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France launches fertility plan as birth rate falls below deaths
Government plans to send a letter to all 29-year-olds
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British and French travellers to the US must soon provide more personal details
Social media account handles, phone numbers and email addresses will need to be declared during application
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Police across France hunt abandoned cars to free up spaces in urban areas
Vehicles cannot be parked on a public road in the same place for more than seven days
Anger as plan to increase paternity leave on hold
Equality campaigners have condemned moves to delay extending paternity leave.
Congé Parentégalité and Pour une Parentalité féministe (PA.F) launched a joint petition demanding the extension of paternity leave (congepaternite.wesign.it/fr), saying it is “a major lever for equality between women and men”.
Under the plans, new fathers would be entitled to five days off immediately after the birth of a child as well as three weeks’ leave. Currently, new mothers are entitled to 16 weeks of maternity leave, eight of which are mandatory, while new fathers have three days off, and can take an extra 11 days.
It is the second petition in support of extended paternity leave in less than a year. One launched in November 2017 was signed more than 58,000 times.
In January 2017, a think tank urged the government to oblige fathers to take paid paternity leave of six weeks.
