Trump ready to meet Iranian president in potential breakthrough

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastian Smith, Adam Plowright and Stuart Williams, 26 August 2019

Donald Trump said he would meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan
Rouhani 'if the circumstances were correct'

US President Donald Trump said Monday at the G7 summit that he is prepared to meet his Iranian counterpart within weeks in what would amount to a stunning change of direction in the two countries' smouldering standoff.

The potential breakthrough was announced by Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, who said he would facilitate the first face-to-face meeting between the US president and the Iranians.

The surprise news came after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a dramatic, unscheduled appearance on the sidelines of the summit held in Biarritz on Sunday at the invitation of Macron.

The 41-year-old French leader said the "conditions for a meeting" between Trump and Iran's Hassan Rouhani "in the next few weeks" had been created through intensive diplomacy and consultations.

"If the circumstances were correct, I would certainly agree to that," Trump said at a press conference with Macron at the end of three days of G7 talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise visit to the G7

Asked if he thought the timeline proposed by his French counterpart was realistic, Trump replied: "It does."

Trump was equally confident that Rouhani would be in favour.

"I think he's going to want to meet. I think Iran wants to get this situation straightened out," he added.

Both men will be in New York for the UN General Assembly at the end of September which could provide the stage for the talks.

Trump has put in place a policy of "maximum pressure" on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme via crippling sanctions that critics see as raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East between the United States and Iran.

The US president last year unilaterally pulled out of a landmark 2015 international deal that placed limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for trade, investment and sanctions relief. Trump said the deal gave the Iranians cover to keep pursuing a secret nuclear military programme which they insist does not exist.

Earlier this month, Trump lambasted Macron for sending 'mixed signals' on Iran

Rouhani appeared to accept the idea of opening to talks with Washington.

"I believe that for our country's national interests we must use any tool," Rouhani said of Zarif's Biarritz visit in a speech aired live on state television on Monday.

But hardliners criticised the initiative, with the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper saying the trip was "improper" and sent "a message of weakness and desperation."

'Real progress'

Macron has urged the US administration to offer some sort of relief to Iran, such as lifting sanctions on oil sales to China and India, and has raised the possibility of a new credit line to enable exports.

In return, Iran would return to complying with the 2015 deal.

Commenting on the talks about Iran at the G7, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "It's a big step forward. Now there is an atmosphere in which talks are welcomed."

Raging fires in the Amazon rainforest were on the G7 agenda

Macron and Trump hailed the common ground found by G7 leaders at their summit, which was dominated by the Iranian nuclear crisis, global trade tensions and fires in the Amazon.

"We have managed to find real points of convergence, unprecedented, very positive, that will allow us to go forward in a very useful way," Macron told the press conference.

Trump said Macron had done a "fantastic job" at the G7.

"This was a very special, a very unified two and a half days and I want to thank you," Trump told his host.

Just a few weeks ago, Trump lambasted Macron for sending "mixed signals" on Iran, and at the end of July the US administration imposed sanctions on Zarif.

Macron acknowledged there had been "nervousness" ahead of the summit because of tensions between the US and Europe on a host of issues.

"A lot depends on the return to the United States of Donald Trump and the way he manages everything," analyst Thomas Gomart from the French foreign affairs think-tank IFRI told AFP.

US-China tariff hikes

Trade war worries

Commenting on his escalating trade war with China, Trump held out hope of a deal to thaw the bruising year-long dispute that has seen tariffs imposed on billions of dollars' worth of goods by both sides.

"I can say we are having very meaningful talks, much more meaningful, I would say, than at any time," he had said at a press conference with Merkel.

Trump said senior Chinese officials had been in contact, though there was no confirmation from the Chinese side.

"I'm not sure they have a choice (on making a deal)," he said. "I don't mean that as a threat. I don't think they have a choice."

Trump arrived in the famed surfing town of Biarritz on Saturday shortly after upping the ante in his trade war with a new round of increased tariffs on Chinese goods.

European leaders have lined up to urge caution and warn about the danger of recession from the conflict.

Macron met Brazil's indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire of the Kayapo people

for talks in Biarritz on Monday evening

'Preserve our lands'

On the final day of the summit, the G7 agenda also included action to help fight fires destroying swaths of the Amazon.

The members agreed to spend $20 million (18 million euros) on the world's biggest rainforest, mainly to send firefighting aircraft to tackle blazes.

Macron said later they also hoped to raise "at least 30 million" dollars for a reforestation plan, to be discussed at the UN in September.

On Monday evening, he held talks in Biarritz with Brazilian indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire who said he had asked the French leader to "help us preserve our lands".

Trump was less vocal on this issue than his partners.

He also stood out from the rest of the G7 leaders in his budding friendship with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a former army officer who has given freer rein to industrial farmers and loggers who have made the country an agribusiness power -- at a huge cost to the environment.

Macron had threatened to block an extensive new trade deal between the European Union and Latin America unless Bolsonaro takes serious steps to combat global warming.

Iran foreign minister makes surprise visit to G7 summit

Yahoo – AFP, Adam Plowright, Sebastian Smith and Stuart Williams, August 25, 2019

The G7 leaders wrapped up their long day with a group photo on a stage overlooking
the Biarritz beach, with the city's tall lighthouse in the background (AFP Photo/
ludovic MARIN)

Biarritz (France) (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif flew into Biarritz in southwestern France for the G7 summit on Sunday in a surprise attempt to break a diplomatic deadlock over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

Zarif's presence had not been announced and represented a gamble by French host Emmanuel Macron who is seeking to soothe spiralling tensions between Iran and the United States.

The Iranian top diplomat did not hold talks with US President Donald Trump in the French surf town, French diplomats said, but the presence of the two men in the same place sparked hopes of a detente.

"Road ahead is difficult. But worth trying," the US-educated Zarif wrote on Twitter after meeting Macron and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian as well as British and German officials.

French officials said Trump had been aware of the arrival and suggested that it had been discussed during an impromptu two-hour lunch with Macron on a hotel terrace on Saturday.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump were on obviously 

friendly terms as they sat down for a working breakfast in the French resort of

Biarritz (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

"We work with full transparency with the Americans," one diplomat told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Robert Malley, head of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank, said that it was a sign that Trump had given "some positive response" to Macron's proposals for a deal.

"Maybe President Trump told President Macron privately that he was open to some of these ideas," he told AFP.

"The big caveat, the elephant in the room, is that there is considerable room between what President Trump says and what he thinks one day, and what he says and thinks the next," he added.

Also speaking in Biarritz, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that Trump had in the past said that if Iran "wants to sit down and negotiate he will not set preconditions."

Mohammad Javad Zarif smiling broadly during talks with President Emmanuel 

Macron and other French officials (AFP Photo)

French officials said the discussions had been "positive" and Zarif left the beach-side gathering in the evening.

'Moving in right direction'

Macron had held talks with Zarif in Paris on the eve of the G7 summit and has been leading efforts to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table.

Trump's policy of applying "maximum pressure" on Tehran via crippling sanctions has been criticised by European powers and is seen as raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East.

At the end of July, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Zarif, saying he "spreads the regime’s propaganda and disinformation."

Macron has urged the US administration to offer some sort of relief to Iran, such as lifting sanctions on oil sales to China and India, or a new credit line to enable exports.

French host Emmanuel Macron is looking to find a way to soothe spiralling

tensions between Iran and the US (AFP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

In return, Iran would return to complying with a landmark 2015 deal limiting its nuclear programme, which Trump unilaterally pulled out from last year, Malley explained.

"I suspect that they (the French) are as cautious as I am," Malley added.

Speaking to AFP last week, Zarif said that Macron's suggestions were "moving in the right direction, although we are not definitely there yet."

Zarif was a key architect of the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran, the United States, European powers, Russia and China.

Trade war doubts?

The G7 leaders, spouses and other invitees from South America and Africa wrapped up their long day with a group photo on a stage overlooking the Biarritz beach, with the city's tall lighthouse in the background.

They were all smiles and Trump proclaimed that the G7 summit had been going "beautifully."

Key facts about the G7 countries as the summit is held in southwestern France 

(AFP Photo)

However, there was no masking over cracks between the US president and his allies on many issues.

Leaders of the G7 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- put on a united front as they spent a second day in the high-end French surfing town of Biarritz.

Trump arrived in Biarritz fresh from having drastically upped the ante in the trade war with China.

European leaders lined up to press for caution and on Sunday Trump gave a glimmer of hope that he was reconsidering his all-or-nothing approach to the dispute between the world's two biggest economies.

Asked whether he was having second thoughts about the trade war, Trump, in a rare moment of public self-doubt, replied: "I have second thoughts about everything."

Security is high for the G7 in Biarritz (AFP Photo/Jean-Michel CORNU)

Then in an extraordinary turnaround, Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said just hours later that the president had been misunderstood.

He did have regrets, she said, but not what everyone thought.

"He regrets not raising the tariffs higher," she explained.

At a breakfast meeting, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the latest of the G7 partners to urge Trump to step back from a trade war that critics fear could tip the world economy into recession.

"Just to register a faint, sheep-like note of our view on the trade war -- we are in favour of trade peace on the whole," Johnson told Trump.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the latest of the G7 partners to 

urge Trump to step back from the trade war (AFP Photo/Erin Schaff)

The meeting with Johnson, who is sometimes seen as a British version of the populist, nationalist Trump, underlined the White House's dislike for the powerful European Union.

Trump predicted that Johnson would manage to untangle the mess of Brexit and described the EU as "an anchor around their ankle."

The 73-year-old US leader then promised Johnson a "very big trade deal, bigger than we've ever had."

Macron vows to rebuild a 'more beautiful' Notre-Dame in 5 years

Yahoo – AFP, Stuart WILLIAMS and Clare BYRNE, April 16, 2019

Notre-Dame's spectacular Gothic spire collapsed as fire engulfed the cathedral
(AFP Photo/Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT)

Paris (AFP) - President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday vowed to rebuild Notre-Dame cathedral "even more beautifully" within five years, as France reeled with shock from the fire that gutted the great Paris landmark.

Macron announced the fast timescale -- for a process some experts said would take decades -- in an address to the nation where he hailed how the disaster had shown the capacity of France to mobilise and unite.

Pledges worth around 700 million euros ($790 million) have already been made Tuesday from French billionaires and businesses to restore the Gothic masterpiece.

Most of the roof has been destroyed, its steeple has collapsed and an unknown number of artifacts and paintings have been lost. The main organ, which had close to 8,000 pipes, has also suffered damage.

But the cathedral's walls, bell towers and the most famous circular stained-glass windows at France's most visited tourist attraction remain intact.

'Our history never stops'

Macron's defiant comments indicated he wants the reconstruction of the cathedral to be completed by the time Paris hosts the Olympic Games in 2024.

"We will rebuild the cathedral even more beautifully and I want it to be finished within five years," Macron said from the Elysee Palace. "And we can do it."

Macron said that the dramatic fire had brought out the best in a country riven with divisions and since November shaken by sometimes violent protests against his rule.

"What we saw last night in Paris was our capacity to mobilise and to unite," Macron said, hailing France as a nation of "builders".

"Our history never stops and that we will always have trials to overcome," he said.

Firefighters said the blaze had been extinguished after 15 hours (AFP 

Photo/Hubert Hitier)

'Saved in half an hour'

Images from inside the cathedral Tuesday showed its immense walls standing proud, with statues still in place and a gleaming golden cross above the altar.

However the floor was covered in charred rubble from the fallen roof and water while parts of the vaulting at the top of the cathedral had collapsed.

Junior interior minister Laurent Nunez told reporters at the scene that work to secure the structure would continue into Thursday, allowing firefighters access to remove remaining artifacts and artworks.

He said the building had been saved within a critical time window of 15-30 minutes by a team of 400 firefighters who worked flat out throughout the night.

Though "some weaknesses" in the 850-year-old structure had been identified, overall it is "holding up OK", he added.

President Donald Trump relayed Americans' "condolences" to Macron over the fire, the White House said.

French fire chiefs had earlier dismissed as "risible" comments by Trump that the fire should be tackled with water bombers, saying this risked destroying the entire edifice of the cathedral.

The Paris fire service said that the last remnants of the blaze were extinguished Tuesday, 15 hours after the fire broke out.

Renovation work on the steeple, where workers were replacing its lead covering, is widely suspected to have caused the inferno after the blaze broke out in an area under scaffolding.

Investigators interviewed witnesses overnight and began speaking with employees of five different construction companies that were working on the monument, said public prosecutor Remy Heitz.

"Nothing indicates this was a deliberate act," Heitz told reporters, adding that 50 investigators had been assigned to what he expected to be a "long and complex" case.

The world reacted in shock after the blaze enguled Notre-Dame (AFP Photo)

'For future generations'

A public appeal for funds drew immediate support from French billionaires and other private donors as well as from countries including Germany, Italy and Russia which offered expertise.

French billionaire Bernard Arnault and his LVMH luxury conglomerate, rival high-end designer goods group Kering, Total oil company and cosmetics giant L'Oreal each pledged 100 million euros or more.

Support came from outside France as well, with Apple chief Tim Cook announcing the tech giant would give an unspecified amount to help restore a "precious heritage for future generations."

But experts had warned a full restoration will take many years. "I'd say decades," said Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring the 1,000-year-old Strasbourg cathedral.

Treasures evacuated

Thousands of Parisians and tourists watched in horror Monday as flames engulfed the building and rescuers tried to save as much as they could of the cathedral's treasures.

Many more came Tuesday to the banks of the river Seine to gaze at where the roof and steeple once stood.

A firefighter suffered injuries during the blaze, which at one point threatened to bring down one of the two monumental towers on the western facade of the cathedral that is visited by 13 million tourists each year.

The Holy Crown of Thorns, believed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion, was saved by firefighters, as was a sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French king Louis IX.

Rescuers formed a human chain at the site of the disaster to evacuate as many artifacts as possible, which were then stocked temporarily at the Paris town hall.

Firefighters were praised for helping save many of the most-celebrated treasures of Notre-Dame by dashing inside the burning cathedral, but officials warned that others were in a precarious state or entirely lost in the flames https://t.co/pF0qxYfXeL pic.twitter.com/MTeRjyI2dN

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 16 april 2019

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"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

".... Europe

Let's talk about Europe - Eastern and Western Europe. Look at the history. I want you to look at the history of the Europeans. What do you know about them? What did you study in school about them, American? You had to learn all those dates and facts. You sit in a country that's barely 200 years old and you had to memorize all the battles and all those conquerors and all those army specifics for hundreds of years! Fourteen hundreds, 1300s - all the way to the present century they seemed to be conquering each other on a regular basis. They warred with each other like the tides of the ocean, constant and predictable. When they got tired of that, they conquered other continents. The small country of Spain alone is responsible for conquering all of South America, middle America and well up into North America. Millions today are speaking their language who never did before they arrived.

The armies of Napoleon spread across parts of Europe like water flowing in a river, conquering everything in its path. There are some cities today in Europe that still don't know which country they belong to! This is because their borders kept changing so often! Now, that's history. I want you to look at it carefully. Still, there would be those who say, "This is just what men do. They create borders and cultures and they go to war. That's Human nature."

Fifty years ago, this new energy started to arrive. Oh, the alignments go slow, dear Human Being, but it was here. It was starting; it was beginning. Fifty years ago, something happened in Europe and you didn't hear much about it back then. Some very clear thinkers got together after World War II and said, "If we don't do something different and out of the box of today's thinking, it's all going to happen again because this is what we do. Men make war." Even the young country called America was involved in war. America itself almost split apart before that, because that's what men do. They split good things apart. It was obvious to these wise men that they could try something, something that might work - a uniting instead of separation. And so they formed an idea. Let me tell you what it was.

They said to themselves, "What if we could get as many countries as we can to agree to become a collection of 'country states'? If we start this now and go at it slowly, we could eventually have a system where we would trade together to the point where the borders come down, no checkpoints and no passports. All these cultures and former enemy countries would all trade evenly together, and for that to happen we might even have a common currency. Look at the United States, for this is how it works there. Europe would never go to war with itself again. It couldn't, since it would be allied financially."

Of course, they were laughed at! Everyone who heard it said it couldn't' be done and that there were just too many issues to solve. Those who objected said, "No, no, no. That's not what we do. We have too many different cultures. There's some with strong currencies, there's some with weak currencies. There are too many objections. Imagine going from one country to another without being inspected at the border? That won't work. Who are you to suggest something of this nature?" And the forward thinkers said, "We are unifiers. And we think it's a good idea so we will have strength and will never war again." That was two generations ago, 50 years.

Today, you have the European Union of States. There are more all the time, way past the original number of countries. Some are "standing in line" to be accepted! The borders are gone and the checkpoints are missing and the currency called the Euro is the strongest currency on Earth - stronger even than yours [the USA]. Now, let me tell you what did that. It's a consciousness shift that even 50 years ago was developing. Through two generations, it slowly allowed for free thinkers to unify things that had never been unified before. The result? These countries will never conquer each other again, because "history" ended at that moment. They started a new paradigm for Europe and one that has no historic profile known to man. The old history of the area is gone, and it will not repeat itself.

Those in the old Eastern Bloc of Europe, where there is still to this day very little unity, will still say, "History will again repeat itself. We are victims of it. It's only a matter of time." But not all of them feel this way. There are some who are starting to feel a unity of spirituality within their own cultures that they were never allowed to speak of before. So they are free thinking, out of the box of the old paradigm. It's new.

There are those who are standing on podiums and in pulpits and are proclaiming, "History is ended. It's the end of suffering. It's the end of dictatorships. It's the end of those who would put us in a low place. Instead, it's the beginning of discovering who we are." And although they don't say it in these exact words, they are discovering the creator inside - that which is the unity of God. So it's a full circle back to what the Angel told Muhammad, isn't it? For unity was the key to peace, and still is. It is a sacred principle and will never change.

Who would have thought this would have happened? The United States is what it is because 200 years ago the founders said, "Let us make a group of state countries without physical borders in a system that's never been tried. It's one of unity - the UNITED States of America." Oh, it had its tests, but the unifiers won. And it is why this country is what it is and is seen and respected for what it is and for what it's done. So young, it is, but representing the new energy, it is.

Your Declaration of Independence was channelled. Did you know that? It was collective effort channelling by those who had asked God for help. Go read it and feel that which is sacred inside, for it unifies and does not separate.

Trump, Putin absent for leaders' symbolic walk in Paris rain

Yahoo – AFP, Katy Lee, November 11, 2018

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived at the Arc de 

Triomphe with other world leaders (AFP Photo/Ludovic MARIN)

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived at the Arc de Triomphe with other world leaders (AFP Photo/Ludovic MARIN)

Paris (AFP) - United in the rain, world leaders walked slowly up the Champs-Elysees in Paris to mark a century since the end of World War I -- but there were two notable absences, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

The line of black-clad leaders was reminiscent of another moment of unity: after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo jihadist attack, when senior officials from more than 40 countries marched through Paris to denounce terrorism.

But on Sunday both the US and Russian presidents arrived separately for the solemn ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, skipping the bus ride and symbolic walk with other leaders.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump, who wore a cornflower -- France's war remembrance flower -- in his lapel, had arrived separately "due to security protocols".

His trademark bright red tie stood out among the dark coats in the front row as he and Putin stood either side of Macron.

The French president walked alone through the rain to greet veterans to the strains of the national anthem, La Marseillaise.

The moment stood in contrast to Trump's much criticised decision Saturday to call off a US cemetery visit because of rainy weather.

In another stark contrast with Trump, Macron went on to deliver a forceful speech against fear-mongering and isolationism, calling on fellow leaders to fight together for peace.

"Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism," Macron said.

"Let us build our hopes rather than playing our fears against each other."

Around 70 leaders including US and Russian Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin 

marked the centenary of the 1918 Armistice in Paris (AFP Photo/ludovic MARIN)

'Will we ever learn?'

The ceremony, to remember the millions who died in the war, including colonial troops fighting for European powers, had a deliberately international flavour.

The superstar Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed alongside Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo and a European youth orchestra led by a Russian conductor.

High-school students read letters from soldiers at the front in English, French, German and Chinese.

"Am I dreaming?" read one letter from a French soldier upon learning that four years of brutal trench warfare were coming to an end in November 1918.

"I'm so happy, I can hardly believe that the news is true," he wrote.

Another letter, from a British soldier, read: My darling parents, today has been perfectly wonderful. We got news of the armistice at 9.30 this morning... The streets were packed with wildly cheering civilians."

The crowds who braved the rain for the ceremony along the famed Champs-Elysees boulevard in Paris also came from far afield.

Nevan Lancaster, a 47-year-old from New Zealand, extended a work trip to Europe to pay his respects to a grandfather who fought in the war.

"I'm here for him. He didn't speak about the war -- it was his job, it was his duty," Lancaster told AFP.

Keith Evans, a 70-year-old Scot, said he had come "to remember the sacrifice, and the cost" of a conflict that claimed up to 20 million lives.

"I hope that with this event, the leaders here will learn the lesson of what President Macron has just said," Evans said, a remembrance poppy pinned to his raincoat.

"We should do better for peace," he added. "Will we ever learn? I hope so."

After the ceremony, which ended with Macron lighting anew the flame at the Arc de Triomphe's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the leaders headed for lunch at the presidential palace.

As Trump made his way towards his limousine, there was some booing from the crowd.

1915: Europe in the grip of war pic.twitter.com/NKp5goVxD4

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 11, 2018

France's Macron vows to combat 'shameful' violence against women

Yahoo – AFP, November 25, 2017

French Junior Minister for Gender Equality Marlene Schiappa (L) applauds
President Emmanuel Macron after his speech on combating violence against women.
(AFP Photo/LUDOVIC MARIN)

Paris (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday proposed a raft of measures to combat "horrific and shameful" violence against women, as he pledged to make gender equality a major theme of his administration.

"Our entire society is sick with sexism," Macron said in a speech in Paris to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The 39-year-old leader began with a minute of silence to remember the 123 women killed in 2016 in France by their partner or ex-partner.

"France must no longer be one of those countries where women are afraid," he said.

Public awareness of sexual assault and harassment has been heightened following the allegations levelled by women against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Weeks later, the #metoo hashtag burst into the social media spotlight in mid-October and snowballed into an online movement as women across the world reveal their own similar experiences.

Macron outlined three priorities over the five year term of his presidency from fostering gender equality to giving better assistance to victims of sexual abuse and enforcing harsh measures against aggressors.

Nearly 225,000 women were victims of physical or sexual violence by their partner in France last year, according to official figures. But fewer than one in five of them have filed a complaint with authorities.

Macron proposed new measures against this scourge including making a sexual insult an offence in order to combat harassment in the street.

He also called for making 15 the minimum age of consent for sex -- there is currently no such law in France.

To make it easier for women to file a complaint, they will be able to go online and speak directly with police 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

An anti-sexism module will be made available to schools. First lady Brigitte Macron will be personally involved with an effort to raise awareness of harassment in schools.

To help fight against inequality in the workplace, Macron also said he would like to look into the matter of hiring discrimination against women.

The French president said he wants "to fight for the non-negotiable equality of both sexes" making it a "major cause" during his term in office.

France's Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa said the world was at a turning point.

"People can no longer ignore the extent of the violence women are subjected to. They have spoken up and we are responding," Schiappa said.

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"The way FEAR works" – 18 Nov 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New

Rouhani tells Macron Iran 'not seeking to dominate' Mideast

Yahoo – AFP, November 21, 2017

France's President Emmanuel Macron (left) meets with his Iranian counterpart 

Hassan Rouhani in New York on September 18, 2017 (AFP Photo/LUDOVIC MARIN)

Tehran (AFP) - Iran is not seeking to "dominate" the Middle East, President Hassan Rouhani told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, according to the Iranian presidency.

"Our presence in Iraq and Syria is at the invitation of the governments of those countries to fight terrorism," Rouhani was quoted as saying in a telephone call with Macron.

Rouhani said "Iran does not seek to dominate" the region, but was instead working "for peace and security and to avoid the dismembering of countries".

The comments come days after France's foreign minister sparked Tehran's ire by accusing it of "hegemonic" ambitions in the Middle East.

Macron -- who has pledged to visit Iran in 2018 -- on Friday insisted that France wants a "dialogue" with Tehran.

Macron has been heavily involved in trying to defuse a crisis in Lebanon over the resignation of premier Saad Hariri that ramped up tensions between Iran and regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Related Article:

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with embattled Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Sochi ahead of talks with Turkey and Iran pic.twitter.com/nNHoU78pU6

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 21, 2017

Putin says Syria "congress" will boost peace talks after summit with Iran President, Turkish leader https://t.co/VE4zVY3zYG pic.twitter.com/nJqsfB1VIo

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 22, 2017