Over 60 world leaders to attend WWI commemorations in Paris next month

More than 60 world leaders, including the Russian and US presidents, will travel to Paris next month for commemorations of the end of World War I a century ago, French officials said on Thursday. On November 10 – a day before the commemorations in Paris – French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also attend a ceremony near Compiegne, northern France, where the armistice ending the war was signed on November 11, 1918, AFP reported, citing Macron’s office. The main ceremony will take place at the Arc de Triomphe war monument in Paris at 11am on November 11 – marking the time when guns finally fell silent after four years of trench warfare and general European slaughter. Later in the day, guests will be invited to participate in a peace forum, to be opened by Merkel, an event which France wants to turn into an annual multilateral peace conference.