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☆ France's Macron signs contested pension bill into law
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, April 15 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law a bill to raise the state pension age that sparked mass protests, the government's official journal showed on Saturday. The proclamation of the law came after France's Constitutional Council on Friday approved the main pension-age increase and follows months of demonstrations against the plan, which the government forced through parliament without a final vote. Protesters gather in front of the Paris City Hall after the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) approved most of the French government's pension reform, in Paris, France, April 14, 2023. Francois Ruffin, a lawmaker from the left-wing LFI party, on Twitter accused the government of proclaiming the pension law "like thieves in the night". Opposition parties have tabled another bid for a citizens' referendum on the reform after the Constitutional Council on Friday rejected a first such proposal.

☆ Exclusive: EDF warns of 1 billion euro loss due to French strikes, reviews hiring - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Benjamin Mallet | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - French utility EDF (EDF.PA) has warned drawn-out strikes at its nuclear reactors and hydro-electricity plants have cost it 1 billion euros ($1.10 billion) in lost output and that it is reviewing hiring plans for the year, three sources said. An EDF spokesperson told Reuters that a moratorium had been imposed on hirings. It comes as EDF's new chief executive draws up a plan to ramp up nuclear production and lighten the group's heavy debt load. The group had originally planned to hire between 3,000 and 3,500 people in 2023, mostly in nuclear production and sales, one of the sources said. The group's net debt rose to 64.5 billion euros in 2022, up from 43 billion a year earlier.

LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - A group of investors with $1.1 trillion in assets under management has joined climate activist group Follow This in asking TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) shareholders to push for more ambitious targets on emissions cuts. "These climate resolutions at Big Oil will show which investors are serious about resolving the climate crisis and which prefer to just talk about it." TotalEnergies has said its emissions will not register a big reduction by 2030 in absolute terms. In 2020, the last time TotalEnergies shareholders voted on a Follow This resolution, the activist received 17% of the votes. TotalEnergies' climate strategy was approved by about 90% of shareholder votes in 2021 and 2022.

Operations were normal at the company's Normandy site in the north, while the Feyzin refinery in the southeast was operating almost normally, the person added. A union official said earlier that the Normandy refinery would be stopped this weekend. At oil major ExxonMobil's (XOM.N) Esso-branded Port Jerome refinery in Normandy, workers have been called to strike from Saturday at 2 p.m. (1300 GMT), a CGT union official said. It was unclear whether Esso's Fos-sur-Mer refinery in the south would be similarly affected. Reporting by Benjamin Mallet, Forrest Crellin and America Hernandez; Editing by Jan Harvey and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/11] Protesters take part in a demonstration against the French government's pension reform plan, as part of the eighth day of national strike and protests, in Ancenis-Saint-Gereon, France, March 15, 2023. The pension bill passed to a joint parliamentary committee on Wednesday where lawmakers from the lower and upper chambers are seeking a compromise text. If a deal is reached, a final vote in both the Senate and National Assembly will be held on Thursday. This new day of protests "is meant to tell lawmakers: don't vote this reform," he said. "In the National Assembly, there will not be an easy vote, nor will there be panic," government spokesman Olivier Veran told Europe 1 radio station.

On Tuesday, a nationwide day of industrial action brought record numbers of people onto the streets against the policy change. But Olivier Gantois, the head of the French Association of Petroleum Industry (UFIP), said there was little impact on consumers for now. The logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is seen at TotalEnergies fuel depot in Mardyck, near Dunkerque, as France faces the sixth nationwide day of strike and protests against French government's pension reform plan, France, March 7, 2023. REUTERS/Pascal RossignolThe four French LNG terminals and all of the gas storage facilities also remained blocked, FNME-CGT representative Fabrice Coudour said. The next nationwide day of strikes and protests is set for Saturday.

PARIS, March 5 (Reuters) - Industrial action in France over the government's planned pensions overhaul will cause heavy disruption to public transport again on Tuesday, the transport minister and several public transport authorities said on Sunday. Some unions, such as the hardline CGT, called for a rolling strike at refineries and at the national railway operator SNCF. "We are moving up a gear," the head of CGT, Philippe Martinez, told French weekly JDD. It is up to him to withdraw this reform," he said, referring to President Emmanuel Macron. RATP, the public transport operator for the Ile-de-France region around Paris, also said metro lines and suburban trains will be heavily disrupted, with some metro lines only running at peak hours.

[1/5] The logo of Nord Stream AG is seen at an office building in the town of Vyborg, Leningrad Region, Russia August 22, 2022. Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two pipes, were built by Russia's state-controlled Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Three of the pipes were ruptured by unexplained blasts in September, and one of the Nord Stream 2 pipes remains intact. Engie (ENGIE.PA), Gasunie (GSUNI.UL) and Wintershall DEA (WINT.UL) (BASFn.DE) - stakeholders in Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream 1 - declined to comment. The similar-sized Nord Stream 2 had been completed in September 2021 as tensions with Russia were growing and ran in trouble as Germany's regulators refused to certify it.

MADRID/PARIS/STOCKHOLM, March 2 (Reuters) - France and Spain are poised to announce a breakthrough this week in a long-running impasse over hefty costs of what would be their first undersea electricity link, a minister and sources in both countries told Reuters. That was due to unforeseen seabed instability on the French side that required costly re-routing, and rising costs of raw materials. Spain is a growing producer of renewable energy that it exports to France and it wants its neighbour to pay most of the extra costs. That had led to disagreement amid wider tensions between them about pipeline connections and protectionism. Spanish sources said the go-ahead would likely mean that France, whose nuclear power industry has been beset by problems, finally agreed to pay more.

☆ French court dismisses Uganda lawsuit against TotalEnergies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( America Hernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies TotalEnergies SE FollowPARIS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A French civil court ruled on Tuesday that a lawsuit brought by campaigners against energy major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) over its oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania was inadmissible. TotalEnergies in a statement to Reuters said the court had found it "formally established a vigilance plan comprising the five items required by the duty of vigilance law, in sufficient detail so as not to be considered purely summary". The court in its ruling, the first based on the 2017 law, said nothing prevented France from enacting laws that govern the overseas activities of companies present in France. TotalEnergies had argued a French court did not have jurisdiction over the overseas activities of its subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Uganda. Reporting by America Hernandez and Benjamin Mallet; editing by Silvia Aloisi and Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Tour the Caribbean's $200 million trophy estate: The Terraces, Mustique
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Ray Parisi | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

A palatial estate in the Caribbean was listed for a whopping $200 million today, making it the most expensive home to ever hit the market in the region and one of the priciest homes for sale in the entire world. The Terraces, as the estate is called, spans over 17 acres and nine structures. It's located on the small private island of Mustique which lies in the southern Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines north of Trinidad and Tobagos and about 45 minutes west of Barbados by private plane. "The Terraces in Mustique is the most expensive single residential home to publicly come to the open market in the Caribbean region," said Edward de Mallet Morgan, head of international super-prime sales at Knight Frank, who represents the mega-listing. See even more pictures of the trophy property and an in-depth article on The Terraces, Mustique at CNBC.com.

☆ The most expensive home in the Caribbean just listed for $200 million – take a look inside
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Ray Parisi | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's located on the small private island of Mustique, which lies in the southern Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Last year, Mustique's largest transaction was recorded at about $35 million, according to de Mallet Morgan. Here's a closer look at the most expensive home to ever hit the market in the Caribbean. The Bali Cottages house four more guest bedrooms and surround the estate's third swimming pool. De Mallet Morgan said the estate is currently operated by 18 staff.

Click to unmute A global city needs a global soundtrack, and in New York, you can find nearly anything you want. Over the past several months, we followed several New York musical scenes that reflect the city’s creative soul, thriving in community centers, local bars and public parks. The sight of a new generation encouraged Mr. Joseph, who sees the band as preserving traditional culture in the modern city. It becomes part of you.” New York itself is as much a player as any musician, transforming traditional tunes into something new. The people who embraced Mateo and his mother when they moved from Boston to New York in 2016 now consoled her.

☆ TotalEnergies CEO: it's getting harder to get dividends from Russia's Yamal project
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Companies TotalEnergies SE FollowPARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - French oil major TotalEnergies received some dividends for its stake in Russia's Yamal LNG project in 2022 but it is becoming more complex to receive such payouts because of Western sanctions against Russia, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday. Pouyanne said TotalEnergies was only booking cashflow from the Yamal venture in its accounts "when we see the dividends in our pockets." The company also gets more income out of its Yamal venture, in which it has a 20% stake, when LNG volumes received under TotalEnergies' long-term contract are sold into Europe and Asia. "This is not Russian money, this is a European contract" Pouyanne said. Reporting by America Hernandez, Benjamin Mallet, writing by Silvia AloisiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TotalEnergies net profits double to record $36.2 bln in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - French oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) posted a record net profit of $36.2 billion in 2022, double the previous year, joining in the sector's bumper earnings thanks to higher oil and gas prices since Russia invaded Ukraine. TotalEnergies' fourth-quarter adjusted net income was $7.6 billion, including a $4.1 billion impairment related to the deconsolidation of its stake in Russian gas firm Novatek (NVTK.MM). The net income for the last three months of the year was in line with analyst estimates in a consensus by Refinitiv and compared with $6.8 billion a year earlier, and $9.9 billion in the third quarter of 2022. The company said it expected net investments of $16-18 billion in 2023, including $5 billion for low-carbon energy. Reporting by America Hernandez and Benjamin Mallet, editing by Silvia Aloisi and Richard LoughOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ France seeks strategy as nuclear waste site risks saturation point
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Benjamin Mallet | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/5] Used nuclear fuel is seen in a storage pool at the Orano nuclear waste reprocessing plant in La Hague, near Cherbourg, France, January 17, 2023. "We can't have a responsible nuclear policy without taking into account the handling of used fuel and waste. La Hague is the country's sole site able to process and partially recycle used nuclear fuel. Meanwhile, France's national agency for managing nuclear waste last month requested approval for a project to store permanently high-level radioactive waste. The facility at La Hague, with its 1980s-era buildings and Star Wars-style control rooms, has its limitations.

The slogan reads "No to the Macron's pension reform". In what could prove a prolonged standoff, unions and their members are seeking to minimise the impact on personal finances already strained by the worst cost of living crisis in decades. French unions generally do not have permanent strike funds to help members cope, though some will set up occasional kitties financed by donations for a specific cause. While it is generally used to cover legal fees and compensate workers in local strikes, members are now clamouring for it to help cover lost pay during the pension strikes. However, even before the cost of living crisis, French unions have struggled to resist government reform plans in the decades since massive strikes in 1995 successfully forced a conservative government to drop a pension overhaul.

[1/6] French energy workers on strike gather with dockers near tyres set on fire as they protest against French government's pension reform plan, in the port of Saint-Nazaire, France, January 26, 2023. An Elabe poll for BFM showed 72% of the French are against the pension reform. "Oil workers are against this (pension) reform but they don't want to be on the front line," said a CGT union representative for Exxonmobil. A spokesperson for Esso, whose two French refinery sites are run by ExxonMobil (XOM.N), said only truck loading operations were suspended at Fos, with everything else operating normally. A union representative added that production at the Port Jerome site was slightly impacted.

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Spain's markets and competition regulator is reviewing whether gas distributor Madrilena Red de Gas (MRG) has complied with legislation designed to protect the financial strength of energy distributors, according to two sources familiar with the situation. The amendment grew out of worries about the excessive indebtedness of the gas transportation and distribution networks. The CNMC has not to date published a notice of regulatory action concerning MRG. The filings also show that MRG's ultimate parent Elisandra Spain IV - Elisandra Spain V's sole owner - paid dividends totalling more than 104 million euros to its shareholders. At the end of 2021, MRG carried 925.5 million euros of net adjusted financial debt on its balance sheet, 6.55 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), per its latest annual accounts.

☆ Strike reduces French power supply, halts refinery shipments
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

EDF's (EDF.PA) outage table showed a 4.5 GW nuclear supply reduction at eight reactors, 460 megawatts (MW) of reduced hydropower and 2.8 GW of lower thermal production. This is how strikes work in France : strikers are not allowed to put security of supply at risk," analyst Emeric de Vigan said. Meanwhile, deliveries of refined oil products were blocked from leaving refineries operated by TotalEnergies , the company said. There would be no disruption to fuel supplies at service stations if the unions maintained their strike timetable, TotalEnergies has said. The CGT refineries federation has called for a single day of strike this week and further walkouts next week and the week after.

☆ French refinery, metro strikes loom in clash over pension reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Blandine Henault | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Protestors and French CGT labour union workers attend a demonstration as part of a nationwide day of strike and protests to push for government measures to address inflation, workers' rights and pension reforms, in Paris, France, September 29, 2022. REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesPARIS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - France's CGT trade union on Thursday called for strikes in the refinery sector against plans to make people work longer before they can retire and Paris metro unions said they would do "everything they can" to stop the pension reform. The French will have to work two years longer, to age 64, before retiring, if the reform, announced by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday, is adopted by parliament. They will also need to work longer to get a full pension. "There is a right to strike, there is a right to demonstrate, but I think it is also important not to penalise the French," she said.

[1/2] Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange, attends the MEDEF union summer forum "La Rencontre des Entrepreneurs de France, LaREF" at the Paris Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, August 30, 2022. 1 telecoms operator Orange (ORAN.PA) said on Wednesday, as the prospect of energy rationing looms amid the war in Ukraine. Executives said at the time there were not enough back-up systems in many European countries to handle widespread power cuts. "The operators put pressure so that we don't cut their antennas, there's a kind of arm wrestling," the source told Reuters. Only a few thousands mobile antennas would be completely shielded from potential power cuts at this stage, a telecoms industry source said, thus covering a fraction of the population and of the territory.

☆ Welders wanted: France steps up recruitment drive as nuclear crisis deepens
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Benjamin Mallet | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

EDF estimates that France's nuclear industry needs to recruit between 10,000 and 15,000 workers a year over the next seven years. Despite relatively high unemployment, France's manufacturing, construction, engineering and IT industries complain they can't get the workers they need. These people work with molten metal at 1,500 degrees Celsius, and sometimes have to stand upside down," said one welder in the nuclear industry, who asked not to be identified. Before the war in Ukraine, successive administrations sought to reduce France's reliance on nuclear energy, not build new reactors, they say. For a long time, France was Europe's nuclear energy champion - and its biggest electricity exporter.

☆ Colorado deputies indicted, fired after fatal shooting of man, 22, who called 911 for help
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Chantal Da Silva | Antonio Planas | Chantal Da Silva Is A Breaking News Editor For Nbc News Digital Based In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a Colorado man who called 911 for help after his SUV got stuck this summer have been indicted by a county grand jury and fired from their jobs, officials said. The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office said that following Wednesday's indictment, it had terminated the employment of both Buen and Gould. In a June statement, the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office said deputies had taken a call for a "motorist assist" at around 11:20 p.m. on June 10. Later, with the knife in his hand, Glass appears to turn toward an officer shortly before he is shot. Rathod previously said Glass’ knife injuries were superficial.

American comedian Leo Gallagher has died at the age of 76, according to his family. Gallagher passed away from organ failure while in hospice care in his Palm Springs, California, home, his son-in-law told NBC News. 1 comedian in America for 15 years, with comedy specials airing on Showtime and MTV. In his career spanning decades, Gallagher hosted 14 Showtime specials and around 3,500 live comedy shows, according to his website. Toward the end of his career, the comedian starred in Geico commercials and in his first movie, "The Book of Daniel."

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