Free Republic

France and Germany formed a united front Saturday in the face of President Donald Trump’s halt in the U.S. refugee program, with the German foreign minister noting that loving thy neighbor forms part of America’s Christian traditions. After meeting Saturday, the foreign ministers of both nations, Jean-Marc Ayrault and Germany’s Sigmar Gabriel, said they want to meet with Rex Tillerson, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state who is still awaiting confirmation. Ayrault said Trump’s order on Friday that bars all refugees from entering the United States for four months — and those from war-ravaged Syria indefinitely — “can only worry...

Francois Fillon has said he would drop out of the race for the French presidency if he were criminally investigated. Mr Fillon is at the centre of a media storm over allegations that for years his wife was paid for parliamentary work she did not do. The conservative candidate told French TV there was nothing improper or illegal about his wife's employment.

From Friday restaurants in France will be breaking the law if they offer unlimited fizzy drinks to customers, as the government takes another step to fight the problem of obesity. The new law was published in the government’s Journal Officiel website on Thursday and will come into effect on Friday. It specifically states that it’s illegal to sell soft drinks at a fixed price for an unlimited amount of drink, and illegal to offer unlimited amounts for free. The ban applies to all soft drinks or soda “fountains” in places open to the public, including fast food-chains and restaurants. It...

France’s Socialists hold the first round of voting in their presidential primary Sunday, with candidates including former prime minister Manuel Valls fighting for relevance as the country veers to the right. […] The odds will be stacked against the victor, with many polls showing the Socialist candidate will be eliminated in the first round of the presidential election on April 23. Current projections suggest the election is shaping up as a three-way battle between conservative ex-premier François Fillon, far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old ex-economy minister who has also served in the governing Socialist government. …

Parisians are frightened that the endangered beasts are now within howling distance of the capital and can't be stopped. French people have been told not to fear wolves roaming Paris streets - as "they only eat four-legged animals". Parisians are frightened that the endangered beasts - which have fought back from near extinction in the 1930s - are now within howling distance of the capital. Indeed the discovery of paw prints, messy droppings and late-night howls from wolves - a distant relative of the domestic pet dog - are reported to be a now frequent occurrence in the city's suburbs.

France warned on Sunday of “serious consequences” if Donald Trump moves to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as representatives from 70 countries met in Paris to try to revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Neither Israel nor the Palestinians were represented at the conference, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “futile”. Opening the meeting, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the international community wanted to “forcefully reiterate that the two-state solution is the only solution possible” to the seven-decade-old conflict. …

It strikes me that it’s not much fun being a Catholic in France these days. Strolling back to my apartment in Paris on Christmas Eve, for example, I passed my local church. Inside a midnight Mass was in progress; outside a policeman stood guard.It was the same across France, an army of gun-toting men and women protecting the nation’s cathedrals and churches. They’ll be back at Easter, and on the Ascension and the Assumption. For how long? Who knows how long the country that is known as ‘the eldest daughter of the church’ because of its Christian heritage will need...

PARIS — Diplomats from more than 70 countries called Sunday for the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state and urged Israel and Palestinians to restart direct negotiations. In their joint declaration at the conclusion of a Mideast conference here, the envoys urged Israel and the Palestinians to restate their commitment to the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security. The representatives, including Secretary of State John F. Kerry, also warned that continued acts of violence and the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank needed to stop. The two-page closing statement was meant to...

Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as per President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promise is a “provocation” that would result in “serious consequences,” France warned at Sunday’s peace summit in Paris. Foreign ministers from around 70 nations gathered in Paris Sunday in an attempt to urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to recommit to the so-called two-state solution. Representatives from the United Nations, European Union, Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation were also in attendance. However, neither Israel nor the Palestinians had any representation at the conference.

Paris (AFP) - France warned Sunday of "serious consequences" if Donald Trump moves to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital as representatives from 70 countries met in Paris to try to revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Neither Israel nor the Palestinians are represented at the conference, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as "futile". Opening the meeting, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the international community wanted to "forcefully reiterate that the two-state solution is the only solution possible" to the seven-decade-old conflict. He also warned the US president-elect against relocating the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in...

Every week, a small group of Marine Le Pen's aides brainstorm on how to achieve what many say is impossible: change how most French people view her to get her elected president in May. The "Idea-Image" committee of Le Pen's far-right National Front (FN)... The job of the group is to advise 48-year-old Le Pen and her top campaign officials on a wide range of issues from where to hold rallies and what issues to highlight, to campaign posters, speeches and online-campaigns. While opinions polls predict the leader of the anti-immigration, anti-Europe FN will make it to the election's second...

A think tank in France has urged the government to force dads to take paternity leave even if they don’t want to. It’s all in the name of equality in the workplace. The economic think-tank OFCE proposed the changes in a report as a solution to ongoing problem of inequality between men and women when it comes to careers. […] Forcing men to take their 11 days of paternity leave would reduce the impact on a woman’s career from taking a long maternity leave, the report said, as well as encouraging men to do more household and child-rearing work. …

As we detailed earlier, leading French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, is in New York for an unexpected visit. While she has no public agenda to meet with Donald Trump, she has just been spotted there drinking coffee. "Le Pen, who leads in the latest opinion poll for the presidency, is making a private visit to New York, her campaign chief of staff, David Rachline, said in a text-message exchange. He declined to say if she would meet publicly with President-elect Donald Trump or anyone from his entourage." Well she is in Trump Tower, grabbing coffee... As we noted earlier,...

French Front National leader Marine Le Pen is in New York on an unannounced visit as France’s presidential election approaches. Ms Le Pen, who is currently leading in the polls, is visiting the city in a private capacity, according to her campaign chief David Rachline. Bloomberg quotes an unnamed aide to Donald Trump as saying the President-Elect has no plans to meet with Ms Le Pen. Mr Rachline also confirmed: “It’s not on her public agenda. We don’t communicate about private visits.”

Today Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again shows why he's a hero of mine : Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the French government Thursday and the Palestinians in connection with the peace conference set to meet in Paris on Sunday with the participation of foreign ministers and senior diplomats from 70 countries and international organizations. "This conference is a fraud, a Palestinian scam under French auspices, whose goal is to lead to the adoption of additional anti-Israeli positions," said Netanyahu at the beginning of a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borg Brende. Lord knows how many different Palestinian terrorist...

PARIS (AP) -- France is partnered with the United States and Russia in a global battle against Islamic militants. Francs, not euros, fill the pockets of French citizens. Borders are so secure that illegal immigration no longer fuels fears of terror attacks or drains public coffers. That is France as envisioned by far-right leader Marine Le Pen, a leading candidate for president in the spring election: no globalization, no European Union, no open borders. The nation is its own master.

Alleged mastermind of Ivorian resort attack arrested, says RFI © Issouf Sanogo, AFP | Police officials conduct investigations in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast, on March 14, 2016, a day after a deadly jihadist attack. Text by Leela JACINTO Latest update : 2017-01-12 The alleged mastermind of a deadly March 2016 attack on an Ivory Coast resort has been arrested in neighbouring Mali in a joint operation coordinated by French special forces, according to Ivorian sources. Mimi Ould Baba Ould El Mokhtar -- also known as Mimi Ould Baba Ould Cheikh – was arrested near the town of Gossi in northern...

Front National chief surges ahead after calling for Trump-style economic policies in France Right-wing populist Marine Le Pen of the Front National is now leading opinion polls ahead of France’s presidential elections in the spring. A new poll from Ifop-Fiducial released Tuesday shows Le Pen at first place with the backing of 26.5% of voters, while her moderate center-right rival Francois Fillon, of Les Republicains, would receive just over 24% of the vote,... “He is putting in place measures I have been demanding for years,” Le Pen said of Trump. The new poll, ... was based on a sample of...

The French government has recently demanded that the United States government and American based net providers of blogging, social media and forums such as wordpress, Twitter, Yahoo, Google and others trash the first amendment and its guarantee of free speech and Freedom of religion and adopt the same totalitarian censorship as the leftist European union. France has made demands to the US that they censor its blogs, posts, and other social media in order to comply with its views of liberalism, multi-culturalism and tolerance. This while having no toleration whatsoever for competing views on traditional values, Christian faith, family values,...

"It is best to wait outside. There are men in here... In this café, there is no diversity." — Male customer in a café in Sevran, on France 2 television. "In this café, there is no mixing. We are in Sevran, not Paris. Here there is a different mentality. It is like back home." ­ — Another male customer in a café in Sevran, on France 2 television. Women seem "to have been erased", from the cafés and the streets. "So now to avoid threats, and being put under pressure, they censor themselves and keep quiet." — Caroline Sinz, journalist,...