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PARIS

Metallica to release Bataclan live album for attack victims

Heavy metal giants Metallica on Wednesday announced a live album recorded at the Bataclan in Paris, with proceeds going to victims of the November 13 attacks at the club.

Metallica to release Bataclan live album for attack victims
Metallica frontman James Hetfield. Photo: TASSO MARCELO/Scanpix
The CD — entitled, in reference to France's national motto, “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, Metallica! – Live at Le Bataclan. Paris, France – June 11th, 2003” — will come out on April 16 for Record Store Day, a growing annual event that promotes independent music stores.
 
The album features a recording of nine songs performed at the Bataclan by Metallica, who had played three gigs in Paris in one night at clubs much smaller than the band was accustomed to as part of a promotion for its album 'St. Anger'.
 
Metallica said all profits from the album would go to Give for France, an initiative under the Fondation de France philanthropic group that raises funds for survivors and families of people who lost their lives in the tragedy.
 
Ninety people were killed on November 13 when Islamist extremists opened fire at a Bataclan concert of California rockers Eagles of Death Metal, the deadliest of a series of coordinated attacks around the French capital.
 
Organizers of Record Store Day, a US-based initiative that has gone global and is known as “Disquaire Day” in France, said they planned to highlight the connections between US and French “music-loving humans” for the 2016 edition.
 
While Metallica's live album will be out on CD, Record Store Day has largely tried to highlight the resurgence of vinyl, with many bands releasing special records to be sold at independent stores for the occasion.
 
Metallica — named 2016 Record Store Day “ambassadors” — also plans to put out boxed set reissues of the band's 1983 debut album 'Kill 'Em All' and follow-up 'Ride the Lightning'.
 
The boxed sets will each include vinyl, CDs, a DVD and a hardcover book from the band, considered the pioneers of the dark and aggressive subgenre of thrash metal.
 
Lars Ulrich, 52, the California-based band's Danish-born drummer, said he spent his formative years browsing records at the Bristol Music Center in Copenhagen.
 
“As music becomes available either through only the Internet or in gigantic airport-size retail stores, it is more important than ever — actually vital — that all us fanatics continue to bring to light the importance of records, and to support to the maximum of our abilities the independent record store outlet,” he said.
 
Metallica has said it will release a new album this year or early next, the band's first since 2008's 'Death Magnetic'.

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PARIS

Fluffy nuisance: Outcry as Paris sends Invalides rabbits into exile

Efforts to relocate wild rabbits that are a common sight on the lawns of the historic Invalides memorial complex have provoked criticism from animal rights groups.

Fluffy nuisance: Outcry as Paris sends Invalides rabbits into exile

Tourists and Parisians have long been accustomed to the sight of wild rabbits frolicking around the lawns of Les Invalides, one of the French capital’s great landmarks.

But efforts are underway to relocate the fluffy animals, accused of damaging the gardens and drains around the giant edifice that houses Napoleon’s tomb, authorities said.

Police said that several dozen bunnies had been captured since late January and relocated to the private estate of Breau in the Seine-et-Marne region outside Paris, a move that has prompted an outcry from animal rights activists.

“Two operations have taken place since 25 January,” the police prefecture told AFP.

“Twenty-four healthy rabbits were captured on each occasion and released after vaccination” in Seine-et-Marne, the prefecture said.

Six more operations are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.

Around 300 wild rabbits live around Les Invalides, according to estimates.

“The overpopulation on the site is leading to deteriorating living conditions and health risks,” the prefecture said.

Authorities estimate the cost of restoring the site, which has been damaged by the proliferation of underground galleries and the deterioration of gardens, pipes and flora, at €366,000.

Animal rights groups denounced the operation.

The Paris Animaux Zoopolis group said the rabbits were being subjected to “intense stress” or could be killed “under the guise of relocation”.

“A number of rabbits will die during capture and potentially during transport,” said the group, accusing authorities of being “opaque” about their methods.

The animal rights group also noted that Breau was home to the headquarters of the Seine-et-Marne hunting federation.

The police prefecture insisted that the animals would not be hunted.

In 2021, authorities classified the rabbits living in Paris as a nuisance but the order was reversed following an outcry from animal groups who have been pushing for a peaceful cohabitation with the animals.

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