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News French Prime Minister to self-isolate - French Prime Minister Jean Castex has been declared a covid contact case and is to self-isolate for seven days, after his wife tested positive for covid. Castex had already twice before been a contact case back in September after the Tour de France, as well as in December when Emmanuel Macron contracted covid. In a statement from the Elysee on Wednesday evening it was confirmed that the Prime Minister, who has received his first injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine, had tested negative. The news comes a day after Castex had recently increased the number of public meetings ahead of the third stage of the end of lockdown being introduced on Wednesday June 9th. National ethics committee questions vaccination of adolescents - Concerns about the rollout of the covid vaccine to children from June 15th in France have been raised by France’s national ethics committee. The committee questions putting the responsibility for France’s herd immunity being placed on the shoulders of adolescents. In a report requested by the Health Ministry the committee questions whether it is “ethically correct to put the responsibility on children, due to the fact that a significant number of adults won’t get vaccinated”. The report comes after the government announced that young people, aged 12 to 18 years, will be eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as of 15th June. Finance minister insists that tax reform will apply to Amazon - French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that France will insist that US online retail giant Amazon is included in a minimum global tax scheme endorsed by the world's G7 top economies. According to the plan, countries would be allowed to tax a share of the profits of the most profitable companies in the world at a rate of at least 15 percent, regardless of where they are based. This would apply, however, only to companies whose profit margins exceed 10 percent. Amazon's profit margin last year amounted to just 6.3 percent, placing it firmly below that threshold. But speaking to French media the minister said that the tax reform “must apply to Amazon”. Tiger mosquitoes - The Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region has been placed on high vigilance concerning the tiger mosquito with specialized services increasing their monitoring of the invasive and harmful species. The tiger mosquito has been identified in France since 2004 and as of May 1st last year, was present in 58 departments. It represents a danger in terms of its ability to transmit serious diseases. Rolling Stones - An exhibition of the Rolling Stones opens today in Marseille. "The Rolling Stones Unzipped" is being held at the Stade Vélodrome and is on until September 5th. Visitors can see more than 400 objects from the rock legends career. Meanwhile in Nice, at the Galerie de l’Instant, a second exhibition – more modest but just as major – will allow fans and the curious to discover the Stones through the eyes of French photographer Dominique Tarlé. The photographer followed the Rolling Stones at a pivotal moment in their history in 1971 when the group settled in the South of France. When Mick Jagger married Bianca Jagger in Saint-Tropez and Keith Richards rented an enormous villa in Villefranche in which he received some of the biggest stars, Dominique Tarlé was there to immortalize this unique era of the Stones. Feeling hot - Temperatures are set to exceed 30 degrees this weekend in the north of France and up to 35 degrees in the south west, with some departments being placed on an “orange heatwave warning”. While some showers are expected to break out in the south of the French Alps and Corsica, elsewhere the weather will remain hot with Meteo France predicting that the high temperatures are expected to last until the middle of next week. Business The Chinese Commerce Ministry has said that top officials have spoken with US counterparts and agreed to promote healthy trade and cooperate over differences. A statement said that both sides recognised the importance of business exchanges and will keep lines of communication open. The statement went on to say that China and the United States would cooperate in a pragmatic way to handle their differences. The world’s two biggest economies are at loggerheads on a variety of issues with the US Senate this week approving a sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country’s ability to compete with Chinese technology. Wholesale prices in Japan have risen at their fastest annual rate in 13 years, reflecting higher commodity costs according to data published today. The news is a sign that global inflationary pressures are pinching firms already struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic. The uptick in wholsale inflation is unlikely to provoke the Bank of Japan into withdrawing its massive stimulus any time soon. However, the corporate goods price index which measu |
