Baltazar Amaya has finalized a deal to play in France. The Uruguayan fullback will move from Montevideo to the Hérault department in the Occitanie region where he will play for Béziers. His contract is a two-year-deal for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 seasons Fellow French club Vannes came close to signing the South American in August 2024 A deal was not concluded which saw Amaya returning to Uruguay to play Super Rugby Americas 2025 with Peñarol The 25-year-old competed at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Prior to that he was a stand-out performer for Uruguay at Rugby World Cup 2023. The Uruguayan was a try-scorer against France at Rugby World Cup 2023 The Association sportive de Béziers Hérault (Béziers) are presently competing for promotion from the Pro D2 to the Top 14 The club is in 5th position on 72 points after 27 rounds of the season A top six finish will see the club competing in the play-off’s Amaya will not be the only South American at the club Uncapped Argentine hooker José Luis González plays for Béziers second-rower Manuel Leindekar plays for rivals Oyonnax Additional Uruguayan players in France include front-rowers Diego Arbelo and Germán Kessler who play for Rouen as does the uncapped Arturo Ten Hoever Scrum-half Santiago Arata plays for Castres in the Top 14 The move to Béziers comes with Amaya looking to see Uruguay qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027. He is on track to retain his spot as the starting fullback. Amaya presently has 13 test caps for Uruguay. He made his test debut against Romania in Verona, Italy in 2021 Tags Mexico hosted and defeated Jamaica on Saturday France Profound now fell victim to the prevailing spiritual corruption as the brutality and moral poison that propelled the Crusades circulated back into the body politic that spawned them “From near and far they come,” wrote the geomancer William of Tudela could set them all down in writing.” Eager to kill in the name of God even more eager to loot and rape on behalf of the pope the legions of this latest and most depraved of the Crusades mustered at Lyons There the killers awaited the pope’s order: “Forward then As it coursed down the gorges of the narrow Rhône valley the defile of men eager to kill fellow Christians stretched ten miles long So twisty was the route that today it takes the French high-speed train some two hours to traverse the 189 miles south from Lyons to the Mediterranean city of Montpellier which normally flies along at two hundred miles an hour the journey south took weeks—time enough for Count Raymond VI of Toulouse to undo the pope’s crusade before it began The pope had wanted the king of France to command his invasion Real-life events constantly take twists and turns no fiction writer would dare put in a novel would be the real-life Pied Piper leading the pope’s invaders astray Singlehandedly this erstwhile heretic would transform the papal crusade into a secular war that served his own interests In the vast tapestry we are currently contemplating some figures may seem more sympathetic than they deserve Remember the massacre at Acre when tempted to identify with Richard the Lionheart’s gallantry Think of the peaceable Jews Philippe-Auguste victimized Count Raymond VI of Toulouse is a special case Historians deride him because he strove to avoid bloodshed are made to seem mysterious as well as pusillanimous “Raymond was one of those undecided and feeble characters,” declared one nineteenth-century French historian he added: “He wished to live in peace with the Church without behaving cruelly to a large number of his subjects.” A twentieth-century French historian bestowed on the same Count Raymond VI the epithet “anti-hero.” According to the chronicler Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay Raymond VI was “the count of cunning.” Though his enemies accused him of every depravity there is one deadly sin of which the Count of the Toulouse must be acquitted: Pride This prince reveled in humiliation’s embrace Beyond avoiding the crushing blow this very force was sent to inflict on him his great strategic objective was no more or less than survival and of as many of his subjects as he could so Count Raymond rushed to orchestrate his own Canossa His ritual humiliation was staged on Thursday where the count and Peter of Castelnau had their final stormy There the cleric had been interred after being lanced through the back In another manifestation of the pervasive role of irony the ceremony of ritual humiliation the Count of Toulouse underwent was called “Reconciliation.” Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay a young cleric violently opposed to “heresy” and all who condoned it the Count of Toulouse was “led naked to the doors of the church There in the presence of the legate and the archbishops and bishops (of whom more than twenty had gathered for the ceremony) he swore on the Body of Christ and on numerous relics of the Saints…that he would obey the commands of the Holy Roman Church in all matters.” Next so far as Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay was concerned as the papal legate raised his whip and “gave him absolution by scourging him.” More delights were to come; “after the count was scourged,” the chronicler added “he had to go down through the Crypt and pass How just a judgment of God!” rejoiced Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay “The count was compelled to show reverence to the dead body of the man he had used so spitefully.” Never a narrator to leave well enough alone Vauxde-Cernay added that the body of the blessed brother had shown itself impervious to material as well as spiritual corruption “A marvelous perfume arose from his body,” he informed the reader humiliated—was forced to pay reverence to his tormentor’s cadaver He made it seem the dead cleric’s piety explained why his corpse smelled so sweet the “marvelous perfume” consisted of the same kinds of aromatics and chemicals also used to preserve the different parts of Richard the Lionheart’s corpse served chiefly to stimulate the Count of Toulouse’s circulation from now on there’s vigor in my song!” Raymond VI declared following his naked romp Having submitted to the papal legate’s every demand Now that he once again was an obedient son of Holy Father the Pope Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay wasn’t fooled: “After all these events displaying his usual cunning and fearful of the arrival of the Crusaders asked the legate to bestow the Cross on him.” To the chronicler’s dismay turned every erstwhile apostate into a pope-authorized holy crusader Whether one was an aristocrat with a Crusader’s Cross that was made of silk or a rustic knight with a Crusader’s Cross made of home-spun wool one of the many benefits accruing to this status was that other Crusaders were forbidden to loot your cities and pillage your lands Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay could not believe that the pope’s own legate could be so gullible “I declare the count a false and faithless Crusader,” he thundered “he took the Cross not to avenge the wrong done to the Crucifix but Raymond VI was no stranger to audacity the count underwent “Reconciliation.” Only days later and into those summer nights when it seems the last sliver of daylight will never disappear The advancing throng was nearly halfway to the Mediterranean before the count intercepted the Crusaders at the old river town of Valence stopped in its tracks an advancing army bent on his own destruction Pope Leo I had dissuaded Attila the Hun from sacking Rome Not even he had assumed command of the invading army he informed his brother Crusaders he was only there to help—to show them the best routes to help them acquire suitable supplies and find convenient encampments the count was able to deflect the vast throng assembled to destroy Toulouse At Montpellier the count’s design became evident when his young kinsman and rival alarmed that his spies might be right in telling him the pope’s throng now intended to attack him and his citadels had spurned “Reconciliation.” The much more important reason why the Viscount of Beziers would die in an underground dungeon his proud namesake city would be the scene of Christian-on-Christian violence surpassing the horrors at Constantinople was that the Crusaders had to pillage someplace if the Crusaders’ bloodlust were not expended on some other victim With Raymond-Roger of Beziers now the designated victim replaced Toulouse as the targets of the Crusaders’ rage and avarice and administration going back through Roman and Greek to Celtic times For just as long it had been a thriving example of diversity with Christians as well as non-Christians embracing a variety of philosophical regimes and reformers as “heretics” until the pope in faraway Rome started categorizing them as such the young viscount dashed off to Carcassonne promising to return as soon as he could raise a rescuing army He took the entire Jewish community of Beziers with him The viscount’s good deed served his own interests; these people were far too valuable to his treasury to let them be slain by gangs of Christian killers The viscount’s good deed also contextualizes the pope’s rage at the failure of local rulers to persecute Christian “heretics.” In an age of religious viciousness was a characteristic of this region famed for its troubadours and courts of love No Christians left Beziers with the viscount It did not occur to them that the pope’s killers would massacre fellow Christians saw that a mass of killers surrounded them Relying on the libels and lies his spies were paid to manufacture The Roman Catholic Abbot of Cîteaux then presented the Roman Catholic Bishop of Beziers with an ultimatum Hand over these 222 “heretics,” or the assault would begin When the townsfolk refused to hand over their neighbors He joined the killers as the people of the town siege warfare was a familiar feature of life in those times of the rubbish left behind when the siege army gave up The immensity of the force besieging Beziers made this approach all the more logical the sooner the besiegers would exhaust their own supplies and those they looted in the surrounding countryside The papal legate delivered his ultimatum on the feast day of Beziers’ patron saint That auspicious circumstance—along with the role testosterone plays at such sociobiologically pivotal moments—helps explain why after rejecting the papal legate’s ultimatum some impetuous young men of the town went on the attack At dawn they surged out of the town’s eastern gate these youths imagined they could scare away the besiegers “this unexpected attack…awoke the whole camp as a frightened swarm the Biterois had not thought to close the eastern gate behind them the fight became a stampede and the stampede a slaughter; they “cut the throat of anyone old men and even priests,” according to one account Mass looting ensued until finally the papal killers turned on each other as they fought over the loot the killers truly had done the pope’s work “Attack the followers of heresy even more fearlessly than the Saracens,” Innocent III exhorted “since they are even more evil.” Proud of the carnage the papal legate hastened to send Innocent III the good news After this great slaughter the whole city was despoiled and burnt.” It was the victims’ own fault the people of Beziers “chose to die as heretics rather than live as Christians.” Some three hundred years would pass before the city of Beziers was completely restored within which a multitude of faithful Catholics were slain From the massacre at Beziers dates the papal motto That dictum— “Kill them all: God will know His own”—was uttered by the pope’s own legate in answer to the great question Beziers posed These “Crusaders” were there to kill heretics It was natural to assume that those gathered in prayer inside the pope’s own churches were faithful Christians but the pope’s legate was having none of that When asked for theological guidance on whom to kill and whom to spare the Abbot replied: “Kill them all: God will sort them out,” as another translation has it This use of violence for religious purposes Scholars have established that in the six hundred years from 600 to 1200 A.D. What accounted for this newfound normalization of violence was the delusion that if violence did God’s work thousands of miles away in the Holy Land then violence could achieve God’s purposes in Europe too churning up yet another Crusade when death overtook him The state of his corpse revealed how deep ran the hatred he had provoked When the French theologian Jacques de Vitry went to look at the body he found looters had stripped the pope’s corpse of its jewels and costly garments What shank and hair remained of him was not returned to the Vatican until 1891 as the papal “prisoners of the Vatican” cultivated a cult of papal infallibility to compensate for their vanished temporal powers Innocent III and his many imitators did their greatest harm to the future As a result of the wanton mayhem he unleashed upon Christian Byzantium bred of Rome’s pretension to spiritual hegemony and baptized in blood with the Sack of Constantinople with echoes extending down to Cold War times The blood feud with Islam he pursued continues to traumatize the Middle East and Europe Just as the word “heretic” expressed and justified the Church’s newly asserted right to kill whomever it chose the word “crusade” epitomized and legitimated the belief that white Christian males were entitled to do whatever they deemed best to the whole Earth Pope Innocent III also did enormous harm to the Church itself As the nineteenth-century French Protestant historian and statesman the pope’s attack on France Profound “did more than as much evil to the Catholics as to the heretics and to the papacy as to freedom.” This was because the pope and his henchmen had been guided by “two principles equally false and fatal.” These were “the denial of religious liberty to conscience and of political independence to States.” The slaughter at Beziers answered the questions of what a heretic is more than six hundred years before Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote “The Grand Inquisitor.” As the pope’s legate defined it Christ Himself—was a heretic if the bureaucrats of the soul decided so The papal legate’s line of reasoning was the same one Robespierre and Stalin and Hitler and Pol Pot among others would follow Everywhere you go in the former realms of the Counts of Toulouse the landscape is so pleasant; people like to imagine only pleasant things could happen there Because life in places like Lauzerte seems so disconnected from the world’s travails people also imagine nothing of transcendent historical import could happen there—certainly nothing of dire import for the whole human race The papal massacre in France Profound was “one of the great pivotal moments in world history,” observes the historian Mark Gregory Pegg It was so pivotal because Caedite Eos set Europe on the road that would lead from Beziers to Auschwitz The campaign to eradicate the “distinct Christian culture in the lands of the counts of Toulouse,” Pegg explains “led to an irrevocable moral obligation for mass murder;” it “ushered genocide into the West changing forever what it meant to be Christian.” Excerpted from In France Profound: The Long History of a House, a Mountain Town, and a People by T.D Reprinted with permission of the publisher Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature Masthead About Sign Up For Our Newsletters How to Pitch Lit Hub Privacy Policy Support Lit Hub - Become A Member Lit Hub has always brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall you'll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving so that's an achievement that won't be missed by us but we know we've got three more games to keep building on that." Is the Queensland boss the right man to lead Australia forward And will Joe Schmidt be tempted to stick around for Rugby World Cup 2027 Pro D2 outfit Beziers have signed Uruguay full-back Baltazar Amaya ahead of next season on a two-year deal The 25-year-old is set to move to France from CA Penarol in his native Uruguay The move will see the 13-cap international continue his progress in the 15-man format of the game having helped Uruguay to an eleventh-place finish in sevens at the Paris Olympic Games last year Amaya started at full-back in the 28-43 loss to France in Montevideo last July months after starting in the same position against Les Bleus at the World Cup Amaya actually scored against Fabien Galthie’s side in that tight 27-12 World Cup defeat in Lille in September 2023 He returned to Test rugby at the end of last year, injuring himself in a 33-24 loss to Spain in Madrid in November With Beziers currently sitting in fifth place in France’s second division with three rounds of the regular season remaining, they will qualify for the play-offs as it stands, meaning Amaya could be playing in the Top 14 next season if his future team-mates have a strong end to the season After signing, Amaya said: “I am very happy to join Béziers to give the best of myself for the club and very motivated by the idea of taking on this new challenge.” The Uruguayan had previously been linked with a move to join Top 14 strugglers Vannes at the beginning of the season Youngs-has-chosen-to-turn-down-offers-from-Racing-92-and-Japan-meaning-Leicester-will-be-both-his-beginning-and-his-end News, stats, live rugby and more! Download the new RugbyPass app on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now but Ultimate Hacker Jerry helped me recover it I contacted Jerry after making innumerable tries to get back in I was able to get my money back because of his diligence Jerry is the person you should trust if you find yourself in a similar circumstance He looked really exciting in the World Cup Ignacio (Nacho )Rodriguez next 7's Uruguay star To transfer to 15's and make breakthrough Join free and tell us what you really think Is the Queensland boss the right man to lead Australia forward Northampton Saints found a way of beating the fabled Jacques Nienaber blitz and inflicting another 'horrific' Champions Cup loss on the Leinster giants Warren Gatland forged a sense of togetherness in his 2013 Lions but faced personal 'vitriol' after leaving out a legend Wow Thanks for the comment Mzilikazi it depends on what Schmidt is looking for but I think Tizzano is lagging behind in the pilfer stats and that is something which will be crucial in the Lions Test and for the Wallabies McReight having played less minutes is still ahead of him Reimer is ahead of them both by some margin but don’t see him featuring in the Lions series for Wallabies Tizzano’s involvement metrics as you have mentioned is second to none on both sides of the ball really SFM are both aggressive strong tacklers and ML is a real terrier and has made some try saving tackles out wide Prendergast doesn’t seem to like tackling and I didn’t see much enthusiasm for putting his body on the line My understanding is that if you are committing to the rush D every cog must be doing its job Locks work in pairs I think it is going to be a close and intriguing series between the Lions and the Wallabies I think Schmidt and co will pick James O’Connor That in a nutshell is why we ABs fans are not mad about Jordie at 12 but just tucks and trucks in the black jumper Kinda frustrating knowing what else he's capable of You are Mr Bitter Maximus Would be cool to see Love in the 10 for the ABs I remember the moment clearly staring at my empty wallet It had vanished into the digital void after I mistakenly clicked on a convincing phishing link I tried everything contacted my wallet provider Everyone told me the same thing: “Once it’s gone it’s gone.”  I was on the verge of giving up when I came across a thread mentioning NanoAethosCoinRecovery It sounded too good to be true like every other so called “recovery service” but something about the way people described their professionalism gave me a sliver of hope and traced the stolen coins through layers of obfuscation and mixing NanoAethosCoinRecovery didn’t just recover my Bitcoin they restored my faith in justice in the crypto world but I also know who to turn to if things go south again Whatsapp: +1 (570) 229-9724 Telegram:https://t.me/NanoAethos Email:  (NanoAethosCoinRecovery@engineer.com) I was able to recover all of my money from this fraudulent binary options company after losing over $300,000 to binary options in this fake investment platform Now that is something I can agree with My apologies A hard read this time Nick but as always backed by observations One of the big problems in coaching Australia seems to be speaking nicely but carry a big stick I think Les will do the nicely bit and add some variation to play but the Wallabies can easily slip back into old habits unless they are held to account Schmidt has a reputation that anyone in rugby could appreciate Not sure the current players will give Les that understanding when tough decisions need to be taken I suspect he will be a bit like Ewen McKenzie The saving grace will be that the ARU are not the soft and useless bunch Ewen had to deal with Les will also have the support of Qld and the hatred of NSW and since NSW seem to heading in their standard direction of failure BTW he needs to dramatically improve Qld D and not just Ryan Not shutting the Drua down early by utilising an umbrella(?) D and letting them run is always a recipe for disaster Wasn’t the 3 option a 50/50 hard for a breakout season 10 to go all the way and claim the title for his team Let them/him build over the next few seasons Noting the scrum too after you said that JGP did have a bit of a quite game for his standards Can Les give the Wallabies the Kiss of Life?',1);"> The very predictable and inevitable let’s bag Less Kiss article from the hasbeen Welsh analyst trying to get his other mate and employer the failed pommie Lancaster a job in Australia so that the hasbeen welshman can score some employment off him Try and spend more time trying to help your own country instead of constantly undermining them by supporting your former employer NZ rugby You might be using an unsupported or outdated browser To get the best possible experience please use the latest version of Chrome If you’re constantly planning your next trip the best travel credit cards available in April 2025 can be valuable resources 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You can also use that airline’s miles to book flights with partners, which may yield more award opportunities. Some common airline credit card extras may include free checked baggage, priority boarding, a TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry application fee credit and airport lounge access the perks can often be worth more than the annual fee Some popular airline cards include co-branded American Airlines credit cards, Delta credit cards, Southwest credit cards and United credit cards With hotel cards, you’ll earn rewards in the hotel’s currency, like Marriott Bonvoy points, Hilton Honors points or World of Hyatt points which are redeemable towards any eligible hotel property under that brand’s umbrella Some cards also confer automatic elite status upon ownership which comes with benefits that can range from late checkout to free breakfast to room upgrades many cards offer one night free annually every year you renew your card membership as well as other perks such as airport lounge access If you’re looking specifically for co-branded hotel cards, you may want to consider the best Hyatt credit cards or the best Marriott credit cards Credit card points may often have a fixed value when redeemed for things like cash back or travel where the issuer publishes the cash value per point a card may offer a value of a penny per point when redeemed for any valid travel purchase Fixed-value points currencies can also vary by redemption type points on a card might be worth 1.5 cents each when redeemed for travel rewards but only be worth 1 cent each when redeemed for cash back If you’re traveling for work and you want to keep your business expenses separate from your personal expenses, a travel business credit card may be worth considering. Business credit cards for travel function the same as consumer credit cards for travel although the business versions often offer different earning rates and perks as well as a different annual fee structure I’d say flexible travel rewards because it allows for much more versatility in your redemption options beyond just flights and hotel stays You can maximize benefits from each card type by earning rewards across all of the spending you normally do while getting perks with your favorite travel providers at the same time Since I’m not particularly loyal to any airline or hotel I prefer the flexibility of general travel cards I especially appreciate travel cards that offer transfers to travel partners I can access 10 to 20 or more loyalty programs from a single card This increases my chances of being able to take advantage of the best award deals that are available for my next trip I love that most co-branded travel cards include benefits when booking with that brand Free night certificates on hotel cards and free checked bags with airlines are valuable perks even though earning a single type of point might seem limited big hotel chains have more than a dozen brand choices and airlines may have 10 or more alliance partners so you’ll still find plenty of versatility The annual fee on credit cards ranges from zero to several hundred dollars Foreign transaction fees can be an additional 3% to 5% surcharge when making transactions in other currencies, such as when you’re traveling abroad. The best no foreign transaction fee cards avoid this surcharge One-time offers to new cardholders can be extremely lucrative and an important factor in which cards appeal to you Different cards have different earning rates both in the amount you earn with every purchase and the form rewards are provided in—points Visa and Mastercard tend to be more widely accepted than American Express or other cards international travelers may wish to pick their card type accordingly Included travel insurance could save you money compared to separately purchased policies, but won’t necessarily be comprehensive. If you travel often, it might be worth specifically seeking out the best credit cards with travel insurance Benefits range from airport lounge access to statement credit reimbursements for certain purchases One of my favorite travel credit cards is the Chase Sapphire Reserve® because it has many useful benefits it grants cardholders access to Sapphire Lounge by the Club locations which are some of the newest airport lounges in the U.S which covers travelers when their eligible trip is delayed by more than six hours The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is my go-to for travel bookings The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is a favorite for me because you can earn at high rates on daily non-travel expenses at home but then turn around and redeem your points for a nearly limitless amount of travel redemptions You’ll need to take a multi-pronged approach to maximize your credit card rewards You’ll want to use a card (or cards) that offer bonus points in spending categories that are meaningful to you It’s also important to ensure the type of rewards you earn—whether that’s miles or points specific to a certain airline or hotel or more flexible rewards—also lines up with your travel style so I don’t need to be brand loyal with a specific airline or hotel This works out best for me since I hop around brands based on which is best for a specific trip In order to earn a meaningful amount of points you’ll need to use your credit card to make payments regularly Using credit instead of debit or cash can also offer extra purchase protections Just remember: Credit cards have high APRs and other potential fees so you’ll only want to use them if you expect to pay the balance off quickly your potential rewards earnings will be offset by the cost of interest charges Maximizing your travel credit card rewards involves learning the ins and outs of your card’s related loyalty programs since some redemptions can be worth more than others this might mean reading award chart prices or doing a little research on available options for your specific trip before clicking the “redeem now” button you may also want to dig into the value per point from different redemptions I know that my Citi ThankYou Points are worth 1 cent each toward cash redemptions but other reward points may only be worth half a penny each unless used for travel That’s a significant difference if you’re cashing out a lot of points both programs have different partner lists if you want to transfer your miles I transfer miles from my credit card to an airline in order to book international airfare I’ve taken time to learn the sweet spots of each program where I might find a better ticket at a lower price But I’ve also learned one major reality of rewards travel: The best value is sometimes the ticket that’s available to your destination on your dates Value is subjective so make sure you’re customizing options to your needs Some of the benefits of travel cards I rely on that don’t get much attention are the travel and purchase protections I always make sure to book travel with a card that includes things like trip cancellation/interruption insurance trip delay protection and lost or delayed baggage benefits It’s not always a substitute for separate travel insurance but it can go a long way to getting compensation when travel goes awry I feel cellphone insurance is overlooked by some travelers and followed by travel insurance coverage Many credit cards even cover the trip if you just pay taxes on a reward ticket big bonuses and statement credits get all the attention but one perk that goes unnoticed is the option to add authorized users to your card account at a reduced cost (or even free) That extends benefits like airport lounge access to a household member Generally speaking, yes, travel credit cards are worth it—if you’ll use the benefits Travel rewards credit cards can be a strategic addition to your finances You’ll be able to earn rewards on every purchase and later redeem those rewards toward future trips—often at a higher yield than cash back Many travel cards also include benefits to enhance your travel experience along the way to add even more value No single credit card is the best option for every family We've picked the best credit cards in a way designed to be the most helpful to the widest variety of readers Most travel credit cards require good to excellent credit scores (a good credit score starts at 670 according to the FICO scoring model) travel cards with no annual fee are typically easier to be approved for than ultra-premium travel cards with high annual fees The number of travel credit cards you should have depends on how often you travel your financial situation and whether you’re willing to spend time tracking multiple cards Frequent travelers can find value in holding at least one travel card but may consider holding several having both an airline card and a hotel card can provide complementary benefits and the ability to earn rewards for all aspects of your travel plans Travel with credit card points can save you a lot of money on travel compared to paying full price A combination of welcome bonus offers and the rewards you earn from everyday spending can add up to hundreds of dollars in value toward free travel you’ll need to learn the rules of your specific program to maximize travel points and get the most possible value Included statement credits or card benefits can also help you travel for free Premium credit cards may offer annual credits toward the purchase of select travel you might have airline companion certificates or hotel free night certificates Iran yesterday condemned an “insulting” poster on a bus in a French city depicting Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei The city of Beziers in southern France had run a campaign on buses calling for selective sorting of waste using portraits of Khamenei Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “Don’t forget to sort the trash,” said the slogan on the bus poster according to the official Facebook page of the French city and images circulating on social media the director-general for Western Europe at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “strongly condemned” the action of the French city which was “insulting to the sacred values and personalities of our country,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported “The use of offensive content against officials of the Islamic republic of Iran is a flagrant violation of internationally accepted principles and rules based on respect for cultural values of other nations,” Nili said He called on the French government “to take the appropriate measures to prevent the repetition of such provocative actions.” The incident comes on the back of other issues souring ties between the two nations France on Tuesday urged its citizens to avoid traveling to Iran until French nationals held there have been released French authorities say three of their citizens are held in Iran and calls them “hostages.” French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said that Iran was “the main strategic and security challenge for France Iran would be a key topic of discussion with US president-elect Donald Trump’s administration Iran called the remarks “baseless” and urged France “to reconsider its non-constructive approaches to peace and stability.” Rider News: Matt Thompson has signed up to race in France next season for BMC Bezier and will move their shortly Rider News: Matt Thompson signs for French Team BMC Bezier Matt is excited to also be racing with four or so other UK Juniors in the French system who are also now good friends Matt Thompson (Cannibal B Victorious) is set to join the French cycling team BMC Béziers for the 2025 season This move comes after a notably swift rise in cycling where Matt transitioned from rugby two years ago to amassing multiple podiums and top 10 finishes both in the UK and internationally as well as a national CTT title in his debut full season in 2023 Despite two serious crashes and mechanical issues in his target races in 2024 Matt’s performance record and physiological test data including a record breaking VO2max score has quickly distinguished him as a cyclist with significant potential “I’m excited to start this new chapter with BMC Béziers and look forward to the intense competition and learning opportunities ahead,” said Matt Matt on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matt.thompson._/ Send your results as well as club, team & event news here Powered by WordPress. Designed by London Irish led the tributes from rugby to Eddie Jordan after the death of the ex-Formula 1 team owner Jordan only recently became co-owner of the former Gallagher Premiership club after leading a consortium to buy the Exiles out of administration the club spoke of its “profound sadness” to learn that one of sport’s most charismatic figures had passed away in Cape Town Jordan had been diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer last year and in December said it had spread to his spine and pelvis “He was working until the last,” said a spokesman, “having communicated on St Patrick’s Day about his ambitions for London Irish Rugby Football Club Jordan spent much of the past year in deal-maker mode in rugby teaming up with former South Africa captain Bob Skinstad whom he first met 20 years ago at a Stormers match in Cape Town and All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens to purchase French Pro D2 club Beziers “AS Beziers Herault would like to express its sincere condolences to family and loved ones,” the club posted online “A tribute will be paid to him at the Raoul-Barriere Stadium during the next home match Jordan was unable to attend the Beziers takeover announcement in November due to his condition The following month he admitted to a “quite aggressive” form of cancer Appearing on TalkSPORT to discuss his involvement in the London Irish bid he refused to give an inch to the disease “Where there’s a will there’s a way and I urge everybody to be able to stand the fight 🏎️ Check out Planet F1’s 10 most iconic Eddie Jordan highlights The news London Irish had been bought by The Jordan Associates was revealed only last month Jordan’s group announced it was targeting a “swift return” to competing professionally as well as promising to “introduce an innovative fan ownership model” offering supporters the opportunity to invest in the club It added that the primary goal of the new ownership was to return London Irish “to the pinnacle of international professional club rugby” saying they were turning their attention to negotiating a full and sustainable return for London Irish to competitive rugby hand-in-hand with London Irish’s supporter base.” Jordan himself will not see that come to pass “There will never be another like Eddie Jordan,” said Damon Hill former Jordan driver and F1 world champion he never wasted a single second of his life and he energised everyone he was near.” Hill’s tribute was echoed by the Jordan family who said: “EJ brought an abundance of charisma “We all have a huge hole missing without his presence but he leaves us with tonnes of great memories to keep us smiling through our sorrow.” READ MORE: 👉 Loose Pass: Overseas All Blacks will ‘dilute’ alignment as new Exiles owners ‘acquire the sins of their forebears’ London Irish could be set for a return to professional rugby after an Eddie Jordan-led consortium brought the club out of administration Bob Skinstad believes that South Africa continue to be unfairly treated in Europe ARGAN just signed two new leases in future state of completion in Tours and Béziers real estate company specializing in the development and rental of PREMIUM warehouses announced today that it just signed two new leases in future state of completion for two “turnkey” logistics real estate projects in Tours and Béziers for a total surface of 14,000 sq.m Two projects to be delivered in 2026 for a global investment amount of €18 million The first project will consist in a new cold storage logistics site of 8,200 sq.m that will welcome an agri-food company This new development is localized along the A10 highway another lease in future state of completion for the development of a 5,700 sq.m site in Béziers It will be operated by a player of the logistics and transportation sector This site is in the booming Commercial Area (French ZAC) of “Béziers Ouest” ARGAN is thus pursuing its development with two ideally located new buildings with a direct access to highway interchanges and at the heart of urban areas of more than 100,000 inhabitants A few days after announcing the delivery of an XXL site of 82,000 sq.m in size in the Normandie region ARGAN is demonstrating once again its ability to deliver all types of logistics buildings They will be equipped with a photovoltaic power station installed on the roof Heating and cooling of the sites will be ensured with electric heat pumps that will advantageously replace traditional gas boilers that are far more CO2-intensive and have a limited energy-efficiency All this equipment will be monitored by a Building Management System that will enable future clients to follow in real time their energy consumption and to adapt it to perfectly match their needs these two new projects represent a global envelope of €18 million in investments for ARGAN which has thus secured about €75 million of investments for 2025-2026 A potential of 500,000 sq.m in additional buildable area Chairman of ARGAN’s Executive Board: “Upstream work deployed by ARGAN’s teams in close collaboration with local officials has helped create the favourable conditions to sign these two new projects particularly by securing well located real estate areas on growing markets ARGAN owns a potential of 500,000 sq.m in additional buildable area split between land reserves on its existing assets and a dozen of sites with administrative authorizations and therefore ready to welcome our future development projects.” 2025 financial calendar (Publication of the press release after closing of the stock exchange) France -- Clients don't have to be history buffs to enjoy a visit to Occitanie The southernmost region in France is the birthplace of cassoulet and a thriving wine destination that is also an area rich with outcroppings suited to picturesque hilltop villages -- and to hiking But as visitors on guided tours will discover Cathar history has influenced the touristic landscape With support from Destination Occitanie and local tourism offices I traveled the rails (with one outing by car) in pursuit of that history this city was part of a cultural area known as Languedoc The local culture fostered religious tolerance and gender parity: The cloister at the cathedral here features a plaque honoring six medieval troubadours and the Beziers plaque recalls their 11th-to-13th-century heyday a time when they traveled to the area's courts to sing of love Their project began in 1209 with a grisly 20-year assault followed by an Inquisition that lasted nearly 100 years a significant chunk of the medieval Languedoc comprises the Occitanie region Raymond Museum is sponsoring an exhibit devoted to the Cathars at two sites: the museum itself and the city's Jacobin Church And visitors will see the Occitan language in public spaces: In several historical town centers some street signs are written in French and Occitan Occitan classes are offered to children and adults in select schools in Occitanie.) Clients can undertake their own itineraries with the Occitanie Rail Tour Pass, at 10 euros a day for unlimited Occitanie travel, two to six consecutive days, good on the SNCF (French Railways) and liO Train (regional trains) SNCF provides the platform for booking the pass Some of the prime historical points of interest they can visit follow exists as a direct result of the Albigensian Crusade Count Raymond VII of Toulouse founded it in 1222 to provide a place for those who had lost homes in the fighting it grew so fast that in the 13th and 14th centuries as do 13th- and 14th-century houses -- the oldest is the city hall -- and the historical outdoor market site Today it looks like the ideal perched village Most residents live toward the bottom of the hill for convenience but Cordes is also accessible using a train/bus combination • The centurylong project to build the Dominican Jacobin Church in Toulouse started in 1230 a year after the Crusade ended who viewed austerity in theology and in life as the ideal the church is notable for a line of 95-foot columns dividing its cavernous sanctuary lengthwise a single column supports 22 ribs that fan out like palm fronds over the apse where construction began during the Inquisition (in 1282) also presents a simple redbrick exterior in response to Catharism One view holds the Catholic Church opted for a huge 98 feet high in the sanctuary) to demonstrate power but an alternative view says the plainness was meant to draw Cathars in gained an ornate entry canopy and 200,000 square feet of frescoes on ceiling and walls -- an eye-popping sight Its evocative surroundings include a rich collection of medieval houses (the 12th-century Fenasse Hotel the oldest) and the former bishop's palace now accommodating the works of and named for native son Toulouse-Lautrec.Albi gave its name to the Albigensian Crusade • Beziers was the first town on the crusaders' radar including those in the cathedral when it burned Another church where citizens unsuccessfully sought refuge • Related: Drinking in the picturesque in the Loire Valley Construction of the new Beziers Cathedral started a few decades later Sited atop a dramatic promontory with the Orb River and the city's 12th-century Old Bridge in the foreground it's a dream for photographers that very much belies the horror that predated it • Carcassonne boasts Europe's only surviving double set of city walls Medieval engineers incorporated remains of old Roman fortifications into the inner wall The outer Carcassonne wall was added in the 13th century because of weaknesses in city defenses revealed during and after the crusaders' attacks have the drama and girth to fulfill the tourist's visions for a medieval citadel They have 52 towers and two miles of ramparts Visitors can walk on the city ramparts as well as those atop the former viscount's 12th-century castle was jumping with visitors during my March visit It's a tourist town with a raft of souvenir shops restaurants and a few hotels plus medieval-themed museums and a Medieval Camp with costumed re-enactors Only 35 of the city's 50,000 residents live in the walled center Clarification: The Albigensian Crusade ended in 1229 not 1230 as a previous version of this article implied the ‘sleeping giant’ cliche is a useful shorthand metaphor – in two words it indicates a storied history and an as-yet unrealised potential for future greatness at any given club but there’s no reason it could or should not equally apply to club rugby Two-time French champions Stade Bagnérais started the fifth-tier Fédérale 1 season at a rare lick Third-tier Nationale sides Narbonne and Tarbes share four French championships between them are both in the second division of French rugby As are Béziers, arguably the sleepiest of the French rugby giants. Only Toulouse and Stade Français boast more titles than the Hérault side’s tally of 11 They have yo-yo’d between the divisions since even slipping into the amateur leagues for a while four years after a calamitous takeover bid failed there’s more than a hint of a new future at Stade Raoul-Barrière Former rugby stars Andrew Mehrtens and Bob Skinstad and ex-Formula 1 boss Eddie Jordan are part of a consortium on the verge of taking a majority stake in the historic side town mayor Robert Menard told a fans’ forum recently who finished his playing career at the club in south-west France before spending two seasons as first backs and then head coach is reportedly set to play a major boardroom role in the running of the Hérault club once the buyout is completed There were whispers – some of which proved at least partially accurate – but the disciplined silence out of both camps has been telling Ex-Springbok flanker Skinstad was spotted in the stadium dressing room during a pre-season friendly against neighbouring Narbonne Provence and Béziers scrum-half Johnny Howard is also involved in the deal the potential new owners have kept a low profile while the behind-the-scenes processes ploughed ahead “[The deal] took a long time,” Menard told supporters at the meeting at the club’s Stade Raoul-Barrière as he confirmed for the first time the three names at the top of the buyout ticket “and I think it was normal to take all the usual precautions to avoid new disappointment.” He wanted no repeat of the events of summer 2020 Béziers have been in local authority ownership since August 2021 high-profile and ultimately tragic takeover attempt was ruled out as unviable by professional rugby’s financial watchdog The council bought the club for a symbolic €1 Menard said at the time that the club would have been busted down to the amateur leagues within 48 hours had he not acted and provided financial guarantees to the league In doing so, the Town Hall took on the club’s debts. This was a first for French professional rugby – and it was controversial. Boulogne-Billancourt basketball club has been the only other professional sports club in France owned by the municipality that he was more than willing to examine any and all “serious” offers Other names were mentioned in breathless dispatches, including those of Dan Biggar, Juan Imhoff The difference between the apparent quiet competence of the current takeover, and the deafening roar that accompanied the collapsed bid fronted by Christophe Dominici is remarkable Thirteen months before the council stepped in Dominici was the public face of a buyout backed The shiny packaging was thoroughly tempting The club’s €5million debt would be wiped out while a roster of big-names were lining up to move to south-west France Stars such as Ma’a Nonu, Jordan Taufua, Benjamin Fall, Marika Koroibete and Semesa Rokoduguni were among a long list of players ‘ready to come’ to join the bright new future on the Mediterranean coast Other names were mentioned in breathless dispatches Regardless, Béziers was to boast a squad the likes of which had not been seen in the ProD2 since Toulon’s promotion-winning Galacticos of a decade-and-a-half earlier – who included George Gregan, Victor Matfield, Mehrtens and Anton Oliver Rodrigo Roncero and Juan Martin Hernandez were ready to lead the new Beziers’ coaching ticket Beziers had limped to ninth the previous season, so it’s not hard to see why many fans were sold on the idea. This would have been a Top 14 side in the ProD2 But French rugby’s financial guardians aren’t swayed by such matters And when those guarantees didn’t arrive and the numbers didn’t add up It’s a good time to sell on a club that Béziers Town Hall had bought to rescue and was only ever looking to own for a relatively short period the list of players and coaches said to be heading to Stade Raoul-Barrière evaporated Dominici was found dead at the foot of a 10m drop in Parc de Saint-Cloud A police investigation could not establish a reason for his death his widow said he had struggled to sleep for months because of the failed ‘Béziers project’ A somewhat less dramatic deal got the go-ahead. Béziers finished 12th in 2020/21. The following year, the council took over. The budget was increased by €800,000, and the club climbed to ninth the following season. They repeated that finish in 2022/23, before roaring back up the table to third last season. They then beat Brive 33-31 in a dramatic play-off barrage-round match but lost a hard-fought semi-final 27-21 against eventual champions Vannes Heading into the second block of five matches A 28-23 sixth-round defeat at Nevers saw them drop to sixth They boast the league’s best early possession and territory stats and they have the leading points scorer in Portuguese scrum-half Samuel Marques Skinstad and Jordan are buying into a club that looks to be heading in the right direction Menard told local newspaper Midi Libre that the financial details of the deal had been settled – and approved by the league – but that details of the governance arrangement were to be finalised and in light of Béziers’ earlier disappointment A happy ending for this sleeping giant might just be the result everyone is looking for Béziers the next mercenaries club like Toulon Rugby greats Bob Skinstad and Andrew Mehrtens have completed the takeover of French second division club Beziers heading up a consortium which also features ex-Formula 1 boss Eddie Jordan And Skinstad has immediately signalled his long-term commitment to the project by revealing he is looking for property in the area insisting: “The interest is here to be here more often than I am anywhere else” AS Beziers Herault are sleeping giants of the French game 11-time national champions who won their most recent title 40 years ago and currently languish seventh in the second division Both former South Africa captain Skinstad and ex-All Blacks fly-half Mehrtens believe there is enormous potential in a club which lies right at the heart of French rugby Skinstad said: “I have looked at sporting opportunities and this is the one that excites me and friends the most “That is because the club and the opportunity are well maintained and sustainably looked after by the community and have a history of being a huge part of the daily life of the people in this beautiful town Springboks legend Schalk Burger: ‘I don’t think Scotland can get parity this weekend, not even close’ my friends see it as a long-term project that we are looking forward to taking very close to our heart the interest and the history in this part of the world as a great opportunity for us to be alongside all of you on your journey.” a private equity firm based in Northern Ireland for whom Jordan acts as an investor and advisor wanted to buy London Irish and build a stable of rugby clubs similar to the City Football Group “London Irish have been on the market for about three and a half years,” said Skinstad “There’s various English clubs that are not in a good financial position “We are very focused on this club and this opportunity If it forms something in the future it will only be because we have made a success of Beziers and it is what’s good for Beziers for the future.” Irné Herbst: Springboks are the ‘benchmark of excellence’ who won 42 caps for the Springboks between 1997-2007 was keen to impress on his audience that the commitment of the investors is very real “Obviously with a negotiation of this nature it is very difficult to make long-term plans until you have reached a conclusion,” he said “We have reached our conclusion very recently I am engaging people to look for property in this part of the world I won’t make a long-term commitment right now but the interest is here to be here more often than I am anywhere else.” who has known Jordan since being introduced to him at a Stormers match in Cape Town 20 years ago says the consortium has set no deadline on restoring Beziers to its former glories He claims their investment is not “outcome-based” at this point “What we’re interested in is investing in the community investing in the sustainability off the club and the success of the club,” he said “How that turns into success in the short or near term will be determined by how good we are at that “What it translates into on the field comes with highs and lows and ups and downs and good luck and bad luck But we’re very committed to investing in making this a long-term successful project.” READ MORE: Springboks: Makazole Mapimpi makes shock admission on his international future London Irish led the tributes from rugby to Eddie Jordan The TimesThere are three syllables in rugby that take the listener back to another time “Like a steamroller,” Daniel Herrero wrote in Dictionnaire amoureux de l’Ovalie “It released a force and power hitherto unknown.” Of all the places that have been champions of France hot-blooded men scared France then and still frighten now: Alain Estève the two-metre forward who resembled an AI interpretation of rough rugby; Michel Palmié the (slightly) smaller lock with the moustache and hangdog face; Armand Vaquerin Registered in England No. 894646. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. By the abstraction of the linearity that develops, the resulting interiority is intended to be faithful. The services are provided according to the curve of the roof and always in contact with the same mineral materiality, counterbalanced by wooden support elements. Site planBy passing through these first corridors, classrooms develop at a generous height that is fully open to the playgrounds. Thus, the interior life is translated into a lightness and porosity specific to the reception and supervision of children. At the top of the large metal gantries, the inner part of the primary school is sequenced. The glazed frames are positioned for filling according to this structural framework and a sheet metal roof covers the learning areas. © Cyrille WeinerOn the one hand, the preschool reception, bathed in light, directs the families to the classrooms and offers a wide view of the heart of the school: the playground.  On the other, the primary school reception is planned as a mezzanine on the primary school corridor. Double-height work and play on levels have brought energy to this place of meeting and exchange. © Cyrille WeinerLocated directly in connection with the school's two reception halls, the principal's office has a wide field of vision across the internal square. Its position is strategic, to allow contact with families, and also ensures safety within the school complex. Around this office, the administrative centre of the primary school and the RASED (Network of specialised support for students in difficulty) are organised. It is generous and offers views of both the city and the courtyards across the classrooms this space of distribution and exchange has a non-insulated external concrete facade that leaves the tinted concrete of the facades visible on both sides All the acoustic and thermal insulation and the network paths are located in a second interior facade located between the classroom and the corridors You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email The referee has blown their whistle to end the second half This is dangerous for the defence as Shahn Eru bursts through to advance the Beziers attack A gap opened in the defence and Zach Kibirige took full advantage Biarritz Olympique decide to make a substitution with Yohan Beheregaray getting some game time The touch judges have waved away the attempt by Thomas Dolhagaray as they hook it left A gap opened in the defence and Kerman Aurrekoetxea took full advantage Biarritz Olympique make a substitution with Solomone Tukuafu coming on Biarritz Olympique make a substitution with Nikoloz Narmania coming off Biarritz Olympique make a substitution with Zakaria El Fakir coming on Biarritz Olympique make a substitution with Francois Mur coming off The Beziers supporters go wild as Victor Dreuille successfully kicks the conversion The defensive line has been broken as Baptiste Abescat goes through the gap The defensive line has been broken as Harry Glynn goes through the gap Biarritz Olympique sub Edgar Retiere comes onto the field Tyler Morgan departs for Biarritz Olympique Beziers sub Harry Glynn comes onto the field Biarritz Olympique sub Baptiste Fariscot comes onto the field Kylian Jaminet departs for Biarritz Olympique Beziers sub William Van Bost comes onto the field The defensive line has been broken as Paul Reau goes through the gap Clement Martinez comes on for Biarritz Olympique The touch judges raise their flags as Thomas Dolhagaray kicks the conversion A stunning solo try from Kerman Aurrekoetxea The defensive line has been broken as Kerman Aurrekoetxea goes through the gap Yohan Tapie comes on for Biarritz Olympique What a run here by Ekain Imaz as they get over the gainline What a run here by Zach Kibirige as they get over the gainline Ekain Imaz comes on for Biarritz Olympique A penetrating move by Biarritz Olympique results in a try for Kylian Jaminet What a run here by Kylian Jaminet as they get over the gainline That's a great try assist by Aitor Hourcade What a run here by Watisoni Votu as they get over the gainline with Youssef Amrouni getting some game time with Christian Judge getting some game time Thomas Dolhagaray has hooked the conversion to the right of the posts Slick passing by Biarritz Olympique leads to a try for Mathieu Acebes Spellbinding play by Thomas Dolhagaray is finished off with a try Zach Kibirige makes the break as the defence re-enacts the parting of the red sea Thomas Dolhagaray adds the two points for Biarritz Olympique The defence are desperately trying to hold out here but it was to no avail as Filimo Taofifenua dots the ball down from close range Kerman Aurrekoetxea played a key part in that try Fabulous play by Biarritz Olympique has led to Kylian Jaminet being able to wriggle through a gap Biarritz Olympique make a substitution with Nikoloz Narmania coming on Biarritz Olympique make a substitution with Zakaria El Fakir coming off The half-time whistle blows and both teams head for the dressing rooms Victor Dreuille adds the two points for Beziers The Beziers maul march their way over the white wash for Yvann Lalevee to touch down Beziers sub Watisoni Votu comes onto the field A gap opened in the defence and Kylian Jaminet took full advantage A series of passes by Biarritz Olympique results in a try for Carlo Mignot A gap opened in the defence and Carlo Mignot took full advantage Thomas Dolhagaray played a key part in that try Petero Mailulu (Beziers) is shown a yellow card The defensive line has been broken as Carlo Mignot goes through the gap We are underway as the referee blows their whistle Former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg has successfully undergone surgery to repair the Achilles tendon he ruptured whilst playing fo… Former Racing 92 president Laurent Travers could return to the La Défense Arena to make a surprise move for fly-half Dan Lancaste… While Vannes and Perpignan battle to avoid the drop Stade Français and Racing 92 are also scrapping for survival Racing 92 scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec has issued an apology following his infamous dive against Perpignan in the latest round of T… At a recent reception for Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang at IUT Béziers Director of the institute Jérôme Azé said the education establishment has an emerging cooperation with Vietnam demonstrated by the presence of many Vietnamese students at IUT as well as the students it has sent to Vietnam Paris (VNA) – The relationship between Vietnam and the Institute of Technology (IUT) Béziers a member of the prestigious University of Montpellier has become an emerging highlight in the education cooperation between the Southeast Asian country and France which has been thriving on their robust comprehensive strategic partnership At a recent reception for Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang at IUT Béziers this collaboration was established only about two years ago coinciding with France's higher education reform programme that transitioned from the DUT (two-year technology tertiary intermediate diploma) to the BUT (three-year one) in 2021 IUT Béziers is one of 17 training institutions of the University of Montpellier and the only higher education institution in the southern French city of Béziers the school offers training programmes focused on commercial technology the school recently established a robotics and artificial intelligence department IUT Béziers will expand with a three-year work-study engineering programme in industrial technology focusing on hydrogen production—a field Vietnam is also interested in developing with four currently in their second or third year Most Vietnamese students focus on commercial technology as well as multimedia and Internet information areas who oversees second and third-year students in the commercial technology department said she finds that Vietnamese students adapt very well to the training environment here and have made tremendous progress with their French proficiency improving daily the clearest evidence of this success is a third-year Vietnamese student currently on exchange at Utrecht University of the Netherlands A second-year student will be the first in the IUT Béziers history to be selected for an exchange semester at Ireland’s Trinity College Another Vietnamese student is participating in a work-study programme and has integrated very well into a French company IUT Béziers has not only welcomed Vietnamese students but has also begun sending its own students to Vietnam Grenier said the school has sent two students and one lecturer to the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) Grenier also mentioned that a cooperation agreement is currently being discussed with the Vietnam National University Future plans include expanded exchange programmes and collaborative research in advanced technology fields that align with Vietnam’s demand for high-quality human resources Ambassador Thang emphasised the desire to enter a new phase of cooperation in training with France in accordance with the comprehensive strategic partnership./ ASEAN Night was one of several ACP initiatives in Paris following events such as the ASEAN Flag Raising Ceremony hosted by Vietnam in August 2024 Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang said The annual Tet celebration at Paris City Hall has become a cherished gathering for the Vietnamese community and an opportunity for international friends to experience Vietnam’s culture and traditions French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet said scientific cooperation between France and Vietnam has a long history noting that French scientists were arranged to support Vietnam in scientific research after the Institute of Oceanography was established in 1922 Each Vietnamese person uses more than one plastic bag per day resulting in approximately 31.4 billion plastic bags being discarded into the environment annually and single-use plastics make their way to landfills or are released into the environment This year marks the 20th UN Day of Vesak Celebrations with Vietnam having hosted the event four times A highlight of the 2025 event is the ceremonial enshrinement of the historical Buddha’s relics symbolising Buddhist harmony and its peaceful message 1975 will forever be a milestone in Vietnam’s history and the beginning of a new era of independence said Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang They are asked to issue legal documents within their jurisdiction to implement cuts and reassign the authority of settlement at the district level For procedures requiring government decrees ministries must submit them to the Ministry of Justice for review by May 10 and to the Government for approval by May 30 Progress on the work must be reported to the PM by May 10 Vietjet passengers traveling on domestic flights departing from Terminal 1 at Noi Bai International Airport can now complete check-in and boarding procedures using biometric authentication (eKYC) via the VNeID app About 500 Vietnamese expatriates recently gathered in Moscow to welcome their homeland’s military delegation preparing for the Victory Day parade marking Russia’s 80th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War triumph once turned into a “hell on earth” by the colonialists and imperialists to suppress Vietnamese patriots and revolutionaries became a sacred historical place and epitomised the fighting spirit and ardent patriotism of the Vietnamese people The newly formed localities are expected to better harness the region's potential and advantages to accelerate development The activities will feature the participation of hundreds of ethnic minority representatives currently living and working at the village along with delegations from 11 provinces and cities Events included the ceremonial opening of a relic viewing of the Buddha’s sarira The two-hectare range broke ground in July 2024 supported by a grant of over 700,000 USD from the US Government and a calibration zone for mine clearance equipment Uzbekistan and Vietnam have enjoyed a long lasting relationship More than 3,500 Vietnamese students have studied at educational institutions in Uzbekistan and played an important role in strengthening the friendship between the people of the two countries./ a total of 8,056 inmates have been granted early release under this year’s amnesty the Government has effectively connected provinces rich in human resources with key economic hubs A Mexican scholar has praised Vietnam as a notable model of success not only for Asia but also for developing nations across Latin America amid the economic volatility in the 21st century Hanoi has launched a wide range of cultural and entertainment activities to attract tourists during the five-day national holiday Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) said the two services which departed from Hanoi (SE1) and HCM City (SE4) on April 29 were more than just a special service to mark the Liberation of the South the invaluable lessons drawn from the Route 9–Southern Laos and Lam Son 719 victories continue to inspire the heroic traditions of both armies remain highly relevant and meaningful to both Vietnam and Laos as they move forward in a new era Vietnam's struggle for independence and freedom ended in the spring of 1975 with President of the Republic of Vietnam Duong Van Minh and his cabinet appearing at Saigon Radio station to announce unconditional surrender on April 30 A total of 221 Vietnamese citizens detained in Myanmar for breaching immigration regulations returned home on April 28-29 2008 by the Ministry of Information and Communications Email: vietnamplus@vnanet.vn Reproduction in any form is prohibited without written consent this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read Andrew Mehrtens is part of the club Beziers’s rescue act after it plummeted down the divisions All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens has hit the headlines again as part of a group that has taken over fallen French club giants Beziers and Mehrtens is part of the club’s rescue act after it plummeted down the divisions and spent four years under municipal control In combination with former Springboks forward Bob Skinstad Mehrtens is the public face of a Beziers ownership group that includes Irish motor racing personality Eddie Jordan Mehrtens chats about the Beziers deal, reveals why French rugby is booming, explains why Europe holds lessons for New Zealand rugby, and predicts Jordie Barrett’s move to Leinster can be a game-changer for the All Blacks This deal was not on my radar when I returned to live in France in late 2022 had remained in the town and we strongly believed there was great potential who works for consultants Elixirr in London having been on the lookout already for a rugby opportunity that wasn’t coaching or broadcasting His analysts came back surprisingly positive and his network helped us quickly find investors passionate about rugby and a challenge The holding company includes Eddie Jordan of F1 racing fame plus a small number of rugby-loving investment specialists The mayor retained a tiny symbolic holding to remain informed and involved The remainder are legacy holdings of local Beziers people who have been involved with the club Some European clubs are struggling financially – what are the risks I put my faith in Bob’s specialists who have serious intellectual clout as you’d expect with successful equity investors It was a long process because it involved a mayor I believe we are the first owners who are all foreign Everything was done painstakingly and thoroughly I know there is talk about opportunities in rugby but there’s a lot of trepidation when you read the numbers at clubs it’s mostly a matter of a rich person’s toy people comfortable burning a few million per year French rugby by contrast is in rude health The clubs benefit from significant financial support from local government because it is seen as a valuable community initiative All matches from the top two divisions are televised live on Canal+ .. Pro D2 on Thursday and Friday nights; Top 14 on Saturday and Sunday but seeing the numbers from the four years of the mayor’s involvement gave us confidence that without trying to do or change anything the club would at least break even every year We played against one another a fair bit and always got on well We’ve crossed paths over the years but it was last year’s World Cup where we ended up doing a lot of events together I had four fabulous seasons playing in France and then a couple coaching as a way to stay involved and at Beziers a bit longer we won the ProD2 in 2008 under Tana Umaga’s coaching and Esteban Lozada who all arrived in the French second division straight after playing in the 2007 World Cup I managed to stay an extra year and play in the Top 14 alongside reinforcements like Sebastian Chabal We were coached by Pierre Berbizier and Simon Mannix and international referee Nic Berry played at halfback The history of Beziers Rugby is unmatched — during La Grande Epoque the team won 10 French championships between 1971 and 1984 I got the only yellow card of my career at Beziers playing for Toulon Are you putting money into this venture yourself I’m not an investor — I’m co-president with Bob with more of a supervisory role … sometimes ambassadorial I will represent the club dealing with the LNR [national administration] and on the council of club presidents there are many layers of governance so I’ll also have roles alongside our investors on the club board and the ‘council of surveillance’ I will try to get to as many home games from Paris as possible — we want at least one owner at each match so after promotion back to second division in 2011 it has been a long consolidation the team narrowly missed out on the ProD2 but the Beziers supporters are daring to dream again We want to be distinctly Beziers but naturally there will be foreign players worth recruiting But developing more local talent through our academy makes financial sense as much as anything rather than paying a premium for a player to change clubs We’re there to build a club that earns promotion and stays up French club rugby had a reputation for skullduggery – has it changed With the number of cameras present these days it has definitely changed it wasn’t really brutal like the days of old but the wanton brutality has almost entirely disappeared The top two divisions are fully televised and neither encroaches on the other Crowds are strong and the atmosphere is fantastic Top 14 has one game every weekend that kicks off at 9pm on Sunday night — and it’s always a big match and sold out The third division — technically not professional although player payments are still permitted — is similar to ProD2 structure and has some ambitious teams with Top 14 heritage like Narbonne Below that the competitions are regional but lead to a national champion from up to 80 teams Will you be hands-on with the Beziers club I’ll be staying in Paris and a reason the mayor liked our proposal was we hope to leverage our international connections Whether that means sponsorships and partnerships Eddie Jordan lives just down the road in Monaco — I don’t think we’ll see a Beziers Grand Prix but he certainly has some clout Can New Zealand rugby learn anything from European rugby Absolutely — I think the competitions over here have a greater diversity of playing styles and body types Even though Super Rugby suffered from straddling the time zones New Zealand misses the South African influence while the South Africans are benefitting hugely from being involved in Europe We just can’t replicate some things in New Zealand — population So we have to do what we can and use our strengths — innovation but getting more exposure to different styles of rugby would be advantageous I’m excited by Jordie Barrett spending several months at Leinster It will be good for him and I think also for the All Blacks Have you seen Welcome to Wrexham on Disney+ Is there a reality series in your Beziers venture I haven’t seen it; everyone is looking to do a rags-to-riches story aren’t they but there may be a few elements in our ongoing story that are interesting enough for some type of platform Chris Rattue has been a journalist since 1980 and is one of the most respected opinion writers in New Zealand sports journalism Rugby-related injuries cost taxpayers $148 million in 2024 Ex-All Black Andrew Mehrtens (centre) has purchased his old French side The club, a powerhouse of French rugby in the 1970s and 1980s, has struggled recently and has been under municipal control for the past four years. Beziers are currently seventh in the second division, five points behind leaders Montauban. “The club has been saved,” said Beziers mayor Robert Menard at a press conference, alongside Mehrtens and Skinstad, the club’s two new co-chairmen. South African-born Mehrtens, 51, who finished his playing career in France with Beziers, won 70 caps for New Zealand and played in the 1995 World Cup final. Skinstad was capped 42 times by South Africa, captaining them in 12, and was a member of the World Cup-winning squad in 2007. The club’s new majority shareholder is the Irish investment fund, Strangford Capital, co-founded by businessman and former Formula One boss Eddie Jordan. For an undisclosed sum, the fund bought 75% of the shares owned by the city, which will retain a small stake in order to keep a close eye on the management of the club, to which it provides an annual subsidy of around €1.5 million ($2.7 million). OPINION: The plan challenges the belief that coaches need years to make an impact. France’s Far-Right Laboratory“This town is like a testing ground for what the policies of the National Front would be if Marine Le Pen were elected.” one that produces results predictive of the country’s future “What is happening in Béziers today,” he said Menard—a leading proponent of the far right who is backed by the National Front—was found guilty of inciting hatred against Muslims “#BackToSchool: the most striking proof of #GreatReplacement in progress Just look at old class photos.” The term “Great Replacement” refers to the theory that the ethnic French population will be replaced by Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa Menard was slapped with a 2,000-euro fine plus damages of 1,000 euros to be paid out to the civil society organizations that had brought him to court These two incidents—the vote and the verdict—illustrate the country’s paradoxical relationship to the far right While the French are voting for the far right in significant numbers they also have institutional mechanisms in place to keep it in check What remains to be seen is which of these two forces will win out in the battle for the leadership of France Nowhere is this battle being fought more stridently than in the narrow, serpentine alleyways of small towns like Béziers. Here, Le Pen won 31 percent of the vote 10 percent higher than her national average a young National Front councilor in Béziers this was an important marker of the party’s success “People are voting for us rather than against other parties,” he said a retired pharmaceutical executive from Béziers and generally a supporter of the Republican party voted for the National Front in 2015 for the first time “When you see that the right and left are doing nothing Giner also supports Menard and believes that the media unfairly maligns the mayor and that the court verdict against him was problematic He is saying aloud what everyone is thinking in their heads.” but a former journalist who co-founded Reporters Without Borders a global organization promoting press freedom he ran as an independent for the post of mayor in Béziers winning with the official support of the National Front “What Menard does in Béziers—particularly on immigration and how he behaves with his opponents—shows what the obsessions of the National Front are,” said Jean-Yves Camus “Béziers is like a testing ground for what the policies of the National Front would be if Marine Le Pen were elected.” The town is among the poorest in the country Menard claimed he would address this, as well as the growth of the town’s immigrant population. Situated just under 100 miles from the Spanish border, close to Perpignan, Béziers’ Mediterranean climate attracted many Spaniards during the Spanish Civil War, as well as French Christian settlers from Algeria, like Menard’s own family It also attracted Muslim immigrants from Algeria Menard told me last year that with each successive generation of immigrants from the Maghreb director of the opinion department at the French Institute of Public Opinion said that Béziers represents the far-right strain that leverages the tension between locals and people of immigrant origin This is being replicated by the far right at the national level “They successfully play on the three main insecurities of voters—economic “Their motto is ‘On est chez nous’ (We are at home) which means that the French are still around to decide how they want to live This strategy has proved effective on the local level in Béziers, and it may be scalable on the national level up to a point. But France’s two-round voting system means that what worked for the far right in the first round may not be enough to win over the nation in the second round when an anti-establishment platform may make it hard to attract a broad enough voting base And the latest penalties imposed by the courts on Menard show that for all the apparent shift toward the far right there are checks and balances to counter his agenda Some of the pushback to Menard’s rhetoric has come from local activists like Mehdi Roland Describing how his sister-in-law was asked to remove her headscarf for a job he told me that the headscarf ban was a major force driving Muslim disillusionment with French society ‘Muslims are not French.’ The more they say this the more Muslims believe they are not,” he explained The National Front’s strong showing didn’t come as a surprise to Roland “We could see the growth of the extreme right wing We have been living under it here since 2014,” he said “This has caused considerable damage and division between people even though their candidate came out in support of Macron after the first round “I hope this election will accelerate its creation.” A deal has now been stuck with the current sixth-place second tier club in France and Skinstad, who will co-chairman with Mehrtens, has hailed the potential for turning Beziers into a superpower of the game once more Beziers are the third most successful French club it’s tally of 11 Bouclier de Brennus titles only surpassed by Stade Francais (14) and Toulouse (23) While both those clubs have thrived in the professional era their sixth title in seven years and their fourth in a row WATCH as Springbok attack coach Tony Brown speaks about the team’s evolution on attack window.scriptsToInit.push('BrightCoveEmbeddedScrollVideo.init("6364637896112");'); Writing on LinkedIn 🏉🥳 Looooong standing childhood dream unlocked After more than a few years of chasing projects together and seeing everything available we have acquired AS Beziers Herault (Pro D2 France and 11-time French champion) “The passion for sustainable, community-led and serving rugby in the south of France is extraordinary, and quite possibly, the most competitive in the world. Big thanks to my partners in crime, Andrew Mehrtens EJ (Jordan Associates) in Strangford Rugby and a few more amazing people on the cap table “It was their shared passion and vision to reawaken this ‘sleeping giant’ of French rugby and bring a fresh era to the club I look forward to showing people the amazing town of Beziers and the Herault region 300 plus days of sun per year and hugely passionate fans with the support of fans and community members we are dedicated to making AS Beziers Herault a benchmark in rugby where tradition and ambition unite to achieve lasting success “This club has the potential to be a superpower in France again and I look forward to being part of this journey!” ? Violences sur les femmes : ce gros caillou qui n'a pas empêché la vente du club de rugby de Béziers#ProD2 #rugby par @ClementMazella https://t.co/mpoLTrQX94 — Actu Rugby (@acturugby) November 8, 2024 I hope it will be a different Béziers than the « ex-giant » that hurt so much the French rugby for at least one decade: boring rugby Looking for the perfect summer tipple to share with friends? Look no further as cheapest supermarket[i] Aldi launches 1.5L wine pouches Specially Selected Sauvignon Blanc Colombard and Specially Selected Coteaux De Beziers Rosé wine fanatics can now enjoy two bottles in one convenient pouch format to transport just about anywhere There is no need to stress about who has a corkscrew with these lightweight Aldi’s Specially Selected Sauvignon Blanc Colombard Pouch (£12.99 1.5L) is made with grapes grown in the South of France This fresh and beautifully balanced wine boasts notes of grass as ‘an excellent ringer for Brad Pitt’s Miraval’ Aldi’s Specially Selected Cotéaux De Beziers Rosé Pouch (£12.49 1.5L) is from sustainably farmed vineyards along the Mediterranean coast Aldi’s new Specially Selected Sauvignon Blanc Colombard Pouch is available in stores and via Click & Collect now.   [i] Which.co.uk For more information, please contact the Aldi Press Office on:T: 0207 479 0910 or alditeam@clarioncomms.co.uk has found that Aldi is yet again named the cheapest supermarket for a basket of 79 essential items this month Shoppers can say ‘ciao’ to a moreish-ly meaty Italian sandwich for under £1 this summer thanks to Aldi. Travel QuestionsCan you help me to become au fait with Beziers and beyond?Simon Calder answers your questions on Eurostar and making the most of a trip to southwest France Q I am going to Beziers this month for a week What would you recommend in the city and the wider area A The southwestern corner of France’s Mediterranean littoral is a fascinating and rewarding area is an excellent location for wider exploration The main attraction is the magnificent cathedral which unusually includes a tower that you can climb without paying a fee Adjacent is the new and marvellous Hotel La Prison: the local jail reimagined as a boutique hotel wander in for a drink and the impressive view to the west Commanding your attention from this panorama: the nine locks of Fonseranes The Canal du Midi is hauled high above sea level by these engineering marvels Adjacent you can see the relics of a failed 20th-century attempt to accelerate the progress of ships to higher altitude using a “water slope” the ancient town of Agde (10 minutes by train) offers the amazing Chateau Laurens: an Art Nouveau mansion created at the end of the 19th century by a collector captivated by Egyptomania and Orientalism combines beautifully the roles of fishing village and seaside resort – and also boasts the pink salt flat known as Le Salin is inland to Roquefort-sur-Soulzon – where you can sample the exquisite cheese in atmospheric caves Take the train to Tournemire-Roquefort: an amazing two-hour journey through the hills for an implausibly low fare of €1 on the bus or rather more by rail and from which you can return to the coast on a bus (this time €2) to Montpellier and onwards by rail to Beziers Q I have a Eurostar trip booked for July. My passport was issued in October 2014 and expires in April 2025. I know it conforms to the post-Brexit passport rules for the EU But after your story of easyJet repeatedly misrepresenting the rules and turning passengers away needlessly I fear some official will misinterpret and deny me passage As part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement the UK asked to be treated as “third-country nationals” which means British passports must meet two tests: On the day of outbound travel at least three months must be remaining before the expiry date Your passport comfortably meets these tests It is valid for travel outbound to the European Union and wider Schengen area up to October 2024 for a stay of up to 90 days journalists and government departments have repeatedly got the EU rules wrong with some claiming “British passports expire after nine years and nine months” I had hoped two years ago that easyJet had finally decided to fall into line Unfortunately in April ground staff working for the airline at Edinburgh airport turned away a passenger travelling to Italy on a perfectly valid passport and throughout May easyJet doubled down on its erroneous policy easyJet apologised and agreed to pay compensation to the passengers But the incident has reawakened all the mistakes airlines and holiday firms made after the post-Brexit rules came into effect your fate is not in the hands of airport ground staff All Eurostar passengers leaving the UK are inspected by French frontier officials They are professionals and know the rules; I have heard no tales of mistakes being made by them The same applies to travellers leaving the UK via the Port of Dover or motorists from Folkestone on LeShuttle Assuming you have no further trips planned to the EU in the months after October 2024 or to destinations such as Turkey or Egypt I suggest you renew in March 2025 to maximise the value of your passport It is currently valid for travel to and within the US Mexico and other nations up to the expiry date Q Following the tragic Singapore Airlines incident, I wonder who is responsible for the cost of medical care in such a case? Do the airlines have insurance or is it the individual passenger’s travel insurance A Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London Heathrow to Singapore took off on 20 May and flew normally through the night to southeast Asia About 90 minutes before the Boeing 777 was due to land as cabin crew were serving passengers with breakfast the plane flew through “an area of developing convective activity” off the southern tip of Myanmar (Burma) The investigation shows the passengers and crew endured 19 seconds of extreme turbulence that included a drop of 178 feet in just 4.6 seconds – representing a vertical speed of 26mph They also suffered violent changes in vertical acceleration “This sequence of events likely caused the injuries to the crew and passengers,” say the investigators who have just released their initial report died of a heart attack during the incident they decided to divert to Bangkok – where they landed 56 minutes after the plane first hit turbulence All the evidence I have seen is that Singapore Airlines has handled this tragic incident extremely well it is normal that the carrier involved will pick up the bill for medical treatment as well as the other costs involved: from flying out and accommodating relatives of the injured to meeting the costs of passengers reaching their eventual destination A spokesperson for Singapore Airlines confirmed the carrier will be “covering their medical and hospital expenses” and providing “any additional assistance they may need” Injured passengers will also be able to claim some financial compensation under the Montreal Convention Singapore Airlines may proactively offer a settlement to passengers avoiding the need for protracted legal arguments But the travel agent said the policy only applies with direct bookings and the rule for agency tickets is that you have until midnight on the day of booking They even had the temerity to charge more than BA’s fare online What’s your view on booking business travel A There are some superb business travel agents who are on the ball at every stage: tracking down exceptional value and clocking flight cancellations as soon as they happen to work on solutions before the traveller is even aware of any problem But others just take the commission and don’t do much for it – in your case my recommended business travel policy is “do what’s best” – trusting staff to go for the optimum outcome for the organisation that would be to buy directly from British Airways It bestows gold-plated protection in the first 24 hours There are some credible arguments against my “DIY” recommendation To discharge their duty of care while staff are away companies need to know where in the world their people are; a good business travel agent should keep records and be able to act swiftly if trouble breaks out And smart agents may have access to better deals than are publicly available But set against that is the extra hassle that an intermediary can involve Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @SimonCalder {"adUnitPath":"71347885/_main_independent/gallery","autoGallery":true,"disableAds":true,"gallery":[{"data":{"title":"Gruissan.jpg","description":"Gruissan","caption":"Gruissan combines beautifully the roles of fishing village and seaside resort Gruissan combines beautifully the roles of fishing village and seaside resort Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience We're always trying to bring you more amazing hotels But not every hotel can immediately connect their reservation system with ours we provide real-time rates and availability via a partnership with Booking.com You'll still enjoy the full fabulous MICHELIN Guide experience when you book including our legendary service and delightful style This hotel offers rates & availability on request only Submit a request below and a travel specialist will assist We’re not currently taking reservations for this hotel Please explore other hotels in our selection Non-members can add the privileges at checkout through our 30 day free trial By continuing I accept the Terms & Condition and Privacy Policy. I would like to receive Newsletter from MICHELIN Guide Save lists of your favorite restaurants & hotels You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Dog owners in Béziers will have their pets’ saliva sampled so excrement can be linked to specific animals Dog owners in the southern French town of Béziers are to be required to carry their pet’s “genetic passport” in a trial scheme to reduce dog excrement on the streets a former journalist and co-founder of Reporters Sans Frontières says inhabitants and visitors are fed up with faeces on the town’s pavements He plans to introduce a two-year experiment to trace and fine those who fail to clear up after their pets “We have to punish to make people behave better,” Ménard, elected on a far-right ticket in 2014 and reelected in 2020, told France Bleu radio. Under the planned scheme, dog owners will be required to take their pets to a vet or ask one of the town’s veterinary specialists for a free saliva sample, which will be genetically tested and a document issued. Those subsequently stopped without their dog’s genetic passport will be fined €38 (£32.60). Dog excrement found on the pavement will be collected and tested and the details sent to police who will consult the national pet registers and match it to a specific owner who will face a bill for street cleaning up to €122, Ménard said. Read moreMénard first proposed collecting DNA from the estimated 1,500 dogs in the centre of Béziers in 2016 but his request was rejected by the local administrative court as an attack on personal freedom The scheme was then estimated to cost €50,000 a year He said the new genetic passport measure was submitted to the local prefecture earlier this year and no objections to its implementation were raised this time Ménard told French radio: “I can’t take any more of this [dog] mess The state has said nothing against this scheme this time and thinks the same thing This has to be done and not just in Béziers … We need to penalise people so that they behave properly “We did a count and we pick up more than 1,000 messes a month Free weekly newsletterThe most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment He said the experiment would run until July 2025 Ménard added: “There will be a certain lenience for those who are not from Béziers If they pick up their dog dirt we won’t bother them In 2015 it was reported in the UK that Flintshire county council in north Wales was considering using a DNA database to clamp down on dog mess while the Isle of Wight and Hyndburn in Lancashire have also discussed using genetic testing Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications InstagramXThreadsSnapchatTikTokYouTubeLAD Entertainment Home> Lifestyle> Travel Heavily delayed flights can be an absolute nightmare when it comes to trying to relax ahead of your holiday it's something I've encountered twice this year While privileged enough to have gone abroad a few times in 2024, a trip to Spain for my dad's 60th in June saw our party and thousands of other travellers delayed across two terminals due to a major technical issue at Manchester Airport With our flight being one of the first of the day we were among the very few lucky ones to actually leave the airport - albeit without any of our bags this time heading back from southern France after a few weeks overseas Arriving at Béziers Cap d'Agde Airport after a lovely fortnight in the country, everything was going smoothly ahead of departure to travel home That was until we were about to step foot on board the flight Just metres from the Ryanair plane taking us back to north west England we were all ushered back inside our departure lounge 'There's a technical issue with the plane it's going to be at least two hours,' we were told by staff We were later told an engineer was being flown out from Italy to Beziers on a private jet to examine the potential issue That two-hour window seemed pretty ambitious After realising we were going to be there for a good while it was time to use the day job to my advantage Journalists across the country write about Martin Lewis on a daily basis I can't remember the last week where I didn't see his name crop up in the agenda with myself often reporting on the latest advice he and his Money Saving Expert (MSE) team have put together It's seen Lewis become a bit of a financial beacon across the UK especially in a time where the cost of living has hit so many people so hard So, sat on the departure lounge floor with my three -year-old - thank God for Disney+ and Wi-Fi - we Googled four sacred words: Martin Lewis flight compensation The top result took us straight to the MSE website on this issue which explains how you qualify for compensation after a delay as well as how much you might be entitled to Those flying from the UK and EU have some of the strongest compensation rights in the world when it comes to delays The likes of bad weather wont see you claim anything we were pretty confident this would fall under the remit of a successful claim and with the flight less than 1,500km as the crow flies and I were looking at a potential pot of £660 compensation if the delay was more than three hours The critical thing here is that the delay has to be three hours after the estimated arrival time If your plane takes off three hours and 10 minutes late but makes up time in the air to land less than three hours delayed you're not going to be able to claim successfully Ryanair gave us €4 per person for refreshments Given water was €3.10 and sandwiches cost more than €6 each it didn't really cover anything of real sustenance per person and I always think it's about seeing the positives in such a situation a few more boring hours followed and a total delay of more than four hours emailing us after two hours of delays to inform us of our rights in line with EU law and apologising for the unexpected delay to our flight This included a summary of what we might be able to claim Physical copies of these were also handed out no doubt influenced by the dwindling phone batteries and zero plug sockets available in the departure lounge After getting home a lot later than we had estimated, we lodged our claim the next day Ryanair got back in touch with us to confirm our compensation claim had been successful and would land in our bank within 21 days Given Ryanair is based in Dublin and therefore uses the Euro with their proactive approach to compensation rights commendable whether that be a legal requirement or not And while we were never told exactly what the technical issue was I think we'd all rather be delayed due to experts checking a potential issue with a plane than doing the opposite instead Our claim was processed in a more than reasonable time showing that if you do qualify for compensation due to delays it really can be quite a simple process following advice from the likes of Martin Lewis and even airlines themselves Topics: Ryanair, Martin Lewis, Travel, Holiday, Money, Originals currently working as SEO Lead across all brands including LADbible He moved to the company from Reach plc where he enjoyed spells as a content editor and senior reporter for one of the country's most-read local news brands Tom spends his adult life as a suffering Manchester United supporter after a childhood filled with trebles and Premier League titles The plans would see a massive transfer of competences from a national to an EU level Unborn babies with Down’s syndrome have been sacrificed on the altar of women’s ‘choice.’ Opaque party officials aim to avoid pre-election scrutiny Mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard (C) speaks to the press at the Judicial Court in Montpellier as he is summoned by the prosecutor for refusing to officiate the wedding between a French woman and an Algerian immigrant under orders to leave France A right-wing mayor is being prosecuted for refusing to perform the civil wedding ceremony of an Algerian national who was under an obligation to leave French territory he must now stand trial in a criminal court Parliamentarians are seizing on this grotesque situation to call for a change in the law mayor of the southern town of Béziers and a well-known figure of the French Right refused to officiate the wedding of a French woman and an Algerian man who was under an obligation to leave French territory (obligation de quitter le territoire français or OQTF) and therefore present illegally in France at the time of the request and the verdict was in: according to French law a mayor has no right to refuse to conduct a wedding Ménard was finally summoned to the local court in Montpellier on Tuesday February 18th for a “procedure of appearance on a prior admission of guilt (CRPC)” also known as ‘pleading guilty.’ This involved him admitting his guilt to the public prosecutor it’s the fault of the person who was obliged to leave the country I don’t even want a symbolic sentence Because that would be an admission of my guilt and I’m not guilty of anything in this case,” Ménard insisted “Sometimes laws are bad laws and we have to change them,” he added the mayor expressed his indignation in the regional press I warned everyone: if they wanted to deport him they just had to come to the town hall that day.” rather than enforcing the deportation order preferred to attack the mayor for his common sense the ‘fiancé’s’ proper place was not in the wedding hall Having refused to plead guilty, the mayor will now have to appear before a criminal court. In this case who the press refers to as “close to the far right” because of his many friendships within the French conservative Right and the Rassemblement National risks up to five years imprisonment and a fine of €75,000 No stranger to politics and the media (he is the former director of Reporters Without Borders and the founder of the conservative news site Boulevard Voltaire) including mayors from the region wearing their tricolour sashes symbolising their office had come to the court to show their support for Ménard.  The young man that Ménard refused to marry was nevertheless deported to Algeria two weeks after the aborted marriage attempt The fiancée claims to be living in a “nightmare” and to have fallen into a depression a bill supported by a centrist MP is to be submitted to the Senators for consideration aimed at “prohibiting a marriage in France when one of the future spouses is residing illegally in the territory.” ‘I’m not really a Jew… but I’m Jew-ish; not the whole hog.’ I grew up in North London when there were still some scars from the second world war I knew about the Holocaust but it seemed remote My family had arrived in Britain in the late 19th century If any members of my family had perished in the camps Although it did feel odd at school being asked for my Christian name – a question no longer posed.  Already a subscriber? Log in a Nation on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’ (Gibson Square) Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3 Already a subscriber? Log in Robert Ménard is outraging the left in France who view his policies in Béziers as ‘pure provocation’ against secularism and immigration with 8,000 people crammed into the stands and fanning themselves in the heat solemnly paraded around the ring in an elaborate holy procession following an effigy of the Virgin Mary and a dozen horse riders in flamenco dresses watched over by priests about reaffirming France’s Christian roots Robert Ménard, 62, was once best known as the outspoken founder of the international journalists’ group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which he headed for nearly 25 years before becoming a TV current affairs star he held memberships to the Communist Revolutionary League then the Socialist party But since his shock election in Béziers last year on a far-right ticket he has become the focal point of a raging debate in France about anti-immigration feeling which was once rich from wine production but has suffered decades of unemployment and is now one of the poorest towns in France Then he banned people from hanging washing from balconies in the historic centre run-down parts of which are home to a large population of north African origin and settled Gypsy communities – many of whom have been French for generations “So I was told it’s a tradition in a certain number of countries to spit “I caught a youngster hoicking in the street the other day there’s something that’s called a tissue.’” When Ménard armed the local police with 7.65-calibre handguns and put posters of giant handguns across the town reading ‘Police officers have a new friend’ Then police swooped on Ménard this spring when he claimed on live TV that he had counted the first names of nursery and primary school children in the town and determined that 64.6% were Muslim It is a criminal offence in France to collect any data or statistics on race or ethnicity – a law rooted in the country’s shame over collaboration with the Nazis during the second world war when Jews were marked with yellow stars and sent to death camps said counting children “sends us back to the darkest hours of our history” Ménard’s view is that immigration is France’s real problem Although elected with the official support of Marine Le Pen and the far-right Front National, he has deliberately stayed outside the party. This leaves him free “to say what I want when I want”. But he is an important figure to the Front National. Last year Le Pen’s party gained a record 11 mayors across France is by far the biggest town run by a Front National-aligned mayor Le Pen, her eyes on a presidential bid in 2017, has insisted the Front National mayors keep their heads down and avoid the controversies that plagued the party when the party ran towns in the 1990s. Ménard, outside the party, is not bound by this and has dominated French headlines and transformed his town hall newsletter into a slick He is seen by many as further right than Le Pen and more socially conservative He says they have a good relationship and she takes inspiration from some of his policies Ménard lived in Béziers as a teenager but was shaped by his early years in Algeria in a family of pied noirs His father was a member of the Organisation de l’Armée Secrète paramilitary group in French Algeria that fought against Algerian independence Ménard recently sparked more headlines and outrage from the left when he changed the name of a Béziers street that marked the end of the Algerian war of independence everyone in France knows where Béziers is,” he said claiming that curiosity about him and his policies has boosted tourism this year He brushed off media criticism that he was an authoritarian or provocateur He doesn’t like the term “extreme right” preferring to talk of a rise in nationalist and patriotic feeling in a French electorate disgusted with traditional parties “I think he’s wonderful,” said one 92-year-old woman I’ve got nothing against Arabs; I’ve got lots of Arab friends but there used to be too many Maghrebins [north Africans] just hanging around the square.” a retired French teacher carrying a placard protesting the flouting of French laws on secularism this mayor has just been about pure provocation.” many complained of inadequate housing stock His media strategy relies on polemics aimed at shattering the politically correct consensusCécile AlduySofiane Lecomte-El Ouarary Ultimately it targets the large numbers of poor people living in tiny two-room apartments who don’t have space to dry their washing anywhere but out the window Many of those families have north African roots Divisions are being heightened between rich and poor Cécile Alduy, a Stanford University professor and co-author of Marine Le Pen’s Words: Decoding the New National Front Discourse at the same time the Front National leadership has tried to normalise and soften its official discourse has been much more vocal and polemical in his stances against the Muslim community and culture and in defence of ‘French by root’ citizens “His media strategy as mayor of Béziers relies on polemics aimed at shattering the politically correct consensus on secularism Ménard said: “The media can say whatever they want My only concern is doing what I think has to be done for the people of Béziers and for my own convictions.” As one of the first 55 turnkey sites in France 2030 the electrolyser manufacturer Genvia is on the short list of mature sites as of 2024 for the Mazeran plot that will house its future gigafactory Located in a mixed development zone (French for zone d’aménagement concerté or ZAC) the site will be home to a €200 million project the foundation stone is scheduled for 2026 Genvia’s gigafactory will produce several thousand electrolysers per year Genvia is a public-private partnership (Cameron-SLB Vicat and the Occitania Region) with the aim of producing an innovative large-scale electrolyser technology to produce green hydrogen the company was selected by the French government as part of an IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) The France 2030 “turnkey” sites scheme aims to break down the barriers to reindustrialisation: in other words to speed up the mobilisation of high-quality industrial land Its aim is to identify and label sites with high potential for industrial development as well as to ensure that the sites identified are genuinely upgraded in terms of both procedures and pre-development The scheme is part of the drive to simplify plant installations which have already been reduced from 17 to 13 months Do you want to learn more about hydrogen in France? 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You can subscribe to it here info@hydrogentoday.info Home Newsletters Calendar Hydrogen in the world Key players in hydrogen Our fact sheets about hydrogen © Copyright – Communicaweb 2025 Legal noticies – Management of personal data  Pupils at four schools in Béziers introduced uniform the government says could be rolled out nationwide if successful They have not been compulsory in state schools in mainland France since 1968 But uniforms have made a return to one town as part of a government pilot scheme to establish if they can reduce inequality – and improve behaviour About 700 pupils at four schools in the southern town of Béziers became the first to introduce a uniform on Monday in a scheme that the government says could be rolled out nationwide if successful About 92 schools have signed up to the experiment wearing a uniform can create tranquillity in classrooms,” Belloubet said “We know you learn better in a peaceful environment.” which is run by the far right and where there is a high rate of unemployment were invited to come with their parents to pick up their outfits: a navy blue blazer with the school logo as well as a pair of shorts for boys or a skirt for girls A pupil poses in uniform in the courtyard of the Chateau de la Chevaliere primary school in Béziers. Photograph: Pascal Guyot/AFP/Getty ImagesThe city and local education authority are sharing the €200 (£171) cost of each uniform. Robert Menard, the mayor of Béziers, said uniforms would help combat bullying. “When you’re rich or poor, you don’t dress exactly the same way,” he said. “Now it will be less visible.” But the SE-Unsa teachers’ union said it was “a superficial response to a fundamental problem” and it would “in no way help resolve the troubles and failures of students”. Schools have until June to sign up to the initiative. Critics, including many parents, say the money would be better spent in other areas of public education. A Marseille school was due to take part, but 66% of pupils voted against it, AFP reported. In the Brittany village of Plouisy, the mayor from Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party signed up for the experiment but pulled out after complaints from angry parents. “Public [state] schools should never try to ape the worst excesses of private schools,” parents wrote in an open letter of protest, adding that uniforms would never completely eradicate “inequalities and discrimination”. a sociologist and lecturer at Antilles University who wrote a book on the subject of uniforms said: “A poor child wearing a uniform remains a poor child One-size-fits-all clothing will not eradicate socioeconomic inequalities but only attenuate their most visible aspects.” Uniforms were first introduced in secondary schools in France by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 who wanted to instil more military-style discipline in the education system They have not been compulsory in state schools in mainland France since 1968 seen as a watershed moment in French society because of the civil unrest that dominated the spring The debate over whether they should be reinstated resurfaced in 2003 when the subject was raised by a former education minister In 2016 the rightwing presidential candidate François Fillon and the far-right leader Marine Le Pen included the imposition of school uniforms in their election manifesto Parents are divided about the utility of introducing uniforms: some have suggested it will lead to more apparent equality while others have pointed out that inequalities can be still expressed in such items as shoes “It would be more intelligent to train more and better paid teachers,” one man told La Voix du Nord newspaper The historic city of Béziers, in the south of France, is home to the new Domaine de Bayssan Theatre, designed by Paris-based practice K architectures The 4500 sq m theatre complex is the most recent addition to the wider cultural quarter of Bayssan nestled within a tranquil agricultural setting on the city’s outskirts Comprised of three independent volumes – which draw inspiration from circus architecture – the theatre houses a performance and rehearsal auditorium a restaurant and a 1440-spectator amphitheatre the project brief was to build upon the legacy and success of the Sortie Ouest theatre which previously occupied the site in a 10-year residency with three festival-esque canvas tents the Domaine de Bayssan aims to support a diverse and shifting cultural programme of events interweaving spectator and performance activity alike via a series of loosely connected structures the building’s modular envelopes evoke the cultural and collective image of the circus: both the ‘big’ and ‘small’ tents adopt a fanning corolla pattern roof in shimmering natural zinc the triangular pleated facades seen throughout – arranged in slender origami-like timber slats – emphasise the canvas stitching of circus tents and have a dancing quality over the sweeping public esplanade The 2,300 sq m auditorium complex is spread over two adjoining buildings – a small marquee and large marquee The smaller structure houses the ticket hall arranged concentrically around a 235-seat dining hall The spectacle of this central space owes largely to its plunging triple-height volume and so is carefully balanced with an almost complete interior of warm unadorned wood panelling to create an intimate atmosphere The curvilinear ticket hall – reflecting the morphology of the two structures – draws spectators into the larger marquee that houses the performance hall and back-of-house facilities The theme of concertina interior wood panelling is continued bowing over the 423-seat audience and colliding abruptly with the comparatively pared-down theatre stage all-black finish provides both a clarity and beguiling sense of depth The 2,200 sq m amphitheatre – hosting a generous 1440 spectator audience (965 of which are able to be seated) beneath an elegantly hovering steel-pleated awning – is perhaps the most unique yet experientially detached building of the trio Unlike the amphitheatres of Ancient Greece its tiered seating is not inclined into the natural topography; the industrial concrete parapet of this volume offers few glimpses out and feels somewhat less inspired than the source of its inspiration the theatre responds well to its flexible requirements Both the stage and three-sided tiered rows of the auditorium can retract to accommodate a variety of configurations is equipped with a mobile proscenium to adapt to a range of performances Get a curated collection of architecture and design news like this in your inbox by signing up to our ICON Weekly newsletter By DAVID JONES Not long ago, the municipal police in Beziers — France's oldest town — moved their HQ to a magnificent 18th century chateau with cut-glass chandeliers and fading murals The force's director, Fabrice Cantele, was subsequently tasked with hunting down a female ghost feared to have caused three civilian staff to contract larynx cancer and a fourth to hang himself Since all the victims were afflicted in the throat this seemed to confirm the deduction of two mediums whose help he enlisted: that the ghoul was a reincarnation of the first chateau owner's wife whose neck was slit when her bourgeois wine-growing family was massacred during the French Revolution And clambering into a patrol car with Chief Cantele later that night in search of lawless children supposedly roaming the streets of Beziers in the early hours I confess to wondering whether our mission was similarly fanciful claims delinquency is now so prevalent in this south-western outpost (best known for bullfighting and Languedoc wines) that he has decreed an emergency curfew forcing children under 13 in the three worst-hit areas to stay at home between 11pm and 6am Police quiz two 12-year-old boys on scooters on the streets of Beziers The boys were taken to the police HQ and at 2am their parents collected them  and I thought of my two 12-year-old grandchildren sleeping soundly at home the notion we might find children of such a young age felt preposterous a message crackled over the squad car radio — and I was confronted with the grim reality of life in the margins of today's socially vulnerable-looking lads wearing flashy tracksuits had been zooming around a library car park on electric scooters Now they were being questioned at the kerbside One gave his name as Raul and said he was Syrian; the other an officer of Moroccan extraction spoke to the Syrian boy in Arabic and established that they were both just 12 Why were they doing on the streets this late Didn't they know they were putting themselves at risk from drug dealers and criminals who exploit children Raul mumbled that they were 'just having fun' As he was with Issa and another boy aged 14 (who glowered defiantly from his scooter knowing he was untouchable under the curfew) he wasn't scared for these boys roaming the streets on scooters in the early hours was perfectly normal The lads were taken to the police HQ and at 2am their parents rolled up to collect them they also collected a 150 euro (£130) fine one doubts that any mayor would sanction a curfew; and even if they did the civil liberties lobby and Left-wing councillors would quickly put paid to it which has a long history of forcible public order measures Menard first ordered under-13s off the streets at night soon after coming to power in 2014 (as France's 'best-elected mayor' with 68 per cent of the vote when he was re-elected in 2020 It lasted for four years and proved effective Then France's highest court ordered it to be cancelled ruling that he had not proved these children were at risk Though human rights campaigners are again up in arms — and about 2,000 opponents descended on Beziers for a protest march last month — any legal challenge to his new crackdown seems less likely to succeed For it comes when towns and cities across France are reeling under an epidemic of violent juvenile crime and the public is crying out for tough action claims delinquency is now so prevalent in Beziers that he has decreed an emergency curfew forcing children under 13 in the three worst-hit areas to stay at home between 11pm and 6am where a 15-year-old boy stabbed another of the same age during a city centre brawl where a girl of 13 had to be placed in a coma after being savaged by three other children outside school The first French city to respond with a curfew Menard quickly introduced the ploy on the mainland and the smart Riviera resort of Nice (where the street ban extends to under-16s in one flashpoint district) as the centrist President Macron shifts ever further to the Right to obviate the threat from the National Rally party (a softened version of the Front National which is expected to win a crushing victory in next month's European Parliament elections) the mayor claims his get-tough tactics are earning him plaudits from the government Addressing a line-up of new recruits this week 70-year-old Menard — a possible candidate for the 2027 presidency — revealed he had 'exchanged texts' about the curfew with interior minister Gerald Darmanin the messianic crusade being waged by this disarmingly small man who dresses casually and sports orange-rimmed glasses Unafraid to declare himself an 'authoritarian' he has made it his mission to restore Beziers — once one of France's most prosperous wine-producing towns but now among the poorest with unemployment double the national average — to its halcyon days Families face fines for hanging washing to dry from balconies and erecting eyesore satellite dishes The owners of historic buildings must restore and maintain them the tree-lined walkway that forms the town's centrepiece was fouled with dog mess and drug paraphernalia Now it is a pleasant promenade where strollers are serenaded by traditional chansons harking back to less complicated times Menard's latest diktat will force some grocery stores to close after 8pm because they are fronts for money laundering and drug dealing Other suspicious shops could be shut altogether 'In Beziers we have 30 barbers,' he told me at the history-steeped old town hall whose belfry is dominated by a giant poster demanding the release of the Israeli hostages (imagine the outcry were this to be draped from many British town halls) you must have a diploma to call yourself a hairdresser so they say they are 'barbers' – but everybody knows they do other things Mayor Menard's crackdown comes as towns and cities across France are reeling under an epidemic of violent juvenile crime and the public is crying out for tough action 'Drug dealers hang out at the front of these places I'm issuing an order saying before any shop can be opened you will have gathered that Menard's homespun edicts are not being deployed with every section of Beziers's 80,000 population in mind The dubious shops he speaks of are almost all run by the town's sizeable North African community whose families also inhabit most of the flats in the three areas of Beziers he has signalled out for the curfew — the town centre and two notorious suburban housing estates he doesn't hide the fact that they will largely be affected because while older Algerian migrants are well-integrated and respect the law it is the community's young people who cause most of the problems it would have been unthinkable for a French politician — outside the old Front National — to make such a candid admission Menard has been labelled as far-Right and many of his views are undeniably extremist an MP who shares a town hall desk with him (beneath which lolls their golden labrador when the government billeted 40 migrants from the Calais jungle in Beziers he plastered the town with dozens of posters depicting men in Arab dress and bearing the words 'that's it — they're coming' an inflammatory message he now claims to regret He now stands as an independent whose uncompromising policies — such as making school uniforms compulsory — are eclectic he says they are blazing a trail and will eventually become the model for other towns struggling to maintain security and traditional French values They have certainly made him a hero in the eyes of many in Beziers Welcoming the curfew after having his patio chairs stolen by child thieves one restaurant owner told me: 'Our mayor is the best in France and very much loved around here.' Police officers patrol the streets at night to enforce the curfew to control anti-social behaviour After spending a few days in this embattled town which has seen many violent upheavals since the Greeks founded it 2,700 years ago one can understand this strength of feeling a warren of dismal apartment blocks that contrast starkly with the fine classical buildings in the centre of Beziers the urgent need for unity and order is clear its street corners are guarded by a 'chair man': a snout paid €300 or €400 per eight-hour shift by the drug gangs to sit and raise the alarm when they spot an unfamiliar car or face Tearaways who should be at the new school — named after Samuel Paty the teacher beheaded by an Islamist fanatic for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad — hang around smoking cannabis and making deals the estate is so dangerous that the police won't risk leaving their vehicles and patrol at a brisk speed to avoid being hit by bricks or the latest gang weapon: slingshots powerful enough to pierce the protective material coating a squad car's windows Our arrival was greeted by the wailing of car horns — a warning signal that police were around a sharp thud and the tinkling of broken glass — a bottle had struck our front tyre It was time to get out before we were lured into a side street perhaps to be penned in by cars and attacked — a common tactic According to Chief Cantele the gangs co-opt children as young as eight or nine to carry their drugs and attack their rivals knowing that they can't be prosecuted because 13 is the age of criminal responsibility in France This is why the mayor chose 13 as the cut-off age for the curfew he says — though given the dangers that face the police here it would be difficult for them to take a minor into custody The veteran officer — a wiry former paratrooper — says policing estates such as this is now as hazardous as it was 30 years ago in the tinderbox Parisian suburb of St Denis he is confident that they are gaining ground in the drive to 'reconquer' La Deveze and other trouble spots When Menard was first elected a decade ago parts of Beziers were so unsafe that people were afraid to go into the parks The municipal police force then had just 35 unarmed officers whose main task was 'handing out parking tickets' ploughing a big slice of his budget (which ought to be spent on improving facilities in socially deprived areas opponents argue) into strengthening the police one for every 615 residents — almost twice the national ratio They are on duty 24/7 and carry semi-automatic handguns an innovation Menard announced by way of another poster declaring: 'From now on The mayor claims fully arming the municipal police traditionally the poor relation among France's multi-tiered law enforcement agencies Employing tactics that sound like those he learned in the paras — 'you go in fast and be explosive to shock them and never back off' — he had brought the worst neighbourhoods back under control But then the state prefecture ordered them to adopt a less confrontational approach — so the gangs 'filled the vacuum' as hardline tactics are again considered acceptable Crime is reducing by two or three per cent a year The mayor says his measures have won the backing of most people in the targeted areas especially parents struggling to control unruly children the 35-year-old mother of two daughters aged 13 and 11 'The other night the kids round here burnt three scooters for fun,' she told me watching over them as they played on a climbing frame in Grangette-Iranget 'I wouldn't let my girls out at any time of evening It was a refrain I heard many times this week I ask the mayor whether he intends to run for the presidency next time round the former journalist says he is 'excluding nothing' adding that by 2027 he would 'still be younger than Biden or Trump' With his weekly TV talk show appearances and the kudos he gained for co-founding Reporters Without Borders which champions the global right to freedom of information Mayor Menard's popularity already extends beyond the backwaters of Beziers Given his willingness to face France's escalating cultural crisis head-on and tackle it with unswerving resolution might he be destined to follow Emmanuel Macron — another diminutive man who rose from obscurity — into the Elysee Palace The comments below have not been moderated We are no longer accepting comments on this article The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group