Olympic flame arrives in Marseille amid tight security
Marseille, France Reuters The Olympic flame landed on French soil amid tight security on Wednesday, firing the starting gun on a summer extravaganza of sport that President Emmanuel Macron hopes will showcase the splendours of France and burnish his legacy. The flame arrived in Marseille, a port city in southern France founded by Greek merchants, […]
No “sea of death”: Pope calls for pan-European action on migration
Marseille, France Reuters Pope Francis on Saturday condemned “belligerent nationalisms” and called for a pan-European response to migration to stop the Mediterranean, where thousands have drowned, from becoming “the graveyard of dignity”. Immigration issues dominated his 27-hour trip to Marseille, a French port that for centuries has been a crossroads of cultures and religions. French President […]
Pope says impeding migrant rescues at sea is “gesture of hate”
Marseille, France Reuters Pope Francis said on Friday that migrants who risk drowning at sea “must be rescued” because doing so was “a duty of humanity” and that those who impede rescues commit “a gesture of hate”. Francis, 86, spoke at an inter-religious prayer service before a monument dedicated to those lost at sea. Earlier, […]
Migrant crisis: Pope goes to Marseille to talk migration, but will Europe listen as it scrambles to stem an influx?
NICOLE WINFIELD, TRISHA THOMAS and SYLVIE CORBET, of Associated Press, report ahead of the Pope’s upcoming visit to the French port of Marseille, one of the most multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic cities on the shores of the Mediterranean…
Pope’s visit to France stirs debate over immigration, secularism
Paris, FranceReuters Pope Francis’ scheduled visit to France next week has stirred debate in the French political class, with left-wing politicians criticising the president for attending Mass while the far-right objects to the Pope’s positive views on immigration. Francis will travel to Marseille, France’s second city and a historic gateway for immigrants, where he is expected […]
A rebounding Pope Francis adds an overnight visit to France to his busy travel schedule
Rome, ItalyAP Pope Francis will make a two-day trip to Marseille, France, in late September, adding to a flurry of trips the 86-year-old pontiff will soon be making only weeks after leaving hospital following abdominal surgery. Early this year, Francis had said that he would go to the port city to participate in a meeting of […]
Shot teenager’s grandmother urges end to French overnight riots
Paris, FranceReuters The grandmother of the teenager shot dead by police during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb said on Sunday she wanted the nationwide rioting triggered by his killing to end, as France braced for a potential sixth night of unrest. Some 45,000 police were deployed again on Sunday night, according to Interior […]
France deploys 45,000 police after riots over teen’s death
Paris, FranceReuters France’s interior minister said on Friday the coming hours would be decisive as he sent 45,000 police onto the streets following three nights of riots since an officer shot dead a teenager at a traffic stop in a working class suburb of Paris. The violence, in which buildings and vehicles have been torched […]