President Jacques Chirac said yesterday that ending France's urban violence is still his priority, but also acknowledged problems with a lack of equality.
"Whatever our origins we are all the children of the Republic and we can all expect the same rights," he said, in just his second public comments since rioting began on Oct. 27 in predominantly immigrant suburbs of northeast Paris. "Everyone has a right to respect and equal opportunities."
Even though violence has abated in recent days, Chirac said his priority is still "restoring public order and respect of the law."
He defended his use of state-of-emergency legislation, saying he had "given the security forces the measures they need."
"I want to take this chance to pay homage to the professionalism and sangfroid of the Republic's security forces," he said, speaking at a news conference with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero.
The police had welcomed a drop in the number of cars burned overnight after state-of-emergency measures were introduced, but said that they would remain vigilant ahead of a long weekend.
National Police Chief Michel Gaudin noted a "very sharp drop" in acts of violence on the 14th straight night of unrest, with 482 vehicles burned -- down from 617 the night before.
While youths have been battling riot police with rocks and firebombs, yesterday "there were practically no clashes with police," Gaudin said.
The early epicenter of violence has calmed. The top official in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of northeast Paris reported that the situation was returning to normal, with 15 cars torched overnight, Gaudin said. Car-burnings are a fact of life in France's tough suburbs, and that is close to the nightly average in the region, even in quieter times.
In Belgium, car burnings continued for a fifth night, with 15 vehicles torched.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS