France

PARIS (AP) — France’s lower house of parliament is voting Tuesday on a bill that would strengthen government oversight of mosques and religious schools and crack down on polygamy and forced marriage, among other measures aimed at rooting out Islamic radicalism.

PARIS (AP) — Activists rallied Sunday in Paris to demand that the French government abandon a bill aimed at rooting out Islamist extremism that the protesters say could trample on religious freedom and make all Muslims into potential suspects.

French lawmakers hold a key vote Tuesday on the draft law, which is expected to win approval in both houses of parliament. The legislative debate comes amid lingering fears of extremist violence after an Islamic radical beheaded a history teacher and other recent attacks.

PARIS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- A study on serum samples of over 9,000 French adults suggests that COVID-19 infection may have occurred as early as November 2019 in France as some sampled between November 2019 and January 2020 tested positive for antibodies against the virus.

The research, led by Fabrice Carrat, director of Pierre Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health, was published in the European Journal of Epidemiology on Feb. 6.

PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. tariffs could hinder a rebound in French wine and spirits exports, after a 13.9% drop in 2020, if coronavirus restrictions that shut restaurants, bars and airport duty free stores in many countries were to be lifted, industry group FEVS said.

Sales abroad of wines and spirits - France’s second-biggest export after the aerospace industry - fell by 2 billion euros to 12.1 billion euros ($14.7 billion), the Federation of French Wines and Spirit Exporters (FEVS) said on Thursday.

PARIS, Feb 9 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Mercosur/European Union trade agreement signing delayed because of a demand from France for guarantees referred to as “environmental and health standards” from country members of the South American block.

The French foreign trade minister Franck Riester said Paris will not sign, but “it does not mean our withdrawal, but we will only be satisfied with a political declaration on environmental commitments from the four countries involved (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay), and that will take a long time.”

SAINT-HERBLAIN, France (AP) — French pharmaceutical startup Valneva had big news in September: a government contract for 60 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate.

The buyer? The United Kingdom — not the European Union, as might be expected for a company on the banks of the Loire.

SAINT-HERBLAIN, France (AP) — French pharmaceutical startup Valneva had big news in September: a government contract for 60 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate.

The buyer? The United Kingdom — not the European Union, as might be expected for a company on the banks of the Loire.

PARIS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The epidemic situation in France was "particularly fragile" as those more infectious variants of the coronavirus circulate faster, but there was no need for the moment to impose a new nationwide lockdown, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.

With daily averages of 20,000 new infection cases, 1,600 hospital admissions and 320 deaths, "the situation remains worrying," Castex warned.

STRASBOURG, January 28. /TASS/: Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted on Thursday in favor of extending the Russian delegation’s rights in the organization, a TASS correspondent reported.

A total of 107 members voted yes, 36 were against and 24 more abstained.

PARIS (Reuters) - Boeing’s 737 MAX airliner is safe to return to service in Europe, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said on Wednesday, lifting a 22-month flight ban after two crashes of the jet which caused 346 deaths.

“We have every confidence that the aircraft is safe, which is the precondition for giving our approval. But we will continue to monitor 737 MAX operations closely as the aircraft resumes service,” EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky said.