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Michel Rose
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou speaks to press in Paris on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2024
Macron has a new prime minister but the same old problems
73-year-old Francis Bayrou was the torch-bearer of centrism until Macron reshaped the political landscape in 2017.
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier removes his glasses after delivering a speech at the National Assembly in Paris on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 5, 2024
No-confidence vote throws France deeper into crisis
France's prime minister must now tender his resignation and that of his government to President Emmanuel Macron.
French President Emmanuel Macron
WORLD
Sep 18, 2024
EU commissioner retreat shows Macron's waning clout in Europe
Thierry Breton abruptly quit on Monday in an unexpected twist in the highly political power transition that follows June's European elections.
Fans at the Olympic shooting venue cool off during a heat wave in Deols, France, on Tuesday.
OLYMPICS
Jul 31, 2024
In Olympic Village, heat tests limits of organizers' green ambitions
France is now in the middle of a heat wave that pushed the mercury in Paris into the mid-30s degrees Celsius on Tuesday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) looks on as French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to reporters on the day of a joint Franco-German cabinet meeting in Gransee, Germany, on May 28.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2024
As France votes, Europe holds its breath
The big fear for the European Union's traditional political mainstream is an outright National Rally victory in France.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends a news conference in Berlin on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2024
EU centrists work to build coalition after far-right parties gain in vote
The rightward shift may make it tougher to pass new legislation to respond to security challenges, climate change or industrial competition from China and the U.S.
China's President Xi Jinping speaks at the Senior Chinese Leader Event held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
May 3, 2024
Xi's trip to Europe may lay bare West's divisions over China strategy
Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit France and pro-Russia nations Serbia and Hungary, which are also large recipients of Chinese investment.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends a European Union leaders summit in Brussels on March 22.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 29, 2024
Meloni-Le Pen rift mars far right's prospects of wielding EU power
Divisions within Europe's nationalist right that may stymie efforts to wield power at an EU level despite record support.
French President Emmanuel Macron's comments fitted with his reputation as a diplomatic disruptor who likes to break taboos and challenge conventional thinking.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 28, 2024
Macron's Ukraine troop talk shakes up NATO allies
The French president's idea of possibly sending troops to Ukraine was so ambiguous that he sparked confusion and irritation among some allies.
French President Emmanuel Macron  invited his European counterparts to the Elysee palace for a hastily arranged meeting to discuss how to ramp up ammunition supplies to Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 27, 2024
France's Macron doesn't rule out Europeans sending troops to Ukraine
The French President also cautioned that there was no consensus at this stage as allies agreed to ramp up efforts to deliver more munitions to Kyiv.
Tractors block the A6 highway during a protest by French farmers in the Chilly-Mazarin district of Paris on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2024
Farmers angry with green policy rebel against EU ahead of vote
Blockades and pickets by farmers are exposing a clash between the EU's drive to cut carbon dioxide emissions and its aim of becoming more self-sufficient.
Rassemblement National member of Parliament Marine Le Pen (left), and the president of the far-right party Jordan Bardella (right) march during a demonstration against antisemitism in Paris on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2023
EU's far right joins rally against antisemitism, unsettling some Jews
The strategy is to normalize the party's image, helping politicians bolster their anti-migration agenda while rebutting suggestions they are racist.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 29, 2023
Braving boos, Macron hopes 'cathartic' walkabouts will soothe pension anger
After weeks of protests against his decision to raise the minimum pension age by two years, Macron's popularity ratings have plunged to near record-low levels.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 6, 2023
'A new starting point': EU and Chinese leaders meet in Beijing
French President Emmanuel Macron has said Europe must resist reducing ties with China and reject what some have cast as an 'inescapable spiral' of tension between China and the West.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Mar 17, 2023
Macron wins Pyrrhic victory on pension bill, but risks fueling anger
By using special constitutional powers instead of risking lawmakers rejecting the reform, Macron has given ammunition to the opposition.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 2, 2022
Biden and Macron vow unity on Ukraine and commit to easing trade tensions
The U.S. leader has so far resisted talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion was launched in February, while the France's Macron has kept lines of communication open.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 13, 2022
Proposed Pyrenees pipeline puts EU's energy divisions in stark relief
Russia supplied 40% of Europe's gas before its invasion of Ukraine. Now the region is scrambling to diversify its energy sources.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 6, 2022
Euroskeptic left-wing coalition could put France on collision course with Brussels
Winning next month's legislative election may be a long shot for France's new hard-left alliance, but the fact President Emmanuel Macron now faces two euroskeptic opposition blocs should cause concern among France's European Union partners.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 25, 2022
In troubled France, no honeymoon for re-elected Macron
The president's second term could be even rockier than the first with mounting political opposition and boiling social discontent.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 21, 2022
Macron cements French presidential frontrunner status with combative debate performance
Although Le Pen came across as more polished and composed than in a TV duel for the presidency in 2017, Macron went on the offensive over her ties to Russian leadership.

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Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition