France

26 Mar 2019; DW: The leaders of China, Germany, France and the EU are set for "unprecedented" talks on building a new global governance. The challenge for Europe is how to balance ties in the face of Beijing's growing global influence.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will be joining French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping for talks in Paris on Tuesday.

PARIS, March 26 (Xinhua) -- "It is a pleasure to have friends coming from afar," the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius said in The Analects of Confucius, a collection of his ideas and sayings.

This Chinese classic has now been given to a friend from afar as a national gift of France. That friend is Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is on a state visit to the European country.

24 Mar 2019; DW: Isabelle Darras donned her yellow security jacket once again on Saturday, joining friends to march across the French capital on a sunny afternoon. 

"People give the yellow vests a very negative image," said Darras, a music professor, as she scanned the crowd slowly moving down the Boulevard Saint Michel, in Paris' Latin Quarter. "But look at this — it's peaceful."

PARIS, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, France and China are expecting high-level visits and other important events this year, making 2019 a "good" and "productive" year for bilateral cooperation, former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has told Xinhua.

BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- A signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping titled "Move Together Toward Common Development" was published Saturday in leading French newspaper Le Figaro ahead of his state visit to the European country.

An English version of the full text of the article is as follows:

Move Together Toward Common Development

Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

Invited by President Emmanuel Macron, I will soon pay my second state visit to France.

Paris, Mar 24 (AFP) Chinese President Xi Jinping heads to the French Riviera on Sunday for the final leg of his European tour, as France's Emmanuel Macron looks to forge a united European front to contend with China's global ambitions.

Xi's trip will begin in the Mediterranean city of Nice and a stop in the nearby principality of Monaco before face-to-face talks with Macron.

23 Mar 2019; AFP: France's foreign ministry said Friday that it had summoned the Israeli government's representative in Paris over what it called an "intrusion" by Israeli forces at its cultural centre in Jerusalem.

In a rare move, police entered the building Thursday to cancel an event with a women's group which Israel claims is sponsored or financed by the Palestinian Authority.

PARIS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Military forces would be poured across French cities to help maintain public order during "Yellow Vest" protests planned this weekend, Benjamin Griveaux, the government's spokesman said on Wednesday.

The spokesperson told reporters that President Emmanuel Macron announced this morning a reinforced mobilization of the "sentinel operation" to secure fixed points, such as government buildings.

"The aim is to allow police to focus on the movement, maintaining and restoring (public) order," he added.

PARIS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The departure of Britain from the European Union would affect the growth in France, even if the divorce scheduled for the end of March were amicable, the national statistics institute Insee said on Tuesday.

It projected that an orderly Brexit would trim French economic activities by 0.3 percent over several quarters.

If the EU and Britain failed to agree on a deal, "the increase in customs duties following this hard Brexit would weigh on the French economy," Insee said, estimating that the impact would be 0.6 percent.

19 Mar 2019; DW: Singapore is one of the world's three most expensive cities for the sixth year running, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2019 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, released on Tuesday.

The southeast Asian city-state shares the tag of the most costly place to live with Hong Kong and Paris.

When the prices of more than 150 items were compared in 133 cities around the world, the French capital moved up one place in the rankings compared to last year.