The number of unemployed people in France has topped 3 million for the first time since 1999, according to latest labor ministry figures. August’s jobless total rose by 23,900 to 3.011 million, a 9% increase on a year earlier, marking the 16th consecutive monthly rise. Speaking before the data was officially announced, Labour Minister Michel Sapin said: “It’s bad. It’s cle…
an attempt to stimulate growth. In France, the rate of unemployment is running at 10.6% and is forecast to rise further next year. Its deficit is also expected to rise sharply, the commission says, to 3.9% of GDP – well above the EU deficit target of 3%. But French unemployment is below the eurozone average, which was 11.4% in 2012 and is expected to hit an average of 12.2% this year. In bot…
…ainland France and Corsica are open until 18:00, with voting stations in big cities remaining open for a further two hours. The first official results will be released after the last stations close at 20:00. Nicolas Sarkozy is facing a tough challenge from Socialist Francois Hollande, who has said it is "the left's turn to govern" President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been in office si…
…Francois Hollande, President Nicolas Sarkozy said France had done better than other European countries in coping with the economic climate. “What is the country to not have known recession since 2009 – it is France,” Nicolas Sarkozy said. He rejected Francois Hollande’s proposed stimulus programmes, insisting that France had to cut spending and debts. Nicolas Sarkozy also a…
France is prepared for the second round of presidential election that could see a socialist winner for the first time since 1988. In the first round socialist Francois Hollande won 28.6% of the vote, ahead of incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy on 26.2%. Rising unemployment and the euro crisis have dominated the campaign. Nicolas Sarkozy says he averted recession and will preserve a “strong France…
…th – and I will not deviate. It’s the future of France,” he said. The Socialist president said he would resubmit his flagship policy of raising income tax for those earning more than 1 million euros ($1.3 million) a year. It was rejected by the Constitutional Council on Saturday because, unlike other forms of income tax, it was to be applied to individuals rather than households….
…Philippot, research executive at the French Institute of Public Opinion in Paris. “The polls last week ago showed that around 24% of people didn’t want to vote, and the week before it was 30%. “So people have decided to vote at the last minute, young people and low-paid workers who are angry about unemployment and wanted to vote against the incumbent. Traditionally the older peo…
Newly elected French President Francois Hollande celebrated his first-ever National Day (known outside of France as Bastille Day) as head of state on Saturday with usual pomp, military parade and flight show. At 10:00 a.m. local time, Francois Hollande presided the military parade down the Champs Elysees Avenue, which involved some 4,950 soldiers, 368 armored vehicles, 241 horses and 98 jets and…
Eurozone unemployment rate hit to a new high of 18.49 million in September, the EU statistics agency has said. The number of people out of work rose by 146,000, pushing the unemployment rate up to 11.6%. This compares with 10.3% a year earlier. The highest unemployment rate was recorded in Spain, where 25.8% of the workforce is out of a job, and the lowest of 4.4% was recorded in Austria. In Spai…
Eurozone unemployment rate hit a new record high in October, while consumer price rises slowed sharply. The jobless rate in the recessionary euro area rose to 11.7%. Inflation fell from 2.5% to 2.2% in November. The data came as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi warned the euro would not emerge from its crisis until the second half of next year. Government spending cuts would continue…
…e closure of a Peugeot factory, accused the company of “overwhelming lies” and said the Florange closure breaks a promise made by chief executive Lakshmi Mittal during Mittal Steel’s 26.9 billion-euro takeover of Arcelor in 2006, which was strongly opposed by French ministers. The problem “isn’t the furnaces in Florange, it’s Mittal”, said Arnaud Montebour…
uce the baguette burger again if the initial six-week run is a success. McDonald’s changing global cuisine McDonald’s is trying to appeal to national culinary tastes and have come up with around 20 locally tailored menu items in 14 European countries including: Finland: offers the Rye McFeast, a burger served on a rye bun. Spain: sells the tomato-based soup Gazpacho. Italy: McDonald’s…
eady been agreed. In response, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister pledged to take action. Speaking alongside Michel Platini, Borys Kolesnikov said he would take appropriate measures within the next 30 days to solve the problem. Michel Platini has hit out at "bandits and crooks" for the escalation of Ukrainian hotel prices ahead of the Euro 2012 “It’s annoying to have made…
An Air France Airbus A340 plane flew for 5 days before ground crews noticed that 30 screws were missing from one of its wings. The aircraft had undergone routine maintenance in China, before flying to Paris and then on to the US before the potentially disastrous blunder was finally spotted. The Air France jet, which can carry up to 440 passengers, was grounded in Boston while a “large protective…
. My involvement in the life of my country will now be different.” During the campaign, he had said he would leave politics if he lost the election. Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been in office since 2007, had promised to reduce France’s large budget deficit through spending cuts. He becomes the latest European leader to be voted out of office amid widespread voter anger at austerity measur…
…ones at the embassy in the capital Bangui and tore down the French flag. They want France to help quash a rebellion in the north of the country. France, the former colonial power in the CAR, has about 200 soldiers based there, and the government in Bangui has appealed for France to intervene against a rebel movement which has taken several northern towns. The protesters said France had abandoned t…
dential address, Nicolas Sarkozy made it clear that all of his attention is on the two-round presidential election to be held in April and May. But he remains unpopular among voters. Not only are some 3 million people currently unemployed in France, but the country lost its triple-A credit rating from Standard and Poor’s earlier this month. Before this happened, Nicolas Sarkozy had said that…
A Muslim woman from France has been fined for driving while wearing a burka because the garment “reduced her field of vision”. Police who stopped the woman compared wearing a veil over the face behind the wheel to driving with ice on the windscreen, eating a sandwich or smoking a cigarette. The woman was handed a 35 Euros on-the-spot fine under article 412-6 of the highway code, which state…
…ly in January amid fears that the militants were preparing to advance on Bamako. France currently has about 4,000 troops in Mali. Mali’s army and troops from several African countries, including 2,000 from Chad, have also been involved in the fighting. Since the intervention began, major cities including Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu have been recaptured but fighting is still continuing in desert…
Ernesto Mauri, head of the publisher of France’s Closer magazine, and photographer Valerie Suau are under formal investigation in France over the publication of topless pictures of a sunbathing Kate Middleton. Topless pictures of Kate Middleton, taken during a private holiday in France, were published by Closer magazine in September 2012. Local newspaper La Provence used pictures of the duc…
…sh school in the French city of Toulouse The gunman is reported to have initially used a 9 mm gun, but when it jammed, he switched to a .45 calibre weapon. A teacher at the school, believed to be aged 30, and his two children, aged three and six, are reported to have been killed. The third child killed was aged between 8 and 10 years old and belonged to another teacher at the school, French media…
…med The Human Marshmallow (l’Homme de Guimauve) – to be dunked in chocolate and exported along with them. The bears are predicted to make their French producers 900 million euros a year by 2015. Cecilia Hermabessiere is in her sweetshop. “I prefer oursons Lutti,” she says (Lutti is a sweet manufacturer). “They’re almost the same, but larger. The marshmallow is f…
a waiting car. Couple had boarded the same scheduled Saturday night Air France flight for Paris that he was about to take when he was arrested on 14 May. The charges against DSK were dropped on August 23 at the request of prosecutors who had concerns about Nafissatou Diallo’s credibility. Having DNA evidence indicating a sexual encounter did occur between the two in a suite at the Sofitel Ho…
A new EU summit is getting under way in Brussels with issues of jobs and growth expected to dominate its agenda. The eurozone as a whole has been in recession for more than a year and unemployment is now just under 12%. France and some other countries want more flexibility in the budget targets set by the EU Commission, as austerity has provoked widespread protests. France and Spain, hit hard by…
…s and police fought at a Madrid bus depot where demonstrators were trying to stop buses from leaving. There were outbreaks of violence in other Spanish cities, and the interior ministry said more than 30 arrests had been made. The government has played down the strike, saying the electricity grid is registering 80% of its normal usage. But unions claim the operations of several large companies, in…
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