With two months to go before the summer Olympic Games open in Paris, the symbolic flaming torch arrived in the southern French port of Marseille on Wednesday, carried from Greece on a three-masted, 19th-century barque which was greeted by a flotilla of boats and on-shore festivities.
Following a recent series of shocking murders and assaults in inter-teen violence in France, the government has announced new measures to tackle the issue, but sociologist Laurent Mucchielli argues youth violence is not on the rise.
The French foreign affairs ministry on Tuesday accused Iran of 'state hostage-taking' and 'blackmail' and called for the 'immediate and unconditional release' of French nationals Cécile Kohler, 39, and her partner Jacques Paris, 69, who have been detained in Tehran since May 2022 on spying charges.
A team of 12 French 'boulangers' spent ten hours to make and bake what has been acknowledged as the longest known baguette, measured at 140.53 metres and made from 90 kilos of flour, 1.2 kilos of salt and 60 litres of water, beating a previous world record of 132.62 metres set by Italian bakers in 2019.
Chinese president Xi Jinping held round-table talks in Paris on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, when the war in Ukraine and imports of cheap Chinese goods topped the agenda, with Von der Leyen warning that Europe 'will not waver from making tough decisions needed to protect its economy and security'.
