Latest news with #FranceInfo
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Macron mocks Brigitte ‘shove' on arrival in Indonesia
Macron mocks Brigitte 'shove' with a wave on arrival in Indonesia | Credit: Reuters Emmanuel Macron mocked the 'shoving' incident with his wife Brigitte as he departed the presidential plane in Indonesia on Wednesday. The French president stuck one hand out for the cameras, performing a tongue-in-cheek wave, before appearing at the top of the stairs, laughing. Instead of a shove, after a few seconds of suspense, Mrs Macron appeared, all smiles. The couple then locked arms, Mr Macron gave a thumbs up, and they descended the stairs side-by-side to greet officials. The departure was deliberately staged to make light of Monday's apparent squabble, sources said. Credit: Reuters Mr and Mrs Macron sparked a global furore after footage showed the French first lady raising her hand and pushing her husband's face, moments before they exited their plane in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Elysée initially suggested it was fake, AI-generated footage, only to later admit the images were real but were in fact a sign of 'closeness' and horseplay after a 16-hour flight. Mr Macron later blamed 'crackpot' conspiracy theorists for seeking to intensify speculation around the state of his marriage. In a fresh bid to quell continued speculation that the couple had fallen out, they chose to play up their departure from the presidential plane in Jakarta on Wednesday. A member of Mr Macron's entourage told France Info that the sequence was a deliberate send-up. 'Yes, they wanted to respond with self-deprecation,' the source was cited as saying. It was 'a gesture that will be seen as humorous by some... and provocative by others', suggested the state radio station. The spoof came hours after Mr Macron's communications team was reportedly in disarray over the 'shove', with splits reportedly emerging on how to handle the incident. The panicked reaction, and about-turn, reflected simmering 'tensions within the Elysée's communications unit', according to France Info. One Macron ally told the channel that the Elysée 'ballsed up' by first talking about fake images. Another insisted that they had to act quickly, adding: 'When they don't, it turns into the conspiracy theory sphere. We're in a world where there's a need for clarity so as not to let crazy stuff flourish.' Mr Macron shrugged off the incident, saying: 'My wife and I were squabbling, or rather we were joking, and I was taken by surprise. Now it has become a kind of planetary catastrophe, and some are even coming up with theories.'But Jean-Claude Dassier, a Europe1 commentator, bemoaned a 'catastrophic' PR reaction over what for him was 'clearly a row', but not an affair of state.'Why haven't we heard from Brigitte?' he asked. 'For once, it would have been useful to have her plain and simple explanation.'Meanwhile, Olga Ciesco, a body language expert, insisted the initial incident was a dispute of some kind. While not a 'slap', the shove was 'a gesture of rejection', she told the celebrity magazine Gala.'She puts her hand on his cheek and pushes him to the point where he is forced to turn his head,' she said. 'He was rejected, a kind of rebuff. 'We can also see that he is reaching out to his wife, because he is used to supporting her, out of gallantry. But she doesn't take his hand, she doesn't accept his help. She is clearly saying no.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Macron team in chaos over Brigitte ‘shove'
Emmanuel Macron's communications team is in disarray over the Brigitte 'shove', with splits reportedly emerging on how to handle the furore over viral footage of France's first couple in an apparent marital dispute in Vietnam. The video in question showed Mrs Macron raising her hand and pushing her husband's face moments before they stepped off their presidential jet to be greeted by delegates in Hanoi on Sunday evening. With online reaction snowballing, the Elysée initially suggested that it was fake, AI-generated footage. In a sharp reversal, it later admitted that the images were real, but that claims France's First Couple were having some kind of dispute were wide of the mark. '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. It was a moment of closeness,' said an Elysée aide. The panicked reaction – and u-turn – reflected simmering 'tensions within the Elysée's communications unit' according to state radio channel France Info. One Macron ally told the channel that the Élysée 'ballsed up' by first talking about fake images. Credit: Reuters Another insisted that they had to act quickly: 'When they don't, it turns into the conspiracy theory sphere, we're in a world where there's a need for clarity so as not to let crazy stuff flourish.' France Info said Elysée spin doctors were struggling to set the right tone. 'On its social networks, the Élysée almost presents itself as a news fact-checking unit, issuing one denial after another,' it said. Philippe Guibert, a commentator on Europe1 radio, said that whatever really happened behind the scenes, the reaction smacked of a 'very, very poor communication exercise'. 'The best thing would have been to say nothing and wait for it to die down because it's ridiculous compared to current world events.' Fellow commentator Jean-Claude Dassier also bemoaned a 'catastrophic' PR reaction over what for him was 'clearly a row' but not an affair of state. 'Why haven't we heard from Brigitte? For once, it would have been useful to have her plain and simple explanation.' Paris Match, the weekly glossy magazine, leapt to the Macrons' aid with a fawning photo story showing France's first couple looking radiant and entitled: 'Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron forget the row and get their smile back at a state dinner in Vietnam.' 'Their faces betrayed nothing of the controversy raging in the French media and on social networks,' it wrote. 'Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron were all smiles and relaxed as they attended the state dinner hosted by Vietnamese president Luong Cuong and his wife Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet on Monday evening as part of the couple's official visit to the country.' On Tuesday, the couple was seen arm in arm as the president arrived at Hanoi's University of Science and Technology to deliver a speech. On Monday night, Mr Macron blasted 'crackpot' conspiracy theorists for seeking to intensify speculation around the state of his marriage. He pointed out that he had recently been falsely accused of taking cocaine with Sir Keir Starmer and Germany's chancellor Friedrich Merz, and of having a physical altercation with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who held onto his finger. 'My wife and I were squabbling, we were rather joking, and I was taken by surprise,' Mr Macron told reporters. Now it has 'become a kind of planetary catastrophe, and some are even coming up with theories', he added. 'For three weeks, there have been people who have watched videos and who think that I shared a bag of cocaine, that I had a mano-a-mano with a Turkish president and now that I am having a domestic dispute with my wife. 'In these three videos, I took a tissue, shook someone's hand and just joked with my wife, as we do quite often. Nothing more,' he went on. 'None of this is true… so everyone needs to calm down.' Meanwhile, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who had actively promoted the cocaine disinformation earlier this month, wrote on Telegram that Mr Macron had received 'a right hook from his wife'. She said Mr Macron's advisers would try to explain away the gesture by blaming Russia. She quipped: 'Maybe it was the 'hand of the Kremlin?'' Mr Macron's visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in almost a decade, comes as he aims to boost France's influence in south-east Asia and position the country as a 'third way' between the US and China.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spain calls for international weapons embargo on Israeli government
Spain is calling for an international arms embargo on the Israeli government to end the war and the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. "We must all agree on a joint arms embargo," Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told journalists at the start of a ministerial meeting of the so-called Madrid Group in the Spanish capital on Sunday. "The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons." Albares also called for an "immediate suspension" of the European Union's partnership agreement with Israel - a measure currently being considered in Brussels - and for the imposition of targeted sanctions against individuals "who obstruct the two-state solution." If necessary, sanctions should also be imposed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Albares asserted. "Nothing that is being discussed here is directed against the State of Israel," the top Spanish diplomat emphasized. But he also made it clear that "the Palestinian people have exactly the same right to peace and security as the Israeli people." There is no alternative to the two-state solution for achieving lasting and just peace, Albares said. In an interview with French broadcaster France Info shortly before, the minister had said: "What is the alternative? Kill all Palestinians? Drive them... I don't know where... to the moon? (...) Or give them Israeli citizenship?" The Spanish government is one of the harshest critics in Europe of Israel's military action in Gaza. In September last year, it organized a first meeting of the Madrid Group. Ministers and high-ranking representatives from around 20 countries in Europe and the Arab world, as well as Brazil, are taking part in the second meeting. Germany was involved for the first time and was represented by Foreign Office minister Florian Hahn. Since the start of the Gaza war with the unprecedented massacre by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, more than 53,900 people have been killed according to Palestinian sources. More than 122,700 have been injured.
The Advertiser
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Advertiser
Spain calls for weapons embargo on Israeli government
The Spanish government is calling for an international arms embargo on the Israeli government to end the war and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. "We must all agree on a joint arms embargo," Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told journalists at the start of a ministerial meeting of the so-called Madrid Group in the Spanish capital on Sunday. "The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons." Israel has blocked the import of all food, medicine and fuel for two and a half months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts' warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel's top allies. Albares also called for an immediate suspension of the European Union's partnership agreement with Israel - a measure currently being considered in Brussels. He also wants to impose targeted sanctions against individuals "who obstruct the two-state solution". If necessary, sanctions should also be imposed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Albares said. "Nothing that is being discussed here is directed against the State of Israel," the top Spanish diplomat emphasised. But he also made it clear that "the Palestinian people have exactly the same right to peace and security as the Israeli people". There is no alternative to the two-state solution for achieving lasting and just peace, Albares said. In an interview with French broadcaster France Info shortly before, the minister had said: "What is the alternative? Kill all Palestinians? Drive them... I don't know where... to the moon? ... Or give them Israeli citizenship?" The Spanish government is one of the harshest critics in Europe of Israel's military action in Gaza. Hamas-led militants killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 people. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's 19-month offensive has killed over 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead. It does not provide figures for the number of civilians or combatants killed. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 per cent of the territory's population, often multiple times. with AP The Spanish government is calling for an international arms embargo on the Israeli government to end the war and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. "We must all agree on a joint arms embargo," Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told journalists at the start of a ministerial meeting of the so-called Madrid Group in the Spanish capital on Sunday. "The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons." Israel has blocked the import of all food, medicine and fuel for two and a half months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts' warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel's top allies. Albares also called for an immediate suspension of the European Union's partnership agreement with Israel - a measure currently being considered in Brussels. He also wants to impose targeted sanctions against individuals "who obstruct the two-state solution". If necessary, sanctions should also be imposed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Albares said. "Nothing that is being discussed here is directed against the State of Israel," the top Spanish diplomat emphasised. But he also made it clear that "the Palestinian people have exactly the same right to peace and security as the Israeli people". There is no alternative to the two-state solution for achieving lasting and just peace, Albares said. In an interview with French broadcaster France Info shortly before, the minister had said: "What is the alternative? Kill all Palestinians? Drive them... I don't know where... to the moon? ... Or give them Israeli citizenship?" The Spanish government is one of the harshest critics in Europe of Israel's military action in Gaza. Hamas-led militants killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 people. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's 19-month offensive has killed over 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead. It does not provide figures for the number of civilians or combatants killed. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 per cent of the territory's population, often multiple times. with AP The Spanish government is calling for an international arms embargo on the Israeli government to end the war and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. "We must all agree on a joint arms embargo," Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told journalists at the start of a ministerial meeting of the so-called Madrid Group in the Spanish capital on Sunday. "The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons." Israel has blocked the import of all food, medicine and fuel for two and a half months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts' warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel's top allies. Albares also called for an immediate suspension of the European Union's partnership agreement with Israel - a measure currently being considered in Brussels. He also wants to impose targeted sanctions against individuals "who obstruct the two-state solution". If necessary, sanctions should also be imposed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Albares said. "Nothing that is being discussed here is directed against the State of Israel," the top Spanish diplomat emphasised. But he also made it clear that "the Palestinian people have exactly the same right to peace and security as the Israeli people". There is no alternative to the two-state solution for achieving lasting and just peace, Albares said. In an interview with French broadcaster France Info shortly before, the minister had said: "What is the alternative? Kill all Palestinians? Drive them... I don't know where... to the moon? ... Or give them Israeli citizenship?" The Spanish government is one of the harshest critics in Europe of Israel's military action in Gaza. Hamas-led militants killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 people. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's 19-month offensive has killed over 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead. It does not provide figures for the number of civilians or combatants killed. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 per cent of the territory's population, often multiple times. with AP The Spanish government is calling for an international arms embargo on the Israeli government to end the war and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. "We must all agree on a joint arms embargo," Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told journalists at the start of a ministerial meeting of the so-called Madrid Group in the Spanish capital on Sunday. "The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons." Israel has blocked the import of all food, medicine and fuel for two and a half months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts' warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel's top allies. Albares also called for an immediate suspension of the European Union's partnership agreement with Israel - a measure currently being considered in Brussels. He also wants to impose targeted sanctions against individuals "who obstruct the two-state solution". If necessary, sanctions should also be imposed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Albares said. "Nothing that is being discussed here is directed against the State of Israel," the top Spanish diplomat emphasised. But he also made it clear that "the Palestinian people have exactly the same right to peace and security as the Israeli people". There is no alternative to the two-state solution for achieving lasting and just peace, Albares said. In an interview with French broadcaster France Info shortly before, the minister had said: "What is the alternative? Kill all Palestinians? Drive them... I don't know where... to the moon? ... Or give them Israeli citizenship?" The Spanish government is one of the harshest critics in Europe of Israel's military action in Gaza. Hamas-led militants killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 people. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's 19-month offensive has killed over 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead. It does not provide figures for the number of civilians or combatants killed. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 per cent of the territory's population, often multiple times. with AP
MTV Lebanon
25-05-2025
- Politics
- MTV Lebanon
French PM to reconsider reform in standoff with taxi drivers
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said Saturday he would re-examine a proposed reform after taxi drivers threatened to step up protest actions, including paralysing access to Paris airports and the Roland Garros tennis tournament. French taxi drivers have over the last week blocked roads at points across the country in an increasingly acrimonious standoff with the government about payments for transporting patients, which for many cab drivers form a major part of their businesses. "We'll be working on the details of the decisions, measures and directions that need to be taken over the coming weeks," Bayrou told journalists after meeting with taxi federations. "They have ideas for making savings," he added. Earlier Saturday, cab drivers had threatened further blockades, notably of Paris airports and of Sunday's first round of Roland Garros. In the afternoon, some 1,200 cabs were parked on a boulevard near the transport ministry's offices in Paris. Their chief demand is the scrapping of new rules coming into force in October on the transportation of patients to harmonise prices nationwide, which the taxi drivers say will severely erode their income. "We are calling for the immediate withdrawal of this agreement and for a return to the negotiating table," Emmanuelle Cordier, president of the National Taxi Federation (FNDT), told France Info radio Saturday morning. Grievances against ride-hailing services such as Uber and Bolt have also resurfaced, with taxi drivers seeing them as a poorly regulated threat to their livelihood.
