Trade unions in France are carrying out another day of widespread nationwide strikes, heaping pressure on the newly appointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to reverse an existing austerity programme and halt any new public spending cuts. France's Ministry of the Interior said approximately 85,000 people had turned out across the country by midday on Thursday, excluding Paris a figure lower than a strike two weeks earlier, which drew much larger crowds, indicating lower overall turnout.
The National Assembly votes to bring down the Bayrou-led government over its plans to cut about $52bn to reduce the country's debt pile. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has lost the confidence vote in parliament, hours after warning the country was facing a life-threatening debt crisis, deepening a political crisis and handing President Emmanuel Macron the task of finding a fifth prime minister in less than two years.