Paris

With the world's two most expensive soccer players cheering him on in Paris on Friday night, Giannis Antetokounmpo took a while to entertain them.

The Greek star found his rhythm late in the game and had 30 points and 12 rebounds to help the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks beat the Charlotte Hornets 116-103 for their eighth straight win.

China's most festive holiday began in the shadow of a worrying new virus on Jan. 25 as the death toll surpassed 40, an unprecedented lockdown that kept people from traveling was expanded to more than 50 million residents and authorities canceled a host of Lunar New Year events.

Three hundred protesters stood in the cold in front of France's Senate on Jan. 22 to demonstrate against a bill being reviewed there this week involving assisted reproductive technology.

The latest demonstration comes after thousands of opponents of the controversial legislation took to the streets of Paris on Jan. 19.

Whereas ethno-nationalism and populism have been dominating debates for years — particularly since the Brexit referendum and US President Donald Trump's electoral victory in 2016 — the resurgence of anti-Semitism has been less discussed. And yet the evidence of this trend is abundant — and chilling.

Greece's parliament on Jan. 22 elected the first woman president in the country's history, a senior judge with an expertise in environmental and constitutional law.

A cross-party majority of 261 MPs voted in favour of 63-year-old Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou, parliament chief Costas Tassoulas said.

From Paris student to campaigner for Albanian rights

Rugova in Pristina in April 1998. Photo: EPA/SRDJAN SUKI.

The Louvre in Paris, the world's most visited museum, reopened on Jan. 18 after being shut down by workers striking over government plans to overhaul France's pension system.

On Jan. 17, hundreds of disappointed visitors had massed outside the Louvre, some hurling insults at strikers who had blocked the entrance.

The participation of the Hellenic Navy in the carrier group that will escort the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on a part of its mission in the Eastern Mediterranean is seen as yet another indication of Athens' desire to strengthen its ties with Paris.
The government also sees the move as French support for Greece in light of the Turkish-Libyan maritime border accord.

A group of anti-government protestors tried to enter a Paris theater while French President Emmanuel Macron was inside, according to media reports on Jan. 17.

Reports said dozens of protesters gathered in front of the theater after accounts shared on social media indicated Macron was in the venue.

The French-Greek Chamber of Commerce and Industry is organizing a marathon of meetings in Paris on January 29 about investments in Greece in the context of the investment forum it is organizing in the French capital and an official visit to the city by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.