French farmers lift road blockades around Paris after the prime minister offers a support plan

PARIS (AP) — French farmers are gradually lifting their roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere in the country. The move comes one day after the government offered over 400 million euros ($436 million) in various measures meant to answer their grievances over low earnings, heavy regulation and unfair competition from abroad. On major highways around the French capital, protesters have taken down tents, cleaned up the road and set fire to straw bales that they were using as barricades. Measures announced by the government include hundreds of millions of euros in aid, tax breaks and a promise not to ban pesticides in France that are allowed elsewhere in Europe.