France

• Champagne sales surge at New Year — but labor abuses and tariffs have clouded the industry - Reports of human trafficking and the mistreatment of workers, and even several deaths during the 2023 harvest, provoked scandal around the Champagne industry.
• Eurostar warns of ‘major disruption’ as power outage halts services between France and England - The disruption brings one of Europe's busiest international rail corridors to a halt at the peak of the New Year travel season.
• European markets set to start the last trading week of 2025 in flat territory - European stocks are expected to start the last trading week of the year in flat territory.
• Brigitte Bardot, French Movie Icon Who Renounced Stardom, Dies at 91 - “And God Created Woman” made her a world-famous sex symbol in the 1950s. She later gave up acting to devote her life to animal welfare.
• Algeria votes to declare French colonization a crime and demands restitution - Legislators in Algeria voted to declare France’s colonization of the North African country a crime, approving a law that calls for restitution of property taken by France during its 130-year rule, among other demands seeking to redress hist
• France Needs a New France - The time has come for a Sixth Republic.
• European markets set to open lower as traders look ahead to central bank action - European stocks are expected to open in lower territory on Tuesday, reversing gains seen at the start of the week.
• Former Congo rebel leader Lumbala sentenced to 30 years over wartime atrocities - Ex-Congolese rebel leader Roger Lumbala was sentenced Monday in France to 30 years in prison over atrocities committed two decades ago during the Second Congo War, in a verdict that rights groups hailed as overcoming long-standing impunity
• Delivery Hero stock jumps 6% as food delivery giant mulls strategy; European shares mixed - European stocks were mixed on Wednesday as global investors gear up for the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.
• French first lady Brigitte Macron visits an old friend in China: A giant panda called Yuan Meng - At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. For decades, China has deployed what's often called “panda diplomacy" to smooth and promote relations with other countrie