This week we bring you a show all about face masks as France starts to lift its lockdown. Faced with controversial shortages at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, French authorities initially rejected the notion of a generalised use before finally touting the device as essential, and in some situations compulsory.

France on Friday marked the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) day with President Emmanuel Macron attending a scaled-down ceremony on Paris’s Champs-Élysées. Click on the player to see how the commemorations unfolded.

France’s lockdown measures are among the strictest in Europe as the country bids to stamp out the Covid-19 pandemic. Paris is usually known for its night wanderers but the last few weeks has seen its lively and vibrant atmosphere replaced by calm and silence. However, not all Parisians are respecting lockdown measures and FRANCE 24 went out to meet them. Some are simply wandering the streets. Others are out and about because the streets are what they call home.

The number of people who have died from coronavirus infection in France rose 243 to 26,230 on Friday, a higher daily death toll than the previous day when it stood at 178.

An investigation by French daily Le Monde has uncovered the extraordinary chain of events that led successive French governments to build an ambitious pandemic response strategy and then dismantle it almost entirely, leaving the country dangerously exposed to the Covid-19 disease.

Tour de France organisers are working to find a new start date for cycling's biggest race after large public gatherings were banned until mid-July in the latest extension of the French coronavirus lockdown. Originally slated to start from Nice on June 27 and finish in Paris on July 19, there is no chance the event can go ahead as planned and organisers face a mammoth logistical task of rescheduling. So far, organisers ASO have remained silent, but several mayors of the French towns along the planned route say they have been consulted regarding the new dates.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address Monday that a strict lockdown in France would continue until at least May 11, as public gatherings were banned until mid-July. Tour general director Christian Prudhomme has said riders will need two months after the lockdown ends to prepare for the race. France's Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner said on Tuesday that ASO had to reschedule or cancel the Tour. "It is up to the organiser to analyse their ability to organise it and reschedule it," Castaner told French radio.

A start in late July or mid-August has been mooted, with some reports suggesting the race could even be delayed until September. The race's route is over 3,000km long, with roughly 500,000 fans lining the roads each day. "Social distancing on the roadside wouldn't be a problem, but in the start towns, at the finish line and in the VIP tents it certainly would," Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst told Flemish TV channel Sporza on Saturday. Suggestions the Tour could be held without supporters have been ruled out. "The Tour de France is 3000km of smiles," Prudhomme said regarding roadside gatherings.

"We won't run a Tour de France without the fans."

Between a rock and a hard place

Macron's announcement may have caught the organisers short. A late July start for the Tour could be considered too close to the ban on large public gatherings, while the riders would also need to be in peak condition. ASO also organises the Criterium du Dauphine eight-day race, and had been hoping to run that ride through the Alps in late June or early July, but the traditional Tour warm-up has been postponed.

A mid-August start would see the race finish in September, meaning a clash with the Vuelta a Espana. There are only 176 riders on a Tour, but the whole event involves around 4,500 people, with team staff, police and media all moving every day. Cancellation is the worst-case scenario. The "Grande Boucle", as the Tour is known in France, is the central economic pillar which supports the sports' 22 professional teams.

"It's as simple as this. If the Tour does not take place, teams could disappear, riders and staff alike would find themselves unemployed," said Marc Madiot, the chief of French team Groupama-FDJ. The riders are also keen to race, with 2018 winner Geraint Thomas saying he was desperate for the Tour to go ahead. "There are bigger and more important things to sort out first, but as soon as it's safe and ready to go, we (Ineos) would love it to happen," said the Welsh rider.

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Italian football legend Francesco Totti has revealed that he nearly ended his marriage with TV presenter Ilary Blasi when she decided to bring home a sphinx cat, a hairless breed.

FIFA World Cup winner Francesco, who married Blasi in 2005, two years after they began dating, told former teammate Christian Vieri in an Instagram Live chat: "I was furious with my wife…she bought a hairless cat and called it Donna Paola. At night, the cat insists on sleeping in our bed, next to our legs. She's a very affectionate cat but almost caused us to break up."

Ilary got the cat home against Francesco's wishes. "She wanted a cat at all cost. I was adamant we shouldn't. One day, she brought it home because ultimately she makes all the decisions in this family," he added. The couple did not talk to each other thereafter before Francesco started liking the feline. "We didn't speak for days, but in the end, I fell in love with the cat too," said Francesco, who retired from football in 2017 after spending 15 years at Italian club Roma, where he scored 307 goals from 785 matches.

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Joining more than 1,000 others, Djemba Diatite stood for hours in line to feed her growing family, grateful for handouts of fruits, vegetables and soap. It was her first time accepting charity, but she had no choice. The pandemic has turned her small world upside down.

With open air markets closed, supermarket prices skyrocketing, an out-of-work husband, two children to feed and another on the way, Diatite said even tomatoes are now too expensive. "This is my only solution," she said.

Clichy-sous-Bois — where fiery nationwide riots started in 2005 — is just 23 km northeast of the French capital, but with its rows of housing projects, restless youth and residents teetering on the poverty line, it feels light years away.

The town mayor, seeing a looming crisis triggered by food shortages, sounded the alarm, and with scattered unrest simmering in impoverished suburbs, the French government announced a plan for urgent food assistance of 39 million euros for communities in need. "I feel the social crisis is growing with confinement," said Clichy-Sous-Bois Mayor Olivier Klein. The government will detail to parliament on Tuesday how it plans to pull the country out of the lockdown.

Boris to be back to work from Monday

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will return to work at 10 Downing Street in London on Monday. The 55-year-old has been recuperating at his prime ministerial countryside retreat at Chequers since he was discharged on April 12 and had put UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in charge as his deputy. Johnson is reportedly "raring to go" and will be back to an initially light work schedule from next week, starting with a meeting with UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

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A new tax treaty incorporating the latest international tax standards was signed by France and Luxembourg on March 20.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said that France should prioritize tax cuts following the conclusion of a three-month national consultation on the Government's economic and tax policies.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced on April 30, 2019, that plans for reductions in personal and corporate income tax will be released by the Government in June 2019.

The European Commission has released a paper recommending improvements to France's "inefficient" value-added tax system, including that the country do away with broadly applying reduced VAT rates.

The Governments of France and the United States are reportedly close to settling a dispute surrounding France's digital services tax.

On September 23, 2019, the French Government outlined a number of measures that will be included in the 2020 Finance Law to ensure the payment of value-added tax on items bought by French residents from online marketplaces.

France's Directorate General of Public Finance confirmed in a statement issued on February 10, 2020, that companies liable for the country's digital services tax can delay payment of upcoming installments of the tax until December 2020.

Hong Kong has newly signed an agreement with France to automatically exchange country-by-country reports filed by multinationals.

According to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, France and the United States will in the next two weeks attempt to reach a compromise over their ongoing dispute regarding France's new digital services tax.

On January 22, 2020, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire confirmed that France will suspend collection of its digital services tax this year to prevent the United States from applying retaliatory tariffs on a range of French goods.

The Governments of France and the United States are reportedly close to settling a dispute surrounding France's digital services tax.

On September 23, 2019, the French Government outlined a number of measures that will be included in the 2020 Finance Law to ensure the payment of value-added tax on items bought by French residents from online marketplaces.

According to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, France and the United States will in the next two weeks attempt to reach a compromise over their ongoing dispute regarding France's new digital services tax.

On January 6, 2019, a decree was published in the French Official Journal to modify the list of non-cooperative states and territories in tax matters.

On January 22, 2020, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire confirmed that France will suspend collection of its digital services tax this year to prevent the United States from applying retaliatory tariffs on a range of French goods.

France's Directorate General of Public Finance confirmed in a statement issued on February 10, 2020, that companies liable for the country's digital services tax can delay payment of upcoming installments of the tax until December 2020.

The French General Directorate of Public Finance has announced that companies and self-employed taxpayers will be able to postpone without penalty upcoming tax payments due to the public health emergency.

In a set of frequently asked questions and answers clarifying recent changes to tax obligations as a result of the COVID-19 virus, the French tax authority stressed that tax payment relief does not extend to value-added tax.

On April 24, 2020, the French Government announced that it has decided to extend tax and other financial support to companies in sectors most affected by the COVID-19 lockdown measures, including catering, tourism, events, sports, and cultural activities.

French transplant centers are far more likely to transplant kidneys from older donors, revealed new study led by Penn Medicine and Paris Transplant Group.

France reports biggest daily increase in COVID-19 deaths. The novel coronavirus has claimed 13,197 deaths in French hospitals and retirement homes, an

Employment Rate in France increased to 65.90 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 65.20 percent in the third quarter of 2019. Employment Rate in France averaged 63.89 percent from 2003 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 65.90 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a record low of 63 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005. In France, the employment rate measures the number of people aged 15 to 64 who have a job as a percentage of the labour force from the same age group. This page provides - France Employment Rate- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Improving France’s competitiveness is essential to boost the economic growth needed to create jobs and allow citizens and businesses to develop their full potential, according to a new OECD report.

Australia, France, Japan and the Slovak Republic have deposited their instrument of ratification or acceptance for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting with the OECD’s Secretary-General, therewith underlining their strong commitment to prevent the abuse of tax treaties and BEPS by multinational enterprises.

The OECD welcomes France's new programme on co-operative compliance, announced today. Co-operative compliance is an initiative for promoting better tax compliance developed by the OECD Forum on Tax Administration.

The mission of the French High Commission for Pension Reform is to prepare the reform introducing a universal pension points system in France.

The work on BEPS Action 14 continues with today's publication of the stage 2 peer review monitoring reports of the seven jurisdictions in batch 2: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Sweden.

Weapons Sales in France decreased to 1768 USD Million in 2018 from 2302 USD Million in 2017. Weapons Sales in France averaged 1776.16 USD Million from 1950 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 4021 USD Million in 1985 and a record low of 8 USD Million in 1950. Weapons Sales are presented as a Trend-Indicator Value based on the known unit production costs of a core set of weapons such as aircraft, air defence systems, anti-submarine warfare weapons, armoured vehicles, artillery, engines, missiles, sensors, satellites, ships and others. The indicator aims to represent the transfer value of military resources rather than the financial value of the transfer.

Banks Balance Sheet in France increased to 10208997 EUR Million in March from 9967881 EUR Million in February of 2020. Banks Balance Sheet in France averaged 6624965.78 EUR Million from 1997 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 10208997 EUR Million in March of 2020 and a record low of 3147124 EUR Million in September of 1997. This page provides the latest reported value for - France Banks Balance Sheet - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

France recorded a government budget deficit of 52.50 EUR Billion in March of 2020. Government Budget Value in France averaged -49.87 EUR Billion from 1994 until 2020, reaching an all time high of -4.21 EUR Billion in January of 2000 and a record low of -148.80 EUR Billion in December of 2010. The government budget balance is the difference between government revenues and expenses, including the treasure special component. The budget is balanced when outlays equal to receipts, the country reports budget surplus when revenues are higher than expenses and deficit when expenses exceed the revenues. This page provides the latest reported value for - France Government Budget Value - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

After a comprehensive review in October 2012, the OECD Working Group on Bribery asked France, through a series of concrete recommendations, to intensify its actions to fight the bribery of foreign public officials and undertake important reforms.

This page contains all information relating to implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in France.

Housing Index in France increased to 112.58 points in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 112.27 points in the third quarter of 2019. Housing Index in France averaged 102.40 points from 2006 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 112.58 points in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a record low of 93.63 points in the second quarter of 2006. In France, the House Price Index measures residential property market prices. The HPI captures price changes of all kinds of residential property purchased by households (flats, detached houses, terraced houses, etc.), both new and existing. Only market prices are considered, self-build dwellings are therefore excluded. The land component of the residential property is included. This page provides the latest reported value for - France House Price Index - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

An overview of the long-term care situation in France is available here.

The French health care system performs relatively well. Health outcomes are better than the OECD average and citizens enjoy good access to care. However, France is lagging behind other OECD countries in some areas including for example antibiotics prescribing or alcohol consumption.