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☆ Climate Change Activists Aim Soup at 'Mona Lisa' in Paris Louvre
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS (Reuters) - Two climate change activists hurled soup at the protective glass in front of the world-famous "Mona Lisa" painting in Paris' Louvre museum on Sunday. Video footage showed two women flinging red soup at Leonard da Vinci's masterpiece, to gasps from onlookers. They had ducked under a security barrier to get as close as they could to the painting and were led away by Louvre security guards. In recent years, many activists have targeted art to raise awareness about climate change. The glass in front of the "Mona Lisa" was smothered in cream in a protest in May 2022.

Persons: Mona Lisa, Leonard da, Vincent Van, Goya, Sudip Kar, Gupta, Manuel Ausloos, Barbara Lewis Organizations: PARIS Locations: Paris, Madrid's Prado

A huge billboard advertising Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as candidate of the World Expo 2030 is seen in Paris as the host country of The World Expo 2030 will be elected by BIE Member States that will gather in the 173rd General Assembly in Paris, France, November 25, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Riyadh won the right to host the Expo 2030 world fair, vote results showed on Tuesday, in another diplomatic victory for a Gulf country after the Qatar soccer World Cup last year. South Korea's Busan and Italy's Rome were also in the running to host the world fair, a five-yearly event that attracts millions of visitors and billions of dollars in investment. The Saudi capital has proposed to host the event between October 2030 and March 2031. Saudi had in particular won French support, irking Rome.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Crown Prince Mohammed bin, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Prince Mohammed, Jamal Khashoggi, Emmanuel Macron, Elizabeth Pineau, Michel Rose, Christina Fincher, Richard Chang Organizations: BIE Member, 173rd, Assembly, REUTERS, Rights, Saudi Arabia's, Qatar, Korea's, Riyadh, Busan, Rome, Saudi, Al, Crown, Saudi Foreign, irking, Thomson Locations: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Paris, BIE, BIE Member States, France, Saudi, Saudi Arabia's Riyadh, Korea's Busan, Italy's Rome, irking Rome, Lebanon

PARIS, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The Mont Blanc, Western Europe's highest peak, has lost more than two metres (6.5 ft) in two years and shrunk to its lowest level since precise measurements started 22 years ago as warmer summers reduced snowpack size, researchers said on Thursday. She added this year's particularly low level was probably due to a lack of rain and a hot summer. When precise GNSS satellite measurements started in September 2001, the Mont Blanc stood at 4,010.40 metres. A view of the Mont Blanc mountain from Le Brevent, in Chamonix, France, June 14, 2022. Farouk Kadded at Leica Geosystems said that this year, for the first time since 2015 - when scientists started measurements in June too - Mont Blanc's snowpack in September had remained virtually unchanged from June.

Persons: topographers, Mont, Cecile Taffin, Mont Blanc, Le Brevent, Denis Balibouse, Farouk Kadded, Topographers, Kadded, Kate Entringer, Dominique Vidalon, Manuel Ausloos, Geert De Clercq, William Maclean, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Leica, Thomson Locations: Blanc , Western, Chamonix, French, Mont Blanc, Le, France, snowpack

[1/5] Apple France workers on strike holding CGT labour union flags gather in front of the Apple Store near Place de l'Opera during a protest to demand higher pay and better benefits on the day Apple launches its iPhone 15, in Paris, France, September 22, 2023. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Workers at Apple (AAPL.O) stores in France began a nationwide strike over pay and working conditions on Friday in a protest designed to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 15. Staff at an Apple store in Barcelona, where about 250 people were queuing to enter the store on Friday morning, were set to join colleagues in France in protesting. "We have been talking since August to our colleagues on strike in France. In Spain, unlike them, not all the unions have agreed to strike," Paredes said.

Persons: Abdul Saboor, Anais Durel, Tarek, Pablo Paredes, Paredes, Manuel Ausloos, Louise Dalmasso, Horaci Garcia, Corina Pons, Charlottte Van Campenhout, Charlie Devereux, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Apple, REUTERS, Rights, Workers, CGT, Unsa, CFTC, Management, Staff, Paseo de, CNT Apple, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Apple France, Paris, France, Opera, Barcelona, Paseo, Paseo de Gracia, Spain, Madrid

The 35-year-old Frenchwoman brought back two bronze medals from the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games on the track and she now looks set to take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics after claiming the paracycling road race world title last year. Sport, however, is also a platform for Patouillet, also a gay rights activist, to raise awareness against discrimination on any basis, be it gender, sexual orientation or disability. In 2022, she sported rainbow-coloured hair at the 2022 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships in a bid to spark conversation on LGBTQIA+ rights. "Athletes who left an impression on me through their activist commitments to fight against discrimination, they are rather Anglo-Saxon. "I hope that the (2024) Games in Paris will give rise, or at least be an opportunity for certain athletes, to speak out on these subjects and that, after that, there will be changes on this."

Persons: Marie Patouillet, Frenchwoman, Patouillet, Dykes, I've, it's, Julien Pretot, Christian Radnedge Organizations: Tokyo Paralympic Games, French, Reuters, Paralympic, Paralympics Games, French national Institute of Sport, Physical Education, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Paris, France

REUTERS/Remo CasilliPARIS, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The first military planes carrying mostly European nationals evacuated from Niger landed in Paris and Rome on Wednesday, with France and other countries expected to fly more of their citizens out of the West African country after last week's coup. With the risk of conflict escalating, France, the former colonial power, Italy and Spain said they would evacuate citizens by air. The first French flight left Niger on Tuesday evening and landed in Paris early on Wednesday with 262 people on board, according to Reuters journalists there. An Italian military plane carrying 87 evacuees from Niger arrived in Rome early on Wednesday, according to Reuters journalists at the airport. The United States, Germany, and Italy also have troops in Niger on counter-insurgency and training missions.

Persons: Remo Casilli PARIS, Niger's, Mohamed Bazoum, Charles, Manuel Ausloos, Antonio Denti, Remo Casilli, Shivani, Michel Rose, Sandra Maler, Robert Birsel Organizations: Ciampino, REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Niger, Rome, Italy, Paris, France, West, Central Africa, Spain, Italian, Britain, Hungary, Senegal, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, United States, Germany, Shivani Tanna, Bengaluru

☆ For its 2024 Olympics, Paris wants the Seine river swimmable
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Manuel Ausloos | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

PARIS, June 5 (Reuters) - On a sunny spring day, Dan Angelescu was testing the water quality of Paris' Seine river by the bridge Alexander III - a scenic view for next year's swimming marathon and triathlon Olympic trials. Angelescu has been working for the city since 2017 on its longtime project to make the Seine swimmable. The 2024 Games are a good opportunity to fast-track it in order to host some sporting events in the famous river - as was done at the first Paris Olympics of 1900. Stephane Vidalie, who lives in Neuilly-Plaisance in the east of Paris, was happy to no longer send wastewater into the Marne river, a tributary that joins the Seine just outside Paris. Bastien Coignon, a member of a kayak club in Sevres, west of Paris, said he had been waiting for this.

Persons: Dan Angelescu, Alexander III, Angelescu, Pierre Rabadan, Rabadan, Manuel Ausloos, Stephane Vidalie, Colombe Brossel, Bastien Coignon, Clotaire Achi, Juliette Jabkhiro, Alex Richardson Organizations: Paris Olympics, Olympic, Games, REUTERS, Manuel Ausloos SYSTEM, Thomson Locations: Paris, Seine, Austerlitz, Sevres, France, Neuilly, Plaisance, Marne, Olive

☆ Fear recedes for Ukraine's volunteers, for whom war is 'just a job'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Manuel Ausloos | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] A Ukrainian service member Oleksandr, 44, is seen in a trench at a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 28, 2023. REUTERS/Sofiia GatilovaON THE FRONTLINE IN DONETSK REGION, Ukraine, May 4 (Reuters) - After months of living in trenches and bunkers near Ukraine's southeastern frontlines, Artem and his fellow soldiers have lost the fear they once felt. "You no longer feel the fear that you had at the beginning," added Artem, who has been based in the eastern Donbas region for some six months. He and his comrades, mostly volunteers, rotate regularly through the trenches, four days on, four days off. "Over time, when you understand that they are all safe, it just becomes a job."

[1/2] Ukrainian artillery fires towards the frontline during heavy fighting amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 13, 2023. Western countries have in the past pointed to acrimony between the Russian defence ministry (MoD) and the country's main mercenary force Wagner as a major Russian weakness. Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian commanders had redirected troops to Bakhmut from other areas. The British update said the Ukrainians still held western districts of the town but had been subjected to particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours. Moscow says it would open a route to capturing more territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, a major war aim.

☆ Farming and tourism under threat as winter drought dries up France's Lake Montbel
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Manuel Ausloos | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

PARIS, March 17 (Reuters) - Set at foot of the Pyrenees mountains, Lake Montbel is famous in south-west France for its turquoise waters, massive size and thriving aquatic life. For the month of February, the Ariege region, where Lake Montbel is located, has suffered from a rainfall shortage of 80%. Lake Montbel is an artificial lake, which extends over 570 hectares and was created in 1985 by flooding what used to be a forested area. "Lake Montbel, in fact, is the guarantee of income ... Mascarenc uses water from the nearby Ariege river and not from Montbel Lake.

REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesPARIS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Airbnb (ABNB.O) is offering a night for two in the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris this summer, transforming a box in the theatre into a plush bedroom with sweeping views of the famous auditorium. Before the pandemic, Airbnb had created other unusual overnight stays in the French capital, one of its key markets. The Palais Garnier stay includes a music recital, dinner in an ornate rehearsal room backstage and a behind-the-scenes tour of the elaborate 19th century building, including its underground pool, the inspiration for the phantom's lair in the book and musical. The Palais Garnier stay will be listed on March 1 for 37 euros, also the number on the box, one of the theatre's most prestigious, which will be decked out with antique furniture specially for the night. I think it will be a bit unreal," said Veronique Dubrulle Leroux, the great-granddaughter of Phantom of the Opera author Leroux, who will host the visitors.

☆ Fashion figure Andre Leon Talley collections up for auction at Christie's in New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] A royal blue, pink and red silk satin shawl-collar kimono by Tom Ford is displayed during the exhibition of the Couture collection of late fashion icon Andre Leon Talley in the showroom of Christie's auction house in Paris, France, January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah MeyssonnierPARIS, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Silk caftans, exotic leather coats and monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage sets are among items from the late American fashion journalist Andre Leon Talley set to go under the hammer this week at Christie's in New York. "His work could really make or break any designers," added Seigel. The auction house estimates the lots will fetch more than a million dollars, funds that will go to two Baptist churches that played a key role in Talley's life. Talley, a former U.S. Vogue editor at large and creative director, died on Jan. 18, 2022, at age 73.

☆ Drop your gun: French hand over their unlicensed weapons to police
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Eric Gaillard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NICE, France, Dec 1 (Reuters) - French gun owners were handing over their weapons at police collection points across the country this week as part of a campaign to round up unlicensed firearms, often heirlooms lying in attics or forgotten at the back of cupboards. "They were my dad's and I didn't know what do with them," Lionel said at a police station in Nice in southern France where he handed over his weapons. [1/5] Undeclared firearms owned by residents are seen at a police station in Nice as part of an unprecedented collection campaign organised by French authorities to reduce the number of illegally-held weapons in France, November 30, 2022. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard 1 2 3 4 5Those who bring in the weapons face no penalties. The campaign ends on Friday, after which collected weapons will either be handed over to museums or destroyed.

☆ Wine-loving France gets a taste for the alcohol-free
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Manuel Ausloos | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Augustin Laborde, founder of "Le Paon qui boit" (The Drinking Peacock) alcohol-free wine and liquor store, looks a bottle of non-alcoholic wine sold at his shop in Paris, France, November 18, 2022. Two years later, Laborde has opened what he says is the first alcohol-free wine store in a country renowned the world over for its Bordeaux red wines and white Burgundies. While non-alcoholic drinks have gained popularity elsewhere, they have lagged in France. As she tasted a glass of alcohol-free red wine, Helene Bourgy said the drink was a compromise that allowed for an alcohol-free but still “festive atmosphere”. Even if the French have been slow to take up non-alcoholic drinks, their wine consumption has fallen from 20th-century peaks.

☆ French queen Marie Antoinette's furniture to go up for auction in Paris
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Antony Paone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesPARIS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Two pieces of furniture formerly owned by France's Queen Marie Antoinette are set to go to auction on November 22 in Paris. The 250-year-old chest of drawers and chair are estimated to be worth 800,000 to 1.2 million euros ($832,000-1.25 million) and 100,000 to 200,000 euros ($104,000-208,000) respectively. She would marry the soon-to-be Louis XVI that year." The chair was the last royal order placed by the then queen, before she was overthrown during the French Revolution and later executed at age 37. Last year, a pair of diamond bracelets which also belonged to the former Queen were sold at auction in Switzerland for $8.18 million, several times the pre-sale estimate.

☆ Major glaciers, including Dolomites and Yosemite, to disappear by 2050 - UN report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Avi Asher-Schapiro | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Some of the world's most famous glaciers, including in the Dolomites in Italy, the Yosemite and Yellowstone parks in the United States and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania will disappear by 2050 due to global warming, whatever the temperature rise scenario, according to a UNESCO report. The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO monitors some 18,600 glaciers across 50 of its World Heritage sites and said that a third of those are set to disappear by 2050. While the rest can be saved by keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) relative to pre-industrial levels, in a business-as-usual emissions scenario, about 50% of these World Heritage glaciers could almost entirely disappear by 2100. World Heritage glaciers as defined by UNESCO represent about 10 percent of the world's glacier areas and include some of the world's best-known glaciers, whose loss is highly visible as they are focal points for global tourism. Carvalho said that the single most important protective measure to prevent major glacier retreat worldwide would be to drastically reduce carbon emissions.

Ernaux, the first French woman to win the literature prize, said winning the award was "immense". "It's a long path that she makes in her life," Swedish Academy member Anders Olsson told Reuters. "I did not imagine at the time that 22 years later, the right to abortion would be challenged," Ernaux told reporters in Paris. 1/7 French novelist Annie Ernaux talks to the media after being announced as the winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature, in Cergy-Pontoise, France October 6, 2022. "I always said that I did not want to get the Nobel prize," she told reporters at her French publisher Gallimard's office.

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