Diana still wreaking revenge on Charles: biographer

Yahoo – AFP, James PHEBY, 26 August 2017

Diana still wreaking revenge on Charles: biographer

London (AFP) - Princess Diana rocked the monarchy when she leaked shocking details of palace life to author Andrew Morton, who told AFP the revelations are still causing damage 20 years after her death.

His 1992 book "Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words" laid bare her decaying marriage to Prince Charles, her suicide attempts and battles with bulimia.

But it also painted a bleak picture of life inside Britain's royal family.

Morton's book, which became a best-seller, shone an unflattering light on Prince Charles that still casts a shadow on the heir to the throne, as thoughts turn towards a post-Elizabeth monarchy.

Morton is convinced that that is something Diana intended.

"There's no question in her conversations with me and subsequently on television, when she talked about (how) Prince Charles wasn't fit to be king, that she always felt that Prince William should take on the role of the future king," he said in an interview in his London home.

"Today we find that a majority of people would rather see the crown go directly to Prince William rather than Prince Charles.

"Ain't going to happen, but that's public sentiment -- and it's public sentiment in part, which has been influenced by Diana's life."

A poll conducted by YouGov found that the run-up to Thursday's 20th anniversary of Diana's death in a Paris car crash had hit Charles's popularity.

Only a third of respondents said he had been beneficial for the royal family ?- down from nearly two-thirds four years ago.

Just 14 percent want to see his current wife Camilla, Diana's nemesis during their marriage, as queen.

'Diana was just desperate'

"The anniversary has already opened old wounds for Camilla, people are being reminded of the fact that she was instrumental in ending this marriage that was described as a fairy tale," said Morton, who has released a revised version of his book to mark 25 years since its release.

Diana, who famously said there were "three people" in her marriage, contacted then-royal reporter Morton through friend James Colthurst in order to make public her anguish.

"She gave me the odd story, most notably about Prince Charles sacking his private secretary, and it gave her a sense of control and power, and she rather liked it," Morton explained.

"What I didn't realise at the time was that Diana was just desperate -- nothing prepared me for the revelation that was to come," he added.

"Her husband Prince Charles was effectively living with another man's wife."

The author described the moment of hearing the first taped interview with Colthurst, who acted as an intermediary so Diana could maintain deniability when asked if she had met Morton.

"I was summoned to a working-man's cafe in London, and all around me, people were eating bacon and eggs and beans and chatting about the football scores, and I put these headphones on and I was transported into another world where Diana talked about her eating disorders, about desperate cries for help, about her loneliness, about her childhood, about her royal life, about Prince Charles.

"I found myself walking into a parallel universe."

'Worried about my own safety'

Morton used six tapes of interviews to write the biography, knowing that he was sitting on revelations that could tear apart the country's oldest and best-loved institution.

"I was very worried about my own safety and what was going to happen, it was incredibly nerve-wracking," he said.

"It's almost how you must feel like before you go over the top in the war... There's that gnawing fear and worry," he said.

Although it dealt a serious blow to the royal family, Morton believes the book and Diana's death five years later forced the institution into some much-needed changes.

"You've got a whole new generation taking the reins, William and Harry, and they exemplify many of the qualities and characteristics of Diana...they've become more human, more approachable.

After the Grenfell Tower fire in June in which some 80 people were killed, Queen Elizabeth II visited survivors and became "the consoler-in-chief".

It was a Diana-like public show of empathy.

"In a way, the royal family has come around to the way that she did business," he said.

Britain's 'Diana-mania' spreads abroad as anniversary of her death looms https://t.co/RXBR1km9HM pic.twitter.com/mLpgv6DvDv

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 26, 2017

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Wrongly jailed 'satanic' daycare couple gets $3.4 mn

Yahoo – AFP, August 24, 2017

The Kellers were freed from prison that year, but not fully cleared of the charges
against them until last June, when prosecutors finally declared them innocent

A US couple wrongly jailed for 21 years on charges of sexually assaulting children as part of a satanic cult, received $3.4 million Wednesday from the state of Texas, months after prosecutors acknowledged their innocence.

Operators of a daycare facility, Dan and Fran Keller were at the center of a sensational case in 1991, accused by children of abuse and dark rituals that included dismembering babies and torturing pets.

Authorities later acknowledged that the children were improperly interviewed, triggering false memories, amid a climate of fear fueled by a belief around the nation that satanists were preying upon children.

The physician who claimed to have discovered physical evidence of abuse also acknowledged in 2013 that he had made a mistake in assessing the source of one of the children's injuries.

The Kellers were freed from prison that year, but not fully cleared of the charges against them until last June, when prosecutors finally declared them innocent.

By Texas law, both are entitled to $80,000 compensation for each year they spent in prison. They picked up a $3.4 million payment on Wednesday, their lawyer Keith Hampton told AFP.

"They are happy," Hampton said.

The couple had been living in poverty since their release, unable to find work in their advanced age and with their past legal troubles, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.

"This means we don't have to worry about pinching pennies on Social Security, and late bills. It means we will actually be free. We can start living -- and no more nightmares," Fran Keller, 67, told the newspaper.

She broke down in tears Tuesday in front of news cameras as she found out on the phone that the state would provide compensation.

"I really would like an apology from the state. But since we're not going to get it verbally, this will be good enough," the American-Statesman reported Fran Keller as saying.

Between 1991 and mid-2016, Texas had paid 101 wrongfully convicted prisoners $93.6 million, according to the Texas Tribune.

Related Article:

US convict granted stay of execution after new DNA evidence

US convict granted stay of execution after new DNA evidence

Yahoo – AFP, Nova SAFO, August 22, 2017

This Missouri Department of Corrections photo shows death-row inmate Marcellus
Williams (AFP Photo)

hicago (AFP) - With only hours to spare, the governor of the US state of Missouri on Tuesday halted the execution of a man whose lawyers argued new DNA evidence exonerated him of a 1998 murder.

Governor Eric Greitens stayed the execution of Marcellus Williams, 48, who was convicted of fatally stabbing a woman more than 40 times during a robbery at her home in the Midwestern state.

Williams was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Tuesday, but the governor ordered the formation of an investigative panel to reconsider the facts of the case.

"To carry out the death penalty, the people of Missouri must have confidence in the judgment of guilt," Greitens said.

The governor planned to appoint a five-member board of inquiry that would include retired judges, who would have subpoena power to re-examine witnesses and evidence.

Williams' attorney claimed new testing of the knife used to commit the murder found another person's DNA on the weapon but none of Williams' DNA. The DNA testing was not available during the time of the original trial.

"The new DNA technology called touch DNA has developed a male genetic profile on the knife handle, that was the murder weapon, that does not match Marcellus Williams', so that we believe that totally exonerates him of the murder," attorney Kent Gipson told AFP.

Non-DNA evidence

State prosecutors contend there is enough other evidence to assure Williams' guilt, including the victim's personal items recovered from the condemned man's car.

The initial trial also relied on testimony from two witnesses, Williams' former girlfriend and a cell mate, who both said the convict admitted to the murder. Prosecutors say the cell mate knew details of the crime that were not made public.

Only hours before the governor's stay, the state attorney general's office insisted that they were confident of Williams' guilt "based on the other, non-DNA, evidence in this case."

In court filings during an earlier appeal, prosecutors dismissed the new DNA evidence, saying "it would be unsurprising" that other people's DNA would be on the kitchen knife used for the murder.

"It would not have been unreasonable for (Williams) to wear gloves during the burglary and subsequent murder," prosecutors wrote in explaining why his DNA was not on the knife.

Gipson appealed to the US Supreme Court Monday night, asking for a stay. The state's supreme court last week denied a similar request.

Race a factor?

Death penalty opponents had rallied to Williams' cause, sending a petition with more than 187,000 signatures to the governor. They claimed race was a factor in the African American man's conviction.

"African American men like Marcellus are arrested and convicted at significantly higher rates than any other ethnic group," the group Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty wrote in an online petition.

Reconsideration of a death penalty case due to DNA evidence is rare. Most death sentences that are reversed are due to findings of prosecutorial or police misconduct, said Robert Dunham of the watchdog group Death Penalty Information Center.

"Very often what you'll see is a prosecutor or police deciding they'd gotten the right guy, and ignoring the leads that would have taken them to somebody else as a possible suspect," Dunham told AFP.

"Governor Greitens did the right thing. Executing Marcellus Williams without meaningfully considering his evidence of innocence would have been intolerable and indefensible," he said.

Trudeau joined at Montreal Pride by Irish counterpart

Yahoo – AFP, August 21, 2017

Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister of Ireland (L), Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau (center), and Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre (R), walk during the
annual Pride parade in Montreal (AFP Photo/Peter Mccabe)

Montreal (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched Sunday in Montreal's Gay Pride parade, joined by Ireland's first openly gay leader Leo Varadkar.

Sporting white jeans and a casual light blue button-up, Trudeau waved a rainbow flag with his Irish counterpart at his side as they participated in the annual event where several thousand people had gathered.

Earlier in the day at a joint press conference Trudeau vowed "strength through diversity" in the face of recent attacks in Spain and Burkina Faso.

"These recent acts of terror are despicable," the Canadian leader said. "They seek to divide the global community, aiming to pit neighbor against neighbor.

"But these cowards will not win," he continued. "We will continue to do as we have done, standing united and stronger in the face of hatred.

"We will be emboldened in our values, values of love, acceptance, and strength through diversity."

Prime Minister Varadkar, who took office in June, is the first foreign head of government to join a Canadian pride celebration.

He said Canada and Ireland must work in tandem to advance equal rights, particularly in places where they are threatened.

"What we have most in common is that we are countries that understand that diversity is our strength and our differences make us better," Varadkar said.

Bannon out as Trump chief strategist

Yahoo – AFP, August 18, 2017

Steve Bannon, the former head of ultra conservative outlet Breitbart News, has
been described as being the nucleus of one of several competing power centers
in what has been a chaotic White House (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump on Friday finally parted ways with controversial far-right chief strategist Steve Bannon, after weeks of speculation and as the administration reels from the fallout over Trump's response to a violent white supremacist rally.

Seen as the driving force behind Trump's nationalist-populist agenda -- making him a hero of the so-called "alt right" and a bete noire for centrists -- Bannon's presence at the White House has been contested from the start.

He was the latest in a series of high-profile casualties in Trump's inner circle, including press secretary Sean Spicer, chief of staff Reince Priebus and communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

With Trump under fire from all sides for insisting anti-racism protesters were equally to blame for violence stemming from a weekend rally staged by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, the president faced renewed pressure to let go of his firebrand aide.

In announcing the 63-year-old Bannon's departure, the White House did not specify whether he had resigned or -- as was widely reported -- was forced out.

"White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve's last day," Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. "We are grateful for his service and wish him the best."

From Goldman to Breitbart to West Wing

Labelled a white supremacist by his critics, the one-time Goldman Sachs investment banker and former head of ultra conservative outlet Breitbart News joined the Trump campaign less than three months before the November 2016 vote and was credited with playing a major role in the real estate magnate's upset victory over Hillary Clinton.

Having privately boasted about handpicking Trump's cabinet, he went on to become the nucleus of one of several competing power centers in what has been a chaotic West Wing.

But Bannon reportedly fell into disfavor for allegedly leaking stories about White House colleagues who he felt did not sufficiently adhere to his populist agenda.

The president's new chief of staff, Kelly, had reportedly warned he would not tolerate what he saw as Bannon's behind the scenes maneuvering.

Bannon had earlier this year lost his coveted place on the National Security Council, which decides issues of war and peace.

And the president -- said to have grown increasingly irritated by Bannon's high profile -- was reportedly furious about an interview his aide gave this week to a left-leaning publication in which he contradicted the Republican billionaire's position on North Korea.

The New York Times quoted a person close to Bannon as insisting the parting of ways was his own idea, and that he had submitted his resignation on August 7, to be announced at the start of this week -- but that it was delayed by the chaotic developments of recent days.

Bannon's departure came as the US president faced a firestorm of criticism over his failure to unequivocally rebuke the white supremacists who rallied in Charlottesville.

That unrest ended when a suspected Nazi sympathizer drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

Trump who rose to political prominence by casting doubt on whether Barack Obama, America's first black president, was born in the United States, did condemn neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan on several occasions this week, but many across the political spectrum say he did not go far enough.

The honeymoon is definitely over. #Trump, the businessman president, begins to lose CEO support https://t.co/FTPMIleNsE pic.twitter.com/ltEc7aMdBc

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 16, 2017

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Trump isolated after Charlottesville remarks

Yahoo – AFP, Jerome CARTILLIER, August 16, 2017

US President Donald Trump's defiant and caustic statements about Charlottesville
 on Tuesday left many lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, speechless
(AFP Photo/JIM WATSON)

New York (AFP) - Donald Trump found himself in the eye of a political storm Wednesday after his stunning remarks on the unrest in Charlottesville, which sparked unease within his own camp and could mark a turning point in his already chaotic presidency.

His assessment that there was "blame on both sides" for the deadly melee sparked a rare comment on current affairs from his two Republican predecessors, George Bush and George W. Bush, who called on Americans to "reject racial bigotry... in all its forms."

The violent fracas in the Virginia college town began Saturday when a rally by white supremacists over the removal of a Confederate statue turned violent, as they clashed with counter-protesters.

It ended in tragedy when a 20-year-old suspected Nazi sympathizer, James Fields, plowed his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters, leaving one woman dead and 19 others injured.

Trump's defiant statements on Tuesday, delivered in a caustic way at Trump Tower and immediately hailed by a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan for their "courage," left many lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, speechless.

The Republican billionaire seemed to have crossed a red line with his statements, just over 200 days into his presidency.

Many observers were left with the impression that the unscripted Trump of Tuesday was the real Trump -- rather than the man who delivered a more measured statement from the White House on Monday in which he firmly denounced "racist violence."

Protesters have marched outside Trump Tower since the president returned to

his New York home earlier this week (AFP Photo/Eduardo MUNOZ ALVAREZ)

'He has to fix this'

In a clear sign of embarrassment, Republican lawmakers did not line up to defend the real estate mogul-turned-president, as they have repeatedly done since he took office in January. Those who did speak criticized him.

"In Charlottesville, the blame lays squarely on the KKK and white supremacists," the leader of the Republican National Committee, Ronna Romney McDaniel, told ABC News.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a regular Trump critic, said many Republicans would "fight back against the idea that the party of Lincoln has a welcome mat out for the David Dukes of the world."

"He has to fix this and Republicans have to speak out. Plain and simple," Ohio governor John Kasich, who battled Trump for the Republican presidential nomination last year, told NBC's "Today" show.

David Axelrod, a former top aide to Barack Obama, said: "Why are we surprised that a @POTUS, who began his campaign with appeals to bigotry, would give comfort to bigots?"

Trump's remarks -- made at an impromptu press conference that was expected to focus on infrastructure reforms -- put the white supremacists and counter-demonstrators on equal moral ground.

"I think there is blame on both sides," Trump said, as his new chief of staff, former Marine general John Kelly, stood rigidly near him and looked uncomfortable.

"You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that, but I'll say it right now," Trump continued.

"What about the alt-left that came charging... at the, as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt? (...) There are two sides to a story."

He also said there were "very fine people, on both sides."

His remarks had led several top business executives to resign from White House advisory panels. On Wednesday, Trump simply dissolved the forums.

Map of the US state of Virginia locating Charlottesville, where hundreds of 

white supremacists held a rally on Saturday that deteriorated into violence

(AFP Photo/AFP)

"Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!" he tweeted.

Obama tweet makes history

Trump had suffered a first wave of indignation immediately after Saturday's events, when critics said his comments were too vague and did not go far enough to denounce neo-Nazis and KKK members at the Charlottesville rally.

Obama, his predecessor, had reacted by tweeting a quote from Nelson Mandela: "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion."

The tweet is now the most "liked" ever sent on the social network, Twitter said Wednesday.

In an editorial, The New York Times said Trump's behavior "has become distressingly unsurprising."

"Washington politicians had hoped the recent appointment of John Kelly, a retired Marine general, as his chief of staff would instill some discipline in his chaotic administration," the paper said.

"But the root of the problem is not the personnel; it is the man at the top."

In St Louis, where he was mounting a competitive comeback, even chess legend Garry Kasparov weighed in, saying: "My family & I were forced out of one home by ethnic violence and another by political persecution. America must both fight hate & stay free."

Trump says US culture, history being 'ripped apart' https://t.co/QmsiqC7Bcj pic.twitter.com/MsecmPGmko

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 17, 2017

The honeymoon is definitely over. #Trump, the businessman president, begins to lose CEO support https://t.co/FTPMIleNsE pic.twitter.com/ltEc7aMdBc

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 16, 2017

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Obama post-Charlottesville tweet most liked ever on Twitter

Yahoo – AFP, August 16, 2017

A tweet by former president Barack Obama on violence at a a far-right rally in
Virginia has become the most "liked" one ever on Twitter

A tweet by former president Barack Obama about the violence in Charlottesville has become the most liked message in the history of Twitter, the company said Wednesday.

The tweet by the country's first black president quoted Nelson Mandela.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion," Obama tweeted on Sunday, following deadly clashes in the Virginia city between neo-Nazi sympathizers and counterprotesters.

As of 1300 GMT Wednesday, Obama's message had been "liked" 3.2 million times, and re-tweeted 1.3 million times.

The 44th US president has not spoken out on the violence except via quotes from Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid icon who died in 2013.

A picture accompanying the tweet shows four babies -- including a black baby girl and a blonde baby boy -- in an open window as the ex-US president looks in.

Two other Obama tweets without pictures had more than one million likes.

"People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love... For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. - Nelson Mandela," Obama wrote in two tweets, also on Sunday.

A rally Saturday by neo-Nazis and white supremacists over the removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville erupted in clashes with counter-demonstrators.

The fracas ended in bloodshed when a 20-year-old suspected Nazi sympathizer plowed his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters, leaving one woman dead and 19 others injured.

On Tuesday President Donald Trump doubled down on his initial response to the white supremacist rally, saying there was "blame on both sides."

The Republican president -- who one day earlier denounced racism and singled out the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis as "criminals and thugs" -- also hit out at what he called the "alt-left" over the weekend melee.

Trump has faced days of criticism from across the political spectrum over his reaction to Saturday's unrest in the Virginia college town.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017

US and China pressure North Korea after sanctions vote

Yahoo – AFP, Dave Clark, August 6, 2017

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with North Korea's
Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho (L) during their bilateral meeting (AFP Photo/STR)

Manila (AFP) - The United States and China piled pressure on North Korea Sunday to abandon its nuclear missile programme after the UN Security Council approved tough sanctions which could cost Pyongyang $1 billion a year.

One day after Council members voted unanimously for a partial ban on exports aimed at slashing Pyongyang's foreign revenue by a third, top diplomats from the key powers in the dispute met in Manila.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was encouraged by the vote, but officials warned that Washington would closely watch China -- North Korea's biggest trade partner -- to ensure sanctions are enforced.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his North Korean counterpart Ri Hong-Yo before a major regional security forum being hosted by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

He urged the North to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

"It will help the DPRK to make the right and smart decision," Wang told reporters, speaking through a translator, after talks with Ri -- referring to the sanctions and to Ri's presence in Manila.

Pyongyang's top envoy has so far avoided the media in Manila.

But in a characteristically fiery editorial before the latest sanctions were approved, the North's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun warned against US aggression.

"The day the US dares tease our nation with a nuclear rod and sanctions, the mainland US will be catapulted into an unimaginable sea of fire," it said.

Tillerson also met Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and was to see Wang later on Sunday, seeking to intensify Kim Jong-Un's diplomatic isolation and reduce the risk of renewed conflict.

"It was a good outcome," Tillerson said of the UN vote, before a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-Wha.

Senior US envoy Susan Thornton said Washington was "still going to be watchful" on the implementation of sanctions, cautioning that previous votes had been followed by China "slipping back".

But she added China's support for the UN resolution "shows that they realise that this is a huge problem that they need to take on".

UN Security Council members vote on a US-drafted resolution toughening
sanctions on North Korea (AFP Photo/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ)

'Military option'

The urgency of the situation was underlined by President Donald Trump's national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who told MSNBC news that the US leader was reviewing plans for a "preventive war".

"He said he's not going to tolerate North Korea being able to threaten the United States," McMaster said.

"It's intolerable from the president's perspective. So of course, we have to provide all options to do that. And that includes a military option."

Saturday's UN resolution banned exports of coal, iron and iron ore, lead and lead ore as well as fish and seafood by the cash-starved state.

If fully implemented it would strip North Korea of a third of its export earnings -- estimated to total $3 billion per year despite successive rounds of sanctions since the North's first nuclear test in 2006.

The resolution also prevents North Korea from increasing the number of workers it sends abroad. Their earnings are another source of foreign currency for Kim's regime.

It prohibits all new joint ventures with North Korea, bans new investment in current joint companies and adds nine North Korean officials and four entities including the North's main foreign exchange bank to the UN sanctions blacklist.

What next?

Trump hailed the vote -- saying in a tweet that the sanctions will have "very big financial impact!" -- and thanked Russia and China for backing a measure that either could have halted with their UN veto.

The United States began talks on a resolution with China a month ago, after Pyongyang launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4, followed by a second ICBM test on July 28.

But the measure does not provide for cuts to oil deliveries, which would have dealt a serious blow to the North's economy.

China accounts for 90 percent of trade with North Korea, and Beijing's attitude to its volatile neighbour will be crucial to the success or failure of the new sanctions regime.

China and Russia had resisted the US push, arguing that dialogue with North Korea was the way to persuade it to halt its military programmes.

Speaking to reporters after the council vote, Washington's ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said "what's next is completely up to North Korea."

US officials have insisted that while Tillerson and Ri will be in the same room during the Manila forum, there would be no direct meeting between the two envoys.

Paris celebrates 2024 Olympic win as LA accepts 2028 consolation

Yahoo – AFP, Françoise CHAPTAL, Aug 1, 2017

Paris was insistent on hosting the Olympics in 2024, on the 100th anniversary
of the city's 1924 Games (AFP Photo/FRANCK FIFE)

Paris (AFP) - Paris was celebrating victory on Tuesday in its bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games after Los Angeles announced its intention to host the 2028 event instead in return for financial sweeteners.

Officially, French President Emmanuel Macron gave Monday's announcement by Los Angeles a cautious welcome, hailing a "very important step" on the road to hosting the Games.

The deal was described by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach as a "win-win-win" agreement for both cities and the Olympic movement.

But despite the fact that Paris is now effectively the only remaining candidate to host the 2024 Summer Games, Macron and other bid leaders shied away from overt triumphalism until an official announcement.

"France notes the decision of Los Angeles to put forward its candidature for 2028 and to reach an agreement with the IOC and Paris," a statement from Macron's office said.

Macron spoke to Bach following Los Angeles' announcement and was "delighted by this very important step towards France obtaining the Games in 2024".

Olympic Games host cities (AFP Photo/Paz PIZARRO)

Announcing the decision on Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said "this deal was too good to pass up".

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Twitter: "Happy that my friend @MayorofLA has made an important new step on an agreement that will have three winners: Paris, Los Angeles and the IOC."

However others were less circumspect, with French newspapers celebrating the Paris win and Tony Estanguet, the Paris bid co-leader, saying he could see "nothing standing in the way of Paris staging the Games".

"This time we've won it," said a headline on the front page of Le Parisien newspaper.

Paris, which will host the Games for a third time, endured the disappointment of failed bids in 1992, 2008 and 2012.

Both Paris and Los Angeles had wanted to host the 2024 Olympics, with the winner to be officially named by the IOC on September 13 in the Peruvian capital Lima.

But the possibility that Los Angeles would abandon a 2024 bid and instead accept the 2028 Games has been growing since the IOC decided in July that it would attempt to award both Games at its Lima meeting.

The French capital insisted it only wanted to host the Games in 2024, on the 100th anniversary of the city's 1924 Olympics, prompting Los Angeles to soften its stance and consider hosting the 2028 Games.

Los Angeles has twice hosted the Summer Olympics, in 1932 and 1984 (AFP

Photo/FREDERIC J. BROWN)

'Proud'

And confirmation of the decision everyone was expecting came on Monday night.

"I am proud to announce the Olympic Games are coming back to the United States of America," Mayor Garcetti said at a ceremony at the StubHub Center stadium.

"In 2028, we are bringing the Games back to LA, one of the great capitals of the Olympic movement. A city that has always been a Games changer and will be again in 2028."

LA officials, who had put forward a $5.3 billion (4.5 billion euros) bid for 2024, said an agreement had been reached with the IOC on financial considerations that would make waiting an extra four years feasible.

Bid chief Casey Wasserman said the IOC had waived various fees and payments that could ultimately save LA organisers millions.

The IOC will also advance $180 million to LA organisers to lessen the impact of the longer lead-up time, money that normally would not be disbursed until closer to the Games kickoff.

Los Angeles' Mayor Eric Garcetti said that the city "would be stupid" not to 

agree to host the Olympics in 2028 (AFP Photo/Fabrice COFFRINI)

"The IOC contribution as stipulated by the HCC is $1.8 billion and has the potential to exceed $2 billion according to the evaluation of the LA bid committee when taking into account the estimated value of existing sponsor agreements to be renewed and potential new marketing deals," the bid committee said in a statement.

Like Paris, this will bring the Games back to Los Angeles for a third time, after the city hosted in 1932 and 1984.

The agreement must still be approved by the Los Angeles City Council and the United States Olympic Committee -- both of which backed the 2024 bid.

But Bach said he expected any remaining hurdles to be cleared.

"We are very confident that we can reach a tripartite agreement under the leadership of the IOC with LA and Paris in August, creating a win-win-win situation for all three partners," he said.

The United States last hosted the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 while the Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City in 2002.