Macron Criticizes EU Rules on Migrants

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with soldiers during his visit to Calais, northern France, Tuesday, Jan.16, 2018. (Denis Charlet/Pool via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with soldiers during his visit to Calais, northern France, Tuesday, Jan.16, 2018. (Denis Charlet/Pool via AP)
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Macron Criticizes EU Rules on Migrants

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with soldiers during his visit to Calais, northern France, Tuesday, Jan.16, 2018. (Denis Charlet/Pool via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with soldiers during his visit to Calais, northern France, Tuesday, Jan.16, 2018. (Denis Charlet/Pool via AP)

President Emmanuel Macron has blasted EU policy on migrants as he visited Calais where lied the Jungle, a squalid shantytown near the northern city's port that was once home to some 10,000 migrants dreaming of Britain.

In a closely watched speech in Calais, Macron promised a more orderly immigration policy with zero tolerance for camps like the Jungle.

"There will be no reconstruction of the Jungle and no tolerance for the illegal occupation of public space," Agence France Presse quoted Macron as saying in his speech at a Calais police station.

While the Jungle was demolished in late 2016, hundreds of migrants remain in Calais, trying night after night to stow away on trucks heading across the Channel to England.

He joined a chorus of criticism for the EU's "Dublin" rules which say asylum seekers must be dealt with in the country where they arrive, creating a huge burden for frontline states like Italy.

But he ruled out suggesting migrants should be able to apply for asylum in any EU country, saying this would "strip the entry country of their responsibilities".

France gave out 262,000 residence permits last year -- a 13.7 percent hike in a year and 35 percent of them to refugees, the interior ministry said Tuesday. 



Iran Media: Russian Rocket Puts Iran Satellite into Space

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage, carrying two Ionosfera-M satellites and 18 payloads, including Iran's Nahid-2 telecommunications satellite, blasts off from its launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur region, Russia July 25, 2025. Roscosmos/Ivan Timoshenko/Handout via REUTERS
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage, carrying two Ionosfera-M satellites and 18 payloads, including Iran's Nahid-2 telecommunications satellite, blasts off from its launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur region, Russia July 25, 2025. Roscosmos/Ivan Timoshenko/Handout via REUTERS
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Iran Media: Russian Rocket Puts Iran Satellite into Space

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage, carrying two Ionosfera-M satellites and 18 payloads, including Iran's Nahid-2 telecommunications satellite, blasts off from its launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur region, Russia July 25, 2025. Roscosmos/Ivan Timoshenko/Handout via REUTERS
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a Fregat upper stage, carrying two Ionosfera-M satellites and 18 payloads, including Iran's Nahid-2 telecommunications satellite, blasts off from its launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur region, Russia July 25, 2025. Roscosmos/Ivan Timoshenko/Handout via REUTERS

A Russian rocket put an Iranian communications satellite into space on Friday, Iranian state media reported, the latest achievement for an aerospace program that has long concerned Western governments.

"The Nahid-2 communications satellite was launched from Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket," state television said.

Weighing 110 kilograms (over 240 pounds), the satellite was designed and manufactured by Iranian engineers, the broadcaster added.

Western governments have long expressed concern that technological advances made in Iran's space program can also be used to upgrade its ballistic missile arsenal, AFP reported.

The launch was announced shortly before nuclear talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany opened in Istanbul.

In December, Iran announced it had put its heaviest payload to date into space, using a domestically manufactured satellite carrier.

In September, Iran said it had put the Chamran-1 research satellite into orbit using the Ghaem-100 carrier, which is produced by the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace division.