Author: Raimond Broussard

Five Marseille police officers have been detained for questioning over the death of a 27-year-old man during rioting in the French city on 1 July. They were among 20 members of the elite Raid (Research, assistance, intervention, dissuasion) tactical unit questioned about injuries to Mohamed Bendriss during national unrest after the police shooting of a teenager in the Paris suburbs on 27 June during a traffic stop. The public prosecutor suggested it was “probable” Bendriss had died after “a violent shock to the thorax caused by a ‘flash-ball’ type projectile”, a controversial police weapon, that caused him to go into…

Central Asia is one of the priority regional directions of China’s foreign policy, with developing land transport links making the region an important mineral resource base. China’s active policy has positive aspects, but also contains potential threats for the Central Asian republics. While in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, China has managed to form a deep dependence on investment, in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the PRC is trying to maintain a stable level of its presence. Chinese Mining Interests in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is a strategically important supplier of uranium. The country’s share of China’s uranium supply is about 65% of China’s total, while…

Frankfurt, Brussels (3/7 – 27) France has been plagued by multiple outbreaks of rioting following mass protests over the death of a teenager at the hands of a police officer last week. The death of Nahel M. (17), teenager of North African descent, has stoked anger among the public at police violence against minorities and exacerbated existing racial tensions in France. Protests have spread beyond the capital city of Paris and its suburban areas, to other major cities, including Lyon, Marseille, Le Havre, Toulouse and Nantes. On Sunday (2/7/2023), a day after Nahel’s funeral in Nanterre, 719 people were arrested…

French President Emmanuel Macron awarded France’s highest medal of honor to the U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, on Friday for his role in coordinating support for Ukraine and for his more than 40-year military career spent in defense of democracy. Milley, who is traveling in France to attend ceremonies at Normandy to mark the 79th anniversary of D-Day, is close to finishing a four-year term as the top U.S. military officer and plans to retire when his tenure as chairman ends Sept. 30. Macron awarded Milley the order of Commander of the Legion of Honor at a closed…

With the addition of nLighten’s existing operations in Germany, the acquisition of Euclyde and its footprint in Sophia Antipolis, Lyon, Strasbourg, Besançon and Paris establishes the nLighten platform in two of Europe’s core data centre markets. “With this acquisition, we are taking another step towards our goal of creating a leading pan-European edge data centre platform,” said Harro Beusker, co-founder and CEO of nLighten. “Euclyde is an excellent fit with our strategy, and the existing management team, employees and assets are a solid base for our ambitions in France.” Euclyde’s distributed asset base is well-aligned with nLighten’s strategy to integrate…

Dogged by accusations of proximity to the Kremlin, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party had hoped to clear its name by setting up a parliamentary inquiry to investigate foreign interference in French politics.  But a draft report on the committee’s findings, which was leaked to the press this week, shows the move backfired spectacularly, finding instead that Le Pen’s policy stances sometimes echo the “official language of Putin’s regime”. After a six-month inquiry and more than 50 hearings, the cross-party parliamentary inquiry found that the National Rally (RN) party, formerly known as the National Front, had served as a “communication channel” for Russian power, notably supporting…

Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday unveiled a new cabinet lineup, naming a powerful spy chief as foreign minister and market friendly Mehmet Simsek as finance minister, hours after swearing in for a third term as president. Erdogan took oath of office in parliament after winning a historic runoff election to extend his two-decade rule and promised to serve “impartially”. He also called for unity and the anger and resentment of the campaign to be set aside as he spoke during a lavish ceremony at his presidential palace in the capital Ankara attended by dozens of world leaders. Turkey’s transformative…

The opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, will feature the conclusion of a procession of the Olympic flame that will involve 10,000 torchbearers. The Games, which will also be known as Paris 2024, will be held in July and August next year and feature an opening ceremony concentrated on and around the River Seine that runs through the capital. French news agency Agence France-Presse, or AFP, said the Olympic flame will be taken from Olympia, Greece, to Marseille, France, on the sailing ship Belem. People, both individually and in groups, will then carry it across France…

Filipinos traveling to the UK, France, Germany and Italy can now use GCash for cashless payments, the fintech firm said on Friday. Harrods, Liberty London and Harvey Nichols in the UK; Printemps in France; Müller and dm-drogerie markt in Germany, as well as itTaxi, and IVS Group in Italy, are among the merchants that accept GCash payments via Alipay+, GCash said in a statement. “In line with our fervent commitment to make our customers’ everyday lives better and more convenient, we want to make sure that they can maximize their GCash account not only locally but wherever they are across…

An explicit sex scene in a newly published novel by the French economy minister has left the government facing fresh accusations it is not listening to the concerns of the country just as it tries to contain anger over the unpopular rise in the pension age. The toe-curling sexual descriptions in the novel, Fugue Américaine, written by the economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, have angered opposition politicians and inspired anti-government slogans and graffiti at street demonstrations as the government struggles to contain the political crisis over Emmanuel Macron raising the minimum pension age to 64. The novel was published hours before the…