France cuts economic growth forecast as it enters third COVID lockdown
04 April 2021
France is cutting it's GDP growth forecast to 5% from 6% as the country enters a four-week national lockdown aimed at slowing a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Bloomberg reports.
Why it matters: The lockdown, France'sthird since the start of the pandemic, comesamid a surge in new COVID-19 cases across much of Europe that has seen some countries reimpose restrictions.
Between the lines: French President Emmanuel Macron had been hesitant to impose new restrictions following an 8.1% GDP contraction last year, per Bloomberg, but the country has seen more contagious variants of the virus have spread. Meanwhile, its vaccine rollout has been underwhelming.
- Beginning Saturday, people in France were restricted to traveling within six miles of their home, except for essential reasons. The nation has also imposed a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, per the Guardian.
What he's saying: “Closing education establishments and 150,000 stores is essential to slow the spread of the virus, but these measures will have an impact on the French economy,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
- “This estimate is both sincere and cautious.”
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.