Europe

At least 7,200 police officers will be deployed in Paris over the weekend to prevent demonstrators with vehicles in a so-called freedom convoy from disrupting traffic. In addition, strict sanctions have been announced, such as high fines, prison sentences and years of driving license revocation.   Since Wednesday, opponents of the corona measures have been driving in trucks and other vehicles in parades to the capital. French media report that other grievances, such as the rise in energy prices and the rise in livelihoods in general, are also driving protesters to Paris. They often get a lot of acclaim along the routes. Authorities in Meaux, northeast of Paris, have banned a gathering of sympathizers in the city on Friday evening. Meaux is on the route of the freedom convoy from ea...

The only suspect alive in the bloody attacks in Paris in November 2015, Salah Abdeslam, testified at his trial that he had not killed or injured anyone at all. The 32-year-old Frenchman has been given the floor for the first time in the trial that started in September.   He stressed that he supported the Islamic State terrorist group but denied his alleged role as a terrorist. Instead, he said in this affair "to be vilified continuously". A group of terrorists carried out several attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13, 2015. 130 people were killed, including in the Bataclan concert hall. Abdeslam lived in Belgium, where he was arrested in March 2016 after a shooting in Forest. Belgium extradited him to France that same year. The prosecutors believe that Abdeslam participa...