France

PARIS (AP) — French paramedics joined ongoing anti-government protests as the prime minister met with political rivals Monday in a bid to ease anger following violent riots that rocked Paris.

Dozens of ambulances blocked a bridge leading to the National Assembly and lines of riot police officers stood in the rain to prevent them from getting too close to the building. Paramedics are complaining about changes to working conditions.

Paris police say that at least 65 people including 11 police officers have been injured in violent protests in the French capital. Police also say that 140 people have been arrested.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert gave the updated figures Saturday afternoon.

Some protesters in France have set cars and trash cans on fire in central Paris after police pushed them away from the Arc de Triomphe monument following violent clashes.

29 Nov 2018; DW: The French Foreign Ministry has said "non merci" to a suggestion by Germany's finance minister to turn France's UN Security Council seat into a joint EU one. An attempt to sweeten the deal didn't work.

France pushed backed Thursday against a proposal by German Olaf Scholz, also the vice chancellor, to turn the French seat at the UN Security Council into a join EU seat.

PARIS (AP) — French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will meet with some protesters’ representatives on Friday in an effort to calm tensions over rising taxes, a first since the movement started two weeks ago.

The government’s move comes amid calls for a new actions Saturday across France, including on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, where a protest last weekend degenerated into violence.

27 Nov 2018; DW: Though he acknowledged the widespread anger over fuel taxes, the French president said he would not back down from his environmentally friendly policies. He also announced that France will delay capping nuclear power.

French President Emmanuel Macron stuck to his guns regarding France's fuel taxes on Tuesday, saying he won't "change course" amid the country-wide "yellow vest" protests.

25 Nov 2018; AFP: Marin Cilic beat France's Lucas Pouille in straight sets on Sunday to give Croatia an unassailable lead in the Davis Cup final.

Cilic won 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-3, to dethrone defending champions France and secure Croatia's second Davis Cup, 13 years after their first.

Pouille took Cilic to a tie-break in the first set but could not mount a challenge in the next two, losing in two hours, 19 minutes.

Croatia won all three singles matches in straight sets.

24 Nov 2018; AFP: French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday agreed to return 26 cultural artefacts to Benin "without delay", a move that could put pressure on other former colonial powers to return African artworks to their countries of origin.

The decision -- which Macron said should not be seen as an isolated or symbolic case -- came as the president received the findings of a study he commissioned on repatriating African treasures held by French museums.

24 Nov 2018; AFP: Anti-government protesters clashed with French police on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Saturday, leaving the area cloaked in tear gas and smoke from fires on a fresh day of demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron.

Demonstrators wearing the yellow, high-visibility vests that symbolise their movement threw projectiles at police preventing them from moving along the famed shopping avenue, which was decked out in twinkling Christmas lights.

PARIS, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Scientists from more than 60 countries and regions gathering in France agreed on Friday to redefine the value of a kilogram in terms of "the Planck constant", a "fundamental constant of quantum physics", which they said would improve the accuracy of scientific measurements, according to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).

French police stopped two topless protesters who approached the motorcade of US President Donald Trump as he made his way up the Champs-Elysees to a ceremony in Paris marking 100 years since the end of World War I.

One of the protesters, with slogans written on her body, got within metres of the rear of the motorcade after jumping over a barricade.

She was grabbed by a police officer, while a second woman could be seen being hauled away by security services on the edge of the famous avenue, live television pictures showed.