News Headlines - 24 March 2018

▽Strikes in France: 200,000 march through streets to protest Macron's reforms - The Local

Seven unions representing staff in the public sector led strikes and protests, and a third of railway workers walked out to join the demonstrations against 40-year-old Macron's bid to shake up the French state.
Around 200,000 people demonstrated nationwide, according to police figures, including 49,000 in Paris. The CGT union, the biggest in the public sector, estimated the total turnout at over half a million.

▽Latvia to expel 'one or several' Russian diplomats over spy attack | AFP.com

Latvia's foreign ministry on Friday said the Baltic state would expel "one or several" Russian diplomats over the nerve agent attack on an ex-spy in the English city of Salisbury... The leaders of former Soviet bloc EU states the Czech Republic and Lithuania, as well as Denmark and Ireland, have also said they were considering further unilateral steps, including expelling diplomats.

▽British passports will be navy blue after Brexit, says Home Office | The Guardian

British passports issued after October 2019 will be dark blue and gold, replacing the current burgundy model.
The British passport is redesigned every five years, and the new version will come into production next autumn when the current contract expires, the Home Office has announced.
The return of the navy cover, first used in 1921, is being hailed as a victory by pro-Brexit MPs, who had campaigned for a return to the colour.

▽Markle's wedding ring expected to follow royal tradition of Welsh gold

When Britain’s Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in May he is expected to follow a royal tradition started nearly 100 years ago of using a wedding band of Welsh gold.
His great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, was the first to use gold from Wales in a wedding ring when, as Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, she married the future King George VI in 1923.
Her example was followed by the current Queen Elizabeth when she married Prince Philip in 1947 and then by royals through to Prince William’s wedding to Catherine Middleton in 2011.

▽Steven Spielberg Doesn’t Think Netflix Movies Should Qualify for Oscars | Vanity Fair

In an interview with ITV News, the Oscar-winning filmmaker weighed in on the ongoing debate about films that premiere on the streaming platform—and whether they deserve to compete with films that get a proper theatrical release come awards season. Spielberg, a filmmaking giant since the 1970s, thinks that movies that go straight to streaming are “a clear and present danger to filmgoers,” and shouldn’t be permitted to compete for Academy Awards.
“Once you commit to a television format, you’re a TV movie,” he declared. A good show might “deserve an Emmy, but not an Oscar.”