France

PARIS (AP) — French regulators ordered Apple to stop selling the iPhone 12, saying it emits electromagnetic radiation levels that are above European Union standards for exposure. The company disputed the findings and said the device complies with regulations.

The French government agency that manages wireless communications frequencies issued the order after the iPhone 12 recently failed one of two types of tests for electromagnetic waves capable of being absorbed by the body.

05 September 2023; MEMO: Almost 300 female students turned up for the new school year in France on Monday wearing an abaya, despite the loose full-length robe worn by Muslim women as a sign of modesty being banned in schools by the French authorities, Anadolu has reported.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron opened the door Monday to experimenting in some public schools with uniforms or a dress code amid debate in France over a ban in classrooms on long robes worn mainly by Muslims.

The ban on robes known as abayas for girls and women and khamis for boys and men went into effectn Monday.

Macron said he is in favor of “experimenting” with uniforms in order to “inform public debate,” speaking in a live interview on online media HugoDecrypte, broadcasted on Youtube and TikTok.

02 September 2023; MEMO: French President Emmanuel Macron called on Friday for firmness in banning students from wearing abayas and other Islamic clothing, just three days before the start of the school year.

PARIS, August 28. /TASS/: France is set to support any efforts, including military intervention, made by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to restore constitutional order in Niger, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.

"We support the diplomatic and, if it is decided, the military activity of ECOWAS," he said, adding that Paris will not drop its support for legitimately elected President Mohamed Bazoum.

PARIS, Aug 28 (Reuters) - French conservatives on Monday applauded the government's decision to ban children from wearing the abaya, the loose-fitting, full-length robes worn by some Muslim women, in state-run schools, but the move also drew criticism and some mockery.

France, which has enforced a strict ban on religious symbols in state schools since 19th century laws removed any traditional Catholic influence from public education, has struggled to update guidelines to deal with a growing Muslim minority.

26 August 2023; MEMO: France’s financial crimes prosecutor’s office said on Friday that former President Nicolas Sarkozy will stand trial in 2025 on charges of corruption and receiving illegal campaign funding from Libyan government for his campaign in the 2007 presidential elections that he won.

Sarkozy has always denied these accusations.

He said in a 2018 interview that there isn’t the slightest evidence of the claims. 

PARIS (AP) — A fire ripped through a vacation home for adults with disabilities in eastern France on Wednesday, killing at least nine people, the head of rescue operations said.

Lt. Col. Philippe Hauwiller, who was leading the rescue work of firefighters, said crews were searching for the bodies of two others who were feared dead in the fire. Authorities said 17 people were evacuated, including one who was sent to a hospital with serious injuries.

PARIS (AP) — The president of the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday formally invited the world’s nations but not Russia or its military ally Belarus to gather in one year in Paris for the Olympics — launching the final countdown to the 2024 Games against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

IOC president Thomas Bach accompanied his invite with a plea for togetherness and invoked the memory of John Lennon as he argued that “our fragile world, with conflict, division and war,” needs the Olympics’ “unifying power more than ever.”

PARIS (AP) — U.S. first lady Jill Biden visited Paris on Tuesday to attend a flag-raising ceremony at UNESCO, marking Washington’s official reentry into the U.N. agency after a five-year hiatus.

Before the Stars and Stripes is hoisted up outside UNESCO’s headquarters, Biden will make remarks about the importance of American leadership in preserving cultural heritage and empowering education and science across the globe.