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PARIS - France's wave of protests and violence over the past month or so has already cost the eurozone's second-largest economy a fortune. Road blockades, demonstrations and successive weekends of rioting in Paris and other towns have left supermarket shelves empty, stopped shoppers from buying Christmas gifts and scared away tourists. The government stands to lose out too, with tax receipts set to be lower than anticipated. Government coffers will be tapped into next year to finance tax relief and other fiscal measures announced Monday by President Emmanuel Macron to placate the "yellow vest" movement, which started as a show of anger against fuel taxes but snowballed into a grab-bag of grievances. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the fallout from the protests, which have seen hundreds of arrests, 1,400 injured and five deaths in protest-related accidents, will shave 0.1 percent off French economic growth in the last quarter of 2018 and is "not good for the attractiveness of our … [Read more...] about French protests are costing the country a fortune

Looking for ways to boost revenue for the U.S. Postal Service's money-losing operations, the Trump administration is suggesting selling access to mailboxes.  "The legal mailbox monopoly remains highly valuable," said a government report issued last week. "As a means of generating more income, the mailbox monopoly could be monetized." The report, representing the efforts of a task force created by President Donald Trump, proposes a number of other changes to the U.S. Postal Service, including cutting costs and boosting prices for "nonessential services," including delivery of commercial mail such as advertising flyers. In November, the USPS reported its 12th straight year of losses, due to slumping mail volume and rising costs of retirement and health care benefits.  While the report didn't detail how much the USPS could earn from franchising mailboxes, it suggests the USPS could charge third-party delivery services such as UPS or FedEx to gain access to consumer mailboxes. … [Read more...] about Trump plan to revive the U.S. Postal Service: Sell access to your mailbox

New research led by doctors from the University of North Carolina and the Institute of Cancer Research in London shows women who have babies may have a greater risk for breast cancer than women without children.   The study found that risk for breast cancer goes up for 24 years after a woman's last child, peaking at five years after childbirth. The risk starts to fall after 24 years and is at its lowest 35 years out.   Researchers looked at data from nearly 890,000 women of different ages and found the risk continues for more than two decades after childbirth. Dr. David Agus, the director of USC Norris Westside Cancer Center, told "CBS This Morning" the study should change how doctors screen for breast cancer. "If your last child was at age 35, we may start screening at age 40 instead of classically at age 50 because the risks may go up after five years out. And so it's very important now that doctors ask this question and put the into the history of the patient," Agus said. … [Read more...] about Breast cancer risk may increase after childbirth, study finds

Collectively, Sona Gasparian, Marianna Hewitt, Lauren Gores Ireland, Sazan Hendrix, Lilly Ghalichi, and Annie Lawless have more than 5 million people around the world following their every move on Instagram. Now these influencers are adding the title of entrepreneur to their profiles. "We genuinely, like, are here to help each other and support each other and help our brands grow," Gasparian told CBS News correspondent Mireya Villarreal. "We really think, like, collaboration over competition and we want to help our friends and our fellow influencers and just like kind of help lift everybody up," Hewitt said. "Sazan can post something and it will push more sales than an actress or someone on a TV show," Hewitt said.   Asked what makes them qualified to launch a beauty brand, Hewitt said they are "educated consumers." "Because we've tested and tried so many things out there, we knew exactly what we liked and what we didn't like in a product," Hewitt said. "We worked really … [Read more...] about Instagram influencers add beauty entrepreneur to their titles

Nearly 30,000 pounds of Jimmy Dean sausage links is being recalled because they may contain pieces of metal, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  CTI Foods is recalling roughly 29,000 pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat pork and poultry products because they could contain the extraneous material, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Monday in a news release.  The company discovered the problem after five consumers complained of metal pieces in the sausages. There have not been any confirmed reports of injuries from consuming the sausages, the USDA said. The recalled sausages involve 23.4-ounce pouches of "Jimmy Dean Heat 'n' Serve Original Sausage Links made with pork and turkey, with a "use-by" date of Jan. 31, 2019. The product bears the case code A6382168, with a time stamp of 11:58 through 01:49. It also includes the establishment number "EST. 19085" on the back of the packaging. The Jimmy Dean sausage links were made and packaged in August, … [Read more...] about Jimmy Dean sausage recalled because it may contain metal