Latest news with #ThibaudMORITZ
Local France
3 days ago
- Sport
- Local France
Nearly 300 arrested in Paris as fans celebrate Champions League Win
The majority of fans celebrated peacefully, but Paris police said scuffles broke out near the city's Champs-Elysees avenue and PSG's Parc des Princes stadium, where 48,000 had watched the 5-0 win against Inter Milan in Munich on big screens. Most of the nearly 300 people detained were suspected of possessing fireworks and causing disorder, Paris police said. A Paris Saint-Germain's supporter holds a PSG flag in front of The Eiffel Tower. Photo: Thibaud MORITZ/AFP. AFP journalists saw police use a water cannon to stop a crowd reaching the Arc de Triomphe. "Troublemakers on the Champs-Elysees were looking to create incidents and repeatedly came into contact with police by throwing large fireworks and other objects," police said in a statement. Outside Paris, police said a car careered into fans celebrating PSG's win in Grenoble in southeastern France, leaving four people injured, two of them seriously. All of those hurt were from the same family, police said. The driver handed himself in to the police and was placed under arrest. A source close to the investigation said it was believed the driver had not acted intentionally. In Paris, most fans showed their joy by singing and dancing in the streets, with cars sounding their horns, after their team won the biggest prize in European club football for the first time in their history. Paris Saint-Germain supporters celebrate with fireworks on the Champs-Elysees. Photo: LOU BENOIST/AFP. Advertisement One 20-year-old PSG supporter, Clement, said: "It's so good and so deserved! We have a song that talks about our struggles and it hasn't always been easy. "But we got our faith back this year with a team without stars. They're 11 guys who play for each other." French President Emmanuel Macron's office said he would host the victorious players on Sunday to congratulate them. In a separate message on X, Macron hailed a "day of glory for PSG". "Bravo, we are all proud," he wrote. "Paris is the capital of Europe tonight." Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hailed it as a "historic" win. The PSG team will hold a victory parade on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday when tens of thousands of supporters are expected to gather to get a glimpse of their returning heroes. Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) supporters gather holding flares on a street in Paris. Photo: LOU BENOIST/AFP.
eNCA
4 days ago
- Sport
- eNCA
Wild celebrations in Paris after PSG's Champions League win
PARIS - Thousands of Paris Saint-Germain supporters took to the streets of the French capital on Saturday to celebrate their club's victory in the Champions League final, but nearly 300 arrests were made after some clashes with police. The majority of fans celebrated peacefully, but Paris police said scuffles broke out near the city's Champs-Elysees avenue and PSG's Parc des Princes stadium, where 48,000 had watched the 5-0 win against Inter Milan in Munich on big screens. Most of the nearly 300 people detained were suspected of possessing fireworks and causing disorder, Paris police said. AFP journalists saw police use a water cannon to stop a crowd reaching the Arc de Triomphe. "Troublemakers on the Champs-Elysees were looking to create incidents and repeatedly came into contact with police by throwing large fireworks and other objects," police said in a statement. Outside Paris, police said a car careered into fans celebrating PSG's win in Grenoble in southeastern France, leaving four people injured, two of them seriously. All of those hurt were from the same family, police said. The driver handed himself in to the police and was placed under arrest. A source close to the investigation said it was believed the driver had not acted intentionally. AFP | Thibaud MORITZ In Paris, most fans showed their joy by singing and dancing in the streets, with cars sounding their horns, after their team won the biggest prize in European club football for the first time in their history. One 20-year-old PSG supporter, Clement, said: "It's so good and so deserved! We have a song that talks about our struggles and it hasn't always been easy. "But we got our faith back this year with a team without stars. They're 11 guys who play for each other." French President Emmanuel Macron's office said he would host the victorious players on Sunday to congratulate them. In a separate message on X, Macron hailed a "day of glory for PSG". "Bravo, we are all proud," he wrote. "Paris is the capital of Europe tonight." Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hailed it as a "historic" win. The PSG team will hold a victory parade on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday when tens of thousands of supporters are expected to gather to get a glimpse of their returning heroes.
eNCA
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- eNCA
'One in a billion': French stuntwoman putting fizz into Hollywood
When Sarah Lezito began messing around with motorbikes at 13 she never dreamed that one day she would become the stunt double of some of Hollywood's biggest stars. The French winemaker's daughter has stood in for Scarlett Johansson -- twice -- on "Avengers 2" and "Black Widow" and appeared in a dozen films including "The Batman". The 32-year-old is one of a very rare breed of motorcycle stuntwomen, with a massive social media following that helped bring her from the vineyards of France's Champagne region to Hollywood. AFP caught up with her on her own personal training track amid the otherwise tranquil vineyards near Epernay, the Champagne capital in northeast France. Barely astride her red chrome Kawasaki, she was off down the track performing stunts with disconcerting dexterity, her long brown hair trailing out of her helmet in the wind. "This is kind of my temple," she said after performing a series of gravity-defying tricks including standing with both feet on top of her 200-kilo machine and then flipping herself onto the handlebars. "People think I'm working, but it mostly allows me to release all the pressure," said Lezito, whose lucky charm -- a plastic beaded bracelet -- is wrapped around the throttle of her bike. - 'Doing wheelies in a field' - AFP | Thibaud MORITZ The woman now popularly known as the "world stunt champion" (although there is no recognised world championship) began her acrobatics career young on the family holding near Epernay. "I fell into stunts by watching videos," she told AFP. "No one in my family was in the motor sports world. My father only had an agricultural quad, not at all made for sports, but I started trying to do wheelies with it in a field." Then she began posting her stunt videos on YouTube. But she seemed destined to follow her family into wine and viticulture until she posted a video of a medley of tricks one day in March 2013 called "One out of Billion Girls". AFP | Valery HACHE "It was thanks to this video that they noticed me," she said. The "they" being the team from the Hollywood blockbuster "Avengers 2". A few months later, she abandoned her winemaking studies to fly to South Korea to perform Johansson's stunts in the movie. Because she "adapted quickly" to stunt work, Lezito decided to go professional, appearing in several major movies, including "Inferno", "Millennium" and "The Batman" with Zoe Kravitz. "I met all the actresses I've doubled for," she said. - 30 million followers - She has had her moments on some of the movies, although she insists she has never felt fear on those she does "at home" for social media. AFP | Thibaud MORITZ "I had to ride through flames for 'Bad Girl', a film which was never released. On paper, it was very simple, but I didn't have a helmet," she recalled. And in the summer of 2023 while filming David Fincher's "The Killer" in Paris, starring Michael Fassbender, Lezito had a severe fall. "I flew off the motorcycle, I wasn't going very fast but fast enough to land on my head and the helmet cracked." She ended up in the emergency room with a head injury. It "made her think", she told AFP, and she "decided to take a break" and put her Hollywood career on hold. Lezito now devotes herself to her social media channels, posting videos of her stunts to her more than 30 million followers -- including 9.5 million on Instagram, some two million more than MotoGP star Marc Marquez. Her garage doubles as a studio, with her YouTube trophies and gifts from her fans displayed on the walls. But it is also where she gets her hands dirty repairing her fleet of roughly 10 motorcycles. "As long as I enjoy sitting on the motorcycle, I'll keep doing this," she said. By Hélène Dauschy
The Citizen
08-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Arteta says Arsenal were best team in Champions League despite painful exit
"100 percent I don't think there's been a better team in the competition from what I have seen, but we are out," said Arteta. Arsenal players react after Paris Saint-Germain's won the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg football match at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, on Wednesday. Photo: Thibaud MORITZ / AFP Mikel Arteta defiantly insisted Arsenal were the best team in the Champions League this season despite their semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday. Arteta's side crashed to a 3-1 aggregate defeat after losing 2-1 in the second leg at the Parc des Princes. ALSO READ: Frattesi shoots Inter into Champions League final after Barcelona epic It was a painful loss for the Gunners, who created numerous chances in the early stages, only to be denied by a series of superb saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma. Goals from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi put PSG in control and although Bukayo Saka reduced the deficit, it was too late to spark a sensational fightback. PSG will meet Inter Milan in the final, while Arsenal face up to a trophy drought that has now extended to five years. Arteta responded to the loss in combative fashion, claiming Arsenal were as good as PSG and were unlucky not to have beaten the French champions. 'When you look at the two games their best player on the pitch has been the goalkeeper, he has been the difference for them in the tie,' Arteta said. 'I'm very proud of the players. 100 percent I don't think there's been a better team in the competition from what I have seen, but we are out. 'We were very close, much closer than the result showed but unfortunately we are out. 'After 20 minutes it should have been 3-0. We were very close and for long periods of both games we were much better than them but we are not in the final and that has to hurt.' Not for the first time this season, Arsenal paid the price for a lack of cutting edge and untimely defensive mistakes. And even Arteta had to concede the north Londoners were punished for their failings in both penalty areas. 'If we want to win this competition we have to realise that. There are certain things that are on us. You shouldn't just be understanding we are out. That is not the way I look at it,' he said. 'This competition is about the boxes and in both boxes are the strikers and the goalkeepers and theirs was the best in both games.' – Team in 'worst state' – Having failed in their bid to win the Champions League for the first time, the Gunners are still waiting for their first silverware since the 2020 FA Cup. Injuries to key players played a major role in their failure to push Liverpool in the Premier League title race. And Arteta insisted his wounded side's gallant display against PSG — who had already knocked Liverpool and Aston Villa out of the Champions League this season — gave him hope for the future. 'The players deserve a lot of credit for what they are doing in the context of the situation and the amount of injuries, probably the worst state you could arrive here as a team,' he said. 'You have to arrive in the competition at this stage with a full squad in the best condition, and we haven't got that. 'To come here with a different context and still do that, it gives me a lot of positives for the future but tonight I am very upset, so annoyed that we didn't manage to do it.' While Arteta saluted his players' efforts, he struck a more equivocal tone when asked if Arsenal have the quality to eventually succeed in their quest to land a major prize. 'It depends. This squad, two years ago, nobody believed that we could probably even qualify for the Champions League. Not even think that we could compete for the league,' he said. 'Or have the amount of points that we had that in any other year you are a champion. Or have the run and the performances that we had in the Champions League. 'But the reality at the end is you need something to lift that trophy and the disappointment is that it's not going to happen.' Now Arsenal have to find a way to recover from their heartache and Arteta said: 'If you want to be competing and be very close to all the trophies, you better be able to deal with that.'
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What the Greenpeace Fine Means For the Future of Activism
France's Greenpeace activists perform an action to support Greenpeace USA, next to Statue of Liberty at Pont de Grenelle in Paris on Feb. 20, 2025. Energy Transfer, the Big Oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, sued Greenpeace USA for $300 million. Credit - Thibaud MORITZ—Getty Images The environmental organization Greenpeace was ordered to pay more than $660 million dollars to the Texas-based pipeline company Energy Transfer this week over its role in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests nearly a decade ago. The outcome was a blow to the environmental advocacy group, which has previously said that a lawsuit of this size could bankrupt its U.S. operations. Energy Transfer, the operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline, accused Greenpeace USA and International of playing a central role in organizing the resistance to the pipeline at Standing Rock in 2016 and 2017. The protests drew national attention as activists set up camp on land owned by Energy Transfer in an attempt to delay the project's construction. Law enforcement responded by deploying water cannons, tear gas, and other weapons on unarmed protesters—injuring hundreds. Greenpeace denied the company's claims, and has said the case is 'one of the largest Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) cases ever filed.' 'Greenpeace played an extremely limited role at Standing Rock, and is proud of showing up in solidarity with Standing Rock activists,' Deepa Padmanabha, senior legal advisor for Greenpeace, said in a statement in February. The protests brought together thousands of activists from around the country who opposed the development of part of the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation. 'At no time did Greenpeace engage in property destruction or violence. All claims to the contrary are a reckless disregard for the truth.' Experts say that the success of the so-called SLAPP lawsuit—and heavy penalty Greenpeace was dealt—stands to silence other activists who speak up against big companies. 'This verdict, especially given its scope, really changes the calculus for advocacy groups who are engaged in, not just environmental issues, but more generally, in advocacy,' says Jennifer Safstrom, director of the Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic at Vanderbilt Law School. 'They too could face liability for their advocacy efforts.' SLAPP lawsuits are a type of strategic civil litigation aimed at silencing speech by burying an organization or private citizen in legal fees. The term was coined by two professors in the '90s, Safstrom says, who notes that the practice was created in large part to target environmental activists—so much so that the professors used another term, 'eco-SLAPP,' to define the practice. "It's an abuse of the court system, not for a legitimate legal end, but to try to shut somebody up,' says Gabe Walters, an attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The practice has grown in prominence in the last decade. EarthRights, a non-profit environmental law group, identified 152 cases by fossil fuel companies between 2012 and 2022 that used strategic lawsuits against critics. A report by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) documented 820 SLAPP suits in Europe as of August 2023, with 161 lawsuits filed in 2022, and 135 cases filed in 2021. (The European Union passed an anti-SLAPP directive in April 2024, which aims to provide safeguards against strategic lawsuits that target public participation.) Thirty-five states and Washington D.C. have anti-SLAPP laws in place, though what protections they provide may vary. Some states require that verdicts be reached on expedited timelines, while others have implemented 'fee shifting,' which allows a defendant to recover legal fees if they win their case. But in states that don't have protections in place, the impact of a SLAPP lawsuit can be devastating for organizations and individuals alike. 'The goal is not even necessarily to win in court,' says Walters. 'Just having to defend a lawsuit can be financially ruinous for a private person or for a nonprofit advocacy organization because the costs of litigation are so high.' Environmental groups have said they won't back down from their work. In a statement released after the verdict was announced, EarthRights, said that the decision would not silence environmental advocacy. 'EarthRights proudly joins Greenpeace USA in speaking up against brazen legal attacks and ensuring that the environmental movement only continues to grow stronger, despite the appalling result in North Dakota.' Rebecca Brown, president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law, said that 'no abusive company, lawsuit, or court decision' would hinder the climate fight. 'This misuse of the legal system stifles legitimate dissent and must be seen as a direct threat to environmental justice and democratic freedoms,' said Brown. 'Such tactics will not deter us, they only strengthen our commitment to resistance and solidarity and defense of the constitutionally-protected right to protest.' ClientEarth CEO Laura Clarke, said in a statement to TIME that the loss 'highlights the growing trend of big polluters using the legal system to intimidate and silence critics.' 'The message they seek to convey is a deeply chilling one: that no organization that challenges polluting industries is safe.' Greenpeace has said it plans to challenge the ruling. The group's international arm also filed a lawsuit in Dutch court against Energy Transfer in 2024—one of the first tests of the European Union's newly-enacted anti-SLAPP Directive. 'Energy Transfer hasn't heard the last of us in this fight. We're just getting started with our anti-SLAPP lawsuit against Energy Transfer's attacks on free speech and peaceful protest,' Kristin Casper, Greenpeace International General Counsel, said in a statement. In the meantime, Walters warns that, without national anti-SLAPP protections in place, Wednesday's verdict will likely embolden powerful companies—and potentially silence activists and groups that are unable to afford a costly legal battle. 'The judgment in the Greenpeace case has two practical effects,' he says. 'One is that the sheer size of the judgment will chill speech. It will deter others from criticizing powerful interests. The other effect is that it may incentivize copycat lawsuits. A large judgment like this can be a powerful incentive to file further litigation and try to silence critics.' Write to Simmone Shah at
