europe times european news daily trendy news Protesters rally against anti-Semitism in France
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Protesters rally against anti-Semitism in France

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Thousands of protesters march under the slogan ‘That’s enough’ across France against a spate of anti-Semitic attacks on Tuesday night. Officials said that around 80 graves were defiled using spray-paint with blue and yellow Nazi symbols and swastikas in a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, and this caused the protest.

In the French capital, former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy joined a rally led by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Republic Plaza. President Emmanuel Macron paid respects at one of the desecrated graves in the village of Quatzenheim.

“It is a plague that endangers everyone, not just us, and it must be condemned wherever and whenever it rears its head,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He had called on leaders in France and Europe to “take a strong stand against anti-Semitism.”

Sunaya Paison
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Entertainment News

‘By the Grace of God’ overcomes the effort to prevent its release

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French film ‘By the Grace of God’ has overcome all efforts aimed to prevent its release, as the judicial system of the country has been successfully convinced that the release of the film would not affect the judgment of any case pending before the system.

Why the film has been subjected to the legal tug-of-war

French cleric Bernard Preynat has approached the judicial system against the film, saying that the film could prejudice the trial of a case against him pending in the system.

Why the film is so controversial

The film discusses the story of three people who have been sexually abused by a Catholic cleric. In other words, it is the cinematic version of the chargesheet filed against Mr Preynat.

How serious is the issue of sexual abuses in the Catholic Churches

Recently, Pope Frances indirectly admitted that the issue of sexual abuse in the church cleric community was one of the serious issues faced by the community.

The Pope is set to convince a global meeting of church community members to discuss the issue in the near future.

Recently, a senior cleric was defrocked over the charges of sexual abuse.

The timing of the film is very crucial. It comes at the time the world discusses the issue of sexual abuses in the Catholic Churches, and at the time the French society discusses the rare case of Mr Preynat.

It is the blind faith of some that embolden many to commit crimes in the name of that faith. A crime is a crime. No criminals should be protected under the shield of faith.

Vignesh. S. G
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News Technology

French journalists invite serious criticism over their anti-female comments

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Several French journalists have invited serious criticism from across the world over their anti-female comments. The criticism has been raised against the comments published in a secret group run by the journalists. The news regarding the secret group has been initially publicised by a French media, named ‘Liberation’. Interestingly, one of the media’s senior journalists has also been implicated in the undignified act.

Strict action has been initiated against all those involved in the act. Almost all journalists who have been found to have involved in the act has been suspended by their respective media houses.

The French media sees this as a serious issue. It is the first time that a French journalist has been found to have involved in this kind of act of serious nature.

Several veteran journalists have come out publically against the suspended journalists. They have remained the journalistic community that these kinds of unjustifiable activities would damage the trust the public places over the highly respected journalistic community.

The objectionable comments which have put the journalists under serious trouble have been published in the social media platforms. From the little that has been leaked in the social media platforms itself, it can be declared that all those involved in the act are senseless peoples.

Vignesh. S. G
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News Politics

Rightists’ triumph continues in the West

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The demand for snap election is active in Spain, which is at present in the hands of leftists. Hours before, the rights have successfully organised a protest in Madrid demanding the resignation of the ruling leftists. Through it has been triggered by the ruling’s lenient stand towards the Catalonian separatists’ demand (that is, the independence of Catalonia), all efforts have been directed solely towards the destruction of the political base of the leftists in the country.

The tread is not different elsewhere in Europe. It is evident in Italy (with the presence of the Five Star Movement and Northern League), France (with the presence of Marine Le Pen), the UK (with the victory of Brexit), and even in Germany (with the emergence of far-rights voices in the country).

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Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK are the four biggest economies in the continent. It is on these economies the entire European Union stands. With the UK’s proposed departure and the ongoing friction between France and Italy, the union at present already has a buddle of problems to deal with.

It is sure that the union cannot survive another big blow. It is high time to articulate a applicable strategy to counter the emerging threat of euroscepticism.

Vignesh. S. G
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International Relations News

Relation between France and Italy hit new low

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The relation between France and Italy has moved from bad to worse as the Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Luigi Di Maio, has met the representatives of yellow-vest movement.

France, earlier, warned Italy not to interfere in its internal affairs. The warning was made when the Italian leaders started speaking in favour of the ongoing Yellow-vest moment, which France considers as a serious threat to its political stability.

It was the induction of an eurosceptic government in Italy that made the first blow to the relation between Paris and Rome.

Since then, the relation between these two founding members of the European Union has been steadily worsening.

In the recent past, France and Italy found over a range of issue, primarily over the issue of immigration.

This is the first time in the modern history that France and Italy have come out strongly against each other.

The development is not favourable to the existence of European Union. Germany, the UK, France and Italy are the four largest markets in the biggest economic union of the world. This four will soon be reduced to three as the UK will leave the market within months. The union is less likely to survive another big exist.

Vignesh. S. G
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International Trade News

West invents a way to evade the US’ sanction on Iran

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The three major western powers, such as Germany, the UK and France, have established a new payment channel to evade the United States’ economic sanction on the Middle Eastern country of Iran.

The new payment channel, the Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), shares no links with the US-linked payment channels the west presently uses widely.

It is this detachment from the popular payment channels that helps the new channel evade the sanction imposed by the US on Iran.

Iran is one of the most important trading partners of the three major European powers. The countries see the Shia-dominated nation not only as a source of cheap oil but also as a potential market for their goods and services.

It was the US’ belief that Iran involved in the destabilisation of some of its prime allies in the region such as Israel and Saudi Arabia that promoted the world’s most powerful country to impose an economic sanction against the Arab country.

The three important western countries were not in the favour of the sanction. It even urged the US to withdraw the sanction.

The latest move is capable to provoke the US. The US’ present regime is already unhappy with the European powers’ attitude against its long standing demand that the European countries should step up their defence spending to pay justice to their financial obligation to the NATO force.

Vignesh. S. G
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News Politics

France national assembly passes a law banning the wearing of masks at protests

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The National Assembly of France has cleared a controversial law that bans the wearing of masks at protests. It is perceived as an attempt to reduce violent incidents during street protests. For the last few weeks, France has been witnessing violent street protests. In these protests, the masked protesters have participated in large numbers. It is observed that the majority of those engaged in the unlawful act of public property destruction during these protests have been those covered their faces with masks.

Meanwhile, in the assembly, the manner the French security officials have handled the violence protests organised by the yellow-vest has also invited serious criticism. Recently, a protester has lost one of his eyes when a French official’s attempt to disperse that protester went wrong.

The yellow-vest movement, which originally started as a protest against the issue of fuel price hike, has now transformed into a class struggle between the elite establishment and the rest which is totally detached from the establishment class.

By now, the establishment has understood that the movement cannot be handled in the manner it usually handles a public unrest.

The new developments indicate that the National Assembly is not sure how to handle this situation. A considerable number of lawmakers are neither willing to endorse the government to carry on freely with its cursing mission, not interested to encourage the protesters to destabilise the system.

Vignesh. S. G
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News Politics

‘Red scarves’ organises counter-protest against yellow-vest in Paris

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A ground of youngsters wearing red scarves has organised counter-protest in the capital city of France, Paris, against the yellow-vest movement, which has been disturbing the political hemisphere of France with persistent violent protests for last few days in the name of a sudden hike in the price of fuel.

The youngsters’ group has identified itself as the red scarves. In the protest organised against the yellow-vest movement, as many as ten thousand people have participated.

A social media page created by the group has already attracted tens of thousands of French youngsters.

The group, it seems, is not against the demands the yellow-vest movement has raised, but is against the means the movement has followed to achieve the demands. In short, the red scarves are against the yellow-vest’s widely recognised mean of violent protests.

Yellow-vest protesters confront red scarves protesters in the latest rally.

The yellow-vest is the most powerful political movement the country has witnessed in the recent history. The movement appeals for a change in the way the establishment looks at the issues that directly affect the common people of France such as the fuel price hike and rent hikes.

The movement’s excessive reliance to violent means is what that makes these genuine appeals less audible among the common people who always prefer peace over violence.

The red scarves’ counter-protest has come a few hours after the yellow-vest announced its plan to contest in the upcoming European Union parliament election.

If someone is worried about this latest political development in France in connection with the rise of yellow-vest movement, it is none other than Emanuel Macron, the man who was inducted to the top post by the anti-establishment faction with the hope of developing an new system free from the clutches of establishment.

Definitely, that timing evokes suspension in many minds. Do you think the red scarves’ counter-protest will reduce the prospects of the yellow-vest members in the upcoming EU parliament election?

Vignesh. S. G
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News Politics

Yellow-vest to field its candidates in EU parliament election

By 808 0

This year’s European Union parliament election is likely to witness a very unusual phenomenon: the emergence of an anti-elitist group yellow-vest (the group formed in France to protest, in short, against the fuel price hike, and, in large, against the elitist behaviour of the country’s ruling and its remoteness to the genuine grievances of the common people such as the price hike, rent hike and the labour issues).

In the European parliament election which is scheduled to take place on 23 May this year, the yellow-vest, which has jolted the streets of France and forced to the French president, Emanuel Macron, to drop his ambitious plan to increase the fuel tax, has decided to field as many as ten candidate, leaving behind the question whether they will expand the list of candidate in the run-up to the EU election to the imagination of the public.

In the list of ten, Ingrid Levavasseur is the most prominent one. She is a poor care worker, and is the representative of the larger population, which is totally unfamiliar with the elitist faction of the modern France.

Many evaluate the development as the rebirth of socialist populism in France. If the yellow-vest passes this crucial litmus test, the experiment will be repeated in the future elections also in France.

Vignesh. S. G
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News Politics

Germany, France forget differences to shield them from the increasing tide of modern populism

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From Italy and Spain to the Brexit-affected UK, many European countries have already succumbed to the destructive wave of populism. The economic principle of protectionism, which has come as a part and parcel of the political ideology of modern populism, has clandestinely infiltrated into the economic structure of the populism-affected countries, weakening their present economic structure rooted in the economic principle of liberalism.

Definitely, the European Union is worried about this development. It has almost lost one of its arms to this development. It may not sustain another loss.

It is in this backdrop that Germany and France have come together to act. The role they play is the role of a defender, the defender of an economic structure which once gifted life breadth to the embattled European continent.

The latest agreement both has signed means that henceforth Germany and France will not think differently in their internal and external security, economic and political affairs.

Their decision to develop a European army is capable to irritate many, especially the United States and the United Kingdom. To them, the more irritating one will not be the agreement for economic corporation, political corporation and/or defence corporate, but the understanding for cultural corporation.

It is noteworthy that the measures for the increased cultural corporation has been doubled by Germans and France at the time many of their friends are researching on how to segregate people on the basis of culture.

The developments indicate that the France-Germany agreement attempts to launch attacks on the concepts of protectionism and populism from all the four fronts –political, economic, security and cultural- on which these dangerous concepts are pivoted.

Will the new European defenders of liberalism win? How better they execute their plan decides what answer the aforesaid question deserves.

Vignesh. S. G
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