Free Republic

"You go there if you want. Put your helmet on, your jacket, your rifle and you go to Ukraine" Some of the comments of Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Matteo Salvini aimed... A French national detained by Russian authorities accused of collecting information about the Russian military related to the Ukraine War. Court documents say that Laurent Vinatier... A 24-year-old homeless man is suspected of four murders after bodies were found in the Seine River southeast of Paris on August 13th... Next week the government will receive politicians and trade unions to discuss Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's...

France has pulled its military out of former colonial territories in Africa's Sahel region asked to do so by new governments friendlier to Russia than France. But in the nation of Mali this week the military government saying a group receiving 'help from foreign states' were seeking to 'destabilize the institutions' of the country... This week the prosecutors office in Montpellier suggested arson in last week's wildfire that scorched 17,000 hectares over 40,000 acres in the Aude department of southwestern France... Video this afternoon from Paris of a protest... "a serious violation of international law" That's part of a statement...

French President Emmanuel Macron formally asking Prime Minister Francois Bayrou to take a tougher line when it comes to former colonial territory Algeria. Tensions rising as Algeria has cracked down on... France has disappointed Algeria with its embrace of neighboring Morocco... "Such an operation would worsen an already catastrophic situation" The social media message Friday from France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for total military control of Gaza... Meanwhile US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims the stalemate in Gaza between Israel and Hamas can be blamed on France... The protest in Paris this...

As you may recall, Candace Owens ran a series of podcasts earlier this year in which she claimed the First Lady of France, Brigitte Macron, was actually a trans woman. A couple weeks ago, the Macrons sued Owens in a US court, seeking damages for 22 separate counts of defamation. There's no dollar amount in the complaint but it's presumably going to run into six or seven figures. For the record, Owens doesn't deny that there was a person named Brigitte Trogneux who was born a woman. Her story is that at some point, for unknown reasons, Brigitte disappeared and...

Sir Keir Starmer has presented a UK-led peace plan for the Middle East to Donald Trump as he met the US president in Scotland. The Prime Minister started work on a plan with France and Germany over the weekend after an emergency call with the two countries’ leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz. His official spokesman had said earlier that he planned to share details with key allies, including Arab states, in the coming days. In a readout of his meeting with the US president, Downing Street said the two reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire to pave the way...

Investigating judges in Paris this week ordering a trial for fugitive business executive Carlos Ghosn and France's Minister of Culture Rachida Dati. Ghosn is the former CEO of Renault-Nissan when two automakers were merged. Just before their breakup Mr. Ghosn arrested and accused by Japanese authorities... On Wednesday word that Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron filed suit in US federal court in Delaware against online influencer Candace Owens. Owens has amplified the story of Brigitte Macron's past beyond Europe and France alleging that Mrs. Macron was born male... Emmanuel Macron announcing Thursday night that France will recognize a Palestinian state in...

France will recognise a Palestinian state in September at the UN general assembly, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president announced the decision on X on Thursday evening, saying he hoped it would bring peace to the region. Macron published a letter sent to Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, confirming France’s intention to become the first major western power to recognise a Palestinian state. “True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine,” Macron said. “I will make this solemn announcement at the...

France's budget rollout this week came on the day after Bastille Day also in the middle of the summer. It was a shocking and controversial budget but not entirely unexpected. France faces the challenge of compliance with fiscal rules of the European Union and compliance with the increase in NATO defense spending as demanded by US President Donald Trump... If the opposition join forces to censure the government in response the road to new elections is opened where the opposition may be able to maintain or even gain legislative strength... The troops in Senegal pulling out at the request of...

France's Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu revealing that France shot down about 10 Iranian drones during the recent conflict between Israel and Iran. Lecornu telling the parliamentary debate on the war... "real impact" President Emmanuel Macron describing the US attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend as successful backing the views of President Donald Trump and the Pentagon... "We're going to burn your Palestine" Those words from two people who confronted the Leftist European Parliament member Rima Hassan outside a Paris real estate office... In Paris this afternoon the "Historic Yellow Vests"... Will there be a sudden dissolution of the National...

Former Prime Minister Francois Fillon given a four-year suspended prison sentence by an appeals court this week after his 2022 conviction. The original sentence in 2022 was for Fillon to... The G7 Summit in Canada overshadowed by the Israel-Iran War. As President Emmanuel Macron returned home on Wednesday a more threatening tone from President Donald Trump... Mr. Macron saying on Friday that he supports a parliamentary debate on the Israel-Iran War and wants to see the government organize one. He also said he wants to talk to political party leaders about... This afternoon in Paris a protest in opposition to...

The murder of a 31-year-old teaching assistant by a 14-year-old student using a knife triggering the responsive reflexes of the French secular state. Quick calls for action on 'knife crime'... Ahead of the now postponed conference on the Palestinians France is co-chairing with Saudi Arabia, President Macron getting a message... When it comes to Iran one sees France clearly in the US-Israel camp when all is said and done. France came in on the heels of President Trump's toughening attitude towards Iran at midweek... And that closeness to the US position again came out as Israel launched its attacks on...

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, has called for Hamas to “hand over its weapons,” immediately free all hostages and cease ruling Gaza, the French presidency said on Tuesday after receiving a letter from him. The letter was addressed to President Emmanuel Macron of France and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who will jointly chair a U.N. conference in New York next week to explore the creation of a Palestinian state. Mr. Macron has set a number of conditions for the possible French recognition of such a state at that meeting, including the disarmament of Hamas. “Hamas...

One common Israeli tactic to get information about Israel's adversaries is to leak news out to elicit a denial of the leaked story... This week Israel's "Ynet News" claimed that France had backed away from plans to recognize a Palestinian state. But the Elysee Palace denied the content of the story... This week three Serbian nationals charged with paint vandalism of five Jewish sites in Paris last Friday. The judge in the case alleging the Serbs acted on behalf of a foreign power... And a story getting a lot of attention in the French media in the last 24 hours....

The Associated Press recorded an incident that led to widespread discussion and speculation as President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Vietnam... The incident seized on by critics of Mr. Macron including online influencer Candace Owens... (The tensions with Israel again boiling over on Friday as President Emmanuel Macron warned of a toughening French stance on Israel likely to include sanctions on 'right-wing' cabinet ministers and Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria (The West Bank)... France's enemy of the future foretold on Friday in Singapore as President Emmanuel Macron spoke of France establishing security and other ties with Asian nations... In the...

French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife delivered a scathing four-word remark just moments after shoving him in the face, a lip reader has revealed. Shocking footage showed Brigitte Macron, 72, place both hands on her husband’s face before shoving him firmly just moments after the president’s plane door opened upon arrival in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Sunday evening. While the embarrassed-looking leader claimed the pair were “squabbling,” a professional lip reader has since decoded the shocking exchange. “As the aircraft door opens, President Macron is seen turning toward Brigitte. In an unexpected moment, she pushes him in the face,” a...

On Tuesday night French President Emmanuel Macron doing a "town hall" format meeting on TF 1 television in the style of American politicians like Donald Trump. Macron taking questions from prominent opponents... On Friday as Israel launched its new expanded offensive in Gaza President Emmanuel Macron said he hope to discuss it with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President... A contentious hearing as President Macron's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou appeared before a legislative committee... This week 76-year-old actor Gerard Depardieu giving an 18-month suspended sentence for sexual assaults involving groping incidents...Reaction very sharp from 90-year-old French screen legend...

French President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly pressuring cardinals to block Cardinal Robert Sarah, a conservative African prelate challenging the Church’s progressive path. French President Emmanuel Macron is facing renewed criticism after it was revealed that he is trying to influence one of the most sacred processes in the Catholic church—the papal conclave. The allegation, made by Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, centers on purported communications between Macron and several French cardinal electors aimed at blocking the candidacy of Cardinal Robert Sarah. The Cardinal has said that “the West no longer knows who it is, because it no longer knows...

After President Emmanuel Macron met with Egyptian and Jordanian leaders regarding a ceasefire in Gaza and all three leaders held a conversation by phone with US President Donald Trump, Mr. Macron pointed to possible French recognition of a Palestinian state in the coming months. But that recognition is linked to some Arab countries recognizing Israel with the mutual recognition to take place in connection with a conference at the United Nations in New York in June... It appears that Mr. Macron is a silent partner in events that could involve military action against Iran in the coming months that may...

The French have been here before. In 1804, First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte, the Emmanuel Macron of his day (a short guy married to an older woman), ordered the seizure of a perceived political threat to his regime, the Duc d'Enghien. When Joseph Fouché, Minister of Police, learned that M le Duc had been executed in a moat, he observed, "C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est un faute" - it's worse than a crime, it's a mistake. (The remark is often attributed to Talleyrand, but I incline to Fouché.) Yet the cynical police chief was wrong: two months later the First Consul...

Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Emmanuel Macron's proposal to station a United Nations mission in Ukraine. "The UN will not protect us from occupation or Putin's desire to re-enter," stated the President of Ukraine. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed skepticism about Emmanuel Macron's proposal for a UN mission, emphasizing that it would not replace the European military contingent. Zelensky noted that the UN cannot protect Ukraine from Russian aggression, which he emphasized during a press conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.emphasized during a press conference with Czech President Petr Pavel Czech President Petr Pavel declared his country's readiness to participate in a...