France

02 Oct 2021; MEMO: Two British victims have filed torture complaints against the UAE's candidate for heading international policing body INTERPOL, Forbes reported on Friday, noting that the complaints were submitted to French prosecutors.

01 Oct 2021; MEMO: Greece signed a multibillion-dollar military agreement with France, media reports have said.

President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met in Elysee Palace to announce the deal on Tuesday, which Greek media outlets have reported is worth €5 billion ($5.8 billion). The Guardian reports the deal will see France delivering three state-of-the art Belharra frigates to Greece by 2025, with the option of a fourth warship also on offer.

PARIS (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty Thursday of illegal campaign financing of his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid.

Sarkozy wasn’t present at the Paris court for the verdict’s announcement.

He is accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros ($27.5 million) on the reelection bid that he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande.

29 Sep 2021; MEMO: Iran must return to talks with world powers over its 2015 nuclear deal to avoid a diplomatic escalation that could jeopardize the negotiations, a French presidency official said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The official also said Iran could not set new conditions before returning to the talks in Vienna as the terms on the table were clear.

PARIS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Green voters on Tuesday chose former Greenpeace activist Yannick Jadot to be their candidate for France's April 2022 presidential election.

Jadot won the vote by a narrow margin, winning 51.03% of the votes against 48.97% for the self-styled radical Sandrine Rousseau.

The 54-year old EU lawmaker wants France to devote 20 billion euros ($23.43 billion) per year to the transition to a more environment-friendly economy, progressively end intensive animal farming and establish a new wealth tax.

PARIS (AP) — France and Greece on Tuesday announced a major, multibillion-euro defense deal, including Athens’ decision to buy three French warships.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a defense and security strategic partnership in a joint news conference in Paris.

“This partnership expresses our will to increase and intensify our cooperation... based on our mutual interests,” Macron said.

Greece will purchase three French frigates to be build by Naval Group in Lorient, in western France, Macron said.

PARIS, Sept 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France will double the number of vaccine doses it will send to poorer countries to 120 million, President Emmanuel Macron pledged, in a video broadcast during the Global Citizen concert in Paris.

  “The injustice is that in other continents, obviously, vaccination is very late…,” he said. “We have to go faster, stronger.

  “France pledges to double the number of doses it is giving,” he added. “We will pass from 60 million to 120 million doses offered.”

PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron was hit with an egg while he was visiting Lyon on Monday to promote French gastronomy.

Footage from Lyon Mag showed the egg bouncing off the president's shoulder area, without breaking, as he walked through a crowd while a protester shouted "Vive la revolution" (long live the revolution).

A man was arrested after the incident at the international catering, hotel and food trade fair in the city, French media said.

A spokeswoman for Macron's office did not answer a request for comment.

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: Civil society organisations yesterday filed a lawsuit at the Administrative Court of Paris against the French government's arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. A joint statement by Amnesty International, the European Centre for Constitution and Human Rights (ECCHR), and the Disclose Foundation said that the suit was filed to reveal documents related to the French arms sales.

PARIS, Sept 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France’s Naval Group said it will send a “detailed and calculated proposal” to Australia in the coming weeks of the costs it expects Canberra to pay for scrapping a massive contract to purchase French submarines.

Australia in 2016 agreed to buy 12 diesel-powered submarines built by Naval Group in a deal dubbed the “contract of the century” worth A$50 billion (US$36.5 billion), later revalued to €56 billion (US$65 billion).