Jerôme Hamon, 43, has left hospital for the first time since the groundbreaking surgery in a Paris hospital after receiving his second face graft following a genetic disorder that caused disfiguring tumours on his face, and an immune system rejection of his first transplant.
In a loudly applauded speech before the European Parliament on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned against the spread of nationalist politics among some EU member states, slamming 'a fascination with the illiberal' and insisting that democracy 'is a word with meaning, which emerged from the battles of the past'.
Fears that foreign-based messaging apps, including Facebook’s WhatsApp and Telegram – a favourite of President Emmanuel Macron – are open to security breaches have prompted the French government to create its own encrypted messenger service which will be the only system for officials to use by this summer.
Unions representing Air France staff, who have held seven days of strike action in support of a demand for a 6% pay increase have announced further stoppages this month, recommencing on Tuesday when the airline predicts 30 percent of flights will be cancelled overall.
The French presidency confirmed on Monday that a procedure has begun to strip Bashar al-Assad of his Légion d'honneur award, France's highest honour for actions of civil merit, given to him in 2001 by France's then-president Jacques Chirac.
A bill of law on asylum and immigration placed before French parliament's lower house, the National Assembly, by President Emmanuel Macron's government, which includes allowing the children of failed asylum seekers to be detained before being expelled and for people to be prosecuted for helping illegal immigrants enter or stay in France, has prompted the first rebellion among MPs from his his ruling LREM party.
As student protests and sit-ins gather momentum, railway services are disrupted with rolling strike action, and unrest simmers among healthcare staff and the legal professions, the May 1968 revolt that paralysed France and caused General de Gaulle to flee to Ireland was, say some observers, very different because it was inspired by hope and not the ambient pessimism of 2018.
A spokesman, for Khalifa Haftar, whose Libyan National Army controls much of eastern Libya and who press reports last week said was in a coma after suffering a stroke, claimed on Twitter on Friday that he had visited a Paris hospital 'for normal checkups' and would 'be back in Libya within few days'.
French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Saturday that the air strikes by the US, France and Britain on Syrian targets overnight were 'proportionate and targeted' and warned that they would be repeated if the Damascus regime used chemical weapons in the future, but also insisted that France will pursue diplomatic channels to help reach an end to the Syrian civil war.
France has joined the US and Britain in attacks overnight Friday against sites in Syria identified as production plants for chemical weapons, in response to a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma last week.
