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A rights group has accused French police of using pepper spray on migrants in Calais on a regular basis but authorities deny the claims. French police are regularly using pepper spray against migrants in Calais, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday, an accusation denied by authorities. In a report entitled “Like living in hell”, the use of pepper spray against migrants massed in the northern coastal city is described as “routine”. “Police use of pepper spray in Calais is so common that many asylum seekers and migrants had difficulty recalling precisely how many times they had been sprayed,” the report...

PROTESTERS have built a wall in an attempt to stop migrants from using a shelter. A 59-feet long and six-feet tall wall has been constructed in front of a hotel, which is set to welcome 85 migrants. The French government has sent migrants based in Paris and Calais to welcome centres across the country. But residents of Semeac in the French Pyrenees constructed a barrier around the disused Formula 1 hotel as they believe that their small town will not be able to cope with the number of new arrivals.

French people are in uproar after a picture was posted online of a Camembert cheese that had clearly been cut in a flagrant violation of fromage etiquette. The post on on the French page of the site Reddit was titled "How my mother cuts Camembert..." (Le manière dont ma mère coupe le camembert), It was flooded with comments from French people, who reacted with a mixture of mockery and anger at the way the famous French cheese from Normandy had been cut. "We've guillotined people for less than that," wrote Raleur Francais. Another wrote "... well you just can't choose...

Protesters in a town in southwest France have built a nearly-two-meter-high wall around the entrance to a disused hotel to try to prevent it being turned into a migrant shelter. Working under cover of darkness, a few dozen residents of Semeac in the Pyrenees mountains erected a wall 18 meters (60 feet) long and 1.8 meters high barring access to the Formule 1 hotel, a spokesman for the group confirmed. “We [are] not against taking in migrants,” Laurent Teixeira told AFP. “But you have to take account of the citizens.” Teixeira accused the authorities of failing to consult residents about...

Theatre goers watching the premiere of “Dunkirk” at Calgary’s Westhills Cinemas on Friday night got a surprise encounter with a 97-year -old man who was at the battle in 1940. The Battle of Dunkirk took place during the Second World War between the Allies and Nazi Germany in Dunkirk, France. Calgarian Ken Sturdy, dressed in a jacket adorned with medals, viewed the movie and was impressed by what he saw...

A poll out Sunday shows the popularity rating of France’s new President Emmanuel Macron has slumped 10 points to hit 54 percent over the past month. While Macron has made a strong start on the world stage and won a solid majority in parliament, his first three months in power have not been completely trouble-free. He was widely criticised by opponents and the press as heavy-handed after a row over budget cuts that ended with the resignation of a highly-regarded military chief. The 39-year-old leader has also backed a controversial bill to toughen France’s security laws that includes measures some...

Around 30,000 French troops held back Nazi divisions near the city of Lille to protect their allies during the evacuation code-named Operation Dynamo. Renowned French film critic Jacques Mandelbaum called Nolan "witheringly impolite" and slammed the director's "deplorable indifference" towards his country's contribution to the epic evacuation. "Where in the film are the 120,000 French soldiers who were also evacuated from Dunkirk? Where are the 40,000 who sacrificed themselves to defend the city against a superior enemy in weaponry and numbers?" he asked in his review in French newspaper Le Monde.

President Donald Trump was compared to another murderous world dictator on Thursday night as MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews suggested Trump is just like former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un since Trump and Kim “love the parades” where they can serve as the star alongside military demonstrations. The comparison arose while Matthews and his Hardball Roundtable discussed Trump’s latest blockbuster New York Times interview where the President raved about the crowds he claimed were there to see him at the Eiffel Tower and the immaculate Bastille Day parade he witnessed. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Compares Trump to...

PARIS --- In less than a week, France’s boy president has managed to lose whatever credibility he enjoyed with his military establishment, which like the rest of the country was first attracted by his novel and refreshing approach to politics, and then swept off its feet by a promise to quickly boost defense spending to 2% of GDP. This was music to the ears of the armed forces, whose budget had only just begun to recover under Macron’s predecessor, François Hollande, from a quarter-century of hefty spending cuts, even as their foreign deployments and commitments increased in both number and...

The head of the French armed forces has quit after a clash with President Emmanuel Macron over budget cuts. Gen Pierre de Villers said in a statement that he could no longer "guarantee the durability of the army model" that he considered necessary to ensure France's protection. France's government last week revealed major cuts to bring its budget below the level of an EU cap...... Analysis: Like a humiliation Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris There are plenty of tributes being paid to the just-resigned chief of general staff Pierre de Villiers. Plenty of important people seem to be taking his...

If this doesn't convince you that Donald Trump was absolutely right to criticize European leaders for not sufficiently investing in defense, I don't know what will: "General Pierre de Villiers, the French army’s chief of staff, resigned on Wednesday after an increasingly bitter public feud with President Emmanuel Macron over proposed budget cuts to the military." "In the current circumstances I see myself as no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country," the general...

In a statement, 60 year-old Pierre de Villiers said he had tried to keep the armed forces fit for an ever more difficult task within the financial constraints imposed on it, but was no longer able to sustain that. "In the current circumstances I see myself as no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country," he said. ... As well as being an early test for Macron, the departure of France's most senior soldier...

The European migration experiment is failing miserably. Self-declared “refugees” and migrants from Africa and the Middle East are importing their violence, chaos and regressive norms of behavior into formerly harmonious countries all over Western Europe. As Seth J. Frantzman wrote in the Jerusalem Post last December, “They hate the very society they have often chosen to migrate to. Their new society tolerated their intolerance and taught them that this new country provided such unfettered freedom that it should be destroyed.” For example, while many French people were busy celebrating Bastille Day – a year after the tragic Islamist massacre in Nice - riots and...

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Sunday for a resumption of long-stalled Middle East peace talks based on a two-state solution. “France is ready to support all diplomatic efforts towards this end within the parameters of peace recognized by the international community,” Macron said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said Israelis and Palestinians should be able “to live side by side within secure and recognized borders with Jerusalem as the capital”. …

French President Emmanuel Macron says he worked his charm on President Donald Trump during the U.S. leader's visit to Paris – so much so that he may have changed Trump’s mind on climate change. Trump and Macron -- who said his interaction with Trump was carefully calculated -- discussed their main point of contention: U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. Macron told French news outlet Le Journal du Dimanche that Trump “listened” to him when the two discussed climate change, adding: “He understood the reason for my position, notably the link between climate change and terrorism.” The presidents spoke...

First Lady Melania Trump radiated atop the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, where she and President Donald Trump ate dinner Thursday night with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte. Melania, always one for custom-made high fashion frocks, wore a bespoke Hervé Pierre red, white and navy blue cocktail dress for the formal dinner, paired with black stilettos and perfectly tousled hair. The dress takes inspiration from the Americana and French flags, but also is unusual in its bodice origami-like detailing, which resembles a basket of wheat.

When not completely obsessed by Trump-Russia collusion allegations, CNN is focused like a laser on the truly monumental matters. An example was Friday's in depth analysis by their New Day panel on the details of a handshake between President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron following the Bastille Day parade in Paris. Such importance was given to this discussion that hosts John Berman and Alisyn Camerota even brought in outside experts to break down the handshake for us. Before we watch the CNN handshake discussion, let us first watch the handshake in question as the seconds are conveniently counted...

US President Donald Trump finally had some kind words for France on Thursday as he and his wife were given the red carpet treatment during their trip to Paris, although some Americans protested his presence in the French capital. In the past, Trump has had some harsh words about France, saying it was no longer the country it once was and claiming it was at fault for the terror attacks it had suffered because it had allowed immigrants into the country. Asked at a press conference at the Élysée Palace on Thursday if he still felt the same way, Trump...

France and Germany have announced their intention to work together to develop a new advanced "European" fighter jet. Though the final plan is still in the works, the decision appears to be wrapped up in a number of political and economic considerations and could potentially see the end the German military’s interest in the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The deal emerged in a larger document the two countries published following a joint cabinet meeting on July 13, 2017. In addition to the new fighter jet, the white paper outlined Franco-German cooperation on an upgraded Tiger attack helicopter, air-to-ground missiles,...

France and Germany agreed Thursday to begin work on a joint fighter jet, a major advance in their relations designed to underline their united front in the face of fracturing Western relations. Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Élysée Palace in Paris on Thursday for a joint cabinet meeting between their governments. Among a host of measures agreed between their economy, culture and education ministers, the joint fighter jet proposal underscored their plans to create a new dynamic in the Franco-German motor at the heart of the European Union. […] Macron also won...