1.
2015 in France
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The following lists events that happened in 2015 in France. President – François Hollande Prime Minister – Manuel Valls January 7 – Gunmen kill 12 people at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. January 8 – One of the suspects in the killings, Hamyd Mourad, January 9 – Gunshots are reported in Dammartin-en-Goele as a manhunt continues for two suspects nearby. January 9 – A hostage situation occurs at a Jewish market, Hypercacher, there are two suspected hostage takers, Hayat Boumeddiene,26, and Amedy Coulibaly,32, who were previously suspected of shooting a policewoman dead earlier in the week. There were at least sixteen hostages, the standoff ends with Coulibaly dead as well as four hostages. Four additional hostages and two police officers require hospitalization, february 9 – Hooded gunmen attack French police in the city of Marseille, which Prime Minister Manuel Valls is due to visit. March 9 – Villa Castelli helicopter collision, Two helicopters collide over Western Argentina, killing 10 people, march 22 – Voters in France go to the polls for the first round of voting in local government elections. Exit polls show the conservative UMP in first place, Marine Le Pens National Front in second, april 16 – Vladimir Putin wants France to refund Russia for Mistral warships. Qatar is in search of power due to instability in the Middle Eastern region. They are fearful of recent conflict in Yemen, Syria, and Libya, the deal also includes MBDA missiles, and the training of 36 Qatari pilots and 100 technicians by the French army. Frances arms exports are now at 15 billion euros for this year, may 4 – Gilles Le Guen, who is accused of working with a branch of Al-Queda in North Africa, goes into trial in Paris. He is the first person to go on trial for a new law that was passed in 2012. This law allows French prosecutors to go after citizens who are suspected of participating in terrorist acts on foreign soil, may 6 – The French parliament passes a bill that gives power to intelligence services to do things such as tap cell phones and read emails. Intelligence services can use these powers while bypassing the judiciary, the point of this bill is to protect France from security threats. The bill has raised questions about privacy of the French people May 7 A French family is trapped in Portuguese water after their ship capsizes near the mid-Atlantic Azores islands, the six-year-old girl of the family dies of hypothermia after being stranded in 21 degree Celsius water for 7 hours. The rest of the family was rescued by a Spanish hospital ship, wiretaps of Nicolas Sarkozy were approved by a French court to be used as evidence. These wiretappings would likely be used against Sarkozy in a case against him. Sarkozys phones were first bugged over allegations that he accepted illicit payments from LOréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 presidential campaign, the recordings entail conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer
2.
2014 in France
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Events from the year 2014 in France. The executives are released the following afternoon,10 January – Closer magazine runs a story alleging that François Hollande is having an affair with actress Julie Gayet. In a statement, Hollande says he deplores the attacks on the principle of respect for privacy, to which he. The story is removed from the magazines website. François Hollandes partner, Valérie Trierweiler, is admitted to hospital for rest and she remains hospitalised until 18 January. 16 January – A protestor calling for a political upheaval unloads a large mound of manure outside the Palais Bourbon from a lorry before being detained by police. 19 January – High levels of rainfall cause flooding in Var,25 January – François Hollande confirms he has separated from his partner Valérie Trierweiler. 2 February – Over 500,000 people in Paris protest against same-sex marriages,7 February – A severe windstorm hits the north-west of France, causing floods in Brittany and power losses to homes and businesses in Brittany, Pays de la Loire, Normandy and Île-de-France. 8 February – A train derails in the French Alps after being struck by a falling boulder,10 February – Taxi drivers stage a one-day strike against the proliferation of unlicensed and unregulated cabs in the country. Their efforts in blocking motorways paralyses rush hour traffic in Paris,14 February – France announces it will increase the number of its soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic as sectarian violence worsens. 14 February – Figures released by INSEE show the economy grew by 0. 0% and 0. 3% in the third,18 February – French police arrest a man in relation to a killing of a British family in the French Alps. 23 February – Six police officers are injured when protests against the construction of a new airport in Nantes turns violent and it is also alleged that the taps contain evidence of Sarkozy attempting to interfere with judicial inquiries. 11 March – Fourteen Caribbean nations file a lawsuit against the United Kingdom, France,14 March – Several days of calm weather conditions cause a large buildup of airborne pollutants across much of France, leading to health alert warnings being declared in almost 75% of the country. In a bid to cut air pollution, transport authorities in Paris, Caen, Grenoble, Reims. 17 March – With air pollution exceeding safe levels for five days, authorities in Paris begin restricting the private use of cars. The measure polarises opinion and thousands of fines are handed out to breaking the restriction before it is lifted the following day. 23 March – The first round of the 2014 municipal elections takes place, with support for the governing Socialist Party declining, a BVA poll reports UMP leading with 48% of the vote, ahead of the Socialists on 43% and National Front on 7%. 26 March – Figures released by the Ministry of Labour show a 0. 9% rise in unemployment in February, the total jobless count in mainland France now stands at 3.347 million
3.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
4.
History of France
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The first written records for the history of France appear in the Iron Age. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language, over the course of the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. Afterwards a Gallo-Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire, in the later stages of the Roman Empire, Gaul was subject to barbarian raids and migration, most importantly by the Germanic Franks. The Frankish king Clovis I united most of Gaul under his rule in the late 5th century, Frankish power reached its fullest extent under Charlemagne. The war formally began in 1337 following Philip VIs attempt to seize the Duchy of Aquitaine from its holder, Edward III of England. Despite early Plantagenet victories, including the capture and ransom of John II of France, among the notable figures of the war was Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl who led French forces against the English, establishing herself as a national heroine. The war ended with a Valois victory in 1453, victory in the Hundred Years War had the effect of strengthening French nationalism and vastly increasing the power and reach of the French monarchy. During the period known as the Ancien Régime, France transformed into an absolute monarchy. During the next centuries, France experienced the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, Henry, King of Navarre, scion of the Bourbon family, would be victorious in the conflict and establish the French Bourbon dynasty. A burgeoning worldwide colonial empire was established in the 16th century, French political power reached a zenith under the rule of Louis XIV, The Sun King, builder of Versailles Palace. In the late 18th century the monarchy and associated institutions were overthrown in the French Revolution, the country was governed for a period as a Republic, until the French Empire was declared by Napoleon Bonaparte. France was one of the Triple Entente powers in World War I, fighting alongside the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Japan, the United States and smaller allies against Germany and the Central Powers. France was one of the Allied Powers in World War II, the Third Republic was dismantled, and most of the country was controlled directly by Germany while the south was controlled until 1942 by the collaborationist Vichy government. Living conditions were harsh as Germany drained away food and manpower, Charles de Gaulle led the Free France movement that one-by-one took over the colonial empire, and coordinated the wartime Resistance. Following liberation in summer 1944, a Fourth Republic was established, France slowly recovered economically, and enjoyed a baby boom that reversed its very low fertility rate. Long wars in Indochina and Algeria drained French resources and ended in political defeat, in the wake of the Algerian Crisis of 1958, Charles de Gaulle set up the French Fifth Republic. Into the 1960s decolonization saw most of the French colonial empire become independent, while smaller parts were incorporated into the French state as overseas departments, since World War II France has been a permanent member in the UN Security Council and NATO. It played a role in the unification process after 1945 that led to the European Union
5.
President of France
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The President of the French Republic, is the executive head of state of the French Fifth Republic. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister, the current President of France is François Hollande, who took office on 15 May 2012. Hollande has announced that he stand down in the upcoming 2017 French presidential election. President Chirac was first elected in 1995 and again in 2002, at that time, there was no limit on the number of terms, so Chirac could have run again, but chose not to. He was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy on 16 May 2007, following a further change, the Constitutional law on the Modernisation of the Institutions of the Fifth Republic,2008, a president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac are the only Presidents to date who have served a two terms. In order to be admitted as a candidate, potential candidates must receive signed nominations from more than 500 elected officials. These officials must be from at least 30 départements or overseas collectivities, furthermore, each official may nominate only one candidate. There are exactly 45,543 elected officials, including 33,872 mayors, spending and financing of campaigns and political parties are highly regulated. There is a cap on spending, at approximately 20 million euros, if the candidate receives less than 5% of the vote, the government funds €8,000,000 to the party. Advertising on TV is forbidden but official time is given to candidates on public TV, an independent agency regulates election and party financing. After the president is elected, he or she goes through an investiture ceremony called a passation des pouvoirs. The French Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential system, unlike many other European presidents, the French President is quite powerful. The president holds the nations most senior office, and outranks all other politicians, the presidents greatest power is his/her ability to choose the prime minister. When the majority of the Assembly has opposite political views to that of the president, when the majority of the Assembly sides with them, the President can take a more active role and may, in effect, direct government policy. The prime minister is then the choice of the President. This device has been used in recent years by François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, since 2002, the mandate of the president and the Assembly are both 5 years and the two elections are close to each other. Therefore, the likelihood of a cohabitation is lower, among the powers of the government, The president promulgates laws
6.
Socialist Party (France)
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The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France, and the largest party of the French centre-left. The PS is one of the two major political parties in France, along with the Republicans. The Socialist Party replaced the earlier French Section of the Workers International in 1969, the PS is a member of the Party of European Socialists, the Socialist International and the Progressive Alliance. The PS first won power in 1981, when its candidate François Mitterrand was elected President of France in the 1981 presidential election, under Mitterrand, the party achieved a governing majority in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1993. In 2007, the candidate for the presidential election, Ségolène Royal, was defeated by conservative UMP candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. Then, the Socialist party won most of regional and local elections, in 2016, the party had 42,300 members. In 2014, the party had 60,000 members, in 2012 the party had 173,486 members. The defeat of the Paris commune greatly reduced the power and influence of socialist movements in France and its leaders were killed or exiled. Frances first socialist party, the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France, was founded in 1879 and it was characterised as possibilist because it promoted gradual reforms. Two parties split off from it, in 1882, the French Workers Party of Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue, at the same time, the heirs of Louis Auguste Blanqui, a symbol of the French revolutionary tradition, created the Central Revolutionary Committee led by Édouard Vaillant. There were also some declared socialist deputies such as Alexandre Millerand, in 1899, the participation of Millerand in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseaus cabinet caused a debate about socialist participation in a bourgeois government. In 1905, during the Globe Congress, the two merged in the French Section of the Workers International. Leader of the group and director of the party paper LHumanité. The party was hemmed in between the liberals of the Radical Party and the revolutionary syndicalists who dominated the trade unions. Together with the Radicals, who wished to install laicism, the SFIO was a component of the Left Block without to sit in the government, in 1906, the General Confederation of Labour trade union claimed its independence from all political parties. The French socialists were strongly anti-war, but following the assassination of Jaurès in 1914 they were unable to resist the wave of militarism which followed the outbreak of World War I and they suffered a severe split over participation in the wartime government of national unity. In 1919 the anti-war socialists were heavily defeated in elections, the right wing, led by Léon Blum, kept the old house and remained in the SFIO. In 1924 and in 1932, the Socialists joined with the Radicals in the Coalition of the Left, the question of the possibility of a government participation with Radicals caused the split of neosocialists at the beginning of the 1930s
7.
Emmanuel Macron
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Emmanuel Macron is a French politician, senior civil servant, and former investment banker. Born in Amiens, he studied Philosophy at Paris Nanterre University and he went on to become an Inspector of Finances in the Inspectorate General of Finances before becoming an investment banker at Rothschild & Cie Banque. He resigned in August 2016 in order to launch a bid in the 2017 presidential election, in November 2016, Macron declared that he would run in the election under the banner of En Marche. A centrist movement he founded in April 2016, born in Amiens, Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron is the son of Jean-Michel Macron, Professor of Neurology at the University of Picardy, and Françoise Macron-Noguès, a physician. He was educated mostly at the Jésuites de la Providence lycée in Amiens before his parents sent him to finish his last year of school at the high school Lycée Henri-IV in Paris. He studied Philosophy at the University of Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense and he obtained a Masters degree in Public Affairs at Sciences Po, before training for a senior civil service career at the École nationale dadministration, graduating in 2004. Macron worked as an Inspector of Finances in the French Ministry of Economy between 2004 and 2008, in 2007, he served as deputy rapporteur for the Commission to improve French growth headed by Jacques Attali. While an investment banker, Macron closed a deal between Nestlé and Pfizer, which in part allowed him to amass a small fortune reportedly in the region of €2,800,000. Macron was a member of the Socialist Party from 2006 to 2009, in 2015, he stated that he was no longer a member of the PS and was now an Independent. From 2012 to 2014, he served as deputy secretary-general of the Élysée and he was appointed Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Data in the second Valls Cabinet on 26 August 2014, replacing Arnaud Montebourg. As Minister of the Economy, Macron was at the forefront of pushing through business-friendly reforms, in February 2015, he pledged that the government would force through reforms despite opposition from the parliament. On 30 August 2016, Macron resigned from the government ahead of the 2017 presidential election and this came shortly after he founded his own progressive political movement, En Marche. An independent political party, for which he was reprimanded by President Hollande, Macron founded En Marche. in Amiens, the city of his birth. On 16 November 2016, Macron formally declared his candidacy for the French presidency after months of speculation, in his announcement speech, Macron called for a democratic revolution and promised to unblock France. He eventually laid out his 150-page formal program on 2 March, publishing it online, as well as numerous others – many of them from the Socialist Party, but also a significant number of centrist and centre-right politicians. Macron has been described by observers as a social liberal. Macron has notably advocated in favor of the market and reducing the public-finances deficit. He first publicly used the term liberal to describe himself in a 2015 interview with Le Monde and he added that he is neither right nor left and that he advocates a collective solidarity
8.
Prime Minister of France
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The French Prime Minister in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. During the Third and Fourth Republics, the head of government position was called President of the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister proposes a list of ministers to the President of the Republic. Decrees and decisions of the Prime Minister, like almost all decisions, are subject to the oversight of the administrative court system. Few decrees are taken after advice from the Council of State, all prime ministers defend the programs of their ministry, and make budgetary choices. The extent to which those decisions lie with the Prime Minister or President depends upon whether they are of the same party, manuel Valls was appointed to lead the government in a cabinet reshuffle in March 2014, after the ruling Socialists suffered a bruising defeat in local elections. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic, the President can choose whomever they want. On the other hand, because the National Assembly does have the power to force the resignation of the government, for example, right after the legislative election of 1986, President François Mitterrand appointed Jacques Chirac prime minister. Chirac was a member of the RPR and an opponent of Mitterrand. Despite the fact that Mitterrands own Socialist Party was the largest party in the Assembly, the RPR had an alliance with the UDF, which gave them a majority. Such a situation, where the President is forced to work with a minister who is an opponent, is called a cohabitation. So far, Édith Cresson is the woman to have ever held the position of prime minister. Aristide Briand holds the record for most nomination as Prime Minister with 11 between 1909 and 1929 with some terms as short as 26 days, other members of Government are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister can engage the responsibility of his or her Government before the National Assembly and this process consists of placing a bill before the Assembly, and either the Assembly overthrows the Government, or the bill is passed automatically. In addition to ensuring that the Government still has support in the House, the Prime Minister may also submit a bill that has not been yet signed into law to the Constitutional Council. Before he is allowed to dissolve the Assembly, the President has to consult the Prime Minister, the office of the prime minister, in its current form, dates from the formation of the French Third Republic. Under the French Constitutional Laws of 1875, he was imbued with the powers as his British counterpart. In practice, however, the minister was a fairly weak figure. Most notably, the legislature had the power to force the cabinet out of office by a vote of censure
9.
Bernard Cazeneuve
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Bernard Cazeneuve is a French Socialist politician who has been Prime Minister of France since December 2016. On 2 April 2014 he was appointed the 42nd Minister of the Interior in the First Valls Government, on 6 December 2016, Cazeneuve was appointed Prime Minister after Valls resigned to concentrate on the upcoming presidential election. Bernard Cazeneuve was born on 2 June 1963 in Senlis, Oise and his father was the head of the Socialist Party in Oise, which gave him the opportunity to attend a meeting with François Mitterrand. During his studies at the Institut détudes politiques de Bordeaux, he led the Young Radicals of the Left movement in the Gironde department, after graduating from IEP de Bordeaux, he joined the Socialist Party. Cazeneuve began his career as an adviser in the Groupe Banque Populaire, before starting in politics. In 1993, he was appointed Principal Private Secretary in the cabinet of Charles Josselin and that same year, he was named Secretary General of the Council on Boating and Nautical Sports. Rising in the Socialist Party, Cazeneuve moved in 1994 to Octeville in Manche department to put an end to local divisions in party politics and that same year, he was elected Departmental Councillor, and the next year was elected mayor of Octeville. This issue went to referendum, and led to the combination of two communes, Cherbourg and Octeville, Cazeneuve was elected mayor of this new commune of Cherbourg-Octeville in 2001, succeeding Jean-Pierre Godefroy and defeating the Rally for the Republic candidate Jean Lemière. His political ascent was interrupted by a defeat for re-election to his seat in the National Assembly in the 2002 elections. At the same time, he pursued a career, being named a judge to the Haute Cour de Justice. He was called to the bar of Cherbourg-Octeville in 2003, in 2005 he supported the no vote on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. Between 2006 and 2008 Cazeneuve worked for a Paris law firm associated with the Socialist Party, August & Debouzy, in their Public, Regulation. In 2007, Cazeneuve represented the Socialist Party in the election for the 5th Constituency of Manche. After this victory he resigned from his position with the Regional Council of Lower Normandy, then, facing divided opposition from the right in the 2008 municipal elections, he retained his position as mayor of Cherbourg-Octeville. In his second term as mayor he campaigned to promote the character of the city. He also focused on renewal of the Bassins and Provinces quarters of Cherbourg-Octeville. On the national level, he represented the victims of the 2002 Karachi bus bombing, as Secretary of the Commission on National Defense in the National Assembly, he was recorder between November 2009 and May 2010 of the Parliamentary inquiry into the Karachi attack. Due to the lack of government transparency regarding the Karachi case, Cazeneuve wrote a book titled Karachi, after supporting no candidate in the 2011 Socialist Party presidential primary, he was named as one of candidate François Hollandes four spokespersons
10.
The Republicans (France)
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The Republicans is a centre-right political party in France. The party was formed on 30 May 2015 by renaming the Union for a Popular Movement party, the party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Socialist Party. The Republicans are a member of the European Peoples Party, Centrist Democrat International, with the name already chosen, vice-president of the UMP Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet presented Sarkozy and the partys political bureau the proposed new statutes. The new name was adopted by the party bureau on 5 May 2015, the new party statutes were adopted by 96. 3% of voters and the composition of the new political bureau by 94. 8%. The change to the name The Republicans was confirmed at the founding congress on 30 May 2015 at the Paris Event Centre in Paris. Angela Merkel, chairwoman of the conservative CDU, sent a message to the congress. The Republicans thus became the successor of the UMP and the leading centre-right party in France. The organisation has been declared in the préfecture de Saône-et-Loire on 9 April 2015 and this party foundation was published in the Journal officiel de la République française on 25 April 2015. On 3 July 2016, Sarkozy announced that he would resign as leader that year in order to compete to be the candidate in the 2017 presidential election. On 27 November 2016, Francois Fillon, the former Prime Minister of France, politics of France List of political parties in France Official web site of Les Républicains
11.
2017 World Men's Handball Championship
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The 2017 IHF World Mens Handball Championship was the 25th event hosted by the International Handball Federation. The event was held in France from 11 to 29 January 2017, France successfully defended their title by defeating Norway 33–26 in the final, which secured France their sixth title. Slovenia defeated Croatia 31–30 to capture the bronze medal, Norway and Slovenia earned their first World Championship medals ever. The championship was played at eight venues in Paris-Bercy, Rouen, Nantes, Metz, Albertville, Montpellier, Lille, all the venue capacities are the capacity for handball events. 8 venues Denmark and France were bidding to host the 2017 Mens World Championships, the IHF Council awarded the Men’s and Women’s World Championships 2017 at their meeting on the fringes of the Women’s World Championships in São Paulo, Brazil on Thursday 15 December 2011. Denmark was the co-host of the 1999 Women’s World Championship and host of the 1978 Mens World Championship, Denmark has also hosted the Womens EHF EURO twice and was awarded with the Mens EHF EURO2014. France hosted the Mens World Championships in 1970 and 2001 and was host of the 2007 Womens World Championship, twenty-four teams participated in the final tournament. France, as hosts, were automatically qualified, the draw was held on 23 June 2016 at 14,00 in Paris, France. 16 referee pairs are selected, The schedule was announced on 23 September 2015, for places 5–16 the criteria was the number of points gained against the teams ranked first to fourth in the preliminary round in their group
12.
Miss Universe 2016
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Miss Universe 2016, the 65th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 30 January 2017 at the Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines crowned Iris Mittenaere of France as her successor at the end of the event and this is the second time in the history of the competition that the pageant skipped the entire year, following the 2014 pageant which was held in January 2015. Frances win ended the countrys 63-year title drought, the longest in Miss Universe history, Mittenaere is the first European Miss Universe in 14 years, the last being Russias Oxana Fedorova who originally won in 2002 before being dethroned. On July 18,2016, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach made a call with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in regards to hosting Miss Universe 2016 in the Philippines. The pageant was organized by the LCS Group of Companies, the DOT, in September 2016, the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay was announced to be the main coronation venue of the pageant according to the Philippine Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo. A reality-documentary television program entitled Journey to the Crown, A Celebration of Beauty was shown on ETC on November 6,2016 in the Philippines as part of marketing of the pageant. A kick-off party was hosted on December 9,2016 at Conrad Manila, twelve contestants from Asia Pacific were in attendance for the event. They were, Alongside with the pageant, ancillary events were held which has no effect on the contestants total pageant score. The contestants were scheduled to participate in shows in Davao, Cebu. Each venue had a theme, Mindanao fabric for Davao, beachwear for Cebu, the contestants partook in a different event in Bicol. On December 13,2016, some of the candidates had a photoshoot with whale sharks in Oslob. The Department of Tourism said that there were five candidates present. Following criticisms, the DOT is considering to do the whale watching activity for the show in Donsol. That they have been brushed off by the pageant organizers, following the cancellation announcement, the DFDCFI said that they respect the decision but urged the organizers that Davao City to remain as one of the places to be visited by the candidates. On December 22,2016, it was announced that the show will push through after Salud. The national costume show was done on January 27,2016 which had no bearing on the preliminary scores, at the Mall of Asia Arena, all 86 contestants competed in swimwear and evening gown in front of a panel of preliminary judges. The scores from the event along with an interview portion determine the Top 13 during the Miss Universe broadcast. The Preliminary Competition was hosted by Pia Wurtzbach and Filipino-British actor Derek Ramsay. m, but it was later announced that the program was to run from 8 a. m. until 11,00 a. m
13.
Manila
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Manila, officially City of Manila, is the capital of the Philippines. Founded on June 24,1571, by Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi and it is situated on the eastern shore of Manila Bay and is home to many landmarks, some of which date back to the 16th century. In 2012, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network listed Manila as a global city, the city proper is home to 1,780,148 people in 2015, forming the historic core of Metro Manila, the capital region of the Philippines. The metropolitan area, which includes the much larger Quezon City, Manila is also the most densely populated city proper in the world, with 41,515 people per square kilometer. The term Manila is commonly used to refer to either the whole area or the city proper. Manila is located on the shore of the Manila Bay on one of the finest harbors in the country. The city has six districts for the lower house of the Philippine Congress. Manila was once ruled by the Kingdom of Tondo before it became a province of the Majapahit Empire. During the Bruneian invasion of the Philippines, Sultan Bolkiah of Brunei captured Seludong and renamed it Maynilà, Maynilà became a vassal state of the Sultanate of Brunei, established to overpower Tondo. In 1571, conquistadors arrived from Mexico, across the Pacific Ocean, Spanish missionaries soon Christianized the city, incorporated Tondo and built some of the oldest churches in the country, including San Agustin Church. The conquistadors renamed the area Nuevo Reino de Castilla, Manila became the center of Spanish activity in the Far East and one end of the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade route linking Spanish America with Asia, one of the earliest examples of globalization. Because of its location on Pacific trade routes, Manila received the moniker Pearl of the Orient. Spanish rule of the Philippine archipelago lasted for more than three centuries, until 1898, order was usually quickly restored and the city returned to the business of trade. In the 19th century, Manila was one of the most modern cities in Asia, before the Spanish–American War, it saw the rise of the Philippine Revolution. After the war, the United States took control, switched the official language from Spanish to English, near the end of World War II, during the Battle of Manila, most of the city was flattened by intensive aerial bombardment by the United States Air Force. As a result, relatively little remains of Manilas prewar and colonial architecture, although there are ongoing projects, especially within the old walled city. Maynilà, the Filipino name for the city, originated from the word nilà, referring to a mangrove tree that grew on the delta of the Pasig River. The flowers were made into garlands that, according to folklore, were offered to statues on religious altars or in churches
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Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
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French presidential election, 2017
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The first round of the 2017 French presidential election is set to be held on 23 April 2017. Should no candidate win a majority, an election between the top two candidates will be held on 7 May 2017. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party is eligible to run for a second term and he is the first incumbent president of the Fifth Republic not to run for a second term. This is also the first French presidential election in which nominees of both the main centre-left and centre-right parties were selected through open primaries, a total of 11 candidates will contest the first round. The presidential election will be followed by an election to elect members of the National Assembly on 11 and 18 June. François Fillon of the Republicans and Marine Le Pen of the National Front led in opinion polls between November 2016 and mid-January 2017. Macron overtook Fillon to be placed second in first-round polling and. Polls for the second round of voting further suggest that either Fillon or Macron would beat Le Pen. In 2017, the first and second rounds are planned for 23 April and 7 May, the official signature collection period followed the publication of the Journal officiel on 25 February to 17 March. French prefectures mailed sponsorship forms to the 42,000 elected officials eligible to give their signature to a candidate, the end of the signature collection period also marked the deadline for the declaration of personal assets required of prospective candidates. The final list of candidates was proclaimed on 21 March, the Conseil supérieur de laudiovisuel ensures that all candidates receive equal time in broadcast media under comparable programming conditions from 19 March onward. The CSA warned on 8 March that the amount of speaking time broadcasters had given Fillon and his supporters was unusually high, after the official start of the campaign on 10 April, the CSA will strictly enforce equal time in broadcast media. Campaigning for the first round of the ends at midnight on 21 April. The new President of the French Republic will be proclaimed on 11 May, on 18 March 2017, the Constitutional Council published the names of the 11 candidates who received 500 valid sponsorships, with the order of the list determined by drawing lots. The presidential race featured two prominent potential candidates who declined to run, an online vote among EELV primary voters from 24 and 26 February was required to confirm the agreement, an earlier vote to open talks with Hamon and Mélenchon was approved by 89. 7% of those electors. This marks the first election since 1969 without a green candidate, on 9 July 2016, Europe Ecology – The Greens announced that it would hold a primary election before the 2017 presidential election. Those wishing to be nominated required the support of 36 of its federal councilors out of 240, the vote was open to both party members as well as sympathizers who could register to vote in the primary. The announcement came just days after prominent environmentalist Nicolas Hulots surprise declaration that he would not offer himself as a candidate on 5 July
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Marine Le Pen
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Marion Anne Perrine Le Pen, known as Marine Le Pen, is a French lawyer and politician. She is the president of the National Front, a party in France. She is the youngest daughter of long-time FN leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Le Pen joined the National Front in 1986 and has been elected as a regional councillor, a Member of European Parliament, and a municipal councillor in Hénin-Beaumont. She then became the president of the party. In 2012, she placed third in the election with 17. 90% of the vote, behind François Hollande. She launched a presidential bid for the upcoming election, scheduled for April 2017. She finally expelled her father from the party on 20 August 2015 after new controversial statements, Le Pen was ranked among the most influential people in 2011 and 2015 by the Time 100. In 2016, she was ranked as second-most influential MEP in the European Parliament by Politico, Marion Anne Perrine Le Pen was born on 5 August 1968 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She is the youngest of the three daughters of Jean-Marie Le Pen, a Breton politician and a paratrooper, with his first wife Pierrette Lalanne. She was baptized 25 April 1969, at La Madeleine by Father Pohpot and her godfather was Henri Botey, a relative of her father. She has two sisters, Yann and Marie Caroline, in 1976, Marine survived a bomb attack on the family as they slept in their beds. She was eight when a bomb meant for her father exploded in the stairwell outside the familys apartment, the blast ripped a hole into the outside wall of the building. Marine, her two sisters and their parents were unharmed. She was a student at the lycée Florent Schmitt at Saint-Cloud, Le Pen studied law at Panthéon-Assas University, graduating with a Master of Laws in 1991 and a Master of Advanced Studies in criminal law in 1992. Registered at the Paris bar association, she worked as a lawyer for six years, in France, when a defendant cannot afford a lawyer, one is chosen to represent them. In 1992, she received the certificate as a lawyer and became a lawyer practising in Paris and she then argued regularly before the criminal chamber of the 23rd District Court of Paris which judges immediate appearances. She was a member of the Bar of Paris until 1998, Le Pen was raised Roman Catholic. She was married in 1995 to Franck Chauffroy, an executive who worked for the National Front
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National Front (France)
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The National Front is a right-wing populist and nationalist political party in France. As an anti-European Union party, the FN has opposed the European Union since its creation, most political commentators place the FN on the far-right but other sources suggest that the partys position on the political spectrum has become more difficult to clearly define. The party was founded in 1972 to unify a variety of French nationalist movements of the time, Jean-Marie Le Pen was the partys first leader and the undisputed centre of the party from its start until his resignation in 2011. Marine Le Pen, his daughter, was elected as the current leader, while the party struggled as a marginal force for its first ten years, since 1984 it has been the major force of French nationalism. The 2002 presidential election was the first in France to include a National Front candidate in the run-off, in the run-off, he finished a distant second to Jacques Chirac. Due to the French electoral system, the representation in public office has been limited. While her father was nicknamed the Devil of the Republic by mainstream media and they, once again, came out in 1st place in the last regional elections with a historic result of just under 28% of the votes. The FN springs from a tradition in France that dates back to the French Revolution of 1789. In the 1965 presidential election, Le Pen unsuccessfully attempted to consolidate the right-wing vote around the presidential candidate Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the French far-right consisted mainly of small movements such as Occident, Groupe Union Défense. While the ON had competed in local elections since 1970. The party was launched on 5 October 1972 under the name National Front for French Unity, the FN adopted a French version of the MSI tricolour flame as its logo. Le Pen was chosen to be the first president of the party, the National Front fared poorly in the 1973 legislative elections, receiving 0. 5% of the national vote. In 1973 the party created a movement, the Front national de la jeunesse. The rhetoric used in the campaign stressed old far-right themes and was largely uninspiring to the electorate at the time, otherwise, its official program at this point was relatively moderate, differing little from the mainstream right. Le Pen sought the total fusion of the currents in the party, the more radical elements of the ON were not persuaded, and reverted to hard activism. They were banned from the party later that year, Le Pen soon became the undisputed leader of the party, although this cost it many leading members and much of its militant base. In the 1974 presidential election, Le Pen failed to find a theme for his campaign
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Two-round system
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The two-round system is a voting method used to elect a single winner, where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. The two-round system is used around the world for the election of legislative bodies, for example, it is used in French presidential, legislative, and departmental elections. In Italy, it is used to elect mayors, but also to decide which party or coalition receives a majority bonus in city councils. Historically it was used in the German Empire of 1871–1918, in New Zealand in the 1908 and 1911 elections, the two-round system is known as run-off voting in the United States, where the second round is known as a run-off election. Run-off voting is sometimes used as a generic term to describe any method involving a number of rounds of voting. By this broader definition the system is not the only form of run-off voting. However the subject of article is the two-round system. In Canada, for example, candidates for party leadership. It is like a method, except the one candidate must win a simple majority. Candidates with the fewest votes or candidates who want to move their support to other candidates may move to remove themselves from the next vote. In both rounds of an election conducted using runoff voting, the voter marks a X beside his/her favorite candidate. If no candidate has a majority of votes in the first round. In the second round, because there are two candidates, one candidate will achieve an absolute majority. In the second round, each voter is free to change the candidate he votes for, even if his preferred candidate has not yet been eliminated. Some variants of the system use a different rule for choosing candidates for the second round. Under such methods, it is sufficient for a candidate to receive a plurality of votes to be elected in the second round. Under some variants of runoff voting, there is no rule for eliminating candidates. In both elections, the communist candidate, Ernst Thälmann, did not withdraw and ran in the second round, in 1925, that probably ensured the election of Paul von Hindenburg, rather than Wilhelm Marx, the centrist candidate
