Tag: France

You could have been more precise about the politicians’ attire (May and Macron hold ‘informal’ Brexit talks in France, 4 August). May was wearing a navy blue trouser suit with a predominantly blue blouse and complemented by a chunky blue necklace. As Macron was wearing a navy blue suit and pale blue shirt, which coordinated beautifully with May’s outfit, it appears the two leaders had made considerable efforts to harmonise sartorially, if not politically. Lesley Kant Norwich • A friend on holiday in Crete (Letters, 4 August) was doing a crossword on the beach. In reply to the question who was chancellor of the exchequer in 1966, her companion shouted out “Dennis Healey”. A voice boomed out “Good morning, ladies”. Dennis and Edna spent a happy hour discussing how best to spend their time in Crete with the delighted and surprised duo. Sybil Perryman Eccles, Greater Manchester • Our Morris Minor Traveller, known as “the car with the wooden wheels”, frequently broke down on roundabouts in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, when we lived there in 1969-72 (Letters, 3 August). We always got it going, to great cheers from bystanders, by opening the bonnet and banging the battery connections with the hammer we always had ready. Vic Henderson Waterlooville, Hampshire • Was the letter about the clockwork 2CV (4 August) just a wind-up?

Dover and Calais are facing “economic catastrophe” because of Brexit, and both the UK and the EU are allowing the two ports to drift towards disaster, a leading French politician has said. Bertrand believes this does not go far enough and that talks need to swiftly move to local planning or time will have run out for practical contingencies including border inspection posts and customs clearance checks. Even at the moment you see queues of 1km to the tunnel – and that is where there are no checks. “The French and British governments have to talk to each other to find a solution, otherwise we are heading for something catastrophic. Both governments need to talk to each other to find solutions.” Bertrand has now made five trips to Britain to try to impress upon politicians and officials the need to swing contingency plans into action. “I am going to one more time try to increase the pressure and warn people about the dangers: what about the catastrophe?” he said, but time was running out. In the absence of advanced planning on the British side, he revealed that Calais was prepared to solve the problem of space for checks in Dover. Bertrand said he used to be optimistic that a solution for Dover-Calais would be found, but he now despaired as he could see that Brexiters thought no deal was “still a way”. I’m going to call on the French government and the French president to make the voice of common sense heard.” Calais after Brexit 'could be 10 times worse than Irish border' Read more He is concerned that his own efforts at contingency planning will hit the buffers because there is no cross-border communication at a political level. In March, Bertrand and the boss of the port of Calais said the Channel would be 10 times worse than the Irish border.

There was to be no final, dramatic twist in a World Cup which has been full of joyous surprises and jaw-dropping late drama. Twenty years after France won the first World Cup in its country's history, a youthful Les Bleus…

A Belgian couple are among four arrested in plot to bomb anti-Tehran rally in France. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one…

President Emmanuel Macron has announced plans to bring back national service to France, which mainly consists of learning how to wave a white flag and surrendering. French national service was scrapped in 1996 after the country declared that it had perfected the act of surrendering. ‘Not a single country on this planet could surrender as quickly and as gracefully as us,’ said President Macron. But a lack of practice has caused France to lose its edge in the art of surrender. There are growing concerns that the French youth have become so weak that their slender arms are no longer strong enough to lift and wave a white flag. ‘How are countries to know we’ve quit when they can’t even see our white national flag?’ said Macron. French teenagers will now be forced to spend six months learning how to wave a white flag, drop to their knees, and beg for mercy. ‘All critical components of the French way of life,’ said the president.

In his sights were Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron. Based on everything he's uttered or tweeted before, during, and after this G7 summit, it seems when Mr Macron, Mr Trudeau or Mrs Merkel say something, the president of the United States takes note. As he left the summit, Mr Trump commented on how his relationships were faring with other leaders, saying of Mrs Merkel, Mr Macron and Mr Trudeau: "We have a great relationship. Neither did Mrs May have a formal one-on-one meeting with the president during the summit, despite holding such meetings with each of the other leaders present. Mr Trump had bilateral meetings with Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau. The uncomfortable reality for Number 10 is that Mr Trump is selective about who he sits down with. Even in her concluding comments, the most Mrs May could say was that she'd had "brief words" with the president in which he said he was looking forward to his upcoming visit to the UK. :: Photo shared by Angela Merkel hints at tension at G7 In Trump's politics of the personal, failure to get attention is a problem if you want to have any chance of influencing him - special relationships in his world are about individuals, not historic convention. :: Trump's tariffs - What you need to know Mr Trump, in particular, admires power. A seat at the top table means very little if the person sitting there is barely heard.

-Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines President Trump announced the U.S. will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and reinstate sanctions against the country. The leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom put out a joint statement condemning the decision. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that his country will remain in the agreement for now but warned that he will resume enriching uranium if negotiations fall apart. Chinese state media reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un plans to discuss “phased and synchronous measures” to deal with its nuclear program during an upcoming meeting with Trump. Fair-housing activists sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development and its secretary, Ben Carson, over the agency’s decision to postpone an Obama-era rule meant to prevent segregation in federal housing. The Races We’re Watching Voters in West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina will select nominees in their states’ primary elections. In West Virginia, we’re keeping our eye on the Republican Senate primary between Representative Evan Jenkins, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, and the former coal executive Don Blankenship. President Trump urged voters on Monday not to support Blankenship, because he “can’t win” a general election. : New data suggest that to win black voters, Democrats will need to find candidates willing to call out racism and run explicitly anti-racist campaigns. (Vann R. Newkirk II) Snapshot What We’re Reading The Case for Gina Haspel: Critics argue that the Senate shouldn’t approve someone who oversaw the torture of terror suspects to lead the CIA.

No, not Macron and Trump; rather, for the United States and France. But with the American president alienating many other world leaders, his working relationship with Macron, who is as willing as Trump to fête and be fêted, is signaling that no ally in Europe, or the world, perhaps matters as much to the White House than Paris. Just 15 years ago, Republican leaders in Washington snidely disparaged the French because they refused to follow Americans blindly into the Iraq War. The president invited no Democrats to the Tuesday dinner, making the point that like-minded foreigners are welcome but that Americans of the opposition party are not. Congressional Republicans long ago traded their political ideology for Trump. That’s literally trading country for party. In the world of militaries and national security politics, this all matters. The French flip-flop is yet another example of how Americans should know that the messaging and posturing of global political leaders often have little to do with, nor do they reflect the reality of, the military and intelligence relationships. Others are fighting and training forces in Africa, often alongside U.S. troops, in Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Niger. That’s the diplomatic work that we’ve already started but we have to finish.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife hosted a dinner at Mount Vernon and tomorrow night there is a big state dinner at the White House. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders weighed in on whether or not President…

Arriving with a plan to push Trump toward staying with the Iran Nuclear deal, French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Washington for the first state visit of Trump’s presidency. Susan Glasser & Toluse Olorunnipa discuss the importance of the visit.…