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With a parade of athletes on Champs Elysées, France throws one last party for the Paris Olympics

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With a parade of athletes on Champs Elysées, France throws one last party for the Paris Olympics
News

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With a parade of athletes on Champs Elysées, France throws one last party for the Paris Olympics

2024-09-15 03:39 Last Updated At:03:40

PARIS (AP) — The curtain came down on Paris’ feel-good summer with a grand parade of French athletes on the Champs Elysées on Saturday after the country threw one last party to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Parade of Champions included 460 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including 120 Paris medalists. About 70,000 spectators lined up on the parade’s route on the French capital’s famed avenue that ended on a ring-shaped stage around the Arc de Triomphe monument. Hundreds of the Games’ volunteers, Olympic and Paralympic representatives and city officials also attended.

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Smoke in colours of the French national flag rises near the Arc de Triomphe on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Sarah Meyssonnier, Pool via AP)

Smoke in colours of the French national flag rises near the Arc de Triomphe on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Sarah Meyssonnier, Pool via AP)

Antoine Dupont, gold medalist in Rugby 7s poses with olympic volunteers for a selfie on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Antoine Dupont, gold medalist in Rugby 7s poses with olympic volunteers for a selfie on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, center, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris.(AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, center, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris.(AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics march on the Champs Elysees with French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. Organizers have promised a celebration of French sport on par with the spectacular and audacious opening and closing of the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic ceremonies. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics march on the Champs Elysees with French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. Organizers have promised a celebration of French sport on par with the spectacular and audacious opening and closing of the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic ceremonies. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics and French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics take part in a parade in front of the Arc de Triomphe monument on the Champs Elysees, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Andre Pain/Pool Photo via AP)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics and French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics take part in a parade in front of the Arc de Triomphe monument on the Champs Elysees, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Andre Pain/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Athletes from different delegations parade during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

FILE - Athletes from different delegations parade during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

FILE - Team Greece travels by boat along the Seine river in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, file)

FILE - Team Greece travels by boat along the Seine river in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, file)

FILE - Alpha Jets from the Patrouille de France fly over the Champs-Elysees as delegations arrive for the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paralympics, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, file)

FILE - Alpha Jets from the Patrouille de France fly over the Champs-Elysees as delegations arrive for the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paralympics, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, file)

FILE - Fireworks signal the end of the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony taking place at the Stade de France, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)

FILE - Fireworks signal the end of the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony taking place at the Stade de France, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Organizers delivered a celebration of French sport on par with the spectacular and audacious opening and closing of the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic ceremonies.

“Among us, we call it the 5th ceremony,” Thierry Reboul, the director of ceremonies, told French media. “We tried to include the same elements to this show as we did to the four ceremonies this summer: surprise, emotion and sharing.”

President Emmanuel Macron and his new prime minister, Michel Barnier, also attended. During the ceremony, Macron decorated with state honors 120 French Olympians, who had medaled in Paris, including the star swimmer and judoka, Léon Marchand and Teddy Riner. In all, 187 French athletes were bestowed with the Legion of Honor or the National Order of Merit on Saturday, but not all participated in the parade.

Macron's celebration of the Olympic spirit that he said has produced “national harmony” came against the backdrop of a harsh political reality and a deeply divided society following an inconclusive legislative elections in July, just before the start of the Paris Games.

Faced with a hung parliament, social tensions and ballooning debt, Macron earlier this month appointed Barnier — a veteran conservative and the European Union's former Brexit negotiator — to form a new government.

Macron's decision caused fury in the left-wing coalition that won the most seats in the National Assembly, but not enough to govern alone, leaving France’s powerful lower house of parliament with no party holding a majority.

Barnier said he will present his ministers next week. The New Popular Front coalition vowed protests and censure against Macron and the new government, insisting that the president has dismissed the popular vote that gave the leftist alliance the mandate to govern.

Smoke in colours of the French national flag rises near the Arc de Triomphe on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Sarah Meyssonnier, Pool via AP)

Smoke in colours of the French national flag rises near the Arc de Triomphe on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Sarah Meyssonnier, Pool via AP)

Antoine Dupont, gold medalist in Rugby 7s poses with olympic volunteers for a selfie on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Antoine Dupont, gold medalist in Rugby 7s poses with olympic volunteers for a selfie on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, center, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris.(AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, center, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris.(AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

French President of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee (COJO) Tony Estanguet, walks down the Champs Elysees avenue on the day of a parade for all the French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics march on the Champs Elysees with French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. Organizers have promised a celebration of French sport on par with the spectacular and audacious opening and closing of the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic ceremonies. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics march on the Champs Elysees with French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. Organizers have promised a celebration of French sport on par with the spectacular and audacious opening and closing of the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic ceremonies. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics and French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics take part in a parade in front of the Arc de Triomphe monument on the Champs Elysees, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Andre Pain/Pool Photo via AP)

Volunteers of Paris 2024 Olympics and French athletes who participated in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics take part in a parade in front of the Arc de Triomphe monument on the Champs Elysees, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 in Paris. (Andre Pain/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Athletes from different delegations parade during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

FILE - Athletes from different delegations parade during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

FILE - Team Greece travels by boat along the Seine river in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, file)

FILE - Team Greece travels by boat along the Seine river in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, file)

FILE - Alpha Jets from the Patrouille de France fly over the Champs-Elysees as delegations arrive for the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paralympics, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, file)

FILE - Alpha Jets from the Patrouille de France fly over the Champs-Elysees as delegations arrive for the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paralympics, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, file)

FILE - Fireworks signal the end of the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony taking place at the Stade de France, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)

FILE - Fireworks signal the end of the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony taking place at the Stade de France, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Workers remove grandstand seating as part of the dismantling of the Olympic venue the "Stade Tour Eiffel" with the Eiffel tower in the background in Paris, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Donald Trump began his first day as the 47th president of the United States with a dizzying display of force, signing a blizzard of executive orders that signaled his desire to remake American institutions while also pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Here's the latest:

Speaking to Fox News, press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail the announcement before Trump spoke at 4 p.m. Tuesday but said it would also send a signal to the world.

“You won’t want to miss it,” she said. Trump is also scheduled to attend a national prayer service Tuesday morning at Washington National Cathedral.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are heading to the White House to meet with Trump on Tuesday.

It’s the first formal sit down for the GOP leadership teams including Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso and the new president as they chart priorities with the sweep of Republican power in Washington.

Despite an ambitious 100-days agenda, the Republican-led Congress isn’t on the same page on some of the basics of their ideas and strategies as they rush to deliver tax cuts for the wealthy, mass deportations and other priorities for Trump.

He pledged to remove more than 1,000 presidential appointees “who are not aligned with our vision.”

In a post on his TruthSocial platform, Trump dismissed chef and humanitarian Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Ret. Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, former State Dept. official Brian Hook from the board of the Wilson Center, and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council.

“YOUR’E FIRED!” he wrote in a post just after midnight Tuesday.

Milley, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Trump, received a pardon from former President Joe Biden on Monday over concerns he could be criminally targeted by the new administration. His portrait in the Pentagon was also removed. Hook, who was Trump’s Iran envoy during his first term, had been involved in the Trump administration transition. No reasoning was given for his firing.

Former President Joe Biden also removed many Trump appointees in his first days in office, including former press secretary Sean Spicer from the board overseeing the U.S. Naval Acadamy.

Rep. Elise Stefanik is likely to face questions at her confirmation hearing Tuesday to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations about her lack of foreign policy experience, her strong support for Israel and her views on funding the U.N. and its many agencies.

Harvard-educated and the fourth-ranking member of the U.S. House, she was elected to Congress in 2015 as a moderate Republican and is leaving a decade later as one of President Trump’s most ardent allies.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “looks forward to working again with President Trump on his second term,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday.

When she appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Stefanik is likely to be grilled about her views on the wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere as well as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs — all issues on the U.N. agenda.

▶ Read more about Elise Stefanik’s confirmation hearing

Scholz said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that “not every press conference in Washington, not every tweet should send us straight into excited, existential debates. That’s also the case after the change of government that took place in Washington yesterday.”

Scholz said the U.S. is Germany’s closest ally outside Europe and he’ll do everything to keep in that way.

He acknowledged that Trump and his administration “will keep the world on tenterhooks in the coming years” in energy, climate, trade and security policy. But he said “we can and will deal with all this, without unnecessary agitation and outrage, but also without false ingratiation or telling people what they want to hear.”

Scholz said of Trump’s “America First” approach that there’s nothing wrong with looking to the interests of one’s own country – “we all do that. But it is also the case that cooperation and agreement with others are mostly also in one’s interest.”

Speaking in the Oval Office Monday, Trump rejected Biden’s warning that the U.S. is becoming an “ oligarchy ” for tech billionaires, saying the executives supported Democrats until they realized Biden “didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.”

“They did desert him,” Trump added. “They were all with him, every one of them, and now they are all with me.”

Despite taking millions from the executives and their companies for his inaugural committee — and receiving more than $200 million in assistance from Musk in his presidential campaign — Trump claimed he didn’t need their money and they wouldn’t be receiving anything in return.

“They’re not going to get anything from me,” Trump said. “I don’t need money, but I do want the nation to do well, and they’re smart people and they create a lot of jobs.”

Some of the most exclusive seats at Trump’s inauguration on Monday were reserved for powerful tech CEOs who also happen to be among the world’s richest men.

That’s a shift from tradition, especially for a president who has characterized himself as a champion of the working class. Seats so close to the president are usually reserved for the president’s family, past presidents and other honored guests.

The mega-rich have long had a prominent role in national politics, and several billionaires helped bankroll the campaign of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

But the inaugural display highlights the unusually direct role the world’s wealthiest people will likely have in the new administration. In his outgoing address, Biden warned that the U.S. was becoming an oligarchy of tech billionaires wielding dangerous levels of power and influence on the nation.

▶ Read more about the billionaires at Trump’s inauguration

Outside the National Cathedral, just a few hours before the Interfaith Service of Prayer for the Nation, which both President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to attend, the scene before was decidedly quiet.

At the Cathedral only a few dog walkers dotted the sidewalk and the police presence was low.

It was a far cry from yesterday when thousands lined up in downtown D.C. festooned in the red regalia of MAGA nation — or the security and foot traffic from earlier this month for the funeral service of former President Jimmy Carter where Secret Service vehicles could be seen at least a mile from the Cathedral.

The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0.

It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials.

▶ Read more about Marco Rubio’s confirmation

All the living former presidents were there and the outgoing president amicably greeted his successor, who gave a speech about the country’s bright future and who left to the blare of a brass band.

At first glance, President Donald Trump’ssecond inauguration seemed like a continuation of the country’s nearly 250-year-long tradition of peaceful transfers of power, essential to its democracy. And there was much to celebrate: Trump won a free and fair election last fall, and his supporters hope he will be able to fix problems at the border, end the war in Ukraine and get inflation under control.

Still, on Monday, the warning signs were clear.

Due to frigid temperatures, Trump’s swearing-in was held in the Capitol Rotunda, where rioters seeking to keep him in power the last time roamed during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Trump walked into the space from the hall leading to the building’s west front tunnel, where some of the worst hand-to-hand combat between Trump supporters and police occurred that day.

After giving a speech pledging that “never again” would the government “persecute political opponents,” Trump then gave a second, impromptu address to a crowd of supporters. The president lamented that his inaugural address had been sanitized, said he would shortly pardon the Jan. 6 rioters and fumed at last-minute preemptive pardons issued by outgoing President Joe Biden to the members of the congressional committee that investigated the attack.

▶ Read more about Trump’s Inauguration Day

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, as White House staff secretary Will Scharf watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, as White House staff secretary Will Scharf watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks as first lady Melania Trump listens at the Commander in Chief Ball, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks as first lady Melania Trump listens at the Commander in Chief Ball, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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