. The UK government has said its forces had not provided any military assistance to Israel as the prime minister, Keir Starmer, has emphasised the need for de-escalation. Tehran is seeking to deter western support for Israel's defence at a time most of the missiles and drones it fires at Israel are being intercepted before they reach their targets. However, following through on the threat, delivered on Saturday through state media, would be an enormous gamble for Iran, drawing western forces into the conflict when it is already reeling under the force of sustained Israeli bombing. Speaking at a session of the UN security council on Friday, US diplomat McCoy Pitt warned: 'No government proxy or independent actor should target American citizens, American bases or other American infrastructure in the region. The consequences for Iran would be dire.' On Saturday, Israeli planes focused bombing sorties on Tehran while Iran sought to hit back with salvoes of missiles and drones as the aerial war entered its second day. Israel appeared determined to cripple Iran's nuclear programme and Iran vowed it would make Israel regret its surprise attack. Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes on Israel into Saturday morning, killing at least three people and wounding dozens. Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, warned Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that 'Tehran will burn' if it keeps firing missiles at Israeli civilians. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that dozens of its warplanes struck targets in the Iranian capital, focusing on its air defences. Iranian state media said that a fighter jet hangar at Tehran's Mehrabad airport had also been targeted. Iran's state TV said about 60 people, including 20 children, had been killed in an attack on a housing complex in Tehran. Iran's envoy to the UN security council, Amir Saeid Iravani, said on Friday that 78 people had been killed in the Israeli attacks, and that more than 320 were injured, most of them civilians. Many of Iran's top generals were among the dead, as well as at least six nuclear scientists, as Tehran was caught unawares by the Israeli assault. The Iranian government also confirmed limited damage at its uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, the second enrichment facility bombed by the Israeli air force. On Friday, the IDF claimed to have inflicted 'significant damage' at the plant at Natanz. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the above-ground part of the Natanz plant had been destroyed but noted no apparent damage to its underground chambers. An IAEA report said that attacks caused radiological and chemical contamination in the Natanz facility, but that it was manageable and there was no sign of higher radiation in the area around the plant. Iran also said there had been attacks on its nuclear site in Isfahan, which houses a uranium conversion plant, a fuel production unit and other facilities. The IAEA reminded Israel that attacks on nuclear sites were illegal and contrary to the UN charter, with a potential to cause 'radioactive releases with grave consequences'. Israelis in Tel Aviv and other cities spent the dawn hours on Saturday in shelters as a new barrage of Iranian missiles headed towards them, while the IDF said it had intercepted incoming drones in the skies above the Dead Sea. Later in the morning, sirens went off in West Bank and in northern Israel, near the Sea of Galilee. The worst casualties from the incoming missiles were in the West Bank, where five Palestinians, including three children, were killed, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, reportedly by a projectile fired by Houthi forces in Yemen, who are Iranian allies. Over the first 24 hours of the conflict, three Israelis were also killed, two in Rishon LeZion and one in nearby Tel Aviv, with dozens injured and extensive damage to buildings. There were reports from Gaza of Israeli shooting of large numbers of Palestinians trying to reach food distribution points, but details were hard to confirm on the third day of a communications blackout after the severing of a critical cable by Israeli forces. Before Israel's attack in the early hours of Friday, Iranian and US negotiators had been due to meet in Oman to discuss a peaceful solution to the impasse over Iran's nuclear programme. Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said the talks had 'become meaningless'. He stopped short of declaring the negotiations cancelled. The Mizan news agency, which is run by Iran's judiciary, quoted him as saying: 'It is still not clear what we decide about Sunday's talks.' There was every sign on Saturday morning that the war was far from over. Overnight Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed that a lot more Israel attacks were 'on the way' while Khamenei pledged that Israel would be brought to 'ruin'. Earlier, the new head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Pakpour – hastily appointed after his predecessor was killed in Israel's attack – threatened to open 'the gates of hell' in retaliation, as the Middle East faced the prospect of a full-scale war of uncertain duration. In Tel Aviv on Friday night, smoke from one impact site rose up in columns so thick they obscured the city skyline including nearby skyscrapers, as bright fragments of intercepted missiles arced above. One missile hit a high-rise residential building near the heart of Tel Aviv, shattering windows down most of the facade, and reducing the worst-hit areas to a tangle of exposed, twisted steel bars. On the ground floor, firefighters picked their way through the rubble beside the crumpled remains of a car caught in the blast, a report on Israeli TV showed. Israel's ambulance service said 34 people were injured on Friday night in the Tel Aviv area, most with minor injuries. Police later said one person had died. Another two people were confirmed killed in a direct missile strike on central Israel on Saturday morning. Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, accused Iran of crossing 'red lines' by attacking civilian areas, although some of Israel's own strikes earlier in the day hit residential parts of Iranian cities. 'We will continue to defend the citizens of Israel and ensure that the Ayatollah regime pays a very heavy price for its heinous actions,' Katz said. The Israeli leadership and the IDF meanwhile, have insisted that its offensive against Iran, called Rising Lion, would continue until Tehran's nuclear programme – which Netanyahu insisted was on the brink of producing weapons – was comprehensively destroyed. 'That's the goal, to remove the threat and to make sure they don't have a nuclear bomb and that there is not an active existential threat on the Israeli people,' an IDF officer said. Addressing the UN security council, the IAEA director-general, Rafael Grossi, warned of the potentially disastrous consequences of such attacks. 'I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment,' Grossi said. 'Such attacks have serious implications for nuclear safety, security and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security.' The US role in the Israeli operation remained murky. In the run-up to the Israeli 200-plane attack, Donald Trump had publicly urged Israel to give diplomacy more of a chance, before US-Iranian talks that were planned for Sunday. On Friday, the US president insisted he had been well informed of Israel's plans, and described the Israeli attack as 'excellent'. Asked by the Wall Street Journal what kind of heads-up the US had been given, Trump responded testily: 'Heads-up? It wasn't a heads-up. It was, we know what's going on.' Speaking separately to ABC News, he praised the attacks and linked the timing to a 60-day ultimatum he had given Tehran in the spring, to negotiate a deal. 'I think it's been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn't take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come. A lot more,' Trump said. On his own Truth Social online platform, Trump urged Iran to make a deal or face further planned attacks that would be 'even more brutal'. ABC quoted a 'source familiar with the intelligence' as saying the US had provided 'exquisite' intelligence and would help defend Israel as needed.