Reports of clashes with police at cities including Lyon and Rennes

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AP noted comments from France’s interior minister Laurent Nuñez, who defended the government’s muscular response to protests, despite a growing list of gruesome injuries to young protesters blamed on police riot-control weapons.

The latest was Monday, with a 15-year-old who lost a hand, seemingly ripped off by a police stun grenade.

Nonpartisan Cook Political Report revises analyses in Kansas, New Hampshire and North Carolina, forecasting Democrats have stronger odds than previously estimated

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Two media giants, Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery, have completed their $110bn merger, creating a new entertainment powerhouse, Skydance.

The deal, fiercely contested by several state attorneys general over potential antitrust concerns, formally closed on Tuesday.