The French government said Monday that it had made a deal with major retailers to cap many food prices, in a bid to make inflationary pressures easier to bear for consumers.. Le Maire also said the government would start testing a "food cheque" system for low-income families over the coming months. dga-cda/jh/lth
Gerard Pelisson, who co-founded Accor and turned the hotel group into a world leader, has died at 91 after a long illness, his family told AFP on Monday.. Pelisson created the Accor company together with business partner Paul Dubrule and grew it into the world's sixth-biggest hotel group with 5,400 hotels in 100 countries under the Novotel, Ibis, Sofitel, Mercure and Pullman brands.
President Xi Jinping vowed to boost the country's manufacturing capacity and not rely on overseas markets, state media reported Monday.. "As a great nation of 1.4 billion people, we must rely on ourselves," Xi added.
A majority of French people support rolling strikes announced against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, a poll showed Monday, underlining the unpopularity of changes the government views as essential.. A total of 56 percent of respondents said they supported rolling strikes and 59 percent said they backed the call to bring the country to a standstill, a poll by the the Elabe survey group for the BFM news channel showed on Monday.
Asian markets enjoyed healthy gains on Monday over murmurs that the US Federal Reserve may loosen its monetary tightening but stocks in Hong Kong and China were muted after Beijing announced its lowest economic growth target in decades.. Analysts say more revelations towards the end of the NPC could bolster markets as China looks to silence scepticism around its economic recovery.
The author of a sci-fi manga about to hit shelves in Japan admits he has "absolutely zero" drawing talent, so turned to artificial intelligence to create the dystopian saga.. Still, AI image generators have "paved the way for people without artistic talent to make inroads" into the manga industry -- provided they have good stories to tell, the author said.
Kyiv said Sunday it was holding off attacks from Russian troops still attempting to surround Bakhmut, a now-destroyed eastern Ukrainian city that Moscow has been trying to capture for months.. "The enemy continues its attempts to encircle the town of Bakhmut," it said on Sunday morning.
Leaders from the world's poorest nations poured out their disappointment and bitterness at a UN summit on Sunday over the treatment of their countries by richer counterparts.. Leaders of the world's major economies have been markedly absent from debate, which will last five days, on the turmoil in poor nations.
French trade unions are heading for what is expected to be a decisive showdown with President Emmanuel Macron over pension reform, with massive strikes from Tuesday aiming to bring the country "to a standstill".. All eight major French trade unions have called for the stoppages to bring the country "to a standstill" on Tuesday, with shopkeepers also encouraged to down shutters.
A top UN official has warned that "urgent" measures are needed to help 52 countries facing debt repayment problems that put some at risk of default.. And they face growing pressure to invest in renewable energy and combating climate change, the UN official added.
