SAINT-ETIENNE, France (AP) — Ten-time French champion Saint-Etienne said Sunday it is opposing a proposal from the French government to disband its two main groups of supporters.
The Magic Fans and the Green Angels, which were created in the early 1990s, have complained that the government's plans are politically driven and said they won't help fight hooliganism in stadiums. The club sided with its fans and said it opposes the government's planned measure, "deeming it disproportionate and ineffective in the fight against violence and discrimination in stadiums.
“AS Saint-Étienne remains firmly committed to combating all forms of violence and discrimination,” Saint-Etienne said. “The club has always acted to identify and punish the perpetrators of reprehensible acts, and will continue to do so.”
A former French league powerhouse, Saint-Etienne dominated French soccer during the 1960s and ’70s.
Saint-Etienne supporters were banned by French authorities from traveling to Montpellier for Sunday’s Ligue 1 game between the two relegation-threatened clubs because of a high risk of violence. To justify the move, the French authorities said Saint-Etienne’s travels are often marred by “public order disturbances due to the violent behavior of certain supporters or individuals claiming to be supporters of this team,” and noted that some Montpellier fans are also prone to violence.
In an order published Wednesday, France’s interior ministry said there is a “real and serious risk of confrontation” between the rival fans. The ministry cited an incident in November last year before a game between the two clubs in Saint-Etienne. A large-scale brawl took place during which 260 Montpellier fans, some of them equipped with weapons, clashed in the streets with 300 to 400 Saint-Etienne supporters.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Saint-Etienne's fans light flares before the French League One soccer match between Saint-Etienne and Paris Saint-Germain, at the Geoffroy Guichard stadium, in Saint-Etienne, central France, on Dec. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would speak with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday and expected to hear more about the American leader’s phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about a ceasefire and to discuss the next steps.
Meanwhile, a federal judge has blocked enforcement of Trump's executive order banning transgender people from military service, the latest in a string of legal setbacks for his sweeping agenda.
Here's the latest:
“If you can’t keep your subway safe ... we’re going to pull your money,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, adding that it’s not just New York City that’s at risk.
Subway systems in Chicago and Washington could lose the federal dollars they depend on to stay afloat if they also don’t clean up, he said.
Duffy, in the “Fox & Friends” interview, said, “just good government would dictate we have good, clean subways.”
Trump recently talked about crime in the subways of New York City, where he lived for most of his life.
He said he expects to hear more about Trump’s call with Putin about a ceasefire and to discuss the next steps.
But Zelenskyy said a vow by Putin not to attack energy infrastructure was “very much at odds with reality” following an overnight barrage of drone strikes across Ukraine.
“Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with ... Trump, when Putin said that he was allegedly giving orders to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
Russia said it had halted its targeting of Ukraine’s energy facilities and accused Kyiv of attacking equipment near one of its pipelines.
▶ Read more about the war in Ukraine
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an announcement about upgrades to the decades-old system could come in the “next couple days.”
Duffy said the system is safe “but we’re seeing the cracks of age.”
Interviewed Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Duffy said speed is “the key” and that “Congress has to give us all the money upfront.”
He didn’t provide a cost estimate but said he’d discuss the issue soon with Trump, share details with Congress and “hope we get the money quick.”
Air travelers have been spooked by a deadly mid-air collision over the Potomac River in Washington, other plane crashes and near-misses on airport runways.
According to the White House press office, Trump will receive an intelligence briefing at 11 a.m. ET.
Later this afternoon, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a press briefing at 1 p.m. ET.
The federal judge who ruled against Trump’s deportation plans and is now facing calls for his impeachment is no stranger to politically fraught cases — including ones involving the president.
In his 14 years on the federal bench, James “Jeb” Boasberg has resolved secret grand jury disputes that arose during the special counsel investigations into Trump, oversaw improvements after the Trump-Russia investigation in how the Justice Department conducts national security surveillance and handled his share of sentencings for rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
A former homicide prosecutor in the nation’s capital who played basketball at Yale University, where he also earned his law degree, Boasberg has cultivated a reputation among colleagues as a principled jurist with bipartisan respect — he was appointed to the federal bench in 2011 by President Barack Obama but was named a decade earlier to a seat on the D.C. Superior Court by President George W. Bush.
▶ Read more about Judge Boasberg
A federal judge blocked enforcement of Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from military service on Tuesday, the latest in a string of legal setbacks for his sweeping agenda.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., ruled that Trump’s order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights. She was the second judge of the day to rule against the administration, and both rulings came within hours of an extraordinary conflict as Trump called for impeaching a third judge who temporarily blocked deportation flights, drawing a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Reyes, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, delayed her order until Friday morning to give the administration time to appeal.
Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, posted about the ruling on social media, writing, “District court judges have now decided they are in command of the Armed Forces…is there no end to this madness?”
▶ Read more about the ruling on transgender troops
President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box as he tours the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)
President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he visits the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)
