French president Emmanuel Macron welcomed in Monaco for historic visit
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, arrived in Monaco on Saturday, where they were welcomed for a historic state visit to the principality on the French Riviera.
Macron and his wife received traditional military honours from Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco in a ceremony at the Prince's Palace.
Monaco, in a post on Facebook, hailed its relationship with France, saying the principality and Paris have a strong bond of friendship with an open border.
The palace said Monaco and France cooperate in many fields, from health to safety to culture and education, stressing that both states were focused on a more sustainable future.
According to the Prince's Palace, more than 40,000 French citizens cross the border each day to work in Monaco, and the trip by Macron presented an opportunity to discuss bilateral issues and those of mutual interest.
Macron's two-day visit is the first state visit to Monaco by a French president since that of François Mitterrand in 1984.
It also comes ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice on Tuesday, which Macron is billed to attend alongside other global leaders, with the EU expected to formally launch the "European Ocean Pact."
The pact seeks to address climate and pollution threats to biodiversity, as well as challenges for coastal livelihoods.
Meanwhile, the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, on Saturday described the pact as a shared roadmap for ocean health and marine sustainability.
Kadis said this during a key speech at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco ahead of the UN Ocean Conference.
"In the context of this year's UN Ocean Conference, we have pledged approximately €1 billion in voluntary commitments for ocean and coastal biodiversity and climate," Kadis told the forum.
This support extends beyond the EU, also targeting dedicated initiatives across Africa, the Pacific, and Latin America," the EU commissioner said during his address.
However promising, some NGO groups have taken a jab at the pact, saying it falls short of needs and is a missed opportunity.
In a joint statement, a group of six leading environmental NGOs said the pact falls short of delivering the urgent action and binding targets that are needed to protect oceans.
Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, the 3rd UN Ocean Conference runs from 9 to 13 June.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday made clear he was not interested in repairing the relationship with his former ally and campaign benefactor Elon Musk, warning Musk could face 'serious consequences' if he tries to back the opposition.
In a phone interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, Trump said that he has no intention of reconciling with Musk. And, when asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX was over, Trump responded, 'I would assume so, yeah.'
'I'm too busy doing other things,' Trump continued. 'You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks long before this happened. I gave him breaks in my first administration and saved his life in my first administration. I have no intention of speaking to him.'
The US president also issued a warning amid chatter that Musk could back Democratic lawmakers and candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.
'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Musk's businesses have many lucrative federal contracts.
The latest comes after a spectacular fallout in the relationship between the US president and the world's richest man over Trump's budget bill that Musk began to criticise on his social media platform X earlier in the week.
Musk warned that the bill would increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination.'
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill would slash spending and taxes but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade.
On Thursday, Trump criticised Musk's strong reaction to his 'big beautiful bill' pending before Congress, and before long, he and Musk began trading bitter personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and GOP congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout.
As the back-and-forth intensified, Musk suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a claim the Tesla boss appeared to have walked back from by deleting his tweet about Epstein on Saturday.
Speaking in an interview with ' manosphere' comedian Theo Von, US Vice President JD Vance tried to downplay the feud. He said Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after Trump, calling him an 'emotional guy' getting frustrated.
'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear,' Vance said.
Vance called Musk an 'incredible entrepreneur said that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was 'really good.'
The US Vice President said the bill's central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term.
'It's a good bill,' Vance said. 'It's not a perfect bill.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Pro-Palestinian protest leader defiant despite US deportation threat
"Even if they would kill me, I would still speak for Palestine," Khalil said as he was greeted by cheering supporters at Newark airport, just outside New York City. Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, had been in custody since March facing potential deportation. He was freed from a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana on Friday, hours after a judge ordered his release on bail. The Columbia University graduate was a figurehead of student protests against US ally Israel's war in Gaza, and the Trump administration labeled him a national security threat. "Just the fact I am here sends a message -- the fact that all these attempts to suppress pro-Palestine voices have failed now," said Khalil, who is still fighting his potential expulsion from the United States. He spoke alongside his wife Noor Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple's first child while Khalil was in detention, as well as Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "Mahmoud Khalil was imprisoned for 104 days by this administration, by the Trump administration, with no grounds and for political reasons, because Mahmoud Khalil is an advocate for Palestinian human rights," Ocasio-Cortez said. "This is not over, and we will have to continue to support this case," she added. Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, is not allowed to leave the United States except for "self-deportation" under the terms of his release. He also faces restrictions on where he can travel within the country. President Donald Trump's government has justified pushing for Khalil's deportation by saying his continued presence in the United States could carry "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences." Beyond his legal case, Khalil's team fears he could face threats out of detention. "We are very mindful about his security, and the irony is that he is the one being persecuted," Baher Azmy, one of his lawyers, told AFP.
Local France
2 hours ago
- Local France
France's Macron says Europeans to 'accelerate negotiations' with Iran
On Friday, British, French, German and EU top diplomats held talks in Geneva with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi a week after Israel started its bombardment. They urged Iran to revive diplomatic efforts with the United States to find a solution in the standoff over its nuclear programme, but Tehran warned it could only consider diplomacy once Israel halted its bombardment. On Saturday, Macron said talks will be stepped up in an effort to avoid greater conflict. "I am convinced that a path exists to end war and avoid even greater dangers," Macron said in English on X after holding phone talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. "To achieve this, we will accelerate the negotiations led by France and its European partners with Iran." Macron reiterated that "Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons." "It is up to Iran to provide full guarantees that its intentions are peaceful," he added. He once again demanded that Iran must release French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who have been held since May 2022 on espionage charges their families reject. "Their inhumane detention is unjust," Macron said. "I expect them to return to France."
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says people 'desperately need more aid'
A US- and Israeli-backed privately run aid organisation brought in to distribute food rations in war-hit Gaza last month said on Saturday that people in the Palestinian territory "desperately need more aid". The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations at the end of May when Israel eased a two-month blockade on Gaza that the United Nations said had produced famine-like conditions. The group's operations have been marked by near-daily fatal shootings of Palestinians trying to reach the distribution sites. Major humanitarian groups also accuse the foundation of cooperating with Israel's objectives in the 20-month-old war against Hamas in a way that violates humanitarian principles. In a statement on Saturday, GHF interim executive director John Acree said that the organisation was "delivering aid at scale, securely and effectively ... But we cannot meet the full scale of need while large parts of Gaza remain closed". He added: "The people of Gaza desperately need more aid and we are ready to partner with other humanitarian groups to expand our reach to those who need help the most." "We are working with the government of Israel to honour its commitment and open additional sites in northern Gaza." 'Simply apocalyptic' and 'too risky': Papers react to Gaza aid distribution deaths 07:03 A funding application from the group submitted to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) seen by the Associated Press showed the group has asked the Trump administration to step in with an initial $30 million so it can continue its Gaza operations. The application was being processed this week as potentially one of the agency's last acts before the Republican administration absorbs USAID into the State Department as part of deep cuts in foreign assistance. According to figures issued on Saturday by the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, at least 450 people have been killed and nearly 3,500 injured by Israeli fire while seeking aid since late May, many near GHF sites according to rescuers. GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points, contradicting statements from witnesses and Gaza rescue services. It has said deaths have occurred near UN food convoys. Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that Israeli troops had killed another eight people who were seeking food. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that three people were killed by gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip, with another five killed in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving rations from a GHF centre. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. On Tuesday, the UN's World Health Organization pleaded for fuel to be allowed into Gaza to keep its remaining hospitals running, warning the Palestinian territory's health system was at "breaking point".
