France

PARIS, Dec 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The French government can go ahead with plans to trawl social media to detect tax avoidance, the constitutional court has ruled.

Customs and tax officials will be allowed to review users’ profiles, posts and pictures for evidence of undisclosed income.

The new rules are part of a broader law on tax changes passed last week.

Human rights groups and the French data protection authority had expressed concern over the moves.

France (AP) --- France’s government has summoned Iran’s ambassador to demand the release of two French researchers held in a notorious Tehran prison, and to express “extreme concern” about the health of one who is on a hunger strike.

France considers the months-long detention of Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal “unacceptable” and is seeking permission for consular officials to visit them, according to a foreign ministry statement.

27 December 2019; AFP: An anti-racist association said Friday it has filed a complaint with French prosecutors over racist comments posted on social media after a black woman from Guadeloupe was chosen Miss France 2020.

Clemence Botino has been the target of racist comments, especially on Twitter, since she won the title on December 14, the Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) said in a statement.

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union may need to extend the deadline for talks about a new trade relationship with Britain, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told French daily Les Echos in an interview published on Friday.

Von der Leyen said both sides needed to seriously think about whether there is enough time to negotiate a new trade deal and work out agreements about a series of other issues.

“It would be reasonable to evaluate the situation mid-year and then, if necessary, agree on extending the transition period,” she told the paper.

PARIS (AP) — The rector of Notre Dame Cathedral says the Paris landmark is still so fragile that there’s a “50% chance” the structure might not be saved, because scaffolding installed before this year’s fire is threatening the vaults of the Gothic monument.

Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said restoration work isn’t likely to begin until 2021 — and described his “heartache” that Notre Dame couldn’t hold Christmas services this year, for the first time since the French Revolution.

PARIS, Dec 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French train and metro drivers took their crippling transport strike into its 19th straight day on Monday in a standoff with the government over pension reform, casting a pall over Christmas plans with many unable to reach loved ones.

Talks between the government and unions last week failed to find middle ground, and strikers vowed there would be no holiday truce unless the overhaul plan is scrapped.

PARIS (AP) — France’s defense ministry announced Monday it had carried out its first armed drone strike, killing seven Islamic extremists in central Mali over the weekend.

France joins a tiny group of countries that use armed drones, including the United States.

The drone deployment came nearly one month after two French helicopters collided in Mali, killing 13 soldiers in the deadliest military loss for France in nearly four decades.

22 December 2019; AFP: The first Ariane space rocket lifted off over the forests of French Guiana 40 years ago, enabling Europe to at last take its place as an independent player in the international race for space.

Following a number of delays and technical setbacks, Ariane 1 finally left the launch pad in Kourou at 2:13 pm local time on December 24, 1979.

PARIS (AP) — It took a blaze that nearly destroyed Paris’ most famous cathedral to reveal a gap in global safety regulations for lead, a toxic building material found across many historic cities.

After the Notre Dame fire in April spewed dozens of tons of toxic lead-dust into the atmosphere in just a few hours, Paris authorities discovered a problem with the city’s public safety regulations: There was no threshold for them to gauge how dangerous the potentially-deadly pollution was from the dust that settled on the ground.

PARIS, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cancelled trains, packed roads, frazzled nerves: Travellers scrambled across France on Friday to begin Christmas vacations upended by a weeks-long transport strike over a pensions overhaul that unions have vowed to defeat.

Hopes of a holiday truce were dashed after talks between the government and union leaders this week failed to ease the standoff, with train operator SNCF warning of massive cancellations ahead of the holidays.