France

PARIS (AP) — Demonstrations around France have been called in support of freedom of speech and to pay tribute to a French history teacher who was beheaded near Paris after discussing caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with his class.

Samuel Paty was beheaded on Friday by a 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee who was shot dead by police.

Political leaders, associations and unions will demonstrate Sunday afternoon in Paris and in other major cities including Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nantes, Marseille, Lille and Bordeaux.

PARIS (AP) — A suspect shot dead by police after the gruesome beheading of a history teacher in an attack near Paris was an 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee, officials said Saturday.

France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said authorities investigating the killing of Samuel Paty in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on Friday also arrested nine suspects, including the teen’s grandfather, parents and 17-year-old brother.

PARIS (AP) — For the second time in three weeks, terror struck France, this time with the gruesome beheading of a history teacher in a street in a Paris suburb. The suspected attacker was shot and killed by police.

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack” and urged the nation to stand united against extremism. The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with his class, authorities said.

PARIS (Reuters) - France plans to raise 20 billion euros ($23 billion) in quasi-equity loans for small firms hit by the coronavirus crisis by offering investors a state guarantee against the first 2 billion euros in losses, officials said.

Fearing failures among firms which were already saddled with record levels of debt before the crisis, the French government wants the programme up and running by early next year as it battles the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PARIS, Oct 15 (NNN-BERNAMA) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced that nightly curfew will be imposed in Paris and other cities, as a state of emergency has been declared in the country to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

In an interview broadcast on national television, Macron said the curfew, effective from Saturday, will be imposed from 9pm to 6am in Ile-de-France region, where the capital Paris is located, and eight other cities, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

Paris, Oct 14 (AP/PTI) President Emmanuel President Macron's office says France will restore a state of health emergency that expired three months ago.

Macron is addressing the nation on television Wednesday night and could announce more measures. The move is expected to start Saturday and will allow the government to enforce stricter measures in the future, either locally or nationally.

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union should press ahead with plans for a bloc-wide digital tax in case global talks at the OECD to rewrite international tax rules fail, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday.

“We think that Europe should set the example,” Le Maire told reporters after an online meeting with his G20 counterparts gave its support to continuing the OECD talks until mid-2021.

PARIS, Oct 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 10 million cases of the new coronavirus have been recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A total of 10,001,833 cases have now been recorded, of whom 366,637 people have died and 8,537,563 are considered to be cured. According to official figures, the region is the worst hit by the virus in the world in terms of deaths.

More than half the recorded cases in the region have been registered in Brazil, which officially has 5,055,888 cases and 149,639 deaths. 

07 Oct 2020; MEMO: The French Ambassador to Israel, Eric Danon, has said that his country might update its position regarding the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Al-Quds Al-Araby reported on Wednesday. Danon apparently made his comments during a discussion initiated by Allent, a pro-Israel lobby group in Europe.

PARIS (Reuters) - The EU must stand up to Russia when it violates international norms, France and Germany’s foreign ministers said on Thursday, adding that a decision to push sanctions over the poisoning of a Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny did not end dialogue.

France and Germany said on Wednesday they would propose European Union sanctions against Russian individuals after receiving no credible answers from Moscow over the use a nerve agent on Navalny.