Free Republic

This a battle which has been going on for months already. The French retirement age is 62, one of the lowest in Europe. Since January, President Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne have been saying they would push to increase the retirement age to 64 or 65.With one of the lowest retirement ages in the industrialized world, France also spends more than most other countries on pensions at nearly 14% of economic output, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development…“The aim is to balance the accounts without raising taxes or cutting pensions. Various options are on the table,...

Next Thursday (March 23rd) declared another day of strikes and protest in France but new strikes and protests already launched en masse following President Emmanuel Macron's pulling of the trigger on pension reform. Fearful that a majority would not endorse the change of the retirement age from 62 to 64 and the shuffling of benefits, Macron went for the nuclear option of using Article 49.3 of the French Constitution.... In Paris garbage workers have already been on strike for more than a week now and union leaders on Friday urged more trash collectors to go on strike across the country......

Paris police have banned gatherings in the city’s spots in areas around important government sites in an effort to end protests against France's plan to raise the state pension age by two years without a vote. "Due to serious risks of disturbances to public order and security … any gathering at Place de la Concorde and its surroundings as well as in the area of the Avenue des Champs-Elysées is prohibited," the police said, according to an AFP report. "People who try to gather there will be systematically evicted by the police." French President Emmanuel Macron has decided to push...

“How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?” – Charles de Gaulle (attributed)Ah, France! [Insert lazy paragraph describing France in terms of classic cliches including food, wine, cheese, sex, cigarettes and surrender.]In addition to those classic French attributes, another time-honored French tradition is “widespread rioting,” which they’ve been celebrating over the last few weeks. What they’re protesting is French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to force through an unpopular bill to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.French President Emmanuel Macron ordered his prime minister to wield a special constitutional power Thursday...

The French National Assembly rejected a vote of no-confidence against the Government of Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, in the aftermath of the massive weekend protests over the French government pension plan. This defeat of the motion means that the Prime Minister will not have to resign, and that Macron’s tyrannical pension overhaul will become law. This is one of the biggest political crisis endured by the 45-year-old French President. Macron invoked a controversial executive power to force through his deeply unpopular pension overhaul by decree, without a parliamentary vote. Among other rejected provisions, it raises the retirement...

Iran has jailed for six and a half years on national security charges an Irish-French citizen held since October, his family said, adding that health problems meant his life was in danger. Bernard Phelan, a Paris-based travel consultant, was arrested in October in the northeastern city of Mashhad and has been held ever since. He is one of some two dozen foreigners jailed in Iran who campaigners see as hostages held to extract concessions from the West.

Accommodations might be far from optimal for the athletes competing at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. After concerns were raised over the lack of air conditioning in the athletes’ village back in January, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo doubled down on the idea last week. The Olympic Village, currently under construction in the Saint-Denis area, was designed to have rooms six degrees cooler than the outdoor temperature in an effort to be environmentally friendly.

A man attacked and wounded six people at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris on Wednesday morning, leaving one with serious injuries, before being shot by off-duty police officers, authorities said. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters the man attacked travelers with what looked like a home-made weapon at 6:42 a.m. local time (5:42 GMT) at the entrance and inside the station. Police had earlier said the man had used a knife or blade. Within a minute, off-duty police officers returning home after a night shift shot the attacker three times, Darmanin said. Gare du Nord, one of...

A man who left at least six people injured in an attack at the Gare Du Nord station in Paris early Wednesday morning was shot by police and hospitalized, authorities said. -excerpt- The attack began at about 6:42 a.m. local time, with police responding within a minute, Darmanin said. The suspect, who did not appear to say anything prior to the attack, was shot three times by police

French President Emmanuel Macron had proposed it during the election campaign this year and now 200 randomly chosen French citizens have come together to consider "priority issues" regarding the "end of life". Last Sunday as the World Cup fever gripped France news was published that beginning January 6th the "citizens convention" will look at 10 priority issues including "extreme forms of psychological suffering" which will constitute reasons to "end life". The convention's recommendations will go onto French lawmakers for consideration. Good news Friday for the government as railroad unions reached labor agreements... Today in Paris Yellow Vests on the streets......

A 24-year-old woman was placed into a coma after her Muslim ex-boyfriend allegedly attacked her. She had gone to the police earlier that day but was told to come back later. The woman, named Chloe, had initially gone to the local police station in the commune of Blois on December 12th at around 5 p.m. to make a complaint against her former boyfriend, a Muslim who had been pressuring her to convert to Islam. Police at the station did not record the complaint but told the young woman to return the next day to file her complaint. Just two hours...

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Friday’s mass shooting attack at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris, which killed three people and wounded four. "The Kurds of France have been the target of a heinous attack in the heart of Paris. Our thoughts are with the victims, the people who are struggling to live, their families and loved ones," Macron said in a tweet. The attack took place in the Rue d'Enghien in the 10th arrondissement of the French capital. Two of the wounded are in critical condition. An eyewitness told AFP that seven or eight shots were fired during the...

Widespread riots erupted in Paris after a woman and two men were shot dead yesterday at a Kurdish cultural center and a nearby cafe in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Footage of the riots shows people setting fires in the middle of the street and smashing...

At least three people were killed and four others injured in a shooting in central Paris on Friday, the local mayor said. An unidentified 69-year-old man opened fire at the Ahmet-Kaya Kurdish cultural center in the city’s 10th arrondissement, Le Parisien reported. The mayor of the arrondissement, Alexandra Cordebard, said three people died and four others were injured in the barrage of gunshots, which rang out in the Rue d’Enghien, a street lined with small shops and cafes, CNN reported.

As the world watched in horror at pictures of the Notre Dame burning, some in China saw another story in the flames: that of retribution. While the overwhelming reaction in China to Monday's fire was one of sympathy and shock, some could not help but point what they saw as historical parallels, even a bit of justice. I might be sympathetic to refugees in Lebanon, but the blaze of the Notre Dame only reminds me of the flames of the Old Summer Palace," wrote one user on social media. "Everything has consequences, heavenly cycles, retribution. This applies to both people...

Chinese experts will participate in the restoration of France's Notre-Dame cathedral, state media reported on Wednesday, following a meeting between the two countries' heads of state in Beijing. The 850-year-old cathedral, which was scarred in April after a fire tore through its roof and toppled its spire, was the most visited historic monument in Europe. Since the blaze, which took 400 firefighters to control, Chinese and French authorities have been in touch about cooperating on restoration efforts, reported official news agency Xinhua. "China has a great deal of experience in renovating ancient buildings affected by fire, especially ones made of...

Moscow, April 19, Interfax - The Notre Dame fire is a sign not only to Europe, but also to Russia, and therefore what happened cannot be perceived as someone else's trouble, priest Alexander Volkov, press secretary of Patriarch Kirill, said. "Speaking about the spiritual aspect of this story, it is a horrible and menacing sign to our entire European civilization, not only to the Parisians, who have let Muslims come to live with them. It seems to me that God doesn't act locally, he loves all his children and calls on everyone to come to reason," father Alexander said on...

Moscow, April 16, Interfax - The Russian Culture Minister will encourage Russian museums and citizens to arrange a fundraiser to help rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris that has been devastated by a fire, the director of the ministry's museums department, Vladislav Kononov told Interfax on Tuesday. "We will invite museums and all citizens who are not indifferent to what happened to organize a fundraiser to support the restoration, the rebuilding of Notre-Dame de Paris. I think it will be right. We will hold consultations with our museum institutions, and I think that they will support such an initiative....

St. Petersburg, November 14, Interfax - Specialists from Russia will participate in the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Russian president's envoy for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy said, adding that a final decision on this issue will be made in January. "We will make a final decision in January because we are now awaiting an official request and an official invitation from France. I hope this invitation will arrive before the New Year. And in mid-January, we will meet with the special ambassador of France who is in charge of recruiting foreign specialists to work on...

Moscow, April 16, Interfax - Russian specialists with an extensive record of restoring medieval monuments may help rebuild Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral devastated by fire if necessary, the Kremlin said. "It's true that we have some of the world's best specialists who have a vast record of restoring medieval monuments. Therefore, should such a need arise, we will be ready to dispatch them," Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. When asked whether Moscow is considering extending financial assistance to France or providing timber to help rebuild the cathedral, Peskov said, "I don't doubt that, if any...