Former French president Jacques Chirac puts aside his legal troubles and returns to the public eye this week to launch his foundation for sustainable development and cultural diversity.
Surrounded by friends like the former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Yunus and former Senegalese president Abdou Diouf — all members of the foundation’s honorary committee — Chirac inaugurates the foundation in Paris today.
The 75-year-old former president will unveil a first batch of development projects for Africa and plans to travel abroad, including a trip to China that was delayed after he underwent a pacemaker operation in April.
“In the face of major world challenges, I still want to fight,” Chirac said in an interview last week with the daily Le Figaro, his first since leaving office last year. “And the foundation is the tool for this. I want to stir and awaken consciences.”
The high-profile event marks a rare public appearance by Chirac, who has been battling corruption allegations since he lost his presidential immunity and became a private citizen again after 12 years in office.
After handing over to French President Nicolas Sarkozy in May last year, Chirac retired to a quiet life with his wife Bernadette in a Paris Left Bank apartment. But in November, he became the first former French head of state to be placed under formal investigation — a step toward full criminal charges.
Chirac is suspected of misappropriating city funds for political ends when he was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
The foundation was announced last year when Chirac stepped down and pledged to continue serving “in another capacity”. It was legally established in March.
Half a dozen projects have been launched to promote access to water and medicines in west Africa, to combat deforestation in the Congo Basin and to save dying languages in Polynesia, said Michel Camdessus, a former director of the IMF who helped set up the foundation.
The projects reflect Chirac’s commitment to sustainable development, the environment and the “dialogue of cultures” — areas that were close to his heart while president, Camdessus said.
“He is going to be traveling a lot, talking a lot and searching for synergies with other foundations and players,” Camdessus said. “He will be tapping into his network of contacts throughout the world.”
In west Africa, the foundation will train members of local communities in water management as part of a multibillion-dollar program of the African Development Bank to promote access to clean water.
The foundation is also launching the Sorosoro program to protect dying languages such as Araki, now spoken by only eight people on the Polynesian island of Vanuatu.
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters
Pets are not forgotten during Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, when even Fido and Tiger get a place at the altars Mexican families set up to honor their deceased loved ones, complete with flowers, candles and photographs. Although the human dead usually get their favorite food or drink placed on altars, the nature of pet food can make things a little different. The holiday has roots in Mexican pre-Hispanic customs, as does the reverence for animals. The small, hairless dogs that Mexicans kept before the Spanish conquest were believed to help guide their owners to the afterlife, and were sometimes given
RSS