ImagePresident Xi Jinping of China at a welcoming ceremony in Rome.CreditRiccardo Antimiani/EPA, via Shutterstock PARIS — Imagine Europe as a target on a radar screen, and you can see the warning alerts flashing red and ubiquitous. Europe is undergoing a multipronged, hybrid attack. The assailants do not coordinate and their goals may vary. But what […]
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PARIS — French security forces were deployed across Paris and other cities on Saturday as the country braced for a 19th weekend of “Yellow Vest” demonstrations, following a surge of violence last weekend that caught the authorities by surprise after months of dwindling numbers and calmer protests. Nearly 6,000 police officers were out on the […]
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BRUSSELS — European Union leaders on Thursday agreed to extend the deadline for Britain’s looming exit from the bloc, but on terms different from those requested by Prime Minister Theresa May. Thursday’s agreement is designed to avert the possibility of a disorderly, possibly chaotic, departure by Britain on March 29. After hours of talks, the […]
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BRUSSELS — It is hard to overestimate the level of exasperation in Brussels with Britain and its wounded prime minister, Theresa May. The jokes are dark, the anger is palpable and the sense of entrapment in a bad version of “Groundhog Day” is bitter. The rest of the European Union wants to move on, to […]
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ImageCreditIan Langsdon/EPA, via Shutterstock PARIS — Nowhere else have the hardships of a vast segment of the population turned into a social movement like this — one that refuses to bear the brunt of economic liberalization, points out real inequalities, is active over large swathes of the country, is resolutely modern in its use of […]
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PARIS — Plans by a major sporting goods company in France to sell a hijab designed for runners have incited yet another debate over what Muslim women wear, exposing once again the tensions between secularism and religion in the country. France’s longstanding attitudes toward feminism, secularism and the integration of immigrants are at the root […]
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BERLIN — Times are rough for the European Union. The news coming from Britain grows more depressing every day. Italy is governed by a maverick government searching for an open confrontation with France. Hungary and Poland are slowly slipping into authoritarianism. And we are headed for a European election in May that could result in […]
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PARIS — Thousands rallied against anti-Semitism in Paris on Tuesday night, summoned by France’s major political parties, the country’s Jewish organizations, and by a sharp spike in anti-Semitic incidents, including the desecration of a Jewish cemetery the night before. That act of vandalism drew France’s president to a small village in the northeast, hours before […]
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The Yellow Vests have been coming out to demonstrate in Paris and other large French cities for 13 straight Saturdays now, bedeviling the government of President Emmanuel Macron with the vagueness of their demands and the lack of a leadership to negotiate with. How it plays out could have consequences well beyond France’s borders. The […]
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PARIS — In the 13th straight weekend of “Yellow Vest” demonstrations in France, protesters showed no sign of letting up pressure on the government and did not appear appeased by concessions by President Emmanuel Macron. There were scattered acts of violence as protesters and the police clashed in marches in Paris and southern French cities […]
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PARIS — French journalists and press advocates expressed outrage this week after prosecutors tried to search the offices of the investigative news site Mediapart, which had published audio recordings of a former aide to President Emmanuel Macron whose legal troubles have dogged him for months. The outcry over possible executive overreach grew following reports that […]
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ImageFlags compete during a Yellow Vests demonstration in December in Ventimiglia, Italy, near the French border.CreditValery Hache/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images White sauce and migration, the fork and the Mona Lisa, a fast train and an African currency — the points of contention are many. Since coming to power eight months ago, the most unpredictable […]
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It has been many decades since I went through menopause. At the time, I regretted the concurrent invisibility, when men stopped noticing me on the street. The funniest moment happened in Italy, where, as a young student, I had grown accustomed to walking down the street in a mist of commentary: “Bellina, bella.” Later, visiting […]
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Seven European Union countries on Monday recognized Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, turning decisively against President Nicolás Maduro after he refused their demand to schedule a new presidential election. The countries — Austria, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden — joined the United States, Canada, Australia and much of Latin America […]
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BRUSSELS — Tens of thousand of children skipped school in Belgium on Thursday to join demonstrations for action against climate change, part of a broader environmental protest movement across Europe that has gathered force over the past several weeks. In Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland and elsewhere, activists have come together on social media to gather […]
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BRUSSELS — Serge Schoffel placed a red sticker on the label for a 19th-century Dan Mano mask from Liberia. “This is my best sale,” he said. Mr. Schoffel, a dealer based in Brussels, who has been trading in tribal art for 11 years, had just completed negotiations over a cellphone with a French collector during […]
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MILAN — Politics is a show, and every country has its favorite. The United States is bringing on yet another Hollywood classic (the aging action hero, the desert, the border, the money). France is offering its periodic re-enactment of its Revolution, with gilets jaunes replacing sans-culottes. Germany’s national orchestra is saying goodbye to an exhausted […]
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PARIS — As he joined a “Yellow Vest” protest in Bordeaux, in southwestern France, Jean-Marc Michaud felt elated. His wife worked nearby and they had not seen each other in a month, so the march was a perfect opportunity to reunite. Instead, his life took a serious turn for the worse at the protest in […]
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PARIS — What to do about Islam in France? Considering Islamist terrorist attacks, communalism and the international manipulation of Muslim communities, the matter is pressing. But it’s contentious, because managing Islam seems to go against laïcité, France’s staunch version of state secularism, and a 1905 law that mandates the separation of church and state. Wouldn’t […]
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SOUILLAC, France — At 9:23 p.m., after nearly six hours of talk, President Emmanuel Macron took up the subject of nursing homes. At 9:48 p.m., into the seventh hour, he was speaking about France’s “food independence.” Past 10 o’clock, with some of his listeners visibly wilting on plastic chairs, it was on to the French […]
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