Latest news with #Légiond'Honneur
Boston Globe
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Extra! Extra! Read all about last newspaper hawker in Paris
Advertisement Such is Akbar's renown that President Emmanuel Macron recently awarded him a Légion d'Honneur, the Republic's highest order of merit. It will be conferred at a ceremony at the Élysée Palace in the fall. 'Perhaps it will help me get my French passport!' said Akbar, who sometimes has a withering take on life, having seen much of its underside. He has a residence permit, but his application for French nationality is mired in Gallic bureaucracy. Akbar moves at startling speed. A sinewy bundle of energy at 72, he clocks several miles a day, selling Le Monde, Les Echos, and other daily newspapers from around noon until midnight. Dismissive of the digital, he has become a human networker of a district once dear to Jean-Paul Sartre and Ernest Hemingway, now overrun by brand-hungry tourists. Advertisement 'How are you, dear Ali?' says Véronique Voss, a psychotherapist, as he enters the Café Fleurus near the Jardin du Luxembourg. 'I worried about you yesterday because it was so hot.' Heat does not deter Akbar, who has known worse. He thanks Voss with a big smile and takes off his dark blue Le Monde cap. 'When you have nothing, you take whatever you can get,' he says. 'I had nothing.' At his next stop, an Italian cafe, Jean-Philippe Bouyer, a stylist who has worked for Dior, greets Akbar warmly. 'Ali is indispensable,' Bouyer says. 'Something very positive and rare in our times emanates from him. He kept the soul of a child.' Born in 1953 into a family of 10 children, two of whom died young, Akbar grew up in Rawalpindi amid rampant poverty and open sewers, eating leftovers, sleeping five to a room, leaving school when he was 12, working odd jobs, and eventually teaching himself to read. 'I did not want to wear clothes that reeked of misery,' he said. 'I always dreamed of giving my mother a house with a garden.' To advance, he had to leave. He procured a passport at 18. All he knew of Europe was the Eiffel Tower and Dutch tulips. A winding road took him by bus to Kabul, Afghanistan, where Western hippies, most of them high, abounded in 1970 — but that was not Akbar's thing. He went on by road to Iran, where he said, 'the shah was an omnipresent God.' Eventually, he reached Athens, Greece, and wandered the streets looking for work. A businessperson took pity and, noting his eagerness, offered him a job on a ship. Akbar cleaned the kitchen floor. He washed dishes. He was faced with aggressive mockery from bawdy shipmates for his refusal, as a Muslim, to drink. Advertisement In Shanghai, Akbar abandoned ship rather than face further taunting. The world is round, and around he went, back to Rawalpindi, and then on the westward road again to Europe. His mother deserved better; that conviction drove him through every humiliation. Visa issues in Greece and eventual expulsion landed him back in Pakistan a second time. His family thought he was mad, but, undaunted, he tried again. This time, he washed up in Rouen, France. It had taken only two years. After working there in a restaurant, he moved on to Paris in 1973. 'By the time I got to Paris I had an overwhelming desire to anchor myself,' Akbar said. 'Since I began circling the planet, I hadn't met many people who didn't disappoint me. But if you have no hope, you're dead.' He slept under bridges and in cellars. He encountered racism. He lost his virginity, and in so doing, he says, encountered the phrase 'Ça y est!' that became his moniker. He spent a couple of months in Burgundy harvesting cucumbers. There, he ceded to wine and pork, forbidden by Islam. 'That was a turning point in my life,' Akbar wrote in a memoir published over a decade ago. 'I still believed in God but I had concluded that eaters of sausages were often better people than Muslims with the strictest practices.' At last, in 1974, Akbar found his calling when he ran into an Argentine student hawking newspapers. He inquired how he could do likewise and was soon in the streets of Paris with copies of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and Hara-Kiri, now defunct. He liked to walk, enjoyed contact with people and, even if margins were small, could eke out a living. Advertisement Fast-forward 51 years, and Akbar is still at it. Because St.-Germain is the home of intellectuals, actors, and politicians, he has rubbed shoulders with the influential. From François Mitterrand to Bill Clinton (who told him Pakistan was 'dangerous'), and from actress and singer Jane Birkin to author Bernard-Henri Lévy, he has met them all. None of this has gone to his head. He remains a modest guy with a winning manner. His main newspaper is now Le Monde, which he acquires at a kiosk for about $2 a copy and sells for almost double that. He makes around $70 on an average day; he rarely takes a day off. Newspaper reading remains ingrained in France. Friends may buy two or three copies and slip him 10 euros or invite him to lunch. He has no pension, but he gets by — and his mother got a Rawalpindi garden. From an arranged marriage with a Pakistani woman in 1980, Akbar has five sons, one of them autistic, one with various physical ailments. A sixth child died at birth. Life has not been easy, one reason 'I have made it my business to make people laugh.' Some 50 years later, Akbar remains on the move. Lose sight of him for a second, and he's gone. But then comes the cry: 'Ça y est! Marine is marrying Jordan!' — a reference to far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her young protégé Jordan Bardella. His jokes are a sales pitch; they also reflect a yearning for a happier, simpler world. Advertisement
CairoScene
14-07-2025
- Politics
- CairoScene
Egyptian MP Gihane Zaki Awarded France's Highest Civilian Honour
Recognised for her influence at the crossroads of archaeology, heritage, and diplomacy, MP Gihane Zaki is the latest Egyptian to receive France's highest civilian honour, the Légion d'Honneur Jul 14, 2025 France has awarded Egyptian MP and cultural diplomat Dr. Gihane Zaki with the Légion d'Honneur, the country's highest civilian distinction, by presidential decree. The honour, granted without application and based solely on nomination, acknowledges her longstanding contributions to cultural diplomacy and academic thought. Dr. Zaki was named Chevalier (Knight) in the decree published in France's Journal Officiel, joining an exclusive group of foreign recipients cited for upholding values such as peace and human dignity. The award ceremony traditionally takes place at the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur in Paris, reflecting the symbolic weight of the honour in French national life. As an archaeologist, academic, and former director of the Egyptian Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Zaki has worked extensively on cultural heritage policies and intercultural exchange, both in government and global institutions. Her collaborations span organisations like UNESCO and ICCROM, with affiliations to the Sorbonne and Senghor University. The Légion d'Honneur was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. Past Egyptian recipients include Mahmoud Fakhry Pasha and Mona Zulficar. The award continues to underline France's cultural engagement with the Arab world, with recent honours also extending to figures from the UAE.
Cision Canada
10-07-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
Oncolytics Biotech® to Host Key Opinion Leader Discussion Focusing on Pancreatic and Gastrointestinal Cancers
KOL webinar to take place on July 22, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. ET SAN DIEGO and CALGARY, AB, July 10, 2025 /CNW/ -- Oncolytics Biotech ® Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC), a leading clinical-stage company specializing in immunotherapy for oncology, announced that it will host a key opinion leader (KOL) webinar to discuss pelareorep in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) and other gastrointestinal cancers. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. ET. The webinar will feature KOLs Dirk Arnold, M.D., Ph.D. (Asklepios Tumorzentrum Hamburg), Alexander Eggermont, M.D., Ph.D. (University Medical Center Utrecht), Sanjay Goel, M.D., M.S., FASCO (Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey), and Devalingam Mahalingam, M.D., Ph.D. (Northwestern University), who will join the Oncolytics management team to discuss pelareorep's existing pancreatic clinical data in addition to its potential as an immunotherapy in mPDAC and other gastrointestinal indications. A live question and answer session will follow a formal presentation and roundtable discussion with the KOLs. To register for the event, please click here. About the KOLs Dirk Arnold, M.D., Ph.D., is the Director of Asklepios Tumorzentrum Hamburg and the primary investigator of the GOBLET trial. He has also held positions as Director of the Instituto CUF de Oncologia in Lisbon, Portugal, Director of the Department of Medical Oncology at the University of Freiburg, and Director of the University Cancer Center Hamburg. His research and primary scientific interest focus on gastrointestinal cancers, immunotherapy, and drug development. Dr. Arnold completed his M.D. degree at the Universities of Ulm and Berlin in Germany and specialist instruction at Charité, Humboldt University in Berlin. Alexander Eggermont, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Clinical & Translational Immunotherapy at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and Board Member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Munich of the Technical University Munich and the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus Grand Paris, France, from 2010 to 2019. Additionally, he was President of both the EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer) from 2003 to 2006 and the ECCO (European Cancer Organisation) from 2008 to 2010. He is an author or co-author on more than 900 peer-reviewed papers and has received a number of honors and awards, including Honorary Professor of Oncology "Joseph Maisin Chair" at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, the German Cancer Aid Award in 2019, and the status of Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sanjay Goel, M.D., M.S., FASCO, is an attending physician and a Professor of Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He serves as the Director of Phase I Therapeutics at Rutgers Cancer Institute. He has an interest in drug development of anti-cancer agents, and biomarkers of drug response, particularly in solid tumors and colorectal cancer. His work also includes the outcomes of health in minority patients and health disparities. Dr. Goel has been the author or co-author on over 150 research publications and owns a patent in EGFR-targeted therapy. He has been the recipient of the Advanced Clinical Research Award (ACRA) in colorectal cancer by the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF), of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. He is an active ASCO volunteer currently serving on the ASCO SEP Item Writing Task Force. He has also served as the track leader of the Scientific Program Committee in the "Developmental Therapeutics and Translational Research – Immunotherapy" track of ASCO. He has been a grant reviewer on several NIH study sections and on the ASCO CCF Grant Review Committee. He has been an invited speaker at several national and international conferences. Devalingam Mahalingam, M.D., Ph.D., is a faculty member at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University (LCC). He serves as the Director of the Clinical Trials Office (CTO) and the Director of the Developmental Therapeutics (DT) program. His clinical research interests and expertise are designing and executing early phase clinical studies utilizing novel therapeutic agents, incorporating precision oncology and developing these targets within clinical studies for gastrointestinal cancers. He has worked on a number of agents (including oncolytic viruses and GSK3 beta inhibitors) from pre-clinical development to late phase studies. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland, Galway, clinical training at the Royal College of Physicians Ireland, and completed his fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in 2009. He has served as Principal Investigator on approximately 50 clinical trials and authored over 120 manuscripts. About Oncolytics Biotech Inc. Oncolytics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immunotherapeutic agent. Pelareorep has demonstrated promising results in two randomized Phase 2 studies in metastatic breast cancer and Phase 1 and 2 studies in pancreatic cancer. It acts by inducing anti-cancer immune responses and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype -- turning "cold" tumors "hot" -- through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers. Pelareorep has demonstrated synergies with multiple approved oncology treatments. Oncolytics is currently conducting and planning combination clinical trials with pelareorep in solid malignancies as it advances towards registrational studies in metastatic breast cancer and pancreatic cancer, both of which have received Fast Track designation from the FDA. For more about Oncolytics, please visit: or follow the company on social media on LinkedIn and on X @ oncolytics. Company Contact Jon Patton Director of IR & Communication [email protected] Investor Relations for Oncolytics Mike Moyer LifeSci Advisors +1-617-308-4306 [email protected] Media Contact for Oncolytics Owen Blaschak LifeSci Communications [email protected] SOURCE Oncolytics Biotech® Inc.
France 24
17-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
French ex-PM Fillon handed suspended prison sentence over wife's fake job
Former French prime minister François Fillon was on Tuesday given a four-year suspended prison sentence over a fake jobs scandal that wrecked his 2017 presidential bid. Fillon, 71, had been found guilty in 2022 of embezzlement on appeal for providing a fake parliamentary assistant job to his wife, Penelope Fillon, that saw her being paid from public funds although the court found that she never did any work in the National Assembly. The Paris appeals court also ordered him to pay a fine of €375,000 and barred him from seeking elected office for five years. The sentence was milder than the one handed down in 2022, when he had been ordered to spend one year behind bars. But France's highest appeals court, the Court of Cassation, overruled that decision and ordered a new sentencing trial. No change was made to the punishment for Penelope Fillon, who is British, and who was handed a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay the same fine as her husband. The couple has always insisted that Penelope Fillon had done genuine constituency work. Neither was present in court for the sentencing. Fillon, a conservative, earlier this year called the ban on seeking public office a "moral wound". The scandal, dubbed "PenelopeGate" by the French press, hurt Fillon's popularity and contributed to his first-round elimination in France's 2017 presidential election that was won by current President Emmanuel Macron. "The treatment I received was somewhat unusual and nobody will convince me otherwise," Fillon said. "Perhaps there was a link with me being a candidate in the presidential election." 'A free man' Fillon claimed that fake parliamentary jobs were common between 1981 and 2021, saying that "a large majority" of lawmakers had been in a "perfectly similar situation" during that time. His wife's fake contract ran from 2012 to 2013. "It is the appreciation of the court that there is no proof of any salaried work in the case," the court said in its ruling. Fillon's lawyer, Antonin Levy, welcomed the decision to spare his client time in prison. "François Fillon is a free man," he said. In another recent high-profile case involving French politicians, former president Nicolas Sarkozy, also a conservative, was stripped of his Légion d'Honneur medal following his conviction for graft. Sarkozy, 70, had been wearing an electronic ankle tag until last month after France's highest appeals court upheld his conviction last December of trying to illegally secure favours from a judge. Sarkozy is currently on trial in a separate case on charges of accepting illegal campaign financing in an alleged pact with late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Another case involves far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who was convicted in an embezzlement trial over fake European Parliament jobs, and is appealing the verdict. As well as being given a partly suspended jail term and a fine, she was banned from taking part in elections for five years, which would – if confirmed – scupper her ambition of standing for the presidency in 2027.
Fashion Network
09-06-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Printemps hosts Perelman Performing Arts Center announcement of DVF as next Icon of Culture
Having only been in lower Manhattan for under four months, Printemps New York is proving its good neighbor status and dedication to the Financial District. The French retailer opened its doors for an event to kick off the buzz for this fall's annual Perelman Performing Arts Center, aka PAC NYC's Icon of Culture Gala. Hosted by PAC chair and former Big Apple hizzoner Michael R. Bloomberg; supermodel, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Karlie Kloss; and Printemps Americas CEO, Thierry Prevost, the cocktail announced iconic fashion legend and Légion d'Honneur recipient Diane Von Furstenberg as the 2025 PAC NYC Icon of Culture at the upcoming October black-tie event to benefit the newly opened arts center. The event marks the second Icons of Culture fundraising gala. The kickoff event was held in the new French store—designed by French architect Laura Gonzales that defies the department store moniker— in its famous Red Room shoe salon and adjacent bar, one of five food and beverage locales in the store. While Von Furstenberg was out of town and unable to attend, DVF Studio's CEO, Graziano de Boni, and his wife, Valerie, and VP of philanthropy, Luisella Meloni, showed up in support of the pioneer female fashion designer. Von Furstenberg is being honored not only for her contributions to the city but her 50-year impact on fashion and her role as a mentor and advocate for girls and women around the world. Speaking to a crowd which included Fern Mallis, Derek Blasberg, Drena De Niro, Samantha and Caleigh Perelman, and Born This Way Foundation president and co-founder Cynthia Germanotta, and Lady Gaga's mother. Bloomberg called von Furstenberg "a towering figure in the arts and culture here in New York," adding, "She's one of the most influential names in fashion, an industry at the heart of our city's economy. She's been a tireless advocate for the industry and a generous philanthropist with her leadership on public projects like the High Line and the Statue of Liberty Museum. She's deeply committed to our city, and her support and investment have helped build a bright future here." Following his remarks, a visibly pregnant Karlie Kloss, a longtime collaborator and friend of von Furstenberg, spoke about her relationship with the designer. "I first met Diane when I was 15 years old in New York, and I remember being enamored with her elegance, her confidence, and her style. Diane has been one of my fiercest champions and greatest teachers throughout my career. I've learned so much from her, but especially to be unapologetically myself. She has shown us all what a purposeful life looks like, and I can't think of anyone more deserving of this award," said Kloss. Thierry Prevost, CEO of Printemps Americas, emphasized the brand's commitment to the downtown neighborhood: "Printemps is proud to contribute to the renewal of Lower Manhattan, a neighborhood whose vitality owes much to the vision and leadership of Mike Bloomberg. We're equally honored to host PAC at Printemps New York ahead of their October Icons of Culture Gala. This year, they have named Diane von Furstenberg - an icon of fashion and culture, and a woman whose bold spirit and lasting influence personify the values we stand for - as the 2025 award recipient." Provost reiterated the sentiment of Printemps's chairman Jean-Marc Bellaiche, who spoke to at the store's March opening about the area that "boasts Casa Cipriani, a performing arts center, fashion brands like Altuzarra and the cool crowd over at WSA, another architectural gem, the Beekman Hotel, good schools, green spaces, and Jean Georges Tin Building." At the time, Bellaiche doubled down on his conviction of the area. "We are convinced that this is a neighborhood of tomorrow. It's up and coming. It's more and more residential. The people and businesses that were here are different than 15 years ago. Now, it's not just bankers; it's fashion, it's tech, it's media, and it's all here. It's a vibrant community that is becoming more attractive for any New Yorker," he said. The 108th mayor of New York City was the connector for the event and spearheaded bringing the creatives together. Bloomberg's dedication to the area began when his term started in January of 2002, as the city was still reeling from the 9/11 attacks. The then-mayor and his administration were determined to bring the area back together and make it bigger and better, developing the typically work-only area into a 24-hour neighborhood with housing, parks, and new businesses. Part of the plan was the arts. The idea came to fruition with the help of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, who made the first central pledge, and Ronald Perelman, for which it was named. PAC NYC brings vibrant dancers, musicians, artists, filmmakers, and other creators from across New York City for performances and exhibitions.
