(NEWS, COMMENT AND ANALYSIS WITH MAINSTREAM MEDIA SOURCES)
(POST COMPLETED EARLY DUE TO IRAN WAR WITH UPDATING POSSIBLE IF ABLE)
A TWEAKING OF THE FRENCH CABINET THIS WEEK THE DEPARTURE OF THE MINISTER OF CULTURE RACHIDA DATI. SHE IS ON THE BALLOT IN NEXT MONTH'S LOCAL ELECTIONS SEEKING TO BE MAYOR OF PARIS.
CULTURAL ADVISOR CATHERINE PEGARD NAMED THE NEW MINISTER OF CULTURE.
THREE NEW DEPUTY CABINET MINISTERS WERE ALSO NAMED...
A diplomatic standoff this week between French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and US Ambassador Charles Kushner.
The row over US government social media posting in the name of its embassy in France along with the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism.
It referenced "violent radical leftism" in connection with the killing of nationalist Quentin Deranque in Lyon. The claim also spoke of the leftist extremism being 'on the rise'.
Mr, Barrot saying the United States was not entitled to butt into a French internal matter.
The French Foreign Minister saying there were:
"no lessons to receive from the international reactionary community"...
US Ambassador Charles Kushner, the father of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, called into the French Foreign Ministry Monday evening to be told of France's objection to the remarks.
But Mr. Kushner was a no-show for that meeting.
That led to France saying Mr. Kushner would be barred from direct contact with French officials but then Ambassador Kushner got on the phone with Foreign Minister Barrot.
This brought the tensions to an end...
On Friday US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning US ambassadors worldwide about any statements that could 'inflame regional tensions'.
IN SWEDEN THIS WEEK AUTHORITIES TOOK DOWN A DRONE APPROACHING THE DOCKED FRENCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER 'CHARLES DE GAULLE' IN MALMO.
SWEDEN'S MILITARY SUSPECTED THE DRONE CAME FROM A RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE SHIP OFFSHORE.
ON FRIDAY SWEDEN CONFIRMING THE DRONE WAS OF RUSSIAN ORIGIN...
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of France lagging in relation to neighboring Italy with some observers unsettled others taking the situation with a 'grain of salt'.
But for the credit ratings agencies Italy and other southern European countries like Spain and Portugal its been a year of upgrading.
But France is part of a list of nations including China and the US where credit ratings have been downgraded.
France's credit rating downgrade linked to political instability and the delay of the pension reform plan to raise the retirement age in France to 64...
For now that's the news from France.
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