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☆ France to Ban Full-Length Muslim Robes in Public Schools
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | More About Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

France will bar children in public schools from wearing the abaya, a loosefitting, full-length robe worn by some Muslim women, the government said this week. But critics called the ban a discriminatory policing of teenagers’ clothing, fueling yet another debate in France over the way Muslim women dress, which has become a recurring flashpoint in the country’s relations with its Muslim minority. 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. Since 2011, it has also been illegal to wear a face-covering veil in public in France. While it is popular in the Gulf and in some Arab countries, it does not have a clear religious significance.

Persons: — Locations: France

Sitting in a park in Zaragoza, a city in northeastern Spain, Jorge Jiménez, 41, was trying to enjoy a day off from his job as a municipal garbage collector. But the heat was making it difficult. “We get very hot these days,” Mr. Jiménez said. Large areas of southern Europe baked under extreme temperatures on Thursday, the latest in a string of heat waves that have scorched the continent over the summer and sent residents and tourists scrambling for cool shelter. Temperatures in some cities were not as high but still far above the norm for so late in the summer.

Persons: Jorge Jiménez, ” Mr, Jiménez, “ Locations: Zaragoza, Spain, Europe

☆ Jean-Louis Georgelin, Face of the Notre-Dame Reconstruction, Dies at 74
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | More About Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Jean-Louis Georgelin, the French general who was placed in charge of rebuilding Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris after a devastating fire in 2019, has died. “The nation has lost one of its greatest soldiers,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Saturday. “France, one of its great servants. And Notre-Dame, the architect of its rebirth.”General Georgelin, a former army chief of staff whom Mr. Macron had chosen to lead the restoration project, was hiking in the Pyrénées in southwestern France on Friday when an accident most likely occurred, according to French news reports. The prosecutor’s office told the French news media that the police had found a body and formally identified it as the general’s, but the exact circumstances were not immediately clear.

Persons: Jean, Louis Georgelin, Emmanuel Macron, Georgelin, Macron Organizations: Notre, Dame Cathedral, “, Dame Locations: Paris, “ France, France

☆ Macron’s Lesson After Riots? France Needs Order ‘at Every Level’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | More About Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But his plan for normalcy was overshadowed by violent rioting this month after the fatal police shooting of a teenager. “The lesson I’ve drawn is, first, order, order, order,” Mr. Macron told the TF1 and France 2 television channels from New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific — the first of several stops on a trip to Oceania this week. The officer who fired the fatal shot has been charged with voluntary homicide and detained. Thousands of cars were burned and hundreds of buildings were damaged, including schools, police stations and town halls. The unrest lasted less than a week but was rooted in deeply seated anger and mistrust toward the police in France’s poorer, minority-dominated urban enclaves.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Mr, Macron, Macron’s, Nahel Merzouk Organizations: TF1, Pacific Locations: France, New Caledonia, Oceania, French, North, Paris

Guilhem Gallart used to speak with a thick, southern French accent, his voice deep and slightly nasal, topped by a faint lisp. Now, his family jokes with him that he sounds like a GPS device. His wife and two daughters, Mr. Gallart said, sometimes call his old cellphone number just to hear his voice mail greeting. Losing his distinctive voice, he said, has felt like surrendering an essential part of himself, as sound has been his life’s passion. Better known as Pone, he is a music producer and beatmaker who once belonged to one of France’s most popular old-school rap groups, the Fonky Family.

Persons: Guilhem Gallart, Gallart, beatmaker

The United States appears to be on the verge of providing Ukraine with cluster munitions, a senior Biden administration official said. What are cluster munitions? “There’s just not a responsible way to use cluster munitions,” said Brian Castner, the weapons expert on Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Team. The New York Times has documented Russia’s extensive use of cluster munitions in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022. The Convention on Cluster Munitions also limits the ability of nations that have signed on to cooperate militarily with countries that employ them.

Persons: Laura Cooper, “ There’s, ”, Brian Castner, Castner, “, Ukraine —, Jerry Redfern, Mary Wareham, Cooper, Biden, Gabriela Rosa Hernández, David Guttenfelder, Oleksandr Kubrakov, ” Eric Schmitt, John Ismay, Gaya Gupta Organizations: Biden, Washington, U.S, Pentagon, National Public Radio, United Nations, Amnesty, Cluster Munitions, Getty, The New York Times, The Times, Human Rights Watch, NATO, Ukraine, Munitions, Arms Control, Ukraine’s, Brigade, ., Munich Security Locations: States, Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia, Eurasia, Tibnin, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Balkans, Laos, U.S, United, United States, LightRocket, Russian, Kramatorsk, Ukrainian

☆ Unrest in France Eases Nearly a Week After Fatal Police Shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The violent protests and unrest that spread across France after the fatal police shooting of a teenager last week diminished significantly overnight, the authorities said on Monday. Still, as a reminder that tensions remain high, French mayors called for peaceful gatherings around the country to protest a spate of violent attacks on elected officials. Nearly 160 people were arrested and three law enforcement officers were injured overnight, the Interior Ministry said on Monday morning, far fewer than in previous days, when as many as 1,300 people were taken into custody. “When you arrest 3,200 people, when the courts put people on trial, when you put on a show of republican force — a fair order, but an order nonetheless — I think that has largely contributed to this return to calm,” Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, told reporters in Reims on Monday.

Persons: “, Gérald Darmanin Organizations: Interior Ministry Locations: France, Reims

☆ Over 600 Arrested in France After Another Night of Unrest
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than 600 people were arrested in France in a third night of unrest that has rocked cities around the country since a police officer fatally shot a 17-year-old driver this week, the authorities said on Friday, with decades-long complaints about police violence and persistent feelings of neglect and racial discrimination in France’s poorer urban suburbs adding fuel to the protests. President Emmanuel Macron, who was at a European Union summit in Brussels, took the rare step of leaving before the end to attend a crisis meeting in Paris. It was his second this week as the government struggles to contain the anger unleashed by the killing, which took place during a traffic stop in Nanterre, west of Paris, on Tuesday. The officer who fired the shot has been placed under formal investigation on charges of voluntary homicide and detained — a rare step in criminal cases involving police officers. But the swift charges against the officer appeared to have done little to calm tensions, with many of the protesters identifying with the teenager, a French citizen of North African descent who has been publicly identified only as Nahel M.Overnight, protesters burned cars, damaged public buildings, looted stores and clashed with riot police officers in Nanterre and dozens of cities around France.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, — Locations: France, Brussels, Paris, Nanterre, French, North

☆ What’s behind the unrest in France?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Emma Bubola | Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

About 180 people were arrested and 170 officers were injured, France’s interior minister said. The unrest was in response to the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old by a police officer in Nanterre, a suburb west of Paris, on Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, a police officer shot and killed a 17-year-old boy, who has been identified only as Nahel M., while the teenager was driving. The prosecutor in Nanterre said Nahel was driving in a bus lane and, when officers tried to stop him, drove through a red light to get away. He was killed by a single shot that went through his left arm and chest, the prosecutor said.

Persons: Nahel Organizations: Mercedes Locations: Nanterre, Paris

☆ France Unrest New Wave of Overnight Rage Rocks France; Officer in Police Shooting Will Be Investigated
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | Shashank Bengali | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

In Clamart, a Paris suburb, a tramway was briefly set ablaze. Prosecutors are asking that the officer be placed in detention, and he will be presented on Thursday to investigative judges, who will hand down charges. Initial accounts, provided to the French news media by what were described as anonymous police sources, claimed that the driver had plowed into officers during the stop. Lawyers for the 17-year-old killed in the shooting have said they will file several complaints against the two officers involved in the traffic stop. The teenager’s family was also scheduled to lead a march in his memory in Nanterre in the afternoon.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, ”, Gérald, Pascal Prache Organizations: Paris PARIS —, Republic . ” Police, Prosecutors Locations: Republic, Trappes, Paris, Rouen, Nanterre, France

☆ Anger Flares in France After Police Shoot and Kill Teenage Driver
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Initial news reports, based on what were described as anonymous police sources, had suggested that the driver plowed into two officers with his car on Tuesday during the stop in Nanterre, west of the capital. But an unconfirmed video of the shooting that appeared later led to accusations that the police had acted too aggressively, and prosecutors in Nanterre have opened a manslaughter investigation. The video, believed to have been filmed by a witness, spread quickly on social networks and was picked up by the French news media. It shows two helmeted police officers on the left side of a yellow car that is stopped on the street. One of the officers leans onto the windshield and points what appears to be a firearm at the driver, and as the car starts moving away, a loud bang is audible.

Organizations: The New York Times Locations: France, Paris, Nanterre

☆ Explosion Rocks Central Paris, Injuring at Least 24 People
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An explosion tore through an apartment building in central Paris on Wednesday, partly collapsing the structure and injuring at least 24 people, according to the French authorities. The explosion, which occurred around 5 p.m. on Rue Saint-Jacques, in the Fifth Arrondissement of the French capital, projected rubble and glass into the street and started a fire that sent black smoke billowing into the sky. Four of the people injured in the blast were in critical condition, according to the Paris police. Laurent Nuñez, the Paris police prefect, told reporters more than 250 firefighters had deployed to the scene and were able to prevent the flames from spreading to neighboring buildings, which were nonetheless “seriously destabilized” and evacuated.

Persons: Jacques, Laurent Nuñez, destabilized ” Organizations: Rue Saint Locations: Paris, Rue, Fifth

☆ Paul-Henri Nargeolet Has Made More Than 35 Titanic Site Trips
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert who has been on over 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site, is one of the five people aboard the submersible that has been missing since Sunday, according to his literary representative, Mathieu Johann. Mr. Nargeolet, 77, is the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, Inc., an American company that owns the salvage rights to the famous wreck and displays many of the artifacts at Titanic exhibitions. The dozens of dives Mr. Nargeolet has made to the wreck site include previous OceanGate expeditions on the Titan, the missing submersible. Mr. Nargeolet’s company, RMS Titanic, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Sunday, in a statement on Twitter, it expressed “heartfelt support to the Boston Coast Guard during their search and rescue mission” but made no mention of Mr. Nargeolet.

Persons: Paul, Henri Nargeolet, Mathieu Johann, Mr, Nargeolet Organizations: Twitter, Boston Coast Guard Locations: American

“The submersible industry had significant concerns over the strategy of building a deep sea expedition submersible without following existing classification safety guidelines,” Mr. Kohnen said. OceanGate said in the post that because its Titan craft was so innovative, it could take years to get it certified by leading assessment agencies. “Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation,” the company wrote. The submersible sustained modest damage to its exterior, he wrote, leading OceanGate to cancel the mission so it could make repairs. Still, Mr. Concannon wrote in the filing, 28 individuals had been able to visit the Titanic wreckage on the craft in 2022.

Persons: —, Will Kohnen, Mr, Kohnen, Rush, OceanGate, Bart Kemper, ”, Kemper, Charles Kohnen, Will Kohnen’s, “, David Concannon, Concannon, Rebecca Beach Smith, Kitty Bennett Organizations: The New York Times, Stockton Rush, Manned, Vehicles, Marine Technology Society, Titan, Atlantis, Eastern, of, Court Locations: Canadian, U.S, of Virginia

☆ Annecy Stabbings Lead to Charges Against Syrian Refugee
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A homeless Syrian man in his 30s was charged with attempted murder and detained in France on Saturday in connection with a violent stabbing attack this past week that injured two adults and four young children, a prosecutor said. There was no indication that the attack was an act of terrorism, said Line Bonnet-Mathis, the public prosecutor in Annecy, the southeastern French city where the attack unfolded on Thursday. The attacker, now in custody, has also been charged with resisting arrest with a weapon. Bystanders, including a so-called backpack hero, chased the man before police officers arrested him. Witnesses heard him mention his ex-wife, his daughter and Jesus Christ during the assault, the prosecutor added.

Persons: Mathis, lunging, Bonnet, Witnesses, Jesus Christ Locations: France, Annecy, French, Sweden

☆ 4 Children and 2 Adults Are Stabbed in an Attack in France
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A knife-wielding man stabbed four children and two adults at a park in southeastern France on Thursday, the authorities said, in an attack that President Emmanuel Macron called “absolutely cowardly.”The local authorities said in a statement that a suspect had been arrested in the attack, which took place in Annecy, a city of about 130,000 people, and that all of the wounded had been hospitalized. Their immediate condition was not clear, but Mr. Macron said on Twitter that “children and one adult are between life and death” as a result of the attack. He added, “The nation is in shock.”The attack occurred just before 10 a.m. at a popular lakefront park in Annecy. Anthony Le Tallec, a former professional soccer player who ended his career in the city, said that he had witnessed the attack. In an Instagram story from the park, where he filmed police officers and emergency services at the scene, he said that he had been jogging on the lakefront when he saw dozens of people running in the other direction.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Anthony Le Tallec Organizations: Twitter Locations: France, Annecy

A critical dam on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine broke overnight on Tuesday, endangering tens of thousands of people who live downstream. Russia said that Ukrainian forces had carried out sabotage. Located near the front line of the war in the southern Kherson region, the dam and nearby infrastructure have been damaged by shelling throughout the war. The area including the dam and the adjacent hydroelectric plant has been occupied by Russian forces since last year. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine blamed “Russian terrorists,” while the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, blamed Ukrainian forces, describing what happened as sabotage.

Persons: António Guterres, Nova Kakhovka, Volodymyr Zelensky, “, Dmitri S, Peskov, ” Natalia Humeniuk, Radio Svoboda, Sergei K, John F, Kirby, Ihor Syrota Organizations: The New York Times, Engineering, Radio, Kyiv, National Security Council, Russian, of Locations: Dnipro, Ukraine, Russia, Kherson, Nova, Ukrainian, Donetsk, United States, Russian, Antonivka, Zaporizhzhia, Crimea, Kakhovka, of Culture

☆ Morning Bid: Global pulse picks up, rates creep higher again
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike DolanWith investors largely assuming recession ahead, an accelerating global economic pulse challenges the narrative and is seeing interest rates tick back higher again as the March banking wobble subsides. With March starts and permits numbers out later, there was also signs of a troughing in the U.S. housing market. Confidence among U.S. single-family homebuilders improved for a fourth straight month in April as a dearth of previously owned homes and falling mortgage rates boosted demand. Wall St futures were higher again on Tuesday, with European bourses and most Asia indices advancing too. With euro zone and UK rate expectations pushing higher too, the dollar slipped back again against the euro and sterling .

☆ U.S. Corporate Boards Boosted Sustainability Experience in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Companies are shoring up sustainability experience in the boardroom as they face mandatory climate-disclosure regulations. Among Fortune 500 companies, 25% of board appointees in 2022 had previous experience on sustainability committees, up from 14% in 2021, according to executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. “Boards feel like they don’t always have the right skills, knowledge, language about what’s going on,” she said. In the longer term, the work of these sustainability committees should be more integrated into the company’s overall strategy, Ms. Breeden said. The agenda of sustainability committees varies among companies and industries, Ms. Breeden said.

☆ Morning Bid: Is China exporting deflation?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Relief wasn't immediate, as the figures were tinged by doubt on the robustness of China's consumption rebound, with inflation in the country also at its slowest in a year. That's likely welcomed since analysts are making their latest upward revisions to U.S. and European interest rate expectations and do not need another inflationary shock from China's reopening. European futures steadied in Asia as markets assumed a holding pattern with the focus on U.S. data as the driver of interest rate movement. The Bank of Japan concludes a two-day meeting on Friday, though it is increasingly dancing to its own beat. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3%; Japanese stocks rose 0.6% on Thursday.

☆ Pension schemes advised to sell LDI funds after gilt chaos - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Pension schemes that invested in liability-driven investment (LDI) funds run by BlackRock and other managers are being advised to sell their holdings, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Monday. Investment advisers XPS Pensions and Barnett Waddingham have cut their ratings on some pooled LDI funds to their lowest ranking, according to the report, adding that the downgrades had been communicated to multiple pension funds. The downgrades only affected "pooled" fund arrangements, or a large group of pension schemes invested together, rather than individual scheme funds, the report added. XPS confirmed that it has downgraded three LDI managers pooled funds off the back of the research undertaken during December and January. LDI funds have been used by pension schemes to ensure they can meet payouts to pensioners in future years.

☆ Bank of England to toughen up rules for liability-driven funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LDI funds have been used by pension schemes to ensure they can meet payouts to pensioners in future years. Yields on the government bonds or "gilts" held by LDI funds rocketed, and the funds struggled to meet urgent collateral calls to cover the fall in bond prices. The Pensions Regulator, which regulates pension schemes, and the Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates managers of LDI funds may have additional requirements, she said. Regulators in Luxembourg and Dublin, where LDI funds are listed, will also have their own requirements. The "complete absence" of data on leverage in LDI funds will also be addressed, she added.

☆ Morning bid: Tech tonic, recession rethink
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Pumped-up hopes for U.S. tech sector earnings in a heavy week for corporate updates generally have twinned with the latest sign Europe may have dodged a winter recession. With Microsoft in view, attention will be on the extent for cost cutting and job shedding in the tech and digital space. Music-streamer Spotify (SPOT.N) rose 2% on Monday as it joined a growing list of tech firms to announce staff cuts, shedding 6% of its workforce. Reports of Ford's F.N plan to cut 3,200 workers in Europe shows job attrition may not be confined to tech sector. Whether that's just too rosy and markets have yet to price a full-blown earnings recession is this year's big question.

For the second time in less than three years, the Bank of England has made an emergency intervention in the market for UK government bonds. Investors rushed to liquidate assets, including money market funds which held UK government bonds. The latest intervention was triggered by excessive leverage in UK pension funds, which had borrowed to boost returns using a strategy known as liability-driven investing (LDI). To prevent future blow-ups, regulators could cap money market funds’ exposure to less liquid assets, reducing the risk of a run by investors. Financial market regulators in European fund centres like Ireland and Luxembourg have stepped up surveillance of LDI strategies used by UK pension funds, the Financial Times reported on Oct. 28.

☆ Bank of England wants more transparency for 'non banks' after gilts turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Traders work on the trading floor of Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London, Britain December 7, 2018. It shone a light on the less regulated global $200 trillion 'non-bank' sector which is made up of pension funds, insurers and different types of investment funds, and spans borders. The onus for building resilience in the non-bank system sits first and foremost with the firms themselves," Breeden added. Banks and non-banks also need to improve stress-testing for risks, she added. Toks Oyebode, executive director for regulatory affairs at JPMorgan bank, said steps outlined by Breeden and other regulators, such as regarding margining, were timely.

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