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10 Dec 2018; AFP: President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation on the "yellow vest" crisis Monday and meet trade unionists and business leaders in search of a way to end the protests that have rocked France.

The president will speak to the French people at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT), his Elysee office announced -- his first public comments after four weeks of nationwide anti-government demonstrations which again turned violent Saturday in Paris and other cities.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks around the world are falling Monday, and U.S. indexes are mostly lower after flirting with sharp losses. Energy and financial companies are faring the worst.

The benchmark S&P 500 is on track for its fourth loss in a row, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost as much as 507 points before recovering somewhat.

The British pound is dropping to its lowest level in more 18 months after the U.K. prime minister postponed a vote on its departure from the European Union, and oil has resumed its sharp slide.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — China raised the pressure on the United States and Canada as a bail hearing for a top Chinese technology executive resumed Monday in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and daughter of its founder, was detained at the request of the U.S. during a layover at the Vancouver airport on Dec. 1 — the same day that Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping of China agreed to a 90-day cease-fire in a trade dispute that threatens to disrupt global commerce.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union official Donald Tusk says the bloc won’t renegotiate the Brexit deal with the U.K. government as he called a summit Thursday to examine ways to help Britain ratify the deal.

Tusk, the president of the European Council, tweeted that “we will not renegotiate the deal, including the backstop, but we are ready to discuss how to facilitate U.K. ratification.”

He said that “as time is running out, we will also discuss our preparedness for a no-deal scenario.”

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) India has started granting visa on arrival to South Korean nationals, a move that is expected to boost inflow of tourists and business visitors, officials said Sunday.

South Korea is the second country whose nationals are now given visa on arrival by India after Japan, whose citizens have been getting the privilege since March 2016.

India has decided to offer visa on arrival to South Korean nationals with effect from October 1, 2018, a home ministry official said.

Mumbai, Dec 6 (PTI) Two onion farmers from Maharashtra's Nashik district have allegedly committed suicide in the last two days, apparently due to indebtedness and low rates commanded by the bulb in markets, police said Sunday.

The deceased are identified as Tatyabhau Khairnar (44) and Manoj Dhondage (33) who hailed from Baglan taluka in the north Maharashtra district.

TEHRAN, December 9. /TASS/. Speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin made a proposal to hold a joint business forum of Russia and Pakistan with participation of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry during the meeting with Speaker of the National Assembly [the lower house of the Pakistani parliament - TASS] Asad Qaiser.

PARIS, December 9. /TASS/. The so-called "yellow vest" protests are a disaster for France’s economy, French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire told reporters on Sunday.

"This is a disaster for trade and for our economy," Le Maire said, according to AFP. He called the current situation in the country a social and democratic crisis. "This is also a crisis of our nation," the minister noted.

BEIJING (AP) — A former foreign policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Chinese pressure on the Canadian government to release a top executive of Huawei won’t work.

In a tweet, Roland Paris says, “Perhaps because the Chinese state controls its judicial system, Beijing sometimes has difficulty understanding or believing that courts can be independent in a rule-of-law country. There’s no point in pressuring the Canadian government. Judges will decide.”

PARIS (AP) — The rumble of armored police trucks and the hiss of tear gas filled central Paris on Saturday, as French riot police fought to contain thousands of yellow-vested protesters venting their anger against the government in a movement that has grown more violent by the week.

A ring of steel surrounded the president’s Elysee Palace — a key destination for the protesters — as police stationed trucks and reinforced metal barriers throughout the neighborhood.