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☆ ‘We have your location’: The Taliban death threats hounding this Afghan woman
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-13 | by ( Joseph Ataman | Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“They do not exist.”Her countrywoman Manizha Talash was disqualified from this year’s Paris Olympics after unveiling a cape with the message “Free Afghan Women” during the breakdancing events. She was removed from the competition for making a “political protest.”Hamidi has been bombarded with death threats since criticizing Afghanistan's men's cricket team. Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou/CNN“With these three words I spoke with all the world and asked them, please, let’s do some practical action for Afghan women. “They are the Taliban team for me, not the Afghan team,” she said, a similar accusation she has leveled against the Afghan cricket team, calling for Afghan sports teams to be banned from the Olympics, following bans on South Africa during the apartheid era. The term gender apartheid was first used by Afghan women in the late 1990s during the first Taliban regime.

Persons: Paris CNN —, ”, “, It’s, Talash, ” Hamidi, Afghanistan's, Li, Lian Ahlskog Hou, ” Manizha, Kimia, Hamidi, Robert Cianflone, Richard Bennett, Bennett, Afghanistan’s, Marzieh Hamidi, ” Hamidi’s, Ines Davau, UN’s Bennett, she’s, ” Davua, ” Davau Organizations: Paris CNN, didn’t, CNN, “, Tokyo Games, Our, Afghan, Taekwondo, Taliban, Afghanistan Cricket Board, country’s Taekwondo, UN, Cricket, country’s, Afghan men’s, Tokyo Locations: Afghan, Paris, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, South Africa, France, Europe, Kabul

☆ What to know about Telegram, the messaging app whose CEO was arrested over the weekend
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-26 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France over the weekend has thrust the popular messaging service and its enigmatic founderinto the spotlight. Durov’s arrest comes as the app has faced growing scrutiny for its use by terrorist groups and far-right extremists. Telegram is an encrypted messaging service that was launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother, Nikolai. And earlier this month, the messaging app began actively removing calls to violence from the platform following reports that the app was being used to organize far-right, anti-immigrant riots in the United Kingdom. In addition to running Telegram, Durov has become something of an online influencer, sharing images on Instagram of his world travels (and, often, shirtless photos).

Persons: Pavel Durov, Durov, fraudsters, Laure Beccuau, Beccuau, Maria Butina —, Emmanuel Macron, ”, ” Macron, “, it’s, Nikolai, launderers, White supremacists, Remi Vaughn, Vaughn, Mark Zuckerberg, Viktor Yanukovich, ” Durov, – Joshua Berlinger, Camille Knight, Anna Chernova Organizations: New, New York CNN, Paris’s, Reuters, ISIS, Financial Times, Trump, Facebook, ”, VK, Ukraine’s, Kremlin Locations: New York, France, Russian, Russia, Paris, Durov, Iran, India, Ukraine, Moscow, Israel, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, Kyiv, Dubai

☆ Olympic champion Imane Khelif files petition with Paris police over online harassment
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

PARIS — Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has filed a legal complaint in France for online harassment after a rain of criticism and false claims about her sex during the Paris Olympics, her lawyer said Sunday. The complaint was filed Friday with a special unit in the Paris prosecutor’s office for combating online hate speech, alleging “aggravated cyber-harassment” targeting Khelif, lawyer Nabil Boudi said. In a statement, he described it as a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” against the boxer. As is common in French law, the complaint doesn’t name an alleged perpetrator but leaves it to investigators to determine who could be at fault. False claims that Khelif was transgender or a man erupted online, and the International Olympic Committee defended her and denounced those peddling misinformation.

Persons: Imane Khelif, Khelif, “, Nabil Boudi, Angela Carini, Kirsty Burrows, Burrows, Lin Yu, Lin Organizations: PARIS, Paris Olympics, International Olympic, National Unit, Boxing, IOC, Paris Games Locations: France, Algeria, Paris, Taiwan

☆ Travis Scott arrested in Paris after hotel fight with his bodyguard, authorities say
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-09 | by ( Saskya Vandoorne | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —American rapper Travis Scott was arrested in Paris early Friday morning after getting into a fight with his bodyguard, authorities in the French capital said. Scott was subsequently arrested for “violence against another person,” according to a police spokesman. Scott, who was in Paris for the Olympic Games, on Thursday attended the men’s basketball semi-final that saw the United States beat Serbia. He was arrested for “violence against a security guard,” the Paris prosecutor’s office said later on Friday. Scott was arrested and booked into Miami-Dade County Jail in June on charges of trespass and disorderly intoxication.

Persons: Travis Scott, George, Scott, Jacques Bermon Webster, Kim Ogg Organizations: CNN, Police, Olympic, North, Tottenham Hotspur’s, Miami, Houston District Locations: Paris, United States, Serbia, Lisbon, Portugal, North America, Europe, London, Dade

☆ Rail Sabotage Blights an Olympic Moment for France
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-26 | by ( Catherine Porter | Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Before dawn on the day of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, arsonists on Friday sabotaged three critical high-speed rail lines, stranding thousands of travelers, heightening security fears and blighting what President Emmanuel Macron hoped to be a moment of national glory. Around 4 a.m., the arsonists cut through and burned cables used for signaling and security near three rail divides, the French authorities said. The carefully placed strikes snarled end-of-week travel plans for more than a million people, including Parisians leaving for vacation and international travelers en route to the opening ceremony of the Games. Parts of the prized rail system came to a standstill. The Paris prosecutor’s office, which handles major organized crime cases, said it had opened an investigation into what it called criminal vandalism and criminal conspiracy.

Persons: arsonists, Emmanuel Macron Organizations: Paris Locations: Vergigny, Paris

☆ Olympic security checks block 5,000 people, including 1,000 suspected of meddling and espionage
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-24 | by ( Saskya Vandoorne | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —France’s Interior Ministry rejected around 5,000 security accreditation requests for Olympics volunteers and workers, with roughly 1,000 of those cases blocked due to suspicions of meddling or espionage. The Ministry outlined in a statement on Tuesday that it conducted “about a million” administrative investigations into various staff for the 2024 Paris Games. Of those checks, varying threats were identified, including meddling and espionage, convicted criminal records, illegal alien statuses, radical Islam, and ultra-right and ultra-left ideologies. The statement re-iterated that this will be the first Opening Ceremony taking place outside of a stadium for the Summer Games, creating significant security challenges. However, the ministry expressed its confidence, stating that it’s “now ready” after final rehearsals took place on Tuesday evening.

Persons: ”, it’s, Gerald Darmanin, “, ” Darmanin Organizations: CNN, France’s, Olympics, Olympic Games, Summer, French Locations: Islam, Russia, France, Paris, Seine, “ France

☆ Gerard Depardieu accused of attacking ‘the king’ of paparazzi at Harry’s Bar in Rome
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Barbie Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Rome CNN —In a scene reminiscent of La Dolce Vita era, French actor Gerard Depardieu has been accused of attacking celebrity photographer Rino Barillari outside Harry’s Bar on the famed Via Veneto in Rome. Piero Lepore, the owner of Harry’s Bar in Rome, confirmed to CNN that the incident happened, but did not cast blame. This sort of thing never happens here,” Lepore told CNN by telephone. “We are used to celebrities and we are used to paparazzi – they can’t survive without each other. Magda Vavrusova’s lawyer, Delphine Meillet, said in a statement to CNN that it was Barillari who had pushed Vavrusova.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN —, La Dolce, Gerard Depardieu, Rino, Depardieu, Barillari, ”, Magda Vavrusova, Piero Lepore, Federico Fellini, ” –, Paparazzo, ” Lepore, “, Lepore, Magda Vavrusova’s, Delphine Meillet, Meillet, Vavrusova, ” Meillet, University Policlinico Umberto, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Liz Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Depardieu’s, –, Charlotte Arnould Organizations: Rome CNN, Via Veneto, Police, CNN, Rome, University, ” CNN, Paris Locations: Harry’s, Rome, Piazza Navona

☆ Gérard Depardieu Ordered to Stand Trial in Sexual Assault Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Gérard Depardieu was ordered on Monday to stand trial on criminal charges that he sexually assaulted two women during a 2021 film shoot in France, deepening the French actor’s legal woes and further tarnishing his global reputation as he faces a growing number of accusations of sexual violence. The Paris prosecutor’s office announced that Mr. Depardieu, 75, would be tried in October over allegations that he sexually assaulted the two women on the set of “Les Volets Verts,” or “The Green Shutters,” a movie by the French director Jean Becker that was released in 2022. The prosecutor’s office did not identify the two women or provide any details about the alleged assaults. Lawyers for Mr. Depardieu did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday evening, but the actor has repeatedly denied any sexual misconduct in the past. The order to stand trial was a serious development for Mr. Depardieu — one of the most prominent men in France to face accusations of sexual wrongdoing, especially since a new wave of allegations swept through the French movie industry in recent months.

Persons: Gérard Depardieu, Depardieu, Jean Becker Organizations: Mr Locations: France, Paris, French

☆ Outcry in France as Principal Steps Down Over Head Scarf Incident
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Paris school principal’s decision to step down after he received online death threats over an incident involving a Muslim student’s head scarf has prompted national outrage this week in France. Camera crews have descended on the school and the government said it planned to sue the student, accusing her of making false accusations — the latest flashpoint in a debate over French secularism and the treatment of the country’s Muslim minority. Officials say the incident occurred on Feb. 28 at the Lycée Maurice-Ravel when the school’s principal asked three students to remove their head scarves on school grounds. Two of the students complied, but a third refused, causing an “altercation,” according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Since 2004, middle and high school students in France have been barred from wearing “ostentatious” symbols that have a clear religious meaning, like a Catholic cross, a Jewish skullcap or a Muslim head scarf.

Persons: Maurice, Ravel Organizations: Paris Locations: France

☆ A French-Malian Singer Is Caught in an Olympic Storm
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Roger Cohen | Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In four months, France will host the Paris Olympics, but which France will show up? Torn between tradition and modernity, the country is in the midst of an identity crisis. Right-wing critics say Ms. Nakamura’s music does not represent France, and the prospect of her performing has led to a barrage of racist insults online against her. The outcry has compounded a fight over an official poster unveiled this month: a pastel rendering of the city’s landmarks thronging with people in a busy style reminiscent of the “Where’s Waldo?” children’s books. An opinion essay in the right-wing Journal du Dimanche said “the malaise of a nation in the throes of deconstruction” was in full view.

Persons: Aya Nakamura, Waldo, ”, Napoleon, Dimanche Organizations: Paris Olympics, French Locations: France, Malian, Paris, Invalides

☆ Paris Police Investigating $1.6 Million Wine Theft From Famed Restaurant
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Jenny Gross | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than 80 bottles of rare wine disappeared from the cellar of La Tour d’Argent, a renowned restaurant in Paris, according to a complaint filed last week that left investigators scrambling to find who was responsible. The stolen wine was worth an estimated 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million), the Paris prosecutor’s spokeswoman said in a statement. The third division of the Paris Judicial Police is overseeing the investigation. In 2011, robbers disabled security alarms and security cameras as they stole 400 cases of wine worth 1 million British pounds (about $1.6 million at the time) from a London warehouse. A decade later, the owners of a hotel and restaurant in Cáceres, Spain, reported that 45 bottles of wine worth 1.6 million euros (about $1.9 million in 2021) went missing from their cellar, including a bottle worth 350,000 euros (about $414,000 at the time).

Persons: Paris prosecutor’s, Le Parisien Organizations: Paris Judicial Police Locations: Paris, London, Cáceres, Spain, Mexican, El

☆ French senator under investigation in MP drugging case
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Paris CNN —A French senator has been placed under formal investigation over suspicions that he drugged a member of parliament with the intention to sexually abuse her, the senator’s lawyer and the Paris prosecutor’s office said. In a separate statement, Guerriau denied the charges. It was not clear why Josso was in the senator’s flat at the time of the alleged incident. The Paris prosecutor confirmed late on Friday that an investigation has been opened, adding that Guerriau had been placed under judicial control and is not allowed to contact Josso or witnesses. A spokesman for the senator’s conservative Horizons party, which is also part of French President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling coalition, told Radio France Info on Saturday that Guerriau had been suspended with immediate effect.

Persons: Paris CNN —, Joel Guerriau, Sandrine Josso, ”, Remi, Pierre Drai, Guerriau, Josso’s, Julia Minkowski, Emmanuel Macron’s Organizations: Paris CNN, Paris, Conservative, Reuters, BFM, Horizons, Radio France Locations: French, Paris

☆ Emmanuelle Béart, 'Mission: Impossible' star, reveals she was victim of incest
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —French film actress Emmanuelle Béart has revealed that she was a victim of incest, continuing a national reckoning with child sexual abuse in France. Béart tells her story as part of the documentary, “Un silence si bruyant” (“Such a loud silence”), which she co-directed. Mikova went on to say that Béart did not want to name her abuser for “family reasons.”Beart played Claire Phelps in the film "Mission: Impossible" (1996). Let’s break the silence.”The issue of incest and child sexual abuse has come to fore in France in recent years after an accusation in a prominent family prompted a national reckoning. “Being subjected to personal attacks, and in an attempt to preserve the institutions in which I work, I terminate my functions,” Duhamel wrote on Twitter shortly after the accusations surfaced.

Persons: Emmanuelle Béart, Manon, Béart, Anastasia Mikova, –, Guy Béart –, Mikova, ” Beart, Claire Phelps, Murray, “, ”, ” Béart, Elle, Charlotte Caubel, Camille Kouchner, Olivier Duhamel, Duhamel, ” Duhamel, BFMTV Organizations: CNN, Sciences Po, Twitter, Reuters Locations: French, France, “, Socialist, Paris

☆ Eiffel Tower: Paris police arrest man for jumping off tower with parachute
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Niamh Kennedy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Police in Paris have arrested a man for jumping off the Eiffel Tower with a parachute on Thursday, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV. A man scaled a pillar of the iconic landmark early morning local time, BFMTV reported, citing police sources. The tower was slightly delayed in opening on Thursday morning due to the incident, according to BFMTV. Two American men were discovered on Monday after spending a drunken night up the Eiffel Tower, the monument’s management told CNN. The three floors of the tower, as well as the courtyard, were evacuated while authorities assessed the threat, BFMTV reported.

Persons: BFMTV Organizations: CNN — Police, CNN, BFMTV, Paris Locations: Paris, SETE, BFMTV

☆ Two American Tourists Caught Sleeping in the Eiffel Tower
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Jenny Gross | More About Jenny Gross | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The opening of the Eiffel Tower was delayed on Monday morning after security officials found two American tourists sleeping in the monument overnight, officials said. “They were detected in the early morning by the Sete security service, during daily rounds of checks carried out before the monument was opened to the public,” according to the Eiffel Tower’s operator, Sociéte d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, also known as Sete. The Paris prosecutor’s office was informed on Monday morning that two American men had been found sleeping on the site of the Eiffel Tower after entering with tickets on Sunday night, according to a spokeswoman for the office, who said that alcohol was involved. She did not know where in the Eiffel Tower the men were discovered. One of the world’s most recognizable landmarks, the Eiffel Tower was built from 1887 to 1889 to celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution and stands at 1,083 feet.

Persons: “ Organizations: Eiffel Locations: Sete, Paris

Paris CNN —Paris-Saint Germain (PSG) and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and his partner were attacked and robbed in his apartment in Paris on Thursday evening, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. “An investigation has been launched into charges of armed robbery, gang kidnapping and aggravated violence following the events that took place overnight at Mr. Donnarumma’s place,” the prosecutor’s office told CNN. Donnarumma’s agent told CNN in a statement that the goalkeeper and his partner “are in shock at what happened but doing well under the terrible circumstances. This is not the first time a PSG player has been robbed. In March 2021, both the homes of PSG players Marquinhos and Angel Di Maria were raided and robbed in the Paris region.

Persons: Saint Germain, Gianluigi Donnarumma, “, CNN also, BFMTV, Angel Di Maria, Donnarumma Organizations: Paris CNN —, PSG, Paris, Mr, CNN, French, Marquinhos, Cerezo Osaka, Inter Milan Locations: Paris CNN — Paris, Italy, Paris, Japan, Osaka, Saudi Arabian, Tokyo

☆ France's Elysee Palace was mailed chopped fingertip, says Paris prosecutor
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Oliver Briscoe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

CNN —A police investigation has been launched after a chopped finger was sent to the official residence of the French president, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. The package delivered to the Elysee palace contained “a piece of a finger, a fingertip it seems,” the prosecutor’s office told CNN on Thursday. The fingertip is believed to belong to the sender, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported. The Elysee is the official home in Paris of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has held office since 2017. CNN has reached out to the Elysee for comment.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron Organizations: CNN, Paris, Thursday . Police, BFMTV, French, Elysee Locations: Paris

Paris CNN —Six people remain in a critical condition and one person is missing after a gas explosion in central Paris on Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office told CNN on Thursday. Francois Braun, France’s health minister, told CNN affiliate BFMTV Thursday that some of those injured are suffering from “extremely significant burns,” while others have suffered “significant traumatic injuries” due to the blast. Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor said that early signs indicate that the gas explosion came from within the building that houses the Paris American Academy, according BFMTV. Paris American Academy, a fashion and design school, describes itself on its website as the “first bilingual design school” in the French capitalKent State University, in the US state of Ohio, said all its students at the Paris American Academy are safe and accounted following the blast. Another woman who didn’t want to give her name and lives in a neighboring avenue told CNN that her doors slammed shut from the explosion.

Persons: Rue Saint Jacques, Laurent Nunez, Francois Braun, ”, Gerald Darmanin, Laure Beccuau, Gonzalo Fuentes, Anne, Anne Hidalgo, Emmanuel Macron, “, ” Macron Organizations: Paris CNN —, CNN, Rue Saint, BFMTV, Paris American Academy, Kent State University, Reuters, Authorities Locations: Paris, Rue, Ohio, Élysée

Paris CNN —Air France and Airbus have been found not guilty of involuntary homicide in a criminal trial over the 2009 crash of a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris that killed 228 passengers and crew. The acquittal was confirmed in an abstract of the court’s ruling provided by the Paris prosecutor’s office. The court did find Airbus and Air France both liable for civil damages for certain failings, though they lacked a “tie of certain causality” with the accident. The 2009 crashMystery initially surrounded the crash of Air France flight 447, in part because it occurred while the plane was flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Problems with pitot tubes had affected Airbus aircraft in the past, but the company had not corrected the problem.

An activist targeted Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa on Monday, throwing cake at the portrait inside the Louvre Museum in Paris. Sergio Migliaccio, a witness to the incident, said the man was in a wheelchair wearing a long wig amid the crowd of people there to see the famed painting. “All of a sudden the guy jumped from the wheelchair and, with a red rose between his lips, he climbed the fences and attacked the Mona Lisa with a cake,” Migliaccio said. The painting hangs behind a layer of glass, leaving it unharmed by the cake. It was also damaged in an acid attack perpetrated by a vandal in the 1950s, and has since been kept behind glass.

☆ Emmanuel Macron Fast Facts
▼ + stars: | 2017-05-21 | by ( Cnn Editorial Research | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Here is a look at the life of France’s President Emmanuel Macron. During his time as economy minister, he spearheaded the so-called “Macron Law,” which aimed to shake up the economy through labor reform. March 1, 2017 - While at an agricultural fair in Paris, Macron is hit by an egg, which cracks on his head. June 23, 2017 - Macron and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in a video together discussing climate change. In their phone call, Biden and Macron agree to meet in person at the end of next month in Europe.

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