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close video France is instituting baby reform in raising the retirement age: Veronique de Rugy

CATO Institute adjunct scholar Veronique de Rugy discusses the French governments controversial decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old.

Rioters took to the streets in France again Friday to demonstrate against President Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to raise the retirement pension age without going through the national assembly. 

More than 300 people were arrested in the chaos as garbage was lit on fire, traffic was blocked and sanitation workers extended their 12-day strike. 

The protests stemmed from Macron’s attempt to raise the age to receive a full pension following retirement in the country from 62 to 64 years old by invoking special constitutional powers that allow him to skirt the national assembly.

"We cannot bet on the future of our pensions and this reform is necessary," Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said to jeers and shots of "Resign!" in the assembly Thursday, according to the BBC. The bill had passed in the upper house but was not assured in the assembly. 

OVER 1 MILLION FRENCH WORKERS STRIKE AGAINST EFFORTS TO RAISE RETIREMENT AGE 

Rioters set garbage on fire in Paris this week. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly / AP Newsroom)

Lawmakers in the lower chamber have filed votes of no-confidence that are expected to be voted on next week. The bill will become a law if the no-confidence votes fail and will force Macron’s government to resign if the majority succeeds. It would also be the end of the bill. No no-confidence bill has passed since 1962. 

However, Macron could reappoint Borne to name the new cabinet.

Pallets burn as rioters demonstrate at Place de la Concorde near the National Assembly in Paris on Thursday. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla / AP Newsroom)

FRENCH PROTESTERS STAGE ANOTHER ROUND OF STRIKES AS COMMITTEE OF SENATORS, LAWMAKERS EXAMINE PENSION BILL 

Borne has triggered the special constitutional power before but never with such blowback. 

Rioters in Paris (AP Photo/Daniel Cole / AP Newsroom)

Macron’s government has argued that raising the pension age is necessary to keep the French economy competitive and to keep the pension program from going into a deficit. 

At least 310 people were arrested, mostly in Paris, as police used water cannons to disperse thousands of demonstrators near the Place de la Concorde.

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"We are not going to stop," CGT union representative Régis Vieceli told The Associated Press on Friday. Arguing strikes and protests are "the only way that we will get them to back down."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Entertainment

Dances With Wolves and The Green Mile actor Graham Greene dies aged 73

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Dances With Wolves and The Green Mile actor Graham Greene dies aged 73

Graham Greene, the Canadian First Nations actor best known for his performance in Dancing With Wolves, has died aged 73.

The star died peacefully after a long illness.

His agent Michael Greene (not a relation) said he loved everything the actor “did for his people and for all the world” in a statement sent to Sky News.

“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed…God bless his beautiful soul.”

Greene was a “trailblazer” who opened doors for indigenous actors in Hollywood, US entertainment outlet Deadline reported.

He made his screen debut in an episode of the Canadian drama series The Great Detective in 1979, and his first film, Running Brave, followed in 1983.

But his breakthrough came when he was cast as Kicking Bird (Zintka Nagwaka) in Kevin Costner‘s Dances With Wolves, released in 1990.

Greene was nominated for best supporting actor, one of 12 nods for the film, which took home seven, including best picture.

He went on to appear in Maverick alongside Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in 1994, Die Hard With A Vengeance with Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson in 1995, The Green Mile with Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan in 1999, The Twilight Saga: New Moon with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in 2009, and Wind River alongside Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen in 2017.

His TV credits included Wolf Lake, Defiance and Marvel’s Echo, as well as Tulsa King and The Last Of Us more recently.

Greene also had several projects in the works, according to movie database IMDB.

He is survived by his wife, Hilary Blackmore, his daughter Lilly Lazard-Greene and her son, Talo.

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Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan ‘arrested at Heathrow over posts on X’

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Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan 'arrested at Heathrow over posts on X'

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has said he was arrested at Heathrow Airport, over social media posts sharing his views on trans rights.

Writing on Substack, the 57-year-old said that after flying into the UK from Arizona, he was detained by five armed officers and put in a cell before being questioned over posts published on X in April.

During questioning, he said a nurse checked on him and found his blood pressure had reached “stroke territory”, so he was taken to A&E.

A Met Police spokeswoman confirmed an arrest was made at Heathrow on Monday but did not identify Linehan.

In a statement, the force said: “On Monday 1 September at 1pm officers arrested a man at Heathrow Airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight.

“The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X.

“After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to hospital. His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing.

“He has now been bailed pending further investigation.”

The arrest was made by officers from the force’s Aviation Unit, the Met spokeswoman said, adding that it is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms.

“These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest,” she said.

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Pound drops as 30-year gilt yields at highest level this century

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Pound drops as 30-year gilt yields at highest level this century

The value of the pound has sunk – as the cost of 30-year government borrowing reached a high last seen in 1998.

The so-called spot rate saw one pound buy $1.336 on Tuesday, a low last seen in early August, and down from $1.353 earlier in the day.

Despite the dip, it’s still higher than the vast majority of the past year: in early September 2024, a pound bought $1.31.

Money blog: ‘She didn’t get me a wedding gift – even though I spent thousands on her’

The decline, however, means sterling is on course for the biggest one-day drop since April, when Donald Trump’s announcement of country-specific tariffs spooked markets.

The drop was similarly steep against the euro, with a pound momentarily buying €1.1486, a low not seen since November 2023, nearly two years ago. It’s also a fall from €1.1586 earlier in the trading session.

Before the so-called liberation day announcement, £1 equalled nearly €1.19.

It comes as the yield – the interest rate demanded by investors – on 30-year government bonds – loans taken by the state – hit 5.72%, the highest rate this century.

Why?

Yields are rising across the globe in the face of weak economic growth and the US trade war.

Investors are also concerned about UK government finances as Chancellor Rachel Reeves battles to stick to her fiscal rules to bring down debt and balance the budget.

High inflation and increased public debt from the pandemic have left a deficit between state spending and income.

There have been high-profile government U-turns on winter fuel payments and welfare spending cuts that have meant the chancellor has to look elsewhere to meet her self-imposed fiscal rules.

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More expensive interest payments from rising bond yields have meant the country is stuck in a cycle of rising debt.

Today’s rises to the cost of government borrowing could not have come at a worse time for the public finances.

While a £14bn sale of new 10-year government debt – a record sum – was completed, it was achieved at the highest yield since 2008.

Lale Akoner, global market analyst at investment platform eToro, said of the auction: “For the government, this creates a paradox – market confidence in UK debt is robust, but financing that debt is increasingly expensive, constraining budget flexibility and raising the stakes for fiscal discipline ahead of the autumn budget.”

The yield on 10-year gilts, as they are known in the UK, later rose to its highest since January at 4.825%, up on the day but in line with their transatlantic equivalent, US Treasuries.

The global bond sell-off was also being reflected on stock markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-focused Nasdaq were both down by more than 1% at the open on Wall St.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was 2% lower while the FTSE 100 was just 0.6% down as it is less exposed to declines in technology stocks which have accounted for much of the value growth seen over the summer.

The flight from risk also saw the spot price of gold, traditionally a safe haven for investors in times of uncertainty, briefly climb to a new record high of $3,578.40 per ounce.

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