#mayor hidalgo

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 2016 – Northern Ireland fans and Republic of Ireland fans received the Medal of the City of Paris on Thursday as a mark of gratitude for their “exemplary behaviour” in the city during Euro 2016.

Northern Ireland fans and Republic of Ireland fans received the Medal of the City of Paris as a mark of gratitude for their “exemplary behaviour” in the city during Euro 2016. Mayor Hidalgo said that Parisians and visitors to the city were “charmed and impressed by their kindness, their chants and their good humour”. Representatives from the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters’…

[higherentity]

[thepastisalreadywritten]

25 July 2024

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will see competitors parade on boats along the River Seine through central Paris on Friday.

An unprecedented security operation is in place, with organisers also facing challenges over the cleanliness of the Seine, costs and the environmental impact of the Games.

When are the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games?

The summer Olympics run from 26 July to 11 August, with 10,500 athletes competing in 329 events.

The Paralympics take place from 28 August to 8 September, featuring 4,400 athletes in 549 events.

There will be 206 countries represented at the Olympics, and 184 at the Paralympics.

Where will Olympic and Paralympic events take place?

The main athletics events will be at the Stade de France, on the northern outskirts of Paris.

There are also Olympic and Paralympic venues in the city centre.

The Pont d'Iena, for example, is hosting cycling events, while beach volleyball is at the Eiffel Tower and the marathon starts at the Hotel de Ville and ends at Les Invalides.

Is the Seine clean enough for swimming?

Open water swimming and triathlon events are due to take place in the Seine, more than 100 years after swimming in the river was banned.

Tests done in mid-June showed that levels of E. coli in the water were 10 times the acceptable level.

However, Games organisers hope July sunshine and measures like a rainwater storage basin will make it clean enough.

Ahead of the Games, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip to try to prove the river was safe.

How are France's security forces preparing for the Games?

The Games will be protected by the largest peacetime deployment of security forces in French history

Up to 75,000 police, soldiers and hired guards will be on patrol in Paris at any one time to guard venues and events.

The use of the Seine for the opening ceremony, with crowds watching the parade from the banks, is a first for the modern Olympics.

The original plan was to give free tickets to 600,000 members of the public to watch from the river's banks.

However, the government was worried about potential threats such as a drone attack, and spectator numbers were scaled back to 326,000.

More than 220,000 of those will be invited guests and 104,000 will be members of the public who have bought tickets.

Some 44,000 barriers have been erected, with QR codes for residents and others seeking access to the river Seine and its islands.

Many of the barriers will be removed after the opening ceremony.

Intelligence services uncovered two plots against the country by suspected Islamic militants in early 2024.

In May, a man was detained on suspicion of planning an attack on the torch relay in Bordeaux, and another man was arrested in southern France over a plan to attack an Olympic football venue.

How much are the Games costing?

The cost of this year's Games is estimated to be about 9bn euros (£7.6bn), less than any of the previous four Games — in Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, London, and Beijing.

Much of the funding is coming from private companies, as well as sales of tickets and broadcasting rights.

The government's official auditors have said it may have to pay between 3bn and 5bn euros (£2.5bn and £4.2bn) for costs such as policing.

Are the Games environmentally friendly?

The organising committee of Paris 2024 has promised to make it the greenest Games in Olympic history, with half the carbon footprint of London 2012 and Rio 2016.

The Games will be held in the same city where, in 2015, world leaders agreed to try to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 1.5C.

About 95% of the Olympic and Paralympic sites are either existing structures or temporary ones.

The organisers say they are using as much recycled material as they can — including recycled cardboard beds for athletes — and trying to minimise carbon emissions.

However, it has been reported that thousands of air-conditioning units have been ordered for Olympic Village rooms by some national teams.

Are the Games pushing up prices in Paris?

Millions of visitors are expected in Paris during the Games, with ticket holders expected to spend an estimated 2.6bn euros (£2.2bn).

Hoteliers in Paris pushed up their rates, in many cases doubling them or more, in anticipation of a big rise in demand.

But there have been reports that many hotels have had unexpectedly low sales.

Bus and metro fares are also doubling in the capital during the Games.

In January, the Louvre art gallery put up its entrance fees by almost 30%.

[hetaletmego]

France 100% used to call Spain "mon bel hidalgo" and now can't even take himself seriously anymore when he tries because of her ass

[venussaidso]

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲

Revati being the nepo baby, expanding on the foundational wealth that was initially built from nothing from Uttarabhadrapada, to Ashwini coming from old money; it makes sense that Ketu nakshatras' roots come directly from Mercury nakshatras. No wonder I'm specifically seeing the spoiled rich brat from generational wealth theme coming up in Ketu nakshatras. And then Mercury nakshatras, as I explored in my Mercury Dominant Themes, having a responsibility of carrying and expanding the wealth and power that is passed onto them, or they have to rebuild it or prove their worth for this.

In Jyestha, being a very dry nakshatra, they usually start from nothing. And when they rise up, the accumulation tends to be too extreme and significant.

And we know that Jyestha is the billionaire nakshatra.

After Jyestha, comes Mula. And Ketu, naturally being draining of resources, can be the greedy spoiled brat. In the media, I see Ketuvians being children of billionaires or coming from old money. But the spoiled brat trope doesn't even have to come from generational wealth either. They'll be spoiled regardless.

For example, Mula Sun Cheryl Chase voices Angelica Pickles who is a spoiled brat and the cousin of Tommy Pickles and Dil Pickles who she bullies and manipulates for her own gain.

Ashwini Sun Selah Victor voices Chloé Bourgeois who is the spoiled rich daughter of Paris' former mayor, André Bourgeois.

Ashwini Moon Ashley Peldon was the speaking voice of Darla Dimple. Darla is just like Chloé Bourgeois and Angelica Pickles, in fact. She is a spoiled little demon who is extremely privileged.

And then Magha Moon Lindsay Ridgeway was the singing voice for Darla Dimple.

Mula Moon Emma Roberts plays Poppy Moore who is a spoiled American girl who comes from a very wealthy family.

Being Ketuvian, she lacks boundaries and her father basically enabled her into being a chaotic materialistic 'monster', so he sends her to boarding school in England where she finds the meaning of life.

The character Azula is voiced by Magha Sun Grey DeLisle. Azula is a very wealthy and spoiled princess. She comes from a powerful bloodline.

Magha Moon Helena Bonham Carter plays the Queen of Hearts who is a very spoiled and obstreperous character. Much like Azula, she is royalty, and if you cross her, you're good as dead. She must get things her way... or else ☠️.

Ashwini Moon Leighton Meester plays Blair Waldorf who literally comes from old money, and she is considered to be very spoiled. And power driven.

Magha Sun Blake Lively plays Serena van der Woodsen who also comes from old money. She is also considered to be spoiled.

Mula Moon Victoria Pedretti plays the character Love Quinn who comes from a very wealthy and powerful family.

Mula Moon Eleanor Tomlinson plays Sylvie in the series One Day. Her character literally comes from old money.

In Through My Window, the Hidalgo brothers are played by Mula Moon Julio Peña, Mula Sun Hugo Arbues, and Mula Moon Eric Masip. All three of them are heirs to an empire.

In the film Meet Joe Black, double Mula native Claire Forlani plays the daughter of a multimillionaire (who's interestingly played by Mula Moon Anthony Hopkins) who could come from old money.

The film Soft Top Hard Shoulder is written by, and stars Ashwini Sun Peter Capaldi. His character is a struggling artist in London who comes from a very wealthy family.

Ashwini Moon Sarah Snook and Mula Sun Jeremy Armstrong both play one of the Roy siblings. Their father is a billionaire.

Ashwini Sun Phoebe Dynevor, Mula Moon Hannah Dodd and Ashwini Sun Jonathan Bailey play one of the main Bridgerton siblings who literally come from old money.

In the film Awake, Ashwini Sun Hayden Christensen plays a scion of a wealthy banking family.

Ashwini Moon Cate Blanchett plays an heiress in the film Oscar and Lucinda.

The character Patrick Bateman is played by Ashwini Moon Christian Bale. Patrick comes from extreme wealth. All he's ever known was being wealthy. Yet this life he lives suffocates him even more and he turns to sociopathic tendencies.

The character Lily Reynolds is played by Ashwini Sun Anya Taylor Joy. She literally comes from old money, and much like Patrick Bateman, she does show dissatisfaction with her life (and that's due to her step-father who she plots to murder).

The character Rory Gilmore is also said to be spoiled as she gets everything handed to her by her wealthy grandparents. She is played by Ashwini Moon Alexis Bledel.

Mula Sun, Mula Moon Jodi Eichelberger voiced the character Stingy who is a possessive collector and the son of the wealthiest person in LazyTown.

Mula Moon Jaclyn Linetsky voiced the iconic spoiled brat, Caillou.

Caillou is not taught boundaries, much like the other Ketu nakshatra examples. Others are more extreme, such as Azula, Darla Dimple or even Angelica Pickles. Actually, it's very interesting that a lot of their parents end up fearing them. Or the Ketu native control them (like Chloé Bourgeois overtly controlling her father).

This also just explained why Ketu exalts in Jyestha. Jyestha puts out a lot of heat and energy, while Ketu sucks in energy. Here, Ketu is at its powerful level. This is why this placement is also seen in billionaires and indicates extreme fame.

Although, this trope can be a lot more nuanced than that, as seen in the Ashwini characters such as Lily Reynolds and Patrick Bateman. Ketu can also involve overcoming generational trauma as well, being that Ketu nakshatras deal with getting to the roots. The old money simply signifies the theme of "roots" (in Mula coming from Jyestha).

In Azula's case, she comes from a very powerful, domineering family lineage. Her ancestral roots are very sacred and symbolic to her, being Magha nakshatra. For all her life, all she's known was power (and being spoiled).

Ketu constantly pulling in energy (even to the point of destruction as it's a shadow planet), we see just how power hungry and domineering of a force she is.

Growing out of the spoiled rich brat archetype, Ketuvians also embody the golddigging archetype as well. Any archetype that has to do with draining resources. Example of this is the character Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood, who is an expert at extracting oil (and stealing lands), being a former silver miner and oilman.

Throughout the film, we watch as he crawls under the weight of all the wealth and resources he's accumulated and drained from others. Essentially living a life of emptiness and dissatisfaction. He's played by Ashwini Moon Daniel Day Lewis.

[bcacstuff]

Time for another epic show at the Stade de France Paris for the closing ceremony of the Olympics 2024

A Golden Voyager lands in a world that is deserted and mysterious, ready to explore.

Athens 1896 Greece 🇬🇷 to Paris 2024 🇫🇷

It’s always worth remembering Pierre de Coubertin’s vision for the modern Olympic Games and the contribution of Greece.

“The Hymn to Apollo”, like you’ve never seen or heard it before.

The Olympic rings! The Stade de France! 🩵💛🖤💚❤️

Angèle and Phoenix turning Stade de France into Stade de Dance

Speeches by Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024 and Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee.

As the Olympic Anthem plays, the Olympic flag is lowered. It’s a lovely performance by the Maîtrise de Fontainebleau and the Orchestre Divertimento.

From Paris to LA. The Olympic flag is officially handed over!

Mayors Anne Hidalgo and Karen Bass make history as they join IOC President Thomas Bach for the handover.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” rings out around the Stade de France, while Simone Biles holds the Olympic flag.

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to bring the Olympic flag to Los Angeles.”

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are getting the #LA28 party started!

As we bid farewell to the Paris 2024 Olympic flame, Yseult treats us to a spine-tingling rendition of “My way”.

Merci Beaucoup Paris 2024, See you in LA 2028

[sgiandubh]

Not really an Ask, just wanted to say I’m thrilled for you that you got to the Con and met Caitriona, though admittedly I’m seriously jealous 😉😊. I too am a BIG fan of Lauren, delightful and talented, and you must check out her podcasts, they’re unfailingly interesting, and fun at the same time! It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Paris and personally I did love the Orangerie, it was lovely! My big regret is that I haven’t gotten into d’Orsay yet on any of my trips, only managed to hit its closed doors on state days and strike days, sigh… I console myself with having made it to Monet’s Giverny home twice and leaving it with the memory tattooed on my soul of the scent of roses hitting me like a wall as I entered his garden!

I look forward to more of your reportage on the Con, AND on Paris! Bisous! 😘😘

Dear Bisous Anon,

How melancholically thoughtful and sweet of you to send this! These submissions are just the best. I don't know, can't figure out and do not even want to know who you are, but keep them coming 💖!

First of all and for all purposes and intents, the Landcon's schedule was grueling, especially for people who made a substantial effort to travel far and wide, in order to get there. By the time we managed to coordinate everybody, Versailles was sold out at the right visiting hours for us on Friday and closed on Mondays (as always). My mistake and I am taking full responsibility for being sloppy about it. And Monday's cruise lunch was deliciously rich, but also tiresome to many, who could have rather used a welcome nap. So, we had to limit ourselves to whatever we could quickly do, which is - I admit - almost a crime and certainly butchering our best laid plans.

The reason I chose the Musée de l'Orangerie is purely pragmatic, since it is compact enough to easily navigate and definitely off the beaten track. It is one of the most poetic places I have ever had the joy to see and it is, of course, very French ;). Once a glass house built on purpose to accommodate the Tuileries Gardens' citrus trees, it is now home to eight compelling late Monet murals, depicting - as you rightly pointed out - the painter's garden in Giverny.

With an absolute focus on the water lilies, or Les Nymphéas:

To me, this is a perfect, deeply introspective place, designed on purpose by Monet himself - who donated his labor of love to the French Government, in recognition of the First World War victory - to make people pause and meditate. Color and light and shimmering shapes are a synesthetic invitation to deeply explore one's own feelings and reactions. I can assure you they are never the same.

The best way to fully enjoy this is very, very early in the morning, with as few visitors as possible. This time we were not that lucky, but I think we still managed to share a special moment there.

Paris being lately a ridiculous mess, because of Mayor Hidalgo's stupid new traffic policy, we were unable to be in time for the Sainte Chapelle. But perhaps that allowed for more compelling memories, who knows?

PS: The Orsay is one of my favorite museums, on par with the Hermitage, in Saint Petersburg. I particularly love the subtle game of light and shade through the huge train station clock glass dial.

Off to take Baby the Lab back home. More about the Landcon - later ;) But thank you for this, Anon - and welcome!

[barbucomedie]

Obsidian Mace from Mexico City, Mexico dated between 1325 - 1521 on display at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City, Mexico

In the Aztec's view of the world, obsidian was considered a cold and nocturnal material. The deposit sites controlled by the Aztecs were found in the Basin of Mexico, whereby the product arrived at Tenochtitlan through trade as well as through the payment of tribute.

Most pieces found at the Templo Mayor were manufactured with green obsidian from the Sierra de las Navajas, a mountainous fromation located in the current state of Hidalgo; gray obsidian stones from deposit sites located in the current states of Mexico and Pueblo, ar found in lesser proportion as well as the "Meca" obsidian with red streaks, coming from various sources.

Photographs taken by myself 2024

[spooky-month-archive]

Mayor Evermore's paintings alongside the paintings/images they reference

The Birth of Venus

El Grito de la Independencia/ The independence Scream / Michel Hidalgo y Costilla

The Mexican president's photo

Saturn Devouring His Son

[cognitivejustice]

Paris plants its first "urban forest" on a busy roundabout as part of a plan to turn the French capital into a garden city

The city will plant 478 trees on the Place de Catalogne near the Gare Montparnasse train station as a flagship project in Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo's drive to cut noise, pollution and tackle global warming.

The Place de Catalogne roundabout - designed by the late Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill in the 1980s - had for decades been a busy thoroughfare for cars. In recent years it has been transformed into a Dutch-style, bicycle-friendly junction that is also the start of a "voie verte" or greenway bike lane to the southern suburbs.

Paris City Hall aims to have planted 170,000 more trees between 2020 and 2026, and more than 63,000 trees have already been planted, opens new tab since November 2020.

Hidalgo's leftist-green coalition has also reduced the space for cars in the city, increased parking fees and is phasing out diesel cars from the city centre.

The city's latest plan is to drive large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) from its centre

[maaarine]

French Revolution: Cyclists Now Outnumber Motorists In Paris (Carlton Reid, Forbes, April 06 2024)

"Between October 2022 and April 2023, 3,337 Parisians aged 16 to 80 years old were equipped with GPS trackers to record their journeys for seven consecutive days.

In the suburbs, where public transit is less dense, transport by car was found to be the main form of mobility.

But for journeys from the outskirts of Paris to the center, the number of cyclists now far exceeds the number of motorists, a huge change from just five years ago.

Most of the journeys recorded were commuter trips.

The city’s socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo has pushed through a great many anti-motoring measures during her two administrations—such as reducing the number of parking places, restricting access by SUVs, and closing some major roads to motorists—and the latest survey will be validation for her policies, none of which have caused the kind of protests that the French capital has long been famous for.

In short, culling cars has been far more popular than her petrolhead critics predicted, with Paris becoming cleaner and healthier to boot.

Notably, and without the spread of conspiracy theories common outside of France, Paris is also putting into practice the home-grown concept of the “15-minute city,” creating urban areas where access to amenities is close and hence there’s less need to drive."

[mariacallous]

On a sunny Wednesday in Paris, the city’s mayor inches down a ladder into the blue-brown water of the river Seine, one cautious step at a time. After a few seconds, once Anne Hidalgo’s wet suit is completely submerged, she dons small dark goggles and dunks her face underwater—proving to the photographers and TV cameras following her by boat that she believes this water is clean.

This is a historic moment for Paris, which many people believed was not going to happen. Swimming in the Seine has been banned for the past century, and a river clean enough for a political photo op has long been an ambition among French lawmakers.

This cleanup operation has become the centerpiece of what Paris is calling “the Greenest Ever Games,” and the legacy of this effort is expected to last. After Hidalgo dries off, the Seine will stage several Olympic swimming events; three public bathing areas will open in the Games’ aftermath.

But the €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) cleanup operation is not really about swimming. The ability to bathe in the Seine is simply a sideshow—payback to Parisians for the use of massive public funds to complete such an ambitious river restoration project. Instead, the real goal is to protect a source of drinking water and help life return to the river, so fish—such as the famous Parisian catfish—can continue to thrive.

The promise of swimming is intended to guard against the kind of criticism that pits environmental projects against the needs of ordinary people. Online accounts have already pledged to poop in the Seine en masse under the hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeine, or #IPooInTheSeine, to protest the amount of money spent on the project, as ordinary people struggle with the cost of living. (There is no evidence anyone actually has done this, and whoever set up the original website did not reply to WIRED’s request for comment.)

“Having this totemic goal of swimming in the river is something that really helps politically … because it’s very expensive,” says Caroline Whalley, a water pollution expert at the European Environment Agency. “It's a way to get public support, because they can see the benefit. There's something in it for them.”

The Seine started to die at the onset of the 20th century. For 50 years, raw sewage was released into the river, prompting the city to put an end to idyllic scenes of families cavorting in the water and rule bathing in the water (mostly) illegal from 1923. In the years that followed, the Seine became a grim symbol of industrialization.

“There was no life in the river Seine during these 50 years,” says Jean-Marie Mouchel, a professor at the Sorbonne University, who has been studying the river since the '80s. The sewage sapped the water of oxygen and created obstacles for river traffic. “There was so much sediment and deposits from the sewers that [they created] mountains of deposits on the bottom [of the river],” says Mouchel, “so boats couldn't even pass through.”

It wasn’t until the 1960s that restoring the river began to attract political attention, first with the establishment of the French water agency, and later with a pledge by then mayor of Paris (later Prime Minister) Jacques Chirac. “I will bathe in the Seine in front of witnesses to prove that the Seine has become a clean river,” he declared in 1988, promising to complete the stunt by the early '90s. Chirac, who died in 2019, never did take that public plunge. But his idea would live on in French politics, and the Olympics created a new deadline to complete the cleanup.

Macron has repeated his pledge. “I’ll do it,” he told reporters in March, refusing to be pinned down on a date. Both he and Hidalgo, however, were beaten into the water by sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who plunged into the Seine with an ungraceful flop on Saturday. Her office did not reply to WIRED’s questions asking whether she was feeling fine after her swim.

Without the promise of swimming in the Seine, what Parisians get for the $1.5 billion cleanup operation is not immediately obvious. It is not actually possible to clean the river. Instead, the operation is focused on preventing new, raw sewage from entering in the first place. The city cracked down on houseboats and apartments with questionable plumbing, which had been dumping sewage straight into the Seine. Then officials started to tackle the problem being caused by intense rainstorms, which cause water to flow from the street into the city’s drains, swelling the amount of liquid in the sewers underneath. Too much rain means the city has a choice: Either let raw sewage back up through people’s toilets and flood bathrooms across the capital, or release untreated waste into the river to create space, regardless of the consequences.

To prevent this from happening, Paris built a giant storage tank near Austerlitz metro station, capable of holding 20 Olympic swimming pools of dirty water. “The idea of this is to be a buffer, so when it rains a lot, instead of the sewage network immediately overflowing, we have a basin that fills up,” says Dan Angelescu, founder and CEO of Fluidion, a company that tracks levels of E. coli in the Seine and had worked with the city on the cleanup project until last year. The basin created a “drastic” improvement of the water quality during small amounts of rain, says Angelescu, yet a rainstorm last week still caused levels of E. coli to peak above the level of 1,000 E. coli per 100 milliliters considered safe for the Olympics. “There is a limit to everything,” says Angelescu when asked about the basin’s effectiveness.

Recent heavy downpours have created lingering uncertainty around whether the Seine will be judged ready in time for the Games, and if it is, whether swimmers will be able to descend into the water without getting sick. Hidalgo may already have taken the plunge, but the real guinea pigs will be the Olympic athletes signed up to take part in the open water and triathlon events scheduled in the Seine, as long as the water analysis comes back safe.

Among them is a slightly nervous Daniel Wiffen, a world record holder who is set to compete in the Seine, representing Ireland. Paris will be the 23-year-old’s first “big race” in open waters, and he is worried about the water quality. “It’s a big issue,” he says. Ideally, he’d like to take a trial run in the Seine to better understand the currents, and he’s been asking fellow athletes whether they think it’s worth the gamble. “Do you risk two days before your race, getting in the Seine and getting ill the day before your race?” he says.

Yet he’s still hoping the race goes ahead. The idea of swimming in the iconic Paris river spurred him to sign up. “I want to swim beside the Eiffel Tower,” he told WIRED. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: France 24

Published: Jan 7, 2025

France on Tuesday marked 10 years since the terrorist shooting that targeted satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo led commemorations at the newspaper's former offices, where two al Qaeda-linked gunmen killed a dozen people in January 2015.  

France marked on Tuesday 10 years since an Islamist attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper that shocked the country and led to fierce debate about freedom of expression and religion.

President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo led commemorations at the site of the weekly's former offices, which were stormed by two masked al Qaeda-linked gunmen with AK-47 assault rifles.

Macron and Hidalgo also remembered Ahmed Merabet, a Muslim police officer guarding the offices who was executed at point-blank range as he begged for his life in one of the most shocking images recorded of the tragedy.

Twelve people died in the attacks, including eight editorial staff, while a separate but linked hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris by a third gunman on January 9, 2015, claimed another four lives.

The bloodshed signalled the start of a dark period for France during which extremists inspired by al Qaeda and the Islamic State group repeatedly mounted attacks that set the country on edge and raised religious tensions.

"Today is not necessarily sad," Frederica Wolinksi, the daughter of famed French cartoonist and Charlie Hebdo contributor Georges Wolinski said. "It's good that 10 years later we can still remember those who died on 7 January so well."

A retrospective of Wolinski's work went on display at a Paris gallery at the end of last year in one of several media events, from new books to documentaries, to commemorate the anniversary.

Charlie Hebdo has published a special edition to mark the 10-year anniversary that features a front-page cartoon with the caption "Indestructible!"

In a typically provocative move, the militantly atheist publication also organised a God-themed cartoon contest that invited submissions of the "funniest and meanest" caricatures of religious figures.

"Satire has a virtue that has enabled us to get through these tragic years: optimism," said an editorial by its director Laurent Sourisseau, known as "Riss", who survived the 2015 massacre.

"If you want to laugh, it means you want to live."

The attack on the newspaper by two Paris-born brothers of Algerian descent was said to be revenge for its decision to publish caricatures lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's most revered figure.

'Je suis Charlie'

The killings fuelled an outpouring of sympathy in France expressed in a wave of "Je Suis Charlie" ("I Am Charlie") solidarity, with many protestors brandishing pencils and pens and vowing not to be intimidated by religious fanatics.

[ Francois Hollande, then president, led a solidarity march in Paris joined by 40 other world leaders days after the 2015 attack. ]

Days after the attack France's then-president François Hollande led a solidarity march in Paris joined by 40 world leaders and millions of protestors in support of free speech.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, speaking on RTL Tuesday, acknowledged how far France has come, while warning of the persistent dangers.

“France has rearmed considerably, but the threat is still there,” he said, pointing to both external dangers and the rise of homegrown radicalisation.

“The nature of the threat has changed,” Retailleau added. “It is now primarily endogenous – young individuals radicalised through social media. Last year alone, our services foiled nine attacks, the highest number since 2017.”

The impact of the attacks continued to reverberate beyond France.

On the 10-year anniversary, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany "shares the pain of our French friends".

The "barbaric attack ... targeted our common values of liberty and democracy – which we will never accept", Scholz said in a post in French on X.

Cartoons and controversy

The 10-year anniversary of the killings has lead to fresh introspection in France about the nature of press freedom and the ability of publications such as Charlie Hebdo to blaspheme and ridicule religious figures, particularly Islamic ones.

"Are we all still Charlie?" public broadcaster France 2 will ask in a special debate programme on Tuesday evening, with all major media organisations marking the event in some way.

Left-leaning daily Le Monde said the shock of the killings was comparable to that felt in the United States after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the country.

"How can we not deplore that the 'I am Charlie' has given way to a certain relativism with regards to freedom of expression and blasphemy, in particular among young generations?" it said.

Critics of Charlie Hebdo, foreign and domestic, are often puzzled by its crude humour and deliberately provocative cartoons that regularly incite controversy.

It has been accused of crossing the line into Islamophobia – which it denies – while its decision to repeatedly publish cartoons of Mohammed was seen by some as driving a wedge between the white French population and the country's large Muslim minority.

But a survey carried out by polling group Ifop and published in this week's Charlie Hebdo indicated widespread public support among French people for the freedom of expression to override concern for religious sensibilities.

A total of 76 percent of respondents believed freedom of expression and the freedom to caricature were fundamental rights, and 62 percent thought people had the right to mock religious beliefs.

--

[ "Indestructible!" ]

"If you want to laugh, it means you want to live. Laughing, irony, and caricatures are manifestations of optimism. Whatever happens, dramatic or happy, the desire to laugh will never cease." -- Charlie Hebdo director Riss

[strawblemon]

Wait a minute... the French name for Jett is Bridjet... she's an older woman...

She's not Anne Hidalgo (current mayor of Paris)... she's Brigitte Macron (wife of current French president Emmanuel Macron)!!