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French rail strike June 10: how to find out about affected services
Action may impact TER, TGV, Intercités, Transilien and RER trains
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France’s D-Day events and commemorations 2026
Celebrations include official remembrance ceremonies, historic exhibitions and 1940s-themed dances
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Pyrénées Orientales residents to cast vote on name change
Three options are being submitted although a popular fourth has been controversially removed
Quarter of people polled support a total tobacco ban
More than a quarter of people surveyed in an online poll believe a complete ban on tobacco would be the most efficient way of reducing the number of smokers.
Almost a third (30%) of non-smokers and 23% of smokers polled by the Consumer Science and Analytics institute said they would support a complete ban. The survey came during November’s ‘Moi(s) sans Tabac’ campaign, an initiative by health minister Marisol Touraine to encourage smokers to quit en masse for at least the month. France currently has around 16 million smokers.
Proposals to raise cigarette prices – today around €6.50 a packet – were more popular among non-smokers (27%) than smokers (15%) and smokers preferred increasing reimbursement levels for aids to help them quit. Reimbursements for patches and other nicotine substitutes were recently increased to €150 (from €50).
Cigarette packets also changed last month with tabacs only receiving new ‘plain’ packs with no logos or company colours.
