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‘Child-friendly’ stickers for cafés to launch in France
Red stickers will promote spaces that welcome children in face of growing – and controversial – ‘no-kid’ movement
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Big drop in telephone fees but rises for food and services: France’s June 2025 inflation stats
Year-on-year inflation picks up to reach 1% in France
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Macron pledges billions in extra defence funding for French army
By 2027 the sum given to the military will have doubled from 2017, but the president did not lay out where extra funds will come from
Cigarette firms face cheat claim on tar tests
As cigarette prices rise to €8 a pack, it raises suspicions
Tobacco giants have been accused of cheating nicotine and tar tests meaning smokers are inhaling five times as much nicotine and up to 10 times as much tar as thought.
Anti-smoking group Comité National Contre le Tabagisme said its tests had shown that tiny holes in cigarette filters “falsified results” by allowing more air to pass when used on a test machine than when covered by a smoker’s fingers or lips.
It has started legal action in Paris against Philip Morris, British American, Japan Tobacco and Imperial Brands saying they are tricking “smokers who think they are smoking one packet a day but are actually smoking the equivalent of two to 10 packets”.
Tobacco is blamed for 75,000 deaths a year from cancer and cardiovascular problems in France. The industry has faced measures to cut smoking, including the introduction of plain packs and a series of price rises ending in €10 packets by 2020.