A French court has approved a highly controversial “millionaire tax” on annual salaries above €1 million. The super tax, one of President Francois Hollande’s signature policies, has infuriated business leaders and football clubs.
Mercosur must have greater integration, act with an only voice and operate as a block, advised former French president Nicholas Sarkozy at a business conference in Buenos Aires, where he also underlined that without the European Union, France or Germany could have disappeared from the world map
Another setback for the French government as the rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut its appraisal of the country’s credit worthiness. It reduced its rating one notch to AA from AA+.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded that the United States strike a no-spying agreement with Berlin and Paris by the end of the year, saying alleged espionage against two of Washington's closest EU allies had to be stopped.
With more arrests and airline workers suspected, Venezuela's top police official said that the smuggling of 1.5 tons of cocaine in 31 suitcases on an Air France flight from Caracas to Paris has led to nine arrests on two continents.
European stock markets mostly rose on Wednesday after official data showed that the Euro zone had finally escaped from a record 18-month recession. The Euro-zone climbed out of recession with surprisingly strong growth of 0.3 percent in the second quarter led by Germany and France, announced the European Union.
French power company Alstom paid millions of dollars in bribes to secure lucrative contracts in Sao Paulo state in 1998, a Brazilian newspaper reported this week. The Estado de Sao Paulo cited federal police documents as saying Alstom executives were among 10 people facing charges in connection with the scandal.
France is to cut more than 30,000 defence posts and reduce or delay orders for jet fighters and other equipment as the socialist government seeks to balance the need for stringent spending cuts with a bid to sustain the country’s role as a big military power.
The battle over growing genetically modified crops in France flared anew on Thursday as the country's top administrative court overturned a government ban on growing GM corn sold by the US giant Monsanto.
The plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales home from Russia was rerouted to Austria on Tuesday after France and Portugal refused to let it cross their airspace because of suspicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board, the country's foreign minister said.