France

The knife attack in Nice, which left three people dead, was an "Islamist terrorist attack," according to French head of state Emmanuel Macron.

According to initial police reports, he killed a 70-year-old woman and the parish assistant. A second woman, also injured in the neck, managed to escape to a neighboring bar, but died there shortly thereafter.

France makes masks mandatory in class for schoolchildren aged six and over, PM Castex said. Up until now, masks were only mandatory for children aged 11 and older.

"From Monday, when children return to school, the sanitary protocol will be made stricter. The requirement to wear a face mask will be extended to primary school children over the age of six."

The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has confirmed that a knife attack has happened in the Notre Dame sector.

The attacker has been arrested and people are asked to avoid the area.

Further backgrounds and the number of casualties and their conditions are still unkown.

"Hospitals won’t manage if we don’t take drastic measures,” said French President Emmanuel Macron in a prime-time televised address Wednesday, when he announced new lockdown measures for France.

Macron said that under the new measures, starting on Friday, people would only be allowed to leave home for essential work or medical reasons, that EU borders would still be open. Still, travel between regions in the country is banned.

The French government had been loath to impose a new lockdown that will pummel the economy even harder, and business chiefs have warned a total shutdown will force another wave of layoffs and bankruptcies.

Governments across Europe have been under fire for lack of coordination and for failing to use a lull in cases over the summer to bolster defences, leaving hospitals unprepared and forcing people on to packed public transport to get to work.

The ICU of French hospitals will be at capacity levels with Coronavirus patients by November 11th, assuming the current surge in cases can't be contained.

Lawmaker André Chassaigne told reporters: "He [PM Jean Castex] told us that on 11 November, our hospitals will be at a saturation level equivalent to that of the first wave, so a level of extreme saturation. So the situation is particularly serious. If we can’t flatten the curve, in the next 15 days, our hospitals won’t be able to treat patients."

No measures were discussed.

Covid-19 cases have doubled in Europe over the past ten days, rising from 100,000 to 200,000. Multiple countries, including Austria, Germany, Italy and France, have reported daily records in the past week.

On Wednesday France's highest appeals court rejected a bid by Monsanto to overturn a ruling against it in a suit brought by farmer Paul Francois. The farmer claimed to have suffered severe neurological damage from the firm's weed-killer Lasso and sued for more than a million euros in damages. The decision wraps up a long-running case that began in 2007 and included three previous rulings in favour of the cereal farmer from southwestern France.

A lower court found that Monsanto had not provided sufficient information on the risks of inhaling Lasso.

In April 2019, a court again found Monsanto responsible because the weed killer was a "Defective product".

That court ruled Monsanto should have warned about dangers posed by the product in closed tanks but did not say whether Lasso was fundamentally toxic or not.

Samuel Paty, the teacher decapitated in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, has been posthumously awarded the Légion d’honneur.

On October 21, during a private ceremony in the Sorbonne university, President Emmanuel Macron bestowed the country’s highest honour on the family of Paty.

After a lower number on Monday, France again reported more than 20,000 new Covid-19 cases in a day: 20,468. The total number of cases is now at 930,745 and its expected to break the 1 million mark before Saturday.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of France on Sunday in support of Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his pupils.

A protester carried a sign reading "zero tolerance to all enemies of the Republic", another "I am a professor. I'm thinking of you, Samuel."

Over Twitter, the hashtag #JeSuisSamuel was being used to express support for the late teacher.

Facebook has rejected a total of 2.2 million ads and withdrawn 120,000 posts for attempting to "obstruct voting" in the upcoming 2020 US election, said Facebook VP of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg.

Clegg also said: "Thirty-five thousand employees take care of the security of our platforms and contribute for elections. We have established partnerships with 70 specialised media, including five in France, on the verification of information."

The French teacher who was brutally murdered in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine had been the target of threats prior to his death, France's anti-terrorism prosecutorJean-François Ricard said.

The suspect is an 18-year-old Chechen born refugee living in France. Before the attack, he had asked pupils to point out his victim.

French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly said the beheading of a teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine was an "Islamist terrorist attack". Macron said the teacher, who has yet to be named, was killed because he "taught freedom of expression."

The victim had made a recent intervention in class about freedom of speech where he mentioned the Muhammad cartoons controversy, which pushed the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office to take over the investigation.

The assaillant has been shot by the police.

Netflix, the largest video streaming provider, has cancelled the free trial period in many countries without notice.

Markets, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and Japan have switched over to a model where the second month is free.

The 30-day trial subscription is no longer available in Germany and France either. In some other countries, nothing has changed yet.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a curfew for Paris region and several other French cities. Under the curfew, people must be at home between 9 pm and 6 am. If curfew is broken, people will face a fine of €135. The curfew will last for up to four weeks, depending on Coronavirus cases.

Other cities include: Rouen, Lille, St Etienne, Lyon, Grenoble, Montpellier, Marseille and Toulouse

Rafael Nadal is the French Open 2020 champion after a 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic. The Spanish celebrated his 13th Roland Garros title.

Nadal also equalised Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam men's titles.

France's ministry of health reported Saturday 26,896 new Covid-19 infections, the biggest daily number since the start of the outbreak. The ministry also reported 54 deaths in the same period.

The cumulative number of cases in the country is 718,873, with a death toll of 32,684.

Rafael Nadal is going for a record 13th French Open title after a 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-0) victory against Diego Schwartzman in the semi-final. Nadal has only lost twice on Roland Garros in his career.

The Spanish will play top seed Novak Djokovic, that has beaten Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-2 5-7 4-6 6-1.

Sunday's match will be the 56th between the two players, the ninth on a Grand Slam final.

The French National Assembly has approved a restitution law for the return of art treasures. France now plans to return 26 statues and other works of art from the so-called treasure of Béhanzin to Benin. The treasures were previously on display at the Paris Museum of Non-European Art. Furthermore, a sabre will be returned to Senegal, which was previously on display in the Paris Army Museum.