France

An Italian shelter for migrants near the French border founded by a priest has been helping illegals cross into France, with some claiming there is no future for them in their home countries. The “Fraternità Massi” shelter has been operating in the Italian town of Oulx since 2018. It is managed by the NGO Talità Kum , which was founded by parish priest Luigi Chiampo, who claims to respect the work of the French border police. Don Luigi Chiampo, the priest that help migrants at the Rifugio Fraternit Massi by Talita Onlus poses in Claviere, Susa Valley, Alps Region, north-western Italy on April 22, 2021.  (Photo: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images) “The French police are doing their job. They are trying to stop the migrants,” Chiampo told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency and added: “Sometimes agents go into the woods in search of migrants in transit to stop the flow. At other times, the police simply guard the main roads. Everyone does their job.” Most … [Read more...] about Italian Migrant Shelter Founded by Priest Helps Migrants Cross into France

ARIS (AP) – Seven Italians convicted of left-wing domestic terrorist crimes in the 1970s and 1980s, including several former members of the Red Brigades, were arrested at their homes in France on Wednesday, the French presidency said, a development Italy hailed as historic. The crimes for which they were convicted include the 1980 killing of a Carabinieri paramilitary general and the kidnapping of a judge in the same year. The arrests followed negotiation and agreement between Italy and France after decades during which Paris refused to act on many of the arrest warrants issued by Italy for convicted left-wing terrorists. The French presidency said new negotiations started when Emmanuel Macron was elected French president in 2017, but the decisive change came when Mario Draghi became Italian premier earlier this year. The seven arrested individuals had fled Italy and sought refuge abroad before they could be imprisoned to serve their sentences. Police in France, aided by … [Read more...] about Red Brigades: Seven Veteran Hard-Left Terrorists Arrested in France

British authorities in France have detained a 37-year-old British national on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism, with the arrest relating to activities in Syria. London’s Metropolitan Police, which is also the lead force for counterterrorism, revealed on Friday that the British man had been arrested on Wednesday in the British control zone in Coquelles, in the Pas-de-Calais department of northwest France, where UK authorities have a presence . The force said in a press release that the suspect was arrested as part of a planned operation by Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command and relates to activity in Syria. He was arrested on suspicion of preparing for terrorist acts and for membership of a legally banned organisation. On Thursday, police obtained a further warrant of detention, allowing officials to continue questioning him without charge until Tuesday, May 4th. There has been increasing concern in recent years of British nationals who left to join the … [Read more...] about British Man Arrested in France on Suspicion of Terrorism Offences Related to Syria

BOBIGNY, FRANCE - The trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin made headline news in France. But much of the reporting about the trial, and its underlying themes of police violence and racism, largely zoomed in on the United States. “I think it’s viewed as an American problem with some resonance in France,” said Steven Ekovich, a U.S. politics and foreign policy professor at the American University of Paris. "It also feeds into a certain strain of French anti-Americanism, on the left and on the right, so that the French can moralize about the United States, and its difficulties and its flaws,” he said. That wasn’t the case last year, when George Floyd’s death caused many French to look inward. They joined spreading global protests for police accountability. Traore death Along with Floyd, many chanted the name of Frenchman Adama Traore, 24, whose family said he died under circumstances similar to Floyd’s, although that claim is disputed. The Black American’s … [Read more...] about Chauvin Conviction in Floyd Death Prompts Soul Searching in France

Brexit leader Nigel Farage has criticised the French government for threatening to cut off electricity to Jersey island over a fishing rights dispute, remarking that “if the French are prepared to behave like this then thank God we left” the European Union. Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel and, while geographically closer to France, is a British Crown Dependency. Around 95 per cent of Jersey’s electricity is carried by underwater cables from France, with the remaining covered by diesel generators on the island. On Tuesday, French Minister for Maritime Affairs Annick Girardin accused Britain of imposing conditions on French fishermen, limiting activity off of the coast of Jersey, in contravention of the post-Brexit trade deal agreed between London and Brussels, the notional capital of the European Union. Addressing the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament, Ms Girardin said that there could be “retaliatory measures” against … [Read more...] about Farage Criticises France for Threats to Cut off Electricity to Jersey in Fishing Row