France’s Bastille Day parade meets the Olympic torch relay in an exceptional year

The Olympic torch relay is joining up with thousands of troops marching in Paris beneath roaring fighter jets to mark Bastille Day. (REUTERS)
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Updated 28 July 2024
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France’s Bastille Day parade meets the Olympic torch relay in an exceptional year

  • Bastille Day marks the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris on July 14, 1789
  • The Olympic torch relay is joining up with thousands of troops marching in Paris beneath roaring fighter jets to mark Bastille Day

PARIS: Paris hosted an extra-special guest for France’s national holiday Sunday — the Olympic flame lighting up the city’s grandiose military parade for Bastille Day.
Just 12 days before the French capital hosts exceptionally ambitious and high-security Summer Games, the torch relay joined up with thousands of soldiers, sailors, rescuers and medics marching in Paris beneath roaring fighter jets.
While people around France mark the day with concerts, parties and fireworks, here’s a look at what the holiday’s about, and what’s different this year:
What does Bastille Day celebrate?
On July 14, 1789, revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in Paris, heralding the start of the French Revolution and the end of the monarchy.
The holiday is central to the French calendar, with events across the country. It aims to embody the national motto of ‘’liberty, equality and fraternity,” though not everyone in France feels the country lives up to that promise.
The Paris parade is the holiday’s highlight. This year, it paid tribute to those who freed France from Nazi occupation 80 years ago, with a re-enactment of the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, and a presentation by service members from the 31 countries whose troops contributed to the liberation. About half are African nations that were under French colonial rule during World War II.
Who takes part?
Some 4,000 people and 162 horses marched in the tightly choreographed show, among them units that served in NATO missions in eastern Europe, against Islamic extremists in the Sahel, protecting French territories in the South Pacific and global shipping corridors. They were joined this year by three German officers from a cross-border brigade.
The ornamental uniforms are rich in symbolism — most notably those of the French Foreign Legion sappers, with long beards, leather aprons and axes from their original role as route-clearers for advancing armies.
Overhead, 65 aircraft flew in formations, including a British Typhoon fighter alongside French Mirages and Rafales, rescue helicopters and aircraft used in missions from Afghanistan to Mali or international drug busts.
President Emmanuel Macron kicked Sunday’s events off with a review of the troops.
Military bands and choirs played an important role, performing a medley of French military songs, American jazz tunes, a Scottish bagpipe ballad — and the Marseillaise.
The numbers are scaled back compared with previous years, because of Olympics security measures. Around 130,000 police are deployed around France for the holiday weekend.
What’s the political context?
This year’s Bastille Day offered Macron a moment of distraction from the political turmoil he unleashed with snap elections that weakened his pro-business centrist party and his presidency.
The result left a deadlocked parliament with no one clearly in charge. The prime minister could leave office within days, while the left-wing alliance that won the most seats is struggling to agree on a proposed replacement.
Meanwhile, Russia’s war in Ukraine is threatening Europe’s security. At a meeting with military leaders Saturday, Macron said France will keep up support for Ukraine and called for higher defense spending next year because of ‘’approaching threats.’’
What’s different this year?
The Olympic torch relay reached Paris just in time.
The parade wrapped up with the arrival of the flame, escorted by riders on horseback, 25 torchbearers, and cadets dressed in the five Olympic colors forming the shapes of the five interlocking Olympic rings.
The first torchbearer was Col. Thibault Vallette, equestrian gold medalist in the 2016 Rio Olympics, who passed it on to a group of young athletes smiling broadly as they passed it hand-to-hand in front of the presidential tribune.
Usually, the parade travels from the Napoleon-era Arc de Triomphe to the Concorde plaza, where France’s last king and queen were beheaded.
This year, Concorde has been transformed into a huge Olympic venue for breakdancing, skateboarding and BMX. So the parade route headed to the Bois de Boulogne park on the city’s edge instead.
Olympic venue construction around the Eiffel Tower means spectators can’t gather beneath the monument to watch its annual fireworks show, either.
After its Bastille Day appearance, the torch relay will swing by Notre Dame Cathedral, the historic Sorbonne university and the Louvre Museum before heading to other Paris landmarks Monday.


Trump clashes with Democrats as he expands National Guard plans

Updated 25 August 2025
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Trump clashes with Democrats as he expands National Guard plans

  • Trump had said Friday that Chicago and New York — major Democratic-led cities — would receive National Guard deployments similar to Washington

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump threatened to deploy National Guard troops Sunday to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as the US president seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration.
The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage.
Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing.
In June he controversially ordered nearly 5,000 troops to Los Angeles — ostensibly to quell protests against immigration enforcement raids — triggering ferocious opposition from California Governor Gavin Newsom, widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential hopeful.
And US media is reporting that the Trump administration also is planning an unprecedented deployment of thousands of National Guard personnel to Chicago, the country’s third-largest city, prompting vocal pushback from Democrats there.
As for Baltimore, “if Wes Moore needs help, like Gavin Newscum did in L.A., I will send in the ‘troops,’ which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, using a derogatory nickname.
Trump’s feud with Moore, who is Black, appeared to escalate dramatically this week, with the governor assailing Trump’s provocative suggestion of deploying troops in Maryland and Trump calling Moore “nasty” and threatening to revoke federal funds to help fix a collapsed bridge.
On Sunday, Moore told CNN he had invited Trump to walk the streets of Baltimore with him so the governor could counter “this blissful ignorance, these tropes and these 1980 scare tactics” used by the president.
“Hey Donald, we can get you a golf cart if that makes things easier,” Moore needled the 79-year-old Trump on X.
Trump for his part said he would “much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a ‘walk,’” as he cited Moore’s “very bad” record on crime.
Moore said Maryland’s homicide rate has dropped more than 20 percent since he has been governor, “and the last time the homicide rate was this low in Baltimore City, I was not born yet.”
Moore, 46, is a US Army veteran, best-selling author, and the third African-American person elected governor of a US state.
The Pentagon meanwhile refused to confirm reports that Chicago would soon receive troops.
Trump had said Friday that Chicago and New York — major Democratic-led cities — would receive National Guard deployments similar to Washington.
“We’re going to make our cities very, very safe,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I think Chicago will be our next and then we’ll help with New York.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democrats, strongly rejected the idea.
“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are trying to paint their party as one of ‘law and order,’” Pritzker posted on X. “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Chicago recorded 573 homicides in 2024, according to city police, eight percent lower than the year before.


France summons US Ambassador Kushner over ‘unacceptable’ letter about rising antisemitism

Updated 7 min 53 sec ago
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France summons US Ambassador Kushner over ‘unacceptable’ letter about rising antisemitism

  • Macron’s Elysee office was quick to hit back at Netanyahu, calling the Israeli leader’s allegation “abject” and “erroneous”

WASHINGTON: France has summoned the American ambassador to Paris after the diplomat, Charles Kushner, wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.
France’s foreign ministry issued a statement Sunday announcing it had summoned Kushner to appear Monday at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and that his allegations “are unacceptable.”
The White House and US State Department did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The summoning of the ambassador is a formal and public notice of displeasure.
Kushner, a real-estate developer, is the father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The French foreign ministry, in its statement, said “France firmly rejects these allegations” from Kushner and that French authorities have “fully mobilized” to combat a rise in antisemitic acts since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, deeming the acts “intolerable.”
The contents of the letter were not released.
Kushner’s allegations violate international law and the obligation not to interfere with the internal affairs of another country, the French ministry said, and, “They also fall short of the quality of the transatlantic partnership between France and the United States and of the trust that must prevail between allies.”
The dustup follows Macron’s rejection this past week of accusations from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state is fueling antisemitism.
France is home to the largest Jewish population in Western Europe, with an estimated 500,000 Jews. That’s approximately 1 percent of the national population.
The diplomatic discord comes as French-US relations have faced tensions this year amid Trump’s trade war and a split over the future of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. France in particular has objected to the US push to wind down the peacekeeping operation known as UNIFIL, with a vote on the issue set for the end of the month by the UN Security Council.
France and the US have also been divided on support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, but the split has eased with Trump expressing support for security guarantees and a warm meeting with Macron and other European leaders at the White House last week.
Trump at the end of his first term as president pardoned Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
His son Jared is a former White House senior adviser to Trump who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka.


Zelensky calls for talks with Putin as peace efforts stall

Updated 24 August 2025
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Zelensky calls for talks with Putin as peace efforts stall

  • Ukrainian troops had recaptured three villages in its Donetsk region that had fallen under Russian control, says general
  • And on its independence day, Ukraine launched drone strikes on Russia, triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant

KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted Sunday that a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin remained “the most effective way forward” as the two sides exchange prisoners and the country celebrated Independence Day.
Kyiv’s military chief said that Ukrainian troops had recaptured three villages in its Donetsk region that had fallen under Russian control. And Ukraine launched drone strikes on Russia, triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant.
After a push by US President Donald Trump to broker a Ukraine-Russia summit, hopes for peace dimmed when Russia on Friday ruled out any immediate Putin-Zelensky meeting.
But Zelensky said Sunday that the “format of talks between leaders is the most effective way forward,” renewing calls for a bilateral summit with Putin.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier accused Western countries of seeking “a pretext to block negotiations” and condemned Zelensky for “demanding an immediate meeting at all costs.”
Zelensky, speaking at a ceremony attended by Western officials including US envoy Keith Kellogg — whom he awarded with the Ukrainian Order of Merit — vowed to “to push Russia to peace.”
Also Sunday, Ukraine and Russia said they had each sent back 146 prisoners of war and civilians in the latest of a series of swaps that remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the rivals.
Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomed the release of two Ukrainian journalists, Dmytro Khyliuk and Mark Kaliush, denouncing “their abductions and the abuse they suffered in detention.”

3 villages recaptured

With the war having already claimed tens of thousands of lives, Russia has recently claimed new advances, including taking two villages in the eastern Donetsk region Saturday.
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, said Sunday that three other villages had been reclaimed in Donetsk, which has emerged as the focal point for peace talks.
The drone attacks in Russia on Ukraine’s Independence Day included one shot down over the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in western Russia.
The plant said a fire sparked by the drone had been extinguished and there were no casualties or increased radiation levels.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned of the risks from fighting around nuclear plants following Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.
Russian authorities said Ukrainian drones had also been shot down over areas far from the front, including Saint Petersburg in the northwest.
Ten drones were shot down over the port of Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland, sparking a fire at a fuel terminal owned by Russian energy group Novatek, local authorities said.
Ukraine’s outgunned army has used drones to target Russia’s oil infrastructure, a key source of Moscow’s revenues to fund the war. Russia has seen soaring fuel prices since the attacks began.
Ukraine said Russia had attacked with a ballistic missile and 72 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones, 48 of which the air force said had been shot down. A Russian drone strike killed a 47-year-old woman in the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, the governor said.

Ukraine marks Independence Day
Speaking at the ceremony to mark the anniversary of Ukraine’s 1991 independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union, Zelensky said: “Today, both the US and Europe agree: Ukraine has not yet fully won, but it will certainly not lose.
“Ukraine has secured its independence. Ukraine is not a victim; it is a fighter.”
The presence of foreign troops in Ukraine once the war ended would be “important,” he said. Kyiv is still working on security guarantees with its allies.
Russia has repeatedly objected to Western troops being stationed in Ukraine.
But Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, visiting Kyiv on Sunday, said it was not “the choice of Russia how the future sovereignty, independence, liberty of Ukraine is guaranteed.”
Zelensky thanked other world leaders including Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s King Charles and Pope Leo for sending messages to mark the occasion.
Norway announced it would contribute seven billion kroner ($700 million) as part of its joint pledge with Germany to provide Ukraine with two complete US Patriot systems that Germany already possesses.
The systems are in Germany and will be delivered to Ukraine “as soon as possible,” the Norwegian government said.
Russia now controls around a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
Putin has repeatedly rebuffed calls from Ukraine and the West for an immediate ceasefire.
The fighting has forced millions of people to flee their homes and destroyed cities and villages across eastern and southern Ukraine.
 


US VP Vance says Russia has made significant concessions toward Ukraine peace deal

Vice President JD Vance listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025.
Updated 24 August 2025
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US VP Vance says Russia has made significant concessions toward Ukraine peace deal

  • “I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in three and a half years of this conflict,” Vance said

WASHINGTON: US Vice President JD Vance said Russia has made “significant concessions” toward a negotiated settlement in its war with Ukraine and was confident progress was being made despite the lack of clear signs the conflict is nearing an end.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker,” Vance said Russian President Vladimir Putin has made several concessions, including that Ukraine will receive security guarantees protecting against future Russian aggression.
“I think the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in three and a half years of this conflict,” Vance said in comments aired on Sunday.
“They’ve recognized that they’re not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv. That was, of course, a major demand at the beginning. And importantly, they’ve acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, started a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. In return for ending Russia’s attacks, Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, sources told Reuters last week.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that a group of nations including United Nations Security Council members should be the guarantors of Ukraine’s security.
On Friday President Donald Trump renewed a threat to impose sanctions on Russia if there was no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine in two weeks, showing frustration at Moscow a week after his meeting with Putin in Alaska.
Vance said sanctions would be considered on a case-by-case basis, acknowledging that new penalties were unlikely to prompt Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine.
Vance pointed to Trump’s announcement this month of an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods as a punishment for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil as the kind of economic leverage that would be used in pursuit of peace.
“He’s tried to make it clear that Russia can be re-invited into the world economy if they stop the killing, but they’re going to continue to be isolated if they don’t stop the killing,” Vance said.


Pro-Palestinian protest draws thousands in Copenhagen

A child holds a Palestinian flag as protesters attend a demonstration called “All of Denmark on the streets for a free Palestine
Updated 24 August 2025
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Pro-Palestinian protest draws thousands in Copenhagen

  • Denmark has said it wants to use its current presidency of the EU to increase pressure on the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza
  • PM Frederiksen recently said war had gone “too far”

COPENHAGEN: More than 10,000 people took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Copenhagen on Sunday, calling for an end to the war in Gaza and urging Denmark to recognize the state of Palestine.
Some 100 organizations including Oxfam, Greenpeace and Amnesty took part in the march, as well as unions, political parties, artists’ collectives and activists including Greta Thunberg.
Police did not provide an estimate of the number of demonstrators.
Gathering under sunny skies outside the Danish parliament, the demonstrators — many of them families with young children — waved flags and carried banners, chanting “Stop Arms Sales,” “Free Free Palestine” and “Denmark Says No to Genocide.”
A traditional supporter of Israel, Denmark has said it wants to use its current presidency of the European Union to increase pressure on the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza, which Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen recently said had gone “too far.”
But Denmark has said it has no plans to recognize a Palestinian state in the near future.
“Those who are in power are not stopping the genocide, so it’s even more important to go out and protest and show all the leaders that we do not agree with this,” 43-year-old demonstrator Michelle Appelros told AFP.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,622 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.