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L'Orient-Le Jour
a day ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
François Hollande in Beirut for exclusive talk: Can the world be saved from chaos?
From Gaza to Ukraine, through Iran, Sudan and the global rise of populism, the world is accelerating at a dizzying pace, along with what remains of the rules and values forged in the last century. It is an opaque, almost indecipherable fog in which everyone tries to find their way, navigating to the frantic rhythm of real-time information — sometimes distorted — that rarely allows a full grasp of the changes underway. In this turbulent context, L'Orient-Le Jour takes a pause. Former French president (2012-2017) François Hollande will be the guest of the editorial team for an exclusive meeting on Friday, September 12 at 6:30 p.m. on the occasion of the "Un vent de liberté" festival at the Beirut Hippodrome. Former French President François Hollande (2012–2017) will be the guest of the editorial team for an exclusive meeting on Friday, Sept. 12, at 6:30 p.m. as part of the "Un vent de liberté" (Wind of Freedom) festival at the Beirut Hippodrome. Can the liberal order still be saved? What kind of West will emerge after the Gaza war? What will tomorrow's world look like? The author of "Bouleversements: Pour comprendre le nouvel ordre mondial" (Upheaval: Understanding the New World Order, Stock, 2022) will analyze the driving forces of an international stage ruled by the law of the strong. Notably, regarding Gaza, he told L'Orient-Le Jour in March 2024 that Netanyahu must "stop." The discussion will be held in French, with simultaneous English translation available. It will be preceded by the festival's opening ceremony, presided over by Nayla de Freige, CEO of L'Orient-Le Jour. Entry is free, subject to availability. Advance registration is required. Click here to register.👈 Find all the details about the "Un vent de liberté" festival and explore the full program.👈
L'Orient-Le Jour
12-08-2025
- Entertainment
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Debates, concerts, meetups: L'Orient-Le Jour launches its first festival in Beirut
Does diplomacy still serve any purpose? How can we continue to create when everything is being destroyed? Can change be measured? Is artificial intelligence our new religion? Can freedom simply be declared? For the first time in its history, L'Orient-Le Jour is launching an open-air festival. On Sept. 12, 13, and 14, at the Beirut Hippodrome, three days of debates and celebrations will be open to the public to reflect on a world in total upheaval. The debates will welcome multiple guests from diverse backgrounds: politicians, journalists, artists, activists, researchers, and you, our readers, invited to exchange and debate under Beirut's pine trees. The festival will also welcome our guests of honor, former French President François Hollande and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. The festival is also hosting a concert by Ibrahim Maalouf and the Trumpets of Michel-Ange. Tickets are available at retail outlets and on the Ticketing Box Office website here. Openness True to the mission of its founding fathers, L'Orient-Le Jour aims to be more than a written newspaper: it embodies a way of inhabiting the world, cultivating openness and critical thinking and representing "a certain idea of Lebanon." "A wind of freedom" is also a moment of respite away from the outside world, with activities for all ages. Local circus school Cirquenciel will be present to keep your kids busy, while adults can delve into the tumultuous history of the Middle East through the major front pages of L'OLJ that have marked the past hundred years. For this event, our most loyal readers will also be honored: two guided tours exclusively for our subscribers will be held in the streets of the capital, retracing the steps of L'Orient-Le Jour. From the former downtown offices to the Hamra building, you can embark on a unique stroll through the century. The departure and return will be at the Hippodrome. Invitations and registration by email. Tawlet counters will also offer breaks throughout the festival: falafel, saj, shawarma and anything you need. The full program: Friday, Sept. 12 6 p.m. – Opening ceremony Nayla de Freige, CEO of L'Orient-Le Jour. In French, with simultaneous English translation available. Free entry. 6:30 p.m. – Special guest François Hollande L'OLJ welcomes the former French president. In French, with simultaneous English translation available. Free entry with prior registration here. Saturday, Sept. 13 3 p.m. – Doors open Come enjoy the Hippodrome and discover all our activities, both for young and old. L'Orient-Le Siècle exhibit – 100 years of front pages, dining and relaxation area, activities for children in partnership with Cirquenciel, and others. Free entry. 3 p.m. – Guided tour 'In the Footsteps of L'Orient-Le Jour' Tour around Beirut retracing the steps of an iconic daily newspaper. Departure and return at the Hippodrome. Duration: 90 minutes. In French only. Online pre-registration required. Reserved for subscribers. Invitations will be sent by email. 5 p.m. – Hashtag politics in the Middle East: What activism, what impact? Panel with Lina Abou Akleh (activist, Palestine), Malek Khadrawi (journalist, Tunisia) and Wafa Moustafa (activist, Syria). In English, with simultaneous French translation available. Free entry. With Rita Hayek (actress, Lebanon). In French, with simultaneous English translation available. Free entry. 8:30 p.m. – Concert 'Ibrahim Maalouf and the Trumpets of Michel-Ange' Tickets are available online and at Virgin Megastore outlets. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14 3 p.m. – Doors open Come enjoy the Hippodrome and discover all our activities, for both young and old! L'Orient-Le Siècle – 100 years of front pages exhibit, dining and relaxation area, children's games... Free entry. 3 p.m. – Guided tour ' In the Footsteps of L'OLJ ' Tour around Beirut retracing the steps of an iconic daily newspaper. Departure and return at the Hippodrome. Duration: 90 minutes. In French only. Online pre-registration required. Reserved for subscribers. Invitations will be sent by email. 3 p.m. – ' Flash talk ' with John Achkar followed by student debates Student debates presented by Lebanese actor and comedian John Achkar. In partnership with Saint Joseph University of Beirut. In French only. Free entry. 5 p.m. – L'Orient Today with Kim Ghattas Discussion with renowned journalist Kim Ghattas, columnist for The Atlantic and The Financial Times, author of Black Wave. Discussion in English. Free admission. Panel with Craig Forman, Kristen Davis, and Fatima Abu Salem (professor at AUB, Lebanon). In English, with simultaneous French translation available. Free entry. 7:30 p.m. – Grand debate – special guest Nawaf Salam L'Orient-Le Jour welcomes the Lebanese prime minister. In French, with simultaneous English translation available. Free entry with prior registration here. Nayla de Freige, CEO of L'Orient-Le Jour. In French, with simultaneous English translation available. Free entry.
Local France
07-06-2025
- Business
- Local France
Inside France: Paris' in-Seine plan and the adventures of wax Macron
Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. Loopholes Can you really have the butter and the money to buy the butter, as the French say? Anti-fraud officers used to use the phrase 'if it seems too good to be true, it probably is' as a way to warn people about scams, and I think we need to create a new version of this - 'with French admin, there are no loopholes'. While it's possible to benefit from gaps in the French residency and tax system, almost without fail, this ends up causing further problems down the line. For example, if you claim French residency while really being a second-home owner, you'll find yourself ensnared by the tax requirements for French residents. Conversely keeping yourself as a non-resident in order to avoid French taxes means that you won't see any of the benefits that French residents enjoy. Here at The Local we often deal with people who have found themselves in a French admin tangle by trying to exploit some loophole - in almost all cases it's simply not worth the hassle. That's not to say that there aren't aspects of the French system that are genuinely confusing, contradictory or a legal grey area - one of these is remote working for foreigners, although this became a little clearer this week after clarification from the French tax office . READ ALSO What you need to know about remote working in France Advertisement Talking France We discuss how to move to France as a remote worker in a way that won't create residency or tax problems on this week's Talking France podcast, plus smoking on café terraces and how Uber changed France (via an anecdote about a foul-mouthed Courtney Love tirade to president François Hollande). Listen here or on the link below. Good goddess Paris city hall announced this week that it is seeking 'legal personhood' for the River Seine . While this might sound like an in-seine idea (sorry), it is part of a coordinated international environmental campaign to gain more protection for natural sites. Advertisement It's an interesting plan, although not certain to succeed - but let's not forget that the Seine already has a personification. Remember the rider on the ghostly horse galloping down the Seine during the Olympics opening ceremony last summer? That was Sequana, the goddess of the river. I hope she approves of the mairie 's plan. Floriane Issert, a Gendarmerie non-commissioned officer of the National Gendarmerie, rides on a metal horse up the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP And talking of rivers, Paris in fact has not one but two - although the other is underground. The Bièvre river was covered over in the 19th century, mostly because it had become so polluted it was judged a health hazard, but there are plans , albeit at an early stage, to open it up again. Skulls, beer and a river: Discover the secrets of underground Paris Kidnap victim Also in France this week we've been following with amusement the kidnapping of president Emmanuel Macron. In case that sounds slightly flippant, it was actually his waxwork that was snatched from the Musée Grévin, Paris' equivalent to Madame Tussauds. Advertisement Wax Macron joined a protest at the Russian Embassy and then popped up protesting outside the Edf headquarters before his kidnappers - who turned out to be Greenpeace activists - returned him safely to the museum. No ransom was demanded - and it might have been an expensive one since wax Macron is apparently worth €40,000, due to his painstaking and labour-intensive production methods. The wax statue of French President Emmanuel Macron was delivered back to the Grevin Museum in a flight case. Photo by Xavier GALIANA / AFP Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
LeMonde
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
How an American mom is now part of my (French mom's) life
The more I think about it, the more I realize one of Instagram's unique features is the way it brings public figures into our private lives. Not just as celebrities gracing glossy magazine covers. Of course, I remember historic paparazzi moments: François Hollande on his scooter date, Jacques Chirac naked on the balcony of the Brégançon presidential summer residence, Kate Middleton sunbathing topless on another balcony, Britney Spears with her shaved head. Those were all glimpses into the private lives of public figures, obviously, but they were rare instances. And the private sphere was blown into the public by the media, in the traditionnal sense of the term, as an intermediary. Instagram people are a bit different. They really are with us. For one thing, they live inside our phones, so they're here all the time. For another, because of the way the Meta platform algorithm works, when you scroll through the app, you get an endless feed of close friends, strangers with whom you have much in common, ads and, of course, public figures. All these people are part of our daily lives, creating a strange mirror effect that erases the media as an intermediary: they reveal their own private and sometimes mundane moments as we sit in our living rooms, in bed or even in the bathroom. These recurring characters can quickly create a kind of artificial familiarity. This is how, the other night, while brushing my teeth, I told my partner, almost as if I were talking about a coworker or a friend, "Hey, Isabelle Bertolami is pregnant!" He asked how old her eldest was and where she would give birth. In short, a typical parent conversation, except for one small detail: neither of us has ever met Isabelle Bertolami. She's an American living in Aix-en-Provence with her husband and daughter, documenting her family life for her 242,000 followers. The American myth of the French mom Bertolami is what we call an Instagram American mom: mothers who praise the French parenting model, without too much concern with avoiding generalizations or ensuring accuracy. It's a way of feeding the American myth of the French mom: the mother who is both gentle and strict, attentive but not indulgent with a tyrannical child, fulfilled in her career, always impeccably dressed and manicured (she writes, typing with chipped nails).
CTV News
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Macron's marital shove disappears from French airwaves
In this grab taken from video, France's President Emmanuel Macron prepares to disembark a plane on arrival, in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh) A quick shove. A split-second clip that would have dominated news for days aired in France for just 24 hours and then it was gone. When a viral video appeared over the weekend showing French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigitte, pushing his face just as he was about to deplane during a visit to Vietnam, not a single French newspaper front page featured it the next morning. Was it because Prime Minister François Bayrou was speaking about the financial efforts the French would have to make under his soon-to-be-unveiled budget? Or that people were detained recently in a string of crypto kidnappings? More likely, it highlighted a cultural divide between France and the Anglosphere – a long-standing French belief that politicians' private lives should be protected. This secret-keeping tradition kept President François Mitterrand's illegitimate daughter hidden for years. It has also meant a delicate silence around other controversial personal lives, like Dominique Strauss-Kahn's notorious womanizing. The former International Monetary Fund chief's arrest on sexual assault charges in New York in 2011 abruptly ended his political career just as he was emerging as a leading presidential contender. The same unwritten rules surfaced in 2014, when Closer magazine published photos of former President François Hollande – disguised by a motorcycle helmet – arriving at the apartment of a friend, where he was reportedly meeting actress Julie Gayet. At the time, Gayet was his girlfriend, even though he still had a live-in partner, Valérie Trierweiler. The story caused a stir, but Hollande's office condemned the 'invasion of privacy,' and the media soon backed off. At a press conference, Hollande faced only one question about his personal life and deflected it with the remark, 'private affairs are dealt with in private,' silencing the throng of French journalists and leaving foreign reporters stunned. So when the video of the Macrons began circulating, the initial media response was swift but short-lived. French outlets played the clip on loop, dissected it briefly, and moved on. But that core rule is now being tested. 'Over time, these kinds of personal stories have become far more difficult to contain than they were 30 or even 20 years ago,' said Thierry Arnaud, an international correspondent and veteran journalist at BFMTV. 'It's true we didn't make a big deal of it, but it's deeply embarrassing for Macron. You're intruding on a couple's intimate moment and it's uncomfortable, both for him and for those watching.' Macron's relationship with Brigitte was always unconventional. They met when he was just 15, and she was his drama teacher at a private school in Amiens. She was 24 years older, married, and a mother of three. What began as mentorship grew into something deeper, and by the time Macron graduated, he had vowed to one day marry her. 'Whatever you do, I will marry you,' he reportedly told her as a teenager. Their story was used as campaign material in 2017, they made a point of making their relationship public, posing in glossy French magazines and describing their marriage as a celebration of an atypical but loving modern family. Any critics were labeled misogynists. 'It was completely a badge of honor at first, a special kind of glamour that added to his (Macron's) image of being daring both politically and personally. He fell in love with his teacher as a teenager and pursued it, come what may. Over time, that picture has eroded,' Arnaud said. After the Vietnam shoving incident, the couple publicly displayed unity that very evening, walking hand in hand through the streets of Hanoi in a clear effort to quell any rumors of domestic discord. But the line between public and private is blurring. Traditionally, the Élysée Palace has maintained a strict policy of never commenting on rumors or politicians' personal lives. However, with the rise of social media and disinformation campaigns they are being dragged into these personal controversies, challenging that long-held stance. In March, conservative commentator Candace Owens revived an absurd conspiracy theory with a YouTube video titled 'Is France's First Lady a Man?' Promoted widely on X, Owens called it 'likely the biggest scandal in political history.' Since then, Owens has produced numerous videos about Brigitte Macron for her 4 million YouTube subscribers, including a multi-part series called Becoming Brigitte. Although the claims are completely baseless and Brigitte Macron has successfully sued two French women for spreading them it has elicited a response from the president. At a Paris event in March 2024, Macron addressed the rumor head-on saying that the worst part of being a president is having to deal with 'the false information and fabricated stories.' 'People end up believing them, and it disrupts your life, even in your most private moments,' Macron said. His words now feel prophetic, with the world speculating on a deeply intimate exchange we may never be let into.
