With hospitalizations up, France weighs return to masks

NICE, France (AP) — Tourism is booming again in France — and so is COVID-19. French officials have “invited" or “recommended” people to go back to using face masks but stopped short of renewing restrictions that would scare visitors away or revive antigovernment protests. ...

Australia and France make 'new start' after submarine row

PARIS (AP) — Australia and France opened a “new chapter” in their relations Friday as the new Australian prime minister seeks to heal wounds from a secret submarine contract that infuriated France. President Emmanuel Macron warmly shook hands with Australian Prime Minister...

European force battling extremists withdraws from Mali

PARIS (AP) — A European military task force that helped Mali's government fight Islamic extremists has formally withdrawn from the West African country amid tensions with its ruling military junta. The French military, which spearheaded the Takuba task force, announced Friday that...

Live updates | Trudeau: Canada to up Latvia troop presence

MADRID (AP) — The Latest on the final day of the NATO summit in Madrid: ___ Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will increase Canada's troop presence in Latvia as part of NATO’s commitment to strengthen its deterrence measures along...

France's Macron urges world leaders to better protect oceans

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron urged other world leaders Thursday to better protect the planet's oceans by adopting an international agreement modeled on the legally binding Paris climate accords. Macron traveled to Portugal after attending a NATO summit...

Australia talks down prospect of having nuclear subs by 2030

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s new defense minister on Wednesday talked down the prospect of Australia acquiring U.S. nuclear-powered submarines by the end of the decade, describing such a timetable as “optimistic in the extreme.” Defense Minister Richard Marles,...

Macron says Russia can't win in Ukraine after strike on mall

KREMENCHUK, Ukraine (AP) — France's president denounced Russia’s fiery airstrike on a crowded shopping mall in Ukraine as a “new war crime” Tuesday and vowed the West's support for Kyiv would not waver, saying Moscow “cannot and should not win" the war. The strike, which...

French parliament elects woman as its speaker, for 1st time

PARIS (AP) — The new speaker of France's lower house of parliament — the first woman to hold the post — vigorously defended the right to abortion Tuesday and called on the chamber to be “vigilant” about protecting it from reversal. The National Assembly elected Yael...

COVID: Paris court rules govt failed to stockpile face masks

PARIS (AP) — A Paris court ruled on Tuesday that the French government failed to sufficiently stock up on surgical masks at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and prevent the virus from spreading. The ruling came as the number of registered infections with coronavirus...

France’s lower house of parliament elects Macron supporter Yaël Braun-Pivet as new speaker, first woman in the post