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FULL TITLE: Parents Want to Stop Life Support for Baby Because He’s Disabled: Who Wants Their Son to be Handicapped? A major battle in France pits the parents of a disabled prematurely-born baby against doctors — as the parents want doctors to stop life support for their son because he is severely disabled. The baby boy, named Titouan was born on August 31, four months before he was slated to be born. The baby weighed two pounds at birth and suffered from an intracerebral haemorrhage. Doctors at University Hospital Center of Poitiers say he has brain damage and they are...

Brett LoGiuratoSeptember 19, 2014France's military conducted its first airstrike in Iraq, becoming the first foreign country in addition to the US to strike the extremist group calling itself the Islamic State (also ISIS or ISIL) in the country. French President Francois Hollande said in a statement the strike, which was conducted around 9:40 a.m. local time Friday, destroyed a logistics depot held by ISIS in northeastern Iraq. He promised more operations would continue "in the coming days." Rafale fighter jets "conducted a first strike against a supply depot terrorist organization Daech in north-eastern Iraq. The goal was reached and destroyed,"...

PARIS (Reuters) - France said on Friday its jets had launched strikes inside Iraq for the first time since the country promised to join military action against Islamic State insurgents who have taken over parts of the country. "This morning at 9:40 (0740 GMT) our Rafale jets launched a first strike against a logistics depot of the terrorists," said a statement from President Francois Hollande's office on Friday shortly after the raids.

This map shows how Europe would look if every separatist movement was granted its dream of independence. With the Scottish referendum just days away, the issue of regions breaking away from their traditional rulers is looming large over the continent. The map features well-known separatist movements, such as the powerful and vocal Basque Nationalist movement in northern Spain and southwestern France, as well as the more obscure, such as the Savoyan League, which supports the independence of the Savoy region of France, which has a population of around 405,500.

Second No Confidence Vote in Six Months In spite of the fact the Socialist party holds a majority of just 1 in the 577-seat lower house, French prime minister Manual Valls hopes to stabilize things with a Second No Confidence Vote in Six Months. Mr Valls could see a narrowing of his majority compared with the vote when he was first appointed prime minister at the end of March after a big socialist loss in local elections. Then he won by a margin of 306 votes to 239 against, with 26 abstentions. “Valls is politically and economically archaic. He is...

PARIS - France's government has reacted strongly to a rising tide of anti-Semitic acts this year but French society seems indifferent to the threat they present, the country's newly elected chief rabbi said on Tuesday. Haim Korsia, who was elected in June, recalled the huge crowds that demonstrated in Paris in 1990 after a Jewish cemetery was desecrated in the southeastern town of Carpentras. This summer, he told journalists, there was no similar reaction from civil society following attacks on synagogues and protests against Israel's offensive in Gaza, during which some marchers shouted "death to Jews" and "Jews out". "There...

More than 700 people fleeing Africa and the Middle East may have drowned in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean over the last week, bringing the death toll this year to almost 3,000, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Monday. In the worst incident, as many as 500 migrants are believed to have died after traffickers rammed their ship off Malta's coast last week, an event that only came to light this weekend in testimony from two of nine survivors.

France fighter jets have flown over Iraq in a reconnaissance mission against Isis jihadists, as in Paris President Francois Hollande hosted an International summit to agree a common strategy to fight the Islamist militants. Two Rafale jets and a refuelling aircraft took off from an airbase in the United Arab Emirates to gather intelligence in support of US air strikes targeting the group now known as Islamic State (IS). "We told the Iraqis we were available and asked them for authorisation [to fly over Iraq]," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France Inter radio. "The cost of inaction would be to...

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet foreign ministers from around the world in Paris on Monday to discuss how to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants. French President Francois Hollande said the beheading of a British aid worker showed the world must act against IS. About 40 countries, including 10 Arab states, have signed up to a coalition to help fight IS in Iraq and Syria. Several Arab countries have offered to take part in air strikes on IS fighters in Iraq, US officials say. Mr Kerry says he is "extremely encouraged" by promises of military assistance to tackle...

Ukraine's defense minister said on Sunday that NATO countries were delivering weapons to his country to equip it to fight pro-Russian separatists and "stop" Russian President Vladimir Putin. Valery Heletey told a news conference he had discussed weapons deliveries in bilateral meetings with NATO defense ministers during a NATO summit in Wales on Sept. 4-5.

BAGHDAD—France will join the U.S.-led airstrikes targeting extremists in Iraq as part of an expanding international effort to combat the Islamic State group, Iraq’s new prime minister said after talks with the French president on Friday. Haider al-Abadi’s remarks came after talks with Francois Hollande, who was in Baghdad to bolster Iraq’s new government as it struggles to unite the nation amid the rampage by the Islamic State group. “In order to confront Daesh, we need aerial support from our allies,” al-Abadi said, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym. “The French president promised me today that France will...

Appointed as the Air Force Chief of Staff (CEMAA) on September 17, 2012, at the age of 53, General Denis Mercier had joined the French Air Force academy in 1979 and qualified as a fighter pilot in 1983. With 182 combat missions and more than 3,000 flying hours (mostly on Mirage F1C and Mirage 2000C) throughout his career, he has acquired extensive experience both as an operational commander and as a fighter pilot. In 2008, he was appointed Commander of the French Air Force Academy in Salon de Provence. Prior to becoming Air Chief, he was posted as a senior...

PARIS — A reconstruction of the 213-foot (65-meter) frigate used by France's Marquis de Lafayette to bring reinforcements to American revolutionaries in 1780 has tested the waters for the first time.

Turkey has resumed talks with France on purchasing a new missile system after negotiations on a controversial deal with a US-blacklisted Chinese company hit a rock, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan was reported Sept. 7 as saying. "Some disagreements have emerged with China on the issues of joint production and technology transfer during negotiations over missile defence system," ErdoÄŸan told reporters as he returned from the NATO summit in Wales, according to private television NTV. "Talks are continuing despite that, but France which is second on the list has come up with a new offer. Right now we are...

The UK, however, is (not surprisingly) a close second with 600 — up from the 400 reported here. “Hundreds Of Westerners Have Joined ISIS — Here’s Where They Came From,” by Ben Winsor, Business Insider, August 27, 2014: U.S. and European security services estimate that more than 1,000 of jihadist militants fighting in Iraq and Syria were drawn to the conflict from Western nations with some estimates putting the number as high as 3,000.Business Insider compiled the graph below, which illustrates best estimates of where just some of those Western fighters originate. Business Insider Business Insider sought to use only...

SOLDIERS are on standby to patrol northern French ports amid growing tensions about an army of migrants intent on reaching Britain. In Calais alone about 100 migrants are arriving every day. Other towns are also reporting high numbers. Most new arrivals are desperate Africans who have travelled from Italy, where they arrive in boats from war-ravaged Libya. Last year almost 8,000 arrived there. This year 100,000 have landed, with most saying Britain is their final destination. Today the Sunday Express can reveal that the huge trade in moving migrants out of Africa and into Britain is worth £5billion a year...

During today’s NATO summit, the alliance agreed to create a rapid reaction force to respond to threats to member states. That force is being formed specifically to deal with threats in eastern Europe. It is a direct response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The Russians responded swiftly. The Foreign Ministry suggests a larger NATO conspiracy is at work. The summit adopted a line towards NATO’s eastward expansion and build-up of its presence near Russia’s borders. These plans were nurtured for a long time and the Ukrainian crisis became merely an excuse for the start of their implementation. Russia also accused...

French Ex-Hostage Identifies Captor in Syria PARIS — Sep 6, 2014, A French journalist held hostage for months by extremists in Syria says one of his captors was a Frenchman suspected of killing four people at the Brussels Jewish Museum earlier this year. French magazine Le Point on Saturday quoted its reporter Nicolas Henin as saying he was tortured by Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman who had spent time with extremists in Syria. Henin was held for a time with American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, both beheaded by extremists from the Islamic State group in recent weeks. He was...

The debate over Germany’s insistence on eurozone austerity has flared anew as an ailing France continues to demand economic stimulus. The European Central Bank may now be siding with Paris, leaving Merkel looking increasingly alone. […] Berlin is particularly alarmed by the stance taken by ECB head Mario Draghi. At the annual conference of top central bankers from around the world at Jackson Hole, Wyoming in August, Draghi surprised those present by saying “there is leeway to achieve a more growth-friendly composition of fiscal policies.” It was a comment that came close to the kind of debt-fueled growth stimulus measures...

HAVANA: Cuban ex-president Fidel Castro lashed out at the United States and Europe on Monday (Sep 1), accusing them of war-mongering and comparing the NATO military alliance's representatives to the Nazi SS. In a tortuous column published in Cuban state media, the father of the island's communist revolution also attacked US Senator John McCain over United States policy in the Middle East, calling him "Israel's most unconditional ally." "The world has seen no respite in recent years, particularly since the European Economic Community, under the strict and unconditional leadership of the United States, decided the time had come to settle...