Paris — French drugmaker Sanofi’s confirmation that it will sell a controlling stake in its consumer health unit to a U.S. investment fund sparked a new political backlash Monday, stoked by fears the deal marks a loss of sovereignty over key medications.  

Paris “must block the sale” using powers to protect strategic sectors, Manuel Bompard, a senior lawmaker in the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, told the TF1 broadcaster.  

Politicians and unions have torn into Sanofi’s proposed 16-billion-euro ($17.4 billion) deal with U.S. investment fund CD&R for a controlling stake in Opella.  

The subsidiary makes household-name drugs including Doliprane branded paracetamol  whose yellow boxes dominate the French market.  

Under pressure, Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s minority government said it had secured a two-percent stake in Opella for public investment bank Bpifrance and “extremely strong” guarantees against job cuts and offshoring.  

Opella employs over 11,000 workers and operates in 100 countries.  

Sanofi said it is the third-largest business worldwide in the market for over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and supplements.  

CD&R — which has a battery of investments in France — would help build Opella into a “French-headquartered, global consumer healthcare champion,” the pharma giant said in a statement.  

‘Just words’

But with memories of drug shortages during and since the Covid-19 pandemic still raw for many, critics say the defenses are too weak.

A small stake “won’t give the French state a say in strategic decisions” at Opella, said Bompard, whose LFI dominates a left alliance that is the largest opposition group against Barnier and President Emmanuel Macron.  

Thomas Portes, also of the LFI, posted on X that the government had offered “no guarantees, just words.”  

Economy Minister Antoine Armand said a contract between CD&R, Sanofi and the government included maintaining production sites, research and development and Opella’s official headquarters in France, as well as investing at least 70 million euros over five years.  

It covers “keeping up a minimum production volume for Opella’s sensitive products in France,” Armand added, including Doliprane, digestive medication Lanzor and Aspegic branded aspirin.  

There would be financial penalties for closing French production sites, laying off workers or failing to buy from French suppliers.  

That includes Seqens, a company re-establishing production in France of Doliprane’s active ingredient paracetamol.  

“Workers are not at all reassured by the latest developments,” said Johann Nicolas, a CGT union representative at Opella’s Doliprane plant in Lisieux, northern France.  

He added that a picket had throttled production there from around 1.3 million boxes of the drug per day to around 265,000.  

The proposed protections in the deal have also failed to win over even some in the government camp.  

Monday’s guarantees “do not at all indicate a commitment for the long term, whether on investment, supply or jobs,” Charles Rodwell, a lawmaker in Macron’s EPR party who has closely followed the case, told AFP.  

He vowed “painstaking” parliamentary surveillance of government action over the deal including measures to “block” the sale if ministers fall short.

Brand loyalty

Macron said last week that “the government has the instruments needed to protect France” from any unwanted “capital ownership.”  

Emotion over the Opella sales is closely linked to Doliprane.  

Boxes of the non-opioid analgesic against mild to moderate pain and fever often line entire pharmacy walls.  

The drug comes in many doses — from 100 mg for babies to 1,000 mg for adults — and in tablet, capsule, suppository and liquid forms.  

It is so ubiquitous that French people call any paracetamol product Doliprane, even when made by a different manufacturer.  

Sanofi, among the world’s top 12 health care companies, says the planned spinoff is part of a strategy to focus less on over-the-counter medication and more on innovative medicines and vaccines, including for polio, influenza and meningitis.
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In late September, the Russian parliament backed new legislation that will make it harder for some people to adopt children from the country. Some adoption advocates say the legislation is really designed to punish the West. VOA Russian has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Andre Sergunin  
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit Monday to Ukraine in a show of support for Ukraine’s military and to meet with Ukrainian leaders.

The Pentagon said in a statement that Austin will also “deliver a speech that will highlight how Ukraine has skillfully fought back against Putin’s war of choice, U.S. commitment to ensuring Ukraine’s armed forces have the battlefield capabilities they need, and why Ukraine’s fight matters for U.S. security.”

Austin’s visit comes days after the United States announced $425 million in new aid for Ukraine, including munitions for air defense systems and artillery munitions.

Russian drone attacks injured at least one person in Ukraine’s capital, officials in Kyiv said Monday.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram falling debris from drones shot down by Ukrainian air defenses damaged several residential buildings.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on Telegram that as many as a dozen Russian drones were involved in the attack, but that all of them were destroyed.

Russian drones also targeted Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine. Governor Vitalii Kim said Monday on Telegram that air defenses downed three drones overnight.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Monday it destroyed 18 Ukrainian drones launched in overnight attacks.

Eleven of the drones were shot down over the Rostov region, while another four were destroyed over Bryansk, two over Kursk and one over Oryol.

Officials in Kursk reported there were no casualties and no damage reported from the attacks.
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In February, Canada will host the first-ever winter Invictus Games, an athletic competition for wounded and injured veterans from around the world. This year, 550 athletes from 25 countries will compete in both traditional Invictus Games sports as well as new winter sports. Ukraine will be represented by 35 veterans. Tetiana Kukurika caught up with one of them in this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday he was seeking a strong reaction from countries who have acknowledged that North Korea is becoming more involved in Russia’s more than 2-1/2-year-old war against Ukraine.

Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said there was ample satellite and video evidence that North Korea was sending not only equipment to Russia, but also soldiers to be prepared for deployment.

“I am grateful to those leaders and representatives of states who do not close their eyes and speak frankly about this cooperation for the sake of a larger war,” he said. “We expect a normal, honest, strong reaction from our partners on this.”

Zelenskyy said greater North Korean involvement could only be harmful to everyone.

“Unfortunately, instability and threats can significantly increase after North Korea becomes trained for modern warfare,” he said.

“If the world remains silent now and we have to engage soldiers from North Korea on the front line in the same way we have to defend ourselves from (Iranian) Shahed drones, this will certainly benefit no one in the world and only prolong the war.”

North Korea’s actions, he said, meant “in effect yet another country entering the war against Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy last week accused North Korea of deploying officers alongside Russia and preparing to send thousands of troops to help Moscow’s war effort. South Korea’s spy agency said on Friday North Korea had dispatched 1,500 special forces troops to Russia’s Far East for training.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday he could not confirm reports that North Korea has sent troops to Russia ahead of a possible deployment, but said such a move would be concerning, if true. NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Thursday there was no evidence of Pyongyang’s presence at this stage.

The involvement of North Korean regular troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would be a serious escalation of the war, France and Ukraine’s foreign ministers said at a joint press conference in Kyiv on Saturday.
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Brasilia, Brazil — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday canceled his trip to Russia for the BRICS summit, following medical advice to temporarily avoid long-haul flights after hurting his head in an accident at home.

In a statement, the presidential office said Lula, 78, will now participate in the BRICS meeting via videoconference. He was initially scheduled to depart at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

According to a medical report issued by the Sirio Libanes Hospital in Brasilia, Lula suffered a laceration to the “occipital region” in the back of his head on Saturday.

The report said Lula “was advised to avoid long-distance air travel but is otherwise able to carry out his regular duties.”

The government said in a post on X that Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira has been designated to lead the Brazilian delegation in the BRICS summit, departing later on Sunday.

The diplomatic forum founded 15 years ago by major emerging markets Brazil, Russia, India, China has since expanded to include South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Congresswoman Gleisi Hoffmann, president of Lula’s Workers Party, posted on social media that she had spoken with the president and that “he is doing very well, just avoiding a long trip.”
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BELGRADE — European Union candidate Serbia will continue to refuse to impose sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine despite Western pressure, Serbia’s leader said after his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

Populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram that he believes the call, what he said was his first in more than two years with the Russian president, will help “further development of relations and trust between Russia and Serbia.”

“We talked as people who have known each other for a long time, as friends, and the ten-minute conversation was marked by a personal note, and we also talked about those who are weak [pro-Western] leaders,” Vucic said.

He did not say whether he would accept an earlier invitation by Putin to attend a BRICS summit of emerging economies, led by Russia and China, in Kazan later this week.

Although formally seeking E.U. membership, traditional Russian Slavic ally Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine though it has reluctantly condemned Moscow’s aggression. Vucic has said that imposing the sanctions wasn’t in Serbia’s national interest.

He said Sunday he expects criticism from the West of his conversation with Putin, but stated that “Serbia is a sovereign country which makes its own decisions.”

He also thanked Russia “for providing sufficient quantities of gas for Serbia at favorable prices.” Serbia was almost completely dependent on the Russian gas but has recently agreed to start to diversify its supplies.

Serbia, which was never part of the Soviet bloc, on Sunday marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of its capital Belgrade from the Nazi World War II occupation, which was accomplished mostly thanks to former Yugoslavia’s communist partisans, but also the Soviet Red Army.

Belgrade’s nationalist authorities marked the liberation date with a display of the pro-Russian sentiment, with thousands marching through Belgrade waving Russian flags and chanting slogans.

At a meeting marking the anniversary, Vucic delivered a speech in the Russian language, which he said is a sign of respect for the Red Army, without which “there would not have been the liberation of Belgrade.”
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Tehran — Iran summoned the ambassador of Hungary, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, to protest a joint E.U.-Gulf Cooperation Council statement on islands controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, state media reported Sunday. 

The statement, published after the first summit between the two regional blocs on Wednesday, said, “We call on Iran to end its occupation of the three islands of the United Arab Emirates, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, which constitutes a violation of the sovereignty of the UAE and the principles of the Charter of the U.N.” 

The islands located near the Strait of Hormuz, a globally vital shipping lane, have been disputed between the United Arab Emirates and Iran for decades.  

Tehran has controlled the islands since 1971 at the end of British imperial rule over them. 

“The Hungarian ambassador was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry to protest against the repetition of certain baseless claims in the joint declaration from the leaders of the EU and the GCC,” the official IRNA news agency reported.   

The foreign ministry called the EU’s stance “thoughtless, irresponsible and void of any legal basis,” IRNA added.  

On Monday, the European Union accused Tehran of supplying missiles and drones to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine and imposed fresh sanctions on the country. 

In April 2023, Iran appointed an ambassador to the UAE for the first time in nearly eight years as part of improving diplomatic relations with Gulf Arab states. 
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KYIV — Russian air defenses shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones Sunday over Russia’s western regions, Moscow officials said, while 17 people were injured in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in a ballistic missile attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said 110 drones were destroyed in the overnight barrage against seven Russian regions. Many targeted Russia’s border region of Kursk, where 43 drones were reportedly shot down.

Social media footage appeared to show air defenses at work over the city of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, close to a factory producing explosives.

Local Gov. Gleb Nikitin wrote on social media Sunday that four fire fighters had been injured repelling a drone attack over Dzerzhinsk’s industrial zone, but did not give further details.

Such large-scale aerial attacks are still relatively rare over Russia 2½ years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A similar attack at the end of September saw Russia’s Ministry of Defense report the destruction of 125 drones across seven regions.

Meanwhile, 17 people were injured in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih after the city was hit with two Russian ballistic missiles, officials said Sunday.

The attack late Saturday evening damaged homes and businesses, said local administration head Oleksandr Vilkul.

The Ukrainian air force said that Russia launched 49 drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles in total overnight. It said 31 of the drones were shot down over 12 regions, including the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while another 13 disappeared from radar — suggesting they were knocked out by electronic defenses.

In a statement on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched some 800 guided aerial bombs and more than 500 attack drones over Ukraine in the past week alone.

“Every day, Russia strikes our cities and communities. It is deliberate terror from the enemy against our people,” he said, renewing calls for continued air support from the country’s allies.

“United in defense, the world can stand against this targeted terror.”
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Berlin — A Libyan suspected of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and links to the Islamic State group will appear before a judge on Sunday, German prosecutors said. 

 

The suspect, identified only as Omar A., was arrested on Saturday evening at his home in Bernau, just outside the German capital, the federal prosecutors’ office said. 

 

Omar A. was accused of planning a “high-profile attack with firearms” on the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, they said. 

 

As part of his preparations, Omar A. was suspected of having “exchanges with a member of IS in a messenger chat,” said the prosecutors, who described him as a supporter of the group’s ideology. 

 

In a message on X, Israel’s ambassador to Berlin said, “Muslim anti-Semitism is no longer just hate rhetoric. It leads to and encourages terrorist activities worldwide.” 

 

Israeli embassies were “on the front line of the diplomatic battlefield,” ambassador Ron Prosor said. 

 

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said protecting Jewish and Israeli institutions in Germany was “of the utmost importance to us.” 

 

Law enforcement were acting with the “utmost vigilance” to prevent any suspected “Islamist, antisemitic and anti-Israel violence,” Faeser said.   

 

Foreign tipoff   

 

Prosecutors said Omar A. would appear on Sunday before a judge who would decide if he should be remanded in custody. 

Authorities said they searched the 28-year-old’s home in Bernau on Saturday. 

 

They also searched the property near Bonn of another person “not suspected” of involvement in the alleged plan. 

 

German daily Bild said the flat in the town of Sankt Augustin near Bonn belonged to the suspect’s uncle, who was being treated as a witness. 

 

German authorities arrested Omar A. after a tipoff from a foreign intelligence agency, Bild said, adding that he had not been on any militant watchlist in Germany. 

 

Bild said the Libyan man was thought to have entered Germany in November 2022 and to have made a request for asylum the following January, which was rejected in September 2023. 

 

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s retaliatory onslaught on Gaza, German authorities have increased vigilance about possible Islamist threats and antisemitism. 

 

In early September, Munich police shot dead a young Austrian man known for his links to radical Islamism after he opened fire at the Israeli Consulate and on police. 

 

In early October, there were explosions near the Israeli Embassy in Denmark and gunfire near its mission in Sweden. 
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PARIS — Women and men demonstrated together Saturday in Paris and other French cities in support of Gisèle Pélicot and against sexual violence highlighted by the harrowing trial of her ex-husband and dozens of other men accused of rapes while she was drugged and unconscious.

The demonstrations outside Paris’ criminal court, in the southeastern city of Lyon and elsewhere underscored how Pélicot’s courage in speaking out about her ordeal is inspiring people in France and beyond, even as they’ve been horrified by the scale and brutality of the abuse she suffered over the course of a decade.

Since the September 2 beginning of the extraordinary trial, during which Pélicot has faced 51 of her alleged rapists, she has been praised for her composure and decision to keep the hearings public — after the court initially suggested that they be held behind closed doors.

“She has decided to make this an emblematic trial,” said Elsa Labouret, one of the Paris demonstrators and a spokesperson for the women’s group “Osez le féminisme!” (Dare to be feminist!)

“Victims don’t have to do what she did. They have a right to have their anonymity protected. It’s not necessarily a duty of any victim. But what she decided to do is very, very important because now we cannot ignore the violence that some men can resort to,” she said.

Demonstrators denounced what they said is laxity from the French justice system toward sexual violence and fears of being raped and assaulted that they said stalk women day-in, day-out.

Placards they held up read: “Shame must change sides,” “Stop the denial,” “Not your punching ball” and “We are all Gisele. Are you all Dominique???”

Dominique Pélicot admitted during the trial that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious in their bed.

He told the court that he also raped Gisèle and that the 50 other men also standing trial understood exactly what they were doing. She has divorced him since his arrest. The trial is expected to run until December.

The defendants range in age from 26 to 74. Many of them deny having raped Gisèle Pélicot, saying her then-husband manipulated them or that they believed she was consenting.

“You can never know who is a rapist or who is a monster. Like, it could be your neighbor, it could be anyone,” said Paris demonstrator Khalil Ndiaye, a student.

“It’s really disgusting somehow to think that it could be people that you know, people that you hang out with every day and, like, they could do things like that.”

He said he regards Gisèle Pélicot as an icon.

“Because in her pain, she decided not to give up and not to just lie down,” he said. “She decided to fight. And we’re all here today because she’s fighting and she’s inspiring us to fight, too.”
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Britain’s six-time Olympic track cycling champion Chris Hoy has revealed he has “two to four years” to live after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer which metastasized to his bones.

The announcement comes after the 48-year-old Scot said in February he was feeling “optimistic and positive” as he was undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer diagnosed last year.

However, the sprinter, who worked as a pundit with the BBC at last summer’s Paris Games, has now revealed he has known for more than a year that his cancer is incurable.

Despite his illness, Hoy says he remains positive and appreciating life.

“Hand on heart, I’m pretty positive most of the time and I have genuine happiness,” Hoy told The Times.

“This is bigger than the Olympics. It’s bigger than anything. This is about appreciating life and finding joy.”

“As unnatural as it feels, this is nature. You know, we were all born and we all die, and this is just part of the process.”

Hoy wrote a memoir about his life over the past year in which he describes how doctors discovered his cancer after initially finding a tumor in his shoulder.

The father of two also said he had an allergic reaction to his chemotherapy treatment, feeling “completely devastated at the end of it.”

On top of his own treatment, Hoy was dealt another blow when his wife Sarra Kemp was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November.

“But you remind yourself, aren’t I lucky that there is medicine I can take that will fend this off for as long as possible,” an optimistic Hoy said.

“I’m not just saying these words. I’ve learnt to live in the moment, and I have days of genuine joy and happiness.”

“It’s absolutely not denial or self-delusion. It’s about trying to recognize, what do we have control over?

“The fear and anxiety, it all comes from trying to predict the future. But the future is this abstract concept in our minds. None of us know what’s going to happen. The one thing we know is we’ve got a finite time on the planet.”

Hoy was at the vanguard of Britain’s era of domination in track cycling, winning gold medals at the Athens, Beijing and London Olympics. He also claimed 11 world titles during a glittering career.

Until 2021 Hoy was the most successful British Olympian and the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time before being overtaken by fellow Briton Jason Kenny who claimed his seventh Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games.
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Ukraine’s military deployed air-defense systems late Saturday to repel an aerial assault on Kyiv, according to the capital’s top elected official.   

“Stay in shelters!” Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on the Telegram messaging app, according to Reuters.    

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the scope of the aerial assault. 

Saturday’s attack follows a visit to the city by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who said a Ukrainian defeat would mean “chaos” for the international order. 

According to Agence France-Presse, Barrot’s speech came hours after Russian forces issued a statement claiming that they’d captured another village in the country’s east. 

Barrot’s visit, aimed at underlining Paris’ unflinching support for Ukraine, comes at the end of a week in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiled his “victory plan” to defeat Russia, again calling for beefed-up Western backing.   

“A Russian victory would consecrate the law of the strongest and precipitate the international order towards chaos,” said Barrot, who also warned that recent reports of North Korean regular troops supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, if verified, would constitute a serious escalation of the war.

France’s top diplomat also said Paris was open to the idea of an immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, but that talks would continue on the subject with allies.

Barrot’s stop in Kyiv coincided with the G7 defense ministerial meeting in Naples, Italy, which saw a pledge of “unwavering” support for Ukraine, including vows of military aid, according to a final statement. 

“We underscore our intent to continue to provide assistance to Ukraine, including military assistance in the short and long term,” read the group’s final statement following the one-day summit.   

Information in this report is from Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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German police have arrested a Libyan suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group and of having planned an attack on the Israeli embassy, federal prosecutors told Agence France-Presse on Saturday. 

“There is some suggestion he had planned an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, adding that the suspect was also thought to be affiliated with the Islamic State group. 

Bild daily reported that police commandoes had stormed a flat in Bernau, north of Berlin, in the evening and arrested the 28-year-old man. 

The newspaper said German authorities had acted on a tip-off from a foreign intelligence agency. 

Israel’s ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor, thanked German authorities for “ensuring the security of our embassy” in a message on the social media platform X. 

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, German authorities have increased their vigilance against Islamist militant threats and the resurgence of anti-Semitism, like in many countries around the world. 

In early September, Munich police shot dead a young Austrian man known for his links to radical Islamism after he opened fire at the Israeli consulate. 
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