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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 6 January 2021
France launches service to make deadbeat parents pay

By SYLVIE CORBET wasn't paid," Macron said
Associated Press at the time.
PARIS (AP) — France is Many countries across
launching a new govern- Europe are facing similar
ment service empowered problems.
to take money directly In neighboring Belgium,
from the bank accounts deadbeat parents have
of parents who fail to pay been an issue to the point
child support, aiming to that the government has
help many families — the taken action by creating a
vast majority of whom are special service which helps
headed by single mothers people in their legal quest
— emerge from precarious to get the money owed
financial situations. and gives out advances if
President Emmanuel Ma- needed.
cron denounced in a tweet Last year, the Czech gov-
unpaid child support as ernment proposed a pro-
"an unbearable situation gram to guarantee pay-
for hundreds of thousands ment of child support to
of single parents," before single parents, which will
visiting a benefits agency become effective on July
Tuesday in Tours, in central 1. The Ministry of Labor and
France, which is providing French President Emmanuel Macron removes a protective face mask to take a drink of water as Social Affairs estimated
he attends a meeting during a visit at the headquarters of the local CAF (French family allowance
the new service. public services) in Tours, central France, Tuesday Jan. 5, 2021. that the state will initially
"Thank you" for the mea- Associated Press cover child support pay-
sure, a single mother of ments of up to 3,000 Czech
three told Macron, detail- of child support amounts month for each child — is payment of the money un- koruna ($140) a month for
ing at length her personal are either not paid, only key. til the child is 18. about 24,000 children. The
situation, involving domes- partially paid or paid too The measure also aims at The issue was raised in 2019 government will then claim
tic violence and harass- late — placing at least preventing financial pres- during the "grand debate" the money from those who
ment from her ex-husband 300,000 families in financial sure and threats sometimes launched by Macron to al- have failed to pay.
and deep financial difficul- insecurity. exerted by deadbeat par- low the French to express In Germany, around half of
ties. "That's a great relief," Single parents represent ents. their grievances following all child support payments
she said. one out of four families in Under the new system, weeks of anti-government, by divorced parents are
The mothers who spoke France, 85% of whom are any mother or father can yellow vest protests de- either not or not fully paid,
with Macron didn't provide mothers. A third are living request the new govern- nouncing social injustice. according to estimates. In
their names because of pri- under the poverty rate. ment service, regardless of "I was struck by the num- cases where the parents
vacy reasons. For these families, getting whether the other parent ber of women who told me are too poor, the state
French authorities estimate child support — on aver- disagrees. Once in place, they could not live decent- pays child support until the
that between 30% and 40% age 170 euros ($209) per the service handles the ly because their alimony children are 18 years old.q

Egypt's leader meets U.S. treasury chief ahead of Sudan visit

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's pres- est push by South Africa, decision to begin to fill the
ident met Tuesday with U.S. the current chairman of dam before an agree-
Secretary of the Treasury the African Union, which is ment and all necessary
Steven Mnuchin in Cairo, mediating a deal between dam safety measures were
ahead of Mnuchin's first vis- Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. in place."
it to Sudan since the end of Experts from the three na- Africa's largest hydroelec-
Khartoum's pariah status. tions and the AU were to tric dam has caused se-
The office of President Ab- meet Monday, but Sudan vere tensions between the
del Fattah el-Sissi said in a boycotted the meeting three nations.
statement the president and insisted on a greater Mnuchin was scheduled
and Mnuchin discussed role for AU experts in the to travel to Sudan's capital
mutual and regional is- negotiations. Khartoum on Wednesday
sues, including the latest Egypt initialed the draft to meet with the country's
developments in talks with deal, crafted by the Unit- leaders, according to Su-
Sudan and Ethiopia over a ed States in February, but dan's state-run SUNA news In this June 28, 2013 file photo, construction work takes place,
disputed dam that Ethio- Ethiopia did not attend the agency. at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam near As-
pia is building over the Blue signing ceremony and ac- It would be the first visit by sosa, Ethiopia.
Nile River. cused President Donald a senior U.S. official since Associated Press
The statement said el-Sissi Trump's administration of Washington last month
appreciated U.S. efforts in siding with Egypt. Sudan approved the removal of Minister Abdalla Hamdok to advance Sudan's ef-
the dam talks last year that attended the meeting but Sudan from the U.S. list of possible U.S. economic aid forts to secure debt relief in
resulted in a U.S.-crafted did not sign. state sponsors of terrorism. debt relief. It did not give 2021. Sudan is on a fragile
draft deal to resolve the The U.S. has suspended SUNA's report said Mnuchin further details. path to democracy after
yearslong dispute over the some aid to Ethiopia over would discuss with Gen. Mnuchin said last month a popular uprising led the
massive project. the "lack of progress" in Abdel-Fattah Burhan, he would work with Con- military to overthrow long-
The three Nile Valley coun- the talks and U.S. "concern head of the ruling sover- gress and the transitional time autocrat Omar al-
tries met Sunday in the lat- about Ethiopia's unilateral eign council, and Prime government in Khartoum Bashir in April 2019.q