Trump’s comments, which a former US ambassador to NATO decried as a “gift to Putin,” came in an interview with Fox News when he was asked about Article 5, NATO’s common defense clause which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

“Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?” Fox host Tucker Carlson asked.

Trump responded: “I understand what you’re saying. I’ve asked the same question.”

“Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people… They’re very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War III,” he added.

Montenegro, a former Yugoslav republic with a population of about 630,000, joined NATO last year, becoming is 29th member. Its military only numbers about 2,000 personnel.

The only time Article 5 was ever invoked was by America after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks conducted by al-Qaeda.

Nearly 17 years on, NATO troops are still operating in Afghanistan after the US-led invasion seeking retribution for the nation’s harboring of the terror group.

“Trump sows further doubt whether the US under his leadership would defend our allies. Another gift to Putin,” Nicholas Burns, who was US ambassador to NATO after the 9/11 attacks, wrote on Twitter.

Senior Republican leader Senator John McCain, who has called Monday’s summit with President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki a “tragic mistake,” said Trump was doing exactly what the Russian strongman wanted.

“The people of #Montenegro boldly withstood pressure from #Putin’s Russia to embrace democracy,” McCain said on Twitter.

“The Senate voted 97-2 supporting its accession to #NATO. By attacking Montenegro & questioning our obligations under NATO, the President is playing right into Putin’s hands.”

But State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Trump has been unequivocal in his support of NATO’s collective defense.

“The summit declaration that came out at the end of the summit stated clearly that any attack against one ally would be regarded as an attack against all,” Nauert told reporters.

– NATO as ‘welfare agency’ –

Montenegro’s relations with Russia have deteriorated in recent years as the Balkan nation moved to join NATO. It also hopes to join the European Union, much to the dismay of Putin, who sees the West perennially creeping toward Russia.

Moscow has been accused of meddling in Montenegro’s elections, and a failed 2016 coup was allegedly planned by pro-Russian militants.

Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, called Trump’s remarks “extraordinary.”

“It is not just that the president throws Montenegro under the bus; he makes the US commitment to NATO conditional and makes clear his discomfort w Article 5 and collective security, the core of the alliance,” Haass wrote on Twitter.

With such a small military, it is difficult to know what Trump was referring to when he called Montenegro’s people “very aggressive.”

The Pentagon did not immediately comment.

Some observers derided Trump’s claim that Montenegro is aggressive, re-circulating online a video of last year’s NATO summit where the US president appeared to shove Montenegro’s prime minister aside at a photo shoot.

Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said Trump’s comments more likely reflected his anger at NATO than any particular Russian concerns about Montenegro.

Trump has repeatedly railed against NATO, accusing its members of not doing enough to fund their militaries and an over-reliance on America.

“It raises a proper question, which is has NATO become kind of a welfare agency as opposed to a security agency'” Bandow told AFP.

“I don’t quite understand the notion that the Montenegrins are so aggressive and with their two thousand men military that are likely to start World War III.”

Bandow noted that Montenegro joined NATO on Trump’s watch.

“This president allowed that to move forward last year. So if you allow it to happen, why are you complaining about it?” Bandow said.

John Hannah, senior counselor for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former national security advisor to vice president Dick Cheney, noted that Trump bridles at NATO because he considers it multilateralism at its worst.

The idea that a small country like Montenegro “could do something that might anger or upset a neighboring great power like Russia and automatically draw the United States into a major war runs counter to all Trump’s instincts. That’s not ‘America First’ in his eyes. It’s the opposite,” Hannah told AFP.

“It’s America being played for a sucker.”

“I let him know we can’t have this, we’re not going to have it, and that’s the way it’s going to be,” Trump said in an interview with CBS.

Asked if he held Putin personally responsible for interference in the November 2016 presidential vote, Trump replied: “Well, I would, because he’s in charge of the country, just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country.”

Trump said he had been “very strong on the fact that we can’t have meddling, we can’t have any of that.”

Trump has been under bipartisan fire in Washington for failing to publicly confront Putin over the election interference at the press conference that followed their Helsinki talks.

Trump has also appeared on several occasions to question the US intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 vote in a bid to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

He did this in Helsinki, too, and executed a convoluted walkback of those remarks on Tuesday, saying he misspoke in Finland.

Again on Wednesday, he told CBS he agreed with those US findings.

“Yeah and I’ve said that before,” he said. “I have said that numerous times before, and I would say that is true, yeah.”

Earlier Wednesday, Trump claimed that no US president has been as “tough” as him on Russia.

“We’re doing very well, probably as well as anybody has ever done with Russia,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting at the White House. “Look at what we’ve done. Look at sanctions.

“And I think President Putin knows that better than anybody,” Trump said. “He understands it, and he’s not happy about it.

“And he shouldn’t be happy about it because there’s never been a president as tough on Russia as I have been.”

But when asked if Russia was still targeting the United States, Trump clearly appeared to reply “no” — an assertion that would contradict the assessment of US intelligence chief Dan Coats, who said Monday that Russia was involved in “ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy.”

That forced a tortured clarification of his remarks for the second day in a row.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, in the face of repeated questioning from reporters, insisted that Trump was saying “no” to further questions from reporters and not replying to the query about Russia.

She said the threat to the US electoral system “still exists, which is why we are taking steps to prevent it.”

Subpoena the interpreter?

Democrats and some members of Trump’s own Republican Party have criticized him for accepting at face value Putin’s denial that Russia interfered in the vote.

Democratic lawmakers meanwhile pushed for Congress to subpoena Trump’s summit interpreter to find out what transpired during his private meeting with Putin.

The two leaders held two hours of closed-door talks with no one else present but the interpreters.

Democrats say the woman who translated for Trump — and the notes she likely took — could provide critical information about the meeting.

“We want the interpreter to come before the committee. We want to see the notes,” Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told MSNBC.

“We’re going to have a massive effort to try to get to what happened.”

Senator Bob Corker, a Republican who chairs the committee, said he understands the request and was “looking into precedent” to see if it was viable.

The White House is likely to block the move, arguing that the president is not required to reveal private conversations and that an aide, such as a translator, should not be compelled to do so.

Asked if a recording of the meeting existed, Sanders said: “I’m not aware of one.”

Earlier Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to insist that the summit had been a success, citing the “many positive things” he expects to come from the meeting.

“While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success,” Trump tweeted.

– ‘Double negative’ –

Faced with outrage at home, Trump said Tuesday that he accepted the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had meddled in the election.

He also offered a twisted explanation of his assertion in Helsinki that he could not see “any reason” why Russia would interfere, claiming he misspoke.

“In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’,” Trump said.

“The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’ Sort of a double negative,” he added.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign has increasingly put pressure on the White House.

The president has dubbed it a “witch hunt,” and repeatedly denied any collusion.

But the investigation is progressing, as evidenced by the indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence agents on Friday — timing that was embarrassing ahead of the summit.

Three bodies have been pulled so far from under tonnes of concrete and metal from the building, which was still under construction when it gave way late Tuesday in Greater Noida just east of the capital.

Eyewitnesses and neighbours said one of those still missing was a one-year-old child from one of two families thought to be under the debris and who had moved in only days before.

“My friend was living here with his family since last Saturday. I spoke to them last night but have not had any contact with them since 9:00 pm,” local resident Sandesh Kumar told Indian television news channel NDTV.

    “I am just hoping they are alright,” he said.

“We don’t know exactly how many are trapped inside. We believe there are 12 people who may be trapped under the debris,” regional chief fire officer Arun Kumar Singh toldAFP.

Sniffer dogs were also being brought in to assist with the search.

The building collapsed onto an adjacent newly constructed four-storey residential building, authorities said.

Both are part of a residential complex in one of the many satellite towns dotted around Delhi growing fast to house the fast-expanding population of the 20-million-strong megacity and its environs.

Parts of Greater Noida are notorious for rampant and unregulated construction, with many projects flouting building regulations and cutting costs and corners with substandard materials.

Police arrested three people, including the landowner, over the latest accident.

“We are questioning them to ascertain the kind of partnership they had with the builder… Strict action will be taken against those responsible,” local officer Avnish Kumar told AFP.

Building collapses are common across India, especially during the monsoon season from late June to September, although it was unclear whether this latest disaster was due to recent heavy rain in the Delhi region.

At least 18 people died in May when a flyover collapsed in northern India, crushing vehicles and passengers under tonnes of concrete. Last year at least 30 people were killed in Mumbai after a 100-year-old house caved in.

    In the High Court, Judge Anthony Mann said the BBC had infringed Richard’s privacy rights in a “serious” and “sensationalist” way and awarded him ฃ210,000 ($274,000, 236,000 euros) for the “general effect” on his life.

He said Richard was also entitled to further sums for the financial impact of the incident, which will be decided at a later date.

Richard, 77, was Britain’s first home-grown pop star and considered the country’s answer to Elvis Presley.

    His home was raided in 2014 as part of an investigation into historical allegations of sexual assault.

But he was never arrested or criminally charged and was told in 2016 there was insufficient evidence against him.

“My life was effectively turned upside down and my reputation, worldwide, was unnecessarily damaged. I would not want the same to happen to others whether in the public eye or not,” Richard said in a statement at the start of his case.

“I firmly believe that privacy should be respected and that police guidelines are there to be followed.

“That means that, save in exceptional circumstances, people should never be named unless and until they are charged. As everybody has accepted, there were no such ‘exceptional circumstances’ in my case.”

After the BBC got wind of the investigation, the police cut a deal with the broadcaster in a bid to delay them breaking the story.

The BBC was tipped off about the raid on Richard’s home and was outside in advance to film detectives sweeping in, broadcasting the search live from a helicopter.

The BBC has said it is “very sorry” for causing the singer distress but stood by its decision to report the investigation.

The police had also apologised to the star.

Richard, who burst onto the pop scene in the late 1950s, is the third biggest-selling artist in British singles chart history, behind The Beatles and Presley.

His hits include “The Young Ones”, “Living Doll”, “Summer Holiday”, “Congratulations”, “Mistletoe And Wine” and “The Millennium Prayer”.

There has been a wave of accusations of historical sex abuse against prominent figures in Britain since 2012, when the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile was revealed to be a serial paedophile.//AFP

MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, while flying over Eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.

The Dutch-led joint investigation team (JIT) concluded that the airliner was downed by a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

Anthony Maslin’s three children – Mo, Evie and Otis, and their grandfather Nick Norris – were killed in the attack.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (July 17), which coincidentally marked the fourth anniversary of the MH17 attack, Maslin accused Trump of having no empathy and not knowing what love is.

“So you have nothing,” he said.

Maslin took him through some of the “irrefutable facts” that are not the “fake news” Trump often speaks of.

“That passenger flight MH17 was shot out of the sky and 298 innocent people were murdered is an irrefutable fact.

“That the plane was hit by a Russian missile has been proven to be an irrefutable fact.

“That this killed our three beautiful children and their grandfather, and destroyed our life and many other lives in the process, is an irrefutable fact.

“That this happened four years ago today … is an irrefutable fact.

“That the man whose arse you’ve just been kissing did this, and continues to lie about it, is an irrefutable fact,” said Maslin.

Maslin added that what he felt towards Trump and Putin could not be described as “anger”.

“It’s not anger that I feel towards the two of you, it’s something much, much worse. It’s pity.

“You have no empathy for your fellow men, and you clearly have no idea what love is,” he said.

Trump’s press conference with Putin was widely condemned, after he sided with the Russians and bashed his own intelligence agencies over the issue of Russian interference with the US presidential election.

Trump also refused to hold Russia accountable for issues such as its annexation of the Crimean peninsula, its attempt to take over Georgia in 2008, its involvement in the Syrian conflict and the bombing of innocent civilians, and its alleged poisoning of four people in Britain with the nerve agent Novichok.

Amidst the criticism, including from some members of his own party, Trump backtracked, claiming he misspoke when he used word “would” when he meant “wouldn’t” in relation to Russian meddling in the US elections.

Maslin’s wife and mother of their children, Rin Norris, described the joint press conference as “a couple of bullies trying to out-bully each other”.

“Anger and power had overtaken the hearts of men. They had a missile, and they ended the lives of 300, shattering and wrenching apart my life, my family and my soul,” she said in a Facebook post.

Norris said that experiences from the past would sometimes pop into her head, rendering her “immobile by loss and horror”, reliving the trauma she has experienced.

“The kids hold me up with their golden ropes. They help me when I feel I can’t go on.

“When I close my eyes, I can see their smiles,” she said.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday moved to limit the damage from his summit with Vladimir Putin, claiming he misspoke in appearing to accept the Russian leader’s denial of election meddling — in a rebuke to US intelligence chiefs.

At their meeting in Helsinki on Monday, Trump failed to challenge Putin over the 2016 presidential election, seeming to accept at face value the strongman’s denial that Moscow interfered in a bid to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

But faced with outrage at home, with even some of his political allies demanding that he reverse course, Trump — in an extraordinary postscript to the summit — sought to walk back his remarks.

Trump said he accepted the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had meddled in the election, and offered a rambling explanation of his assertion that he could not see “any reason” why Russia would interfere.

“In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t’,” Trump said, speaking at the White House ahead of a meeting with Republican lawmakers.

“The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’ Sort of a double negative,” he added — repeating the laborious clarification several times.

But while the US leader expressed his “full faith and support for America’s great intelligence agencies,” he insisted that “Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election.”

And he again floated the idea that “other people” could be involved.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer was quick to pounce.

“President Trump tried to squirm away from what he said yesterday. It’s 24 hours too late, and in the wrong place,” Schumer said.

‘Undermine democracy’

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign has increasingly put pressure on the White House.

The president — who regards the probe as an attack on his legitimacy — has dubbed it a “witch hunt,” and again said Tuesday there were “no collusion at all.”

But the investigation is progressing, as evidenced by the indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence agents on Friday — timing that was embarrassing ahead of the summit with Putin.

Trump initially sounded a defensive note on Tuesday, insisting his meeting with Putin had been “even better” than his one last week with traditional allies NATO — a testy gathering seen as having badly strained trans-Atlantic ties.

But the US president found precious little support for his decision not to confront the Russian leader — on either side of the political aisle.

Former House speaker and longtime Trump ally Newt Gingrich put it bluntly.

“It is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected — immediately,” he tweeted as Trump headed home.

By Tuesday afternoon when he faced the cameras, Trump had changed tack.

“We’re doing everything in our power to prevent Russian interference in 2018,” the president said.

After his remarks, the White House released a fact sheet on how the US is “standing up to Russia’s malign activities” — a clear bid to counter the notion that Trump had been soft on Putin.

Former president Barack Obama appeared to allude to his successor in a speech in South Africa on Tuesday, blasting “strongman politics” — without naming Trump.

While Trump was not entirely without defenders, the bipartisan consensus was broadly hostile to his stance in Helsinki — as the top Republican in Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan made clear at a press conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

“We stand by our NATO allies and all those countries who are facing Russian aggression,” Ryan said. “Vladimir Putin does not share our interests, Vladimir Putin does not share our values.”

“We just conducted a year-long investigation into Russia’s interference in our elections. They did interfere in our elections. It’s really clear,” he said.

“Russia is trying to undermine democracy itself.”

But his latest outburst on Twitter attacking a British rescue worker in Thailand has raised fresh concerns over the star tech entrepreneur’s stability and leadership abilities.

Musk, the South African-born innovator and billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, found himself in hot water after insulting Vern Unsworth, a British diver who worked on the Thai soccer team rescue and who dismissed Musk’s plan to recover the trapped group.

The since-deleted weekend tweet referred to Unsworth as “pedo guy”, an apparent reference to pedophilia, faced a deluge of criticism on social media and from analysts questioning whether Musk had crossed a line on responsible conduct for a CEO.

“This is the most brand-damaging thing Elon Musk has ever done,” said Roger Kay, analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates who follows the technology sector.

Kay said Musk appeared to be following in the footsteps of President Donald Trump in using Twitter to vent frustration and insult anyone with whom he disagrees.

“It’s totally gratuitous. It wasn’t necessary,” Kay said of the Musk insult to the Briton, who has threatened a lawsuit. “It makes him very Trump-like.”

Tesla shares skidded 2.75 percent to close at $310.10 following the latest controversy, adding to pressure on the electric automaker which has struggled to meet production targets for its Model 3, seen as crucial to its long-term viability.

Read also: Elon Musk sends team to Thailand to help in cave rescue

– Pressure fractures –

Musk “is under a lot of pressure and we’re seeing pressure fractures,” Kay said.

“He’s been sleeping in his factories trying to get production up and that’s been difficult. But when he talks to investors, he has to reassure them that all that money isn’t going to fall on the floor.”

Musk has cultivated reputation as a creative genius, with some comparisons to another technology star known for being erratic, the late Apple-co-founder Steve Jobs.

Patrick Moorhead, analyst and consultant with Moor Insights & Strategy, said there were “some similarities up to this point” between Musk and Jobs, but that the latest personal insult appeared to cross a line.

“Steve jobs didn’t take it to this extent,” Moorhead said.

To avoid long-term damage, “the first thing Musk needs to do is issue a huge apology,” Moorhead said.

The analyst said the boards of Tesla and privately held SpaceX need to assert themselves in this situation to ensure Musk does not go off the rails.

“If he does the right thing, he can recover from this,” Moorhead said. This is America, and everybody likes a comeback story.”

Musk has become embroiled in a series of spats with the news media — chastising reporters for focusing on accidents of autonomous cars instead of their safety potential, and accusing one news organization of being “relentlessly negative” about Tesla.

Last month, he alleged “sabotage” at Tesla’s operations by an employee, who responded by claiming to be a “whistleblower”.

When documents revealed he donated to a Republican political group, despite his criticism of the current administration, he responded by saying he gives “to both parties to maintain dialogue”.

Read also: Elon Musk outlines plan to get into the brick-making business

– Hero worship persona –

In an earnings call, he berated analysts for asking “boring” questions and sidestepped questions about Tesla’s massive capital needs.

Musk’s conduct “of course is not appropriate for a CEO,” said Bob O’Donnell, founder of Silicon Valley-based Technalysis Research.

O’Donnell said Musk has fallen into a “hero worship persona” but has failed to live up to the responsibility that implies.

“He loves the fact that everything he says is reported in the media, but if you’re in that position, you need to be an adult about it,” O’Donnell said. “He keeps putting his foot in his mouth.”

Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research, who has long been bullish on Tesla, said the latest dust-ups involving Musk only show “he is human”, and don’t detract from his quality as a great innovator.

“Tesla is generations ahead of anything that is available today,” Chowdhry said. “They have a backlog of $14.5 billion (in orders), none of the competitors even have five cars in the backlog. They have software expertise, the competition is clueless.”

Chowdhry said that like other important innovators, Musk has “zero tolerance” for any distractions from his goals, even if he lacks the public relations skills of most CEOs, and that within five to 10 years, Tesla’s innovations will be more appreciated.

“Betting against Tesla is not only insane, but total stupidity,” Chowdhry said.//AFP

Among the changes, station Victor Hugo became “Victor Hugo Lloris”, named after the team’s captain and goalkeeper, whose second-half mistake gave Croatia faint hopes of a late comeback.

The metro stop at Bercy has become “Bercy les Bleus”, a play on words to thank the team. The station Avron has taken the name “Nous Avron Gagne”, a play on the French to mean “We have won”.

Charles de Gaulle-Etoile was turned into “On a 2 Etoiles”, meaning “We have two stars” — referring to the country’s first World Cup win on home soil in 1998 and last night’s victory in Russia.

Notre-Dame des Champs has become “Notre Didier Deschamps”, while Champs-Elysees-Clemenceau has been changed to “Deschamps Elysees-Clemenceau” — both stations pay tribute to the team’s coach Didier Deschamps, who was also a midfielder in the 1998 side.

The changes represent “winks” to the team, Paris transport operator RATP said Monday.

It said the squad will use an open top double-decker electric bus to greet fans between the Place de l’Etoile, site of the Arc de Triomphe, and the Elysee Palace.

The players are expected to land at Roissy Airport on Monday afternoon and will be taken directly to the celebrations before being received by President Emmanuel Macron.//AFP

BH Online reported the man saying that they would already moved in together if he only married her because of desire, instead of waiting five years for her to turn 16.

The 41-year-old said he was unsure what made him feel like marrying the girl, but claimed it was not driven by desire.

“I knew Ayu since she was small because we were neighbours, and I also taught her Al-Quran lessons. It was then I told myself one day I will take this girl as my wife and I did so four years later,” he said.

The man told BH Online that his marriage to the girl in Kelantan had only shocked the outside world, as most of the villagers and his friends had agreed to the union.

He said he had showed his friends a picture of the girl while he was in Mecca and they gave their blessings as she was not in school and had come from a poor family.

He reiterated his claim that he wanted to protect Ayu and provide for her.

“When news of our marriage spread, only outsiders were shocked because most of the villagers and my friends knew about it for a while,” he was quoted as saying.

“I realised many are scolding and criticising me but they are outsiders who don’t know me or Ayu’s family,” he added.

The man also hoped all three of his wives would live together in love and harmony.

However, all three have not met as he wanted to “protect his first and second wives’ emotions”.

“I promise to steer our household well. Stop insulting us, but instead pray for our happiness together,” he said.

On July 10, the Gua Musang syariah court let off the man with a mere RM1,800 fine for marrying a minor without prior consent from the court and for engaging in polygamy without permission from his spouse.

His marriage to the child bride in Narathiwat, Thailand, on June 18 went viral when his second wife vented her frustration over social media.

The man had refused to give in to public pressure to have the marriage annulled.

After overcoming a determined Croatia to win 4-2 in Sunday’s final in Russia, the team came back to euphoric crowds in Paris hoping to catch a glimpse of the players that have captured the country’s imagination.

They did not disappoint, passing the golden World Cup trophy from player to player as they jumped and danced on an open-air bus with “World Champions” emblazoned on its side.

“Wow, it was completely crazy! They are too beautiful, France is beautiful!” said Julia Cohen, 28, after seeing players pass by on the Champs-Elysees, the gathering point for all national celebrations.

The parade was under heavy police guard, with some of the 2,000 officers deployed in the capital to ensure the safety of the estimated 300,000 people who turned up.

Above the partying crowds, nine jets from the Patrouille de France, the air force’s acrobatic unit, did an honorary flyover trailing blue, white and red smoke.

– ‘Allez les Bleus!’ –

After leaving the Champs-Elysees, the players changed into custom-made blue suits before being welcomed at the Elysee Palace by President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, who were also decked out in blue for the occasion.

Macron has already promised the Legion of Honour for the victors’ “exceptional services” to the country, an award given to the legendary team that won France’s first World Cup title in 1998.

The first couple then posed with the team as they sang the Marseillaise national anthem and waved scarves for a joyous group photo, before heading inside for a private meeting.

“Thanks to you all!” Macron told the team after gathering again outside. “This team is beautiful because you are united!”

Midfielder Paul Pogba, despite his voice nearly failing him, then proved himself a showman off the pitch as well as on by leading the guests in an impromptu celebratory rap punctuated by “Allez les Bleus!”

“It’s true, we went on the pitch, and we said, We’re going to crush them all!” he said.

– ‘Thank you!’ –

Nearly 3,000 guests were received in the Elysee gardens, including around 1,000 youths from local football clubs such as Bondy, the gritty Paris suburb whose towering housing blocks produced rising star forward Kylian Mbappe.

Some of the kids even got to touch the famed trophy, which captain Hugo Lloris handed around.

The guests were also treated to the beats of DJ Snake, who has worked with pop stars including Lady Gaga and is part of the Pardon My French collective of French DJs.

Mbappe, who applied the coup de grace in the final to cement his place as a new global superstar at just 19, said he achieved what he had set out to do — win the World Cup.

“We are proud to make the French happy,” he told French channel TF1.

Striker Antoine Griezmann said: “Frankly, personally, it’s not real yet. This cup weighs a lot.”

“We are trying to give a good image for France, for French players. I hope that lots of young people will have seen this match and do the same,” he added.

Macron had already celebrated with the team on Sunday — even doing “dab” dance moves with players in a video that has gone viral — after attending the final in Moscow.

Some analysts believe the 40-year-old centrist will benefit from the feel-good factor sweeping France, with Macron able to show a common touch after months of criticism from his opponents that he is distant and elitist.

Commentators have also focused on the outpouring of patriotism and sense of national unity created by the multi-ethnic French team, many of whose stars including Pogba and Mbappe hail from deprived and often overlooked suburbs of Paris.

– ‘Together for life’ –

In Paris, the metro system has temporarily renamed six of its stations in honour of the key players, with the Victor Hugo stop — named after the famed 19th-century writer — becoming Victor Hugo Lloris after the team’s goalkeeper.

Two stations were rebaptised in tribute to Deschamps, who captained the national side to its first World Cup victory, won on home soil in 1998.

“There are two things that matter — one is that these 23 players are now together for life, whatever happens, and also that from now on they will not be the same again, because they are world champions,” a champagne-soaked Deschamps said Sunday.

Macron will be relieved that joyous and occasionally chaotic celebrations across the country on Sunday night passed off without any major incident following a string of terror attacks in France since 2015 that have claimed nearly 250 lives.

There were 292 people arrested nationwide and isolated clashes between police and rowdy crowds in Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

Some 31 people, including eight minors, had their detention extended on suspicion of involvement in incidents in Paris during the victory celebrations, a Paris prosecutor said late Monday.

But it was calm at the parade, where Antoine Guyot, 39, took a selfie with his son in his arms in front of a huge French flag hanging from the Arc de Triomphe.

“I was here in ’98, I’m here today and I’ll be here in 2022,” he said.///AFP