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BRUSSELS/PARIS, July 13 (Reuters) - France's foreign minister and government minister have called EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager to reconsider her appointment of a U.S. economist and former antitrust official to a senior job at the European Commission overseeing Big Tech. Vestager on Tuesday announced the hiring of Fiona Scott Morton, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama's tenure. Scott Morton will take up her post on Sept. 1 when the current chief economist, Pierre Regibeau, retires. French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said she was astonished at the appointment. "I invite the @EU_Commission to reconsider their choice."

Persons: Margrethe Vestager, Fiona Scott Morton, Barack Obama's, Scott Morton, Pierre Regibeau, Catherine Colonna, Jean, Noel Barrot, Foo Yun Chee, Conor Humphries Organizations: European Commission, Big Tech, Vestager, Tuesday, U.S . Department of Justice, Charles River Associates, DG, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, PARIS, France, Europe

☆ Reactions to Turkey backing Sweden's NATO entry
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Erdogan agreed to forward the membership bid to parliament, appearing to end months of drama over an issue that had strained the bloc. STATEMENT FOLLOWING TURKEY-SWEDEN-NATO MEETING"Both Türkiye and Sweden will look to maximise opportunities to increase bilateral trade and investments. U.S. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN"I welcome the statement issued by Türkiye, Sweden and the NATO Secretary General this evening," he said in a statement. GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNALENA BAERBOCK"Good news from Vilnius: the path is finally clear for Turkey's ratification of Sweden's #NATO membership. FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER CATHERINE COLONNA"I welcome Turkey's announcement of its intention to ratify Sweden's adhesion protocol to NATO and I hope that it happens quickly.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG, I'm, ULF KRISTERSSON, JOE BIDEN, ANNALENA BAERBOCK, JOSEP BORRELL, RISHI SUNAK, CATHERINE COLONNA, Costas Pitas, Maria Martinez, John Irish, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: NATO, GENERAL, EU, Türkiye Customs, U.S, Türkiye, Twitter, Alliance, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, NATO, Sweden, TURKEY, SWEDEN, Türkiye's, Vilnius, EU, Europe

☆ Shocked by the speed of the Wagner revolt, Russia's neighbors want to beef up NATO's eastern flank
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Petras Malukas | Afp | Getty ImagesThe fallout of the Wagner Group's short-lived armed rebellion has raised the alarm among Europe's Baltic countries. Speaking alongside his counterparts from Latvia and Estonia on Tuesday, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that the speed of the Wagner uprising underscored the strategic importance of strengthening NATO's eastern flank. Germany has offered to send around 4,000 troops to Lithuania on a permanent basis to bolster NATO's eastern flank. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year had already fueled concerns about the regional security of the Baltic region. Regional security concernsLatvia Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics described the Wagner rebellion as an example of "one evil fighting another evil."

Persons: Griffin, Silvestras, Petras Malukas, Wagner, Vladimir Putin's, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Landsbergis, Malukas, Catherine Colonna, Jens Stoltenberg, Russia's, Mario Bikarski, Federica Reccia, Edgars Rinkevics, Rinkevics, Wagner Group's, Vladimir Putin, Sergei Shoigu, Gavriil Grigorov Organizations: Afp, Getty, Belarusian, Lithuanian, NATO, French, European Union, Economist Intelligence Unit, CNBC, Latvia, AFP Locations: Lithuanian, Pabrade, Lithuania, Baltic, Moscow, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Paris, Belarus, Estonian, Germany, Vilnius, Ukraine, Belarusian, Russian

In the video, a Central African Republic rebel fighter says "the French want to drive Wagner out of Africa". Russia and Wagner have a track record of media manipulation and disinformation, which Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted to. The European Union sanctioned Wagner in February for alleged rights abuses and spreading disinformation, including in Africa. The foreign ministry unit doesn’t promote or generate fake news, the two diplomats said. However, the foreign ministry unit, and the broader strategy, will face an uphill battle to convince people in Africa that France has changed, seven analysts and diplomats said.

Persons: Ibrahim Traore, Vincent Bado, Wagner, Catherine Colonna, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Maria Zakharova, Meta, Anne, Sophie Ave, Lakhta, Prigozhin, Viginum, Faustin, Archange Touadera, “, Michael Shurkin, I'm, Jean Gaspard Ntoutoume Ayi, John Irish, Elizabeth Pineau, Bate Felix, Michel Rose, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: REUTERS, Russia, Central, Facebook, Kremlin, Reuters, Quai D'Orsay, Vigilance, Protection, European Union, West, Central African, Twitter, Democratic, Internet Research Agency, Meta, Global, National Union, Gabonese, Thomson Locations: Burkina, French, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Russia, PARIS, DAKAR, Central African Republic, France, Russian, Africa, Paris, France's, Ukraine, Moscow, Central, West Africa, Quai, Kinshasa, Mali, Sahel, Europe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, U.S, Togo, Libreville, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Dakar

☆ Italian foreign minister threatens to cancel Paris trip over French criticism
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, May 4 (Reuters) - Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has threatened to cancel a trip to Paris on Thursday unless France clarifies comments by the French interior minister that were critical of Italy's prime minister, an official said. The French minister, Gerald Darmanin, told RMC radio earlier that Italian leader Giorgia Meloni was "unable to solve the migration problems on which she was elected" and accused her of "lying" to voters that she could end the crisis. An Italian government official, who declined to be named, said the trip would not go ahead without a "decisive and definitive" clarification from France on Darmanin's "offensive and totally unacceptable" statement. A French government source said they were trying to find a way to diplomatically reverse the comments by Darmanin, who is seen as particularly close to French President Emmanuel Macron. Reporting by Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer in Rome and John Irish and Tassilo Hummel in Paris, editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Rescuers carry a covered body as they work at the site of a heavily damaged residential building hit by a Russian missile in the town of Uman on Friday. Her voice cracked as she told CNN how the strikes had shaken the small community and left her feeling terrified. Local residents told CNN that there hadn’t been a strike of this scale on the city since March last year. Burnt-out cars lie in front of a destroyed residential building in Uman. Yevhenii Zavhorodnii/Global Images Ukraine/Getty ImagesAerial view of a destroyed residential building.

☆ G7 nations considering near-total ban on exports to Russia -Kyodo
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, and Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora pose for photographs at the start of the fifth working session of a G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Prince Karuizawa hotel in Karuizawa on April 18, 2023. YUICHI YAMAZAKI/Pool via REUTERSTOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - The Group of Seven (G7) countries are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing Japanese government sources. Bloomberg news on Thursday also reported that the United States and Ukraine's allies were considering "an outright ban on most exports to Russia". That report said officials from G7 nations were discussing the idea before a summit meeting in Japan next month. "What is important for ending Russian aggression as soon as possible is that G7 remains united for severe sanctions against Russia and strong support for Ukraine," he told a press briefing.

"The message is the same across the G7: that we want to work with China in those areas where China is prepared to work with us," a senior U.S. State Department official told reporters on a call. "We are certainly going to stand up against any coercion, any market manipulation, any efforts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait," the official added. Beijing views Taiwan as Chinese territory and has not renounced the use of force to take the democratically governed island. China is increasingly trying to replace international rules with "its own rules", German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday on the sidelines of the G7 meeting. China's top diplomat Wang Yi "hopes and believes" Germany will support China's "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end the war and urged Moscow to reverse its suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, a senior U.S. official said. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke "on the move" for less than 10 minutes at the end of the closed-door session, and did not engage in any negotiations, Russian news agencies reported. Blinken later told a news conference he had told Lavrov to engage in diplomacy during the unscheduled encounter. [1/6] U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken (top L) walks past Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (lower) during the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi on March 2, 2023. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the war in Ukraine had hurt "almost every country on the planet, in terms of food, energy, inflation".

[1/6] A man arranges the flags kept outside the venue for G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke "on the move" but did not hold negotiations or a meeting, Russian news agencies reported. News of the exchange came at the end of the day-long G20 meeting which, as expected, was overshadowed by the Ukraine war. "Unfortunately, this meeting has again been marred by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine," Blinken said. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the war in Ukraine had hurt "almost every country on the planet, in terms of food, energy, inflation".

☆ France urges stronger international response to Iran's missile program
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna looks on during a news conference with Brazil's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira ( not pictured ) at Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File PhotoSummary French govt: Colonna spoke to Blinken on ThursdayDiscussed Iran, Ukraine, Armenia, AzerbaijanUrged stronger response to Iran missile programmePARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) - There must be a stronger "international response" to the threat posed by Iran's ballistic missiles program, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told her U.S. counterpart Anthony Blinken, France's Foreign Ministry said on Friday. The French Foreign Ministry said Colonna and Blinken had spoken by phone on Thursday, during which they discussed an array of topics, including Ukraine and Iran. Colonna and Blinken also reiterated their "full support" to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia almost a year ago, and discussed the situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and John Irish; Editing by Sudip Kar-GuptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Ukraine's military said it shot down 47 of 59 Russian missiles - some fired from Tu-95 strategic bombers in the Russian Arctic. Russia responded with fury to news on Wednesday that Germany and the United States would send dozens of modern tanks to Ukraine. [1/11] A local resident carry home staff from a house of his neighbour damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Hlevakha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine January 26, 2023. After being promised modern tanks, Ukraine is now seeking Western fourth-generation fighter jets such as the U.S. F-16, an adviser to Ukraine's defence minister said. The United States on Thursday formally designated Russian private military company the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization, freezing its U.S. assets for helping Russia's military in the Ukraine war.

Ukraine said it had shot down all 24 drones sent overnight by Russia, including 15 around the capital, and 47 of 55 Russian missiles - some fired from Tu-95 strategic bombers in the Russian Arctic. Eleven people were killed and 11 wounded in the drone and missile strikes, which spanned 11 regions and also damaged 35 buildings, a State Emergency Service spokesperson said. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said electricity substations had been hit as Russia continued to target energy facilities. [1/7] Local residents remove debris from a house of their neighbour damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Hlevakha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine January 26, 2023. Both Moscow and Kyiv, which have so far relied on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, are expected to mount new ground offensives in spring.

☆ France summons Iran's top diplomat over execution of British-Iranian accused of spying
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Paris on Saturday over the execution of a British-Iranian national accused of spying, the ministry said in a statement, expressing its indignation about the case. "He was also warned that Iran's repeated violations of international law cannot go unanswered, particularly with regard to the treatment of foreign nationals whom it arbitrarily detains," the statement added. Iran's judiciary said earlier in the day that Alireza Akbari, a British-Iranian national who once served as Tehran's deputy defence minister, had been executed, defying calls from London for his release. France last year said a total of seven French citizens were being held in Iran in what Paris has called arbitrary detention - a further sign of deteriorating relations between the two countries. In January, two French nationals and a Belgian were indicted for espionage, according to reports.

☆ France announces it will end visa restrictions with Morocco
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Dec 16 (Reuters) - France will end visa restrictions for Moroccan nationals, the foreign minister said on Friday, in a sign of warmer relations between the two countries after more than a year of tensions between Paris and Rabat. Morocco's Bourita said France had made a unilateral decision to end restrictions after what he said was also a unilateral decision to introduce the restrictions. France has generally warmer relations with Morocco than with its eastern neighbour Algeria, also a former colony. The improvement in relations comes two days after France and Morocco played each other in the football World Cup semi-finals in Qatar. France won the match, which gave greater visibility to the extensive links between the two countries and their dual nationals.

☆ Founder of Russian private militia accuses France in Central African Republic attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dec 16 (Reuters) - The head of a Russian private militia accused France of attempting to assassinate the head of a Russian representative office in the Central African Republic, who was seriously injured on Friday after opening a mail bomb. Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the once-secretive Russian private military contractor Wagner Group, which has supported Central African Republic's (CAR) army since 2018 but gained wider attention with its role in Russia's war in Ukraine, blamed France for the attack. He said he had asked Russian Foreign Ministry to open the procedure for declaring France a state sponsor of terrorism. Prigozhin called Syty "a patriot of Russia and the Central African Republic". Last year, a United Nations report said Russian military instructors and local troops in the Central African Republic had targeted civilians with excessive force, indiscriminate killings, occupation of schools and large-scale looting.

"Oh FFS (for fuck's sake)," former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves said on Twitter, encapsulating the general feeling among many of France's eastern allies. The annoyance among eastern allies has undermined Macron's own policy agenda to beef up European "strategic autonomy" separate from the U.S.-led NATO umbrella, with eastern allies now trusting the United States more for their defence. An eastern European diplomat said Macron had "misread" Russia once and the fear was he would do so again. The backbone of Macron's foreign policy since 2017 has been to launch initiatives and go against the grain. However, an increasing number of critics and allies see his thrust on Russia as his major foreign policy mistake.

☆ Blinken says he will support France in World Cup if U.S. team eliminated
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a joint press availability with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna at the State Department in Washington, U.S. October 21, 2022. REUTERS/Michael A. McCoyPARIS, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State who spent much of his childhood in Paris, said he could support the French soccer team in the World Cup if the U.S. team got knocked out before the French. "I support the United States team but if they cannot make it to the very end and France manages to get there, well in that case - 'Allez Les Bleus! '," Blinken told France 2 TV, referring to the "Les Bleus" nickname for the French team. The United States play Netherlands in the first knock-out stage on Saturday, while France face Poland on Sunday.

☆ Why Saudi Arabia is hosting one of the world's biggest raves
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The kingdom’s Soundstorm music festival, which began in 2019, is back again for its fourth year and will start on Thursday. “(It) is a particularly powerful example because it seeks to bring together young people and women from across Saudi Arabia and the world,” she said. By contrast, Las Vegas’ Electric Daisy Carnival, considered North America’s biggest dance music festival, had an attendance of over 400,000 this year. Last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that performers should either “speak up” about Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations or not attend the festival at all. Some however argue that opening up countries to international norms and values can allow for better discussion on human rights shortcomings.

☆ Ghana president sacks junior finance minister over alleged impropriety
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Bernd Lauter/Pool via REUTERSACCRA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo has sacked Charles Adu Boahen, the minister of state for finance, the presidency said on Monday after allegations of impropriety were circulated by a well-known Ghanaian investigative journalist. Adu Boahen did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. read moreThe allegations against Adu Boahen did not appear to be related to those previously raised against Ofori-Atta. Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia said in a statement the video showed Adu Boahen "apparently using my name, inter alia, to peddle influence and collect money from supposed investors". "I would like to state that if what the minister (Adu Boahen) is alleged to have said is accurately captured in the video, then his position as a minister of state is untenable.

☆ UK and France to strike migrants deal as soon as Monday, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Britain and France are set to agree a deal possibly as soon as Monday to ramp up their joint efforts to stop illegal migrants from making perilous crossings of the English Channel, a British newspaper reported on Saturday. France will agree to a joint control centre where British immigration officials will be stationed, it said. British officials have said a deal is close. British and French government officials declined to comment on the reports on Saturday. Reporting by William Schomberg in London, additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Editing by Ros RussellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"We are seeing that now with the provision of (drones) to Russia." Ukraine says Russia has used Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones that cruise toward their target and explode on impact. Tehran denies supplying the drones to Moscow - an assertion Washington says is untrue - and Russia has denied its forces used Iranian drones to attack Ukraine. If such a resolution is not adopted by the deadline, all U.N. sanctions in place before the nuclear deal would be automatically reimposed. "Snapback" would also likely kill off efforts to revive the 2015 deal, which then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned and which his successor Joe Biden has sought to resurrect.

☆ U.S. sees no evidence Russia is interested in ending Ukraine aggression - Blinken
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The United States will consider every means to advance diplomacy with Russia if it sees an opening, but at the moment Moscow shows no sign of willingness to engage in meaningful talks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday. "Every indication is that far from being willing to engage in meaningful diplomacy, President Putin continues to push in the opposite direction," Blinken said at a press conference with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna. "We consider and will consider every means to advance diplomacy if we see an opening to advance it by whatever means, of course we'll always look at it," he said, but added that Moscow was instead "doubling and tripling down" on its aggression. Blinken and other U.S. officials have repeatedly said Moscow has not been interested in meaningful diplomacy. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Arshad Mohammed and Simon Lewis; Editing by Mark Porter and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Zelenskiy denounces Russian-staged votes; says there will be good news from the front
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Sept 27 (Reuters) - President Volodynyr Zelenskiy issued a fresh denunciation on Tuesday of Russian-staged votes in occupied parts of Ukraine approving proposals to become part of Russia, saying they were a "farce" and could never be described as legitimate referendums. "This farce in the occupied territories cannot even be called an imitation of a referendum," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a meeting with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 27, 2022. Zelenskiy said Ukraine would defend its people still living under occupation in the four areas where votes were held - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions -- and in parts of Kharkiv region still under occupation. The president also said there would soon be good news from the front, but offered no details for the moment.

"There is a proposal from the (EU) coordinator on the table and it will remain on the table. They have accused Iran of going backwards in the talks, something Tehran denies. "We hope that they will be honest and do not waste more time in order to pressure Iran." Colonna said the United States and its European partners shared an identical position on the question of resolving an investigation. A source close to Iran’s nuclear team said Tehran had lost interest in reviving a deal that can only last 2 years.

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