France

PARIS, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- French commuters will face travel misery on Thursday as rail and metro workers will go on strike with which labor unions eye to show enough force to make President Emmanuel Macron reconsider his pension reform.

"Thursday will be extremely difficult. The networks will be badly disturbed. We will only succeed to operate about 10 percent of the trains," Agnes Ogier, national rail operator SNCF's spokesperson told a press conference on Tuesday.

"We ask our clients to cancel their trips or postpone them if they can," she added

PARIS (Reuters) - France and the European Union are ready to fight back over the latest U.S. tariff threats on French products, French government ministers said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the U.S. government said it may impose punitive duties of up to 100% on $2.4 billion of imports from France, including champagne, handbags, cheese and other products, after concluding that France’s new digital services tax would harm U.S. tech companies.

2 December 2019; AFP: Three emergency workers were killed in a helicopter crash near Marseille while on a rescue mission in flood-hit southern France, the interior ministry said Monday.

Their EC145 helicopter lost radio and radar contact while on a rescue and reconnaissance flight in the Var region Sunday night. The three were found dead at 1:30 am near the town of Rove, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner and his secretary of state Laurent Nunez said in a statement.

PARIS (AP) — France’s army chief of staff is dismissing an Islamic State group affiliate’s claim that it caused a helicopter collision in Mali that killed 13 soldiers.

Gen. Francois Lecointre on Friday told French radio RFI that no shots were fired at the helicopters. The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has claimed responsibility but offered no evidence.

Lecointre said complex coordination during a combat operation was the cause of Monday night’s accident in the West African nation.

STRASBOURG (France), Nov 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The European Parliament voted on Thursday to declare a “climate and environment emergency” in a symbolic gesture just ahead of the latest UN global crisis summit.

The legislature, sitting in Strasbourg, backed the motion by a comfortable 429 to 225 majority, increasing pressure on EU capitals and the European Commission to take more drastic action.

STRASBOURG, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A new European Commission with Germany's Ursula von der Leyen as its first female president was approved by the European Parliament here on Wednesday.

STRASBOURG (Reuters) - Germany conservative Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Wednesday to fight the threat of climate change while expanding economic growth as EU lawmakers’ granted final approval for the bloc’s new executive she will lead from Dec. 1.

EU lawmakers confirmed von der Leyen and her new European Commission in Strasbourg, with 461 voting in favor and 157 against.

PARIS (Reuters) - French farmers angered by government policies that they say threaten their livelihoods drove convoys of tractors into Paris on Wednesday, obstructing commuter traffic and adding to the social unrest facing President Emmanuel Macron.

Up to a thousand tractors rolled into the city from the north and south, at times blocking motorways and the inner ring-road, honking horns and flying the flags of the two main farm unions staging the protest.

PARIS (Reuters) - Thirteen French soldiers were killed in Mali when their helicopters collided at low altitude as they swooped in to support ground forces engaged in combat with Islamist militants, the French army said on Tuesday.

It was the biggest loss of French troops in a single day since an attack in Beirut 36 years ago when 58 soldiers died.

Paris, Nov 26, AFP/GANASHAKTI: Thirteen soldiers from France's anti-terrorist Barkhane force in Mali were killed after two helicopters collided during an operation in the country's north, the French presidency said Tuesday.

The accident occurred on Monday evening while the forces were engaging jihadist fighters who have staged a series of deadly strikes in northern Mali in recent weeks, the Elysee Palace said.