Latest news with #ElizabethPineau
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
French lawmakers approve assisted dying bill, paving the way for approval
By Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) -French lower house lawmakers approved a bill on Tuesday to legalise assisted dying, paving the way for France to become the latest European nation to allow terminally ill people to end their lives. The final passage of the bill remains some way off, with the text now heading to the Senate. However, the legislation is expected to pass, with polls showing more than 90% of French people in favour of laws that give people with terminal diseases or interminable suffering the right to die. French President Emmanuel Macron called the vote in the National Assembly "an important step." The bill, which was approved in parliament by 305 votes to 199, provides the right to assisted dying to any French person over the age of 18 suffering from a serious or incurable condition that is life-threatening, advanced or terminal. The person, who must freely make their decision, must also have constant physical or psychological suffering that cannot be alleviated. Lawmakers stipulated that psychological suffering alone would not be enough to end one's life. The patient can administer the lethal dose themselves or by an accredited medical professional if they are physically unable. Healthcare workers who object to doing so are free to opt out. Anyone found to have obstructed someone's right to die can face a two-year prison sentence and a 30,000 euro fine. Laws to enable assisted dying are gathering steam across Europe. In November, British lawmakers voted in favour of allowing assisted dying, paving the way for Britain to follow countries such as Australia, Canada and some U.S. states in what would be the biggest social reform in a generation. In March, the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency off northwest England, approved an assisted dying bill, potentially making the island the first place in the British Isles where terminally ill people could end their lives. "France is one of the last countries in Western Europe to legislate on this issue," leftist lawmaker Olivier Falorni told Reuters. "We are in a global process ... France is behind, and I hope we will do it with our own model."
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
EU's Von der Leyen announces 500 million euro package to lure top researchers to Europe
By Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Monday a 500 million euros ($566.6 million) incentive package to boost European science research, as Europe hopes to lure top U.S. scientists disgruntled with President Donald Trump. "Science is an investment – and we need to offer the right incentives. This is why I can announce that we will put forward a new 500 million euros package for 2025-2027 to make Europe a magnet for researchers," she said at a speech in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. "We are choosing to put research and innovation, science and technology, at the heart of our economy. We are choosing to be the continent where universities are pillars of our societies and our way of life," she added. She also said she wanted EU-member states to invest 3% of gross domestic product in research and development by 2030. Last month, Macron and Von der Leyen said they would be looking to invite scientists and researchers from the world over to Europe, at a time when Trump's administration is threatening to cut federal funding for Harvard and other U.S. universities. In April, France also launched the "Choose France for Science" platform, operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR), which enables universities, schools, and research organisations to apply for co-funding from the government to host researchers. ($1 = 0.8825 euros)
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
France passes sweeping new drug law as cocaine surge drives crime wave
By Elizabeth Pineau and Gabriel Stargardter PARIS (Reuters) - French lawmakers on Tuesday approved a sweeping counter-narcotics law to equip the state with tougher tools to fight a sharp rise in drug crime following a record-breaking surge of South American cocaine into Europe. The new law will create a national prosecutor's office for organised crime, isolate dangerous kingpins in prisons to prevent them from running their empires from behind bars, and allow for the shutdown of businesses that launder drug money. The use of cooperating witnesses - criminals offering information on their network in return for lighter sentences or other benefits - will be expanded, while assets will be confiscated unless their owners can attest to their provenance. The bill, which was born out of a 2024 Senate report that warned France faced a "tipping point" from rising drug violence, was not without controversy. A measure to provide police with an automatic backdoor into encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal was removed by lawmakers during debate. Centrist lawmaker Sylvain Maillard told Reuters tougher laws were needed to tackle a problem that is affecting nations across the continent. "Countries in Europe, like Holland and Belgium, are under attack," Maillard said. "All countries with major ports are particularly affected, and this is the case in France. We must combat this scourge, which has grown enormously in recent years, by updating the legislation." The new law comes amid growing awareness of France's struggle with organised crime. A spate of attacks on prisons across France, which the government says are in response to its push to make jails less hospitable to drug barons, has underlined the threat to the state posed by the narcotics trade. At least 25 people suspected of involvement in the prison attacks were arrested on Monday on terrorism charges. Years of record cocaine imports to Europe have transformed local drug markets, generating a wave of violence. Despite historic cocaine seizures in France, gangs are reaping windfalls as they expand from traditional power bases in cities such as Marseille into smaller towns unused to drug violence. The rise in gang crime has also increased support for the far-right National Rally party and helped drag French politics further to the right.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fast-moving Ukraine diplomacy means Europeans must do more, official says
By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) - The acceleration in Ukraine diplomacy means Europe needs to do more and in a better way, a French presidency official said ahead of informal talks later on Monday among several key European leaders in Paris. U.S. President Donald Trump stunned European allies in NATO and Ukraine last week when he announced he had held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting them and would start a peace process. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg jolted Europe further on Saturday when he said it would not have a seat at the table for the peace talks, even after Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv. In the same six-point questionnaire, seen by Reuters on Sunday, the U.S. asked European allies in NATO what they would need from Washington to participate in Ukraine security arrangements. "We believe that, as a result of the acceleration on the Ukrainian issue, and also as a result of what American leaders are saying, there is a need for Europeans to do more, better and in a coherent manner for our collective security," the official told reporters. Dozens of similar summits have shown the 27-nation EU to be dithering, disunited and struggling to come up with a cohesive plan to end the Ukraine war on its doorstep, and to deal with Russia, three years into Moscow's invasion of its neighbour. Leaders from Germany, Italy, Britain, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, which will represent Baltic and Scandinavian countries, were due to attend, along with the European Union leadership and the NATO Secretary General. "These initiatives are an opportunity in the sense that they can help speed up the end of the war in Ukraine, but obviously we still need to agree and see under what conditions the end of the war can be achieved," the official said. The discussion, he said, would look at "the security guarantees that can be given by the Europeans and the Americans, together or separately." Some countries were unhappy that the meeting was only for selected leaders and is not a full EU summit, EU officials said. The French presidency official said the meeting would facilitate future discussions in Brussels and at NATO. "Everybody should be able to take part in the conversation," he said.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump, DeepSeek in focus as nations gather at Paris AI Summit
By Jeffrey Dastin and Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) - All eyes are on the French capital next week to see if U.S. President Donald Trump's administration can find common ground with China and nearly 100 other nations on the safe development of artificial intelligence. About a year after world powers reckoned with the dangers of AI in England's Bletchley Park, a wider array of countries are gathering in Paris to discuss putting the technology to work. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. France, eager to promote its national industry, is hosting the AI Action Summit alongside India on Feb. 10 and 11, with a focus on areas where Europe's second-largest economy has an advantage: freely available or 'open-source' systems, and clean energy to power data centers. Mitigating labor disruption and promoting sovereignty in a global AI market are also on the agenda. Top executives from Alphabet, Microsoft and dozens of other businesses are slated to attend. Government leaders are expected to dine on Monday with select CEOs. And talks will include one on Tuesday by Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, two people involved in the summit told Reuters. It was less clear whether the U.S. will reach consensus with other nations on AI. Since taking office on Jan. 20, President Trump has revoked former President Joe Biden's 2023 executive order on the technology, set in motion a repeat withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and faced Congressional calls to consider new export controls on AI chips to counter rival China. U.S. Vice President JD Vance will attend for the American delegation. A non-binding communiqué of principles for the stewardship of AI, bearing U.S., Chinese and other signatures, has been under negotiation and would mark a big achievement if reached, said the people involved in the summit, who spoke on condition of anonymity. They declined to detail the communiqué or elaborate if there were any points of disagreement among the would-be signatories. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. An official for the French presidency said the summit will give voice to countries around the world, not only the U.S. and China. "We are showing that AI is here, that companies must adopt it, that it is a vector of competitiveness for France and for Europe," the Élysée official said. NO NEW AI REGULATION Safety commitments dominated the conversation in prior global AI summits in Bletchley Park and Seoul. In Paris, creating new regulation is not on the agenda. Reeling from red tape and a reputation for risk aversion, Europe and particularly France are eager to discuss frameworks for AI policy but not rules that could slow down their national champions, which have lagged American companies. Countries like France are evaluating how to implement the EU AI Act in as flexible a way as possible so it does not discourage innovation, the people involved in the summit said. Instead in focus is how to distribute AI's benefits to developing nations, via cheaper models made by the likes of France's startup Mistral and China's DeepSeek. The Hangzhou-based company rocked global markets last month by showing it could vie with U.S. heavyweights on human-like reasoning technology, while charging much less. France has seized on the development as evidence that the global race to more powerful AI remains wide open. One of the summit's likely outcomes is that philanthropies and businesses are expected to commit an initial $500 million in capital, going up to $2.5 billion over five years, to fund public-interest projects on AI around the world, the people said. Another is addressing the energy crunch that industry thinks is inevitable from their power-hungry AI models. A major producer of clean energy in the form of nuclear power, France wants to reconcile the world's climate and AI ambitions. France's decarbonized energy and "nuclear fleet, in the context of data center installations, is an asset," the Élysée official said. "We will most likely have announcements in this regard at the summit." (Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin and Elizabeth Pineau; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose and Anna Tong; Editing by David Gregorio)
