Return to calm is priority in riots-hit New Caledonia, Macron says
French President Emmanuel Macron urged Thursday the removal of protesters' barricades in riot-hit New Caledonia. He also announced he would send police forces to help battle deadly unrest in the French Pacific archipelago. The gendarmes “will stay as long as necessary," even as French security services focus on safeguarding the Paris Olympics in coming weeks, Macron said. Pro-independence Indigenous Kanak leaders, who declined Macron's offer of talks by video a week earlier, greeted him in person on Thursday. They also joined a meeting in Nouméa with rival pro-Paris leaders who want New Caledo...