King Charles III in first state visit to protest-hit

LONDON—Charles III arrives in France on Sunday for his first state visit as king, but the planned celebrations of historic cross-Channel relations face potential disruption from protests over unpopular pension reforms.

Officials on both sides are keeping a close eye on the waves of strikes and disruption across France that could cause last-minute changes to the carefully crafted three-day programme.

One concern is that protesters will use the occasion to publicise their fight against President Emmanuel Macron’s bid to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Striking trade unionists have even threatened to withhold red carpets for the visit but the body responsible insist-

STANDING FIRM. A French gendarme stands next to smoke during a demonstration as part of a national ‘day of strikes and protests,’ a week after the French government pushed a pensions reform through parliament without a vote, using Article 49.3 of the Constitution, in Nantes, western France, on March 23. AFP ed they would be rolled out as planned.

Charles, 74, and Queen Consort Camilla, 75, are due to tour Paris and Bordeaux before heading to Germany.

Buckingham Palace has said the visits “will celebrate Britain’s relationship with France and Germany, marking our shared histories, culture and values”.

“It will also provide an opportunity to look forwards and demonstrate the many ways the UK is working in partnership with France and Germany”, including tackling climate change and in Ukraine.

Entente

The king’s visit to France follows that of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and a “difficult period” in bilateral relations, said London’s former ambassador to Paris, Peter Ricketts.

France

“The king can play his part in that, quite rightly, without any political overtones,” he told AFP.

“I feel very optimistic that we have turned a page in the UK-French relationship.

“It got very bad in the years after Brexit, not helped by the fact that there was no trust in Paris, in Boris Johnson, who people didn’t believe would keep his word.”

Johnson’s short-lived successor, Liz Truss, then failed to mend fences since the UK’s European Union departure, saying the “jury’s out” on whether Macron was a “friend or foe” of the UK.

But Ricketts added: “The arrival of... Rishi Sunak, who is much more compatible with President Macron, has really changed the picture.” AFP

Spanish gov’t hit over police tactics

BARCELONA—The Spanish government is under fire over allegations police officers infiltrated far-left and green groups and had sex with activists to win their trust and gain information.

The scandal broke when Catalan media La Directa reported in January that a police officer going by the name of Daniel Hernandez had sexual relations with various members of a Barcelona squat and far-left movements since 2020.

The intimate relations in one case lasted nearly a year, according to the alternative publication based in the Catalan capital.

Six women have filed a complaint against the officer, accusing him of sexual abuse. They argue their sexual consent was obtained on the basis of lies.

One of the women’s lawyers, Mireia Salazar, told AFP the goal of the complaint was “to know how far these practices go, which in our opinion, have no legal justification.”

The scandal deepened after the Madrid branch of climate activist group Extinction Rebellion said last week it had been infiltrated by a female police officer who “had sexual relations with at least one of its members”. AFP

North Korea tested new underwater nuke attack ‘drone’

SEOUL—North Korea claimed Friday it had tested an underwater nuclear attack drone able to unleash a “radioactive tsunami”, as it blamed recent US-South Korea exercises for a deteriorating regional security situation.

Biden arrives in Canada to discuss trade, migration, border challenges

OTTAWA—US President Joe Biden arrived Thursday in Canada where he will meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and address parliament, with reports that a deal has been struck on managing undocumented migration across the neighbors’ long border.

Trade, Canada’s anemic defense spending, and a potential international force to stabilize troubled Haiti are expected to be on the agenda in the events set largely for Friday.

relationship had been resolved through a deal to clamp down on undocumented migration by asylum seekers passing through the United States into Canada.

meeting, taking into consideration the requirements of the law and its implementing rules. Please be guided accordingly.

According to The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, Canada will be able to stop illegal migrants at the Roxham Road crossing point on the frontier between New York state and Quebec.

Pyongyang carried out drills in response this week, the official Korean Central News Agency said, including testing of the new underwater nuclear delivery system.

“This nuclear underwater attack drone can be deployed at any coast and port or towed by a surface ship for operation,” the report said.

The weapon’s mission is to “stealthily infiltrate into operational waters and make a super-scale radioactive tsunami ... to destroy naval striker groups and major operational ports of the enemy,” it added.

As Biden flew north, there were reports that another hot button issue in the otherwise smooth

The flow of migrants there has been a source of irritation in domestic Canadian politics, much as it is in Washington concerning illegal entries across the US-Mexico border. AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally oversaw the tests, KCNA reported, and images released by Pyongyang’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a smiling Kim and what appeared to be an underwater explosion.

The agency also said Pyongyang had fired strategic cruise missiles “tipped with a test warhead simulating a nuclear warhead” on Wednesday. AFP