Castex : Live Updates Every Minute from 25K+ News Agencies Across the Globe

France suspends all Brazil flights over Covid-19 variant fears
Issued on:
13/04/2021 - 17:18
A woman makes her way in the departures area of the Terminal 2E at Charles-de-Gaulle airport north of Paris amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on April 2, 2021. © Christian Hartmann, Reuters
7 min
France is suspending all flights to and from Brazil to curb the spread of a new Covid-19 variant found in the South American country, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Tuesday.
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Experts say the Brazilian variant, known as P1, is particularly virulent and partly to blame for a sharp increase in the country's coronavirus death toll in March.

By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
French Prime Minister Jean Castex delivers a speech to present measures to tackle the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the country, followed by a debate and a vote, at the National Assembly in Paris, France, April 1, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
PARIS (Reuters) - The French government is still expecting that upcoming regional elections will be held in June as planned, providing health conditions allow it, Prime Minister Jean Castex told parliament on Thursday, a day after the country announced a third lockdown to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by GV De Clercq

Castex promises to get tough on Covid breaches as France fights third wave
Issued on:
01/04/2021 - 16:46
French prime minister Jean Castex, speaking at the National Assembly (parliament) 1 April, 2021 THOMAS COEX AFP
3 min
As France prepares for a month-long battle against the third wave of coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Jean Castex has told parliament that those people not adhering to lockdown rules will be "systematically" prosecuted. The new measures were approved by members of parliament, in a vote which was boycotted by the opposition. 
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The prime minister was presenting the details of measures to be enacted in the wake of the announcement of wider restrictions by President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday evening.

10:39 CEST
With as-yet-unconfirmed-reports that French President Emmanuel Macron is planning a TV appearance on Wednesday, people across France are bracing themselves for the possibility of a third lockdown. Here's what we can expect this week.
What’s happening?
French media have been widely reporting that Macron will be making a TV address to the nation on Wednesday although the Elysée, the presidential office, has so far not officially confirmed this
.
What does this mean?
France’s first and second lockdowns were both announced in live TV appearances by the president, in contrast to lesser measures or the loosening of restrictions, which tend to be announced by Prime Minister Jean Castex or Health Minister Olivier Véran.

He blasted: "The failure of the vaccine supply is the best symptom of Brussels bureaucracy.
"With 27 states, we had to be more efficient in obtaining vaccines, said Macron. False!
"It's the other way around. Morocco or Serbia prove it to us."
Echoing his comments, MEP Dominique Bilde said: "After Brexit, the UK was supposed to become a third world country, collapse and never recover, but now they vaccinate 850,000 people in on day while France vaccinates 56,000."
EU vaccine rollout was slammed by National Rally politicians (Image: GETTY)
EU vaccines: Thierry Mariani MEP says slow rollout due to EU bureaucracy (Image: GETTY)

Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno, who has ruled since 1990, is gearing up to take on his sixth mandate as head of state. Elections are scheduled for 11 April 2021. And the country’s 2018 constitution allows him to stay in office, if elected, until 2033.
Déby is an experienced military man who first joined the army in the 1970s during the former French colony’s civil war. He eventually became commander in chief of the armed forces under former president Hissène Habré who served from 1982 to 1990.
In that year, an insurrection led by Déby hounded President Habré out of office. Déby promised to establish a functioning multiparty democracy and to put an end to the previous regime’s lawlessness and violence. That promise was short lived. Déby’s ambitions quickly shifted to staying in power by any means and enriching his extended family.

Lockdown confusion: France’s new Covid-19 rules raise questions, satisfy few
Issued on:
22/03/2021 - 18:08
People on the Seine river bank, in Paris, France, on Saturday, March 20, 2021.People on the Seine river bank, in Paris, France, on Saturday, March 20, 2021. © Rafael Yaghobzadeh, AP Photo
Text by:
Tracy MCNICOLL
9 min
Nearly a third of France's population on Saturday entered what Prime Minister Jean Castex billed as a "lockdown", the country's third since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, amid a sharp, variant-inflected spike in new infections. But confusion reigned over the weekend, even down to whether the term "lockdown" is appropriate for the limited measures imposed.

Global stock markets hit by rate hike fears
published :
20 Mar 2021 at 07:45
3
New York's financial district was in a sombre mood as fear of inflation followed by interest rate hikes took hold.
NEW YORK: Global stocks fell Friday as the US Federal Reserve's upbeat economic outlook was eclipsed by fears the recovery will fan inflation and push interest rates up sooner than expected.
Huge amounts of central bank and government stimulus have helped the global economy recover from last year's virus-driven collapse.
Major central banks are now grappling with a rapid rise in bond yields, triggered by fears that stimulus-fuelled inflation could herald rate hikes as economies reopen.

Coronavirus cases around the world (Image: Express)
Despite the increased number of blood clots reported, the World Health Organisation has urged EU nations to continue to use the vaccine.
The WHO's European director, Hans Kluge, said: "As of now, we do not know whether some or all of the conditions have been caused by the vaccine or by other coincidental factors.
"At this point in time, however, the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh its risks and its use should continue, to save lives."
Spain has also suspended the jab for at least two weeks, according to Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias.

By Reuters Staff
3 Min Read
PARIS (Reuters) - Nearly a third of French people entered a month-long lockdown on Saturday with many expressing fatigue and confusion over the latest set of restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.
FILE PHOTO: Passengers board a TGV InOui high-speed train operated by state-owned railway company SNCF at Montparnasse railway station in Paris before a third lockdown imposed during a month-long on Paris and parts of the north after a faltering vaccine rollout and spread of highly contagious coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variants in France, March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
The government announced the new measures on Thursday after a jump in COVID-19 cases in Paris and parts of northern France.

By Reuters Staff
(Updates with rules simplification, quote)
PARIS, March 20 (Reuters) - Nearly a third of French people entered a month-long lockdown on Saturday with many expressing fatigue and confusion over the latest set of restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.
The government announced the new measures on Thursday after a jump in COVID-19 cases in Paris and parts of northern France.
The new restrictions are less severe than those in place during the lockdowns of spring and November 2020, raising concerns that they may not be effective.
“It’s exhausting, tiring, it’s long. I hope it’s going to end quite quickly, although I have questions on how efficient the measures are,” Kasia Gluc, 57, a graphic editor said on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris.

Updated Mar 19, 2021 | 06:14 IST
The new measures will go into effect from Friday midnight lasting four weeks but are less restrictive than measures imposed in March and November of last year.
A man sits outside the closed famed Les Deux Magots cafe in Paris  |  Photo Credit: AP, File Image
Paris: French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday imposed a month-long lockdown in 16 areas of the country, including the greater Paris and Nice areas, in wake of rising COVID-19 cases.
The new measures will go into effect from Friday midnight lasting four weeks but are less restrictive than measures imposed in March and November of last year, reported CNN.

France announces partial Covid-19 lockdown for 16 regions
​ By
IANS
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Published on
​ Fri, Mar 19 2021 6:51 IST
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​ 9 Views
Covid-19 caused more mass trauma than WW2: WHO. Image Source: IANS News
Paris, March 19 : French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday announced "new massive measures" to curb Covid-19 in the country's 16 worst-hit regions, including Paris and the northern region.
The new measures will enter into force at 12 midnight on Friday and will last four weeks, Castex said at his weekly press conference, the Xinhua news agency reported.
"The spread of the virus has accelerated significantly," he said. On Tuesday, he told the National Assembly that France had "entered a kind of third wave characterized by numerous variants."

France announces inadequate lockdown measures as coronavirus spreads
Yesterday evening, in a nationally televised addressed, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a set of limited and inadequate lockdown measures in the face of a rapid spread of the virus that is developing out of control.
The new rules apply to 16 departments, half of which are in the Ile-de-France region that encompasses the capital of Paris, as well as the Hauts-de-France region to the north, where total case numbers and the saturation of hospital units are particularly high. Stores and small businesses selling non-essential goods are to be closed. The population is to remain indoors, but can go outdoors with no time restriction within a radius of 10 kilometres from their homes.

French PM announces limited COVID-19 lockdown for Paris
Moneycontrol
2 days ago
© Ruchira Kondepudi
French PM announces limited COVID-19 lockdown for Paris
French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday announced a limited month-long lockdown for Paris and several other regions to combat surging Covid-19 cases, while insisting the measures would be less strict than in the past.
While non-essential businesses will close and movement outside will be restricted in the affected regions, schools will stay open and outdoor exercise allowed up to 10 kilometres (6 miles) from home, he said.
President Emmanuel Macron had so far resisted imposing a nationwide lockdown this year but his premier said the situation in Paris and elsewhere made the regionally-targeted measures affecting around a third of the country's population unavoidable.

Markets hit by rate hike fears

Source: China State Council Information Office
French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday announced “new massive measures” to curb COVID-19 in the country’s 16 worst-hit regions, including Paris.
Starting Friday midnight, about 18 million French people in regions such as Paris, Hauts-de-France in the north as well as the Alpes-Maritimes on the Mediterranean should stay at home, Castex announced at a press briefing on the epidemic situation.
The only authorized out-of-home trips will be to go to work when it cannot be done remotely, for a medical emergency, to provide assistance, to go shopping, or for outdoor exercise within a 10-km radius from home.