Latest news with #EmmanualMacron
Miami Herald
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
France celebrates Bastille Day with troops, tanks, aircraft, fireworks
France on Monday celebrated Bastille Day with the nation's biggest holiday in the air and on the ground. The parade in Paris included 7,000 people on horseback and tanks, axe-carrying French Legion troops, 102 warplanes and helicopters. French President Emmanual Macron reviewed the French Army, Navy and Air Force along the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysses and re-lit the eternal flame beneath the Arc de Triomphe. For the first time, there was included a prison dog, a Belgian Malinois shepherd, Gun, who specializes in weapons and ammunition detection. At night, fireworks were lit at the Eiffel Tower at an expense of $817,000. On July 14, 1789, nationals stormed the Bastille fortress and prison, which ignited the French Revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy. This year's event returned to Champs-Elsees from Avenue Foch because of the Summer Olympics. Gisele Pelicot, 72, was given France's highest award of Bastille Day celebrations. Pelicot, who has fought against sexual violence, was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor. She was drugged and raped for nearly a decade by her husband, who was sentenced to prison in 2024 along with 50 other defendants. Also, nearly 600 people were given a civic award, including musician Pharrell Williams. The guest of honor was Indonesia's President Prabowo Subitanto, who represents the world's biggest Muslim country with more than 240 million, or 87% of the total population. Indonesia had 451 soldiers march in the parade, including a drum band of 189 musicians. It marked 85 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Also, Finnish troops serving in the United Nations force in Lebanon, as well as those from Belgium and Luxembourg serving in the NATO force in Roman, participated. Another special guest was Fousseynou Samba Cisse, who rescued six people, including two babies, from a burning apartment on the sixth floor earlier this month. One day before Bastille Day, Macron announced $7.6 billion in additional military spending over two years amid new threats, including from Russia. 'Since 1945, our freedom has never been so threatened, and never so seriously,' Macron said. 'We are experiencing a return to the fact of a nuclear threat, and a proliferation of major conflicts.' President Donald Trump was so impressed with Bastille Day in 2017 that he decided to conduct his own military celebration in Washington, D.C., this year on June 14. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Time Out
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Louvre strike: Is the Louvre open today and why are staff striking?
Popular cities and attractions in Europe are buckling under the weight of overtourism right now, with world-famous landmarks like the Acropolis and entire historic cities such as Venice introducing entry fees and visitor number caps to manage high visitor numbers. But on Monday June 16, the Louvre – one of the most famous venues not only in France but on the planet – was suddenly closed due to staff demonstrations. In a routine internal meeting, gallery attendants, ticket agents and security staff refused to begin work due to their 'untenable' working conditions, according to CNN. So, we've rounded up everything you need to know about the strikes at the Louvre, when it is set to reopen, and what to do if you have a ticket booked to visit. Why are Louvre staff going on strike? Working at the Louvre has been described as a 'daily test of endurance', and in 2024, the Louvre welcomed a staggering 8.7 million people, which is more than double what the building's infrastructure was designed to accommodate. You might remember that earlier this year a major overhaul of the Louvre was announced by French President Emmanual Macron, dubbed the 'Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance'. It includes plans for a new entrance (interestingly, to up annual visitor numbers to 12 million), and a shiny new home for the Mona Lisa. While this is still going ahead, team members at the Louvre say that the institution is essentially already crumbling from within. 'We can't wait six years for help,' said Sarah Sefian of the CGT-Culture union. 'Our teams are under pressure now. It's not just about the art — it's about the people protecting it.' Reasons cited for staff not taking up their posts yesterday include 'unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing' and what was apparently described by one union as 'untenable' working conditions. There's a daily cap on visitors of 30,000, but staff say the building lacks rest areas, enough bathrooms, and suffers from a greenhouse effect due to the pyramid structure, which leads to extreme heat fluctuations and has the potential to damage art. What's more, Louvre President Laurence des Cars warned that parts of the building are no longer water-tight in a leaked memo, and a week before the renovation plan was announced, museum leadership had allegedly reached out to the government for help, reported USA Today. How long is the strike expected to last? The Louvre routinely closes on Tuesdays, so the fact its doors aren't open today is not the result of the strike. However, it's possible the museum will return to normal opening hours tomorrow, on Wednesday June 18. What to do if you bought a ticket According to ABC News, it's possible that visitors with time-sensitive tickets for Monday will be able to use them tomorrow. Your best bet is to regularly check the website, social media feeds and local news for updates on its status. Overtourism protests sweeping Europe Over the weekend, thousands of protestors took to the streets across Spain, Italy and Portugal to demonstrate against the detrimental impact that tourism is having on their livelihoods. Protestors reportedly fired water pistols and set off smoke grenades in Barcelona, and signs demanded that governments rethink their tourism models. 'People who go on vacation to one place or another are not our enemies, nor are they the target of our actions,' said Asier Basurto, a member of the 'tourism degrowth' platform, to the Guardian. 'Let me be clear: our enemies are those who speculate on housing, who exploit workers and those who are profiting handsomely from the touristification of our cities.' Take a look at our deep-dive into whether popular European cities can ever recover from overtourism, and how to be a better tourist in these inundated hubs right now. Oh, and why not browse our guide on the five amazing countries that actually need tourism right now, brush up on our tips on how to be a more sustainable traveller, and check out the world's best sustainable tourism destinations?
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Macron to helm EU's talks with Putin, the Telegraph reports
French President Emmanual Macron is readying to become Europe's point person in negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, per the Telegraph. France and the United Kingdom are the main players within the "coalition of the willing" that is toying with the creation of some form of peacekeeping force in a post-ceasefire Ukraine. Citing sources within French government, the Telegraph compared Macron's ascent to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's relative reticence. France is one of the few countries in NATO that conducts military operations independent of the U.S., primarily in missions in former colonies in West Africa. It likewise maintains an intelligence network separate from the U.S.-led Five Eyes, which came in handy for Ukraine when the U.S. cut off intel sharing for a week at the start of March. Macron has been one of the more vocal proponents of a European rearmament. But results remain uncertain. The unnamed official apparently said that it was "apparently, not yet" the time for Macron to lead the coalition. Similarly, the details of any peacekeeping commitment from the coalition, whether French or otherwise, remain vague, with Ukraine awaiting tangible help. Read also: As Macron talks about building up Europe's defenses, Ukraine awaits actual results We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
CBC
04-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Trump tariffs push Canada, EU closer as both look for new partners
The Trump administration's escalating trade war is prompting Canada and the EU to look to each other as partners against an increasingly hostile United States, as French President Emmanual Macron urges European companies to freeze all planned U.S. investment.
