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The Latest: French candidate Macron revels at Paris eatery
PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the first round of France's presidential election (all times local):
Russia boosts military spending despite sanctions: study
Russia became the world's third largest military spender in 2016 despite low oil prices and economic sanctions, as the global expenditure rose for a second consecutive year, a study said on Monday. Russia's military spending was $69.2 billion (around 64 billion euros) in 2016, a 5.9 percent rise over 2015, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report, adding this was the highest proportion of its GDP since it became an independent state. "This increased spending and heavy burden on the economy comes at a time when the Russian economy is in serious trouble due to low oil and gas prices and the economic sanctions imposed since 2014," (by the West over the Ukraine conflict), SIPRI said.
US counting on French anti-terror ops in Africa: Mattis
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday urged France to continue its African anti-terror operations under its new presidency, as he visited strategic Djibouti on the day of France's first-round election. "I have no doubt that the French will continue to make their own decisions in their own best interest and that the terrorists will not enjoy these decisions," Mattis told reporters in the Horn of Africa nation, which hosts Washington's only permanent military base on the continent. The US backs France's Operation Barkhane, under which its military is fighting Islamists in five countries across the Sahel region -- Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso -- alongside African allies.
Trump pressures Democrats on Obamacare to get border wall deal
President Donald Trump put pressure on Democrats on Sunday as U.S. lawmakers worked to avoid a government shutdown, saying Obamacare would die without a cash infusion the White House has offered in exchange for their agreement to fund his border wall. The escalated push to get Trump's priorities, which Democrats reject, into spending legislation could jeopardize prospects for an agreement to keep the government open. If talks fail, the government would shut down on Saturday, Trump's 100th day in office.
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