Society
The Laptop is the Criminal's Most Powerful Weapon
Organized crime has gone online in a big way, says Interpol's outgoing Secretary General. Jurgen Stock, who headed the international law enforcement agency for the past decade, spoke to the AAPA on September 4, in the Blomberg auditorium. Crime is big business, he told us, explaining the evolution of "crime as a service" -- the sale of ransomware and other Internet software designed to…
Tommie Smith is in Paris for the Olympic Games
Have you ever met a rock star? Or a famous scientist? Or, why not – the President of the United States? I have to say no to all three – but I can now say that I have met the man whose protest against injustice to Blacks shook the world. That man is Tommie Smith, the 6’ 5” Black athlete who won the sprint finals at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, breaking the 20 second record by finishing in…
D-Day Anniversary Visit to Normandy
AAPA members (15 in all) took a day trip to Normandy, April 23, 2024, in advance of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings June 6, 1944 -- the beginning of the end of W orld War II in Europe. Intent on learning about…
Recognizing D-Day's Forgotten Black Soldiers 80 Years On
AAPA member Linda Hervieux talks to us about the forgotten combat soldiers of D-Day, the all-Black 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, among the first to land on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. Published in 2015, it is an episode in the upcoming National Geographic/Disney+ documentary series Erased: WW's Heroes of Color. The book’s theme of racism in America, particularly in the armed services, is…
VIGINUM: French defense against cyber-attacks & fake news
AAPA members met with former Lt. Col. Marc-Antoine Brillant, director of VIGINUM, the government body responsible for vigilance and protection against foreign digital interference. VIGINUM is attached to the General…
Visit to the Olympic Aquatic Centre
On March 6, AAPA became the first group of journalists to visit the newly finished Olympic Aquatic Centre. The Centre claims to be "the only permanent sports facility to be built for the Paris 2024 Games".
We were…
Repurposing the Paris 2024 Olympic Village
Dominique Perrault is the architect and urbanist who conceived of the Paris 2024 Olympic Village. On December 12 he gave the AAPA a fascinating presentation on the thinking behind the village, which is meant to…
Winter is coming
On November 16, the Anglo American Press Association had a meeting with energy specialist Dr. Thierry Bros in a Zoom session attended by a dozen or so members. Bros, a professor at Sciences Po Paris, has 30 years’ experience in energy and climate, from the policy side to trading floors. He gave us a layout of the energy situation across Europe as we head into this crucial winter. Of the…
Climate Change Targets in Jeopardy, says IEA
The AAPA met with IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol at the organization’s headquarters (and by Zoom) on November 23 to discuss the current acute energy crisis. Dr Birol said that, in his opinion, because of the invasion of Ukraine, “Russia has lost its EU clients for good.” He also said that without cutting the use of coal, oil and gas, the world will fall well short of its climate targets. But…
The World According to Plantu
Members of the AAPA met with the editorial cartoonist Jean Plantu, whose political cartoons have illustrated the pages of Le Monde newspaper for the last fifty years, at the Maison des Photographes in Paris. Himself accompanied by a security agent, Plantu discussed the threats to the freedom of expression faced by cartoonists, not only from authoritarian regimes or religious fanatics, but also…