In the French Caribbean island of Saint-Martin, wrecked by Hurricane Irma, there is controversy over both the alleged priority evacuation of white people to the expense of the majority black population, prompting France’s Representative Council of Black Associations to call for a parliamentary enquiry.
Both France and Britain have been accused of mismanaging the crisis in the hurricane-devastated Caribbean islands they administer, but there was a clear difference between the style of the visits to the region by France's president and Britain's foreign secretary.
After growth of only 1.1 percent last year, the French economy is set to grow 1.7 percent this year, its highest rate since 2011 but still lagging the euro zone average, predicts a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the first since Emmanuel Macron's election as president.
Anti-human trafficking ONGs have raised the alarm over a camp in northern France known as Vietnam City where, hidden in woodland on the site of an old coalmine, they say up to 100 Vietnamese migrants, some of them minors, are housed in poor conditions awaiting passage to the UK to work illegally in cannabis farms, nail bars and restaurants.
French President Emmanuel Macron is on a tour of the French Caribbean islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy, which were both devastated last week by Hurricane Irma, promising aid to rebuild homes and infrastructures, while controversy continues over his government's management of events before and after the disaster.
Protest marches were held across major French towns and cities on Tuesday, joined by strike action notably among transport workers, in opposition to President Emmanuel Macron's business-friendly reforms to free-up the labour law, notably making it easier for firms to hire and fire, which are due to be implemented later this month.
Gabrielle Deydier, 38, who is 1m53 tall and weighs 150 kilos, has been propelled into the French media spotlight with her book published this year about what it is like to be distinctly obese in a country where the condition is a barrier to employment and prompts insults from strangers, and which led her to consider suicide before penning her account of 'grossophobia' which she says 'saved my life'.
French gender equality minister Marlène Schiappa said a bill of law establishing the right for lesbian couples and single women to have access to artificial insemination in France will be put before parliament next year.
An elderly Jewish couple and their son were beaten and robbed in their home in a suburb west of Paris by a gang in what interior minister Gérard Collomb said appeared to have been an attack "directly linked to their religion".
French President Emmanuel Macron is to leave Paris late Monday for Saint-Martin, one of the French Caribbean islands devastated by Hurricane Irma, amid a growing political row over France's management of the crisis.
