Cyprus drills hone skills on evacuations from conflict zones
Seven countries including the U.S., France, Italy, Israel and Greece have taken part in an series of drills in and around Cyprus designed to ease civilian evacuations from conflict zones and to conduct offshore rescue operations, amid a renewed sense of urgency due to the war in Ukraine
washingtonpost.comMali authorities permanently withdraw French media licenses
The High Authority for Communication of Mali has announced a decision to permanently suspend French media outlets Radio France International and France 24, two of the most listened to news outlets in the West African country
washingtonpost.comFrance's victorious Macron boosts weapons, stakes in Ukraine
When Vladimir Putin congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his re-election as France's president and wished him “success in your activities,” the Russian leader probably was being more polite than sincere. As he embarks on a second term, with the intention of keeping France at the forefront of international efforts to force Putin to change course in Ukraine, Macron has given a green light for the delivery of modern artillery pieces to Kyiv that could help stem Russia’s new offensive in the east of the country. Used to great effect against Islamic State forces in Iraq and in other conflicts, they represent a step up in France's assistance to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.
news.yahoo.comAnalysis: Loss is victory for far-right in France's election
The far-right has gone mainstream in France. With 41.5% of the vote, unprecedented for her, Le Pen's anti-foreigner, anti-system politics of disgruntlement are now more entrenched than ever in the psyche, thinking and political landscape of France. Since the Le Pen dynasty — first her dad, Jean-Marie, and now Marine, his daughter — first started contesting presidential elections in 1974, never have so many French voters bought into their doctrine that multicultural and multiracial France, a country with the words “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” inscribed on its public buildings, would be richer, safer and somehow more French if it was less open to foreigners and the outside world.
news.yahoo.comMacron and Le Pen: The French election takes Europe to the brink, again
President Emmanuel Macron staked his rule on placing France at the heart of a strengthened European project, while Marine Le Pen is a skeptic of the continent’s defining geopolitical institutions — the European Union and NATO.
washingtonpost.comChilean man who killed his Japanese ex-girlfriend appeals 28-year prison sentence
A Chilean man has appealed his 28-year prison sentence over the murder of his Japanese ex-girlfriend in France in 2016. Nicolas Zepeda, 31, lodged the appeal on Wednesday, a day after a local French court gave him his sentence and determined that the murder was premeditated, as prosecutors had previously claimed. Zepeda moved to Japan to study at the University of Tsukuba in 2014 and started dating Kurosaki, according to reports.
news.yahoo.comUkraine war imperils wheat, but farmers in no rush to pivot
Farmers worldwide are weighing whether to change their planting patterns and grow more wheat this spring as Russia's war in Ukraine has choked off or thrown into question grain supplies from a region known as “the breadbasket of the world.”.