After five days of violent clashes, local authorities have announced an end to the police-enforced evictions of environmental activists and the destruction of alternative farming projects on agricultural land at Notre-Dames-des-Landes, in NW France, first occupied in a successful bid to prevent the building of an airport on the site, but despite the move the pitched battles between protestors and gendarmes continued on Friday.
A French court on Fiday ordered that property belonging to the late rock star Johnny Hallyday and future royalty payments on sales of his music are frozen pending a ruling on a challenge brought by his elder children to his will, in which he left all his assets, speculated to be worth up to 100 million euros, to his fourth wife and their two young adopted daughters.
French President Emmanuel Macron appeared in a lengthy interview on national television on Thursday, speaking from a school classroom in a village in north-west France, when he said that despite protests over his railways reforms, and also growing opposition to reforms of university selection procedures and the justice system, he and his government will stand firm with its policies 'because the world around us is speeding up, going through great changes, and because our country must be able to choose its destiny and live better'.
Film production streaming giant Netflix's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, said his company was pulling out of next month's Cannes Film Festival, arguably the most prestigious annual filmmakers venue, because they will not be treated equally due to a French law that stipulates films cannot be released on home entertainment platforms until 36 months after their release in cinemas.
In a series of interviews to promote his first book after leaving power last year when he was succeeded by Emmanuel Macron, his economy minister who some had maintained was his dauphin, former French president François Hollande accused the new head of state of deepening social inequalities through tax cuts that help the wealthy and business corporations.
In an unprecedented speech to Catholic bishops this week in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said 'We share in a confused way that relations between the Church and State have been damaged and it is up to you, as much as us, to repair them', prompting a political uproar and accusations that he undermined the secular pillar of France's constitution.
French energy giant EDF said a series of faulty welding has been discovered on pipes at its 10.5-billion-euro Flamanville nuclear plant under construction near the Channel coast in north-west France, threatening further delays to the already troubled building of the station which is now three times over budget.
French police on Tuesday arrested 16 people, including two women, over their suspected involvement in an attack on two officers attempting to disperse an unauthorised wharehouse party in a Paris suburb last December 31st, when video published on social media showed a policewoman being kicked by a mob after she fell to the ground.
A woman police officer, together with her son and daughter, were among six people arrested for questioning over the murders in 2016 of a policeman and his partner, who worked in police adminstration, at their home west of Paris by a man who claimed he was acting in the name of the Islamic State group.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman concluded a three-day official vist to France on Tuesday, when a series of draft deals were signed with French companies for petro-chemical, agriciultural, waste treatment, healthcare, tourism and cultural projects worth a total of 14.58 billion euros, which are expected to be finalised during a visit to the Saudi kingdom later this year by President Emmanuel Macron.
