Free Republic

AFP — President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that France would help do everything to avoid an escalation in the Middle East after an unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel. Iran launched its first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory late Saturday in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran’s consulate building in Syria’s capital Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel. “We will do everything to avoid a conflagration — that is to say an escalation,” Macron told the BFMTV news channel.

French President Emmanuel Macron's push to deploy troops to Ukraine could yet prove the first domino of an official NATO military presence in the war-torn country, even while Russia's grinding frontline assaults and nationwide bombing campaign continue. The French leader said in late February that "nothing was excluded" with regard to officially putting NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine, though his American and German allies were quick to explicitly, and repeatedly, exclude that possibility. Macron has subsequently maintained his position, even garnering backing from eastern NATO states. This week, the commander of the French ground forces said his troops...

Fresh from engaging in a war of words with the Kremlin, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he has offered Russia “increased cooperation” to combat terrorism in the wake of the attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday. Mr Macron, who has become one of the most hawkish world leaders on the war in Ukraine, causing concern among his own allies by suggesting that NATO troops could be deployed into the warzone, appeared to offer an olive branch of sorts on Monday, offering Moscow French assistance in confronting the threat of terrorism. He said per broadcaster BFMTV...

A series of classified documents has debunked Western narratives about Kiev’s battlefield prospectsFrench President Emmanuel Macron’s talk about maybe sending troops to aid Kiev may have been spurred by three assessments produced by the French military that painted a dire picture of the Ukraine conflict, according to the magazine Marianne.The reports, which have somehow found their way into the weekly’s possession, argued that Ukraine wrecked its Western-trained force in the failed 2023 offensive, has run out of men to mobilize, and that its recent loss in Avdeevka shows it can’t even hold the line against Russia.“Ukraine cannot win this war...

Candace Owens has wagered her career that French President Emmanuel Macron's wife was born a man. The controversial conservative commentator took to X to tout the false theory, hours after outlining it on an episode of her podcast. It goes that French First Lady Brigitte Macron, 70, was actually born Jean-Michel Trogneux, before eventually transitioning at age 30.

PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron has announced new legislation to legalize “aid in dying” that will allow adults facing end-of-life illness to take lethal medication, a first in the country. The move follows last year’s report indicating that most French citizens support legalizing end-of-life options. In an interview published Monday by French newspapers La Croix and Liberation, Macron said the new bill will be restricted to adults suffering from an incurable illness who are expected to die in the “short or middle-term” and who are suffering “intractable” physical or psychological pain. Macron said the law will offer “a...

MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. French neo-Nazi leader Cesar Aujard, who fought on the side of the Ukrainian military, has been liquidated near Avdeyevka, sources have told TASS. "A ringleader of French neo-Nazis, Cesar Augharome, who was taking part in hostilities on the side of the Ukrainian army, has been liquidated near Avdeyevka," the sources said. There is confirmed evidence of his connections with French secret services. Earlier, the head of the Main Operational Directorate, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Sergey Rudskoy, said that NATO military personnel, disguised as mercenaries, were operating air defense...

French President Emmanuel Macron has angrily hit back at longstanding conspiracy theories that his 70-year-old wife Brigitte was born a man and is transgender, calling them “false and fabricated.” Macron, 47, was unusually candid and emotional about the ongoing speculation in certain right-wing circles about Brigitte Macron, whom he married in 2007. “The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios,” Macron said at an International Women’s Day event in Paris Friday after he guaranteed the right to abortion in France’s Constitution. “People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.” Brigitte’s lookalike daughter, attorney Tiphaine Auzaine,...

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti and French President Emmanuel Macron, background right, attendattend a ceremony to seal the right to abortion in the French constitution, on International Women's Day, at the Place Vendome, in Paris, France March 8, 2024. France inscribed the guaranteed right to abortion in its constitution Friday, a powerful message of support for women's right on International Women's Day. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool Photo via AP) © Provided by The Associated Press

Moldova and France will sign a defence cooperation accord on Thursday as part of the West's efforts to strengthen the former Soviet state's capabilities amid what they fear are increasing efforts by Russia to destabilise Moldova. Moldova, a western neighbour of Ukraine, has a tiny defence budget and has long had tense relations with Moscow, which have worsened as Chisinau backs Ukraine in the war against Russia. Russia has troops and peacekeepers based in Transdniestria, a breakaway statelet of Moldova that has maintained its autonomy for three decades with the Kremlin's support. The French presidency said in a statement on...

France’s Senate is to vote on Wednesday on a bill meant to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the constitution, a measure promised by President Emmanuel Macron following a rollback on rulings in the United States. Wednesday’s vote comes after the lower house, the National Assembly, overwhelmingly approved the proposal in January. A majority of senators appear to be in favor of the constitutional change, but some conservatives have criticized its wording, casting doubt over the outcome of the vote. Macron’s government wants Article 34 of the constitution amended to specify that “the law determines the conditions by...

STOCKHOLM (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron was welcomed Tuesday with pomp and ceremony at the start of a two-day state visit to Sweden during which he will meet Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the Scandinavian country’s monarch, King Carl XVI Gustaf. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, were greeted by the king in the inner courtyard of the downtown Stockholm royal castle that is the official residence of the Swedish royals. There, Macron and Carl Gustaf reviewed members of the Grenadier Guards that had lined up. Macron noted that it had been too long since a French president visited Sweden...

Sixty heads of state and government are packing their bags and readying to fly into the luxury Swiss mountain resort of Davos ahead of the next World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting that begins Monday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres are among the self-styled global luminaries set to alight from their private jet transports for a week of meetings, cocktails, and back slapping. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will also take part...

France saw its youngest-ever prime minister and first openly gay one named Tuesday as President Emmanuel Macron seeks a fresh start for the rest of his term amid growing political pressure from the far right. Gabriel Attal, 34, rose to prominence as the government spokesperson then education minister and had polled as the most popular minister in the outgoing government. His predecessor Elisabeth Borne resigned Monday following political turmoil over an immigration law that strengthens the government's ability to deport foreigners. Macron will work with Attal to name a new government in the coming days, though some key ministers are...

As we went into the weekend talk in France that President Emmanuel Macron was ready to shake up his government. Talk that Macron might ditch his current Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Today in French media the discussion about who might be the new Prime Minister. Former National Assembly President Richard Ferrand taking his name out of consideration. Meanwhile polling data points to the political strength of Marine Le Pen who leads the National Rally in France's National Assembly. Which politician is most 'in touch' with the everyday concerns of the average person in France?... The protest in Paris a small...

Emmanuel Macron has been accused of betraying the French Republic after he took part in a Jewish ceremony inside his official residence, the Elysée Palace. In a country where the separation of religion is itself a religion, the lighting of a Hanukkah candle inside the historic Salle des Fêtes on Thursday was immediately denounced by politicians of both right and left. The president had invited France's Chief Rabbi Haïm Korsia to light the first of eight candles on a Hanukkiah, or candelabra, marking the start of the Jewish festival of lights. The occasion was the award to President Macron of...

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said that Israel should clarify its goals in the war against Hamas, claiming that totally destroying the organization could take 10 years. "We are at a moment when Israeli authorities must more precisely define their objectives and their final goal: the total destruction of Hamas, does anyone think it is possible? If this is the case, the war will last 10 years," Macron told a press conference at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, as quoted by Reuters. "There is no lasting security for Israel in the region if its security is achieved at...

French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the COP28 summit on Friday as world leaders gathered in Dubai for the second day of UN climate talks. Macron urged G7 nations at UN climate talks on Friday to set an example to other countries and "commit to putting an end to coal" by 2030. Speaking at COP28 in Dubai, Macron said investing in coal was "truly an absurdity".

French President Emmanuel Macron has gone wobbly on his support of Israel in its war against Hamas. He went so far as to claim that Israel is killing women and children, as though deliberately doing so. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu didn’t appreciate that. Netanyahu didn’t appreciate hearing Macron’s words as he broke with the other Western countries supporting Israel in the war against Hamas. Macron called for a pause, to be followed up with a ceasefire. He called for the ceasefire – the first Western leader to do so – at a hastily called conference with world leaders...

The office of the Israeli President has claimed that Issac Herzog received a phone call from Emmanuel Macron in which the French President backtracked on his comments on Friday suggesting the Jewish state was intentionally killing “women and babies” in Gaza. In an interview with the BBC on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron called upon Jerusalem to enact a “ceasefire” as it attempts to root out the Islamist Hamas terrorists behind the October 7th attacks that left over 1,400 people dead and over 240 people taken hostage from Israel.