France

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.

PARIS, March 18 (Xinhua) -- France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA), which is investigating the recent crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX plane, announced on Monday that it had found similarities between the doomed jet and Indonesia's Lion Air flight of the same model that crashed into the sea in October last year.

PARIS, March 17 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to take "strong decisions" to prevent weekly "Yellow Vest" protests from turning violent after rioters ran amok across Paris on Saturday.

"I want us to very precisely analyze things and as quickly as possible take strong, complementary decisions so this doesn't happen again," the president told ministers late on Saturday.

PARIS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- French police arrested more than 200 people on Saturday after violence broke out in Paris in a fresh protest of "Yellow Vest" movement.

Paris department police said 237 people were arrested after groups of masked individuals plunged the capital's landmark avenue of the Champs Elysees into chaos.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said 1,500 people, known as far-left Black Blocs, hijacked the demonstration for fair fiscal policy and more money for the needy.

14 Mar 2019; DW: French authorities are rushing to stop an oil spill from reaching the country's west coast after an Italian-registered cargo ship sank in the Bay of Biscay.

Although the government's initial statement only said there had been "dangerous materials" on board the ill-fated Grande America, local officials told French news agency Agence France-Presse that the vessel was leaking oil.

14 Mar 2019; DW: A delegation from Ethiopia flew to Paris on Thursday to deliver the black boxes from the recently crashed Boeing 737 MAX.

Ethiopian Airlines said on Twitter the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were to be examined.

France's Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA) announced the boxes had arrived and that it would be investigating them. The office did not provide an estimate of how long the analysis would take.

11 Mar 2019; DW: A combined German-French parliamentary assembly that will be able to propose joint, but non-binding, resolutions has been given the green light by France's National Assembly. Its first sitting is on March 25 in Paris.

French National Assembly president Richard Ferrand (pictured above) said Monday the chamber had approved the combined Franco-German parliamentary body conceived in January in Aachen — despite objections from France's radical left and far right.

Paris, Mar 11 (AFP) Crude production is set to continue expanding in the United States thanks to shale oil, with the country becoming a net exporter from 2021, a development which should reinforce global energy security, the IEA said Monday.

"The second wave of the US shale revolution is coming," Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said in a statement.

05 Mar 2019; DW: French President Emmanuel Macron has outlined his vision for fundamental reform of the European Union in an editorial to be published on Tuesday in leading newspapers in each EU country.

His impassioned call for a "European Renaissance" comes amid unease about a continued upswing in support for far-right, nationalist parties in the EU elections in May.

Macron's main recommendations: